Smithfield Scoop

Ah, Jenn! What darling photos of darling babies! Oh my, I am aching to hold them... One of these days we'll get back down there - hopefully sooner than later. Thanks for the pictures.

Since we don't have babies to admire and snuggle, we are being entranced by the flowers that seem to be blooming everywhere! We planted some and are are also enjoying some that were planted long before we arrived. My personal favorites are the gladiolus because they are all different and exquisitely detailed on the inside with such lovely colors on the outside. But the daisies... well, now there's a delightful flower! We also planted some hydrangeas that we found on a "buy one get one 1/2 off" deal at the garden store.

Besides sitting on the deck and smelling the flowers, we shucked, blanched, cut and froze 5 dozen ears of corn yesterday. And got 15 bags of corn in the freezer. Not enough. We'll have to do more. But it is very yummy corn and we are so grateful to have it. Since the corn cost $15, each bag is worth $1.00. We will relish every bite of it in the winter time :)

We are trying to figure out how to implement our new callings as Youth Family History and Temple Specialists. Not a "real" calling - as in, not in the Handbook, so there is not any specific direction, which is a bit of a challenge. We met with the Elder's quorum president, YW and YM presidents and the ward FH consultant today and they said, "The bishop said to let you run with it to make our lives easier." So, what to do? Any ideas to help get the youth to the temple and get the temple in the youth would be welcome. I think really the bishop wants the youth to have the Spirit in their lives through doing family history and being in the temple. There are powerful promises associated with those activities, so that's where we'll start.

Sure love you all and hope you are enjoying the end of summer. At least we hope it's at the end for Jenn and the babies who have been melting in the heat. Thank goodness they have a basement that is a few degrees cooler during the day! We will be glad when temperatures there moderate a little. On this end, it's kind of a sad day when the temperature changes. Our little hummingbird friends seem to have flown south. That's a lonely feeling since they have been fun company all summer. But the harvest is nice and it's yummy, beautiful time of year up this way!

Flake Fun

It has been incredibly hot thispast week but I am currently sitting on the couch with a very nice breeze coming through the window.  Its the little things that make life good, don't you think?

Other than being hot, not much is going on here.  I survived my first solo outing with the twins- to follow up with my doctor.  It went quite well.

Robin and Rand are both growing and developing their own little personalities. They have officially out-grown all of their preemie clothes and are trying to grow into their newborn clothes. Who knew that there needs to be a size between preemie and newborn?

Anyway, here are a few pictures.

They like to burrow between me and the nursing pillow.

Flake Fun

Elise came to spend the week with us and I'm sure that she will concur that the only thing that happened here was feeding babies.  They seem to be going through s growth spurt and they both want to eat constantly. 

Hart Happenings

This was quite a week!
  We divided and conquered.  I went to spend time with Jenn, Scott, Rand, and Rosie.  It was absolutely delightful!  Those babies were so cute and the only thing that could tear me away was the thought of getting back to my own big babies (who are super embarrassed that I wrote that).
  Meanwhile, back at Hart headquarters the boys maintained and worked in the garden, went to soccer practices, play rehearsals, picnics, enjoyed a few movies, had a blast swimming with Emerson on his birthday, hosted a Spike Ball night, and survived a scout campout at the sand dunes.  I guess when I'm gone our house turns into party central!
  All this came on the heels of Joe's family being here which is always a highlight of our summer.  We played volleyball, picked raspberries, enjoyed an elaborate show by the Hart brother (or Xanadudes) which Ruth already alluded to, went to Freeman Park to play in the creek, went to the local kids' art festival down by the river, and played and played some more.  I totally agree with Ruth, the cousins all play together so nicely and are so adorable!  I especially enjoyed watching the bigger cousins, Ian, Addie, and Grace wander around as Greek gods and goddesses.  Hilarious!  I spent some good time working on Scott and Jenn and extolling the virtues of Idaho living.  At least they never completely shot down the idea.  I'm just thinking if we can get Joe and Lori up here and then Jenn and Scott at some point, and eventually if we're really lucky, the Mannings, and while we're shooting for the moon, T and Victoria, and then Emma comes to BYU-Idaho, which I'm told she doesn't want to do, life would be sheer bliss!  If that doesn't pan out we will just keep bugging all of you to come and visit because we are huge fans of all of you!
  Alex was released from his calling this week which left him in a "full-on rage".  He has had a really good time with those boys and has built a really pleasant rapport with them.
  Anyway, life is good, summer is winding down, and all well up north.
  Enjoy the pics!

