Hyde Happinesses

 Hello hello! We’ve had a good week. Rather long and with lots to do, but it’s been good. Cams little brother Mason gave his farewell today so we’ve been busy with family and friends. He leaves to the Mexico MTC on the 11, but starts the at home mtc tomorrow. Then he’ll fly to Chile in October sometime :) very exciting! I must say I am eternally grateful that I never served a mission post covid. 

Not too much to report on this week. We got to meet the owner of our house, Barrie, and she is very nice. We didn’t get to talk about the house or its future, but we’re hoping to know a little more soon. We’d love to stay here but we’ve haven’t got an affirmative answer from her yet as far as her plans go. If we do get the answer that we can stay a few years, we’d love to get a horse 🤫 Kevin has one lined up for us and everything 😅 

Anyway, the weather has been so awfully nice here it makes me think it’s fall time already! I do plan to start the bakery this week which is so exciting!! 

Beck got to try watermelon this week and he was a FAN. Loved it. Devoured it and was very very sad when I took it away. 

They’re such good buddies 

We got stets a balance bike and he was THRILLED

This is Chris. It’s a black swallowtail butterfly and they’re gorgeous. 

This is also Chris. These guys mold themselves onto a branch and will camouflage themselves to whatever color the branch is! It’s pretty awesome. They don’t hang upside down like the good ol’ monarchs. 

I’m already feeling nostalgic towards this place if we don’t get to live here forever and always 😅😭

Also we went to a penning competition this week which was fun. They had a bunch of young cows with numbers on their backs. Three horsemen would get in the arena with them, and they had to get 3 cows of the same number in a smaller pen. The arena was divided in half. The cows all started at one end, and the pen for the 3 of the same number was on the other half of the arena. So, the announcer would say their number was 8. They had to round up three cows with the number 8 on their backs and get them to the other side of the arena and into the pen. If other numbered cows got to the other half, like a 2 and a 7 and a couple 9s, then they had to separate them and get them to the other side before they could pen the 8s. If more than six of the other numbers (called trash cows) got to the other side, they lost. They had 4 minutes to get their number into the pen. It was rather intense and so fun to watch. The best time was 1:03! Very impressive. There were about 20 teams of horsemen, and only about 6 made the time and got all the right cows rounded up. 

Flake Fun

 It has been a couple of exhausting weeks.  We jumped in to school and are trying to keep some sort of routine to our days. I'll admit I don't interrupt their creative morning playtime to start school so at this point it looks more like unschooling some days but we are trying to have fun! 

Here is a random story for the week.  We came home around 11:00 after going to the library and running some errands and found a stack of pizzas on our porch. We hadn't ordered pizza so I called Little Caesar's and they said they had made a mistake and we could keep the pizzas. Weird. 

The house is making progress.  It is still a house hole but all 4 basement walls are poured.  We are now working on getting things prepped for the slab pour.  We won't be quite ready by this Saturday but I am hoping that the first weekend in Sept will work out. 

This is the footer for our load bearing wall and the fireplace.

The kids love to help, especially when the hose is involved.

Our apple trees are going crazy! (The old ones, not the new orchard).  We have gotten a few strawberries and raspberries and loads of cherry tomatoes.  

That's all for now.  

Our miracle apple tree.  It was broken at the rootstock and I thought it was lost.  After talking with dad, I bound it up and babied it along for a bit.  Now it is looking great!! This is the after pic. 

The before pic

Can you find the frog?

Hart Happenings

Hello everyone! So fun to catch up on the blog!  

  Sad to hear about the decision to stay in Houston.  I'm sure that you are doing what you think is right, but Jack is skeptical.  

  Horrible to hear about the mice problem.  My recommendation is to get a cat.  They really do a good job at catching mice.  Jack disagrees about cats in general.  Also, probably good that we don't live near you, I would probably be your best, most faithful customer, to the detriment of any of my health goals.

  Jenn, the house is starting to look like a house!  Jack was worried about the paint color you chose until he understood that blue was the only option for the waterproofing layer.

  Jack really wants to talk about us now so here we go:

- Alex is gearing up for the debut season of the Pro Spikeball league.  It has taken a lot of work but there is much excitement from the people surrounding this latest venture.  So he is doing a lot of that lately, as well as working his brokering business and running the airbnb's.

- I just got called into Young Women which threw me for a loop.  It's been a while since I had anything to do with girls, really.  Peter is thrilled for me to be working there though and loves to come get me after church and say hi to the ladies. The garden has been spectacular and we have enjoyed an abundance of strawberries, honeyberries, cherries, apricots, raspberries, and now blackberries, apples, pears, and grapes!  Oh, and the strawberries are back for another round.

- Ian is wrapping up his final performances of Footloose this week.  He has absolutely had the time of his life!  He has been looking at getting a car, prompted by his experience of the van breaking down on the freeway.  Thanks to everyone who went to see the show and support him.  

- Jack made the Varsity soccer team this year.  Good for him! Yay!  It really stressed him out for a while so we are glad the tryouts are over and his future is secured.  Their first games are this week and we are excited to watch.  

- Peter has been learning the electric guitar since landing the role of Zack in School of Rock.  It has been an adventure and we have been hearing a lot of music that doesn't usually feature in the Hart repertoire.  *sigh* We really appreciate all the tips and gear loans from Nick.  He is the best resource! Peter is also playing soccer when it doesn't conflict with rehearsals.

