Bird nest

This is how she starts out the day....EVERY day

Amy help :-) we need hair help bad!

My boys

The boys crack me me. Here are two snippets of what they are like.

Caleb:
He has been very interested in the priesthood lately. He is trying to figure it all out and cannot wait til he has it. On Sunday Grant and him were talking and he kept calling it the "Moronic " priesthood. Grant worked with him for hours, and he still could not get it straight. Bless his heart, he is trying so hard and so sincere...but according to him that is what it is.

Asher:
The other day he kept talking about growing up and when he grew up he was going to be a dad. I finally asked him why he wanted to grow up so bad. The conversation went as follows:

A: Because I want to
Me: Well stop trying to grow up so quick
A: Why
Me: Because I do not want you to
A: Why not?
Me: Because when you grow up and you are a dad you will not live with me anymore
A: Yeah I will
Me: I hope not
A: Yeah, I will still live with you

Funny funny kids. I love these little moments!

Lesson Learned (the hard way)

I am not proud (but not too ashamed) to admit that I have let the TV babysit my kids a little with the new baby and all. I taught the older two to turn it on and change it to 173 (playhouse Disney)...it is really the only thing I let them watch. It has worked out nicely and had let me get a few naps for the first couple of weeks. Well....i got my bill from dish and it was larger than usual so I examined it. There were a few VOD's (video on demands) charged, and Grant and I never order those. I called dish to find out if my kids accidentally had ordered them. Sure enough Valentines and Nine were ordered with the remote (note you have to approve it twice before you can view it and one was ordered 2 hours after the other). I was told nothing could be done because they were already ordered. I also noticed that there were a couple extra charges for the next bill and asked about those. The Conversation went something like the following:

Me: can you tell me what the charges are for next month
Rep: it looks like those were PPV (pay per view) that were also ordered
Me: What is the difference between VOD and PPV
Rep: both are movies that have to be ordered, just a different channel
Me: Is there anything that can be done about that?
Rep: unfortunately no because it was a valid order by remote
Me: Can you tell me what was ordered?
Rep: it looks like it was an adult movie
Me: what do you mean adult?
Rep: Umm adult content (said a little hesitantly)
Me: WHATTTTTT???????
Rep: yep
Me: can you tell me what time that was ordered
Rep I cannot tell you exactly, but it looks like it was about 10 am
Me: Yep that was my kids, nice.

He did help me lock the channels so it cannot be done again without the pass code, but almost $30 later I learned that letting the TV babysit might provide a way for inappropriate things to be ordered (going from Disney to that, not wasting time are we.)....sweet Brittani another shining mom moment!

Family Picutres

Isaac was three weeks old and we were still yet to take a family pic, so I decided it needed to be done. What I did not know is what a process it would be. First no one wanted to cooperate and stand nice by the front door. Then we move to the bench but not everyone is ready, eyes are closed, tongue are sticking out, heads are turned the wrong way and kids are protesting saying no.

We get a couple ready and then the trouble maker tries to escape, and is promptly scolded.

We eventually just give up and decide to make a funny face picture instead.

Finally a decent picture of the crew. It is funny how adding one makes our family not seem so little anymore. Better luck next time anyhow.

Blessing Day

On June 6, 2010 Grant Blessed Isaac at church. It was a very powerful blessing. I was worried Isaac would be fussy because I only half-way fed him, but he was an angel and did great. Grant managed to make it through all our kids blessings without one crying and without the bounce. I want to write down with what he was blessed before I forget or lose my notes.

To Isaac:

You have come to this world in a special time. You have been blessed with a special name, you are named after a prophet and need to understand the name you have. You need to learn obedience and seek to do the will of the Father. You are also named after your great-grandfather, who was righteous and furthered the kingdom of God. You and your father share a special bond with your name. You have many people to look up to. You need to follow their example and be an example yourself. You must recognize your capacity and opportunity to bless the lives around you. You have a special title, "Son of the most high," seek to understand God and what it means. Seek to know Him and understand his will. You are blessed that your body will grow and be healthy and that your intellect will be sharp. You are blessed with a desire to learn and a desire to serve and through that be blessed. Heavenly Father and your parents love you. Come to know and recognize this love and return it. You will bless the lives of your family, which you already have.

We are proud to be your parents and so glad to have you in our family. We love you sweet baby Isaac.

Why is it...

