Camping!

 In January of 2012 we purchased our first Trailer brand new from Blaine Jensen and Sons RV in Kaysville. We were very eager to get out and enjoy camping. As soon as the weather was not cold we took the Jayco out for our maiden voyage to the KOA in Brigham City. We figured we wanted to go somewhere close that had full hookups so we could test out the trailer and make sure everything worked OK. New trailers typically have a few little things that don't work right and should be fixed under warranty.

Although the campground turned out to be a bust, the experience was great. We had such a great time camping and the girls loved it. They especially loved the little playground next to the trailer. It was nice to watch them from the trailer as they played on the swings and monkey bars. It was still a little chilly outside, but that did not deter the girls from wanting to be outside.

What was funny was quickly figuring out all the things we had overlooked while shopping for all the items to outfit the trailer. We made several trips to the nearby Walmart. It's a good thing we had a store nearby because we forgot so much like a garbage can and plastic garbage can liners. Unfortunately the KOA didn't allow open fires so we had to modify some of our plans for dinners and cook them in the oven. But wait, we forgot a lighter! Our friendly neighbors lent us their lighter and we were able to get the oven started. The oven didn't work properly and rather than the pilot lighting the element, a large flame shot out of the oven. That was the first on the list for repairs. But our challenges didn't deter us from sticking to our plan for meals and treats, even the old fashioned over the stove smores!

Our next camping trip was to Lagoon. Again, not real camping, but a fun experience. Since we had season passes we were able to spend two full days at Lagoon with breaks in between rides for meals and rest. At the end of the night we walked 20 feet from the side exit to our trailer and in to bed. This was by far the girls favorite trip of the year.

Up next was our first real camping trip to Idaho. We met up with the Johnsons in Rigby Idaho in July and traveled to Big Elk Creek in Eastern Idaho. The trip started out with a scare as we opted to spend the night at the Johnson's house and camp in their huge driveway. Heath was there to greet us and helped John back into the driveway next to their trailer. But, Heath wasn't paying attention to the passenger side of the trailer and was focusing on guiding John to the right. We had a very close call as our trailer grazed their trailer! Luckily it was just close enough that we touched side lights and we lost a light and they lost a light. There is a slight rub mark on both trailers but we were watched over. It could have ended badly with a canceled trip and two trailers in the repair shop. Heath still teases John about backing in to his trailer, but we know Heath is really at fault. John could not see that side of the trailer and was just following his guides. Tara wasn't paying attention to the other side until it was too late. The next morning John and Heath went to the trailer supply store and purchased new lights for about $3 each and we were on our way!

Big Elk Creek is a great camp ground. The only tricky thing was getting in there from the main highway. There is a mile-long single lane road that services both directions of traffic. We had to slow down and make room for others as they did for us as well. It was extremely nerve racking, but we made it and had a great time in a double spot we shared with the Johnsons. It was really cool to park the trailers next to each other and spend all that time together. The girls loved camping more than we imagined and we couldn't be more pleased. As is evident from their dirty faces, they don't mind playing in the dirt.

We took a day and toured Grand Teton National Park. The park is much smaller than Yellowstone and the attractions and wildlife pale in comparison. However, it was still very pretty and the crowds are much smaller than in Yellowstone. Eliza was so funny. She took her camera and was taking pictures of everyone she saw. A lot of her pictures were of some old lady who was very kind to humor her and graciously allowed her to photograph her!
On our way home from Big Elk Creek John received some really bad news. His division at HP had all been layed off. That made for a very long ride home. He had put in 7 loyal years and it was a shame that it all came to an end.

