The Gardner Family

Christmas 2011

2012-01-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

I can't quite remember where daddy was when the girls and I decided to set up the Christmas decorations. It was the day or so after Thanksgiving, so he must've been somewhere. Hopefully he didn't mind not being around for the beginning of all the festivities. We even had our own mini tree lighting ceremony! Tons of fun!

We usually spend our Christmas Eve doing something with the Heber cousins!
This year we went up there and had a ton of fun bowling, hanging out and eating yummy food!
(I'm starting to wonder if I should've asked for a camera for Christmas...or maybe I just need to learn how to focus better)

We always try to get back early enough to have some of our own family time complete with feeding the reindeer, reading scriptures, reading The Living Christ (which Matt made into scrolls a couple of years ago), watching THIS keepsake video from when Thomas was a baby and opening our Christmas pjs.

This year for the girls we stole a friend's idea and did sweat suits instead of pjs and I think this is an idea that might stick for years to come! It just seems like the girls always have plenty of pjs and these they are wearing all of the time! Super Cute!

Maybe I should've just stuck with the night time pictures, because man we look pretty scary first thing in the morning!
But hey...this isn't just any morning!! It's Christmas morning!! SMILE!

We were spoiled pretty good this year! I didn't take many pictures, but I think everyone was happy with what they got. (I know I sure like my new toy!) This little Thomas man left his train set for the little time we were at church and didn't step away from it again for the rest of the day! It was so fun to watch him and all of the kids!

The day after Christmas we left for Wyoming for a week. We stopped in Rock Springs to play with cousins for a couple of hours (not in the Wal-Mart parking lot this time!) and then we spent some time in Laramie with my family for a few days. I hardly took any pictures! I think we were all too busy staying connected to our new gadgets. We might have been a little too anti-social this trip! :) Sorry guys! Actually we did have tons of fun. It was great to just relax and be with family.

(...some boys may have eaten too much...oh they'll hate me for putting that picture on!)

We even took in a Wyoming Cowgirl basketball game which is always a plus!
On the way through the fieldhouse I had to try to take this picture of a picture in the window of the basketball offices!
Just above #10 in the picture on the left you can see the 4 crazies in the picture on the right! My mom, dad, sister and her husband at the NIT Championship game that the girls won in 2007. Matt and I are there somewhere, but our tickets are a little further away! Fun fun stuff!

Later that week we went on to Cheyenne to hang out with our Smith cousins for New Year's Eve! We have spent almost every New Year's Eve with this family and always have a great time playing games and hanging out! It was fun for me to do a musical number with our nephew in Sacrament Meeting that Sunday too. He is such a talented violinist! It was fun to play through some stuff with him!

We went back home on Sunday night and gave ourselves a day to recuperate before school started up again on Tuesday. We know that we are so blessed to have had such a good, fun Christmas! We are always thankful for such wonderful family and friends! 2012 is already about 1/12 of the done...time just flies!

Here are some fun pictures to close out the year!
These were taken with my new toy (ipad). It has kinda become the family toy...when I let them play with it!

Happy New Year!

Almost to Christmas

2012-01-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

I have one more clean up post to go before I finally get to Christmas!

And hopefully the evidence shown in these pictures and videos won't be held against me later!

December was busy of course!
Sometimes I wish I had taken more pictures, but this is one of those times where you just hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

We made neighbor gifts

We sang

We crafted

We lounged around

We had another school Christmas program

We had a ward Christmas Party

And the party after the party!

We even managed to get in a family picture at the girls' concert in Salt Lake...thinking we'd use it for our Christmas card.

Instead Matt put together a condensed version of the blog by showing all of the craziness we have been up to this year!
It turned out pretty awesome I think. So on that note I can say Merry Christmas (in January!) and blog our final week of the year! :)

Visits with Family

2012-01-21T01:00:00.000-08:00

All of my family and most of Matt's family are still in Wyoming. I have a sister 3 hours away, but everyone else is 6 hours away. We try to go visit as much as we can, but we especially love and are grateful for when they come to see us! We LOVE to have family in our home and to take them to see the sites.

Our first visitors were Grandma and Grandpa Hoopes. They came to see the girls sing up at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake.

While at the JSMB we went to the Family History Center there and Dad was able to visit with a sister he knew on his mission in Virginia! It was fun for all of us to get to meet her.

Then, of course, dinner at Winger's!

The very next week my mom and Uncle Dale came to see the girls sing the exact same program again at the Alpine (AF) Tabernacle. This performance is almost always followed by Frosties at Wendy's!

Grandma and Dale also got to see the girls' Christmas sing along at school the next morning!

This was also the same weekend as the girls' Dance Recitals in the previous post.
Grandma and Grandpa Gardner were here for that and we were also able to meet up with Matt's brother Glade and his family for a quick dinner. I'm sad I didn't get pictures...especially since their family was dressed up so nice! But again, it was fun to have more family!

Aren't these lovely pictures?! I don't know what is up with our funky pose, but Jackson had just pulled into Salt Lake and we were excited to see everyone, and also stand in front of our parents' first house...the house they brought me home to when I was first born...nice huh?! I did try to take a picture through the nasty window because the woodwork inside is amazing....hopefully someday it can be restored to what looks like a pretty amazing home!

We have been begging Jackson and his family to come forever! Our kids always have such a great time together!
We met in Salt Lake for lunch and then took in all the sites.

Santa outside...

The Church History Museum and Children's Exhibit...

The Conference Center

...and the lights on temple square!

Jackson also came with his "GIRLFRIEND" (imagine that being said in a high ~~obnoxious~~ :) squeeky voice!) and her girl who is just a few weeks older than Kaylee! We had such a great time with them too! (yes...Matt is missing from these pictures...since we planned on playing the whole day up there he wasn't able to come...we hung out with him later that night)

Thank you to all of our family that make the trip here! It means a ton to us and we have such a great time!
We hope Jackson and Mindy had a fun time playing follow the leader all around Salt Lake! PLEASE come again soon! Love you guys!

Sisters!

2012-01-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

How did I miss this gorgeous picture!? It really needs to go in my previous post, but we'll make it a post of it's own! Taylor is in gymnastics and hasn't had much going on with that lately, but I'll have to post something of her soon. For now we will just stare into the beautiful eyes of these sisters that (usually) love each other so much and are always cheering each other on!

Dance Recitals

2012-01-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

Oh wow! Aren't those two the cutest?! This was such a fun day! One that I had stressed about a ton, because, 1--we had so many scheduling conflicts come up with the dress rehearsal and other things, but 2--because I don't know what I'm doing as a dance mom! At the girls' dress rehearsal we saw a couple of girls walk in the school in their sweats with basketballs in hand and hair in messy buns. I was longing to be able to do that with my girls instead of what we were about to have to pull off with the mohawk hair (complete with youtube video instruction) and VERY specific Nordstrom lipstick. This just wasn't my thing. They had 2 Grandmas, a Grandpa and an Uncle also coming to watch so I was so nervous for them, but these two were so calm and having so much fun! They were in heaven!

