James & Kathy

Gracie Girl!

2012-01-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

After skimming over our past posts and pondering how much I blogged about MaryKate over her 2 year lifespan compared to Grace, I have come to the conclusion that she is already being neglected! Ahh! How does this happen when I swore as the 6th child with only 5 baby pictures that I would never do that to my own kids?! Well, this post is all about you, Gracie Girl and only you!

Grace is 5 months & 20 days old and is sooo much fun! She is all smiles... except when something is truly bothering her,
in which case she screams like someone is sawing off her limb with a butter knife.

She loves to:

Jump in her jumper. She was born active! She has no desire to be strapped into a swing like MK did. She wants to be jumping, standing, rolling, & moving.

She also lovers her bouncing exersaucer, especially if Big Sissy will come and play with her while she's in it. I tried to stop MK from climbing on it and bothering her, but I realized how happy it makes Grace to have her playing with her that I no longer intervene.

Grace also loves her kick toy... endless fun. Why don't they make these things for adults? I might burn some calories if they did.

She loves bath time, especially if she gets to take it with MK. Are you noticing a theme? They play so well together! This is a picture of their first bath together over New Years and MK insisted that I should leave them alone so they could have fun without me... umm, No!

Grace loves to giggle. She loved her uncle Todd and cousins Evan & Maddie

She also loves reading. If you recall MK's reading movie when she was an infant, she was crazy about reading too. They both seem to have this passion for books in common.

James' 2 sisters had baby boys right close in age to Grace. All 3 babies look much more like their dads than their moms so we thought it was appropriate to take a Daddy picture. We hope Jasper, Sam, and Grace all become close friends.

MaryKate's Merry Magical Christmas

2012-01-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

MK realized that she could see herself in the glass ornaments. Oh, what joy that brought! When I first put up the tree she tried to blow on every light to extinguish them like candles... Moments later she turned to me with deep concern in her face & said, "Oh, no Santa's going to swipe our tree!" (Yes, we've watched alot of Dora & she thought Santa sounded alot like Swiper). She grew so attached to the tree that she cried real tears when I took it down.

Santa brought Dora stuff! Toothpaste in the stocking made her so happy and it made Mommy & Daddy happy. Less candy and better oral hygiene!

Other than Dora all she wanted was a puppy... a small stuffed one like her friend has. He's so soft & barks/pants. After visiting James' sister Dawn, Puppy is now named Molly after their dog that she loved so much. She sobbed when we had to say bye to Molly. So MK named her puppy Molly in her memory.

Of course no Christmas is complete thus far for MK without Elmo. This year she got a TMX Elmo that walks and does tricks... thanks to a $3 garage sale find.

And last but certainly not least, MK got a little Cinderella makeup bag with "lipstuff" in it. She always begs for my chap stick or lip gloss and so I thought this .99 cent gift would rock her world. It did and like all you seasoned parents out there know, it was the gift we soon hated that we gave her. She doesn't eat it. But she rubs it all over her face, pokes her finger in it, and insists on carrying it around everywhere she goes. Bad idea for a gift.

We spent Christmas with my brother and sister's families which was heaven for MK because it meant lots of cousin time! She loves them all. My mom & most of my other siblings came the day after Christmas so we all had a blast! MK's favorite is probably "Benji-Ben" (Benjamin). They loved their baths, especially with Elmo color tablets. (sorry for the immodesty...just too cute to pass up)

Her favorite pass time was playing with Becca's enormous collection of Littlest Pets. Here Ben & MaryKate decided to climb into the Tupperware tub of pets together. Just two peas in a pod.

For New Years we drove to Duncan to visit James family. It was so fun. One day we walked in to see MK doing this. She said, "I'm feeding Molly like Amy!" My friend Amy breast feeds and although I do not, she still picked up on it & wanted to give it a try. Ha!

This is what happens when you let a little girl fall asleep with her barrettes & pigtails. Oh, we love you MaryKate! Thank you for making this Christmas so magical for us all! We can't wait for Gracie to join in the fun next year. We hope everyone had an equally happy, magical holiday season.

Tis the Season to be Sick...Fa La La La La!

2011-12-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

There is a reason we have not posted in a long time. No, I haven't been out shopping and making delicious holiday treats. Instead,we have been soooo sick! The good news is that we are finally all well, other than a few lingering coughs. The bad news is I am sure the virus is passed on to some other poor, unsuspecting family. If somehow we have passed anything on to you, I am deeply sorry. It all began right around Thanksgiving. Grace woke up vomiting and the rest of us woke up with a killer cold. After 3 days Grace got better but then got the cold. MK's cold turned into horrible asthma which caused a huge asthma attack resulting in a trip to the urgent care and us up for nights checking on her. Then I came down with strep throat which flattened me. Then Grace's cold seemed a little dangerous so we had multiple whooping cough tests done... and for a period of time were quarantined to our home. During which time MK started vomiting and got a seriously violent case of stomach flu, which she then passed to Grace and to James. I possibly got a mild case of it too, but someone had to stay well... so shear determination kept me from some of the worse symptoms. But now we are all well! Grace's tests came back negative for pertussis and both girls are back to sleeping through the night! Halleluiah! There were moments when I thought it would never come. To all those who are ill during this Holiday season and to all mothers who have ever been repeatedly puked and pooed on, my heart goes out to you! I think I understand at least a little bit.

(Sorry for no cute pictures. I am not the mom who takes pictures of kids in their yuck! More will be coming soon... I promise!)

My Favorite Halloween Yet

2011-11-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

Picture this... A warm evening in Utah (no jackets required), colorful fall leaves coating the sidewalks, the sound of friendly neighbors chatting and laughing as they eat their hotdogs, sip their hot cocoa and gather around fire pits in the center of the cul-de-sac, warm homemade melt-in-your mouth donuts and large candy bars being handed out to all, and best of all 2 adorable little girls in our arms... one who had been practicing for weeks for this special night. It was a dream! Our little neighborhood is truly euphoric and watching MaryKate knock on doors and say "trick or treat" and "thank you!" and beam with pride and excitement was as good as this holiday gets. I am not a fan of the bloody, dark, spooky Halloween but after this year, I am in love with Halloween. The concept alone is a magical dream for small children...go on a family walk, wear dress-ups, see friends, and get offered candy at every house! Yes please!

We went to the Zoo for Trick or Treating on the 29th. It was fun, but super crowded! MaryKate wore her Elmo costume and got to ride the elephant on the carousel... her dream come true! (side note: I had to practically fight a mom for it. Sorry... first come, fist serve! Don't worry, I was polite.)

On Halloween we first went to our shopping village around the corner that has nearly 50 shops that pass out candy and gifts to the kids... love it! By the time we were done with that MaryKate wanted Elmo OFF and would not put him back on after dinner for trick or treating. She wanted to wear her Hello Kitty dance leotard and be a ballerina... fine by us, even though people probably thought she had the lamest, simple costume. She loved it and was so happy in it.

Grace was a little tiger. It was MaryKate's 2 years ago and Grace fit it much better. I was really lame this year and did not make a single costume and had no family theme. The truth is I feel cheap and I've been making 40 costumes for our church Nativity... so I am sewed out!

Kiddo!

2011-11-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

Dear World,

A Questar maintenance man just came to my door. He was a nice older gentleman and as he was leaving he said, "Thanks Kiddo!" Bless him! Bless him! It was such a lovely reality check. Although I may have so many gray hairs coming in that I can't take the 30 minutes it would require to pluck them all and although after Grace the only weight I am losing is coming from the hair-loss on my head and although my memory is getting so bad that I lost my wallet twice this week, I am still a kiddo!!! Little kids look at me like I'm Methuselah, but older people see me as so young. I love that.

I think I'm going to go help myself to a fruit snack and dance around the living room to MaryKate's Chipmunk version of Single Ladies!

Love,
Kathy the Kiddo

P.S. Halloween pics are coming soon. We had such a great time!

MaryKate Turns 2

2011-10-31T08:17:00.001-07:00

What a fun, exhausting day! Early in the morning James & I woke MaryKate up with breakfast in bed. She was very confused at first but loved the novelty of it all.

Then MaryKate had 4 of her best friends come over for a super fun Dora birthday party. My goal was to simplify and do only what she asked for. She wanted Dora cupcakes, Dora paper plates, balloons, and waffles for dinner. Easy enough! So simple in my mind... Then why did it take all day to prep for this little party?

I, of course, had to throw in a little Dora Adventure Treasure Hunt. So I made this map to put in her backpack that led the kids to 5 clues/riddles that if they answered correctly, they received a treat or toy for their goody bag. It was lots of fun & adventure.

Dora's hair is piped with chocolate & cooled on wax paper and mouth made out of fruit roll up.

Oh, how she loved to play with her balloons... thanks to Daddy for picking up some for her.

At MaryKate's 2 year check up she measured 3 ft 1 in and is in the 99% for height, 90% for weight and her head size is still literally way off the chart. The doctor predicts she will grow to be 6 feet tall ( which is what the doctor said about me but I only made it to 5'10).
Her favorite things right now are Dora, Elmo, Wonder Pets, Dinosaurs, the swings at the park, books, her sand/water table, and dancing to music. She loves to eat eggs, carbs, fruit, yogurt, and fruit snacks... pretty typical. She talks from morning till night and now thanks to Dora speaks a surprising amount of Spanish. Moments ago she got a leg stuck in Grace's crib and was yelling "ayudame!" When I came to help her, she said, "O, Grasias Mama!" She cracks me up! Especially her over use of the word "Actually". She is very curious and can make messes faster than I can clean. The other day she pulled a huge jar of minced garlic of the counter and dumped it all over the kitchen floor, then walked through it. I looked down and yelled "oh, cr*#!" (which I've been trying to stop saying) As I cleaned the floor & her shoes, she ran around in circles saying, "oh, cr*#!" over and over.
We love MK and are so thankful that she is a part of our family. Everyday is full of laughter and fun thanks to her little spirit. Happy Birthday MaryKate!

Fall Break + Cabin = Fun!

2011-10-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

During the University's fall break, Mike & Amy invited us to go to their family cabin in Logan. Their cabin is gorgeous so we got the best of both worlds: clean bathrooms and outdoor fun!

James took MaryKate fishing with Mike and the boys. She loved it. As you can see she thought dipping her pole in the water and swirling it around was fishing. To every father's surprise the kids were just a little too load and a little too impatient to catch anything.

But as you can see by MK's smile, she didn't mind one bit that she didn't catch a fish.

Of course, we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows. Amy introduced James to using a ritz cracker instead of graham and Mike taught me proper roasting techniques. Needless to say, we had the best smores of our lives thanks to them.

On Friday morning the kids all woke up at the frightful hour of 6:00 am... so I decided to make these SPOOKY cupcakes with them so the others could catch a few more winks. It was so fun to watch Max devour the decorations before being placed on the cupcakes. They did great. It was fast, fun, and finished before 7:00 am!

We went on a beautiful walk through the fall leaves and enjoyed they fresh canyon smells. Grace seemed to enjoy it... well most of the time and MaryKate loved every minute of it!

When it was time to check out, we had to clean & pack up. So we put on some Dora or Diego and didn't hear a peep from the kids for over an hour. This is what I found when I went up to check on them. I love the zoned look on their faces.

2 Months of Magic

2011-10-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

OK... so truthfully the last 2 months have had their magical moments, but also have had their moments of pure madness. We've been to the ER twice, had a few minor finger pokes in the eyes, been late to every meeting/appointment, and worked through the emotional drama of a mild case of postpartum & turning 30. However, I am glad to report that Grace now sleeps through the night, MaryKate has stopped pushing kids to the ground and strangling them, and I am at the point were I can smile and laugh about our 2 melt down hours each day...most of the time:). James has remained calm and constant through it all and his 3 girls are thankful for that. He is the best!

