We went camping this weekend to Stone Mountain State Park.The Friday part of our trip was the worst camping experience ever, and I do mean ever, for me, and I have camped A LOT...but Saturday and Sunday made up for it. On Friday we got to camp just as it started pouring, which we knew was supposed to go on all night. The plan had been  to get to camp an hour before the rain started...plan didn't happen... which had as much to do with me as anyone else. Getting to camp included having an uncovered truck bed with all our stuff getting rained on. Our tarp at home had been used as a rain cover on rabbit cages and was muddy, rusty wet and gross. So the hope was to find somewhere  to buy a tarp on the way. Instead we sat in a stupid McDonalds drive thru with our stuff getting rained on while they made us wait for our brinner. You can order breakfast anytime now, it just takes 4 times as long to get your food...and they messed our order up so Luke and I basically had a couple of pancakes to share. Just down the road a bit we found a place to get a tarp. As the kids and I are sitting in the truck the rain gets harder and Grace has a BRILLIANT idea. Why don't we get all the stuff we can and bring it into the cab? So she and I climbed out and loaded the kids in the back seat full of pillows , sleeping bags and clothes. They seriously couldn't move. But we had mostly dry sleeping bags, pillows and pjs that night!

We set up camp in pouring, and I do mean pouring, rain. It was crazy. And I was grouchy. Kids stayed mostly dry and helped a ton. Jason and I got drenched. The tent was wet because we had to put it up first and then the rain fly. But the kids dried off the floor with puppy pads I threw in at the last minute not really knowing why. Thank you to whomever up in heaven intervened with the puppy pads so I did not have a stroke that night. Luckily we have a big ass tent. (Remember how mad I was when Jason came home with it? It was SOOOO much more tent then we needed???) We all slept in the middle and stayed dry. Wet clothes dripped on to yet another puppy pad and the leaks were all on the outside walls.  It is a great tent, but I think anything leaks in that kind of rain and wind.

Saturday was beautiful. So calm and not muddy. There is actually dirt, not muddy clay, there and it was fine the next day. We hiked, ate awesome food cooked by Jason as usual and just enjoyed each other. I did not take a single picture. I did not bring the camera because I thought I would just use my phone. But my battery drained and it would only charge with the truck on, so I let it be. It was worth it to not be able to be contacted :) Jason's phone didn't even have coverage! Luke went to a ranger program about stream aquatics. Turned out he and Jason were the only ones there so Luke got a biologist all to himself for an hour. He LOVED it, Jason said she did too. It is fun to teach enthusiastic students. They found all sorts of things in the stream that I didn't know lived there. All the other kids were sad they didn't go when Luke came back telling them how fun it was.

As we were hiking on Sunday Sophie said that these woods would have made a good place to film the Hunger Games. I laughed and told her they did film the Hunger Games there! At least the first one. On that hike we also saw a lady hiking (this was not far, like 1 mile round trip to the waterfall) holding her fluffy white rabbit in a basket under her arm. No joke. It was a little crazy.

I think if we could always hike in 65 degree weather with a light breeze my kids would love hiking as much as Jason and I do. It was fun and we laughed and played as a family. The kids have this game where they get in their mummy bags, stand up, head in too, and have worm wars. They flop and wriggle and fall all over each other and try to pin people down. It was super funny. And we were probably way too loud for our neighbors, but they had kids too, just not as many or the volume of ours. So awesome dad saved the camping trip and all was well.

 Grace finally made it to the Pentatonix concert! It was canceled last fall. She and I drove to Raleigh to an outdoor amphitheater. It was a beautiful night - great concert. Michael Jackson medley was probably my favorite. I think Grace likes their original songs the best. Fun stuff! Can you see how excited she is to take a pic with her mom? She is wearing her YW necklace. I have seen her wear it a lot lately, super sweet.

 Summerfield Founders Day Festival parade this year was like Halloween 2.0. It was crazy how much candy these kids got! Abby was with us all day as our 5th child.

 Noah has earned his brown belt. I was happy to get a picture with Mr. Mike. He is sick, no one is talking about it but his son has been teaching classes for him and pretty much running the business. He is a great guy, but not Mike. What a blessing Mike has been to Noah. He knows each of his students so well, he pushes them and expects a lot but is still kind.  I am so proud of Noah!

 Sophie found a drone on the floor Sunday. He is disabled and can't fly. She has adopted him, named him Duke, feeds him honey, takes him in the car with her...she is taking Duke to her science class tomorrow. Silly kid. She really likes him. In the car earlier she was baby talking to him...

...and just because they are so stinking cute!!!! Soon they will all be in new homes. I don't know all their names, the one on the left is Basil. I know because of her white tip on her ear. She almost died. One cold morning Grace went out and Basil had fallen out of the nesting box. She looked like she was dead, but her foot moved just a bit. We took her inside and warmed her up in our hands with the blow dryer and she made it! I was kind of amazed. And grateful.

Mother's Day

 We are lucky that Dessa is here to celebrate the girl's birthday with us and Mother's Day. Jason made a delicious breakfast and it was fun to be together before church with no meetings for me. I spoke in Sacrament Meeting today about women's role in the plan of salvation, Heavenly Mother and the doctrine of motherhood. It felt good to testify of those things! But I was super glad when I was done. Quinn and Cathy both spoke in their Sacrament meetings too. Funny. I had to teach RS, our teacher called last minute and was sick. I didn't want to ruin any ones Mother's Day morning, so I taught. It was fine, lesson by Pres. Benson on the Book of Mormon.

