Apr 18, 2007

Back to Life...

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We had a great vacation! We left on Friday, April 6 and came home Friday, April 13.
Before we left on Friday, the kids had the opportunity to go on an Easter Egg Hunt at his Aunt's house. His aunt does a daycare and was so thoughtful to invite our kids to it as well. They had lots of fun and enjoyed it tons.
After the Egg Hunt we headed over to my brothers house so that he and his wife could follow us up as they were staying in the same house with us.
We started out around 1:30 and arrived in Lava Hot Springs around 4. We only had to stop once for a potty break...and it wasn't for the kids. (Eric had a riot telling met that I was as bad as the little kids for not going before we left.)
Anyhow, we arrived and got unpacked and just took it easy for a few hours. Around 6, we decided to head to dinner. There is a burger place there that I love. So we walk to the burger place just to find out they won't open until the 14th...:(
Next door was a little deli type place so we ate there. I was so dissapointed as I wanted a burger! We then met up with my parents at their condo. We discussed what the plans for the next day would be.
The town was having a free Easter breakfast and celebration. So we decided we would go - it was a free breakfast after all! They served Pancakes and Sausages...Yummy. They were having Karaoke signups when we arrived, so my older brother and I decided we would do it. Well as we were waiting for our turn it was discovered that some of the cd's these people had didn't have the words with them...Thankfully Eric pulled out his fancy schmancy cell phone and got the lyrics for my song because as luck would have it, I chose a song that didn't include the words. Corby however got lucky and his words did come up on the screen! We then discovered that it was a contest and that we were the only adults who entered. Heck, if I would've known that I wouldn't have made a fool of myself. Oh well!
Shaylyn had the opportunity to make an Easter bonnet and actually made my mom do it for her. ;) She isn't stupid, is she? They had the blow up bouncy houses as well that the kids really enjoyed. It was held at a park as well, so they had a playground to play on as well. We hung out for awhile and were trying to decide if we wanted to wait for another hour doing nothing waiting for the egg hunt. My little sister decided she wanted to have her baby do the egg hunt, but I wasn't wanting to wait around for it. So we took the kids back to the house and had lunch.
Around 5 we went back to my parents condo for an Easter Egg Hunt. It is a tradition in my family. My mom and dad hid the eggs and did a good job. The kids all enjoyed it and my mom being as organized as she is, had a certain color egg for each grandkid. Then they flipped it up on us...the adults got to find eggs as well, but we had to do it in teams and take turns. Eric and I got a good start getting one egg each, but then we kind of fell flat...My dad hid the eggs really well. We didn't even find 4 of the eggs we were supposed to find. Just by matter of deduction got what would've been in those eggs.
The egg hunt got us hungry so we headed to the one steakhouse around Lava. It was called the White Wolf something or other. Eric first of all loved the ambience of the place and wanted to buy all the things off of the wall. (He likes wolves, if you can't tell) Then he said he loved the steak as well. I finally got my hamburger, but wasn't able to finish it as my stomach was a little upset. :(
Sunday morning I had the kids find their Easter Baskets and then we got ready to attend church in Lava. Eric woke up not feeling real well so he left after the first meeting and took Lex with him as Lex wouldn't have gone to Nursery for anything. Tanis and Shaylyn went to the same Primary Class and I went with my parents to Sunday School and then with my mom to Relief Society. We headed home and got our Easter dinner ready. My mom took care of the meat and stuff at her place, we took the rolls to ours. It was a yummy dinner and we enjoyed it a lot.
Eric still wasn't feeling real well so he spent most of the night sleeping, while the rest of us played games and enjoyed being in each other's company. After some relaxing, we decided to dye eggs. The kids didn't last long as it was my little brother (11) and my 2nd cousin (12) who picked what kind of dye to use. It was tye dye dye, which meant they had to actual work at getting the egg colored instead of just putting it in a cup and leaving it there. Shaylyn is creative and didn't mind. Tanis was worried about breaking the eggs and wanted Grandma to help him. Lex was bored by the whole thing.
Monday morning we met up to go bowling in Pocatello. This has also become a tradition, we spend one day in Pocatello. It usually consists of bowling, pizza and then going to the mall. So we went bowling and I probably bowled the worst game in my life - TWICE! We then went to find a pizza parlor (the one we usually go to was closed). We found a San Francisco Pizza Company or whatever it is called...I wasn't too hip on the idea as it is sourdough pizza, but to my pleasant surprise it was yummy. After lunch we said goodbye to Corby and Adri as they had to leave and get back to regular life.
We then headed to the mall. Our men were so nice (MAJOR KUDOS) they gave us an allowance and kept the kids with them while we went our own way! We didn't find much in the stores...Though there was one store I could've spent a fortune in - I just didn't know how I'd get all the home decor stuff home or where I'd put it...But we had lots of fun. Because we didn't really find anything at the mall the guys offered to head back to Lava (with the kids) while we found other stores to shop at.
I was a little worried about getting back to Lava, but only a little. Eric called with directions to make sure I knew exactly what to do. It helped a ton! We were at a Walmart, so we took some time looking there. After we didn't find anything we went to the car. There was a TJ Maxx right there, so we headed over there. My little sister spent her "allowance" there. I was going to, but then decided to put a few things back. I was way excited that I found 2 things of capris to wear this summer. There was also a craft store at this same strip mall, so guess where we headed next? Well I have to say, this store had lots of stuff for other crafts, but the scrapbook section was pretty boring! I found a little T-Shirt thing of Tinkerbell that I got to put in the car. We then decided we should head back.
We decided we would do the hot tubs this night as well, so after a quick dinner we all headed over there. There was practically nobody there...We had the hot tub mostly to ourselves. It was fun to bond with my little sister and her hubby for awhile.
We spent the next few days just relaxing around the town and doing what little there is to do. Some of the older guys took a hike up to the "L" that is there, while the rest of us just relaxed and took it easy.
It was a fun vacation and it is always hard to come home. Saturday was spent doing nothing! Sometimes you have to do nothing. Sunday we started getting back into the swing of things. Monday came sooner than I wanted it to. Tanis had school for 2 days and is now on Spring Break the rest of the week.
Tomorrow I plan to go visit my grandma as I haven't seen her for a month or so. I figured it would be a good day to do it as my mom doesn't have to work on Thursdays and Shaylyn doesn't have dance and I won't have to worry about Tanis getting out of school at a certain time cause he is off.
Well that's about it for now.

