THIRTY

Truthfully I'm not planning on aging gracefully. I'm planning on lying about my age and digging in my heels the entire way down the timeline. But thirty was not as absolutley horrific as I expected. My sister-in-law Katy ended up staying at our house a little more than two weeks and she was like a gift in herself. She cleaned the house and organized my basement and pantry and fridge (I realize that it's a little pathetic that there was so much work for her to do). And to top it off, she watched all of the kids while Blayne and I headed over for a quick trip to Sun Valley. It was our first night without any kids since Darek was born. And It was wonderful - Sun Valley is a great getaway. Then on Sunday, Katy made dinner and a cake and let me take a nap (didn't Blayne get off easy?) Katy and the kids left today and now the house feels so empty (and organized :) We loved having you!
 
 
 
 

Bear World

Blayne's brother Bryan and his wife, Katy, came to visit on July 4th. It was wonderful. They have kids close in age to ours: the boys could not have fought more if they tried and the girls were precious.

We went to Bear World (and somehow I didn't get any pictures of bears), but they had these great rides:
 
 

Cousin Bradley
 
 

July

July is my favorite month of the year. With Independence Day and my birthday and the summer sun, it cannot get better. On July 3rd Blayne and I ran the Firecracker 5k - I got first place for the 30-35 age group; kind of a backhanded award since I was still two weeks from being 30 and not eager to get there, but I'll take it. After the race was the city parade. Blayne's parents had come up for the holiday and we had a great time watching the parade together.