Smithfield Scoop

 Could 2020 have ended any better??!!! Or 2021 started any better??!!!

What a wonderful way to end the year that had everyone feeling a bit anxious and a bit confused - gathering with our very favorite folks and feeling so glad about everything! So beautiful. And to begin a year with such hope and delight - with an absolutely gloriously happy bride and a humble and dear groom. We cannot think of it all without being overcome with gratitude for such blessings!

Thank you all for coming, participating, and being so kind and supportive. We cannot begin to express how grateful we are for all of you and for all of your help! It has been an interesting journey and we couldn't have asked for better travel companions through it all!

Perhaps some of our favorite photos from December and January will say it better than we can....

Trip to Houston - so delightful! T & T are perfect hosts!

Sweet, calm, pleasant Baby James.

"Can I please hold Baby James?"

You have to cut very fast to stay ahead 

of the twins eating it all before it gets into the salad!

Hugs from these two are the best!

These really help Grandpa see better?!

The fellows.

The shoes. The more the better!

The bride. Very lovely. Just hours before the wedding!

THE Happy Day!!

The Sisters!!

The Other Sisters!!

The dance!!

The other dance! Have you ever seen a happier dad?!!

"To infinity and beyond.....!!!"

Hart Happenings

 It has more of a mellow week this week. We finally got back into our routine and it has been lovely. On Tuesday Jack and Ian got called to meet with the bishopric.  Turns out they now both have new callings! Jack is serving as the Deacons Quorum President, and Ian is the new Teachers Quorum President. It's been a really cool experience to see them pray, ponder, and seek revelation for their counselors and other things. We are so proud of them! Ian called Grandpa and asked him for tips, and counsel on how to choose his presidency. He and Grandpa had a lovely talk and Ian got a lot out of it. He felt very much more confident after the conversation.  Thanks, Dad! They are going to be such great leaders in their Quorums. 

We've been reading scriptures in the morning instead of at night which has been awesome! We don't feel as rushed, and we are much more focused and alert than we would be at night. And it also gives the kids a reason to wake up early! Peter has been saying the funniest things lately. One of our favorite things he said lately was, 

"Mom, I can finally do the splits."

"That's great sweetie! How do you do it?"

"You just have to live with the pain." 

I still laugh when I think of that conversation. He is one funny boy!                                                                  Peter also had his first soccer game this week. He was so excited. He is playing with some of his best buds. They call themselves: The Golden State Warriors. They won their game 5-0. He was very proud. Alex's brother came over on Saturday with his Four-Wheeler and tied sleds and tubes on the back and pulled the kids around the yard for a few hours. They had a blast! Peter flew off here and there but he wanted to do it again and again.  It was very fun! 

Jack is gearing up for his Saint George tournament in February. He is very excited. That boy is very talented. He is so devoted to his team and loves it. 

That's about it for the week. Hope you all have a wonderful week and hope to see y'all soon!  

Nilsson News

 Happy New Year to all of you!  It is already flying by.  The kids were commenting that they couldn't believe that a week has gone by since we were with all of you for Emma and Cam's wedding and James' baby blessing.  Another thing Eliza mentioned to me was, "Mom, everything is happening to us right now!  Emma's wedding, James' blessing, Emerson being ordained to a deacon and I'm getting baptized next month!"  Pretty neat to see all of the important ordinances bunched so closely together.  Emerson will be ordained this afternoon and he is so excited.  I'm also excited because I was just released as the R.S. Secretary and I haven't been called to anything yet.  I'm sure something is coming because the entire Primary presidency and R.S. presidency were released.  Eliza's baptism will be the first weekend in February, Feb. 6th.  We don't have a time yet and I'm sure you are all invited but I need to find out what the restrictions are for our Stake.  We'll let you know the details when we find them out!

Emma and Cameron's wedding was SO lovely!  It wasn't ideal to have the worry of finding a new venue location, but the Barn was absolutely gorgeous!  Having the entire family there for several days was delightful and everything seemed so un-rushed.  The cousins played together so well and the conversations and games were great.  It's crazy to think that the next wedding we meet for will be for one of the grandkids!  Yikes!

We jumped back into the school routine again and it is nice to be back on a bit of a schedule.  Yesterday, Garrett and I were able to make some more progress on our basement project.  All of the wallpaper and paneling is gone, all the electrical is done, and a wall framed in.  I'm excited to start taping and mudding and putting it all back together again!

Good, good times!

