What happened to Summer?

Seriously, it's already half way through September? What the heck happened to August? I guess we were just so busy going to the pool, going on walks and going on other outdoor adventures that I was too tuckered out to blog. Ha! A lot has happened since July, so I'm gonna split up my posts/pictures so as not to overwhelm myself and all of you devoted readers of the Bell Blog.
I really wanted to make it out to Thanksgiving Point to have lunch outside and walk through the gardens before Summer was over. So with one week left before school started again for my mom and sister, and before dance started up again at Prodigy, we made it down and only paid $2.00 to walk through the beautiful gardens. What a deal!

We saw some fun fishies.

Alli and Jayda played in the fountains.

And I re-enacted one of my bridal pictures. Probably my favorite picture in my wedding dress was right there on that bench. Awe. Many of you have probably seen it in my house. That was a fun day. Very different from an average day now. :)

We were able to do some more swimming with one of my good friends, Sheena, and her little girl, Violet. Sheena and I went to college together, Sheena and Clark went to high school together, Sheena teaches at Prodigy with me, and our little girls are just a week apart. Obviously, we are connected in several ways and it is so fun to get together and watch our girls play!

Look at those cute little bums.

We do Sunday dinner every other week with Clark's family, but one week we decided to mix it up a little and went up Millcreek Canyon to have a picnic. Well, it was pretty crowded that day and there weren't any picnic tables available. So we decided to park by a stream and eat dinner in the back of our car and truck. It was a fun little family outing.

Our friends, the Stringham's, have a family cabin up in Bear Lake and we were lucky to go up there for a day of boating. It was Jayda's first time and she was a little scared at first, but enjoyed the movement so much that she fell asleep pretty quick. I quite enjoyed my cuddling time on the boat too!

I'll update you on the rest of what's been going on in our lives soon, but until then, just know that Jayda has taken her first steps! I seriously can't believe how big she's getting and it's so fun to see all the new things she can do. For those of you interested, here's a quick video of her taking up to 5 steps. It gets a little shaky because I'm holding the camera and Jayda just loves me so much that she wouldn't let go of my arm for a minute. This was right after my sister's shower at my house so that's why there's gifts and extra chairs in the room. You'll also notice how much Jayda enjoys being the center of attention and showing off. Anyway, enjoy in our joy!