quick thoughts.

so much to say, no time at all. leave in t-7 hours for airport with the whole fam-damily for vacation. first stop: albuquerque.

relay swim meet tonight. coop swam freestyle better than denten and I have seen him swim before. he's getting the hang of a few things. he also swam butterfly in two IM races. he has fun friends, is seeing progress in himself and having a great experience.

I tortured our children today, also known as made them help me clean the garage. holy smokes, even two-year-olds come up with fantastic excuses not to help. it is a bummer when we don't go in until the job is done! denten wondered if someone robbed us, we conquered so many piles.

denten has been all over getting our lawn to look like it's alive. major time, effort and water and I hope we see progress soon.

I got new KSO's and I'm super excited about them. they are going to be better than the ones I have when running off road and when I run the river next week... although I am not excited to run the river. rafts are super. inflatable kayaks combined with major rapids give me major anxiety. trying not to think about it. the rest of my family think rafts are for sissies and old people. I happen to fall into one of those categories.

I am almost done with Enna Burning, the book that follows Goose Girl. It was a little slower to get into, but I have flown through it in the last two days. The story is gripping once you're there. I also read Outliers. It is based on a very interesting concept and I kept wanting to talk to denten about it except that he hasn't read it. It influenced how I am thinking about schools for Cooper as well as other opportunities for my children. I generally prefer fiction and that was the case here, but the stories and examples were very interesting to me.

I must go to sleep now. early morning, suitcases, children, bags, airport ruckus... should be a fun day!

It's that time again...

for the Bitsilly Family Reunion! Three days in Tohatchi, New Mexico at Grandma's property. Bring tents, trailers, door prizes, lots of water and your dancing shoes and be ready for a party! JR will be on the loud speaker bright and early, so if the roosters haven't woken you up, without a doubt, he will. We'll start off with the family fun run/walk and then spend the day enjoying family, food, music and games.

costco- check
oil change- check
laundry done- check
packing- not check

Seneca has been asking all week if she can sleep in a tent at Grandma Silly's. I keep counting down the days for her. Coop can't wait for the limbo contest and the fireworks and Beckham wants to play basketball. what? that's what he said he was excited for. hey, there's a rez hoop there- maybe he has some undiscovered skillz...

Someone will braid Seneca's hair. DaNae will do someone's nails. Grandma will give a very long speech that I won't understand, but I will still be able to feel. Jo will make amazing frybread and I will eat too much of it. I will admire those eating mutton stew, but will not feel the need to participate in that particular tradition. We will go through lots of water, sunscreen and snacks and hopefully time with my book. I will sit and watch the dancing until I can't take it anymore and get up and participate even though I'm white and look ridiculous. We will catch up with cousins and enjoy the fact that all of my children are independently mobile and able to play easily. We will pray for no toads in the tent at night and no rattlesnakes in the hogan. The only thing missing will be uncle Drew, which is a major bummer.

so, until Monday... keep me in your prayers. you know, so I can get a little sleep and such...

summertime.

swimming every single day. quick easy dinners. spending mornings in the pool with

friends. kids staying up late. lots of reading. diving board. mopping floors late at night

as to not waste daylight with such frivolous tasks. eating entire cartons of strawberries at

a time. sweating at weekly swim meets. crazy chlorine hair. popsicles. big swimming

arms. good books. making travel plans. straight-leg kicks. grilling with friends every

weekend. back floats. long naps. ice. swinging. apples with almond butter. flip-flops. air

conditioning. sun-kissed cheeks.

saturday swimming

beckham went off the diving board today about 50-11 times. that's a lot. I watched kids jump off the board for the better part of an hour, after we had already been swimming for a while. it took seneca a while to warm up the idea, but once she did, she was unstoppable as well. cooper had already gotten out and dried off, but couldn't resist jumping back in after dad started doing cannonballs. one could have gotten dizzy watching them jump, paddle to the side step, climb out and do it again. over and over and over. I finally left them to see what I could round up for dinner knowing I'd have hungry little ones on my hands when they were done. we've been swimming every day this week, giving a short lesson to the two little ones and having coop practice his swim team stuff, but saturday swimming with dad is different, and always a good time!

Utah Summer, Part One

We're finally having our summer vacation... it may be over for many of you, but seeing as none of us are in school at the moment and it's still 100 degrees in phoenix, it's still summer to us! We started our journey in Paragonah, Utah...

and what, you may ask, was our dad doing while we played all day, every day??

ah, yes. soaking in as much "mountain" as humanly possible in 4 days.