Life as a Gardner

36 hour Vegas Trip

2011-04-25T16:01:00.004-05:00

April 1, 2011 I get a call from Linds saying I am getting married in Vegas tomorrow can you be there? So thanks to flight privileges I hopped on a plane and was there for the big day!!!

Girls trip to NY

2010-09-24T17:08:00.007-05:00

ELMO TIME SQUARE

view from our hotel room during the day

Little Italy

Coney Island and the boardwalk

Katy Perry Concert on Good Morning America

View from hotel room at night

Brooklyn and Grimaldi's Pizza

Statue of Liberty from Brooklyn Bridge

City from the view of the car in Jersery

Next Great Deal

2010-06-11T23:08:00.002-05:00

So I got 4 packages of Always pads, 2 Nutrigrain boxes of bars, 2 Skittles all for a whopping $2.24 and then I got home and realized they didn't use the coupon for the skittles so it should have been $1.63 I might just go back and request my $.61 :) Oh and $1.55 of it was tax. As it is %91 savings. Could have been %94.

Couponing

2010-06-01T10:52:00.005-05:00

I have gone crazy but have to brag cause I rocked it last night I saved $105.44 in coupons last night here is a picture of everything I got for $230.78 but got 3 free always pads coupons and $8.50 in coupons to use on future purchases. I also forgot to include in the picture the $13 in diapers and 3 totinos pizzas and 1 bag of shredded cheese. Plus I have a rebate on Kraft products so I will get $10 back in 6-8 weeks:) This all came to a 32% savings

All in one shot

2 smaller shots one of each side

Linds & Kelly

2010-05-10T13:05:00.006-05:00

Well Linds & Kelly made their first trip to OK. I know this pics are like a month late but here is their trip in a nutshell

Tulsa Driller

Arcadia
It is a gas station with a little restaurant that sells over 500 different flavors of soda.

Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial
It was the 15 yr anniversary and it was amazing the spirit and emotion you could feel there.

Downtown Oklahoma City they call it Bricktown...It has a river walk and lots of restaurants and the baseball stadium

Guess I didn't get many pictures of us all together or of people but now you can all have the same trip;)

Young Womens party

2010-02-21T10:33:00.003-06:00

These are some of the best girls in the world. Thanks for all the strength and joy you bring to my life.

Our decorations

2009-12-14T11:10:00.004-06:00

Our house this year. Some of our decorations for Christmas.

Our new family member

2009-12-14T11:06:00.002-06:00

We have had a little rodent problem so our little flower has come to help with that. She was named before and we decided to keep it.

What have I been up to???

2009-10-03T16:41:00.002-05:00

Well busy is an understatement:) With our business we will have completed 3 Super Saturdays for 5 wards by the middle of Nov. We are very blessed to be able to use our business to help others beautify their homes. We also have done some businesses and personal projects on top of these Super Sat.

I have to put a special thanks out to Grant who puts up with me during these busy times and helps by taking on additional tasks at the house and with the business. He also designed all of the glass blocks, the Halloween ones he completely designed from scratch. Thanks babe!!! Love you:)

HOT BEEHIVE MAMA's

2009-08-14T23:15:00.002-05:00

We were able to go to "All Dolled Up" in Collinsville (thanks Sis Campbell). The girls got to go through the dresses and try on one and then they got to go down the catwalk:) Are they not just the most gorgeous girls? BOYS THEY AREN'T AT DATING AGE YET!!!!!! SO STEER CLEAR:)

Shopping for the right one

HANNAH CAMPBELL

MATI BIRD

LINDSAY JONES

MADDI CAMPBELL

Last Month

2009-08-03T17:56:00.003-05:00

Another month has come and gone and we are still catching up from our busy June. Here are some things that happened this month:

We took the kids to their first play....These two girls from our Church Young Women's Program were in it. They did a fabulous job.

My phone on wed went from this

to this when it decided to dive off the roof of the car onto the highway last wed.

So is the life of us:)

Blog overloads

2009-07-13T11:23:00.006-05:00

Our 4 day trip for Lindsay going to the temple turned into almost an entire month. Thanks to Tricia Leroy and Trey for letting us invade their home for that long. We started out on June 11th because Lindsay went through the temple and we weren't going to miss that for anything. We were able to stay one more day (except Grant he had to go back and work) and got to see Becky and Frank and the boys. The day turned into all week and the next weekend flights didn't look good so Grant couldn't fly out to get us and so we ended up staying. Sunday night, Fathers Day, Sam had another seizure and that started us on another week. She had 3 more the next day so we got her into a pediatrician in UT and they got her back on her medicine:( The Dr said he would want us to allow 3-5 days before traveling anywhere. Grant drove out and we realized that the March hospital info that was faxed over to the UT Pediatrician was not recorded correctly and so we weren't giving her a full dosage of her medicine so that pushed it out another 2 days. Grant decided to fly back home and then he came back out on the 1st and we headed to Blanding for the 4th of July. Look at the kids blogs for pics and more details. We drove home the full 18+ hrs and that is without all the stops for feeding, eating, gas, traffic (stop and go in Denver for 2 hrs) and sleep (Limon, CO has a great Comfort Inn).

