Flake Fun

The word of the week in Snowflake was rain... our rain gauge read 2 inches in 24 hours,  and we got a few more storms after that. 

Our culvert...it is washing away our ditch which is a problem but we will figure it out, if it stops raining!

The first full rainbow the kids have ever seen. I couldn't step back far enough to get the whole thing!

Nothing much has happened with the house since the slab was poured because we had to wait for it to cure before doing much.  We are in talks with a couple of people about building the block surround for our fireplace but it is a monster project and seems to be quite intimidating to them.  

We had our primary program today which is always fun and stressful.  

We started building a treehouse for the kids near the new house.  They are pretty excited even though it is just a platform at this point.  Ah, the joys of children's positivity.

Anyway,  love you all and hope to see you soon. 

 

Hyde Happinesses

 Hello everyone! Life has been good lately. Not too much to report. The bakery is still going well! Thursdays are the best day and people seem to like the bakes! It’s cooling off so hopefully we’ll get to do pumpkin flavors and apple bakes soon. 

Beckham is about ready to take off. He gets on his hands and knees and rocks for awhile, then flops forward 🤪 he has the motion about down, just needs to move his hands. It will be chaos when he’s fully mobile. Stets and I have had lots of conversations about not leaving little things on the floor and things like that. Here’s to hoping I can keep Beckham alive.

Stetson is giving me a run for my money. He’s absolutely the most pleasant person I’ve ever met, but he talks. Constantly. Incessantly. And I have to remind myself it’s such a cute little voice (most of the time) and he’s not doing anything wrong, just always doing something. So he wears my ears out but it’s all good. His most used phrase these days is “oh! I have a great idea!” It usually involves the pool, shooting his rocket, not taking a nap, or watching Little Einsteins. I have the theme song on repeat. Also, while he stays in nursery without too much fuss these days, he has some teachers he prefers, Katie and Jared. They are celebrities in our house. Anyway, we were chatting about how he was going to nursery and mom was going to go to her class. He said “can I play with Katie and Jared when we get there?” I suggested he could play with a kid his own age, Noah, to which he promptly responded, “hmmm maybe not!” Kids his age bore him and he speaks to them like an adult which they’re not too keen on 🙄 I love my little two year old adult. 

We’ve been taking lots of walks around the “properly” and enjoying the beautiful weather. I think everyone who can should come for Thanksgiving because it’s gorgeous. So sign up now for what you want to bring and we’ll make a party out of it 😉 

Love you all and hope you’re having a lovely autumn! 

SO FUN. Unfortunately people aren’t as excited about sourdough as I am about making it, so for now we’re going to stick to cookies and sweet breads.

Always looking for deer

Our backyard??? 

A new favorite activity is going to the airport across the street to watch airplanes and “hectapolers” take off and arrive. It’s such a thrill. Stetson could stay for hours but unfortunately Beckham doesn’t love it.

The cooler weather has arrived, along with the return of Cams mustache

My cute sister in law and I went to Goodwill and found some old canvas paintings and added ghosts and spooky things. It was actually so fun and I totally recommend. 

Hart Happenings

Hello family! 

  We were sad to miss Family Matters this week.  We had a stake Standards Night that was not at night but at 4 pm so we were listening to the stake presidency.  It was really great.  We are surrounded by such good people.

  Our lives have become a non-stop soccer/rehearsal/spikeball rotation that has left us all reeling a little.  Now that the Peter's show has started our schedule will hopefully calm down a little and we can return to a semblance of normalcy again.  

  Speaking of which....the show has started!  We got to go watch it last night and had such a good time.  It is hilarious and has a wildly talented cast.  They are still working through some complicated technical aspects but I'm sure it will all be resolved soon.  Peter is having the time of his life!  It is so rewarding to watch the results of all the effort he has put into this; literally hours of practicing a day, without me reminding him.  Actually I had to insist that he take a break once his fingers started bleeding!  We are very proud of his persistence and dedication.

