House O' Sullivans

Yesterday we met Holly, Emory, Lucas, and Ilean at Red Butte Gardens for an adventure.  Casey wanted to hike to an old quarrier's cabin in the foothills above the gardens, so up we went.  It had rained the night before and was COLD; we had to keep moving for survival purposes.  Zeke's little hands looked a bit blue during the foray.  The cabin's been restored, although not to its original grandeur (according to our resident expert on such things).  It did make for a perfect picnic spot though. Zeke with Ilean and Eileen, his two grandmas Soph, Hal, and Zeke loved running through the vine tunnels in the children's garden  While enjoying our garden environs, Casey spotted none other than the infamous Sterling Lemmon with his wife, Carmen, and their little girl, Amy.  Sterling is my brother Nathan's best friend.  They met in elementary school.  As the story goes, Nathan spotted Sterling punching a brick wall wi...

While I was talking with a neighbor, Sophie, Hallee, and Zeke escaped the confines of the Sullivan compound and ran out to the just emptied recycling bin and took up residence.  They begged me to haul them (in the can) around the house and to the side yard where we keep these sorts of things.  Much laughter ensued. On Tuesday, partnerless as I was, I took Sophie with me visiting teaching.  We walked to each appointment and on the way to the last one, Sophie spotted a dead quail laying on the side of the road.  She was still talking about it when we returned back the same way, heading home.  She REALLY wanted Hallee, Zeke, and Casey to see it.  I told her that when Casey got home from work the next day, she could take them all over to see it.  Remembering all of the random animal carcasses that I hauled home as a kid, and with Sophie worried sick that her specimen would be GONE the next day, we back-tracked and retrieved the bird.  I let ...

Well, more like first vegetables, but here they are: a bowl full of baby salad greens and a pile of radishes.  Five grow boxes are already planted and growing and Casey built three more giant ones that we are positioning along the driveway for maximum solar capture.  The salad that surfaced from the first harvest was amazing!

Casey's been gone for the past three days in New Mexico.  His Grandma's youngest sister (Ginger, along with one of her daughters) went through the temple for the first time over the weekend (in Albuquerque) and Casey wanted to be there.  I've had a nasty head cold, so production wasn't very high over the last few days although I did manage to build a new enclosure (crafted from PVC pipe and chicken wire) for the growing chicks on Saturday and I got everyone to church on Sunday. The Saturday before last, we headed out to the Sullivan South Jordan compound and did some work on Grandma Sullivan's yard--digging out an irrigation ditch and moving some old railroad ties--before the annual Sullivan cousin Easter egg hunt.  Zeke got first dibs on the hidden eggs since he was the youngest in the cousin lineup.  Saturday night, Sophie asked me, "Mom, are YOU the Easter Bunny?"  Of course, I had to tell her the truth.  My mom always told us the truth ...

Hallee showed up for bath time roll-call in this get up the other day.  Very classy!  She wore the floatie and the goggles the ENTIRE time.  (Except when I requested a goggle removal for a shampoo lather.)

Little Buddy with his cast on. On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Zeke took a tumble down the stairs.  After he stopped crying, he kept holding his arm and saying, "Huts.  Ahhm huts."  Yesterday and today brought more of the same.  He was playing and running around like usual, but using his left hand (mostly) instead of his right and he wasn't able to really grip things and pull with his right hand with normal Zeke-Power.  After gleaning some free medical advice from Mary (Phil didn't pick up his phone), I brought Zeke in for some x-rays.  Little buddy has what they call a "buckle fracture" in the industry and gets to wear a little splint for three weeks while it heals.  Between all six kids, you'd think that we would've broken a bone growing up, but I along with my siblings never did.  Casey, one the other hand, is clearly the father of this little boy.   The mine field! Last Friday Doug and Ilean gifted us with a trailer-load of com...

Last Friday, at the crack of dawn, we loaded our kids up in the van and headed down to the Valley of the Goblins.  This is a yearly trek, sometimes with friends, sometimes with family, and sometimes with both.  We LOVE this amazingly beautiful place and the adventures we have there.  This year we reserved the group site and invited lots of friends to join in the fun.  The Millers, the Wilsons, the Paynes, the Kellywoods, Kim and Eric Goebel, Phil, the Sundbergs, Sarah Gunnell, Jen Cristensen, Craig Ellsworth, and a whole load of kids answered the call.  Although the site maxes out at 35 people, we packed in 52.  Friday the kids ran wild in the little canyons and formations that surround the group site.  The site sits back in an alcove away from the rest of the campground, so the kids are somewhat contained.  It made me nervous the first couple of years that we were there--the way the kids just disappear, then reappear atop the form...