Dream of Sugar Plums, not Ted Bundy!

Good Idea: Eat a piece of a Symphony Chocolate Toffee Bar.
Bad Idea: Eat the entire Symphony Bar.
Good Idea: Buy your husband a present and wait for his happy reaction.
Bad Idea: Buy your 2 month old a present and wait for her to unwrap it and give a happy reaction.
Good Idea: Let your baby have some tummy time on the floor on Christmas.
Bad Idea: Let your 6'4 brother dance around her and accidentally step on her. (FYI: she is perfectly fine, the only injury was Ben's heart. :) He felt horrible.)
Good Idea: Go to a friends house for a delicious dinner, where the mention of Ted Bundy casually comes up in conversation.
Bad Idea: Ask your husband when you return home from the dinner to Google Ted Bundy and read you the life story of this insane, serial killer. (I couldn't close my eyes without nearly crying!)

On a happier note, MaryKate is growing in leaps and bounds and Christmas was wonderful! We stayed with Ben & Becca in Springville for Christmas and had so much fun with them and Becca's sisters. Nothing is better than watching their kids open presents. Who knew a box of little debbie swiss cake rolls could get that good of reaction?! It nearly over shadowed everything else. The most well spent $1.29!



My favorite quote of the Christmas season that pretty much sums it up was by Justin, my nephew while he sat at the table eating handful after handful of brown sugar.
Ben (his father & my bro)- "Justin! Come on now. Lets make good choices!"
Justin (with a look of confusion)- "But it's Christmas!"
So true! Didn't we all eat a handful or two of sugar that we shouldn't with the excuse that it's Christmas. I'm going to attempt to make better choices.

Here are a few of our most recent pictures of MaryKate. As of 2 weeks ago, she was 24 inches long and 12 lbs 9 oz. (Although that may sound huge an average baby for her height is 14 lbs. She is in the 97% for her height. Oh, darn. She's already taller than all the boys!)













Isn't she the cutest?

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Last week I went outside and it was -3 degrees! I opened my car door and found green glass shattered all over my car, even on the dashboard! I looked down on the floor of the passenger side and found this... it was a bottle of sparkling cider Tyler and Mel gave us for our Anniversary. That was fun to clean up. Brrrr & Grrrr!
Now that the weather is so cold we layer MaryKate in blankets and also have discovered lots of cute hats to keep her warm as we go out and about in this winter wonderland. This is one of my favorites below. :)

A few more random things...

1. We got our family pictures back from Thanksgiving with James' family. Have a look!


2. MaryKate started smiling a week & 1/2 ago... truly smiling while looking in peoples eyes. I love this new stage! So fun and cute!
3. MaryKate has grown so much! She is up to 11 lbs and is looking like a baby, no longer our little newborn. The frightening truth is that as she gets more chubby she looks more and more like me and less and less like James. So does that mean I'm chubby?! :) Here's a picture of both of us. You can see for yourself if there is any resemblance.

Arizona & California Memories

Over the Thanksgiving holiday James and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary and MaryKate was blessed with many of our family and friends in attendance. We want to thank those who were able to come. It was so good to be with all the family! MaryKate sure is lucky to have so many people who love and support her.

James' mom sewed this dress for MaryKate and trimmed it with James' grandma's lace. It was very pretty.

Sleeping MaryKate...so good for the blessing!

COUSINS! Emmett and MaryKate got to go shopping together and share some cousin bonding time. Phillip & Alicia's little boy is 10 days older than her and looks a lot like her. It was so fun!

While we were at James' house for Thanksgiving our niece Madeline found my toothbrush and was having the time of her life polishing her pearly whites with it.

Elasti-Girl! Our little 5 month old niece Chloe has amazing flexibility! Doesn't her leg look like it doesn't belong to her or is severely broken. I wish I was that flexible.

My sister Mary flew me out to visit her family in the Bay Area. This is my niece Cambria. She likes to have her hair cut like her brothers, so Mary pretends to cut it with the clippers.

Mary taught me how to cut hair while I was visiting. Ashton was so good! Now maybe James will consider letting me attempt to cut his someday.

