Fun Pics

Ryan on the left, Nathan on the right. What do you think--does Ryan have a drooling problem?

Addie got her face painted last night. Cute butterfly, huh?

Minus the Water

Who needs to pay money to swim when you can do it in your living room?

Looks Like We'll Be Having Fried Green Tomatoes

So this is our first attempt at a garden since living here in Cheyenne. Well, I should say that it is actually our first attempt EVER at a garden. We got these tomato plants put in the ground at the end of April. It is now the middle of September and we have since brought these babies inside in hopes of getting them to turn red. It's just starting to get too cold here at night, and has never gotten over 100 degrees during the day here this whole summer. One or two are turning red, but it looks like we might be eating a lot of fried green tomatoes. Next year we hope to do better...

New Pics are In!!

Thanks to my fabulous friend, Julia, who takes amazing pictures, my family's faces have been captured on disc for this year of their lives. I have to admit, the photographer was amazing. My children, however, were not. Ryan wouldn't smile for ANYTHING. Addie and Nathan definitely were the better behaved, which is only as good as a 4 and 2 year old can be. And we all know how much Ben loves him a good photo shoot. I guess I'm the only one who really wanted to do this thing. Huh. What's new!??! Anyway, enjoy and please do let me know what you think of these beauties. I'll be anticipatingly waiting!
Here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rgridley/Family2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMvRlr3An8GqFQ#5380049348544869154

Nathan and Ryan Are Two! (Wait, does that technically mean that they are four?)

Things are 100 miles an hour around here now that the boys have officially turned two. We celebrated with family by having a cake (one for each boy) and ice cream. It was good times had by all.

Here's Ryan

And Nathan

Had to throw in a couple of Addie and Daddy

And the finished swingset project. Probably took about 50 hours to complete, but I'm proud of Ben for doing it all by himself. Way to go! The kids love it!

Where Did July Go?

Admittedly, I have not posted in some time. I was thinking over the reasons why, and mostly it's just pure laziness. I get more interested in reading other people's blogs than writing on my own. I will try to change that because for a while there I was kinda getting good at blogging.
So as not to make this post extremely long and boring, I thought I'd just give some highlights as to what's been going on these past few months:

--Snow (well, hail) on June 11th
--Addie turned 4 years old on June 27th!!
--Addie got a haircut. You should have seen the fit she threw at the barber shop so I ended up doing it myself when we got home.

--4th of July trip to Utah to see Kaysha get baptized.
--Visit to the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House.
--Summer fun with pools and watermelon.

--Sprinkler system installed in front, side, and back yard.

--Sod installed in part of front yard, along with side and back yard.
--40 plus hours put into a swingset we bought from Sams. Still not done, but getting really close. (I shall not take any of the credit. It's been all Ben).
--Lovely friends from Utah coming to visit for a few days.

--Frontier days in Cheyenne, including pancake breakfast, parade, professional bullriders, the Thunderbirds, and an AMAZING night concert from Kenny Chesney. Yeehaw!--Signed up for another race on August 8th. This one's just a 5K.

--Reached a summertime low of a whopping 57 degrees (faranheit) on Wed, Jul 29th. I couldn't tell if it was the end of July or the middle of November. Seriously, it was THAT cold.

--2nd annual Peterson Family campout this weekend. Olympic themed. Should be loads of fun. Hopefully there will be pics to come...

So there's an update for ya. Can't say I haven't blogged in a while now:) Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer!

xoxo

Only in Wyoming...

...do you scare off an antelope that is feeding as you're taking an early morning jog.

Addie and the Beanstalk

Addie got a little ol' bean to have a growing experiment with. I tell ya what, she was excited! Her primary teachers gave it to her a few weeks ago. Paper cup, plastic bag, dirt and a little ol' bean--roll 'em all together and we're hoping for that big ol' beanstalk we read about in those children books. I, honestly, didn't think much would come of this little ol' bean, but here she is with her preciousness now. Just waiting for it to get leetle beet higher so that she can climb to the top and snag us some of those golden eggs. As we've been waiting for this stalk to grow to send our Addie out on the limb (no pun intended, well, not really) we have enjoyed some very exciting news!
Veggies! Bean veggies were actually growing on this stalk. (I was mightily impressed because we Gridleys don't have much of green thumbs at all). We've had about 5 come and go on the stalk at certain points but can I just say that this something that makes us quite proud. Guess after this whole experience I'll have to go into gardening--must mean that I'm good at it, and Addie will most surely fall in love with Jack when she sees him at the top of the beanstalk. She'll have to tell them that he'll just have to wait and to catch back up with her in about 18 years.

Ben...well, I can already tell what he's thinking about all of this:

L'aventure de L'amour

For all the awesome deets of how Ben and I celebrated our 5th anniversary, go here

Today Makes 5

No, not 5 children. But close.

5 years of being married. And 3 children to boot.

We're on a roll, aren't we?

Love you, Ben! Here's to many more (anniversaries....and children:)

One Hour and Eighteen Seconds

That's what it took me to run the 10K Bolder Boulder (in Boulder, Colorado).

This was my first time running it (or any official race, for that matter) and was hoping to make it under an hour. I didn't quite get my goal, but got awfully close!! If there weren't as many people that I had to weave through, I probably could have shaved at least a minute off my time.

But I ran the whole way amidst the 50,000 other people that were running the race along with me. And you know what? I had a great time. It was a good challenge for me and I'm glad I did it.

My brother Daniel, brother-in-law Kris and his two brothers all skunked me on time (they ran it in about 47 minutes) but I was proud of myself for joining them and trying this out for the first time.

