swimmin' lessons

We signed Madi up for swimming lessons at the Y. It was her first swimmin' lessons and she loved it. She just finished her last lesson today, they were every Saturday at 9:30am for about 5 weeks.

She did a good job, especially kicking her legs but she doesn't like to get her face wet. She is too young to be in lessons by herself so Jason or I had to get in the pool with her (luckily Jason was around more and I only had to do it a few times).

GOOD JOB MADI!

Missouri

We decided to take another mini vacation. Jason had Wednesday-Friday off because his attending doctor was having surgery, so he finished his rotation Tuesday night and we had a few days as a family. We don't know how much time we are going to have to spend time together especially after we start Residency next year so we are taking advantage of any time we have together.

We haven't been down to Missouri to see the Church sites so we left Thursday after Savannah's preschool for Liberty, Independence, Far West and Adam-Ondi- Ahman. We had a great trip. The weather was perfect, we got a nice hotel for under $50 that fed us breakfast, we saw all the sites and Jason got to eat GREAT barbeque. (more detail below for Journal purposes)

After we checked into our hotel we went to see the Liberty Jail. That was really neat to see. It was good to hear the missionaries give the history since I don't really know a lot about the saints time there. (even though I had to take Olivia out in the middle of the history and then she pooped when we got into the auditorium which made me concerned for the others on the tour because I knew they could smell it. I still learned something.)

Then the sister missionary at the desk told us of a good barbeque place she had heard about. Jason said he trusts the missionaries to know where the good food was so we headed over to it. It was called Wabash and it was excellent! We even saw the couple missionaries there with their family. Savannah had her first ribs and ate them like a pro, Jason was so proud, but now that is all she wants to eat.

It was late so we headed back to the hotel to go for a swim. The girls love to swim and that is all they can think about when we are in a hotel.

The next morning we ate breakfast, and went over to the Independence Visitor Center. We went on two tour and then the girls got to play in a little log house, which they didn't want to leave and if we would of had more time we would of let them play more.

Then we drove out to Far West. It is out in the middle of no where but it is the most beautiful place. It was so peaceful when we got to the temple grounds. We couldn't have asked for a better day, green grass, the bird chirping, and smell of spring, it was WONDERFUL. You could really feel the spirit.

(Olivia and her smile when the camera comes out)

On our way out to Far West and Adam-Ondi-Ahman the girls loved it, the road were rolling hills and like I said it was in the middle of no where so Jason drove fast up and down the hill, the girls thought they were on a roller coaster, it was so much fun they laughed the whole time when their "belly's tickled".

Last stop Adam-Ondi-Ahman. It is a beautiful place and really neat to know what is going to happen there one day, you can really feel the spirit. We only wish we had more time but we had to get back so Jason could have his TB shot read.

It was a GREAT trip and we are really glad we did it. Our kids where great (expect for the coughing all night) and it is always fun to be together as a family.

Gardner Family

I thought I would share our new family pictures that we took with my family in January when we were visiting.

(Okay so it is only one picture, I can't get the other ones to download right now and I don't have time to work on it anymore.)

Happy Easter!

Easter Festivities

(finally I got Olivia to smile at me, lately everytime she see the camera she looks away...I know she is doin it to drive me crazy.)

Friday we colored eggs, which I think is more fun for Jason and I and our kids are a little to young to do the coloring by themselves without coloring everything else in site so we do a lot of it.

Saturday night before bed we had a little Family Night lesson about the real meaning of Easter, the Savior and the Resurrection. It was short and sweet but I felt the Spirit. Recently I have been noticing that it is when I am teaching my children the gospel that I feel the Spirit the strongest, so even if they are not learning anything I am.


Sunday morning we woke up and the kids went on their Easter Egg hunt for eggs and their baskets (Does the Easter bunny hide your kids baskets or just leave them out?). They loved it but couldn't seem to see things that were right in front of their eyes...I guess it was not different from any other day looking for things.

Then we got ready for church, the girls looked so cute in their Easter Dresses. This was the first year where I got them really frilly dresses and they loved them. It was Stake Conference but when we got there it was on Satellite and was more of Regional Conference. We didn't hear much but we did get to see and hear the leaders of our church Elder Oaks and President Monson speak so it was worth it. (for more information about the Church of Jesus Christ click here)

When we got home we hung out, ate more candy, and got ready for dinner. We had some friends over for dinner and really just had a great night hanging and talking while the kids played.

We hope you all had a WONDERFUL Easter like we did.

hit on

The weather was so nice today I decided to go to walk to the Elementary School, that is close to our house, and have Savannah ride her bike. I wasn't sure how she would do because it is kind of far for a little girls but I thought I would give it a try. At first she was a little slow and was getting used to breaking but once she figured it out she was off and riding.