We are all doing great and have follow up apt. with our Pediatrician on Friday.

Here are pictures from the temple

The Girls Ash, Kacey, Linds, Tricia, and Me

BFF's since 3rd grade:)

Linds, Ash, and Clara
h
Linds and Clara

Tricia, Kacey, Me, Linds, and Clara

Tricia, Tobe, Kacey, Me, Linds, Ash, and Clara

Teresa, Linds, Clara, and Karma

5K

2009-05-22T14:22:00.002-05:00

Am I crazy? Who knows, I know this isn't much, but a group of us are going to the 5k in Blanding for the 4th. I think I will end up walking most of it, but we have already started to get me in shape. We have walked the last two nights and I already notice the additional energy I have during the day.

Also, we just bought a treadmill today from our neighbors yard sale so now I can't use the excuse of the heat or can't make it to the gym. Once the dr approves me to be working out I think I will start doing turbo jam again too. I have missed that and started craving it around the last month of my pregnancy.

Updates

2009-05-13T11:34:00.001-05:00

We have updated the kids websites check them out

Matt

Sam

WOW

2009-05-10T14:08:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it but after only two weeks I am back in my pre-pregnancy pants!!! For me this is an achievement:)

One acheivement!!

2009-05-10T14:07:00.002-05:00

Well my mom left and Grant went back to work and we made it through 2 days. Everyone is still breathing and alive after me being in charge of two kids by myself:) It helps that they are great kiddos!!

My Family

2009-04-23T21:38:00.001-05:00

There's Still Time to Enter Your Vote...

2009-04-23T09:16:00.001-05:00

But, you'll be cheating if you do.

The results of all of the votes have been tallied and the winner is...

Matthew Grant Gardner

It's a BABY...almost

2009-04-23T06:13:00.002-05:00

Okay all - here's the deal. Since Stacie originally set up Sammie's blog under the name samanthaleeann.blogblahblah... we thought we'd do the same with this baby for it's blog. Problem: we don't know who it is yet cause it's not born. So, check back here later for the link to the new blog where all the postings will happen.

If you're lucky, I'll even hack into her email account and send out the link in an email, but only if I'm feeling ambitious. ;)

On a more helpful front, Stacie is just finishing up her induction into the maternity ward here at Bailey Medical Center. They're just going through the medical history questions. We've got the baby's heart monitor set up - 152 beats a minute at the moment for all you who might care.

Stacie is doing well, despite only getting just a few hours of sleep last night due to Miss Pill herself. But she is in good spirits, awake, happy, and content. She told me she is nervous and just a bit anxious now that the moment has finally arrived.

I just asked if she if she had a special message, but she doesn't have anything at the moment.

Loves to all.

What are we having?

2009-04-17T07:58:00.003-05:00

So this is me at 38 weeks with #2 Take the poll and let us know is it a boy or girl? You will all find out with us in less than one week:)

Our latest craziness

2009-04-13T12:55:00.003-05:00

We have decided we are going to start drying our own fruit. Thanks to mom for letting us borrow the dehydrator. We started with apples and strawberries. The apples turned a really red color. They are actually really pretty... We will post a finished picture later. We bought the apples that are already cut at Sams for like $2.88 a bag and we got the strawberries there as well. Here are some pictures:

Snow in OK

2009-04-05T18:23:00.002-05:00

This is off our back porch. We got around 6+ inches of snow. It collapsed shed and things because it was so wet and heavy.

What Grant and the Cruz boys did during the snow storm. If you can't tell they are playing with LEGO's.

Just more snow pics from our front door. The power was out for a couple of hours. But it was sure fun to see this much snow in OK. It was the 5th of top 10 storms ever in OK.

Young Women's Fashion Show

2009-03-26T10:28:00.003-05:00

We assigned the girls to 3 groups and they had 25 min to design a modest outfit with newspaper for which ever category they were assigned. They did a fabulous job and had a great time.

Evening Gown Submission (love the ribbon and cuff sleeves)

Swim Wear Submission (love the Rubber Ducky Floaty)

Summer Attire Submission (love the sunglasses and flip flops)

Baby Stuff

2009-03-05T11:47:00.001-06:00

Anyone needing car seats this is the time to buy them. They are getting rid of old models and releasing the new models so all the old ones are on sale. At least they were at wal-mart. Just wanted to share with everyone.

