July 2016

Summer is flying right on by! July went by in a flash. We made lots of fun memories and enjoyed a little more time in Hurricane than we did in June. Here is the picture recap. 

July started out with a bang with the Heers family reunion! We had a blast! I think my mom should become a professional reunion planner because she sure knows how to make a good time for A LOT of people of all ages! This years theme was the Olympics so we played lots of games and had fun competitions for the kids. We packed so much into a few short days. Here are some of the highlights... buffet breakfast at Cliffside, renting the Hurricane City Pool for just our family (right after we got there Cason walked right up to the high dive and did a front flip off it with the everyone watching! Dan and I were shocked.), Finding Dory at the movie theater, swimming, kayaking, cliff jumping, and jet skiing at Sand Hallow, and lots of fun games! My mom broke all the kids into three countries and they competed against each other in events like swimming, diving, kayaking, rhythmic dancing and archery just to name a few to win medals. It was so fun. 

I love family reunions. It is so fun to all be together. My siblings are my best friends and we laugh so much when we are all together. It is definitely chaotic with so many kids but luckily they are all good kids and my mom does a good job keeping them busy! My Aunt Erma, her boyfriend Steve, my cousin Shane, her husband Justin and their son Gaige also came. It is really fun to have them there too. I think they probably leave happy to have a small family haha! 

 This picture goes with the description down where we went to Mammoth Caves with the Uhrich's and my dad but it won't let me move it for some reason.

 Dan and I took his motorcycle up to Toquerville Falls one evening for a date. It was beautiful and a much needed break from the kids. We had a lot of fun just wading through the river to cool off.

Christie and Cory stayed a few days longer than everyone else so we went 4-wheeling with them up to Mammoth Cave up by Duck Creek Village. It is beautiful up there. I rode a 4-wheeler with Ellie in her bike helmet. She fell asleep for well over an hour so it was a little tricky to ride while holding her with one arm. She even slept through the rain! My arm was dead by the time she woke up. Dan took Cason on his dirt bike with him and Kami took turns riding with my Dad and Christie. When we left the caves she was on with Christie and while they were backing up Kami grabbed the gas and they spun in a circle because the handle bars were turned and smacked into a guys razor that was parked next to them. It scared me so bad. I was on the other side of the parking lot so I hurried over there. They were totally fine. Kami was just a little scared and shaken up. The guy who owned the Razor could not have been more nice. He was way more concerned with making Kami feel better than he was about his Razor. Dan tried to give him his card so if he got home and found any damage he could call us and we could pay for it and he wouldn't even take Dan's card. He said the only important thing is to make sure we keep getting our kids outdoors. Then he left and came back with a treat for Kami. How cool is that! On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen, obviously! 

We have found a few bird eggs in our yard. The kids have a lot of fun building new nests for them and then checking on them constantly to see if they have hatched yet. 

So far every single one has been dropped and broken before they have hatched. Oops. 

I make the kids dress in Red, White and Blue for the 4th of July parade. 

As we were walking to the parade Cason goes... "um, Mom?!" and this is what I turn around to fine. Gross. 

At the parade. Hurricane puts on a pretty cute small town parade. I love them. We went early with my parents and had a pancake breakfast while we waited. Luckily our kids don't really have other parades to compare them to so they think they are the best thing ever.

Doing sparklers. I like early bedtimes for the kids so we start fireworks while it is still light outside haha. They don't seem to care at all. 

I just realized that this picture looks like Cason's head is on fire but I can assure you we were burn free! 

Making pancakes is a group effort. 

First day of swim lessons! It was Kami's first time taking swim lessons. They both loved them. They went every day for two weeks. I chased Ellie around the pool and tried to keep her from jumping in the pool while they swam. Cason is an awesome swimmer. He did so good. Kami is still getting comfortable with it all but did really good. She has gotten a lot more confidant since she took them which makes me nervous. She keeps telling me she doesn't need a life jacket at the lake because she took swim lessons. 

They thought it seemed like a fun day to dump all the dirty (and some clean) laundry in the whole house into Ellie's crib and hide in it. 

I spy Cason!

They aren't destructive all the time. Sometimes they sit quietly and read. 

On this day Cason found out that he got to go with Grandma and Grandpa up to Provo and stay with the Mays for a few days. He was so excited, but was very sweet not to make Kami feel bad. She was sad anyways so he wrote her a letter and put it in the mailbox for her since she LOVES to get things in the mail. It was so sweet and it really did make her feel better. On a side note... Cason had SO much fun up North with Grandma and Grandpa. He got to go golfing, to the Bean Museum and play lots and lots with his cousins. My parents said he did so good while he was with them. I'm glad they took him. 

His note to Kami said... "Der Kami I wish that you can kum! from Cason" 

Kami wasn't so brave when it came to jumping off the diving board at swim lessons. They had  to lower her into the water. 

On the 24th of July Hurricane has a Pioneer Day Parade that consists of all the ward primaries in our stake making a float. It is pretty cute. Kami was very excited to by in her first parade!

We thought it would be a good idea to take the whole family to dinner at Red Robin one night. It wasn't! Before they even brought us the food I asked Dan if we should go and just leave a tip to clean up the table. The kids settled down a bit after the food came luckily. I didn't have any toys in my purse to occupy Ellie but I did have some goggles. They worked for a second. 

The kids favorite activity to do with Dad. 

The May's stopped at my parents house to spend the night on their way home from California. The next morning they invited the kids and I to come with with them at Sand Hallow (Dan was working). It was a beautiful morning and we had the whole lake and beach to ourselves. The kids had tons of fun playing in the sand and kayaking. 

Cason got to do the Ski-Bob for the first time this summer and did awesome! 

My parents decided to put a pool in at their house, much to our delight!!! We are sooo excited! The kids want to go over there every day to see how much work has been done. This was the day they started digging the hole. Cason was fascinated. 

We love having trees! They make living in the dessert so much nicer. We have constant shade at least in half of the yard all day, which drops the temperature significantly and makes its bearable to play outside even when it's over 100 degrees. Not only do we love the trees for the shade but they make the swings and zip line possible, The middle tree can entertain all three kids at the same time as seen above.  

One of the library's summer programs was a juggling show. Cason was pulled from the crowd so the juggler could demonstrate how to juggle humans. He had a big smile on his face. Then the juggler asked him which girl he wanted to marry and his face turned all different shades of red haha. Cason and Kami went home and spend the next few days working on their own juggling skills. 

This pool is a little small for all three but at least it cools them off until Grandma and Grandpa's pool is done! 

Cason and Kami have been finding lots of praying mantis' around lately (they found three today). They always want to make them a part of our family and say things like, "we finally have a pet!" and "hurry!!! Our buddy needs some water!" I'm the mean mom that makes them leave their new friends outside.