The Quilt....

In Cort's last email home he asked my mom to make him a craft. It is a weird request but we have to do something for him. My mom came up with the idea to make Cort a quilt. When she mentioned this to me I was thinking to myself...Are you kidding me? I do not quilt or sew...this should be good. So last Wednesday night I went over to my parents house to make a quilt. My mom had bought two fleece pieces of material and we had to just the edges and tie them in knots. It did not sound hard since there was no needle needed. We laid it out on the living room floor, get one side cut and tied. We move around the blanket to the next side and I realize the top piece of material upside down. Every piece of material has a wrong and right side. Well leave it to use to just get going and not pay attention. We recruited Bud to help untie everything we had just done so that we could flip it over and fix our mistake. Once we fixed it we were not going to stop until it was done. Sitting on the floor for long periods of time is not a good thing for the Gardner family. I started it off with a charlie horse in the arch of my foot, Bud lasted all 15 min before the arthritis in his knees kicked in and my mom ended the quilt with a charlie horse in her thigh. So as they saying goes...no pain no gain. I stayed over to my parents until we got it done. We had a good time doing this with my grandparents sitting on the couch watching us. It actually turned out pretty good. Here are a couple of pictures.

Pioneer Weekend

Our weekend started Thursday night. Caleb and I went to see the new South Jordan Temple with his family. We went over to his parents house for pizza after. Caleb and I got up Friday morning and ran to the social security office. Some how we could not find our social security cards so we went to get new ones. We had to run around town to get ready for our camping trip. What better way to celebrate Pioneer day than living as a modern day pioneer. (a few modern necessities.) Bud, Laura, Caleb and I went up on Friday around 2:00pm. It started off great weather then as the night went on it started to rain. I taught them a new game that I had learned from my mother-n-law. For anyone that knows Caleb he is far from being a game player. He decided to play and beat the three of us with ease. I would lose every time if it meant he would play every time. Caleb's dad was in town this weekend. Caleb family decided to join us camping on Sat. for just the day. It was great having everyone up there away from the chaos of everyday life. We really enjoyed our camping trip. we came home today. I love being home. We ran over to see my parents for a few minutes. My dad needed Caleb's help with his new printer.

Side note - I think today was a first. Caleb was not able to help my dad with a geeky tech. thing. Even though he was not able to help my dad I love him more than I ever have.

Hello Kentucky....

On Monday Cortney left for Kentucky. Our family got to talk to Cort while he was at the Salt Lake airport and the Dallas airport. I headed to my parents house about 4:45am on Monday to get my couple of min to hear his voice. I crawled into bed with my mom and then the phone rings...I answer it and on the other end is Cort. The anticipation of getting to talk to him was almost too much. To hear his voice and the joy that he feels is pouring through the phone. I knew that he was grinning from ear to ear. I asked him if he was doing good he told me that things could not be better. He was filled with excitement to get out of the MTC and join the ranks of his peers.

I went home took a shower and got ready to go to work hoping that he would call back when he landed in Dallas. We did not talk about him calling me during his three hour layover. Would it even cross his mind??? I sent a text to his friend and let her know how great he sounded. As I drove into work I called my mom to ask if he had called her back. She said no. I told her if he does call back to let him know he can call me if he wants, I would not mind. She was quick on the phone because she did not want to miss him if he did call again. I arrived to work, logged onto my computer and within 5 min my phone rings. It was him...thank you..thank you...He wanted to talk to me. He said he had to go after about 10min on the phone. He finishes the conversation with stay strong, keep smiling because life is good.

He is AMAZING that is about all I can say and what is better than that. Here is a pic of him when he arrived at his mission home. He is looking good and somewhat tall in this pic.

Two weeks worth....
I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since my last post. We had a great 4th of July with family. Caleb's dad was in town which is always nice. Coby and Emi had Braxton's baby blessing on the 5th. We had brunch after over at my mother and father-n-laws home. Caleb had Friday- Monday off with me. We had a great four day weekend. We came to the conclusion that we need more long weekends together.

