But wait! There's even more July...

 Morgie's faithful cat

 Viola is obsessed with playing in the sink... here she is with a baster.

 Country princess

 Emma was proud to help me with Viola's costume for Harry Potter's birthday party

 Morgan helped a lot too

 Viola as Hedwig

 A piggyback riding carrot...

...and a sexy carrot

Smiths up in Here!

After my parents left, we hosted the Smiths from Utah for the first time. It's fun living just 4-5 hrs drive apart. They were lucky enough to come during our only major heatwave of the summer too, so it was a bit miserable in terms of weather.

Eating beet stacks like little champs!

Mmmm... ham. And watermelon sangria.

The buddy system was strictly enforced on the way to the market.

Kalena's not as thrilled about the homemade pickles as the rest of the kids...

Messenger Pizza... where we take everyone! We had bacon on our pizza and it changed our lives.

The Fourth

 Patriotic Cuteness

 helping with the festive treats

 slip 'n slide at the neighbors' house

 And of course some at home fireworks

waiting for the Caldwell fireworks show

Motz Visit

This summer we were very excited to welcome Mom & Dad to Idaho for the first time. We packed in a lot of fun of course. Swimming, road trips, farmer's market, 4th of July festivities... the week went by very quickly. We hope they can come visit every summer!

crafts and games

candle dipping in Idaho City

A short hike that ended in us fleeing hordes of mosquitos...

Messenger Pizza

Dig 'tata'

Camelsback Park, naturally

Goodies Ice Cream

Drawing with Pepaw

Tie-dyeing with Memaw

A farewell lemon lush pie

Emma's Portraits

Better late than never! Here are Emma's 7-yr-old portraits, and they are pretty flippin' precious. She really knows her way around a camera too.

How adorable is this?

She looks so much older than last year...

I think this sums it up!

Emma is such a fun-loving girl.