The Adventures of Happy and Bouncy...

So JD told me last night that I have to write some of my adventure stories down before they're lost forever (not hard to do with my sieve-brain). The "Adventures of Happy and Bouncy" came into being one night when Gammy and Grandpa were visiting and our kids were being especially difficult. Camryn went to bed upset and I felt a bit guilty about how the day had gone, so I went up to snuggle. Camryn begged me to tell her a story. Whenever I tell my kids a bedtime story, I usually let them participate and so she began to describe the main character as "Meany." Hmmm, I wonder what made her say that? Anway, to my motherly relief, she quickly changed the name to "Happy" and the adventure began.

As the story progressed, "Bouncy" joined the fun too. "Happy" is obviously based on Camryn and "Bouncy" is her trusty sidekick, Christian. We made up quite a tall tale that night - we were laughing so hard that she didn't want me to stop.

Camryn LOVES to hear a new adventure at bedtime. JD and Christian get into too, but these stories are especially made for Camryn. We've even had special guest storytellers: Gammy, Grandma, Grandpa and Joel. It's been really fun to see what fun adventures we all come up with. The favorites usually involve some kind of potty talk and complete randomness - I love kids' brains.

Here are a few of the random plots we've come up with...

Last night Camryn wouldn't let me start the adventure because she said her throat hurt. "It feels like there is a pointy ship stuck in my throat," she said. That started Mom off on a story about how "Happy" wanted to visit the land of "Timbuktinytu" where all of the people are tiny and live in tiny houses and eat tiny food and sail on tiny pointy ships that travel down little girls' throats to see what there is to see. She gave her approval and interjected things like what "Happy" and "Bouncy" decided to pack for their long adventure. Mom included things like lollipops and tangerines (think Dragons of Blueland). Camryn had to add, "No, no, no, they brought every lollipop in the whole world." Once "Happy" safely landed her helicopter in the land of "Timbuktinytu," the tiny people promptly shrunk "Happy" and "Bouncy" in order to fit them on the tiny pointy ship. The rest of the story was about their adventure down a little girls throat and digestive system. It ended with them getting (you guessed it) pooped out (the potty talk element) and sailing back through the sewers and ocean to "Timbuktinytu." "Happy" insisted on paying the tiny people some money for their effort, "One big dollar, one tooth fairy money and one giant lollipop." Sounds like a pretty generous tip to me.

Anyway, there are certain things that always have to be included in every tale. "Happy" is the main character that everything centers around. Think G.I. Jane meets Barbie - powerful, pink and smiley all at the same time (sounds like a sister with a bunch of brothers to me). "Bouncy" is in every tall tale. His role is just to follow "Happy" around and bounce all over the place - a super power that comes in handy quite often. Sometimes the tales are totally random and sometimes they are a way for Mom to teach a lesson or make sense of Camryn's world.

We've told stories about...

Strange talking animals in the forest they stumbled upon because "Bouncy" bounded uncontrollably past his boundaries one day. "Happy" had to rescue him - a very creative adventure resulted.

They were going on a motorcycle ride up a mountain (we have a mountain in our new backyard) when "Boucny" bounded out of his passenger seat onto a rainbow. "Happy" had to find a way to get herself up onto the rainbow to save "Bouncy." An elk with giant horns lifted her up onto the rainbow.

It also helped to tell some tales about how "Happy" and "Bouncy" had to move away from all of their friends one day, but made tons of new friends in the process.

Anyway, the stories will continue because we all love them. We've already created dozens of adventures and I'm sure dozens more will come. I asked Camryn to draw a picture of "Happy" and "Bouncy" one day. She drew a rainbow and asked me to draw the rest. My stick figures were masterful, but I guess I forgot to draw a face on "Bouncy." Camryn wanted to know why "Bouncy" didn't have a face. That led to another adventure about how they stumbled upon magic sand that when you smeared your face in it, your face would fall off. She thought that was hiliarious.

I think it would be so fun to make a book with some "Happy" and "Bouncy" favorites. I've just got to wait until Camryn can illustrate because I'm pretty much artistically challenged. Anyway, stay tuned for some more "Adventures of Happy and Bouncy." Soon my blog will be renamed the Chronicles of Happy and Bouncnia.

The 7th Move's the Charm... a.k.a The Longest Post Ever!

Well, Joel and I have been married 13 good years and we just moved for the 7th time. Hopefully 7 will be our lucky number and we'll be able to stick around for a bit . This post is making me a bit sentimental about some of our previous dwellings so here is a quick trip down memory, I mean moving lane...

