July 2017

Our month started out with The 4th of July.

We both had the day off.  

We woke up early and went to the gym.  And then we did some shopping and came home and cleaned the house really well and got ready for the day. 

We went over to Russ and Kori's for a Bring Your Own Meat BBQ.  Raleigh and I brought hot dogs, but everyone else brought above average beef.  And there was enough for everyone to sample and share.  Our hot dogs were NOT the hit.... surprisingly.  There was some really good food at that party. 

Morgan and Allie were up North.  They took this picture, which I thought was the coolest.  And I also think this picture of Allie is the greatest picture I've ever seen of her.  My girls have all done this....  they turn 15 and literally overnight, they turn beautiful.  It makes me so happy to see her everyday.  She is growing up to be the greatest girl.  Not to mention talented and gorgeous.

 We decided that we would try and be more active in the month of July.

Such a silly month to make a plan of activity.  There was never a day the entire month that was

below 105.  We tried to go walking.  And we walked for one mile before we were drenched in sweat.

We were on the trail near Papa and Nana's house, so Raleigh suggested we walk up to their house and get some treats.  Coincidently, Nana just happened to be driving by and she saw us and she stopped to pick us up.  

We looked like the VonTrapp's walking in the Alps.  

Some of us had kids on our backs

Some of us were sweating in undesirable places.

Most of us were complaining.

We were so glad that our plans changed and we got to spend the evening with them... having a 

deep, gospel discussion.  It was a great night. 

 Going along with our activity plan, we bought a slip and slide.

That has been a good purchase.  The kids slide for hours.

The only drawback is....  it destroys our lawn for a week

KK had to have some more work done on her teeth.  She, again was a fabulous patient and didn't make a peep the entire time.  

KK also pulled out her first tooth.  We have the greatest video of it.  I wish blogger/video posting was easier.  She was SO excited for the tooth fairy to come.  She cleaned her room because she didn't want her to have to come into a messy room.  She was so happy when she woke up and found coins under her pillow and glitter all over her bed and in her hair. 

The Hydes bought a boat.  And they invited us to join them for a day at the Lake.

And we said yes because we are an active family now.

The boat was SO full of people and towels.

But we had so much fun.

We went at 4:00pm.   There was a storm off in the distance which provided 

awesome cloud cover.   The water was 82 degrees.  

Allie wakeboarding.  She is so athletic and impressive.  

Me getting ready to jump in

KK and Peyton in their shades

Allie and KK

Raleigh and the kids

Ryker and Peyton fearless in the tube

KK and Mokee

Captain Ryker

Kori, Allie and me in the front of the boat, getting soaked and seasick

I am getting a quick lesson from Grant on how to wakeboard

Raleigh cinched up my life jacket really tight, thank goodness, because it literally saved my life.  After I would face plant, I would just have to float nearly face down in the water until the boat circled around to me because

 1. I was so exhausted

2.  I was dazed and confused

3. I didn't have enough strength in my legs to flip the wake board over so that I could float on my back.

Ryker caught a fish all by himself.  He thought it was the coolest thing in the world, until he actually saw it wiggling on the hook.  Russ took it off and put the fish by him and he started freaking out.   But he obediently smiled for the photo, even though he was scared to death of his catch and right after I snapped the picture, he yelled at Russ to throw it back in the water.

Not a bad first fish at all.

Peyton

Me....  floating.... waiting....  praying

And floating

Cliff jumping.  Again Peyton had NO fear. 

She will try anything and she is good at everything she tries.

She thinks she is a big kid and can do everything the big kids do.

Morgan was a champion wake boarder too.

The day after our boating adventure, we were SO sore.  My forearms hurt so badly, I couldn't even open my mascara.  It is so baffling when you learn how many things you use forearm muscles for.  Like almost everything.  I couldn't put my shoes on.  I couldn't brush my hair.  Or drive.  Or use a pen.  I was pathetic for almost an entire week.  

