OFF WE GO!

Everything is loaded, the moving van left with all our belongings. The Mini-Van is packed as well. We left earlier today. The kids traveled great so far. They played in the pool for a while this evening, came back to the hotel room, and crashed within about 10min. It's been a pretty intense last few days for these little ones.

We should arrive in Price sometime tomorrow night. We would like to at least go see The House that we will be buying, before we close on it. We've never even seen it, only in pictures. We will be closing on our house Friday at 12:00pm. Hope it all goes well! I'll try to keep you posted!

Please Help!

We were asked by a friend to post the following to our blogs. Please take a few minutes and read through this. You may also know someone who can help. You just never know when the table will turn, and your going to need some kind of love, and support. Please keep this dear family in mind. They could really use your help! Also please keep them in mind when offering your prayers. Thanks so much!

The Hess Family

***FEDERAL EMPLOYEES- PLEASE DONATE LEAVE TO RYAN HESS***

My name is Margie Hess, my husband Ryan was diagnosed on June 12, 2009 with a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Since this is an aggressive form of T-Cell Lymphoma, his doctor has put him on an aggressive chemo regimen that will result in him being unable to work for the next 4-6 months and possibly longer. At the time of diagnosis he was finishing up his 1st year as a Podiatry Resident at the V.A. in Tucson, AZ. Ryan is a devoted husband and father of two children, Hallie (5) and Max (2). By the end of this month (June 2009), Ryan will use up the last of his vacation and sick leave and will have to go on unpaid leave. Ryan is the sole provider for our family; I stay at home with both the kids. Without him working we have no income. I need to stay home to help care for him, so I cannot get a job right now, either. As difficult as it is for our family to have to ask for help, we have realized that we must do so at this time. We were told that any federal employee (ie: military, Border Patrol, DEA, FB I, Dept of Justice, EPA etc. EXCEPT Post Office employees) can donate vacation time to be used as sick leave for another Federal employee. We would be so thankful for any number of extra paid days we can accumulate. Thank you so much.
How can you help if you ARE a Federal Employee?
Go to your HR department and request to donate leave to Ryan Hess who works for the VA. (Your HR person will know the form that needs to be filled out- each Federal agency has their own form to donate leave)
Once filled out and signed, the HR person will then need to fax or e-mail the form to:
OLIVIA McCLURE - Benefits Specialist (TUCSON V.A.)
Phone #: (520) 792-1450 x 6076
Fax # : (520) 629-1849
E-Mail : olivia.mcclure@va.gov

ALSO, for those who are federal employees, please print out this message and post it in break/lunch rooms to help get the word out as well as emailing it to co-workers!

How to help if you are NOT a Federal Employee:
PASS this along to ANYONE and EVERYONE that you know and then ask them to pass the message along. Post it on blogs, Facebook...whatever you can think of.
Thanks again everyone- this will help SO much!
GO TEAM RYAN HESS!

(E-mail teamryanhess@gmail.comto receive updates or to send a message!)

REALITY!!!!

It's definitely official now! The movers are here packing, and loading the truck. I guess it really is REAL. It's so weird watching my house hold items go out of the house one by one. It hadn't set in until now.

It's kinda felt for a while that we were just going on Summer vacation. Not the case! It's pretty hard watching. I've been filled with so much emotion today. I've been so strong up until now. So many memories are here in Kenosha. I really hate good byes, so I've been avoiding a lot of them. That way it doesn't seem too real. I guess we will be leaving Wednesday morning.
For those of you who don't know, we are moving to Price Utah. http://city1.price.lib.ut.us/
It's about an hour to Provo through the mountains. We are pretty excited about this new adventure. The hand of the Lord has really been a big part of this decision, and move. ( I don't have time to tell you about that right now, maybe a different post). It's just amazing how the whole process of us buying this new practice all came about. Price is a smaller town about 10,000 but with the draw from the county it's about 50,000- 60,000. A perfect range for a practice!
So off we head to the Great West, so we can start yet another chapter in our lives. Farewell Wisconsin! Love you all!

Taylor's 5th Grade Graduation

Taylor finished up with Elementary school this year. Oh wait...., we're moving to Utah, and Elementary goes up to 6Th grade. Ha Ha!

Anyways, so Taylor got to practice Graduation for next year. I guess he did go from 5Th grade to 6Th grade. The kids presented a cute little program to all the parents, we also got to go to the reception afterwards. It was a really nice evening just with Taylor.

This little girl has had a "Crush" on Taylor the whole school year. She's a crossing guard, and watches for us to drive by on our way to, and from school everyday, just so she can wave to him. It's one of those crushes where they never talk. We like to tease him about her. At the Graduation Alexis, (that's her name) asked if she could get her picture taken with Taylor. Taylor, about died!

