The Griggs Family

New Year 2012!

2012-01-18T18:05:00.001-08:00

Holy Cow! Has it really been 12 years since the world was going to come to an end when all the computers weren’t going to be able to function with a 2000 year date? Wow! Time sure does fly by! Aren’t we glad that world didn’t come to an end then?! Instead it’s going to end December 21, 2012! Ironically that is my husbands birthday! Why is it ironic you ask? Well, I don’t know for sure.

This year we actually stayed up to greet the new year. We played a game called “Quelf” and it was HILARIOUS! This is a KEEPER! Like Uno, Pit, Skip Bo and Racko! It will always been in our list of games we play!

I’m not one to make new years resolutions because I always come up with stupid resolutions and then feel like a failure when I don’t accomplish them. This way I can accomplish something and feel good about it instead of feeling stressed that I didn’t get it done!

Like Yesterday for instance I found one of Nolan’s missing shoes. Not the one I wanted or knew was missing, but by golly I found it! The day before I got the curtains fixed because the dogs tore them off of the wall. I got all the laundry done, underneath all the couches clean, the stairs mopped, the bathroom a once over, and all my laundry put away. YAY! See I’ve accomplished something! If I resolved to do all of those things, if I wanted to skip mopping the stairs I would have felt bad!

Anyways I have been in a “WhoaAsMe” mood since my sister-in-law had her baby on Monday! Nothing makes you more homesick than a new baby you want to hold! I am so happy for them!! Ladigo Dean, I can not wait to meet you and give you hugs and kisses!

So funny story: I was walking out to the garbage last night and the sky was SO CLEAR, but it was butt cold outside. I could see the neighbors breath from our porch it was so cold. Anyways I had this urge to act out the scene from Titanic where the ship workers were looking out for icebergs. The sky was clear, and you could see their breath! So was playing though the scene in my head “I can smell icebergs you know?” when all of sudden I nearly slip on the ice and I’m doing these half splits holding onto the garbage can. Perhaps I should concentrate on walking instead of daydreaming huh? It’s my Docs! They have ZERO traction on the snow and ice! That’s what I get for having 6 year old docs!

Anyways, my why child is ready to go read a book before bed!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T21:57:00.001-08:00

Our time here in Utah has gone by so fast! I cannot believe that I am looking at a Christmas Tree and stockings! Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone! Noln turned ONE back in October and it was a fun day. We smoked a pork butt and had a fantatic dinner. Nolan was as cute as can be. My mom hasn't sent me Nolan's birthday pictures yet, but I will post them once I get them.

Thanksgiving was fun. It was the first Thanksgiving that we spent with the Griggs family. We have lived in Arizona out whole marriage and I'm not a fan of traveling on holiday's so we never made the trip. It was hard not being with my family, but I was determained to make it a good Thanksgiving and not be grumpy because I missed my family. This year we bought 2 turkeys. John smoked his turkey and it tasted fantastic. I got him a smoker for Fathers Day and he has made great use out of it! It has caught on with his family. His brother Kevin, and his dad have both started smoking meat. With the 2nd turkey I made the turkey that I have grown up eating my entire life. It's the recipe tht has been handed down for generations. I had never baked a turkey before in my life but every Thanksgiving I woud get up at 4 or 5am and help my mom get the stuffing ready and get the turkey in the oven. It is not Thankgiving without the smell of butter, celery, and green onions cooking! My turkey was 28#'s and it went in the oven at 6am. Can you believe that stinking bird was ready at 10:30am?!?!?! It cooked at a low 325 degrees and it was still ready in 4.5 hours! I couldn't believe it!!

We got the potatoes going, the brocolli, the rolls, 2 green bean casseroles, the gravy......every hot dish was being cooked. In no time the entire family was there and dinner wa ready! Even though the turkey was ready before we expected we ate on time, and the turkey wasn't dry! I was so worried that it would be, but thanks to the 500#'s of butter in the turkey I was saved!

The day before Thanksgiving I made 2 peanut butter pies, 1 hazelnut chocalate pie, frog eye salad, 1 cherry pie, and a pecan pie. John made his first from scratch apple pie, and it was GOOD GOOD GOOD! We had so many pies!

Even though I missed my family like crazy I was so glad that I had my mom's stuffing. With that I felt like they were there with me. All in all it was good Thanksgiving! Great food, good times.

Cache Valley

2011-09-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW!

John and I have been in Cache Valley for nearly 3 weeks now. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous since we got here. Then again we packed up and moved on a 118 degree day! Anything is better than that.

I have loved it here so far. The people are super friendly and always willing to help you out! The only person I met with an attitude was the postal worker. . . GO FIGURE! The kids have played and played since we got here! Izzy will crawl into bed and sleep 12 hours straight since she played so hard the day before. In fact it's 9:30am and she just crawled out of bed. Yesterday she got on a power wheels 4 wheeler and rode on that thing all day! Up and down the side street. It made my heart sing seeing her with her big ole pink boots on, her dirty shirt with dirt smeared from one ear to the other racing down the street at a comfortable 2 mph, just laughing and smiling!

I have been soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo busy! Don't get me wrong the house we are in is perfect for us, but it just needs some TLC. I have painted, pulled baseboards, killed spiders, and tomorrow we are getting new carpet! The carpet that is in it now stinks like cat spray when it gets wet. I'm not sure if it's the glue on the floor or actual cat urine, but either way it's got to go.

The furnace leaked at the end of last winter and got the wall wet. Over the summer it molded. Last weekend Vaughn tore it out and today we are tape and texturing the remainder of it. Hopefully tomorrow or Sunday I can start painting the living room so i can get some decorations up on the wall.

Yesterday was my sisters birthday and we all called to sing her a happy birthday on speaker phone. I really got teary eyed hearing my nephews in the back ground, and Wayne talking to me about the 'crazy' weather! I am loving it here, but I miss my family. I'm excited to visit them. I'm thinking it will be January after Charlee has her baby so I can meet my nephew and visit at the same time.

San Diego 2011 Part 1

2011-08-13T22:16:00.001-07:00

John and I have been planning our San Diego vacation for quite some time now. We were really excited to take the kids to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wildlife Safari Park. We planned the trip where we were going be gone on my birthday. I really wanted to go whale watching. I looked into it, and researched which place would give us the best deal for our money.

I found a place out of Newport Beach, CA called Davie’s Locker that charged a fair amount for our little excursion. The kids were able to go, and it was only $30.00 a person for a 2.5 hour tour.

I loved every minute of it! We saw a pod of dolphins, Fin Whales, and the largest mammal on earth, The Blue Whale! A blue whale has veins that are so large that a full grown adult can swim through them! Their heart is size of a small car! Their tails weigh as much as a full grown elephant! They measure over 30 meters long! These animals are BEASTS, and we saw 3 of them! A momma and her cub, and another adult that was swimming with them.

It was a neat experience!

Momma and Izzy watching the dolphins

A fantastic pic of the dolphins!

A Fin Whale!

The baby Blue Whale!

Momma Blue Whale

A Pelican picking on the whales!

A group of Sea Lions

It was such a great experience that I am thankful I was able to have and to give my children! Isabelle loves animals and since we have gotten him all she does is play with her whale and animal book. She points and shouts WHALE! MOMMA WHALE until I acknowledge the whale and ooooo and ahhhhhh over it! More pictures and stories to come!

The Golden Year

2011-08-07T20:51:00.001-07:00

When I was 13 years old I had a friend namd Jason Hicks are he talked and talked about turning the golden year. I thought the golden year was 50 or 60, but he corrected me. The golden year is the year you turn the same age as the day you were born on. Jason was turning his golden year at 14, and now 14 years later I have reached my golden year at age 28! I have no idea what is so special about it, but I still remember the converation with Jason like it was yesterday, and I have finally reached my golden year- this should not be confused with the golden years which is still a ways off for me.

I enjoyed my birthday very much this year! It started out with me joking about having a marathon birthday! Starting at midnight and partying 24 hours! I was totally joking, but Little Isabelle took it seriously! It was the first night we slept in a hotel on our vacation and she thought it was time to party! She refused to sleep. Up and down, up and down, up and down allllllllll night! At 3:30am I took her and strapped the little fart in her car seat and sat in the front seat. The next thing I knew it was 6am and she was sawing some zee's in her car seat. I took her out and went back into the hotel room. She looked at me and said "I sorry momma!" She slept another hour after that the marathon birthday began!

We picked John's sister Tanya up at LAX and headed to Newport Beach to go whale watching! We all get motion sickness so we were all hopped up on bonine and a prayer that we wouldn't giving the sharks any chum on our journey! It was quite an amazing trip! We saw Fin Whales, Blue Whales (the largest of the the whales), a pod of dolphins about 40 in size and also a bunch of Sea Lions! We were about 20 miles off shore and it was a beautiful perfect day! I am proud to report that none of us donated any chum!

It was a fantastic birthday! I couldn't have asked for a better day!

Bear Rock

2011-07-18T19:03:00.001-07:00

As a kid I always looked forward to seeing Bear Rock on our many trips to the Valley. We knew that once we saw Bear Rock we were almost to the Valley It was always one of my favorite things to see, except if we drove down at night then the city lights were my favorite part. Anyways, Bear Rock has been around FOREVER! I am almost 28, and it has been a landmark since before I could remember. Every trip we would come down out of the winding mountains of the BeeLine and there he sat in all his glory. If it was around the holidays he proudly wore a red velvet bow around his neck. Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving he always had some sort of bow on to match the season.

John and I drove up to Payson a few weeks ago to go and pick out our puppy and on the way home I had Isabelle all pumped up to see Bear Rock. John slowed down as we approached and right when I said "There's Bear Rock, Izzy LoooooooooooooWhere did Bear Rock Go, John? Did you see it? Did we pass it? "

Bear Rock is gone. Missing. Torn Down. Vaporized. I was so sad. I have no idea what happened to bear, but I'm assuming that when they finished the last of the construction on the Ol' 87 that they didn't care what landmarks they knocked down. Don't worry if you get a flat close to where Bear Rock was you can stop on the shoulder, but you won't have Bear Rock to look at. You will just have to make due with Sugar Loaf Mountain. Even with a shoulder I wouldn't be stopping on that shoulder.

So long Bear Rock. Thank you for the fun time trip after trip after trip, you were such a fun rock! You will always be remembered.

Izzy caught dancing

2011-07-10T12:48:00.001-07:00

Isabelle loves to dance, but she is so easily embarrassed that it's hard to catch her in the act, let alone catching her on video! I love this little girl so much!

Watch "Isabelle dancing" on YouTube

I stuck!

2011-07-08T19:30:00.001-07:00

The other day I was folding laundry and Izzy was playing on my bed while I did my chores. After I was done folding the clothes I left my room to put them up. I was only gone for a minute and as I was walking back into my room I heard

"Momma..... MOM-MMA? Help? Help, Momma, I stuck!"

I walked into the room to find this

Smoking!

2011-07-06T15:32:00.001-07:00

This years 4th was fun. We didn't go to Heber this year, or get out of the heat, but it was still a fun holiday. On Saturday we decided to smoke the 25lb pork shoulder and have the family for dinner to celebrate the 4th. John was up at 4:30, and had the pork in his new smoker by 5am. He was up ad down every 20 minutes checking the temperature on the smoker. By noon he had an understanding on how to control the heat in the smoker and instead of every 20 minutes he was up every 40 minutes or so to add more wood, and charcol.

Saturday was so hot! The theometer here at the houe was reading 117! The family was supposed to be here at 5 for the bbq, and at 4 O'clock I looked at the thermostat and it wa reading 78 in the house, and John had set to 75 since he was running in and out all day. I reset everything, and turned the AC back on, but the temp was not dropping, instead of was getting hotter! We called stopped the family from driving out. We decided to pack up and go to Crystal's for the night. When we left it was 83 in the house.

The pork was fabulous! It was perfectly smokey, and tender! John did a wonderful with it! I felt bad that it was such a hot process! Hot inside and out, all day! That makes for a long day!

Our landlord got the air fixed Sunday morning. I was grateful that Crystal and Spencer had a place for us sleep and that we didn't have to go find a hotel for the night!

Hunger Games

2011-07-02T10:34:00.001-07:00

Yes, I've been trying to lose weight but I'm not talking about those Hunger Games. I'm talking about the book series. I red the whole three book series in a weeks time when I was trying to get Nolan used to his own room, in his crib. He cried and and cried, and only wanted to sleep in my arms. I let him cry for 30 minutes then picked him up and got him to sleep, then laid him down. He slept 30 minutes then woke up. It was one heck of a week. He did this unitl 3am then slept from 3-6 with no problems. Instead of sleeping for 30 minutes stints I just read until 3 ( when I wasn't helping Nolan).

Anyways. . . the books. . . they were good, but not great.

On a different note Nolan is now sleeping through the night! I hope saying doesn't jinx me!

Tablet posting

2011-07-01T21:13:00.001-07:00

Back in May John really wanted to get me a tablet for mothers day. I read books, and play games on my phone such a wordfued, or solitare. I face book from my phone. I keep my pictures on my laptop, and I hated having a huge laptop plugged in all the time. The kids get into it, and I'm always playing referee to keep the thing plugged in, and Nolan out of the cords. Any ways, he searched and searched for the perfect tablet for me. He came home and showed me endless youtube videos of different tablets. In my experiences I have learned to just take his advice regarding phones, computers, tablets, ect. The last time I chose my own device was in Novemeber when we got new phones. I'm constantly trying to convience him to switch phones with me. I've even tried my womanly wiles on him and it didn't work!

So John worked massive amounts of overtime, and I wasn't allowed to dedicate the money to ther places because this is what he really wanted to get me. The week the tablet launched it's sells in the US it never hit the stores. It sold out in internet pre-order sells. John worried and worried about it. It was sold out all over the US. One Tuesday morning John came running into the living room saying " the Fry's Electronics in San Diego has one! If it's okay with you I want to go get it. If we don't get it know they wont have any until mid-July!" An hour later we were on the road to San Diego! I was uneasy spending money on a trip and a tablet, but John insisted.

