Word on the Streets

celebrating 140 years the 4th of july '09. . .

my dad grew up on a farm. i think most of who he is and what he knows how to do (fix everything! be down to earth and casual with others, and be frugal!) originates with his experience on the family farm.

july 2009 marks 140 years that the farm was settled by our family and in business of farming the land. my uncle and his wife who live there decided it was time to celebrate! it turned out to be a huge family reunion and one of the best times at the farm i have ever had. my uncle, cousin robert, my dad and aunt spent days getting the farm grounds cleaned and looking the best they have ever looked. they also spent time working on the farm house especially the bathroom--i will forever be grateful to a cousin who made it possible to bring the bathroom into the 21st century! most of us tented on the side lawn and enjoyed the shade of the big trees. the food was delicious and the kids just ran themselves out doing what i and my cousins used to do when we would visit in the summers as kids. there were pony rides, atv rides, feeding billy goats, exploring empty sheds, playing in the creek, a tree swing and of course driving tractors. probably the best part for me was being with all of the family there at one time together. my dad's family is so seldomly all together in one place. there was just something extra unique about this time together. i think most of us felt it was a chance of a lifetime--something not to be missed. 

morgan plays in the creek that runs through the farm. my grandmother used to wash her hair with this water because it is soft and the water in the house is hard.

on the way home from the long weekend we asked out boys to help us count up how many "firsts" they had had during our trip. the list was longer than i thought. it always makes me thrilled to expose our children to so many new things. many of the things rod & i found ourselves enjoying as "firsts" too.

aunt loretta's new home

my mother's sister has retired to a beautiful new home in cedar hills, utah. it is spacious and decadent. it was our first stop on our trip. it was such a comfortable and inviting place to stay after the drive from vegas. seeing her place made me so very happy for her and this stage of her life. she is in a good place surrounded by good people and family.

meeting up with family

this was crazy fun for the first day. trying to remember everyone's names, children and where they live now was a bit of a brain overload, especially for rod for whom most of them were new. most of my 1st cousins are older than i am so many of them have children not too much younger than i and my siblings. this makes keeping things straight even trickier but at some point my children and husband just called everyone "cousin" and isn't that the way it should be anyway?

family photos

when i suggested that we take a series of family photos to some of my cousins, aunt and uncle, i sort of got a few laughs. one even said, "isn't that sort of like trying to herd cats?" i agreed but i was determined to get everyone on board. and it worked for the most part. when we began the sky was a perfect overcast afternoon which makes photo taking heavenly. periodically the sun would come out here and there so i tried to deal with the lighting issues but everyone was super at getting together their respective family when their time was called to sit for me. i was able to get the groupings i needed. we did a first cousin's photo--this would be all of the grandchildren of morgan w. & mary d. harris. only one was girl cousin was unable to make it. but looking at that photo makes me laugh--there are soooo many men in my dad's family! it is a varied group and they are all different but each one of them has a memory of time spent working on the farm (be it short or long). most all of them have stories of growing up being sent to the farm to help with the work. some of them even nicknamed it "little russia." regardless of whether they loved or hated it the fact remains that it is part of their life's experience--part of their family history. even though we girl cousin's don't necessarily have those same memories as the boys we too still have memories that bind us to the farm. it is the one place that connects everyone of us as cousins. that connection was awesome to see through the viewfinder o fmy camera and while editing the photos later. 

my grandfather's name on his mailbox 

the harris grandchildren (my first cousins) with uncle dave, aunt sharon, and my dad morgan d.

my uncle, my aunt, and my dad & mom behind him with all my siblings, spouses and our children

camping at the farm

this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. i am NOT a camper. i will admit that i crave being clean and having a shower each day with a blowdryer for the hair. but for this trip we decided to join the cousins camping on the side lawn. some friends of our let us borrow their two room tent which made sleeping with the children so easy! the weather was great! i love to sleep with it cooler outside and under a big down comforter. rod had gotten us blow up air mattresses and with the sheets i brought and the down comforter i was almost more comfortable than in my own home. the boys went to bed easily because they had been in the sun all day and running non-stop. granted we only stayed overnight one night but i think that is the way to go when one stays at the farm. it is the experience of camping but having the amenities of the farmhouse to enjoy as well.

