Family Gathering Update

Belliston Family Gathering - 2017

May 26 - 29 (Memorial Day weekend)

"Learn a Thing or Two"

 

Thanks a million for your responses to the questions!  Here is one more assignment for you to think about... We'd like to have a "mission dinner" with everyone preparing a dish from the country in which you served. Let us know what you'd like to prepare (entrée, salad, dessert, bread, etc.) and the ingredients you'll need. This will help us "learn a thing or two" about a place or two and will benefit our taste buds at the same time!

 

We are doing our best to find some local Airbnb rentals and get all the arrangements made. Most of our activity time will likely be at one of the churches, outside in our yard or at a park, with some time being spent in Logan canyon...

 

Oh my goodness!  It is going to be so much fun!!

 

 

Hyde Park Haven

I love seeing the pictures!! Thanks for posting your adventures!

We had a great week with Ruth and her kiddos here. The rain put a damper on a few of our planned activities, but we had fun nonetheless.  We made cookies, went for walks between storms, played at the park for a short time, had a blast tending Thomas' dog (Rudy), jumped on the tramp with the neighbors, read stories, played with Lauren and Wesley, and generally had a good time together. Dad and I fought over whose turn it was to hold Millie, but we each had some good snuggle time. We hope the Nilsson clan comes again before Millie is crawling! We hope the rest of you come soon!

Since our last post, Emma went a second time to the oral surgeon to get infection drained out of her tooth. This time she actually took the antibiotic prescribed and got rid of the infection. That is good. Her allergic reaction to the medication was not so good. The day before she was scheduled for a couple of interviews, she broke out in a very itchy rash all over her body - arms, legs, torso (front and back), neck, scalp, face - it was awful!! After reviewing everything she had eaten and breathed, I finally realized it could be the antibiotic. The doctor said to not take any more - now or ever again. I guess, like Lauren, she is allergic to penicillin. She took Augmentin, but the doctor said to not take any penicillin drugs. Now we know.

Our bulbs are poking out of the ground, finally - daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, garlic... Very lovely and fragrant. I hope it stops raining one of these days so I can get a head start on the weeds. For spring break, Emma said she'd like to stay home and prune trees with Dad! What a great idea! How's that for a "stay-cation"!  I think we will definitely take her up on that.

Thomas and Victoria spoke in church yesterday about following the prophet.  That's hard to do if you don't know what he/they are saying, so I do hope you all have plans to tune in to General Conference! We can't wait to compare notes with all of you.

Hart pics

Hart Happenings

This week raced by!  The boys have spent every spare moment outside playing on the basketball hoop.  Jack is the reigning champion of Around the World and will gladly challenge anyone who is feeling lucky.

It started off awesome, with a surprise visit from Grandma and some good cousin time on Monday.  Grandma took the Nilsson kids to their homeschool co-op group while Ruth came over with baby Millie to make Garrett's requested birthday treat.  Ruth, you should post that brownie recipe on the blog.  Delicious!  Then Grandma brought the kids back to play and Ruth and I made mom sit down and watch Fixer Upper with us.  Lori, we missed you!  We've all read the book that Chip and Jo (Fixer Upper hosts) wrote (title: The Magnolia Story) and it was fun to have that background story as we watched their show.  That night we proceeded to eat the yummy brownies Ruth had made and had fun watching Garrett hunt for his presents.  Eliza couldn't resist helping him with some good hints which was hilarious!

It was Spring Break for all the kids here so we spent some time with friends.  We toured a local greenhouse with another family of boys and the kids got to see how the planting happens and they each potted up a flower to take home.  Putting their plants on the conveyer belt to got through the watering system was the favorite part.  We also enjoyed root beer floats and banana splits with another family on Friday night, where we were introduced to their new baby ducks.  Needless to say, baby ducks are now on the boys' growing menagerie list.  Why do baby ducks seem to stay cuter longer than baby chicks who turn ugly and awkward overnight?

We've ordered our fruit trees, decided on a chicken coop plan, and established the other major areas of our yard that we want to work on this year (i.e. kids play place and a berry patch).  It's sooo nice to be out of the house and breathing some fresh air.

I finished an excellent book this morning called Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin.  She is the author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home which are also phenomenal.  Better than Before is about habit formation and was super mind expanding for me.  I think there are certain speaker/authors/people who, for whatever reason, we relate to better or at least who seem to say things in a way that really makes sense to us and for me that has been Gretchen Rubin.  I highly recommend all of her stuff.  Highly!

