Murder Mystery in the Manor

OHIO!!!!!!

This is by far one of the post that is exciting for me to write. For my Birthday, Wedding anniversary, and Mother's day, Aaron gave me the most precious of gifts possible. He bought 2 tickets to Ohio. On for me to go and see Katie and one for Chelsea, to go see Carolyn-Kate. What and awesome and thoughtful honey I have!!!Chelsea and I flew out to Dayton Ohio on June first on the last flight from Salt Lake City. Our Plane got in at 11:30 at night. Katie, Joel, and CK came to meet us at the airport. Our flight was fairly uneventful, at least during the flight tit was :) but when we landed in Dayton, Chelsea and I were at the back of the plane. She slept most of the flight and as we were waiting for the rest of the plane to unload, Chelsea woke up and said that she didn't feel well. and 2 seconds later she puked all over me and the seat of the plane. Luckily the man sitting next to us was kind and helped Chelsea find the bathroom and then also helped us from the plane to baggage claim. The flight attendant was HORRIBLE; I apologized that there was such a mess and she was like, its not my problem so I don't care, and when I asked her for a sick bag or paper towel she acted like I was inconveniencing her! I was ticked to say the least! But when I saw KATIE that didn't matter anymore.

We got back to Katie's house pretty late and fell into bed. But the Girls were up bright and early having a ball. they didn't even miss a beat. It was like absolutely no time had passed since the last time they had seen each other. I awoke to find them in the basement playing barbies It was so precious!!!

This was the way that I found them when I first went down. I couldn't resist taking this Pic :)


We decided to go and find "The Bunny Park" which is this really awesome park that has fountains that come out of the ground and also a waterfall too. Sadly Carolyn Kate was all ready to go and while we waited for Chelsea to get her swim suit on She grabbed the hat that I made for her and I had not gotten a picture of her yet. So I was glad for that opportunity to capture such a cute little girl
Sadly after driving around for about an hour we almost gave up trying to find the Bunny Park for the day. Katie tried one last time and we asked a woman that was walking if she knew where it was, Luckily she did. But by the time we got there and parked and got the girls out to play. We saw the sign that was posted on the entrance of the path to the fountains. The city closed the fountains for the day because they were doing maintenance. :( so we didn't get to go that day but now that we knew where it was we were definitely going to go back. The girls had fun driving around with us in the car though.
Katie and I found a Qwest Building and called Aaron immediately to have him check into transfers, sadly not only would I ever be able to convince him (or really my self either) to move that far away from family, but this building is for a different subsidiary of Qwest so Aaron couldn't even transfer if he wanted too. TOO BAD :(((((((
It had to be done. This is a Katie and Crystal Classic. I Miss driving around with you and looking for things to "rubber neck" at ...
Schmidts, The wonderful Nationally known restaurant in German town in Columbus. It is nestled in the middle of the quaint little cobblestone covered streets of Germantown /Columbus Ohio. It was such a fun atmosphere. We were lucky enough to go on a night when they had live music. Which was Awesome. it totally added to the experience. The wait was about 45 minutes so we had some time to kill and we decided to go for a walk. but we stopped in the little German candy shop first and I tried my very first Ohio Buckeye... YUMMY!!!!

We entertained ourselves with the picture cutouts...
See I told you we were entertained....

There was a 45 minute wait for our table so we decided to go for a walk. We stopped at the cute little candy store and Chelsea and I had our first official Buckeye , Which for all of you who have never been to Ohio is this awesome inside out peanut butter chocolate treat. It was Delish!
Then we went for our walk and Chelsea found a dog that the owner was nice enough to let her hold. I think she was having Nala and Duke withdrawals :)
Funny thing is that the owner has ties to Utah , her husband is a surgeon in Salt Lake Crazy Huh?!