John is a not so good gift giver..... not so good at all. All I can say is slap chop.... anyways he feels horrible that gift giving isn't a thing he is good at so he really wanted this to make up for the 4 years of having to give my mom and sister money to pick up Christams and birthday's for me. (Poor guy!) I let him do it and he is so happy that he got me something that I love!

This tablet is AWESSOME! It's an Asus EEE Pad Transformer. . .now the really cool thing about it is that is cabable of connecting to a keyboard becoming an touch-screen-netbook! We couldn't afford the keyboard in May, but John surprised me with it today! I am sitting here blogging from my new tablet and keboard! I have the best husband in the world! I still can think of 10 million other places the money could have gone, but no use worrying over spilled milk....

Eh

2011-06-28T18:24:00.001-07:00

Things have been super busy lately! I can hardly believe that it’s already the fourth of July already! Nolan started crawling! He is into everything and goes everywhere! It’s different than it was with Izzy because she was interested in what she wanted to do. Nolan, he basically goes to where ever Isabelle is at! They play and play! I LOVE IT! This is why I had two children! I couldn’t imagine only ever having one!

John has been working on developing a new game for Andriod, It’s looking really cool so far! He is learning all of the code as he goes. I’m proud of him for having an idea and following through with it. He works so hard to provide for our family!

Fathers day was fun. I got John a smoker and a huge pork butt for Fathers Day! He needs to get on it and smoke us some yummy pork!

Summer

2011-06-14T17:14:00.001-07:00

These last few weeks have really flown by! I can not believe that it is nearly the 4th of July again! Nolan is starting to crawl and he says so many things in his baby babble. Right now he growls and says Ga Ga Ga Ga. His growls are so cute! He loves to give kisses too! He grabs your ears and pulls you cheek towards him to give you the biggest, wettest kisses ever! I love it!

Isabelle is starting to use her words so much now! She is saying Hungry, eat, let go, get me out, down, ease (please), oh man, poop, pee, dad, momma, bottle, toy and my favorites are BUSTED and FERB! She loves Phenious and Ferb! She has picked up a few words from that show! She is learning so much at such a fast pace! I love how much she so changing! She still isn’t ready to potty train, but very,very soon!

4 years

2011-05-06T18:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday John, and I celebrated our 4th anniversary together. It was a very pleasant day. I spent the day cleaning the house, shopping for a gift for John, going to my nephews kindergarten graduation, ice cream with my mom and sister, then dinner at the Olive Garden with John. It was a really good day.

I cannot believe that we have been married for 4 years. It feels more like three! I am so thankful for John, and everything that he does for our family. He works day in and day out to provide for us. In this day and age it is not very common to see one income families, but John works so hard to make it possible for me to be able to stay home with my children! I do everything possible to help cut the bills down, and save money. Together we work well as a team!

I am so thankful for all the sacrifices that John has made to give us children, to make a family. I don’t know many families that have fertility issues, that have been able to have 2 children in 4 years of marriage! I feel so blessed everyday for my children. They, and John are my world.

John, I just want to let you know that I love you, and I am thankful for everything you do to for us. I love you!

(Can’t find a wedding picture, will post later)

Best two kids in the world!

2011-04-29T11:49:00.001-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that I have the best two kids in the world? Isabelle the sweetest little girl I know! She loves to sing and dance. She loves to play, and color, and she also loves to drive me up the walls by pushing her limits.

Nolan is changing so much! I can’t believe that he is 6 months old already! His little personality is starting to come out, and I love it! He loves kisses, and hugs. His little thighs are ticklish! As is his neck and cheeks! He is starting to roll over all the time! He hates being on his belly, and gets upset when he rolls over, but it’s funny that he rolls over so fast then gets mad!

This is Izzy sitting under the bar playing with all of her toys!

Easter 2011

2011-04-27T21:05:00.001-07:00

I have discovered that I am a better blogger when my laptop is left on the kitchen counter and the camera is left on the top of the entertainment center! When everything is all put away they tend to stay put away.

This Easter was fun for me. The Easter bunny loved that he needed to bring two Easter baskets! The Saturday before Easter we got together and loaded my sisters families things into a budget truck and helped them prepare for their move to Libby, Montana.

With this being our last Easter together we enjoyed one last round of our Easter tradition of dying eggs. I love that each of the kids get a dozen or more eggs, and they can dye their eggs until their hearts content. It is so much fun to see them get so excited! It is cheap entertainment for everyone!

Last year Izzy was so clueless as to what to do! She wanted to drink the dye instead of putting her egg inside of it! This year it was completely different! This year she even wanted to dye her pants, shoes, legs, hands, and Crystal’s kitchen floor!

The next morning the Easter Bunny made his visit to our house. We woke up Izzy and she came running out of her room and was so excited to see the baskets that the Easter Bunny had left her, and Nolan. However, it was difficult for her to understand that ONE basket was for HER, and the OTHER was for NOLAN! It was interesting watching her itching to get into his basket!

Izzy loved her basket! She loves magma-doodles and the Easter Bunny decided to bring her a small one that is easier to tot around and fit in the car. John calls it her tablet! I think that’s funny since he’s such a techy-electronic guy that she has a tablet instead of a mini-magma-doodle!

Nolan and his Easter Basket!

Nolan loves his bendable bunnies! They have actually made wonderful teething rings for him!

I needed to post a picture of Isabelle’s morning hair! I love this little girl to pieces and I love her morning hair! She’s going to love it when she’s older!

I am so thankful that I was able to spend Easter with my loving husband who works so hard for us day in and day out. I am also thankful that I have two of the most beautiful, children in the world. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for allowing me to be their mother. I know that our Savior died for me, and that He lives today. I am so thankful for the atonement, and that it enables me to repent of my sins so that I can return to Him one day.

Happy Easter!

So much fun

2011-04-17T21:23:00.001-07:00

Tonight we had Shannon and Jeremy over for dinner. Shannon and I have been friends for 10 years, and we enjoying getting together and letting the kids play while we talk and catch up. Tonight while us adults were talking in the living room the girls decided to get into the water in the back yard. They had so much fun playing in the water! They had been playing in it for a few minutes before we heard the the laughter and giggles coming from the outside. We walked out there to see the two girls SOAKING wet, and just looking at us like ‘Uh Oh! Busted!’

This is Stacy. She is such a precious little girl. She is 4 months older than Izzy, and they make great partners in crime!

These two girls had such a blast tonight! After they were both changed into dry clothes and the back yard was off limits , they both grabbed a coloring book, and some sidewalk chalk. They refused a crayon, but I thought it was hilarious that they were content on using sidewalk chalk.

Oh…and he is just a CUTIE! Love this little boy!

Izzy’s 2nd birthday (already)

2011-04-15T12:52:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe that my little girl is two years old already! I have no idea where the time has gone to! I had her and the next thing I knew it was her first birthday, and even faster than that her 2nd birthday has come and gone! Before I know it I’m going to be sending her off to college!

She had a great day! We LOVE birthday’s in our family, and so we make each one as special as we can! We have come to realize that each year you get to spend with the people you love is a blessing.

John and I woke up on her birthday at 4am to a sick dog that had pooped all over the house. We clean and I shampooed the carpets, and before we knew it we had breakfast made, and it was 6am.

We decided we couldn’t wait any longer to surprise her so we went and woke her up to a bunch of balloons! She wasn’t happy at all!

After we sang to her and she realized what was happening she was super excited!

She didn’t want to let them go. She ate with them, and took them with her everywhere she went!

This is the self portrait she took!

She even got a special ‘Birthday Girl’ shirt that she wore all day!

When it came time to blow out her candles she was more worried about getting a handful of icing to taste than to blow out her candles! It was so funny! John wound up ‘helping’ her blow them out!

This is all of her birthday presents from everyone! She made out like a bandit! She has played and played, and played with all of her toys! The blanket in the picture is the baby blanket that I was making her when Sage died. All I had to do was finish a few ties, and bind it. It sat on the frames for over a year and half before I could finish tying it. It was another 6 months before I could bring myself to bind it. The night before her birthday I finished it. I decided that she is old enough to have it now. A blanket made from mom.

She didn’t want her picture taken because she wanted to play! We let her stay up till almost 10pm playing! She was so tired!

This is right before we put her to sleep!

She had such a great birthday! I am so blessed to have this little girl in my life, and that I get to be her Momma! I love you, Izzy!

The thing is

2011-04-10T14:32:00.001-07:00

It has been 6 months since my dad walked out on my mom. I can’t believe that it has been 6 months since I have spoken to him face to face. I have only spoken to him once on the phone in that time, and it only ended in screaming match between him and I. It is pointless to try and speak with him because in his opinion he isn’t doing anything wrong.

Forget the fact that he is still committing adultery because they haven’t received the divorce decree in the mail yet. Even then sex outside of marriage is still wrong.

I haven’t said anything about this whole deal… publically that is. I am so flip’n mad at him! I mean mad to the point that when I sit and think about everything that has happened over the past 10 years I can’t come up with anything constructive to say other than &%*%^$^&$$%, &%&*%^)(&*@ and @#*&*(@^#^!

His antics render me speechless! My thoughts when he left was “Good, it’s not like he was taking care of Mom anyways.” I even thought “Finally no more of his crap. We carried our “Madame Zeroni” up the hill.”

Mom, is doing great. She is happy. She laughs. She smiles. She is losing weight. She looks 10 years younger. She is going to school. Mom, is turning back into ‘Mom’. She is no longer the broken person he turned her into. She is gonig to church, enduring to the end. She is so faithful, and tries everyday to have faith in the Lord that He knows what is best. Let thy will be done. She is such a wonderful example, and I love her for showing me how to be during times like these. So I was right about my first thought that this is a good thing for Mom.

However, on my second thought… I’m beginning to think that instead of carrying ‘Madame Zeroni” up the hill we needed to push her off the cliff! Ha! The joke is on us! He is more of drama queen than all 4 of his daughters combined!

He has a river of drama that just follows him everywhere he goes! This is where I get mad again! He can’t leave well enough alone. He is constantly opening old wounds and digging at them.

He lied- I forgave

He cheated- I forgave

He stole- I forgave

He lied again- I forgave

He used me- I forgave

He abandoned his family long before leaving- I forgave

Now each time he lies, cheats, steals, uses and hurts one of my family members it is getting harder to forgive him.

The Lord teaches us that we should forgive because forgiveness enables us to move forward in our own healing, and without it we can not progress.

Again I’m mad because we aren’t just talking about one act that needs forgiving, but because he feels the need to drag all of us down all the time I am finding that he needs to be forgiven everyday.

Have you ever tried to forgive someone when they are constantly doing the thing that you are trying to forgive them for? Have you ever tried to pray for someone when you’re angry with them? It is nearly impossible to pray with anger in your heart.

So I’m stuck. I forgive him for what he’s done. However, I’m done. I cannot continue having you drag me down. is that wrong that I am done with my dad?

It’s like my sister said on her blog “I forgive him, I’ve let it go, but the damage is done.” He has said and done things to Crystal that are unbelievable, and absurd. Things that should have never, ever been spoken to anyone that has ever suffered a loss as great as hers. Losing a child is hard enough, but telling her to get over it, and to stop living in the grave yard is horrible! What he has said cannot be un-said, or taken back…The damage is done.

I love my dad, but I do not love the man who stands before us today. That man, well, that man is not my dad. The dad I love is the man who drove with me through the night to Salt Lake City so we could make the 9am session of Saturday Morning Conference. He is the man that stood in the announcers stand at the house and told me no matter what mistakes I made he would always love me. He is the man that stood in the hospital emergency room and gave me blessing after I totaled my car and nearly killed myself and a friend in the process (not my fault btw). That’s the dad I remember. Though there are many memories in between all those that aren’t all that great at least I knew that he was trying to live the gospel. He was a worthy priesthood holder.

You see the thing is I’m done. I’m done getting hurt, and then having to find a new way to forgive. I’m done getting burned because I want to dance with fire, even if in this case fire is my dad.

Anyways if you made it all the way to this point I’m sorry for rambling. I just needed someway to vent because even when I talk about it with John, I never seem to fully express how I feel.

Family Pictures 2011

2011-04-09T21:58:00.001-07:00

Last year I was a few weeks pregnant with Nolan when we got our family pictures done. I felt like it was a tad waste of money since I knew that our family was going to be changing only a months from that point, but I really wanted to document what our family was like with just one baby. This year I was so excited that we had two children in our family pictures. It is such a blessing to see our family growing and changing. I feel so blessed to have these little people in our family. They bless our home in so many way! That’s not to say that they are perfect all the time, but I will take the bad to get the good. The good makes everything worth it.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE PICTURES ARE COPYRIGHTED!!! If you want copies please contact Kim Skinner through her blog at kimskinnerphotography.blogspot.com

Yappers!

2011-04-06T16:04:00.001-07:00

Moving here to this house made me realize just how great of a dog John and I have. Molly listens to us. She doesn’t bark, she doesn’t make huge messes (on purpose). She is great with the kids. Izzy lays and pulls on her, and she just lets her. She even lets Nolan touch her and that winds up in him poking her in the eye(s).

One of John’s favorite past times is hockey. He loves to go out in the back yard and hit a tennis ball with a hockey stick for Molly. She loves it! Anyhow when we moved the neighbors that are caddy-corner to our back yard have these 3 annoying dogs! They bark all the time! They bark just to bark. Every time we are out back, or if Molly is out there going potty they bark, and bark and bark. One night while John was playing hockey with Molly the three yappers were at it again so John hit a little rock with the hockey stick in their general direction. The odds of it going it through our fence then through theirs, then hitting one of them is one in a million. However, that night John got pretty close to accomplishing pegging the dog. It wound up hitting a pole on their fence. The owner of the yappers happened to be out there, and she heard the rock hit the fence. Needless to say she was PIS*** off! She didn’t say anything, but she still hasn’t done anything to stop her dogs from yapping at everything!

