July was such as fun month this year! Can we please rewind and do it again?! After celebrating the awesome country of Canada on July 1st, we enjoyed celebrating our other wonderful country - the USA. We took the kids to a parade downtown - the floats weren't spectacular but they threw out a lot of candy, which the kids enjoyed. I think my favorite part, though, was when a float with Disney princesses went by and Avery saw Anna from Frozen. She was jumping up and down waving and yelling hi, and Anna was so responsive and jumped up and down waiving and blowing kisses at Avery. It might have been the happiest I have ever seen Avery ... it actually made me cry - I wish I had it on video!! Literally one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Thank you Anna on that float for making my daughter feel so special!
My two studly men watching the parade.
Loving all the candy they were getting. They were eating it almost as fast as they could get it.
Actually this guy at the most candy. I had to bribe him to sit in his stroller and just watch - so he ate candy after candy.
Me and my love.
For dinner we had a BBQ at a friends house, and the night ended with fireworks with a view from on top of the van. We had such a blast. Avery also thought "this is the best day ever!" It was a great weekend!
A few days later we made the long drive (14 hours) up to Canada. We got in Friday morning around 10:30am. That evening, my Grandma & Grandpa French came down to visit me! It was so great being able to talk with them, let the kids see them, and give them hugs! Grandpa likes to call me his sweetheart and told me a lot of awesome stories from his golden boxing days. I wish I could have seen him in his prime!
Love my grandma! She was such a loyal fan and would come to all of my basketball games and cheer me on! It sure made me feel good!
Papa with Avery & Addie. These two girls had so much fun together!
Papa with Griffin & Everett.
These cute boys crack me up. Can't wait for them to play again at Christmas!
On Saturday we drove up to Waterton for some hiking, good food, and rock throwing. Cameron falls is just gorgeous! I can't believe this is only 30 minutes from my house.
This picture is going up in my house for sure!
We hiked bears hump. It was so much hard work for Griffin that he fell asleep (ha!). A big thanks to Ryan for carrying the kids most of the way!
Dallin & his gf came to waterton with us. They were also a big help getting us up the mountain.
What a pretty view!
Looking up to the next peak - Crandel Mountain
Love this man! We are just a few weeks away from our 10 year anniversary!! Trust is letting someone hold you on top of the mountain near the edge. I didn't doubt him for a second though!
I am so glad we got to stop by and visit Grandma & Grandpa Low's headstones this time. It was also neat looking for other relatives and connecting the family history dots. I am grateful for the rich heritage I belong to, and hope I can hold up my end to leave a righteous legacy for my family.
Thanks Low cousins! We had a blast playing with you guys!!
On Sunday evening we drove to Echo Lake, Montana where we would spend the rest of the week. Griffin loved being at the bigger kid table with Thomas, Mason, & Luke.
Monday was overcast and cool, so we went bowling with the kids. Everyone had fun playing pass the toddlers and bowling.
Griffin loves punching the ball down the kid ramp and because he has the bumpers up, he usually does pretty good!
Technology and ipads are great aren't they? Jaxson and Avery had such a fun time playing with cousin Benson.
Griffin had his first successful climb out of the pack and play on this trip - yikes!! This is how I found him during his nap. Sleeping next to the door. I have a feeling he is going to do this with his crib soon and that scares me!
Snack time with the triplets!
We celebrated Mom's 29th birthday while at echo. You don't look a day older than 29 - seriously, your skin is flawless! Thanks for having a birthday mom so we could eat fried chicken and cake - yum!
We got the little boy cousins together for a glasses picture. See, they do all look related!!
Playing with Benny Boy
Leslie is such a fun aunt! She brought tons of water balloons - the kids had a blast throwing them. Dad and I did the long distance toss several times before it popped all over me - both times!
It was sure fun having Robbie & Cammie and their kiddos at the lake as well. Baby Madelyn is a cutie! Avery was in heaven each time she got to hold her.
Playing at the park
This year was the first in probably 6 years I was able to do some water sports - I sure missed it! It was awesome getting back out there and trying to see what I could still do. I am definitely not as brave as I once was, but I still had a blast!
I still made it across the wake a few times, which I was excited about!
I got up slalom water skiing too. I haven't tried doing that in about 8 years, so I was glad I still knew how to do it!
The kids favorite was the tube ride - of course! Nothing like going on a family tube ride across the lake. Loved it!
We also LOVED going on the jet skis and so did the kids. Jaxson would say how scared he was about going on them, and then he would want to drive and put it full throttle (55 mph) and just laugh his genuine "I am loving this" laugh. It was cute and fun to watch him enjoy it so much!
Cute cousins! Grant & Griffin are only 4 months apart.
Jaxson easy skiing.
Avery easy skiing.
Grant had a birthday coming up, so what better way to celebrate than with more cake! Haha, any excuse to eat this cake is great with me! It was a homemade vanilla bean cake soaked with caramel and sweetened condensed milk, with cool whip and skor bar - yes please!
We left Echo on Saturday evening. It was sad leaving, but will cherish the memories we made. We are already looking forward to going next year. It is my happy place!
Back in Colorado, we hit up the cultural celebration downtown. Food trucks, dancers from around the world, kid games, Elsa & Anna from frozen, etc. It was fun except it was so hot! We were right next to this cool building (the capital I am guessing?!) so I snapped a picture while we waited in line to see Elsa & Anna.
One happy girl with some of her favorite princesses.
Playing dress up at the house.
Jaxson is on a year round school track here in Colorado. 9 weeks on, three weeks off. We are at the teacher meet & great the day before school starts. Can you tell he is excited?
First day of Grade 1. July 27, 2016.
Love this picture of these two! They are both (kind of) getting to the age where they will look at the camera and smile which is nice!
Standing outside ready to meet his class and begin first grade. I am so proud of this boy!
Rare moment in our house - love seeing them getting along with each other!
Last weekend we hit up the Arapahoe county fair. It was a small town fair, but it was good enough for us.
We all rode the mechanical bull - harder than it looks! Little did the kids know this was just the warm up for something bigger and better - mutton busting!
Getting ready to gear up for mutton busting.
Ready to ride. Jaxson was scared out of his mind, so Avery volunteered to be brave and go first and show him how it is done. She actually rode half way across the arena and did awesome!! Ryan and I were so proud of her! If you want to see the video, just ask me to text it to you (or you can find it on my IG account). Jaxson also rode, but fell off just outside the gate. He wanted to know why we would pay to see them fall off... Little does he know how awesome we are for making him do it :)
Still alive after riding the sheep. Way to go kids!!
Jaxson's favorite thing was the bumper cars.
On top of the Ferris wheel with my cuties.
Avery was brave and sat on the other side by herself. Jaxson wouldn't leave my side and wasn't too happy in the first place that I made him ride it with me.
Pony rides! How fun is that. The kids loved it and we loved watching how happy it made them!
More carnival rides for the kiddos.
One carnival ride for me! I was definitely scared at the top but had fun going down. Ryan rode the roller coaster that went in circles while the kids did the merry go round. Unfortunately, Griffin was too young to ride the rides - boo!
But he was a great sport anyway! We definitely appreciate and love this happy boy! By mid afternoon we were all so hot, tired, and thirsty that we left the fair to go jump in our neighborhood pool - ahhh! It was a great day!
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