Around the summer in 60 seconds

Hey, internet. Long time no chat, and since brevity is the soul of wit, here's the whirlwind tour.

First, I planted a garden. This is what I harvested this morning. That big pile of green hiding the zucchini is more basil than I can shake a stick at. I'm also revving up for some serious canning. Yes, that last statement makes me feel like an old Mormon mom. I'm living the dream, baby.

June was eventful. Most importantly it was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, which is so amazing that I will save my more thoughtful comments for another post. Suffice it to say there was lots of good food, a great band, a slideshow, and of course, a program by the grandkids.

My artist extraordinaire brother Clark helped me with the cake.


And here is the final product.

I ran the Wasatch Back Relay again, along with 10,000 others who had the same crazy notion.

It turned out great and I ran hard, which isn't bad for a burned-out, in the weeds mom. We were team Speedy Deliveries, because you just can't have enough Mr. Rogers in your life.

Me rocking the Ragnar.

My sister Laura, who gets my vote for both most inspirational and most eligible (c'mon guys, snap her up!).

Our team plus or minus a few.

I baked a little.

Our kids swam on the local swim team, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

We took a trip through Wyoming and fed Llamas in Lander.

Stopped at Devil's Tower (cue the Close Encounters music...)

And drove on to South Dakota, where I had some major gastrointestinal distress at a bar called Mustang Sally's in Deadwood.
(sorry, no picture here)


And went to Mount Rushmore.

Awe-inspiring, although I must say I felt conflicted as I was currently reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and how the Americans stole the Black Hills from the Native Americans, but again, I guess that's a blog for another day.

We also paid too much money to go to Bear Country and see some bears.

But the best wildlife was in Custer State Park.

We rounded out the trip with a tour through Wind Cave National Park, which was also really unique.

So that's it, plus or minus a few sunburns. Stay tuned for something entirely more thoughful. It's in here somewhere.