Adventures of the Stratton Family

Happy 4th Anniversary!

2012-02-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

Where do we go from here?
This isn't where we intended to be.
We had it all
You believed in me
I believed in you

Certainties disappear
What do we do for our dream to survive
How do we keep our passions alive
As we used to do?

Deep in my hear I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away
You must love me
You must love me

Why are you at my side?
How can I be any use to you now?
Give me a chance and I'll let you see how
Nothing has changed.

Deep in my hear I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away
You must love me
You must love me
You must love me

-Evita

From the motion picture Evita
Lyrics written by Tim Rice

Cute Videos! Cute Boys!

2012-02-10T22:01:00.004-08:00

Offering pudding the other night turned into me and Little H shouting back and fourth, "I want some Pudding!" Pretty soon Baby M joined in-- I think he was the one I made the original offer to. How cute is this?

The boys are really into superheros-- Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. The other night we put in Toys Story 3. One of the first scenes of the movie, when the train falls into the canyon to meet almost certain doom, but is rescued by Buzz in a miraculous turn of events, led to joyous shouts of praise and adoration coming from the boys bedroom. You would have thought someone had one the lottery. The shouts of, "It's Buzz," could be heard all around the house. The second attempt, in order to catch it on camera, wasn't nearly as grand, but I thought you could still get the general idea.

Super Bowl Sunday

2012-02-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

If I had to pick a sport, it would be football. I was a water girl in High school, and I was a huge fan of the game back then. I got really into it. I even understood what was going on. Nowadays I've lost touch a little, but still enjoy a good game.

My family isn't so into sports that you would token us for having Super Bowl parties every year. But for some reason I got into it and now I can't stop. It started from a craving for 7 Layer Dip. Every year I would use the Super Bowl as an excuse to make it. Now that we have our own place we do a full blown party. After all, who doesn't love an excuse to invite friend over, eat food you can't always have and enjoy some funny commercials?

This year just my parents came. We had a taco bar, and of course 7 Layer Dip. I was glad my mom brought brownies because I had nothing sweet on the table.

The kids favorite part of the day was when we pulled out my nephews toy helicopter, that actually flies. Consequently it was the only reason we have pictures from the party.

Baby M was the biggest helicopter fan!

That about does it for a Super Bowl Sunday fun!

That's What We've been doing

2012-02-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

This post will be sweet and fast. OK I don't know if I'll keep either of those promises. I'll I know is I hope to do a quick catch up.

Right before Christmas we took a trip down to Temple Square.

The boys were so excited about the train ride-- Trax.

We stopped to use the bathroom in the Joseph Smith Building, and they offered to take our picture. The boys then took it upon themselves to enjoy some of the toys they had there. We did a fun Family history coloring page too.

Big H really liked this star.

The Gingerbread Man Machine that was across the street, in Deseret Book.

Headed Home

And now for some random stuff.

Baby M and his cute new Onesie-- Santa couldnt' resist.

Little H sporting a new do. He was so excited about this headband.

Our first real snowfall, so our first venture out barefoot in the snow. I usually do this on the very first snow fall of the season, but we really haven't had a good one until now. We made it a family even this year. The boys weren't too crazy about that.

A couple Sundays ago we had another good snowfall and this time we decided to build a snowman with the boys. The twins got really into Frosty the Snowman this year, so they were ecstatic to have him in their backyard. Little H likes to go around and sing the song now. It's so cute!

Baby M likes Dad's computer. Even though it's not there anymore he still climbs up to that spot everyday.

I think that about catches us up. Sadly, we kind of blew off New Years. We had been going through a lot the week after Christmas, and when New Year rolled around we had no idea what to do. Our thoughts went back and forth between, "Should we try to do something? No lets just forget it. But it is a holiday." We put the kids to bed early and drank some Martinellis and midnight. BORING! I know :)

In other news Big H has begun potty training. He is doing really well. Though he still can't be trusted when he's full clothed. I'm rather impressed with the little guy. And yes it is just Big H for now. Little H freaks out every time I mention it. Craig and I have also been having fun serving in our nursery callings. We're the official photo takers. It's fun! Baby M has even started to take a stab at going to his nursery class. We haven't had much success.

That about does it, for now!

On Christmas Day. . .

2011-12-26T21:04:00.001-08:00

. . .and the Eve of

The boys got dressed in their new PJ's and went to bed to await the arrival of Santa

. . .in the Morning

We started the day by going to church. Craig got them all ready for church and I came down and put their top hats on.

"What Handsome devils!" I exclaimed.

Big H looked at me all confused and asked, "Devils?"

"Yeah Devils."

Still confused, he inquired, "What's that?"

I explained that it meant they are so good looking they may break a few hearts. That boy is getting to be so grown up.

We sneaked the boys out the side door so they wouldn't be distracted by the toys.

Upon returning home we were greatly excited for the big unveiling. Santa had brought us some wonderful surprises. The best being their new Thomas. . . Train sets.

Little H, however, was not impressed. He grumped and grimaced at every present that was to be opened. he even spent some time in time out. We finally put together one of the train sets in hopes that Little H would let us have an enjoyable Christmas.

Santa also brought the boys a dual screen DVD player for the car. This was a long awaited gift by children and parents a like. Lets face it, it's more of a blessing for us. After these were opened all hope for the other presents was lost. Baby M even swatted gifts, that I tried to show him, away.

This was the gift I was most excited for:

I bought this for Craig and I couldn't wait to watch him open it.

Craig got me some fancy new boots, and a cool photo organizer. I also got some anti-freeze-- my car has a leak and needs to be refilled often or the heater won't work-- and some deicing windshield fluid.

All this, and much more, graced the Stratton home in the form of Christmas gifts that morning.

Big H

Little H

The train from his new train set is sitting next to him.

"Who's that?" He kept asking.

"It's Dash." I'd say.

"No, it's Ferdinand."

"No, it's Dash."

"No, it's Ferdinand."

"OK, it can be Ferdinand if you want it to."

If you watch Thomas. . . often then this conversation makes a little more sense.

Baby M

Enjoying his penguin ring pop.

Craig and I

Our Little Martinelli's Family

Baby M and I playing with a Stocking Stuffer.

Got to love the unwrapping mess! It's hard to believe that such beautifully wrapped packages could create such chaos.

. . .Afternoon

We headed to my parents to take part in a lovely Christmas meal, and some more exchanging of gifts.

Little H insisted the new Thomas. . . set be brought to Grandma's. Here they are enjoying the excitment of their first real Thomas. . . train set. Given just to them.

Such fun they had. But trains can turn into not so much fun when you try to drive them through mom's hair. Twice! Did I mention they were turned on? I lost a few good clumps of hair to Dash one and Dash two.

Little H and Baby M really let their exhaustion show. Baby M was dead tired and kept throwing fits because he couldn't play with the Thomas. . . toys. I brought down some other train sets for him, which did seem to please as long as the train stayed on the tracks. Which it didn't. Little H was kind of a little grump. Throwing fits here and there. Pushing Baby M and not letting him play. I was sad that he couldn't just be happy on such a special day.

Baby M and Nephew M playing together, so cutely.

What adorable hors d'oeuvre's grandma got this year.

The families were all so generous this year. We got so much fun stuff! We are so grateful for everything.

. . .Night

The boys put on their fuzzy reindeer pajamas and prepared for a much needed rest. They had a fun day full of new toys, yummy treats and family and friends. I tried to finish the night by listening to our new audio CD that came with our . . .Polar Express book, but instead I spent it rocking a tired and hysterical Little H to sleep.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

. . .And the Day After

I tagged along with my parents as we visited Grandma's and went to see what everyone got from Santa. Little H was in another mood, but seemed to be better after a little nap.

When we finally returned home the boys, and I, set up their new cardboard castle. A gift from their cousins. Isn't it so cute?

Baby M's new PJ's.

Apparently he doesn't want to be a cowboy.

See that little toy he's holding.

He's upset because I can not execute, with perfection, the operation he wants it to perform. What is that operation? You've got me. He gets extremely picky and finicky when he is tired.

Every cow boy needs his mom.

We have had a truly wonderful Holiday. And we are so grateful to our friends, and family, for making it so special. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

Click on the images to make them larger and more readable :)

Christmas Time is Here

2011-12-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

Just an attempt to catch everyone up before I post the Christmas Card and letter.

Last weekend

I took the boys to the dollar store so they could buy presents for each other. The twins had fun picking out gifts for each other, but when I told them they needed to pick one out for Baby M my suggestion was met with a resounding, "No!"

It took some convincing, but they finally picked something out for him. They even got a roll of Thomas. . . paper to wrap them in. Grandma Andreason made sure they each had their own roll. After all there were two different colors. ;)

Monday

Baby M got a sweater from Great Grandma Guthrie quite a while ago. Sadly it had two iron on baseball patches that were falling off. It sat at my mom's house waiting to be fixed. Months went by, still no sweater was worn by Baby M. Then I asked for it the other night, and, after a neighborhood Christmas Goodies Get Together, finally tacked the patches on.

How clever I thought I was, until I washed it. The patches crumpled up in the wash, and I just took them off and tossed them in the garbage. All that wasted time for patches that just got thrown away. They were certainly cute, however, their purpose was in vain. It being a yellow sweater, left some workers at McDonalds to mistake Baby M for a girl today. Baseball patches and all.

Thursday

Nephew K performed some songs, with his grade, at an assembly at his school. I missed the performance thanks to work. But I enjoyed seeing him all dressed up in his Christmas attire.

Friday

Big H has grown rather fond of Christmas lights. And, of course, Little H has too. They now fight over the lights they see.

"It's my lights!"

"No it's my lights!"

"You can both look at the lights!"

Not too far from our house are The Riverwoods Shops. Apparently they do a splendid lighting sometime after Thanksgiving. We really enjoy driving past, and decided we had better take a walk around. That night we had brought Nephew M home to play with us, so he got to come along too.

