SUNDAY DRIVES

Every Sunday after church, and of course after our naps, Sweets and I transition from the youthful vibrant newlywed couple we are, to an elderly slow sunday-driving couple! We pack up our car and drive aimlessly throughout the valley taking in the scenery and all the beauty that surrounds us. 

Last week, we took a drive up American Fork Canyon. I can't believe how green it still is up there! We moseyed up the canyon picking out a few spots along the way to take some nature walks with our pups and to let them run around in the mountains and rivers. 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to take our drives when the leafs start changing. With the late season, I am sure the fall colors will be spectacular!

APPRECIATION PARTY!

A week ago my office held an End of Summer Appreciation Party for all its employees and interns. To kick off the big party we played a round of golf at Forest Dale in Sugarhouse. We were put on 3 teams of 4 and played a scrambled. It was so much fun to get out of the office with everyone and enjoy some sunny weather golfing. We laughed a lot, and really had a good time! We had a few contests between the holes which made for good fun and friendly banter. I must say, that in addition to me winning "closest to the Pin" my team WON the tournament!

phil. scott.

mark. matthew.

walt jr. dean.

josh. brad.

christian. sitani.

brady. me.

After golf, we headed over to The Original Pancake House for breakfast. Yummy! The rest of the office that wasn't able to make golf met up with us here. It was quite the event with all of us loud peeps eating breakfast at 11:30am! 

It was a great Party and I am looking forward to the next one... 

FINALLY...AT LAST!

Last week, Sweets and I took a drive up Corner Canyon for some dinner and dessert. Sadly, this summer has been so busy with work, vacations and family stuff that we haven't been able to enjoy the mountains as much as we would have liked. So, for FHE we decided we would take advantage of the beautiful weather and head up the canyon.

We saw a few animals on our drive up and then one hairy critter on our way home. The deer were beautiful, just minding their own business eating the weeds when we pulled up to them. We watched them for a few moments and I was amazed at how cautious and graceful they were. But the tarantula we saw was not beautiful...nor...graceful! It was ugly, and scary and I went into heart failure when Sweets backed up the car up to get a closer look at it. I mean seriously, what is the point of those awful crawling things?

Once we found our spot a ways up the canyon, we pulled over to a picnic area and set up shop. Since this was a last minute thing, we thought grilled cheese sandwiches would be a perfect meal with a side of fruit and peppered jerky. 

It is amazing how yummy things taste when you are in the mountains. I don't know what it is.

The pups loved running around the mountain side visiting all the bikers that past by. Telly has never really been up in wild before, he was too young and didn't have all of his shots, but for his first time he loved it! And he didn't get carsick!!! Lately, he has had a few problems keeping things in his stomach while driving...poor lil' guy. 

However great the night was to spend with my favorite people, the view of the Draper temple and the city on the way down topped it off! It was completely lit up and there was nothing around it to compete for beauty. We just had to stop and admire the breath-taking views. Hopefully soon Sweets and I will be back out in the woods...when the weather cools of course!

WALK ON FOR J.D.R.F.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation held a 'walk to cure' diabetes last Saturday and Sweets and I participated along with other family members.
 My brother Matthew has had type 1 diabetes for over 15 years and he recently was asked by J.D.R.F. to sit on their board, which is a great honor. The walk was about 3 miles and was held at Wheeler Farm. Lunch and drinks were provided afterwards along with many kid friendly activities such as face paintings, bouncy houses, ice creams stands and an animal petting station.

When Matthew was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes he was 17 years old and recovering from a very serious car accident that left him in the hospital for days with numerous broken bones and surgeries. Because we have no history of diabetes in our family, it was a shock to us to learn about this diagnoses during his recovery period. The doctors told us that the cause was severe trauma and shock to his body. He went through so much with his accident that his pancreas just stopped working. It was a scary time for all of us, but he held his head high and never let it stop him.     

Matthew is an incredible person whom I love dearly and think the world of. We are very close siblings and I was honored when he asked me to be the Captain of our team for the walk. We had friends, family and co-workers that donated, supported and walked with us. It was a great event and such a good cause to raise money for the Research of hoping one day to cure diabetes!

TO LAST A LIFETIME

Last week was an awesome week for hanging out with friends! I got see some of my favorite people that I have not seen in SO long. First off, I met up with Emily and Kim at momma Kathy's house to visit. Emily came into town from Texas for a few days before heading off to London for the next 18 months. It is so sad that she will be far away, but hopefully I'll be able to sneak over there and visit her and her cute hubby Dave. We all chatted for hours...literally...discussing everything in our lives and reminiscing of the good times when we all lived together. We ate a delicious meal that Kathy put together for us from Costco and thoroughly enjoyed our Banbury cross donuts for dessert! 

