Gritton Family

Natalie's Birthday Party

2010-03-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Taylor

2010-01-29T22:38:00.000-08:00

Here are a few newish clips. Sorry you have to hear my ugly voice in the background! I always wish I could cut that out of the videos, but I can't!

Ava's Birthday Party

2009-12-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

Ava's VERY princess-y 4th Birthday Party!

Ava's guests decorated crowns, made princess necklaces, played "pin the crown on Ariel," and other royal activities!

Ava sat in the royal chair to open her presents!

Here's the Ariel cake - I don't know how to rotate.

Ava & her cake

Blowing out the candles!

Taylor

2009-11-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

Finally, some progress!

Ava's Preschool Halloween Program

2009-10-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

What can I say?

Children's Prayers

2009-09-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

This week we had a FHE lesson about praying. Keith was explaining to the children that praying is how we talk to Heavenly Father.

We asked, "What can we thank Him for?"
Natalie: "Horses."
Ava: "Princesses."

Okay...

Then we asked, "What can we ask Him for?"
Natalie: "Horses."
Ava: "Princesses."
Taylor: "Bau!" (ball)

Our kids have one-track minds!

First Dance Recital

2009-06-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Well, this was a monumental day! The first dance recital!

Little kitty-cats

Natalie is on the end; Ava is right next to her.

(Now Ava is on the end!)

Taylor is the proud little brother!

Natalie's Birthday

2009-04-19T21:44:00.001-07:00

Easter Sunday

2009-04-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

I LOVE this picture of Keith & Taylor!

Ava singing

2009-04-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

I finally thought I'd better get this on video!

(my camera cuts videos at exactly one minute.)

Taylor Playing Peek-A-Boo

2009-04-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

Taylor started playing peek-a-boo on his own at my birthday dinner the other night. Unfortunately, I didn't capture the cutest moments, but here's what I got:

Hawaii

2009-04-09T21:34:00.001-07:00

These are spinner dolphins, which I watched each afternoon from the back patio of our room.

This is a whale.

This is Keith.

I know - my shoes look especially hot! (This was at the top of a hike)

You can see the resort where we stayed across the water.

This is the view looking out of our room!

Visiting Teaching

2009-03-09T21:41:00.001-07:00

Random Stuff

2009-03-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

I blended up some blueberries for Taylor the other day, and had to grab the camera between bites to show you his reaction. Do you think he liked or not?!

Natalie trying to introduce everyone to the new kitty.

Ava talks about the new kitty.

Crazy Fun!

2009-01-28T22:07:00.001-08:00

We made this video just for fun at some little kiosk in the MGM Grand. I thought it was so funny! My favorite part is Ava as the dancing nurse.

Taylor's New Dance

2009-01-19T19:37:00.000-08:00

Taylor loves to boogie! I wish my silly voice weren't all the way through these, but what can I do? Try to ignore that and just enjoy Taylor's new dance!

Utah

2009-01-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

Taylor - still celebrating...

Getting Creative

2008-11-25T22:46:00.001-08:00

Melanie told me today that I have to post something. I don't really have much good material lately, but we did have an interesting afternoon waiting for the delivery of our appliances to our new house. (Melanie knows because I called several times because I was so bored I kept thinking of dumb thoughts I wanted to talk about!) I hate waiting for deliveries or services because they always give such a large window of time. I feel trapped - even if I were not going to go anywhere anyway, I suddenly feel hostage. So, today, when I had to wait with three kids in our house that was not furnished with anything, it was especially torturous. The good thing was that it forced us to be a little creative. Here are a few photos of what we did. (I apologize for the disorderly hairdos!)

Ava found the Costco bag of toilet paper (the one thing I have taken to the new house) and put it on like some lovely shawl. She told me that she was ready to go to the costume party! (I'm not sure where she's ever heard that before!)

Natalie found some piece of packing foam and started talking on it like a phone. She doesn't realize this, but it really looked very much like those first model cell phones from the late 80's!

Ava took her turn too. You can see that the conversations were quite intense! (They were conversing with each of our extended family members.)

Okay, so this one was from home (at our apartment) where the tv is gone, so we decided to watch YouTube videos. Unfortunately, there are a plethora of extremely cheesy homemade videos people have made from pictures of their horses set to even cheesier music. I walked in on Natalie watching one of these and thought it was so funny how in love she was with this video!

