The Gardners

Defending My Title

2012-02-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

The office I work at has been a sponsor of London's Run for the past couple years.

This year they were given a few complimentary entries and were kind enough to get me registered for the half marathon.

This is Dr. Garn:

He had told me that I could have one of the free entries "On one condition.... you let me beat you."

We stuck together for the first half of the race, but as soon as I saw a girl come up on our tail, I had to go faster.

I was first female at that point and wanted to keep that spot if at all possible.

Dr. Garn had said, "If she gets any closer, I'll fall and trip her."

I took that as permission to let me beat him.

I put some good distance between this miss and myself.

It was only a few miles later that the course took us on a u-turn where I noticed a different girl I hadn't seen before. I picked up my speed again.

After crossing the finish line in FIRST PLACE FOR THE WOMEN(!), I said "Hi" to my boys who had come to support me....

...then quickly found the girl I had seen at the u-turn. She had finished a hundred yards behind me but both our watches said the exact. same. time.

We had to wait for the chip timing results to know for sure.

I barely beat her.

By 4 seconds.

YESSSSS!!!

My official time was:

1:33:45

2012-02-05T00:02:00.001-07:00

Okay, the day is almost over and I don't want to fail at my New Years Resolution QUITE yet, so here's a quick one.

Here's a huge, semi-heart shaped bruise on Griffin's leg for my mom's collection of hearts.

(Our grass was really wet and muddy that morning and so Griff felt the need to hike his pants all the way up to his crotch, rather than just take them off.)

It's official.....

2012-01-27T17:45:00.001-07:00

.....Kai is growing up!

His front tooth had been slightly loose for a while but he didn't talk about it constantly or complain about it bothering him (like the older son had a tendency to do). Griffin was talking to him one day and said, "Woah Kai, your tooth is about to fall out!"

Then came the worried looks and tears.

"I don't want my tooth out!"

"Don't pull it out!"

He was still crying out those phrases after Jeff had quickly and painlessly pulled the tooth out.

Kai hadn't even noticed.

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm

2012-01-19T14:28:00.004-07:00

Halfway to Tucson, from Mesa, is a little place called Picacho Peak.

Growing up, we had some cousins who moved to Tucson for a while and our parents would often meet up at Picacho to trade kids for a few days. The girls would go to one house while the boys stayed at the other.

Our parents were so great to do that for us!!

Although, now having kids of my own, I know the break was just as needed for THEM as it was for US.

There's really only two places worth mentioning at Picacho Peak (besides the peak itself):

DAIRY QUEEN

(The meeting point to trade kids and thus, the reason I associate every thought of that mountain with ice cream.)

and THE ROOSTER COGBURN OSTRICH FARM.

My lovely sister, Shannon, who recently turned 16, wanted to initiate some of her friends into the ostrich fan club. So my family all made the trip down there together.

My dad insisted on coming in our van and sitting in the back with all the grandkids.

He was squished into a space no wider than 15 inches.

Of course he fell asleep. Doesn't he look comfortable?

I don't know how he does it.

When we got there, the monster truck tour was about to start, so we piled as many of our group on as we could and took off. There was a lot more informative driving around and not enough ditch hopping, in my opinion. But there were enough big bumps to get Shannon acting like this:

(Lots of screaming and one leg fully straddling her friend.)

The boys loved it too.

They even got to pet a rattlesnake.

(It was frozen of course.)

Also part of the tour was...........

........wait for it..........

OSTRICH FISHING!

There were long poles with a huge screw on the end of the line.

All you had to do was stab through the grapefruit skin and hang it over the edge.

The ostrich fish (?) would come up and yank the piece off and swallow it whole!

Here's the lucky group who got to go truckin' and fishin'. There wasn't room for my parents or Jeff :(

After the tour, we started our feeding frenzy. With just one type of feed, you could help the hunger of 4 different kinds of animals.

Donkeys:

Deer:

Goats in a penthouse and goats that kiss:

And ostriches, of course:

Of all the animals at the ranch, the ostriches were the most aggressive. You pretty much just throw the feed at them because they WILL steal your cup and they WILL hurt you.

A quick stop at the duck pond:

And then the Rainbow Lorikeet Forest.

This is always my favorite part.

You hold out these little containers of nectar and the lorikeets will come land on your arm, open the lid and guzzle it down.

My dad was quite the bird charmer:

These birds will even land on your head!

Last time we went, I had to wash the bird poop out of my hair with wet wipes.

Yuck.

I took this next picture of Shannon's friend, but found a gem in the background later on!

It's Jason, Statue-of-Liberty-style, closing his eyes, waiting for the attack on his nectar.

It was a really fun day at the farm and, of course, we got to top it all off with Dairy Queen before heading home.

Good choice for a birthday getaway Shannon!

December 2011

2012-01-11T17:50:00.001-07:00

December was crazy.

The way it is every year.

Jeff had a birthday on the 6th and we had a nice dinner out with his family and then back to our house for Soda Pop Cake. We had left ALL the kids and cousins home with a sitter so the house was loud and crazy. I will blame the lack of pictures on that craziness.

In addition to Jeff's birthday, there are 4 other Gardner birthdays in December.

Now add in Ward Christmas functions and work holiday celebrations, Christmas eve, and Christmas.

That's a lot of parties.

I was in charge of our Ward Christmas Party again this year.

I stayed up late many nights, painting, gluing and cutting the nativity display we had for that night.

My mom and sister were able to come over and help a few times with was greatly appreciated.

Here's how it turned out:

Later on in the month we had the 2nd Annual Gardner Talent Show

There were stories....

....sequins dresses.....

baton twirlers.....

....snapshot snatching...

....a beautiful bassoon and trumpet couple....

....upcoming writers for hip-hop artists....

.... and showing off drawings.

On Christmas Eve we joined with Jeff's extended family for food and some more fun.

We were all told to bring a gift to wrap for a local shelter in need.

Although they really wanted to keep some of the gifts for themselves, they really enjoyed being part of the wrapping crew.

As promised, Todd, here's the montage of photos you so gracefully posed for:

And here's Todd displaying our new Gardner shirts that get made each year. On the back was our names and the number indicating when we came into the family.

Really cute! The front says "Gardner Grasshogs".

I still haven't figured out where that came from.

The traditional nativity began and Griffin decided on the angel title this year.

(I haven't figured out where that came from either.)

Kai was acting shy, for some reason, and didn't want to take part in the nativity until good 'ol Todd offered to be a sheep with him.

Kai said, "I look like that because I was saying, 'Baahh'."

Then there was Trey.

The humble shepherd who ended up with scraps for his costume.

Just a towel.

Barely sitting on his head.

And he was happy as could be.

Christmas morning.

I love Trey picking his nose in this picture:

Kai and Treyson discovered that 3 of Santa's reindeer did NOT eat their carrots.

Shame shame, I know your name.

It was a Chrismas full of wands, books, scooters, stickers, legos, Angry Birds,

and smiles.

I hope your Christmas was as jolly as ours!

November Happeneings

2012-01-02T06:50:00.011-07:00

On New Years Eve my brother-in-law, Todd, called me from Utah.

He had a great resolution idea for me!

I am to post on my blog once a week.

Since I didn't have any New Years Resolution plans, I figured that was a great one!

I found out over Christmas break that Todd and his wife, Megan, both check my blog and are very disappointed when it's not updated.

I didn't realize the fan base I had. :)

So here we go...... I can do this.

I need to start back before Thanksgiving.

November 21st was our anniversary. 10 years!

Jeff had planned to do a few of my favorite things that day.

We started with a lunch at Nielsen's. Oh yum. It's about time for another lunch there.

I get the same thing every time. Ham and swiss with avocado, fries, and a cherry-almond concrete to round out this amazingly healthy meal.

Next on the list.... pottery.

I've never taken a class but the few times we've gone to Aspen Grove as a family, I always make sure I spend some time in the pottery building.

Here are a few from those family trips:

Not "finished" at all because they don't have a place to fire the pieces there at the camp and I'm too lazy and cheap to get it done here. So there you go.

My attempts from the pottery outing on our anniversary didn't turn out at all.

Thus.... no pictures.

I'm blaming it on the throwing wheel.

Then we went to check into Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale.

Our plan was to do dinner and a movie because... well.... I love food I don't have to cook and I love a good show.

But dinner went a little long and we got a free gondola boat ride for eating there so we did that instead. We grabbed some hot chocolate and went down to the "dock".

It was slightly chilly and probably not as romantic as Jeff would have liked because we had to share the boat with 3 lady friends or sisters or something.

After returning to sturdy ground we went in to listen to some more music. Every night there at Gainey Ranch a different musical group performs.

Oh man we got a good one!!!

A guy named Myles David Lancette produces a few groups under the name Studio 5 Presents.

Myles is the drummer for his cover band (simply called "Myles David Lancette") that played that night.

It. Was. Awesome.

If you have the chance... go see them. I'm pretty sure they're still playing there.

It was a nice, kid-free, night out on the town.

