Nilsson News

It has been a roller coaster for us this past week as I know most of you are aware.  We are so grateful for the kind texts and calls you have given us.  Things are slowly getting better.
Mom and Dad came down last Saturday to visit and play and it was most delightful.  After taking us to get an ice cream, they headed home as did we.  As soon as we got home, I went to check on our little Coco and she was in full labor!  Things quickly started going down hill after realizing the foal wasn't in position.  Looooong story short, the vet finally arrived and had no luck pulling the foal so they suggested we take her into the clinic.  Garrett took her in and I stayed home and got the kids in bed.  After sedating Coco, they tried every kind of pulling device known to man and still no success (the foal was presenting upside down with its neck kinked to the side and it was a big foal besides).  It was either a c-section or euthanasia.  We opted for the surgery because Coco is really our very favorite and we call her our little teddy bear.  That ended up being an ordeal as well and as soon as the vet finished stitching her up, she stopped breathing.  It was so, so sad!  Our household was a mess for several days.  You become so attached to these little creatures and they leave a huge hole when they are gone.  After doing a lot of emailing and calling around to various donkey experts, we have determined that our jack is too big and it is causing a lot of these problems that we have had with our foals.  So, we are having him gelded and we are getting a new, adorable little spotted jack either this fall or spring.  And, his name is Popcorn.
During all of this we were happy and excited for Thomas and Victoria and their handsome little man.  Congratulations to the flake twins on getting so grownup!  We are enjoying the summer and harvesting from the garden.  Our watermelons should be coming on in about two-ish weeks.  Aside from mowing the lawn and pulling weeds, we refinished our kitchen table and beefed it up a bit and we tore down and rebuilt a fence.  I can't seem to get enough of projects!  Hard work is the medicine.
Hope you are all staying well and we hope to play with you sometime soon!

Garrett's sister Kate and her family, came from Arizona and stayed with us for about a week.  We had a great time hiking, playing at the lake, river running, visiting around the campfire and setting off some good fireworks.  Idaho really is such a great place to live!

Flake Foursome

What a fun, momentous week it has been with the twin's first birthday and the birth day of baby Jefferson! It doesn't get much better than that.  

The week for the most part was fairly normal.  We enjoyed some time weeding the garden and discovered 4 watermelons! Robin and Rand want to pick them but will be content with the zucchinis that seem to appear daily! 

Thursday was the big #1 for Robin and Rand.  We went to the park for a little while in the morning and played with some new toys.  When Scott got home from work we had spaghetti for dinner and a small birthday cake. Then the babies opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Belliston and we went to bed shortly afterwards.   It was a good day.  We had a small party for them yesterday and Grannie was able to come up from Mesa for it which was fun.  

We cut Rand's hair on Friday. It was getting pretty long and would tangle and knot up so I knew it was time.  He looks so grown up now!! 

Other than that, things are pretty normal here.  It has been overcast a bit this week which was nice.  We haven't seen any monsoon rain storms yet which is abnormal but hopefully they are coming.  

Hope that you all have a great week!!

Flake Foursome

Hot. That is the best word to describe the last week in the Flake household.  But we survived and hopefully it will cool down a little this coming week.  

The kids went "swimming" for the first time yesterday which was fun.  Randy and Dona have a kiddie pool and the water didn't warm up all the way but they had a blast wading around.  Robin did slip and ended up sitting in the water which she didn't particularly care for.  

We ate peas from our garden last night which was fun. And we have zucchinis coming on. Other than that we are just happy that the garden is growing and hope that we have a good harvest.  

I'm quite happy that Robin's hair is finally getting long enough to pull into pigtails. They never stay in for long but hopefully we'll establish a good routine that will lead to happy times when it is time to get her hair done.  

Smithfield Scoop

I sure love this blog! I especially love the photos! And I love hearing what everyone is up to - all good stuff! I guess I just love the blog :)

Well, we will remember this week as the week we were supposed to go, planning to go, packed to go to Arizona, and didn't go. So frustrating! I loaded Monday with all the visits I could possibly fit in and scheduled the rest for Tuesday visits for my assistant/midwifery student to do on her own and got ready to go on our road trip to check on Jenn and see if we could help with things in Snowflake. We planned to leave Tuesday and stay a few days with the Flakes, then head home on Saturday. At 5:50 on Tuesday morning I got a call from a mom who was 37 weeks that day telling me that she was having some quite strong contractions. She knew I was planning to leave. I had seen her the day before and we both thought there was no problem with me being gone for a few days. I truly thought I would go check things out and then we could be on our way south. However, she had begun dilating and getting ready for baby to come. There was no way to know if things would kick into regular labor or sort of peter out. But, I couldn't, in good conscience, leave. I thought, "Well, if she has her baby in the next day or two, we could still go." She didn't. She still hasn't - though I've been to her house 2 more times when she thought maybe it was the real thing. But, I did go to a birth for a different midwife who had 2 moms in labor at the same time - one in Hyde Park and the other in Ogden. I knew the gal here and was happy to help with her birth. Perhaps that's why we weren't able to go to Snowflake. I am learning, over and over again, that most things happen for a reason and I'm trying to be a bit less controling and recognize the Lord's hand in even the frustrating situations that don't go as I think they should! We will get to Arizona, and to Texas, one of these days!

