Easter

It has been so wonderful and beautiful having our sweet Blakelee, spring weather, and Easter all coincide around the same time and to enjoy all the new beginnings of things. I am just feeling so blessed today for my sweet family and for my Savior Jesus Christ who made it possible for all of us to have a fresh start every day and to be able to be together with our families forever. I know my Savior lives because I have felt and seen his helping hand in my life when I felt all was lost and I continue to see it every day. I love Him and I know that He lived and died and rose again all because He loved us so much. Here are some pictures of our Easter celebrations:

 At our church's egg hunt on Saturday

 They decorated boiled eggs and had an egg roll down the hill. Look at that concentration :)

Easter morning finding their baskets

 The easter bunny made a visit to our house after church.

Blakelee Kate Griffitts

Our sweet little girl arrived Friday, April 11th! She is so sweet and we are so in love with her. It is such a beautiful and wonderful thing to have a new little baby join our family.

We went into the hospital around 2:00 a.m. Friday morning because I was having painful contractions and when we arrived I was dilated to 4 cm which was the same as I had been at my doctor's appointment the tuesday before. After just waiting in the room for an hour Brad and I went and walked around the hospital for an hour or so and when I came back a little after 4:00 a.m. I was dilated to 5 cm and not long after I started having really intense contractions and within only an hour or two when they came to check me again to their surprise (not mine...they never believe me when I tell them that once things start going with me they go REALLY fast!) I was dilated to 8 cm and they had to rush to get the antibiotics in my IV and to get the anestheiologist in there. I decided to try an epidural this time and part of it was that my contractions were a lot more painful earlier on this time (like when I was at 5-6cm) and because I did not know how long labor was going to last I decided to get one even though it ended up not happening until at the very end anyways because labor was not very long. But having it for the last little while was totally awesome! It was a very different experience being able to sit there and see what everyone was doing and thinking about our little girl that was about to come. With the boys I was always in so much pain at the end I was totally oblivious to everyone and everything and just had to concentrate on getting through the contractions and getting the baby out. So it was a very pleasant experience and I loved being able to relax at the end. Anyways, after I got the epidural we were just waiting for a doctor to get there (because the on call doctor was already with someone else in the middle of a c-section.) I was totally dilated and effaced and my labor nurse just kept telling me to fight the urge to push when I felt it because we were trying to keep my water from breaking for as long as possible before the doctor arrived. My water did end up breaking, but probably only 10-15 minutes before the doctor finally arrived and then when I had my next contraction and felt the urge to push I pushed and she came out after the very first push! And she was beautiful and perfect and it is just such an amazing moment seeing her come into the world and seeing her for the first time. I love her so much and I feel so blessed things went so well and that she is such a perfect, healthy baby.

Blakelee was born at 8:25 a.m. and weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 inches long.

 The boys meeting her for the first time.

Getting all fancied up to come home.

Home at last

Christmas 2013

We headed south for Christmas and went to stay with my mom and my two sisters and their families in Georgia. I had not seen my older sister, Katie, or her husband and two kids in so long! So it was really fun to get to spend time with them. And the kids had a blast together!

On Christmas Eve the kids got their pajamas from Christopher, our Christmas elf, who went back to the North Pole and they were SO excited for Christmas morning. Every day they asked if it was Christmas yet and Ryder kept going to the tree if there was a new present under it and saying "Presents for Ryder? Santa brought presents?" Then later that night after the kids were in bed we had a white elephant exchange and ugly sweater contest with adults only. My favorite thing we brought to the exchange was butt/face soap. It was a bar of soap that was white on one side and black on the other and one side said butt and the other said face :) It was pretty funny to see what everyone brought for the exchange. And I definitely underestimated how ugly some of the ugly sweaters would get :) I thought OURS were ugly with flashing lights, tinsel, and santa heads, but winter birds nests, holiday beads, and ugly wreaths made an appearance and definitely beat us! My brother-in-law, Cameron, took first prize with a sweater so full of beads it probably weighed 10 pounds.

This Christmas we had all the sisters and my mom together for the first time in many years so as a surprise Christmas present (with the help of my brother-in-laws and Brad) I set up a girls day out. We went shopping, got massages, and I took us out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. It was SO much fun and that was the first time I had had a professional massage and it was so nice to relax and just have some girl time. I am so grateful for my mom and sisters and I am so happy we got to spend time together.

The rest of the days were filled with playing games, going hiking, and just hanging out.
(And of course eating tons of delicious food too.) On New Years Eve we counted down to midnight with balloons that had the time of each hour on them and an activity inside when you popped it. It started with kids activities for them to do before bed time. They made party hats, wore mustaches, played glow in the dark hide and seek, played with balloon punching bags, and lastly ate oreos and milk before bed. They had SOOO much fun :) Then the adults started popping the balloons and we played celebrity charades, card games, and then opened up the sparkling cider at midnight.

We are so excited for 2014! This year has a bunch of big, exciting things happening like having a baby girl, Brad graduating and becoming a doctor, Aiden starting school, and moving to who knows where! It is going to be full of adventures and we can't wait. For now we are headed off to Idaho to visit Gigi and Poppi for a week! Brad has his last residency interview in Spokane next week so we decided to all join him and make a visit out of it.