What We Did {July}

What did we do in July?

Well, there was this:

Macy is officially a two-wheeler rider.

We've been trying to convince her to try her bike without

training wheels for a few months now, but she never wanted to.

Then, one random day she walked out of her room and announced,

"I'm ready to take my training wheels off today."

I'm beginning to learn that this girl will not be pushed.

She has to be able to decide to do things in her own time.

She also tried sewing for the first time this month.

 

We took our last trip of the membership season to the zoo.

We are going to miss that place!

Coleman, Macy and I made some sidewalk paint one morning.

C did a pretty good job with the paintbrush,

but preferred using his feet most of the time.

We went to the Weber State fireworks.

The show was super short this year,

which apparently made Coleman just a little upset.

Brett also had a chance to join us at Cherry Hill,

a.k.a. our second home during the summer.

Both kids have learned a lot of pool related skills.

Macy can now swim across the deep end, 

and jump off in the deep end, 

then swim to the edge of the pool without help.

Coleman is completely fearless in the water,

which is a good and bad thing.

He has taught himself to breathe underwater,

which consequently makes him think he can swim.

Therefore, he is never without his life jacket...just in case.

The kids also got to do a morning sprinkler run.

We were outside eating breakfast when the sprinklers came on.

The kids begged to run in them.

Why not?

It is summer after all.

Idaho...Here We Go!

Brett signed up to help out at scout camp for the week.

We decided that if Dad got to play,

we should to.

So off to Idaho we went!

We spent four days in Boise with my grandparents.

Lucky for us, my cousin Branson had a baseball

tournament while we were there,

so in addition to lots and lots of swimming,

we got to cheer Branny on at several games.

The kids enjoyed some breakfast with Grandpa Vance

the first morning,

then it was off to the baseball field to cheer on the Torros.

Not sure if Mace and Coleman were more into 

the games or the root beer floats.

Taylor provided some on-site kid entertainment.

My cute grandparents.

They never miss a game.

The great Branbino with some of his biggest fans.

This trip was so good for me.

It was nice to have a little change of scenery

and spend some time with my family.

Plus the kids were awesome the entire time

(even in the car!)

If that's not the perfect trip, I'm not sure what is.

50 Years

My blog is behind.

Case in point: this post.

Back in November,

we took a trip to Boise to celebrate this:

My darling grandparents, Vance and Barb Trube,

 just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

I really can't explain how much I love these guys.

I know not everyone has the opportunity to grow up knowing their grandparents,

so I feel truly blessed to have been able to spend 

so much time with them when I was a kid.

They don't live as close now, 

but we always look forward to visiting and spending time 

with them whenever we can,

and are lucky enough to usually see them a couple times a year.

On to the party!

So many people came to celebrate with these guys.

They are loved by a lot of people!

If you know my grandparents, 

you know how awesome they thought these were.

Their cake was made to look like their wedding cake.

I can't tell you how happy this picture makes me.

I love that my kids know (and absolutely love) my grandparents.

Ummm...nice try Michael.

Olivia, Nathan, Ryan, Grandpa and Michael.

The entire Trube family that was able to make it!

Total, my grandparents have:

5 kids

16 grandkids

(2 of which are married)

and 3 great-grandkids

(with one on the way.)

Happy Anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa!

July the 4th

I love the 4th of July.

This holiday is full of fun traditions for our little family.

 

We always start by putting out our flag.

We got it from an amazing family from our old ward

and is just kind of a cool way to remember them.

The scouts almost always pick it up along with

their fundraiser flags, but it never stays gone for long.

 

Our first stop is the Kaysville parade.

We started going several years ago with our friends who lived there.

They have since moved,

but we still go every year.

 

Coleman's noise-reducing headphones are a new addition this year.

Sure, they make him look a little "special,"

but we got through both the parade and  the fireworks

without a single tear.

Totally worth the weird looks we got.

Favorite float...

I cry every year.

Second favorite...

who doesn't love a caravan of old VWs?

Party beads from Taco Time truck.

Holla!

Later that evening,

we went back to Kaysville

for fireworks at the DATC.

We met up with cousin Haidyn,

played in the bounce houses,

and ended the night with fireworks.

God bless the U.S.A.