LSAT news (and dino toes)

Sad / tired Sully at bath time.

I love these socks (and leggings too) that I bought for Sully last year. I still giggle when I see him walking around in them.

News from this weekend:

While Mike was gone taking the LSAT most of the day Saturday we:

mowed the lawn...

... and started apple picking. We also cleaned the house for yet another showing. (I can't wait to either sell the house or take it OFF the market!)

(Here's proof that our boys DO actually tolerate BYU - they're both known to wear BYU t-shirts regularly.)

The LSAT news may come as a surprise to those of you who hadn't heard that Mike has been seriously considering law school. It came as a surprise to me a month ago when he brought it up again (I thought that idea had been dropped) - this didn't leave him much time to study. But true to form, Mike dove in unintimidated. We won't know until mid-October about his score. The amazing part is I have felt so much peace about the whole thing, especially this week running up to the LSAT...and that just doesn't make sense. But I have to believe that at least making the effort is the right thing for him right now.

Football and dirt bikes

It seems to me that both teams from Utah had a punishing weekend... Our boys, who like to label themselves Ute fans (mostly to defy the rest of the family who like BYU - I kind of think that's how most Ute fans see themselves: primarily BYU haters), took things a step further today. We found this posted to their door:Really, charming spelling mistakes aside, this is a little too much.

Yeah, that was a tough game to watch yesterday (especially with a couple of boys gleefully chanting, "Florida State! Florida State!"). I'll leave it at that.

But that's not all we did this weekend:

Mike finally got around to fixing up the kids' bikes. We have a couple of especially sweet vintage dirt bikes (passed on to us by Mike's parents - how cool that they hung on to them all these years!) - in need of parts and repair. This beauty is an awesome Diamond Back from around 1987 - it weighs about 100 lbs - from a time when kids were tough, because if this thing ever fell on you...

Seriously, these are the COOLEST bikes in the neighborhood...not that it's a contest.

Jess taking it for a spin

We also did a garage overhaul...to make room for that doggie palace you see in the picture (Space Donkey taking a load off for the night). Mike's parents were getting rid of this kennel - from when they used to have an Alaskan Malamute. So we traded in Jupiter's old, smaller crate for this. It also fits all 5 kids nicely in case... well...it's just a thought.

Postscript to Peaches

Mom 1969 - before any of us came along

Dear Mom,

I remember as a kid being conscripted into canning duty during the summer months (along with all of my siblings) because I was raised by a mother who couldn't STAND to let perfectly good fruit & vegetables go to waste. Peaches were about the worst of all the things we put into jars. It was hot work scalding peaches in boiling water, the fuzz stuck all over and itched, and without exception I seemed to ruin whatever shirt I was wearing from the juice and the soupy, peachy water in the sink where we worked cutting & peeling. I inherited the intolerance for wasted food. And now the smell of simmering peaches at canning time is one of the most comforting to me. This week you made sure you were here to help put away this year's crop - either because you just like to bottle peaches - or because you felt sorry for a mother of 5. Thanks for the help. Even more thanks for teaching me when I was younger. * I wish that I had a picture of one of those sticky canning days, somehow we never got around to photographing it. This is probably because all your children were making life miserable for you while we worked. It would be funny to see the looks of disgust. *

Love,

Daughter #2

Peach Duty

The peaches are ready on the tree ....actually... OFF the tree (most of them fell overnight this weekend). So - I had to act. I LOVE having fresh ripe peaches every year, and thanks to friendly neighbors (who own the tree that hangs over our fence), we usually harvest a lot of yummy produce.

I spent much of the day and late into the evening bottling peaches - 31 quarts.

Saturday is a special day...

We took it easy yesterday...no, I'm kidding. This is how it really went:

Sisters Sullivan at the finish line: Helen, Bendy, Kay, Ang & Honey

Began the day with the Sisters Sullivan down at the Jordan River Parkway for the Utah Marathon Relay (their slogan: "a whole marathon, 1/5th of the pain" - I can live with that). Of course since sister #1, Holly, is out of the country we had to take on a replacement to complete our team. Our good friend Honey joined us. She is not only a practicing midwife, capable of delivering a baby on the race course should the need have arisen, but also one tough runner. We weren't too shabby considering that we have a combined 15 kids among us, AND considering that Honey actually STOPPED for 8 minutes to administer first aid to an unconscious runner: between 40-50 minute legs each, official time - 4 hours 2 minutes .

...And then we rushed home to rearrange the whole house just for Jessie. By nature we're not mysterious people (I love that line from "Ocean's 12") - but for her birthday we've been secretly planning to surprise her with her OWN room (she's been sharing all her life). What more could an 11 year old want? I got with Holly, my design expert, before she left for Mexico to engineer the switch. And based on a picture in the IKEA catalogue that Jessie had wishfully shown me once, Holly put together measured drawings, detailed shopping lists, and clever solutions for our lack of space. We shipped Jessie off to Mike's parents Friday night and Saturday after the race we dug in and finished the move (thanks to Bendy and Roy-son for the help). Since we were going to surprise her anyway, I figured I would invite a bunch of her friends over for a surprise party too...because we didn't have enough to do. It came off perfectly: her friends kept the secret, we finished on time, Grandma & Grandpa delivered Jessie safely, she was surprised, the kiddos ate their way through about 4 large pizzas, my friend Kirsten helped out with a batch of the cutest birthday cup cakes (thanks!), and ALL of my children are STOKED about their new digs.

So... after many hours of hard work, one long shopping trip to IKEA (and shorter ones to Home Depot and Target),

this is how the rooms turned out...

Grace moved into the room with Sully. This is the girly side of the room.

Jessie's room

Jessie's lounge

The boys' room

The coolest part of the boys' room - the Lego/geology/work table

How all great parties end: with the crash of a stunt-pyramid on the front lawn

I was SO tired at the end of the day. All credit and muchos gracias to Holly.

Paradise

This past weekend we decided to join a few family members on a quick camping trip in Southern Utah at a place called Goblin Valley. How have I never heard of this place?! It was amazing. As soon as we arrived Noble busted out of the car like he was on fire and never quit exploring until we left the next day. After dinner Friday we did a quick hike among the goblins (unbelievable sandstone formations) which ended in a beautiful harvest-moonrise (we could have stayed out by the moonlight - but Sully was tired).

(Sully as night falls among the goblins)

(Casey and Grace in one of many caves)

We explored a sweet slot canyon the next morning...
...where we were surprised by this tiny desert toad in the narrows.
(Helen and Jessie checking out a small rain-water cistern)

Thanks Casey and Helen for the excellent idea. We'll be game for another goblin trip any time anyone wants to go.