griffeth family vacation - part 2

Our "week at the lake" tradition started six years ago and we love it every year. This year we had 8 adults and 8 kiddos {we missed you Grant, Alyssa & Olivia!}. It's always fun to see how all of the kids have grown up and how their personalities have developed even more. The cousins sure have a blast together!

Our days were spent on the lake, in the swimming pool or playing games. The pool is beautiful at the top of a hill overlooking the lake. It's perfect!





Ryan loved his first swimming adventure.









The kids spend a lot of time on the back decks playing and riding bikes & scooters.




Ryan's big cousins loved him and were so cute with the little guy.



Nate and Trey were best buds this trip. They were often found being your typical 2 & 3 year old little boys. Sometimes just being goofy and sometimes causing a little mischief. By the end of the trip, they were separated at the dinner table! I know Nate loved having a big boy cousin to tag along with. I'm pretty sure Spence will be in on the boy craziness next year. If we lived closer to them - these little guys would be BUDS.




We had smores one night.





Golf cart rides were a hit. And quite convenient going from the lake to the house to the pool.



On this trip . . .

. we played lots of games. the usual - Rook, Dalmooty & Five Crowns as well as Monopoly Deal and Buzzword.

. There were lots of hands to help with the babies which was nice.

. Nate slept in the closet on a bunch of blankets on the floor. He thought his bed was pretty cool. On most mornings, around 6am, Nate would be half-asleep walking through the bedroom saying he was ready to play. Luckily he went right back to bed!

. Ryan slept in the bathroom. He was a crappy sleeper which made the nights exhausting as I paced the bathroom for sometimes hours trying to get him to sleep without waking up the entire house! He's starting to take after his brother as a terrible night sleeper. Good thing the days at the lake made up for the rough nights!

. We forgot Nate's blanky at Alisha's (we went there first before the lake) so Wes and Spencer made a 4 hour round trip road trip to get it. Yes, he's slightly attached to the thing.

. Trey & Nate = partners in crime.

. I think exhaustion played in a role in Nate's screaming on our way back to Alisha's from the lake. Alisha and I pulled over and made him get in the car with Wes and Jeff!

. Nate took a spill in the truck when Wes slammed on the brakes to get a tube that fell out of the back of the truck. Poor Nate slammed in to the dash!

. Ryan loved his grandma G. and often times tried to eat her face when he was hungry. He'd dive at her with his mouth wide open. It was hilarious.

. we had yummy food. Leigh always bakes her choc chip cookies (they are the best I've ever had) as well as a fabulous lemon cake. That's part of the reason I always gain weight on these lake trips.

Our little family in Alabama.


Griffeth clan - we are READY for next year! We wish we saw you all more often.

lake wedowee, alabama - griffeth family vacation 2010 - part 1

We had a fabulous vacation with the Griffeth family last week at Lake Wedowee in Alabama. I'm excited that my kids will have this tradition to look forward to every summer. It's full of fun & laughter the entire week!

part [one]: the lake



I love being out on the lake.

We jet skiied. We knee-boarded. We wakeboarded. We tubed. We hung out on the boat. We swam in the lake.

It was FUN. The lakes out in Alabama are beautiful & green - such a change of scenery for those of us who come from the desert. And the lake is the absolute perfect temperature. We spent a full week in the water.

a little {tubing}


some {kneeboarding}





some jetskiing.

some fun on the {boat and in the water}

Thanks to two wonderful grandparents who stayed back with the babies a number of times - we got to enjoy some fun times out on the water. A few things to remember:

- Nate was super excited to get out on the tube for the first time on Monday. And then Spencer flipped him off the tube (not on purpose) and Wes landed on him which kind of ended his excitement until we got him back on the tube on Thursday. He managed to stay on the tube this time (there was a moment when I thought he was flipping off again!) and he was over his fear.

- Wes wins the award for best crash on the kneeboard. I wasn't there to witness it but apparently the front of the board caught the water and he slammed face first. Ouch.

- All of the kids enjoyed being out on the boat and jet skis. They were in heaven.

A special thanks to all of the east coast Griffeths for buying all of the fun water toys and letting us come use them! This was our first year out on the lake with a boat . . . thanks Spencer & Leigh. It made it really fun for all of us to be together!

This is what happens when every day is non-stop fun. Lots of yawning from a 2 year old.

Part 2 coming soon . . .

signing off . . .

To spend another week in Alabama at the lake with these wonderful people {wes' family}.

It's gonna be fun.



We've hit the stage with Nate where he is getting excited about things. He has been talking about going to Alabama for weeks - even though he doesn't really understand what that means. He knows we'll be riding on an airplane and that we get to swim and go on boat rides once we get there. And he knows that he gets to play with his cousins. He specifically remembers Kendal, Spence & Jaidyn and asks about them being at the lake. Today during what was supposed to be his nap - he had all kinds of questions. A few were:

- "is Ryan coming to Alabama?"