Apartment #1: The basement of an older lady's home. It was total 70's with orange shag and avocado green appliances (oh how I wish I took pics!). It was our first apartment as a married couple so we thought it was heavenly. All we had for a bed was my old twin mattress from college that we combined with this totally disgusting sectional couch. Talk about massive surface area! The best thing about it was that it was in our living room - the first thing you saw when you entered the apartment. It was here that we inherited numerous pieces of "interesting" furnishings. It was here that I ate my first spoonful of ants (you'll recall this lovely experience if you read my blog last year) and stepped on more than my share of giant garden spiders. Man, good times!

Apartment #2: I graduated and we headed to Kaysville, Utah so I could begin my first teaching job. Joel transferred from Utah State to U of U and made the commute every day. This apartment was ANOTHER basement apartment. It was made for short people. The owner (who lived above us) actually dug it out with a freak'n shovel! Wow. We thought it was great because it had a washer and dryer - no more trips to the laundromat! There was carpet in the kitchen which didn't take too well to my cooking experiments (I dropped a whole pan of lasagna all over it one night). We shared the single-lane driveway with the owners and LOVED playing musical cars each and every morning during the winter months. The best part of the whole deal was the owner's son lived in a portion of the basement and he LOVED to play the same annoying song on his base guitar OVER AND OVER. Good times.

Apartment #3: I know it's a shock, but we got fed up with #2, so we moved to our first townhouse. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! I loved this place! We welcomed our first child here and enjoyed good friendships. My school was just around the corner, so I was privileged to have my students living near me. I remember one night some thoughtful boys decided to leave a bag of poop (all wrapped up with a bow) on my doorstep. How special. Their mothers told me they had a crush on me. Did I mention I taught at a Jr. High?? Funny. It was here that we decided to make the leap into medicine. We lived here 2 years - a record.

Apartment #4: We headed down to Glendale, AZ to begin our medical journey. My dad helped with the move and I thought he was going to have a heart attack moving us in 114 degree weather! Darn those 2nd floors! We had moldy cabinets and an air conditioner that sounded like a jet engine! It was here that I witnessed my first domestic violence fight - not us, some scary couple outside our window. The worst part about the apartment was the obnoxious people that lived above us. We kept a broom handle in our master so we could pound on the ceiling when their parties/music got too loud. Good times. I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life in this apartment. I decided to quit teaching and take care of my son because of it. Oh, how can I forget another fun part of this apartment...we were in Stephenie Meyer's ward (yes, the author of the Twilight books)! I think it's so cool that we knew her and I served alongside her in our church.

House #1: After surviving just one year there, we moved into our first home. I'm so fond of that little 2 bed 2 bath 1200 sq. ft house! We bought it based on my teacher's salary - such a cool feeling. I painted like a mad women - it was so liberating. Joel built the cover over our first deck. JD marked his territory in the back yard - numerous times. We welcomed Camryn into our lives here. Happy times There was one big issue we had to deal with...we happened to move next door to a guy who set-up his garage for his rock band rehearsals! We were cursed I tell you! It was a great experience though because Joel learned some serious conflict management skills dealing with them. We lived here for 3 years (a record) and made a nice profit when we sold it - such a blessing.



House #2: Once Joel graduated from med school, we headed out to Erie, Pennsylvania for his internship year. We purchased another home and learned a lot about home improvement. We put some serious sweat equity into that thing. It was here that I decided I loved yard work. We had this awesome view of Lake Erie right from our deck. I loved it. We experienced our first "fall" in the eastern U.S. It was magical-especially having lived in dry AZ for 4 years prior! It was here that we welcomed Christian into our family. JD and Camryn discovered what friends were while living here. It was great. We were quite fond of this place and were sad to move from it BACK into an apartment!





Apartment #5: Once Joel graduated from his internship, we had a huge garage sale (no need for yard equipment) and headed out to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a 3 year residency. I've already written so much about this place that all I need to say is we loved Ann Arbor and learned some good lessons from family housing. Enough said.






House #3: Yeah! A house again. We love it here. The view is amazing, the people in our ward are super nice. Our kids are involved in all sorts of lessons and activities because things are so affordable here. The move itself was as smooth as it could have been. Atlas moving company took care of us. I got to just sit on my rear and direct all of the workers where to go. I loved it. My mother-in-law was such a life saver! Joel remained in Michigan to finish his last week of residency so Cristie came to the rescue. She brought tons of presents to open during the flight (a freak'n miracle in my opinion!) and put my whole kitchen together upon arrival. I couldn't have done it without her (at least not with all of my hair intact)! My mom drove up and helped me move in too. I'm so lucky - I mean how many gals are lucky enough to have a great mother-in-law and mother who like each other too?? My mom told me that when she was driving Cristie back to Utah, she got chocolate all over her hands and Cristie had to sit and wipe it all off. That was a cute image for me to always remember my awesome "mothers" with. I'm going to post some more pictures and share some fun moving stories soon...


