Our decorations

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

Our new family member

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???

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

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

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

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

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

We have updated the kids websites check them out

Matt

Sam

WOW

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!!

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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