Smithfield Scoop

Well, life is interesting around here... I had a lot on my list of things to do this week, most of which are still on my list because there was so much else going on. Besides the regular stuff and attending 2 births, we took Dad to his doctor appointment - and finally found out what his trouble is! Brother Evans referred us to a doctor friend of his that he has a high regard for, but that doctor wasn't taking new patients so that's why we ended up at Urgent Care last week. After hearing about that, Bill called the doctor and arranged for Dr. Isaacson to see Dad. It was actually a blessing that we didn't get in to see him before...

I know you are all aware of what happened, but thought I would record it here for future reference. After telling the doctor what had been happening, Doctor Isaacson was all ready to send Dad in for an MRI on his back to discover the issue, when Dad added, "And, on top of all that, I've developed this crazy rash on the top of my leg..." The doctor then looked at the rash, sat back in his chair with a sort of satisfied look on his face, and said, "You have shingles." Well, thankfully no MRI, just more medication with lots of relief that it wasn't something worse. It has been excruciatingly painful, but Dad has been a trooper through it all! Alex asked me if he had been grumpy after not having slept for so long, but he really hasn't at all. He's been very tired and uncomfortable, but hasn't been impatient or unkind or grumpy in any degree. Truly, Dad fulfilled Elder Maxwell's hope when he had health issues, that he "wouldn't shrink." Dad's amazing, as you all well know. Now, he's taking medicine to 1. kill the virus (which is the same as the chicken pox virus), 2. another pill to calm the nerves that are affected by the virus (which decides to live in a nerve and then come alive whenever it wants to), and 3. a regular old narcotic pain killer (an opioid!!). He's only taken the pain med once and really doesn't like the nerve medication because of the side affects, and the antiviral medication is like a giant horse pill!! You'd be proud of him for even being able to swallow them.  He's been sleeping much better the last few night, can drive the car longer distances without the terrible pain, and has hope that the pain will continue to subside until it disappears altogether. Prayers are indeed answered.

The only negative part of this diagnosis was that the Mannings and Joe's family were supposed to come this weekend to enjoy some fishing and time at Grandma's. We have had to postpone that so that none of the grandchildren would get chickenpox from Grandpa! That's a real thing! He is not contagious for shingles because it doesn't spread like that, but he could potentially infect anyone who hasn't had chickenpox. He should only be contagious until his own pox scab over, probably another week or so. Crazy! Shingles isn't a one time thing. You have the potential to get it again. So, as soon as this is healed up, we are both going in for a shingles vaccination. Jenn assures us that it is expensive and not always readily available, but nevertheless, we will get the shot!

The only other thing of note is that Dad and I got new callings. Did we already tell you that? We were sustained today as "Youth Family History and Temple Specialists" or something like that. So we will have to get in touch with the YW and YM leaders, as well as the Family History specialist in the ward and see how we can get the youth to the temple more often and get them excited about family history. Any ideas?? We'd be really happy to hear some suggestions. We are sad to leave Primary - we were just getting to feel comfortable with working with lots of wiggly bodies! But, this is where the bishop said the Lord wants us right now, so we'll do our best. I'm so glad that Dad and I still get to work together!

 We sure love you all and appreciate your prayers and thoughtfulness recently. Things are well here and we are loving our garden produce and the beautiful flowers that Elise and Lauren and Ruth helped us with earlier this year. They are "feeding our souls" and providing "eye candy," as Elise calls it! Hope to see some, or all of you soon!

Some lovely gladiolus that Elise and Dad planted and we didn't even 

know if they would actually produce! They are definitely people pleasers!

We have been gorging ourselves on fresh garden produce... 

Cucumbers - more than we can eat, even after sharing with lots of neighbors!

Green beans, onions, tomatoes, peppers...

More tomatoes and potatoes...

Carrots and beets (the peas are harvested and gone already!)...

And luscious strawberries! Yummy!!

