17 Days of Thankful - Day #2

Alright, so technically "Day #2" is about 10 hours late of making it to actual day #2, but I was kind of busy yesterday, so it just didn't happen.

Anyway, onto :

Thankful - Day #2: I am thankful to be pregnant.


That may sound weird to many of you, but to tell you the truth, I really wasn't too excited when I found out #5 was on the way.

I had/have so many fears about what people are going to say/think because Nathaniel isn't even 2 yet. (He will be by the time this baby actually gets here, though) And I still worry about other people's reactions, but I am getting better at accepting whatever they have to say.

I needed to step back and thank the Lord that he is choosing to bless us with another one of his special spirits because I know not everyone is so lucky. I know many people who struggle to get pregnant or to keep a baby once they are pregnant.

I have never had an issue and I am thankful for that. I just need to focus on the fact that the Lord feels we need to have another baby and now is the time.

We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time yesterday and it helped alleviate some of my fears and I am finally able to start "getting happy" about things.

What Happens Next...

17 Days of Thankful - Day #1

So, the thought occured to me the other day that I wanted to start sharing something I am thankful for every day until Thanksgiving. After all, isn't that what the holiday is mostly about?

This also came about after a particularly hard day last Friday when I realized just how thankful I am for:

THANKFUL - DAY #1: I am so thankful for such great family friends (you know who you are) and my terrific hubby.

I won't go into much detail, but I will say this: while I was having such a rough day, my best friend (after hearing from Lex and her hubby (who heard from Eric) that I was having a bad day) came right over and spent the next 2 hours just talking. Something that was definitely needed.

Then, my dear hubby who I kept whining to, came home from work early because he was so concerned about me. He then took me out for a night away from the kiddos. (Who, by the way, had NOTHING to do with my bad day.)


And I would be remiss if I didn't thank my best friend's hubby for allowing her to come and be with me for 2 hours while he watched the little one!

Look back daily for my new "Thankfuls"!!!

What Happens Next...

Halloween!!!!

Is there anything I can really say about Halloween? I mean really, it's just the same story you hear from everyone - got the kids ready, took pictures, went trick-or-treating, came home, scoped out the candy and went to bed.

Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened here too, only we went to my mommy's house (My little bro that lives in Wyoming was in town). And the kids got to go trick-or-treating with their cousin, Tyler. Can I also mention that my kids scored at 2 houses?

At one house they got full bags of licorice. I'm talking the $3.00 a pop bags, here. At another house they got a full can of root beer. Nice, huh?

I was happy the weather was nice and all of our cute kids had fun.

On a side note: I helped with Lex's class party on Friday and took Nathaniel with me, so a couple pics are from Friday as well.

ENJOY!!!

Oh yeah, Kaeloni & Cody: Thanks so much for keeping me company that night & for helping me with Nater Gater!!!

I decided to dress up very last minute for Lex's class party, so I had to come up with something we had at home...

Halloween Parade Pics (Tanis & the other 4th graders were "too old" for the parade.)

When the Kindergarten class went to listen to a story, Nate went right with them and sat right down to listen as well.

Indy Tanis

Very Bat Girl Shaylyn (She copied the model's pose from the packaging)

Iron Man Lex

The Cutest Little Garden Gnome

What Garden Gnome should have looked like, but he wouldn't keep either thing on.

Hey, Mickey!!! Put down that stinkin' mat so we can take a picture!

About the best one I got of all 5 kids. Lil' Sis has a better one but she isn't sharing...

Oh, well at least we got a semi-cute one of the older 4 kids.

What Happens Next...

Weekend Fun

The weekend of October 23rd was quite the weekend for us.

Eric's older brother's family came into town for a few weeks. And during this time they were baptising their 8 year old son out in Utah, since a large part of both families live out here.

So, Friday was the baptism. Our nephew had quite the turn out of people there to support him and I am so glad that we were able to attend. I am also glad that the kids got to see another baptism before Shaylyn's coming in February...(Yikes)
After dinner we all (and by all - I think I mean everyone who was at the baptism) went to dinner at Marie Callendar's. We had a great time visiting and enjoyed the food. The kids were even mostly well behaved considering the day they had had. (I'm still upset I didn't take any pictures on Friday)

Saturday morning Eric woke up early and I then had the job of waking up 2 children that early as well. They were all going fishing with Eric's dad and middle brother. The two that went: Shaylyn & Lex. I knew Tanis wouldn't go as he is an indoor kid and doesn't like being out in the cold.

So I got Shaylyn & Lex all ready and made sure they had enough warm clothes and jackets to enjoy themselves, then I went back to bed.

