July

July is always the busiest month of our summer.  We had lots of fun!

We love the fourth of July!

We had a fun time playing in the yard while we waited for dark. Always the one to entertain, Dad started tossing two balls and it was a race to see which child could retrieve theirs first and race back to the tree.  He also played a hide-and-seek-the-ball game with them.

My poor photographing skills capture some blurry scenes... We walked all around Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood.  There were so many fun fireworks!  It was loud, but Wade slept through. :)

We have only had the time to do sprinklers a handful of times.  The kids love it.  Once I got in my swimming suit and joined them.  They thought it was the best thing ever.  We played in the water, played "catch the cheetah," and ate more than a dozen carrots we washed in the sprinkler.

Wade seriously LOVES Lucy.  He continues to be an awesome sleeper.  He sleeps 7-9 hours through the night and wakes up with a grin.  He is one good baby!

Fun times around the house.  Wade craves attention.  As long as someone is chatting with him, he is smiling.  He loves to watch the kids playing and the kids (mostly Lucy) love playing with him.  Lucy gets in his face, grins and says, "Yeah?  Yeah?  Are you happy?  Yeah?  You're gonna give me a smile!  Yeah?  Yeah!"  I am guessing his first word will be "Yeah."

The Anderson reunion is always a good time!  This is the only picture I got, but Lucy and Sam had a fun time in the sand volleyball court and the pool and playing with cousins.  It was our second time camping in the big tent.  My, what a nice tent!  It even withstood the sudden winds and torrential rain on the last night (unlike Wade's pack-n-play and blankets that we left out in the open).  Fun times!

We went to several yard sales and scored this sweet bike for Sam.  He doesn't love it yet.  But he will!  He still needs to master pedaling.  We haven't spent much time on that skill, but we plan to. :)

The Humpherys reunion.  What great times.  Diana did a smashing job of planning and preparing.  Never have I experienced such organization at a reunion!  During some of the down time, I helped Lucy construct a fairy house.  We didn't actually see any fairies...

One of the days was spent at a park in Cedar City.  That was so much fun for the kids.  And I took advantage of the grass, spread a blanket and laid Wade on his back for a large portion of our time there.  He loved it too.  We had a delicious potluck lunch and the kids loved playing in the river nearby.

Beautiful scenery on the drive back from Cedar City.  And a successful selfie!

The Ice Cave!  Sam was afraid to go down into it until right at the end.  I didn't go down, but apparently it was chilly! :)  We also went to Mammoth Cave on a different day (not pictured).  That was fun.  It was a tunnel so we climbed in one way and out the other and circled back above ground to collect the children.  It only took about 10 minutes or so.  And I bumped my head.  Ouch.  But worth it.  The smell of caves has always been a favorite. :)

We left Wade with Marisa at camp and went on a short hike to Cascade Falls.  The walk was really fun.  I like boardwalks and stairs, especially when they are built into the side of the mountain.  The waterfall was not as majestic as I was expecting.  I think the pictures I saw on the internet beforehand were falsely labeled.  But it was very fun!  Sam was chatty the whole way and was a happy traveler in the backpack.  Lucy walked the whole way with Nanette and Grandma and didn't get tired till halfway back to the truck.  The weather was perfectly cool and we even enjoyed a light sprinkle partway to the falls.

Cedar Breaks

Lucy had been frequencing the bathroom several more times per day than normal for about a week prior to the Anderson Reunion.  We took her in to the doctor to get her checked out.  It turned out to be psychological and he advised that we have her practice holding it for at least two hours and work back up to normal.  He did detect a heart murmur on that visit and referred us to a pediatric cardiologist at Primary Children's.  He told us the chance of it being an innocent murmur was 98% but he wanted us to check anyway.  We went to her appointment a week after the Humpherys reunion and sure enough, she has a Still's murmur (innocent as can be)!  Lucy was a bit apprehensive for this visit, but the fun murals and stickers and nice people at the heart center put her at ease.  She got almost half way through "Go, Dog, Go!" while waiting in between tests.  She is such a good reader. :)

We also visited the dentist several times throughout July.  Lucy had a cavity that was really hurting her.  We went to one dentist really close to us and had a great first visit.  The dentist told us they would clean and put a stainless cap on all four teeth.  We went home with an appointment to get two of them fixed two days later.  We went back and she did great while the dentist worked on her.  I was a little shocked when I saw the bloody paper towel on the work tray at the end.  I asked what the blood was from and they told me it was from the gums they cut to put the crowns on.  I checked her mouth and was surprised to see two huge silver teeth on one side.  I felt so dumb and guilty for not asking more questions and exploring more options.  I had thought she would just get a silver filling.  Luckily Lucy likes her teeth and is quite proud of them.  Unluckily, we had to pay a huge bill.  Not to mention the gigantic bottle of painkiller I paid $49 for at the pharmacy.  (She used three teaspoons of it.)  I was SO mad at that dentist.
We took Lucy to a second opinion appointment in Tooele where they told us the other two did not need crowns.  They didn't even put her on sedation beforehand and we forewent the nitrous oxide.  Lucy was a star and still had pretty white teeth on one side.  We are going to stick with this dentist. :)
Sam also got a teeth cleaning.  Kind of.  He did great for the x-rays but whimpered and wiggled through the cleaning.  But they both got prizes and toothbrushes afterward and left happy!

Quotes of the Month:

We were looking for a missing Lincoln Log.  I said, "I'm sure we will find it as we clean things up a bit.  It will show up sometime."
Lucy: "IF we pray."
Sam:  He knelt down immediately.  "Heavenly Father, thank you for the blessings..."  Then he jumped right up and said, "It didn't work!"

Lucy found a large cardboard box to play house in.  "When Sam sees this, he'll perk his head up!"
Sam's reaction:  "WOW!  That's ginooorrrrrmous!"

The kids were playing pretend.  Sam hopped onto the couch, "Mom, pretend that I jumped off the couch and you didn't get mad." And he jumped.  Sure enough I didn't get mad...just tried to hide my smile.

After scripture discussion one night, Sam said:  "I should eat the fruit because it fill me with JOY!  And I should have cooor-age!"

Sam eating a popsicle:  "Mmm!  It's warm!"
Mom: "No, it's cold."
Sam: "It looks warm to ME, Mom!"

Lucy had a rash appear on her hands quite suddenly one day.  After Eric asked if she had eaten anything out of the ordinary, she said, "I been eating toothpaste!"
I later concluded that the rash was from washing her hands so many times a day (during her two weeks of constant bathroom visits), and not drying them completely.  With some intense lotioning and vigilant drying, it went away.

Mom:  "What do we want for breakfast?"
Lucy:  "Crepes!"
Sam: "Ce-yal."
Mom:  "Hmm, what does Mom want?"
Sam:  "Chicken salad!"