Jim and Laurel Hart Family

2011 Christmas Conferences

2011-12-26T12:38:00.012-07:00

We held two Christmas conferences with our missionaries. This one was with all the missionaries close to Salvador which was a group of about 110. We held it at the chapel.

This conference was in another city called Petrolina, which is about 7 hours away from us. We flew up there and had a group of about thirty missionaries.

For our lunch with the big group we ate in the institute building adjacent to the chapel. It worked out really nice.

We've had several of our missionaries go home in the last few weeks for health issues, so we had everyone write on a group letter to them.

Two of our cute sisters, Siter Piola and Sister Souza.

The office staff helped serve the lunch for the big group. Elders Perreira, Perry, Killpack, Morgan and Curtis. They are awesome Elders!

Two of the Sisters, Sister Souza and Sister Bezzera presented Jim and I with a really cute little gift depicting us as "formidavel" missionaries. They were so excited to give it to us at the party.

These were the four sisters we had in Petrolina: Sisters Kalamafoni, Davis, Tiburcio, and Marciano.

The elders helped us decorate.

Elder Morgan, one of our assistants making sure everything looks good.

We put all our little gifts on the tables as decorations.

We gave the missionaries a little photo album for their baptism pictures and the elders also got a tie. The sisters got a cute pen holder and matching note paper.

The sisters were excited to help decorate the room.

Sister Turner and Sister Pratt.

The Elders and Sisters loved the tone bells. They got here the day before the party I think. Thanks, Britt!

The sisters were good at it.

President Hart kept making fun of Elder Mota, in the paper tie, because he kept missing his note.

I even packed the tone bells in my suitcase for Petrolina.

Because our group was so much smaller in Petrolina, we were able to do a fun gift exchange. The zone leaders gathered up everyones name plaques and put them in a Santa hat, and then we all drew a name and had to give clues as to who was our secret friend.

Elder Hubbard was dying because he drew my name and his gift was toilet paper.

Somehow everyone managed to get their gifts all wrapped up pretty. It was funny because I asked Jim earlier if he thought it would be possible to do a gift exchange. He shot the idea down, saying it would be too hard for the elders and sisters to get something. But when the zone leaders called and suggested the same thing, he thought it was a great idea! Hmmm...

Elder Siqueira goofing off with his tie. He's really not cross eyed.

This was our lunch in Petrolina. A really nice sister there fixed it for us and it was delicious.

Sister Davis and Elder De Ararujo provided some beautiful Christmas music at the party.

In Petrolina we had sort of an impromtu Nativity scene. Sister Tiburcio is wearing my skirt on her head as Mary. We got stuff out of my suitcase for the costumes and swaddling clothes.

Elder Mummy was an angel.

We also had a really nice missionary quartet perform for us. Elders De Ararujo at the piano, Elder Ararujo, Elder Barbosa, Elder Mummy, and Elder Bernard, who loves to sing.

Small Branch

2011-12-02T10:47:00.008-07:00

One of the most enjoyable things for us is to visit the small branches of the mission. They are usually so excited to have us visit. They usually meet in an adapted house like this one.

One of our missionaries is the branch president along with another one who is one of the counselors.

Here they are in their office.

This is where the Elders Quorum meets.

Young Women's room.

The cute Primary room.

The Relief Society room with the obligatory table cloth and centerpiece.

I guess this is the Elder's Quorum room.

This is the cute little chapel.

These are the sweet Relief Society Sisters I met.

Here is the whole branch after church.

It's a Girl!

2011-11-27T05:18:00.004-07:00

Well, maybe she doesn't look too much like a girl yet, but she will. Meet baby Amber, our tenth grandchild. The proud parents are Brittney and Jake Nielson. Brittney is due in April. If we happen to have any weddings taking place, maybe I can home for the birth.

One of the biggest blessings I am thankful for is the technology we have to keep in touch with our family while we're away. I love Skype! I was able to be part of the exciting moment when Brittney, in Las Vegas, found out through an ultrasound that she is having a girl. Her cousin Jenny used her cell phone to Skype with us so we could find out at the same time they did. They were on a girls' trip with all the cousins and Grandma Hart, so there were about 20 of them all crowded in the room to find out the fun news.

