July was a blur!

Forgive me as this will be a long post! July has gone by far too quickly. It all started with the 4th of July. We had Will's nephews JR, Tyler and Bryce while Jen and Drew were in the Ukraine with Masha and Nastia. We had a BBQ at my parents house followed by a water fight and then fireworks. JR and Tyler were so excited for the water balloons to be done so they could start the water fight.Here they are huddled around Carl, my brother, while he filled up the water balloons.

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There was a kitty pool for the real little ones so we decided to see if Colton liked the water. As you can see he did not like the water. After that if anyone even got close to him with a water gun or balloon he would start screaming. He has since recovered from his fear of water and actually enjoys it a lot.

Once darkness finally came it was time to start the fire works.
Here are some pictures of the nephews and Colton enjoying his first sparkler.


Colton seemed to like the fireworks and didn't mind when they were loud.


This is Will playing pyro, but with Mr. OSHA around, aka my Dad, safety is a big priority so he had the face sheild on. We couldn't find anymore protective eyewear and that was all that was left.

Our next adventure was a hike up to Elephant Rock. Colton enjoyed being outside and liked to watch the trees pass overhead. It is a nice hike but I would suggest starting it earlier than we did as it was REALLY dark by the time we got down. Thankfully Colton fell asleep on the way down and wasn't screaming. He was such a good baby!


My 25th birthday happened on July 9th. No, I don't feel any older even if I am a quarter of a century old now. My friends Linda and Valerie took me to lunch at L&L BBQ, then Valerie took me to get a pedicure. Thanks girls for the fun day! Will and I went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Their rolls are amazingly good! Then we went and saw the new Transformers movie. We saw the first one 2 years ago on my birthday so it was kind of tradition to see it on my birthday. The following day I got my hair cut and colored as my birthday present from Will. Thanks honey!

Next we prepared for James and Tara's wedding. Here is Colton in his wedding attire. He is so handsome!



James and Tara were married in Portland so we loaded the baby and the dogs into the truck and drove! It was a long drive but driving at night made it a little easier because Colton slept most of the time. July 17th was there wedding day! Congrats you guys! Here are some pictures from the happy day.



While we were there we were able to hang out with Will's brother Scott, his wife Alisha and their little girl Ada. It was so good to see them and I can't wait until they move closer! Only a 6-8 hour drive away! We went to the zoo on Monday morning before we took off. Colton and Ada had fun seeing all the animals and we got there before most of the crowds and the hot sun. It was great fun!

That is a Polar Bears nose. The bear was just swimming laps back and forth in front of the glass and Will caught this awesome picture.



After we returned home the rest of the month just seemed to fly by. Jen flew back with Nastia from the Ukraine on the 23rd. Welcome Nastia to the family! We are so glad you are finally here!

The 24th came and went. We didn't do any fireworks since I had to work the night shift, but we did go swimming with Colton before I headed in. You can see that he is ok in the water now. He has fun slashing and is ok with being splashed.



And that's all! Phew!