Utah Part 1

Fourth of July weekend, all us Washington Hardy's made the trek to Utah for the annual Hardy reunion. I was excited to spend time as a family and travel together. I was a little nervous of the long drive with the kids though. We headed out Thursday morning at about 8am. I didn't take any pictures that day. The kids did amazingly well. Jeff and Ben rode together in Jeff's car. Malcolm and Quinn rode with Merle and Cynthia. We gained Ryan and Stephanie, who entertained Winston a little too well, he only slept once for about half an hour and that was before Tri-Cities. All the kids stayed entertained by the DVD players, Malcolm and Quinn so much that when Merle and Cynthia turned it off, they were amazed by the scenery around. We got into Utah about 10pm and went right to bed. The kids crashed, as I'm sure we all did.

Friday, after we went and said hello to Grandma and Grandpa Hardy, we were off to a Hawaiian BBQ for lunch. We met up Matt's Mathias cousins, Lisa, Robin and her husband David. It was fun to see them all again. We had a fun lunch together and sat around talking for a long time.

The guys, plus Stacy, decided to go shooting together while us girls did a LITTLE shopping. We had the kids, so it didn't last long. The guys ended up being gone forever, but had a fun time all playing with Nate's gun and shooting exploding targets.

That night after Aunt Maria fed all the clan dinner, we were able to go and see Aunt Mary Ellen and Uncle Perry. Mary Ellen was Cynthia's mom's sister. They had some of their kids in town as well, so we were able to visit with a lot of Cynthia's family. It was so fun meeting her side of the family. They were such a nice family, and I felt so comfortable around them.

I didn't take many pictures of our day. The only worthy picture to make it to the blog was this cute one of Jeff and Stacy outside the Hawaiian BBQ.

Friday was the Fred and Edna Hardy Reunion. July 4th was the day they got married 64 years ago. I think that is incredible, 64 YEARS!! It was fun to meet the Hardy extended family, as I had only met a few of them. The first and only time before this that I had been in Utah with Matt was 6 years ago when I was prego with Malcolm. Due to Grandpa's health, Grandma and Grandpa weren't able to be there, so we went and paid a visit to them before and after. Which wasn't hard, considering we were staying two houses down with Aunt Marie and Uncle Lon.

At Grandpa's house, he has one of his horse saddles for the kids to play on. They thought that was pretty neat Grandpa was a real cowboy.
I really enjoyed sitting around and listen to Grandpa tell some stories, though he was really hard to hear, especially with the kids playing. He told about the first time he met Grandma, it was so cute!
Winston was really fussy, tired and hungry, so while I was back at Aunt Marie's someone took this 4th generation picture, minus Winston, dang it! Although I had a wide aperture set, so Matt is the only one in focus.
We had bought the boys some pop its and sparklers and as we were discussing what we should do with the rest of the evening, the boys had fun with the pop its. When I saw all the boys sitting on the step together, minus Matt, I decided it was photo op time. Merle came up with the idea that they all needed to show off their muscles. Hilarious!!
We had to add the little boys. That is a whole lot of boys, way too many if you ask me! Ha!! Just kidding, I've always been more comfortable around boys, probably from being surrounded by them growing up.
Aunt Marie did the honor of capturing the Hardy's together in Utah. Laura, Mike and Rose weren't able to be there, and we really missed them. It didn't feel complete without them.
What a cutie pie. He is growing up way too fast. His hair is getting so light this summer. My other boys' don't bleach out at all. He had two nasty falls right on his face while we were there. First was in the backyard. Winston walked right behind Quinn has he was swinging back on the swing and Winston face planted. The second time was while Uncle Ben was pushing on a swing at the reunion and didn't buckle him in. Winston reached for him and fell out on his face again. He was a sad bloody sight for a while!
Jeff and Quinn having a moment together.
Aunt Marie's tiger lilies were so pretty!
We decided to not fight the traffic trying to watch fireworks somewhere, and we really didn't know where to watch them. Instead we got ice cream treats to eat and played with the sparklers. The adults ended up enjoying them more then the kids. Although Quinn had to lose his privilege when he threw his.

