Summer so far

July...I can't believe it is July.  I saw the school supplies out for the first time in Wal-mart.  That always makes my chest tighten and I feel the beginnings of a panic attack as I think of the school year starting.  School always makes our schedule much more hectic.

As I was looking at the pictures on Brad's phone the other day I realized I had a lot of catching up to do on the blog.

A lot of time in our house is spent on our bicycles and on the river.  Brad has made it a goal that every day off he has we peddle and paddle.  So here's some peddling with Ben and Riles one day:

And some paddling with Ben and Jordan another:

You may have noticed some funkiness going on with Brad's facial hair in the above pictures.  He always has a day or two of trying to mimic Sam Elliot when his winter beard gets shaved.  And, really, the mustache is SO attractive (As is the food stuck between teeth 9 and 10...hee! hee!).

I got my braces off!!  WOOT!  WOOT!  Well, not exactly braces.  I'm not wearing invisalign anymore and oh...the lovely smile.

Honestly, the invisalign was totally worth it.

Ben's had a rough summer with skin issues and infections.  First, he had a reed pierce his foot through his river sandal right before we went on a family vacation.  We didn't think anything of it at the time it happened and, when Ben had complained that he had thought he had possibly sprained his ankl,e paid little attention as we rushed out the door for our family vacation the next morning.  However, that evening upon removing Ben's sock it was pretty obvious that he had some infection in his foot.  So, after a little bit of surgery from Brad exploring for anything possibly left in his foot, and a call to our friend, the podiatrist, we were aware that puncture wounds in the river can cause very serious infections and that we needed to have Ben take a strong antibiotic to combat the infection.  I must admit, it's nice to have doctor connections.

Oh, and yes, on his arm in the picture above is ringworm...from wrestling.  Our first battle with ringworm and ugh, that has been a pain to say the least.  Ben has contracted the ringworm on his scalp, which is VERY difficult to get rid of.  And, because we told him not to itch it, he started pulling his hair to relieve himself of the need to itch and ended up with a super infection on his head.  Long explanation needed here what a super infection is and why pulling your hair could cause it, so I won't bother you with the details.

Again, lucky for us we have doctor connections and were able to get him seen and treated quickly.  Poor Ben.  We have learned to be very PROACTIVE with ringworm from this experience and thus far, no one else in the family has contracted it.

We went on our first boating trip a few weeks back and enjoyed every second of water we could.  Everyone got up on their first ski of the year, including me on one :)

I always find these selfies of my kids on my phone and caught Kenzie taking one of herself trying to look so cool on the boat.

So I thought I'd join her and see if I could pull it off too.

I know, we're looking pretty cool, right?

We have little birdies under our porch and that is fun for the kids to see every day.

For the 4th of July we spent a lot of time with fireworks and friends...and potato guns.  Potato guns and beanie babies are always a great combination for fun.

And finally, we are off for another family vacation down the green River in Utah.  First time for the family together on a week long float trip.  All of us can hardly wait!