North Logan Notes

That is some major produce, Jenn!!  And such lovely flowers! We went shopping yesterday at our farmer's market and didn't see anything quite that lovely there. We are still a few weeks behind you southerners. But it was nice to have some yummy produce for lunch yesterday. We are still feasting on blackberries and yellow cherry tomato candies. I hope your sparrows learned to fly. We have a nest on the porch next door and every time we go out to sit on the lawn, the swallows swoop and chirp at us in a very threatening way!

Dad went to Montana for meetings this week and really enjoyed his tour of a Hutterite community there. They are an offshoot of the Amish/Mennonite belief and lifestyle and Dad loved interacting with them and getting a taste of their simple life. They have a small, lovely self-sustaining community that is very intriguing. Maybe we, like Ruth, were meant to be Amish/Hutterite.... I expected Dad to return on Thursday evening or Friday morning, but he finished his work early and got home Wednesday evening, which was a very pleasant surprise. He actually stopped in Idaho Falls on his way home and enjoyed seeing Ruth and Garrett for a few minutes and admired their lovely garden. We can't wait for a taste of those incredible watermelon!

I was feeling a bit lonesome while Dad was gone, and not wanting to spend a holiday alone, so I went to spend time with the Manning clan. Nick and Lauren had plans to hike up in Little Cottonwood canyon and see the wildflowers, so I met them in Sandy and hiked with them. It was beautiful! Quite a site as we walked along to see the splash of color amid the shades of green in the canyon. Apparently it is spectacular enough that there is an annual pilgrimage of sorts by people from all over. Wesley loved hiking and showing people his stick he found (and of course used as a bat to hit rocks and pinecones and anything else that could be substituted for a ball!). When he had hiked all he wanted he said, "I'm done." And would go no further! That was okay with Lauren, who was also ready to be done by that time. But they were troopers for quite a distance and we had a great time. I drove over to see Joe and Lori's family for a little while before heading down to American Fork. It's always a delight to see grandchildren show their new skills - bike riding and skateboarding and hammocking, in this case. Very fun! It was great to go on a walk, get a treat, play, and weed the garden with Wesley and his parents.

We found a house that we want. It's not for sale. It was recently built by a contractor we've talked with a couple of times. But we'd sure like to build one like it! The task now is to find a lot and someone serious enough to make it happen for us. That may take some doing at this point.

Dad released and sustained two bishoprics today. Doing one bishopric always about wipes him out, but two in one day was especially taxing! All went well and there was a beautiful spirit indeed at that meeting and in the setting apart sessions. This makes three bishoprics this summer, and three more to go before school starts! It's been a busy time for Dad. The next month will be particularly stressful, but, as Emma keeps pointing out in her letters, "Things always work out!"

So, in honor of Pioneer Day and thinking about ancestors - and because I'm doing a Family History challenge for 6 weeks - here are some things I recently ran across in trying to organize information and photos I've had collected for years.... (sorry I don't have photoshop on my computer so I couldn't crop the pictures)

My mother is in the middle - Zona Biorn.

 On the back of the photo - This is why it is in honor of Pioneer Day!

And for all of our family who now live in Idaho, I thought you might be interested in these funeral programs for my great-grandparents. These are my Grandmother Thelma Edginton Biorn's parents. Be sure to look at the burial information. Perhaps we should take a field trip to the cemetery sometime when we are up there!

Thomas just arrived and I must feed him and Dad. Happy first week of August to everyone (how did that happen so fast?!). Hopefully we'll all be hearing from Lauren soon... Love you all!

Nilsson News

I love the flowers and veggies Jenn!  I finally been able to to enjoy having a small cut flower garden.  I have been cutting fresh zinnias to add color to our table and mantle.  So much fun!  I wish we could have been in Snowflake for the Pioneer Day festivities.  The extent of our celebration for the day was going to the church for a dinner and listening to an old timer band.  It was nice but it was definitely not the Flake Family Rodeo.
 
We have enjoyed having Garrett's parents here this whole week.  We had a nice long bike ride around the greenbelt/temple area.  We walked around the farmer's market and art show they had going on and of course my mind was soaking in ideas of things I could make.  We took the kids swimming and Henry discovered how to go under the water and jump off the side of the pool.  He was so proud of his accomplishment!  It was a good time.