Alex was asked to form a team for a flag football league and they had their first game on Saturday.  The boys and I went to watch.  It was so fun!  Garrett is on the team too and he and Alex both had some really great plays and they boys and I cheered our heads off!  One guy on the other team broke a tooth (yikes!) but other casualties were avoided.  We just wish that Alex, Scott, Thomas, Nick, and Dad were here and could be on the team.  You guys would dominate!  We'll have to save some time for a game or two at the Family Gathering.

Saturday we also spent some time at a new vacation rental we are going to open soon.  A man named Mike Groth contacted Alex a few weeks ago and told him how Mike's wife had died last year and he had this big property with multiple houses/cottages on it and he was wondering if Alex could help him turn one into a vacation rental.  We went to take a look and were thrilled to find out that it is an estate that we have always had our eye on here in Idaho Falls.  It is so pretty and will be so fun to list!  The boys loved Mike and he took them for a ride around the property on his golf cart which cemented his status as the coolest old man they had ever met.

We're looking forward to General Conference this coming weekend and would love to host anyone who would like to get away for a weekend.  We will be eating Conference Crepes and if Jack has his way, maybe even some salmon.  Also, FYI: the tickets for the Idaho Falls Temple open house will be available starting April 3rd.  It will run all through April and May.  We would also love to host anyone interested in attending that.  Shameless pitches for your company, I know, but we believe in bribery at the Hart house.

Can't wait for another week!  It's means its that much closer to Family Gathering time!

Flake Fun

26 March 2017 - The last couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful as far as I can remember!  The weather was a little up and down with some really nice days and some really windy and cold days.  Our peach tree blossomed and then it froze.  We are hoping that the frost didn't do too much damage but time will tell.

Last weekend Scott told me that we were going on a date but wouldn't give me any more details.  So we ended up in Holbrook for dinner and then he pulled into the government complex.  I was pretty confused until we walked over to the racquetball courts where a small group was gathered.  There is a man named John that works for Navajo County but his passion is astronomy.  He had brought two of his big telescopes so that we could star gaze!  He even told Scott to bring the camera so here are our first attempts at astrophotography.

M51

Orion Galaxy

Basically John had an adapter that allowed our camera to attach directly to the telescope so we could get these pictures!  The cool thing was that when you looked through the telescope, all you could see was a little smear but with a delayed shutter speed, you could catch the actual colors and movement!
So we tried some pics from our backyard. Can anyone guess what the line is? 

It is an airplane! 

Let's see, what else...the greenhouse is full of greenery which is always fun.  We got another section on the island completed which was fun.  It will get completely done soon!

Hope all is well with you and yours.  We miss you all and can't wait to see you in May! 

Hart pics

Hart Happenings

Hello loved ones, far and wide (this refers to distance, not clothing sizes for those of you growing babies),

The sun has made a few appearances in the last week, which is a blessed thing in March when we Idaho folk are beginning to despair.  It has been nice to walk around the yard and start making plans.  The boys have been busy climbing all the trees in the yard and discussing which one is the best for climbing.  I also caught them throwing the football into the trees so they had an excuse to climb them.  I wish you could have seen their faces when I told them they could climb the trees regardless of whether there was a football lodged in it somewhere!  Ecstatic little adventurers.

We got to have the Nilssons over this week which is always a treat.  Millie is the sleepiest little charmer I have ever seen.  And Ruth is already chomping at the bit to get into her next project.  She amazes me.  She and Garrett accomplish more in a few weeks than Alex and I do in a year!  And it looks so nice in the basement.  Good work!

Every 1st and 3rd Friday the boys and I (and now Ruth's family) meet with our homeschooling group and this Friday I was sitting there as the moms were discussing things and was just so grateful for the like-minded people that God puts in our lives.  It has made such a difference in our family to have a support system and people that "get" how we think and what we are trying to accomplish.  I wish the same for each of you!

We got back late Monday night from a trip that we took to the Oregon coast.  It was so fun!  Alex has a brother in Salem and they got together to work on some stuff for the rental houses so me and my sister in law and all the kids got to play.  We went to the beach, visited a discovery museum, road an epic carousel, went to the beach again and saw 2 real, live, lighthouses (a bucket list item for me).  The boys were enthralled by the sea lions that we saw and had a blast being chased by the waves, which caught up to them and drenched them a few times.  We also found the coolest slide ever at a park in Newport.  It was pitch dark and you had to climb this huge hill and went down a tube slide that felt like it kept going and going.  So fun!

Can't wait for the Family Gathering!
Is anyone up for a trip to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point in April?

Peace and Love (see Studio C)