What do you think people thought when they saw us with 4 kids, all 9 months apart?

We had a fun night, and the boys really enjoyed spending time with their cousin.

We even stopped in to visit The Provo Beach Resort. It was a fun little place, and warmed us up rather well.

Saturday

The next day found us at The Guthrie Family Christmas Party, hosted by my Aunt Candice and Uncle Don. It was the first Christmas Party without Grandpa Guthrie, which made me kind of sad. I'm glad this family has so many fun traditions. I think it really helps keep us together, and strong.

We enjoyed a cute little Nativity with all the great grand kids. I was glad that we sang because, I am told, Grandpa Guthrie liked to hear the family sing together.

My angel, shepherd and wise man.

And, of course, there were presents. So much fun!

I decided to make a wreath for one of my cousins. I had to put a picture in somewhere :)

My Aunt and Uncle live up in Daybreak, which gave us the opportunity to see the new Oquirrh Mountain temple. It is strikingly beautiful, sitting atop that hill. I had to drive by to get a closer look. It really took my breath away!

We were sad that we couldn't be down South, to help Craig's cousin celebrate is wedding, on this Saturday. Unfortunately stressful schedules and lack of funds kept us from doing so. We hope he had a wonderful day!

Sunday

On Sunday we woke to a frosted wonderland. It was so gorgeous!

We also awoke to new callings. We will now be helpers in Senior nursery. This means we'll be in nursery with the twins, but poor Baby M will go to Junior nursery all by himself.

We took time on Sunday to go visit Great Grandpa Darrington. We had a very fun visit.

Monday

Monday was filled with shopping. Darn that Christmas! Sneaking up on us so fast. I've scarcely had time to enjoy you.

Grandpa and Grandma Stratton were up last weekend, and they took us to Olive Garden for dinner-- Thank you, by the way. In the foyer was a giving tree. The boys kind of took an interest, so I let them pick an ornament, and we bought a gift for one of the families. We delivered it on Monday. I was going to have the boys help me take it in, but I didn't want to undo car seat harnesses. They were a little disappointed to give away the toy. Even though it was for a 3 month old, and it was for a girl.

When I said, "You're helping another kid to have a Merry Christmas!"

They said, "No!"

Still I think it was a good experience. We have been given so much, by so many, that we like to take any opportunity we can to help others in need.

Well, that about catches you up. Now I just need to get the Christmas letter posted.

Ward Christmas Party

2011-12-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

Well not much to report from here. This week we had the Ward Christmas Party. Good food and good company? We're game! We volunteered to decorate a table. Luckily I got off work early enough to do it. We won most traditional.

We enjoyed a good program, and had fun visiting with our friends.

I was thankful that Craig was able to join me this year. However, I was still not in the mood to chase the boys all around the church. Was it not for the fact that I love parties, especially Christmas Parties, we may not have gone.

Hey, at least I didn't have to cook dinner.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

2011-12-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

As of Sunday, we finally have the house restored to a bit of sanity. We have both trees decorated, and I think all the decorations are up, excluding the Christmas Dishes.

Saturday, I met up with my cousin at The Festival of Trees. We haven't gone for a couple of years, and I have missed it. I thought the boys would really enjoy it too. The only downside was trying to push three boys, who did not want to be in a stroller, through the crowds.

Have you seen this child?

Yes it's true. I lost Big H at the festival of trees. Craig had just showed up so me, my cousin and Craig were scoping the crowds. I headed towards the front and caught sight of the information booth.

"I'll ask what to do when you've lost a child," I thought.

Well there was Big H sitting on a volunteers lap, crying his head off. The ladies laughed a little when they saw Little H.

"Hey I think we have that kid with us in the information booth," they all said.

I laughed and said, "Yeah can you tell he belongs to me." :)

I was very appreciative, and the volunteers were impressed that I was so calm. I was trying to keep from getting to the worried stage before it was absolutely necessary.

Shortly after, loosing Big H, the twins took to holding hands. That's sounds like a good idea to me.

Here are some of the trees, and gingerbread houses, that were at the festival this year. Beautiful as always.

The big man himself was at the Festival, and Big H was all excited to go see him. We got there right as Santa was returning, and the boys all got a candy cane. They were all really excited about Santa. So we waited. . .and waited. . .and waited. . .and waited. . .in line. I probably should have just dropped it. After all, we had already gotten Santa photos at Wal-Mart back in November. But the boys cried and cried in those photos, and I was just so excited the Big H actually wanted to see him. I was crossing my fingers that this would be a happy visit. Well I'm sure you can guess what happened.

After me, repeatedly asking Big H, "Do you want to see Santa?"

And getting an excited, "Yes!"

It was finally our turn and Big H started to say, "No, No Santa!"

As always Santa was nice, and we got a pretty decent photo. At least there wasn't as much squirming.

Waiting for Santa almost made us late for a reception we wanted to go to. Luckily the reception went way over the time on the invitation. It was for a friend of mine that I knew in first grade. We were great friends, but she moved after that school year. We wrote for a while, but it faded out. Then, one day, I got a letter from her. I think I was in high school at the time. Anyway, thanks to the wonders of facebook, we are still in touch today. She looked beautiful, and I was glad we made it to her reception. Sadly, my camera died so I couldn't get a picture with her. But I took a photo of the fun cake lollipop I got from her wedding.

It was DELICIOUS!

Upon returning from the festival of trees, I gave all the men a haircut. They were all in huge need. And, since we don't have much time for a good cut with the scissors, I just pulled out the clippers. I still can't believe how short it is. But they still look cute as ever!

To conclude our decorating, we made snowflakes at my parents house on Sunday night. My mom is responsible for the really pretty ones. Nephew K helped out too. It was way fun. We brought the home and stuck them on the wall with the tree on it.

P.S. It's Christmas Card time again. Those that want one sent snail mail let me know! Happy to do it!

We Had to Put up a Fight!

2011-12-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Well we had to fight for it, but we got a new camera at black Friday. Craig first snuck off with a more expensive one, before the allotted time to do so. But I told him maybe we should get the cheapest one, and then we could save up for a really nice one later. Well we had to battle for that cheap camera, but we got it! I'm glad too because pictures are just a way of life around here.

Here are few shots we've snapped with our new camera.

The boys are way excited about the tree this year. Big H loves lights! And he would get mad when I would unplug them. I got it all set up, was ecstatic to find all the lights working and then realized it was the boys tree.

Down to their room it went, where Big H makes sure it's plugged in all the time.

We pulled down our tree, and found some of the lights are out. This is why it is not decorated yet. That, and we haven't had time together as a family to do it.

Here is one of our yard projects. We put in a pathway because we were wearing out the grass with how much we walked across there.

And we put in some new flower beds, and a deck.

All these projects remain incomplete. Surprise, Surprise! :)

Last night Craig, and I, enjoyed a fun evening with my coworkers, at my work holiday party.

Craig and I were out, by ourselves, in the evening. You know what that means? We were on an actual date!

My poor parents have been over exhausted with babysitting lately. I felt bad asking them to watch the boys so we could go to the party. All I can say is THANK YOU!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T16:28:00.000-08:00

This year we were unable to make it down to Southern Utah for Thanksgiving, so we spent it up here with my parents and my Grandma Andreason.

The boys all looked Handsome dressed in their cute sweaters! And we all enjoyed our wonderful meal.

This year I made mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls. And I also brought some spinach dip and a fruit tray for appetizers. Here's is my awesome fruit tray. Sorry I have to show off a little.

My mom told me just to make stove top stuffing, but I wanted something a little fancier for Thanksgiving. I've never made stuffing otherwise, so I searched online and found this delicious cornbread stuffing recipe. And believe me, It was delicious!

After dinner we enjoyed a movie, and then some pie.

Then we gave the boys their new Christmas Pajamas.

After all was said and done Craig and I headed to Wal-Mart to get a start, and almost a finish, on our holiday shopping. I love Black Friday. Sure it's crazy, and crowded, but it's also fun-- kind of like a slumber party. I enjoy going to all the displays. Grabbing random things here and there. And then deciding what to give to who, and what to put back. It really is great for getting your holiday shopping list cut down to size.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, Craig and I found we had slept in until 12:45 in the afternoon. The funny thing is that the boys let us. They were all still asleep too-- except for Baby M. The twins must have been tired after staying up at Grandma's house, while we were out shopping for Black Friday. Anyway, this all led to us taking a trip to McDonalds for lunch. After all we were all starving, and not in the mood to cook.

I'm am truly Thankful for the church and all the wonderful blessings it has brought into our lives.

I'm very thankful that Craig got two enjoy to days off from work. Two days of sleeping in, and getting some rest. And that we got two days of having Dad all to ourselves!

I'm also so incredibly thankful for all the wonderful people we have in our lives. Whether you be family, or friends, you guys all make life so much sweeter!

I'm thankful for our house and home, and all the help that has been given to us to keep, fix up and maintain it.

I'm thankful for all my boys, and my wonderful husband. I love the small joys they give me each day. On that note, I have to share some more cute little tidbits before I forget-- this is mostly so I remember to write them down somewhere.

One night Big H wanted to watch a movie at my parents, so they put one in the DVD player. But they couldn't find the remote to press play. My mom asked Big H to go press play on the player. He happily did! He pushed the button then turned around and said, "There, is that better?"

Big H loves music. In the car he always asks to hear songs again, and he gets mad when I turn off the car and the music ends. Now when we get in the car, and he hears his music, he always says, "Listen!"

The boys are learning letters. We have been working on "A" for the most part. I told them, "The 'A' says ah." However, Little H likes to say, "The 'A' says 'S'!" A phrase that can be slightly misinterpreted.

In the car Little H kept saying, "The 'A' says ah!" Big H would then repeat. Little H got upset and said, "No, it's my ah." Another phrase that can be misinterpreted.

Then Big H saw some birds and said, "Look Birds!" Little H saw a truck and said, "Look a truck!" They then began to go back and forth saying, "It's my bird," and "It's my truck!"

