griffeth family photos

Back in October, we had family pictures taken. I never posted any because they were used as gifts to grandparents for Christmas and I wanted it to be a fun surprise to get a decent photo of our little family.

So, here ya go. Our family pictures in 2009. At the end of the shoot, Nate was still happy so I brought out the cowboy gear in hopes to get one cute one to give to my parent's for their cabin. They turned out to be my favorite!











cowboy style . . .

Thank you Jamie!

christmas week - part 2 - christmas eve & christmas day

we had a great christmas this year. we stayed put and celebrated with my family.



christmas eve.

we typically have a random bunch of friends and family at my parent's house for dinner on christmas eve but this year it was just our immediate family. so sam came up with the idea to skip the traditional ham dinner and go for mexican.

and boy, was it tasty.

nate and i went over to my parent's house around noon to eat lunch and then have nate take a nap while i helped get food ready. sam was there, too. she made enchiladas. my mom got tamales & made homemade salsa. i {or should we say wes} made guacamole and nachos. and tripp/ali made carne asada tacos and yummy dip. i'm still craving those tacos.

other than the change in menu, it was our typical christmas eve. we cook quite a bit during the day. eat dinner. and then do something christmasy. this year we went over to our good friends, the earls house, where santa paid us a visit and we performed the nativity to bring in the christmas spirit. and they treated us to a chocolate fountain. delish.



santa's visit . . . he brought all of the marz grandkids pajamas and the adults movie tickets! This was the first time Nate willingly sat on Santa's lap. I think it's because he saw the big boys, Noah and Ikey Earl, do it with ease.



the nativity . . . our wise men and the donkey



the earls live a few houses down from my parent's so we walked over there. and of course, my mom had us sing christmas carols as we walked. abbie and nate loved it . . . especially singing jingle bells.




christmas morning at the griffeth house.



nate asked santa for two things: a garbage truck & drums. he must have been a good boy this year because he got both and a few other items from santa. he was so excited as he walked down the stairs and saw santa's presents sitting on the couch. he gasped in excitement!

i have to say that this santa thing is pretty fun. this is our first year with a kid old enough to believe in the magic and kind of get it.


christmas day at grandma and papa's.

from this point on, i was slacking with the camera. grandma & papa marz had us all over to open presents and eat brunch. our usual tradition. the kiddos did really well at first and then got a little bored of the present opening when they realized all of the presents weren't for them! but as always, they were spoiled and got lots of new things to play with.

while the Thompsons headed home for afternoon naps and new-toy-playing time - I sent my parents, wes & sam off to the movies to see sherlock holmes while I stayed at the house while nate took a nap. I got a little rest on the couch while I started reading my new book. {thanks alyssa!}

We never do a big christmas dinner on christmas day . . . so i convinced my family to give in to the pregnant lady's cravings of chicken salad sandwiches and salads! they were yummy.

we had a wonderful christmas season with family & friends. we always enjoy focusing on our Savior this time of year.

Happy New Year!

christmas week - part 1 - disneyland

My family LOVES Disneyland. We always have. But we've never made a trip in December to see the magic of Disney combined with the magic of Christmas. So this year we decided to go the week of Christmas on my mom's birthday which means she got in for free and received many birthday wishes with her birthday pin on.

Speaking of getting in free - Wes' mom gave us a ticket last year that she has held on to for 27+ years! In the early 1980's Disneyland celebrated their 30th anniversary and every 30th person through the gates got a free ticket. Wes was the 30th person through the gate and Doreen still had that free ticket and it worked! Wes got in free, too! All the lady behind the counter could say is "wow". The ticket looked like it was from the 1960's!



We drove down to California on Monday. We left around noon anticipating being to the hotel no later than 4:30pm. Thanks to a major accident that left us in a standstill we finally arrived around 8:15pm. Talk about a long journey with toddlers. As soon as we all arrived, the cousins ran around the hotel room thrilled to see each other and be out of a car seat!

{Nate was ready for his road trip with his slurpee, green gum, blanky & his headphones}

On Tuesday morning we headed to Disneyland for a day of fun. Wes originally wasn't going to be able to come because work is so busy right now but gave me an early Christmas present and figured out a way to join us! Nate and I both loved having dad there.

