SUNSHINE!

We have thoroughly enjoyed this "Heat Wave" of 40 degree weather!! Yesterday we took full advantage of it!!

We played basketball

We rode bikes

We went for a walk to see the horses, and along the way a very nice friend took Boston "4 Wheeling" and even let him drive!
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Thanks for the sunshine today!!

Thoughts.

This morning I was lucky enough to go with my Mom and listen to Sheri Dew, and Wendy Nelson (wife of Elder Nelson) speak at our Relief Society Stake Conference. I am just so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and be apart of the greatest women's organization in the world. Relief Society. I love being surrounded by amazing, beautiful women who love their savior, who realize the importance of being a righteous women in this crazy world. I just wanted to share a couple things I learned from these two great women today;

Sis. Wendy Nelson

• She taught that when we have our focus on our Savior Jesus Christ, everything else in life will become clear.
• She taught us how important priorities are in our lives. We need to make sure we do the most important things first and everything else can/will get done too. But the order in which we do them is so critical.
• She taught that if we ever have any question and we are searching for an answer we need to turn to the scriptures. If we ask the question, and then read anywhere in the scripture with faith we can and will receive an answer to any type of question that may be troubling us.
• She told us that Elder Nelson does all the vacuuming. How cute is that!!

Sis. Sheri Dew

• She taught that the priesthood keys open the flow of priesthood power
• She taught us that God knows who we are, and where we are. He knows where we need to get to where we are going. He will help us and bless us to accomplish what we need to do.
• She taught us that you can't limit or measure the influence of a righteous women who follows the spirit. (It was kind of overwhelming to think of the influence we each can have on so many... the hope is that it will be a good influence!)
• She asked us who we are letting influence us? Prophets and apostles, or the world.
• She taught that we can have a spiritual experience everyday, and we should strive to do so.

This was the quote used as the theme for the conference. I just love it. Although it gives me a huge sense of the responsibility I have before me.

"Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the church are seen as distinct and different- in happy ways- from the women of the world... Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and spiritual growth of the Church in the last days..." -Spencer W. Kimball

Zoo Day

For the 3rd year in a row my Mom and I took the kids to the FREE day at Hogle Zoo!! We love going on these wintery days because it's free, it's not crowded, and it's something to do in the winter!!

We all enjoyed walking around and watching the animals and imitating their sounds! The tiger's were so fun to watch. They were really active, along with the elephant, giraffes! We even got to see a tiny baby monkey! So cute!!

We got to see the baby elephant that isn't such a baby anymore!!

The kids gotten eaten by a lion...

We took classic pictures like this one.

We even got to ride the carousel!! What another fabulous winter activity! Don't worry if you missed this one, their is one more free day coming up on Feb. 23rd!

Family Home Evening

I just love Family Home Evening. I love that we have one night of the week where neither Jeremy or I have meetings or other plans, and we get to spend the night together as a family. I especially love when Jeremy has the lesson, because he does such an AMAZING job. This past Monday he had the kids dress up as Samuel the Lamanite and stand up on the wall (coffee table) and tell everyone to repent. Last week he had them dress up as Nephi, and they sailed in their boat (the laundry basket) to the promised land.
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I only wish I were half as creative as Jeremy is. The kids and I love his family nights!

Boston's First Trip To The Dentist!

I finally took Boston in for his first Dental visit. He was more nervous then I have ever seen him. But he did SO GOOD! A cute new girl in our ward was actually the hygienist!! He let them count, clean, polish, and put fluoride on his teeth! He even got to join the No-Cavity club!! YIPEE!!! I sure hope he remains in that club forever!!

The Living Planet Aquarium

I have been wanting to go to The Living Planet Aquarium for years now, and finally my Mom and I grabbed some coupons off facebook and went to explore!

The kids absolutly loved it. They had some of the coolest looking fish. Of course Hadley's favorite was Nemo! My favorite was the swordfish! Their were catfish, seahorses, SHARKS, rainbow trout, jellyfish, and so many more!


Logan and I got to touch the stingrays. They are so soft. Mason and Boston were to afraid...

The kids enjoyed the frogs... all though they are quite boring. They didn't even jump once while we stared at them.