Nilsson News

Happy Anniversary yesterday mom and dad!  These are the days!  We are loving the summer weather and summer activities..  Playing with the animals, harvesting delicious goods from the garden, playing with friends, riding bikes, it just doesn't get better!
Garrett was gone on high adventure for a few days and then came home just in time to leave for a work conference in Boise.  I'm such a wimp whenever he's gone.  Somehow we survived.
This weekend we enjoyed some quality time with the Hart's and Bellistons.  Those cousins play so well!  We all enjoyed an epic show put on by the Xanedudes.  It was all complete with fog machine, disco spolights and bike stunts.  We thought for sure there would be a trip to the emergency room when a ladder was brought out.  It got even better when said ladder was placed on a very sturdy plastic table and Peter climbed to the very top well beyond the don't step point.  You'll have to see the videos!  It was a great time and I'm sure the Belliston's are now convinced to buy and move into the house two doors down.
Now for pictures:

 A random goose that hung out in our yard for a day.

 It's just about ready!

 This is a caterpillar that Henry found that looked just like a stick!

Eliza's purple carrots.  Yum!

Happy summer everyone!

Smithfield Scoop

Oh my goodness, seeing photos and reading your update, Jenn, caused me to start packing - to move to Snowflake! Such darling babies! All of us in Smithfield are very happy that things have kicked in and are going so well :) Those babies will be chubby before you know it!!

I didn't know why at the time, but am supposing the reason I felt like I should leave Snowflake and head home sooner than I planned on, was to be here for Dad. I guess I really didn't do a good job of that, since I had two very full days of visits with clients when I got back. But last Wednesday we finally got Dad to the Urgent Care to see if they could figure out what was wrong with his back. He's had severe pain in his back, hip and leg (right side) for a couple of weeks. The worst part is that it is so much worse at night. He can't lie down at all without pains shooting through that area. He is only comfortable (moderately so) when standing or walking. Lying or sitting is not at all helpful. But one can only walk for 24 hours a day for so long! So, the doctor said he thought it was an inflamed iliosacral joint/area, which is usually caused by an injury. The only injurious activity Dad can think of was when he drove straight for 12 hours from Arizona to home! But that can certainly have deleterious affects. So, Dad had a shot (no fun!) and they gave him some steroid pills. It was like a miracle! That night, though he could still feel the discomfort somewhat, he was able to lie in bed and sleep a little. The next night was also good. However, now that the medication is gone, things are back with a vengeance. The bishop had asked us to come in and visit with him this afternoon (new callings!) and gave Dad a blessing while we were in his office. We have faith in his faith and blessing. But we were advised to pursue medical help and will make an appointment tomorrow to see if we can get to the bottom of what's going on. Any prayers you can spare would be most appreciated!

Our garden is growing wonderfully! We, like most of you, have been enjoying peas, tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers and look forward soon to pulling up carrots, onions, and beets and digging up potatoes! I'm grateful to be the recipient of all of Dad's hard work.

We spoke in church today about obedience. Thanks to all of you who realize that obedience is not a bondage, but is actually liberating! We are most grateful for obedient, happy children and grandchildren! A couple of thoughts for you:
"When we love the Lord, obedience ceases to be a burden. Obedience becomes a delight!" (Joseph B. Wirthlin)
"When obedience ceases to become an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power." (Ezra Taft Benson)

Love you all and can't wait to see you soon! Any time!

Flake Fun

Sorry for the long absence from the blog. It wasn't due to a lack of content but a lack of time!

Things in our household are wonderful.  The twins are growing and putting on weight. That has been our life for the past 3 weeks! It was a huge blessing to have Mom "move in" for those 3 weeks.  We couldn't have survived without her.

I don't know what everyone knows or what you want to know so in a nutshell:  my waters were broken for 50+ hours and I ended up with an epidural but not a C-section which was a blessing.  My doctor really worked to make sure that it was as good of an experience as was possible. 
Scott was able to catch little Robin and assist in catching little Rand.  That was a neat thing for both of us.  Mom was a great doula and delivery room photographer. 
Because my eaters were broken for so long they were worried about infection so both babies were taken to the NICU.  Rand was the last to be discharged 5 days later.  Now we are home and life is crazy but wonderful.