We really have had some fun times this last month and some big milestones. Grace was blessed on Sunday by James and that was a very sweet experience. James' parents came in town for that & General Conference, so of course we packed the weekend full of fun stuff including a mini early birthday party for MK & a trip to the zoo and to the Alpine Loop to see the fall leaves (gorgeous!). I also turned 30 a week ago. James took me out for dinner and gave me some great gifts including a book he made with pictures & kind letters from 30 awesome people who shared their memories of me. We sat in the restaurant and ate and read and cried together. Then I had cake and ice cream with the Johnsons. Thank you to everyone who wrote notes, sent texts, or called. It made me feel so loved and blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. I love you all!

Grace not only started sleeping from 9:30 to 7:00 she also started smiling. You've got to love both of those milestones! She is a very sweet girl. She doesn't like the swing or laying on her back, but she loves being cuddled and people watching. We love her to pieces.

MaryKate got a cold which triggered an asthma attack that put her in the hospital for 3 days. She felt so much happier after they gave her lots of medicine & put her on oxygen.

I forgot to mention that my mom came and helped just before Grace was a month old. She & I took MK to do fun things like ride ponies and see the dinosaurs at Thanksgiving Point. We're so glad she could come!

My birthday cake was a slice of Cheesecake Factory "Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple". Heavenly! (As yummy as the homemade ice cream I had that night. Thanks Johnsons!)

We kept 2 girls alive for 2 weeks

2011-08-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Life around our house has had very much a feeling of adjustment. We are still trying to figure out how to be parents of two. We have come to appreciate those who have 4, 8 or 12...we truly admire your strength. With two sets of diapers, two girls to dress, to girls to feed, two girls to pack into our car...we definitely have our hands full. And although it is crazy, we have been enjoying the moments when we recognize how blessed we are to have two beautiful little girls in our family now.....P.S. be ready for a of lot pics...Grandma was asking for some.

Grace is a very pleasant little baby. Now that her bowels have calmed down, and diaper rash is gone. She is a joy. She is sleeping 5 to 6 hours at night (which makes mommy very happy), and is starting to open her eyes more and look at us. She is a fun little girl.

MK is wonderful with the new baby. She wants to hold her all the time. She is a little bit emotional. Everything is hard or hurts or ouchie. Having to share our attention is not easy for a 22 month old. But she is doing well.

We had a little photo shoot on Grace's 4 day mark. We went up to Red Butte Gardens, it was beautiful, and so was our little girl. Here are a few of the highlights of the pictures that James took.

We also have been able to be together as a family this week, due to a vacation from school. So we have been trying to have little adventures here in Salt Lake...(adventures a 2 week old can handle).

Grace Editha Gardner

2011-08-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

As we were choosing names, we were trying to decide between Edi (pronouced E-dee) or Grace. Grace has always been a name we have loved and it has become an important principle of the gospel to us over the past few years. Edi would have been in honor of Grandma Editha Gardner, who was a great example of faith, endurance, kindness and service. We just couldn't decide on how to spell it and worried people would always call her Eddy (ed-dee) so we compromised and used Editha as a middle name. We will most likely call her Gracie for now.

MK is loving the baby. She wants to hold her all the time. Anytime Grace cries, she wants to know why and wants to help. We are trying our best to make the transition from being an only child to a big sister as easy as possible. Things are going well for now, but I am sure there will be some rough moments ahead.

Grace is still in her sleepy newborn mode, but is starting to love to eat, look around and cuddle up close to us. We sure love her, she truly is our amazing Grace.

A New Addition

2011-08-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Last night at 7:45 the newest member of our family came into the world. She is a very pleasant little girl. She was 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches long. She is a miracle not only because she managed to come out with a full head of hair, against all genetic odds, but also that she came without having to have a C-section. It took 12 hours. After 10 hours she hadn't dropped yet and only dilated to four. We had about given up hope when the doctor came about an hour and a half later and said the baby had dropped most of the way and was dilated completely. The doctor said we could start pushing. 15 mins later, she was here. Here are a few pictures of the little girl. More to come soon. Including the name...:)

Chopped 2

2011-07-30T22:52:00.001-07:00

For dinner tonight we decided to do another Chopped night. So we called our brother, told him what we were doing and asked him to give us the first four ingredients that came to his mind. We have hooked him on watching Chopped so he knew that we were looking for unusual combinations. He gave us celery, eggplant, pork cutlets, and acini de pepe pasta (the pasta used in frog eye salad). We have never cooked eggplant and celery is not our favorite ingredient (except in turkey stuffing)...so needless to say we were struggling to come up with an appetizer, entree/side dish, and dessert. But with a little creativity we made it work. Here is what we got:

Creamy Eggplant Soup (James): Pork loins, Eggplant, celery, onions, garlic, basil, cilantro sauteed in olive oil. Added water, chicken broth, whipping cream and cooked pasta. Sprinkled with feta cheese.

Pork Loin and Eggplant Panini (Kathy): grilled pork loin, sauteed eggplant with onions and celery. In between sourdough/sesame seed bread. Topped with pesto/pasta combo, three cheeses (cream, feta, and cheddar), grilled til golden brown. Side dish of frog-eyed salad (couldn't pass it up).

Eggplant Ice Cream (James) This was alot better than it sounds...trust me. Eggplant was boiled, pureed with pasta, cream cheese and sugar, frozen into ice cream. Put in Mrs. Field's dark chocolate dessert cup, topped with whipped cream and peanut butter crumble. Now I know this sounds odd, but it actually tasted good. We took it over to our neighbors to try and they gave it two thumbs up. It was very creamy and had good flavor.

The best part was just getting to spend time in the kitchen cooking together, while taking turns keeping MaryKate out of trouble. Thanks to Ben for the ingredient suggestions.

Compare the Similarities

2011-07-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Nope... no baby yet (for those of you that got excited to see a post & hoped it was a birth story). But I do have a few things for you to look at and hopefully laugh at.
Below are 2 pictures taken the Sunday before my due dates... the first picture in Oct. 2009 & the second picture was this Sunday (July 2011). I wore the same dress to help with the comparison. Pretty similar. Right? My hair is even in my face in both (not on purpose).

Now for the funny part of this post. A week or 2 ago my sister, Becky & her family were watching Napolean Dynamite at my house while visiting. MaryKate walked into the room, took one look at Napolean on the screen and said with enthusiasm, "Daddy! Daddy! Look it's Daddy!" We all laughed and laughed. Have a look for yourself... I'm not exactly sure I can see any resemblance, but maybe you can.

Then today we were watching an Elmo DVD that is one of her favorites. In the movie there is this fantastic song that Ray Charles sings to Elmo. (have it memorized) When Ray Charles began to sing MaryKate ran up to me and said, "Mama. Ben! Ben! It's Ben!" It made me laugh out loud. Ben is my brother and I have never thought he looked much like a 70 year old black man, but when I put their pictures side by side just now I think that MK might just be right! They do look a bit alike. You be the judge...

Memories in Moab

2011-07-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

The final count down is on... I am due to have Gardner Girl #2 in 2 weeks on July 28th. Yes. So soon! I decided I had better post a few pregnancy pics before this pregnancy is over. I am as big as a house! (literally I am a house for a little lady and growing bigger everyday) So it is with much humility that I post these pictures of our trip to Moab. We had a blast and I am so thankful we went. It was a great little adventure with our friends, the Johnson's, over the 4th of July weekend. I'll list the fun things we did & recommendations of things to do or eat just in case you and your family want to go too. (Side note: My friend Amy is also pregnant so everything we did is pregnant & kid friendly.)

Things we did:
Stayed at Lazy Lizard Hostel- only $30 a night. We liked it... but its cheap for a reason.
Hiked to Sandstone Arch- tiny walk & sooo fun for kids to play in the sand
Hiked to Landscape Arch- longer hike but very pretty & longest spanning arch in world
Woke up @ 4:30 & hiked to Mesa Arch for sunrise- GORGEOUS!... but swarms of mosquitoes. It is a dream for photographers but not really for kids that early.
Hiked to North & South Windows/Turret Arch- easy, kid friendly & pretty
Walked to Delicate Arch Overlook- easy 100 yd walk but the view wasn't great
Hiked & Swam at"Left Hand"(locally known swimming hole)-hot hike, but fun
Fed animals at Hole in the Rock Exotic Zoo- cool, strange animals...MK loved it!
Hiked to Corona Arch- super cool hike, a bit hard 8+ months prego & with toddler b/c its 3 miles and has scrambling using chains at the end & was HOT, but worth the hike to see it. (This hike is not in Arches National Park, has very few tourists,& is free... so I recommend it!)

Places we ate:
Moab Diner- overall it was good, great chicken burrito w/ green chile & ice cream
Love Muffin- crawling w/ hippies but best waffle & burrito of my life... must go again!
Milt's Stop & Eat- looks like a dive but their Albuquerque Turkey Sandwich & Burgers were so yummy... oh, and their shakes were very good too. I highly recommend it.

The kids having a blast on the rocks & sand

James on top of Sandstone Arch

The Johnson's & us at Mesa Arch at sunrise... so tired, but worth the next pic.

Mesa Arch... love it! The canyon view is breath taking & goes on forever.

Turret Arch

MaryKate's best friend & true love...

Feeding a camel at Hole in the Rock Exotic Zoo... (the ostrich made me scream!)

Meat Loaf...Cake?

2011-06-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

So, after taking a cake decorating class this month, cake has been on the brain. This afternoon, we came up with this idea, silly I know, of making a meat loaf cake. So the "cake" part is meatloaf formed into patties and baked for 40 mins. The filling is mashed potatoes. The frosting is a homemade zesty bbq sauce. The flowers are mashed sweet potatoes and regular mashed potatoes. Peas and green beans were used for garnish. Tasted great, looks fun. I guess that is what you get for having a lot of time on your hands on a Sunday afternoon.

Father's Day Gift

2011-06-20T21:40:00.001-07:00

Kathy made this beautiful video for me for Father's Day...just had to share it. ~ James

Salt Lake Vacation

2011-05-29T10:11:00.001-07:00

From SLC vaca

So, with gas prices the way they are, we were a little bit limited on what we could do for our little break between semesters. So we decided that we would do some vacationing here in Salt Lake. We often don't spend money doing touristy stuff here in SLC because the activities can be a little bit spendy, but since we weren't driving anywhere we decided we could use some of that money we would have spent on gas driving to AZ of CA and use it on doing stuff here. So we each got to plan a day. Friday we started out taking a tour of the Capitol Building and took some family pictures while we were there.

From SLC vaca

Then we ate BIG - H hamburgers for lunch (a SLC specialty). Then we decided to discover some of the little boutiques in our neighborhood that we have never been to. We then went to FYE and picked up Three Amigos and brought it home and watched it... a Larson family classic!

Saturday we started off down in Sandy at the Living Planet Aquarium.

MK's loved to see all the fishes and especially the tank that looked like Finding Nemo, with all the bright colored fish. She didn't however completely love touching the sting ray...but she did it once, and that is more than her mom can say. :)

From SLC vaca

We then went and explored Gardner Village, a little vintage shopping neighborhood and ate a delicious lunch at Archibald's (we highly recommend it).We then had a treasure hunt at the local Savers, where we each had 3 dollars to find the best thing for each other, we found roller blades (blast from the past for us) and a TMX Ernie that MK just loved. After nap time we went to the highest rated low budget restaurant on YELP, which happened to be a food truck called CHOW.

It was really good (also highly recommend it). We went downtown to a friend's reception in the evening, and then had some friends over for games in the evening. All in all, it was a great little vacation...and the bed in our hotel, was just like home :)

Pleasantly Prego

2011-04-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

No belly pics, no count down counter on my blog, no frequent pregnancy posts... Is everything OK? My sister, Kaylyn called the other day with this question and so I thought maybe I should reassure those who care to know that everything is fine... more than fine. I feel great!
I have decided this time around to stop counting and thinking so much about pregnancy and maybe it will pass by faster and it has! Plus, having MaryKate to keep me busy and enjoy watching grow makes the time fly by.
Yesterday I went in for another ultrasound and she looks very healthy and the best news of all is that her head is much more normal sized than MK's so maybe I'll get to have this baby normally. Other than heart burn, I have no complaints. My friend Amy & I can still run (o.k. jog with little spurts of walking) in the mornings and I don't ever feel sick. So there you go.
We are pondering girl names which is always a challenge for me because I am so indecisive. Here are some of the top names we are choosing from:
1. Grace (Gracie)
2. Ellie
3. Sadie
4. Jada
5. Emma
6. Mia
7. Edi (James loves this name after his grandma Editha... but I'm not sold on yet)
8. Lucy or Ella ( I like these alot but James doesn't)
I think there are 3 or 4 other names that we've discussed, but I can't recall. So they must not be important. We will hopefully narrow it down to at least 2 or 3 before the end of July. Give us your feedback... especially if it involves a cruel nickname that I am not realizing is possible with one of the above mentioned names.

