July--It's a blast!!

It has been one crazy month. It started with Weston and Becky -Ryan's sister and her husband- visiting for the Fourth of July. We tried to spend a lot of time visiting with them. Which included going to the beach three times and having them over for dinner one night. We even went to the beach on the Fourth of July. Yes we are crazy!! It actually turned out okay though. Hailey and Sydney made a cute new little friend, Ryan and Riley got to work on their surfing skills, and Carley and I got to hang out. That night we went to see the fireworks at Aviara golf course. It was a great show, and location. The kids had a blast rolling down the hills, playing in the sand pits, and collecting golf balls while we waited for the fireworks to start. Once the fireworks started it was a different story. Both Sydney and Carley were scared to death. I got Carley to calm down, but Sydney cried through the entire show. --Sorry to everyone around us!!--
We said our goodbye's to Weston and Becky and started getting ready for our trip to Utah. We had not been planning one because of gas prices. However our apartment needed to be tented for termites, so we made a deal with the owners. Instead of putting us up in a hotel, paying for our food, and gas for three days they gave us gas money to drive to Utah. I think it was a great deal for both of us. It made for a quite crazy week getting ready to go. We not only had to pack for the trip, but pack up our entire house. This includes food inside fridges and freezers. It was crazy and a lot of work. I would never have been able to do it without help from my friends The Travis', The Linvilles and The Scotts. -Thanks so much guys!!-
With our entire house completely bagged up and packed away we headed for Utah. Monday and Tuesday we left Carley home with Grandma and took the three older kids on rafting trip down The Green River. We had a lot of fun. Sydney was a little nervous at first and would cry when rapids came. Hailey, trying to help here sister feel better, renamed the rapids "mad Carley's" to make them a little friendlier. It was a very cute attempt to make her sister feel better, but didn't work. Finally Ryan took her and she calmed right down. She just needed her Daddy. When we got into camp Sydney decided the trip wasn't so bad after all. She loved playing and rolling in the dirt. Hailey and Riley were having a great time too. Riley caught his first fish, which we took home and ate-yum-, winning a bet he had made with his dad on who would catch the first fish. The next day Sydney decided the river really wasn't that bad and fell asleep for the last hour and a half. A lot of fun was had by all.
On Thursday we impatiently waited for news from the hospital on when Kenny and Tasha's new baby would enter the world. He finally made it about 5:13. We all rushed over to greet our newest family member. He was so CUTE!! The kids got to see him through the window as Kenny, the proud daddy, held him up. Jackson was very cooperative and looked back at his new cousins wide eyed and alert. After the hospital we went bowling and had a blast.
The next day we shed tears and said good bye, -It was really hard to leave that that adorable new little baby.- and headed out to visit with Weston, Becky, Michael, and Rebecca (Michael's girlfriend). p.s. Michael--Way to go, she is beautiful and sweet!! We met them at Deer Creek and went boating and wakeboarding. It was a lot of fun. The next day everyone went swimming, well Carley and I stayed home so Carley could get a greatly needed nap, and played with Weston's underwater camera . After the swimming party, we had a wonderful lunch and celebrated a belated birthday for Michael. It was a lot of fun. After that there was nothing left to do but drive home.
We made it home Sunday afternoon to our house waiting for us to unpack it and to find that the gas had been turned off. It was beyond frustrating to find out that we had no way to cook dinner or give the exhausted babies a warm bath. It had been turned off for safety during the tenting of our apartment. Not the best end to a great vacation.
We got the gas turned back on on Monday and spent the rest of the week trying to get everything unpacked. I am hoping August will present a calm entrance back into the school year, but with the soccer season warming up and two weeks of swimming lessons around the corner it doesn't look to promising. It's okay, we love every minute of it.