Trick or Treat!!

Jonas pouting in the background. This was the best he'd give us. The three of them with Grandma Gardner.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONAS!!!

Jonas turned 2 on the 27th of October. He is such a loving little guy. So affectionate with Adia. Always caressing my face. When I get him out of bed after naps and in the morning. I give him a big hug and say "hi baby". The other day as I lifted him out of bed, he took my face between his tiny little boy hands, looked in my eyes, then put his arms around my neck and put his head on my shoulder and said "hi baby". I just can't imagine our lives without him.. he makes us laugh so hard with his facial expressions, his "tantrums", "jumping" and running. He does everything with %110 of his energy. Here's some of my favorite pics from his first 2 years.

Valiant. To be, or not to be...

I've been reading a book on my mom's recommendation. It's got kind of an interesting twist on the pre-mortal life and what our experiences there might have been like. It has caused a great deal of reflection. In the book there are 3 distinct groups of people. The valiant spirit children who chose to follow The Father and His Son. The group who followed Lucifer and his plan. Then there was the third group... described as those who were just luke warm, fence sitters. Spirits who chose the Fathers Plan, but didn't really embrace it. I wonder if I was in the "Valiant" group or the "mediocre" group. So, I started thinking about my life and things I'm doing that put me into the mediocre category in this life. As silly as it sounds, I feel like my biggest vice right now is the T.V. Satan has such control over it. And when I turn it on, I invite him and his evil into my home.. my "temple" and safe haven, if I'm not vigilant about only watching the good. I have decided to start weeding out the bad. So that I don't go completely into shock from withdrawal, I will start slow, eliminating only one show at a time.. I've decided to make it official by putting it on my blog... no more Grey's Anatomy. It's just getting downright nasty. There's no way in the world I would let my daughter watch this, even if she were older. Why am I subjecting myself to it?

8 Things Tag/Quirk Tag

I've been tagged by my sister and by Shelley, so I'm combining the two...

8 TV Shows I Like To Watch
1. LOST!!!!
2. 30 Rock
3. The Office
4. Prison Break (although I gotta say, not too impressed with this season. Has the acting always been this bad?)
5. Grey's Anatomy (yes, I know... pure trash... At least it's not Sex and the City re-runs!)
6. American Idol
7. So You Think You Can Dance
8. 24

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. Held my sick baby for most of the day
2. Took my kids to the park (savoring the last bit of nice weather before the snow comes..)
3. Made two hair bows
4. Exercised
5. Showered
6. Blogged
7. Watched Grey's Anatomy
8. Scrubbed my kitchen sink while singing Killing Me Softly (Fugees style... oh yeah.)



8 Favorite Places To Eat
1. Olive Garden
2. Hyman's Seafood in South Carolina
3. In-N-Out
4. Cheesecake Factory
5. Melting Pot (I've never actually been...but I know I will love it when I do go!)
6. Wendy's
7. Chipotle
8. PF Chang's

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To
1. My HOT date tonight!
2. Going to France with Jamis in 2 years
3. Moving in to our new house in December!!
4. The Twilight Movie November 21st!
5. Holiday Parties and Being with friends/family
6. Fitting into my favorite pair of jeans again
7. Doing my next race
8. Getting my kids over their ear infections

8 Things I Am Passionate About
1. My family
2. My faith/church
3. Staying healthy. Participating in race events
4. Creating... I love projects and trying new things
5. Getting my food storage started
6. Making my kids laugh (I'm going to do this more often...)
7. Singing/Performing (I have not done this nearly enough in the last few years. Where is a house wife gonna sing? There's always the kitchen sink that needs scrubbing I guess.)
8. Dancing (I love to dance. With my kids... all alone when no one is watching.. with Jamis.. really dancing not just swaying back and forth to the music.)

8 People I Tag
1. Luella
2. Marcy
3. Martine
4. LaHoma
5. Brooke
6. Ami
7. Jennifer
8. Tawny

Naiya's First Progress Report...

"Babya"

Before Adia was born, I had heard many stories of jealousy between older siblings and new babies. I was worried, definitely. But, Jonas (and Naiya too) have pleasantly surprised me. Jonas can't say Adia... he calls her babya. Every once in a while I'm mommya. He's so loving and attentive with her. She had a Doctor's appointment a couple of weeks ago. Adia wasn't enjoying the exam, to say the least. After what seemed like an eternity of screaming, Jonas (who was seated on the other side of the room) started waving his pointer finger at the doctor while yelling all kinds of baby expletives. His protective older brother instincts kicked in. It was so cute.

