Cruisin'

We've been away on a cruise for the past week and a half. We had a blast spending 10 days with our best friends visiting Florida, Bahamas, and getting several days of beautiful ocean stretching in all directions.

Details and pictures will be forthcoming, but before we spent time putting that together I just wanted to give a quick shout-out. The fun that we had was due in large part to the fact that we were away from the kids so we didn't have to worry about naps, fussing, feeding, changing, or emergency potty breaks. We certainly missed the kids, but the cruise was a much needed break and it was all thanks to 'Mama' Clark for watching all the kids while we were gone.

So Mama Clark, thank you so so so much, without you we could not have had the amazing experience we did.

Labels: trips

posted by Brett at 8:54 AM 6 Comments

Enough With The Snow

Yeah, we heard you loud and clear... all of you.

"Enough with the snow on your blog!" you said, so now the snow is gone and we can all rejoice in the beauty of spring and the warmth of the sun.

The new background image is a shot I took last summer of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. We stayed in Baveno, a beautiful town and this is the view we were treated to (briefly - it rained most of the time) while there.

Labels: trips

posted by Brett at 12:16 AM 0 Comments

Two Photo Shoots, Thanksgiving and A Baby Blessing

Cutest Baby ever! Brett took some great pics of Zoe when she was still little. I love this first pose because I have a picture of me doing the same thing when I was little. :)




Another photo shoot. She's actually a few months older here than she was when she was actually blessed, but at least we took pics when she still fit in her dress. As a side note, Brett hasn't edited these yet so he may or may not be grumpy that they aren't a polished representation of his crazy photoshop/camera skills. I'll probably end up re-posting some when they get edited, but I'm trying to get to a current date on the blog, and it will drive me crazy if I don't go in chronological order... yeah I'm weird, but so is the rest of the family so I fit right in. :)


Man we have really cute kids. :)


We went down to NC for Thanksgiving and Zoe's blessing; it was so much fun. Aeriana loves her Grandpa, or as she calls him "Gan-pa". Here they are on the way back from a trip to the park.


The blessing was beautiful and wonderful. It was so awesome to have Matt and Renee there to take part in it with us.



Matt, Chad, Zoe, Brett, and Doyle. The men and the baby of the hour!


Brett's parents and us.


Uncle Riley loved to play with Aeriana (and the feelings were definitely mutual), but chasing her around was tiring. Of course, he still wanted to be close to a niece, so he look a little nap with Zoe. :)


We also celebrated Christmas at the same time since almost everyone was there. Matt, Renee, and Jaeden even joined in the fun! Isn't Jaeden the cutest!


Ahhh, the start of the obsession, she didn't even know she had just gotten her dream come true. DORA!!!!


Aeriana was almost as excited to watch other people open presents as she was to open her own. Almost.


After the blessing and presents, we all had dinner together. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of all of us together so this will have to do. You can see the tables a bit, we had the kitchen table plus two long folding tables and we were still squished. There were 20 of us, I think. It was crazy! But awesome. I love being a part of a big family.


"Ummmm, Uncle Brody, that's a really far drop to the floor and you don't look to awake..."


Also while we were there we threw Renee a belated Baby Shower! It was the first Baby shower I had ever done and I thought I got pictures, but I guess not. I think it was fun and that everyone enjoyed it. I do know that we had awesome prizes for the games, candy and gift certificates to Borders. :) Love you Ne-Ne!

Thanksgiving was incredible with Zoe's blessing, fun holiday celebrations, family and friends. What more can you ask for?

Labels: Aeriana, baby, family, holidays, pictures, trips, Zoe

posted by Erin at 10:42 PM 1 Comments

The beach and the zoo

This summer we took Aeriana to the beach for the first time (yeah I know kinda lame that it took us this long, but well we like our air conditioning what can I say) with our good friends Matt and Renee. It was so much fun and I want to go more often. Aeriana loved the water. We raced down to the waves and she was absolutely fearless. She practically dove into the waves. We had to hold on to her just so she wouldn't go too deep.



Now when it came to the sand... that was another story. She wanted to play with the beach toys so much but couldn't figure out how to make it not stick to her. Awww, just like mommy, she hates to be sticky. :)



Another daring weekend out of the house we had, we went to a local zoo thinking that Aeriana would love it. We tried looking at bears...



And we tried hanging on the railings...

but no matter what we saw she could not be impressed. She would have rather played with the buckle on the stroller the whole time. Silly girl. I thought kids were supposed to love animals, be afraid of the ocean, and love getting sticky? Well not our girl! I love her face in the picture below, you can just tell she is trying really hard to get the two pieces together.


Well I guess this is how we learn.

Beach = Good

Zoo = Bad

Labels: Aeriana, pictures, trips

posted by Erin at 6:40 PM 5 Comments

Palmyra

In July we went up to Palmyra NY to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We had a ton of fun with our friends Sarah and Cory, well mostly Sarah because Cory always had school (he graduated this past fall, hooray for Cory!).

While we were getting ready to check out the sites Aeriana took a nap, or so we thought... I heard her making noise after about an hour (which is a short nap for her) and found this... I think she got hungry.

