Well we have entered a new phase at church. Chet is no longer a sleep-through-church-like-a-newborn anymore. In fact he is quite squirmy and loud. I think we may make more enemies at church because he talks very loudly and he did that through both hours of church! Yikes. I was called as second counselor in primary which I am excited about. It will be interesting juggling everything but out of the blue Wesley started going to nursery so that has been a huge relief!
The weather is starting to feel a little more welcoming and we have gotten outside to play ball and go to the park. Happy day! Chet is an official crawler and he loves it. He loves pounding things together and screaming happily. He has an adorable three tooth smile so you might want to come visit if you want to be charmed by him. Avoid the evenings though, he is less charming.
Wesley is sprouting and is quite a social butterfly with people over 5 years old. Nick is home this week because of spring break and I am trying to restrain my urge to work like crazy and drag everyone along behind! Fun things...for everyone...
Have a great week!
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Nilsson News
I don't have a whole lot to report for the week. Lauren, I'm so ready to start on the garden too! Our watermelon seedlings are starting to look pretty good and we will hopefully be transplanting them in just a couple of weeks. We did not enjoy a rainy St. George just a rainy Idaho Falls. It was actually nice and sunny for most the week but the past couple of days has been cloudy, cool, and rainy, much to the disappointment of the kiddos. They were getting used to being able to go outside without jackets and sometimes no shoes (that never lasted long, we still have some ice on the ground!) We got all of our fruit trees pruned and we have been doing some spring cleaning. The barn was the big job yesterday. The amount of dust accumulation in the barn is quite astonishing really. I had some excellent helpers out there who kept the donkeys well groomed and distracted and others who dug into the muck with their shovels and others who swept down the cobwebs. I love it when kids hop in to help without being asked! The barn now looks amazing...for a few days at least!
Yesterday we also did our easiest project yet...now you see it...
Yesterday we also did our easiest project yet...now you see it...
Now you don't!
It's like magic! There was a Hispanic fellow that was trying to start up his new tree removal and pruning service so we hired him to take out this massive monster. I'm usually all about doing projects myself as you well know, but after taking out our pine tree last year, I was more than happy to let someone tackle this one! He had it gone and cleaned up in eight hours!
Not much else to report here! Hope you all have a terrific week!
Hart Happenings
Well, we just had a most enjoyable time the past couple of days hanging out with half of the 3/4 of the Manning clan, and half of the Flakes. Those two sisters are so smart and fun! And Wesley and Chet are so entertaining! We had so much fun swimming in the rain, hiking in the rain, eating tacos, playing UNO, visiting, and laughing at the shenanigans of the kiddos. The Ryan Hamilton show (which is what got this whole vacay going in the first place) was a hit. We actually ended up sitting right in front of one of Alex's best buddies and his parents. Not sure how that worked out because it was completely unplanned. But always fun to run into people you know in random places. The boys also had a great time with the video games that they found at the house we stayed at.
Monday night before we left the boys and I enjoyed a BYU-tv marathon and watched all the new shows that they just released.
We were really happy to be reunited with Alex who had been in New York for a conference. It seemed like he was gone for a really long time, but he thoroughly enjoyed the things he learned and has been telling me all about them. Good stuff! Self-government is the real deal folks. Hard but imperative.
Ian got to go phaser-tagging with his friends which he said was fun but terrifying. He hid the whole time. Those little balls hurt!
Peter reached one of his goals while we were in St. George which was to climb to the top of a mountain. It was very exciting for him.
Jack is glad to be back to soccer practice. He sure loves it.
Other than that, not much to report. Hope all is well with everyone!
Monday night before we left the boys and I enjoyed a BYU-tv marathon and watched all the new shows that they just released.
We were really happy to be reunited with Alex who had been in New York for a conference. It seemed like he was gone for a really long time, but he thoroughly enjoyed the things he learned and has been telling me all about them. Good stuff! Self-government is the real deal folks. Hard but imperative.
Ian got to go phaser-tagging with his friends which he said was fun but terrifying. He hid the whole time. Those little balls hurt!
Peter reached one of his goals while we were in St. George which was to climb to the top of a mountain. It was very exciting for him.
Jack is glad to be back to soccer practice. He sure loves it.
Other than that, not much to report. Hope all is well with everyone!
