July 2025

Special night with Lily! We made homemade pretzel bites and watched Jurassic World and spent the night on the air mattress. I had my nights with the other girls as well, but we didn't take pictures. I enjoy having those nights, even though it's hard for me to stay up to watch movies anymore. I did play games with Abby :) 

Had Laura and Cheryl's kids over to play in the pool and hot tub at Aspen Ridges. They had a blast and we surprisingly had it to ourselves. 

We went to Bear Lake for the 4th of July! It was busy and we had a few lightning storms and wind, but we had fun. Junie and Lily had an adventure when the wind came up and they were on a paddle board. They were far out and couldn't paddle back in. So grateful they had their life jackets on and for kind people helping them out and giving them a ride back in their boat. 

Lots of sand....

spike ball

Eric had to go embarrass all his nieces and go tanning with them. Hahaha, they were mortified. 

beautiful sunset

Went home and watched the fireworks. There were so many being set off in the neighborhood behind us. 

She's here! Erin is here. Finally got that 4th baby. She is so adorable. 

 

Girls Camp!

Craft all lit up.

 

The pictures are backwards from when they happened, but oh well. We had the theme of Look Unto Christ and had things centered around looking up and the sun, moon, stars and things that light up at night. The very last night we had the girls (and the leaders) perform a dance with glow sticks on their bodies. Hands down the most entertaining one was the girls who danced to Seagulls, stop it now. It was hilarious. 

It was really hot, I should have planned water activities, but I really had no idea what this campsite was going to be like and what I could plan.We played a lot of games though and it was a lot of laughs and fun.

One of our activities we had the girls go in groups blindfolded and they were told to follow one voice. She let them to different leaders (and Abby) who shared a story about someone who followed Christ. But there was a second voice trying to lead them astray. Some girls caught on fast, others got tricked lots of times. Finally they made it to the last place where they saw Jesus praying in Gethsemane. It was a pretty powerful activity and most of the girls said it was their favorite. 

Here we are making our craft, we made star lamps.

We did secret sisters and I got a hair bonnet. I was told I had to wear it while at girls camp :)

Star walk. This was something at the camp. We hiked it backwards, but it was fine. All along this path they had a plaque with a planet on it and information about it and a scripture that went along with gods creations and wonder. 

Along this path Kyla made the comment that this hill looks fun to roll down (think dirt, rocks and long dry grass). She wasn't going to do it, but Mia said yes it does and got down and rolled. Kyla didn't want to be showed up so she went too. Mia was pretty unscathed, Kyla on the other hand got beat up. Notice how it was two of my children who did this, no one else.

Gerald who came around a lot to visit

On the first night we had an activity where the girls were taught about light and Christ's light. They each walked separately to a leader holding a mirror and read a quote about their divinity and a statement about how they are amazing daughters of God. After they went through 5 of those they wrote what they are on a star that we hung on their tent. They also got a charm bracelet with stars, moons and suns. 

Kickball. We played it a few times. I played once, but mostly went and sprayed the girls with mist to cool them off. We did try playing with the other wards there, but it didn't last long.

All the amazing journals.

I flipping bruised my palm as I was loading the truck for girls camp and it hurt the dickens. 

Decorating our journals.

Before we left for girls camp we did chalk art in the church parking lot. It was pretty hot, otherwise I think they would have done a lot ore, but we got the theme's picture and scripture and a bunch of inspirational messages and pictures. Kyla even wrote how many days until Christmas. 

 

The next weekend we went camping as a family. We went on a 4 wheeler ride to Bloomington Lake. It wasn't suppose to be a hard ride, but turned out to be kind of hard and really long. I had to help my girls get unstuck and flip wheeler back over after they flipped them. No one got really hurt thank goodness. 

Jacey wrote that on my wheeler. 

Bloomington Lake. It was gorgeous. We (not everyone but most kids, Eric and Joey) got it and played for a little bit. It was pretty cold. 

Then we stopped at the ice caves.

This is how Mia and Korra slept. So cute. 

We played games and got caught in a crazy down pour with really loud thunder. Those who stayed at camp hid in the four wheeler trailer and played cards while the others were on a ride and try to hid underneath trees. They got soaked. 

For Christmas I bought some color changing packets to put in campfires. I was so excited to use them and they did not disappoint. It was pretty cool looking. 

I went on a morning hike by myself and took in all the amazing wildflowers and animals and just God's creations. I did go on this walk a few times with the girls as well, but it was so nice to just spend some time in the quiet and nature. 

Abby got her wisdom teeth taken out. No really funny stories about it, but she was hilarious to watch her try and eat pudding. 

 

I've been going to an exercise group almost every morning since the end of January. We do strength training 3 days a week and dance fit 2 days. I really love this self care I've given myself. During the summer Kyla has been coming with me too.

My baby turned 18. 😭😭😭😭 Since she was still swollen and not eaten much we had a plain cake (Oreo balls will come at a later date)

We had a Benson Marina day, kayaking and swimming. It wasn't super hot, but the sun did shine for us a little. Mia decided she wanted to bite into a cattail. It was interesting.  

Family movie themed dinner, Lady and the Tramp. These nights are so enjoyable. 

With Abby soon to be moving out and taking the Camry with her to get around we were in need of another car for Kyla to take to school and give rides to others to take to school. As well as her driving to work and gymnastics. Welcome to our new addition.