We left our trailer at the Johnsons home in Burly so we would not have to tow it all the way home just to return 3 weeks later for our trip to Island Park with Michael and Mary Margaret. Despite losing employment and not knowing what the future held for us, we decided to go forward with the next trip that had been payed for already. We did not want to put all our plans on hold and miss out on our first year of camping since the investment would only be a few hundred dollars in gas and food. As it turned out, HP asked John to come back as a contract worker for MarketSource. Although this was not the best offer, nor a long-term solution, we didn't miss a paycheck and even received a nice severance paycheck from HP so we were financially OK for the time being.
Our trip to Island Park was a lot of fun. We sure love it up there despite the long trip. With little girls who want to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes, it sure makes for a long day. We enjoyed a day in Yellowstone and saw more wild-life than we had ever before. The ever elusive bald eagle was perched out for all to see. We have seen its nest, but never the bird. The girls enjoyed feeding prairey dogs and watching the deer feed in the river.
Back at camp we took the girls down to the river to play in the shallow water just off the campground. That water is shallow and slow and the girls had a great time finding pretty rocks in the river bed. We also had another bald eagle land on the other side of the river! It was so close to us we got a really good look at it. It was fund to camp with Michael and Mary Margaret who shared a site with us and camped in a tent behind the trailer.

Due to a new job and uncertain future, we cancelled all but one camping trip which we took at the end of the year over the weekend to Willard Bay. Being the end of the season there were fewer bugs so it was the right time to go. Despite fewer bugs, there were still more bugs than the other places we camped! We showed up early and had the first pick of the camp sites. We found a wonderful site we will try to get in the future with a huge grass field next the the trailer and some really cool groves of trees that form complete canopies with little cave-like openings to go inside. The girls really liked playing in there. Unfortunately, Lea got sick that evening and threw up all over Paige many times throughout the night. The morning could not come soon enough! We went home and John took Eliza to her soccer game while Paige stayed home with the Julia and Lea. After soccer John took Eliza and Jules back to the trailer and finished camping. We really didn't want to conclude the weekend. We had a blast finishing up the season. We can't wait to go again!

Disaster Strikes!

In early December of 2011 Utah received one of the worst wind storms in its history. Wind speeds up to 120 mph rushed through Davis County which received the worst of the winds in Utah. Those wind speeds were classified as a category 2 hurricane! Needless to say, the area was ripped to shreds, and our yard and home were no exception.

This disaster was not without some entertainment, however. We watched the fences bow down to the ground one direction, then completely bow to the other side without snapping immediately!

Eventually, most fences were broken and strewn across the yards. Eliza really wanted to go outside and play. John tried to explain that the wind was so strong that it would pick her up and throw her down the street. That only peaked her curiosity and she wanted to verify that claim! Well, we kept the girls in the basement all day just in case a fence went through a window. No windows were broken, but the home and windows were continually pummeled with shingles and other flying debris.

A couple days later the bishop canceled the last two hours of church and requested that all healthy males spend the rest of Sunday cleaning up the debris around the neighborhood. Our yard was not as bad as others due to not having any big trees. Our little peach tree survived without any real damage due to its small profile and little surface area. John spend all day in the cold with the other ward members loading trailers with felled trees, shingles and siding. The local landfill was allowing free dumping of trees and shrubs. The line was about two hours long to just get int! A two mile line backed through the neighborhoods near the dump.
At the time we had State Farm insurance. It was really discouraging not hearing back from them for 72 hours! John called the broker during the storm wanting to get a jump on the inevitable line. After 24 hours he called the national disaster line and was able to make a claim. Two days later the local broker called back - not exactly timely. They had to send out a natural disaster team to help assess the damage. State Farm proved to be crooks and made a silly offer to only cover part of the roof replacement and replace only 1 side of the house where the siding was torn off! There was no chance to find replacement siding of the same type or color! Luckily John reached out to an exterior company who's unethical tactics exceeded those of the insurance company. They went to bat for us and through relentless pressure convinced the insurance company to pay for a whole new roof and all new siding! Their prices were outlandish and tread into the dishonest category, but it didn't cost us any money, as they directly billed the insurance company. Had we been able to successfully negotiate those repairs we could have saved thousands by contracting the repairs ourselves, but in the end we are just happy to have our house restored to the way it was before the storms, and that is all that matters. As a bonus, we have a brand new roof and all new siding that is void of dings and fade like the siding before.

 Here the crew completely striped the existing roof and added a new one with upgraded attic vents!

 The new roof is on but notice the fading and discoloration on the original siding.

