All for the Hall!

On October 5, Matt and I were joined by our fabulous friends Jared and Kelly Blumenberg at a once-in-a-lifetime concert in downtown Nashville. The concert was a benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and was hosted by none other than the fabulous Keith Urban!! In case you didn't know, I LOVE Keith Urban! He is my favorite male country artist and he happens to be one of the ones that I have never seen before in concert. I was soooo excited to see him finally! Since it was a benefit concert, he invited a bunch of other artists to participate. Here is the lineup: Keith Urban, Vince Gill, Billy Currington, Miranda Lambert, Charley Pride, Martina McBride, Dolly Parton, John Mayer, Alison Kraus and Alan Jackson. Yeah, seriously. We saw all of those people in one night! Crazy huh? Alison, Vince, John and Keith are Matt and my faaavorite artists. This was seriously the place to be. We loved it. Keith came out and, (yes, I now consider myself friends with all of these artists and so will only hereafter refer to them by their first names), he played a 40 minute set which included some of my favorite Keith songs. He is so talented and not too bad to look at either. They took a break to reset the stage and then the rest of the show got started. Keith set a theme to the concert: Heroes. He asked all of the artists to come out and sing one of their songs and then a song by one of their musical heroes. Vince came out first and he sang a few and was amazing, of course. Matt says he is one of the best guitar players out there and the most underrated. Then, we enjoyed everyone else performing their various selections. It was so incredible to sit there and see such a great lineup.

Ok, sidenote. Michaela just was yelling and starting to get fussy. I was about to get up and pick her up and I look over and she had picked up her binky and put it in her mouth and now she's quiet. She's so funny. :)

Anyway, the concert was amazing and we loved spending some time with our good friends the B-Bergs for a night out. My amazing friend from church, Jessie Williams, babysat our little munchkin for us and it was such a blessing to have our little crazy girl taken care of for us. Matt and I are now even more convinced that we need to see John Mayer in concert. We love him and could have listened to him all night.Oh! I almost forgot! Keith Urban and Vince Gill played guitar and sang backup for every single artist that night. Talk about backup singers! They made everyone sound even better. I wouldn't mind having them sing backup for me someday.

We had a great time and are so glad we went to the concert. In other news, Matt is going to the dentist for the first time in... I don't even want to tell you how long. We are enjoying the benefits of having insurance for all of us again. Michaela and I went to visit Matt at work and meet his boss and coworkers. He got to show off how cute his little girl is. He is a cute, proud daddy. Well, we are off to take a nice walk on this beautiful fall morning here in Nashville. We are so blessed and look forward to a great holiday season!

The Trip of a Lifetime

Ok, here we are now. I am (finally) updating our blog on the goings on of our small family this summer. Where I sit now is in our apartment in Nashville with an adorable baby girl sitting across from me with her legs dangling over the bottom of her little pink chair. Michaela is 4 months old now and she is thriving in a big way. She is talking, all the time. She has discovered the sound of her own voice and she loves to yell. Loudly and often. She is so funny! We laugh and laugh every day. She has a smile so big that it looks like her face can't stretch anymore and she giggles a lot too. We have settled into this life of parenting and are taking all of the changes in stride. I feel so very blessed to have this amazing little person who looks at me every day with such love and greets me with a smile every morning.

