Tapestry.

"We may not know what contribution our small thread makes to the great tapestry. We may not understand the pattern that our lives make as they intersect, connect, separate and intersect again, but God does... we never know how far the effects of our service will reach. We can never afford to be cruel or indifferent or ungenerous, because we are all connected, even if it is a pattern that only God sees."
-Chieko N. Okazaki

Happy Birthday Jeff

So, my brother in law Jeff shares a birthday with my brother John. Jeff is multi-talented. My first date with Justin started with watching Jeff in a Triathlon at Echo Lake. Jeff brings new meaning to the word ENDURANCE. He has run a ton of marathons (I'm guessing 10), has competed in 2 iron man triathlons and countless other tri's. He and Justin could work and have worked all day long in the hot sun for 12 hours a day. He is a hard worker, he's really generous and kind, and is a lot of fun to be around. Happy Birthday to you.

Happy, Happy

A happy birthday to my brother, Johnny. John is two and a half years older than I am and has been a great brother to me. I've always admired his public speaking abilities, his testimony, his mad acting skills, and his amazing musical talent. John is as silly as they come and a lot of fun to be around. Some of my best memories of John are- him teaching me how to do a backflip on the trampoline, him pushing me off the cliff (tjk), hanging out all the time and working together when we were at BYU, getting letters from him on my mission, and introducing him to his lovely and fabulous wife, Krista. Johnny is really talented and I'm proud to claim him as a fellow social worker, although the rest of the family is more proud to claim him as an advertising genius :) Thanks for being you. We all want to be just like you.

P.S. A note from my last post- I think I made the librarian sound meaner than she was. She's about 70 yrs old and was totally joking around, I don't think it even crossed her mind that I'd think twice about it. :)

Almost Offended

So, I realize I already posted about church this week, but I've just been dying to share something that someone said to me. I took Gracie with me into the library with me to return my chalk/ crayons from primary. The people behind the counter took one look at her and said, "Oh, there's no taking her in the sun" I responded, "Yeah, she's pretty fair" to which they responded, "Yeah, I guess there's no taking you in the sun either!"

Sad. How am I so white that people can say such a thing and totally get away with it? While we were talking, I didn't think much of it, but afterwards I thought, "Ouch, that's kinda mean". Oh well, if you know me then you aren't surprised that I would encounter comments about my pasty white skin. Justin got a big kick out of this too. Woe is me, bring on the self tanner or the pocahontas colored nylons.

When's the last time you had this much fun?

We've been frequenting the park almost daily this week and have had a great time. Gracie loves the slides and hates the swings (I think swings and the vacuum are her only fears in life).
She learned how to climb this little ladder thing so she can climb up to the slide and go down by herself. It works great unless other little kids are trying to go up the ladder.

This is Gracie in an outfit from last summer. I was so happy on a very warm day last week when I tried it on and it still fit. Last summer I thought she'd for sure be too big for it, but sometimes little girls don't grow very fast.

Mister Gardner

I teach the CTR 5 class in Primary. There's a sweet little boy in my class who prays for robots almost weekly (I only have 3 kids, so they all get a lot of turns praying). Every time he asks me a question it starts out, "Mister Gardner?" I can't tell you how many times I've tried to explain that Mister is a phrase reserved for MEN and I am a WOMAN, but after a five minute lesson about my name being Sister Gardner he'll say "okay" and turn around a few minutes later... "But Mister Gardner..." I think it's more funny than bothersome but it makes me laugh every week.

As for Gracie, church (at least sacrament meeting) went really well this week. We sat on the chairs in the back and were surrounded by other kids her age, which kind of helped. The week before we were a minute late and so our seating definitely added to the bad behavior. Anyway, I'm glad that there are so many smart moms out there. Thanks for your advice. I also wanted to comment about the "circle of treats" at church. No matter what I bring in the way of treats, Gracie always seems to be more interested in someone else's treats and begs people around us for food. I'm a little embarrassed, but am glad that other people are willing to share. Because I have a little beggar, I like it when other little beggars come to us and think we have great treats (marshmallow mateys). There were a couple of little boys who helped Gracie eat her snack this week. Is it weird that it gave me confidence that we had food worth begging for?

Introducing...

BLOGGY! I found the coolest new blog. My little brother Bobby has recently entered the blogging world. Click here to get to know Bloggy LeBaron a little better.