Gingerbread House 2010

I've made a gingerbread house for the hollydays for as long as I can remember.  I made this little (or huge) beauty over Thanksgiving while we were in Orderville and left it at the mother-in-laws.  So here are the pictures I finally took!  She's been keeping it safe all this month.

 The pictures were taken none too soon!  As soon as I sat down a giant rat climbed onto the table and ripped the door off!

 Check out the candy stained glass!  It turned out well this year.

 Not only did the giant rat snatch the door off... it then proceeded to eat it!

The kids reading last night with grandma.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas Eve.  I sure miss my family in Indiana/Kentucky today.  That's all.  I just wish to be at home too.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Things are getting very merry around here!  My mom sent us a merry little package and we didn't wait to open it!

 Oh, the unicorn.  Macey LOVES this thing!  Highlight of her day!

 Henry also saw the appeal... he sneaks over and plays with it any time he can!

 Last night we went up to temple square to see all of the lights.  We met up with Thomas' sister and had a great time.  A little hot chocolate and donuts went a long way!

 So very pretty.

 Have you ever seen so many lights on one tree?  I just don't even know how they get that many on one tree!

 Hello all!

 Cutest giant nativity on the grounds!

 And then when we woke up there was at least a foot of snow on the ground!

 The abominable snow baby!

Merry Christmas to us indeed!

Accident?

Chrissi just posted this and I had to steal... I hadn't seen it yet, but had heard.

The historic Tabernacle in Provo burned last Friday and Saturday.  It was a huge loss to the community...  a $100,000 piano that was on loan was lost in the fire!

Check out the burn patter on this picture of Christ at the second coming.

No mistake if you ask me.

Little Miss Macey

Macey just got down from the table and said to me, "I'm not quiet ready for church yet.  I still need to put on my dress and get my lesson ready."

She's an observant little one - I'm teaching Sunday School (the 12 and 13 year olds) AND Relief Society today...

5 Happy Years

Happy Anniversary best friend!

The warmest room in the house...

We've been a little under the weather this week.  Nothing terrible, but we are all snotty and tired.  

Our apartment is older and has big single-paned windows which makes it super hard to keep warm.  We wear lots of jackets and blankets.

The warmest room int he house is definitely the laundry room.  It has our washer, dryer, furnace, and water heater, plus the upstairs water heater and furnace, so it's a nice warm little room.  Macey decided she needed to take a little rest in the warm room while the dryer was lulling her to sleep.

 A little sunshine therapy too!

The Christmas Letter

I decided a few weeks ago that I wan't going to send out Christmas cards/letters this year.  November was crazy and I just wasn't up to mailing the 100 something I did last year.

The more I think about it though, the more I am regretting it!  2010 has been a huge year for us... so instead of a letter to family I've decided to do a little blog post for memories sake.

Dear Friends and Family-

2010, What a year it has been!  After long hours and late nights, Thomas graduated with his Master degree in April of this year.  If you would have asked if I would have thought that this day would ever come, I would have said no.  College and student life is all we have known our whole marriage.  Now that we are looking back at that day I can't believe we ever did it!  We have adjusted to "real" life just fine.

Thomas got a "real" job right after graduation with Aquaveo, an engineering firm.  He doesn't mind getting paid well for working 40 hours a week.  40 hours a week sure doesn't seem like much after having to write a thesis while finishing course work. And this job has given him the opportunity to travel and expand his horizons.  He's very fancy if you didn't know.  :)

As for me, I got to QUIT MANAGING!   After being an on-site apartment manager for single men for 3 years, this was a happy happy day!  I loved the job; I loved moving on.  We moved into a 3 bedroom apartment with a fenced in back yard.  I no longer was chained to the house from 10a-2p daily, no more cleaning checks, no more grumpy students (or moms) knocking at all hours.  Being a stay at home mom is a gift that I am grateful for.  Again, looking back, I have no idea how I ever did it.

Macey turned 3 while we were in Indiana this summer.  She asks daily when we will go on an airplane to visit there again.  She's a smart little girl who is still independent and strong, but getting much more cooperative and helpful than she has ever been.  She has taken on the roll of big sister with ease.  She loves Henry and they laugh and roll on the ground like siblings should.  She is super excited to start Primary in January, rides a big ole bike, likes to help me cook, and color for hours on end.

