Quick Update

So, we don't have to tell the rest of you, but we have not been very good at updating the blog as of late...well, we have never been that good at updating the blog. Things are just cruising along here in Hayden. The weather has been very typical for North Idaho and this time of year. Last week we had the opportunity of enjoying great 70 and 80 degree weather at the beginning of the week. Lately? Well, 50s, rain, and frost in the morning. In any case, we've been trying to get out and do as much as we can before we're on our marry old way out to Kentucky.

We have a couple of videos we need to post that were instant classics here at the Griffitts household. Of course they involve Aiden. It has been so much fun watching him grow up and to have his personality show up more and more every day. We first noticed Aiden's "fear" of grass about Easter time. When it was finally warm enough to venture outside for at least a couple of minutes we took advantage and took the Little Guy out there. Any time we set him on the grass he would start to complain and would refuse to move. When we would have picnics outside he would stay on the blanket and avoid touching the grass at all costs. We, as loving and caring parents, had to take advantage of the situation and of course put him on the grass for our own entertainment. I'm sure he'll forgive us when he grows up. He's much better about the grass now. He loves being outside and watching the cars, the birds, the planes, the bugs, and everything else that moves.

We have also learned how much Aiden loves fruit, especially berries...strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries...and, WATERMELON (ok, not a berry, but he really loves it). Lucky for us he also likes his veggies and is the least picky eater ever.

Aiden has also started to say some words. Nothing major, but HUGE for us. He'll say "ma" a lot, and "da" as well. A lot of times if I call for him he'll stop and just say "da?" I love it of course. But the most common word in his vocabulary as of late is "ba" for "bath." If we ask him if he wants to take a bath he'll look towards the stairs and point and say "ba" over and over. When a toilet flushes he says "ba" and points upstairs. If the sink is turned on he says "ba" and points upstairs, and you get the picture. He loves his baths. His favorite toys are his matchbox cars. He'll sit for ever just pushing them around and growling, making engine noises. Really makes it easy for us to know what to get him for his birthday besides books. He's a huge book lover, too.

So, overall we are just really taking it easy in preparation for the big move coming up in July. We are definitely excited for the coming adventures, but more than a little nervous as well.

A Visit from the Easter Bunny

We had a wonderful Easter with family and friends! But before we get to that I have to say that general conference was WONDERFUL! There were so many inspired talks on families and overcoming trials. I really loved Sister Beck's talk about women and I know that the Lord blessed me to hear what I needed to hear. Every time I hear a talk on a topic that I've either been struggling with or wondering about it is a re-affirmation that my Heavenly Father knows me personally and loves me. I am so thankful for this.

As I mentioned....on Easter we had a bunch of the Griffitts family over for brunch and it was delicious! Sandy made orange rolls, cinnamon rolls, and breakfast casserole and I experimented with a new punch and it all turned out really yummy. After conference was over we had an Easter egg hunt with Amy and Jeremy and their two little kids-Titan and Miley. Aiden was extremely tired by this time because with all the excitement of the day he had only had one nap. So, his eyes have a very glazed over look in most of the pictures except for a few and I got some cute pictures of Miley's new walking skills in the grass. Aiden just tried to chew on all of the eggs and ended up with dye around his mouth and all over his hands, but it was so fun just being outside in the nice weather.

What handsome boys!

How many did we get?

We found one!



Wanting to eat the egg...

How do I open this?

Miley having fun walking in the grass.

Aiden and Miley playing together.

Aiden just learned to clap his hands.

See what I mean about the glazed over look? haha.

About Time I Posted...

We haven't posted anything since Christmas! I can't believe it! So here it goes...

For an Aiden update here are things he can do now:

• army crawl REALLY well and make timid attempts at real crawling
• go from a sitting position to a crawling position and from a crawling position back into a sitting position.
  
