05/31/15 Grandpa Griffin turns 80!

05/31/15

Well I think things are finally feeling a little less stressful here!  The girls are out of school.  Dad's still working but not quite as much. 

Last week we had our first choir practice since Christmas I think. After Christmas the ward split and things got crazy and our new 9th ward never had a choir again. We practice last week and this week before church and then sing today at ward conference today.  

Tuesday the stake YW did visits and Sister Hafen and Sister Spriggs came to visit Katie (and the family).  They visited for 1/2 hour and it was nice.  They actually came late enough that I got home right after they got here, so that was nice!  

Wednesday we bought 150 stepping stones from home depot.  (Lowe's had them on sale and Home Depot ad matches PLUS I had a 10% off coupon too!  So I ended up saving like $115 or something.  It was quite a bit!  I am going to try to make a little pad in the back corner by our bedroom for the swing and the table and chairs. Also a pad for the garbage cans and maybe some stones to walk from the front yard to the back yard.  We'll see how far they go. 

150 stepping stones is a lot of stone.  And they were heavy.  Made the truck look very low!  We hurried and unloaded everything on the side of the house (thanks to everyone for helping it went pretty quick) and then Katie and I had YW and Dallas and McK went back to Home Depot to pickup the sand.  They felt the truck was already loaded enough and didn't want to add another 150 lbs of sand!

Wednesday was super slow at work so I left a little early and then took off Thursday.  Aunt Laura's birthday was Thursday so we had lunch at Kneader's with her, Wendy, mom and dad.  It was kind of a last minute thing that just worked out.  It was nice. 

Friday through next Wednesday I am doing the treasure job at work (picking up, counting and depositing all the money for the city).  I do that whenever Kerry is out of town.  He is in Hawaii this week, lucky guy!  So I had an extra little bit of work to do Friday!  Sometimes it works perfect but it was tricky Friday ... someone was $50 short on their drawer and a couple other little things!  Took 2.5 hours, sigh.  Oh well.  Makes the day go super quick. 

Friday night we went out with Gma and pa to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and to celebrate grandpa's 50.  It was really nice and delicious!

Saturday we went to Dickie's clubhouse for a pool party and birthday celebration.  Wendy had it decorated really nice and there was sandwiches, chips, fruit, cake and ice cream.  Everybody came but it was not too crowded with the kids swimming and playing and happy the whole time. 

We had a nice quiet evening at home last night playing games and chilling.  Much needed after the go-go-go we have been doing lately. 

Well I love you and hope everything is going well.  Hope you had a great week! xoxo mom

05/24/15 Elementary school chapter closes and the earth shakes!

St. George had an earthquake, but fear not, we will rebuild. 

05/24/15

What a busy week!!!

Well the "exciting" news first...I was in my first earthquake ever!  There was a 5.4 earthquake that hit 60 miles south of here on Friday about lunch time.  It was the strangest thing.  It felt like a big giant truck went by and the ground shook and you could feel the movement.  Katie said the clock and other things shook on the piano.  She was by herself in the office and couldn't figure out why it was shaking.  Which is exactly what we were thinking too...!!!  She said she even stood up to see why her legs were shaking and then it stopped and she knew what had just happened. I didn't figure it out until I saw it plastered all over facebook!  The Aha...moment!

This funny pix going around the internet...St. George had an earthquake.  But don't worry, we'll rebuild!

Last Sunday Bryce Taylor gave his farewell. Heading to Peru on June 2.  After church they had a picnic at Sullivan Park.  We went and they had yummy goodies and such.  Got to see some of the people from the 3rd ward.  

Monday Katie performed in the talent show at Fossil Ridge.  She did a great job.  The girl right before her had an anxiety attack and couldn't perform so Katie got to go quicker than she expected.  But she nailed it! She is quite the little piano player.  She didn't have any music -- she heard the song on the radio and came home and figured it out.  WOW!  She says she really enjoys the rush and excitement of performing.  

I had a ladies luncheon with my friend's at Chili's for my birthday.  Cristy Peck, Marilyn Wallis and Carla Mitchell.  All the ones from when I first started at Washington City.  It was fun to hang out with them.  

Tuesday the parks and rec department threw a big luncheon and had all the ladies down for burgers and Anita's brownies and frog eye salad and potato salad.  Super yummy.  They moved up to the yard by the freeway and it looks so nice.  They gave us all flowers afterward too! 

