Blessings.

Michael has been working for his dad now for the past year and half. We have been so grateful for the work and for the flexibility. There have been a few times where we have had to wait on a check for a week or two. We understand how money goes with these projects and we always eventually get paid. Well today we found out we have another situation like that for a week or two. I knew this might happen this week and in my head thought "We are at our limit, if that happens I'm not sure what we'll do"...I was mentally freaking out. But today, after Michael called, all I felt was calm.

I am grateful for the Priesthood in my home. For tithing. For food storage. For SAVINGS...even though they are not there now...For a husband who works so hard to be a better person everyday & who tries his hardest to make things easier for us. We have had our fair share of struggle these past few weeks. I am so grateful to have the blessings in our home that have pulled us through it.

Ok I know this was a sappy boring post but sometimes I've got to get it out, as jumbled as it is.

new

Kk did a new post on her blog. Check it out!

Weekend + banana cake recipe!

Michael was in Fresno this last weekend. They won one game and lost the other so they are done with competition rugby until this summer. While he was gone kk and I ran all the errands that have been needing to be done for a while. We stopped by a fabric store and she picked out new fabric for summer dresses for her and Keija. We already made one, which she wore yesterday.

That stack of dishes I talked about the other day never did get done so Sunday afternoon before Michael came home Kailye and I started into the cleaning. OH MAN!!!...My house was much more of a disaster than I thought. We cleaned top to bottom every room but my bedroom. We even got almost all of the 3 months worth of laundry done...not just done but put away. I felt much better about my house the next day when it was all clean and straightened.

Yesterday Michael stayed home from work because he got home at about 5 AM. He got the backyard-minefield-all cleaned up and got the lawns mowed and even watered...yeah no sprinkler system. That evening all of Michael's family came over and had a "picnic" in our front yard. It was such a nice night to have it. The weather was perfect. I made Nicola's banana cake recipe and it was great. Tastes like banana bread with frosting. Everyone seemed to like it, so I guess we'll keep that recipe.

Banana Sour Cream Cake

Prep Time:
15 min

Total Time:
1 hr 45 min

Makes:
16 servings

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

1/4 cup oil

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar (about 4 cups)

1 cup PLANTERS Walnut Pieces, finely chopped

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 13x9-inch baking pan; set aside. Beat cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream and oil in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, stopping frequently to scrape bottom and side of bowl. Beat on medium speed 2 min. Pour into prepared pan.

BAKE 35 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition.

REMOVE cake from pan; cut crosswise in half. Place one cake half, top-side down, on large serving plate; spread top with frosting. Top with remaining cake half, top side up. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Carefully press walnuts into frosting on sides of cake. Store in refrigerator.

Well I know these posts are boring because they never have any pictures but I like to keep the record of our family regardless of pictures.

Busy, busy.

This weekend Michael is going to Fresno for rugby so Kk and I will be home solo. He promised he would do the ever growing stack of dishes before he left but we'll see if that actually happens. My whole house needs an over haul so I think I'm going to have Kk help me get it all done this weekend. I love that she is old enough to be able to clean. She is very experienced in wall washing and mirror washing...mostly from cleaning up her own art work.

I am hoping to be able to get the paint for the girl's room this weekend...that is if Michael can get paid today:P...and Michael's mom said we could use some of the paint left over from her Kitchen to do our bathroom. I can't do any painting but I am hoping if I can get it all ready Michael will be more motivated to do it when he gets home. We found out the other day that our sweet little neighbor lady is going to move to Yuma and is going to sell her house. Well her house has a basement with 2 more bedrooms a family room and an actually laundry room. Michael really wants to buy it. If we do we would likely just re-fi our house and rent it out...not to sure it's worth selling right now. I am kind of hoping we can swing it. At the same time I am just now getting everything in my house the way I want it and the other house needs a lot of up-dating. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Well back to work...I have had to make up some hours from the day I missed this week and have been here late every night so I guess i should get something done to show for it:)

Pictures of the room

Okay I know these aren't actual pictures of my girls room but I don't know how long it will be until I get to a computer I can load my pictures on to. So these will do for now. Although they do not do the room justice...it really is so cute. I would love it to be my room right now...Michael wasn't so sure about that though.

