The Rest of July

July came and went pretty quickly.  After being invited in June to run the St. George Marathon, I decided I should probably start running!  I love running, but I don't love mornings.  In Clovis, that is a major conflict.  By 8AM, on most days, it is too hot to run more than I couple of miles.  So, with the help of my sister, I dragged myself out of bed a few times at some dark hour in the morning to get out and run.  I always love it once I get going.  Looking at my new shape these days, you wouldn't know that running is part of who I am, but it is.  It makes my heart happy.

I love watching the sunrise.

 I saw this hot air balloon one morning on a run.  That is something that I've never done, but is on my list of things to do before I die.  I'd have to go with Jason though because I also have a funny thing with heights.

 My mom had another birthday but I don't think I could tell you which one.  I'd have to figure out how old I am, then I'd know how old Jen is and my mom is 20 years older than that.  Age is just a number and birthday's are just a good excuse to get together with friends!  So, we did. Lunch with our friends (lots of them cross over these days) and then some of the group went out on Jen's boat for the afternoon.  I had to get back to the kiddos.

We decided one day we really needed to clean out our closet.  We figured the best way to do that is to take everything out and only put back in what we really thought we would wear.  I could not believe how much stuff we had in there!!!

Here is half of the empty closet.  I didn't think you would care enough to see both sides.  And of course I forgot to take an after picture, but it looked fabulous, I assure you.  We took three huge construction bags to Goodwill.

We had some good snuggle moments with Paige.  She is getting more snugly as she gets older.  Of course, I'm thrilled!

I went to dinner with my dear friend Talia from high school.  I haven't seen her in years and it was good to reconnect.

I found this ridiculous display of craziness in the kids bathroom.  Really?  Come on!  Really?  At least they were following the rule about not leaving dirty clothes on the floor.  I wonder how much longer they would have kept it up before they brought it all down to the laundry room.  I should have realized I wasn't really that on top of it when I finished all the laundry in the laundry room!

Our friends, the Lawrences, moved to Utah in June and came back for a visit in July.  Taia is in the center and is a good friend of Jessica's.  Austin and Jessica seem to always have something going on.  Fun to be teenagers with a social life.

I love regular life pictures.  Here are Paige and Ashlyn on a Costco trip with me and Jason.

Travis came for a visit and took the kids up to his dad's house.  They had cake to celebrate Jessica's birthday.  I can't remember right now what else they did, but I got this cute picture from Austin's Facebook page.  I love that the kids joke around with each other in between fighting and eye rolling.

Paige is a totally crib snob and really won't sleep anywhere but in her bed.  Jason had very little time off at his new job and between those two things, we decided not to make the trip to Whiskeytown this year.  The big kids went with my parents and the Bohn's and had a great time!  Next year, we will be there.  Here is a picture from Austin's Instagram on the way up there.  Yes, I stalk my children.  It's the only way to get pictures of them! 

The new thing, well getting old now, but still newish, is taking pictures of yourself in the mirror to post on Instagram.  Here is a cute picture of Austin, also from his Instagram, all ready for church.

And last picture from a  non "event" in July, is of Paige playing in the back yard with the neighborhood cat.  She loves that cat!  Good thing it is extremely patient!

Our Favorite Visitors

 

The Poulsen's came back to visit in July and it seemed like order was restored to the universe!  We have missed having them as part of our daily lives! 

 

We lounged around Sunday afternoon.

We went out to lunch

 
 

The little girls went to Princess Camp

We loaded up the bus and played at Skywalk

Bus Driver Tara

We swam, we laughed, we played, we ate, and we cried again when they left.  We miss you guys!!

Beach Boardwalk Birthday

Jessica turned 13 in July and we decided to celebrate teenage style!  We loaded her friends up in Miss B and headed to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for the day!

We invited our friends (and parents of two of the girls), Mariah and Ryan, to come play with us and help us keep an eye on all these beautiful girls!

These three have been best friends since 3rd grade!  It makes my heart smile to see them all together!

We went durning the week so the lines weren't too long.  I think we went on every ride.

 

 

We had so much fun hanging out with these kids!!  Such a good day!

4th of July

4th of July started with Jason taking Ashlyn and Lauren to the church for the annual Pancake Breakfast while the rest of us slept for an extra hour!  Already a good day!

 

We spent most of the day on the lake with the Bohns, Hankes and my parents.

the fam

 

Paige and Me

Kristie

                                                                  Lauren and my dad

Paige

Lauren and Jason

My dad (holding the flag) and my mom

Lauren, Jason, Ashlyn and Paige (saving my spot for me) watching Austin wake surf

Austin lookin' good behind the boat!

Austin, Brynne, Ashlyn and Jason cooling off in the lake

Austin

Jessica on the ride home because she hid from the camera on the boat and I wanted a picture of her.

 

 We came back to my parent's house to barbecue and get ready to watch the fireworks near the high school.

 Jason and Jeff

 4th of July fruit skewers I made to stick in the fruit bowl!  I think they are cute!

 

Paige thought they were yummy!

 

 We went to our usual spot on the grass and set up our blankets to wait for the show to start.  It wasn't long before a police officer on a motorcycle stopped by.  He apologized and told us that the company doing the fireworks this year wanted to grass area blocked off so everyone had to pay to go inside the stadium, so we needed to leave.  

 

Our family (meaning extended family and our little family) is quite fond of tradition.  4th of July is laying on a blanket under the grass, cuddle up with the rest of the family, oooing and aahhhing at the fireworks over head.  Watching the fireworks, to us, does not mean sitting on metal seats in a crowded football stadium.  So, we did what any tradition loving family would do, we became outlaws!  We tried to lay low until dark and snuck back to our annual spot!  Just as we got reset up, we saw the lights of the motorcycle cop circling the area.  I don't think I've ever had a funnier moment than that moment.  Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad and kids picked up our stuff as fast as we could and ran under the bleachers to hide!   We held our giggles back as much as we could as we tried to shush the little ones and get the teenagers to turn off the glow of their cell phones!  Seriously, funniest moment ever!!!  Then came the "oh my gosh!  Did we just teach our kids to hide from the cops!?" moment.  Worst parents ever!  We had to try to explain our way out of that one! 

 

We ended the night like we have for years, snuggled up on a blanket watching the firework show with the ones we love.  Best seats in the house!