Loss in a Short Time

With the beginning of 2011 came many sad times.  First Ryan's Grandma Naomi past away on the 27th of December 2010.  She was sick through Christmas but Ryan didn't get a chance to go down & see her before she past.  He kept telling me that he wasn't worried because she was a tough old bird that always can back when we thought she was on deaths door step.  This time unfortunately she didn't & that made it so much harder for Ryan.  He was so full of remorse for not making the time to go down & see her it just made his grief deeper.  Naomi Granquist was a strong woman who spoke her mind (which just made me like her more), but she did set people on edge sometimes because of it.  She loved her family greatly especially her grand kids & expected great things from each of them.  She was buried on New Years eve in Sandy, UT with her family around her. 

Only a month and a half latter on Valentines day we got a call from Ryan's Dad letting him know that his cousin Andy passed away.  He was only 45 years old & it was very unexpected.  Andy was not only Ryan's cousin but one of his very best friends.  We spent so much time with Andy & his family over the first few years we were married and we loved our time with them.  It was such a shock that I don't think that it really sank in until the funeral.  Andy Walker was a fun, smart & loving man that leaves us with a void in our lives at his passing. 

Then towards the end of March we get a call from my Mom saying that my grandmother Geneil is not doing very well.  So we planned & waited for the end to come, which did almost a week latter.  We traveled to Cardston, Alberta, Canada to gather with her 7 children, 30 grandchildren & 30 great grandchildren for her funeral.  I had the hardest time with this because I was so close to my grandma.  She was in many ways more of a mother to me.  It was a beautiful service full of music just like she would have wanted.  My Dad even came down from Edmonton to be with me, which meant so very much to me & my Mom's family. 

The start of the new year was a hard one for our family because of all those who we lost but we know that they are there beside us watching & helping to guide us though the rest of our mortal lives, until we meet again in the next life. 

Pinewood Derby Baby!

Ethan became a Scout at his last Birthday, which meant that in February he got to be in his very first Pinewood Derby!!  He was so excited & he and his Dad spent a lot of time trying to come up with the coolest car.  In the end they decided to go for fun looking rather than speed. 
They went with a basic car shape but wanted a "Angry Birds" car.  Which meant they needed some help from Mom in how to get something that looked like Angry Birds on the car.  So with a couple of big red pom pom puff balls, some felt & google eyes we had our birds. 
Then they found some cool pictures of Angry Birds online, cut them out & after painting the car mod podged them on to the car.  It turned out very cool looking. 
In the race it self it didn't do that well but Ethan did get the prize for the most original car of the derby.  We all had fun with the pizza that was served & cheering on Ethan & his friends. 
But next year, according to Ethan, they are going for speed so that he can win the whole derby. 
Way to go Ethan!

Christmas 2010

We, Ryan & I thought it would be fun to take the kids on the Front Runner Train down to Salt Lake & see the lights on temple square.  Which they LOVED riding the train, & getting McDonald's for dinner.  Word to the wise, make sure you know the train schedule otherwise you end up waiting a hour to get home.  It made for a long night but a fun one. 
Ethan had to take a camera w/ him as he had an assignment for school that entailed him to take pictures of what he did on his Winter Vacation.  They don't call it Christmas Vacation anymore as the schools have to keep everything PC or they get into trouble these days.  He was snapping pictures of anything and every thing.  It's a good things we had an extra digital camera because I think he had taken over 100 pictures by the end of the night.  You can see Ethan holding the camera in this picture of the kids in front of one of the fountains on temple square. 
The lights were as beautiful as always & there were people everywhere.  I thought we had lost a child more than once over the course of the night.  We tried to get into see the Christus but there were so many people the line to get up to it was taking about a hour.  That is just too long to wait with three kids so we had to skip it.  We didn't even get to see the Nativity presentation.  I think if we do it again this year we will no go on a Monday night, everyone must of had the same idea we did. 
We went down to Ryan sister Katie's on Christmas Eve & had breakfast for dinner.  We also played Christmas Carols on so pipes turned chimes.  Everyone had a different note w/ a number on it.  Then followed a number pattern on a poster board and WA-la a song came out that everyone got to play.  It was fun but the highlight of the night was Uncle Dan, our brother-in-law singing & playing the guitar with a huge sombrero on his head.  He had the kids laughing so hard...Ethan was crying.  It was a fun night but I was very glad that we didn't have to get up and go all the way back down to Midvale for Christmas day.  We went to Ryan's sister Liz's as she had moved to Kaysville, just down the road from us a few months before.   
Christmas morning was early, as usual but we do make the kids wait until 8 am to get up.  Although they are up was earlier than that.  Mason got a Thomas the Train set, which he loved because he can fold it up and take it anywhere in the house. 
Holly got her Princess kitchen so she could play house & have tea parties w/ her friends.  She had received a Tinker Bell table & chairs for her birthday so now with the kitchen she had the full set up.  She couldn't wait to have her friend Ryley over. 
Ethan got the Lego's he so desperately wanted, much to his mothers disappointment, but Santa convinced her that Ethan was only a kids once and that it would help him with whatever learning.  Why is it that Lego's are like sand, you keep finding them everywhere although you were sure you got everyone of them put and put away, but stepping on one is still the worst.  Oh the things we put up with for our kids...
That afternoon we went over to Liz's for dinner and to finish putting together to school bags we had made earlier.  Ryan's family had decided to take the money we would have spent on Christmas gifts for each other & get everything for school bags to donate to the church's Humanitarian Center.  It was fun for everyone to put together & to teach to kids that there are other things more important at Christmas than getting gifts. 
All in all we had a great Christmas.