We actually put up this little chandelier in there room. I think it is so cute. Kailye was so funny when we put it up she quoted Fancy Nancy and said, "chandelier is a fancy way of saying lamp"


We put these over both the girls beds. I'm sure once Keija can stand hers is going to come down but right now they look great!
These are both in Keilj's crib. I usually don't do bumpers but it was just too cute together. We put a green sheet on the bed and the bedding you see is actually a cover for her comforter. I love down comforters that size. It's too cute.

We put this Stuffie on Kk's bed to give it a little more green because her comforter is all red. It looks so cute. I really need to find some more fairytale creatures to put on the shelves above her bed.
I will try to get to a computer this week. I want to post pictures of the flowers KK and I planted also. They look so pretty in our front yard. I even picked up some "patio" furniture so we can sit outside...It's technically not for outside but I like them and they are under our covered porch.
Well I better get back to work. Bye.

Weekend Review

Friday was my Birthday but since I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the night before I really had hardly any energy to do anything : ( I stayed home with Kk all day though and she really loves when that happens. We watched a movie and then I told her she could play outside. Now everyday all day long all she wants to do is go outside. She played with the neighbor boy who is her age all day. Which was great because it gave me a chance to "meet" the neighbor. I got the rest of flowers planted the other day also, and decided after sitting outside all day that we need some patio furniture for our front porch.(okay more like for my preggo-ness)

Saturday Michael Kk and I went to Ikea. Normally Michael would opt out on that trip but since he spent the night of my birthday with his friends, and I don't go anywhere by myself (I tend to pass out a lot) he had to go. I decided not to make the quilts for my girl's room because I frankly don't have the energy to do them right now. We let Kailye pick out a bunch of the stuff for her room. It looks adorable. We just need to get the walls painted and clear out a little bit more. It has a fairytale theme. It its so cute and very little girl.

Sunday we spent the day cleaning out the girls room so we could actually put all the new stuff up. I will put up pictures as soon as I go to mom and dads. Well I have to go to a meeting so i better go. Bye.

Oh fun.

Tuesday night was not so great. Michael, Kk and I went Costco for our monthly shopping...I am getting so on top of my food storage, I'm so proud of myself. We got everything done and then Michael and Kk got a hot dog. Well that turned out to be a bad plan later. We spent all Tuesday night cleaning up puke from Kailye. Poor kid. You can never tell if she is sick until she throws up. Well I'm glad she is old enough now to "hit the bucket" She threw up a few more times but then finally got some rest. I stayed home from work on Wednesday and kk didn't wake up until 11. She seemed fine though after that.

Yesterday afternoon Kailye and I were getting restless so we went to Lowe's and bought some beautiful flowers. Kailye picked them out and I think she did a great job. We spent half the evening planting them. I am very sore now from bending over to plant them all. Oh well I guess it's good I did something. Michael and I have decided what we want to do with our yard. The only thing now is money. We do actually have a tax return that we were not planning on at all...got to love those business write off's. I think we should be able to get the concrete pad done in the back yard and get a little landscaping in the front done. I love that my husband and his friends are so handy so we don't actually have to pay retail cost on anything. I will be glad when i can go sit in my back yard with my kiddo's. Right now it's more like a mine field...Marley's been out there all winter. And our fence is falling down, A LOT. I'm really hoping with no rugby games this weekend that the dog kennel will get up and we can clean out the back yard to get it ready for concrete etc.

Well this post came out much longer than I intended so I'm going to go now.

Update

I went to the doctor today. He filled out the paper work to put me on leave, but it is FMLA. The problem with FMLA is that I only have a total of 12 weeks I can use through out the year. My job doesn't offer disability anymore:( Now if you do the math that means if I go out now I will have to be back to work within a few weeks of having Keija. Yeah I don't think so! So I talked to my boss who says that if I need to I can work from home until we are done. I'm thinking if I work from home just when I feel to absolutely miserable to come to work I should be okay. Plus, after we have Keija I may continue to do that anyway so I can keep my health insurance. I won't have to have babysitters and Kk will be in school in the mornings. I guess we'll see. I don't feel that upset about continuing to work right now, but we'll see how I feel after we have Keija.

