my book has arrived :)

the doorbell rang yesterday, and as i got to the door to open it, the big truck was pulling away. as i bent over to pick up the package, i saw it was addressed to me, and that it had come from blurb. my heart started pounding, and i got very nervous to open it. this is my first time! i have never been published before!

i was actually up to my elbows in bread dough at the time, and then cleaning chicken (yuck), so it took me awhile to take a look see. i wasn't quite sure if i was totally in love with it at first glance. but today, after sharing a peek with kristen, and looking it over a little more up-close and personal, i absolutely LOVE it!

here are a few details:

1- i love the cover (it is hard and wraps around), though i didn't take much time picking out the pictures for it. (by then, i was NEEDING to get the thing ordered!)

2- the day i ordered it, i received an email that said they had some new, really great paper. i didn't get that either. but my paper is nice :)

3- this is how i got started:
*go to blurb.com
*download booksmart
*slurp your blog into booksmart (i think 6 months was workable)
*you start with what size of book you want to have - think this one through, because you can't go back and change your mind, you have to re-slurp
*then go to work creating

4- i am going to show some pictures of the different pages you can make.

5- my book was june-december, 2007
115 pages. 306 pictures. $79.95 minus shipping (i couldn't wait)

6- on some events, i added more pictures
on some, i included comments

7- how long did it take? this is a hard one to answer. A LONG TIME! but i would say it took me about as long to do the first 24 pages with my old, very slow, thinking very hard about everything, computer; as it took to do the last 91 pages with my new computer. figuring out the EDIT - UNDO feature was also helpful :). i am definitely counting it for a young woman's project, personal history-INDIVIDUAL WORTH.

8- i had thought i would start with this six months and then do years after that. i think you can only use the new paper on books with 130 pages or less. i'm thinking six months is workable. i post a lot though, so that would make a difference too.

any questions?...ask. i'll try to answer.
I AM A VERY HAPPY GIRL RIGHT NOW!

Beef Brisket

I should have put this recipe on when I told you about how good it was. I'm thinking Lindsay won't mind!

Beef Brisket

4-5 lb. Beef Brisket
(I find my best ones at Costco. Plus, they are already trimmed and ready to go).

1 tsp. garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. onion salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. celery salt
2 tsp. worchestershire sauce

Mix all the above seasonings together and rub onto both sides of the meat.
Bake it at 225 degrees, tightly covered with foil, for approximately 5-7 hours. (Sometimes I do mine overnight). Take it out of the oven and let it cool for about an hour. Pour off all the juices and refrigerate it. Slice it crossgrain, cover it with the following barbeque sauce, and Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, covered.

BARBEQUE SAUCE

1 cup sugar
1 cup Russian salad dressing
1 cup of your favorite barbeque sauce (I use Bullseye).

good news minute!

1- happy, happy birthday michael david gardineer! a young 29 today!!!

which one of his children look the most like him?




2- i made a delicious barbecue beef brisket (thank you lindsay burt!) for sunday dinner. it wasn't even hard either! the people in my family are tired of my sunday pot roast :(.
tod, i am especially excited to see how you like it!

3- megan survived taking the ACT test saturday :). i vividly remember when sadie took it. she walked in the door afterwards, announced her head might possibly explode, and said, "i'm NEVER taking that test again! i don't care what score i get, i'm never taking it again!" so, i was a little worried about megan! before she left, i rustled up three no. 2 pencils, got out the paper work and was reminding her she needed her driver's license and calculator and stuff. she was barely listening to me. as she left she said, "this is going to be like...a whole day of school...taking a test?" yes. she walked in the door afterwards and said, "it wasn't as bad as i thought! the time went really fast!" i'm glad she had a positive experience, hopefully she has a decent score too :)!

4- kristen and mike celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary saturday. grammie susie, poppa jon, megan and hailey got a little lauren and beau time. we had fun! hopefully, kristen and mike did too:).




5- megan and hailey got to enjoy HSM3 together...that made their mother secretly HAPPY!

6- after attending the unlv vs. byu football game saturday, sadie returned home, where she will be working for the next few months. she started this morning at 7:30 am, at the surgery center! whoo-hoo!!! her first 8 hour a day job:). i'm hoping she comes home with some good news to share about it!

