Flake Fun

26 June 2016 - This week went by in a blur with most of my time being spent at the Emergency Operations Center.  By Thursday night the fire was 42% contained and by Friday night it was 51% and the pre-evacuation notice had been lifted from almost all areas.  There are still 2 little towns on the reservation that are under a pre-evacuation warning, this time for flooding. I was able to take this whole weekend off and I'm still trying to get caught up on my sleep! 

On Friday we worked a little bit on the plumbing in our Lovelake house.  Scott's cousin TJ came over and helped us.  We made some good headway.  On Saturday we did some electrical stuff and took out the basement stairs.  Pretty soon we will be to the point that we can start putting things together instead of ripping them all apart!

The weather has been very hot these last couple of weeks which makes it hard to sleep very soundly but the monsoons should come soon and that will cool things down. 
Our garden is doing quite well.  The flowers that we planted from seed don't seem to want to sprout which is sad but I would stay in the cool ground too if I had a choice between that and the scorching sun!  We had to rig up a pallet contraption to keep the cows from eating our corn.  Hopefully it will work. 

Anyway, that is about all of the news from Arizona.  Hope things are going well for everyone and that you are staying cool and having a great summer.  We are so excited for the family gathering!!!!

Flake Fun?

20 June 2016 - I'm sorry that I didn't post yesterday.  Every day since Wednesday I have been pulling 12-14 hour days working at the Emergency Operations Center on the Cedar Creek fire that is burning just outside of Show Low. Scott was also in the EOC Friday - Sunday. I am headed back today for another 12 hour shift and just wanted to take a second to say hi. 

The weather turned really hot and I believe that we hit 99 a couple of times in the last few days.  The garden is doing really well despite the heat.  I can't think of anything else that happened this week...

Love you all.  Hope everyone had a great Father's Day!

Happy in Hyde Park

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads in our family!! What a blessing it is to have devoted, righteous, faithful fathers raising our grandchildren.  Thank you for your efforts to be good fathers and wonderful examples.  Here are a couple of my favorite "dad" videos for you to view:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?category=topics/fathers&lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2009-04-023-home-repair?category=topics/fathers&lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/all-the-reasons-we-love-dad?category=topics/fathers&lang=eng

It was so nice to visit so many family members in the last couple of weeks!  My trip to Arizona to see Becca and Darin and Jenn and Scott was pleasant.  Warm but not too uncomfortable.  There were several missed roads, a few detours and road closures, but I got where I was going with the help of Jenn and Becca.  I enjoyed a few days in Casa Grande, then a few in Snowflake, visiting, attending the temple, doing some projects and relaxing.  It was well worth the drive.  I wanted to bring Jenn home with me, but she is too valuable where she is!  On the way home I was glad to spend the night with Grandpa and Christi and to find things going well with them.  Little Jake was in the hospital with croup when I got to Springville, but he got home late that night.  He was a sick little guy for a few days, but smiled in spite of it all!  It was fun to read books with those delightful Belliston grandchildren and to attend church with Joe, Grace and Grant.

I tried to catch up on a few things at home, then two days after returning from Arizona, Emma and I drove to Idaho for a surprise visit to help get the latest sleeper house ready for renters.  What a job!!  It was fun to work with the Harts and Ruth's family on a big project - just like the old days :)  Emma was a knock out worker and helped Alex paint into the wee morning hours.  I felt like a traitor when I had to leave in the middle of it all, but I'm sure there will be more work to do in the future and I hope to be there again.

When Elise and the boys brought Emma home, Thomas came to see Emma in the Nibley parade and then we spent the afternoon at the Summerfest in Logan with Lauren and Nick.  It was very satisfying to see all of our children and grandchildren this month!  I wish that could happen every month!  What a wonderful family we have.  I'm so grateful that you all support and help each other whenever possible and I truly can't wait for us all to be together on Labor Day!  It can't get here fast enough!

Our driveway will be torn up and not accessible for the next few weeks.  But it will be very nice when it's finished.  Becca will be coming this week to visit Uncle Burl who is now on hospice and likely won't live much longer.  That generation will be gone too soon.  It's strange to realize that when Uncle Burl is no longer living there, my connection to Manila will be pretty much gone.  I will still have memories and gravesites to visit, but there won't be anyone to visit in Manila any more that I am related to.  It's a strange feeling to have these folks who are such an important part of my life just suddenly be gone.  I suppose that's why Jeremy and Jamie have both moved their families back to Evanston - to be closer to their dad and spend time with him and help him if they can.  It's a lesson in treasuring the relationships we have while we can.

On to catching up on weeding the garden and rearranging the house.....

Flake Fun

12 June 2016 - We have mostly caught up on your sleep and are getting back into the groove of normal life.  It was difficult to go back to work but I guess it always is after a vacation.  There are quite a few forest fires in the surrounding counties but so far we haven't had one in Navajo County.

It was SO fun to have Mom here for a couple of days.  We're glad she didn't melt in the extreme heat of Casa Grande.  We had a very relaxing time together. 

So, Peru....

We flew into Lima and arrived around midnight.  It was very similar to Quito as far as that goes (We always picked the volunteers up around midnight!)   We stayed in a little hostel not far from the airport and they were having a loud party that night so we didn't sleep much.

This is Scott leaving our mark when we checked out of the hostel.  As you can tell it is a backpacker hostel and lots of people leave notes and advice "for those who may follow." (Name that movie!)

Then we flew to Arequipa...
                           

Arequipa Cathedral

We stayed there for a few days, did a city tour, tried Chicha Morada (an interesting drink made from purple corn) and went to the Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world.  We didn't hike the canyon but the view from the rim was spectacular.  There were condors gliding around and it was amazing.

