The Nearly Empty Nest

Our little boy's going away to the Army! We knew this day was coming, but it still seems impossible that we are now officially Empty Nester's! Jacob will be at basic for 8 weeks, and then jump school for 3 weeks, then on to His communications training at Ft. Gordon, Georgia. He will be there for 21 weeks of training. He should complete his training somewhere around the April time frame. At that point the mission will be next, and then on to college at UVU in Orem. I guess the hardest part right now is not being able to communicate with him. We should be receiving a card any day with an address so we can write to him. The day Jacob left, Sara was at the house and agreed to take these great shots of our last day.


Jacob is in Basic Training at Ft. Jackson, SC now.

Jacob telling his posse goodbye.

Jensen and Izzie came to see Uncle Jake before he left.

Gave Izzie and Jensen a chance to get reacquainted.


"And you can call me "sir". (Phil is a Captain after all)

Ah, one last shot at the Playstation and loafing around in his own room. He now shares living space with 60 of his closest friends.

Isabella dropped by a couple of times in the last month. We are really glad they are so close now, even if only for six months. (they live down near Richmond at Ft. Lee, VA)


She is still a very delicate eater, but she's getting it.


She is always quick to tell you when you're getting too pushy with the food.

Jensen, on the on the other hand, has fewer food issues, and is likely asking for more in this picture.

"I'm telling you, he's already eaten" Grandpa said.

"Mom, you and Grandma have got to get back here, Grandpa and Jake are weird!"

"But they are amusing at times."

Jensen is planning a singing career, we're thinking.


He had some fun after all with Grandpa and Jake.

"Hey Dad, get back from Iraq and us guys will have allot of fun".

This microphone is a great thing. Sara and Jensen came and stayed for nice visit with us. We had loads of fun getting to know the big boy again. He is a great mix of his Mom and his Dad.

This is the favorite toy of all the kids we know so far. The ball blower.

It thrills them every time.


"I'd let you guys in here if I knew how to open this gate."


The future baseball star. A natural at hitting things.

Those are some cute cousins, and lots of fun.

Jensen was good at entertaining Grandma Betsy as well.

" I'm telling you, there's no way out of here."

"Try shaking this thing real hard!"


"Maybe if we just try looking really cute. It usually gets me what I want".

Oh well...just make the best of a bad situation.

Grandpa and Grandma love having visitors.

Who knows? Grandpa is odd.

But handsome in those plaid shorts.

Going to church with Grandma and Grandpa.

Fox even came to stay for a week. He loves Grandma's house and stealing the other dogs things. He loved this big chew and guarded it jealously.

Tank didn't want to fight about it, at least not too often. He seems to tolerate the company very well.

Betsy loves her little knucklehead Tex. She doesn't have to be a total empty-nester as long as the dogs are around. They follow her faithfully from room to room (it keeps her happy and gives Grandpa some peace).

Spring/Summer 2008

Jacob leaves for Basic Training in August--get ready Fort Jackson!
Izzie just got back from her European vacation, still ready to rock.
Tom (Paula's Dad) taught us how put in a new floor down at Phil and Paula's, so I had no choice.
Plenty of work, but we did it. (It also got me some cool new power tools)
First came pulling up the old carpet, then the floor prep, with help from Tex.


Little by little, it started to come together, one big gulp at a time.

Ah, the fruits of our labor!
Hey, who put in that new floor?
Nice!

A surprise Visit!

Two weeks ago I came into the Kitchen at Jacobs request, and out jumped Hayley and Adam. What a surpise. I had no idea they were coming to Virginia. Ron, Jake, Hayley and Adam were pretty good at keeping a secret. I cried. What a great two weeks we had spending time together.

One day we loaded up into the truck and drove to Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson estate down near Charlottesville, VA. He was an amazing man, very intelligent and designed quite the place. He built his house on the very top of a big hill (mountain out here) surrounded by a 5,000 acre estate, with 600 servants and slaves. Very cool piece of history to see.

This is the front entrance to the mansion.

Here's the gang, Betsy, Hayley, Adam and Jake, looking over the gardens as they would have been back in the day.

Yes, we are a handsome bunch and admire fine vegetables.

What a cute couple! Hayley grew a fair amount in the two weeks they spent with us. They surprised Mom and we snuck them out here without her knowing. She was happily shocked.

What a nice place, even today. Hard to believe it was built in the late 1700's.

This is the carriage entrance.

Mom and Jake taking in the sights.

We had perfect weather. It wouldn't have been as much fun if attempted in July.

These two always like to pose.

The little girl inside and the big girl outside just keep growing. Lots of growing left to do as well.

The dogs were very happy to have Adam and Hayley in the house. They love having company around.

Even Tank got a kiss from Hayley; no wonder they like her.

All good things must come to an end. Here we are at Reagan National to send them back to Utah.


There's still a little farmer left in every Garner, my little field of plants and the new lawn are doing well. I'm constantly pulling out the sprouting acorns; it was a bumper year for acorns for some reason.

We re-did the yard late last year so there is more work this year. Maybe next year it will be less work.



In April we went to North Carolina to see Phil and family. Phil got back from Iraq in March. Izzie is about as cute as they come; and lots of fun.



Betsy may not be very big, but her sons are all extra large, and really good men too.



We got Isabella a new rocking chair for her first birthday; she really loved it.

Izzie in her pretty dress. She is very close to walking, won't be long.

Very pretty!