THE TRAVELING GARDNERS

So one thing that is very important about our home in the summer time is that it smells like summer! We got a little reimbursement check from our Mazda. I decided to go wild and get some yankee candles with a pinch of it! Now our kitchen smells like fresh squeezed lemons. And our bathroom smells like Island spa (Dan's favorite by the way) and coconut bay yankee candles. And our bedroom smells like sand and sea which smells just like really good suntan lotion! I miss working at Wicks N Sticks! I just LOVE candles. I would love to own a candle shop one day!!!

I got this idea from my friend Heather. Thanks Heather for the idea! 40 things I want to do by the time I am 40! 1. Have a little girl. (Either through adoption or usual way) 2. Don't give up on getting my bachelors! Keep going until I graduate....one unit at a time! 3. Complete a triathlon, half marathon, or relay race. 4. Be debt free 5. Be an audience member on Martha Stewart or Oprah show. 6. See an NBA game in person (preferably the Bulls) 7. Eat a dodger dog at Dodger Stadium while rooting on the Padres. 8. Learn to sew! 9. Be at a healthy weight and stay there! 10. Go on a cruise with Dan to a tropical island. 11. Drink a frrrrozen hot cocoa from Serendipity's in New York 12. Go river rafting with Dan 13. Go to Disneyland as a family. 14. Learn to knit a scarf 15. Make a sock monkey 16. Go on a trip with family and visit (mostly)every baseball stadium and temple in US! 17. Meet my in-laws in New York! 18. Vacation at Turtle island in Fiji in a hut on the ocean 19. Learn ...

Spring cleaning is on and cracking at the Gardner household. We are sorting through everything and preparing for our huge moving sale. Dan just had 4 days off for Memorial day and it was wonderful. We cleaned the house, played boardgames, watched movies, ordered pizza, made healthy summer desserts, swam at our pool on base, and basically did whatever we wanted! It was great! I highly recommend it! Nothing says Summer time like corn on the cob and watermelon!!!! Yummmm watermelon rhine...... I love this picture! That's it Ben...attack the watermelon! Still learning which way to eat the watermelon..... Memorial night dinner - Silly, tired boy...laughing so hard he almost fell over....or was that because he was so tired? Mommy putting Ben's plate into the freezer to cool off before we eat. Dan said he took a picture of me in an action shot in the kitchen.......I think he just wanted more proof that I wore his cubbies shirt. Tired boy giggling before we eat. Benjamin eating ...

Yesterday(Sunday) we watched a special Memorial Holiday tribute to the troops on PBS. I started crying when they played the horn at the end of the show. I cried for all of the mom's that lost their sons to war. But mostly I cried because the last time I heard the horn was at my Papa Jr's funeral. Thank you Papa Jr for serving our country when you did. I am also grateful to all the rest of my family and friends who serve our country. Thank you for keeping us safe and for your sacrifice. Thank you Aunt Judy. I am grateful for my Aunt Judy who served on a Navy Hospital ship for 20+ years. And I am grateful for my husband who is in the Army. Here are some pictures back from February. Dan and I had a date night and went to an Army ball. I got tears in my eyes that night when 40 + men got up and sang the Army national anthem. I am so full of patriotic pride these days. Leah, Dan, Harold, and GiGi. Dan and Harold work in the same office together. GiGi and I both had our babies at the...

So tonight Dan and I had a "spiderman" date. My GREAT aunt Judy sent us monopoly spiderman version a few weeks ago! We have been meaning to play it for awhile now. And tonight we did just that. We ordered some pizza, popped in Spiderman the movie and played spiderman monopoly! So fun! It was a nice way to celebrate the end of my school semester. Today I took my last final! YAH! So you will be seeing more blogging from me now. I'm back....... And can I just say it is nice to have life back to a little bit more calm and normal now?!?!?!?!

Did I ever post these pictures? If not...enjoy them! These pictures are from a while ago. Even before Ben had his first hair cut. Yummmmmy sketti...... Okay I am ready to get up. Dan trying to maneuver his way to pick up Ben without getting spaghetti on him too. Happy, messy, spaghetti boy! Dan trying his hardest to keep messy Ben away from him. :) Ben looking so innocent saying, who me?