Chopped!

2011-04-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

So we got home from church today and we realized that we had nothing planned for dinner. We hadn't had time to go grocery shopping yesterday so didn't really have a lot to work with. So I told James that it was his turn to cook dinner. He has a knack for coming up with random meals from random ingredients. He decided to take the challenge but wanted to do it in the form of our favorite Food Network show, Chopped. In case you don't know how it works, four contestants get a basket with four unknown ingredients. They open the basket and have to make an appetizer in 20 minutes. The judges chop one of them and then three of the chefs make an entree with another set of four unknown ingredients. One more chef gets chopped, and then the two left have 20 mins to make a dessert with four other unknown ingredients. A winner is then chosen.

So James left the kitchen and asked me to pick out four random ingredients from which he then would make an appetizer, entree and dessert. These were the ingredients:

Canned Pineapple, Bread Crumbs, Whole Stewed Canned Tomatoes and Hot Fudge...

So here is what James came up with. I told him I gave it a nine out of ten. The vegetables in the entree had been in the freezer a little bit too long :). But that is not all his fault.

Appetizer: Pink Tomato Pineapple Puree on Spinach topped with Feta

The puree is the tomatoes, pineapple, breadcrumbs, cream cheese, garlic, salt, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. The puree was served on spinach, a slice of pineapple and half a pepperoni with Feta sprinkled on top. This was actually very good. It was light and had a lot of flavor.

Entree: Chocolate Berry Chipotle Chicken on Brown Rice with side of sauteed vegetables

The chicken was sauteed with onions, garlic, balsamic, Rosemary, Basil and pineapple juice. The sauce was two teaspoons of Hot Fudge, 1/4 cup of Raspberry Chipotle sauce, cream, and pineapple juice. It was served over brown rice. The vegetables as mentioned above were...forgettable. When I gave James chocolate I didn't think he would really use it, but his sauce was just the right about of chocolate. Surprisingly, it was turned out really well. Very tasty.

Dessert: Pineapple Breadcrumb Cream on an Animal Cracker Tart

The tart is made out of ground up animal crackers, oatmeal, brown sugar, bread crumbs, butter and pineapple juice. Baked it for 10 minutes in mini muffin tin. The cream is pineapple, bread crumbs and cream cheese, and a teaspoon of sugar, pureed together. There was Hot fudge and strawberry put on the plate as garnish.

It was a fun meal to eat, trying to guess what he had done for each. As the only judge besides MaryKate (who only ate the rice and chicken), I told him I would have passed him on to the next round.

Festival of Colors

2011-03-26T13:39:00.001-07:00

To end James' Spring Break we went to the Festival of Colors in Salem, UT. I decided that MaryKate wasn't old enough to join in the festivities, but James went ahead and got colored. It was pretty crazy, we feel like it gets crazier every year. Here are a few pictures of the aftermath.

Defrosting in the Sun!

2011-03-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

After months of a cold Utah winter we are officially defrosting in the Phoenix sun. James has a short internship at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale and while he works hard, MaryKate & I play at the park. It has been so nice to be warm... really warm & play outside. James had yesterday off and because it was a sunny 91 degrees we went with my brother Phillip & his family to play at the splash pads. Phillip has a little boy 10 days older than MK that she adores. Two word summary: So Fun!

It's A Girl!

2011-03-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

On Friday we found out that our Baby #2 is a girl. She is healthy and long and very active. From the minute the baby was pictured on the ultrasound monitor, MaryKate said over and over, "Hello Baby!" It was very cute. She has no concept of the little baby being a boy or a girl. But we know she will have so much fun with a sister that is less than 2 years younger than her. Plus we are excited to not have to buy any new clothes or gear for Baby #2. The frugal side of me loves that. The girls will share a room, so now the pink can stay. We are open for your opinion on girls names. Let us know if you have any you love or better yet any you despise! One thing is certain: her name will not be Ashley... regardless of our love for Full House & the Olsen twins.

Happy Groundhog & Presidents Day!

2011-02-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

I love February because although it is still horribly cold, it has lots of holidays! Granted Groundhog Day & Presidents Day are not typically celebrated. James loves any excuse for a party or bbq. So as a family we celebrate them. Check out below to see how. (Maybe we can convince you to start a few new traditions too!)

This year James & Ryan celebrated their 5th Annual Groundhogs Day BBQ and I made my second groundhog cake in honor of the event. It was very snow on Feb 2nd this year so I decided to go with a more winter looking cake than last years. I made an Oreo Ice Cream cake. It is delicious if I do say so myself!

Click Here for the Oreo & Fudge Ice Cream Cake Recipe

Then yesterday on the 21st we celebrated Presidents day. We had a fabulous day! In the evening we had a BBQ with friends & this was the dessert I choose to make in honor of our Presidents. It is a Molasses (Gingersnap) Cookie with cream cheese frosting & is actually so yummy. Click here for the recipe. After we ate we found a President Trivia Game on line & quizzed our knowledge of our founding fathers & presidents. Because I'm a nerd, I found it so fun! Click here to see how much you know about our Presidents.

Yesterday really was the best because James has been so busy with Grad school that we never see him. But he worked & studied like crazy on Friday & Saturday so he could spend the whole Presidents Day playing with us. It was awesome! In the morning we went sledding with our friends, Mike & Amy & their kids. It was MaryKate's first time ever!

She couldn't get enough. At first she touched the snow & said over and over, "Brrr... It's cold."

Then James took her on the sled & she squealed over & over, "Wee! Wee! Again!"

This is MaryKate with one of her favorite friends & her first snowman!

The Amateur Quilter

2011-02-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

My sister Becky, who is a fabulous quilter started this quilt for MaryKate when I got pregnant. In the 2 years that have transpired since then, Becky has had 2 babies, making it nearly impossible for her to find the time to quilt with 4 little ones. At Christmas the quilt pieces and design where passed to me to finish. After making a few final pieces, sewing all the pieces together, quilting each block, & binding it I have one finished imperfect quilt and a blister on my middle finger & thumb. Holy cow... quilting takes a lot of time! When MaryKate is a sassy teen & questions my love for her I will point at the quilt & enough said! For all you quilters out there, bless you for your patience. I hope to sit near you at church or the doctors office while MaryKate screams irreverently. I nearly cursed 3 times while making this & that is not like me. Anyway, thank you Becky for all your help! You're the best!

P.S. James' Valentines post was very, very kind & made me cry... just if you were wondering. I hope you all have someone that finds their own ways of making you feel loved like that. And I hope you had at least one delicious Valentine treat!

A Letter from Dad

2011-02-14T20:10:00.000-08:00

Kathy and I often will forego giving presents on Valentine's Days and Anniversaries and write each other letters instead. Probably because we are poor, but also because we feel like it gives us an opportunity to let each other know and read the things that sometimes go unsaid. So instead of a stuffed, singing monkey holding a heart, I am giving Kathy this letter. I realize that it may seem a little personal but I really wanted to share some of the things that I appreciate about Kathy with her friends and family that read this Blog. And maybe it will inspire you to write or letter or two yourself. I highly recommend it.

Dear Baby Mine #2,

Today is Valentine’s day and my birthday. About a year and a half ago I wrote a letter to your sister MaryKate while she was in the same place you are. I wanted to tell MaryKate some important things about your mother that she needed to know before she came out. I feel like I need to share some of the same things with you (to give you fair warning), and to remind your mom of somethings she forgets sometimes.

First you need to know that your mother is a very amazing person. She has a heart bigger than a cantaloupe, (by the way, you should know that your mother dislikes cantaloupe). She has the ability to love quickly...I imagine you will experience this trait as soon as you get here. Her love is so amazing that sometimes she will love you, even when you may not show love in return. Remember that she will always love you, even when you beg her to ride on Splash Mountain all day when we go to Disneyland and she really doesn’t want to go (you'll see). Though your mom's love is quick, it is strong and lasting. You'll be so grateful for that someday, I know I am.

Second you should know that your mom worries a lot. She has been worrying about you before you were born, before your mother and I were even married, she worried about you. She worries about your looks, your heart, your problems, your attitude, that Turkish terrorists will steal you, that you will bite when you breast feed, that you will be a boy and a girl, that you will be bossy. She worries that you are going to be too big or too small or have red hair (no offense if you do, she just has this thing with red hair). Your mom worries because of the first thing I told you about (because she loves you). Whenever she is worried there is one thing I suggest; give her a big hug and tell her you love her. I try to do that when she worries and most of the times it helps a little.

Third you should know that your mother is a very talented person. She can do most anything she puts her mind to and won't do anything she puts her mind against (with the exception of going to Deseret Industries, but you really have to plead). Just watch her go, she can do so much in so little time. She can sew a quilt for your sister, plan a party for your dad, make a present for her neighbor, plan service for someone who may be sad, and still have the energy to, kiss your dad when he comes home from school, workout early in the morning, listen to me talk and stay up late so she can spend more time with me (even when she is really tired) and do everything else a busy mom does. She has done a lot of hard things with you inside of her. I hope you were paying attention, it hasn't always been easy. I hope you are as grateful as I am.

Fourth you need to know how beautiful you mom is. This should go unexplained, but sometimes your mom has a hard time believing me when I tell her. Sometimes I just sit and look at her and think about how pretty she is. I hope you have her nose and eyes. I hope you have her laugh, her ears (because they are so fun). But most of all I hope you have the light in your eyes that she has. She sparkles. And I can attest that it is not only because she has you inside of her. She shines all the time and I can't get enough.

Last you should know how much I love your mom. This is important because I want you to try to love her more. You won't be able to, but I want you to try. I love your mom more every day, so I will at least have a couple of years on you. I love your mom because she is one hot momma. I love her because she loves the Lord. I love your mom because she gives. I love her because she loves me. I love your mom because she makes me laugh and cry. I love her because the thought of her makes me smile when I am driving in the car by myself. I love your mom because she isn't perfect and allows me to be imperfect too. I love her because she wants to be more. I love her because she hates to give up. I love her just because.

I love you sweet little thing. I've loved you for a long time. I can't wait to meet you. Be nice to your mom for me. okay?

Love you lots,

Dad

Growing & Healing

2011-02-09T20:29:00.000-08:00

I sat at the doctors office this afternoon watching MaryKate climb up the chairs, onto tables, then dash over to the fish tank & then to the pile of books on the shelf. Her light-up tennis shoes were blinking brightly & her endless chatter was filled with enthusiasm. I marveled that it was just over a year ago that I was at the doctors office with MaryKate: a bald, chubby baby who could barely roll over! It was then that I realized that growth happens so subtly, so quickly... whether I want it to or not. And although there are the few long sleepless nights that feel they will never end, they do end & before you know it, she has pig tails!

I think growing is so similar to healing. A year ago today my brother committed suicide. The loss of such a wonderful person was life shattering for us all. Knowing John, he never would want to hurt any of us & I believe he felt the world could go on just fine without him. Which is why secretly in my heart I decided that I would try to never stop grieving & mourning... then he would know that he was wrong, that we loved him so much more than he ever knew and that our world would never be the same without him. The first days & months dragged on so slowly, so miserably (much like the first long days & nights with MaryKate). But so subtly, whether I wanted to or not, I began to heal. Crying went from everyday to every other & then once a week & then once a month. Guilt & anger began to melt away along with the Utah snow & before I knew it I could think about John & smile and sometimes even laugh at a ridiculous memory I had of him.

