25 days to go...

I'm not sure which emotion I am most feeling right now...on one hand I am super excited, but on the other its going to be hard. In 25 days, my husband will be leaving for the academy. He will be leaving on our one year wedding anniversary, and wont be back for 8 weeks. This is the opportunity he has been waiting for, for over a year. It is best for our family because this is a major career move, its just crazy timing. I cant help but feel sad because selfishly I want him to be here with me, but at the same time I'm so excited for him because he is finally establishing the stability in a job he has been searching for. Although this is going to be a long emotional two months, I support him 100%.

...

When we first discussed the time that he will be down south, I was thinking that I would be able to change shifts and have my weekends off...this way, I wont be alone during the week because I would be working, and weekends I can either go down there to see him, he could come here to see me, or I can hang out with family and friends. But, I recently found out that shift change may not take affect till April, possible June. So, I'm stuck on weekend shift for the entire academy. That means, if Matthew comes up here on the weekend, I will be at work and cant spend any time with him, I cant go down there during the week because he will be working...I'm going to be alone during the week because everyone works Monday thru Friday. My birthday is during the academy, so this isn't going to be the birthday of a lifetime because I wont be spending it with the love of my life. This is going to be harder than I originally anticipated. When Matt was in Maine for training for his previous job, it was very emotional. We had just gotten married, so I wanted to spend every waking moment with him naturally...now I'm pregnant. Lol. Not going to be much easier...in fact, might be a little more emotional...and its not just for a week...its 2 months! Oh Dear! Gotta be strong...for me, Kylie, and my husband. This isn't going to be any easier for him. He doesn't want to miss out on Kylie's development or our appointments. Fortunately, he will graduate the academy on his birthday and be here for the birth of our daughter. We were most worried about the timing of the academy and that he may not be out in time for her arrival, so we are lucky that he wont miss out on that wonderful event. Everything thing happens for a reason, and things always work out for us, so I am confident that although this is going to be a difficult time, we have been through worse in our relationship and we can survive anything. I love Matthew so much.

Our Christmas

Wednesday we went to Isabella to spend Christmas with the Griswold family. It was a wonderful visit. Scott, Nichole, Maddy, and Kayla brought the newest addition to the family, Tugg, a 7 month old English Bull Dog. He is a crack up. When I first saw him, I couldn't help but laugh because he is so ugly, but after getting to know him, he is a blast. Too cute. We all visited for a bit, ate some delicious snacks, and then opened up presents. Even Grandma and Grandpa Griswold showed up. The girls really seemed to enjoy their skates from Don and Debi, and Maddison loved the Lite Brite we got her...she is a very creative little girl. Kayla thought that Uncle Matt and Uncle Matthew were two different people, *giggle* I thought that was adorable.

♥

Thursday was Christmas Eve day. Unfortunately I had to work, but that morning, at about 4am, Matthew was playing with Kylie. After he would tap at her a few times, she would push and kick him back. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen...I didn't even want to get up to go to work, I could have watched them for hours. But, it brought a smile to my face and set for a good day at work.

♥

Friday, Christmas day, Matthew waited patiently for me and Kylie to get up and get ready. He told my mom that Kylie was awake and kickin' that they were just waiting on me...HA! Silly daddy, Kylie was still sleeping just like me...he came in and woke her up. LOL. We got ready and went to my moms. Jorja had already opened most of her presents, so we started opening ours as soon as we got there. Then, of course, I got hungry, so my mom and I got snacks out. Usually after eating, Kylie gets pretty active, so while my mom was putting together one of Jorja's gifts, I went in there to help her, and my mom got to feel the baby kick. She was very excited. I got a call from my daddy, he wished us all a Merry Christmas and said that he would be able to come down and visit Jan. 8th-10th. I'm very happy about that. Christmas was a very relaxing day for all of us.

♥

I enjoyed spending quality time with everyone. I haven't been able to spend time with family and friends since working weekends. Matthew and I are such lucky people. We have so much love from friends and family, a healthy baby girl on the way, each other, and we are able to save up for a house to raise our family in. I don't take a second of my life for granted. I know what I have and I wouldn't have it any other way, no matter how mad I get at work, that is only a very small portion of what I have to live for...I love everyone so much. Hope your holidays were filled with as much fun and love as ours was.