Maids for a day

2009-02-18T09:12:00.002-06:00

On monday the Cruz boys were out of school and needed to earn some money so I gave the all the tasks that Grant and I haven't been able to get to. It was nice to have a couple of maids for the day, doing all my spring cleaning. They washed the blinds, windows, mopped and swept, vacuumed, took down the Christmas lights, and dusted all the trim.

They were here four hours so I fixed them lunch (one is 16 and one is 13) and we sat down to eat. They said to me...Is this all you do all day?
I said, "Yeah, cook, clean, watch Sam."
They said, "Everyday..all day?"
I said "Yes"
They said, "that is boring"
I said, "sometimes we go to play group or grocery shopping or the library or the zoo, but those aren't all the time."
They said, "uggg."
I said, "now you have a little more respect for your mom, huh? Now you will help her out more, right?"
They said, "yeah"

I thought it was a funny conversation to have, but great reality check for them.

Most Amazing Opportunity

2009-01-19T11:10:00.003-06:00

On Sat Jan 10 I had the most amazing opportunity. After moving to Oklahoma Grant and I quickly became friends with a family, the Cruz's, who had recently joined the church. Infact, now every Sunday night they come over for Family Home Evening. But on Sat they were able to go to the temple and be sealed as a couple and then to one of their 5 children for time and all eternity. --Side 2 of the other 4 have not joined the church and the other two were not ready to make the commitments necessary to have these blessings.

The spirit was overwhelming and the my testimony of the the church and its truthfulness was strengthened even more. I can not believe the amazing blessing our Heavenly Father gives us and how much he loves and cares for each of us. As a parent I have gained and learned some of that undying love, but I still continue to be amazed everyday at how much more I begin to understand the love He has for us and that He continues to bless us each and everyday.

Here are some pics from this great day!!

John and his Sister Nancy

Me, Nancy, Cruz's, Smith's

Cruz's and Nancy

The eternal Cruz Family

My claim to fame!!!!

2009-01-12T14:48:00.003-06:00

In Junior High I was in a Commercial. Now I am famous it is on You Tube I am in the face at the end one of the white that turns blue (if I remember correctly).

Enjoy!! (Click on the words You Tube)

Beehives ONLY Sleepover

2009-01-08T10:40:00.004-06:00

This is really late in posting but the first weekend in December I had all 14 of the Beehives at my house for a Sleepover. We had a blast and I hope that each of them got something from all of our time together. Each of the Beehive Presidency taught what they thought was needed out of the For Strength for Youth and then the YW Pres and myself taught a couple. I taught on dating after being told that it was a huge pressure that these girls faced. What???? I was shocked they should barely even be talking to boys. ha ha Then we talked about the temple and each of them committed to being married there and not dating until 16 and no single dating until 18. All of you girls who read my blog are to remind the others about this commitment!!! That is where the board below came in and so for their b-days they are getting the sign that says TEMPLE I'll go inside someday. This is their reminder of their commitment.

On Sat morning each of their mothers came and we talked about Personal Progress. It was amazing. I have such amazing girls and they definitely inspire me! Here are some pics from that morning:

More Projects

2008-12-22T11:03:00.005-06:00

Here are some of my latest designs!!

Christmas for a couple of our friends

B-day gifts for the Young Women this year.

This is what we made for each of the Young Women for Christmas. Be thou an example is the theme for the youth this year.

TWO LINKS FOR EVERY WOMAN

2008-12-13T11:40:00.001-06:00

I received these two links from my mother-in-law and thought they were appropriate to share with everyone. Hope you get as much out of them as I did.

http://meridianmagazine.com/familyconnections/061207woman.html

http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/guest_blog/?linkTrack=mtEmail&id=5377

FHE Gingerbread houses

2008-12-10T15:00:00.002-06:00

On Sunday we watched the Christmas devotional and then made Gingerbread houses. Ours is the one in the front and then the Cruz's split a son with each parent and the other two are their houses. The Cruz mom is the one who did all of my decorating.

Gardners is the one with the rainbow pond. ha ha

BUSY

2008-12-10T14:26:00.007-06:00

Last week, this same friend came and put up all of my Christmas and pictures on the walls. Here are some pics with lights on and off. WARNING: This one is kind of picture overload!

This is my hallway

This is my formal dining room

This is my living room

This is my kitchen

This is my dining room

My Christmas present for my neighbors.

Randomness

2008-11-28T21:06:00.005-06:00

I was at Hobby Lobby last week and all their fall stuff was 80% off. I had put a couple of pumpkins in the cart and as I was paying they changed everything to 90% off. Needless to say it was a bargain I couldn't pass up. I ended up getting $517 of stuff for $80 because some of the Christmas stuff I got was only 50% off. So on Sunday I was showing a friend my deals and she started decorating my house. I told her to come back Sunday for Christmas decorating.

More sells with the business.

