Our vacation to Florida

So I'm not to good at the whole updating the blog thing. I can't believe it has been over a month since the last update. Sadly to say not much is new. This last week Jeff, Eliza and I went out to Orlando Florida to visit the Palfreymans, it was so fun to see them, the girls are getting so big. We were there for almost a week and most of the time was spent at Disney, I'm not complaining, I felt like a kid again. The last time I went to Disney land was when I was in eighth grade so quite sometime ago. Eliza love it there, almost every time we got off a ride she would say again, again, but there wasn't too many ride that we were able to go on twice.
(This dinosaur ride was the only one that when we got off she didn't say again).


We went to Animal Kingdom one of my favorite ride was there it was the safari ride. I really feels like you're on a safari, they have elephants, giraffes, lions, okay to many animals to name, but it was really neat to see the animals just roaming.













All the parks had Christmas lights, but at Universal studios there was a street that every building had thousands of lights on them, every couple of minutes a Christmas song would play the lights would go off and on with the beat. I loved this it got me in the Christmas spirit.

We went to see Santa at Epcot, we got in line to see him but they said he would only be there for 20 minutes and they didn't think we would be able to see him. We waited in line still and were getting closer to the front when Eliza decided she didn't want to sit on Santa's lap. Lucky for us Mrs. Clause was there and we convinced Eliza to sit on her lap(we told her that it was Grandma Lutz). She agreed so we finally got a picture with Santa, just wish she would have smiled. (Stacy has the pictures I will post when I get them).

I love vacations but it is also nice to be home in your own bed and not living out of a suite case. I hope that we can make it out there again soon, I already miss the 65-75 degree weather. We came home to a foot of snow and freezing temps(got to love Utah).

Autumn Fun

Last week my visiting teachers and I went to Gardner Village it's so much fun there this time of year. The shops there sell the cutest things and they have witches throughout the little village, it was exciting to see all the different witches they had displayed. When we got there I was wondering why it was so busy, come to find out it was "Little Withes Day" and there where all the kids in their costumes for the costume parade and lots of activities for them to do(we planned that one right). Even though it was pretty busy and we didn't have our kids in their costumes it was still fun, they also gave out candy and balloons. I just love this time of Year!




(Will, Eliza, John, and Dreak)














Once we finished there we met up with the Baer family at Wheeler Farm. This also was fun, Eliza loves animals and if I keep my distance their not to bad. So we walked around the farm and saw the horses, pigs,bunnies, chickens, ducks OK all the typical farm animals. After we saw all the animals there were to see, they have a little wagon ride that we went on. Eliza didn't even want to go, she cried saying No Mommy NO! Once she was on it she didn't want to get off, when the ride was coming to an end Eliza said "One more". Sadly for Eliza we didn't get another ride.











(Eliza, Andrew and Aiden)


Last Saturday was the Boo at the Zoo. I've never been to this event at the Zoo and thought it would be fun to take Eliza somewhere that she could get another use out of her costume. I didn't realize the whole state of Utah was all thinking the same thing, it was crazy busy!! They had Trick or Treating for the kids but the lines where so long that it wasn't worth waiting in, so we pretty much looked at the animals and came home. So now we can say we've done it, and I don't think we will try it again, we can go and look at the animals any other day with out all the people.

The past couple of weeks.

I decided to give an update since it has been a month now and no post from the Hardens. Not much is new in our lives. A couple of weeks ago my Dad got some extra tickets to the circus, I think I was more excited then Eliza was. I can't even remember the last time I went to the circus, my guess is 15-20 years ago. Eliza was excited at first especially when the horses came out, but as most 20 month infants after a half an hour lost interest. Not me I loved every minute of it, it's fun to be a kid again! Our group was split up so at intermission Eliza of course wanted to go and see Grandma!! So I found my Mom and she took Eliza for the second half. My Mom said she loved it she watched the whole thing she was laughing and really enjoyed the elephants. I think Eliza like the second half better for a couple of reasons, first there were more animals and clowns, second she was with Grandma, and third Grandma bought her a coloring book and a snow cone(I wasn't about to buy her a $10.00 snow cone!)I really enjoyed going to the circus, even though my allergies got to me a little bit I stilled would go again and it was a great family outing.


This last week my sister Lesley was sick with pneumonia, I told her that I would take Walker Thursday so she could get some rest. Eliza liked having someone to play with but there were times she got a little jealous. I'm not surprised because she gets all the attention around our house. My mom took the kids for the weekend so Lesley could try to get some sleep, so Saturday we met the gang at the Hook for lunch. It is so funny Eliza doesn't just call my Dad Grandpa, to her he's Pa Pa Fry! it makes me laugh, but it fits so well. The kids slept over at Grandmas, but my parents had tickets to conference so they came over to our house Sunday morning during the session. Didn't really get to watch a whole lot of conference, entertaining four kids is hard work. It is always fun having them around, Eliza loves her cousins.