Our "Formidavel " Mission

2011-11-25T14:01:00.002-07:00

The joke right now in our mission is how much Jim uses the word "formidavel." It means great or wonderful. The missionaries made up a tee-shirt to make fun of it.

The sisters also made up a version too.

Zone Activities

2011-11-25T13:46:00.003-07:00

We asked all of our zones to hold a zone activity to try to create more unity in the zones. We got invited to attend this one.

They had a fun barbeque at a church institute in Feira.

Is that President Hart in the game?

The sisters are fixing lunch.

The Wedding Planners

2011-11-25T13:40:00.002-07:00

Our mission is not much different than Kevin's and Zach's in that we have the same challenges in getting people married before they can be baptised.

It's such a beautiful thing to see a couple get married and start on the road to becoming an eternal family. Both the bride and groom were in tears.

Fun Ward Activities

2011-11-25T13:26:00.003-07:00

The ward activities have been pretty impressive. This one was headed up by the missionaries. It's a night where the ward members come to compete in teams and they earn points for certain things like bringing an investigator, coming as a family, coming on time, etc.

In this activity the ward members were asked church related questions and if they couldn't answer they got a plate of pie in the face. Sounds like an activity created by missionaries, doesn't it? The ward goes crazy over it though.

This was a fun primary birthday party where all the kids came in costume. Most were Disney princesses. Little girls are the same everywhere, aren't they?

They had really gone to a lot of work to decorate the chapel really cute. It's impressive because it's not really easy for these members to come to the church on another day besides Sunday. They usually have to take a long walk or bus ride at night to get there. But they love getting together. The difficulty in travel makes it a real challenge to start any event on time.

Dinner Guests

2011-11-25T13:11:00.003-07:00

One of the sweetest things about our mission is being invited to eat at members' homes. When we speak at a ward we usually get invited over to the bishop's house for lunch. This is always such a wonderful opportunity to meet these humble families and to hear their conversion stories. The wives are very wonderful homemakers and cooks.

I love the little kids. They are so much fun and usually come and stare at me and ask where I came from. Then they ask me to say something and they start laughing.

Here was how pretty the dinner looked on the table.

My New Hairdresser

2011-11-25T13:07:00.002-07:00

Jim has really taken on some new duties here on our mission. He is now my hairdresser. Between the two of us we have been managing to color my hair. He also has to drive me everywhere which means he is the main grocery shopper. I can't communicate with the store clerks yet, so he has to interpret for me. He's been a pretty good sport.

Subjects for Paintings

2011-11-25T13:03:00.002-07:00

It seems like everywhere I look there is a painting waiting to be painted. The people and where they live are so interesting to me.

The Road to Eternity Nov. 19, 2011

2011-11-25T12:17:00.003-07:00

We got invited to attend a really nice ward activity that was about eternal marriage and families. The ward members had invited 20 nonmember couples to come to the ward for dinner (I think they had about 11 who came) and a program about families. Jim was the main speaker. He spoke about our church's teachings on the family and our position on the nature of God being our literal father. He gave quite a gutsy talk to people who were not members of our church. After he finished there was dead silence. Then suddenly the room burst into loud applause. It was pretty funny.

The ward members had really decorated the chapel. They had set up tables and used pretty table and chair covers. They even had these cute little favors they gave to everyone after the dinner.

This is the Bishop of the ward and his wife and family. He is very young. We were so impressed with the missionary work they are doing in their ward.

Our Distinguished and Mature Office Staff

2011-11-25T11:56:00.002-07:00

Elder Morgan's mom sent these in the mail for Halloween.

Push up Contest

2011-11-25T11:49:00.002-07:00

Now not only do I have to treat ingrown toenails, but probably heart attacks as well. Who instigated such a ritual? President Hart. The winner, Elder Morgan is shown here finishing his 80th pushup. The missionaires really got into it--one of them grabbed the microphone and started calling it like a soccer game.

