Attachment

We tend to get attached to things in our family. Mostly me, I guess. I cry every time we sell a vehicle. Floyd, on the other hand, goes through vehicles like crazy and has had 12 different vehicles in our not-quite seven years of marriage. I also get attached to houses and even cried leaving our teensy little basement apartment behind. Floyd, having lived in close to 30 houses in not-quite (but sneaking right up on him) 30 years, doesn't seem to care at all where we live as long as I don't clutter it up too much with knick-knacks. And then there's babies. Oh boy, do I get attached to babies. Actually, so does Floyd. But hats? I can't say I've ever been attached to a hat. My not prone to attachment husband, however, could hold on to a hat for years. And so, it was with great emotion that he handed over Old Red on Saturday and told me it was time to be retired. Four years he's had that hat. It looks more like forty. For a little perspective, there is only one home he has ever lived in for longer than he owned that hat.

In it's younger years, it wasn't such a bad hat.

Floyd's not really a Washington State fan - I think we picked it up for $5 somewhere.

Lookin' a little ratty...

...you can't really even tell what color it was or which team logo is on it anymore.

So here's to you, Old Red. We'll miss you around the Griffiths household. Some of us much more than others.

26.2

I started running. It was fun...


...for about twenty-one miles. Then, I got tired. I kept running anyway.

Three hours and forty-five minutes later, I stopped running. That felt good.

Here I am with some other locas - our friend Martha, me and my sisters, and our cousin Jami.


This pic is just to prove that we recovered quickly. A shower and a nap will do wonders.

About mile 24, I decided it had been a stupid idea to run. But now, I'm already excited for the next time I do. Next time, however, I'm going to try really hard to sleep for more than 2 hours the night before. That was probably not the best way to start a 26.2 mile run! And trust me, that .2 is very important.

Prayer

I heard an old song on the radio a few minutes ago - Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks. It was one of my favorites back in high school. I even tried to get it on my sister's wedding video with pics of her and her high school boyfriend (who is not her husband) and my bro-in-law with his high school girlfriend (who is not my sister). Luckily, I was vetoed.

But I still really like the song. It has a great message. I've prayed a lot of prayers that weren't answered the way I wanted them to be. I'm thankful now for a Heavenly Father that was wise enough to give me what I needed and not what I wanted.

It reminds me of a story I read in my grandpa Max's life history. He recorded that when he was five years old, all of his friends in town were six and were able to enter school. His birthday was in November and he wasn't quite old enough to go, but his mom talked to the teacher and she let him go anyway. The principal of the school found out about it and told him he couldn't attend until the next fall. He was heartbroken not to be able to go to school with his friends and very bored waiting at home while they were in school. My grandpa goes on to note that although it was a great disappointment at the time, it turned out to be a great blessing. Because of this, he was able to be a member of North Cache High School's only-ever state champion basketball team his senior year of high school, an experience he cherished all his life. Even more influential, it also prevented him from being drafted into the army during World War II. You just never know how things will work out.

At my boyfriend's missionary farewell (who I did not marry, another unanswered prayer), his mom spoke about prayer. Among other things, she read from the bible dictionary. It states that "prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." Whenever I have a really urgent prayer, I re-read this to remind myself what prayer is.

I'm grateful for prayers - and to a Heavenly Father who listens to them.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...

...glad as I can be!

Me too. Unfortunately, he's leaving us for four days. Sigh.

Marshmallows

We have a fire pit in our yard, so we decided to roast some marshmallows Saturday night. Annie's favorite food is marshmallows, so she was highly impressed with it.

Daddy and the kids checking out the fire.


Mom's a roasting pro (actually, not so much)


Annie has been watching her brother and learned how to smile a big cheesy smile for the camera. We were cracking up at the smiles she was giving us.


Sharing a marshmallow with Daddy - yum!

First day of school!

Cole had his first day of preschool yesterday. We had a special dinner celebration for it the night before, so he woke up pretty excited. Which was good. He's not much of a morning person, so I'm a bit nervous about how happy he will be once I drag him there every morning. Floyd went in late to work so he could see Cole off. On our way there, Cole told Floyd (quite cheesily) "Oh, I'm going to miss you so much!" As if he ever gets to see Floyd during the day to miss him then. He also said, "I'm so excited, I can't learn!" We told him to just have fun.


He had a great time at his first day. He said his favorite part was free play when he got to play with the dinosaurs.

Annie and I had a great time playing together at home. The main reason I signed Cole up for preschool this year (who really needs two years of preschool?) was to be able to spend some time alone with her. We'll miss him while he's gone, but it will be fun to have one-on-one time with her.

Heartbroken...

...that's how Cole felt at the conclusion of this conversation:

Cole: "Mom, what if Uncle Jake never gets married?"
Mom: "Oh, I'm sure he will. He just needs to find a nice girlfriend and then ask her to marry him."
(Cole sat looking thoughtful)
Mom: "Do you know someone he could date?"
Cole: "What if it's Aunt Karlee?"
Mom: "Actually, our country has a rule that you can't marry your own sister." (I figured this was a better explanation for him than the reasons behind our country's rule)
Cole, absolutely devastated and with tears forming in his eyes: "But I was going to marry Annie!"

And then he moped around for a good half an hour. Leave it to mom to crush all those childhood dreams. He does seem to be bouncing back okay and told me it probably wouldn't be any of the girls in his primary class either. Secretly, I'm hoping this cures him of saying things like, "When I grow up and marry Annie, maybe we will have three babies!"