A Little Wake up Call

I never thought of myself as one of those people who always had to complain about their lives, because I do see all the many things I've been blessed with, but today I had a little bit of a wake up call.  I was on Facebook and used an app to put all of my statuses for the year together .  Sitting reading them all together like that really knocked me for a loop because 95% of them where negative. 
I realized that although I do see my blessing I need to express them more.  I have been using Facebook and probably this blog to vent my frustrations.  Which is great for me but not so great for those reading it.  I must seem like the most miserable, unhappy person ever.  I'm really not, I just get overwhelmed very easily and I've never been one to be able to hold things in, although I've gotten better at it since I've been married.  I've just learned that if I keep things in to long they either turn toxic or I blow up.  I choose to see this as a blessing because I've been able to let go of some pretty horrible experiences in my life and move on.  But over the course of our marriage I've learned to hold my tongue, and Ryan has learned to express his feelings more.  We are truly opposites in so many ways, but in the end we balance each other out...another blessing. 
New Goal:  I need to learn express my feelings more to those around me and talk more of the good things going on in my life to others.  Life amazes me sometimes....we go for a run on this roller coaster and when we hit firm ground we are given these moments of clarity.  Did that make sense? 
For those that have read this blog or has me as a friend on Facebook, I apologize for being so negative.  I really didn't realize I was being that way until it was all put together in front of me.  So I've awakened and pledge to be better.  If I slip I hope you will remind me that I'm doing it again.  So here is to a better year of focusing on the blessings and not the trials. ;)

Overwhelmed and Understaffed

Once again I find myself behind but I am learning to accept that I live my life being overwhelmed and understaffed.  Since the last time I wrote it seems like I've been running, so....lets start off where I left off in October.  Let me take you back, back, back.....(you can laugh because I am trying to be funny)
October brings cooler weather, although not so much this year and of course Halloween.  The kids  were all excited and I did my best to decorate even though it was hard to with the weather still being so warm and Ryan not wanting to dig up the flowers to put in our grave yard, which we never seemed to get put in.
The beginning of October we had family pictures taken with Ryan's family at the Utah State capital.  It was the first real family pictures we have had since Ethan was little so it was nice.  I just got the final pictures and they turned out pretty good.  I say that because I don't like the way I look but love everything else about them, but that's a topic for another day.  I'm just happy to have a family portrait to put up in my house.
Ryan's sister Liz and her family bought a house just down the road from us in Kaysville a couple of weeks before Halloween so we tried to help them move the best we could.  Boy, did they have A LOT of stuff but their house is beautiful and Ethan is very happy that his cousin Mikey, who is just a few months older than him, is living so much closer.  It only takes us about 10 to 15 minutes to get there, compared to the 45 minutes to an hour like before.
The kids had all of their Halloween parties at school, Holly had her Halloween program and then there was the big Halloween Fund-raising Carnival, which was fun.  Holly did such a great job in her Kindergarten Halloween program, here is a video of her singing. (Isn't she just so cute!!)

