December 2008 Family Newsletter

Happy Holidays! December 2008

This has been a good year for the Gardner family. We have been in our home for a year now. It is nice to have our own place and something that is truly ours. Where we can make whatever changes we want! Although we are now tired of remodeling with plenty left to do.

Brandon is busy with work. He still works as an apprentice plumber. He is on his third year of school for plumbing, and can’t wait to be done. He is also being kept busy at church as the assistant ward clerk. This year he got his wish to have toys… he got a 2008 Kawasaki Brute Force and he loves it. We also got an older Yamaha Kodiak; this is supposedly Jen’s but more often than not, one of Brandon’s buddies is driving it. He is always taking the opportunity to go riding…rain or shine or snow it doesn’t matter to him. The kids are quickly following in daddy’s footsteps. Cooper can’t see a 4-wheeler without begging to go for a ride, and Kyleigh already wants one she can drive. Brandon has also taken up duck hunting this year, and was surprised to find that he really enjoyed it.

Jen is busy at home. With our own kids, and some of our friends’ kids that she watches while they work. It is fun, hectic, and often crazy at our house, but the kids enjoy having other kids to play with. Jen is the secretary in young womens, and enjoys getting to spend time with the girls and getting to know them better. This year Jen has tried to become more domestic. Don’t laugh, its true :) She has been busy this summer and fall trying to learn to can fruits and vegetables. Thanks to all the phone calls to her mom, everything turned out great. We now have beets, pears, peaches, and applesauce. It has been great to see our food storage grow, and know that all of that hard work was worth it. Jen is also attempting to learn to sew (it’s a stretch I know) but with some luck she can accomplish her desire to make a quilt, or maybe some jammies for the kids.

Kyleigh just turned five! She is in preschool, having just missed the kindergarten cutoff, and she loves it. She is learning so much and loves to go and be with her friends. Right now in school she is learning how to sound out words and how to write. It won’t be long before she is reading. Kyleigh is also in dance and tumbling and loves to go and be creative. She is quite the little dancer and loves her tumbling class. She is always showing us the dance moves she makes up, or trying to do handstands and cartwheels in the house. She has recently become interested in craft projects and cooking. We try to help her make things, and let her help do things in the kitchen. She is mommies little helper and loves to do anything mom is doing. She loves to sweep and mop, and help with Cooper and the other little kids we watch.

Cooper just turned 2! He is busy exploring everything and trying to figure out how things work. His new love are cars, trucks, and 4-wheelers. He is always vroom vrooming around the house. He is starting to talk more, and is learning new things everyday. He likes to do things on his own schedule and doesn’t like to be pressured into anything. He loves babies, and is surprisingly very gentle. He is a sensitive little boy and is sensitive to other people’s feelings. He loves to get you to chase him, and loves to be tickled and teased. He likes to be with his daddy at all times. If daddy is at home, Cooper is bound to be right there next to him.

This year firsts: Brandon ran his first marathon, and then also his second marathon. He is addicted to running and is already planning more marathons for 2009. Jen ran a ½ marathon and is planning to run the full marathon with Brandon in 2009. We took a family trip with Jen’s family to San Carlos, Mexico. The first time the kids have been out of the country! The first time Cooper has been to the ocean! Cooper wasn’t so sure he liked the ocean at first, but it didn’t take long and he was loving it! The first time Jen went Scuba diving in the ocean! It was an awesome trip, and we had so much fun. Scuba diving was awesome! It was not the least bit scary, which is monumental for Jen who doesn’t like the water. This year has been a great year, even if it did fly by…We are hoping next year will be just as great!
We hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
May the true meaning of Christmas be not only in our hearts but in our actions as well.
Best wishes in the year to come and we hope to hear from you soon.
Love,
The Gardner Family

Slacker!

Ok, I have been a slacker! I know I know! But the more everyone said 'I keep checking your blog...when are you going to update?' The more stubborn and indifferent I became. I know its a horrible attitude :) But, thats just me. I am always telling Brandon; the more often you tell/ask me to do something, the less likely I am to do it. I know its a horrible quality to have; but I don't care. Ok, maybe I care a little bit, but not enough to change...
Then, I was talking to my friend about blogging, and explaining my indifference and frustration. What she said motivated me to continue on. She said 'Who cares what anyone else says. Your blog is for you and no one else. If you want to blog, then blog. But you only need to worry about how you feel about it. Its for you!' However, I do like that it can keep us all in touch and updated on whats going on with eachother, no matter where we are....So, now I am doing it for me because I want to. And I do hope it helps give everyone near and far a small glimps into our lives...

