The Crazy Fun Month of JULY!!

July has been pretty crazy but it's been a lot of fun too! We moved to Utah the end of June and unpacked in a hurry with Mom's help. We miss lots of things about Flagstaff but are really liking our new home too. I was excited to get a Costco membership and stock up on groceries in our new house. We celebrated with a Costco hot dog and Braden was pretty excited about it. 

Then we celebrated the 4th of July! My friend Amberlee in Flagstaff helped me make these cute shirts for the holiday. The kids LOVED collecting candy in the small town parade. We had a fun barbecue with lots of family. We ended the day with fireworks of course. Susie tried to stay awake but didn't make it through the whole show. Braden did! 

We spent a few days in Cedar City spending time at Grandma Suzy's house. We loved the park there with the fun creek. I got to spend some time with my siblings too which was fun. We went on a beautiful hike in Kanaraville. Gorgeous!! 

Don't worry there's more....

After we got home from that trip we headed down to Duck Creek, close to Bryce Canyon for the West family reunion! All of Paul's siblings and their families were able to make it out which is a pretty big deal. The 9 are scattered over different parts of the US. There were 39 grandkids there, plus all the adults. It was a full house! I didn't see Susie much during the reunion because she was too busy playing with all her awesome cousins. 

They played dress up and built little boats to race and had lots of nerf gun wars. We got to see Bryce Canyon and Zion's National Park. When it wasn't raining Braden loved playing outside, in the mud! 

From that reunion I took the kids and headed up to Idaho for the Garbett family reunion. I got to see lots of family I haven't seen in years so it was really nice. Uncle Claude wasn't ready for this picture! 

 

We spent a couple days in Idaho visiting with Grandparents, too. Susie and Braden loved trying on Grandma's wigs up in the loft. We took them Hooper Springs and to see the Gyser. We had a lot of fun road tripping and seeing so much family, but I'm exhausted!  I don't think I'll go anywhere for another year. 

A month for changes

Last month we had lots of things change, quickly. Our landlord came over one night and said he had decide he needed to sell our house. Within the same week, Paul's boss informed him that they were overstaffed for Pharmacists in Flagstaff. So Paul started traveling all over Northern Arizona to fill in for other pharmacists and we tried to figure out what we wanted to do. We decided to just look around and see if there was any openings closer to family. Within 2 weeks Paul was offered a position in Northern Utah and we decided to accept! I definitely feel the Lord's hand in these changes and I'm grateful that He is watching out for us. I'm excited for our new move but I'm going to miss a lot of people in Arizona!

Luckily I've been able to say good-bye to some. We had a visit from a friend of mine in Phoenix. Her son, Aaron has been struggling with cancer this last year. Susie and Aaron were good friends when we lived in Phoenix so it was so nice to see them and spend some time with their family.

Paul has been out of town a lot and he had to work on Father's Day but we were able to spend a little time together the Saturday before to celebrate. He made a fort with the kids and they read lots of books. 

I had a fun lunch date with my friends. We also got to have a little potluck party at the park as a last hurrah and that was a lot of fun. Our ward in Flagstaff has been so awesome! I'm really going to miss them!!

I've been busying packing and cleaning. Most of the time I tell the kids to "go play!" or "watch another show!" so I can get some things done. But we have been able to do a few fun things lately. We love to walk up to the Flagstaff sign for a little fresh air. The kids like to look for bugs. We've had some fun with all the cardboard boxes lying around. Today we made rocket and slid down the stairs on a cardboard slide!

We are really excited for the 4th of July this year because we will be able to spend it up in Utah with lots of our family. Plus there will be a small town parade! Yay! 

California Trip and Birthday Visitor

It's been a bit of a crazy month. More updates on that to follow... We've been planning a trip to California with my family to play on the beach and by the time it rolled around I was ready to get-outta-dodge for a few days. We had a great time, too! Susie has been looking forward to going to the beach so much, she talked about it every day until we finally went. She loved playing with her cousin and the rest of the family. 

The first day was cloudy but we still enjoyed watching the waves and playing in the sand. The clouds didn't stop Ty, he went straight for the water! He also found a dead crab on the beach. As is tradition, we had to bury someone in the sand and Ty was the victim.

We went to a local seafood place to get some fresh food. It was pretty fresh. Tiffany picked out the crab and Jessie hammered it until she was sure she had eaten every possible edible part. It was entertaining! 

We went on a little whale watching cruise the next day. We didn't see any whales but we did see some dolphins! Turns out they are difficult to photograph. Dolphins are cool but they aren't great a posing for the picture. The seal lions on the other hand were very accommodating.

We walked around the shops along with water after our whale watching cruise. Susie wanted a hot dog. 

 We did get a sunny day at the beach, which was a lot of fun. The kids and I didn't get too far into the water but we had fun watching Paul get hit by the waves. Livy, Ty, Jessie, and Paul played in the water for a long time and it was so fun to watch! 

Here are a few others of the trip. Susie loved singing in the car with her friend Jessie. And we all enjoyed the amazing hot breakfast at our hotel. Tiffany picked an awesome hotel, best ever! Susie just wanted Lucky Charms of course. 

After we got back from California, Olivia came and visited. Paul was out of town for work all week (again) so it was so nice to have some company! The kids made her feel real welcome, right away.

We did facials and pedicures and watched movies.

We went to the park and got some sun (Olivia got a little too much) and flew our kite. Flying kites is a blast! It was a perfect day to do it, just the right amount of wind.

We went on a birthday date. Olivia got a massage and we got a pizookie from Oreganos.... soooo good.

She turned 19 while she was here so we made waffles for breakfast, sang to her and had her blow out her candle. I'm so glad she was able to get a little time off of work and come have some fun. I loved it!