Celebrity

Last Saturday, we went to Old Navy and ran into one of the stars from the Old navy commercial. Here is a picture of Stacey and Hunter with the actress...we did not get her name...

Our room

Retreat

This past weekend was our firm's attorney retreat. Below are pictures and videos of the house. We would like to get the whole family up here in 2012 to rent a house. 23 people could fit in this house easily. It has a pool table, shuffleboard table, 5 master bedrooms, a bunkbed room for kids, a foosball table, x-box, computer den, two kitchens, an arcade golf game, and so much more. We had a blast and fit 41 people in the house at one time comfortably.

Rec Room 2

Video tour of house

Retreat house

Stacey playing shuffle board

She and her partner won their first game - I think Stacey scored all of the team's points!

Attorney retreat

Stacey and I are in bend. Here is a little video of the house that we are staying in. We have an attorney retreat until Sunday.

Weekend in Portland

This weekend Stacey was supposed to go to Portland with her Mom and sister-in-law, but for several reasons the weekend did not happen. But Stacey's Mom and Dad did come visit us for a few days and we had a good time hanging with them. They were able to go to the coast and check that out, and my father-in-law went with me to learn how to spey cast. We had a wonderful time. So, since the Portland trip with the girls fell through, we still had a hotel room and decided to take the family there for the weekend. We got to Portland in the evening and went straight to our hotel room and checked in, then walked across the street to Red Robin. After a delicious meal, we went back to the hotel and watched some tv and fell asleep. About 3:30 am, we were woken up by a party going on in the room next to us. After laying there listen to the noise for a while, Stacey finally jumps out of bed and says "That's it!" Next thing I know she opens up our door and storms out of the room - then I hear a loud banging on a door and Stacey comes dashing in the room. She had knocked on their door and then ran. Well, they remained quiet for about 5 minutes and then the party started again. Stacey got up and went and talked to the front desk who said they would send security up. About an hour later, the people left the hotel room and things got quiet again - of course, it is about 5 am now. Well, our kids started waking up about 7:30 am and all of them were awake by 8 am. Hunter started bouncing a ball around on the floor and Stacey says to him "Why don't you bounce the ball against the wall?" Of course, Hunter thought this was a trick, because he knows that is something he would never be allowed to do. Stacey finally convinces him it is okay and he does it for a few minutes before there is a loud banging on the wall. Stacey tells him it is okay and he continues doing it. Then an even louder banging hits the wall and we all start laughing hysterically! Stacey says something like "Payback Sucks doesn't it!" and we continue laughing. Luckily a brawl did not take place, but we felt vindicated by ruining their sleep since they ruined ours! That morning we went to two of the best breakfast joints in Portland - Pine State Biscuits and VooDoo donuts. The kids did not want the biscuits so we went to Voodoo donuts and we were glad we did. Great food at both places! We topped off the day with riding the tram at OHSU. Great time to be with the family! We will try to get some pictures posted soon. Here is a picture of Voodoo donuts signature donut - a voodoo doll donut.

Halloween

This is an actual picture of our jack-o-lantern. It turned out okay. This year hunter went as a nerf warrior, Ryan was a race car driver, Sami was Alice in wonderland, and Lily was a fairy. Since Halloween was on Sunday we did not go trick-or-treating, but the kids didn't mind since they had plenty of opportunities to get candy. On Friday, the kids came over to the firm and went from office to office as the attorneys and secretaries handed out candy. Then, Bob Saalfeld dressed as Clifford the Big Red Dog and put on a magic show for the kids. Then, on Saturday the ward put on a trunk-or-treat and there were plenty of cars that showed up so plenty of candy. Of course, it rained on us the whole time. The boys did enjoy handing candy out on Sunday night and since they already had a ton of candy they didn't worry about not going out on Sunday.

Happy Birthday Grandma

I had to post this video of Grandma singing "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" Happy Birthday Grandma - I love you!