Now, on to the summer. We spent the first half of summer with family and friends and our new baby:) And, because of the generosity of our family members, we began planning a trip home to Colorado to visit family. To say I was excited for this is the understatement of the century. I was ECSTATIC!!!!!!! But, before we went out there, we were happy to have Matt's sister Mariah and his Grandma Shirley come out here for 2 weeks at the end of July into the beginning of August. Thanks to Grandma Shirley, we were able to explore more of Nashville as "tourists" and enjoy the city in the summer. Oh, wait. Did I say enjoy?? I meant survive the heat!!!! We were welcomed to the Nashville summer with the hottest summer on record in years. It was around 100 degrees for days in a row and the humidity.... don't even talk to me about the humidity. It was like stepping into a furnace every time we stepped out our front door. We spent the visit going from the air conditioned house to the air conditioned car to the air conditioned store etc etc. We went to the Nashville Zoo and saw the animals they have there. It was really cool for the price and so green and pretty. They have a walk through a forest of Bamboo that was probably my favorite part. We ate at restaurants, went driving around the city, got to listen to Matt play downtown on Broadway and got to spend some quality time with each other. They ate up every moment with Michaela. I was so grateful for their visit. The 2 weeks flew by and it brought us that much closer to Colorado!

So, Michaela and I spent the 10 days after Mariah and Grandma Shirley left cleaning the house, packing and getting things as ready as possible for daddy before we left. On August 20th, Miki Jo and I got on a plane and flew to Colorado. Matt was staying here in Nashville for the first 2 weeks of our trip to work and play his gigs. He would join us for the last 10 days. We stopped off in Salt Lake for a 3 hour layover where we got to meet Aunt Holly and Aunt Lisa and Uncle Eric for the first time. Our meeting was one of those moments in life that you wish was recorded. Holly and Lisa and I were laughing and crying and Michaela decided to join in and give her aunties some adorable giggles for their first meeting. There was a cute 20 something guy standing behind us and he told us that we were one of the sweetest things he'd ever seen and we even brought tears to his eyes. :) It was a great visit and then, on to Grand Junction. My mom and grandma picked us up at the airport where many more tears were shed in happiness.
We spent a little bit of time with everyone. We hung out in Montrose with my mom, dad and sister Kelli for a few days to let Miki Jo rest a little bit. We went to Granddad and grandma's workplaces so they could show off their new granddaughter. It was fun to be able to show off my baby girl to so many people. The first morning we stepped outside to the cool, crisp, clear air and sky of Colorado and I shed a few tears at the beauty and clearness that was around us. We went on a nice, long walk with my sister Kelli at 9 am. Something that we never could have done in Nashville that's for sure. After those few days, we went up to Junction to stay with my grandparents and visit for a few days. That was very fun. I love my grandparents so much. I lived with them in College for 2 years and have had a very close relationship with them ever since. Michaela is their first great grandchild and they had a great time playing with her and visiting. After that, we drove to Orem, Utah to visit with Holly, Eric and Lisa.
That was a great weekend. We got to meet Lisa's boyfriend Hondo and just visit and spend quality time with the aunties and friends. My sister's all kind of like Michaela. A little. :) We didn't do much more than enjoy the time together. We went shopping a few times and watched cupcake wars on the food network. It was perfect. Next it was back to Montrose for most of that next week. We just relaxed and hung out with everyone and enjoyed Colorado. That Friday was the day that daddy was arriving and we were looking forward to seeing him. We talked daily and skyped a few times but Matt was missing his baby soooo bad. And his wife too. A little bit.

Matt arrived on Friday the 3rd of September and we spent the weekend with my family at our Annual stay at Powderhorn Ski Resort on the Grand Mesa. It was beautiful on the mountain and we got in some hiking at Carson Lake and some much needed time with all of the family. Matt's family came up on Sunday and we had cake for all of the September birthdays and spent a great day together. Powderhorn is more exciting than Christmas for my family and this year did not disappoint. My brother and sister in law got to meet Michaela for the first time too and they were smitten right away. The time with family was like healing a wound for me. I completely relished every single moment spent with everyone.

After Powderhorn, we spent the rest of the week with Matt's side of the family. We had a great visit with them too. We hung out and saw friends and family alike. We had a HUGE soiree at the Griffith's house with over 50 people. It was a great time. Matt's brother Micah and his family came for the weekend and we spent the weekend passing around a 24 hour flu bug. It was a terrible way to end our trip but we still spent a lot of time together which was great.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was getting to see one of my best friends, Lindsay Huslig and her new baby. Simon. He was born 3 weeks before Michaela was and I was most anxious to meet him. I miss Lindsay so badly and was soooo glad to spend time with her. We played with them a lot and it was so great!

