Our Lovable Duke

Tell me this dog isn't loved.

Sometimes Duke forgets he is a 95 lb lab. He thinks he is a 10 lb poodle. haha

He truely loves Brian. He tries everyday to get in Brian's lap while in a chair or on the couch. This particular day when Brian layed down, Duke got up on his chest and really loved him up. It is pretty sweet to see.

Our Wedding Day

One of my goals this year was to get older pictures scanned and onto the computer and on disk. Well one group of pictures that we don't have on disk is our wedding pictures. I am only half way thru right now scanning but I love to look at them. This was our first (civil) wedding. We later sealed our marriage in the Logan Temple. I loved my dress and just enjoyed our wedding day. I know my mom was going crazy making sure everything was just right but I didn't feel the stress. Many things didn't go as planned (music got messed up during the ceremony, matron of honor's dress didn't arrive until the day before the wedding, etc) but you couldn't tell. To Brian and me, it was perfect.

This was our engagement picture. It was up the canyon in a secluded spot and it was beautiful. There was a waterfall behind us. Tricky place to get to but still... it was perfect.

I loved my dress. This was up on temple grounds and it was a pretty place to take pictures.

Don't our parents look cute. We all look so young. haha.

Our Matron of Honor and Best Man. Our longest and dearest friends Erica and Paul.

This was Brian's family... they have grown since this picture. All of Brian's siblings, nieces and nephews are in this picture.

This is my family. The contrast between Brian's picture and mine is my picture consists of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I am an only child so no siblings for me. Funny how we have about the same size and yet what a difference.

My flower girls. They are all family and between the ages of 6 and 7. Now they are all teenagers.
Oh we look so young. But so in love.

It is so fun to look back. This year will mark 8 years married and 9 years together. Some ways it feels like we just got together and in some ways we feel like we have been married forever. It is hard to remember life before us.

Love is wonderful. Love is eternity.

Happy New Years 2010

We had a fun New Year's Eve. This is the first year we decided to let the kids stay up as long as they could. (I know we are silly!) Kimmy was determined to stay up to see the ball drop in New York (even though she kept telling us when the chimes go off).

I had to buy some fun things for them to ring in the new year and they sure did enjoy them. We also had sparkling apple juice and played Wii games for a couple hours. We had a great time. About 9:45 Matthew had enough and crashed in my arms. About 9:55, Kimberly closed her eyes. With 2 minutes to go, we tried to wake her but she was out. So they both missed the ball drop. Oh well. The amazing thing to me is Brian was awake the entire time. I think this is the first year he has stayed up till 10 p.m. on New Years in a long time. I was reading a good book and ended up ringing in the new year at midnight while my house slept sound.

Happy New Year to all. Hope this year is a great one.

2009 Year in Review

What a year 2009 was. There were a lot of celebrities pass away this year, Obama had his first year of his Presidency, the war is still going, and celebrities are getting into trouble left and right. (shame on you Tiger Woods)

Here in Logan, we had an interesting 2009 year as well. The year started out a bit rocky. Brian's job wasn't working a full week and we started struggling with bills and what not (like many people this past year). Luckily by July, Brian's work went from 3 days a week to 7 straight days for the rest of the year.

Birthdays came and went and we enjoyed them all.

The spring brought sadness to our family. My grandmother (Mere-Mere) was told she only had less than 3 months to live due to cancer in March and passed away in May. We were lucky enough to spend some time with her before she got really ill. We will miss her terribly but we also know she is in a beautiful place waiting for us to return.

The summer was a lot of fun for the kids. Matthew tried hard all summer learning how to pedal his bike. Kimberly learned how to ride her bike without training wheels and we were so proud. She did it all by herself too. She was determined to learn to ride on her own and she did great.

This fall marked a big deal at our house. Kimberly started Kindergarten at Bridger Elementary. She seemed so big going to school. I am still amazed she is old enough for school but loving every minute of it.The holidays came and went and we stuffed ourselves silly at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had a great Christmas and we all feel spoiled.

2010 is on our doorstep (the kids are ready with their hats and horns even though they will probably celebrate around 9:00 p.m. because they will not make it up past that time). We are looking forward to another year of blessings and many exciting adventures. We know there will be some surprises and I am sure some tears here and there. We take whatever comes our way with our heads held high.

Blessing to all for the new year. :-)

Christmas Pictures 2009

Christmas Morning

Silly dog looking over the couch.

This year's Christmas outifts.

Beautiful girl.

Handsome boy.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 has come and gone and boy what a fun one it was. The month of December has been insane and so glad that it is almost over. Between Christmas, school, and church; we have been running.

The weekend before Christmas is always set for Grammie's house. We go up to Soda to take presents to my grandparents and visit with my parents. My mom loves to have us come up to show off her house at Christmas time and this year didn't disappoint. Their favorite new addition to the house, a Jimmie Johnson blowup. haha. Funny dad. One major thing that happens during this weekend is Santa Elves. See my mom has a deal with Santa's elves that they will come and fill up the stockings while we are sleeping. That is pretty fun for the kids to see what Santa's elves bring in their stockings. As usual, Santa's elves overdid themselves and spoiled us rotten.

