birthdays, reunions, and adventures

Austin and Malachi playing at the park

Caleb, Malachi, and Betsy playing on the spinner

At the zoo

more at the zoo

Samuel didn't believe me, that his freckles were coming out, so I took a picture to show him

At the Olympic training center, where Michael Phelps and other Olympic swimmers practice

Interesting train we saw along the road.

pretty rainbow

hiking at the garden of the gods

Malachi making us laugh by squishing his face into the plastic after our bike ride

Grandma and Malachi in Denver, CO

Caleb having fun being a fire fighter in the children's museum in Denver

Malachi loved playing with the balls at the children's museum

Caleb built a car at the museum, with Grandma's help

Caleb and Samuel being super hero with their capes Grandma and Grandpa Hardy got for them from Mexico

Malachi showing us he's sad

Uh Oh...Samuel hurt his mouth at the children's museum

Betsy hiding in the gigantic treehouse at the museum

Caleb loved the trains at the museum

Malachi's left eye is all droopy from his infection and fever

Joseph is a teenager!!  He loves his books from Grandma and Grandpa Hardy

Joseph's jacket he got from Grandpa Kirkman

Joseph's candy bar cake!

Malachi pretending he's a pirate

The boys taking baths in the kitchen sink

Caleb playing with the turtles on sunday at our outdoor sacrament meeting at the Hardy reunion in Aspen Grove, UT

Travis climbing the ropes course at the hardy reunion

Travis trying to catch me on the little go carts at the reunion

Grandpa Hardy and cousin conner at the cowboy village at the reuion

Austin climbing the ropes course

Austin and Tessa learned to knit from Grandma Hardy at the reunion

Joseph climbing the ropes course

Beautiful view on our hike

Me hiking with sleeping Malachi on my back

Travis and my Dad once we reached the falls on our hike

Samuel and Issac hiking with their group 

The Hardy volleyball team

Caleb was a pirate

Samuel singing with his group on stage

Caleb loved how big the drawers were at our hotel in park city

Malachi climbing the bridge at the kirkman reunion trip to the treehouse museum

King Malachi

Once again Caleb loves being a fire fighter

Joseph swinging on the rope swing after our hike at the kirkman reunion on powder mountain 

The video of Malachi making us laugh on our bike ride.