I know we say we never want our babies to grow up, but of course we do... MaryKate is more fun everyday and though I miss the stages that have passed, I love each new one. I also know that I really believed for a while that I never wanted to heal, but of course I do... I miss John everyday & I still ache for a tight hug or a long talk with him, but I love each new day and I am thankful for the grace & miracle of healing.

Below is a picture of the last time I hugged John. It was on the day of my wedding at our reception. He left a few days later to Iraq. I am so thankful he was able to get permission to take leave so that he could be there for our wedding. It made the day even more special.

Baby Gardner part 2

2011-01-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

For those of you haven't heard, or haven't been told quite yet, the newest baby Gardner wanted to wave its hand and say hello and that it is on its way. He or she had its first pictures taken today and it went really well. It seems we are destined to have long, skinny babies. I was supposed to be 12 weeks, but according to the length of the baby they are saying the baby is 14 and 1/2 weeks. Which would move my due date up to July, I tried to tell them we just make long babies, but they insisted that it had to be at least 14 weeks. Oh well. Of course these pictures make babies look like aliens, but I thought I would just share one that shows how spiritual this baby is going to be. Notice the baby is already is kneeling, ready for prayer. He or she will be coming sometime between July 28th (new due date) and August 6th (original due date).

Christmas Vacation Recap

2011-01-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas vacation was great because James got nearly a month off school. In a matter of a few weeks we slept at 8 different homes of family & friends. That is not to mention all the people we went to visit during the day, like James' grandparents & my little sister, who just had a baby. We also attended weddings & receptions of people in both our families. It was honestly fun & exhausting! All 3 of us got terribly sick by the end. Below are a few of the highlights.

My sister, Becky took us to the Tucson Zoo. It was warm & MaryKate loved it!

Of all the cool animals at the zoo, the ducks were hands down her favorite.

She loved spending time with so many cousins! They were so much fun!

Did I mention the best part of vacationing in AZ? Warm weather & no snow! MaryKate would have loved to swing at the park all day everyday.

On Christmas Eve after her bath, we let her open one gift:
her new pajamas! She was so excited!

We know she looks like a boy in her Elmo pajamas, but we couldn't help ourselves. She LOVES Elmo! All night we could hear her giggling & pointing out Elmo on herself.

One of her many fun gifts was a stroller for her baby dolls, but of course she wanted to put Elmo in the stroller instead. It was so much fun spending Christmas with James' family!

Kaylyn, my little sister, had a baby a week before Christmas. So of course we had to go see her pretty little Liana. Here are the proud, very tired parents.

Lastly, MaryKate had over 30 hours in the car on this trip. So below is a little video of MaryKate talking in the car. I like to quiz her on words to keep her from going crazy. She can say tons of words now, all the animal sounds, & is chatting all day long
(even though some of it is still incomprehensible).

How To Tailor A Shirt

2011-01-05T16:32:00.000-08:00

I know... I haven't posted since Thanksgiving. It's been crazy. A very fun post all about our Christmas & New Years Vacation is forth coming. However, before I get to that, I promised my brother Phillip that I would teach him how to fit and tailor his dress shirts before I left Arizona. But James, MaryKate, & I all got so sick that we had to get home before I could teach him. So Phillip, this post is especially for you & for anyone else who would like to know how to tailor a shirt. Just watch the video that I made below & call me or comment if you have any questions. I hope it helps you to have loads of nicely fitted shirts in your future. Good luck!

i am thankful for...

2010-11-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

This year my family did a little movie making activity for our Thanksgiving reunion. We all had to make a movie that was based on what we were thankful for. We decided to make this little video. It is modeled after the LDS church's "Mormon Messages" (but this is not endorsed by the church in anyway...even though we borrowed the ending from one of their videos). Some of the things are inside jokes that only my family would get, but I thought I would put it on, so you could see what we are thankful for right now in our lives. Hope your Thanksgiving was full of love and gratitude for all of the many blessings in life.

Sam the Service Turkey

2010-11-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

Today I came up with a fantastic new Thanksgiving tradition. Sadly I feel Thanksgiving gets majorly skipped over... it's like the stores discount their Halloween stuff and move directly into Christmas. I love Christmas, of course, but I also LOVE Thanksgiving... the food, the colors, the leaves, the cute sweaters unmasked by big coats, the perfect weather, and most of all a time focused solely on gratitude. So today I decided I needed to come up with a fun kid tradition for our family (as well as a sharing time activity for church on Sunday with the kiddies). The answer... Sam the Service Turkey! The idea just popped in my head. Here he is:

How he works: We discuss that people can show their gratitude by serving others. Sam the Service Turkey is missing his feathers and by Thanksgiving he needs to have them all... but he has to earn each one. Each time we do something kind for others we get to put a feather in Sam. On the back of each feather I wrote an idea of something kind to do to help others. On Sunday I plan to have the kids act out the ideas on the feathers and have the others guess and then pass out a feather to each kid to remind them to do service at home this month.

How to make Sam: I went to the craft store and his creation cost less than $10 including tax! Granted his neck and legs are made of 1 toilet paper roll, but I had to be frugal. Obviously by the looks of him all you need is 2 Styrofoam balls, 1 piece of red foam paper, 1 toilet paper roll, a piece of ribbon, 2 googly eyes, feathers, brown & yellow paint, and hot glue. Simple.
(Note: His head/beak is actually carved from a small block of floral foam because it was $2 cheaper than the ball)

I Think I Have Alzheimers!

2010-11-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I am absolutely, positively horrible. You see last year James signed us up to bring 48 rolls to The Hunger Dinner for the homeless that our church puts on. I had just had MaryKate less than 2 weeks earlier, but went and purchased the rolls at Costco just to get myself out of the house. On the day of the banquet I completely forgot to bring them. No one called, but the following week when I noticed moldy rolls on top of the fridge, I just about died. I forgot to feed the poor & needy! Aaah!
So this year when the sign up list came around I specifically signed up for rolls again as some form of penance for having forgotten last year. But this year I vowed to make fresh, homemade rolls. (That should make up for it, right?!) I wrote it on my calendar and called my friend for her roll recipe. I even practiced making them for my book club earlier in the week to make sure I knew how to make them just right. Then Friday came around, I took James to the airport for his conference, and completely forgot until today at church they thanked all the families for their donations to the Hunger Banquet. Aaah! No! I forgot again...

2nd Halloween Pics

2010-11-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

Last Halloween MaryKate was almost 2 weeks old & looked like this:

So little & difficult to get a good picture of. She was a ballerina & a tiger.

This year she was a BYU Cheerleader & although we missed trick or treating because we were in the car driving back from California, we did go to a Church Trunk or Treat party. Here are some pictures from that.

Below is a picture of MK & Anderson(my sister's nephew). He is more than 6 months older!

And this is MK with all of Mary's & Cherice's kids (cousins & pseudo cousins). It was so fun!

Hasn't she grown so much!
This year she didn't really understand the concept of trick or treating. Next year will be the year. She just loved walking with all the kids at the party. The dum-dum she ate changed her life. I don't think 1 little sucker will be all she wants in years to come. Happy Belated Halloween!

MaryKate's 1st Birthday at the Farm

2010-10-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

My sister, Mary's family took us to Del Osso Farms in Latherop, CA to go along with her farm themed birthday. It was crowded, but still fun & worth the drive.

MaryKate loves her Daddy.

MK & the 2 little piggies in the petting area of the farm.

This is my favorite picture! I loved how the goat & goose look like they're about to kiss her cheeks.

MK warmed up to the baby goats because they weren't as huge & frightening as the bigger ones.

This cake was made by my nephew Jordan & my niece Annika. They are "Cake Bosses"! Mary & I helped a little, but I think they did an incredible job. Thanks guys! The kids loved it.

I helped her blow out her candle on her farm cake.

She was so full after dinner that she hardly could eat her cupcake. But she loved the frosting!

We sang Old McDonald's Farm with some animal signs I made.

MaryKate loved pulling her presents out of a box. Notice her 1st piggy tail ever! It's about 1/2 inch long. But her bald head is starting to finally grow hair. Hooray!

James is interning for the next few weeks in San Mateo, California. So we've been having a blast in the bay area, staying with my sister's family. We've gone to the beach and into the city. We love San Francisco & the Lee Family.

Walking & Fair Fun Footage!

2010-10-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Yes! We finally have a film of MaryKate walking. She gets better everyday! So sit back & enjoy her wobbly, wide, stumbling steps.
(FYI- The video seems to work in Internet Explorer but not on my Mozilla.)

My favorite quote about first steps:
"Make up your mind to be happy- even when you don't have money, even when you don't have a clear complexion, even when you don't have the Nobel Peace Prize. Some of the happiest people I know have none of these things the world insists are necessary for satisfaction and joy. Why are they happy?... They glory in the beauty of the earth. They glory in the love of their families, the stumbling steps of a toddler, the wise and tender smile of the elderly... One thing I know for certain: the time we have here goes by far too quickly. Don't waste any more time sitting on the bench watching life pass you by. "
-Joseph B. Worthlin (May 2001, 35)

We also went to the Utah State Fair this month. Here are some of the highlights:

MaryKate was scared to touch the animals but she was so curious she just had to!

After eating over priced terrible foods like funnel cake & looking at amazing art, vegetables, etc. we then went to the free "Boys II Men" concert. James got a 2nd row ticket, but it was too loud for MK, so we stood back on the bleachers.

She loved to dance & seriously loved her first concert! She couldn't stop clapping & smiling.

You can tell, she loves her Daddy. DaDa is the word she says night & day!

The fair wore her out and I'll be honest... I think it wore us out too! But it was so fun!

Our Pink and Blue Walk

2010-09-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Last year at this time we went on a red and yellow walk when Kathy was very pregnant and in need of distraction. Today we went on a pink and blue walk, inspired by MaryKate's pink dress and bright blue eyes (not inspired by our next baby, which is still a while off :). Hope you enjoy.

First Steps & Green Chili Sauce!!!

2010-08-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'll begin with the biggest news of the month:

#1- MaryKate took her first steps tonight! She's been walking holding on to walls & such but tonight she walked from me to James without touching anything! Crazy. Who would think a girl with such a large cranium would find enough balance? This means trouble. We'll try to video it soon.

#2- We are finished with ElderHostel tour guiding. Below is a picture of us moments before hot air ballooning during our final week of the summer.

#3- The day we finished, James & I went with a group of 8 others to hike Havasupai Falls for our 2nd time. Mary & Becca watched MaryKate for the 4 days we were gone... thank you to them! It was hard to be without her, but we did have a great time!

(It rained & flash flooded our first night there, so hence the brown water for a day.)

(Zoom in on this sweet pic of Ryan & Evan doing a simultaneous back flip off the new waterfall)

(Our entire group of 10 minus me jumping through the falls)

(After the hike out... we earned all that sweat!)

#4- MaryKate is eating just about everything! She loves food and scavenges for it all day!

#5- Last but not least- GREEN CHILI SAUCE!
All summer we had zero food in our fridge due to tour guiding. So on a Saturday we came home from Park City and picked up some dinner at Costa Vida. James loves green chili sauce so he got a few containers of it. We took it to go & drove home. James got MaryKate out of the car and picked up the plastic bag of Mexican food and headed upstairs while I started unpacking the car. When upstairs, James noticed the green chili sauce had leaked out of the container and out of the bag onto his arm and because he had his arms full with MK, he quickly licked the dripping chili sauce off his arm. Sadly it wasn't green chili sauce! MaryKate had been having some bowel troubles and had exploded out of her diaper something that looked very similar to green chili sauce. After gagging & spitting the pooh out, James washed out his mouth multiple times. :)

Happy Birthday John!

