Smithfield Scoop

 We have had a delightful time reading the blog posts this morning! Thanks to all who contributed to the blog recently! A little plug for the blog... Such a great option for keeping track of our doings and sharing experiences with each other. Thank you for doing that in spite of how busy you are! It will be a treasure in the future - as it is now each time we read it! The photos are especially wonderful! Thanks to everyone!

We did some fun things in July! Mannings generously gave us tickets to see "12 Angry Men" at the Hale Theatre - and it was remarkable! SO GOOD! Very thought provoking and well done. Much better than the old black and white film. Thanks Lauren and Nick!

Dad received tickets to the melodrama at Pickleville for Father's Day, which we took advantage of in July. The name of the show is "Trouble in Hunky Dory" and it is a classic melodrama with a hero and heroine, as well as some clueless townspeople and a great villain and his sidekick. Delightful music, lyrics that slipped in some classic references to local culture and religion. Such a clever, fun show! We even got some popcorn, which seems to be a must at Pickleville :)

Dad's Uncle Wain and his wife Charlene bought a house in Riverton and are moving here from Washington State soon. Whenever Wain is in Utah, he absolutely must have lunch at Frederico's on USU campus, as well as dessert at Aggie Ice Cream. But, since he absolutely cannot go to lunch alone, we were invited to accompany them. It was a great conversation and good to learn more about Charlene. She is nice, unassuming, and is good to Wain, which is very nice to see. They are moving here to receive cancer treatments and advice, but I think it's more to be closer to people who know them and love them. Hopefully, we will be able to help them get moved in and settled and keep in touch. Wain is now in his 80s.

After finding out about a Blue Sox baseball game that was celebrating the 130th year of that team playing in Smithfield, we thought we should support the team! We enjoyed being in the crowd, sitting on the grass, and cheering for both sides, who were playing their best. It was fun, but long. We tired out watching before the teams tired out playing! Fireworks were had at the end to culminate the celebration. Such a fun town tradition!

We had some hot days in July that we tried to tolerate. At least the temperatures at night have now been adjusting lower, which is a nice reprieve. We can open our windows at night and cool things down to a very pleasant sleeping temperature! And rain also helps...

We have some new "friends" that Dad calls "squatters." They are very cute little spotted fawns. For some reason they seem to enjoy our yard and its vegetation. So far they haven't eaten too much of what they shouldn't. They like to nap in various locations in our yard, either in the back or the front. They don't seem terribly particular. We hope they find other greener pastures elsewhere before they get too much bigger.

One Saturday, I had to go to Idaho to check on a mom and baby. We took a side trip into the Oneida Narrows, which is a popular spot for rafting down the Bear River, and there were lots of people doing just that. It was a lovely drive. On our way home, we decided to go to a favorite restaurant spot - Deer Cliff Inn. Maybe someday we will take everyone there. It is only open Thursday-Saturday and on Friday and Saturday they have a live band. It was funny to hear the old country western songs we knew when we were growing up! We enjoyed a delicious meal and music and listening to the river running by as we ate. Our dinner was paid for by a nice man who was trying to pay us back for switching tables with them so that their larger party could be better accommodated. Good folks in the world wherever you go.

Houston Chronicles (it's a real newspaper here, so keep it on the DL)

 I think it's been... years? Yes, years since we've been on here, so let's not give you a synopsis of years, but rather pretend like we've been here the whole time and you know everything up until July of this year, okay? Cool!

So just to catch everyone up, there was a possibility of us moving back to Utah when Barry's opens the Salt Lake City studio later this year/early next year, but after much prayer and discussion, we've decided it would not be the best move yet.  So T is trying to figure out next steps as far as careers are concerned.  As of now he's still looking at costs, and possibilities of opening his own studio/gym, but we will keep you updated there!

Tori has recently been called as a stake social media specialist and is working with a lot of non profit and interfaith organizations in Houston.  So that's been a learning experience and fun for her to put her social media skills to gospel use.  She is also crushing her MBA program and learning a ton! 

JJ recently had his 5th birthday at a trampoline park, with about 15 of his church and school friends, which was the highlight of his month! He's constantly moving, jumping, flipping, building legos and transformers, and his favorite activity, swimming.  When it's not raining, we're swimming, which it seems to rain 97.5% of the time these days, but IT'S ALL GOOD. 100+ degrees and raining, so pretty freaking cool. So cool. The coolest. 

Anyway, we'll try to get on here more, and I'll try to remember more of what is happening in our lives down here!  Love and miss you all!  

Flake Fun

 Things got super toasty here.  Triple digit temps are not my friends!!  But we survived and are now enjoying upper 80's...at least for this week.  

The twins had a birthday which was fun.  They got new bikes and have been riding them as much as possible. 

We enjoyed the Pioneer Days festivities this past weekend.  The parade in the rain was a great experience and the kids didn't complain at all!! Now we will try to get back to normal and do a sugar detox!!

