Smithfield Scoop

 Perusing the recent blog contributions this afternoon has been delightful! Thanks for your contributions that keep us up to date and laughing. We love the stories and the photos!

Dad has been trying to make sense of not being able to smell. It's rather interesting that he cannot smell a thing, but he can taste. He cut up a strong onion the other day with no side effects - no tears at all! Since I've always been told that our sense of smell has a lot to do with our sense of taste, it doesn't make much sense that you can have one without the other. But, 'tis true, at least for Dad. Hopefully, it won't stick around much longer. Emma is still struggling with not being able to smell or taste - which was a very unpleasant thing to experience during Thanksgiving time. She did get hints of flavor when eating pistachio salad and some pie. So, although she isn't extremely fond of sweets, that's what she can taste (a little). It is a very strange symptom of this silly virus. It's actually the only symptom Dad and Emma have had! Well, I guess Dad had a sore throat for a couple of days and Emma felt achy and had a scratchy throat for a few hours. We are grateful that it hasn't been worse here and sorry that the Harts have felt more sick with the virus.

It was fun to have the Nilsson children here while their parents were traveling to Wyoming to pick up the latest addition to the donkey herd. We hiked and played and watched a movie and made Thanksgiving preparations. We were grateful to listen to President Nelson's message with our grandchildren and to receive his invitation to focus on gratitude, which was a sweet, timely, important message that touched our hearts. That has made a wonderful difference this past week in our Thanksgiving celebrations.

 When it was discovered that Emma did indeed have a symptom of Covid, plans quickly changed to have our early Thanksgiving dinner in Idaho instead of at our home. The food was delicious and Addy made much of the meal herself. I guess it doesn't much matter when you have a Thanksgiving dinner if it represents the gratitude you feel for so many incredible blessings! 

We had plans to spend a few days at the Mannings this past week, but when Dad's sense of smell vanished, he stayed home and I went to AF by myself. It is always very entertaining to be with Wesley and Chet. I laughed until I was sore as I watched them act out the "Moses supposes" song from Singin' in the Rain, complete with slaps on the floor or fireplace hearth and tap dancing (with pennies taped to the bottom of shoes) on the tile!! So very delightful! Those boys kept me in stitches the whole time I was there. We read stories, ran errands, played outside, took care of the chickens and went fishing off the top bunk bed. Very fun! 

Favorite memories from recent weeks, some of the many things we are grateful for: 

- Emma's Zoom Bridal Showers! Thanks to everyone for making the effort to be there and support her! - FaceTime with JJ and T&T! Such a happy, darling baby boy!                                                                -- Watching Emma and Cameron make a coffee table for their new apartment. Very nice.                          - Dad having a physical and the doctor telling him he is reasonably healthy (Dad's words)  :)                    - Hangouts with the Flakes - Jenn smiles and finds the most optimistic and positive things to say even when she's had zero sleep! And those little ones... so cute and delightful!                                                  - Dad getting an obstinate stain out of my new pants with gasoline! I had tried everything and had not let him use his "go-to" trick until nothing else worked. It worked! That was also when we discovered he had lost his sense of smell - when he couldn't smell the odor his method left on my pants!

Emma and Cameron's new coffee table!

Nilsson News

 We hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving week!  My kids have been going a bit crazy while the Harts have been in quarantine.  It has been a whole two weeks since we got to hang out with them!!  Looking forward to all that being resolved this coming week.  Garrett worked from home on Monday and Tuesday and then he had the rest of the week off.  Wahoo!  Since we had our official Thanksgiving feast early the previous Saturday, we didn't have big plans for Thursday, other than my project agenda.  Since the weather has turned cold, all of our projects have moved indoors.  Oh boy, did we ever knock things off our list!  We tackled seven different spaces in our home in an attempt to better use the space we have.  It's amazing how you can have the same floor plan and by switching things around, better maximize the space in an area.  We also had Garrett's car packed to the hilt with D.I donations yet again.  That is always a fantastic feeling!  I'll give you a few pictures as examples.

