In contrast to the snow they got in Snowflake (but what do you expect living in Snowflake?) we have been having a glorious Indian summer. Not sure what that term means actually, but it has been sunshiny and warm and we have been trying to take advantage of what I am sure will be a short-lived scenario. Bike rides, playing outside, yard projects, and hikes with Ruth and her kids. It has been great!
Jack wrapped up his fall soccer season this week. They won their last game which was fun to watch. He has been part of a really great team and we have made some really good friends with the other parents and families of his team mates. And his coaches are fantastic! Always so nice to come into contact with extra great people who are so willing to give of their time to help our boys develop skills and learn important lessons.
We enjoyed a trip to the museum this week. It was so interesting to see the Steam Punk exhibit they have on display now. Very futuristic and mechanical.
Ian is enjoying his band and has been excited to learn a few more positions on the trombone. It is nice to hear him actually playing notes. He has auditions for Newsies coming up next Tuesday and has been getting ready for that.
Peter has been focusing on reading and playing with friends. He loves to be around people and would like to have friends over at all times!
Alex and I have been reading a lot about rituals and rhythms and have been working on creating some new ones in our family and strengthening some of the already existing ones.
It was lovely to see some of you at Chet's blessing! What a cute baby! What great parents he has! We are always so grateful for any occasion that brings us into contact with our family. We sure love all of you!
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Monday, October 15, 2018
Flake Fun
It was a pretty good week in Snowflake. It was snowing lightly today on the way to work which was a little strange but oh well.
This weekend we attended the Pinetop-Lakeside Balloon Festival. It was the first year that they had done it and it was fun to be there. There were only a handful of balloons but we actually got to get up close and talk to the pilots.
We also completed our planter island! There is only one section left and we are trying to decide if we want to plumb it for a small pond or fill it in and just plant stuff there. More on that once we decide.
The other day we saw an incredible rainbow on the way to work. The sun was just coming up and the higher the sun got, the more vivid the rainbow colors. It was incredible.
I think that is about all that I have to report. Hope that everything went well with Chet's blessing and that whoever was able to attend enjoyed good times with family and friends.
Love you all!
This weekend we attended the Pinetop-Lakeside Balloon Festival. It was the first year that they had done it and it was fun to be there. There were only a handful of balloons but we actually got to get up close and talk to the pilots.
We also completed our planter island! There is only one section left and we are trying to decide if we want to plumb it for a small pond or fill it in and just plant stuff there. More on that once we decide.
The other day we saw an incredible rainbow on the way to work. The sun was just coming up and the higher the sun got, the more vivid the rainbow colors. It was incredible.
I think that is about all that I have to report. Hope that everything went well with Chet's blessing and that whoever was able to attend enjoyed good times with family and friends.
Love you all!
Monday, October 8, 2018
Freezing Flakes
Well, it is now officially cold in our neck of the woods. It snowed. My fingers are too cold to type much but there you have it! I'll write more later!
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Hart Happenings
So, I read about everyone else's garden work and I think, yes, that's right a garden, we have a garden, I should really get out there and finish harvesting and clean things up. I just haven't made it out there much this week! I know we have sweet meat squash for days. So, if any of you want to call dibs on a few, let me know.
We pulled off our Primary Program this week, which was so spectacular. I loved absolutely everything about it. We brought all the kids in afterward for a big celebration which was a blast. We have such a good, enormous group of kids. It has been really rewarding to work with them, the teachers, and my excellent counselors to get this pulled together.
Saturday we hosted the neighborhood party. It was so nice to meet our neighbors. Only one family on our lane has kids (and they only moved in last month), so we haven't had much reason/chance to interact with them. It was absolutely delightful!
We also spent Saturday doing Fall clean-up at the gardens. It was a lot of work and we didn't manage to get everything done, so we will have to go out there again and wrap it up.
Ian has started a book club and is looking forward to their first meeting next week. He has a great group of friends and they go together this week to play night games. They are adorable. And he would hate that I wrote.
Jack is loving having soccer almost every day of the week. His team is undefeated and it has been fun watching them develop some good team strategy.
Peter stays busy trying to keep up with his brothers. His favorite thing is to let the chickens out and collect their eggs. The chickens are so funny. They are the most social little duo and love to come and hang out with us. They follow the boys around everywhere and will come running whenever they hear us.
