Back to the Norm

We had a great Conference weekend. I really enjoy how Utah basically dies for the few days, so it is easy to relax a little. We were able to go to Draper and Salt Lake on Saturday, and Marcus went to the Priesthood Session with his brother Derek. Marcus did have to work a crazy 2:00 A.M. shift Sunday morning, but I think his multiple naps throughout the day made up for the missing hours of sleep.

While we were at Marcus' parents' house, Cozette suggested putting Corona on my wrist, and the little miracle worker helped make huge improvements on the scar. Now I just need to work up the mobility, and it will be back to normal.

But now, we are back in Provo, and life is finding a routine. I taught orchestra this morning at 7:20 A.M. It was crazy cold, and I'm afraid to be moving around that early when it is snowing. Luckily I have a great class, and all the students are always incredibly enthusiastic... which is a blessing and a curse :) But I really do enjoy it, and I think the students are making some improvements. (I also have another private cello student!!! yay :) And there's a chance I can add about four more soon. That would be great, so cross your fingers!)

I am still working as a Lunch Clerk at another school in the Provo City School District. It's a great school, and I love being there everyday. It's always fun (and I have only talked with one angry parent so far). I don't know how much longer I will be at the District Office helping, but I have definitely learned to appreciate my life and all that Marcus does to ensure we have somewhere to live and enough food to eat.

Marcus has been working a lot, as normal. It is great once it hits Thursday night because we both have the weekends off. Well, Marcus worked this Sunday, but that was only due to Conference. He works all night Wednesday and Thursday, and I still don't understand how he can do that all night. I guess I'm a sleep wimp. He is able to get some homework done at work, so maybe that helps.

School is pretty busy for Marcus right now. It seems like there is always a test coming up, so he's coming up with a plan that will force him to be in the library more. I've seen him study, so I can witness that he does do at least some of his homework :)

Actually, Marcus has the best topic for a paper right now, so I helped him with his "research." He's writing a biology paper on Emperor Penguins, so he watched March of the Penguins to help. And last night, we watched Happy Feet. Next on the list is Surf's Up. Penguin movies are the best! Those animators are awesome!!!

-----

I realized we only have Ugly Apartment pictures posted, so here are a few while it's relatively clean.

Our bedroom... I think it's cute, but I decorated :)

And the living room....

So that's us... at least for now. Time to get back to work...

Recent Hardy Happenings

I didn't think there was anything to post about recently, so I hadn't. But then looking back, there are all kinds of crazy things happening here in Provo, as always.

We had some projects recently. Nothing too exciting, but all successful. First was making room on Marcus' desk for him to actually do homework. This entailed buying a little bookshelf to store all the clutter that was making it impossible for him to do homework.

We included all the important things in the bookshelf...

1. Arizona pride (I love that license plate)
2. the complete Harry Potter collection
3. Scriptures
4. An Engagement Picture in a cute frame
5. Kleenex and toilet paper-- yeah, ???
oh, and school stuff :)

I have seen him do homework at his desk, so this was definitely a good investment!

And then it was time to fix the wrist.

AHHHH-- the bump!

Actually it's a ganglion cyst. I noticed it a year ago, and Marcus smashed it. As simple as that-- doctors even recommend smashing them. It was okay for awhile, but then (what I later found out was) scar tissue was causing a lot of pain. Thanks to the BYU Health plan (I never thought I'd say that), I was able to get it checked out, and the moment it came back from the dead, Dr. Johnson took it out... no big deal.

Really, it wasn't too bad at all. I only had to take one day off work. The hardest part was finding a way to use my hand again because the cast gets in the way and numb fingers are just plain awkward.

The bump-less beast

And after a nice nap in a freezing hospital, my bump turned into a cast that is ridiculously bigger and scarier looking than necessary. I wish the picture was able to capture the beautiful green and purple knuckles I have caused by the bruising.

Funny story... I had forgotten that I was supposed to accompany the ward choir on Sunday with my cello. Oops. And then on the way to church I realized I hadn't even tried to play with the cast! I was expecting complete failure and embarrassment, but somehow, I made it through just fine. It didn't really hurt, and the doctor said the only rule was "if it hurts, don't do it." But now, my hand is fine, and I can't wait to get the cast off on FRIDAY!

While I was all drugged up and loopy on Tuesday, Marcus cleaned our apartment for me. How sweet :) Somehow I guess I managed to take a picture of him mopping-- don't remember that.

As soon as I was able to use my hand, we were off to our next project. Notice our babysteps...

The blandness that is Heritage Court.

<-- the front window. Yes, the world looks in to a drumset :)

Our decorative bedroom window-->




We are obviously professional decorators! :)

The mess of recently purchased curtain supplies

Marcus finally had a Man Project

<-- This was for the living room (Marcus picked this one)

This was for the bedroom -->

After some hammering, screw driver-ing, probably swearing, pounding, pouting and encouraging words...

VOILA!

Marcus did a great job-- at least I think so :)

I thought this was a cool angle.

I swear our bedroom doesn't normally look this ghetto-- I need to clean a little and tie back the curtains. Honestly, I always thought our bedroom was the cutest room in our apartment! It just doesn't seem like it. But hey, the curtains are successful. We can put the fan in the window at night and cover the other side! A tee-shirt wasn't quite cuttin' it. Now no one can look in at us through the window when it is dark- creepy! And they will keep out some Utah coldness in the winter-- I love whoever invented thermal curtains!