The spare room we have downstairs had turned into a huge disaster zone and major junk collecting space.  We decided to move everything out and turn it into a girls bedroom/crafting area.  Garrett installed 6 can lights so now it is bright and lovely and at some point we will put up the walls.  The girls love it and for the first time in 13 years, Garrett and I have our bedroom back to ourselves!

This is the closet at the bottom of our stairs.  It used to house our well pump but since that was moved, it has been another junk collecting space.  Garrett was able to frame and drywall everything and put in a floor, and now it is much more usable.  Everything from the spare room now fits in this closet!

Our school room had a transformation as well.  We are still planning on knocking down our brick wall with the fireplace, ripping off the wallpaper and painting, but that may have to happen over Christmas.  We are happy with the space we now have.  We used to have three overflowing bookshelves and now we cut it down to two, with space to spare.

 We also moved the boys into the same bedroom and now have a playroom area.  Garrett did some rearranging in the garage as well, but I didn't get pictures of those areas.

With all that we got done in just the five day break that Garrett had, I can only imagine what will happen with his ten day break in December!!!  We are looking forward to hunting our Christmas tree this week and got even more excited after reading Lauren's post about it.  Can't wait to gather with all of you for the holiday festivities and Em's wedding (which will happen).  For those of you who haven't read it yet, you need to read the latest Imprimis article from Hillsdale College about Covid.  It can get you pretty fired up in all the good ways!

Manning Moments

 Not much to write today but I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! We were a little untraditional. Our turkey wasn't thawed yet so we went Christmas tree hunting on Thanksgiving. We went past Heber and it was beautiful and the snow was deep and the kids had a blast. We found a lovely little tree and spent the rest of the weekend decorating and cleaning up. We had a small feast on Friday and it was delicious! 

Other than that, we are having a great time at home reading books and trying to think of fun things to do. The boys are so good to play with each other and to come up with things to do. The new thing is tap dancing. I showed them the clip from Singing in the Rain where they sing "Moses Supposes his toes' are roses." They have watched it dozens of times and have memorized every little detail and they sing and dance all day. Nick put some pennies on their shoes so they could get the real experience of tap dancing and it has been a thrill for them! If you come by anytime you will likely get a performance!

Love you all and hope we get to see you soon. There seems to be lots of interruptions in that regard!

Flake Fiascos

 We had a typical Thanksgiving with too much food and lots of family.  Both of Scott's siblings and their families were able to come and it was fun to catch up with them. I had fun talking with Katie about the trials of "homeschooling" her stubborn kindergartner!  It was also fun to teach Katelyn about some nuances of infants; "why isn't he walking?", "I want him to open his fist", "when will he talk?"

Scott made a solo trek to the mountains to cut wood yesterday and had a successful day.  He finished up faster than we anticipated so he was able to unload when he got back.  Now the gigantic pile in the back just needs to be split and stacked! So if there are any nephews (or brothers/brothers-in-law) that want to experience a new upper body workout, come on down!!

The kids are growing and changing every day. James blew by 12 lbs and is well on his way to 13. At this rate we may have 3 toddlers by Christmas time!! Robin and Rand are starting to mimic words which is fun. Most of the time it is still a guessing game though. 

We went to Mesa last Saturday for a cousin's wedding reception and spent some time at a little train park.  The kids (and Scott) had a blast!!

We are counting down the days until we see you all again!!

Hart Happenings

 Eeek!  All the cute, round babies in this family!  I love it!

We've loved seeing most of you all at Emma's various bridal showers.  I especially enjoyed the chat section at the shower today.  So funny!

This week the rona came visiting the Hart house.  We went to see Ian's play on Monday night which was wonderful and entertaining.  Tuesday afternoon we got notice that the remaining shows he had left were cancelled and the play was over because cast members had gotten covid.  That same night I started feeling lousy and when I woke up Wednesday I had full-blown symptoms.  We went to get tested on Thursday morning and the test came back positive.  I'm feeling better today but still missing my sense of taste and smell, but Alex is now down with the same symptoms I started with.  So our California Thanksgiving trip got cancelled and we are in quarantine for the next week or so.  The boys were horribly disappointed but have been such good sports about everything and have planned an epic feast for our Thanksgiving at home.  

