House O' Sullivans

Last Thursday we journeyed to the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, Idaho to join our friends, the Spaldings at their family cabin for three days.  We started our joyous reunion out with a dinner picnic on the shore of Redfish Lake.  A live bluegrass band performed right behind us, creating the perfect mountain ambiance, at the Redfish Lodge while we swam and played in the sand.  Andy rented a paddleboat and all 6 of our (combined) kids boarded with Sophie and Simone manning the pedals.   Zeke was all upons. Zeke, sporting a faux-hawk. Andy and Bethany and their three kids--Simone (6), Phebe (4), and Bronte (2).  Bethany and I met in a singles ward about ten years ago and quickly became friends.  We did lots of camping, exploring, and adventuring together while we were still single.  The last time Casey and I were in the Sawtooths was when we went to Bethany and Andy's wedding just a month before we were married.  We love these p...

The annual trek to St. George started on the Thursday before last.  According to the weather forecast, it was allegedly supposed to rain most of Friday and part of Saturday.  Instead of backing out, we decided to embrace this fact and enjoy whatever came to us.  In preparation I went to a local thrift store and scored some raincoats for the kids for a pittance.  For about $5 total, they were all outfitted with nearly new, high quality rain gear.  I love thrift stores! We had loaded the van the night before and were ready to roll at 6 am.  The kids were so excited when we woke them up.  They dutifully dressed and loaded into the van where we passed out little bags of fruit that we'd cut up the night before--our mobile breakfast.  Since it was still dark when we started the drive, we pointed out all of the illuminated temples along the way.  When we passed the Draper Temple, Sophie said that it looked like "an astronaut spaceship" up on th...