The Gardners

Thursday, May 3, 2012

For our BYU fan

When we moved here Hayden asked for a BYU room. Last year for his birthday he got all kinds of fun BYU decor for his new room. He loved it, but he said he needed a BYU blanket for his bed. I've been working on this for a few months now (in all the spare time I have). Now his room is complete.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Do Hard Things

I've said many times before that I hate exercising. There are 50 other things that always need to get done or I would rather be doing. I started off the year pretty good with the elliptical, but then I fell off the bandwagon for a while...typical for me.

About a month ago my dear friend posted her struggles with weight and how she needed to make some changes. I thought this would be the perfect chance to help each other. As a result we committed to report our exercising each night via text. It would be so much more fun just to do it together, but a few states separate us. What we both need is to be held accountable. We have been faithful at exercising 5 days a week. I am proud of my friend. She is working on overcoming big obstacles, and she is doing it! Weight loss is happening for her and I couldn't be happier.

I'm not in it for weight loss, I'm in it to be healthy and stronger and conquer a huge weakness. When we started, it's sad to say that I couldn't run a half mile. I'm not sure if it was a physical limitation or mental...just didn't care to do it so I couldn't/didn't. Last night I ran 1.5 miles without stopping. One very small step for most people, but a huge feat for me!

There is a book our Stake has all the Youth Leaders read. It’s called “Do Hard Things”. It is written by teens, for teens. The idea is that teens need to rebel against the low expectations that society has set for them physically, spiritually, and mentally. When given higher expectations they rise above the norm and become extraordinary people. “Doing hard things is how we build character and competence. It won't drop to meet the low expectations, it won't just do what is easy, and it won't become complacent. It applies no matter who you are or what level you're on, because there's always something harder to do, something that will take you outside your comfort zone and cause you to grow.”

I'm trying to do more hard things. I'm working on learning to like to sweat. I don't like it yet, but I do like the feeling I had last night after I ran. I felt like I did something big, even if it was only a mile and a half. I will keep working. I have a goal to run a 5k this summer with Isaac. He will leave me in the dust, but that's okay as long as I keep running. Hard is good. It stretches us and makes us better.

Day 4: Air Force Museum

Day 4 we headed up to Dayton to the Air Force Museum. We loved seeing all different planes. They had some of the very first ones, some crazy spy ones, and the several old Air Force Ones. Very cool place to go.

Aaron and Halle in front of one of the first ambulances

this was one of the cool spy planes.
apologies to my Air Force friends, I can not remember the name of this awesome plane.

This is Bockscar. It went back and forth between Japan and Salt Lake City during WWII.

Nana and Papa in front of an Air Force One

The Worlds very first airport, it is a huge open field where the Wright Bros. would take off and land.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Day 3: the Zoo

This is the Botanical Garden part of the zoo. It was beautifully landscaped and most of the Spring flowers were in bloom.

Hayden and his COUGAR

Papa, Nana, and the kids

Most days my kids belong in this exhibit!

When we found out we were moving to the Cincinnati area, the first thing people would say was "they have a fantastic zoo". Arkansas Children's Hospital gave our family a one time Cincinnati Zoo pass as a going away gift. We finally got around to going. It did not disappoint.