July

 This is a long post- even though I've already done several posts about July. It was just a spectacular month! So much to celebrate and so many fun activities going on! This top photo is from the 4th of July- which was just lovely this year. We had celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary two days earlier, and by celebrated I mean we had a bowl of ice cream before bed after a long day of work, kids and bathroom remodeling. We reminisced about how last year on our 11th we went out for a fancy dinner together, but the most memorable part of the evening was the little surprise gift I gave Ben- a positive pregnancy test! 11 years ago we were celebrating the news that our darling daughter would be coming and this year she's here with us! We love this family we've created. They are so much work, but bring us the greatest joy!

Back to the 4th- it was a full and busy day! We did our traditional red, white and blue breakfast at home and then spent the rest of the late morning/afternoon at Ray and Diane's. We had a lovely BBQ and the kids had a water fight and I apparently didn't take any pictures. After we went up to my parents house for a swim party and another BBQ.

 Then we pulled out the sparklers. As we were doing them I realized that these particular sparklers dropped off little pieces of red hot burning cardboard as they burned down and had the thought that the kids should probably have shoes on. A few seconds later Davis stepped right on one of those little pieces and burned his little foot! We cooled it off in the sink and bandaged it up and he was fine once the sky lit up with fireworks. In fact, he exclaimed "FIREWORKS!" at almost every single blast. It was darling. The view of fireworks from my parents deck really can't be topped. Davis hobbled around on his heel for a few days, but never really complained again about his hurting foot. In time, it healed up just fine.

 This was from our Sunday dinner with the whole family- the last one before Heidi left to go back to Boston that night. We love hanging on the swing while the kids play in the yard- foxtail and cornhole.

 We've had so many sweet, slow moments this summer. I'm thankful for that gift. This was one morning when I found Chase reading his favorite "DogMan" to Lila.

 I taught two sessions of swim lessons at the beginning of July. My mom watched the kids for me and it all went really well and smoothly. I even was able to sneak Chase and Hudson into a class in the 2nd session, which is so fun to have my own kids. One day during swim lessons my dad and Davis rode in this excavator in the lot next door. I'm still unclear on WHY they were in the excavator, but they both had a great time.

 We had a dentist appointment for the kids. Our pediatric dentist is really the best. We know him and his family personally as they used to live in our ward. Chase and Hudson really enjoy going to the dentist and even look forward to it! Davis does not. I don't think the precautions of everyone wearing masks helped at all. He has bitten Marc in the past, and this time he bit the hygienist (who is new). And the worst news is that Davis has three little cavities that need to be filled! I feel horrible about this. When his baby teeth formed while I was pregnant with him, the enamel didn't form very well in many spots. Despite our mediocre efforts, these developed into cavities (as the dentist has warned me in the past that they might). And because he's so against having anyone put a finger in his mouth, they will have to be filled in September while he's under general anesthesia.

 This is just a sweet picture of our darling Lila in a 3-6 month outfit. She started to wear some of these during July, even though they are still quite roomy on her.

 Ben and Davis during home church. Despite how their expressions look, home church has actually been wonderful for our family. We love being able to do a short worship service here at home, focus on our boys and their level of understanding and tailor lessons towards what they might be struggling with. We've also been reading the Book of Mormon as a family all year which has been an awesome experience for us. We're giving home church two thumbs up! (Also, Davis only kind of participates in home church and some weeks doesn't dress up at all. He also eats all the leftover sacrament bread after that part is over.)

 Davis actually prefers to be carried this way and requests it.

 Oh Hudson, this sweet, slightly blurry photo describes him so well. He loves his baby sister so much. I'd put her down to switch laundry and she started to fuss. So without even calling me, he just picked her up and continued to practice his piano one handed.

 My parents neighbor and dear friend, Wayne Petersen, was in a terrible accident at the end of May. He was in ICU for over a month and at times, doctors weren't sure he'd even make it. We love Wayne and his wife Kelly and our family fasted and prayed earnestly for them. My mom took in several meals to them and we all just hoped and prayed he'd recover. Mid-July he was finally able to come home! It was the happiest day! Halie painted these signs for their yard and all the other neighbors made signs and blew up balloons. They had a little parade as he drove down the street to their home. When my mom was asked "How did Wayne look?" she replied "I don't know! I was crying!" We are all so thankful for that miracle!

 July was full of so much swim time for us! We are so thankful for access to this pool, with it's beautiful view and willing grandparents who often hold Lila so we can all swim!

 Davis continues to amaze us in his love and affection for Lila- boy was a worried before she was born! He's so sweet to her (if not, maybe, a little too sweet for her own liking. 3 year olds aren't really reliable baby holders)

 Swim night continued to be a highlight of the summer! As July heated up we switched out our s'mores making for popsicles, and the kids were obviously fine with that!

 My sweet Chase- how amazing it is to have a nine year old! He's so helpful with the younger kids. He's so sweet to Lila! Both Chase and Hudson love to be the one who picks out her outfit every morning. They are both so sweet to Davis. Lately, Davis and Lila have been melting down for naptime at the same time which is really tricky for me. Enter Chase. He will sit and read to Davis until Davis falls asleep while I nurse Lila! It's been amazing. I've been teasing Ben because Chase gets Davis to sleep faster than Ben can.

