Dissipated.

I was just telling Casey this week that I've felt like our family life has felt dissipated this summer. Although we are together a lot, we've had so many things going on between family, friends, and church responsibilities that I am craving time to be together with just our family. I love time spent together where Casey and I are completely present with our children and with each other and we haven't had nearly enough of that. All of the summer action has been fun but I'm feeling tired. Of course I could attribute that to having a 9-month-old nursing baby. Or I could attribute that to all the running I've been doing of late.

So my brother H.B. has been in town with his family, and we've spent time with them. The week before last we went to This is the Place, Secret Lake, the Days of '47 Parade, and for a hike in the gully to introduce the next generation to "the tube." With all of the trails that wind through the gully, somehow our kids (aka "the next generation") knew instinctively how to get to the culvert where Parley's Creek runs under I-80. H.B. and I (and our other siblings) spent the better part of every summer down there "shooting the tube" and wandering through the gully on various adventures back in the day. It seems that knowledge of how to reach the tube was passed down through our DNA. It was cool to watch our kids make there way down there unassisted.

H.B.'s visit also brought an inordinate number of restaurant meals, since eating out is one of his favorite pastimes.

We've also been busy with swimming lessons, taking friends (and their friends) climbing, spending time in Millcreek Canyon with the Brady-Spaldings, visiting our elderly neighbors (one of which just broke her hip and landed herself in a local care center), planning our upcoming Liberty Girls semester with our homeschool coop friends, another Sullivan family workday and BBQ, and this last weekend, our ward campout.

And then there's the running. I plan to run my own low down marathon sometime in the next few weeks. I'm calling it "BCC to Best Ave." I'll start up Big Cottonwood Canyon near Brighton and run a course that ends at my front door, where I'm hoping I can convince the people of the house to make me a big delicious breakfast to celebrate. I just ran a 20-miler the weekend before last, so I'm thinking this is going to happen. Last Saturday I ran down Millcreek Canyon to my house for a little bit of downhill training. That 12 miler was way harder on my body than the 20 between the downhill and the heat (I ended up running it in the middle of the day because of the ward campout).  I've obviously got to squeeze in some more downhill before I tackle BCC in its entirety because I am sore today.

Not many photos from the past couple of weeks, but here are a couple:

Hal and Zeke on the train at This is the Place

Loo riding the train. It was a hot day and she's looking a little wilted, but still so cute.

Oh ya! Big news. Zeke learned to ride a bike this last week. Pretty much overnight and he's doing all kinds of tricks, sweet moves, and wild riding up and down Best Avenue.

Zeke man, mastering that little bike!