• eat entire crackers all by himself
• drink out of a sippy cup all by himself and out of a real cup with my help
• talk using a large variety of sounds...I think he is going to be a early talker...he just loves to talk to himself and his toys.
• stand up using the edge of the couch
• loves to open and close drawers of any kind
• sleep through the night! yea!
• 

That is all I can think of at the moment, but all I know is that he is growing up so fast and it is so fun to watch. He has had kind of a rough month or two. First, he had hives everyday on his cheeks and arms and we had no idea what he was reacting to. We hadn't given him any new food and the only thing we could think of was some fluoride drops from the doctor, but we stopped giving him those and that was not it. So, after two weeks of hives every day we took him to the doctor and they did a blood test for food allergies, but he came back negative for everything. So, the doctor said it could be viral hives and that they would go away after another week or two if that were the case. Luckily, they did go away after another week or so. We were very relieved that it was just a virus. He was a happy, healthy baby again for a while, but now he has a bad cold. Poor kid, although it is probably good for him because he needs to build up his immune system. This is really only the second time he has gotten sick. He is such a good baby and is just happy all the time. He loves to be moving and playing and loves to go outside.

Alan and Sandy went to Hawaii for a week in February and so we had the house to ourselves for a while. We had fun going hiking as a family at Tubbs Hill and we went for a walk at Higgins Point to try and go see the bald eagles. During the winter months there are TONS of them around this part of Coeur d'Alene Lake. Unfortunately, we were a little late in the season to see them so we only saw one, but it was fun all the same.


We had a good Valentine's Day at home. Brad bought me some beautiful orange roses (my favorite kind of rose) and I cooked a yummy rasberry french toast breakfast and a scallop dinner. For dessert I made dark chocolate cups filled with a delicious custard with strawberries on top. I LOVE to cook! It is so fun to find new recipes and Valentine's Day is the perfect day to find romantic, creative things.

In other news, we have just been trying to find a place to live in Kentucky. I found a really cute townhouse that I like, but it is on the higher end of our price range and we are having Brent and Meagan go check it out for us to see if it is in a good area and if it is as nice as it looks. I can't wait to have a place of our own! I have gotten all excited from looking at places to live and so, naturally, I have also started brainstorming about decorating as well :) I just bought some really cute IKEA baby bedding for Aiden and this past weekend we bought ourselves a mattress for our bedroom and a black, square kitchen table that is really pretty.

In miscellaneous news...I started a family scrapbook starting from when Brad and I first met and it has been so much fun. I got lots of paper and tools I needed to start. I think my favorite part is not only getting to use my creativity to put together pages, but also to be able to go through the pictures and look back on all of the memories we have made together. I have really enjoyed doing it. My other project that is in the works is to watercolor some paintings for Aiden's room that he will have in Kentucky. I found these adorable paintings on the baby blog called oh deeh doh, but they were selling for 20 dollars a piece. I looked at the paintings and thought I could paint those myself and save some money! They are these adorable, bright pictures of a little kid and his little rabbit doing different things together like reading under a tree or looking up at clouds. So anyways, I did a trial drawing of one of the pictures and it turned out good so now I am working on getting the watercolors to paint it.
And finally, I have to give a plug for Brad. He has been getting up every morning at 4:30 to go work out with his dad, his cousin Brad, and his Uncle Doug. I am so proud of him for doing this and he is looking great! He is getting really muscular in his arms and shoulders. They are doing a work out regimen called crossfit hardcore and they all really like it. I am so proud of you Brad!

That is all the news for now and I will definitely try to be better about posting! Until next time...

Holiday Fun and Adventurous Travels

As Brad mentioned we went down to Salt Lake City for Christmas this year and got to stay at my sister's new house. My sister, Katie, is now less than a month away from her due date!! She is going to have a little baby girl named Alice Cameron Stanger. I am so excited for her and I cannot wait to see my new little niece. I am amazed how I come to love Aiden more and more everyday. Every day there are moments where I just feel overwhelming joy at watching him grow, learn, and show such unconditional love and such pure innocence. Being a mother is the most wonderful thing to experience. So, I cannot wait for Katie to have these same moments and opportunities with her little girl.

I got a little side tracked...haha.....So Christmas was so much fun with my sisters and my Mom and my little brother. The girls did a lot of shopping and we played a lot of Cashflow and watched a lot of movies together. (Cashflow is a board game that we discovered is lots of fun!) It went by so fast! 5 days was not enough time together. Aiden got a jolly jumper from Grandma Lucy and he loves it! :) He has always been a big jumper and loves to bounce so this was a perfect gift for him.

