Our Summer and Fall Fun

Cory, Jay, Trace, Lincoln, Weldon, Kelly, Leif, and Brandon.

Four generations of Griffiths

Great Grandma Griffiths with Leif and Lincoln

Lincoln and Leif

Aunt Tia holding Leif.

Sweet Eden

A hike at Glacier.

Kelly holding Eden. She fell and got a huge goose egg and cried all the way down the mountain until she fell asleep. Poor thing.

GOATS! GOATS! BABY GOATS! I love animals.

Me and Eden having a good time.

This is my favorite photo of Jay(Grandpa). He looks like he's a kid again.

The fam in Glacier.

Hiking with Leif in Glacier National Park.

Eden "bumping" on the bed with Great Grandpa Griffiths. She loved him ever since he gave her a M&M.

Eden when she was still tiny.

Eden with Leif, when he was still tiny.

I'm sure going to miss her chubby hands.

Eden splashing with her Dad. I am still a little in shock that the summer is gone.

Family photo on Halloween. Yes my hair is really that short.

Leif as a Leaf. My sister helped me make his costume.

My little Eden fairy. She loved trick or treating. She ran from house to house. She even out ran 2 of her older boy cousins.

Leif found his feet. I love when babies do that!

Yes, Leif is a thumb sucker. The fam

Eden likes to "belax" with her dad. She says, "Let's talk and belax." The last time she did this we asked her what she wanted to talk about and she thought for a moment and said, "Jesus." She makes us laugh all the time.

For her birthday she got a tea party set from Grami. This was her first tea party with her friend Lia.

Eden eating raspberries from our bushes.

Eden loves Leif. The only problem is that now he's getting bigger and she thinks she can sit on top of him and roll over him. She talks to him all the time and calls him "Leify little guy." It's fun to see how Leif watches her and smiles whenever he talks to her. I'm surprised he hasn't learned to fear her. The best thing about having two is watching how tender they can be to eachother. Even though it's not always this sweet.

This is just a photo of Leif looking chubby.

When you ask Eden who her best friend is, Eden always says Dad or Kelly. You can see why she loves him so much.

My happy little guy at the zoo for Eden's birthday.

We went to the zoo for Eden's birthday and got to see the new baby elephant. We all loved it!

Eden started eating her cake before we could get the candles lit. She had a fun birthday playing with her cousins.

This is Eden when she turned one. Has it really been another year?

Eden age one.

Well it's been a while. But it only seems like a minute. Sometimes I wish I could just freeze time for a little while or have a perfect memory that could capture small moments with my kids. I guess I should just be thankful I have pictures. So here are some of them from the last few months. I really am technology challenged and I can't figure out how to get this statement to the top without taking a bunch more time to reorder my photos, so sorry!

Happy Father's Day

This post is dedicated to the most important father in my life. My sweet husband Kelly. For those of you who don't know, we have been separated from each other since last Monday due to a swine flu outbreak in our basement apartment. We're not sure what Kelly has but he has a fever and a cough so it could be a mild case of the swine flu. Anyway, I thought I should post some photos of our growing baby for him on this special day.

Happy Father's Day Kelly! We miss you soooo much. Here are just a few of the reasons you are the best Father in our lives. There is nothing I love hearing more than the sounds of laughter erupting from you and Eden as you play together in our home. I also love watching how excited she gets when she waits for you to come home after a long day at work and all the different ways she says "daddy." I love watching you read to Eden and hold her chubby little hand as you take her for a walk. And I love the tender way you hold our new little Leif and smile at his funny face.

Now to show you how our son has grown during the second week of his life, here are some awesome photos Trace took just for you:

This is a cute picture of Lincoln and Leif. Lincoln is Leif's cousin, born on June 11th, just 5 days after Leif. If you look closely you can see that they share the swirly cowlick right in the middle of their forehead. I love it!