First Tramp Injury

So Eliza was jumping on the tramp with Grandpa Ron and Aunt Melinda, when all of a sudden she started to cry. Jeff and I went over to see what had happened, we checked her out and couldn't see anything wrong she said she was OK and wanted to jump again. So I got up on the tramp with her and jumped, but that didn't last very long before she wanted to go to her Dad. I put her down on the tramp, she then stumbled and fell. So I picked her up and gave her to Jeff. Then she wanted to go down the slide, so Jeff put her down and she fell again. I put her on the slide and when she reached the bottom she said her foot hurt so I checked her shoes thinking that she had wood chips in her shoes but there was nothing. So we started on our way back up to the house when she fell two more times, once again I didn't think anything of it and headed to the porch. There she fell again, and again. During all of this falling she never cried so I just thought she was being a klutz, until it kept happing and she was favoring her right leg. So we decided to take her to Kid Care where they did X-rays(that wasn't fun trying to hold her down). They told us we would have to wait till the following day to find out if it was broken or not, but they would put a splint on her leg so she wouldn't be able to put more pressure on it, but it also made it so she couldn't walk. So we held her down again while they did the splint. Eliza was screaming and trying to kick us the whole 5 minutes it took for the splint to set(it was quite a chore). Once it was on she couldn't look at it without crying she was so scared of it, I felt so bad for her. On the way home she tried to rip it off but wasn't very successful. The next morning she was fine with it I think she realized it wasn't going to come off so she had to deal with it. She didn't let it slow her down to much she just army crawled her way around all day. That night I called the doctors and they said the X-rays looked fine and they could see any fractures, so they told us it was alright to take the splint off and if she still was having problems walking to bring her back in. We took the splint off, she walked a little funny at first but now is back to her outgoing self. So I guess we will never know what was wrong, but at least it wasn't broken.

Family Fun!

On Sunday Aug 31st we went up the canyon to where the Baers were camping to celebrate Walkers 1st birthday. We went on a hike to Doughnut Falls once we got there the little kids played in the water and the big kids(Devan, Christian and Jeff) climbed up to the falls.
Eliza loved throwing rocks into the water, although some times she didn't even look to see what she was doing, she would just pick up rocks and throw them. She almost hit Aiden a couple of times. She was having so much fun she didn't even realize her pants and shoes were completely soaked. We decided to head back since the kids were wet and we needed to start dinner, good thing we got back and started dinner when we did because shortly after we got things started the rains came. We thought it would lighten up but no such luck. That put a real "damper" on the night, so needless to say we didn't even get to sing Happy Birthday to Walker or eat the cake. We packed the car up and headed home to get some clothes for Eliza since Grandma Turner offered to take Eliza for her first sleepover. Grandma said she did alright except around two in the morning she had to crawl into bed with her, Grandma thinks she got sacred because of Grandpa's snoring!








Saturday the 6th we went to Lagoon, I'm not much of an roller coaster person I can go on a couple and then I'm done for the day. It was fun just the same, we took Eliza on a couple of rides (the train, merry go round, and the ferris wheel) she didn't want to really go on the train but once we started she enjoyed it. We saw the tiger, and when we passed by it kept roaring at us, she thought that was pretty cool. As for the merry go round, she first went on with Grandpa Ron, he said she like it but when he asked her if she wanted to go again, She said "No!" I ended up taking her again while the rest of the group went on the white roller coaster, we got on a horse that moved up and down she kept saying UP, DOWN. I didn't like going on the ferris wheel with a little infant it just scared me the whole time because Eliza doesn't like to sit, she wanted to keep standing up, boy was I glad when we got off. Then it was time to get Eliza home for a nap, OK and I need a nap as well.

Primary Activity

Jeff and I are primary teachers and we have been promising our kids a firetruck ride and kids meals at the Hook and Ladder if they would behave in class. They've been pretty good so we decided to have the party before the kids started school again. I think the kids had fun, what kid wouldn't? I mean its food and a firetruck ride. The party wasn't very long we ate and went on the truck for about 10 minutes and then came back to the Hook for ice cream. After that we took the kids home and called it a day!


(Easton, Isaiah, Alex, Kaylyn, and Ina)

Our new routine

Breakfast at the Hardens is all about Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Eliza has to watch this cartoon every morning while she eats breakfast, she wakes up and asks for juice and then ask for Minnie(that is what she calls Mickey Mouse). So I have to pull her chair into the living room she wont get into it until Minnie is on! Since we don't have a DVR we have to go off our On Demand and there are only four episodes, which Jeff and I have already memorized them, but Eliza doesn't seem to mind watching the same ones over and over and over, and yes over again!! I didn't want to make a habit out of this but some times you have to pick your battles, right? I justify it because she seems to eat better and it's a educational cartoon. Her favorite part of the show is the end, the Hot Dog dance and song, as most of you know Eliza loves to dance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePMYM4av6Q&feature=email

Sad Day!