7- unlv gave byu all they could handle saturday! i'm so happy for unlv. they have come a long way...if they could only get a W! what has happened to byu? their fans would have FREAKED out if unlv beat them in football too. maybe next year!

i think that is my happy news for today!
everyone is healthy!
everyone is busy!
hopefully the rest of the day goes well...i'm barely out of bed you know:).

a recommendation...

i loved this book when i read it, but to be really honest, i couldn't remember many of the details from the story (bad memory, too many years ago i think!). so when the movie came out, i was wondering if i would like it. after a great review from abby berg-arm, i knew i had to see it. when jon asked me this morning if i wanted to do something this evening, i said "YES!" he had no idea what i had in mind :).

during dinner he started searching the neon section for a football movie "the express", he had wanted to see. i mentioned that i really wanted to see "the secret life of bees", but when he saw the ad it said something like, "bring your girlfriends, sisters, mothers and daughters"...and he looked at me and said, "it looks like men aren't allowed." after he couldn't find his movie at a good time he said, "i'll go if it is at the right theatre."

long story short, we went. we both liked it. his comment walking out was, "i'd say it is a must see for all of our daughters!" i'm not sure why the guys got a pass, but i think i know what we will be doing for fhe this week. maybe. go see it. bring a tissue or a long sleeve.:) it will make you want to love more freely.

the greatest kids ever...

i have been up to my armpits in laundry. that does not make me very happy. i struggle when i don't accomplish this task in a day or two. but tonight i had the nicest distraction! the priests and laurels had a pumpkin carving contest. it is just fun to be around these kids. they are happy! they are fun! they are creative! they are spontaneous! they are good people!

a couple of weeks ago we had an "unbirthday" party! the girls decorated some cute cupcakes.

i personally think they were secretly hoping for a little blog time, because when i was taking pictures, they were talking about ending up on my blog. so here's to you...some of my favorite people of all time! don't you love their creations?

confessions are good for the soul

a few weeks ago, my sweet friend linda mentioned, that we all "look" pretty good on our blogs. we talk about the happy things, we share the beauty in our world, and our families look pretty perfect! i agreed with her sentiments, we laughed, and i have been thinking about it ever since. even when i share some of my bad habits and flaws, or those of my children, i do it with humor, and it doesn't feel too serious! i have made many goals publicly, declaring my new found absolute resolve to change things about myself. have I ever reported my progress on any of them? i can only imagine that you know i am far from perfect, because i haven't been translated yet!

my family? they. are. not. perfect. either. (there, publicly declared) but isn't the point of journal sharing, helping others feel hope? building the positive, and trying not to accentuate the negative? don't we all know what our faults are? aren't we very harsh judges of ourselves? how many of us need to be told by others what we are doing wrong...don't we already know? so, as for me and my blog, i will try to be REAL, but i am sure that i will accentuate the positive. and consider this my declaration; we (the bunker's), are walking along the same path of life as you. ups and downs, happiness and sorrows, excitement and boredom, anxiety, frustration, worry, trials, peace, love, hope, faith and repentance.

my grandchildren? they. are. completely. perfect.



good night!

beau michael gardineer

"sweet baby" has a name.
day 3...all is well.
we are blessed!

homecoming 2008

with all of the goings on this week, i have completely ignored the fact that megan went to homecoming saturday. i think a part of her is happy for the lack of post shout out...i think she prefers not to remember the evening at all. i'm sorry that i'm not going to add any details, it sufficeth me to say, "the evening didn't turn out the way anyone had planned". live and learn, right?

but, the fact that she looked so beautiful; toes and fingers, hair and make-up, dress and shoes, i just had to journal a few photos! the really amazing thing to me is, as beautiful as she is on the outside, can't even compete with the beauty and purity of her soul. the light in her eyes, her inner beauty, out shined the rest of her on saturday night! i am so grateful for, and proud of this "beautiful" daughter! i love you megs!!!

welcome to the family!

we are definitely missing uncle tod!!!
lauren isn't sure how close she wants to get him.
"he's sleeping"...she hates to be bothered when she is sleeping!
all three; sadie, megan and hailey, at different times, have said, "I WANT ONE!" as they hold this sweet angel. (a little scary!)

we are loving this mellow, pure addition to our family!
we are grateful to share him with the gardineers (pop and grammy pammy, chris and britt, ali and julia, and nick!)

he's here!

our sweet little man is here! he was born @ 5:25.
he weighed 6.11 and was 18 inches long.
mother and baby doing great.
we are overwhelmed with gratitude for this little miracle baby.
he looks like his sister to me.
he has a little hair under that cap.
mike got some great pictures, but until he can get home and get them on his computer these will have to do!


thank you heavenly father!

waiting for little brother...

today is the day!
kristen is in the hospital.
last update, she was dilated to 3.
i'm sure it will be anytime now:).



sadie and lauren have been using scissors and blowing bubbles.
all is well!

horse shampoo?

