Arizona visitors

A wonderful friend of mine whom I met when we lived in Boston came to Utah to visit family. They were able to come up and visit us for a day. I feel blessed to have all the friends I do. I do however wish that y'all all just lived closer. But alas I have been blessed to even have y'all as friends.

Happy Anniversary

March 19th was Ray and I's 8 year anniversary. I was more emotional this year as I considered where we have been and where we are now. I mentioned to Ray how I wished I could have met him after being healed...and then I realized that we would not be as close as we are now had we not been through all that we had together. He mentioned that not much can replace the growth from a refiner's fire. Not many really know of the intimate details of just how hard things really got for us. Not b/c there was anything "wrong" with our relationship but b/c I was struggling with so much. Ray stood beside me when I know that to so many his leaving would be justifiable. In my own defense I was never a bad wife, but my needs were very very demanding. On several occasions my husband would have to take over completely in our lives b/c I was too depressed to function. He is truly my hero, my everything. Sometimes it is actually surreal to me that he loves 'me'. He loves all those things about me that a woman would ever hope a man would love about her. He notices me and the things I do to try to improve myself and our home. All my life I hoped for what he has given me. I am so grateful to the Lord for preparing him for me and for blessing him with the strength and faith that he would need to endure those first 7 1/2 years. I look forward to spending the rest of forever with the love of my life.

my roses...aren't they beautiful :)

Welcome Home Elder Davis

My brother Austin got home from his mission March 14. It was a joyous occasion (I love that word 'joyous'). He is now actually living with us in our basement and he works with Ray and will be attending Weber State this fall. It has been fun having him live here and I have enjoyed getting the opportunity for us to get to know each other again. I think b/c of our ten year age difference we haven't been able to relate to one another until now. He has grown so much spiritually and emotionally these past two years. We have been able to share some great insights and stories. For those of you who are curious he served in the Portland Oregon Mission.

Loving the Swingset

The kids have been loving our swingset. I am constantly being summoned to watch some new trick. I have loved having it, I am not sure why exactly. I know that having a backyard for my kids to play in was a dream in and of its own...but to have this cool swingset is such great icing for the cake :)

Our pet lion

Ready for the circus

A Barn Raising....of sorts

Aspen and Sunny sitting on the frame (Day 1)

So it began Friday with opening 6 boxes, bringing the wood around back, walking the yard to find the "perfect" spot, and recruiting as many souls as were willing to work for FREE :) Steph and Craig and their kids came up on Friday and for some reason I didn't get any pictures. Amber and Wayne, and Abby and Ray came up on Saturday to help out. Thanks Craig, Ray and Wayne for sacrificing your time to help my husband. We truly could not have done it without you.

Day two's beginnings

Alexa has been a little sick, she would make this silly face when she was whinning

Amber and Wayne sittin in a tree........



The three Ray's (Abby brought her friend whose name is Ray...to distinguish I would call my Ray "ray my husband", and then of course baby Ray is well baby Ray )



building the rock wall




Alexa's middle name is Nicole which is my sisters middle name...love you ber!!!



baby Ray testing the rock wall





the rope ladder...Great job on the knots guys!!






A job well done!!!!!!!









I am in love with the swingset/ fort thingy :) It has everything you could think of for kids to play on...including a picnic table and a general store type thing underneath...we only had one bloody nose by days end...I joked that I need to put up a sign to record how long we go without injury...Ray the friend joke " 4 hours injury free"...how true!!!





Come one come all to the Griffin playland...lemonade and snacks included!!!!

Again with the teeth

Well no teeth are falling out this time :) but a new tooth has arrived. That's right after several days of unmentionable diaper changing and mentionable crankiness Alexa has produced a tooth. The funny part is I am still just as excited about her tooth as I was about Aspen's cutting her first tooth. I love milestones. I love "watching" my children grow. Congrats Alexa on your beautiful new tooth!!!!

Tag revision

I have rethought this....I actually decided to name names in my tagging :)

Beckie, Bonnie, Amber Swenson, Lisa, Valerie, Rebecca, Wendy, Rachelle, Grandma, Janalee, Tiffany, Deb, Mom Griffin, Stephanie, Rachel, Jess...

Show your stuff...empty your bag...take some pics and let me know whatcha got in there :)

bag tagged

I have been tagged to expose you to the belongings in my purse or bag...I don't have a purse...actually I never had...I have always been a bag lady :) my bags have just gotten bigger...





in my diaper bag I have...
1.Wallet
2. Cell phone
3. Socks for baby Ray or Alexa
4. Headbands for Alexa (I have to bring extra b/c baby Ray is often "loosing" Alexa's for her
5. Formula
6. CD's
7. Burp-cloth
8. Toy's for Alexa
9. Note from Amber Swenson (I like to read it every now and then)
10. a bracelet that Alexa had when she was in the hospital after not breathing (very scary) but when I look at it I always remember to not take anything for granted
11. another bag with stuff
12. baby Ray toys (old cell phone, note pad, little blue man and a pouch)
13. lotion
14. eye wetting drops
15. diapers/wipes
16. a random bracelet that I didn't even now was in there
17. I threw away all the wrappers or trash that might have been in there :)

in my inside bag I have the little necessities that I don't want to "lose" within the bag...

1. Kleenex

2. Tide pen

3. finger nail clippers

4. nail file

5. lip liner, lip gloss, hello kitty lipgloss for the girls :)

6. lip balm

7. tampons :) you never know

8. coin purse

9. baby lotion, yummy smelling lotion, hand sanitizer, baby powder

10. baby nail clippers

11. hair backs

and there you have it! so now I tag everyone!!!! ok well Kami Su you are exempt! but if you are reading this and have not yet been bag tagged....TAG!!!!! your it! have fun!!

Candy Hearts

I got this idea from Miss Jana aka Janalee Marriott (who really needs to start a blog of her own) :) we hang candy hearts from our ceiling for Valentines. The kids love it. I love it. The fun part is when the candy falls one by one whoever finds it gets to eat it...there is no guilt...the candy literally fell from the sky :)

Sleeping ALexa

Alexa feel asleep one day, while I was feeding her...

then along came Alora who wanted her picture too with the sleeping beauty...

Aspen wanted a picture of her kissing Alexa...which kinda woke her up...now mind you we are all whispering........

and then came baby Ray...he doesn't whisper...oh you would have to really know him to know well his volume control lost its volume control...but we wouldn't have him any other way :)

My Alexa Nicole

For the longest time Alexa didn't smile randomly. She crawled at five months, sat up at six months and now is standing next to things and attempting to crawl up stairs. But the most exciting thing is her smile. She smiles a lot now. She interacts and plays more now. She laughs just to laugh now. I am loving it. She is still a pretty serious baby but is making lots more fun 'baby' noises!

Yes all these pictures were taken at the same time, so you can't really see how often she smiles...but I love these pictures the most :)

Alora feeding Alexa breakfast

Alora wanted to feed Alexa one morning. She actually did really good.