Happy 1st Birthday Miss Hadley!

July 23rd Hadley turned 1. We had a birthday celebration with family all planned for the night but woke up to Nick, Grant, and I having the flu...not fun. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed for this new 1 year old and the lack of festivities on her big day. The party was cancelled, her 1 year photo session was cancelled, and we ended up not even opening a gift for her...Because we decided we were going to redo her whole day. Funny thing is at the end of the day we sat there looking at the mess from letting a 1 year old run the house for a day and decided she actually probably had a great day. She wasn't toted all over, she got a great nap, pretty much did what she wanted, and all with us sitting around watching her. We weren't busy cleaning up, making meals, or really doing anything but trying to not puke and keep our eyes open. :)

So that was Hadley's big day... But a week later we did celebrate! We made cupcakes and Hadley was adamant about having one as soon as they were ready...can you blame the girl. She takes after her Mama and is a lover of the sweets. :)

Hadley received a baby, stroller, and pack n play from us and continues to love to push that stroller around everywhere with her baby...her brother really likes it too! The Birthday redo was a success and our little baby girl is daily growing big before our eyes!

Mahoney

Mid July we headed out to Mahoney State Park for a relaxing weekend with the Sutko Crew. We stayed in one large cabin that comfortably accommodated us all and a good old time was had. I think Grant's favorite part of the weekend were the multiple hikes with Grandpa. He usually ended up hitching a ride about 3/4 the way into the hikes, but loved heading out on the trails with Grandpa, Gus, and whoever else was up for the adventure. Nick and I loved the large screened in porch that faced the river. It was a hot weekend but morning coffee and evening brews were quite relaxing on this porch. We hit up the waterpark, played some catch, and sang and danced (mainly Grant and his cousins) to Uncle TJ's guitar playing. The best part was coming home feeling refreshed from a little vacation that took us less than 30 minutes to get to.

Fourth of July and A Special 90th Birthday Celebration

July kicked off with more fun for this Sutko fam. The 3rd was Heidi's sister and brother-in-laws annual 3rd of July celebration. So off we went to join in the festivities. And not only did we get to attend this year, but we talked Ang and her family into making Omaha a pit stop on their trip back to Kearney. Grant loved staying up past dark, sitting in lawn chairs with his cousins, and watching the fireworks. The picture that comes to mind when I think of this night is him in his mini lawn chair, neck cranked back, perma smile in place, loving every minute of the fireworks show. So between great food and drink, a ton of kids, and a relaxing evening with family and friends-we could of just ended there and said we had a fantastic 4th. But we were off the next morning to Mausbach's to decorate bikes, trikes, and strollers to participate in Heidi and Tommy's neighborhood 4th of July Parade. The kids loved participating in the parade but even more fun were the games, prizes, firetruck, and food set up at the end. I myself absolutely loved the quaintness of this celebration for our country's Birthday. (Somehow I have misplaced all the pictures from this first 2 events :( Another fun tid bit of this holiday is that we had been teaching God Bless America to Grant. He knew every word and loved the song-hated to perform it when asked-but was adorable to hear when he did. He still will every so often ask "Mom (or Dad) is this a God bless America day?" I think this is what he calls the 4th, but it's still makes me smile to hear him say it in this manner. :) So after the parade we were all off to Kearney to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th Birthday. We spent a lot of time hanging out in the courtyard at St. John's, swimming and relaxing at Nick's Dad's place, and seeing aunts, uncles, and cousins we had not seen in awhile. We were able to get my Grandpa out of the home for a bit and have his actual celebration at my parents. He was one pooped man by the end of the day!