One thing I absolutely love about Oklahoma, the sunsets and you are pretty much guaranteed a nice one every night.

Pictures just don't do it justice.

Gardner Graphics Results

2008-11-20T22:55:00.006-06:00

Here are some Pics of my most recent work.

Here is my first referred customer:

Here are the promised pics from Super Saturday:

Click on any of the pictures for them to blow up full size. I am so glad they all turned out so well!!

Tribute

2008-11-16T12:51:00.002-06:00

I know a lot of times tributes are done when someone has passed on, but I feel I need to express this tribute to a close friend so she knows how grateful I am for her!!!

Many of you will know who I am referencing, and I hope that everyone in the world has a friend like her. Someone who you can have a conference call with everyday to see how each others day went and what is new. Someone who call in times of joy and excitement but also looks to you for a shoulder to cry on in times of sorrow and grief and that you in turn can do the same for her. Someone who goes on shopping sprees with you when you have had a bad day. Someone who helps you laugh off your stress. Someone who celebrates your joys and sometimes is even more happy than you! Someone who a lot of times you take for granted cause they are always there. Someone who is very busy, but when you come into town drops everything so that the two of you can spend as much time as possible together. Even drags her family along when they are in town!!!

I could go on and on, but I just want her to know that I am grateful for all she does and that she is definitely a miracle in my life!!! I love her like a sister and hopes she knows that!!! Thanks babes you are the best and I will never "let any one put baby in the corner!"

A HUGE THANKS!!!

2008-11-16T12:46:00.002-06:00

So now that Super Saturday is over and seemed to be a great success I can only attribute it to my family!!! Tricia and Mom who helped me prep all of the vinyl. Grant and Dad Gardner and Virginia who stayed up with me until all the boards were cut and sanded Friday night, which ended up being almost midnight. Mom Gardner who watched and cared for Sam for 4 days straight, even when she was a pill because of her cold. Virginia who helped me throughout the day teach people how to make their boards. Grant and Dad Gardner who drilled the boards and continually were my gofers. All I can say it is it was successful because of you, THANK YOU!!!

I will post pictures soon.

Days to stay in bed

2008-11-14T11:59:00.002-06:00

So Sam and I flew home on Wed from UT and both of us started having running noses on the plane. GRRRR!! So I went to grab something out of the pantry before going to bed early Wed night and I saw a mouse in our pantry. What the @#*! So needless to say I didn't go to bed early. We stayed up until 11:30 setting traps after Grant took a quick trip to Walmart. Then Sam and I were sleeping in on Thurs when we get a call from Grant that the pickup broke down on his drive into work. Thank heavens for such friendly Oklahoman's that towed him to the local Walmart parking lot where Sam and I went and got him. We got the battery charged and it made it home. I drank some OJ and I guess it didn't sit well on my stomach because it ended up all over our carpet. Then I was supposed to have a delivery of wood to cut for signs for Super Saturday this Sat the 15th and it didn't show. Can I rewind and start the day over????? Wow someone is really testing my patience!!:) Heavenly Father thank you for trials, but do they all need to come at once?

I guess I should just count my blessings that we have a job that buys food to attract rodents and that we have a second vehicle that starts and that we have somewhere warm to be!

Granola

2008-10-13T18:18:00.001-05:00

I had a request from a friend for this recipe. We love it and so I thought I would share it with everyone. It is good by itself, on Ice Cream, Yogurt Parfaits, etc.

Granola
1/3 C Oil
4 C Rolled Oats
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 C Honey
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

You can add any nuts or dried fruit you would like to this as well. We really like Almond slivers and Pecans.

Mix all ingredients spread on cookie sheet cook 10 min at 300. Stir and cook another 10 min or until lightly brown.

Gardner Graphics

2008-10-13T18:03:00.004-05:00

Here are some of the things Gardner Graphics will be providing for our Super Saturday for Relief Society on November 15th. I am so excited!!

Here is one I did for a friend. I think the matting around it looks awesome.

I have a lot more that I have done for a friend that I will post later.

Young Womens

2008-10-13T17:59:00.003-05:00

Our boundaries were switched a couple of weeks back and so now we have around 30 girls in Young Women's and we are now able to break up into classes, so I now work with the Beehives. These are the wonderful girls I get to see twice a week. So we went from having 9 Young Women to have 9 Beehives. Yahoo!!!

The Tulsa State Fair

2008-10-06T11:00:00.009-05:00

Tulsa State Fair was the past 10 days. We went a couple of times, but here is our last visit. The Percheron (I don't think I am spelling it right) Horses were beautiful

The last like 10 years they have had a butter sculpture. Here is what it was this year. I should have taken a picture of the sign because it had all the details, but I think it said it was like 800 lbs of butter and took 10 hours to make and is stored at a temperature of 34 degrees.

