Trip to Utah

I have to catch up on our trip to Utah. On March 14th, Stacey and I packed the family in the car and we headed to Utah. We left after work on that day and drove until about 11 pm at night and found a hotel in Rock Springs. The kids did fantastic in our drive. We thought Samantha would have a hard time but she did wonderfully. We stopped for food and gas on a couple of occasions and she fed and that was enough to keep her happy on the trip. Of course, she slept a lot of the ride and made for a horrible night in the hotel as she was up all night long. On Friday, we drove into SLC and went over to Great Grandma McClanahan's house and visited with her for a while and had lunch. Then, we went to Grandma McClanahan's house and visited with Melanie and the girls until Grandma came home. The reason why we went to Utah was to bless Samantha and to let the family see Samantha. Marci and Jon, Amy and Jeremy, Jena -Dennis and family, and Mom, Dad, and Brandon came from Idaho to see Samantha. With Tim and Misty and Melanie and her girls we had a full house. Oh yes, Brook and Emily and family also joined us for the blessing. We figured we had 45+ people in the house for the blessing and them feeding them. Grandma and Grandpa McClanahan were so awesome to host everyone and feed them! The next day we were able to visit with all the family and then they had to head back to Idaho Falls. On Monday, Stacey and I and the family ran around SLC and hit some stores that she wanted to go to. Then, that night we had dinner with the Albrecht's and the Monroes at Ruby River. On Tuesday, Grandpa, Hunter, and I worked on his pinewood derby car. He was so excited to work on that. We cut out the car, buffed the wheels, and placed the first coat of paint on the car. Wednesday, we had to travel back home to Colorado, but we had such a good time in Utah - especially being able to see family and for family to see Samantha!!

Finished

So, I met my goal for the year and I read the Book of Mormon all the way through. My goal was to read the Book of Mormon 7 pages a day and it would take about 73 days to finish the book. I started around Januray 2nd or 3rd and finished on March 25th, about 8 days later than I expected. I attribute it to the fact that we went to Utah last week (gotta blame it on something). But even though I am few days late, I am still excited about reaching my goal of finishing the book and was only a little off on my target. Setting and accomplishing goals are so important in life as well as reading scripture. Do both or combine both and you will be set in your life. I guess now I need to start over or read the Bible...

Talent Show

Today was the Westridge Primary Ward Talent Show. Many of the kids showcased their talents as did Hunter and Ryan. Hunter built a lego castle and put it on display. He named it SKELETONS & MONSTERS vs. KNIGHTS. It was a fantastic lego display that he spent most of the night working on. Ryan made two batches of brownies (with his Dad's help) - enough to feed the whole primary. Both of them were so excited to display their talents and they did a wonderful job. Stacey and I were so proud of them!!

What's Your Lunch Special?

Stacey, Hunter, Ryan and Samantha came to visit me at work yesterday and take me to lunch. We went to a nice sit down restaurant. We sat down, ordered our drinks, and took a look at the menu. We visited for a while and our drinks finally arrived. Hunter and Ryan quickly started slurping down their drinks as Stacey and I visited on the far side of the table. All of the sudden I heard a big SPLAT on the floor. Stacey and I looked over to see Hunter bent over with stuff hanging from his mouth and nose as he had just got done upchucking on the floor. I grabbed a waiter and told him what happened and told him that we were going to leave. They totally understood and told us not to worry about the bill and we quickly left the building. It turned out that Hunter was fine and he had been reading while Stacey drove the family to my work - he just got a little car sick. We got him all cleaned up and doing fine and we quickly ran into Panda Express and grabbed some Orange Chicken.

Don't Smile

One thing that I have always done with our boys when they are in a bad mood or are crying is that I will say "Don't Smile!" However, it is done in a way that is kind of silly and always makes them laugh. Even when the tears are streaming they still get a kick out of it and laugh. Even after the hundreds of times that I have said it, they still laugh. Well, last night I came home from work and Stacey was in bed tired after a long night's battle with Samantha. She was awake but was pretending to sleep for some reason, so I whispered "Don't Smile!" and of course she couldn't hold it in and starting laughing. We ended up laughing and laughing about it for quite some time. Just one of those silly moments in the Griffin family that made us laugh!

Firopractor

Ryan is such a little cutie. I just have to mention that whenever he talks about going to the chiropractor he always calls it the "firopractor" and that he is going to get "adusted."

Going to the Firopractor to get Adusted. It is so cute!

Hunter's busy week

This week has been a very fun and exciting week for Hunter. First of all, at school Hunter dressed up as George Washington, his hero, and his class put on a wax museum exhibit. All the students had sticker on their hand that people were to press to activate the Wax statutes. So, Hunter was the wax statue of GW. His teacher let the students all decide their own thing that they could say and Hunter's went somthing like this, "Hello, My name is George Washington. I want to be remembered for the Washington Monument. If I were to come back today, I would free America from the British." It was so cute! He did a fantastic job. Stacey made a cool costume for him, equipped with a white wig with curls like in that time period. Then, later that night Hunter received his bobcat award in cub scouts. I think I embarassed him some. The ward does not present the bobcat in the 'traditional' manner of turning the kid upside down and the mother pinning the badge on - once the kid does a good turn, then the badge is turned right-side up. Anyway, I asked the scout leaders if we could do that and they thought it would be great. So, I turned Hunter upside down and Mommy placed the badge on him. We were so proud of him getting his bobcat badge. He memorized all the cub scout promises, mottos, handshakes, etc. and worked on the requirements for getting the badge. He is on his way in the scouting program.

