Hart Happenings

Our fun succulent arrangement

Post storm chaos

3rd place in Boise Major

Canyon Rim trail ride

The remains of the garden

It's Ian under there!  So cool huh?

Flooding in the underpass.  10 feet of water there.

Judah singing Benjamin's Calypso

Loving on the bunny

Ian's biggest fans!

What a week!  I tell you what.....it has tested everyone's limits.  We had a brutal storm that completely wrecked anything I had planted in the garden.  All my cut flower plants that I had started, all the beautiful basil, onions, cabbage, and lettuce.  And it left everything else looking really sad.  I can hardly bear to go outside right now.  Luckily we had our coop raising project to distract me from my distress.  

Not to dwell on the war zone that is our yard right now, let us chat about other things and get y'all up to speed on what else is going on in these parts.

Ian's show finally started!  It was held up by a really obnoxious inspector for a week or so, but they finally got cleared to open and perform.  We got to go FINALLY with Ruth's family and Dad who came up for the show and then stayed to help with all the projects we have going on right now.  He also brought me some hellebores to plants which soothed my wounded heart mucho.  Anyway, the show was fantastic!  The costumes were awesome, the theater is so cool, and the cast brought so much energy and talent.  We had a great time!  Ian also had the chance to team up with a local party company to do a photo shoot as Spiderman.  He had a blast interacting with people and looked so convincing!

Jack's soccer season ended but he still has a few tournaments to play.  He is playing really well and thinking about trying out for the high school team in the fall.  He also took 1st in the Spikeball tourney that Alex hosted last weekend in Rexburg.  He played with one of his soccer teammates and they won pretty handily.  This was on top of a 3rd place win in a higher division the weekend before in Boise.  He loves a good game!

Peter also placed first in his division at the Spikeball tournament.  He is by far the youngest player on the field at any event but he can definitely hold his own against adult players.  He is a little worried now because he can't play in the 3.0 division anymore because he has won it, so he has to move up.  He is also still working on his flips and makes his mom so dizzy watching him.  Taking care of so many chickens keeps him busy and happy and he is really looking forward to having the new coop finished and has all kinds of plans to trick it out.

Alex runs circles around us as always.  I don't know how he keeps all the balls in the air, but he does and he manages to squeeze in time for extra projects around the house and yard.

Counting down the days until we see you all in Nauvoo!

Hyde Happinesses

 Guys, we are so excited to see everyone in TWO WEEKS!! Woohoo!! I’m a little less excited for an eight hour car drive with a five month old, but we’ll survive I’m sure. At least it’s not an 18 hour drive with rowdy toddlers… people who do that must be crazy or something.

Not too much happened this week. We went to a fun neighborhood party yesterday which was very fun. We also went and played pickleball for the first time this year which was also a blast. But that’s about all we’ve got to report! Cam goes to camp this weekend so I’ll get Stetson all to myself for 3 whole days ;) pray for me please haha. 

I love sleepy eyes

Start ‘em young

Tried his stroller for the first time… he loved it, let me tell you.

He met great Grammy and Papa Westover this week. They’re staying with the Hyde’s for a few weeks. 

Just a happy happy guy

Flake Fun

This past week was fairly overcast but we got dribbled on a couple of times which was nice.  It never produced any puddles much to our dismay since the kids all got new puddle/irrigation boots for Easter.  

The new entertainment for this week was "going branding with our fillies". 

On Friday we attended the funeral of Scott's Uncle Jack.  It was the first time that all of the living siblings had been together for quite a while. 

Well, we are excited to see everyone in a couple of weeks!!!

Hyde Happinesses

 Sometimes I think life can be pretty cool. For example, last night Stetson wasn’t interested in going to sleep and I wasn’t desperate to try to fight it. So Cam brought up Graham Crackers and milk and we just chatted while Stetson chewed on a book and Oakley begged. Not sure why it was such a happy thing, but I quite enjoyed the simplistic joy of it.

Cam ran another half marathon which was super fun. It was pouring the whole time so Stetson and I hung out in the building while he ran. He said it was the priest course he’s ever run, which is good because it’s claimed to be the most beautiful half marathon in America. He ran it in just over two hours which is pretty impressive to me! His advice to anyone wanting to do a half marathon is not to do one right when your baby hits a sleep regression… pretty rough stuff 😂 

Other than that, not much has happened! Just the same old. We’ve been doing a bit more driving lately, and Stetson is not a fan. Pray for our Nauvoo trip 😅 

Although he doesn’t like taking naps or sleeping at night, he can fall asleep quite easily in his carrier. 