Let me ask you this:  What do you get when a type 3 and another type 3 meet together?  You get a lot of projects done!  Garrett's dad is very much a type 3 and is project driven so I always have to think of some projects he can help with whenever he comes.  He and Garrett replaced our dated globe lights by the fireplace with some sleek flush mount lights that look 100 times better.  The big project however was the facelift of our front screen door.  It was hideous and every time I looked at it I thought of ketchup and mustard.  The screen had torn which allowed for an over abundance of bugs in the house.  Garrett's dad knew of a product that he told me about would probably look good and I came up with a design.  With some skillful sawing (Garrett's dad's skill, not mine), glue, clamps and several hours later, we transformed the door completely.  I absolutely love it!  All that is left to do is paint the red door and side light a nice dark navy blue color.  I'm hoping I can do that next week sometime.  If any of you have a hideous, dated storm door, don't give up on it!  There is hope and new life just waiting to burst forth!  It can be done!

 This is the "before" picture of the ketchup and mustard theme.

 A closeup of the awesome herringbone design.

The amazing AFTER!!!

Sorry you always have to put up with my project obsessions.  It isn't ALL I ever do.  I do prepare meals and sometimes clean the house.  I do read to my children and take them to the library.  I do weed the garden and fulfill my church calling.  The projects are what I do in my "spare" time.

Love you all!

Flake Fun

This week was pretty good.  The highlight was definitely the weekend though with the town Pioneer Day celebrations. 


Friday started out with 2 baby sparrows on our lawn learning the fly. 

Then I went to the Flake Family Rodeo (Scott was at work) which was fantastic as usual.  It was fun to try and reason with 5 year old McKinnley & explain that she could chase the money calf even though she didn't have any money!


The parade on Saturday was a lot of fun as well.  The skid steer guy was back but this time he attached seats to his bucket & had people in it while he did all of his tricks!


Like everyone, our garden is doing really well and I think our rain storms are over for the time being. Sad day.  Our flowers are blooming which is really nice and adds some color to our yard.

Carrot, garlic, potato & zucchini from our garden.

Hope that you all have a fantastic week!

North Logan Notes

My mouth starts watering when I read the garden reports on our blog!! Yum! I am very happy to know that the gardening tradition is being carried on in lots of places. We may have to start a taste-testing vacation and visit all of our favorite gardens and gardeners in Idaho, Utah, and Arizona! Lauren has shared lots of produce with us already, which has been quite delicious. I try to ration the yumminess so that it lasts longer, but I usually get carried away and eat it all up too fast. How very fun it was to see our Hyde Park raspberries and blackberries growing in Idaho Falls and in American Fork! When we get settled we hope to bother you all for starts from your starts from our starts :)

Going back and forth was the name of the game this week. After the birth I'd been waiting for finally happened early on Wednesday, I went to check on Lauren and found all well and happy there. The next morning I left for Idaho Falls to take some beef up there and returned home very late. All was well up north, as well. The next day Dad and I drove down to Salt Lake to attend the Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Concert in the Conference Center, which was unbelievably superb! The guest artists were incredible and the choir and orchestra were at their best doing Rogers and Hammerstein music. It was very inspiring and uplifting and we were so glad to see it in person rather than on our little computer screens.

Not much else happened this week. Dad will be gone most of the upcoming week, so I may travel again. No garden to water. No pets to care for. No reason to stick around. That's okay. We have been tremendously blessed and are grateful for the tutoring we are receiving at this point in our lives.

Have a lovely week and keep those gardens growing!!

Hart Happenings

It was a pretty regular week.  The boys spoiled me for my birthday on Monday.  We went to Twin Falls and went to see the falls there and then the family indulged me stopping by a native plant nursery that I've been wanting to see for the past couple of years.  Very cool.  And then we headed for City of Rocks.  Definitely the highlight of the day.  I've never seen anything like it.  Huge granite rock formations with trails winding through them and no rules about scrambling on them.  So the boys climbed to their hearts' content.  It was so fun and the air was some of the freshest I've ever inhaled.  We want to go back before the summer is over and camp this time.  Anyone is invited!

Other than that, it was watering the garden to make sure it stays alive, garden class, playing with cousins, grinding stumps, and hanging up the porch swing Ruth made me for my birthday (she is amazing and generous - a really good combination).  A lovely week, all said.

