July

What happened to my camera? I don't know... but I don't have many pics from July.

4th of July weekend was really fun. We slept over at my mom's house. Once the kids were asleep on the 3rd, Lydia, Dan, Dawn, Chad, Cher & Scott went bowling. I got a TURKEY for the 1st time (and prob ONLY time) in my LIFE! I was pretty pumped about beating Dan! ;)

When we woke up in the morning on the 4th, Joe was sure to give us all a little patriotic presentation and talk about the soldiers at Valley Forge.

Then, Joe took the boys to Dave & Busters, while I went and did some shopping.
I picked the boys up from Dave & Busters and took them to Grapevine Lake for Dan's work BBQ. We had some great food and swam in the lake (it was quite dirty). Then, we headed to my mom's ward swimming party to watch the fireworks.
Then, we put the tired little kids to bed.

After the 3 and under-s were asleep, the real fun started. Dan and Lydia came over (their work party finished). The kids did their little pop rocks and lame fireworks... THEN, we brought out the big ones. In the field behind my mom's house, Dan & some buddies from work lit off an INCREDIBLE amount of fireworks. They had roman candle wars. My kids LOVED the roman candles (they felt like Harry Potter). Some of the artillery shells were SO big I was shocked and a bit scared we would get in trouble. The night climaxed when we had just completed our last firework and we saw some "berry" lights... We all had to run away, and made it to the safety of my mom's house - FUN OVER, but I DIDN'T GET CAUGHT for once! ;)

Aaron, Brae & Loch were so pumped as they "ran from the cops" for the 1st time in their life. I hope it doesn't become a habit! Some great parent i am huh...

ps - fireworks are MESSY! Thanks Dan & Lyd for providing such an AWESOME display!

Alas, Dawn & Chad had to return to AZ. We were sad to see them go. I had such a fun MONTH with my sister and her kids!

July 5th I woke up and on my way to church, got a call from my good friend Kysha Bradshaw. I was so excited to hear from her! Her sister is the pianist for David Arculetta (some American Idol guy) and they were IN TOWN for the show! I dropped my kids off with my mom, and headed to the show. To be honest, I am not at all into American Idol. He was also there with some Disney Starlet - Demi Lovato... Never heard of her either.

It was fun though to hang out with Kysha and her sister Kendra. We went to their sound check. We hung out in the tour bus while she was getting ready. We hung out backstage. Then, we sat through the show for a little bit, then ducked out early and went to Thai food. We had so much fun together! I miss my friend Kysha!
Then, my sister-in-law Christine, called and wanted an adult driver to go with her to POWELL. My answer? HECK YA!!!!

I left Nate with my mom (figured he'd have more fun with Max & Kaitlyn than trapped inside a houseboat made for bigger kids). Aaron and Charity were READY for some fun w/mom!

Christine picked us up on Thursday, and we met up with Joe's Dad and took the kids to Carlsbad caverns. It was a fun day! We took a tour and experienced COMPLETE darkness. It was such an interesting feeling. I guess I should have been quite uncomfortable... but I wasn't. I felt so completely comforted because Charity was on my lap, and Aaron was clutched tightly to my side. It was such a sweet experience to be completely dark but so completely at ease because I knew my children were safe and with me.

After the caverns we headed to POWELL!! It only took us 3 days to get there, but our detour was sure fun!

Powell was more of the same - jetskiing, kneeboarding, tubing, wakeboarding... Joe decided last minute to join us, so he came on Thurs to join the fun. The other exciting thing this time was that Joe's dad bought a wake surfer... which was fun to experiment with. I sure had fun doing that - too bad I came home with a concussion. :( I was so sick - vertigo set in and was there even days after we were HOME... I hate getting old!

I found a couple photos on facebook...





I don't remember what we did with the rest of the month... Probably just hung out with Lydia, swam, and enjoyed the summer!

And that was JULY!