We also watched a few of the shows like a magician, a hypnotist, but our favorite was Dan Dunn's Painting. Some may have seen him on Ellen. Here is a link to Dan's web page

He also did one of a race car driver (sorry my knowledge here is limited) and then one of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty he did in 3 min.

House Warming Gift

2008-10-06T10:49:00.003-05:00

While my parents were out they bought us a rocking recliner (both for my dad to sleep in) but also for us to use. It was a great house warming gift. However, I had to find somewhere in the house to put it. I cleaned out the back bedroom (which is our TV room). Here is a picture. I think it looks like it has more room now. So here are the before and afters.

Not quite the same angle but TV is still in the same spot right on the other side of the pumpkin and Sam

One more plus

2008-10-06T10:36:00.003-05:00

So from our Dave Ramsey class we are learning so much. We are now completely debt free except our house. We have started our emergency fund and no longer own a credit card. Yeah for learning to control our money instead of it controlling us.

If anyone is interested the class is offered everywhere. Go to Dave Ramsey. Grant was skeptical about it but after looking through the site he decided it was worth a try and we always thought we were good with our money but we have improved so much. I would recommend everyone take these Financial Peace University classes unless you have your CPA and then you should already know all of the info.

Dave Ramsey- FPU

2008-09-13T19:08:00.003-05:00

So we are taking this class called Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. It was recommended by my Aunt and I cannot thank her enough. It has helped me be so much more disciplined with my money and we have only been to two classes.

This class I realized the importance of a point he made. Integrity. We always say we have Integrity as Christians, but he made a good point about it in a money sense that I had never thought of.

After teaching his children how money works etc.,they would set up checking accounts for their kids when they prove they understand money, usually around 13 yrs of age. His first daughter did great, the second wasn't as responsible and bounced a check. He said you are going down to the bank and apologizing for lying to them. You spent money you said you had when you really didn't and that doesn't show Integrity.

Unfortunately, in my life I have bounced a couple of check (not recently) but when I first started living on my own and learning to adjust to spending money and not having time to really keep track of my money with school and everything. This really hit me that my Integrity was not up to par and that time and made me realize how important it is to continually and in all we do show others how to become like Christ, even in circumstances like money and keeping our Integrity and not buying things we don't have money for.

It is a fabulous class. Here is the website if you are interested http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/home/ They have them in every state. He is very entertaining and is a great teacher and motivator.

Gardner Graphics

2008-09-10T21:47:00.005-05:00

So I finally bought my vinyl machine and have started my business. Here is what I have done to decorate my house and I meet with my friend (my 1st client) on Friday.

Here is my machine

My Hallway

Sam's Bedroom

Yes we really are still alive

2008-08-31T21:22:00.006-05:00

I am going to do three or four blogs in one so sorry it is going to be a long one.
OKLAHOMA (OUR HOME)

Golden Hands of Oklahoma. They are the entry way into ORU

Beautiful Sunset

They really have Piggly Wiggly's out here

Geese on the lawn in between Walmart and the Hospital

My latest craft and obsession

Tricia's

Linds

Tina

Mine

Youth BBQ

My Fabulous Girls!!

THE DORKS WE ARE!!!

My Favorite New Helpful Site

2008-08-13T10:21:00.003-05:00

As you can see my life revolves around these precious young women I get to work with. I have found a site to help me better serve and teach them. I thought I would share it since it has helpers for all callings.

http://www.theideadoor.com/

Hope others can benefit from it as well.

Projects

2008-08-13T09:52:00.007-05:00

So one of the Young Women designed this as one of her projects and then got everyone elses prepped so we could do the painting for our weekly activity. I think they turned out so cute. Each girl picked the material that she wanted that would most match her room. The supplies were 1/2 yd material, 1 dowel rod, 15 ft of ribbon. The ribbon was applied with hot glue gun. In the first square they wrote their names and in the last square they wrote the years they would be in mutual.

Spoiled Young Women

2008-08-01T10:07:00.005-05:00

This blog is a lot of updates in one. Just a forewarning.

Our Young Women's Room.....

Grant helped me hang the values on the top of the wall. If you click on the picture it will bring it up bigger and you can see the cute fonts.

Girls Camp....
This year we are staying in levels and not wards so our level is the 2nd years and we were Pocahontas (each camp was a different Disney Princess) So here is what we made for the girls.

Necklace and armband and the pillow cases below.

It was so fun and easy. You trace it the pattern with a Sharpie and then take a dropper full of Alcohol and drip over it and it makes the fun design. Don't use black though because the Alcohol turns it purple.

Making cookies for the Missionaries from our ward at my house....

Youth Conference......

I volunteered to take the kids the first day. We only had two Young Men and two Young Women and the activities got over an hour early so we went to Brahms for ice cream. My new love and replacement for DQ.

