July 31

After Jake's wedding today we headed up to Salt Lake to got to Rachelle's wedding. Needless to say, it was a hectic and tiring day. We were able to help a bit with the reception set up before the wedding and Teresa and Mom did a great job with the food. The wedding was held at a local florist nursery and was just beautiful. So happy for Rachelle and John!

July 30

We finally made it Utah late last night just in time for Jake's wedding festivities to begin! Tonight was the reception and we all had such a good time being together. Erica's family had an amazing cookie bar set up and a fun dance floor where we danced into the night. We are so happy for Jake and Erica and are grateful we can be part of their wedding!

July 29

Today I spent the day getting Carter ready for school. The kids are really excited for a new school year. Crazily, this is Carter's 3rd year using his backpack and it's still in great shape. Maybe next year will be the year when it finally wears out!

July 28

We spent the day getting everyone ready for the new school year. It honestly feels really weird to be preparing in July for the new school year! We just got the supply list this morning and I didn't have time to do any shopping around for good deals and ended up spending over $100 on school supplies for two kids! Wow! That didn't even include backpacks or lunch boxes!

July 27

When Daddy works late, mom takes the easy way out with dinner. Ironically, this is one of the kids' favorite dinner meals - waffles with strawberries and whipped cream (if I'm feeling really nice) and sausage.

July 26

The kids spent this afternoon building and playing in a blanket fort in the bonus room. They had a grand time entertaining themselves, even though it created a huge mess for us to clean up later! They even convinced me to let them sleep in the fort and did a great job going to sleep at a decent hour (even Addie!)

July 24

Tonight was our ward's 24th of July celebration at the church. The activities committee did an amazing job with this activity. After having a BBQ dinner, there were tons of Pioneer activities set up around the church for the kids to try. There was the stick pull, butter making, candle making, tug-o-wars, potato sack races, crossing an icy river and few other relays and games. We all had a great time and it was a wonderful way to remember and appreciate our pioneer heritage!

July 23

This evening Makenna put on Allen's shoes and socks that were still out from when he came home from work. She cracks me up and sure loves her dad! She wants to be just like him!

July 22

I wanted to change out my jars before we left on our big vacation. Since school will be starting as soon as we are home, I decided to go with a Back-to-School theme. I think they turned out so cute. I even made the wreath out of some brown lunch sacks and think it turned out so cute! Next year I want to add some school embellishments to the wreath but I'm super happy with how this little vignette pulled together.