July is Flying By!

Wow, July is flying by at a tremendous pace! I can't believe the month is almost halfway over already. You would think it would be creeping by since we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest little guy, but for some reason it just seems like time is racing!

My sister Bethany came to visit at the end of June and stayed with us until the 6th. We loved having her here, and the boys were so excited to wake up each day and spend time with Aunt Bethany. At the ripe old age of 15, she taught Brad and I a lot about today's teenager--the most interesting of which is that they are completely inseparable from their cell phones. We were not fully aware of this whole texting non-stop phenomenon, but we quickly learned that it is a real thing, and my sis has quite the addiction. :) We made the most of our days with Bethany and enjoyed the park, the pool, and our visit to the Como Zoo while she was here.

On Friday, Granddaddy and Grandma drove up from Texas to spend a long weekend with us, and we had a fantastic time with them, too! The first thing we did was head out for a nice walk to Lake Harriet, where we fed the ducks and watched a little of the concert at the Bandshell. Brody and Leyton loved watching the ducks take their bread crumbs, but the best part of the evening was dancing to the guitar tunes played by the band!

Heading out for a walk

Feeding the ducks

Brody and Leyton could not get enough of their Granddaddy, and I think Granddaddy earned even more points with Brody by taking him fishing on Saturday, where Brody proceeded to catch no less than 30 fish! It was an incredible experience for him, and ever since then, he's been glued to the MN State Fishing Guide, a paper "guidebook" with pictures of the different fish in MN and regulations for catching them. Really cute!

Walking from Church with Granddaddy

We celebrated the 4th of July with our visiting family members, and it was great! The kids participated in a neighborhood bike parade, and then Brad fired up the grill for some yummy eats. Granddaddy lit up the sky for the little ones shortly after with a nice little fireworks show in the street (I think he was a little freaked out that we could actually do fireworks right on our own street--you can't do that in TX!) After putting the kids to bed, we left GDaddy at home and

the rest of us headed out to check out Eclipse. I was desperately in need of my vampire fix, and the movie did not disappoint!!

Lined up to watch the fireworks show

Very excited boys! Brody enjoyed watching with his friends Everett and Gabriel

Brody's 1st Sparkler!

As usual, the trip was way too short and we weren't ready for anyone to leave. It is always a strong reminder of how much we love our family and how hard it is to be away from them when they are driving away and we don't know the next time we will see them. I usually walk around in a funk the day that anyone in our family goes back to TX, and this time was no exception. At least we have more visitors to look forward to in the next few weeks. Aunt Allyson gets here tomorrow!!

(Grandma took a ton more pictures, so I will post more when I get them!)