Hurst Family News

In the year of our Lord,  Two thousand and fifteen:  In the cold winter months, we spent a lot of time indoors.  Sometimes we ventured out for a bit of sledding fun.   While indoors we did a lot of projects to keep entertained. This was a day we made rockets because biggest brother got to have a "science day" at school (2nd grade) and the other two were jealous. Landon was only 1/2 day at that point (kindergarten) and Charlie was home with me ALL. THE. TIME.  It was exhausting as a parent because this child is more hands-on than the other two have been and as such needed more constant supervision as a small child. I believe that was the winter we had to get x-rays done because we couldn't find the 3rd button battery to a toy and couldn't be sure Charlie hadn't swallowed it. So we played with a lot of cardboard boxes.  That winter was hard because we all took turns getting sick and the kids missed a lot more days of schoo...

Small town life. Con: Stores close at 8 or 9 or 6pm. Shop early.  Pro: This means you're forced to get everything done and then can have actual FAMILY time.  Con: Middle of "no-where". Pro: Within a couple hours of Arches, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges and other NATURAL wonders. Con: Less People.  Pro: You find a few good friends and ya stick with 'em.  Also traffic? What's that?  Con: One stop light. Pro: Out of town-ers mistake it for an actual stoplight instead of a blinking red.  Nobody knows when to go. Thus providing a good laugh.  Unless you're from here- in which case you grumble about "tourists" and "it's a 4-way stop buddy".  But I still think of myself as a transplant and thus smile when they're stuck waiting for a green light that will never come.   While coming home from taking Ian to school this morning I was thinking about how much of living in a more populous ar...

In light of a trying week I'd like to share with you a few things I know that bring hope and comfort in my life. My sister in law and her husband lost their nephew this week to an accident.  A baby left in a draining tub for a few minutes.  He was 3 months younger than Charlie. My sweet little Charlie.  Their sweet little Kayj (pronounced Cage).  So much hurt. Pain. Longing. Loss. Hope.  Hope to see him again. To hug him again.  To see his smile light up a room. I know there is life after death. That we go on.  That our spirits commune with others.  That we are not alone.  I have always known this.  It speaks truth deep down to my soul.  And that gives me hope.  Purpose. Direction.  I believe God puts us on Earth to learn a few things.  Mostly love.  And sometimes with that love comes pain.  Sometimes unbelievable pain.  When we are swallowed up in sorrow we are surrounded by love.  W...

Re:  A Serious Lack of Blogging Dear SisterGirl,      Yes. You are right.  I haven't blogged in a while.  Sorry.  I know I even promised pictures of our epic hike.  I didn't post them.  I have one of them.  See?   (*Click on the pictures to make them bigger!) Ok, it's not even really a picture that I took.  Thanks Google Earth.  Sean drew the red line to show roughly where we hiked.  An aerial view isn't quite as impressive as a landscape view.   (My apologies to those of you who are colorblind. Red in the first one now green....oh well)  It was a wicked long hike.  6 miles maybe? Maybe 3?  I don't know.  What I DO know is we started at the top (see the ridgeline?) at roughly 7:30am.  Then proceeded DOWN a few thousand feet and a LOT of hours to Nizhoni Campground which Google tells me is 7000 feet.  If Abajo peak is 11+ thousand feet and Nizhoni Capground is 7000 f...

Land that I love.  So grateful to celebrate the freedoms we are blessed with with those I love.  My mom came out for the 4th and we showed her how small town America celebrates. Melodrama Midnight Madness (softball games all night)  Parade with lots of candy (two buckets full) Carnival with booths and super nummy food Greased Pig Catching (or chasing in Ty's case) Concert in the park and FIREWORKS The town shuts down for the 4th (basically) and it was great to see the whole town coming together to have a great time It was a long hard week with the death of Sean's Grandpa July 5th.  Grateful my mom could be with us to help us and we sure enjoyed her company.  I'm not feeling so good with words today so here are the pictures.  See the wet street? The much prayed for rain came just in time to cool things off for the parade and then again just as the fireworks finished.  Pretty cool. This is Lando's "Wobble Tar" that he decorated for ...

Well I don't know for sure if his name was Jack.  His last name might have been Nielson.  A man, Somebody Nielson came by a few weeks ago and said this was the house his grandfather lived in (and I think built).  He confirmed that the floor in the living room is indeed the original flooring--I'll have to get a better picture because the craftsmanship is beautiful.  This grandson that stopped by (old enough to be 10 or 15 years my parents' senior) enjoyed seeing the house again.  Then just last week when we were finishing the screws on the deck and cutting open windows another old resident came by.  She was tickled to see that someone was fixing up the place.  Her mom bought it from my husband's grandpa (who bought it and flipped it some 20 years ago).  People from all over town have commented on it.  I'm sure glad to see that our hard work is appreciated by the community.  I'd love to get the stories these walls could tell. (Let's be ho...