I didn't know what to expect at all, but what this dance studio pulled off was amazing! It was a blast! Kaylee was first of our girls and for some reason I get the most nervous for her! She is learning a lot so fast! Usually I see her perform when I go to pick her up at 8:30 at night after 2 and 1/2 hours of rehearsal. I had no idea how much energy and attitude this girl had! She wowed me!! I was so proud of her! (she is in pink and starts out standing...facing the audience)

Emily was next! I was nervous for her and her tiny little solo! She loves this stuff! She has been really fun to watch with her sass and cute hips! (she is in orange and starts out on the far left)

Kaylee had a 2nd dance with a bigger group. Ballet is definitely harder and for the girls not as much "fun". But again, I'm so excited for what they are learning and how much confidence they are getting! (she is in gray and pink and I do focus in on her most of the time)

Here are a few pictures I tried to take while video taping.
Both Kaylee and Emily have worked so hard! I was a proud Momma on this day! Sorry, this blog is always quotes from me, myself and I.....I know their Daddy and the rest of the family were so proud as well! It was a fun weekend!

4th Grade Fieldtrip

2012-01-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is my 3rd field-trip this year! I'm so glad that I have been able to go with each of the girls and be with them and their friends. Kaylee's class went on a pretty laid back trip to a couple of museums down in Provo. We had lunch and walked around and saw a lot! This group of girls was a ton of fun! Thanks Kaylee girl for letting me tag along!

Emily Turns 7

2012-01-12T08:05:00.001-08:00

We started off December celebrating Emily's 7th birthday!

I don't know what our rhyme or reason is for when to do friend parties and when not to, but this year seemed to be the year for friends. I forgot to take a picture of the red carpet (table cloth) that her sisters set out front, but we do have the Rock Star cake and some other pictures to show the fun rock star party that they girls had! We are surrounded by so many wonderful friends that spoiled Emily pretty good! They had a lot of fun singing and rocking out!

Of course we had a small family party too, complete with leftover cake, presents and of course phone calls from those too far away! Emily is our little giggler! She loves to make us laugh! She loves to sing, dance and be with her friends! She works super hard in all that she does, and she makes sure things are exact and perfect! We love her big blue eyes and what so many refer to as that cute porcelain doll face! We love you Emily Lynne! Hope you had a great birthday!

Season of Thanksgiving

2012-01-06T01:00:00.000-08:00

Falls in Utah are absolutely beautiful!
We enjoyed making smiley faces in the leaves and just being outside during November.

There are always a few bumps and bruises...

But mostly smiles and fun!

We get a little rowdy during football season...but get it handed right back to us when the game doesn't go our way!

Kaylee and the girls always seem to have a school project to work on.
Kaylee has done a great job at keeping caught up with the many book reports she's had this year!

There was the Turkey Trot where all three girls did amazing, and once again, Emily placed...this year taking 3rd!

We LOVE the fall foods and have experimented quite a bit with the breads. I've made a ton of bricks, but sometimes it turns out!

Thanksgiving this year was soooo fun and relaxing! We were so blessed to be able to spend time just a few minutes away in Riverton with my cousins and their kids! I always love spending time with these families. They have such a wonderful, inviting spirit and we LOVE to be able to hang out with them every once in a while!

We have so much to be grateful for! As I sit here and blog and catch up on the last couple of months I think back on the fun we have with such amazing family and friends! We got fun things for Christmas and we are blessed with TONS of yummy food everywhere we go! But the blessings we treasure most are all of our family and friends! I am especially thankful for Matt and our beautiful smiley children! We had the perfect vacation time together! Things can be stressful...we all get tired and on each other's nerves sometimes, but we do feel so much love and happiness when we are together and for that I am so thankful!

Kierra Turns 4!

2012-01-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that this little princess is 4! (November 20th) She is so fun and we all LOVE our little Kierra Ann! I LOVE her "Rapunzel" hair that I hope she will continue to grow out! Her little pouty face used to be so cute, but now it has quite the attitude with it AND her little brother has now started doing it....it's not so cute anymore, but I try to love it by telling her she's just blowing me a kiss...she's not amused! We do love her beautiful smile and giggle! Kierra loves to sing and dance and be with her older sisters, but also take care of and play with Thomas when the girls are at school! She is everyone's little buddy and we hope she was able to have a fun, yet small and simple (with not enough pictures), party with her sisters! They love to spoil her! Happy Happy birthday girlie!

Duet Festival

2012-01-02T01:00:00.000-08:00

I'm back to blogging! I've gotta really get caught up! Back on November 12th Kaylee (who actually performed with her good friend), Taylor and Emily all participated in the Piano Duet Festival down in Orem. They worked so hard and did such a great job! I have LOVED teaching my kids piano! We are really pretty good at doing each girl on their respective day each week, and as far as practicing...yes...they'd rather play with friends, but they know they need to get it done and usually do it without a fight. ;) My biggest joys come when they go in and play random stuff on their own. Some days I'm so tempted to tell them to stop because of all the noise, but then I remind myself that this is what it is all about. And besides...it's starting to not be just noise anymore which is so exciting for me! They all play so beautifully and I hope they will continue to work as hard as they do!

3rd Grade Fieldtrip

2011-11-28T07:29:00.000-08:00

Some of the cutest pictures of Taylor are all fuzzy...maybe I should be asking for a new camera for Christmas!

I had so much fun going on another field-trip! Again, I am thankful for good friends who watch my little ones as I have tried to spend a little more time with my school kids this year! It really has been a blessing to me and something I have enjoyed way too much!

I am a little embarrassed to say that in the 8 years we have lived in Lehi I have never stepped foot in the Hutchings Museum. This is really a neat and special place! Taylor and I had a great time with her class learning some of the history of the Indians, Porter Rockwell, plants, animals, fossils and other Lehi info. I absolutely love listening to stories and history of Utah and now especially Lehi! Sometimes playlist.com on the right doesn't have a lot of the music that we have in our home but I just got so excited that they have this CD Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet! This has some terrific music on it! My favorite song is Emma...I cry every time I hear it (yes, like right now as I am listening to it and typing!). I really like The Rising...American Dreams...He Walked a Mile in my Shoes....click on them and listen to them....they are all so good. The first one is a fun Porter Rockwell song just for this post! :) For those that don't know...these are songs we don't normally worship too. The hymns of the Church are the basic music for our meetings and are standard for all congregational singing. This CD and many other modern LDS artists are just fantastic songs that I love to have in our home. Some have strengthened my testimony in so many ways! This Nashville CD is really fun and tells some great stories!

It was so fun to be with Miss Taylor Marie and her cute little friends! Her class is a small group because she is actually in a split class, so that makes it even more fun to hang out with them all! They are cute kids at such a fun age! Taylor and her little friends are always holding hands or have their arms locked around each other! They take such good care of each other! I hope they will all be friends forever and grow up together and do amazing things!
I love you Taylor Marie!
Thanks for letting me tag along!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-21T08:40:00.001-08:00

I LOVE fall in Lehi! We had a wonderful October and such a fun and relatively relaxing Halloween!

The 3 older girls and I went to the annual Lehi Children's Choir Halloween party the weekend before Halloween! Kaylee has been nice to let her sisters tag along and hang out with their friend even if it is technically just a party for the older choir. We have a lot of fun playing crazy games and eating tons of food!

I have yet to do our school pictures this year to hang on the wall. Maybe I should just start using these instead because every year it seems I always get these exact poses and we can still see how much they've changed in a year. :)

I sure love the pre-printed jack-o-lantern idea. Where were those when I was a kid? I think they really turn out so cool!

Then Halloween was full of school parties, friends and fun!

Monday night was absolutely beautiful! The kids had such a great time! I'm always grateful that Matt takes the kids around...that way I was able to see some of my little nursery kids and everyone else too.

