Photo Album: A Fabulous July

I clearly found an antidote for boredom, as it's been well over a month since I've posted anything about my life. I've adjusted to this staying home thing pretty well lately (that's good news). Here's what we did in July (if you start at the top of this post & go to the end, you're going backwards in time through the month of July).

View these shots carefully--Mitchell is 27 going on 10. : ) He requested a Ninja Turtles Cake so that he could show it off to his brothers when they showed up for the party.
This is the first ice cream cake I've ever made--I must say that even with a learning curve, it was very easy & I will make one again.

On Mitch's actual birthday, we went out for dinner, just he and I. We went to Arriba's and only spent $13 for our meal--we had the best coupon EVER. It wasn't buy one get one free, it was get any free entree...we technically didn't have to spend any money. Mitch's plate was $17, and we got to use the coupon for HIS plate even though mine was only $11. It was awesome.

Mitch taught a super fun lesson for Family Night a couple weeks ago. We talked about how God created the earth and our bodies, and then he pulled out "Masterpiece Dough" and we got to create something of our own. : ) Can you tell what Tyson created?

Mitch was satisfied with his super cool & edible object lesson. : )

We were cracking up, b/c Tyson called all the round candies "eyes".

My little Mozart informed my nephew when he came over this month & headed towards the piano, "No, don't touch. (pointing to the piano) Nice." It cracked me up--it looks like we're getting through. He likes to play it, but he knows he has to play it soft & he only touches the piano keys. I love him--he's such a good little boy!

We set the timer on our camera, trying to catch Tyson in action as he was speaking to my belly. He's so tender-hearted, because he will randomly come up to me, look at my belly and say, "Hi, Baby!" as he waves. About half of the time, he presses his mouth right up to my belly and yells, "Love you, Baby!" It's so sweet. We didn't train him to do this, either. I think he just saw Mitch talking to the baby once, and ever since, he's been trying to look out for his little brother & make sure he's loved.

A couple weeks back, Mitch was playing with Tyson & left the room for a moment. Next thing we heard was , "Help, Daddy, Help!" In just seconds, Tyson got himself stuck INSIDE his baskeball hoop. We died laughing, and he was so serious--he could get in, but couldn't get out.

We went to the Homestead again, and there was a torrential downpour with large pieces of hail. Tyson kept calling it ice, and kept making his lips go, "Brrrrr". He liked holding the "ice" because it was so cold.

I finally caught a cute smile on Tyson & Caden blinked--how rude.

Guncle Nick helped take Tyson around Green's Peak.

Caden & Tyson as tall as the little house at Littl Giant Spring.

A family shot with a cheesy grin.

COWS!!!!!! As we left the Homestead, Tyson prayed about the cows. It was amazing, but I've never seen so many cows so close to the road when we've wanted them to be there. God certainly answers the prayers of the pure in heart.

Some of our favorite summer time moments have been doing chores together. Tyson LOVES to help do the dishes. In fact, this morning I said, "Tyson, do you want to help me do the dishes?" and his quick response was, "Whoohoo!!!" And yes, I'm enjoying this while it lasts.

We took this picture of Tyson so that we can compare it to Heber's pictures when he was in nursery--they totally look the same.

I turned 25 and Tyson turned 2!!!! We had a great birthday bash (Tyson is wearing his brand new goggles in this picture--I think they lasted almost 2 days).

My BFF came over to celebrate with us--look how skinny she looks. She doesn't know how good she has it right now. : )

I made Tyson Monkey cupcakes. You should see him saying, "Oooh, oooh, oooh, aaahh, aaaahhh!" He really liked the "eyes"--they were made out of skittles.

Mike & Tyson chillin on the way home from Heber.

This little stink bug acted all afraid when I was holding him at the fireworks. I tried everything to get him to look at the sky & quite shoving his face on the ground into the blanket. I tried talking about the colors, and sayind "wow" and saying things like fireworks are fun. The second I asked if he wanted to sit on Grandma's lap, he started telling her everything I had told him--like it was his idea & like he enjoyed watching fireworks all along. Silly kid.

Mitch took Tyson down this jumbo slide thing--it was awesome.

Mike & Mitch doing the Chicken Dance pre-fireworks. I laughed so hard.

This was our group trapsing around Bison Ranch & blowing all of our spending money.

There was a petting zoo with bunnies, piglets, crazy chickens, puppies, goose, and miniature goats. It was so worth the money. Tyson said good bye to each animal as we left.

We had a fun dinner at Trapper's with Tiff, Brandon, their 10 kids, Uncle Lewis, Aunt Mary, & the rest of their family that was there.

Sitting outside the Snowflake Temple after attending a beautiful sealing.

These are Tiff & Brandon's beautiful kids--on July 3rd, 6 of the 10 were sealed into the family. It's such a beautiful situation. It was a miracle we made it to the sealing with the traffic we faced coming from the valley. I was so grateful Tiff invited us & let us be there. I'd never seen kids get sealed to their parents before--I've only attended weddings in the temple, and it was so neat to watch these kids all be so reverent and join together around the alter as they created their eternal family together. I have always looked up to my cousin Tiff, and was so excited I got to be there to support her & to participate in feeling the Spirit of the mercy the Lord extends to us through the blessings of the temple. It's all about family & love, and working together to make it back Home to our Father in Heaven. What I love about this so much is that Brandon & Tiff have literally saved these children's lives by adopting them into their home--these kids could have had a childhood filled with sad and hard experiences, but now, they have a fun, loving home and an eternal family. It's so beautiful.