          

                                   

 Colca Canyon

From Arequipa we took a bus to Puno, the mainland city on the shores of Lake Titicaca.  We visited Uros, the floating islands on Lake Titicaca.  They are made of reeds and have to be built up every couple of weeks so that the houses don't get wet! 

Then we stayed the night on a regular island (made of dirt) called Amantani, which was 3 hours away.  We hiked to the top of the hill and watched the sunset!!!

That's Bolivia in the background!

We spent the night with Felix and his wife (pictured below) and then toured another island the next morning.

We spent a night in Puno (it was really quite cold) and visited an ancient Incan burial ground called Sillustani. 

Then we headed to Cusco.  Cusco is a quaint little town that was celebrating something so we got to see parades and hear bands in the square!  We saw a lot of ruins and booked a tour to the Sacred Valley.

We went to Moray and saw the agricultural terraces that the ancient Incan's built.  They are located in a valley so each terrace has a different temperature and they were able to grow all sorts of plants that require different climates.  They also had irrigation that ran to the terraces as well as drainage.  Fascinating stuff.

After Moray we went to Maras to see the salt pools.  This is where pink Peruvian salt comes from.  There are over 2,000 salt pools! (Each little square behind us is a salt pool)

Then it was on to Ollantaytambo to see more ruins.

The next morning we took the train to Machu Picchu.

Do you see that tall mountain behind Machu Picchu?  It is called Waynapicchu.  It was a long hike but we did it.  Only 400 tickets are given out each day and we were able to reserve some.  I'm glad we did too because there was a sign that said that the tickets were sold out until the end of August!  

That little blip of light green to the right is Machu Picchu, to give you an idea of how high we were.

We had front row seats on the train on the way back to Ollantaytambo so we were able to look out the front windshield!  It was awesome! 

The next day we flew to Lima.  It is always foggy there...

We had a private ceviche class (one of Scott's favorite mission foods) which was definitely a highlight. 

And then we came home!  So that was our trip in a nutshell!!!!  Love you all!!

Hart Happenings

This week got off to an ultra-pleasant start. Mom, Dad, Emma, Thomas, and Victoria all came to hang out with us and the Nilssons for Memorial Day. We relaxed at Ruth's house, went on a photo excursion of Idaho Falls, played at the park, visited the BYU gardens, and enjoyed each other's company. So much fun! Thanks for coming all that way guys!

We spent time gardening and looking for houses this week as well. The search continues....

Most of the week found us at the Sleeper House painting and updating the bedrooms and bathroom in the basement. It looks so nice now!

The majority of us took a little break on Friday, (Alex, not so much) to hang out with our homeschool group at the park. We also met friends at the library and got enrolled for the Summer Reading program. The boys are making a big scholastic push to wrap things up by the first day of summer (June 20). If they reach all their goals we get to go to the aquarium. Yay!  Even Peter is learning to write his name. 

That's about it for us. Seems like summer has arrived and we're pretty excited about it!

Hyde Park Heat

Wow! It's getting warm fast! It takes a while for my body to acclimatize to the change in weather. I've been waking up so hot at night this week feeling like I was smothering - even with the windows open. Not fun. But it is delightful during the day, seeing the sunshine and enjoying weeding and planting and playing outside.

I was feeling a little guilty about not posting on the blog for the past couple of Sundays, but finally getting back on today, I see that everyone has been a little too busy to be on the blog! I hope things calm down for everyone because I really, really enjoy reading the updates and seeing the photos!

It was very nice to talk with Jenn yesterday while she was at the airport in L.A., waiting for their flight to Arizona. She said they had a wonderful trip and that we'd get to hear all about it. She said they'd probably be sleeping all day today, so we may have to wait until next week to hear all about it.

Dad, Emma, Thomas, Victoria and I had a very fun time in Idaho on Memorial Day. We enjoyed a luscious dinner at the Nilssons, with visiting and games on Sunday.  Dad and I went with Elise to take pictures of old buildings and places of interest in Idaho Falls early Monday morning. I was especially thrilled with the tribute to veterans at a memorial park where 1,000 flags were flying in honor of those who have served in the military. It was quite touching. Then we went to see some homes the Harts are looking at purchasing for themselves (which will please Ruth who has been concerned about them buying lots of sleeper houses for other people, but not a home with some land for their own family!).  They have a hard decision to make since both homes are very nice, in lovely locations, but each with pros and cons...

Emma is out of school, but busier than ever. Yesterday she had to be at the school at 7:30 for a Rookie Day for new band members. She was selected the clarinet section leader and the woodwind captain for the band. She had to give a speech at Rookie Day, run home during a short lunch break and change to speak at a baptism, then run back to the school, stay after the training was over to help a fellow clarinet player learn a solo piece to audition with, then I picked her up from the school at 5:30 to go to a YSA stake dinner and devotional in Clarkston. Whew! And she'll start that kind of schedule again in the morning when Basics Camp starts for the next week. Hope she survives!

We attended the recital Nick had for some of his guitar students. They all did an incredible job and it was fun to listen to them. He's obviously a great teacher!

We went to the funeral of Joann McKenna on Friday. What a delightful lady she was, always so positive and cheerful. Her advice to her family before her death was to be happy. "Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy regardless of your circumstances." She told them to love each other and be kind. Her family was a great representation of gospel living. I was truly inspired to do better and to find things to delight in each day.

Fatigued Flakes

5 June 2016 - We are back, exhausted but glad to be home.  Our garden survived our absence which was awesome (Thanks to Mom & Dad Flake for watering it).  We slept about 10 hours straight last night on a bed that was so comfortable it felt like a cloud. (It was our bed but it always feel good to be in your own bed after a trip, doesn't it?)  Pictures and more info will be forthcoming.  For now, we are just sleeping!