Why is it when my husband leaves I have such a range of emotions that flood my body. He headed out to go camping with his brother and kept telling me not to be mad at him. I reassured him I was sad, but not mad. As we all stood at the door waving goodbye I felt sad (sad that I my husband was leaving me for the weekend and I was once again alone and sleeping alone is not my favorite), worried (that he would be safe even though he has all the equipment he could need and a gun strapped to his hip), relieved (only because I do not have to cook a real dinner), jealous (that he can pick up and leave without having to worry to much about the kids and very jealous that he can have a fun adventure while I am teathered to home and five kids), excited (maybe I will watch a few movies that I would not make Grant watch and paint my fingernails), but mostly a tad bit lonely (I wonder if he ever feels that way when he leaves.) As we walked in the door amidst thunder and lightening a felt a little tugging at my throat and felt like crying (hormones and lack of sleep is what I will blame it on) but I kept it together and back to reality and making sure the troops are fed. What can I say I love my husband and miss him terribly when he is gone.

I do not want to forget

I do not want to forget how my little monkey gets into his frog position and snuggles up to me. As soon as he is on my chest he pulls his little legs up and snuggles in. And usually shortly after he assumes his position he crashed out and gives me some of the best loves a mom could ask to have.

I had so hoped that Isaac would be a cuddle bug and give me loves (esp because he is our last and Mique was quite the opposite.) He gives me what I wanted every day and several times a day.

I never want to forget what it feels like to snuggle into a newborn little one. The feeling of contentment that it brings. I love these little ones, and am enjoying every snuggle moment of my little baby Isaac!

Mother of 10...for a day

I was a mother (watcher) of ten kids today ranging from 12 to 1 month. My five made up half the tribe, Harley was with us because her mom was helping with scout camp and then we got to have the 4 oldest Graff kids come and play. The great thing about ten kids is that they entertain each other. By the end of the day the floor badly needed swept and mopped, rooms needed cleaned and toys put away, but it was a fantastic day.

The kiddos planned and threw a little party and watched a little tv. They played dress-up, bubbles, games, the computer and school. We had a variety of food for lunch consisting of mac-n-cheese, raman noodles, hot dogs, tater tots, chicken nuggets and root beer (hey I do not care there was nothing healthy about it, they all ate!) There was a lot of snacking too!

After Shandon and I hung out, watched videos of his silly aunt and his pictures we decided to go to the park. I took the first load of kids, left Shandon there to watch them while I came back and got the second load of kids. Apparently I need a 15 passenger van. We played at the park for a bit before I needed to take the Graff kids home so they could get ready to go out of town.

The kids had a blast and did so well together. Ten kids for a day was a lot of fun and actually pretty easy. I am just glad I do not have to do laundry for ten, I will just play with them and then send half of them home. Here's too good kids and good times!

Lucky Girl

There are so many reasons I am a lucky girl it would be impossible to list them, so I will focus on one today. This weekend we were blessing Isaac at church, so my mother and father-in-law were able to come. I am so lucky because I have fantastic in-laws and love them so much! It was so fun to have them here. It was fun to watch how excited the kids were to see them and how much they loved being with them. It was fun (and exhausting) staying up until all hours of the night (1:30 am...that is late for me right now) talking and enjoying each other's company. It was great to be able to hug them, enjoy meals with them, and laugh with them. We had good conversations and just enjoyed. I lucked out getting such great in-laws (I guess that comes with such a great husband) and had a hard time letting go. We do not get to see them enough, so we took advantage of our time this weekend. Here is to being a lucky daughter-in-law!

10 Years Today

10 Years ago today I married the greatest man I have ever known in the Mt Timp temple. It was one of the funnest day I can recall (despite the three shades of green Grant was before we entered the celestial room together.) A description of that day will be saved for another time. It has been a wild ride the last ten years, and often the first part of it seems and feels like another life. Both lives have been good, just so different. We have had some great accomplishments and adventures in the last ten years:

Jamison

Caleb

Asher

Miquelyn

Isaac

A Bachelors in finance

A Masters in Social Work

Moving into and out of 8 different houses

Establishing a career

Not working for money for the first time in 20 years

Travels to a few different countries

Many nights staying home

Said goodbye to too many good friends

Made great new friends along the way

so many memories it is difficult to list.

It has been a wild ride. We have had experiences that have tested our faith in the Lord and in each other. Though we have felt heartbreak and shed many tears, the good moments are the ones that come to mind first. All things combined have helped us become the couple that we are and made us so much stronger. We are better as a result of all our experiences. I would not want to have shared them with anyone else. I love this man more than myself or anyone else. Thank you Grant for making my life the best ever and choosing to be with me for ever and ever...and ever!

Give Away

Chelsey has become the artsy fartsy one of the family and really makes wonderful creations. Her latest creation are these fun beautiful flowers for the hair. She taught me how to make them and I started out the first day making about ten different colors. She is always expanding her creativity and trying new things. She even has a little place in etsy to sell her creations. She has a blog and to get her name out there is doing a give-away, so if you want a chance at it go check her out, it is totally worth it. She can be found at http://scarycutecreations.blogspot.com/. Good luck, hope you win!