So the news from here is pretty minimal.  ITS FINE to quote Thomas.  It's been really great to watch social media explode with all the grateful posts inspired by Pres. Nelson's challenge/prescription.  A lovely change in focus for everyone, I think.

I'm grateful for all of you!

Pulling their hair out in frustration

Happy faces in quarantine

Plenty of time for snuggles now!

Nilsson News

 Wow! I haven't been on here for awhile.  The latest news we have is an adorable addition to our donkey herd.  The kids went to play with grandma and grandpa while Garrett and I traveled 8 1/2 hours across Wyoming to pick him up.  It was actually quite an ordeal with getting a flat tire right before leaving, having the tire people take two hours to fix it, getting back to discover the battery was dead on the car.  It was only a three hour delay and as Thomas put it, IT'S FINE!!!!  We drove through Teton Pass and Jackson which was white knuckle terrifying.  We passed a lot of deer and pronghorn and eventually made it to our hotel by 11:30 pm.  We left at 6:00 the next morning and made it to our destination of Guernsey Wyoming.  We picked up little Popcorn who is so fluffy, cute and tiny and we transported him in the back of our car in a wood crate box.  We did not anticipate him trying to jump out which made things exciting and we did not anticipate the amount of dust.  Somehow we made it back in one piece and were exhausted after a nine hour drive home.

He is so little!  His dad is 26" and his mom is 28".  We won't be able to breed with him for another year and a half and we do hope that he grows a little so he can do his job!  He is currently about 24."

We were planning on going down for an early Thanksgiving dinner with grandma and grandpa and Emma and Cam, but all those plans changed as soon as we heard that Emma could no longer taste anything.  Mom came up early for an unexpected birth in Rigby and then Dad brought the kiddos up and we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at our house.  We sure missed Em and Cam!  Hope everyone can stay healthy (good luck to the Harts!) and have a Happy Thanksgiving week!

Honey pecan pie and Em's famous banana cream made by Addy

Flake Fiascos

 Oh, what has happened in the last couple of weeks...

I had a blast "attending" Emma's bridal shower.  I know that she was bummed that it had to be held over Zoom but I was thankful to be a part of it.  

The kids all have colds but, for the most part they are pretty happy despite their drippy noses. 

Robin and Rand have discovered a new favorite activity; overseeing the green house! They love to water, weed and "dig about" the plants.  One cucumber has survived and most of the peas.  We think that the basil plant might make a comeback due to their loving care!!

James is growing like a weed and weighs over 11 pounds now! He is a great baby and quite resilient considering the loving affection of his siblings!!

Hope that you all have a great week!!

 T&T Texans

WHAT EVEN IS LIFE?!?!?!

On that note, things are pretty good down here.  Everyone is wearing masks but mostly on their chins, so that's cool! Halloween was uneventful since we live on a busy road, it's gated, and JJ is the only child in our neighborhood.  We did however enjoy a little trunk-or-treat at the church with our ward and the deaf ward. 

Tori is doing great with her Relief Society sisters and they had a very successful crafts night, making fall decor, and discussing past conference talks.  She has been working really hard in developing a brand, making a website, being active on social media, and hopes to roll things out towards the beginning of the year!  

T is still just lifting heavy things up and putting them back down again. Then again. And yet.....again.  

Luckily, Barry's provides an extremely generous paternity leave, so we'll be able to come back to Utah for a few weeks for Christmas, New Years, and the wedding!  Looking forward to seeing everyone and enjoying some colder weather.  Not that 75 degrees isn't great!  It's just, perfect weather gets old ya know??  We need some skin shattering, bone cracking, ice in the nostrils breathing cold weather for Christmas.  Instead of golfing in a t-shirt for my birthday. IT'S FINE. 

