Sunday, March 29, 2015

Nilsson News

I'm plum tuckered out!  Having people come to your house takes way too much preparation.  This is why we choose to be social outcasts and avoid visiting as much as possible.  We enjoy the lives of introverts.  I don't know how people do it who live for the parties.  It was wonderful having family and friends come for Henry's blessing (I think I can handle it once every two years).  It was a great service, we had good food and good visiting.  Henry was a champ and slept almost the entire time we had visitors.  We weighed him and he is now 12 pounds.  You can definitely feel it when you hold him!

Yesterday, I made a long list of things that needed to be done and Addy liked to cross the things off the list.  As she was reading through it, she would ask if I had completed certain things.  Once she looked at me and asked, "Mom, did you do the petrified beans?"  I laughed, and asked her if she knew what petrified meant.  "Yeah, it means turned to stone.  Those aren't going to be very good beans."  I told her to read the list again and she discovered that it said "refried beans" not petrified.

Some other news we have is that we have found a van!!!  Can I just tell you how much I dislike car hunting?  Anyway, it is coming to us from Missouri and they are bringing it out for General Conference.  It will be nice to fit our whole family (although I have enjoyed being "trapped" at home since Garrett has had the car at work) and a few extras.  We'll be matchy matchy with the Bellistons.  Minvan world, here we come!

I hope you all have a fantastic Conference weekend along with a Happy Easter!

Cache Valley Catch up

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER HART!!! - 3 years old today
CONGRATULATIONS ADDY NILSSON - on your piano competition!!!
WAY TO GO ALEX - fixing both a toilet and a kitchen sink!!! Man points, indeed :)

Last Sunday, Emma, Thomas and I decided to head up to Idaho. We hadn't been there for a while and wanted to go visit Peter for his 3rd birthday (a little early). We had a lovely time and were even successful at finding some dresses for Emma. Peter enjoyed the little presents we found for him and was as excited about the batteries as the toy! We stayed up way too late talking, but we don't often get time to visit, so it was very nice. Thomas and Alex got in a good game of racquetball and some business planning. It was a lovely trip.

This week was spent doing more school work - seems like it's never ending assignments, papers, projects, tests, etc. But I am getting somewhere with it all. The end is getting closer in sight. Contrary to Elise's nice email a week or so ago, I'm not very smart - but I do know how to work and study hard. It doesn't come without a price for me and I'm very grateful for small successes.

Thomas had to go in to InstaCare this week. He injured his foot while tumbling on Thursday night, but came home after I'd gone to bed so I didn't know it was hurt until Friday morning. We took him in for x-rays and he has a bad sprain and a chip out of his ankle bone. He is wearing a small, thin brace that fits inside his shoe and we hope it stabilizes things well enough. He is supposed to try out for Big Blue, the USU mascot, this week and he really wants to be able to tumble for the tryouts. Hopefully it will heal quickly.

Lauren went to Las Vegas this past week and enjoyed the music workshops, master classes, and concerts she attended. She got back just in time to do her preview for all of the piano faculty and passed (of course). She will be performing her Master's Recital on April 24th. If you would like to attend, please let us know and we'll save you a seat!! It will be worth your time, for sure! We are lining up babysitters because children under 8 years old are not allowed in the Performance Hall :(
At the end of this week things will slow down a bit and she can turn her attention to planning a wedding!

Emma started taking ice skating lessons this month and is progressing mighty quickly. Her instructor said she is a natural - like just about everything else she tries! She is enjoying it. She went to Idaho to watch her friends compete in a ballroom dance competition. This week she's looking forward to spring break, though we're not sure yet what fun things we'll try to do...

We went down this morning to Layton for Henry's baby blessing. Grandpa and Christi were there, along with several of Garrett's family, Evan Curtis, and some friends of Ruth and Garrett. Right after Sacrament Meeting I got a text stating that a mom in Logan was in labor. I waited until after Sunday School to head to Logan because we weren't sure how fast things would go with the mom. I waited a bit too long and she had her baby about 10 minutes before I arrived. But we had lots to do afterward since this little guy had a cleft lip and palate. We had to figure out how to help him get some nutrition because these babies can't suck. He's healthy and a happy baby, but it will take some time to figure things out. I felt badly to miss out on the visiting and engagement picture taking at Ruth's.

Can I just tell you all how much I love this blog?!!!  Joe's posts crack me up! I can just see the whole car smashing lesson and the gleeful delight in those four big blue eyes as Grant's car runs over Grace's guy - and the cheering when the orange was smashed. I love the photos and the stories and just knowing what everyone is up to. One of these days perhaps we'll have a funny story to tell.

