School's Out!

Now that I am finally on Winter Break, I have a chance to catch up on what we have been up to. I just finished fall term with only 12 credits and it was definitely hard to squeeze in enough time to study and get homework done. Luckily, my mom was able to watch Griffey most of the time when I was in class and my dad and Lisa helped out a bunch too.

Next term will definitely be a lot tougher because I am taking 16 credits, doing a practicum (observing in a classroom), and tutoring at a middle school. Also, I have to take classes earlier in the day and haven't quite figured out what I am going to do with Griffey. I am starting to get a little worried about how busy and stressful next term will be, but for right now I am just going to enjoy my winter break!

Although this Christmas is going to be a bit different, I am still excited to do all the traditional holiday things, especially for Griffey's sake. We went and saw Santa at the mall and Griffey has been dressing up festively.



I also had a Christmas party to try to get in the Holiday spirit. I had a lot of fun decorating for it. I used four rolls of white streamers and lots of white balloons to make it a winter wonderland. I even had crafts set up for the kids. Everyone brought really good food too. It was pretty fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. I get really nervous when I am in charge of something like a party because I really want everyone to enjoy it. That's partly why I had a party-to face my fears! I forgot to take pictures until the very end, so I only have a couple and some people had already left. Oh, and we didn't let the boys in the pictures! haha


Hopefully Adam will be able to enjoy his Christmas even though he isn't where he wants to be. I sent him a couple packages and I know some other people did too. We are very grateful for our family and friends and the support they have been giving us, especially Adam, throughout this year and this holiday season. I bet it is so hard for Adam being so far away from family and friends, especially this time of year, and I have so much admiration and respect for him because he is being so brave and strong through all of this.

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day! I am so thankful and proud of all the veterans, especially my husband, for serving so selflessly for all of us. I love you Adam and I am very grateful that you are my husband and the role model and father of our child.

Christmas For Adam

For anyone wanting to send Adam a Christmas present or card, you should know that it takes a few weeks for the mail to get to him so you should start thinking about it soon.

I know he would appreciate just a simple card or letter telling about what you have been up to. He would appreciate hearing happy stories from family and friends.

If you are wanting to send a package, you can get a flat-rate box from the post office for pretty cheap and fill it with goodies that would remind him of home.

You can just do an internet search on what soldiers like to receive or email him and ask him. He likes movies, music, snacks, puzzle books, and things to remind him of home. He loves Big League Chew and other bubble gum.

Let me know if you need help figuring out what to do for him and really, just a simple card or letter would make him very happy!

Halloween!

This Halloween, Griffey was fortunate enough to participate in many photo shoots! We love taking pictures of him and I think he is starting to understand that he is going to have to endure many photo sessions in his life, so he puts up with us and the camera.

We can already tell that Griffey loves candy just like me!
He was in shock with all his choices laying right out in front of him!

Griffey dressed up as a sock monkey for Halloween. He loves sock monkeys. My mom made him one that lays in his crib with him. Griffey hasn't named it yet. Here he is with his sock monkey friend and the socktapus.

He loves his friend.

No Griffey! We had to teach him that it is not okay to eat one of your own!

Griffey was dressed up for Halloween and I was dressed up for the USC-Duck game. We won of course!

Makenna, Griffey, my mom, and I went to Deterings Orchard out near Coburg a few days before Halloween for Griffey's photo shoot and fresh apple cider. It was so good!

We brought this carved-out pumpkin with us. I think after all the pumpkin posing and the fact that he had to sit in the pumpkin on a couple different occasions, we may have ruined the fun of pumpkins for him. Hopefully he isn't too scarred!

This is when we knew it was time to go!

Makenna did the hay maze. I think her height may have been a slight advantage!

Griffey loves Pumpkins!

This Halloween wasn't very eventful because Adam wasn't here and it's just not the same without him, but it was still very fun to introduce Griffey to all the traditions of Halloween. He was too young to trick-or-treat, so we dressed him up and took pictures and then he hung out with Grandma while I was at the Duck game.

I am excited for next year because Griffey will be older and walking and although he won't understand Halloween or the concept of trick-or-treating, he still will be able to score us candy!

Germs

Griffey-one day old.

Sometimes I worry too much what other people think. Actually, too often I worry what other people think. I don't worry so much about what people think about me, but I worry about if people are happy and what role I am playing their happiness.

