Two Weeks Away. . . Really?!

People have been asking me if I’m ready for convention, and I tell them I'm excited, I’m looking forward to it, I can’t wait—but I’m definitely not ready!

Honestly, I can’t believe it’s only two weeks away! I have so much to do before now and then, and guess what? I’m heading off to a family reunion this weekend! Sterling and the girls think I’m crazy, and I suspect I might regret it next week, when I’m staying up all night every night finishing everything that needs to be done, but I lived for almost 20 years without a good balance between work and family, and I’m determined to go to this reunion!

I’m not going for the entire reunion—I’m missing the first and last day—but I’ll be there for the weekend, making memories with my extended family, and that’s important. I will be taking work, and working more than I’d like, but I’m grateful that I at least have that option!

And for those of you who will be at convention. . . all I can say is it is definitely going to be worth it!

Proud to Be an American

During the past several months I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Australia, Canada, countries in Europe, and throughout the United States of America. On each trip, I noticed the flags that were flying in these countries, and I wondered if the citizens of each of these countries were as proud of their flag and their country as I was. I guess it was more of an assumption. Surely everyone feels about their beloved country as I do about mine, but I wondered nonetheless. I’ll come back to that thought in a minute…

Yesterday Sterling and I celebrated America’s independence in Kanab (my favorite place to celebrate the 4^th!) with family and friends.

 All of our girls and their families were celebrating with their in-laws, so Sterling and I joined some of my parents and siblings and their families for the holiday festivities—a simple parade in the morning, complete with candy tossed from the floats and children scrambling to gather their fair share, to a community Dutch oven dinner in the evening at the city park along with musical entertainment while we waited for the sun to set and the fireworks to begin.

Usually we spend the afternoon at the park, wandering from booth to booth, where vendors sell their wares, but this year, because we didn’t have grandchildren to entertain (or to be entertained by!), we decided to take a little nap (and catch up on some work) instead of sitting in the hot sun. It was relaxing and delightful!

The highlight of the entire day was when the lights at the park went black and there was an instant where the only light was the spotlight that shown on the flag. In that brief moment, my eyes welled with tears and I felt such an enormous amount of gratitude for the many who have served my country and those who have made it possible for me to enjoy the freedoms I hold so dear!

Even during the fireworks, with the beautiful red cliffs as a booming backdrop to the brilliant art in the sky, our beautiful red, white, and blue flag was the focus of my attention as it swayed gently in the breeze. It was a majestic sight! So if you’re wondering about me like I wondered about you during my many recent trips, I’ll say it loud and clear. I’m proud to be an American!!   

May God bless America and may He bless us all to be loyal to our country and to the values we hold dear!

Happy 4^th!

Patriotic Project

A few weeks ago, we were eating dinner at Sara’s, and I noticed that her summer vignette was fairly small. (Each of the girls and I have seasonal vignettes—Valentine’s Day, Spring, summer, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas—that includ several handmade items that celebrate that particular time of year. We change the vignettes as the seasons change.)

Through the years, I’ve tried to add things to these vignettes whenever I can; I’ve shared some of those projects with you on my blog. So when I saw Sara’s summer vignette set up (which is primarily patriotic), I decided it was time to come up with a project to add to the summer vignette.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot of time (I was wrapping up the Workshops of a Lifetime and also had the European incentive trip on the calendar), so I called up an artist friend of mine who sometimes helps me with project ideas, and I asked her if she was up for the challenge.

Was she ever! When she sent me a photo of this patriotic nesting box tower, I went nutso! I absolutely loved it. She brought it to me at work, and I took it around to everyone, showing it off. I was so thrilled! And the girls are in love with it too! Of course, they won’t get theirs for a few weeks, but they’ll have them forever afterwards, so it’s definitely worth the wait.

I don’t think you need any instructions; I’ve included a close-up photo of all three layers, and I think it’s pretty easy to figure out. My friend bought the nesting hat boxes at a craft store, and the doorknob top is not ours, but other than that, it’s all Stampin’ Up!, and mostly from the Summer mini.

Of course, it will take a little time to complete this project, but I think it will be well worth the time and effort! This is something that I know my girls and I, along with our families, will enjoy for years to come. I hope you enjoy it too!

Gardner Greetings

Like many of you, we try to send out a family newsletter every year, updating people about what’s going on in the Gardner family and including a recent photo.

Also like many of you, we used to send our newsletter out around Christmastime. However, several years ago I realized that for me the Christmas update just made the holidays even more hectic, so I decided to send out the Gardner Greetings in the spring. That worked for a year or two, then it slipped to the summer, and last year I didn’t send one out at all!

This year I promised myself I’d get it sent out. And I’m making progress! Here’s the designed letterhead, which is step 1! Step 2 is finding a few hours to stamp them all. And step 3, of course, is to write the letter.

I was going to wait to post it until I got it completely done, but I could see it slipping later and later into the year, and I hope that by posting the designed letterhead, I’ll put a little pressure on myself to get this done—plus share a stamped project!

A Sara Shadow

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I’m home and at the office more than I have been in the past several months. I love it! It’s wonderful to be back in the office, attending meetings, and interacting with people more than I have been able to recently.

And I’ve enjoyed an added bonus this week—Sara has been going to work with me most days. When she and Sean chose to move back to Utah last year after he earned his master’s degree, one of the main reasons is because they both wanted to be more involved in Stampin’ Up! Sara has been a demonstrator for years, and she’s has always worked in the company—primarily as a creative assistant before she and Sean moved to Washington. But now that her children are older (and she’s found someone she trusts to watch the two youngest a few days a week), she is coming into the office a little more.

The plan right now is to have her shadow me, as well as other people in the company, attend meetings, and become even more familiar with what Stampin’ Up! is all about. Now before you rush to any conclusions, she isn’t planning on taking over my job (although I’m certain she’d do a wonderful job)—I have no intention of retiring any time soon! But I’m thrilled to have any of my girls who are interested work alongside me.

We’re not certain what role she’ll end up playing; for now, it’s just great to ride into work with her, brainstorm together, chat about things, and just spend wonderful time together. Can you think of anything more fun than working with your daughters?