I love July

We had a very fun July, with a lot going on.  This will probably be the longest of the blog posts.  So, sit down, buckle up, and hold on.....

My favorite part of July is the 4th of July.  Every year, we go to Centerville for the concert in the park and the fireworks......

They had face painting and Meow-meow wanted a snake.

Naturally, I had to do something fun and sparkly

Spider Monkey went with a snake as well.

Two peas in a pod.

And more fun with cotton candy.

More face painting at the neighborhood 4th of July breakfast.

I have no idea what that was supposed to be.

Then came Family Vacation time!!  This time, we took a trip down south.  Our first stop was Goblin Valley.  We have all decided that we need to return to Goblin Valley again and spend more time there.  We didn't get to explore everything we wanted to.....

Starting out our adventure.

The kids climbing all over the goblins

King of the rock

We are quite the group.

Karate-CHOP

We had fun playing with shadows. 

And then I went to the other side and took pictures of the same poses.

Time for some spelunking.

Making a sacrifice

We discovered a hole in the top of the cave.  Naturally we went to explore it further.  Firebolt found the hole and of course we had to have fun.  She climbed into the hole and pretended to be falling into the hole.  Meanwhile, her feet were pretty much on the ground in the cave below.

Baked potato anyone?

After Goblin valley, we took off for Arches!!

We had an epic rainstorm when we got to Moab.  The rainbow afterwards was really cool.

Double rainbow.

 My all time favorite arch at Arches is Sand Dune Arch.  I could be content staying here and playing all day (which I did, for two days)

 We attempted to do some stargazing, but it ended up raining on our parade.  We still had fun though.

The lights up in the arch is Nathan and all the kids.

And of course the kids had to climb into the window of the arch.

If you zoom in and look close, you can see the whites of their eyes.

 Meow-mew was too little and my ankle wasn't in any condition for any epic hikes so they dropped Meow-meow and I off at Sand Dune Arch and went to do the Fiery Furnace hike.  I gave Lion Heart my phone with instructions to get pictures.  This is only a small portion of the photos he took.  He also took some pretty epic videos.

 When they came to get us from Sand Dune Arch, they had to snap a couple of pictures of what Meow-meow and I had been up to.

It amazes me how many people just don't know the joys of playing in sand.

I had fun.

If you dig deep enough, you get to the nice wet sand that you can mold and play with.  I can't begin to tell you how many people were amazed at what I was doing.  They don't let you climb on the arches, but you are free to dig and play in the sand.  I even had a park ranger join me in the fun.

 The next day, again they dropped Meow-meow and myself off at Sand Dune Arch while they all went to hike Delicate Arch, and again I gave Lion Heart my phone.  Here are a handful of the pictures he took.

 On our last day, we hiked up to Landscape Arch.  Meow-meow and I ventured out on this hike.  It was hard, but not too hard.  I was wiped out by the end though and quite happy for a long car ride home.

This rock face cracked me up.  Literally, a rock face on the rock face.  So, we had to mimic the rock.

The drive home was.......eventful.  We hit some rainstorms and then the van started overheating.  Luckily we were able to make it into Nephi before it died.  We have AAA and can get a free tow if we are under 100 miles from our destination.  Nephi was like 98 miles.  So, a couple of phone calls later........

On the drive home. 

Waiting for the tow truck in the Wendy's.

Poor beast

Tow truck, plus 15 passenger van, plus 35 foot trailer, equals one very long haul

The kids all piled into the cab of the tow truck.  There wasn't enough room for everyone.  Luckily there was a very nice older couple that offered to take some of us home.  So Nathan and a few kids went with them while the rest of us piled into the tow truck.

We made it home!!!

I have a new weakness......Candied Bacon.  It's all Martina's fault!!

We were out driving around town and I spotted this car with a sandwich just hanging out on the back bumper.  

Being weird at the Dr. office

Firebolt would be turning 16 at the end of the year and one must have an epic 16th birthday.  I watched a video on Youtube where a guy built a ball out of match sticks and then lit it on fire.  I decided that this needed to be a part of the birthday celebrations.  Not knowing how long it would take to build, I got a start on making one......

My family thinks I have a rock collecting problem.  I have no idea what they are talking about.

And of course, my fur babies.

We cannot convince this silly cat to stay in the house.  Luckily enough, he is terrified of cars and won't go anywhere near the road.  He loves to hang out with me while I do yard work.

Bath time.