Tagged

I've never done this before, but I do so love to make lists of things... :0)

Five things I was doing ten years ago:

1. Being an extra in my junior high school play, "Bye, Bye, Birdie"

2. Having a crush on every boy I knew

3. Trying to learn how to speak Spanish from Sra. Curzon

4. Working at Dairy Queen  (I think...maybe it was a little less than ten years ago, but close)

5. Being a truly "great" ninth grader  

Five things on my "To-Do" list for today:

1. Buy milk and bread at Smith's

2. Give Grace a bath

3. Go to the bank

4. Wash all white clothes

5. Call Ellie about how to start Grace on rice cereal

Five snacks I love: (so hard to limit it to just five...)

1. Starbursts

2. Skittles

3. Pink Mints

4. Caramels

5. Conversation Hearts

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1.  Have a house but no mortgage

2. Have a nice car but no car payment (are you sensing a theme....?)

3. Buy clothes that really look nice on me--that I pick because of the look and fit 

instead of the price

4. Travel a lot with Spencer

5. Help people   

Bardsley Family Top Ten of 2008

10.  House Hunting

Though this may seem a strange thing to include in a top ten list, Spencer and I look quite fondly back on the time we spent on our very own house treasure hunt.  Actually, when we finally found the one we currently live in, I felt a little let down that the search was over. This is because when your budget for home buying is quite small, you end up being shown a lot of very...interesting domiciles (Spencer...this word is for you!).  You would be surprised by how many homes we walked into (of course nobody was living in them...) and laughed out loud at what we found.  The following photo is of the bathroom in our favorite "basement" (man-hole) of a house we were shown.  The basement had its own separate entrance and we figured that the wife shut her husband in there when she was mad at him.  (Sidenote: this was actually counted in the house info as a "finished" bathroom)

9.  Spencer and Anna became the returning champions of the HBA (Home Builder's Association) Annual Christmas Party Dance-Off 

Yes; it's true, folks.  After our triumph last year (which brought into our lives the Ipod touch that has been Spencer's constant and beloved companion ever since...), we returned and showed all of the middle-aged HBA-ers how to "shake it" yet again.  Or...ballroom dance, as it were.  Please remember that we are not the champions because of our amazing dancing skills.  We are the champions because we were once again the only ones who "kind of" knew how to waltz, cha-cha, and disco.  And...because Spencer can break dance.  This year we won a $100 Visa gift card.  Hooray!  (Sidenote: We actually got first place and a half because they had to gave first place to a lady (and her husband) who was 8 months pregnant and did a cartwheel on the dance floor.  No fancy dance step can compete with that.)

8. Spencer and Anna celebrated their 2nd wedding anniversary   

Thanks to Aunt Emily Merkley, we were able to spend the entire day of December 27th together doing things that having a baby with us would have made impossible.  We went sledding in the morning and discovered the joys of sliding down hills in black garbage bags.  (I, for one, will never go "sledding" with anything else.) Then we went out for lunch at the Olive Garden, did a session at the Salt Lake temple, and walked around Temple Square a bit.  After that, we headed back to Provo for dinner at Red Robin and finally caught a late showing of Twilight.  Spencer is a good sport.  It was wonderful.  It was my first full day away from Grace and the first time anyone else ever put Grace to bed besides Spencer or I.  Ironically, Grace responded to this change by sleeping from 7:10 p.m. until 9:00 a.m. the next morning.  We're thinking of hiring Emily on as Grace's full-time nanny.  (the following pictures are of us at Red Robin, us in the exact same spot we were exactly two years ago to the day, and us while sledding)

    

7. Spencer was called to be in a bishopric of a BYU singles' ward 

 Best things about this: the wonderful people in the singles' ward we attend AND having one of the two babies in the ward (the other counselor and his wife also have a baby) instead of one of the 500 babies in the ward.  Worst things about this: having to attend church on campus again; having to ascend the 5 million stairs to get the Joseph Smith Building AND having church at 8:30 in the morning.  :0)  Really, this has been a wonderful experience.  The ward was overwhelmingly kind to us when Grace was born (homemade dinners for TWO WEEKS!) and they have taught us so much.  