And then of course we had to finish off the night at the spookiest house in the valley! We had fun watching the computer screen as people would come up and scream! Kaylee was gone! She was so excited to hang out with her friends! They had been emailing back and forth about it the entire week before! I wish I had had pictures of them. We saw them for a split second here at the Iverson's, but didn't see her again until she came home with a pillowcase FULL of candy! And although she's not in the picture below, Kierra was here with us. Usually she runs right up to Brent and gives him a big hug....she was a little bit nervous of him this night!

So, we hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
I'm just super happy that I was able to get some amazing capes, masks and costumes in Wyoming for $1 a piece this weekend! Halloween shopping for next year is already done and the last of this year's candy is just about gone! :)

Primary Teachers

2011-11-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

I'm a little out of order, but this post will be much faster to put up than the Halloween one I need to do next. The girls had their primary program in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday! There were 91 kids up there on that stand and they are all such great kids from such great families! I am thankful every day for primary teachers and leaders who teach my kids in church every week. I get excited when they say they already know that story, or my teacher taught me this lesson once. My kids remember and have so much fun learning the scriptures! Their teachers throw little parties, or bring over little notes when we are gone. My kids feel so much love from their leaders when they go each Sunday!

Our sweet primary president said this quote, "We are a ward family, and these are our children". Both she and her counselor reminded us just how precious these little ones are. So many thoughts came to my mind about how I just need to love them more. I may pull the mom card and boss them around and get frustrated, but really...what makes me more "high and mighty" than them. We are all just learning and growing together. They love so unconditionally....they forgive....they give 110% all of the time. I need to remember how blessed I am to have these perfect little spirits in my life daily! I am so thankful for all of the primary presidency, teachers, song leaders and especially to the kids for bringing such a perfect spirit into our meeting on Sunday.

This video is the cutest thing ever and I've been waiting for the perfect time to post it. No...I promise I don't force my kids to sit down with a timer and memorize and time their songs and articles of faith. Emily has this reading homework she has to do every night with a timer and so Kierra sometimes just wants to be big and have her homework too. This was a couple of months ago and everything that she did she would time. Yes...EVERYTHING! ;) ;) This is just a small glimpse into the happiness and joy my kids have when learning the truths of the gospel. We believe! :)

Fall Break in Wyoming

2011-11-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

Our Fall Break was October 20-23. We tried to decide on something crazy and out of the ordinary for us to do and when it all came down to it, it's always about Grandmas and Grandpas and cousins and Wyoming. Oh and Aunts and Uncles too...can't leave them out!

I know I know...it's I80! But it's Wyoming! Isn't this perfect! Nothing for miles and beautiful, blue skies! "There is a place...where the spirit is free!"

We left Wednesday night to play cards and hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Gardner in Kemmerer. Don't know why Kierra is so solemn here, but really we did have a great time!

The weather for the whole trip was perfect. We were even treated to a beautiful full moon on our way out of town!

Our next stop was going to be just a quick hi and bye to Uncle Dale, but we ended up seeing everyone and hanging out at the coolest hang out in Rock Springs!

We were in this Wal-Mart parking lot for nearly 2 hours. Crazy I know. We should've just gone to DJ's and hung out, but we all thought it would be quick. :) Grandpa was passing through on his way to do a football game in Evanston so we got to see him too! We actually had a ton of fun visiting before we finally decided to run into the store for some lunch!

Even the little girls had a blast playing! They got sick of us just sitting around talking so they unpacked. But...don't look too close at this picture.....

...don't look too close...'cause I'll just focus in on it for you! :) Ok...so this picture was staged...just a little bit..."that thing" was actually sitting just on the other side of the girls! oops. Oh the joys of family reunions in parking lots! ;)

We eventually left there and stopped in Rawlins for about an hour to visit Matt's brother and his family. We don't usually stop much on our way to Laramie. Usually we take a 10 minute break at one gas station and get right back on the road, but this time we thought we'd stop and see everyone.

We got to Laramie in time for dinner with mom and then to go to the church to watch my brother and sister teach some dancing to the singles ward. I wish I had gotten pictures of Abby, Cody, Jackson and Mindy, but it was the first time I had really officially met Mindy so I think I was scared to start stalking her right away! ;)

Instead I got my hubby and kids that are already used to it. Hopefully we didn't scare the singles away too bad. We kept the kids in a different room right until the end. We had a fun time. I'm not nearly as brave with the flips and tricks anymore! :) But the girls loved dancing with their daddy!

Saturday was just fun and relaxing. We went to cousin Dylan's soccer game and raked some of Grandma and Grandpa's leaves...

I became more a little more stalkerish with the camera! We had fun visiting with Mindy and her daughter...

Grandpa, Aunt Abby and I drove over the mountain to watch Laramie volleyball at regionals....

And we all just hung out and relaxed at the house...

The Uncles are always a blast! We had fun watching these two little boys hang out! I think they remember each other now. It's fun to see them grow up together and just be boys! I loved it!

So, our fall break in Wyoming was a huge success! The snow got there the next day, so we just missed it!
It was great for me to get to see ALL of my family on this trip, plus Grandma and Grandpa Gardner!
We sure LOVE our families and are so thankful that we get to spend so much time with them.

I didn't take any pictures of last weekend (Nov. 5th) so I'll talk about that here too. Matt's brother came to go through the temple for the first time. He chose the Salt Lake temple...there are just no words to describe how beautiful that temple is. Their older brother Chad flew in from Texas for it and their parents and Aunt were also there. We were a small group, but it was still great to be in the temple with family. With all of the busyness of life I always LOVE to be in the temple and be reminded of what our eternal goals are. I LOVE watching mothers (or I think there was a sister this day) helping their daughters in the temple. I look forward to that day so much! I LOVED this talk in the general relief society meeting that Sister Beck kinda gave to her daughters and granddaughters, but still gave to the rest of the world. I hope my daughters will always know how much the temple means to me.

"I hope my granddaughters value the temple as did the sisters of the first Relief Society, who believed that temple blessings were the grand prize and great goal of every Latter-day Saint woman. I hope that, like early Relief Society sisters, my granddaughters will strive daily to become sufficiently mature to make and keep sacred temple covenants and that when they do go to the temple, they will pay attention to all that is said and done. Through the blessings of the temple, they will be armed with power and blessed to receive “the key of the knowledge of God." Through the ordinances of the priesthood found only in temples, they will be blessed to fulfill their divine, eternal responsibilities, and they will promise to live as committed disciples. I am grateful that one of the Lord’s primary purposes in organizing Relief Society was to give the women the responsibility to help each other prepare “for the greater blessings of the priesthood found in the ordinances and covenants of the temple.”

1st Grade Fieldtrip

2011-11-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

Even though I still have two little ones at home I have tried hard to volunteer a little bit more at the school and go on the fieldtrips with the girls. It is hard for me to leave Thomas and Kierra very much, but we have such great great friends and neighbors that are so helpful and that completely understand that it is good for me to spend some time doing these things with my older kids. Kierra and Thomas are always so well taken care of!

Emily and I had a great time going to "This is the Place Heritage Park" in Salt Lake a few weeks ago with her 1st grade class! We had fun walking through the homes and buildings and getting to know the barber and a couple of cute little families. Emily seemed to really enjoy the chores they had the kids do. Hmmm....wish I could get her to do that much work at our house! Actually our kids do great but it was amazing to us to see how much the kids really did have to do back in the day.

It was really fun to see Emily with her friends and her classmates! It was a beautiful day and so much fun!