A Tribute

2008-07-07T09:21:00.003-05:00

I know it is a little late....But I want to say Thank you and post a tribute to those who are serving in our Armed Services to protect our rights and Freedom!!! The stories of the war remind us that it is going on....but it hit me so much more as a reality when I saw familiar face among the crowd of soldier pictures...These are my cousin who is serving over in Baghdad.

2nd in from the right on the back row...This is my cousin. I am so proud of him and the dedication to our country that he is showing by leaving his pregnant wife to go and protect our rights.

Sorry this is late I didn't get a chance to do it before we went to Wisconsin.

Garden Update

2008-06-23T13:51:00.001-05:00

Our first produce from our Garden. A tomato for you and a Tomato for me..oh and we can share the Banana Pepper.

Valentines Tickets put to good use....

2008-06-23T13:45:00.003-05:00

Well we were finally able to use my Valentine's tickets to Phantom of the Opera. We were the front row on the Mezzanine. It was my third time to see the Opera and it was just as fabulous as the first time. Hurray Wicked is coming next year!!

Here are a couple of Pic's

This is the Chandelier, not a very good picture though. Sorry!!

Oklahoma Commercials

2008-06-23T13:08:00.004-05:00

First of all I have to say I was watching T.V. about two weeks ago and all of a sudden there was this familiar face on the screen playing Jesus...then I realized it was Stan Bronson and it was the LDS church's commercial for the Lamb of God Video. You can't get away from Blanding even in the Bible Belt.

But here is another one of my favorites. Sorry I recorded it off the T.V. so the quality isn't the best.

Can that seriously be put on Public T.V.???

About Me

2008-06-19T18:48:00.004-05:00

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
1. Going to BYU and chasing boys in Ghetto ville
2. Living on my own in Provo on 3rd S
3. Working at Nu Skin
4. Working at UpWard Bound in the Summer as a Counselor
5.Living with Linds

5 things on my to do list:
1. Exercise
2. Clean House
3. Cook Dinner
4. Do Laundry
5. Blog

5 favorite snacks/food:
1. Better than Sex Desserts (there are two)
2. No Bake Cookies
3. Pots of Gold
4. Chocolate anything (never craved it until I had Sam...man she screwed up my hormones)
5. Brahms or DQ (anything from them)

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire:
1. Travel to EU (all countries), Africa, Asia (all countries), South America
2. Live in Hawaii where at least humidity has a beach
3. Buy a house with lots of land to go 4 wheeling on
4. Set aside money for kids college/weddings (if they're good kids I'll give it to them :)
5. Put in a home gym.

5 bad habits:
1. Cracking my knuckles
2. Wasting time
3. Eating Junk Food
4. Interrupting in conversations ...sorry!
5. Taking all the hot water, for my own personal shower and leaving only the cold...for everyone else.

5 Places I've lived:
1. Blanding, Ut
2. Provo, Ut
3. Orem, Ut
4. Provo, Ut
5. Owasso, Ok

5 People I'm Tagging (Yep! You guys gotta do this now)
1. Tina
2. Misty
3. Andrea
4. Karen
5. who else checks my blog? I don't know who you are...but if you're reading this then you've been tagged!

The Last 20 Years...

2008-06-18T09:27:00.003-05:00

20 Years ago...

1. I was almost 11 years old.
2. I was excited to go into mutual and into the middle school.
3. Beginning of Linds and my strong friendship. We were friends before with a whole bunch of other girls but it was this year that we started becoming close.

10 Years ago...
1. I was 21 and lived in Provo at 3rd South with none other than Linds and our hideaways.
2. I was working at Nu Skin and going to BYU and trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up.
3. I bought my first 4 wheeler and piano. Man I was blessed to buy so many toys while working and going to school.

5 Years ago...
1.I had finished BYU and was still working at Nu Skin.
2. I lived in Orem with Linds and Tiff and Jola. This is the year I met Grant. Can't believe it has been 5 years.
3. I bought my second 4 wheeler and finished paying off my pickup.

3 Years ago...
1. I was putting Grant through school at BYU and we were living in our apartment.
2. I took my first trip to Oklahoma and said I never want to live there.
3. I taught Sunday School for my first time ever as a partner with Grant.

1 Year ago...
1. I was 5 month pregnant.
2. I just got home from San Fransisco and Yellowstone earlier in the year.
3. I turned 30.

So far this year I...
1. I have had a baby and moved to Oklahoma and quit working after 11 years at Nu Skin and with the severance package from there we were able to have a better down payment for a home and bought our first house. Spoiled me it was brand new. Grant asked there is something I need to know...in the future will your homes have to be brand new?
2. I work with the Young Women in our ward and enjoy their strength and spirit.
3. Loved every minute of being married. (yep, every minute)

Yesterday I...
1. Worked out and cleaned my house and updated my blogs.
2. Started my antibiotic for my abscessed tooth before the root canal.
3. Watched National Treasure 2 with Grant and kept plugging info into our new phones.

