Leaf Party

My sister bought my grandparent's house a few years ago. It has one of the best trees in the entire world in the front yard. It is a great climbing tree and has huge leaves that are really fun to play in during the fall. When we were kids,our cousins would come visit and we would always rake the leaves into elaborate houses with one huge pile underneath the tree to jump into. Now that we have kids of our own, she invites the cousins up for a leaf party each year. They aren't quite old enough to get into the house-making yet, but do like playing in the leaves and mostly just being with each other. Here are some pictures of our fun day...


Cole loading up the leaves.


Josh about to drop in.



There were other fun things to do - like drive Josh's tractor. Everyone got a turn -- thanks for sharing Josh!


Savannah - the easiest one to snap pictures of because she will hold still for a minute to pose.


Ellie was always on the go - she took Grandma Donna on a long walk with her.



Abby - my cousin Traci's little girl - I think she looks a bit like Cole.


The babies, Annie and Landon, didn't get into the leaves much. Maybe next year.


Spencer liked driving things - a true little boy!


Cole and Josh in the fort together.

Cole at the Train Station

One of Cole's favorite activities is going to the train station. They have a little museum at the old Union Station here in Ogden. Luckily for him, we have to drive by it to get to a lot of things, so he sees it a lot and always begs to go there. And I give in a lot since we have a membership. We have been there so many times that I think they should make us honorary tour guides.



Cole underneath the trestle bridge



You can blow the whistle in this train - it's really loud!



Cole driving a train - he always tells people that he is the kind of engineer that's for trains and that his daddy is the kind of engineer that's for water.

Fishing at Cold Springs

Well, for the first time in my life I actually caught a fish on a fly rod. I cheated a bit, however, since it was at a fish farm. We went fishing at Cold Springs Trout Farm for family night. Cole and I caught some nice trout (after Floyd got our poles ready) and Floyd cooked them for dinner. Fish is the only kind of meat that Cole will eat--and he devours it every time we have it. Cold Springs is a pretty place just about a mile from our house - it makes us want to move back to the country and start a fish farm of our own.

Pumpkin Walk

We spent a cold day at the North Logan Pumpkin Walk with our cousins, Savannah, Josh, and Landon. Cole's favorites were Wilbur in Charlotte's Web and Thomas. He remembered that last year he got a cookie at the Pumpkin Walk, so he couldn't wait until he got another one. It was chilly, but we had a lot of fun.

Cole in front of the "Click, Clack, Moo" display


Cole's favorite - Thomas the Tank Engine


Daddy and Cole in front of Elvis - Daddy is making an Elvis lip


Cole and cousins in the old west



Mommy, Cole, and Annie on our way into the Pumpkin Walk

snakes and snails and puppy dog tails...

We were at a pond near our house the other day and Cole noticed some tadpoles in the water. He was thrilled and wanted to dive in and get them right then, but I told him we would have to come back another day. He didn't forget (surprising, I know). So, we headed back with our net and jar and caught some tadpoles. It turns out they are actually baby fish, but not being a real pond creature aficionado, I didn't notice until we brought them home and saw that they had fins instead of little tails. He keeps wondering when they are going to turn into frogs, and I don't have the heart to tell him they are actually fish. We also found a caterpillar (I definitely know that's what it is) on our trip and "Charlie" came home with us too. Charlie isn't moving much and I've told Cole it must be because he is getting ready to make his cocoon, so now we are waiting for frogs and a butterfly to appear. I don't think either will really happen. I'm not quite sure how I'll get out of this one, but I'm afraid it will involve a trip to the pet store. So I have two jars on my kitchen counter that really add to the ambiance. Ya gotta love little boys!

Looks like she's daddy's girl!

I always knew he was a mama's boy!

Peer Pressure!!

You'd think I'd be beyond peer pressure by now, but it seems like all I hear about these days is blog this, blog that...so here we go. Our lives aren't too exciting, but our kids are incredibly cute, so maybe people will want to look at this blog anyway. We are the Griffiths family - Floyd, Katie, Cole and Annie. Floyd works as an engineer designing water purification systems (or something like that, who really knows)! Katie mostly stays home with the kids and will someday be finished with school - we are hoping for December so we can stop paying tuition. Cole and Annie are the cute little ones that keep us busy. Cole is almost three. He is always on the go and a total chatterbox. Annie is our sweet baby - can't remember life without her. If all babies were like her, we'd have a dozen.