Is She Really 6 Already?!

     It's hard to believe it, but it's true!  Our beautiful Kelsey Rose is 6 years old!
     Kelsey was so lucky that her birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  She was very glad that she didn't have to go to school and could play all day!  She opened presents in the morning. Natalee ordered Kelsey a webkinz horse from amazon.com and unfortunately it arrived a couple of days late.  Haylee got her this fairy thing that gets bigger when it's soaked in water.  Mackenzie gave her a ball that lights up when you bounce it. (Avery is also very fond of that ball!)  Nathan gave her a Sofia the First puzzle. Daren and I gave her her very own swivel car because not long before her birthday she told us that she would "do anything for her very own swivel car."  In the afternoon we went to the park so she could play with her new swivel car and in the evening Grandma and Grandpa Moffitt and Grandma Poetschlag came over for dinner and cake and ice cream.  Kelsey is always smiling.  She has such a cute sense of humor and she is always trying to make people happy.  We love her so much and we are so grateful she is in our family!

Finally time for the big one! I think she had a pretty good idea what was inside. But she didn't know it was going to be light blue!

Haylee wrote Kelsey a special birthday message on the chalk board.

Our little comedian likes to give herself bunny ears in her pictures!

We Love to See the Temple

     On February 15, 2014, our family had the amazing opportunity to go to the Gilbert Temple Open House in Gilbert, Arizona.  It is such a beautiful temple!  We have been wanting to take our kids to a temple open house for a couple of years now and we knew this would be a great opportunity since we have family that lives so close to this temple.  Daren's sister Julene lives in Gilbert and my brother Matt lives in Goodyear, about an hour away.  So when the Church announced the open house dates and we saw that the last weekend was a 4 day weekend for us, we decided to make the trip.  I was extra excited to find out that the Gilbert Temple is the largest temple the church has built in 17 years.  All the temples are beautiful but I was excited to show the kids a really big one.
     The day finally came to go to the temple.  As we drove up and saw all the cars and the many people lined up and the beautiful temple in the background of it all, I just felt my emotions starting to overflow and I could feel the tears starting to come.  I was extremely excited to be inside the temple with my husband and all of our children.  I am not someone who likes to cry in front of people so it has been very distressing for me how easily I cry these days!  Luckily, the excitement took over and my emotions settled back down.
     We crossed the parking lot and got into line.  We waited for about 15 minutes or so until it was time to go into the new stake center that was built next to the temple.  Inside the chapel they showed a video that explained the history of temples in Arizona and explained the different rooms in the temple and what they were used for.  They said the idea was to answer most questions outside of the temple.  Quick questions inside were okay but for the most part they wanted it to be very quiet as we went through the temple.  There was also a place when you finished the tour to go and ask more questions.
     After we exited the stake center, the line moved very quickly.  Just before we entered the temple, there were several youth lined up to cover our feet with special slippers so we wouldn't get the temple carpets dirty.  Even Avery got her feet covered with the white booties.
     The inside of the temple was so beautiful!  I loved hearing the oohs and aahs of the kids.  My favorite part was showing them the mirrors in the sealing room and how they showed our family being eternal.  We picked up the ones that were a little too short so they could see themselves go on and on forever in the mirrors. The Celestial Room was a close second favorite.
     After we finished the tour we went around the outside of the temple and took some pictures.  The babies were getting a little fussy so we left for the day.  But the next morning before church, we went back and took more pictures without the huge crowds.
     I asked each of the kids to write down or tell me about their experience going to the temple.

Natalee: I felt very peaceful and happy and wanted to cry which I held back 'cause I was wearing mascara.
Haylee: While I was in the temple I wouldn't stop smiling even though the foot covers were annoying.
Mackenzie: When we went to the temple I felt the Spirit very strongly.  I felt closer to my family.
Kelsey: I felt like I was gonna cry and like I was so happy.  I felt like I was with Jesus.  And I felt like there was a lot of what I missed.  And I liked that there was a lot of beauty there.  It was so good!  I felt like I was about to cry.
Nathan: There was that thing with just water in it. I liked it.

     I just feel like I need to end this blog post by bearing my testimony of the temple.  I am so grateful for God's plan of happiness.  I am grateful for the family that he has blessed me with, immediate and extended, and I know that His plan is for us to be together forever and that He gave us temples to make that happen.  I know I need to get to the temple more often because everything in my life just goes better when I worship in the temple.  Being in the temple isn't just for the future.  It gives me the strength to better handle all the things going on in my life now.  I love the temple and I'm so grateful we were able to take our children to the see the Gilbert Temple!

Ami, Matt, and Leah

Jeff, Julene, and Sam

February 16, 2014

James David McFarlane

     On November 14, 2013, James David McFarlane made his debut! He is so adorable and I can't wait to hold him!  Congratulations Tim and Amy on your handsome little guy!

 

This picture is so cute but I just wish it showed all his hair!

Ward Christmas Party

Mackenzie and some other kids also did a musical number at the ward Christmas party. Mackenzie sang "Mary Did You Know?" while a few other kids from the ward signed it. It was so beautiful!