Another highlight was my other best friend, Christopher was visiting from New York City where he has lived for the past year. He got to meet my little girl and we spent a glorious day shopping and visiting and playing. It was amazing.

But, all good things must come to an end and so did our wonderful trip. Saying goodbye was so difficult but I know we will all see each other soon. Family and friends like ours don't go away. We are so blessed.

Getting home was a great thing in its own right. Our friends Kelly and Jared Blumenberg picked us up at the airport and it was so good to see them. I missed our friends in Nashville and that made me realize that we really have built ourselves a great life here. Matt has a job and he is gigging a lot and making contacts in the music industry and he has a lot of friends. I love my Branch at church and the people that are in my life now. We truly are very blessed.
There are many things we are looking forward to this coming few months. We are going to Ft. Worth Texas for Thanksgiving to spend it with my sister Jen and her husband Nick. They are welcoming a little girl into their home in January and I can't wait to be an Auntie! We have great friends here that are keeping us busy. We are going to a Concert on October 5th that will be so much fun. Matt's family is coming out here for Christmas. (Hopefully!) I can't wait to pick an outfit for Michaela for Halloween too. There are many great people and blessings in our life and we are so glad we have been able to spend time with the people who mean the most to us. Thank you all! We love you. .

Ob La Di Ob La Da... Life Goes On

Here we are, it is already June 22 and it has officially been 6 weeks since Michaela was born. Matt and I are having a blast having her in our lives. It seems like she has always been here. I can't believe how she is growing and changing daily. She is already weighing in at around 10 pounds and is a smart 22 1/4 inches long. Every day brings a new little development that makes us so happy to have her here with us. She is smiling and starting to "talk" and coo and giggle just a little. She is such a good baby. She gets the hiccups all of the time and she just sits there until they go away and doesn't complain like a lot of babies do. Her ADORABLE wispy blonde hair is getting longer and she has started playing with it in her fingers when she is nursing. So cute. She sleeps for 3-5 hours at a time at night and goes right back to sleep when she is done nursing and has a fresh diaper. I am absolutely infatuated with her. She is content during the day to sit propped up on her pillow or in her bouncer or on my lap and just kick kick her little chubby legs and talk and grin. She loves it when Matt or I give her kisses and her neck muscles are so strong already, she sits with her head back and looks at us when we hold her and smiles when we give her kisses and nuzzle in her neck. I've always loved babies but this is really special.



Life is crazy for us and the days are going by quickly even though we seldom get out the door. Well, Matt does. He is working so hard for his band and songwriting so he is in and out a lot but Stef and Miki just hang out at home and run errands occasionally. That is a good thing for sure considering it's like 80% humidity and around 100 degrees outside right now. Gross, I know. I guess this summer is not typical for Nashville but it's our first one here so we have no frame of reference. All I know is that it's hot and humid and not fun to be outside even though it looks like it would be when you look out the window. Our main swimming pool in our apartment complex was damaged in the flood and just opened again last week. Once I feel more comfortable in a bathing suit I might go down and take a dip... so I may not get there this summer. He he:)



We are looking forward to some more visits from family in July and August. My youngest sister Kelli is considering coming out here for a week in mid July and I fully support that idea. Matt's sister Mariah and his Grandma Shirley are coming out the end of July for 2 weeks. Grandma Shirley is itching to get her fingers on the baby, and who can blame her? She is the cutest baby in the world. That's not a biased statement it's just the plain truth. I am hoping beyond hope that I will be coming home to CO for a visit sometime in the middle of August until at least the first week in September. I want to make the rounds with Michaela and spend Labor Day Weekend with my family at Powderhorn ski resort on the Grand Mesa like we do every year. We are praying that this works out.