While up in Palmyra we had a chance to visit the sacred grove. I love it there, it is so peaceful. I will never forget the very first time I visited Palmyra I saw all the sites and the pageant; it was the coolest thing ever. I wasn't a member yet but the spirit was so strong there was no way you could deny the sacredness of this place. This time however...the experience was completely different "quite", "peaceful", and "toddler" just don't mix well. I apologize to those there that were enjoying a nice quiet spiritual moment... my daughter likes to talk... a lot and she's not quiet about it.



After we walked around the Temple grounds. Brett had so much fun taking pictures that were artsy fartsy that he didn't get one of us there. I thought I had made him take one, but where it went I have no idea. While Brett was off in his own little world, Sara, Aeriana, and I walked around looking at all the pretty flowers.


We spent some time in town and got some amazing burgers and ice cream at the Chill and Grill. Yum... just what my pregnant body needed... we then made the customary stop at the church bookstore and spent more money than we should have, but well at least their spiritual books right? We then headed to the pageant, it was great. Aeriana was exhausted and had a rough time and Brett, being the amazing man he is, took care of her during the pageant so I could watch. He didn't get to see much of it. :( Thanks babe.

After the pageant we got a chance to get a shot of us all together. Sarah, me (prego with Zoe) and Brett (Cory was at class and then studying for a big test and Aeriana was finally asleep in her stroller.

Thank you Sara and Cory we sure do miss you guys!

Labels: family, pictures, religion, Temple, trips

posted by Erin at 10:35 PM 3 Comments

Family Reunion

So we start with Summer time... the family reunion at Uncle Paul's house was awesome! It was hotter than anything outside so we stayed inside most of the time, but it was still beautiful. Thanks so much for letting us use your house! It was great.

While packing Aeriana decided that she wanted to assist me by climbing into my suitcase and taking everything out. She's so helpful. :)


After a long flight, luckily non-stop with the baby, we arrived and hit the road to Uncle Paul's. While there Brett braved the heat and enjoyed kayaking on the river while I enjoying staying inside where there was air conditioning... it was about 103. Yuck! But I'm glad him and Riley got to spend some time together.


The family, well those of us not preggers and obviously not the kids, enjoyed rafting down some crazy rapids. I wish I could show you all the pictures to see them one after another is awesome. You can really see how they went in and out of huge rapids, but this will have to do.



While the family was rafting Maryann, Myself, Aunt Jenny and the kids played outside for about 20 mins. until we decided the heat was too much. But while they were outside Aeriana and Bryson took a spin in the power wheels Jeep while Cache ran around with a basket ball and the girls played with chalk.


Cache loves to "give loves" to everyone around, especially Aeriana. I'm so glad they get along so well. It will be fun to see them grow up together being so close in age. I can't wait to see Zoe and Cutter play together too.


Dacia and Kevin made a Family Feud Game on the computer that we connected to the TV. They had us fill out questions before we came to the reunion. It was great fun and of course everyone started to get really competitive, it is the Garner way. Chad had his game face on. :)


Awww... we clean up nice. :) (left to right: Riley, Kariana, MaryAnne, Cache, Cara, Evie, Chad, Me, Aeriana, Brett, Doyle, Karen, Kevin, Alyssa, Dacia, Bryson, Kaitlyn, Shantel, JJ, Jimmy, Brody.)


Aeriana wanted to take a break from all her hard playing and relax on the porch swing. She felt like a grown up sitting in such a big chair.


After the reunion ended Karen, Riley, Shantel, Brett, Aeriana and I spent some time together. When went to the Golden Gate Park where there were beautiful flowers everywhere. Aeriana loved holding Grandma's hand while we toured the gardens. She does love her Grandma Garner.


Shantel picked a flower! Very much a "No, No!" but well she's a rebel and it did look really cute in Aeriana's hair.


Uncle Riley... They walked around like this all day. She spent more time with him than with Grandma! This was the start of what we now (6 months later) call an obsession. Aeriana walks around the house all day asking for him... Daddy is no longer the favorite. Uncle Riley has claimed that spot for the time being. ;)


After seeing all the pretty flowers we went to the Academy of Sciences where Aeriana continued to play with Riley and learn all about butterflies. Or maybe just wanting to fly...


Downstairs they had an amazing fish exhibit. They had tons of different fish everywhere you went and Aeriana loved every minute of it. She just stared at all the fish swimming around.


After a long day of walking around we made two more stops. One to the Golden Gate Bridge (Which is Red not Gold... go figure) and the other to Ghirardelli Chocolate. They had huge sundaes that would even satisfy Grandma's Garners chocolate cravings. ;)



Brett, Aeriana, and I spent a morning touring around the Oakland Temple and it's visitors center. Brett had a ton of fun taking pictures everywhere. Aeriana and I enjoyed running around and learning how we smell flowers, not pick them.




We had so much fun in California! We even got a chance to go to Aunt Linda's and Uncle Rex's house and swim around in their pool. We can't wait for another chance to get out there again. Paul and Jenny, thanks again for letting us take over your place! It couldn't have been better. :)

Labels: family, holidays, pictures, Temple, trips

posted by Erin at 8:49 PM 3 Comments