Manning Moments
This week the boys and I got to escape the somewhat warm American Fork weather to the rainstorms and colder weather of St. George. What the weather lacked was made up for with good times with the Harts and Jenn. It was fun to chat and Wesley was in heaven with everyone at his command. We got to see some beautiful waterfalls and went swimming and enjoyed good food too.
We have done some fun activities lately including: the Aquarium, a fire department tour, bowling and fishing. Wesley caught the first fish of the season which was so fun! I am learning that a great thing about having little kids is that you can do the same thing every year and it is a completely new experience for them!
Other than that, we are just doing the same old. Chet has three teeth and wants to walk instead of crawl. Every time he goes on the floor he pushes up into a down dog.
Looking forward to sunshine and gardening...
We have done some fun activities lately including: the Aquarium, a fire department tour, bowling and fishing. Wesley caught the first fish of the season which was so fun! I am learning that a great thing about having little kids is that you can do the same thing every year and it is a completely new experience for them!
Other than that, we are just doing the same old. Chet has three teeth and wants to walk instead of crawl. Every time he goes on the floor he pushes up into a down dog.
Looking forward to sunshine and gardening...
Monday, March 18, 2019
Nilsson News
So prepare yourselves, I'm going to let this post speak for itself in pictures for the most part. The Spartan was a blast and I highly recommend it for anyone up for a muddy, dirty invigorating challenge. There is an 8 mile Super up Ogden canyon the end of July...We could make a great team family!
Like mom mentioned, we lost our first foal of the season. We tend to be a magnet for rare happenings. CoCo's foal was presenting in a full breech which is rare for equines and by the time the vet finally maneuvered the foal out, she was gone. Very sad for all of us. I talked to some farmers about whether they thought they had more successes or failures in a given year. They responded that it just depended on the year. So out of the three years we've had babies, all of them had seen tragedy. Out of the seven babies born on our farm, only two have survived. I hope the remainder of this year will turn for the better.
We finished our bathroom! Hip hooray!
And now for the pictures...
And AFTER! It is night and day difference.
Love you all family!
Like mom mentioned, we lost our first foal of the season. We tend to be a magnet for rare happenings. CoCo's foal was presenting in a full breech which is rare for equines and by the time the vet finally maneuvered the foal out, she was gone. Very sad for all of us. I talked to some farmers about whether they thought they had more successes or failures in a given year. They responded that it just depended on the year. So out of the three years we've had babies, all of them had seen tragedy. Out of the seven babies born on our farm, only two have survived. I hope the remainder of this year will turn for the better.
We finished our bathroom! Hip hooray!
And now for the pictures...
Barbed wire crawl
Bucket haul and hike
Final fire jump
1/2 mile in 8 minutes
He decided it was okay to get dirty
Go Spartans!
BEFORE bathroom pics
And AFTER! It is night and day difference.
Love you all family!
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Smithfield Scoop
Well, it's late, but I haven't posted for some time so thought I'd put a little history on this blog for future reference...
It has been wonderful to be with family so much in the past couple of weeks. I loved staying with Addy while her family was in St. George. We were all relieved when Ruth, and the rest of the family, survived the Spartan race!! Way to go Nilssons! Addy and I enjoyed her dance competition where she did an amazing job and earned several first place awards. She also loved going to the temple with Ian and his Hart cousins, attending Newsies, going to Jack's soccer game, acting out scripture stories with the cousins and feeding animals at home. It was a great bonding time for us.
Having Thomas and Victoria come was a wonderful blessing! They were here on Monday when Emma did a hangout with us on my phone. It was so fun for her to be able to talk with her big brother. Then Dad and I went to see Jenn and Scott for a few days. We talked a lot, went for walks, shot guns, played Phase 10 (which Dad won) and checked on babies, which both seem to be quite healthy, and thoroughly enjoyed our time in snowy Snowflake. They have had some interesting weather there of late. We were grateful to miss the storms going to and from.
We were very sorry to hear the Nilsson's news about losing their little foal who was born breech yesterday. There are some hard lessons to learn on a farm sometimes. We are thinking of you guys and keeping you in our prayers. In fact, we are keeping all of our family in our prayers always. We put your names in the temple regularly and hope for the Lord's guidance and spirit to be in your lives.
Dad finally got the word tonight from the general authorities who will be coming to the YSA Stake Conference in 2 weeks. He's been trying to get questions answered for several weeks already, but got a phone call today with instructions and plans. So, he will be getting speakers lined up, music plans solidified, dinner assignments made and writing talks. The leaders will come this week to call a new stake president and Dad will be there for that, as well. It is truly a bitter-sweet time.