 

Mackenzie singing while the other kids sign

(Left to Right) Kyler Jenkins, Victoria Meyer, Kesney Jenkins

Mackenzie's beautiful smile

Haylee's Guitar Recital

Haylee has been improving at the guitar by leaps and bounds! She is now learning how to pluck out individual notes. Her very first guitar recital she played "America the Beautiful." She played the chords and sang the melody. This recital, about a year and a half later, she played the same song but plucked the notes. I love listening to Haylee play the guitar and I am so proud of her hard work. She also played and sang "Away in a Manger" with Daren for the ward Christmas party.

Haylee and her guitar teacher, Estela Schaeffer, after the recital.

November 2, 2013

Haylee and Daren singing "Away in a Manger" at the ward Christmas party

December 6, 2013

WHAT?!?! Is This Genetic?

CAUGHT IN THE ACT!

He sure thought he was funny. I asked Daren and he said Nate has never seen him drink from the jug. I guess it's just an instinct males are born with. :)

Family Pictures 2013

Pictures taken December 21, 2013. Thanks Mom for taking them!

The Hardy Family

 

Natalee Marie Hardy, age 12

Haylee Breann Hardy, age 10

Mackenzie Rae Hardy, age 8

Kelsey Rose Hardy, age 5

 

Nathan William Hardy, age 3

This smile was hard to get. He's at that age where we tell him to smile for the camera and he does this:

Avery Grace Hardy, age 1

Beautiful Hardy Kids

Daren and Lisa, happily married for 13 1/2 years

Names for Amy's Baby

     Amy and Tim are having their first baby boy in about a month and they haven't decided for sure what to name him yet.  So, what better family home evening activity than thinking of names for Tim and Amy's baby?!  We had a blast coming up with them and I think it was most fun to see what the little ones came up with.  You are welcome Amy and Tim. :)

Natalee emailed her list to me:

Andrew( our neighbors grandsons name )

Sean( so mom doesn't use it, a mean kids name )

Anthony( a friend from Pierce)

Alexander( I love this name, you could also call him Alex )

Leo( lab rats )

Adam( lab rats )

Chase( lab rats )

I looked up names and one was Baby. I wonder what country uses that name?

 

FYI:Lab Rats is a TV show Natalee really likes right now. Not classroom pets.

 

Haylee's suggestions: Tim Jr., David, Conner, Daniel, Jacob, John, José, Mason, Jake, Mike, Jeff, James, Martin, Gabe, Saul, Carl, Tegain

 

Mackenzie's suggestions: Alexander, Jaren, Caden, Nathaniel, Travis, Kevin, Geoffrey, Isaiah, Gabriel

 

Kelsey's suggestions: Andrew, Nathan, Jeremiah, Liam, Aiden, Darren, Blake, Sebastian, Joseph (or Joey)

 

Nathan's suggestions: Joey, Shawn

 

Daren's suggestions: Harlan, Christopher, Carlton, Laston (inspired by a mixture of Lassiter and Carlton), Sheldon, blah, blah, blah, I'm not even typing the rest of the ridiculous things he came up with.  Daren's totally serious suggestion: Noah, he has always loved that name.

 

Lisa's suggestions: Luke, Gabriel (I really like the meaning), Jackson (Jack!), Owen, Zachary (also a great meaning), Benjamin, Grant, and Aaron

 

Just to clarify, this is not to try to sway you from using any name that is currently your favorite.  We chose this activity with the knowledge that you are still unsure if you want to use your current favorite and are looking at other options.  So we thought we could give you some alternate ideas just in case one of them stood out to you and helped you make a final decision.  Happy name hunting!

Cornelius and the Mouse

     We are snake-sitting for the summer!  Natalee offered to take care of Cornelius, an albino corn snake that belongs to Mr. Whiting, a science teacher at Monroe.  He is a very friendly snake, but it didn't take long for Natalee to decide that she doesn't want to be a snake owner after all.  About a week after getting Cornelius, it was time to go pick up a mouse from Mr. Whiting for him to eat.  Natalee was having a hard time choosing because she thought all the little mice were adorable.  Mr. Whiting finally grabbed a black one for her to take.  We took the mouse home and she put Cornelius in and the mouse together in a plastic bin.  She was feeling horrible about it, but Cornelius didn't eat it.  It turned out Cornelius was about to shed and we ended up keeping that mouse for almost two weeks!  The worse part: Nathan adored it.  I kept catching him playing with it.  He would take it out of the plastic bin and carry it around and put it on his shoulder and put it up to his cheek and make it "kiss" him.  Once I caught him rolling it between his hands like he was making a play dough snake and had to quickly stop him.  I was wondering if the mouse was starting to look forward to the snake. :)  We had brought in a huge black plastic horse feeder to put it in with Cornelius.  Once when Cornelius didn't eat it again, it was still in the feeder and Nate picked it up and was holding it.  I told him to put it away and leave it in there so he did.  Seconds later I turned around and he had climbed in with the mouse and was talking to it.  Silly boy!
     Well, Cornelius did eventually eat the mouse.  And luckily, Nathan wasn't devastated about it one bit.  He didn't seem to even notice that the mouse was gone.  But it was still hard on Natalee.  I predict that she will stop asking for a snake and I'm guessing this is her last time snake sitting too.