6. Jacob,Whitney, and Landon Bardsley's Sealing

Hooray!  Spencer and I were so excited and happy to be able to be with them this day.  It was also great to see Spencer's out of town sisters, April and Esther, that weekend.  Hooray for wonderful occasions that bring about little family reunions!

5. Sam and Emily Neil Merkley's Wedding

Yet another wonderful occasion to bring about a family reunion.  The whole Merkley family (including the Warnicks and Bardsleys of course) was able to be together for the reception in Layton and then head down to Mesa for the wedding.  And...just to add a little extra information, one of Sam and Emily's early dates (as in at the beginning of their relationship) was to our reception.  :0)    

4. Spencer became a rugby star

  Back in February (or March?), Spencer met someone from the UVU rugby team in one of his classes.  The guy invited Spencer to come out and see what rugby was like and...the rest is history.  Spencer became a starter on a team for a sport he'd never played.  He's just that good at sports.  I don't think there exists a sport that doesn't love Spencer.  At any rate, with Spencer in tow, the UVU team did better than they had ever done in the history of the school.  They ended up finishing 2nd in the nation for division 2.  Spencer traveled (with a very pregnant Anna) to Albuquerque, NM, for the semi-finals and then to Palo Alto, CA, for the finals (without Anna).  

I became a rugby aficionado. Of sorts.  I do recall that the first game I went to was in Salt Lake City and it was freezing cold and snowing the whole time.  But...I giggled my way through the entire game.  I had just never seen a sport quite like rugby.  It seemed to me to incorporate elements of soccer, football, basketball, and...cheerleading.  :0)  I loved it.  

And now, Spencer carries with him a very distinguished rugby battle wound just under his right eye.  He collided with two other players in an effort to get the ball.  One of them ended up with a matching battle wound under his left eye.  They stitched Spencer up (seven stitches) on the side of the field as play continued.  Ah...rugby.

    

3. Spencer and Anna bought a house

As you can see, the actual buying of the house does rank higher than searching for it.  :0)  I've already written enough about this aspect of 2008 in a previous post, so I won't go too much into it.  We are still loving our house and taking full advantage of the hot tub in the backyard and the fireplace.  We have used our home warranty plan frequently and are still praying that our dishwasher, water heater, furnace, and refrigerator break down irreparably within the next few months.  We're getting used to the three girls who rent out our basement (the noise barely phases us these days) and are just slowly trying to advance with our house "to-do" list.  

2. Anna graduated from BYU

In April, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work with a minor in Spanish.  Hooray!  I exited BYU with a much different degree than I thought I would.   The original plan had been to major in history teaching with a minor in geography. But, I'm happy with what I did.  For the last eight months before I graduated, I did an internship at an elementary school in Saratoga Springs.  I worked with teacher-referred and parent-referred kids who needed help with things like social skills, anger management, classroom behavior, coping skills and self-esteem.  I loved it.  It was hard, because I wasn't shadowing another social worker.  I had to figure everything out for myself and pretty much completely come up with my own plans for groups, interventions, and classroom presentations.  It took a lot of organization and footwork, but it was really good for me.  An added bonus to my graduation was Sam graduating at the same time.  We got to sit through commencement together.  :0)

1. Grace Elizabeth Bardsley was born (Stats: July 31st, 7:31 p.m., 8 lbs. 15 oz.)

This easily was the highest point of 2008.  Though adjusting to parenthood and figuring Grace out hasn't been easy, it has in every way been worth it.  We adore her and we'd like to believe that she adores us as well.  She's now five months old and quite possibly the cutest baby on the planet.  :0)  She enjoys growling, putting everything around her into her mouth, and has recently taken up shrieking loudly in an effort to practice her singing voice.  She feels like rolling over is overrated and only does it on occasion--just to prove that she can.  She's getting quite good at sitting up.  Her favorite act is standing on Spencer's hands, showing off her balancing ability.  She has a wonderful laugh and gives pretty much everyone a smile just for looking at her.  And...we love her.