April and May--2017

Sophie lost a tooth on the notable holiday, Palm Sunday. I loved her overt demands of the Tooth Fairy. Family tradition states that if you loose a tooth on a holiday, or your birthday, extra money is in order. Obviously she was digging deep here.

Since Zeke had a soccer game the Saturday before Easter, we didn't make it out to the Sullivan homestead for the annual Easter egg hunt so we staged one in the backyard. On Easter proper, we trekked up to Kaysville for dinner with the Goebels. Newel and Karen and my mom were out of town and Uncle Phil was en route to Morroco for a humanitarian trip with the military, so the straglers needed to band together in an act of solidarity.

Saturday Easter egg hunt in our backyard. I reminded my kids of the time a few years back that I stuffed the Easter eggs with prunes, individually wrapped, when I was on an extreme health kick. That made them feel gratitude for the small influx of sugar.

Lindy, posing in the lovely dress that our friend, Shirley Baker, gifted her.

In April we teamed up with Newel and his kids for an exploratory hike on Stansbury Island, out in the Great Salt Lake. We hiked to the top of the island where Zeke found a scorpion and Hallee inadvertently killed a lizard--an act that brought her much sorrow and a purported sleepless night. My sorrow, although the adventure was a whole lot of fun, was the loss of my new camera. Somehow it never made it back to our house after the trip, so again I am reduced to ghetto phone pics. Ugh!

The team on top of Stansbury Island.

This is a picture of baby Zeke, thrown in because baby Sean looks a whole lot like his brother did at that age.

Lindy, hanging out with baby brother, Sean.

Some of the many things that I love about my kids are their creativity and resourcefulness and their ability to play together--all of them. They come up with such fun things to do and they will all be involved together for hours, even Lindy. A couple of months back, Sophie was doing archery in her Games class at school, so the home version involved sourcing suitable materials, crafting bows and arrows and various targets and then spending hours honing their skills.

One such homemade bow and arrow.

Hallee with one of her elaborate homemade targets.

They all made a homemade bow and several arrows.

I found Zeke and Lindy in a fort they made in a newly dug window well with some cardboard for a roof. Zeke is in half-day Kindergarten, so he has some time each day to play with just Lindy before Soph and Hal come home from school. Zeke delivers. He's the ultimate big brother and comes up with all kinds of creative fun for his little sister. He is also endlessly kind and patient with both Lindy and Sean.

Another common sibling activity is what the kids call "shops." Each of them (even Lindy on occasion) sets up a little shop and then they visit all of the shops where they trade, buy, or barter for each others' goods. It is the cutest and also provides for literally hours of entertainment. Shops usually happen at least a couple of times each week. This is the kind of magic that happens when you don't watch TV or play video games.

The sign reads:

SSB : Sophie's Super Bakery
Cookies = 10 cents
Milk = Free
This shop involved some baking before opening for business.

Soph, baking to stock up her shop.

Lindy and Sean, sharing a carseat at Shelby Atencio's baptism in Orem.

It is always nice to start getting out and doing things again after hunkering down for a few weeks with a newborn. This was an outing to Wheeler Farm--baby Sean's first.

Zeke loves holding Sean, talking to Sean, and showing him his toys and balls. He can't wait until he's big enough to play sports with him. Sean has already received several detailed lessons on various sports under Zeke's tutelage.

Lindy gets to have Sean all to herself in the mornings when the older kids are all away at school. It's mostly love but definitely mixed with a bit of jealousy, since baby Sean presents a contender for the "mommy moke moke." It's true, Lindy still nurses a couple of times a day. (I have to limit her to nap time and bedtime.) She "nursed" while I was pregnant, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't making any measurable amount of milk, so after Sean was born and the milk did come in, Lindy, upon discovering this fact, exuberantly proclaimed, "Oh, mom, it's so TASTY!!!"

Lindy has a fascination with shoes. Casey affectionately calls her Imelda Marcos. She will put on any pair that she can find and then go about her work. On this day, she was jumping on the trampoline, wearing Hallee's sneakers.

Zeke and Casey, playing soccer after one of Zeke's practices at Eastwood Elementary. The fields there have an amazing view of Mt. Olympus.

