I've been bummed all week about last week's Deseret News 10k that I ran with my dad, sister, and brother-in-law. I had no doubt that I would improve on last year's time and ended up adding three minutes! So I'm trying to gain a little perspective. I'm blessed that I have the ability to even attempt a race. It's not something I would've ever thought about trying ten years ago. And my sister made a couple of good points when she wrote about it: It is an awesome family tradition that we've started. This was our second year but we have no plans to stop. Also it's inspiring to run with our dad. He's 56 years old and didn't even start running until about five years ago or so. I am an avid exerciser, and despite my deep love and appreciation for all things chocolate/fried/crunchy/salty, etc. and the ensuing weight problems that causes, I think I am fairly healthy. So I need to stop being bummed about what I couldn't do and be proud of myself for what I can do.

The kids and I just spent an awesome few days in Wyoming at Kira's in-law's cabin. Kira and I were there with ten kids between us. It kept us quite busy, but I think everybody had a great time. I was quite surprised at how much fun I had, since I really loathe anything resembling camping. But it's like Kira always says when she goes to the cabin, "I had fun because my kids had fun."

The favorite activity was going down to the river. The first night there we walked down intending to just throw rocks and maybe stick our feet in. We told the kids where to stand and to not get any closer to the river. Of course they all just kept inching closer and closer, and before we knew it they were all totally in the water and their clothes were soaked. I was pretty uptight for a while but Kira quickly taught me that you have to muster up lots of extra patience in that kind of setting. The next day after breakfast we got smart and got them all into their swimming suits before heading back down to the river.

The bigger boys had tons of fun playing card games with Kira. There was lots of screaming and laughter. I'm definitely going to have to learn myself a few games. Trevor's been begging for me to play some with him since we got home.

It was a lot of fun going hiking and exploring. There were a lot of interesting and fun sights. I was so amazed at how well the little kids did. They never got tired or slowed down. Everybody's legs are full of scratches and bug bites. Totally worth it, though.

(warning: yes, a couple of the kids are in their underwear in this first photo because their shorts were drying on the deck.)

Good job getting the computer fixed, Jeremy. Still waiting for our millions of photos to get put back on the computer, but until then, a bit about summer.

I've discovered that the only way to survive the summer is to keep the kids busy. Sure, my house, laundry, and cooking suffers, but that's easy to deal with compared to whiny, fighting kids. We've definitely been putting our Lagoon season passes to full advantage. We've also gone swimming, fun times with neighbors, and had a really fun 4th of July. When all else is lacking, we put out the pool in the backyard, or watch a movie in the basement to escape the heat.

I know everyone's met my best friend, Intention. Intention's job this time was that I was going to set aside some time every day for reading, and for the school boys to work on math. So far it has been done, let me think, zero times. Are there people out there who actually keep up on school work during the summer? If there are, I don't think I want to meet them.