Potty in the House

I wanted to write in the blog tonight about how Sami went to the bathroom on her potty for the first time and how excited she was that it happened. I could hardly contain her because she wanted to dump it in the big potty but I wanted Stacey to witness it. Stacey was able to see it and we all got excited about it and she was pretty proud of herself. So, I wanted to blog about all of that stuff but then I went to put Sami in bed tonight and found her wearing this mask and chasing Ryan around, so I had to take a picture and blog about the picture. Silly girl.

Scooter and Boots

Lily

Sami Letters Part I

Part ii

Sent from my iPhone

Sami's Trip to the Hospital

In early August, I was walking with Sami up the stairs to put her to bed. I was holding on to her hand and she was jumping up the stairs. She slipped as she landed on a stair and I yanked her arm to keep her from falling. She immediately screams in pain and I let her go. She grabs her arm and walks up the stairs into her room crying. I checked her arm and she screamed in pain any time I moved it. I was convinced that I had broke her arm. Stacey and I ended up taking her to the emergency room. The doctor checked her arm and thought there was some swelling in her wrist and decided the wrist was broken. So, they took her in to get some x-rays. Of course, they had to move her arm in several different positions to get the pictures they wanted, and of course she screamed bloody murder. We finally calmed her down and got her back into her room to await the results. While we were sitting there we noticed she moved her arm and did not have pain. We asked to move her arm, but she was too afraid, so we got her mind off the pain and tricked her into moving her arm. We showed her that her arm no longer had pain and she started repeating "my Arm is fixed!". She was so excited. I found the doctor, had her check her arm, and then discharged us. Turns out she had Nurse Maids Elbow which is just a tendon that can get out of place on little children. The x-ray tech moved it back into place when taking x-rays. I was so happy that I did not break her arm... But she always goes to bed when I tell her to...

Ryan with his Monkey face watermelon

Bed time song

Here is a little video of me trying to get Sami to sing me on song for the video camera. Listen to the last line of the song...

Ryan and Ryanisms

Ryan is always coming up with interesting arts and crafts projects. It is interesting to see how his mind works. We are not sure where this latest project came from but I had to take a picture.

Also, to show how Ryan's mind works the other day Ryan came to Stacey and I and said "I have two questions. First, does Jesus still live on the earth today?". We thought that was a very well thought out and deep question. " the second question is how did the people in Jesus's time brush their teeth?". Two completely different questions but both crossed Ryan's mind. We love that kid!!

Great video

Most people say that their Mother-in-Law's are crazy...I finally understand what they are saying!!

Part 2

Lily Elizabeth Griffin

Today marks 3 weeks since Lily was born. It is amazing to think that we have another addition to the family. Lily came a little earlier than we had anticipated, coming exactly 2 weeks before her due date, but we should have anticipated it since most of the other kids came early.

