First Day of School '09

The girls started school on Monday. Blythe is in 5th grade and Brynne is in 3rd grade. It was a cold, wet morning, but we all walked down to the bus stop together. Barrett's first day of preschool is not until September 9th. Here's a picture of the three kids on the front porch.

Brynne, Blythe and Barrett

Blythe and Barrett at the bus stop.

Brynne in line for the bus.

Taking a photo of a 3 1/2 month old puppy is not easy!

The girls saying good-bye from the bus.

Summer went by way too fast. I wasn't quite ready to send them back yet. Brynne's teacher is a Fulbright exchange teacher from Cheshire, England. Her name is Miss Leese and she seems really nice. Brynne is also excited to have her best friend from preschool, Lily, in her class this year. Lily had been attending a private school. Blythe is excited to be in 5th grade, which is the last year of elementary school here. The 5th graders use computers alot and they have one computer for every two kids. They take turns being the "pilot" and "co-pilot." She is currently sharing with a new boy named T.K. who just moved here from New Jersey. I think they are each going to have a great year.

Puppy Update

Caddie is growing quickly. Lately she seems to be all legs. Here's a better photo of her for anyone who hasn't met her in person.

Really can you blame me for bringing her home?

Is that not the sweetest face you've ever seen?

Brynne and Caddie napping together.

The kids all love her. Barrett is so cute with her especially when

he calls her his "baby friend."

This is how I know that Ruby has finally accepted Caddie as part of the family. This week she came and lay down on the dog bed that Caddie was already sleeping on. Also, when we're on the trail for our morning walk, she now jumps over Caddie instead of running her over when she overtakes us running at full speed.

Culinary Adventures

I've been trying some new things in my kitchen lately.

First of all, Blythe wanted to make her friend Leah a chocolate pie for her birthday. I had never made one before but decided to give it a try. It was an unqualified success. Luckily, I own a copy of The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, which has recipes for every type of pie imaginable. The process took awhile. Blythe stirred and stirred the chocolate filling for a long time and then it had to chill before I could assemble the pie, but the result was definitely worth the effort. I prefer fruit pies over cream pies, but I think I'll have to add this recipe to my repertoire.

Leah's Birthday Pie

Our Pie

Luckily, the recipe made enough for two pies even though it was only supposed to fill one pie, so we got to taste the chocolate pie too. I wasn't having much success making chocolate curls, so I just grated some milk chocolate on top of our pie.

Secondly, my pioneer ancestors would be so proud. Okay, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I made currant jelly using currants grown in my own garden and picked by kids and me and without using any store bought pectin. I might even do it again. Just look at those jars of currant jelly.

The amount of fruit I had yielded almost twice as much jelly as shown above. I didn't think I'd end up with so much so I only had three jars sterilized and ready to go. I put the rest in a jar that I quickly washed and put it straight in the fridge. It's almost half gone already. We've been eating the jelly on french toast and waffles. Justin's mom grows currants in her yard and she turns some of them into jelly. She gave me some many years ago and I loved it. Justin remembered this and planted a red currant bush in one of our raised beds a few years ago. This year was the first that the bush yielded enough fruit to really do anything with. Currants have enough natural pectin that you don't need to add any, especially if the fruit is slightly under ripe. My fruit was bordering on over ripe by the time I made the time to tackle the jelly making process. It's a bit on the runny side, but is definitely thicker than syrup and is perfect for spreading on breakfast foods. I did learn a thing or two, such as jelly will boil over if you aren't cooking it in a huge saucepan. Justin had to come to my rescue when the jelly boiled over and I had to move the pan to another burner. He wiped up hot jelly while I stirred continuously. I thought it was going to be a nightmare to clean up, but my electric glass cooktop cleaned up beautifully.

Lastly, I made my own lemon curd from scratch. I love lemon curd, but have been too intimidated before now to try making it myself. Guess what? It was much easier than I thought and even tastier than the store bought kind. Blythe wanted to bake Brittney a cake for her birthday. We decided on a lemon filling. Blythe made the cake and the frosting all by herself. I made the lemon curd filling and helped Blythe assemble and frost the two layer cake. Then Blythe decorated the cake all on her own. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the cake. Maybe Britt will post one on her blog because she took some photos of it.