Though they fight with each other, they are good brothers. When one of the twins gets hurt the other is always there to help him up, give him a hug and pat him on the back, saying, "Are you OK Henrum?" And other phrases along those lines. However, when it comes to Baby M, they are not so inclined to give out the "feel goods"! If they hurt Baby M I tell them to apologize and give him a hug. The apology isn't so hard to get out of them. The hug on the other hand is always met with obstinacy.

I have many things to be thankful for this year. But I think, as of now, the number one thing I'm thankful for is that Wal-Mart had a great sale on a Thomas and Friends train set. Thank you! The boys will finally get a train set of their own.

I Need to Write it Down Somewhere

2011-11-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Cute Little Boy Moments:

The other night the boys were watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Big H kept pushing buttons and skipping ahead in chapters.

"Stop pushing buttons!" I said.

Then Big H kept asking me for something. I assumed he wanted to watch the part where Jack sings "What's This!" So I pushed the chapter button back to that part of the movie. I then walked out of the room and turned around to find Little H standing in the door frame. He was saying something that I couldn't quite understand. Then it all became clear.

"Hey, don't push buttons Mom!"

The boys and I drove to church today. The twins like to climb up to the front seat to get out of the car. We were getting out and I look up to see Big H, opening and closing the vanity mirror, saying, "I see Henrum. I see Henrum."

As we walked up to go to nursery-- not just to drop of the twins, but to report for duty since I was subbing-- Little H kept yelling, "Lets go Ursery! Ursery!"

My parents have a little oval train set on their dining room table. It's an electric one. The twins played and played with it all night. Along with my Nephew K. The train track is small and tricky so my Dad got tired of having to fix it. After my nephew left to go home, Little H kept begging to play with the train set again.

"No more train! You guys keep braking it!" My dad said sternly.

"I don't break!" Little H, yelled back.

In other News:

I forgot to inform everyone that Craig got in a car accident. He came up over a bridge, on a road where the speed limit is 55 mph, to find they had put up a signal and made a one lane road. He rear ended the guy in front of him. According to Craig, my Mom, my Dad, the officer at the scene and others it was a very unsafe situation. There were few warning signs, and many other accidents had occurred. So Craig's poor car, Mitzy, is totaled. We are very thankful to Craig's parents for loaning us a car until we can buy a new one!

I also forgot to mention that Craig got a new job. As far as I understand it, he makes the brains for the blend tech blenders. The place he works is called Computral(sp?). He seems pretty happy with it so far. Twelve hour shifts aren't my favorite, but I'm going to have to get used to it seeing how Craig is going into nursing.

Along with that job he works at a couple Home healthcare places. He was working at a rehabilitation home, up in Salt Lake, but he lost that job over the summer.

We have also discovered that our camera has called it quits-- didn't even give us a two week notice. Luckily there are a few good Black Friday deals coming up, but still it wasn't an expense we were planning on. We may still be able to reclaim the camera, but chances are kind of slim. It's not necessarily a necessity, but it is kind of an important thing for us.

Well that's just some of the updates I've neglected to include in my posts. I'm sure there is more, but that is all my brain can recall for now.

Hope Everyone has fun plans for Turkey Day!

An Early Thanksgiving, Fun Projects and Some Sad News

2011-11-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

On Thursday I rushed home from work, grabbed the boys from my mom and headed to Provo to try and catch Thanksgiving Dinner/Lunch with Craig's Grandpa. The home that Craig's Grandpa is living in had a Thanksgiving Dinner for the family members this week. We were about an hour late, but the employees were extremely nice, and set us up no problem. We enjoyed our little get together. I was glad we were able to make it, and that they were so accommodating. I wish Craig could have come with us, but he started clinicals this week and couldn't make it. But I had fun getting to know Grandpa Darrington. This was the first time we had officially met.

We enjoyed a good visit and a good meal-- the boys ate, mostly, pumpkin pie and Baby M helped me eat my yams. We need to go back and visit again when Craig can come.

The boys and I have been busy this week as well. We've been working on shapes, so we made these trains.

And today I, went a little crazy, and pulled out the paints to make these turkeys. Little H was way excited about his turkey. And they all enjoyed squishing the paint between their fingers. Surprisingly we escaped with very little paint on our clothes. I was also way impressed when Big H recognized his name when I wrote it on his Turkey.

In other news, I forgot to post that my Great Aunt Barbara passed away from pneumonia. She is my aunt on my Dad's side. My Grandma Andreason's younger sister. We were all pretty shocked by her passing. I feel really bad for my grandma because they were both widows, and had been keeping each other company. I'm also sad that I wasn't well informed about her viewing and funeral, so I couldn't pay my respects. I hope she knows I will miss her, and that I'm sorry I never got those pictures to her.

To end with, I'll post some pics of the boys that never made it to the blog.

Where to Begin? Because it Never Seems to end :)

2011-11-14T20:39:00.000-08:00

I feel so behind. I don't even know where to begin. I'm sitting here at the computer, feeling like a stranger because it has been so long since I've spent time organizing photos and updating blogs.

I had to spend some time online doing some fun stuff for work(got to love the mandatory mumbo jumbo that's all for legal purposes), but haven't had a chance to sort through pictures since Halloween.

I've also burned up, some of my, online time searching for the boys Christmas PJ's. It's a family tradition we started. Every year they get Christmas PJ's on Thanksgiving. This year I was hoping to find all matching Thomas. . . ones. Well all I could find was a two pack of Thomas. . . holiday PJ's. It didn't make sense to order two two packs for three little boys. So I thought I'd get Baby M something sock monkey themed-- I call him my sock monkey baby because he's named after my mom's baby, that died, and one of the things that sticks out in my memory is the sock monkey she had for him. Low and behold, I was actually successful at tracking down some sock monkey PJ's-- that were extremely cute. But, alas, they were two sizes to small. We ended up finding some on Carters web site we were happy with, though the were sock monkey-less. But it was all for not because I just purchased some cute PJ's I saw at Wal-Mart today.

On top of all that, to make it more confusing, I've been reediting the the photos I took of my dad, and the boys, for Father's Day. My Dad said he looked old, and I didn't want a costumer to go on being unhappy with our work, so I've been giving them a once over. :)

That all sort of added to the confusion of getting photos sorted. But now that that is all behind me maybe I can sit down and make a somewhat decent post. I always hope this will be quick and easy, but something always happens with the picture uploads-- or I get distracted and get caught up making online searches, or reading backed up email.

I had fun celebrating my birthday this year.

On the third I had a hand-me-down party with some friends. It was partially a birthday party too. I had so much fun visiting, laughing and enjoying everyone's company. I probably got too carried away, but I still really enjoyed myself. Thanks everyone for coming!

On Saturday my parents took me to Ikea, and bought me lunch. I picked out a few small things here and there, that I bought for myself. And they bought me some really cute lanterns to hang in the house.

On Sunday we had some family over for lunch and cake. I couldn't enjoy the food though thanks to a nickel sized canker sore on my tongue, but I still had a really good time.

The twins crashing into Grandpa!

Who likes cake?!

Random:

These three love to watch movies. Here they all are watching "Pumpkin Jack". Or as others may call it The Nightmare Before Christmas.

We enjoyed a trip on the Heber Creeper with Grandpa and Grandma Stratton.

We got robbed by some bandits :)

And we aided in a proposal.

All in all it was a pretty full, and fun, trip!

More random:

One night Big H had a whole bundle of things he wanted to take with him. So I gave him a bag to put everything in. Well he wanted a back pack. So this was my solution.

Those three boys! They like to keep us busy!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:12:00.000-07:00

After being stuck in orientation all day, for my new job at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, I got to enjoy a fun night trick-or-treating with the kiddos.

Craig was even given some of the night off, so he got to join in as well.

TRICK-OR-TREAT!!!

We then had a yummy family dinner at my mom's house.

We had a great Halloween, hope you all enjoyed it just the same!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

All on a Hallows Eve!

2011-10-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here I am, trying to figure out how to ring in the Halloween season, and October is over on Monday. We haven't even carved pumpkins yet!

So here are some of the Halloween Festivities we have been up to on this weekend before Halloween.

Craig brought home a black kitten to liven up our Halloween spirits. In light of the twins obsession with Hocus Pocus we named her Binx. I was informed by my nephew that that is not a girls name, but we still like the name :). Hopefully this cat can stay at our house. We've had bad luck with the last few cats.

On Friday we went to Thanksgiving point to take part in their Barnyard Boo. Thanks to traffic we only got to spend half an hour there, but it was still fun.

Baby M sporting a new do for the adventure.

Here we are on the wagon ride.

Baby M loved the Bunnies. As you can see we never combed his hair.

Craig was all giddy with excitement when he discovered our favorite doughnut stand had taken up shop for the spooky festivities. Unfortunately it was closed.

The boys all got their faces painted.

Big H

Baby M

Little H

And they played some fun games. I think we confused the lady at the bowling game. She didn't realize that we had twins, and thought I had brought back the same kid to win another sucker.

On Saturday we took in a local pumpkin walk.

People entered in carved pumpkins and the public got to walk around and enjoy the scenery.

There were some fun games to play, and free doughnuts for those in costume.

And we did finally carve pumpkins.

This is my attempt at caving a Thomas the Tank Engine. I thought he more resembled the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man, but the twins were satisfied and kept requesting to go outside to see the Thomas Pumpkin.

Too Cute Not to Catch on Tape!

2011-10-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

After dinner one evening Little H assisted his brother in getting down. I'm glad he's there to help.

The boys love watching Dancing With the Stars with me. Every time they watch a dance they say, "Again!"

This last week the first number came on and Big H got up and started to boogey down. He kept yelling, "Dance! Dance!"

Yes son, boys can dance and one day we'll sign you up for singing, dancing, music and baseball. Since you have found a love for all four.