Well I need to finish up and head out. Bye.

nothing much

I am really not good at this blogging thing anymore. I think it would help if I wasn't so miserable 90% of the time:) Things are going well around the Griffee house. We are as busy as ever and trying to stay healthy for the next few months before the baby comes.Michael is still working at the apartments. All is going well there. We are hoping work up there doesn't end too soon. But Michael is definitely anxious to move on to other opportunities. He is pretty involved with Rugby lately, which I am glad to see. Such a kind sport. That's not Michael..just a picture I found online that explains why we have AFLAC. Michael is always more happy if he's moving. He has switched from playing with a men's team in Salt Lake to a team in Provo. He seems much happier with the new team. I guess it's not "new" because he is playing with guys he went to high school with.

I am still working for the time being. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and we'll see what he says. I have been passing out much more frequently lately and it is making it ever more difficult to work. The problem is I don't go in everyday to the doctor's office for passing out and I have only called about it a few times so it is hard for the doctor to justify putting me on leave now when he doesn't see or hear what goes on everyday. I can be totally fine one minute and down for the rest of the day the next. Michael is going in with me tomorrow and hopefully him telling him what he sees everyday will help push the issue. We'll see. For the most part I have been doing okay though. Mornings just aren't good for me:) And I don't go anywhere with out someone with me.

Kailye has been going to school and playing with as many friends as she can fit in. She is singing more and more everyday. Every time JD is in the car and crying Kailye sings him little made up songs to calm him down...that is definitely a Maxwell thing. It makes me so proud:) The other night we were watching him and he was crying on the way home, as soon as she started singing her little songs he got so quiet and just stared at her. It was so cute. She is very into any Disney movie that she can sing along to lately. She is especially hooked on The Little Mermaid. She argued with me the other day for 15 minutes about the words to Poor Unfortunate Souls. It still cracks me up to hear my little 4 year old sing "I'm a very busy women, and I haven't got all day. It won't cost much. Just your Voice!" She's so animated. Although she does tell me "you make me nervous and shy when you look at me when I'm singing, but on the stage I'm great." The funny things she comes up with everyday kill me. I remember when she was 18 months old and Bobbie was living with us at mom's and she used to sing the Ariel part to the song Poor unfortunate Souls. Which if you remember the song is just AHHH...to a tune when she loses her voice. She thought it was so funny to see Bobbie's reaction. She'd do it over and over.

Well since I am actually at work today I guess I better get something done. I can't wait for the next two months to be gone so I can be done working and stay home with my babies. Love you all bye.

?

I couldn't think of anything to put on the title. Wow it's been a while since I have posted. Not having the Internet at our house has been different. I actually like it..don't tell Michael. I don't like that I can't post pictures with out going to my parents house, but I do like that I get my husband back at night. Before he would get home at night..usually at around 6:30-8...take a shower eat and get on the computer. Now he still gets home then eats, showers, and sits and talks to me, or cleans up with me. He thinks he's going to die with out it but he seems to still be ok and it's been a while.

Last weekend we drove down to Cedar with mom, dad, Bobbie, and JD. We had a great time playing with all the kids and babies. Saturday Michael had a rugby game in St. George so Dad, Kailye and I drove down for that. It was a wonderful 84 degrees....I loved it. I wish we could have stayed in the sun for sooo much longer. The game got a little rough...I know rugby, rough...who knew...so they called it just after the second half started. Michael's team dominated. I'm not sure if the other team scored at all. After the rugby game Michael came up to Cedar with us. I was so happy he stayed. He loved seeing all those babies, and he thinks Braxton is the cutest kid ever.

The rest of this week has been over run by colds, allergies, preggo messes, and busy working so not much to report there. I will try to get up to mom and dad's this weekend to post some pictures if I can.