Gardner kid updates

Caught smiling on a warm beach in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, one might wonder what is going through this mother of seven active children is thinking: Is she having fond memories of her little angels or is she just enjoying a quiet break from the demands of life? No one may ever know but below we will try to give you an idea what those little angels have been up to in the last little while and we will let you decide for yourself which it is.

Shelby is 16 now and a sophomore at high school. Here we catch her off on a date to the LDS Prom with a member of our ward. (Daniel Murphy) She hasn't dated a lot yet but has enjoy the couple of dances that she has attended. She is busy with school. Along with many projects, she is getting ready to attend Clark College in the fall as part of the Running Start program. This will allow her to get both college credit along with her high school credit. She has passed her written test for her driver's license but still needs to build up the courage to take the actual driving test. Then we should have another driver in the family! There are days when we are ready for help getting everyone to the places they need to be.

Saturday, Shelby, Coby and Abby went hiking to Moulton Falls to get ready for the Pioneer Trek this summer and for girls camp along with most of the kids from the ward. It was an easy hike and Abby was hoping for something a little more rigorous. We had a good time. This picture is taken at Sunset Falls along that trail. Now that the kids have finally finished all their after-school activities we are hoping to do a few more hikes this spring (and summer if we can find time.)

Coby just finished his soccer season with Hudson Bay High School. He played on their JV team this year as a freshman. His team struggled a little as they had 5 boys that never played soccer before. The team didn't have a lot of wins but there was a drastic improvement over the year. Coby will be glad to get a little time back as they practiced or played every day including Saturdays on occasion. School-wise, Coby pulled straight As for the first half of the school year and continues to do very well.

Abby (6th grade) is probably our most active kid at the moment. She loves to have her hands in everything. She just finished competing in Science Olympiad where her team placed 9th overall in state. Abby's favorite event was Battery Buggy where she built a car running on 4 AA batteries. The goal was to get as close to a point on the floor between 6 and 10 meters (they tell you after you turn in your car) as quickly as you can. Abby placed 5th in state in this event. Her car was the closest but she needs to work a little on speed now. Way to go Abby! Abby is also still playing the violin, loves to bake and keeps us hopping from activity to activity.

Maggie is now in 4th grade and doing well. She is trying track in the spring and having fun. Maggie and Ellie are also doing gymnastics right now and really having fun. They do cartwheels and handstands all over the house. (and don't forget round-offs.)

Ellie is in 1st grade and is being home-schooled by her mom. She does very well at math and is becoming a good reader. She reads books to her little sister Blakeley often. She was just moved up to Maggie's gymnastics class so she is doing well in that activity.

Blakeley is a good helper at home. She loves to help with her little brother Grady. (As you can see her feeding him a bottle.) She is a quiet kid but is working hard to try and get her thoughts across. It seems that every other word is "eee" coming from her mouth which can make it challenging to figure out what she is talking about. She is slowly getting people's names down though as Ma'ee (Maggie) let's me know. The last few days she has had a bad earache and has been in a lot of pain. We finally got a second dose of antibodies to help. Hopefully she will be back on her feet shortly.




Grayson (Grady) is a pretty happy kid. (What is not to be happy! He has 8 people who adore him and meet his every need.) He has learned to crawl and is into everything now. He is also starting to pull himself up into standing positions so it won't be long now until he is cruising throughout the house. Anyway we know who runs the show at our house.

So again, we will let you decide whether the lady in the beginning of this post was smiling because of a well-deserved break or because she was reminiscing all the times she spends with these great kids. (It was probably a little of both.)