Birthday Bash!

Well, maybe not a bash, but it was a great dinner at Rumbi Grill (Hawaiian) and ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins and lots of good loot and homemade cards. Thanks everyone...it was relaxing and fun to have you there. Check out Dad's double scoop (pistachio nut and maple nut) big waffle cone. You can't keep the birthdays from coming, so you might as well enjoy them!

Summer Yard and Flowers

Here's a sprig of Syringa (Idaho State Flower) transplanted from Grandma Barker's back yard in St. Charles and now doing well in our backyard. I wish I good share the fragrance!

Our backyard is lookin' fairly decent. It should considering Burnhams' "Cutting Edge Lawn Care", Fertalawn, and all the hours we spend on it. Can you see me weeding on the upper deck?

First Coreopsis blooms...out by the pond.

Pink trumpet Weigela and Yellow Potentilla in the front yard.

5 More State Park Caches

Boat Dock at Jordanelle--Hailstone with dam & snow-capped mountains in the background.




On Saturday, we threw yard work to the wind and went for 5 more State Park Caches in 3 State Parks: Jordanelle—Hailstone, Jordanelle—Rock Cliff, Wasatch Mountain—Huber Grove, Wasatch Mountain—Tate Barn, and Deer Creek. It was a pretty toasty day with temps in the high 80s. Four out of five of these were multi-stage caches and we had several set-backs including inaccurate coordinates posted on the geocaching website for Tate Barn in Midway, which ended up including 2 trips to the Visitors Center and 2 trips to the Barn! But the best adventure was at Hailstone. Stage 3’s access (a sidewalk on a sand bar) was under water due to the high level of the Jordanelle Reservoir from spring run-off! We were able to get help from a nice family with a Ski Doo who went out on their jet ski and retrieved the coordinates for Stage 4! All in all we spent about 7 hours, but saw a lot of new and interesting spots and had great fun. We did spend an hour+ in the yard when we got home and managed to do most of the laundry. We now have 38 of the 47 caches with 6 more to find and 3 we’ll most likely never get, since we don’t have a boat or an ATV.

Ski Doo Rescue

3 Rocks Trail to Lookout Knoll.

Where the Provo River meets the Jordanelle Reservoir.

The Huber Grove Outhouse cache.

Can you see the edge of the green ammo box?

Huber Family Historic Home in Midway.

Tate Barn (refurbished for the 2002 Olympics--it's close to Soldier Hollow in Midway.)

Deer Creek, cache under a pile of rocks in a little clump of scrub oaks.

Father's Day Dinner Rolls

Since Briton asked about "In-This-World" rolls...
I’ve had a recipe (newspaper clipping) in my recipe box for at least 15 years for “Out-of-this-World Rolls” that says you don’t need to knead the dough, but you refrigerate it over night. I’ve had a sack of “special” flour (it said “better for bread”) in my cupboard for who knows how long…maybe 15 years??? Airie offered to make rolls for Father’s Day and I suggested the aforementioned recipe and flour. At 10:00pm she made the dough and let it rise for an hour in a warm place (on top of the rotating clothes dryer). At the end of the hour it hadn’t budged and was the consistency of crumbly sugar cookie dough with a slightly unusual odor. We put it in a zip lock bag and put it in the frig. Before going to bed I checked the bag. It was about to explode from the “yeast gas”, but the dough was still lifeless. I opened the bag. On Sunday morning we noticed the texture had not changed, but the odor had definitely ripened! Airie started over, using her own trusty recipe and regular, newly-purchased flour. Later on she got busy serenading us with piano music and forgot to get the rolls out of the frig on time for the final rising. I rushed them out to the patio table on the deck in the close-to-90-degree direct sunlight. All’s well that end’s well. We ended up with rolls that may have only been “In-This-World”, but were delicious. Thanks Airie!

BBQ and Croquet and Happy Happy Fathers Day

"Le Chef de BBQ"

Ssssswing Batter! Trying to get up the hill around the Rocky Ridge.

"Agent Orange" poisoned us all!

How could I be so careless?!?

Fathers Day was sunny and warm...high 80s. Dad had a nice day despite having to give a 20-minute talk on the Abrahamic Covenant in Sacrament meeting and cooking his own dinner and being aced-out at the last minute in the croquet game! He out-did himself on the scrumdillyumptious steaks. Thanks to all for the gifts and cards and calls and salad and "in-this-world" rolls. It was great to have Baron and Autumn and Airie to help celebrate and liven-up the always funny and entertaining croquet game, from "curb chutes" to the "short-cuts through the bark". At least nobody landed in the pond.