The Penguins were so my favorite! I loved watching them dive into the water!!

What a fabulous day at the aquarium. The kids had such a great time, and so did my Mom and I! We have been way to busy having fun to expereince any winter time blues!!

Winter Wonderland Ward Party

Our ward forgot to have a Christmas party... so since there is no longer an Activities Chairperson or committee, the Bishop asked the ward council who would be willing to be in charge of a ward activity in January. No one volunteered. Everyone was silent. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I said I would do it. I think it turned out incredibly well for my first ever ward party!

These were the invitations

These were the awesome snowflakes my presidency and I made! They were so huge!! (Click HERE to learn how to make them!) So easy, yet so impressive!

The tables had these blue snowflakes, with additional snowflakes stamped onto the tables, and then the utensils and napkin rolled with a cute snowflake napkin ring around it!

We had giant snowflakes hanging all over, and additional snowflakes covering all the walls. It looked magical!
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Unfortunately once the party started I was to busy to take pictures. The Relief Society did the food for us and they served delicious Cinnamon rolls, ham, eggs, and fruit. Then once everyone was about done eating we played the game Minute to Win It! I had so many people knock my idea to play this game, but Jeremy and I did it anyway... and it was a HUGE HIT!! We played 13 different games. Adults and Kids were equally enjoying the game, and it kept every one's attention! Jeremy was our game show host, and he did so awesome!!
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It's almost been a week and people are still talking about how fun it was! I am just SO HAPPY it is over!!!

The Utah Flash!

Back in the fall we bought the Pass of all Passes! It includes Trafalga, Seven Peaks, Owlz Games (baseball), and The Utah Flash (D-League basketball) So far we have been to one Owlz game, mini golfing a couple of times, to Trafalga Liberty Land to play on all the rides a couple of times, and finally we were able to go the Utah Flash game! We have already gotten our money's worth, and it doesn't expire until the fall of this year!!
It was fun to be able to sit so close the court! (unlike when we go to Jazz games!) But the level of play was certaintly different. Hadley especially loved the game, but didn't want a picture...

We will definitely go to more Flash games before the seasons over. It was a lot of fun, and a great night out as a family.

Mty Little Organizer

I went in Hadley's room after her nap to find her organizing her toys. She had put her Doggy, and Jessie doll behind the crib bar. I just had to laugh and take a picture. Hadley caught on and finished her organizing.
She is so funny. If one of the kitchen chairs isn't pushed in all the way, she pushes it in. If a door isn't shut that should be, she shuts it. Her favorite part of playing is cleaning up. Mostly that's all she does. Dumps a bunch of toys out, just so she can put them back in the bucket. I have a little organizer on my hands.

Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam!

On January 2nd Boston entered SUNBEAMS!!! He was so excited to finally be in primary!! He is loving it, and doing really well. He has already said the opening and closing prayers all by himself. He loves to sing and answer questions. My favorite was when the chorister asked what Iron is? (referring to the iron rod) Boston said, I know. It is an Iron you Iron clothes with. She agreed and we all had a good chuckle.

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Ever since Boston left nursery, Hadley has been a WRECK! Seriously, she SCREAMS at the top of her lungs until Jeremy and I come in. Which doesn't work very well considering my calling, and Jeremy's new calling as the Valiant 11 primary teacher (he is still their scout leader too!) Hopefully we can get her adjusted VERY soon!

The theme this year is "I Know The Scriptures Are True!" I am SO excited about this theme! It has been a wonderful month teaching and testifying to the kids about the truthfulness of the scriptures. I feel so lucky to serve in the Primary!!

Happy New Year!

This year we spent New Years Eve with my parents, my friend Nicole and her husband. We all went out for some Chinese at Joy Luck, which was SO YUMMY!!! Then we came back to my parents house where Matt, Logan, and Mason joined us to play games!!

My mom pulled out this game. This is a game my Grandpa made that is so fun. We haven't played it in YEARS though.
All of us had a blast trying to get the spinner to knock down pins!! Mason ended up getting the highest score!!

Of course we ate a TON of treats!! Oh my yummyness!!