The adults decided to write "hardy!" first. I had to flip the picture, and flip a couple letters after some confusion on whether the letters were being written backwards or not. Ryan is h, Steph is a, Nate is r, Jeff is d, Matt is y and Ben is the exclamation point/line.
Malcolm making a picture of his own. Looks like he's trying to make a star, although I never knew he knew how. Good job Malcolm!
This is the next picture they came up with. Matt the left ear, Ryan the left eye, Steph the right eye, Ben the nose, Nate the mouth, Jeff the right ear and the extra circle thing, Malcolm. He wanted a part in the picture.
Last and definitely not least, their angel demon. Ha. Ryan is posing while on the left Stephanie is making the sword, Nate the left wing, Matt the halo, Jeff the pectorals, and Ben the right humongous wing. The pecs crack me up!
I had to try and take a picture of the beautiful moon and clouds, it looked so cool!

Spring Break

So it has been almost a month since we had our spring break, but I really need to get caught up, so bear with me. This is going to be a long post. This is like 20 posts in one. It's doesn't even barely flow together, but I just had to get it up tonight. I'm tired, so it will probably show while you're reading it. 

We started our spring break the middle of March when we went up to visit our parents for two weeks. It was definitely not spring. It was so very cold, but it was warmer there. The first Monday of the break we were able to see Dane play in his first soccer game. He's cute isn't he!

It was fun watching him, but man was it cold. Don't let that sun shining deceive you! It was fun playing with my telephoto lens again. It's not much of an inside lens.

Kathryn deemed herself the Winston babysitter. He had fun trying to walk in the grass and didn't mind crawling in it either. 

He looks so cute in this picture. Ha!
I turned around and saw this, I thought it was so cute. She was feeding him her snack. Quinn joined in on the fun too, although you can't really tell he's there.

Nathan taught Quinn how to climb the fence. Didn't he know one climber in the family is enough!

Winston's hands were freezing, although he didn't seem to mind, I made him hang out with Matt in the blanket. I love Matt in hoodies, he always looks so mean and tough. 
The next day was St. Patrick's Day. I woke up and remembered, so I decided to make a green breakfast. I thought it was fun having green pancakes, green eggs (no ham) and green orange juice. Quinn was a little apprehensive at first, but gave it a try and realized it tasted just the same. Malcolm on the other hand, ha, he was not a happy camper. He refused to try it. We kept telling him that's what was for breakfast and I wasn't making him anything else. He kept telling Matt he just wanted cereal, so finally I gave in and told him he could have cereal, only I dyed the milk green. He was so mad at me. He was practically in tears. Then I went and got out their clothes to wear that day, and when I brought out the green shirt, he about had a conniption. He started yelling how he hated green. It was pretty darn funny. So I finally gave in and told him if he got dressed, that I would give him cereal with white milk. Oh the drama that made the day memorable. 
We didn't do a whole lot else. Just hung out with family everyday. It was cold, I never got out, so I didn't take really any pictures. I'm so tired of inside pictures without a decent flash. Tuesday we BBQ carne asada and made spanish rice. Wednesday Holli and I had a day of cinnamon roll making. We made my usual recipe and another recipe that she has of a friends. Holli's cinnamon roll dough won with the crowd, but everyone had different opinions on glaze or cream cheese frosting. I personally love my cream cheese frosting. Thursday my mom didn't work, so we had a girls day. Mom, Mel and I drove to Tri Cities and spent the afternoon shopping and eating with Brianne and her kids. It was a fun getaway. I can't remember Friday anymore, and Saturday we went to Tri Cities with Mom and Pop. Sunday was the usual Sunday, church with Mom, eat lunch with them, then over to Matt's parents after there ward is done. Cynthia was gone for the week in Arizona (so jealous), so we had fun hanging out with Paka! Monday I spent a good majority of my day detailing the inside of my car, while the boys played outside. Winston played in the car while I did that. It was so nice to get my carpets shampooed and get it back to a "new" look state. Man I love to clean! Tuesday and Wednesday, Matt and I had a less then 48 hour getaway without kids. It was nice, but very tiring with a really early flight Tuesday morning and really late flight Wednesday night.
We were able to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. Seven years, can you believe that? It has gone by so fast. I really can't believe it's been that long and we have 3 kids to show for it. It feels like we just got married, yet our relationship has matured so much. I love being married to Matt. He is the best husband for me. There's a few things I love about Matt. He can't lie to me, he can try (teasing me), but he holds his facial expression in such a way, that I can tell he's lying. He's a great cook, which is so nice when I'm having an off day, he can take over. He's the most forgiving person. He's very, very smart. He's very handsome. Yet he's very humble. He's also a great kisser. He loves me despite my faults. He never makes me question his love and commitment to me. I know he will always be there for me. We would spend all day, everyday together if we could, we don't get tired of each other. Despite my lack of confidence, he's constantly telling me how beautiful, hot, cute and pretty I am and (sorry if this is too much info) what a great body I have. Hey, that's something you like to hear after three kids, even if I'm not comfortable with my baby fat, I'm glad he is. I love you Matthew, thanks for being my best friend. 
Thursday after Matt sleeping in, then me getting a nap, we were going to head home. Matt had a paper he had to finish up at work and had to talk to his professor (boss) before his presentation on Monday. My cousin Aaron was having his wedding reception that weekend, so Matt decided to just make the trip home by himself and come back Friday night. I was glad that meant I didn't have to pack when I was so tired. So before Matt took off for home, we spent the afternoon at his parents, mostly playing in the backyard. It was actually a somewhat nice day. Winston was loving his freedom of walking, and pushing the lawn mower. 
The boys enjoyed playing on the rocks and digging in the dirt with the shovels. 
Winston was so mad at me, because I kept pulling him away from the dirt, so I finally gave in. I never would have let my other two play in the dirt at this age, but Winston is lucky, I'm doing a lot of things I didn't do before. What does a little dirt hurt!

