Like Father Like Son?

Everyone told us how cute our little boy looked dressed up like his daddy today for Halloween.  I guess for a few hours we had a son!  More Halloween news to come.  I just couldn't resist this picture!

Halloween Fun!

Neeley got to bring the snack for pre-school today so we decided to try something fun. Thanks Michelle for the yummy pumpkin muffin recipe. They made cute Jack-o-lanterns! Neeley and Kayla made themselves busy with decorating their pumpkins while I did mine!

Pumpkin Muffins
1 can pumpkin 15 oz.
1 cake mix (vanilla, spice or chocolate)
1 egg

Mix together and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes!

In His Memory

Many of you know that I lost a nephew last year due to an unfortunate accident.  November 6th marks the anniversary of his passing.

Michael was full of life and such a good kid.  He loved serving in church, played in the band and was a free throw shooting champion who had won several contests to prove it.  He once made almost 50 shots in a row!  He is the oldest of 4 kids with one younger sister and 2 younger brothers, all of whom have always looked up to him.  He was also preceded in death by a brother several years earlier.

His favorite song, which he listened to numerous times a day, is "All Kinds of Time".  You may have noticed that this song plays on my blog and there is not a time that goes by that my thoughts don't turn to him when I hear it.  I think it is a good reminder that maybe we don't have all kinds of time and we should cherish the little moments others take for granted.

This entire year my sister has anticipated going to the temple to do his temple work for him.  What a wonderful experience that will be.  I know that he is waiting for the opportunities this will open up for him in Heaven.

In his honor I would like to ask any person who holds a current temple recommend to go to the temple some time between now and the end of November.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate his life and memorialize his passing.  Just as his mother is anticipating this day, there are other parents who are waiting to see the day when their child's temple work will be completed for them.

I thought it would be really neat for my sister and her family to know of all of the people who have done this in Mikey's honor.  Please place a comment on our family blog or email Charlotte and Jay directly with your words of love.  Even if you don't know them or me, please do this little act of kindness for them and the others who are waiting on the other side of the vail for this important service.  I just imagine my sister and her family receiving emails from all around and then they may have a memory of something good that has come of this tragedy.  So please feel free to pass this information along.

jcgriffin6@comcast.net

Neeley Family Blog

If you would like to join our family, we will be going through the 7 am session in the Salt Lake City temple on November 8th.

Families really can be together forever!  We love you Jay and Char!

Rock Out The Show!

Neeley had her a Hannah Montana birthday party for her 5th birthday.  15 giggling girls, not quite what Jeremy had in mind but he dealt with it well.  The party started out with some great games like "Don't steal Hannah's microphone" and "pin the necklace on Hannah".  Then they all gathered in the kitchen for some pizza and of course Hannah Montana cake with ice cream.  After presents they finished off the party with a nail polish pinniate stuffed full of candy.  Dad had to finish off the breaking of it because these "husky" girls just couldn't break it!

Neeley was in the hight of her glory wearing a Hannah Montana costume that was so realistic you would have thought it was Hannah herself (thanks Grandma) and  being surrounded by friends and cousins, tons of presents, and a white cake. 

After the party was over her cousin Haylie stayed and her cousin Linzie arrived to have a slumber party. I took the girls over to the Pumpkin Walk here in Syracuse and then we came home and had movies with popcorn. About 10:30 Neeley came in to ask if I would tuck them in because they were tired. I can imagine they were because I was already dosing off! The next morning they had waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and then got dressed in their costumes and headed over to the primary Halloween party. It was so fun to see them all play together. It reminded me so much of being a little girl and playing with my sisters. It was kind of like a repeat of us three little girls playing together. Our kids look so much like us that I could just see my childhood friendships come to life again.

Neeley informed me that she wished her birthday was every day. I told her that would be horrible because she would grow up so fast. Then she resorted to just having a party every day but not growing old faster. We'll see about that!

Success!

Since her birthday, Kayla has been trying to learn to ride her bike.  Today, as she was finally riding down the sidewalk all by herself, I felt such a feeling of pride for her.  It made me think of how often we go through the same types of struggles as she has.  At first I had to move the pedals for her.  Then she could pedal once around and would get stuck because she kept trying to pedal backwards which would put on the brakes.  She kept getting frustrated and said she couldn't do it.  She said it was "scabby" (her word for hard).  After several times of giving her a lesson I decided to let her struggle with it on her own for a while.

Today, when I went to check on her, she was riding down the street.  At first she would go a little ways, stop, get off, push over a crack in the sidewalk and then get back on.  But after a while she was going long stretches on her own.

As I stood there watching her I thought of many times in my life when I was trying to get through something "scabby".  It made me think about our Father in Heaven and how he holds our hands and leads us and then eventually lets us work things out on our own for a while.  Sometimes we put on the brakes, sometimes we have to push over the cracks but eventually if we keep at it we can do it.

When they grow up.....

If our kids could read they would realize (if they haven't already) what goof balls they have for parents. First they would have noticed that we celebrated Kayla's birthday on the wrong day. Now they would realize that we are celebrating Neeley's Hannah MontanY birthday. No, that is not a typo, I said Hannah MontanY. Tonight I was decorating Neeley's cake for her birthday that's tomorrow and Jer was helping me. He wrote out HappY BirthdaY NeeleY so elegantly that I wanted him to write Hannah Montana on the guitar. When he was done I started to laugh and said "Very funny."  He said, "What's so funny?" and then looked down and realized what he had written.  We both had a good laugh. So if you see Neeley, don't ask her how her Hannah Montany cake was. That will be our little secret!

