Regular week at our house.

It was a pretty regular week at the Garner household - and that can be a lovely thing. It rained quite a bit last weekend and Chris was able to come home a bit early Friday, so we went to see the movie, "Bedtime Stories". It was fun. The boys thought it was hilarious and Adam Sandler definately toned down his style of humor. There was, however, a rude name applied to the film's nemesis that my boys enjoy repeating (Sir Butkiss). Not real excited about that.
Saturday we went down to the high school for the little league tryouts. They were rained out, so we stayed and ran at the track (it doesn't rain very often here so it was actually kind of fun.) Here are a couple of pictures of Davis running. After, we got doughnuts and went home to make hot chocolate. That night Chris and I went out for sushi. A lovely day altogether.This week was the cub scout pack meeting. Nathaniel received his arrow points he earned as a Wolf and his basketball beltloop.

Cub scouts is a great program. Its pretty simple but it really provides a chance for achievement and recognition for boys this age. And nothing says, "You are important to me," like bringing the whole family down to the church to sit in the gym and watch a bunch of little boys receive belt loops and then watch them play gum-chewing relay games. I am so glad we have good leaders who are prepared each week. Nathaniel is really enjoying cub scouts.

Unfortunately - Fortunately

Unfortunately, yesterday I ran out of gas. Fortunately, I was in the right lane on the freeway when I noticed that, unfortunately, I wasn't accelerating. Fortunately, I was going over 60mph and I knew I could make it to the next exit, but, unfortunately, I had no idea if there would be a gas station. Fortunately, I coasted to the off ramp and unfortunately, it made a 180 degree turn. Fortunately it had a pretty steep downward slope. Unfortunately, the light at the intersection was red. Fortunately, there were no cars in front of me at the light and the downward slope was enough that I could get myself going by sticking my left leg out the door and pushing a little. Unfortunately, I wasn't going fast enough to make it through the intersection before the light changed. Fortunately, the oncoming cars saw my emergency lights or my leg sticking out the door, and waited for me to clear the intersection. Unfortunately, my power steering stopped working and I had no idea where a gas station was. Fortunately, the road continued down a hill and, a block later, there was a Chevron. Unfortunately, there was another light and the gas station was on the far left corner. Fortunately, the light was green. Unfortunately, there was a red left turn arrow and a slight uphill to get into the gas station. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic and no police officer to see me run through the red left turn signal (not using breaks so I could get up the hill). Unfortunately, there was some guy at the first pump sitting with the passenger side door open talking on the phone blocking my way. Fortunately, there was room to squeeze by and I was able to get close enough to the pump on the right side of the car. Unfortunately, my power breaks also stopped working. Fortunately, a good stomp stopped the car. It was then that two cars pulled up next to me. They had seen me two intersections before and had followed to see if they could help. What nice people.

Now, who says driving on the LA freeways is dangerous?

Some of my favorite things about So. Cal.

Yesterday was the 9th anniversary of our arrival in Southern California. It was a beautiful sunny day as I walked out of LAX with 6 week old Nathaniel wrapped in a light cotton blanket. I looked over to see someone wearing a big puffy down coat and figured they must have just arrived from Minnesota and had no where else to put their coat as they brought their luggage to the rental car shuttle. It was only as we were driving away from the airport that I noticed how most people were bundled up for a blizzard. Anyway, it took us awhile to acclimate and now I must admit I feel cold when the temperature drops below 60 F. But I wanted to share some of my favorite things about January in S. Cal.
I was amazed to see trees blooming when we arrived. These trees are covered in white blossoms every January. This one is in our neighbor's front yard.

I have no idea what kind of bush this is, but these very unimpressive flowers have the strongest, most beautiful fragrance of any flower I've ever smelled. They are in our back yard and it only takes a few of them in bloom to perfume the area.

I love that the lavendar by my back door blooms all year.

And this is the time of year for camelias. I've taken pics of all the camelias in our yard. They have no fragrance, but they are long lasting blossoms that are so pretty floating in a bowl of water - which works great when Nathaniel picks them for me without stems.

I love the orange tree in our back yard. It feels like I am bringing a present into the house when I pick one for dinner. I love the work that Chris puts into keeping the trees healthy and free of pests.