the 3:00 am wake up call

the farm property backs up onto I-15 freeway. from the farm house you can hear the cars traveling on it in the distance. it is a very rural stretch of highway and exceptionally dark since there are no town lights or lights on the highway other than car headlights. there are two south bound and two north bound lanes with a grassy divide in the middle. off either side of the north or south bound shoulders is a fairly good drop off into tall grassy ditches. i mention this because on friday night, the 3rd of july, we were sleeping out in our tent. at 3 a.m. in the morning i heard a screeching of tires and scraping of metal and it woke me up sharply out of a deep sleep. as soon as i heard it almost immediately i said outloud, "that was a car crash. someone has just crashed on the highway!" i just knew that was what it was and yet when i asked rod if he too had heard it he said it was just in his dreams. but he was now awake and we both sat there wondering what do we do. i could not shake that feeling of dread i had upon first hearing the noises that woke me up. in my head i could only imagine that it was some family with young children in a van or something traveling by night to get someplace for the 4th of july. all of these "what if's" were running through my head. what if they ran off the side of the highway in to the tall grass no one would ever see them from the highway? what if they were all seriously injured and had no way of getting to help? what if they had to sit it out until day light? what if they were freezing and in shock? and so rod and i sat there waiting--for what I am not sure but just waiting for some kind of confirmation that we had not been just dreaming if someone really did need assistance. 

and then we heard a car horn. someone was laying hard on their car horn. over and over as if to say, "here i am. help me." and that is when rod jumped up, got dressed and with the flashlight went out to our truck and set out to find the accident in case there were anything he could do to help. similarly my aunt who heard it too woke my cousin up and he too went out looking. i stayed back until enough time had passed with neither rod nor my cousin returning that i knew they had to have found the accident. my brother in the next tent over was awake too and i asked him to listen for my boys if they happened to wake and i went in and got my dad so we could drive to the edge of the property in his truck and see if we could see anything. from the edge of our field we could see up on the highway a few headlights of stopped cars and then we called rod. he told us that a man had rolled his truck and was pinned in his truck. my dad and i drove closer and could see the condition of the truck. only rod and my cousin and aunt were there and one other car. they were keeping the man talking and reassuring him that the paramedics were on their way. the man had fought with his wife and left to go golfing up north. he was driving back home that night, had fallen asleep at the wheel and rolled his truck so many times that he was lucky to be alive. he said he was married and had two little children at home. when the ambulance finally got there rod, my dad and i returned to the farm house. it was a scary wake up call and made me so grateful that we had been safe in all of our driving that weekend thus far. it only takes a split second and your entire life can change in an accident like that. 

the one thing i am still most struck by regarding that experience that night was how intensely strong i woke up knowing that someone had just crashed. it was so vivid in my mind and it was only after asking rod and talking about it a bit that i second guessed my gut feeling. and when i heard the car horn it was as if everything in me said, "see, it is possible to just know things are actual and true even if you can't see them." it was not a premonition because i knew it happened at the very moment i heard it but i could not see it and was not really even that close to the actual site of the accident. it was just an intense feeling. it was difficult to relax and go to sleep for a time after we returned to our tents.

i understand the man survived the accident. considering what the truck looked like, i would say he has been given a miraculous second chance at life.  

the big 140 year bash

my aunt and uncle are very active in their community. they put on a wonderful celebration for the public and family to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the Harris family farm. There was fried chicken, fresh fruit, homemade potato salad, baked beans, rolls, homemade sheet cakes, and Aggie ice-cream. they had a country band, a cowboy poet, pony rides for the little ones and two huge belgian draft horses pulling a 1900's restored wagon giving rides to all. it was such a treat to see my uncle thoroughly happy. he was relaxed and smiling from ear to ear during the entire party. my aunt was thrilled too with the turn out and it was fun to see them among friends. 

morgan rides as aunt nikki leads

jack enjoys his ride

my uncle dave greeting friends

morgan on the "other" horse at the farm

time spent with the next generation of cousins at the farm

the great grand children of my grandparents are now enjoying the farm and hopefully will have more future opportunities to play together there. it was awesome to have all the great grand children and even some great great grandchildren getting to know each other more.

