Garner Getaway

The Garner side headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon this last weekend, near Brighton and spent some wonderful time in the mountains. We stayed at a little cabin with a small stream running near by for the kids to spend lots of time in. We hiked the twin lakes trail, did a little kayaking in the lake, did a little fishing (Miles caught one!), watched a movie, played games, found a Geo-cache, ate delicious food, and on our way home, we hiked Donut Falls. Note to self: invest in a hiking backpack. Hauling Lindy all over isn't a viable option anymore. :) Other than that, the older kids did really well on the hikes and loved the entire trip. It was so fun to watch them create these memories. Watching them create memories is such a motivation to go through all the headache of packing up the entire van, getting really dirty, having lots of laundry to do, etc etc etc. We sang songs around the campfire, and I watched Miles try to follow along and thought, "This is it. This is what it's supposed to be like, and my kids get to experience "it"." And I felt grateful.

Spotlights

Miles
Miles is slowly but surely turning into a reader. The charts we make him for his BOB book progress are really starting to motivate him, and I can't tell you how thrilling it is to listen to him read a book for the first time, and have hardly any mistakes.
I've been trying to check out some "drawing how-to" books at the library and although they are a bit above his level, he's working really hard at it. His wall, as in, his entire wall, is covered with his artwork. Not to mention the space on the ceiling directly above his bed. I completely love it. Although I am starting to consider making a special spot in his room with a cork board, just for hanging a few select pictures. :)
He is a pro bunny wrangler now. We can send him outside at bedtime, and he can catch all the big bunnies and put them in their cages, all by himself. No small feat, trust me.
He is our little entrepreneur. He got the idea somewhere to roll in garbage cans after they have been emptied on trash day. He has 4 customers so far, and is hoping to get the rest of the neighbors who weren't home when we went "selling". For the low, low price of 25 cents, you too can have your garbage can rolled up your driveway by the cutest 6.5 year old I know. :)
We signed him up for a free clogging class for a week in August. He's really excited about it. (me too) He asked if he has to wear a sparkly green vest and green pants and a top hat when he goes. (Like the Irish dancers we've seen on the computer right around St. Patrick's day. :)
We recently whipped out some dated Leapsters that a friend gave us 2 years ago. They can earn Leapster time or computer time, if they stay in their rooms during quiet time. He works really hard for that tech time. It's super obvious it's something we're going to have to monitor always. Screens tend to turn him into a really emotional kid, and make him hard to handle. Maybe we can harness that love of screens though. The other day while reading "The Friend", there was an article on a graphic designer. He said that's what he wants to be when he grows up. To be fair, he wants to be EVERYTHING when he grows up, but I think he's actually make a great graphic designer.


Gwen
Gwen is the mini mama. She just loves on Lindy all day, even after Lindy pushes, pinches, and screams at her. She is super patient with her little sister.
She loves the baby bunnies, and carries them around, talking to them all day.
She continues to remember everything anyone says. Usually after church, I ask the kids what their lessons were about. Miles will give me the basics. Gwen will tell me word for word. :) I missed sharing time today because I had to help out in nursery. Don't worry, Gwen filled me in on the entire thing. Including who got called up to help, their names, what they were wearing, and if they had a haircut that week. No joke.
She doesn't crave alone time like Miles does. She loves to be around people. She's extremely friendly to everyone she meets. But I'm a bit puzzled that when we get into a big crowd, she tends to play by herself, happily. She doesn't have a real connection with any one friend. Her little joy school group is mostly boys and I still focus on getting play dates set up for Miles more, so she mostly plays with boys. I really need to work on getting her more girl friends.
She is capable of so much, but she really lets whining get in her way. If she tries something once, like getting her seat belt buckled, and it doesn't work on the first try, she's immediately in tears. If I ask her to come out and help me pick peas, she immediately whines about how hot it is and gives up. Any type of chore, you really have to stay right on top of her, otherwise she'll get distracted or throw fits. :) Gotta love this age. Don't get me wrong, she wants to be obedient and succeeds most of the time, but I think it's going to be a skill we continually work on. :)


