is it really thursday?

1- hailey is finishing her ninth grade (freshman) year of high school tomorrow at 10:00. i can't really believe that this school year is over! it has been tough, but she has done well. good job miss hailey!

2- here is video of her swimming the backstroke at the NBL (north bay league) swimming championships. her coaches asked her to swim with the varsity team the week after the j.v. meet. they had a few open spots. she was sure she would come in dead last. during the preliminary heats her overall time was 11th place out of 25. the top eight swimmers go on to the finals. the 9th-16th place swimmers swim in a consolation heat. she finished 10th overall. she did AMAZING! she is swimming in lane 3. her teammate is swimming in lane 4. her high school, the carrillo pumas ended up coming in first in both the women's and men's team scores! it was a very fun day! i'm turning into quite the excited swimming spectator!








3- i am a week and a half behind on my mission blog! holy cow...there aren't enough hours in the day!

4- the gardineer's came to visit us! we were more than a little excited!!! mike has a broken foot (he is still a happy guy with no complaining) and kristen got a major tooth ache/infection. she was about to die. the vicodin we got didn't really help either. :) the root canal monday did the trick though!



lauren did not want me taking a picture of her! little rascal! we went to the funky monkey (similar to chuck e. cheese) and had a great time together. she is so fun to play with!


beau i could just watch all day! he has the most expressive face! he has changed a lot! he understands everything! he says a few things, and papa jon and i had a great time taking him to the mall with us saturday night!


elder hubbard gave him a set of these little canadian hockey sticks. he was crazy with them!


we enjoyed lunch in st. helena at taylor's refreshers! the grassy area and the yummy milkshakes really hit the spot! thanks for coming gardineer's! we love you!

5- before the gardineer's came we had a couple of visitor's from the missionary department! they were incredible! we have so much to do! can i be excited and exhausted at the same time? i love my missionaries! i love the idea that we can help them be more effective and more wonderful with the training we have received!

6- we got ten new missionaries monday. (one came on wednesday) receiving "greenies" is an interesting experience to say the least! then we said good bye to eleven fantastic missionaries tuesday. every time we have some go home i wonder how we will ever survive with out them. I know this group, in particular, we will miss for a long, long time! it's kind of wonderful though, that when some one leaves, someone else steps up and begins to lead. that part is fun to witness!


monday "greenies"


tuesday "departees"

7- my husband informed me the other day, what i should do if he died while we were still on our mission. he told me not to worry...he hadn't had any premonitions...but i think some days he feels like he will never leave santa rosa alive. i tried to reassure him that he wasn't going to get out of this that easily (in a pine box), but he has got me thinking. i need to do more to help him "get away".

8- i need to go frost some peanut butter fingers for zone leader council lunch tomorrow. i think eight will have to do for this post. (i haven't even had any time to read any blogs until late last night and a little today on my iphone waiting for hailey to be fitted for contacts. a bad experience. anyway, with so many of you posting every day in may, i have had a lot of catching up to do. thanks to all of you for writing! i know you are doing it for me. :) i love feeling a little bit a part of what is going on in your lives!) i love you!

fun saturday!

Elle, Hailey, Lauren and Erin!

1) This morning we woke up early and headed for Petaluma high school for the JV Invitational meet. I was a little surprised when I got there, to see how small the pool area was, and to feel how cold the morning wind and lack of sun felt on my flip-flopped feet. I scouted out the best shelter I could find and started waiting the hour and a half while the swimmers warmed up before the meet began. Shortly after Jon arrived they started begging for people to volunteer as timers so the meet could begin on time. I looked at him, asked if he was in, and we moved from our safe shelter to be the official timers in lane 1. It was such a different experience timing with my husband. :) It was very fun! The things he noticed, the comments he would make to our swimmers to help them feel comfortable, and watching him cheer Hailey on...priceless!!!