2010-08-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

My brother, John passed away this February and today is his birthday. So in honoring him, I made this video that celebrates all the good he has brought our family over the years. Because his birthday is on the 25th of August, it was often overlooked by the excitement or dread of the first day of school and the hustle & bustle of back to school shopping. So this year I wanted to do something special for him to prove that I remembered.
I remember last year all he wanted for his birthday was to see his daughter, Megan's first day of Kindergarten and somehow he miraculously managed to get leave from Iraq so he could be there. This year for his birthday we are all wishing for him to be here with us and although he physically can't be, maybe again he will miraculously manage to get a short leave so that he can.
This movie was so fun to make because it felt like reliving my childhood with my family. If you watch it, pay close attention to our outfits and hair styles. Maybe your family had similar photos taken... but probably not the one of everyone in bathing suits though! I still can't believe my mom took us to the photo studio in our swim suits. Ha! Enjoy!

(If you have a slow internet like mine, you may want to push play & then pause, let the movie load, then watch. It's much better than starting & stopping. I also suggest clicking on full screen. Enjoy!)

Fun in California Sun!

2010-08-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

James, MaryKate, & I took a needed vacation from ElderHostel tour guiding to relax in Cali with my sister's family, the Lees. We had so much fun. MaryKate is growing up so fast and so are Mary's kids.

We went to gymnastics with all the kids and had so much fun. I've always wanted to fall into the pit of foam!

We went to the Jelly Belly Factory to meet up with my friends, Lindsay & Julie. The kids came too and Tanner even ate Rotten Egg Flavored Beans! Yuck!

Julie, Lindsay, Ada & Me... it was so nice to see the girls. I just love them!

The girls!

James surprised me with a date to the city to see Wicked & to dinner at Basil. It was sooo awesome! I loved the surprise. We sat very high, but it was perfect! My first broadway show!

Cambria had her 3rd B-day party and MaryKate helped set up the tables... or should we say unset the table!

Happy Birthday Cambria! We loved your pink party!

Cambria convinced Mary to buy her and MaryKate matching dresses. Because they were on sale and Mary is MK's name sake she was a sucker for the darling dresses! Thanks Mary!

MaryKate & Cambria are so darling together. Notice that MK is standing, crawling, & walking with a walker much better!

Fun at a lake in Pleasanton... the paddle boats there were a blast too!

Lee's Make Me Smile

2010-07-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a little music video we made with the Lee's, while we visited them. Get ready for awesomeness and a lot of cuteness.

Adventure At Every Turn

2010-07-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

This week working in Park City as a family went very well. We had a super nice group of people, good weather, & no poop explosions. The kids loved MaryKate so much that I fear she's like a squirrel in a crowded state park. She's being fed very well & very often with not just food... also lots of attention and love. Here are just a few of her great adventures with us this week:

MaryKate at the Heber Creeper

Hiking Timpanogos Cave with our great group

MK & I inside the cave (she slept 1/2 of the tour...must enjoy the cool, dark)

MK at the ropes course

MK at the Park City Museum

James, MK, & friends at the Resort Pool

James & MK at Seven Peaks Water Park (in the lazy river)

MaryKate is exhausted from so much fun & so are we!
We can't wait to go relax in San Francisco next week!

The Insanity Begins!

2010-07-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Definition of insanity= parenting an infant & tour guiding simultaneously full time. Daily I question, "Are we crazy? What made me think we could do this? A tour guide & a mom at the same time? Nuts!" Luckily James & I are in this madness together. We're nearly done with my 3rd week & James' 2nd week. Usually we're based out of Park City, but last week was Aviation week in Provo. James & I had the chance to learn to fly along with all the other people in our group. We're having a great time, but we've had some insane moments like MaryKate's Explosion. Read on only if poop stories don't gross you out:

It was go time! After a long day of flight lessons and rocket construction, James & I were trying to round all 31 participants up for a group picture & then pack them into our vans. It was hot, we were running late, and we still needed to finish cleaning up all the rocket supplies. James had already strapped MaryKate into her seat and set her seat on the floor near the exit. I walked across the hanger to load her in when I noticed her sock was a solid green. I thought, "Is that a huge grass stain?" She was giggling and wiggling in her seat. As I got closer to her I noticed the green on her sock had oozed from her clothes, car-seat, down her legs, onto her feet. She was having a blast moving & playing in it all. It was green and oddly smelled like poopy tuna fish. What should I do? I called for James. He told me there was a shower next to the bathroom for the pilots... Miracle! While James finished cleaning, I went to work cleaning MK. I peeled her clothes off her poop covered body & set her in the shower. I had no clothes for her, no towel, & no time! I grabbed a roll of paper towels & baby wipes & cleaned her car-seat the best I could while she sat on the shower floor rinsing off. Then I wrapped her in paper towels, put a diaper on her, and hurried for the van! Crappy Catastrophe Solved!

Don't worry. She didn't fly with me. But she was frustrated that I wouldn't let her play with all the instruments. I think she wanted to fly!

MaryKate gets sleep anywhere & whenever she can. Here she is at the Ropes Course & it's 9:00pm. Sayonara schedule! She sleeps when she's tired & eats when she's hungry... that's her schedule.

We flew with Cornell Rich Crandall. He's a good friend & the only person who could convince me to fly in a private plane after my uncles plane crash. I trusted him with our lives and he took good care of us.

Summer Fun Has Begun!

2010-06-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Things Happening with the Gardners:

#1- Teeth! MaryKate has 2 bottom teeth & more coming in!

#2- We were asked to work as tour guides again this summer in Park City. We take groups on hot-air balloons, trains, rafts, hikes, ropes courses, zip-lines, water park slides, roller-coasters & more. We stay in a resort on the week days with our group. I did 1 week alone, but James finishes his semester this week... so the rest of the summer James, MaryKate, & I will work together as guides! MK will be very informative & helpful I'm sure!

#3- Matt & Kathryn were in town visiting with their cute little Harrison & took us to Market Street Grill for the most delicious dinner. It's so fun to have good friends in town!

#4 - In between classes and homework, James has been doing some photography on the side. We drove to Las Vegas for a wedding and up to Ogden for a family shoot. He really enjoys it and it is fun to see the finished products.

#5- MaryKate is growing like a weed... maybe more like a redwood. She is standing next to Lia, Camille's 3 month old pretty girl. As you can see, 5 months makes a big difference especially if you're in the 97% of all babies.

#6- Crawling is a bore when you can WALK on the floor. MK does not know how to crawl still. She's 8 months & can scoot backward and rotate in a circle on her tummy & roll a lot, but still no crawling... but she LOVES to walk. She holds my fingers and we walk & walk & walk! She may learn to walk on her own before she learns to crawl.

#7- She still loves reading, but now she does it on her own for long periods of time.

#8- We've been on lots of walks & trips to the park. At Liberty Park down the street from us, there is a carousel & Ferris wheel. She seems to like the carousel with James.

#9- James & I finish the 3 month Body 4 Life program this week. I'll spare you the bathing suit before & after shots.:) I lost all the pregnancy weight and officially weigh what I did before I was pregnant with MK. It is so nice to fit back into my old clothes and be lighter, however, I must admit that some things may never go back to exactly how they were before the baby. Flat abs are history but like my sister, Mary says, "Just tuck it in & go!" On the bright side, I am healthier & James loves me gooey abs & all!

#10- Memorial Day came & went so quickly that I didn't have a chance to blog about it. We had to stay in town, but back at home in AZ my family had a very nice memorial for my brother, John. I wish I could have been there. Instead we got together with Ben's family & hiked to Stewart Falls. John once hiked it with me in flip-flops... so in memory of him, I hiked it in flip flops this time too. I still miss him so much & think & dream about him almost daily... but as time passes it seems to be getting easier. MaryKate loved the hike! It was a lot of fun.

(John's kids, Megan & Josh, bringing flags & a picture for his grave)

MaryKate says see ya on the beach!

I Can Do Hard Things

2010-05-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

OK... So I've been trying to loose my pregnancy weight and as you can see from my old pants, I've lost a fair amount! :) Honestly, I'm now 5 pounds away from pre-MaryKate weight and HONESTLY there must be a giant in Orem, Utah because I am 5'10 and this man's pants, that James and I found at Savers, goes to my CHIN! I would love to hug the waist of the previous owner of these pants and thank him for making me feel petite. My pregnancy weight was not going away on its own. So I had to do what we all "should" do but usually don't do... Eat healthy & exercise. That is hard for me to do consistently, but I have found a few delightful things in my healthy journey that I want to share with you. I am not getting paid to say any of this. :)

1. Orowheat Sandwich Thins- 100 calories, 19 grams whole grains, 5 grams fiber, and 1 gram fat. I love them for sandwiches, toast, lean hamburgers, etc. At Costco= cheap!

2. WishBone RANCH Salad Spritzers- 2 calories per spray. What I miss most is pouring on the ranch and so you can imagine how I squealed and clicked my heals in the grocery isle when I saw this new flavor of spritzer. It gives just a hint of ranch and moistens your salad. So tasty... $3.50 but lasts forever, unlike regular ranch.

3. Frozen Yogurt- Fat Free, no fructose corn syrup, low calorie & delicious!In Utah this is a huge trend. 4 new serve it yourself yogurt shops have opened near us & we love them. Yes it has sugar, but when I'm desperate for a treat its a much healthier alternative than a brownie oreo sundae.

4. Papa Murphys Delite pizza- 1/2 carbs, 1/2 calories, $3 to 4 cheaper than their regular pizza, twice the flavor! Every once in a while you need to eat pizza and when you do this take & bake pizza is so good. You can get olive oil instead of sauce and chicken and sun dried tomatoes and basil... or whatever you prefer.

5. I Can Do Hard Things Collage- Typically when I try to be healthy I guilt myself into it and I think negative thoughts about myself to motivate me to do it. So, its no surprise that it makes me feel miserable. This time I pondered what I could do instead... the answer came when I woke up one morning & had this phrase come to my mind, "I Can Do Hard Things!" I decided this would be my motto, not just in exercise but in life. This phrase would be my motivation. James and I for Family Home Evening made this collage together. We printed pictures of people or things that reminded us that "We could do hard things" and picked out the paper & designed it to hang above our bed. It helps. It really does and its a good message for our family.

Around the World In 5 Days

2010-05-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

This week I babysat my brother's kids: Hannah, Sarah, & Justin while he and his wife went on a cruise. While they traveled from country to country, we traveled to a new place each day without leaving Springville! Here was our week in a nutshell:

HAWAII:
Dinner- Hawaiian Haystacks & Fruit Smoothies
Treat: Candy Leis
Activity: Swimming at the public pool

MEXICO:
Dinner- Carne Asada Tacos & Rice
Activity- Go to the Mexican Market & Pick Treats
Treat- Sarah/Sage-Tres Leches Cake, Hannah-Chocolate Cake, Justin-M&Ms :)

ITALY:
Dinner- Pasta, Garlic Bread, & Salad
Treat- Gelato & Kinder Chocolate at Gloria's Little Italy
Activity- Sculpt, Bake, & Paint Clay Sculptures

U.S.A.
Dinner- Tin Foil Dinners & Hot Dogs
Treat- Smores
Activity- Go to the library, set up tent, read books & camp in tents

GERMANY:
Dinner- Beef Stroganoff & Salad
Treat- Chocolate from Germany
Activity- Make Pinewood Derby Cars & Race them down the driveway

MaryKate was cheering them on as they were racing the cars... so fun!

Sitting By Herself = Happy Girl!

2010-05-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

MaryKate has finally mastered sitting up all by herself! (Yes, there are no photoshop tricks in this video removing my arm. It's the real deal!) She still falls over after long periods of time or if her large cranium picks up a little to much momentum in one direction. But we are so happy for her and wanted to share a little bit of her happy sunshine with you... maybe while you watch this you can clap your hands, bounce, fling your arms, and smile because you are able to sit too!

Hope When Hope Is Gone

2010-04-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

I taught James' 14-15 yr old Sunday School Class yesterday so that he could have more time during the week to prepare for finals. This was the video that I made to show at the end of the lesson "Look to God & Live" on Moses and the Brass Serpent Staff. My old roommate, MaryAnn and I originally made this as a powerpoint to music, but I made it now conveniently into a video. I hope you enjoy it. The song is called He Is by Hillary Weeks and has the most beautiful message of hope. My hope is that during the week you feel and see the love of the Savior all around you.

