July

We kicked July off with a super fun day date, and ever since I've been convinced that day dates are the way to go.

Some friends from our ward that live a minute or two away from us invited us to go riding up in Kelly Canyon. Taylor was so excited to get on a bike again, and I'll admit that I was too.

The scenery was so pretty, and a motorcycle ride is one of the best ways to take it in.

We followed some trails, got a little lost, and rode through a small river.

Trevor peeked around the trail, thought it didn't look too deep, and took off through it.

Once we were all on the other side we discussed how it was way deeper than we thought-like up to our knees. It seemed even worse on the way back through. It was a good thing that Taylor is an experienced trail rider because we ended up going through some really rocky and hard trail.

All of the surprise terrain ended up making the adventure SO much fun!

We're dying to get Taylor a bike, so we can go again as soon as possible.

Our ward had a little barbecue one evening to celebrate something probably? Again what I get for blogging so many months later.

I do remember that the food was so tasty!

Hudson enjoyed playing with his little friends, and he loved having the big field to run in.

On the way home we stopped by the Jorgenson's to drop something off (?) and these two little monkeys kept themselves entertained while we were there.

Sunday festive wear before a holiday is my favorite!
These two loved riding in the wagon to church every Sunday during the summer.

The Fourth of July was so much fun!

We started the day off at the city's parade.

Rebekah and Emily got us a great spot in the shade to watch the parade from while they participated in the Firecracker 5K. We were in the shade for all but that last 20ish minutes which was so nice.

The truth behind the perfect picture that gets posted on social media.

Hudson was a huge fan of the parade.

He came home with plenty of candy, coupons, and a balloon.

The parade absolutely wore Ella out.

She fell asleep so fast on the way home, and she has never been one to easily fall asleep in the car.

We spent the day playing outside, enjoying each other's company, and celebrating our great country,

We swam in the pool in our backyard, barbecued, played with sparklers, and enjoyed a few games or corn hole.

At some point in the afternoon we wandered over to the Bushes.
We let the boys play with some sparklers and poppers, and clearly they entertained themselves playing with each other.
Carly and I just happened to buy the same shirts for the boys for the Fourth of July.
They were the most adorable little twins.

After a late nap for Ella we went to the Snake River Landing for the fireworks.

We each got a sno cone, and then sat on the grass across from a small pond to watch the fireworks.

We loved the new location for the event!

It was so much fun, and we were glad that we made the effort to go.

Sitting in the car for forever in a parking lot waiting to get out so we could go home wasn't our favorite thing ever, but it was still worth it.

Taylor's grandparents came up from Arizona to visit for a few days Unfortunately, living an hour and a half from Taylor's parents and where they were staying didn't leave us much time to visit with them. We had the chance to drive down to Grace the Saturday that they were there, and the kids loved it.

I was impressed with how well Ella warmed up to her great grandparents. She really isn't a fan of anyone except Taylor and I, so we were thrilled that she let them hold her.

Cute little girlies while we were apparently over at the Bushes one day.

All I can think about while looking at this picture is that Ella has gotten more hair since July.

Cow Appreciation Day has to be in our top ten days of the year.

This year's did not disappoint.

I couldn't miss the opportunity to make this shirt for Hudson.

'Repping the family business in his 1st Choice Security Technologies shirt :)

The phone and the cooler were the only way to get him to sit still long enough for a picture.

After our ward's pioneer breakfast we went the the Blue Angels air show.

It was kind of a last minute decision to attend, but Taylor got a free ticket from work, so we figured we might as well go.

Hudson loves airplanes. He liked getting to be up so close to different airplanes.

We had watched the airplanes turn around over our house for a few days prior to the show, but it was way cooler to be right under all the action and not just catching a few seconds of them.

Hudson got some stickers from some army guys, and we decided to be nice and get him a little airplane. He still flies that plane around regularly.

Not a tree or any bit of shade from clouds in sight which made us super extra grateful for our super brella. There's no way we would have survived watching the show without it.

It was HOT that day. We promptly jumped in the pool once we got home.

The highlight of the day for Hudson just might have been seeing this Lightening McQueen car.

A local guy owns him so we see the car around town every now and then.

Cute naughty boys during sacrament meeting at church.

How can you even yell at them when they're so dang cute?!

This little boy took a LOVING to his bike this summer.

He would go and go and go, and most of the time we would have to force him to stop riding it.

He started in the spring needing to have his feet strapped to his pedals, and by July he became a pro and didn't need the straps anymore.

Hudson gave the truck a wash one Saturday afternoon.

Did I mention we bought a new truck?! Because we did.

After trading in our Journey we no longer had a vehicle that had 4 wheel drive.

This wasn't the end of the world, but then we found out that Taylor's little Dakota had quite a few problems and it wasn't worth it to us to put the money into it that it needed. So, we sold it for cheap and bought a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500.

Taylor is in love with it, and I'll admit that it is really nice to have a nicer truck and the 4 wheel drive has come in handy.