July fun

The weather has been HOT! 

We're spending as much time as possible at the pool.

 Play-doh has been fun on hot summer afternoons.

 We had the opportunity to babysit Declan and Dawson. Little Dawson likes to be held and our kids were happy to help.

 Mary is our little baker. She has made sure we don't run out of cookies this summer.

 Reading at the library. This scene makes me happy.

 Taking a 5 minute break from swimming.

Cuddling by the pool.

 Playing basketball.

Cub camp

 Our Luke had his first long-awaited Cub Camp this past week.

He was so cute with his sack lunch in hand. He practically ran to the meeting spot!

 He returned home the first day all smiles, with his arrow head necklace and a Slurpee in hand.

(Check out the dirty legs).

 Day 2 he returned home again all smiles, Frosty in one hand and new knife from the trading post in the other hand. Again, check out those legs! It's just another sign he had a great time at camp.

Archery was a favorite for this 8 year old.

Girls camp

Todd and I had an amazing opportunity to attend girls camp this year.

As soon as we arrived, they had us both gear up for a ride on the zip line.

I learned that it's scarier than it looks to step off that platform and sail through the air.

It was super fun though!

 Bishop learning to make bracelets with the girls.

 Look at this darling group of girls and leaders.

 Team building activities

 Bishop providing an afternoon snack for the girls.

 Todd and I made dutch oven peach cobbler for the girls.

 Todd participated in the Bishop's watermelon eating contest after dinner. The other Bishops didn't know who they were up against :) Todd finished the watermelon down to the rind and won the contest in 7 seconds!

 Dutch oven peach cobbler after dinner.

Bells canyon hike round 2

I skipped out on the neighborhood 4th of July fireworks this year and went to bed early so that I could take Michael and his friend on another Biology assignment hike. This time we started at 5:30am. My mom joined us. For this hike, we chose a different trail head in Bells Canyon.

As usual, the views and scenery were amazing. The boys spotted one deer but they still need a few more pictures of wildlife to finish their assignment. Looks like we'll be going on more hikes in the coming weeks.

Fourth of July

Hoisting our bright new flag on the 4th of July

 A 4th of July parade with my side of the family

 I wanted Sara to see police and fire-fighters in the parade setting since she was terrified of them after her accident. It worked! She was thrilled when the police officers gave her a high five, sticker and candy.

 My cute grandparents at our family 4th of July breakfast.

 Eating cherries before our movie on the 4th. It's messy to dig that pit out!

Our first rodeo :)

Our awesome neighbor gave us VIP dinner and rodeo tickets.

The dinner was classic western BBQ and it was delicious.

What a great way to start our 4th of July weekend!

 After dinner we waited for more than an hour for the rodeo to start...

 That's long enough for little cowboys to catch a nap...

 Once the rodeo started, our kids were glued. 

 Bucking horses were really cool to watch.

 Then they brought out the bulls! WOW!

June wrap up

Luke's first pack meeting. He earned his Bobcat and cyber chip.

The first crop of raspberries from our garden. Sara loved them!

A family bike ride minus Michael because he had just returned from a three day high adventure backpacking trip.

A great group of scouts in our neighborhood preparing for the flag ceremony at an Eagle Court of Honor.

Our boys at a Real soccer game with neighbors.

Sorting through last years school papers.

Michael and I hiked Bell's Canyon so that he could observe plants and wildlife for his summer Biology project.

He spotted a snake. How cool is that for his Biology project?! I'm just grateful it wasn't a rattle snake.

Can you spot the snake's head?

We were really happy about this butterfly picture too! It's hard to get a clear picture.

We loved our hike so much we did it again at the beginning of July. Six hours of observation completed.