Self

"Self" is a common word around our house these days.  Joy is especially fond of it.  She has to do everything herself from getting dressed, to taking off her diaper, to preparing her own meals.  Sometimes it's a blessing but other times...

Grace had her last day of school on Friday and she was not too happy about it.  She made a list of things she could do with her time and a lot of them include continuing to learn the things she was learning at school.  During her prayer tonight she asked for help coming up with things to do while dad was at work and mom was still sleeping.  I think she will find plenty to do.  The last couple days walking to school we ran into a little family of ducks that we got attached to.  The mom looked just as comfortable as ever taking care of her 14 little ones.  I'm sure I could learn something from her.

Grant had a good time with Grandma and Grandpa Chester when they came down, and we are enjoying our new bed!  The best part is that when we have to get up and sleep somewhere else, it can be our old bed instead of the floor.

Thomas and Victoria came and visited us today which was super fun!  The kids had a great time playing with them and showing off all of their talents.  Jake wanted to show them his flip and landed on his head.  I beat Thomas in an arm wrestle, but there were not witnesses, and Thomas beat us all in a long card game.

I got as close as I ever will to playing in the NBA a couple weeks ago.  Sometimes I play ball during lunch at BYU with members of the athletic department.  Well this particular day Jabari Parker happened to join us.  He was super nice and fun to play with.

Lori is really enjoying digging in the dirt and making our yard beautiful.  She had been nurturing 2 big weeds in our garden that we are convinced is the cure for the common cold.  We will let you know how that goes.

Hart Happenings

Not much happening here to be honest. We enjoyed rain pretty steadily from Thursday through Saturday which was fun but limited our outside time. The NBA playoffs are going on right now so the boys spend time watching ball games in the evening and then playing basketball all day! 

It seems like we are getting a slew of new families moving into the ward which keeps us visiting and forming new acquaintances which is always fun. 

The boys spent a lot of time setting up a rhubarb shop on Wednesday and did some research on rhubarb and some hands-on trials with new rhubarb recipes. Rhubarb ice cream is delicious! They created a fact sheet of rhubarb facts and recipes to pass out to their customers and they sold fresh rhubarb juice, one pound bundles of rhubarb, and provides samples for those who had never eaten rhubarb before. They made $10 and we're delighted that they had actual customers, not just the neighbors! Alex was exceedingly proud of his little entrepreneurs!

Hyde Park Happiness

If you haven't been to Cache Valley lately, you really should come. It is so absolutely gorgeous from all of the rain! The whole valley and the mountain sides are an almost florescent green color, with flowers of every kind blossoming. Birds are singing and splashing in puddles. There have been rainbows galore and the air smells so fragrant. It is thoroughly refreshing just to step outside!

Good times with family in this neck of the woods...  We have had a delightful couple of weeks hanging out with Lauren and baby Wesley.  Whenever Nick is gone teaching, we use it as an excuse to drop by and hold the baby so Lauren can get a little nap. They have come to our house a time or two as well, which is very fun!  I was tickled to learn that Wesley had grown 2 inches and 2 pounds since his last doctor visit! He's getting a little chubby face! This little guy is such a sweetie, even though he has his days and nights a bit backward. He thinks that playtime is in the middle of the night, then it's nearly impossible to awaken him during the day... Anyone else remember those days??  We are very grateful they live close by and we are able to have frequent contact.  Nick is waiting to hear, and should know this week, where he will be assigned to do his student teaching for seminary. They are kind of hoping to be assigned to Preston. Then we'd have three children living in Idaho! What's that all about?

Addy's dance recital was also delightful! She is a very graceful girl and a fine dancer. It was nice that the family could travel back to Utah so she could participate one last time with her little dance class. Grandpa and I were very impressed with all of the dancers.

During the dance recital, Emma was in Cache Valley having fun being in the Black and White Days parade. She was especially grateful that it happened between rainstorms. The umbrellas had been forgotten, so it was a blessing that the rain stopped just in time for the parade.

Thomas invited us to a birthday celebration for Victoria at her parents' home. Emma and I attended and had a great time! She's a whoppin' 22 years old! She opened gifts and we sang and had some delicious "tres leches" birthday cake. We had to leave before they played games, which was a blessing for them or they would have been soundly beaten at Wacky Six by Emma!

Dad and I made a run for it when the rain stopped for a few hours on Friday - we took Joe and Lori's new king size mattress down to them and got to play and visit with the darling Belliston kiddos for a couple of hours. Grant didn't even hold it against us when he got his hand slammed in the truck
door :(  He cried until it wasn't hurting as much, then forgot all about it! Amazing!

