Dance Pictures

Sierra and Paige took dance at Light Box dance

studio in Kaysville for a year and enjoyed it most

of the time.  They hated having to leave for dance

when they wanted to play with friends. 

But once they were there they really enjoyed dancing. 

They really loved getting in their

dance costume and getting their hair all done up

nice for pictures.  I spent forever taking tiny sections 

of hair and spiral curling them.  

I really do not like how the group pictures turned out.  

The white background washes the girls faces out

not to mention they smoothed over all the girls 

faces a bit too much.  It looks like Sierra has

no eye brows. 

Preschool Carnival

Sierra had her Preschool Carnival.  And that was the

last day of Preschool for her.  Yeah! 

I wonder if she'll even remember it.

The kids seem to have fun even though the

adults are dying of heat and boredom!

Sierra likes getting her face painted.  In this case

Paint stamped! 

Regional Stake Conference

It was our Regional Stake Conference and our

Stake was invited to the Conference center

in Salt Lake City.  I totally wanted to

just stay in town and watch it broadcasted

at a church building but we don't get this 

opportunity very often and I wanted my girls

to have the experience.  They were very 

reverent which I was worried about having 

to sit there for two almost 3 hours.  

Owen got a little bored but we made it 

through and Riley sat and listened the entire 

time and did not want coloring books. 

What a sweetie! 

After we let the girls walk around and look at

the waterfall coming down the conference center.

We ran into a bunch of friends from our ward. 

Which was nice to see!  Way to go Legacy Park

Ward!  

We promised the kids we'd take them to see

the Christ statue in the Visitors Center.

I love this picture.  My girls and

one of my favorite places to go. 

What a wonderful day!

  My kids were so cute asking what state we were in. 

 I just laughed and said we are still in Utah.  Man I need to get 

my kids out more! I think they had a culture shock in Salt

Lake.  Being from Syracuse and all that would do it!

The Tinker Bells Last game

Paige had her last soccer game as a Tinker Bell!

She loved every moment of it and did not want it 

to end!  She was a little bummed she did not get a 

trophy but still gave a smile and showed off her medal. 

Paige told me one day, "Mom I love soccer

and it's my thing"!  Meaning her thing that she

is good at.  I've told my kids they can't be good 

at everything but they can have fun trying! In hopes

that they would not get to frustrated when things 

did not come to easy and they wanted it to. 

For Paige though she is good at soccer. 

She is aggressive and not afraid to go after the ball. 

She knows how to kick the ball with both feet

and her defense is amazing!

We'll see how next season goes.  They play

 on a larger field with more teammates and

a practice during the week. 

Paige did a nice save and got the ball before it went

out and turned it for a goal. 

Paige took the ball down the field and made a goal. 

That happened often.  Paige making goals. 

Swim Lessons

All the girls had swim lessons at Clearfield Aquatic

center.  It was when they were off track.

It was Sierra's first time.  She did very 

well compared to her older sisters first time.

She was not even scared to be in the water.

I remember Riley first swim lesson.  Of course 

she was much younger then Sierra was but she

cried and did not want to go ever day for her

lessons.  

I'm pretty impressed with Riley and

Paige's teacher.  I felt like my money was well

spent this time for swim lessons.                                     

I thought I'd post these videos for the Grandma's

who I'm sure would have loved to come watch

but could not. 

Sierra

Paige

Riley

Sierra

Paige

Riley

The kids got to have a bit of free time

the last day of their lessons.  Of course

they loved that!

Mothers Day 2012

What makes me the happiest is being with my family.

I love my cute kids!

They were so excited to give me gifts that Brandon helped

them wrap for Mothers Day!

Sierra even decorated the white wrapping paper

for me. 

After church that night we had family over for a BBQ.

Tate, Sierra, Riley, Owen, Paige and Josh all enjoying

their yummy dinner. 

Brandon and his wonderful Mother! 

I'm so blessed to be a mother to the 4 cutest kids ever!

But even more I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful

Mother and Mother in Law.  They truly are such

righteous Women and such great examples to me.

Thanks for being my Mother!

I love you both!  

Petting Zoo and More

Riley's teacher sent us an email letting us know

about a petting zoo/carnival that was going on

in Kaysville.  We had many things to get done

this particular Saturday but I wanted to do something

fun with the kids and have some family time.  

The kids wanted to stay and play with there friends

and Brandon had to quickly finish up staining the

deck but after we got there the kids were glad 

I made them go. 

We got to pet baby animals which is always so fun!

They are so cute! But after we touch them I'm grossed  

out and my kids have to immerse their hand in

hand sanitizer!

Owen loved looking at all the animals but was 

so scarred to touch them.  So Brandon held

Owen's arm to pet a baby goat.  You usually  have your

kids sanitize their hands after they pet an animal but

these baby goat owners wanted you to sanitize your

hands before you pet their baby goat.  Kind of weird!

The kids also got to feed chips to goats. 

The girls rode horses and Owen just watched.

He loves them but at a distance.

They made the girls wear these helmets that everyone

wore.  Yuck!  They sprayed lysol in them after 

each use but they looked so disgusting.

Oh well the girls did not seem to care too much.

Maybe Riley noticed but she wanted to ride the 

horse and conquer her fear of them after being

thrown off years ago. 

Riley was thrilled about getting her face painted 

since the last carnival we went to which was at 

her school wanted money for it and this time 

it was free.

They held baby ducks, so cute and chickens, and

even rabbits. 

Then Paige saw the rock wall and wanted

to give it a try.  She did pretty good half

way up and then got a little nervous and

said it was too hard.  We cheered her on

so she got 75 percent of the way and

that is where she was done.   

After watching Paige, Riley thought she could make it

to the top to ring the bell.  She climbed quite fast

and got one grab away from the bell but the bell

for some reason was too hard to reach out and 

ring.  