I was sitting at work when my phone rang at 12:16 pm. I picked up the phone and Stacey simply said 'I am having major contractions.' I told her that I was leaving, hung up the phone, and ran out of my office stopping at the door of the attorney across the hall, Jeff Moore, and said that Stacey was having major contractions and I needed to go home. I drove quickly through town and made it home in record time. Stacey was in the kitchen holding onto the counter clearly in pain. But she said that she was having strong contractions and needed to lay down and just wanted me to watch the kids. Stacey had not had a good night sleep the night before, so we both figured she was just tired and needed to relax. She decided to take a shower and after the shower she said 'We are going to the hospital.' We rounded up the boys and starting packing Stacey's suitcase as well as the boys' suitcases. Then, we ran the kids over to the Moore's house. We drove to the hospital and Stacey was screaming at some of the slower cars that were in front of us, she was clearly in transition. After what seemed like forever, we made it to the hospital and we headed to the maternity wing of the hospital - time was 2:33 pm. As we were heading up to the third floor, Stacey wanted me to take a picture of her belly since we had not taken any pictures of late -- so there we were in the elevator taking a picture of her belly. We went to the main desk to check in and they asked Stacey what seemed to me like a million questions. I finally said something to them about her having major contractions and that she tends to have babies quickly and the receptionist finally said that she would get a nurse out to take Stacey back to a room. Stacey had at least two, if not three, contractions while being interviewed. Each time Stacey would say 'sorry' and the lady would respond "not a problem, just take your time." Finally, a nurse came and got Stacey and walked us back to her room -- a long walk in which Stacey had another two contractions. The nurse talked and asked questions and didn't seem to understand that we were in a hurry, and we shuffled slowly to the room. I thought that maybe the two hard contractions in about a minute's time would be a clue. Finally, she got Stacey into a room, laid her down, and got her comfortable. Again, just taking her time and eventually got around to checking the diameter of her cervix. After checking, there was clear panic in her demeanor but she tried to stay calm as she announced that Stacey was at a 7. She quickly ran out of the room and all of the sudden there were 5 or 6 people in the room setting things up. A rookie EMT and a nurse began to set-up an IV. The EMT stuck in the needle and missed her vein, so the nurse grabbed her other arm and stuck in the needle and hit a valve in the vein. She handed the contraption back to the EMT and he tried to stick in back in her right arm. Sounding very proud, he announced that he had got the vein and the IV was ready to start, but seconds later he said "I spoke too soon....but maybe we can still save it." I was about ready to explode with "Get someone in here who knows what they are doing!" Stacey said she could feel my anger and impatience! The nurse and the EMT then made a few adjustments and actually were able to save the IV and they got it running, but Stacey needed to get at least a liter of fluid in her before they could give her an epideral. It was a waiting game as Stacey suffered through more contractions and we all watched the fluid in the IV bag drain extremely slowly. Of course, by this time Lily was ready to come out. The midwife had arrived and checked Stacey and she was at a 9, so they called the anesthesiologist in. She arrived and the midwife said that the baby was on its way and that Stacey would not be able to get the epidural. The anesthesiologist said that she could give Stacey an interthecal(?) that would work just as good...but it didn't take well. Stacey begged for an epidural after experiencing several more contractions, and they considered doing it, but the midwife said something to the effect of "Stacey, you can do this -- many women throughout time have done it naturally." In my mind I was thinking "Yeah, but most of the time the men weren't there to see their wives go through that pain!" Stacey finally relented and she began pushing (approximately 3:15 pm). After a lot of yelling and screaming and pain, I was ready for Stacey to start pushing - ha ha. Stacey pushed 5 or 6 times and then the EMT came back into the room. He asked if he could watch the delivery of the baby. At this point, there had only been women in the room and Stacey's legs were high in the air. I tell Stacey wanted to say "What the hell?? Are you kidding me? Everyone else is watching." but it came out like "What the heck? Fine. Everyone else is here watching." The midwife decided to actually let the EMT deliver the baby and walked him through every step of the process. Stacey pushed for about an hour and several times declared "I can't do this any more" and I kept hoping that the baby would come out any second. We were not used to these 1 hours sessions of pushing the baby out, normally Stacey would push 5 or 6 times and the baby would come right out. Finally, we started to the see the head get closer to coming out, and with each push got closer and closer. It was so amazing when the head did finally pop out. Lily had her little hand up toward that back of her head and the cord was wrapped around her hand and neck -- with her hand keeping it from choking her, but it was amazing to me that her hand could actually be all the way behind her head in such a position. They were able to push the cord down her body as Stacey pushed Lily all the way out. The midwife took Lily and placed her on Stacey and finally Lily made a sound. At that moment all emotion flooded from Stacey and I as we amazed in the little body that lay before us. She was so beautiful! At 4:13 pm on July 13, Lily Elizabeth Griffin entered into this world. Stacey got to hold her for the next 45 minutes as she delivered the placenta and the midwife sewed up the wounds. A little after 5 pm, they nurse finally weighed and measured Lily at 7 lbs even and 19.5 inches long. Such an amazing experience and so different than the rest of the children since it was more of a natural birth. We are so excited for what experiences lay before us with her and the personality that she will add to the family. We are not so excited for all the sleepless nights STACEY is going to be having in the next little while - ha ha. Mama and baby are doing great and we spend a lot of time just sitting around holding our little one -- it is great!! I am sure there will be a lot of pictures on here in the days, months, and years to come...