I think if you look hard you will see President Hart in the running...

Sisters P-Day

2011-11-25T11:26:00.004-07:00

One of the first things the sister missionaries wanted to do was to get together at the mission home. So we had them come over on their P-Day and had a get to know you activity. We have the cutest Sister missionaries!

Cinnamon Rolls

2011-11-25T11:13:00.004-07:00

Sister Turner and Sister Davis (two sisters on left) called and asked for my cinnamon roll recipe. They tried to make them but they didn't work. They were so sad, that I had to invite them to come over on their P-Day to show them how to make them.

Sister Davis is buttering the dough.

The finished product was delicious! Val, I'm getting lots of use out of my cute apron. From left to right, Sister Marciano, Sister Pratt, Sister Turner, me and Sister Davis. The office Elders came over to work on the transfer with Jim, so they kept coming in to assess the progress of the cinnamon buns. Of course they were done in time for them to have some too.

Stake Women's Conference Nov. 19, 2011

2011-11-25T10:54:00.003-07:00

I was invited to speak at a Stake Women's Conference on The Role of Women in the Church. It was a twenty minute talk and I decided to give it in Portuguese! (I read it, however.) I realized that all the Ensigns are online in Portuguese so I can just download a conference talk or an article and select the story or example I want to share. Then I have Jim help me learn how to read it and then we link all the examples together with a few sentences. I realized this is a way that I am able to "receive the gift of tongues" through the marvelous technology we have. I'm standing with the choir and the Stake Relief Society President (in back of the little girl in pink). It was really just as nice a women's conference as you would find in Utah.

They gave me a pink rose at the end.

There were these darling little girls in white who did a little skit about angels.

Even Utah had nothing over their centerpieces. The two sisters in back are Sister Davis and Sister Oliveira. Sister Davis has a beautiful voice and sang two solos.

Missionary Mail!

2011-11-25T10:31:00.004-07:00

One of the most exciting things for a missionary is getting mission mail! Oh and look, my package is even labeled "Grandma's."

Brittney has been so good to send all the stuff that I now know I should have sent down from home.

Bridger even colored some pictures for us. Jim's got more coloring because it had a horsey in it.

We even got a nice package from Japan! Grandpa Smith sends us lots of articles from the newspaper to read which is always fun.

Ty and Kathy sent us some fun things from Japan!

The "Assistants to the Mission Mom"

2011-11-25T10:22:00.003-07:00

Here's a new one for the innovations and deviations to church policies department...two of our sister missionaries think sisters should be able to be assistants...but since that's not allowed they at least want to be body guards to the mission mom. They're too funny!

Thanksgiving in Brazil

2011-11-25T10:03:00.003-07:00

We invited all of the office staff over for Thanksgiving dinner and really had a fun day with them. I think they were excited to get to celebrate Thanksgiving. Jim and I were glad to have some company so we didn't feel too homesick. It was an interesting experience to cook the whole dinner by myself. It took two full days. Some of the things I couldn't find were cranberry sauce, celery for stuffing, French's onion rings for the bean casserole, cooking bags turkey size, whipping cream, and yams. But we did OK otherwise and it did seem like Thanksgiving.

Making the pies was an interesting experience. There is no canned pumpkin here so I had to make the pumpkin pie starting from a pumpkin. That was an ordeal but it turned out really good. I also made cocoanut cream and apple pie.

My centerpiece was simple but looked sort of like fall.

This is what the place setting looked like. And yes, I made the elders do jobs according to what little picture they had under their plate. We also told a kids version of the First Thanksgiving so the Brazilians would know what it was all about.

Here's my goofy little turkey favors. They were really cute on the web, with candy corn for the feathers, but of course, no luck finding those here.

Mission Presidents Conference in São Paulo Nov. 4-6 2011

2011-11-25T09:34:00.007-07:00

Twice a year all of the mission presidents and wives meet in Sao Paulo for a conference. We are with Elder David Evans who is the new director of the church missionary department and his wife. Elder Evans is the brother of Brittney's mission president, Peter Evans, so they suggested we take a picture for him and Brittney.

