We have lots of special days in July. The 4th of July, Liberty’s birthday, Cade’s birthday, and our anniversary. Here’s a recap of our July celebrations.

4th of July

The 4th of July was more mellow this year thanks to Covid, but we still managed to celebrate. When the neighborhood canceled it’s traditional 4th of July breakfast Liberty was devastated, but she manged to put together a bike parade with her friends anyway and we had a pancake breakfast with our neighbors. That night our cul de sac fireworks were more mellow as well with fewer families involved (not a problem for me AT ALL) but there were far more fireworks going on around the neighborhood than most years, since the big shows were all canceled. I loved listening to them all night long. Happy Birthday America!

Liberty’s 10th Birthday

We kept Libby’s party small this year figuring many parents wouldn’t be ok with a big party invite. She was dying to have a pool party but with no pools open, she had to settle for a water party in the back yard. She managed to come up with a fun theme anyway. Water + Bunnies = A Merbunny party.

Cade’s 16th Birthday

For Cade’s birthday he got a super fancy computer that helps him make some pretty amazing videos for his youtube channel.

Here is an example of the cool things he is creating on his youtube channel:

He went on his first date on his birthday but I didn’t get to take a picture. I thought about going to the pond where he was paddle boarding so I could sneak a picture of him, but decided against it. He’s all signed up to take drivers ed and he now has a job at Burger King!

Rock and Kami 19th Anniversary

We drove to Colorado with the just Levi and Liberty so Rock’s parents could watch them for a night while we went to Aspen to celebrate our anniversary. Aspen is gorgeous!

After seeing the Tetons this summer I was afraid Maroon Bells might be a little anti-climatic, but they were stunning. Our pictures and even fancy ones online do not do them justice! They are huge!! So beautiful.

After Maroon Bells, we walked along a river that wound through downtown Aspen and couldn’t believe the homes nestled up next to it. Rock looked a few up on Zillow and we were looking at $20,000,000 homes! This really is where the rich and famous live-well, their winter homes anyway.

While eating a romantic dinner that night, we got a panicked phone call from Reagan and Cade who were at home alone. The upstairs toilet had overflowed without them knowing. A while later Cade was on the main floor and saw water coming out of the light just below the bathroom. A while after that, he realized maybe there was a problem in the bathroom above. By the time they found the problem, Noah could have floated an arc in the bathroom. We walked them through the cleanup process and braced for what we would find when we drove home the next day. The water made its way all the way to the basement, damaging ceilings, walls and carpet on all three levels. The good news is, the water destroyed our ugly, outdated vanity with forest green formica and matching linoleum, so insurance is paying for new ones! When they removed the toilet we found out that it’s a miracle it hasn’t happened before now-so we are getting a new toilet and we decided to go all in and do a new tub/shower too! So the bathroom remodel that was high on my list, but not #1, got moved to the top and I have spent every moment since we got home picking out toilets, tubs and tile.

And that completed our July Celebrations. Stay tuned for more summer travels and happenings.