July Happenings

July was a pretty great month I think.  So busy!  We managed to spend some time swimming, at Seven Peaks, we made it to Festival Days, had birthdays, went to the Oregon Coast, and a million other things.  Work has been crazy, so I was busy working more than normal (like part-time hours) while trying to help the kids have a fun summer.  It was a little stressful.  Gratefully, we recently hired some really great people who have picked up some of that load. 

Things that stand out from the month:

The 4th of July was awesome as usual.  I think that might be my favorite holiday.  Just a fun day to hang out with family and friends.  Jake and I started off the day on a long mountain bike ride.  Loved it!  Then we hung out with friends and family came up to take over the party at our neighbor's for a bit.  We got traditional scones at another neighbor's and finished the day lighting our own fireworks and then watching the Memorial Hill fireworks.  Perfect day that wasn't even hot:)

We floated down the Provo River for the first time as a family.  It was definitely an adventure.  It was such a wet spring that the river was still running really fast and high.  What's normally a two hour adventure only took us an hour.  We have a great raft that only holds four people.  Kind of a problem for our family of five.  We decided I would rent a tube and float down holding on to the raft.  Well, that didn't work well.  The raft went a lot faster than my tube.  When we finally caught up with each other we realized that when I held on to the raft Jake couldn't steer at all.  So I floated down the river by myself while the rest of the family was in the raft.  Hilarious.  But still a lot of fun and a great adventure.  In case you were wondering, floating that river in a tube is not nice and relaxing.  You have to do quite a bit of steering to stay out of the bushes and avoid big rocks.  It was also freezing cold.  Jake took his supposedly waterproof phone on the raft and got some good pictures.  Then his phone died and they told him it's slightly water resistant.  Super lame.

What Zack looks like after welding all day.

4th of July ride

Awesome water slide at the neighbor's

Good old water balloon volleyball

Waiting for the Memorial Hill fireworks to start

Our annual ride up Memorial Hill

The only picture we have from rafting

Grandma Tracy went to Peru and brought back these cute shirts!

For Christmas, Jake got Kate and I tickets for Cinderella at Hales Theater.  It was so fun!

Festival Days!

We finally got the rest of our pavers in!  We did the prep work and paid people to put the actual pavers in.  It was glorious.

Sometimes we do this at Red Ledges.  Also glorious.

Sage wrapped Zack's present

Zack was so excited to turn 15.  I wish he would smile in pictures.  He's my favorite because he always requests birthday root beer floats

A new tradition this year - pictures on the windows for everyone's birthday.  I kind of love it!

Jake finally turned 40!!

I love this picture.  Thought we had candles, but we didn't.  So he blew out a match.  Birthday fail.  We sure are grateful for Jake and everything he does for us.  We're blessed to have him!

Zack got his drivers permit!  I'm terrified.  I've got to get him driving more!

Demolition Derby date!  So fun!

Zack driving up a dirt road with the whole family in the car.  I only screamed once.

A moose we saw on a hike to Blood Lake.  

Random mountain biking picture.  But I had to include it because that's been happening a lot this summer!