Hart Happenings

I must concur with mom that Lauren's wedding was one of those rare perfect days. It was soooo good to see everyone! I loved the dancing and visiting and passing of the children between the aunts and uncles. Nice to know wherever they are someone has an eye on them. I also enjoyed the late night game session in the hotel lobby and Aggie ice cream the next morning for elevensies along with watching Joe, Garrett, and Alex play hacky sack. One aspect of the whole event that really intrigued me was the fact that everyone who came (family and guests) intended to be there. There are so few occasions these days where everyone is attentive and 100% present but I think the whole ambience was buoyed by the fact that everyone was there to celebrate and support The Belliston/Manning clan and for those few hours everyone was fully present. Bliss!

Back to real life, I guess. Garden, here we come......

Heavenly Hyde Park

The wonderful feeling of love is lingering from Lauren and Nick's wedding! It has been a precious gift to us - and especially to her. I hope you felt it. I have been awed by the sweet, tender mercies of that absolutely perfect day - from the gorgeous weather to the beautiful decor to the intoxicatingly fragrant flowers. I have tried to think of anything that could have been better, but to no avail! It was a rare moment in time that was so very perfect. I hope it was perfectly satisfying to all of you in the end. I know there were moments of stress and anxiety beforehand (most of which were caused by me) and I'm grateful to all of you for putting up with my endless phone calls, questions and requests and for hanging in there to the sweet end!!

Favorite memories for me include:
- Emma's lovely cake and watching Scott help her frost and decorate it
- Thomas and Joe singing together (definitely need more of that...)
- Jenn's fun slide show (perfect music, perfect flow, perfect choice of photos, just perfect)
- Ruth's never ending ideas to make things so very lovely (and the constant remarks from guests about how beautiful it all was!)
- Elise's public revelation about Lauren's self-defense response to having too many mothers (I so needed that comic relief just then!)
- Grandkids eager to help before, during and after (so very, very cute and much appreciated)
- Tolerant in-laws who make things much easier and nicer (many thanks to Lori, Scott, Garrett, and Alex for putting up with it all and helping it run more smoothly than it would without you!!)

Thanks for helping me find the right shoes, the right blouse, the right words, but mostly for helping me maintain a perspective of what's really important. You are all so wonderful and I am very grateful for all of your help and support and love and patience and forgiveness. I guess that's what family is all about after all! I love you all!

It was a sober time for us when everyone left. Dad and I spent quite a few moments trying to absorb the thought that we are looking at lots of lonely days in the future. It is the plan, but we are wondering just how to change that plan a little bit. It sure would be nice to have more family around more of the time...

Enough of that! I hope everyone's feet have recovered and that all of your gardens will thrive now that there is time (and sunshine) to focus on them. We hope to get ours planted one of these days :) I love the photos and videos that you guys post at times. I hope we get some wedding photos on the blog. I don't have any, but can't wait to see the ones you all have (hint, hint)!

On to the next party..... July 2015 Belliston Family Gathering...... Can't wait!!!

Flake Fun

24 May 2015 - Yesterday was a very productive day.  We (Scott mostly) got nearly all of the garden prepped and the oil changed in the car.  Wow, when you get it down on paper it doesn't look very productive!  With summer approaching we decided to build a fire and make tandoori chicken for dinner since it could be the last time in a while that we get to build a fire.  Since it is a long weekend, we are hoping to finish the garden prep tomorrow and then get some stuff in the ground! 

Thought you all might enjoy this little blast from the past!

Cowgirl Gracie

 

She is so adorable!!! Hope this makes your day a little brighter!

Flake Fun

17 May 2015 - Ah, this week...last weekend (and other nights of the week) Scott was working on digging out the final 3 feet of the garden.  We took the excess dirt and dumped it on some ruts in our lane to try and level out the road.  Well, it rained on Friday night and the dirt hadn't been compacted.  So it turned into a sludgy mess.  So Scott parked the truck in the middle of the lane and we now have a detour through our car port!  We were afraid that people would get stuck in the bog.  The sun has been shining all day today so it is getting a little more manageable.

Two cows got out yesterday and took a stroll through our garden.  Luckily they didn't do too much damage.  It was just a very country thing to have happen..."Come on wretched cow.  Don't even think about Rachel's cabbages!" 

I met our renter.  She has purple hair. She raises great danes as service dogs.  I think it will be a good fit for all of us. (Fingers crossed)

Other than that we went to work and did audits. 

Hart Happenings

Does anyone out there ever feel like laundry has a life of it's own. Sometimes it plays nice and goes with the flow but occasionally it decides to assert itself and take over. Sheesh! Boys tend to create an industrial amount of laundry. I guess that's a small price to pay for not worrying about laundry for an entire week while we road tripped it to the Northwest. It was fabulous! Highlights included a bike ride through some funky Seattle neighborhood, finding all kinds of creatures in the tidepools on the coast, and hiking through some of the most beautiful forest on the planet! The kids really liked running from the waves and having a bonfire on the beach.

We've been loving the rain back at home though. It was miraculous to go away for a week and come home and see how amazing the yard looks. 

It's been interesting the past few weeks to go through our ward being dissolved and the entire stake reorganized. I never understood with all the ward changes that we went through as kids what a logistical and administrative challenge it is! But it's good to get shaken up every so often. It reminds us that we're alive!

Can't wait to see everyone in a couple weeks. It'll be the event of the season!

Flake Fun

10 May 2015 - It was a pretty typical week with work, work and more work.  We finished up another audit.  Always nice to cross another one off the list.  I am still working on trying to wrap up all of the documents for the audit of my program.  Sometimes I think it will never end! 
Scott dug out another 10 feet or so of garden. For reference sake "dug out" includes cutting off the grass/weeds on top, shoveling and soaking until dirt is removed for 2-3 feet, layering pine needles, manure and compost and then topping off with dirt with all large rocks removed.  He wants to do another 3 feet and then we should be good to start planting.  He is a little bit sore from doing it, as you might imagine. 

Our broccoli and peppers have sprouted in the greenhouse and our tomatoes are looking healthy and getting quite big. 

I had Friday off which hasn't happened for a while so I was able to get the house a  little bit organized and find a place for all of the tools that we have accumulated in our remodeling.  Speaking of which, the house is done!  We finished the clean up and all the little projects that we were hoping to.  Kris will start moving in on Thursday.  We are going to be landlords.  Ah, the adventures of life!

The bunnies are "multiplying and replenishing" at an alarming rate.  We saw 4 in the field the other morning on the way to work and 2 more at the neighbor's house this morning on our walk.  So far they have left our garden alone so we are still friends.

It has rained quite a bit lately which is strange but a blessing.  If it keeps up there won't be as much trepidation about fire season as there has been in the past. 

We are excited to see everyone again in a couple of weeks!