Of Summertime, Parades, Reunions, Camping and such...

I realize that it has been almost a solid month since I've posted but - like many of you - I've been a little busy. Here are some hi-lights of summer 2008 thus far...

We finally got to hang with the Paris crew and meet Gavin for the first time. We took no photos of the grown ups but the kids were the best looking anyway. Diggity and Ruby hit it off and Gavin was about as cute as he could be. This was July 24th - a day that lives in infamy in my memory as well as that of a certain friend's father ;) In addition to partying with the neighborhood fam, BB and I ran the Des News 10K and had a great time with that. He is just about ready to tangle LOTOJA and I was foolish enough to sign up for the Top of Utah HALF marathon. I guarantee it will be my ONLY 13.1 mile run - EVER. As much as I want to be as cool as Whittney, it's just not working.

My brother's little boy, Ian Kent, joined our family this summer and we all got together with cousins for a pre-24th of July barbecue and fireworks display - the kind where the kids get to pick the fireworks and then their choice of display is named after them (e.g. "presenting the Blakely Burner!")


The kids were a hit at the Swedish Midsummer festivities!

Have I mentioned that I love our back alley? Anushka's good buddy, Livi, is always up for a bike ride or kite flying while her mom gives the kids rides on the scooter (love ya Whitt)

We took off with some friends to camp in the mountains - it was fun but slightly stressful. There was a raging river directly behind our tent so we were always on the lookout for little ones who might get too curious. That little cutie in the pink chair is Leia - Anushka's buddy that will be in the same kindergarten class in a few short weeks (is that possible?)

Can you ever get dirty enough on a camping trip?

The river wild.


And speaking of camp, it was time again for LB to head out on a couple different trips with the young women - this year featured another gross lake (full to the brim with some sort of green sludge), zip lines, ropes courses, drama, and a group of absolutely hilarious women who were up there as leaders and definitely made all situations much more comical than they otherwise would have been...