Hyde Happinesses

 Always so fun to see everyone’s posts. Sure love you guys. 

April has totally flown by! It’s been a good, very full month. Cam is in full swing at work. It’s long and tiring for him, but he really enjoys what he does and is getting excited for the future of the business. He does all the administrative work, so once the kids are asleep, he’s back at it. I’m really glad he likes it! 

The boys keep us busy. Especially Beckham. My word. He’s all over the place. I don’t remember following Stetson all day long. Maybe we just lived in a smaller place and I didn’t have to worry about it. But Beck? If it’s not one thing I can most certainly say it’s another! He gets into everything. Within seconds. Negative seconds. Time moves backward in his favor. Luckily I’m getting used to closing doors and making sure I have everything closed up as good as I can. The garbage can is still my nemesis and beckham’s favorite toy. We’re missing many spoons and forks. But he really is delightful besides making me run all over the place. And Stetson is as good as they come. He’s bossy and truly a third adult in our house. Cam and I are agreed he actually has more patience than both of us combined. He’s absolutely brilliant. We got him a pair of cowboy boots and now I’m hooked. My boys will have boots and cowboy hats and we will have a herd of horses and I’m so stoked. Beckham cannot get enough of Daisy. Well, he can’t get enough of riding her. Every time he’s up close to her face he’s not a fan, but once we put him on her he does not want to get off and throws a royal fit when we take him down. Stetson isn’t quite that attached yet, but he loves giving her carrots and checking to make sure she has plenty of water. 

Cam and I both had birthdays and they were both very chill and lowkey, just right for me! I made Cam a cheesecake for his birthday and it actually turned out so I was ecstatic about that! And he made me a delicious carrot cake. 

There’s not too much else going on. We ate some of our strawberries the other day! Quite delicious. That’s one fruit that isn’t even close to store bought. The races just finished at Keeneland which means I can finally leave my house whenever I want to and not run into bumper to bumper traffic everywhere I go. We are hoping to nail down our landlord this week to see what her plans are for the house and see if we can arrange a rent to own situation. Also, our landlords brother (the one who lives next door) told us he will probably be selling his house in the next 10-15 years, so someone start saving because he’s got a gorgeous 10 acre lot. Complete with a swimming pool. We’d love to have any one of you as next door neighbors!

Flake Fun

 We have been building the house...that is about it.  But it is coming along. We have run into a small snag in getting power out to the property but I have been put in charge of that project so I will prevail and hopefully get the ball rolling. 

We also got 6 chicks and we are moving them outside this week!  

Oh, and we got lots of trees from Pitkin Nursery so I have been hauling water to try and keep them alive.  I am really getting connected with my inner pioneer, walking to the creek and filling my bucket to water them...all 31 of them.  One day we will have shade!! 

Love you all!

Nilsson News

 Well folks, it has been a minute! I really can't understand how the time flies so rapidly!  Since it was spring break up at BYUI this past week, the weather decided to turn back to winter or rather, be the winter we never had. The temps dropped and we even got snow. I hope that maybe some of the blossoms didn't get completely zapped but that may be wishful thinking.

We were able to go down to Lehi and stayed at Thanksgiving Point. We got the all access pass and did all the things in one day. The dinosaur museum and Jurassic jungle, the butterfly biosphere, the curiosity museum and carousel, and finally the gardens and tulip festival. It was so much fun and we were completely exhausted by the end of it. We met up with the Mannings at some of the museums and that was a blast. The next day we went and hung out with the Belliston gals since their boys were out camping (in the wintery weather). On our way home, we stopped at the Mannings and Lauren and I were able to get some blackberries planted and some weeds destroyed. It was a great little trip even if it was a bit chilly. I don't know why everyone gives us Idahoans such grief about our cold weather because it was the same down in Utah and even over in Kentucky when we were there. The wind blows other places besides Idaho folks!

Addy and I had a fantastic time with the Hydes in their little piece of paradise. It is gorgeous and it made me wonder why the west has to be so ugly? We are trying our darndest to make it beautiful but it's a constant uphill battle! 

We are gearing up to remodel our garage into a living room so that will be great. Lori had a fantastic idea to take the whole Belliston crew and rotate between everyone's homes for a couple weeks here and there and get the projects knocked out. We could start out at the Flakes, and then the Belliston's, the Mannings yard, followed by the Harts and Nilsson's homes. We could do a grand adventure to Texas just for fun and then take a jaunt to the Hyde's to ride their horse. Sounds like a good plan to me! We are looking forward to more consistent lovely days and being outside!

I'm still blown away with the expansiveness of these horse farms! No barbed wire and t-posts here! The Hydes are perfect hosts and we look forward to returning at some point!

We got 17 new chicks and they are always so fun. They have moved out to the chicken coop and that is always a happy graduation from the box in our garage.

How does Addy look as a rebel? This is one of her costumes for her clogging dance, "I Love Rock N' Roll."

We had a pretend Passover meal for Easter and it taught our kids to have patience. It was definitely not a quick one!

Two cute babies so far! Dusty and Violet. And yes, Violet still has super curly hair like in the picture. So cute!