And you can't beat sleeping in 'til your little heart desires.

Thanksgiving in Snowflake.

A trip I look forward to each year.

This year, my sister, Jill, was visiting from Hawaii with her little Vin.

--Who I happened not to get ANY pictures of!! How did that happen?

I guess I'll just steal one from Facebook.....

..... there.

As is tradition, the volleyball net was set up and a few of us got our cameras out.

I'm not really sure why, but I love pictures of people taking pictures of me. It makes me smile.

This would be my mom:

She is the resident photographer and made a really cute online slideshow of all the volleyball that day.

The day after Thanksgiving we took the kids down to the local playground.

It now has a skate park next to it which looked WAY more fun to all the kids.

The funniest was watching Trey try to run up the ramps and climb up.

He had barely made it here:

Treyson is happiest when he has his favorite cousin by his side.

Too bad Brooklyn lives so far away.

They play really well together and he's always wanting to save a piece of candy for her or buy something for her. It's cute.

The older boys tried using a skateboard someone had left but spent most of the time

doing this...

....and posing for me, of course.

Lukas was so funny. He was quite happy to be in front of the camera.

"Aunt Cici, look at me."

"Ooo... great spot Luke!"

"Aunt Cici -- get me punching this bad guy."

"Nice one, dude."

I could not even respond to this next one because I was laughing so hard.

He had been calling my name quite a few times, standing in this spot, so he knew exactly what pose he wanted to do.

"Cici -- Cici -- Cici -- Check this one out."

No idea what he's doing.

Of course we couldn't leave baby Roxy out of the fun.

Both Jeff and Brian were so funny pushing the stroller up and over these ramps.

It was a good trip.... it always is.

**** So there you have it, Todd. The first post of my brother-in-law-made resolution. Watch out, I've got some good photos of you for my December recap post.*****

Hi.

2011-12-16T10:01:00.004-07:00

Does anyone ever believe me anymore when I say I'm going to post more often?

If you answered, "Yes." thanks for your faith in me and I'm sorry to have failed you.

This past month has been SO SO busy.

My sister, Katie... or Katelyn.... got married.

She snagged a great guy named Brandon Overstreet and were married on November 18th.

Aren't they cute together?

Doesn't this next picture make you think of the song:

"Fields of Gold" by Sting and The Police

I know these fields aren't barley but it works.

They had their wedding pictures taken at the reserve on Greenfield and Guadalupe and we thought it was a good choice for our family pictures this year too.

We went with my brother, Jason, and his wife, Stacey. They wanted their family pictures done too so we just kept trading memory cards in my camera and did both families at every spot.

Griffin was making the goofiest faces the WHOLE time. I had no idea until pulling them up later.

He had an expression similar to this in almost every. single. one. :

This next one is probably my favorite of the boys.

I had looked up from my camera to get their attention and ask them to smile. I must have tilted my head when showing them the face I wanted because they all ended up like this:

The next photo cracks me up. This was near the end of our "shoot" and the boys were just about done. I was doing some light testing shots and captured their REAL emotions of the moment.

Griffin's yawn.

Kai in his own little world.

And Trey wondering, "Really? We're not done yet?"

Sunrise and Songs

2011-11-16T08:36:00.003-07:00

Remember when I planned to post one random picture a week?...

Yeah -- I think that happened once.

Anyways, my new plan is to add a song or two along with the picture!

I am a major music lover. There can never be enough singing and dancing in one day as far as I'm concerned. So I hoping this might motivate me to post more.

This picture is of the sunrise one morning a week ago maybe. I was walking home from boot camp and couldn't stop looking at the clouds. The colors were even better than what the picture shows but by the time I got my camera, the purples and pinks were gone.

Now for the songs.

There are so many.

I write new ones down almost every day.

I love hearing new songs but I also love hearing tunes from years ago that I had forgotten about.

So I may share a mix of both at times.

Angels and Airwaves -- "The Adventure"

The Temper Trap -- "Sweet Disposition"

Blind Pilot -- "We Are The Tide"

Enjoy!

A Wizard's Undergarments

2011-11-16T08:02:00.004-07:00

The boys have been into Harry Potter lately.

Griffin was given a "real" Harry Potter wand for his birthday and the other boys always want turns with it.

So I found a tutorial online showing how to make your "very own wizard wand at home!"

I still haven't completely finished Kai and Trey's wands (otherwise I would have pictures) but they are impatient and took what I had completed so far. A half finished Harry wand for Kai and a Dumbledore fashioned one for Trey.

On Veteran's Day, school was out, and the boys had their jammies on for most of the day.

Trey even had his pull-up on still at 10am.

I heard the boys playing around.... casting and blocking spells.

Calling out "Expeliarmus!" "Redunto!", as well as "Avada Kadavra!", even though I've told them MANY times that the killing curse is not allowed in the house. ;)

So all of a sudden, Trey stops mid-play, with his "wand at the ready" and says, "Oops....sorry. (big grin) Dumbledore doesn't wear diapers!"

He then ran off as quick as he could to change into underwear.

So cute.

I love my wizard boys!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T10:09:00.013-07:00

I'm just noticing how much RED was in our costumes this year for Halloween.

Me (yes, I know my eyes are closed) a pirate.

Jeff as one of the best Nacho Libres I've seen,

Griffin as Harry Potter (who,by the way, just recently told me he might be changing his name to Harry in the future),

Trey as a ninja in a power ranger suit (he didn't know the difference, plus it was $6 at Goodwill)

Kai as Superman (in a saggy diaper).

This was the first of three nights dressing up which is why Griffin and Kai let me spray their hair black. They didn't know any better. This first night was our ward's Trunk or Treat. The boys ran around with their friends like crazy and were sweating 30 minutes after we got there.

Black droplets of perspiration streaming down their faces was not in the plans.

Neither was the itching.

Kai was fine, but Griffin was practically clawing his scalp off blaming all his discomfort on the hairspray-dye.

Drama, drama!

The next night was the Gardner Halloween Dinner.

Always a good time.

Julia as a zombie prom queen........Courtney as Medusa.

I caught Danica in a perfect position to "elevate" (get it?)

her cute ghost costume.

The next night was Halloween.

We set up a scary goal we had used for the Trunk or Treat.

This gave trick or treaters the chance of scoring a king size candy bar.

I took the boys around our block to get the actual Trick or Treat experience and discovered that Kai's kindergarten teacher lives on the same street as us! Does that make ME a bad neighbor or would it be HER fault because she's lived here longer?

Doesn't matter.

After that we picked up some of my crazy siblings and found a neighborhood haunted house.

This is Katie with her fiance', Brandon.

My always-willing-to-pose-sister, Shannon.

(I can make fun of her because we share that same trait. Although, one of us (**cough**Shannon) is a tad more willing.)

Allan, the cross-dressing-Geisha, who I'd bet was dressed by the sisters.

What a good sport.

And yes, he wore those shoes the whole time.

They actually forced him to walk more accurately for the character I think.

Smart move Allan. Smart move.

The haunted house was really well done, and made me scream once even though the people putting it on turned it down a few notches when children went through.

The boys loved it and were so proud of themselves for not being scared.

All-in-all... a great Halloween.

Organ Anxiety

2011-10-12T09:25:00.003-07:00

It was a Monday.

4 pm.

I hadn't showered yet

But really wanted to.

The boys were arguing.

Like they usually do about this time.

I don't want to be interrupted while cleansing

So I usually turn on a show for them.

Works every time.

I called them over to the table

Where I had put a handful of trailmix down for each.

The Disney Channel was showing IGOR.

The scene was an odd character playing the organ.

Some slow, kinda creepy music.

Kai was sitting at the table with his back to the TV.

Instead of turning around to investigate,

he looked across at Griff and Trey,

who's eyes were glued to the show.

With a nervous, confused voice, Kai asked:

"We're watching Conference again?!"

Good G-WREATH Charlie Brown!

2011-10-03T10:35:00.003-07:00

Sorry about the title.

It's the best I could do.

This, my latest craft, was started and finished this weekend while watching General Conference (so good!).

These are always my favorite weekends. Family, food, fun..... and more food..... and a freaky craft.

Now I just need to figure out how to make it glow like this for Halloween night:

I'd get cool mom points for sure!

Grandma Close

2011-08-30T15:57:00.007-07:00

Jeff's Grandma Close passed away recently.

She was such a great lady and an amazing example of charity and strength.

Every birthday, without fail, our kids would get a card in the mail with money from her.

Every birthday. ... AND Christmas.

That's probably all they'll remember.

The phone call came on a Sunday evening.

I could tell by Jeff's face what was being said.

My tender-hearted Griffin noticed eyes get watery.

He asked what was wrong.

After I told him, he walked away to the couch then came back a few minutes later, asking if I would write "Grandma Close" on a piece of paper.

(Griff always wants to make sure his word are spelled correctly)

He took the paper and walked outside with one of my sharpie markers.

Jeff noticed him out in the yard by the back fence but couldn't tell exactly what he was doing.

Griff came in a few minutes later and asked if we'd all like to go out and see what he'd made.

