Wow, July was so busy! Four kids in the summer was exhausting and so fun!
Hudson got his blue belt! He's loved karate. I'm so proud of him!
This is just Davis being Davis. This kid is such a gift to us- and the world really. He spreads so much happiness!
She looked so cute all ready for church...
...and so did Hudson!
We had a fun night hanging out in Provo canyon with the Virgins. This summer got out to visit and explored a lot of the beauty within just hours of our home. Also, this is the best family ever. We not-so-secretly hope that one of our boys will want to marry one of their cute girls!
Chase and Kynlee just kept disappearing, hiking around and exploring the fun trails around the park. I can't believe they are 12! I swear they were babies just a minute ago.
Daddy and his princess off on a breakfast date! Every Friday Ben took one of the kids out to breakfast, so much that the waitresses at Ramblin Roads got to know him and the various kids. Whenever he brought Lila in they would all just fuss over her. It was fun to get more one on one time with them.
We went to the splash pad a few times! Lila could never really decide she liked it and mostly hung out in my lap and ate snacks, but the boys had fun!
So much pool time this summer! We went a few times a week, including a cousin swim morning. Some of my favorite memories of the summer!
This is when she cried for 15 straight minutes because I put chocolate chips in the chocolate zucchini bread.
Even in the hottest part of the summer, but like 8:00 our backyard is totally shaded and so pleasant. We spent a bunch of evenings out there playing and they are some of the sweetest memories.
I did weekly lunch dates with the kids on at a time. Lila always relished in her turn/thought she should get all the turns. She loves Kneaders and picked that every single time.
We got to see Nora perform in Matilda! The big kids loved it! Davis loved it at first, but also got really confused and then tired. Nora was so adorable!
Hudson picked different restaurants for his lunch dates, as long as they had grilled cheese. He orders grilled cheese everywhere we go and then rates them on a scale of 1-10.
The boys had been begging me to repaint their room for a year. Finally I conceded. We did a little room refresh to make it more their style. I gave them a pretty small budget and told them to decide together on a theme/color scheme. With a little guidance from me, they picked a star wars theme and all white with a navy accent wall. I got it all painted in about 24 hours and then put back together. They found star wars pillows, some art work, a cool clock and a light switch plate (light side/dark side), which was the deciding factor on the theme. As much as a dragged my feet on painting the walls, I totally love how it turned out. As Chase said, "it gave the room life!"
Just the cutest playdate with Davis's friends! This was right after he found out Daniel would be moving out of state and Davis was feeling a little sad about it.
We spent the 4th of July at Pineview with the Josephs. It...didn't quite go as planned. The main beach was so crowded we couldn't even get near it to park. We quickly regrouped and found another "beach". The water is SO HIGH this year from our crazy winter that "beach" meant like 1 foot of rocks between weeds and the lake! Whatever, we took it! Then the weather was kind of cloudy/rainy. But it was still fun even though it wasn't what we expected. Usually we've totally lucked out on our lake days (perfect weather, light crowds) so we were bound to get one that wasn't as smooth!
Davis wore this bandana around his head for a big part of the summer!
We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary! And by celebrated, I mean we did nothing special that day at all. But we are going to Spain in the fall and I just found out that Ben splurged on first class tickets, so we agreed to call that our delayed celebration. Either way, 15 years feels like a big accomplishment and I'm so happy with the life we have together.
Also- right at the end of June/first of July, Ben took Hudson to Phoenix for the National YoYo contest! It was probably the best thing that has ever happened to Hudson. He got to attend workshops, watch the pros compete and even compete his own routine he spent hours perfecting. He checked out all the expo booths and spent his own money on new YoYos. And he came home even more in love with the YoYo and continued to have one in his hand pretty much constantly for the rest of the summer!
