Maple Weekend

Our family outing to the Arnot Woods to celebrate NYS Maple Weekend was just what my soul needed. Wandering in the woods always fills me and on this day especially it was such a feast for the senses. The gurgling snowy stream, the squelch of mud beneath our boots, the wind that roared through the treetops.

That wind carried the laughter of friends and the delightful smell of wood burning stoves and maple syrup reduction. The maple syrup cotton candy Ellie purchased with her very own money melted on our tongues and left a wonderfully woody, sweet taste in our mouths.

We strolled across bridges and traipsed up wet trails while the sun peeked out at us intermittently. The whole world on the verge of awakening - my spirit hungrily lapping it up. There is such promise in this time of year. Knowing there will yet be snows flurries, it is nonetheless thrilling to see the tiny buds on trees and watch the returning birds fly through the skies.

This weekend I learned that it takes the alternating freezing and thawing weather to swell the trees and let the sap flow. So too, I feel a stirring in myself at this time of year: Content at times to sit and sew but also needing desperately to wander in the woods, to have an adventure - to hear the birds and drink in the breeze. I feel so lucky to share this magical life with Joe and the girls. They are such examples to me of discovery and enjoyment of ordinary pleasures.

On this trip, Wren was the greatest explorer of all. Outfitted with her boots and and hat and binoculars, she wandered to her heart's content. And the sound of her songs (from the Frozen soundtrack of course) rode on the wind; landing in my heart already bursting with gratitude.

Let it go!

Weekend Thoughts and Family Photos

All photographs in this post were taken by Kelli Nicole, who will receive a glowing recommendation at the end.

The editing was done by me.

This weekend we enjoyed watching General Conference (a semi-annual meeting of our church) as a family.  If you're interested, you can watch all the addresses by clicking here.  I came away feeling a renewed desire to develop greater charity and to try harder in all ways to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.  The two talks that engaged me the most were given by:

Elder Tad R. Callister - a bold talk about The Book of Mormon

Sister Elaine S. Dalton - a touching and timely address about how fathers can best raise their daughters

Perhaps Sister Dalton's talk touched me so much because we are expecting the arrival of our second daughter in a few short months.  Whatever the reason, I found myself pondering a lot about our little family and how quickly things change and what an exciting time Joe and I have found ourselves in.  General Conference happens every six months, and I remembered that last conference weekend Kelli was in town visiting and took some family photos of us.  I was probably, oh, 2 seconds pregnant at the time.  When I see these pictures now - I can't believe how much we have changed and grown in six short months.  

Prepare yourself for a Hardie Family Photography Session of such immensity that surely only the grandparents will stay tuned until the end.

Let's take a short break to admire the real star of these photographs.  Those BOOTS!  You thought I was going to say Ellie, huh?  Seriously, though, let me tell you about these boots.  If you'll remember, one of the items on our New York Bucket List was to buy something a fancy.  Something we wouldn't normally buy.  The boots are my contribution to crossing off that item.  How frivolous are they exactly?  Enough that I almost backed down and couldn't purchase them.  I kept thinking about widows in South America and wondering how many African children I could send to school with the money I was about to plunk down for some footwear.  I'm still not sure I made the right decision.  And years from now, when I look back on this little boot confession, I'll probably shake my head at the shallowness of my youth.  So there you have it, now the entire internet knows what a terrible person I am.  

Back to the photographs of my adorable family.

How did Ellie know we were awkwardly kissing behind her?

Somehow, she just knew.

The next two photos are included to show you just how talented Kelli really is at capturing great family photos.  You can see how Ellie really felt about having her picture taken.  She was screaming any time we didn't let her run around and explore and climb.  So you know what?  We went with it.  Kelli continued to snap away while Ellie did her own thing, and the results are some of my favorite pictures of the session.

I love my little family!  I'm so happy we're adding another and (as corny as it sounds) I look forward to watching our family grow in photos through the years.

I know some of you are reading from the Houston area.  If you live in Houston, or in any of the places to which Kelli travels frequently, you should definitely hire her to shoot your family pictures.  Check out her work here.

25 in my 25th year

This picture has nothing to do with the post.

I just thought it was really funny the way I found Ellie after naptime one day.

So, I've seen this idea all over the internet and have always wanted to try it.  25 seems like an epic number - so here it is.  

