Academic Year 2018-2019...

I can't believe it's here already.  And I can't believe I have a 3rd, 2nd and 1st grader!

These dudes are so ready to slay it.

We had a great family chat about being "Happy" & "Nice",

which are our two rules in the Gardner household.  

Ryan's Grandma sent along this list of things happy people do... 

Which we loved so much we made it into a printable for our little school fellas.

I've been digging this "Be the Nice Kid" quote for the past year and decided to make it into a printable too.  Please, please be nice fellers.

We gave both of these to the boys to display in their rooms and blew them up nice and big for the homework room too along with our word of the year, "Focus".  

Ryan gave them father's blessings and cute Booner climbed on the stool in the middle of the living room and announced, "My tone" then folded his little arms and received his own special blessing.  :)

We went through each line item and talked about it and if there is one thing I hope they come away with from school it's that being happy and nice in all situation is a game changer.  That they are capable of building one another and other kids up.  That it's worth it to stand out in a good way.

Kael - 3rd Grade

Mrs. Laycock

Dax - 2nd Grade

Mrs. Adams

Ace - 1st Grade

Mrs. Clements

Boone - Boss Baby of the Mama

Mrs. Gardner

Go get 'em tigers.  

We'll be cheering for you!

It's all FAIR in Love...

The World's Fair.

Our last official stop on the road map that is our summer.  

It happens every year, the last weekend before the school bell rings, and it is wild and gorgeous and full of fun.

The boys earned their fair share of prizes too...

Boone Diggety was the stick horse champ and left his competitors in the dust - literally.

 Kaelster won the boot race by a mile & snagged a ribbon from the sheep in the sheep scramble.

And all of them mutton busted their little hearts out on what are for sure the world's raunchiest, largest and gnarliest sheep.

We're happy to report no major injuries despite a brief trampling incident between Ace and his ram.

He cowboy-ed right up and found his grit and didn't even shed a tear.

{He also chucked his boots into the grandstand when he didn't win the boot race and landed himself in time out  - lest you thought he was an angelic little six-year-old. }

It was a gorgeous night and the air was cool and the skies were partly cloudy and the allowed just enough openings to let the last rays of the sun to shine golden light on our little humans.  I love getting my wee city slickers out of the crowds and heading to our rural spots.  I think they enjoy getting to unplug and be more free.

The locals, however, may not love it quite as much.  One of my Dad's buddies cussed him the next day saying how all his grandkids come down to the Small Fry rodeo and sweep the awards... 

What can we say - we like to compete.  And win.  Note Grandpa's Game Face.  :)

We also spent an afternoon at the Wayne Pool.  There aren't a whole heckuva lot of pools with high dives anymore - but wherever they are - we will find them.  

And werk 'em...

Turns out, Boone is a high-diving kid at the ripe old age of 2.5.

He has seen this schtick far too many times to sit on the sidelines, I suppose.

It was so fun to be with little cousins and my mama and my swista and enjoy those cotton candy skies and those sweet cheeks.

And as we prep to enter a new school year I hope their proverbial summer adventure buckets are full and keep them stocked well until next summer.

When we can take a few more roads less traveled by and schlep it together - our skin kissed by the sun and our freckles rising to the surface of our noses and our bodies tired in the best possible way.

The Race is On...

I can't believe it's almost time to wrap up our summer memories and put them in a box.  It will be one of those lovely boxes that brims over with happy summer memories complete with wet swimsuits and sticky fingers too - one that will be touch to put away.

Instead of cringing at the mention of school, just like clock work, we scheduled ALL THE THINGS in a frenzied, end of summer fashion, and we are currently racing hither and thither soaking up all the marrow of life and all the rays of the sun to get us through another school year.

Let's start in Cedar City since we did indeed stop there to get our eyeballs checked by cousin, Scott and check out the new temple in person.

Good news!  No one needs glasses.

And now we'll head further south to show you some of our shenanigans at Thunder Junction which is the coolest park and splash pad in St. George.  Not literally cool - because it got hot really quickly even though we went first thing in the mornin' - but cool in the sense that it's a rad park.

And the theme, if you haven't gathered, is dinos.  We've never been overt dino lovers, but we've never hated them either, so no complaints when I ask them to sit atop a dinosaur or sit in an egg.

We rode the little train around the park this time and Boone thought he was a pretty big deal.  The kid may grow up to a be a royal afterall the way he smiles and waves to all the "people".

And oh, the ziplines.  HOURS of entertainment especially when there is no line and the Gardner Guys own the tracks.

Their happy faces and these happy colors just slay me dead.

 My little moneys climbed all the things then jumped down and climbed again.  Gravity - it ain't got nothing on these doooods.

Boone spent a good chunk of time at the instruments portion of the park.  He grinned and played me tunes and grinned some more.  I loved it.

But come with me now to the pool.  We spend HOURS an HOURS of time at the pool every time we go to the dessert and on this trip they decided to practice their "receiving" techniques and I tossed the football to them - mid dive/jump/run - at least 100x each for three days straight.

They perfected their touchdown dances & attracted other little players like bees to honey.

 Every time we pull away I whisper so many thank yous to our place in the dessert.  It's magic for our family to be together with no interruptions and filing away sweet summer memories into our "box".

Then we shower, rinse, repeat.

It's the sweet life.