uncle kenny

my sweet family has been through a lot the past couple months.

we lost our aunt geneal in december, & shortly after found out

my uncle kenny has heart failure. last week, he underwent a scary

surgery for an LVAD. basically he is now half iron-man. he has a
metal implant in his heart that helps his heart pump, since it is too
weak to work on its own.

the upside? he's alive, & well on his way to recovery.. & closer to getting a heart transplant.

the downside? he requires 24/7 care. my poor cousins were pretty

overwhelmed when they learned that. he needs a low sodium diet as well as
constant monitoring in case something goes wrong with his LVAD.

luckily we have an amazing family that has jumped on board to help!

here is some of us on saturday at our training.

we learned how to replace the batteries to his LVAD, & what to do

in case of emergency (in which his LVAD beeps & beeps & i feel

like i will have a panic attack). since someone has to be there all the time,

we've signed up for shifts to be at mary's (his ex-wife, who is the sweetest

woman in the whole world & offered her entire house to kenny & his family)

to take care of him.

now tuesdays after i get off work, i'll head over to mary's to "babysit" kenny.

i don't really consider it that though.

i'm looking at it as a way to bond with kenny & anyone else who may be there

while i'm there.

it's going to be fun! & hopefully it won't last long.. hopefully soon

he'll have a brand new heart!

i love my family. their support is overwhelming & i am so glad to know they are here when times get tough. i am so grateful my parents are in such good health!!
speaking of good health, i'm not sure if you can tell in this picture but both
of my parents have lost a ton of weight! they are looking so good!

boo hoo & more christmas pictures.

 

i have issues with ogden police.

ok, so most of you know police are attracted to pulling me over (i blame the liberal bumper stickers that i've been meaning to take off my car for a year now.) this was no exception.

i went & saw les mis with my family (SERIOUSLY AMAZING SO MANY TEARS) the day after christmas.

on the way home.. it was blizzarding. it was late, so the snow plows were gone for the evening, meaning gigi was having a hard time. i was sliding everywhere & went 20-25 mph the whole way home.

anyway, i get to a stoplight on harrison near WSU which is kind of on a hill.. the light turns yellow so i put my feet on the brake.. nothing happened.. i pushed the brake harder & could feel i was about to fishtail. so... i did what i thought the safe thing was & just went through the red light. duh. (remember how someone slammed on their brakes in the snow to make a light & hit my mom last year? yeah.)

anyways, a block later, some jerk face cop pulls me over.

i explain to him i tried to stop.. but obviously the conditions aren't the greatest for my little car. he says "i didn't see you stop at all." & i said, "well yeah, that's because i was sliding." i tried to be nice about it. i really did. he came back about 5 mins later, ticket in hand. i said, "are you serious?!" he said, "yeah, you didn't even try to stop" to which i replied, "Sir, have you seen the roads?? i slid several feet pulling over when your lights came on. " "well, you almost t boned a car that was going to turn on the green light." "i most definitely would have hit them if i had slammed on my brakes. whatever, just give me the ticket." 

he gives me the ticket & i sign it & tell him i can't wait to fight it (hehe), & i am on my way for maybe a block when this happens: 

 

i got STUCK. literally my car wouldn't move. the best part? the cop followed me a ways, & when i got out of my car to start pushing... he drove right by.

protect & serve... ha! i can't wait to get this ticket dropped & give you an obscene gesture, you stupid stupid officer.

seriously, i haven't been that angry in a long time.

eventually luke walked down to where i was (his car got stuck too so he didn't dare drive down) & it took us 45 minutes to get my car up the hill to my house.

so many curse words.

despite all this, the christmas break was lovely overall. seeing les mis was definitely the highlight.. i already have plans to see it again. other highlights: 

 

 the christmas feast at work! nineveh brought a ham (you can see her dishin' it out here), my executive producer made biscotti & green chili chicken spaghetti, & i brought some cookie bars & martinelli's. as you can see we were not short on sweets, which was awesome.

 

still obsessing over our christmas jammies. seriously, the most comfortable pair of pants ever. i want to wear them always.

 

pardon the crappy iPhone quality.

my family got a remote control helicopter for christmas, & after luke & i came over on christmas day my dad yelled "load em up!" we headed over to the church parking lot to try it out.. it was quite the successful christmas overall. 

christmas.

