House O' Sullivans

Since the day he was born, Zeke has been a blessing in our home.  Even when he was a little baby, I used to tell people that he was the easiest one at our house.  He wakes up smiling and with arms outstretched, ready for a big "good morning hug."  We all love him so much. Little 3-year-old Sophie, admiring day-old Zeke.  Born on June 19, 2014 at IMC. Look at those soft, chubby cheeks.  What a cute little guy! Zeke on his 1st birthday. 2nd birthday! 3rd birthday, eating s'mores up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Zeke's birthday started two days early when Grandma White brought over presents, cousins, and cupcakes!! Zeke on his actual 4th birthday!!   Zeke had several special birthday visitors, including Grandma Sullivan. Shirley Baker, a sweet lady in our neighborhood that's dubbed herself an honorary great-grandma to my kids, brought Zeke some gifts and spent time reading to him in our backyard. Casey brought home a ...

I love our neighborhood. I love that we have a good mix of ages and life stages and that everyone knows my kids by name.  We don't get lost in swarms of kids, like in some of the newer neighborhoods, where I can imagine it's easy to get lost in the crowd of homogeny.  Sadly, many of the families in our ward reach a point when they feel like they need a newer or a bigger home and they move.  There are just a couple of families with younger kids that have held out in the 9 years that we've lived on Best Avenue.   The little guy in the picture below, Issac, has been Zeke's best buddy for the last year or so and he just moved.  :( Issac and Zeke..  Such good little friends. A couple of weeks ago I took my kids up to Porter Fork for a relaxing stroll through the woods while Casey was working at home. Sophie chose to wear her pioneer bonnet as the required hat for the day. We all wore our wading shoes so that we could get wet in the little ...

I love my husband and THAT was the motivation for THIS: I made no less than 8 strawberry-rhubarb pies for his birthday celebration, which started on Monday (the day before his actual birthday). Casey loves bring around family, so I invited all of mine and all of his that live close and we packed the backyard with 40 people for a Monday night BBQ.  My Uncle Dewey's birthday is the day after Casey's, so we invited him too as a guest of honor.  The wild rumpus of cousins in the backyard. Feasting. Niblett even came out and got into the action. Dewey and Casey, preparing to blow out their candles.  43 years  for Casey and 63 for Dewey. Cousin Jake. Somehow, we've started the tradition of playing this game (see below) on Casey's birthday.  We attach a balloon to our ankles with a length of string, then we run wildly around the backyard, attempting to pop the balloons of others while preserving our own.  The person with the last u...

On Memorial, we joined a million other people up Millcreek Canyon.  I have NEVER seen the canyon so busy.  A few friends and I had planned an epic bridal shower for our friend Sarah Gunnell.  Normally I hate going to showers, but this one was the shower of my dreams--a group trail run followed by a Dutch oven dinner--totally informal and fun and so very Sarah.  Casey and the kids and I headed up canyon early to stake out a suitable spot at the Terraces that would accommodate 40 people for the evening feasting.  Luckily our friends Don and Carlynn beat us up there and secured a spot because by 12:30 in the afternoon there was nothing open anywhere.  We spent the afternoon enjoying the cool of the canyon (it was the first really hot day of the season down in the valley), setting up and decorating tables, prepping 7 Dutch ovens full of wondrous food, and listening to the kids play in their "secret fort" back in the woods.  Even though we were staging a ...