College Open House

I wish I could say I was the one going to college but

my turn will have to be later.

My baby sister is going to college! 

And away from home.  Well, from her home.

She is closer to me and my other sister Kami

but farther from her home and mom in Idaho.

Karissa is going to UVU

Utah Valley University

The school had an open house for all the freshman

and their family, so we made a night of it. 

The university president and some other important

people which I'm not sure who because I was busy taking

 care of a busy 2 year old, spoke and bored my poor children.

After wards there was some good free food and

music to enjoy.  

My sister is staying in an apartment close to

campus and sharing it with 5 other girls.

They all have there own room and share

a kitchen and two bathroom vanities and 3 bathrooms

with showers.  She has it pretty good for most. 

I wish I had that opportunity.  Man, where was the money

when I wanted to go to college!  Working a full time

job and going to school full time on my own

pocket book was not the easiest.  I guess that's

why Brandon's particular interest in me was

great timing!  Actually I do wish I would have

finished before my sweet kids came along.

So I hope my sister gets the chance to finish

and make something for herself. 

I'm Proud of you sis!  Hang in there! 

College life rocks! 

Sierra turned 5

My sweet Sierra turned 5 today

August 23rd!

You can't tell she is happy to be 5!

Sierra Loves being the baby girl in the family!

Loves her Blanket and Teddy that she 

sleeps with ever night and carries 

around the house still. 

She plays well with all her siblings.  

She has the biggest sweet tooth for being such a small girl. 

She is very aware of things all though you would 

never suspect that she is even paying attention. 

Her favorite color is Purple and Pink

She loves dancing, specially with her sisters. 

She loves Chocolate.

and...

We love having Sierra in our Family!

For Sierra's Birthday we got ready for her party

and made her cake. She wanted to take popcorn 

to hand out for her birthday

treat in school. So after checking with her teacher

I popped about  8 bags of popcorn. 

Later for dinner she picked Chicken Roll ups for our 

tradition of "Pick what you want for your birthday dinner". 

 And I made some vegetables to go with it but 

she of course would never eat them. 

Sierra wanted a Mermaid cake and had it picked 

out almost a year before her birthday.

 After dinner we had Family over for cake and

ice cream. 

 Here are just a few pictures of Sierra and all those that

came to the party...

Grandma and Grandpa Gardner 

Big Sister Riley

Aunt Rachel and Cousin Josh

Aunt Kami and Cousin Emery 

Little Brother Owen

Big Sister Paige 

Grandma Avery

Grandpa Corrigan

Aunt Karissa

Great Grandpa Gardner and Grandma Lois

Mom and Dad

Sierra made her wish and after a few tries blew

out the candles.  

She loved having a party with all her

family and of course getting all those presents!

Under the sea Party

Sierra had her first friend birthday party.

She picked an "Under the Sea" themed party.

Sierra and I had so much fun planning her party.

Sierra has a summer birthday and

she just started Kindergarten so she did not

know that many girls in her class yet.

But we invited them all and hoped for the best.

I made this Mermaid Sign for the party.

 

It was a pretty warm day and we needed some

shade so we put up the "easy up" and

decorated it like it was under the sea. 

The girls liked eating fish snacks and

coloring Mermaid pictures as a break

from the heat. 

 I was not quite sure what do do for an outside

water party.  I looked into renting these

blow up slides and decided that for only twice

the amount to rent I could own one and get more

then one day use out of it.

When I told Sierra I was getting a slide for her 

party she screamed.  She and the other kids were

so excited! 

And it made for such an easy fun party. 

These are some of Sierra's friends from school

and the neighbor hood enjoying some shade and 

pop sickles.  Poor Sierra does not have a lot 

of girls her age around the neighbor

hood.  So I'm sure in the future I'll be making 

play dates with her friends from school. 

All the girls were so cute watching Sierra

open her presents.  And it was fun seeing

Sierra's excitement with each gift.  I love

watching my kids during their first friend party. 

After water slides, games, pop sickles and presents

Sierra sent her friends home with a cup cake

and a frozen party favor. 

Out with the old, on with the New

This is for my journal purposes people,

 don't judge me! 

So about 10 years ago I got married and my sweet

mom wanted to make Brandon and I a quilt.

Well no offense mom I loved that you made

it as big as I wanted so it could actually hang

over the bed.  I'm sure it took you forever.

But it has to go.  I'm not sure why I ever

picked that hideous fabric.  And tie quilts

are not quite in now.  So...

Out with the old

and on with the new!

Being a big year for me turning 30 and coming up

just around the corner on 10 years of marriage I thought

it was time to break the pocket book and get a new

bed set.  Since I've never had one.  Just the quilt

above my mom made with two matching pillow

shams.  Even as a child I never had a complete matching

bedding set.  So it was really hard for me to pick out

one.  And man can they be pricey.  That was the other

part that made it hard.  Spending money.

Anyway I saw this one and fell in love.

It took a few visits to different stores and a few 

orders on line to complete the set.  But I love it! 

2 year old check up

Owen was pretty happy to go to his 2 year old

check up.  At this age his sisters were not

to happy about doing anything at the doctors.

Owen stepped on the scale with excitement

and was very cooperative.  

Owen weighs 26 Pounds 

at 25%

Owen is 35 inches tall

at 76%

He wanted to bring some trains with. And having

his sister with him made it more fun and less scary. 

If only adults could get this excited over a sticker. 

Owen's 2nd Birthday

Owen Turned 2

Since Owen loves trains he had a train themed party.

He loved the tracks going up to the porch.  He

would not let me take it off for days. 

I had fun planning his party.  I made him a train cake

with all sorts of yummy candy for each train car. 

I had vegetable train cars which was nice to change

it up from the typical cake and ice cream, which 

we still had. 

Fruit sticks

Beverages perfect for a train party. 

Owen was so cute with his gifts.  Before I could

take his picture he had to line up all his trains. 

He was so proud of his gifts. 

Cousin Play Time

The kids got some play time at Grandma's before

cousins headed back home to Iowa.  

Austin and Owen played outside and found 

the water of course! 

Sierra and Olivia played with Grandma's dress ups which

use to be clothes that actually were worn as

dance costumes.  I think!  I love how they

pose for the picture!