Zeke's best friend, Luke Peach, gifted him this Broncos jersey, which Zeke occasionally lends to Lindy. She loves it too and they both think it holds magical powers that give you a lot of game. In fact, Zeke wore this jersey underneath his soccer uniform during his last few games of the spring season for good luck. It pretty much works, since Zeke scored several goals, resulting in weekly post-game 7-11 celebrations.

Our family ski goal this last season was to get up to Alta four times. I think we made three times, which is pretty impressive with all the action around here. All the older kids are good skiers now and can ride the lifts and hit the occasional Black Diamond.

More skiing action. I think this video was taken on closing weekend at Alta, in mid-April.

More Lindy and Sean cuteness.

On the Friday of the first week of May, we took a much needed 5 day trip down to Pine Valley, where there is no cell phone reception. Can I get a "Hallelujah"? We've been so busy for the past few months with the basement remodel, Casey's bishoping, and the new baby, that we have little time to be present with each other. This trip was a gift of presence. On the way down, we stopped at one of our favorite haunts: Meadow Hot Springs.

It was Sean's first trip to the Meadow Hot Springs. He was down. We all agreed, however, that the hot springs are way more epic when there is a nip in the air and snow on the ground.

Pine Valley is a little historic town in the mountains just north of Saint George. We stayed in an old CCC-built guard station that they rent out now, nestled up in a Ponderosa grove. In the mornings and evenings the cabin was literally surrounded by wildlife--mostly wild turkeys (we counted 25 one morning) and lots of deer.

This little guard station has a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a little bathroom. Although the house is plumbed, the water isn't turned on until after Memorial Day, so we got to use the outhouse and the water spigot.

Deer grazing right outside the back door of the guard station.

The Santa Clara River was literally right across the street. Casey took the kids fishing there, catching several, which they cooked up over the open campfire.

We spent our first full day in Pine Valley hiking to Forsyth Canyon. There were several stream crossings, lots of wild wind gusts, amazing and varied vegetation, some snake wrangling and lizard catching along the way.

We found the perfect meadow.

Lindy, like her siblings before her, is always up for an adventure and loves riding in her "pack pack" on family hikes. At even a mention of an forthcoming adventure, she raises both hands above her head and shouts, "Yeah!! YEAH!!!," while pumping her fists in the air. It's awesome. We love her.

Sean, looking pensive during our lunch break.

Zeke with the little garter snake that he wrangled near one of the streams.

Casey stopped here to dip his head in the water, a new thing in our family. The kids all followed his lead.

This picture looks pretty regular, but it captures part of the magic of this trip for our kids. This wooden table folds down off the wall in the little guard station kitchen to reveal the shelves seen there on the wall. The kids (starting with Hallee) began organizing all of our provisions on the shelves, which soon morphed into another game--restaurant. You could come sit at the table and order and the kids would fix and serve your food right there. They had so much fun doing this. I am serious. No TV or video games creates magic. This simple game was one of their favorite things about our trip. They are already menu planning for our next visit.

We loved lots of things about Pine Valley, but one of the coolest was the LDS chapel there. It was built in 1868 by a Scottish shipbuilder (an LDS convert) named Ebenezer Bryce. He's the same guy that Bryce Canyon is named after. Good old Ebenezer designed the chapel using his ship-building expertise and its construction is essentially just an upside down ship.

We attended Sunday services in this historic chapel. The building consists of basically two big rooms--one on each level--and both are filled with pews.

Near the chapel, stands the original Tithing Office, built in the 1880s. The kids (including well-behaved Lindy, since they don't have a Nursery class) attended Primary in this little beauty. How cool is that?

After the Sunday meetings, we got a tour of the chapel. Up in the tower, we could peek in and see that ship-building construction technique. Ebenezer is legit!

So without running water, we had to improvise on bathing technique. We used this little roasting pan and water heated on the stove, to wash baby Sean.

He wasn't very impressed.

On Monday, we wanted to drive into St. George, but stopped along the way to hike to the famed "toilet bowl." It's located in the Dammeron Valley in the Lower Sand Cove area. A little over a mile of hiking brings you to this:

Such an amazing feature!

We spent Monday night in St. George eating at a fancy Japanese restaurant followed by the obligatory visit to Nielson's Frozen Custard. When you rarely eat out in your regular life, you can go big when you're on vacation.

The view, looking back at Pine Valley, taken from the town's old graveyard. Yep. We think it's cool to stop and browse around old graveyards. They are always so interesting and I feel like they tell a story if you look carefully.