Emily! Thank you for a fun day! I sure have fun giggling with you and being around you! You are beautiful! I love you too! :)

More Homework

2011-11-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Matt's job is really rough and just like his girls in the previous post, he has to bring his work home with him too.
This is what I came home to him working on the other day. I guess it didn't turn out too bad.

It just warms my little heart to see how serious these boys take their work! :)

Oh the homework

2011-11-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

2:30 at our house!

This is a very fun, important, stressful, busy time of day. And this is what my kitchen turns into in about 30 seconds flat!

I actually really love this time of day! Thomas and even usually Kierra have been asleep for an hour and so I have had some quiet time to myself. And then at 2:15, after a small prayer to help me brave the chaos and stress that might come, I love seeing them ride up on their bikes, or I love picking them up from school and hearing how their day went. Sometimes there are rough days (which is where that oh soooo important prayer comes in), but most of the time the girls come home so happy. I can't remember what day it was or the reason for all of the excitement, but they came home so happy and when I asked how everyone's day was they, almost in unison, yelled AWESOME!! I LOVE those moments.

I really look forward to being able to read with the girls and pass off their work. Projects are definitely a little more stressful and time consuming, but with Dad's help too, we get so much done and the girls work hard! They are amazing!

Sometimes we meet new friends too! The girls LOVE to read and so they were very excited when they got to meet Tyler Whitesides, the author of The Janitors, and get an autographed book and posters from him.

And this year we have been able to bring new friends home! This is Kaylee's class pet; Mo, the hamster!

Our routine right when they get home is that someone starts practicing the piano and the others get to the school work. I have debated giving them a little bit of play time first and then getting the work done, but then that makes for such crazy evenings as dad is getting home. This just seems to work best for us now with how after school activities are.

I love the feeling of having the backpacks hung and ready to go with plenty of time to relax and...continue the mess with good friends! :)

Princess Party

2011-10-31T01:00:00.000-07:00

Kierra always sees her big sisters get to go their parties and hang out with their friends and all Kierra wants to do is be big like them. This time it was her turn to go to her very own party! And any time she can really dress up like a princess she is even happier! Thank you to Kierra's sweet friends that made her day by inviting her to the perfect princess party!

Fun with Cousins

2011-10-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

Matt's brother and his sweet family came to visit for a night and a day! We watched their 3 oldest while they took their baby up to a doctor's appointment in Salt Lake. We don't get to see our Wyoming cousins very often so we kept the kids home from school that day so that they could all hang out and play! They had such a great time! These are some sweet sweet kids with the greatest hugs ever. We sure LOVED our time with them!

Celebrating Kaylee's Birthday

2011-10-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

Kaylee's birthday was on a Saturday and so we celebrated all weekend long!
She invited just a few friends on Friday night to come and watch tv. ;) No...they actually came and we started out watching just a couple episodes of our new online favorite "Kid History". You have to click on it and watch! These are hilarious and Kaylee thought it might be fun to have her friends over and make their own kid history video. I thought I was going to be really on the ball and do some fun editing and get a video out to all of the girls she invited, but I have yet to do that. Maybe before their senior year! ;)

They had such a fun time! These girls are great friends to Kaylee. We sure love them!

So, could we all gather for a group picture please!

No really...please...

ummm...anytime now...

Ok...ok...this is good...cute...cute...

Ahhhh yes! :) You girls are awesome! Beautiful smiles!

Saturday was a perfect relaxing day! We opened some family presents.

And then it was Kaylee's pick for lunch!
It sure didn't take long for a family of 7 to finish off that Winger's asphalt pie!

We love you Kaylee! Hope you had a fun weekend! Happy happy Birthday!

A decade ago!

2011-10-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

Kaylee is 10 today! Double digits! Crazy!

I don't know what I would do without this girl around! Even today, she could hear I wasn't able to calm a certain 3 year old and she came right down stairs to help me out in a big way. She can sense when I need her and when her siblings need her. She is the best oldest daughter and oldest sibling anyone could ask for! Everyone loves her in a different way and for different reasons. She is a different friend to each one of her sisters and she has an extra special relationship with her baby brother! They could giggle for hours! She gets such joy from making Thomas laugh and keeping her sisters happy. She is so creative and comes up with the best ideas, games and activities. She is so self-motivated in school and in any project or activity she is in. Kaylee has a sweet, tender heart! She worries about others. I love that she will still talk to me about anything and everything and that she will still hold my hand everywhere we go! Kaylee wants me to be a better person and a better mother! She is an amazing example to me! We love you Kaylee Elaine! We can't believe it's been 10 years...we remember everything about these last 10 years as if it was 10 minutes ago! You are such a joy to our family! Thank you for being who you are! You are growing up way too fast, but we sure love to watch the beautiful young woman you are becoming! Happy birthday girlie! Hope it's been a fun one! :)

The afternoon lull

2011-10-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Some afternoons can be just so relaxing and perfect!

Bouncy Bouncy!

2011-10-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

Last week somehow ended up being a week of babysitting. Which I was glad I could do since I know I use my share of AMAZING neighbors and babysitters. I was excited on one of our babysitting days when my friend sent a message wondering if we wanted to go to Kangaroo Zoo. This was a perfect break for all of us...(especially me!). The kids had a blast and I had a great time just hanging out and visiting. It was a perfect way to break up the week...and the kids crashed on the way home. They sure played hard! Thanks to our friends for such a great time!

General Conference

2011-10-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Since I mentioned General Conference in my last post then I'll keep going with it here. Taylor turned 8 in April and has been so excited to finally watch general conference in the conference center with her mom and dad. I had gotten the 3 Saturday morning tickets really early, but then we kept coming up with conflicts. Big conflicts where I thought well, maybe she could just go with her dad. I tried to find Sunday tickets instead and that didn't happen, so with the help of a couple of ladies that I hardly knew and the awesome Schlappi family...we got kids to where they needed to be and Matt and I were able to have a special day with Taylor.

I was still a little stressed about it all and really still hoping we could have gone on Sunday, but wow...did things eventually fall into place perfectly so that we could be in the session that we really needed to be in.

I had told Taylor how amazing it was when the Prophet would walk into the conference center and everyone would stand for him. We were so excited to show her that. When everyone stood President Eyring walked in and so did President Uchtdorf, but there was no President Monson anywhere. Everyone just kinda looked at each other. It was strange...this was about to start and the Prophet wasn't anywhere around. His chair was empty...what was going on?

I was sad that Taylor wouldn't get to see the Prophet. I was nervous wondering if everything was ok. Then as the meeting started and President Uchtdorf still announced that President Monson was presiding I thought, that's right. I could feel the peace of knowing that the Lord's church still goes on, but you could feel the void of not having the living prophet in the room!

There was a lot going on...especially around the one side door that he usually comes in. Watching the ushers you could tell that President Monson was in the building during the first speaker, but how does the prophet "sneak" in. :) I think they just had to wait until we were already standing to sing the intermediate hymn to let him in. Funny stuff! Someday I would love to know. The news said he was "delayed in route". Which is funny because Taylor had said, "maybe he was stuck in traffic"...which we laughed at. We were just in a fireside with his daughter the week before where she did a question and answer session about her dad. I wish that fireside was after conference so we could ask. :) He looked like he was in good health so hopefully his sweet wife is too.

That was a huge "mountain top experience" for me...watching President Monson walk into the room...to feel the power of having a living prophet on the earth. I do know that President Monson is a prophet of God and "just as God led the Israelites out of slavery and to a better place through His prophet Moses, He leads His children today.... We all need God’s guidance in a world that is sometimes confusing. Because God loves His children, He continues to send living prophets."

