July 2021

 Nae's Cabin 

To kick off the month, Ronnie and I hauled the kids up to Nae's cabin for the day. We had a pretty solid 4 wheeler rotation going on, all the kids got to ride twice. Nae took Maverick both times and commented about how much she loves him because he just chats the whole time. Paris said Lincoln didn't say much, but that was "probably because he was smiling the whole time". When they were not on 4-wheelers, they were playing with bubbles, pop-it guns, and spotting deer wandering through (we saw a buck and a doe). I took Brielle for a quick ride on the loop...while I couldn't see her face because of the helmet, she said "yes" every time I asked if she was having fun.

Firework Shirts 

In preparation for the 4th of July, we had the cousins over (and Thomas) to make some t-shirts. Lincoln made a similar one in Talking Time (speech) and I knew Maverick would love the process, too. All you need is sharpies and rubbing alcohol. You make your sharpie design/firework/whatever and use a dropper to add the alcohol, which makes it spread out. They spent a lot longer doing it than I expected (which I suppose is a good thing). To set the color, you dry on high for about 20 minutes. ..the colors all faded after a wash/dry (luckily after the 4th celebration) but I can't complain, it was a $3 shirt after all and they had fun.

Neighborhood Party

Our new HOA actually does things! This year, the 4th of July event had been very talked-about/advertised, so we decided to check it out. We started with the bike parade (the boys said they did not want to decorate their bikes), listened to some of the awards, and then headed home while the afternoon festivities were set up. A few hours later, we came back to the park where they had bounce houses (two water slide ones and two regular ones), popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cones. The boys played their hearts out. Maverick loved the water slides and spent a lot of time on them, as well as Lincoln...eventually. He didn't want to get wet initially, so he opted to watch/play on the non-water ones. We got each treat and then headed home--since I needed to be back in an hour to volunteer for the popcorn booth (which was busy the whole time!) They had a BBQ later that night, but we decided just to do our own grilling at home and keep it low-key.

   Lehi had to document my awesome tan line from not getting the sunscreen quite to the top of my head

4th of July

Rob invited us to his house for a 4th of July dinner and fireworks. We knew we couldn't pass that up! Most of Lehi's family was there, too. Mav and Linc had the "crack chex" for the first time (courtesy of Bekah) and downed it. The first fireworks started with the kind that drop army men with parachutes down--Lincoln remembered them from Pioneer Day last year. Rob, trying to hit Matt with one, totally nailed me in the arm. Nothing like hitting the pregnant lady with a firework ;) Rob also let the boys "help" with the firework lighting, which consisted of them running up, stopping a distance away, telling Rob to light it, and running in the opposite direction. When the bigger things came out, we told them they needed to sit and watch, despite their eagerness to help. Nile lined the street with pop-its, which proved to be a great source of entertainment, watching in anticipation to see what car/bike/scooter might happen to detonate one. Brielle loved being with Poppi and Gigi, but when it became hours past her bedtime, she snuggled up with me. She jumped with all the loud sounds but watched totally not scared. I covered her ears and eventually, she fell asleep on me, in the middle of it all. Sweet girl!

Mallory's Wedding

How crazy is it that Mallory got married this month? We headed to the ring ceremony and reception at This is the Place--super cute setting, and planned to leave from the reception to Bear Lake. They had a lot of great yard games the boys loved playing--particularly oversized badminton, which Janna lovingly played pitcher for as kids lined up to take their turn to "bat." The chocolate fountain was certainly a hit among the Thomas children. When we first got food, we were walking to our table and I looked back to check the boys were following and saw Maverick drinking from his cup of melted chocolate. My goodness. I reminded him it was for dipping, not drinking. Maverick proceeded to make a good chocolate mess of himself throughout the night, although I had to admire his creativity in wanting to make a s'more. ...the problem was he came back to our table with the melted chocolate, a marshmallow, and two Wheat Thins, instead of Graham crackers. I did point out they were not what he thought they were, but to go ahead and make his s'more anyways. Brielle pretty much wore everything and anything she ate--her white onesie covered by the end of the night. At one point, she had a rice crispy treat stuck to her skirt like some country hillbilly belt buckle. We figured it would be the end of anything white on the front of her shirt when we saw her walk up to Poppi at the table he was sitting at and saw him getting her a cup of chocolate a little later. Man, that girl was a mess, but she was loving every second of it.

