July July July

 Twinning at Lehi Pool

Exploring Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum with the Allens

 Fabulous summer downpour. All the kids threw swimsuits on and played in the glorious rain!

 Nanny and Grandpa Neil came home from their mission in Texas!!

 My sweaty boys after a long training run (before their half-marathon)

 Nordstrom anniversary sale! Happiest shopping day of the year :)

 Sleepover with Max - the kids made a gas station run with him in the morning 

(such a funny adventure!)

 Working on doing more haircuts on my boys. They're coming along. We forgot to put the cover on for Bean's haircut so he ended up with this hilarious "hairy back" when I first started out :)

 7 Peaks day! It ended up being our only outing there the whole summer :|

 Minions movie with Horsley cousins

Twinner bike date up Butterfield Canyon

Bentley's Hobbler Half

 Our Bentley is such a big dreamer! I love how passionate and willing he is to make things happen and this year he committed to running a half marathon with Joseph. The two were awesome with their training and even completed a 13 mile run a few weeks before the actual race just so Bean knew he could for sure finish.

They chose the Hobbler Half because it was a race in early July and then they could be done training for the hottest parts of the summer. We decided to make it a little family adventure and stayed overnight at the "quaint" if not rugged Days Inn in Springville the night before the race -- that way the boys would still wake up early to get to the race but they bought themselves an hour more sleep staying just a few miles from the start line. And then the rest of us could easily get to the finish to cheer on our boys.

 Days Inn had an awesome pool and hot tub and surprise surprise 

we were the only ones playing in them!

  We had adjoined rooms but the kids liked hanging out together 

before we had to get everyone to sleep.

A pic from Joseph mid-race. 

My little guy looks so small among all the adults but he is one tough boy!

 Rounding out the last few strides!! I was so proud of my Bentley! He looked pretty spent but gosh he just kept moving that whole race and finished in 2:13!! I think he's amazing. And he has the most loving dad to help him accomplish his goals.

 Done and done!!

 

 We had to stick around a while for all the awards because Bentley easily won his age division. He was really excited about that and earned himself not only a finishing medal but an award medal. Such a great experience for our Bentley.

Albion and Cecret Lake

 Not much I need to say about this glorious spot of earth except that I love it and will bring my kids here as often as they'll let me! It is always so much cooler up there than the valley during the heat of July and the wildflowers are just stunning at every turn.

 

 

That temperature on the way down the canyon! 52 degrees in July felt amazing.

Priceless Family Pictures

With all of us in town and Marshall finally mending his relationship with my parents after several years we decided we really needed a full family picture up at the cabin. Joseph packed his tri-pod and we coordinated some outfits for the kids and we miraculously ended up with a beautiful shot. I'm so glad we made this happen and that we have this picture with all of us.

Some of my favorite candids:

Oh my heart...

4th of July Weekend

  Two cousin besties who were both a little banged up this July. Aren't they both so beautiful?!

 Rodeo time -- all dressed up and ready to hit Oakley

 

 My heart is sad thinking back on these memories from last summer -- this was our last 4th at the cabin, our last time to celebrate this holiday with both of my parents when we have done so for all our married lives. How grateful I am though for that beautiful cabin, our amazing family memories there and all the little moments that end up meaning so much (like my dad refilling the hot tub and spraying the kids with the cold hose as he did so :)

 We spent the evening of July 4th with our neighbors at the amazing cul-de-sac of fire! They put on quite the show! We had snacks and treats and glow sticks all leading up to the most intense fireworks show. We left at 10:30 and they weren't even done yet! It was quite a party and really fun to hang out with such great friends.