This is Izzy and Molly hanging out in the back yard. Izzy loves to walk along the edge of the fence. Up and down, up and down… she reminds me of someone…

A group we like to call family

2011-04-04T12:24:00.001-07:00

When I was growing up I always wondered what each of my siblings would do, or become as we aged. I wondered what their kids would look like, or what their spouses names would be. It always amazes me how each person starts off on the same path and how when we glance at where we are now, how far we have come, and how many twists and turns we have each taken.

Here is the family picture that we just taken the beginning of March. We really wanted to get it done, because the day after Easter Jessica and her husband John are moving to Libby, Montana, and our lives will change yet again. I wish my sister and her husband the best of luck on your new adventures. I love you, and I will miss you, but hopefully we will be joining in a journey to another state soon!

Caught flip footed

2011-04-02T18:59:00.001-07:00

I have talked about how much Izzy mimics me, and does everything that her mom does, but I got a few pictures of it the other day.

The first thing she did was get into my sock drawer, and put on my socks. Then next thing she was did was go into my closet and instead of getting shoes to go with the socks she found my flip flops!

Then she noticed me taking pictures and got embarrassed. Off went the flip flops and she started stammering on about something else.

And then when questioned about the flip flops and socks she seemed really embarrassed….

20 minutes vs 20 seconds

2011-04-01T08:34:00.001-07:00

Every day we go through the same basic routine, so was nothing new to little Miss Isabelle when I asked her to go put her shoes up on the changing table in her room. When I asked her to do that simple task she stood there and looked at me like I had just asked her to show to me how we prove the quadratic equation true. Rather than her just standing there looking sad I got up and helped her pick up the shoes, walked her into her room, and had her put them on the changing table shelf, Where they go every night!

She set them down, with what I have come to know as her attitude, and I could see her eyes roll into her head as they hit the shelf. I let it go, and said “thank you for helping mom.” I proceeded to clean her room. I changed the diaper genie, I picked up the little things I dropped throughout the day, and Isabelle walked over to her dresser. She O P E N E D the drawer ever so S L O W L Y. Then she looked right at me and in the speed of light she ripped every last stitch of folded laundry out of her drawer. Then she proceeded to slam the drawer closed. I just stood there looking for a split second like she asked me to prove the quadratic equation true. Once I jumped back into mom mode, I looked at her standing there with her arms folded looking at me with this “What are you going to do about it” look. I said ‘Oh I don’t think so Girly. That was ugly, pick ‘em up.' She wasn’t happy that I made her pick them up, but she did. In turn it took her 20 minutes to do the 20 second job of putting her shoes up!

PS: Misty commented about how much nicer I am than her because she would have added putting her nose in the corner to the punishment of picking them up. I forgot to add that little tidbit of information, but after she picked them up she spent a minute in the corner. A minute doesn’t seem that long, but it is sufficient for her to understand that it’s a punishment. In two weeks though it will go up to two minutes because she will be 2 years old! One minute for every year of age.

Not a very good girl

2011-03-30T13:13:00.001-07:00

When I was growing up I HATED things like getting my hair done, wearing a dress of any type, or doing anything girly in nature. My sisters were in dance class, and clogging while I rode steers and BMX bikes. They wore make-up while I wore a Phoenix Suns t-shirt and a cast of some sorts.

I never, ever, talked about boys or even let on to the fact that I ever had a crush on any of them. That wasn’t because I didn’t have crushes on them, but rather because of the relentless tormenting my father would have given me over it. I hated being teased, and I wasn’t about to be teased over ‘liking’ a boy. Instead I safely harbored those feelings and day dreamed without announcing it to my dad.

The point I am getting at is that I wasn’t a very good girl. I was a tomboy in every shape and form. It wasn’t until I was almost 21 that I started wearing make-up regularly, doing my hair, and it wasn’t until 22 that I wore something other than jeans. I ventured out and wore a pair of Capri's, and I even bought my first pair of flip flops.

So here I am 27, married with two beautiful children. A bouncing baby boy, and a beautiful, charming little girl. A little girl that looks to me for everything, and it terrifies me to all ends of the Earth! How am I SUPPOSED to teach this little one to be a good girl, when I wasn’t one myself?

I guess it’s going to a learning curve for both of us, because suddenly I find myself playing Barbie’s with her, and having her comb my hair, and doing everything girly under the sun. I hope and pray I can teach her everything she needs to know about being a girl, (and if she wants to race BMX bikes that would be cool too).

Kramer

2011-03-27T12:54:00.001-07:00

When Nolan was born he was born with a full head of hair! I love having babies with so much hair that you are contemplating giving them their first hair cut when they are a week old. I have known that he needs a hair cut for quite some time, but there is a place inside me that makes me absolutely terrified to cut my sons hair. It’s stupid I know. It’s a hair cut, right?

3 weeks before Sage past away we were giving Crystal a hard time over Sage’s hair. it was long, and stuck straight up, and it was the most adorable thing I had ever seen on a little boy. Crystal decided to take the clippers to him, and in that instant he transformed from an infant to a little man, and he was still the most adorable thing ever!

I remember rubbing his head and feeling the spikes of his buzzed head and laughing at him because he thought it was the funniest thing to have his head rubbed. I think he liked the feeling too that his new buzzed hair gave him.

Fast forward two years, and I am looking at my son that has nearly the same long hair that sticks straight up. He needed a hair cut. I know it’s stupid, but I associated one of the last things that Sage had done on this earth was getting his first hair cut, ergo I didn’t want to give Nolan his first hair cut either.

Well the other night we went to Auto Zone to get a few parts for John’s car, and when we walked into the store the guy behind the counter said “Hello Kramer”. I looked at him, and kept walking thinking to myself ‘who’s Kramer?’ Five minutes later, I looked at Nolan and it dawned on me that he was talking about Nolan. Nolan’s hair was sticking straight up like Kramer’s always did on Seinfeld. I always thought how stupid he looked, and I decided then that I needed to take the plunge and cut his hair. (Even if I still thought Nolan’s hair was adorable, and I didn’t associate it with Kramer)

BEFORE:

He was very interested in what I was doing. I didn’t want to buzz it all short because I love his hair. I tried taking the clippers to it, but it was so thin and whispy that they didn’t cut anything. I finally ended up giving him my first scissor hair cut. I have never given a hair cut with only a pair of scissors.

AFTER:

I think it turned out really cute! Here are more pictures today after his bath, and with gel in it! SO HANDSOME!

When did this happen?

2011-03-26T10:36:00.001-07:00

The other day I was driving to blockbuster to return some movies.It was a rare day because John was home with TWO sleeping babies, and I was all by myself. I had some Lady Gaga playing (instead of Cat In The Hat). I had the windows down, and the sun roof open. I was in an area of our neighborhood where there are two parks, one on either side of the street. When out of no where a kid jumps up, darts into the road carrying a pistol in his hand. I slam on my brakes, and see another kid pop up from behind an embankment, with a pistol in his hand as well. This boy proceeded to shoot the first boy that ran across the road. The first boy hits the grass and rolls down the hill after being shot in the back. I was having a mini-heart attack in the car not knowing what I had just seen. In a brief instant the boy who shot the other boy runs by me, and at that I point I see IT, IT hits me like a sand bag! The boys were wearing colored socks wrapped around their head, they had toy guns, and they were playing Cowboys, and Indians! A game I’m sure my siblings and I invented! I see from the other side of the park two more boys with NERF bows and arrows awaiting the ambush from the approaching cowboys!

WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? When did I get so old that I forgot that game existed? When did I get to the point where my first reaction was that I had just witnessed one 10 year old killing another 10 year old?

The boys waved then laughed historically because they knew they scared the tar out of me!

I think that living in the valley for over nearly 20 years has made me forget that kids play, and not every kid is going to pull out a gun and shot his buddy.

My shadow

2011-03-23T09:21:00.001-07:00

Isabelle’s newest love is ‘helping’ mom. She loves to help me clean, do dishes, pull weeds, change diapers, and do laundry. She is such a fun little girl. My personality is one of I want things done right, so I will do it myself rather than asking John to do it, or sit and struggle while it’s being done wrong (rather not the way I would have done it). This only pertains to my home, I don’t know why it is like that, but it can drive John up the wall at times, and myself cause there are times I wish I could just sit back and let things go. With that being said having a little ‘helper’ is very hard for me because I know that things are taking extra long to accomplish,and things aren’t getting done exactly as I want them to. She is probably the best thing that I could have to help with this little OCD (don’t even know if it’s OCD) problem that I have.

I love having her run around with a dust rag, and cleaning gloves on! She is my shadow that is for sure! She loves helping mom!

This past week I also realized that every bad habit that she is learning she is learning from me! Take for instance getting a kitchen chair and standing at the sink trying to wash dishes. On Saturday John bathed her, but her hair dried before I could do it, so I grabbed a chair, put her on it and ran the water at the sink to do it. Now she does EXACTLY what I did! I got a chair to stand up on and dust the pictures. . . now Izzy knows that a chair= EXTRA HEIGHTH! She has grown 3 feet because of me!

She learned that diapers go in the diaper genie, but no one told her that only used dirty diapers go in the genie. . . explains where some of the missing diapers have gone to!

At least last night while doing the dishes with her, I realized where she is learning these things, and I DIDN’T teach her that we have a garbage disposal! That could be a very dangerous thing to accidently teach her! All of these things she has just learned from observation! She is such a fast learner, so be careful!

I LOVE MY SHADOW!!!!!!

Catch-up

2011-03-14T14:13:00.001-07:00

Things have been busy around here. Back in June John and decided that Arizona isn’t the place where we want to live for the rest of our live, especially in Coolidge, AZ. We decided that it was best for us to put our house up for sale and take the credit hit now so that we can start saving again for another home where we want to buried under our old oak tree.

So in between now and finding that place we are renting a house in San Tan Valley. We love the new house. We are saving a ton of money living here rather than in Coolidge.

Nolan is getting SO big. He has a personality 180 degrees from Isabelle. I am so in love with my two kiddos. Izzy loves holding her brother, and rubbing his head. She is very protective over him, but heaven forbid that his hand or foot touches her magma-doodle when she’s using it. It makes me laugh because she didn’t learn that from anyone. She found that one all her own. She does share with him though. She is always giving him cookies when I’m not looking. She is constantly giving him blankets, and toys; However if she wants the toy she gave him she will take it back in the blink of an eye. I have caught her a few times even trading socks with him because she didn’t want the heart printed socks, she wanted the socks with dogs on them. It cracks me up. Nolan takes everything in stride (he has no idea). One day I’m sure he’ll fight back when she snatches the socks off of his feet!

Since we moved we have been sick! We have had colds, and strep throat, then runny noses for a few weeks accompanied by fevers. Then for a 2 day span we were all healthy, then Izzy started vomiting, and Nolan got RSV. It has been 2 weeks since the RSV and the flu, and today we are back to Izzy having a runny nose and a low grade fever. I can not wait to have my family fever, runny nose, and congestion free!

Going pretty good

2011-02-04T13:41:00.001-08:00

I have been weight watchers for 2 full weeks now. I have done pretty well with all things taken into consideration. The first week, I lost 3.6lbs. Last Saturday John and I went out on a date and I objected to eating Chinese food because it always made me gain weight. John REALLY wanted it, so I caved.

The next day I weighed myself, and WHAM sure enough I gained 3.6 lbs. My first entire week worth of losing weight gone…. vanished, all in a cup of rice, 2 egg rolls and a cup of orange beef. :/.

I was so mad…. I objected to Chinese food trying to avoid the very thing that happened! Anyways, this week I worked hard. I Lost my 3.6 lbs of CHENS, and an additional 1.2lbs! WHOO HOO! So like I said, it’s pretty good with all things taken into consideration.

I said the “F” word!

2011-01-26T12:31:00.001-08:00

That’s right I said the horrible, shouldn’t be said because it’s politically incorrect, “F” word. Not only did I say it, but I said it to myself! That’s right, I said the word FAT!

On my last post I publically admitted that I am fat. It’s not a lie, but I guess you can call it something other than it is: Over weight, mildly obese, pudgy, chunky, big boned….. the list could go on and on!

My first week on weight watchers has gone really well. I am down weight, but I will officially weigh in tomorrow morning to see what this weeks results are. I am looking at the ‘numbers’, but they are 3rd on the list of important things. My weight matters, but getting up and moving is first!

Last year I bought a bike and a bike trailer. . . I never got a chance to use it because I got pregnant right away, and i wasn’t about to ‘crash’ and loose the baby, so I didn’t ride it. Now a year later, I have a brand new bike and trailer!

It’s the best thing ever! I won’t name names, but we have decided to start riding our bikes two miles a day! It’s a blast pulling the kids behind me, and taking our daily ride!

We also bought John a pair of street hockey inline skates and he goes with us. He is not a big fan of biking, but he loves his roller blades! He played hockey in high school, and is surprisingly graceful on skates!

John and I have to potential to be really big married people together, or we have the potential to be healthy fit married people, we just have to be on the fat/ thin track at the same time! I prefer the thin track!

John is a interesting character. He can gain and lose 40lbs like it’s nothing. Me, I have to work hard, to lose 40 lbs, and I have to work hard to gain 40 lbs to. I don’t know how guys mentally do it gaining and losing large amounts of weight in a month then gaining it back without crying!

Anyways, I am so happy that John is doing this with me! The more support while losing the better! Well I’ll keep you posted. Right now I need to get things done around the house!

Yeah, I’m fat so….

2011-01-24T11:39:00.001-08:00

I joined Weight Watchers this last week. I have been wanting to get my ‘Isabelle’ weight off since I had her, but wanting something and doing something about it are two totally completely different things! I full out admit that I wasn’t all that motivated to get it off because I knew that John and were planning on having another baby soon, and I thought “Why bother, I’m just going to get pregnant again and gain it all back.”

I did get pregnant soon after Isabelle and I learned that during pregnancy that you DON’T have to gain 60lbs! I only gained 25lbs with Nolan, and I have 20 of it off before I left the hospital! I have since lost the extra five pounds I gained with him, and I am now working on losing my ‘Isabelle” weight.

