July Joys!

I didn't realize how busy we were in July until I started having to narrow down the pictures for this post! I guess I was making up for a slow June!!

Our first (and only) outdoor picnic! Except for getting sprayed by the neighbor's sprinkler, we had a great time!
After June camps ended, I decided it was time to do the mom duty of getting Eden off the bottle and into a toddler bed! We did them both the same day. She put all the bottles in a bag and said goodbye to them all. She helped me get her new bed all ready and was very excited about it...at first. That night when she realized that the new bed meant no bottles, she cried, "Don't want it, bed - don't want it, bed!" She woke up in the middle of the night a few days wanting the bottle, but it was harmless enough, I guess. She's turned into QUITE the eater! I think she out-eats Emily. Her new thing to say is "Tummy hurts!" I think that means she's hungry. Her insides are still getting used to all the food!
As I was cleaning up from camps, I had each of the girls pose with ALL the gear they brought home and all the crafts they made! Then they got to choose a few things to keep and mom got to dispose of (or reuse) the rest!
We went to our first Owlz game and stayed for the fireworks. We were glad we brought our neighbor friend along - she entertained the girls for us all night! This time I was the lucky one - I caught a foam baseball they threw into the crowds during inning breaks!
The kids all ran to Holly and Ella got her arm signed! She also got my baseball signed.
The baseball game/fireworks got us all patriotic-feeling for the 4th of July! On July 2nd we had a family BBQ and had the annual Parking Lot of Fire at Dan's office parking lot. But I also enjoyed the impromptu gymnastics show put on by all the cousins! Here's Natalia's trick...
Emily's trick...
Samantha... (she was a bit more advanced than the rest of us!!)
Eden's trick...
Mason was a spectator. Notice his cool headband I helped him fingerknit! He'd already self-taught himself from the computer, but I gave him a few pointers. Samantha also gave it a try and caught on very quickly.
More spectators...
We were all dressed up for the occasion!I got aunt of the year as I discovered how much Hayden liked the Pop-its!
Eden didn't take to the sparklers, but she LOVED the Pop-its!
The excited audience!
After the parking lot show, we headed to the field behind Dan and Paige's townhome to watch the BYU fireworks. The kids had fun sitting on Lynn and Dustin's car, well, until Braydon fell off! It was a dangerous night...as we were leaving the parking lot, Eden tripped and tumbled. She ended up with a skinned knee, elbow, nose, and forehead and it upset her so much she threw up! Karyssa also got a pretty deep cut on her forehead at Paige's house! Amazingly, none of the injuries were a result of fireworks!
I think the glow bracelets were a bigger hit than the firework show!
The kids thought of dressing in red, white and blue all by themselves on Sunday!
American Fork Steele Days is in July. We took advantage of almost ALL the events!! We enjoyed swimming on free swimming day (except for the TERRIBLE sunburns we had for the next week!)
The kids had fun dancing with the city princesses at the American Fork Symphony concert at the Amphitheater.
They each got a bunch of tickets for the American Fork carnival!
Unfortunately, we'd been having a VERY wet month and we got struck by a downpour while we were there. The guys in the spinning UFO let us on to wait out the rain. After about 15 minutes we decided to make a run for it and come back the next day. We had to run through some pretty BIG puddles on the way out!
Enjoying the last of our tickets the next day!
We also decided to try out the bike parade this year. But I think I'll be skipping that event next year.
We went straight from there to the Picnic in the Park. There were lots of carnival games to play as well as bounce houses. The kids got a lot of goodies! We only lost Eden once...yes, she's become quite the escape artist! She had previously escaped the house while I was at YW activity and we were lucky a neighbor (we didn't even know!) returned her to us! And again she escaped from Steve at the park! I had to have the police even start to look for her. (Why do I feel like Jill at the moment???) Luckily she was just off watching another event!
The next morning was my 5K with Paige and Lynn! Paige started this whole crazy thing 10 weeks ago when she asked if I wanted to train for a 5K with her. I reluctantly agreed, but I stuck to the schedule and was very impressed with my progress. One day after returning from a run, Ella took one look at me and noted, "Mom, you're leaking!!" I guess we don't exercise much around here! I had run a 5K for practice the day before and had done it in 41 minutes. I was hoping to beat that time. Paige, Lynn and I stuck pretty close together and I tried to keep up with Paige's pace! (I am the older sister, remember!)
Our cheerleaders that met us at the finish line to encourage us!
We sprinted at the end!
I did it!!! And I beat my time by 5 minutes - 36 minutes total!
3 Sisters accomplishing something difficult...
...on the day that pigs fly!
Steve was so inspired by us that he started the same training they very next week! Now we motivate each other to keep up the training and we plan to do the Lindon 5K in August.We headed to the AF parade after the race. Eden LOVES monkeys, or "ooh ooh ah ah"s as she calls them.
But I don't think she appreciates band music!
The girls have gotten bolder about running for candy! I was lucky again today, I caught a water bottle thrown by the Owlz float and a lady handed me a ModBod Tshirt, which Emily is enjoying as a nightshirt!
