13 March 2016 - Sounds like the gardening bug is sweeping the family! On Tuesday we started tomatoes, leeks, onions, broccoli, spinach and artichokes in the greenhouse. We also turned our new compost pile and it sure was steaming! It is starting to look really good. There doesn't appear to be any snow in our forecast so if you get sick of the snow, come on down! We do have buds on the fruit trees and we expect them to freeze whenever the final cold snap hits. The other day at work a friend was commenting that he put in 3 new fruit trees last year. We asked if they were budding out and he, excitedly said, "Yes!" I don't think he knew what to do with our "Oh, that's too bad," reaction!
We are both a little sore today because we built porch railings all day yesterday for TJ & Kim's home. It is coming along really well and it looks very possible that they will be in by the end of this month.
Warning: Tender hearts should not continue reading... Yesterday after lunch we were getting back into the swing of things on the porch construction and I heard a puppy whining. I figured that the neighbor's puppies were fighting or something like that. When the whining continued, I took a closer look over the field and noticed a little black spot and realized it was Thor. (Thor is the little pooch that our neighbor got a few months ago. He is just slightly smaller than Chester.) The way he was moving I thought perhaps he had gotten into a fight with a prairie dog (some of which are bigger than he is!). A few minutes later he hadn't moved and was still whining so I went over to investigate. I found little Thor caught in a coyote trap. I quickly called Scott because I wasn't strong enough to open the trap. He came across the field and was able to get the trap open. I haven't gotten an update on how Thor is doing but I think his leg was small enough that it didn't break it. Scott was definitely the hero of the day!
Good luck Emma on your pageant-ing! You'll do a fantastic job! We are all rooting for you!
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Hart Happenings
According to Jack, the most notable part of the week was the mountain of compost we had delivered that covered our driveway and that the boys had a blast spreading on the gardens and flower beds. They were excellent workers, as I tried to remind myself as I cleaned up the dirt they tracked through the house all weekend.
They boys put together and manned a popcorn tasting booth at the community seed swap this year. There were four different varieties that the public tasted and then voted on. Two of the varieties Ian grew in his gardening class last year. It was a lot of fun. That same day mom called and said she was on her way to the seed store and Alex was at home tilling the garden, so when we got got back we just HAD to plant a few rows. It was in the air! We got some peas and lettuce and orach in. Of course, when I woke up this morning there were mammoth snowflakes imperturbably falling from the sky. *sigh* We will see how it goes......
We got to watch our friend's baby for a few days when she got stricken with a severe case of food poisoning. It was fun to add a little 8-month old girl into our manly mix. Happily her mom recovered and is feeling much better.
They boys sang in Sacrament Meeting today which was cute. Peter did not want to be left out but once he got up there he wasn't so keen on singing either so he just stood there. It was good moral support, I suppose.
Good luck, Emma, on your big week! You'll be just right!
I feel like I've been posting a lot of sleeping Peter pictures lately. But they happen all the time! He leads such an exciting life and it definitely represents how the rest of us feel trying to keep up with him!
Hyde Park Herald
As Jenn said last week, there's nothing much to report. Like the Flakes, "We have spent the week as normal, working, eating and sleeping!" The only difference is we didn't get a truck load of manure or make another compost pile. But we did move the chicken fence and prune some apple trees (we, meaning Dad) and cleaned up a little in the back. We made plans for taking out the rest of the raspberries and blackberries, moving the bees, extending the garden by the chicken coop and laying some more sod. We also went to the seed store and got onion starts and some seeds to plant inside. The forecast is for snow this coming week, so we may not get in a big hurry to plant yet :/
Lauren and Nick returned from Georgia and it sounds like they had a delightful time. They entertained Emma and Dad while I was in Ogden and Layton on Friday. It was fun to be with Ruth's family for a few hours and do some little things to help - refill bean bags, have the children "help" as we sorted through some craft things, discarding items that Ruth didn't want to have to move and find a place for in Idaho, and put rings on jars of bottled fruit so that the movers will take them in the moving truck. Little things can sure add up and take time, so I hope to keep going down and helping with the little things.
Emma has a beautiful new formal dress. I wish I could figure out how to get the pictures off my phone and on to this blog like Elise does. Emma will wear the dress to junior prom, but first will wear it this week to participate in the Hyde Park City royalty pageant. She has an interview with judges tomorrow afternoon then will wear her formal to the pageant on Tuesday where she will walk down the runway while an announcer tells about her. She and the other contestants have to answer a spontaneous question in front of the judges and audience, then a queen and four attendants will be selected. She could use some extra prayers again this week!
