July feat. Tyler... I mean... The rest of July

It's just a fact of life that Tyler features in the overwhelming majority of pictures around here!  I don't think that any of my kids would disagree that he's the life of the party in our home right now.

Eli teaching him to play whatever game this is:

We dog-sat Missy and Tyler wanted to help feed her:

So since he fed Missy her breakfast with his fork, I guess he wanted to eat his lunch with tongs?

Bryson's good friend Ian leaving for Hungary on his mission!

He's just all over the place...

Just pondering life:

Someone at work dubbed Dallin 'Cupcake' so he got a new name badge made:

Jace was inspired by Hailee's painting excursion so they did their own painting session:

Water Fun

The kids go swimming most days, usually after Tyler's nap... Tyler loves the water, but he's pretty cautious around it.  He really doesn't like to be in his floatie unless someone is right by him- I like that he has a healthy respect for the water!

Sometimes I even coerce my big ol' belly into a swim suit and enjoy the water... mostly I just try to avoid getting splashed!

Cute little bum!

Taking his life into his own hands...

Since he's 18, he old enough to sign the waiver and go parachuting...

 He and a bunch of guys went parachuting and no one died, so that's good.

It does look pretty cool!

Camping!

Eli went to FSY with his friend Carters' stake... I got exactly one picture from him:

At the tail end of his week at FSY, the rest of us squeezed (and I mean SQUEEZED!) into the car to go camping at Fort Spokane:

I'm VERY confident that there is NO way Eli would have fit if he weren't at FSY...

Long lazy days at the beach!

Tyler had big aspirations:

Eventually he convinced Uncle Aaron to take him for a ride:

All the excitement sure wiped Tyler (and ME!) out by the end of the day... unfortunately, he ended up in my bed every night...

At one with nature:

He was constantly taking off his diaper and running around naked and every time he'd start to pee, he'd run up to a tree and try to go a little more... 😅

Lots of boat rides:

All the older kids set up their hammocks together, some triple high:

They had so much fun staying up way too late.  And apparently Eli stayed up way too late at FSY because the day I picked him up and brought him back up to the campsite, this was pretty much him all day:

We had a great time with family, so thankful for living close to family and being able to make so many memories 💗

No rest for the weary...

Even though I was given the special privilege of a *quick but hot* shower every day at camp, I sure was glad to be able to decontaminate in a loooong hot shower when I got home.  I don't think I was 2 minutes out of the shower when Tyler came into my room like so:

It was no difficulty to follow the trail and find the source...

Mmmmm, powdered sugar!

Girls Camp

Very very early in my pregnancy, I was asked to be one of the camp nurses at girls camp this year.  I tentatively agreed with the caveat that I might have to bail (even last minute) depending on my pregnancy.  Fortunately (or not?!?) my pregnancy presented no obstacle to a week of roughing it up at Camp Peine.  As it turned out, it was a more relaxing week than if I'd have been home wrestling Tyler for sure!

Hailee was SUPER excited about her first year at camp!

We drove 3 other girls in her class up with us:

It was fun to get to see the first years figure things out and get comfortable with the routine of camp:

I braided Hailee's hair very tightly in two braids the morning we left and really stressed the importance of leaving them in as long as possible during camp... I was still worried about the state her hair would be in at the end of a week of camping.  One of my friends was a first year leader so I gave her detailed and specific instructions on Hailee's hair... It didn't work out too well in the end!  By dinner of the first day, Hailee's braided were a distant memory because she wanted beads in her hair!  Here her leader was able to get one half of Hailee's hair braided before afternoon activities took precedence:

It was really sweet to bump into her all over camp and see her enjoying herself 💕

Since Bishop Longhurst was out of town, Nathan came up to represent the Bishop on Thursday evening:

Morning after sleeping under the stars:

Hailee was one of the few girls who did the polar plunge EVERY SINGLE MORNING!

She had a great time making new friends, trying new things and learning and growing as a young woman 💓

I made it through 24 weeks pregnant 😅