ONE LOOOOONG PARTAY!

Last week was a full blown "Gardner" week! Between the baby blessing of my nephew Samuel, babysitting and crafting with my 3 nieces all day, a birthday celebration for my sister Kimberly, girls night out to Cheesecake Factory and shopping at Nordstrom with a combo birthday bash for my cousin Abby, family dinner at CPK and watching the Harry Potter: part 2 movie, the temple sealing of Samuel with lunch afterwards at Blue Lemon, and finally another birthday celebration for my Mother at Ruth's Chris in Park City!
WHEW!
Along with all those events, we had work everyday and we still managed to pack up and head out of town Friday. The recap of last week goes at follows:

Handsome Samuel was blessed at home in fabulous style. My sister and her husband catered the whole event with scrumptious food from Gin's Bakery and it was delicious. In total, there were about 75 people there to show support and participate in the blessing. It was such a long-awaited wonderful evening! 

My nieces and I were put in charge of the centerpieces, so the day before we headed out the stores and came up with a cute idea. We decided we would make balloon topiaries. We took galvanized buckets from Hobby lobby and filled them with foam. We then spray painted wooden sticks black and attached a foam ball on top. After pinning all the balloons into the foam (just like the Birthday Balloon Wreath that I made) we stuck it into the bucket and covered the top with orange paper shavings. The girls had fun making these and I had fun spending time with them! All in all, we made 7 topiaries! 

Please excuse the poor quality photo, it was taken with my phone. Nonetheless this awesome chick cuz turned the big 2-0 on Tuesday! Woot! Woot! All of us girls in the fam took her out to dinner followed by a little sale shopping. It was such a fun evening. We laughed, shared stories and did exactly what girls do best! This was my purchase for the evening and they are the bomb-diggity! I freakin' love them

  
Although I do not have any photos of the dinner-&-movie night, it was still a blast! Sweets and I have not been to a movie for so long. It felt good to just relax and be entertained by Harry for the last time.  

  

The Temple sealing was so amazing! Our good family friend Elder Steve Snow performed the sealing and he did an incredible job. I have never seen an actual family sealed before, so it was pretty neat. But the greatest part was that my sweet sister Kimberly asked if I would participate in the Sealing. I was so honored. I was able to hold Samuel and be at the alter with the whole family for the sealing. It was such a neat experience for me to be apart of such an important ordinance, but it was also an awesome experience for the 3 sisters of Samuel to be apart of it as well. They got to see things that children their age don't get to see. How lucky...

My sister Kimberly turned one year younger, yet again, on the 18th. We celebrated her as family and friends with cake, ice cream and cupcakes at her house. It was a great day and she deserved a great one too!

My youthful Mother also had a birthday last week on the 21st! She is an incredible Mother and I am so blessed by her example and her friendship. For her big day we headed up to Ruth's Chris in Park City for a wonderful dinner. This is an annual thing for my family and we all look forward to this occasion every year. 
Happy Birthday!


All in all, it was a perfect week! I have so much to be thankful for and I am grateful to my darling Sweets, my 2 furry - stinky kids, my awesome kick-A family, and for the gospel in my life. Without those things, I would have nothing and be nothing.  

WHAT TIME IS IT IN THE WORLD?

SHOW TIME!

Sweets and I were so lucky to experience U2 : 360 tour last night!

OMG...it was absolutely amazing! 

Kimberly, Susan, Marie, Christian, Sweets and I arrived at the stadium at 6pm and ate dinner together amongst others on the 6th floor for the VIP party. It was so fun. We ate lots of yummy food and had the chance to relax before the party got started.  

Just before U2 came out on stage)
The Fray opened for U2 and they were great. I usually don't like their music but they did very well and I was definitely getting into their vibe. They rocked the house for the opener!

The rocket-ship stage
When U2 hit the stage...the whole stadium erupted! They had SO much energy and seriously put on the best show! Bono is simply incredible to be performing for as long as he has and still look like he is in the 'prime' of his life. It was one continuous karaoke party for us spectators!

The Gardner girls (minus Amy)
We danced the whole night long, clapping our hands to the beats and singing our hearts out. Our throats are so sore from all the fun! Oh, and our ears are still ringing...seriously...can't...hear...anything!

