Thanksgiving/Christmas 2010

Wow, I haven't posted anything since Halloween? I am a serious Blog slacker!!! I guess since Griff hasn't been around as much I haven't really cared. ANYWAY, here are some pics from Thanksgiving and Christmas, at least he's been here for the Holidays, which has been awesome.

Hanging out at G'ma and G'pa H's

The Nativity. Stacy did a great job putting this together and the kids were all about it, it was super funny and well done.

Cousins opening Christmas Eve presents. Griff also got his traditional PJ's and books. I think those are Paul's giant feet in the pic.

Blakey as a present. Hilarious.

Christmas Eve, Griff wanted to make sure Santa (or Elves apparently) knew right where to put his presents so he made this sign, "Please places [sic] presents here Santa or Elves. P.S. I love you Santa." I was laughing so hard (inside). The boy is pretty funny!

This is the back of the above sign.

Thanks Santa! You know Santa is a Utes fan, the guy is always wearing RED!

Griff was super stoked about this present. He let out the yell and described what it was while yelling, you know, that reaction?!?! Perfect.

Getting started on the Legos!

Santa's loot at G'ma and G'pa H's.

West chillin' at the Hadlock traditional Swedish Pancake Christmas breakfast in a killer Track Suit. I want one just like it!

Griffin deep in DS play.

More Legos...

And it's done. Griff was all about it and knocked this out in a couple of hours! Pretty dang cool.

October weekend with Griff!

I am definitely happiest when Griffin is around. And this was a fun weekend!

Amy put together an awesome Halloween party for the kids and Griff had a total blast (even though he got in trouble for scaring little Blakers with his Yoda mask)!


Yoda Griff! He even had the voice down, it was so awesome, I was cracking up. He was saying "May the force be with you" and "The force is strong with this one" and "There is do or do not, there is no try." And he had the light saber working too! Perfect Griff costume.

This might be one of my favorite pics of all time. Yoda and Cinderella, and Cinderella is holding Yoda's arm. At first Q and W were a little freaked out by the Yoda mask, but once they knew it was Griff, they loved it.



Here's the whole Gang (L to R) Quincy, Maia (Dave's Cousin), Griffin, Ozkar (Dave's cousin), Jaxon, Kaja, Blake and Cowboy West in front. Good Looking group of kids!!!
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You can see the Utes game we went to in the post below - and then Griff and I just had some nice father and son time. I need a lot more of it, but I certainly treasure the little bit I have.



A little church time - Griff definitely picked the right Sunday to come home, they had a full on picnic lunch in Primary with Turkey sandwiches, chips and candy bars. They had Capri Sun to drink and apparently, Griff is the only kid in America that doesn't like Capri Sun?!?!?



Had to do a goofy face pic.




Getting ready to get on the plane for Texas. He's an old pro at flying now, and he'll tell everyone within earshot. Awesome kid.

Griff's First Utes Game!!!

It's hard to believe that Griff hadn't been to a Utes game before this, but in previous years, somehow it just never worked out. I was SO excited to take him, and he was stoked too. He's looking forward to playing football so he's been excited to watch game. And what team is better to watch than the Utes? I say none!!! And we got to wear ponchos, I mean come on, how do you beat that!?!?!?!

I give you, Griff's first game:


Matching beenies and hoodies to stay warm! Griff had worn his all day (except when he was Yoda)


Griff had to have a pic with the Ute Van. In all fairness, he didn't notice the part that says, BYU Sucks...but I certainly did - hahaha.


Chillin in our Ponchos! It was a really wet game til the 3rd quarter and then it dried out and warmed up a little...


And there was a rainbow right above the game. And, as you can see by the look on his face - Griff was a bit cold. Maybe next time - long johns too.



Touchdown right in front of us! Actually, there were a lot of these, it was 59-6 - Utes over the Rams.

Definitely going to make this a yearly tradition with Griff, along with our Utes basketball game! Love having a son, it's the best.