  Jack is deep into soccer which has become an all consuming interest for him.  When he is not playing (which is something beautiful to behold) he is listening to soccer podcasts or watching Premier League games with his buddies.  In the few free hours not dedicated to something soccer he stays occupied pursuing a cute girl that has caught his eye. 

  We also started school.  I just have to stay that it is really nice to have Ruth here who helps keep me accountable and on track school-wise.  We are diving into an earth science unit with the cousins on Wednesdays and have some really fun field trips in the works.  Peter is doing a deep dive into Psychology for one of his electives and Jack is going down an Economics rabbit hole.  This is on top of all the regular studies that they are keeping up on.  I LOVE this time of year!

  Ian was up here for the weekend filling in for a friend in School of Rock.  He and Peter had such a great time sharing the stage again.  We all went with Ruth, Addy, and Eliza to the Parade of Homes which is one of our favorite traditions.  Ruth and I came away quite inspired.  I think Alex kind of holds his breath this time every year, wondering what kinds of ideas the Parade will plant in my mind and the price tag attached to such ideas.

  While I try to stay on top of homeschool and all the extra activities Alex has been consumed with launching his pro Spikeball league which has required a lot of time and laborious software development.  It seems to be going well.  A few hiccups, but nothing that the team hasn't been able to work through so far.  We hosted our first tournament a couple weekends ago and it was a success!

  I have been trying to stay on top of the garden harvest-wise.  Tomatoes have take center stage these days and our kitchen is awash in tomatoes of all colors, shapes, and sizes.  Jars and lids and canning paraphernalia are everywhere, all the time.  It isn't my favorite state of things, to be honest.  

  I am also working with the young women in the ward now which is a fun new challenge.  The girls are great and I'm hoping I can be great too.

  Life is good here.  Busier than I'd opt for but we are all thoroughly enjoying the activities that we are involved in, so there's that.  We are so glad to hear about the fun things that are going on for all of you.  Good luck on the house building, the bakery baking, and all the other wonderful endeavors you're up to your necks in!

  Love you all!

  

School of Rock craziness!

Cutest guitarist I ever did see!

Stellar boy

At a cross country meet to watch Aneesa's boys run.  So fun to catch up with this lady!

Jack and his soccer team at a team dinner.

This thought has brought me a lot of comfort and given me a lot to ponder on lately.

Flake Fun

Oh, what an adventure these last several weeks have been.   

Rand fell into a window well and scraped his head up. It was a scary experience but we got through it and he doesn't seem too worse for the wear. 

Our renter moved out so we have a new family in the home and I think that they will be good renters and be a good addition to the neighborhood. 

Our slab is finally poured but getting to this point has been hard.  We put down vapor barrier which is water proof so the (multiple) unforecasted rainstorms made a lake of our house hole.  Thank goodness for shop vacs and sump pumps.  The kids are tired of going out there every night but hopefully they get a little break. 

The insulation fully installed before we had to remove some of it to pump rainwater

Putting in the vapor barrier

The slab pouring

Now we just have to keep it wet for several days. 

Hyde Happinesses

 Hi all :) just wanted to hop on and share something that was shared at church today that I thought was so good. One of the ladies told a story about her mom coming to visit them. She lives in Oklahoma and was going to take the bus to get to her daughter in Lexington. It made this sister pretty nervous so she asked her mom to share her location so she could track her. Everything was going well until the second stop of the bus. Sister miller noticed her mom was heading in a complete opposite direction. She texted her mom, and her mom replied that she was absolutely certain she was on the right bus headed in the right direction and didn’t worry about it. Well, eventually she learned (about 100 miles in) that she was in fact not going the right way and there really wasn’t anything she could do. Sister Miller and her husband worked to get her back on track but she ended up losing a whole day to spend with her kids. Obviously this was such a good analogy. Heavenly Father can see us. Sometimes He whispers “hey you’re on the wrong bus!” But we’re confident and we keep going. Miraculously, He works tirelessly to get us back on track, but we lose precious time with Him. I just thought it was such a good example and it was a reminder to be more sensitive to spiritual promptings and revelations. 

