June 22, 2009

Vacation Catch-Up

Here it is! The long overdue vacation update. We had a whirlwind May: Forge graduation, Darcie's best friend got married, then we headed off for vacation and Heidi's first airplane ride.

The highlights: Danielle's wedding was beautiful. It was an outdoor wedding at a vineyard, and we all got to go, including all of Heidi's grandparents.

We celebrated Mother's Day the next day at the Dodge's, then on Monday morning we headed to Utah for 4-5 days at a lakehouse there in Park City. (Thanks, Jenny and fam!) It was a beautiful cabin, with an even more beautiful view, and the weather was nice. We had a rough night the first night, as Heidi stayed up all night crying... but after a phone call to Aunt (Nurse) Jodie, a visit to a local clinic, and a little baby Benadryl for a sore throat, the vacation greatly improved. :-)


On Wednesday, we spent the day with Doug, Deborah, Molly & Meredith at the outlet mall and at the cabin. On our way out of town, we stopped by to see their house (much remodeled). They have a great place with a fantastic backyard!

We then headed to Sedona, AZ to visit Heidi's great-grandfather. We spent the weekend visiting with him, and Heidi's great aunt and uncle.


Great Gramps loved showing her off at church and in the community where he lives. It was a real treat to have almost all of the Gardner family together!


We got to take a day off (leaving Heidi with grandparents) and sneak away to visit the Grand Canyon, as Darcie had never seen it before. What a place. How can you describe it?

We were so glad we could make the trip to Arizona to see Gramps and have four generations there together: Father, Daughter, Father, Daughter. What a precious time!

Heidi was a real trooper, and she continues to be a really great traveler. She slept and played on all 3 plane flights, and put up with all the car rides to and from airports, relatives houses and dinner outings. We really are blessed with a very sweet little girl. We can't believe that in about a month, she'll be one year old!

June 3, 2009

Projects and projects

We still owe an update on the front yard that our Forge students helped lay sod for - they'd be happy to see the result. We'll get pictures up of that soon, along with our long-awaited vacation pics from Utah and Arizona. (there might be a few of Heidi in there for her fans)

Meanwhile, here's what I've been doing in my "spare time" (Darcie) - during naps, with Heidi sitting by watching in the stroller, etc. The laundry room of our rent house needed some love. It's out on the carport so it already felt like it wasn't a real part of the house, but in addition to that, the previous owners had never even finished it out with painted trim or flooring.

I have to admit, I think it looks pretty nice. I love projects like this. And Matt loves it even more when I start and finish something in a one-week period. :-)

More updates coming soon!