Caleb after his haircut

Samuel after his haircut

Joseph and Malachi playing together at focus on the family

Malachi climbing up the slide at IT'Z

Malachi climbing on Travis' car

Betsy sliding on the mexican hat slide in Denver

Caleb loved the slide too

Betsy climbing at the park

Playing at the splash pad

Climbing the rock wall at fun city

Caleb was in heaven with all of these balls

Malachi's left eye still doesn't open as well as the right eye

Caleb coming to tell me he made a mess of the powdered sugar

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This past month has been so crazy, I really should have been better about updating my blog, because I know I'll forget tons of stuff.  We had some great times on vacation, we went to two family reunions and had lots of fun with family.
We drove to Denver to meet my Mom the first week of June.  She was there with my Dad for a financial conference.  We had a great time with my mom at the children's museum.  They loved playing there.  Samuel got an injury, but other than that everyone seemed to have a great time.  We had a picnic lunch, that was going great until Malachi had a huge burst of poop, and it squirted out his diaper and all over him and me.  I My Mom must have been inspired and had brought a onesie from Mexico for him, and we were able to change him, and I was able to go in the bathroom, and get as much poop out as I could.  We went for a walk by the river, and got caught in a huge downpour, but we were able to take refuge under a bridge, until it lightened up, then picked up my Dad and went to dinner at the spaghetti factory, it was delicious.  We had a fun time, but it was obvious the Malachi wasn't feeling well, he had had a fever all day long.  The next day, again Malachi had a fever all day long, and the next, and his left eye was very droopy, and he wan't to be held.  I took him into the emergency room, and got him checked out.  The dr. asked me if the baby had been around anyone who smoked, and I said yes, we have had company who smokes.  He told me the dangers of second and third hand smoke and that the smoke had caused the tissue around his eye to become infected.  He gave me antibiotics for him, and said it was extremley important that I give it to him regulary, because if the infected got behind his eye, it was really bad, and he would need to be hospitalized.  Travis had a counseling appointment, so he dropped off the rest of the kids at the hospital to me, and drove to his appointment.  When the kids and I had gotten Malachi's medicine, we went to the car to drive home.  Unfortunately I realized that Travis had Malachi's car seat in his car, and we were stuck.  I had no idea how long Travis' counseling would go (they can take hours) and knew he wouldn't answer his phone, but I was hoping his appointment
On my birthday I took the kids to the library, but Joseph and Samuel had not finished their chores, and it wasn't too hot out, so I left Joseph and Samuel in the car.  I told the girls to hurry, and we gathered up our books and went to check out (probably about 10 minutes had gone by), as we were checking out a policewoman came into the library and said she needed to announce that she was looking for the owner of a white minivan.  I said I owned a white minivan, and she asked me to follow her.  We were in the middle of checking out our books, so I asked if we could finish, and she said "yes".  So the girls, caleb, malachi, and I all followed the policewoman out.  As soon as we reached the outer door, I could see 3 police cars all with flashing lights surrounding my vehicle, and 5-6 police man around my car, and a few by library doors.  I just thought "oh no, what did the boys do".  As I approached our vehicle, one of the policemen told me they had received a call from a woman stating I had left my children in the car.  I said "yes, but it isn't hot out, and my oldest is 13, and capable of watching his 7 year old brother in the car for a few minutes" and opened up the van door to reveal Joseph laying down in the back seat (Samuel was sitting happily in the front enjoying all the attention of the police officers).  The police officers all seemed to relax, as soon as they saw Joseph pop up from the back seat.  Apparently he had been lying down the whole time, and nobody saw him, and thought I had left Samuel in there alone.  The officer who had spoken before, told me everything was fine, and he would have done the same thing, took down my information, and let us leave.
The night before we left on vacation we had the military ball.  We got all dressed up, and dropped off Malachi at the bishop's daughter's house, his first time with a babysitter.  Travis realized as we left that I had a long bleach type stain down the back of my dress, so we quickly drove back home, and I changed into another dress.  We enjoyed an evening with good food and each other, we left as soon as Travis had given the benediction to go get Malachi, becuase it had gone longer than we thought.  Malachi was not happy when we picked him up, he had been crying for a while, but he survived.
We left early the next morning and drove to Aspen Grove, near Provo, UT.  It was a beautiful location, the mountains were stunning.  We had a blast staying in the family lodge with my dad, mom, brothers, and sisters, and their familes.  The kids had activities with thier age groups all week.  Caleb and Samuel loved their age group activies, and the older kids liked them, but some of the time would just play with their cousins instead.  Malachi did pretty good too, I was impressed.  Travis and I loved spending time together, and getting to do fun activities.  They had competitions going all week, and we enjoyed playing badminton, ping pong, and tennis.   We also went on a beautiful hike, did the ropes course, and playing with all they had to offer.  We absolutely loved that all the meals were provided, it was so nice to not have to worry about any cooking for a week.  It was a wonderful week, playing and relaxing with familiy, the only downside, was that the flu started going around, but it didn't hit our family.  After we left we drove to Park City, and stayed the night there, just our family.  It was so nice, we stayed in a 2-bedroom suite, that was awesome.  We loved it, and the hotel pool was salt water, not chlorine so that was awesome too.  We went bowling, and had fun swimming.  We drove up Powder Mountin, near Ogden, Utah for the kirkman family reunion with Travis' sisters, and mom.  We were on the very top of a mountian top, about 9,000 ft elevation.  The resort wasn't that nice, but it was fine.  We had stopped on our way up the mountain to buy all the groceries for the week, since we were making all our own food.    The resort had a pool, and the kids loved swimming every day.  We had fun hiking to a little hidden lake with a rope swing, and a big pile of snow (it looked like it was a ski jump).  I ended up having to carry Malachi and Caleb back up to our room, and it was quite the workout.  Caleb got sick with the flu, so we stayed in the room while everyone else went into Ogden to go to the Dinosaur Park.  I was getting terrible sleep, and exhuasted during the day.  