Jonas, Adia, Naiya. I had to put pictures side by side of these three 'cause I can't for the life of me figure out who Adia looks like. Naiya and Jonas both had the Gardner look... and still do. Adia...?? Any opinions?

Adia is a month old now. I can't believe how the time has flown! I made it through the roughest part of my post partum blues mainly thanks to my mom and sister BriAnne. Thank you to all those who helped with the kids and dinners etc.. My sister is an angel, she came over at the drop of a hat anytime she heard tears in my voice. On the days that she had to play catch up on her own life, and I was left "alone"... Edward saved me. Yes, Edward and Bella got me through my post partum. On days when BriAnne said she couldn't come over, just before completely breaking down, I'd think... "It's okay.. I have Edward." Or if Jamis had meetings, or hauling hay, or basketball, and I was left alone in the evenings.. again Edward came to my rescue. So for all of you who have not read the Twilight series... you are so missing out!!! My sister tried for two years to get me to read these books. I have nightmares about cheesy chocolate syrup horror movies there was no way I was going to read a book about vampires! Not what I was expecting. My only regret about reading these books is that I read them way too fast and now am feeling a void having said goodbye to the characters I came to love.

ADIA

Adia was born by c-section on the 20th of August at 9:28 a.m. She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long. She has such a calm and peaceful disposition. We'll see how long that holds up around her brother and sister. I love holding her and smelling her sweet baby smell. Everytime the nurses bring her into me after she's been in the nursery, I get all gitty and excited like it's Christmas morning. She's absolutely gorgeous. Naiya has been sick with a little virus, so the first day my mom brought the kids to see Adia, we made her sit across the room and just look. Naiya was so amazing about it, understanding that she didn't want to get the baby sick. She just sat on a chair across the room saying over and over "she's so beautiful!" Jonas excitedly squeals almost constantly "baby, baby, baby!!!" Naiya was feeling better and had been fever free for 2 days the day after Adia was born, so with a mask and a good scrub from her elbows to her fingertips, she was able to hold her baby sister. She's so sweet with her. It's amazing how fast we have fallen in love with this new little spirit come to join our family.

Horse Rides Up At Blackhawk

Dad and Jonas on Amber. We went on one last camping trip before Kate leaves on her mission. We took 5 horses and the fam, and went up to Blackhawk campground. It was fun to be with everyone. Jonas was born to ride horses. Jamis took Jonas for a ride, about an hour long, when they got back and started getting off, Jonas started screaming and reaching for the horse. So, Jamis took him on another hour long ride. Jamis said that as they rode, Jonas would lean back on him and hum. So cute.

I haven't blogged for about a month now, not because I've had nothing to share, more like my life seems to be running away from me. July has been insanely busy. I told Naiya to go put on some cartoons for her and Jonas one morning, a few minutes later I heard non stop giggles. This is what I found when I went in to the living room. They're so cute when they behave...

Here is the undefeated team in Leadline Horsemanship. Naiya and Grandma. They're getting a little cocky. Naiya is so proud of her trophy, but what's so cute is that she's equally proud of her third place ribbon she got in another class. Horse show days make for long, hot days. We started about 9:00 am on Thursday and went until 6:30. Friday was 9:00-4:00 and by the end of the day both kids were having
melt downs about every 3 minutes. Jamis is in Moab, river rafting with the young men for youth conference. He left on Thursday morning. When he's gone I realize just how much he does for the kids and I.

Naiya. She just turned 5 on the 10th of June. I can't believe my little girl is 5. She will be starting kindergarten in the fall and asks me EVERYDAY how many days she has until she gets to go to school. I love being a mom to this beautiful, amazing little lady. She brings such joy, laughter, and love to my life. Along with the occasional challenge... :) I LOVE HER! As many of you know, until the beginning of May we were living with Jamis's family in Lake Shore. One day his aunt Jana Rae came over and said to his mom, "Shauna your yard is beautiful". Naiya, upon hearing this got a little shy and said "Oh, I'm not yard, I'm Naiya". She's so innocent, curious, full of life. I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father trusted me enough to send her to our little family.

Naiya had a horse show 2 weeks ago. She showed her pony Nicki. She was soooo good! She did all the things her Uncle Jordan has been teaching her. It was a long 9 hour day for Jonas and Naiya. We also had my 2 nieces visiting from Arizona, so it was a little chaotic. But so fun to see Naiya riding well and so proud of herself.