 

we spent christmas eve at luke's parent's house.. where we ate a delicious dinner, wore christmas crowns, read stories & opened PJs.

 

me & marti wore matching PJs.. leggings that are probably the most comfy EVER. i was sad i had to work the next day (christmas) & didn't get to hang out in my pajamas all day, so i wore them under my jeans. hehe.

 

 

luke with his sisters.. i love this pic!

 

me, luke, luke's mom teri, & our niece kaylee.

 

kaylee reading a story with some help from "pop."

 

kaylee told us to be "lions." luke gave up, as you can see.

 

& here's a fun one of yesterday when luke got his christmas package from our nephew preston! he loves his new chelsea FC hat!

i hope everyone's christmas was merry! i had to work but after work on xmas we went to my parent's house & flew their new helicopter, played just dance, & ray & ky showed us all their cute new clothes.

i love my family! even though most of them are in texas right now visiting my brothers without me.. lame! 

merry christmas!

 

at last weekend's "gardner game day," a favorite christmas tradition!

ps, this isn't even half of my family ^ we're humongous.

hope your holidays are merry & bright! 

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas.

most people who know me know i'm kind of a scrooge. i've never had a christmas tree outside of my parent's house, & i'm not one to decorate my home with lots of christmas cheer. but i must say these additions to the studio at my work have been quite lovely:

pretty aren't they?

so i decided to be just a little festive this year, & leave something for my "child" 

nesta doesn't even care one bit that it's put up by her... that i hung out, by the chimney, with care.

i think santa is bringing her a very large lump of coal, & cat perfume, since she loves being outside in the snow & comes in smelling horribly like wet yucky.

Geneal's funeral.

over the weekend i spent a lot of time with family for a very sad reason.. my Aunt Geneal's funeral/viewing.

however, it was also a blessing in disguise as i got to see the majority of my family (except my sis in law, niece & nephew who i missed VERY MUCH!). this little kid... i am so sad he is growing up so many miles away from me! he is at such a fun age.. & was perfectly content being passed around from aunt to aunt, grandma to grandpa.. 4 aunts is a lot of holding, kisses & cuddles but preston boy sure is ok with it! he's a peach.

here's a few photos from the weekend:

luke & preston unintentionally matched in their argyle sweaters. i couldn't handle the cuteness. CUTENESS OVERLOAD!

my studly papa saying goodbye in the snow.

another one of my dad, doing one of my favorite things about him: entertaining little ones & making them laugh.

if you haven't seen him with little kids before, it's the cutest. he is so good with them!

me with about 1/343829 of my cousins... girl power.

L2R: julianna, kathryn, me, liz, baily, taylor, norda & jessi.

baily's hair is amazing isn't it? i wish mine was that red sometimes.

all in all it was a good weekend with family, reminiscing over our favorite aunt. she truly was a beautiful soul.

unexplainable stories.

 

my heart has been heavy all morning.

i woke up yesterday to a phone call from my papa, saying my sweet aunt geneal has stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

most people know, that's one of the worst kinds to get. she's decided chemo would do more harm than good.. & i don't blame her.

this song has been circling my thoughts, & i think it's very appropriate. give it a listen when you have some time.

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turkey day!

 

me with luke's cousins & sister.

this turkey day was more of a turkey week, as we've had lots of family parties all on different days.

wednesday we got together with my side of the fam.. which only consisted of my 2 littlest sisters & my grandparents on my dad's first wife's side.

the biddulphs are adorable, except my grandma is crazy. it makes for fun holiday dinner conversation.

thursday we went to morgan to go to luke's aunt's dinner. there was easily 100 people there. i thought i knew what a big family was but.. luke's family easily defeats us gardner's. i had a headache by the end of the day trying to know everyone's names.

all in all it was lots of good food & family... i have been so stuffed the past 2 days but been saving room all day as luke is taking me to sushi tonight for my birthday.

tomorrow is my birthday party at slackwater...pizza yay! it's going to be a fun weekend. 

 

the drive home from morgan was gorgeous.

 

luke captured a photo of me mid-food coma.. glasses still on, feet dangling off the coach.. i was so full & SO TIRED. successful, i daresay.

 

turkey cookies.

 

my grandpa carving the turkey, like a boss.

hope everyone's holiday was fantastic! i missed my texas family but it was nice to see both sides. happy thanksgiving! 

grateful.