The sun was out today - hallelujah! What a blessing. The neighborhood was alive as well. We might actually get to know some people if the weather continues to be so pleasant.
Have a lovely week! Love you all - to the moon and back (several times!)!
It has been wonderful to be with family so much in the past couple of weeks. I loved staying with Addy while her family was in St. George. We were all relieved when Ruth, and the rest of the family, survived the Spartan race!! Way to go Nilssons! Addy and I enjoyed her dance competition where she did an amazing job and earned several first place awards. She also loved going to the temple with Ian and his Hart cousins, attending Newsies, going to Jack's soccer game, acting out scripture stories with the cousins and feeding animals at home. It was a great bonding time for us.
Having Thomas and Victoria come was a wonderful blessing! They were here on Monday when Emma did a hangout with us on my phone. It was so fun for her to be able to talk with her big brother. Then Dad and I went to see Jenn and Scott for a few days. We talked a lot, went for walks, shot guns, played Phase 10 (which Dad won) and checked on babies, which both seem to be quite healthy, and thoroughly enjoyed our time in snowy Snowflake. They have had some interesting weather there of late. We were grateful to miss the storms going to and from.
We were very sorry to hear the Nilsson's news about losing their little foal who was born breech yesterday. There are some hard lessons to learn on a farm sometimes. We are thinking of you guys and keeping you in our prayers. In fact, we are keeping all of our family in our prayers always. We put your names in the temple regularly and hope for the Lord's guidance and spirit to be in your lives.
Dad finally got the word tonight from the general authorities who will be coming to the YSA Stake Conference in 2 weeks. He's been trying to get questions answered for several weeks already, but got a phone call today with instructions and plans. So, he will be getting speakers lined up, music plans solidified, dinner assignments made and writing talks. The leaders will come this week to call a new stake president and Dad will be there for that, as well. It is truly a bitter-sweet time.
The sun was out today - hallelujah! What a blessing. The neighborhood was alive as well. We might actually get to know some people if the weather continues to be so pleasant.
Have a lovely week! Love you all - to the moon and back (several times!)!
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Hart Happenings
Wow! It is a lovely day outside today! It makes one hopeful for spring.
Showtime! Ian's opening night happened on Thursday this week but he's been doing performances since Tuesday. We've already been to see it twice and it is so amazing to see what these kids can pull off. There is some good talent and lots of energy. He has had a blast through the whole process. Thanks to the family who came to see him.
Jack had a soccer practice this week and a game this weekend which his team won. We love going to his games.
Alex spent a lot of time working on continuing education classes for his real estate license. He's gotta keep that thing current!
We had Alex's family come over the weekend and the kids had a blast playing with cousins.
The past couple of weeks we've attended some really neat performances with our homeschool group. The first one was a folk singer named Molly Tuttle and this week (Jack's favorite) was a band from Ireland called Jig Jam. They had a banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, and fiddle and they were so energetic and fun. They had kids dancing and singing along and we've been listening to them ever since. So fun! After the concert the boys and I had lunch at the local bagel shop and then spent some time at the library.
We had a fun geography lesson about Africa thanks to Ruth. She came and showed a variety of pictures of different landscapes and had the kids guess which continent they were pictures of. There were some deserts, a beautiful beach, a huge prairie, some mountains, a huge, winding river, and also some lions. The kids had lots of guesses, but at the end of the day, Ruth told us that they were all pictures of places in Africa. Crazy!
It was an eventful week and we have been taking this day of rest seriously. I think we will see Mom and Addy at some point this evening and are looking forward to that. Congratulations to Addy on placing first in her clogging competition! And to Ruth for not dying on the Spartan!
Hope to see some more of you soon!
p.s. nasa's awesome (jack)
Showtime! Ian's opening night happened on Thursday this week but he's been doing performances since Tuesday. We've already been to see it twice and it is so amazing to see what these kids can pull off. There is some good talent and lots of energy. He has had a blast through the whole process. Thanks to the family who came to see him.
Jack had a soccer practice this week and a game this weekend which his team won. We love going to his games.
Alex spent a lot of time working on continuing education classes for his real estate license. He's gotta keep that thing current!
We had Alex's family come over the weekend and the kids had a blast playing with cousins.
