indepedence day

the fourth of july...

we spent the whole weekend down in fairview...the culhane family has nothing over on the hunter and godwin families, when it comes to hangin' out! NOTHIN' ~ but total relaxation! i even finished reading the book i was reading ~ the ice castle, and got some reading in about my "winters" ancestors. i can't help but be grateful to them for the hardships they endured so that i can enjoy some of the freedoms that i have today. we are sooo blessed!

maybe... my love for fairview is inherited from my ancestors who were some of the first settlers of mt. pleasant and fairview. hiram winters and his son, william were both, two of the first physicians in mt. pleasant. hiram was a brother to my great grandfather, oscar winters. a sister, rebecca winters, married amasa tucker. in 1872, orson hyde appointed amasa the second mayor of fairview. he also served as bishop over the fairview ward for 23 years and rebecca served in the relief society presidency, acting as either president or counselor for 36 consecutive years, from 1874 to 1908. (i think i would have shot myself, first, NO! i know i would have!). they lived in a house at 190 s. state street in fairview. they are both buried in the fairview cemetery.

okay, back to the mountain... chet, tiff and the kids were already down there when we got there. it's always more fun when at least some of the grand kids are there to spoil!

we watched and played with all kinds of critters. :) "harny toads" (per kendyl), fuzzy caterpillars, chipmunks stealing cereal from godwin's deck (kendyl was sure it was 'alvin'), we watched starlings attacking the chipmunks, all kinds of crawly and fliey thingies. mosquitos - and i have the bites to prove it, but the funnest was that we put a hummingbird feeder in the tree, right out the window of the trailer and once they found it, the hummingbirds frequented it quite often.

chet and tiff had some of their friends from their ward come down. the hayes. they have 3 girls and a little boy. with all of us, and all of the godwin clan, we had quite a fun little wienie roast for the fourth. after dinner the kids jumped on the wheelers and went out on the side hill to watch the fireworks. in one place, they watched the fireworks in 3 different towns. manti, mt. pleasant, and fairview. i got to stay back at the trailer, ryker was asleep and i really didn't care whether i got to see the fireworks or not. when the kids got back, we sat around the fire pit, made s'mores. and looked at the sky. it was filled with stars and boy was it beautiful!

we did go on a few 4-wheeler rides and i think don even played nine wii holes of golf with the godwin guys.

this is carson playing in the rocks.

and this is tatun swingin' on my swing.

(just picture me, sitting on it?!)

it's always the pitts to have to come home to reality. but life is as life does............................

"a little piece of heaven"

this is the place!

to us it is "a little piece of heaven!"

i helped get the girls down to girls camp. maybe you wonder why i would volunteer to drive a car full of giggly girls to camp? it is because i absolutely love the drive down to fairview? let me just tell you about the peaceful ride it is (even with little girls trying to imagine what kind of fruit they would be if they were a fruit, or what kind of candy they think they remind each other of, or if they were an animal, what would they be? ... get the picture?). okay...just picture this... (well... i will post a few for you to actually see) green farm ground. pastures filled with mares and their colts, cows with their newborn calves, sheep with their lambs. we even had to stop, this time, while the sheep herders were herding their sheep down the road. so many cute little farms, that are sooo inviting. irrigation sprinklers watering fields. wildlife...

(i'll spare you the pictures of the wildlife i saw on this trip down, it was mostly just road kill) but, it's just so peaceful, a slow paced living ! something i dream of ! (maybe someday....) old barns....

then we get up on top of the mountain. need i say more? no phones, very few cars going up and down the road. deer running thru and eating all of the quakies we have planted. last year, one even jumped right over the top of kamryn while she was sitting on the bench down by the swing. freaked her out for a minute, but then she thought that it was cool.


this is a picture (from the road) of our home away from home.

but the best part is that we get to spoil and enjoy the grandkids! siona and kendyl were having a grand ol' time with the spray bottles, trying to spray papa and gramma, then one of them decided to spray the other. and all he!! broke loose. melanie got up and took the spray bottles away from both of them, and this is what we listened to (forever). papa wasn't helping much, but we got a pretty good laugh and so i just had to share it with you.