Henry turned 1 in October and is our little ray of sunshine!  He is happy way more often that not.  He is all boy, climbing on to my table a million times a day to throw things from it, plays in the toilet if the door is left open, and loves dirt (especially eating it).  He loves animals and gets super excited when he sees them and shares that same passion for fruit... he can eat a ridiculous amount of fruit at any given time.

See... nothing to complain about :)

Thomas and I are excited to celebrate 5 years together next week, and are even more excited to announce an addition to our family coming May 2011.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Love, the Griffiths Family

Christmas and a not so happy Henny

We bought a real tree this year... I wanted a skinny one, and that is what I got.  Isn't it funny/cute.

 Our stockin's.  Can't wait to have a real home for them, but the window sill works ok.

 My citrus display on my granny tablecloth!

 I found cute leather soft bottomed shoes for Henry at the DI.  He can't walk in the harder ones I have.  I thought he would love them!

 Get these off of my momma!

 Thomas came home from a business trip on Saturday.  A little suitcase riding was a perfect way to celebrate his arrival.

After naps we went to Macey's Grocery store.  They were having a fancy holiday party that was so fun!  We had lots of nummy samples and Macey even got antlers and a red nose.  She was very pleased.

 On the way home Henry threw up everywhere!  Car seat throwing up is gross and scary!  He couldn't lean forward enough to get everything out of his mouth... not a fun 1/2 minute while we pulled over.  He threw up the rest of the evening and slept horrible.  A sick baby sure makes you appreciate how happy they are when they are well!  We were both tired if you can't tell :)

Hopefully no one else will get it... eeww.  I Lysol-ed like it was my job last night, so cross your fingers!

Filling in the time...

Thomas is in Virginia for work 3 nights this week, so I feel like I'm trying to fill the time while he is away.  Yesterday we went to the Bean Museum at BYU!  We went lots last winter, but haven't been at all during the summer.  It's the perfect free retreat from the cold.

They had a nativity display with lots of different animals looking at the baby Jesus.  Mary and Joseph were a little odd, but the idea was pretty cute!

Macey loved the kangaroo, she has had a great post-Australia love of kangaroos!

 Henry LOVED the museum and wanted to badly to touch something... he tired going over the gate!

 Did I tell you he's walking?  It's still not very smooth, but very cute!

 Since going over didn't work, he thought he might scoot under.  What a smart boy.

 Walking...

 The Nativity from above.

So Henry loved the animals and pointed and growled the whole time.   Macey is a lot bigger than the last time we took her, so she would say, "Mom I see a ________, come see".  It was shocking at how many random animals she knew!  They also had a coloring sheet with animals on it for her.  She was in heaven.

Our happy life-

Life is just peachy! No complaints here! We've been catching up with friends, exercising, and eating well, and just getting back to life after taking a big old break for the month of November!

Henry is the happiest pappy around.  He is just so cute!  He's finally started walking too!  He will take 8-10 steps at a time before he falls.  He still looks like a drunken sailor, but he's getting better every day and oh so proud of himself.

 It snowed!  It has now all melted, but Thomas is such a fun dad that he went in late for work so that he could stay and build a snow hut with the kids!

 Just last winter I (well, we) were in charge of shoveling the walks at the apartment complex... I'm so glad to not have to worry about things like that anymore!  Now we just shovel ours.  Henry is such a helper.

 After vacation food and Thanksgiving, I was in dire need of some movement!  The kids loved when I got out my step and did it with me... for about 10 minutes until they both wanted to be held!

 Henry and I were not quiet done with our naps last Saturday so we resumed them on the couch :)

 Tanner Bennett came to play and we made some popcorn.  I've never seen someone so excited about popping corn!  He was literally screaming "POPCORN!" and waving his hands for 5 minutes.  It was cute but this picture just doesn't catch it!

 In The Friend Magazine this month in the center is this tree.  It has little ornaments that you can put on.  They go with the 25 days in December leading up to Christmas and have a verse of scripture on them so that you can learn the Christmas story all  month.  Macey LOVES this!  I laminated it for $1.47 so that I can keep it next year and use poster putty on it.  ALL PARENTS:  You have got to get this out!  Your kids will LOVE IT!  Macey knows all about Bethlehem, Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel... yea!!!