New Year's Eve Revisted

Ready for an afternoon of fun? We're off to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I think the most interesting specimens there were my children.

It was a day full of mugging - Ready for a picture?


Say Cheeeeeese.


A lovely day with lovely posers.


Not a whole lot of pictures of Greg - he's not all that into mugging. (Also, he spent a great deal of time studying an aquarium membership brochure trying to figure out how to get the biggest bang for his buck.)




The Fabulous Floaters
and stimulating conversation.





Wild life in a kelp bed.


Wild life in a clam.



Wild life in an octopus costume.



Sea Horses are so cool.


Erics are cool too.


Wait...wait...here it comes...

SPLASH!

Get a load of the little face on the left.


Very picturesque.


Don't forget the sea birds.



Some hands on fun.


Feeding time - for fish and for us.


Greg's not here - he's back at that box office because he figured out how to get the biggest bang for his buck.




My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." I'd say I got a box of nuts.


Our trip to the aquarium was our answer to a day away from home at Greg's request. Evan came up with the idea - everyone agreed that would be fun. I thought of the Wrights. Hey you guys - next time! And we'll go with you!(we have two transferable tickets to share! if it's within the next 12 months) ;-)

A Birthday

Today is Greg's birthday.

Yesterday, in honor of Greg's birthday we went for a walk. We did the same thing last year on the Quicksilver Trail. This year we did the Los Alamitos Creek Trail which we started out across the street from the Camden building.


Part of the draw, besides the obvious time together and the exercise, is Greg's love of spotting wild life. He grew up hunting, and though he hasn't done that since he returned from his mission, he still has this keen ability to hear and spot animals. So, these following pictures are of the animals he spotted. However, they're so small in the photos, you may have to just take our word for it but they were there.

Well, this one big bunny chased away the other bunny, but there were rabbits all around.


Ducks on the pond...


Home, home on the range...


Another big bunny. Greg said the surroundings remind him of the Middletown area where he grew up.


Lots of fun things to do since the trail includes a par course.

Love Evie's fancy jump off the post.

And the signature pose - some Hardesters on a bench.



Happy Birthday Greg!

Mid-night Thoughts

It's 12:05am Jan. 2, 2010. I just posted my Jan. 1st entry - getting it in with maybe 15 minutes to spare (and if this is confusing to anyone out there let me explain - I have accepted a "post for every day" challenge - for the month of Jan.). I realize that I did post earlier on Jan. 1st but it was regarding Dec. 31st - and I published it as such. I wanted my Jan. 1st entry to have a Jan. 1st date...yah, maybe a little too serious about this date business but it makes sense to me.

What doesn't make sense is that it is after midnight and Greg and I are awake and our children are in bed.

What to do on the first day of 2010

- A little bit of this and a little bit of that -

A little bit of Christmas clean up (actually got most of it done - tree is in the gutter - many boxes are lined up ready to go back to the attic)


A little bit of sadness - sending our college boy back to school.


A lotta bit of Wal...(is it nast I'm supposed to write?) Wal*nast shopping.
A little bit of scrapbooking material.


A little bit of money on a movie we've never seen but Evan and I are totally hooked on the SG1 series.


A lotta bit of money on some fancy ear bud things.


A little bit of fun - Did or did not Greg really find the Bop It and hope to play it tonight? And - *if* Bop It wasn't Greg's big find in the store - what was?


A little more shopping.


A lotta eating (Marie Callender's - burgers all around - 3 Friscos - yummy!)


A little this.


A little that.


What did you do your first day of 2010?

Happy End to 2009

Happy New Year to you from us under the blue moon of Dec. 31, 2009.

A Christmas Carol

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

GHOSTS of CHRISTMAS PAST

"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself."


Eric 12/88

Eric and Ryan 12/90

Evan, Eric and Ryan 12/92

The Hardesters 12/94


GHOSTS of CHRISTMAS PRESENT


"I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy... A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!"

Elder Ryan Hardester 12/09

Eric, Evan, Claire 12/09 (and yes that's Jos - and Andy was on the field too)


GHOSTS of CHRISTMAS FUTURE

"His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him."