Today I...
1. Update my blogs some more.
2. Do some more cleaning, dishes, dinner, go to mutual which is swimming, and hopefully Sam will sleep through the entire night.
3. Work out if my teeth ever quit hurting today. I thought the medicine was supposed to help??!?!?!?!

Tomorrow I...
1. Will Clean my house in preparation for Mom and Dad-in-laws to babysit Friday while Grant and I go to Phantom of the Opera.
2. Workout!! See a pattern??
3. Prepare my lesson for Sunday and do some laundry.

In the next year I...
1. Will read The Book of Mormon again.
2.Will continue to get in shape.
3. Will continue to teach Sam things and learn things myself.

Now---I tag... Hillary, Karen, Andrea, Ann, Kara, Misty, Tricia, Cassie, Mom, Linds, Ashley, anyone else who wants to do it! Also, those who don't have blogs...perfect opportunity to start one!

Dinner and a Show

2008-06-16T19:01:00.003-05:00

If you happened to be eating at the Cracker Barrel restaurant here in Owasso on Sunday night, you'd have seen a really interesting sight - a truck tire busting through the front window! The Owasso Reporter story can be read in full here. Glad we weren't there.

Guest Bathroom

2008-06-16T12:00:00.003-05:00

We finally are getting our house a little decorated. Here is our guest/Sam's bathroom. I wanted it to be fun for her.

After the Ice Storm

2008-06-16T11:54:00.004-05:00

Some are broken down but still growing leaves.

As you can see in a couple of these pictures there are still tons of trees that need to be cleaned up after the ice storm. They say it can take up to 5 years to get it all restored.

Girls Camp Certification

2008-06-16T11:35:00.004-05:00

So for Mutual Wed night we had cooking on the campfire certification. Out here most grass is just a variety of different weeds, we went to the Bishops house and dug a hole right in his grass in his back yard and built a fire. We cooked blueberry muffins in orange rinds. Then the greatest part of all the SMORES!!!

Garden Update

2008-06-16T11:29:00.004-05:00

Well we have now had a turtle, a frog, and a bunny in our garden. Missed the first two on camera but caught the little hopper. It is hard to see but it was just a baby about the size of your fist. Click on the picture above and it will enlarge and you can see it.

Girls Night Out

2008-06-10T10:05:00.003-05:00

We had Girls Night Out with some ladies from our ward last night. We went into town and went to the river walk and ate at Los Cabos and then walked around. Here are a couple of pics after dinner. One of the women is moving and it was another's b-day this week.

Fire Flies

2008-06-10T09:46:00.004-05:00

I hope you can see them. It is so cool!

This is one of the positive things about living somewhere new...So excited to see the little things in nature and the amazing beautiful things God gives us.

Good Ole Oklahoma

2008-06-06T16:04:00.004-05:00

Here are some fun pictures we have taken of Oklahoma. I knew some of you were missing it and needed to feel the humidity through these pictures!

This is a weed that was growing in our backyard. Pretty huh? New landscape no work required.

These two (above & below) were pictures of a storm coming our way. They look North same as our backyard, but Grant went to the road on the East side of our house to take them.

Sunset pictures taken from in front of our house

Everyone who has a little girl should have one!

2008-06-05T11:31:00.003-05:00

I have a friend who has decided to start her own business and she is making adorable hats and hair clips for little girls. Visit her site and find something for your little girls! http://www.englishrosecreations.etsy.com

Ranch Creek Youth

2008-05-30T10:30:00.004-05:00

This week we had a fun activity, we split the group into two teams and had a competition. We began with putting up a tent and preparing it for sleeping by unrolling sleeping bags. Then they had to re-roll the bags perfectly and put the tent up correctly.

1st group who completed the setting up

2nd group (only two groups)

Then we had the boys (since they are all in Scouting) teach the girls how to tie knots. Some of the things girls had to do to pass off for Girls Camp Certification. Then they had to start a fire using flint. The boys had to walk the girls through how to do it. Then we had Smores.

Garden Update

2008-05-30T10:08:00.002-05:00

Here are our Peas in the ground and our Crookneck Squash.

Here are some more peas

Our tomato plants with peas, banana pepper, and zucchini plants on top.

See our 3 green tomatoes growing in the center of the picture?

We have a banana pepper too.

Thank You Nu Skin

2008-05-21T08:56:00.001-05:00

Well I think I have now unpacked all of my free product from Nu Skin and the 11 years I worked there. Grant said well we won't have to worry about getting our 2 year supply of product for quite a few years. We don't have much of a food storage although we are working on it. However, we will smell and look good. HA HA

I could only imagine

2008-05-21T08:41:00.004-05:00

While we were at the zoo a couple of weeks ago Grant's Mom came with us and pointed out these trees. Look at the thorns on them....I imagine it was something similar that our dear Savior had pounded into his head as a crown. Made me appreciate all the more all the sacrifices He paid for me.