We went though the new neighborhood and empty lot area to get there so we wouldn't be on the main road with no sidewalks... as we were walking through there was a boy in a Lighting McQueen power wheels car with one had on the steering wheel and a Pepsi in the other hand cruzin around...when he came over to us I smiled and said, "Hey, nice car."

"got a good deal only 100 miles" he says.

"Wow, cool"

he starts riding along side of us trying to act cool and spills some of his Pepsi, "hey you spilled your Pepsi on ya."

"dang" he says and wipes it off with his hand, but that slows him down and we are still walking so he speeds up to us again and looks at Savannah and says "Hey nice glasses" in a smooth voice while nodding his head.



Savannah looks at me with a smile and a questioning look on her face, "tell him thank you", "thanks" she says. Then he starts cutting her off...this kid is cracking me up...he is hitting on my 4 year old daughter, while she is riding a bike, with a helmet and sunglasses...yea she is looking good.

"So where you goin'?" he asks in his smooth voice.

"Over to the park."

"At my school"

"Yep"

"are you going to be long?"

"we will be there for a little while"

"are you coming back this way?"

"yea, we will be coming back." (this kid is great, I could of talked to him all day, I was laughing the whole time).

So as we are crossing the street he follows us over and tries to cut Savannah off so I say,"Hey I hope you have insurance." :)

"I have my drivers license, I am 5 (shakes his head), 6... I mean 10." (like that makes a difference). When I first saw him I thought he was about 5 or 6 but when he would get out of his car every time he ran in to something (and say "damn") he had to get out to back it up, he was pretty tall.

I was just smiling and laughing the whole time, this kid was a crack up.

We must have passed his boundary line because he finally he said bye and started back home...down the middle of the road, while a big diesel truck drove behind him waiting for him to get out of the road... he really thought he was in 10 and could drive like an adult.


We didn't go home that way...I didn't have time to talk.

park

Here are some pictures at the park. It was a great day so I thought it would be great exercise and fun for the kids to walk to the park... it was wonderful...I am going to have to do that more often, that is if the weather would stay nice. But not only did I get exercise and happy kids, I got sunburned, not bad, but I got a little color and it makes my fat look better.

visitors

Grandpa and Grandma Gardner came to visit us this past weekend.

They flew in Friday morning and left tonight at 7. The weather was nice on Friday and today but the other days were not so great... it snowed Sunday and was still cold Monday but we still had lots of fun.

We played outside on Friday, swam and went to dinner.

Saturday we watched Conference, took naps, and took a ride out to Saylorville Lake and dam We had never been there before, it was really fun. Then while Jason and my dad went to dinner and the Priesthood Session of Conference, my mom and I took the girls to the mall for dinner and to play at the play area and see the Easter Bunny.

Sunday we watched Conference, colored, did puzzles (Savannah loves doing puzzles now and can do them all by herself, etc... not to much to do while it is snowing.

Monday we ran, swam, errands, went to the Easter Train at the mall and then Jason and I went on a date (dinner AND a movie) while my parents watched BOLT with our kids and put them to bed. :)

Tuesday we ran errands, picked Savannah up from preschool and showed grandpa and grandma around the preschool, rode bikes, watched Madagascar2 had two Easter Eggs hunts first the girls found the eggs with candy, cleaned them out and the hide the Easter eggs for grandpa and grandma to find (someone got ripped off).

Then the hardest part came when we had to say bye. We had a great time hanging out with our grandpa and grandma and we miss them already.

Thank you mom and dad for taking the time to come visit. WE LOVE YOU!

Dad's Day

Today was Dad's Day at preschool (aka bring your dad to school day). We weren't sure if Jason would be able to get if off to go so we didn't make a big deal about it until Tuesday when the doctor Jason is working with in Family Practice told him it would be fine if he came in later that day. YEAH!

We told Savannah that Jason could go and she was so excited and started laughing (something she does when she gets excited). Wednesday morning she came in our room and asked me if it was Dad's day, when I told her no, she said she had dreamed about it and was so excited. So needless to say this morning when she got up she couldn't get out the door fast enough.

They had a great time together!

Jason even got to read the book and when I told him how "lucky" he was Savannah looked at me and said "I was lucky too."

"Why," I said, "because your dad read the book?"

"Yep, and no one else's did." she said.

(thanks for the picture Andrea and Steve for taking it.)

pictures

This picture is for my siblings,

HERE IT IS!
the wagon I bought 11 years ago from the Amish on our trip back East. I finally put it together.

"Madilynn and the Great Escape"

(Madilynn and Olivia)

"If this isn't love..."