When we were seated and waiting for the waitress( which by the way was a horrible waitress) Chelsea had grabbed an apartment book so that we could find a house in Ohio so that we could have a place to live when we moved out there :)
The water was horrible and we asked the waitress for new glasses. The waitress dismissed our problems by saying I have been drinking the water all night long and it tastes fine to me... Come to find out that it was the glasses we were drinking out of and she was drinking from a Styrofoam cup... Huh go figure...
Katie told me to try the Weinerschnitzel and I was a Bad best friend and didn't listen because is was Pork, and I am not the hugest fan of Pork . Instead I got the Alpine Chicken( which tasted like the bottom of someones shoe that had walked through a landfill and sewage plant). I tasted Katie's Schnitzel and kicked myself in the butt because I didn't order that. Next year I will be ordering the yumminess though!!!
Chelsea did a very Aaron thing while we were out and I had to document it... she grabbed the Rental magazine for the Columbus, Ohio. I love that girl...

We went to the Columbus Ohio Zoo. They have a little amusement park that is so cute and so fun. Chelsea was very excited to ride on the "flying Bird ride" we went on it a few times. :)
Poor CK didn't get very much sleep the night before and she was so tired and had a hard time for a little bit if the morning, but it all worked out and she was bale to have fun with us which made the day AWESOME!!!
Chelsea's Favorite ride was the Swings( she is a chip off the old block because that was my favorite ride when I was a little girl. I remember wearing my tallest shoes that I owned just so that I would be tall enough to ride them. Good Times, Good Times!
Chelsea in all of her Swing Riding glory :)
They had a ride that was cars that went around in a circle. Chelsea and I rode together first. It was a Kodak Moment for sure... I loved my time with this Cute girl!!!
My BFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF( for those of you who have to ask, its Best Friends forever infinity) I LOVE YOU KT
I think that other than the mini white roller coaster the bumper cars were my favorite not water ride. The only ride that they had with water was the log ride, it was down all day for repairs until right before we left, so we got to ride it :) unfortunately as we were coming back in to the loading and unloading station the ride broke again. for some reason the metal bars that allow the individual cars to enter into the station wouldn't go down so we were "soft" evacuated from the logs, it was great fun :)

Roller coaster picture Take one...
Roller Coaster Picture Take 2...
Aren't I the most talented Photographer that you have ever seen?!
this roller coast was just like the one at Lagoon but about 1 10th the size. It was awesome. We went on it 2 or 3 times it was so cool.
Chelsea and Carolyn rode the car ride together and I got one of my favorite shot of the trip... Carolyn's face is Classic Don't you think?
On the Zoo side of the day we decided to go and see the Polar bear first because it was almost time for them to be fed and we wanted to see it. so we rushed over. The Zoo Keepers had to Coax Momma and Baby into the water but after they did we got quite a show. Baby decided that it was time to poop. It was so gross. But true to baby nature he pooped and them went right after the fish to eat :) Here is a little video for your enjoyment :)

Carolyn and Chelsea were so excited to ride the train, I have to agree with Katie though it was kind of a lame area for a train ride. we saw like 2 animals But WE had fun anyway...Do you like Chelsea's hat? I do too and she got it at the Zoo... Sadly while we were on the train ride someone mean decided to take off with Katie's insulated lunch bag... it was CraptasticKatie and I liked taking pictures on the train too. there were 2 older ladies behind all of us that were laughing and getting a kick out of the girls especially.



This really cool little elephant statue was on the way to the real elephants and since we aren't allow to let the kids in with the real elephants, I can't imagine why... Silly Zoo people
And no picture is complete with out both Chelsea and Carolyn in it... I love this picture so much...
Oh look here are the real little elephanties :) The baby was so cute. he was playing in the pool with his mom and Aunt, and Mom and the Aunt were ready to get out but they had to prod baby. It was eay funny to watch...
Chelsea and Carolyn took a little trip to Chins, They just up and left Katie and I in the Zoo, waiting for them to return, no calls no letters worrying and waiting and watching. I guess since Charles is going to go on his mission to China :) ( you know what I mean) It was a good test for me to see how I would handle him being gone. But at least they had the decency to send us a picture of them painting up the town on their cooltastic BikeChelsea was waiting for her bike taxi to take her back to the Zoo from China, she had a hard time finding someone to hire because they would have to pedal a long way...

It is almost the end of the day at the Zoo and you can tell that the girls are tired, they would never admit it but they CRASHED hard the minute we got in the carThe Columbus Zoo hands out Silly bands in the shape of different animals the Koala bear was giving away Penguin silly bands, It was hilarious...