Bud and I started carpooling to work and I have had the opportunity to attend some of his b-ball games. The first game that I got stuck going to was a great game. I was sitting in the stands with my phone and Bud's in my lap. My phone rang, I looked down to answer it and it said Cort was calling. My heart dropped along with the missed call. It was almost a panic feeling that he tried to call and I missed it. I called his number back and no one answered. I called my mom to see what she was doing and she said that she was trying to see if Cort had any missed calls or texts. I had to explain to her that she cannot let that happen again. Seeing his name on my phone felt like a sign that he was letting me know he is OK.

I received my first letter from Cort last week. He is doing great. His first day at the MTC they made him a district leader. I am very proud of him. I write him all the time. I have seen that my parents also write him every night. Their letters are a paragraph or two my letters are a page or two. Today at work I was talking to one of my co-workers and she asked how Cort was doing. I was about ready to answer when my blackberry vibrated. I looked down and it said I had an email from Cort. Before I even looked to see what it was I replied back to him with this, " Are you there?" I desperately wanted him to respond with a yes..I got nothing. I looked back at my blackberry as if he had slipped through my hands. I checked to see what I had received from Cort.. It was an email from him. For a moment I knew he was right there with me. I went to show bud the email and call my dad so that I could forward it to him. In his email he stated that he leaves the 20th at 6:30am for Kentucky. I talked to my mom and she asked if he gets to call us so I thought why not email him and see if I can get an answer. I emailed him and about 20min later I get a response...This is just what I needed. I didn't care what the email said I was too excited that I got a response. He will get to call home.

I have decided that I love email. Email for me is like texting for the rest of the human population. In his email he was cracking jokes and excited about life. I love and miss him just being around. I was telling bud as we were driving home tonight that I just wish he would walk in the room.

Today is the Day....

We took Cort to the MTC today. It was hard to send him on his way but he walked away grinning from ear to ear. That made it a little easier on all of us. Once his host said that he would carry all of Cort's luggage we knew he would be ok. It was almost like they knew him already. I can't wait to hear the stories of how he is getting his companions to do everything for him. He is so strong and is going to do great in the MTC and in the field. Here are a couple of pics from today.

Last night he was set apart and we had Bud, Cort and my Gpa put on their championship basketball shirts they had just won a couple of weeks ago. Here are a couple of the pics from last night.

We are going to miss having Cort here but can't wait for

all of the opportunities for others to get to know

and love him as much as we do.

Only 730 days to go.

Family Time

This morning my mom called and asked if Caleb and I wanted to go to the park and eat KFC and play around. This is Cort's last Sunday with us since he leaves Wednesday. We started off playing Bocce ball which Cort and I won. It is all thanks to him. I only earned one of our five points. We then played volleyball which we were able to get everyone to play. I love it when everyone plays. (I love it most when my husband plays.) We had a great time at the park as a family. We were able to get a few pictures. I am only going to post a couple out of the 100 that we took of us goofing around.

Bud, Laura and Cort

It was intense out there...even Bud went for a dive.

Ready for anything...

Bud's action shot (picture taken by my dad)

My action shot (also taken by my dad)

Cort catch

Dad's throw

Bud's catch

Just think this was only a couple of the pictures from today. Overall we had a great day. There was one exception. When my mom, dad, Bud and Cort got home they found Chance (the family dog) had hung himself in a bush while we were at the park. I thought that we were all taking Cort leaving a little hard but Chance took it to another extreme. I love my family and I am sorry about Chance's passing.

Happy Father's Day, Birthday and Farewell.

Today was a great day for my family. Today was Father's day. I have a great dad and father-n-law. They mean the world to Caleb and me. I hope that they both had a great day today.

Today was also my grandfather's 89th birthday. He was in great spirits today and enjoyed the day.

Today was also Cortney's farewell. I cried my guts out. He did so well with his talk. I know that he is going to do great things on his mission. He is very insperational. I made him a little scrapbook to take with him. This way if he gets home sick or needs us there we will be there supporting him. He is ready to get out into the field. Here is a picture from today. It represents all three celebrations we had today.