I came home and took a well-deserved rest. The girls apparently decided I needed a book and a dog!
Eden is at SUCH a cute stage! She communicates much better, has a sense of humor, is loving and caring and getting very independent. I've discovered she's also very stubborn, very independent, and moves at her own pace. She's definitely two! One of her favorite things to say is "Howy cow!" when something falls, or surprises her! She also is very sweet and tells me I look "Cute" or "Nice" when she likes something I wear! She LOVES nursery. Except one week the leader she really likes wasn't there and she cried on the floor for about 15 minutes! The next week when she was back she gave me a hug and pointed at the door! We passed by a temple yesterday and she cheered, "Yay!! Church!" What a good example! Another thing she loves doing at church is singing during the hymns. She sure puts her heart into it! And she sure makes everyone around her smile!
I haven't been very good about starting Home School this summer, but we've tried to do a few things to keep up the learning. Aside from the 100s charts the girls are working on to read 100 books, I ordered a Ladybug Land and the bugs to go with it. They came as larvae...
and I was a bit grossed out trying to get them in the dome.
It's been a HIT with the kids (and with me...they require so little care!!)
The larvae.
We've watched them shed their skin several times as larvae, form into pupae on the dome walls, emerge as ladybugs and dry their wings and watched them grow as ladybugs! We're having a hard time wanting to release them, but they still seem to be thriving! It's been a fun experiment!
Another educational opportunity was a day at BYU. We had actually planned a 7 Peaks day, but rain was threatening, so the girls were ok with exploring BYU. We started by eating our lunch at the Cougareat with all the summer college students!
We found the fish tanks.
And some fun stairs to climb up and down...
The science experiments at the Eyering Science Center were a blast!
Eden peeking at the pendulum.
We also rode the elevator to the top of the Kimball tower, found some of the Princess pictures, looked at the bowling alley, went through the bookstore and we topped it all off with ice cream at the new creamery. I was sad to discover that the old creamery is just a shell of what it used to be - mostly for takeout now. The new student housing where the DT buildings used to be are looking good, but I miss my old freshman home! We had a fun time and I bet there's more we could do there another day!
We also had our annual family yard sale this year. It's nice to clean up and get rid of some excess clutter. I did better than I thought and the kids had a blast at their lemonaid stand! Here's the end of the yard sale with some of the unsold tutus, dancing around Hokey Pokey Elmo!
We met Lynn and her kids at Fat Catz for a morning of bowling. Wii bowling has really helped my kids and I think they all bowled over 100 with Ella taking the lead!
But the best part is being with cousins!
Rissy decided to do a crazy bowling move! And Eden tried to imitate her later, luckily we stopped the ball before it hit her since her legs aren't quite as long!
Enjoying a summer sno cone! While we were there Emily found a ladybug to put in the ladybug land to be the mom of all the pupa as soon as they emerged.
We went to Monkey Island to get out some energy. We took our fun neighbor girl. We all had a blast, except that the air conditioning was broken and they were soaked with sweat by the end!
Is it just me or is there a resemblance here?
We visited daddy for lunch a couple of times. He has a nice park with a fun hill right by his work that we always eat at.
Nothing better than running down a hill! Except when you trip over the 1 inch cement step and skin your knees yet again.
She's cute and she KNOWS it!
The girls wanted to be triplets one Sunday - super cute!
Jill has come over a couple of times. I'm helping her photograph and list all her baby clothes online. The kids have a blast playing while we work. These kids came out of the playroom all ready to put on a Wizard of Oz play. Mason was the scarecrow and we had two Dorothys! Mason sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow and the girls danced - it was adorable! Then later Emily found a tin hat and a teapot (oil can) and became the Tin Man!
And here's some pics of my cowgirl diva! She runs around saying, "Yee Haw!" or "Gee yup, gee yup!"
Ella was being a sweet sister and trying to help Eden on her bike.
Although I did question why Ella was wearing the helmet and not Eden!
I've also been using my freetime to do some "Spring" cleaning. I've got the walls washed, had the carpets cleaned, cleaned blinds, etc. Steve got the finishing touches done on the kitchen tile, but not before I got the next project planned for him...cutting an area of carpet in the basement and laying linoleum. That way I can have a permanent table area and won't have to deal with the laminate flooring coming apart and moving all the time. I like to keep him busy!

Steve has been really wanting to do the Parade of Homes again this year. We decided to do the SLC parade because it included some houses in Daybreak (our dream location) and the UP house replica. The kids had a BLAST touring a bunch of homes yesterday! They love it as much as we do. Getting free balloons, cotton candy and ice cream at random houses doesn't hurt either!

Emily and Ella have been having fun playing together when their not watching TV or playing Wii. One day they were playing playdough. Emily, getting impatient with Ella said, "Hurry, the customers are waiting!" Ella replied, "You CAN'T rush art!" (Too much Toy Story, I think!)

I thought I'd get this done a day early since I've got Girls Camp this week! Wish me and Steve luck!