Tis The Season...

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I hope everyone gets to spend good quality time with loved ones...because honestly, thats what this time of year is all about. Im so fortunate that my husband isnt leaving for the academy until after the holidays, even though he will be leaving on our one year wedding anniversary, everything is falling into place, he is here with me for Christmas and will be back in time for the birth of out baby girl.

TURKEY DAY

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I cant wait till next years holidays...we will have a little bundle of joy to share it with and spoil with love and gifts...this year is the last year celebrating the holidays as plain Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Griswold...We will be Mommy, Daddy, and Baby! Cheerish your holidays with the family everyone...be safe.

GRISWOLD PHOTOGRAPHY

THE HOLIDAYS ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!

If you want any family portraits or Christmas cards done for the holidays, he can do that!

Just email Matthew Griswold for prices.

matthewgriswold@yahoo.com

* "griswold" logo is for online display only...will not be on your photos

PartyLite

I will be hosting a Party Lite show @ my house on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 @ 4 o'clock pm. Everyone is welcome, just let me know a week ahead of time at least so I can get enough snacks for everyone.

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If you are unable to attend that weekend, but would still like to purchase these AMAZING products, your welcome to go online www.partylite.biz/cindyyoung and order under your hostess' (Lisa Griswold) party.

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Thank you all, hope to see some if not all of you there. Its going to be freakin awesome.

Matthew's belated birthday gift...

Yeah, its super belated, but I promised Matthew that when I could, I would buy him a big screen TV. Well, today was his lucky day. He is now the proud owner of a 47" VIZIO LCD. I love you hunny...Happy (5 months late) Birthday.

<):o)

Your AMAZING Wifey. LOL

Ahhh...

My life is too busy, I haven't been able to keep this thing updated like I used to. LOL. Well, there has been so much going on that I don't know what to even write, so here is the really short version...We are still working on buying a house. We are taking a little more time than originally planned due to recent credit things that came up...nothing too big, just a few points that we need to add to Matt's score. Then its back to hunting. I got really burnt out on the overtime so I am going to take a break from that, and if need be, I will work a few more extra days here and there, but not 71 hour weeks like I have been for the past month. Um, let see, we are also still trying to conceive, but I have officially reached the point where I understand that it isn't time just yet, it will happen when it happens. It is still a little hard when the evil week of the month shows up uninvited, haha, but I haven't been taking it as hard. Nature and I have reached a mutual understanding so to speak. LOL. I got pampered yesterday, Angela and I got our pedicures finally which was so much fun, so shout out to her "THANK YOU BESTIE" and that is pretty much that. Like I said, too much stuff, not enough time to recap it all...I will try to keep this thing a bit more updated, but until our crazy, full and fun life slows back down just a tad, short and sweet it is. LOL. I miss all my friends from out of town, glad that you guys keep in touch with me through text messages and your all doing well in your lives out of the crest. Aimee, I cant wait for you to come in September. Hope I get to steal you for more than 15 mins. hehe, but you know I understand that your going to be catching up with all your friends and family, so if I don't get to hang out with you, I love you and Kane is growing so fast, so don't blink and miss it. Enjoy ever waking moment. Your actually very fortunate to be a stay at home mom and soak in all the special events. :) Poker night tonight, been a while so I'm looking forward to it, see you there Liz, James, Jim, and Marya. Signing out...L. Griswold PEACE!

Our 1st Camping Trip

August 15-16th, 2009

It was awesome...even though I got super burnt LOL.

