Summer Recap

All good things must come to an end. I'm kind of bummed that summer is ending, because it was such an awesome summer. I'm ready for fall though. I don't want it to get super cold but I have to say I do love fall. I just wanted to share some of the highlights of my summer. I think it kind of started out slow though, with Paul deciding to do a summer semester of school. It did pick up in the end, but I also found things to do to keep me busy with Paul in school.

This summer was my summer of concerts! In June we went and saw Eddie Money with my family. Eddie Money was way fun, especially since my dad was here and we actually went as a family. I don't think i've ever been to a concert with both my parents AND all my siblings. Paul gave me the BEST birthday gift. I also got to go to see BACKSTREET BOYS! I have to say that was probably the most fun for me. I got to re-live my past. I was obsessed with them in my teens! And Boy they can dance! Just love them. In July my mom and I went to Draper Days and saw Colin Raye. He is one of my favorites. He did a lot of his hits that included a lot of my faves like LITTLE ROCK; ONE BOY, ONE GIRL; THE GIFT; and several others. I grew up with a lot of different kinds of music, and love them all. You can probably tell by my concert choice this year. But oh so fun!

June Higlights:
~No more school!
~My dad came to visit us for Fathers Day! First one with him since my parents divorced. We were also able to take pictures with him and just enjoy a long visit.
~ My Birthday!
~ BackStreet Boys!

July:
~ 4th of July
~ Colin Raye
~ Got to visit with a cousin who I havn't seen in years and met his new wife and my new cousin. So much fun. Great visit, too bad it was short!
~ Family stuff
~ Stadium of Fire with Carrie Underwood! Totally forgot to mention her in concerts! It was way fun. They have the BEST fireworks there too!
~ This Century came and did an acoustic set at my mom's house! It was amazing! I found a new group that I love!
~ May not be so exciting, but Paul started his summer semester.

August:
~ Paul graduated SLCC with two Associates
~ He also completed a Phlebotomy class and is trying to find work in that
~ CALIFORNIA!Much needed vacation and had a blast with the family.

I'm sad its coming to an end, but it was so much fun. We ended on good times and made awesome memories. We celebrated C.J.'s birthday last week and my mom threw him a surprise party. See next post for pics. We also enjoyed a fun Labor day weekend with friends and family. Hope everyone had an awesome summer and will have a great end of the year!

Farrells and Wahoos

I forgot to add this to my last post and wanted to let everyone know that when you go to Cali you have to go to WAHOOS. They have the best fish tacos ever! We also went to celebrate the August birthdays at FARRELLS. That place is awesome! Noisy too! If you order the Zoo they carry it out on a stretcher and run around the shop and deliver it to you making a huge deal out of it. It was fun! For those who don't know what the zoo is, which may be many of you since I didn't know before, its a huge thing of ice cream with 7 different flavors. They have 4 ice cream and 3 fruit flavors. They also serve 4 different toppings with it. It serves 15-20 people. It was fun to have it. I love that they do fun things at that place. It is one fun ice cream place!

California Part 2: PICTURES

I guess these are better late than never. I just wanted to add some fun pictures of our family vacation. This was the first time my entire family has been on vacation together in 5 years. We had a great time and made plenty of new memories. This is also the first time in years that my grandma had all her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids together. We took advantage of this and did a random family pic. The pic. above is of all of us cousin and great grandkids, I will have to post the actual family picture when my uncle gets them to us.

We spent 2 days at DisneyLand. The above collage is Day 2 when it was just Paul and I. Below is day one with the family. It was Halle's first time and so much fun.

While we were in Cali we also celebrated my cousin's 4th birthday. We went all the way to Cali to just go to Chuck E Cheese. It was actually pretty fun. They do huge parties for the kids. They had a ticket tank where you go in and try to catch the tickets (for b day kids only). Porter was first and had no idea what he was doing so he just stood there as tickets were flying everywhere! It was too cute though.

You can't really go to California and not go to the beach!