I will miss you Em and I love both of you girlies!!!  

Next, it was on to dinner and games with our awesome friends Catherine and Richard whom always provide us with a great time! They currently live in Abu Dhabi and are in town for a few weeks so we had to get together and see them. They came over to our house and we ate a yummy Fontina Sausage Pasta and Caprese Salad. Afterwards, they ran home quickly to put their sweet Elizabeth to bed and came right back over for dessert and games. Cat made us yummy individual chocolate pies with cut up candy sprinkled on it. Once we licked our plates clean we started right on in playing 'ticket to ride' and 'buzz'. It was a late night but worth every laugh! 

We love you both and can't wait to come visit you soon!

"Everyone needs good friends. Your circle of friends will greatly influence your thinking and behavior, just as you will theirs. When you share common values with your friends, you can strengthen and encourage each other. Treat everyone with kindness and dignity." Thomas S. Monson

TOUR OF UTAH

Sunday afternoon we headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon with Sweets' family to enjoy a delicious picnic and watch the Tour of Utah cycling race! It was so fun to hang out with his family because it's been awhile since we all have been together. The scenery was absolutely perfect but the company was even better!

Sadly I suck at taking pictures and didn't catch one of my MIL, the yummy food, or all of us together. Maybe next time. But I was surprised at how spread out the cyclists were, so it took longer than I had expected. We did hand out mini water bottles to some racers that needed a cooling down on their heads. The weather was definitely warm so I believe the cyclists appreciated it.
Thanks MIL for the fun idea and for the picnic!  

SUNSET HILLS

Gardner Company Homes is the residential side of my family's business and my radical brother Matthew is the President! He is awesome! He put together a wonderful BBQ at one of our sites called Sunset Hills for the whole subdivision, vendors, contractors, employees and ran advertisements on ksl, yahoo and sltrib for our hopeful new propsects. We had a great turnout and we really worked some peeps that were interested!



The homes are beautiful and they all have great layouts! Not to mention they are SO affordable!

It was an awesome time meeting people and enjoying the beauty of Sunset Hills while eating yummy food. Matthew even ordered a bouncy slide...FUNNER. He really thought of everything to make this a success!

If any one is interested in any of our projects, check out 

www.gardnercompanyhomes.com

Way to go Matthew on a fantastic BBQ!!!

MY VERSION OF HEAVEN

I have spent the last few weeks in what I like to call, Heaven!
Sun Valley is my safe haven, my sanctuary where I can think, regain strength, and compose my life in the quiet altitudes of the mountains! My family goes there off and on through out the year but every August, we tend to just move up there. Literally. Although I couldn't stay as long as I wanted to or am used to, I did have a great time and look forward to another trip soon. 

The vacation started with a benefit concert from the Sun Valley Symphony Series with the 11 year old phenomenon Jackie Evancho! She is incredible and has such power. Her voice is pure, angelic and took our breaths away! If you don't know her music, please check her out. You will not be disappointed!
For the first 2 weeks of August they have other concerts almost every day. We loved walking over to the resort and sitting on the lawn and listening to the beautiful music at night.  

With so much time, we sure did lots of fun things throughout the weeks. Sweets drove up for a few days and we all headed over to Red Fish Lake. Andrew had his sailboat there and Matthew had his ski boat. Between the 2 boats, we had a blast cruising on the lake and watching all the kids fly off the tube together. The weather was great and the scenery was even better. We ate a little lunch at the grille and set up shop on the beach for the afternoon. It was definitely a good time!  

Tahoe stayed with me in Sun Valley and we went running, hiking and swimming every day. When Telly came up with Sweets we decided that we should take him swimming and see how it goes. It was Telly's first time in water and boy was he a kid in a candy store! He was nervous at first and followed Tahoe around but after that, he couldn't get enough of it and even started retrieving tennis balls and sticks!  

We had a BBQ with my Aunt and Uncle and their whole family at our house. It was so good to see my cousins and spend time with them. Dinner was fabulous and the stormy weather held out until after dark!

 After a hard day of exercising, heading to the pool, playing tennis, eating the most scrumptious meals, reading and knitting and doing puzzles, I have 2 awesome neices that would rub my feet! It felt great and the best part about it is they asked to do it!!!

I love Sun Valley and it is always a peaceful time for me! 

THE SHADES OF GOLD

tahoe. fenway. kashi. telly. 

A few weeks ago Sweets and I babysat our friends dog Kashi and my brother's dog Fenway. In addition to our two pups we had all the colors. It was so neat to see all the different shades of Golden Retrievers from dark to light. We loved watching them run around the yard and play together. It is not very often that you get to hang out with four beautiful Golden dogs.