July 2019

 

 July consisted of a lot of Miles & Me selfies. So you'll probably see a lot of those. I dunno, maybe he's just too adorable or somethin like that.

Anyway, remember the Walleye that Dave caught in June? Well, I cooked that thing in July and it was de-lish. He loved it especially because it didn't taste like fish.

 Miles figured out a few ways to make the eye of Sauron out of Legos (as seen on Lego Batman). He started really getting into Legos this summer, along with the other boys. I began getting rid of other toys because they just didn't care anymore. It's all Legos and Xbox up in here.

 On July 4th, we went to the Ybarras for a BBQ at lunch, and of course I didn't get any photos. It was hot and sunny. And then we came home and a couple hours later it looked like this:

 The kids were especially worried that we weren't going to be able to do fireworks. Mom was hoping it would keep raining so we wouldn't have to do fireworks. But in the end, God smiled upon the children (but left it just windy and chilly enough so I could call it a night early).

 We had to BBQ in the rain, which was interesting. The steaks took a long time to cook because of it.

Jett made a cake for the 4th. It was weird singing "Happy Birthday" to America, but you know we totally did.

 We only bought a few fireworks this year, which turned out perfect because of the weather. The boys always really like the parachute ones, so we got a bunch of those and set them off earlier in the evening. It was so windy, Dave had to light them from the other side of the street. The wind would blow the parachutes south of our house, and the boys and neighbor kids would race to try to catch them. Most blew into neighbors backyards though.

 Never before have I insisted on everyone wearing sweaters on the 4th of July. But it was so cold! I think it was about 60 degrees F, plus the wind making it feel colder. We were bundled up and had our blankets on trying to keep warm.

 Sparklers always tend to make me nervous, but when the wind is going, they're especially worrisome. I was a big ball of anxiety that night.

We finished off the night watching the big fireworks show coming from Thanksgiving Point, which is always really impressive. Then after realizing my hands were frozen, I rounded up the gang and got everyone in bed. Which, of course, is when the neighbors decided to start their fireworks.

 The 5th was date night and we decided to go see Spider Man Far From Home. Pretty good movie. It was good to spend some time just the two of us.

 From one of our regular boating trips:

 More Miles & Me selfies:

 Then there's this guy being all handsome and such:

 A visit to the museum's photo booth:

 Another Miles & Me

I took the boys bowling one day by myself and that was pretty fun. They're pretty fun to hang out with.

 Jett had the raingutter regatta at scouts, which, in my opinion, is a huge waste of everyone's time & money. Really glad this is the last one for us.

 We had a Family Fun Day on the 12th at the Lehi outdoor pool.

 And then right after, Dave and Cruise went camping with the scouts at Strawberry. Only 2 other boys showed up, so the adults outnumbered them, but they had a lot of fun catching crawdads and cooking them.

 Dave brought home a ton more and taught us how to cook and prepare them.

 Dave, one day, came home from work and surprised me with this beauty right here. Sometimes, he just gets me.

 More boating and wakeboarding. Jett has gotten really good and now has passed me in skill level. It doesn't hurt that he's pretty gutsy and confident with it. Dave continued to be crazy good. Miles learned how to body board behind the boat and really enjoyed that.

 Random dinner pics:

 Dave and I had another date night on the 19th, so we went to eat Poke and then to get pedicures! Dave really likes the chairs more than anything.

On the 20th, I threw my friend Rachel a baby shower for her twin boys. She really wanted a construction theme, so it was tricky to make it still look baby showery, but it turned out cute. She did most of the food. Foodwise, I made a ton of cupcakes and Dave helped me with the favors. The turn out was HUGE. I didn't know anyone could know that many people. And of course the only person I knew was Rachel, so I spent the entire time running around refilling food and moving gifts around the room because every corner was being filled. I did a diaper raffle, so luckily she got A TON of diapers. Which, of course, will last her about a month. 

 Dave bought me new shoes! I luff them.

 There was a day that Dave, Jett, Miles and Uncle Joe took the boat out while Cruise and I stayed home. There was one point I realized on my app that the boat had been stopped in the water for some time. I called Dave and Jett answered and said the boat died. I told him to have Dad call me when he got a minute. Dave called me back and said the boat had died and wasn't restarting and that the trolling motor also wasn't working. I asked if he wanted me to call someone. He said no and that he was confident it would start, so I told him I'd check in on him in a little bit. Cruise and I went to In-N-Out for lunch where I called Dave again and learned that the boat still hadn't started. I drove to the marina, parked the car, and asked a very tan couple (and their 2 dogs) coming in if they could give Dave a tow. They were nice to help us out, so Cruise and I boarded their boat and directed them to where Dave and the boys were stranded. (Let me just point out, that I was outside on the lake, wearing sweatpants and NO SUNSCREEN, having to make small talk with people I didn't necessarily choose to have a conversation with, with dogs jumping all over me, in almost 100 degree weather. So if Dave ever questions my love for him, just remind him of that detail.) We pulled them in, I gathered the kids into the van while Dave & Joe got the boat onto the trailer. We were all burned. Well, except for Cruise. He never burns.

Anyway, Dave's boat died and needed major surgery. So he had to purchase a motor, swap out the existing motor, and then there were issues with the new motor, so that had to be fixed, and so Dave is pretty much a miracle worker.

 Cute Miles with the motor.

 Another hot-day museum visit.

 Dave had the 24th off because of Pioneer Day. I'm the biggest July Grinch. I hate July. And mostly it's because of the heat and fireworks. Why. On. Earth. are people setting off fireworks for Pioneer Day?! Between that and people flying the American Flag (instead of the Utah or Mexican flag), I have really come to dislike Pioneer Day...Anyway (end of rant), since Dave got it off, we decided to take the kids to see the new Lion King and it was Fan.Tas.Tic. Loved it! Totally made me not hate Pioneer Day this year.

 The most exciting thing that happened in July was that Ruthie and her family came up and we got to spend a couple days with them! On the 26th, we (excluding Cruise who was at art camp that morning) met them at the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point. It was so fun to see her kids (especially the cute twins) look at and hold all the butterflies.

 After that, we came back to our house where the boys played and we all ate a giant pizza from Tenney's.

 After I picked Cruise up from camp, we all headed to Provo to Fat Cat's where the boys all played VR and then we bowled. It was pure craziness.

 I also learned on this day, that I am an ambidextrous bowler! Go me!

 SIDE NOTE! I also finished my pretty table! Woot woot!

 On the 27th, the boys and I met up with the Silveiras at the Provo pool. I had actually never been and I was really impressed. If we lived closer, I'd get a pass next year. We all had a ton of fun swimming and going down the slides. We were there almost 4 hours, which is 2 hours longer than I normally spend at a pool. Needless to say, it took me a week to recuperate. But it was totally worth it. It was so much fun hanging out with Ruth and her family!

A little gem from this month...

We had the boys' favorite sitter, Savannah, over just for a couple hours one day. Normally we're gone for 4 hours, but we were home just under two. Miles got so upset about that, that he cried a good half hour after we got home because he wanted to hang out with Savannah more. Never have I had a child cry because they wanted us to leave and the sitter stay. 

And that was July!