My list of 25 things to do before my next birthday.

1. make a quilt

2. read the New Testament

3. give birth to our second child (I know, it's a gimme, but you need some of those on a list like this)

4. read 10 books

5. go to a foreign country

6. pick apples or pumpkins - something fall-ish

7. learn to watercolor

8. visit a farm

9. ride a bike (I know how - I just haven't been on one since moving to NYC)

10. donate to the Fistula Foundation

11. paint the entryway

12. make a friend

13. go sailing

14. make a website for birth photography

15. wade in the Atlantic

16. get a houseplant

17. picnic in Central Park

18. eat at Serendipity

19. sing karaoke

20. get away with Joe

21. host a post secret party

22. have a root beer float (once again, it's just been a while)

23. give away a Book of Mormon

24. get a pen pal

25. learn how to wear eye liner

Some of them are fun, some are important, some are going to be challenges for me.  All together I think it makes for a great year coming up.  

P.S. Are you as obsessed with lists as I am?  This list is a supplement to my 100 things to do before I die list, my New York bucket list, and we can't forget the New Year's resolution list.  How are your goals coming along?  Please tell me about some.

Check!

Yes, we finally did it.  Another big item on the NYC bucket list.  A years' long dream fulfilled.  We bought the discount tickets months in advance and waited with great anticipation for this night.

And aside from the nasty sinus infection and near tragic babysitting miscommunication (what do you mean you're not coming!?!) we had a good time.

But.

To be perfectly honest, it didn't blow me out of the water.   Does that make me a total snobby loser?  Here's the deal: I've been listening (and singing along) to the original broadway cast recording since my freshman year of college.  It set the bar SUPER high for any live performance to try and match.  And EVERYONE talks about how much they love this show.  Serious gushing, people.  So I went, and I saw it, and I was like, "meh."

I know it sounds bad.  But I had no desire to obsessively flip through the playbill and read all the bios to figure out how these amazing people got here and how I could become one of them.  I didn't gush about the show to people I saw later.  I didn't talk about it all night long with Joe.  Aaaaahhh, how lame and frustrating is that?

I've narrowed it down to 2 main issues:
1. I was waaaay too familiar with the show, and so there were no surprises for me.  Surprise is important.
2. Because so many people love Wicked, I built it up in my mind to such proportions that I fully expected to have an out of body experience in the middle of the performance.

You'd be surprised how often I let myself build things up that much, and how often I am disappointed.

Ah well, next time the trick is to not wait years and years to see a show - see it before the whole world does and then it can be exciting and thrilling and wonderful and I can gush about it to all my friends.

Little Brother in the Big City - Part II

That's right ya'll.  It's Lady Liberty Time. 

The #1 most exciting thing we did with Sean was visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  

Prepare yourselves for the awesome-ness!

First of all, I should win a prize for this photo.

Right? Right.

Secondly, did you know that the copper plating we see on Lady Liberty is only 1/4" thick?

Seriously blew my mind.

Thirdly, did you know that we Hardies are a very enthusiastic bunch?

Now you know.

We were obviously super excited to cross a big item off our New York City bucket list.

When you visit the Statue of Liberty, be sure to at least do the pedestal tour.  Do the crown tour if you're able - we were not so fortunate.

Here are the reasons why:

1. Great photo backdrop of the city when you're at the feet of the lady

2. There's a part where they let you look up her skirt

3. You get great perspectives of the statue when you're that close - interesting stuff many people have never seen

4. You learn a lot about the history of the statue in a museum that badly needs updating but is still informative (no photos of that part - sorry)

In that shot of Ellie, you can see the inside of the statue just behind her.  We were holding her up to the ceiling.

Just thought I should tell you in case her beautiful face distracted from the innards of the statue.

But the biggest reason to do the pedestal tour is because you get an amazing, non-crowded platform on which to take awesome touristy pictures.  Yessssss!!!!

Of course you have to pretend to lift the statue.

And pretend to be an Asian tourist.

Seriously though, the best use of the Statue of Liberty is as a backdrop for your hip hop music video.

Once again, the Canon proves to be too much for a non-photographer to handle and every single shot of me is blurry.  

But that's OK, I can laugh about it.

I even laughed at the seagull who pooped on me while waiting for the ferry.

Sometimes that's all you can do.