Many of you probably don’t know this, but I am a lifetime member of Weight Watchers already, so I know it works! I lost 70 lbs that I gained after high school while managing Papa Kelsey’s, a totally delicious pizza joint in Mesa! It took me 14 months, but I kept it off for 5 years…. then along came baby!

I’m totally psyched! I am now ready to lose this weight and take with me when pregnancy #3 starts that you do not have to gain everything back just because you’re pregnant!

Nolan Michael

2010-12-13T13:48:00.001-08:00

So sweet!

So Small

So precious

So loved!

Isa“Belle”

2010-12-06T11:02:00.001-08:00

I had a few spare minutes yesterday and I was able to download the 1400+ pictures that I had on my camera. Since the beginning of October I sort have lost the urge to blog. There has been a lot of debating back and forth of whether or not I wanted to have parts of my life publicly posted. I thought about going private, and as you can see I haven’t done that yet. We’ll see if that is something that will change in the future.

Nolan is growing so fast, and changing everyday! I love my son! I love having two kids, and especially one of each sex! Izzy is so protective of Nolan, and loves her little brother so very much! She is constantly making sure he has a blanket, even if it is a towel, rag, shirt, sock, anything that can act as a blanket. She is always trying to give him kisses, and hugs, which scares me because she leans on me to give him kisses and hugs, and she just doesn't know her own strength. I am always worried she is going to squash him. It is so adorable though!

When Beauty and the Beast came out on Blue Ray we bought it and Isabelle loves it! She watches it over and over again. The day before I went into labor we were walking Arizona Mills Mall to help labor come, and John walked off with Izzy into the Disney store. He was so proud that he found the perfect costume for Isa”Belle” to wear for Halloween!

Isa“Belle”

She played Belle so well, and won a prize at the Trunk or Treat for our ward!

Introducing our newest addition

2010-10-28T16:08:00.001-07:00

On October 22, 2010 at 10:03 am, we welcomed our son into this world. I went into labor with him at 10 pm the night before, and by 1 am my contractions were 1 minute apart, and when we got to the hospital at 2am I was dilated to a 6! I was shocked that I was a 6. I was actually worried that I was going to be sent home!

I will post more of the details later, but please welcome the newest member of our family. . .

Nolan Michael Griggs

8lbs 2oz, 21 inches long

HCG

2010-10-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

In the middle of May John came to me to discuss a weight loss treatment that our doctor had talked to him about. The treatment they had talked about was the HCG diet. It wan't a new thing for us, as we had known quite a few people that had done the diet and been successful on it. We decided that the $350.00 for his first round was an investment we were going to make, and on June 1st we started his first session.

We decided that he needed the accountability pf an outside source besides me, and also we wanted to make sure he was losing in a safe manner, so we decided that we would do the doctor supervised program. It was more expensive, but the peace of mind was good.

On June 1, 2010 John started the HCG. He has finished his second round of the HCG this past week and I am pleased and so happy to say that he lost roughly 100 pounds!!! I can not fully express how excited I am that I have the man i married back. He officially weighs 20lbs less than he did when we got married! All of his pregnancy weight is gone. I can't say that about me, but at least it's gone for him! He will finish off his other rounds of HCG at the start of the new year, as we wanted to have the extra money for our new baby and the holidays.

Thanks for all the support!

Baby Jessy Dunaway

2010-10-03T14:52:00.001-07:00

Last October some friends of mine from high school got married and asked me to do their wedding photos. They liked them so much that when their daughter was born in September they called and asked if I would take some newborn pictures. Here are a few of them. I am not a professional, but I think they turned out cute.

Summer Vacation

2010-09-10T14:59:00.001-07:00

While we were in New Port for Sage’s 5K Memorial Race, we went over to Glacier National Park. I must say it was amazing to see such sights! The views were breath taking!

After we got back to Utah we had a bbq with John’s family. Isabelle loved playing in the yard with her cousins!

On July 24th we went to Bear lake on the Idaho side, and I must say that the kids had so much fun!!

William

Wayne

Wayne was so busy playing this was the best picture we could get of him. We had a fabulous time playing at the lake. It is certainly something I want to do every year!

No I haven’t died, just my computer did

2010-09-09T13:08:00.001-07:00

My laptop died a few months ago, and every time I get on the new desktop Isabelle thinks that means it’s time to cuddle. Okay she only pretends to cuddle for a minute then she wants to play on the computer! Anyways. . .

This summer was full of adventure! We took a 4200 mile road trip to New Port, Washington. Along the way we had many great adventures!

Just an hour or so out of New Port we stopped at a rest stop and discovered these squirrels that were super friendly! The kids had a blast, even the adults were enjoying the playful squirrels!

While we were in Newport we stayed a little Bed and Breakfast. In the back yard there was a tire swing that ALL the kids enjoyed. Isabelle LOVED it too! She cried every time we had to take her off to give the other kids a turn!

I will post more later on, but it’s a start!

Give me whatever advice you have

2010-07-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks and Isabelle has been throwing fits every time she doesn't get something that she feels like she needs to play with.

Take for instance
She doesn't get to play with the remote because she is attracted to the batteries, and feels that she needs to put them in her mouth.
If you go into a room and come out and shut the door a fit will ensue.
What do you do to handle the fit throwing?

I tend to ignore her while she is crying, and let her calm down, but the fits are getting longer. Of course if she is need of something I pick her up and get her what she is looking for whether it's food, a drink, diaper change, or so on.

If she's sitting in her high chair and feels it's time to launch her plate/bowl across the table, what do you do?
She would spit her food out in a purposeful, get all over your face manner and after telling her no for weeks, I finally flicked her in the cheek and she thinks twice before doing it now. However, I can't find anything that work to keep her from throwing her food. I'm ready to pull my hair out with the food throwing.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Boy Oh Boy

2010-06-02T10:47:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since i have updated my blog. My laptop broke, and I have just gotten the chance to install windows live writer on the new computer.

The pregnancy has been going well. I am finally feeling better, and mostly over the ‘morning sickness’ portion of the pregnancy!

Yesterday we had the chance to go in for our ultrasound and see our little baby!

Here is our Little Guy letting us know that he is our first son!

That’s right we are having a BOY!

It was so funny because she set the dopler on my belly and immediately pulled it off and said do you want to know the sex? We said “Absolutely!” She set it back down and never had to move it because there he was! The first thing we saw was that we were having a BOY!

We are so EXCITED! We didn’t care either way if it was a girl or a boy. All we care was that our baby was healthy, and had all of it’s organs, and limbs, and that they were functioning as they should! We are thrilled that everything looked great!'

I can’t wait to meet my little man!

You know you’re from Arizona when. . .

2010-04-27T12:15:00.001-07:00

You notice your car overheating before you drive it.
You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.
You can hear the weather forecast of 115 degrees without flinching.
You can be in the snow, then drive for an hour...and it will be over 100 degrees.
You discover, in July it only takes two fingers to drive your car, because your steering wheel is so hot.
You run your air conditioner in the middle of winter so you can use your fireplace.
The best parking is determined by shade.....not distance.
You realize that "Valley Fever" isn't a disco dance.
You can make sun tea instantly.
Hotter water comes from the cold water tap than the hot one.
It's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation and yet all the streets are totally empty of both cars and people.
You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
Sunscreen is sold year round and kept right at the checkout counter.
You put on fresh sunscreen just to go check the mail box.
Some fools will market mini-misters for joggers and some other fools will actually buy them. Worse.....some fools actually try to jog.
You can pronounce Saguaro, Tempe, San Xavier, Canyon de Chelly, Mogollon Rim, Cholla, Gila and Tucson.
You can understand the reason for a town named "Why"
You can fry an egg on the hood of a car in the morning.
You know hot air balloons can't rise because the air temperature is hotter than the air inside the balloon.
You see two trees fighting over a dog.
You can say "Hohokam" and people don't think you're laughing funny.
You see more irrigation water on the street than there is in the Salt River
You have to go to a fake beach for some fake waves
You hear people say "but it's a dry heat!"
You buy salsa by the gallon.
Your Christmas decorations include sand and l00 paper bags.
You think a red light is merely a suggestion.
All of your out-of-state friends start to visit after October but clear out come the end of April.
You think someone driving wearing oven mitts is clever.
Most of the restaurants in town have the first name "El" or "Los."

You think 60 tons of crushed red rock makes a beautiful yard.
Your house is made of stucco and has a red clay tile roof.
Vehicles with open windows have the right-of-way in the summer.
Most homes have more firearms than people.
Kids ask, "What's a mosquito?"
People who have black cars or black upholstery in their car are automatically assumed to be from out of-state or nuts.
You know better than to get into a car with leather seats if you're wearing shorts.
You can finish a Big Gulp in 10 minutes and go back for seconds.
You take rain dances seriously.
When a rainy day puts you in a good mood.
When you drive two miles around a parking lot looking for a shady place - even in the dead of winter.
You feed your chickens ice cubes to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs.
You "hug" a cactus only once in your lifetime.
When you have to look up "mass transit" in the dictionary.
A hundred ten in the shade is sorta hot, but you don't have to shovel it off your driveway.
A haboob happens.
Petrified doesn't mean scared.
The temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
You've lived in AZ your whole life and have never been to the Grand Canyon
You would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
You can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
You realize that snowbirds aren't really birds at all, but just really bad out of state drivers that you learn to hate
there are only two temperatures, hot and hotter
even thinking about not having air conditioning makes you sweat.

You travel out of state and any sort of humidity nearly kills you.
You have no idea why 48 other states (Hawaii doesn't do it either) insist on changing their clocks twice a year for this thing called "daylight savings time"

Easter 2010

2010-04-21T12:56:00.001-07:00

This Easter was fun for me. I enjoyed seeing Isabelle dying her eggs, and then the next morning seeing how excited she got over her Easter basket.

Graduation Day

2010-04-17T13:08:00.001-07:00

Before John and I got married he was attending Stevens Henegar College in Logan. When we decided that he was going to move here we discovered that Stevens didn’t have a sister school here. We had agreed that John was going to go to school until he graduated during the first years of our marriage. After that I would go back and finish the two years I need for my degree.

We got married in May of 07, and John started at Devry University in July of 07. He worked so hard for 2 1/2 years! He literally only had ONE month of school off during the time he was in school. I can't tell you how hard he worked to get good grades, and push through the tough classes. Classes like Business Law, Accounting, Business Operations. . . and so on.

February 26, 2010 John graduated with a Bachelors degree in Technical Business Management!

I am so proud of John for all of his hard work. He has done such an amazing job of balancing work, school and family. We are so blessed to have such a great husband and father!

He starts at Keller Graduate School in July for his MBA in Information Security! We are so excited about this degree. Congratulations John! I love you!

Isabelle’s 1st Birthday

2010-04-15T13:49:00.001-07:00

Last night Isabelle had her very first birthday party! It was complete with balloons, presents, cake(s), ice cream, and dinner! I knew her first birthday would bring a flood emotions to me. I was so overcome with gratitude. I have been so thankful that we have got to enjoy this year with her. Every night in my prayers I express how thankful I am for this wonderful little girl that the Lord has blessed me with, and I ask and pray that she will continue to bless us with her presence for many more years to come.

Celebrating her birthday was so fun! She certainly enjoyed all of it! She loved the balloons, the presents, and most certainly playing with her cousins!

For months we have wanted to plant a Sisso Tree. On her birthday we went and bought one then planted it. I like planting things on special days, so we can monitor it’s growth and help us remember those special days.

Izzy in front of her tree

Decorations!

She LOVED her balloons!

She also LOVED her presents!

She also LOVED her special cake!

It was so much fun! We enjoyed celebrating this special, special day with our family, and our baby! We love her so much, and look forward to everyday we get to spend with her!

A year already

2010-04-13T09:56:00.001-07:00

Let me first start off by saying that I can not believe that our Little Isabelle is a year old tomorrow! Time has snuck right on by, and now she’s turning one already!

I love being a mom, and I think I have taken to it very well. When we were trying to get pregnant I thought: “Am I trying to get pregnant, and stressing myself out just to wind up being a crappy mom?” That was such a horrible fear of mine. However, I have taken to motherhood rather well.

This last year with my baby has been amazing. I have learned so much. I never knew that it is possible to have your heart walking around. Living and breathing on it’s own. She teaches us so much, everyday!

24 hours before I had Isabelle.

Isabelle is just minutes old.

3 days old

Blessing day

4 months old!

5 months old!

6 months old!

7 months old!

1st trip to the ocean!

1st trip to Disneyland!

Dying her first Easter Eggs!

We are so blessed to have Isabelle in our lives. We love this little girl so much!!!!

I will post her birthday pictures tomorrow! I have to find my card reader!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISABELLE KAY! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Family Pictures

2010-03-26T20:13:00.001-07:00

This is just going to be picture overload. They turned out so adorable! These are copyrighted so please be respectful and don’t take them off of the site without the photographs permission! If you feel the need ask her first. You can get a hold of her by clicking here! http://kimskinnerphotography.blogspot.com/

It's official!

2010-03-24T10:06:00.001-07:00

It's official, we are going to be having another baby!!! We are so excited! We knew in November that it was time for us to start trying again. We made our appointment for January 5, 2010, and exactly one month later we were being inseminated.

We had two eggs. One was 18mm, and the other was 11mm. In other words one was really big, and the other was really small. I went home after that disappointed and feeling like it wasn't going to take this month. I asked John for a blessing, and we fasted many days before the insemination.

Within a week after insemination I knew I was pregnant! On day 13 I tested and it was certainly two pink lines! I was shocked that it took, and I was re-convinced that the Lord knows what he is doing. We are due on HALLOWEEN! We are so excited!

Learning to feed herself!

2010-02-19T11:11:00.001-08:00

Isabelle is the cutest little thing EVER! She has her daddy’s looks, but my personality. She has the ‘I’ll so it one my own mentality’! She has been so stubborn on what she eats, and how much she eats. She got in the habit of waking up at 3am to eat, and after a week of that I told John that was for the birds! She got stubborn, and so mommy got stubborn right back!

I let her try to feed herself, then after she tries she lets me feed her. It’s messy business!

I love this little baby so much!

