Monday, August 25, 2008

And just like that...

Taylor's 1st day of school - Senior Year
(Taken after school, didn't want to get up at 5 am to do it, [early morning seminary]. Thanks for humoring me Tay!)


Landon's first day of school - 8th grade
(Annoyed that I would force him to take his picture. He is "too old for this crap".)

I remember when I was little how slowly time seemed to move. It always seemed to drag. Now, time is flying by! Years pass in what seems like a blink of an eye. Why this reflection? Today marks the start to a new school year. My very first baby is now a senior. I swear I just graduated. It can't be almost 20 years ago, can it? I still feel like a teenager, (clearly from some of my previous blogs). Well, in my mind I still feel like a teenager, long gone are the days where I can get by on little or no sleep & eat anything I want with no consequences, also I must mention the fine lines, gray hairs, aches and pains. Although there is some sorrow in lost youth, in all honesty, I wouldn't go back for anything. The last 20 years I've lived, laughed, loved & cried more than I would have thought possible. I have experienced life at it's finest & made it through some pretty rough storms. I truly have much to be grateful for. The best things in my life, the things I'm most proud of, the things that are worth more to me than anything have happened in these past 20 years.
Another school year begins, and time continues to fly. Taylor starts his senior year. Landon, starts 8th grade which will be his last before starting high school. Emma, starts 5th and her last in elementary school, (now I'm freaking myself out a bit), & Sawyer starts 2nd grade. Seriously, where has time gone?
If you ask Sawyer what the rule is in our house, he'll answer with a big goofy smile, "No growing up!" My kids never listen. :)

Emma's first day of school - 5th grade
(Arghh... She's now accessorising.)


Sawyer's first day of school - 2nd grade

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Summer Happenings

Okay, I know it's been a while. Summer is drawing quickly to an end. Here's some of what's been happening.
After months (I'm not exagerating here. We are talking over 6 months.). Sawyer finally lost his 2 front teeth. Landon did have to pin him down to pull them out. We bribed him with $, video games, treats. The teeth would have stayed in forever had it not been for Landon's intervention.


My teenage boys (Taylor, Landon, & my "other kid" Talyn), have been in a "vandalism war" with some of the girls in our ward. I have lost a lot of sleep because of this. It's not my baby daughter getting me up in the middle of the night, she's been sleeping through the night since she was 2 weeks old (sorry Tami), it's the 16, 15 & almost 14 year old. It has been kind of fun reliving my teen years. They've made me proud. They have not made their father proud. We've been driving him crazy. He was finally able to tell them "I told you so.", when the boys and girls teamed up in an attempt to get another girl. Her parents did not find it as entertaining as the rest of us had and called the parents of one of the girls who proceeded to drag all the girls over at 6am to clean up their work. Sadly, the boys slept through the phone calls from the girls and so they did not join in the clean up efforts. This did not endear them to said parents or the girls. Boys will be boys.
Here are some of the fruits of their labors.


The girls than retaliated in kind.

Basically they cleaned up their yard, and dumped it on ours. I give them points for recycling. They also saran wrapped our porch, which gave the boys the idea when they went and got Shantel. They did such a great job. They pretty much made a 5 foot saran wrap wall on her porch. Unfortunately no pics were captured. I'd left the memory card plugged into the computer. My bad! Shantel refused to take pictures for Taylor. Her dad made her get up at 5 am to clean it up so he could pull out of the driveway to get to work. Her comment when Taylor asked for photo's was "Take them yourself, you should have brought your own camera.". When Taylor explained why the moment hadn't been captured, her response, "So sad.". After some sleep, she did admit they'd done a good job. It was a proud moment for a retired vandal to see the work of my boys. It's a shame there are no photos. (Before anyone judges, all parents who had been involved previous to the one fiasco, have enjoyed the "war". I have not been the only parent to drive the getaway car. It's been a blast for most everyone!)
Last but not least, we have been able to welcome 2 new neices into the Hardy clan. Julia Avalon Hardy was born on June 25th to Matt and Holly. They are living in South Dakota and unfortunately we've only been able to see pictures. She's a cutie! We hope to see them at Thanksgiving.
Megan Anne Hardy was born on Sunday, August 10th to Paul and Shauna. It's been a tough road for Shauna who came down with Bells Palsy a week or two ago. I know both she and Paul are thrilled to finally have a little girl (they have 3 boys), even though it may take some adjusting to all the pink. :)

Emma and Megan & Megan and Sara (Sara seems so big!)

Last but not least, Shauna and her new baby girl. Can you believe all the hair?


Very soon we will be welcoming a new nephew. Brian and Cynthia will be having their little boy in the next few weeks. We can't wait to see him. Poor guy will have to deal with a bunch of girl cousins his age, (I'm sure Chad can relate.). And then just like that, the fun days of summer will soon be coming to an end. Me, I think like most parents, are looking forward to it. Mostly, so I can get a little sleep. :P
PS Landon did call the parents of the girl they got who weren't so happy and apologized for not coming and helping clean up. He said it was all meant in fun and not mean spirited in any way. He offered to do yard work. The mother, I think, was blown away. What a great kid!