You can tell Jason took this picture....but I love him!

Luke has started to only wear bow ties to church. It is really cute. His church shoes right now are suede loafters, classic southern with the red sole. He looks adorable, of course Noah does too. It is fun to see my kids grow up. It is still odd to me that my kids are Southern, but they are. This is their home.

Happy Birthday Grace & Sophie!

May 7, 2016  - First Temple Trip

Grace and Sophie turned 12 yesterday! Our ward had a youth temple trip already planned, so Jason and I came with them. Jason baptized both girls. It was a special day. It is hard to believe that my girls are old enough to go to the temple, be young women, wear makeup, etc. I am so grateful for them and the amazing people they are. I learn so much from them and am so thankful to be their mother. 12 years ago we brought them home from the hospital, our tiny 5 pound babies, on Mother's Day. It was fun that Mother's Day was the weekend of their birthday again this year.

After the temple we went to Trader Joes, specific Sophie request, and then out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. These silly girls and I laughed about David Hasselhoff jokes, it started when Sophie said our waiter looked like that German life guard guy! He really didn't, to me at least, but was super annoying so it made it easier to listen to him.

 The girls asked for Ben & Jerry's ice cream cakes. It is the first year I have not made theirs, they tasted yummy and were cute, not as cute as we hoped honestly, but still fun to do something different.

 Grandma Smith made special Young Women bags for both girls. Grandma Hardy gave them each a birthstone necklace. Both special things to remember their birthdays by. They got their own temple recommend yesterday too, another special way to remember their birthday!

Jason was home all week and it was wonderful. He was out of town 3 of the 4 weeks in April. I'm glad he doesn't have to do that very often. This week he has a quick 3 day trip and then doesn't have any other work trips scheduled!

Highlights of the week: we planted the rest of our garden Saturday and weeded the entire thing. The kids worked without complaining once we got going. It was kind of amazing. It helped that it was cool outside and cloudy. Sophie was laughing at us trying to grow onions. Everywhere you look wild ones are growing...

Luke got a chance to pitch at their baseball game this week. Noah did last week. They both did well, but it is very apparent that we need to practice with them. Their team needs a third pitcher. I am going to try to get out with them this week to practice. They won on Saturday, always fun. Luke had 2 rbi's on a great line drive that got his team ahead.

Grace and Sophie had temple recommend interviews today after church. Still seems to me that they are not old enough to be YW. They are excited to turn 12 and go to the temple on their birthday, a little nervous about young women, but very tired of primary!

 

I have been super bad about keeping up on my blog. I am going to try and at least do a post Sunday nights. I love this picture of my girls, almost 12, playing in the creek. Sophie wanted to try to catch tadpoles, they didn't find any. But they did find these huge freshwater clam things. Maybe because the creek runs into Lake Brandt the clams or mussels or whatever are huge? No idea. But it was fun to watch. I know times like this will be farther in between as they grow up more and more. I so want them to keep experiencing the wonder of the world around them.

Our sweet buddy Connor with one of the baby rabbits. He could't get enough of them, and he LOVED the chickens. When I made him come in the house he would just stand at the back door and say chicken, or black chicken over and over! It was sweet and fun for my kids to be around a toddler.

 
Me, Katie Bagley, Marilyn Arny, and Cristy Flores

Happy Birthday to me! My RS presidency had a surprise brunch for my birthday. It was so nice and I was really surprised! Yummy cake and breakfast. Katie was just released as our secretary so I wanted to get a picture of us all. I can't believe it has almost been 2 years. Sometimes it seems like so much longer! My presidency is so wonderful, they work so hard and do so much for me and our ward.

Mom and Dad sent a small foot stool like the one that was at Granny's house as I grew up. Mom needle pointed the cover and dad refinished it. They took off the legs and boxed it up to send me. It was such a surprise, I will treasure it! I had a fun birthday, got a pedicure, went to lunch with friends and out to dinner as a family. All of our kids like Thai food now, yay Hardys! We tried a new place close to us. It was a great day.

My morning walks with Molly are so beautiful, I sometimes forget how blessed I feel to live here. It is like paradise to have our own private woods and I have to remind myself to slow down and pay attention to the beauty. This picture does not capture the early morning light, it is my favorite in the spring when the leaves are new and light green. Everything smells alive and growing. I have been listening to my scriptures as I walk lately, makes me happy and I want to remember this.

Abby, Sophie's hand, and Grace

I took the girls to a school fitness celebration. Sophie was embarrassed to do this, I tried to make her so she just stuck her hand through! There was a 1 mile race that all 3 did. Abby won for the middle school girls! Grace and Sophie only participated because the race was to benefit the Leukemia Association and they wanted to support Johnny Van Kemp. He is such a sweet boy, I have seen him several times at school make a point of saying hi to both Sophie and Grace. He knows they are shy and is just a nice kid. We are praying he can beat cancer again. Sophie dyed her hair orange, several of the kids at school are. Orange is the color for Leukemia awareness. After Graces experience with her blue hair taking months to wash out she did not want to :) Plus she said that she can pray for Johnny and help him without orange hair, which is true.

This is the picture I found on my phone this morning when I got to ward council....took all I could do to not laugh out loud. Why is it so funny? Every time I look at it I still laugh! I guess Sophie does too.

Happy Easter!

Sophie and Jason are on their way home from NYC. Daddy Daughter trip was a great success. With Easter being so early this year our cherry tree is finally in bloom for an Easter picture. We had a great day celebrating the resurrection of our Savior.