June 26th

It's quite the day in my family it seems. June 26th is my Grandpa Hinckley's birthday, he and my grandma Hinckley's anniversary, my mom and dad's anniversary and also the day Richie's grandma Linda and grandpa Kenneth were sealed in the temple. I knew I just had to get married on that day. So on a Tuesday 3 years ago, Richie and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the St. George temple. Three years sure goes by fast, yet the first year etc seem like a lifetime ago! I've learned so much the past 3 years; I could write a book. Maybe I will one day. How sad is it that we've only been married for 3 years and I'm already starting to repeat my stories over and over again to him. So just when I'm pretty sure we know everything about each other, I learn something new. For instance, in the past month or so I've learned that Richie eats his mac and cheese with a spoon and doesn't like S&P on it, will not eat a peach with the skin on, and has a low tolerance for any church music that isn't Motab. Crazy. For those of you who are more experienced in the marriage area, are you continually learning new things about your spouse? Or do you just reach a point where you know everything?

We celebrated by going to do some sealings at the temple, eating ice cream, using a gift card my sister gave me (Thanks A) to get some subway, riding our bikes to the park and playing with Miles. Pretty near perfect day.

Here's Miles with Clarece. As much fun as it was to have a little kitten for a week, we were both relieved when our add on craigslist was answered and someone came for her.



I made this sign to help celebrate since we weren't into the whole spending money idea. These types of signs seem super trendy right now, but I think they are pretty darn cute so here's a quicky version. I like how it turned out and was so excited for Richie to see it. Too bad that morning I had to point it out to him. Then he said, "Oh! Hey it's a happy anniversary sign that looks like a giant smiley face...with scary teeth." and then walked away.


And here's the rest of the festivities. Once again I apologize for the video being the wrong way. I don't know how to rotate it. But the best part is the sound so if it makes you a little queezy to watch, just listen.

The Woodside

If there was a way that Richie could make a decent living teaching people how to swing dance, he would drop everything and do it. I know he does a good job with it and really enjoys it, but I always get taken back a little each Thursday night when he comes home from practice so fired up about it. He really loves it. Richie and his swing team have been doing a lot of performances this semester, so I thought I'd document them a bit. These pictures are from a performance they did at a nursing/rehabilitation center. I don't know how many of the 6 people there were coherent :) but I know at least a few older gentlemen who really got into it. At most of their performances they have a pretty grateful and enthused crowd. They usually dance the 2 or 3 numbers they know and Richie will sing with his ukulele in between, or someone else will do a musical number. I don't think all of these pictures have Richie in them, but I tried to get some fun ones anyway.

Can I keep it?? Pleeeease!!

It's no secret that Richie is in a near constant state of baby-hungriness. That state has only been intensified since Miles turned one and was no longer a "baby". So it was no surprise to me when Richie's co-worker told him his parent's cow dog just had a litter of puppies they were trying to get rid of, and Richie immediately NEEDED a dog. He's been wanting one for quite some time, but let's face it, where we live is not exactly perfect for a dog, so I kept saying no. This past Monday we went to visit him at work where he said he had a surprise for us. Meet Clarece.




Not intentionally, but still affectionately, named after the little vixen of a chipmunk that almost breaks up chip and dale. Richie found her meowing in some forms at his place of employment and just had to bring her inside. Then we just had to take her home to feed her. etc etc. She currently resides in A-1 on a trial basis. We'll see after a week if we're cut out for this. Miles is on cloud nine playing with her. In the mean time, if any of you near by want a sweet little kitten, I know a guy...

All American

This weekend I officially felt like an American in the summertime. It's about dang time Eastern Idaho! I barely even resent you for the nice burn I got on my arms and face. It started off with a yard sale to get rid of some things. I'll admit I was expecting a better outcome, but I guess a few extra bucks is better than nothing for things you were going to take to the DI anyway. My friend Shelley stayed with me almost the entire time, she was such a trooper. It was nice to have some company. Richie had to stay at the storage units with Miles.



After we were all yard saled out, we took Miles to the splash park for the first time! He loved it! And we got there in just enough time to enjoy the sun and miss the oncoming storm. Leave it to Eastern Idaho to change the weather drastically in about .5 seconds. You can't miss me, I'm the one with the magenta arms. Ouch! I'm so glad I married Richie. He would go down the slides and through the jets of water with Miles while I was content taking pictures.





Since we couldn't have a hot dog roast outside, we did it inside complete with smores. First of the season. Tasted so good, even if they were roasted over the oven range. Allow me to present the evolution of a smore, starring Miles.





Sorry it's sideways!

We celebrated Father's day with a book of Richie and Miles from Shutterfly, delicious cinnamon rolls, french toast, bacon and oj (which led to a devastating diaper rash for Miles. My bad!) and sleeping in. It was a good day.

How to...

