Sledding adventures

New Year's Day!! Welcome 2011- the best way to bring in the new year is to go sledding. Doesn't everybody?!? Well, since it is also Elyssa's birthday we always have to find a great way to celebrate and visiting our friends cabin in Lava to go sledding is the best party. Well, as you can imagine it was COLD, and the snow was very deep, but once we got the tracks started we sure had a lot of fun sledding down the driveway. There were some spills and tumbles, and even a few tears, but it was definitely a blast! It was also little Brooke's first time sledding, she didn't like it so much- maybe it was just too cold!

After all is said and done, THIS is what the hair looks like after a day of sledding....

Girls Night In

I always love girls night. It is so fun to get together with my friends and do something silly. This time my sweet sister in law gave me a recipe for a chocolate mask- it is supposed to rejuvenate the skin. It honestly looked like we were putting no bake cookie dough all over our faces, only it wasn't tasty. I have to say that it was gross, but it actually worked. My skin is very soft! I just have to say that Mohna is INSANE and tried to eat it, I told her is was gross, but that didn't stop her:) That's why she is my BFF- she's crazy just like me!

Welcome 2011

Well, the end of 2010 is here and gone and now we are into the year 2011! I can't believe how quickly time flies. It seems like just yesterday we were having the party to ring in 2010- oh well. Last year the kids didn't quite make it until midnight, but not this year. Tommy and Savana both had some Dr. Pepper, and the other two didn't. Can you tell the difference? These kids not only made it to midnight, but well beyond. I was putting them to bed at around 1:30am!! They were so excited to take part in the party and to actually stay up. I sure love that they are getting older and are able to enjoy these things with us.

Happy 33rd Anniversary to Gary and Dayle! Everyone in the world was celebrating with you!

Someone had to kiss someone and since Emily's and my husbands were in Wyoming, these two were the designated kissers (although Gary and Dayle snuck a couple in too).

Here, representing the Frazier family is Emily and Brooke!! Even Brooke made it until midnight- although she had a nap around 10pm. I wish I could have done that!!!

Catching up... 3rd grade program

Since I am catching up on posts here, I better put this one in. Tommy had his 3rd grade Christmas program back on December 15th, feels like eons ago, but it was fun. They sang all the Christmas carols, but with crazy words like "Deck the Halls and clean the black boards..." and "Rap on the roof top (Tommy's favorite)", "Why can't you sit still, still, still?" among others. It was really cute. The best part was embarrassing Tommy with my LOUD cheers during the performance. I always tell him that it's a good thing I am loud, he will at least know that I am there cheering him on! It is also my privilege as mother to be able to do that! I had a lot of fun!!

See he's is so EMBARRASSED! I love it!!!
And here he is trying to ignore the fact that I am in his face with a camera, he can hardly suppress the smile

I just love this kid!!!

Soldier Hollow

Ok, so here at Soldier Hollow Tubing hill is where all the fun took place. This location is actually an Olympic venue from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. They must have done cross country skiing or something, I am not completely sure. Anyways, now it makes a great tubing hill. They have a wonderful lift so all you have to do is ride the tube up to the top, walk to the top of the run, ride the tube down and walk back to the lift. Unfortunately, as with all lifts, it takes awhile so we only got 6 runs done in 2 hours. I call it an accomplishment. All the kids had a blast. There were tiny tubes for the littlest ones and so all they did was plop down into the tube and we pulled them around the whole time. Poor Noah was so tired that Jasmine had to sit and hold him while he napped for the first hour, but then Grammy was there to trade so Jasmine could make a couple runs. Savana ended up so tired that the last run she slept all the way up and all the way down. I don't know how you could sleep on the way down, those runs are fast!!! They didn't look very fast when we were watching, but with the wind whistling in your ears on the way down it sure was quick. We went down on our bums, backs, tummy's, backwards and forwards- in groups and singles, every which way you can imagine- we did it!! As always we had a barrel of laughs and it was amazing to watch how brave all those kids were. It is definitely something we want to do again, we'll just have to find some tubes and and a hill!

All because two people fell in love...

It all started when these two amazing people fell in love and were married in 1978

Then they had 3 amazing, adorable children who grew up to be even better than expected!

