butterfly kisses

Gracie has a new fascination with butterfly kisses--blinking your eyelashes against another's cheek.  She has quite the butterfly kiss with these eyelashes.  aah, it melts my heart.

What an ironic time to lose my camera--Friday is a momentous day.  Ellie's first Halloween, oh and we're closing on our first home!!  I will get pictures of the home somehow or another, and stay tuned for some creative Halloween costumes... Happy Halloween!! 

a little trim

Okay, I'll admit, I once tried to cut Gracie's bangs and they turned out a little boyish due to her curly hair pulling them up a lot shorter than what I had accounted for (it made me laugh). So while I've been patiently waiting for the bangs to grow out, the rest of her hair has gotten a bit scraggly. Due to the fact that kid-friendly hair salons are hard to come by in this part of the country, I decided that with a little bit of chocolate and a movie, I could get the job done myself.

the prep

the chocolate

a still 2 year old!

the clean up

Okay, I know you're all expecting an "after" picture, but let's just say that Gracie was sick of the camera by the end of the night, so this was the best I could get.



p.s. Thanks Mom for the fleece pjs--perfect for the freezing basement!!

update continued

This update will continue sooner than expected due to Ellie's unwillingness to be rocked to sleep.  I have finally turned her over to the swing.  I always feel bad resorting to a machine in order to get my child to go to sleep, but sometimes I just get too impatient.

I think the previous post brings us up to where we are now--good ol' Fairview, TN.  A tiny little town about 45 minutes southwest of Nashville.  Some of Jacob's family lives here so we decided to venture outside of Utah for a time and live in the country.  And it really is the country--which is both good and bad.  The good is that it is sooo beautiful.  Especially now that all of the trees are turning colors and the humidity has eased up.  The bad is that there is not much in the way of convenient shopping, and sidewalks are a foreign concept, not to mention the fact that I miss my family.  But I am slowly getting used to it all, and while I don't know if I'll ever quite fit into this culture, I imagine that my memories will be fond of this place.  And so, get ready for some more pictures from the past few months...

A little too excited for a bath.

Hiking partners...Dad and Gracie

Not so excited about the wagon ride at Thanksgiving point.

The good looking Griffin boys at Abbi's wedding.

Belle and Gracie 

Our current abode--the in-law's.  But not for much longer!  We will hopefully be closing on our first home on Halloween Day!!

 Grandma Griffin and Gracie feeding the horses (the horse bit so hard that it flipped the carrot out of Gracie's hand and right back into her face.  So sad, but kind of funny)

view from the front yard.

in the mean time...

Since my last round of blogging (about a year ago) a few significant things have occurred: 

We all (Gracie included!) graduated from BYU in April.  Even though it took me forever to decide what to study, I finally discovered sociology and loved school (at least the subject matter) from that point on.  Hmm, I do miss Provo.  My years at BYU will always be some of the best of my life.  I consider it a miracle that I found Jacob--the most important outcome of the time that I spent in Provo.  But I don't think anyone can come away from that little (well big) school on the hill and not be a better person. 

On with the update:  Jacob, as always, knew all along what he wanted to do.  He graduated in biology composite teaching and, yes, he is now a middle school biology teacher.  Some might think he is crazy, but all I can say is I hope that my children have at least one teacher in their life that is as exciting and motivating as Jake.  I think he will do more good in this profession than any other that he could have chosen.  Even if we live in poverty the rest of our lives, it will be somewhat of a compensation to know what an influence for good he is on so many kids that are at such a critical and malleable stage in life.  If you can't tell, I think Jacob is one of the smartest, kindest, most attractive guys on the face of the earth :)   

Our good friend Sophie got baptized!!  We met Solomon and Sophie while living at Wymount and we became great friends.  They came to BYU from China and I have always been impressed with people who choose to attend a college that is not their first language.  College was hard enough for me, and I spoke English!!  We miss the great chinese food and the great company that Sophie and Solomon always provided (we hope they come visit us in Tennessee one of these days!) 

Elllie was born June 6, 2008.  She weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz!  Jake was that exact weight, so I blame him for her size.  You know, I was okay with having a big baby because I thought she'd be able to sleep through the night sooner than later.  But apparently not.  But I really cannot complain because Ellie often gets the best baby award. She is mostly always content and only screams at the top of her lungs if Gracie bites her, which is completely understandable.  But most of the time Gracie is really sweet with Ellie, and I have glimpses of what great friends they're bound to be.  There's nothing better than a sister!

Wow, this post has taken a while.  And not because I particularly have a lot to say.  It's because blogging and posting pictures can get really frustrating when you don't know what you're doing.  So I'm going take a break and continue this update tomorrow... 

a creative outlet

I guess you could say I've been on somewhat of a blogging hiatus.  I'm not sure what has prompted me to write again--I think Elder Uchtdorfs' talk inspired me.  He said that creation and compassion are 2 key components of a joyful life, and I'm always up for more happiness.  Since writing is somewhat of a creative outlet, I will be attempting more of it in the form of blogging. So here we go...