JULY

4TH of JULY WEEKEND - The same weekend Camp Foster ended was the Independence Day holiday weekend.  Jaxon was blessed on July 3rd in Rexburg. Dallin was excited to go support his buddy.

 

My whole family besides Katie was there and we were happy to be a part of it.  Jordan did a great job and little Jaxon was a good little guy during the blessing.  Kasen had just lost his front tooth and my brother Josh had chipped his, so they looked a lot alike.  Afterward we went down to Hamilton's house in Ririe for a dinner.  Raleigh had her crutches from her broken leg.  Kinsley and Kasen had fun trying out crutches.  Sydnee and her family had to get back home shortly after so on their way out, my mom had us all stop at the Cheese Factory and she gave all of us ice cream cones!  It is a little crazy to think that the baby of my family now has a baby herself.  I found the bottom picture at my parent's house while we were there of Abby and I right before I left on my mission.  I thought "Wow at first glance I thought that was Kinsley with me!"

We stopped out at Ericksons afterward.  A lot of family was over because JT had blessed their new daughter Elexa as well.  Elexa was born a few weeks before Dallin, but he was quite a bit bigger than her.  He got to see his cousin Mason as well and for being 8 weeks younger than Mason, I'd say Dallin isn't too far behind in size either.

 

On the 2nd we had gone down to Blackfoot to watch the fireworks with Jake's family.  The hospital had sponsored it and they were really great.  The kids had fun watching with their cousins.

On Monday the 4th, we went back down to Blackfoot for part of the day.  Everyone crossed the river to explore the island behind their house (besides me, Dallin, Madeline, & Kinsley).  Jed said it was extremely funny watching Jake try to paddle a little inflatable raft because he was really bad at it.  We had a little bbq then headed home.  As we were driving home we saw lots of firework shows going off on both sides of the freeway.

SUMMER FUN THE 1ST HALF OF JULY - It was really  nice to get home and not have tons of stuff to do.  The busiest things were being back at church and me being back in YW's.  Dallin started really smiling and laughing a lot this month.  It was so fun to interact with him and get such cute responses, especially for the kids.  Dallin also started to turn his head while on his back to make you think he wanted to try to roll.  He never did roll, but definitely a start of something.

It was only 2 days of being back in Boise when things started getting crazy again!  We had Sydnee and her family over a few times, unfortunately it was because Raleigh had broken her foot jumping on the bed.  So they came over and had Jed do surgery on her toes.  She had 2 or 3 pins in for about 6 weeks.  So they came back and forth a couple of times in July.  The kids had fun playing together each time they came.

We loved seeing how much Dantzel had grown and changed.  She was rolling and holding her own bottle.  The best thing she did was this airplane move.  We were dying.  Ava seriously almost stopped breathing she was laughing so hard while copying Dantzel.  Dallin and Dantzel seemed to be enjoying each others company cooing and laying next to each other.   It was all fun and games until Dantzel tried to rearrange Dallin's face.  haha  If Dallin had a thought bubble it would say something like, "Well that escalated quickly!"

Another time they came we went to a park and splash pad.  It was so stinking hot that we didn't last long.  I hadn't even thought about the fact that Raleigh would have a walking boot on, so she couldn't do much.  Poor girl.  Kinsley didn't mind just hanging out with her on the playground castle.  The babies were in a double stroller and I couldn't believe how they looked almost the same size.  Dallin is almost 4 months younger - I wonder if he will be a tall kid??!!

The next day we met Jed at the movies because he was done early.  It was Dallin's first movie and he did pretty good.  He isn't a sound sleeper like the other three were so he got fussy a few different times.  But he sure is a cute little sleeper when he does sleep.  His eyelashes are getting so long.  They are still pretty blond and his hair is turning more blond too.

The very next day I realized my summer may not settle down after all.  Jake and Megan's family came over for some work meetings and we met them for the afternoon at Roaring Springs.  It was our first time and was really fun.  It was small and luckily it wasn't very busy that day so we were able to enjoy a lot without waiting in lines.  We didn't get any pictures together.

DALLIN TURNS 2 MONTHS OLD - Well that went fast!  Ava was playing with Dallin in her room and got these cute pictures on his 2 month old birthday.  He is such a sweet, happy baby.  We all adore him completely. 

Dallin is so much fun.  He has figured out smiling and laughing.  He will often copy your face so sometimes I tease him with frowny faces and he gets really confused.  Being happy is just so natural for him.  He has gotten to the point too that when he sees his siblings come racing towards him he gets excited instead of terrified!  He really really loves them all.  He is pretty strong, but we still have to keep a hand close behind his head because he likes to arch backwards at any moment.  He is the best thing ever.  It is crazy how you don't realize how much you need someone until after they are in your life.  We all needed this boy so much - we didn't even have a clue.  So many times one of the kids will say, "Mom can you even believe we ever lived without Dallin in our family?!!" 

