July

We celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on July 2nd- 16 years seems like a really long time, and it's gone by so fast! We celebrated with a night up in Deer Valley and it was absolutely lovely! I love that we have such a beautiful option only 1 hour away from our house, but feels so "away from home". 

This girl has sass and character coming out her ears!

We had a lovely 4th of July! We had a chill day at home and headed up to my parents in the late afternoon.We had a blast swimming with cousins (and their cousins) and had a delicious BBQ, ending with watching fireworks from the deck. I love this holiday!

We had a fun swim day with Newbolds while they were in town! We've missed these friends so much! The kids were absolutely nuts and crazy for several hours.

I took the kids for free slurpees on 7-11 at 7-11. Magic. 

An evening run-through-the-sprinklers session turned into great imaginary games involving laser fields. This group is too cute!

Just Davis, rocking an awesome pool outfit!

We did cousin Lagoon Day! This year it was just me and my mom and all seven grandkids. The girls mostly stayed together on the more mellow- kiddie rides and my boys went nuts with the crazy roller coasters. 

Lila, it turns out, is a total ride junkie! She loved everything and wasn't scared of anything! She isn't tall enough to do any of the big roller coasters, but she can do "Bombora" (an more mellow but legit roller coaster) and she rode it twice and loved it. 

Davis was tall enough to ride pretty much everything and was delighted about it. He got to ride "Primordial" with his brothers first thing (they waited 45 minutes) and it was the highlight of his life. Then they waited only a few minutes for Cannibal (pictured) and Davis now feels he can conquer anything in the world. He rode a whole bunch of big roller coasters with his brothers and absolutely loved everything, even the scary ones. Chase and Hudson are great amusement park kids- they are fearless and can handle pretty much anything. They were very sweet to include Davis and made him feel like a million bucks. 

We all rode Rattlesnake Rapids together. We got completely drenched, which was great because it was an insanely hot day. It was hilarious and we all laughed a lot!

We all had the best day! The lines were almost non-existant so these kids got to ride everything as many times as they wanted. We stayed 7 hours and went home all exhausted, hot and very happy!

Chase got to go to Young Mens camp. He had the time of his life and came home exhausted- and of course I have no pictures of it! While he was gone we did some fun things with the younger kids. Lila has been begging to go bowling all summer, so we made that happen. We spent a fun morning bowling with the Joseph boys and Lila had an absolute blast and refused to be photographed.

Then one night we took Hudson, Davis and Lila to IF at the Kaysville Theater. The movie was so cute and the boys loved it! It didn't really hold Lila's attention so she had to whine quite a bit about how tired she was, but she still stuck it out until the end. 

Lila and Rosie like to play "hair salon" in the pool. It comes with an original song they sing at the top of their lungs while doing the hair of anyone who is willing to sit there.  Papa is a frequent customer. 

Chase and Hudson did golf lessons in July and they loved it- especially Hudson. Then they got to go golfing with Papa one morning and all three of them were pretty giddy about it. Then Davis felt left out so he got to go to the driving range with Papa the next week.

We celebrated Heidi's birthday with an opening ceremonies birthday party! I asked Lindsay to make her cake and it was as delicious as it was beautiful. This is the first time we've had Heidi on her birthday in like 10 years and it was so much fun! Her friends Laura and Sage were here visiting too and I loved getting to hang out with them so much!

Heidi with her fan club. We've all really loved having Heidi here all summer- I don't know what we'll do when she moves back to Boston!

I snuck away on a Saturday to do Salt Lake stuff with Heidi, Laura and Sage.

This was Davis all ready for his outing to the golf course. He picked out this entire outfit by himself and was ready to go by like 7:15 that morning.

I took my kids on their own little back to school shopping date- just some shopping and lunch. And although it wasn't really necessary to do school shopping for a preschooler- Lila is never one to be left out. So naturally she got to go first and chose her favorite restaurant "Kneaders" for lunch. She grinned ear to ear the whole time and was generally delightful. She can be so sweet and easy going if we just do exactly what she wants! 

Davis picked Dylan's for his lunch and he was hilarious. He talked my ear off the whole time- told me all kinds of (incorrect) information about the restaurant that I haven't been to in like 20 years but he frequents with both Papas and his dad. I ordered him the wrong burger (it came with lettuce!) but he didn't hold it against me. Although he DID hold it against me that I wouldn't let him get a soda and a milkshake because obviously Papa lets him have both. 

July was so fun and HOT and busy!

Kid updates

Lila at 4 years old:

• Plays the most darling pretend games. I found her in her room one day, sitting in the babystroller pushed up against her little play kitchen. She had her Anna doll in the sink. When I asked what she was doing, her answer was "I'm pretending Anna has headlice and I have to help her get rid of them." I had no idea she even knew about headlice!
• She's gotten much more confident lately- including talking to grownups! Our lawnmower wasn't working while Ben was gone and while my dad and our neighbor Jesse were trying to fix it she kept saying "Maybe we should wait for my dad to get home, because he's the fixer!" and then turned to Jesse and said "So....we got Chase's tonsils out...." 
• She's been practicing to start ballet in the fall- mostly balancing. She thinks that's mostly what ballet will require of her.
• Her preferred hairstyle last year was "up on top". This year it is mostly a high pony tail, and when I have time, "turls".
• She's starting to figure out swimming! She'll put her face in the water and kick for short distances. She's not very open to my instruction, so she's mostly self-taught, mom-encouraged at this point.

