A Little Catch Up

 Inspired by a picture in a magazine I saw last year, a few inspiring stories 

and an avid biking husband; I have been on the hunt for an old bike....

I spotted this one on the side of the road in front of an antique store in town.  

I called Mark to see if he would mind if I bought a little piece of "art" for our home :)

After doing a little research online we discovered she is a 

1937 Women's Pullman Schwinn Bike

 Mark replaced the tubes, pumped up the tires, polished her up and 

with the help of Jake - hoisted her up to her new home.

She looks grand perched on the mantle.

A great conversation piece.

A reminder to live a healthy lifestyle.

A reminder of stories of great women (in our family & outside of our family) 

who used a similar mode of transportation to serve and look after others.

***
A Salad Social 

Under the canopy of beautiful trees, by the beautiful river with the red sun setting in the sky...
(due to numerous fires in the surrounding area this summer)

We enjoyed a lovely salad social with adorable women in our neighborhood.

Warm hugs and lots of chitter chatter, we soaked up the warm summer evening.

Even the youngest little lady in neighborhood, Miss Olivia, came out for the evening.

Everyone went home with a full tummy, a happy heart, a cute handmade dish cloth and free produce!

We love our neighborhood so very much!

***

Cache Valley Century

 Eric, Jake and Mark were a threesome this year.
(Wishing Brady could have been here)

Ready to hit the road!

 While the guys were riding we had a tea party...

 Took naps...

 Tried on Great Grandpa's hat...

 Played cards...

and Owen finally got his quilt from Nana!

 

A before long, they were back!  The route was little different this year and  

I will have Mark fill in the details.  They had a great ride. 

Eric Eliason, Cory McBride, Jake and I formed a great team.  We started in Richmond this year as a large part of the ride came after we neared Logan.  We usually ride from home to the start in Richmond and then peal off at the end and ride home making 100 miles.  This year if we had done that we would have ridden only 80 miles as this year we didn't go all the way to Preston in the first half of the ride.  It was a flatter ride with less hills.  It was a beautiful day.  Cory was training for LoToJa and pulled us along at a good clip.  Eric is a horse too.  He pulled hard and fast.  It was great to be with Jake.  He pushes himself so hard.  He inspires me.  I was so pleased to be among good friends on a great ride in a valley I love.  I hope to be doing it for many years to come.  If I shave my legs next year I bet I can go faster.  Isn't that right Jake?

Stay tuned for more catching up to come...

Robbing The Bees

 Woodson and Ada are some new friends of ours.  They came with their mom to help harvest the honey.  They are from Haiti and have a real interest in bees...and honey.  They were the best helpers!

 They got to help Mark trick the bees by smoking the hive.  The bees think their house is on fire and gorge themselves with honey.   They are too busy and heavy to come after you...or that is the story anyway. (Mark got a couple of stings as did Grandpa that night)

 They were so curious about the whole process!

 Ada couldn't get enough "tastes" in!

 His mom braved the bees and helped boost him up

 Thanks guys for your help tonight!  You both rock!!

 Shaura donned a bee suit to help Mark harvest the rest of the frames.  It was a measly harvest this year...we are blaming the very dry summer and low nectar flow. We usually get about 25+ gallons from our three hives, but this year only about 7-8.  We understand other local beekeepers have found the same thing in their hives.  The good news is that our hives are strong and full of brood.

And the next day...

 We spun the honey and enjoyed our harvest on warm, homemade rolls!

The honey is beautiful and dark and very rich this year! 

Thanks to Mark's cousin, Angie and her daughter - Shaeley (sadly I don't know the correct spelling of her name!) also...Shaura and Mom and Dad Firth for their help in the harvest. It was a great morning together!

Marie's brother passed away this past week and Shaura came out for the funeral.  We enjoyed having her with us and we will all miss Uncle Glen.

Back To School Time

The day before school started Emily tried out a new recipe she had 

pinned on Pinterest:

S'More Cookies...yep! An ooey gooey s'more wrapped 

with chocolate chip cookie dough.

Talk about indulging!

 Here they sit alongside some normal sized cookies :)

Who looks more excited here?  Yep.  Dad. 

And please hurry with the photo taking, Mom...I'm late for school!

 Last year I didn't even get a back to school photo because she was far away in Brazil.

Time flies and our baby is a Junior in High School.
We are so proud of the beautiful girl she is and so happy to have her back in our home.
Have a great year, Em!! And I'm glad I snagged a photo - even if you were almost late xo

Gotta Love Those Reunions!

Yes, the good ole family reunions!  A summertime classic.

This year we kept things really simple with a pancake breakfast

in the beautiful backyard of Grandpa and Grandma.

 The vittles were tasty and the company even better!

We played a few games, made some good guesses, learned a few things about Family Search

and enjoyed some good catch-up chattiness.  Families are the best and we will take them whenever

we can.  Thanks everyone for your help!  Enjoy the last few days before school starts!!

Hopefully we will get some fun shots from Aunt Karalee's camera one day soon :)