It was the sweetest thing!

I know Grandma Close was smiling as she looked down on

the cutest little headstone ever.

GRIFFONI !!!

2011-08-24T17:16:00.009-07:00

Griffin turned 7 on July 20, 2011.

He had planned all along to have a Sunsplash birthday with a few friends/cousins.

But with the knowledge that his vertical stretch wasn't quite up to snuff for some of the slides, Griff decided that Sunsplash will have to wait until his 16th birthday.

Why 16th?

I have no idea.

The morning of Griffin's big day we drove to the dollar store (one of his all-time favorite places). In the parking lot was something they'd been looking for and dreaming of their whole lives!

The actual Bumblebee Transformer Car:

An etched TRANSFORMERS label! The Autobot symbol!!

What more could a boy ask for?

The only thing missing was "Black and Yellow" (by Wiz Khalifa) playing in the background. Griffin is convinced that song is about his beloved car.

"Black stripe, yellow paint....."

With Sunsplash out of the plans, he asked to have the exact same party as Kai's.

Brimhall pool, pizza, cake, gifts.

Easy enough.

I didn't get any pictures at the pool but I took plenty of happy present faces:

The cake was another fun one for me to make:

Griff loved it:

Look at my new nephew, Camden, ...perched on the table...

So cute:

Happy birthday Griffin!!

La Jolla 2011

2011-08-23T15:51:00.017-07:00

Still catching up on our California trip... bear with me.

Sea World was kind of a last minute decision for us. We had planned on Legoland and no more. But the whole rest of the group was going so we got pressured into it. :)

The first show we went to was the dolphin show. It was such a hot day and all of us were squinting, trying to see everything that was going on. Towards the end of the show, the whales came out. The dark music began to play and the splashing began. Remember it was hot. So of course we were sitting in the splash zone.....10 rows up. I knew we would get wet.

I did NOT know we would get drenched. DRENCHED I tell ya!! Me, Griffin, and Kai. The 4x2 square footage of area that got hit the hardest was where we were sitting. AND.... the whales splash 3 times in each spot!! The exact same spot. We were soaked after the FIRST splash and I was trying to comfort the boys (who were both stunned and crying) when the second and third waves came.

It was ridiculous.

The very. first. show.

I had brought extra clothes for the "I-can't-stand-to-be-wet" boys but MY clothes were still damp when we got back home at 11pm that night!!

Thank goodness I had put enough hairspray in Kai's hair that morning to be able to remake his "shark hair" for the rest of the day.

The Cirque show was unbelievable!

Sea turtles were a big hit too.

Back at the house, there was lots of swimming:

Some inappropriateness, of course:

Playing Spiderman on Greg's iPad:

One of the days, we drove to Coronado and rented a Surrey. Pedaling it was more work than I thought it would be but the boys loved it and the views were great.

YIKES!!

(Your pick on which face I'm saying that to. My crazy big smile in the picture above or EITHER of Griffin's faces -- above or below.)

The beach always made for a fun day too:

Jeff was the only one willing to be buried.

Some of us rallied to make a sandcastle with mote, bridge and seashell decor:

My cheesy way of proving that I took part in the construction:

--What am I?... A wanna-be mermaid?

Sorry, no good explanation for that pose.--

There was seaweed jump-roping that showcased Courtney's Crazy Cross-legged jump:

A good game of catch is always a must:

I don't remember, but let's just say Jeff caught this next one:

I just found out my brother, Jason, and his wife, Stacey, will most likely be getting sealed in the San Diego temple come July.

It is one of my favorite temples for sure:

LEGOLAND

2011-07-28T17:42:00.008-07:00

I'm so behind in my blogging, it's ridiculous.

This summer, with the Garnders, we vacationed in La Jolla, California.

We were excited to go to Legoland, hearing that it was the perfect adventure for our kids' age group.

And it was true.

I couldn't believe everything they had made out of Legos! It was amazing.

This was one of Treyson's favorite rides. My little 1 yr. old nephew, Ty, could actually go on this one as well so we went again, again, and again.

This part of the park split up the kids into older and younger.

The older kids drove around in this mini city.

Here's Griff, who we barely got to see the whole day:

Theme parks are much more fun with cousins apparently.

While the younger kids drove.... in a circle.

I didn't expect Treyson to drive as well as he did. I was pretty proud.

Here's Kai and Gracie:

Jeff and Greg made sure Zach got his fill of thrills to make up for his height requirement deficit.

There was a fire truck relay area where teams raced using a pumping lever to get them from one end to the other and back.

Poor Hope is so popular with the grandkids and ended up with this team:

Needless to say... they didn't win. Their combined lack of beefy muscle mass didn't stand a chance.

Here's the winning team: Todd, Megan, Courtney and Danica

One of the attractions we all did together was this riverboat tour of Lego-made, world famous sites and monuments.

The tour guide's script was so chock-full of great puns, I couldn't help but think it would be the PERFECT job for my dad (one of the quickest, witty-est, punners I know).

Licks and Ladybugs

2011-07-08T07:32:00.005-07:00

Before school let out and before it got so STINKIN' hot!!!!!..... Kai, Treyson, and I took a trip to one of our local parks with a box of Drumsticks.

Chocolate dipped, chocolate coned, cookies and creme Drumsticks.

Yum!

(FYI.....I have a MAJOR ice cream weakness.)

Now, I know flies will eat anything and everything. But I am POSITIVE he enjoyed his ice cream as much as we did.

(Can you see him on the paper?)

Using the previous bug picture, I will segue (pronounced "seg-way" --- I didn't know how to spell it, so maybe you didn't either) into the next bug picture for my amazing mom.

She is a heart collector. Any non-man-made heart.... she wants it.... or at least a picture of it. Birthmarks, rocks, moss ON rocks, shadows, etc.

While at another park one night, someone found this albino ladybug with heart-shaped spots.

It was AMAZING!!!

What wasn't so amazing was how close I had to get to my toes for a good shot of this rarety.

Maybe this next shot using my sister-in-law's finger will be more appealing to the general public.

Have you ever seen anything like that?

The big 3-1

2011-07-02T15:14:00.007-07:00

On the 30th of June I had my 31st birthday.

It was great.

Jeff made me a massive deluxe ultimate omelette for my much needed protein-after-morning-run-breakfast. It was delish!

My plan for the rest of the day was to drive around town with the kids acquiring every possible birthday freebie I could find. Joe's Farm Grill, Krispy Kreme, Baskin Robbins, Liberty Market........ okay, now that I'm naming them all, it would have been quite a lot of food. Too much perhaps. (never!)

Instead the day consisted of Harkin's Summer Movie Fun and a quick check-up of my hip 'clicking' at the PT office Jeff works at. Then some much needed alone time wandering Dick's Sporting Goods to spend a certificate I'd been waiting to use. Jeff took me out to a movie and dinner at The Compass (rotating restaurant on top of The Hyatt in downtown Phoenix). Really good food, but not worth the dizziness and headache Jeff got from spinning backwards for an hour. :)

My sister, Katie, who's been featured on this blog as my baking assistant for birthday cakes, wanted to bring "something" by when we got home.

Wanna guess what it was?.........

......A CAKE!!!

My very own FONDANT-ASTICALLY decorated birthday cake!

(That made-up word is MY birthday gift to YOU, dear readers)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT!

So much, in fact, that I didn't even cut into it for a few days.

It just sat on my counter allowing me to stare in awe at it's beauty.

After cutting into it, I thought I'd take a few better lighted shots before I let my boys dig in.

Isn't it just amazing?

Thanks Katie! Great job.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLYN!

2011-06-30T12:18:00.003-07:00

JUNE 30, 1980

The Love of my life was born and I have been

privileged to share this life with her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HON! Love ya tons.

Out Of Africa

2011-06-25T10:13:00.006-07:00

I hadn't been to Out Of Africa in a REALLY long time and my kids had never been.

We decided it was about time.

Jeff's brother, Shaun, and his family came with us. Having favorite cousins around make everything fun. I'm not sure the boys would have liked it as much otherwise.

It was a hot day and it was a lot of walking for not too many sightings of the animals. The habitats just weren't ideal for showcasing.

If anyone has heard advertisements for this park, the main claim is,

"We are NOT a zoo or circus. We are an experience."

That's for sure.

Their website says,

"See hundreds of animals from all over the world!

Lions, Tigers, Giraffe, Rhinoceros, Black Bear, Camel, Ostrich, Cobras, Zebra, Exotic Birds, Tortoise, Wildebeest, Jaguar, Leopards, Wolves, Hyenas and more!"

Hundreds?!! Really?!! I was so hopeful.

But the only animals we saw were the ones listed and even then, most were too far out of view.

They should also say, "Even though we are 4 miles away from Camp Verde, it will be WAY too much of a hassle to leave for lunch and come back, so plan on buying our $8 hamburgers and $6 kids meals."

The bacon cheeseburger I had, however, was one of the best I've ever tasted. Seriously.

