It seemed like we packed in a year's worth of activities into the month of July, but it hasn't slowed down, yet, and it's already the middle of August! The best thing that happened was Christopher getting baptized. After much stress about when and where he would be baptized (Aaron couldn't get the scheduled day off work). He was baptized on the 25th, in Preston. It was a very nice baptism, with Grandpa Garth (Aaron's dad) able to preside, and many family members able to participate. In Christopher's letter to my parents (on a mission in Hawaii), he said he felt really really happy and did the right thing by being baptized and following Jesus Christ. I am really proud of his decision. 
The week of his baptism was packed with events. On Monday, the 20th, we went to South Jordan to the Ocquirr Mountain Temple Openhouse. It was neat for the kids to be able to go and I think they all enjoyed it. Christopher has been wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for a long time and I happened to get an e-mail to join their club a month or so ago, so I thought I might as well, even though it's far away. It was perfect timing because I got some really good coupons, plus free tokens for Tacy's birthday and they kids were able to play as much as they wanted.
Wednesday, the 22nd, was Tacy's 4th birthday and she had a 'Princess Pajama Party'. It was really cute with 7 of her friends able to come. Aaron did an amazing job of decorating and setting up the 'tea party' with cupcakes, Kool-Aid, and candy. That night, Aaron had a work bbq/meeting and the kids played at the park for a long time. Tacy was finally able to open her presents from her family members later at night.
Thursday, the 23rd, was Christopher's 8th birthday. It started making me feel old when I had to look in the 'older boy' section to find clothes his size! We have only let our kid's have a friend birthday party every 2 years, so he didn't get one this year. We were doing fireworks for his birthday and since we had to wait until it was dark, he didn't get to open his presents until after 9PM, when Grandma and Grandpa Porter came.
Friday, the 24th, I was exhausted. Despite this fact, we went to the Logan Parade, which was pretty un-exciting. That night we were able to go swimming, and then to my brother Craig's for pizza, with all of my brothers and sisters and their spouses and children, except one niece and I don't think my brother, Craig, went swimming. It was really fun to get together with all of them.
Saturday, the 25th, was the baptism and then we went to Grandma Gayle's, in Preston, to eat and celebrate birthdays. Aaron's brother, Evan, and his family were there from California and it was really fun. That night we had the Chamber's Family Reunion in Smithfield. That is my mother's, mother's parents. For several years we have had it at Adam's Park in Logan and it was fun to go back and see my kids climbing up the trails like I used to do when I was little.
Tuesday, the 28th, we celebrated Aaron's parent's 40th Wedding Anniversary (it was in May) at Maddox, in Brigham City. All of Aaron's siblings and their spouses and children were there and it was really neat. Each family wore a different color so we could match kids in the picture, and our color was Navy. I took these cute pictures at home, right before we left.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday was Rodeo Weekend in Preston. Thursday we went to the carnival and Friday and Saturday we went to the Parade. Aaron had to work all of those days, so we just went up each night.
To keep things going, Chris, Bryce and Tacy had swimming lessons the first two weeks in August. I let Rachel play in the kid's pool during the lessons, but had my neighbor watch her the last day so I could see the other's swim. It was so neat to see how they'd progressed and to see Bryce swim half the width of the pool, back and forth, on his front and back! They all passed their levels and want to take lessons again. I want to get Chris and Bryce in again, soon, but we'll have to see.
Yesterday, we had a garage sale and although it had a really slow start crammed in our garage because of the rain, it ended up being a good success - even though we didn't even set out some of the big items. If I'm crazy enough, I will do it again this Saturday. Tomorrow Aaron, Chris and Bryce are going with our neighbor Scott Cooley and his son Kenton, Aaron's brother Val and his two boys, Anthony and Cameron, are going backpacking until Wednesday. I love to go camping, but with a new baby I'm happy to stay home! Hope it goes well, there was snow in the mountains where they are going!