This is our Meyer lemon tree. A Meyer lemon isn't a true lemon - it is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. These are the sweetest juiciest lemons ever! They make awesome lemonade and the best lemon merengue pie in the world. I can't imagine using the battery acid that comes in those plastic lemons at the grocery store after using these. (My apologies if any of you or your family owns the company that produces those.) Do you see how many lemons are on this tree? They ripen just before Christmas and we usually use them up by summer. They will stay ripe and fresh on the tree for a year, getting sweeter and sweeter.

This is not one of my kids' favorite things, but I love that I have celery and two kinds of cabbage (and beets not shown) growing in my garden in the middle of winter. I read that celery is one of the fruits and veggies that has the highest residues of pesticides, and since we use it alot, I prefer growing it myself. The cabbage is terrific in sesame chicken noodle soup and minestrone. I like to roast the beets and slice them into a salad with sliced oranges, mild onions, crumbled blue cheese, toasted almonds, and a sweet poppy seed dressing or balsamic vinaigrette.

My favorite lettuce is a small crisp head variety called Tom Thumb.

And here is some of my celery about to be washed and chopped into crispy shrimp rice cakes.

Thanks for sharing in my favorite garden things. Stay tuned. We are waiting for baby grass to appear in the front yard, and when it does I'll post the photo-montage of the major front yard overhaul we've been working on since early December.

One of those "tagged" emails.

Chris’ brother who is stationed in Iraq right now sent this to us, and I decided to answer it on the blog since he emailed everyone in the family already.


Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. Answer the 35 questions at the end and send it to your friends (including me).

This is for your entire life!
( ) Gone on a blind date;
(x) Skipped school; The only time I can think of was in graduate school. I convinced everyone in the lab to go to a movie with me while our graduate advisor’s wife was in the hospital having a baby.
( ) Watched someone die
(x) Been to Canada; A day trip to Victoria Island where my friend lost her wallet and we spent most the day trying to find it. Didn’t see any sights.
(x) Been to Mexico; a day trip to Nogales with my family. Petted a dirty burro.
(x) Been to Florida; Chris and I took one of our few real vacations to the Florida Keys for snorkeling and lounging. It was wonderful and romantic. Would have had a better ending without the emergency trip to the dentist for Chris.
(x) Been on a plane; yes
(x) Been lost; in Washington, DC, in Jersey City, NJ, in Los Angeles… many driving adventures.
(x) Been on the opposite side of the country; yes, lived in Virginia, New Jersey, and California.
(x) Been to Washington, DC; I used to drive Chris into work before I went up to Georgetown (while I was pregnant, otherwise I rode my bike or the metro.) Once as we went past the Lincoln Memorial I was looking over to my left wondering why the Presidential caravan was creeping along the street. Chris said it was because Bill Clinton, the Secret Service, and FOBs were all jogging to our right.
(x) Swam in the ocean; Atlantic (warm even in New Jersey), Pacific (just plain cold)
(x) Cried yourself to sleep; lately?
(x) Played cops and robbers; lately? Yes.
(x) Recently colored with crayons; 3rd grade homework still requires crayons and me.
(?) Sang Karaoke; no, but my dad got a karaoke machine for Christmas so I think it’s only a matter of time.
(x) Paid for a meal with coins only; yes, but in college and graduate school my meals were as cheap as possible.
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?; What parent hasn’t. “When I’m a parent, I’ll never…”
(x) Made prank phone calls; In high school to boys’ houses.
(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose?; Many times.
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue; yes.
(x) Danced in the rain; It depended on my mood whether I danced or trudged, but I was often caught in the rain on Key Bridge in Georgetown. Oh, do you mean with someone else?
(x) Written a letter to Santa Claus; I expect I did at some point in my childhood.
(x) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about; Last time we went camping at the beach, Chris was up and gone to work before the sun came up and then I made the boys hike up the canyon as the sun came over the hill. I enjoyed it. The boys wanted to collect bamboo at the beach.
(X) Blown bubbles; Hey, Nathaniel does it with his thumb and forefinger while he washes his hands.
(x) Gone ice-skating; usually at the Bountiful Rec. Center as part of our “survey of winter sports” when we visit Utah in the winter.
(x) Been skinny dipping outdoors; I really don’t think I ever have even though there was a lot of discussion about doing it in high school.
(X) Gone to the movies; Davis is old enough to babysit now, so I see more than one movie a year.
(x) Got a speeding ticket; A few.