Today (Sat. March 1), our family got together with the neighbors - the Feigers and ate lunch. Before that, Hunter and Ryan played with their little boys in the park. The weather was absolutely beautiful today, pretty warm for this time of year - around 70 degrees. After lunch, Hunter and I sat up his baseball pitch-back and he played with that all afternoon. He said that he wants to become as good as Clint Barmes from the Colorado Rockies. It didn't take Hunter long to get the hang of the device and in no time he was easily catching the balls that would come bouncing back in his direction. That kid wants to be a ball player!!

Grandma Griffin Visits

On Wednesday February 20th, Grandma Griffin came to visit us for a week. Hunter and Ryan could not wait for her to arrive. We loved having Grandma here for a week. With her new job she can work from any computer anywhere so it allowed her to come and visit us for so long without having to take time off from work. We had so much fun! Of course, she spent a lot of time holding Samantha and spoiling Ryan and Hunter, but they loved it so much. Samantha even smiled for the first time - over and over again - while Grandma was here, and had a lot to do with her smiling. When Grandma wasn't with the kids, we got to visit with her, watch some movies, and played a lot of Ticket to Ride. But as all things do, her visit had to come to an end. We were very sad to see it end. But we are excited to see her and the rest of the family in a couple of weeks when we head to Utah for the blessing of Samantha. We can't wait!

Garbage Men

Ryan has always had this thing for Garbage trucks. He thinks they are pretty cool for some reason. Today, both Ryan and Hunter got the opportunity to act like Garbage men as they went to my firm and picked up trash outside the building. The wind blew a lot of trash over the past months in to the bushes and trees outside the firm and made everything look grimy. So, Kirby Joseph agreed to let Hunter come and pick up trash and earn money. Hunter invited Ryan to come along as well. We spent over two hours crawling through bushes and thorny trees picking up trash, but in the end the boys did a fantastic job. The collected two large bags of trash and really cleaned up the outside of the building. At times, they would get distracted but we were able to complete the task. Hunter was excited to earn money and Ryan was excited to be a part of the whole thing - though he only earned $1 but did a lot more work than that! However, Ryan did find a dollar bill while picking up trash which he was so excited about. I am so proud of how hard they worked and how good everything looked when they completed their job. They are such good and wonderful boys!!

Captain Underpants and other Strange things

On Grandma Griffin's b-day, Ryan had to go visit the doctor. Ryan has complained of some chest pains at various times in the past 3 or 4 weeks, so Stacey took him to the doctor to get it checked out. Apparently, the doctor did an EKG and took some chest X-rays but they believe that there is nothing wrong with him. He may have a little acid reflux. But while at the doctor's office, they decided to give him his 5-year old shots. He got three shots (just for the record - none were injections of steroids - though I want him to be a baseball player, I don't want him to be one that bad!). He said they hurt but according to him he 'only cried a little.' Mommy was good enough to reward him for being so good by taking him to Target and he got to pick out a toy - he settled on a Star Wars battle droid lego set. He was such a big boy and so proud of himself for being so strong. Hunter reminded me that when he was five he got his shots and picked out an orange tow truck Transformer - honestly, that kid has such a great memory - he remembers where he got every single toy from the time that he was 2. Hunter is now reading his third Captain Underpants book. Actually, he checked it out of the library yesterday and starting reading it today and finished reading it right before bed. I think the book has about 200 pages in it, but it keeps his 8-year old mind occupied and he will read it cover to cover. Strang book and strange title, but apparently the book is a popular book for 9 and 10 year old boys. He is also reading a book called Poppy Returns. This is a little slower reading than Captain Underpants, but he will read a couple of chapters a night and is getting toward the end. I am glad that he is reading as much as he does, and I don't mind that he is reading Captain Underpants, even if Captain Underpants is taking on the Nasty Nose Nuggets....

Book of Mormon in 75 days

It has been quite a while since I have read the Bible or the Book of Mormon, so I decided that in 2008 that I would read the Book of Mormon within 90 days. I set the goal to read 7 pages a day which makes it so I can read the whole book in about 72 or 73 days. I am currently at page 272, which is about a day or 2 behind where I should be. But so far things are going well. I realize that this is probably not the best way to read scripture, but I figured that just reading and finishing the book is better then what I have done recently, i.e. not reading at all. The best way to read is to study, ponder, and pray about the things you read - then ask our Heavenly Father if the things you have read are true. The Holy Spirit will witness to you that those things are true by feelings of calmness, understanding, and burning desire in your heart. I will keep you posted as to when i finish the book.

A Simple Fire Truck

Ryan is almost 5 years old. He has been our baby for so long - but now with Samantha in the picture he looks like a giant compared to her. He seems to have grown up very quickly in the past 2 weeks, but he still is my little boy. Ryan received a present from his Grandma and Grandpa McClanahan on Wednesday - it was an early birthday present. They bought him a lego firetruck. Hunter and Ryan spent quite a bit of time putting that truck together. Hunter has become somewhat of an expert at putting together Legos, so Ryan let him at it and offered some help. Today, Ryan got mad at his Mom and so he broke apart his firetruck. Mommy told him that she wasn't going to help him put it back together because of the way he acted. Well, after quite some time he realized what a mistake he made in breaking apart his firetruck and he asked Mommy to help him put it back together again. She reiterated the fact that she wasn't going to help him. He asked for the directions and she got them for him. He ended up following the directions and putting that firetruck back together. When we got home tonight one of the first things he told me was that he put that lego firetruck together by himself. I was so proud of him and amazed that he could do that by himself. He is really growing up and becoming more and more self-sufficient. He was also so proud of himself for accomplishing that. As a Dad, I get this overwhelming feeling of love when I see my boys accomplishing tasks or doing things that show they are growing up. Even when Hunter does something as simple as putting the trash can away, I see him growing up and I can't believe I have a son that can accomplish a more mature task. I can't wait until both Hunter and Ryan can shovel the snow off the driveway and mow the lawn....