Lindy
Lindy is a proficient walker now. Hooray!
She's getting a bunch more teeth in right now, including molars, but is handling it like a champ this time around.
She is still such a handful, as most 15 monthers are, but I think I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. She will sit up to the kid's table during school time and flip through a book. She will sit on my lap while I read to the kids, for more than 2 minutes now. Progress is being made people.
She's more communicative, mostly signing and head shaking, but at this point, anything helps.
She's become way more picky with food, which I don't understand. One day, she can't get enough grapes. Next week, she immediately throws them all on the floor. ?
Usually a kind woman from the ward watches Lindy for me while I'm in primary (1st counselor), since she's not old enough to be in nursery yet. On the days I don't conduct or teach, I try to keep her with my in primary so I don't burn out my sweet friends. However today she was a wreck, and they needed help in nursery, so it worked out. It was bizarre to watch her participate. She is my baby, when did she get so old?? We still have 3 months, but still, time is going way too fast.
She can officially wear pig tails! Love that milestone. :)
She beats up kids all the time. She's super aggressive and will pinch and scratch if you do something she doesn't like. Last week at story time, she made 2 tiny babies cry. I was so embarrassed. On the up side, she's getting lots better at signing "sorry" and giving hugs and kisses to make it better.



So my aunt Peachy and Uncle Roland brought back this cute little dress from Germany for my oldest sister years ago. I snagged it from my mom and made Gwen squeeze into it when she was about 2. Well, about 2 years ago, I found another old dress in a used book store. Remember that? I couldn't wait till I could take pictures of both my girls in their little German outfits together. Granted, the baby dress is too small for Lindy and the other is too big on Gwen, but there was only a small window to catch these pictures, so I took it. Miles wasn't a fan of being matchy-matchy, but he relented just to please his mama. :)

The Rest Of May

Lots of pictures on this catch-all post! Buckle Up!

*This was actually back in April, and also documented on the homeschool blog, but just because...here's a picture of the kids at Wheeler Farm. We went there for our joy school field trip in April and had so much fun! What a cool place!


*First Day it was warm enough to break out the swimming suits and run through the sprinklers! Uncle Jacob stopped by and played! It then proceeded to rain the rest of May, but it's all good.


*Our baby bunnies grew like crazy this month! They are pretty much the cutest things I've ever seen.


*Mom and Dad were up for a Hinckley Family thing, so they stopped by our place and took us out to dinner for my birthday. There are some definite benefits to turning one year older, including the rolls with cinnamon butter at Texas Roadhouse. Thanks Mom and Dad!


*Miles watched some show where they got to eat ice cream for breakfast, and then continuously brought up the idea for about a month. I kept telling him we probably wouldn't do that. Then I remembered that Mom (Garner) has a "Yonanas" machine that turns frozen bananas into a very realistic ice cream texture. So I borrowed it and one morning we had "ice cream" for breakfast with peanut butter and strawberries. They thought it was so cool.


*I'm putting this picture on here, because it's so true to life. I try and think of fun things to help the kids learn, and I work really hard to set things up thinking it will go so smoothly. Lindy has other plans. :) In this picture, I'm just trying to snap a quick picture of the kids painting their salt sight words, while holding Lindy in one arm because she's being a pill. I don't have a smart phone that makes it easy to snap a quick picture, so I'm holding our huge camera in the other hand, trying to get the focus right etc. I'm sure it'd be comical to watch.


*We went to the Payson Temple Open house. By far, one of the prettiest temples I've seen; especially the indoors. WOW! It was Memorial Day weekend, and the last weekend the open house was going on. It was crazy busy. We waited in the line for probably an hour. No small feat with 3 small kids. I still say it was worth it. I didn't think I'd get emotional because I was feeling so high strung, but we'd walk into a room and I'd start telling the kids what that room was used for, and I could never get the full sentence out without crying a bit. Having my entire family in the temple is truly sacred.



*Memorial Day! We went to the Bluffdale Cemetery's ceremony and visited Matthew's and Karl's graves. Another time I blubber like a baby! The Garner crew went hiking at Ghost Falls later in the day. I stayed home with Lindy cause the hike was happening during her naptime, and if I would have lugged her along, trust me, that would have been fun for no one. Sans Lindy, they had a great time.:)


*May Joy School field trip to the fire station! Always a good time


*End of Year Homeschool BBQ. So fun! I'm developing, what I think, will be some really lasting relationships with some pretty awesome people. I'm really looking forward to next year. We have so many improvements we'd like to make and so many plans already in the works.



WHEW! Did you make it to the end of this post??? Give yourself a pat on the back! Here comes June!