This photo is for Scott and Lori's benefit. This is a couple from their ward, the Swensons. They are serving in Southern Brazil.

This was really the highlight of the week end for us. The couple in front is Jim's mission president and his wife, George and Jeanette Oakes. They are serving as temple President and Matron of the Campinus temple here in Brazil. We got to have dinner with them while we were at the seminar.

The four men in the back are former missionaries from Jim's mission. The second one from the right is Gordon Hall who is a current mission president in Talmage's old mission. He and his wife Janis are close friend of ours, so it has been fun to be in contact with them.

The conference was held in a very fancy hotel and it was already decorated for Christmas on the first weekend in November. It's pretty interesting that the Oakes have had fourteen of their former missionaries called as mission presidents. Not too many men Jim's age still have their mission president living. President Oakes was only 35 when he was called as a mission president, so he was not all that much older than his missionaries. He and his wife are both converts to the church and have now served four times in Brazil in various capacities. Jim will be forever thankful for their influence on his life.

Sisters Christmas P-Day

2011-11-25T08:08:00.006-07:00

We had the most fun day decorating the mission home for Christmas with all of the sister missionaries helping.

Here is the whole group at the end of our P-Day with each other.

We got to have lunch together.

Here are the Three Wise Women. Two of these sisters were so excited to see my nativity set because they said their moms have the same one. It made them homesick.

Some of the sisters took naps.

Some were excited to play the Christmas music I brought down.

Some of the sisters made up a funny Christmas song about our mission. They performed it for us.

With what limited resources I had to work with my table turned out pretty festive!

Is that President Hart wrapping the gifts? He was a good helper.

I gave the sisters these little kleenex holders I made out of some sister missionary fabric I brought down.

They turned out cute and I put a little poem with them.

I'm glad I ended up sending a sewing machine down.

A Missionary Christmas

2011-11-18T18:26:00.005-07:00

This is the very earliest I have ever put Christmas up--even before Thanksgiving! It's hard to think that we're in the Christmas season with the weather still in the 80's outside.

It looks like it's Christmas time, even though it's tropical outside. Thanks to Brittney, our tree and garland have lights!

I'm so glad I brought my pretty nativity that Bill and Gay gave us.

We decorated a wreath for the front door.

We wanted to have a missionary Christmas tree.

New Missionaries

2011-08-13T17:15:00.005-06:00

One of the most exciting things to us is to receive new missionaries into our mission. Here we are as the welcoming crew at the airport waiting for the new arrivals.

We brought the missionaries to the mission home to spend the afternoon with us. Here they are at the end of the day after they've been assigned to their trainers.

It's really an exciting event to find out who your new companion is!

Here the trainers and new missionaries are wondering who they'll be working with.

We thought we would be nice and send all the parents home an e-mail with a picture of their son with us the day they arrived. We only had one goof-up--this Elder's picture went home to the wrong parents. They couldn't believe how their son had grown!

These fifteen elders are the first group to belong to us for their whole mission! We are starting to feel like the mission is ours now.

Our Cute Mission Home Maid

2011-08-05T12:16:00.005-06:00

This is our housekeeper, Nice. She is even shorter than me! She comes twice a week to clean for us. This is one of our mission blessings! Don't you love the cute maid uniform? She wears a red one and a blue one.

Our Mission Home Monkeys

2011-08-05T09:53:00.004-06:00

These little guys were just outside the mission home dining room window trying to stay dry in a rainstorm. They're not there all the time, but we can often spot them.

They're kind of funny looking as monkeys go. They remind me more of an Ewok from Star Wars than a monkey. They seem like they are the Brazilian version of a squirrel. Watch out Tyler.

The Mission Home

2011-07-30T09:49:00.012-06:00

Jim at his desk in the mission home office.

This is one of our bedrooms that has been converted into an execise/TV room. It took a month but we finally got cable TV hooked up. We can at least see some news now.

This is the kids' guestroom just waiting for some grandkids to come and try it out!