Sierra would have not been able to climb the wall

so we let her and owen ride the train.  And since

they were closing soon they let Riley and Paige 

ride also!

Me and My Boy

I just love my sweet little Boy, Owen!

It has been a refreshing change to have him in 

my life.  He is such a fun happy baby!  And I 

can't believe he is almost 2 years old!

It will be so fun when he finally makes the leap of 

talking.  He is a smart little guy but has no desire

to talk.  When I ask him to say something he looks

at me and shakes his head and gives me the cutest

look!  Such a joy to have my little Owen!

I love you My Little Buddy!

Preschool Field Trip

Sierra had her last Preschool field trip at

J & J Garden.  She got a flower to take 

home.  She loved that!

This is Sierra's preschool class.  There were

to many cameras and she did not know which

one to look at.  

I did not get any pictures of her walking around

or looking at the fish and flowers because it

was the same day as the kids first day of

swim lessons.  So I dropped Sierra off at the

field trip and made sure one of the mom's and teacher

kept an eye on her then I drove Paige and Riley to

their swim lessons then came back got Sierra

just in time to return to the pool and catch a few

minutes of their first day and then we went home

for an hour to eat lunch and back to the pool for 

Sierra's lessons.  For two weeks we did this, minus

the field trip on the first day.  Very crazy but they

had so much fun swimming. 

Sierra's cousin, Josh is in the preschool class that

comes right after her so we got to get a picture 

before we left. 

Paige lost a tooth

I love how Paige is daring and tough.  A couple

of weeks ago she noticed her tooth was wiggly. 

She was surprised because her sister did not loose one 

this young.  Well we decided it was time to pull it

because it could not get any more loose with her

permanent tooth right behind it already growing in. 

Paige got the floss and I tied a knot around it and

she was ready for me to pull it out.  The only problem

was I was not ready. I remember pulling Riley's

and it took us about two hours because Riley

was too scared and I was sick to my stomach

having to pull someone's tooth out. Yuck!

But Paige was brave and said, "go for it mom!"

I asked her what I should count to and she said,

"10!"  I started counting and as I got closer

to ten I was feeling nervous.  I was suppose to 

be the brave one and my 6 year old daughter

was showing me up.  I just don't like inflicting pain

on people! Well I got to 8 and pulled it out.  

Well that surprised her because she was waiting for

me to count to 10. But I could tell she was getting

a little nervous. The tooth came flying out and first

she gave a shocked look and then a nervous laugh

and then this cute smile. 

The next morning she woke up to a note and money

from the tooth fairy.  

Bluff Ridge 5K

My kids were off track and it was Friday and Brandon

was for once home on his day off.  Well he actually

was working but not his normal job.  He took

the seats out of the car for work and the kids

got creative and used their imagination!

I think it was a bus or maybe just a car.

Riley was the driver and used wood

blocks tilled up for the gas and break..

It kept them occupied for a while. Oh what

it would be like to be a kid again! 

Later we got ready to run the Bluff Ridge Elementary

5K.  The girls only ran a couple of times to prepare

so when it was time to race Riley was not to thrilled

about running. It was my 2nd 5K and my first with the

kids so I was pretty excited. I ran a head with Paige

and Brandon stayed back with Riley who finally

caught up with us so we could finish together. 

I think running with friends was her motivator!

I'm proud of my kids for running.  It's tough

to run that long with such little legs.  I know I probably

could not have so young.

Grandma and Grandpa Gardner hung out with

Sierra and Owen waiting to cheer us on at the finish

line. 

Afterwards we ate a spaghetti dinner at the carnival.

Then let the kids bounce and slide the rest of the night. 

Silly Baby

Brandon gave Owen an Oreo cookie.

And he got it everywhere and loved it!

This is usually how Owen is.  Happy and Silly!

He thought it was so funny to put the strainer

on his head.  And I thought it was so cute!

R.S. Temple Activity

For our wards Relief Society night we talked about Temples.

Our committee members daughters sang the song,

"I love to see the Temple".  It was so cute and they did

such a good job!

Brianna & Aliya Hamblin, Hallie Kofoed, 

Riley & Paige Gardner and Emme Palmer

We decorated the gym in White and Gold.  We had

a few wedding dresses displayed. This corner

was illustrating the steps you take to get to the temple.

Blessing, Baptism, and temple marriage.

This was a fun corner to put together.  I was able

to use my mom's wedding dress and veil.  

Some sisters in the ward let us borrow tables, 

 back drops and their wedding dress to help create the look

for the night.

A sister in the ward made cute cupcakes for our 

refreshments.  With a fancy fruit drink on the 

other table it looked so nice. 

We had sisters in the ward share some personally

experiences they had with the temple.

We invited the Young women as well to share

this night with us. 

We also made a temple craft.

It turned out to be a wonderful night!

Thanks to all the committee members and all

the sisters in the ward who were so willing

to help out!

To the movies

Riley had a 2nd grade field trip to the movies

to see the movie "Chimpanzee".  

It was fun to be able to take time out of my crazy

busy day to spend time with Riley.  This was the

same day as the R.S. Temple activity.  And I still

had so much to do.  Thank goodness for a good 

friend who nudged me to go to the movies 

instead of setting up for the activity!

I'm so glad now I took that time to be with her.

Even though later I was scrambling around trying

to get last minutes stuff done at the activity it was

worth it.  Specially now that everything is said and

done I'm glad I got that moment with her.  She

was also glad I was there. 

I love you Riley!

Some of Riley's friends.

 Hallie, Elyssa and Riley

They all got their own popcorn and drink.

Riley was thrilled they had fruit punch because

she does not like soda pop and would have had to 

dump it and put water in the cup.