House O' Sullivans

Last Saturday we celebrated with the Sullivans, as per tradition, at the annual Halloween party at the Homestead in South Jordan. To start the afternoon off, Ilean sent the kids on a lengthy scavenger hunt in search of various bugs and body parts to add to her bubbling brew of homemade root beer. Our little tiger, Hallee.  We picked up this little ditty (the costume, that is) at the local thrift store for $4.  Hallee was in HEAVEN.  She's been wearing it almost daily for the past couple of weeks. Zeke decided last minute to dress up as a pirate.  His costume selection was the inspiration for the rest of the family.  I was Captain Hook; Casey was Peter Pan; Sophie (formerly known as Cinderella) morphed into Wendy; and our Tiger, Hal, posed as one of the "Lost Boys."  This all materialized in about 15 minutes, as we frantically got things together to go to the party (after getting back from the Kaysville cousin camp-out). Doug hitche...

I found out a couple of weeks ago that my brother H.B. was coming to Utah with his family and since his wife, Karen, and kids (Mia, Mae, and Maddie) have never been to Southern Utah, the course was set.  H.B. treated us to a week of adventuring in Moab.  (Read: Shrimp Boat.)  Casey needed to work, so we left him in Salt Lake. Poor guy. Wednesday morning, we hiked up Negro Bill Canyon.  Casey told me it was a sweet hike, but I'd never done it, and since the trail followed a spring-fed stream to the sixth largest arch in the country, I knew that it had to be done.  The trail was gorgeous from beginning to end.  Look at the dreamy scene below: Zeke hiking up the Negro Canyon Trail to Morning Glory Arch. The weather was mild and warmed up with the afternoon sun and the changing leaves in the canyon were brilliantly beautiful. H.B. with 6 month old Maddie.  This baby is so ridiculously cute that she literally stops people in their tracks. ...

Diamond Fork Hot Springs.  A 1.5 hour drive from Salt Lake followed by a 2.5 mile hike (each way) to some sweet hot springs and waterfalls, enjoyable in any season.  I'd only been there once before, several years ago when I was still single, by the light of the moon and in the middle of winter, so I've been wanting to re-visit this old friend.  The idea surfaced in my mind a couple of weeks ago when I realized that my kids were old enough to do this and enjoy it.  Casey was busy (read: "fire by Christmas") and I thought this was an adventure that I could handle solo, but my sister Mary and her entourage and my mom ended up joining us too. I knew that the girls would be fine hiking five miles, but I brought the carrier for the ride I knew Zeke would inevitably suck out of me.  He actually did fairly well, hiking nearly half of the way to the springs and more than half of the way back to the trailhead, but that guy weighs a ton.  I'm serious.  At leas...