Taylor also got to go to camp this year with his Fifth grade class. They went to a place called Camp Timber lee. The kids enjoyed a few days filled with tons of outdoor activities. We were very hesitant about allowing him to go, we are glad we let him because it was a great experience for all the kids.

Congratulations Taylor, we are very proud of you! Love Mom & Dad

Father and Sons Camp

The boys look forward to this tradition every year. It's a great time for Brian to enjoy his boys, and only his boys. A few of the kids friends and their Dad's were at the camp out as well. Jackson couldn't stop talking about it. Taylor had fun, but ended up getting kinda sick. They are already talking about going camping again. This time Kenzie, Case, and I want to tag along.

While the Boys are away, it's a tradition that the girls (Kenzie, and I) go play and do lots of girl things. We love it! Kenzie says it's her favorite things to do.

MORE ALLERGIES ?

Our SWEET little Jackson has had quite the Battle with so many allergies. We took him to the Allergist this last week for some testing. Backing up a little.... When Jackson was 7 months old we found out that he was allergic to Eggs, all Dairy, Peanut, Dog, and had many other environmental allergies. Last year we did some tests at Primary Children's in Milwaukee to see how his allergies were doing, and if he was still allergic to all these things. He passed the Dairy test. YEAH! We went for more testing this last week and he has now out grown his Dog allergy, and has become tolerant of Eggs. However, he is now allergic to CATS! Weird, I know.

Our kids have wanted a dog for a long time, and NO I don't think we will ever be getting one. I know, I'm kinda mean! When Jackson came home from the Doctor he was so excited to tell "The Kids" his great news. He walked in the door, and said." Hey KIDS, ( this is what he calls Taylor, and Kenzie) I'm not allergic to Dogs anymore"! His eyes started to water because of his joy. It was so precious! This has been our excuse for not having a dog for the past 5 years, I guess I just need to find a new excuse. HELP!!!

One of Jackson's environmental allergies is Maple Trees. 3 or 4 years ago our kids planted one of those ( we call them Helicopters) seeds. A little while later a tree started to grow. We have moved this plant with us the last couple of years from house to house. Jackson loves to water it everyday. However, he is soooo allergic to it. He gets all puffy, and itchy when he waters.

Poor little Jackson, he's just so fragile.

This is the plant the kids have watched grow, and will be in our van with us, all the way to Utah. Jackson is going to have to be loaded up on meds for the trip.

Here's a picture of Jackson this past week at his appointment.

The doctor gave him an allergy panel test. This is when a pallet filled with small levels of different allergens are poked into his back. The puffy little spots on his back show us that he is still pretty allergic to a certain something. It also shows the level of how allergic he is to that item. The hard part with this test is that his back gets REALLY, REALLY, itchy, and he CAN'T touch it. I was trying everything I could to keep his hands off his back. This next picture is a pretty bad one. Can you guess what song we're singing.......? YIP! " A Tooty- Tot" I know we look ridiculous. I think Jackson enjoyed laughing at me even more then he enjoyed the song it's self. Go a head, have a good laugh!!! I know, I know, Mother of The Year!

( Brian snapped this most ridiculous picture, I had no idea. I was just trying to keep the poor little kid from touching his back). And NO we don't always ALL go to the Doctor together. It was just a really important visit.

The End of This Journey !

This summer marks the end of the Journey "together" for a lot of our friends here in Kenosha. Brian and I we're the first Podiatry students in Kenosha. A couple years later the Hess family joined us, (who moved to Arizona, a year ago), followed by the Kindles, and Vanyperens. The Journey here ends for the rest of us this Summer. We are all moving out within a few weeks of each other. We wanted to say goodbye to each other so we had a small get together with a few families. These boys have had a very similar long road. School, tests, more school, and tests. We wanted to get together, and reminisce about the past, and talk about the future. We will miss all of you very much. Podiatry is a very small world, and we will see these families again at conferences or other events. When you study the same field you totally understand what each other is going through. What a small, but mighty support these boys have been to each other. Press forward, and go Willis Family!

Brian, Matt, and JJ

Aimee,Emily, Melanie, and Yours Truly.

AimeeGrundberg,JoranJones, Yours Truly,and Melanie Kindle.

Good Luck to Everyone, it's been Great! Wonderful, Cherished Friendships have been made!

Happy Anniversary!

12 YEARS!

Happy Anniversary Brian! I can't believe that 12 years has gone bye already. What a wonderful journey it's been so far. As I think back on our twelve years it seems like we've accomplished so much, and grown so much. To think that we get to spend Eternity together, what a blessing. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing. The last 12 years is what has shaped us, and made us who we are today as a Griffeth Family! What started as just 2 of us, has now grown by 5 more, ( this includes our precious baby who awaits us ).