Check out the pictures...

http://www.myspace.com/EeYoRe_1986

08-08-08

One year ago today, Matthew proposed to me. I remember it like it was yesterday. Its not really a date most people celebrate, and we don't really have plans to "celebrate" it, but I just l♥ve this day. This is the day (a year ago) that I really began to think about my future...our future. When I said yes, I wasn't just saying, "I will marry you" I was saying, "I will give my whole heart to you, I reserve my life for only you, I will carry your children for you and raise them with you...I will l♥ve you with a passion like no other." I didn't just marry a man. I married my best friend, the love of my life, I married my future, my desire, my dream....I married the father of my children someday. Babe, the words to describe my feelings for you, truly do not exist. There is no word more powerful than l♥ve to paint the picture of just how much you mean to me...you make me feel things I never knew existed, you make me cry with happiness when I didn't know there was such a thing. I have never, and will never, take you for granted. Your my everything, and I will do anything for and give everything to you.

╰⊰⊹✿

Not quite ready...

We received a phone call from our realitor. Unfortunately, they didnt accept our offer on the house. Not really a big deal though, it will give us a little more time to keep saving and have a bigger down to put on a house. Im still going to work overtime, but since we arent in such a hurry anymore, I am only going to work 5 days of 13-15 hour shifts. Im relieved about that because I was really dreading working one day of my weekend days. I really enjoy spending quality time with my husband and if I worked that many hours I fear that I will get really emotional and burnt out quick. So, this is a good thing. We will keep saving, and keep hunting, and who knows, maybe in a month or two we will be home owners. YAY!

OVER TIME OVER LOAD!

I'm working overtime galore. We put the offer in and got denied yesterday. We aren't upset over it though...it gives us more time to save up...then we can save even more for a down and get a better house or a better interest rate for paying more than the bare minimum. So, anyways, now I'm working as much overtime as I can handle. I think I'm going to sick with 6 days every week for the next month or two. Matthew might be going to San Diego and if that happens then I will work 3 weeks straight unless I can go down there for my flex weekend, then I will take those four days off to see him. Anyways, I have to finish getting ready for work, but that's whats going on. I will post more info later.

Wish us luck...

Today we put in an offer, for the first time, on a house. Its a really cute house...1700 sq ft of living space, 3 bed room, 1 3/4 bath, my country style kitchen that looks almost identical to the one in the house on Boston we fell so in love with. Its awesome. Needs a little work to make it exactly what we want, but not as much as other houses we have seen. We don't have our hopes too high because we are aware that there are 3 people that have put in offers on this house and its only been on the market for a week. Basically its a first and final, bank owned house, so if they don't like our offer, there is no counter offer that will come back...either we have it or don't. I hope we get it, but at the same time we are still $2400 short and have 45-60 days to come up with it so, I don't know...we will see. Either way, everybody wish us luck. Whats really weird...the number is 608 and was built in 1986 (our apartment address number and the year I was born)...hmm could it be a sign???

Lisa & Samatha's Day

Samantha moved back from Missouri to California. I hadn't seen her in several months, so we decided to set up a play date. We hung out and talked for a couple hours, got some sweet tea from Pony Espresso, and went out and took some pictures. It was soo much fun. Definitely need to do it again sometime. ;) I took these ones myself because Matthew was at work...we will do another shoot and they will turn out much better. LOL

Newest Husband & Wife Photos

Our trip this weekend

Well...I had to take my wedding ring to Bakersfield Kay Jewelers to be inspected and they said that there were a couple of loose diamonds so they had to send it out. Friday, I got a call that my ring was back and ready for pick up...so we headed to Bakersfield, picked up my ring, browsed around a bit, and then got Panda Express for dinner. Then, we headed to Isabella and stayed the night at Matts parents house. They are in Alaska, but said that we are welcome to stay there anytime while they are gone. We watched a movie and then went to bed. This morning, we got ready and headed up toward the 100 Giants and took pictures and explored. We went to this field of flowers to take pictures and there was a family there doing the same...well they had this gorgeous boxer puppy, but the dog was having allergies and started making weird noises which freaked out the little girl and had her crying saying that the dog got stung by a bee and is allergic...drama queen you could imagine, the little boy was having all sorts of attitude with the mom who was psycho, and when they got to their truck the dad started yelling and freaking out...it was awkward. One happy family. LOL. Anyways, we started heading back and Matthew wanted to go to a nice restaurant, he suggested Ewings, not remembering exactly what the food was like, well....put it this way, it was a $40 dinner and tasted like dirt. It was awful, but didn't ruin our day, we stopped and played with some cows LOL, I know sounds weird, but we wanted to take pictures of the baby calves and the cows were all huddling around us and posing for Matthew. It was cute. Although we had a wonderful trip, its always nice to come home. Home Sweet Home.

