New Year, New Happenings

Greetings to all! I was looking back through old posts and I keep noticing a long amount of time between the dates of all of my posts. Shoot. Well, I am going to try and be better about blogging. Sometimes I feel like our life is very repetitive so this will give me an excuse to find the inordinary things through our ordinary days.

To start off with, we just got back last week from a 3 week trip home to Colorado and Utah to visit all of our wonderful family. What an awesome time we all had. Michaela got to display all of her new words and games and funnies to a very willing audience of family members. We started out the trip on a somewhat rocky flight into the Denver International Airport in the middle of a blizzard. We were one of the last flights to land at DIA that night. Jen and Quincy picked us up at the airport and we drove home in the rising snow. It was awesome! Nashville hadn't seen any snow at all yet this winter so getting welcomed to big fat snowflakes pouring down all around us was so cool. Once we landed. The landing was a little sketch. We went to Jen's house after hitting up a McDonalds for some much needed food. We got the girls to bed and then went to bed ourselves. The next morning, there was like 10 inches of snow outside! It was so great! Matt pulled out the shovel and worked for like an hour shoveling Jen's driveway. We then met Adam and Kara at Great Scott's Eatery for a delicious breakfast. It is a must-visit local restaurant in Broomfield. Jen lives really close to it and so we got there in no time, even with the snow. We all were entertained by Miki and Quincy during breakfast and then, Matt noticed one of my old high school friends there with his family. Drew Brown. He is also the guitar player in the band One Republic so his schedule is crazy and we haven't seen him in a few years. We all were pretty excited to see each other. We chatted about life and this and that and said Merry Christmas to his family and left the restaurant. Such a fun way to start the trip! We congregated back at Jen's house and spent the rest of the day playing MarioKart. Ok, let me clarify. Matt spent the rest of the day playing MarioKart with Jen, Kara and Adam. I watched, played once or twice and entertained the kiddos while they all played. It was fun but it started a trend of Matt dipping into his inner videogameplayingnerd which continued throughout the trip when he discovered Angry Birds and Stupid Zombies on his Iphone. Neat.

Anyway, we trekked over the mountain on Christmas Eve Eve to a welcoming family evening of Christmas lights and Carino's. One of our favorite Italian restaurants. We spent the next few days in a whirlwind of Christmas with our 2 families and everyone enjoying Miki opening presents and getting so excited to discover the toys inside. We had to buy another suitcase to fit all of the extra clothes and toys that Miki got from our families. What a blessing it is to have a child so loved! We split the following week between Montrose, where my parents live and Grand Junction, where Matt's parents live. We have a lot of family and friends in the Junction area so it was great to move around and visit with them all every day! The time in Montrose was much needed for this tired mamma. There is no place on earth like your moms house when you need a recharge of the ol' batteries.

Matt and I talked about this a lot. There is something inside of me that is missing while I am in Tennesee. It has to do with our family, of course, but more than that it has to do with Colorado. The beauty of the mountains and the skies and the desert and the people. It's a part of us that we will never lose or let go and a part that lies dormant until we feel those wheels touch down on Colorado soil. I am grateful for the opportunity to live in a different state so I can truly appreciate the place where my roots run deep. The stars are clearer there. The skies bluer. The mountains higher and more majestic. There are less trees and I love it because you can see the landscape. Sometimes I feel so confined in Tennessee where there are trees as far as the eye can see. I like to be able to see individual trees and their branches and leaves and character. I love driving through the mountains in the winter. Glenwood Canyon with snow on the mountains and ice chunks covering up the freezing running water of the river. The red of the mountain sparkling with freshly fallen snow and evergreen trees. It is just like a Christmas card. And we got to see it and be a part of it every day of our lives growing up. I feel so fortunate to have been raised in such an amazing place.

I digress. So, we hung out, got in the hot tub. Played games, watched movies and just sat and talked. That is my favorite part. Just talking and laughing with people we love. We headed to Utah for my niece Monroe's baby blessing at church and to see the Utah clans. We spent time with all 3 granddaughters on my side together. Watching them interact at their different stages was so comical. They are 20 months 13 months and 5 1/2 months. Such individual personalities already! We love Quincy's loud and gravelly voice and Moe's sweet sweet coos. She literally sounds like a dove cooing! So sweet. Miki is just happy and playful and giving hugs and kisses to her cousins. They had a few territorial issues but got along really well and were constantly interested in what the others were doing.

We spent New Year's Eve nearly falling asleep at Lisa's house and then went back to Holly's to watch the ball drop on TV. Matt and I were able to have a really good talk with Holly and Eric that night before we all turned in for the night. It was also good to get to spend more time with Lisa and Hondo. We moved before they became serious so we don't know Hondo as well as Eric and Nick and Kara but we are starting to appreciate how much he loves Lisa and Monroe and what a sweet and loving heart he has. He is a welcome 2011 addition to our family for sure! We also had a blast hanging out with the Utah Griffiths. Matt's brother Micah and his family live in American Fork. About 20 minutes away from Holly and Lisa. So we got to hang out with them too. We visited with our friends Jake and Emma Van Wagoner as well. Jake and Matt are good friends from high school. It's fun to watch them interact with one another. They are pretty ridiculous in a good way. They have a sweet little Annabelle who is about 14 months old. She was so fun to play with.

We said goodbye to the Utah family and headed back to Montrose for a few days. We got to see my dads new job as head of Finances at Flower Subaru. It was fun to hang out with my mom and sister, Kelli who was home for Christmas break. It was a nice time yet again.

One of the highlights of the whole trip was getting to spend time with our friends Jordan and Lindsay Huslig. Their son, Simon is 3 weeks older than Miki so we got together often to let the kids play and visit. We feel so fortunate to have close friends at home and in Tennessee. I am glad. Lindsay and I had some good talks and got to talk about our future and plans for our families. It was nice to have that girl time.

We went back to Denver that Sunday and hung out with Jen and Quincy on Monday before heading back to the airport and the flight home. Miki was great on both flights. She will turn 2 in May so this was the last time she flies for free. The flight wasn't full on the way home so she got to sit in between us in her own seat. It made it a lot easier on us both. She fell asleep on me and we both got a little rest.

Our friend Grant picked us up in our car at the airport and took us home. He had come by and turned up our thermostat so our house was warm when we got home. Him and another friend of ours, Paul had stopped by while we were gone periodically to check and make sure all was well. Like I said, so blessed to have good friends here!

Well, looking forward to keeping more up to date on the Griffith happenings in 2012. This is going to be a great year for us! So excited to be alive at the wonderful time. We are truly blessed.