It's a wrap July!

Another month in the books and what a month it was! Wow how we love summer around here! The weather has been fantastic, the friends, the late nights, smores, movies, no schedules, all of it...We love it all! Here's what the rest of our month brought:

7-11 slurpee day!

Buzz and bleach for Liev

A new niece - Baby Tess is so darling

Running wound

A trip to the chiropractor

And weird selfies

 

Camping trip

We took a camping trip with Chalks, Flints and Hammers this weekend and had so much fun fishing, playing games, paddleboarding and hanging out with friends! We love our annual camping trip together!

 

Boat Week 2024

Our favorite week of the summer is here!  We were able to rent a boat for a few days and spent some time at Deer Creek which is my happy place!  We had amazing weather and perfect water.  We got up early and on the lake before most others are even awake which is the way to find the best water of the day.  Josh, Rease, Rhen and Liev all slalom skied right off the bat and everyone did amazing.  I'm so impressed with Liev especially getting up on the ski almost his first try!  It's incredible what a little testosterone in a kids body can do for his muscles and abilities! Rhen and Rease are both excellent skiers as well and it's always fun to watch them out there.

Keen loves to wakeboard and got up right away and out of the wake.  He's making so much progress with his skills too!  Beck and Desh used the double skis and both got up on their own.  This is the first year Desh has been able to get up on his own and he was so proud! 

It's one of my favorite things as a mom to watch my kids to things that they love and excel at!  It makes my heart full!

The boat we rented included a banana boat with it and OH MY GOSH was it fun!  I remember riding these as a kid but haven't for so many years.  We had a BLAST on that thing and the kids loved bouncing off the back of it with every bump we hit.  Wow so fun!

By the end of the days, the kneeboards are always the go-to.  Rease, Rhen, Liev and Keen did doubles on doubles knee boarding.  It was lots of trial and error, but eventually they got to stand up on the back of both boards with another rider on both of them.  They're so funny!

Liev took charge of the rope and became second mate to Josh this week.  We had the most beautiful days on the lake - so picturesque!

We feel so lucky to have this time together as a family and the chance to keep our traditions going.  It's something we look forward to all year long and we had an amazing week on the lake together! Lots of Love of this family of mine!

 

Weekend at the cabin

We spent the weekend at the cabin and love being able to be there for a few days at a time!  While we were there we booked a last minute tour around BYU and rode a golf cart to all the athletic facilities on campus.  It was so fun to see it all and be inside some of the places we haven't been to.  Of course we had to stop at the bookstore and get our football shirts and a sucker for the road!

Rhen, Josh and I took a run down the canyon one morning and got back to find the rest of the kids in the river outside.  The cold water didn't stop them from building a dam so they had a swimming hole to soak in.

One night we invited the Preece's to come up for dinner and games.  We spent some time at the park playing pickleball, tennis and ultimate frisbee which was so fun! The boys took Tayson on skateboard rides and the big kids gathered on the hammock for "talk time." 

The best part of the whole day was when the kids all challenged each other to a "river soak" to see who could last the longest!  Some didn't make it more than a few seconds (Liev and Desh), others lasted a few minutes (Ashlynn, Rhen and Madi).  Rease and Carson showed everyone up and stayed in over 5 minutes when we finally decided to pull them out so they didn't get hypothermia!  

We had such a fun night with them and are so grateful for good friends that we're surrounded with!

 

July with the Young Women

During the summer we have been doing a lot of combined activities with the young women with so many people coming and going.  For July we decided to learn so outdoor skills so we gathered together to learn how to chop wood and light a fire.  Brother Sorensen taught us and each of the girls had a chance to chop wood if they wanted to.  It ended up being such a fun activity and such a beautiful night in Sister Birchenough's yard!  Summertime is the best!