 Our home looked like it was a new construction. Yet we continued to live there. Just watch out for the nails! We did get a couple nails in the Yukon. Fortunately Discount tire company has a fantastic warranty and fixed the two holes without any hassle or out of pocket expense.

What a transformation! We are very excited to have a "new" home out of the process. It looks great and with the upgraded exterior we have a better insulated and more efficient home!

New Yard

This post is a little late, almost 1 year! But last year we put a lot of time and money into our yard. We were tired of finding broken sprinkler lines and our grass was overrun with weeds, not to mention full of holes and such which created a hazard for walking.
The route taken was the long, hard route. But at the beginning of summer we had a new yard that was beautiful and made us proud.
John started by killing all the grass the fall prior. Unfortunately the grass began to grow back in the spring! We should have just left it alone because the plan was to till it all in and the dead grass would be weed free and would make for a good ground fertilizer for the new lawn. Then we were told that we should cut the sod with a sod cutter and dig it up because we would break all the sprinkler lines with the tiller. So John rented a sod cutter and attempted to cut the lawn out. There was one problem - the lawn was dead so it did not cut right. After spending many hours trying to get the old lawn up John decided he needed to rent a bobcat tractor to dig it all up. This process worked great but the bobcat was very heavy and John made lots of ruts in the ground, thus tearing up the yard even more. Luckily we had lots of help from family who came to our rescue and helped gather the lawn, throw it in the back of a flatbed trailer, and haul it off to the dump.
We knew we needed to hire someone to put the sprinkler system in. John could have done it, but he really didn't know how and after years of frustration patching the system, he felt it would be worth the money to hire a professional. We are sure glad we did. The crew did a fantastic job putting a state of the art system in the yard and they brought in new dirt and leveled the ground. The yard was so pretty between the leveling and the sod John was seriously considering leaving the dirt as it was! OK, not really but it did look nice.
Before the sod was put in, John installed some really nice metal edging for the flower beds.

We then called upon family and neighbors to come install the sod. It is amazing how fast sod can be installed with 10+ guys! The lawn got in and we were off to our new yard!
Shortly thereafter, John purchased and setup a Lifetime shed that Ted helped us get for a fantastic price. We are really happy to have that extra space to alleviate the garage of storage duties as well as get chemicals locked up and away from the children. With the new Yukon it was impossible to get the lawn mower in and out of the garage without pulling the car out of the garage. Now it was nicely stowed in the back yard where it belongs. Our more accessible, less cluttered garage thanked us for it!
We are very happy with the yard and look forward to many fun years playing in the yard.

Home Away from Home

On January 7th, Paige's birthday, we purchased our first trailer. We have been talking about a trailer for about 6 years now. John grew up with trailers and Paige's family would rent them from time to time while she was growing up. We both enjoyed camping but can't stand sleeping on the ground in a tent. The Last time we camped was in 2006 in Island Park - 1 year before we had Eliza. Rich Williams lent us a crappy tent that leaked. We didn't know it leaked until we were camping and we had a bad rain storm on the second night there. The second night became our last night!

John doesn't handle sleeping on the ground for more than 2 nights and Paige doesn't like hiking to public restrooms or finding a bush. So the discussion for several years was that we would get a trailer some day. In september of 2010 we had a Gardner family reunion in Idaho. After the reunion we stopped by the Johnson's home in Rigby (20 minutes away) to see their new trailer. We quickly became a little jealous and started talking more about a trailer. We decided that we really wanted one, but first needed to get a tow vehicle. John's parents had a really nice 2004 Yukon XL SLT which they had agreed to sell to us in the future. So that was the plan for a future tow vehicle.

Last July we purchased John's parent's Yukon from them shortly after Leas birth. Fitting all three kids in John's Ford Edge and the Subaru Tribca was a bit challenging. So we told Michael and Mary Margaret that we were ready to purchase their car if they were still interested in selling it. They were ready and purchased a Buick Enclave so the Yukon was ours!

