Fun in July

July was a fun month for our family. We have been enjoying our new home (which still has almost nothing in it because we are waiting on our very delayed moving van to arrive from Virginia) as well as spending lots of time with family in Baker. 

Kelson's sister, Jehana, and her girls stopped to visit us on their way to Utah and again on the way back. We had a great visit, and no one seemed to mind that we were camping out in an empty house.

 Sarah had her first ice cream cone. (She has had plenty of ice cream, but never had her own cone before). She was very happy with it and made surprisingly little mess.

 A few days later, I had to bribe her with a stop at Arctic Circle to get her to leave the library.

She also had her first tootsie pop at Grandma's house. I think it took her about 3 hours to eat the whole thing. She is out to discover exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center.

 It has been super hot here in Fruitland, so we have made plenty of use of the neighborhood pool, which is right next door to our house. Sarah would live there if we let her, so we usually have to bribe her with something to get her home without a fit. 

Getting to eat supper in the bath was a good incentive. 

 We celebrated Kelson's birthday, and Sarah was very excited to give Kelson his present. We bought him a copy of Robin Hood, and Sarah was telling him all week about "the fox movie" and that it needed to be Daddy's birthday so we could watch it. He was very surprised.

Traditional birthday dessert-strawberry pie!

 Miner's Jubilee parade. I was in the parade for my high school class reunion, and the family all had fun watching from the shade. Sarah got a balloon, so it was a good day.

 Grandma's most exciting new acquisition this summer was a bouncy horse. Sarah loves it. Apparently she remembered the rodeo queens we saw in the parades this summer, because she went inside to find a bandana and wrapped it around her neck to ride the horse.

 The next day, she added a flag to the ensemble. She is our little rodeo queen in training. 

Riding with cousin Will, who does not appreciate hugs.

 Daddy dozed off on the couch, so Sarah was nice enough to bring him a pillow, a blanket, and some friends to keep him company.

 One day, Sarah disappeared, and I found her in my parents' back yard tucked in on the swing singing to herself. 

My mom was going to stop by one afternoon, and Sarah was being stubborn about taking her nap, so I told her she had to go to sleep so that Grandma could come. That was sufficient motivation. She ran to put on footie pajamas (even though it was 100 degrees) and get a blanket so that she could have a proper nap. My mom should come to visit every day.

 We went out for a fun camping weekend with the whole family at Phillip's reservoir. Sarah would love it if we went camping every weekend.

 One more first for July- Sarah's first s'more. So much sticky fun!

 Sarah and Kelson both fell right to sleep at bedtime (Kelson in his work clothes), and we finally had to wake Sarah up the next morning. I wish she slept that well at home.

Enjoying some early morning stories.

Just a few of our wonderful summer memories!