Princess Stella

The Stone

These rocks have been handled, moved, hauled, stacked, split, and formed just about as much as the old barn wood was before it settled into its current position as siding on our barn. After disasembling the old barn, hauling it to our house, and moving the piles of wood half a dozen times before the structure went up, I am used to the process. Eventually the journey will end and most of the stone will settle onto our house. If we look back at its historic journey, this stone has seen a lot of miles. Quarried in Manti in the late 1800's. Hauled to Ephraim and shaped into the city building for nearly a hundred years. Torn down in the middle of the night by Barton Construction and hauled to a field north of Ephraim where it sat for about eight years. Stacked by many hands (including mine) onto pallets and hauled to Midway. Split on our neighbors proptery and then stacked and hauled again to our house. Finally it is shaped and mortored to our house.

Thanks to Sally for taking the awesome photos of rock yard. And thanks to Chris Myrdal who is actually laying to stone on the house, saving countless hours of work and doing a beautiful job.

Making sense of the rock rubble (Ephraim)

Stacked Pallets (Ephraim)

Stacked, hauled, and waiting for the splitter (Midway)

Big Bertha Blue

The Rock Man

Where new meets old

The rock goes up

Resting Place

So Fast

It really seems like yesterday that Stella was a helpless baby who cooed, drooled, smiled and slept the day away. A few highlights from the last couple weeks show that Stella is really growing up.

1. She can climb up the stairs and go down the slide at the Midway playground all by herself.
2. Uh-oh, followed shortly by baby and duck were her first words (still the only ones I can make out).
3. Though she still doesn't really have any, she knows where her hair should be.

I don't want to have one of those mommy vomit blogs, but sometimes I can't help it. I mean, could she be any cuter?

Health Tip for the Day

Shouldn't we all do a little more full-belly laughing?

Waning Summer

Yesterday I started the car's heater on my way to work. Last night I closed the front door because I was cold. And when I went running this morning I wished I were wearing long sleeves. These events, though small, collectively sent a chill down my spine. I don't have a problem with fall or winter--its not like I want to move somewhere equatorial where the seasonal changes are limited to rainy and less rainy--I enjoy the changing of seasons and the progress they mark. But around here it always seems like summer ends too quickly. I am just getting used to shorts, flip flops, and cars that are too hot to climb into and then its over. Its back to school, with socks, shoes and jackets, and starting the car five minutes before departure time to reduce the likelihood that your wet hair will stick, frozen to the seat as you climb in.

Its bad enough that by the end of June, when officially summer is just beginning, the minutes start falling off of the sun-brightened days, foreshadowing summer's own demise. But this year July slipped by, and August is well on its way to just a memory, and I am still trying to work on my tan and get into the habit of afternoon's at the pool. I keep thinking we're just getting started but then have face-slapping reminders that in fact, we are nearing fall and winter will be just around the corner.

As Calder said, trying to calm my fears about time flooding by, not like a trickling stream, but a flash flood, gushing through a desert wash, "the good thing about time going by so fast is that it will be summer again before we know it." He's got a point.

Starr's Guide to the 24th in Utah

How to properly celebrate July 24th in Utah:

1. Go to a small town. We chose Escalante (no Spanish pronunciation please) to visit Summer and the dogs but most small towns will do.

2. Get lots of candy at the main street parade (be sure to stay long enough to watch the floats make a second pass after their u-turn at the end of town)

3. Throw in a mid-day hike (choose a canyon with water to help abate the heat and be sure to have popsicles waiting in the car at the end of the hike)

4. Heat to the rodeo to cheer on the neighbors. You don't have to enter, but must eat the requisite hot dog and snow cone (Stella chose red).


5. Try your hand at the mechanical bull (we let Summer handle number 5)

6. Go to bed before the fireworks, because they are pretty boring anyway.

A Little Project

You know around the Stratford house you can always count on a project. The latest to grace our busy lives is this:

Stay tuned for updates and more photos as the project continues. We are excited to expand our living quarters and have a toilet with a door that shuts and locks. We will also have a nice guest room, so you will be welcome to stay. And to preemptively answer a few questions for you:
1. Yes, it does look very different than the cabin.
2. No, it will not be sided with logs
3. Yes we did notice the roof is flat, and don't worry, and engineer did approve the plans.
4. Yes, it does more than double the size of our current house.
5. No, we haven't had any neighbors send us hate mail. Yet.

But seriously, stop by any time. We'd love to show you around the place, and get you to hammer in a few nails, run some wire, or hang some windows while you're hanging out anyway.