2 for 1

At our house today we got to celebrate 2 special days. Happy Mother's Day to Me and Happy Birthday to Hayden. It was a pretty normal Sunday. Aaron worked last night, but made it home in time to eat breakfast with us before we left and he went to bed. At Church Hayden was determined to let everyone know it was his birthday, it was quite comical to hear him tell everyone we talked to. We had a yummy dinner of homemade Cafe Rio...one of my favorites!

So to honor Hayden on his 4th birthday here are 4 things I love about him.

1. He still loves giving me kisses. He randomly comes up to me during the day and says "Kissies" and plants one on me.

2. He is my biggest helper around the house.

3. He says the cutest prayers.

4. He make me laugh with all his funny comments.

Hayden 7 weeks

1 year

2 years
3 years

4 years

We love you Hayden and happy you are part of our family!

The Week

The rain finally stopped and we didn't float away. Today it's SUNNY! I'm happy.

This week is Teacher Appreciation week at school. My kids have been blessed with wonderful teachers. We love them. They have high expectation for their kids and also let be creative in their thinking (especially with Isaac in Math...he loves it). So in honor of our wonderful teachers we made these chocolate covered strawberry roses. YUMMY!

Today driving to school Caite must have seen a convertible. She said, "Mom, those cars without lids aren't very good cars, because when it rains they will get wet." True that! So keep your "lids" on your cars and you won't get wet.

Tuesday was my Birthday. Nothing exciting was planned (Aaron had to work late), but it was a good day. I had a few friends stop by with flowers and cards, phone calls came in from family members (even from Mom and Dad on their mission!). Aaron was able to leave the hospital a little bit early to pick up a late Indian dinner for us. We put the kids to bed and had a peaceful delicious dinner. Indian Butter Chicken is one of my favorite foods!! Peaceful, what else could I ask for. He also surprised me with a surger. Are you serious? I couldn't believe it. So now I have some serious learning (I have no clue how to use it) and sewing to do!!

There you have it our week in a nutshell. Oh, and if you are wondering how I'm doing with watching the baby...It's going well, no complaints, he's a cute and good baby. But it's NICE to give him back at 4:30.

Rain

I don't like it. At all. I hear so many people talk about rain, how they love it, how they love the smell of it, and how refreshing it is, how they love to curl up in a blanket and read. NOT me. It makes me mad. The rain in Arkansas does not smell good, in fact it kind of stinks. It's not refreshing like it is in Utah. It's hot and muggy. I have 4 kids...I can't just sit and read (and keep my sanity). I hate being cooped up in the house with 4 kids... ALL day. They are just as tired of it as I am. So now they fight. And I loose my patience. It has rained everyday for a week. And the forecast says it will continue everyday this next week. LOVELY!! The flowers I planted the week before last are drowning quickly. Hopefully they recover. If I don't post anything over the next few days you will know we have floated away because of the yucky rain.

Hayden makes me laugh

The book fair has been going on at the kids school. Isaac was excited to buy 2 books in the series of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". He showed them to Hayden and Caite and told them how many pages he had already read. Then next morning we were walking in the school to drop Caite off and Hayden saw a sign advertising the book fair. On it was one of the books Isaac just bought. He quickly pointed it out and said "Hey, Isaac has this book...Wimpy Kid has Diarrhea!" I must admit I could not contain myself and neither could a teacher walking past. We laughed pretty hard. I told Hayden how to say the book title correctly and he still can't get it right...now it is "Diarrhea of the Wimpy Kid". Oh he makes me laugh!!

Utah April 2009

We had a GREAT trip to Utah to see our famliy last week. We started it off with Isaac's Baptism. It was wonderful to be surrounded by our family and have them be apart of the special day. Papa and I gave the talks and all the cousins did a special musical number. We kept it short and simple, but the Spirit was strong and that's what matters.

After the Baptism we had a small reunion with a few of Aaron's counsins we hadn't seen for a long time. It was fun to see them and catch up on lives. We have all added quite a few kids since being together. We were supposed to have a BBQ in Nana and Papa's back yard, but due to inclement weather we had to move it to the church gym. That way the kids could still run and play.

One of the highlights for my kids was Jumping Jacks. For part of the reunion Papa rented out Jumping Jacks. It was so much fun to have the entire place for just our family. The kids had a blast, and the parents...well, we loved it as much as the kids...a good time was had by all.

On Easter Sunday we went to Travis and Julie Kaye's ward, they blessed little Sydnee Sage. She's a cute little thing. We didn't stay for the luncheon after because we met Susie and Darin (and kids) up in Midway at Darin's parents new house. It was fun to sit around and chat with everyone. It felt so good to get away from everyday life and just enjoy our family.Monday was family pictures. It's quite a job to orchestrate 22 people (12 of them under 8), make sure everyone is looking and smiling at the same time. I think the photographer did a good job, we should be getting the proofs soon. The little girls wore the skirts I made at Christmas. And the rest of us pulled out the colors from the skirts to match. So we all ended up in brown, yellow, blue, and green. I think it looked good. While we had a photographer there we brought the pink Easter skirts and had the girls pics taken. Not the best shots, they were all tired of stitting still, but you get the idea. After pictures we had our Annual Gardner Easter Egg Hunt. The kids go wild. After the kids go, there is one for the adults, we go even more wild than the kids. Each couple gets to find 6 eggs, each has a # inside that represents a gift card or cash. We always come away with good stuff.

We celebrated Cooper's 3rd, Dylan's 1st, and Jackson's 7th Birthdays that night.

The kids had a great time miniature golfing. That's one of those activities that I don't like doing, but I go because the kids like it. Theres a place in Orem called Trafalga that has been around longer than I have, it could use a huge makeover in the miniature golf department. The kids don't know any different, so they had a great time.

On Wed. is started snowing and by Thursday morning this is what we woke up to! A FOOT of snow. What kind of Spring Break is that? We had to dig our way out before heading up to the cabin. Once we got to the cabin there was hardly any snow. We had a great time playing games, and making smores. We also ate all kinds of yummy food.

This ended up being a WAY long post, but I wanted to document all of our fun. Utah will always be "home" for us, and I am always reassured that that's where we want to end up. Kids need to be by their cousins, and we need to be by our siblings (most of them anyway). That's just how it should be. So thanks to Nana and Papa for letting us come out. Thanks for the entertainment and vacation. Thanks for the reassurance that "home" is where family is. We love you all!

Project Completed!

I'm all done.

5 skirts

2 shirts

I'm happy with how they turned out. Hopefully the girls will like them.

My sewing machine is getting a well deserved break.

What did I get myself into?

My friends sister was looking for a daycare provider for her newborn. They wanted a home environment vs. daycare. She called to see if I knew anyone. I ended up with the job. So I will be watching a 3 month old everyday. Seriously? Did I really just say yes?

Today is day 1...so far so good. Let's pray it stays that way. Other wise I will need a daycare provider for my mental self.