I love that he loves these things. It doesn't matter so much what he's interested in. Just that he is interested in something. That just gives me reason to be excited.

The Bells Are Ringing!

2011-10-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

On the 22nd of October my cousin, and adopted kid sister, got married.

I was sad because we missed the ceremony,-- we really thought we gave ourselves enough time to get there-- but we still enjoyed our time with her on her special day.

Don't tell, but I'm slightly jealous that she got an October wedding. I still wish I could have gotten married in the fall ;)

Thanks for inviting us to be a part of it. We felt really honored being there.

You guys look so happy together. We wish you the best!

Fall Happenings!

2011-10-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Everything lately kind of falls under fall happenings. But, now, I need to do some catching up, so here are the fall happenings that have happened lately.

We walked on the parkway trail up Hobble Creek Canyon.

We had to rig up a leash so both the boys could walk Ruby. They were fighting over the leash, and we didn't bring an extra-- silly us-- so we used the lanyard from our keys.

A not so fun happening, the other day I walked out to find this animal skin on our lawn. I still don't know where it came from. It could have just been a scout thing. I didn't look to closely, but the tissue beneath the fur still looked moist, so I kind of wasn't sure if it was just a piece of a scouting object.

Last Saturday, we went to a friends birthday party.

It was Baby M's nap time.

And, guess what? He got Thomas! I didn't know if the twins were going to be able to accept that the train didn't belong to them.

Last Wednesday, we went up to Gardener Village to see the Witches. I'm glad my cousin invited us to go because I love to see the witches, but I didn't know if I was going to ever get it in gear enough to get up there.

We enjoyed ourselves even though the twins ran everywhere, Baby M thought he should be able to run everywhere,-- and not be strapped in the stroller-- the twins both ended up with bloody lips and it was a little crowded.

I tried to point out to Big H that they were playing baseball-- he really likes baseball. He didn't seem to care, but later he looked at the photos with me and saw this picture and said, "Baseball!
"

We got suckers to see if that would stop the fits. That were mostly coming from Baby M.

I caught them holding hands!

After we took in all the witches we went to McDonalds where two boys got stuck in the play place-- one had to be talked down and the other was pulled out by another mother who was paying more attention then me. And Baby M had to insist on pulling everyone's shoes out of the shoe keep.

On Friday, we too the boys to see the temple. I realized we had never really taken them. We may pointed it out as we drove by, but we haven't walked around the temple with them. It was a fun family outing.

Tonight we enjoyed a trip to The Red Barn out in Santaquin. We took a hay ride to there pumpkin patch, bought the boys some gourds and enjoyed some of their famous ice cream.

We also met another couple with three girls-- twins and a baby. The baby was 19 months younger than the twin girls. Which is close to how far apart Baby M is from the twins. We enjoyed chatting with them.

To end the post, my first attempt at white chocolate covered candy corn marshmallows. I stole the idea from a friend. I think she called them candy corn dippers.

Three Little Spooks to Help Decorate the House

2011-10-18T22:28:00.000-07:00

Here at the Stratton house we have a deep fondness for this time of year. If you haven't noticed already. We've been trying to make the most of our Halloween, and my three little spooks have done a nice job of helping me.

They each made a paper plate skeleton. Little H was afraid of his. Big H thought it was the coolest thing on the planet, and still stares at them with deep admiration-- while yelling out some excited toddler babble.

Though Little H may be afraid of that skeleton, he's more than happy to tell you what shapes, kind of, sort of, make up his face.

On the note of skeletons, one certain little spook-- Baby M-- will not allow this skeleton to rest in peace. If it weren't bad enough to have spiders and rats-- or kitty's, as the boys call them-- crawling all over you. Baby M insists that his ribcage must be constantly torn away from the rest of his bones. I guess at least Mr. Skeleton always has a smile!

The boys also helped me put up some fancy spider webbing. I'll admit I was turned away from spider webbing before. I think because I thought it seemed over done. But I spent a dollar on one bag, it covered the front of our house rather well and really does a lot to add to the ambiance of the season. That being said, it is still incredibly annoying to put up, especially with dry skin.

The boys and I also had fun painting these leaves to put on the tree in their room. This tree will one day be re-figured and repainted. Partly because I don't like it, partly because putting in the door kind of messed it up and partly because we have to redo the boys room anyway. Thanks to that nice little crack in our foundation.

We have also taken in some of our Seasonal favorites. We have watched Scabbers(a.k.a.Casper). We have watched The Kitty Movie(a.k.a Hocus Pocus). May I note, there are now three Kitty Movies, which are: Stuart Little, Milo and Otis and Hocus Pocus. Big H loves Hocus Pocus, but Little H always says, "It's Scary Mom," when the zombie comes on.

We also watched The Nightmare Before Christmas.

And I have tried to get the boys to watch Halloweentown with me. That one hasn't been met with much acclaim.

I must also mention, when I say watch I mean repeatedly watch. That is mostly thanks to Big H.

Baby M cracks us up because he is really so attentive when it comes to movies and TV. If I leave the TV on, and take him out of his crib, he won't come upstairs. His favorites so far seem to be Stuart Little and Thomas. . .-- Surprise! Surprise!

What fun we have had for Halloween this year. I've really enjoyed all the fun activities we have gotten to do together as a family.

Nebo Loop Painted With Fall!

2011-10-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

It's true! We drove up Nebo Loop again.

Well sort of. We made it halfway before Craig remembered he had work.

We just couldn't resist the Loop's beauty with a fall makeover.

We stopped at a little turn off by the creek.

"Don't mess with me. . ."

". . .I'm Grouchy!"

The boys and I had fun traveling up stream to try and find a way across.

And guess who fell in the creek?

Of all the strange things, another family from our ward stopped at that exact same turn off. They took a family photo for us.

It was just absolutely perfect timing for a fall drive! The leaves were vibrant and beautiful. They were starting to fall, but hadn't left the trees all bare. I was so glad we went, and that we put it off until this weekend.

I was sad we couldn't see it all, but glad that we got to see what we could! I told Craig he owes me a trip up the Loop, though I doubt we'll make it again before all the leaves have fallen.

Abscess Anyone?

2011-10-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

I guess my little boy felt sorry for his mom. She was down and out, longing to purchase some cute Halloween decorations so the house could look marvelously decked out. He decided he should do something about it, and made a Halloween decoration out of himself.

Honestly, the pictures don't show how incredibly creepy this thing was in person.

At first I thought it was a hernia or a boil. My mom said boil, and tried to lance it-- that didn't go well since he screamed in pain if you just touched it. Craig came home and said hernia, and took him to the Insta-Care. The Insta-Care doctor said it was an abscess, and sent Craig to the ER-- where they were supposed to do a sonogram to see how deep it was, and possibly lance it.

Instead they gave him an antibiotic shot, and sent them home with a prescription. Thank you ER doctors for charging us more to do what the Insta-Care could've done, for not following through with what we came there for in the first place and for making the wait just as long as if you had followed through. Hopefully Baby M is still covered by Medicaid.

They said they couldn't lance it because where the infection is actually coming to the surface was too small. It's probably a good thing because they would have put him under.

Of course I would have liked to put him under when it finally came time for the abscess to drain. He pulls hair, he squirms, he kicks and he cries. I finally got it to start draining, despite Baby M's best efforts-- that baby is seriously strong.

It was a rough few days. At least when Baby M is sick he just gets really cuddly and sleeps a lot. He also didn't want to be put down, which made things hard. Even with the "sick time" cuddling I was happy to see that sweet smile again.

So once, or twice a day, we check for a head, drain what we can and stick a crying Baby M in a hot bath with some Epsom Salt. Fun times!

Next time you want to help mom, with Halloween decorating, just ask Dad to take you to the dollar store. OK Sweetie?

Cabela's

2011-10-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

A week of rain, and the boys stuck inside watching movies all day, prompted a trip to Cabela's for FHE.

I've been wanting to take the boys there to see the fish and the animals, so we thought last Saturday was a good time to go. It must have been a good time because my parents were in Lehi, so they joined us on our little shopping trip. And Grandma Stratton was in town a swung by for a quick visit-- the boys thank you for their gummy worms!

The fish were a hit.

Big H loved them, and wouldn't leave.

Little H was scared of them, but enjoyed the from a distance.

Baby M was smacking the glass out of excitement

We even got to watch them get fed.

Say, "Polar Bear!"

Say, "Muskox!"

Here we are feeding the fish that are over by the stairs. They weren't very hungry though.

Here we are by the animatronic hunter that looks like George Bush.

Say, "I LOVE Cabela's!" Little H trying on some sunglasses.

Such a Ham!

A Boy Needs His Dad

2011-10-09T13:53:00.000-07:00

The boys have really been missing Craig lately. With his crazy work hours he has been kind of scarce.

They ask me all day, "Where's Craig?"

Yes they say Craig even though I have phrased it back as, "Where's Dad" or "Dad's at work" numerous times.

When he does come home they yell out "Craig's Home!" And run to the door

They then show him all their latest excitement. Like the pages they've colored in their "Thomas. . ." coloring book.

They then will sit down and finish watching the "Thomas. . ." episode, that's on, with their daddy.

Here they are watching Nightmare Before Christmas with dad, which happens to be one of Craig's favorites. I let them stay up a little later than usual. After all, it was just too cute when Little H crawled into bed next to Craig, pulled up the covers and said, "Movie?"

And Craig thinks the boys only have eyes for mom.

That's What Little H's Are For!

2011-10-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm once again bragging.

Little H is a cutie. He likes to help mom clean up and put things away. He gets really excited when I do laundry because he loves to help me sort the clothes. He'll pick up a shirt and throw it onto a pile, just like mom. Of course, it may be the wrong pile, but that's OK.

Since our dryer decided to take a mental vacation, I've been laying the wet clothes out all over the living room to dry. Sometimes I'll peak in and see Little H lovingly playing with his "Thomas. . ." or "Cars" shirts that were on the couch to dry.

"Put it back. It needs to dry."

