#7 Happy Birthday America

As I look back at all our pictures from the summer, 90% of them take place here:

 

At our little community pool. 

Because what else do you do when every single day is over 100 degrees?

 

The kids became pretty good swimmers, and I can't believe how much sunscreen we went through in 3 months.  It was so hot, some days we would go 3 (or more) times a day, good thing the pool is less than 100 yards from our house. A normal St. George summer day routine in our family consists of:  breakfast--- trip to pool---- home for lunch (or lunch at the pool)---- nap time (for all of us)- --- and back to pool until Ammon got home from work---dinner (usually something I didn't have to turn the oven on for)--- and then back to the pool again until 10 at night.  We would even bring pajamas so the kids could shower there, and then we'd walk home and put them to bed.  Heaven. 

We sure loved this little pool, BUT. . .  

 

We loved it EVEN MORE when our great friends from Washington here to swim with us!:

Meet the Conrads!  Hands down, one of the coolest families ever.  Fo'reals. Matt, Kallie, Kaine, Lilia, Eli, and baby Levi. They drove their whole family ALL the way from Washington to come to our little corner of the desert.

.  We loved every minute of having them here, but felt terrible they came during the HOTTEST week we had all summer.  We're talking 119 degrees folks- so hot, St. George summers really are my very own version of hell. 

But despite the scorching heat, we didn't let the weather slow us down (well, maybe we did a little).  It was party time from the moment they got here- we loved it!

 I am hoping Scout's hair is wet in this picture from the pool, and not from sweat, but either is very likely.

 

The Conrads were here over the 4th of July (or 'Captain America's Birthday' according to Scout) All the kids were total troopers as we drug them to the 4th of July parade in 118 degrees at 8 in the morning.  Really, why do we live here!?! 

The kids started out smiling. . .

But it didn't take long for the heat to turn those smiles upside down. . . Scout's fading fast at this point, can you tell?

Yep, she's hot...

And even hotter 2 minutes later...

 

As long as this boy had a squirt bottle to spray himself, and anyone else in shooting distance, he was good

These cute best friends picked up right where they left off.  As soon as Lilia walked in the door, the girls grabbed eachothers hands, and did not let go until the moment they drove away. So So So sweet.

The after-parade-festivities were so hot it was a death wish, so we bagged the park games, and headed to the splash pad. 

You know it's hot when all of us adults go in the water, fully clothed, just for a minute of relief from the sauna we were in (am I adequately explaining how dang hot it was yet?  And can you tell I am NOT a fan?)

And a hot day isn't complete without a trip to Iceberg for milkshakes.

 Ahhh, milkshakes. I might need to go get one right about now.

It was such a fun couple of days, and we were so sad to see them go. Life is so great with good friends in it.