Wheeler Farm take 2

You are probably saying, "what about Wheeler Farm take 1?" Wheeler Farm take 1 happened in May with Kristen, Bella, and Harry - but the pics of that event are on my mom's camera so that event will be documented later. NOW --back to Wheeler Farm take 2. Wheeler farm is such a great place. You can feed the ducks and pet the cows and sheep and go on hay rides and all for FREE!!! I met up with my dear friend VAL and her sweet baby doll ANNIE. After talking we realized we haven't seen each other in over 2 years!! That is 2 years too long. But it just didn't seem that long because we stay in touch so much through email and blogging. The blogging world is CRAZY! I have a love-hate relationship with blogging. On one hand it helps me stay in touch with so many friends all over the country. On the other hand it makes me lazy in actually getting together with friends I am close to. "I know what's going on in her life - I read her blog!" I still don't think it takes the place of a good old fashioned girls day out. So to my dear friend VAL - thanks for the pictures, thanks for the talk, and thanks for the good old fashioned trip to Wheeler Farm!

Kids say the Darndest things

Yesterday I was in the Young Women's class in church and we were talking about how to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The teacher presented a scenario to the girls and the discussion went something like this,

Teacher: "What if you were invited by some friends to go to the lake on Sunday and they told you just to skip church? Do you think the Spirit would prompt you to go with your friends or to go to church?"
12-year-old girl: "He would prompt me to go to church."
Teacher: "Why?"
Girl: "Because the Holy Ghost is Mormon and so are we!"

Good answer. Atta girl!

Take Me Out to the BAAAALLLLL GAAAAME!

A couple weekends ago we went with the Gardners and the Wattses to family night at the Bees Game. Harmons has vouchers to get into Bees games on Monday night for $3 per person as opposed to the usual $10 per person every other night. We bought tickets for the grass in the outfield so the kids could run around without disturbing anyone. Rachel got to meet "Bumble" and Paul and Brandon BOTH caught balls in the outfield. Rachel carried the ball around telling people that "Bumble" gave it to her. Ben had a fun time with Amber - Brandon's cute girlfriend. We all laughed and snacked and a wonderful time was had by all.

I love doing dishes!!

I know I know - anyone who knows me is probably reading this saying, "I'm on the wrong blog page because the Natalie I know HATES doing dishes!" That is true. Of ALL the household chores that need doing - dishes are my LEAST favorite thing - seriously - I'd rather scrub the toilet than do the dishes...until today. My SWEET little sister Sylvia came up to Vernal to visit this weekend while Paul is in Price for a CES area convention. Syl came with the intent to have some girl time, be with me and her niece and nephew, and help me SPRING CLEAN (bless her heart). The first thing we did when she got here was go straight to the store and stock up on cleaning supplies because we were going to attack EVERY area of the house. While at the store we found the new "Cascade+Dawn magic pouches" ---you know the little premeasured pouches you just stick in the dishwasher tray. We decided since this was "Clean Spree 2008" we would give'em a whirl, and now I'M HOOKED!!! I don't even want to tell you what kind of baked on week old CRUD that detergent was able to get off my dishes because then you'd be grossed out that I left the dishes for so long but I am SERIOUS! It almost became a game to see how good it worked. We would put stuff in the dishwasher laughing all the while and saying "There is NO WAY it's going to get this stuff off!" But sure enough - as soon as the cycle was over EVERYTHING was COMPLETELY CLEAN! The other plus is that it doesn't leave that cloudy film on the glasses that other soaps do. I am seriously ADDICTED TO THIS STUFF. I want to bake just to be able to fill a load and run the dishwasher and see what this soap can do. It's crazy. SO GIVE IT A WHIRL!! I promise you won't be disappointed!