So, now that its been for...ev...er since I have posted. I am just going to start with the new year, I may go back and add things from last year, but just for my own record...
So, here's to a fresh start! And to doing it for me, no guilt included :)

Kyleigh's Dance Recital

Kyleigh has been in dance and tumbling since last september. Well, we just had her recital and she did awesome. She also had try outs. I didn't tell her what try outs meant, just that she got to go dance for people. I didn't want to stress her out. She did awesome! The judges actually placed her in the 1st-3rd grade age group! So she is learning beginning ballet, and doing extra performances (like competitions) this fall and next spring. So we will have a busy school year because she is starting preschool this fall. Unfortunately she misses the kindergarten deadline by a 2 months, so she has to wait until next year to go to elementary school. She is loving ballet and being able to have friends her age. Her recital was great and she was excited to have Grandma and Grandpa Cooper come from Colorado to watch her, and Grandma Gardner and Grandma Great Harris come and watch too. She did tumbling the first night and dance the second night. She love to do both, and Caitlyn her best friend (in dance) is in both her classes! Here are some pictures...

Mexico!!

Sorry I have been behind!

So, We went to Mexico with my family (Jen), we left June 6th and got back on June 15th! At first we were going to drive, but changed our minds and decided that with gas prices, it was better to fly! Especially while Cooper flies for free, and the kids were only flying back with us because they spent the week before with Grandma and Grandpa Cooper. We went to San Carlos, Mexico! It was like a 7 hour drive from Pheonix. It was well worth it though! We met our kids, my parents, Shannon (my sister), Erin (my sister) and her boyfriend Mitch at my Brother James and Sister-in-law Colleen's house in Pheonix. Then drove the next day to Mexico!
I guess I should mention that all of my family except my sister Erin are Scuba Certified, and thats what the vacation was based on. Shannon, Colleen, and I certified in December and this would be our first dive trip, and first ocean water dives! We were excited to say the least!
Erin and Mitch helped by watching our kids so that I could dive with Brandon! Thanks you guys, you are awesome!!! Oh, it was Mitch's first time out of the States, and first time in the ocean. So I am sure it was a pretty exciting trip for him!
Kyleigh and Cooper LoVeD the Ocean! Cooper would sit back to where the waves would crash and then come up to his waist! If there were a few waves in a row that didn't reach him, he would start yelling and pointing at the ocean. It was so cute, I was glad he liked it, because I was afraid that he would be scared of the water! Kyleigh was brave too, and enjoyed playing in the ocean as long as someone was close to her, as the trip went on, she got even more brave, and would venture to do more.

I've been tagged!

Sorry, I guess Tiffany and Amanda both tagged me quite sometime ago, but I just didn't realize it....sorry!!!! So here it goes!
1.What where you doing 10 years ago? Getting ready for summer, and looking forward to being a senior! I was 17, and just starting to get the horrible case of Pnemonia, that the doctors wouldn't treat....I was sick most of the summer, and was miserable....

2. 5 things on my to.do list today... do the dishes! Get Kayda to the vet! Make homemade bread yum! continue to tackle the laundry! Play with the kids....

3. 5 of my fav snacks! Licorice:) ice cream (any flavor, cookie dough and mint chip are the best though) :) BBQ potato chips:) Sunflower seeds:) veggies and Newmans Own Light Raspberry Walnut dressing:)

4.What would I do if I suddenly become a billionaire? Move to Colorado and live on love ;) ha ha
Take all our family and friends on awesome vacations! Buy front row season tickets to the Jazz and Rockies for my dad...Donate it to charities, travel, travel, travel.... just happen to visit North Carolina, and New Jersey :)

5. 3 bad habits- Biting my nails....although getting my nails done has helped to stop that... Being negative about myself and thinking other people think bad things too, watching tv, surfing the net

6. 5 places I have lived? Durango, CO; St.George, UT; Bountiful, UT; Ogden, UT; Roy,UT

7. 5 places I have worked? hhhmmm let see Denny's (did anyone see that coming) Southpark Childrens Center, Weber State Housing, Avatar, and back to Denny's :)

8. 5 things people don't know about me?
*I love the rain and want to read a book with a cup of hot chocolate, and a blanket and sit by a window so I can smell it, and hear it. Our house in Colorado was the best because the roof tops there are metal and you can hear the rain pelting against it...awesome!
*I can't wake up and just get out of bed, I have to have time to adjust to the idea of being awake. I like to lay there and think. And it takes me an hour to fall asleep...Brandon can fall asleep in 2 min. (honest, I timed him) I am so jealous!
*I hate neverending chores....putting away laundry, doing dishes, the minute I have all the dishes done, someone needs a drink and then there is a dirty glass! Or I just hang up all the clothes and kyleigh takes 3 outfits off to see which she wants to wear. I do the same thing, but it still makes me crazy!
*I love to bake, but hate to cook; and I hate deciding what to have for dinner....why is it the my job? I don't get it..everyone has to eat, why can't everyone help decide...why do I have to choose what everyone has to eat just because I am the one preparing it? It makes no sense!
* I love to do crafts, but I am not creative...I am really not! Give me a pattern, a picture whatever and I will replicate it, and have fun doing it, but don't ask me to think of what to do on my own! I am too indecisive, and have no cute ideas... Try as I might, they just aren't there...

I tag Christy Fillerup, Kristie Moeller, Natasha, and Colleen