Getting my ears pierced

2010-02-16T16:17:00.001-08:00

Since the time Isabelle was a baby I have wanted to get her ears pierced. We finally did it! This Saturday we packed her up and took her to the mall to get them done. It was less expensive than I thought it was going to be!

Here she is unsuspecting about what is about to happen!

She would not hold still! John finally had to hold her still!

NOW she’s mad!

. . . but she looks so cute with her ears pierced!

Back in my single, non-mothering life. . .

2010-01-31T20:40:00.001-08:00

SO MUCH FUN! I think everyone should do it at least once! At the end Crystal touches down first, she is in red. Then Julie is second, she is the one running, and then I touch down last.

Stories from Spain: Palacio Real, Madrid Spain

2010-01-31T16:15:00.001-08:00

The second day that we were in Spain we made our way through the city, and come across Spain’s Royal Palace. From the outside of the palace it looked like another old, architecturally, beautiful building.

This is the outside of the palace, as we approached it.

This is me at the entrance to the palace.

I truly had no idea what to expect prior to entering this palace. I had seen old movies of what castles and palaces looked like, but there is a true difference when seeing it in person. Hollywood does no justice to it’s true beauty.

When you walk into the palace you enter this HUGE courtyard. Upon entering the courtyard walk to the center, and then bare to the left and that will take you to the entrance of the palace, the spot where the next picture was taken!

I wish Patty had snapped the picture of me just a bit quicker so I could be the only thing in the background too.

If you were to walk straight ahead into the building behind me you would enter the Royal Cathedral and place of worship. To the right of the picture is the Royal Armory, and security offices, and the most beautiful view of Madrid.

You can see the entire city! Down below in the trees is the Royal pasture where the Royal horses rest, and eat.

So lets go inside the palace!

This is the view when you first walk in. Imagine this as a panoramic picture. Fist looking straight ahead, then upwards until you are looking directly up at the ceiling.

All of these are hand painted! Even from before the time of Christopher Columbus!

I found these paintings to be very extraordinary because if you look very carefully at some of the things being depicted you will see a war happening in the heavens between good and evil. You see the good being raised up towards heaven and the evil being pulled down, into a bellow of smoke, and darkness.

All of the gold that you see is real gold.

Each queen that ruled in Spain was given a room to decorate, and make her own. This next room was decorated by one of the most popular queens in Spain, and forgive me, but I can not remember her name. She was in love with the Chinese culture and she designed her room based off of her love.

It’s called the Ivory Room.

Everything in this room is hand carved out of true ivory. The chandelier in the center of the room is pour silver and gold.

Every light on the top row is being held by the hands the Angel Michael. If you have the ability to zoom in you can see what I am talking about. There is a full body of the Angel Michael with his arms outstretched and a light being held in each hand. In between each angel there is the Royal family crests throughout the time of Spain.

This is the top of the ceiling that is holding the chandelier up. It’s all engraved in gold and ivory.

Throughout the entire room there is ivory carving of the Chinese people. This is depicting one set of the people working in the rice fields.

This is the next room. The Throne Room. This is the same room where people brought their issues to the king and queen and judgments were carried out. It seems unreal being in room where things like punishment of death was ordered.

Upon leaving that room you come to an outside courtyard, but yet it is still completely surrounded by the royal palace.

It is in this courtyard that the public hangings, and sentences the king ordered were carried out.

Along the walk way there were a few statues of Spain’s royalty. This is Queen Isabella.

This is another Queens Room. She too loved the Chinese Culture. She however was less incline to kill the elephants for there tusks, and everything is hand painted.

I got in trouble taking this picture! I thought it turned out a little dark, so FORGETTTING the rules I turned the flash back on, and had three guards come up and 1. Threaten to confiscate my camera, or 2. Put me in the royal dungeon for being disrespectful. I apologized profusely, and they let me off with a warning!

This is the Royal Amory

All of the guns used by the Armies of Spain throughout the ages of guns. I laughed at the really long one. I swear that’s a three man gun!

I also laughed at the saddles! Notice how there is NOTHING to secure the saddle to the horse!

Remember that warning I got about my flash????? I didn't. I turned off the camera to save the battery. When I turned it back on it automatically turned the flash back on!

The picture that got me kicked out of the Royal Armory!

Good thing I had seen all there was to see in there. I had to wait outside while the group finished looking around in the armory. I honestly forgot. I am just glad they didn’t take my camera, or put me in the dungeon!

They don’t allow flashes in these places because the light ruins the paint and discolors the fabric. Everything has a special lighting to help protect them. There was a dumb American exposing them to the flash of a Canon Camera!

Stories from Spain: First day there

2010-01-28T16:24:00.001-08:00

After seeing Germany from the air I was so excited to see Spain. I could only imagine how beautiful it was gong to be! I didn’t have a window seat, but when they told us that has crossed over into Spain borders I peeked out the window. I could have fallen over dead! I thought someone flew my rump back to Arizona! It was dry, and brown! When we landed and I got off the plain I was VERY surprised! It was gorgeous!

As you can imagine after 26 hours of no sleep, and finally being in Madrid I was on cloud 9! We got our bags and we all piled into a taxi cab to head to Hotel Madrid. I had never been in a taxi before. I have to admit, I thought I was going to die on the trip to the hotel. . . the drivers over there are nuts!

We got to the hotel and met up with our tour guide, Silvia, and a Spanish teacher from Ohio, who happened to be from Algeria, who went to the university in Barcelona, then grad school in Paris, and somehow wound up in Ohio. . .I don’t remember his name, but he was pretty neat. I’m pretty sure he saved my life during another experience I had, but I’ll blog about that a bit later.

I dropped my bags off, and took a quick shower. As soon as we were done freshening up we were headed off to dinner. I could have eaten a horse seeing as the last full meal that I had was back in the airport in DC. Even then it was just a salad, and a diet coke.

I walked out of the hotel at 9 PM and this is the view that I saw.

It looks like it was the middle of the day! I couldn’t believe it!

We got on the city bus, and headed out for dinner. About 10 minutes into the ride, I started getting very light headed, and very dizzy. I didn’t realize that I was sick from not eating. It took almost everything I had not to pass out. As you could imagine when we made it to where we were having dinner I could have eaten the table, and everything on it!

The first thing they brought out was bread. The bread in Europe is not like the bread we have in the states. It is very dry, and nearly hard as a rock. At first I was grossed out, but as the trip went on I gained the opinion that it was the best tasting bread I had ever had!

The second course was mashed potatoes! MMMMM they knew I was a Reidhead, and mashed potato lover! Only when we got the mashed potatoes they were mixed together with bananas! Good right? Wrong! Mashed potatoes and bananas. .. if I hadn’t of been so hungry I don’t know if I would have downed it!

The third course was spaghetti. Now picture this regular spaghetti noodles, with something that tasted similar to the sauce that comes on Spaghetti O’s. On top of all of it was an over medium egg. Yummmm. . . .NO, but my goodness I was hungry!

When I left for Spain I told myself that I was going to try everything, and not go hunting for a McDonalds. I have to admit, I did try everything, and the first meal I had was by far the worst!

After dinner we went and did a little touring. The sun didn’t go down until almost midnight. I could have sworn it was only 7pm!

This picture here is Kilometer Zero.

It is located in Puerta Del Sol. The plaque is located in front of the Royal House of the Post Office, which according to urban legend marks the official time in Spain.

This is me standing on Kilometer Zero.

Stories from Spain: I have to PEE!

2010-01-27T19:40:00.001-08:00

We had been in Spain about 5 days when we made our way from Zaragoza to Barcelona, which just happened to be about an 8 hour bus ride. Earlier that day I had walked about 7 miles touring Zaragoza, and Pamplona (Where the running of the bulls happens). We walked the entire run from start to finish, and by the time I made it back to the bus I’d had nearly nothing to drink. We left and at the next gas station I got a bottle of water.

For those of you unfamiliar with the units of measurements in Europe they don’t carry 20 oz bottles, instead the smallest bottle that you can buy is 1.75 liters. I figured that with the long drive ahead of us having that much water wouldn’t hurt.

Now there was another student that went to Spain with us, and her name was Erin. Her and I shared a room the entire trip, and around the 5th day I was annoyed with my roomy. She did everything I did. I curled my hair, she curled her hair. I took the stairs, she took the stairs. I ordered a ham sandwich for lunch, she ordered a ham sandwich. I turned on the IPOD she turned on the IPOD. I thought that I was making things up, and that I just thought that she was doing everything I was doing. After we got seated in the bus I was drinking my water, and listening to some tunes. About an hour into the trip I noticed that every time I took a sip of water SO DID SHE. I thought: Good grief Gina. . . ARE YOU SERIOUS? So I did something I knew she couldn’t do. I guzzled the entire bottle in one breath. (It sounded good at the time).

I never looked back to see if she saw me, or to see the look on her face, but I knew she was watching, I knew she couldn’t do it, and I felt very satisfied.

An hour goes by, then 2, then 3, 4, and 5 hours. We had driven by 7 rest stops that I felt we should have stopped at. I had too pee something fierce. Every rest stop that we passed the more I had to pee.

During hour 6 of our drive it started to rain. It didn’t help my needing to pee.

As you can see it was pouring rain!

Hour 7, came and I still hadn’t gone. Hour 8!, and I could see the lights of Barcelona! 8 hours and 20 minutes after drinking 1.75 liters of water we pulled into the hotel parking lot!

I stood up and had the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life. I saw Erin the rear view mirror looking at me, and I wasn’t about to let her know that I was in pain, and had to pee.

We got our bags and made our way to lobby. I swear it took them forever to get us our room keys. After getting my room key I saw that it was on the 4th floor. I knew there was no way in the world I was going to be able to walk up 4 flights of stairs in my condition!

I finally found a hotel worker and she told me the serivcios were downstairs by the pool.

DOWNSTAIRS, POOL?!?!?!?!, I honestly thought about peeing in their fichus tree.

I left my bags. I held onto the stair rails. I slowly, slowly took each step down towards the pool. I made my way past the pool, still in pain, and now really needing to pee seeing all that water.

I finally made it! I must have been in there an hour, well not really but I was most certainly in there a long time.

When I made it up the room Erin asked me if I found the bathroom. I said yes, and I didn’t say another word. She told me that it serves me right drinking all that water so fast. . . .

Yeah I really didn’t care. I did it, but the rest of the trip she did her own thing, and stopped copying my every move. I’m glad she did her own thing, because I know she had fun not having to watch me and make sure she was doing what I was doing.

This is Zaragoza, Spain.

We stopped there and had lunch. We found this yummy Irish Pub there. It was Sunday so most everything was closed.

The group I went with.

Patty: Communications teacher

Me: Student

Jennie: Math Teacher

Cindy: Spanish department head

Kenny: Cindy’s son

Erin; Student.

Fred: math teacher (behind the camera taking the picture)

I normally don’t care if people are doing, what I do but after 5 days of it, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m glad she got the hint, although my bladder took a massive beating!

Stories from Spain

2010-01-26T15:22:00.001-08:00

Back in early 2005 I decided that I’d had enough of school, work, no vacations, and that I was going to go on the vacation of a lifetime! A teacher of mine mentioned that I should join this art history class because during the week of Spring Break they went to Italy to all of the art museums there. The cost of the trip was around $1800.00. I thought and thought about it. I showed up to my Spanish class early one day and was talking about it with some fellow classmates. A few minutes later in walked a substitute teacher. . . little did I know she was the Spanish Department head for the school. She overheard our conversation, and after class she pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to go to Spain instead of Italy.

SPAIN. . . what’s in SPAIN? You go to Europe to see France, Greece, and Italy not Spain. She told me that her and a few other teachers go on two huge trips each year, and this summer they were going to Spain. She told me that the more people who go the less expensive it was. I went home, and prayed about it, and decided that Italy sounded nice, but it was after all a class, and I wanted a vacation!

So to Spain I went. We left June 13th, and came home July 2nd. I was there nearly an entire month, and not just a measly week. It was everything I was looking for. . . The TRIP OF A LIFETIME!

So over the next few months or so I will be posting stories and pictures from my trip to Spain. I have most of everything written down in a journal, but blogging about it too is going to be fun!

Oh, I forgot to mention that the trip, plane tickets, bus rental, tour guide, hotels and two meals a day only cost me $1900.00. Of course there was my one meal a day that wasn’t covered and souvenirs too, but it was a wonderful price! It was SO WORTH the money!

This is me leaving Sky Harbor International Airport. The teachers I went with laughed at my pillow. However, I got the last laugh! All through out Spain they asked me for my pillow if I wasn’t using it!

We flew to Dulles International Airport in DC. I loved all of the flags lined up on the ceiling

We finally boarded the plain the fly to Munich, Germany.

This is me after a 16 hour flight to Germany, plus the 4 hour flight to DC, and the 3 hour layover we had there. So this is me 23 hours of hard traveling, and no shower!

This Lego GUY was HUGE!!!

Finally we are in the air and headed to our final destination! Madrid, Spain! I was so amazed with the view of Germany from the air. Look at all that green!

What happened to Super Mario Brothers 2?

2010-01-17T20:09:00.001-08:00

Have you ever wondered why in the world Mario Brothers 1 was such a hit, and then came this game. . . Super Mario Bros 2! Where in the heck did these guys come up with this piece of junk? It resembles nothing from Super Mario Brothers 1! There is no Bowser, no dogs, no turtles, no princess to save. Instead you are throwing turnips at a lizard looking thing, and the very last bad guy is a FROG that you have to throw a turnip in his mouth to kill him. Then along Mario 3. WOW, totally awesome game. You have all your old favorites from the first game! You even get coin boxes again! WOW! Having such a cool game like number three made me always feel like Mario 2 was the ugly step child, and have always thought it was the stupidest game ever. This Mario 2 also made me feel like as a fan of Super Mario Brothers that I got jipped.

Well one fine day while scrolling through the Wii shop channel we came across a game entitled "Super Mario Brothers- The Lost Levels" I thought 'Lost Levels" I know Mario backwards and forwards what in the world is lost.?" So we bought it for $6.00 to find out. it turns out that it was ONLY released in Japan and it is the ORIGINAL Super Mario Brothers 2! Really?!?!?!?!?! Why was it released in Japan and not in America?