my nephew and niece--cousins the same age play together

morgan and stella on the back lawn

my cousin robert and our cousin's grandchild who was wiped out from a long fun day.

learning to drive

as a kid on the farm you get to have one of the greatest freedoms ever--learning to drive every possible new and old tractor ever made since 1900. well, if they don't actually start you can certainly pretend to drive and steer from that seat way up high overlooking the world below. and with a little help from grandpa or anyone with the know how you can actually help steer one of them around the farm for a joy ride.

morgan and ann marie

jack and stella and lauren

my brother, stella, and my dad

berkeley, rod and morgan

atv riding up gardner's canyon

this was a huge first for me at the farm. i have never gone anywhere off the farm when i have been there. i have only gone out into the fields. i mean on the farm everyone is always working. there is no down time. so this day off was unusual and so much fun! my dad and cousin's took rod and i and our boys on a four wheeler ride up into the canyon across the valley. it was a spectacular ride. it is beautiful up in those mountains and so much fun with everyone who went. it was an extra bit of work for my dad to trailer up two of our 4 wheelers from the cabin to the farm but i was extra thankful that he thought to do that--for that ride alone was worth it. spending time doing those types of things with our boys and my dad are things i hope to remember and i hope our boys remember too. we were creating memories with their grand-dad on the farm.

getting gassed up for the atv ride. this ain't your typical chevron line-up! the gas pump on the farm takes a little know how as well.

getting to see my dad and uncle relaxed

at the farm if you are my dad or my uncle it seems you are either one of the two--working or asleep.

this weekend was a great opportunity to catch both of them doing things that are different than the daily grind of fixing broken sprinklers, machinery or bailing. my dad only has one brother and he finds possibly the most happiness in life at this point being on the farm working side by side with him.

thanks uncle dave, aunt sharon (and dad and cousin robert) for making that weekend at the farm so enjoyable!

images of my grandmother's home

images from the grounds:

leaving our mark on labor day. . .

the streets family hands: sept. 1,2008

this is the new slab of concrete for the extension on our family cabin. this weekend we met up with darren and nikki, my parents, and two of nikki's awesome sisters to enjoy time at the cabin and watch the new construction begin. i am so glad we were there for this new cement. i only wish all of our family could have been there to leave their mark too. usually i am saying, "stay out of the mud boys!" so with this they thought it a really big treat to smoosh their hands right in and leave a print.

they also had fun playing with their shadows in it!

family portrait

see that wall in green on the cabin? there will be two doors up on the top level that open to two extra bunk rooms over the garage being added on the bottom. the existing garage is on the other side of the green covered wall so we will have this one for the toys. it will be drive through to the back. that'll be nice!

it took two full trucks to haul up the cement. our boys were in heaven watching them maneuver around the property! interesting--the gravel/sand is in the bed and the water is in the tank between the bed and the cab (see it?). then when they pour the cement, it mixes the two together just before it comes down the trough so you don't have that typical cement truck look with the big enclosed bowl on the back that needs to be constantly turning the cement. 

morgan-left, jack, right

morgan, jack, and my dad morgan. my dad amazes anyone who knows him. he works at the cabin outside all day long. i mean all day long! and he works hard. everything he is doing is physical labor. at his age i am amazed with his stamina. i hope i have inherited those genes. i gotta keep up with these two little duddos.

morgan, my mom, ann, and jack. my mom does her thing best in the cabin and she craves one on one time. well here it ended up two on one time. she reads "hungry hyena" to the boys--one of the children's books she bought in kenya for her grandchildren. the boys ate it up. haha.

mom got this patio set for the back deck. with the way we all end up cooking at the cabin (gourmet every meal!) mealtimes become a highlight of our visit. 

morgan took this photo of his tricycle. i actually love it because rod and i were just talking about how this might be the last year they can fit on these bikes. they are great up at the cabin because they don't tip over. j & m get going super speeds on these dirt roads. i got a little nostalgic on our walk watching them cruise out in front of us thinking there are so few of these times left. they are growing up so quickly.

morgan, nan, jack

rod and i.