Well, we hope that all our friends and family are well and happy. We love you and pray for you all daily. Thank you again for your prayers and well wishes as we keep on truckin through this thing called "life."

Signing off for now, the Griffiths

Family Times

These past 4 weeks have been a whirlwind for us in a good way and a bad way. The good way is that we have been so busy with Michaela and we are already learning so much and enjoying so much the joys of parenting.
The bad way is that time is flying by and, as of this Tuesday, all of our wonderful family visitors will be gone and it will be life with just us. I am excited to get into the daily routine with Miki and Matthew but not so excited to have my family all gone. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We have had many visitors over the past few weeks and I wanted to highlight them all here. Jen was here for the birth of Miki as you all know. She stayed from the 10th through the 24th of May and it didn't even feel like she was here for a weekend! We were very busy as you can imagine. She helped us out so much and got to spend some amazing quality time with her new niece. Her husband, Nick, came out here on the 20th and stayed with us till the 24th when they packed up and drove home to Fort Worth, TX. We all enjoyed the time together for sure and we look forward to visiting them in Texas possibly this Thanksgiving if not before. I LOVE Jen so much and I am soooo grateful for what she did for me while I was going through such a monumental event in my life. I will repay the favor for her if I possibly can. Next, we welcomed my mom here for her maiden voyage to Nashville on the 21st of May. She is still here and will leave on Tuesday the 8th of June. :( This is the longest vacation she has ever taken and it too is flying by like a bird in the sky. She doesn't even want to think about saying goodbye to her new granddaughter yet so, we won't mention how hard it will be for all of us. My dad also came on the 1st of June and he just left tonight on the 6th. I loved having both of my parents all to myself. I don't know when that has ever happened before. It was awesome.

We were also blessed to have the Griffith family out here for a week. Matt's parents Rick and Bev and his sister Mariah and his niece Krysta all came out from the 21st through the 28th. We all hung out in our little apartment for the week and enjoyed each others company. It was crowded but fun. It was very hard for them to leave us and hard for us to see them go. We hope that the visits will not be far between. After my mom leaves this week, I will be open to hanging out with anyone who would like to. Miki and I look forward to a great, fun Nashville summer. We will be spending a lot of time in the air conditioning... it's already HOT here. And humid. Yuck.



A shout out to Kelly and Jared Blumenberg for letting my in laws stay at their new house while they were visiting! We could not have survived the week without your help. We owe you one!!

So, now that things are getting back to our new normal... Matt is working on getting his songs out there for more people to hear. He would love to be able to get some kind of publishing deal and continue playing with the band BrookLine and see what happens there. He is working so hard and, unfortunately, not getting paid for most of it so he is looking for a day job as well. Stefanie will be staying home with Miki and possibly cleaning houses or doing some babysitting/day care in the coming months to bring in a little more income. We would appreciate all prayers and thoughts sent our way that we will be able to make ends meet. We are working on it and asking for some help from the Lord to know what we can do to be successful.


We are VERY blessed and grateful for the opportunity to be parents and we can't wait to have so much fun with our new daughter! Thank you to all of you who brought us food in that first week and came and visited us in the hospital and at home. We welcome visitors if you would like to come meet our new little Michaela. We love her and are very happy to show her off.

Stefanie is looking for any and all suggestions for her summer reading list. I can't wait for the 3rd book in the Hunger Games series to come out in August but I will need more things to read before then.

So, ta ta for now. The Griffiths

Teach Your Children Well

Well, it's happened! We are parents as of May 11, 2010! Michaela came into the world after a tumultuous 23 hour labor. She was 7 pounds 1 ounce and 20 1/2 inches long. She has dark blue eyes and lots of Blonde hair! We couldn't believe it when the nurse said, "oh look, she has blonde hair." Mahan babies are not usually born with hair and I was expecting a baldie for sure. She has the prettiest little newborn hair! The general consensus is: she has Stef's nose and lips and Matt's chin and eye shape. She is the most beautiful thing that we have ever seen or been a part of in our lives. We are truly blessed to have her.

