Happiness=Sandbox

From the moment we moved into our big new beautiful home Seth has been asking ONE question..."Daddy, when are you going to build me my sandbox?" We've been patiently explaining that there were other priorities that had to come first. But you see, the boy's favorite feature in the old house was the sandbox we made when MonteBirk was a baby. Daddy got a little anxious about it himself this summer...they all LOVE the sand box, but Seth's pleas were so heart wrenching...the day before I took the boys to Utah for an extended "get out of Dodge" this is what we had...

BEFORE

And what we came home to after a mere 9 days in Utah...much to all of our surprise!

AFTER

Built to Seth's specifications

*2 umbrella's for shade*deep enough that you can never find the bottom *big enough for all 4 boys to play at the same time...
We all agreed that WE'VE GOT THE BEST DAD!!

Great minds think alike so they say. Karen and I both brought glow sticks for the kids to play with that evening. There was no shortage of pretend light sabers!

Seth has a special friendship with cousin Kalena. They really seemed to hit it off on this trip! The joy of it all is that it takes maybe a nano second for these sweet faces to turn into

this when they are together!

Fireworks

Isn't my sisters family GORGEOUS!!?? They brought a picnic dinner for us all to share while we waited for the fireworks. I was worried that sitting out and waiting for 4 hours would be a bit much for the kids. But Karen was right, once again, and it was an awesome time playing and enjoying the weather while we waited for the sun to go down.

Provo had a street fair on Main. It was MUCH larger than when Monte and I were in school. It had booths and displays froth thither to yon…we walked the entire trek! There were knife carvers, sidewalk artists…you name it…but the most intriguing thing for my boys was the reptile man.

However...THIS was as close as they would come to

THIS

Apparently the really, really small ones?...not so scary!

Cousin Kalena had an aweome blow-up pool that we took a dunk in after the parade to cool off.

JuLy 4th PaRAde!!

The Lady behind us wanted to know where we got the idea for our AwEsOme Hats...family fun magazine, of course!

Clyde

Seth

Little Jack-et lasted to the end of the parade, I confess the hat didn't stay on as well as I'd have liked...he was more interested in eating his when he was awake.

Bowling

This was one of my favorite activities while we were in Utah. Everyone took it SO SERIOUSLY! We were meeting Karen at BYU's bowling alley and literally last minute (on our way there) we called an old friend Jen Giles Groberg and invited her to come with her girls. So glad she blew off her plans and came. It's been about 6 years since I've seen her.

FuN!!

I teod her I wouldn't do anything public with this picture...

guess I lied...

UTAH!!

4 boys and Mom in Utah for 9 days

could it be heaven?...

could it be h-e-double hockey sticks? You guessed it!

HEAVEN!

Among other things....we jumped on the trampoline, rode bicycles, caught up with the ice cream man, visited with MANY of moms old friends, played in the sandbox, went to the park, the water park, Thanksgiving Point children's gardens, bowling, blew bubbles, saw the 4th of July Parade AND Stadium of Fire, met up with Daddy for a day and 1/2, hiked, got cotten candy at the parade, touched snakes, made hats, played with cousins...from both sides of the family...

we did it all!!

Good Friends

Have you ever met someone with whom you immediately feel a kind of bond with? I have, not too many, but when it happens it seems to stick! My first day at UofA, or close to it, I literally ran into this crazy girl in the hallway of the music building. Both of us were lost, it turns out, and oddly we struck up a sort of conversation. We were close to the same age, both talk too much, both a little energetic for our own good, both getting our Masters, both relative newlyweds, both did our undergrad at the Y, both repeating quite a few courses because we failed the diagnostics...(they expect you to retain that stuff?)...the list goes on. We had an immediate kinship.

Adriane Parry Hapgood...

...Well, she is now an outstanding musician starting up the Ozarks Girls Chorus out there in ArKANsas (I like to tease). With her husband and...COUNT 'EM... 4 girls!! She came to town on her way to Germany, go figure, and we met up. You know the kind of friend, where you can go a year or so without talking at all and suddenly one day get a phone call that lasts hours...thats this friendship. We went swimming and watched a movie...what fun...maybe one of these cuties could end up in my family someday? I couldn't wish for better in-laws for my guys!

RoCK StARs!!

We enrolled in Miss Jenee's That's Entertainment workshop this year...a high intensity 2 week musical workshop.So much FUN! Monte had it hard dancing and practicing every day for about 4 hours!! Seth and Clyde had less movement to learn but more songs...everyday for an hour and 1/2. It was a long haul for two weeks commuting them to the Queen Creek studio, but worth every penny and every minute in the car! I was SO PROUD of my little Rock stars! They still perform their shows for me when I turn on their music CD! (It's crazy to think that I used to help her run this workshop 12 years ago when Monte and I were just engaged, and then a few years after that when we lived in AZ as newlyweds...time flies!)

We LOVE Miss Jenee!!

A goofy highlight was in the "limbo" song when Seth didn't have his arms high enough for Clyde's liking...he was supposed to limbo under...we had a "brother" moment on the stage that the entire audience thought was quite funny!

Monte Birk's solo gave his mommy chills. He was so confident and he sang so well!!

There is nothing so wonderful as seeing your children enjoy the things they are participating in and doing a wonderful job! Grandma Gardiner came from Utah to see the show and made it feel extra special for us all. We love you Grandma!

DaDDy DaDDy, DaDDy

HaPpY FaThER's DaY MoNTe SR!

(we'll blog more about that later!! oh my...)

We love you Daddy!!!!

This just seems to say it all!!!!

RoCK StaR!

There is this magical "spiker gel" we came upon a few years back that can actually handle the Gardiner Cow-licks...we fondly refer to it at our house as "liquid nails" for hair. It came in quite handy today for the crazy hair day at Miss Jenee's summer work shop. I just had to put in the two pictures so you could see how high it actually stood...and it DID stay! For over 3 hours of rehearsal and summer sweat and well into the evening, that is, until we swam!