We came back to Coeur d'Alene for New Years and we had fun playing Bunko with the whole Griffitts clan. Brad's best friends Mike and Chris were in town and we had tons of fun hanging out with them and catching up. Brad and I both also saw the movie Avatar twice :) It is a fantastic movie and we highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Brad and I were pretty happy to look back on our New Year's goals for 2009 that we accomplished. Brad got into medical school!! This was our #1 goal and we were so happy that we are going to Kentucky this summer. Some of our other goals included preparing for Aiden's arrival and that also went well and we are so blessed to have him. Another one was also for Brad to graduate from BYU in Mechanical Engineering, which also came to fruition. All in all this year has been such a wonderful year full of many many blessings. We are excited for what is in store for 2010.

After New Year's I went to New Jersey to visit my best friend, Alison, who I grew up with. I hadn't seen her since my wedding so it was fun to see her and her family again. We did a lot of shopping together. One shopping excursion was at the Shore Hills Mall, a very ritzy mall with TONS of stores. It has all the designer stores like Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Neiman Marcus, etc., but it had lots of other stores too that I love such as Anthropologie. I love that store! I got to see New York City for the first time, although it was a pretty quick little drive through the city because it was too cold with Aiden to walk around outside. We also went and visited Alison's school Franklin & Marshall. I got to meet a few of her friends and co-workers and we went to a really yummy Indian restaurant. The last day there Alison and I got pedicures together. It was a really fun trip! Before leaving I was really stressed out about the plane ride out there and back all by myself with Aiden, but Aiden was SO good. I found out that he is a really good traveler. I could tell that I was being looked after on my trip. It was such a blessing that everything worked out so perfectly. (Pictures and video will be coming...I need to download all of them still)

Now we are just settling down after the Holidays and all our traveling. Nothing much else to report. In a few months my brother Tim is getting married in San Antonio, Texas and that will be our next trip :) I am excited to get the chance to see all of my family again and I am so happy for Tim and Ruthi. That is all the news for now. Hopefully we will be better about posting the next while. We love all of you guys!

Christmas with Aiden

This Christmas Jessie, Aiden, and I were able to meet up with Jessie's family down in Salt Lake City. Jessie's sister, Katie, and her husband just built a new house, so we went there and met up with her mom, brother James, and sister Amy. We had a great time, and enjoyed being with family. I 'll let Jessie fill you all in on the details. One of the great little gifts that Jessie and I got ourselves was a baby backpack for Aiden. We figured we could really use it while walking around in the airports and such. On our way back we were all exhausted from the week, including little Aiden. The poor guy couldn't take it any longer and ended up falling asleep before we boarded...then of course he woke up just before the flight and was wired the entire time. Great timing. We love him so much. We hope you all had a great Christmas!

And the Griffitts are going to...

The University of Kentucky! Brad just found out today that he got accepted into medical school at the University of Kentucky!! The doctor who interviewed him last weekend was the one who called him and gave him the news. He told Brad that he and the entire admissions committee enthusiastically wanted him to attend their school. We are so happy and excited. Brad LOVED it there when he went to the interview last weekend. It is a beautiful campus, he loved the faculty, and Brad's sister Meagan and her family live there :) School will start the beginning of August so we will probably leave for Kentucky pretty soon after the Fourth of July this coming summer.

I am so proud of Brad. He has worked so hard to get to this point and we are just one step closer to achieving our goal. It is such a relief to know that Brad will not have to apply or re-apply next year to any schools. We are so glad to not be in limbo anymore and have a life plan in view. We are so blessed that he was accepted to our number one school. It is amazing to see the Lord's hand in every step of our lives. We are so excited to get to Kentucky and start the next part of the journey! Thank you for everyone's support and prayers.

Aiden's First Halloween

Aiden had his first Halloween and his first little Halloween outfit. We found this jack-0-lantern outfit at the store a month or so ago and had to get it. We figured it would be perfect for him. When we put it on him, though, it was way too small for him, even though it was supposed to be his size. The poor kid's legs were all crunched up inside the bag and the hood wouldn't fit over his head. We made him stay in it for 15 minutes and set him free after some complaining. At least we got some pictures in. That night we went over to the Astin's for a small little party. Thank you Astin's. We had a lot of fun.

In other updates, Tyler officially enters the MTC tomorrow. He, Mom, and Dad left yesterday and headed down to Provo to say their goodbyes and get in one last trip. We are going to miss him, but know he is doing what is best and know he will be a great missionary. We'll miss you, Tyler!