Youth Conference ~ August 9-11, 2012

I was able to attend Youth Conference with the youth this year...and it was awesome!  We had such a blast!!!  We went up to Reid Ranch (near Fruitland, Utah)...it was way up in the mountains and absolutely beautiful.  It was great to get to be out in nature!  Real nature...which included no cell phone reception...except behind the tractor and the hay stack with the blue tarp...and yes, Emily and I went out there to get some reception! HA!  Lame, I know.  But she needed to call and check in at work, so it was legit.  Anyway. 

Reid Ranch was great!  We had an awesome lodge to sleep in and their cafeteria was good!  The cook did a really good job and all the meals were fabulous.  It is actually a working cattle ranch so we had some great meat :)  The ranch also had horse back riding, pools, archery, soccer field, volleyball court, paddle boats and canoes, and a trading post where the girls loved to get snow cones!  There was a lot to do yet we had plenty of time to sit and relax.  It was such a fun few days with the youth!  They crack me up and just make me happy.  I am so grateful I was able to go to Youth Conference with them! 

Sariah and Morgan outside our window...

Playing some Phase 10 with Shelby, Me, Ashley, Jess and Emily

Lisa! She's so dang cute!

Aubrey

Amber

Playing pterodactyl...one of the funniest games ever!  You have to keep your teeth covered with your lips, if your teeth show at any time you are out.  Then you have to say "pterodactyl" to the next person to pass is around the circle, if you growl it will change the direction.  Oh my gosh.  We played for way too long...our mouths were hurting so badly!  But it was so hilarious to see the faces people made...good times, good times...

The girls LOVED the horses!

Shelby's first time on a horse!  She conquered her fear :)

It stormed one afternoon for a few hours...and it was AWESOME!!!  Lightning, thunder, pouring rain...and hail!!!  LOVE IT!!!

The girls thought it would be fun to try to push Bro. Ruff into the pool...and they succeeded.  What was so funny though was that they kept running away if he tried to grab them...but luckily in the end they got him in the water...and Emily got it all on camera!

As Emily said, "Does this look obvious?!" as she snuck her Diet Coke into the cafeteria...

Field games and Flour Ball

Paddle boats and Canoes

I love YW!

I know I've already said this, but I love being in Young Women's!!!  These girls are so fun and they make me really happy :)  We've had fun the past couple of weeks having our post-camp party and then a swimming party with the YM at "Mehr Park." (I quote that because there is a family in our ward and the 3 houses share a huge backyard with a pool and fire pit and basketball court and swing set...and one of the families owns an ice cream machine and snow cone machine!!! Sweet!...literally.)  It has been fun to just hang out and play!
Happy Summer!

The girls being great and signing thank-you cards for the bake sale and breakfast we did:

Elisha and Kelsey

Morgan...I like to "pick" on her, she's a good sport!

Elisha, Kelsey, Lizzy, Makylee, Aubrey, Brinley

Snow cones in the pool with my girls! The water was so warm, which made it feel so cold outside the water, hence, we ate our snow cones in the pool :)

Me, Sabrina, Alyssa, Sierra, Erica, Grace

Also, for one mutual night we went on hike! It was beautiful and a great workout!  We had a blast!

Ashley and Jess

Emily and Me

Shelby!

Frolfing in the rain :)

Today Landen and I decided to go frolfing, that is frisbee golfing for those of you who have a very puzzled look on your face...you know who you are...  Well, since we live in a basement and can't really tell what the weather is like we didn't even take that into consideration.  As we walked up and outside we saw the sky was full of clouds but decided to go anyway because sometimes that means nothing in Utah.  The game started off great!  It was cloudy and finally a little cool, it has been so hot lately.  Then the clouds cleared out some and the sun came out and it got really hot!  I was grateful when the cloud cover came back over :)  We kept on playing even as it started to lightly sprinkle.  It progressed to a little harder sprinkle, but it wasn't bad and we kept playing. It was actually kind of nice!  And I was having the best game of my life!  Granted it wasn't awesome for people like Landen, but for me it was AWESOME!  Anyway, we got to about hole 16 and it started to POUR!  But we just couldn't stop...we had to finish, we were so close to the end!  So we did, in the rain, and we got soaked.  But it was so much fun :)  And boy did we need that rain here in Utah, it was so great to finally get some moisture! 

This is the first time I got my frisbee stuck in a tree...it landed there so nicely :)  Obviously before the rain...

REAL Salt Lake Games 2012

We absolutely LOVE going to the REAL Salt Lake soccer games.  As Landen says, "It is one team we can agree on!" HA!  We have had so much fun going to the games this year thanks to our Pass of All Passes and this student punch card we bought (Tiva and Ryan got one too so we share them and split the games up between the 4 of us).  We love that we live so close to Rio Tinto Stadium which makes it so much easier to go and get home :)  It is starting to become a Hardy family tradition!  One day it would be fun to have season tickets!!!  We shall see.  Anyway, for now, here are some photo memories of games thus far: 

"If you believe then just stand up on your feet, and shout it loud REAL.  Here at the RIOT the battle hymn's begun, we're here for RSL!"

Tiva and Ryan came over before one game and we were all going together.  We decided to get some pizza for dinner and there was a slight miscommunication...and this is what happened: Each of us got our very own pizza!

For one of the games Landen and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch it!  LOVE BWW!

These pictures are from the game we went to today.  It has been a rough last couple of games and we needed a win in a bad way...and these boys did it!!!  It was so awesome!  The second half of this game they actually were coming to the South goal (which doesn't usually happen) and it was great to see all the action up close.  Saborio scored all 3 goals in the second half!!!  It was awesome!!!!!!!  It was so great to finally see everything just come together. What an exciting game!

Javier Morales...he's my favorite :)

Saborio's 3rd GOAL!!!

At the end of the games Nick Rimando's kids go out on the field and walk off with him and it is the cutest thing ever!

4th of July ~ 2012

Happy 4th of July!  It was so great to be able to celebrate the freedoms we are blessed with!  I'm so grateful to be an American!  I am also so grateful for all those men and women who serve to protect those freedoms.  What a very special country we live in! 

To start off the festivities we spent the morning at our Ward's 4th of July Breakfast and Bake Sale.  It is our Young Womens' fundraiser each year and went really well.  We were up early working, but it was totally worth it!  The morning was fantastic!  I love these Young Women :)  And Anthony made me a Mickey Mouse pancake...who doesn't love that?!

We went home and napped for 2 hours because I was exhausted.  Then we decided to go up to Park City to the Outlets...and boy was that a great decision!  We scored big on some great deals!  It was awesome!  For example, I got some Adidas workout pants, Reg $55...Paid $10!  Oh yeah.  That is how I roll.

That night we went to the REAL game.  It was really fun!  We didn't win, but we didn't lose.  It was a 0-0 tie...and we'll take that!  After the losing streak they have been on a tie was totally acceptable :)  After the game they handed out these really nice water bottles and then we got to go out on the field and watch the fireworks!  It was the perfect end to a great day!

Yeah, I'm on THE FIELD!!!