PICTURES!!!!

About a month ago I made a post about the kids getting professional pictures done in their recital costumes. What a story that ended up to be...

The day comes for the pictures and our appointment was set at like 6:15. Around 5:30 or so I tell the kids we need to start getting ready. Tanis does awesome and gets ready right away. Shaylyn sits there and whines and complains about it, but I do eventually get her ready. I didn't do much with her hair because I figured she'd have her hat on and it wouldn't matter anyhow.

I had to wait until Eric got home (he either had my car or Lex was asleep or a combination of the two) before I could go. Eric didn't get home until about 10 to 6. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the dance studio where they were doing the pictures.

I knew we were going to be late and was trying to get out the door. Next thing I know Tanis' stomach is not agreeing with him and he has an accident. Stressed as I am already I tell him we needed to go and asked him if he wanted me to wait for him. He said no. So, Shaylyn and I head over to the studio.

We get there and Shaylyn does NOT want to cooperate at all. She was being kinda clingy to Tanis and was upset that he wasn't there. (Now that I think about it I should've had Eric bring Tanis after he took care of things and then I could've told the photgrapher we were here, but waiting for a kid) Anyway, we FINALLY get Shaylyn to put the costume on and realize her dance teacher didn't leave out the hat! (The dance teacher was not around and had just left all the costumes out) I was so frustrated! Shaylyn's hair wasn't done very cute and the hat totally made the outfit.

Oh well, figure let's make the most of it and head into the room for the photographer to do her job. She is so patient with my stubborn little girl and we are able to get three pictures taken of her and the photographer told me she would choose the best for the package. (Which she did)

So, things really didn't turn out very well for us that day. Tanis having stomach issues, Shaylyn not cooperating and the hat not being there. Still I am happy with the way Shaylyn's picture turned out (minus the lack of cute hairdo). It is posted below.

As if all the above wasn't enough, as I was picking up some pizza to take home for dinner, Eric calls me on the cell phone and tells me that he forgot he had to go home teaching right then (he's even the one who made the appointments) and he had to leave the boys home alone! Good thing I was only 5 or 10 minutes away! But we have never left our kids alone ever! It was a scary thing. I just kept hoping Lex would stay asleep so Tanis didn't have to worry about him. Luckily for me, Lex did stay asleep and Tanis was just hanging out playing Rock Band.

Last Sunday we headed to Eric's parents for dinner and Eric's mom got some pictures of Christmas and the Family Pictures she took onto discs for me so that I could have them. I posted a couple that I really liked. In the one that she took during our family "photo shoot" I just had to post this one of the kids all because of the way Lex is standing. It is hilarious!

The picture posted from Christmas is the kids with Eric's brother, Greg. He is so good with the kids and they love him tons! It isn't rare to see this exact same thing anytime Greg is around.

There isn't much else that has gone on lately, so yeah. I do have something planned that I will post probably sometime next week. (hopefully) I am so dang excited about it! So until then there probably won't be another post unless something major happens. :D

What Happens Next...

Thoughts...