 Raleigh got a FABULOUS bonus check this month and so he treated us to a weekend retreat in Las Vegas.  He found a great deal on some tickets to Cowabunga Bay.  We had never been there and we go to Seven Peaks every year.   We didn't know what to expect or how it would compare.  We were so pleasantly surprised.  It was every bit as fun.  And it was almost exactly the same experience although it was much cleaner and the bathrooms were 100% better.  The kids had so much fun and we had the best day.

 Ryker slept on KK the entire way down.  Our car was so peacefully quiet.

 Kaleigh

 Peyton and Ryker

 Morgan and Allie

We couldn't find a hotel room in town for under $300, so we stayed out of town in Boulder City.  It was a darling little town and it didn't feel like we were in Las Vegas at all which I loved.  After the waterpark, we drove up to our hotel room and all of us took turbo showers and changed our clothes.  Since we were only 5 miles away from the Hoover Dam, we decided to go check it out.  While we were all getting ready, Raleigh read us all the fun facts about the building of the dam.  He told us the concrete is 660 feet thick.  And that the average temperature during the build was 120 degrees and 16 men died from heat exhaustion.  And how underneath Lake Mead, there is an entire town with homes and businesses and roads.  And the city paid the people off and made them move because they wanted to put the lake right where their town was.  So all the people moved, all the businesses closed up and the town was covered over with massive amounts of water.   That is kindof creepy.  There is also a new bridge which was built in 2010 and it is the most impressive bridge I have ever seen.  The water levels are SO low right now.  You can see the line where the water has been in years past and where it is now.  If we are not careful, the abandoned city will begin to appear.  Again, super creepy.   

 Morgan and Allie

 I took this picture because there were some pushy, aggressive and SUPER annoying Asians at the dam and they kept making people move, so they could take pictures with their overly large camera with an obnoxiously long lens that looked like it was screwed on backwards (probably was).   And maybe where they are from, they are famous or something and they are used to people just moving out of the way because they wave them over, but I didn't know them or give two hoots who they were and they are in America now.   Anyway,  I knew they wanted to be right where I was and so I told Morgan to take my picture.  And I took my time and posed like 20 different ways and I was turning and bending and snapping and THEY HATED ME.  And they were saying some very mean things about me in Chinese and it was hilarious.  It was 110 degrees there and we were miserable, but I am glad that we went and saw some something Historic.  Even though the kids weren't very impressed.

Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and Peyton was exhausted and not only did she fall asleep while we were waiting for our table, she started snoring.

 This is what Ryker's hair looked like when he woke up.

He said it was his Rockstar Hair.

He looked like Rod Stewart.

And speaking of hair....  this is one of my favorite parts of Raleigh.  The back of his head.  I don't know why, but I love it.  I also LOVE his thumbs.  He has great thumbs.  And he also has gigantic calves.  Probably because he sort of bounces up on his toes when he walks....  over his lifetime that is a lot of calf work.  Nevertheless,  that is a cute head, so I took a picture of it while he was unaware.

This was such a good month for us.  It's so weird when you feel good on the inside, you want to do more.  I felt more energetic and adventurous this month than I have in a very long time.  We didn't have any birthdays or holidays that require huge amounts of money and so that was a welcomed relief.  Work continues to be fabulous.  I really love it so much.  Raleigh still continues to be amazing at his job.  Morgan is miserable at her job, but nevertheless is working 50 hours a week and raking in so much money for an 18 year old who lives at home and has no dependents.  Allie is our ever faithful babysitter this summer.  We pay her a little bit each month and she is saving for school clothes.  The little kids are excited to start school soon.  Quincey passed all her boards and is starting her new job as a hair stylist on August 1st.

We are binge watching a couple of shows this summer and we do that at night while we share a pint of our new favorite treat, Halo Top Ice Cream.  It is so delicious and makes me so happy.  So many things make me happy.  We truly are blessed beyond words.