National Ambulance Week

It's been a busy day today doing lots of little things.

The best part was holding a new baby niece. Little Charlotte Rose Hardy is darling. Congrats again Heather, Lowyn and family.

I was pretty excited about the refund from the pool rental for the Hardy reunion. Back when I booked the pool, I had to commit to the additional eating area without knowing if we'd need it. We didn't. But they couldn't refund the money at the rental time. So this morning I had to go to Lowyn to get the same credit card I used for the refund. The consolation for the bother was my sole turn holding baby. So nice!

This afternoon I took T and R with me to run errands and were delighted to attend the ambulance safety clinic held by the bank. Both T and R got a new bear patient and were able to care for it. They helped splint and wrap its sore leg while using rubber gloves. So cute. They also got several colouring pages. And treats.

Tysyn named his bear Snowy and Rebekka named hers Strawberry. 

Testing out the paramedics seat. 

The kids had lots of ambulance fun.

While I was out running my errands, I completely forgot to get a lunch to Savanna at school. Oops!!!!! Her teacher called after pm classes went back in to see if I was still bringing one. I ended up going to the school, checking her out for 20 minutes, feeding her at home and then taking her back. She got an apple from the snack fridge and a teacher gave her her yogurt to tide her over. 

Maren had a field trip today. They went swimming in Taber. 

Brandon is working a new job. He is cleaning then spray staining/ sealing cedar roofs. It's a hot job with little shade. Today he came home So so so sunburned. 

We had rain at end of day. It cooled the house off!! So nice. I don't think I'll survive another summer. I'm not sure how I'm gonna cook for my ladies. Some days it's just too hot.

Uncle Reece came over yesterday. I called him to have him come and give us a quote on AC. There is room to install a unit but the cost is way out of our budget! I'm so sad. Im going to have to save for a couple years to afford it.

Tomatoes

My visiting teacher came over this morning to help to help plant tomatoes. She started some and had lots left over that she wasn't going to use. (I think she was worried I wouldn't plant them and let them die.)

I truly appreciated the help. And we had a nice visit.

We now have 24 plants in. Tomatoes. We just have tomatoes.

I hope we get lots of tomatoes this year. I need to make salsa and bottled tomatoes this fall!

Hardy Reunion- Sunday

I was grateful that I didn't have to get up super early for church. Going to bed late the night before makes it hard when you gotta get up early.

I taught my primary lesson today on zero minutes of preparation. I did too much for the reunion and then was out too late to look the lesson before bed. Fortunately the children love the chalkboard. We spent a long time drawing about Abinadi and King Noah.

Well Savanna did anyway. The other 3 just wanted to doodle.

Savanna drew a great picture of Abinadi testifying to the King. Alma is listening with the priests. She even drew the leopard like the picture in the primary manual. 

After church, we came home and I fell asleep on my bed. With a start I woke to a message on my phone.

"Are you coming?"

We were late for the 3:30pm cemetery gathering with the family.

It was a hustle to get out the door. When we got there, most had already assembled around dad's grave. I was sad we were late. 

We had a beautiful time visiting and singing songs and sharing a few thoughts.

We also took a big group picture.

And the immediate family. 

We left the cemetery to go back to our house to get the baked potatoes and a few other food items. Then we headed to Cara and Cory's house for supper.

The baked potato bar and Caesar salad along with some of the leftover salads. Yum. Watermelon and ice cream sandwiches for dessert. 

Rebekka and Eden playing with the cat. 

Certainly missing Jordan and Rexford among this handsome group of young men. 

(Some photos are courtesy of extended family.)

At 6:45pm, Devin I went back into town to the Stake Martin's Cove final fireside. It was really nice to hear of the experiences and see the video of the trip. Jeff stayed with the family for Kayleen's presentation on Dad Hardy's life through pictures. We were sad to miss it. We hope to see it soon. 

We miss dad/grandpa a lot.

Once everyone left the Rasmussen's and after the children were put to bed, the adults and some teenagers, met at Nutratek offices for a presentation on Perfectionism by Dallin. It was an enlightening discussion.

As I pondered this topic I've concluded that my standards of perfectionism in almost all things have dropped significantly since having and raising kids. Part of that makes me happy and part of that makes me sad. But I pick and choose my battles or I'll go crazy!

I'm also grateful for a Jesus Christ, my Savior,  who can make up the differences in my imperfections. 

We ended at midnight. So late. So tired. So sad to see the reunion end.

We love our dear family. Until we meet again!

Hardy Reunion- Saturday

Early this morning, the youth of the family travelled to Cardston to do baptisms at the temple. Jared and Alan both drove their vans.