Before I begin this post I want to preface it with this so that no one can judge my parenting skills unfairly. I know EXACTLY what I did wrong in this situation and what SHOULD'VE been done, but that is not why I am posting this story. The reason for posting this story is to get some feedback and some opinions...That being said, here is the story.
During the holiday season I ran across an ecard website where you can take pics of friends and family and put them in an animated card thing. At this point in time the cards where you could do this were cute and funny. The one I mainly did was a snowball fight and the kids thought it was hilarious! So, because I had looked at all the "Add a Face" (not what it's really called) and nothing was offensive, we let the kids have fun throughout the month putting the heads on these cards and watching them.
Yesterday I thought I would take a look at the website and see if they had added anything new with it being a new month. Sure enough there were two more cards with the option of adding faces to it. I watched one and it was like an action movie and just a bit of another one entitled "Math Camp Massacre." Should've known from the title it would be gruesome. It was a pretty gruesome card as it was based off of Horror Movies. (By the way, I am not offended with the website as it is not a website for kids and adults should have good judgement or what have you)
Anyway, I decided that the kids probably shouldn't go to the site anymore. (Tanis & Shaylyn were at school when I was looking at them and Lex was busy with a video game) I didn't think too much of it until later that night when Shaylyn and Tanis mentioned the website by name. I told them they weren't allowed to be on that website and left it at that. I was in another room (I know I should've looked at what they were doing) when next thing I know Tanis is in major tears running into my room.
I ask him what was wrong and he told me that Shaylyn had made that card on that website and it really scared him. (Good reason to keep history clean - kids can access what they want to if they can read. I should've cleared the history so they couldn't get to that website anymore.) I immediately came into the kitchen, where the laptop is, and told Shaylyn what she had done was wrong. I told them not to go to that website and then they did and what she did really scared her brother. She didn't seem bothered by the card at all! She did feel bad that she made Tanis so upset, however. I am not exactly sure what upset Tanis most about it - just the whole idea of the card or the fact that with faces added, suddenly family members were being "killed."
What I want opinions/thoughts on is this...How can one kid be so upset by something so "horrific" and it not even bother another? Tanis has always been a bit more sensitive to EVERYTHING, so maybe that's it. He is also the one who has nightmares at least once every two weeks, sometimes more. Is that all it boils down to? Or is there more to it? Just curious what everyone thinks.
And yes, the kids did understand what they did that was wrong and I talked with them last night about it and Eric had a talk with them this morning because they were in bed when he got home last night.
On a brighter note - something I just want to share - for Christmas Tanis really wanted the Star Wars Lego Complete Saga game for the XBox. We decided it would be a good "family gift" so we got it. However, the one to play it the most hasn't been Tanis or even Eric like you might think. No, the one who plays it the most is little Alexander.
He wakes up most mornings with that being the first thought on his mind. Guess he is more like his dad than I originally thought. ;) I will leave this post with pictures of him playing his favorite game. And I apologize for the messy bed and stuff - he was playing while I was straightening the house and I hadn't quite gotten to my bedroom yet.

What Happens Next...

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that you will enjoy your New Year!

Here's the story of how our holidays went down...

Eric's dad got tickets to a BYU Bowl game that was to take place in Las Vegas. They had a place to stay in St. George, so they didn't have to drive too terribly far. Friday, the 21st, noon time finds me dropping Eric off at a gas station around our home for his dad to pick him up. We actually all arrived at the same time, so there wasn't any waiting. We sent Eric off with goodbyes and a hug and a very hopeful heart that Sunday would come quickly.

Eric's dad was very generous and gave the kids and I some money to do what ever we felt like doing with it. I had to head to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple last minute gifts that Eric just got too busy to think about. I really hate going anywhere with all the kids because they get rowdy fast! However, I was able to get them lunch at the McDonald's inside the store with some of the money and that seemed to stem the tide from the older two at least.

We then headed home so that I could finish up the calendars for my grandparents (by the way the finished layouts are now posted on the website) and wait around for most of the night to meet up with my parents who would be dropping off my little brother to stay with me for the weekend.

Around 8 at night, I decided I was hungry and my parents would probably be about an hour from finishing up what they were doing. So the kids and I headed to Subway. We had been sitting for probably 5 minutes when they called and said they were done and said they were probably about 20 minutes away from meeting up with me. So once again I headed to the same gas station I had been at earlier to wait from my family. It wasn't too long of a wait and we came back home for the night.

Sunday morning did come fairly quickly and Eric arrived home around 11. He was so tired, but had gotten little gifts for all of us. They were all from M&M World as I really highly doubt there was anything "taste worthy" anywhere else he may have visited. He brought Tanis some dominoes, Shaylyn a pair of earring with the green M&M on it AND butterflies. Lex received a couple of balls. As for me, I got a nightshirt that says "I Don't Do Mornings" with the green M&M on it. Eric knows me all so well. ;)

I had to sub a Sunbeam class and give the Christmas lesson. I am so glad there were only 4 kids. I forget how wild 4 year olds can be...AHHHHH!!!!!! But it is always nice to hear the Christmas Story "dumbed" down for kids. I also had the opportunity to hear a great story about the candy cane in Sharing Time. I forget the name of the book, but I will track it down. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I don't even know if it was a "church" book, but it meant that much to me.

Christmas Eve came and I was a little depressed about it. Ever since I can remember we have spent Christmas Eve at my Mother's Mother's home. There has never been a year that we haven't done this - except for this year. My grandma had gotten sick and still wasn't feeling real well. I think it was a difficult choice for her to make and for some of us to handle, but she didn't want to make anyone else sick.

