Fourth of July we had a fun parade around the neighborhood, went swimming with friends, and then our neighbors invited us to have a BBQ and fireworks show on our street. The Sagers and Uncle Taylor came over and we had lots of neighbors out. It was a great day!
We bought a butterfly habitat and got caterpillars and watched them turn into chrysalises and then butterflies! The kids were super into it!
Kids and dads off-roading trip:
I got together with Alise, Heather, and Jill for dinner one night. Jill was in town and Alise came in from Logandale. We sat at Cheesecake Factory for hours talking and catching up and it was so dead in there they didn’t even kick us out. It has been a long time since the 4 of us have been together. We also had a baby shower dinner for Cami, Rachel and Mindy (although Mindy isn’t even in the picture!)
The kids have been staying busy with lots of play dates and splash pads.
Trey turned 5! He wanted donuts for breakfast and we went swimming. He requested Cafe Rio for lunch and then we had a water party in our backyard and had his best buddies over. He would have invited so many more kids because he is friends with everyone he knows but we had to limit it. It was so fun celebrating our sweet Trey boy.
Baby Daisy (Kaci and Braeden’s little girl and our newest cousin) was born on the Fourth of July! The girls got to meet her first. We snuck over the day she came home from the hospital while the boys were off-roading.
Bennett was baptized! It was the first time being in our church building since the shut down. It felt so good to be there and it was really special. I’m excited now for Beau to get baptized in the next month or two.
Look at Carter, Beau, and Bennett… all holding the stick. So random and cute.
Mom, Rachel, Emma, Kayli and I had a girls’ day to celebrate birthdays. We went shopping, had lunch, and Emma got her ears pierced! Kayli wouldn’t even watch. Emma told her it didn’t even hurt but Kayli still has no interest in getting her ears pierced.
We got to go back to church! (With restrictions of course.) It was so great, even if it was small and a little different. We have been twice now and get to go in another 2 weeks. I have missed it!
Found these gems on my phone…
We had the best weekend in San Diego. We decided since there isn’t much to do here that we would go down there for my birthday weekend so we could at least go to the beach. We got there Thursday afternoon and Mandy had made the cutest Orange Dreamsicle cake for my birthday.
On my birthday we went to the beach and Kim met us down there and it was so fun to see her after 5 months! We had yummy burritos at the beach and played all day. All the beautiful pictures are from Mandy. I always have the prettiest pictures if she is with us!
Mandy got a babysitter so that we could have a date night and Kim and Austin met us for that too. We went to an Italian restaurant in Little Italy where there was cute outdoor seating. The weather in downtown SD is so beautiful at night so it was great. Then we scootered around downtown and that was so fun too! Then we waited in line for Salt and Straw and it is worth the wait. It was delicious. It was the perfect birthday!
Saturday we decided to check out Carlsbad Lagoon. Nobody had been there before and there was a Groupon for renting kayaks and paddle boards. Kayli has wanted to try paddle boarding for a long time and Kim and Austin do that a lot so it was fun to try it out with them. They loved learning how to do it with them. We found our own little beach and the kids had so much fun. Kayli loved paddle boarding and I was proud of her for being so brave. Beau tried it towards the end and then didn’t want to stop. Kayaking was fun too! After that we got pizza at a yummy place in Encinitas and were able to eat outside at the restaurant. Then we had to get ice-cream at Handel’s and see the painted rock garden next door. We’re so lucky that Josh and Mandy know all of the best spots to hit up down there!
Kayli paddle boarding 
Beau paddle boarding 
The kids have so much fun just playing at their house too and Mandy took baptism pictures of Beau. I love them!
The next day we decided to go walk around La Jolla. We saw so many seals (even little babies!) and like to sit at the grassy area and look out at the ocean. Kim and Austin met us there too so we got to spend more time with them. It’s always so hard to leave San Diego because we always have the best time while we’re there!
Food from Grandma’s garden:
Beau has been doing a little football camp with Bennett and it’s so fun to see them play football together again.