We are also learning some really good lessons about service.  I hope we can hang onto them.

Love you all!  I must run and play corn hole with Alex's family who stopped by from Oregon.

Nilsson News

I think I was meant to be Amish.  I have been reading the Amish parenting book that Elise recommended and it is lovely!  I know I wouldn't fit in completely with them but I feel as though I wouldn't be quite as weird as I am to the modern world in which we live.  I think I need to take a trip to Ohio or Pennsylvania to visit those people who seem to have their priorities in the right place.  I really, really want them to come build a barn for me.  I guess you can order these Amish barn kits and then they come and assemble them for you.  Sign me up.

It was a pretty quiet week for the most part.  Played/worked outside, went to the library, played with cousins, strolled through the farmer's market and enjoyed a quick visit from grandma.  We found a new home for our Polish roosters.  I really wish we could have kept them because of their coolness factor, but they did not have enough space to strut their stuff.  They wouldn't let the hens into the coop without pouncing on them first.  It really was infuriating.  I posted them on craigslist and the following day someone came to get them.  She was a little bit clueless when it came to farm animals so I really hope it all works out for them.  She asked of the roosters liked to "sing" in the morning.  I said they definitely crow in the mornings and about every five minutes thereafter.  Our remaining buff rooster just began to crow yesterday.  I guess he didn't find it necessary to crow with the other two always trying to out-do each other.  It has been a little more quiet around here, which is nice.

Yesterday, we began work on the epic flower bed to the side of our house.  I am starting with the pathways and I'm about halfway through the rock paver path.  I'm really excited about it!  Emerson was given riding mower lessons and he thought that was great fun.  I hope that is the attitude that will continue even after he starts to mow on a regular basis.

We harvested a cucumber and four zucchini this week.  The flowers in our cutting garden are beginning to bloom, much to Eliza's delight.  Addy is our watermelon counter and found 22 this afternoon.  Our mouths are beginning to water!  If we could, we would mail each of you a garden fresh watermelon but I don't think the mail service would appreciate that very much.  I guess you will all need to come here to get one.

That is all for this report!  Have a terrific week family!

Manning Moments

Well, after reading Elise and Ruth's blogs I can see that living in the southern hemisphere is a big plus for gardening! We have enjoyed veggies for over a month but also 100 degree weather for over a month as well! Plants grow on steroids here folks and you are all welcome to come and join in the fun. We have had tons of lettuce, broccoli, beets, squash, carrots, peas and the tomatoes and corn are coming on. If I knew how to put pictures on the blog I would but you should just come and see it in real life.
We had a blast visiting mom and dad for several days while Nick taught a ukulele class at USU. It was a fun vacation. Wesley has had a lot of firsts this summer including: staying overnight with Grandma and Grandpa while Nick and I had a seminary retreat, going fishing with dad several times, doing fireworks, and yesterday we went to a parade. He loved the marching band. We went to a community concert at the park where the local symphony played and he was transfixed on the drums. When we got home he wanted to play his drums and he has talked about it ever since! He is such a bright boy!
Other than that we are just getting ready for baby Chet to arrive. We were telling Wesley that he would be able to play with Chet but when he's a tiny baby he can't play ball but he'll get bigger and bigger. So now when you ask about Chet he might say, "He can't play ball." Oh well, I'm sure he will get over it.

Have a great week!

North Logan Notes

I'm so happy to hear that everyone is having a marvelous summer and beginning to enjoy the fruits of your labors. I actually talked to my new RS president today and told her that if anyone  in the ward needed help weeding, I would gladly volunteer. I don't think she really believed me, but I'm going to keep after her because I really would like to get my hands in the dirt! I can go to the farmer's market and get some yummy fresh stuff, but I have realized just how much I really miss weeding. It is a refreshing, relaxing activity for me. I like pulling weeds out of the flower beds around here, but only when no one is looking - which I think is most of the time. People aren't out much here. Perhaps it's too hot. Perhaps it's a different mindset, more like Lori describes Sandy as being, I guess.