He'll then lay it back out in the same fashion that I do. It's just so cute!

Here's cute video. The first part is him covering his mouth and gasping. He started copying me one day when I did it, and he thinks it's hilarious. OK, when he does it I think it's hilarious. Then I finally got him to say "Ka-Chow" on camera. Just like Lightening McQueen.

When I came downstairs to get the boys, the other morning, I found a book ripped to shreds. "No!" I said, "We don't treat books like that!"

Next thing I know Little H turns to Big H and says, "You don trea book li dat!"

I then said, "That was naughty!"

Little H turns to Big H and exclaims, "Dat wa Naughty!"

It was really hard to keep a straight face!

Here's Little H in his extra special outfit. Craig made fun of me.

I accidentally showed him the "Cars" jumper before I realized how cold it was outside. I was going to put him in something else, but he was carrying around the "Cars" outfit with that longing excitement of his. I just couldn't make him wear something else, so I tried to make it a warm outfit. At least we didn't go anywhere that day :)

Fall Trip to Cascade Springs

2011-10-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

Every fall we like to drive up the canyon and look at the leaves. This conference weekend we decided to take our annual trip to Cascade Springs.

It was beautiful, as always!

And crowded!

The boys really enjoyed it this year. Everywhere we went they yelled "Water! Water!"

We found a cute fuzzy caterpillar on the trail down. The boys thought it was so fun!

Baby M enjoying some time out of the stroller.

Look at him walk!

These narrow paths aren't made for double strollers.

Luckily a nice man helped Craig down some of the steps.

The boys kept going down here to try and get closer to the water.

Each time they would slip on the dirt and then start to cry. Did that stop them from going down again? Nope! You should have seen their dirty shorts. It was a close competition but Little H's were by far the dirtiest thanks to that root beer he spilled on them earlier.

The boys also liked this rotting log. Big H kept piling leaves on it as if he was thinking, "Oh! This is where they go!"

Someone on the trail ahead of us pointed out this big nest.

Here's a taste of the pretty scenery.

It Doesn't Get More Random Than This!

2011-09-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

Just a random catch up!

A couple Mondays ago we went to a family friends reception. Craig had to work, and so did my brother, so I went with my sister-in-law. We felt a little awkward at first, and we were about to leave, when the groom informed us that there was a free daycare downstairs. No wonder we felt so weird with our kids running around everyone else had taken their kids to the daycare. We dropped the kids off and enjoyed an hour of kid free time. And Craig even showed up at this time, so I got to enjoy a dance with my husband.

Seriously isn't that daycare a great idea?! I told my sister-in-law we should come up every weekend and see if there's a wedding. If there is than we can crash it for the free daycare.

Here's a very blurry picture of my nephew dancing with a little girl. The batteries were dying so I couldn't use the flash.

This reception also had a photo booth. How fun is that? I wish I had thought of something like that for my wedding. We had fun taking pictures and they gave you a copy to keep and a copy to tape in the guest book. Such a cute idea!

On a different subject, we found these cute school girl dresses at a yard sale. They kind of resemble the Montgomery Tartan. We bought them because we thought it was a fun coincidence. We have a few and, obviously, no girls to wear them, so if anyone out there would like one let us know. There are different sizes too.

One last thing, here is my new calender for organizing all our household projects. It took some effort to get the idea into actual, usable form so I'm giving myself a little pat on the back. So far it has worked great.

On a Sunday Afternoon

2011-09-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

We had a big loaf of moldy bread and, instead of throwing it out, we made a fun Sunday activity out of it. We went down to the Flowserve Ponds an fed the ducks.

I think this was Baby M's first time,

so we had to get a cute video. He started to throw the bread in all by himself.

The twins were way excited. They have come to understand more what ducks are, so they thought it was awesome to see them up close.

It was just fun for Craig and I to watch all our boys have such a good time.

If you ask me this duck looks like the mother of teenage ducks.

The Last is a First For Pumpkin Parties

2011-09-25T14:59:00.001-07:00

Every year my Grandparents hold a Pumpkin Party near the end of September. This year was the same with one exception: there was no Grandpa Guthrie at Grandpa's Pumpkin Party. Which, sadly, means they are coming to an end. Our last Pumpkin Party, but our first without Grandpa.

The evening wasn't as hard to get through as a thought it would be. The Pumpkin Party is a very popular and loved tradition, and I thought being there without Grandpa would be a little sad. The only sad part was that Grandpa wasn't there to watch us pick his pumpkins. I guess he probably was there in many ways.

We enjoyed a yummy dinner.

And fun games.

That has to be the funnest line ever! Even if I didn't know what they were waiting for I think I'd get in line.

We had fun seeing everyone's costumes.

And we had fun showing off ours.

This year the twins went as Clark Kent and Superman-- thanks for the idea Maridee!

And Baby M sported an adorable Micky mouse costume.

It would be even cuter if he would leave is cap on.

Craig and I went as Michael and Fiona from TV's Burn Notice.

We need to get some good toy guns to really sell the costumes!

Little H wanted to sport his glasses like Daddy. I tried to put them in his pocket, but he would get mad and hang them back on his shirt collar.

Sorry little guy, but Grandma doesn't like mice, especially when they are in her house.

Time to pick some pumpkins!

Now its time for some wheelbarrow rides with Uncle Dixon.

Thanks for the fun party Grandma!

No Matter What the Post, It's Always About the Boys!

2011-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

These two boys have some fun stories to share.

First off is Baby M's first haircut. A few days after his birthday I pulled out the scissors and chopped of his long, fine hair.

We promised my mom that we wouldn't cut it until after he turned 1. It's actually been bugging me for a while. Not because it was long hair, I like to leave it longer, but because it grew in in such a weird fashion.

It was long in back and on top, and then the sides were short and wispy. I thought it looked funny the way it hung over his ears, but my mom insisted it was cute. She told me to leave it so he could just stay a baby for a while. Luckily, she handled his first haircut rather well. I, of course, saved me a lock from one of the sections that finally got some curl in it.

Here he is, sporting his new do!

Next, our friend Big H is back with some more eye issues. This time caused by a bite.

It was a couple of weeks ago. He had hit his eye on a corner, earlier that day, so I thought nothing of it. But then, while at the store, Craig and I noticed the swelling was starting to increase.

"We'd better give him Benedryl when we get home," I said.

Craig agreed.

Later that night, we arrived home and the boys went to bed. I asked Craig if he had given Big H some Benedryl. He hadn't because he thought it looked like the swelling had gone down. I agreed.

Yet, still, I was not surprised to wake up, the next morning, and find him like this:

This is not so much about the boys, but about my cousins little girl. We went to her birthday party back in August and I forgot to post about it.

We had so much fun at the party, and we got so much fun stuff. My cousin throws a great party! I wanted to hire her to throw Baby M's party for me.

The boys tolerated their puppy dog ears. They loved their candy and treats. And they really loved the little stuffed dogs that my cousin made out of socks. The loved them so much I need to sew some ears and feet back on.

The party was great! But, truly, the best part was that I got to go shopping for girls clothes!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Stratton!

2011-09-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

The boys have been obsessed with birthdays ever since Baby M's party. Little H asked me today, "It's a Birthday?" Imagine the excitement when I could actually say, "Yes it's Grandpa's birthday!" Here's our birthday wishes. Hope you had a good one!

The State Fair!

2011-09-16T15:18:00.001-07:00

We got some tickets for the State Fair, and decided to head out for a fun Saturday afternoon.

The boys, of course, loved seeing all the animals.

Craig loved the K'nex displays.

I just enjoyed getting out of the house. OK I was really looking forward to trying something from the deep fry guy's stand-- he deep fries everything from Oreo's to PB&J sandwiches. Sadly, it was just a little pricey, and we decided to hit up the Doughnut stand instead.

Having fun at the Lego booth!

Here's the boys proving they are "Army Strong". This was at one of the Army booths and the boys loved it!

Pirates! Yarr!

This is a sculpture made out of butter.

We got to see some fun things, including Kangaroos. . .

Little H really liked this bird-- he likes all birds-- that was over by the Kangaroos.

. . .And a sea lion show!

Sadly the show got rained out. And we decided we had better head out so Craig could get to work.

What a fun day at the State Fair! Maybe next year I can enjoy my deep fried goodness.

Labor Day!

2011-09-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

We got together for a little family fun on Labor Day. My mom invited us to come get in the pool, and we enjoyed, the nice surprise of, a visit from my cousin Kevin. He came all the way from Las Vegas. His brother, dad and niece were up for the weekend too, but they already went home. My Grandma Andreason came over as well.

We enjoyed some yummy food, as always!

The twins enjoyed the chips and salsa! They kind of made a mess, but oh well.

Nephew K enjoyed playing with Cousin Kevin. It's always nice when there's someone new, who is fresh on patience and enthusiasm!

The boys all played in the pool. I just sat on the edge. September has been a little bit chillier than expected. The weather has been that perfect temperature for once. Though I'm kind of sad. I was planning on a warm September like we had last year. I am getting excited for fall though!

The Stratton Boys have Dancing Fever!

2011-09-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

These three boys LOVE music and they LOVE to Dance!

While jamming out, to a Thomas song, I showed the twins this little move of rolling their arms. Now whenever the Thomas songs come on Little H looks at me, smiles and breaks out in a frenzied arm roll. They also jump and skip around the room and do a little leg slap every now and then. All with huge grins on their faces.

This video is from a while ago. When this song came on Baby M broke out his boogy butt. As soon as it ended he stopped. I turned it on again, and a bouncing he would go. I guess he knows how to pick winners, since this couple were the winners that season. They were my personal favorite!

A Second Trip Up Nebo Loop

2011-09-16T14:36:00.001-07:00

We couldn't resist another drive up Nebo Loop. Plus we didn't get to drive the whole loop the last time. So, a couple Sundays ago, we packed a lunch and headed up to Nephi. We stopped at a Summit Trail and went for a little hike.