And now....... The many costumes of JJ and the crew.  

Hart Happenings

 So fun to wake up to a skiff of snow on the ground and a 30 degree temperature drop!  That kind of bracing cold sure perks me up!  I've loved reading back over the past few weeks worth of posts.  Sounds like things are going well with everyone and the entertainment value inherent in your accounts is priceless.  Congrats to Emma and Cam.  I know a couple of teenagers up here that are particularly excited about the upcoming nuptials.  Nuptials?  Where did that word come from?  It's weird.  It doesn't even relate to any other word I know associated with weddings.  Hmmmm.  I will look into it.

  Speaking of words, we have been doing a lot of reading at the Hart house lately and have compiled a list of our favorite read-alouds of 2020.  Here it is:

The Cat Baby

This Bridge Will not be Gray

Little Britches

BOMB

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs

Gather Up, Gather In

If I Built a House

If I Built a Car

When Dinosaurs came with Everything

The Blizzard (Betty Ren Wright)

A Kiss for Little Bear

  It was so fun to spend some time down in Arizona with Jenn and her family.  Ruth already related our pathetic attempts at navigating which is now pretty funny, but not so much at the time.  I think Dad was pretty exasperated with us and confused about how we could bungle things so horribly.  Me too!  Our ineptitude was astonishing!  But there is no one else on earth I would rather be lost with than Ruth.  She is a great traveling companion and we had a lot of fun listening to and laughing at an audio version of The Penderwicks.  We managed to squeeze the first two books of the series into our trip.  Also highly recommended reading.

  We've been spending a lot of time outside these days, enjoying our yard and some of the local walking paths.  Alex and I went out on a limb and invited the parents of a new homeschooling family who moved here recently out to lunch.  Alex's reminder that day showed up on his phone as a "12:00 lunch with strangers" appointment.  So funny!  Ian has been rehearsing for Elf and partying with absolutely everyone in Idaho Falls it seems like!  I told him the other day that he is going to need to start a savings account especially for gas so when he starts driving he can support his travels from one end of this town to the other!  Jack enjoyed going shooting with his Deacon's quorum recently and has been playing a lot of soccer.  He rarely goes anywhere without a ball of some kind in his hands or kicking around by his feet.  Peter keeps us entertained with is perceptive 8 year-old insights and has recently taken over the responsibility for the chickens.  He takes very good care of them and they follow him around devotedly.  

  We enjoyed having Dad here for an election party.  That was pretty much the only enjoyable part of the evening.  But visiting and playing catch the next morning while we tried to locate a blue jay that we have seen zooming through the garden reminded us of what is truly important and lasting.  We love any chance we get of seeing Dad and Mom and the rest of you.

  We've been learning a lot about our bodies in our anatomy unity we do with Ruth's family on Wednesdays and it truly is miraculous to consider all the systems God set up inside of us that carry on largely without our awareness of them.  One astonishing fact: So, the small intestine is about 20 feet long and the inside of it is covered with villi or tiny tendrils that aid in nutrient absorption.  If the lining were smooth instead of covered with these little villi the small intestine would have to be 2 miles long in order to achieve the same nutrient absorption!  Crazy!

  The cousin's upcoming performance of Cracked Wheat for Christmas is drawing close and it's all very exciting.  Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement of this process.  It's fun to see the kids collaborate and work SUPER hard.  

  Love to you all!  Can't wait to rub shoulders with you all soon!

  It's the time for epic leaf piles!

Such cute kids!  I loved watching them try to sit on this little ledge.  They would back up and back up and back up without looking and inevitably over shoot and miss entirely

Poutine!  How the boys eat when mom is away.  

Ian's mummy door.

Green with Envy

Charlie Brown, Peter Pan's shadow, and a smartie pants.

Smithfield Scoop

 Well, we reached some record highs this last couple of weeks.... We had the highest number of trick-or-treaters ever in our married life this year! I had to run to the store twice before we could relax about having enough treats for all the little goblins who came. And - we had the highest temperature for the particular day of the year, 76 degrees! Imagine that, for the first week of November! I don't ever remember not having very cold temperatures for Jenn's birthday. Oh, and Happy Birthday to Jenn!

