"What's been going on lately?" you ask...

Busy, busy, busy. That's how I feel. But we've been having fun lately. First up, a trip to Pocatello for baby Whitney's blessing. Here's her first official blog photo:

Pocatello is always fun- especially when Grandma Trea brings long balloons, and Bruce reveals his hidden talent for balloon animals. Well, mainly balloon swords, balloon snakes, and balloon pickles.

We swam and swam at the hotel pool.
Bruce's facial expression means, "Why in the **** does this kid think she can swim?" and either he or I is wearing it whenever we swim with Kiki.

Liza, Elise, and Kate

Lindsay and Theo

The whole lot of us. We had so much fun.

Kate and Liza polish up their synchronized swimming routine.

Whitney on her blessing day.

The Shelton kids

After the blessing we came back to Liza's house to party.

For some reason, I totally dig this picture of Kate.

Liza let Kate stay in Pocatello for a few days after the blessing. I though Kiki would dig being the only child, but she did tell me, "...miss Kate." Of course, though, once Kate was actually home the fighting began instantaneously. Liza is down visiting for the weekend. We went and saw our Aunt Susan. When we were growing up we spent enormous amounts of time at her house with our cousins McCall, Alisa, and Jamie. She was the kind of aunt who always had extra toilet paper just in case we were up for a late night prank. She is still fun! Here's baby Whitney relaxing on the hammock at Aunt Susan's house.

Kate used to rub her head like this. It made me a little sad to think about that- it seems so long ago.

Bruce's parent's have been in town for the past week. Ruth has been so busy cleaning my house, buying groceries, fixing meals, and babysitting that she really hasn't had time for any photo-ops, and Bruce's dad is generally napping in the basement where the light's not so good, which should sufficiently explain why there are so few pictures even though we have really been enjoying their company.

In my spare time, I whipped up a bridal bouquet for a neighbor who is getting married tomorrow.

Grandpa Jack came by for a visit.

He and Charlie have remarkably similar grimaces.

We barbecued with our favorite people: Doug and Trea, Jack and Kay, Ruth and Paul, and my mom, and Liza and her kids.

Liza, Jack, Kay, and Whitney.

Then the kids decided even though it was dark, it was time to run through the sprinklers.

On a completely unrelated topic...I have been a loyal wearer of Asics running shoes for years. However, I was unable to find any at an acceptable price, and so I decided to "cheat." I purchased a pair of Sauconys, and I have paid dearly for my adultery for the last few months by being seriously uncomfortable at the gym. I went crawling back to Asics. I begged for forgiveness. I'm happily wearing my new Asics- they have been bliss from the first second I put them on. I'm blaming the Sauconys for my super slow race time last week.

Liza and I are running a 5k Saturday morning. Since I'm running faster than I have in my whole life, and she's 8 weeks post-partum, there is a small chance I can keep up with her. Results to follow.

The girls have found that their Hannah Montana microphone is pretty handy around the hard of hearing. "GRANDPA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" they shout into it.

I've been really appreciating my family and friends (and family who are also friends, and friends who are like family) lately. Not that I didn't before, but I have been very aware of how much love and support we have. In addition to all of the family stuff going on, Bruce and I had the chance to hang out with some of our favorite friends, Micheal and Rachel. They've been in town for a visit, and we picked up where we left off. I've been feeling really lucky to have such a great circle around me.