Well, friends, we caved. A nice man is installing a satellite dish on top of our house as we speak. Since we moved here, we were receiving NBC and PBS, which was plenty for us. With our Netflix account, we were good to go during those long winter months. But, since the digital conversion we receive a big fat ZERO. No television whatsoever. So, after several conversations, we decided to get a satellite dish. We'll be getting all kinds of fun channels like History Channel, Food Network, and TLC in just a few short hours!

Just a little update- I went for a 45 minute run (about 4 miles) and felt really great and especially felt really great afterwards. Hooray! Just what I needed!

Also, another update: Total Weight Watchers weight loss: 31 lbs!!!!
I hadn't weighed in for about a month, since I earned my lifetime member status and had somehow lost over 2 lbs. since then. I said to the lady at the scale, "I don't know how this keeps happening, it just keeps falling off!" And she said, "Hey, you could do a commercial for us!"

Kyle and I went to see some very kind doctor-friends last night who have a house on the lake. They diagnosed my breathing problems as a side affect of stress and "prescribed" me some vitamins to take. They also suggested that I start running again as a means of stress relief!!! Hooray! I'm going for my first run in 2 1/2 weeks and I'm so excited!

It's been so fun to have the Rills here. Mei is a doll, and although she's very quiet, she's smiling a lot. I think she's going to be a lot of fun!

Well, back to my very quiet kitchen.

It's the last day of camp.
We're deep cleaning everything and then we have our staff dinner at Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty in Minocqua this evening. I'm so excited to wear my red birthday dress again!

And then Fenwick starts tomorrow and we get to meet Mei Lynn finally! Hooray!

I am still having annoying breathing problems. The day after I was in the ER, Kyle and I went to the walk-in clinic and talked with a doctor. He ruled out asthma and suggested it might be allergies. He was so kind and prescribed me (and gave me samples) of several different medications to try so that I don't have to keep going back when one doesn't work. He WAS, however, using the phrase "medical mystery" kind of frequently, which clearly bothered me. I've been taking a higher dosage of anti-inflammatory steroids and Singulair, which I think might be helping.

Two days ago I was really feeling much better and thought for sure this would be over soon. And then yesterday morning it rained and then was super duper hot, which, if this is an allergy thing, I'm sure did not help. I had such a rough day breathing in the kitchen. And then last night when I was trying to go to sleep I, like, went into panic mode and was heaving for breaths. Kyle had to talk to me about crazy things to distract me. Fortunately, he's really really good at that and it worked. He's sooooooo wonderful!

Another bummer part about this breathing thing is that I haven't run in two weeks!About two weeks ago, I took a week off of marathon training to stretch and rest my body and immediately started having these problems. So now I've been off of marathon training for two weeks. I can't do anything, because almost everything takes the wind out of me. I hate not running.

Well, we took a little trip to the emergency room last night... a little August tradition of mine. I've been having a hard time breathing for the past week, so yesterday I went to talk to the camp nurse and she encouraged me to go get checked out. I'm not, like, dying or anything- it's just very uncomfortable to try to work like this. At the ER I was given an inhaler and some steroids, neither of which have made a noticeable difference so far, but I'm hoping and praying that they will soon. Around the time that this started happening, I also started doing yoga outside in my backyard everyday after lunch. And every day after lunch is when these breathing problems would flare up. We suspect I have some kind of late summer allergy, so I'm going to go to the doctor soon to figure this out.

I had to go fill my prescription this morning (because, don't worry, our pharmacy closes at SEVEN O'CLOCK P.M.) and had a really nice, relaxing drive through town running some errands. It was actually just how I wanted to start my day. I even got to stop by the library- I haven't been there since May! I'm getting so excited for fall to go to the library, go grocery shopping and cook for normal amounts of people, clean out our house, get "back to school clothes", go on vacation, make apple everything with FREE apples around camp, go to football games, start youth group, start my favorite job ever, and run my marathon, among many other things! Yay for camp almost being over!

The triathlon was so fun! I PR'd my 10k today! My last 10k was around 1:09 and today I ran it in 1:08:27. WOOHOO! AND, when I came in on the run, Bjorn, Melissa, and all the kitchen crew were at the finish line banging pots and mixing bowls with wooden spoons.


I have the rest of the evening off, finally, and am going to read, take a nap, and then go see Up with Kyle and hopefully Erik and Courtney as well. I very much need a nap and a shower.

One more week of camp to go!!!

We are right in the middle of the second of three weeks of family camp. I'm getting pretty tired. Last night I thought I was getting sick. All of my extremities felt like Jell-o and I was just kind of waiting to throw up all evening. I feel better this morning, after having slept for 11 hours last night!

I skipped my long 14 mile run this morning. I'm really sad about it. I haven't really missed a run since January. But I'm getting sick, my back has been killing me, my heels are starting to hurt, and my knees have been giving me problems while I'm running, so with 9 weeks to go in my marathon training, I think I'm going to take a few days off to rest up my body, do some yoga and some strength training, and get ready for the home-stretch. I hope this is a good, wise runner's move. I'll celebrate by running the lake on Sunday with our kitchen triathlon team! With the exception of Bjorn, I expect that we'll probably finish terribly. Melissa is going for her first swim this summer today, so...

The Stroms have been with us for the past few days and that has been so fun. Although I don't get to see them all that often, it's fun to come home to kids on the swings and such.

And we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mei Lynn! We have been reading so much about her and cannot wait to meet the newest Rill! I even purchased some new Hairwear in celebration!

We're praying for a strong finish to the summer and looking forward to some rest soon!

Yay for the Daintys visiting! Our good friends Ryan, Nikki, and Leah came to visit last week and it was so fun having them here. Unfortunately, we were having SO much fun that we didn't take any pictures until the day they left. But, here we all are!

Back: Ryan, Leah, Kyle, Me
Front: Nikki, Jane, Chuck

We're already plotting our first family vacation...

Here are some long overdue pictures. They are all from the celebration of my birth!

Starting out the day with my favorite boy...

Who served me coffee in my favorite mug...

And made Colby and I delicious sticky buns...

And made us special birthday plates (that are definitely NOT Christmas tree plates covered up with strawberries).

After a long drive down to Chicago, with some stops at Taco Bell and the Outlet Mall, as promised, out to dinner I went with my family.

After a delicious dinner, the waitress brought Amy and I each a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and whipped cream- in addition to the TWO giant brownie sundaes and key lime pie my dad ordered!

Dad and Patti
Mom and Bill
Then we headed to the Globe for the best birthday party I've ever had in my life. SO FUN.
Me and Kassi

Me, Joe, and Kichul

My beautiful AmyMe and Megs

Me and Derbear

Amy and Kassi's apartment. Obviously.