On the Wings of Love: Jason's B-day

Jason turned 31 on the 1st of this month. He turned 30 in Afghanistan last year, so I wanted to make this year special. I totally down played it in the weeks leading up. By the time the day rolled around, he was pretty sure he was getting a whole lotta nothin' (he got an iPhone a couple months before, so we were going to call that his gift...I'm not heartless).

Jason has always talked about wanting to go skydiving. Whenever he heard about someone going, he would say, "I'd love to do that!" We never talked about specifics or anything, so I knew it would be a big surprise.

Well, the morning of his birthday, I left this poem out with some balloons on the kitchen counter so he would see it before he left for work. I tried to rotate the picture for you, but it wouldn't work for me...just turn your head and you'll be fine.


So, throughout the day I gave him little gifts that would be hints to help him guess what his big present would be. Jason is an extremely good guesser, so the gifts were ridiculously vague because I get so mad when he guesses right and ruins the surprise. I'm annoyed that I didn't take pictures of the process....oh well.

When he went out to his car to head to work, he found more balloons along with a pack of Bubble Yum bubble gum. There was also a CD I made with strict instructions to only listen to the first two songs. The songs were "Happy Birthday" by The New Kids on the Block and another b-day song by The Beatles. (The songs weren't hints, they were just fun. The gum is a clue. You know...bubble gum...bubbles....air. I told you they were vague!)

Graham, Benny, and I joined Jason for lunch at his favorite place to eat, Jersey Mike's Subs. I gave him his second hint then. It was a bag of Depends For Men. Yes...adult diapers in case he peed his pants as he jumped out of the plane. By this point he was extremely confused and had no idea what was coming.

When he went out to his car to come home for the day, he found more balloons with some deodorant and breath mints tied together nicely with a bow. (I knew he'd be flying tandem with a certified skydiver, so I wanted him to smell good and have fresh breath.) He was then able to listen to the last 3 songs: "On the Wings of Love", The Top Gun Theme Song, and "I Believe I Can Fly".

He arrived home, more confused then ever, and wanted to know what he was getting. At our house, we play the "You're Getting Warmer" game to find our hidden presents. So, I sent Jason on a search around the house. Finally he got to the bottom drawer in our bedroom and found a rolled up piece of paper. It was a gift certificate to go Skydiving! I had scheduled his time of flight for the next week.



After the gift, we had homemade pizza (one of Jason's faves)for dinner. Instead of a birthday cake we had waffle cones and ice cream.

Here's some pics of Jason's adventure.


They flew in this tiny, rickety, old plane. He was worried they weren't going to be able to take off.







He had a great time! Got a little nauseous, but loved it!

Lucy Jane

It's been a while since I did a post dedicated just to our little Lucy. She's growing up so fast and there are so many things I want to remember about her at this age. These "memories" will be in no particular order....I'm not sure how to put them in paragraph form, so I just won't.



Here she is St. Patrick's Day morning. The only thing I did to celebrate was put food coloring in her cereal. I know, I'm super creative. She thought it was pretty weird. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open for the picture....hence the help from her hands.

-A few weeks ago, we were walking home from school and she asked me something. I didn't hear it all, so I asked her to repeat it. Then she said, "I think you're the master of not listening."

-Lucy has been so sweet with her prayers lately. We've talked a little about how Heavenly Father likes it when we try to not have our prayers all sound the same. We've discussed changing them up and keeping them from becoming routine. She does such a great job and I can tell that she's really trying.

-Lucy got up last month to bare her testimony in Sacrament meeting at church. She just beamed as she walked back to our bench when she was done. I love that she is so confident and doesn't shy away from being in front of people.

-She's also enjoying passing off the Articles of Faith during primary at church. I'm impressed at how well she does!



-Lucy loves to create things. She colors or draws a little bit almost every day. The last little while she has started to write stories. She draws pictures for friends and family all the time. Her walls are covered with many of her creations that she has taped up. She made collars last week for all of her stuffed animals.

