The Day Emily Learned About Being A Sous Chef

One of Emily's favorite things to do with me during the day, is when we have cooking class. She loves to get out the stool and her apron and learn how to make something new. She is such a darling sous chef and is always happy to help and willing to learn anything. She gets extra excited when baking is involved because that means there will be beaters to lick! I am so lucky to have such a cute little happy helper!

After our culinary adventures are finished, Emily usually takes a nap “rest” until the big girls get home from school.  She has the same sleep schedule as her much older sisters so a little daytime sleep is definitely necessary a few times a week.

I love this little girl so much an thoroughly enjoy our time together during the day.

The Day Katelyn Auditioned

Last May, Katelyn had the opportunity to audition for the Dance Time Theater Company (DTTC) at Isabelle's Dance Time. She was so nervous but had a great try-out and was invited to join their dance company along with five other fantastic girls. 

We went to celebrate with Subway and frozen yogurt and talk all about her audition and the exciting year ahead. She knew that being part of DTTC would be a lot of additional work and require a significant amount of time but would also give her more opportunities to perform and grow as a dancer.

Since I am so far behind on blogging, her dance year is almost over and I am happy to report it has been an incredible experience. She has worked so hard and really dedicated herself. She loves performing and hardly even gets nervous now before going on stage. This is an amazing accomplishment for such a shy girl - she has really grown and has loved every minute of it. It has been wonderful for her to be with the rest of the company girls and Joe and Isabelle - they all love and support each other and we couldn't ask for a better dance family!

That evening after tryouts, we met Kyle in Coeur d'Alene to celebrate at Dockside with Gooey's and Huckleberry milkshakes - a fantastic end to a fantastic day!

The Day We Had A Kara Day

Last summer we had our annual downtown day with the Wills, but two things were VERY VERY different… Katelyn and “little” Kyle weren’t with us.  Katelyn was at Girls’ camp and Kyle was at Camp Luther Haven.  We definitely missed having them with us, but we still enjoyed our special day we Kara.

To mix things up, we took the bus rather than driving.  It was a blast and the girls loved sporting their matching 4th of July shirts too!

  

Our first stop was Mobius and the Plasma cars.

The girls happily spent the morning playing all over the museum and enjoying their “triplet day.”

Emily of course spent some of her time in the art area – that is always one of her favorite things at Mobius.

Then we had a nice lunch break at Red Robin… Yum!

After lunch we headed outside to enjoy the river, fountain and flowers.  The girls were also very excited about getting their pictures taken together in their matching outfits.

We of course had to play on the giant Radio Flier slide and finish the day off with some ice cream.  We had a blast and look forward to our next adventure when the whole crew can be there together.

Emily loved the bus ride but was so tired she passed out in my arms the second she sat down.  That’s the sign of a great day.

 

The Day We Started our Seeds

We have been having the most amazing Spring weather this year.  It has been sunny and warm and so pleasant that I am sure it is a trick.  We decided to take advantage and get our seeds started while we could enjoy the beautiful weather. 

We started out with a trip to Home Depot so everyone could pick out their seeds.  I LOVE watching them… they are such good gardeners, they read the packets and carefully pick out just the right seeds.  As I stood there listening to them, I couldn’t help but think how proud Great Grandma and Grandpa Hardy would be.  They definitely passed down the gardening gene to these sweet girls.

We came home with our seeds, grabbed the speakers for some tunes and got started.  This year, Katelyn is working on one of her Personal Progress goals by planting a garden.  For the Faith Value Project, the girls are asked to, “Read Alma 32:28-43 and Think of faith as a seed as you help plant, care for, and harvest a vegetable garden.  Record in your journal how you can nourish, care for, and strengthen your faith.”  So even thought she’s planted 10 gardens, this time she is doing it with Faith in mind and sharing those thoughts and experiences with us along the way. 

They have become such proficient gardeners that Katelyn and Brooke don’t even need my help.  It was so cute to watch them work together and explain to Emily about seed depth and plant spacing.  I KNOW that made “Hardy” smile down on us that day.  

It was such a fun afternoon and I love that the girls enjoy this as much as I do… traditions are best.  As a side note, if anyone plans on visiting us in the next 45 days, give me a few hours notice so I can vacate the greenhouse guest room and air it out a bit.  Right now it smells like the garden center at Home Depot.

The Day Katelyn Started Phase Two

In August 2010, Katelyn started Phase one of her orthodontic treatment.  In October of that year she was the lucky recipient of the Hannibal Lecter Facial mask.  Good times.

In August 2011, the mask went away and she got her first set of braces.  Phase one also marked the beginning of our orthodontist acquiring what would eventually be a fleet of jet skis named after our family.

Phase one ended in February 2012 and she had a nice break before it was time for Phase two.  We had a pre-braces party the Sunday before so she could eat all of her soon to be off-limit favorites – ribs, corn on the cob, whole apples, popcorn and sticky candy.

On Tuesday, March 3, 2015 it was time for Phase two.   

She’s had a couple of brackets come off and having a full set of braces is definitely more painful than her Phase one set, but she is a trooper and is happy to get this phase underway.  Just please don’t let there be a Phase three.