Baby Bird Update

     On June 1, all three baby birds hopped out of their nest.  Unfortunately, this was much to the delight of our two dogs.  It is a wonder that any of them survived.  Somehow the girls went out just in time to save one.  They thought they had saved two and put them both in the nest.  But one of them died right after they put it in the nest.  The last one hopped back out and we realized the nest just wasn't a safe place for it anymore.  We took it in the house for the night and then locked the dogs up the next day so we could reunite it with its mother.  She found it right away and started taking care of it.  I read online that our little bird was at what is called the "fledgling" stage.  During this stage it lives on the ground and its mother takes care of it and teaches it survival skills.  We brought it out front in the hopes that it would survive better.  We even put it in a large open container and locked the cat in the garage.  Daren walked out of the front door just as some other cat was about to get it.  We ended up bringing it in for the night one more time.  But since our lives couldn't revolve around the baby bird, we put it out the next morning, made sure the momma bird found it, and went to run our errands.  We never saw any evidence that it didn't survive so we just hope that it did and wonder if any of the little birds flying around are our baby bird.

Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

Here I'm 2....

.....Now I'm 3!!!

     On June 26th I said goodnight to my 2 year old and the next day said good morning to my 3 year old.  I can't believe this little guy is 3!  We had such a fun day celebrating.  We started with present opening.  Each of his sisters (except Avery) found a gift for Nate from something they owned or at the Dollar Tree, or both.  They sure love their brother.
     Daren and I gave Nathan a batting tee, a baseball mitt and ball, a pack of wiffle balls, and some refill bullets for a Nerf gun.  Natalee gave Nathan her Nerf gun.  Haylee gave him a car ramp that she had purchased at a yard sale and all her old Go Diego Go toys.  Mackenzie gave him a glow in the dark snake that grows in water.  Kelsey gave him a pair of Cars goggles for when we go to the pool and her old Go Diego Go blanket.  It was so fun watching him unwrap his gifts.  He squealed in delight with every present he opened.  His sisters were so happy.
     After lunch we went to the pool with Grandma Moffitt and cousin Steven, who was visiting from Utah.  Everyone had a great time!  Nate wanted an ice cream but they ran out so we got him a Gatorade instead.  He still loved his Gatorade.
     We left at about 4:00 and came home to make dinner.  I didn't really know what Nate's favorite dinner was (I really didn't want to make chicken nuggets) but I know he always wants seconds and thirds when I make meatloaf.  So we had meatloaf, baked potatoes, and orange flesh honeydew melon.  I hope he liked it but he was pretty distracted by having his best cousin over.  Nathan and Jetty have become very best friends ever since Jeff and Amber moved here.  I'm so happy he has a little boy to grow up with.  One of these days he's bound to realize he doesn't have any brothers. :)
     Nathan opened some more presents from family.  Grandma Poetschlag gave him $5 to buy something for himself.  Grandma and Grandpa Moffitt gave him a remote control car (Finn McMissile from Cars 2), and Jetty gave him a pack of 2 Nerf guns that he picked out for him and Nate to play with together.  The two immediately went off playing guns.  They make the cutest gun noises. :)  It was so adorable.  Nathan also got his present from Grandma Bobbi.  It was a Cars sleeping bag in a hamper.  He has been sleeping with it every night and just adores it.
     I think our little boy had a pretty happy birthday.  Today it was thrilling for him to weigh himself on the Wii Fit Plus and move from Baby Stats to a Body Test.  It made his Mii go from a baby to a standing little dude and he just laughed like crazy when he saw that. :)  Nathan is such a fun little boy and we are so grateful for him.  Having a little brother does mean occasionally being shot by Nerf guns, hit by plastic swords, etc. but the girls seem okay with it. :)
     A funny thing that happened after his birthday dinner and presents: my mom was trying to take a picture of him shooting his Nerf gun so I told him to shoot Grandma so she would have the perfect angle to take a great picture.  Well, Nate was standing right by Grandma Poetschlag who was sitting in the recliner and he obeyed me instantly.  He turned and shot Grandma Poetschlag right in the neck!  She was a good sport about it and played dead with her tongue out and everything, which made him laugh.
     Happy birthday sweet little guy!  We love you!

The kids wanted some frosting after I finished decorating the cupcakes....so I gave them some!

 

Kelsey is ready for the pool.  The dollar is so she can buy herself an ice cream.  Just before this, she was sitting on my bed and said to me, "Mom, Nathan still looks like a 2 year old to me." :)

Wrinkly toes! Nathan stayed in the water a LONG time!

He was worn out and had to take a little nap after swimming.

 

 

Avery the photo bomber!