Splishing & Splashing at Six Months

2010-04-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

MaryKate is officially 6 months and at her doctors appointment weighed in at 19 lb 1 oz and 27 1/2 inches long. This puts her in the 95 percent for height and 90 percent for weight... The good news is her head is back on the charts! Her cranium is now only 97%. Hurray for 3 other kids out of 100 having bigger noggins than MK!

She is eating solid foods! She and I both don't love it yet, but everyone tells us it takes time. (Its been 4 days) So far this week she's had rice cereal twice and oatmeal cereal many times. I put it in and she spits it out... repeated over and over and over :)

MaryKate loves her bath time. She has graduated to the big tub and thinks its the greatest thing in the world! She loves to splash, splash, splash! For modesty purposes, I put her in her bathing suit and had James video her so that Cambria, her cousin, could see "Her Baby MaryKate" in the bath tub. Here you go Cambria! Enjoy and sing along!

Last week we got to spend an afternoon with Carrie and Adam doing fun things in Salt Lake together. MaryKate & I took them on a fun free tour of Sweets Candy Factory. They give you fresh yummy candy right off the line & these awesome hair nets!

While James was taking a final & studying his brains out, we also took them to Mars!

And to the Moon! (or maybe just the planitarium... you decide)

If you know us well, you know we live above a dry cleaners and Sally the Seamstress, who has been MaryKate's pseudo-grandma, retired this month. So we made her a cake and had a little party down stairs at the cleaners. We're sad to see her go. She gives great baby tips!

Almost six months...

2010-04-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

First our family's progress in one sentence a piece.

James has two and a half weeks of school left this semester and is taking wedding photos this weekend.

Kathy is getting published for her help on research aimed at curbing childhood obesity and is looking for new things to do.

MaryKate is writing her thesis on the reason objects that are heavy tend to be pulled down more by gravity (a.k.a. why her head makes it hard for her to sit up).

The rest are just pictures James took with his new camera.

And yes they are all of MaryKate, except the last one which was the view off of our porch this morning.

p.s. in these two pics, Kathy's arm is photoshopped out. MK is almost sitting up but is not quite there yet.

Spring Break in the Sunshine!

2010-04-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

James had Spring Break and we decided to flee from the snowy mountains and head for the sunny skies of Arizona and California. First we stopped in Flagstaff and stayed with Kaylyn & Darren for a night and then went to Phoenix for 2 days to stay with Phillip, Alicia, & Lila. It was so fun!

This is a fun little pic of Cousins: Emmett (Phillip's son) and MaryKate. He is 10 days older and is the only baby we've seen that can make her look average size... He's actually bigger! What beautiful eyes he has!

They took us out to eat at one of my old high school favorite restaurants near my house called "Chino Bandido". It is a mixture of Chinese and Mexican and has amazing snickerdoodles and lava cookies. James and I haven't recommended a cheap local restaruant in ages... so we decided we have to recommend this one if you are ever in Arizona. We devoured the food before we could get a picture of it, but I converted James. He LOVED it! Here's the website link for it if you're interested: www.chinobandido.com

We also visited James' sisters, Bonnie & Dawn's families in Lavine and then drove down to Tucson to hang out with my parents, brother David, & sister Becky. This is a pic of Becky's son Malachi with his awesome paper airplanes that he made with me at the park.

After Arizona, we drove to San Diego, CA to stay with my Aunt Jen & cousin Laura's family. She got us in for free to the San Diego Zoo. It was our first time there and we had a blast!

MaryKate loved looking at all the animals and plants. She was looking at a baby gorilla here.

It was so niceto relax as a family! James didn't even bring his books. We had him all to ourselves!

James and MaryKate at the beach.

It was too windy to put her bathing suit on and the wind made her gasp for air every 3 seconds. Maybe she's still a little young to be a beach bum, but maybe next year she'll love it more!

A Few Discoveries!

2010-03-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

Ben & Becca's family go on an adventure every Saturday after their chores are done and this rainy, cold Saturday they spent it with us in Salt Lake at our favorite Frogurt (frozen yogurt) shop and at the Salt Lake City Public Library. Together we discovered how really huge and amazing this library is. It is 6 floors of awesomeness!

Hannah & Sarah LOVE reading... especially graphic novels! (They're like comics, but novels.)

Justin LOVES Garfield. It was fun to watch him read and laugh to himself out loud. You can see where MaryKate gets her love for reading.

MaryKate is doing Great! She is still sleeping like a champ! 10 to 12 hours a night, plus lots of naps. We just love her!

Our ward threw my friend Jessica & I a joint baby shower last week. It was so fun and the women in my ward are so generous! Mary Catherine is my friend in the blue, who hosted the party at her home. She also had a baby the same month as us. Lots of babies!

And now for the 2 new discoveries... Drum Roll Please...

1. MaryKate is sitting with a pillow! OK... so thats not that climactic, but the next one is!

2. MaryKate has discovered her tongue and can't get enough of it!
Watch the video below for a good laugh or smile. Isn't it fun!?

Excessive Amounts of...

2010-03-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

Toothbrushes:

I was cleaning my bathroom the other day and was shocked at how many toothbrushes we have for a household of only 2 people with teeth! We loose them, buy new ones and find them again in our suitcases or random bags. I don't know if this is an issue for others, but I guess too many is better than not enough!

Garbage:

I have a confession: My name is Kathy and I am a trash stacker. I know... it is a terrible, lazy habit, one that James pleads with me to overcome. He promises to love and support me as I fight this gross temptation. But I can't seem to kick the habit. Its like I do really good for a while and then I slip up again. It happens so subtly. I started young. I got in with the wrong crowd and it seemed like everyone was doing it: my brothers, my sisters, my friends. I remember my Mom begged me to give it up, but by then I hardly even noticed I was doing it...I was so desensitized. Maybe you or someone you know has struggled with this same addiction and has some advice for me on how to stay clean.

Hair Everywhere But My Head:

There are a few things about having babies that some people never tell you. Maybe they fear they'll discourage you from getting pregnant or maybe it's so gross that it's too taboo to talk about. One of these subjects I have recently discovered is hair loss! I can't tell you how grossed out I am by my own hair. I apologize to James and MaryKate because sometimes it gets grosser than bugs or insects all over the house. I find massive quantities of my hair in the shower, on counters, on the floor, in my hair brush, in MaryKate's hands, on my clothes and on James. So disgusting! When does this end? Someone told me 8 months. I'm hoping for sooner or I may have nothing left!

Laughs & Giggles:

Like you have seen before, MaryKate is a giggler. She loves to laugh and smile and when she does it fills me with hope and light. Maybe this gets old to you, but to us, it never does. So indulge me one more time. Here is a video of her laughing last night. It went on for over 5 minutes, but I thought I'd keep it short. Enjoy a giggle!

Some Things That Make Us Smile

2010-02-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

This past week we have seen and felt the blessings from the many prayers offered on our behalf. Although some things take longer to heal, we have been truly blessed by the love of so many. I just wanted to share a few of the things that have made us smile this past week. As you can guess much of it involves little miss MaryKate.

We have discovered that MaryKate loves to read. She just can't wait to peruse the pages of her favorite magazine, as you will see in the following video. She seems to especially enjoy cooking magazines. (She must get it from me)

We also did a little photo shoot of MaryKate in her leg warmers. How can you not love seeing her cute little thighs and her dancing clothes. On Friday at her 4 month check up, she weighed 16 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long, putting her in the 97% for height and 90% for weight. She is growing before our eyes everyday! She truly is a blessing in our lives. She helps us remember that there is a plan for all of us and it's real.

Lastly, I am adding a music video that we did on the 5th of February. We got together with some friends for a triple date and we had a music video competition, this is our creation. If you don't know our history, we made a music video on our first date and have made a few on some of our trips. Maybe I will post them later on. If anything, I hope it makes you smile.

The Light I See

2010-02-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

James and I drove home from John's funeral Monday night. As we were half way between Page and Kanab, we looked up into the sky and saw the moon directly in front of us shaped like the picture above (a thin waxing crescent). It made both James and I smile. I looked at James and asked why he was smiling and he said, "It looks like the moon is smiling down at us." Then he asked me why I was smiling. I told him that the moon looked like a representation of how I am feeling. The moon is as dark as it could almost possibly get, but there still seemed to shine a sliver of light that gives hope and reminds those who look, that the Sun has not abandoned us. Even though we can't see or feel all of it's light, we can be positive that it is still there, shining it's light onto the moon and reassuring us that eventually more light will come. I told James it reminded me of a quote that I heard and love by Joseph B. Wirthlin. This is the quote.

“I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross. On that terrible Friday the earth shook and grew dark. Frightful storms lashed at the earth… On that Friday the Savior of mankind was humiliated and bruised, abused and reviled. It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God. I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest. But the doom of that day did not endure. The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind…Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come."

-Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Sunday Will Come,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 28–30

Even during this difficult, dark time in my life, I still see light all around me. I see it in MaryKate's eyes everyday. I feel it throughout the day as James continually serves and comforts me. I see it in the kind friends, soldiers, neighbors, and family that came to John's funeral and not only offered hugs and prayers, but even opened their homes to us and invited us to stay while visiting from out of town. The Verizon store employee and the Southwest employee who helped my sister get a flight both shared with us a portion of their kindness and light. Yesterday at the daycare I work at, I challenged the little children to catch at least 3 bubbles in their hands. The proud look on each child's face as they presented me with 3 bubbles in their hands filled my heart with light for at least that brief moment. Even the beautiful mountains north of our apt and gorgeous warm sky in Phoenix shed their portion of light and beauty. I still cry everyday, often in the morning... but mostly at random times throughout the day. I cry not because I think that I'll never see John again, but because I miss and I grieve. But I am so thankful for all the kindness and light that I have received.

Here is our little ray of light. Isn't she so fun?!

Remembering John

2010-02-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

August 25, 1978 to February 9, 2010

What do you do when you find out that your brother is dead? How do you get rid of the sadness, the anger, and the guilt? How do you cope knowing his endless laughter is silenced on this earth and that his smiles and hugs will brighten no more days? I'm not sure... I saved every message he left on my phone while he was in Iraq, but when John returned at New Years, safe on American soil, I erased every last one. All I want is to hear his voice and for him to hold me and tell me it will be ok, but because I can't, I am going to share what I remember and love about him... and maybe that will help. So read on if you wish... it may be long and it may be more for me than anyone else. If you knew him and loved him like I do, we can remember together.