On another note, we opened the Rosalie Bakery this week and it was a smashing success! Sold out all three days it was open. It was rather delightful! 

Beck also cut his two bottom teeth and is enjoying some little solids every now and then. 

Rainy day with dad

Hyde Happinesses

 Hello hello! We’ve had a good week. Rather long and with lots to do, but it’s been good. Cams little brother Mason gave his farewell today so we’ve been busy with family and friends. He leaves to the Mexico MTC on the 11, but starts the at home mtc tomorrow. Then he’ll fly to Chile in October sometime :) very exciting! I must say I am eternally grateful that I never served a mission post covid. 

Not too much to report on this week. We got to meet the owner of our house, Barrie, and she is very nice. We didn’t get to talk about the house or its future, but we’re hoping to know a little more soon. We’d love to stay here but we’ve haven’t got an affirmative answer from her yet as far as her plans go. If we do get the answer that we can stay a few years, we’d love to get a horse 🤫 Kevin has one lined up for us and everything 😅 

Anyway, the weather has been so awfully nice here it makes me think it’s fall time already! I do plan to start the bakery this week which is so exciting!! 

Beck got to try watermelon this week and he was a FAN. Loved it. Devoured it and was very very sad when I took it away. 

They’re such good buddies 

We got stets a balance bike and he was THRILLED

This is Chris. It’s a black swallowtail butterfly and they’re gorgeous. 

This is also Chris. These guys mold themselves onto a branch and will camouflage themselves to whatever color the branch is! It’s pretty awesome. They don’t hang upside down like the good ol’ monarchs. 

I’m already feeling nostalgic towards this place if we don’t get to live here forever and always 😅😭

Also we went to a penning competition this week which was fun. They had a bunch of young cows with numbers on their backs. Three horsemen would get in the arena with them, and they had to get 3 cows of the same number in a smaller pen. The arena was divided in half. The cows all started at one end, and the pen for the 3 of the same number was on the other half of the arena. So, the announcer would say their number was 8. They had to round up three cows with the number 8 on their backs and get them to the other side of the arena and into the pen. If other numbered cows got to the other half, like a 2 and a 7 and a couple 9s, then they had to separate them and get them to the other side before they could pen the 8s. If more than six of the other numbers (called trash cows) got to the other side, they lost. They had 4 minutes to get their number into the pen. It was rather intense and so fun to watch. The best time was 1:03! Very impressive. There were about 20 teams of horsemen, and only about 6 made the time and got all the right cows rounded up. 

Flake Fun

 It has been a couple of exhausting weeks.  We jumped in to school and are trying to keep some sort of routine to our days. I'll admit I don't interrupt their creative morning playtime to start school so at this point it looks more like unschooling some days but we are trying to have fun! 

Here is a random story for the week.  We came home around 11:00 after going to the library and running some errands and found a stack of pizzas on our porch. We hadn't ordered pizza so I called Little Caesar's and they said they had made a mistake and we could keep the pizzas. Weird. 

The house is making progress.  It is still a house hole but all 4 basement walls are poured.  We are now working on getting things prepped for the slab pour.  We won't be quite ready by this Saturday but I am hoping that the first weekend in Sept will work out. 

This is the footer for our load bearing wall and the fireplace.

The kids love to help, especially when the hose is involved.

Our apple trees are going crazy! (The old ones, not the new orchard).  We have gotten a few strawberries and raspberries and loads of cherry tomatoes.  

That's all for now.  

Our miracle apple tree.  It was broken at the rootstock and I thought it was lost.  After talking with dad, I bound it up and babied it along for a bit.  Now it is looking great!! This is the after pic. 

The before pic

Can you find the frog?