Grin and "Barrett" Family Reunion 2009

Yes, we attended yet another family reunion this summer. Over the 24th of July weekend we headed up to Island Park, ID, which is near Yellowstone. Justin's aunt and uncle have two cabins up there and we were able to stay in the Big Springs cabin with Justin's parents, Chris and his two kids and Thomas. Oh, I can't forget Chris' 16 year old dog Dallas and our puppy Caddie. We all fit, but barely. We had 5 beds for 11 people. Justin, Brynne, Barrett and I all ended up sharing the king bed. Justin and I figured that was better than us and Barrett sharing a double, which was our other option. It was only for three nights. Anyway, we had a great time despite the mosquitos. Here's some documentation of the trip.

Barrett shooting "webs" at me during the drive up.

Spiderman officially takes precedence over Cars with him now.

Kathy and I were in charge of dinner the second night.

We made pork chalupa in our crock-pots and made

these yummy peach, apricot and blackberry crisps

for dessert.

We all gathered together for dinner each night at the

Box Canyon cabin. Here are some of Justin's uncles and

his aunt Kay relaxing after dinner.

Aunt Shelley and Cousin Elizabeth wrapping up Blythe's prize.

One night we had games for the kids and Justin's grandma

K-K brought up all sorts of treasures from her house for

the prizes. Blythe chose a set of shot glasses shaped like

mugs. I think she's planning on using them with her dolls.

Here's Brynne showing off her prize a circa 1960's

miniature address book with pen.

Barrett chose a small brass gong!

Chuck and K-K, who is 91 years young.

Not the best photo, but the only one I took of K-K.

We were glad that K-K decided to come to the reunion

even though Grandpa Verl wasn't well enough.

Chuck, Alex, Barrett and Thomas.

Cousins Alex and Barrett Petty.

Caddie had lots of canine companionship.

Micah was a good sport and played with her.

Emma and Blythe, not too old to play dress up yet.

The three girl cousins decked out in their finery.

Sunday morning before we left for Yellowstone.

This one has Justin's parents in it too.

All of us stayed in the cabin you can see behind us.

Justin and his twin brother Chris spent all day Friday on a guided fly fishing tour. Justin caught a huge 20" trout in the first half an hour, which sort of ruined the rest of the day for him. Not really! Justin's Dad and Uncle Steve took Kathy, me and the kids on rafts down Henry's Fork of the Snake River, which runs past the Box Canyon cabin. We had a big water gun fight for most of the way until the little boys got too cold. We saw Justin and Chris on their fishing tour, which the kids thought was fun. The next day the kids did bike riding, fishing and canoeing with Justin, Chuck and Chris. I stayed at the cabin with Caddie and got to do some reading. The canoeing trip got started a bit late and then got cut short by a severed wind and thunder storm. Uncle Steve and I had to drive over to rescue the canoeists. They took shelter in a cabin on the Big Springs section of the river. Luckily, the owners were there and let them in. The kids won't forget that part of the trip in a hurry. We had a great time visiting with K-K, Steve, Daryl, Paul, Shelley, Bruce, Kay, Elizabeth, Ben, Katie, Ashlyn and Emery. There were only 23 of us total, but we had a fun time anyway. Hopefully next time more of Justin's cousins will be able to attend. The last Grin and "Barrett" Reunion was held in 2004 and the kids are hoping we can have another one sooner next time.

Granddad

Another fun thing that happened this summer is that my Granddad came out to Utah for an extended visit. He drove out from Pennsylvania with my cousin Julia and they stayed for about three weeks. The last few times I'd seen him I had traveled to Pennsylvania, so it was nice to have him see where I live and to be able to spend a little more time with my kids.

Our family with Granddad the night before he left.

It's amazing, but my Granddad has more hair

and less gray than my Dad.

