The Stevens family is incredibly close. I thought my family did a lot together until I married into this party lovin' family! What makes their bonds so tight? Probably many things... but I believe that one reason is because they have a lot of traditions. Games, music, Sunday dinners, holiday parties--these things keep them close. When we moved back to Eastern Idaho a few years ago, my children were delighted to finally participate in one of the oldest Stevens family traditions that happens every August: Picking Huckleberries! All year long, the Stevens family slowly (& carefully) depletes their precious harvest of berries by adding them to jams, syrups, desserts, and pancakes. In all honesty, I'm not much of a berry fan, but there is something so exciting about venturing up to the mountains to see how big the berries are and how many you'll get!!
Buckets-check. Bells to keep away bears-check. Bug spray-check.
And we're off!
Justin & Carson in the center of our top secret huckleberry spot!
Even Ashton got into the huckleberry action this year! His sweet cousin Kassidy helped him manuevre over plants and logs as tall as he was to find those "purple balls!" When he spotted one, he would gasp and exclaim to everyone in the forest that he had "found one!" His fingers were as purple as everyone else's!
Very proud of his stash!
He was getting quite a collection until Kassidy let him in on a secret... the purple balls were edible! After that, Ashton's bucket was pretty lonely. Ash popped those berries in his mouth faster than you could say, "Huckleberry Pie!"
Carson chose to collect pinecones rather than berries.
He always marches to his own beat!
All that bending over gets tiring pretty quick, so the boys took a berry break--enjoying Aunt Brooke's Ritz crackers. She thinks of everything!
Kenna's girlfriend Kamry came with us too! The girls ventured very high up that mountain, loved exploring the plants and bugs, and even had a memorable outdoor bathroom experience that I'll spare you from! I think they picked as many wildflowers as berries! Cute girls!
Friends and Cousins!
4 comments:
A lady I work with is always asking me to come huckleberry picking with her and I've never gone! I love that you do it as a family - I just think what in the heck would I do with them? Oh, and thanks for sparing us the bathroom story :)
I wanna hear this bathroom story! Oh, my...I hope Kamri wasn't a nuisance! :) What a fun day! Thanks so much for taking Kamri along for all of the fun! She loves you all so much!
how fun! i love berries! make sure and post anything delicious you make with them!!
Love the picture of Ashton with his little pail. Reminds me of "Blueberries for Sal." Kaplink, Kaplank, Kaplunk.
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