Unconventionalities...

Church was cancelled today for the second week in a row. We received permission from the Stake President to have the Sacrament in our homes today.

Kent blessed and passed it. Then we sang Christmas songs and all bore our testimonies. After Kent and I went, this is what was added to this unconventional Sacrament meeting.

Bella testimony: I love to bear my testimony and to talk. I love Heavenly Father because he is my daddy and loves me. I love Jesus. I love Christmas. I love Santa. I went to Whole Foods yesterday and sat on his lap and told him what I want. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Did we miss the mark? Continual course corrections I guess, just as President Uchdorf suggests. Anyway, this preceeded a discussion about the real meaning of Christmas.

Harry's testimony: Jesus.

At any rate, the spirit was so strong and special and.........there is just something comforting about going to church in your jammies. Snowed in and lovin' every minute.

Snowed In...

This snow continues. Our county doesn't own one Snowplow....so here we sit. School has been out all week....madness, I say....madness! They need to spend one week in Park City and then reinstate the conversation. NIKE campus was even shut down yesterday...so Kent had to come home.

But despite the craziness...we are loving being snowed in. Here's what's going on at the Gardner Homestead.

Here's Bella playing in the snow. It has really helped it feel like a homey Christmas for us.

Harry playing with the pots. I put the pots away no less the 24 times a day. No Joke. And as soon as I put them back, they are right back out and Harry is asking for a spoon to stir his creation. I think he is going to be a chef when he grows up.

Short of sticking the kids in front of the TV, I have tried EVERYTHING to keep them entertained. As long as Harry has his pots and my undivided attention were good, so Bella has been up to all sorts of mischief to keep herself busy. Her favorite is taking the camera (which I asked her not to touch because it is quickly becoming as tempermental as the computer) and snapping shots of the snow village (which I asked her to leave alone because there is already something broken on every building) and asking "which I prefer?" So you can see that our discipline is right on track......blah!!

We have been reading alot though....relying on books on tape from the library when my voice has given out.

How freaking cute are the men in my life! This is right before........church was cancelled.

And my ever reluctant sleeper.....refusing naps and feeling that nighttime is overrated. Finally gave it up in my arms.....oh how I love those moments though. Bella took the picture of course.

Portland Whimps...

I would say woosies....but I'm not sure how you spell that. So we had a snowstorm. It was a little hug from home. I love it. You can still see the grass but the snow was there, all 1 cm of it. And then comes the call..........church is cancelled. What? I went to church in 7 feet of snow all winter in Park City, (uphill both ways, if you cared to know) and it was never cancelled. Wait, but there's more, businesses closed, and SCHOOLS CLOSED. NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY. I'm sorry for the profanity but that is deservant of a "What the hell?" Need I repeat, 1 cm can still see grass...

And yes, the 1 cm is all black ice. If you do choose to brave and drive to work, you will slide all the way there, because they have no snow plows or salt to clear the roads (this is a mathematical puzzle to me, if you live 1 hour from the ocean, why isn't salt more readily available to spread over our blackice so that we don't have Kristi Yamguchi it everywhere.)

Portland whimps....

Imposing Edifice...

A visit to the Pittock mansion, complete with Santa...


In the words of Dick Van Dyke, "it's an imposing edifice what first meets the eye", though it is known to Portlanders as the Pittock Mansion. Bella dubbed it a castle, Harry was thrilled with the Night-before-Christmas theme. The manicans placed in the beds for a life-like rendering of the Night-before -Christmas classic poem, were vaguely disturbing, to put it mildly but besides that the entire Mansion was just beautiful. Thanks for the reccommendation Hike-A-Deb. Even from afar you inspire.

This is my amazingly talented friend Kylene. She is so wonderful and consented to come on one of my many hair-brained adventures.

Jane Austen anyone? I felt one empire dress and shawl short of a 18th centure "Walk in the Park." It was truly a magnificent place.

Manicans in bed.... see, a little creepy huh?

See Mount Hood in the background....

Princess of the forest.

We are becoming fluent in Jibberish.

Harrison's new Phrases: "Hold you" this is my favorite, Bella did it too and I love it!

"Good" With an enthusiastic nod, often in reply to mom's constant chatter of "What do you think of the tree here or here?" "Do you like the vegetables?" Isn't it a beautiful sunset?" and "It would be better if the Governor of Boise just jumped off a cliff huh?"

"It's Good." Vigorous nod.

He also says:

"Oh my goodness." How cute is that?!

"Jesus"

Bella: She is working on reading and progressing wonderfully. Recognizing letters, words, sounds. She called Grandma yesterday and said "I saw many wonderful things today." Her vocabulary is more formal then most 4 year olds but I love it. If she starts reciting the Declaration of Indepence I will worry........or put her in college first, either way. She is a wonderful sister. The other night, I was quiet during dinner. Kent has been working a lot especially putting in long days, so dinner went without daddy, and I had run out of things to say that day. Bella put her head in her hand looked deeply at me and said " Mom, why don't you go upstairs and go to sleep, I will take care of Harry." Whoa, double take....when did you turn 25? What I said though "was, thanks sweetheart, I like being with you though." That seemed to satisfy her.