After the game

At the game

3rd inning the score is 2 - 1.

At the game!

Hunter and I at the Keizer Volcano game... Not quite the same as the Rockies.

At the game

July 17th

At the doctor's office.

July 16th

HOme for lunch

Lily is going home!

Finally!

Lily in the morning

More

Pics

Baby

Baby is here!

4:13 pm

Sent from my iPhone

Drugs didn't work

Stacey is doing this naturally. They are about to break the water and baby will come flying out.

Sent from my iPhone

Getting epidural

2:36

Stacey dilated to a 9

Sent from my iPhone

At the hospital

Stacey is at the hospital. She called me at 12:16 and said to get home. She took a shower and we packed up the kids and dropped them off at the Moore's. We drove to the hospital and the checked her in. She is already dilated to a 6-7. Contractions started at 11am.

Sent from my iPhone

Lunch

Today, Stacey had a doctor's appointment so she dropped the kids off at my work and we went across the street to a park and had lunch. Stacey made us a lunch. The boys spent their time feeding the ducks and Sami chased a dog around.

Lunch

Five guys

Five guys just opened in Salem! We had to go there today to check it
out! Stacey wanted it sooooo bad - and a pregnant woman gets what a
pregnant woman wants. We are so glad that there is a five guys here.
Stacey said that she can now live in Salem!!

Five guys

Five guys

Five guys

Horse

Happenings

Another week has slipped by and the Month of June is starting to slip away. It is amazing how quick the weeks are going by and the weekends are going even faster!

THIS WEEK IN GRIFFIN LAND (TWGL):

Hunter and Ryan made it through the school year and it looks like their teachers are going to let them progress to the next level. Ryan graduated from 1st grade and Hunter graduated from 4th grade. It is amazing to think that both boys survived 3 schools in 3 states this year and made good friends in each place. Ryan was one of the tallest if not the tallest kid in each of his schools. He is a big boy. RIght now, Ryan is going through a stage where he only wears long sleeve shirts. No matter how hot he is or how hot the weather is, Ryan wants to wear a long sleeve shirt. He finally confided in Stacey as to why he likes long sleeve shirts and it is because he feels like his arms are too skinny. Basically, he wants to have big muscles and since he doesn't then he wants to cover his arms. We have frequently found him sleepy in his bed with his shirt stuffed with big arm and chest muscles. Funny kid. Ryan also lost his tooth this week. His second top front tooth. Hunter is still into legos. That is about all he eats, sleeps, and dreams about -- except for the occasional iChat and game playing with his cousin Dustyn. When they get online together that can play forever! We took Hunter and Ryan out to Red Robin on their last day of school to celebrate their accomplishment of making it through another year of school. This will be their first time having a full summer on a traditional system rather than the year round school. Hopefully, Stacey will be ready for that.

Sami is as sweet (and as princess) as ever. She is starting to communicate better or at least we are starting to understand her better. She still wants to have her way all the time and I usually let her have it....I mean, have you seen those puppy dog eyes and cute smile? She loves to play and she loves little kids. We went and picked Sami up from nursery the other day and the nursery leader asked if she had siblings. Stacey said that she had two older brothers, to which the nursery leader responded, "That makes sense - she plays like a boy! She plays hard!" But Sami also has a soft heart. She makes sure that people feel included and feel loved. She will frequently ask Stacey or I to lay with her at naps or going to bed. She makes sure that we have a blanket, a stuffed animal, and then she starts rubbing our faces and gives us kisses on the cheeks and says "Go Night-night." Also, many times after we eat dinner she will come up to me and say "Done?" I tell her that I am done and she puts my plate in the sink for me -- train them while they are young!

