Summer Update

I have been informed it is time for an update. Very well, here is our news so far for the summer.

We traveled last weekend to Kansas for the 4th of July weekend. We stayed in Chase with my mom, stepdad, their old grumpy (but very wonderful!) dog, Toby, and bird, Ruby. Doughboy had a little trouble adjusting to the presence of another dog. He decided to mark his territory wherever he was at and permanently kept his nose in poor Toby's butt. Other than that, he utterly enjoyed Kansas: chasing rabbits and fireflies, cooler weather, steak and chops, and lots of dog-loving people.

We had a nice cook-out on Friday night with my mom, step-dad, grandparents, and step-brothers and their wives. It was so nice to see my grandparents since they couldn't make it to the wedding. After dinner, all the boys went to shoot their guns while the ladies gossiped. I just love my step-sisters-in-law, Jennifer and Amber. They are so sweet and down to earth. It was a perfect evening, Troy got to eat meat and blow up things and I got to chat with the girls. Ahhh, Kansas.

On Saturday morning, I ran the Freedom Run 5K in Sterling. I was very pleased with my time,(26.30) especially since I haven't been running a whole lot. I actually came in 5th in my age group! After the race, we walked around the festivities at Sterling Lake and watched my cousin, Jill, play in the basketball tournament. Sterling has a nice small-town fair-type celebration over the 4th, with games, tournaments, contests, booths, vendors, corndogs and funnelcakes, and fireworks. The weather was awesome and we had a great morning.

Saturday night we went to my dad's house for an all-out 4th of July celebration with my step-mom's family. We enjoyed more awesome food and the MOST fireworks ever. They must have shot off a hundred parachutes! And, they had a roll of 1500 black cats that boooooomed for about a full minute. I ate a variety of yummy desserts, which always makes me happy! The really cool thing is that from my dad's house, you can look down on Great Bend, a small town where everyone has block parties and blows extravagent fireworks. The whole sky was lit up with fireworks all evening - so cool. Everyone at my dad's was so nice, we had a wonderful time and were the last to leave (taking more dessert with us to go!)

We had such a great weekend. Thanks everyone for being so gracious and hospitable!

Next week we head to Georgetown to see Troy's family and then on to New Orleans!

By the way, don't you just love this picture of the Miller family! It is my new favorite.