July: "Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes memory" — Dr. Seuss

Fourth of July is quickly becoming one of our favorite holidays. We love the parades; especially Caleb. We love the company. We love picking out our own box of cereal. We love the fireworks and time with friends. We love our country and having so much celebrating! Aida slept through most of the festivities, even the loud fireworks. A storm decided to roll in just as fireworks were about to start, making the evening quite chilly and wet, but we soldiered on and it ended up being a great show. There was even a malfunctioning firework cannon, which made the whole experience extra exciting!

The day before, the boys participated in the annual children's bike parade that Centerville city hosts. Both opted to ride their scooters and were troopers making the trek from the church to the park to get their delicious popsicles. Aida and I met them at the finish line, hoping Dallin was able to keep track of speedster Luke and lolly-gag, talk to everyone, Caleb. We all made it, with minimal tears and slept well that night.

We went on a family hike through Ferguson Canyon. The boys love this hike with all of it's rocks and boulders to climb and creek to play in. Augie was in heaven, giving us a heart attack as he followed Luke up a pretty high rock and then proceeded to jump a good 10 feet off the rock. I thought for sure we were going to have to figure out a way to carry him out of the canyon with a broken paw. Caleb did great hiking this trail! He is getting better at hiking every time we go. One day he might not even need someone holding his hand, persuading him to not pick up every rock he sees. Aida is just happy to be in the Solly wrap. We call it the magical sleep wrap because she instantly falls asleep when we put her in and stays asleep until we take her out.

We also celebrate Chick-fil-a day by making cow masks and getting free chick-fil-a. Always a fun experience!

Nana came for another visit! She dropped Boo off on her way to a conference, but also played with us for a bit. We went to the Letters Museum, which was filled with all things glorious about the written word. The boys had a blast going down the giant book slide and swimming in a sea of confetti. They also got to type letters on a type writer, make buttons, play with a crazy projector and explore a tiny art museum. Aida stayed awake for the entire experience and was in awe of all there was to look at. 

While nana was here, we tried to catch the Albion wildflowers. However, because of the late summer, they were not yet ready to display their gloriousness. Being up in the mountains was good for our souls. The hike started out a little wet, but the sun decided to join us and quickly warmed us all up.

Little Aida girl also got her baby blessing while nana was here. She was blessed in our home, which was such a wonderful experience, by Dallin with grandpa Green, Larry Watts and Bishop Brandt Sharp in the circle with him. Caleb kept making Tanja's watch talk during the blessing so we were all a little distracted, but I do remember Dallin saying she was blessed to be a strong woman and example to her brothers. It was perfect.

I got to end the month with a hike up Dual Creek with Kayla, finally making it to the rope swing! There were some college kids there trying to get us to go on the rope swing, but we both let our adult reasoning brains take the wheel and declined the experience...

We are slowly adjusting to having 3 littles in tow. Life doesn't seem as hectic and we survived our first month without help around the clock. In other words, I survived being home with 3 littles while Dallin went back to work and had no visitors. We made indestructible bubbles, swim lessons for both boys, birthday celebrations for Dallin, daily water gun fights, movies, rolled ice cream, weekly Farmer's Market visits and lots of sunshine and snuggles.

We introduced a new family member to our home this month. Meet Leonard; the best little robot around. He vacuums my floors daily and makes life so much easier. I just love him and Luke talks to him as though he is an actual being. It is the best. Thank you papa, for the early Christmas gift!