We had a delightful time on our spontaneous trip to Star Valley! It was beautiful weather and we enjoyed seeing beaver dams, lovely farmland, staying in a wonderful log cabin retreat, eating at Tootsie's pizza joint and seeing a world famous geyser - the only natural hot springs geyser that is capped. It has a timer that allows it to erupt every hour on the hour. Fun spots not far from home.

This week we are learning how to deal with Covid exposure. Emma's roommates went to a Halloween party and everyone there got sick. All of the roommates who went to the party have symptoms, and all of them were tested, but only one of the roommates had a positive test. It happens that the Covid positive roommate is in Emma's room. So, Emma is now living at home. She and Dad went to get an antibody test, but the hospital ran out of tests before their appointment, so we don't know if they have had the virus before. Hopefully, they can be tested this week.

Dad and I enjoyed going to Sandy to celebrate Grace's birthday this week. What a beautiful 11-year-old! She made her own birthday cake - an apple pie cake! The report is that it was absolutely delicious. It was great to visit for a while and I loved going for a walk with Hopie, who chattered the whole way around the block while pedaling her bike! It was delightful!

We also snuck in a last hike up the canyon yesterday, knowing the snow was on its way. We wanted to find our friends, the Texas longhorns. We'd heard that they were very mild and friendly, but we still stayed on the road rather than venturing over to their pasture to pet them!

We are having fun with Emma's wedding plans. The temple and luncheon venue are reserved and hope that announcements will be ordered and delivered soon, a wedding dress will be found and fitted, and all of the little details will come together soon.

This is an interesting time and we are trying to reflect on our abundant blessings rather than on our fears and concerns. The Lord is in charge and certainly knows what He is doing. Our job is to fear not, hold on, and watch to see His hand revealed. And count our blessings!

We love you all and hope you are well and happy.

Manning Madness

 Well, Happiest of Birthdays to Jenn and Happy Halloween to everyone else. We had a pretty good Halloween. Wesley told me a few weeks ago that he wanted to be a Velociraptor for Halloween. Yikes! Then when I finally got brave enough to look up ideas online, Wesley saw some pictures and decided he wanted to be a dragon. Even better! Well, I got over the fear factor of figuring out how to do that and we made a pretty decent dragon costume. That has been the living, breathing, sleeping craze for the last few days! Chet was a kitty and they both had a blast trick or treating at Grandma Manning's neighborhood. It was nice to have a pleasant evening to do it. We got most of our yard stuff taken down and put away for winter. We had a day of snow and a few cold days and then we got back to being warm for the next week. I am not ready for the cold!

Last week, Nick and I went to a play at the school he teaches at. It was "You can't take it with you." It was very funny and kind of reminded me of an eccentric homeschool like family where each member is all in to their passion. They did a great job. Dad came down to watch the boys and they had soooo much fun! It was very sad when he left the next day. Regular old mom just isn't quite as exciting. 

Our little school is fun and is becoming less and less structured! But we do have good learning moments and the most important learning we are trying to do right now is to not throw hammers and such items at your brother, don't jump OFF the trampoline, whining drives everyone crazy and other important things. Any tips on staying sane through this stage please send them this way!

We love you all and miss you!

Flake Fiascos

 Well we started this week with a small snowstorm.  It snowed off and on all day which was fun.  Scott filled up a big bowl with snow so that Robin and Rand could play in the snow without being outside. (They have had slight colds). 

Scott took a couple of days off which was fun. We stayed home and just enjoyed being together. 

We had a ward trunk or treat on Thursday and the kids rode around in their covered wagon with wide eyes.  

The birds discovered the bird feeder that Elise and Ruth bought us and the twins have loved watching the birds come and eat. They also are enjoying the peas that are coming up in the greenhouse.

James is growing like a weed and put on about 14 oz last week!!

That's all that we have to report. Hope that you all have a great week!