Flake Fun

29 March 2015

I can hardly believe that it is the end of March already!  Time is flying by.
I spent the entire week in Florida at an Emergency Preparedness conference.  Like all conferences there were good parts and boring parts but I am sure glad to be back.  While I was gone Scott showed the house to a family and got some more projects done.  I have decided that until there is someone in the house, the house won't be done!  There always seem to be new projects.

The exciting new of the week is that Katie, our sister-in-law, had a beautiful baby girl on Monday.  She arrived three weeks early, but as Scott's dad put it, "she looks perfectly cooked.  No doughy parts at all."  She was 8 lbs, 13 oz.  Other than being slightly jaundiced she is doing really well.


Katelyn Rose Flake


We saw a herd of antelope grazing on the side of the road when we went down to Mesa yesterday to meet baby Katelyn. 

Hope that everyone is enjoying being together for Henry's baby blessing.  Hope all goes well.  We can't wait to see everyone next month! 

Monday, March 23, 2015

Flake Fun

23 March 2015
Sorry that we didn't write yesterday.  We started the day with a nice walk, the first of the spring and it was wonderful.  I always enjoy our Sunday walks.
I am currently in a hotel room in Orlando.  I have business meetings this week. Scott is at home finishing up the house.  Divide and conquer right?

This past week was an adventure.  Work was busy but things are coming together.  It seems like we had a meeting or appointment every evening.  We have a bunch of people asking about the house so we are hoping to get someone in there this weekend.  We'll keep you posted on that.

We have also been making plans for the family gathering and we'll be sending the proposed schedule out soon.

Love you all!

Sunday, March 22, 2015

FHE at the Bellistons

We have been having a little bit of a problem lately with children running across the road without looking for cars.  So we decided to address it in Family Home Evening last week.  We lost their attention pretty quickly so decided to illustrate it by bringing down some of Grant's cars, the city rug thing, and a toy construction figure.  Grant was the car and Grace was the guy crossing the street.  After looking both ways the guy carefully crossed the street and promptly got hit by Grant's speeding car.  We did our best to explain what is supposed to happen and attempted a few more demonstrations but still felt like we weren't getting anywhere.  At that point we decided to traumatize our kids a little bit and took them outside with an orange.  We placed the orange on the driveway and I ran over it with our car completely smooshing it into a juicy, pulpy puddle.  Grace and Grant started to cheer, which wasn't exactly what we were hoping for, so we asked them "what happens if you don't look before you cross the street?"  "We get smooooshed! Yay!  Let's do it again!!"
I hope all of your family home evenings are a little more effective. 

The baby's are growing like weeds and getting more teeth.  Grace played the drums on rock band and now wants to be a drummer when she grows up.  

Nilsson News

I believe that last week I failed to mention Addy's piano competition.  She had been practicing and preparing for several weeks and felt and sounded ready.  She was competing in an older age group but still managed to take second place!  She was so thrilled and we were all very happy for her.  The piano is definitely one of her talents.
Garrett celebrated his 31st birthday on Friday!  We were excited because he had the whole day off work but then he ended up spending all morning at the church conducting a funeral.  It was a pretty low key birthday, I even bought a cake rather than making one but we still had a good time.  Garrett got a sky ball frisbee that is pretty awesome and I can see our family gathering sky ball matches going up a few extra notches.  Just imagine playing ball off the walls!  We ended the evening watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  It really is a strange show but the music is catchy!
The weather has been delightful and the kids have been outdoors as much as possible.  It makes it slightly more difficult to keep them motivated to do school, but there is a ton to be learned outside.
We hope to see some of you this week for Henry's blessing!  There is no obligation but please let me know if you will be there so we can plan on big enough lunch.
Enjoy some pictures!  ( I don't know why the layout is so weird).
I love my aunties!
Look at those squishy cheeks!  Henry is such a happy baby and smiles a lot.



 Addy's piano competition

 This is ultimately my favorite picture of Henry.  I love it when snapshots work! 

"Mom, Enough pictures already!"

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Alex decided to fix our toilet while we were at Mom's house this weekend. "Man points" as Emma would say. Big time!
Got some good pruning in this week. That's a serious feeling of accomplishment. 

Brag on mom

Since Mom won't share this I just wanted you all to know that she just finished a major class with a 95 on her final exam and an overall score 99 percent. Wow! We have a super smart mom! I'm so proud of her and am constantly amazed at all the wonderful, good things she accomplishes. 