KASEN'S SCOUTS - Kasen had really been enjoying scouts.  He has been doing lots of fun stuff and has two great leaders.  They've gone on a field trip and done service projects.  On July 20th he was at one of the leaders houses for scouts (right out her backyard is where they are building the Meridian temple) and they realized that they were putting the Angel Moroni on  the temple.  Kasen was really excited to come home and tell us all about it.

SUMMER FUN THE 2ND HALF OF JULY - The last few weeks of July did slow down a little bit.  Ava was asked by her PE teacher to play on a summer basketball team.  We thought it would be a good way for her to get better and also thought that it must be a pretty good team.  Well we were wrong!  The team was beyond awful.  It was so embarrassing to watch them at games.  There were a couple of good players including Ava, but they couldn't carry the team and lost every game.  Poor Ava was so embarrassed every week when she had to put on her homemade cotton T-shirt the coaches made and play all the other club teams in their matching professional jerseys.  It was hard for her to get excited and Jed nearly lost his mind every game.  It was a good lesson - and hard lesson - to learn that you had to finish something through to the end for us all.  The other thing that was hard to get excited about was that practices were not close at all and sometimes 2x a week.  One time after practice we went to the movies and watched Finding Dory.  It was such a great movie. 

The days were so hot this year.  We could hardly go outside during the day.  Once the sun got behind the house it was really nice to be outside.  Kasen got really obsessed with American Ninja Warrior and he would set up obstacle courses in the backyard.  We watched and timed many of his races.  Kinsley liked doing them too.  Ava liked hogging Dallin as you can see. 

We didn't swim at the Ball's pool as much as we did last year.  I felt bad because I think Tresa wanted us to come over a lot more than we did.  The kids were busy and some days it just felt like a lot of extra work to go over there to swim.  But we made it over a few times.  Jed stopped on his way home from work and we hung out for awhile.  Dallin got sleepy and he was so cute with his little hands folded for a pillow.

Just a few fun pictures.  Kinsley and Kasen went to a 3 day science camp put on by two of the Mia Maids I taught.  They did lots of fun crafts and experiments.  I think these camps are such a great way for the neighborhood kids to make money!  The other pictures are just cute ones: Kasen with raspberry hands, Kinsley with me at the carwash & after swimming one day with goggle eye marks, and a sweet one of Ava reading to Kinsley one morning.

Dallin continued to be as cute as ever.  His eyes have stayed so blue which we all love.  His cheeks are my favorite.  They are getting chubbier and I can't control how much I kiss them each day.  I'm pretty sure there has never been another baby kissed as much as this one by his family!

PIONEER DAY - The 24th of July fell on a Sunday this year and Patricia had the Manwaring FHE that day to celebrate Pioneer day.  We were all supposed to dress as pioneers, but our family was the only ones that dressed up in our boots!  Dallin even wore his horse slippers.  We all brought pioneer stories of an ancestor, and there were some pioneer games.  She did stick pulling and competed against the kids.  She did not have a problem beating them either.  She is so fun and hospitable, but there is a dose of some intense energy going on too!  She had given the kids some cheap squirt guns to shoot at the dads and the kids were having fun and then all of sudden Patricia comes out of nowhere with whipped cream bottles and just annihilates her son Hunter with them.  He was covered so bad that Beau had to rinse him off with a hose!  Uncle Jed had to sternly take Patricia inside to get her to settle down.  haha FHE is always so entertaining...

JED'S 35TH BIRTHDAY - The last big event for July was Jed's birthday.  I had thought of a lot of fun things to do for his birthday, but he didn't want to do any of them.  He had to work all day, but we did talk him into going to the Meridian Pool to celebrate. Kasen had forgotten to give Jed his Father's Day packet he had made so he gave it to him for his birthday.  When Jed saw the picture Kasen had drawn of him he said, "Kasen did you get my face mistaken for President Monson's??"  The other funny thing about Kasen's packet was on all the favorites that were supposed to be about Jed, Kasen wrote his favorite things.  :)  Ava made another fantastic card.  This one said: Like the swish of a basket, Like the loyal team mascot, Unlike an unknowing beginner, To me you're always a winner,  Never a fad, Love you Dad!

 

Jed is the best dad in the whole world.  He loves his family so much.  He is kind and happy and even kill.  He works hard and loves to spend time with us.  He got to spend quite a few nights the week of his birthday roping so that also made him really happy.  :)  We are so lucky to have him as the patriarch of our family.  And yes we even refer to him as "The Boss" on occasion.  haha