July

I got home from Girl's Camp on the first day of July.  As great as camp was, I sure was happy to be home.  We checked on the animals that night and I was pleased to see our little "farm" was doing well.  Justin likes to let the chickens out to roam in the evenings and Ivy is getting to be a good chicken herder.

Just so it's here: I named the chickens Mabel, Gertie, Matilda, Frances, and Bertha.  They all look the same to me so I'm not sure who's who but I had fun giving them some old fashioned names anyway.

Different day, but see what I mean about Ivy being a great chicken herder?  The mermaid night gown and mom's muck boots add a nice touch.

 

Stockton played in a baseball tournament the weekend before the 4th.  Games were held in Heber and Utah County...he played the first day in Heber and the second day in Saratoga Springs.  These were fun games to watch-the team had really improved and, even though they lost all their games, there were exciting moments.  This ended up being the last games for this team.  Justin had decided not to coach anymore and a lot of the boys were going different directions for the fall.

Jackson, Coach James, Cooper, Coach Tanner, Joseph, Oliver, Ryne, Austin, Cole, Carson, Coach Justin, Spencer, Stockton, Coach Scott, Grey

 

Ivy got her dad with Justin.  She picked Mod Pizza which is where they went last year as well.  She loves the pizza there!  

We brought Gavin home from Plain City after the 4th of July and he was able to stay for a couple of days before going home.  I had lessons on Tuesday so they had to make their own fun.  They rode bikes to Dairy Keen for lunch and shakes.

 

I had a brownie mix in a jar that I had gotten from my camp secret sister so they decided to make those that night.  Those kind of mixes never work out that great for me but the taste was good!  They slept in the trailer that night.  Stockton was at Grant's and the girls were feeling left out of the fun so they had a sleepover in the living room on couches.  I took this picture the following morning when they were still being sleeping beauties.

Molly and Gavin picked to go to Splash Summit (Seven Peaks) on Wednesday.  I found a good deal on groupon so approved their plan and we had a fun afternoon keeping cool in the water.  We took him home the following morning and exchanged back for Stockton.  Molly was worried it might be awkward since they are getting a little older but was so pleased and relieved that it felt completely natural.  They had a really good time together!

 

We finally got our sheep sheared.  We had tried it on our own and learned really quickly that it was a lot harder than it looked!  So we found someone to come and do it for us but he was so busy doing bigger herds that it took him a while to finally make it over to us.  When he did, he was super quick and the sheep looked so much better and much more comfortable.  Definitely worth the 50 bucks he charged us!

before

during

after

Kelton Webb invited Stockton to go with him and his dad to UDIG, a place where you can dig for fossils.  Somewhere way out west.  They picked him up super early in the morning, drove a few hours, hunted for fossils for a few more hours, then drove home.  They had a great time and Stockton was so proud of his fossils.  He showed them to anyone who showed a bit of interest.

 

Molly must have been at work that day so it was just Brynn and Ivy at home with me.  Brynn wanted to do a muffin tin lunch.  They ate on the back deck.

 

Out of all the trees in our yard, this tree is climbed the most.  It must be the easiest to access or something.  I have a similar photo from the very first summer we were here, just with different kids. 

We spent a Saturday cleaning out the garage so we treated ourselves to snow cones when we were finished.  Snow cones on a hot day could possibly be my favorite summer treat!  We washed the car when we got home-well, some of us washed the car.  Other's seemed to disappear somewhere else.

 

Brynn loves her cheer but it is a huge commitment.  The second weekend in July was Boot Camp and they had an activity every day.  Team breakfast, team "white-out" dinner where they all wore white, different activities during class, etc.  It was a lot, especially in the summer when there are so many other things going on. But...Brynn is so happy there so I do my part to get her where she needs to be and when.  I don't know any of the other girls (or moms) from the team but Brynn seems to be making friends.  Her coach posted a video of the week and I took screenshots of these two photos.

Brynn on the left

Ivy spent a good chunk of one day putting together puzzles.  They spilled onto the coffee table, kitchen table, and kitchen counter. 

Brynn is our animal lover.  She has such a sweet and tender heart when it comes to kittens especially.

 

A huge head of broccoli harvested from our greenhouse.  As big as Ivy's face!

 

Silly antics before bed on a Sunday evening.   

We finally made it back to Lagoon at the very end of the July.  Lagoon time + cousin time=happy kids.  We also got Chloe on Colossus (after working on her for the last few years) so that was exciting for all of us.

Ivy and Lucy

Molly and Chloe

Ivy is the best person to ride rides with.  She gets excited over all of them and makes the best facial expressions.

Ivy spent an afternoon entertaining herself with her doll.  She found all the matching doll and girl clothes and put on a fashion show for me.  She wanted to make sure I got a picture of all of the outfits.

 

My kids like to play roller derby in the garage.  They have me back out the cars and then they use roller blades, scooters, etc. and get crazy.  It's a wonder no one has gotten really injured while playing.  At least Ivy makes sure she wears her helmet.  Stockton joins them a lot as well as Corbin and Raylie Anderson when they are at our house.

 

Justin and I finally got started on the siding.  It's slightly embarrassing that it has taken us so long to get around to it-but it's not like we haven't been doing anything, our schedules get a little crazy these days!  The two of us worked all of one Saturday to get as much done as we could.  We made it almost to the top of the first rows of windows.  A bit of a dent in the project but it's all we could do that day since Justin was needing to finish the overhang before we could go any further. He needed someone else's expertise to finish that so the rest of the siding was going to have to wait.  But not too bad for a day's work.  Justin did all the wiring for the lights out there as well.

 

Since we spent all day doing the siding it wasn't until 9:00 that night that we could celebrate our favorite wizard's birthday.  Butterbeer and trivia before bedtime was all I could manage but I'll still call it a success!