July Update

In July we had a Brown Family vacation -- we all met at the cabin for a week and had a great time. It was so nice to be back at the cabin and waterski and go river rafting and especially to be with family. It's been a great summer for our kids to get to know their cousins.

This month was also Valencia's 6th birthday (and really her first birthday ever!). I was very excited to make it a special day for her. I made a princess doll cake where the cake is the dress. When she woke up and saw it that morning she just stared at it with her mouth open.


Then we did presents (everyone in our family -- including the parents, are so excited about their birthday so we always end up opening presents first thing in the morning).


Valencia was so excited about all of her presents. She let out a gasp with everyone she opened. It was really cute to watch. After presents the girls got ready for their last day of sports camp.

Of the 3 kids, Beckett was the most excited about sports camp (I had to stay for awhile every morning just to let him run around the gym chasing balls). The girls were pretty nervous to go and have mom leave them, and Tallie was especially nervous about playing a game where kids throw balls at each other (dodgeball) - she hid behind a teacher during that game while Valencia ran around and did cartwheels. But the got to go swimming every day which they loved and every afternoon when I came to pick them up they were having a great time and didn't want to leave.

After sports camp we headed to Chuck-E-Cheese and had a great time. Tallie's requesting the same cake and a day at Chuck-E-Cheese for her birthday :) Then in the evening we had friends over for cake and icecream. I think she had a great first birthday. Doesn't Tallie look ready for sports camp in her pink dress??

The following week we did gymnastics camp and that was more their thing. They weren't nervous at all to go and LOVED it. Our local gym has an amazing gymnastics facility that is a lot of fun. Beckett was pretty bummed that he couldn't go in and play too.



The girls got big wheels this summer. They are both nervous about riding a bike - so we thought this would be a good to get them started. They look pretty cute riding around on these, in fact, everywhere we go we are stared at. And just the other night Jared and I wanted to play tennis so we took the bigwheels and a little bike for Beckett and let the kids ride around the courts while we played. It was pure chaos. At one point Jared was holding Beckett trying to run and hit the ball, while the girls were on my side with rackets swinging wild-ly at every ball that came their way and I was just laughing so hard I couldn't even play. I'm sure everyone else there playing (without their kids!) thought we were crazy.
And finally, the primary had a pioneer activity at the church. Last year around that time I needed a sewing project so I made Tallie a little pioneer outfit for the activity. Well... this year I wasn't in need of a sewing project, but I have 2 very competitive girls, so I was frantically sewing Saturday morning 30 minutes before the activity to be a good mom and send Valencia off with a pioneer bonnet. This was without a pattern - so for those of you that saw it in person that should explain things. But she was happy with it and that's all that matters :)



In this video you'll see Tallie doing somersaults, but look at the line in the back and you'll see what I mean when I say Valencia always has the wiggles :)





And finally, here's a cute shot of my kids at the zoo and in their fancy church clothes.

Other than his sore red nose he looks adorable. I love seeing him in this little outfit.