Mama C and Daddy-o

The title of this post lets you know what Jeff and I were called by our "family" on our Stake's Pioneer Trek this year.

We were surprised to be invited into that position because it would be a bit of work to find places for our boys to go while we were gone, but all of that planning and work was totally worth it!

We had an amazing time with such strong youth that our faith in the rising generation was encouraged.

This was our awesome family:

The second day, we had stick pull competitions, and ax throwing contests, etc.
It was the youths' favorite day for sure.

 The ladies in our group were so tough.  By the end of day one almost all of them had blisters on their feet.
This next picture was pretty much just a joke because in reality, there was no way any size of moleskin or corn pads were going to help their feet.
We're talking silver dollar sized blisters on the bottom of their feet.
So sad.

But they kept walking.  We figured out by the second day that if they weren't holding on to the end of the cart, they would fall behind.  When the need came to push, they were ready and willing but for much of the time they just held on for dear life.

 Our guys were so strong.  They never, EVER complained and were always so willing to jump in and take over for someone looking tired and worn out.  Even if it wasn't our cart.

 I wish I could remember the exact mileage -- 20 miles in 3 days maybe?
(I'll edit that once I find out for sure)
This was at the very end.  We had unloaded and disassembled our cart and were heading home.

It was a priceless experience that we, along with the youth, will never regret nor forget. 

Griffin's Birthday and Baptism

My first born is EIGHT!!

Griffin Jeff Gardner turned eight on July 20, 2012.

He chose to have a play party at Makutu's Island.  I love that we live close to almost ALL the cousins and that my boys just LOVE having all of them at their parties.  

 Then on August 4, 2012, Griffin was baptized.

We were blessed enough to be given permission to have it be a solo baptism and all the talks, etc. were done by family.  It was such a special day!

 

After the baptism, we had lunch, cake and presents.

I love that cousin Sadie is holding her hand over her brother's mouth while Griffin blows out the candles.

His cake this year was yet another Ben 10 cake.

I made it to look like one of the toys he was going to be getting from Grammy.

Shown here:

The top of the "Omnitrix" pops up and you can spin the top to pick which alien you are wanting to become at that particular moment.

Thank goodness Grammy (my mom) knows the boys so well and was willing to buy three of these so there wouldn't be any fighting.

They played with these things nonstop for the first week or two after the party.

There was enough Ben 10 to make his jaw drop lower and lower until it was ultimately stuck in this position:

 His mouth was stuck in this position for the next 4 hours.  I had to chew his cake for him and feed it to him like a baby bird!  -- Okay that's gross.  I took it too far.  Sorry.

Even though I think he's done this before, now that he is 8 yrs old, the city of Mesa will allow him to legally jump off the high dive.

Since I am posting this during Sunday "rest time", I will try to get Griffin's thoughts on his baptism day posted here to we have it documented.

Check back.

It is true... I'm Thirty-Two!

On June 30th of this year, I turned 32.

I am almost in my mid-thirties.

How is that possible?!

It was a really good day.

I woke up to a wonderful green smoothie made by Jeff.

I hadn't requested a big "breakfast in bed" this year because I wanted to try out Joe's Farm Grill breakfast menu since we have only ever had their lunch/dinner selections.

(You get ten dollars worth of food on your birthday)

I ordered some kind of Mexican spiced meat and egg mixture that was served with mini tostada disks.

It was delicious!

When I returned from Joe's Farm Grill (yes, I went by myself), Jeff had a huge surprise for me:

This was my "Wall Of Love"

He had emailed and asked  friends and family to write just a small note to me for my birthday.

It was probably one of my very favorite gifts ever.

I have such amazing people in my life and felt honored they would take the time to be part of my birthday.

Thank you Jeff for putting it all together!

Next activity was a movie with the family.  I had been wanting to take the boys to see Brave and movies are one of my all-time favorite things to do.  

On the way home we picked up my free donut from Krispy Kreme.

Next up -- Shopping!

You can't really see in the photo but on Jeff's note, in the center of the mirror, he had put an image of a $100 dollar bill.  He let me know that he had wanted to get real money for me to spend but was confident that I knew how to use a debit card just as well as cash.

On my way out shopping (by myself of course :-) -- I picked up a free sub from Firehouse Subs.

Mmmmmmm!

Now I'm not EXACTLY sure on the time, but for some reason 4 hours sounds about right.

Four hours!

I took four hours to wander, try on, window shop, spend and just "relax" in a woman's sense of the word.

Later that night, we met up with some family for dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

Like I said, it was a fantastic birthday and I felt very special.

BIRTHDAY GIRL

                             The many faces of an AMAZING wife, mother, daughter and friend.                        

We are the lucky ones on this special day to have you as a GIFT.

LOVE YOU and have a Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Belly Flop Meant To Be A Dive

I can't stop laughing at this video!
It just gets better and better.

Too Cool For Pool

Anyone out there think fun and fabulous floppy hats are only for girls?

Not I.

Especially not if you can whip out a subtle sassy pose like this:

Serenity

A Sunday sunset in Snowflake on a summer's day, while listening to Summer Again by The Afters.

If you don't feel serene while experiencing that combo, something is seriously wrong.