A girl in our ward commented on how President Monson can make us laugh. I LOVE his facial expressions too! From a little girl I have always LOVED his stories! He is amazing! It was hilarious when he finally spoke and said, "Hello!" We laughed...a lot! And like I mentioned in my previous post, when he announced all of the temples, starting with the Provo temple and then on to the Star Valley temple the spirit was so strong. There is so much work to do. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all that I need to learn and do and teach, but then I feel so much peace in knowing that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father and all I want to do is live with Him and my family forever!

It was such a beautiful day! Taylor was just glowing in her beautiful white dress. So many people talked to her and knew she must've just turned 8. She was as sweet as could be. I was so glad that we were able to spend that time with her! :) I LOVE to hold hands with my girls and that was a fun day to just walk around and hold her hand and feel that love for her and for Matt and for my other kiddos that were back home. "I want to share my life with them, for all eternity"!

I love to see the temple!

2011-10-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

We completely stole this idea from my sister! The girls have been begging me forever to buy the sugar cubes for it. For Family Home Evening one week we did a lesson about the temple and then built our own. I think we had the Logan temple in there, the Denver temple, Jordan River and yes, we even had a Wyoming temple. Little did we know that the first Wyoming temple would FINALLY be announced a few weeks later.

I LOVE the temple! We were able to be in the conference center when they made the announcement about the Star Valley temple. With the way the crowd gasped and President Monson joked about the fishing I almost didn't believe it at first, but then I just couldn't stop the tears! Star Valley, Wyoming! And it was announced on my Grandma and Grandpa's birthday weekend! Which made it even more special. I used to spend many an October conference weekend in Star Valley with my grandparents for their birthday. How I wished I could have been with them that day! I'm sure they were smiling down on the valley that day! WOW!

I sure hope my girls will never lose site of their goals to be in the temple. They loved going through the Draper temple open house and I know we will take them to Star Valley. I hope they know how much their mom and dad love the temple and know of the truth and importance of the promises and covenants we have made there. I love feeling the peace of my Heavenly Father's love for me when I am in the temple.

I love to see the temple. I’m going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit, To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God, A place of love and beauty.
I’ll prepare myself while I am young; This is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple. I’ll go inside someday.
I’ll covenant with my Father; I’ll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth: A family is forever.

September Somethings

2011-10-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

With my lacking of posting you might think our lives are boring and there is nothing for me to post. Or maybe we are just SO busy that I don't have the time. I actually can't really decide what the reason is. We are very busy, but it is just the every day routine and so I haven't been as good at pulling my camera out as I had been for all of the summer fun. Plus, I'm really starting to wonder if I want a new camera. The videos have this little clicking sound in them and I just can't get it to focus very well.

Anyway, here are some September Somethings for ya! Life is good. Too good really! I LOVE just being home with my two little ones. I love a quiet hour to myself before my school kids get home. I really look forward to them walking through the door! (I'm not looking forward to having to leave my house to go get them....I love when they can ride their bikes!) Believe it or not, we are still having fun getting homework and piano done before they have to leave for their different activities. They have great friends that they still play with often. Sometimes I just wish they would want to relax and stay put at home. I suppose that is just the laziness in me...I love that they are so active and always ready to just go go go! It makes putting them to bed early that much easier when they are wiped out from a busy, fun day!

I love what I find when I haven't seen my camera in a while. :) I know who the orange shirt belongs to. I recognize those toes! But I'm still wondering who is putting the little man to work in the laundry room! ;)

It's also fun to go through Matt's phone camera and see what he has come up with.
This picture was actually in August with cousins in Rock Springs!

Matt's phone shows pictures of fun outings with his little man. Watching football....and...

buying new toys...Thomas was worn out from all of the excitement at Cabellas!

The girls are bringing home sooooo many pictures and projects! I've been trying to be good about keeping the clutter out. Thus the camera shot of the life-size drawing so that we can keep the 2.40 MB on the computer instead of the big piece of paper around the house!

There is always time to play. This was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Kinda a funny site, but these girls are awesome! They come up with the best ideas! I guess it was some sort of date night activity! They were cute! I wish I had captured all of the giggles on camera!

Luckily I do pull the camera out a little bit to get these giggles!

These 2 are so fun! Sometimes I get nervous thinking about how bored Kierra will be with me for 2 more years at home, but as Thomas gets older and they play together more, than I get more and more excited to have them home with me!

September is a perfect birthday month! :)
I wish I had taken WAY more pictures of our birthday activities!
Happy birthday to our friend Spencer!

And happy Birth-Day to our new friend Bentley! 2 pictures from the shower! That's all I got! :( It was a great time and a great turn out, even though we had to delay it a week so that Bentley could join us! ;)

And happy birthday to me!!
I had a fun and relaxing birthday! The girls and Matt made sure I didn't lift a finger. The girls are always so cute about spoiling us. I was able to do a ward visit with my new calling in the Stake Young Women presidency, go to stake choir with Matt and go up to the hospital and meet a brand new, VERY cute baby! It was kinda fun to have my birthday on a Sunday. Plus that meant I got to celebrate ALL weekend! Girls night out Friday to Los Hermanos and Kohls. :) Love my Book Club girls! They always spoil me good! Then Saturday night was the temple and Teppanyaki with some of our best friends from our Laramie days! Happy birthday to Camille too who shares a birthday with my brother! We were so glad to be able to visit with them! They are definitely one of those couples that you feel like you just saw yesterday even though it had been way way too long! We love the Whitings. Oh...and we are so excited that they will be around to take such good care of Elder Healey. Camille has seen him a couple of times at lunch and at Wal-mart. She even said, "Elder Healey rules!" ;)

More of September to come, these were just some of the random somethings.
It's cold now! My fingers are having a hard time typing. It turned to cold and fall weather quickly. Hopefully everyone is adjusting well! Happy October to you all!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T08:23:00.001-07:00

My littlest sister, Abby, and her 2 boys came for the weekend! :) My girls had such a great time holding her 3 month old baby and just playing with her boys!

Friday before they came, instead of cleaning the house for our company ;) Thomas, Kierra and I went and played at the park with some friends! I was so glad to get out of the house that day, even though I knew we had tons to do. I needed an "it's the weekend...relax!" moment! I sure love these two!

Friday night our family went and did smores with friends. It was late and dark so I didn't get pictures! :( But Abby got into town in time to meet them. We then went home and relaxed for the first part of Saturday morning. Thomas had been up in the night, so Matt decided to stay home with him for the day while the rest of us played! Abby and I went to the temple and out to lunch and then we grabbed the kids and headed to Salt Lake.

The church history museum again!! :) I know I just posted about this place not too long ago, but we love it! We really will take anyone here and to the rest of temple square. Abby and her family seemed to enjoy it! :) The "God's Plan For His Family" video just gets better every time we see it! I can not seem to find online anything about the video, but just go into the North Visitor's Center and ask the sweet sisters to see this video (which is more than a video...you go from the mountains to a baby's room to Grandma's etc....it's so well done)! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the museum.

For our little cousin the highlight of the trip was the "train"! We rode the trax for just a couple of stops and back and that was all this little man needed in life! The rest of the day was fun, but OH the train! :) We had such a great time with Abby and her little boys! We hope it was worth the drive for her to come all that way without her hubby. We sure love them and hope they come again soon!

