1+1=Big Fantastic Day

Yesterday (August 24, 2009) was the much anticipated First Day in the Big First Grade at American Heritage!

Abby is now:
-in Mrs. Soderstrom's First grade Class-one size bigger in her uniforms, and shoes!
-gone all day long (8:15am - 3:05pm)
-eating lunch at school (really, the highlight of the day!)
-enjoying THREE recesses
-LOVING the new art classroom and teacher Mrs. Bowmen
-quickly making a new best friend, Brinkley
-sitting next to her cousin Asher (we will see how long that last!)-using a flip top desk instead of a "cubby" for her things
-going to soccer practice twice a week right after school with games on Sat.

-far too old to be called my baby anymore!(Can you see the excitement? Can you? Can you?)

Love you Abby- this is going to be a FANTASTIC year of firsts for the both of us!!

Bike the Bear 2009

Our worthy opponent:50 miles around the lake- bike it twice.

Here we are, eager to begin, just as the sun crested over the western mountain line on the hills of Garden City. The temp was 53 degrees and the weather was perfect!
This shot was taken about 20 miles into the ride (Shamae is taking the picture while riding), sooo sorry Kelly that you are a blur from an apparent smudge on the lens, but you have to agree I look FANTASTIC!!! :)
Here we are as I started pulling the lead again at mile 85 right after our second run through the hills and the temps were now 100 degrees with no shade, and yet we were doing great! (Kelly is taking the pic) There was a bit of a head wind, but it was crisp and cool blowing in off the lake which felt really good. Two other riders hooked onto our group around mile 60. Lou and Dave were hitting a wall after doing the first 50 alone and they fit right in with us and our fitness level. With our group now 5 instead of 3 we were able to cruise it around that second lap even faster than the first time. I have a new understanding and appreciation of the Peleton in the Tour de France!

We beat our goal (to come in under or at 7 hours) and cruised into the finish line at 5 hours and 50 minutes! We averaged 18 miles an hour (our goal was 15) and just so you know we burned 5,783 calories! Yes we deserved that cheeseburger and fries at the finish!!!I was so worried that I would not make it and would die of exhaustion, but really all the physical and mental preparedness really payed off- we did awesome, even if I do say so myself!! Way to go Team Griffiths you guys were great and it was so fun to work, push though and take our bodies further than they had ever gone before (and have them perform so well) together!

Shamae wants to do it again next year, anyone up for the challenge? Anyone? It was a total blast and good time. I will check this off my list of things I want to do in this life and revel in the accomplishment. However, I kind of think I will just go back to my Triathlons next summer- those are done in an hour!!!

Off to the races we go!

I leave this afternoon for my 100 mile bike race along with my sister Shamae and my brother Kelly- PLEASE wish us all the luck you can give, I am going to need it. I feel like I have prepared all that I could, now I just hope I won't die!!!
I will post up the story when I get back!


OH, and a HUGE congratulations to my Sister Hillary and her husband Rand- she had her baby girl last night!! Pop over and congratulate them on their new bundle of joy!!!

All for that smile

Abby arrived home Saturday afternoon, much to all of our delight- we missed her sooo much!! Liv couldn't keep our secret from her for more than a second before she spouted out "Abby we have a big surprise for you!!". They went bounding up the stairs together and the look of pure excitement, surprise and elation was springing from her eyes. It made me very happy that she truely loves her new room and keeps telling me so even today.

(This is a picture that she made a few weeks ago and said "I want to put this in my new room someday." How could I not!)

I think it came together really nicely. It was a really fun project to do with the help of Liv, she LOVED the idea of creating a surprise for Abby! Paul still would like to build her a headboard to complete it, and we await my generous sister's white dresser that she is going to pass our way to replace the brown one.