Hart Happenings March 15

What a week! I feel like any news of ours has been entirely eclipsed by new babies and engagements! I mean, really, how do you compete with that? It's is such a thrill though, all these new additions to the family. 
It was fun to go dress shopping with Lauren and enjoy the sweet taste of success. Her dress is lovely! Had a blast playing with Emma and the boys at the park and taking the dogs for walks. We came home with seeds from Anderson's that we are going to plant tomorrow. 
The demise of the crabapple tree was a sorrowful thing. But I must say, Dad with a chainsaw is a FORCE!
Ian has been working hard on his first Pinewood Derby car. It'll be fun to watch him race it. 
Alex finished his Real Estate course this week and can start selling businesses. 
Jack is up to his eyebrows making plans for when Gem comes to live with us. He also wants to know why we write on the "blob". "Mom", he says, "what's the point of a blob?" So, Jenn if you even want to redo the name of the blog the Harts vote for The Belliston Blob!
Peter has really latched on to the Gerald and Piggie books by Mo Willems and takes them everywhere. Listening to him read is pretty much one of the cutest things I've seen in a while. 
The weather has been nice here so we've been enjoying some fun outside time too. We went on a fun hike this afternoon in an old exploded volcano and saw lots of deer which the boys promptly decided to chase. They got pretty close to them which was fun!
Life is good up north!

Cache Valley Catch Up

So, we just said goodbye to Lauren and Nick and Joe's family. It was delightful to visit and have dinner together. Yesterday Elise and her boys left after spending three days with us (which we enjoyed immensely). Emma is distressed because everyone always leaves at the same time and then she's stuck here by herself with her parents. Agony! Count your blessings, older siblings, that you never had to be the last one at home!

The news for this week is that we are now minus one lovely crab apple tree. For all the complaining I've done about that tree over the years, it was a heart wrenching experience to see it come down, limb by limb. Elise helped Dad get the deed started. It took longer than Dad thought it would, and the stump will have to be worked on a bit at a time still, but things look mighty bare out our livingroom window. We are planning to plant another tree or two to take its place - one that doesn't drop little crab apples all over the neighbor's driveway in the fall. The cherry tree may be next on the list...

It has been a delight to welcome little Henry into the family. He is a big, beautiful baby boy who is growing and doing well. Ruth is remarkable and is recovering nicely also. She seems delighted to have a "project" to work on now that the baby is here! She's taken on the wedding decorating for Lauren's reception, which we are truly grateful for. She definitely has an eye for that sort of thing and will do a wonderful job.

Between the new baby, the engagement and the planning that has come with that, a school conference in Salt Lake and other births and classes, it's been a bit crazy and I haven't kept up on our blog contributions. Dad also had a WSARE conference in Salt Lake the week that Henry was born.

Thomas should be home from his spring break trip late tonight. I'm sure he'll have some fun stories to tell. I think we'll try to keep up with the Jones' this week (aka. the Harts, Flakes and Nilssons) and plant some of our garden - at least the peas. Hurray for spring time!

Nilsson News

The weather has been absolutely delightful and Emerson keeps asking me when we will plant our garden.  I think we will plant a few things tomorrow for FHE.  We had a visit from Lauren and Nick yesterday and now Lauren can agree to how loud of a sleeper our little Henry is.  Eliza is slowly warming up to her soon to be uncle and it is cute to see.  I have been nominated to head up the decorations for the wedding and of course will enlist everyone's help.  Please keep your eye out for antique/vintage decor.  Specifically, crocheted doilies and table runners, antique lamps, old unique frames, teacups and saucers, and anything along those lines.

We are still anxiously looking for a van (now we know what Joe and Lori went through).  Garrett decided our first big step would be to sell our mazda.  We have been really frustrated that everything we have looked at has been way above blue book price, so Garrett wanted to sell our car for an honest deal, below appraised value.  We listed it on KSL and within five minutes, Garrett was getting calls and texts.  Within an hour we had sold it!  We are now hoping to find an honest deal like we gave to someone else.  We are now a one car family until we find another vehicle.

Emerson said a funny thing the other day.  Whenever someone meets henry for the first time, Emerson always says, "His name is Henry Reynolds."  One day Emer was holding the baby and said, "Mom, since all of our names end with Nilsson, don't you think Henry's should too?"  I guess I hadn't explained things very well.
It was a good week and we are looking forward to the new one.

Flake Fun

15 March 2015 - We woke up this morning to a bright and sunny day so we're planning for a good week!  There is supposed to be rain a little later in the week but we welcome that!

This week was a doozie and I am glad that it is over with.  Lots of crazy stuff going on at work that I am trying to figure out.  I went to the temple on Friday morning which was a very nice reprieve.  One fun thing about the work week was "needing" a training session by my favorite accountant.  I was given control over the program finances which means access to the County's financial system so Scott took the time to teach me the ins and outs of running the reports that I need.  His abilities never cease to amaze me.  I had no idea the magnitude of his job.  It sure made me appreciate him even more than I already do. 

We put in some good hours on the house this week and it is looking really nice.  We showed the house to a single dad who is really interested and he is set to move in on April 1st. Yay!!!!

We are anxious to start our garden and hope to have the house completed and cleaned this week so we can start on it this weekend! 

That was our week in a nutshell.  Hope everyone had a terrific week! 

