Family in Town

At the beginning middle of August, we got to see Jared & Alisa's family AND Ben and Jenny's family--at the same time! It was pretty sweet. We met up for dinner at BYU's creamery. Rachel wanted Minnie Mouse Hair. 

 Papa's girls, minus Julia and Elise:

 After dinner, we went to Nana & Papa's house for ice cream and cake to celebrate the August Birthdays, and to hang out more, of course. Here's Jenny & Minnie:

 Ben and Jenny got Gabe this dapper outfit back when he was first born, and he finally was big enough to wear it when they were here for Danny's Baptism.

 And even though I didn't get pictures, Danny got baptized! It's crazy because Brian and I were dating when Danny was born. I met him in the hospital, and he got baptized this year. Time is flying, and I love getting to have a front-row seat to this awesome kid growing up. Congrats, Danny!

We also had everyone over for dinner at our house at one point that weekend, but the only evidence we have is this picture showing off Shayne's new Samsung Mini:

;)

We went on a big double date with Jared & Alisa, Kirt & Julie, and Lea & Shayne to dinner and the Provo Beach Resort. We convinced everyone to try miniature croquet.  It was a ton of fun! We need to have these date nights every time family comes into town. 

A week later, there was a mini reunion to celebrate Brian's Great Aunt Lorie's 90th birthday. She is an awesome lady, and we're lucky to be a part of her family. 

There were lots and lots of extended cousins. Look at this big group:

And of course, most of Brian's siblings: 

 and parents:

We just missed Lara. We are so blessed to be a part of such an incredible family, and we were so grateful to be able to see so many of them in August.

Friends

Sometime in July, Zak and Sam came into town for a family event, and despite their busy, short trip splitting time between two families, they managed to squeeze in time to see us. It was only for an hour or two, but I can't even put into words how much it lifted my spirits. I think I just needed proof that we would see them, that we would visit each other, that they would come back, even for a short visit. I really really needed that. I don't know how, because nothing really changed, but somehow, their visit made everything better.

Probably a week later, we went to our friend Michael's birthday party in Sandy. He's in med school and is doing traveling rotations. He's been really busy with that, but he managed to find time to have a party so he could see his friends. He even came down with his family the next day to go to church with us, and we put them right to work helping out in primary. Brian loved teaching a class with Michael, and they both loved going to church together. We had lunch together afterwards, talked for a bit, and took our traditional pictures. It is fun to see our families growing and getting older.

Our kids:

 All of us:

 Funny picture:

 The boys:

 And, of course, the Michaels picture. We always take this one when they're together.

We're so grateful for all of our amazing friends who stepped in and became more like family than just friends.

The Other Things We Did in July

Oh July! Here are some of the random things that we did in the best month of the year this year:

 Gabe is NOT normally a crier. He is usually so happy and chill, but occasionally, he does get mad. Here's proof:

 She's just too cool for words:

 After seven and a half years, we got rid of this 3rd or 4th hand sofa and love seat. The sofa went to the dump, this love seat on to DI. They served us well.

 We also had more Gabe smothering:

 And we got kitchen cabinets!!! Yay!

 Some of us rested, and some of us put in lots and lots of work: 

 Our big accomplishment in July is that we finished reading The Book of Mormon as a family. I started reading it to Michael when he was a baby, and we finally made it through! (We only read a verse for each person in the family, so it took awhile). We celebrated by having an ice cream sundae party:

 This is what Gabe normally looks like:

 Gabe LOVES his mobile. I tried to capture the look of wonder and amazement on his face whenever we wind it for him. He gets so excited when we lay him in his crib, looking right up at his mobile, practically begging us to wind it for him.

 One day, Michael tried out his entrepreneurial skills. He cut out paper stars and tried selling rocks. Surprisingly, he made quite a chunk of change. I think most of it came from our Bishop.

 Sweet, sleepy Gabe:

 We moved our TV downstairs, so that left a big, gaping hole upstairs. (It was a thing a while back to have these weird alcoves in the walls.) Our TV covered the hole up. So, until I can get the painting I want to take its place, the kids and I painted a temporary one. First, we made the sky with watercolors:

 Then we practiced mixing colors and made a tree trunk. Michael knew exactly what two colors to mix together to get brown--purple and orange.

 I worked on the tree trunk and grassy, area  and Michael and Rachel worked on the leaves.

 And we put it in my prop frame:

 Brian was so excited to hook up all the speakers. We also got bookcases from IKEA instead of doing built-ins. We love how they look.

 Gabe loves things to look at things hanging down above him. He was really excited when we introduced him to Rachel's (and before her, Amber's) old play mat.

 The remains of a pirate Mardi Gras parade that was held in the basement at one point.

 Rachel was complaining about her ear hurting, so we took her into the doctor. On looking into her ears, he discovered that both ears were infected, and he also found a little popcorn kernel in one of them. I got the bill today--his charge was around $200 to take that little kernel out, and it took him less than a minute to get it out. Thank heavens for insurance. Good grief! Also, how in the world did we not know that was in there?

My grandma was kind enough to part with one of her dad's old milk cans. I filled it with flowers and felt like Joanna Gaines might be proud:

 And I used the lid for a vase as well.

 These two pieces make me SO happy. My parents got me a gift card to Hobby Lobby for my birthday, and Lea gave me one for Michaels. I was in heaven and had so much fun picking stuff out for downstairs.

On the 27th, I got an MRI and CT for my hip in preparation for surgery. I have been waiting almost a year for this to happen, and I was pretty excited and a little nervous. My hip keeps getting steadily worse since having Gabe. They gave me these funny, non-woven shorts to wear.  I'll find out when I'm having surgery hopefully in August. More on that later.

 More chilling with this Handsome crew.

 We also did a little shopping. And someone gave Rachel another dress-up. It has a tutu like skirt that you can't see in this picture.

 Brotherly love:

 We went to a friends house for dinner, and she had a bumbo, so we let Gabe try it out. We decided it was time to pull ours out.

 More Gabe Selfies. Rachel joined in:

 Aren't these two so handsome?

I can't believe that July is already in the rear-view mirror. It was a good month and super busy.

Quick Idaho Trip

Right after the Adobe Field Trip, we headed North to Idaho for a little reunion with my mom's siblings. On the way, I helped Michael pull out a tooth that has been hanging by a thread for a couple of months. With a little dental floss and a tough pull, I got it out. 

 Michael also had to make an emergency pit stop. Thank goodness Rachel didn't need to go too

 The kids enjoyed lots of snuggles from Grandma and Grandpa

 Michael took advantage of the slower pace in Idaho:

It was fun seeing aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in a while

 And visit with Emily and Pete, who I haven't seen since Thanksgiving.

 We missed those that couldn't come, and I enjoyed meeting my cousin Bryce's wife and little girl.

Grandkids and spouses and great-grandkids:

 The originals.

While we were visiting, we took over my mom's camper and also roasted marshmallows. 

 Gabe ended up joining us in bed again the second night there:

It was a short visit, and I found some fun treasures in the barn at my grandparents for my basement--more on that later. It's always good to visit my first home, and always good to come back to our Utah home.