so i get up wednesday morning and am about to walk out of my room in my underwear and tshirt from bed when i hear whistling and knees rubbing against our wood floor. i remember its Virginia day and i thought i'd spare Virginia so i walk back out in shorts and my hair was a mess. i get my special k and poor it in the bowl. she comes out from the laundry room and tells me good morning, our weekly routine. usually she's rambling and i'm shaking my head and smiling at everything she says, when all of a sudden i hear the phrase, "i bought you shampoo."
what? i thought she was confused and went about my day. when i got in my shower that night there sat a fat bottle of shampoo and conditioner, need i remind you horse shampoo and conditioner. i went to my mom and said, "i asked for regular shampoo. this has to be a joke."
Virginia offered this, cause she thinks my hair falls out way to much from my discusting shower. my mom got into to it too, and bought me the conditioner. but honestly, horse shampoo?
what thoughtful people.

she's changing right before my eyes!

miss lauren lucy has spent the last twenty-eight months of her life ignoring and giving dirty looks to anyone that isn't a part of her inner circle. over the last four weeks or so, she has decided that it is fun to acknowledge "others". everyone has become a potential playmate. i started to notice her changing, when she invited her papa jon to come watch "finding nemo" with her one afternoon. the next change i saw was, one morning while i was watching her, our cousin melanie stopped by the house on her way out of town. we were standing at the door chatting, and up walked lauren. melanie said, "hi!, lauren lucy! i just saw your mom." to which lauren replied, "my mom goes to the doctor." not with a smile, but she spoke! i looked at her, and told melanie how special she must be for lauren to speak to her. it was the first time i had ever seen her speak to an "other". break-through!

last week, kristen and i took my mother and father some lunch and of course lauren came along for the visit. she walked in the house and went right up to my dad and told him, "my mom's car is white." of course he had no idea what she was telling him, but she visited with her great grand parents, and asked them if they wanted to play with her. one perk to visiting on a day other than sunday, they could! of course they are game for anything if one of these little ones isn't afraid of them, especially grandpa! so she had them playing musical instruments with her, playing lock yourself in the closet with great grandpa, and when he finally escaped for a breather in his chair, i heard her go find him and ask, "you want to play with me?" it will be one of my favorite memories for ever!



this week when we were running a couple of errands she was telling the lady at the drive-up window at the bank, "i'm two!" she was instructing me that lauren was going to tell her, she didn't want me to talk for her. i guess she is a big girl now...just in time to become a big sister! i can hardly wait to see how she reacts to her new little man that will become a part of her life. she tells me he is coming monday, i wonder what in the world she thinks that means?

tagged!

8 TV shoes I like to watch:
In Plain Sight
Raising the Bar
Life
Chuck
Bones
30 Rock
So You Think You Can Dance
Friends Re-Runs

8 Restaurants I like to eat at:
Benihana
Flemings
Viva Mercados
Outback
Cafe Rio
Bajio
Jersey Mikes
Great Harvest

8 things that happened today:
got my hair done :)
quick visit at Mom and Dad's
babysat Lauren - but she was napping - BUMMER!
made dinner
visited with a friend
read a wee little in my new book
finished laundry for today
did 50% of the ironing

8 things I am looking forward to:
the birth of our healthy and happy grandson :)
Kristen not being pregnant anymore (for her sake)
Sadie's visit
a pedicure
Megan's homecoming extravaganza
our family Christmas vacation!
Tod graduating from college
the holidays

8 things on my wish list:
my kitchen getting cleaned out - drawers, cupboards, you name it
my parents life histories finished and beautifully put onto dvd's
Hailey loving violin, and begging to be able to practice more
energy and enthusiasm to accomplish everything I want to do
a trip to Hawaii, again
each of my children happily, happily, did I say happily married
feeling like I have time to read more
a laptop

8 people I am tagging:
Larry M.
Rhonda M.
Kristen G.
Tod B.
Sadie B.
Jen J.
Camie S.J.
David S.
Chad R.

Conference Weekend

i truly believe going to conference is one of our family's favorite traditions of all time! not everyone can be there every time, but i believe that makes us appreciate it more the next time we get to go. we definitely missed mike, kristen and lauren this trip. maybe in april:).


we got up early friday morning and made our way north in time for tod and jon to play some golf with david in heber. i heard the course was beautiful, but i didn't get too many details. the girls and i hit a few of our favorite spots in provo that afternoon and then went to brenda's where brooke made us all beautiful again. sadie finally joined us and we got to enjoy a little los hermanos for dinner with brooke and brenda. the men were pretty into the games by that time! we missed them!


saturday morning we all got to attend the first session, together. that was a special treat and pretty unusual, actually, to have enough tickets for one session. what a great session! i learned a couple of years ago, the weekend after matthew passed away, how much i could feel and how focused i could be on each speaker, when i really had a need! i don't have a really great memory, (just ask my family) but talks that were given, specific things that were said, are all still very clear in my memory. i almost felt that way again this past weekend, but i'm not sure why. i wasn't expecting to be so emotional, so i didn't come prepared for my tears. i thought i was doing ok. tears just rolling down my cheeks, and sniffing i guess. i was still able to be tickling and such, but then, when we stood up for the rest hymn, a very sweet woman from behind me, shoved several tissues into my hand. seriously, how did she see me from behind? embarrassing!!! anyway, i appreciated it very much. between the music, "redeemer of israel" (a new favorite), the speakers, (loved the prophet and elder anderson and elder oaks, and the lady, and...), and being there in the conference center, i guess i was a little oc.