We chatted a bit about weddings on our drive up and Lehi made the comment about how they were like informal family reunions and he really enjoyed them. It proved to be that and was so much fun, celebrating Mallory and Steven's marriage! 

Bear Lake 

On our drive to Bear Lake, Maverick said we had 50 minutes left. ...We had 2 hours. Lehi said he was a little off. Maverick asked, "What did you say about my math?" to which Lincoln replied, "your math's a little off, pal." 

We got a late start to the trip and were going to arrive at the cabin around 11:20 pm. Maverick woke up from his slumber around 10:55 and told us that he really needed to use the bathroom and couldn't hold it. We pulled into a grocery store that appeared to be open...but it had closed at 11...it was 11:01. Oh what luck! We ended up pulling off the road and letting him use the great outdoors. 

Sleeping arrangements started with Brielle in her pack n' play, Lehi and I in one bed, and the boys in another. Maverick came into our room shortly after being put down and told us he was scared of the ceiling because he thought spiders were going to come out of the black holes (it's a cabin with the log look). After letting him know that was not going to happen, Brielle was not having a great time sleeping, waking up often screaming like she was scared. So we ended up having Maverick trade me places and I slept with Brielle and Lincoln in tow. Around 2:30 we were all finally able to get some sleep.

We took our time getting out in the morning (which we probably shouldn't have, because it was packed, but we still got front parking on the beach). The cousins all played outside, we ate breakfast and moseyed to the cars to make the 7-minute drive. 

When we paid our parking fee, the attendant didn't even count or really look at the money we handed her. I commented, "we could have paid $12 instead of $14 and she wouldn't have even noticed!" (Of course, we wouldn't because it was not honest). Then Lehi said, "Sometimes, your McDonald comes out a little too much." When re-telling the story, Richael laughed and said Lehi's phraseology was right on point.

Bear lake was so relaxing and the kids were in heaven. Even Brielle, despite playing through her nap (and a bad night's sleep), was awesome. When we were setting up, Maverick proudly announced that he had found a shell and showed it to me. I had to give him the bad news that while it was a shell, it was from a pistachio and was most likely in someone's mouth. 

The boys played in the sand, on the inflatable canoe Ronnie brought (which was probably their favorite, Maverick was a shockingly good rower), Lincoln looked for shells, and both of them rode a jet ski for the first time! Ronnie's friends had rented two and told us to use them since they were sitting there. Lehi went out with Richael, and took each of the boys on an outing, then Ronnie and I went out together. Wouldn't you know, Ronnie's jet ski started beeping at her because it was low on gas, and then we got lost trying to find our way back, the beeping becoming more consistent as time passed. We kept looking at each other, laughing, and trying to get our bearings on where the heck we were. Don't worry, we found it eventually....although I am sure it would have been funnier if she had run out of gas and we had to use some "McDonald creativity" to get back to the beach. Brielle also had her first paddleboard experience....and was not impressed. 

It was pretty much a quick clean-up, shower at the cabin, and get on the road so we could be home in time for the big UFC fight that evening (McGregor vs  Poirier #3....which ended up with McGregor breaking his leg, totally lame since it didn't end with a definitive winner, although Poirier was winning at that point in the fight). We did stop in town for a quick food run at a small local shop...and it was amazing! We all got floats & milkshakes at "Float On" along with some fries to share. It was the perfect capstone to an awesome trip! 