The Tiger Splash Show was pretty neat to watch. It was MY favorite part for sure... and not just because it had shaded seating.

The trainers would play with the white tiger, teasing with huge aluminum balloons to make her jump in the pool.

Griffin had another notable quote that day:

As us adults were walking back down the hill, the kids ran over to stand on a lookout platform.

Rebecca: "What do you guys see? Anything cool?"

Griffin: "No. It's just.... a beautiful setting. That's all."

I'm glad we went, because I've always wondered if my kids would enjoy it.

Now I know. Next time just go to the zoo.

Long Live The Queen

2011-06-07T07:50:00.003-07:00

Jeff and the boys were sitting at the dinner table, waiting semi-patiently for me to get my plate dished up and join them.

Jeff: "Did everyone say 'thank you' to mom for dinner?"

Boys: "THANK YOU MOM."

Jeff: "You guys need to be nice to Mom and treat her like a queen. Because she is the queen of our family. Did you boys know that?"

Boys: "No." "What?" "No she's not."

Jeff: "Well she is. She's the queen. So if Mom is the queen, what does that make you guys?"

Griffin: "Servants."

Watch out Michael Phelps!!

2011-06-03T17:43:00.004-07:00

I'm sorry, maybe it's just a mother's pride, but....

....have you EVER seen such beautiful form?!

The HORSE MOUNTING DIVE:

(Not used HARDLY enough in top notch competitions)

The coveted FLOATIE BELLY FLOP:

(Makes all the usual tummy slapping sounds while keeping your face

safely marshmallowed between two inflatable sleeves.)

Random Photo #2

2011-05-30T14:00:00.003-07:00

There's really nothing spectacular in our storage shed but Griffin wanted to get in there so I pretended there were top secret items being hidden.

He was convinced he'd be able to crack the code

(only while in his superhero underwear of course).

--And, yes, by the way....

My efforts to tan to the exact shade of our house seems to have been a success.

Random Photo #1

2011-05-27T08:47:00.004-07:00

My sister, Jillian (who will be having baby #1 in a few days -- insert squeal of excitement), called me out on not following through with my "Daily (probably weekly) Photo" idea.

Just random photos that don't necessarily deserve their own post, but ones that I like and have nowhere else to put.

Thanks Sis -- I needed that push.

(A beautiful spider web on our pool fence)

Terrific!

"T, double-E double-R, double-R, double-I, double-F, double-I, double-C-C-C"

--spelling by Goose on Charlotte's Web

WONDER WOMAN

2011-05-24T19:39:00.006-07:00

So those of you who know my wife,

know she has turned into a marvelous ,impressive, fantastic, amazing, incredible, (the list can go on and on and on)

RUNNER.

She got back into running about a year ago and has excelled more than I ever could have imagined. She can run forever and it is just not slow and steady wins the race type running but rather she just gets out and SMOKES everybody. She is i

ncredibly fast. I always thought you got slower the older you get but not the case with Carolyn.

Anyways she has been running in different races and doesn't just finish but WINS. I swear that the people who put these races on see Carolyn's name on the sign up sheets and then just put her name as the winner before the race is even run. She is incredible!

So this past weekend she signed up to run in the SAN TAN RUN, WALK, SHOP Race. And let my tell how she did, if you already don't have an idea of what the outcome was.

The boys and I made it just in time to see her take off. Look at how amazing her form is. You blinked and missed it , didn't you? Pay attention.

I was only able to take two pictures before she was out of our sight. Don't you just love her trademark socks.

We all waited at the finish line and this is Griffin worrying if Mom was going to win or not. Look at the nervousness and anticipation on his face. Actually he was just wondering what was taking Mom so long.

Just like I said, she smoked everyone. There wasn't even anyone close to challenge her.

She is amazing!

1ST OVERALL FEMALE and 1ST in her age group.

Congratulations HON! We are amazed by your talents and proud of your hard work. It would be nice though that every once in a while you could let someone else win.

NAH!!!!!!

Father and Sons

2011-05-22T10:19:00.013-07:00

I am really starting to like this blogging thing. A monster is being created in me. Carolyn is going to have to fight me now to see who gets to blog first on our fun events. I don't have any competition on this post, because Carolyn didn't come with us. We went on our yearly Father and Sons outing. I told Carolyn I wasn't taking any boys who were still in diapers but I knew Carolyn needed a weekend off with no boys, so I took Treyson (he is close to being potty trained but still quite not there). Anyways, I thought for sure I was going to be eaten alive with three crazy boys, so I wimped out and invited my Dad to come along with us. He saved me and made it a very enjoyable trip. Thanks a ton Dad for your help and the boys really appreciated having you there. Here are a few pictures of the great time that we spent up by Forest Lakes.

My dad spent hours getting the "Spider" ready to ride and the boys had a blast driving around the forest looking for bones and going on adventures.

The boys helped find fire food that kept us warm throughout the night. It was freezing. Note Treyson had to wear his Batman pajamas under his shirt because it got so cold.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows until about 11:30 at night and we had a blast. Maybe a little too much sugar cause you can see the glazed over look on Kai's face and the screaming in Treyson.

It was a perfect night for seeing stars and enjoying being out in God's Country. I love going to the mountains and just relaxing by the fire.

My Dad found us all walking sticks and we went exploring around the forest. Luckily we didn't get lost this trip. The Gardner's have a bad habit of exploring and then losing our way back to the vehicles. (I don't get what Trey is looking at in this picture)

We went to a fish hatchery that my Dad took me to when I was little and the kids loved it. We had a great day relaxing and just hanging out together.

I love this picture. The boys love hanging out with Grandpa and would follow him anywhere.

We found a rope swing that was awesome. Kai was the bravest and we had to pull him off of it. He had no fear. I think he gets that from his Mom who is fearless when it comes to roller coaster and other thrill rides.

ME not soo much. Do you see the shear panic in my eyes!

Griffin did awesome too.

But I think the most fear came from when we all watched Grandpa go. I thought we would be dragging him out on a stretcher.

I couldn't let my old man out do me so I got a little crazy and think I had to change my underwear after that little stunt.

We had a blast on the swing!

We also found a tree that was about 20 feet off the ground and had to walk out onto it. Griffin wouldn't stand up and Kai wouldn't let go of my leg. Only Trey and me were able to make it out to the edge of the tree.

We had a blast playing in the river and felt bad for all the fisherman because I think my boys scared the fish away within a mile of where we were playing with their screaming and throwing of rocks. The water was freezing but we had a lot of fun playing in the water and giving the boys a bath from getting filthy dirty during our campout.

I love my boys! We had a great time and are already planning our next trip. Next time we are bringing Mom with us. We missed her but I think she had a good time spending the whole weekend alone and doing her "Girl stuff". She deserved the weekend off but we really did miss her. She would have made the trip even funner.

One last shout out to my Dad. Thanks a ton for coming with us. It wouldn't have been as fun without you. It brought back a lot of great memories of camping when I was growing up and I hope my boys can have the same great memories. I love you POPS and we have to do it again real soon.

"ROBOSAURUS!!"

2011-05-18T15:39:00.011-07:00

The first time I saw the word "Robosaurus", I was reading an article in the paper telling about this monster truck show out at Firebird International Raceway.

I just KNEW my boys would love it.

So we went.

And may never go again.

Partially my fault, though.

All day long, the weather was perfect, but then the wind picked up and I didn't anticipate how chilly it would get once the sun went down..... and I hadn't brought coats or blankets.

We had to walk around the whole arena to get to our seats, which was good because we got to walk across this awesome bridge:

...and meet Robosaurus in the flesh..... I mean.... steel.

This demolishing destructor of doom has some loyal fans, I tell you what!

Check out this guy:

Adorned in his shirt purchased in 2006!

(Or maybe he found it at the Goodwill thrift store 2 days earlier.)

Also sitting close to us were some very excited boys.

One of which is wearing a machine gun around his neck -- just in case you didn't notice.

No machine guns for my boys, but they were sharing in the excitement for sure:

They really liked the motorcyclists doing tricks on their bikes.

In all honesty:

the cars were cool, but almost too loud.

the monster trucks... awesome... but the crew took WAY too long to set up for each "scene".

and also... it was cold..... and windy, but I already said that.

It was though -- really cold.

The kind of cold where your kids seem to have twice as much energy while their bodies are naturally trying to get warm. Shivering, tense bodies, running around back and forth in the 10-15 feet of open bleachers we had next to us.

(Sigh.)

Finally, after 2.5 hours of waiting, it was time for...........

R-O-B-O-S-A-U-R-U-S !!!!!!!

(Wide-eyed excitement)

It stomped (rolled) around....

....breathing angry fire.....

...terrorizing and crushing any puny cars left in his path.

The boys seemed to enjoy it and only remember the good parts the next day when telling family and friends.

I wish my memory was as selective as theirs.

I don't think I'll be seeing Robosaurus for a VERY long time.