We have been taking every opportunity, when the rain stops, to dig in the garden. Dad and Emma got the potatoes planted, along with some carrots. I hope to plant some lettuce, spinach, radishes, broccoli and other cooler crops this week. Maybe next weekend we'll get the beans, corn and vines planted. Seems like it's always June before we are finished planting our garden...

Dad's been re-reading Nibley's book about building Zion and we've been having very inspiring discussions about how to accomplish that! It's definitely worth pondering.

Speaking of Zion, I do hope you're all planning on attending our Family Gathering ("gather to Zion") on Labor Day weekend this year. It will be held in Idaho, the Hart family in charge. It will be the best of good times and we hope you'll all be able to make it! Stay tuned for more details to come :)

Flake Fun

Sounds like gardens were all the rage this last week!  Our beans and corn have popped up and our potatoes seem to be doing well.  Our tomatoes are set to be transplanted this week.  The rest of the garden will have to wait until we get back!

We have been hard at work on our rental.  The plumbing has been started, we are making progress on the electrical and the living room floor is almost all removed. Here are some before and after shots for you.

 

 



This is where we will be starting the plumbing project...

 

Other than remodeling, we are just getting ready for our trip.  This will be our last post for a couple of weeks but we'll be back with fun pictures! 

 

Love you all!  Hope the sun comes out for you soon, but don't forget to enjoy dancing in the rain.

 

 

Hart Happenings

This week passed in a blur and I'm trying to remember anything noteworthy. We got in a couple of good days of cousin time. I have had a blast helping Ruth get her living room revamped, and I must say, it looks great. Hopefully she will post some pictures!

The kids and I went with some homeschooling friends to a little lake in Blackfoot. It was so fun! I got to relax with my friends while the kids played in the sand and water.  Peter and Ineven went on the huge slip 'n slide together. 

Saturday we attended the baptism of a good family friend which was a good chance to reconnect with them. 

We had a lovely rainstorm last night and into the morning. Everything is sparkly green and lovely!

Garden update: raspberries, carrots, peas, kale, lettuce, garlic, ochre, amaranth, and chard are going strong, along with the bindweed, dandelions, and lamb's quarter! The lilacs are in full bloom, accompanied by our irises that are mind-blowingly fragrant! The boys are giddy that the cilantro has finally popped up. So fun! What a great time of year! I was so impressed and inspired by the tale of Lori's productivity. We'll have to get down to Springville soon to get a visual of their Garden of Eden in the making!

Love y'all!

Springville News

Hello!  That's Jake's favorite word these days.  He will come around a corner or jump out from behind the bed and instead of shouting "boo," he shouts "Hello!!"  It actually sounds more like "hewoe."

Well there's not much new going on around here.  My little victory this week was when Lori asked Joy who loved her and she said "Daddy.  Daddy Wuvz me."  Lori has planted lots of flowers and stuff and we are hoping to get our garden in this week.  Lori planted asparagus last week which everyone was really excited about, until she told us that we wouldn't be able to harvest for about 3 years.  Not a great ROI if you ask me.  Lori also bought a compost bin which hasn't arrived yet, but that hasn't stopped her from keeping all the smelly leftovers.  I've never seen someone so excited about garbage. It reminds a little bit of growing up in our house.

The kids had a great time celebrating mothers day.  They bought Lori 3 chocolate strawberries, a chocolate cake, and mint chocolate ice cream with cones.  I'm not sure if Lori got any but it's the thought that counts.  Grant filled out a little mom sheet at pre school that was enlightening.  We attached it as well as Grace's from last year so you can all get to know Lori a little better.

Lori shared a talk by Elder Bednar with me last week that has really changed me.  Here's a link to it which I would highly recommend listening to.  It's called the Character of Christ and talks about charity.  It's about 30 minutes long.

After spending two nights sleeping on the floor this week, we are really excited about the new king size mattress that we ordered last week.  The Harts have been trying to get us to buy one for the last 7 years now and we finally listened.  We will let you know how it goes.  At least if we get kicked out of that one, we will have another bed to go to.

Happy Mothers day to you all!

   

Hart Happenings

We have enjoyed some lovely sweet-smelling rain this weekend and I have concluded that there are very few things, okay, scratch that, nothing smells as good as rain scented lilacs and Mayday trees. I got a celestial whiff of that this morning as I was walking down our streets that are at their very best in the spring and fall. Amazing!

