I Don't Want to Forget-July

To get straight to the point...James dad passed away in July of last year and I haven't been able to blog since. It was a long two weeks we spent in Oklahoma and blogging about it didn't sound fun and skipping the event all together made my brain hurt because I like things in chronological order. But since I put a pause on blogging I've realized that I've started to forget things and I don't want to forget reasons why I took a certain picture. I'm going to dive into it now though and continue to start posting random pics so I can remember things and use it as my log for when I do our family photo albums.

James Dad passed away of Cancer July 2014. It was expected but sudden and very very sad for all of us. James, Ellie and I spent 2 full weeks in Oklahoma helping pack organize paperwork. James' Aunt was there to help pack and organize and one of James' brothers stayed a long time too to help pack and move. So that was helpful. It was also great spending time going through old pictures and old files of paperwork from when the brothers were in school. It was fun hearing stories too. I always enjoy that part.
 The funeral was beautiful. Nothing bad could ever be said about James' dad. He was a wonderful, loving, caring man and not only did he love fully but people loved him. He will be missed!

We spent a lot of time, while the majority of family were in town, at Gina's house. They had a huge backyard with was great for the kids and everyone to hang out. Grandma and Great Grandpa with some grandkids.

 This is my Sister in Law, Becky. Our girls are 3 months apart. I posted about them at Christmas time. It's crazy how different their personalities are but they are just too cute together. We planned a twin day with them and took way too many photos. 

 Felicity's the hugger!

 (stole the collage from Becky)

James and I stayed in a hotel the first week and the 2nd week, once people flew home, we relocated to the apartment which had a pool. Thomas (James' brother) and I took our girls out there once (why didn't we do it more?!) and they had a lot of fun. Ellie doesn't really have experience being in a pool since we live in Idaho but she had fun playing with her cousins and clung to me like a Koala bear while we were in the water.

This is back at the apartment. Ellie thrives on big kid attention, she LOVES it. So, being in the mix with her cousins for two weeks was like Heaven to her. They watched a lot of Yo Gabba Gabba on repeat. Haha.

And an occasional movie.

 The girls did AMAZINGLY well for being cooped up and mixed in with the chaos. So proud of them all.

-Notice the purple cast under the frog. Poor Sariah broke her leg one night playing with her bigger cousins. Thomas had to stay longer in OK so they could get the walking cast put on after some time because he had a lot of traveling ahead of him still and a full leg cast wasn't going to cut it. Such troopers. One trial after the other. 

We tried to fit in some play time since we were in a new state to explore. We went to the OK Zoo one day with James, his brother the girls and James' mom. It was SO FLIPPING HOT that that's all I remember. 

It was so hot that by the end the older cousin was sobbing saying, "I'm crying because I'm so sad that I'm so hot." Or something like that. Needless to say, they earned their treat from the gift shop for putting up with that torture. This must be why we stayed inside so much while there.

*Now this is one of the unpleasant memory but I have to remember it. Because... that's how I am. I'm not sure if I talked about it on the post from last Christmas (2013) but the 24 hour flu went through the family while we all stayed at the cabin. I avoided it thankfully! But of course, I was an anxious wreck because I hate being sick and I despise throwing up. Well, on this trip, while the majority of family was still in Oklahoma, a lot of people got sick. I am thinking that both the flu and food poisoning happened though (some how). A huge majority of people all got sick on the same day but there were a select few that got sick a few days later and for more than one day. Talk about anxiety. I don't do sick! James felt ill one day but was able to still get stuff done but again, I avoided it. Very grateful. Germs...eww!

Anyways, that was Oklahoma in a nutshell.

Now for the rest of July...

See...I already can't remember why I took the piano picture. My guess, since she's about 19 months, started climbing and getting up onto the bench herself and plucking away. Probably extra cute that she brought her babies along.

I'm pretty sure this was Gluten Free brownie mix. I was gluten free for a long time to help some digestive issues. (Her hair looks very red here, interesting!) 

This was a lucky buy. I went to get her a pool for the backyard and it rang up much cheaper than I planned. Always exciting. Our pump wasn't working or I didn't have the attachment or something so I lung powered that entire thing. We used it a lot over the rest of the summer.

Okay, I'm feeling better...now onto August.