CAROLYN DEWITT GARDNER

2011-05-16T12:58:00.008-07:00

This is my first attempt at blogging, so I know it is not going to be comparable to the quality and humor of what Carolyn publishes. I am calling this post "Tribute to Carolyn - The Love of My Life" I have the most amazing wife in the world and am soo blessed to be able to call her mine and to be with her in this life and throughout the eternities. I want to show just a glimpse of the AWESOMENESS that I get to live with on a daily basis:

She is the coupon queen. She spends countless hours on cutting coupons and saves a lot of money. Pretty soon she is going to be seen on those new TV shows of crazy couponers.(is that a word)

She has a smile that lightens up my life and is contagious.

She is drop dead gorgeous. As soon as I began to take notice of girls, I was smitten by her beauty. I only ever dated one person ,and that was her ,because I knew I would never find a better match for me. She took my breath away when I first met her and continues to take my breath away every day of my life.

She is an incredibly talented runner. I am amazed how fast and how long she can run. It is hard for me to admit, but she is way out of my league when it comes to running. I also love how she will never flaunt her success but is very humble with how great she is. She has won many races and you will probably never even hear about them. She is incredible!

She loves an adventure. If it is not climbing to the top of a mountain it is her dragging me onto a roller coaster where I scream like a girl and she just laughs her head off. Thanks for pushing me to my limits and making me enjoy high adventure.

Anyone that knows Carolyn already knows this but she is HILARIOUS! You can't be around her and not just break out with laughter. She is always doing things that at times make me roll my eyes, but in reality make me laugh and chuckle inside. Thank you for your ability to laugh at yourself and not be so uptight. It is soo refreshing and enjoyable to be around her. I love and envy her humor!

CAROLYN-

You are the love of my life and truly do bring the meaning to living. You give me the desire to be a better person. I thank you for your loving kindness and am so grateful to have you in my life. The smartest thing I have done in this life is to marry you. I know our future is bright and full of happiness cause I know I will be with you for time and eternity. Thank you hon for who you are and for sharing your amazing qualities with me. I am blessed to know and have you to be mine!

TREY is TRES!!

2011-05-13T13:32:00.012-07:00

"Good morning Birthday Boy!!"

His favorite breakfast pastry and favorite fruit were served.

Kinda lame... I know.... but he LOVED it!

My lovely and talented sister, Katie, came over to make Treyson's "cake" with me.

("Cake" in quotations because I sculpted it out of rice cereal treats this time,

so it would hold it's shape better.)

Katie and I would love to do this all day, every day.

And maybe we even WILL someday.

If you couldn't tell, or are not a Transformers fan, this is Bumblebee.

Treyson's favorite.

Rear view mirrors and all!

Check out the sweet detail Katie did on the tires.

Did we go over board?...... No way. NEVER!

Okay, maybe sometimes.

Treyson really did love the cake as well,

but I think Katie and I loved it more.

For the actual party, I knew the only things Trey cared about were presents.

So, just to make it simple, we blew up a whole bunch of water balloons and went to the park by our house.

There's no way I could have done all this work without Katie here. (I can neither confirm nor deny her missing work that day to help me.) She filled up almost all the balloons while I made cupcakes.

During the fill-up task, a never before seen alien balloon was discovered:

...Three openings!? Amazing.

Jeff's sister owns a balloon launcher and were kind enough to bring it....

.....along with their new snow cone making machine.

Although the weather was slightly cooler than usual and windy, everyone seemed to have a good time.

My mom got some nice shots of people NOT catching the water balloons.

It was only possible with a towel and even THAT didn't work sometimes:

Less than halfway through our water balloon stash, we opened up the coolers for everyone to

dig into.

Then it was time for "Happy Birthday" and presents.

As I was going through all the pictures, I couldn't believe how many different facial expressions Treyson used!! Funny.

Love you Trey!!!

The End.

Getting "hosed"!!

2011-05-06T15:07:00.005-07:00

So funny!!

The other day, my boys wanted to play out back in the water.

Each took turns with the hose and when it was Treyson's turn he said,

"Mom! Look at me! Watch! It's my water horsey!".

He then proceeded to gallop around the yard making horse noises.

Easter

2011-05-02T10:07:00.013-07:00

Easter morning brought baskets and gifts.

Pool noodles in preparation for summer swimming!

Before breakfast the boys went egg hunting.

This was my most ingenious hide. Blue on blue. I guessed the boys wouldn't find it until the very end and I was right.

The boys got ready for church and Jeff took them out back for some pictures.

I love my handsome boys!

This next one cracks me up. Treyson with his Go-Go-Gadget arms, Griffin standing in some 89 year old's pose, .........and Kai.

Then we got a few more pictures after church.

Griffin "I-can't-get-my-church-clothes-off-fast-enough" Gardner did not join us.

The previous night, we'd gathered at the Gardners.

Lots of playing with cousins.

Amazing food.

And, new this year, a gift auction with play money.

Time for some Egg Basher-ey!!

2011-04-29T15:11:00.011-07:00

We look forward to this event each year.

It's a simple game, really.

Roll your egg towards another's egg.

They hit.

Only one cracks.

The winner moves up in the bracket.

Check out Kai's determination. Yikes!

This next picture is me, knocking out the previous champion, and while it may appear that I'm cheating being over the line so far....this was probably our 12th roll!

Sometimes the eggs don't cooperate by rolling in a straight line.

Here are some common reactions seen each year when individual's eggs are retired.

This year, however, there was a slightly more dramatic occurrence.

This next roll began a controversial, haven't-made-a-rule-for-this-yet, argument.

Kevin and Shannon had been rolling for a while and at one point, Kevin picked up his egg to roll it again and discovered a crack. Their eggs hadn't hit yet so this was probably from being slightly dropped when rolled or some kind of mysterious expansion caused by the friction of roll after roll against the carpet.

The argument started.

Kevin thought it was perfectly fair for him to grab a new egg.

Most of the crowd did not agree with this move.

"You should have to use the same egg all the way through the very end of the contest."

This was Kevin's first Egg Bash back from his mission.

I think he wanted to win pretty bad.

After a few minutes of heated discussion, Kevin was slightly defeated, not wanting to win or move on with everyone thinking he cheated.

It was up to ME to make sure Kevin's second egg did not give him the title.

And while my form is practically perfect in every way...... :)

......my beautiful, purple, argyle egg didn't have enough stamina to go up against the brave, shiny, new egg who had been sitting on the sidelines the whole time.

Dang!! I really wanted that plaque too.

Here is the beloved (to some) plaque being handed over by our 2010 Champion.

Brooklyn passes it on with a kiss.

Congratulations Kevin!!

(Our colorful egg graveyard)

Pat's Run 2011

2011-04-26T12:14:00.005-07:00

I promised a follow up of Pat's Run and gave a hint of possibly updating this blog better with at least some favorite photos taken recently.

I have not done this and I'm sorry.

Not that any of you are hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for my next post, but I like to pretend.

I ran this race last year and did better than I thought I would, with there being so many people.

This year there were even more runners registered!!

So many that they had to have "corrals". Each corral held about 1000 runners and there were at least 28 of them. Corral 1 started and then #2 started 30 seconds after them, and so on. There were still people waiting to start when the first runners came in!

Jeff and I both ran it this year along with Jeff's brother, Shaun.

My friend, Jess, raced. As well as some of our other "Lightning Bolts" teammates.

It's so fun to go through training and races with friends rather than by yourself!

Here's the link for the results if you need proof but...

Carolyn Gardner #1081

Mesa, AZ

Age: 30 Gender: F

Distance	4.2M
Clock Time	27:58
Chip Time	26:44
Overall Place	150 / 22512
Gender Place	5 / 11534
Division Place	2 / 3358
Pace	6:22

Crazy!! I beat last year's time by 43 seconds but I never thought that would get me a spot on the leader board. 5th female out of 11,534!........ What?!!

Jeff was running more for the cause and a recreational activity.

He did really well for someone who doesn't even like running!

Jeff Gardner #3081

Mesa, AZ

Age: 31 Gender: M

Distance	4.2M
Clock Time	50:13
Chip Time	39:01
Overall Place	5985 / 22512
Gender Place	4281 / 10978
Division Place	1344 / 3057
Pace	9:18

Maybe we'll bring Griffin next year to run the kids' race of .42 miles. He's a speedy little guy!

Pat's Run 2012, here we come!

"It's not cold, Mom." -- said through shivering teeth

2011-04-20T07:52:00.006-07:00

This past Saturday Jeff and I ran Pat's Run.

(seperate post about that later)

When we got home, I wanted to put my legs in our cold pool.

The boys came out with me and wanted to take off their pants/shorts.

.......Then their shirts came off.

.....They asked to take off their underwear -- but that's where I drew the line.

Within a few minutes and using slow entry methods, Griffin, Kai, and Trey were all fully immersed.

Trey was given the "leftover" floaties and was most happy running around the edges.

Kai's favorite activity is full speed running power jumps.

Uh oh Spidey! Looks like you've got yourself in a tight spot!

We can't wait for the water to be just a little warmer for us.

"He flies through the air with the greatest of ease..."