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Nilsson News

Yay for Lauren and Nick!  We are glad that Eliza has warmed up to Nick and says, "Nick nice."  I think they will get along terrifically.  I think we need to have a google hang out when Lauren opens her marriage time capsule.  It will be hysterical!
Well, on Thursday we woke up freezing cold and our thermostat reading 59 degrees.  Garrett reported that our vents were all blowing cold air and the furnace was definitely not working.  Thankfully we have a wood burning stove and Garrett got that stoked up.  The kids thought it quite the adventure.  We  stayed in our pajamas all morning because it was too cold to change and the kids brought out their blankets and lincoln logs and we had a "pioneer" experience.  It actually really made me think and count my blessings.  It is so easy for us to just turn up the heat and not think twice about it.  Having a new baby in the house and making sure he was warm was the first thing on my mind.  I thought of those pioneer women who gave birth while crossing the plains in the snow and I can't even fathom how they felt trying to keep their baby from freezing.  I know that is an extreme example, but folks, just be grateful for your heat and a furnace that works.  It was quite the ordeal but it was finally fixed.

Other than that, life is good.  Henry is growing too fast.  He now weighs 10 pounds and is losing that newborn look.  We are enjoying the warm sunshine and warmer temperatures and are beginning to see flowers popping through the ground.  Happy spring!


Just a thought...

One of our favorites...we especially like the part around 1:00. Enjoy!
 
 

Flake Fun

8 March 2015 - First off, a huge congratulations to Lauren and Nick!  We are so excited and happy for you two! 

Things have been interesting this week.  Things at work are quite frustrating for me but I'll get through it.  I was put in charge of all things financial for the program and I have discovered the meaning of "mismanagement of funds" and fiscal irresponsibility.  But, with time and patience we will work through it.  Luckily my new program manager is very focused on a transparent and honest budget so things should start looking up in that arena. 

The weather here was beautiful this week.  The coming week has forecasts in the upper 60's and low 70's.   The birds and other wildlife have come back and it is fun to see them and hear them chirping outside our windows.

The house....the house...As you might have noticed, if you call me in the evenings, that is where we are!  If you call on the weekend, that is where we are.  But it is paying off...or will be soon! 













Sunday, March 1, 2015

Hart Happenings

So, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Highlights include: attending a TED X event and hearing ideas worth spreading from some local folks, staying with Alex's niece and nephew while their parents were in Cancun, meeting baby Henry, lunch with Joe and Lori and crew (Joy and Jake are huge! I forget how fast those little babies grow!), dinner at Zupas with Mom, a special regional broadcast with Elder Perry and Sister Marriott, a mind blowing presentation on the Book of Mormon and how it parallels our day, and of course Ian's birthday which got spread out and celebrated in many locations over a period of a week! He is a great boy! Definitely one of the best I know and a personal favorite. He is actually on the cover of our local Idaho Falls magazine this month. They did an article on the gardening group he was in over the summer and he and some fellow gardener a got to do a photo shoot which was a riot.

All is well here. Sunny but deceptively cold. Lots of good things happening here. Alex starts a realtor course tomorrow so he can do some business brokering. We're also gearing up for another Healthy Loser Weight Loss challenge which we are hoping to duplicate in Logan this year, if we can get Thomas on board.

Life is good.

Here is a thought that I took away from TED last week from Eleanor Roosevelt: "Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people."

Nilsson News

Time flies by way too quickly!  It is hard to believe that one week has passed since we welcomed Henry into our home.  It has been a wonderful week full of relaxing at home together, visiting with family and friends and just enjoying life.  It is amazing to see how fast this little guy has changed.  He is still as mellow and cute as can be.  I would have liked to upload more pictures but the computer is giving me trouble.
 2 days old
 5 days old
Having a fun outing with dad

Flake Fun

1 March 2015 - We missed hearing from everyone last week but hope that you were all having and enjoyable time and doing something fun.  Our week has been much of the same as normal.  I went to Flagstaff last Sunday evening for a couple of meetings.  One (on Monday morning) was a training on transporting infectious biological samples. The second one (Tuesday morning) ended up being cancelled due to large amounts of snow so I was able to come back a day early!   On Wednesday and Thursday I had an emergency management training.  So my week was filled with training.  Scott's week was filled with the normal numbers game.  He is reviewing the 13/14 budget and planning the 15/16 budget.  What happened to living in the present?

We were hoping to be done with the house by this weekend but, alas, it is not quite finished yet.  The weather has been quite chilly and blustery which has slowed things down quite a bit.  However we were able to get a few things done. 

The spare bathroom is done...except for cleaning.

The master bathroom only has a few odds and ends left to do but it has a nice big mirror in there now and some towel racks and hooks!

We have a lady that seems quite interested in the house so we are hoping that she can get over to see the house and that it will be mutually beneficial for all of us.  We'll keep you updated.