Emerson has completed two guitar builds so far and has started on the third. The lighter one is a bass that he made from a kit. The electric guitar below is completely from scratch. He found the 2x6's in the barn and glued them together and shaped the body, he made his own pickups with copper thread and magnets and laser cut the fret board. I have no idea how he does it!

Fun things at Thanksgiving Point!

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Hyde Happinesses

 Hello folks! It’s been a very eventful week. I didnt know we were getting a horse on Monday. And we had one by Friday. So that was cool. 

Long story short, Kevin’s technicians aunt (🙄 it’s complicated) owns a horse trail riding company. She has dozens of horses and takes people out in the Kentucky back country for rides. She had a sweet little 8 year old paso fino pony who didn’t get ridden much because she was too small for big people, but just right for kids. Her aunt felt bad that she didn’t get enough attention, so she was asking around if anyone wanted her. Kevin started showing some interest back in the fall, but as he doesn’t have any place to keep a horse, he asked us if we’d consider it. Well. Fast forward six months. Cams been talking about her for awhile and asked if we could just go see her. I knew we were doomed when he asked. The guy gets what he wants, let me tell you. Anyway, we went out and met her and she was just a sweetie. She did great with the boys an seemed to like us. I wasn’t really convinced we were going to get her, but before I knew it, we had agreed to buy her for a very very reasonable price. She’s 100% ours and now I’m obsessed with her. She escaped this morning and wandered all over the neighborhood, so that wasn’t great, but Cam is out there now, fortifying her place so she stays put. We went out and rode her for awhile today and she was beautiful and graceful and so gentle. She’s got some fire in her, and likes to go fast, but she responds really well. We really love her and think everyone should come out and visit and meet her. 

So that’s the big news of the week. Cam turns 27 this week and I need someone um *cough cough* older and wiser to tell him he’s not over the hill quite yet. He thinks he’s so desperately old and I just roll my eyes at him. Personally I still feel like a teen mom so idk what he’s talking about. 

That’s all folks. Sure love you all and hope you have a great week! 

You can’t really see it, but he is absolutely covered in dirt. It’s his favorite meal.

Hyde Happinesses

 Family! You must needs come visit us! It is so fun to have you come to my turf! We had an absolute blast with Ruth and Addy last week. Stets asks every day when they’re going to come back and I’m wondering the same thing. We just played all day and saw some really pricey horses and watched some good shows. They helped me plan some of Becks birthday and it was just so fun. My goal was to make them jealous so they would move out here. Not sure if I was successful, but I don’t think anyone can deny that Kentucky is a very beautiful place. 

Beckham boy is 1!! Can you believe it??! I cannot. A few days before he turned one, he really started walking, and now he’s a pro. However, whenever I try to put shoes on him when we go outside, he throws a royal fit and grunts and yells at me and will not stand up until I take them off. It’s hilarious. Anyway, here’s to hoping he’ll learn to wear shoes soon. Poor guy. We went to a sandwich shop for dinner, then came and had cupcakes and opened presents. He loved the cupcakes and Stetson was delighted with the presents 😅

Anyway, we have been having a great time. The weather is gorgeous. I did my first ward activity this morning and it went really well. Our ward is really phenomenal and everyone stepped up and was willing to help. I made 200 crepes (you need 3 gallons of milk and 50 eggs, people). Never again. But they were delicious. Then we did an Easter egg hunt for the kids and it was awesome! The weather was perfect and we had over 600 eggs for the kids to find which was great. The activity was something I was dreading, and I’m really glad it’s over. It is NOT my cup of tea, but I’m trying to get over myself and just deal with it.

Well, I love you people. Come visit. 

This beauty is called Not This Time. It costs $250,000 to breed with him once. So maybe we should all rethink our choice of career and go into breeding racehorses. Food for thought. 

 Old fashioned soda fountain

Kentucky dirt is 10/10

Conference naps. All my boys were asleep for the first session. I’ve never got so much out of conference 😆

Flake Fun

 I don't have much to report, even though it has been several weeks.

James lost a tooth which was exciting.  

We got 25 trees from Pitkin Nursery.  I am really excited to get them planted but that is a lot of holes to dig!!  

The house is coming along...see...

This is the fireplace surround.  Once it is completed (at least for this level - just 4 more rows) then we can start framing the basement walls. 

Love you all!  Happy Easter!

Hyde Happinesses

 Hello lovely people. I sure love you all. I really don’t have much to say, but I found myself with some quiet time and not much else to do! Cam is helping someone move a fridge, and the boys are asleep. Tragically, I finished the Emma M Lion series last night. It’s actually tragic. And now I’m sitting on pins and needles, waiting for any word of the next book. It’s safe to say I’m completely obsessed with them. 

We’ve enjoyed some lovely weather, and some really less than ideal weather 😅 after this Tuesday, we should be getting into warmer temperatures, and hopefully staying there. 

What boys don’t like to be outside? Beckham has found the various culinary delights quite satisfying. Particularly dirt. 

Beck loves to cuddle anytime, anywhere. And it’s my favorite thing in the world.

We decided a helmet was a good investment after stets went flying over his handlebars into the grass. He popped right up, totally fine, but we got the helmet just in case. Lucky for us, he loves it. 

Learning the ways of the trade.