Christmas Eve was a family day. We spent a few hours at my in-laws visiting with Brian's family. It is a lot of fun for the kids to play with their cousins and everyone is so excited for Christmas.

We have a few traditions during the Christmas season and I think we got them all done this year. One is to see Christmas lights around town. There are a few Griswold houses that always seem to grow each year that we never miss. We didn't make the entire town this year but did get to see some nicely decorated houses. I have to say though, Woodside Drive looked pretty sharp this year all decked out. Another tradition is to watch Christmas shows all December. I think we watched them all this year. Some of my favorites: White Christmas, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Christmas Story. This year we got to burn a candle every night and read a Christmas story (my in-laws made us a folder of stories). Then on Christmas Eve we write letters to Santa Claus, put out our cookies and milk, read the scripture story, and get to bed early. All was accomplished.

Christmas morning was probably one of the best we have had. Matthew was just at the right age to realize Christmas was fun and exciting. Of course Kimberly was all ready for what she knew would be exciting. Kimberly was told not to come out of her room till 6 and she listened and didn't wake us up till 6:15a.m. (only for mom and dad's purpose). We finally woke up Matthew at 7 a.m. cause Kimberly couldn't wait any longer. After checking the cookies and milk (they were gone but noticed that Santa left a lot of crumbs), they ran around the corner to see what Santa brought. Matthew started grabbing things so excited and Kimberly just had her mouth wide open with a huge smile on her face. They were so happy! We tore through all the presents we had pretty quickly and then the kids played with things for a bit. Not long after we finished opening presents, my parents came to join us. It is tradition on Christmas Day for me to play host while my parents get to enjoy the kids and the food. So after my parents were bombarded by kids showing off what they got, we opened presents from them. Like always, they spoiled us rotten (oh I mean they showed their love). Thank you mom and dad for everything! Then it was time for Christmas lunch. This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I get to make everything I want to eat and love to try new things. I think I made many bellies full this year. My in-laws stopped by and gobbled up some food as well and then we got to open more presents. I think we had everything open by 2:30 p.m. The living room was full. Our garage was full of boxes and wrapping paper. And we were exhausted. But it was all worth it.

Christmas night was full of Rockband (thanks to Santa) and Wii games. Good thing the kids crashed by 8 p.m. cause Brian and I were ready for some Wii competition! haha.

We hope everyone had just as enjoyable Christmas as we did. Good thing we have 1 whole year to do it all again!

Love and blessings to all!

Merry Christmas to all

Great what?!

I am pleased to announce Brian and I are great uncle Brian and great aunt Tammy. Boy do I feel too old now to have a Great before my name. haha. We have been waiting patiently all year for our niece Rebecca to give birth to a baby girl. She was due on Dec. 19th and her hubby is deployed in Korea right now. She is living with her mom here in Logan. We have enjoyed watching her get bigger and bigger. Well a couple of weeks ago she went to the dr to find out she is already dialating. Instant bedrest for her. Unfortunately things kept progressing and she was getting pretty close. We were hoping for 38 weeks but this weekend the baby finally had enough and decided to come. But we had a huge surprise... what was supposed to be a girl (95% sure by the dr in California) turned out to be a sweet little boy! Mr. Caidon Ryan made his entrance to the world on Nov. 29th at 12:42 p.m. weiging 6lbs 8oz and about 18 1/2 inches long. He had a rough time coming into the world (vacuum was used) and so he looks a little beat up right now. He was able to come off oxygen after 8 hrs and hopefully things are looking up for the little guy. We are so happy to have him in our family and can't wait for the day to hold him and love him up. Hopefully I get to see him thru the window this afternoon.

Happy days for us!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We started the day with the yearly Macy's parade. It is fun to watch the parade route now that Brian and I have visited New York and have walked most of those streets. Matthew really found a love for the parade this year. My favorite part was watching Kimberly and Matthew kicking with the Rockettes. hehe After the parade we headed out to have dinner at my in-laws. About 30 of us gathered together to eat the usual turkey and stuffing and enjoy all the company. Lots of kids running around and laughter. Most of the focus for us adults was on our sweet niece Rebecca. She is due to have a baby any day now and so we had a lot to talk about. Poor thing... she is ready to have this baby. I am so grateful to have such wonderful in-laws. So loving and we have a great time together. Much to be thankful for this year.

Now it is on to my parents house for the weekend. YEAH! 3 days of us and they will be ready to send us home. The only downside is Brian has to work. We will miss you sweetheart. Much love to you.

Aren't they precious

My two beautiful children were showing off their singing voices.

Matthew's turn.

This made me laugh.

We had to chuckle at this. Kimberly started singing during Matthew's performance and he got mad at her and had to act like he was going to flip her. hehe. Sorry for the shaking but I couldn't help but laugh.

I love having these things on video for when our children are older and can appreciate this. It is so much fun watching them grow.

Gotta love your children.