Eric - car designer extraordinaire

Ryan - music mogul

Evan - rich guy...with a dog

Claire - BYU student

"It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, "God Bless Us, Every One!""

Christmas Puzzle

This is not a standing tradition but sometimes we get ourselves (myselves) a holiday puzzle or two - one for passing pre Christmas time and one for after Christmas before the New Year, to finish New Years Eve or around then. This year I saw these really fun looking Folk Art puzzles. They were being sold at Costco - two in a bag. There was an assortment. I picked a Christmas scene and a San Francisco scene. Generally, I would wait to pull the puzzles out until the kids are out of school but this past Monday I was so bummed to find out that my missionary son may not get any of his Christmas packages until January! that I just wanted to do something simple. The Christmas puzzle won - it is a snowy village scene with lots of elaborately decorated Christmas trees.

So - I pull out the edges, and as I'm putting them together I notice one tree has "Ute" decorations on it. I wondered to myself "Are there other colleges that refer to themselves as Utes?" Ah Ha - on the other side of the puzzle I come upon a piece with a "blue U". I grab the box, to look closer - This is a Utah scene! Maybe Park City? Duh. A totally fun puzzle!

Ever heard of Eric Dowdle? He's the artist. This is his "Festival of Trees"


See the Ute Tree? We think there's a missionary bear on the "Bear Tree." Or are they Gingerbread cookies? We don't know...


On to BYU.


Is that a proposal going on near the "Family Tree"?


Look at the skiers!


Love the Savior.


Happy Day to everyone.

Hot Chocolate Talk

"What Christmas songs do you love the most?" Blog amongst yourselves...

What brings back memories? What are your new favorites? What makes you verklempt?"

As for me - Gotta love Barbara! It's not Christmas without her! "Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle all the way..." no breathing allowed during this song.

Andy Williams is also a must for me.

Amy Grant makes beautiful Christmas music.
"Grown up Christmas List" (her's was the first I'd heard of this song)
"Breath of Heaven"
"Heirlooms"
"A Christmas to Remember"
"Christmas Lullaby"
"The Night before Christmas - "...but you don't have to be an angel to sing harmony. You don't have to be a child to love the mystery and you don't have to be a wise man on bended knee. The heart of this Christmas is in you and me..."
I could go on and on with Ms. Grant - I love her music (plus I think she's an alto, thus it is easier for me to sing with her music...)

Carpenters! (another alto!) "Happy Holidaaaaaays....."

Love the soundtrack from "Elf"

Relient K - "12 Days of Christmas" This is on a "NOW that's what I call Christmas" CD - it's rockin' - and some screaming which I don't like but it's fun and crazy and reminds me of my crazy rockin' garage band kids.
"...what's a partridge? and what's a pear tree? I don't know so please don't ask me
but I can bet they are terrable gifts to get.."

MoTab - everything - beautiful - and even fun - such as the 12 Days of Christmas "A Musicalogical Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas" each day representing another genre of music through time i.e. On the first day of Christmas...is a Gregorian chant and the last verse is played out in the grandiosity of a Sousa march!

And Josh Groban! I waited and waited and finally he came out with a great album and I was not disappointed. It was an instant favorite.
"Angels we have heard on High"
"Noel"
"Thankful"

You can see, I have lots of favorites. Music is such an important part of my Christmas. I will always cherish my memories of singing with my family - caroling to friends, riding to Sacramento, standing around the piano. I still sing those harmonies. They are a part of me.

Happy holiday listening and singing and harmonizing...

Love you all.

"Snow? In San Jose?"

Welllll, sort of.

This is a "foothill" in front of our "big" mountain - Mt. Umunhum. It is cold here. Ha - I know you're all saying "boo hoo" but it is cold. And the snow of course is exciting. And it is supposed to be colder tomorrow.
This is a shot down our street.
It's the same foothill just a different view - I'd say it could have been snown close to the land fill.



OK - I found this picture - see that very first foothill? That is where our snow is!!...was...