Stacey is doing well with the pregnancy. Though her back hurts and her toes have swelled up like sausages, she is hanging tough. The baby has been moving a ton lately, and has really been kicking Stacey in the ribs. The baby moves a lot more and causes a lot more pain then any of the other kids -- hopefully she is getting her 'being a pain in the butt' out now instead of later!! It is truly amazing how much she moves!!

Well, that is a quick update of the family.

Sami Shopping

We found the perfect place to take Sami shopping. Roth's has little
shopping carts for kids. Sami thought she was the queen of the
world...of course she always does!!

Status Update

It has been a little while since I have posted...hopefully, you will understand the reasons why 1) Moving and settling into the house 2) My job 3) The boys have been on the computer non-stop 4) it is baseball season, and 5) too tired an lazy. But I need to catch-up so I will try and fit a lot of the more interesting things in this post. First of all, the baby is 6 to 8 weeks away...and contrary to my wants we will not be naming the baby CATCHER, PRINCESS LEIA, or LITTLE FART (maybe we will have a 5th?). We have had some good experiences lately in the family...and I am not just talking about the all the yard work that we have been doing. For the first time in our family, we have been very disciplined about reading the scriptures (except when Cari and Scott were here) and it has got the kids thinking a lot. Ryan decided about two weeks ago that he wanted to bear his testimony at the next fast and testimony meeting, but he was nervous because he didn't know when he should go up. The bishopric actually came over to our house and issued Stacey and I callings (another story I will share at the end of this post) and Ryan asked the Bishop about sharing his testimony. I think the Bishopric helped ease his fears. So, on Sunday I asked Ryan if he was going to bear his testimony - after starting to get up and he would sit back down because someone else got up, then he finally went and sat on the stand and bore his testimony. It was simple and sweet about the church, families, and being grateful for a body. He did a fantastic job! Of course, Stacey and I were as proud as could be.

Hunter decided one night several weeks ago that he wanted to know if the church is true. So, each night Hunter ensures that him and I kneel down in PARTNER PRAYER (something my dad did with me growing up) and we offer a simple prayer to help Hunter know if the Church is true. Hunter is still waiting for his answer and each night we have a discussion about effective prayer and what Hunter needs to do get his prayers answered as well as trying to instruct Hunter on recognizing the spirit. It has been great. Also, I have taken a little extra time with Hunter each night to answer questions or to just talk with him. It has been such a great experience. Sometimes we talk about Legos or Star Wars, but most of the time we talk about important things in his life (turns out that it isn't always Legos and Star Wars). Some discussions end up going 30 to 40 minutes before we know it! But let me tell you something -- it is better than watching DANCING WITH THE STARS, AMERICAN IDOL, and (yes Amy) GLEE. It ranks right up there with THE OFFICE, MODERN FAMILY, and BASEBALL TONIGHT, however. I encourage everyone to take just an extra 15 minutes of YOUR time to spend talking with your kids (not sure how Austin or Colby will react to this, Sami mumbles something about Twinkle Twinkle).

I promised the story about the bishopric so here it is: The whole Bishopric came over to our house last Tuesday night to issue Stacey and I callings. Our whole family sat in on the discussion as the Bishopric welcomed us to the ward and issued our callings. Stacey got one of the best callings in the church (besides Sunday School Golf Instructor - which I am still pushing for in the church - unsuccessful so far). She does the weekly Bulletin or Program designer. I got called to be the 1st counselor in the Young Men's - so I work with the Teachers. As soon as I accepted the calling Hunter said "My Dad is not a fan of teenagers!" We all laughed as we weren't sure what he meant by that but he remembered an experience I had in our ward in Colorado where I chases some Priests around the church trying to get them to go to Mutual. Anyway, I do like Teenagers, but I am not going to be a fan of teenagers in a few years when Hunter hits that wonderful age...

HAPPY 81st

Today is my Grandpa's 81st birthday. I found this picture the other day and thought I would post it. The picture was taken right before I left on my mission...as you can see, both of us had a lot more hair. Also, the pictures shows that it is clear that I have ALWAY been able to whoop-up on my Grandpa...

