Hart Happenings

Happy Easter everyone!
  It was a great week up north here.  Some of our regular activities interspersed with some not-regular activities kept things interesting.  We were very glad to have Alex return from his trip to New York on Monday.  He hired an intern to help him build his brokering business and we got to meet all 6 feet 6 inches of him this week!  His name is Adam and he is very nice.
  The kids did some great reports on Asia for our geography class with the Nilsson kiddos.  If you ever want an idyllic place to escape to, investigate Bhutan.
  Peter has a canker sore.
  Alex has a canker sore.
  Jack and Peter both played soccer games on Saturday.  I was the referee for Peter's game which I was really nervous about but ended up not being so bad.
  We had an Easter celebration with our ward and our favorite friend who flies helicopters flew over and dropped 1,000 candy-filled eggs in the field.  It was EPIC!
  The boys and I drove down to Smithfield on Wednesday while Alex and his intern took off to Boise.  We went down to see the Butterfly Biosphere and Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point, which was amazing.  I don't think I will ever forget the river of blue hyacinths that was planted in a little grove of trees.  It was stunning and smelled exactly what I think heaven will smell like!  It was really neat to see the garden filled with life-sized statues of various stories of Christ.  We went with Dad and Lauren and her adorable boys.  The kids were such good sports while the adults drooled over the gorgeous landscaping.  The Manning hosted us all for dinner, which was delicious, per any time we have dined at their house.  On the way home we stopped briefly at Joe and Lori's happy house which made all of us happy.  It was great to see them and we felt lucky that we caught them right after they got back from a family bike ride.  They have a really cute family of quail living in their yard and it was great to see "Joy's art room".  I had a great time chatting with dad on the drive to and from.  He is good company!
  Peter has been saving his money for a really long time and was able to purchase a fog machine this week.  The boys have had a blast putting on shows for us and filling up various rooms in our house with so much fog that you can't see anything!  It has set the fire alarm off a few times which freaks us all out.
  Alex's grandma died last night and it was really sweet to think about her and about our beliefs of life and death in context of Easter Sunday.  We feel really blessed that we will be able to attend her funeral right before we leave for our cruise.  A tender mercy, indeed.
  Thinking of all of you.......

Nilsson News

Happy Easter and happy Spring!  This has been a very textbook kind of spring which is actually very rare.  The weather has been warming up very gradually with rainy days interspersed her and there.  The grass is turning green, our tulip and daffodils are ready to burst, there are buds on the trees and...there is watermelon planted in the garden!  Yesterday, Emerson helped me plant 27 watermelon plants and Eliza helped me plant our onions and purple cauliflower. 
Garrett has been very productive and was able to really clean out our sad excuse of a willow tree.  It has never been pruned right and there were huge portions that were just dead.  We hadn't taken care of it until now because we couldn't figure out how to access the specific branches.  Finally, Garrett was able to get up into the tree with his chainsaw and he went to town!  The tree has a new lease on life now! 
Earlier in the week, the boys helped me rip out our kitchen linoleum flooring in preparation to ripping out and re-configuring some cabinets.  That's what Garrett worked on yesterday afternoon and it has opened up the kitchen quite amazingly.  There is now space for our dining room table!  It is still a work in progress so I can show you the progress pictures.

 This cupboard stuck out into the middle of the floor and really took up a lot of space so we wanted to detach it and move it against the wall.

 Hard working boys!

Ta dah!  This thing was very securely attached to the floor.  Can you see those nails?  After this was removed, it revealed how many layers of flooring there really are.  Under our linoleum there is a nice plywood underlayment, under that there are two more layers of linoleum followed by a particle board subfloor.  That's one solid floor!  Hopefully next week we will have some finished photos...

We had some fun Easter festivities with the Harts yesterday.  Egg hunts are really so much fun and you should all mark your calendars for next year so you can join us!  The kids were all great hunters and while they were opening their treasures, the adults played a game of corn hole.  Good times!

Addy sang a beautiful song with her beehive class during sacrament meeting today.  It was quite lovely.  It is amazing how quickly kids grow up.  I didn't believe it went by very quickly when the kids were quite a bit younger and I was immensely sleep deprived (ok. So I'm still very sleep deprived.  Can't seem to figure that one out) and only changed diapers, but things have definitely sped up.  Especially being a member of the church, your kids now grow up over night!  Gotta love life!  Sure love you family!

Smithfield Scoop

Hallelujah for babies! Flake babies! Donkey babies! And - finally - the baby in Idaho that I stayed home from St. George and Sandy and American Fork "just in case" for, was born this week. All went well despite the long gestation. Actually, the baby didn't look a day overdue. The dates were off by a week, is my guess... Anyway, congratulations to all mamas everywhere! ; )

Last night I realized that Dad would go to church with me today, and come home with me! That hasn't happened for a very long time. I wasn't sure how it would be for him to come home and not be needed in interviews or meetings. It was a little strange, but all is well. However, I'm afraid I might be the one missing the YSAs more than he is today! It's just an adjustment, and we will make it and be just fine.

The bishopric came by to meet us today. They are nice and it was fun to get acquainted with them. We have no idea if/when they might ask us to speak in the ward or ask us to serve in callings, but we are more than ready to be put to work!

It has been spring in Cache Valley - which means rain and snow! Dad completed a grow box and bought wood to build a couple more. Hopefully we can get those done this week. He also has some seeds planted that should sprout this week. One day it really will be spring here. It has always come before, so we have hope it will come this year, too.

