The First Year

Happy Birthday to our Lil Miss!  I seriously cannot believe she is one today!  Where did the time go??  She has changed so so much and we couldn't love her any more!  Here's how she's changed:

One Week Old

One Month Old

Two Months Old

Three Months Old

Four Months Old

Five Months Old

Six Months Old

Seven Months Old

Eight Months Old

Nine Months Old

Ten Months Old

Eleven Months Old

ONE YEAR OLD!

All about Baylie Elizabeth Griffin

~She FINALLY got a tooth!  Every time she is fussy my mom says "Oh she must be teething..." so we have been joking that she is teething since she was literally three months old.  But finally last week she really was teething!
~She is a great sleeper!  She sleeps from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am!  She also still takes two naps for about two hours every day.  I'm one lucky Mama!  The exception to this is when she has to sleep in her pack'n'play, just forget any chance of sleep in that case!  She's getting better but she hates that thing!
~She is a really picky eater.  And she still LOVES baby food.  I'll try to feed her whatever we're having and she throws a fit until I give her baby food. Such a strange duck.  The exceptions are pasta, bread and bananas.
~She makes the FUNNIEST faces!  People always comment on how expressive she is and it's one of the things I love most about her!  Example:

~She is the happiest baby I know.  Again, we are so blessed.  She is hardly ever fussy or whiney.  She is on  a great schedule and as long as we stick to the schedule she is happy and content.  She loves to smile and laugh and we love her gummy grin!

~She is learning to talk really well!  So far she can say:  Mama, Dada, night night, buhbye, nana (as in banana), and no no!  Some of those she has only said once or twice but we're gettin there!  It is so fun to see her learning and growing.
~She loves to push buttons, literally.  Her most recent favorite is to play with car keys and push the alarm button because it's red!
~She does not like bottles.  She is ready to be done but she doesn't really like sippy cups either so that's a problem!
~She is a walking champ!  She still looks a bit drunken sometimes but she is doing really well.  She has been walking for over a month now and she just learned how to stand up without the help of anything to pull on.

~She LOVES bath time and recently has become obsessed with not wearing clothes.  She runs away every time I change her diaper or try to get her clothes/pajamas on!
~She is not too fond of men.  Especially men with facial hair.
~She loves "pretties", necklaces, earrings, bracelets. purses, scarves, headbands, you name it she wants it! She is all girl, that's for sure!  Everyone always asks me how I get her to keep her headbands on, she doesn't mess with them hardly ever, probably because she has worn one since the day she was born! Literally!
~She doesn't like to cuddle. She wakes up ready to play and plays hard until she crashes in bed.  She is starting to think about wanting to cuddle every once in a while but mostly she just gives us the stiff arm when we try to hold her close.
~She is really ticklish.. when she wants to be!  She laughs and laughs when we tickle her and then she decides she's done and there's no more laughter.
~She is fascinated by the snow!  That will make Daddy proud.  She seriously stands at the glass door and just watches it.


Nate and I are loving being parents to this sweet little thing!  She makes life worth it and knows just how to cheer us up if we're having a rough day. We are so thankful that Heavenly Father blessed us with her and we can't wait to see what He has in store for her!

Christmas Card 2013

Let me just start by saying, I love Christmas cards! I love getting them, mostly.  And since I love getting them, we have started sending them!  I know it's not much, but I love seeing old friends and "catching up".  I like to put our blog address on ours so that those who want to know what is new in the life of Nate and Lynds can find out!

So here we go!  Let's review the last year!

First of all, and the best part, we have been parents for one year!  (Well not officially until tomorrow but still...)  Talk about the greatest thing ever.  Now, don't get me wrong, it has been hard at times and there have been a lot of adjustments made, but wow.  We love our Little Miss and we love being her Mommy and Daddy.  I won't go on about her too much.. tomorrow is her first birthday so check back for a special post ALL about her!  (As if that is any different from any other post..!)

This has been a year of moving and that will continue for a little while longer.  In January we moved from our wonderful condo in Logan to my Grandma's house in Kaysville.  She is being a fantastic example to all of us by serving a mission in the Dominican Republic so we were able to stay in her house until August. In August Nate headed to Missouri for BOLC (military speak for Basic Officer Leadership Course) and Lil Miss and I moved in with my parents.  In September we bought a home in Clearfield which we have been working to fix up so we can move in when Nate gets done in January.  We are so so excited to start this new chapter of our lives.  It just feels so right.  The house is a lot of work (we'll post before/after pics once it's done!) but every time we talk about it we just get so happy because we know this is where the Lord is taking us.

In February Nate started working as a freight broker for England Logistics.  Not too much to say about that.. work is work! It's a good job and we are grateful he was able to find a job so quickly out of school.