We had a blast with the grandsons and their parents who were here for a few days this week! Wesley put his heart and soul (not to mention his legs) into learning to play duck, duck, goose. Delightful! We may have to add that to our next Belliston Olympics course :) The Hart boys catered to Wesley's every baseball/soccer whim. They enjoyed the splash pad and playing on the playground when things cooled off a bit. I really appreciate your patience with house hunting and offering opinions and ideas, Elise and Lauren. We really loved the garden produce Lauren and Nick brought, but mostly we loved having the company. Thanks for coming, Mannings and Harts! And please come again! Anyone! Everyone!

Things are mostly the same here. Very quiet when everyone leaves. I attended two YSA sacrament meetings today and both were excellent. The high council speakers all talked about the faith of our fathers increasing our own faith. They told family history stories that were incredible, especially given that the people they talked about were very ordinary. The take home for me was, what kind of legacy am I leaving? One speaker told the story about Neal A. Maxwell, that you might remember. He went to visit his daughter one day. Her three-year-old was taking a nap and when he woke up he called downstairs to his mom. She told him to come down and see Grandpa. Without hesitation, the little one said, "Should I bring my scriptures?" What a great legacy! I've got some work to do on that one :)

Have a lovely week - and enjoy the rain! Jenn and Thomas have both been getting wet, which is nice. We haven't had rain for a very long time here, and there's none in the forecast. We do appreciate the clouds we get sometimes, but wish they'd drop a little moisture.

Love you all!

Flake Fun

I love rain!  It has rained or at least sprinkled every day this week!  I spend way too much time at work but survived an accreditation site visit.  We are trying for national accreditation and this was when the accreditation team came out to see how we function.  Lots of work but somehow we survived.

We harvested a carrot, zucchini, corn & potatoes today for dinner!  Talk about yummy!  We also have little tiny tomatoes just starting to show up and our cucumbers and beans are also showing up.  Our amaranth are HUGE! I think it is our new favorite landscape plant!  We also have a zinnia that bloomed and we're hoping that more will follow.

Yesterday we tried to go on another bike ride but it was so muddy that our wheels wouldn't spin so we didn't make it very far!

Hope you all have a great week!

Nilsson News

Summer is lovely!  Like Elise said, the plants have finally decided that it's safe to grow.  I really love this stage of the garden, when everything is growing and looks lovely but the harvest has not yet arrived.  Don't get me wrong, I do love the harvest as well but sometimes it is nice not having to think about what to do with the harvest - namely canning.
We did enjoy some time at the park playing in the creek with the Harts and friends.  Emerson was on a hunt to find crawdad claws and pieces.  He found several that I let him keep, but I drew the line when he wanted to bring home a full sized dead crawdad.  I know, I'm mean.
Yesterday, we went down to Pineview reservoir up Ogden canyon.  It was beautiful!  I think if we could transport the Utah mountains up to the Idaho Falls valley, we will have found the celestial heaven.  We met up with Garrett's siblings and their kids and played in the lake.  It was overcast and the perfect weather.  The only challenge was trying to keep Millie from lapping up too much lake water.  It was a good day away.  I honestly don't like to leave too much during the summer because it is the best time of year to enjoy everything here.  Winter is our preferred vacation time.
I don't really know what project Elise is talking about, whether it's the front post or the side flower garden.  This post has been a bugger.  I wanted to make it like the posts in the back, but come to find out it was painted with several stubborn layers of paint.  It has been a headache to work with but I think after several coats of stripper, some muscle and a lovely sander, I think I may be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. 
As for the flower bed, now that the big stumps are gone, I can create my perennial flower garden!  I measured the space and it is roughly 41 feet by 27 feet.  It is definitely the largest space I have ever tried to tackle but it will be an exciting challenge.  If you know of anyone who is wanting to get rid of some perennials or small shrubs, just let me know!  I'm trying to start my collection.
I hope all of you are enjoying the fast fleeting summer.  Are you taking time to sit back on a porch swing?  I have actually done it a couple of times!  Quite refreshing.  Maybe you should go run through some corn (Just now, I overheard Henry ask Eliza if she wanted to go run through the corn.  So cute!).  That's what summer is about.
Sure love you family!

Hart Happenings

  Isn't summer glorious?!  It is amazing what a rise in the temperature does for plants and people!  The community comes alive with people walking, biking, running, playing in the parks, prowling farmers markets, and visiting neighbors.  It is nice to live in a place that is so family and community oriented. Lori was saying that she has missed that aspect of Springville and that Sandy is kind of bereft of that vibe.  She talked about maybe painting some rocks and starting to hide them around town.  I think that is a brilliant idea!

