We're having a great time with Nany this week, who is with us until Friday. Yesterday we went up to the Boise foothills, and today we spent time at the river, trying to stay cool. It's been so great to get out a little more than usual, since having Mom here to help has made things a bit easier.  ;)

We met some friends at the zoo last week. It was a humid, cool, beautiful day. We got lucky considering it's 101 today.

Looking at the animatronic dinos, which were actually pretty cool.

Aspen and her sweet friend Bailey.

In the rose garden outside the zoo.

This is Scentsy Commons, where Eric works. We've been trying to lunch with him once a week now that Aspen's out of school. That's Aspen and Oaks running up the hill.

So pretty!

Birch with his Papa.

Roo and Oaks like to play in the water features.

It's so fun to see Eric in the middle of the day.

Eating outside has become a nightly tradition, and it's been a lot of fun. The kids really love it too. Happy summer!

Ami won a great deal on a photography session and decided to use it on the kids.  I think the photos turned out so cute, and we are doing a family session with the same photographer on Wednesday night.

Here's to her getting more photos of all the kids looking and smiling!

                         

 Aspen looking waaaay too grown up!  She's had a growth spurt lately; makes me sad. sniff.

 Lindsay, who took the photos, was so awesome with getting the kids to cooperate.  I was blown away. 

 Okay, this one.  Can this baby scrunch his little face any more than he is right here?  I die!

Well we are on fish number three, just got him yesterday. Aspen picked him out, and then talked Oakley into naming him Purpey, since he's purple. Definitely a pretty fish! I think it's really helped Aspen to forgive me after last week. I felt so horrible I didn't mind forking out the $13 for Purpey. I didn't know beta could cost that much!

Last Tuesday morning I got up early and went downstairs to find our blessed fish Funny Junior floating vertical in his bowl. My heart started to pound and I started saying "no no no no" over and over again. I had bought a new purifier for his bowl a few days before, and didn't realize it may not be the right stuff until I got home. But he had ended up being fine. So I'm guessing that was it but I don't know for sure.

Anyway I looked really closely and Junior still had a twitching fin so I knew there was still a chance to save him!

I bagged my plan to workout and headed to Walgreens but it wasn't open yet so I headed to Fred Meyer, tears running down my face. Poor Junior, suffering all night! Was all I could think about.

By the time I got home he was gone; it was terrible. Aspen and I had a good cry later. Oakley, ever so positive, started talking about how he was going to get Aspen a fish for Christmas. 

Good old Junior, such a good little fish, we will miss you!

How can I own a dog when I get so teared up about losing a fish??

This post is really just some random photos I've been meaning to share for a while.

In the Spring especially, almost every night, I wish we could leave the house and go for a walk. Unfortunately there's never time in between dinner and bedtime, although I couldn't tell you what we do inbetween! I miss evening walks. When we lived in Cambridge I worked late a few nights a week, and Eric would meet me at the subway and we would walk home together. When Sasha and James lived with us a few years back we could often step out for an hour after Aspen was in bed. Now it's a lot harder to have an evening walk, but the other night we somehow made it happen, and it was glorious.

Aspen kept saying she needed open space, which I thought was funny since we were outside, but then we found a large common area for the kids to run in and she told me it was exactly what she wanted.

Our backyard leaves a lot to be desired at the moment! I'm hoping we can get some work done on Saturday, it's supposed to be beautiful.

The last 2 days I've run the boys to the park after dropping Aspen off at school. They were short visits since Birch naps soon after we get home.

It's so worth it. Today I was going to try to run to the store instead, but then Oaks mentioned how badly he wanted to go to the park and I just couldn't say no. I've got such a soft spot for him, woops! 

Oakley has a habit lately of saying "what the?!" and "what the....heck?!" literally all the time.

I am trying to take more photos with me, myself and I included. It's tricky when I'm usually the one with the camera; any tips??

Birch is liking standing up, although someone else has to get him there ;). He's still learning how to crawl and pull himself up. Right now he's just pulling himself along the floor. It grosses me out, especially when I catch him on the bamboo floors and run and pick him up!

Here's a photo from Easter at Pete and Ami's. The kids loooove the annual Easter hunt at Grammy and Papa's! It was a very fun and special day. I love Easter.

For the last four weeks my Saturday mornings have consisted of a long run, training for the half marathon I registered for that's in a couple weeks. I started running in middle school as a sprinter, but the older I get the more I enjoy a nice long run. I put on a good podcast (my favorites are Radiolab and Stuff You Missed in History Class) and I'm off.  Its great.

The last (and first) time I ran a half was seven years ago. I had trained really hard for it, and found myself really nervous that morning. I felt sick! I thought it was strange because I usually feel anxious before a race; I want to do well, but this was different. Well I ran the race, it was aaaawesome (this is when we were living in Alaska so the views were amazing), and then the next day I felt even worse! Turns out it was morning sickness and I was pregnant. Trust me that ain't happening this time ;).

The best part about filling up.....