It was a pretty dirty and dusty trail, and it wasn't the best place for a pack lunch, but we enjoyed it all the same. Here's Big H, displaying his dirt "war paint", to prove just how dirty the trail was.

The scenery was beautiful.

After lunch, we cleaned up a little and then continued on our drive.

Such a beautiful place. I can't wait to see it when the leaves start to change.

Look What I Can Do!

2011-09-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

I know this video is kind of long, but hopefully its a little enjoyable.

Baby M's BIG Day!

2011-09-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

I finally get to post about our little boy's 1st birthday!

We had a "Cowboy" party. That theme sure seems to fit our overly energetic and busy little boy. In fact, I could use some good wranglers to help me get him dressed for bed.

Baby M's is a special birthday because he shares it with my brother. I didn't want my brother's birthday to get lost in the hype, with it being Baby M's first, so we had the party for both of them. Since my brother is going into the Police academy we made Baby M the Sheriff and my brother the Deputy of Strattonville.

The twins helped me make star shaped cookies for the Sheriff and his Deputy.

The party had a stressful start. I, once again, was running around like a crazy person, trying to get everything set up, after the guests had started to arrive-- the same thing happened at the twins 1st Birthday. But everyone was patient, and happy to be there, so they were fine with waiting for a bit while we finished setting things up.

Our party had all the trimmings. Including our own little western town set up in the backyard. Thank you to Craig for building the frames!

The ice cream parlor served homemade ice cream, that my brother and his wife made. We also had homemade ice cream toppings, thanks to my mom. Everything was delicious!

The kids enjoyed panning for "gold". Notice the fire pit as well. Guests were welcome to roast their own hotdogs. Plus we had all the fixin's for yummy s'mores.

Once they found their "gold" they took it over to the trading post to trade it for some goods-- candy.

At our photo booth you could dress up in old fashioned clothes-- provided by us-- and have a fun picture taken.

We then edited them to make them look old fashioned and fun. I wanted to grab a fun family photo of us, but we didn't get the chance. Hopefully my friend won't mind if I use her photo as an example.

If anyone is having a party and would like us to do a photo booth like this, please give us a call. We need to get good use out of the dress ups we bought.

These are the scrapbook pages I made of Baby M's first year. We set them out for people to write sign and maybe write a little note. If you missed your chance, to sign a page, just let me know. There is plenty of blank space to fill up.

For his 1st Birthday cake we made him an ice cream cake out of ice cream sandwiches because he LOVES ice cream. We decorated it with m&m's because he LOVES m&m's as well.

We ended the night by opening presents. Baby M got so many fun gifts from all his friends and family. Including some great clothes for winter, and some fun new toys-- hopefully his brothers will let him at least play with the toys that are his.

"No more presents, please, Mom!"

Happy Birthday to my special little cowboy! You've taught us so much. We may not always be happy to learn, but I know you're here to help us grow! We love you!

$2 Tuesdays!

2011-09-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

Almost every Tuesday in August was spent at Thanksgiving Point. Why? Because in August, on Tuesday, you can get into all their attractions for just $2. That's a family outing we can afford! Especially since all our kids still get in for free.

Our first Tuesday was spent at the Dinosaur Museum

It was very crowded and hard to get to all the attractions, but what can you expect when they have an event like $2 dollar Tuesdays here in Utah County.

Like every child, I know, the favorite spot was the canyons and erosion interactive display. It's basically the "Come play with Water and Sand" display.

Little H was a doll and wanted to hold Baby M's hand. Isn't it nice that he has a brother that will still hold his hand?

Little H wouldn't come sit by the shark with us. It was too scary for him.

The Next Tuesday found us at the Farm

The boys loved the farm. So many animals to pet and feed. They called the horses "Hee Haws". But by the end of the day they were calling everything "Cow".

Little H loved the birds.

Big H loved it all.

Baby M even got a turn to pet an animal.

Nephew K asked if we could take a bunny home.

We enjoyed a fun ride in a horse drawn wagon. It shocks me a little how rude people were getting on and off. I didn't want to be first I just wanted our whole group to get on. Couldn't they at least allow me that courtesy?

Then, to keep the boys from going in the garden play room, we bought some pellets to feed to the animals. A quarter was well worth not getting stuck in that stuffy room again.

The next Tuesday found us at The Gardens

Had I known we could access both, the children's gardens and the regular gardens, on the same day I would have planned our day a little better.

Can you see the frog?

There's this little stream where you are supposed to float balls, and different things, and watch them make their trip down stream. It just turns into a little swimming pool though.

Are you feeling a tad sluggish? Is your diet not providing all the nutrients you need to be at your best? Does your immune system need a boost?Well, why not try starting your day with heaping handful of sand?

Playing in sand has been known to help de-stress children, and now one of our researchers has boldly, and gladly, decided to test it's nutritional value. Perhaps he is on his way to paving a road to a healthier life style for us all.

So next time you need a little pick me up, don't hesitate to find that wonderful box of immune boosting energy you have hiding in the back yard.

Next to the little stream is a sand box. You know boys! They love to play in the dirt.

We had to wait our turn to go play at the Noah's Ark. And we only got to stay for 20 minutes. Oh well, it was a good way to get the kids out of there.

We also made a trip over to the regular gardens.

The next Tuesday we went back to The Gardens

This time my cousin and her little girl came with us. I'm glad she came along because Craig ended up not being able to meet us.

The Secret Garden Provided a nice refreshing cool off.

It was a hot, hot, August day. A little too hot to be traipsing around some gardens. My sweet cousin treated us to ice cream cones so we could all have some help cooling off.

Afterwards we let the kids play in this fun water feature for a minute.

Well that concludes our adventurous Tuesdays in August. It was exhausting but fun!

I Guess We're Just Having Too Much Fun!

2011-09-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

This summer must be filled to the brim because I can't seem to get a single post in. I wish I could say it was filled up with pool parties and fun outings, but that's really only half of what has made this summer so busy. But I'll mostly post about the fun stuff, so all can enjoy!

The end of July

We actually had a small celebration on the 24th of July. We got together at my parents house and swam in the pool. Craig joined us later and we had a yummy dinner. It was just us and my parents-- and nephew K of course.

August

August found us doing many fun things-- and many not so fun things, but that's a long long story that involves a little house wife venting.

We took a drive up the Nebo Loop.

This loop goes from Payson to Nephi, and it is BEAUTIFUL!

It has a lot of places to pull off and take in the beauty of the mountains.

We, of course, had to put some of our own little touches on this nice little drive. This involved being low on gas, Craig forgetting his wallet, the boys all pooping and peeing through their clothes, our car almost overheating-- Craig packing some coolant in the trunk saved the day on that one-- and forgetting the baby's bottle-- my backup bag in the trunk saved the day on that one, we must have a magical trunk. Some spare cash in my wallet allowed us to get enough gas to make the drive, but we still had fun seeing how far we could coast in neutral. On the way home we purchased some more gas with the change in my change purse.

I highly recommend taking this drive if you're ever in town-- though you may want to leave out the fun little touches we added.

We took a Friday night drive up Hobble Creek canyon and let the boys play around in the creek.

We enjoyed a fun Ward activity up the Canyon at Jolley's Ranch.

We had some more fun doing FHE. We talked about Noah and made paper boats and floated them in a tub of water. This little activity was so simple and yet caused so much joy. My nephew wanted to make boat after boat after boat. The best part is that he actually remember the story of Noah when all was said and done.

We visited yet another splash park. This one is in Alpine. My cousin Ashlie invited us.

We also had fun celebrating my Nephew's Birthday. On Thursday, Craig and I took him to a water park in Draper called Cowabunga Bay. We promised a trip there if he earned ten stars on his "I followed directions and did my best" chart. He kept saying, "You said you would take me and you actually did!"

Do you like all the bags needed to take all of us to the water park?

The next day was his actual birthday. We had a pool party at my parents' house. Unfortunately it was a bit chilly so nobody dared to get in the pool. Except for the twins.

I'll finish off the post with a cute pic of my boys with the kittens. We are having a hard time hanging on to those cats. Apparently having cute cats that live outside leads to people constantly picking up your "lost" cats. twice they have returned them to us. We'll see if it happens again :S

You Guessed it!

2011-08-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

Another update post!

My cousins and I have been getting together a lot. I've been loving it. I grew up with these girls and it's been so fun to get to know them again as adults and mothers. Last time we got together everyone came down to my parents house for a nice swim. It was such a fun day. We totally need to do it again!

The boys and I enjoyed a fun primary activity with Nephew K. It was a pioneer activity and there was a parade. my mom told my nephew they were going to decorate his bike. He said he wanted it decorated like a horse. This is what we came up with. I drew the head, and my parents did the rest.

We finally started having FHE in our house. It's been fun to try and come up with activities that the kids will enjoy and that will still teach them about the Gospel. This week we did a sort of scavenger hunt thing. We went around the house, yard and park finding different clues that taught us about Joseph Smith. The kids loved it!

Baby M said "Daddy" on Sunday. We drove up to my Grandpa Guthrie's hill so Craig could see where it was. Craig opened the baby's door, to get him out so we could walk up the hill, and he handed him some food and said "Daddy!" It was really sweet!

Last but not least: Our "Thomas" Boys! If you haven't heard the boys LOVE Thomas the Tank Engine! Little H is especially into it. We'd love to shower them with "Thomas" toys, but the darn things can be very pricey. We made the mistake of taking them to the "Thomas" isle in hopes of finding something small and cheap. Well there are small things, but they are not cheap. We did discover that we could buy "Thomas" clothes for pretty cheap. Little H asked for Thomas at the store the other day and I thought, "Well lets go see if we can find some pajamas. I want to get you some anyway."

