What I have learned this year...

Apparently, missing the last step of a cement staircase is a bad idea!

Intriguing Invitation

Hello Bishop and Sister Gardner!!

An invitation to the two of you

In appreciation for all that you do!

Can you imagine – try your best,

a party where you are simply “the guest”?

Can you imagine a party that is fun,

one where there is no cooking to be done?

Can you imagine a party that is a blast,

one where you do not have to take out the trash?

Can you imagine a party where you can leave when you please

Instead of one where getting home at 1 AM is just a tease?

Nope, I can’t imagine it either!!

If you did, you must have a rather high fever!

Stop with all those vain imaginations

It is not going to happen with this invitation!

Besides, what fun would that be?

Being “waited on” is boring wouldn’t you agree?

Please reserve the evening of October ninth, two thousand and ten,

Further instructions I will send!

Please RSVP!!

Our Response:

Hello Susan!!

Your invitation intrigued us,

but also fatigued us!

Our imagination was teased,

but also quite pleased!

We loved to say yes,

and be your guest!

Our calendar we are clearing,

because you are so endearing!

We will await, without further debate,

to learn more of our fate!

We look forward to the date,

and the food on our plate!

Our creativity is done,

and we are ready for fun!!!!

Next e-mail from Susan:

Ok, Bishop and Sister Gardner……I have not received a RSVP from you yet! I am going to assume that means you know that you have already indicated to me that you will be free that night and that you are happy to come! Please Confirm that I am correct in this thinking!!

Upon retrospect, my invitation may not have sounded so inviting….it is hard to control my teasing nature…..I promise no dishes, no cooking, and no trash!

Your “further instructions” are listed below…..assuming my assumption is correct, that you are assuming that I already have assumed that you are coming!

Have a good night,

Assumptive Susan

Further Instructions – Part A!

Please answer ALL of the following questions:

Mom's answers

Dad's answers

Dear Assumptive Susan,

Your assumptions were correct, because I assumed that you assumed that we assumed that we had already saved the assumed date! Sorry we were tardy with the RSVP, but we wanted to be as fun with our reply as you had been with your invitation - we tried, but we weren't as clever!

Here are my answers to your rather interesting & intriguing questions!

Debbie

1) Are you allergic to animals? If so which ones and can it be handled by medicine?

I know of no animals to which I am allergic. But I might claim that I'm allergic to bees because I am so scared of them!

My constitution is amazing. No allergies whatsoever. I throw medicine to the wind! (oh, except my thyroid medicine, oh, and my blood pressure medicine, and, oh......)

2) What foods are you allergic to?

I'm mildly allergic to walnuts, but if the food is good enough I will endure the discomfort!

See above

3) What foods do you dislike? (Yes, I know this does not sound quite as special as making your favorite dish….but….it is easier to avoid foods you dislike then it is to make everyone’s favorite dish! Besides….based on my culinary experience I could ruin your favorite dish and scar you for life! )

I shy away from spicy foods, because I am tender of mouth - but Robert LOVES spicy. I've never had sushi, I like my food cooked - you don't need to tell Akane that :-).

Cat. dog. horse. snail. worms. That about covers it!

4) If you had the time…

A. What would you do more of?

Read, sew, create memory books, crafts, play the piano

Work -- I enjoy what I do for a living. Visit ward members. Convince every single in Orange County to join the Lake Ward.

B. Where would you go?

Walk on the beach at sunset

Crazy? Mars. Just about anywhere would be fascinating -- and would frighten and intimidate me! I hate to travel, but I love to be there.

C. What would you create?

Homemade things - scrapbooks, dress-ups, quilts, crafty projects... - for my family and friends

Chaos. Something people can use to make their lives better, but I'm good at developing, not inventing, so you tell me and I'll build it!

D. What would you study?

The scriptures, good books, people

Astronomy. Ancient Mayan civilization. Ancient scriptures. Ancient science and technology. Anything older than me is ancient -- and fascinating.

I need individual responses so do not answer as a couple!

Please send me your responses by October 1st!

Thank you!

Your hostess!

Disney's Minnie's Moonlit Madness

Katie and I went to Disneyland to have fun and then stayed to help with the Disney Employee's Minnie's Moonlit Madness. They had 350 teams of 4 people each, with at least one member being a Disney employee. The teams had to be roped together the entire evening, receiving clues and completing challenges.