You know summer is coming to an end when Raging Waters is
no longer open on weekdays. Today was our last day at Rag
with the Baer's, Eliza and I are so sad. Since I went part time
Lesley and I have gone to Rag at least once a week sometimes
twice. It has been fun for Eliza to play with her cousins, they have been so cute with her.


Today was a special day, both the boys went down the biggest slide at Ragging Waters, the Acapulco Cliff Dive. It was so funny to see their little bodies coming down the slide, on this slide you have to go on a little mat head first. I was surprised that they went down but I think Uncle Christian had something to do with it. I can't remember the age I was when I first went on it but I don't think I was 6 so way to go Andrew and Aiden.




Jeff and I have also been taking Eliza to Rag on Saturdays, It also has been fun for Eliza to spend time in the pool with her Daddy! At first she was scared to go down the kiddie slides but once down with Daddy, and the fear was gone. She kept saying MORE! MORE!




Cheese! She has to say this every time she sees a camera. We think it is funny because some times we think she wants cheese but no, she just wants the camera.

NYC Trip

In July we went back to the Big Apple. The first day we were there we slept in a little since we got in at 2am the night before and that morning we waited for the Palfreyman's to get there. Once they arrived we decided to go and find the fireworks since it was the 4th of July, we herd there was a great show down on the Hudson River by the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. So we headed down there and got a spot but once the firework show started we couldn't see anything because the spot where we picked to watch the bridge pillar was right in our view, but none the less it still was fun!


Day two:
We went to the Museum of Natural History, You know the one where the film The Night at the Museum was filmed, OK so that is what I imagined it would be like. When we got there it was nothing like the movie, I guess you can't believe everything you see in Hollywood, right? Silly Me! There were a couple of things that they did show in the movie that were at the museum, like Margaret and T REX, But even though it wasn't completely like the movie it was still really awesome. There was so much to see you could spend three or four days just at the museum.

Once finished there we to a walk through Central Park in the rain trying to find the castle but we gave up and decided to start going towards the subway. The rain stopped so we went to the big toy store FAO Schwarz. Eliza liked it there because she could play on all the toys!






Then we walked down Fifth Ave and saw some to the Cathedrals and Rockefeller Center. That night we ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.(My first Hard Rock experience) and afterwards stopped by the Toys R' Us in Time Square.
It was a busy day!













Day Three:
Half of the gang went to Mary Poppins while Jeff, Ron, Eliza, Lindsey and I headed to the Dylan's Candy Bar. It was a pretty cool little candy shop all the candy you can imagine, and of cause Jeff having the sweet tooth he does we had to buy some. We did a lot of walking that day (OK in NYC that is all you do it seems!!) We also went and saw the Manhattan Temple and then it was time to meet up with the rest of the group. Once we had all of us together we headed to the castle in Central Park that we didn't get to see the day before, we found it and then decided to head to the Alice and Wonderland Statue. With having completed all of this we decided to hit up a pizza parlor and call it a day.Day four:
Lady Liberty here we come!! It was amazing to go to this great land mark, I've gone before but this time we got tickets to up to the platform so that was exciting. Spent a little time on the Island and then it was off you Ellis Island, when I came with my friend a couple of years ago we didn't go here so it was interesting to hear some of the stories of the immigrants. We also went down Wall Street that day, You can't visit NYC an not see Wall Street. We finished there and Ron, Amy, Daniel, Jeff and I all went to see The Phantom of the Opera.Day Five:
Since this would be the last full day we would be in the Big Apple we thought we would hit the Empire State Building. From there we went to the United Nations building which by this point I think the whole group was so tired, we all had what we called New York feet and we were just drained from the fast past of things from the four days before. So needless to say we didn't go on the tour and weren't there very long. That night some of the gang went to the Mets game, they had to hit some baseball games while we where there.



Day Six( last Day in NYC):
We went to a Yankee's game, Jeff had to make it back there to see a game in the old stadium since this is the last season they play there. The game was hot but they won in the tenth inning!! Go Yankees!!
After the game we headed up North to Cooperstown.
(They gave out these mustaches at the game)

Day Seven:
Cooperstown is where the Baseball Hall of Fame is, we spent all day going through the Hall of Fame and going souvenir shopping.Day Eight:
Woke up early and went to the Church sites Whitmer Farm, Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith Farm and the Temple. Then that night we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant.
Day Nine:
I would say this was my highlight of the trip, we went to Niagara Falls what an amazing creation!! First we went on the Maid Of the Mist boat ride and got close to the fall and drenched. The we went the Cave of the Winds, where you walk underneath the falls which got us more drench, and if the falls weren't getting us wet then the rain was.
Day Ten( Home, Home, Home Again):
We were supposed to get home at 8 PM that night but our flight was delayed due to storms in Atlanta and we didn't get home until 2AM I was so tired and had to get up for work the next morning. But it was worth it I love vacations even when they don't always go as planned.