It is shaping up to be a great week and month. Always good to start things off with General Conference. Hope you enjoy it!
We pulled off our Primary Program this week, which was so spectacular. I loved absolutely everything about it. We brought all the kids in afterward for a big celebration which was a blast. We have such a good, enormous group of kids. It has been really rewarding to work with them, the teachers, and my excellent counselors to get this pulled together.
Saturday we hosted the neighborhood party. It was so nice to meet our neighbors. Only one family on our lane has kids (and they only moved in last month), so we haven't had much reason/chance to interact with them. It was absolutely delightful!
We also spent Saturday doing Fall clean-up at the gardens. It was a lot of work and we didn't manage to get everything done, so we will have to go out there again and wrap it up.
Ian has started a book club and is looking forward to their first meeting next week. He has a great group of friends and they go together this week to play night games. They are adorable. And he would hate that I wrote.
Jack is loving having soccer almost every day of the week. His team is undefeated and it has been fun watching them develop some good team strategy.
Peter stays busy trying to keep up with his brothers. His favorite thing is to let the chickens out and collect their eggs. The chickens are so funny. They are the most social little duo and love to come and hang out with us. They follow the boys around everywhere and will come running whenever they hear us.
It is shaping up to be a great week and month. Always good to start things off with General Conference. Hope you enjoy it!
North Logan Notes
Can it really be that I haven't posted in over a month? More like 7 weeks?! Sorry about that. No excuses other than being distracted and involved in lots of things - and busy Sundays. Anyway, all is well here.
We've enjoyed some very fun experiences in the past month. Dad was absolutely thrilled with the helicopter ride provided by Elise and Alex's friend - well worth retiring for! He'd retire all over again if he could ride that helicopter again! It is taking some getting used to, this whole retirement thing. Most of it is good, so far. Dad has some projects in mind, including reading the Journal of Discourses and working on improving his photography skills. We keep thinking of places we'd like to go and folks we'd like to visit, which may begin happening before too much longer.
We have enjoyed our trips to Idaho Falls and to American Fork to see family. We had a good time tending the Nilssons while Ruth and Garret and Millie went to Washington. They are a fun and busy crew! We were reminded why we have children when we are young ;) Dad took some family photos for the Mannings that are pretty cute. Little Chet has decided to catch up quickly with Wesley. He keeps growing like crazy! What a darling smile he has! A couple of days ago, we went to Thanksgiving Point to have dinner with Grandpa and Christi to celebrate their 4th anniversary. Grandpa is getting weaker, but he perked up at having the family together. If any of you have time to give him a call or get down to see him, I know he'd really appreciate it.
Dad and I both had birthdays this month. We did had some fun adventures on Dad's birthday - going to Porcupine to see the salmon run and driving over the hill into Huntsville and Liberty. It was bumpy, but very lovely.
The weather has been lovely as summer turns to fall. We had frost on our car one morning last week. It was strange to not have berries to pick this summer, but it is even more strange to not have apples to pick and eat and press this fall. We keep wondering if we should build a house, but then we'd have to wait a long time for apple and other fruit trees to mature....
Speaking of houses, we had a delightful time in Idaho Falls looking at lovely Parade of Homes entries with Elise and her boys and Ruth and Addy. We saw some gorgeous homes and some that were not as impressive to us. Most were much too big for us - 5,000 - 6,000 sq. ft. One or two we wouldn't mind living in. But we are still searching for the right home, the right place. We went to the Cache Valley Parade of Homes yesterday, but there were only 7 homes to look at and only 2 for sale. The best one was built by Braden Reeder, who started his contracting business about 10 years ago. he does really nice work and said he'd be glad to build us a home if we could find a lot. That's what they all say! :) So... we continue looking!
I got to teach Gospel Principles today and, although I was very nervous, it was a great experience. The lessons are about simple, basic doctrines that we all need to review now and then. Afterwards, I spoke with the sister missionaries and they invited Dad and me to go with them tomorrow night to teach a couple who are interested in being baptized just as soon as they know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that President Nelson is a prophet. So, we will go tomorrow and offer to watch their sons so they can go to conference with the sisters. I'm pretty excited about that!
