Here we go! JULY (disgusting, I know)

And we're back! I am starting this post with the caveat that I lost my camera in May. Thus, all of the pictures in this post were taken by members if my family. All pictures taken in future posts were taken on my phone. Sorry. I will say, I am amazing with an HTC EVO phone camera. Woot! Woot!

The kids and I started July jetting off to Arizona to visit family.

My sister B and hubby K were kind enough to house the three of us for 10 days.

It was so much fun having tons of sister time, being with family, seeing old friends, swimming, and trying to not melt on the surface of the sun.

Since I didn't take a single picture, here at least is a picture of B and her family.

Her kids are so awesome.

They played with my little guy for hours.

Heaven

Since he never gets tired, it was quite the feat to keep up with him.

They held Little Miss all of the time.

Double heaven

I don't think she spent much time on the floor unless she was surrounded by her adoring public.

The kids even babysat my kids so I could go out with B a couple of times.

Chocolate covered heaven

Thanks T Fam for the rockin time in AZ!

After exhausting our resources in Arizona

the kids and I jumped in my parents car

(with them, of course) and we all drove up to Utah.

There we met up with The Man

to participate in my family reunion

with my parents and all my siblings.

It was so much fun to be together.

First, we stopped at my aunts house and visited my sweet grandma.

Her health has been failing for some time now and I was afraid that I wouldn't get the chance to see her again before she passed.

It was so kind of her to hold on to see my whole family.

It was also the first time that she was able to meet Miss L,

whose middle name is after this amazing woman.

After we were done, we went on to Aspen Grove Camp.

For those who don't know what this magical wonderland is,

let me tell you.

It is a family camp run by BYU

They provide housing, food, all day babysitting for any age kid, and access to multiple activities.

The Man does not like it because while they have a daily schedule for all of the kids

The adults have to "fend for themselves"

That being said, they provide the equipment for most sports, a ropes course, crafts, a swimming pool with slides, a golf simulator and who knows what else I am forgetting.

As adults we just have to arrange for our games.

If we want to play basketball, we have to find the players,

they will not set up the game for us.

Anyways, I LOVE it.

The first real activity we participated in was family pictures.

This is our group, all bajillion of us.

We are the bottom left, front and off center! :)

Guess I should have imported it bigger, my bad.

The first day of "Class"

This kid loved class, until he threw up.

Yup, part way through the week this kid caught a bug

starting a terrible chain reaction of flu

throughout my entire family

Rock on!

Another kudos to Aspen Grove

When you throw up

they come collect your bedding

put it in a biohazard bag

and leave you fresh bedding

It's kind of like the flu Santa

By the end of the week, they new who our group was

I am pretty sure they just burned down the lodge that we were in

The only true way to kill infection :)

Back to our activities

The Man and I decided to do the ropes course

I learned I LOVE heights

I went several days

By the end of the week

I was walking to the middle of the rope

dangled from my carabineer

and swung like a swing

and yes, I look down

How exhilarating

Yup, only two jumps people

He's amazing

This is my favorite picture from the whole week

Being held by Grandma

Smiling at Aunt B

GMan playing frisbee with Uncle K

patience must be one of his virtues

Us playing shuffle board.

The Man was the singles champion

I can hold my own

We are ready to retire

Sister hanging out with Aunt B

We love Aunt B

Playing ball with our cousin

She is so fun, they could run forever together

We didn't organize our own basketball game

But speed is more fun

Plus I have a better chance of keeping up :)

Other than having a sick kid, the week was so much fun.

We loaded our family and our stuff into our car for the drive to New Mexico

The sickness was not over when we pulled out

Poor Little Man had stuff coming out both ends

He ended up going through a weeks worth of clothes

During the 9 hours of driving

Yum!

We made it to my sister M's house

Just in time for the Little Miss and I to catch the flu

The next morning The Man was supposed to drive home

leaving the three of us in NM

for another week

By some small miracle, and lots of Pepto Bismal,

he made it home without incident

Once recovered,

the kids and I

enjoyed a fantastic week with M and her kids

(the hubby was traveling for work)

While recovering there was lots of tv watching

then a trip to the zoo

swimming, multiple times

saw the last Harry Potter book

(both movies)

It was great

but again, no pics

Sorry you didn't have a visual

but feel free to conjure up your own