At that point we began researching trailers. We knew that we weren't quite ready yet with a newborn baby, but next year we would be. In the meantime, we visited several trailer dealerships and John did a tremendous amount of research to find the best trailer for us. We fell in love with the same floor plan as Heath and Tara Johnson, but we found the Jayco to be much nicer quality than the Keystone Springdale. We settled on the Jayco Jay Flight 26BH. It is a 26 foot trailer (29 overall) with a front bedroom, family room/kitchen with a table that converts to a bed and a couch that converts to a bed, and a rear bunk bed with a double bed and single bunk above. The kids really wanted a bunk bed. They turned their nose up to every trailer that didn't have a bunk bed. John was wanting to consider other models which were shorter and lighter - easier to tow - but we didn't find anything that fit our needs.

Through the process of looking for trailers we found that January was the best month to purchase a trailer. January is the slowest month for RV dealerships. They were ready to wheel and deal. When Blaine Jensen RV in Kaysville offered us a $22,100 trailer for $14,999 we knew it was time to buy. We got the model we wanted and they even threw in the electric tongue jack and power owning for that price. We recently purchased a 26" LED TV and a Blu-Ray player for the trailer for some fun entertainment.

So we purchased the bigger model that has everything we wanted. We are very excited to take it out camping.

Lea Mary Jacquelyn Lyon

Lea Mary Jacquelyn Lyon graced us with her presence on June 28th, 2011. That day was the only day of the week that was NOT a good day for her birth. John had an Office Depot district training in the morning and a large movie premier training event in the evening for which he still had a lot of preparation to do. Her arrival was nothing short of exciting. That morning John was preparing to get out the door for the training. As he was busily loading the last few things, Paige informed him that she was having contractions. "How far apart are they," he asked. "Twelve minutes" she responds. "Call me when they are five minutes apart. And call your mom." With that, John left feeling uncertain how things would turn out that day with so much riding on him. Yet, he did not want to miss the birth of his child!

John was a little distracted during his training, and apologized to all in attendance that he would have his cell phone on and would be possibly leaving in the middle. They all understood and thought he was crazy to be there when Paige was having contractions. Paige sent John contraction updates via text message. After the hour-long training John left the meeting. Feeling he had a little time he quickly went next door to purchase some last minute prizes for that evening's training. About 5 minutes after leaving the Office Depot and entering Best Buy Paige called to inform John she and her mom were heading to the hospital. Some neighbors were kind enough to watch Eliza and Julia on short notice.

John quickly left Best Buy and raced home to grab the camera and headed up to McKay Dee Hospital. Paige was settled when John arrived. Jacqui then left to pick up the kids and take them home where she would watch them the rest of the evening. Dr. Gary Silver, a family friend of John's parents, was Paige's Anesthesiologist. He did a really nice job with getting her comfortable.

Lea was born at 3:12pm. She weighed 6lbs 11oz. and 19.5 inches long. She is a beautiful little brunette! John is so excited that we have a little brunette in the family.

After 2 hours in the hospital John had to leave to go back to work. The training event was at the Century Theater in Salt Lake City for the movie premiere of Transformers. He had to work quickly to get all his things together for the training and get down there by 7pm. The event started at 8 with the training portion at10pm and the movie at midnight. Once the movie started John was ready to come home and go bed. It would be a long few days with John alone with the kids trying to keep them together while scheduling visits to the hospital in between.

The girls love their little sister. Julia is head over heels for the baby. She is just so excited every time she sees her. Eliza loves her too, but was not too warm to her in the beginning. She was struggling enough sharing time and attention with Jules, now there is one more body to get Mom's attention.

Through the last 9 months Lea has filled our home with much joy. She has an adorable face and an infectious smile that fills the room with joy. Eliza has always been an intense child. Jules was our most mellow child. Lea is our happiest child. When she sits in her excer-saucer she squawks at us to get attention. Lucky for her she has two parents and two sisters who adore her. Julia has always loved Lea. She gets so excited to see her each day that most morning she wakes her up by getting in her crib and cuddling her. Eliza has warmed up to her. Over the last 3 months she really loves spending time with her and has become a good little helper for her parents. She now feeds Lea bottles and gets her binkis when we are in the car. Eliza is always trying to carry her little sister around the house – much to her parents’ disapproval.