one of the reasons i love downtown salt lake so much is that we can get around without a car, either by walking or using traxs. this didn't work as well saturday, because by the time we got out of the 1st session in was raining! no, we don't own umbrellas!!! and by the time we got inside the zcmi center for some delicious lunch, we were pretty much soaked!:).


we really did start out looking good though :)!


the afternoon was another exceptional meeting!!! i fell in love with elder worthlin two years ago, and he hasn't let me down since. i will not forget..."come what may...and love it." then elder holland, elder bednar...all of them! i was very touched. the children's choir totally did me in! :). a two hankie meeting! i was very glad i had taken some advil with lunch, or i can only imagine how my head would have felt!

then we left jon to meet up with tod for priesthood, hailey went to spend the evening with her "bby" camp counselor, and megan, sadie and i went to dinner and a movie.



i must share a couple "meganisms" that had us laughing for awhile :)!!!
megan has gotten into the habit of wanting ice cream after dinner (immediately after dinner) on the weekends. so we were trying to figure out what kinds of ice cream options we had! i had really wanted to try sub zero in provo, but i was too lazy to drive all the way back there after los hermanos in lindon. so, she remembered the dairy queen in the food court at gateway, but then thought better of it and said, "there isn't a dairy queen, it's a julius caesar!" (orange julius-close!)
next one; we were talking about a friend from our ward (because she had liked him back in middle school, she was thinking she wasn't boy crazy when she was hailey's age) anyway, i said, "you know he walked-on byu's lacrosse team!" she said, "he didn't walk-on! he had to try out! you can't just walk on the field and then be on the team!" i had to explain what walking-on means :).
she is so funny. she immediately knows she said something wrong, usually, and then we all laugh and laugh! she is a good sport! after, we saw a good movie "forever strong". i will recommend it. no swear words, but some partying and difficult things happen. we liked it!

sunday, we watched conference in the morning from the hotel. president eyring was really sweet wasn't he? then some lunch and off for home. we listened to the afternoon session while driving! TRADITION! all of it, where we stay, where we eat, and what we do.


this is the girls on the drive home! after they actually listened to the afternoon session. hailey later said to me, i think this is the first time i listened to all of conference except the priesthood session. there is hope...she is 13 almost 14. like i said, it helps when the purpose of the weekend revolves around watching conference. it is most definitely different when we are at home!

The BEST Book

I LOVE this book! It is my favorite of all time, and I just finished reading it, again. Our Bishop challenged the young men and young women (and I think their leaders) to read the Book of Mormon in two months, by reading 10 pages a day, last summer. While we were reading it, we were to circle or highlight each time Jesus Christ was referred to in anyway. The goal was to be done before school started, or shortly thereafter. I realized I was going to be late because I didn't really get started until a month later, but I finished, and I loved it!


For the first time, I figured out that I could get up a half hour before the family needed me, and read uninterrupted at the start of my morning. Reading that many pages and consistently every day, I always remembered where i was and what was going on. Circling and looking for the Lord's name kept me very focused as well. But the best part of all, was the wonderful feeling I have had in my life during this time. Being obedient was a big part of it, I know, because I always feel guilty when I'm not reading my scriptures like i have been taught. But the blessings that are promised by the prophets really came true as I read from the Book of Mormon daily! And now I have a HABIT!!!

Thank you Bishop! I'm starting the D&C tomorrow:).

love notes...

I have a drawer filled with lots of little love notes that I have saved over the years. You know, the ones where people tell me how much they love me, and say really nice things about me. It doesn't even matter if what they have said isn't always true or not, these notes always make me feel good, and always put a smile on my face! Most of them, I would say, are from my children. Little treasures they have drawn or written over the years for mother's day, or other occasions! This drawer is where I come when I need to smile, or laugh, or feel loved...you know on those days when things aren't quite right with the world.

Anyway, I got to add a couple of sweet notes to my drawer this week and it inspired me to make a goal to send at least one of these "love notes" to someone each week. At times we are a little stingy about giving compliments or even showing love. But it is always easy to show love, and give compliments in a note. We all need to be loved or appreciated or reminded how wonderful we are from time to time. And there is always someone I can think of to send some sunshine to. Once a week.

AND, my thanks to those of you who have showered me with love over the years...you still might be making my day:).