Cute Prayer

Here's a little snippet of Grant's prayer he gave for family prayer last night:

"Thank you for mommy and daddy, and Dora and Diego."

I thought it was pretty darn cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving with Adam's family in Bear River. I missed the hustle and bustle of the Child Family Thanksgiving Party (120 of my dad's family get together on Thanksgiving), but we had fun. Grant loved the pumpkin pie, and asked for it for breakfast the next two mornings. I said yes on Friday, but not Saturday. . .

Our Halloween

Unfortunately, all three of us were feeling under the weather for Halloween this year, so we skipped trick-or-treating. Adam ran to Albertson's and here is a picture of our Halloween loot:
Luckily though, we did get a couple of pictures of Grant in his costume at his preschool's party and halloween parade earlier in the week. Here is our homemade cow costume, I think he is adorable!

Fall Fun

We've been having fun the past few weeks and have been enjoying this beautiful Fall. We've been to the corn maze, carved pumpkins, and made homemade rootbeer.

Adam and Grant spent an afternoon in the canyon playing in the leaves and taking pictures

Grant finding our way through the corn maze on the map.

Grant running through the kiddie straw maze. We went through this about three times.

Heber Creeper

We rode the Heber Creeper a few weekends ago and had a blast! Grant kept saying "All Aboard" like the conductor. The canyon was beautiful with the fall colors!

Catchin' Up!

We have been having a lot of fun the past few months and now it's time to catch up on our blogging! Here are a few highlights of our summer.

• Hiking! We've been to Dog Lake a couple of times, Twin Lakes, Donut Falls, and Silver Lake. Grant picks up a new stick each time and carries it the whole hike.



• Fourth of July with friends and family. We went to fireworks in Logan with our friends the Newbold's and our family - Tristan, Chailyn and Megan. It's become a fun tradition for us, and the group keeps getting bigger!
  


• George Strait concert. Adam and I went on an awesome date night to a George Strait concert at Usana. Julianne Hough and Blake Shelton also performed. It was so fun, and even though Adam doesn't love George Straight as much as I do, we both had a wonderful time!


• Pioneer Days Rodeo. It's tradition for our family to go to the Pioneer Days Rodeo on the 24th of July each year. It's my favorite rodeo, and it's fun to spend it with my family!
  
• Hogle Zoo. We got memberships to the Zoo this year and have been quite a few times. Grant loves the elephants the best. One of his favorite times was when we met his cousins Courtnie and Rylie at the zoo and rode the train and got ice cream cones.


• Lori's Family! My sister Lori and her family were in town a little bit this summer, and we spent a day with them in Salt Lake. We went to dinner and hung out at Liberty Park and played at playground and rode the merry-go-round.
  
• Flyfishing. We went flyfishing in Logan with Adam's dad and sister Megan. It was so fun! I caught two fish, Adam caught three, and Grant was a great cheerleader, as long as the fish didn't get too close to him.
  
  
• First Horse Ride. Grant rode a horse for the first time this summer. He's loved the pony rides at the fair, but this was his first time on a "real" horse. He got to ride his Grandpa's horse Zeke with his cousin Riley, and although he was a little scared at first, within in a minute he was laughing and saying, "yee-hah!"
  
• Jeeping! We borrowed Adam's parents' jeep and headed for Logan Canyon, one of our favorite places because that's where Adam and I went on one of our first "dates", and many thereafter. We even had our first kiss in Logan Canyon. We took the Jeep from Franklin Basin to Cub River, and then down into Idaho near Preston. We stopped by the cookie and cheese factories to pick up some essential Logan treats, and visited our niece Sydnie at Utah State.

Summer Fun!

We've been having a lot of fun now that it's finally

stopped raining so much and we can play outside more!

Our good friends, the Newbold's were in town, so we

went to have a BBQ at Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

It was fun to hang out with them, and we wish they lived in Utah all the time!

Grant and Macie are about 7 months apart, and Jackie and I

have secret plans for an arranged marriage!

Grant got to go swimming at his MorFar's house. He loved it!

And, Grant and I cooled off in the sprinklers after a day at work and school.

Bear Lake Vacation

We spent this past weekend at Bear Lake for a quick anniversary, Father's Day vacation. Grant had so much fun playing in the water. It was pretty cold, but he laid down and swam and had fun splashing around. He kept going back and forth between digging in the sand and swimming, he couldn't decide which one was more fun. We went on a couple of hikes and went through Willow Park Zoo in the pouring rain. It was a great weekend!

On the beach at Bear Lake
Grant loved playing in the sand.

So Happy!

Grant and I at the Limber Pine in Logan Canyon

Two Years!

Happy Birthday to our little Grant! We can't believe Grant is now two years old. Time has gone by so fast! We've loved watching him grow. For his birthday, we took cupcakes to his class, and he was so proud to share them with his friends. At night, we opened presents and had a birthday cake. He has certainly caught on to opening presents, he went super fast from one gift to the next and was ready to start playing with them before he had opened them all up. I think his favorite gift was a little gun that sprays bubbles all around. He was so happy and kept singing "Happy Birthday a you" all night.