We spent Halloween at home and had Liz & her family over for dinner and trick or treating.  The kids where not out long as it was raining.  Mason was the one child that did NOT want to come in because he figured out that you could just knock on peoples door and in his case say "Give me candy, NOW!!" and grown-ups would laugh and give him candy.  The bigger kids where trying to keep up with him and he had a major melt down when the rain/cold forced them inside.  He just couldn't understand why you would ever want to come home when there was still candy to be had. 
At the beginning of October I started getting the feeling we needed to look into refinancing our home mortgage.  When we bought this house we only qualified for an adjustable rate mortgage, which we got with the mind set of refinancing before the 5 years where up.  Well we have only been here 3 years but it was always in the back of our mind.  So we started the process to refinance into a fixed rate and with all we had to go through to get our first mortgage on this house I was dreading the process, making my stress level go sky high.  During this process we had Halloween, then American Thanksgiving and Ethan's birthday, which took place on the same day, but in the end we were approved.  On December 6th we closed.  What a relief that was to get over with!  We now have a fixed, low rate on our mortgage and it no longer is a worry in the back of our minds.  The added bonus was that because of when we closed we were able to skip not only Decembers mortgage payment but January's as well.  Now we have the money to pay cash for Christmas and even have some left over to renew my Green Card, other headache which I am not going to get into here.
As I said Ethan's birthday was November 25th, which was also Thanksgiving.  We went to Liz's for Thanksgiving dinner and then back to our house with everyone to have desert and presents for Ethan and Shawn, Liz's husband, who also had a birthday that same week.  Ethan loved the whole thing with the big meal and all of his presents.  We didn't get a good picture of Ethan with his cake because I had left my camera on video mode and Ryan didn't know how to work my camera.  So the video didn't turn out very good, besides you really wouldn't want to hear how the Granquist family sings Happy Birthday to someone.  I did manage to get some pictures of him opening his presents though.
Ethan started Scout's the next week, although I just got his shirt, neckerchief, patches and guild book this morning. He has been looking forward to starting Scouts all year and has hated watching all his friend go without him.  But now he gets to join and couldn't be happier.
Then on December 4th he was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a great day, the week before was a little crazy for me because I had to get it all planned, invitations sent out, etc., but Ethan did decide one thing that I was so thankful for in the end.  He decided that he didn't want a luncheon at our house afterwards, but wanted to have everyone go to Golden Coral Buffet afterward instead.  So no food to buy and prepare or clean up for me, yeah!!!   We had all of Ryan's immediate family with their families, Ryan's parents and our family friends the Ropers there to share in Ethan's spacial day.  Ethan asked his Grandpa Granquist to give a talk on baptism and his cousin Anna to give a talk on the Holy Ghost.  No one could play the piano so we had recorded accompaniment but all in all it was a great program.  We are so happy and proud of Ethan for making the choice to be baptized.

Ethan was so excited all day and just glowed after he came out of the water.  Ethan told us afterward that he never felt so happy and wanted to know if he could get baptized again.  So we explained that we only get baptized for ourselves once but when he received the priesthood he would be able to go to the temple and be baptized for those who didn't get a chance to be in this life.  He was so excited, he wanted to hurry up and turn 12 so he could go to the temple to do baptism's, and could have that same happy feeling again.  How cute is that?
Finally just a couple of days ago, we took a quick trip up to Idaho Falls for my cousin Brad's wedding.  Yes this is the same one who just got home from his mission not too long ago, but his new wife was his girl friend for sometime before his mission and waited for him.  So I think she deserved to have a ring on her finger and a new husband without having to wait any longer.  It was a beautiful wedding, Brad looked so happy and it was great to see some of my family.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home so I didn't get any pictures.  I am totally bummed about it.  
That brings me up to date and now I get to start my Christmas shopping as I only have one gift so far, which proves just how much I have been overwhelmed and understaffed.  ;)