Apr 3, 2007

The Lethargic Poet Creates

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I am happy to announce that I decided that I WOULD start a business venture along the lines of scrapbooking. I'm excited about this and hope you will spread the word to your friends.
The link to my website is www.thelethargicpoetcreates.com
Thanks for your friendship everyone!

If We Could Meet Once More

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Years ago, my older sister and mother used to listen to songs by a popular LDS artist at the time. His name is Bryce Neubert. I fell in love with a couple of the songs that they would listen to quite a bit. They were called Everybody Wins and Keep Trying.
For a few years I kind of forgot about this artist and suddenly a few years ago, I thought of him again. I think it was just through browsing at Media Play that I saw the CD, so I bought the that included those two songs. This CD eventually got scratched to the point that I couldn't listen to it at all. So, off I went to Deseret Book to replace the CD.
Anyway, I LOVE all of these songs on this CD. But there is one that has hit home just recently. It is called If We Could Meet Once More. It is the song on the link.
Anyway, this song ALWAYS makes me think of my grandpa. Even more so around this time of year. He passed away on March 27, 1993. It was a very sudden and unexpected death, so it's been hard to handle at times.
I miss him so very much and will ALWAYS remember the final time we saw him. We were visiting my grandparents one night and my little sister who was only 3 at the time kept asking if we could sleep over. My mom kept saying, "No, they don't need to sleep over tonight." But my grandparents kept saying, "Yes, they do." Finally my mom felt like she should just give in, so we got to sleep over.
That night as we were all watching the news (Okay, so grandma and grandpa were watching it, we were just around) the forecast for the next day showed that it was going to be nice. So grandpa said, "Looks like you guys can help me out in the yard tomorrow."
My grandpa was a GREAT gardener and his yard was just beautiful. We didn't think he was seriously going to want our help. The next day sure enough he called us out to help him in the yard. I don't remember exactly what we did, just that we helped him out.
As we were leaving that day, he said "I Love You" to each one of us. This was a man, who showed his love through actions and not so much through words, so that was a little surprising. But we didn't think too much of it.
A week later he was in the hospital. Apparently my grandma & uncle came back to the house and found my grandpa on the bottom of the stairs unconcious. They called 911 and he was taken to the hospital.
He was kept on machines that Friday and Saturday morning my mom and her brothers and sister decided to let him go. They called all of the grandkids to come to the hospital to say a final goodbye. My older cousin, Tim came to get us as my father had to go get my older sister from out of town, where she was at a softball tournament. My little sister wasn't even able to come to the hospital as she was only 3, so she went to a friends home.
At the hospital, we met up with all the aunts, uncles & cousins. My aunt took my "best friend cousin" Katie in to say goodbye to Grandpa. When they came back it was my turn, but seeing how hard it was for Katie, I decided not to go. I didn't want to see him hooked to a bunch of machines.
When it came time for the viewing I could only manage to go to the little family gathering first, then I wanted to go right home. I didn't like seeing my grandpa the way he was, although he looked very peaceful. During his funeral I did my best to stay away from the casket.
I totally regret that day, and I probably will forever.
Anyway back to the song...These are the lyrics of the song (as best I can hear) and yeah...
Right click on song title and open in a new window for the song.