Nate absolutely LOVED Disneyland with the family. He loved having his cousins there, aunts/uncle & grandma/papa. He was in heaven. I've been teaching him about Disney characters for months now and it definitely paid off just seeing his face when we saw a new character or ride. His excitement started in the parking lot when he saw Mickey on the posts telling us where we parked. He gasped in excitement over and over.



Pluto is one of his favorites - he was the first character we saw walking in to Disneyland. Nate wasn't shy at all . . . he was so excited to meet his favorite dog! Seeing the characters (his "friends" as he calls them) was by far one of his favorite things about the day.





Nate loves his cousins which made his big day at Disneyland complete. He held Abbie's hand a good majority of the day.







Some of the lines were somewhat long but I was actually expecting longer since school was out and it was the week of Christmas. By the end of the day the place was packed but it was still really fun to spend the day with the entire family riding rides, eating treats, and enjoying the magic of Disneyland!

Nate loved all of the rides but I'll never forget his first ride on Peter Pan. He's obsessed with Peter Pan and loved seeing all of the characters on the ride. After riding the teacups with everyone but his mom and dad - he said, "i get so dizzy."




Disneyland all decorated for Christmas was pretty neat.




I have to say that I was very impressed with Nate and all of the little guys on our adventure. They all had significantly less sleep than usual and were still pretty well behaved the entire day. They definitely wanted to be held a lot in line - but other than that they were troopers. Nate was a little sneaky and managed to escape the line a few times when I took my eyes off him for a few seconds!

We left around 8pm and made the trek home that night which actually turned out to be a great idea, in my opinion! I was definitely exhausted on Wednesday but it was nice to wake up in my own bed and have the traveling part over. Thanks Sam for staying awake and driving me and Nate home safely!


Thanks mom and dad for an early Christmas present - it was a fun trip to Disneyland! I can't wait for our next Disney adventure.

my little sis

My parents get an updated picture of their grandkids {and sometimes kids} pretty regularly between me and Ali. But they've been begging Sam for a few pictures of her to put up around the house for a while now. So she asked me, her know-very-little-about-photography sister to take a few of her to give to my parents for Christmas. So here they are. A few of Samantha Anne.

Since my parents are not blog followers, I thought I'd post them! We sure do like Sam - we just might frame one ourselves to have in our house.

Maybe one day I'll know what I'm doing with my camera. That's the goal, at least.

the blind side

Wes and I only see a few movies a year in the theatre . . . and tonight was one of them. MANY people recommended The Blind Side so we went and saw it. And LOVED it. It was clean. Inspiring. Just a good flick. And in my opinion, you can't go wrong with Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw.

It's the first movie I've seen in a long time where you leave wanting to be a better person. Wanting to give another kid a chance at life. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the date night, Wes!

the most wonderful time of the year

I love December.

I love the parties. Christmas music. The gift giving. The focus on our Savior. Time with family. Christmas decorations & lights. Receiving Christmas cards. The spirit of Christmas.

We've had a fun December so far. It started with decorating our house and putting up the tree. Here's a glimpse of our house this year.



Nate is absolutely obsessed with Christmas trees and visits ours regularly throughout the day.

We've had book club christmas parties (2 to be exact), a ward christmas party, a "favorite things" party with good friends, visits to Santa, enrichment christmas evening, and even a 30th birthday bowling party.

Our ward Christmas breakfast was a Polar Express theme where the kids got to listen to the Polar Express story & then ride a train to the North Pole to visit Santa. It was adorable.

Nate had been asking to see Santa for weeks but when it came time to sit on his lap, he wasn't having it. This is as close as we got. But he did manage to ask him for a garbage truck - his only request this Christmas other than drums.

My good friend Anya threw her hubby a 30th birthday party at Boulder Bowl. She's extremely creative and based the invite and theme around Sam's nasty mustache. Hence our mustache "mug shot."

We've enjoyed the holiday season so far. Ten more days till the big day and 6 more days before we go to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Merry Christmas!

National Finals Rodeo

For Wes' bday in October, I gave him tickets to the NFR. We always go to the PBR but we went for the first time on Monday night to the NFR and it was really fun! Those cowboys are absolutely amazing with some of the stuff they are willing to do.