Sick but kept going

Over the past few weeks I've had the WORST head ache known to man.  I've tried everything to get it to go away but it just dims a little bit.  Well today I got my answer as to why I've been in so much pain.  I had to go to the doctors to get my A.D.H.D. meds' refilled and while I was there I told him about my head aches.  He checked my ears and sure enough I have an ear infection as well as a sinus infection, thus the head aches.  Needless to say I went right to the store and got the prescribed antibiotics.  Now I just need a good nights sleep which hasn't come easy.
Ryan & I have decided that Mason in big enough for time outs now and shouldn't be treated like such a baby any more.  Which is hard for me because he is my baby.  So for the past few days when ever he hits his sister in the head with a hockey stick we have put him into time out, which is followed by much weeping and wailing.  The thing I just figured out this morning is that those days that he has been put into time out and gotten into trouble are the nights that follow with him waking up screaming.  He always has bad dreams those night that follow a sentenced time out.  Once I cuddle with him and he knows that I'm there to love him he can go back to sleep without much trouble.  Go figure...I hope that this behavior will last.  Not the bad dreams but the bad conscience.
Two days ago, on Monday, Ethan and Holly both wake up early, dressed and ready to go.  They then come and wake me up with the announcement that we are walking to school.  Talk about short notice for me because the school is about a mile from our house.  Which means I have got to get up, make Ethan's lunch, get myself ready, wake Mason up and ready in half the time I'm used to.  We finally made the compromise to drive halfway to the city park, then get out and walk from there.  So off we went.  The kids where happy when I dropped them off and then Mason and I turned around and walked back to our van.  Mason liked it because we stopped so he could play at the park for a little while before we went home.
The whole walk was 1 mile round trip and boy am I out of shape!  I need to walk more so I have decided to drive to the park and walk to the school and back once a day, since I make 3 trips to the school each and everyday.  I could build up to walking from our house to the school, which is 2+ miles round trip.  We will see if I can make it to walking twice a day but that is a ways off.
I woke up this morning stiff and sore, but I walked today too.  I hope that I can walk again tomorrow and keep it going.  I'm proud of myself, especially since I found out that I have been sick the whole time.  Now I need a nap!

The Final Catch Up (Sept. to Now)

As promised here I am with the final post to get all caught up with the events of our lives to date.  Last month we had some adjustments to make with our routine and schedules with school starting.  We go through this every year because of new homework routines that go along with new teachers.  I find that it is also a good time to set some new goals for the new school year and to give new responsibilities to the kids.
We made a goal to start having Family Home Evening each and every week.  Ryan and I just felt that anything and everything we could do to bring our family closer together as well as inviting the spirit into our home was worth it.  It meant that we wouldn't be able to have my niece and nephew over on Monday nights as we did last year, while my sister-in-law, Ashley went to school up at Weber State University.  We did invite them to join us but my brother Rayn is inactive in the church and my sister-in-law is not a member.  They both wanted to make sure to teach their children what they believe while they are young and then leave it up to them when they get older if they want to learn about the LDS church.  Which Ryan and I totally respect, but we will miss having Kyla and O'wyn over.
As far as our Family Home evening goal, so far so good.  I think we have only missed one week, due to illness and things look good for us to keep it up as the kids love having it so much they are the ones to remind us.  Ethan has even prepared the lesson and taught it all on his own twice now.  He did such an awesome job, you can just see what an great missionary he will be someday.
The end of September we went up to Idaho to listen to my cousin Brad report on his mission to New Jersey.  We got up at 5:30 a.m. so we could be in Idaho Falls by 9 a.m. and get to the meeting on time.  Ryan choose to do that as he knows better than anyone that when we get together with any of my family we are always up too late.  So he decided if he was going to be tired anyway he might as well sleep in his own bed.
Brad did a great job with his talk and you could just tell he really loved the people he served on his mission.
We then when up to Julie and Doug's for a luncheon and got to visit with a lot of my family for the after noon.  It was great to see everyone and hear how they where doing.  Holly loves playing with her 2nd cousins, although they had a ruff start, you know how girls can be sometimes.  Ethan bonded with his 2nd cousin Tryson who just happens to be two weeks older than him.  I guess they both like the same video games and books so they had a lot to talk about.
But the best part of the trip, at least for me was seeing my grandpa and while we were there I happen to go out on the front porch.  I found my grandpa and Holly just sitting on a bench visiting.  I guess they had been out there a while and Holly had really fallen in love with her Grandpa the Great, as we call him.  I guess she told him all about her life and he just listened asking questions when needed to keep the conversation going.  I took a picture of them together and now Holly proudly has a copy of it framed in her room.  she asks me all the time when we can go to Canada to see Grandpa the Great.  That right there was worth the trip to Idaho and getting up at 5:30 am for.  I love that my children have at least a little bit of an opportunity to get to know my side of the family even though we live far from them.  It makes me sad that we don't live closer sometimes.  Especially for special occasions like Ethan's baptism coming up, because pretty much the whole program will be made up of Ryan's family.  Don't get me wrong it's not a bad thing, it just makes me sad that we don't have family from my side that are able to participate.  Anyway on to another subject.
Holly has had a loose tooth for awhile now and just a little over a week ago I told her it needed to come out.  I happen to look at it one night and found that her new permanent tooth was coming up behind.  So we tried to tie a string to it and have her slam the door but that didn't work.  We tried to get some floss underneath it and pull it out that way but that didn't work.  At last I just got a hold of it and pulled it forward as fast and hard as I could and out it came.  Holly was a little freaked out because of the blood at first but once it stopped she was VERY proud of the hole that it left in her smile.
She put her tooth in a little bowl next to her bed and the tooth fairy brought her two sliver dollars.  Her Dad quickly gave her two paper dollars for them and now she is still trying to figure out what to spend them on.
Finally this past Sunday we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with a full spread.  Ryan had to go to St. George for work on Monday so we had our big dinner the day before.  Can I just say that I love Martha Stewart.  Because of her my turkeys always turn our so great.  I even made sweet potatoes, which Holly helped me make and green bean casserole, which Ethan helped me make.  They each had to have some of the dish they helped with as Ryan doesn't like either and I didn't want to have to eat it all my self.
That brings us up to date with all our happenings.  Now let's just hope I can do better because I don't want to ever have to play catch up like that again.  Whew!

