Fun Day at Lagoon!

Tom's company, Delta Valve, held their annual summer party at Lagoon. Ella has been so excited. The other day she asked, 'Mommy can we pleeease go to the swamp today?'. I had no idea what she was talking about. I don't make a habit of taking my kids to the swamp. So I asked her what the swamp was like--'what's at the swamp?' She said, 'You know...the place with the roller coasters'. Oh, Lagoon. How she knows that a Lagoon is kind of like a swamp, I have no idea. I've given up trying to understand how she is so stinkin' smart. Definately Tom's side of the family.
Needless to say, they were in heaven. There was no fear, and Ruby was tall enough to go on all the rides Ella did, so they were crazy happy together.
Here they are in one of there excited giggle hugs waiting for the ladybug ride.
My glamour girl in my new $3 sunglasses ( I know they're a little ridiculous but they were the perfect price for the way I (my girls) go through my sunglasses.)
I wish I would have taken this on video. I held up Enoch's monkey today for him to look at. He started cooing and smiling at him like they were old buddies. It was seriously the cutest thing. One of those mommy moments that I hope I don't forget (which is really asking a lot of my brain--thank goodness for journals).

Enoch's Blessing

Three Generations of Gardners! We were so excited to have Grandpa Gardner and Uncle Stew come out for Enoch's blessing. Grandma Gardner is still recovering from back surgery and was unable to come...we are excited to see her for the holidays in Kansas. The girls loved getting to know their Grandpa better. While he was here we worked and played. He helped us clean out our storage room and garage to get the house market-ready. Then we had a picnic at the park. Grandpa treated us to McDonald's--the girls were in heaven.
I love this picture.
It has become a tradition that Tom dresses the kids in their whites (I'm usually running like crazy trying to get to be on time for church). I love the way that E is looking up at his Daddy...ready for his big day.
Here is Enoch with his gorgeous Grandma Cardon. She was just call to be Relief Society President! So now instead of just busy, she is crazy busy. This week she leaves for a month in Italy with her dad. I can't think of many people who deserve it more--I am going to die without Grandma a phone call away...
Here is how Enoch enjoyed most of his special Sunday. It was so nice of him to sleep and let me eat all of Uncle Robert's delicious food! I LOVE THIS BOY!

Ella Lost Her Tooth

Ella fell today and knocked out her front tooth. I don't know who cried more--Ella or me. I am suffering from a serious case of post-baby-cry-at-anything. I'm a disaster really. You know it's bad whenyour 3 year old says, 'it's ok, Mom. My tooth is all better'. She was a real trooper.

Park Daze with My Girls

The girls live to go to the park, especially now as the weather is cooling off a little. We usually go in the morning--Enoch naps in the stroller and the girls run off some energy. Within a few minutes, Ella knows every child's name and is organizing games, while Ruby finds the biggest slide and tries to break the current speed record.
My little minnie...
My joy...Ruby has gotten pretty blonde this summer. I love it.
Here is Aunt Gen playing in the sprinklers with the girls (Mom isn't that fun and crazy).
Our park time always ends with a walk to the stream. The girls love to go on the bridge and throw leaves down to the water. It's perfect because the path wraps around and back to the parking lot (away from the slides...).

Enoch (little Tom) is 1 Month Old!

My angel boy.
Clean and bright.

Here is Enoch on Aunt Michelle's quilt with the monkey that Ella and Ruby made for him. I am going to take this picture every month for the first year to watch him grow.

Bath time

Enoch takes his bath very seriously--he always furrows his brow in the bright window light.

He is all clean and snuggled up...my favorite.

Sleepy.

Cutie.

Ella is in love with Enoch (Ruby is warming up to him...).

Enoch Cardon Gardner is Here!!!

It's a boy. 8 lbs. 6 oz. 22 in. long. Good job mommy.

Ella so excited to visit baby brother in the hospital.

New Gardner family picture.

Little Bits of Summer

Baby time is almost here!! I've gone into denial mode, although it's getting harder and harder to forget my huge belly. My mom and sisters threw me a wonderful shower with lots of yummy food.
I got talked into taking one belly picture (for the baby book)...here's baby.
The girls love to go to Costco because they can ride in the cart together (and because I usually just get lunch there...pizza and berry smoothie). This is a classic picture of their sisterly affection. I need to do an entire page of just the bear hugs over the last two years.
Summertime is backyard swimming picnic dinners with dad at the grill and all you can eat popsicles for dessert (then straight to the bath). Ruby is wearing Tom's shoes and Ella is just striking a pose--why not?
Here's Dad with his girls. He is fully loving how wet he is getting right now--hence the half smile.

Dinosaur Museum

Here are the girls at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. We went with Riley (center, one of Ella's favorite friends). Here they are sitting on the foot of a Supersaurus. They are each about the size of one of his toes. It boggles my mind.
One of Ella's favorite parts was dressing up like different dinos and roaring. She was pretty intimidating to some of the other little kids their. I was following her, explaining, "She's just pretending". She is all passion. Ruby on the flip side just enjoyed quietly playing with the dinosaur toys, arranging them just so.
The other favorite part was the sand excavation pit. They were able to find dinosaur bones and dust them off with paint brushes.
Bare foot in the sand...happiness.

Ward Easter Activiy

Our ward had a fun Easter breakfast. Here are the girls sitting with the large bunny family. Ruby just loved these bunnies--she kept giving them hugs and kisses. Ella just wanted the egg hunt to get started.
These two are quite the combo...Ella the insatiable entertainer and Ruby the constant supporter. Ella loves having someone to always laugh at her silliness (i.e. a basket on her head).
Cheeeeese.
Once Ruby discovered that there was candy inside those plastic eggs, she became quite the enthusiast.
They both had a ball. This year we ended up having 4 egg hunts, so they are well stocked on candy . Except for the jelly beans, we can't quite figure out where they all went. I think a crazy pregnant lady got to them.

We hope you are having a perfect spring--it's my favorite time of year. I am feeling great at 22 weeks along. This is the nice time of pregnancy--not too big, not too sick, and not to tired. We are having a boy and are very excited. We are on the look-out for the perfect name, so if you have any suggestions... Ella is insistent that his name is Max (Max and Ruby--a T.V. show).

A Few Favorite Things

Ella LOVES to cook. Sometimes, if I'm in a hurry, I have to sneak around the kitchen quietly, so she won't know I starting something. Here she is making Christmas sugar cookies. She is getting excited to make heart ones for Valentine's Day.
Here she is with a mouth so full of dough she couldn't even deny it.
I love this girl.
Another of Ella's favorite things is date night with Dad. Here they are off to the planetarium downtown. She got all pretty and was just beaming.
Ruby's two favorite things are phones and sunglasses. Once she sees either it's all over. She will climb any height, move any obstacle to get to them. We now keep the cell phones on top of the fridge and I've just kind of given up on my sunglasses.

Catch-up...

Ella turned 3 and had a cute costume party with 3 of her best girls friend.
Happy Thanksgiving! Ruby made a little pilgrim hat with Grandma Cardon.
Of course, Ella wanted to be the native american--she was still on a roll from Halloween.
Snow, snow, snow. The girls have loved going out to play with Daddy in the snow. Yesterday, we got about 18 inches. A little too much for my taste.
My cutie snow bunny.