We started off July with a bang…literally! We love spending the Fourth in July in Utah each year and honestly, the bangin’ fireworks really solidify it as our favorite place to celebrate America. Our family had a blast at the California State Fair (see my post all about that here). Simon and Sophie attended their second year of the BYU Cross Country Camp which provided both a week of solid training as well as meeting some new people. Simon took a trip to see his friend Brooklyn and worked a ton at our favorite neighborhood haunt, the Napa Deli. We enjoyed warm weather and working on projects here at home. Here are a few snapshots of life during July…

Our trip to Utah each July is always a highlight of our summer and this year was no exception. You can read more about it here.

Carrie, Lucy, Charlotte and Darby came for an all too quick visit. Lucy and Darby are going into their senior year and were on a college tour – so glad we were able to spend a few hours with them. Simon, Lucy and Darby were all babies and toddlers in NYC together. Most of my early photos of Simon has one or both of those girls in them!

We spent a lot of time in our backyard at all hours of day just soaking up our new patio and plantings. This has been our biggest change to our backyard and we really love it.

We had a great family day (minus Simon who was working) at the California State Fair (you can read more about that here). It was in the high 90’s that day in Sacramento but we paced ourselves, sought out shade and kept hydrated. We fared pretty well and the general consensus was that next year we need to come back and stay longer! And perhaps the weather will be more in our favor if we come later in the evening.

Sam and I had a date night to the NorCal Night Market held at the Pleasanton Fair Grounds and WOW, we will be back for sure. Having traveled in Thailand and Cambodia (and Sam in Korea) we are big fans of night markets so we were thrilled to discover one in the Bay Area. There had to have been over 50+ food trucks/restaurant vendors, plus games and activities for kids and a bunch of shopping stalls. The evening breeze was perfect and I had the best tasting lobster roll I’ve enjoyed to date. NorCal Night Market is a redo for us, for sure!

Green Valley and her vineyards were beautiful and lush as usual this time of year. We had a few really hot days in July but this view never gets old.

Sophie’s regular practice was cancelled one day due to smoke in the area but she still got a three mile run in 97 degrees in. When she runs alone I go with her on my beach cruiser; it’s a little workout for me too plus I feel better about her being out. It truly sucks that girls and women have to be so concerned for safety when running or working out. Even in our beautiful corner of the world terrible things happen.

In an effort to keep Sophie busy and my younger two out of trouble there were multiple rock painting sessions around this kitchen table. Our backyard is now the recipient of MANY beautifully painted rocks from these three. I am adding this into the ‘redo’ bucket for next summer.

Sophie actually made pancakes for the puppy. She just can’t say no to her.

I went to the U-Pick flower fields at Larry’s multiple times for their zinnias. I know that I say this every summer but these flower fields are one of my favorite perks living in this area.

I got a new car! Simon got his license and we moved him into the VW minivan for him to drive himself and his sister to school and alllllll of the other things that come up in the course of a school year. Having another driver in the house has been THE BEST. It gives me mild panic attacks each time I imagine my teens on the freeway not because I don’t trust Simon (he is a great driver) but because of all of the nutjobs out there operating vehicles. It terrifies me. But back to my car. I decided to get an Acura MDX after admiring them for years and now I am happily ensconced in it. After 15 years of driving kids around in a minivan I deserve this. Sam did great picking this out and I am excited every day to get behind the wheel of this car.

Simon’s co-worker sent me this photo of him chopping what amounted to A LOT of peppers. He worked hard this summer. Napa Deli was a fantastic first job and he learned so much. He learned the value of hard work, the satisfaction of a paycheck, made new friends, learned more about cooking on a line and customer service and how to deal with people you aren’t a fan of. We love the family that runs Napa Deli; it was so much fun to go grab lunch this summer, see my kid hard at work and chat with the owners. I didn’t even think to take a photo of Simon at work and so I am really grateful his co-worker did.

And that sums up July for us!