The man himself...Bono!
We lucked out sitting so close to the stage that we just swooned every time Bono or anyone else came to our side. They performed well into the 11 o'clock hour and we just loved it! It made for long sleepless night but totally worth it.

Cell phone lights only
This picture doesn't do justice, but this was an incredible view. Towards the end, U2 asked if all the lights could be turned off and he would sing just to the lights of everyones cell phones. We all dug out our phones and held them up on display! It was beautiful to see all the tiny white lights flooding the stadium.
I will certainly, always remember this fantastic concert and we are so appreciative that we had the opportunity to experience the great powerhouse legends of Music!

{GFB} ONE YEAR OLDER...

 Every quarter the lovely ladies in my family celebrate each others birthday with a dinner out on the town! Last night, just so happened to be that special day. We celebrated Susan's birthday (jan. 9) and Marie's birthday (feb.15) at Trio on 6200 S.  

marie

susan

angie. carolyn. amy. jules. marie. susan. kimberly.

I just love my sisters and think the world of all of them! We chit chatted for hours, shared stories, ate delicious foods, started planning our girls' trip in October and laughed over nothing at all with one another! I am so grateful for the wonderful life that we share together as family and appreciate the close sisterhood bond that I have with them.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLIES! Until next time...  

BLUE EYED BOY!

My sweet sister and her husband are the proud new parents of Samuel Todd Martin! He was born December 29th and weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces. He was 19 inches long. Even after a month, he has the most gorgeous blue eyes! 

I am so excited that I am an Auntie Juju again! This makes number 21 with still another on the way to make 22 in the spring!  

TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

 Last weekend was a big treat! We were lucky enough to do several fun activities with many of our friends!

THURSDAY night we went to the Mo Tab Christmas Program with our good friends Dave and Lindsey. It was so much fun to hang out with them in the freezing cold, wandering through downtown trying to find a place to eat dinner,  and listening to the beautiful music of the Christmas holiday. As you all know, the one and only David Archuleta was the special guest and he did a good job. It was the opening night and I think he was just a bit nervous because his voice was slightly shaky and he was out of breath, but he did get better as the night went on. It was fun to watch him perform, although I didn't agree with him being chosen for this concert, and see some lights at Temple Square.

I didn't get a pic with the Allen's, but we love you and thanks again for thinking of us!

FRIDAY morning my 2 sisters and I started our "popcorn" fest. It was so much fun to cook up some yummy Carmel Popcorn and chit chat about girlie things. I have been missing just hanging out with them and goofing off as sisters.  Kimberly brought the recipe (a friends' secret family recipe so I can't share...sorry) and Susan was kind enough to let us destroy her kitchen making it all. I on the other hand, didn't do much but just showed up and snapped pics, stirred the popcorn and bagged it! Overall, we made about 50 bags!  

I can officially say that I am popcorned out, but BOY it was good!

FRIDAY night was the friends' Christmas Party for Weston's crew. We were in charge this year and had such a blast. With everyone being so busy for the holidays, we couldn't get everyone together, but we did get a good group to celebrate Christmas. We first hit up the Dodo restaurant in Sugarhouse and devoured the honey glazed salmon and Toll house pie, then it was off to Jon Schmidt at Kingsbury Hall.

 

Thank you Cal and Gina, Eric and Kerstin, Mark and Sian and Jarum and Brooke! We sure do appreciate all the friendship year round and look forward to making new and great memories next year with you all. We missed the rest of you, but hopefully next time, February, we will all be together again soon!

ROXYETTES

I just love this name and am sad that they changed it to the Rockettes. This was the original name way back when, but when they became world known and a huge success, they streamlined their name down to what it is today. My sisters and mom and I went and saw them perform last night at the Maverick Center (which will always be the E center to me) and it was AMAZING! It was such a fun experience to see the talented women dance, sing and do the infamous kick line. This was my second time seeing the show, the first being in New York a couple of years ago, and I can honestly tell you that it won't be my last!

After the show we hit up crown burger for grilled cheeses, oreo shakes and sweet potato fries! It was the perfect ending to a perfect night with the girls! Thanks mom for the good times...YOU ARE THE BEST!