August

So the beginning of August we were still in Idaho.  We got to go to a Dance family reunion and see so many cousins I hadn't seen in a long time!  I also got to see most of my aunts and uncles, we were still missing 3 from this picture, but it was so nice to see so many of them!

I also took a trip one Sunday morning to the graveyard and showed the kids my mom's grave as well as so many other Dance graves that I took pictures of and hope to upload to family search one day! 

We started the journey home by going to Yellowstone National Park.  We got to see the geyser Old Faithful.

And some paint pots!

 I wished I would have driven around the east side of the park for Andrew to see the buffalo, because that is what he really wanted and with all the construction on the west side it would probably have taken me just as long!  Next time we go I will make sure to take him that way!

We also got to stop at Mt. Rushmore!  My first time ever!!  It was a quick stop, but so fun!

Evan had his camera with him, so he was always taking pictures of things instead of being in my pictures!!  He had fun I think.  We loved going there and once we got in the car we decided to just finish off the road trip and get home!  So we drove the rest of the way home that day and got back to Iowa about 10pm or so that night!

We did great on the drive, even driving it the whole way myself!  I listed to a book with an earbud in and movies on for the kids.  We had fun and overall we were so grateful to have gone!

We made it to one more festival.  It was the Adel corn festival.  They had this cool mater truck.  It was so fun for the kids to get a picture.

I also took them to one last dollar movie for the summer.  Summer is great because dollars movies are offered and they are ok with snacks brought in for the kids!

 super fun with super cute kids!

Then, school had to begin.  Way too early!

Brayden is in the 3rd grade.

Evan is in the 5th grade.

5th grade starts the year of the school band.  Evan is trying his hand at the alto Sax.  He's doing great in my opinion!!  So proud of him!

Andrew got to finally wear his new toy story boots since it's "fall" now.  He loved them!

I also got to make this fun baby shower cake for a friend.  She had a baby boy.  It was super fun to make for her.

July 2014

Of course July is awesome!  July 4th!  We made a bunch of decorations for the balcony.

And for our bikes.

 We had fun at a downtown Des Moines event that consisted of a concert and fireworks from the lawn of the capitol building.  It was fun.  Josh was gone most of July, so we were with friends who were so sweet to let us tag along!

I found this wonderful red, white and blue bread at the store.

 So I made french toast on the morning of the 4th of July.

Then we went to the parade.  It was hot and they were mad we didn't ride our bikes the three blocks!  But I didn't want to worry about a place for our bikes and I knew walking was doable.

And of course they all looked fabulous!

I made this wreath for our front door.

and this firecracker popcorn for our fireworks treat.

and we get to watch fireworks from our driveway!  It's just at the park a corn field away!

Brayden and Evan got to go to cub scout camp and had a super fun time, especially being able to use a bow and arrow.

 The cast made it a little harder for Evan, though, still fun.

Oh, and here is a picture of Josh in the Philippines before the Typhoon hit.  Yes, he was smack dab in the middle of a Typhoon.  It was crazy.  Like I said, he was gone most of July, so I threw this picture in as a reminder that he was else where when all this fun was happening back at home! :)

So, we went to a county fair in the middle of July.  They didn't have much, but they did have this old tractor.

 and this tractor.  The guy came over and started it for them.  They thought they were so cool!  Really they were just super cute!

This is a great picture of Brayden running to the next thing.  I can't believe I caught that so well!

They did have a couple of rinky dinky rides.  A HUGE waste of money, will not make that mistake again!!

 Though they did have some fun!

We went to Wal-mart to get an oil change.  The kids thought it was cool to get in the tires.  So, I took pictures and then told them to get out!

Our longest bike ride of the summer was to the ice cream shop "downtown" Waukee.  They really did a great job and earned every bit of the ice cream they got!

Since Josh was gone for so long, and I found out my Grandma Sagers died, and I had a Dance family reunion, we just decided to pack up the car and head to Idaho!  No reason not too! :)

Well, then this happened our second day into the trip.  We were in Wyoming, only about 3-4 hours from our destination!  We heard a sound and it was not good.  I pulled over and barely got a tow truck out there.  Reception wasn't so good, thank goodness I could text my mother!  That was SO helpful!

The kids didn't mind.  I made it as fun as I could!  Addison played in the dry sand dirt. . .

 Andrew walked around.

 Brayden pulled up patches of weeds.

 Evan helped Brayden some and walked around some.

They all flopped on the hotel bed when we finally made it to a hotel!  Happy to have a place to be!

We did eventually make it to my parents house.  My mini-van was able to get towed to where I needed it to be thanks to an upgraded AAA and the nice people at the hotel in Kemmemer, WY.  Once I got it to the mechanic, we found out I had a hole in my engine block.  Well, that meant I needed a new engine, or a new car.  I went for the new engine.  We got it in in the time frame needed and got it back when we needed to, so it all worked out!

The kids had fun in Idaho.  We flew kites.

Hung out with cousins. 

 Slept on the floor or in forts.

 Went to church outside for pioneer day!

 Slid on a slip and slide.

 and did a LOT of jumping on the tramp.  Even Grandpa was coaxed out for a jump by Andrew!

And that was our eventful July!!  It was such a great month!