Yesterday Dad and I went to Idaho with his uncle, Wain, who is the last surviving member of Grandma Belliston's family. He is a healthy and active 74 or 75 year old, white haired man who has not been an active member of the church in his adult life. But he contacts us occasionally and we always have great visits with him. We went to Idaho to be with him when he scattered his brother's (Nile's) ashes on the Snake River close to where they grew up on the family farm near Rupert. It was quite tender to see him become emotional about missing his brother, and probably his sister. It has caused me to think about, and miss very much, Grandma and Grandpa Belliston.

Theresa Ramirez called today and said to tell you all hello! Did I ever mention that Brooke got married last summer? Middle of July, I think. Strange how things change. Lots of memories to recall this weekend.

There have been so many recent changes that I haven't quite grasped hold of yet. Some of the changes from long ago I haven't grasped yet!  I am still having trouble realizing that it's just the two of us on the bench at church now, instead of chasing several children around during Sacrament Meeting. So weird that we won't have a child in music lessons any more or in band ever again. But, I am getting more and more interested in and excited about what lies ahead. The nostalgia is not melancholy or depressive. Just tender. Mostly grateful. Heavenly Father has been so good to us. I'm grateful for good memories that give me a reason to look hopefully and happily to the future!

Have a lovely week and keep posting the pictures! They are such a great part of our family blog. I will try to get on the ball and get some posted soon... Love you all!

Nilsson News

Little Lu is so delightful!  She is in the fun bouncing around phase.  She has been observing her mom's dust baths and has tried it out for herself.  So cute!  I just can't seem to get enough pictures of her!

The garden is getting started!  I've set out three, thirty foot rows of plastic that will soon be the home of around 28 watermelon plants.  The weather is still windy and quite cold but the soil beneath the plastic is warming up nicely. 

 

The three older kids each have their own 6x6 garden plot this year that they are going to be completely in charge of.  We measured them off yesterday, made some pea trellises, and planted some peas, lettuce, spinach, kale and carrots.  So excited to have spring!  

This has really been the extent of our days lately.  Hope you are enjoying some spring!

Hart Happenings

So fun to see all the pictures of babies (human and animal)!  They are all adorable.  We have met baby donkey Lu in real life, who is even cuter than in the pictures, and can't wait to make the actual acquaintance of the babies Flake.  Peter is feeling kind of bad that Jenn's babies are so squished together in there.

Spring soccer is upon the Hart household.  Peter loves his new coach this season and is excited that he has played with some of his current team mates in seasons past.  Jack is really progressing as a player and it is fun to watch him pass and set up plays.

Ian is gearing up for another audition in May and has been printing off sheet music to use for audition pieces.  It is for the local community theater production of Matilda, which would be a dream come true for this boy.

Alex is in New York again.  He is really enjoying this conference that he has been participating in and has met some really great people and is reminded every time he chats with them or hangs out with them that the church bubble is real!  His stories make me laugh.

We are in the middle of a house project that on the outset seemed pretty straightforward and has turned out to be anything but.  Last week, when Ruth was over, we started demo on the river rock surrounding our fireplace.  Alex took up the sledgehammer later that evening and brought the whole thing down upon his head (nearly literally).  We got the new one installed and then things came to a standstill.  Ruth helped me work through some design ideas and we should be good to go as soon as we find a carpenter who can build my idea!

Conference was super wonderful!  Sure love those prophets and other leaders!

We are getting close to wrapping up our homeschool group class in the next couple of weeks.  That has been a lot of fun and I think the boys have really enjoyed meeting some new people, I know I have.

The invitation is still open for anyone who wants to come up for Easter.  We have a lot of fun celebrating that holiday up here with the Nilssons and want to extend the invitation out to anyone else who is free this coming weekend!

Hope all is well!

Hallelujah!

We're shouting hallelujah at the Nilsson home!  I often wonder how we can ever keep going after losing so many foals and then we witness one success and I remember - the one is worth it.  Elise is the one who said we should name this one Hallelujah baby and I don't know if she was serious or not but I honestly think we will!
We purchased a little camera that we installed in the barn that connects to our phones and that is what saved us.  Garrett woke up at 2:30 a.m. and checked it and said I should probably go check on Serenity.  I got out there right when she was pushing the baby out.  So amazing!  It went perfectly so I do know that it can happen like that on occasion.  We thought for awhile that our little foal was a "he" but when the light got better I realized he was a "she"!  We were going to call Hallelujah "Hal" for short but now were going to call her "Lu."  The kids are so delighted especially Millie.  She just can't get enough hugs from the baby donkey.  You really need to come see her for yourself!

We thought the day couldn't get any better but then Eliza came bouncing into the kitchen declaring that her very first tooth is loose!  It really can't get better than that!

Flake Fotos

Hey everyone!  This week was pretty good.  We celebrated our 12th anniversary on Saturday which was fun.  We planted a few tomatoes into our garden as well as a broccoli.  We also bought some lumber so that Scott can build some shelves for the kids' room.

Thought everyone might like some pictures:

Two little noggins

Little Boy Flake

Little Girl Flake

As you can see they are nearly identical!!!

Hope that you all have a great week!

Flake Fun

These last couple of weeks have been pretty great.  It was awesome to be able to get together with the Hart and Manning crews a couple of weeks ago.  Great folks and good times. 

The weather has decided to act like spring now which is really nice.  About 5 days ago my allergies kicked into high gear.  I think it is due to the cottonwoods blooming but I think that they are under control now.

The highlight of this past week was getting our 22 week ultrasound. It was fun to have Dona present in the office and Mom & Dad present via video chat.  Both babies are healthy and growing.  We will upload pics soon.  Little Boy is quite the active kid and Little Girl is quite a bit more subtle most of the time. 

We have sprouts coming up in the greenhouse which is always tons of fun.  We also noticed that our lily bulbs are popping up and we have about 6 that have bloomed! 

Well, that is about all that we have to report.  Hope that you all have a great week!