July 2022

July started off with Grandma and Grandpa Payne still in town and they took the girls to the Dinosaur Museum for an outing.

 

In preparation for the much-anticipated new season of Stranger Things, Grandpa also took these girls treat shopping and somehow ended up buying a rainbow of Mt. Dew.  We all indulged in a taste test prior to watching! So fun!

They waited ALL DAY to watch with us! 💛

The next day we hiked Kanarraville Falls with the Gibb Family.  This is such an incredible hike and we had so much fun!

While Grandma and Grandpa were in town they celebrated Tess' birthday with her.  She was thrilled.  

The 4th of July is always a fun neighborhood event.  We all meet down at the Jr. High and watch fireworks together while the kids run around.  This year, we had a truck full of scared children and 1 scared dog hiding from the loud noise. 

Tess' birthday is always a great time because she is so excited about everything.  And this year she turns 8 which makes it an extra special birthday!  This girl feels every emotion very deeply and shows it.  She is the sweetest, most thoughtful creature on the planet and never wants anyone to feel sad.  She is a friend to everyone and loves to meet new people.  Tess loves to create whether by crafting, building, drawing, making new games or things to sell.  She loves sloths and turtles, cookies and nutella, seaweed and Sweet Chili Doritos, and collecting anything she can get her hands on.  She has a hard time sitting still and is constantly tumbling in one way or another.  She is a ball of fun and we love her to death. 

I decided that since Tess loves to sell things so much that she needed a proper stand to sell from.  So for her birthday we built her one!

She immediately went to work... even on her birthday!

These girls... painting away!

Driving to Bear Lake.  We wore these girls out!!

First day in Bear Lake we went to Bridgerland Adventure Park where we jumped, rode trains, climbed on the ropes course, zip lined, and had such a great time together!

Tuckered right out...

Play at the Pickleville Playhouse.  One of our favorite traditions!

Family pictures!

Coco wanted to give everyone make-overs and Carson was such a trooper to let her!

Sleepy girl!

On the first beach day we didn't have the best weather.  We lasted for a short time, got in one quick boat ride, and then got too cold to last so we headed home. 

The following day we gave the beach another try after the boys had a morning of golf (where Devin killed).  The weather cooperated much better and it was a gorgeous, sunny day where we enjoyed a lot more boating!  Family+ Sun+ Water= Absolutely my happy place! 

We never like seeing our Bear Lake reunions come to an end because it always seems to come too quickly.  We had such an amazing time being with the Payne family with so many memories to fill our cups with.  At the end, we had the very fortunate opportunity that Eleanor's Farewell just happened to fall on the Sunday that we were all headed home.  So we were able to stop and hear her speak before she would be leaving on her mission.  She is such an awesome girl and wonderful example to us all. 

Goodbyes are never easy.  Especially when its saying goodbye to your favorite people.  These 2 had the best 2 weeks together and I felt blessed to be a part of it.  But it was definitely hard to leave and not have Maddie with us.  We sure love this family!

Once we were back home, I took the older 3 girls to see Wonderland at the Tuacahn.  The cast was phenomenal and it was such a fun play!

And then it was my birthday!  I was pampered, spoiled and then Devin took me out for dinner to a new place that was so yummy.  And because of my taste still being messed up from Covid there isn't much dessert that I like right now.  Handel's is about the only ice cream I will eat, so that was my birthday dessert!

At the beginning of summer, Addy decided that she wanted to join the High School Cross Country Team.I was surprised at how much of an effort she made to be involved... waking up at 5:30 every morning in the summer, working hard to improve, and never missing practice.  She continues to improve and I'm excited to see where she will go with this!

Always love when the Rickers come stay with us!

Had to get a quick trip to Las Vegas in to do some school shopping since we were starting to run out of time!

The rain doesn't stop this cool girl...

Cute friends making cookies!

Andelynn, Coco, and Aubrey

18th Ward Girl's Camp 2022: Kolob Reservoir

We had been warned of rattlesnakes in the area and the weather showed that it would be raining the whole time.  So we chose to bunk up in the community center that we had planned to use for eating and crafts.  This made for an epic girl's camp.  Forced to be together all of the time allowed the girls to bond in a way that wouldn't have been able to otherwise.  We talked of Jesus, crafted, played truth or dare, hiked, kayaked and swam at the reservoir, had a dance party, and didn't get nearly enough sleep. 

We had the crazy opportunity to do a hike called Angel's Leading.  It was gorgeous, fun, and pretty exhilarating. 

July was such a whirlwind of fun.  We have so many fun memories to look back on and be grateful for.  There were rough patches in between (2nd round of Covid for me and so many other family members that the Payne grandkid trip had to be cancelled) but the good far outweighed the bad.  How lucky we are to experience all the things that we do.  It's hard to believe that there will only be 2 weeks of summer left before school starts again.  It definitely went by way too quickly.