Crossing my fingers!!

I never win ANYTHING..... I just don't have the luck. PLUS by posting this on my blog and telling you all how to sign up to win a free bag, I'm only decreasing MY chances of winning. But I've always been a sucker for contests and this post will get me 25 more entries.

Go to HandbagPlanet to sign up and win. Good luck! (--but not really)

Just.Plain.Wrong.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. A friend back in Flagstaff gave me two sets of outfits before Treyson was born. A boy's and a girl's. I just HAD to see this outfit off the hanger and ON a baby. Poor Trey is never going to hear the end of this....

The shoes are SOOOO CUTE!! And I HAD to add the bow. Only because, without it, he just looked like Treyson in girly clothes ........ a cross-dresser, if you will.

Now, could I have given it to my new niece, Brooklyn, and had her model it for me? Sure. But would that have been as much fun? No. These are the adorable shoes she gave me with the little boys outfit.

Thanks again Juliette.

Another friend I have to thank publicly is Debbie. She is very crafty and loves making custom, one-of-a-kind things. I got this bedding set from her a while back but I didn't put it on our crib until we moved here for fear of Kai ruining it before Treyson's turn in the crib.

She also made my boys some Spiderman superhero capes. I know, I know, Spiderman doesn't have a cape. But they don't seem to notice or care. You can find more cute items, or ask her for custom items here, at her etsy shop.

Hello BLORLD !!

The title is a sad excuse for my made-up word meaning, "blog world". I've been out of our little planet here for a while because I've been trying to get out new place set up. We're renting a house in Mesa and pretty excited about it. The space fits us well. I'm still getting all the last details up but here's a view of our main room to the kitchen.

(The lighting is bad, but you get the idea)

We acquired this nice sectional from Jeff's sister's furniture store: CORTATE FURNITURE. I'm sure some of you have heard of it. Super good prices. Let me know if you'd like to know more about it.

My cousin Jen was in town for a few days from her travels and she, along with her mom, gave me some suggestions on what to do with the front room. She helped me pick out my rug and told me how to paint and glaze our particle board/laminate entertainment center. Jennica and her mom are both pretty crafty like that.

I think it turned out really cute!! I still need to add some brown, round knobs on those front doors. Adorable!

To see more of Jennica's style, click on my link to the side or see here .

On other news, Griffin started preschool. We really wanted to put him in Jeff's Aunt Glenda's Montessori School, but it was 20 minutes away and we have an elementary school just around the corner. I think next year we'll try for the Montessori Kindergarten. Here he is -- so excited with his humungo backpack.

We have a smaller one, but it's Lightning McQueen which he's been "over" for a while now. This Spiderman backpack was much more wanted.

Also!!! My brother, Kevin, got his mission call. He opened it tonight with family and friends close. Most of us had guessed at where he might be going. My cousin Isaac got it right. Australia Melbourne East. So fun, right!!! He doesn't leave until January though (?). Why so long, we're wondering. Jason (my other brother who just got home) is especially concerned about that time frame. Although Jason loves Kevin, he was kind of hoping for a 3-4 week departure date. (They're sharing a room right now.) Now Kevin can go out and look for a nice paying job and rack up some money to help pay for this fantastic opportunity. Right Kev?! We're going to miss him. But not yet.

-- Hanging up some curtains for my mom while balancing on a 2x4 .... nice! --

-- Loving Uncle Bean --

(I don't think it's the "bean" reason you guys are thinking about. You'll have to ask my nephew Lukas why Kevin got that name. Not that a two year old will have a very good reason.)

Dun....da-da....Dah!!!

Well it took 3.5 months, but it finally happened. TREYSON TOOK A PACIFIER !! Woo-hoo! I was sad at first that he wouldn't take one because they're so nice in the car and at church. Then I was okay with it because I figured that helped him sleep more at night -- being able to soothe himself by sucking on his fingers. But we were driving home the other day and he started crying. The kind of cry that was going to continue until we got home. Not quite tired enough to fall asleep. So, I figured I might as well try again with the reserve one I always keep in the diaper bag (just in case). It worked!! I couldn't believe it! I didn't want to celebrate too loud for fear that he would get scared and spit out. I'm not going to force it on him unless I'm absolutely needing to, but, when it's time, I have a feeling it will be easier to cut off the tips of the pacifier rather than the tips of his fingers. Don't you think?

