August

August was such a fun filled month! We packed it full of all kinds of busy and entertaining things!

First up was my mom's brother Mike and his family from DC came to town. We had a BBQ at my parents with all the extended family and it was fun to see everyone and catch up. We don't do that much anymore because everyone's lives are just so busy.

My mom and dad both took the day off on Friday and Heaton and Laila were in town so we all headed up to Bogus Basin to check out their new glade mountain coaster. It exceeded my expectations and we had so much fun! We spent almost all afternoon up there and probably could have stayed longer! Besides the mountain coaster there were summer tube rides, rock climbing, bungee bouncing, chair lift rides, and probably even more that I'm forgetting. Thanks mom and dad for such a fun day!

the only picture I took from the whole day.

That same weekend was baby Garrett's blessing day! We were fortunate to have Nate's parents and little brother and family come to town for the blessing! We had family and friends over afterward for a little brunch. I love how many people love our little family and came to support us! Grandma and grandpa even stayed and played with us for one more day and man did they spoil us! They took us to the aquarium, then to Chick-fil-A, then to the Discovery Center and finally out to dinner with my parents!

I guess I didn't take a single picture with grandma & grandpa

The next weekend we headed to Oregon for the first Oakes Family Reunion in Florence! My dad rented a "beach house" about a block from the pier, it was a great location! We took lots of Pokemon walks down the boardwalk and checked out all the shops, the craft fair, and watched the seals. Our boys surprised us by doing really great on the drive and not puking! We got to Florence about 11:30pm and went straight to bed. The next morning we met up with Nate's sister who lives roughly 2 hours away and was nice enough to come camp in Florence so we could see them for a day!! We rented a sandboard and climbed up the dunes and took turned sliding down. Nate was trying to make everyone cry at one point ;) Brannick got pretty scratched up on his last turn, then Nate sent two of Emily's kids down who crashed and burned. After we got all hot and sweaty we headed to the beach of a nearby lake and chatted while the kids played and played. I broke the first rule of vacation and got sunburned the very first day because of this beach! I was just having too much fun to remember to reapply my sunscreen often enough! We sure wish we lived just a bit closer to cousins, our boys just love their cousins!

We packed so much into our week in Oregon including: finally meeting baby Finley, checking out the carnivorous plants, Darlingtonia californica at Darlingtonia State Natural Site, Devil's Churn, Haceta Head Lighthouse, boogie boarding in the ocean, collecting shells at the beach, hiking the Hobbit Trail down to the ocean, crabbing, a little bit of clamming, exploring the tide pools, more hiking, more crabbing, watching the seals, and then finally visiting the Newport Aquarium and Multnomah Falls as we headed for home. We had such a great time and it was fun to have all my siblings and even Grandma Lynne and Tim there to chat with and eat and explore! We loved the fish and chips from Mo's and the crab chowder from the shack on the boardwalks.

Stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way home.

Haceta Head Lighthouse.

I think this path was called the birth canal.

these boys were BRAVE, it was COLD!

We got home late Friday night and the following Monday was Spencer's kindergarten open house! We met his teacher, checked out the school and classroom, put his backpack away, I cried, and that was it! This year our school district changed to all day kindergarten and the first week was definitely a new normal for me and Spence! When I picked him up his second day after having tried hot lunch I asked him what his favorite part of the day was "hot lunch!" Lunch is still usually a highlight for him. I am so impressed with how much he is learning and how helpful, funny, and friendly he is!

the kindergarten playground on the first day of school!! I didn't cry dropping him off, but I did when we went to the open house! Ha!

Lastly, my littlest brother got married!!! Heaton and Laila tied the knot August 31 and it was so nice to officially have Laila in the family! We had fun celebrating them with a bridal shower and getting to know her family Saturday morning, and then the ceremony and celebration that evening!

poor Finley, 7 boy cousins!

Told ya August was busy!

July

Another busy month! Kade turned 2 on the 2nd, Garrett 2 months on the 6, and Lindsey had a birthday of some sort on the 13th (not as exciting when you're over 30...).

Our tradition the last 2 years is to have my dad take family pictures on Kade's birthday, we unfortunately had very uncooperative boys that day so this was about as good as it got. Try again next year I guess!

This year Kade wanted basketball cupcakes so we made up a bunch and took them to lunch at the park to share with our friends!

Our friends own a paddleboard company and were nice enough to invite us to go with them quite a few times! It was so much fun and even though I couldn't go far from the sad baby on the shore, I loved just sitting watching the bigger kids jump off the docks, play in the sand, and just have fun together.

passed out after paddleboarding on the 4th.

I also went dairy free for a few weeks the end of June/beginning of July, to try to help baby Garrett feel better. He still just cried in pain often and never did poop regularly. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help much so he/we just kept suffering through it. The saving grace was that he was a decent sleeper.

We did fireworks on the 4th at Oma and Opa's with the Rice's. When we went to get fireworks, Nate (who hates fireworks) said he didn't want to buy any, blah blah blah. So I said let's just let the boys spend like $20 and call it good. Well $75 later Nate was in heaven picking out all the fireworks! It was comical with him trying to decide which ones and talking the boys into them.

Spencer lost his first top tooth in July! Tooth number 4, we've started calling him Toothless!

The boys LOVE Chick-fil-A. They ask for it probably every day. Cow appreciation day came and we made sure to dress up! We even had our nephew Everett with us and the boys were in heaven! And thankfully, it wasn't even crowded!

Nate, Garrett and I took a birthday lunch date to Tucanos since Nate had never been. It was fine, neither of us were overly impressed, especially with it being pricey. Bummer. But fun to get out! And Nate and the boys got me flowers and balloons, though Nate tried to blame this balloon on Kade...

This was my dairy-free dessert pizza birthday treat I made instead of cake since I was still eating dairy-free at this point.

The highlight of July was getting to go to the Garth Brooks concert!!! I have wanted to see Garth in concert for years! At one point Nate and I had even looked into going to one of his shows in Vegas!
My siblings and I bought my dad a ticket for Father's Day, so we went with my parents and it was just so fun! For sure the greatest concert I've ever been too! It was so memorable! The sound even went out for like 20 minutes at one point and they struggled getting it back on! Blake Shelton also made an appearance because they were filming for their duet so that was kinda cool. It was a late night but sooo worth it!

this is Blake Shelton

The Boise Zoo had a big addition that opened earlier in the summer and we finally got around to seeing it with "the girls" as my boys call them.

We finally made it up to the lake with Opa's boat! We had fun tubing with the Rice boys and I was a bit surprised I still remembered how to wakeboard since it had been a few years.

Some more fun from July