No real progress has been made on the house due to festivities and weather so hopefully there will be a bigger update soon. 

The cows got into the orchard and we completely lost 3 trees and the others are all stripped of leaves so I am hoping that I can baby them back to life.  The raspberries all got eaten too but I am hopeful that they will come back next year as well. 

That is all that I can think of for now.  Hope that you all have a good week!

Our current trench! 

Our new swing 

Hyde Happinesses

 Hello! It’s been awhile! There aren’t any grand things to comment on, but Beckham is rolling all over the place and while on his tummy, can get around very well. He absolutely adores Stetson and looks for him whenever he hears him. He loves me right now and already has some stranger danger and separation anxiety. Much different from my toddler who said quote “go away mana!” Today while trying to put him down 😅 it’s nice to be liked for no reason. 

Cam has recently perfected a pizza dough recipe and we have been eating pizza frequently the past few weeks. We have a bbq chicken bacon pizza that’ll blow your socks off, if you care to try it;) we’re having some friends over later for  pizza and gourmet s’mores (thank you Hart family).

July has been toasty but we’ve finally been getting some rain to green things back up again. We’ve enjoyed frequent trips to the pool next door and are trying desperately to get Stetson to keep his mouth closed while in the water… it’s a process but I’m hoping we’ll get there soon. 

We’ve had a couple run ins with mice in our house. In the winter I almost feel bad for them, but the summer?!? Come on guys. So we’ve caught 4 so far, and Oakley got one yesterday 🥴 who needs a cat anyway?… 

Well if anyone wants to come visit the most beautiful (and boring, according to Thomas) place, head on over. We’d love to see you.

The 4th 😂 

Who is bigger?…

Catching crawdads and skipping rocks… if anyone has a million dollars to loan us, that’d be great so we can move here😂

K someone needs to write a book on how fabulous it is when your kids start interacting. I’ll catch Stetson laying next to Beckham saying “it’s alright Beck. Mama just has to get dressed. I’m right here.” 🥹🥹🥹

Made a cake for my sister in laws bday 

SQUISH!

Nilsson News

 I love reading the Flake's and Hyde's consistent updates.  Thanks for all the fun pictures!

It was such a blast hanging out with the best family in the whole world!  I felt bad that so many you had to suffer with awful allergies and I hope you have since recovered.  I can't wait to see all the pictures!

Summer is flying by!  The most recent event has been my surviving girl's camp and I mean surviving!  I'm all about camping but I am not about car problems and boy did we have them!  3 tire blowouts and other tire problems and blown fuses and weirdness.  I think we were consistently 3 hours behind schedule the whole time and we ended up cancelling multiple activities due to car problems.  Our bishop is currently in the hospital as a result of some events at camp. "Come what may and love it," as they say.  I think they may have called the wrong camp director! Garrett and Emerson head off to camp tomorrow and I'm wishing them well!

We have been loving the summer time here in Idaho.  Yes, we were cold and soaked on the 4th of July but things have since warmed up substantially.  We got a new zipline installed and all the kids (including Garrett) have been putting the miles on it.  You should all come play!

We have been enjoying the baby donkeys.  A documentary film maker came over yesterday to do some filming of the kids with the donkeys and then he interviewed me and wanted to see me acting "natural" with the donkeys.  I always feel so weird trying to do that.  He wanted to know if I ever came outside to just sit and I had to admit that I don't.  I muck out the barnyard, build things, brush the animals, deliver babies, fix things that are broken, etc.  It was an interesting experience.

In a couple of weeks we head down to Arizona for our cousins wedding.  We will try our best not to get heat stroke.  And now for same random photos....

Addy had her last piano recital and did a fantastic job!

This reminded me so much of Thomas!  Duct tape and cardboard costume of the Mandolorian.

Addy graduated!!!

Trying to stay warm at the 4th of July parade.

Taking a break from working on the zipline.

Henry participated in the BMX racing league and really enjoyed it.

We aren't doing any huge projects but we did build this very lovely desk and shelf unit for our school room.  This is the before and after.

I also painted our front door.

Flake Fun

 It was so fun to get together with all of you!!! Thanks to Mom and Dad for putting together such a fun place and scheduled.  Also, thanks to the Joe Bellistons for letting us crash at their new place. I foresee many fun times there.  

We have been getting back into the swing of things and trying not to melt.  There have been several days right around 100 F which, in my opinion, is WAY too hot.  Luckily it still cools down at night.  

The house is coming along slowly but I am hoping that we can start working on projects that actually look like we are accomplishing something (instead of digging more trenches!)

We went to a local race that is on the national circuit.  The kids seemed to enjoy it but I don't know that we will do it again anytime soon. WAY too noisy for my liking. Although the mullet parade was quite entertaining.  And the guys seemed quite confident and even cocky sporting such unique hairstyles. 

Love you all! Hope to see you again soon.