On our way out of the Zoo the Girls got an awesome Surprise... Mrs. Ohio was there for a special event that was being done, we didn't ever figure out why but the girls got a signed picture from her and this picture...
That night after we got home and put the girls to bed, Katie and I decided that we needed to have a spa experience. and we thought we would share it with you...
We went to this awesome ice cream Shoppe in Grove City, I am told that like Cold Stone Creamery is to us here in the west, it is to those in the Midwest and Eat... it is called Graeders( I'm not sure I spelled that right) It was Delicious!!!
Sunday morning came and it went as we got ready for Church, Sundays are a very busy day around the Gardner house. We happened to be there for Ward Council ( which because of their callings) Katie and Joel both attend. So the Girls and I hung out in the foyer and colored. It was fun and relaxing.
I was so excited to find that Grove City has a Big Boys Restaurant. I grew up with a big Boys in Reno. I remember the Iconic huge statue of a Boy with a platter full of Hamburgers and girls skating orders out to people. I don.t remember the food from when I was young but it was great fun and very nostalgic to go and eat there. ( the food wasn't bad at all either) they have probably the best Macaroni and cheese that I ave ever had!
Hanging out waiting for our yumtastic food.


And we got bored waiting, can you tell :) Later that day we went to the Bunny Park now that we knew where it was The girls were so excited to run around and play. It was so hot and they were totally waiting ALL DAY to go... we were so mean to make them eat and then go home and get swim suits on and go to Hobby Lobby, and go pick out new ( and WAY cute) Glasses for Carolyn.

Katie was the smarter one out of the 2 of us. She played in the water and I didn't. I know those of you who know me, know that that I am a freak of nature when it comes to playing in the water. I definitely missed out on this fun...
Chelsea is sporting her new Swimming suit.We got it at Target for 10 busk, 10 shells, 10 Clams, 10 smackers. And,And its modest! that is the best part. She wears it everywhere. I wish that I had played :(Chelsea tried to convince us that we all needed to go to the beauty college and get manicures, So instead we did the much less expensive thing and went to the local Family Dollar and bought Nail polish to do home mani/pedi's... and that is just what Chelsea and CK did as Katie and I were out in the front yard laughing and talking with Katie's AWESOME neighbor Lillie. I wish that I lived next to Katie again but I am glad that she has Lillie.
The Girls bought matching night gowns and were so excite to get into them after their bath. they were getting ready for bed in CK's room and I got some really cute snap shots.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love Love Love these cute girls.... it was like no time passed at all with them there!
Tuesday Morning was our last day in Grove City, Lillie took us to breakfast, Did I mention that I LOVE LOVE LOVE HER!!! I can't wait to see her again next year :)
I stole this from Katie's Blog... Hope you don't mind :)
This is Lillie and her Husband Johnny


We found a Hotel room in Dayton (which is where I flew out of) it was a Ramada actually. and it was not expensive at all. we got there and went straight to the pool. The girls found a "taxi" on the way there.
"Just call me Peg Leg Arrrrrgh"


Just hanging in the pool, having a good old time!!!
Katie Shanghaied me from behind and Chelsea caught just the right moment to see the carnage that was about to ensue.
After we went to the pool we went to Max and Erma's. It is a classic Burger joint but the best part is we got Fresh baked cookies for dessert. the were DELISH!!!!! YUM!

After that we went back and played in the pool for about an hour, but then went back to the room to shower and chill. Here is the girls after their bath trying to convince us to go back to the pool.

Oh the agony of defeat :) they gave up and just played with the buckets instead. Sadly the night did not go as planned . Katie felt so anxious and uneasy there was a while where she was not able to reach Joel. We were talking and she decided that the spirit was telling her that she should travel home. I think that there has never been a sadder set of 4 people in the world. But as soon as Katie made the decision she felt at easy. Chelsea and I walked CK and Katie to her car, Cried, hugged, and Katie gave us a chariot ride to the door of the hotel and we said our good byes. Chelsea and I cried ourselves to sleep and then got up at the bum crack of dawn to travel home to Utah. We were glad to be home but it was very VERY bitter sweet. I am grateful to live in a time when I can travel across the country in less than a day to see loved ones. and soul sisters.


My Soul Sister! Thank you for a wonderful Ohio Experience.