Jolly July

It looks like I am officially back in the blogger world. This is my third post in two days, so I am determined to catch up! It is now August, so talking about July shouldn't be too hard. July wasn't super busy. We just had the Fourth of July celebrations and Super Hero Night. Of course, I will try to talk about a few developmental things for the boys too, since I have left those out in the last few posts due to my lack of memory.

Okay, so like I said, the first major fun thing we did in July was celebrate the Fourth of July. I have to say that I love living in our new ward because any time there is a patriotic holiday, the young men go around and put flags in all the yards of our ward. So we always have a nice big flag in our yard. I love it! Alexander loves it too. He got so excited the morning of when he saw the flag. He immediately pointed out the window and said, "Flag! Flag!" So cute!

Oh! And I almost forgot! On the third of July, we decided to be super neighborly and make cookies for our neighbors. Scott had the great idea of making oreo cookies but making them red, white and blue. So we made a whole bunch of cookies that night and delivered them to our neighbors. We used red velvet cake for the red part, and dyed white cake mix blue (with food coloring). We got so distracted with cookie making, that we forgot to make dinner. So while we dropped off cookies to our neighbors, the McKinneys, they offered us dinner. It was super nice of them. We had a blast getting to know some of our neighbors a little better by delivering cookies.

Well, we have decided that it would be fun to make the Provo parade a tradition for our family. We went the year I was pregnant with Alexander, and I was pretty hot, but it was fun. Last year, I was pregnant with Jacob, so we skipped out. This year is the first year we have lived in Utah during the summer time and I haven't been pregnant! So we are having lots of fun with hot activities. Anyway, the parade was lots of fun. We let the boys sleep in, because we knew it would be a crazy day, so we had a bit of a hard time finding a seat. But luckily, there was a nice man who let us sit in his lawn for the parade. The parade was great. We brought donuts and snacks to enjoy. Alexander loved the parade. He watched a lot of it on Scott's shoulders. Though I think his favorite part of the parade was when he spotted a helicopter fly overhead. My favorite part was the cotton candy. Jacob mainly enjoyed just rolling around in the grass, and fell asleep before the parade was over. Scott's favorite part was watching Alexander's reaction to the floats, music and helicopter. We weren't able to stay for the whole parade, because the boys started to get pretty cranky, but we really enjoyed what we were able to see. On the way out, we passed a float that was playing music, and I stopped pushing the stroller, and danced with Scott. We danced for a few minutes and the band members cheered for us when Scott dipped me. I think that was another one of my favorite parts of the parade. It really was a great time. Below are more pictures of our fun at the parade:

After the parade, we went back to Russ and Diane's house and just enjoyed time with the family for a little bit. Diane's brother, Don, and sister, Natalie, and her family were visiting. It was fun seeing them get excited to see Jacob and Alexander. I have to say that this visit really taught me how much Don and Scott are alike. Russ has always said that from the beginning, Scott reminded them of Don. How true it is! Don told some jokes and stuff while here, and I saw just how much they have in common. From their looks all the way down to their laughs, they are practically clones. It was fun getting to know Uncle Don a little more during his visit.

Since we have two boys under two, we had to head home for nap time after visiting with the family. After their naps, we came back to Russ and Diane's for a little dinner. Then we headed to what is becoming another tradition, Stadium of Fire. This year the main event was Kelly Clarkson. The show was great and the fireworks were fun too. The boys actually seemed to enjoy the whole thing. We got an extra pair of earmuffs for the Jacob, so the music and loud blasts weren't too overwhelming for either of them. Jacob ended up being so tired from the day that he slept through the fireworks, and Alexander ended up loving the fireworks. It was great having him smile through the show, instead of being scared. He was really cute to watch. He actually ended up watching the show next to Grandpa and Alliyah. It was cute watching Alliyah put her arm around him to try and protect him. After the fireworks, we made the trek back to the car and headed home. The boys slept so long that night, that it was Jacob's first time sleeping through the night. We were very grateful for the sleep after such a long day. Below are more pictures from our fun at Stadium of Fire:

Okay, so here I would like to note that Diane seems to love when she is with her sister so much! It's like she becomes super planner when they are together. So, since Natalie was in town, this had to be the busiest Fourth of July we have had here so far. Natalie was here for the weekend, and she planned every single moment of that long four day weekend. So, the fifth of July was super busy too! We decided to skip out on the plans to go to the carnival in Orem, so the boys could get a little extra rest. Then, that evening we went back to Russ and Diane's for dinner and then blew off a ton of fireworks in their front yard. Alexander got a little more scared of the fireworks this time, I think because they were closer. It also ended up raining a ton too, so Russ set up a tent so we could all watch them and stay dry. The fireworks still gave us a great show, even though it was raining. The boys were super exhausted again, for being out so late. Here are some pictures from our fun night:

The next day was Saturday, the sixth of July, and it seemed the family had tons planned for that day too. The family came over to our place in the morning, to see our new house. We had some fun with everyone showing off our house. They even met a stray cat that had tried to claim us as it's owners for a few weeks. Diane kept trying to convince us to adopt it, but Alexander was afraid of the cat and Scott is allergic, so we passed on the whole cat option. But we did get some fun pictures of the kids in their "things" shirts and the cat even snuck in for a picture. After naps, we headed to Jim and Janine's for an early dinner and time with the family. Janine had decided to clean out some of her closets and wanted the whole family there so she could divvy up games and puzzles. She also had everyone request some of their favorite antique items for when they pass away. It ended up being a huge ordeal and we were there super late too. Here are a few more fun pictures for you:

We had fun with all of the Fourth of July excitement, but our poor boys were so wiped out from everything. We actually think it is what caused Jacob to start having bad sleep habits. He would wake up several times a night screaming (which he never did before this). He would just scream and scream (even in Scott's arms), until I fed him. The problem got worse and worse, and it seemed like we had tried everything. We finally found a solution to help him sleep in August, but I will just cover that in August's post. Anyway, the fourth was fun, just exhausting. I think next year, we will just visit my family instead. They throw a great laid back party that is still tons of fun :)

Wow! It sure took a lot to cover all of the Fourth of July excitement. The other really fun thing we did in July was go to a Super Hero Night at Wingers. We heard they were having a night where you could dress up and get free kids meals and get entered into a contest. So we thought it would be fun to go. We got all dressed up and enjoyed a nice dinner. It turned out our waitress even happened to wear the same shirt as Scott, so she insisted we take a picture with her. She was a bit odd, but we still enjoyed the time together.

Wow! This post has taken me super long to write, and we need to go have lunch, so I will just wrap it up here. I wanted to include some fun facts about the boys' development, so here are a few fun things they are doing. Alexander's language has taken off! He says a new word just about every day! He can count to ten and recognizes most of his alphabet and colors. He can jump with both feet and enjoys jumping in the crib and on the couch. He also seems to climb on anything. He loves imitating Jacob for attention too. He loves anything that moves (cars, planes, boats, and trains). He also loves playing with his Aunt Amy's phone. Jacob is rolling all over the place and trying to get into everything. He has started solids, but prefers to feed himself. If he can pick it up, he eats it. Otherwise, he is not interested. He smiles and laughs all the time. He also loves sticking out his tongue and making a cute spitting noise when he is bored. We have started to let the boys play together more, we just have to be careful to not let Alexander tackle him too much, though Jacob usually laughs when Alexander is on him. We also let the boys bathe together every night too. Below are some fun pictures of the boys. Hopefully you enjoy them.

Okay, it is really time for me to stop blogging now. Scott is starting to make lunch. Hope you enjoyed getting caught up with us. Tune in next time for Alexander's 2nd Birthday!!!!