Wal-Mart has this great line of $5.00 pajamas and, low and behold, they had two pairs of "Thomas" ones in just the right size. We also found some way cute Thomas shirts that were $5.00. My mom graciously bought those for the twins. She wanted to buy them a "Thomas" toy to play with in the pool, but ran into the same problem we did. The jammies, and the shirts, were a huge hit. Little H pulled the pajamas out of the box while we were at the store. The rest of the day, whenever he caught sight of them, he'd carry them around like a blanket and bring them to me and say, "Thomas!" After he took a bath, and was finally able to put them on, I told him to go show Grandma and Grandpa. He'd find them, puff out his chest, point to the picture and yell, "Thomas!" That night I took a picture of the two "Thomas" fanatics. Say, "Thomas!" Look at those grins!

Then the next day, after church, he found the "Thomas" shirts Grandma bought. He brought it to me and asked me to put it on. He was so excited about his new shirt. He even brought his brother's shirt to him, to put on. Those boys and their "Thomas"!

Big H's Eye!

2011-07-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

Those of you that read the last post know that Big H had red and swollen eye on Saturday. It was only one eye so I thought pink eye, but then it was all cleared up the next morning.

Monday all seemed well. I guess it was just allergies.

Tuesday he woke up and that same eye looked a little funny. I looked closer and it was red or anything, so I figured it was fine. We went to the grocery store and on the way there he was rubbing it and he seemed really irritated. I told him I'd look at it in the store. We got to shopping and I forgot. Then my nephew said something about how his eye was all red. "OH yeah, I was going to look at it!"

I pull him out of the cart and take a look. It looks really weird and I can't tell why. It's really swollen, but beyond that something is off. Because it's so swollen it's hard to get a real good look at the actual eye ball. Craig and I finally manage to pull the eyelids apart. The whites of his eyes are swelling up around his pupil. It looks like his pupil and iris are sinking inward. I pull away and start to tear up. "Take him to the ER or doctor or something. . ." I exclaim.

Craig, picks him up and takes him to the insta-care. My nephew says, "You're worried about him aren't you?" and, "Did that scare you like 'have a heart attack' scare you?" and, my personal favorite, "He's going to go to the Doctor and they'll take out his eye and give him a new one huh?"

Turns out he just has allergies. The doctor thinks he got some pollen in his eye. All we need to do is give him Benedryl.

The rest of the day my heart just broke for poor Big H. He just looked so sad. I could hardly look at him because it hurt my heart so much to see his eye all swollen like that.

I still can't believe it was just allergies. I have never seen that kind of reaction. I thought it something so serious like he might loose his vision because of it.

Later I apologized to Craig for freaking out.

"You always stay so calm," I said.

"Well that's my job isn't it?" He replies.

"I just feel dumb because I freaked out like that." I tell him.

"Why? Because it looked like your son's eye was melting?" he asks me.

I guess that means my overreacting was somewhat understandable. He also assured me he wouldn't have taken him to the doctor unless he thought it was absolutely necessary. That made me feel better. I hate when I take them in for no good reason. Especially since we don't have insurance.

That's What We Do!

2011-07-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

It's time for another blog catch up because, lately, that's what we do.

Fun Visits

We enjoyed a fun visit from Craig's parents July 10th through the 12th. I have no pictures unfortunately, but we enjoyed it all the same. We went up to Ikea and Michael helped my Dad get my Grandpa Andreason's old Dodge running, which my parents are VERY grateful for! Thanks for the visit, and for everything else, guys! :)

Stewart Falls

Craig's parents left on Tuesday and we decided to enjoy a sunset stroll up to Stewart Falls because that's what we do.

OK it's not really a stroll. It's a hike. Not a hard hike unless you take three kids, one that can't walk, and a 7 year old nephew with you. And we didn't really mean for it to be so close to sunset. The whole thing was very much like a marathon.

We hiked in as fast as we could.

Ate our picnic dinner as fast as we could.

And hiked out as fast as we could.

Notice we have no pictures of this because we were all completely exhausted and had no patience left for pictures. Oh, and it was getting dark. We were very happy for the full moon. OK "happy" may not be the best word to describe how we were hiking out. I still don't know where I drew the strength to keep my legs moving-- cut me some slack I had 20 lbs of baby riding with me. But it was a blessing that we had the moonlight to get us through that last 1/4 mile or so.

Stewart Falls is quite different from how we remembered it. The extra water we received this year causes the mist from the falls to have quite the reach. The area where we used to picnic down below is now full of mud and snow-- yes there's still snow. There were also no trees this year. They have all been plowed over. I'm guessing from the run off. It was really crazy. It almost looks like a bomb went off there.

Despite the fact that we yelled a lot, and were rather cranky on the hike out, it still must have been a fun family outing. My nephew asked if we could go again.

New Family Members

In other news we added two new members to our family. No I'm not pregnant with twins. We just got two cute little kittens because that's what we do.

Our neighbors were "Selling them for free" as my nephew phrased it. Big H LOVES cats, and it was always our thought that we would get one if we came across one for free.

Well my nephew wanted a cat too so we said he could have one as well. There's a girl and a boy. We named them Buzz and Jesse. They live in the shed and have endured endless torturous and affectionate play times-- and that's just from the neighbor kids and my nephew ;).

OK the twins aren't much better, but for 2 year old's they really handle the cats well.

Owning animals is a paver on the road to happiness, so I don't mind inviting the cuddly creatures to come live with us.

30th Anniversary

We threw my parents a "30th Anniversary Party" because that's what we do. We did a Hawaiian type theme because we'd love to send them to Hawaii but can't afford too.

We all enjoyed yummy food and swimming in the pool.

The baby wore himself out. He's my only one that will fall asleep like this. The twins have to be in the car in a room to fall asleep.

My grandma's. Both widows. When we started planning this party, back in June, my mom said my Grandpa Guthrie would like it because it would help get my grandma out of the house. It was only days later that he passed away. It's so crazy to think he couldn't even make it to this party. I'm sure he was there in spirit. I'm sure both grandpa's were.

Our family friends Mac and Mickey joined us. Mac is the one responsible for introducing my parents. We always enjoy their company. And we enjoyed everyone who joined us at the party

I was really happy to see all those who came to support my parents in celebrating their special day. I'm sad Craig couldn't make it. He helped to give it. Sorry you couldn't get work off sweetie. Anyway. . .here's to 30 more wonderful years!

Splash Park

We took a trip to the local splash park again. This time my cousins Alisha and Ashlie, and Ashlie's daughter, came with us. Why did we do it? Because that's what we do. Well, that, and Ashlie had the idea to come see the kittens and then go to the splash park :).

This time Baby M joined in on the fun!

Today. . .

We have swollen eyes, or eye, because that's what we do. Big H's eyes flared up the first time he held the cats. We were worried he might be allergic, but he hasn't shown any signs since. Then today I noticed just one eye was red, weepy and puffy. It got better with some Benedryl and Motrin, but I still feel bad for the poor guy. Hopefully it clears up.

This has been another Stratton Blog Catch Up. Thanks for joining us!

A Hill for Grandpa

2011-07-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa died unexpectedly at the age of 83. This sounds strange to some. He was an elderly man. But it sounds even stranger to us to refer to him as elderly. The man was incredible. He did things as a grandfather that amazed and astounded.

In his 70's he hiked The Narrows in Zion's National Park with my parents. I'm talking about the long overnight hike.

As an 80 year old he joined a street bicycling group that rode from Highland to Cedar City. They even wrote about it in the papers. People could not believe this "elderly" man was so able bodied. It was no shock to his family of course.

Recently he talked about how he was slowing down. But even so he remained very active. He skied all winter and was still out riding his bike as often as he could-- though he said he didn't plan on anymore more rides to Cedar City ;). In fact riding his bike was exactly what he was doing when he died. He was riding up-- or down I'm still not clear on that-- a hill that his friends, and fellow cyclists, had come to call "Lloyds Hill". He suffered a sudden heart attack, fell over and died. The people that found him say his feet were still on the pedals.

They wrote about it in the papers: "Elderly Man Found Dead in the Road". It still sounds so strange, "Elderly". It's hard for me to think of this article being about my Grandpa. Each time I read the title I have to remind myself that they are talking about him. I wish I could tell them more about them, so they would know the man they found was anything but elderly. I guess the best way to do that is to tell everyone about "Lloyds Hill".

Some friends of my grandfather had a sign made for "Lloyds Hill". Now maybe when people ride up it they will ask questions. Maybe people will find more out about this man who passed away on this hill and come to know him as we do. The friend that had the sign made even plans to start a blog so people can share their experiences as they ride up "Lloyds Hill".

I'm happy to know I can share this small piece of my Grandpa with people. That maybe they can come to know this exceptional 83 year old man. Thank you to those who put up this sign. It really means a lot to me.

Our Fourth!

2011-07-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've figured out by now that The Fourth is one of my favorite holidays. If you hadn't figured it out well now I'm sure you have. I love this country and it makes me so happy to see the whole country pulled together in unified patriotism.

This year's Fourth was made even greater by the fact that Craig could join us for the celebrations. Craig usually works on the weekends, so he's always gone for family parties, weddings and other events. But this year The Fourth was on a Monday making it possible for our Craigery to celebrate with us! Yay!

We did the usual summer celebrations. We got together with the family, took a swim in the pool and enjoyed some yummy food.

This Fourth was a little different however. My grandparents anniversary is July Fourth and with the passing of my grandpa my grandma asked if we could help her get through the day. So my aunt and my cousins joined us in celebrating this year. It was great! I'm glad we could all be there for Grandma.

Baby M eating some Carrot Cake.

Big H sporting his Uncle Sam necklace. I think my brother and I made these. See how he's holding a little flag too? He loves flags.

We ended the night with a fireworks show-- put on by Craig. Of course the real show was enjoying everyone's fireworks. With the legal laws being lifted-- and the view from my parents-- we got a show almost as good as the professionals put on. Craig commented that it was nice to see everyone celebrating. It made it more fun! I have to agree. We finally got Big H into fireworks, and Baby M didn't seem to mind at all, But Little H still doesn't like them. I tried and tried to convince him, but he insisted on going inside and watching "Thomas"! I finally consented. However, whenever he here's the popping and screaming of fireworks in the neighborhood he happily cries out, "Works! Works!"

