Here We Go Again

The last gasps of Summer...

 Noble fishing for crawdads at Soldier Creek

 Cooling off with the cousins one more time

 ...Before the first day of school

 First day of school for the little brothers. It's confusing to be loaded into the car while you're still half-asleep.

 

Mom (still in jammies) & kids ready to roll. 

It's a bitter-sweet time. We are already missing the freedom of summer break, but you can't help getting excited for the possibilities of a new school year.

New clothes, new haircuts, lunches packed, pencils sharpened...

The kids were up AND dressed by 6:30 this morning. (I, on the other hand, was not. It was a long night with the newborn... and a toddler who wanted to take over my spot in the bed.) I cannot believe that we have a middle school-er this year!! She's pretty nervous about being able to work her locker combination fast enough. But she had her schedule memorized and her locker all decorated (decorated??). So she should be good.

Exciting.

And, adding even more excitement to the day...

Mike's truck, left to its own devises (neutral), took a short trip off a rock wall into the back yard, leaving us to figure out how to extricate it. No serious harm done (whew), but thrilling none-the-less. We like to keep the adrenalin pumping around here.

In the Trenches: Saving Slick

This is why we have a beta. Because they can survive stuff like this.

  Mike barely gave me enough time to snap a picture in his frantic rush to rescue Slick the fish.

Yesterday Sully & friends got a hold of the fish food.

Enough said.

I know it looks bad, but no worries, Slick came through in perfect health.

Our pets have to be tough as nails - in a family like this there is no alternative.

(Sometime have me tell you a story or two about our cat. And then of course, there's the Space Donkey with his ten-foot verticle. I think our pets have super powers.)

Don't worry if you can't keep up...

We have had one crazy August so far. I'm not going to try and give a blow by blow here. But I will give you an idea.

To begin with, we had a close call with Mike's grandmother over the past couple of weeks. We thought we might lose her at any time. Mike's brothers were all flying into town for the family reunion we had planned, & at the same time, thinking that they would be saying goodbye to grandma. Amazingly, she turned it around. We're so thankful to still have her with us, and we're grateful for the tender moments we were able to share with her in recent weeks. Sweet grandma.
Some of the other goings on over the last few weeks: Our nephew, Benjamin, was baptized while he was here. (We were so happy to be a part of that.) Jessie went to girls camp for the first time. We hiked to Timpanogos Cave and to our old stand-by, Cecret Lake (you wouldn't believe the wild flowers!), with family. We had lots of family meals, a birthday bash for the July birthdays, went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, had a memorable day at Payson Cemetery learning about some of Mike's mom's ancestors. We went flower-girl dress shopping with Valerie (Gary's fiance) for Jessie & Grace, took lots of people to and from the airport. AND we rescued the Sullivans' dog, Cooper, from the dog pound while they were out of town.

Because of grandma's situation, lots of other family came into town - and so we had Mike's brother, Jimmy, and his family come to stay with us for a few days to make extra room at Mike's parents' house for the relatives. They were the best house guests ever - and we totally enjoyed having a little one-on-one time with them. We don't get to see them very often. They didn't even complain about being put-up in the vampire room, and THAT'S saying something. Tami went out one day with Grace into the garden, harvested a bunch of ripe produce and then came in and whipped up some AWESOME salsa from what she picked. (Thanks a million, Tami! That stuff was amazing!)

We didn't take as many pictures as we should have - but here are some from this crazy couple of weeks.

With the cousins at the Museum of Ancient Life (a favorite display for the boys)

Tim came in our car to Payson. Thanks to the magic of DVD he got some quiet nap time with Sully.

Sully, Tim & Gary

Learning about some of grandma's ancestors in Payson.

Making some grave stone rubbings in Payson

Valerie.

(We're pretty excited about her becoming part of the family!)

 Awwww. The mountains in summer. Makes you want to breath deeply, doesn't it?

You get a prize if you can spot Noble in this picture.

 As one who snowboards, this is the only way I ever get to see Alta...hiking in the summer.

Epilogue:

All our visitors have left town. We miss them all. Grandma is improving. (Yay, Grandma!) Mike is going back to work tomorrow. I'm turning my attention to getting the kids ready for school in a week and a half, and getting the baby back on a schedule. I started running again today. Routine is returning.

We could use a little breather.

Abner's Big Day

First of all,  ignore the crazed-eye thing Mike is doing in this picture...AND the fact that he's dressed down for our photo shoot (he snuck out of his suit ASAP after church). Second, check out Abner's sweet tie. My mom whipped it together for the occasion, and I think Abner looks dapper in it.

Abner was blessed at church on Sunday. I love baby blessings. I love seeing the men of the family gathered around a new little one to name and bless that tiny person. To me it says, "We're all here for you, little one. You're a part of us. Welcome, with love."

All of the Sullivan clan, minus Sean were there. Also, Mike's parents and brother, Jimmy with his wife and kids from far-off Michigan.

We had everyone over to the house for food & hobnobbing afterward.

A Healthy Part of a Packed Weekend

My brother, Casey called earlier in the week and asked if a we wanted to do a little rock climbing this weekend. He agreed to take Noble a little while ago - for his birthday (he turned 11 last week).  You can't pass up a chance to be instructed by the best. Casey used to climb for Salt Lake County Mountain Search and Rescue. Now he puts his skills to use teaching the next generation.

 

Casey and Mike - getting ready to repel down after rigging up the rope for Noble.

Noble getting near the top.

 ...meanwhile, down the trail a ways...

