Elle's 7th Birthday!

My baby girl is 7! Birthdays always make me feel super nostalgic. It seems like yesterday that Elle was turning 2. This sweet girl has melted my heart since the day she was born. 

Elle got an early birthday celebration in Brentwood the week before her birthday

Cute LuLaRoe skirt from Gram

Barbie from Gram Rox

And a scooter from Papa!

Her actual birthday was on a Sunday this year. 

I skipped out of ward council so we could celebrate with waffles and presents. 

She got sung to in primary and got to blow out her "candles"

Boppi and Grandpa Al joined us in the evening for dinner. Elle requested taco salad! 

Presents from Boppi and Grandpa: a frog catch game, a fun coloring book for girls, and this adorable bag

The Terry's and Beede's joined us afterwards for dessert. Elle choose butterscotch dessert this year!

What a treat to have all these cousins here to help celebrate! 

What a fun birthday celebration for my sweet Elle Belle! I can't say enough wonderful things about this girl of ours. She's kind, loving, giving, fun, playful, and always looking to do good. I feel so blessed to have her in our lives! 

Summer Time

I gotta admit, I was a little nervous when the school year ended. Summer time means I'm on 24/7.  I tire of the constant entertainment and trying to keep these kids super structured (which is mostly for my own sanity). When summer time hits, the school teacher in me totally comes out. I love writing up our schedule each night so that I've got a plan for the next day. We don't always stick to it, but at least it gives me a plan.

We set goals the Sunday after school got out and I made each kid their own "Summer Study" check list of things to accomplish every day. The first 2 weeks were amazing, but now as it nears the end of summer, the kids have definitely started slacking off with the academic side of their checklists. 

Our summer mornings usually start with some sort of exercise. Running at the HS track on Tuesdays and Thursdays:

And morning bike rides Mon/Wed/Fri (we did this religiously the whole first month of summer, but got a little lazy near the end of July).

Love the cool, foggy June mornings when we'd need blankets/jacket at the start of our run/ride.

Then home for summer study - reading, writing, math, piano, etc

We got tadpoles at the beginning of summer. . . 

Spencer and the kids made their own little habitat . . .

It made for a great writing assignment/report. I love how my girls come up with doing this kind of stuff all on their own! 

The library is one of our favorite places to go in the summer.

There's always something interesting going on at our library!

We love pool invites and usually go swimming twice a week!

Our Wednesday beach days were hit or miss this summer. It was a lot more work with James and there were some days I just didn't have the energy to deal with it.

Movies in the gazebo at Boppi and Grandpa Al's were also a hit for Madi and Elle! I stayed home with the boys both times since it was past their bedtime.

Elle's first Dodger game on June 18th. 

Spence took the girls to Mormon Dodger night in July with all the cousins and family in town!

Road trip to Gram/Papa's

The water museum on our way home . . .

Birthday celebrating!

And LOTS of fun with cousins!!

Our garden has been amazing this summer!! We've enjoyed some super yummy salads from it!

We have our family vacation to Kansas and Michigan coming up next week and that will wrap up our summer nicely!