We've decided there are things for us to do here in this townhouse in North Logan, and we are going to focus on doing what we can while we keep looking and waiting to know our next step to take. It's an adventure all right!
Enjoy Conference!!
We've enjoyed some very fun experiences in the past month. Dad was absolutely thrilled with the helicopter ride provided by Elise and Alex's friend - well worth retiring for! He'd retire all over again if he could ride that helicopter again! It is taking some getting used to, this whole retirement thing. Most of it is good, so far. Dad has some projects in mind, including reading the Journal of Discourses and working on improving his photography skills. We keep thinking of places we'd like to go and folks we'd like to visit, which may begin happening before too much longer.
We have enjoyed our trips to Idaho Falls and to American Fork to see family. We had a good time tending the Nilssons while Ruth and Garret and Millie went to Washington. They are a fun and busy crew! We were reminded why we have children when we are young ;) Dad took some family photos for the Mannings that are pretty cute. Little Chet has decided to catch up quickly with Wesley. He keeps growing like crazy! What a darling smile he has! A couple of days ago, we went to Thanksgiving Point to have dinner with Grandpa and Christi to celebrate their 4th anniversary. Grandpa is getting weaker, but he perked up at having the family together. If any of you have time to give him a call or get down to see him, I know he'd really appreciate it.
Dad and I both had birthdays this month. We did had some fun adventures on Dad's birthday - going to Porcupine to see the salmon run and driving over the hill into Huntsville and Liberty. It was bumpy, but very lovely.
The weather has been lovely as summer turns to fall. We had frost on our car one morning last week. It was strange to not have berries to pick this summer, but it is even more strange to not have apples to pick and eat and press this fall. We keep wondering if we should build a house, but then we'd have to wait a long time for apple and other fruit trees to mature....
Speaking of houses, we had a delightful time in Idaho Falls looking at lovely Parade of Homes entries with Elise and her boys and Ruth and Addy. We saw some gorgeous homes and some that were not as impressive to us. Most were much too big for us - 5,000 - 6,000 sq. ft. One or two we wouldn't mind living in. But we are still searching for the right home, the right place. We went to the Cache Valley Parade of Homes yesterday, but there were only 7 homes to look at and only 2 for sale. The best one was built by Braden Reeder, who started his contracting business about 10 years ago. he does really nice work and said he'd be glad to build us a home if we could find a lot. That's what they all say! :) So... we continue looking!
I got to teach Gospel Principles today and, although I was very nervous, it was a great experience. The lessons are about simple, basic doctrines that we all need to review now and then. Afterwards, I spoke with the sister missionaries and they invited Dad and me to go with them tomorrow night to teach a couple who are interested in being baptized just as soon as they know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that President Nelson is a prophet. So, we will go tomorrow and offer to watch their sons so they can go to conference with the sisters. I'm pretty excited about that!
We've decided there are things for us to do here in this townhouse in North Logan, and we are going to focus on doing what we can while we keep looking and waiting to know our next step to take. It's an adventure all right!
Enjoy Conference!!
Nilsson News
Happy fall and happy last day of September! That may sound like I'm rejoicing but I am actually sad to see September moving on. Did it not just get here? It is definitely feeling like fall. Like Jenn said, our nights our cold but the days are beautiful. The leaves are beginning to change and you can just smell harvest in the air.
Yesterday, we canned up a batch of salsa so all of us are now penetrated with that smell for the next few weeks I'm sure. We also began the cleaning out of our garden. It is almost a bigger job I think than planting and getting things going in the spring. The kids have had a fun time harvesting our huge sunflowers and also our dry black beans. We had an abundant crop of onions and decided to try our hand at braiding them. They turned out pretty good and our storage room looks all...harvest festive. Speaking of harvest festive, I love to decorate for fall. Thanks to Emerson's pumpkin patch, we ended up with 9 orange pumpkins and about 15 flat white pumpkins. We also grew some fun broom corn (sorghum) which ended up being a variety of colors. We took all these goodies and smothered our entry in fall-ish loveliness. So fun!
This past week we took our kids on a field trip with our homeschooling friends to what's called the Butterfly Haven. It is a small home run business where this family decided to take their big greenhouse and turn it into a butterfly farm. They breed, hatch and raise native butterflies and let other people come and enjoy it! It was so lovely! In addition to the butterflies, there were several little birds including a pair of button quail. Oh my goodness they were cute! Another miniature creature we may just need to add to our farm. It was so much fun!