2011-04-15T15:19:00.003-07:00

Next to jumping on the trampoline, this is the best feeling of flying through the air!

I still get a good jump-off-the-swings here and there when I'm wearing the right shoes.

Warning: Do not do this barefoot nor in flip-flops.

Griffin obviously feels the same way about swings, it's the first place he goes at playgrounds.

Check out this form.... beautiful.

("GIVE ME AN 'L'!!")

Luscious Lip

2011-04-14T08:26:00.003-07:00

The other night, Kai was playing on some bleachers and missed a step. Slipping in his flip flops, he hit his lip. It started swelling immediately and bled for a while.

I felt sorry for him and scared that he had hit his teeth pretty hard as well.

His lip is still pretty swollen and starting to scab.

If you catch him at just the right angle, his huge lip is..... well..... just a tad bit funny.

Photos From The Yard

2011-04-13T08:05:00.005-07:00

I don't want to commit to anything yet, but I'd love to work up to doing "Photo of the Day" posts.

In the meantime... enjoy these from our backyard.

The most beautiful flower in the world!!

2011-04-08T10:19:00.004-07:00

Last year I saw this post about how to make a felt dahlia and I've been waiting for the perfect time to create my own blossom.

The Gardner ladies got together while the fellas viewed the Priesthood session of Conference.

Some chose to make easter egg wreaths but I wanted to make something that was going to last longer than just this month.

So I did some searches and bought some felt:

There are so many colors for such a cheap price... I love it! That way I don't feel bad if a project doesn't turn out quite like my dreams and I have to throw it away.

But that never happens, right?

So then I got started on my beloved dahlia.

It was slightly timely for me because I didn't have a rotary cutter or board, so I had to hand measure and cut everything.

Oh well. It turned out to be the perfect Conference watching craft.

My finished flower with the perfect spring fabric I found:

I wish I'd taken more "in the process" photos but basically, I cut 3x9 inch strips of fabric and hot glued them around the wreath form. HOWEVER, if I were to do it again, I would've made the strips wider and folded the edges under to save myself from some polishing (hiding) steps. I placed the ribbon and felt strips along all the raw edges of fabric that made it look a little too organic.

And here she is:

Welcome Spring!!

Griffin's Rainbow Plane

2011-04-05T17:17:00.003-07:00

I promised a post dedicated to Griffin's colorful creation.

Plus, I love my new camera.

Any favorite photo editing sites out there I haven't heard of yet?

Let me know.

Beads

2011-04-01T08:54:00.004-07:00

"I don't want to do Family Hour! It's not going to be fun."

--said by a grumpy Griffin

We had planned a trip to a local craft store in hopes of finding an activity for Family Home Evening.

Behold... Perler Beads presents:

Fun Fusion

Score!

You place these little beads on forms from the kit and iron them slightly to fuse the plastic together.

(And, yes... my hands always photograph whiter than the rest of my arm. Weird, right?)

Jeff finished Trey's airplane first:

First creations:

Kai - lizard, Carolyn - Bumblebee car, Jeff - plane, Griffin - turtle

Over the next few days, more Bumblebee cars were needed to stop the fights (Griffin made his own). A Ratchet Transformer plus a few more turtles and planes.

So easy and so fun!

Don't you love Griffin's rainbow plane?

I took enough pictures of that for it's own post.

Coming soon.

High 5 Kai!!

2011-03-29T16:48:00.011-07:00

March 19th was Kai's 5th birthday. The morning started out with breakfast, of course. Now usually I would add "in bed" after "breakfast". But Kai is our earliest riser. 'Nuf said.

A birthday drawing from Griffin and a few gifts to open:

We had his party a few days later with family. I love making the cake when I get the chance.

This one was pretty fun. I got to use fondant but opted out of covering the whole cake in it.

My brother-in-law, Rob, was more than happy to destroy my work of art.

(Evil Decepticon!)

Kai loved ALL his gifts and thanked everyone.

I always love the overly sugared, all my friends are here, I'm getting all the attention, excited expressions:

Now, I'm pretty sure the present count was 10 at the most, but, for my dad (who gets up at 5:30am to play raquetball, works hard all day long, and has bishopric responsibilities).....that was 9 gifts too many!

(Not a posed shot. He's totally sleeping!)

This "Toothless" dragon was Kai's last minute request and ended up in one of my favorite shots.

The very next day at school, Kai was able to bring in life pictures and one show and tell for his birthday celebration.

Griffin's classroom is right next door so we were able to pull him over for a few hugs (Mrs. Axtell was Griffin's Pre-K teacher as well) and a picture:

And since this is all about Kai, I wanted to throw in this last shot of him.

It makes me laugh every time!

Kai was informing some new friends at the park of the rules for their game.

Canyon Lake Trip 1

2011-03-23T16:33:00.011-07:00

My brother, Jason, bought a boat recently and we were invited to be a part of his first boat-owner-trip-to-the-lake.

Canyon Lake was picked because they had RV set-ups right off the lake and because of it being Spring Break, my parents had planned on camping.

They are making it tradition to take the grandkids on RV campouts and my boys have LOVED them!!

Jason, Kevin, Katie, Shannon, and Allan all braved the chilly night, sleeping in the boat.

Grammy, Griffin, Kai, Lukas and Treyson all slept in the tent while Grandpa, Celynda, and Brooklyn were cozy in the RV. Well... as cozy as an RV could be.

For the most part, the boys were happy on the shore, making shadows and throwing rocks.

I designated myself to being photographer on the boat.

Here's Kevin:

The water was SO cold, thus Katie's face:

Jason:

Shannon did a marvelous job being flag girl:

...And this is my favorite photo of the trip:

We worked hard, convincing Griffin to go out on the tube with Allan. "You won't get wet Griff. Jason will drive slow and you'll just stay on top. Come on! Be brave! It'll be fun!"

We finally got him out on it:

But slow boat driving + Allan forgetting to pull up on front of tube = water coming up over the front and practically forcing them to let go for fear of drowning.

Griffin was NOT happy about the cold water:

He still went on a short ride but insists that it was not fun at all.

Oops!

It's going to be awesome having a boat owner in the family. I look forward to many pictures like the one seen above. :)

Guess who got a new camera?

2011-03-18T16:17:00.010-07:00

ME!!!!

Out with the old:

...in with the new:

I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Hopefully this new purchase will encourage me to post here more and share the AWESOME photos I'll be taking. There's so much to learn with this new camera but I'm going to love every minute of it!

We went to see Amococo at the Mesa Arts Center. The last day it will be here is March 20th so hurry and go!!

My boys LOVED it!!! They could have stayed there for hours.

It was this inflatable, architectural, light art.

I thought it was amazing!

Go. Now.

Kai's Newest Release

2011-02-23T08:01:00.002-07:00

The other day, Kai was playing at the table with a tiny plastic lizard and some magnetic connecting toys he'd built into a tower. And he spit out yet another musical hit.

I guess I'd better start giving titles to his little ditties.

Let's call this one:

INDECISIVE LIZARD

Lizard builds a kingdom,

But he falls off.

So he tries again,

And he doesn't fall off.

Now he is stuck,

And doesn't know how to get off.

So he tries something,

And now he's falling.

A Messy Ending to a LOVE-ly Day

2011-02-16T21:32:00.004-07:00

For their Valentine's parties at school this year, Griffin and Kai each picked out which cards they wanted to hand out.

Griffin's was fairly predictable...... TRANSFORMERS.

(Didn't you know? Battlebots are the new Cupids! They're so romantic.)

Kai went the route I was hoping he would....choosing anything BUT Transformers.

There were quite a few new boxed Valentines that I'd never seen before.

Ones that came with silly bands, 3-D pictures, 'I Spy' types, tatoos, etc.

But Kai picked out these 5x7 sized Valentines that were printed with a design on front and then instructions on the back for how to fold this paper into an airplane.

Pretty cool, right?

The paper was a little too stiff for that many folds and ended up ripping in some parts but I thought it was a super cute idea.

Valentine's morning, was donuts for breakfast and treat buckets.

Each of the boys received a new shirt featuring their all-time-favorite-Autobot: Bumblebee

(My boys are so good at the fake, painful-looking smiles. Makes a mom proud!)

Both Griffin and Kai were excited to get to school.

Griffin even gave a Valentine to the crosswalk guard that helps him each day.

She loved it.

Fast forward to after school.

That's when it happened.

A bomb.

A bomb exploded.

There were Valentine's guts EVERYWHERE!

Poor Peter Parker..... I mean, Spiderman.... barely made it out alive!

I'm handing out my "Most Clever" award to this cute soccer field card.

It was a great day, guts and all, with lots of smiles and additional gifts and treats from both sets of grandparents.

I want to give another big THANK YOU to my grandma for her delicious Valentine's sugar cookies that brought back so many memories.

For most of my childhood, my mom's mom lived in Utah and would send us cookies in the mail (IN THE MAIL!!) for Christmas, Valentines, and a few other holidays too.

Those delivery days were always so exciting.

