July 24 - 30

Monday, July 24 - Gary & Alexis invited our family and Ryan's family to join them for a BBQ and fireworks for Pioneer Day. Even though the kids were terrified of a bee nest near the swing set, they had a blast! Nick loved lighting the fireworks...until the rain came. Then it was time to call it a night! We had so much fun!!

Tuesday, July 25 - I can't believe our summer is almost over! In honor of the kids' last day at home, we went to Panda Express for lunch (their favorite) then I took them to the theater to see the new movie "Despicable Me 3". They loved the show and I loved spending time with them. After the movie, we went to Walmart and stocked up on back to school supplies. Goodbye summer! :(

Wednesday, July 26 - "Oh...back to school, back to school!" Sixth and fourth grade, here we come!

Thursday, July 27 - I took the kids to Back to School Night at Blackridge. They both had a wonderful first and second day with their new teachers and I am very excited for what this year will bring. I just can't think too much about Nick going to junior high next year...yikes!!

Friday, July 28 - The Kindergarten students get to start a week later than the rest of the school so that they can go in, meet their teacher one-on-one, and get initial testing done. Zack is so excited to start next Thursday and he did great at his testing!

Saturday, July 29 - Happy birthday to me...again! :) With the wedding and all the craziness in May and June, we postponed my birthday dinner until today. Nick wanted to come with us and now that he is older, I allowed it. It was actually really fun to have him there with us. Daddy made me get the Dallas Fillet and oh my goodness! It was amazing!!!! I just love our annual birthday traditions!

Sunday, July 30 - We did our annual Silver Lake expedition. It threatened to rain the whole time we were eating and then when we were cleaning up, it started to pour! We were going to try to wait it out but it started lightening so we got the heck out of there. We didn't get our traditional family picture but it was nice to be up in the fresh air with family for dinner anyway.

Jul 17 - 23

Monday, July 17 - Simon had a very eventful day on Monday! He went over to the church at 6:30 am to help the scouts get ready to leave for scout camp. He went to help lift a cooler and threw his back out! At 7:30 am, I heard a bunch of men's voices in my house followed by Katie Davis in my bedroom explaining that he probably needed to be seen because he almost passed out from the pain. Of course, my darling husband refused to go to the ER and spent the rest of the day in pain. He had plans with my mom and the boys to ride the train (FrontRunner) to Ogden, do a little exploring, and ride home. I'm glad he was able to go and make those memories but he was in a lot of pain doing that. Then, after taking a few pain killers, he met his dad, brothers, Henry, and Alexis at the Real stadium to see their team, Manchester United, play REAL Salt Lake. He has been looking forward to this game for months so again, I'm glad he was able to make it. :)

I suppose I should explain that Simon took the whole week off to go to scout camp but when the big soccer game came up, he decided to hold off on going to camp until Wednesday.

Tuesday, July 18 - After a hard night's sleep and no relief from the pain, he finally went in! They did x-rays of his back just to make sure that his spine was okay. Everything checked out so they are pretty sure it is just muscular. They prescribed him muscle relaxers and pain killers and sent him home. Poor guy! :(

Wednesday, July 19 - I can't believe this is our last summer movie together this year! Nick and Simon stayed home from the movie to pack for camp. These three cute kiddos and I got luxury recliners again! I think someone actually sat in ours but we found three together so we just sat in those. We love going to the movies! We will miss it over the winter.

Thursday, July 20 - Even though Nick is not yet 12, Simon took him on his deacons scout camp. Nick had a blast and Simon had fun having him there. This time is so great for both of them! Plus, I think Nick will really be ready for scout camps without Simon now that he has been and kind of knows what is going on. Who knows, maybe Simon will be his Deacons Leader/Scout Master next year!

Friday, July 21 - How cute are my boys? And how jealous am I that they are at Bear Lake?? :) I have spent this time with them gone going through drawers, closets, and spaces where I can get rid of things. I wanted to organize Ricki's bins so after thinking of the best way to label them, I came up with this. I hope it helps keep her room organized. Luckily, even though Nick is at camp, Kendra is so responsible I was able to go to dinner and get ice cream with Amie. We needed some BFF time together!

Saturday, July 22 - Simon and I had an idea to throw a street party. The kids took fliers around and I posted signs. We provided hot dogs, buns, and fixins. We asked even number houses to bring a salad and odd number houses to bring dessert. I was nervous at first that no one was going to come but as the night progressed, more and more people came. It was a blast!

Sunday, July 23 - I had a horrible awful migraine on Sunday and I was in bed pretty much all day long! I didn't take a picture but this pretty much sums up how I felt!

Jul 10 - 16

Monday, July 10 - Ricki has been so excited to open all of the fun gifts she received at her party yesterday. Kendra helped her open and make her candy necklace from my parents so I had to send them this picture.

Tuesday, July 11 - We've had the wonderful privilege of getting to watch Finley this week while Alexis is working in Las Vegas. We have LOVED having her with us! Now that Zack is a big 6-year-old, we had his annual well-check. He is 15% for height and 5% for weight! I knew he was a small guy but wow, that's really quite small! I talked to his doctor about his emotions since the concussion and he said that was perfectly normal and to just give him time to heal. Other than that, he is healthy and doing great! He is very ready and eager to start Kindergarten!

Wednesday, July 12 - The kids and I were able to sit in the luxury recliners for the summer movie today! Because of this special occasion, we borrowed the popcorn bucket from my parents and even got a couple of treats at the theater. The recliners were wonderful! And the kids were so happy about the extras we got to do. It was a fun movie experience!