It's warm here. The garden is growing. The flowers are blooming. Dad washed all of the outside windows and I did the insides. Lovely views! We haven't returned to church yet. More places are requiring masks to enter their stores. Emma is in North Carolina. Wow! Is she ever happy! That's about it. I will try to write next week about what did happen, instead of what didn't happen.

Manning Moments

Such cute pictures Jenn!
Not a lot to report but I'll just report a few things that we have been doing.
We went camping. It was very fun and Nick and Wesley caught several fish. Chet almost fell in the lake.
We made soap. I splashed some in my eye. Don't EVER do that!
We have been going to lots of parks and splash pads which is super fun!
Our garden is alive I think. If anyone wants some weeds we have lots for free!
Wesley is learning to read and is doing a great job!
Chet is a little monkey and climbs and jumps on everything including people!
That is the last little while in a nutshell.
Love you all and hope to see you soon!

Flake Foursome

We hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful 4th.  It was kind of weird to not have any community celebrations going on but we were able to get together with Scott's family for lunch and later on for some fireworks. The Town of Taylor did their fireworks show so that was fun to watch from a distance.  

We don't have a lot to report this week. The babies are learning more and more each day and they constantly surprise and amaze us.  

They both love to play the piano which is fun and they are tall enough to reach now!!

Our garden has finally decided to grow which is reassuring.  We had some sunflowers bloom this week which is always fun.  

A day or two ago we were all in the living room. I was engaged with Robin when Scott started laughing.  I looked up to see a grinning and diaper-less Rand toddle by!

Smithfield Scoop

Oh my goodness! If you could only know how much I love reading this blog! It is definitely a family treasure. I can't help but think that in a few years we are going to be so grateful and happy that Jenn started this way back when. I'm already grateful for it and feel that it will be even more delightful as time goes on. We have to have Dad find a way to ensure that it will always be accessible, even if technology changes...

Since we last posted, at the beginning of June, our time has been consumed with little Chirp whom Dad rescued when some magpies had a heyday and destroyed the nest he was comfortably living in. They have a lovely friendship and Chirp waits on the deck and chirps to encourage Dad to come out of the door. He's growing and getting more adventurous and is now able to get his own food (nightcrawlers) out of the dish in one piece (Dad used to have to cut them in pieces - yuck!) and eat cut up strawberries off the plate. He enjoys splashing around in the wet grass when we turn the hose on. Emma has had to step in a couple of times and tend him/her while we were gone, so they have become pretty good friends, too.
 

Wesley and Chet enjoyed getting acquainted with Chirp and took turns holding him and feeding him while they were here with Lauren last week. It was darling! It was so fun to have the Mannings come for a few days and play!

While Dad played with his baby, I was helping with other babies. There have been four born in June, all healthy and well - 1 boy and 3 girls. To balance things out, there are 3 babies due to be coming in July and all are boys. Such a blessing to participate in such a sweet time in a family's life.

We enjoyed, for the most part, going to Duck Creek (in the canyon east of Cedar City) to meet with some of Dad's siblings for a trust meeting. Kate, Anne and Janine were unable to come, but the rest came with spouses and we had a great time. Christi also attended and we picked her up on our way. All went well until we began the drive up the canyon. For some reason our little Toyota didn't like that drive and decided to not finish the climb. We were scheduled to arrive at 4 or 5, but after waiting for the tow truck and for Carl and Michelle to pick us up after a kind man took us back to Cedar City, we finally got to the cabin at about 9:30 - too late to make the cobbler that I had planned to prepare for everyone. Oh well. The car hung out at the mechanic shop all weekend, waiting for the small valve that needed to be replaced, but was nowhere to be found and had to be ordered. The gathering adjourned on Sunday morning, but Dad had to wander the streets of Cedar all day today (Sunday) and likely most of the day tomorrow (Monday) waiting for the repair on the car. Just for the sake of history, the needed part is called a PCV valve and is valued at less than $30, but the labor to install it is quite intensive and will likely cost around $400. Urrrrggh!

**As a side note, and much to his credit, Dad never once said, "Stupid piece of junk!" about this difficulty. He was pleasant and calm the whole time! I was a mess, however, worrying about missing a birth because I didn't have a way home. Nick was a hero and came to the rescue when he called and said he was on his way down to pick me up. He arrived after 1:00 AM and woke up at 6 in the morning to drive me back to American Fork to meet the next hero, Emma, who drove me home. What would we do without such a wonderful family??!!

Emma was delighted to be invited to Lagoon with the Harts. She had a blast! She's really looking forward to going to North Carolina in a little over a week from now. She's got all kinds of visits lined up and plans to hit all of her favorite restaurants while she's there. She has had a couple of different movie nights here with different groups of friends, which has been very fun for us! We love having people come and make some noise here! Other recent activities have been boating with her roommates, going to Bear Lake, playing spike ball at USU on the hill, and other such fun times. She also works some days and has been having job interviews with different companies :)

We are anxious to get to Idaho and see the yard improvements at Harts and the new additions to the Nilsson barnyard. And we can't wait to get to Texas and Arizona and see the folks down there! We are trying to make those plans work out sooner than later.  It's also fun to drop in on the Sandy Bellistons and the Mannings now and then and see their goings on. Thanks for the yummy cherries, Joe, and for always feeding us, Lauren!

We love you all and are glad you are spending time doing such productive and useful and delightful things in this crazy Covid era.