In a skirt!?

That's right...Lisa is in a skirt

and actually likes it. LOL

SHOPPING!

Just got back from Bakersfield. We originally were going because a friend, from Matthew's younger days, wanted pictures done of her two kids. Well, unfortunately, she found out, one of them has arthritis in her hip. Only 2 years old. :(

So, we went anyways and made a shopping day out of it. Besides, it is close to August and I needed to get my ring checked up. So, I went to Kay Jeweler and dropped of my ring. There were a couple of loose diamonds, so they had to sent it out. I'm without my ring for 2 weeks while they repair it. I feel so naked. :( Matt and I spent a little too much money on clothes, but its not often that we get to splurge. Better to do it and enjoy it now, because once we have a house payment, our disposable income will be no more. I got 4 shirts, a skirt, a dress, lip gloss, and sandals and Matthew got 2 hats, a pair of board shorts, and 2 pairs of pants. We went to Isabella and visited with Brian and Danielle for a bit and then headed home. Now, we are at Jim and Marya's house watching the UFC fight on pay preview. Its been a busy, but fun day.

Just Went Public

I just made my myspace profile and photos public...now all my friends and family can take a look at our fun pictures of family, friends, our wedding, honeymoon, and micellaneous.

Best 4th of July EVER!

We had the best fourth ever. We went to Jim and Marya's, brought Elizabeth and James with us. We BBQ'd, played in the pool, played poker, and set off lots of fireworks. It was awesome! Unfortunately, we were having so much fun, I didnt get any pictures. Anyways, that was our fourth. Hope everyones went as well as ours did.

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July!

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Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Fourth of July. Matthew and I will be hanging out with some friends, bbq'ing and playing in the pool until it gets dark and then its firework time! I'm so excited! Cant wait to get this show on the road. Expect lots of pictures...

Reminiscing: Our first Fourth of July was spent with Matthew taking care of me while I had a bad kidney infection. We made it to the firework show with Aimee, but I felt like I was dying so we didn't have as much fun as we wanted. The second fourth was spent at my mom's house, except Matthew had to work till 9pm so he didn't get to spend much time with us before the firework show that seems to get lower and lower every year. So, we are very excited about this years fourth. Its going to be so much fun and memorable.

Our Weekend In Ridgecrest

Its rare, I know, but we actually stayed in Ridgecrest all weekend this week. So, I already wrote about our Friday over at Marya and Jim's house. Saturday we kicked back and played games on the computer and watched HGTV until around 3:30 or so when our new friends, Jim and Marya, came over for some delicious pot roast that Matthew started at 8am that morning. We played some games and just hung out talking until Matthew said, "Jim, lets give you a tattoo." Lol, Jim was all sorts of stoked about it, so they went through some pictures and found the perfect tat for Jim's personality. He chose a Jester (joker). Matt and I had plans to drive out to the middle of nowhere so we could watch the meteor shower, so Matthew started his tattoo today (Sunday). He has the outline and part of the coloring done and it looks bad ass. I got acquainted with Jim's daughters Jordan and Maxine. They are great girls. Marya was interested in my blogspot so we put one together for her. I got it started for her, and she worked on it today and made it look great. She is a quick learner with some help from her 17yr old step daughter. :) I'm so happy to find such great friends in this crummy town.

After leaving their house we came home so I could start dinner for my family. I wasn't able to do anything for Father's Day, so I told Willy and my mom that they needed to come over so I could make him a belated Father's Day dinner. I made my newly famous spaghetti, we had salad with it, and garlic bread. It was a great visit. Anyways, without going into too much detail, that was our much needed relaxing weekend in Ridgecrest. Nice to stay in town for a change. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Poker Night #2

Well, we went to Jimbo and Maria's house for another poker night so they would have an opportunity to win back the money I won last Friday...we swam in the pool which was so much fun, then when the other couple we invited showed up, we got the show on the road. We started the game at about 6:30pm. Matt B. and his fiance had to work in the morning so they went all in and lost their combined $10.00 by around 9:30pm.