Naiya at the cemetary on Memorial Day. It was a cold, wet, rainy morning.
Jamis and Jonas trying to keep warm.
This is right across the street from where my brother is buried.
My brother would have been 29 this August.

Jamis got sworn in on Friday the 23rd. His parents and my dad came up to the Salt Palace with us. It's official! Yay!! Here are his mug shots.

The first picture is Naiya and Jonas on Naiya's pony Nicki. She has a horse show this weekend here in Spanish Fork and is so excited. The second is of Jonas at the public library. I just love his expression. I let him keep sucking on the nasty railing just so I could get this picture. The next is of Jonas first thing in the morning.. notice his big toe sticking out of his pj's. And the last is of Naiya at pre-school graduation. She loves school! She asks me every day when she gets to start kindrgarten. It's going to be a long summer!

We have some Exciting News!!! We have been anxiously awaiting a letter in the mail and last week it came. Jamis Passed The Bar!! Yay!! Now they can take the asterisk down from beside his name on the office door. (Licensed in AZ only). And hopefully we can stop mooching off of his parents and get a place of our own... We also found out yesterday that We Are Having Another Little Girl! We were both completely shocked because the Doctor had said at each of my appointments that the heart beat sounded like a boy. A normal heart beat is between 120 and 180 bpm. Normally the boys tend to be in the lower numbers and the girls higher. Our little girl is chillin' at a cool 133. Naiya is very excited to be having a sister. She can finally stop carrying her Sunday dresses around the house singing to them and calling them her little sister. She'll actually have a real one!

Easter!!

We went to St. George for Easter Weekend. It was so great to feel the sun again! Jonas didn't really get the egg hunt and was happy with the 3 eggs he managed to get into his bag. Naiya however is a seasoned egg hunter and was very unhappy when she found out that Aunt Kate had found more eggs than her. I made the mistake of saying "Kate takes the cake". Then Naiya was unconsolable, crying "I wanted the cake.." She's definitely got the competitive Gardner blood running through her veins.

Little Football Player??

On our way to St. George

Snow White

BriAnne and I were up at my mom's a week ago. Vance came in for a short weekend trip and Dave came in and stayed for a week. It was so great to be able to spend some time with both of them. The girls kept asking Uncle Vance to read them the story of Snow White. He couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, he went and found the biography of Barbara Bush, sat the girls down and told them this is what snow white looked like when she got older. Then continued to make up his own version of Snow White. Very Funny.

Jonas finally found something about the snow he loves. Eating it!

Since I wrote about my love/hate relationship with the snow, I thought I'd show how much Naiya loves it. And how much Jonas loves watching Naiya play in it. We were up at my mom and dad's for New Year's. We found some old snow bibs and put them on the little girls. Naiya loved sliding down the neighbor's driveway. We tried taking Jonas for a ride, he cried the whole time and when I put him down he bolted for the house.

So, I've been really worried about living in Utah and hating the snow as much as I do. I've wanted to try and love at least one snow sport. I've tried skiing and it was a disaster, so I imagine that snow boarding would be the same. Snow shoeing (spelling?) just sounds cold and like a lot of work. I had about given up hope until we went snow sledding. Snow mobiling.. whatever you call it. Loved it!!! I caught some air and had to pull over, stop and wait for my heart to start beating again, but it was a blast. Jamis's boss took Jamis and I up past Strawberry Reservoir on Saturday. I think I had a perma grin the entire time. I forgot to take pictures though! It was beautiful. Maybe snow isn't so bad after all.... In the mountains at least. :)

So, it's March. We are still living with Jamis' family in Spanish Fork. We're thinking April will be the magic month we can finally get in to our own place. I have kind of dropped off the face of the blogging world since I first published our family blog back in October. For all you faithful viewers, I have rededicated myself to keeping this updated. For all those who don't know, we are expecting #3. I am 4 months along. We are excited. I however am a lot more nervous about #3 than I was about having #1 and #2. I am getting very impatient for spring to be here, can't wait to get the kids out of the house and enjoy the sun again. So that's all for now.

We went up the canyon for a horse ride, it was still a bit cold but the kids loved being outside. Naiya loves the horses and has a "crush" on one of the stallions. His name is Major. When we first got here and the weather was nice enough, she would go out and bring him flowers and sing to him. She gets mad every time Grandpa says she can't ride Major cause he's too wild for her.