July

Black Beauty's fist time at the drive inn! Last summer was the first summer in a long time that we didn't make it to the drive inn, but there's just something about getting home and 3am in the morning that screams summer. This year we saw Boss Baby 2.

The other thing on our Summer Fun list was a sleepover on the trampoline! I decided that I'm too old to sleep on the tramp and my kids are still too young. I left to go nurse Kohen when he woke up and then Kasen came in crying around 1:30. By 4:30 am Tai woke up crying and when I went out to get her I fell down the last step on our back porch. 4 days later I had a big beautiful bruise on my thigh.

Megan was in town from Alabama so we had our annual summer Jr. High reunion (also didn't happen last year). This year we met at the Draper Splash Pad and realized that we had all 15 of our kids there, 15 years after graduating high school together! I'm so glad it worked out for all of us to be there.

Kyle's family has been going to the Nephi Rodeo for quite a few years now, but it had been 5 years since we've been with them. It worked out this year though and Kasen was especially excited for the motorcycle riders at the end! The flying cowboys.

This right here is just another reason why I will support the Rodeo over the NBA or NFL every. time. Kasen is left handed and may have the wrong hand over his heart, but I love that we didn't even have to tell him to put his hand over his heart. I'm proud to be an American. I love the USA and I love the flag that represents the greatest country in the world.

Kasen and Tai finished their second session of swimming lessons this summer and Tai is FINALLY bobbing her head under the water like a boss! I'm so proud of her. They've also been swimming at Knox's house all summer long again and loving it.

Kasen and Tai both collect rocks and bring them home no matter how many times I tell them they need to stay outside. I finally let them paint all their rocks one day, but they ended up painting lots of other things, including Peeka. So I got to give Peeka a bath that day.

We've been to the splash pad by our house a few times now. Mostly so that I can visit with my friends. One of which was Kathryn Anderson, from Australia! I met her when I was 2 so she is probably my oldest friend. She was so sweet to be my pen pal and write me letters for so many years. Last year she ended up moving to Eagle Mountain! How small of a world is that?! Kasen and Tai had so much fun playing with her 2 youngest kids.

We also tried out the Saratoga Springs Hot Spring for the first time. I've already been to Lava Hot Springs, Mystic Hot Springs, Meadow Hot Spring, Crystal Hot Springs and the Homestead Crater. I'm a fan of soaking in hot springs! This one was so much warmer than I was expecting, looks clean enough, doesn't stink and it's close and free. I like that it's shallow enough for Kasen and Tai to touch too so they had fun playing in the mud. We went back just a few days later with Marissa and Stephanie. It felt especially nice that night because I'd hiked to Stewart Falls that morning!

It's a 3.4 mile hike and I'm proud of myself for carrying Kohen on my back the whole way there! Kasen and Tai rocked it too!

We lost Kohen's hat on the way up, but luckily found it on the way back down. He was on Kyle's back on the way down and fell asleep. He was OUT!

My favorite was Tai telling me that, "Hiking is making my breath out of singing power!"

I love that Tai is always singing and rhyming with nonsense words. She sings Frozen with me when I tuck her in bed and when I call her a silly goose she calls me a silly chicken. 

When she gets upset with Kasen she calls him Kasen Liddiard and it's the best.

We've just about finished our summer fun list and in August Kyle switches from graves to day shift, which will be most especially fun for me!

Eleven Months

Kohen is ELEVEN months old today! 

He's been walking for almost 3 weeks now and is cutting his fourth tooth right now. #happyfourthofjuly.

Do those teeth look sore or what?! Ouch!
He's still happy as ever though. And so cute. My favorite things are how he always crosses his feet and also how he is always holding on when he goes for rides. Whether it's his car seat, the stroller, the rocking chair, a shopping cart or the boat, he always is putting his hands out to hold on to the edges near him!

He also loves poking eyeballs. My eyeballs, other baby's eyeballs and he tries to pull my eyelashes as well as his own too. And he likes dancing to music recently.