Cabin Fever and My Favorite Gardner Trait

My parents wanted to get a family trip in with Jason just getting home and before Kevin leaves on HIS mission. They found a cabin in Pine on vrbo.com and it was perfect. There were three bedrooms in the main cabin and then a detached garage with a loft above it that had air mattresses and a pull out sofa bed that, in total, slept eight. So it was perfect for our growing family.

Two plans for this trip were the hike down to Fossil Springs and the Tonto Bridge. Me, being the stubborn thing that I am, insisted on making the trek. Celynda (who has since had her baby) was staying home with Lukas (her son) and Kai. We THOUGHT Griffin would be able to handle it, however, maybe a tenth of the way in, Griff decides he's had enough. So, rather than dealing with his whining the whole time, Jeff took him back to the cabin, and ended up staying there with Griffin which meant not being able to go to the Springs with us. :( ---I should have been the one to go. The hike DOWN wasn't horrible with Treyson. He cried a little here and there, but my brothers and dad were MORE THAN HELPFUL taking turns holding him. (Treyson didn't enjoy the pack I brought for him.)

The hike back was a different story. Everyone had jumped in when we got down to the water and some even made a scary leap off the huge dam there. I don't know if it was the water or sweat or both, but the walk back was unbelievably horrible because gnats swarmed all around us the whole way. If you stopped for two seconds and looked down at your legs, there would be at least 30 of these stupid bugs crawling all over you. Not fun. I am not a bug fan anyway and this was SUPER hard for me to handle. I ended up running, shaking my head, and carrying Trey all at the same time just to make it back to the car sooner. These hikes are not short either. Needless to say, we were all quite sore the next few days. The Tonto Bridge was much more do-able for kids and pregnant gals.

It was a really fun trip that we all enjoyed. Many Foosball, Catch Phrase, and dancing in the window memories that will forever be the "good times" we spent at "The Jackson in Pine". (That's the website for the cabin.)

THANKS MOM AND DAD !!!!!

ALSO......

Treyson turned 3 months yesterday!!

Can you believe it's been that long already? He is, by far, my best baby yet. Sorry Griffin and Kai, but it's true. He's been sleeping through the night for a month now. Maybe even 6 weeks. That's the Gardner trait I mentioned in the title. Gardners LOVE their sleep!!! On a usual night, Treyson gets between 8-10 hrs. Most of the time it's closer to 10. (Sorry moms who are out there waking up throughout the night still) Although.... he tends to be kind of a Mama's Boy. That will all end soon enough when we move back down to the valley close to family. He'll start to recognize more and more people and allow them to hold him which will be great for my back. He's such a fun baby and I love him to death!!!

We are HUGE Cardinal fans!!!!

Umm....... no.

Jeff heard that the Cardinals were up here at NAU for their practices and we decided to go check it out. It's not like we were hoping for autographs or anything, we just jump at anything there is to do here in good old Flagstaff.

It was pretty warm that day, so we stopped by Sonic's Happy Hour and got some slushies. Have you ever tried a cherry-limeade-cream-slush? Do it. It wasn't too exciting to watch, but like I said, it was something to do. As we got up to go, Jeff noticed a little kids area. They had a blow-up obstacle race course, a run-thru-the-defenders-for-a-touchdown thing, and an accuracy throw station. The boys loved it.

Jeff kept taking pictures of the players and I didn't understand why. It's not like we are going to put them in our photo albums and tell our story about going to the Cardinals Practice years from now. Maybe if one of the players were holding our kid or at least sitting next to them, then the picture would be worth taking. But I told him he could just take a few and I'd post them before deleting them off the camera. So here you go.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIFFIN!!!!

We celebrated Griffin turning 4 years old this past week as well. His birthday was on July 20th, but since we were going to be in Snowflake the day of, we invited family over the day before we left. Nothing too big this year. All he really cared about was his "Turtle Cake" he had been asking for since months ago AND presents, of course.

I spent hours on this cake. It wasn't super difficult, just time consuming. He loved it though. The reaction didn't include jumping up and down and screaming. Griffin stared at that cake for a long time -- making sure I had all the turtles correct, I'm sure.

When it came time to blow out the candles.... it didn't go exactly the way he though it would.

Notice his intense facial formation that created a torpedo of air? Well, his aim was just a little off. The flames danced a little at his attempt, but none went out. Total embarrassment. Poor guy.

It took a good 2-3 minutes to convince Griffin to try again. Help was added.

The gifts and cake were enjoyable and memorable for our big 4 yr. old, but that hasn't stopped him from letting me know that at his next birthday, he wants a Spiderman theme.