Okay so now for the not so fun part of our year... living 1,277 miles away from each other.  On August 9th Nate hopped in the car and left for BOLC in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  I haven't blogged much about this because it's kind of hard.  I have tried to be so strong and act like everything is great, and most days we do pretty good, but it has truly been one of the hardest, if not hardest, challenges we have yet to face. Nate is learning the in's and out's of an Army Engineer.  He has class all day and sometimes extra things nights and weekends. There have been a number of tests and other things that he has had to complete and he has done great!  I am so proud of him.  He is truly my rock.  This has been hard on me, but I can't imagine what it has been like for him. He lives in a tiny hotel room, with no family or friends nearby.  He doesn't have much to do (which for those who know Nate, that is KILLING him to be bored all the time!) but he has made the best of it.  He has thrown himself into the ward there like no one I know.  He has had some really cool missionary experiences and has gotten to know some awesome individuals.  He gets to come home for two weeks for Christmas and then he goes back for two weeks and then graduates on January 17th!  We are beyond excited to be so close to finally living in the same home again, and a new home just makes it that much more exciting!

While Nate has been workin' hard at Ft. Leonard Wood, I have been workin' hard here!  I have been working a lot at our home, with lots of help from family.  It has been a great project to keep me busy and keep my mind going.  I have been having so much fun making this house into our home.

Whew okay so that's it for the "downer" part of the update.  I feel like it is important to share that.  Sometimes it seems like the internet (blogs, Facebook, etc.) are just used to show the wonderful, happy, fantastic parts of our lives, but I want to show our real life.  Which is wonderful, happy, and fantastic the huge majority of the time.  But I like to use this blog to really update family and friends who live far away or who we don't see much, and I think they deserve the good with the not so good.

But back to the good!

We had a really fun summer as always!  We had trek, which was such a huge blessing and can I just say, it was so fun to be able to have a calling with my husband!  Those are few and far between, but it was a blast and so great to have each other to lean on.  (Side note:  the Church is true.  We truly needed both of our skills to be able to pull Trek off, the Lord knows that and that is why we were both called, neither of us could have done it alone.  End side note.)  We also went to Lake Powell as we do each summer and it was so much fun.  Oh how we love that place!  We had various other little cabin trips and camping adventures, maybe one day we will grow up and have to work all summer instead of play but hopefully not!

We also had lots of fun in the fall!  Baylie and I were back and forth to Missouri a couple times and we had a blast!  Life on post is such a different experience, I am glad we aren't Active Duty because I don't think we would love it long term, but I'm glad for our little taste of it.  We also got to visit lots of places we never would have gone and it was great to be able to just spend time together.

Just some clarification on the whole military business.  Lots of people wonder what Nate's role is so let me explain!  Nate is a 2nd Lieutenant in the Utah National Guard.  He is in the 116th Horizontal Engineer company.  Now what that means is this, he goes to Drill one weekend each month and has AT (annual training) for two weeks each summer.  At Drill and AT he does a lot of different things, for example, this year at AT they worked on a road over a mountain at Camp Williams.  He is in charge of a Platoon of about 30 Soldiers.  We will never be Active Duty, we will never be "stationed" anywhere.  That's not part of the National Guard.  Another question people tend to ask us is if Nate will ever be deployed.  Yes, that is a possibility.  Ya never know what can happen.  But the military has truly been a blessing in our lives.  It may seem weird to say that but it's true.  I feel like I have always been just as patriotic as the next American, but since being married to Nate that has grown tenfold.  We have met so many people who have sacrificed so much for this great nation.  Nate always tells people he hasn't done much, but he has.  He, and every other Soldier who sign on the dotted line, have done more than a lot could ever do.  They are willing to give everything for this country.  We may not always agree with everything that goes on in politics, but at the end of the day we must recognize that we live in a land blessed by our Heavenly Father.  I am thankful for our freedom and those who fight to protect it!

Our year has definitely been unique, but it has shaped us and helped us to grow so much. They say "distance makes the heart grow fonder".  Nate and I have missed each other like crazy, and Lil Miss too!  I can't wait for her to really get to know her Daddy, and for him to spend every day with her!  When he left she was still a baby.  Now, she is becoming her own little self!  We Skype with him often but there's nothin like day-to-day life!

Here's to a new year!!  2014 will be a great year for us and we hope it is just as wonderful for all of you!  We are so grateful for our family and friends.  We have been blessed with a fabulous support system and everyone has been beyond amazing as we have needed them a lot these past few months!! All of our family has been so willing to help, and more importantly just be there.  So thank you!

Merry Christmas!

XoXo