Paul and I had another opportunity to go to San Juan Capistrano Mission. If you read my post from last years trip you will know a little more about it. They had a Zorro exhibit this year. It was way fun. Plus its always fun to get to spend extra time with Grandma. We invited Garrett to come with us then after that we went to Ruby's Diner for lunch. Yummy! They had a kids game area and some other things going on. Garrett got to play on the stilts and learn to use a weaving loom or machine. Whatever they are called.

Disasters

What happens when you come home from a nice, relaxing, much needed vacation?

Your basement apartment is flooded!!

No JOKE! Paul and I arrived home late last night completely relaxed and ALMOST ready to get back to life and we came home to a flood. Thanks a lot storm from Wednesday night. I'm now stressed and already needing a new vacation. Welcome Home, my butt.

California Part 1

I decided since I have a little bit of time right now, I will update you on whats going on with us Gardiners. The time has come where we have been finally able to take a much needed vacation this year. We have been enjoying some R and R (most of the time) in California since the 10th of this month. We usually go on vacation in May, but this year since my mom wanted the whole family there at once we waited until now, Paul was smart and took advantage of that time and did summer school, completed his Associate program, and will now be able to start the U in the fall. I didn't bring my cord to upload our pics, so they will be posted as soon as I have a chance once we are home. I'll give a brief update or at least try to of some of our highlights. We got here late Tuesday night and enjoyed being able to see grandma for a couple of hours. Wednesday we got up early and went and spent the day at NewPort Beach. Some of my cousins came with us. This trip had a lot of FIRSTS. This was my niece's first time here and it was so much fun to spend it with her. This was Halle's first trip and first visit to the beach. My cousin Aubrey loved Paul and wanted to play with him. They were out in the water forever jumping waves and just having a good time. Paul was chasing after her and got stung by a bee. That was a FIRST for him. We had a lunch and just had fun and enjoyed each others company. Thursday was DisneyLand! I loved being able to be there with Halle. We did some rides that Paul and I havn't done in years. Because we spent more of our time with the family Paul and I went back on Tuesday after my family had left. We did all of our rides and Paul finally was able to get his picture with Tigger. We also saw Aladin at California Adventures. That was one of my highlights. They put a great show together. Friday, we celebrated my cousin Porter's 4th birthday at Chuckee Cheese. They put a cool party together for the kids. Saturday was spent at Laguna Beach. The water was freakin cold. We also got to go see our cousin Katie. She is doing a lot better than earlier this summer. We were able to take a family picture and have all the grandkids and great grandkids together for the first time. My grandma loved that. We also went to Balboa for frozen bananas. They are my favorite. My family left Sunday and that left Paul and I here to have some more vacation time here. We lounged on Sunday. Monday, my grandma let us take her car and we went to Downtown Disney. Wednesday we just lounged around since we stay at DisneyLand til closing. We didn't get home til 1:30. Today we went to San Juan Capistrano mission. It is so fun to go and do that tour. Its a lot of history. This summer they had a Zorro exhibit and Paul loved it. I did too. My cousin Garrett went with us then we went to lunch at Rubys. I love coming here and spending time with my family. Its been super hot here and thats something I'm not that use too. Of course we have grandma's pool but that water is too cold. Its so fun though, i'm sad this trip is coming to an end. At least I'll be able to post the pics. Hope everyone had a good summer.

Goodbye SLCC, Hello U

CONGRATS PAUL!

Paul has officially graduated with 2 Associates and is FINALLY done with SLCC. YAY!!! I'm glad we can finally say that. We were a little worried this semester as he was finishing statistics. That class officially kicked his butt. I'm proud of him for enduring it and passing it. He has studied very hard this summer and has literally had no free time. I've been super bored with that. Congrats Paul. I'm excited that we can move on to the next part and that you can start the U in the fall. We finally have time to enjoy some of our summer. So whats next for us???.... A trip to CALIFORNIA!!

New Look

This is my new look. I recently put more blonde in my hair and am loving it. Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law Becky!