Strawberry picking! So fun! This farm has acres and acres of fruit trees and bushes, and they sell them during their seasons. Blackberries will be coming up soon, as well as peaches. 

Run the Bluegrass

It’s the little things

Oakleys record stick

Hyde Happinesses

 Okay funny story yall. We were just sitting down, enjoying the weather in the backyard a couple days ago. The birds were singing, someone was mowing their lawn. I saw a bird flying overhead. I thought to myself, that bird is going to go to the bathroom on us. And what happened? The bird literally pooped on Stetsons leg! He was just flying, right above us, and he went! It was absolutely the most bizarre thing ever. I died laughing while Cam (who was holding Stetson) begged me to go get some paper towels (thanks to Jack for the birthday present). It was so odd. 

Anyway, we’ve just been enjoying life! Stetson is now four months old! Pretty crazy! We’re getting very excited for everyone to meet him. 

First baseball game! Cam was in heaven the whole time. He told me he’s been dreaming of this day for a long long time.

He loves not having a shirt on

He found his toes

😍❤️😍❤️😍❤️😍

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there :) I sure love you all and have mad respect for you guys and how put together you always seem to be😅 thanks for teaching me all the tricks and blazing the trail.

Smithfield Scoop

We have been hunkered down and not posting for a few weeks (months!) for various reasons. But the sun came out for a while, and so did we! Having company and traveling a bit was nice for a month or so. Dad has spent lots of delightful days, with camera in hand, taking his "shot of the day" - plus hundreds of other great photos! He spends a lot of time sorting through the pictures and choosing one shot for the day and filing away the other "keepers." It's been a delightful project. Mostly, he is enamored with the variety of absolutely stunning birds that keep appearing at the feeder that Dad refills almost daily for them. 

One day, when the garage door was open, a hummingbird came buzzing into the garage looking for food. Dad thinks the bird saw the feeder and came to get a drink - but it was empty. But it is now full and hanging in the normal spot, and the bird has visited daily since.

The garden is up and running - peas have popped through, garlic is tall and green, onions are still sleeping, but we assume they will begin creeping and then start leaping before long. Potatoes and carrots are also planted and some are poking their heads out of the soil. We still don't dare do anything like tomatoes or vines yet. That must wait for another few weeks, to be on the safe side.

We had a horrific wind last night! We woke up to find someone's mattress or bench pad on our patio.  None of our next door neighbors have claimed it, so we don't know where it blew in from. The bird feeder was on the ground in the bushes. All of the neighbors' garbage cans were blown over, fences are down, shingles off some roofs, etc. The trees all seem to be intact, but it was quite a wind storm. We've had rain this afternoon. Variety in our weather is to be expected (and appreciated?), I guess.

It's been fun to see family a bit recently. We loved sharing the Passover Seder with the Mannings. It's very meaningful and fun to hear the focus and meaning of each dish served. It was fun to see Joe and Lori's family that weekend, as well. There are always great things happening at that house! Having the Flakes visit is always delightful - though it terrified us to think of Jenn driving all that way and back by herself with three young uns!! But they made it to and from, which was a blessing.

We are getting very excited to go to Nauvoo and be there with our whole family! Thanks to all of you for making the effort to travel so far and for your preparations to have a great time there! We are praying that it will be as wonderful as we envision it!

Benson - even high waters and flooding can be lovely! 

Bullock's Oriole - stunning!

Lazuli Bunting - beautiful blue!

We aren't sure if this is the male or female squirrel, but 

it is one of two that come to pick up seeds under the bird

feeder while the birds are eating. They can be seen climbing

the tree to try and get to the feeder, as well. We imagine they

are feeding a little family - or a soon to be family.

 

Flake Fun

Much of this week was spent out doors. The garden is nearly planted and the carrots are sprouting (thanks to great advice from Aunt Elise)!  And the gladiolus are up!!!! Five of our six lilac bushes are looking good. The sixth may have been too big to transplant but I haven't given up yet. 

This week will be more of the same but with a funeral on Friday.  Scott's uncle died a few days ago.  We are still talking over going to Mesa for the funeral or just going to the graveside service in Snowflake. 

Riding Dobber to the range to brand cows

Riding Big Unicorn with Little Unicorn trotting along beside her

The kids are taking after Peter and love to play with the chickens

We bought the kids backpacks for Nauvoo. They skip around the house singing, "I'm going to Nauvoo..." and they are quite annoyed that I won't let them pack for the trip yet. 

On a sad/funny note, James has had diarrhea recently. The other day he was in the kitchen when he stopped, looked at me wide eyed and yelled, "Mom! Potty! Run!" We made it just in time.