Look familiar? It was only released in Japan because the American sells team thought the American public would get mad if they released they same type of game play in the sequel so instead they gave us the ugly step child. Which brings to question where did the ugly step child come from?

It turns out that the game was ripped off from a Japanese game called "Doki Doki Panic" They changed the characters to match Mario Brothers, but left everything EXACTLY the same! Now I really feel jipped! See for yourself.

Look familiar?

Here compare in case you've forgotten what OUR Mario Bros looked like

I feel like I can finally sleep at night knowing that Mario 2 is not indeed the actual game, and that there is something better out there. I do feel like the entire Country of Japan is laughing at us though. Seeing as this had to be the best kept secret ever! Anyways I'll stop ranting!

My many projects

2010-01-11T12:13:00.001-08:00

It seems that I always have a project going on. The ones that I am really interested in finishing get finished from start to finish with no exceptions. It seems that I start on one and then get sidetracked and end up forgetting about it, or having time to finish it. Here are the projects I have going on:

Burying bricks in the backyard. I am 1/4 of the way done, and still working on the rest. I better do it SOON, before I can't.
Cross stitch for Isabelle. I love working on my cross stitch, and I do it at night after Isabelle has gone to sleep, but John and I have been playing Dr. Mario lately.
A blanket I was making for Isabelle. All it needs is to be bound.
A homemade colleague and frames of some pictures
Decorating the upstairs
Making a jean quilt.
Learning photoshop

. . . and a whole bunch more things that I can't think of right now.

I decided to work on one thing then move onto the next. I had better start with the bricks in the back yard so when I'm pregnant I won't have to be doing them. Everything else I think I can manage to do at any point in time. I thought that after leaving my job that I would have all of this time, but it seems that I have less time. (Don't know how that happened).

I have started baking and experimenting with cooking a lot more, and learning lots of things in the cooking world. For instance I perfected making my own garlic oil, and roasting the garlic afterwards. I am learning about spices and what they do. I think garlic is such a useful spice, and it's amazing how often we use it! I was messing around with dry rubs, and made some killer spare ribs the other night! So I have been learning something, but my projects are taking a beating.

Both of my sisters are pregnant and I normally make each of nieces and nephews a blanket, but truthfully I don't think I will be making baby blankets anymore. I think it will be 8 year old blankets, or wedding quilts for them. I don't know yet what I am going to do instead. I better make up my mind soon as Jess is due in mere weeks!

Milestones

2010-01-09T17:37:00.001-08:00

Those of you who are my facebook friends I'm sorry you have read this twice, but I like keeping things on my blog too seeing as it is sort of my online journal.

Isabelle is growing so fast. Every time she wakes up from a nap I swear she is bigger and wiser. This week she has changed so much!

Milestones she hit since Christmas

Naps once a day for 2.5- 3 hours instead of 2 naps for 1-2 hours.
Sits in a big-girl car seat.
Wearing size four diapers
Pulls herself up with no hesitation
Talks jibber jabber as a fluent language
Learned what 'be gentle' means when petting the cats
Insists on feeding herself

If I need to give her the food she must be holding a utensil!

Discovered her bum. Grabs at it when changing her diaper

With that she has learned that it is naughty to that

Discovered the T.V.

She has learned that she can't touch it. She tries, and tries, and knows it's not kosher with mom and dad to touch the T.V., but she tries.

Discovered the stairs (1st floor only)
Discovered Molly! She is obsessed with the dog. SO FUNNY!
Crawls on her hands and knees.

When she's on the tile she still army crawls. She knows the stone tile HURTS!

I am loving watching this sweet little baby become a loving, playful little girl. She is so precious, and so much like me! We are not cuddly people, and love to people watch, and play till we fall asleep in our tracks. She is such a great girl. I love being her mom!

Family=TIME

2010-01-08T12:22:00.001-08:00

I love this!

Babies First Christmas

2009-12-28T11:39:00.001-08:00

I have been waiting for such a long time to have a babies first Christmas. I have always looked forward to doing all the Christmas Eve traditions that come along with parenting. Christmas Eve was fun. We helped Crystal and her family finish getting ready for Christmas. Afterwards we had a fun party at moms house. The kids got to open two presents. One from moms and dad, and the other from grandma and grandpa.

After the party we went home, and got snug in our beds and in the morning SANTA CAME!

It was so fun getting to see Isabelle play with her Santa, and her actually LOVE the things that Santa brought!

After that we went to open gifts at Crystals house!

All the loot that she made out with!

It is such a blessing to celebrate Christmas with your children!

Trip to Holbrook

2009-12-23T15:56:00.001-08:00

We decided that we needed to go see Grandma Leone, and let little Isabelle get to see her Great Grandma, and Grandpa. We called dad, and he and RaLee both decided to take a trip up the hill to Holbrook.

It was a pretty uneventful, safe trip. However we all did get the flu not to long after being home, which sucks, but we dealt with it.

On the way home we decided that we would stop in the local Dairy Queen to get a Dilly Bar before going home. We pulled into this little teeny tiny little drive thu. If we were in a long bed truck we would have been hanging out in the road. When the woman finally gets to the window she opens it up and there is a baby on her hip! I nearly peed my pants. Something about the stereotype of having kids at the local dairy queen. . . any ways, not judging just laughing we place our order. She takes our order and then closes the window. We weren’t sure what to do next. It didn’t say to pull up, or to wait there. Dad is in the back snickering because we don’t know what to do. He says you need to pull forward. So I pull forward. SURE ENOUGH there it was, the spot you pick up your order.

NOT EVEN A LIGHT! Right next to the mob bucket, and the walk in freezer!!

HILARIOUS!

Great Grandma and Isabelle.

Grandma gave her lemon! She loved it!

It was a fun trip. I could have done without the getting sick part, but it was fun.

New Couches

2009-12-14T14:37:00.001-08:00

This post is what I would call OVERDUE! Back in October John and I finally bit the bullet and bought the couches that we have wanted to get from the time we were first married. We had walked into the furniture store on many different occasions, but we had always walked out of there not being able to justify a $1500.00 purchase on couches. We could always see a million different things that we could do with our money.

We have two sets of couches. The set that we have downstairs was a gift from my mother when John and I got married. We came home from our honeymoon and there they were in the living room downstairs. I think those couches are beautiful, and I am very grateful for the couches. I have no idea how old those couches are. They belonged to my Grandma Francine, and when she pasted away, eleven years ago, my mom inherited them. I know they are at least 11 years old, but not sure on the exact age.

The second set that we have is upstairs in the loft. In 2006 I lived with a roommate in Mesa. I can’t remember her name although it’s on the tip of my tongue. All I really remember her by is Crazy Roomy. She was going through a divorce and asked me to move in to help out. I lived there for about 5 months when I came to a full realization as to why the said divorce was in progress. I went out one day and got an apartment, and when I came home I told her that we needed to talk. I needed to tell her about me moving out. The next words out of her mouth was ‘I sold the house. You need to have a new place in a week’ . She apologized for the short notice, but she was getting married, and hated her house. I played the shock card, and didn’t tell her I got a place of my own that same day! She felt so horrible that she sold me her couches for $100.00. No, I didn’t feel bad for taking her couches, I call it mental compensation. So I acquired those couches and I don’t know how old those couches were either.

After having Izzy I quit my job to stay home with her. We knew that we weren’t going to have much money let alone a large amount to buy new couches for a long time. We decided that our current couches just weren’t going to last another 5 years. In October we finally took the plunge and got new couches! We went to Furniture Plus (www.furnitureplusinc.com) to get the couches. They are an Ashley Furniture outlet store. It is an awesome store, and we had a wonderful experience buying our couches from them. We are so happy that we saved up enough money to buy our couches. It was one of the best investments that we have made. They are comfortable, and they are going to last us a long time. We are home often because we don’t have money to go out so being home on comfy couches makes our date nights great.

We love our couches, and so thankful that we were able to get them. They are going to be with us for a LONG LONG LONG time!

Ward Christmas Party

2009-12-06T11:04:00.001-08:00

Last night was our annual ward Christmas party. It was fun getting to put our daughter in Santa’s lap for the first time! I was for sure that she was going to be a screamer, but she just looked at him like “WHO IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?!” He gave her her first candy cane, and we were off to see the skits, and eat dinner.

She kept playing with the snow flakes while we were waiting in line to see Santa.

SANTA!

Her first candy cane! She actually broke the top piece off, so we opened it just a little bit, and let her enjoy Santa’s yummy gift!

She loved her candy cane! We took it away after a few minutes, but she enjoyed her little treat!

I loved this next picture! I think she’s asking Daddy for her candy cane back!

These next two are of Isabelle and Gwen. Gwen is Izzy’s birthday buddy, as they were born three days apart. Marlenea was due with Gwen before me, but she went over due and I had Isabelle early, so Izzy just happened to be the one born first.

Gwen is such a little cutie! I enjoyed seeing two babies born so close together and how different they are! Gwen stands by herself, and is super fast at crawling! She is also so tiny! Isabelle tries to pull herself up, and still army crawls everywhere. Isabelle also has her first tooth! I think it’s awesome how differently babies develop!

The Christmas party was fun, and we were excited that we were able to go!

Big Lots

2009-12-02T12:13:00.001-08:00

Back in October John and were running around town trying to find some mason jars so I could make some jam. I knew that most places carried the jars, but only limited quantities. Big Lots happened to be the place where I typically find the mason jars that I need. One Saturday while looking for those Mason Jars I wondered into the big lots on Lindsey and Main Street (SCARY PART OF TOWN) to find these jars. In the entrance there was a guy selling sittings for professional photos. I listened to his little speech and decided that for $10.00 a 10 x 13, a 5 x 7 and 16 wallets was worth it. So the day came and her pictures turned out super cute!

I love how bright her eyes turned out! I think they captured her so perfectly!

Although I have this opinion there is a story behind all of this. When I went to go pick the pictures up, they had a a traveling picture booth that you sat in and they tried to sell more pictures, other than the ones you had already purchased. I sat down and they laid all the pictures in front of me, and I of course loved them. (Who doesn't love cute pictures of their kids?) The guy grabbed a pieces of paper and said “Now if you were to get these pictures taken at any other places all of these pictures would cost you $1200.00. We can offer you all of these and 3 (THREE) plaques with your picture of choice on it for $599.99. Is that something you think you can do?

WHAT? (Is this guy stupid? I was shopping at big lots. . . Is that something I could do? YEAH RIGHT!)

ME: No, that is ridiculous!

GUY: But, you get three plaques!

ME: I don’t want a plaque. They are ugly, and useless. I like frames.

GUY: You can use it as a dart board when she’s made you mad.

ME: No, I don’t throw darts at my children, even it’s just at their picture, and that is one heck of an expensive dart board.

GUY: Okay what about this offer: 10 sheets for, and a plaque for $499.99?

ME: I don’t want the plaques.

MOM: She doesn’t want the plaque.

GUY: What about 10 sheets, and a sheet of wallet sized Christmas cards for $399.99?

ME/MOM: WHAT?

ME: Um no.

GUY: What about 10 sheets for $299.99?

MOM: That isn’t a package deal. Aren’t they $30.00 a sheet?

GUY: Yes.

MOM: Let’s see 10 x 30 = $300.00. Good deal Amanda you are saving a penny!

This goes on and on! About 10 minutes later. . .

ME: Mom what do you think?

MOM: I think you should go home, put the same dress on her and take her Walmart, and get more pictures, for a much better price, and these guys can have their plaques! (Mom dramatically walks away!)

GUY: Okay what about this price: 10 sheets for $150.00.

ME: Let me call my husband.

ME: John, what do you think?

JOHN: (Just playing along) NOOOOOOOOOOOO, go to Walmart, it’s cheaper!!!

GUY: (under his breath) Cheaper quality too.

ME: No thanks, I’m going to Walmart.

GUY: What about this price: 10 sheets for $100.00.

ME: How about 10 sheets for $75.00, like I can get al Walmart?

GUY: Let me check if that’s okay?

GUY: Okay, here are you pictures.

Really $1200.00 down to $75.00?!?!?!?!?!

The MORAL OF THE STORY:

DON’T GET PICTURES TAKEN AT BIG LOTS!

Oh by the way he was haggling with a girl that got kicked out of Mexico because they told me that with me down there haggling they couldn’t feed their families. I make up my mind and I won’t pay over that price. Take it or leave it!

Thank you

2009-11-22T15:26:00.001-08:00

This is a special thank you to all of those who feel the need to constantly remind John and I that we have a chunky daughter. Thank you!

We haven’t forgotten since last weekend, or the last time we have seen you, or the last picture we posted. We love our daughter dearly, and cherish EVERYTHING about her. Her sparkling blue eyes, her perfectly shaped lips. Her dark brown hair with blonde highlights in it. Her little laugh. The fact that her back is ticklish, or that she loves to grab my cheeks and squeal. I love how she crawls backwards. I love how she loves her cat, Phoebe. I love how she gives me hugs, and a huge kiss in the morning. I love how excited she gets when she sees John, or how she loves to go for a walk in the stroller. I love how she loves to play with my hair when she’s tired. I love everything about my baby! I love her little rolls, and her little chunks! I think they complete the package! I love my baby!!

This is meant as no offense to my mom, sisters, and friends that have shared their opinions, and insights with us. You all understand where we are coming from.

What’s in a phone?

2009-11-17T13:31:00.001-08:00

I decided that since I have had my phone for two years now I ought to clean out my phone and put all of the cell phone memories on the computer. So here are some of my memories from the last two years.

Molly sleeping in her bed. A woman in Alaska feeding eagles.

Pictures of Trey that Crystal sent me in a text. What a cute boy!

Payten at Katie’s kindergarten graduation. Wayne at the same graduation!

That’s the cute boy we love. This was his scary face!

and now he’s smiling because he’s scary! Another one of Pay Pay. Peace to the world.

My leg! Went for a walk and turfed it! My leg two days later!

My leg a week later. My little watermelon!

