July 2015

 It must be summer.  I forgot I hadn't blogged at the end of July.  Yay for no schedules!  Life has been loose and laid back. We've done a lot of sleeping in.

Jack and Hazel took swimming lessons from a woman in our ward. Awesome set-up, in a backyard, where all I had to do was chill with Gemma in the shade while the kids practiced. I will never do group lessons again. This is my third experience with private or semi-private lessons, all good.  The kids learn so much more this way. And I'm so much more relaxed.

Speaking of relaxing, one of my favorite memories of July was the time I hung out with Gemma in the hammock for a long stretch, just the two of us, singing and giggling and connecting. I don't remember where the other kids were. But I remember how much love I felt for Gem.

Jack's half-birthday falls on the Fourth of July.  We may be making a tradition out of flag fruit pizza to celebrate. This is the second year we've done that, and it was definitely because the kids remembered and requested it.

My sister Kathryn and her friend Hailey were in town with us over the Fourth of July. They used our house as a Bay Area hotel and went all over the area over the next week, but that weekend, they hung out with us. We went to Half Moon Bay for a serious, old-fashioned, hour-long parade.  Then we ate lunch at the fish restaurant and played in the sand a bit.

That night we went downtown in Livermore for the fireworks, and were so happy our gamble paid off.  Our drive was short and sweet, the fireworks show was exciting and we were able to get close, everyone had a great experience, and we were home and in bed not long after they were over.

Kathryn, I'm sorry this is the only picture I have of you from your visit. 

We went swimming at the Community Pool once - yes, just once. I thought I'd be going a lot more than that over the summer.  Huh.  The kids were pretty excited to be wrapped up "like a worm." Gemma often requests the worm treatment after her bath now.

One morning after Zumba, the kids found snails in the grass and wanted to check them out.  We ended up staying for about forty-five minutes, while Hazel and Jack let them crawl all over them. One even pooped on Hazel's leg.

Our neighbor Liam traded his very loud Minion toys for something dinky of ours for a few days. The kids loved them.  Todd and I thought they were pretty funny for about an hour.  Somehow, the first three times we tried to trade them back, the kids kept coming back saying Liam's mom and told them they could have them for a few more days!!!!!

The kids have been great together all summer long.  The intense love fest from the first week of summer calmed down, but they have not been fighting or getting on each other's nerves. Hazel said yesterday that one thing that makes her sad about going back to school is that she won't be able to see Gemma very much (since Gemma has been taking naps after we bring Hazel home from school). I love, love, love that my three are so great with each other. I hope we can keep it up through the years.

We took the Utah Grand Tour in July, stopping in Bicknel, Midway, Smithfield, and Lehi, making sure to see absolutely everyone in our families we could. One of the downsides of having pretty much all our family in Utah is that we don't have time to see them all and see good, old friends. I wish we had time to do both, but our week-long visits to Utah are usually jam-packed with insanity and lots of driving, and not enough time to get a good visit in with anyone, family included.

We did have a grand ol' time, though. We partied with Todd's sister Laura at their new cabin (aka mountain mansion) and went four-wheeling and fishing.

Jack caught this fish all by himself (reeling it in and everything) and was so proud!

We had all Todd's family except for KB in Midway for an afternoon. We loved all being together.  

 We had all my family together except for Emily and Doug. We had a nice family dinner on Sunday and went up to Logan Canyon to chill in the mountains on Monday.  Gemma got her first bee sting. :( And her first s'more!

Jack caught about a thousand Box Elder bugs. He's been way into bugs this summer, especially rolly pollies.

 

We went to Trafalga with Missy. Todd and I were both surprised to see Jack climb the rock wall all the way to the top! He is learning to try challenging, physical things and we're so proud of him.

Hazel loved the go-Karts. It was hilarious watching her drive that thing around by herself, our total dare devil wild thing, clogging up the rink as the slowest driver there.

We also went to Seven Peaks with the whole Bonner crew our last day in Utah.