 

i am so grateful to have the family that i do...and the good friends.

i've grown so much this past year and it's all because of the amazing people i've surrounded myself with.

i'm so grateful for my nephews & niece... everyday they give me a reason to smile. when i'm having a bad day i look at pictures i have of them saved on my phone & i can't help but feel better.

i'm grateful for my parents, always supporting & loving me even when i put them through hell & back.

my siblings & sisters-in-law for being amazing & becoming more my friends than family over the years.

for all of them putting up with my feisty temper, my potty mouth & my tendency to overreact to...everything.

i am so lucky!

happy thanksgiving, friends. i hope it's a great day for you all!

other weekend randoms

 

the highlight of the weekends are when i get the chance to facetime with my family in texas. matthew showed me his missing teeth (he's got such a holey smile now... it's the cutest!) although it also made me kinda sad cuz nothing says "i'm growing up too fast" like losing all your baby teeth.

grace was also ecstatic to show me she had gotten the present luke & i sent her... i'm so glad she likes it. the disney store in city creek is awesome, & as long as grace keeps loving princesses, i'll keep finding awesome things for her for bdays/christmas. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW GRACE COSETTE! it seems like just yesterday i was holding her little body in my arms. 

 

i also got to see my wittle redhead preston...he thought facetime was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

also, i love alex in the background of this...trying to eat grace's belle doll that i got her for her birthday. 

  

the rest of the weekend was spent being lazy with this little brat...who has been especially cuddly lately. probably because we're both hating this weather:

 

the view just outside my house.yuck yuck yuck.

J'ai passe un bon weekend.

the highlight by far of my weekend was papa taking all of us to les miserables.

it was the third time seeing this play on the "big stage" (i also got to see it in san francisco & SLC) but boy was it just as amazing as always.

broadway (san fran) is always a much bigger stage with awesome effects, but the guys in cedar city did an excellent job nonetheless.

we roadied down..four hour drive..got some cafe rio, & headed over to the theatre on SUU's campus, which was beautiful.

luke gave us a mini-tour & then we sat in our seats to be amazed. i cried three times...of course. how can you not tear up at the end of the play? it's so beautiful!
le francais langue est tres jolie.. j'ai adore' le lyrics et la musique a un bon musicale.

thanks so much papa for taking all of us on a date!

 

the next highlight was the U of U football game...luke took me on a little date to watch his utes dominate cal...our first pac 12 win.

 

all in all a fabulous weekend, and like always, monday is here WAY too soon.

another goodbye.

 

earlier this week i had to say goodbye to my youngest nephew... luke & i look at this picture & laugh our heads off every single time. seriously, how EVIL do i look??? this picture was hilarious, since i told luke to take one..first we had to get preston to look at the camera...then we realized we had to turn around so we weren't in the shadow...then preston ended up in the shadow anyway & i looked ready to kidnap him.

this is seriously something you'd see on awkwardfamilyphotos.com....or an amber alert.

but really, i blame it on the fact i was so sad & trying to hide it with a smile. i miss this boy & his awesome parents already.

my brother alex has always been so easy-going..he's been the sibling i've always gotten along with, even if he does like to tease. susan is an absolute gem of a sis-in-law...i really am so lucky to call them family. & i miss them so much already.

 

i guess i will have to hold down the fort as the "family redhead" in utah.

& the plans for my trip to texas continue... 

fall colors, food & family

 

how cute is my nephew in that snug little hat? 

this weekend was a much needed relaxing weekend spent with family. since most of my fam will soon be out-of-staters, i'm getting in as much family time as i can before they all leave me. luckily we still have luke's family in kaysville, so that will be nice. but overall i'm already missing my brothers & sisters-in-law, & especially my ridiculously cute nephews & niece.

every conference weekend my family goes camping, usually at wasatch mountain state park. this year they were closed for some reason (boo) so they opted for jordanelle instead.

luke & i went up to spend the day with them saturday, & it was beautiful: 

 

checkin' out the water at jordanelle. i'm totally the bad aunty who let preston stick his hands in the water. :P

 

preston & ky ky

 

luke & i went on an adventure as well. awesome.

 

preston & his mama...aren't they the cutest?

hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend! it sure is nice to have cool weather.