My mom decided that she would do the same thing at her house for her family that we would have done at my grandma's - this meant soup and rolls for dinner AND a program. Bless my mom's heart, she did a great job. My older sister also did fantastic as she had to figure out how to get my kids involved in telling the Christmas Story. Pictures are the kids telling the story.

Some positive did come out of my Grandma being sick though. I took the opportunity to go visit my dad's parents - Eric & I don't usually get to their house around Christmas - and tell them Merry Christmas. It felt good to be able to do so.

Before we ever left for Christmas Eve things, I carried on a tradition my parents (or more so my mom) carried on. The kids got 1 gift and it was pajamas. Now, my mom always made the pajamas so the girls matched and the boys matched, but I never took up sewing, so my kids had to have store bought.

I also got a gift on Christmas Eve. Eric really put thought into it. He got me a locket with an image of a mother & child on the front. He even went as far as getting his mom to email him the pictures she took of us and the kids during our "photo shoot" and he printed them off and put them in it. Talk about tears falling everywhere!

Christmas Morning we took our time opening gifts and prepared to head to Eric's parents at 2. We had a good time at his parents house, but it is so different than my parents house. Eric only has two brothers and one is in Washington and doesn't really come down for Christmas often. So that left his one single brother, his parents and his "adoptive" mother. Very quiet, but so much fun. Eric's parents totally spoiled the kids and they had lots of fun!

Later that night we headed back to my parents for gifts and games. The kids got spoiled AGAIN by all their aunts & uncles and by Grandma & Grandpa. I really love being part of a large family, though it can get a bit wild & crazy. It was also so much fun to see my little brother who lives in Wyoming.

This past Friday my Dad decided to have a "Sleep-Over" party. Talk about fun! Especially since it was my Dad's idea. Eric wasn't feeling very well, so he came back home after dinner, but the kids and I stayed and had lots of fun. We played 80's Trivial Pursuit and then some of us played Rock Band - we got my Mom to play the drums. So much fun!

By about 1:00 in the morning we decided to play another game (can't think of it at the moment) and about 15 minutes into it, Sleeping Alexander starts throwing up! This stresses me out tons. I give him a bath while my mom and sister clean up everything else. This effectively ended the game. We all decided to head to bed and I don't sleep well. (#1 - I am worried my kid will puke again, #2 - my brothers decided to play Rock Band and didn't keep it very quiet)

Lex is awake again around 7:30 and wants a drink. (He made it all night without throwing up again, so I give in) I give him some 7-Up and we lay back down for a bit. Around 8 he wants a little bit more, so I give him more...Within minutes he is puking again...

This does nothing for my stress, so we eat breakfast and I decide to get ready and head back home. We get home around 1 in the afternoon and just take it easy. This little stinker never throws up again...I am thankful for that, but wow...What a night.

As for tonight, we are headed to see National Treasure! Yeah...Nicolas Cage is another one of those old men that I still think is good looking!

Sorry for the novel. Hope your weekends were fun like ours!

What Happens Next...

Another Busy Weekend...

So, last weekend started off with the kids having rehearsals on Friday. Tanis was scheduled at 4:00 and Shaylyn at 5:30. I knew we would be cutting it close with Tanis as he gets out of school at 3:30 and it takes at least 15 minutes to get where they were rehearsing. Luckily for us that day things were working in our favor and we were able to get him there on time.

I didn't really want to turn around and go home after Tanis' just to head back to the other school where the rehearsals were for Shaylyn, so I asked Eric to come get the boys while Shaylyn and I waited.

Saturday morning was the recital. Tanis had to be there at 10:00 ready to perform as he was the preshow and then Shaylyn was in the actual show. We actually made it on time! And because of that we got 3rd row seats, which was nice.

Tanis' singing group did their preshow - which was a medley of 5 or 6 sings that they had rehearsed and rehearsed. I think his favorite song was "Feliz Navidad" even though he still doesn't quite say the words right, but then again, I don't think I do either. ;)

Shaylyn was #4 in the performance. They did a shortened version of "The Nutcracker" and I was glad that Shaylyn was in a part I was familiar with. She played a Soldier in the Battle of the Mouse King and the Prince. She looked so cute with her hat and sword on. Sadly though, these were props we didn't have when I took the snapshots of the kids before the performance. Today, though I am taking them to the studio where we can get "professional pictures" done and she will be able to have the hat and sword again.

