Girls and Curls!

A couple weeks ago, Caitie and I were at my brother Dave's house for Sunday. We decided to have some fun with their girls and curl their hair. Aren't they adorable!!! I love these girls!!!

Shoot 'em up!

I've gone shooting before. I've shot rifles and shotguns, but a couple weeks ago, I shot a pistol for the first time. It was great!

My friend Brennan, and me
Showing me the ropes... er... guns!
The best feeling ever is when the soda can explode
Yes! I'm awesome! :)
Travis showing off.

It was so much fun!! I definitely want to go again... now I just need a gun!!!

Wake Up!!

I went wake boarding the other weekend with Sara, Caitie, and a couple guy friends! It was so much fun!! I got up the first time and I had a couple of really good runs. I seriously loved it. I want to get a lot better by the end of summer. I highly recommend wake boarding.. :)

Do you Espeako Espanish?

When I was young, my parents tried to incorporate Spanish into our daily routines whenever they could. There was a small time when we tried speaking only Spanish at the dinner table (that lasted for the first five minutes of the first dinner). We also read scriptures in Spanish for a couple of months while Mom and Dad tried to brush up on theirs. Mom and Dad also bought these language tapes with helpful Spanish songs on them like, " La Arana" (The Spider) and "Somos parta de la misma familia" (We are part of the same family) I think I spelled it correctly! I still remember some of the songs! :) I think a couple of my older brothers took Spanish in highschool and I started reading a Spanish textbook as part of my studies in homeschool, but I didn't keep up with it.

Unfortunately, I only remember a very small part of what I was brought up with. If I took Spanish here at BYU, I would probably pick it up fairly quickly, but I haven't made it a priority. This summer, I wish I had!

Caitie and I have decided to move to an apartment complex called the Glenwood. It's located right next to the English Language Center(ELC). Foreign students go there to study English before they go to BYU. As a result of living right next to the ELC, Caitie and I have two foreign roommates; one from Chile and one from Brazil. The girl from Brazil speaks English and Portuguese, but only speaks very little Spanish. The girl from Chile speaks Spanish and only a very very tiny bit of English. Caitie and I only know a tiny tiny TINY bit of Spanish. It has been an interesting summer so far. We speak very slowly and use many gestures to communicate with everyone. :) They are wonderful girls. I'm glad they live with us... I just wish I had learned Spanish better when I had the chance! I suppose now is as good a chance as any to begin again what my parents tried to start many years ago!

Sad Day

I have been in the BYU Women's Chorus for almost three years now. I have absolutely loved my experience with them! Next year however, I was hoping for a new experience. I decided to audition for Concert Choir (which is SATB). I haven't sung with guys for a while! I thought it would be fun. :) When I auditioned for Sister Hall yesterday, I was totally disappointed with my singing. I am pretty sure I did not make callbacks. I haven't sung since Women's Chorus let out Winter Semester and my range hasn't been as great as it was before then. Yesterday when I went in to audition, I felt like I couldn't hear the notes she played. My breath support was terrible. I was very nervous. I actually stopped at one point and asked if I could start again and she said that would be a good idea. :P The second time was only marginally better than the first. Oh goodness...

If I do end up making callbacks, I will be extremely surprised. But I still hope I do!!

The Provo Police

A few months ago, I was late to a dance routine that I was in charge of. I raced to a stop sign, pulled a California stop (more stop than California though!) and proceeded to turn right. Immediately, I saw lights flashing in my rearview mirror. Of course it happened when I was late for something!! The officer came up to the window and apologized and said he didn't want to be mean.... but I did not complete my stop at the stop sign (welcome to Provo!!! This is what keeps the Provo police busy...). After he apologized several times, he handed me a ticket and told me to have a nice day. Riiiiiiight...

A few weeks later, Caitie and I were driving somewhere (Caitie at the wheel) and we went through the same intersection. Now... not only did Caitie not stop... she seemed to gun through the stop sign after I told her to be careful because they are watching that intersection. Immediately, the lights came on and again the officer came to her window. He asked her what happened and she said she forgot there was a stop sign and didn't even slow down. He started laughing and said that since she was about 1 in 10 people who were honest about how she didn't stop, he would let her off with a warning. What the heck??!?!?!? I was pretty upset.