IF WE COULD MEET ONCE MORE
By: Bryce Neubert

WHEN I THINK OF YOU, SO FAR AWAY,
I TRY SO HARD TO REMEMBER THAT DAY.
WHAT IS IT LIKE WHERE YOU ARE?

YOU WALKED WITH ME, I WAS SO VERY YOUNG.
YOU GAVE ME LOVE AND YOU CALLED ME YOUR SON.
YOU LET ME KNOW WHAT I COULD BE.

HOW I LONG TO SEE YOU AGAIN.
TO SEE YOUR FACE, THAT SMILE,
AND THEN WE COULD SING THAT SONG LIKE BEFORE
IF WE COULD MEET ONCE MORE.
IF WE COULD MEET ONCE MORE.

LIFE CAN BE HARD JUST MAKING IT THROUGH.
BUT I WILL TRY TO ALWAYS FOLLOW YOU,
CAUSE NOW I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.

HOW I LONG TO SEE YOU AGAIN.
TO SEE YOUR FACE, THAT SMILE.
AND
THEN WE COULD SING THAT SONG LIKE BEFORE.
IF WE COULD MEET ONCE MORE.
AND WE WILL MEET ONCE MORE.


Mar 27, 2007

A Series of Unfortunate Events...

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So Eric started his new job yesterday, which means he leaves at 6 every morning, but he gets home at 5.
Because he got home at 5 and he wanted to play World of Warcraft with a friend later that night, we decided we'd do our Family Home Evening right away.
We didn't really have any sort of plan for what we were going to do, we just knew that we needed to get the dog some dog food, so wherever we went a store had to be part of the plan. We also decided to bring Foxy along as she always gets left behind.
After we got to "civilization," we decided we would just go to Smith's for the dog food and head across the street for dinner at McDonalds. (Not my preference, but the kids really wanted to go) Because the dog was in the car and we were planning on eating dinner inside the place, we decided we better get dinner first, so that the dog food wasn't left in the car where Foxy would attack it.
Because Foxy likes to dart any chance she gets, we were very careful about getting the kids out of the car. I opened the door slowly so Shaylyn and Tanis could get out. But Shaylyn started whining about taking her blanket in with us, which I kept telling her no to. Because she was whining, it started stressing Eric out. He got Lex out of the car and locked the doors. Then I heard that the car was still running!
I asked Eric if he locked his keys in the car and he was like, "Shoot, yes!" I didn't have my keys with me as I hardly ever take them when we all go somewhere, and none of our neighbors had a house key to get in the house and bring my keys to us. So Eric called his dad to see what we should do. Eric was leary of calling the police because we had the dog in the car with us and she wasn't in her kennel. And we were a little stressed that the dog got locked in the car. We were hoping she'd "accidentally" unlock the car, but all she managed to do was turn on the windshield wipers.
Eric's dad is a member of AAA, but for any type of help, he has to be present. So Eric's mom and dad drive up and meet up with us. We are waiting for an hour. After about 30 minutes of waiting I decided to just take the kids inside because it was getting cool. So we just sat around for another 30 minutes until mom and dad arrived.
Mom and Dad finally arrive, but they still have to deal with the AAA people. After we get word that a locksmith is on the way, we decide to finally have dinner. The boys were excited because they got the cool Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures and Shaylyn was okay with the Madame Alexander Wicked Witch of the West doll that she got.
The locksmith arrives about 15 minutes later. And seriously has the car unlocked in a matter of seconds. We all heave a huge sigh of relief and finish our dinner making plans to get together again on Saturday night.
After we all finish dinner we head back out to the car (which the dog didn't mess up too terribly) and start getting all the kids in. Eric makes sure that he holds on to Foxy, so that she didn't run off. I get Lex strapped in and Grandpa got Tanis and Shaylyn in. Eric then lets go of Foxy, but doesn't realize that there is still one door open. Sure enough Foxy darts out of the car and heads right across the busy road. Luckily she didn't get hit and it only took one car almost hitting her for her to head back to us and get back in the car.
So after all of that we still have the matter of dog food to get. We decide it's best if Eric just goes in and grabs what we need. (Diapers were also needed at this point) Eric comes back out after a few minutes and doesn't have the dog food at all. He did have the diapers, though. He gets in the car and says "They didn't have the right dog food."
We just head home and decide we will deal with getting the dog food tomorrow. We finally get home and everything is fine. We try to relax and do our family scripture reading. Shaylyn, however, starts throwing another fit, so it is straight to bed with her.
Eric, the boys and I get the scriptures read and head to bed. I fell asleep quite fast after the stressful day that we had had. Then around 4, Lex decides he wants to wake up because he doesn't have any more milk in his cup. So, he gets a refill and decides he wants to sleep on the couch.
An hour later the alarm goes off. Eric actually wakes up to it. Yeah! But then, so do I. I try to get back to sleep, while Eric is getting ready for work. However, Eric didn't totally turn off the alarm, he just hit snooze, so it goes off again. I immediately turn that off.
A few minutes later I hear the sound of someone puking in the toilet. I was hoping it wasn't Shaylyn as she just got over being sick, and I knew that Lex wouldn't be puking in the toilet, so it kind of narrowed it down to Tanis.
I heard Eric taking care of him, so I went back to sleep for just a little while. When I woke up at 7, I made sure it was Tanis that was sick. And it was. I was hoping he wouldn't get sick as he's missed 3 days of school already and when we go on vacation he'll miss 6 days. Oh well, not much I can do now that he is already sick.
I just hope today goes much better than last night and this morning have.