 We finally got our carpets cleaned. While this normally wouldn't be "blog worthy" let me tell you, it was such a weird, stressful day! We had furniture moved into random places in the house and then I felt really bad, tired, head-achey all day! And I couldn't even put the kids in front of a movie because there was no couch and the carpet was wet in front of the TV! We made it through the day though and I'm glad we got it done. Who would have thought that a little thing like carpet cleaning could throw off your day so much! (This is us playing outside while the actual cleaning was done- but it was like 100 degrees and kind of miserable, as you can see by Davis's red little face)

 On said carpet cleaning day, Davis had to nap down in the boys room. We didn't have the basement carpets done since they have had so little wear and tear. Davis thought it was so exciting to sleep in the big box (my parents got new furniture and gifted the boys the huge box it came in, Hudson's been sleeping in it ever since.) This lasted about 5 minutes and then he climbed into Hudson's bed and finally fell asleep.

 This is classic Davis- whenever anyone is working in the yard he has to grab his little mower and go help. Even if he's only wearing half his pajamas at the moment.

 We had a lovely 24th of July celebration! Ben had to work all day, so the day was fairly normal but we did have a lovely evening at Ray and Diane's! I made pies and green jello- the most Utah thing I could think of. We had carne asada and it was delicious! My parents came too, so that's fun to be able to combine on holidays. Ben was in charge of buying the fireworks for the evening and spent way too much- but we did have a spectacular firework show! I was surprised that Lila stayed awake and didn't cry or seem to really care- they were really loud! Chase had so much fun setting off the fireworks with Ben and Davis loved sparklers- we even avoided any burns this time!

The cousin crew! My mom bought the kids these shirts and they look so darling all wearing them together! They are the cutest little cousin crew you've ever met. We've made so many wonderful memories this summer together as a big family in this backyard- so much swimming, BBQing, playing, laughing and talking. I think these swim nights will be some of my kids fondest memories of summers growing up.

This was just a funny random day when Davis and Hudson both put clothes pins on their fingers and thought it was hilarious. Hudson is always full of ideas like this- and Davis usually wants to join in anything his big brothers are doing that looks fun.

Oh the big box- my parents got new furniture and gifted the box to the boys. Hudson has been sleeping in it ever since. Whatever makes him happy! Once school starts the box will probably find its way to the dumpster and I'll make Hudson sleep in a bed.

One morning we left super early to go to Cecret Lake! The wildflowers were in peak bloom and so so beautiful! This trail is just about a mile each way and the boys did great! Lila hiked most of the way up in the backpack, but then we done and hiked all the way down asleep in my arms.

Chase has been wanting to host a little party forever and Coronavirus really put a damper on that. We finally settled on a very small pool party. I let him invite a few friends (Jaxson, Luca, Bridger and Levi) and I got pizzas and ice cream sandwiches. The boys just played and played in the pool, only hopping out to eat a slice of pizza and then jump right back in. It was a super fun night and Chase was ecstatic that he got to host a little party. A little bright spot in all the fun things that got cancelled this year due to Corona.

And one night I found this taped to my door, "Gone Fishing, dinner is in the fridge." Clearly from Hudson. Who hadn't gone fishing. And dinner wasn't in the fridge. He just thought it would be funny. I love this kid so much.

Davis rotates through favorite toys- and for awhile was really in a Cars kick. This made me smile because was selectively only playing with actual Cars characters (in the past he's been okay with a mixture of characters from different groups). He would line them all up just perfectly and talk and play with them for hours! There is nothing cuter to me than a little boy playing with cars!

July 31st is Harry Potter's Birthday! We decided to let July go out with a bang and celebrate Harry's birthday. I mentioned it to the boys a few days before and they were all in! So I told them to go pick some recipes out of the Harry Potter cookbook Will and Kate gave me for my birthday. When I checked in on them 15 minutes later they'd bookmarked like 20 desserts. We narrowed that down to 3 desserts and added a main dish and side dish. Then I asked Hudson if he'd like to make decorations- which he was thrilled about. It may be hard to tell from the picture, but he made a sword of Gryffindor (Chase made the Goblet of Fire next to it). Then Hudson created little signs representing different books, hung up a locket of mine (to be the Horcrux) along with my wedding tiara to be the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. Chase made a Hagrid on a motorcycle from Legos. All the decor was so cute and 100% created from these boys imaginations from stuff we had around the house! I loved it so much!

Both boys loved helping me with the food. Chase helped me make treacle fudge. Hudson helped make the pumpkin pasties. Davis helped make the sausage rolls. I also made fried tomatoes, which no one but me ate. We dished up our plates with Harry Potter food and settled in to watch the 7th movie.

We took a break for one more dessert- Knickerbocker glory! This was a layered dessert the boys were so excited about- ice cream, jello, fresh fruit, custard, whipped cream and chocolate sauce! It was a sugar overload for sure, but the boys thought it was the coolest. This was seriously such a fun night. It was really low key- nothing pinterest worthy or fancy, but festive and homemade and the perfect way to end July! I think celebrating Harry's birthday might just become a tradition for us!