She is also taking Karate and LOVING it! We are in the "dabbling/what's your passion" stage. We can dabble with the best of them.

As for me, I just finished reading the Josephine Bonaparte series....it was so so so beautifully written and enlightening and just a refeshing, hearttwisting read. Loved it! Bless you Anna!

Wedding Bliss...

Julianne was by far the most beautiful bride ever....the day was perfect ....the wedding was perfect....it was all just perfect!

Four generations of Gardners....wow...just wow!

Better Idea....

Before going private on her blog my friend invited all people who would like an invitation to leave a comment with their email address.....so dido. You want to be included in the continuing saga that is Gardners Glad tidings which will indclude the mudane, the marvelous and the many idiosyncrasies that make us...well us, leave a comment and email address, I will send you an invitation.

Here's what we've been doing:

Apparently, raking leaves is eternal in the Northwest. But we are having so much fun with it!

Twins...minus 30 years!

Museum...

Bella has been way into Bob the builder recently, so going to the museum with a Bob the Builder exhibit was akin to Disneyland. So much fun!

Good sharing!

OK...this was hilarious! There was a little station that when you pushed the button, that character would say something. And after laughing my guts out, I grabbed the camera to catch Harry's enthusiastic response to Bob's "Can we fix it..."

I hope he keeps this attitude for his whole life. "Yes...can"

Sleeping Harry...

In his delirium, Harrison, fast asleep in the car seat, kept answering Daddy in the affirmative that he wanted to get out, only to fall right back to sleep. Daddy had the good sense to capture this preciousness on film. Is there anything more heavenly then a sleeping baby? It gets dark here around 4:30 so the kids are screaming for bed by 6:00, poor things.

Just let him sleep already! Silly Daddy.

Polictics and Pish-posh.....

I'm not politically affiliated, which is a nice way of saying I can't agree with everything either of the front running candidates say. To which most people say, "Who can?" Perhaps I have been a fence sitter too long. I do watch Jon Stewart's show occasionally, smirks and smiles covering the schmucks in congress, politics given the way I can handle it. (His coverage on last night "Indecision 2008" was hysterical)

I also don't watch the news. There is never anything good on. It feels like the same thing everyday "World's going to hell in a hand-basket, yah dah yah dah..." and I can do without. But I always prayerfully consider the presidential candidates and their policies, and the same thing everytime, neither candidate feels right. So it was with indifference, some awe and excitement (let's face it, I think a change in the White House will be good) I watched President-elect Obama's acceptance speech.

Highlights:

• "Yes, we can" Powerful, feel good.....and a little Bob-the-builder for me. PBS should look into a possible copyright suit.

• McCain's wife has never been a favorite of mine, so doing the mental math of his age minus her age mulitplied by the number of children divided among his 14 houses times by his millions that I hope he tries to find solace in (and will be taxed on now under Obama's captial gains tax)......wow I am all mathed out! What number did you come up with?

• The journalism coverage, every network putting forth their African American journalists to cover the historic event. THE UNITED STATES IS NOT RACIST, get a new angle. It is big yes, to have an amazing African American president, but Palin being the first vice president elect woman would have been just as ground breaking but somehow....not as historical??? Go figure.

• I am pretty sure that the nation started in 1776, or there abouts, approximately July 4th. If I'm wrong ask that nice lady in Mississippi Obama kept quoting, who was apparently there. Anyway, that would, according to my Aristolean mathmatics equal out to 232 years old. I believe Obama relayed 202 years.

• So wait, I have had to put up with tons of negativity from both the Republican and Democratic sides during this campaign, Do I get a puppy too?

I believe that the Republican party put forth the wrong candidate. Mitt Romney's experience and politcal stance were far superior to McCain's but no one could see past his religion. So I wrote him in. Maybe next time. Your thoughts?

Mud Pie....

Sorry about the scawampous angle here. We were raking leaves in the back and Harry was being so quiet and good. Too quiet and too good, I looked over and he was frolicking in the mud. He had found the muddiest hole imaginable and meticulously rearranged the said mud from one side of the border to the other and back again for about 20 minutes. It was so much fun to watch! In the words of my Mary, "You can either get mad, or get the camera." I'm not good at getting mad at messes, so camera it was....how cute is he?!

Bella swinging from the apple tree. I love her smile!

I realized I hadn't posted any Halloween pictures. Here they are. Kent loved taking Bella around the neighborhood, I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact the he is currently hiding the candy in his closet...hmmmmm!

THE Halloween Fairy!

The Courageous Lion....Roar! Who lasted all of two houses before screaming for bed!

Raking leaves...