Nilsson News

 We hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!  It was a lovely day at the Nilsson house.  I love the magic of Christmas morning with all of the energy in the air, Christmas music playing and a cozy fire in the fireplace (I love the smell of a wood burning fireplace!).  All of the kids were excited and Millie wanted to make sure that everyone saw everything she pulled out of her stocking, including her orange and bandaids.  It was pretty simple and low key which was just perfect.  We have enjoyed playing some new games such as Cover your Kingdom, Blokus, and our very favorite, Twangled.  Garrett has the entire next week off his regular work and we plan on doing some serious work downstairs.  We are creating two new electrical circuits, finishing the hallway, demolishing our brick fireplace and removing the 500 pound fireplace insert.  We are going to install a new closet and electric fireplace and a wall to project movies on as well as cut a new doorway into our cold storage room.  We have four days to do all that before heading down for the big event in Logan!

We sold our former jack, Inigo.  He was not getting along with our new little jack, Popcorn, so he had to be separated and therefore he was extremely unhappy.  He went to a new home in Montana to be a companion to a barrel racing horse.  He will be happy there.

We are so excited to see everyone for the wedding!  Hope you are all healthy and looking forward to the new year!

Gingerbread houses!

Our Christmas tree adventure.

Inigo's new pal

Christmas morning!

Flake Fun

 Where has this month and year gone? I can't believe we are already at the end of December.  

Things in Snowflake have been cold, cold, cold. I'm guessing our temps aren't what Utah and Idaho are experiencing but it still feels really cold!! Rand and Robin learned a new word "snow!" and they are very excited that there will be snow at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas.   They are starting to say understandable words - at least I think they are understandable!

James is now 14 lbs and content to watch his older siblings play and make noise.  He is very patient with their loving gestures and only gets fussy when he is hungry or wants to be changed.  

Scott has been a trooper this week and has nearly all of the wood split.  He is a bit sore from the effort but it will be nice to have it all off of the ground. 

We are excited to see everyone in the next couple of weeks!!

Hart Happenings

 Hello all!  What a week it has been.  Huzzah for being out of quarantine but louder huzzah for not being sick anymore!  We had a lovely afternoon doing a Temple/Priesthood Preview, doing a Christmas blitz delivery to the inactives and non-members in our ward boundaries, hosting a dinner for Alex's sister who is visiting from Tennessee and his niece who came down from BYU-I, and delivering Christmas cookies to all of our Primary teachers.  Packed but meaningful!

Jack is happy to be back at soccer.  They have completely destroyed every team they have played this season.  He is gearing up for a tournament the week between Christmas and New Year's.

Ian is so glad to be out of quarantine that he has celebrated practically every day by hosting or going to parties.  We played with friends all Tuesday afternoon, his friend turned 16 last Saturday so he went to her party, then he had some homeschool buddies over for games all Thursday afternoon.  Friday night he hosted a Christmas party for another group of friends that lasted until very late at night.  His poor parents were kind of partied out and we didn't even really attend any of the parties!

Peter was thrilled to be able to play with cousins again and do all the countdown calendars we have.  He is a little disappointed that when he tries to cheat and jump ahead to the 25th it doesn't actually make it Christmas.  Saturday, his Hart cousins and we spent the afternoon making chocolates.  Basically they dipped everything they could think of in chocolate.  The also produced a version of Mother Goose popcorn that wasn't sticky!  Do you guys remember that?  So good!  

It was such a treat to be able to go dress shopping with Emma!  She is good at making decisions!  And her dress is stunning.  She and the dress are stunning.  We had a good time going out to lunch, so delicious, and coerced her and Cam into staying a lot longer than they were planning to.  So fun to look at shoes, talk about make-up, and other fun wedding details.  

The family is pulling out the games so I had better sign off.  We love seeing the pictures and reading about the goings on all the different fronts.  Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Flake Fun

Stylin' in Emma's boots

 

It was so fun to "go" dress shopping with Emma yesterday!  Can't wait to see the dress in person!!  

We woke up this morning to snow! We actually noticed it on our way to bed but the kids woke up to it! The sun was shining so we walked around the neighborhood and delivered Christmas goodies this afternoon. The kids helped make the goodies this year.  Notice Robin patiently waiting for the mixer with her arms folded!

The kids and I took a trip to Smithfield the week before last and had fun playing with the Manning boys.  

James is still growing like a weed and has surpassed the 13 lb mark.

Robin and Rand are both starting to try their hand at talking.  It is fun to hear them repeat sounds of words we say. 

Hope that you all have a great week! We are counting down the days until we see you all!!