Happy Birthday Garrett

G:Giving. Garrett loves to share with his brother and sister. Just this morning, Garrett said he was going to use his birthday money to buy Christopher a Mariokart (so they could play together) and a matching shirt like the one he got for his birthday!

A: Adventurous. Garrett will try anything. He loves the BIG roller coaster rides and was so excited that he was tall enough to go on them at DisneyWorld! He loved seeing the alligator cross in front of us this spring break. He wanted to go touch it. He probably was close...because he was cut out of the picture.

R: Remembers. Garrett has a great memory. He can memorize numbers like you wouldn't believe. He knows all the scores from the Rockets/Jazz playoffs LAST year. He knows what the score was for the Astros game that he went to for his birthday LAST year. He knows the scores for ALL the teams in his baseball division and what place they are in. He knows all the neighbors street addresses. Not just a few but all 80+ neighbors. That was the strangest one for me! Garrett, one day that memory will be a blessing to you! He reminds me of Russell Crowe in this movie.

R: Reader. Garrett has turned into a fabulous reader this year. At the beginning of the year, he was so far behind that they thought he would have to go to a special reading class but his wonderful teacher had faith in him and now he is way above average.

E: Excels. Garrett excels at everything he tries. He has Loved playing baseball this year and played a great season of basketball. Sometimes I forget that he is younger than Christopher.

T: Tease. Garrett has his dad's sense of humor and he loves to tease us and get us laughing. He loves to turn the music up and dance around the house. He loves to laugh and keeps our home a happy one. Sometimes he just says the craziest things!

T: Testimony. Garrett has a testimony of Jesus Christ and he tries hard to follow the commandments and corrects us if we try to do something wrong. I love teaching his class at church and listening to him share his testimony.
Garrett, we love you and are happy that you are in our family!
Love,
Dad, Mom, Christopher and Madelyn

Garrett's Birthday

We had a fun time bowling and playing Laser Tag. The boys played Laser Tag 3 times and they wanted to keep going. Too bad it was a school night and we had to go home!
Garrett just got his finger smashed by the ball...so he wasn't too happy in this picture. It was the same hand that still is bruised from the baseball bat. Ouch!

Happy Birthday Garrett! Big #7 on May 2nd!!

Baseball Cupcakes

Tonight is Garrett's birthday party. So, Matt and I tried to make baseball cupcakes. We thought it would seem easy enough after seeing this one on the "family fun" website.We'll for some reason, ours did not turn out like we thought they would. We tried some with licorice ropes, red hots, 2 different red icings, red sprinkles and they still look funny! I even thought I would be able to write the boys name on the cupcake. Yah, right. I tried to take a picture of Matt decorating but he said he didn't want his picture tied to these. Oh well, at least the cupcakes taste yummy! Don't worry, I have to make cupcakes on Friday for his class at school and for the baseball team. I may just do plain ones for them.

Happy Birthday Tom and Julie

Tom is Matt's older brother and before we got married 12 years ago this June, he sent me this letter. He put so much time into writing this story and taking pictures of Matt's family (all dressed up) that I thought I would share it with Caleb. I think Tom was trying to scare me out of marrying into the family but I guess it didn't work too well! Caleb will be the next one to marry into the Griffiths' family. He is marrying the oldest grandchild, Alicia this August. Caleb, you still have time...

(btw, this is typed word for word..spelling and all)

Nat and Matt,
Howdy! Remember us? Yep, you guessed it. It's ol gloom and despair. We were hoping to give youn's these pictures when you was here but didn't happen. O well, this way we can tell you what each piture is. and your folks can meet your new kin. Here we all are on New Years Day 1996...
Did you tell your folks how perty the Red Brush country was? They probly never even heard of it. We're just tween Hay Holler and Blue Crik. We don't do big things good or bad, so nobody takes much notice of what goes on back in these hills. Well, long as they let us alone to live our own way it suits us. Makin a livin to keep body and soul together and makin music to keep life worth livin takes up our time, an the rest of the world kin take care of itself! It's always been called the Red Brush but why nobody seems to know. Some say twas from the dead leaves hangin all winter long on the scrub oaks; that gives the hills a reddish look an specially when there's snow on the ground. Maybe that's why.But to one who's seen the flamin fall colors of the coalin lands there's another answer, an it's a good one. After the cordwood was cut off, the coalin lands growed back up with sourwood, sassafras, an sumac. That kind of Brush takes a high color when the frosty nights come. I've seen whole hillsides ripplin in the October wind an lookin like walls of fire spreadin over them. All the hill country in Southern Ohio is perty in the fall, but here in Jackson County an some of the others around it is where ole nature spills her pertiest paint pots an then runs around mixen them all up like mad. These two pictures don't show the flamin fall colors cause it's Janary. That's me after a ruff nite of Repo'n. They call me Uncle Fester now! Why?

