July Recap

July seriously flew by so quickly...it seemed like it was such a busy month for us, but in talking to others, it sounds like it was that way for everyone else, too.

Our family was able to do a lot of fun "summer" stuff this past month, which I loved. The kids are getting to an age where they really enjoy doing things away from home (especially Jaxson). Here are a few highlights:

We finally made it up the canyon for a campfire dinner. I love going up to Mueller Park for dinner...it is nice and close to home, plus there are some good picnic places and lots of shade. Jaxson was fascinated by the campfire and wanted to help Mike set up the fire and cook dinner. He was pretty disappointed that we didn't let him make his own hotdog and s'more on his own. Jax is definitely getting to that stage where he wants to be as independent as possible. We also learned that Aynsley seems to have the makings of being a true camper. She kept putting her food down on the ground and rubbing it in the dirt before eating it. No matter how many times we tried to distract her, she just kept going back to the dirt.

We were able to go for a long weekend trip to Bear Lake with Mike's family, and we had so much fun! It was really nice to take a break and just relax. I was pretty nervous about how well Jaxson would do because he typically won't sleep anywhere besides his crib, but he did great! He absolutely loved being able to play with his cousin and Aynsley became best friends with her Aunt Mandy.

While we were there, Jaxson was able to go on his first 4-wheeler and waverunner rides. He was pretty hesitant at first, but then ended up enjoying both. On his second waverunner ride, he kept looking up at me with the biggest smile on his face; I could tell that he was just loving every minute of it.

While we were waiting to switch out riders, we put Jaxson on the waverunner by himself so that we could take a picture. As you can tell, he was not very happy about that!

Hanging out by the beach...although the shore wasn't too great for playing, we were able to still find a pretty nice beach that worked out really well for the afternoon that we had the waverunners. It wasn't crowded at all, plus there was sand and shade for the kids. We had such a great time and are hoping to be able to go back again!

Recently, Jaxson has been really interested in farm animals. Last week, I took the kids to Wheeler Farm, and he absolutely loved it. I think that his favorite animal right now is a horse, so he was so excited when he got to see one up close. Unfortunately, Aynsley wasn't so into the horses, and she burst into tears while we were up close to one.

One of the employees was really sweet and let Jaxson "help" take care of the pigs. He was able to help spray them off and give them a drink. Later, the same employee helped Jaxson pet and get a few licks from Snickers, which is a pony. His whole face lit up when he was able to be that interactive with the pony. Once again, Aynsley wasn't too stoked about this, but I think by this point she was just ready to get out of the stroller.

Both of the kids really enjoyed being able to feed and look at the ducks. I think Jaxson was enjoying it a little too much, because he kept trying to pet them.

Besides the outings, the kids are keeping us as busy as ever! Aynsley started walking about three weeks ago, and I swear she is already going to be running soon! She can also say Momma, uh-oh, and that.

Jaxson is getting more and more grown up all the time. We have slowly started potty-training, and have even seen a few successes! He is getting very good at following directions, and is always trying to help his sister. He is such a sweet older brother. He loves going to nursery and playing with other kids.