...

The game continued with me, Matthew, Dave, Jim, and Maria...and didn't end till 1:15am! Oh my god, I cant even remember the last time we stayed up this late. In order to make it I had to drink an energy drink, which by the way I decided to do at about 11:30 or so...so now its 2am and I'm wide awake...blogging away. I couldn't just walk away and give my chips to Matthew...I was in the lead, I had to finish the game. So, I finished with first place for the second week in a row YAY ME! Vegas here I come haha. My winnings...$42.00 no big deal. Maria won one of her $5 bucks back. I feel so bad though. They are so hospitable by letting us come over and play a friendly game of poker, they cater to us with burgers and a pool...and we take their money. What the hell! LOL. We don't even play enough to be card sharks, but for some reason...LOL. I really hope none of this sounds cocky, cause its not meant to. They are awesome people, and win or lose, I truly enjoy hanging out with them. Its so nice to have down to earth couples to hang out with. We have great friends...couldn't ask for better. Well, next Friday, we are doing it at our house, I'm going to make them bomb spaghetti, and hopefully they can win some of their money back...its only fair. Its all in fun, and we all joke around with each other...its great. Tonight kicked ass though. It was so much fun. I'm looking forward to hanging out again next weekend. They are a great couple. I think after the next poker game, we should play some Cranium...no gambling, just for fun. *WINK*

...

Tonight, yes tonight because my dumb ass is still awake, we are going to head up to Walkers Pass to watch the meteor shower around 11pm...I'm so excited. I was just telling Matthew probably a week ago how I want to watch one with him...and TaDa, its scheduled for this weekend...SWEETNESS!

...

Sunday, we are having a belated Father's Day dinner at our place for Willy. They were in Susanville for Father's Day so I told him that I would make him dinner and celebrate it this weekend. I'm looking forward to hanging out with my family. Its been awhile with everyone being so busy lately.

Happy Birthday Mommy In Law!

♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU♪♫♪
♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU♪♫♪
♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DE-EB-I♪♫♪
♪♫♪HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!♪♫♪

I baked her a cake even though she wasnt able to come down this weekend, it will be here for her next weekend.

Facebook

So, I was one of those people who said, "Im never doing the Myspace thing, its stupid," then I got a Myspace, then people were talking about Facebook...I said "I already have a Myspace, why do I need Facebook, its pretty much the same thing except you cant decorate it like Myspace," well....TaDa, got a Facebook. My mom has had one for a while and kept bugging me about not getting one. Honestly, I didnt think I would like it, but then when I played around with it a bit, I found a lot of family members that I lost contact with. So, now Im a true computer nerd, I have Myspace, Blogspot, and Facebook. Geez, if anyone wants to know everything about me, there are plenty of options out there to find me LOL, just kidding. I dont know how safe it is to have so many internet profiles, but its nice to keep in touch with everyone. Most of my friends and family dont live in town (cause they are smarter then I am hehe) so its nice to still be able to talk to them and see how they are doing and let them know whats going on over here as well.

TWO YEARS...

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY, MATTHEW AND I STARTED DATING...AFTER ALL THE TIME THINKING WE WOULD NEVER HOOK UP, WE FINALLY DID, AND LOOKING BACK, IM AMAZED AT ALL WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH TOGETHER IN WHAT SEEMS LIKE SUCH A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME, AND WHAT WE GET TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN OUR FUTURE TOGETHER...

☆Where it all began...

☆First home together (after the car of couse)...

☆Our 1 year anniversary in Pismo...

☆Engagement 08/08/08...

☆Holidays and special events together...

☆Our Wedding...

☆Our Honeymoon...

☆Today...