Elder De Ararujo at the piano. He has been dying to come and play our piano and sing with us. He used to play for weddings before his mission. It felt like a Sunday night with Brody and Corine at our house and all the music blasting away.

We had our office staff over for Sunday dinner. It felt like home for me to cook for my new "family". We're saying good-bye to our assistant, Elder Hillman, (two elders behind me) and we keep threatening that we are not going to let him leave. He seems like he's a 40 year old stake president and acts like it too. He has only been in the church for about 9 years. I set the dining table using all the fancy dishes and they were really impressed. My lasagne even turned out!

This is our kitchen. It's been kind of a challenge learning to cook in a gas oven. The temperature guage is not in Farenheit, so I never quite know what degrees I'm using.

This is a view of our bedroom. We have a king bed which we have really liked. The tables with my computer stuff on them are going to be replaced with study desks soon. We still haven't received our shipment of goods from home yet, so that's why everything still looks so bare.

This is the office in the mission home, looking at the missionary board. Jim spends a lot of time here answering missionary e-mails. He potentailly has 134 e-mails to respond to each week. He didn't realize he'd spend so much time just doing that.

This is the dining room where we have some of our training meetings. The missionaries, I have decided just love anything that makes them feel like they're at home or with their family. One of our cute Elders, Elder Nachtigall said, "I like it when we travel with you because it feels like we're a family."

This is the living room. It has Liz Lemon Swindle paintings on the wall, so it does feel like home to me. And we have two prints of Minerva Teichert on our walls so I do approve of the artwork choices.

Our First P-Day Outing to the Pelourinho

2011-07-27T16:46:00.004-06:00

Here we are at the Pelourinho. We dressed up for the occasion.

This is the old part of Salvador where the Portuguese brought in the African slaves. The architecture is very European.

This is the elevator that connects the lower part of the city to the upper part. It costs fifteen cents to ride on it. All of the office elders wanted to come with us on this trip. One of them said, "I like when we travel together. It feels like we're a family."

We're about to get on the elevator to see the lower city.

This church is all gold plated.

We are listening to the most famous percusssion band in Brazil. It's made up of kids and Michael Jackson recorded his song "They Don't Care About Us" with this group right here in Salvador. You can watch the music video on Youtube. The kids are amazingly good.

This was our lunch spot. Ambience right?

Another picture of the percussion band.

This is MY plate. Can you believe it? I actually really like the food here! It's a mission miracle.

The restaurant was up on the second floor of an old building.

Here is another example of the old European style buildings.

An example of the traditional Bahian dress.

The lighthouse where the slaves were brought in. Me and my five body guards.

Meeting our Missionaries

2011-07-27T16:19:00.019-06:00

The outgoing Mission President and wife, President and Sister Toledo welcoming us to the mission office. They have done an excellent job in keeping our mission on top.

Getting to meet our office elders--Elder Nachtigall, Elder Mitchell, Elder Quindara, President and Sister Toledo, us, Elder De Ararujo, and Elder Hillman. We have learned to love these five elders more than we can express! They are my five body guards when we travel. Jim calls the three secretaries the Three Nephites, because they have rescued us so many times now.

We had three conferences the week after we arrived to get to know the missionaries and introduce ourselves.

Our sisters are the best in the church! We thought we only had eight, but we have seventeen!

We feel so blessed to have such awesome missionaries to work with--134 in all!

Last Get Togethers with Family

2011-07-27T15:10:00.009-06:00

The Harts had a fun farewell dinner and swimming party before we left.

They gave us a homemade Ice cream freezer to take on our mission. The missionaries will love it!

Our farewell talks were on Father's Day so Andi had a family dinner for Dad. It worked out so nice to be able to tell all the Smiths good-bye.

If we're smiling extra big, it's because we just finished our Sacrament Meeting talks.

Me, Mom, Val and Sandy just after Relief Society the day we spoke in church.

Saying Good-bye June 27, 2011

2011-07-27T07:55:00.016-06:00

The night before we left, we had a nice farewell dinner at our house thanks to the kids.

Jim and Bridger taking one last look at the garden.

The flowers in the backyard are just starting to come in.

