House O' Sullivans

Hallee is a born mathematician and this is her latest work: some fresh binary code on the back porch.  (The "1"s ARE backwards, but the code is legit!)

Monday, June 3rd, marked birthday #42 for my true love, Casey Bert.  The tradition for this day is that we make a treasure hunt of clues for him to follow, culminating in the stash of birthday loot.  Sophie and Hallee created the clues themselves and set everything up.  They were SO excited. Notice Casey Bert's obvious sunburn. He refused to put on sunscreen when we hiked Deseret Peak.  For shame! The final clue indicated that the big chickens had laid an over-size egg that needed retrieving.  The egg was the stash of presents. I spent a good part of Monday baking up six strawberry rhubarb pies.  Another tradition.  This one started when my neighbor, Julene Maddocks, wandered out to the sidewalk in front of her house where I was passing, and pawned off a large bag of rhubarb.  In desperation, she was looking for someone to take it off her hands.  This was several years ago.  Every year now, we harvest the rhubarb from their bac...

Two weekends ago we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to formulate a snow report and do some hiking with the kids (and my Mom).  I was amazed at how much snow had melted in the two weeks since we'd been up there skiing with the kids at Alta.  We free-formed it up through some cabins and old mine tailings on the North slope of Albion Basin and enjoyed a lovely morning together. Hallee spotted a dazed grasshopper in the middle of a large snow bank and quickly captured it.   We theorized on how  he came to rest there. The rare photo of ALL of us.  (Thanks to my mom.) Memorial day found us at Wasatch Lawn, visiting the graves of my grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents.  It was a beautiful day and still cool enough to enjoy the morning completely.  A lone bag-piper filled the air with his pensive hymns.  My mom even took us on the tour of the mausoleum where she'll be housed one day.  Truly epic. ...

Rainy morn--mom an' Hal Saturday morning we were supposed to hike part of the Mormon Trail up near Big Mountain as part of our preparation for pioneer trek.  When we met that morning at 8:30 am, it was steadily raining and the forecast was for temperatures in the 40's up in the mountains.  We (the whole family) came dressed for success but were informed that we wouldn't be going to the mountains due to concerns about lightening.  So plan B--we were going to drive to Liberty Park and then hike to the temple, have lunch, and then hike back.  They said it would be 5-ish miles but it ultimately measured out at 7 miles.  Sophie and Hallee hiked pretty much the whole way unassisted (minus an occasional lift my the Young Men, Helen, or myself).  Those girls are tough!  North bound and down on 6th East with purpose in our steps.  Me, Hallee, and Zeke riding shot gun.  Notice our above-the-neck period clothing-- Hallee in her yellow bonnet...

Sullivan school took to the road today, travelling back in time some 500 years.  We met up with some of our favorite home-schooling families in Slaterville for the annual Renaissance Faire festivities.   Hallee, sitting on the sidelines at the jousting arena It was a bit windy and Sophie was feeling her allergies. Our friends, the Caspersons, brought period fare for the lot of us--apples, grapes, loaves of bread , and brie.  Yum!! It was a feast indeed. The Head Jousting Knight even came to our lunch party.   Some footage of the jousting competitions: