July 2010

July was a big month...it always seems to be. Danielle enjoyed a week at the historic Hummel Day Camp. She had a blast. She especially loved the day of the mudslide. She was completely covered from head to toe with dirt when she returned home that day. She also came home with a pet snail, which got loose in my kitchen. Yuck!
We celebrated the 4th of July with our friends' the Pugmires.

We harvested some yummy things from our garden. These are the "short and tasty" variety of carrots we tried. Our favorite thing from our garden was probably the snap peas. We will be planting a lot more of them next year.

I said goodbye to my dear friend Laura. She and her family moved to Idaho. They are amazing people we were lucky to meet 7 years ago. I know I will miss her every time I make spaghetti or watch Father of the Bride.

The older three kids took swim lessons. They LOVE being in the water.

The day after swim lessons ended, we hit the road for our big family trip. Our first destination was California. We spent some time on Balboa Island where Jeff's grandparents use to have a beach house. Jeff wanted to share some of his favorites things with the kids he remembered from spending so many summers there. One of them was frozen bananas.

Here is Jeff's grandparents' old beach house on Agate Ave. It really looks more like a tree house. I am sure it was a dream house for kids visiting in the summer.

Our next destination was Jeff's Uncle Phil's house in Newport Beach. He has a beautiful home and lives really close to the new temple there.

Uncle Phil and Aunt Patty Sue spoiled us and took us all for lunch at their yacht club. Jeff's cousins, Cameron and Megan and Megan's husband and little girl Rhyse came along as well. Here is the wall of "the commodores". Jeff's grandpa (right wall, top left) and Jeff's Uncle Phil (left wall, to the right of Danielle's face) have both been commodores. They shared a love for racing boats and belonged to the same yacht club.After lunch, Megan was brave enough to invite us aboard the new boat she and her husband just purchased. It is a beautiful boat they are in the process of restoring. Austin felt happy in the captain's chair, while Wyatt and Rhyse enjoyed playing on the deck.

We spent another day at Corona del Mar, which is a a great little beach. The kids were fascinated by all the seaweed and used it as a natural barrier against the waves to protect their sandcastle.

After the beach, we headed down to Poway to visit my good friends the Prestons. We had dinner, the kids swam in their pool, and then they treated us to s'mores in their brand new, multi-level fire pit. It was awesome. We headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our big day at Disneyland. It was a beautiful day. We spent over 12 hours in the magical kingdom and had a great time.

The next day, we headed for Southern Utah. We needed to be back in time for the Riggs (my mom's side) family reunion. They rented a big slide and bounce house to entertain the kids while the adults visited and ate yummy food.

Here are a few of my 30+ first cousins on the Riggs side. It was so good to see everyone!

We spent another day at my Uncle John's cabin riding horses and 4-wheelers and tubing down Mammoth Creek. Danny and Uncle John spoiled me with all the horse time I had been dreaming about. My kids called me a horse hog...and I happily agreed with them and rode some more. :-)

I woke up with a few members of my family bright and early on the 24th of July and ran a 5K. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't been injured. However, it was fun to say I did it and do it with so many people I love.

After the race was the 24th of July parade. The kids collected all kinds of candy and popsicles.

We gathered for a mini Foy family reunion (my Dad's side). My dad's two sisters were there and my cousin Amy and her cute little family.

After a full day of celebration, it was time to get some sleep before our big one-day drive home. We said goodbye to our many aunts, uncles and cousins and hit the sack. What an awesome trip!