Mary and her boys showed me some of their sweet moves during their After Chores Dance Party!

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things...

Being a new mom is wonderful. Despite the interrupted sleep and poopy diapers, being a mom is even better than cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels and I submit even better than door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles. (Which is saying a lot because who doesn't love a good schnitzel!) So today I want to share with you what makes motherhood so great. With no further adieu, here are a few of my favorite things:

1. The smell and softness of MaryKate right after her bath.

2. Her unexpected smile or giggle while she's sleeping.


3. Walks with her in the stroller through the beautiful fall leaves.

4. Hiccups! She gets cursed with them almost 10 times a day and they shake her to the core.

5. Her chin quivering cry... I don't have a picture of this because I'm usually frantically making a bottle or changing a diaper, but you'll have to take my word for it... It's heart wrenchingly cute.

6. Naps with MaryKate. To feel her breathing, heart beating, and snuggling close is a feeling like no other... it soothes us both!

7. The new swing we just bought her that we affectionately refer to as "The Nanny". She loves The Nanny and I do too because it frees up my hands and rocks her to sleep for me.

8. Big Yawns! She reminds me of a little cub every time she opens up her mouth and closes her eyes and gives a long, adorable yawn. (disclaimer: this is not MaryKate. She does not have that much hair.)


9.Her bum cheeks. I love them! After she peed all over me, we took this picture and decide it was time to transition from newborn diapers to size 1.

10. Watching James hold her. I'm so glad when daddy comes home! He is our saving grace at times. He radiates hope and needed relief! Nothing melts my heart more than watching him hold her. I am so grateful for him.

Photo Shoot

A couple of nights ago we decided to take some pictures of MaryKate. James pulled out his cameras and we just did some shots here at the house. We wanted to capture her before she got too much bigger. We think she is simply beautiful and feel lucky to have her. Besides being cute she sleeps for 4 to 5 hour periods at night, which makes it easier on us. I hope all our kids are like her...if not, we are definitely being spoiled.

A little smile for your day

Just wanted to share our favorite smile with you.

MaryKate Rebecca Gardner

We finally figured out our baby girl's full name. Thanks to all those who voted and helped us decide...we know we kinda came from left field with MaryKate Rebecca, but we decided to name her after some of our favorite people. She is doing well. We are all out of the hospital now and we survived our first day at home. Kathy is feeling better and better everyday and MaryKate is eating well and is a happy baby. Here are a few pictures of our favorite little girl. If you are around salt lake, feel free to come meet her for yourself. :)

Giving us a little smile and look at the camera

Old man face

Porcelain Doll

The Story of Our Little Girl

Once upon a time a young married couple went on a date. It was Friday night and they wanted to go do something fun but relaxing, because the fair maiden was very pregnant. In fact only four days away from her induction date. They went to a lovely restaurant called Trio Café.


They picked this place because some friends told them that they served a “pregnancy pizza” that was legendary for inducing labor. (could be because it has whole cloves of garlic on it) It was great tasting pizza, but nothing happened. So they went on their way, til the fair maiden felt a little peekish. So the noble prince took her to Smith’s to check her blood pressure, which was a little high. So they called the physician and he asked them to come in to the hospital to get checked. When they arrived it seemed as though everything was pointing to them going home. But the doctor said. "Not so fast, we are going to start your labor tonight."


So at 9:30 she started having contractions. At midnight she received an epidural to help with pain. The young married couple slept very little that night as the contractions kept coming every five minutes or so, and the nurses came every 30 minutes. In the morning the fair maiden was at 6 cm but the baby wasn’t dropping, the physician thought they might have to do a C-section, but two hours later the baby dropped and the maiden dilated to 7.5 cm. They thought there was hope of a normal delivery. But then the baby stalled and after 18 hours of labor they had to choose to wait or go ahead with a C-section.

The decision was made and 15 minutes later the young princess MaryKate was born.






The young married couple fell in love with her immediately. She was beautiful, healthy (8lbs 9 oz. and 21 in long) and has dark brown hair.


They were very grateful that everything came together for a happy ending.


Thanks for your prayers, Their affect was felt and appreciated.