Abby left Sunday afternoon and later that night we went to Heber to stay the night with cousins and visit Grandma and Grandpa. We played some "Foisy" Rook and then the boys got out the guitars. We all slept in our tent which I should have taken a picture of because that might be our only "camping" experience this year. Sad, but true. We did other fun things, but next summer we will be better at making camping a priority!

Does three times make a tradition? This is our third year going to the Sheepdog Championships at Soldier Hollow and it is such a great day! The kids come with us Monday morning and run around to pet the animals and get free toys and candy. At lunch time we take them back into Heber and then the adults come back to watch for the rest of the afternoon! The whole thing is amazing! The way the sheep flock together, the way the dog and his handler communicate! It never gets old! We are all more amazed every year! Hopefully next year we'll have lots of friends watching it with us! We keep trying to recruit! ;)

It was a great Labor Day weekend and also a small reminder that summer is really done.
So many friends and family started school today and we've been in for a couple of weeks so that means that fall is here...wait! We officially have until the 23rd! Nevermind! We'll still go to the park today and play! :)

What's a Dad to do?

2011-09-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Ha ha!! These are the last of the random pictures...Poor Matt! I'm sure he'd rather feel like a real man out on the range finding random antlers (or shooting at real ones) and riding horses with his dad! There are just too many girls that live in this house! He is such a good sport! Plus, them playing with his hair on a Sunday afternoon usually puts him to sleep...so I think he may admit that he doesn't mind! :)

I guess I'll share this last of my catch all posts with Matt. My one and only random picture is me with pink eye last weekend! Beautiful huh?! I should've taken the picture when it was swollen shut!

So that is it!! WOOHOO!! We are into September and into a routine! Journals are updated and all pictures are in the blog and documented! Bring on the fall and the holidays. I'm ready. Actually....don't come too soon! I'm still loving the warm weather and few thunderstorms! So as I type this it is actually the 29th...Monday morning...but the blog posts are all scheduled to go out every morning this week. This breaks it up a little bit....leaving my family in suspense....and then I can stay off the computer for the rest of the week. Now I'm off to declutter my house!! Hopefully by Saturday when this post is published my house will be immaculate and clutter free! Have a great weekend everyone!

Thomas

2011-09-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

We can NOT get enough of this smile and this giggle!
We LOVE this little man! Enough said!
He keeps us all happy and sane! He reminds us that life is simple and fun!

He wants to be outside all day everyday! We were all so excited to get this great car at a friend's yard sale this summer.
However, he really prefers the pink and purple princess scooter over everything else. We might have to spray paint it!
We did move the training wheels from Kierra's bike onto my nice DI find so hopefully he'll figure those pedals out soon!
Keep smiling little man! You are soooo fun! We love you!

Kierra

2011-09-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

Check out that smile!! She is somethin' else!! We love having a 3 almost 4 year old in the house! Kierra Ann definitely keeps us on our toes! One minute she is happy and independent and the next, tired and cranky. :) For that reason she does still take a nap about every other day! :)

Kierra loves clothes, dancing and posing for the camera! Sometimes I just have to giggle and say ok as she emerges from her room in the basement "ready" for the day. Sometimes it will be spots with stripes or warm colors with pastels or whatever she comes up with...always complete with leggings lately! Usually she does get it right!

The latest excitement for Kierra is that she can now ride her 2-wheeler without training wheels!!
We couldn't believe how fast she took off with it. We had to lower her seat quite a bit so she could feel comfortable getting her feet to the ground. We should probably raise it back up soon!

I had to add this first video just to show the pure (throw your hands up in the air) drama! :)

But here is the good stuff! This is about an hour after the training wheels came off! She is amazing!
Way to go Kierra! You can always do hard things! Never give up!!

Emily

2011-08-31T01:00:00.000-07:00

This girl got her ears pierced this summer!!
We usually do ear piercing for the 7th birthday, but the girls...all of them...were begging and begging for me to let Emily do it now. Emily is not at all good with pain so I thought if she is begging now I figured I'd better get it done before she gets herself too worked up and scared to do it. We are all glad that Dad was good with it too. Emily did great...just flinched a little and we also realized that doing it during a relaxing day in the summer will be much better than being in the mall the 1st part of December/Christmas season!

Oh...and one more stipulation! I told the girls that I do NOT want to hear about this 20 years from now. Anyone with siblings understands this one right?! "Mom was so much more lenient with the younger ones. She let Emily get her ears pierced before she turned 7!" It is written here! They ALL begged and begged! :)

I have really missed Emily this school year! She is gone all day and I miss the fun things we would do together and of course wish that we had done more! I really miss seeing that sweet smile over top of the Guess Who board! She has transitioned amazingly into being gone all day! She is a hard worker and wants to make her teacher happy so I know she will do great!

We miss you Emily Lynne! We love you beautiful girl!

Taylor

2011-08-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

Here is our cute Taylor Marie! But usually we see her like this:

This girl is full of so much energy! She was pretty sick last week (just a fever...not at all related to the story below) and anyone that saw her in her lethargic, exhausted state knew that something was definitely wrong. That was not the Taylor Marie that we all know and love.

We learned some interesting things about Taylor this summer. She has what we (hopefully respectfully) call the Michael Jackson disease: Vitiligo. She's had these little white spots all over her body, but mostly around her knees, for quite some time and this summer we really noticed that they had gotten bigger and even spread. When I saw the one on her eye I knew I wanted to get her right in. We have tried a couple of different things and have recently had huge success with a certain cream we've been trying. I wish we could get decent pictures to show the difference between this first picture on Matt's camera phone:

and the pictures below where the pigment is starting to come back where her hair follicles are. It is so interesting. These spots used to be pure white...which is scary for a girl that loves to be in the sun, but we have kept sunscreen on her and tried to do just as the Doctors say.

My dad was visiting with a sweet lady in California who had the same thing. It seems like now there are more and more treatments for it but when she was young there weren't any and so hers has spread all over. She and her husband were talking about how maybe they should spend the thousands of dollars to treat it, but as they thought about it the husband had said something like, "You know....I fell in love with you and married you because of who you are. Whether you have the spots or not I'm still gonna love you!" They decided to not mess with the treatment.

We thought that was a sweet story. Taylor has such spunk and energy that people just love her for who she is. It's been nice to know what this is and yes, even see some results, but if she were to live with this her whole life she is definitely the type of girl that really wouldn't care! She is so care free and full of life that she will take whatever comes her way!
Love you Taylor girl! You are beautiful inside and out!

Kaylee

2011-08-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hey hey hey! I am almost completely caught up on all pictures, posts, and journals. I did NOT do very well on writing in the kids' journals last year, so since I have 5 kids and there are 5 days during the week each kid is gonna get a day where I will just type for a few minutes some of their comings and goings and funny sayings from the week before. It just needs to be short because short is much better than what I accomplished (or didn't accomplish) last year! This week I'll do a blog post for each of them too and that should tie up all of the loose ends and random pictures from summer!

Is this Kaylee girl growing up too fast or what?! She is my little buddy lately. She likes to stay closer to my side and when there are parties or gatherings she seems to gravitate to the adults a little bit more lately. She is definitely in that little girl to young woman transition mode!

I LOVE everything about having a girl as the oldest! She is a 2nd mom which really is so helpful....sometimes we have our moments. She is so good about being one step ahead of me and knowing what it is that I am going to want help with.