Toilet exploded and flooded house with poo water Had to move out of home to military hotel for a week miltary hotel = no cable, no dvd player, no dishwasher, no computer... no computer = not being able to complete finals or homework no computer = dan is unable to finish speech or exam from his class no tv = no grey's or DH finale ;( no tv or computer = catching up on playing boardgames and realizing we should watch less tv and play more board games Saturday Dan decides to go on a hike with some buddies Dan's 4 hour hike turns in to 10 hour hike Dan and buddies did not prepare for all day hike dan living off of beef jerky and water while hiking half off Oahu = losing 10 pounds Ben and Leah hike up hill of hell to meet Dan half way with water, trail mix, and bananas dan has lots of blisters and is VERY sore Now we are back in poo-less no flood home as of Monday Now cleaning up the "after flood" and begging teachers to allow late final and homework turn in preparing for ...

So for those of you who check our website daily, or those of you just wondering what is going on in our life....here is a quick update.... Life has been on fast forward these past few months. We started off the month of April with getting Dan ready to leave for WLC (Warrior Leadership C?) training. We had to go through out all the bases on the island to find him $500.00 worth of military items that he HAD to have to go to this training. (Thank goodness it is tax refundable) So we got Dan ready for his training and off he went. (Sorry the pictures a little dark. It was taken with the camera on my phone.) Then as Dan was gone, I stayed busy working on homework, baby-sitting our neighbors daughter 4 times a week, and basically keeping the house running as smooth as can be done by one parent with two toddlers running around. Oh yah and on cinco de mayo I had to go to the ER. It ends up the tissue around my lungs is inflamed. This is probably caused from the cold I have had for awhile. A...

The countdown to "Dye" day is on and cracking. I don't know what happened to the last blog I posted. The pictures are not showing. And the whole point of that blog was to show you how my hair used to look and currently looks. So I will try this again.... Try to ignore the smoochy smoochy and look at my hair. Ignore the fact that it needed a serious touch up and has serious root issues going on. Focus on the end of the hair. I want something like that again, only all over - not just highlights. I want drastic people...not just some simple highlights. I appreciate all of your advice! And I am going to cut it also. I just want to also get a new color going on that works with my skin tone, and says "Hey! I'm different"...not just plain old boring Leah...."Hello World!"...that's what I'm going for. (Sing along to lyrics of Mellow Yellow. "They call me mellow yellow.....can't dye hair"... Look to the right and below...that's wh...

My hair dilemma is to go blonde or not to go blonde. I think if I had the right color it would look great. But there is the tricky part...finding the right color for me. Any suggestions people? I am ALL ears right now. Feel free to comment and give me some hair advice. I really want a drastic change right now. I am open to ANY color. I just want it to go with my coloring(aka: fare skin and freckles). This is my hair back in 2004. The highlights that I loved were growing out....but you get the basic idea of what it used to look like. I loved these caramel blonde highlights next to my face. This hair job made me actually like my freckles. I looked "sunkissed" and I liked it. I want this plus more. I want drastic change people! This picture was taken with my camera phone about a month ago. You can see my hair is somewhat of a yellow. That was my first attempt at dying it blonde. I am going on 5 attempts now....I have decided to go to a real salon. So these pictures are of what m...

So my Mom called me at 6 am this morning telling me that Ricky (my step brother) is okay. He attends Ramona high school in California. There was a scare today at his high school and it really got me thinking. Seriously - what is the world coming to? I worry so much about sending Ben off to school. Yah, I know I have a few years. But that is what scares me. In a few years will the world be safer or more dangerous? Seriously what is going on with the world? News reel from local news station below - Classes Back To Normal In Ramona After School Lock Down Last Updated: 05-02-07 at 6:45PM Officials locked down two Ramona schools Wednesday morning after a teenager was spotted carrying what looked like a gun. The schools were reopened after the youth returned home. His gun turned out to be a toy, authorities said. The 17-year-old boy's mother contacted him and told him to come home after deputies determined he had not arrived at Ramona High School, which was later locked down, along with ...

So no comments for me missing Dan but 4 for the burrito guy...hmmm...Just teasing...:)

If only life was this simple! With all the craziness in life...you sometimes just have to laugh...