After the recital we headed home for some lunch and to check show times for "Alvin & The Chipmunks". I really enjoyed the cartoon growing up and was anxious to see the live version. The kids LOVED this movie. It turned out better than I thought it would, but I still don't think it's a blockbuster or anything.

Sunday after church we headed to Eric's parents house. His mom loves to get family pictures and pictures of the kids every Christmas season. His parents buy the kids matching outfits every year. (Okay, so the boys match and we try to find a dress for Shaylyn that is similar) Eric was thrilled, as always, to have pictures taken. I think we had a couple that turned out cute enough, though all I have at the moment is this one of the family.

Monday night found us at Temple Square with some of my family to see the lights. It was FREEZING and very crowded. But it was still nice. We hadn't been to see the lights for at least 2 years and Tanis is the only one we've ever taken and he was really little when we did. I wanted to get more pictures than I did, but Tanis & Shaylyn were with my speed walker mother most of the time, so all I really had chances to take were of Lex. The picture posted below is of Lex with my little brother. These two share a birthday and Lex just loves his uncle Logan.
Hope everyone else had a nice weekend. As for this week I have GOT to FINISH the calendars. Only 12 pages to go - 4 different layouts. It should go pretty fast. And I will post finished pages when they are all complete. I leave you now with the picture of our upside down snowman. We just love him!

What Happens Next...

Because I Wanted to Share....

I ran across this on another blog as well and WANTED to repost it. It is originally a "tagged" thing, but I don't care...It is a tagged thing about the husband, so I wanted to let you all know more.

1. What is his name?
Eric Duane Hardy
2. How long have you been married?
9 Years as of a few weeks ago
3. How long did you date?
We dated for about 2 years through High School before we got married.
4. Who eats more?
It really just depends on the day and what is being served.
5. Who said 'I love you' first?
He did, I wasn't about to say it first!
6. Who sings better?
I dunno, someone else would have to be the judge of that one.
7. Who is taller?
Uh, Eric no contest!
8. Whose temper is worse?
Eh, we both have a temper, but I think Eric's gets worse than mine.
9. Who does the laundry?
Me, I don't think Eric has any idea HOW to do laundry. His expertise is limited to pulling stuff out of the dryer and that's about it.
10. Who does the dishes?
Me
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Me, yet again.
12. Who does the cooking?
I win again! And once again, Eric has limited expertise. He has made Mac & Cheese a couple times...
13. Who is more stubborn?
Eric
14. Who proposed?
Eric
15. Who is more likely to admit when they are wrong?
Me
16. Whose parents do you see the most?
Probably his, but that's just cause we usually have Sunday dinner with them weekly.
17. Who pays the bills?
I pay some and Eric pays some
18. Who wears the pants in the family?
Neither one of us really. We are fairly laid back and both have a say in most things.
19. Why do you love your husband?
For so many reasons. He is very patient with me as I am so very emotional. He knows what I need most of the time even if I don't say anything. He will call me just to see what's going on. He is very considerate of my feelings and always makes sure I am okay with him doing stuff. He will let me sleep in on the weekends and tries to keep the kids away so I can do so. If I am sick, he will stay home and take care of the kids and a sick wife. He works hard so that I am able to stay home with our kids. He is just amazing. "You know exactly what I'm going to say before my mouth even makes a sound and that's why we make a good you & me.....We both laugh at the most random situations, that's the key. Baby, don't you agree?"

What Happens Next...

Wowza!

Weird, I know. I haven't posted in quite a few weeks, but that's cause nothing major of note has really been happening. It's just been the same old thing for awhile.

This weekend we had a fun weekend though. Friday night Tanis had to perform with his singing group for a Ward Christmas Party. I made Eric drive as the weather on Friday was getting scary. We took Tanis to the party he needed to perform at and waited about a half hour in the foyer because we didn't want to "invade" on a Christmas Party that wasn't our ward. When we heard them announce that his group would be singing, we snuck into the back of the party to watch.


He looked like he was having lots of fun up there. He looked a little odd because he was the only boy around a ton of girls. This won't be how it will be for the real performance this Saturday, however. There is another boy in his class and Tanis told me there is a boy in the older class as well. So that is good news.