Addy got a camera this week for one of her classes she is taking. She has been taking pictures of everything! So between her and Ian, we may have some future professional photographers on our hands.
Emerson has been doing everything legos. He is taking a really neat lego machines class where he is challenged to make real life models of things that work using gears and pulleys and things. Quite amazing the things he comes up with.
Eliza is constantly leaping around. She discovered how to do a front flip and is always showing us how flexible she is. Ouch. She definitely did not get that from Garrett or me!
Henry is trying to keep up with all the other kids all at the same time. That takes a lot of energy but he has plenty of that and then some.
Millie is our farm girl and loves to be out with the animals and look at every book we have with animal pictures inside. If you ask her what any animal says, she will respond with an enthusiastic "Hee-haw." We have trained her well.
We are gearing up for general conference next week. Woo-hoo! Can't wait to see what big changes will take place. We are also holding our breath for our big ward boundary changes. It hasn't been done in twelve years and from what we heard, every ward in our stake will be "significantly affected." It will be interesting. Love you all!
My computer is not cooperating so I will hopefully have some pictures to post soon!
Yesterday, we canned up a batch of salsa so all of us are now penetrated with that smell for the next few weeks I'm sure. We also began the cleaning out of our garden. It is almost a bigger job I think than planting and getting things going in the spring. The kids have had a fun time harvesting our huge sunflowers and also our dry black beans. We had an abundant crop of onions and decided to try our hand at braiding them. They turned out pretty good and our storage room looks all...harvest festive. Speaking of harvest festive, I love to decorate for fall. Thanks to Emerson's pumpkin patch, we ended up with 9 orange pumpkins and about 15 flat white pumpkins. We also grew some fun broom corn (sorghum) which ended up being a variety of colors. We took all these goodies and smothered our entry in fall-ish loveliness. So fun!
This past week we took our kids on a field trip with our homeschooling friends to what's called the Butterfly Haven. It is a small home run business where this family decided to take their big greenhouse and turn it into a butterfly farm. They breed, hatch and raise native butterflies and let other people come and enjoy it! It was so lovely! In addition to the butterflies, there were several little birds including a pair of button quail. Oh my goodness they were cute! Another miniature creature we may just need to add to our farm. It was so much fun!
Addy got a camera this week for one of her classes she is taking. She has been taking pictures of everything! So between her and Ian, we may have some future professional photographers on our hands.
Emerson has been doing everything legos. He is taking a really neat lego machines class where he is challenged to make real life models of things that work using gears and pulleys and things. Quite amazing the things he comes up with.
Eliza is constantly leaping around. She discovered how to do a front flip and is always showing us how flexible she is. Ouch. She definitely did not get that from Garrett or me!
Henry is trying to keep up with all the other kids all at the same time. That takes a lot of energy but he has plenty of that and then some.
Millie is our farm girl and loves to be out with the animals and look at every book we have with animal pictures inside. If you ask her what any animal says, she will respond with an enthusiastic "Hee-haw." We have trained her well.
We are gearing up for general conference next week. Woo-hoo! Can't wait to see what big changes will take place. We are also holding our breath for our big ward boundary changes. It hasn't been done in twelve years and from what we heard, every ward in our stake will be "significantly affected." It will be interesting. Love you all!
My computer is not cooperating so I will hopefully have some pictures to post soon!
Flake Fun
Well the weather in Snowflake is starting to turn cold but the days are still beautiful. We planted a cover crop of winter rye and it is doing very well. We also have some lettuce that has decided to re-emerge which is fun. Our tomatoes are still producing which is fun. Our fish are getting pretty big and fat in preparation for winter. I think that they won't have any problem surviving the winter.
Yesterday we had a hawk land in our back willow tree and just stand there staring us down. Then, this morning we went on a walk and saw a great horned owl. It was great!
That is about all for the Flakes! Hope that you all have a great week!
Yesterday we had a hawk land in our back willow tree and just stand there staring us down. Then, this morning we went on a walk and saw a great horned owl. It was great!
That is about all for the Flakes! Hope that you all have a great week!
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