Lea loves being doted on. She is fully capable of holding her own bottle, yet she refuses to hold it herself. She just enjoys being fed. Lately she has been sitting up while drinking from a bottle. Her favorite food is puffs, little cereal-like treats that are very light and quickly melt in her mouth. When we pour puffs on her food tray she quickly grabs s hand full before we can even finish pouring them on the tray. It reminds us of the game hungry-hungry hippos!

Night time has always been a challenge with little children. Lea has been the easiest baby. She sleeps the best of the three. It’s nice we have a pretty good sleeper. She allows us to get some rest at night!

At 7 months Lea was showing us signs of being ready to crawl. She would get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. It was quite comical to put her down to bed and check on her with the baby video monitor and see her rocking back and forth rather than sleeping. By 8 months she was ready and began her crawling. Within 3-4 days she was tooling around the house exploring her new world. Her desire to be held decreased once she began crawling. But she is still a very sweet and enjoys being held and grabbing and pulling hair.

We love this little sweet chunky child. We are so fortunate to have her part of our eternal family.

New Baby to come in July 2011

Back in November we found out that we would be expecting our 3rd addition to the family! We decided that we would wait the traditional 3 months or 1st trimester before saying anything to anyone. It was especially hard on Paige who was so sick during the Holidays. She was so nervous she would give it away because she was constantly running to the bathroom during the family Christmas parties. Luckily there are a lot of people in our families, so her absence from time to time was not noticed.

The 2nd trimester came and as is normal for Paige, she wasn't showing anything. We then had the grand idea to wait until someone noticed before we would make any announcements. Of course, that puts a little stress on the individual who has to be the first to ask the question nobody wants to ask!

Near the 5th month Paige started to show. Nobody had said anything. We were so close to the 5 month ultrasound when the doctor shows you the sex of the baby. We decided that we would hold out a little longer and find out the sex of the baby, then make an official announcement. The problem - she was now showing and we had family parties to attend! So we decided to hide the pregnancy the best we could by Paige wearing bulky clothing and jackets. It worked pretty well. Only Paige's sister Casey noticed, but she was too scared to say anything.

On Friday, February 18th, we went to the hospital for the ultrasound. Well...It's another GIRL. I guess John doesn't have the recipe for boys in his genes. We are excited to have another girl. It should make things pretty easy since we know how to raise girls and we have all the clothes, etc. for them. We admit a small amount of disappointment that we are not having a boy. We are in no way disappointed to be having this little girl, and will love her as much as the other two. We are just sad that we may not have any boys. This very well could be our last child. I refuse to keep trying just to have a boy. Right now we will be stretching ourselves financially to have 3. Who know what our future holds for us financially, but we also have to consider how much we can emotionally give to our children. We don't want to be stretched too thin.

As an aside. We will mention a funny experience we had when we were dating. We went for a walk on a Sunday afternoon (something we did quite frequently back in the day - mostly to get away from roommates.) We went down a dead end road and stopped to kiss for a minute. It was at that same location that John proposed to Paige, but mostly because of what happened on that Sunday afternoon. Nobody was around, and thus we felt it safe to kiss in this mostly secluded dead end. All of a sudden two old Latinos or Native Americans rode by on bikes - we weren't sure. The old man rode by first, not saying a word. We quickly stopped kissing but continued to hold the embrace. The old lady then rode by with a huge smile revealing half of her teeth missing. She then boldly exclaimed, "I think you'll have three children!" We couldn't help but have a good laugh over that, especially since we were in the infancy of our dating back then. We often have a good laugh over that experience. We jokingly refer to it as prophecy. It was after that day that we became serious in our dating. Maybe she was prophesying of our future with children.