Leif Has Arrived

First I should explain that this is Kelly (not Bethany) which is why this post is a lot less entertaining than you may be used to. I am sure that you all are dying to see some pictures of the newborn Leif-ster, but I couldn't resist a few pics of our little native first(since she thinks that she is so beautiful):

Now on to the main attraction:

Since I recieved a personal phone call from Randy, my brother-in-law, requesting I post some photos of the changes happening, I figured I better. He said I had probably changed the most and then I remembered since they live back east they haven't seen my growing belly. So here is a lovely photo of me by our blackberries and raspberries. I would have taken the photo by our beautiful tulips but Kelly insisited on showing off the berries. He is quite excited about them.

We went to Arches and Gobblin Valley a couple of weekends ago with Jill & Cory, Bree & Paul, and Nicole and Marsha. It was a lot of fun. I would love to show you how much fun however I only took a few photos. So here is a cute one of Cory and Jill with their cute kids hiking to delicate arch.

This is one of Eden in the car asleep with her sucker. Bring on the cavities!

Kelly just turned 30 on April 21st. No we did not have a party or go out or do anything to place him in the spot light. You might be wondering where his candles are on his cake. He wouldn't let me put those on either because he doesn't like the wax they leave behind. He's been working hard on his final project for school so we celebrated his birthday on Sunday in our quiet home just like he wanted.

This is just a cute picture of Eden's curls. No, they are not as tight and beautiful as one of Jill and Cory's little sweeties, but I'm enjoying them while they last. I think her hair will end up being wavy like mine once it grows out.

This is Eden enjoying her "flops." She's going to love the summer!

Uncle Stan's Cabbin

A few weeks ago we went to Stan's, Kelly's uncle, cabbin. It was so relaxing. This is the view from the back deck.

While Kelly skied, Eden and I just watched the awesome birds and squirrels pick at the bird feeders. We saw these yellow ones in the photo, and some blue ones and red ones. I couldn't believe how many different kinds there were.

Then the next day we went snow shoeing with Stan. We forgot to take our back pack for Eden to ride in so Stan and Kelly rigged some rope and a sheet into a carrier for her. She loved it.

At the end of the hike she started falling asleep so Kelly got her out and made her walk.

On the drive home we saw a golden eagle feasting on some deer remains by the side of the road so of course we had to turn around to see it a little closer. When we pulled up it started to fly away before I had the camera ready so this is the best shot I got. I love seeing wild life.

Oh where, oh where has my little baby gone?

Lately Eden has been pretending she is a dog. I love it! She pants and barks and actually crawls (not her weird 3 legged scoot, a real crawl) around on the floor. She just seems more and more like a kid than my baby. Last week at my mom's she insisted on sitting at the bar on a stool with all the other kids. It's so funny to watch her try to play with her older cousins.

Kelly was eating a chocolate donut and he Eden was eating her lunch sitting next to him. He looked over and this is what he saw. So I had to get a picture. Poor thing, she is probably all ready addicted like me.

This is Eden attempting to hug Lia, my friend Ashlee's little one that I tend on Tuesdays. Eden just loves her. Every time we drive up Lia's street, she starts saying, "Lia, Lia, Lia!" The other day Lia was drinking her bottle and lying on the floor. I was doing the dishes and when I looked in to see how the two were playing together, I noticed Eden sitting on top of Lia like she was the most comfortable chair in the room. Poor Lia, I think Eden loves her so much because she lets her do whatever she wants. Eden would have freaked out if the situation had been reversed.

I'm trying to get used to the idea of having a little boy in our house. I even started making boyish hats to help me get more excited. The only real problem I am having is thinking of names for my little guy. I really have only thought of one name I like, Leif. But I'm not sure I love it and people keep telling Kelly it is pronounced "Lafe" with a long a. And that is just hideous. So then I thought we could still name him Leif, but spell it Leaf. But do I seriously want to subject our son to some serious ridicule by doing this? And will I have to dredlock my hair and stop wearing a bra if I have two children named Eden and Leaf? Just wondering.

Adoption

My sweet cousin Jessica and her husband Ben are trying to adopt right now. Here is a link to their online profile. So if you know anyone who is looking to place a baby with an amazing family, please have them check this out. THANKS!!!

https://beta.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/14910880/ourMessage.jsf