It was quite the week at the Hart house. One highlight was Ian's concert. It was so fun to have Ruth's family here in town to join us that night and Mom and Emma drove the distance to be here which meant the world to Ian. We also had the missionaries from our ward show up and Alex's parents and grandma were there and our really good friends, the Heaths. We felt very loved and supported. 

Wednesday we bought another sleeper house. It is so cute! I'm so excited for you guys to stay in it for the family gathering. Now Jenn and Scott just have to talk us through some updates. 

Jack and Ian started their gardening class on Thursday. It looks like it is going to be a fun crew. Lots to do and learn!

The missionaries came over for dinner on Friday evening which was fun. Our boys love these elders. 

Saturday Ruth and I spent the morning at the greenhouse and Farmer's Market, where Ruthie met a goat lady and they bonded. I think there might be adorable baby goats in the Nilsson's near future.The Warriors played that night and we had friends over for poutine and pina coladas then they stayed to watch the basketball game and Garrett joined us. 

We had a nice Mother's Day today. The boys spoiled me and got me this retro lamp I've been eyeing at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and we enjoyed a nice dinner with Alex's family. 

Well, there you go, a play by play of our week. It was a good one. 

Happy Mother's Day to all you ladies! I don't know better moms and aunties in the whole world!

Flake Fun

8 May 2016 - This week has been fairly normal.  Things are starting to pick up at work for me since grant applications, budgets and the like are due in the next few weeks.  The decision was made not to replace my boss so all of the budgets and things like that have fallen to me. 

Our evenings have been spent at our new rental and it is looking better..worse?  I don't know what to call it but we have ripped out sheetrock in the laundry room, the floor in the mudroom, laundry room and kitchen.  Some pipes in the laundry room so we can put them into the wall instead of having them run outside of the wall...Lots of work but we are making progress.

Hope that everyone has a great week!!!  Love you all! 

Hyde Park Happiness

So much can happen in a couple of short weeks...  A new house for Nilssons, a new baby for Mannings, a choir concert for Ian, a couple of band concerts/festivals for Emma, graduation for Nick, and some of the same old, same old (which is good, too!).

Emma and I enjoyed seeing Ruth and Garrett's new house and land and attending Ian's concert while Dad helped Lauren. Emma was really glad to have a band festival that took her out of town on the day Nick graduated. Those meetings are not her favorites.

We have thoroughly enjoyed getting acquainted with sweet little Wesley James Manning. He's had some struggles and Lauren's had some struggles, but things seem to be improving and there is hope of great things to come! This baby is a mellow, sweet, calm little guy. I sense a great soul residing in that little body. He is precious and has some very dedicated, loving parents. What a great blessing to come to Lauren and Nick!

Enough of words.... Let's get to the photos! Is there a limit to how many we can post? I guess we'll find out :)

 

 Wesley with his birthday cake made by Aunt Emma.  He's not very enthused about it!

 

 On his "light bed" - he doesn't seem to mind much having to lay on the bili lights.

Such a sweet face! Such a sweet boy! I think he looks like his daddy. And he wasn't "itsy, bitsy" like Joe thought he'd be! He was bigger than all of Joe's and Lori's babies except for Grant, who was only a few ounces heavier than Wesley!

 

Happy mom and baby. He doesn't even look very yellow in these photos!

 

 You'd think he was glad to be finished with school!

With Craig Jessop, Dean of the College of Fine Arts. They are good friends! Brother Jessop really, really likes Nick.

Yes, that's a little guitar in Nick's tassle. It says "Rock Star"...

Flake Fun

1 May 2016 - Happy May Day everyone!  I can't believe it is already May but we had a terrific April shower last night to usher it in! 

This week has been exhausting. I don't think I recovered fully from Dallas before I had to head down to Phoenix for a mandatory meeting.  But I think all business travel is over for a while.  Only vacation travel in the near future!

Both Scott and I had Friday off so we made a few minor repairs on the Sunset house (which is now rented) and then put in some garden.  We planted/transplanted some broccoli, spinach, leeks, beans and corn.  The starts in the greenhouse are doing really well and we should be able to get some of them out to the garden in the next couple of weeks. 

Yesterday we spent most of our day at the Lovelake house.  We got the mudroom floor pulled up and a wall in the laundry room pulled down.

 

There were 4 layers of flooring! 

Congratulations to the Manning family on their new addition.  Congrats to the Nilsson's on their new home.  Can't wait to see pictures!