July

I was wanting to make this summer special, one to remember, since it was the last one before Molly starts school. Yes, just Kindergarten, but, still, it's school...where you have to follow a schedule and all that. Well, I don't know if she'll remember it, but I know I will! We packed in as much fun as we could possibly handle. When I sat down to start this post I had something like 300+ pictures to weed through! And that was just July! Whew! I think this is the most pictures I've ever posted on a single post...but I love them! I feel happy when I look back at all the awesome memories we made.

Molly did swim lessons. She really, really loves the water.

The last day is the best: they're done with their tests so they just get a free day to slide and jump off the diving board.

Erin and Christopher had their third girl, Harper Lily, on July 10th. She is so beautiful.

We took the kids to the dollar movie to see The Lorax. I ended up in the foyer for most of the movie with Stockton and Brynn. Good thing it was the dollar movies! That helped me make up my mind about spending a whole lot more to see Brave. (We didn't see it.)

Justin's family got pictures at Thanksgiving Point. The kids found this fountain when we were done and had tons of fun splashing around.

We went back to the splash pad by our house. Stockton and Brynn were way less timid this time!

Our ward had a swim party at the Payson pool. It had been a stormy day and was shaping up to be an overcast night but the water was so warm. We had so much fun swimming around with our awesome ward. But the kids froze when it was time to get out. Brynn's lips are purple...brrr!

We went to my cousin's wedding reception at Temple Square. We went through the line then walked around Temple Square a bit.

Justin had never seen City Creek so we also spent a little time there. We found the fountains...the kids were soaked through when we were finished. They really had a blast! Now I know to take an extra pair of clothes next time we go there.

We loved having the Brown's in town all of July. We sure miss them when they are in Texas. We had dinner with them one Sunday afternoon. It was nice to sit outside and just visit. Eventually, it turned into a "let's wrestle Justin" game.

Molly spent most of her time with Lizzy, who is eight, even though Andrew is closer to her age, just 7 months older. (The closest-in-age cousin on the Goodrich side.)

My mom came down to see Molly at her swim lessons. Then she took us to Farm Country.

We made it to Trafalga in Orem. They don't have the rides that the Lehi location has so we just played glow-in-the dark mini golf and called it good.

We went to an Orem Owlz game. They have a pretty nice park that I was able to take the kids to when they got antsy. Molly was excited to catch a ball from one of the players when the game was over. He threw it from a little bit away and she caught it in her mitt!

We went to the Spanish Fork parade on the 24th.

Then we had a barbecue at Justin's parents later that night. April made a river out of tin foil with boats made out of plastic cups to float.

We played water games.

And had a tug-of-war.

When it got dark, Gene put on a small firework show in the backyard for the kids...uh, for the boys, it looks like.

Wonder what the girls were up to? This:

They called it "Three Pioneer Women Salon." "Where you go in messy and you come out neat." We all got a foot massage and a new hairdo, even the boys. They were happy with the money they earned.

We went to Jungle Jim's in Sandy. It's just a little place that has rides...it was not busy so the kids were able to run around and do just about anything they wanted for a few hours.

We went to the Bee's game. My parents were there with Ben so after 5 innings we snuck down and sat with them. (They had better seats-ours were up high since it was a Pass of All Passes night.)

The baseball game was fun but the $6 snow cone was definitely the highlight. Poor Justin, the kids turned into monsters all of a sudden when he brought one back. He had red snow cone juice all over his shorts.

And let's not forget about the Olympics! We loved the Olympics and watched them faithfully every night. We even made our own torches while we watched the opening ceremonies. And homemade snow cones.

Our good friends from Logan (that we hardly ever seen anymore) came camping down our way. They came for church, Sunday dinner (gyros, yum), and then we went back to their camp for a bit. Brynn loves the dirt so much-she was making "dirt angels." Within minutes she was completely covered in dirt.