Spring 2012

 Spring came around and I was surprised as many gorgeous flowers began to bloom all over the yard.  The owners put a lot of thought and work into the yard many years ago, it is quite nice!

Baby Zach continues to grow like wildfire!  They grow too fast that first year.  I have thought many times that even though you are with them every day, you almost feel like you're missing it because they grow and develop so rapidly!  What a cutie!

Camping

The boys started pestering Dave that they wanted to go camping.  So Dave set up the tent in the backyard.  The boys did not want to sleep out there by themselves (and we didn't really want to join them,) so we moved the tent into our sun room and they slept in there instead while Mom and Dad enjoyed their comfy bed!

 It was all great practice for the father son church campout.  (Mom and Baby Zach stayed home.) I don't know how Josh got such a styling outfit - but I LIKE IT!!!

 Tommy's favorite part is setting up the tent - he loves to build things.

Two hard days for Josh

 Since we're renting this house, it doesn't make sense to put in a swing set.  Instead, we got the boys this fantastic jump house in spring 2012.  They were soooooo excited for it, Tommy and Josh would shout "Our very own jump house!" with glee over and over every time they would jump in it.  They told me it was better than Christmas.  I'm positive we've already gotten our money's worth out of it.

 Unfortunately, Josh did have a little accident when we first got the jump house.  We had it poorly placed near rocks and he decided to jump out of it instead of sliding down the slide.  It ended badly with him opening up his forehead on the rocks.  But he's a tough kid and handled it pretty well. Gives him character, right?

Then the next day, I found this big, fat tick in Josh's head, yuck!!!!  I pulled it out with tweezers and of course Dave wanted to send it to the lab - and why wouldn't he do that- he's a pathologist for goodness sake!!  But then the tick came back positive for rickettsia rickettsii (the agent causing Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) - so now what?  We talked to the pediatric infectious disease specialist and they said this disease is not present in our area... but the lab results show otherwise!! We had a big dilemma deciding whether to treat him for it or not since the medication is not really good for growing bones.  Finally we decided to wait and watch to see if he got a fever or rash.  After a couple months of no sickness, we decided he was in the clear.  And did I already mention how tough he is?  I pulled that tick out with no numbing medicine, digging around in his scalp to get the tick's head out, and all he did was whimper a tiny bit.  He's awesome!





Here's a better time for Josh: enjoying his blankie and oso.

Happy Birthday Josh!

I can't believe it, Josh is 3!!!

St. George Memorial Day Weekend

Dave had a wonderful time visiting St. George for a family reunion.  He really liked the beautiful statue of his ancestor, Robert Gardner (seen here with Dave's dad Reed Gardner.)  He had a great time visiting with his cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews!  He was just sad that the trip was too short to be able to bring his own kids out to meet everyone.

Winter 2012

Tommy starts learning the piano

Somehow, I managed to get Tommy interested in learning the piano and the lessons began!  For now, I am just teaching him using some beginner level piano books I bought online.  At first, he was so small that a pad was not tall enough - he needed to sit on a big book to be high enough to reach the keys... (and it was good to see the Harrison's internal medicine book get some use!) He's been keeping it up, practicing about 15 minutes a day 3 or 4 times a week.  He was good enough to play Jingle Bells for his grandparents over the phone several months later at Christmastime!

Josh gains new skills, too

Josh became our delivery boy with his tricycle.  He and Tommy attached a wagon to the back using a rubber band and Josh really enjoyed towing his trailer around the driveway.  On Friday morning when the weekly "Carmel Pinecone" newspaper came, Josh would dutifully ride out to the edge of the driveway, pick up the newspaper in his trailer and ride it back in to the house for me.

Josh also became more adventurous and took the driver's seat in the Jeep.  He was pretty excited to be the one controlling the wheel, but still loves to ride shotgun with Tommy any day.  He just loves to be with Tommy, they are best buds!

Salt Lake Trips

We did 3 trips to SLC in the winter to enjoy our last winter season before Tommy started school.  We had so much fun seeing family and friends, and of course spending a lot of time on the snow!

The boys got new headphones for this trip - they were very excited to use them!

 Gorgeous view on top of the lift at Snowbird.

 Dave and Tommy ride the lift

Tommy got very good at skiing this winter.  He LOVES skiing, and says it is his favorite thing to do in the whole wide world.  I can't blame him.

Fun brothers

I love this picture of Zach

Meanwhile... back in California: Great beach Days, Fantastic Hikes

 I tried as hard as I could but they would not look up at the same time!!

I love the beach, Mom!

