Town Days and Jill's Birthday

I found some pictures of the boys playing flag football back in May.  I thought it would be good to post them. 

July was a really fun month for our family.  We kicked it off with the celebration of the Fourth of July.  That is also Town Days in Riverton, and it is always a big deal here in our home town.  On July 3rd is a fun parade that the kids love to see.  It's held at 6:30 pm and is always really hot!  I am turning into the "old man" who is pretty happy not going to the parade, but the kids love it, so I go with them.  The Ludlows got a great spot and we joined them and watched the parade together. 

One day earlier this summer, the kids came with me to help with a ward service project that involved the stake float.  The kids were able to help a little on construction.  They used a horse comb to carve the styrofoam arms of the octopus on the float.  Our stake worked hard to make this beautiful award-winning float.  We saw the completed product for the first time here at the Riverton Town Days parade.  The kids were excited to see the finished float, especially since they'd had a small part in making it.

The next morning, on Independence Day,  I ran the Riverton 10K.  I had a great race and even won a prize (dinner to a local Mexican restaurant).  Few of my running buddies ran it this year, but it was fun to see Steve Allen again.  Jill and the kids joined me at the finish line and then, after the race, we enjoyed the delicious chuckwagon breakfast at the park pavilion.

After swimming at the South County Pool that afternoon, we hosted the Bunkalls for our annual BBQ.  Brett was out of town, and the Buxtons were too, of course, but everyone else was able to come.  We had a great time together.  I grilled burgers, Jill made homemade ice cream, and the kids played tag in the yard.  Then we went to the firework show in our new city park.  The new park is great and it was very well attended.  Despite the crowds, we found a good spot for watching the fireworks.

Jill turned 40 this year!  It was quite the milestone.  Technically her birthday present was to go to Europe, but I still wanted to give her some attention.  I found some black decorations and we celebrated with some gifts.

Jill opened presents that morning before I left for work.  Later that day, she went out to lunch with her mom.  For dinner we went to the Cheesecake Factory.  Our kids have a new favorite restaurant now.  In fact, later in the summer Grandma Bryant watched the kids and she wanted to take them to lunch.  She asked where they would like to go and they responded with "Cheesecake Factory."  Instead, grandma got them to buy into a cinnamon pretzel at Sam's Club. 

At family dinner on Sunday,  the Bryant's celebrated Jill's birthday.  Everyone is so nice to our family. 

This is turning into the summer of Alyssa.  She swims without floaties, and now she is riding her bicycle without training wheels.  She is adventurous and just loves life.  

The boys both got to go to Camp Tracy this year.  Jill and I each went up on different days to be with them.  They both had a terrific time.

It's been a wild summer and we've had a few unbelievable afternoon storms.  They've been severe enough to cause some flooding in our neighborhood.  One day, we even had a hail storm and Jill caught this picture.  Thankfully, our basement has remained dry.