Ockey Family Adventures: July Fun

July was full of lots of fun, including a trip to Heber City and Bear Lake. We managed to squeeze in lots of other adventures, too. It was a busy, but exciting month.

Mark played in a 3-on-3 tournament with a few friends on July 1st to kick of our fun month. They played well, and ended up taking fourth place out of several dozen teams. Mark had a blast and came home super sweaty. The best part was that they got to stay and watch the Summer League games, and Mark even got a few autographs (not from the Jazz players but the Timberwolves).

I don't think this picture even looks like Mark.

Mark was definitely the leader of the team.

This is the group of boys that played in the tournament.

One day in July we were invited to pick cherries at a local U-pick farm in exchange for some blog promotion. When we arrived, they were just giving the cherries away because they had found some worms in a few cherries. We picked a few bags, and it was fun to see the boys enjoy trying cherries for the first time. Mom made an amazing cherry pie and cherry cobbler from the cherries, too. Since we were down in Payson, we decided to drive part of the Nebo Loop and see how last year's fire affected the drive. We also wanted to see if we could find the purple martins. The fire burned sections of the drive, but it was still a beautiful day. We found the purple martins. We were so excited to add a new bird to our list.

Dad was a great ladder for the kids.

Dax was excited to pick cherries.

Even Mark got a lift from Dad.

The boys kept asking if they had picked the right color cherries.

Picking cherries was a new adventure.

The fire definitely burned a good chunk of Nebo Loop.

Mom found more purple flowers. She was excited!

Heading into the woods in search of purple martins.

We found them!

It was hard to get a picture without scaring them away.

We also saw some brightly colored mountain bluebirds.

We love Payson Canyon.

The week that Mark was at scout camp, we had lots of fun outings. The first day, Mom asked the neighborhood fisherman to take Seth and Dax fishing. He was so great and helped them catch lots of fish. Later that day we checked out the brand new Fat Cats that just opened and played a bunch of arcade games. We also went to a new splash pad and tried a new hike. We went swimming with Dad once he was home from scout camp. It was a fun week, but we were excited to have Mark home! We missed him.

Seth caught the first fish.

But Dax caught plenty of bluegill.

The boys had such a great time fishing with Benny.

He was a great helper for Dax and Seth.

Especially since neither one wants to actually touch the fish.

Each boy ending up catching 5 fish that day!

The only problem is that they want to fish all the time now!

We played at the park one evening. Dax thinks he is still two years old sometimes.

We had a great time checking out Fat Cats.

Dax and Seth loved trying out all the new games.

Dax took first place in the motorcycle races.

We hiked the Jungle Trail.

It was 7/11 so we got our free slurpees!

We took the boys swimming since we knew Mark was swimming every day at Scout Camp.

Dax is so brave and jumps off the diving boards.

Seth loves going down the slides.

We love the waterfalls at the new splash pad.

Seth likes playing with the water toys.

One night Mom and Dad took Dax on a date to Smash Burger.

We were so happy Mark came home, but he was dirty and smelly!

The end of the month brought a second round of braces for Mark, lots of sno cones, a new hike to Gloria Falls, and some other great summer outings. July was a wonderful summer month this year.