August 1st?

Seriously!? What happened to July? It's weird because the past 31 days seem to be both a LONG, distant memory and a flash of lightening at the same time. A lot happened in July. My little brother got married. My big brother moved away. Both events moved me to tears. But, those two major events were just the tip of the iceberg. Once I started thinking about everything we did during July, I was pretty amazed at how much we squeezed into those 31 days. We also blessed Luke and went on a family vacation to Yellowstone. Plus, there were all the other little "summer-time" activities: walks to the park, BBQs, Leatherby's, trips to the splash park, Tracy Aviary, baking yummy treats, play dates, a Bee's game, a bee sting, fireworks, a backyard camp-out, fishing, trips to the mountains, camp fires, the drive-in, and lots and lots of popsicles. We did not suffer from boredom! Here are a few highlighting photos:

During the loading of the Uhaul, my kids managed to take their shoes off and walk along the gravel/dirt driveway which happens to be loaded with those nasty/noxious stickers. Poor Trenters feet were covered! You want to feel bad for him, right? Well, you might not once you find out that he did not learn his lesson! Crazy kid took his shoes off at least four more times after the initial blow. To top things off, Ashlyn then got stung by a bee on her arm. I think my kids will always remember the awful day that Aaron, Monica, Ben, and Maggs moved - their awful will just be a little different than mine. In fact, the next day Ashlyn told me that uncle Aaron moved because they had, "a bee bush at their house."

To distract us from the terrible, awful move, Mindy and Marty graciously invited us to join them for a weekend in Yellowstone. It was a great little vacation and did do a good job at distracting us...for a few days.

While I do have a new found love of beach vacations, I will always have a very special place in my heart for the wonders of Yellowstone. Were else on earth can you see such impressive landscapes and wildlife in one setting? I can't even imagine what it was like for those who first came upon this great land.

Along with plenty of buffalo, we were lucky enough to see not just one, but a total of FIVE bears! One "black" black bear, one "cinnamon" black bear, and a grizzly with two cubs - AMAZING!

Notice the guy on the far left? Here is a word of advice, don't get out of your car when a mama bear is a mere 12 feet away. That was not smart. Not smart at all. Luckily nothing happened, but can you imagine? The only thing we didn't get to see was a moose.

There also seemed to be more wildflowers this year than normal, but maybe I just didn't notice them as much in the past. Needless to say, they were beautiful. Speaking of beautiful, just look at these three wonders -

This was Luke's first official vacation (outside of the womb), and the first of many trips to Yellowstone.

The only bad part of the vacation was the drive home, and it wasn't just all the darn road construction. Like I said, the vacation was a good distraction for a few days and then we had to go home knowing that not all of our family would be there and it just wouldn't be the same.

The 24th weekend started out with bang at the Bee's game. It was a fireworks night and to our utter surprise, Trent did not cry! He did cover his ears the entire time, but this was progress. He actually enjoyed himself!

When I asked the girls to give me a grumpy face, they this is what I got:

Nice try, but I'm not really getting "grumpy" - more of a gangsta vibe.

The next day, on the 24th, since we hadn't seemed to have enough of the Eyre's, we went on a little hike with them around Silver Lake. Our original destination had been Donut Falls. However, a supposed fire forced us further up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We never saw any smoke, but I'm quite sure it was meant to be because we found this:

Who knew? We certainly didn't, but with our new found knowledge, we decided to make it a yearly tradition.

I don't recall ever going to Silver Lake before this and I can't believe it was my first trip. It was so beautiful and I was once again reminded of how blessed I am to live in Utah with the mountains just minutes away. Just a short drive can lead you to beautiful pines, clear waters, fresh air, and more wildlife.

It was a perfect hike/walk for kids. They loved spotting the fish and ducks, and had a great time feeding pretzels to the chipmunks. Lucky for those little critters we didn't see the "do not feed" sign until they had been fed.

And since we weren't following the rules, Ashlyn also got a lecture from a park ranger, I mean forest ranger, on the importance of not picking the wild flowers. It's funny how obvious it can be when a person doesn't have any children of their own. And just to clarify, it was one flower, and no, I didn't see her pick it.

And since Trent can't go anywhere without a car or truck in hand, he found great entertainment in the form of a large boulder.

Remember how we didn't see a moose in Yellowstone? Well, the stars aligned my friend, because we saw this on our way down the canyon:

We ended the day with a BBQ to welcome home my parents from their long drive back from Misery, I mean Missouri.

And that concludes July. Before you know it we will be roasting chestnuts by an open fire. Really, who does that?