  And the plants have decided that life is worth living.  They haven't done much growing since I put them in the ground, but since the temperatures have stayed between the 80s and 90s the past few weeks, they have really taken off.  You should smell my sweet peas!  Seriously!  I can't believe that I ever lived without them!  No mas.  We're not quite to the point that Jenn and Scott are or Lauren and Nick for that matter, but at least I have hope of some kind of harvest now.

  A highlight of the week for us was a brief trip to Logan to visit Lauren, Nick, Wesley, Mom and Dad.  It was fun to see the temporary digs (very nice, lots to like about the townhouse), visit, play with Wesley who is charming and quite the character, try a new restaurant, and check out some potential building sites or homes for Mom and Dad.  There are some really nice options and I think they'll will be able to make a choice they feel really good about.  They tease us by sending us listings they've noted in Idaho Falls, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up!  Ian had a blast at the Ukulele class that Nick was teaching.  It was nice of Nick to let him come and it was fun for us to watch Nick teach.  He is incredible!  Thanks for hosting us, parents!

  Garden classes are going well.  We have a fun group of kids and some wonderful adult volunteers.  I've actually learned a lot from this whole deal.

  We spent some time at the park playing in the creek with Ruth and some friends.  I'll let her tell you all about it, but Ruth's next project is mind boggling!  I went out yesterday for some cousin time and she showed me her plans and I about keeled over.  It'll be amazing, but man, the scope took my breath away!

  I finished the most amazing parenting book about how the Amish raise their kids.  It was inspiring/frustrating.  I was wailing to Alex at some point that I have entirely failed our kids.  But mostly it was empowering and such useful information!  I would highly recommend it.  It's called More Than Happy.

  Anyway,  must go get the boys ready for church!  Happy Sabbath y'all.

Flake Fatigue

It sounds like everyone had an enjoyable 4th.  We enjoyed our time as well but didn't participate in any of the normal 4th type festivities.  We went on a 9.5 mile trail ride on bikes along the Panorama trail.  We were exhausted afterwards and spent the rest of the day taking it easy.


On Saturday we had our first terrific rain storm!  (First because we hope that there are many more in the next several weeks).  There was a river running down our lane and the next morning the creek was overflowing it's borders!  Yay for rain!  This is the first real rainstorm that we have had for 12+ months.  To illustrate how dry things are, within an hour most of it had soaked into the soil and there were dry spots the next morning.  But you can feel the refreshed relief from nature when you step out the door!


We harvested our garlic this week and had some massive heads.  We also dug up some of our potatoes for dinner the other evening & they were delicious.  Some of our carrots are ready to pick, we should have some corn to harvest in a week or two & our flowers are finally thinking about blooming!   So, if anyone is ready for a garden dinner, come on down!


That's about all I can think of to report! 

Hart Happenings

  I think all the fun things that are supposed to happen during the summer have happened this past week for us!  Basically, Alex's entire family converged for the extended Hart family reunion and they all ended up crashing at our house.  Some stayed longer than others, but at one point we had 26 people sleeping in all the nooks and crannies of our house.  It was wild!  Alex's mantra is "the more, the merrier," but I've decided that it has a cap.  We bid the last of them farewell, frantically did some laundry, threw a pre-4th of July party for Ian and his buddies (there were about 8 twelve year old boys running around my yard with matches and explosives for 3 hours and nobody died so it was awesome) and at the end of that Joe/Lori & co. arrived to help us celebrate the fourth.  We were soooo glad to see them!  Ruth already gave the run down of the holiday festivities, but we had a good time and were so happy that dad decided to come up and join us.  We missed Mom!  We bid farewell to the Bellistons on Thursday then packed up our stuff and headed down to Utah on Friday for an impromptu gathering of Alex's siblings who came to see his sister from California who was in Provo for a few days.  It was SO HOT!  Lauren, I don't know how you survive down there!  We got back last night and crashed!  Peter didn't wake up until after I left for my meetings at 11:00 this morning.
  So, I am soaking up the quiet today.  Hope you all are enjoying the Sabbath as well.  Hope to see some of you this coming week!

