Family Gathering Update

Belliston Family Gathering - 2017

May 26 - 29 (Memorial Day weekend)

"Learn a Thing or Two"

 

Thanks a million for your responses to the questions!  Here is one more assignment for you to think about... We'd like to have a "mission dinner" with everyone preparing a dish from the country in which you served. Let us know what you'd like to prepare (entrée, salad, dessert, bread, etc.) and the ingredients you'll need. This will help us "learn a thing or two" about a place or two and will benefit our taste buds at the same time!

 

We are doing our best to find some local Airbnb rentals and get all the arrangements made. Most of our activity time will likely be at one of the churches, outside in our yard or at a park, with some time being spent in Logan canyon...

 

Oh my goodness!  It is going to be so much fun!!

 

 

Hyde Park Haven

I love seeing the pictures!! Thanks for posting your adventures!

We had a great week with Ruth and her kiddos here. The rain put a damper on a few of our planned activities, but we had fun nonetheless.  We made cookies, went for walks between storms, played at the park for a short time, had a blast tending Thomas' dog (Rudy), jumped on the tramp with the neighbors, read stories, played with Lauren and Wesley, and generally had a good time together. Dad and I fought over whose turn it was to hold Millie, but we each had some good snuggle time. We hope the Nilsson clan comes again before Millie is crawling! We hope the rest of you come soon!

Since our last post, Emma went a second time to the oral surgeon to get infection drained out of her tooth. This time she actually took the antibiotic prescribed and got rid of the infection. That is good. Her allergic reaction to the medication was not so good. The day before she was scheduled for a couple of interviews, she broke out in a very itchy rash all over her body - arms, legs, torso (front and back), neck, scalp, face - it was awful!! After reviewing everything she had eaten and breathed, I finally realized it could be the antibiotic. The doctor said to not take any more - now or ever again. I guess, like Lauren, she is allergic to penicillin. She took Augmentin, but the doctor said to not take any penicillin drugs. Now we know.

Our bulbs are poking out of the ground, finally - daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, garlic... Very lovely and fragrant. I hope it stops raining one of these days so I can get a head start on the weeds. For spring break, Emma said she'd like to stay home and prune trees with Dad! What a great idea! How's that for a "stay-cation"!  I think we will definitely take her up on that.

Thomas and Victoria spoke in church yesterday about following the prophet.  That's hard to do if you don't know what he/they are saying, so I do hope you all have plans to tune in to General Conference! We can't wait to compare notes with all of you.

Hart pics

Hart Happenings

This week raced by!  The boys have spent every spare moment outside playing on the basketball hoop.  Jack is the reigning champion of Around the World and will gladly challenge anyone who is feeling lucky.

It started off awesome, with a surprise visit from Grandma and some good cousin time on Monday.  Grandma took the Nilsson kids to their homeschool co-op group while Ruth came over with baby Millie to make Garrett's requested birthday treat.  Ruth, you should post that brownie recipe on the blog.  Delicious!  Then Grandma brought the kids back to play and Ruth and I made mom sit down and watch Fixer Upper with us.  Lori, we missed you!  We've all read the book that Chip and Jo (Fixer Upper hosts) wrote (title: The Magnolia Story) and it was fun to have that background story as we watched their show.  That night we proceeded to eat the yummy brownies Ruth had made and had fun watching Garrett hunt for his presents.  Eliza couldn't resist helping him with some good hints which was hilarious!

It was Spring Break for all the kids here so we spent some time with friends.  We toured a local greenhouse with another family of boys and the kids got to see how the planting happens and they each potted up a flower to take home.  Putting their plants on the conveyer belt to got through the watering system was the favorite part.  We also enjoyed root beer floats and banana splits with another family on Friday night, where we were introduced to their new baby ducks.  Needless to say, baby ducks are now on the boys' growing menagerie list.  Why do baby ducks seem to stay cuter longer than baby chicks who turn ugly and awkward overnight?

We've ordered our fruit trees, decided on a chicken coop plan, and established the other major areas of our yard that we want to work on this year (i.e. kids play place and a berry patch).  It's sooo nice to be out of the house and breathing some fresh air.

I finished an excellent book this morning called Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin.  She is the author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home which are also phenomenal.  Better than Before is about habit formation and was super mind expanding for me.  I think there are certain speaker/authors/people who, for whatever reason, we relate to better or at least who seem to say things in a way that really makes sense to us and for me that has been Gretchen Rubin.  I highly recommend all of her stuff.  Highly!

Alex was asked to form a team for a flag football league and they had their first game on Saturday.  The boys and I went to watch.  It was so fun!  Garrett is on the team too and he and Alex both had some really great plays and they boys and I cheered our heads off!  One guy on the other team broke a tooth (yikes!) but other casualties were avoided.  We just wish that Alex, Scott, Thomas, Nick, and Dad were here and could be on the team.  You guys would dominate!  We'll have to save some time for a game or two at the Family Gathering.

Saturday we also spent some time at a new vacation rental we are going to open soon.  A man named Mike Groth contacted Alex a few weeks ago and told him how Mike's wife had died last year and he had this big property with multiple houses/cottages on it and he was wondering if Alex could help him turn one into a vacation rental.  We went to take a look and were thrilled to find out that it is an estate that we have always had our eye on here in Idaho Falls.  It is so pretty and will be so fun to list!  The boys loved Mike and he took them for a ride around the property on his golf cart which cemented his status as the coolest old man they had ever met.

We're looking forward to General Conference this coming weekend and would love to host anyone who would like to get away for a weekend.  We will be eating Conference Crepes and if Jack has his way, maybe even some salmon.  Also, FYI: the tickets for the Idaho Falls Temple open house will be available starting April 3rd.  It will run all through April and May.  We would also love to host anyone interested in attending that.  Shameless pitches for your company, I know, but we believe in bribery at the Hart house.

Can't wait for another week!  It's means its that much closer to Family Gathering time!

Flake Fun

26 March 2017 - The last couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful as far as I can remember!  The weather was a little up and down with some really nice days and some really windy and cold days.  Our peach tree blossomed and then it froze.  We are hoping that the frost didn't do too much damage but time will tell.

Last weekend Scott told me that we were going on a date but wouldn't give me any more details.  So we ended up in Holbrook for dinner and then he pulled into the government complex.  I was pretty confused until we walked over to the racquetball courts where a small group was gathered.  There is a man named John that works for Navajo County but his passion is astronomy.  He had brought two of his big telescopes so that we could star gaze!  He even told Scott to bring the camera so here are our first attempts at astrophotography.

M51

Orion Galaxy

Basically John had an adapter that allowed our camera to attach directly to the telescope so we could get these pictures!  The cool thing was that when you looked through the telescope, all you could see was a little smear but with a delayed shutter speed, you could catch the actual colors and movement!
So we tried some pics from our backyard. Can anyone guess what the line is? 

It is an airplane! 

Let's see, what else...the greenhouse is full of greenery which is always fun.  We got another section on the island completed which was fun.  It will get completely done soon!

Hope all is well with you and yours.  We miss you all and can't wait to see you in May! 

Hart pics

Hart Happenings

Hello loved ones, far and wide (this refers to distance, not clothing sizes for those of you growing babies),

The sun has made a few appearances in the last week, which is a blessed thing in March when we Idaho folk are beginning to despair.  It has been nice to walk around the yard and start making plans.  The boys have been busy climbing all the trees in the yard and discussing which one is the best for climbing.  I also caught them throwing the football into the trees so they had an excuse to climb them.  I wish you could have seen their faces when I told them they could climb the trees regardless of whether there was a football lodged in it somewhere!  Ecstatic little adventurers.

We got to have the Nilssons over this week which is always a treat.  Millie is the sleepiest little charmer I have ever seen.  And Ruth is already chomping at the bit to get into her next project.  She amazes me.  She and Garrett accomplish more in a few weeks than Alex and I do in a year!  And it looks so nice in the basement.  Good work!

Every 1st and 3rd Friday the boys and I (and now Ruth's family) meet with our homeschooling group and this Friday I was sitting there as the moms were discussing things and was just so grateful for the like-minded people that God puts in our lives.  It has made such a difference in our family to have a support system and people that "get" how we think and what we are trying to accomplish.  I wish the same for each of you!

We got back late Monday night from a trip that we took to the Oregon coast.  It was so fun!  Alex has a brother in Salem and they got together to work on some stuff for the rental houses so me and my sister in law and all the kids got to play.  We went to the beach, visited a discovery museum, road an epic carousel, went to the beach again and saw 2 real, live, lighthouses (a bucket list item for me).  The boys were enthralled by the sea lions that we saw and had a blast being chased by the waves, which caught up to them and drenched them a few times.  We also found the coolest slide ever at a park in Newport.  It was pitch dark and you had to climb this huge hill and went down a tube slide that felt like it kept going and going.  So fun!

Can't wait for the Family Gathering!
Is anyone up for a trip to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point in April?

Peace and Love (see Studio C)

Sun!

The snow has melted which means the kids are back in the dirt.  We thought that they may have found a new favorite activity this year, but the dirt seems to still be the activity of choice.

Last week we had a little reunion with a few of my mission friends and college roommates.  It was really fun to catch up with everybody and see the kids playing with each other.  Two of them married Chinese girls and the other married a Hawaiian, so there were a lot of black haired kids running around with our 4 blondies.

We don't have a lot of to report this week.  We're excited for the gathering!

Congratulations to the Flakes for renting their house and to the Nilsson's for their new baby!

Nilsson News

Jenn, we can sympathize in the plumbing department!  When we did our basement project that is where we ran into the most problems and where most of our money went.  I've decided the real money is found in the plumbing industry.  We are warming up here in the north.  It was 50 degrees and the kids were out in flip flops and t shirts.  They did not get it approved with their mother before going out and soon realized that even with the sun shining it was still a little chilly.  Millie continues to be the focus of every day and we just love her.  We weighed her this week and at almost two weeks old she still isn't up to Emerson or Henry's birth weight.  It is nice to have her stay newborn size for just a little while.  We will most likely be blessing her the second week of April, the Sunday after general conference.  We would love to see you there but don't feel obligated to come.  Now I'm going to overload you with pictures!

 It's finished for the most part and we are moved in downstairs!!!  Just FYI the flooring we used is awesome.  It is luxury vinyl planks from Lowes (Home Depot has it too) and clicks together and all you need is a utility knife to cut it.  It was $1.79 a sq. ft.  I recommend it for bathroom, laundry room, mud room or kitchen.  I'll let you know how durable it is after some use but so far we love it.

 My favorite part about the shower is that it has a light!

Twin girls!

 Addy had her dance competition this week and won 5 first place pins for her solos and her team took first for novice!  They will go to nationals at Lagoon in May.

 Happy girl!

Flake Fun

12 March 2017 - This week....was not our favorite week.  On Wednesday I got a call from our new tenants that one of the upstairs bathrooms was flooding when they used the washer or dishwasher.  We called a plumber who was able to send his guys out the following day. It was a mess. Three days and $3,500 later, we think that the problem is fixed.  All I can say is that if any of you decide to build your own house, please use materials that are up to code, especially for your plumbing! 
And being over at the house made us aware of some lease violations so we are in the middle of trying to resolve that. 

On the bright side, the weather has been gorgeous for the most part this week.  We were in the mid 70's for the last half of the week which made for a lovely weekend.  The flower seeds that I started in the greenhouse have started to come up so hopefully there will be plenty of flowers at our house this year.   The tomato starts are also doing very well. 

The prairie dogs have returned with their incessant chirping.  Much to Scott's joy, I learned how to use his pellet gun to "control the surplus population."  Although I don't have the upper body strength to load it!  It is a team effort!

We took the truck in to the mechanic on Friday to get a portion of the clutch replaced.  Hopefully that will be done tomorrow. 

That is all I can think of for now.  If anyone wants to enjoy some sunshine (if it is lacking in the cold, northern tundra) or if you want to visit "normal" time, come on down!  We would love to have you! 
Can't wait to see everyone for the family gathering!  It is going to be a blast!

GATHERING 2017!!!!

Announcing the Belliston Family Gathering - 2017

May 26 - 29 (Memorial Day weekend)

"Learn a Thing or Two"

This year our gathering will take place in Cache Valley!  We will be doing lots of learning and teaching and playing and eating and having loads and loads of fun!  Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Assignments and Schedule are forthcoming!
Things to think about: 
* Something you know how to do and would be willing to teach to others
* Something you would like to learn that you know someone in the family could teach
* T-shirt sizes for each member of your family
* Respond to this post with answers to the above

This is something to get very excited about! 

Watch the blog for updates!

                       

Recovering...

Congratulations to the Flakes on getting renters!  That was a long time in coming!  We hope you'll be able to spend your weekends doing something besides working on that house...

Well, it's been exactly one week since I got a text from Ruth, just as we got to our home teaching appointment, wondering if "this is it?"  It wasn't quite the time, but I left for Idaho soon after returning from home teaching.  We thought it would be best to leave before the big storm got here, so I arrived at the Harts' about midnight. Ruth asked me to come Sunday morning and check things out. All was well, so we went to church, came home and had dinner, spent the evening waiting and wondering.  After we all went to bed, Ruth began having more consistent contractions, but didn't get up until after 3:00 a.m.  Garrett came downstairs to let me know that Ruth was thinking things were getting close.  I called a friend in Rexburg to come and she arrived at 5:00 and baby Millie arrived at 5:36!  She is a beauty and Ruth is amazing!  All went very well for mom and baby. It was a sweet blessing to be there with Ruth and Garrett. What a wonder, a miracle, it is to welcome a new baby to your family.  I'm so grateful to the Nilssons for allowing me the privilege of being with them. Ruth is recovering slowly, but surely.

I thought since Garrett was home I might be more needed after he returned to work, so I came home Friday afternoon to check on Dad and Emma.  I learned from Lauren, after I got home, that Emma had taken herself back to the oral surgeon while I was in Idaho and he said she had some infection in her mouth. He gave her a prescription for an antibiotic, but she didn't know where to get it filled, so she didn't take it. But she did do some other things and she seems to be recovering.  She never did get bruised, but is still a little sore and swollen.  Dad injured himself while helping some flood victims in southwest Cache Valley.  He stepped backward and the soggy ground gave way and he fell hard.  Then he pulled some muscles while shoveling snow, which I think aggravated the first injury.  He is having a difficult time moving, but is trying to recover.

While I was in Idaho, I received an email from a ward member which reminded me that I had to get the ward newsletter done by Saturday (which miraculously happened).  The only thing I am trying to recover right now is my memory!! It seems to have gone on vacation, but is slowly being recovered.

It's hard to believe a full week has gone by since Millie arrived!  Time needs to slow down a little and let me catch up!              Love to all of you!

P.S.  Please read the blog post about the upcoming family gathering!

And... Loving it.

Hello family.  Not much is happening in my world.  I did decide to take the job as the marching and visual director for the band this summer.  Before y'all tell me how that was not the right decision, don't worry.  I'm kicking against the pricks already.  But it's fine.  The director I'll be working with is super chill and told me if I needed to miss I could and he wouldn't kill me.  Praise.  So.... about that nice, new 2017 penny Joe... I'd love to come down in August! I can't come the first week to help, which is when you probably actually need me, but I'll totally come whenever you need! I'm planning on spending as little time as possible in Cache Valley this summer. I love this place but I think I need to get out... So if you think you can handle me, I'll be visiting y'all this summer ;) maybe a little time in Arizona, a couple weeks in Idaho.  Ya know... getting out and seeing the world ;)
AP gov keeps going.  There's only about 45 days until nationals in DC so that's sketch but we've almost got our papers written and then we'll be ready to take it on.  It's really cool working with Carter (the really smart kid I talk about a lot).  He' s genius.  Super intimidating, and you know you try too hard to sound smart when you can roast him on his spelling.... it's fine.  He's in DC this week, meeting the President, talking to Chief Justice Roberts for three hours, and receiving $10,000 for being smart.  It pays, kids.  Crazy right? So anyway, he's fun to work with.
Getting wisdom teeth out was straight up awful.  I mean, the first two days were awesome.  Jello all the way.  But then I went ice skating... I guess you're not supposed to do that... Meh it's fine ;) I wish we had videos for when everyone else got theirs out because I'm sure they'd be hilarious.  I just cried.  Well, a new tri is beginning, so wish me luck ;) you are the greatest siblings out there ;) and nieces and nephews too ;) and in-laws ;)

Flake Fatigue

5 March 2017 - First of all, a huge congratulations to the Nilsson's.  She is beautiful!  We can't wait to meet her.  Make sure that everyone else has plenty of cuddle time before the gathering so we can get plenty of Uncle Scott and Aunt Jenn time in!

This week has been good but exhausting.  Scott had his flex day on Friday so we were able to spend a nice, long weekend at home doing projects!  We are starting to build our first train layout and it is coming along slowly, but surely.  Perhaps we'll have pictures by the time the family gathering rolls around.

The exciting news of our week is that our house rented.  We are still in a slight state of shock but it has been good so far.  The family that moved in (9 of them + three dogs) were in another rental house when the septic tank collapsed and flooded the basement.  So they were in a hurry to move, as you can imagine.  From the first contact that she made with us to the signing of the lease was less than 24 hours.  We felt a little pressured and rushed since the family didn't have any other options for housing so we are hoping that it will be a good thing.

The wind hasn't stopped blowing for very long this week but we have plenty of inside projects that we are working on so at least those things are getting done.

We had tomatoes that have popped up as well as some basil and our potatoes are looking great.  I started a bunch of flowers this weekend so hopefully those will be popping up soon. 

I re-vamped a cute little lawn chair this week that we found at the Lovelake house when we first bought it and it turned out really cute.  It is purple...of course! 

A sober thing was announced today in our ward.  There is a family (the parents are about our age) who are expecting twin boys in May.  Really fun but around the same time that they found out what they were having, the husband was diagnosed with lymphoma.  I guess it kind of hit home hard with Millie arriving this week and Lori expecting.  Sure makes you grateful for the blessings that you have, doesn't it?

Well, I hope you all have a great week.

Nilsson News

We definitely have news for this week!  I know you have all heard it already but we are so happy that Millie has joined our family!  We decided on Bell for her middle name which is short for Belliston.  She is the sweetest little gal and very mellow.  She is a good combination of Addy and Eliza, with lots of dark hair.  It was so nice having grandma here most of the week.  Emma and dad ran up for a quick visit on Monday and the Hart's have come over a couple of times.  Family is the greatest!  I tried to get some photos uploaded but they haven't come through.  These are a few pictures from a photo shoot yesterday.  Elise's friend Korinne came over and took a few.  I hope to get more uploaded shortly!