Saying good-bye to little Bridger and Graham.

Brittney, Brooke, and me.

Bye, Bridger!

Our little Graham-ster.

Bridger is crying here, but I don't think it was because we were leaving.

We'll see you all in three years!

Mission Presidents Seminar MTC June 22-26 2011

2011-07-15T04:23:00.019-06:00

Here we are as new missionaries in class. The semianr was one of the choicest learning experiences of our lives. We were taught by President Monson and nearly all of the Council of the Twelve.

These are the new mission presidents going to Brazil.

We sat next to Sister Tanner (former General YW President) and Sister Wixom (current General Primary President).

The traditional map picture. We're just like every other missionary.

We snuck home a few nights to be with our family for a few last dinners together. This is taken at Little America Coffee Shop, one of our standard places to go.

This is our first day at the MTC. We're just as scared as any other new missionary!

Setting Apart

2011-07-13T08:55:00.015-06:00

The girls were so excited to meet an apostle. They looked so pretty in their white dresses.

Grandma Hart and Makenzie visiting.

Brooke and Corine

Brittney and Jake

Elder Andersen set Jim apart and Elder Costa set me apart. We received beautiful blessings.

It was so nice of Elder Andersen to suggest we take some pictures.

He was so cute to the girls and let them ask questions and showed them some things he had from Brazil.

Bridger's 1st birthday

2010-03-10T16:03:00.002-07:00

Bridger had his first birthday on February 3. We can't believe he's already 1! We went to dinner with our family and then had a party afterwards. Bridger loves dinosaurs so we had a dinosaur party. We even made a dinosaur cake! We played pin the bone on the dinosaur and had a pinata. It was a fun party! Here are a few pictures from the night:

Halloween

2009-11-08T19:03:00.004-07:00

We had a wonderfully, scary, happy Halloween!

Bridger's Blessing Day March 1, 2009

2009-03-05T19:30:00.005-07:00

Grandpa Jimmy, the biggest baby hogger of all time.

What a fun day it was to see our first grandson get blessed.

Jake gave Bridger such a beautiful blessing. What a lucky little boy to come to such great parents. One man in their ward bore his testimony and said that Brittney and Jake are "way too happy."

Bridger didn't even know he was the star of the day. He was perfect all through the Sacrament Meeting until he accidentally got scratched on his Grandma Nielsen's broach. He made one loud cry and then settled right back to sleep.

Our cute new grandson, Bridger arrives Feb. 3, 2009

2009-02-25T18:00:00.035-07:00

I arrived early morning at the hospital to find Brittney just resting and enjoying herself--she had just gotten the epideral. After Bridger was born she announced that she should be a surrogate mother because she could "do this every day."

This is just seconds after he is born. I was so lucky to get to see the birth. We all cried when he was born and we heard that first little wail of life. It's such a miracle!

Here he is, his perfect little self. We couldn't believe how alert he was from the first minute.

Yep, that's a Hart head all right....could even be in the 95th percentile.

Bridger gets his first kiss from his mom.

Dr. Watts telling Brittney what a good job she did--and admiring little Bridger.

The proud mom and dad.

I get my first chance to hold my first Grandson.

Just making sure we've got the right baby--that does say Bridger on the tag, right?

Jim is so excited to have a little golfing buddy!

Brittney's cousin, Lindsay Smith was working in the nursery and got to take care of Bridger! Jake said it was so comforting when he saw she was there to show him what to do.

Britt's cousin, Megan Stanger, is a nutritionist at the hospital and saw to it that Brittney got a few extra treats from the kitchen.

Aunt Brookie.

Uncle Barry gets a turn.

Aunt Lori making hospital rounds.

Great Grandma Donna meeting baby Bridger.

At last, a Hart cousin!

Corine--Brittney's lactation specialist. She was better than the hospital lady at helping.

Brody--not sure how to handle a baby boy!

Getting introduced to Cookie and Madie. We hope Brittney can borrow the "baby boy instructions" notebook Cookie had for Zach! Please, two nostrils at all times showing!

