We met Aunt Joy, along with my cousins Andrea and Kelsey and their kids at the zoo. Here are the boys and Aunt Joy with Marin, posing for pictures in front of the tunnel built by our Grandpa Thatcher.
Marin wanted to be held, until I suggested that the boys hold her hands while she walked. She loved this idea and spent the majority of the time walking hand in hand with them. They were so sweet with her.
One of my kids favorite animals to see is always the polar bear.
Kelsey and Aunt Joy.
Cousins!
No zoo trip is complete without yummy treats!
Marin took an instant liking to Paxton.
Right as we were getting ready to leave, we got to say a quick hello to Anna and her little girl Nicole, who had just arrived.
July 14, 2016: Versii slipped on wet concrete at our church Primary Activity and split his chin open. One of the adults at the activity was a nurse and thought he would need stitches. Well, long story short, we were at Urgent Care for over 3 hours and although they said it would heal best with stitches, we left with his face super glued. The second Versii saw the needle the nurse was going to use to numb his chin, he flipped out and we never could get him to calm down or be still after that. So they said our only option was glue.
If you look close at his chin, you can see how swollen it was.
July 9th, 2016: Cavalia with Mom and Dad, Kerry (Josh's Boss) and his wife Kandy. After Josh and I saw Cavalia the first time they came to Portland, he promised that if they ever came again, we would go. The show was just as amazing as ever! It's just spectacularly done! We all loved it!
Josh is one of the Scout Leaders, so we seem to get great pictures of Kaden's scouting activities. Here he is working on earning his Swimming Merit Badge.
I volunteered on his first day of camp. One of their favorite activities of the day was Bow and Arrow.
Versii's targets.
Versii's group was assigned the name "Gracious Generals" and the camp theme was Super Heroes. Our ward Cub Master brought Super hero t-shirts to use for the team flags. We got Superman. Versii came up with the idea to turn the "S" into a "G" for the Gracious Generals. They had a great time decorating their flag.
Versii being pulled to "safety" in Super Hero Training.
Although Aunt Gail and Lizzy didn't fly home until the 6th, we dropped Lizzy, Kaden and Paxton off for the night at Mom and Dad's so I could take Versii to Cub Scout Camp the next day. But before that, we met Mom and Aunt Gail at Shari's for lunch and then Lizzy just had to go through the car wash. She claims the ones in Utah don't have colored soap and spinning brushes. So here's her cute video clip of the car wash.
I enjoyed getting to know you better Lizzy!
We had so much fun! I love you so much and I can't wait to hang out again.
Lizzy stayed the night and spent all day with us for the 4th. And she convinced me that we needed to make zucchini chips. So I made her do most of the work haha! We also put together a veggie tray, veggie dip and rice krispie treats.
Late afternoon, we headed down the street to Brian and Autumn's for a BBQ and fireworks. Brian BBQ'd ribs and made BBQ sauce from scratch. It was fantastic! Best BBQ sauce ever!
Lizzy and Kaden. I could not get him to smile.
Making s'mores over the fire pit.
Versii has trouble with loud noises and insisted on having ear protection. So I ran home to grab him a set from the shop.
Savannah and her friend Luna.
Lizzy was glad to have some girls her age to hang out with. Autumn's sister Natalie (on the right) and her friend Tallula (middle).
Lizzy took this video clip of one of the fireworks.
This is my favorite kind!
Love this picture of Lizzy!
Autumn and I.
I just love her so much!
Lizzy and I: Love her so much too!
Late in the evening, Versii decided he'd had enough fireworks and noise and curled up on the couch.
Autumn, Lizzy, Versii and I were up in Autumn's living room when we saw one of the neighbor's fireworks backfire straight toward their house. As soon as it exploded, she ran out on the deck to discover the arborvitae bushes were on fire. She started yelling, "We have a fire! Fire!" It took a few minutes for us to get the guys attention, since they were down on the driveway and with fireworks exploding all around them our voices were muffled. But we quickly got them moving with the hose, Autumn grabbed a hose from the back and the neighbors got one going from their side. And once we had everyone moving, there was nothing left to do but snap a photo of the scene, so that's just what I did. Luckily no one was hurt and they had the fire out in about 10 minutes. But wow, what a way to end our Fourth!
Thanks again Autumn and Brian for an amazing night!
