Garrett will roar like a lion when he wears his towel and Tyler will bark like a dog when he has his towel on. Sometimes we have fights over the same towel, but that is what kids do.
I love my little animals! I love them when they are cranky and snarly. I love them when they are giggly and happy. I love my little animals!
While everyone was here, we went to the carousel. The kids all liked taking turns picking out the different animals to ride on: a fish, a buffalo, horses, a bear, etc. The kids also liked eating the ice cream that was there. Tyler wanted whatever Morgan was going to have. Garrett wanted plain chocolate. Justin likes a couple of odd flavors together.
Besides going to the carousel, we spent time swimming with Justin's family at the hotel. The swimming pool was really cold, so most everyone was in the hot tub. Braxton enjoyed having Uncle Justin throw him into the water. At one point, Shantel, Jami, and Justin had a race in the pool. We also rode the tour train around Helena. The tour train is about an hour long ride where you ride around town seeing some of the historical sites while learning about Helena's history. The kids like it because it looks like a train on wheels. When we were not out and about, we hung out at home visiting and playing cards. The little boys loved the backyard...sandbox, swing set, trampoline...need I say anymore. 
Tyler had his birthday party at Big Time Bouncers this year. The kids bounced, ran, and yelled. They acted like they had a good time. Tyler had pizza for dinner at his party. Tyler had an ice cream cake with a motorcycle on it at his party but on the day of his birthday, he had blue cupcakes with yellow frosting. That is what he told me he wanted on his actual birthday. Tyler was very lucky and got lots of presents on his birthday. Some of things he got were: a skate board, a bull riding play set, transformers, a nerf gun thing, and clothes. He also got musical cards which he loves. On the night of Tyler's birthday, we went and saw the movie "G-force" in 3D. He thought that was pretty cool.
T-ball is over for the year now. Next year both Tyler and Garrett will be able to play so our summer evenings will be even more exciting. I just hope their games will not be at the same time. We will see. We have another 10 months before we have to worry about that.
What I find amusing though, is the dog likes the trampoline also. Miley likes to get up on it when the boys are jumping. It does not bother her if Tyler or Garrett jump while she is up there or not. I have seen her get up on the tramp when the boys are inside and she is outside. We have a slightly crazy dog (I think she picks up on vibes from the guys:)
Tyler and Garrett love to be outside. They love to play in the backyard. They will either play on the swing set, jump on the tramp, play in the sandbox, dig in the dirt, or ride their bikes. They love being outside! They really like it when I am watering the lawn so they can run through the sprinklers. They are also happy just playing in the wading pool.
It is funny to watch them. Whatever Tyler does, Garrett does. Garrett is always copying his big brother. I think it is kind-of cute. If Tyler jumps in the pool, so does Garrett. If Tyler is getting in and out of the pool, so does Garrett. Miley, our dog, also loves to get in and out of the pool. She will hop right in with the boys. The three of them keep me busy, but I love it!
While the boys play hard, they also like to relax in style. On our way home from Salt Lake in July, the boys found these sunglasses at the gas station. Of course we had to get them because the boys looked so cute in them. Unfortunately, Garrett broke his glasses two days after we got home. Luckily, Tyler still has his shades and looks really cute in them.
One Monday in July, some of the Helena Brewer players were at one of the parks in town passing out lunches to anyone under the age of 18. Chad, an outfielder, (in the above picture) was passing out free tickets to any Sunday game to the kids. Kristian (a pitcher), Chris (an outfielder), and Damian (a pitcher) helped pass out lunches to the kids. Tyler and Garrett were pretty excited to meet some of the Helena Brewer ballplayers. Tyler started asking when he could go to another Helena Brewer baseball game in February. If you ask Tyler who is favorite baseball team is, he answers, "The Helena Brewers!" Tyler loves baseball.
During the month of July, we also celebrated family birthdays: Grandma Joni, Morgan, and Uncle Mike. Grandma Joni and Morgan have the same birthday. Unfortunately, we were not able to spend the day with Morgan, but the boys had fun sending her a birthday video on my phone. Poor Morgan got Garrett giving her his skunk sound and action. That means Garrett really loves her, because he only does that to people he likes. Both Tyler and Garrett helped Grandma Joni and Uncle Mike blow out their birthday candles on their cakes. Tyler made sure everyone received their birthday spankings. Daddy has taught them to make sure they do that on birthdays.
Tyler was a big help in the kitchen during everyone's birthdays. Tyler helped make the birthday cakes. He is also an awesome cookie baker and scrambled egg maker. Tyler is mom's extra help. He even likes helping with the dishes. Hopefully this will last as he gets older.
We also took a very quick trip to Salt Lake so Justin could fix Aunt Teresa's air conditioner. Both Aunt Teresa and Grandma Olsen were very glad Justin came down. July in Salt Lake can be miserable without air conditioning. Tyler and Garrett were excited to play with all of their cousins. I think their cousins were excited to play with the boys.
That is a quick overview of the month July for our family. As you can see, we manage to stay busy.
Our camp site was very grassy. Shawna had brought the game "horsey ball" or something like that to play. The object of the game was to throw two bouncy balls, attached together by rope, to a hurdle looking thing that had bars on it. The balls are suppose to wrap around one the bars for points. The first person or team to twenty won the game. Before we could even play the game, Justin and Jeff (with help from Tyler and Garrett) flattened the grass with the four wheelers so we had a relatively flat area to play the game on.