A few weeks later (notice a pattern?), Caitie bought a new car and the first day driving it, she got a ticket for speeding (serves her right!!! jk Caitie!! :)). Anyway, last night Caitie and I decided to go to traffic school together for family night. Good times... good times... It was actually really funny.

Since going to that class I've decided that I think that cops are the kids that got in trouble all the time when they were younger and still want to do crazy things and not get caught now that they're adults! This officer told us a story about how they went to the train tracks one day and there were two kids with just their heads popped up out of the ground on either side of the train tracks. The cops yelled at the kids and asked them why they did that. The kids said that they wanted to be the first ones to keep their heads there the whole time the train passed. The cops let them off with a warning. Next thing you know... here are two cop heads popping up on either side of the train tracks. They kept their heads there the whole time. The cop then said, "try explaining to your boss that you can't come into work for two weeks because you can't hear anything." It was hilarious. We seriously had a great time. The officer made it fun. And anything is more fun with family!!!

P.S. Feel free to add any police stories you think of!

No more school!! No more books!! No more teachers...

Can I just tell you how amazing it is to not be in school right now? I feel so less stressed! I have time to work out and eat real meals (rather than on-the-go food!). I even have time to go see a movie if I feel like it!! There isn't any homework on the back of my mind. I can just go and have a good time. The first couple of weeks out of school were strange for me. There was one day I decided to take a nap because I was completely exhausted. I couldn't fall asleep because I felt like there was something I HAD to get done. I was going through my head trying to figure out what it was and I realized I just felt like I must have a paper due or something. When I figured out what it was, I was able to sleep peacefully. :)



I am still pretty busy, but it's so nice because when I'm done with my day, I'm done. No papers due, no tests, no presentations... it really feels heavenly.



Because of this new-found freedom, I've made a list of goals that I'm getting more excited about! Caitie and I both have time to work out and we have worked on an incentive program-ish thing. :) For my birthday this year, Caitie and Nathaniel bought me a really awesome spa-day gift certificate and my coworker also bought me another gift certificate to another spa place and we've decided that after we work out for 10 days straight (excluding Sundays!) we can use one of the gift certificates together. I'm so excited!! It's even more fun to have Caitie doing it with me. Also, after running the 5K in April with Mom, Matt, and Britt, Caitie and I decided to run a 10K at the end of summer. We're starting to train now and it feels so good.



Some of my friends have said that they miss school a lot right now... not me, man! Not me!

MOTAB

Last night my brother Matt was set apart as a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Our family was invited to the setting apart in the tabernacle and it will be forever one of the most memorable experiences of my life. When we walked up to door number three in the tabernacle, I wasn't sure what to expect. We were let into the tabernacle and we sat in the audience while the choir practiced. After a few minutes, a nice woman said, "Matt Gardner's family. Please follow me." We followed her up the stairs and down the hallway to a small room with very comfortable couches and chairs. We chatted as a family for a few minutes and then "Mr. Mac" Christensen (the choir president and owner of Mr. Mac) walked into the room. He had Matt introduce the family to him and then he talked about the room we were in. We were sitting in the Church President's room! That room is where ever prophet of the Church since Brigham Young sits before and after conference and every time they are in the tabernacle. What a humbling experience! Mr. Mac then talked about how much the Lord loves the choir and how President Monson is the advisor for the choir. Matt was then set apart and Mr. Mac asked him to bear his testimony.

The spirit was very strong. It was very humbling to be part of Matt's very special experience. It was also neat that he was set apart as a musical missionary for the Church. As Matt bore his testimony he commented on how neat it was that he could serve as a musical missionary again with my brother Josh (also in the choir) and his wife Melodie (in the orchestra at temple square) like they did in Nauvoo when they were performing missionaries together there. What an incredible experience. How grateful I am for music!