Malachi wasn't feeling good, and I was up with him until 4am, and then Caleb woke up just after I finally got Malachi to sleep.  I spent the day playing card and board games with the girls.  The next day everyone was feeling better so we went into Ogden to the Treehouse Museum, it was fun.  The kids had a great time playing with the the things, and even got to participate in a play, where Joseph played a King, and Samuel was a sheep.  The Museum was also next to a Deseret Book store, so we ended up getting a ton of books.  The night before we left, I took Joseph on the hidden lake hike, becuase he got into trouble and wasn't allowed to come with us the first time.  While we were leaving, I fell down a steep section, somersaulting a couple of times before I hit the bottom.  I was wearing a jacket, and long pants, so my scrapes were minimal, and I was able to get up and walk, so Joseph and I continued our hike.  My right arm/hand hurt the worst, and was hurting pretty bad after a while, so we didn't stay too long at the lake, and hiked back.  I couldn't use my right arm at all, so it made everything difficult to do.  It still hurt pretty good the next morning, so as we were leaving we drove into Ogden to an Urgent Care, and got my hand x-rayed, it wasn't broken, thankfully, but was badly sprained, so they gave me a brace to wear.  We drove until we got to Rawlins, WY and took a break from our driving and ate dinner, after dinner there was a walk going on for Cancer, so we joined and walked around the city hall block 5 times, before we continued on our way.  We finally made it home after midnight, and went to sleep.  While we were on vacation, Travis' Dad and Bonnie were house-sitting, since they still didn't have enough money to pick up their car.  I gave them specific instructions on how to take care of things while we were gone.  They did take good care of our chickens, but let them stay all over the shed, instead of the coop we made for them inside the shed, so now there is poop all over the shed and everything we were storing in it.  I still have yet to tackle to project of cleaning it out.  I had also asked them to water the garden, and various indoor and outdoor plants.  They said they watered everything, but when I came back the garden was completely dried out, my strawberry plants dead, and all my indoor plants and herbs were completely dried out and dead.  I had invested so much time and money into those things, that it was very upsetting to me, to see them dead.  The house was a mess, and their stuff was everywhere inside and out when we returned.  It didn't smell very good either.  Also the day before they left, Malachi found a cigarette butt underneath the couch, and started chewing on it.  I was so upset!  There was most definitely not supposed to be any cigarettes in the house.  That was just the last straw for me, I couldn't handle it any more, my patience was gone.  I wrote them a note explaining to them what happened with Malachi, and explaining how hard it is for me to be around smoking (gives me headaches and stomachaches) even third hand smoke (just smelling it on their clothes, person, room, furniture, and room that they have been in)  I told them they needed to leave as soon as possible, that day if possible, and that I loved them, the smoking is just too much for me.  I was just completely overwhelmed, I feel love for them, they are family, and children of God, but I feel so taken advantage of,  and can't comprehend how they can do the things they do, so this has been a very difficult emotional trial for me.   I took the kids and left for the rest of the day, and took them to IT'Z, we had a fun time playing, and didn't come home until bed time.  Travis' Dad and wife finally left about midnight July 3rd after a 2-3 day visit that started in May turned into 7 weeks. They left the front door wide open and all the lights on, so when I woke up at 4:30 to feed Malachi, I was able to shut the front door and turn off the lights, but not before a ton of bugs invaded our home, I'm just glad no racoons, or other wildlife or people came in. When I went downstairs to wake up Joseph at 7:30am, because I had to go to a dr. appointment for Malachi, I discovered our flooded basement.   After finally figuring out how to turn off the water main, the leak still didn't stop. The water was all leaking from a clogged main drain to the house. I spent all day long, until 10 pm using a shop vac to suck all the excess water out of the basement carpets, and shampooing them. We paid $109 for the drain guy, to unclog our main drain, and went without water to the house for most of the day. Austin spent the day cleaning out her bedroom and bathroom that our guests had been using during their stay, cleaning out cigarettes, ashes, coffee stains, trash, used cups, dishes, and utensils, and throwing away bedding and rugs that are now basically unusable, It looked to me like they had been smoking in the bedroom, and I couldn't believe how trashed it was. She barely made a dent in the cleaning that needs to be done, not to mention how to get rid of the smell. She used an entire can of air freshner, and it still stinks. Anyway super long day full of disgusting jobs cleaning. But we are happy to have our house to ourselves again.  We are still trying to get the rest of our house and yard in order, since it was so bad.  Anyway the next day The carpet and area still stunk horribly, and still completely soaked, so I called a flood restoration company, and they came and explained that due to the raw sewage, all the carpeting, cabinets, and walls that got wet would need to be completely replaced.  They also told me that our homeowner's insurance would cover the cost, so we started getting a claim filed, found out we still had to pay for the drain repair, and $1000 deductible.  Then the company got to work, tearing everything apart.  We are also having to replace a huge love sac, some sensory crash pads, our entertainment center, and a futon mattress from downstairs.  Then the next day, we had standing water again in the basement and had to call the drain people to come back, and unclog a different drain from the basement, so we had to pay another fee, since it was a different drain.  I have been so stressed out and frustrated from everything going on, and trying to get the kids to listen and obey, and help clean up after there messes.  I am still very upset and emotional about everything that happened with Travis' dad and bonnie, I'm trying to forgive them, but I'm really struggling.  I made the mistake of venting a little about it on facebook, and offended Travis' half brother, so I apologized and removed my post, I don't normally post things like that, and realized he was right, I shouldn't be posting about that stuff on facebook.  This is my personal family blog, which is mostly private so it is a more appropriate outlet for me.  I honestly don't know who reads my blog, it is for me to keep a remembrance of things that have happened, it helps me work through my thoughts and emotions, and helps me to be able to let it go,  and I'm not forcing anyone to read it.  If I get too personal, just stop reading it.  