Hadley had a blast wondering around playing at Grandma and Grandpa's and went to bed around 10:00. The rest of us stayed up to play Wii and Mexican Train!

Here are the boys "practicing" to ring in new year!

At midnight we all went outside to use our noise makers, horns, and voices to ring in the new year!!

Nicole and I! It was fun to spend New Years Eve together again. We have spent quite a few together over the years from when we were just small, to teenagers, and now as married adults!

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Happy 2011!!

It's going to be the best year ever!

Goodbye Aunt Megan :(

Jeremy's sister Megan moved back to BYU at the end of December. We sure miss her. It was a lot of fun having her come live with us. I will miss;

• saying good morning sunshine when she would wake up at 9:30.
• watching her eat flax seed and other weird stuff
• having her help me with the kids and dishes
• singing "Hey, Soul Sister" at the top of our lungs
• sledding down the streets of PG
• listening to Hadley call her Bacon
• her making Sunday dinners!
• hearing about boys!
• so much more!!

Love you and miss you Megan!! Come visit soon!

Christmas Cruise!

Back in November I saw a deal for the Christmas Cruise on the Provo River. So I bought 4 tickets. Then life got crazy, Jeremy got his tonsils out and could no longer handle the cold. So finally after Christmas I asked Jenn and her friend Kyle to come with me so I didn't have to take the kids by myself.
Here is Jenn, Kyle, and the kids waiting for the boat!!

Here we are on the boat!

Enjoying Ring Pops that Kyle brought for the kids!

Santa even came to visit on the boat!! The kids loved that! So what is this Christmas cruise you ask?? Well, you get on a huge boat like thing, and a guys uses a rope system to pull you up and down the river to see Christmas lights and scenes they have set up. It was a REALLY short ride, but we sure enjoyed ourselves!!

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Thanks again Jenn and Kyle, you guys are the best!

Christmas Morning!!

**Why has it taken me 25 days to finally blog Christmas? Three Reasons. 1. The beginning of the year for Primary was beyond crazy stressful. 2. I was in charge of a ward party that was on Jan. 15th. It simply took over my life. 3. My sister-in-law Jenn took pictures of our Christmas morning on her camera that I really wanted, and for some reason they won't transfer. Better late then never... here is our Christmas.**

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I woke up first to make sure I got the Quiche in the oven, turn Christmas music on, Christmas lights, ect... then finally Boston woke up!! He then woke up Daddy, Hadley, Jenn, and Megan so the fun could begin!!!

Santa delivered a super cool play kitchen that both the kids love,

and a new slide!! Both the kids love this one, but this was by far Hadley's favorite gift. She went on it at least 50 times Christmas morning.

Boston loved everything he opened!!

Hadley had a hard time opening presents, because she just wanted to slide!! But she too loved everything she opened!

For Christmas I made Megan and Jenn a cookbook of all my favorite recipes. Then I made front and back covers that had pictures of them from when they lived with us. It was really fun to make!

I think Jeremy enjoyed Christmas more then ever this year!!

After our Christmas morning fun, it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's!! Here is the kids enjoying a new presents of DVD players for the car, Toy Story 3, and their Jessie and Woody dolls!! WOW, it was so quiet that Jeremy about fell asleep! YIKES!

Christmas With The Garner's

**First of all I must say that I did a terrible job of documenting Christmas in pictures. With htat said, here is what I do have!**

The Garner Family Christmas Party was at my parents house!! My brother and his family were able to come from Idaho to be there!! It was so great to be together again. I only wish we were together more often!! We started out the fun with the cousin's exchanging gifts.
Boston and Hadley loved their gifts they got!!

Then the kids got to open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa!! I had to include this picture of the super cute aprons my Mom made.(They both have crazy expressions from some reason!) Then the adults got to open their gifts!! I didn't get any pictures though... I must have been to excited!!

After all the present fun, we ate and ate until we couldn't eat any more!! Seriously we had so much delicious food and treats!!! A new favorite of ours this year was the Bavarian mints!! SO YUMMY!!

Here is everybody, except my parents... somehow they escaped getting a single picture taken of them. I will have to fix that for next year!!

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We sure missed Natalia again this year. It's so hard having her gone.