Nilsson News

It was so very fun to spend the 4th with the Joe Belliston's, grandpa and the Hart's!  We missed grandma who was anticipated a few births.  We began the morning with a delicious pancake breakfast provided by Elise and from there we went to the parade.  The weather was perfect and we didn't get fried too bad.  There were about 120 floats.  It was fun but I am still looking for the stunt skidsteer driver.  I think it would be a big hit up here but nobody has caught on to that one.  We may have to visit Snowflake again if things don't change in that category.
We enjoyed having everyone come visit our place for a bit.  You can guarantee that something will look different than the last time you came because things are changing on almost a daily basis.  In fact, things already have changed since Wednesday when everyone was here. 
Our neighbor who owns a lot of very useful equipment came over to to drop off a little tractor for us to use.  We mentioned some stumps we had and he said he would run back home and grab his back hoe and have them out in no time.  I wasn't planning on this at all and had given our lawn a good soaking the day before.  Not a good thing.  Our yard is now in shambles and the terrain has completely changed due to the fact that the back hoe was sinking into our lawn.  When he tried to dig out the stumps, he slid all over trying to get some traction.  Oh well.  The price that must be paid to do things that must be done!  One stump in particular was a beast to get out because of its ginormous size.  Our friend said it was probably the hardest one he has ever worked on (and he has been doing this for years).  It kept pulling the backhoe off its tires.  He said it weighed about 2,000 pounds!!!  And weren't we silly to think that we were going to hack it out with an axe and chain saw.

 This stump is about four feet across and took him about thirty minutes to dig out.  Oh my poor lawn!

 Henry loved watching this big tractor tear things out of the ground.

Now we have three huge stumps on the ground in our front yard that we can't budge and have no idea what to do with but at least they are not in the middle of our lawn!  Yay!

I got distracted with projects before I finished the 4th of July!  We of course ended the day with the incredible firework show.  If you have never seen the fireworks up here, you haven't seen fireworks!  There is always the invitation to come up here and see them and visit us!  Last year after the fireworks, we got stuck in traffic for a long time, so this year we thought of a better escape route - so did everyone else.  It still took us an hour to get home.  So fun!
Other pictures:

 This is the cute little rabbit that decided to live in our junk heap on the side of our house.  The kids named him Rascal and he was so cute.  Sadly, he had to find a new home because we finally got rid of our junk heap!

The kids helped me paint the chicken coop.  What an adventure!  It's a good thing I planned to give Henry a haircut because that is the only way I could get the paint out of his hair.
Life continues to press on.  The summer is going by way too quickly but we are enjoying it.  Have a terrific week!

Manning Moments

Wow it feels warmer than I remember most summers being! This week has been pretty good. We sometimes get things done in the yard and house. We play a lot of ball and that's about it. We did have a great time with mom and dad last weekend when they came down to visit Grandpa. We went to a store called Moon's rare books that Nick's faculty went to. It was quite amazing to see King James' King James Bible, Williams Tyndale's Bible and early editions of all the great classics. They also had Brigham Young's chair, Pres. McKay's glasses, Samuel Smith's Book of Mormon among many other things.
We went to the Manning's for the 4th celebrations and that was a good time. Wesley was happy to just play on the tennis court and hit balls. He liked doing sparklers but had a hard time sleeping with the noisier fireworks. He still wakes up and says, "fireworks aren't working!" Which is a happy thing.
I had been having a thought for most of the summer that we should have a King Street neighborhood party. Nick and I both have ministering assignments on our street and we have several less active and non member families also on the street. But I kept putting the thought aside because I am not a party thrower and I don't feel up to it and Nick was gone a lot with work and blah blah blah. But then we had a great lesson in Relief Society about ministering and how it is not convenient and we should always just act on the thoughts we have. So I dragged my feet because I didn't want to feel guilty when the baby comes. So Nick was very kind and helped me make an invitation and we had a BBQ on the 5th. It turned out to be really good and I hope that more good continues to come from it. Many people said they were so excited because they used to do things like that. We had about 16 people come and many of them we had never seen or met before.Wesley wasn't sure what to think of our neighbor who was covered in tattoos and rings! But people stayed and visited until it was too dark to see and I think that says that people really want to connect with their neighbors but they just let other things get in the way. So there were a couple lessons I learned from that experience.
Hope you all have a great week!

