those eyes! those ears!

This isn't the biggest or most fun thing to happen recently, it's just the cutest.

today i get to babysit this for a few hours:

quick re-cap

back in my college days we would often do a re-cap at the end of a long but fun night of partying it up. it usually involved me and becca calling each other as we went to sleep in the wee hours of the morning and talking about the various events of the evening. this is going to be like a really quick version of that - except via blog, and you probably weren't there for the real thing:

- purnell vacay 2010! hilton head island, boogie boarding (surfing for sam), cookbook reading, seafood cooking, cabana lounging, free margarita drinking. i love my family.

- sam purnell staying with us for a couple days. we mostly watched x-files, courtesy of netflix.

- the summer has started. i've already been out of town for more than half of the days in june. thanks to a staff retreat and a mission trip. this is the insanity of our summer schedule, and every year it is a harsh reality. i find myself thinking "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" as we power through june and july with nary time for a breath.

-said staff retreat full of great food, fun with our colleagues that we love so much, and paul's poison ivy face. we frolicked in meadows and took hikes to ponds full of giant tadpoles. we cooked smores in the chimney remnant of the 'old homestead' and played nerts (until my constant losing led to waves of hilarious self-deprication. what? it's how i deal, and i'm funny while i deal with it).

-mission trip to Palmer Home in Hernando, Mississippi. We keep having too many kids sign up for retreats, so there were 60 of us in one house. mayhem. but really fun mayhem. i think the highlight of the trip for me was our nightly jaunts to velevet cream, a local drive up burger and ice cream place. OH and memphis - the famous rendevous restaurant wasn't ready for this girl who could (and did) shamelessly finish off a full rack of ribs. by myself. get off my back - i really like ribs.

- oh, and we're moving to st. louis in august. more on that later.

that's all the time i have. i'll be back later. thanks for reading!

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