Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great Valentine's Day here.

Here we are doing a craft.  The girls cut some paper hearts and we made a necklace.

For a treat we decided to make rice krispy treats.

We used cookie cutter hearts to shape them and then the girls got to decorate their hearts.

Here the girls show off some Valentine presents.  They each got some stickers and a lego set and some little candies.  Look how happy they look.

Another church in our community had a Valentine's Day dinner.  It was a free event for the community so Will and I decided to go.  The dinner was extra yummy since I didn't have to cook it.  And there was child care provided.

Will's boss at Lifeways ended up being the man in charge of the whole activity.  Here a few couples participate in a newlyweds game.

The library had a party a couple of days after Valentine's.  The girls getting some tattoos.

Rachel playing a tossing game.

Whitney tries to throw a little arrow into a heart.

Megan plays some bingo.  Each of the carnival games had little candies and prizes.

Finally we spent some time doing a heart magnet craft.  So it was a really fun party.

I hope everyone else had a great Valentine's Day with lots of love.

A Sad Passing

Will's grandpa died a few weeks ago.  He was in his mid-nineties and getting sicker, so it wasn't totally unexpected.  But it was still sad because Grant Reeve was a wonderful man.  Will was able to fly to Utah to go to the funeral.

There was a nice funeral service for Grant.

A lot of people loved him.  Will said it was nice seeing some of his cousins and aunts and uncles that he hadn't seen for a long time.

A light lunch for the funeral attendees.

Will got to spend some time with his brothers.  I think he hasn't seen John since our wedding.

Hanging out with Dave at Will's parents' house.

On the Saturday the group decided to go on a hike.

Will said it was really cold, but the frozen waterfall was beautiful.

It was sad to hear that Grant Reeve had passed away.  He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.  But I am glad that Will was able to go to Utah and spend that time with his family.

New Years!

I promise this is the last blog about the holidays. then we will finally be caught up.  We had a fun New Years at First Night in Kennewick.

Because we were some of the first people there, the kids all got 2017 glasses - complete with little flashing lights.

We played some little carnival games and the kids got little candies.

More carnival games.  We decided to skip the really long line for laser tag.

Here we meet Elsa.  Cinderella also made an appearance in the night.  But Elsa is Rachel's favorite.

Riding on the merry-go-round was a hit.  Whitney was the only one brave enough to go on a horse that goes up and down.

I wanted to see the juggler so we stopped and watched his show.  I thought it was cool.

Stopping and taking a little coloring break.  They were suppose to decorate a pizza to try to win a free pizza.  But we didn't win.  I guess we will just have to buy our pizza.

And we were at the bounce houses for a long time.  So it was a fun night.  Thankfully my parents watched Adam for us so we wouldn't have to hold him the whole time.  There were thousands of people there, but it was good.  And no one got lost.

Christmas and More

So this is the last Christmas post.  We had a great Christmas day.  I love having Christmas on Sunday so we can also go to church and enjoy the beautiful Christmas music.

We let the kids open their stockings before church.

Megan was super impressed with the new addition in the stocking - Fun Dip.  It has been greatly appreciated since then too.

We told the girls if they hurried to eat and get dressed for church there might be time for them to open one present.  Worked like a charm.  They were so excited to each pick one gift to open.

After church we started the crazy present opening jamboree.  Here we opened our new family trampoline.  Good for getting some bouncing done while it is still so cold outside.

Adam liked opening presents too.  He got some clothes and toys and diapers - the essentials.

Cousin Tessa decorates her face after opening her gift.  And look, she doesn't even need a mirror.  It was really cute how excited she was.

Later we got to talk to my sister Kaitlin.  She has about six months left on her mission to Mississippi.  It was great hearing some of her stories, and hearing her "ya'll".

Besides Christmas we had a couple of other fun events while in Pasco.  This was a double baby shower for Kylee and Allison.  We ended up having a good turnout and had fun playing games and eating chicken salad.

We all 'oohed' and 'aahed' over the cute outfits and blankets.

Another event was Conner getting his Eagle Scout award.  That was really neat.  I wouldn't know but it sounds like a lot of work and dedication.

This picture turned out a little blurry but Conner was able to give a little pin to my parents.

And then it was time for root beer floats.  Adam loved, loved the ice cream.  He got mad when it was all gone.

Anyway, we crammed a lot of fun things into our time in Pasco.  And it was great seeing everyone.

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas time.  And I especially love spending Christmas with my family.  Here is our family doing some of our Christmas traditions.

Our WalMart gift exchange.  I think we had like $3.37 this year to try to buy a simple gift for someone else.

Adam checks out his new rattle toy.  Thanks Zach!

Of course, there was the famous Griggs "All Night" sale.  We always stop and play cards while we wait for the next auction.  I think it's fun.  And I was able to get a porch glider (now I just need a porch).

We got to play a lot of games together.  If you haven't played Telestrations before you really should.  It is hilarious.

Michael worked really hard at telling Adam to not knock over the stack of Jenga blocks.  He actually did surprisingly well.

Another tradition is to act out the Nativity story.  The brothers were the wise men (naturally).

Whitney decided to be the angel.  Rachel was a shepherd and Megan felt sick and didn't participate.  I think our acting gets better and better as we add more characters.  This time we had a Elizabeth, that was cool.

And playing the candy bar game.  If you roll a 7, 11, or doubles you get to pick a candy bar or steal one from someone.  The girls were very lucky and got lots of candy this year.

We also started a new tradition this year.  Kylee and Chas decided to teach us how to cook some Chinese food.  They were in China for many months and were taught by some locals.  This Christmas Eve dinner was delicious.  Thanks guys!

And my favorite tradition.  You cannot really tell from this picture but we were working on our presents to Jesus.  Christmas is so commercialized; it is nice to be able to try to give something back.  This is one tradition that I will definitely be keeping forever.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun.  Stay tuned for more Christmas pictures coming soon.