I finished this book last week sometime and I think that if everyone read it and lived at least one new principle that they learned about, the world would be a whole lot better. "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie gives common sense insight into how to communicate better with everyone around you. I think some of the advice is perhaps too idealistic. Some of the principles I thought, "yeah right, that would never work with -fill in the blank-. Maybe in an ideal setting." But for the most part, all of the ideas and principles seemed workable. I'll be trying them out for the rest of my life I think. And for a non-fiction book, it was pretty entertaining to read. In case you don't have time to read the entire thing, here's a brief synopsis in bullets:

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
*Don't criticize, condemn or complain
*Give honest and sincere appreciation
*Arouse in the other person an eager want

6 ways to Make People Like You
*Become genuinely interested in other people
*Smile
*Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language
*Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves
*Talk in terms of the other person's interests
*Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely

How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
*The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
*Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say "You're wrong"
*If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
*Begin in a friendly way
*Get the other person saying "yes,yes" immediately
*Let the other person do a great deal of the talking
*Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers
*Try to honestly see things from the other person's point of view
*Be sympathetic with the other person's desires
*Appeal to the nobles motives
*Dramatize your ideas
*Throw down a challenge

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
*Being with praise and honest appreciation
*Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly
*Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person
*Ask questions instead of giving direct orders
*Let the other person save face
*Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
*Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to
*Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct
*Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.


And there you have it! And because no post would be complete without some pictures, here's a few of Miles doing his absolute favorite thing in the world (driving any car) and showing off his new expression. He does it and then smiles or laughs. Love it.



In other news, life around the Garner house is pretty normal. I do have the opportunity for something exciting in the beginning of July though. Richie's aunt had an extra plane ticket, so now Miles and I get to attend the Garner family reunion in South Carolina! I'm so sad Richie can't come too and am more than nervous about taking Miles on a plane since he can't even sit through sacrament meeting, but I'm so excited that I get to have this little adventure and spend time with Richie's family!

The Nook

Remember this pallet shelf we made a while back? Well, we finally hung it up in it's rightful place in our nook.

Let me share a little daydream of mine with you. One day, I want to own a little used book shop/photography business. They'll be housed in the same charming building where I make/refinish all the furniture and sell it if people are interested. When I get really ambitious with my daydreams, I imagine a small bakery inside as well so that people can come in and peruse the books and eat a tasty snack. When I had photography clients come meet me there for a consultation, they'd get lost in the non-fiction side of the building for hours afterward. It would be called "The Nook". Can you tell I daydream a lot? Since it is a daydream, this small corner in our bedroom will have to be my nook for quite some time I'm afraid. We both are quite taken with it.


It seems like I start a lot of projects and have hard time finishing them. This shelf was one of them, so it feels great to have it done. We were thinking of staining it, but it's so rustic looking that it just fits in our not-on purpose country style bedroom. We plan on spending hours in that hand-me-down recliner during the winter, curled up with a good book and a quilt. Now all we need is a wood burning stove!

Oh What a night(s)!

Miles' teething episodes have never been so traumatic. At least that's what we think has been going on with him.



On Saturday Richie was teaching swing workshops all day, and that night we danced to a live band (so good!!) after we put Miles down and had some friends come house-sit. Here's Richie learning a new lift/flip. It's supposed to look like the girl is kind of beating him up, it's from "Hellzapoppin".





Meanwhile I was at the garden with Miles and he started acting strange, so we went home where he crashed for a few hours with a fever. Since then the days and nights have just been blurs. Over Saturday and Sunday night, none of us got more than a few hours of sleep and we've watched more movies than I care to reveal. Tarzan is still the cure-call for every tantrum Miles has; amazing. His fever lessened yesterday and was acting fairly normal until bed time. He cried for a straight hour and a half! Even when he was a tiny baby and we were teaching him to fall asleep on his own, he never cried like this. Of course we'd go in every so often, but we still had to really coax him to sleep. But he only woke up once last night and slept in this morning. I think we're over the worst!! Knock on wood!!

You might have the best husband in the world if....

He knows how homesick you are and plans a secret trip back home for your birthday and takes care of everything to get ready for the trip. :) Raise your hand if that's you... Me!!!
Richie kept telling me he had a surprise for my birthday which is fairly unusual. He's not big into surprises, and I had already gotten my sewing machine. So I was fairly curious. He was planning to give it to me on Friday, but I had a rough day on Thursday, so he called me from work and told me to look under the computer keyboard. Sitting there was a round trip ticket to St. George!! He probably had enough of my whining about how I missed my family and SG that he finally just gave in. :) I'm so glad he did. I don't know what it is about going back home, but as soon as I could see the red mountains, I felt relaxed. Like everything was right in the world. We didn't do anything spectacular while we were down, but it was absolutely what I wanted/needed. We bbqed on the balcony, sat and talked while all the kids ran around, played in the sprinklers, got some red dirt between my toes, smelled sunscreen (one of my favorites), played at a water park, felt almost hot, saw all my family in the area and some of my best friends, had my mom french braid my hair, slept in, stayed up late, and ate myself into early diabetes. It was so fantastic, I barely minded the 8 hour journey. I just hope and pray that sometime in the future we live closer to both families and closer to beautiful SG so that Miles can be intoxicated with whatever magic is there. I can't quite put my finger on it. Here are some pictures of my best birthday present ever. Thanks Richie!!!