Anyway, back to some more family happenings.  We went to Denver on Monday, since Travis had a funeral to do, and wanted us to come with him.  The kids and I hiked around a little an found an awesome park.  The kids had a great time playing, and were getting really hot, but just in time the splash pad turned on, and they enjoyed getting soaking wet in their clothes.  After we picked up Travis from the funeral, we went to an indoor amusement park called "Fun City" we had a great time playing the rest of the day.  Caleb and Malachi loved the foam ball area, it was three stories tall, and full of foam balls that could shoot around.  We enjoyed laser maze, laser tag, go karts, bowling, miniature golf, rock climbing, and the arcade area.   OnTuesday we went to Costco and got home just before the drain guys showed up.  Austin was helping me lift the 50lb bag of powdered sugar out of the back of the van, when it caught on Samuel's suitcase (he brought a suitcase with snacks and his green hulk costume) and ripped a hole, cause a huge cloud of powdered sugar to blow up in our faces. The drain guys happened to drive up just as this happened.  Anyway we were quite the sight covered in powdered sugar, not to mention that it was all over the back of the van and driveway.  I got Samuel to vacuum out the back of the van, since it was his suitcase that caused the bag to rip, and he decided he also needed to vacuum up the water in the little pool in the front yard.  I came outside and the vacuum was leaking water all over.  I had Samuel throw away the vacuum bag, and then explained the difference between a shop vac(the one I used to suction up water in the basement), and a regular vacuum.  

Caleb decided to make a big mess of the powdered sugar bag, and was sticking his hand in it, and then running to the sink to wash it off, then repeating the process, until a nice big sticky mess was made.  Austin was in charge of sweeping and mopping that day, and decided to sweep it up with the broom, and a bucket of water.  She thought she had figured out a great way to combing sweeping and mopping, until she realized the floor was a sticky, syrupy, mess. So then she got out the mop and mopped it up, and then used that same water and mopped the rest of the house, since it was her chore.  She failed to realize that she was just spreading around the stickiness, so now all the floors in the house are sticky.  It took several more tries mopping to get it all cleaned up, Caleb thought it was funny to have his shoes stick to the floor as he walked around.
We finally got Austin's room that Travis' Dad and Bonnie had been using cleaned up, but had to move Samuel and Joseph in it, since the basement is under construction.  
Malachi is getting really close to walking, but I keep telling the kids not to encourage him too much, because then it will be much harder to catch him.  The last two Sundays, we've been able to keep Caleb sitting down with the rest of the family  while I play the organ.  I am so relieved, it makes playing much easier.