Mar 24, 2007

A Little Respect.....????

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So, we've had a bit of a crazy couple of weeks....
A couple weeks ago a friend of Eric's that he worked with years ago kept asking him to come work for him. Eric wasn't really wanting to leave his current company so he kept turning down his friend.

His friend, however, would not take NO as an answer, so Eric thought, "What the heck, I'll at least go and interview. Maybe they'll give me more money."
So, he went to the job interview and thought it was one of the best he ever had, but he had let this company know that he was quite content where he was currently at and it would pretty much boil down to getting a higher salary if he was to leave his current job.
A couple days later he got the "Yes, we'd like to hire you." This was on a Friday night, so he didn't give his 2 week notice at this point. He didn't want to "ruin" or cause stress to his managers on a weekend, so he was going to give them his 2 week notice on Monday, March 19.
However, his manager wasn't at work on Monday so he gave his notice on Tuesday. His 2 weeks was going to end just before our vacation, which was perfect. Then he would start his new job after we got home from vacation.
So Eric works hard finishing a product. On Thursday, March 22, he calls me around 5 asking me what I wanted to do on Friday since he just got laid off. I was thinking this was kind of a joke, since a couple weeks before someone really did get laid off and he's kind of been joking about it since.
He said, "No, it's not a joke, they seriously laid me off." PANIC LIGHTS go off here. How were we going to afford 3 weeks without a paycheck? He then tells me that he called the new company and asked if he could start on Monday, March 26. They said that would be great.
So, luckily for us everything worked out. However, he is just really ticked that the company laid him off. It was almost like they were just waiting for him to finish the product he was working on, cause as soon as he finished they laid him off. It would have been understandable if they had laid him off the day he gave his notice, but no, they made him work 3 more days and then pulled it on him. They also made him sign a paper saying that it was VOLUNTARY! His voluntary leaving was in 2 WEEKS!
Sorry, just had to blow some steam off.
Anyway, Friday ended up being a good day off for him however. He spent most of it playing a game online with one of his friends and then he even took the boys to see the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Both boys enjoyed it a lot (from what I gathered). Eric said that Tanis watched it really well and Lex even watched the whole movie. (My baby is growing up)
I ended up staying home to clean the house and watch Shaylyn, who ended up getting a fever Friday morning. Oh well.
Such is life in the Hardy household.

Mar 14, 2007

Waaah!

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So I apparantly (for the life of me, I cannot remember how to spell that word) got a little too gung ho on my little venture... After sending many, many emails to different people, it appears that the cost alone for "permission" to use popular songs would cost many, many dollars. So many dollars that the cost to make the videos would be a whole lot more than I would like to charge.
I didn't realize how much it would take just to use 3 minutes of song. I should have checked into all of this before I "advertised" that I was doing so. Oh well, live and learn!
So, to make a long story short - I've decided not to start this little venture. I am so sad about it. Seriously.
However, if anyone would like to know how to make these slideshows I would be more than happy to show you.

Also, I am thinking of starting up something a little different, more along the lines of scrapbooking. I have to think some things through before I decide if I am going to go ahead with this new "idea" or not...More details will be posted if I decide to do it. I shouldn't run into copyright issues with this new venture.

- Shilo :D

Mar 5, 2007

A New Venture

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So, I am really excited about this. I have decided to try and start my own home based business making video slideshows. It is something I have done for my family for gifts before and I really enjoy it, so I thought I'd try and do it for other people.

If you know of anyone getting married or someone looking for a nice gift for upcoming Mother's Day, please send them my way.

I am currently in the process of getting a business license and all of that fun stuff taken care of. But as for now, maybe you just want to take a look at the website I created for it and watch the example videos.

The website is www.geocities.com/thelethargicpoet

Keep in mind, all of this is just starting out. The website will most likely change and information may change, but I just wanted to give people a heads up so they can think about it.

Thanks for reading!

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