huckleberry heaven

You might think this is about Huckleberry Boy, but its not. Last Saturday, our friends told Keith to come on over and help himself to as many huckleberries as he wanted. They've got an enormous patch. We've got huckleberries growing all around the perimeter of our property, but nothing like what our friends have.

Keith and Luke spent a couple of hours picking and came home with at least two gallons worth. A-mazing!!

If you're not familiar with huckleberries, they are tiny. Like just a fraction of the size of a blueberry. And they have to be theeee most tedious fruits to clean and sort through! For example, it literally took hours to get them to this point:

Because when you pick them, you have to strip everything from the branch to get them off. Otherwise you would spend about a month getting enough for one pie. You start out having to sort through a big mess of leaves, immature and over-ripe berries, and a host of other unknown things (including bugs---aaaaaaaaa!!!!) But the end result is soooooo worth it. I forgot to mention that after hours of sorting through to get the good berries, then you have to take the stems off . . . one by one. Keith and I literally spent all afternoon on Saturday sorting and de-stemming.

Then . . . a pie beyond description. And enough berries in the freezer for a few more pies. These are a precious commodity!!!! Huckleberry Boy (in my opinion) is pretty much wasting his taste buds with asking for chocolate candy with huckleberries in it, the pies with all that incredible fruit is where its at.

Speaking of pies . . . I have discovered what I want Santa to bring me for Christmas.

Behold, I give you the Breville Pie Maker.

Several months ago, when I opened my Williams-Sonoma catalog and saw it, I literally had a reaction like this: Big. Audible. Gasp. (of joy.)

I have come to the conclusion that I need one. This is after months of research, thinking, pondering, reading the reviews---good and bad, considering how much would I really use this, where to store it, every single thing, no detail left out. We are a family of pie lovers, sweet or savory. Our friends are pie lovers. Just imagine the joy this clever little device would bring to one and all.

There you have it, the Breville Pie Maker. A brilliant invention. Perfect Christmas present.

love

I spent a good part of my day with my three favorite girls.

It is hard with almost 100 miles in each direction separating us. (I know, I know, I shouldn't even complain, because so many of you have thousands of miles separating you and your loved ones and would give anything if you only had to drive two hours to be with them.)

I felt sooooo guilty for not being with Abby on her birthday two weeks ago. It was just one of those things with everybody's schedules being so busy, but still, the guilt. So today I brought her presents over to her. And then we went out to lunch.

This one. She loves having her picture taken.

But she loves making faces for the camera even more. All of the sudden, here she is in kindergarten.

Then this one. My little sweetheart. She wanted a "puwrple balloon!"

About the only thing she eats these days is fries. And ketchup.

And a pink shake.

I can't forget this guy. He kept telling me he had such a good time today. Me too.

LOVE.

THEM.

ALL.

the final countdown

Don't go rolling your eyes now. (because I know some of you are.)

Today marks 30 days till he comes home.

yellowstone, part two

Sunday at Yellowstone.

After church and a big delicious lunch, we drove over to Mesa Falls.

First stop was at the spectacular lower falls.

As we looked closer, we could see that there were some kayakers on the ridge next to the waterfalls. No person in their right mind would actually kayak down that deathtrap! Wrong---not one, but two people took the plunge . . . and survived! I took frame by frame photos of both attempts, but I narrowed it down to just a few pictures. There were several frames of the kayakers completely disappeared under the white water, but all was successful!

1. Blue kayak starts going down . . .


2. look closely for him under the water by the rocks on the right . . .

3. he made it to the calmer pool . . .

4. about to go over the edge again . . .


5. look closely in the white water . . .

6. he DID make it safely down to the bottom, so did his friend.

Next stop was at the upper falls, which is home to this very charming building.

Inside was every type of animal that lives in the area.

The guy with the khaki hat and the orange shirt is not one of us.

They were having a pelt exhibit, truly awesome.

The upper falls, Kelsey took this amazing picture with a double rainbow!

I love these giant dandelions.

So Luke made a wish, and later he told us what he wished for (more huckleberry stuff.) Then he said "awww, it won't come true now!" (he was right, it didn't come true)

Keith, Luke, Bruce, and I headed up to the park, to Old Faithful. It was a 45 minute wait till it erupted again (is that right, it erupts?) So we went inside the Old Faithful Inn (one of my most favorite places ever.)

Inside the gift shop, Luke discovers the huckleberry truffle bar that he forfeited the day before. People, this is the face of regret.

Many more of the huckleberry products that Luke was dreaming of.

No, I did not buy the cookbook.

Those are the most comfy leather chairs ever.

See? (but we think Bruce is capable of falling asleep anywhere, right?)









We stayed in the Inn too long and missed Old Faithful. (but we've seen it so many times.)

There you have it, our trip to Yellowstone, which really didn't include much of Yellowstone at all. I think next year we might concentrate more on the Grand Tetons. But . . . we had so much fun!!!