Sperry reunion in Nephi

Last Saturday, we attended the Sperry reunion in Nephi.

This would be Rick's side of the family.  And Rick was at work.

But, I wanted to go.

I think it is important for my kids to know who they are and from where they came, so we went...

And I did not take one single picture.  Luckily, Summer did.

The good thing about the get togethers with this family is that you can depend on good food and you can depend on the meal starting on time.

Kelli and Sierra filling up their plates

Waino enjoying a plate of pulled pork

Bette enjoys a variety of salads

Bev and Charlie fill their plates

Charlie, pretty much the best uncle ever.

Tausha and Waino telling stories

Tiffany and Cole

Kelli and Charlie

 Charlie and I were chit chatting when Summer took this picture.  It looks like I better be careful about the stories that I tell, because one of the stories made it into Charlie's High Council message at chruch the following day...

Bev and Cole

Bev always likes to make sure everyone gets a treat.

These are pictures of Rick's Great Aunt Janice.

She is holding a bottle of pickled beets.

Here is the funny story about beets...

Rick has always refused to eat beats since I have known him.  He says that he will only eat beets that are canned by his family with the family recipe.

I have always told him that nobody can pickle a beet better than my Grandma Ethel.

Last Summer we were at a family party at the Scera in Orem.

And there on the table was a bottle of pickled beets.

I think I ate the whole thing.

Rick was right.  They were good.  Almost as good as Grandma Ethel's beets.

So, Saturday in Nephi, there on the table was a bottle of pickled beets.

I made a big deal about them, not really knowing who brought them.

Well, turns out it was Janice and she was standing right there.

She had actually brought 2 bottles and she personally gave me the second bottle of beets to take home for my very own.

And to share with Rick, if I wanted.

She said that she keeps canning beets and her kids won't eat them and she is getting mad at them.

Now, she knows who appreciates her beets--ME!

Can't wait for the next family party!

 Here is the home where Bette grew up in Nephi.  

It's nice that someone is living in it and taking good care of it.

And this is the old Sperry home on Main Street in Nephi.

Veyo Pies

It occurred to me today that I missed recording a life changing event that we experienced earlier this month.

This happened while we were in St. George on our venture to find Mountain Meadows.

We headed north towards Pine Valley.

This bright red sign caught our eye.

 We decided to stop on the way back from our adventures.

Sadly, I was so completely transformed by our experience that I forgot to document the actual pie.

We ordered 3 pot pies--2  chicken and 1 beef.  

Delish.

Then we got 3 pieces of pie--1 pecan, 1 sour cream lemon, and 1 volcano pie since we were in Volcano Country (it was chocolate and butterscotch and lots of whipped cream).

Veyo is little more than a junction in the road to get to Gunlock Reservoir.

I am pretty sure I will never taste pie that good again.

Can't wait for another trip to Veyo even if it's a bit out of the way.

There is a huge map on the wall inside the tiny lobby area.

There are pins marking locations of some of the many visitors to Veyo Pies.

People from all over the world.

So, really it's just a short trip to Veyo for pie compared to the distance some people travel to taste the world's best pie.

And it really is.

Everybody Talks...

a few weeks ago Rick got a call from a friend.

he needed a favor.

Rick said yes.

as a thank you, we got tickets to Neon Trees.

and back stage passes.

I've never been back stage.

It was as the Depot in Salt Lake.

We took the girls.

There were 3 opening bands.

It was the first time that Neon Trees has sold out a head lining concert.

Right here in their very own state.

The last concert before they take a short break.

 

I must say, it was pretty awesome.

They put on a great show.

We stayed after and went back stage.
(did you know all 4 of the band members are RM's?)

Here we are with the band after the concert.

This is Elaine, the drummer.

She is 7 months pregnant.

And that is why this is their last concert for a few months.

It's Elaine's husband who needed the favor.

So, we are kinda friends with a rock star.

read more about Sebastian & Elaine here.

These girls are part of a band called the Blue Aces.

They were the first band to open for Neon Trees.

They are from Orem.

The lead singer is Crystal Ramirez.

She is 16.  

Her sister plays the drums and she is 14.

How fun would that be to open for Neon Trees???

Super fun night.  But it reminded me that I am not 21 anymore.

We got home at 1:30 am.

We set the alarm for 3:15 am.

We rode a bus up Provo Canyon.

And then ran a 1/2 marathon.

Again, I am not 21 anymore.

Worst 1/2 marathon ever.

Would do it all over again.

YW Camp at Goblin Valley State Park

Goblin Valley

This is a slightly out of focus picture of the youngest girl at camp.

Way to go Sierra!  You are tough.

Hiking Little Wild Horse

Sierra

 It was so cute...Brother Foster helped teach the girls how to tie a bowline knot (since the rest of us leaders were clueless)

He taught the girls when they would use it and then showed them how to tie it around their waists.

He helped each of them one at a time until they could all do it correctly.

Then he had them all stand in a line and had them race to see who could do it the fastest.

We did it several times until each girl had a chance to win 

(laffy taffy was the prize.  They would have done it all day--at least as long as the candy lasted but we had to move on to more certification requirements!)

Here is the water station.  The jug on the bottom right is the water we brought from home.

The jug on the top left is the water that came from the pump.

Then on Friday morning, the pump went dry.

Water was out throughout the entire campground.

Which also meant no flushing toilets, no showers, and NO MORE drinking water.

 Summer had her guitar (of course) and her group came up with the most entertaining skit.

Sure wish I had video of that one.  Maybe I can get them to reenact their skit.

But I'm sure it won't be the same without the redrock and tents in the background.