I love this action shot of playing and breaking the dirt clods. He was really fascinated by it. Luckily he is my least oral baby and didn't try eating it at all. 

But he's definitely my child. He cleans his hands off afterwards. 

Quinn is ready to take the leap. It's a long drop, a whole foot!

Malcolm is getting way too big!

Winston is such a doll, he's blowing on the leaf here. He's so cute, whenever he sees me burning a candle, he just starts blowing. He always wants me to lift him up so he can see it better and blow some more.
After a while, I was done with the chilly but nice day. I went inside and looked out to see all my boys hanging on the blanket together. These boys love their daddy. It's a typical thing for them to all be sitting on him in the rocking chair. 

After the weekend with a great reception, (I sure love my Aunt LaVoy and Uncle Alan! They always make me feel worth something!), we headed home. We came home to clear roads, but snow on side. Ugh! Then the rest of the week we had days like this. 

It's just not right! How can I get out of my rut with weather like this. It's suppose to be spring.
Especially when my mom treated me to a pedicure and flip flops, I'm wanting flip flop weather.

My father in law, Merle, did get me this though, so that did lift the mood a little. Thanks Merle, I love it. 

My attempt at a self portrait. I got a new hair cut while we were home (Thanks Mel!), not that you can really tell what it looks like here. I'm terrible at pictures of myself. Do people ever like themselves in pictures? My bangs were inspired by my awesome visiting teacher/friend, Rachel. She has the cutest bangs, but I don't pull them off nearly as well as she does. She's just too cute to try to copy. 

Six Years Today

Six years ago today was the happiest day of my life!! I married the man that makes everyday worth living. I have the most wonderful husband! There have been times that he absolutely drives me nuts with all his little "habits", but I've learned to love them too. For example, almost every Sunday I make a roast (Matt's favorite) and as soon as we walk in the door he starts picking at it. It used to drive me insane...but if I want to remain sane, I just have to laugh it off. He always tells me, "When I die, you're going to wish I would pick at the roast!" That is so true! I can't believe we've been married for six years already, but in reality, it really doesn't seem like that long at all. (Matt says it feels like forever.) The longer we're married, the better husband Matt is, so I can't wait for these next six years to come.

We've had a lot of changes in these short years, like the birth of three wonderful sons! (I still can't believe I'm the mother of three sons!) We've bought and sold our first home, down graded to an apartment and have been living the dream of students! (Not that we weren't students prior to that, just not so poor!) We've gained some weight, lost some hair (not just Matt, I loss it after every birth, it just grows back!) We might not be as young and cute as when we first fell in love, but our love sure is stronger!

We don't get to do much celebrating since this is Matt's longest school day. He goes to lab from 6-9pm. It kinda stinks! So instead of having a nice meal together, Matt had left overs, while the boys and I had chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. Someday we can actually celebrate, for that matter, maybe someday we can actually go on a honeymoon! That'll be the day...that'll be the day!

(A picture Laura took of us at the temple. Matt's so hot!!)