I'd say it's been another good week... even if I did spill Dr. Pepper on my cast ;)

Antelope Island

Check us out... :) On Monday, Marcus and I went to Antelope Island with Misha and Jen Shields. It was a blast! I had no idea there even was an island out in the Salt Lake...

...or that there were bison there (which Marcus is obviously strong enough to hold up effortlessly)...
...or that there is a beach! I guess I was pretty naive.

The four of us went biking first. I don't think I had done that in at least eight years, and then all of a sudden I'm on a seven mile trip! You guessed it... sore butt!

We had a sandwich picnic lunch-- my favorite-- followed by a trip out in the salty water. No, we didn't swim, but we did float! :)

We had a ton of fun. I think I can safely say I'd go again. Next time, note to self, put on more sun screen! Thanks Misha, um, I mean Michael, and Jen! oh, and double thanks... since I stole your pictures.

Corn - Corn - Corn

For the past few Saturdays, I have been working at a corn stand to bring in a little extra money. Random, I know, but in all honesty, I have a blast! (Thanks for the hook up Celeste!) The company is called Sugar Sweet Corn, and they have a bunch of stands around Provo and Salt Lake. I tend to work in Spanish Fork, but I have also been to the one in Springville. Since it was my last day yesterday, Marcus came to visit, and we took a couple pictures when no other customers were around.

The stand in Spanish Fork

Yummy Fruit

Me a the Corn

I had a great picture of Marcus taking a nap behind the stand, but it wouldn't upload. Sorry :(

Our Italian Friends

We aren't allowed to have pets, and we aren't trying to figure out how to fit a crib in our apartment anytime soon, so, instead, we have three foreign exchange students living with us indefinitely. Two arrived on the evening of August 31st after a bumpy journey and were moved in within an hour. They were holding tightly to their Italian heritage, so they brought a small piece of Rome to remind them of their homeland.

Romeo Lustefishe Betamo

Claudio Fredrique Ribbeto a.k.a. Fred

...just in case you wanted to see how big the little guy is

Their shrine to Rome

...can you spy the fish or a frog?

Then I went back to get a real plant for the beta fish. Surprise, surprise, I came home with Fred's long lost energetic friend. (I guess frogs are happier with friends, and trust me, Fred is already more active than before. Hopefully Romeo remains control of his favorite nap stop under the fake plant.)

Antonio the Gladiator

Yeah, all of that happens on just a corner. There was no other way to fit 3 exchange students, Marcus, and me in our apartment! Be grateful that we had something exciting happen because I had taken pictures of the meatball dinner I made on Sunday, and that almost got its own post!

p.s. I hope you read the names with really exaggerated Italian accents because that's how Marcus wants it to be. Just imagine the excitement when he envisioned this Italian adventure. Ok, I wanted the frogs. ;)

Erica's Byurfday

Sunday was my big day-- 22, woohoo! So now I'm old like Marcus :) We had a fun day together. We taught our first day of Primary, which was rather exciting. We will definitely have our hands full... A lot of the day was spent watching LOST. (Thanks Jon for getting us hooked.)

For dinner, we had steak, mashed potatoes, and salad. YUM!

Marcus was really proud of his meat selections :) They were not small, whimpy slices...

upclose and intense steak

This was Marcus' "I'm so satisfied after eating steak" look. Notice how much is still left!

Not the best picture ever, but there is our amazing birthday dessert...

APPLE PIE and VANILLA ICE CREAM

And of course, we then watched more LOST. HaHa. Later, Jon and Celeste came over, and we chatted for probably an hour or two. It really was a fun day. Very relaxed, but a good one for sure!

-----

I can't lie, I defintiely came off well in the present department. I now have some extra cash which will be spent on our wedding photo album. I have all the HARRY POTTER books!-- thanks Mom and Dad. And Marcus bought tickets for us to go to the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE tour when it's in Utah. Sweet! I'm so excited.

-----

Thanks for a great birthday!

Hardy Anniversary Party

This past week was the Hardy family reunion in Aspen Grove. Marcus and I couldn't stay for the whole week, but we did go up a couple times. It was a lot of fun, and I think I finally know just about everyone's names. :) We didn't take pictures there, which I am sad about now, but we have a few from Marcus' grandparents' anniversary party on Saturday night. Their big 5-0 is coming up, so they had the party while everyone was in Utah for the reunion. I just realized we didn't even take a picture with them. :(

The party was in a reception hall in South Jordan. It was beautiful!

There was a video playing with pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Hardy's marriage

I think this was a receiving line or something. It was by the entrance to the hall.

food.

I realized we didn't have any pictures of Marcus' family, so we asked his cousin Ethan to smile for one. He's so cute.

Marcus, his mom, and his grandma

Marcus wanted a picture with his dad, probably because they have matching flowers ;)

Marcus in the backyard

Marcus wanted to take a picture of me as proof that I was actually there too.

-----

It was great to see so many of Marcus' relatives this week, and we had fun catching up and playing games. The party was very nice and a great end to the week.