this weekend was extra nice for us. we got tons and tons of rest, great food, and extra special company. can't wait to do it again! thanks d & n, m & e & a, and lex for making it fun!

a rare occasion. . .

this summer has been one big family affair. it started with a tragedy and ended in triumph. last saturday we had all of my siblings and their husbands and wives with them in town. yes, it was all 10 of us adults plus my parents in one place. with babysitters for the kiddos at three different houses we managed to break away for an adults only breakfast at bouchon. this restaurant has been a favorite of ours ever since we made good friends with the head pastry chef, chris herrin. my sister and brother-in-law got to know him months ago and since then he has treated us to the best sugar highs on the planet. 

the round table was so fun so we could see each other and pass all of the delicious samplers around to taste. we simply ate ourselves sick. there was a first course of pastries, a fruit salad course and then our main entree course. after that chris sent out a special dessert for each person--twice! it was simply a ridiculous amount of food! i have a fairly good sweet tooth but this--wow! this was sweet tooth overload. it felt like a celebratory feast. and after such a bittersweet summer as this one together that was just was it was. for me, it marked the end of a summer of family time not to be forgotten. it was such fun to experience all of us together. no children to worry us. it was a rare occasion. i wish we could do this more often. 

  

(rod is taking the photo on his phone and one brother-in-law is missing too)

i love that my family enjoys being together. i love that some of them are willing to drive from orange county, ca to vegas late the night before after a very long work week just so they can be there for this type of meal together the next morning. i love that others of them would drive from texas and stay with us for weeks so our children can really get to know their cousins. this summer has definitely brought us more together than ever. i feel a ton of strength from being in this group. for me, even though the summer isn't officially over for me it began with the passing of our niece, camille, and ended with this meal together. thanks, chris, for this unbelievable opportunity. we treasured it. and our dentists thank you very much for the extra business!

the 3 hour tour & a mighty miracle. . .

this post is for any of you nay-sayers out there. i include myself in that group. the nay-sayer group says things like, "no. the world is not gonna get any kinder. no. the cost of living is not going to go down. [and for those in my own family] no. mom would never be able to hack that 4 wheeler ride. no. she wouldn't even try." 

let this post stand as evidence for our family history that we were proven wrong. mom actually braved the atv trail to dead lake all on her own atv. she join us all for a fantastic adventure up the mountain on the most difficult and long trail to dead lake and then on the easy and more direct route back to the cabin. mom even crossed the mud pit by herself and a few other equally scary spots for her. i was beyond proud. it was possibly the first physically challenging thing i have ever done with my mother where she has held her own and kept up. she was a trooper and i wished all of my brother's and my husband [who are normally with me on these trails] were there to witness it first-hand. i could hear my brother's voices cheering her on over the stream crossing through the mud up to the other side: "maaaawwwwwuuuuuummmmmm."

the other thing that was a miracle in and of itself is that my little 4 year old boys hung in there for 3 long hours of very bumpy riding as a passenger. granted the entire time they were afforded front row seating [which left my shoulders and my dads--who rode with them--very sore for the next few days]. still it was not an easy going trek and i was really proud of them for not complaining. they enjoyed the entire trip. thanks to the sudweeks for coming with us. it was like having two sets of very dear grandparents for the boys and me. loved it. 

the photo below was taken on the ride the night before. we were all there including rod. we went up to scope out the next day's trails. rod left that night so the big ride the next day would have me in rod's place and the sudweeks riding together. 

[left to right: mom, dorothy s., morgan, rod, jack, dad, walter s.]

jack coming up the trail with dad

my morgan coming with my dad across the mud pit.

and my mom doing it all on her own [scared spitless i might add]

i just love my dad's body language in the back. like saying: "what do you know? she did it. i told her she could do it!"

i love all the aspen tree groves on this trail. the rocks are bad but the trees are so worth it.

the long and steep trail takes you all the way to the site of the old sawmill from the 1800's. nothing stands there now but the clearing is in a grove of trees and over looks a wooded canyon. we had a deer come dashing out through the trees while we were here.