1. Any nicknames? No

2. Favorite drink? Homemade lemonade from our tree

3. Mother's name? Janet

4. Tattoo? No

5. Body Piercing: Ears, once.

6. How much do you love your job? I’m currently working on getting teaching experience so I can land a Community College faculty position. That’d be great.

7. Birthplace? SLC

8. Favorite vacation spot? Loved going to Mammoth Lakes. I like places where I can have my family to myself.

9. Ever been to Africa? No. I wrote about my two forays out of the continental US above.

10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? yes

11. Ever been on TV? Ever seen “Alias”?

12. Ever steal any traffic sign? Always wanted to.

13. Ever been in a car accident? No

14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? Nissan Maxima, family car.

15. Favorite salad dressing? Citrus-balsamic vinaigrette.

16. Favorite pie? Peach

17. Favorite number? Not 40

18. Favorite movie? Manon of the Spring

19. Favorite holiday? New Year’s Eve

20. Favorite Dessert? Crème Brulee

21. Favorite food? Spaghetti

22. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

23. Favorite brand of Body wash? Vanilla scented.

24. Favorite toothpaste? Original Colgate

25. Favorite smell? Vanilla

26. What do you do to relax? Read, try to get my family to go hike or explore something.

27. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Sending Nathaniel on a Mission with Davis in college.

28. Furthest place you will send this message? I don’t think it’ll get out of the southwestern states. Maybe if Ipo or Mark and Annie check the blog it’ll be in the South East.

29. Who will respond to this the fastest?

30. Who won't bother to respond?

31. Favorite teacher? Mrs. Smith, Kindergarten

32. Favorite saying? "But still…"

33. Who's your favorite singer? David Byrne

34. Favorite Music? Alternative

35. If you could be a superhero, who would you be? John Lee Supertaster

New Year's Resolutions

Talks in church always focus on New Year's resolutions and goals the first Sunday of the year. Someone inevitably says the old, "if you don't write it down it's not a goal, it's just a wish." So every year I think of a story from when we lived in Virginia. It has nothing to do with the above photo. I just thought this robot float was cool at the Rose Parade. Ok, so the story follows.
We went over to visit some friends one day and their 6 year old daughter Jill was very excited to tell Chris that she scored her first goal in a soccer game earlier that day. Chris asked her if she wrote it down. I remember the confused look on her face when she told him "no". "Well," he said, "then it wasn't a goal, it was just a wish."
I refrain from sharing it in the meetings because it would probably come out snarky and offend the person who shared the original "insight". But now I have shared it with you, my very small blog audience.

Sunny Rose Parade!!!

Here is the float made by our town on New Year's Eve before it lined up for the parade. Chris and Davis walked over with our guests to check it out.

Happy New Year! It was a beautiful morning for the Rose Parade. We were over dressed in our sweatshirts. We walked up Orange Grove Blvd. to where the parade starts to watch.

Here is our niece Amanda, nephew Christopher, Nathaniel, and Sister-in-law Debbie in front of the Wrigley Mansion.

We found primo seats for the boys and we stood behind and still had a great view.

Its fun to see the floats close up (but honestly, if anyone tells you it smells like flowers don't believe them. The flowers are cross-bred for appearance and hardiness, not fragrance. You can smell processed flowers though as the horses go by.)

The best parade experience was had by Davis and his cousin Benjamin. They went early with their dads to sell parade programs for a scout fundraiser and were able to sit in the grandstands right where the parade turns the corner from Orange Grove onto Colorado blvd where all the tv stations broadcast. That is where all the bands and floats put on their best shows. Chris' oldest niece (in Utah) actually spotted her dad on the TV while she watched the parade. So, they earned some money for scout camp, sat in $150-per-seat bleachers, and had a great time.

Reservations are available for the Garner Bed and Breakfast and we can hook you up with the program selling/parade watching scheme if you were so inclined (you don't make a lot of money, but it's fun.)