Thomas and Victoria should be home some time today from their honeymoon. Then we hope they will settle down to real life! Vacations can't last forever and real life is much more fun and satisfying in the long run :)
I attended a parents' band meeting this week to hear about plans for the trip to Disneyland later this year. They are offering special deals for families wanting to tag along with the band! Anyone want to meet in Anaheim on November 1st? Let me know if you're interested and I'll send the information and see what we can arrange! It would certainly be fun.... Oh, and I will email any interested parties about the mattress fund raiser they are having. It's a great deal if you need to replace any mattresses! If you have friends or other family members in need of a new mattress, pass on the info and help Emma earn money for her $1,000+ band fees :)
Hopefully, it won't take everyone else as long to recover from the time change as it takes me. At this time every year I am tempted to move to Arizona where they have the same time schedule all year, smart people! I keep waiting for Jenn to invite everyone for a Conference Super Bowl party, but I might just have to show up uninvited!
Have a great week...
Lauren and Nick returned from Georgia and it sounds like they had a delightful time. They entertained Emma and Dad while I was in Ogden and Layton on Friday. It was fun to be with Ruth's family for a few hours and do some little things to help - refill bean bags, have the children "help" as we sorted through some craft things, discarding items that Ruth didn't want to have to move and find a place for in Idaho, and put rings on jars of bottled fruit so that the movers will take them in the moving truck. Little things can sure add up and take time, so I hope to keep going down and helping with the little things.
Emma has a beautiful new formal dress. I wish I could figure out how to get the pictures off my phone and on to this blog like Elise does. Emma will wear the dress to junior prom, but first will wear it this week to participate in the Hyde Park City royalty pageant. She has an interview with judges tomorrow afternoon then will wear her formal to the pageant on Tuesday where she will walk down the runway while an announcer tells about her. She and the other contestants have to answer a spontaneous question in front of the judges and audience, then a queen and four attendants will be selected. She could use some extra prayers again this week!
Thomas and Victoria should be home some time today from their honeymoon. Then we hope they will settle down to real life! Vacations can't last forever and real life is much more fun and satisfying in the long run :)
I attended a parents' band meeting this week to hear about plans for the trip to Disneyland later this year. They are offering special deals for families wanting to tag along with the band! Anyone want to meet in Anaheim on November 1st? Let me know if you're interested and I'll send the information and see what we can arrange! It would certainly be fun.... Oh, and I will email any interested parties about the mattress fund raiser they are having. It's a great deal if you need to replace any mattresses! If you have friends or other family members in need of a new mattress, pass on the info and help Emma earn money for her $1,000+ band fees :)
Hopefully, it won't take everyone else as long to recover from the time change as it takes me. At this time every year I am tempted to move to Arizona where they have the same time schedule all year, smart people! I keep waiting for Jenn to invite everyone for a Conference Super Bowl party, but I might just have to show up uninvited!
Have a great week...
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Hart Happenings
This was a recuperative week for sure. Given how much we were gone in February you would think our house would have stayed relatively clean but unfortunately, it served as the dumping grounds between excursions so we spent a lot of time doing laundry and cleaning. We just couldn't get enough of that so we went over to The Sleeper House and cleaned that from top to bottom and did all the laundry from the construction workers who had been staying there. We now have another crew from Buffalo, New York that will be staying for the next 2 months. Good times.
The week was marked by some celebration for the best 9 year old boy in the whole world who had the audacity to turn 10! We went up to Rexburg, accompanied by Ian's friend, Max and played at the amusement center up there, had some pizza, and came home to a houseful of our favorite guests. Alex's parents, his brother and kids, and Mom and Emma came to sing Happy Birthday and eat ice cream cake. Ian insisted on getting it from the same place that Victoria and Thomas got their wedding cake. It was pretty tasty! We loved having Mom and Emma up. We seriously have the greatest family!
Our house is officially off the market and now Alex has to endure all my ideas for raising the roof on our existing house and adding a complete second story. Haha!
It has been so nice this week and we decided to get out and prep the garden yesterday. It was so nice to get out and work! We made some good progress and are hoping to get some compost on the garden this next week and plant some peas and lettuce. My seed catalogues should be here this week and then we can really get cracking!
Hope all is well with everyone. Can't wait for the next chance to be with you all!
Nilsson News
Today has been a tender one for our family. I think it is the first big change in a line of several big changes upcoming. Garrett was released as the bishop today. There are a lot of mixed emotions involved with that. I don't think there would have been many tears of sadness shed if we weren't moving. It has been a journey and we have learned more than we could have imagined in the short two years he served. It has been very hard and I regret to say that I wasn't always the most agreeable spouse and mother during it all. Something I have been pondering lately is the phrase the Lord has always said, "Follow me." When he said this to his early disciples as they were fishing the scriptures tell us that "They forsook all and followed him." It hit me that when the Lord asks us to follow, it is rarely convenient and it is almost always challenging. The thought of leaving so many dear, sweet friends in this neighborhood and ward is going to be so very difficult. But we have had a confirmation from the Lord that we need to move and "follow him."