Salem Monkey Infestation

Do I need to say anything more?

Day 7

Any change?

Did some yard work and put up some shelving. Stacey put together the
office. Though we spend about 4 hours each night organizing, it seems
we are moving at a snail's pace...

Sami pitching

Day 6

Here we are on day 6 with the house. We still have a lot to do. We
have most of the downstairs put away now except for the office. But
we still have a ton of boxes to go through out in the garage as
evidenced by the garage picture below this post. The washer and dryer
have been hooked up so we can now do laundry. Still a lot of work to
put in but we are getting there...

Day 6

Big Helper

Sami wanted me to take a picture of her. Once I did she carried my
phone around the house and he wouldn't stop looking at the picture and
saying "pretty girl."

Day 3

Day 3

More work to do...

Day 3

Today marks Day 3 in the house. We finally got all of our stuff over
to the house, with a little bit left in the apartment. We should be
fully moved in tonight. However, we have a lot of work to do to
unpack...

Livin' the Dream

Well, we were given the keys to the house today but we have not
officially been recorded to own the house. But we are cleaning it
tonight and getting ready to move. There is so excitement in the air...

Fast Sunday

Okay - so I know that this cartoon has nothing to do with Fast Sunday, but it does have to do with the church and Hunter likes Star Wars - so, yes this post is about Hunter. This past Sunday Hunter asked Stacey if it was fast Sunday, and after finding out that it was, he declared that he was going to fast. I was so proud of his decision to do that. So, we went into a quiet room in the apartment (not an easy thing to so) and I explained to him what typically takes place in fasting prayer to Heavenly Father. He was a little nervous about what to do and what to say, so I went ahead and said the prayer. Hunter decided that he wanted to fast for Mommy and the Baby that they would be healthy and strong. After we said Amen I told him how proud I was of him and felt like he understood the true purpose of fasting. Of course, 5 minutes later he said "So, can I have some breakfast?" I said no and explained to him again about fasting. "Okay," he said, "I will just have a glass of water." I explained he couldn't have water - "What? Well, what can I have?" I explained that he couldn't have anything because that was the purpose of fasting - making sacrifices to grow closer to Heavenly Father. "Okay, about some gum?" Umm...no, you can't have anything buddy. "No one told me that! I wouldn't have fasted if I had known that! This is hard." We talked a little further about fasting, the purpose, and how it is done. I said that he would just have to miss breakfast and lunch and right after church he could eat again. He was a trooper and did a good job, but of course, he got some candy at church and when we got in the car he said "Everyone be quiet while I close my fast." I was able to talk him into waiting until we got home - that 2 minute drive home - and he agreed. I was so proud that he wanted to fast and completed his fast, and that he fasted for his Mother and sister (in the belly).

Hunter's Art

Hunter has two teachers - Mrs. Snyder/Mrs. McClain.

Hunter's art

Ryan's Art

Tonight we went to Hunter and Ryan's school to see their art on display.

Ryan's first grade teacher is Mrs. Heideman.

Sent from my iPhone

Baby update

I am sitting at the doctors office as Stacey is getting her first baby
appointment here in Salem. We just heard the baby's heartbeat and she
sounds strong. Isn't Stacey's belly looking beautiful? She is
currently at 27 weeks.

My Assistant

When Sami came to my office recently, she immediately grabbed a pad of
paper and a pen and went and sat down on a stool between my two filing
cabinets. If she could stay put there, I would love to have her int
office all day long... But she NEVER stays put long...

Sami afraid

Here is a picture of Sami today standing outside of the house as it
was getting inspected. She was a little scared of something....

I am running a little test to see if I can now post pictures directly
to my blog through my cell phone. You will see in a post below that I
can now text directly to my blog through my cell phone. This is so
amaZing and will add a new dimension to my blogging efforts...

The thing Sami was afraid of