July

July was a memory filled month. Our first stop was Oregon for Emily and Jason's wedding. Leah did surprisingly well on the flight, and she even slept a little.

Layover! 

Kim and Tim picked us up from the airport and were welcomed with this sight. Leah is still young, and Emmy is still rather unpredictable, but the kids are slowly getting easier to travel with. 

When you really boil life down to the most important and meaningful things, this is what you get:

I thank my lucky stars all the time that these two boys were born so close to each other.

Emmy and Braeden sure had fun buzzing around in this thing.

These two practically look 16 in this picture! Emmy had some allergy problems this day, but it was a quick fix with some medicine.

This is the beautiful park where Jason and Emily got married. As we prepared for the wedding we visited it a few times and also had time to fit in some fun there.

Swimming at the hotel - it was so fun to stay at the same place as these guys.

Setting up for the wedding

It was a beautiful wedding, and it was especially neat to see Nate marry Jason and Emily.

Next stop was Grandma Kim's and Poppa Tim's house. The kids rode in the RV, and Nate and I drove Tim's truck with Leah.

Playing in the river behind Grandma's house will always be a favorite memory for my kids. 

I loved having a chance to wear jeans in July!

Emmy and Ryder really formed a strong bond and friendship this trip.

We took a tour of CenturyLink Field, and I'm so glad we did.

Every time we visit Seattle we have admired these gates and this beautiful driveway. It just so happens there is a little apartment in there available on Airbnb, so we stayed there during our visit!

Next stop, Utah! My cute nephew Gregory makes me smile every time I see him. 

Nate and Jansen took an afternoon to do a little hiking and exploring together.

We had plans to go to the zoo one morning, but when we arrived it was REALLY busy. We went to the Church History Museum instead and had wonderful visit.

These little ones stormed Temple Square.

Since we were in Salt Lake already, we decided to hike Ensign Peak.

There was that time at the BYU Creamery that my mom decided to see if she could do a cartwheel.

My kids don't waste a minute making themselves feel at home at Grandma's house.

Uncle Don took us fishing one morning. It was beautiful...and cold to these Texans.

Emmy found a spot of sunshine to try and keep warm.

Nate and I went to a session at the Provo City Center Temple.

And what made it even better was having Christian and Julie there.

Nate and Brennon hiked Lone Peak together.

We had a special and too short visit with Grandma Nye and Dick. She gave each of the kids one of her special bears.

Some of my best Ohio buddies. Utah is the final resting place for all of us eventually haha.

• These cute mermaid dress ups were given to Natalie and Emmy and they were WELL used.

Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

Brennon's surprise birthday party

We went on an awesome hike with Lexi and Brennon.

One morning Jansen, Leah, and I found these goats and some wild grapes.

For some reason it was so fun to just hang out in the shade and feed those guys.

Natalie got to sleep over at Brookie's a few times while we were in Utah. Julie found them like this one evening and sent me the picture.

Grandma has a "magic garden" at her house. Every morning a new flower appeared.

My best friends from high school - we celebrated Janelle and her little girl that was on the way at Brick Oven.

These girls could create anything out of...anything.

I love this shot of Leah with Grandpa.

The kids built this awesome fort at Grandpa and Grandma's. They could have worked on it for 5 more hours if we didn't have to leave.

Angie and Evie did us a huge favor and drove us all to the airport. We accidentally parked pretty far from where we needed to be, and I do not like to be late, so we were trucking it through the airport with a ton of stuff. Easy to laugh at now...

So hard to say goodbye :(

It was so wonderful to be back with Nate.

He had beautiful flowers waiting for us when we got home.