Just to update everyone, we have sold our house. Our buyers close on their home April 4th and we will close soon after that. We have not found a home in Idaho but we are earnestly seeking. Garrett will start work up there in one week. It will be nice that he will be able to spec out homes from up there but not so nice that I will be husbandless for three weeks:(
We now have a new family member whose name is Honda Element. If you didn't hear, our CR-V bit the dust just before the new year and we have had one vehicle to share. We were looking for a truck since clearly we will be living in Idaho and I hear everyone who lives in Idaho has a truck, right? Well, trucks do not make good commuting vehicles and they are a little more pricey than what we had planned, so we found the Element. We can officially be called granolas now. Mom, if you ever want to borrow it to go to one of your births, it just puts the final touches on home birth, homeschool and all natural. Go green (no pun intended but our Element is...green)!
This week we will finish off our house projects. Painting touch ups, small repairs, etc. What a crazy time!
Just to update everyone, we have sold our house. Our buyers close on their home April 4th and we will close soon after that. We have not found a home in Idaho but we are earnestly seeking. Garrett will start work up there in one week. It will be nice that he will be able to spec out homes from up there but not so nice that I will be husbandless for three weeks:(
We now have a new family member whose name is Honda Element. If you didn't hear, our CR-V bit the dust just before the new year and we have had one vehicle to share. We were looking for a truck since clearly we will be living in Idaho and I hear everyone who lives in Idaho has a truck, right? Well, trucks do not make good commuting vehicles and they are a little more pricey than what we had planned, so we found the Element. We can officially be called granolas now. Mom, if you ever want to borrow it to go to one of your births, it just puts the final touches on home birth, homeschool and all natural. Go green (no pun intended but our Element is...green)!
This week we will finish off our house projects. Painting touch ups, small repairs, etc. What a crazy time!
Flake Fun
6 March 2016 - Well, we don't have a whole lot to report. We have spent the week as normal, working, eating and sleeping! Yesterday we went to a neighbor's house and got a truck load of manure to have for our garden. Scott made another compost pile that he is hoping will be ready in about 3 weeks. Then we'll till it all in and be ready to plant the garden!
The weather has been windy this weekend but sunny for the most part. Our Relief Society presidency was re-organized today which is always an exciting thing. We are also hearing more firm rumors that they will be reorganizing our stake soon and perhaps creating another stake! But that has been a rumor for the 3 years that we have been here so we'll see what happens!
Today in Primary the Bishop was talking about prophets and was showing the kids pictures of different prophets. He held up a picture of Brigham Young and asked if anyone knew who it was. One adorable little 6 year old yelled out, "That's Brick-a-Brack!" When the picture of Moroni was held up, a little 5 year old informed her neighbor, "That's Moroni. I know everything about him." Ah, nothing like primary to keep you laughing!
I was thinking about conference today and wanted to share a fun idea with you that one family in our ward does. They have a Super Bowl sized party for General Conference. Isn't that a fun idea? Watch it on the big screen, have snacks and food galore. A great way to help kids/teens understand how exciting it is to listen to the prophets.
The weather has been windy this weekend but sunny for the most part. Our Relief Society presidency was re-organized today which is always an exciting thing. We are also hearing more firm rumors that they will be reorganizing our stake soon and perhaps creating another stake! But that has been a rumor for the 3 years that we have been here so we'll see what happens!
Today in Primary the Bishop was talking about prophets and was showing the kids pictures of different prophets. He held up a picture of Brigham Young and asked if anyone knew who it was. One adorable little 6 year old yelled out, "That's Brick-a-Brack!" When the picture of Moroni was held up, a little 5 year old informed her neighbor, "That's Moroni. I know everything about him." Ah, nothing like primary to keep you laughing!
I was thinking about conference today and wanted to share a fun idea with you that one family in our ward does. They have a Super Bowl sized party for General Conference. Isn't that a fun idea? Watch it on the big screen, have snacks and food galore. A great way to help kids/teens understand how exciting it is to listen to the prophets.
Hyde Park Herald
Can it have been a week already since we were together?! Thanks to everyone for making the effort to be here to support Thomas and Victoria. Thank you for your help! Thank you for making things fun, whatever we do! We couldn't do much without all of you! We were tired after the wedding celebration and took a couple of days to get back in gear, but then we were off and running again.
