July in Utah is my very favorite! There's always so many fun traditions and time to spend with our families!
I can't remember why, but Audrey was fake crying, which was cracking us up. I got a video, but only caught a couple seconds of the scrunched up nose funny crying.
We went to feed ducks with my mom. The girls wore matching pink polka dots.
Ava drew on Coen's face to make him Rudolph... in July. She used marker and it wasn't that easy to get off! When I was sending the picture to Brent, Coen said, "Mom, do you think Dad will know it's me?" Not related to the picture, but one time Coen said, "Mom, do you know what I want to be when I grow up?" I guessed, "a fireman?" He said, "No. A balloon blower upper."
We went to my Grandpa's 85th birthday party on the 4th of July. We were able to see some cousins and also choose some things as Grandma was cleaning out her closets and giving things away.
My grandparents gave us an inheritance check which made Laura and I teary since we were just talking about all our memories in the home with Grandma and Grandpa.
We went to Nana's house for a party too. Everyone wants a turn to hold baby Livy!
Even Audrey wanted a turn. A video of it- Andrew says "well that's about the cutest thing ever."
The previous day I had given Audrey a hair cut- she didn't want to sit still for very long. The second half of the haircut looked like this: Audrey naked, running around the yard playing, with me following her around with scissors and snipping a piece when she stopped to look at something.
Because of the hard year with COVID, my work closed down our office the week of the 4th of July and gave everyone an extra week of vacation. It was sooo nice!
Two pretty princesses and a pouting fireman.
Natalie was staying at East Canyon and the rest of us drove up to to spend the day there. It was so much fun! First we went swimming.
We played board games and talked, and ate dinner.
Then we were going to split up and have half of us go fishing and the other half go paddle boarding in the reservoir, but when we got to the reservoir, so much of it was dried up because of the bad drought we're in. Mitch taught the kids a few things about fishing.
McKenna loved the bait!
Mitch let me try fly fishing and taught me lots of things- I was amazed at how much strategy and knowledge he had! I kind of thought you just fling the rod and see if you catch a fish :)
Andrew's family was in town and we got to see them a few times. We went to the Gale Center.
Out for an evening walk at the best time of day when the mountains are turning pink.
Laura came to visit and Audrey loved that she brought Lottie.
Getting in my baby snuggles time!
Brent and I were able to go on a real date a couple times! Thanks to our parents who each watched the kids! This time we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple (we weren't able to do a session since at this point it was restricted to those who live in the temple district). We walked around the temple and sat on the bench outside and talked. Then we went to Iceberg and Brent got a shake.
Since my mom had taken us to the zoo in June, Audrey had been talking about it and wanted to go back. We went back with Andrew's family.
Ava was in a mood and wanted solo pictures everywhere. She didn't want the other kids in her pictures!
We went to visit Great Grandma Cowley and Ava liked her tree house.
My mom took Ava to This is the Place park with Cher's kids while I worked.
She liked panning for gold.
She got to ride a horse!
We didn't have a change of clothes for Audrey, so we did a bag turned into overalls.- a hack from Grandma Dot. We have a picture of Ava like this too!
Audrey running around in her bag outfit, haha. She didn't seem to care.
I took the kids to the park to play and a lady there shared her oatmeal so my kids could feed the ducks.
These two! Coen asked me one day who my favorite sibling is. I said, "You can't say that! That would be like if I asked you if Audrey or Ava is your favorite sister." Coen immediately replied, "but it's Audrey."
Ava was SO excited for my work's Cowabunga Bay party that we have every year. She made a countdown in her room and was so happy when the day finally arrived. We ended up having so many people come- most of Brent's siblings, Andrew's family, and our parents. We had lots of fun and quite a few of us even caught the ping pong balls to get prizes.
The sunset was so beautiful that night!
Cousins enjoying Dippin' Dots.
Andrew took care of Audrey a lot because they're buds.
The Dahn Christmas party didn't happen in December because of COVID so we were able to attend in July! Tammy was in charge and did a Frozen theme.
Throwing snowballs into the abominable's mouth (drawn by Mitch!)
Natalie helped the party be professional!
We played hungry hippo
A video of the game:
Ryan's family was in town and the kids were interested in their pets they brought:
Doing lots of Disney puzzles with Kaleb.
Something I want to remember is that Ava says "technically" as "ten-ta-cly." I just picture tentacles when we says it and it makes me smile every time. Here's Ava wearing some sort of Harry Potter contraption. She loved doing crafts all summer.
Ava's hair seems to get crazier by the day. It's always snarled and in her face, and looks like this when she wakes up:
I met Cher at the aviary on a Monday evening. Coen really wanted the map to be in his picture.
The flamingos are my favorite.
We were right by our Great Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's house so we drove by for old memory's sake! We used to come here when we were young, and I especially remember going to the 24th of July parade and then walking back here and eating lunch with cousins.
The next evening I took the kids to see the floats.
I ran into my friend Kathy there! We went to high school in Brazil together and I hadn't seen her since Coen was a baby.
This was the best float of the year. The kids really wanted to get balloons and we waited in line for like 45 minutes, even though there were only about 4 families in front of us. The lady was SO slow! I was texting my complaints to Brent the whole time and then when we got to the front of the line I could see the lady had Parkinson's disease or something. Oops.
The kids' besties moved from Oregon to Utah, which is sad for us when we are in Oregon, but at least we get to see them in the summer! The kids had a tea party.
Ava's friend is the best to always want to dress up, sing, dance, and do all the fun things with Ava.
Another day, the kids went down to Highland and had a fun play date which included swimming at a rec center.
We gave Addyson this swimming suit for her birthday last year and the girls were excited to be matching!
Check out Emma's high jump and voluminous hair! :)
Ava was able to go to the Harry Potter symphony music with Brent and my parents at Deer Valley. I stayed home and watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics with the Cowleys.
The kids went to the zoo again! Because why not when Grandma has a zoo pass and Audrey loves the animals?
Riding on her favorite animal.
After the zoo we went to This is the Place Park- it was right on the 24th of July so it was pretty crowded, but a great activity to do to celebrate our pioneers!
A little video of Audrey riding a horse:
The petting zoo- Ava doesn't ever want to pet the animals.
We ran into Sister Linton from our ward in Texas while we were there! We had to take a picture because she is the aunt of a professor at the U of O, who Brent works very closely with.
Panning for gold is a favorite activity. Even Brent and I had fun doing it!
That evening Brent and I went on another real date! We went to a Mexican restaurant and also went to Hobby Lobby and bought some decorations for Audrey's birthday party coming up.
I went to work several times throughout the summer (about once a week when I was in town). I accidentally took this picture when my phone was facing the ceiling and it turned out pretty cool I thought!
Audrey quickly learned how to do pop its and loved it.
Our friend Diana was in town for a few hours before her flight back to Texas so we met her downtown and went to a few sites!
The SLC temple under renovation- a view we'll never see again!
These two wanted to pose here.
I miss my friend Diana so much! We would love to live near them again someday. We're going to try to coordinate that ;)
The Olympics started, and I tried to watch as much as I could. Ask Brent- the Olympics is one of my top 5 favorite things in this world. This Australian swim coach going crazy made Cher and I laugh so much. I have to include the screenshot here to remember!
Here's a Youtube link if you want a laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5cYEcum2ZY
These cousins played and played all summer. It was fun for the kids to have playmates as Natalie would come a couple times a week when her girls had reading class. This is why we love coming in the summer- we get to spend time with family and make sure our kids know their cousins and grandparents!
If I could re-live one month of the year, it would be July. Oh July, how I love you!
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