 

Davis at 7 years old:

• He's starting to read really well- although he still hates it and battles me on it pretty much every day. 
• Is such a natural at any sport he tries. He never stops moving. His latest obsessions are flips off the diving board and finding anyone who will throw around a football with him.
• Is obsessed with Messi- even though he's only kind of aware who he really is. He likes to ask "Messi or Pele?" and then debate to the death if someone thinks Pele was better. 
• He makes us laugh every day with funny little comments. He thinks he has the world figured out. Heidi came to listen to me speak in church and during the sacrament he turned to her and said "Guys just pass the sacrament now because God says so, but girls will someday soon." He speaks with great authority about things he only has very basic knowledge of.

Hudson at 11:

• We have at least 3 conversations every day about his hair- his thoughts on length, styling, cool looks and products he'd like to try. He's very into his hair. He told me he's excited to grow a beard because it's "another way to express my creativity".
• He made the robotics team for school again next year and gets to attend a robotics camp at the end of the summer.
• He's the best babysitter around here. He's so good at playing with the littles and being creative with them.
• He's trudging along with piano lessons. It's definitely not his favorite thing, but he still does it. 
• He's very into shoes and style. He loved this look for family pictures. He loves looking around the Nike store at different options. He's always thinking of a cool new outfit he could someday have.
• He's becoming a champion teaser, meaning he's really enjoying ticking off his siblings. It's so endearing (insert eyeroll).

Chase at 13:

• Survived his much anticipated tonsillectomy! He was in so much pain for the first 8 days, but he was a really good sport about it. We were all so thankful when real, noticeable healing started. He went through a lot of chocolate pudding, ice cream, and jello!
• We also started doing weekly allergy shots for him starting in the spring. He's been a good sport about them, even though they are annoying and inconvenient.
• Learning the beautiful and calming Clair de Lune on the piano in the spring. As soon as he performed in his recital he switched to learning Beethoven's 5th symphony- pretty much the exact opposite feel! 
• He got to go on a one night camping trip with the deacons quorum in June and had the best time fishing and staying up way too late with the other boys.
• He's the kindest boy. At our Hugo family dinner, Ray and Diane's very elderly friend comes most months. He loves Chase- Chase spends the whole time listening to his life story and asking insightful questions, and then always pops up to help him out to the car when it's time to leave. Chase especially has a gift with the elderly.

The rest of JUNE

 We spent some sweet summer evenings out playing in the backyard. On the same night the boys will throw around a football, a baseball, shoot hoops, and hit the ball off the T. Lila is even getting into the games!

I took a picture of Davis this day before church because in his words "I look GOOD today!"

We had a delightful dinner with our favorite Austrians! Elli lived with my mom's family as a teenager for a year as an exchange student. My mom was only 10 at the time, but they've stayed close over the years. We've visited her in Vienna- my mom has been several times, as have most of her siblings. So when Elli was coming to Utah this summer along with her husband, son and his family, traveling around our national parks with some other American friends, my mom planned for their last night here to be a big BBQ party in her backyard. It was such a lovely evening and so fun to see this international friendship continue into the next two generations! Elli made a comment to my mom recently that my grandma was a very influential woman in her life- I love knowing people remember and still love her.

We got a lot of use out of our new hoop- which is a good thing because it was such a bear to put together.

And then Ben left for 9 days in London! Part of my heart was so sad he was leaving to go to my favorite city without me! He had a great work trip there and we were so happy to finally get him back home (his flights got delayed getting him home a whole day late!)

Heidi treated all the kids to Inside Out 2. It was Lila's first movie in a theater and she loved the experience! We all loved the movie and it was such a fun afternoon- and it gave me a lot of good insight into my teenagers head!

Chase's much awaited tonsillectomy happened! It was scheduled before Ben's London trip, and instead of delaying it was decided it was best to just get it over with. His adenoids were huge and passing most of his nasal passages, along with his frequent strep infections, we are really hoping this will be the answer we've been looking for! Chase was so nervous for surgery, but he was a champ! The admitting nurse brought him this blanket, donated to the hospital for kids having surgery. Chase used this blanket every day during his recovery and kept remarking how thankful it was for it and how nice it was for someone to make and donate it.

Chase was a champ during recovery. He could hardly eat (in fact, at his 1 week checkup he'd lost 12 pounds!). He was so sweet and kept thanking me for taking care of him. His favorite thing to do was watch documentaries with Papa, which they did about 5 different times over the first grueling 8 days. I also introduced him to White Collar and he watched the entire run over that week. It was a real bright spot for him. On day 8 he made a dramatic turn for the better and finally things got a lot better. I was so happy to get my normal Chase back!

Ben came home from London bearing gifts- something Lila frequently reminded him she was very much expecting when he returned. A little bear for Lila that has hardly left her side since, a Messi mask for Davis, London socks for Hudson and a new notebook for Chase.

Hudson got to go to Camp Kiesel! It was a highlight of his month. Boating, archery, BB guns, knife skills, just hanging out with the other guys in the neighborhood. 

We had a big White Family reunion! Somehow this was the only picture I took, but I really loved getting to spend more time with my cousins, aunts and uncles! I'm so thankful to be part of this family!