July has come and gone.

Despite all my good intentions, time has slipped away from me.

A quick July recap.

Ben

His job, school, and med school applications are keeping him very busy.  We are very glad when we get to see him! 

Ben really likes his job.  He gets along very well with the boys and sets an excellent example.

School is busy, busy, busy.  He now has 1 week left! Hooray!

As of now, he has received secondary application requests from a school in Arizona (Midwestern), Chicago (Midwestern), and Missouri (AT Still) and are still waiting for 3 more schools.  We'll let you know when we receive them.

Just to emphasize how awesome my husband is, he climbed the tree in front of our apartment. For fun.

Emily

This little girl is as active as ever.  She is now talking in complete sentences, singing a songs ("ABC's", "My Cherie Amour", "Twinkle, Twinkle", and quite a few others), and breaking out in new dance moves.  She will now tell me exactly what she wants for breakfast (juice! cereal! cheerios!), lunch (hot dog! wawa milk! banana!), and dinner (cupcake!). She is not nearly as picky an eater now as she used to be.  I think watching her brother eat has been a real help.

Her hair is growing so long! She has these beautiful little curls that frame her big, blue eyes and rosy lips. She has started "choosing" her outfits each morning.  It is so fun to see what she wants to wear each day.

Nana & Papa sent her a toy car and she loves it! She rides it daily! Whether inside or out, she is kept very occupied by the toy.

Andrew

My sweet, little boy is now mobile! He started crawling two weeks ago and is now a professional. Along with crawling, he now pulls himself up to stand on a variety of objects (couch, chair, my leg). He has also started babbling with consonant-vowel combinations like "baba", "dada", "lala", "kaka", and more.  As always, his sister is his favorite person.  He now chases her from room to room.  It makes me smile to watch them.  

He has graduated from pureed foods to textured foods.  He eats dinner with us! What a big boy!

I have been giving him formula each night and that has made quite a difference in his sleeping and personality.  Now that he is not hungry, he sleeps through the night and is very happy during the day.

He very much prefers his mother.  Whatever the activity is, he wants me to perform it.  Since he snuggles with me, I am okay with this.

Amber

I'm keeping busy by chasing my kiddos.  I take them to the aerobic classes the women's group for my church puts on (Relief Society) each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  They really like to watch me and the other ladies dance around.  Emily even dances with me.  She has quite the rhythm! 

To avoid using our car (and subsequently buying gas), I am utilizing our jogging stroller daily. I walk to the store, church, and our friend's houses.  They like it, I like it, and we save money! 

I have managed to keep the apartment clean for an entire month.  It's easier now that Ben is working so much.  I no longer have to spend time with him.

For whatever reason, I have been losing weight.  I am smaller now than I was in High School.  I've talked with my doctors and have been unable to find answers, so I figure I can just keep eating chocolate and donuts.

Staycations

Since Ben is in school, we have opted to do mini-vacations right inside our little town.

My little sister, Abby, has been visiting us for a little over a week now and we have had lots of fun!
She especially enjoys our tree.

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Last Friday, we spent all day fishing.  Unfortunately, our camera broke so I only have a couple of photos.  Boo.

A few days previous, we went on a little hike with a friend and her family. It was super fun! Much easier to carry the kids on this hike (Stewart Falls) than when Ben and I took them with us to hike Squaw Peak.  Plus, it was only a couple hours round-trip, not bad at all.

Anniversary

Ben and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary yesterday! Ben planned a wonderful, surprise date for us.  He is so amazing.

First, he took me shopping for a few new shirts.  My clothes have started getting holes in them so he took me to the outlet stores in Park City. We found quite a deal at my favorite store (Banana Republic). 

Then, we drove to Park City's main street and dined at a delicious Italian restaurant.  

Afterward, we drove to Sundance and enjoyed a moon-lit ski-lift ride.  It was gorgeous.

The best part? We had wonderful baby-sitters who watched our babies for us! It was delightful spending time with just the two of us.

In case you may have forgotten, Emily will turn 2 in a few weeks! Wow! She sure is acting like it too! Hehe.  Really, though, I have to prepare her in advance for changes or, boy howdy, we get some good melt-downs.  Usually they make us laugh, except for when she starts throwing stuff at us. Or hitting us. Or hitting her brother.  

Anyway.  August, here we come!

Love,