Jeff, Devin, Aaren and Cassandra all went. Brandon was going to go but an expired temple recommend prevented him from doing so.

Ammon Malcolm Sarah Devin Joseph Aaren

Sariah Skaidrite Seth Isaac Meagan Jaylin Cassandra

Maren attended the Stake activity day activity from 9am-12.

I spent the morning preparing for the family reunion. 

At 9:45am I took the 4 youngest with me to Perrett Park to claim the camp kitchen for the day. I noticed inappropriate graffiti inside on the wall. So I gathered the kids from the park and we went home for rags and a water bucket, and to the Merc for magic erasers. I spent about 35 to 40 minutes of elbow grease and muscle power trying to get it off. In the end it didn't come off very great but it was better than what it was. I called Brandon to go to the hardware store for me and had him get a can of spray paint to cover it up. I neglected to tell him to get water-based paint. He came back with the wrong kind! After spraying only a little bit on, it stunk up the whole place. Lowyn helped fix it by getting some white water base paint from home and covering it over. Brandon went home and got a power drill/driver and took the Plexiglas off the window to improve air circulation. That helped immensely!!

Family began arriving at 11am.

There were cousins and aunts and uncles everywhere!

We pretty much had the whole area to ourselves.

The potluck lunch was yummy. Rutha snacking

Lots of family..everywhere!

We were sad to be missing Rexford Elizabeth and Jordan(mission)! And Heather at home with brand new baby Charlotte. 

Landon Cara Janae Cambria Emily

Dallin Heather Alden

Devin Brandon Cory Joseph Malcolm Aaren

Camilla Dustin Taya Sheralee Jared Spencer

Mom Michael Emily Ammon Aubrynne Michelle Ashley

Fun activities

Picking marbles out of cold water using only the toes.

David and Benson. The slide makes a fun marble track.

Beautiful day!

Dodgeball

Camilla Enoch Lowyn Kayleen

I found Dalen lying like this. He was pretty still for quite a length of time. 

Shelyse Preston Greta Meagan Aleya Cara Aurora Dustin. The playground and rocks were a big hit for the small children.

These three (Alan Jeff and Michael) spent quite a bit of time visiting on the hill. 

KC Audrey Malcolm Dallin Alden Aaron Leah (can't tell who the rest are..)

KC and Audrey

Dallin watching Alden play in the water. 

Brenna Elsa Cherilea Landon Janae 

The teenagers requested a sleeping activity. I found one who liked it. Devin

Andrew

Aaren Brandon Joseph Ammon (perhaps a few more..) all spent some time this afternoon fishing.

I loved the quick visit from the Leishman family. Peyton had a lacrosse tournament in Lethbridge. They came to Raymond to visit Grandma Selman. And us!
Jay got out his drone to show us and awed the family by flying it overhead. Thanks for the cool photos Jay!

Looking towards town from over corner lake. 

At 3 pm we packed/cleaned up from the park. 
Everyone headed to the Taylor street church building for supper preparations. After dropping our kids off at the church I went with Landon, Brenna, and Elsa to Nutratek to get food out of the fridge. Thanks for the help.
While at the church, children played, parents watched little ones and supper preparation happened in the kitchen. I helped with the meal while Cara organized a crew to assemble and package the "after swimming" snacks.
Many hands make light work.

Thanks so much for all those that assembled snack bags!
Waiting for supper!! Lets eat!

While supper was being prepared, Grandma organized the grandchildren for a song practice. Right before we ate, the children performed the song they had practiced. It was beautiful. So tender and touching. Grandma did a great job with them. It was so nice to see all the children gathered together as a whole. It's a powerful group!

For supper we had beef on a bun, potato salad, coleslaw, and mixed greens salad. A super easy and yummy supper! Delicious.

After a speedy cleanup, everyone headed off to West Lethbridge to the Nicholas Sheran pool for 2 hours of family pool fun from 6:30-8:30pm. 

Our kids enjoyed the vehicle race with uncle Cory and aunt Cara's van on the way there. We were glad we didn't come last!!

I loved seeing the happy smiles of extended family as we played in the water.

I was grateful for showers at the pool so that the kids could have Saturday baths taken care of. 

On the way home, we enjoyed the super intense sunset and simultaneous thunder and lightening storm while eating our donuts and fruits and veggies in individual snack bags that had been prepared for us before dinner.

Most of the kids all crashed when we got home. They went to their beds easily and quickly. 

At 10pm, Jeff and I headed to Nutratek for the 1st annual company shareholders meeting. It was a super late night.

The Hardy family is a fantastic bunch!!