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Holly's class had a class party from 1 - 3.  We did a dance party (Holly's request).  Dad came with some fun party songs and lead the kids in crazy dances and the limbo and stuff.  They were loud and had a great time.  I helped the kids make lei's to wear to graduation out of candy bars.  So each kid had his own lei to wear on Thursday.  They had pizza (mr. Ivie had that brought in) and cupcakes and rootbeer floats.  They LOVED it! 

Wednesday was PV graduation.  We got to go to the Sullivan Park again for Pizza and breadsticks and yummy desserts with the Taylor's again (they are party animals this year!!!)

Thursday was Holly's 5th grade graduation.  She ducked through the W and got her "honorary diploma" and later was awarded the Eagle Award for memorizing all the stuff about our county.  I think only 4 kids in the entire 5th grade got it.  Sweet!  

Thursday night we had enrichment night and they taught us about wills and trusts.  We should probably get one...

Friday we had our earthquake and dad and I went to lunch, did girl scouts and took care of the lawn.   AJ came about 10 p.m.

Saturday morning AJ went on a 5.5 mile walk with me and Linda and then we went over to the wedding.  It was nice.  They decorated Santa Clara City Hall and had a pretty good crowd...not too big.  Afterward they took pictures and then served panda garden and cookies.  The guy who performed the ceremony was Kennedy's uncle and he did a nice job.  They are hoping to get to the temple next year. 

Benjamin, Adler, Mitchell and Mason came over to the WCCC pool and played for 2 hours.  They were pretty happy to do that. They didn't want to go home yet.  I was tired!

The boys played basketball last night (and Katie and Holly too) and McKayla and I went to the mall.  

This morning did another 5.5 mi hike and have a camp meeting and then choir, church and dinner at Gmas.  

I think this coming week will be WAY quieter as schools.out.for.summer!!!!!

Marlee thinks she will get her mission call this week and plans to open it next Sunday.  So hopefully we'll know all about that next week!  I'm excited to hear where she'll go!!!!

Can't wait to hear about your week.  Hope you are having good success and enjoying your new area!  Xoxo Mom. 

05/17/15 Laurito's Visit

5/17/2015

It's been a busy week as dad winds down his sports year. He has been working super long days and getting very little sleep. I think 3.5 hours a night has been typical lately. But I think he survived and can slow down a little bit now.

The girls have been busy too. It's so weird to think in a week we'll be done with elementary school forever!

WOW. We are getting old!

Grandma and pa Laurito came and have spent the week with us. They got here Tuesday night and will leave tomorrow. They have kind of been doing their own thing and us ours and then we have dinner and the evening together, maybe.

Friday Holly got a trophy for 2nd place in the science fair. She sang so long, farewell with the choir and got to sing the last part solo. (the sun, has gone to bed and so must I...goodbye...) She was also recognized as getting the Eagle award (4 kids in the school so far have done it but they said 2 more are trying to get done and they will actually award the shirts and eagles next Thursday at 5th grade graduation.)

Saturday gma and pa Laurito and the girls and I went down to St. George and did the walking tour of Historic St. George. We only did about 1/2 of it. We went through the daughters of the Utah pioneers museum (grandpa bought taffy for the girls) and then through the Brigham Young house. Afterward (about 2 hours of walking and museums) we went to iceburg and grandpa bought us milkshakes. I thought the girls might be bored with it but they said they really enjoyed it. And at dinner they were repeating a lot of the things we had learned from the tour guides so they were apparently paying attention!

Then we went to charming charlie's and had Suzanne pick out jewelry (2 necklaces) for mother's day and the girls picked out a head band and earrings and 4 bottles of nail polish. They all loved it and it was under $16 for all the stuff. You'll have to check that place out when you come home...great place to buy gifts for the women in your life!

Grandpa took us to Golden Corral for dinner ($86, OUCHY!) and it was pretty yummy. Everyone was pretty starving by the time we went because we had eaten a late breakfast and then a milkshake but we never really had lunch and we didn't eat until about 7:30 p.m. So it was probably even better than it really was, haha.

(Darin) Seminary graduation is today and Bryce Taylor's farewell and then (Darin) graduation later this week (the Taylor's have a LOT going on in their family!!! We got invited to all 3 events and afterparty's for them this week.

Anyway it's a busy time of the year -- I think I have 3 things I have to leave work for this week to go see the girls at school stuff.

Hope everything's going well and you are settling in and loving your new area. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Love you!!!