Summer (June, July, August)

Ryan is out of town for a few days and so I feel like I can let the house go to hell for now, and I can FINALLY take the time to get the rest of the summer happenings posted. 
We start with June, a big month.  My Mom came down to visit and took all her US grandkids to Toy R Us for their annual shopping spree.  This covers all gifts for birthdays and Christmas so that no one has to spend extra on postage and so my Mom can watch all the kids enjoy their gifts.  My kids for one talk about it all year even though I say that it is more important to spend time with their grandmother rather than just the trip to the toy store.  As always my Mom is running all over the place doing all kind of things, visiting everyone she can so we only got to see her for a few hours 3 days out of the 14 she was here.  She says it's because she is allergic to my cats but I get the feeling it's something more.  I always give her the benefit of the doubt as I know she often tries to do too much and to please too many people, but we do enjoy her while we can. 

Then latter in June we got a trampoline.  The kids have been begging us for one since we have lived in this house but not until Mason started escaping down the street to a neighbour's house, to jump on their trampoline, while they where not home I might add, did I break down and get one.  We set it up one night but didn't get the encloser on as we figured out too late that we had put the legs on wrong.  So we had to take it all apart the next night, put it back together and then put the encloser up.  Mason jumped, and jumped and jumped until it was dark.  The poor little guy was so tired that he was asleep before his head hit the pillow that night, which in my book is worth every penny we paid for the trampoline. 
In July we had a trying time.  For the Independence Day weekend we decided to just light a few small fireworks with just our family as it fell on a Sunday this year.  Ryan had gone with the kids and picked some out at our local fireworks stand the day before.  The kids were all excited and could hardly wait until dark, so they got all ready for bed before we went out.  All was well as we went along but then went wrong.  We lite off a firework that shot a little GI Joe figure in the air then came down to earth in a parachute.  Ryan had got one for each of the kids, and the first two were great except they drifted down into our neighbour's yard who lives kitty-corner across the street from us. 
So for the last one Ryan moved a good 50 feet down the street in the opposite direction before lighting the last one, in hopes of not disturbing our neighbour's who where lighting their own fireworks.  Well this time I guess part of the inside of the firework came out of the main barrel, shoot 100 feet down the street, hit the sidewalk in front of our neighbour's house and hit one of their friends square in the nose.  Blood everywhere.... of course we felt awful.  Ryan went down and talked to our neighbour to find out exactly what had happened, gave him our information, retrieved the firework casing and came home.  That put an end to our night.  There was really nothing we did wrong as the firework was legal, we took every precaution we could but in the end it was a freak accident.  The injured man turned out to be Okay, thank goodness but the stress that the incident caused was incredible. 
Ryan ended up having a little bit of a breakdown, but in the end it was good because he was able to have a full physical with his doctor and some needed adjustments to his blood pressure meds' where made.  So all worked out Okay, although we did have to deal with the insurance investigation and claims that followed. 
Finally in August the kids enjoyed the Meteor shower with their Dad on the front lawn under lots of blankets.  They had a blast and I'm sure it earned a special memory in their hearts. 
The end of August the kids started school again with Holly starting Kindergarten, which she LOVES and Ethan entering the 2nd grade.  His biggest challenge is the pack of girls that chase him and his friends around the playground at recess trying to tickle them.  Ethan my little ladies man. 
That covers our summer and just about brings us up to date.  I have a few other things to get caught up on like our trip to Idaho last month, Holly losing her first tooth and our Canadian Thanksgiving which are coming soon.  I will post it tomorrow before Ryan gets home from St. George, UT.  He is there on business for just 3 days but I'm sure that he will have lots for me to do once he gets back so I will get everything posted before he comes home if it kills me.  So check back.