On our way back to Salt Lake, we stopped at Cedar City to visit the Walters. It was my mom's birthday and she just happened to be there, so we surprised her with a cake and some birthday treats (chocolate and seaweed, some of her favorites). She, along with Troy and Izzy, joined us for a hike up a little slot canyon near their house and for some ditch exploration. The fun ended when Lindy and Zeke injured themselves in a little rock slide incident just as the clouds gathered for an afternoon storm.

Hallee, Uncle Troy, and Soph, up in the little slot canyon

Lindy. She's cute. We take lots of pictures of her. We can't help it.

Casey and I alternate taking each of our kids out on monthly dates. Last month I took Sophie to a Utah Children's Choir concert that one of her neighborhood friends and a classmate were singing in. Hallee and I went in for a pedicure--Hallee's first--and she loved it all.

We lovingly call these places "sweat shops" because of all the cute, hard-working Asian ladies that work there. Hal was dazzled by all of the color choices for her nails and by those big massaging pedicure chairs. In fact, this date precipitated a new shop--the spa--where Hal soaked and lotioned people's feet, painted their nails, and sent them on their way in disposable foam flip-flops.

More shop play. These shops just sold knick-knacks.

Zeke's knick-knack shop is right in front of his "house"--another favorite game.

The spa shop, inspired by our pedicures. This day, Hallee was also showcasing some hand-weaved bracelets that she'd been producing en masse on a little loom that she got for Christmas. After several failed attempts, we finally figured out how to use it.

After weeks of being a tummy time hater (laying there, face down, and crying pitifully), Sean is finally getting the hang of it.

What a cute little nugget he is!

Hallee, posing with her class' map of Salt Lake County, which won them a beehive. Their class name is the Praesepe Class, named after a star grouping also known as the Beehive Cluster. Only fitting that they have their very own beehive now and can learn beekeeping. Their school is the coolest.

On Mother's Day, these people got up bright and early and made an elaborate crepe breakfast with all of the cool-kid toppings. One of the best gifts of Mother's Day this year was having Casey with us on Sunday morning. All morning. He even got to walk to and from church with us. (Normally he leaves early Sunday morning and doesn't get home until after dinner.)

I was feeling the love:

Casey took this little photographic gem right before we walked to church. Zeke was mad because Lindy kept pushing him away. (She gets territorial about her mother.) He stomped off sulking and it took some coaxing to get him to come back for a proper picture. Sean was looking at the grass. Sometimes the best that you can do is the best that you can do. So there we are, keeping it real on Mother's Day 2017.

This is a little video clip of Lindy with her best friend, Benny. Lately, Benny believes that he is Nacho Libre incarnate. He uses his blanky as a cape.

In this video, Lindy and Benny both don capes. Benny is literally growling, Nacho-style, while he jumps.

Benny pulled a Nacho Libre on the toilet while he was over too. That is an entire container of wipes in the toilet.

Memorial Day weekend, we joined the Hallee's Praesepe class up in Heber at a posh private ranch for a class + family campout. The ranch is owned by one of her classmate's grandpas. Hallee's best friend from her class, Anna Mae, was there. Sophie and Zeke also had their best friends from school there, since their best friends just happen to each have a sibling in Hallee's class.

Lindy, enjoying some canoeing on one of several private lakes on the property.

Sophie's friend, Katelyn, with a fish that Casey helped her catch.

Sophie caught this tiny guy.

Lindy, the polar bear, early on the chilly Saturday morning.

Our itinerant tent city.

Hallee with her best friend, Anna Mae. "Bunny Island" is in the background of this picture--an island inhabited by dozens of bunnies. Dreamy!

At the center of this lake was "Duck Island," a little island where the ducks keep their nests filled with eggs.

Hal and Anna Mae paddling in a kayak. They were in heaven!!

Sophie with Katelyn.

Zeke with his best buddy Luke.

On Memorial Day proper, we planned an early morning bike ride to the kid's school followed by an on-site breakfast down by Cottonwood Creek. This was a preparatory ride to gauge the ability of our kids and the two kids that we carpool with to determine if biking on a school day was feasible. The ride is 6 miles round trip and they all did great.

Our friend Charity met us at the school with her brother Matt and our breakfast. We had a massive breakfast burrito fest. The cottonwood trees were dropping an impressive spring snow all around us. It was a magical morning!