Saturday I spent the most part of the day working on scrapbook calendars for my grandparents. It is their Christmas gift. It is a major project and has kept me busy. This follows my project that I did for my family, which I won't mention as they read the blog. :)


Saturday afternoon we headed to my parents house for a yearly party thing that we do. We each draw a part of a meal and then draw groups. Each group has the job of finding that part of the meal even if it doesn't go together.


This year however, it ended up well. All the "men" in the family ended up in the same group - Main Meal. So we knew what we would be having - Little Ceasar's Pizza. So the rest of the groups arranged accordingly. The group with the Appetizer got Mozzarella Sticks, Jalapeno Poppers and Mushroom something or other that is similar. The group with salad got some pasta salad. The group I ended up in was drinks/desserts - Tanis and Lex were with me and we got four 2-liters of soda and ice-cream. We were celebrating a few birthdays as well so my mom had already made Cinnamon Rolls for the birthday people.


After dinner, some people played games, while my mom had a couple crafts planned for the kids. The first was little snowman bags that were filled with candy - the next was little penguin bell decorations - all so cute. Shaylyn did hers without any help and it turned out almost better than any of the rest of ours. Of course, I didn't take my camera to get any pictures - so I have nothing to share.


All in all it was a great weekend and we all had fun. Because I hate not having a picture posted in my blogs, I will leave you with a picture I ran across doing yet another project for my little sister. It is a picture of Eric & I at her wedding in 2006. I had never seen the picture before, so I was excited to see it.

What Happens Next...

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas!

First of all, I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to celebrate on Wednesday AND Thursday! Yummy, yummy.


After Thanksgiving is over I always decorate for Christmas. I guess it is just something that my mom started when I was young and I've just kept doing it. This year, Eric even had the day after Thanksgiving off. Of course he had to use a "floater" holiday, but he did it anyway.

So, around noon, the kids brought all of the Christmas boxes upstairs to get ready to decorate and Eric headed outside and up to the roof to do the Christmas lights. I had a couple of things to put up outside as well and so we spent most of the day getting that all done.

By about 3, Eric had finished putting up the lights and had figured out how many more strands we would need to finish up. We decided we would head to Costco and get our Memberships activated (his work has been paying for it for a few months and we just have never got there).

We found a box that had lights enough that Eric thought he would be done. We looked around for extension cords and couldn't find ANY! In our search for the extension cords we ran across a Gingerbread House kit that Tanis insisted we get for a Family Home Evening. So we did.

After we purchased the lights and kit we decided to just have a Costco pizza for dinner. It's yummy and fairly inexpensive. We paid like $12 total for 5 drinks, pizza AND 2 churros.

Anyway after we were done at Costco, Eric ran into a Lowe's to find his extension cords. By the time we got home around 6:30, all of us were too tired to even think about doing any indoor decorating.

Saturday morning Eric got an early start and I figured I might as well too. He headed out to the roof and I started straightening the house. After an hour or two he came back in telling me that he needed to head back to the store as we didn't have enough lights. (Because we moved in in Early December last year, he didn't do lights) Eric took Tanis with him and the rest of us stayed home to straighten up the basement that the kids just can't keep clean!

Eric was home in time that it was light enough he could finish up what he started outside, but he ran across a HUGE problem. Another thing the builders totally messed up on! I will post the picture and see if you can spot it...

If you can't quite spot the problem, this is it - On the right side of the roof 3/4ths of the overhang or whatever is missing! If you look on the left you can see a thin, darker shade of brown above the string of lights, on the right side it is missing until you get to about 1/4th of the way to the end. So he couldn't finish stringing the lights above the garage! Needless to say on Monday he faxed in a warranty complaint and hopefully it'll get fixed before Christmas.

Since he was done with the lights, we did the inside decorating. Eric had to put the tree up and I did all the other cutesy stuff. We had lots of fun!

Monday night we did do the Gingerbread House for Family Home Evening and the kids all had a blast. They each took turns placing a candy (whichever they wanted) on the part of the house we were working on. It turned out quite nicely.

Tuesday, Eric I and headed to the Anniversary Inn in Logan for our Anniversary. It was 9 years! My little sister watched our kids for almost 24 hours. Thanks again! We had lots of fun and as always it is nice to have time alone!
Hope everyone else has had a nice couple of weeks.

What Happens Next...