Halloween...

This is everyone in their costumes and "in disguise". We got these fun glasses that the kids have been wearing and laughing about how silly they look.

Kendyl as Hermione.

Brityn as Rapunzel.

Ryder as T-Rex.

Sawyer as a tiger.

MC Steve--Hammer Time!

Steve took the kids to the ward trunk-or-treat and Tutu handed out the candy on Saturday. Then on Monday we went to a few neighbors and then let the kids hand out the candy at the door. I think they had just as much fun answering the door as they did trick-or-treating!

Our newest bundle of joy...

Leightyn Leolani Hardy was born October 27 at 2:23pm. She arrived healthy and alert at 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 18 inches long. She is beautiful and we are so happy she is here!




She already has super long eyelashes. She has her own look, but also looks like the other kids when they were babies.

Leightyn and Mom. We checked in to the hospital about 8am for induction and they monitored my blood pressure closely. Thankfully labor was only about 5 hours long and made much more tolerable with an epidural. :)

The proud Dad.

The kids were soooo excited they could hardly wait to hold her. Kendyl has been a good helper.

Brityn loves to hold her and helps a lot too.

Ryder has been the best big brother, always concerned about her and me and how we're doing. He LOVES to hold her too.

Sawyer likes to hold her hand and throw her diapers away for me. He is always the first one to run in when she is crying.

Our family of seven!

We were both doing fine so they let us check out of the hospital on Friday to come home. We are so grateful for our newest and cutest addition!

School Trunk-or-Treat...

This year the girls' new school did a trunk-or-treat. The kids were excited to try on their costumes and collect some candy so they headed over to the school to see their friends.





This year Kendyl wanted to be Hermione and Brityn wanted to be Rapunzel.



The Matthes' always have great costumes and decorations.



Ryder wanted to be a dinosaur, so he is T-Rex this year.

And Sawyer is a tiger. They came home with a bunch of candy and I was surprised at all the "good stuff" they brought home.

Blood pressure...

During the last few weeks of this pregnancy my blood pressure has been elevated. No other symptoms, so I'm grateful. However, the doctor felt that I needed to take it easy and stay off my feet, so life has slowed down for me at least.


Steve brought his blood pressure cuff and stethoscope home from the office so we could test my blood pressure ourselves. The kids were fascinated by how it worked and were excited to try it out.

We did a test run on Horton the Elephant. Unfortunately he didn't quite register a reading and the kids were quite concerned that he had no pulse. ;-)

Daddy became the next "patient" and had all three doctors working on him at the same time.

Steve then checked my blood pressure and verified that it was still high. So more rest for me.

I am trying to enjoy the calm before the storm and get as much rest in as I can before I am at the mercy of a newborn, plus 4. I like being able to read, watch movies and surf the internet "guilt free". I am VERY thankful for all the help we've had and are getting. I know Steve will be REALLY happy when I can resume all the mom duties again, but in the meantime, I am going to relax. :)

Just dance...

Brityn got Just Dance Kids on the wii for her birthday and the kids have had a blast playing it. It is so much better than DDR and the songs are all kid friendly and songs they know.





Even Ryder and Sawyer love dancing and singing!

Lots of fun and they can all do it at the same time, so no waiting around for a turn!

A trip to the pumpkin patch...

Ryder's preschool class had their first field trip to the pumpkin patch. He was quite excited to be free to roam among all the pumpkins and wasn't scared to inspect all of them in order to find a "good one".

He even picked me a flower. :)

And he was so proud of his pumpkin, "I found a good one Mom!"

Sawyer was a little less sure of all the stuff on the ground. He did not like getting his hands dirty, but was checking out the pumpkins too.

He even found me a pinecone. :)

Adventure in the dark...

A couple of weeks ago the power went out and we had a little adventure. Brityn used this for her talk on Sunday in Primary...

One night, while Mom was at orchestra practice, Dad was helping us all get ready for bed. All of a sudden the power went off in our neighborhood. We were not expecting the power to go out, so we were all a little scared and did not know what was going on. Our two little brothers were in the bathtub and we were in the shower. Our dad had just put shampoo on their heads and they were full of bubbles. Dad had us get out of the shower and hold our brother’s hands while he went to get a flashlight. There were a lot of tears going on because we were pretty scared. We decided that we better have a prayer while Dad was in the other room. We prayed that our brothers would stop freaking out and that the power would come back on. Dad came back in with a lot of flashlights and headlamps for us. He finished up the boys bath and then we all got in our pajamas and got our teeth brushed. It turned into quite the little adventure getting ready for bed with all the lights out. Since Dad said we still needed to read scriptures, we all put on our headlamps. We had been reading in 3rd Nephi where there was a lot of destruction and darkness. Jesus came and showed himself to the people to give them peace. That night, we read 3rd Nephi chapter 12. When we got to verse 16 which says, “Therefore, let your light so shine before this people that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” the power came back on. We were really excited and so happy that the lights came back on and Heavenly Father answered our prayers. In our family prayer, we thanked Heavenly Father for answering our prayer and giving us peace.

Happy Birthday Steve!

Saturday was Steve's birthday and since it was General Conference too, we had a nice relaxing weekend.

His main request was that he get to sleep in and watch conference. So we were very quiet and I took both girls to tennis while he watched conference uninterupted.

And for the guy who can never decide what he wants for his birthday.....well, he got church clothes....Happy Birthday to the guy who has never-ending meetings and probably wears a white shirt 4-5 times a week!

A new suit, white shirts, ties, socks, and shoes!



Sawyer loved helping open presents and said, "Tie!" everytime he opened one up!



He opted for brownies and icecream after priesthood meeting for his birthday treat. Hope you had a great birthday Daddy! We love you!!!!