Black Widow Challenge 

Maverick has had a head time sleeping lately, crying for me or Lehi to come in his room because he was terrified there was a black widow spider in his room. After a few nights, we learned this random fear stemmed from soccer camp when one of the coaches brushed a bug off the other and made some comment about being glad it wasn't a black widow. Maverick made the comment, "this is a hard trial for me." We talked about ways that we can minimize fear, including singing a song and saying a prayer. We prayed together and he fell asleep shortly after. 

Triple L Ranch 

It is hard to beat a summer trip to the Lovell Ranch. There is always something to do and the kids love being able to play non-stop with friends. Here are a few highlights:

* Psychologist game (one person goes out, everyone decides on one "problem" that everyone has (use ok, the answer has to start with the same letter, repeat question back at some point, has a theme, etc). The person comes back and asks questions and tries to determine what the problem is, based on everyone's answers. 

* Card game: Cover your assets 

* Water slide (daily). Maverick LOVED the water slide in particular. He always wanted to be out and going down. Brielle enjoyed the few trips Lehi and I took her down as well. As usual, the Lovell boys came up with all sorts of challenges--surfing down, double surfing down, etc. Please enjoy the picture of Lehi scolding Lincoln for leaving his towel too close to the water and it falling it...right after he told him to move it. 

*Crossnet (singles, partners, and kids) When kids played, they were allowed to catch the ball and then throw it over. The LOVED playing. 

 

*Ax Throwing --we had lots of games/competitions (bump/speed/lightening), warrior scream, call the hit & spin, etc. Lehi got pretty darn good, I stayed pretty darn terrible. 

*Shooting--Lehi packed up all the guns and some targets for shooting. Most of the boys headed out one morning, only for them to return not too long afterward. Austin had put his eye directly on the scope and got a pretty decent cut from the kickback. He and Mindy made a trip to urgent care for some stitches.

*Hello Neighbor--hide 3 objects in the house in plain sight. Everyone outside except for 1. Have to freeze when a neighbor sees you. If you move they kick you out. Try to get the 3 objects outside w/out being caught. If caught, the neighbor puts an object in a different place (and you go back outside) 

*4 x 4 Rides --the boys held on tight to each other after a couple of wacks on the arms from trees on the slightly overgrown path. The drive made for beautiful sights! They went out a few times with other children's combinations and drivers. 

Hide & Seek--We played a big ol' game of hide & seek one night. One round, Lehi was the last to be found. He was not only in the closet but had climbed in behind a bunch of folding chairs. Nick won another round by scaling up inside the fireplace, and I won another hiding behind a chair in the main room. One of my more predominant locations that were pretty epic was laying across the chairs and Lehi pushing them in for me, so I was tucked nicely under the table...while super preggo.

*Smores & Campfire Songs--the Lovell family had an array of songs they sang while enjoying a night by the campfire. One the boys liked, in particular, was "I went to the animal fair"

We had a quick Rexburg visit while in Idaho. We drove around and pointed out apartments we lived in (Central Park (a former hotel), Main Street Station, Cambridge, Hyde Park), and drove by Madison Hospital where Maverick was born, and the Univerity. We had lunch a Casa De Ochoa with the Lovells, played at Porter Park, and Lehi visited with Malagasy friends from the mission. While Lehi was visiting, the boys and I drove up by the temple and ate Cocoa Bean cupcakes. They were little turds to be totally honest, but I was trying to make it eventful and fun. 

We stopped at Walmart for some camping supplies for the Montana trip and while there Lehi said, "Don't forget we need to get some dopamine for Maverick." (He meant Dramamine, but the mistake was hilarious). 

Quotables:

We were watching America's Got Talent and Terri  Cruise made his pecks dance. I had to explain to Maverick when those muscles are really strong you can flex and relax them like Terri did. Maverick remarked, "Man. My pecks are weak" to which Lincoln added, "but Dad can make his dance!"

More Pictures: