Huckleberries! How We Love Them

Dirty, huckleberry faces are my favorite.

I look forward to the end of August for months, sometimes years. The reason behind this, of course, is because the end of August it's that magical time of year where we get to go into the mountains above my in laws house and pick huckleberries. Huckleberry picking was the first thing I did with my husband and his family all those 15 years ago and though it has become less of a big deal with his family over the years, I still love it and look forward to it every year. I love going up into the beautiful mountains, smelling the fresh crisp air, sitting down and collecting those delicious huckleberries one by one. I love the peace it brings me and I love thinking about all I can do with those delicious berries. I love watching my kids enjoy the great outdoors, I love seeing their dirty, purple stained faces and their big smiles. I love hearing them in the distance, giggling and running around with their cousins (when their cousins come) and I love how excited they get when they have piles of huckleberries in their buckets. I just love everything about huckleberry picking.

Last year there weren't any huckleberries to pick, well not enough to bother going anyway. It was so sad not to go, but we had enough from the the previous year that it was okay. This year was a little better than last and so we decided to head up and pick as many as we could. We headed to Grace on Friday night August 23rd and when we woke up on Saturday we were able to watch the fog role in. It was so beautiful and the kids really enjoyed playing in it. It's always fun to play in a cloud.

A beautiful foggy morning.

Enjoying the fog

Who's ready to go pick huckleberries?

After the fog and some yummy breakfast we headed up the mountain. It had rained the day before and was a little wet and chilly, but it was so nice to be up in the mountains. We picked for awhile and then was joined by Kenny's sister Karen and some of her family. The kids played, the adults picked and talked and the after a few short hours we headed back to grandma and grandpas. We didn't get many huckleberries, maybe enough for one batch of jam, maybe, but we made memories and the kids had a lot of fun. It was well worth it in my opinion. (I do, however, hope next year is an amazing year for huckleberries.)

Ben showing off his big huckleberry.

Hannah picking huckleberries.

Grandpa ready to pick

Sarah showing off her huckleberry.

Grandma and the little girls picking huckleberries

The kids all had fun riding down the mountain in Uncle Cory's truck.

All the kids except for Adam rode in the truck. Adam
had fun in the van with mom and dad.

We stopped on the side of the mountain road to have a
dance party. Can't go wrong with a dance party.

Cute little dancing Dan.

Gracie being Gracie!  :)