July Was Crazy, Yo

We knew going into July that it was going to be one of those months that passed where we blinked and it was over. And that definitely did happen. We had so much going on and so much of it was all spectacular! spectacular!

 

4TH OF JULY

 

M&M made their annual appearance for the first week. This year was totally different from all the rest it seemed. We just had some peace together. It was more relaxed than in the past. We took an awesome hike where you have to climb over huge log jams and rode bikes for milkshakes and M&M and I even ran together. I just loved it. Especially when Mitchell cooked me dinner ;)

 

This water was no joke so cold

We took up the whole bike rack!

 

 

So every year our community has a large parade where all the neighborhoods join together and walk from the elementary school to a park. There is a huge BBQ at the end of the parade. Each year we see people and they have cool floats and this year we made sure we were part of the lot!

This was supposed to be for the kids to ride in but they wanted to ride bikes so......in went Michelle

I requested a unicorn one

Not huge fans of the fireworks

Mason won't call our friend Crystal by her name and is constantly getting her confused with Michelle calling her "Shell" only. So here is Michelle and NW Shell ;)

Packing for the trip

 

 

KIDS IN SAN DIEGO/US ON A BREAK

 

The kids were in San Diego enjoying family for about two weeks this year. They went to the zoo and went on bounce houses and saw movies. They swam every day. Ava is a pretty decent swimmer now thanks to Aunt Lauren. They had a great time!! Ava has nonstop said "this is the BEST SUMMER EVER!!!!!!!!"

 

Words cannot express the gratitude I have towards Michelle and Mitchell for taking them on each year and the rest of our families for helping while they are there. Living so far away from family means while yes we have babysitters and stuff........Andy and I are "on" 100% of the time as parents. There's never a drop off for a night at Grandma's where we can relax and know they are with family and we don't have to worry or feel guilty. All this "on" time as parents honestly means our relationship takes a bit of a hit. Its really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and after awhile you realize you've just been going through the motions and you're operating on empty. These weeks are like a recharge that leave us awesome for the rest of the year. And boy did we enjoy them. I missed my kids though. So much more even than last year. They're getting to be these fun little people that you just get used to hanging out with and when that's gone it's so sad. We were so happy to join them in San Diego refreshed and recharged.

Road trip!

Carry and Norm's son, Owen was born so we got to see him lots! In fact Mason and Ava saw him before I did. It was the longest two weeks having my babies in San Diego and knowing there was also this new little guy I was super excited about meeting too. He's just perfect and I was so grateful for my cuddle time with him.

While the kids were away us parents played. We did the Electric Run!

Nana took Ava and Mason with Lauren to see Turbo. They loved it!

And we were reunited! They cried every time I said I was going to leave them the first few nights. Now they are as irritated as ever with me for telling them to pick up after themselves and you know.......turn off lights and stuff.

The beach got smelly guys. But we had a blast anyways. I think this little time in LaJolla really did a good number on me. I always need the beach to truly relax and it was SO overdue.

 

Out of our order but we found this little gem.  I love this memory!

 Don't kill me, Mom. I like this picture. Ava was really really curious about me as a baby and so my mom gave her a ton of pictures. Then she became only concerned with how weird I looked due to my crossed eyes. Go figure!

VEGAS BABY!!!

After a glorious long weekend in San Diego where it never seems like enough time; we left in our car and headed for Vegas where we were joined by Andy's whole side of the family. We got a kick out of showing the kids the strip and we swam in the pool. We ate tasty burgers and milkshakes at Steak N Shake which is this little 50's style diner. It was really really yummy and super fun! At night the kids had a sleepover with PopPop and Pat, Andy, and I saw a movie after doing a little gambling with Mindy. I'm not a huge gambler so for me this was the perfect Vegas time.

JUNCTION

 

This trip was for me the most perfect little family trip. We saw so many sights and part of that was spending time at Randy and Debbie's property in Utah. Oh man you guys, it's just so awesome there. The town is just under 250 people. They only have one general store and it's perfectly quiet and relaxing. I took so many naps it was bordering on inappropriate.  I don't know how to accurately convey how much Andy and I needed a relaxing vacation. It's been years. Usually we go to San Diego and we spend the whole time frantically trying to see and please and do. It's always a good time but to just have a whole 10 days to do actual real cliché family vacation stuff was priceless. I didn't check my phone for Facebook updates or email for the first few days. Who cared what happened because where we were was better. The perk about being in Junction, too, is it's a very short distance to Bryce Canyon and Zion. Never having been to either, I enjoyed them immensely. They were such fantastic places of eye candy.

 

 

Come on......Virgin, UT, I don't care what you say. That's funny!

So the town next to Junction is Marysville. They throw a good ole fashioned (?) Trout Rodeo for Pioneer Day (state holiday in UT). You get yerself an old sunken dance floor, gather the yungins, fill that there dance floor with some water, dump in some trout, and let those yungins fish with that there hands!

Success!!

I had a horse fear. At Bryce Canyon I conquered the horse fear!!!!!! Nuf said.

And this little girl became a cow girl. I don't know what happened in Junction. There was this saw horse and on top of the saw horse was a saddle. Then there was a lasso and all the sudden then there was handkerchief wearing which turned into needing a cowgirl hat.

BOISE BOUND

 

 

The natural stopping place between Junction and home is Boise. I wasn't the most excited at first thinking to myself who the heck cares about Boise? What's even IN Boise? Well let me tell you....I care about Boise! Boise rocks! Boise's small and quaint and has the most awesome places to eat and try new beer and walk around and see. It's the right size of small and yet still modern but not too modern. And there's Idaho's capital building right there in their downtown! How freaking cool is that??!? Boise stole my heart. 

The trip's length was starting to set in for them.

A real bed after a week in a tent!

If I were to open a bar/pub up - this is exactly what it would look like

For those who don't live in East Vancouver....Camas is the town next to us and Clark is the county.....two of these signs said those things....pretty cool

I have never heard two more excited children to see this sign

REUNITED! COWGIRL STYLE!


We came home to the most utter load of no joke really for real life last week. Our renters are moving out. The camp we picked for the kids is basically just babysitting and while our children are safe and they love it there was some questionable happening and it was too late to change so late in summer so we have to suck it up because "the kids are happy". But none of that really mattered once we reconciled the week. Because we had the best vacation ever. The end of a school year and all the working Andy and I do and all the carpooling and HOA and consumption of other people's problems that usually is our lives had bled Andy and I dry. This time really gave us chance to clear our heads. It just felt so gosh darn good!