 The theme for the first day was "stick with it" and Sister A (and Brother A) made hotdog roasting sticks for the entire camp.

Conveniently, hot dogs and s'mores were on the menu.

 I was in charge of the spiritual message and craft on the last day.

Our theme was Temples.

We made these temple blocks that have pictures of various temples and say..."I'm going there someday"

It's hard to come up with a craft that 32 girls can do and will do.

I think these turned out about 98% successful.

 This was the backdrop for our testimony meeting on the last night.

Summer hijacked the camera and so here is the one picture that there is proof that I actually attended camp.  

(As if the red tint to all of my socks, clothes, and bedding is not proof enough)

I got caught sneaking cookies out of the food trailer.

I'm sure that's hard to believe.

F is for Fredonia

This is the sign we saw when we left Pipe Springs National Monument.

The most important thing about Fredonia is that is the last drop of civilization before the Grand Canyon.

And that is important if you are a Grand Canyon River Guide.

There are several different companies that have warehouses in Fredonia as well as Kanab.

One of them is Tour West which is the company that Rick worked for when he was a river guide.

So, we had to take the long way through Fredonia to check out the warehouse:

Pretty impressive, yes?  the kids certainly thought so...not.

As we circled back through Fredonia on our way to St. George this sign caught our (my) eye:

So, we made a quick U-Turn (which was probably illegal)

(Which was OK, because we later found out that the reason Kanab and Fredonia both looked like ghost towns--many of the shops had hand made signs that said, "closed.  sorry for the inconvenience."--was because there was a big fire over by Cedar City and everyone in town was out fighting fires.  Sadly, with the water situation, this will probably be the case most of the summer.)

We pulled up in front of this little house.

Don't let the picture fool you.  It was jam packed full of awesome antique goodness.

The cute little owner was an encyclopedia of antique knowledge. 

She had a story, statistic, or fact for every single item in that little tiny house.

And if that we're enough, the building to the side of the house (on the right in the above photo) was also full of antiques.  She had to get the keys and take us over for a tour of that house, too.

If we would have had more time, she would have taken us on a tour of the 2 shipping containers out back that were full of antique furniture.

She doesn't have room in the house for all of the furniture, so if she sells something big out of the house...no problem.  She can just go out back and find just the right item to fill its space.

We totally recommend this little antique store in Fredonia if you are ever in the neighborhood.

You can't miss it.

It's right in the center of town where the highway makes a "T" intersection.

Look for the big ANTIQUE sign!

We did manage to make it out with just a couple of items...

I got this fantastic enamel pot.

And Rick chose this cool, old 7-up crate to go with his vintage drink machine collection.

This is how they look on the shelves in St. George

Garbanzo Beans/Chick Peas

We are home from St. George.  A few more pictures to come, but for now...

Garbanzo Beans!

I pressure canned these lovely beans (or are they peas?) a few weeks ago.

It was a first for me to rehydrate beans and then pressure can them.

One thing that I was NOT prepared for was that they would expand, a lot!

I had to keep adding water and moving them into more pots.  Adding water.  And adding pots.

And the next thing you know, my kitchen was full of beans.

I was afraid I was going to have to fill the bathtub! jk

I only soaked about half of the 25 pound bag.

(I should have done a quarter of the bag.  Now I know...)

I soaked them over night, then the following day I pressure canned them.

It took 3 rounds of pressure canning.  I ran out of jars.

I did some in quarts and some in pints.

There were some leftover that didn't make it into the pressure canner--I wasn't about to go for 4 rounds of pressure canning.

And there was a jar that didn't seal.  So, we had plenty of extra garbanzo beans.

Rick used them to make hummus.

It was the best hummus I've ever tasted.

Probably because they were the best garbanzo beans I have ever tasted.

I'm so glad to have 38 quarts of garbanzo beans on the shelf.

You know, so that when the zombies come, we can enjoy a nice batch of homemade hummus.

Next up:  Pinto beans.

Pipe Spring National Monument

Another stop on our tour of the desert...

Here are some of the artifacts that we were allowed to touch.

Everything else was off limits...

The cute little table inside of the Fort.

The chairs were turned to the outside so that the family members could kneel for prayer before the meal.

I LOVE this redwork hand towel.  I took a pic so that I could remember it and possibly copy the pattern and make my own some day...yeah, probably won't ever happen.

 Rick wanted to take this sign home with him, but we were pretty sure that taking something that doesn't belong to you FROM a National Monument is probably a crime.  So, we left it.

I've always been fascinated by looms.

18 inch red rock "bricks"

These artifacts were from the room where the spring was located.

It was much cooler in this room, and therefore, a great place to store the eggs and milk, and to make butter.

The spring comes out at one end of the room and runs down the wooden trough.

It keeps the room very cool.

The water then runs out of the fort and into a big holding pond built outside the fort to be used to irrigation.

 Listening to the ranger talk about the functions at the fort.

 the fort

replicas of Indian dwellings

 The best part...

Pine Gum Salve.

It was $9 at the National Monument, but we bought it for $4.50 at the convenience store on the Reservation.  

Still waiting for it to cure my hang nails and acne.

But I smell like I just walked out of the forest.

When we walked into the Visitor Center, the cute little ranger with the blue bandana asked if we wanted a fiddle lesson.  Sierra smiled.  

Ranger Sue asked Sierra if she could play the violin and Sierra said yes.  and the fiddle.  

I saw a guitar and told Ranger Sue that Summer played the guitar.

Sierra picked up the fiddle.

Summer grabbed the guitar.

 And they played for 20 minutes.