So I guess I better give Kira the big thank you she's been waiting for. At her encouragement (force), I signed up to run with her and my dad in the Deseret News 10K on the 24th. As much as I was dreading the run and getting up at 3:30 a.m., I feel so great about having done it. I think my goals for the race were the same as most average people who decide to give running a go: finish the race and don't walk, if possible. And I did it! I wanted to die, but I did it! I feel really good about my time as well. It wasn't fabulous by any means, but for me, who did my very first 5K just three years ago, it was awesome. I did it in one hour and three minutes. I would love to work towards improving that and doing more 10Ks. Unfortunately, Kira now has a bee in her bonnet to do a half marathon. I think she's on her own for that one! (just get Dave to come with and prance alongside you, not breaking a sweat or losing any breath). My dad, who is 56 and also just started running three years ago, finished ahead of me. Go Dad!

Here's me and my two BFFs, my cute sisters Kira and Cami. We're at our cousin Anna's wedding which was last week. Cami is here from Taiwan for the summer, and we have been having a blast together. Where would I be without these girls?! I love them so much. We have had the BEST time eating out at Grossias (ha ha), having our game nights, YARD SALING, and lots and lots of visiting. It has been such a fun summer. Cami's son Dallin is staying with us and my kids are LOVING that.

Here's one with my cute little bro as well:

I just love my siblings. They are the best! My other cute little bro will be in town next weekend so hopefully we'll get more pictures.

I took my kids to Lagoon yesterday - by myself, yay me - and we had a great time. We got there right when they opened, which was a great idea. We got to walk right onto several rides before it got a bit more crowded. The crowd never got bad, though. It was the perfect day to go. The weather was hot, but thank goodness for the day Lagoon got smart and put that fountain at the entrance. The kids and I stopped by there three times throughout the day to get wet and cool off. Corben and Trevor went off by themselves for several hours to go on the big rides, while I took the other four on the smaller rides. Luckily they all grew a ton since last summer, so Lance got to ride some of the bigger rides he's been wanting to go on, and the twins finally fit on the kid rides that have a height limit. I couldn't believe how fearless the twins were. There was no ride they were too scared of. The kids even let me watch one of the music shows, which was really neat. Jeremy met up with us in the evening when he was done working and brought us some pizza. It was a great day, and greatest of all when we have big days like that, the kids all went to bed and slept like logs!

So Kira and I go to yard sales every week. We're pretty obsessed with it. We're in the process of writing a book about yard sale etiquette (so far it's only written in our heads, but still). So I often bring the kids home random things that I think they'll like or need, so eventually they started giving me suggestions about what to look for. So yesterday I asked the three older boys if they wanted to join me today, and they were game. We didn't have much success (as will be in my book, some days you find loads of great deals, others you come home empty-handed), but it was sure fun taking them. They got a beginner's lesson on the art of yard saling, and I think they had fun. I guess I'll find out next week when I ask if they want to go again. Kira was camping, but Cami was up for going so we picked her up. The kids were excited to spent a little extra time with Aunt Cami. Especially because her favorite activity is eating out, so we were forced to go to Subway after yard sales!

On Sunday night Kira stole Lance and Zack and kept them for a sleepover. Corben took pity on Brody and Jace, who rarely have sleepovers, and had his own little sleepover with them. First he took them downstairs and played with them forever. Apparently he's trying to lure them to the dark side of being a rapper (his dream):

Then, the best part of all, he BATHED them!! I think that made me happier than it made them!

At bedtime he took them downstairs and unfolded the couch bed and got them all tucked in, then the three of them, plus Trevor, slept all night long. I got up before they did! What a treat. Thanks, Cob! Hope you can do it again sometime soon!

These are some of the fun things we've been doing this summer:

I took my three youngest to the aerospace museum with Kira, my two Kristen friends, and their kids. We got there about one and Kira and I had an exercise class we wanted to go to at 5:30 that was in the same area, so on the way there we were trying to come up with how we could kill time in between the museum and the gym. We needn't have worried. We ended up having to drag the kids out of the museum. They had a blast! They loved looking at all the huge airplanes, and there is an awesome room with toys, space suits, games, cockpits they can climb into and pretend to fly. They also got to build and shoot off a rocket. It is an awesome place to take your kids and we will definitely be going back soon.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the dinosaur park. There are no photos of that but we bought season passes, which enables us to go to Hogle Zoo once a month for free. We went there with Kira and her kids last Thursday. Remember, the day of that torrential rain storm? It was bright and sunny when we arrived. It started raining about an hour after we got there. We figured we'd wait it out, but pretty soon it started pouring buckets. I don't know if you can tell how wet we are from the photo, but we were all soaked. We ran to the giraffe house for cover, and then when the rain let up a little bit we decided to call it a day and hurried to the van.

Our holiday weekend was the best. I love the 4th of July. We have several much-loved traditions. We started out by going to the parade in the morning. Jace was, of course, very frightened, but the other kids enjoyed it. We then went to Kira's house for a bbq and some water fun. They have a big inflatable water slide that the kids love, as well as two pools. The weather turned out to be perfect and the kids played in the water for hours. In the evening we got ready to go to the fireworks show. Of course, Kira and I have to squeeze in a workout somewhere, since the gym closes for the 4th, so we jogged from her house to the high school and met our families there for the fireworks. Jace was, of course, scared of the whole display. He had a death grip on my neck the whole time.

The downside to the holiday was that Cami and Dallin were supposed to arrive that morning, but their flight got cancelled. We missed them, but we're excited to see them tomorrow and start bringing Dallin along for all our fun!