Got bit by a fire ant. Yep, had to go to the doc for this one! Allergic apparently!

A pictures Rae. I have the light in my hands. Oh Nelly. Enough said.

Sage Lawrence Eldredge 7-17-08. First time holding Sage!!!!

A month later I was pregnant. Mom and Chris brought me balloons!

Stacy Greathouse. 12-16-08. First 3D picture of Isabelle.

12-22-08. Sage in his car seat. Jayden looking so pretty.

Sage. There is an ankle in there somewhere.

Trey’s broken leg. 03-25-09. Sage’s funeral.

Day before I had Isabelle. 04-14-09, first cell phone pic of Isabelle.

04-28-09. 05-16-09. Such a beautiful girl.

There are so much more that I didn’t post, but this is the jist of the last two years of things that made it to the cell phone.

Izzy’s first Halloween

2009-11-05T14:31:00.001-08:00

For years I have been waiting to be bale to get my children all dressed up for Halloween. Put them in their little costumes and take them trick-or-treating.

On Friday, 10-30-09 we did our annual pumpkin carving. It was fun, but in the back of our minds we were all missing Sage.

We decided that Isabelle’s first Halloween she would go as a cute little lamb.

She was not happy that she was put into this costume! It took her a while to stop giving me this look!

It wasn’t until later that she started to smile. After trick-or-treating she KNEW all that candy was hers. It was like pulling a tooth to get it from her.

My first mess, but certainly not my last!

2009-11-04T20:54:00.001-08:00

This morning while i was showering Isabelle was getting pretty grumpy. We don’t have a baby gate yet so I don’t want to leave her some where that she can get to the stairs without me noticing. I normally put her in my bedroom and shut the door while I’m showing so she can’t get into to much trouble. She has started rolling everywhere, and she’s never in the same place I put her down in. Well this morning she rolled into the bathroom and before I could get out she made a mess. Not a huge one, but a funny one.

I HATE pads, and never wear them. These are merely left over from when I had her and absolutely had to wear them. It was too funny because she loved playing with them!

What we’ve been up to

2009-10-28T20:15:00.001-07:00

This month has been so wild and crazy. I can’t believe that it is already over! Last Tuesday Isabelle has her 6 month shots. Along with them she got her annual flu shot and the H1N1 vaccine. After we got home, 5 hours after her shots she got sick. The next morning she was still sick. Every time the Motrin wore off her fever was back. I took her into the pediatrician and they tested her for the H1N1 virus. They told me they would call me by Friday at 10am if it was positive. Well Friday came and no call. Then came Sunday. . . my phone rang at 8am and it was her doctor calling and apologizing for not calling earlier, but he told me her test was positive for H1N1. Something told me when I took her in that she had and I am so happy that I demanded a script for her cough. Well it has been a week and she still has this which is hasn’t gotten better, but not worse either. John and I have been exposed to it and are waiting for our turn. My dad called me today and asked why we didn’t have it yet, and that it must not be that contagious. I told him I was living off of prayers, and I didn’t care about getting it because I was busy making sure my baby was healthy. Showing compassion for her was all that matters!

On a different note a friend from high school called back in May to see if I could take her wedding pictures. This was my third wedding to do, but it was the first wedding that I charged money to do. I think they turned out pretty good.

Well I think they turned out pretty good.

My Nephew William. . . such a handsome young man!

2009-10-01T11:58:00.001-07:00

William is the nephew that made me an Aunt for the first time. He is such a sweet young man! I have loved spending the last 9 years getting to know him, and getting to see him bloom into this awesome young man! Before we went to Utah we took Will to Golfland and he had a blast!

First we played arcade games. If you can’t tell they are both very involved in the RACE!

Then we went and played miniature golf! Will had never played before, but you would have never guessed! He played a great game falling only a few strokes behind his Uncle John!

He sunk this shot!

Next to this castle Will found this HUGE frog! It hopped away before I could get a picture.

Then after playing golf we played Laser Tag! Will was VERY GOOD! He is small, and can run and hide very well!

We had a great time at Golfland with Will! Next time is skating with Wayne!

While the Dogs are out

2009-09-29T17:17:00.001-07:00

The week before we went to Utah we got a 7 week old kitten from Crystal and Spencer. The kitten is super cute, and so personable!

We have thought of lots of names for our new Kitty, but none of them have stuck yet! There is Kit Cat, Boxer, Prancer, Tenni, and Cat.

Today I let the dogs outside to run, frolic and to be crazy out there. When I came down stairs this is what I saw……

Yep, the crazy cat was all balled up in the dog kennel! I don’t know what she was thinking, but even as I type this she is STILL in there! The dogs are going to go nuts trying to get her scent out of their place of refuge! LOL! Perhaps we should call the cat Brave Heart, or Wallace!

Vacation 2009

2009-09-28T10:51:00.001-07:00

As many of you know John's family lives in Logan, Utah. We try to get up there at least once a year to visit and get to see friends and family. September 4th we decided that we were going to take Isabelle and go to Logan for 2 whole weeks! We planned and planned and were so excited to go and see everyone! This is a long story about our trip, but it's well worth seeing the pictures!
The day we left- I dropped John off at work and went to get the oil changed in the Blazer for our trip. When I got there they checked my tires too and the front drivers tire was beginning to separate. We were on a budget and a new tire was NOT in the budget! After three HOURS of sitting there they finally found me a tire for $20! I was now on the road to get John!
The trip up to Logan was very uneventful. We made it there safe and sound. In the days prior to us going up there my Niece Livi, and Nephew Easton put rocks, sticks, and other LARGE objects in the service pipes of the sewer, resulting the sewer getting clogged and backed up. When we got there Vaughn was working hard to get it fixed. It was a Sunday and decided that he would get by until Monday when he could spent a good amount of time on it. Well Monday came and John woke up with vomiting, and having the screaming MiMi's! Before the end of the day Vaughn was sick with the same thing! (Remember: THE TOILETS ARE BROKEN!)

Us girls decided to have a girls night out. We went to the Olive Garden for UNLIMITED pasta bowls. It was very good although the waitress sucked! Anyhow, after we got home the boys were very sick, and within a few minutes Tara was sick too! Again the toilets are broken! All night Vaughn kept getting up and driving to the Mavrick to use the restroom. The rest of them just used the restrooms at the house. . .(SO GROSS!)

On Tuesday Vaughn felt a little better and was able to get the sewer fixed. It took a backhoe to get the darn thing fixed! FINALLY we were able to get the stinking toilets flushed! Well the week was pretty normal. John was working from home, and life was pretty normal.

Thursday came, and I decided to take Izzy and walk down part of Logan's main street just to get out of the house. When I made it to where I was going I got in the left hand TURN lane to make my turn a cop was sitting in the parking lot. I turned and he turned on his lights and pulled me over.

He was RUDE! From the moment he came up to the car he had an attitude! He told me that I had made an illegal left hand turn. I was so confused because I had been in the turning lane, and the car in front of me had turned. After he got all my information he came back and told me that I had turned from the traveling lane. I was MAD. I had not turned from the turning lane, I KNEW I was in the turning lane because a cement truck came by me and nearly took off my side mirror when he passed me. I thought DANG that could have been bad!

Any how to make a LONG story short the only reason why this dude pulled me over was because I was talking to my mom on my cell phone while driving. THAT'S right! I was talking and driving! It's not illegal in AZ, or UT, but they will pull you over for it in UT just to make your life miserable for however long they decide to keep you there, and perhaps detour you from doing it!
Well to make it all worse, when I got home from my little Tour De Logan I wasn't feeling very good. Within the hour I was SICK. I had gotten what ever flu thing the rest of them had! I got a blessing and was sick for a day, but by Saturday I was feeling good, and was able to go to Yellowstone!

My brother-in-law, Jed, is an avid bike rider and he rides in the annual Lotoja bike race. Lotoja goes from Logan, UT, to Jackson Hole, WY. It is a total of 206 miles! I think he's crazy, but he loves it! The Saturday we left was the day of the race so we followed the riders part of the way and met up with Jed in Jackson Hole.

This year Jed was able to finish the race in 13 hours. I am very proud of him for being able to accomplish such a task!

After we saw Jed we continued up to the Grand Tetons! They were beautiful! Although there was a small fire that was causing smoke to surround the Tetons it was still a spectacular sight!

Isabelle and I at Jenny Lake, WY, Grand Teton Mountains

I love this picture! Isabelle loved to look over the edge into the water. She just loved being outside and free to look where she wanted, to a certain extent!

This arch is made of nothing but Elk Antlers! $750.00 fine for breaking or stealing one!

The following day we went to West Yellowstone! Oh, my what a trip!

Behind me is Old Faithful! It was 40 degrees outside and we were just loving it!

Old Faithful erupting at 9:51 am.

This was taken at the Fishing Bridge. Isabelle’s Great Grand Father John Ralph Mix helped build this bridge!

Here is the bridge

This is Upper Falls in Yellowstone! It was such a hike to get done to the brink of the falls, but this is the view once you get there! So worth the hike!! (Above and below is Upper Falls)

We saw LOTS of buffalo! I loved how they just walked on the street! Taking a Sunday Stroll!

On the way home we stopped at Mesa Falls in Idaho! I had been thinking about Sage all morning long, and missing him. When we got to the falls I hiked down with Isabelle and this is what I saw!

Every time I see a rainbow I think of him. I saw him there in all of this beauty! From every angle this rainbow was visible!

So beautiful!

All in all we had a tough trip! The beauty of the falls and Yellowstone was well worth the trip, and the speeding ticket I got in Flagstaff on the way home! YUP, I got pulled over twice in a week, and got one ticket! I guess I was just due for one!

Like Mother Like Daughter

2009-09-01T15:02:00.001-07:00

Little Isabelle looks nothing like me! She has my blood type and my facial expressions, but that's about it. Other than that she looks like her Daddy! Although we are nothing alike in appearance we do have to the same taste in toys! Below is Isabelle's new toy Elephant named Elly. Next to it is my toy Elephant. I don't know what his name was, but It is so WEIRD HOW MUCH they look alike! Isabelle LOVES to suck Elly's nose, and when I was her age I loved to suck on my elephants nose!

I know, my elephant looks horrible! It has been in my hope chest for a long, long time! I can't believe how similar they look!

Here she is playing with Elly's nose! She just loves it! Of course her's lights up and sings, and mine was just a stuffed animal. . .boy how the times have changed!

She loves to just cuddle up next to her toy!

Her she is with my toy and Elly! TOO CUTE!!!

Here is another one of my toys that she just loves! It is a toy apple that has deep wind chime sounds when it moves! I loved this toy! She loves this toy, and she plays with it all the time! I'm glad I can share my likes and dislikes with my baby, although we don't share our looks!

John was a bit weired out when he saw my toy sitting next to Elly! He just laughed and said. . . .Hun, that is WAY CREEPY!!!!

Nothing new

2009-08-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to chime in and say that nothing new is happening. A few weeks ago I was called to the Family Home and Enrichment committee. I really enjoy my new calling. It is completely different than being in primary! I miss my kiddos, and hearing the kids sing during primary. Hearing those little voices sing primary songs just melts my heart!! What I won't miss is having to sit on the stand during the primary program. Even today singing up there during sacrament wasn't much fun. I CAN'T SING, so my place is in the back, and not near the mic!

John is starting his last EIGHT WEEKS of school before he graduates!!! He is taking Business Law and Business Operations. . . . RIGHT! Why take the two hardest classes LAST? Oh well, he's DONE! D-O-N-E!!! I'm so proud of him!

Well that's about all what's happening in the Griggs house.

Cheap or Efficient?

2009-08-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

The other day at Isabelle's four month appointment the Doc told us that it is time for Little Izzy to start eating some baby food. He explained the types of baby food to give her, and how often we should give it too her. I didn't have the heart to tell him that she had been on rice cereal for over a month already. She was needing something more fillling than just her milk. She would eat and eat and eat, but once the rice came into play she was finally full. Anyhow, we decided that we should start her on other types of baby food as well.

I decided that I would make my own baby food instead of getting it from Gerber. I did this for a few reasons. 1) I AM CHEAP! I hunt for bargains, I don't buy it unless it's on sale. I can't see spending $1.25 for a LITTLE jar of food! 2) My hypothesis is that children are more picky when they eat jarred baby food rather than homemade food. For some reason homemade just tastes better. (For some reason I keep spelling Homemade HomeAID! LOL, I'm a dork!) 3) I really LOVE doing this sort of stuff for my baby!

So for $1.38 I bought a 3lb bag of carrots, and for $.37 I bought a yam. I went home and steamed the carrots, and boiled the yam. Afterward I threw them into the blender to get baby food! Here are the final products!

Little Izzy just LOVED the carrots! We were gone all day today or else I would have posted the pics of her trying the sweet potatoes too!

I prefer not to call me cheap or tight, but efficient!

Flagstaff

2009-08-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we drove to Flag for the annual Falconers BBQ. Each year they hold it in different spots to make it easier for all the falconers to get there. Well this year they wanted to have it at Lake Mary in Flagstaff.

This is Lake Mary, or Dry Lake Bed Mary.

It never fails that every time we are in Flag there are these massive wind storms. Yesterday wasn't as bad as I have seen it, but it was windy.

Behind me it looks like the old boat ramp to get into the lake. Now it is a cool place to get some pictures. I wanted to get Izzy's pictures there, but I wanted to keep her out of the wind as much as possible.

So here are a few pictures of the boat ramp.

We had a great time, but because of the wind we ditched out on the BBQ and went to a Chinese food place and unfortunately John got a touch of food poisoning. Poor guy. . . .

Rolling over already!

2009-08-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

I know that every post seems to be about little Isabelle, but to be honest we don't really do that much in the summer time as it's too blasted hot, and John is in school every week save 2 weeks during Christmas so we are limited in what we do. I'm so excited that we have pushed so hard for John to graduate because come October he will be DONE with his classes and he will just have his senior project to do then he graduates! There is a light at the end of this tunnel!