Emma and I enjoyed a trip to Idaho to help celebrate Ian's 10th (!!!!) birthday! We surprised him by picking him up from scouts and were delighted to hear him exclaim, "This is the best day of my life!" That boy knows how to make a grandma feel like a million bucks! We had ice cream cake, played games, went shopping for a formal dress for Emma and ate yummy homemade chicken noodle soup. We can't wait to go back :)
Joseph came up to teach Lauren's class for her. I attended the class and admit that much of it was over my head. It was very interesting, however, to learn about why voices sound like they do on the telephone and how to manipulate a recording to make it sound better - or worse! When Joe walked in our house on Wed. night he said what I think every day, "Whoa! It's too quiet here." It's a little hard to think and to concentrate some days because it's too quiet.
Thanks to everyone for remembering Emma in your prayers this week. She won't know for several weeks how she did on the test, but she certainly felt supported. Last night she went to a friend's house to watch a movie and while she was gone someone dropped off a box of Ding Dongs with a note that said, "I'd be a Ding Dong if I didn't ask you to Prom." So I guess she'll be going to Junior Prom. Good thing she has a new dress to wear!
The newlyweds are all traveling... (I've been told you're newlyweds until your first anniversary). Thomas and Victoria went to Florida and spent a couple of days at Disney World before getting on the cruise ship yesterday. Lauren and Nick left Friday to fly to Georgia to attend Nick's friend's wedding. They hope to spend some time walking on the beach in warm weather.
Anyone want to get together for General Conference? Here? Salt Lake? Baby Shower? Let us know your thoughts/plans.... (My unrealistic vote is to head for Arizona - where it's 70+ degree weather!)
Love you all tons and can't wait to see you again!
Something to Think About:
We had an inspiring testimony meeting today. I was struck by something Jessie Knight said. She often feels overwhelmed and like she's not doing all she ought to be doing. She told about reading through an old journal this week and came across something she had written a few years ago. She recorded what was spoken in a blessing she received when she was feeling particularly low. It reminded her that Heavenly Father doesn't love her for what she does. Heavenly Father loves HER. It was quite profound. It reminded me about something Elder David B. Haight once said, “God does not love us because we are lovable, have a pleasing personality or a good sense of humor, or at rare times show exceptional kindness. In spite of who we are and what we have done, God wants to pour out His love on us, for the unlovable are also precious unto Him.”
Emma and I enjoyed a trip to Idaho to help celebrate Ian's 10th (!!!!) birthday! We surprised him by picking him up from scouts and were delighted to hear him exclaim, "This is the best day of my life!" That boy knows how to make a grandma feel like a million bucks! We had ice cream cake, played games, went shopping for a formal dress for Emma and ate yummy homemade chicken noodle soup. We can't wait to go back :)
Joseph came up to teach Lauren's class for her. I attended the class and admit that much of it was over my head. It was very interesting, however, to learn about why voices sound like they do on the telephone and how to manipulate a recording to make it sound better - or worse! When Joe walked in our house on Wed. night he said what I think every day, "Whoa! It's too quiet here." It's a little hard to think and to concentrate some days because it's too quiet.
Thanks to everyone for remembering Emma in your prayers this week. She won't know for several weeks how she did on the test, but she certainly felt supported. Last night she went to a friend's house to watch a movie and while she was gone someone dropped off a box of Ding Dongs with a note that said, "I'd be a Ding Dong if I didn't ask you to Prom." So I guess she'll be going to Junior Prom. Good thing she has a new dress to wear!
The newlyweds are all traveling... (I've been told you're newlyweds until your first anniversary). Thomas and Victoria went to Florida and spent a couple of days at Disney World before getting on the cruise ship yesterday. Lauren and Nick left Friday to fly to Georgia to attend Nick's friend's wedding. They hope to spend some time walking on the beach in warm weather.
Anyone want to get together for General Conference? Here? Salt Lake? Baby Shower? Let us know your thoughts/plans.... (My unrealistic vote is to head for Arizona - where it's 70+ degree weather!)
Love you all tons and can't wait to see you again!
Something to Think About:
We had an inspiring testimony meeting today. I was struck by something Jessie Knight said. She often feels overwhelmed and like she's not doing all she ought to be doing. She told about reading through an old journal this week and came across something she had written a few years ago. She recorded what was spoken in a blessing she received when she was feeling particularly low. It reminded her that Heavenly Father doesn't love her for what she does. Heavenly Father loves HER. It was quite profound. It reminded me about something Elder David B. Haight once said, “God does not love us because we are lovable, have a pleasing personality or a good sense of humor, or at rare times show exceptional kindness. In spite of who we are and what we have done, God wants to pour out His love on us, for the unlovable are also precious unto Him.”
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