Change is slow comin to the Red Brush, but our sis has all the new designer clothes. Some thinks she's lost her marbles the way she takes care of that stick doll as if its her own. She's doing much better now. She get's to come home purt neer every weekend now! Sis's real kids (Alicia, Blake and Brooke) are growin like weeds. Her man (Marc) is teachin Blake (he's 6) to hunt, an Brooke (she's 4) is learnin to cook, an Alicia (she's 9) is doin real well in school. She kin already spell her name! I've told her she's not aloud to court til she's 16! An Marc, we harly ever see him tween huntin and workin. He seems to love his job, he's just a glowin green every day he comes home!
Ma and Pa are doin just fine. Me and Julie are keepin their freezer full of Deer an Grouse meet. Sundy feasts are like Thanksgivin! Lil' Bub, you are missin some gooood food! Some folks ask us how we kin kill such cute things like squirrels, rabbit, grouse and deer. Well, Julie tells em how it is "It's, just the way things is!" I hate to admit but when the trees got all covered in colors like they was now, I did kinda hate to kill them vermints. Their blood on the leaves looked like some of the reddest fall colors an sonehow it made me fell bad. See here what I mean...
Well, tell lil Bub that I got my passport photo and am all ready for the big weddin in Salt Lake. We'll all be there in are Sundy Best's!
Your next of Kin,
Tom, Julie, Greyson and Everbody!
Now what would you think if your soon to be brother in law sent this to you?


Julie's Birthday was in March and Tom's Birthday was last Friday and so we wanted to wish them a Happy Birthday! Tom and Julie in Holden Beach, NC with Greyson, Gabe and Baron.

Who is the smart one here?

This morning I asked Madelyn what she wanted for breakfast. To me it sounded like "Raising Cains". A yummy chicken finger place. I said, "that's not breakfast food". She said, "yes, it is".



I told her to go pick out which cereal she wanted and this is what she came back with.
"See mom, Raising Cains". I guess this is why we sometimes don't understand each other.

Madelyn - Sweet and Sassy

Madelyn is such a funny girl. We went this weekend to a birthday party at Sweet and Sassy.
Madelyn just likes to "watch". She didn't want to get dressed up, have her hair done, makeup put on or fingernails painted. She likes to be a part of the party in her own way! Look another Sweet and Sassy party...and Madelyn still doesn't want to dress up. Funny that she is wearing the same shirt to both parties.
I guess she doesn't have her mom's personality to love to be a princess for the day. (at least not in front of other people)

Age 5: Lions Day Parade QueenSenior Year: Homecoming Royalty

So, the question is...Madelyn has been invited to another Sweet and Sassy party this next weekend. She says she doesn't want to go. Seeing how she doesn't really get into the whole thing. Do I take her or not?

Time for a New Post!

Garrett got a booboo this week at baseball. He got hit by the bat on his thumb...OUCH!!!
But he loves playing so much that he still went out and played his game on Saturday and got two outs!! Way to go!! Christopher also got hit by the ball going 45 mph on his hip but I don't think he would want a picture of that posted!


Matt's sister Missy and her daughter Brooke came to visit us for the weekend from Ohio. Madelyn loved playing dolls with them. As you can see in the picture, Brooke is still playing with her babies. Madelyn loves having visitors come and spoil her with attention~~ She wanted to go on the airplane with them this morning and she was so mad when she couldn't go! Hopefully, we will see them this summer! Thanks for coming to visit!!