Winter/Spring is some of the best hiking time because the rain makes it so green and beautiful!  Here we are hiking the Big Sur coast by Garrapata State Park.  (Garrapata means tick in spanish... the one drawback...)

Raspberry Boy

Fruit is always in season here, but the best time of year is when it's raspberry and strawberry season!  Yum!

The self portrait

Tommy has been taking some self portraits lately.  This is my favorite series.  I have a hard time deciding what my favorite part is: the photo progression, the intense eyes, or the lunch remnants on the face...

Zach

 Zach's first solid foods in the high chair!!

 Yum!

 Look at those cheeks!!

 Trying to grab the camera

 Good times with Grandma Jackie

 Big Smiles!!

 What a happy boy

We love our Zach

Future Pathologist?

Josh dropped by Dave's office to consult on a particularly difficult case.

Fall 2011

I have been thinking about the blog for MONTHS.  Wow it's been over a year since I added anything.  I guess having 3 kids tipped me over the edge as far as being able to keep up with the blog.  So, I am going to try to add some photos for our family history so we can remember all the great things that have  happened!

 Zach continues to grow.  He has the cutest smile! We love the U of U onesie from Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Reed!

  My 3 boys: they are best friends (except when they fight...which is never of course!) 

 Zach LOVES his Daddy!  Daddy always gets the best smiles and laughs from our little baby!

Lake Tahoe (aka Lake Taco)

We took our first road trip with the new baby to Lake Tahoe in fall, 2011. It was about a 5 hr. drive but the kids did great.  Josh called it "Lake Taco" which we quickly adopted and continue to say today!  The weather was gorgeous and because it was off season, we had the entire beach/lake/town to ourselves!  We stayed in a fun condo on the beach.

 The sunset was gorgeous over the lake

 We couldn't keep the boys out of the water.  At first it was just shoes and socks off, then their pants were wet, so they came off, then their shifts were also soaking wet and had to be removed.

 By the time we were ready to go back to the condo, all the boys were wearing were diapers and undies.  I have a great picture of both of them walking back like this but Tommy, (now a big 6 year old) is watching me as I put this on the internet and he says he is too old now to have a photo of him only in his spiderman undies on the internet, which I will respect.  (Though he still doesn't care who sees him in his undies on the beach, since he is always quick to strip down to play in the water- go figure...) So Josh is pictured alone, walking back from the beach in his soggy lake filled diaper after getting totally soaked. (And he doesn't care who sees it!)

 The ride home from Tahoe: Josh got a new ball at Tahoe and a halloween bucket at Wendy's.  He refused to part with them in the car but must also hold his beloved blankie and Oso, so he had his hands full!

Roaring 20's Med Staff Dinner Dance, Oct 2011

 Dave and I had a great time dressing up 20's style for the Med Staff Dinner Dance at the Carmel River Ranch

Halloween 2011

 We decorated our car like a shark and played the Jaws music for our church Trunk-or-Treat.  The candy was in the trunk and kids had to reach in between the jaws for it!  Zach and I were Santa and his elf, Tommy was Optimus Prime, a transformer, Josh was Spiderman, Dave was a hippie.  Everyone loves Dave in the wig.

Moving Nov 2011

 We received news that the elderly owner of our house in Pacific Grove passed away and that our house was going to be sold.  So we went on a mad hunt to find a new rental house.  This great backyard sold us on our new/current house.  So we got ready to move!  Again!!  Our 3rd move in 3.5 years.  Our 6th move since leaving SLC for Virginia.

 Saying goodbye to our old house.  It wasn't the most beautiful house, but we liked it and had some good times there.  The kids loved to sit right here on the counter whenever we making food, especially to help make cookies!    (And yes, they always prefer to dress alike if possible.)

 Moving Day!  Jesus and his companeros helped us haul our stuff...again... They are making bets on how long until they move us again.  They were so nice and let our boys ride up and down on the truck elevator to load up the truck.  Moving day is probably the single greatest day for little boys.  It involves trucks, boxes, dollies, moving elevators, new house... so exciting.

 All  moved in to our new home!  

Cousins, Nov 2011

 We had a great visit from Katie, Brandon and their 3 kids as they passed through on their way to southern California for Thanksgiving.  We played so hard that the kids were out in a flash at night, sleeping all over each other!

 One of the more memorable parts to the trip: some sea kayaking.  Both Katie/Elle and Tommy/me were capsized in the breakers.  The kids did not appreciate it.  Brandon/Sebastian managed better with their fine water skills!

 Pre-Capsize:  Elle can't wait to get dunked in the 57 degree water!  Fun!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Gardners!