 Casey, a professional mason, made it an all-rock birthday with this personalized slate. (When a guy loves rocks, it shows.)

Noble loved it. Thanks Casey!

Also, on the docket this weekend: two full days of horse competition for Jessie (she has the sun burn to prove it). She finished off her regular show season, and is planning to go to state next month with her new horse (go Jess!). Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much of her competition (& with everything else going on, we didn't even get any pictures) because of the baby & because, as usual, we are over-booked this weekend. We are prepping for a crowd to come over tomorrow after Abner's blessing at church.  One of Mike's brothers flew in last night (the rest are due in this week for a family reunion). We hung out with their family today for lunch. There's the yard work. Mike was just offered a new role at work.  Also, some old girl friends are in town this week, so we got together for dinner tonight over here, while Mike and his bro. took our boys to an RSL game.

It is so non-stop around here. I'm pretty tired.

Simple Food: Egg plant pizza

In my opinion, this is the best use for egg plant. Hands down.

Egg plant has a little bit of a "bite" for me - so I like it this way. It's one of those veggies that takes on the flavor of whatever you're cooking, in this case, the olive oil and garlic.  Plus, Mozzarella, Parmesan, basil and a crispy crust... so good.

Egg Plant Pizza-
(adapted from a recipe I found on Epicurious.com a few years ago)

1 large egg plant

onion 

summer squash or other veggies (optional)

olive oil for cooking

2 T minced garlic

grated mozzarella cheese

good Parmesan cheese

Prepare pizza crust

(this is my eye-ball recipe as close as I can figure) 

1 T yeast

1 C warm water

1 1/2 - 2 C flour

1 tsp. salt

3 T olive oil

*Mix yeast into warm water, set aside for about 5 minutes until it begins to form bubbles. In a mixer pour olive oil, add yeast mixture. Add salt, then flour a little at a time until the dough forms a soft ball, and cleans the sides of the mixing bowl. Set aside.

*Slice egg plant about 1/4 inch wide. Cut a few slices of onion. Slice summer squash.

Saute vegetables in olive oil on medium heat, add minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Cover.

* Roll out pizza crust - on parchment or a stone. Pre-bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove from oven, layer with mozzarella. cheese, egg plant & veggies, sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese. Return to oven for 10 minutes until cheeses are melted. Cut strips of fresh basil leaves over the finished pizza. Serve it up. (Feeds a family of 6, no problem.)

Give it a shot.

In the Trenches: Snail Wars

We have a problem with these. Oh man, do we. This past week Mitch-darling recruited the kids & went on the hunt. They came away with 4 grocery bags full. I think Mike hoped that they had hunted them to extinction, but found that they had merely culled the snail population, picking off the weakest and slowest...leaving us with a more resilient, superior breed.

If you've got solutions, I'm listening.


When I was 6 or something I remember my mom buying a six-pack of cheap beer, & laying out open cans in the strawberry patch at our house in Castle Rock. The snails were supposed to crawl into the cans (because, as everyone knows, snails love beer) and then drown in a drunken stupor. My mom gave up on that tactic. Besides the fact that it didn't kill off that many snails, it had the obvious risk involved with lots of open beer cans laying around the yard where about 30 kids came and went every day. I myself had a close call there. Finding an open beer can in the fridge (assuming it was a soda), I had just lifted it to my mouth when my older sister literally knocked it out of my hands. That was a close one. Thanks, Holly. ha ha ha.

Here's your brain teaser for the week. How many snails (or the odd slug) can you find in this picture of my front flower bed?

So Far, In the Garden

The state of the garden - last week. The sun flowers are about 5 feet higher now, and the corn too.

You can see the composter in the background - which I really like so far. I'll have my complete review of this new model sometime this fall.   :)

Early in the season. The first fruits of the year - peas, lettuces & radishes.

We've eaten a LOT of salad, trying to keep up. Greens & basil from the garden, the anjou pear & figs from the co-op basket.

 Noble digging the beets.

He also pulled some carrots a little early. mmm. mmm.

Something else we've had a lot of...green smoothies. Banana, mango, spinach. So good. (I think there's a "Simple Food" post about these to come.)

Sully and Jess hanging out in the sunflower house...one of the highlights of the garden this year. It's magic.

The summer squash and tomatoes are all coming on quick.  I can't wait.

The garden is such good medicine.

Life GOes ON

Two weeks have flown past since Abner came & our lives changed dramatically. In some ways it's been easier than I anticipated, but in other ways, I find myself asking, "Was it this hard with the other kids? I don't remember it being like this." Maybe it's because I'm older. (It's easy to blame everything on that.) Slowly, slowly my body and mind are returning to some kind of normal equilibrium. 

I feel overwhelmed with all the happy things. Seriously, I find myself crying so often just because I'm happy. Can't help it. It's possible that it's hormonal...but that's ok too.

Anyway, here's a little peek at all the beautiful things happening around here lately.

Great-grandma Tiede - my sweet 85 year old grandma who has been doing all our ironing and playing light sabers for hours with Sully. I love you grandma!

Mike introducing Abner to his grandma. Abner was her dad's name. She was pretty excited. 

Beautiful Jessie. It doesn't seem like it was very long ago that we were cuddling her like this.

Noble in the garden - harvesting beets. The garden is so good for the soul. It makes me happy. (And Noble too.) I love growing things.

Mike's dad with our 4 awesome boys. This makes me smile.

The boys building their "tanks" in the driveway. They are so cool.

Lots of swimming. Having the time of their lives. Some of you may recognize this landmark.

t. & grace.

Sunset in July. Could it get ANY better than this? happy.