Circle, Square, Triangle.....

2011-02-11T20:03:00.002-07:00

Today for lunch I took Kai and Treyson to the park.

It was so nice out today. Like 75 degrees, maybe. (?)

Anyways....

We were getting ready to go home when a gentleman walked up with his pit bull puppy.

(Is pit bull supposed to be capitalized and one word?)

Kai asked if they could pet the dog and then asked his name.

"Diamond." -- said the man

Kai ---- "What?"

"Diamond." -- the patient owner said again

Kai (proudly) -- "Hey!! Your dog's name is a shape!!"

"A sheep?" -- the owner asked..... confused.

(This was an older, hard of hearing, patient gentleman.)

I helped to clarify and the boys continued to play with Diamond for a few more minutes.

I started walking towards the car and told Treyson and Kai to say goodbye to Diamond.

Kai -- "Goodbye Diamond!"

Treyson -- "Goodbye shape!"

"The Best Part of Wakin' Up......."

2011-02-08T08:49:00.003-07:00

......is Kai's breakfast song.

While sitting at the table waiting for me to pour his cereal and milk, Kai started nodding his head to a beat and made up this song:

"We don't have any more sugar squares (Cinnamon Toast Crunch),

So now I have to eat Cheerios."

I wish I could remember what else he sang about.

I know I heard "Hulk Smash" in there somewhere.

I'm trying to do better at writing down all the funny stuff the boys do.

So hopefully my confessing of this will help me follow through.

Dreams or Nightmares?

2011-02-04T07:47:00.002-07:00

This past week of craziness has brought visions of roadshows dancing in my head.

I'm the Roadshow Specialist in our ward, along with Jeff, and I've had dreams about our performance every. single. night. this week.

Our Stake has never done this before so it's been a learning experience for all.

We're finally at the end of it and will be all over with tomorrow night.

Done. Finito.

Then we'll finally know if all the stress, sweat, blood, and tears....

.......were worth it.

13.1

2011-01-29T19:43:00.006-07:00

I did it. And I'm still alive.

I have a blister the size of a penny on the bottom of my foot. But I'm alive.

I had pulled my right calf muscle a few days ago, wearing a wedge heel in our rocks out front, but I had my therapist husband work on it for the past few days and it felt 100% the whole race.

So... if you ever need a good therapist.... let me know.

The race was fun! I got there with only a half hour before start time and wandered around for a good 15 minutes trying to find the tent my running chums had set up. Then I went from port-a-john line to port-a-john line trying to find the fastest one and was absolutely SURE I would miss the start of the race. I was still in line for the bathroom at 7:56 (race started at 8am). Luckily their clock was slow (either that or I'm a super fast pee-er and shoe tie-er) and I made it to the start just in time. So there was practically NO TIME AT ALL to get all worked up and nervous.

The course out at Schnepf Farms is basically that........ a course around farms, or the fields of the farm anyway. I prefer running on dirt so it was fine by me.

They had mile markers all along the way but I was able to keep track of my time and distance on my own because of the awesome Christmas gift Jeff gave me.

Behold..... a Garmin Forerunner 110:

I LOVE IT! It's a GPS watch that basically connects with satellites to track your distance. It times how long it took you to run and your overall and per mile pace for the distance as well. Amazing.

But to get to the point. My hope was to run the 13.1 miles in the 1:30 to 1:40 range and I DID IT!!

My time was 1 hour 33 minutes.

Or another way to say it would be 93 minutes.

Which is the EXACT time that my friend, Rob, predicted on the previous post's comments.

Rob -- How in the world did you do that????!!!!!

So, yay!! I made my goal.

But...... double yay......... I won overall female!!

Can you believe that?

As much as I want to be incredibly happy for myself, it really all depends on who's running that year. Last year the first female finished in 1 hour 16 minutes. Crazy!

It was fun though. I won a plaque and $150 certificate for a new pair of shoes.

Jeff and the boys were at the finish and it meant a lot to have them there. This year, in addition to the bounce houses and helicopter, they brought out live reptiles for the kids to pet.

Griffin, Kai, and Treyson LOVED that part!

--Along with all the free candy and balloons they handed out at the booths, of course. --

Thanks for your support everyone!

Ready to Run

2011-01-28T14:29:00.003-07:00

I'm running my first half marathon tomorrow.

Yikes!!

I'm not super nervous because I've accepted that, this race being my first, I've nothing to compare it to.... No time to beat.... No expectations.

Of course I've done some math in my head (my usual race pace x 13.1 miles) but we'll see. I don't want to say what that time is unless I make it... or beat it. :)

My training has gone okay. Holidays make it hard. My brother-in-law's wife, Shanna, was going to run it as well and actually was the driving force behind our 10 mile run on CHRISTMAS DAY!

I know you probably think that sounds crazy but.... really?...... after lunch on Christmas, there's never much going on, right? Besides wrapping paper clean-up and naps.

Anyways, back to buisiness.....wish me luck tomorrow!

Here's a link to the crazy course, if any of you care.

London's Run Half Marathon Course

Bee-tastrophe

2011-01-19T08:29:00.002-07:00

At the end of last week, Jeff noticed some bees flying around one of the pillars on our house.

It looked like they were scouting out a place to live.

Within a day, they had moved in, despite our efforts to convince them otherwise by spraying them with the hose.

Griffin (and Jeff) were the most concerned (and scared) but the bees left us alone, for the most part.

However, a beehive on the corner of a house is not... nor will ever be... a trendy, desirable decor element. So the bees needed to go before they got too comfortable.

We asked our knowledgeable exterminator friend to come over and take care of things yesterday.

He told us to use the side gate and garage as much as possible for the rest of the day because they'd be flying around mad and confused.

The below picture was taken of just the corner where their "new home" was to be, but the bees were flying around like this ALL OVER the front of our house.

They were EVERYWHERE!!

I took another picture when bigger numbers started to emerge...

.....Not knowing that a few hours later, I'd get some photos like this:

The weirdest thing was this patch of bees we found 30 feet away from the rest of the group on the house.

My guess is these were the protectors who's job was to make sure nothing happened to the family. They had failed and therefore were exiled to die alone...together.

Either that or they tried to transport the queen bee and only made it this far, sacrificing themselves to give her a proper burial.

It gives me the creeps thinking about digging through a pile of dead insects, so we may never know the answer.

I should be laughing at myself.... but I'm not.

2011-01-17T07:23:00.002-07:00

Sunday night, December 19th, was the day before Griffin's winter break started. That night I had a great idea!

I was going to drive around the corner to the school and park where it would be possible to see the faces of all the parents, who forgot the break had started, and were dropping their kids off.

Wouldn't that be hilarious?! Picture it...

The businessman dad who usually goes to work right after taking his kids to school now has to drive them all the way back home before his commute.

Moms, still tired and in their jammies, pull up to the school. They realize their mistake, slump their shoulders and shake their head. The look of annoyance and defeat on their un-makeup-ed faces.

Well.... I wish I could end this post with some classic pictures of those parents I just described, but my plan was scrambled by Jeff working that morning and my own laziness. It didn't seem worth it... waking my boys up early to sit in our van and freeze..... just for a few laughs.

Today, Civil Rights Day, almost made me one of those parents. And while I didn't even get as far as to dress Griffin in his school clothes.... I DID wake him up earlier than necessary (which woke Kai up) and rushed him through breakfast.

Darn!

I've been had.

Anyone else?

For Elder DeWitt

2011-01-16T21:01:00.003-07:00

On Christmas Day 2010, I found out that my brother Kevin, who is serving a mission in Australia, still checks up on my blog.

I felt so guilty depriving him of pictures and stories of my cute boys. So I'm hoping this will make up for my slackage.

We are all SUPER excited to see you Kev! 9 1/2 more days!!

Love ya!!

Dollar Store Fun

2011-01-16T09:17:00.003-07:00

My kids would say we don't go enough, but we make trips to the dollar stores quite a bit!

Griffin had a buck to spend that he earned at the DeWitt White Elephant party. No, it wasn't a gift he opened but we can't remember exactly how he got the dollar. Something about Uncle Alan (my dad's brother), offering a reward to whoever could withstand a tickle session without talking or moving or something. ..... Any family out there remember what it was?

Anywho.....

It always takes Griffin F-O-R-E-V-E-R to choose his toy. At this particular dollar store, we saw something there we hadn't seen at others.

A fossil egg.

The egg was made of sand and came with tools to dig out the dino bones burried inside.

He discovered 7 bones:

(Don't you love how our kitchen counter looks like crackling ground?...Gives it the "Wait a minute! Are those REAL fossils?" look.)

Here it is all put together:

Thanks dollar store!

Farewell 2010!

2011-01-06T10:38:00.010-07:00

I'm starting this post to journalize the remainder of the year I didn't cover, but the driving force behind me is the promise I gave to my mom. I told her I would post pictures of the shnazy white elephant gift Jeff ended up with this year at our Selin/DeWitt party.

Another driving force is to get rid of pictures still on my camera while proving the major need for a better memory capturing device.