Leaving the hospital--not exactly how we brought our babies home in our arms

Arriving home from the hospital--Jim's and my weak decorations.

What do we do with him now?

Great Grandma Donna and Brittney's cousins. Little Whitney wanted to hold Bridger so bad!

Four generations

Meeting Great Grandma and Grandpa Smith

U.of U. Park Building

2008-08-27T09:50:00.003-06:00

This was one of the paintings in the artshow at the Governor's Mansion. It will also be on exhibit this fall in a show to honor the contributions of President Hinckley to Salt Lake City.

Temple Square Flowers

2008-04-28T17:33:00.005-06:00

I want to move into the Lion House.

I want a job as a gardner at Temple Square. Who cares if I can't do flowers well...

The flowers are absolutely incredible!

I went on my annual photo shoot at Temple Square

Baby Whitney

2008-04-28T17:19:00.006-06:00

The proud new parents

Cute Cousins

Mindi and Danny's new little baby Whitney Mae. She's adorable!

April 19, 2008

2008-04-20T15:16:00.006-06:00

Brody and Corine now play at the Conference Center once a month.

Brooke completed the Salt Lake Marathon! Here she is at the end of the race with her medal. She hardly looks like she's been through anything.

Brooke crossing the finish line at Gateway in the Salt Lake Marathon. We are so proud of her!

Jim and I caught up with her on 5oo East and got to offer some encouragement.

All her months of hard work and training finally paid off!

The New Studentbody President of Olympus High

2008-04-13T16:14:00.003-06:00

Heaven help us--it's Weston Smith! He is going to serve his fellow students--in 92 delicious ways!

Christmas 2007

2008-04-13T14:26:00.017-06:00

I know this was really from Christmas 2006, but I'm posting it anyway. I want my nephew Aaron to know that our wish for him while he is away in the service is that he will be as safe as he was as Samuel the Lamanite and that whatever gets "thrown at him" won't be able to harm him! We love you Aaron, and we want you to know we are so proud of your military service in our behalf! We miss you--it's way too quiet without you!

The Nativity Scene Fashions just keep on getting better and better. Brooke has a fashion magazine she reads that has a section called "Who Wore it Best" where it compares how different movie stars looked in the same outfit. Definitely, no one has worn the shepherd outfits better than Tanner and Weston. Or were they the Wise Men?

Visiting Temple Square and waiting for it to get dark enough for the lights to come on. I think we gave up.

I'm not sure what this had to do with Christmas, but it has everything to do with poor parenting!

Queen Eliza and "My Dear Friend King Jimmy" at a Christmas recital at the Joseph Smith Building.

Makenzie got to play with her Grandma Larsen's strings students at the Joseph Smith Building.

The boy to her left is Melodie's son, Adam, Corine and Brody's nephew. He plays the cello.

This was the office party at Gardner Village. We had to make a stop at the candy store. Theoffice party is fun since Brody's family and Britt and Brooke have joined the office.

Makenzie said she asked Santa for a Barbie car and he said, "I'll see what I can do." Whatever happened to the guy who wasn't going to teach his kids about Santa? That would have been some poor parenting!

Our Famous Granddaughters

2008-04-13T14:08:00.004-06:00

We went to get a family picture taken in January and we had some taken of the girls alone as well. Ivy was tired, so it was just of Makenzie and Eliza. The owners decided to use this pose for their advertizing and it was sent out in a mailer all over the valley. They told me they are going to use it in a photography contest.

Easter

2008-04-07T20:00:00.005-06:00

Jake was introduced to the Easter Bunny's hard hiding places, and didn't find his basket without crying first. Welcome to the Hart's Easter traditions! He was almost killed when he tried to look on the top shelf of the game closet from all the games about to crash down on his head.

Ivy got an Easter Barbie! It's Giselle from "Enchanted." She wouldn't let anyone else touch it all night.

Who's the real Giselle and who's the pretend Giselle? No one knows! Eliza said she is the pretend Giselle and is going to marry the pretend Prince Edward, and she is OK with that. I just couldn't get an argument out of them--does it remind you of Corine and Melodie?