There were 20 schools participating and Maria Carrillo was the big winner! UNDEFEATED, by quite a large margin! As Hailey told me which races she was in, which heats, and which lanes, early this morning, she informed me she was in the fastest heat for the 100 IM, so she figured she'd come in last of her heat. Not so!

Her first race was the 200 Medley relay. Hailey started her team off doing the backstroke. She clearly gave the team a strong lead and I think they ended up second in the race. Her next event was the 100 IM, heat 6, lane 5. She was a little worried about getting a false start, so she was a little slow on her dive in, but she quickly caught up and won her heat. She came in second overall to a boy (not swimming in her heat). I thought she was the outright winner, but the board told us differently later. Her father was going crazy! She has beautiful strokes, and she is strong, confident and fast. She is fun to watch! Her third event was the 100 Breast, heat 5, lane 3. A girl from Sonoma, lane 4, just out touched her on her heat. They were neck and neck. She was 7th overall. Her last event was the 400 Free Relay. The first swimmer was Lauren who gave the team a lead. Hailey was the second swimmer, and after her they were ahead by a full length. The third swimmer barely made it, she lost the lead, and the fourth swimmer did the best she could, I don't remember what place they finished. It was the last race of the day. It was 1:00 pm. Carrillo had won! We were happy!

Jon's comments on the morning: 1) Hailey is a kick a-- swimmer! 2) The boys have big packages! 3)You always want to be a timer at a swim meet!

2) Since we were already half way there, Hailey and I left the meet and headed south on the 101 to Corte Madera and the closest Nordstrom around. We were in search of some perfect shoes. Hailey got asked to speak in Sacrament meeting tomorrow (Mother's Day), and she immediately said to me, "I need a new dress." I thought, "What?", but since we hadn't shopped for an Easter dress and spring shoes, I felt like it was ok to splurge...especially if it made her feel better about speaking. I must say that I am very lucky that Hailey has a strong sense of what things cost, and no matter how much she might love something, if it is too much, she would never buy it. That takes a lot of pressure off of me! Thank you! Having said that, we quickly found some cute shoes, looked at brass plum for a second and headed north on the 101 towards home. Traffic was horrible, horrendous, painful and made our fun day and outing a little less enjoyable...but we survived it!

3) As we returned to Santa Rosa, Hailey wanted to be dropped off at the pool to read her book. She has been waiting for this book to arrive in the mail for at least a month...finally it is here...ARIANA. I told her I was going to a baptism that started at 6, so dad would probably have to pick her up. We made our plan. I started calling Jon to see if I could bring him home some dinner. My power bar had long since quit sustaining me, and I found myself at Baja Fresh ordering a salad (to be good) and some guacamole (because I needed some). When the manager asked me if I also wanted a drink, I looked over at the soda fountain, noticed they had diet coke, thought of their fresh limes and said, "YES! A small one!" Somedays I have no will power. That might have been the best drink I have had in a long while. Sometimes those things just hit the spot! PS- i didn't get home with the guacamole...mixed feelings about that!



4) By the time I was leaving for the baptism, Jon was still MIA. (he actually had written me a note on a little white board I have, but he has never written to me on it before, so I didn't think to look there.) I texted Hailey and told her if she couldn't get ahold of her dad, to text me and I would come and get her. This was a very special baptism. Louise McNeal. She has been being taught since August/September. I had even been to her home a few times with the Sisters, Keri Lords too. Her husband was already a member, so as they started attending church these past eight months, he has fully returned in activity, and was able to baptize her. They are prison guards at San Quentin. The man who spoke about the Holy Ghost was a fellow guard with them. His witness was powerful and sweet and sincere and emotional. These are big people who might scare you if you didn't see them standing before you all humble and in their church clothes. I really do love Frank and Louise McNeal. I stayed to hear the Sisters musical number and see her baptism. Then I left to pick up Hailey. She had started walking. When we got home Jon was getting ready to go to a baptism at 7:30. He had been at the gym where Hailey was sitting at the pool. How did they completely miss each other? It is a small place.