We were able to celebrate his 86th birthday

with a big family party at my Uncle Steve's

house in Lindon. My Aunt Sheryl made

apple mince pie for him at his request.

Cutting into his apple & prune pie.

Another request.

We took a photo of all the Chudleigh cousins who were

able to attend Granddad's birthday party.

L-R: Marie, Paul, Diana, Clayton, Peter, Juliette,

Julia, Ethan, Jill, Alyssa and Jason.

We were only missing eight of the cousins.

Our Week in Moab

One of the best parts of summer is being able to spend a whole week down in Moab. I actually like to go down there in July because it's less crowded. The kids spend hours in the pool and the house is pleasantly air conditioned. We take the dogs on walks either at 6:30 in the morning or at 10:00 at night. It's so fun to just hang out and relax. We brought Caddie, our new puppy home the night before we left for Moab, so the week was less relaxing than I had anticipated because I had an 8 week old puppy to take care of. She had no trouble relaxing, however. . . .

She loved napping on the lounge chairs.

Grandma and Caddie taking it easy.

Justin having a water gun fight with the kids in the pool.

Justin and Walt drove home Sunday afternoon.

This was Caddie's spot in the house.

My Mom was adamant that she not have full

run of the house.

Peter and Brittney adopted a 10 week old Golden Retriever puppy the same day we did. Britt drove down with the kids and puppy Bethany on Monday. It was actually easier with two puppies because they entertained each other. It was also convenient that Brynne and Hannah each had their own puppy to play with.

Hannah & Bethany and Brynne & Caddie in the

exercise pen Brittney brought down with her.

Brynne with Caddie in the pool.

Caddie is already a proficient swimmer

at only 8 weeks. She didn't seem to

enjoy it though.

Brittney helping Bethany cool off.

The pups cuddled up in their pen.

And last, but not least my Mom talked me into taking

Barrett to the barber my Dad goes to in Moab.

He got his first buzz cut ever!

I wish I'd had my camera with me at the barber shop. We went after Barrett had been in the pool and then eaten lunch. He was totally falling asleep in the barber's chair, so I had to hold his chin to keep his head from wobbling. I think it made the barber's job easier because he was completely cooperative, with no squirming. This is the shortest his hair has ever been, including the day he was born. I think his new haircut makes him look older and I love being able to see his eyes again.

This is the Place Heritage Park

A couple of weeks ago we spent the afternoon at This is the Place Heritage Park. Blythe had been there earlier this year on a field trip with her 4th grade class and really wanted to come back with Brynne and Barrett. My cousin Kirsten was in town for about a month from Arizona, escaping the heat with her four kids so we arranged to meet at the park. We arrived at lunchtime and started off with a picnic lunch at the bowery. Then it was off to explore the park and learn about pioneer times.

Blythe with a pioneer games, called hoops and graces

if I remember correctly.

Blythe trying out the stilts with some

help from my Aunt Sharon.

Another fun pioneer game.

Barrett trying out a churn.

The pony rides were a highlight of the day.

Sharon, my Mom's sister, my Mom, James,

Barrett and Kirsten's son Zach.

Brynne loved petting the lambs, kids and bunnies.

James and Barrett with their arrowhead necklaces.

The boys making rag dolls.

The boys showing off their rag dolls.

Brynne and me at the end of the day.

Eek a Mouse!

I started this post almost a month ago! Where has the summer gone? So anyway about a month ago I opened up my laundry chute one morning to see this.

My eyes first took in the shredded waistband of my favorite new capris. Then I noticed the MOUSE. Fortunately, it was dead. I'm guessing it suffocated when someone threw more clothes down the laundry chute. I put on some rubber gloves and put it in a plastic bag, tied it up and threw it in the garbage can outside. Then I took every item of clothing out while still wearing the gloves and had to pick mouse poop off of most of it.

YUCK!!!

Then I washed everything with bleach.

Here's a close-up of my pants. Luckily, my Mom is very

handy with a sewing machine and patched them up for

me so I can still wear them.

I still can't figure out how the mouse got in there.