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A great summer

  School has been back in for about a month now and the kids are adjusting well, Taevin is in 4th grade with Mrs Chilinski, Ryler is in 1st grade with Mrs. Gregerson and Zoey is in her second year of preschool at Knowlton with Mrs. Anne, Mrs. Karina and Mrs. Tamra. This gives me some much needed alone time with my little Aspen and of course the laundry.
  I'm usually overwhelmed and more than ready for school to start by the end of summer, but this year was different. Having Russ home and enjoying so much family time made the end of summer a little sad for me. 
  We did so many fun things, starting with our trip to South Dakota. My mom has been living there for about a year so we decided to pay them a visit and see the sights. The trip started a little rough when the girls and I made the standby flight but Russ and the boys didn't. After much stress and too many hours of no sleep for Russ, my little brother Dan came to the rescue and and helped them drive to South Dakota. Once everyone was rested we were able to enjoy the vacation. We saw Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Reptile Gardens, Storybook Island and some stunning scenery, but I think one of our favorite parts was just swimming in the hotel pool together. The ride home was our first road trip as a family, it was long and filled with gas station bathrooms and crappy fast food, but has turned into a fun memory.
  Since we had gotten season passes to Lagoon for Christmas, we have spent quite a bit of time there. The kids took swimming lessons. We also went to the zoo, spent time with old and new friends, and went on lots of family bike rides and walks along the trail behind our house.
  In August, to end the summer with a bang we rented some wave runners with uncle Dan and went camping for 3 days at Pineview Reservoir, although camping  isn't my first choice, it was a fun way to end the summer.
  Just a couple of weeks ago Russ, Taevin, and I, along with Dan, Josh, Jessee, Jenny and LuAnn ran the Dirty Dash. Taevin did amazing! He ran a good 2 1/2 miles before the wading through cold pools of mud finally got to him. He and I finished off the 5K while everyone took the long route and did the 10K. Everyone had fun and to say that we were filthy would be a severe understatement! We were covered from head to toe in mud, but felt triumphant.
  The weather is cooling down as fall (my favorite season) approaches, it's nice to be back in routine but I'm feeling super thankful for a great summer!

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