-I love that Lucy is trying to figure things out. She always says things like, "I think I know how they make chapstick" then she'll proceed to tell me her theory. When I tell her the right way things are done, she almost always says, "But I think my way would work, too, right?"

-I love that she still says "wush" instead of "wish". (It rhymes with "push")


-Lucy still loves to sing and dance. I love hearing listening to her versions of songs. The best is when she hears me singing the same song later and she corrects me, even when I'm singing the right words and she is singing jibberish. Example: I sang, "Give me..a clue", her version is, "wipee...wahoo".

-She started ballet last month and really enjoys it, with the exception of the stretching at the beginning. She hated that when she took gymnastics last year, too. I'm not sure what it is, but it's "just too hard".

-She is doing so well at her reading! I love that she loves it! We've been reading Junie B. Jones books lately. We take turns reading them out loud and it's so fun watching her react to what goes on.

Some of Lucy's favorite things right now:
-She still loves the color red. It's been her favorite for a couple years now.

-Whenever she's asked what her favorite food is, she always says candy and treats. I wonder where she gets that??

-She LOVES jumping on the tramp when mom, or especially Dad, jump with her. "Will you jump with us?" is a common phrase heard at our house. It's almost always the first thing she says when Jason walks in the door.

-Lucy really tries to be patient with Graham, but usually her frustration gets the best of her. Recently, though, I've watched her efforts go up a notch. First, I'll hear her scream, "G-RA-HAM! STOP DOING THAT!" (Graham's name turns into a 3 syllable word when she's mad). Then, I'll listen for just a second and I then I'll hear, "Graham, will you please stop doing that?" More often than not, she feels forced to return to the first attempt because G-ra-ham doesn't care whether she screams or asks kindly.....he's not going to comply.



It seems like in the past year or so, the role that I have as Lucy's mother is slowly changing. She is getting so independent and can do a lot on her own now. But her questions are getting more and more complex and deep. There's more discussions about why behaviors are right and some are wrong. She sure keeps me on my toes.

I am so grateful for this sweet, beautiful girl in my life!

Easter Outfits

My Mom and Dad give all the grandkids Easter outfits every year. Very generous and very appreciated!! The clothes were a hit this time around. Here's our attempt at some pictures before we went to church.

Look at this cheeser in his new tie! We had a hard time getting this kid to hold still and smile. I finally had to tell him that he would get no fruit snacks or toys during Sacrament meeting if he didn't smile for the camera. Another one of those "Mother-of-the-Year" moments, but hey, it worked!



Lucy absolutely LOVES her dress.




I love that chubby face!




I had to include this one because of the look on Lucy's face. Ben-O is about 18 pounds now-a-days. Lucy only weighs about 45, so that's quite a load.




Thanks, Mom and Dad! We love and miss you!

Graham's Extreme Makeover

I decided it was time for Grahammer Pants to get a haircut. I actually really like it long, but I just can't figure out how to tell the barber to cut it. Every time I went in to have it trimmed, he came out with a total 80's bowl cut thing happening. I also realized it was time for the chop-a-roo when he was crying every morning when I had to brush it. I can only deal with one hair-styling drama queen and Lucy has a strong hold on that title.

Here are the before shots:






Here's our handsome guy post makeover. (He has some trouble making eye contact with the camera.) He looks so different to me. I love that I can actually see his beautiful blue eyes now. I think he looks a little younger, too......and I like that!



This kid is such a crack up. His latest thing is that he loves to play "games". Whenever we're in the car, we have to be engaged in at least one. Here's a list of them with a brief explanation:

I Spy: You've all played it, I'm sure. Graham gets a little confused sometimes. He'll say, "I spy with my little eye, something GREEN!" (By the way, he always spies something green...always. The boy loves green.) So, you'll be guessing green things and then he'll start guessing green things, too. "Is it the grass?" Wait a minute....I thought it was your turn. It makes Lucy really mad.

