Bits of July

Saturday July 9th

 My father-in-law, Jim, is in the YM presidency in his ward in Yamhill.  Their youth group had an activity to go ride horses.  He knows of Maggie's great love of horses, so invited her to come on their activity.  She was beyond thrilled!

 Some of the group.  I guess they had to split up and ride in two separate groups since there weren't enough horses, so she didn't get to ride with grandpa Jim.  

 That's one happy girl!!

 It was beautiful scenery!!

When they returned, Jim went with the next group.   

 Isn't he cute?  He's the best!

Monday July 11th

 Garrett playing Pokemon with Noah.  He is so patient to play with him, because I have no clue what's going on in that game.  I've tried, but I just don't get it and don't ever really want to learn!  Ha! Noah sure loves it though.  

 Kids playing on our long boards...I don't think they'll ever stand up and try to ride them the correct way, but at least they are outside and playing.  

 Tuesday July 12th

 Today was a day spent with friends... This is Brooke and Paige.  They've been friends since they were like 3 I think.  They are so cute together.  Today they were taking pictures of the things they like to do together and were planning to put the pictures in a book.  Not sure if they ever did, but it was a cute idea.  

 These pictures were all at Brooke's house.  

 This is their cute friend Lily.  

 Having a picnic

 Playing piano

and doing their nails.

 Maggie went on a group date to Chic-fil-a.  I guess if they dressed up like cows they got something for free, so that's what their date was.  Pretty cute...I can't remember if they did anything else or not.

 And Bella had her friends Lauryn, Katie and Brooklynn over and played on the trampoline.  

 I sure love my kids' good friends!

 These other things happened in July too, but I will post about them later because there are a lot of pictures...

Posts to come:

 Our stake had it's 2nd trek and it was the 2nd time to be Ma and Pa McKibben.  That was quite the adventure!! July 13-16th.

 We drove to Utah on the 18th and 19th, and then had a Hansen family reunion in Yellowstone from July 20th-26th.  

Garrett had to fly back home the next day, but we stayed in Utah till August 6th.  On July 30th, we spent the day at Bear Lake.  It was a fun and busy month!!

The rest of the McKibben Reunion

July 2

Continuing our little McKibben Reunion...

Jim and Georgia had various doctor appointments that morning, and I had a dentist appt. and Maggie had an appointment, so we didn't get together with everyone until the evening.  We went to their house and had dinner, swam, grandpa gave rides with his lawnmower, we had s'more over their fire and just played.  

Celeste, Hannah, Bella, Paige and Noah

The guys getting the fire going

Paige, Bella, Caleb, Maggie, Noah, Lydia and Celeste

Their new back deck with new fire pit

Noah driving with grandpa

Playing with hula hoops

Using the wagon as a stage...

Garrett brought over his remote controlled airplane to play with.  It ended up getting stuck up in a tree when Jacob had a turn flying it.  :)  It was really high up in a tree, but somehow, Jake got it down.  

July 3

We had planned for most of the adults to go to the Portland Temple to do a session this morning.  Tanya wasn't able to get her recommend renewed before she came here, so she volunteered to take the kids to the Children's Museum while we went to the Temple.  I was kind of worried that it would be crazy with 8 kids and 1 adult, but she said it went really well and that Maggie and Lydia were great helpers.  I'm so glad they were able to go and so grateful to Tanya for taking them all so we could go to the Temple.  It had been way too long since I had been there.  

 Hannah and Paige

 Caleb serving up some food.

 Noah and his dinosaur egg?

 Tanya reading a book to the kids.

 Maggie and Noah

 Bella, Caleb and Noah

Josh, Meggin, Georgia, Jim, Mindy and Garrett outside of the Temple.

We were all done about the same time, so we all went out to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.  Jake and his girls (who didn't want to go to the museum) met up with us for lunch, too.  

Later in the day we headed back to grandma and grandpa's for pizza and horse riding.  

Jim and Georgia's neighbor, Bill, just bought a horse and offered to let the kids ride his horse sometime, so he brought "Sugar" over that night. 

 Kids eating pizza

 Paige riding Sugar.

 Maggie lookin' good in Grandpa's 10 gallon hat.

 Kids watching the pony rides and waiting their turn.

 Maggie is a natural with horses.  She loves everything about them.

 Amelia not liking the horse getting too close. 

Maggie taking Caleb on a ride.  

Maggie and Paige were the only kids from my family to ride.  

July 4

The next morning, we had to get up fairly early, because we had registered to walk a 5K called the CAT Walk (Cancer Awareness & Treatment).  We've walked it before and we always really enjoy it, plus it's for a great cause.  So, our family walked it, with Bella and Noah in the bike stroller.  Jim, Josh and Hannah also joined us.  It takes place right before the parade, so we set up our chairs before we started the walk, then hung out when we were done until the parade started. Everyone else met us right before the parade started.  

 Maggie and I took off and separated from the rest of the group because I wanted to beat a certain time that I had in my head.  I had the stroller with Bella and Noah, so I didn't leave Garrett with all the kids.   

I love this picture that he took of Paige and Jim holding hands during the walk...it is so priceless!  

I was so proud of Paige and Lydia for walking it.  I think Hannah and Paige took turns riding in the wagon, but Lydia walked the whole thing and didn't complain for the whole 3 miles.  It was so fun watching them cross the finish line with a big smiles on their faces and having them know that they can accomplish something that is hard.   

 I loved the flag flying from the ladder.  

 Grandma and Amelia.

 The gang

 I love Celeste in this picture.

 Jim and Georgia watching the parade from what little shade they could find.

Noah loves drinking water from the backpack.

After the parade we went home to cool off and rest.  Then we headed back to Yamhill.  Garrett cooked fajitas for dinner.  

 Doing puzzles at grandma's house

 This is Caleb's bike and Noah just loved it!  We really need to get him one, so he can start learning how to ride!

 In the evening when we were going to let off our fireworks, it cooled off a lot.  We didn't bring any jackets or anything, so we used the little blankets that we keep in the car.  

Doing sparklers.

July 5

Josh and Tanya left to go back to California today.  It was fun seeing them again.  Since we were leaving the next day for our Yellowstone/Utah trip, we spent most of the day packing.  But we went over to grandma's house that evening for dinner and to hang out a little bit more with Jake and Meggin.  They were staying until the 9th.  

 A few last pictures with the cousins.  They really had a fun time together. 

Meggin, Jim, Georgia and Garrett.