December 2010 in a Thousand Words

In December, we kept busy!  We went to the ward Christmas party, the school posada, and grocery shopping.  We were lucky to host Grandpa Garner for a little over a week, the little over thanks to Delta canceling his flight home.  We were glad he was here and filled our time with fun, work and relaxation.  We had an enjoyable Christmas Eve program, watching the nativity in shadow as Dewain read selections from the Bible, and ate the same meal Mary and Joseph would have eaten- well, close enough.  We had bread, goat cheese, figs, dates, olives, and water.  Merry Christmas!

November 2010 in a thousand words

Click the picture to view larger.  November is long over, and my post is finally here!  We took a Veteran's Day trip to the Oakland Zoo, celebrated Gideon's 1st birthday, and finished up the soccer season.  For Thanksgiving this year, we were able to go to my parent's house in Arizona.  We cut a few hours off our long drive by making a welcome stop at Ford's, who lived a few houses down from us in Winfield Village.  It's been four years since we saw them, in Wisconsin.  We were glad to get the chance to visit, but it was WAY too short.  We visited the Mesa temple and celebrated our anniversaries together- our 12th and their 17th (right Jenni?).  Thanks Jacob and Zach for giving up your room for us.  After a long Sunday (8:30 church makes the day a whole lot different than 1:00 meetings) and a sleep-in Monday, we reluctantly headed out.  It was the first time Dewain had ever been to my parents house; they've lived in that house for about six years.  We got to visit Saguaro National Park, Cochise Stronghold, and the Tucson Children's Museum.  We had a very enjoyable trip, despite the drive (so many Californians can't drive in the rain!).  Good times!

October 2010 in a Thousand Words

Lucky for all of us, I have another brother who is on a mission and needs a monthly letter, with photos. For those of you wondering, Peter (not my youngest brother) is currently in the MTC and will be heading for the North Carolina, Charlotte Mission is just a few short weeks. We are very excited for him and know that he will make a wonderful missionary, as soon as he gets the language down.

For us, October was a month of soccer! We did get one game called for rain (and played one in the rain), but otherwise our days were filled with practices and games for both Daniel and Joshua. We sang "Happy Birthday!" to Nathan, who insisted the only thing he wanted was a cake with a rat on top. Dewain made a very cute little rat from a snickers bar, licorice and a tootsie roll, but Nathan's face made it obvious that what the boy meant was really the large, plastic rat we hid in the bottom of a package we mailed to Grandma Jorgensen. Nathan loved all of the sharks he got from Grandpa and has used his new Mack to continuously haul around his well-loved Lightning McQueen.

For Halloween, Gideon used one of our 10c costumes-(I will always have fond memories of half the women in the ward raiding the Halloween aisle as word of the 10c costume sale spread), Nathan dressed as "Superman to the Rescue!," Joshua was Pikachu, the faithful creature that is side kick to Ash Ketchum, the Pokemon trainer Daniel dressed as. We had a fun month, even if it started out with Dewain spending almost every spare moment being trained as or acting as the Scoutmaster.

September 2010

I know I've skipped July & August, but eventually they'll come.  Turns out we've been busy around here.

We went to the Ripon Balloon Festival, where we enjoyed watching the balloons take off, the boys participated in the fun run, and were amazed by the parachuters coming in to land.  Daniel was awarded his Bobcat at our first Cub Scout Pack Meeting, well our first pack meeting where one of the boys was the scouter, not Dewain or myself.  Soccer is in full swing now and both boys are filling our evenings and enjoying the exercise.  Work on the house continues, we've added some baseboard and subtracted the hideous railing.  We ride our bikes to school, 3 times a day, 3 days a week.  I cave and drive the other two.  The two youngest boys often fall asleep on the way.  Nathan got a filling and stitches (fell on the marble hearth).  We canned applesauce and apple rings, and froze some apple pie filling- thanks Aunt Holly!  The stake had a county fair, which we enjoyed.  I got to take pictures at our ward's "photo booth," though my art definitely played second fiddle to the wonderful artwork of the backdrop.  And that is all the time for today, here's hoping I don't take any more pictures this month that really should have been in this collage.

June in a Thousand Words

First up: Swim Lessons! The boys were scared at first, but progressed rapidly.  It helped a lot to have just two kids per session.  The boys wanted to do lessons with Coach Nicole again at the end of the summer, but we never got the chance.

Uncle Cameron, Lisa, and cousin Madison came to visit.  We had fun at the beach, in the pool, and visiting the Jelly Belly factory.  There were also numerous MarioKart races and other Wii games.  Poor Gideon got an ear infection and had to miss out on some of the fun.  We had lots of fun and hope they come again soon.

The Jorgensens came.  We hung out at home, went bowling, visited the jelly belly factory (again), and repaired all the things that Peter broke.

June 2010.  Finally got rid of the puke purple in the living room, did a lot of swimming, enjoyed visits from family, and celebrated Daniel's 8th birthday.  Daniel broke his nose (we assume) after a "head-on" collision, we canned lots of cherries (yum, yum), and couldn't take a good Father's Day picture to save ourselves.

As usual, if you want to see something bigger, click on the collage.  If you want to see the photos individually, and more of them, visit the family site.  If you don't know where or how, let me know and I'll hook you up.

May 2010 in a Thousand Words

Mormon Helping Hands, Mother's Day, School Play, End of School, Preschool Graduation, Tee Ball, Bouncy Gideon, Prime & Paint, Happy Birthday Auntie Liz!