We came home from the hospital on Thursday the 13th and are just taking it easy here now. We already have amazing friends who are helping us with meals and we are so grateful for that. That's one of my favorite things about LDS people. Something happens and we bring food! Michaela is adjusting well. She is having trouble latching on to breastfeed. We are trying a lot of different techniques and will get it eventually. We are giving her formula from a bottle in addition to trying the breast at mealtimes so she has the nutrients she needs. I am not going to give up though. I really want her to be a breast fed baby. Hopefully when my milk comes fully in, we will get more in the habit of it. She is such a sweetie who loves to be held and swaddled. She will let us know real fast if she feels uncomfortable or upset about something. Her dad is already smitten. We both just can't stop looking at her!
Thank goodness she decided to wait until Tuesday. Her Aunt Jen flew in from Texas on Monday morning and my water broke on Monday afternoon... perfect timing. So, Jen and Matt were in the delivery room with me and I am soooo glad they were there to support me. (Literally, they held up my legs for me while I was pushing.) I couldn't have done this without them. I had written out a birth plan and was planning on going totally natural for the delivery. However, since my water broke first, they ended up giving me pitocin after I labored for 12 hours on my own since I was only dilated to 2 cm. I was able to endure 3 and a half hours of labor on the pitocin before I ended up getting an epidural. I couldn't believe how quickly the contractions came and how INTENSE they were.
They were pounding me one after another! I couldn't stand, sit, move, lean forward, anything! It was definitely the worst pain I've ever felt and at the end of 3 hours, I was still only 2 cm dilated. That was discouraging and we decided the best option was for me to get the epidural so I would have the energy to push later. It was the best decision I ever made! I got to sleep and, though it was really weird not being able to move my right leg, it was completely worth it when it only took 2 and half hours to get to 6 cm and then another 4 hours until I got to start pushing. I was dilated to 10 cm for 2 hours but didn't feel the pressure to push so my nurse let me wait until my body was ready on its own. I really appreciated the helpful nurses. We had an overall great experience at the hospital and I'm glad for the way it turned out.
So, now a new chapter of our life begins. We have the tiniest, cutest little daughter and the most supportive friends and family. We would like to say a genuine Thank You to all of you for your well wishes, messages and support of us in our life. We feel so blessed to have the special people in our lives that we do. We are looking forward to the future and all of the limitless possibilities that come along with a new life. We miss everyone in Colorado and look forward to all of the visitors that are coming in the next few months. Now if only Stef could get rid of this jelly belly quickly...

WE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!! Matt, Stef and Michaela

Pictures and Video

Water...

And lots of it. Nashville is currently in a state of emergency due to the massive flooding all over middle Tennessee. People are saying there hasn't been flooding like this and rain in this magnitude since May of 1984. That's the year I was born. Here in our area we have received about 16 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. Luckily, our apartment is on the second floor and we are up on a hill so we are currently doing well. (Knock on wood.) There are over 36,000 houses that are without power and there are houses, cars and light poles etc that are floating down the "rivers" that used to be regular streets. The images on the news are so unbelievable. There are hundreds of people that are being rescued and a good portion of the city is under water. We are talking it could be days before they can even get power back or open up the schools again. We are so very blessed. We can look across the parking lot and see what used to be a green field that is now a brown "pond." If you can, please pray for all of the people who are without homes and belongings and transportation. Matt is out taking pictures right now since the rain has stopped for the moment. I will post them when he gets back in. A lot of the interstates are closed in various places so we are pretty much stuck here at our apartment until we can navigate the roadways. There have been over 600 water rescues in the last 36 hours by emergency crews and that doesn't include the citizens who have been helping out their neighbors. Boats are floating down the roadways full of people. Mother nature definitely reminds us that we need to respect her.

