A New Tradition

We started a new tradition today—a few weeks ago Megan suggested that we (the Gardner girls) get together every week for lunch. We all thought the idea was brilliant, so we had our first Gardner Girls Lunch today.

Megan hosted it (we’ll take turns each week), so she got to choose the place and the menu. She invited us to her house, and she treated us to some delicious homemade Mexican food. We all told her she’d set the bar way too high, and we made sure everyone knew not to expect such delicious food every week!

The company, however, will be wonderful every week! It was fun to get together, and I’m already looking forward to next week. We know that not everyone will make it every week, but we’re going to plan it every week and have fun with whoever shows up.

Many of the grandchildren came this week, which meant that the lunch wasn’t quite as long and leisurely as it might have been otherwise. But that’s OK. Some weeks it will just be the girls, other weeks children will be welcome. Regardless, every week we’ll enjoy good food and great company!

And the good food and great company didn’t end there! Today Sterling finished his last class, and we had to celebrate tonight! While he still has his final clinic on Saturday and the state exams on Monday, this was certainly a milestone. So we ate at Tsunami tonight, a great little Japanese restaurant. It was the perfect ending to a fun day—I’m looking forward to celebrating the rest of his school milestones in the coming days!

Happy Mother's Day!

I woke up this morning, thinking that this was a perfect day to blog. I know there are a lot of women who dread Mother’s Day because they focus on the mothers they aren’t. Either they haven’t ever married and don’t have children, or they married and weren’t able to have children, or they aren’t a good enough mother. . . whatever the reason, today is a day that is sometimes hard for us women.

Throughout today, as I listened to inspirational radio stations and talks, and went to church, and visited with all our girls and their families, I came away with one overriding feeling—If we’re doing our best, we’re good enough.

I know that our children, our husbands, our loved ones, our Father in Heaven. . all they need from us is our determination to do our best. And our best doesn’t mean we’re perfect, or that we don’t make mistakes. It just means we keep on trying and don’t give up.

My hope for each of you today is that you just love yourselves for who you are!

Exciting News in the Gardner Family

You probably noticed my new blog header—love it! I had planned to blog about it tonight, but something has come up that is much more exciting, so while I hope you notice (and like) the new header, I also hope you check out Shanna’s blog.

We’ve had new additions to the Gardner family! They actually arrived almost three weeks ago, but Shanna and Jared wanted to wait to make the announcement until they were all home together as a family. That happened today, so for the next several days, you know where my focus will be—on little Liam and Abigail!

Home from Florida. . .

I’m back from Florida, and I have to admit, the trip didn’t go as I had anticipated.

For starters, I was more than a little disappointed that Sterling wouldn’t be going with me on this trip—it’s the first incentive trip he’s ever missed! So I knew going into it I would be missing him. On top of that, I wasn’t certain how much time I’d be spending with our girls who went; some were taking their children, some weren’t, and I didn’t want them to have to worry about dragging Grandma along. Finally, because it was a land-based incentive trip, I didn’t think I’d be seeing as much of the demonstrators as I see on a cruise, so I was bummed about that as well. So I packed a lot of work and decided I’d make the most of my time sitting in the hotel or by the pool and get caught up.

Well, I’m happy to report that, while I didn’t get nearly as much work done as I’d expected, I had much more fun than I expected!

I went to the parks almost every day with at last one of the girls; it was fun to spend some time at Disney with family! Although I didn’t end up riding a lot of rides, seeing It’s a Small World and the Peter Pan ride through the eyes of Kona and Makai was wonderful, and simply walking around with some of the kids was thoroughly enjoyable.

And I got to see lots of demonstrators, along with their family and friends, as well as our home office family members. We had breakfast together every morning, and while it was come-and-go, I enjoyed chatting with these amazing people and meeting those who had come with them on the trip.

In addition, I saw demonstrators at every park we visited, in the elevators at the hotel, and just walking along the Boardwalk.

We also had two formal Stampin’ Up! events, and of course, I spent as much time as I could with demonstrators at those events. During our Share Night on Wednesday we handed out new catalogs—that was an unexpected surprise for those in attendance, and it was so fun to see them all looking through the new catalog! Judging from their reactions, I think we’re in for another great year of Stampin’ Up! product and creativity!

And our closing event on Thursday night was fabulous! We enjoyed dinner and entertainment on the Indiana Jones stage at Hollywood Studios. There was music, a DJ, belly dancing, great food, and a wonderful atmosphere.

We even granted a few wishes, something that seems to happen frequently at Disney. Earlier in the week we’d told demonstrators that we wanted to grant a few wishes, and we invited them to post their wishes on a wall in the hospitality room. Wishes could be product related or donation related.

On Thursday, we announced the wish winners. I won’t list them all here, but I will say I wish we could have granted all the wishes. . . and I’m grateful that we could help out where we did!

So many demonstrators, along with their guests, came up and thanked us for such a great week!

And I have to admit, it was an enjoyable week. I loved seeing grown-ups act like kids. . . Disney has a way of doing that to us! And I loved seeing parents and grandparents and children spending valuable time together and creating memories that I know will last a lifetime! I’m so thrilled that Stampin’ Up! can be part of making that possible. . .

And now I’m thrilled to be back home. I did miss Sterling and the children and grandchildren who didn’t go, so I’m looking forward to spending time with them!

Thanks to all those who made the trip possible, as well as all those who went. It was a wonderful week!

A Happy Week

I'm at the happiest place on earth—at least one of the happiest places this week! I’m leaving my sweetheart at home this year, one of the only incentive trips he’s missed, and I’ll definitely miss him! But I am looking forward to seeing hundreds of happy Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and family members.

I’ve enjoyed seeing how excited everyone has been for this trip. It’s our second land-based trip, and it’s definitely a popular family destination. I won’t be blogging this week (except for my monthly Creative Challenge, of course), but I’ll share after I get back home!