They ventured all over the park with some of the challenges being: doing a May Pole, dancing to swing music, figuring out national landmarks from picutres and taking letters from the names to complete a word puzzle, running the gauntlet through Star Wars characters and then tossing stuffed Ewoks into a barrel while Darth Mall's minions tried to bat them away...

There were 35 tasks spread around the park and each team had to complete 10 of them in the 2 hours alloted them. The event went from 10 - midnight.

The volunteers met in the Carnation Plaza at 7:30 and waited there for the guests to clear out of all the lands and just be on Main Street. Then we headed to the big, open area - in between Big Thunder Mountain and the Casey Jr. train - to attend the opening meeting before the games began. The first task was to answer 50 Disney trivia questions, that were next to impossible to answer! We had to leave about half way through to head to our assigned area by Inoventions. We switched and worked by Buzz Lightyear and that is how we were able to see the Star Tours extravaganza. It was a fun night, Katie and I love Disneyland, and to be there at night, have it mostly empty and be helping with games & fun just made it more magical!!!

Katie in the Pixie Hollow.

Katie in her Utah Rocks shirt with the rocks behind her.

Debbie & Katie in front of the castle, with a flash.

Debbie & Katie in front of the castle, without a flash.

Katie trying to pull the sword out of the stone.

An empty Main Street before Minnie's Moonlit Madness.

Yoda, storm troopers, Princess Leah, etc put teams through their paces in front of Star Tours.

Lisa Pope, Katie & Terry Egan

California Adventure before they start tearing it up and changing it.

Halloween characters on top of the entrance to Disneyland.

Google Summer Party

On Friday was the Google Summer Party. They rented Oak Creek Park in Silverado Canyon, past the Irvine Lake. It was a big area, with plenty of grass, 3 amusement park type rides (a ferris wheel and 2 kiddie rides), lots of food shacks, tons of picnic tables, mini golf, a bounce house, water slid, boat rides on a small lake... Dad and Katie enjoyed the ferris wheel, Dad said that it was the longest ferris wheel ride he had ever been on - there was no one in line, so he just let them ride.

The 3 of us had fun playing mini golf, on an unusual course - there were 4 lanes, 2 holes per lane, for a total of 8 holes. Dad got his ball stuck under the small house (see the picture below) and I think that we would each say that we won!

Then we headed to a bean bag toss. Dad and Katie had fun playing each other and they were both able to get one in the hole!

Then Dad and I braved a ride in a boat. We didn’t capsize or sink, which was a good thing because the water smelled really bad!!!

Doug's final hours as Doug

Just so you know.....I'm writing lots of details for Mom's sake :)

When I drove up to the airport Doug was sitting on is suitcase, waiting for me in the passenger pickup area. His plane was supposed to land at 9:59am. I got there at 10:10, thinking that was perfect timing because that'd give him time to walk off the plane out to passenger pickup. Turns out his plane landed at 9:30 so he'd been waiting for a long time. Oops. And he had no cell phone to call me and tell me to drive faster!

Doug told me that when he rode down the escalator at the airport, the first thing he saw was a big group of people holding a sign that said, "Welcome Home Elder Gardner!!!" He went up to them and told them that he was Elder Gardner but he was going INTO the MTC today. Funny coincidence. We were already away from the airport when he told me that so we couldn't run back inside to take a picture.....sorry mom :)

Our first stop was to the Schofields for a quick visit and to say goodbye. They were all outside working in the yard so we hung out on the trampoline for awhile. Shelly drew some pictures for Doug......which he left in my car and I may or may not mail them to him. I'm sure Shelly will draw and send him plenty more.


Doug had fun swinging Jason around in circles a few times. I laughed so hard when Doug put Jason down and he was stumbling all over the place. I wish I had video of that. But of course Jason wanted more.

After chatting for a bit, it was time for some final pictures and goodbyes. We had been telling Shelly that she wouldn't see Doug again until she was six to which she said, "I'll be six after I'm five and I will be five in December." Smart girl. When she was sitting in Doug's lap for this picture Doug told her that he'd see her in two years. Shelly said, "Two years is a long time, you know." Too true. We'll miss Doug!
I love this series of pictures of Doug and Jason. There was a normal, really cute one that started this series but for some reason it wouldn't upload off my camera. I showed Jason how cute he was and then he just wanted to take more pictures so he could see them. He puffed his cheeks out, then they made grumpy faces, then I got another cute smile out of him. In between each picture Jason would come look at the camera and then run back to Doug's lap.



For the picture with Emmy Sue, Rachel told Doug to hold her in a way that would hide her dirty shirt. I hope that Doug is more obedient in the MTC.