destination: dead lake. it isn't really dead. fish jump way up out of the water and bugs are teaming all around on the surface. the boys saw bright neon blue dragonflies and the most amazing refection of trees & bright blue mountain sky. this is a place i have come several times before they were born with my husband, dad and brothers. now i am able to go with my own boys. this was the first of many trips here with them.

my mom, my morgan, my dad, my jack [age 4.5]

this ride was the best way to end our two weeks at the cabin. the next day we recovered, cleaned and left for home. these three hours with my parents and my boys were the kind of stuff i hold close to my heart. 

family ties and photo play. . .

being at the cabin usually means family time. last weekend and this week have been no exception. and it is just so fun to play around with my little camera on the manual settings. i still really have not a clue in the world as to what i am doing even though my sister-in-law, elizabeth, has tried to show me a few things. thanks buff because it sure has been fun just playing around. regardless of if i know what i am doing or not i have had a few photos of family that i took this weekend that i wanted to play around with in editing stage. at the risk of having anyone say they absolutely hate what i did with these (feel free to toss your critics my way, i am open to learn)--i still thought they would be fun to post so my brother darren and my sister-in-law, nikki could see. 

so here we go: 

picture 1: darren and niki in front of the grand ol' Ford (it was slightly raining by the way)

 

picture 1: color bumped way up

picture 1: vintage style because these two right here look like they could have walked out of the 60's

picture 2: still raining slightly and thus the grey clouds

picture 2: cropped and color maxed

picture 2: black and whited

picture 3: my dad, mom and darren and nikki with just the color maxed up a little--maybe too much and i really wanted to get the power lines out of the back but couldn't figure that one out. still it is so great of my dad. he is so happy up here on the mountain, especially when his kids come up.

picture 3: black and whited

picture 4: jack with dandilion--he loves finding them and blowing them to bits

picture 4: color maxed a little

and finally

picture 5: my dad, mom, me and my husband with bumped up color - and yes by the way, do you love my no makeup, rained on look?

perhaps my favorite picture of my mom yet. . .

i love so many things about this photo. the color of her shirt. her smile. her eyes. her tiny little earring. my dad's apron. and the fact that my dad is smiling in the background. yes. this last weekend was all about her.

my mother's best mother's day ever . . .

this one is worthy of a blog post to remind myself of when i am 63! i have to tell my mother's story which might someday be my own.
but first a note about my mother's day: GREAT!

rod and i had a great morning where we ate breakfast at my mom's home with my family. we made the works (willie-sonomie belgian waffles, tyler florence scrambled eggs, thick bacon, buttermilk syrup, fresh fruit and the best o.j. ever.) the rest of the morning was attending church. then at home i was treated to gifts. this year's mother's day gifts covered all the bases: new sunglasses, chocolates, and a steam vac! (i could get addicted to cleaning my family room carpet and then my car!)
my mother's day was great but i have to say that this year my very favorite part of mother's day was actually watching my mother enjoy hers so much. and so her story goes:

every year as a little girl and then as a teenager when mother's day came around my dad would usually grab me or one of my siblings and drive us over very late on saturday night to the corner drugstore and tell us we were getting something for mother for mother's day. we always came out with the very same things every year--some cheapie smelly bath soap and then chanel no.5 perfume. if our eyes wandered to the other items in the store we thought mom might like better, dad always said, "no. your mother love these things we are getting her. we get them every year."

no kidding.

every year my poor mother was thought of at the last minute the night before and given the same gifts just different scents every year from the same notorious drugstore around the corner from our home.
some years we even did nothing. oh, sorry--i take that back. we usually always did something and that was fight. most every mother's day we would start out maybe ok but then somewhere in the day it was inevitable that someone's feelings got hurt, or another person didn't want to cooperate, or someone got on someone else's nerves--and thus the yelling began.

i really can't think of a mother's day that was great for my mom. and the saddest thing about it---until this year, neither can she! i think she has come to dread the day actually. at the very least, i know she holds no expectations for the day at all.

so this year my siblings and i decided to make it up to her. we were able to get four of her five children home for mother's day weekend. and the best part of it all was that she had no idea.

