Bring on the Heat

What can I say, it has been a hot week in July. Not anything too exciting to talk about, we have been enjoying our weather and being outside. Paul spent the hottest day of the year yesterday under my brothers car fixing it, what can I say, one talent after another, I am very lucky to have him, and so is my family!! Shamae and I completed our second 50 mile bike ride in our continued training for the Bike the Bear Race. We went to the pool, ate Popsicles, went for ice cream and BBQ'd alot this week- LOVE IT!- but I haven't taken pictures of a single thing, I will be better next week.

Just so this post isn't to plain or bare here are some new layouts- can you see that I have hit December and my goal of finishing up 2008 is almost complete!!

Houston- we have a bathroom!!!

One small step in the process of improving the house, one giant step for do-it yourselfers everywhere!!
We tore the original bathroom down to the studs (we went even further than this replacing all the floorboards and all the walls surrounding the tub). Now just look at the amazing work of my overly talented husband!! We finished it last night, just as my sanity almost went over the edge! It is not an easy thing to give up one of your two bathrooms and live among construction for a month, but we did it! We survived, well, I survived and didn't lose my mind!! But it was all worth it, because I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, it just feels so luxurious, fresh, clean and modern.

The cabinet(which is taller so that Paul doesn't have to bend in half to wash his face anymore!):
Mirror and light:
Shower:I will have you know that I made all the cuts on the wet saw myself!! And I didn't even brake a single tile! Check out Paul's grout lines, stunning!

Of course the true hit of the remodel is the self-closing lid on the toilet!!I keep finding them in here yelling "TaDa- it's magic!". We probably had better get one for their bathroom as well.

But tell me what to do here:
Should it just be left alone because the room is small, or does it need something here? It feels empty. Paul thinks I should put up a small towel rack, but we don't use them, we have hooks on the back of the door. I am afraid a picture would be too much. Give me some suggestions!!

Can I just say it feels so good to have my bathroom back, no tools lying all around, an inch of dust on everything, and the smell of construction. Of course the house is a work in progress and the downstairs bathroom/laundry room construction is looming- maybe we should take a brake for a little while though and just enjoy our new bathroom that sparkles!!

Happy 4th

I love the 4th of July! I love the colors and painted toes and fingers, I love the fireworks, I love the patriotism, I love the family time.

This year we started our day at the crack of dawn down in Provo at the Hot Air Balloon Festival. I have never been to it before but I knew that Abby and Liv would love it. (Naturally Paul did NOT want to get up at 5:00am after working on the tile until 1:00am, only I am that crazy, so we left Eva home with him) We met my brother and sister down there with their families and it was so interesting to see how they get those balloons in the air, so cool. The girls were amazed at their size! Then they all took flight together and filled the skies as they loop around and try to be the first to drop their flag on the target and capture their balloons. We packed a picnic breakfast and sat on blankets while we watched all the fun.

That evening we hosted my family for a BBQ and fireworks. We ate good food, (this was the Trifle that I contributed, I am very proud of how it turned out!! Yes, those would be fresh picked raspberries from my Dad's garden, and blueberries yum!)

played a rousing game of horseshoes, set off bottle rockets and fountains, pops and sparklers. For your enjoyment here is "Cartwheel of fire" via Brooklyn!Did I mention I LOVE the 4th of July?

what a week

This week I got a taste of being the mother of four. Our ward left on the Stake Trek on Monday and one of my neighbors who had agreed to be parents to a family had lost their babysitter for their six year old son Charlie. In a last minute panic they called us to see if we would take him in. Knowing how stressed I would have been in that situation Paul and I agreed and the girls were so excited to have him stay. Eva graciously gave up her room to him and moved in with her sisters. He really was to most polite well mannered little boy you ever spent time with. Not a single problem with him, in fact I think Eva decided that he was the older brother she always wanted. I would often hear her calling him in her lispy voice "Charlie, Charlie, help me Charlie", and he would always come to her aid!! We went to play group, built forts, went swimming at the pool, played monster chase, went to story time at the library, and made runs to Lowe's for tiling supplies. After he went home Abby looked at me and said "Mom, I am really sad to have Charlie go home". Yes, she really loved having a constant playmate even early in the morning and late at night!

