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!!

Merry Christmas

The time has come to write to all our dear loved ones and share good tidings. This generally comes in the form of a Christmas letter. This letter should include information about all the members of the family and what they have been doing during the year. I particularly enjoy this part because I love to share what my family has done. (I will say however, you will probably should know all this if you follow my blog at all) This particular letter I would like to be different. I would like to first and foremost share with our family and friends a testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This time of year is supposed to be about Him, and His birth. We celebrate the fact that He lives! In a world full of doubt, confusion and frustration it is a comfort to me, and to my family to know that He lives! Just knowing the Christ lives, gives great strength to us- We know that He cares for us, and that He knows and loves each one of us. We are blessed beyond comprehension to have Jesus Christ as the center of our lives. Each day as we read of his life in the holy scriptures, and pray to Him, we are comforted, strengthened, and at peace. Our lives are not perfect. We suffer through trials, temptations, and just plain crappy times- but through it all, we have our faith in our Savior. He has been there with us through all the tears, the heartache and frustrations. We are grateful for our many, many, many blessings. Some of these include our dear family and friends. We hope that this Christmas season, we might be able to spread Christmas cheer and the true meaning of Christmas to those we love and hope that it might touch your lives too!

Merry Christmas, and may next year be filled with love, happiness and joy!!

From: Josh, Heidi, Tomas, Savana, Siera and Timothy

The lights at Temple Square

We love to go see the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake. Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, we planned to take a trek to Utah to see my grandma, and take pictures for my cousin. While we were down there we HAD to go to Cabela's, which we love, then we went to see my grandma, then we took pictures. By then we were starving so we wanted to go get good food. Where did we end up? Rodizio's! It's Josh's FAVORITE restaurant because it's all you can eat meat, and of course it's Brazillian. Our waiter was from Brazil and so Josh was in heaven, eating meat and speaking portuguese. Don't get me wrong, we were all enjoying the food. I tried some sort of Japanese wild hog, and the girls tried Quail eggs! Timothy loved the bacon wrapped turkey and Tommy went wild for the pineapple! It was great, we got stuffed then we went to see the lights. They are always beautiful. (Savana took the picture of the Christus) There are so many things to see, but they closed on us so we headed home. It was a good thing we left that night because we hit a MAJOR storm and it was really scary driving home, especially with us all being so tired. We made it home safely about 1am, and the blizzard continued the whole day- enough to cancel church! So we stayed in our safe, warm house and waited out the blizzard. All in all it was definitely an eventful weekend! But I am thankful to be home.

Josh let me paint

So- for my birthday, my dear friends gave me gift cards to Home Depot, knowing that I wanted to redecorate something in my house. I got other money from a few photo shoots, and more birthday money and finally had enough to redo my living room and kitchen. It was a long couple of days and I don't think my back has recovered just yet, but it was worth it. I know these pictures don't do the room justice, but at least it's something!! ENJOY!



I had my Thanksgiving decorations up, and now it looks completely different with the Christmas tree up. Oh, well!

Savana's program

The second grade was in charge of the Thanksgiving program this year. They sang lots of songs about pilgrims, mashed potatoes, and sharing. It was really cute, and Savana even had a speaking part. I am so proud.

Idaho Weather

I just LOVE Idaho weather. It has been just crazy these last couple of days. We have had non stop snow. School was even cancelled on Tuesday due to a blizzard warning. We had mounds and mounds of snow in our yard and the boys couldn't be happier. Tommy has been outside every possible minute, with Timothy right by his side. Yesterday the kids and I went sledding and had so much fun- we even took the dogs with us, and they had fun too. Even though its a lot of snow trapsing through the house daily, its still fun to be able to play in the fun white stuff.

This is Brooke's FIRST time in the snow- she lasted about 3 minutes! It was all fun until Timothy threw some snow in her face, then it was all over. Oh well, we'll keep trying!