Saturday's Adventure

2008-05-19T14:09:00.007-05:00

For Saturdays adventure Grant and I woke up at the crack of dawn 4 am to take our Youth Group to OK City to attend our Temple. Here is a view of Tulsa's Skyline coming home from OKC. Thanks to Grandma G from coming and babysitting Sam. We returned home around noon after taking 1/2 hour to find a fast food restaurant open at 10 am. Thank you Wendy's. Then we decided to head to downtown Tulsa...Sam & My first experience being in the center of Tulsa for the annual Mayfest festivities. The have local artists and musicians play while vendors, both food and trinket, line the streets. It was fun, but definitely reminded me I wasn't in Utah County anymore...A lot of alcohol and smoking, but still a great time had by all...(more pictures on Sam's blog.)

And here it is from the opposite view as we headed into Mayfest.

Heading home from Mayfest we passed the Fair Grounds and in front of their conference center they have the GOLD DRILLER. See below.

Here are pictures of Scenery of this beautiful green country we now live in. I miss my Mountains, but it is so beautiful and green here. I have seen an email going around about God spilling paint, some of the pictures below will dipict some of the similar thoughts I had when I saw that email. The colors of wild flowers along the road. The red dirt, maybe even darker than Moab, UT. The green for miles and miles. Oh and I had my first experience of seeing fog. This is just a little fog compared to some of OK fogs storms. Hope you enjoy!

Red Dirt

Temple it is beautiful

Flowers

Oh I don't know how this got in here, but it is Grant mowing our lawn and some of our garden in the pots.

Forrest everytime we pass this sign we think of you. Yes, we do live close to Kellyville. It is about 20 miles west of Tulsa. We pass through it on the way to OKC.

Aren't they just beautiful?

Look at the fog or mist...remind you of Lord of the Rings?

Green as far as the eye can see. Many of these trees have limbs that were broken off in the ice storm but still attached enough to produce green on the broken limbs.

Ranch Creek Young Women

2008-05-13T12:03:00.007-05:00

Here are pictures of our Sleep Over at my house last Friday May 9th. We had a 4 P's party (Personal Progress Pajama Party). We didn't allow anything in that didn't start with a P....so pretzels, popcorn, pumpkin pie, pink-purple-periwinkle-etc colored blankets, pillows, pringles, etc. We had a blast. We started off making homemade Pizza's and then the Bishop joined us and answered questions that the girls had written earlier in the week. They had some spiritual ones as well as ones like if you could be an animal which one would you be.

Here are pictures of him eating Pizza with the girls.

Then we had a daughter of one of the other leaders who had just returned home from her mission come and talk to the girls and answer any questions they had for her.

Then we did make overs and talked about personal hygiene. Here are the girls after there glamorous makeovers. Thank you to Nu Skin who taught me all this kind of knowledge that I could share with these amazing young women.

Smiley picture.... Aren't they beautiful little princesses? I love that they all did their hair and makeup for the pictures, but we are all in our PJ's (another P).

This one we were having fun making Sexy Face Poses.

Here is our Crazy Pictures. Hope you can tell how much fun we had!

Mother and Daughter. Beauty Queens!

SOLOS' of our Princesses

Shelby

Megan

Kia

Desiree

Mattie

Kayla

Maddie

Aubrey

Megan

Here are 3 of the girls from above.

It is now about midnight and we had the girls get their scriptures and personal progress books out and we worked on Personal progress until 2 am then we watched Princess Bride and went to bed at 4:15 am. I then woke them up at 8 am and we had Parfaits and wrote in our Journals. Their parents picked them up around 10. Grant and Sam came home at 11 and I took a nap at 2. It was a busy weekend but very fun! We bonded, were uplifted spiritual, physically, and emotionally. What a great opportunity for us and the girls.

Gardner's Garden

2008-05-13T10:29:00.004-05:00

This is looking off of our back porch at our garden.

This is our pea garden in the green planter and in the 3 buckets are our crookneck squash.

We have peas and a banana pepper plant on the top and tomato growing out of the bottom.

Oklahoma Winds

2008-05-12T15:26:00.007-05:00

This was a Marriott being built about 3 exits from our home. About a block from where we go to church. It was a 6 story hotel and they had finished framing and had began to roof the hotel as you can see. A tornado didn't hit this, just stiff straight winds. This happened about 3 weeks ago. Oh how we love Oklahoma winds.

See the pickup truck just to the right of the fire hydrant under all the rubble.

In this picture the pickup truck you see in the corner is security watching it so no one steals lumber etc.