Since it was a school night and I didn't want to keep my 13-year-old babysitters out too late, Nate had a slumber party at my parents house. He did great and loves spending time with his grandma and papa marz.

It was a nice date night out for Wes and I. We haven't been out with just the two of us in a really long time!

a weekend with the girls in LA

My college friends ROCK. I lived with Laurel P. & Trisha {pictured above} all four years at BYU so you can imagine the fun times we had together. We had a fourth dear friend live with us for a few of the years {Laurel W.} but she lives in New York and couldn't make it to our girls weekend! We missed you Laurel W.

Trisha & I both live in Vegas so we hopped in the car on Friday and drove to LA to see Laurel {and her hubby, Ryan}. Laurel usually comes to us so we decided it was time to go to her and see her neck of the woods. I'm so glad we went - we had a great time catching up and relaxing.

The best part? We're all pregnant! There was alot of baby talk going on. Laurel is having her first baby, I'm on my second, and Trish is on her third. With all of us in different stages of pregnancy - it was pretty funny to watch. You can see the belly progression . . .



I had a great time with these girls. It's amazing that it's been 10 years since we started our college journey and 6 years since we lived together. It was like nothing had changed - we always pick right up where we left off. I love these girls! Here's a few things about our weekend:

. It's still not safe to completely trust Laurel's directions
. Never drive by the Barstow exit with two pregnant ladies who have to pee
. With three prego ladies together, you spend a lot of time eating and in the bathroom
. Trish set a rule that we couldn't eat at any restaurant that exists in Las Vegas - which was fun. We ate at The Counter {delicious sweet potato fries & shakes}, Tido's tacos, & an Italian restaurant and got YUMMY cookies from some icecream joint!
. For Trish and I - it was fabulous to be on our own schedule and not our kiddos. We didn't wake up to a toddler. We didn't have to be home for naps. We went out to eat and went shopping in peace. It's the simple things these days that make for a great day!
. I love IKEA and wish we had one in LV.
. We went shopping at The Grove - a fun outdoor mall that was very festive.
. California traffic sucks.
. Laurel found our college video that I made for them when we graduated so of course we watched it. It was pretty funny.
. We watched a favorite movie of ours, Father of the Bride Part II.
. Manicures & pedicures - the best girl activity.
. Good friends are the best!

Special thanks to Wes and Josh for taking the kids and to Ryan for spending a weekend with three pregnant ladies. Sorry we limited your sports watching on such a big weekend!

I'm thinking this girls weekend thing needs to happen more often.

thanksgiving 2009 - georgia

We spent a week in Georgia for Thanksgiving visiting Wes' cute family. We always enjoy seeing them - especially when all of us are able to be there! It was great having the entire clan together. This year the family consists of 10 adults, 2 kids, 4 toddlers & 2 newborns with 2 babies on the way in 2010!

The week consisted of: a lot of chatting and catching up, cooking and more cooking, baking, what seemed like endless sinks of dishes, laughter, toddlers laughing & fighting, playing games, college football, Zoo Atlanta, dinner at Spencer & Leigh’s, black Friday shopping, Lassiter football game, the Jefferson Township park, a visit to Melissa & Robert, seeing April & Gareth, family pictures, and more!

ZOO ATLANTA



I was determined to take Nate to Zoo Atlanta since we don’t have one here in Vegas and he is obsessed with animals. The weather cooperated so off we went! Nate was in h e a v e n not only because of the animals but because he got to go with a few of his cousins. He absolutely loves them. Bayley and Kendal held his hand and took him all over the zoo. Olivia joined up with them as soon as she got there!




One funny thing about Nate at the zoo – he’d get right up the front and yell “come over here” to the animals. He wanted them as close as possible. So of course, when they didn’t listen, he’d turn around to us and say “ears not working!” I always ask him if his ears work when he isn’t listening so apparently he gets the concept since the animals were ignoring him!



We ended the trip to the zoo with the playground, a carousel ride & the train.




DINNER AT SPENCER & LEIGH’S IN ELLIJAY, GEORGIA

A few weeks ago, my sis-in-law Leigh left me a message asking what my favorite dinner and dessert was. I didn’t think much of it but come to find out she was planning a dinner at her house to celebrate the birth of our little boy in February!

