House O' Sullivans

Friday we fired up a morning constitutional up Millcreek Canyon.  We started at Elbow Fork and made our way up the Mount Aire Trail.  I'll admit right here, we DIDN'T make the summit, but these days we rarely do.  The little people teach us to enjoy just being outside in a beautiful place, exploring and experiencing as we go. Sophie, Hallee, and the Roan on Mount Aire Trail A favorite family trailside activity is sampling the wilderness fare.  Foraging, if you will.  This hike brought huckleberries, service berries, and bounteous currents.  (We could have been a family of bears I think.)  We collected enough currents to make a few small jars of pear-current jam.  Casey was reminiscing about how his Grandma Tiede made current jam back in the day, so we tried it out when we got home and it is deliciousness.  We are thinking that we should start making trailside jams, labeling them with the name of the trail that they were collec...

. . .  from the latest download of Sophie's digital kid camera.  Always a pleasure to view.  Sophie's Beloved Giraffe Mr. Z Sophie Gene The Famous Roanhorse "Smile" Zeke's Foot (Apparently) Hal-Pal with HER digital camera Cumulus Nimbus Zeke's Foot (AGAIN)--I'm assuming these are self taken "Nebulous Sunrise" Soph and Hal

Zeke is becoming SERIOUS about his art lately.  Sometimes I'll find him, all alone, seated on a high stool at the art bar downstairs, working quietly away at his masterpieces.  His preferred medium of late?  Markers.  His sisters pooled their money and purchased him his OWN set, which he takes masterful care of, painstakingly replacing each marker cap (I know--seems impossible for a barely two year old boy, doesn't it?) and repositioning them into the little glass jar where he keeps them safe. The artist at work:

This morning I drove up to Kaysville with the kids to pick pears with Mary and play a bit of fiddle, as we always do when we get together.  That was the plan.  Upon arrival, however, I learned that the plague (lots of bad gastrointestinal action) was within, and that we'd be better to stay out.  (Too bad I never look at my cell phone, or I would have known that, right?)  While foraging on strawberries and raspberries from their backyard garden, I hatched a plan to take the kids to the Ogden Train Museum.  I'd heard from several sources that it was the goods, so since we were almost to Ogden anyway, the plan was forged.  And . . . the kids loved it, and what I loved was that NO ONE was there.  Viva back-to-school!  The museum is after the old-school style--that is you can climb up on the trains and no one is there to beat you down with a stick.  Some exhibits have a bit o' dust on them and everything is not all blinged out.  I...

After eating breakfast--pancakes to be precise--I started cleaning up the kitchen and noticing the bit o' batter left, decided to cook that up.  After I poured three little griddle cakes into the pan, I put something in the small kitchen recycling bin.  The recycling bin was looking rather full, and I made the decision to take it out to the big recycling dumpster rather than procrastinate for later.  While dumping the recycling bin, I noticed that my garden beds looked rather dry, having suffered through the Sabbath sans water.  I rolled out the hose and proceeded to water all of my square foot gardens and the fruit trees AND filled the chickens water.  In the distance, I could hear a weird beeping noise, then another.  I wondered what that could possibly be, then proceeded to push Zeke on the swing for awhile.  Soph and Hal wanted to head up the street to play with friends, so I told Hal to go get a brush and bring it outside for a little backyar...

  Soph and Zeke crafting rockets at the family reunion last week We've been BUSY .  (That is an extreme understatement.)  Hence, today I surface to give an update on the goings on.  Three weekends ago, we joined Ilean and her siblings and their families for the Sampson family reunion.  The party started on Friday out in South Jordan.  Lunch was followed by a flurry of activity: water slides, bounce houses, crafting, rocket launching, and eating.  After dinner (not that anyone was hungry), Holly, Emory, Casey and I fired up some fiddle tunes before the REAL band (Uncle Bruce's band) started playing for the family dance.  We've been practicing with the family fiddles for a few months and we can crank out a few modest selections when the occasion arises.  Zeke waxing . . . it was HOT that afternoon  Hallee Pals hitting the bounce house with her frozen refreshment  Sophie, Grace, and Emory inventing creative danc...