I asked Abby what the favorite parts of her vacation were and she replied:

1. Collecting rocks from the river next to the cabins (she has a bread sack FULL).
2. Eating different foods "I only didn't like three meals"
3. Swimming in the pool at the hotels "I learned to do a back flip!"
4. Playing the "glasses game" with Laurynn and Alayna while driving (she starts laughing to herself!).
5. Seeing a family of Mountain Goats and squirrels, that kept trying to get the nuts out of her backpack while hiking.

I can't wait to see all the pictures and have her tell me about them and then hear what "Actually" happened from my parents!!

PS: Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and concerns for my sister. She was released back to her house this past weekend with her Labor and Dilation holding steady. She will still be on strict bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy but at least she isn't stuck in a hospital bed and the baby is looking good.

Hill- STAY IN BED!!!!! :)

Modify the plan

Last Friday morning I hugged my oldest, told her to be good and waved goodbye as she drove away in my parents car on a 10 day trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. While I know that she is having the time of her life with all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandparents- we miss her around here!! It feels so strange to only have two children in tow, to only get two ready for bed, to only make meals for a family of four!! I know, you are thinking that it couldn't possibly be that different, but it IS!!

While she is away we decided to mix things up a bit in the room assignments. Abby has been begging for her own space, Eva has developed a fear of the dark and being alone- so we swapped them. Eva and Liv are so excited to be together, and I haven't had to get up a single time at night to calm Eva down- fantastic!! I am redecorating Abby's room as a big surprise for her when she gets back! The look on her face is going to be priceless!!

The week before she left we went all over town looking at bedding, what she liked, what fabrics stores had to offer. Her taste was surprisingly mature and quickly moved from wanting a pink and brown room to yellow, black and white. Personally I LOVE it!! The bedding had to be ordered on-line and should be here in a couple of days and in the mean time we had to buy another bed (more pricey this time around I must say) and I created these wall art pieces that are framed up in thick black frames:There are three of them saying "Wish" "Dream" "Grow".

Things are coming along and this afternoon I will venture into recovering the cushions on the rocker so that it matches and becomes her new reading corner! It should be fun. I will post pictures when it is all done.

On another note my sister Hillary has been admitted to the hospital at 34 weeks pregnant to stop her labor and dilation which is in combination of having way too much amniotic fluid. Pop over to her blog (Hillary and Rand to the right) and offer her support- if all goes well she will be in the hospital for two more weeks before they let her labor progress- however if her baby doesn't cooperate and decides to join us too early they are giving her the steroid for lung development and hoping for the best with their now 4 lb baby girl! They didn't think she would make it through the weekend but she has held on and needs all your prayers and positive thoughts!! We love you Hill and know that everything will be all right. I so wish I could jump on a plane and be there with you!!!

I regressed...

My girlfriends from High School got together for a girls night out on Thursday! I was so excited to see them all again. I laughed and laughed and laughed, and then I laughed some more! We had such a good time catching up and reminiscing.

It was counted that we now are all married and have 13 children between us! Can you believe that! Man, we are so very old but it was fun to act like we were still in High School again, if only for one night.

(Yes, this would be Sunny doing what Sunny does best- riding the saddle at the Texas Roadhouse!)

Sunny just moved back from Montana and I had not seen her, or Kim, since her wedding 11 years ago. They are the same hilarious, adventurous, opinionated, outspoken, strong women that I remember- only better as they have grown up and embraced motherhood.

Sunny, Kim, Bree, Rachel, Tina, Kerrie

We are still a hot bunch of chics!!! Love you guys and thanks for a fun, fun night- lets do it again really soon now that we all live so close to one another!

Seventy

Just so you know, Shamae and I completed our 70 mile bike ride on Saturday!

Yes, we basically biked ourselves from North Lehi- down to Mapleton and back!!! I think we could now traverse Utah county with our eyes closed.

One piece of advice for those of you who now want to do this (and I know LOTS of you do!), don't start at 10:00am on August 1st in Utah making you end four hours later when the temperature gauge reads out 102 degrees!!! Yes, I pretty much started in on heat stroke but we finished and it feels like a huge accomplishment!!!

Century here we come in three weeks!!!