Gardner Villa

Bruuuuuuuce!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010 by Diana

I have a husband who is smitten by a certain artist who is not known, persay, by his singing skills, but by the sheer energy and spirit he exudes. I've never been a big Bruce fan, but since marrying Steve and as years have gone by there might be a few songs I actually really like.

So to bring a smile to honeybob's face I chose this as one of the gifts I gave him for Christmas. When he first looked at it, I told him it was his picture (Steve's). He nodded in agreeance. He didn't realize until several moments later that it actually was him. See for yourself:

This album cover of Bruce:

+ this old picture of Steve:

equals this picture:

all together = one happy honeybob:

Ensenada, Here I Come!

Sunday, January 03, 2010 by Diana

I have been lucky enough to have been invited to tag along on a very short cruise with my sister and her friend. I've never been on a cruise before other than cruising back and forth on the Washington State Ferries. We'll be flying to San Diego and hopping on our cruise ship from there with our destination being Ensenada, Mexico. I'm super excited, even though it'll be a short four day, three night cruise. It'll be great relaxing and sharing our stories of the craziness of our lives while sipping margaritas with mini umbrellas in the scorching hot sun! Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little there. It'll probably only hit 70 degrees if we're lucky. It's supposed to be in the upper 60's. I'll take it! Ensanada, here we come!!!

White Elephant Christmas Party 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 by Diana

Every December for the past three years we've hosted a white elephant Christmas party. It will be a fun memory for our kids to have as they grow older. I wish I could have invited many others, but that would mean sitting four to a lap, and that could get painful for the one on the bottom. But maybe some of you wouldn't mind that so much 8-)

Sascha made this amazing sign which hung out front as people walked in. It says,
"WELCOME TO DE CHRISTMAS PARTY"
at the bottom it says,
"SORRY, THE SIGN CREATORS THOUGHT IT WAS FOR ALL HOLIDAYS."
On the sleigh it says,
"RENT-A-SLEIGH, THIS IS OURS." "BOXING DAY." JUST A REPLICA."
Make note that Sascha drew Christopher Columbus and a pilgrim pulling the sleigh. He's always good for a laugh...

Errol and LaRee:

Kaitlyn and Duncan:

Steve and Brian:

Dianna, Tracy, Cami, Mireya, Sophia and Monica:

Mike and Chris:

Emilee, Sydney, Chase and Lindsay:

Who wants to be first to get their pic taken with Gingy?

The kids had their gift exchange first:

Some of the biggest hits that got stolen...

The pony costume:

The snow cone maker:

and the Highschool Musical stuff:

And then it was the adults gift exchange...

Kaitlyn ended up with a real autographed picture of Daryl Hannah:

Mireya got a hot lips pinata that she would later use for Sophia's bday party (notice that the football game was running in the background. The guys wouldn't stop whining until we turned it on):

Every guy wants a wreath to decorate:

Steve was actually really excited to get the cowboy boots figurine (not sure why, maybe because it had candy in it?), but Duncan ended up stealing it away:

Tristalene helped put a little rudolph into the partay:

Max and Spencer looking so sharp. Maybe they just came straight from a baptism? hmmmm....

Apollo with one of his favorite buddies, Uncle Dunkle:

Thanks everyone for making the evening such a success!
As they say: good food, folks and fun!
Until next year...

Go Gingy, Go Gingy!

Monday, December 28, 2009 by Diana

This year we had a very special guest at our Christmas party...... GINGY! I asked my friend's son, Jayce to play the part and he did just that. He knew just how to pose and didn't speak a peep the whole time. Thanks Jayce!!!

I had my girlfriend LaRee be the photographer because she's got skilz and I was standing by for crowd control and props. I think the pics turned out great. You be the judge:

LaRoo and I
(probably should have grabbed a pic of Gingy without his head on):

LOVE this pic of Kaitlyn and Duncan nibblin' on Gingy:

Cute Apollo smiling with ease after I told him who Gingy really was. Beforehand, he was very resistant (we ate before the photo shoot as you can see below):