Wheeler Farm

Grant and I went to Wheeler Farm today. We've lived about ten minutes from it for almost four years, but this was our first time. It was a really neat place - and free!

Pony Ride.

Cheeser smile on the wagon ride.

Grant and the sheep.Driving the tractor. I tried to get a better picture, but after a few tries he got frustrated with me and said: "Mommy, I driving." He takes his tractor driving seriously.

Never Suppress a Generous Thought

So, I haven't posted anything for about a month, and this morning here I am posting three things. Anyway, I wanted to share with all of you a great story and thought I heard last night. Our Stake Relief Society put on a fireside with Sister Bonnie D. Parkin, the past General Relief Society President. She told us this great story, and I'm going to try to keep it in mind more often.

This story is about her daughter-in-law's mother who was an excellent seamstress. One day she attended a meeting with President Spencer W. Kimball. President Kimball had on a nice new suit and the thought occurred to her that she should make him a new tie with some silk she had just gotten from New York. That week, she spent time making a tie for the Prophet and then went to deliver it to his home. As she knocked at the door, she starting thinking, "Who am I to make a tie for the Prophet? I shouldn't have done this, I should just go home." She started to leave, but before she could get too far from the house Sister Kimball opened the door and asked her to come back. She (the seamstress) started to fumble over her words and tell Sister Kimball why she was leaving. Sister Kimball looked her straight in the eyes, and said: "Sister, never suppress a generous thought."

For some reason, this really touched me. I think I often am inspired to help somebody or do something for someone, but then I worry too much that I will just be bothering them, or that they will not really want my help. So I am going to try to remember this more often:

Never Suppress A Generous Thought!

Easter!

We had a really fun Easter this year. For those of you who know how much of a sweet tooth I am, you will not be surprised that Grant is the same way. In fact, I think he got both mine and Adam's sweet tooth genes! Saturday morning we took Grant to an Easter Egg Hunt our ward's primary put together. Since it was pretty rainy, it was held inside the church. Grant loved the Easter Chicken and Dog they had there, although he was more comfortable talking to them from a distance than getting too close. (It was two of the young men dressed up in outfits - I think all the Easter Bunny outfits had been rented). Grant actually did a pretty good job keeping up with the older kids and getting his Easter candy. When he got home, he only made it a foot or two in the door before he dropped to his knees, emptied out his bag and started eating candy. The sign for candy is to twist your pointer finger on your cheek. Grant was so excited he was signing candy on both of his cheeks!



That afternoon we colored eggs, and I think one of them made it through the coloring process without being cracked . . . Grant did a great job! On Easter morning, the Easter Bunny hid some treats for Grant in our yard, and then after church we went to Adam's parents for dinner. I really enjoyed church that Sunday. The kids in primary sang a song that I had never heard before that really touched me. Even with all of this Easter "stuff" going on, I really felt the spirit, especially Sunday morning before church as I read in the New Testament about Christ's resurrection. We think about it every week in church, but it's nice to have a day just devoted to his resurrection and the promise that we all can be resurrected because of him.

Grant waiting somewhat patiently to get his picture taken so he can rip into his Easter basket from Mormor and Morfar. (That's what he calls Adam's parents. It's Swedish.)

Grant's morning Easter Egg Hunt!

Hollywood!

Adam had a conference in Los Angeles this weekend, so I went along for a fun vacation. While Adam was working, Amy, (Adam's co-worker's wife), and I went out exploring. We saw the Chinese Theatre with the stars' handprints, the Walk of Fame with the celebrity stars, the Griffith Park observatory, and Santa Monica beach. My favorite part of the trip was the Santa Monica Pier with the ferris wheel and rides. At the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, we saw a skateboarding dog and some awesome hip hop dancers. It made me want to get back into dancing so bad!



It was a really fun trip, and Adam and I did get to spend Friday night together. We went to a nice dinner at an Argentinian restaurant. On Sunday morning, we ran out to the beach for a really short time together. It was so nice and sunny, I want to start planning another trip!



Santa Monica Beach at Sunset



Griffith Park Observatory. This is the largest urban park in America.

The Audrey Hepburn Star.

Debbie Reynold's Square at the Chinese Theatre. You can tell she was wearing some cute high heels. Some of my other favorites were Roy Rogers and Trigger, Bing Crosby and Kermit the Frog.

MOAB

For my birthday, Adam and I went to Moab. It was so nice to be in the sun and hike, relax, and hang out with my best friend! We went to Arches National Park, Dead Horse State Park, and Fisher Towers. We stayed at the Red Cliffs Lodge outside of Moab, and it was really nice. My favorite part of the hotel was the hot tub. It was so relaxing and there were so many stars in the sky! We don't get to see that many stars in Salt Lake!

Windows in Arches

View from our cabin, right next to Colorado River.

Fisher Towers. This picture does not give it justice at all. It was amazing, it reminded us of the

castle in the mountain in Lord of the Rings. Only red.

Balanced Rock, Arches.

Landscape View.


Double Arch, Arches.