I should have enough milk in the freezer now that we're about done nursing. 11 months is a good enough run for me and I'm thankful for the journey of being able to nurse my babies for so long.

Today after swimming lessons (where Tai actually bobbed under the water!!) I took the kids to get 4th of July snow cones again this year. Kasen and Tai were both so good to share with Kohen!

And then when Tai was taking forever to finish hers, she was nice enough to share with Kasen too! She let him drink all the juice and then he'd feed her all the scoops.

It's been a crazy busy Fourth of July week. The day after we got home from Flaming Gorge Kyle flew to California to go on a deep sea fishing trip with my brothers. Marissa planned it to celebrate Josh finishing his board exams for medical school. Unfortunately Kyle was sea sick almost the entire time and even threw up a few times on the boat. They got to bring home a couple tuna though! And they got to go to a MLB game while they were there too.

The day he was flying home from California I went out to lunch with my mom for her birthday and then we stopped at the Clark Planetarium. This is Kasen pretending to die because he doesn't have a space suit on in space!

Early the next morning I left for Young Women's Camp at Camp Aerie. We braided hair and had a dance party and went swimming all day on Thursday at South Summit Aquatic Center in Kamas and then of course testimony meeting, which is my favorite.

I think it's so neat to think about how many people there are around the world that believe in God BECAUSE of the experiences that they have had with Him. That if we look for Him we will find Him changing our lives. I think it's amazing the spiritual gifts people are blessed with. Those that can recognize God's hand in their lives, those that have faith to believe, those that are blessed to believe on the words of others experiences. I love testimony meeting when I get to hear about the experiences that have caused others to believe in God. Experiences that prove to them that He is real. He exists. And how each of us can just look around and find Him working in our lives and then believe in those experiences.

So I got home from camp on Friday and early Saturday morning we got to go inside the temple for the first time in 15 months, to see Melanie and Jack get sealed! Their sealing was in Payson at 9am and somehow we actually made in back to Pleasant Grove by 10 am for Oliver's baby blessing! I finally got to meet Oliver and he is already so big! 

On my way home I ran into Dollar Tree and when I came out a guy stopped me and asked if that was my car running... I thought he was about to tell me that he called the cops for leaving my kids in the car, but he was just telling me that he hit my car instead. Super nice of him to stay and make it right! The kids were anxiously waiting to tell me that they know what happened, that our car got hit and tipped almost half way over, but that it wasn't scary. Kasen just said his heart was sad about Nissan getting hurt.

Later that day we went to a Fourth of July BBQ with them at my dads house where Ben and Josh pan seared their tuna steaks to share with us. They were very tasty!

Yesterday we got to wake up early yet again to go to Oakley's baby blessing/Reagan's birthday party! So many family celebrations. We stayed down there for another Fourth of July BBQ at Kelly's house and the kids got to do some bottle rocket fireworks. And Kyle won money beating the guys at darts. Again. Just like he did on Father's Day.

First times riding by himself in a shopping cart with his cute little crossed feet and everything.

Other news to share is that Kiwi has found a new home. And I will tell you why.

I had previously learned that we cannot have an outdoor cat because they run away and don't come back. But I had never had an indoor cat before. When we had our mouse infestation I thought that starting with a kitten and having an indoor only cat would be a possibility. However, I have since learned that I cannot do indoor cats either. She just sits downstairs and destroys everything (including our brand new carpet) to the point that I'd rather risk the destruction of another mouse infestation. Plus her dying noises when she's in heat and how she doesn't get along with Peeka topped it off. I told Kyle we weren't just taking her to a shelter though, that we had to find her a new home. Luckily we found her one days before we went to Flaming Gorge so that we didn't have to find someone to feed her while we were gone. A nice man named Jordan paid us $40 to take her with all of her accessories. And now I officially know that we cannot ever have another cat again.

We explained it to the kids and they didn't even cry about it so bye Kiwi!