As I ponder all of our moves, my mind wanders to a great little book called, "Who Moved my Cheese?" It's a parable about change and how willing you are to embrace it. Joel and I have been involved in so much change that I wonder what we're going to do with ourselves once 3 or 4 years have gone by and we haven't moved. Hmmmm, that'll be a new experience and a nice "change" for us.

No Longer a Resident!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE........

Well, Joel did it! We did it! What a journey! He is no longer a med student OR an intern OR a resident! He's considered private practice now! Saweet!





We started this process 8 years ago when our oldest was just a baby - he's going to be 9 soon. Wow, time really does fly by. Medical school was, um, interesting. Arizona was hot and miserable in the summer, but wonderful in the winter. Those 4 years were full of growth for both of us. We bought our first house and welcomed our first daughter into the family here. I went from being a full-time teacher to a stay-at-homer. It wasn't an easy transition for me. I found myself a bit lost for a while. I didn't know what to make of the whole thing. I love it now, but it took feeling lost to find myself. Joel learned how to use more than 10% of his brain. I will never understand how these med students can even process the massive amounts of information sent their way. Thank goodness he had good buddies like Mitch and Tyler to help him through those first 2 years of intense studying. We survived and are stronger because of it.



Our transition into Joel's internship year was quite a faith promoting experience. We learned what the phrase, "take a leap of faith" really meant. Moving our family across the country from Arizona to Pennsylvania was a big jump for us. Joel and I put our trust in the Lord and were blessed for it. We were able to sell our house for a great profit - the buyer actually declined our asking price so she could pay more! What? When does that ever happen? We took another "leap of faith" when Joel decided to switch specialties from ENT to anesthesia. The University of Michigan certainly wasn't the institution Joel thought he'd get into, but through a series of amazing events, that's just what happened. So after much deliberation, we took another "leap of faith" and moved the family once again to Michigan. Christian was our Pennsylvania "blessing" during our internship year - another "leap of faith" for Heather! It was during this year that we figured out the Lord has a plan for us and we had just better have faith in his eternal perspective and "be not afraid."

Our final 3 years of Joel's residency were the most pleasant of all. Don't get me wrong - they were tough, but we survived and are stronger for it (didn't I already say that - seems to be a trend). I learned valuable lessons like repentance, forgiveness, patience and tolerance. It was interesting, annoying and hilarious living in family housing, but I'm so glad we did. We desperately wanted to buy a house, but we were led to our particular apartment for a reason. I think it was so we each could learn such valuable lessons on our journey. We also welcomed our Michigan baby, Spencer, (each of our four was born in a different state!) to the family during this time.

Now here we are starting a new chapter in lives and so far (been living here 2 weeks now) it is fabulous (more on that later). I've been so appreciative of Joel lately because of all of his hard work. It seems that I've gotten so much attention/sympathy for having endured all of these years, but Joel deserves more credit. He was the one that studied every single day of his life for years on end. He was the one that got up at 1 or 2 am to study for an upcoming test. He was the one who would have to stay up for hours and hours on end while "on call." He was the one that worked many "moonlighting" hours to help earn some extra money. He was the one that had to get into med school, residency and find a job. He is the one who can't even enjoy his time off after graduating because he has to study for boards. He has managed to accomplish all of this and be a family man too. I totally respect that about him.

So here's to you my man. You did it. Congratulations - you're amazing and I love you.

Adios to good buddies...

The "other" Gardners became our good buddies at Northwood. It was sad to say our goodbye's, but we promised each other we'd meet again. Disney sounds great to me! Anyway, here are a few pics for us to remember the good times...

By this point Joel and Michael were so sick of posing
for pictures at Potbelly's, they just wanted it DONE.
They're a bit sarcastic don't you think?

"OK, I am so hot.." "No, YOU are so hot!"
Divas!

The adorable foursome - equipped with matching necklaces, pj's and face paint!

This one is for you Tanya...

See y'all in Disney!

A Cupcake, Punch and Popsicle Party...