Because of my need to be cruise director this week to make sure that our house guest wasn't getting bored I wasn't able to scrapbook as much as I would have liked, but here are a couple. I hope you don't mind Halloween in July- it really is difficult to get into that mode when it is 90 degrees outside and we just got home from the pool!!!

Park Play-for Bethany

Last week my sister-in-law Bethany came down and spent the weekend at my Mom's house. While I was sad that because her brother's who rent out her basement apartment were sick with the swine flu and my brother was starting to get symptoms had made her quickly pack up her newborn and 1 1/2 year old and get out, the girls and I were more than excited to spend some time with them!!

We snatched up Eden one afternoon and took her to the park to play in the sun and we all had a wonderful time.
Her favorite things were the spinners!
We were later joined by Bethany with Leif and Amber with Lincoln for their first outing (I wish I had taken a picture, but alas I didn't).I am glad everyone is feeling better and back home, but the girls do miss our cute Eden!!

Friday Insperation is Back!!

After a much too long hiatus, I have begun scrapping again!! I have so many fun and wonderful kits in my downloads that I could hardly contain myself this week as I have stuck with my goal of doing two layouts a day to get myself caught up. As you can tell I am almost a year behind, but if I can keep plugging along I will make progress. I would really like to get Liv's book finished up to the end of 2008 so that I can print her book, she asked me all the time when I am going to do that, I have to keep explaining to her what a slacker I am and I need to finish last year first!!! It has felt good to be creating again, I really do love it!!

So without further adieu, enjoy my newest completions:

Carnivals and Races and Parades...

As I gently layed Abby into bed Saturday night she hugged me tight and whispered in a tired but content voice "Mom, this was the best day ever, when will it be Strawberry Day again..." and drifted off into dream land filled with carnivals, races, parades, BBQ's, cousins...

Strawberry Day's in Pleasant Grove sadly only comes around once a year, but we take full advantage of it!! Here is the recap of our event filled weekend:

Friday night we went to the Carnival with Cory and Jill and clan. We had a great time riding the rides:Liv HAD to go on the Farris Wheel this year and she wouldn't be left behind on the Roller Coaster either!! I couldn't believe how brave she was, coming off smiling and giggling, we may have a dare devil after all!! Eva loved going on the marry-go-round and driving the cars, her smiles and excitement and waves were precious.

Of course cotton candy was passed around and we initiated Lily into the sugar lovers group!! Sorry Jill!!! We went home tired but excited for our early rise on Saturday morning for the big race!

My family hit the pavement strong at 8:00am and cruised our way to the finish line. Once again we cleaned up at the awards ceremony with Cory, Jill and Kobe taking 2nd in their age groups. Alex coming in 3rd in his. My dad, continueing in his long tradition of domination, took 1st place once again by crushing his record and coming in at 19:30!!!! Holy crap he is fast!! Way to go Dad!!I love this picture because not only is it a great action shot of his determination, but look at his competition- can you say 18 years old at the most and my Dad is totally passing him!!!!
I didn't finish in ribbon contentions, but at a little over 25 minutes I was happy with it, placing me 10th out of 41 in my age group!

Next up was the kid run and Abby was beyond excited to participate in her first race ever. We had practiced several times and she was ready! Asher was also running and they took their places at the starting line. They were a little unprepared for the race madness and soon found themselves casualties of the group getting tripped up and hitting the pavement, but I was so proud that they both jumped right up and kept on running as fast as they could go!At the awards Abby was thrilled upon measure to find that she had taken 3rd place!!!! She got to go up and receive her ribbon and join in the Griffiths family tradition of Strawberry Days champions!!!Next we went to the parade and had a grand time, with it being overcast with some sporadic drizzles of rain it was actually quite nice.
Abby and Liv's favorite entry was this float with the Royalty atop a majestic elephant:Eva love the "tiny ponies" drawing this stage:and I loved the Lehi city float, very unique and fun, I loved that they had the Royalty in Safari dresses!
After that we went to my moms for a Father's day BBQ and the girls played with their cousins for hours and we all got to hold the new babies and eat good food. That evening we got home, bathed the girls and let them sit on the couch to unwind and found them falling asleep at 7:00pm so we scooped up our little darlings and layed them in their beds. It really is too bad that Strawberry Days only comes once a year!!!