We planned to have our parents over for dinner that weekend to share the great news with them. John's parents were going to Arizona to see Grandma Lyon so they couldn't come over. So John offered to take them to the airport. He asked them to come early so we could show them the ultrasound video. He told them to come early so they could spend a few minutes with the kids, which they eagerly agreed to do. It was funny because we showed the video and they immediately knew what was going on and gave congratulatory hugs and kisses to us both. Michael then said, "I was wondering if you were pregnant. I was going to ask Mary Margaret in private because I noticed you were wearing a maternity shirt." Well, that is really funny because the shirt she was wearing was not a maternity shirt. In his defense, the "in style" shirt actually has band that sits high like a maternity shirt. And when a girl is pregnant, it really accentuates it like a maternity shirt does. We then got to the part where the doctor revealed the baby's sex and they were so happy for us. It was nice for them to go to Arizona and share the wonderful news with Grandma Lyon and the Bowmans.

John and Jacque came over for dinner on Saturday afternoon. We also showed them the ultrasound video. This time we knew exactly at what point the video revealed the baby's sex. John was a little stressed when showing his parents because they were trying to catch a flight and he didn't want to sit through the whole video and make them wait. The comedy of this screening came when Jacque wasn't sure what this video was. Then it dawned on her that this wasn't some weird intro to a movie (we told them we were watching a movie they would like). We then got to the part where the baby's sex was revealed. The screen image was paused by the tech. And we asked, "well, you can see what we're having," and John said, "A boy?" Well, not exactly. You'd think that after 5 girls he would recognize girl pluming, but we will give him a pass because they didn't have ultrasounds back then like we do today.

So now comes the challenge to name this little cutie before she comes to our family sometime around July 7th, 2011. So far we are both fond of the name Lea. This will probably be her name, considering no other name has been on both of our approved lists. And it is a nice, beautiful traditional name, which we both like. Paige also wants her name to end in an "A" like her sisters' names. OK, so we have a strong candidate for a first name, but what about a middle name? We cannot quite break that conundrum. That will be determined at a later date. We like honoring family members as we have with Eliza Paige and Julia Faun (after Grandma Lyon - Mildred Faun Lyon). But other siblings have used grandmother's names, so we will look elsewhere. We really like Grace, but that doesn't give homage to any family members. Then again, we only know so many so honoring an ancestor that we don't know doesn't seem too likely. If she were a boy then the decision would be easy - Harrison. But alas, the Lord has blessed us in another way. And we are grateful for what He has given us. We have no regrets.

Eliza doesn't like the name Lea. She really wants to name her Twinkle. She gets really upset when we refer to her as Lea. Paige had a talk with her about her name being Lea but she was free to call her Twinkle as a nickname, just as Paige calls her Eli-belly. The other day Eliza told John that the baby's name was "Twinkle, but Mom was going to call her Lea." You've got to love the funny things that come out of children's mouths.

Gardner Family Intervention 2010

This September the Gardner family met in Ashton Idaho for a family reunion aka "Intervention" to celebrate Jacque's 60th birthday. John and Jacque rented a huge home on a large piece of land in little Ashton Idaho. They did this so we could all easily travel there (with the exception of Jared and Shawna in California). Jacque also wanted to bring the whole family together, including kids rather than run off to an excluded island like we did for John's birthday. Some might argue that John just went cheep on Jacques birthday. We'll leave the speculations out of the post, however, as we are happy for their generosity regardless of location!

We were the first ones to the house and John had to find an unlocked door around back to let us in. The house is strait out of the 60s with no real upgrades or improvements. Honestly, it was a bit disappointing that so little money has been put into keeping the house updated. Old carpet, furniture and 15 year old "big screen" TV aside, the house was perfect for large group gatherings. The 3 car garage had been converted into a little indoor rec. room where the Gardner girls kept themselves entertained all week with tricycle basket ball and floor hockey. It's funny that the room was made for children but the kids were discouraged from playing in there. Oh well. (sigh)

We kept ourselves busy with fun activities such as tennis, horse shoes, rides in the canoe in the pond, playing on the swing set, ping pong and fort building in the basement bunk house. Eliza loved playing with all her cousins and the swing set most of all. Julia loved playing in the little indoor playhouse with slide.
On the first evening we all went out to eat at a little known hamburger joint that is locally famous for having the largest hamburgers in the world. I'm not sure if they really are the biggest, but I have a hard time believing that there are many people that can eat a whole burger. John and Jared shared one and they barely finished it!