Knock-Knock: I'm sure many of you have your fill of knock-knock jokes, too. I love that I can get a laugh out of this kid no matter what I say. Sometimes I find myself pausing, trying to get creative or legitimately funny and then I realize that he prefers the nonsense. On the way to the store a couple days ago I had just given my punch line and Graham said, "HA! HA! That's a good one, Mom!" He sounded so grown-up...I laughed out loud.

Guess What/That's What: You wouldn't think this game would be very entertaining, but Graham can go for quite a while. He says, "Guess what?" You're supposed to say, "What?" He says, "That's what". Then you switch roles. Repeated over and over and over again. Occasionally, I'll spice it up with a "Chicken butt" which is a no-fail laugh inducer. Other times, I'll say "I love you" instead of "That's what". He likes that one, too.

If Graham is ever in a grumpy mood or we need to distract him from something (he usually cries if we don't have water in the car and he's "SO THIRSTY"), all we have to do is suggest one of these games and we're golden.

One of his favorite times to play is when he's going to the bathroom. He demands that I sit down while he's taking care of business and play "I Spy".

I don't know what I would do without my little man keeping me company all day. He definitely makes my life so much brighter. His little laugh is so contagious and comes so easily.

Brotherly Love

9 Years.....SHEESH!

On the ninth, Jason and I celebrated our 9th year of wedded bliss. Our fabulous friend, Erin, watched all three of the kiddos so we could go out. We tried Thai food for the first time. I really liked it, but Jason.....not so much.

I made a little book to give to Jason. I used a bunch of pictures from when we were dating and first married. Here's a few jems that I thought I would share.



This is at an Institute dance that we went to. I can't remember what the theme was or why we are wearing those hats.



This was at USU Homecoming 2000. Don't we look young!



This was the night we got engaged. I'm sad that this is the only picture I have to remember this happy day.



I think this was the Halloween after we got married. We're supposed to be roads. We dressed up for a ward party that we went to with some friends. I remember having to explain our costumes a lot.

I feel very blessed to be married to my sweetheart, Jason. He does so much for me and makes my life easier and happier. Life, in general, overwhelms me more than I'd like to admit, but he helps me not to take life to seriously. I am a lucky woman.

Weekend in LA

A couple weekends ago we partied it up in Los Angeles. We started it off with a trip to the LA Temple. We stayed overnight at the Temple Apartments that they have on the grounds. It's $40 a night and it made for a very enjoyable trip. I went to the 7:30 pm session while Jason got the kids settled and then he got up and went to the 6:30 am session while I got the kids ready for the day.

After Jason was done, we walked with the kids around the temple grounds and talked. As you can see, Graham was pretty ticked he couldn't go in.



It was so fun to see all of the beautiful flowers in bloom the first week of March. I absolutely love living in Southern California!



With Jason's deployment and then Benjamin's birth, it had been a while since Jason and I had last been to the temple. We left feeling renewed and motivated to keep up our goal to visit every month.



After the temple, we met our good friends, the Rendulics, for lunch and a trip to the Museum of Natural History. To be honest, I wasn't too sure how the museum thing was going to go over with a 3 and 6 year-old, but it was fabulous! What made it even better was that it was free for all active duty military and their families! Score! That saved us 24 buckaroos!



Lucy enjoyed learning about the dinosaurs and was fascinated by the rock collection. It was fun listening to her get excited about her favorites. Graham loved the lizards and just running around the exhibits (although he wasn't too crazy). Ben was a champ the whole weekend! He spent a lot of time in his car seat and gave us very little lip.

The Rendulics have two little kiddos that we have so much fun with. Here's Graham with Logan. These two are crack-ups. They are either the best of friends or bitter enemies. Today they were having a great time and always looking for one another.



We will definetly hit the museum again in the future. We had a great time!

Monday we hit Disneyland! Lucy had school off, so Jason got out of work and we were on our way. We have season passes, so come see us and we'll go!! I didn't take any pictures.....just refer back to our pictures from our Disney trip in October. Subtract the Grunigs, imagine me a bit thinner, then add Benny and you've got a good summary of our day.