I am not the type of person to say I don't want something in order to be polite, even though I am a really dying to have it. You know? Like saying "oh no, that's okay, you have it..." when you really want it. Just say you want it. I feel like that leads to weird, unecessary resentment of silly little things. So, I feel like I do a good job of speaking my mind and standing up for what I feel is important. I don't understand the point of being passive aggressive.

With that said, I still worry to much about hurting other people's feelings. I know it is good to worry about others because it motivates you to help them, but I think too much about it. I am glad that Adam is my husband and that I can run my feelings in this realm across him because he gives me a great perspective.

I don't know if it is because he is a boy or because he is Adam, but usually when I tell him all that I am thinking about something and how I don't know if I should do this or say this because someone else might think this or do this...he always tells me to not worry about it. He says that their own feelings are on them and I am wasting my energy worrying about what they might get out of what I say or do.

It is nice being married to him, because he helps pull me back to that place when I get too caught up.

Since I have become a mom and the spokesperson for my little man, I have had to put his needs ahead of everything else. His health, happiness, and wellbeing take top priority, especially over my overworrying about what people will think.

Because of this, I have come to the conclusion that it may sound rude to ask people to act a certain way around Griffey or do things a certain way because of Griffey, but I don't care anymore. My top priority is Griffey and I hope people can see where I am coming from.

The reason I am stuck on this is because I felt rude asking people, especially adults, to wash their hands before touching Griffey. It seems weird to check up on another adult's hygeine, but it is necessary and so I will stop worrying.

I don't want Griffey to get sick, especially if it is preventable. I don't want Griffey to get sick more than I don't want to hurt other people's feelings.

Please wash your hands. Especially after going to the bathroom- that is just gross. Please cover your mouth when you cough and stay home if you are sick. Please understand how scary it is to have a newborn in this germy world, especially during flu season.

How do I politely ask someone older than me who thinks they know better than me, to wash their hands or stay far from Griffey. How do I approach other parents about telling their kids to wash their hands before touching Griffey?

Griffey's Blessing

While Adam was home on leave, we had Griffey's baby blessing at Church. Adam did a great job with the blessing and we had a bunch of family and friends come to our ward to share this experience with us.

Over the summer, I took on the project of sewing Griffey's outfit. This was a huge feat for me, because I had no idea how to sew and the ladies at Joann's Fabrics actually told me to get help and didn't believe in me. I guess I asked too many novice questions. They seemed very unsure of me.

Well, I figured it out with some help and I think I did a pretty good job!
Haylee loves Griffey and showed it with kisses after his blessing.
Grandma Booher, Uncle Fred, and Nathan made the trip from Washington. Grandma and Grandpa Dimock also came from Utah. It was great to have so much family here too meet Griffey and see Adam. We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone.

Here is Griffey in his fabulous outfit. It was supposed to have a bowtie, but I didn't quite master that in time. He still looks handsome though!

I'm glad my dad and Lisa got a picture of us all three together while Adam was home! We don't have too many, especially because Adam despises taking pictures.

My two men in their new outfits. Adam got a new suit especially for Griffey's blessing. He was due for a new one considering he got his last one for his mission, I think nine years ago.

Griffey always admires how cool his daddy is.

I am really grateful that Adam was able to give Griffey a blessing while he was here. I think it is a wonderful gift to Griffey from his daddy and I am appreciative that in preparing for his blessing, Adam and I were able to sit down together and talk about our hopes and dreams for Griffey.

Through envisioning how we want Griffey's childhood to be, we were able to see what kind of parents we want to be. The main hopes and goals we have for Griffey is that he may be happy and healthy and understand the importance of sharing his blessings with others-whether they may be his knowledge, his talent, his compassion, his testimony, his humor, or anything that he has to give.

I am grateful for what a wonderful little boy he is and I am excited I get to have him in my life forever.

Pumpkin Patch with the Girls

Last weekend, Griffey and I went to the pumpkin patch with Desi, Carlee, and Haylee. I had fun taking pictures of the girls and walking through the pumpkin patch. Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip:

Carlee thought the cows were "pumpkins." I told her to pick out which pumpkin she wanted and she pointed to the baby cow. She was saying "hi pumpkins" to the cows and was confused why we were walking around the field of orange things when we went there for the "pumpkins."