The rest of the evenings we at at the lodge. Each night 2 people fixed a different dinner dish and 2 people fixed a dessert. We then voted on which dish and dessert we liked best. At the end of the week each family had cooked one meal and one dessert. It was a great way to try lots of fun dishes within the different themed nights! Paige accidentally grabbed the stale peanuts at home and thus ruined her pad thai meal. :( She would have won otherwise! She did, however win on her dessert - Mexican Chocolate Flan. It was delicious. Not only did it win for best dessert of the night, but best dessert of the week! She is a fantastic cook which we are lucky to have her in our home as a full-time cook.


Heath Johnson has two very big trucks that are jacked up with lift kits. John and Heath went out in the yellow Excursion aka the Bus and hit some off road trails near the lodge. Later they went out in the rock crawling Explorer and had a real fun time doing serious off roading!



The last night there we signed the guest book. All the previous guests had done a fancy page with all the activities they had done while in at the lodge. We got a good laugh at all the groups that had come before us. It is obvious that the owners were LDS as were most of the guests. Many funny activities were "writing letters to the missionaries," "firesides" etc. Although we may be LDS, our activities do not center around the church while on vacation - sorry. John suggested we create a page with ridiculous activities like rebuilt old car, hunted and skinned a bear, completed our genealogy back to Cain etc. OK, so these things were a little far fetched and a tad blasphemous, but they would have been funny. The activities that were eventually put down were honest, but the pages were created in a mocking manner with Gardner Intervention rather than Gardner Reunion. That was John's idea too!


All in all notwithstanding all the craziness that happened that week we had a good time and we're glad that Paige's family is willing to get together for reunions. We just wish John's family was that dedicated. With monthly get-togethers, it just diminishes the desire to get together for a family reunion. We really feel it is a lack of commitment and selfishness that prevents a Lyon reunion. Everyone is too concerned with their own family vacations and doesn't want to sacrifice so that we can all share a vacation/ reunion experience. We have tried on several occasions to rally the troops and put together a fun proposal but each time it is shot down by one or two families. So we're done trying. Here's to hoping! :)

Eliza's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Eliza's 3rd birthday 2 weeks ago. It is so hard to imagine that sweet little girl has been with us for 3 years now. She has been such a joy. That's not to say she hasn't brought her fair share of challenges either. She was a challenge out the gate and continues to be so, but we love her immensely and her sweetness and fun personality make it all worth it.
We had the great idea of taking Eliza to the Zoo for her birthday and inviting cousins and friends to come along if they wanted to join us. That idea was made with good intentions but ultimately proved to not be a good idea!
We felt bad that the price of admission was so high - $9 for adults and $7 for children. Most there had several kids. We were joined by Paige's sisters Stephany and Cassey and her 3 children, John's sister Linda and her two kids, Paige's friend Jenny and her two kids and our next door neighbor and good friend Shaela Wilson and her 3 kids. We took Maddy with us since Natalie couldn't make it. Due to the cost of admission we asked that nobody bring presents, but they all did anyway. We provided pizza and cupcakes for everyone but forgot to bring chips and watermelon that we had at home. Ugh!
The group wasn't very big, but it was still a challenge to keep everyone together and move from exhibit to exhibit with the whole group. Time drug on in the scorching hot sun and kids got grouchy and soon we wanted to go home but could not since the kids still wanted to play and see the animals.
Eliza loved her party, even though it would have been easier to do a party at the house. It was really cute to see her with all her cousins and friends running around the zoo looking at the animals.
We are so grateful for this little girl who brings us so much joy. She teaches us many things, patience being one of them, but more importantly she teaches us how to be parents. We strive to be good ones. She let's us know when we fall short with something tender that breaks our hearts like, "you have to be nice to me" said with tears in her eyes and chocked up speech.
The time has flown by. How nice it would be to slow down time so we could enjoy our little ones even longer. They grow up so fast, then they are off doing their own thing and you never see them again. Until then we will love and enjoy our little ones we have been so blessed to receive, especially our Eliza the beautiful.