 

The cabin water project

We discovered that there was a problem with the water at the cabin when we tried to turn it on after the winter.  No water was getting into the house at all and didn't know why.  Dad and Josh decided to figure it out themselves and try to get it fixed.  It turned out to be a bigger project than they thought and they had to to dig out a big cavern on the side and underneath the cabin to finally find the problem.  There was an old pipe that had been melted from the warming tape that was put on it last year and it had broken all the way through.  Once they found the problem, they got a new section of pipe and put that in before covering it back up and placing a new box for the water outlets.  It was a project that took them a few weeks but they got done with it just in time for us to enjoy it for the summer!  Thanks for getting us all squared away!

 

Beck's 10th birthday

Beck's birthday has been drawn out for a couple weeks since we were in Connecticut on his actual birthday.  There's nothing wrong with celebrating birthdays for weeks at a time!

We had a party a few days after we got back and al he wanted to do was play nintendo with a group of friends so that was fun and easy!  We loved spoiling him for the day and are SO happy that he's 10!

10 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 5'1" - 98%

Weight: 97 lbs - 92%

My favorite things about 10 year old Beck:

1 - Beck has always been super sweet.  Although 9-10 years olds aren't typically always kind and thoughtful, this boy finds a way to be.  He never shies away from saying I Love You or telling me he likes what I'm wearing.  He is thoughtful from the heart and I appreciate this side of him more than he knows! This boy loves his mama!

2- Beck is SUPER smart.  He's thoughtful about his schoolwork and is always analyzing everything that's going on around him.  He always has an answer to whatever question comes up and is top in his class in reading and math.  He has a bright future ahead of him with those big brains!  

3 - Beck is passionate! He LOVES the 49ers, BYU and the Warriors and HATES to see them lose!  He has some great passion inside that little body and just wants things to be right in the world - so when they're not, it's not easy to reign in the emotions.  I love that about him though and know it's going to be a great quality for him in his life!  Passion is a good thing and I hope he keeps it forever!

Love you so much my boy!

Happy 10th birthday!

 

Our trip to Connecticut

We had the chance to go visit Chad, Britt and family in Connecticut and we've been so excited for it!  It's been a long time since we've been back to visit them as a family so we were really looking forward to it.  We found some pretty cheap flights on Spirit airlines, so we packed tiny suitcases and off we went.  We got there on the 4th of July afternoon and had a fun firework show that night at their house.  They live in the woods in Connecticut in this beautiful spot called Guilford.  We loved it instantly and were so happy to be there with them!

Britt took Rhen and I on a run the next morning down to the beach.  It was close - about a mile or two away and it was so beautiful along the coast!

The kids LOVED being with cousins and just wanted to hang out with them doing whatever.  They have a great pool and hot tub that we spent lots of time in.  The boys played lots of soccer, hockey, football and anything else they could figure out to do.  Beck helped us out with breakfast - German pancakes of course.  And Britt was dog-sitting another dog named Miko while we were there.  He was a silly little dog with a high maintenance hair plan.  The kids thought he was amazing but I just couldn't get over the grooming that he needed.

Chad took us on a tour of Yale which was so awesome! The campus is pretty amazing and has such a great history to it.  I loved being there and seeing everything on the campus!

We also visited the temple, went to a baseball game with a firework show, made homemade pizzas and celebrated Beck's birthday while we were there! What a place to celebrate - surrounded by all the cousins!

Rhen and I ran every morning and fell in love with the woods and the greenery surrounding us.  It was a beautiful, peaceful time to explore and I was glad to have her with me!

We didn't want to say goodbye to the fun and the family! When it was time to go, we left reluctantly. It was so fun for us to be there and be a part of their Connecticut world.  What a beautiful spot to land!

We flew in and out of Newark, so on our way home we made a stop in New York for just a few hours.  We rode the ferry out to the statue of liberty and walked around the island there.  It was a beautiful clear day and we loved looking across to the New York on the other side of the water.  We ate some New York pizza and then settled into our hotel for our early morning flight the next day.  

What a fun trip we had and we're so grateful to see a new part of the country that we've never been to!