I LOVE my Kaylee girl! Her siblings love her too! I was gonna say she has such a sweet bond with Thomas...then I was gonna say with Kierra....then I realized she has such special bonds with all of us in the house. She takes care of us and we love her for that! She is always busy (usually on the computer) working up some sort of game or activity for the kids to do. Here they were playing restaurant and she had quite the menu with a cover and everything! She does so much fun stuff for all of us!

Last week we were able to go on a little mommy/daughter date to see THIS concert up in Salt Lake. We went with some great friends and had a blast! Those 2 girls keep us young and LOVE the stage! :) They are beautiful!

Kaylee! You are wonderful! Love you!

National Anthem time again!

2011-08-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

National Anthem time again!

Every year with the Lehi Children's Choir we do 1 or 2 ball games and the kids LOVE it!

Here we are rehearsing!
These were some of the better videos and pictures that I've gotten. Poor Catherine...in past years I always seemed to stand right behind her to take the pictures and the videos...this year I wised up and took the video from the side....meaning no beautiful backside of Catherine ;) and I got all 3 of my girlies in the shot!

Now we wait! It was warm warm warm down there! (and stinky) :)

And we're on!

We had a great time watching the game...even though the Bees lost!
We LOVE that Grandma and Grandpa come!
It was a great night!

Friends

2011-08-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, as I look back through pictures to get caught up and make sure I didn't miss anything I see that we really did have a great summer playing with so many friends! Every once in a while I remember to capture the moments. I wish I could capture more to remember everyone that we LOVE to be with all summer long!

...there was musicals...

...creating recipes...

...school...

...dress up...

...lunch dates...

...Florida friends...
(...no wait...those are Wyoming friends!) ;)

Some unhappy friends trying to get in through the screen!
(sorry for the graphic picture...yeah for Grandpa Gardner who "got the mouse!") :)

...the royal spa treatment...

(hmm...looks like the older girls got the better end of this deal ;) actually...they all look like they are having a blast!
Our basement has smelled so good all summer long!)

...toddlers and tiaras and many a fashion show or play...

...and many other friends and get-togethers that I wish I had taken pictures of!

I think of the many nights out in someone's driveway or with teenagers running around playing 007! I feel like I pull my camera out and point it in people's faces too much, but still I wish I took my camera out more to capture just the relaxing days and nights of summer.

Thanks for a fun summer everyone! Hope the 1st week of school has been going well, and hey...the weekend is coming up! :)

Antelope Island

2011-08-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before school started we decided to go to Antelope Island. We wanted to do one more thing before school started and go somewhere we hadn't been. Then we decided to drag some friends along too! :) It's an interesting place and quite a drive in 2 separate cars when you'd rather just be hanging out and visiting with friends, but we had a great time!

It really is a pretty barren land and we only saw a few buffalo. There were some campsites and nice pavilions there so it might be fun to camp there close to the water, but there are zero trees, so it would be hot!

We stopped in at the visitor's center, then went to one of the pavilions for lunch and then went to the water.

The mommas and some of the younger kids didn't get to go quite as far out into the water as the older kids, so we stayed closer to the little rock island, but those that went further had a blast! The Great Salt Lake is exactly that...a lake of salt....so you float. Matt talked about how if you inhaled you'd really float up and then as you exhaled you'd sink back down, but you really could never drown. I wish I could've gone in further to take pictures of them floating and to try it.

It was a fun trip. We need to look around more, because it would be fun to go to the lake again, but not have to drive clear around to antelope island again. Maybe the marina on the west side....we'll have to ask around. We LOVED having our good friends with us! You guys are awesome! We'll have to plan another adventure soon!

Ha ha! That sand was HOT HOT!! Hurry!

Happy 1st Day of School

2011-08-23T07:21:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah!! Happy happy 1st day of school!!

We did it! We were off and in time for 8:00 school and I LOVE it! I think this schedule is gonna be fantastic!

Last night we had said that maybe we would just drive them today, but this morning they really wanted to ride and they got there with plenty of time to spare. I sure can't wait to sit outside and watch them come around that corner this afternoon!
They were so cute riding off together and walking onto the playground together!

I think I'm the most nervous for Emily today! A whole day and lunch somewhere else! AHHHH!

And Kierra is going to miss them the most!

Thomas is still too sick to care! We are back from taking the girls to school and we are not happy about it! :(

Oh but wait!! It's CANDYLAND time!!
Time for me to get off this computer and stay off!

Gettin' Ready

2011-08-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the big day! The girls are all so excited! Kierra is too! She pulled Candyland out this morning and said, "Mommy, I can't wait to play this with you when my sissas are gone." It will be good to have some time with my little ones again and then they will be napping everyday when the girls get home so that will give us a chance to get school work and piano done. It's the perfect setup this year! I hope it really goes as wonderfully as I have planned it out in my head.

Here are the girls at the school a couple of Fridays ago finding out their teachers and who is in their classes. Overall we are VERY happy! Tonight is back to school night which will get us even more excited!!

Another "to do" was haircuts. I haven't cut the little man's hair yet, but he had to have his picture taken.

Taylor went really short and Emily wanted bangs (I tried hard to talk her out of it...it's cute, but I hope it doesn't drive us crazy...yes, both of us!)...Kaylee and Kierra just got trimmed up and we are all ready to go! Here's some fun before and afters...I guess it's a new tradition.

Kaylee before:

after:

Taylor before:

after: (she is actually very sick here, with a little bit of bed head!)

Emily before:

after:

Kierra before:

after: (always trying to pose...even when facing away from the camera) :)

Now if we could just get these two healthy...and not spread it around before the first day! Fevers for 2 days...missing church and end of the summer parties...no fun! Hope everyone out there is happy and healthy and ready for a new school year! Good luck and have fun! :)

Operation Slumber Party

2011-08-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

I posted about Operation Slumber Party on facebook, but now it needs to be documented on the family blog. On facebook a friend said, "It is so neat that they love each other so much." It really is neat actually. It is fun to see how much they like to play together. They are girls remember...so we have our moments....often. But really they are sisters that love to be together. I LOVE moments like this where I look out the kitchen window or walk down the stairs and I just want to grab the camera and capture every giggle, love and playtime. They do take care of each other, and some days just prefer to be with their sisters.

It seems like every night this summer they have asked to sleep in the same room together. Many times we have thought why don't we just move the beds in together? Kaylee and Kierra have been sharing a room and a bunk bed and Taylor and Emily another room and a bunk bed. We finally decided to do it. Make the blue room the walk-in closet and put all of the beds in the other room. The problem was we got all excited to do this on a night that Matt was gone for a scout campout. I was nervous and didn't know if we could pull it off, but these girls were determined! I said the rooms need to be clean before we do this....I've never seen them declutter and throw out so much stuff! They organized every little part of these rooms and were ready to go.

In their journals I have some pretty neat stories about how we all pulled together to do this without their daddy here. It was hard! Just holding the bed up while I took the bolts out and put them back in was soooo difficult, but they did it. Each of them helped in their own way. Kaylee was a huge help moving furniture. Taylor and Emily gave everything to hold those beds up! Even little Kierra saved the day for us at one point grabbing the side of the bed before it fell over. Thomas was our comic relief!

And here are the final results...only 2 hours later! The walk-in closet! Now that this room is cleared out a little bit with just the dressers, we just might paint it. It was blue when we moved in and as you can see from Kaylee's bedding in the last picture, we made it work, but I think the blue will have to go here soon.

These girls slept great that night! They were so excited to be together! For now, Thomas doesn't really know what he's missing. He's perfectly content in his own little room. I'm glad we got this done a week before school started so that they could get used to it. We are all on the same schedules this year so I think waking up and going to bed should be pretty easy. There is definitely lots of giggling and lots of talking. I need a tape recorder to capture every moment! I LOVE these kiddos!

