After my last post, we went into baseball tournament. Jakob's team fought hard and won the championship for the city. Because of trek and scout camps the following week, the city allowed his age group to have the whole tournament in one day. It was a tiring day but totally worth it as they won the last game and picked up their trophies.
We had to drive straight from there to my book launch (we gave him just enough time to change before zooming off) in Provo.
I got to be part of the Trifecta Books launch with the other Trifecta authors. It was great. We had many people come to purchase books and it was fun to meet the other authors. We were surprised by a visit from a good friend I know from one of the writing sites I am part of.
My sisters came with their kids and it was fun to see them. My nephew even had his hair stylist put gold in his hair in honor of my leprechaun books. It was awesome!
That night we went to Sizzler with all the Trifecta Books people and their families. My kids declared it the best restaurant ever. Jakob loved his steak and the other kids enjoyed the salad bar.
The next week, we went to Sun Valley with my whole family. My dad is the National Potato Council President and we were there for a potato council meeting. And It. Was. Awesome. My kids are begging to go back again.
On our way to Idaho, we went to Hastings in Ogden to drop off my books to sell on consignment (yay!). It was exciting to have them sitting on a shelf. After we were done there, we headed on up to Sun Valley.
It was a long trip in the car, but we were all too excited to care. We checked ourselves in to the condo we'd be staying at and then headed to Smoky Mountain Pizza to eat dinner with my sister, Charlotte, and her kids. The food was delicious. They even had a dish that Jakob was able to eat with the gluten/dairy intolerances he has. The waitress was fantastic, and did well with the 11 kids and four adults.
We met up with my parents and other siblings and walked through the condos we'd be staying in. We stayed with my sister, Kristen, and the condo was easily big enough for all fifteen of us. The cousins loved sharing rooms.
Early Wednesday morning we got up and drove back to Hailey for groceries and then headed back so we could go swimming.
The round pool at the resort is waaarm and the kids had a blast. Heidi stayed on the ledge where she could circle around the pool where the water was waist deep. Heidi and Ethan both learned to swim! They were taking breaths and diving under. It was so fun to see them enjoying the water. I floated for hours, not having to worry about deadlines or appointments, or anything else. It was heavenly.
That night, we got all dressed up and headed over to the ice skating rink. Except for the poor guy who broke a few bones, everyone had a wonderful time and I learned that I have a few little ice skaters in the making. Heidi would get frustrated when I stopped to talk to my mom or dad, and she'd let go and stomp away (on her ice skates) and skate until I could catch up. Jakob, Andy, and Ashley were doing tricks on their skates, and I managed to show off a few spins. We were sad when the hour was up and we had to put away our skates.
Thursday was spent with swimming, swimming, and more swimming. Steve was even able to swim for a while. Poor guy had just been put on a project a few weeks before that so he couldn't take off work. He had a slight break between meetings and came over to play for a while. We could have gone on a drive with the other siblings, but I was happy to stay and swim.
That evening we dressed up fancy and headed off to a different lodge for dinner. My dad presented a few things and we ate the most scrumptious food ever.
Then it was time for the auction. It was so much fun to watch. The group of farmers there were like one big family. The jokes that flew and the way they treated each other with teasing and caring was beautiful to watch. My nieces took the items to the winners and Jakob got in a bidding war with another guy for a pillow pet tractor.
The next morning we checked out early and headed toward a potato packing shed. We stopped at the ice caves for the kids to find a souvenir. After we all picked out something, we continued on our way. We got to the shed just in time to tour the potato shed with my dad as the tour guide. It was so cool. He had a smaller one in Oakley for years and that was a fun tour, but this was probably double or triple the size. If you ever get a chance to tour a shed, do it!
After we were done there, we headed over to another factory where we were fed lunch and went through a tour where they built farm equipment. It was so cool to see them cut the pieces of equipment out of metal just like a puzzle. Then they assembled and painted the harvesters and other machinery. The equipment goes all over the world!
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| The grandkids taking a break from riding in the car. Grandma tried to get them to stand still for a picture but they were having way too much fun. |
My family had to leave after the party so we could get back for sports the next day. Jakob and Andy stayed overnight and came home with Charlotte. It was strange not having them with us, but they had a great time.
When we got back from Idaho, we picked up our baby chicks. They're Pioneer (or dairy rainbow) chickens. We also got a different chicken that my son called Oreo because she's black. We think she's a bantam chicken but we haven't figured it out. We just know she's pretty.
July 2014
July brought lots of cleaning and working so we could be ready for Gavin's baptism. On the fourth, my parents came down and we went to the park by our old house. We ate chicken, fruit, and yumminess, while watching the fireworks across Utah Valley. It was like little giant flowers bursting all over the valley. It was fun to share it with my family.
Saturday morning we woke up and hurried over to the church for Gavin's baptism. Sabrina Ellis gave the opening prayer. Rachelle gave the talk on baptism, Grandma Hardy gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and then Gavin was baptized by his dad. He was so worried to go under the water but afterward he told me it was great. Jerry Ellis and Eric Ducos were the witnesses. Ashley sang Baptism for the musical number and then Steve, Grandpa Hardy, Eric Ducos, Jerry Ellis, and Jeff Hearn confirmed him. Brother Rowland from the bishopric also spoke. Grandpa Hardy gave the closing prayer.