Happy Father's Day

I love you daddy, wish that I could be there for Father's Day. I hope that it is relaxing for you. DON'T WORK! Stay home, kick back, and eat well *wink*. Enjoy your day and know that you are a wonderful father. I miss you!

Love Always,

Your Babydoll

Poker Face

Okay, so last night was pretty much awesome. We went over to Maria and Jimbo's house for Poker Night, alot of people were busy so it ended up just being a 4 person game, but it was so much fun. We all pitched in $5, but about an hour into the game Jimbo added to the pot...our pot ended up at about 35 bucks...I was on a winning streak and it always seemed to be last minute luck. The last card that would flip would be the one I needed for a bad ass hand. LOL. Even if I lost, it was the best Poker game ever. Matthew took 2nd place, I took 1st place and then it was a friendly game of Poker with Maria's daughter. She wanted to play but because we were playing for real money, her mom kept saying no. Her daughter came out with a hand made $5 bill...it was the cutest thing ever! haha. She is 12 years old, she miss spelled Abraham Lincoln, but I was impressed that she knew he was on the $5 bill. So, we played with Smarties. They had some candy left over from Halloween that was Smarties Money Rolls...it was perfect. Then when we were done with that, at about 10 o'clock at night (about 2 hours passed my bed time ;) ) we played Rock Band. This is the first time I ever played this game and it was way fun...I'm not very good at it, but it was great. Poor Jimbo cant carry a tune LOL, but Maria's daughter sure can, that girl needs to be in choir cause she can sing, and I guess she plays the violin. Its like looking at myself...11 years ago...OH MY GOD...I shouldn't have done the math....Anyway, that was our amazing poker night, here are some pictures from my phone.

Ran out of room for my winnings, had to take up the beer holder...lol...

Yes, alcohol was involved...haha

Our High Country Excursion

Its been a while since Matthew and I have been to Upper Peppermint, but its just as beautiful as I remember. We took Matt's parents with us and made a day out of it. It was so much fun. Debi and I explored and took pictures of random things while Matt and Don did some fishing. At first they weren't catching anything, but once we moved down by the campgrounds they started catching some trout. I found lots of Ladybugs...I'm posting my favorite picture of them. I love ladybugs. Then we went to McNally's for lunch/dinner and then headed back to Isabella.

We played Nasty Neighbors with Don and Debi (couples vs. couples) it was sooo much fun. My mother in law had me laughing so hard I was crying. Loved it. We came home(without our pride because we lost the card game not once, but twice LOL) around 11pm pretty much exhausted and slept in till 9 this morning for the first time in probably a year if not longer. I love getting out of Ridgecrest, even if its only 2 hours away...but its always nice to come home too. Today, we are being lazy and playing games on the laptop and watching movies.

Got a new lap top...

I know I know...saving up for a house, shouldn't be spending money foolishly, and we really didn't "need" it...BUT...we got one anyway. With Matthew's photography we really needed something that could hold all the software that comes with fixing up pictures for people. This desk top computer was barely hacking it. Its slow and running out of memory and when we checked into upgrading the memory we found that it was going to cost us about $400. Not worth it. This computer is old and we were talking about getting a lap top anyway, so we figured we can keep the desk top for non-photo related things and use the lap top for photography and on the go. Basically it only set us back 1/2 month towards our house savings. Not too bad...nothing we cant shake off. Lol. So, YAY, we got a new computer...another toy to play with. The way I look at it, is at least we have the new camera and new computer before we have a mortgage payment to be responsible for. We will still be saving even with a mortgage, but not as much as we are able to now, so this is a better time to be splurging then after we get a house. Haha, next is Matthews 42" flat screen TV...probably not before the house though. We are also discussing purchasing a new bed room set, but that will happen after we get settled into our new house as well.

Today is Housework Day

Today I'm going to get all the house work done...laundry and all...so that when

Matt gets off work he can just relax and get ready for the weekend. We decided that we are going to Upper Peppermint. I'm so excited. I love it up there. Its so green and beautiful, and its been raining like crazy up there, so it will be even better. So, I guess I better get motivated if I'm going to have everything done by 2 o'clock.