Hart Happenings

The past couple of weeks went by in a blur of miles, spikeball games, lush green hills and trees, and dear faces of our favorite family members.

Due to a spikeball tournament in Richmond Virginia, Jack and Alex decided to drive across the country so Peter and I jumped in the van and joined the cross country trek.  We had to leave Ian behind, which was a massive bummer, but his work and rehearsal schedule just couldn't be worked around.

Rather than go to Richmond, Peter and I were dropped off in Kentucky to hang out with Emma, Cam, and STETSON for a few days.  Guys, that baby is the greatest little person I've met in a while!  He is so interested in people and carries on the most earnest conversations.  The Harts were entirely smitten from the get-go.  We basked in the Hyde's hospitality and got to see some of the beautiful places in and around Lexington.  Cam's birthday coincided with our time there and we even got to celebrate a little bit with him.  So glad he is part of our family!  It was so great to be in warm weather and green surroundings.  It buoyed us up immensely.

Peter was in puppy heaven hanging out with Oakley for a few days.  She would come into the room Peter was sleeping in and wake him up every morning and he told me it was the best way to wake up in the whole world.

After their tournament, Alex and Jack came to collect us and we drove down to see Alex's sister who lives in Tennessee.  It was fun to catch up with her and her family.  They have an epic rope swing that the boys had a blast playing on until Jack got injured.  Uncle Brandon got his porsche out of the garage and took the boys for a spin which they thought was fantastic.  Our van just doesn't compare.  They took us to Gatlin Tennessee (anyone remember the Gatlin Brothers?) and we had a great time looking around the town and stepping into various charming shops.  

Alex kindly booked me a flight home from Nashville which got me home about a day before them and saved me about 24 hours of car driving.  Super nice.  I got home just in time to jump in and help out at Ian's performances with his homeschool acting group.  They put on an excellent show which was written by a good friend of ours based on her experiences visiting her dad in the memory care unit he lived in for the last 10 months of his life.  There were some memorable characters that were featured in the play and it was really well done.  Peter was also a really good helper in the concessions stand.

While I was helping in the kitchen and with the concessions at the play, Alex was running Jack to his soccer games.  The won one, they lost one, and Jack is thrilled to be back on the field.  I love watching him play.

The weather seems determined to thwart any plans for putting plants in the ground.  As a result, I have SO MANY PLANTS in my house and in holding areas in other parts of the yard.  I don't think I can adequately convey to you, how many plants are not in their permanent homes right now.  And they just keep coming!  Ruth picked up another box of trees and grape plants that we had shipped to Dad's house this week.  Could I plant them out in the yard yet?  No, no I could not.  I have 19 trees/shrubs on the front porch waiting to be planted and then 3 grapes and 6 more trees out in a holding pile of mulch waiting for their permanent home.  That's on top of the 10 flats of plants I have on shelves under grow lights in my bedroom......We have a situation, people!!!! Blessedly, the forecast looks promising for the coming week.  We should be able to dig some holes and settle these plants into their homes.

We are pretty wiped out here today.  The boys and I are sprawled out on various couches and chairs around the house.  Peter is on the phone with Grant.  It's the first Sunday of a new semester at BYU-Idaho today so Alex will probably be up there for most of the day.  The boys helped me bake a cookie sheet sized sugar cookie to celebrate our 18th anniversary when he gets home.  That's a lot of wonderful years!

We'll put some highlight pictures of the last couple weeks in a separate post.

Here's to a relaxing Sabbath day to you all and Happy Spring to everyone!