Thursday, July 13 - I spent an entire day (seriously, like 10+ hours) making a Lego Batman - Joker pinata for Zack's birthday party. Luckily, it turned out pretty good and the kids had a blast hitting it and getting the candy out. Zack had a fun birthday with so many of his friends! I am glad to live in an area that he has so many friends, I ended up feeling guilty about a few that we didn't invite!

Friday, July 14 - Seriously, we just can't get enough of her sweet little face! Kendra was so awesome helping with Finley! She pretty much took over and watched her most of the time she was awake. She even became pro at putting her down for naps! It's great having a loving 9-year-old around when watching a sweet and slightly busy 1-year-old!

Saturday, July 15 - We are getting all sorts of baby fixes at our house! Simon and I took Ryan and Ashley to dinner to thank Ry for doing not only our personal but also my business taxes this year. Sweet baby Ruby came to dinner with us and on the way back, she fell sound asleep holding my hand! Oh, my heart!! When we got back to our house, Nick loved hugging and kissing her. We love our baby cousins/nieces!

Sunday, July 16 - Happy 37th birthday to Simon! We fixed him breakfast in bed and then gave him some gifts to open. We will still have a party with both my family and his but the kids and I wanted to give him a couple of things today. Happy birthday to my love!

Jul 3 - 9

Monday, July 3 - Mom had all of us over to paint birdhouses, which will go in her yard, and Fourth of July shirts, which we'll wear tomorrow! :) I love the shirts the kids made. I also love that it preserves their precious little hand prints! So fun!!

Tuesday, July 4 - Happy 4th of July! We did our annual tradition and spent the 4th with thousands of other people at the Sandy City festivities. It was so much fun! We enjoyed reminiscing about Katie and Kenny's engagement last year up on the very stage we were looking at. It's been a good holiday!

Wednesday, July 5 - First, happy birthday to my dear mom! I simply don't know what I would do without her and I hope to never have to find out! She is my rock and one of the people in my life that I know I can always count on. I hope she has a fabulous birthday!

Thursday, July 6 - I spent most of my day working on invitations. :) I am excited how they turned out - especially the one for Zack's party!

Friday, July 7 - A bunch of us ladies took the kids to the reservoir. It was so fun and relaxing...until I started to think of everything I needed to get done for the kids' birthday party on Sunday. Then the stress started giving me some anxiety so we packed up and came home. We spent a few hours there though so it was probably time to go anyway. Love the reservoir!

Saturday, July 8 - We headed to Lagoon in the 103° weather for MACU Lagoon day. It was super fun but the sun and heat sure take it out of you! This was Kendra's and my first time on Cannibal. It is SO scary! Poor Kendra started freaking out at the very top and said she didn't want to do this. All we could say is sorry and to take a deep breath. As you can see by her smile and thumbs up, she survived and actually admitted to enjoying it! :) This was a fun family day for all of us!

Sunday, July 9 - Happy 6th birthday Zack!!! On this, his birthday, he lost his first tooth! We were in Sacrament meeting and his tooth was just dangling out of his mouth. I asked him if I could try to pull it (because seriously, it was nasty) and he said no and hit my hand away. Well, I guess my finger was in the right place at that moment because when he hit my hand, his tooth just popped right out! Tonight, we had the Howard crew over for dinner and a party in honor of Zack and Ricki. Zack was thrilled to show off his new smile! We had lots of fun and they got tons of great gifts!

Jun 26 - Jul 2

Monday, June 26 - I knew Wednesday was going to be busy and that we wouldn't make it to the movies so we came today instead. Even though she is now 3 and should have her own movie ticket, I'm glad I held off because she slept through 3/4 of the movie! I can't say that I mind the cuddles though! 

Tuesday, June 27 - Zack (FINALLY) graduated from the Upstart program. It is an online preschool through the state. I think it helped him a lot but I don't know if I'll do it again with Ricki. It was hard to make him do 15 minutes online per day. If he didn't do it daily, I would get calls asking why he didn't get it done! Anyway, I'm proud of my boy and his progress and so glad that we are done now for the summer! Bring on Kindergarten!!

Wednesday, June 28 - Nothing real exciting happened today. I went to see Dr. Twelves this morning then brought Jenni's girls home with me. I spent most of the day cleaning. One thing I ran across while I was cleaning that is kind of gross is this cake! It is Ryan and Ashley's wedding cake and they've now been married for 4 years! YUCK!

Thursday, June 29 - The kids have been begging me to set up the swimming pool. I am watching the McCullough kids while Jenni is at Girl's Camp so we finally set it up and let them have some fun. They played in the pool then on the tramp...then back to the pool...and the tramp. :) I love that my kids love their cousins and that we got a whole day to hang out with them!

Friday, June 30 - I have been thinking a lot about Regina Campbell and with the pool already set up, I decided to invite her and her cute boys over to swim and play. Nick ended up being over at Jenni's so he wasn't here but that was okay because Noah already had plans with a friend and didn't come anyway. The kids had a blast playing and Regina and I had a really nice time visiting and catching up. She is such a sweet friend!

Saturday, July 1 - July is here! It's my very favorite month of the year! Simon worked the MACU booth at the rodeo this year so our whole family got tickets to the rodeo. It was super fun! I love our family traditions!!

Sunday, July 2 - Grandma Sharon invited all of us over to celebrate mom's birthday. Jenni made her this super cute pillow with pictures on it. I love celebrating mom!!