We went back to our house for lunch and to visit. It was fun to have everyone there in our new house. After everyone left, Rachelle and her family came back to help with our chicken pen. We got the basic framing done that day and I was excited to see it coming together. By the next week I'd decided we needed to have our pen completely finished. But we'll get to that in a second.
The next Friday (11th), Steve took Andy to a campout and Jakob was supposed to be going to the science center, but because things fell through, I wanted to make things fun for him at home.
We started with 7-11 to get our free slurpees. Then we tried two places to get a few wii games resurfaced. While we waited for the second place to fix the disks, we went to Barnes and Noble and I let the kids pick out a book. We then went home and let the kids play their newly fixed games. They were thrilled.
When Steve and Andy got home the next day, I insisted we spend the rest of the day building our chicken coop. The chicks were outgrowing the cages and the smell had far outgrown our garage. Blech.
Charlotte came over and helped with the fence around it while we built the house for the chickens. We finished up at 11:30 pm and the chickens were thrilled to have their new house where they could run around and stretch their wings. They were fine before, but this was so much better.
Monday morning, Andy, Jakob, and I made our way down to baseball tournament. We sat in 100 degree heat for three days but it was a lot of fun. Oh, did I say fun? The games were fun. Cheering on my kids was fun. The insanely poor sportsmanship of the other teams was NOT.
We had one lady throw a bottle at one of our team members and refused to apologize. She felt totally okay with it and got nasty when the coach insisted she apologize. The crowds swore at our team, our coach, and complained about plays. But you know, I was very pleased with how well we reacted. Which means that we didn't. The team didn't let it get to them, and the parents let it go (except the bottle throwing incident). Both teams lost the first game, which was sad.
The second game Jakob's team won and he got an awesome hit. I had to leave a little early to go over to Andy's game and I was dying to see how it ended. Andy's team had done very well in the city games but lost two in tournament. They then lost the first two games in the state tournament and the last game was a nail biter. They pulled through with a win at the end, but still got out since they had to win two to get seeded. It was a great experience for my boys. Yes, the good and the bad. I'd like to think they can get through life with happiness and roses, but it just doesn't happen.
Friday morning we celebrated Andy's birthday. He didn't want to wait for me to make the cake so he attempted to do it himself. I didn't have any of the cake, but from what everyone else told me, it was actually pretty good.
Opening presents
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| We wrapped the boy instead of the presents. |
Seeing Andy in this chair reminded me that he shared a birthday with his Great-Grandma Hardy. Man, I miss her!
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Saturday morning, Steve and Jakob ran the 5k. Steve hadn't done much running before the race and he was worn out at the end. Jakob got just under half an hour. The younger kids did well in their mile race. Heidi never once stopped and the others worked very hard as well. Andy had hoped to win the race this year but didn't place. Hopefully next year he'll do more training. He has to run 3 or 6 miles now since he'll be turning 12.
We went to a Poulton reunion where we heard a few stories and ate lunch before going back to the swimming pool. After the pool closed, we headed over to the parade. It was fun and had so many cool floats. Ethan slept through some of the parade but woke up and enjoyed getting drenched by the fire truck. I wish I'd had pictures of him getting hit with a blast. Apparently it was priceless. Heidi slept through the whole thing. We went home from there and enjoyed a barbecue before heading off to the rodeo. Heidi enjoyed the horses and bull-riding. She kept her head hidden from the fireworks display.
One of the other things we enjoyed doing during the month was going to Seven Peaks. I even took all six kids by myself once. It was actually really fun. We took the kids on the small slides and they had so much fun. Another time Steve went with us and we took the youngest kids on the big slides. They loved it.
July 28th, I had Gates of Atlantis: Magicians of the Deep come out. I was thrilled when my books came in the mail. Ethan wanted to pose with my book.
July went out with a bang. We had a massive rain storm that flooded fields.
August 2014
On the first day of August, Gavin and I had the chance to be an extra on Studio C! It was so much fun. Gavin blew bubbles and I got to have a part. We'll see if they show up in the actual episode.
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| Getting makeup done. He wasn't too sure about this! |
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| Waiting for our turn. |
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| My makeup. |
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| Gavin's turn! |
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| Adam posed with Gavin after their scene together. |
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| Kids showing off my bookmarks |
After that, we had a whirlwind of school activities. It started a little earlier this year—and my kids were thrilled. They got bored with being home and wanted to be with their school friends again. Along with school activities, I started in with book launches for my new release, Magicians of the Deep. It's part of a series I've been working on since September of last year. Our first launch was at Hastings in Ogden. I took Jakob and Andy with me and we picked up Mikey Brooks on the way. We had a couple sales, but it was mostly getting our name out there. Hastings was awesome and treated us to smoothies and muffins.
On the way home Jakob, Andy, and I stopped at a few stores to get groceries. It was ... interesting ... keeping up with the two boys, but we had a lot of fun. They'd spent all day being quiet and shy, so I think they were ready to let it all out. We grabbed chicken at Smiths and got home just in time for dinner.