12 Years later!

I am proud to be a Griffeth, and what a wonderful family I've married into. When our kids make a choice good or bad we ask them one simple question.... How did that choice represent our Griffeth name? I'm so grateful for our little family that we've been so blessed with. It will be interesting to see what the next 12 years will bring. On our anniversary it's really about Brian, and I, but I really like to look back at what we've become as one.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

I sure do love you a lot!

Good Bye Piano Lessons

My Piano Students Spring 2009

I had my final piano recital for my students about a week ago. It was a pretty sad deal with it being the last time. I have 18 students, all but four were able to make it to the recital. I've been teaching some of these students for a long time. I will really miss them, and their cute personalities. I really enjoyed teaching lessons, and seeing them develop new skills. However, I'm excited to be done for a while. I've had so much time on my hands the past week with no lessons. I don't know what to do with myself. My family has also enjoyed me being done as well. "NO MORE CROCK POT DINNERS" for a while! My family has been such a great support to me, my kids have been pretty obedient. We have a schedule that they stick to after school and it has worked well.

My students gave me some really nice going away/thank you gifts. Thanks Everyone! Your wonderful! Goodbye to another successful year.

Gavin Haller

One of the Moms of the students has been teaching McKenzie how to knit, during her boys piano lessons she brings her knitting supplies and they go to town. Really, I should be paying her.

Memorial Day Weekend Getaway

Saturday morning, the weekend of Memorial Day,  we were driving home from a Primary activity. Brian had this wild and crazy idea to just go somewhere. Where....? He didn't know, just somewhere outside of Kenosha. We knew our friends, the Grundbergs, didn't have any set plans for the long weekend so we invited them to come along. 

We headed North with no destination planned, we just drove. We ended up in Greenbay, WI.  We stayed the night there. The guys took the kids swimming, and had a blast. They did all sorts of water tricks,  even little Case got to go swimming  for his first time.

The next morning we went to Door County, it's one of the most beautiful places on earth. We enjoyed some very scenic drives, hiking, ice cream, some crazy sort of bikes that the kids could have spent hours on, a "GIANT" game of chess, and lots of food. It was a very quick trip. We had a lot of fun, and the kids got along great.

  On Memorial Day a lot of our family went to visit the cemetery in Franklin, Idaho. Our sweet baby Junior was buried there.  I'm excited to move a little closer so that we can visit our baby's grave more often, and continue to teach our children  about The Plan of Salvation. 

I took a lot of pictures and wanted to share them with you.  I think I've finely figured out how to do a slide show. It really wasn't hard, it just took a few minutes. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend Pictures

CEREAL...

We finally decided to give Case some Rice Cereal. It didn't go over so well.  He hates the stuff!  He's so stinking CUTE when he eats.  He's not a fussy baby, but when he eats, man do his vocals power out some sound!   

After a good workout of crying, and trying to maneuver the cereal in his mouth, sweet little Case is usually just exhausted.

After the first week of Rice Cereal he's adapting a little better, not great, but " BETTER"!

Case absolutely stuffed!

We sure are enjoying having a baby in our home.  It's been a while since we've had this opportunity.  It's kinda weird getting used to seeing the baby things around the house again,  not to mention the diapers, and the changing of them. We're loving every moment of it!   Even in the middle of the night.  We've really been blessed with a happy baby. His little personality is pretty charming, he has the most infectious laugh, and those cheeks.... You just want to squeeze them. We love our little man! 

What a Blessing a Calling Can Be!

Bro. Silva(Executive Secretary), Bishop Oldham, Bro. Bruner (1st counselor), Brian, and Bro. Forsberg (ward clerk)

Brian was released from the Bishopric last week. He has served in that calling for the past two years. He has learned so much from the people that he has served, and those that he served with.  Our family has been so blessed through his service. As glad as I am to have my husband back, we're really going to miss some of those blessings. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful, diligent husband, who has such a great love for the gospel. Brian's testimony has grown so much through his service. I am so thankful for his example! 

Our little nest

We have enjoyed keeping an eye on this little nest that sits on a high window ledge outside of Jackson's window. A Robin built this nest, laid 3 or 4 eggs, feed the little birdies, and taught them how to fly. What a neat thing for our kids to see.We checked on the nest multiple times during the day. The kids loved it! The whole process was about a month from the beginning of the nest being built up to the point of the birds learning to fly away.  Now all we have is this empty little nest. 

Lettuce Anyone?

We were sitting down for dinner to eat some Taco Salad. I was having a conversation with Brian about Lettuce, and how the lettuce in the stores has been really yellow lately. (Just my observation). I also said that I wish I had a little more lettuce for the salad. Anyways, Jackson joined in on the conversation and said."what about the lettuce tree out back...., It's really good" I had him show me the lettuce tree that he had been feasting on all afternoon. 

Crazy kid! But mom it's green, and looks like lettuce. LOL !