Brittney's Birthday

2008-04-07T19:53:00.004-06:00

Hello everyone! Look who's back from the dead! This is Brittney teaching my mom how to blog again since it's been so long that she's forgotten. These are some pictures from my birthday. This year it fell on Easter which is the first and only time it will happen in my lifetime unless I live to be over 100 years old!

Unlike Barry, I (Brittney) am full of hot air and always blow out all my candles. Maybe it's because of the help I get from Eliza.

Jake and Brittney are moving down to Salt Lake after many months of pestering from us! Hooray!

Anasazi Ruins

2007-11-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Some of the cool Anasazi Indian ruins we visited in Southern Utah

Bryce Canyon

2007-11-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

Rock Stars--this just has to be a Painting!

Girls' Trip

2007-11-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

Girls Only trip to Bryce Canyon. Jim has not forgiven us yet.

Newport, RI

2007-11-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Ty and Kathy's Summer Home.

Yes, I went to Harvard

2007-11-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

Now when people ask me if I went to Harvard, I can truthfully say, "Yes I did."

Great Bums

2007-11-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

I alarmed everyone when I said I needed to find some good bums to take pictures of. Come on people, get your minds out of the gutter! Boston had some great bums.

Cheers

2007-11-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

Cheers!

On the way to Fenway

2007-11-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the train to Fenway Park. Ty was the ususal trip Nazi--making us all walk everywhere and doing it fast.

Jake pulls a "Lori"

2007-11-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

Jake had to go number 2 so bad on this jog that he "pulled a Lori" as we say, and went pretty much in the Vanderbuilt's mansion backyard.

Fenway Park

2007-11-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here we are at Fenway Park

More trip pictures

2007-11-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

Summer Trips

2007-11-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

This Summer was full of trips for us. We visited both Newport beaches on opposite coasts of the country. In May we traveled back to see Tyler and Kathy in Arlington, Virginia, visiting Washington D.C., Williamsburg, and Jamestown. I fell in love with Williamsburg. In July we went to Newport Beach, California, with all the Hart family and also visited Disneyland with our Granddaughters and Brody and Corine. In August we traveled back to Rhode Island to see Tyler and Kathy there before they moved to San Diego. That was the first time we have ever been to Rhode Island and we decided it's one of the best kept secrets of our country. Jim went with most of the family to Lake Powell, while I stayed home for a really lame art show. Then I went on two really fun "girls only" trips to Bryce Canyon (Jim is still bemoaning not getting invited on that trip) and Disneyland/San Diego. We had fun seeing Ty and Kathy's new home. We also got to squeeze in a fun little weekend trip to Blanding, Utah to see the Anaszi Indian ruins with the Smith family siblings. We fell in love with that area too. So there's lots of subject matter to paint in the future, if I can just stay home now!

The Calls at Disneyland

2007-11-12T23:51:00.001-07:00

Halloween at Disneyland

2007-11-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

The traditional fall trip to Disneyland came and went all too fast. This year it was a girls only version consisting of Laurel, Brittney, and Brooke. Tyler and Kathy have recently moved to San Diego, so Kathy was able to meet us at Disneyland too. We ended up sharing our visit with some of the other Hart family members--we ran into Kari and her kids on Thursday and got to do a ride with them. They are so cute! We actually ran into them twice if you can believe it--which wouldn't happen if you tried to meet someone there. After we spent two days there, we went down to San Diego to see Tyler and Kathy's new home. They have a darling town house that luckily didn't burn down in the recent fires. It was fun to see Tyler's new Marine base where he'll be stationed for the next while. They were such fun hosts!

Technology hits the Harts!

2007-11-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

We have now officially entered the world of technology! We're bloggers! (Whatever that means). Can you believe Jim now has (and uses!) a cell phone, knows how to text (sort of), and just discovered the miracle of cut and paste on the computer!! He came out and showed everyone his first document that he cut and pasted together. He was so proud but the rest of us were not all that impressed. We've all known how to cut and paste since kindergarten. Laurel has even purchased her first ipod and hopes to learn how to download music soon. Watch out, Jim!