Sami and Trey went to a little preschool summer camp one day. It was Sami’s first experience with something like that. She was so little and cute and Trey was excited to go to something preschool related again!
One day Kayli was at a birthday party and Sami and Trey were at preschool camp so Beau and I went shopping to look for birthday present ideas for him. It was fun spending time with just him. He’s been saving his money for a long time and he decided to buy a big lego set. He came home and followed the instructions so well and 3.5 hours later he had put the set together. The boys have been doing so many lego projects.
We had to say good-bye to one of our favorite families. If my kids weren’t at her house, then her kids were at my house. They lived around the corner so the kids would just ride their bikes to each others’ houses. We did so much together. I played soccer and pickle ball with Mindy, we had many park play dates, and helped each other out so much. We will miss them so so so much. They are off to North Carolina for a year and then we will see where they end up!
We had a come-say-good-bye-to-them night at our house where lots of people came by.
We had pizza and movie nights before they left soaking in every last minute we could.
Then the day before they flew out we spent most of the day with them. We went swimming and then nobody could say good-bye so we grabbed lunch and went to a splash pad for a couple more hours. When it did come time to say good-bye it was the worst. The 8 year old boys were crying. The mommas were crying. It was so sad! Carter, Bennett and Beau have been the best of buddies for the past 5 years. McKay, Madden, and Trey have been buddies since they were born! And Paige and Sami have been buddies since they were born too! So hard to say good-bye to great friends but we are so grateful to know them and for all of the fun times we have had!
We went on a super fun jeeping trip in the Virgin River. Literally. We drove in the river for 8 miles. We would stop along the way and the kids would play in the river and they had the best time! It was so shallow so even the babies could play. It was one of our favorite jeeping trips we’ve done! Kenny made a video if you want to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU9OLmxygi8
Emma got baptized! It was fun to be there and see Grandma and Grandpa Varney and Kelli and Alex there on Zoom. That was pretty special!
We went to Alamo for the first ever Boyd and Daisy cousin reunion. We didn’t get to go the whole day but it was fun to be there for a few hours. It was fun to see everyone and the kids had fun making crafts, looking at the animals, and playing with all of the kids.
Kayli got to play with Madi while she was in town. They always pick right up where they left off. She has been loving helping organize and creating lots of math games with me. She also took apart the crib and got her room ready for new bunk beds. She keeps the cleanest, most organized room.
Beau continues to make us laugh. This is him being a random Mrs. Caramel, the librarian. While we were setting up a new bookcase he sat down and said in an old lady voice, “hello there kids I am your librarian, Mrs. Caramel!” Since we all laughed he kicked it up a notch and left and came back in costume.
A few Trey stories: One night while I was saying prayers with me he told me that he says his own prayers every single night because he doesn’t want to have bad dreams. Then he told me that he prays that everyone in the whole world won’t have bad dreams because he doesn’t want anyone to be scared. He melts my heart. He said the prayer and sure enough he prayed for everyone in the whole world. He always prays for Coronavirus to go away, for the policemen to be nice and safe, for family members that live far away, and for Josh and Mandy to come see us. Haha. He is a thoughtful boy. He really wants to go to school for Kindergarten. My heart is so broken for him that he will miss out on lots of the Kindergarten experiences. He is so friendly, social, kind, and makes everyone happy. I know people would be so blessed to know him at school. He is excited to have Mrs. Buell who he already knows so well but he just wants to go to school already! My heart is most broken for this one and his upcoming school year.
Sami is now in a bunk bed with Kayli! There’s pretty much no sign of babies in our house anymore. She is a big girl! I wish she could do all of the fun big girl things like ballet classes, gymnastics, and preschool but all of that has been placed on hold too. She really misses her Paigey. She likes to Facetime her and talks about her lots. She is a really funny kid. She cracks us up all the time with the things she says and the funny voices she uses. She is not shy and is such a goofball!
A few more pics…
They love playing with Uncle Taylor 
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