I took Jakob to his game the next day and it was fun to watch him play. They lost by seven points, but they still worked hard. That evening was his middle school orientation and then we had to rush to pack meeting where Andy got his arrow of light and Webelo badge. The sky was nice and didn't unleash the nasty storm until we all left the park and headed for home. It was crazy! Right after that, we headed off to a writing group. Yes, it was a crazy day, but it was fun.
Friday, I took Jakob to his game. They lost again, but this time they were able to keep within just a couple points. We drove to Walmart to grab all the school supplies we would need before heading home. I quickly showered before we all left for Provo Beach Resort.
This was the second book launch for Gates of Atlantis. It was cursed. No, really. Most fans that wanted to come, couldn't. One author was camping with family, and the other was suddenly sick. Another author got in a train wreck on the way there! A truck had been spraying weeds and couldn't get out of the way when the arms went down, so the train hit it. Thankfully no one was seriously injured. We did sell a few copies, and we got the employees at the resort interested in the series. My favorite was the grandma who told me that her kids had a couple of the books—as she refused to make eye contact.
Saturday, we worked hard all day so we could surprise the kids by going ice skating that night. Except that the rink was closed—even though it had hours posted online for that night. So we took our overdressed selves to the county fair instead. The kids had a blast looking at all the animals and other fair entries. I'm hoping they will submit something to the fair next year. We'll see how it goes. Afterward we took them to Ganesh Indian restaurant. Remember how earlier they'd said Sizzler was their favorite restaurant ever? They changed their minds. Food was devoured, praises were sung, and then we were on our way home. Seriously though, go check the place out. It's in American Fork and it's amazing!
Tuesday the 19th, school started. Everyone was so thrilled to go to their classes, they left before I could get pictures. I had to take a few the next morning. My younger kids got to school a good half hour before it even started because they wanted to play at recess.
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| 8th grade |
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| 6th grade |
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| 4th grade |
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| 3rd grade |
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| 1st grade |
While the kids were at school, I had to take Heidi in to get a couple fillings and pediatric root canal (They just take out the nerve). I gave her some Valium and headed off to the dentist. She giggled as she played with the rain drops on the outside of the window. She giggled that her feet were sticking out from under her coat. She spoke unintelligible words and then giggled at that.
Once we got to the dentist, Heidi wanted to get up and get a book, but her legs didn't want to work. When they brought out a tray of toys to help distract her, she refused to pay attention to them and kept asking why the guy had a needle. I had to keep her hand pulled away as he gave her a shot to help her sleep. She was out in about thirty seconds.
The surgery went well, and it took a while to get her to wake back up. Once she was able to tell me she wanted to go home, I took her out to the car. The first thing she did when we got home was start crying because we hadn't gone to the dentist yet. Then she started asking why the man poked her. I'd hoped she'd forgotten that part... The rest of the day was spent snuggling with her and making her happy. She was thrilled when she was finally able to stand and walk across the room.
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| Heidi with her get well gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Hardy |
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| Heidi's been doing preschool and figured out how to mostly write her name. |
That Saturday we had a ward party at the park. It was so much fun. I hung out with other people at the park and watched the younger kids play games. Steve, Jakob and Andy ran around a track for half an hour. They did well and got several laps in during that time. When we were done, we came home and did work before heading to Jakob's soccer game.
Saturday was spent working on the chicken pen again. Steve added a laying area for the chickens and then we fixed the other walls. Now we just have to add siding and raise one side of the roof and it will be all done.
September
Labor Day was a fun day with friends. We had the Ellises and Christina over and had ribs, salad, chips, and ended the day with S'mores. Tuesday, we got things done that needed to be done before I left for the weekend.
Wednesday, Steve and Heidi took me to Salt Lake to help set up our booth for Comic Con. We got the passes we needed and set up the tables before heading home to pick up kids. Heidi played in her soccer game (which meant wandering around and going for the ball when she felt like it).
Comic Con was A-Mazing. We got to meet so many people and share our books. We found booksellers, teachers, and librarians interested in the series. A group of homeschoolers want us to come and speak to them. We were interviewed for a couple blogs and a newspaper. It was fantastic! I went back to the hotel every night with a sore body and wanted nothing more than to watch TV and rest.
The next day I would start all over again. Would I have a booth at Comic Con again? Yes. Were there things I'd change? Not a lot. I was happy with how everything went. We saw some really cool costumes, and we saw others we'd like to unsee.
And today? I have a cold. I wore myself out, but I'm a happy, happy person. Why? Because we gave it our best—and then I got to come home to my sweet little family.
What did Steve do while I was gone? Soccer. Lots and lots of soccer. The kids all played. Gavin and Ashley's team won and Jakob and Andy's team both lost by one. Ethan and Heidi did great in theirs as well. Afterward, they came and joined me for the last couple hours of Comic Con. It was fun trying to get them in (long story), but they had fun and went away with a key blade, two minions, three pokemon, and a nail polish set (which is for Christmas).
Now I think I'm going to go take a nap.
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