Matt's birthday is tomorrow! He turns 24 and it looks like we will be celebrating at home. I got him an awesome shirt for his birthday. (Pictured above). I love it. He is adorable:) I'm so excited for him to be a daddy. I will add the pics of the flooding as soon as he gets back. We will update the situation this week as we know more about what's happening.

Oh, and please pray that Michaela decides to wait just a little longer until she comes. At least until we can get to the hospital... Thanks.

It's Baby Time!

Ok, ok, so maybe not quite yet. But it's getting so close we can taste it! Matt and I went to the Doctor today for our 37 week visit. I love the doc visits cause it is one more thing to look forward to and check off the list of things that are happening before Michaela comes. Today was a good visit. I am already 1 cm dilated!! Woo hoo!! For those of you who have had kids before, you may be thinking; "That is not very exciting. You can be 1 cm dilated for a month before the baby actually comes." And that is true. BUT, I have never had a baby before and the fact that my body is progressing through the natural stages on its own is so exciting to me! And the doc said that Miki is definitely sitting head down which takes a weight off of my mind. My best friend just had to have a c-section cause her baby was sitting breech so I am very relieved and I hope the baby stays that way. We are also anticipating a big baby. My belly is measuring 38 inches which is an inch more than the average for 37 weeks. And I was an 8 pounder so the doc says there is a good chance she will be around 8 pounds. I don't care how big or small she is as long as she's healthy. We already know she'll be cute:) Let's start taking bets on hair color, (if she even has hair), eye color, size, length etc etc. I'm thinking she won't have hair, she'll have very pale skin with rosy cheeks like a little cherub, she'll be long cause I was my moms longest baby so definitely over 20 inches, and I'm thinking green or blue eyes. We won't know all of the answers right away of course but we will in a few short months. So, what do you all think?? There is also a good chance she'll have curly hair. Wouldn't that be cute? Oh how I love me some babies! Especially now that we'll have one of our very own.

In other news, I, (Stef), only have 9 more working days until I'm done with my part time job for now. Friday the 7th of May is my last day. I'm getting very excited for a break so I will be able to have tons of family and baby time. We are anxiously anticipating all of the visits that we will be blessed to receive in the next few months. If you wanna come to Nashville, feel free! Matt will be busy with band stuff this summer so I will be hanging out with Michaela and we would love company. We have a nice pool in our apartment complex and a bed in the guest room and a few couches. Just let us know when you want to come and you'll have a place to stay. (Just don't all choose the same days to visit, k?)

Can you tell that I'm just a leetle excited about life right now? We are blessed beyond measure. Signing off for now. Stef

And away we go!

So, we have decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the world of the bloggers. There are some pretty significant things coming up in our lives and we want to be able to share them with all of the amazing people that we love. I will add more of our history and such as I become more accustomed to the layout of this blog thing. Right now, I just wanted to say that we are happy, healthy and blessed. Our baby is going to be born sometime in the next few weeks. She is due on May 16th... exactly 3 weeks from today! We are practically overflowing with anticipation. You dream of this day your whole life and at times it feels like it may never come. Well, here we are. It's very close and we are feeling all of the joy and anxiety of a new arrival that will change our lives forever. Michaela Jones Griffith is a very active little baby inside the womb. And I mean ACTIVE. She is running out of wiggle room and I am enjoying all of her hiccups, kicks and punches. We can't wait to see what she looks like and if she has hair and how big she is and hear her cry and... shall I go on? We just can't wait to meet her! Matt will be the stinkin' cutest dad and I'm hoping that I will be able to be 1/2 the mom that I want to be. I had some pretty good examples:) Those of you who know my mom and grandmas know what I am talking about. I look forward to making this a really fun place for friends and fam to catch up with us out here in Nashville. We miss you all and love you. Signing off for now! Stef