1. Walking me to Leslie Brown's house My mom was out running errands for longer than expected and I had been invited to Leslie's. But as a 3rd or 4th grader it seemed way too far to walk and I wasn't allowed to cross Greenway Rd. I was so sad, so John volunteered to carry me. He took me on piggy back all the way there, which is amazing because I was nearly his same size, but he wouldn't give up or put me down. That is the essence of John, always carrying others burdens no matter how much they weighed.
2. High school together John, Becky, & I drove to high school together when John was a senior and I, a lowly freshman. He never teased me or treated me like one though. He was in charge of driving. I can clearly picture us in his huge ugly boat of a car with no working windshield wipers, it's pouring outside and John has his head out of the window driving down busy streets trying to get us there on time. One day in high school the white kids decided to have a riot and beat up all the Mexican kids at school. John was in the heart of the battle, not fighting but saving Mexicans, one by one. He fought like a lion pulling kids to safety, trying to save as many as he could. I was so proud of him that day. I was also proud of him when somehow he managed to get on the intercom and ask Kristi Kay to Prom or homecoming with the whole school listening... I thought, "That's MY Brother!"
3. The Rollerskating Accident John was amazing on roller skates from a very young age, but I was not. I was such a scaredy-cat compared to him. I took 2 baseball bats from the closet and used them as poles to stabilize and ensure I didn't fall down on the roller skates. There I was skating around the culdesac like a dork with my bats, as John flew past me on his skates. We were standing in front of the Booses' house when I stuck my bat out to catch myself, just as John passed by, launching him into a huge cactus prickly pear bush. My mom had to pull all the big barbs out one by one... but he never got mad at me or blamed it on me.
4. $5 for the 7/11 John went on his mission to Sydney, Australia. While he was gone, he sent me a stack of envelopes of letters to distribute to all the people he had ever wronged or hurt. Each letter included an apology note I assume. I passed them out to the few people, but when I got a note that said 7/11, I was stumped. In the envelope there was a 5 dollar bill and a note apologizing for stealing a candy bar when he was young. I brought it to our 7/11 and the cashier looked at me and asked if I was serious. I said yes and he said he couldn't take it because his till would be off. I said "Take it then. Consider it a tip from my brother John."
5. Bake-sale flop I was twelve and I made cookies for our Girls Camp fundraiser in front of Wal-Mart. I prided myself on baking great cookies for John and all his friends, but on this day I'm not sure what went wrong. All I know is they weren't edible, let alone marketable. I was crying in the kitchen and John came in. He suggested we buy some or make some new ones and he would take me late to the sale. I'm not sure which we did, but all I remember is I sold a lot of cookies.
6. Dancing John was a great dancer. We all had so much fun at Saturday night dances... he probably more than me because not only did he dance, he kissed too! He was never too busy to dance with me if I wanted. I wasn't so great, but with him leading he could make me look and feel great.
7. Hip in the Wall John loved to wrestle. One day John was wrestling in the hall with one of his friends when his hip/bum went through the wall, creating a huge hole. I was shocked and told him mom was going to be so mad. John ran and grabbed his big senior picture and hung it on the wall right over the whole. My mom came home and asked why he moved his senior picture to the hallway at waist level. John said he felt neglected with it being in his room, and felt this was a more public place to showcase it. When my mom eventually insisted on raising it higher, she laughed at his creativity in covering up his mistake.
8. Borrowing his clothes I remember in junior high when no fear shirts and flannels were cool I would always borrow Johns clothes... not just shirts but jeans too. Embarrassingly we were the exact same size. He never got mad or complained, but I finally stopped when Chance Mikos called me "Little John". Oh, well... at least he was always well dressed and good looking, not such a slap in the face other than the fact that I am a girl.
9. Sand Sculptures on the Beach John was very creative and wouldn't just do the regular old sand castle. When John makes something, it is going to be awesome! On vacations he made the most amazing dolphins and turtles out of sand. He'd spend hours on them, long after the rest of us had given up, he was still working hard. I was always jealous of how good they were.
10. Threatening Boys John has threatened boys in my behalf for over a decade. When we both were attending BYU he nearly beat up a boy that would come by all the time and look in the girls windows in our complex. Lets just say the boy never dared peep in windows again. When James asked to marry me he talked to John and John threatened to kill him over 10 times if he ever hurt me. Sometimes he was a little over the top, but he truly protected his sisters!
11. White Soccer Shorts at Swim Lessons We all took swim lessons together... unfortunately I stayed in the beginners kick board class for years while my older siblings became advanced and eventually on swim team. One day John came directly from his soccer practice to swim lesson without his suit but figured he could wear his soccer shorts. He quickly learned that short little white soccer shorts become completely see through when wet. We laughed about that for ages.
12. Helping me with Student Teaching John and Kristi were living in Provo going to school while I was finishing student teaching. I had a huge lesson on fashion through the decades and John helped me for hours... till late into the night finding pictures and printing overheads. He was willing to help me no matter what time of day or night it was.
13. "Brothers Don't Shake Hands, Brothers Hug" I had a little crush on a boy named Toby when I was a sophomore in college. We had hung out and maybe gone on a date, but we were mostly just friends. I invited him to go to general conference with me because my family had tickets. John and Phillip and my parents met us on temple square. I prayed John would play it cool and not embarrass me somehow. As Toby and I walked up to get our tickets, John raced over picked Toby off the ground in a huge hug, and yelled, "Brothers don't shake hands, brothers hug." Then Phillip and John linked arms around his shoulders and started to do the can can.
14. Christmas When we were little, John would try to stay awake and catch Santa year after year. One year the tree toppled on top of him and cut him up with glass... when he was older he worked in Alaska and at Wilson's leather, so he had more money than any of us and would buy the best gifts for all of us, not just the name he drew. My favorite gift he gave me was a framed picture of me, my mom, my Grandma Larson, and my Grandma Carlson all in a row all at the same age in the pictures. It was beautiful and so well cropped and photo-shopped.
15. Shaving John's head John experienced a few wild years finding who he was and who he wanted to hang out with. During this time, He grew a tall, bleach-blond Mohawk. Every morning before school his freshman year, he asked me to shave the back of his head with a razor. So I did. My mom said he could. "It's just hair and he'll grow out of it" and he did...
16. Jumping the Tennis Net... Almost One day my dad got a phone call from John. He needed us to come pick him up and take him to the hospital. Like I said before, he was so talented on rollerblades (at The Wedge he could jump tables and trash cans) But at Charles Wilcox house he had tried to jump their tennis net. I remember sitting next to him in one of my dads company trucks looking at the huge opening in his chin gushing with blood as he said, "I almost cleared it... I was so close. I just hesitated!" John never feared pain or accidents... he thrived on the adrenaline of it all.
17. "Kathy... I want to tell you something" As we grew older, Becky, John and I all had different rooms. When it was late and I was in bed almost asleep, I would hear John or Becky or both yell down the hall, "Kathy! I have a secret for you!" or "Kathy! Guess what?" I'd get out of bed, run down the hall, and ask what they wanted to tell me. The secret was always, "Can you turn on my fan, get me a glass of water, and turn off my light." They both tricked me almost every night... John always told me I was too gullible. He was right.
18. The Greatest Advice One day after professional development meetings I called John to ask him what he thought we, as teachers could do to help students like John succeed. John was brilliant, but a terrible student in high school. Teachers always asked if I was a Larson like my oldest siblings or a Larson like John. Ouch! What jerks! He always told me he was trying to do me a favor and make teachers expect less of me so I wouldn't have to be so perfect all the time. Ha! John dropped out of high school the month before graduation and got his GED. He hated a lot about public education. When I asked him this question, he thought for a second and said, "You've got to believe they are great and help them to see that. They will become what you believe they are. Don't call on kids that aren't paying attention and ask what you just said. I hated that. It didn't make me want to listen. It made me embarrassed and angry. You should build them up, not push them down. Most importantly you have to give them hope. If they are failing and there is no way left to pass or succeed then of course they'll give up. Just help them have hope." I wish I could have been there to build John up... to hug him and let him know that there was hope.

What I love about my brother, John:
He was one of the kindest people I have ever met. He was funny and silly... We would laugh for hours when we would get together. He and I love sharing stories, one upping each other. I could never stay mad at him for long because he would tickle me or make a silly face or dance or stand on his head or pick my nose... gross I know! He was my protector, my adviser, and my friend. I loved his willingness to serve others and to finish a project 110%. I love how hard he worked. I love how humble he was... never claiming to be perfect but he often claiming to be right. I love how he went out of his way to make people feel important and loved. He learned broken Arabic and would go to the streets speaking to them in their language. The adults would chat with him and the children would swarm around him in mobs. His warm smile could crumble walls of any cultures or races. He was impulsive, creative, daring, and brave. I know that I will see John again and when I do I hope we can pick up from where we left off and tell more stories and laugh some more. I love you John! I miss you!

Happy Late Groundhog Day !

2010-02-03T20:20:00.000-08:00

James & Ryan threw their 4th Annual Groundhog day party yesterday. It was the 3rd that I've personally attended. They crack me up... Who honestly celebrates Groundhogs Day?! The tradition, as I understand it to be, is that they have a big BBQ on Feb. 2nd and wear swim trunks or shorts and flip-flops outside in the snow. The hope is that maybe the spring will come a little sooner if they give it a little encouragement, regardless if the Groundhog sees his shadow or not. (which by the way he did see it...which should mean a longer winter...so scientifically driven!) This year I surprised James by making him this Groundhog cake for his party while he was at school. Pretty funny, eh! I walked around the grocery store looking for anything that looked like a ground hog & the apple fritter cried out to me! So now you know, if you are in need of a groundhog cake next year, I can help you out. :) It only cost 4 bucks to make! I hope your Groundhog Day was all that you dreamed and more! Be sure to come by next year if you're in the area...we'd love to celebrate with you.

A Week of Skiing

2010-01-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

This last week my friend needed to go to a funeral and asked me to fill in for her as a tour guide at my old summer job, ElderHostel. I wasn't sure how we'd make it work, but Becca & Ryan volunteered to watch MaryKate in the day and one day she came with me and James to Solitude. So for a solid week I cross country skied with a group of 25 people between the ages of 65and 85. They did better than I did accept for one gentleman who tore his ACL and a lady who broke her pelvis. Ouch!

Wasn't it beautiful! This was taken at Solitude ski resort.

This is Sundance, home of the annual film festival. (We went half day skiing and half day watching films with the directors.) Not many jobs can beat getting paid to take ski lessons and watch films.

MaryKate is as cute as ever! She is nearly 26 inches long and was weighing 14 lbs.3 in. & growing daily! They said she is now in the 70% for weight and 97% for height for an average baby. However for a baby her height she is in the 18% for weight. Tall and thin with a huge head (The nurse measured it twice because they couldn't believe her head could be that big!) She gets it from her mommy & daddy! She loves to giggle and we just love her to pieces.

A New Leaf

2010-01-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

MaryKate rolled over today! She will be going off to college in no time.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

2010-01-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

MaryKate is feeling much better! Tomorrow will be her last day of medicine and it has worked like a charm. This is a picture taken on her 3 month B-day. Thanks Mary for the cute dress!

This is my little munchkin this morning smiling at me while I cleaned.

For MLK Day, James & I and our friends(Audrey, Josh, & Clinton) hiked to Diamond Fork Hot Springs. Becca & Sarah babysat MaryKate for us. This is not our group, but a picture of another group hiking to the same place as us. Because the road to the trail head was closed, we had to hike the long road to the trail making it 10 mile hike instead of a 4 mile hike...

It was pretty, but I hardly noticed because my shoes were to small & I am so out of shape I thought I was going to die! No really. I've never been so close to wanting to swear or be shot. Pathetic I know.

James and I outdoors in the winter in Utah in bathing suits! The pots really are so warm. I apologize for forcing you to view our white skin and my post pregnancy rolls :)

We also in the past week learned to make Sushi for our 2nd time with Audrey & Josh. James makes a pretty roll.
Confession: I cheated. I brought some tender cooked chicken in a tiny Tupperware and tried to slip it in while no one was looking. Why raw fish!?

Our Sick Little Sweetie

2010-01-13T07:53:00.000-08:00

We noticed last Friday (my last day of teaching) that MaryKate's cold was getting drastically worse. I gave her a cold in the beginning of December, but it slowly seemed to go away around Christmas time. But then a few days later both she and I started showing symptoms again! Grrr!
The Symptoms:
Friday while James' best friend Ryan was burping her, she started coughing and vomiting all over Ryan multiple times. (This is uncommon for her because she has only spit up 4 times.) We took her to see a doctor Sunday night because she was so congested, constantly coughing, weezing, and vomiting her milk. She has become our little puke princess, puking at every or every other feeding... which of course has decreased wet & poopy diapers.
The Diagnosis:
Double Ear Infections & RSV
The Remedy:

1. Breathing treatments every 4 hours as needed
2. Antibiotics for the ear infections every 12 hours
3. Saline solution treatments & suctioning her nose before eating & sleeping
4. Feeding only 2 oz of milk every 2 hours instead of 4 or 5 every 3 hours
5. Sleeping in her car seat or bouncy chair instead of in her crib

The Good News:

She is doing a little better each day and even when she was her sickest, she would still smile at us in between her coughing and whimpering. Here she is playing on the new toy James got her for cheap at Kid to Kid. It spins and plays music when she kicks the foot peddle. It was so much fun for her and a great distraction from feeling miserable. :)

Dream of Sugar Plums, not Ted Bundy!