Election Day

2008-11-05T12:08:00.001-08:00

It's always really fun to try to drag my children away from the t.v. to go on errands that they are totally uninterested in. Okay, maybe not. A bigger challenge is to get them to cooperate when they don't even understand where we are going. So yesterday, when I was trying to convince them that they needed to get their shoes on and come with me so I could go vote, they probably asked me over a hundred times what we were really doing. It's really difficult to explain to a 4-yr-old and a 2-yr-old what it means to go vote, but they kept asking, so I just told them pretty straightforward - I had to go somewhere to let people know who I want our leaders to be. Of course, this just confused them more, and they just asked more questions. All along, I was trying to force shoes on their feet, getting people on and off the toilet, etc, etc.

So, finally we got to the elementary school where the voting was taking place. It was not bad at all, we probably got in and out in about 10 minutes. As we were leaving the gymnasium, Natalie excitedly asked, "That's it?" I was happy to tell her that it was and now we could go home. Suddenly Ava's lower lip turned down and her eyes opened up wide in that heartbroken face only she can make. Sure enough, the tears followed quickly as she exclaimed, "but we didn't get to go on the boat!" Poor thing, she had gotten herself all geared up for a boat ride! (Not quite the same as a vote-ride!)

Halloween

2008-11-05T10:23:00.001-08:00

Sorry, Todd, I had to steal this!

This was our first Trunk-or-Treating experience, so we were kind of the losers that didn't know that you're supposed to decorate your trunk all fancy (we just opened our plain-old tailgate!). We also are not used to giving out so much candy, so even though we bought about 3 times as much as usual, we ran out early!

Natalie & Ava had a great time, though. You can see Natalie decided to use her little baby bassinet to carry her candy. Ava used her tiny little Cinderella purse, which we had to empty out after about every 3 cars, so she would have room for more!

Natalie had a Little Mermaid costume, but when Keith came home from his little work trip, he brought with him Tinkerbelle wings for the girls. Of course, Natalie had to wear those too, so she ended up as sort of a mermaid-fairy!

I can never seem to get enough of these curls!

Our little monkey! Taylor is so sweet and happy - even in a humiliating costume!

Halloween 2: Our girls were excited to get to do it all again - especially because this time they got to be with their princess cousins (including the beautiful Jeremy!)

Here we are after "Thriller!" Kimberly was AWESOME! That was so fun! I loved how some random guy (was it at a restaurant?) went on and on about meeting the "FAMOUS" Thriller dancer!

Every Day

2008-10-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

I saw this video for the first time tonight, and after allowing the flood of tears to clear out my head, I realized that this story was just the lesson I needed right now. Unfortunately, too often I find myself exhausted day after day of caring for our children, and unable to feel the joy in them I know I should. I feel selfish, and I know it is selfish - because deep down I know what an absolute blessing & miracle each one of them is to me. I guess I just really want to be more like these parents. I want to make each and every day count...

(A tip for the females: please remove your mascara prior to viewing.)

Taylor

2008-10-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

House Updates

2008-10-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ava checking to make sure it tastes good.

IT DOES!

September 28, 2008

October 1, 2008

October 8, 2008

October 16, 2008

Boom

2008-09-20T16:31:00.000-07:00

Right now our apartment is bouncin' to the bass of our neighbor's awesome music.

I was wondering if I should ask him to turn it up a little more so that I can hear the treble too?

ANYONE WANT A MUFFIN?

2008-09-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

Well, this is proof that I have become a brain-dead air-head! Last night we went for our usual family walk to check out the progress of our house being built. Almost three hours later, we returned to our apartment to find the smoke detectors blaring. The whole apartment was filled with nasty smoke, and it was a horrible feeling to walk through in an attempt to find the fire. Fortunately, there was no fire but I realized I had left a batch of muffins in the oven at 400 degrees for the whole time we were gone. We haven't thrown them out yet, so if anyone's hungry...

Our Princesses

2008-08-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

One difficult part of parenting for me is knowing when to say "no" to my children. I have to say that it would be a lot easier if I felt it was okay to just give them everything that want at any given moment. Beside the fact that we can't actually monetarily afford to give them every single thing in the world, I tend to believe that they will be better off if they are not given even all that we can afford. But, like I said, it is a little difficult for me to know where to draw the line.

Probably one of the hardest times to set limits is on family vacations - something inside me feels more guilty than usual when I limit the number of cookies they can eat, enforce bedtime, or even force them to have their hair brushed - on vacation. However, even princesses have to have their hair brushed! (Yes, princesses are on on the forefront of all of our minds right now, after our visit to Disneyland.) We hope our princesses will grow up to be of the beautiful variety - beautiful because they are kind, good, caring, and yes, I admit, even because they brush their hair! I hope we can avoid creating the kind of princess that is only "royal" because she gets everything she wants.