Those 3 children married exceptionally, amazing people...

And because of all that, 9 beautiful, fantastic, and perfect grandchildren arrived

(all at different times of course)

These perfectly perfect grandkids make life so enjoyable

Just the boys- a lot of them

And the girls

(they've got numbers we've got personality and charm)

And here are just a few extra pictures that I just couldn't hold back

OH yeah, we couldn't forget the pictures of "the sheep", Duncan and Dakota, my parents standard poodles!

We needed and updated blackmail picture, but since he doesn't care it's no longer blackmail and I therefore have permission to share it with the world!

Gardner Christmas 2010

There's a story

of the Gardner family-

they were bringing up 3 very awesome kids

all of them got married

and had families

they were all adored...

Picture this- snow covered mountains, frigid temperatures, isolated (mostly) cabin, warm cozy heaters, tiny Christmas tree, little kids EVERYWHERE, more food than you could possibly eat, and lots of laughter!! This was the setting of the Gardner family Christmas. We decided since we all live so far from each other that we would all congregate in one central location. We found a quaint little cabin (6,000sq. ft) for rent in Heber City, Utah. It was perfect. There was plenty of room for each family, and space for us all to be together. I think the silverware and towels were in low supply, but we made do. We met up on Christmas Eve eve- you know the night before Christmas Eve? Have you ever tried to help children with crafting projects? Well, if not then you should try it sometime, its a HOOT! Well hopefully Grammy got a kick out of it. There were stockings to be made, and ornaments galore (jingle wreaths, penguins, snowflakes, and more). Then there were nativities to color and so much more- apparently someone thought that the kids would need to be entertained or something. Not so much. This cabin had so many cool things to play with- like a little attic room above the sauna, it was dubbed the spy room, and all the kids loved to play in it. There was a spiral staircase which provided much entertainment. The living room had a chess/checkerboard set and an air hockey table. These two provided much needed distractions for the boys. My favorite was watching Timothy and Josiah play chess, or whatever they were playing with the chess pieces. They both seemed so serious- like they actually knew how to play.

On Christmas Eve we went tubing at Soldier Hollow- more pictures and story with that post. We had a blast. Then we came back to Christmas dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, tofurkey, veggies and salad, along with sparkling juices. We had our traditional Christmas program. We sang Christmas songs. My kids sang Christmas Bells for everyone, Bob and Jasmine and the boys told the story of the nativity with Mr, Siah and Noah as the three wise men bestowing gifts to baby Corban - Noah kept eating the gifts, so they were a little slimy. Then we did our performance of "Can't blow the candle out" - I wish we had it on tape because it was HILARIOUS!! At least to us, we could hardly get through it without laughing. I'm sure Josh, Craig and Jasmine thought we were a little insane. Then my dad spoke to us about the birth of the Savior and a really sweet Christmas message. More caroling came and we had tears of joy and laughter. Once the kids were all in bed (EARLY BECAUSE THEY WANTED SANTA TO COME) we all got to set up Christmas and wait for Santa ourselves. It was really fun to try to organize everything- Grandma Gardner was laughing at us the whole time. Then we just sat up talking, joking and laughing, laughing, laughing! I probably lost 5 pounds just with all the laughing we did.

Christmas morning was amazing. The adults had to wake all the kids up at 7 so that we could open our presents!! I couldn't believe it. But soon after we were all up the frenzy began. There was wrapping paper everywhere. My dad built these amazing wooden toys for all the boys, and they were a huge hit. There were books, and toys, and all kinds of crazy things. My kids got all that they asked for and more. Lots of pieces parts for the boys with K'nex and robot building kits, and the girls got doll stuff and more crafty things. I got Josh and guitar and he bought me the prettiest necklace you have ever seen. We had a blast opening all the gifts and seeing what everyone else got. Then instead of wrapping paper everywhere there were toys everywhere. Every inch of that cabin was covered with toys and tots. But oh the fun the kids were having. Then we took some pictures (again, another post.) Dinner that night consisted of Tacos- a family favorite!!!

The next day was full of chaos and cleaning, and a lot of sickness. We made it through mostly unscathed, but there were a few casualties to the cold and flu!

This was a great Christmas and I am so glad we got together. Just think in 4 more years we will all be together again!!