JULY

We spent the afternoon at my mom's for 4th of July and then headed to Lilli and Cece's house for dinner and fireworks.  I don't really care for fireworks but the girls loved them.  Cece loved the poppers and Lilli wanted everything!

The girls and I enjoyed our first trip to the MK Nature Center.  So much fun.

 We love summer and spending time in the water.  The girls loved helping Marcel wash my car.

Our July envelope date was to hike Jump Creek.  We were both prepared for a much longer hike but still had a great time.  Even though this sign warning us about rattlesnakes made me really nervous!  Now that we know what to expect we are going to take Lilli and Cece since we know they'll be able to make the hike and will love the waterfall.  Marcel and I didn't swim but enjoyed walking through the stream on our way back out to the car.  I don't feel like I'm a particularly big nature girl but being there reminded me that I do enjoy it once I get out in it.

The girls and I were at Albertsons one day and Lilli noticed the fair rides getting set up and begged to go.  The fair isn't my favorite thing, because the rides make me sick and they are so expensive, but when Marcel found out that it was free on the opening day from 12-2pm before the rides were ready we decided to go.  We saw lots of animals and made a quick trip through the exhibits.

 All of the pigs were sleeping when we were walking through so when we'd ask Cece what a pig says she'd pretend snore!

On our way back to the car Lilli noticed that her sunhat in her shadow looked like a cowboy hat.  "Look, I'm a cow girl ready for the fair."

And after we got back home, we all enjoyed the fudgesicles Lilli and I made the day before.  I love finding recipes for treats that are a bit healthier than the alternatives.

Marcel got asked to be the stage manager (or a similar position) the God & Country Festival at the Idaho Center before the 4th of July, which he normally does as a volunteer, but this year they were going to pay him!  And it has led to a lot of work.  The Village in Meridian has a 8 week concert series on Friday nights and Marcel is now working them.  He also worked at a company conference in a Boise hotel and spent the last week of July in Bend working at the county fair.  It has been a big sacrifice to give up so many hours of his precious time off during the summer but we are so grateful for the work.  He really enjoys it even though the days are so long (the concerts are about 14 hour days outside in the heat)

We also continued to train for our 10K.  I'm at about 4-4.5 miles on the way to 6.2 and Marcel is just a little behind.  His crazy work schedule has slowed his training down just a bit but we still have 9 weeks left.  He'll be ready by race day!