- "do I get my gummy worms on the airplane?"

- "are we leaving right now?"

Get ready cousins. Nate's ready to play. {We'll miss you Grant, Alyssa & Olivia!}

Ryan is rolling over

Ryan started rolling over this week from his tummy to his back. All he really has to do is lean over just enough and then his weight forces him to tumble over. He's pretty close to going from his back to his tummy, too.

He's getting really strong holding his head up. He loves to look in to a big mirror and smile at himself! He also likes to press off his legs and move himself around. I have a feeling he may be a mover a little sooner than Nate was!

happiness in a plastic cup

I had Nate screaming from his bedroom because he doesn't want to take a nap while Ryan was shrieking from his room [he's got some powerful lungs] when Sam walked in with a Diet Coke fountain drink.



And it made my afternoon much better.

Thanks, Sam.

let the swimming begin

We've had fun in the water in the last few days.




On Wednesday night we decided that while our pool was still chilly - it was swimable.

So we had a little swimming get-together with a few friends from my old ward on Thursday morning for a little trial run and it was really fun! I was glad to see that Nate is still my little fish. Right when I got the boys in their beds for an afternoon nap - Sam called to see if she could come work on her tan in our backyard. Nate never did fall asleep so I let him back in the pool with his Aunt Sam later in the afternoon.

On Friday Nate got to swim with Wes when he got home from work while I got all of my yardwork done for the weekend.

On Saturday we spent a good chunk of the day in my parent's pool with my whole fam. My parents invited us over for a yummy lunch and time in the pool. It was time for Abbie & Daisy to go home for quiet time and since Ryan was still asleep inside we decided to stay. Kyle opted to stay with us and it was fabulous. He was sooooo good with Nate! They played and played in the pool. I offered Kyle a summer job of entertaining Nate!

I wasn't thrilled at the idea of having a pool but now that it's over 100 degrees outside - I'm loving it. I can see a glimpse of life in a few years when both kids can swim and life in the summer is GOOD.

Nate LOVES the pool. On Thursday he wanted to swim with his vest and floaties but by Friday he was done with the floaties and swimming all over the pool with just his vest. He's quite the little fish. Ryan was perfectly fine sitting in the water in the shade!

[thanks, ali for the photos]

memorial weekend: the cabin 2010

We spent Memorial weekend at the cabin with my parents and a little bit of Sam. Here's a little bit about this trip:

cabin car rides





. nate loves the 4 wheelers and the mule. wes or my dad always take him on a trail to see the horses. this time he got to ride on a horse and feed one. he loved it.


fishing boat on panguitch lake





. we met up with our good friends, the Earls, and went out on a boat on Panguitch lake to do some fishing. This time Gerry caught one! The Marz/Griffeths have yet to have any luck on this lake when we're together. Maybe over 4th of July.


Duck Creek Days dance festival - a Memorial Weekend Tradition







. down at Duck Creek village they always have a dancing party over Memorial Day weekend. Nate went right up on stage and started dancing with grandma. Then he eyed a group of girls and they were nice enough to invite them in to their dancing circle. He was quite the ladies man.


a bunch of single folks joined us.



Sam spent the weekend in Panguitch with some of her friends and they all came to our cabin in Duck Creek on Sunday to spend the afternoon and have dinner. I have to say that these friends were hilarious and we enjoyed their company. For the sake of remembering a few laughs, "how y'all doing?" said Melissa.

It was a FUN weekend. Entertaining Nate is a piece of cake up there. He absolutely loves the simplest things: taking a walk to look for deer, cabin cars, the rope swing, kicking snow & playing games inside. We enjoyed the outdoors for a weekend and can't wait to go back. Nate especially loved being with grandma and grandpa Marz. He drove up and back with them and loved it. After they dropped him off on Monday night and they walked out the door - he hysterically started crying asking for one last hug from grandma and papa.

a few things that Nate said along the way that were worth recording:

. As he was driving to the cabin with my parent's - he out-of-the-blue let them know that he wasn't planning on pooping at the cabin.

. When he got to the cabin, he walked around in his usual strut, turned to my mom and said, "grandma - who decorated this place?"

. after fishing with my dad in the pond, he came back in the cabin and said, "dama (grandma) - grandpa's not a very good fisherman."

. As we were driving to Panguitch, we saw 3 antelope on the side of the rode. The rest of the weekend he kept asking to see more "cantaloupe."

. at church Wes tried to explain that there wasn't a nursery at that church for him to play at. He turned to Wes and said, "They will open nursery for me."