Donut Falls Hike

Griff and I went hiking to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was a PERFECT day! Griffin LOVED it! He is a little climber! I couldn't believe how easily he just went right up the rocks. He told me he practices at school on a rock-climbing wall. The best part was when he told me he can climb hard challenging sections by just staying calm and singing a song in his head. I asked him what song he sings and he said, "A 311 song". I about died laughing (and I was SO PROUD! hahahahaha!!!) So, I asked him which 311 song (he does sing along when we're in the car, so I didn't doubt him at all!) and he said, "I don't know the name of it, but it says 311 in it." I was chuckling the rest of the hike, that kid is pure comedy.


Starting off the hike - the weather could not have been better, it was perfect.


Griff liked the Camelpak water bottle with the hand grip, though it turned into a water gun at one point on the hike.

We reached the bottom of the falls and there's this cool old log there - makes for good pics as you can see.

Crossing the river without getting wet. Griff didn't go in the river once on the whole climb, he was very coordinated on the rocks and logs - so he never slipped off!

Griff scaled these rocks like a goat, he absolutely loved it. Said he wants to go hiking every time he comes home.

The camera angle doesn't do this justice, it was pretty steep and Griff went right up it, no problem.

This is the hole in the rock that give the falls it's name "Donut". I guess the water was kind of low, or erosion has changed the path of the river a little because the water used to pour right through here.

Griff wanted to keep going, so this is up above the falls, just a beautiful area and the leaves are starting to change.

Can't really tell because of the lighting, but this is looking back down into the canyon we just hiked up.

The bridge near the middle of the hike. Griff needed to stop and throw rocks in the river, of course.

Griff coming off the plane from his first solo flight!

Everyone who sat by him sure liked him! But that's nothing new - hahaha

Me, the boy and a huge hole in the ground

This post is a long time coming. For some reason, I haven't gotten around to posting these. Griffin and I went to AZ to visit with Payce and Gwen and to see some friends. On the way back we went to the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell (kind of). We had a great time, as we always do. Griff loved the Grand Canyon and discovered he really likes photography! I'm going to get him a "point and shoot" and maybe he'll join the thousands of stay at home moms who are now photographers on Facebook! (I'm kidding!) I think his favorite part besides the Grand Canyon and the pool at Payce and Gwen's was finding Red Box locations all over the place to see if they had any different "Sonic the Hedgehog" movies. It was really fun, the kid is a really good road-tripper. We even got to sleep in the car one night and he thought that was awesome (we reclined the passenger seat all the way back for him and he was out in seconds!) I was not so comfortable, but I survived. Enjoy the pics!

There it is, the giant hole in the ground. Explaining to Griffin how it has evolved was interesting. I think he really liked it once he understood how the canyon was made and saw the river way down at the bottom. And once we saw the display at the Grand Canyon Visitor's center, he was pointing out sandstone the rest of the way home, pretty funny.

Griff was really digging this raven. There were a lot of pics of it on the camera.

He even tilts the camera to the side a little bit, just like the pros! hahaha

Funny kid, he really enjoyed the Grand Canyon.

Griff and the giant hole - sounds like a weird kids' book...

More of the boy...

The artistic, deep in thought shot. I think he was actually looking for the raven.

Griff has a lot of different smiles, I think this one is the - "I'm sick of pictures, let's just find the raven"

REALLY surprised this turned out. Somehow the person I ask to take the picture for me is European. I've had more than a few headless photos taken by Europeans...weirdies...

Griff likes this one because I'm on the edge of the cliff and the raven is right below me.

Look closely (or click on the picture to blow it up, there's the raven again.)

Good landscape by Griff

Griff climbing up from chasing a lizard.

Glen Canyon Dam.

Lake Powell on the way home...

I was teaching Griff about perspective, so he was messing with the telephoto lens, this one came out pretty well.

Showing him how to use the timer...

Griff's pic of Lone Rock - he just had to see it but the Ranger wanted to charge us $25 just to go take a picture, so this is as close as we got.