First Day of School

This year was definitely a year of firsts for our family. Mark headed to 7th grade, which was his first year at Junior High. He was a little nervous about having 8 classes and finding his way through the larger school and opening his locker, but everything went well. They have an optional 7th grade day the day before school starts where just the 7th graders attend, and after he went to school that day, Mark was ready to go. He has been enjoying 7th grade and is learning lots of new things.

Mark's first day of school.  

We met up with his friends so that they could all walk into school together. 

Mark on the actual first day of school, but his 2nd day.

Dax is going to Highland to be in his dad's class, so this was a new school for him. He has been to Highland Elementary many times, but this was his first year going as a student. He loves riding to school with Dad and has started making lots of new friends. We are excited to see how the entire year goes.

Dad and Dax leave pretty early together every day.

Dax is an awesome student!

Seth is in first grade and this is his first year eating lunch at school and going the entire day. He is in Mrs. Hanson's class, which we are thrilled about since she was Mark's third grade teacher and we loved her. This is our first time every having the repeat teachers: Mrs. Hanson and Dad. Seth is loving school and is getting the hang of eating lunch. We can't wait to see how much he learns and grows this year.

Seth on the first day of school.

He didn't want me to walk him in or help at all. Seth is so confident and independent!

Lagoon

We spent a fun day at Lagoon before we headed back to school. Mark loves the huge roller coaster rides, Seth isn't quite tall enough for the big ones, and Dax still prefers the small kiddie rides. So Mom and Dad took turns taking Mark places and hanging out with the other two. It was a really great day! Not too busy and not too hot.

We always begin the day at Bombora!

Dax was brave and rode JetStar.

Seth was so excited to be big enough to ride the bumper cars alone.

Mark just rammed into Mom a million times.

While Mom and Mark rode Cannibal, Dad took Dax and Seth on a few smaller rides.

Then we all met at Tilt-A-Whirl. 

We rode the sky tram across the park. It was our boys' first time.

Mom gets the most nervous that someone will drop something.

Seth wanted to try Wild Mouse, and we all had broken necks afterward.

The boys love going on the water rides.

The parents not as much. We got a little wet right at the end.

We all went together in the log flume.

Seth loves riding any ride!

Dax is relaxing while the car does all the work.

Mom rode a few rides with Dax. 

She refused to go on the swings and they were not happy with her. 

Mom rode the jeep ride with Seth. 

Dax spotted Mark and Dad from this ride. Nice eagle eyes!

Dad and Mark went on a ton of rides together, but they went on  CliffHanger twice. They were drenched from head to foot. 

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.

Last picture before the full set of braces is on.

Brace Face for 18 months. 

Mom and Dad got to go to the Salt Lake temple with Grandma and Grandpa one morning. It was so nice!

Dax and Seth wanted to show Mark all their fishing tricks, but then Mark was the only one to catch fish that day.

We have had lots of sno cones this summer!

We love the Lucky's Shaved Ice stand in Lehi.

Dax came home from Cub Scouts all "injured" after they learned first aid.

Gloria Falls is our favorite new hike!

Dad had to work one day, so we went to check out the Eccles Wildlife Center at Farmington Bay.

We saw lots of birds and lots of frogs. Seth was great at keeping track on our scavenger hunt page.