  We spent a lovely afternoon at Mesa Falls in the rain today.  It was Jack's best day.  It was good to be in a beautiful place after a pretty rough week.  I was sick all week and then we spent Saturday afternoon at the funeral of the oldest son of our long time friends, Max and Jenn Bennett.  They moved away years ago but e was Ian's age and they were little bike riding buddies on the numbered streets.  He developed pretty severe depression on his mission and ended up committing suicide a couple of weeks ago.  It was so sad to have our reunion be under those circumstances but we were so grateful to be able to be there to support them. 

  Experiences like that are such great perspective correcting moments.  It's crazy how quickly I get wrapped up in "the thick of thin things" (Elder Maxwell) and hearing about tragedies like this really line things up in a more accurate order of importance. 

  Here are some pictures from our life recently.  It's been fun to see many of you at different point over the summer.  You continue to be our favorite people on the planet!

The band kids from School of Rock

Jack and Alex in the Zion Narrows

Hyde Happinesses

 THOMAS! So good to hear from you on here :) I hope it becomes a regular thing. Love getting caught up on all your doings. 

I forced myself to write “happinesses” this week though I’m not feeling particularly happy. I feel absolutely disgusting. We have a mouse problem 🤢 guys. It’s so bad. I don’t know how many there are but they seem to pop up everywhere. The worst one? ON MY PANTS. Hanging up in my closet. UUUGGGGGHHHHH. Mice should be illegal. I hate them. I actually used to think they were cute, even when I got bit, but in my house???! Spare me. It’s so gross. Sometimes I think about the Celestial Kingdom and how nice it will be without disease. And rodents. So if you have any great ideas of how to get rid of them once and for all, please let me know. I am over it. 

In other news, we had a day this week when it only got up to 77°, so to celebrate, we made homemade grilled cheese and tomato soup. Not to toot my own horn, but it’s the best meal I’ve ever made. Homemade sourdough, slathered in butter with melty cheese… ohhhh man. It’s going to be a staple when it actually gets cold. The forecast shows no more days in the 80s though! So fall is on the way. 

I have been baking lots lately. I’ve gotten the hang of sourdough and I quite enjoy making it but really don’t care to eat it, so that’s why we’re starting a home bakery 😅 I make too many treats and we don’t eat them all 🙄 hopefully it works out and other people like it as much as we do. 

Barrie Britt is the owner of our house. Her brother, Rodney, lives next door and is the landlord. He and his wife and phenomenal and we love them. Stetson absolutely adores Rodney (Wodney). Anyway, Barrie is coming into town this Wednesday and has us on pins and needles. Cam is convinced she’s going to let us know if we can stay at the house for longer than our year contract or not. I’m really hoping she’ll let us stay for the next few years (if not indefinitely), but we’ll see. She may not even say a word! 😅 but that has us a little nervous. 

I’m hosting a girls night tomorrow. The girls in the ward try to get together once or twice a month to do games or a craft of some kind, so this month we’re doing gourmet s’mores at our house :) I think it will be very very fun. Each of the girls pitches in a few dollars to help cover cost of the activity, and then we just sit around and yap and catch up. It’s so fun and I’m excited to host this time. 

The boys are doing really well. Stetson is acting so grown up these days. He’s a parrot which is fun but I really have to watch myself. He loves to say “heck yeah!” Very enthusiastically whenever he is excited. He recently learned how to do a somersault (thank you Manning’s), and while performing for us, he said “I’m really cool looking.” I love his confidence. Beckham is delightful. He squirms around everywhere and absolutely adores Stetson. He looks for him whenever he hears him and gives him a huge grin. He’s so sweet and generally good natured. He only has about one bowel movement a week, which always ends in an enormous blowout. It happened today on the way to church. Cam had to take him to his parents house to literally wash him off. And his car seat. It was a disaster. 

Anyway. Sorry for being long winded. Miss you all. Hope you can come visit sometime :) 

Believe it or not, that bowl was half full of tomatoes. They’re Stetsons favorite 

A new friend, Nyla. She’s spicy but so fun. 

Stetson invited himself over to Rodney’s house while I was watering the garden. I found them just chatting and catching up. 

Flake Fun

We had a good week despite very warm temperatures.   We started some school stuff and are still working out our rhythm.  We signed up for a program called that meets on Fridays and supplements art, STEM, history and literature.  The kids are really excited about it and I am hoping that they make friends with some other kids their age. 

Scott took Friday off and spent the whole day and most of the night moving, leveling and compacting dirt in preparation for our slab.  It is a long process but I am hoping that we can pour before the end of the month.  

Our tenant let us know that he is planning to move out because he can't afford the rent.  Please teach your children money management! And teach them that they have control over their life and don't have to be a victim. It makes me sad to see his life. 

Other than that, we are just surviving and hoping that things cool down soon.  

Hope that you all have a good week!

The kids "masterpiece" - Ledge decorating

Flake Fun

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  We finished up our summer reading program which was a lot of fun.  We also did some work on the house.  We enjoyed a few nice rainstorms and didn't enjoy several upper 90's days. 

The progress pictures uploaded backward so scroll to the bottom and go up. We got the waterproofing paint on (two coats), the French drain pipe in, and the first layer of gravel and dimple board put on! Oh and we passed our under slab utility inspection!! Progress is slow but we are getting there.