Anyhow, the day after my birthday Isabelle rolled over for the first time! I had been video taping her every time she was on the floor because I knew she was close. The doorbell rang and I set her on the floor to go see who it was. 2 minutes later I came upstairs, and there she was on her belly! I couldn't believe it! I rolled her over and told her that didn't count as her first because NO ONE saw it! I got the next one on tape, and I snapped a few pictures.

The first official time she rolled over!

Now we can't keep her on her back, when she's awake!

Mom and Izzy just playing on the floor!

Last Saturday while we were at Costco I found these CUTE little jammies. They have Scotti dogs all over them! I thought she looked so adorable in them. I also picked up two outfits for Christmas. I know that if I don't start know it'll be a small Christmas for her.

Izzy's first taste of cream cheese frosting!

2009-08-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

A tribute to WORK

2009-07-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 11th anniversary of me entering into the world of earning a paycheck! Roughly two weeks ago I resigned from my job (paying job), to be a stay at home mom. It seems strange being home. I spent many years working, and getting an education to better myself, and my future. I knew I ALWAYS wanted to be home with my children, but I always had the attitude that I had to better myself because I may never get married, or I may need to support my family later in life. So here I am: 26 years old, 3 degrees, a mom, a wife, and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

So 11 years ago today I started my job at McDonald's! Woo-Hoo Micky D's! I started working weekends, and within 3 months I was managing. As my 16th birthday present I was promoted to 2nd assistant manager. I worked 80 hours a week and went to school full time. I didn't have much free time, but I enjoyed my job!

Roughly 2 months after getting promoted I was in a car accident that totaled my car, and I wasn't able to get back and fourth to work, so I resigned, and got a job closer to home. . . . Little Pizzaz! Oh, what I can I say about Lil' P? I know- It was horrible! To make a long story short I was hauling out the trash and when I through it in the trash can I cut open my right elbow, and wound up getting 12 stitches! After that I was never allowed to do anything, and they watched me like a hawk! They were looking for any reason to fire me! So one night, my 'new' car (Papa Pat bought me my new car) broke down and I was late for work. . . . you guessed it, I got fired! Haha, yes I have been fired!

After that I got a job at Harkins Movies. I loved this job! I got free movies anytime, and the people I worked with were great! Unfortunately I worked with the majority of the City of Gilbert's teenagers, so the amount I could work was very limited! One week I was scheduled to work 7 hours! YEAH RIGHT!!

Back to McDonald's I went! I still loved that job! I had so much fun with those I worked with. After a year there a neighbor asked me if I would work for him as his night time manager. I decided that it was closer to home so I decided to go. Papa Kelsey's here I come!

I worked there for 2 years. After high school I got a job working for Granite Sundt 2. I worked two jobs for a year: Papa K's and construction. Now the construction I was doing was actual hard labor! Jackhammers, shoveling, you name it I did it! I didn't so much love that job, but making what I did you would have done it too!

After the job ended on the 60 I got a job working for Sundt Construction in April 2003. During my time there I worked myself up from parts runner, to Purchasing/Transportation Agent. I handled all of the rental invoices, and bills. I purchased the fleet vehicles and managed them. I can't even describe how busy I was with them! Day after day it was something new! Well 6 years and a few days after I was hired I had my daughter, and now I am a stay at home mom!

With all my education, and job experience I love being a mom the best! I couldn't have asked for a better 'job'!

Greathouse Family

2009-07-29T08:43:00.001-07:00

This is the Greathouse family. Shannon and I worked together at Papa Kelsey's Pizza for two years during our high school years. During that time we became good friends, and ever since then we have been there through each of our families fun times and rough times.

This is Stacy.

Stacy was born on December 16, 2008. On 12/23/08 Shannon and Stacy both had gotten a cold, so she took Stacy in to make sure everything was alright. When the pediatrician listened to her heart he discovered a heart murmur. On Christmas Eve she was admitted into Phoenix Children Hospital for the murmur and it was being debated at the time whether or not she needed to have heart surgery. They decided that they would hold off on surgery to see if the hole they found would close on it's own with time. Over the months Stacy has only gained 5lbs and a few ounces. She eats 2-3oz of food every 3 hours, and even then she doesn't have much of an appetite. The doctors decided in June that Stacy would undergo open heart surgery to repair the hole in her heart. While talking to Shannon I asked her if she wanted me to take some family photos of her family before Stacy went in for surgery. She was extremely excited that I asked, and here are just a few of the 200 or so that I took for them.

Shannon and Stacy

Shannon, son Adam, Jeremy, daughter Stacy

Big Brother Adam

Shannon and Jeremy

Shannon and Stacy

Mom, Dad and Little Stacy. (Big brother had enough of picture taking time so he was in the backyard playing with the dogs. )

Please keep the Greathouse family in your thoughts and prayers today.

Playing on the swing set

2009-07-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sage's birthday celebration was this past Friday. We all had a wonderful time, and we were able to celebrate his life with family and friends. Crystal and Spencer rented a huge water slide, and the kids and the adults played until we were to cold to keep going. After the water was turned off and dinner was being cooked I looked out the window and saw Haven, Payten, and Jayden still playing! I thought, 'Wow, these are some serious kids that love playtime.' I decided that it was the perfect time to get some fun pictures!

Now, Haven is such a cutie! When we first met Haven she hid from the camera. If you got her picture unknowingly you were lucky! Well this year she has sought out the photographer!

I had a great time posing Miss Haven!

She is such a beautiful girl! Dark hair, BEAUTIFUL blue eyes, and a light complexion!

I enjoyed watching Payten playing on the swings! She reminds me so much of Jessica! She was scared of swinging by herself the tradition way so she stradeled it. So darn cute!

Here she just realized that I was taking pictures! She kept pointing the herself and saying "Me, Me, Me". I figured that meant she wanted me to take pictures of her.

Jayden has always been photogenic. I'm positive she gets that from Crystal! She was swinging on her belly and every time she zipped by me she smiled! I got some really great photos of her!

Haven was being such a great big sister! She let Payten sit on her lap to swing! Payten laughed and laughed! All three of them were having such a wonderful time!

Jay Jay was having so much fun.

I loved this photo! It is just Jay Jay being Jay Jay!

As you can tell by the photos the girls had their hair blowing 100 different directions, they were still in their bathing suits, they have snow cones, hot dogs and cake balls spread from one end of their face to the other, but you know that it's 8:30 pm, and they are still going hard core! I don't think these girls have ever played so hard!

Tombstone, 4th, and Blessing Day

2009-07-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July was full of special events, family and friends! On Thursday night our family from Utah made it in for Isabelle's blessing. Vaughn, Linda, Tara, Alivia, and Paige. It was the first time Grandma and Grandpa Griggs got to hold and meet little Isabelle. It was such a special time for all of us!

This is Tara and Izzy!

This is the first time Grandma Linda got to hold Isabelle and both of them were all smiles!

Grandpa Vaughn held her most of the morning on Sunday, and they even fell asleep together for quite sometime.

After the family drove 14 hours to get here we decided to drive 2 more hours to Tombstone! We had a wonderful time in Tombstone. It was nice and cool! It even rained a little.

This is John and Izzy at Boothill Graveyard.

Here is John, Izzy and I.

This is Vaughn and Linda sitting in the OK Coral!

I got a kick out of the 'Outhouse' in the OK Coral! It made me grateful that I was born during the age of indoor plumbing!

This is Paige sitting inside the Longhorn on the main street in Tombstone

The next day we drove another 2 hours to Heber for the 4th of July celebration! As always we had a wonderful time! It was cool, and the crowd was fun! It reminds me of an old fashion all day celebration!

The kids looked so cute, and were really enjoying being able to run around with their cousins!

This is Jay-Bug. She downed that whole bottle of water in a matter of minutes! She looked so cute!

Isabelle was all dressed up in Red, White, and Blue too! She loves the feeling of the grass! Every time we lay her on it she just smiles from ear to ear!

I loved her little shoes! She looked so cute in her little outfit.

I loved getting Izzy all dressed up for the 4th! In her Red, White, and Blue! I have been waiting for a long time to have a baby to dress up for the annual trip to Heber!

Crystal got all of the kids these air brushed Tattoo's. William called my name and I turned out to see him giving me his 'Muscle Man' pose! I love this kid! He was trying to show me his Tattoo!

Rae decided to get a pin-up girl tattoo just like Papa Pat! I loved it! I think Grandpa felt so special because Rae!

The next day was Isabelle's special day! It was her blessing day. Grandma Reidhead made her blessing dress for me. She has made all of her granddaughters their dresses. This dress is so special for many reasons: 1) The silk that it is made out of has been used in all of wedding dresses, and blessing dresses. 2) The lace over lay was one of the only souvenir that I brought home from my trip to Spain. While I was in College I took a trip to Spain, and had the time of my life. We toured the entire country. While I was in Sevilla I came across a store that sold silk and lace. It was there that I bought 3 meters of the lace. Believe it or not we used most of it in her blessing dress!

The day started out a bit rough. I thought for sure my mom and dad were going to be miss her blessing, but with a few red lights being ran, passing on a double yellow, and a bit of criminal speeding they walked into the church a few seconds before sacrament started. I was so happy, and thankful that they made it!

John gave a wonderful blessing to Isabelle! Of course I cried the whole time. The men in the circle were John Griggs, Vaughn Griggs, Kevin Griggs, Teele Reidhead, Spencer Eldredge, John Caldwell, Zack Olson, and Rusty Biggler.

Afterward John and both bore our testimonies. John's mom also got up and bore hers. It was wonderful to get up and express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for my family, and the Gospel. Without both of those things I wouldn't be who I am today.

A few new pics

2009-06-30T14:32:00.001-07:00

Here are a few new pictures of Isabelle. These were taken on Sunday and she was being a cute as can be!

My little dress is so adorable!

Soft spot for animals

2009-06-24T11:16:00.001-07:00

Okay so John and sort of have a thing for dogs. Prior to us being married John had Molly, and after I met her I loved her. She is so calm and perfect. She is a huge dog, but as gentle as a lamb. After our wedding reception in Utah we brought Molly home with us and she has been the PERFECT dog ever since.

Molly

Well in January of 08 we thought we would try getting her a friend. We looked and looked and decided to go with a dog from craigslist named Baron. I wish I had a picture of Baron, but the description will have to do. Baron was taller than Molly and out weighed her by 20lbs. He was a HOLLER! He holled, and holled, and holled, oh and although he was fixed he still tried things on Molly. Every time we turned around he was chasing her. Well after two days we had enough of it. We called the guy we got him from and he said : Your problem. Well. . . . a few miles from the house is the pound. Problem solved.

Well a few days after getting rid of Baron I was at work and in comes this VERY PREGNANT dog. It was a cross of a boxer and a pit bull. I didn't know it at the time (Yikes). Well John had no idea about her until I picked him from work and SURPRISE meet Sally! This was the longest twelve hours of my life. We left her in the kennel while we went to work for my dad that night, and she she great. When we got home it was really late. We let her go potty then right back in the kennel for bed. Our kennel is metal, and extremely sturdy. She somehow managed to rip the door off of it, and when we heard the noise John ran down stairs to find her laboring on my couch! HECK no!!! John fixed the kennel and put her back in it, and then the holling started. One hour, two hours, and the third hour she managed to escape form the kennel again! He went down stairs to find her on my couch again. Instead of fixing the kennel, down 11 mile road he went to the pound. This pound has a 24 hour drop off. In reality we helped society with this one. Sally was homeless when we found her, and we just took 12 hours getting her to the pound. Hopefully her pups found a home.

I still wanted a friend for Molly, and because I have a bleeding heart we wound up with Sparky, or (Fluff Ball, Fluffy or my FAVORITE name PUKE-EE). A friend of mine told me friend was going through a divorce and he was having to work 2 jobs to keep his house and didn't have time for his dog. This dog reminded me of my Grandma Fran's dog Bubbles. I loved it. Yeah he was 13, yeah his breath stunk, but he was cute. Mind you this was in March that we got him. Well come JUNE we fully realized why he got rid of this dog. The darn thing was horribly ill and was dying. Our guess was that he had cancer. The poor thing started ruining my carpet slowly. First by the runs, and then piles of puke.

PUKE-EE

Me and Puke-ee

Well the end of his time with us was when he woke me up, not once, not twice, but three times by puking on my side of the bed. If you know me I LOVE sleep and vomit is one of the ONLY things I can't handle. So when he ruined the thing I love with the hing I despise he wrote his walking papers. The next day after getting home from work John gabbed some bones and took him down 11 mile road to the pound. Good Bye PUKE-EE!

Well it was nearly a year before John talked me into another a dog. In Feb 09 we decided to get a Jack Russell Terrier (JRT). Over the months I really decided that this dog and I just don't mesh. Well I couldn't ask John to get rid of him as I owed him from PUKE-EE and he loves this dog. About 2 weeks ago a guy offered to give John and CKC Hungarian Vizsla. He called and I could tell that he really wanted him. It's the dog he's always wanted, but there was no way we could afford a 1500 dollar dog. Well this guy was free. The only stipulation was that Rusty had to go.

Rusty

Well Jake so far has been wonderful! I love my two little BIG DOGS!!!!

Jake and Molly

My first shots

2009-06-15T17:25:00.001-07:00

Today I took Izzy into her pediatrician to get her two month shots. The doctor tried to talk me into having her get all four at once, but I really don't like the AMOUNT of shots they try to push into little bodies all at the same time. I am NOT opposed to getting my children vaccinated, but 4 shots all at once is way too much. I know how sick 1 shot made me last year, let alone getting four of them! Izzy was such a trooper!

Here she is unaware of what the pretty lady in blue is about to do!
(Notice the smiling face on Izzy?)

Okay Mom, this tastes NOTHING like milk! Can I spit it out?

Mom, why are holding my hands down on my chest? What is the lady with the nasty tasting milk dOING? OUCH!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS THAT POKE?

THAT MEAN LADY IN BLUE HURT MEEEEE! ( Notice her face is no longer smiling)

After cuddling with my mom for a minute and her holding me, and loving on me everything was alright, and I just puckered my lip for a minute. I did however get this cute yellow band aid that matches my outfit!