In the Local News--The Clipper

Fame and Fortune for the Boy Next Door (well, across the street)! Braeden Schlehuber (or in the words of Mrs. Crabtree, Braeden Shloo-ber), was chosen as the 130th pick (4th round) of the Major League Baseball draft by the Atlanta Braves!!! No surprise to us. It said in the article that he had been dreaming of the moment since he first held a baseball and that the Braves had been his favorite team since he was a kid. He has played at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas during the last 2 years and had a scholarship offer at the University of Arkansas. But he won't be going there. He started his professional career today at the Brave's training camp in Orlando, FL. He is a catcher. Here's the final sentence from the article: Schlehuber's father, Kent, may have summed it up best: "Other than my wedding day and days when my two sons were born, this is the proudest moment of my life."

Hooray for Rich and Nada!

Bob Eyestone...Ed Eyestone (Olympic Marathon Runner and BYU Track Coach) and Mary Jo Naylor's father.

Peeking (Autumn's request)

Basil, Blossoms & Berries, Battling Birds, Bad Boy

1) My grown-from-seed sweet basil has petite white flowers and a strong scent if even brushed. I guess I should start harvesting some leaves for drying.

2) Raspberries have really enjoyed the cooler, wetter spring. The plants are lush. Berries may take a little longer to turn red & ripe this year.

3) Dad was home one afternoon last week and was trying to get a photo (through the window) of a pheasant strutting through the back yard, when he heard a lot of screeching. Looking up he saw 3 red-tailed hawks in a dog fight! Two were chasing the other one who had scored a critter. He photographed 2 of them (pretty good for through the window). Evidently it was amazing to watch.

4) Dad also watched the antics of a little squirrel who was nosing around the deck checking o ut the geraniums and chairs. He looks pretty guilty (caught gray-handed). After this photo, he ducked under the BBQ and Dad got another shot of him peeking out from under the cover.

(Please click on these images to see the details in the enlargements!)

Dinner in a Covered Wagon

On Thursday, June 5th, we met Julie (former sister-in-law) and her daughter Kayla (niece) in Ogden for dinner at the Prairie Schooner. We ate steaks in a covered wagon…fun…and helped celebrate Julie’s birthday (June 6th) with a sundae and with the waitresses singing a pretty funky “Yippee-ti-yi-yo, Yippee-ti-yi-yay” Birthday Song. Kayla (who is 20!) has completed 2 years at U of Idaho and is thinking of transferring to Idaho State in Pocatello, or Weber State in Ogden for a degree in Dental Hygiene. We drove by Grandma (Bernetta Bell Brown) and Papa (Roy Edward Brown)'s old brick bungalow which I remember from my childhood with fish pond, apple tree swing, walnut tree, rose garden, patio with fireplace, wooden shelves with Papa's creations, Catalpa tree and hammock. My parents were living in the house next door when I was born.

George Kirkham

Last month the Relief Society Book Group read "The Price We Paid" about the Willey and Martin Handcart Companies, or other books about handcart pioneers. I read "Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860: Mary Ann Hafen." I started thinking about my own great-grandfather, George Kirkham (on my Dad's side) who crossed the plains. I called my Aunt Marjorie Russell Mower, in Phoenix, AZ, for a few details. Thought I'd share. He was born in London and came to the United States on the ship William Tapscott. He did not come with a handcart company, but rather with a team of oxen in a wagon train company in 1859...380 saints in 56 wagons with 1 death, 2 births and 19 weddings! He was 7 years old and walked most of the way with his feet wrapped in canvas rags. He arrived in Salt Lake on September 15th and his family (parents and 3 brothers) camped out near the north door of the present day Salt Lake City and County Building, then located in Sugar House for a few years and then settled in Lehi, Utah, where my grandmother, Maude, and my father, Cal were born. George married sister wives...Mary and Sara Russon (my great-grandmother). "George's whole soul was wrapped in music and melody." He played in the Kirkham Brothers Orchestra (4 brothers) all over the Wasatch Front, was member of the old Lehi Brass Band, was a vaudeville singer, took minor parts in Shakespeare and other productions, could step dance and clog in old Dutch wooden shoes, and was a bass singer. In 1893 he was chosen to go with the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir to sing at the World's Fair in Chicago...traveling by train back along the same route he had walked with the wagon train. They took 2nd place--$1,000. (According to Marjorie, they couldn't give 1st prize to Mormons!) A few years later, he took his two little daughters, Leah and Maude (grandma) on a lecturing tour down to St. George giving lectures on the experiences of the choir along with music by himself and daughters. He directed the 4th Ward Choir (Lehi) for 20 years.