July

July is a HUGE month for us, and one I don't want to forget.  Besides the 4th of July which I've already blogged about we also celebrate both Tim and my birthdays.  I turned (and from this point forward will forever be) 29. 

For my birthday, and for the amusement of Arlo (who loves trains) we took a day trip up north and took a ride on the Verde Vally Train.  It was a beautiful ride and it was nice to get out of the heat and do something different with the boys.  Here is a few pics...

It has become a tradition of sorts to go up to Utah for the 24th of July.  We love it because it is easier for Tim to get off work, it is so much cooler in UT than AZ in July and, it lets Tim and Arlo legally celebrate with fireworks 2 times in the same month.   Usually we go up with no definite plans, but this year we were up for 10 days and we had plans every single day we were up there.  It was a BUSY, exhausting and extremely fun trip.

One of the fist places we went was to the Hogle Zoo with our good friends and their son.  It was a great time to go because the had a dinosaur exhibit throughout the zoo with life size dinos everywhere that made noise, moved and some even squirted water at you.  Arlo LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the dinosaurs as long as he did not get to close to them.  (It was pretty funny!)

We got in more friend time by going to the park and picnicking with Zupas.  (I have to eat there at least twice every time I go!)

The next few pics are of our afternoon of fireworks on the 24th.  The night is a blast because the boys get to spend all afternoon running around with their many cousins.

Arlo spent some bonding time with his closest cousin, Maebel.  They have the same bikes and helmets (not planned)  they were so cute together.

We went to Great Skate where they have a water park... which Arlo still talks about to this day... he had a blast.  We played in the water park, ate pizza, danced with a DJ and then went inside and played in the arcade.  The day was perfect and once again he spent it with his cousins.

(sorry I was screaming, the music was so loud... and if you are wondering what Arlo is doing in the second video, he saw another kid break dancing and that was his version of how to do it.)

We also went to Lagoon and Arlo had a BLAST!!!!!

We also spent a night with adults only where we went to Tim's favorite restaurant and celebrated his B-day.  That ended with the girls going out to a movie and the boys going home to pick up the kids.

We ended the trip by stopping on the drive home at Moqui's Cave.  Which was a much needed pit stop.

We all went home physically and mentally exhausted.  But it was well worth it!

The trip ended our very busy month of July.