So anyone wanna join me next year? I need GIRL POWER!!

(click here for my race results)

Some of My Favorite Photos as of Late

It's a party at our house every day. Don't you wish you were here partyin' it up with us?

Ever Since St. Patrick's Day

Since food coloring Addie's breakfast oatmeal GREEN on St. Patricks Day, she has insisted that I now color her oatmeal EVERY time she eats it (which is about 3-4 times a week)!



We've experimented with red, pink, green, yellow (wasn't enough 'color' for her, so we had to change it), orange, purple, and blue.

Any other fun colors you can think of for us to try out next?

Anything He Can do I Can Do Better

Remember that line in the song of the broadway play Annie, Get Your Gun?

Well, such is NOT the case here. There are things that Ben most definitely can do better than I. And thank goodness for that. So I'll take this time now to brag about what hubby has been up to.

We just moved in to our home a couple of months ago and needed some shelving installed in the garage to hold, um, you know, garage stuff...

So Ben got to work. Bought nails, 2X4's, and plywood. Got out nails, screwdriver, and cutting saw and...VUALA!

I coulda never come up with this.

Job well done, don't'cha think? Look at him--he's so proud!

Another job that Ben finished since moving was completely installing a new garage door opener unit. Those things AINT easy to install! But he did it. Way to go, babe! That's my man!

What Am I Thinking?

So I did it. Have always wanted to. Never thought I really would. But I did it. (Well, it's not done YET, but the sign-up is official).

I am running the BoulderBOULDER on Memorial Day.

I know. I know. The BoulderBoulder is only a 10K (6.2 miles). But, 6.2 miles is STILL 6.2 miles. And for someone who's never even done a 5K, this will be a good start for me.

I've always believed that I could accomplish something if I really wanted to. For me on this one, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I know it would be an awesome accomplishment to say I've done a 10K at 31 years old after having 3 children (2 of them being twins none-the-less), but it's just so hard to get up the motivation. And to sign up. And pay the money. And train. And get there. Etc, etc. (I could go on and on with excuses).

But I did it. And I'm pretty proud of myself. (Funny, it sounds like I've already run the race!)

We'll see if I don't die in the process.

So I'm $42 poorer (hopefully this money will go to a good cause), getting more and more nervous and anxious every day, exercising my little tooshie off to make sure I can cross the finish line, and...

headed to the store to buy a new pair of running shoes.

Well, I deserve them, don't I?

WINNER!!

Check this out! Ben and I are officially famous! We won 2nd place in a photo contest (out of nearly 8,000 applicants) and will now be the proud owners of....

28 Andrea Bocelli titles consisting of six DVDs and twenty-two CDs! YAY!!

http://andreabocelli.shutterfly.com/winners

(We are the first photo listed under the 2nd place winners. Cool huh?)

The New 'Do: Shaggy and Grey at 3

So Addie turned over a new leaf this year. This leaf doesn't happen to be a good leaf, actually. It actually pains me to even think about it. But it has happened.

I don't know how it happened, either. This has kept me up late at night thinking about it. Where did I go wrong? What happened in Addie's life where she felt compelled to make such a big change? What are her underlying issues? (Do we need to seek therapy perhaps?) And last but not least, how long will it last?

You ask: What is this leaf-turning phoenomenon that has submerged in my almost 4 year old? Note for yourself the documentation:

June 29, 2005. Addie is 2 days old. See the bow in her hair?

January 2006 6 months old. I KNOW she was giving a thumbs up because she loved her precious locks.

April 2006 9 months old. I entered this picture in a baby photo contest because I thought she was so adorable (so she didn't win, but still--she's CLEARLY adorable)

September 2006 15 months old. I mean, really, how much more of a beautiful girl can you be? Just look at those gorgeous curls!

December 2006 Lovin' life with beautiful hair.

May 2007. I just can't get over how DARLING Addie used to be. Look at this diva! She loved to let me make her look pretty. ARRRRGGGGHHH!!

Scrumptious really, isn't she? January 2007

July 2007. Still sporting a cute 'do.

February 2008--Still liked having hair done. Even to go outside and play in the snow!

3 1/2 years old. December 2008--I think this was probably the last time she really let me do her hair. (We went for a flat-ironed look on this one. And she sat through the whole process with glee!)





TURNING OF A NEW (and not-liked-by-her-mother) LEAF

February 2009 Clearly you can see a difference. What has happened to my beautiful girl? Hair color changed and went completely flat. No more luscious blonde curls. Just a head full of moppy hair. Shaggy. Tangly. Fuzzy. No brushing, no fussing. Just the fall-in-your face, get-in-your way kind'a do. And Addie is in heaven.

April 2009 Addie's recent look--both hair and attitude.

Purty, aint she? No bows. No clips. No ponytails. Nope, she won't have it.

Picture taken April 4, 2009 This really is Addie's daily look. And it pains me so.

I told Ben that I love her dearly, but to put it bluntly, I'm rather embarrassed to be seen with her. It's that bad. Whatever will I do with Addie and her new do? Bribe, you say? Doesn't work. Take away priveleges? Tried it. Beg and plead? Every day.

I almost think that along with her shaggy new look, Addie's actually turning grey. Now, we haven't gotten her checked on this one to be sure, but it's hard not to think that this is happening when her hair never gets brushed, styled, and beautified. Anyone ever heard of a 3 year old gone grey?

Wo is me. I have no idea where to go with this one. I hope and pray that this is only a 'phase' but I have a feeling that it's here to stay for a while.

My heart is hurting now. This post has stirred in me many painful emotions.

Goodbye now. I'm off to shed another tear...