Wednesday, November 16, 2016

July 2016 - Summer Parades and Carnivals

Summertime is so busy and so fun! To start off, we had the 4th of July. We went to the Provo Parade with the Grubers where we enjoyed the parade, donuts, music, and family. It was a great time, as always! Next, we grabbed some lunches and went up the canyon to South Fork Park. We found a perfect spot shaded in the trees and right next to the stream. Everyone had a good time playing in the water.





Then we went to Draper to celebrate with the Arbons. We swam in the Larsen’s pool and had a BBQ dinner at my parents' house. After putting the boys down to bed, we watched the season finale of Game of Thrones. It was so intense! It was horribly good. Then we grabbed the boys and drove home. It was such a fun day!


We had our annual Gruber Girls Week! I will write about that in the next post.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my cousin, Darnel, got his mission call to Papua New Guinea. We were lucky enough to attend his farewell and huge BBQ lunch. They pulled out all the stops, in true Polynesian style. We even had a roasted pig!


And then it was Draper Days. We headed to Draper for the parade where we got lots of candy and sun. Then we had lunch at my parents and spent some time together there while Colson took a nap. In the evening, we had such a fun time at the carnival at the park. There were a handful of huge red balloons flying above some of the booths. Colson was admiring one (he is obsessed with balloons) and the man at the booth just gave it to him. Colson was on cloud nine! It was ridiculously big, even bigger than Colson. We tied it to the stroller and we got tons of admiring looks, even from teenagers. Everyone wanted to know where we got it. Little did they know it was a $20 balloon (according to the man who gave it to us). When it got dark we had an awesome time watching the fireworks with my parents.

Bryan on duty with Explorers


As usual, we took advantage of the many fun outdoor activities there are to do in the summer. We went to splash pads, swimming, numerous parks, up the canyon, Thanksgiving Point Gardens, Museums, Farm Country, and much more. It was a very successful July with Charlie and Colson.


With Olivia Hill

Tending the Watts


For Pioneer Day Weekend we did more fun things. My mom had a Siblings Week so Lynze Anderson was in town with her mom. Friday night Bryan, Lynze, Kim, and Kyle came over to our place and we had a BBQ and lit our own fireworks (with only one close call of a rogue firework). On Saturday, we had a ward breakfast and children's bike parade. Dad came with us swimming at the Lindon pool. It was a lot of fun. We got a new DSLR camera that evening. For PicSkip purposes, we knew we needed more professional quality videos. We got the Canon EOS 80D. It was a business purchase with lots of personal benefits. There has definitely been a learning curve, but we have loved having it. On Sunday we went up Provo Canyon to Big Springs Park after dinner and enjoyed the mountains. The boys always love that, and so do we.



Testing out the new camera:



Jason was called as the Young Men’s President in our ward.

I helped put on a small Bachelorette Party for my best friend, Amy Stallings, at Olive Garden. I am so excited for her and we love Johnny.


At the very end of July, we were off to Colorado again, but this time with the Arbons. I will also talk about this in another post.

Here are some more pictures of the family and our home from the month:


I don't think I have ever a shared a picture of our bedroom. 

Our front yard:


Celebrating George and Nancy's 47th wedding anniversary: