Sunday, June 24, 2018

Nilsson News

All you can hear coming from our house is a chorus of coughing.  It has been going on for weeks now.  I'm about to week six I think.  It has been awful and besides that it's summer!  You don't get sick in the summer.  At least we have been able to play with the Hart cousins because they have the same thing as us!  That is one thing I would advise, getting sick with the same thing at the same time as someone so you can still hang out and play.  It isn't as miserable that way.
Garrett has been gone this whole week at a work conference in Phoenix.  I was not jealous a bit.  110 degrees just didn't appeal.  Garrett did a presentation on his self reliance theory and he was pleased with how it went.  He was able to talk to a lot of people about the D.I. and what their services were.  It was a good experience and the kids and I somehow survived. 
Yesterday we went to mom and dad's.  It was a little strange not going to the regular house (weird to drive by it and see that they are already putting up a fence!) but change is okay too.  We made cookies, played frisbee, and drove around to see some potential house building properties.  My favorite was definitely the Riverside lot in the middle of paradise.  The kids liked that one too.  It was a good visit and it was good to get away for the day.
Projects continue like normal and the garden is actually growing quite well.  I think we might be past our strange winter like weather now and we are excited for the summer.  In the mean time we just need to figure out how to get rid of this cough!
Oh, and the kids were super excited to discover a new resident in our yard- a little cottontail rabbit that is now named Rascal.  I think it is a baby because it is super tiny and super cute.  It had better stay content with the weed pile and not take interest in our garden.
Anyway, have a terrific week!  Love you all!

Flake Fun

This was a fairly uneventful week.  The new food permits are due throughout the county so I have been working with those for the past week.  We are also about to get a site visit for our accreditation process which is another huge project.  Basically things are busy at work.

Our garden is doing great!  We have had to pamper it a little bit since it has been very hot for the past week but we are hoping that rain is not too far away.

Sadly, that is all that we have to report this week...hope you guys all had great weeks!

Manning Moments

I just have to tell you a funny story. It's been a good week. I have been more tired and large than normal but other than that, things are about the same. That is not the funny story.
So Wesley is very much a little athlete as many of you know. He started with basketball then soccer and now he is into baseball. He has been hitting balls with spatulas, sticks, bubble wands, everything. He also has a little mitt and baseball that Grandpa Manning gave him for his birthday. Well, we decided to go to a softball tournament yesterday that is part of the freedom festival down here. We thought he would enjoy seeing the game in full action. He sat and observed for about 20 minutes. He liked watching the balls go really high and then he wanted to get down from the bleachers. I could tell he was thinking deeply about something because he wasn't really into playing catch very much. All the sudden he said, "I need a bat." The rest of the time he was trying to get into the dugouts to get their bats. Needless to say we went and got a bat and he has been loving that.
Anyway, hope you have a lovely Sabbath!

Monday, June 18, 2018

Manning Moments

Well this last week was busy and very good. It was inservice week for Nick so he had meetings and trainings every day. On Tuesday was a broadcast with a General Authority and our area was invited to the broadcast at the Conference Center. I was able to leave Wesley with the Mannings and go with Nick to the broadcast which was very uplifting. Elder and Sister Renlund spoke about helping the youth stay in the boat and understand the doctrine. The other talks were also incredible. Nick thinks Sister Renlund is the most intimidating person and I would have to agree with him. Then on Thursday and Friday we had a overnight event with spouses. Mom and Dad were so nice to come and watch Wesley while we were gone. We went to Coalville and got to know people in the area better while learning about the Doctrine and Covenants from Gerald Lund. We had a tour through emigration canyon which was also amazing.
Life is good. We have been eating raspberries and lettuce from our garden and working on little projects together.
We love you all!

Sunday, June 17, 2018

North Logan News

The house hunting saga continues. But there is nothing to report on that. We are also trying to find necessary things that are missing - my scriptures and Conference report, Dad's shoe shining stuff, my jewelry box, printer paper, etc. I'm sure they'll turn up sometime.

This week I attended three births. All's well with moms and babies. I am learning that I will likely never see two births that are the same. It's amazing to me that such a basic process can be so different from mom to mom.

We had an absolute blast tending Wesley while Lauren and Nick were at a seminary teachers and spouses retreat with Nick's co-workers and Gerald Lund. They enjoyed seeing church history sites and hearing about them from an expert. We enjoyed weeding the garden and going on walks with Wesley. He chatters non-stop and really expresses himself well. He knows what he wants and what he doesn't want, which really makes things easier! I'm now looking forward to tending the Nilsson children in a few months while Ruth and Garrett have a little getaway in Washington.

We've enjoyed having Thomas in and out for the past two weeks. He's here on business and is making contacts that will hopefully result in having more clinics to teach to drill teams while he's here. He's working hard to make it work, so it has to!

We also attended a baby shower for Marcie Ashcroft, as well as Justin Evans' wedding reception. Both were very nice occasions and it was lovely to see our dear HP neighbors and friends at both events. I'm so glad we didn't move terribly far away and that we haven't been forgotten quite yet!

Looks like we might get some rain, too, Jenn! That will be a nice thing for the parched ground. It might not be such a nice thing for all of the youth going to girl's camp and scout camp, but it will be good for building their character, right?! Thunder and lightning right now, with a little rain....

Dad thoroughly loved digging in the dirt at the Mannings. But when he's here, he plays the piano and does church work. That's about all there is to do! This is Dad in his new "pondering sweater" that Thomas gave him today. He looks like the classic Mr. Rogers!



For those who haven't seen it yet, here is our townhouse...




Have a great week, all! Love you each loads and loads!

Flake Fun

First off, happy father's day to the greatest dad in the whole world!  The highlight of this week was a slow, steady drizzle (accented with a few hard 3-4 minute cloud bursts) on Friday and Saturday.  It has been exceptionally dry here & rain has been in everyone's prayers for months.

We went branding yesterday and did 8 calves (we are getting to the end of the calves).  It was pretty fun.  One of the calves jumped out of the chute but they caught it, tied it & branded it on the ground.

Our garden is doing really well.  It seems to have really liked the rain.  We planted 10 cayenne peppers yesterday (I don't know what we will do with all of them).

It was awesome to hear of Emma's miracle!  Yay for missionary blessings!

Love you all!

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Manning Moments

Well, life is good. When you have an awesome husband, adorable son and countless other blessings, it just is really great.
Wesley stayed at nursery today by himself and was happy! That was monumental. It has happened before but it has been a little while so I was grateful.
This morning we tried to make eggs benedict because Nick really likes it. We have made it three times and it has progressively gone downhill each time! The first time was nearly perfect and it was delicious! But this morning it turned out closer to hard boiled eggs on toast with soggy scrambled eggs. If you can picture that you might see that it wasn't that enjoyable but we had a good laugh! While we were eating that concoction, Nick went to let the chickens out of their coop and he ran back in because there was a family of quail. We see quail all the time but there was a momma and about 7 little tiny babies. They were so cute! They were learning all about our chicken coop and how it supplies all their food needs I am sure.
Nick has been busy since school got out. He went on a three day excursion to Hole in the Rock to learn about pioneer stories and history. Gerald Lund was their tour guide. Steve Lund is the principal at Lone Peak Seminary and Gerald is his dad so they get lots of close association with him. They had a great time. I went to Logan with Wesley to help mom unpack a little bit. It was also nice to enjoy cooler weather! This week is Nick's area inservice so there are lots of trainings and meeting which will be nice. I get to go to some of them which is always a highlight for me.
Wesley is growing and getting smarter every day. He is one good boy! He has the cutest voice and he says everything we say but it's a lot cuter when he says it. Some phrases he's picked up on are "pretty good," "pull yourself together,""look at that" "not bad at all" and "hurt bad." He keeps us laughing all the time.
Good luck to the Belliston's in their new home!

Flake Fun

Hey everyone!  We had a pretty good week but the highlight was Scott's birthday.  We took Friday off & spent the day in Flagstaff.  We went to a high ropes adventure course which was awesome and exhausting.  The rest of the day we did some shopping and went to test drive cars.  We are thinking it is about time that we up-graded our vehicle and we wanted to see what was out there.  We didn't bring a new car home though, which was okay.

The weather is pretty warm here so if anyone needs a sunburn, come on down!  It was about 75 around 9:00 last night.  We are sleeping with the fans running!

Ruth, sorry that you were released from your dream calling but you'll be a great RS secretary!  It comes with the territory of being so talented.

Congrats to Peter on his soccer game.  Wish we could have been there.

That's about it for us!  Hope that you all have a great week!  Can't wait to see Joe & Lori's new home.

Hart Happenings

  Ruth is right about weather keeping us on our toes here.  We have experienced some serious extremes this past week.  We spent the majority of the week hiking in St. George in 95+ degree weather and then came home to Idaho where we are hovering around 57 degrees.  So crazy!  But guess which one I prefer......
  St. George really was a blast!  We were blown away by the show Matilda that we went to see at Tuacahn.  Spectacular!  The boys loved splashing in the pool, hiking in the caves and on the petrified sand dunes, and Alex and I had so much fun taking the boys through Zion's park to do some more hiking.  Ian and Alex did baptisms at the temple on Thursday morning while the younger boys and I hung out in the Visitor's Center.  We allowed the weather to cow us that day and headed inside for laser tag and some arcade games, threw in a vicious bumper boats battle, and a round of miniature golf (which I won) and then bid farewell to the southern furnace zone and retreated north.
  Friday we had a wonderful time meeting up with everyone at Joe's house and then moving them to their new one, which is so great!  I loved the neighborhood and the really well organized back yard.  My kids loved the play house and the basement.  We have an exceptional family!
  We had to rush back home in time for Peter's soccer game.  He did a great job and played his little heart out.  Thanks to Ruth for coming.  I was sliding him into bed when we got home at 11:30 on Friday night, sure that he was asleep, when he said: "call Ruth and tell her it is my last soccer game tomorrow.  She will want to be there."  I waited until the morning, but I did let her know and it meant a lot to him that his cousins came to watch him play.  It is one of those parental surprises to me how much I enjoy watching my boys play soccer.  Alex is going to try coaching Peter's team next season which will make it that much more fun!
  The rest of yesterday was spent settling back in and planting a few last items in the garden.  One of Alex's deacons kept everything alive while we were gone, plants and chickens and everything, for which I was really grateful!  And we even had some zinnias come up from the seeds I tossed in the ground before we left.  Hooray for zinnias!  I think I could be the Johnny Appleseed of zinnias.  I truly believe that everyone should have some.
  It sure is good to be home!  But so glad we could see so many of you on our travels.  It made our family vacay that much better!  Back to the glorious grind!

 

Nilsson News

I just realized that I failed to post a picture of Henry last week.  There were so many good ones to choose from so here they are!  He is quite the character!


The big event of the week was Addy's birthday.  She's eleven now!  How crazy is that?  She has been asking for a bike for a long time because she had completely outgrown her other one.  Her wish came true and she got a teal cruiser that has a basket in the front.  She was pretty delighted.  Grandma somehow found time to come up and join us at the zoo and have a picnic lunch.  It was fun to visit and Addy was thrilled with the unfinished blanket she was given.  Now she has something to work on while she listens to Hank the Cowdog.  I know mom was so embarrassed to give an unfinished gift, but it really was perfect.

Yesterday we went to Peter's final soccer game.  He scored three of the five goals and his signature moves were pretty sweet.  Today and tomorrow are supposed to be windy and cold so we have taken a few extra measures to protect our tomato plants.  Weather here can definitely throw you for a loop sometimes.

Today I'm feeling rather perturbed.  I was just given the calling as relief society secretary which meant I had to be released as the primary chorister.  That really is one of the very best callings in the whole church and I had only been in for less than a year.  I honestly don't remember being so upset about getting a calling before.  I really need some help not feeling animosity towards the relief society president, otherwise this will be a really miserable experience.  I know the church is true but sometimes it can put me to the test.
Anyway, hope you all have a terrific week!

Monday, June 4, 2018

Flake Fun

It was nice to have a day off for Memorial Day and we spent it working!  We were over helping build the house and it is coming along quite well. 


It has been quite warm here but we are putting up with the heat and trying to keep our garden from wilting into nothing.  We have been spreading the lettuce joy around the neighborhood and office which has been fun.  Fresh lettuce is just so much better!


Other than that, things are quite low key here.  Not much more to report!



Sunday, June 3, 2018

Nilsson News

These weeks all seem to be mushed into one.  I have no concept of time.  May is my celebration month with mother's day, my birthday and anniversary.  It's a little more than I can handle!  Garrett and I were able to go to the temple, to dinner and just visit, which does not happen very often these days.  Thank you immensely to the Harts for playing with the kids and cleaning up after Henry lost his dinner on the tramp.  Playing with cousins is the best! 

We are in full project mode with outside projects.  We got our entire garden planted in between the "hail and the mighty storms which beat upon us."  So far, there are no weeds to battle and our garden looks amazing!  I don't think I will be able to say that next week.  For my birthday presents, Garrett hung two new gates that give us access to the back barnyard area and he built some stairs off our back door.  We have had a three foot drop off since tearing down the rest of our porch and surprisingly nobody fell and hurt themselves.  As soon as the stairs were completed, Millie took a step out and tumbled down, resulting in quite the shiner around her eye. 

I have, for quite some time, been looking for some substantial planters to put on either side of our garage but without success.  My solution?  I'll just build some!  I salvaged some rusty, corrugated tin from my friend's tumbled down shed and built two matching planters that are about 3 feet tall.  I love them!  I should be getting some more metal from another neighbor so if anyone wants a planter box, just let me know!



We recently had a family photo shoot done by our primary president and I thought she did a terrific job!  She did some awesome photoshopping on Eliza who happened to slice her finger on some sharp pasture grass before we even took our first picture.  She had blood drips down the front of her shirt and if you look closely you can see her finger wrapped up in a weed leaf.  So exciting.




Love you all!

Hart Happenings

Morning all!
  Jack says that it is hard to remember what happened this week because it went by so fast!  True enough.
  This week was marked by some seriously crazy weather with tornados touching down a few miles north of us, some hail that pounded through and did a number on our garden and other plants, super strong winds, and enough rain that it flooded the parking lot and all the pathways of our community garden.
  We started out with a nice Memorial Day celebration on Monday.  Ruth and Garrett came over with their kiddos and the clouds parted long enough for us to enjoy a barbecue and a round of corn hole.  Then Garrett and Alex and the boys cheered on the Golden State Warriors.  There is a lot of basketball watching going on at our house these days.  Go Warriors!
  Jack and Peter are wrapping up their soccer season.  Peter scored 2 of the 3 goals at his last game and has some hilarious celebratory "signature moves" (his words, not mine).  The regular season is over for Jack but he tried out for the competitive team and made it, so they will be playing through June, culminating in a 3-day tournament at the end of the month.  It is a really fun group of boys and we have gotten to know a lot of the families who are so great!
  The kids' gardening classes are going well.  It is a treat to rub shoulders with the wonderful kids and volunteers out there.  Super stressful sometimes, but getting better as the summer progresses.  I've decided I don't handle stress very well and I seem to get stressed out more easily than other people.  I've been re-reading Pat Holland's "A Quiet Heart" this morning and she reminds me that embracing my own, personal life experience is an important part of finding a quiet heart.  Not looking around to see how much other people can handle and be engaged in  and pushing myself to try to match their limits.  Such a tricky thing to do!
  Anyway, we'll figure out a way for you to grow something, Mom!  Or maybe after all these years it is a relief to not have to be thinking about weeds?
  We're heading down to St. George this week and are really looking forward to going to Tuacahn, hiking in Zion's, and spending some time in the pool!  Flakes, we'd love to see you if you want to play hooky from work and drive a really long way to join us!
  Hope to see you guys soon!