She went all out on my favorites - tacos and ice cream and much more. Her home was beautiful as always, decorated with Christmas, and she made a delicious dinner for all of us with an amazing presentation. There were so many yummy things to choose from! It was a wonderful night in their home . . . thanks again for thinking of us and putting so much time in to such a nice evening! Wes and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.


FAMILY PICTURES



Since we had everyone together – we all decided that an updated family photo was a must. Leigh found a great photographer who met us at a park on Wednesday afternoon for some photos. I brought my camera and got a few – I’ll post the professional ones once I get my disk.

{However, I think I'm going to instigate a new rule that a 7 month pregnant person should not be in family photos! It's not pretty. Notice you won't see me in a single photo - I prefer to stay behind the lens these days.}

our two newest additions - both born in September - Addison & Jaidyn

the thornton kiddos [wes' sister's kids]


nate enjoying the outdoors


kids playing




leigh and baby jaidyn



THANKSGIVING DAY

We had a pretty relaxing Turkey Day. Lots of cooking going on in the morning while the cousins played. Alyssa and I found these rice krispie turkeys online so we got everything ready for the kiddos to make them. They had a great time - these are their masterpieces.



Wes, Nate & I ran out to see a good friend of his, Melissa and her husband Robert that morning but the rest of the day was spent at home. We had a delicious thanksgiving meal that we all pitched in on. Many hands definitely made for light work that day! The best part? We all opted to eat at 2:30 so all kids were asleep except for the older Thornton girlies – Bayley & Kendal. It was nice to enjoy a meal without toddlers!

BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING
Somehow I never knew about this day until I became a Griffeth. And now it’s a tradition – as crazy as it is sometimes! After 3 hours of sleep, I got up at 4am to join the girls for a morning of shopping. While I wasn’t absolutely thrilled with the sale selection – I did manage to get all of our Griffeth Christmas shopping done which was a big accomplishment for me! Leigh and I were out the longest – finally returning home at 1pm. That’s a good 8 hours of shopping and the day was only half over!

A FEW NATE THINGS TO REMEMBER . . . .

HIS FEELINGS ABOUT ALABAMA
He’s been talking about going to Alabama for a month now. {we fly in to Birmingham, Alabama to cash in on our southwest RR points and then we drive to Atlanta}. We got to Alabama about 8pm on Saturday and we’re on our drive to Atlanta and Nate is still asking to go to Alabama. We explain that we are in Alabama but he wasn’t feeling it. I’m not sure what he was expecting. Then we get to Chic-fil-A to get some dinner and we ask him if he wants French fries and of course he says yes. Well, they have waffle fries so I hand him one and he says, “I don’t like Alabama fries.”

SO EXCITED THAT HE COULDN'T SLEEP.
He had the week of his life with his cousins. He had such a hard time going to sleep because he was afraid he was missing a party with his cousins. He laid in bed repeating “play toys” and as soon as we’d go in there to get him he’d say “where is everybody?” The room he was sleeping overlooked the main area of the house downstairs so it got a little noisy at times. One night he would not go to sleep so I went in there and told him it was bedtime and he looked at me with his innocent little face and said, "but everybody talking!" I couldn't trick him.

COUSIN LOVE.


Nate loved all of his cousins but he especially bonded with Kendal on this trip. Kendal is our adorable five-year-old niece who absolutely loves little kids and being a mommy. So Nate not only loved her but she enjoyed playing with him, too! He c o n s t a n t l y asked for Kendal – wanting to know where she was at all times! She was absolutely adorable with Nate. Alisha, I wasn’t kidding about shipping her out to me for a few weeks this summer!



BABY LOVE.
Nate also loved the two babies in the house. I was curious to see how this would go - he loved them! I know part of it was due to the fact that there were so many other people for him to play with but he was very aware of where the babies were and wanted them by him a lot of the time. He’d say “little baby. Be soft with baby. Kiss baby. Baby eat.” Etc. It was a good preview for him, I think!

Thanks Griffeth clan for a great week. A special thanks to Robert & Doreen for hosting all of us and making it such a memorable holiday.