Summer Literacy Center

2011-08-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

During the summer the girls always like to do a little extra reading at the literacy center. This year Kaylee and Taylor even got to be tutors! We LOVE the literacy center! We only go during the summers now, but when the kids were younger we went all of the time. Kierra can't wait until she turns 4 so that she can go too! These ladies are amazing and taught all of our kids their sounds and how to read before they were in kindergarten. These kids love to read and to be read to. The literacy center is terrific!

They always do a fun end of summer picnic for all the families!

This year it was complete with water games, angry birds, and face painting!

We stopped by the literacy center to take a few more pictures after the picnic! We will miss the ladies at the literacy center!
School is starting soon! More reading to come!

Alora's Blessing

2011-08-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

We spent 2 weekends in a row traveling to Wyoming for baby blessings! This time we only went as far as Rawlins (via a pit-stop in Rock Springs to stay the night with Stauffer cousins) and ended up having a quick Gardner family reunion. Matt's family from Heber City, Cheyenne, Kemmerer, Casper and even Houston all came for the weekend! 2 of their sisters weren't able to make it. One just had a baby and one is about to. :) We were able to use the church all day Saturday for the 24 grandkids (one was in Utah) to run around the gym and for everyone to play basketball, music, games and just visit! We ate great and had so much fun!

We miss our Houston family soooo much! They are the ringleaders of the "big kid" games! Some even stayed up 'till 2 in the morning to do the "reading of the rules" and then to play. We were amazed and glad that they made the trip!

Lingering longer on Saturday night! I am SO sad that I didn't take my camera out on Sunday and get any pictures of Glade and Connie and their family in their Sunday best! We were so excited for them! We love their family! Their kids are so cuddly and sweet and we really had a great time being with them!
Thanks for hosting such a great party you guys! We love you!!

Brighton's Blessing

2011-08-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in July we took off and went to Laramie for Brighton's baby blessing. I left with the kids on Friday morning and then Matt met us there on Saturday. It was great to relax and visit with everyone. We couldn't get enough of holding Brighton and another little girl that Grandma was babysitting! The kids also love playing with Grandma and Grandpa, building blocks and of course tons of Bagatelle!

Saturday afternoon we got to go to the splash park and celebrate Dylan and Chloe's birthdays! It was so fun to be with Jackson and his kiddos for their party! We had fun seeing Brian and Abby and their families too....with Grandma and Grandpa there of course. The kids had a blast will all the cousins that were there! Thanks D and C for letting us celebrate with you!

Sunday morning was Brighton's blessing! It was great to go to the old Baker Street building again. Usually when we go to Laramie we go to Grandma and Grandpa's ward at the stake center. It was fun to tell Kaylee and Taylor that they used to go to that building every Sunday and show Kaylee her nursery etc. We were able to see so many old friends and old Bishops that have meant the world to me and Matt and the Hoopes family! We also met new friends in that ward too! ;) We sure love Laramie and the people there!

DJ's family couldn't come until Sunday, so every minute with them was precious! We had a great picnic at Abby and Cody's house. Yes, it rained on us, but we had a blast! I had a lot of fun taking pictures of them running around outside in the rain and then coming inside. The kids are all growing up too fast so I really wanted to get some great shots of them together!!

Abby has such a cute family! Her 2 boys look exactly alike and are so sweet! We had fun being able to hold our new cousin and play with Oakley! It's fun now that Oakley and Thomas are getting older...they had fun giggling and rough housing a little! It will be fun to watch them grow up together! Congratulations Abby, Cody, Oakley and Brighton! We love you!!

The Windrivers

2011-08-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

Ok...I've got Matt over my shoulder right now ready to blog with me!! He's a blogger...he blogs! Matt and his brother and dad spent the last week of July in the Windrivers in Wyoming on a horsepacking trip! They took 4 horses...3 to ride, 1 to pack. What did you guys do Matt? My favorite question is what did you talk about? ;) But, Matt reminds me that it is pretty simple we just ride and camp and fish and yes, talk.

They did come home with some interesting stories. The first day, the pack horse completely bucked everything off, throwing the equipment, food and everything all through the forest and a stream. The mosquitoes were everywhere. The boys talked about how annoyed they kept getting when they'd keep trying to eat their jerky or trail-mix through their mosquito nets. They fished...ate fresh fish...rode horses, took water-fall showers and then on the last day graduated from the Dave Gardner school of horse tracking! ;) They woke up on their last morning with the horses no where to be found! They tracked them for about a mile through the forest and finally found them in this meadow. What a relief!

It looks like they had great views anywhere they went. Both Matt and his dad took some great scenic pictures. I just grabbed the ones that had people and horses in them. Below from left to right is Ranger, Jake, Bud and Captain.

They had such a great trip and hopefully they won't have to wait as long to do it again!

The Dentist

2011-08-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have a plan! A post a day until school starts and hopefully then I will be able to post 1st day of school photos right away! That's the plan! Then I'll be all caught up. I have a good week's worth of posts in draft mode ready to be scheduled out. And what better way to start the countdown to school starting than with a visit to the Dentist! I don't have Kaylee or Kierra in these few pictures, but I do have Thomas! He always does soooo great at the dentist! We love Mountainland Pediatric Dentistry. They have always been so great to my kids. They USUALLY get us in and out so fast! This day took quite a bit longer than usual, but because I could tell they were so flustered and because they are so great with my kids (who were still happy during all the waiting) I didn't mind. Plus...we came away 5 for 5! Zero cavities! That's amazing for our family! So, there is the beginning of our countdown 'till school starts. 9 more days 'till the first day of school! Ready or not...here it comes!

Day on Temple Square

2011-08-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

We live about 30 minutes from Salt Lake City and Temple Square. This is the temple where my parents were married so it is fun to show the kids and to go through the many visitor's centers, tours and exhibits that they have there. We LOVE to go, so if any family or friends ever want to come visit we'd LOVE to take you!! We LOVE visitors!

Matt spent the last week of July on a horse-packing trip so we had to come up with things to do while he was gone. On that Tuesday we decided to go to the Church History Museum. We were going to just do the morning thing since I still have nappers and I didn't want cranky kids. We had way too much fun though! In the church history museum they have a pretty new Book of Mormon kid exhibit that is very hands on and fun! (and did I mention that other than $6 parking everything is free?)

The kids had a great time making quilts, dancing, watching videos and just looking around. We always love going to the Church History Museum! We like to see the same things every time and we also enjoy finding new things each time we go.

After the museum the kids wanted to do more, but it was lunch time. I wish I had thought that we might want to stay so I could've packed a lunch, but instead we walked over to JBs for a quick bite and then kept going. We did a small tour of the Beehive House and the conference center and we always love going up to see the Christus in the North Visitor's Center. Also in this visitors center there is a MUST SEE video presentation called "God's Plan For His Family" It's tucked away a little bit upstairs by the Christus, so if any of you are ever there, ask around and watch. We have seen it a couple of times now and LOVE it every time.

I guess there was a huge hail and wind storm back in Lehi and even a little bit in Salt Lake, but somehow we missed it while in doors. Luckily we were able to avoid the storms because we had a lot of fun walking around outside. It is one of my favorite places to be both during the summer with the pretty flowers and around Christmas time with all of the lights and the nativity! We want to go back to see more! So much history! Such a special spirit! We love temple square!