Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from all of us. We love this season to celebrate and remember the birth of our Savior. As we reflect on this year we realize how truly blessed we are. We feel our Saviors love and his guidance in our lives and we are truly thankful. We hope this next year brings peace, love, and joy to all of family and friends. Love, the Griffith family.

The kids and I went to the annual Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the town square. It was very cold, but we got some hot chocolate and the kids survived. We had fun.

This is our Christmas tree! Look at the reflection in our blinds. Looks cool. And below is our Christmas Tree, just my abstract version of it.
The older two kids were at school so Ethan, Lauryn and Mom went outside to play in the little bit of snow that fell. Lauryn didn't know what to think, but Ethan knew what to do.

Below is Ethan's mini snowman. He thought it needed some feet so he put hit 2 cars at the foot of him. What a clever little guy.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

She's 1!!!

Our baby girl is 1 yrs. old this week

It is hard to believe that 1 yr ago Lauryn came to our family. The year has flown by too fast and I find myself a little tearful because I don't want her to grow up. We are so glad you came to our family and we love you more than we can say!!! But she is growing up and we had fun celebrating her 1st birthday.
Lauryn got some books and bath toys. And Matthew couldn't wait to give Lauryn her Christmas present so he gave her a little red bear early for her birthday.
Mommy made her a pink butterfly cake with raspberry filling! Yummy.




Lauryn knew exactly what to do with her new found freedom of eating a huge piece of cake and nobody telling her no. She got really messy!


She did a pretty good job and almost finished her whole piece of cake!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Double Digits!

She Turns 10
We made an ipod cake. Mint green just like the one she has. She got books, earring with matching necklace, some much needed jeans, and a movie! She also had a friend party at the bowling alley with 8 of her very giggly friends. Happy Birthday my big 10 yr. old. Time has gone by too fast. I don't think I am ready for my little girl to grow up so fast. But you are turning into a beautiful young lady. We love you Amanda!

Below, just some random pictures I took of the trees by our lake.

So Ethan woke up a few mornings ago with some pretty crazy hair. But the boys always have crazy hair when they go to bed right after having a bath because they have wet hair. So it dries really funny. For some reason Ethan did NOT want us taking his picture of his hair, so Jared tried his best to do it without him noticing. This is the best we could do. It looked even funnier from the front, but that was not going to happen.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Halloween!

Amanda has decided to be scary this year. Vampire fangs and all.
My Pretty Little Ballerina!
The Vampire and the Ballerina
Spidey and Iron Man! Go Super Hero's!

Spidey is checking out his loot from Trick-or-Treating.
Well, I guess she is a pretty vampire. She felt pretty in her dress and collar and teeth. Don't forget her black purse because vampires go shopping too.

Lauryn smiles when we say "cheese"

Friday, October 22, 2010

A Visit and a Vacation!

Alas! Another member of my family came to visit. My sister and her husband and kids! We loved having you guys here! We did a corn maze at the Fall Festival, hayrides, barns, and kids games. We went to the children's gardens, children's museum and more!

My sis and my baby at the museum.
Cousins just chillin in a rocket.
Udders and Putters mini golf. Of course the littlest ones just walked the ball to the hole.

A Getaway to Tennessee

Falls Creek Falls Park

Raise your Hands!! Ethan was very excited to make it to the top of this rock all by himself.

One of the little waterfalls we climbed to.
Just a couple of pictures of the little pools and falls we climbed around.

Just before we were about to cross this suspension bridge, a nice lady offered to take one last picture before we plummeted to our deaths, just kidding we were perfectly safe but still a little nerve racking.
Amanda and Matthew half way there.
Crossing the suspension bridge. Both hands on the rope!
We made it to the other side!
We crossed the bridge and decided to hike all the way to the falls. A lady told us it would take us a couple of hours, but it was only a mile hike so we did it. We are almost there and the views were beautiful.

Falls Creek Falls, we made it.
Chattanooga
We drove to the top of Lookout Mountain and then proceeded to pay money to ride back down the mountain. But it wasn't in a car, it was in a train/tram sort of thing. The kids thought it was a roller coaster, but just really, really slow.
When we got to the bottom of the mountain, there wasn't much to do. So we ate icecream and rode back up again. When we got to the top we walked around. Some of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen are on the top of Lookout Mtn. And they have quite the view.
Rock City Rocks!
We ventured into Rock City. We weren't sure if it was going to be worth the money, but it was totally cool. Probably a couple miles of sheer joy for kids. Caves, caverns, rocks, waterfalls, fairies and gnomes. Bridges of rock and bridges of wood, standing high enough to see 7 states at once. This place was an exploration at it's best!
One of the many crevices in the rocks.
The kids are climbing their way as far as they can go into the wedge of the rocks.

These two pictures is what the park looked like above the caverns and caves. Beautiful rock walkways amid the trees.
Daddy and Lauryn in a cave/tunnel. Yes, Jared is ducking down because he and the baby would hit their heads on the top of the tunnel.
The kids had so much fun climbing on, around, and through the rock at the park.
The kids were starting to fight over something stupid so I distracted them and told them to touch the wall of the cave. And they did it!
We are inside a cave with Gnomes and Fairies. Here is their wishing well.
Standing just below the waterfall. But on our way up!
Getting to walk over yet another suspension bridge. Lots of fun!


Above, standing high enough to see 7 states at one time. Below, standing in almost 7 states.
We were lucky enough to visit friends that live in Tennessee. Oddly enough I didn't take any pictures of our kids together. But they took this one of our family.
Last but not least, Stinking Creek Rd. We had to take a picture. "Where do you live?" "Stinking Creek Rd." We also saw signs for a state park called... Big Bone Lick State Park(LOL), but we weren't fast enough with the camera.