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.

Off to Chiapas - again.

I love my siblings. They really are my best friends (after Mitch-darling). Somehow we've all managed to live in the same state (same metropolitan area) for the last several years and it's been heaven. The exceptions are the few semesters a year my little brother spends going to school up at Utah State (he left on Sunday) and my older sister, Holly's, stints with her husband and 2 kids in Mexico doing archaeology (they left yesterday morning). My poor mom. It's tough to say good bye - especially when my sister and her family will be gone almost a year this time. Thank goodness for Skype and internet phone service (my little niece called us last night from their hotel in Mexico City to inform us that she had just had her bath). Plus Mike and I are planning a trip down next Spring to visit them and the site.

Grace is trying to be brave about it, losing her bosom friend, Emory, for so long... ...and I miss my sister so much...which is ironic given the epic battles of our youth and just not "getting" each other until we were in our 20's.

On the bright side, everyone is excited for this archaeological season - and the great professional opportunity it represents for Bruce & Holly. They're funded by National Geographic (I knew my subscription was going to pay-off some day) and Fulbright - so hopefully we'll be able to read all about it next year some time.

To help take our minds off all the separation shock - we've had a few big events to think about:

#1. The Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication on Sunday. That was so cool. I took my usual run up there this morning. I love the view of the valley from the bluff it sits on in South Jordan...I can see the Jordan River Temple just a couple of miles to the east and the Draper Temple up in the hills below Lone Peak where I used to run back in high school.

#2. The start of school today. This is Tillman's first year. I was a little emotional last night about it. He, of course, took it in stride. When I picked him up today he acted like it was just another day.

It's hard to believe that Summer is already past - but if I was having trouble accepting it, all of these sudden changes are helping to punctuate that fact.

Say good-bye kitties...

All of the kittens have been adopted out...more easily than I thought. They all went to homes I felt pretty good about (we personally knew all of the families). We still have one living with us until his new family returns from vacation this next week. It's a good thing too because this gives the kids a little step-down therapy rather than letting go cold-turkey. Baby animals are one of the magic experiences every child should have, right? (Not that I'd jump into that on purpose. Still, it was fun while it lasted.)

Pluto (mother cat) has an appointment with the vet NEXT WEEK.

Mike's Own Private Idaho

Mike's been gone all week on the Salmon River in Idaho with some buddies - while I hold the chaos in check here at home.

We had a rough start on Monday ...but I was feeling my stride as the week wore on, not missing him all that much because life was demanding my undivided attention. I thought I was going to make it through without a major breakdown and then the A/C stopped working yesterday afternoon (keep in mind we just paid $4000 last summer to replace the system). I cried for about half an hour, then I pulled it together & called the A/C company who installed our system last year. They gave me a relatively simple solution. (It works again!) I can't help it, I panic when the A/C quits and it's 100 degrees outside.

Overall, we managed alright this week, thanks to our families who took pity on me - I only had to cook dinner ONE night -(thanks Jacque, Mom, Beth & Kay!). That on top of giving me a breather at other times: Jacque taking each of the kids in turn to her school, Holly watching the kids so I could go to the temple one day, Howard taking us swimming at Great-Grandma Helen's on the 24th, my dad filling in again for 4H, my parents insisting on a backyard sleep out last night. I was thinking, "Mike ought to do this guy-vacation thing more often...." but then I thought better of it.

Actually, it has been a growing experience for me...and the kids. I'm grateful for that - but I'm not interested in doing this again.

Down.

Just returned from a walking the dog and kids this morning. As we came up the hill into our circle a big ol' boxer (you know those with the brown and black stripey coats that are all the rage in dogs these days) came out of nowhere from behind. Jess, behind me pushing Sully in the stroller, yelled to warn me. Before I knew it I was on the ground - banged my elbow and head on the pavement pretty hard in the process. The Space Donkey managed to come out on top and said boxer jogged away. ...My next dilemma: Jupiter on the loose (which is tricky in the best of conditions) with another dog keeping his attention. My head hurting, I followed them into the next circle where a second boxer was wandering, a car trolling along nearby (apparently the owners trying to gather the dogs up again). Jupiter tried his luck with this dog as well, and then decided his odds weren't as good - so he gave it up and came to me.

My elbow is sore.

Come to think of it - this reminds me very much of another experience with Jupiter where I ended up on the pavement - tangled in the leash while taking him for a run. I had road rash scars for a year and a half after that one.

Not to Beat a Dead Horse...

I know that I went off a while back about all of us being spoiled about food. Trust me, I'm really not obsessed about food. With that disclaimer... I've been slowly working my way through a book my mom gave me about nutrition, The China Study. Overall, I've been impressed. I say that with a few caveats. Mr. Campbell, PhD conducted long-term studies (30 years or so) to learn about the effects of nutrition on disease (specifically "western" diseases) - and was surprised to find that a host of diseases (from cancer to auto-immune diseases, macular degeneration, obesity, etc.) crop up at astonishing rates as a population consumes more meat and animal products (starting at a critical percentage of something like 10%-20%). I read the book sceptically at first, but actually found the volume of data compelling. On top of that I just found myself thinking that it was all just common sense anyway. In the end he tries to make the argument that people should be 100% vegan - which is where he looses me, especially when his data don't specifically show the benefit. He basically says, "if 10% is good then none MUST be best."

Here's my take: if you know a Mormon, or are one, read section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Eat real food/whole foods (MUCH less processed food). Eat fresh food as often as you can get it. Eat it simply. Take it easy on the sugar. Eat meat sparingly - really. Be grateful. Eat till you're full. Get out and work/play.

It was a worthwhile read.

Here's an interesting web site - with an interactive map of obesity rates in the US for adults and children. I think Utah has the lowest rate of childhood obesity, barely.

http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2009/

#5 turns 1

Happy 1st birthday to Sully this week!

Because we got back so late Saturday night from Michigan and had church and stuff on Sunday there wasn't a whole lot of time to prepare any fancy party for the big 1st birthday - which was ok (he'd already been to two shared family parties: one with Melton cousins in Michigan and one on Sunday with Sullivans). He was just stoked that he got to have pizza and cake for the first time. Unofficial guests were a couple of neighbor friends who happened to be hanging out at our house that day. I picked up one of those tube/tunnel toys at IKEA earlier in the day (he test-drove his cousins' in Michigan and loved them so much we decided he had to have one of his own). AND as a bonus...he got to hang out in his underwear all day (onesies-only are a baby privilege when it's 95 degrees outside).

It's hard to keep up with the passing of time. It can't be a year already, can it?

As Grace would say, "I'm crying in my mind...."