I don't know how I completely cut Sister Franklin's head off. What is wrong with me?

5) Jon came home with some "gramola" Sister Trythal had made a few weeks ago. I got her recipe and made some myself. This is good stuff! It must have something to do with being a Grandma and Granola. You can put anything healthy you want in it. Me and Hailey are loving it. I can't wait to share it with Lauren and Beau:).



Today was a fun Saturday!

investigators/recent converts

today I attended gospel principles class in sunday school. there were twelve people in class. that was a lot! three had been recently baptized (since March 27th) including one today, one is very close to being baptized, one investigating (her third time at church) a couple were recently returning to church, a couple were fellow shippers and a couple were ward missionaries. unlike any other time i have attended class, we took a few minutes (it turned into a little while) at the beginning of class, to introduce ourselves to each other. we told who we were, where we were from, and a little of our story! i loved today's class! if you want to have a stronger desire to talk to people about your faith, all you need to do is spend a little time with a recent convert, hear their story, recognize the change that has taken place in their life, and you will feel the desire! it was such a sweet experience to hear and feel the desires of these very different people, to make a change and to want to follow Christ, obey His commandments, and join His fold.

they are out there! there are people everywhere prepared to hear the truth. looking for it, but not knowing where to find it! sharing the gospel will change your life forever! if you don't know how or if you are afraid, ask the missionaries serving in your ward to help you. tell them about someone you would like to share something with and let them help you to figure out how to approach it, and then practice doing it with them. practicing will make it not as scary to do. i promise. give it a try. the Lord will bless you!

my thought for the day: when you look at a package of m & m's think members and missionaries working hand in hand...the Lord's way! good luck!

six on saturday

1- today is may 1st. we have been here, in santa rosa, for 10 months. (who's counting?) as i turned my calendar today, i get to look at an adorable picture of jon and lauren at the beach, for this whole month. i love this photo! jon does not. imagine him "ripped" please.


2- during the month of april we had four very special visitors! tod and megan over general conference/easter weekend, sadie the following weekend (she stayed to greet our new missionaries and say goodbye to our departing ones), and keri the next weekend (while jon was away at his mission president seminar)! it was so great to spend time with each of them! it kind of gives me a little boost to keep going and work hard after they leave. they are each very special people!




3- i have been going on a morning walk (about four miles) for a little over a month now. i love it! i breathe deeply (what feels like fresh air), i stretch my legs, i should be listening to all the sounds of nature (but instead celine dion and some of my girls dance music has won out - keeps me walking fast), and it just feels really good. this is a beautiful place to walk (rain or shine). this morning i took some pictures of what i see everyday on my walk with my phone. not the best pictures, but you can get the idea!



4- hailey enjoyed her spring break very much! she spent a few days in las vegas and a few days in mexico with the wattles! she was in hog heaven! i was glad she had a chance to go...but i miss her when she isn't around! she keeps both of us busy! this is what she looked like when she got back.


5- today i planted a few flowers and two tomato plants (for lauren)! my husband was so excited to see me out on the back porch with my hands in the soil, breaking my back! he even came out at the end and helped me finish up! it was fun to do a little beautifying on the porch!


6- last of all, tonight we drove to fairfield for one of our missionaries wedding reception! stephanie hurst was proposed to 9 days before she left to serve in California Santa Rosa. they did not get engaged. her boyfriend was from fairfield, california (a town in our mission). he waited for her...and now they are married. while she was out, she served in fairfield and even lived in his grandmother's house (grandmother and grandfather house a set of missionaries for us). what a small world! jon met austin at the airport at thanksgiving when he was picking up our children and austin was coming in for the holidays! aren't they a beautiful couple? austin and stephanie carlson.


i think it will be very fun to go to our missionaries weddings! it was so great to see these two! something to look forward to!