April in a Thousand Words

Spring Break, visits from Grandpa, great grandparents, and Auntie Liz, growing up, playing ball, Happy Easter!

March 2010 in a Thousand Words

Tee ball anyone?  We did take a day to play at the park, but our routine hasn't included much variety this month.  There are some random photos as I experiment with the camera, but most have a reason to exist.  If you can't figure it out, feel free to post a comment/question.

February in a Thousand Words

February was a much calmer month than January.  We had a few colds run through the family, but remained mostly healthy.  We were able to go to the Oakland Temple, while the boys enjoyed Chabot Space and Science Center.  Joshua honed his baking skills and even took a loaf of bread he made to share with his preschool class.  Gideon discovered his hands, continues to grow, and loves to smile at anyone who will smile at him.  All the boys chose new shoes, Nathan loved his so much that he slept with them (multiple times).  Both Daniel and Joshua started into t-ball, which will continue to keep us busy till June.  Fewer happening meant fewer pictures, so you'll probably be able to see all of these without clicking to enlarge, though you can if you want.

January in a Thousand Words

This month was a busy one!  We had a restful New Year's Day and then the month went into overdrive.  We went to Utah and back, with our radiator giving a miraculous performance on the way home.  Within 24 hours we were welcoming our friends the Barruses, who were trying to warm up after a winter in South Dakota.  Unfortunately, we couldn't show them a rousing good time, because the van revealed it's crippled radiator.  So, the next week was spent trying to get that fixed.  It runs much better now, hope the Barruses will come back again.  A few days later Nathan started through a series of unfortunate events which finally landed him in the ER needing a few stitches in his cheek/lip.  Meanwhile, Gideon has reached the 2 month milestone and earned himself 5 shots and an oral vaccine, all for being perfectly average at his checkup.  So here's hoping to a peaceful and uneventful February!

December in a Thousand Words

This post is coming to you on the principle that late is better than never.

December was, not surprisingly, a busy month.  A month during which I finally got the desktop up and running again.  So, this collage is full of photos from the second half of the month, because I'm to lazy to find and compress the ones I had marked on the laptop.  Yes, it did snow in Tracy!  No, not nearly that much, more like what any place with self-respecting weather would call "a trace."  To find snow to play in we had to head home to Utah for Christmas.  We had a lot of fun there with the whole family, and even blessed baby Gideon while we were all together.  Hooray for holidays with family.

Temple Trip

For the final activity of the year, the primary hosted a special program with refreshments at the Oakland Temple.  We decided to go to the activity and enjoy the Christmas light display at the temple.  We were glad we went, even though we all got to bed too late.

Just the guys, I wanted to see how well the camera would take a night shot.  Turned out pretty well, I thought.

The whole family.  Gideon is in his car seat, I forgot to bring his hat, so he couldn't get out.

I discovered I need more practice with the remote and that using the edge of the water fountain will ensure that water droplets get in the picture.

The view from the balcony.  Kind of crazy to see palm trees decked out in Christmas lights, but it was beautiful all the same.

November in a Thousand Words

November was a busy month around here.  Soccer season ended, the whole family (minus 2) came for Thanksgiving, and we added a 4th little boy to our family. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Boy Joy!

Joyfully announcing the addition of our fourth boy!

Gideon William joined our family at a reasonable hour Thursday morning.

He is tall and skinny, just like his brother and dad.

He is surprisingly alert and seems to have a good sense of humor.

His brothers love him very much.

October in a Thousand Words

In October we finished up the boys' bedroom and moved on to the guest room and master bedroom.  Nathan celebrated his 2nd birthday and made mischief of one kind and another.  Dewain got swine flu (an assumed, not verified case) and passed out at work... earning himself an ambulance ride and 10 stitches.  The boys had a lot of Halloween fun and we're another month closer to being a 4 child family.

Take a guess!

Now that the due date is only two weeks away (Nov. 15), the guessing game had better officially begin. Post your guesses as a response to this message. The questions to answer:
Birth date
Gender
Weight & Height (aka length)
Hair & Eye Color
Name

As always, a prize for the winner!

September in a Thousand Words

Here is it, a few of September's highlights.  We had some fun in Old Sacramento for "Gold Rush Days," Nathan got a bad haircut, we got the house a little closer to how we'd like it, soccer is in full swing, and daily life is flying by. 

August in a Thousand Words

I amaze myself, it's still the same week that August has ended and here comes the monthly collage.

Surprise! Well, maybe to some of you...

These pictures aren't new (done in July), nor are they the first ultrasound (see May collage for that). But, here is Garner #4. Said child is due mid-November. Hopefully, I'll prove a better photographer of the child than the sonographer did. You can probably expect more timely notice of child's actual arrival. We chose not to find out the gender of said child, I like my surprise at the end, when it's even more effective. Apologies to the grandma's for making shopping difficult. Somehow, it's hard to imagine that a baby can be anything but a boy...

Gems from Joshua

Singing the vulture's song in the Jungle Book "when you're lost, in Zion..."

The FP little people are riding in their van listening to "car country 103" (in appropriate jingle tune). Why that station? Our van is usually tuned to KAT country 103.

"Dad, can I help you burn the breakfast?"

In reading about the translation of the Book of Mormon, "Joseph Smith and all of his cows did what?"

Every week at bathtime, when he's ready to get in, he yells "I'm ugly!"