The past couple of weeks we've attended some really neat performances with our homeschool group. The first one was a folk singer named Molly Tuttle and this week (Jack's favorite) was a band from Ireland called Jig Jam. They had a banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, and fiddle and they were so energetic and fun. They had kids dancing and singing along and we've been listening to them ever since. So fun! After the concert the boys and I had lunch at the local bagel shop and then spent some time at the library.
We had a fun geography lesson about Africa thanks to Ruth. She came and showed a variety of pictures of different landscapes and had the kids guess which continent they were pictures of. There were some deserts, a beautiful beach, a huge prairie, some mountains, a huge, winding river, and also some lions. The kids had lots of guesses, but at the end of the day, Ruth told us that they were all pictures of places in Africa. Crazy!
It was an eventful week and we have been taking this day of rest seriously. I think we will see Mom and Addy at some point this evening and are looking forward to that. Congratulations to Addy on placing first in her clogging competition! And to Ruth for not dying on the Spartan!
Hope to see some more of you soon!
p.s. nasa's awesome (jack)
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Flake Fun
We don't have a whole lot to report this week but we can commiserate with the Nilsson's when it comes to mud and sludge. A week and a half ago we got 15+ inches of snow overnight and it took it's time melting which left plenty of time for mud puddles (read: lakes) to form everywhere. We are finally about mud free which is really nice. Now we just have to re-form our driveway from the tire craters that are now covering it.
Scott made a drop system in our greenhouse and put it on a timer so now all of our seedlings are getting watered at appropriate amounts each afternoon. It is really fun and convenient! We can't wait to expand it once we get more seedlings planted. If anyone is interested, we'll help you design one!
Let's see, what else...Scott has a job interview this week with the county Treasurer's office so we're keeping our fingers crossed. He is still planning to do taxes but this opportunity came up and he applied several weeks ago while we were waiting for his number to come. One of those take the opportunities as they pop up kind of things.
Anyway, hope that you all have a great week!!
Scott made a drop system in our greenhouse and put it on a timer so now all of our seedlings are getting watered at appropriate amounts each afternoon. It is really fun and convenient! We can't wait to expand it once we get more seedlings planted. If anyone is interested, we'll help you design one!
Let's see, what else...Scott has a job interview this week with the county Treasurer's office so we're keeping our fingers crossed. He is still planning to do taxes but this opportunity came up and he applied several weeks ago while we were waiting for his number to come. One of those take the opportunities as they pop up kind of things.
Anyway, hope that you all have a great week!!
Nilsson News
This week started off terribly! Isn't that a great way to start a blog post? The weather decided to be warm and rain and like I have said before, that is not a good combo when there is still two feet of snow on the ground and ice beneath that. I began my three hour ritual of bailing water out of the barn but it was very unproductive as I could see the water running in as I was bailing it out. After five hours of work, you couldn't tell I had done anything. So frustrating! I had to take a break to host the little great brain group that was coming over. It seemed that all the families were having quite the day. All the reports were most excellent and the kids did a great job. It is a fun tradition! Well, the fun time came to a close and I had to return to the mushy, mucky, sloshy mess outside. This is what greeted me:
It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but all the ground you can see is about three inches of standing water and I'm bailing it out a bucket at a time. Fast forward a few hours and we were saved and rescued by some amazing people! Elise brought over dinner! Alex and Garrett organized their YM groups to come over with pumps, shop vacs, ice picks and other tools and had at it! I wish I had a picture of it, but there were about twenty five young men sloshing around and seeming to have a good time. One of our priests was jumping around in the muck and saying, "Now this is some serious redneck fun!" They were amazing and had the water cleared out and a holding area dug in about an hours time. Everyone was covered in brown slimey-ness and smelled not so very lovely but I am ever so thankful! I haven't had any more huge bailing escapades since.
Yesterday, we made some serious headway on our bathroom project. It is almost back to working condition! I'm loving it! It is not worthy of "after" photos yet but I'm hoping sometime this week to post some.
We are getting ready to head south to St. George this weekend. This may actually be my last blog post ever seeing how I'm supposed to run the Spartan this Saturday. We'll just hope I survive to tell about it!
Have a wonderful week all you wonderful people!
Yesterday, we made some serious headway on our bathroom project. It is almost back to working condition! I'm loving it! It is not worthy of "after" photos yet but I'm hoping sometime this week to post some.
We are getting ready to head south to St. George this weekend. This may actually be my last blog post ever seeing how I'm supposed to run the Spartan this Saturday. We'll just hope I survive to tell about it!
Have a wonderful week all you wonderful people!
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