The Grubers: July 2017 - Fourth of July, Draper Days, and more Summer Fun

We started the month out right with a game night with our Pleasant Grove friends. We had dinner at Malawis and then ended up at the Gibbs playing Code Names (a game we came to really love!).

We partied hard on the 4th of July; we went to the Provo parade with the Grubers. George and Nancy were lifesavers once again, going super early to get us a great spot in the shade. The parade was complete with lots of sun and donuts! We all headed up Provo Canyon for lunch and had a picnic at South Fork Park. We brought lunch for our family from Harmons. We had a good time exploring the stream and trails at the park. Next, we headed to Draper for a dinner of pork ribs. We had a fun time throwing water balloons at the boys while they jumped on the tramp. It was great! Until it was firework time, we put Moana on for the boys to watch and the adults played Cover Your Assets and Farkle. For fireworks, we went to the Sandy Amphitheater. We could see for miles all throughout the valley. We got a little piece of everyone’s firework show. It was really fun!

Our new favorite 4th of July treat! Red, white, and blue cupcakes!

Pooped!

We had our annual Girls Days! This year was Nancy’s year to host, but took Alli up on her offer to use the Corday’s beach house in Oxnard. I will write that in a separate post next.

We started swimming lessons! Our first time! I should have started years ago with Charlie, but it is what it is. We did it at the Orem Rec Center. Charlie was in the Preschool 2 class and Colson was in the Parent & Child class with me. Roman and his family ended up taking swim lessons at the same time, but in different classes, so it was fun to see them after and play with them in the water for a bit. Charlie did great! Colson also did really well. It was fun (and cold) having that time with Colson during his lesson. We did lots of song singing. I was impressed that Colson learned how to spider crawl along the wall and was able to climb out all by himself! Both passed their class at the end of the two weeks.

We had a play date with more PG friends. We had some backyard fun at Kara’s house with a blow up pool and tramp. It is always fun to get the kids together and have time to chat with the moms.

Our summer hiking group took a hike up to Buffalo Peak. It’s a long drive up a winding dirt road, a short hike, and a spectacular view of the valley! We almost didn’t find it, but were so glad we did.

And then it was Draper Days! We love a good city carnival. We started the morning at the HOT parade. The boys loved it, especially the candy. Jason was gone that morning fishing with Max, George, and Alex. For lunch we had pizza and then we hung out at my parents house. Colson took a nap and Jason joined up with us. We went swimming at my parents gym, Lifetime. Both of the boys did great! Charlie used his goggles and actually held his breath underwater to explore. It was so great! The swimming lessons definitely made a difference. After swimming we had a BBQ of burgers at my parents' house. Then we were off to the carnival. Amy and Johnny met up with us. We also had a great place to see the fireworks. One of my favorite parts of Draper Days is just the walk home from the park. We love seeing the homes that line the park and the great yards and large parties they are having. It is so fun!

We got to see Amy and Johnny again for Sunday dinner! They brought a lamb roast! And it was actually really good! We also watched an episode of Sherlock together.

We purchased a new Dell laptop for our work with PicSkip and upcoming yearbook conferences for Jostens.

We had a date night with Mike and Kate Pacada. We finally saw their home in Lehi! We had dinner at R&R Smokehouse and saw the new movie War for the Planet of the Apes movie for $5 Tuesday.

The boys and I hit up the Springville splashpad. This particular outing is always complete with a Little Caesars pizza.

Jason taught Charlie how to ride a bike without training wheels!! Charlie surprised us all by picking it up so fast and easy. He absolutely loves riding his bike now.

We took another hike with our summer hiking group. This time it was the Nature Trail near Swinging Bridge up AF canyon.

I took a short trip up to Idaho for Amenae’s bridal shower. The boys were with George and Nancy during the day doing fun wet stuff in their yard while Jason was at work. I rode up to the shower with my mom, Kim, and Ashley. It was one of those in and out visits; after the shower we drove home.

We had our first Picskip yearbook conference. I will write about that in another post.

We had a BBQ with kids and husbands with our fun PG group at Provosts.

We went to the new Orem splash pad with our hiking group since it had been so rainy the night before and the mountains were muddy.

We went to the Dinosaur Museum with April, Nancy, and the kids. We also had my cousin, Brooke Hill, and her two kids join us. After the museum we had lunch at the nearby McDonalds.