As part of that attempt, our princesses were given an option at the end of our Disneyland adventure: for our final activity of the day, they could choose to either get a small toy or an ice cream cone. Neither of the girls had to think for even a second about which they would select. Natalie knew right away she would like to pick a toy. Ava's eyes opened wide when she heard the words "ice cream," which she repeated with such excitement, one would think that this is a very rare treat for her! Ice cream is definitely one of her favorite things in the world. So, while Keith got Ava her ice cream, I took Natalie to pick out a toy.

Natalie was very thoughtful about her toy choice. I really thought she would just pick one of the first things she saw; but, as I tried to be patient, she walked around and around the store, picking up various toys, weighing the options in her mind, sometime returning to certain items. Finally, she was sure about her decision. "I don't have a reindeer, and I really, really need one." (It is starting to become apparent to me that Natalie thinks we really need at least one of each animal in the world.) We purchased Bambi, and walked back to meet the ice cream eaters.

I have to say that while I love ice cream, Ava LOVES ice cream! With every lick, she seems to get closer to her own little heaven on earth! I enjoyed watching her eat her ice cream so much that I wanted to capture the moment with my camera. I don't think the pictures quite show the ecstasy she was in!

Once it really kicked in, however, that Natalie had just acquired a great new toy, Ava decided she wanted one too. When we reminded her that she had picked ice cream over a toy, she abruptly shot-put her ice cream cone to the ground as she proclaimed, "I don't like ice cream!"

"BOOTAFO"

2008-08-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

Last week our family went out to eat with Lisa and Todd. The usual scene as we wait for the server to take our order is something like this:

Mommy, I want to sit by you!
Okay.
No, I want to sit by you!
Okay, how about if you both sit by me. One can sit on this side; one can sit on this side.
(lots of shuffling around as we try to get the baby seat back out and then everyone slides on in to the booth.)
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, you're squishing me!!!!!!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I wanted to sit on that side!
Is it okay if she sists on that side?
(more uncomfortable shuffling as everyone scoots back off the booth, rearranges, and scoots back in.)
(Everyone finds their crayons and coloring menu and there is peace for a few minutes... well, maybe one minute.)
Hey!
I wanted to sit by Daddy!
(Repeat any or all of the above)

So, I don't remember exactly how it went that night, but I'm sure it was something very similar to the "usual scene." Of course, we had two extras with us, which I'm sure made the whole thing more complicated and exciting! The adults were all chatting, while the girls colored their menus.

I just so happen to know that if one of my girls stops talking for more than 15 seconds, she must be "up to something." When I suddenly realized that I had not heard Ava's voice for about 37 seconds, I looked down at her (she was sitting next to me, sans booster seat.) She peered up at me with her sparkling proud eyes. They were not her only blue feature... she was still coloring all over her mouth with a blue crayon (I thought the point of crayons was that they're not messy, but apparently the first time my child decided to use one as lipstick, it was some reject kind of crayon that actually worked as lipstick).

Very matter-of-factly, Ava informed me, "I'm bootafo, mommy." I agree.

LAS VEGAS

2008-07-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been interesting...

I don't know if I ever realized just how much of a homebody I am. I feel like I've always been up for adventure, but apparently I overestimated my adventurous spirit. The homesickness kicked in before the move even began. A few months ago, when pulling up to our driveway in Sandy, I saw a couple guys pounding a "For Sale" sign into the lawn in front of our house. Although this was certainly in line with our plans for moving, it was still a shock to see it actually going into place. That was the first time I cried about it. The emotions have seemed a little irrational, but nevertheless, difficult to control. We've now been here 5 days, and although that is shorter than many of the vacations we have taken, it feels like I've been away forever!

It was heartbreaking sending the girls back home on Saturday. We rushed to get here so that we could pull the family back together - Natalie has really struggled with the separation from her Daddy. I wish I were stronger, but this was a time when I realized that I simply HAD to accept the help that was offered. I think that having the girls gone this week will be better in the long run, but I feel extremely guilty (not to mention lonely.) Thank you to everyone for your help!

I really have to mention that Keith has been AMAZING! I realize that he is under a lot of stress as well. He has opened up a new office, gotten everything in order there, made living arrangements for our family, and still manages to be super-patient with me! It's really incredible all that he has done to get our family here. He single-handedly arranged for the condo where we are now staying, and he did a great job picking a place nearby where we are building.

Of course, I did not know what to expect, since I have been unable to be very involved in the process. What I did know was that we were driving to a very hot place 8 hours away from home. It was difficult explaining it to the girls, although I think they got a certain idea. They did ask the whole drive down, "are we there yet?" I would love to be able to get inside their minds sometime to see exactly how they see things - especially how they imagine something that they don't know yet. What did they think it would be like, I wonder. Natalie may have had a pretty good idea. I'm sure that Ava was thinking of something entirely different, since when we finally told her we were here, she exclaimed, "Dis is not Waws Baygus!"