since my sister and i live in the same city, we were the easy part. our youngest brothers are identical twins (stephen and darren). darren & his wife nikki were able to drive from southern california very late on friday night, and get to my mother's home after everyone had gone to sleep. (i slept over at my mom's that night to be there for the surprise.) in the morning i found darren and nikki standing at the bottom of the stairs with a huge box of sprinkles cupcakes waiting for mom to get off the phone upstairs so they could walk up and surprise her. i went up ahead of them and once mom said good morning to me i called down the stairwell, "come on up guys."

mom thought i was surprising her with my twin boys who might have been snuck over for a secret sleepover. but when darren and nikki (one of her own twin boys) showed up, she had the shock of her life.  she simply could not believe it! the surprise was better than expected. she really had no idea they were coming for the weekend. it would have made her weekend if the surprises had just stopped with darren and nikki arriving. but the best was yet to come. see darren's identical brother, stephen & his darling wife & kiddos, live in texas. that means he does not get home very often seeing as just getting out of texas takes a full day of travel! but this weekend, stephen decided to shock not only my mom but also my dad (who is impossible to surprise) and drive home for mother's day. so on saturday afternoon when he pulled in town he called to find that darren, nikki and my dad were all visiting at my sister's home. stephen decided to stop there first and pull a classic prank on my dad. he called darren while parked outside my sister's home and had darren come out to trade him places. he then walked in and sat down by my dad. about 5 minutes passed before my dad realized that who he thought was darren was actually stephen. he could not believe his eyes. for the first time in a very long time--they really got my dad good!

then the next victim was mom. everyone went to my mom's home except me (i was working.) stephen and nikki went in the house together and sat down in the family room with my mom while darren secretly went the stairs to listen. mom visited and chatted with stephen and nikki for possibly 8 minutes thinking it was darren. then stephen made a comment such as, "man, this weekend would be perfect if only stephen could be here." then as soon as he said that my mom recognized something in his voice inflection and did a double take. her shock was unmatched. she simply could not believe that he was in her family room. nikki was able to let her laughter out finally after sitting there the entire time with her husband's identical twin trying very hard not to give the disguise away. my mother and father both were fooled. these surprises made my mother the happiest she has been ever on mother's day. she spent saturday enjoying her children. sunday morning we surprised her with one final secret. we all showed up at her home and made that scrumptious breakfast i mentioned earlier. again, she was thrilled to have her children home. she said it would always be her best mother's day ever.

(mother's day surprise breakfast: back row=siblings, stephanie, darren, lesli and stephen / front row=mom with one of stephanie's daugthers, lauren, my twins morgan-left, jack-right, and my dad.)

and so i wondered:

since i have twin identical boys who are 4, would this be my story ever? years down the road would they ever be able to fool me? i am holding hope that i would be quick to realize a switch if it ever occurs. but who knows? maybe one mother's day, far into the future, i will find out!

finding treasured photos....

so i was sorting through some old photos to add to my heritage wall (photo hopefully to come later) and i found 2 that were choice. thought i would share for family...

morgan wilford & mary deschamps harris (november 1973) in their master bedroom at the farm house, malad, idaho.

there are so few fun photos of grandad harris. i just love how you can see his arm around her in the photo and how happy they are. this was really atypical of them to show affection. they also very rarely dressed up except for special occasions and church. they were usually so darn busy working on the farm in their respective roles. that makes this photo extra special to me. i am sure when he put his arm around her she just busted up with laughter at the silliness of it all! i wonder if someone prompted it? whatever the case--it makes for one of my very favorite pictures of them.

now on to not so long ago:

me and my magnificent purple sunday dress holding who knows which twin brother (darren or stephen), my sister stephanie looking like she is up to something, & my brother morgan (a.k.a. sean in 1977). this was taken at our old home on percheron street. it was the sunday mom and dad blessed stephen and darren. dad's parents (see above photo) were in town and i remember it being a big deal because they never came to visit us due to the farm work. now i look at this photo and wonder with having my own set of twin boys--how did mom manage this brood? we each had a unique place in our set of 5. this photo brings back good memories even though many of them are laden with a sense of responsibility. still it makes me look into my own future with my boys (jack and morgan) and get a sense of all the good that is even yet to come in our future as well as their own.

family history--doing it my way--and so worth it.