More Happy Birthday!

One birthday celebration is never enough!  Kayla had her birthday party on Tuesday.  Since her cousin Cade has a birthday around the same time and they are both turning 3 Nikki and I thought it would be fun to celebrate their birthdays together.  So we decided to turn our backyard into a corral and have a pony party!  As the guests arrived they were all given cowboy-kerchiefs and an official sheriffs badge!  

Then we corralled all 22 kids out back (thankfully the snow melted in time and we had nice weather - unlike the day before!) for some cowboy games like rope the horse, jump over the rattle snake and toss the cow pies.  

Then in came the real live ponies.  There was Licorice and Spirit.  Both nice ponies and really fun to ride.  

After several rides each we let them go have a rest and it was time for some cowboy breakfast grub, pancakes and eggs.  We washed that down with some pony cake (pink for the cowgirls of course and brown for those cowboys!)  
And the last activity of the day was of course our traditional birthday pinata.  All the kids had a whack and uncle Clint finished that poor pony off.  I think everyone had a great time, I just wish I was small enough to ride the ponies too!

Happy Happy non-Birthday Kayla!

The beauty of a child's inability to tell time and dates really can come in handy!  Kayla's birthday just happened to be while we were in Las Vegas.  We didn't want her to feel bad so we told everyone to not tell her it was her birthday.  On our way home from the airport we started talking about what day we wanted to make her birthday.  It was kind of nice to pick a day that was convenient for us!  We chose Friday.  The night before Jer was working so I got a sitter and went shopping.  Then I came home and put the girls to bed and stayed up till 11 pm making and decorating Kayla's birthday cake.  She wanted a tinkerbell cake so I got a tinkerbell figure and decorated around it with cute flowers.  (Remember this part for later on in the post.  Up till 11 pm and nicely decorated cake!)  I also hung streamers on her door frame and going into the living room and blew up some balloons.

When Kayla woke up in the morning she went running downstairs.  The first thing she said when she saw the living room was, "HOLY FREAKIN COW!"  She was so excited to see all of her presents especially the big one.  She has been asking for a big girl bike so we got her one and I wrapped it up in the funny papers.  When she saw the package she said, I got a bike.  Neeley was so upset and came running to tell me that Kayla knew what her present was before she unwrapped it.  Hmmm, that was a tough guess, especially with the pedal sticking out!  She loved her bike and her tink doll but her favorite thing was the cake.  She loved it so much that while we were upstair getting ready she licked the frosting off of most of it.  I had to hold Jeremy back when he found her there looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.  (Or should I say, the kid that swallowed the frosting?)  He was ready to move her birthday to another day.

After getting over the cake episode, we went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch.  Ever since we lived in Vegas the girls have loved CEC and were so excited to find out about the new one.  Nikki, Cade and Austin met us there too.  Then it was time for naps.

After naps we got the girls dressed up in costume and headed for the Treehouse Museum in Ogden for their Halloween story adventure.  They take you to different story book characters who tell their story and then give the kids a treat.  Kayla loved it all and was satisfied to get in bed that night after a full day of fun.

Vegas Baby!

I know it doesn't sound that excited to take a get away vacation to Vegas after we lived there but when you are getting away without the kids, anywhere can be spectacular! We weaned Lilah just so we could go all alone, and man was it worth it! Thanks to my sis Shauna for taking Neeley and Kayla (who just happened to get up at 4:30 in the am just to play) and to Nikki, my sis in law, for taking Lilah! We really were able to get in some relaxation. It was so nice knowing that you didn't have to get up early and we could do whatever we wanted the whole time!

We had such a wonderful time.  We stayed at the Wynn hotel which just happens to be one of the priciest rooms on the strip.  Thanks to our travel biz we got to stay for free all three nights.  The room was really awesome.  One full wall of it was a window overlooking the strip.  We could see the show at the Wynn as well as the one at Treasure Island from our room.  We thought we were pretty cool that the tv and phone even said our names.  And at night when they came to turn down your beds they left you some cute little slippers by your bed and of course a few chocolates.  The bathroom was a dream to get ready in especially for the fact that I could put my makeup on without little hands grabbing at it all wanting to experiment with it. The only bad part was the scale that was there reminding me not to eat too much at that ever so awesome Wynn buffet.

We spent one day lounging by the pools reading our magazine.  And the other days we spent shopping and going to movies.  We saw that rugby movie which is based in Utah and it was really good.  I would highly recommend it.  Jeremy was so nice the whole time.  He treated me like a princess and let me choose whatever I wanted to do.  He knows I don't get out much so this was my big get away.  We visited my favorite store, Ann Taylor, in both outlet malls, and I got something both times.  It is so much more fun to shop when you wear a smaller size. (but that's a story for my other blog!)  We also went in just about every shoe shop imaginable looking for the perfect pair of red shoes.  We finally found them and I was so excited to wear them that I put them on the next shopping trip and got blisters because we walked so much.  Oh, but they are so cute they are worth every blister.  Now for a red purse to match!

I really enjoyed this time with Jeremy.  It has a been a while since we were able to get away just the two of us.  It is good to rekindle that relationship with another honeymoon once in a while.  We had a wonderful time and let's just say, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"

Our Little Home Slice!