Happy Fourth everyone!

An A for Effort!

2011-06-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

Two stars for cuteness! And a smiley for Fun!

Warning this post is mostly meant for bragging

Big H is just the cutest. He really is the best big brother. He takes care of his siblings so well. Even Baby M, whom he tends to yell at for the most part. He always makes sure everyone has a binkie, a blankie and food or a toy-- depending on where we are. He also helps me wash everyone up in the tub. And whenever Little H cries for a toy Big H has, Big H happily passes it over. Usually without a tantrum. All you need to do is ask. He even takes care of his mommy. The other day he gave me a chip which I gave to Baby M. He then started yelling "Mommy! Mommy!" I looked up and he handed me another chip. Just making sure I got one too. So sweet!

Big H likes to help Mom and Dad. We've been doing a lot of yard work and the other day I came out to find him with my gloves, helping Craig with some pruning. He also helped me with shoveling dirt too. One day he brought the snow shovel over to the flower bed I was working on and starting shoveling as best as he could. He even tried to help my dad out at my Grandma A's house. But he couldn't even find a snow shovel there all he could find was a long stick that was once the handle to a shovel.

Yard work has it's disadvantages though. All my sweet boys must have sweet blood like their dad because the mosquitoes love them. I think Big H is holds the record though. Just look at that poor back. He seems to have a little of Uncle Brady in him too because sometimes those bites will swell. One of them looked started to look like goiter on his neck.

Shortly after the Father's Day scrubs came in the mail I saw Big H come out of the guest room in this attire. That boy has style. And quite the personality.

Oh my sweet Big H! I'm so happy you're a part of our family!

Father's Day and Some Summer Events

2011-06-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a friend of mine we discovered there is a splash park not far from our house. Before we were driving up to Highland and Salt Lake to enjoy splash parks. Of course, each splash park is enjoyable in it's own way. I think the Highland one is my favorite, but this one is a plus for convenience.

We finally convinced Baby M he could crawl. It took a lot of effort on both our parts. He did a lot of crying and screaming, and we tried to have a lot of patience. He really isn't a fan of crawling. I think he'd much rather walk. He can pull almost pull himself up, so I'm sure walking isn't far away,

June 17

We attended a close friend's wedding. She's actually younger sister to my best friend when I was growing up. We've kind of drifted a part, but her family is still really important to me so I was very excited for her little sister. Isn't this the coolest cake?

June 19

We celebrated Father's Day by having a nice breakfast, or I guess more of a brunch. I made Craig some yummy crepes and invited my parents over. Later that night we had a nice steak dinner with the rest of the fam. With no Grandpa's to see it was kind of a lonely Father's Day.

Craig got a fancy flag to put on the house. The twins enjoyed marching it around the house, and they were rather disappointed when Dad put it away.

And the boys got some scrubs just like dad. I wrote Future Murse on them. That's a term used for Male Nurses.

June 20

Friends and family gathered together to mourn the loss of Grandpa Guthrie. Not the happiest of occasions, but still it was nice to get together with friends and family. This is Baby M giving my Aunt Maxinne some hugs. He kept leaning into her. It was so cute!

My grandpa's grave is close to another friend's grave. She was a girl I worked with before I moved to St. George. She died not long after I had the twins. Such a special spirit.

I was sad to see her father passed away last Christmas.

June 27

We got together to celebrate the birth of one of the most important men in our lives. Craig's birthday was Monday and we had fun swimming in the pool and eating some goodies.

Craig's cake this year was a homemade pumpkin pie and some Princess Cakes from Ikea. The princess cakes were good, but I wasn't a fan of the pumpkin pie I made.

Baby M however loved it all.

Random

Here's Craig pretending to blow out his pretend candles. I didn't bother with them because usually the wind makes them pointless. However, they probably would have worked this year. Figures!

I got bit by the art bug not too long ago. Decided to sit down and make something fun. I don't know if I like it, but it at least I enjoyed making it.

I also painted these as invites for my parents anniversary party. They turned out pretty cute!

In Loving Memory of. . .

2011-06-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Lloyd Morris Guthrie

My grandfather, Lloyd Morris Guthrie, passed away on Friday June 17, 2011. He suffered a fatal heart attack while riding his bike up a hill from Lehi to Draper. A passer by stopped, called 911 and began CPR, but it was too late. The paramedics and the doctors did all they could, but sadly he had already left this world for good.

A viewing and a funeral was held on Monday June 20, 2011. Craig, my mom and I prepared the programs-- Craig actually did all the work, my mom and I picked out paper, proof read and help to fold and cut. I spoke at his funeral along with my aunt. My cousin played a piano arrangement, which was absolutely beautiful.

I didn't realize how much I would miss this man till now. I truly grew to admire him in so many ways. I struggle to find peace with everything. I find I can continue normally if only I not think about it, but then I see a biker on the street or a commercial talking about heart health and a rush of sadness comes over me. I have now lost both grandpa's that I grew up with and I never realized how lonely that would feel. I feel like a piece of me is gone.

I know as time goes on my heart will ache less, but I'm sure the pain of loosing him will never completely go away until I see him again. Either at the Second Coming or when I too pass on.

Here is the talk I prepared for those who would like to read it:

I got permission from Craig to post the talk here and he said it was alright with him. ;)

I don't feel I deserve the honor of speaking at this funeral today because for so many years I feel I misjudged the man I call grandpa. Or at least I didn't see all that he was. But I felt a real need to take part in the services today, and my grandma graciously allowed me too. I hope by doing so I can make up for those years that I misread my Grandpa Guthrie.

I really feel like I knew two different grandpa's. There's the grandpa I knew when I was younger, and there's the grandpa I was just getting to know as a wife and a mother. The grandpa I knew, or thought I knew, when I was younger was bold and blunt. He seemed to have such a hard exterior and to be so opposite of me. I was a hopeless romantic with a love for fairy tales and fantasy. My grandpa was very rooted in the real world. My life choices probably seemed illogical and strange to him. We seemed to disagree at every turn. If you had told the younger me that I would be here speaking at grandpa's funeral I probably would have rolled my eyes in disbelief.

I thought I knew the man, but I didn't. I wish I had known sooner just how wrong I was about him.

As I grew up, and out of my teenage years, I met a man, we married in the temple and we had three kids. Suddenly I got to know a different grandpa. He was proud of me and my choices. Gone were the lectures and simple, enjoyable visits took their place. I felt now I could just talk to him person to person, parent to parent, granddaughter to grandfather.

But the true realization of who my grandfather really was, and still is, came when he talked about his children. Most importantly: My Mom. He told the story of when she left her first husband. How she called him not knowing what to do. She had a baby, no money and she lived 800 miles away. He told her she had better just come home. As he told the story there was no sound of disappointment in his voice. Not a hint of “I told you so.” In fact the only thing I felt was the pride he had for his daughter and how he knew that what she did took true strength. Soon after she left her husband died and he told of how he felt such a need to protect her while funeral arrangements were made.

Now, my mother and my grandpa didn't always get along. I'm sure he didn't always agree with her decisions. But that isn't what mattered to grandpa. What mattered was family. Not only that, but having them safe and protected. I then realized that everything that man did in life, good or bad, was to just that. To keep his family safe and protected.

I used to think that grandpa was the last person you would want to turn to when you were down and out. But I now know, no matter what decisions you've made, grandpa would always welcome you home with open arms-- or in his case a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. And no matter what the need he would do what he could to get you back on your feet. He wasn't the one to avoid. He was the one to go to. He had a forgiving heart, and he would never turn his family away.

My own time of need came not too long ago. I hope my husband can forgive my for telling this story, but it is one I would really like to share with you. I was home one evening, with the kids, cooking dinner when I received a phone call. On the other end of the line was my mother in law. She informed me that Craig, my husband, had been arrested. He had an unpaid parking ticket, which he thought he had taken care of, and it finally caught up with him. I felt so lost. I didn't know what money we had and I knew it certainly wouldn't be what we needed. I couldn't think straight. I could barely wrap my mind around it. I never felt so alone. I just wanted my husband home but my parents were out of town and my in laws live 250 miles away. I could not think of anyone else who could help. I then told my mother in law, “I'll call my grandpa.”

Now if you had told my teenage self that I would say that, in this situation, you most definitely would have gotten an eye roll.

I dialed his number. He picked up and I just began to cry, “Craig's been arrested and I don't know what to do.”

Him, and grandma, quickly came to my side. Grandpa made all the phone calls and he helped me get my husband out of jail.

I realize now that my grandpa and I are not so much opposites as we are a like. We both have tempers that we tend to loose. We both let our emotions get the better of us. And we both do and say the wrong thing from time to time. What I didn't understand, as young teenager, was that we both also feel incredibly sorry when we have wronged, been hurtful or hard.

I wish I had realized sooner just who my grandpa was. I feel I was just getting to know the man and now he has been taken away. In some ways it seems so unfair or surreal. I kept hoping that we would get another call saying he had been revived. That we would all be standing around his hospital bed that night, not planning a funeral. I was hoping that I still had a chance to continue to get to know him. I guess at least I can find peace in knowing I caught a true glimpse of this amazing man.

As we prepared things for the funeral I caught sight of his military discharge papers. I read, “Honorable Discharge”. I thought to myself, “Of course it was. Everything that man did was honorable and honest.”

He was a valiant servant to the end, and now the Lord has called his valiant servant home. I'm sure he will continue to serve him well.

I am sad to see my grandpa go. How I wish I could have just one more visit with him. But I know there were others anxiously awaiting his arrival on the other side. Perhaps now my brother, who passed away so long ago, can get to know grandpa as I have.

I love you grandpa! And I will always miss you! But I know one day we will have time to visit once more. And I can continue to get to you again.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.