Matt found this picture of us a while ago. I'm assuming it's when we were first married. I just think we look so cute and we're driving in one of the corrados! Matt with his classic sleepy eyes.
We don't have any recent pictures of just us together, So I tried doing a self portrait of us today...it didn't work so well. I guess that's what happens when you're not the same height. Matt really wasn't into perfecting it either.
Happy Anniversary Matthew! You really are the love of my life...or eternity! I'm so thankful for our wonderful marriage. We really are blessed! I love you Baby!


On a side note, I looked out the window this morning to find it snowing. By 10am it looked like this. Isn't suppose to be spring!?! I was pretty down about it, but then it all melted away. Phew! Matt just got home and asked if I had looked out the window lately. Go figure it's all back again. Crazy weather! Laura, I think we are in need of a trip to Arizona. Do you have room for a family of five!?!

Happy Anniversary!

(One of our engagement pictures!)

It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years today. Whenever our anniversary comes around, I always tend to think about all the things that happened during that time. It was a bitter/sweet experience for me. That's the best that I can do to describe it. I think of how excited and happy I was when Matt proposed, even though he actually never asked. I was just assuming he was proposing when he gave me the ring. So I don't even know if I ever said yes for that matter, and how did we ever end up married? Ha ha! I just remember that night and the next day feeling so lucky! He made me feel so important to him. It was really important for me that he asked for my Father's blessing. So he was sweet enough to call my Dad and tell him he proposed. Dad of course was excited and gave Matt some words of wisdom. I remember all that day just looking at my ring over and over and thinking how beautiful it was. (Matt picked out the ring all by himself, I didn't even know!) The wedding details were trivial to me. I didn't care, I just wanted to get married and know that I would spend all eternity with Matt. I guess that's why our engagement was only 2 months. I was so thankful to have Matt in my life when the night after we were engaged, Dad was killed. That was the hardest time in my life. But I couldn't have survived it without a blessing and knowing this was suppose to be the happiest time in my life. Matt was prompted to propose to me sooner then planned, and it's what got me through. Matt and I wondered if we were really suppose to get married when Grandpa Bushman died the day before our wedding. It was another bitter part of the process. (And we didn't really wondering if we weren't suppose to be married, we more just thought it was ironic!) But since Grandpa's funeral ended up being the day before our reception, I was lucky enough to have a lot of Dad's family there. It meant a lot to me since I didn't have my Dad. Not that it made up for the lose. So the process getting to our wedding day was rough, but I guess I wouldn't have changed it...it did bring us closer. Oh how I miss my Dad!
As I think back over these years, I think of all the things that have changed. The two wonderful children we have. (Some days I wonder why I ever wanted children.) ;) The way my body has changed from these pregnancies. (Will it ever be the same?) Matt's lose of hair. Ha ha! (Still just as handsome.) I think of all the trials we've overcome and how much stronger our relationship is from them. I'm amazed at how many times we have moved. Six times to date, and we are going to be moving to a bigger apartment in the next few months. (This is also counting the few months we lived with my mom while our house was being built.) I think of our first "house". It wasn't much, but it was ours, and it was new. I was sad to sell it. I was excited though when we moved our family to Pullman for Matt to finish school. (And I was also excited because I wasn't working anymore!)Five years...I can't believe it. I know maybe it's not that long in the long run...but right now it feels amazing. I love Matt more than I ever have! He is the most amazing man. (Even if he doesn't think so.) He loves me more then I know, and I know that he is totally committed to me. He is forgiving and honest. (He can't lie though...his face always tells the truth.) He is the most amazing father to our children, and they are so lucky to have him. He makes me happy on days that I am sad. And he always makes me see things in the other perspective. Matt I love you more then you know...and I'm so thankful to have you throughout eternity! Happy Anniversary!!

The Much Needed Vacation!

Matt and I were fortunate enough to get a much needed vacation last week to celebrate our 5th year anniversary . I surprised Matt and left the kids with the "Grandma's" and went to Coeur d' alene, Id to a Trendwest Resort. (Thanks to Tom and Brianne! They're the ones with Trendwest.) It was so nice to go to the Temple and shopping without kids!! We tried to sleep in...but couldn't sleep past 8:30 a.m., I guess that's still sleeping in. (I just imagined sleeping my day away!)It was beautiful there. It was right on the lake with lots of trees. Besides the construction it really was an awesome view. I would love to go back during the summer!!The pictures looked a little cloudy once I put them on the computer. Apparently someones little fingers touched the lens. So notice how everything looks pretty clear except the top center.