Of course we needed one with Mark and Rachel. And then Shelly wanted in on the photo too.

After leaving the Schofields, we stopped by the Provo House to grab Doug's HUGE suitcases. Doug got to say bye to Matt, Sabrina and Beth and snap a quick picture.

Then it was off to lunch at Cafe Rio. That is where Doug picked for his final meal. Which is funny because he told me he'd only been there one time and he didn't really like it. I asked why he picked to go there then and he said that he wanted to give it another shot because everyone is obsessed with it. He liked it better this time but didn't rave. There were at least 3 or 4 other future missionaries that also picked Cafe Rio for their last meal. We saw families dressed in normal clothes with a young man in a suit......definitely headed to the MTC after eating. It was pretty funny. Sorry mom, no pictures here. Bryan met up with us at Cafe Rio and Doug and Bryan chatted about the MTC and Doug asked a few questions. During lunch we asked Doug how he was feeling. He said he was excited and nervous but mostly excited. He said, "It's just the MTC. I'll be more nervous when I go to Argentina." Doug didn't finish his burrito which was a sign to me that he was nervous because that kid NEVER has a problem putting down lots of food. I asked him if that's what the unfinished burrito meant and he said kind of. He could have eaten it all but he would have been stuffed and he wanted to go into the MTC full but not stuffed. Cute kid.

When it was about 12:45, the boys made me hurry and take a final bite so we could head to the MTC. We got there just before 1:00.

Here are Doug and Bryan wheeling the big suitcases toward the MTC.
And now just Doug without Bryan in the background. Doug was turning around to figure out where Bryan had gone. As we walked towards the MTC a group of missionaries coming off of the field started cheering when they saw Doug. It was like he was a celebrity. They welcomed him and asked where he was going and then as we were walking across the street yelled, "Send your last text message!" Oh missionaries. That'll be Doug in a week or two. Bryan said those missionaries were just excited to have contact with people from 'the outside world'.
One of the MTC corners was really busy with people taking pictures so we hurried across to the other side and didn't have to wait too long. Here is Doug in his final minutes as Doug. I'm sure he'll be taking that same picture sometime in the next two months, but he'll be Elder Gardner then.
Bryan and I jumped in for a photo with Doug and Doug made Bryan stand on the other side all by himself. I cut myself out of the picture because I look hideous and refuse to post that picture on the internet, sorry.....so just imagine me standing by Doug and Bryan on the other side by himself. It was funny. Doug is a funny kid.
We walked Doug up as far as they would let us, which was by this cute man and his chair. The cute man told us to hug and then asked Doug a few questions. He asked, "Do you know where your immunization records are? Do you have a cell phone? Do you have your family's car keys?" Pretty funny questions. Doug answered correctly to all of them and so they let him in. First the man said to hug us again, then another Elder who was helped out grabbed the suitcase that Bryan had and walked away with Doug.
They kept getting farther and farther away. Kind of sad. And kind of happy. All at the same time.
I turned around and snapped this one as we were walking across the street. You can see Elder Gardner if you look close.

And you though it was summer...

So, the snow is over, but that is the least of our worries.

Earlier this week there was a really bad hailstorm in Denver. (Pictures: http://www.denverpost.com/news/frontpage/ci_15170332) It was so bad that they had to plow the roads. And we thought that since we didn't get any hail during the storm we were ok. We were so wrong.

Today we had our own hail storm. After 3 minutes this is what our backyard looked like:

Boy that hail could bounce. Most bounced at least 3 ft, but some bounced as high as 5 ft. It was ridiculous. We posted a few pictures to Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/wrg007/HailStorm52910?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyaqoWaivnC3gE&feat=directlink

This is what Robby and Jenny can now look forward to. Enjoy : )

Off to my next adventure

I've finally decided what I'm doing once I graduate. I'm moving back home. I made the decision a little over a week ago, but have been fighting it ever since which is why I haven't announced it to most people. I love it here in Cedar. It has been my home, my safe haven, my life for 5 years now and to leave breaks my heart. I have been praying to know if the feelings of not wanting to leave are God's way of telling me to stay in Cedar. During Conference I got my answer. Yes, leaving is going to be so hard and I'm not going to like it for the first little bit, but that does not mean that leaving isn't the answer. Leaving Cedar is the right move to make, though it is not the answer I wanted. There is something I need to learn on this next adventure and I guess that learning needs to happen in California.

So come visit me! I may not have adorable children, but I can be quite funny at times :)