2009-12-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-30T17:39:00.001-08:00

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...

2009-11-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share our favorite smile with you.

MaryKate Rebecca Gardner

2009-10-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Our Red and Yellow Sunday Walk

2009-10-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a walk this afternoon. For those of you mothers you may be able to guess why we decided to take a two mile walk after church, other than it being an absolutely beautiful day. We decided to take a picture of everything yellow and red (with a few exceptions). Hope you take a good Sunday walk of your own. It is amazing what you can find in your own neighborhood. The world is a beautiful place.

Measuring Much Too Big

2009-09-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

I officially am the Microwave Mama! Like James says, "You just cook up babies faster than most people." As of yesterday's ultrasound our little girl is measuring at 40 weeks and 2 days instead of 35 weeks. They took multiple measurements of her head, stomach and legs and averaged them and declare her to weigh 8lb 7 oz, give or take 1 pound. That's huge for a first! (Especially considering the fact that I still have 5 weeks left.) Think how big she could get by then. My doctor said he would induce me on Oct 20th, if I don't have her on my own by then. So cross your fingers and pray that either she comes early or I have the strength to endure & deliver a 10-12 lb baby!

The Hole-In-the-Wall Hunt

2009-09-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

Our New Monthly Quest: To Find the Most Delicious Restaurant in Salt Lake City!

James and I both love to cook and eat, but we especially love to eat out at restaurants... its fun, usually tasty, and we get new ideas of things we'd like to make at home. Before moving here, we had already tried many of the big name restaurants in Salt Lake (Buca di Beppo, Biaggi's, Tucci's, Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, The Roof, The Garden, Cheese Cake Factory, P.F. Changs, etc.) But now that James is in grad school, we need to save all the money we can. So we have decided to start the new adventure of eating once a month at a no name, ma & pa, hole in the wall restaurant and reviewing it for our family and friends. Our results may be both delicious and disgusting, but we are sure that we will find some cheap, less crowded gems for you.

This month we began our hunt at a place called The Blue Plate Diner located at 2041 South 2100 East, just a few blocks south of us. We see a wide variety of people there all the time and it peaked our curiosity. Could it be good? Last night we checked it out. When you enter it has the feel of an old time diner or soda shop. You grab a menu from the counter and seat yourself. Shortly one of the waiters with colorful tattoos will bring you a carafe of water and take your order. The menu is filled with home style comfort foods, but specializes in breakfasts all day long. Apparently this restaurant has won best breakfasts in SLC for the past 9 years and the "Best Eat on the Cheap" is SLC for the past 5. The menu ranges from $6 to $11 meals and has a surprising variety also on vegan and vegetarian entrees (probably to appeal to the hippie looking kids with dreadlocks sitting at the table next to us). They serve omelets, a variety of egg Benedict, tons of breakfasts, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, salads, enchiladas, etc.

So was it good or not? I ordered a cranberry turkey sandwich & steak fries and James ordered a Spanish omelet, hash browns & toast. Unfortunately I ordered the wrong thing for me... I don't know what I was thinking! I was too impulsive. The sandwich had a ton of turkey and a huge slice of cranberry sauce straight from the can. I hate jiggly canned cranberry... It wasn't their fault, I got what I asked for. I had just hoped for cranberry chunks in a creamy sauce. The fries were excellent however and I loved James' omelet. It was so cheesy and came with guacamole and more. James only critique was that he wished they wouldn't have drenched it in so much salsa. But overall the experience was good. We will go back again, but most likely to check out one of their delicious looking breakfasts. Also a little tip: after we ordered we saw on the wall their summer salad sale (6 amazing salads) and also their All You Can Eat daily specials. Friday night's is fish and chips, a veggie, and side. James wishes he would have seen that earlier.

Monthly Movie Magic

2009-09-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

James and I decided to also review one movie a month that we would recommend watching. Last night after dinner we went to the dollar theater and finally saw the Disney Pixar movie UP. Here is our review:

If you go into this movie having just watched the trailer, you go in there with the expectation of classic Pixar humor and animation, the characters look quirky and the story seems different. Honestly this is how I usually feel about Pixar movies (e.g. Ratatouille, Monsters. Inc., Cars,) I go in thinking this plot will be difficult to pull off. But as always, Pixar does it and does it well.

One thing we noticed is how quickly we fell in love with the characters. It isn't often, (in factor never) that we love characters so much that we are in tears within the first 15 minutes of a movie, and when I say tears, I mean Kathy is sitting next to me trying to compose herself, so that she doesn't disturb the girls sitting next to her with loud, gushing sobs. We both were in tears throughout the movie (probably because A - Kathy is pregnant, B - we are just starting our story like Carl and Ellie and C - We really just fell in love the characters that much). I think the intro part of the movie was very well done. What is interesting is that they are able to create a picture of deep, life-long love, so quickly and with no dialogue between Carl and Ellie. It was simple but moving and I think, very realistic.

The plot was fun, crazy and kept you smiling or outright laughing. It moved nicely; it never felt slow. Throughout and within the humor it kept reminding you of the real heart of the movie, which is a love story and a story about hope.

One of our favorite lines is from Russell(the wilderness explorer) speaking about his father, and I think it had great meaning for the whole movie:

"And afterwards, we'd go get ice cream at Fenton's. I always get chocolate and he gets butter brickle. Then we sit on this one curb right outside, and I'd count all the blue cars and he counts all the red ones, and whoever gets the most, wins...I like that curb. It might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most."

We recommend this movie, for kids and adults and even teenagers.

Elder Hostel- Our Awesome Summer Job!

2009-08-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

James and I finished working as Utah tour guides for ElderHostel. It was very fun and a little tiring, but overall a wonderful experience! We loved all of the fantastic grandparents and grandkids that we met from all over the U.S. Here are some pictures of James and I working...although it appears we're just playing.

We went floating down the Provo river in rafts and my last week I jumped in. Cold!

We also took them hot air ballooning. It is so peaceful and beautiful and a bit scary for people afraid of heights, but it was worth it for that view!

We went to Seven Peaks waterpark the first 2 weeks the hotel pool was broken. So fun! I love these people!

Our Trip to Florida

2009-07-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

We loved the beach!

I am now 26 weeks. (Translation for non-prego people= 6 months+) I have officially popped out big and look without a doubt pregnant. This picture above is solid proof of that! I thought, "At least I had a chance to get more tan in Florida... maybe that will help disguise it." Didn't work. Still big.

My aunt and uncle taught James to water ski. I was so proud!

James gave me for mother's day plane tickets to visit Lindsay in Florida. So we could be "prego" together. It was so fun to feel not alone in this crazy new experience and spend time with her and Scott.

We went to a Rays vs. Oakland A's game. The Rays won 6 to 0.

We ate lots of Cuban food. It was very yummy!

We went to Disney World for free with Brad Schram, who works there. Very Fun! James was chosen after multiple auditions to be on American Idol at Hollywood Studios!

More fun pictures of Lindsay and I showing our pregnant tummies. Sadly, she is 7 months along and I'm only 6. She is looking great!

My Delicious, Horrifying Late Night Snack

2009-07-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last night James and I stayed the night at James' parents in Duncan, AZ. We had an early dinner of macaroni salad and squash and then nestled in their couches to watch the Diamondbacks lose again. Around 10:00 when his parents went to bed and the little neices and nephews were fast asleep, James and I were hungry again for a late night snack. (Not a big suprise for a pregnant woman who's quite often hungry.)
So we surveyed the kitchen for something lite... wishing for the yogurt I accidently left in Safford. We both decided a small bowl of cereal would do the trick. James pulled out honey bunches of oats...Normally I would have the same because I do enjoy a flaky oat cluster, but for some odd reason I reached for the rice crispies. Odd to say the least. I haven't eaten rice crispies outside of a marshmellow treat in ages. But I thought that last night it might just hit the spot and that I should maybe go outside my comfort zone a little. See... I can be wild and spontaneous from time to time!
Anyway, there I stood in the kitchen eating my bowl of rice crispies in the dark, not wanting to wake anyone. I was enjoying the cereal and had eaten over half when I took a step toward the kitchen sink. The moonlight from the window over the sink cast a ray of light onto my bowl. With my mouth freshly full of a large bite, I glanced down and saw my rice crispies moving... moving quite alot. Now I know they snap, crackle, and pop, but move? I held the bowl up to the window and stopped chewing midbite for further examination. My bowl was full of weavels!.... AAAAH! Delicious!

She's a Girl!

2009-06-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

This morning we had our ultrasound, which we attached for your viewing pleasure. Her legs were spread eagle, so within seconds we knew that she was positively, 100% girl. Her heart beat is strong, she has all her healthy parts,(we even counted all 10 toes) and she is constantly moving. James and I are so excited! The video is just a small clip of the ultra sound, so you won't see the part indicating that she's a girl, but we promise she is!

18 Weeks Pregnant & Growing!

2009-06-02T08:18:00.001-07:00

If you haven't heard yet, I am 18 weeks and 3 days pregnant... but who's counting. I am growing bigger and bigger, I swear by the day. I know I am getting fatter by the obvious roll or mound over my jeans, but I didn't realize how much bigger I truly had gotten until I tried on my old black and white button up poka-dot shirt. Not only could I not get it to button, but I couldn't get the sides of the shirt to even touch! Yeah, thats a good feeling. :)

What is a good feeling is that we get to hear its heart beat monthly, which is a fabulous reminder that there actually is a human in there and not just cellulite. We also get to find out very soon (Friday, June 12th) if it is a girl or a boy! I am dying to know... in fact this morning I lay in bed counting how many days that is until we find out... I'll save you the time. Its 10! James and I are excited for either gender and have no names picked out yet, but will get working on that once we know which it is. We'll keep you posted! Check in 10 days for more exciting news!

The Number Five

2009-05-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Last night James and I went out to celebrate our 5 month anniversary. (I know... all you veteran married couples are rolling your eyes at what we view as a fantastic milestone.) Despite it being a Friday, I was in a real sour, impatient mood as I left work. Probably just tired. As I was driving home cursing every red stop light and every slow car on the road that got in my way, the epiphany came that maybe I was having major attitude problem and not every other human or object around me. Grrr... I hate that realization. Luckily I came home to James and I can never seem to stay grumpy long with him around. He had planned a fun date for us all centered around the theme #5.
First we stopped by our local grease palace and picked up a 5 dollar pizza that even Caesar himself would have enjoyed. Then off we went to Jamba Juice to pick up an extra large 5 dollar Jamba to share. I felt the urgent need to cleanse my pallet after our pepperoni fat fest. Nothing hits the spot better than our favorite peach passion... mmm. So good.
Then came the activity portion of our evening. We went to the Mecca of Dollar Stores that even has a freezer and full grocery section to pick out 5 gifts for each other. What a delight! So many wonderful odd things to choose from in a dollar store. I felt like a kid on a shopping spree that just got payed allowance. Once we had made our final selections, exchanged gifts, and payed for them, we headed off to the second dream land for any child with allowance or birthday money in their pocket: The Nickelcade... Where we played everything for only 5 cents, except for on those lame games that require 3 nickels. We played ski-ball, cruisin california, a cool motorcycle racing game, slot machines, and Jurassic Park. I was having an abnormally lucky night because I beat James a number of times, which until tonight has never occured. The nickelcade was a blast, even on an overcrowded Friday night. And there you have our evening celebrating the #5 and my second blog entry that was 5 times longer than the first.

2009-04-26T19:27:00.001-07:00

My First Post Ever!

2009-04-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

What do you say on your first blog post ever. So much pressure! I'm truly at a loss of words! I must be witty, fun or charming like so many of my married friends that have been bloggers for years. Well, I will probably be none of those until I get a hang of this whole new blogging world.
I can say this. After a year of dating, James and I finally tied the knot in the Mesa AZ temple on Nov 29th. Although we've been married for only 4 months and 27 days, it feels like much longer... I mean that in a good way! We love marriage and highly recommend it to all our single friends!

2009-04-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

2008-01-02T12:25:00.000-08:00