Super Genes

Anyone who has ever seen my children, whether for the first time or the fifteenth, has made a comment that goes something like this, "Wow! You don't know who THEIR daddy is DO you! Ha Ha..." yeah ha ha ha---funny. Anyway, here is more photographic evidence of the Gardner Gene Pool at work. Here are Paul and Kent (Paul's older brother) holding their sons, Ben and Harrison. Pretty dang cute if you ask me. And if you go to an older post you'll see the girls - Rachel and Bella - who could EASILY pass for sisters they look so much alike. So it's a really good thing the Gardners have a GREAT gene pool and that each grand kid that emerges from said pool is just dripping with cuteness or I'd begin to feel a little gypped - I carried them for 9 months - shouldn't there be a little of me somewhere in that pool too?! I take it back, Rachel DID get my stick-like figure and long feet---sorry babe.

Memorial Day Weekend

Ammy and Papa came with my siblings to visit this weekend. They stayed at a hotel with an indoor pool so we got a chance to sport our new swimming gear. Here is macho lifeguard-in-training Ben. Rachy LOVED the water as you can tell. It was a new hurdle for me because this is the first time she has been swimming potty trained. After about an hour in the pool she shrieked "MOMMY I NEED TO GO POOPOO!!" I grabbed her and booked it upstairs to the hotel room. After taking care of business I asked her if she needed to go pee pee too to which she replied, "No I peepeed in the swimming!" YUCK! Thank goodness for chlorine.

4 YEARS....

2 Bachelor's Degrees, 6 moves, and 2 kids later and we're still loving every minute! Thanks for the joy and the love and the growth and the patience and the tears and the prayers and the laughter ---Thank You Paul for the best 4 years of my life. I love you forever PJG! Happy Anniversary!

Potty Training part 2

Potty training is a huge turning point not only in a child's life but as a parent. Rachel was...easy. Day 1 consisted of accident after accident, total frustration, calling my mother in tears, chilling in the bathroom ALL DAY (literally) and finally having one successful "pee pee in the potty" and that was it! Really! I gave her a skittle for sitting on the potty, I gave her one for having dry panties, I gave her one each time she told me she needed to go - and then when she FINALLY did it I LOADED HER UP WITH SO MUCH CANDY SHE'S GOOD TILL NEXT HALLOWEEN! We called every immediate family member with a cell phone, we showered her with praise - and that was it. It was finished. It was like she said, "That's it? All I had to do to get candy and be praised and STAY DRY was pee in that thing? Really? There's no catch? SWEET!" I have learned from friends and books and articles on the subject that the ONLY way to go is cold turkey straight to the panties. No diapers or pull-ups at night - no cheating. Well I am here to tell you that CHEATING is the only way to go. I put on a pull-up OVER Rachel's panties when she goes to bed. That way if she starts to dribble she FEELS wet (not like diapers that absorb it all) but I don't have to do a full jammy, bed sheet change at 2 in the morning! Pretty sweet. I figure that way I don't "untrain her" or teach her to rely on the pull-ups - but it saves a LOT of laundry for me, and let's face it - don't we all have enough laundry to do anyway!?!

She Did It!

Winnie the Pooh potty with flushing sound effects---------$21.95

Two eight-packs of princess panties and elmo panties-----$18.75

Princess pull-ups for church and long car trips------------$8.50

Jumbo bag of skittles for "rewarding" purposes-----------$2.50

Never having to change my 2-year-old's diapers again----PRICELESS

That's right folks - Rachel is officially potty trained. Well I don't know if it's official. I have to help her with the undies and she's too small to get on the big potty by herself...what do you think? She can't go all by herself - so maybe she ISN'T officially potty trained - but she is accident free and tells me when she needs to go, and she doesn't wet the bed at night (instead she lays in bed and screams her head off at 2:00 in the morning till I run in to pick her up and get her to the potty before it's too late). SO maybe she's only HALF potty trained. You tell me.

POTTY TRAINING!!!

The signs are evident...the time has come...to embark on the great adventure of.........POTTY TRAINING!! SO if any of you have any words of wisdom before I sign my life away please let me know. Pull-ups or panties? Training potty or "seat over the seat" that sits on top of the real toilet? Panties in the day and diapers at night or panties all the time? Rewards? Sticker charts? Books about the subject that you would recommend? ANYTHING!?! (p.s.I know that Princess Throne is a little much but it was the only pic I could find)