July

An update from our month of July! Better late than never... :) Can't believe the summer is already over!



4th of July!! We were so excited that Jared's family had the chance to come and visit us for the day! Made it such a fun holiday for us this year! Our kids have such a blast with their cousins (Casslyn & Mike's kids)!! It was such a nice day we were able to spend with them that day! So glad they were able to come! :)

So Jared and I had the AMAZING opportunity to go and see the San Diego temple in July!! Something I've wanted to do ever since I was little - it is the most gorgeous temple I have ever seen! It was an awesome experience - something I always want to remember! We were also able to go and see the Midway Museum while we were in San Diego - Jared was excited about that! It was definitely an incredible ship! (Thanks so very much, Mom & Dad!!!) :)



Swimming at my Mom & Dad's house - always fun summer swimming memories... :)



Timothy started sitting in a booster seat at the table this month, and is so much more excited about meal time now - makes him feel like such a big boy being at the table with the rest of us! No more highchair taking up so much room in the kitchen! Yay!


My Mom & Dad poured concrete in their backyard this past month - they've been working hard on the yard all this past month - it's looking really awesome! The kids have been more excited, I'm sure, than their Grandpa about all the work involved! :) But he sure makes it fun for them! Tractor rides, a huge concrete truck to watch up close, and putting their handprints in the concrete as well! It's been a fun memory for them... :)













The kids have been having a blast helping their Grandpa do work out in their yard now ever since - they have been SO excited to get to be earning little bits of money here and there from him!












I had to take a picture of this - when Samuel was around Timothy's age, he would always insist upon helping Jared mow the lawn, and I have so many pictures of them as a cute lawn-mowing team. Haven't seen that sight since! Just brought back memories... :) (Brielle & Timothy were enjoying watching them as well!)




This is a common sight for us in the mornings when we open the kitchen window - Ari will sit out there on top of the kids' big toy chest, and just stare at us while we eat breakfast at the table - we all get a kick out of her... Looks like this little wolf staring in at us!



Brielle picked out a fun birdhouse craft kit at Walmart to put together and paint this month. It turned out to be a really fun and cute little project for her! She loved it!



Cute brothers together... Samuel, typical boy, would play games on the computer all day every day if allowed - but of course we just make sure to limit it - this is one of those long-anticipated moments for him! :) Timothy already enjoys watching him play his games!



Pioneer Day Celebration! The kids had a great time - they were very excited about the fireworks!



A big event for the month of July - my twin sister, Athena had her baby!! She and her husband, Brennon, welcomed their first baby into the family, Jacob Brennon Jones! Born July 21. We were excited to have the chance to go and visit the week after he was born, and see this new and cute little guy!



During our trip to visit Athena & Brennon & their newest arrival, we were able to also visit a lot of our other family in Mesa as well! Always so wonderful to get to see everyone - the kids just have a blast! (Funny story with the kids in the trunk - we were at the store longer than we anticipated that day & decided to just have a little picnic in the van! We got a lot of attention from the parking lot, but it was fun!) :)

June

Another great and busy month! The summer is going by way too fast... :)


So my Dad has written an awesome novel about being a teacher, which I want to help spread the word on because I would definitely recommend it to anyone to read! It's really good! He has it on Smashwords.com where you can buy it for $3 and then either just read it on your computer or download it to whatever device you have for reading books! I wanted to post the link here for anyone who is interested, and if you do end up reading it and liking it, feel free to share it on Facebook or wherever if you want (to help him get the word out!) :) They have ways of sharing the link on the Smashwords site... Anyway! Just wanted to start with that little shout-out for my Dad! :) He's been working on this book for years, and I'm so excited it's all ready for everyone to read now! Here's the link:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/71396



Now pictures from June... This is one of my favorites of our four cuties from the month.



Brielle and Samuel did swimming lessons and little league all month - which definitely kept us running here and there all month, but they have a blast with those extra things, and it's always fun to go and watch them! Colette and Timothy had tons of fun in the baby pool and watching the baseball games all month as well! :)

Also, Colette did one of those little week-long dance camps (to let her be involved in something as well this summer), and oh my goodness, does that girl love to get dressed up and pretty in a leotard and do dances!! She was just made for that kind of stuff! She had an absolute blast that week! :)

The kids and I were able to go to Mesa for a weekend for Athena's Baby Shower in June as well! Oh it is so fun to get to see her pregnant right now!! :) She is so cute! The baby shower went well and it was lots of fun to help her set up all of her new cute baby stuff... She is due July 27, so we are all waiting to see what happens now - could be any day! SO excited for her and Brennon!! :)

We've also had a lot of fun this summer doing the free lunches from the school every day! It was fun that they offerred it at the park this year as well - the kids liked going right over there after swimming lessons every time... My mom came with us a lot, which was tons of fun, and this happened to be a day we got to eat with Sara and her kids, which was so fun to get to see and visit with them while they were here these past months! We're sad they're gone now, but so excited for them and their new job!! :)

The kids have been making lots of fun memories with their Grandma & Grandpa! They've gotten to ride on my Dad's golf cart at the Junior High a few times when we've gone over for lunch at the school! They love that! And we all went to Cluff Pond for our first time one Saturday in June as well. They've been getting to do all kinds of fun things with their awesome Grandma & Grandpa this summer!

Brielle got this Summer Fun Activity Book, and has been choosing activities out of it every so often, which she has also been loving. We took a few pictures of some of the fun things she's been working on...

One of these guys' favorite things is to get stickers in the mail from their Aunt Heidi!! She has done that here and there just for fun for years, and it's always such a fun surprise for them! They love to sit down and go through all the stickers and choose which ones they want and trade with eachother, etc! Thank you, Heidi!! :)

And last of all, our crazy dog, Ari! Phew, this girl is hyper!! Every time we open the blinds on our windows in the morning, she makes us laugh because of some crazy stunt she is doing out there in the yard! She absolutely LOVES to climb on top of and into things... Is that normal for a dog? I have no idea... But the chairs we have out on the porch, especially, she is constantly just sitting up on them as though she thinks she's a person, and she'll always be staring through the windows at us up on top of them... She's such a goof! Anyway, these are all some random pictures that I have snapped of her climbing on things... The kids just laugh and laugh at her.... (Those aren't our jet skis, by the way - they belong to the people we are renting from)... :) But she actually figured out a way to jump up on them somehow! We were quite impressed... :)