Eric was a good husband and took pictures for me because he knows how important they are to me, and he (along with his brother) took some winners. Sadly, the kids didn't catch any fish - but Eric caught 4 (and a stick), his brother caught 6, and his Dad got 2.


Sunday evening we had a big family dinner at Eric's parents house. We are talking aunts and uncles and cousins who came over to visit with Eric's bro's family for a bit. It was a yummy dinner and it really hit the spot. The kids all got to play with cousins and the adults got to visit.

When we got home that night I made birthday gifts for my nephew and Eric's middle brother. They have birthdays within 3 days of each other.


Monday we woke up about the same time as usual and got everyone ready and off we headed to Eric's parents, again. The whole Hardy family was having an outing. We were meeting at Eric's parents house to head to the Front Runner station to take Front Runner to Ogden.

The kids LOVED riding Front Runner. They all thought it was pretty cool and loved being up so high. It made me sick.

When we got to Ogden we walked a few blocks to the Treehouse Museum and spent the day there. This museum was pretty cool and the kids had a BLAST!

We took a break around 1 or 2 for lunch and then we were able to go back to the museum and explore some more. The kids had a good day and were so happy to spend a day with their cousin, their uncles and Grandma & Grandpa.

What Happens Next...

Annual Fall Pics

So in September the kids all got their "Yearly School Photo" taken. I was happy this year to only have to mess with getting one kid ready in the middle of the day and taking them to the school. The other 3 are already in school, so that was wonderful! (And I was lazy, didn't scan them in, just took pictures of pictures, so they aren't the greatest representation.)

And as always, there is always 1 kid whose picture isn't as great as I had hoped for, but oh well. This year it ended up being Nathaniel. He had just woken up from a nap and wasn't his happy normal self, but it all worked out anyhow.

Now hopefully in a few months we can get a "professional" family pic done sometime.


Stay tuned for a few more posts in the coming days about our fun weekend!

What Happens Next...

A Well Spent Saturday Morning

Saturday morning was the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk in Salt Lake City. My mom and sisters have done this walk for the past 2 or 3 years and I was going to do it with them last year until I woke up to rain and I really didn't feel like making the drive to Salt Lake in the rain.

Well, this year I got smart. I decided to sleep at my mom's on Friday night so that I didn't have to drive anywhere. And originally I was going to be kid-free, but Eric got called out of town on Wednesday and didn't get home until Saturday afternoon.

Luckily my little bro was willing to babysit, but I felt guilty leaving all the kids with him - so my plan was to take Nathaniel and Shaylyn with me.

Come Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early around 7:45. My little sister and I were supposed to be heading out the door at 8:00 to meet up with my older sister at my Grandma's. Yeah, we didn't leave until 8:15 or so. I had to get the baby dressed and get Shaylyn ready, then just before we left Lex decided he really wanted to come and Shaylyn wanted to stay.

So after explaining to Lex that it was going to be a long walk and no one would be carrying him and making sure he really understood that - he was still anxious to go. So we took him, plus I figured he'd have fun with his "Best Cousin" Tyler.

We got to the walk just before they started and off we headed. It was a long walk (5K) and towards the end I thought I was gonna die...(Yes, this means I am really outta shape) but I made it and I felt so good that I was doing something of value on a Saturday morning, instead of sitting on my butt being lazy. It was sooo cool to see all the little kids that were walking/riding scooters or whatnot as well. It was just an awesome experience and it ended up not being that cold either. And our little guys did AWESOME! They each only asked to be carried twice, but were told no and just kept walking. Nathaniel was also in complete heaven - he loves going on walks and being outside.

I think this could very well become a tradition.

Heading Out

Just Chillin'

The Little Troopers

My Little Guys

The Group Minus My Mommy Who Took Pictures

What Happens Next...

How Sad Is It????

So last night I made dinner, and it was something we have quite often in our house. Well I also make something to go along with it. Nothing major and nothing extravagant, but the hubby likes it. (Perhaps someday I will do something more extravagant with it...That someday being when I actually plan dinner out hours in advance and have time to spare to do some extra baking/cooking) Yesterday, I had the thought that I wasn't even going to make this:

Because the #1 fan of these wasn't here to enjoy it. (Yup, Eric got called out of town AGAIN) However, I still made them and the kids had one and life went on. But how sad is it that I miss my hubby enough that I don't even want to make foods he likes?

And in other news: Yes, I know there was no Monday's Meandering Thoughts this week...This week has gotten away from me and now that this week is almost OVER, I am just going to forego the thoughts for this week....Sorry if that makes anyone sad.

What Happens Next...