First up: Superstition Farm

While still hot weather, I took Kai and Treyson out to see the dairy and "petting zoo" (which turned out to be about 5 animals you could feed out of your hand through a fence and a rooster that ran around). Funny how it always works out this way, but their favorite part, even more so than the ice cream they gave us at the end of the dairy tour, was this dog and it's ball throwing device. Kai AND the dog could have done this for HOURS!!!

Onto Knotts Berry Farm:

It's by far MY family's favorite theme park. We go almost every year.

The boys loved it, of course. Jeff was not able to be there because of work and my parents were a big help staying with the little kids for most of the day while I got my fill of the roller coasters.

I already posted about Halloween COSTUMES but have yet to recap the festivities. At our church Fall Festival, we had booths set up amidst the Trunk or Treat. A fishing booth, donut eating booth, and digging through guts for bones booth.

The Gardners have a Halloween Dinner every year with delicious, sometimes gory looking food. And lots of fun! We opted to make one cute treat (Griffin did a great job on the ghost faces) and one "EW!!" dish. Puff pastry intestines with a taco, guacamole filling.

Here are some other memories unrelated to any holiday.

Kai was trying to be helpful by asking if he could get Treyson and himself some Goldfish crackers for a snack. I said, "Sure. Just put some on the table for you and some on the table for Trey then put the box away." (We always buy the big box.)

This is what he thought was a fair amount for a snack:

And later,following Kai's definition of "serving size", Trey decided to grab himself some gum:

----There are four pieces left in the box which he finished off a few days later in another sitting. I know, I know. I take full responsibility. I had put the box back in the exact same spot. ---

~~~~~~~~

Some months I'm better than others but coupon shopping is something I try to do regularly.

This particular trip, I was at the register checking out and the cashier had to call the manager over to approve the sale. Apparently I had the new "highest saved total" of the day. Now, I know there are WAY better shoppers out there but I was pretty proud that day. So I made myself a sash out of the extra long reciept:

~~~~~~~~

Jeff worked so hard to get the backyard looking beautiful this winter. Griffin was able to mow the lawn for the first time and did a great job!!

~~~~~~~

So here it is Mom....

What you've been waiting for:

When you open a white elephant gift and the first things you see are Richard Simmons videos, there's a good chance you'll be getting some fanciful workout clothes to go with it. I had not anticipated the matching set though. Way to go Selins! Next year I fully intend to regift this with a gigantic curly wig and some bright white shoes. And maybe, just maybe, an at home spray tan kit with body oils.

A sad part about this Christmas was that we taped the whole morning with our video camera and took zero pictures to document. But the theme for Christmas 2010 at our home was definitely TRANSFORMERS. The boys were given more than they could appreciate in one day, but they loved every minute of it.

It was fun seeing Treyson get into it this year.

A few days ago, while eating yogurt, he yelled for my attention and said while laughing, "Mom, mom, look! I'm Ho-Ho-Ho!", followed by a big grin. Here is his Santa-beard face, I guess. He looks mad, but he had just finished saying, "Ho Ho Ho!" with his lips pouted out.

Love that kid!!

Breakfast

2010-11-17T08:25:00.002-07:00

Because of recent and past sales at Fry's, my pantry is stocked with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

And just a few days ago, I bought two boxes of Capn' Crunch Berries (also on sale).

Guess what cereals my kids picked out this morning for breakfast?

Corn Flakes and Chocolate Chex

Huh?!

What?!

Weird.

GREAT! ......but weird.

Makes me wonder what I'll be making them for lunch.

Tuna on wheat with a side salad??

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T16:55:00.003-07:00

This year we took it easy with our costumes. Griffin and Kai chose store-bought Transformers attire and Treyson picked out a monkey suit passed down from the DeWitt family collection.

I was in charge of my ward's Trunk or Treat so I threw my Roller Derby costume together last minute. Not quite as last minute as Jeff though.

I didn't get a picture of him but he was an ASU fan wearing pretty much anything Sun Devil he could find.

Mwuuah-ah-ah!!

2010-10-20T14:40:00.002-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

"Who cares?!"

2010-10-07T07:33:00.002-07:00

This morning:

Griffin -- "I wish we could go swimming today. Mom, can we?"

Me -- "I don't know. The water is pretty cold from the rain."

Griffin -- "WHO CARES! Who cares if the water's cold?! I do! I care! And I want to go swimming in that COLD water!"

Latter-Day He-Man

2010-10-05T08:24:00.004-07:00

I'll admit that there are days I wonder what it would be like (and maybe even wish) for all my boys to be girls. Nicely and sweetly playing house or tea party or ballet class. Letting me dress them in tutus and style their hair, putting little flower clips everywhere.

But, alas, that is not my reality.

Then there are days that I feel lucky to have boys.

Families with all girls might not ever get the chance to clean up the toy room and find little treasures like this:

Tempe Splash Pad

2010-09-14T16:06:00.006-07:00

Last week sometime we took the boys to Tempe Beach Park

They loved it, like always.

Here's Griffin and Trey striking a pose for me:

There were signs everywhere reading "No Running".

Oops.

LOVE this picture of Treyson:

Trey would say,

"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. LOOK! I swimming!",

and move his arms front to back.

And, yes, that would be Kai,

standing over one of the fountains,

allowing the water to pelt his crotch.

Typical.

Then the hunger and fatigue set in:

Time to go.

Come cooler weather though, I'm excited to try some new (to me) City of Mesa Parks.

The I Heart Mesa blog shared some of their top picks here.

Maybe I'll see you out there!

Tape for Finger, Glue for Toe

2010-09-14T15:29:00.005-07:00

I don't know why I feel the need to post about things like this but it's journaling, I guess.

This past February, I ran with a group of friends in the Ragnar Del Sol Relay and completely drained my body that weekend. I've heard that losing toenails is commonplace among runners but thought,

"That's ridiculous......and disgusting."

Since a few weeks after the race, I realized my toenail was different and I've been able to keep the breaking at bay until now.

(Sorry to the weak in stomach)

The break is nearly halfway down my toe and it's only on that one corner!!!

What am I supposed to do? Cut off that corner and have an "L" shaped toenail?

NO was my answer. I couldn't find any super glue in the house, plus... that stuff burns my nose. So I pulled out my hot glue gun instead. I don't have an after picture but just imagine a flat glob of glue all along the top right corner of my nail and you'll pretty much have the image down pat.

You can't tell from a few feet away though so it works for me.

My second "my body is falling apart" moment happened about a month ago.

I broke my finger moving a couch and figured it was just jammed really, REALLY, bad because I could still move it just fine.

It had bruised almost instantly and swelled up pretty bad the next few days. Swollen and purple, then I burned while pulling out a pan from the oven so it had itchy peeling skin also. Nice.

Still tender to type and play piano after a few weeks, I asked a lady at work to take a few x-rays. Took those images into a specialist and.... yep.... broken.

The picture below is only slightly exaggerated, but I had started to notice that my finger wouldn't straighten out all the way:

and unless I wanted my finger to heal that way, I needed a splint.

Thank heavens it wasn't one of those awkward looking, full finger metal contraptions I sometimes see.

Just a tiny piece I tape on to keep the tip in line.

24/7

For 6 weeks.

Two weeks down, four to go.

Trey turns 2 and Griffin turns 6

2010-09-01T19:26:00.007-07:00

I missed documenting about Treyson's and Griffin's birthdays this year.

Oops.

Trey turned 2. And unfortunately we played his birthday REALLY low key and just gave him gifts that morning when he woke up. The only pictures we have are ones of Trey opening his gifts like this one:

Nothing too fancy that day. So I'll add in a few more from random days this summer....

We were lucky enough to go up to Aspen Grove again this summer and over the years this blue half-tube slide has gotten slower and slower. Good thing Trey had the best mom there, who figured out how to actually SLIDE down the slide and not have to scoot the whole way. I just turned his jacket inside out so the soft fleece lining was touching the surface and tucked his shoes inside his hood so the rubber sandals wouldn't slow him down. He LOVED that slide!!

(And, no, he didn't hit this kid at the bottom. Although it might have taught him a lesson. Good thing Trey has the fastest-running-downhill-in-the-brush-mom as well.)

*********************************

Griffin had been into IRONMAN as his birthday rolled around, so naturally, I figured that's what the cake character would be.

(Griffin as self-made Ironman)

But, to my surprise, he asked for the exact cake he had last year:

BOLT

This was last year:

The BOLT character over the one year of play had developed a scratched, paint-coming-off-nose disease that Griffin wanted no part of. So his conclusion was that the only way he could get another BOLT figurine was to ask for the exact same cake. I was looking forward to what I could come up with for an Ironman cake, but this was easier and this was what he wanted.

Griffin kind of tried to play it cool while opening presents and didn't show as much glee as I was expecting for all the gifts he'd asked for.

After telling him his smiles was how people knew how much he liked his gifts, we got my expected cheesy Griffin smiles.

Happy Birthday Treyson and Griffin!!!