To celebrate all of the wonderful friendships Camryn and Christian made during our stay at Northwood, they decided to throw quite a party! Camryn wanted to have a cupcake, punch and popsicle party - three of her favorite things. She was so adorable about it too. She thoughtfully constructed goodie bags for her guests out of scrap paper. She basically stapled two sheets together (like a pillow), wrote their name on it and decorated to her heart's content.

Here are a few pictures from the event. I made sure to get at least one shot with me and my lady friends in it. Good times people, good times. No one can possibly understand living here but us eh? These kiddlins will all be missed greatly. Never will Camryn and Christian have access to as many friends in one spot again. They certainly enjoyed it while it lasted!

The best part for the kids were the unlimited drinks and popsicles provided - a dream come true for my kids at least...

Fond Farewells for Camryn!

Her Fond Farewell to FUMCN...

My little Camarondi is an official preschool graduate. The ceremony was short and sweet - just the way Mom likes it. JD, Christian and Spencer were her little cheerleaders. FUMCN is a co-op so I was very much involved. I'm so glad she was able to experience another year with Mom around before heading off to kindergarten.

Her last day of school was a great opportunity to say goodbye to her close friends, Ceci, Maya, Brittani and the rest of her class.

Ms. Juli was a fun teacher that was great to work with. The kids all adored her.

Her Fond Farewell to Gymnastics...

Camryn loved going to gymnastics. She thought it was
so cool that her teacher's name was Heather and that there
was another Camryn with a purple coat in her class!

It's so fun to watch Camryn grow and develop her talents. She's a great little gymnast and I'm sure she'll continue tumbling and flipping around in Pokey.

Getting Sentimental...

Our time in Ann Arbor is sadly coming to an end. Don't get me wrong, we are looking forward with GREAT anticipation to our move. However, Ann Arbor has been our favorite city to live in during this 8-year journey. We'll miss it so much! Joel and I have a list of "must do's" to check off before we head out. Last night we enjoyed a great dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Check. Tonight we took the kids to Joel's hospital cafeteria (to use up some of his money on his hospital card). Joel hates this place and I don't blame him, but the kids LOVE it when we take them here. They get cart blanche - a kid's dream come true. "You can get whatever you want, but you have to eat it," says Mom. Wahoo...let the races begin. They proceed to sprint through the place gathering up a cookie here, a box of cereal there, a gatorade over yonder and a yogurt around the bend - you get the point. Happy kids.

Following our feast of DE-licious cafeteria food, we decided to take the kids down to the Huron river to say adios. Man I'm going to miss this place - it's so beautiful! We took a lovely walk through the woods just trying to soak in every last bit of beauty. I hope I'll always remember how many shades of green mother nature can actually produce! I think we'll all experience a little green-withdrawl when we make it out west. Right after these pics were taken, Camryn fell into the water and cried hysterically while running around in shock (ugh, girl drama!). Christian liked the sight of it I suppose because he "fell" in as well and loved every bit of it.


What will we miss about Ann Arbor and student housing?? Lots of things like...

• My portable dishwasher
• The mole that recently made my garden his home
• Autumntime
• Berry picking in the summer
• Kids around every corner...hmmm....my kids will miss that - not me so much
• The Great Lakes and all of their attractions
• Hauling my ginormous laundry basket up 3 flights of stairs
• All of our friends made during residency (are you still cyber-stalking me Aisa? ha ha)
• Scraping off my car after an ice storm
• The Detroit government officials - go Kwame Kilpatrick!
  
• All of my fellow "green" Ann Arborites driving around in their Subaru Outbacks and Toyota Prius (what's plural for Prius...hmmm)
• Sharing an unspoken bond with a stranger wearing University of Michigan attire. Go Blue.
  
• Knowing that I'll always look at grocery carts and Radio Flyer wagons with great fondness
• The outstanding community programs offered to kids and adults alike
• The taxes (that we didn't have to pay living in student housing) needed to fund such outstanding programs!
• The cultural diversity - Chinese, Korean and Indian markets galore!
• Installing my own carpet with a staple gun
• Yummy local cuisine like...cheesecake from the Prickly Pear, Mughlai Chicken from Madras Masala, the #2 reuben from Zingerman's Deli, Gandy Dancer salads & desserts...mmmm, I'm getting hungry!

Wow, Pokey has some big shoes to fill. I hope we love it there because I feel like we're giving up a lot by leaving this this town! The only thing on my "pro" list for Pocatellodian right now is...being closer to family and not having to share a bathroom with 4 kiddos on Sunday morning. I think the list will get longer soon enough.

I'll bet having a dishwasher built into our cabinetry will help.