July 2023

August 09, 2023

July 2023

I love July! We started the month by being in Show Low for Independence Day. We went on several long walks visited the Ellsworth and Denham families, explored, and watched movies! Berit, Meredith, and I with our families had a lunch get together! I love getting with my sisters and having all those cousins together! We went on a walk around the stream at the hatchery. The highlights of that included the incredible stamina of Hunter. He ran the entire time. And it was hot! But he was so excited and just had to run. Another highlight was Curtis! He would walk past some guys fishing, and they would get a fish on the line. On our way back, a stranger called out, "Hey Curtis! You're my good luck charm!" as another fish got caught on his line! I smiled and waved and said thanks, and then another guy said hi to Curtis and then HE got a fish on the line, so he also said thank you to Curtis! It was so sweet. They only knew his name because we were all just talking and playing on out walk. It was awesome and I know C felt cool!

Gwen, Emily, and I left Jake and Wade in Show Low and went shopping and to the rodeo in Snowflake. It's a favorite tradition for us! We had to leave pretty quickly because Emily got stung by a bee. Luckily it didn't swell or anything! Berit got to the rodeo right when they opened the gates and saved us excellent seats.

Because Wade still had his painful booty rash, Jake and I weren't sleeping well and we decided to go home before the fireworks. We made it home right on time for Abby Standage to invite us to join her for fireworks at University and Mesa Drive! I think THAT will be a new tradition because it was SPECTACULAR. We sat right in front of where the fireworks were being lit, and it was so loud and fun.

My sister, Caroline, recommended a show we hadn't heard of called "The School for Good and Evil" and it quickly became inspiration for haircuts in our family!

We celebrated Emily's birthday!!!!! Our best 7 year old had a great birthday and spent time with her sweet friends swimming and eating pizza. Emily is so special and smart. Very sassy, a little spiteful, and a lot of fun! We did a small family brunch with the Johnson crew at Cracker's and Co and Emily felt very spoiled.

We got a minivan! It's my dream car.

We went swimming a lot.

Emily and Gwen participated in boredom busters. The leaders took a lot of photos and it was so fun to see some of the things they did while they were away!

The last fun thing of July was sewing camp!!!! My mom, Marilyn, sent out letters to all her younger granddaughters inviting them to Snowflake for a week of sewing, knitting, crocheting, and fun. She went all out with lessons and prepared a truly full week. Gwen was homesick the whole time which surprised the heck out of us! We spent so much time preparing Emily to try to be brave with Grandma's dogs, and she ended up having no issues! They went swimming, made some hats, crocheted, and sewed! Grandma sent daily updates and it was fantastic. They had a fashion show at the end of the week and were very proud to give Jake and I a fashion show when they got back.