Bedtime

When this page posts I will be one night away from being home from girls camp and I imagine my sweet little ones will be at home doing this with their Daddy that they love so much! I miss all of you! Give each other each an extra hug from me tonight. Give Grandma an extra one too! :) I love you!

The Gardners ARE Gardeners!

This title is actually referring to THIS title I had a couple of summers ago. My Mom always has a beautiful yard and spent a TON of time moving sprinklers and making it look nice. Somehow I missed the gardening skill and you would think that marrying into the "Gardner" family might help that. I'm getting better with the flowers and bulb thing but I have been very excited about Matt taking over the vegetables. He has done an amazing job with his square foot garden. Last summer he started reading up on it and building boxes and now you can see where it has gone. We especially love the peas and lettuce for salads every night! Now the beans, tomatoes and squash are about ready. It is very fun!

Our other big project that we started last spring was getting rid of the big rectangle of rock where our swing set usually was. It just always looked nasty and constantly had weeds in it. I have wanted grass back there forever. Yes, Matt will tell you I thought it was going to be a lot simpler of a project than it was. Really, how hard can moving rock be? It ended up being sooooo much rock. We (yes WE) shoveled it to the back and sides of the yard. Of course Matt did the most, but I did a good share of filling and pushing that wheel barrow too. I do appreciate all that Matt did with this project. It involved a lot more than I thought...especially if it was to be done right and looking nice. Matt built a retaining wall across the back and had to redo the sprinklers, then we had some awesome friends come help us put in the sod and there you have it. Our backyard is so green and relaxing! I LOVE it!! Thank you Mr. "Gardner"! I LOVE YOU!!




Before and After

Pioneer Day

Although the Mailman did celebrate his 47th birthday on July 24th during this year's Days of 47 celebrations, Utah doesn't throw this huge party for him (although he did admit that he thought so when he first moved here)



No, instead, Utah celebrates "the arrival of Mormon pioneer leader Brigham Young and the 60,000 – 80,000 other pioneers who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley between 1847 and 1869." (Yes that is a direct quote because I had to look it up to be sure. Us Wyoming people knew that part of it, but we also thought becoming a state was part of it too...we looked it all up and Wyoming was the 44th state in 1890 and Utah was next in 1896...in case you wanted to know)

So we celebrated! We actually started out the day with Matt doing yard work and the rest of us doing some serious house cleaning for when Grandma comes! Then we celebrated!

What is FOAM DAY?! Here is FOAM DAY!! AWESOME!



It was sooooo much bigger this year than last year! The word got around I guess!
All of the girls had a blast this time! Last year Emily and Kierra weren't so sure about the whole thing. Thomas hung out in the stroller like he did last year. Daddy was working last year. His company is based in Wyoming...so he never gets this day off...unless of course, it's on a Saturday! The girls made sure he had a good time!









After a shower and a little bit of rest we then rode bikes to our annual (did someone say 5 years?) picnic and fireworks. This year they even added a mini parade. Now I know the whole state doesn't stop and celebrate for Mr. Malone, but I do think it's for Jill that they are all really celebrating! Hopefully she had a good birthday sharing it with us. She made the cake at the beginning of this post! Isn't it awesome!





Either someone just fouled out of a byu basketball game, or some adults are just learning how to walk. :)





Wasn't there a kids vs. adults race last year?



Check out these beautiful children! I wish I had taken pictures of their bike decor before it all popped, but we would still all be looking at their amazing smiles anyway, so it doesn't really matter! :)





Guess us "Wyomingites" were supposed to be in charge of getting the good stuff. :) Oh well, it was still the perfect fireworks show. Thanks to our hosts for throwing such a great party! We always look forward to it!





The perfect ending to a month of Patriotic celebrations!
We are so blessed to live in this beautiful country!
There is so much to be grateful for!
God Bless the USA!