I tried to post a comment on your update, Ruth, but it wouldn't let me. What a lovely transformation! Very, very impressive. I can't wait to sit on your swing! I hope you will take full advantage of it and spend many relaxing moments there, basking in your accomplishments!

We had a good week. Definitely the highlight was talking with Emma while she was at the Salt Lake airport! I'm glad she didn't call at 3:30 a.m. like she thought she would. They waited until they were checked in and through security before they called. She was the "travel leader" so she couldn't talk long, but it was wonderful to hear her voice and sense her delight and enthusiasm to be heading to her mission field assignment. She loved meeting her mission president at the MTC and was excited to see him again soon. We should hear more from her tomorrow, but if you want to read the cute email she sent after arriving at the mission home, you can look at the blog Dad and I made for posting her letters and photos. hermanabellistonmissionupdates.blogspot.com

The second best part of the week for me was when I got a text from a lady I didn't know to ask if I would take dinner to another lady I didn't know. I was SO excited to do something useful!! It's tiring to be continually self-centered. It was so satisfying, in fact, that I ended up taking dinner to two families and taking a loaf of bread to our next door neighbor who was moving. I just needed to be jarred out of my self-focused habit. It felt really nice and I'm very grateful. Hopefully I can remember how good it felt and keep it up!

House hunting continues. We've seen some nice homes and some not so nice homes. None feel like the right thing. We will keep looking.

We had a great experience touring a to-scale traveling exhibit of the portable Tabernacle that the Jews used while traveling in the wilderness for 40 years with Moses. It was quite impressive. It was at BYU for a time, so maybe some of you saw it. There were posters and ushers to teach of the symbolism in the temple including the direction you enter from, the colors of the fabric, where you stand to offer sacrifices, what the shewbread and incense means, the ark of the covenant and the priestly attire, etc. It was fascinating. It was constructed by a collaborated group from the University of Southern California, Widstoe foundation, and a couple of other groups. If it ever comes your way, it is worth going to see. There were children there when we were and they really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about the symbols and how they all point to the Savior, just like in our temples today. Sacrifices have never appealed to me, especially the fact that the person bringing the sacrifice had to hold the animal and kill it himself. But there is something richly symbolic in that. In speaking of sacrificing, Elder Maxwell said, "So it is that real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed! Such is the 'sacrifice unto the Lord... of a broken heart and a contrite spirit,' a prerequisite to taking up the cross, while giving 'away all [our] sins' in order to know God, for the denial of self precedes the full acceptance of Him."

Flags for each of the 12 tribes of Israel, off to the right, led us to the Tabernacle of the Wilderness, where you enter from the east. The opening curtains were made of crimson, purple, and blue - colors which signify royalty, the heavens and the blood of the Savior.

The Holy Place where the menorah burned continually, symbolizing completion with its seven candles. There was a table with flatbread and water, an altar on which the priests burned incense, and the veil to the Holy of Holies where the priest would enter to pray for Israel. In front of the Holy Place you can see the stand where the priests were washed, anointed and clothed before entering.

The sacrificial altar where a person would bring an animal to sacrifice for various purposes. The person would have to stand on the north side, hold the animal himself, and kill the animal. The priest would hold a basin to catch the blood and spread it symbolically on different places on the altar.

Flake Fun

Let's see...things are pretty normal in Snowflake.  Our garden is still growing.  The weather is still hot.

We had a really fun "birthday party" with the Flake side of the family.  Both grandma & grandpa Flake would have been 100 this year so the kids took the opportunity to get together and chat.  It was fun to see cousins, aunts & uncles.

Hopefully we'll have something more to report next week!  Hope everyone had/has a great week!

Nilsson News

We are still coughing at our house but just trying to ignore it and enjoy the summer.  The kids have been really good about helping out in the garden and with other chores around the house.  I love it when they jump in to help without even being asked!  We have been working on a project in the back of our house and are trying to turn it into a more usable space.  Thanks to Alex, he hurried this project along by having a huge truckload of wood chips delivered to our house.  Rather than trying to explain it, I'll just illustrate through the pictures.

Ta-dah!  Last but not least, we now have a hanging porch swing!  They really are not complicated to make and they are so worth it!  Now we have a place to sit back, relax and enjoy the beautiful view.  You are all invited to come up and enjoy it with us!