Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was the best we've ever had. We fed the homeless at the Road Home Shelter in Salt Lake. Marc's brother organized the whole thing and we all helped. We started out by getting donations of food and money. Once we had everything we needed, we split up the food assignments and brought it all together to serve on Thanksgiving day. We were in charge of the cooking four turkeys. Marc set the alarm for 3am to start cooking these birdies. Thank goodness for double ovens!

When we got to the shelter we put everything together. I was the gravy lady.

Marc helped make the stuffing... outside, it was FREEZING!

Dinner was served! We didn't really keep track but we estimate that we fed around 150-175 people.

We had a lot of rolls, pies, soda and butter left over. We donated everything to the people and the shelter.

One of my favorite things is that we were so busy that I didn't stuff myself like I normally would! Normally, I eat my weight in mashed potatoes and then I'm miserable for the rest of the day.

It was an awesome experience and I would do this again in a heartbeat! I am so grateful for all that I am blessed with, especially my wonderful family and amazing in-laws! Thanks so much Steph for keeping Griff for us so that we could do this! I am also thankful for all of the generous donations from our friends. Without thier help, this wouldn't have been possible.

Over the River and Through the Woods...

My perfect, loving, sweet and amazing grandma passed away on November 11th. We went down to Blanding this week to celebrate and remember her wonderful life. She was a righteous woman who didn't go a day in her life without finding someone who she could serve. She made each and every one of her 8 children, 38 grandchildren 39 great-grandchildren feel like we were her favorite. Her example of Christ-like service is one that I will surely try to follow.

This home is so full of memories for me. It was so hard to pull into town and drive up the hill and know that Grandma wasn't there. All of my aunts, uncles and cousins gathered to go through pictures and share memories of Grandma. Her funeral was a beautiful celebration of the wonderful life that she lived.

Blanding is in South-Eastern Utah. It is surrounded by absolutely beautiful country. We made a few pit stops on our way home to take it all in.

First stop was Newspaper Rock covered in petroglyphs that date back to 2,000 years ago. It's pretty awesome! Then we were off to The Needles overlook. It was really windy and cold so we bundled up and did a little exploring.

This darling boy just clapped and gabbed everywhere that we went!
Then we were off to Moab and Dead Horse Point where it was even COLDER and WINDIER than the last place. Griffin was double bundled and we pulled out the lamb jacket... look at these cute little ears just flappin in the wind.

The view was breathtaking!

And again, more clapping!
We enjoyed our little roadtrip and Griffin was a little angel for the whole trip.
I am so grateful that my Grandma and mom lived in such a beautiful part of the state so that I have had the opportunity to visit it. I am sad that my sweet Grandma isn't here anymore but I am so happy that she lived a long, happy life and that she is back with her sweetheart after 14 years. What a sweet reunion!

Our Latest

We headed down to Mona last Sunday for some dinner with the Marbles. While we were there we decided to see if we could help Griffin get over his fear of Horses.

No such luck. He still doesn't like them.
He is wearing the very most adorable custom hoodie though! Cort made this for him when he was born and it finally fits!

SOUTH PRIDE!

In other news, we have taught Griffin to start pulling his weight around here by doing the laundry...

And Marc and Griffin have been busy playing with the dump trucks that we gave him for his birthday.

Oh I LOVE that face!

Now all I need is a perm...

and it would be the eighth grade all over again!

Halloween Happenings

This was the scariest part of our Halloween. Marc tried to put Griffin on a pony at Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo and it was he was TERRIFIED! Our friends Scott and Kari invited us to go with them to the Barnyard Boo and it was really cute. I'm excited to take Griffin back and try the ponies when he's a little older.

After we got calmed down we went for a wagon ride (Griffin would NOT look at the horses) and then went into the diner to warm up with some hot chocolate.
It was really fun and the perfect opportunity to get more than one nights wear out of his cute little lion costume.


I went to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village, including Witch-a-Palooza with my mom and sisters. Always a good time!

We went to annual Wengel Halloween Bash dressed as the Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts and Griffin as the Lion. Had I thought about dressing up earlier then I would have incorporated Griffin into the theme.

My sister Steph had these costumes and was kind enough to let us borrow them! She's the best! Special thanks to a couple pairs of Marc's socks to help me in the fill the bust of this lovely dress.

Ruka HATES Halloween (and me) not only because the doorbell rings and she barks everytime, but also because I dress her up in these adorable little costumes and bows.

My darling sister and her handsome Gladiator boys came to visit. She and her boys always have the best costumes! We were honored to have them visit us on such a busy night!

We had a great Halloween as usual and are excited for the rest of the holidays to get here!

12 Months

I can't believe how quickly things change each month! And I can't believe how much he has grown in one year!

Griff is so much fun! His new favorite thing is to climb up all the stairs. He is fast too! Luckily he hasn't fallen down them yet!

He has also started crawling around Mogli style. On his hands and feet. I'm pretty sure it's because the tile is too cold for his little belly. He's so funny!

Griffin loves to grin! All I have to do is "Say Cheese" and this is what I get! It cracks me up everytime!
We have been going for lots of walks at night after work. It has been so nice with the weather cooling off. And Ruka is loving it and feeling a little less neglected.

We are proud to announce that Griffin has moved from the 3rd percentile up to the 5th! I know, WATCH OUT! He weighs 18 lbs 12 oz and is 27 3/4 inches long. And I'm not sure this is even possible but he just keeps getting cuter!

This boy LOVES his daddy. They have such a strong bond and it makes my heart melt!

ONE

Well, Griffin is obviously only going to turn one once, so I had to throw a party for my boy!

We had an airplane theme, and if you know me, I go a little crazy with themes so I had a blast.

I can say that now that it's all over and I'm back to going to bed at a decent hour and not stressing out.

Please Check Baggage Here (gifts)

It was so fun to have a party with both of our families and lots of friends. Griffin was so spoiled although his favorite thing to play with was of course the boxes and paper.

I went a little crazy with the treats and I was on a sugar high for a good 3 days while I was baking everything.

We had truffles, caramel and chocolate dipped pretzels, airplane shaped sugar cookies, cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies and brownie bites. At one point my dad said, "Lindsey, what kind of a party is this? You don't have any ice cream?!" Sorry Dad.
I wish I could say that I made the cake, but I'm not a caker so I had it made by someone who knew what they were doing.



We had favors including pinwheels, little toy airplanes, peanuts and airplane candy.

And of course we had to let Griff dive into some cake. He loved having everyone sing to him!

He had no problem going to town on the cupcake. He even picked it up and clapped with it in his hands. This kid loves to clap!

Going along with the theme we also had an "In Flight Movie" which was a picture/video montage of the first year of Griffin's life. My friend Cortney and I made it. Well more like I just told Cort what order to put everything in and she came up with the music and used her mad skills on the MAC to complete it. I cry everytime I watch it! Thanks Cort!

It was a wonderful celebration for our sweet Griffin. It's been the best year ever, so how could we not want to celebrate? Thanks to everyone that came. It meant so much to have the ones we love there with us!