A day at the beach

Things have been so nuts around here, that I decided we needed to take a day to remember why we came back to North Carolina in the first place. The beach is always so much fun because the kids love it and it is relaxing for me. It's my happy place.

Emma, Gabbie, Ryan

Maddie hated the waves (too big) but loved her sunglasses.

Emma spent the day finding buried treasure and seashells.

Ryan loved the waves and spent the entire day battling them. I could barely get his pruned body out!

My little mermaid.

We couldn't get enough of watching these birds. They were so amazing! They would soar above the water, looking for fish, and then dive down and get them. Then, these little scavenger birds would come and land on top of them, hoping for a free meal.

A few more pictures

Emma and her friend, Gabby. There's nothing like a bathing suit and a good book! They are loving the Magic Treehouse books right now.

She is soooo hot, but refuses to stop swinging. It is her new favorite thing and I can't wait until she learns how to pump.

My little ladies.

Ryan's Birthday

My baby turned 7 and I can't do anything to slow him down!!! He is actually going to Boy Scout Day Camp next week and I'm so nervous about the whole thing. He can't wait!

We invited some friends over to weather the sticky heat. We had a water party in the backyard and the kids had a great time jumping on the trampoline with the sprinklers and tearing down the slip 'n slide.

So Ryan insisted on a Transformer party this year, which was pretty funny because I had about two seconds to put it together. My friend, Shelly, came and worked forever on the cake below, making a perfect transformer face out of m&ms. I knew we would need more cake than that since we invited whole families over, so I made an extra one and just threw the little transformer toys on top. Hmmm... guess which one Ryan liked best??? Why do we even go to the trouble?


He is now in Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Lego/Transformer heaven. Thank you family.

Techno Tragedy

So I guess I am SO dependent upon my cell phone now, that I don't actually WRITE any numbers down on paper! My cell phone literally died the other day and Alltell tells me that it can't be revived. So I've lost all of your phone numbers and don't know how to get in touch with you. I would post my new phone number, but then the boogie man would call me, so how about YOU email me at marisagrimmius@yahoo.com with your phone number and I will call you!!! (Callie, Jenae, Susan, Aimee, Elizabeth, Emily, Jennifer, Shelly, Kelly, Stacey and I'm sure I've left others off...)

Look what Ryan can do

Not only did Doug and Peg put together 4 beds, set up dressers, watch kids, pick up Shan's car, hook up the lawn mower, blow off our roof, completely detail the Sienna, put together the Radio Flyer Spring Horse, assemble three tables, book shelves, and random chairs, help me hook up the computer, and assemble my new vaccuum, but they taught Ryan to ride his bike! They did all this and more in 3 1/2 days and we are so grateful.

Emma's froggy

Emma is my child who loves all living things and will hold snakes, bugs, and frogs. I don't know where she gets it from- definitely NOT her mom. Once I looked over just as she popped an ant into her mouth and this conversation ensued:

"Emma, why are you eating an ant?"

"Well, Baloo on Jungle Book eats ants and I just wanted to see how they tasted."

"Are they tasty?"

"Yeah! Not bad."

She is always finding wildlife and sneaking them inside. I try to explain that the little froggy misses his mommy and really needs to go back into the woods. Hop little froggy, hop.

Waiting for the furniture to arrive

This impromptu performance was captured by Mimi on our first morning in Southern Pines.

Home, Sweet Home

We loved the POD. It's great how it comes right to you. If you've never seen how they do it, it's pretty amazing. It's like a big remote controlled machine. It was almost like Christmas opening the boxes we haven't seen in over a year.










The handiest man ever. Thanks to Doug and Peg, who worked so hard while they were here. And who sufferered with me through no TV, no Internet, and no phone. Our cell phones didn't wort either since we live amidst the crazy pines and hills!!! It's amazing how wired our world has become- we felt pretty lost.

Who ever said being LDS doesn't come with fringe benefits? We have had more help and offers of help than we know what to do with.



One of the most fabulous things in my yard- a magnolia tree.













What I'm looking at.... Yikes.
























The kids are pretty happy to be in their yard again. They found the dressups first thing and had a knight party in the back yard.

What an Adventure!

We arrived safely to North Carolina last Tuesday night. We finally have Internet access and I'm starting to catch up on my long list of things to do. Here is a little picture play by play of our trip across the country. All in all, things went really well. I seriously can't imagine three kids who are better travelers than mine. It makes me feel sort of guilty when I realize just how much practice they have had. But anyway, I was grateful to them and to my awesome in-laws who chaperoned us the whole way and put up with occasional bickering from the back.

The lowrider

The Navigators

Wyoming

For Gramma Alice

We had crazy weather pretty much across the country and I think it must have followed us from Kansas to NC.
To be honest, Kansas was pretty terrifying. We found ourselves in the middle of rain, wind, and hail, and in an alley of developing tornadoes, with nowhere to pull off. The announcer on the radio kept advising travelers on I-70 to "seek shelter immediately," but I'm not kidding when I say there was NO shelter for miles. It's Kansas, for Pete's Sake. Anyway, Ryan reminded us that we should say a prayer and I think He heard our prayer. About five minutes after we came out of the worst part, we heard a tornado had touched down right where we were, but we just kept driving as fast as the Sienna could go. Phew.















Arkansas











































Memphis, Tennessee


















Smoky Mountains

















Wildflowers in NC. We were all pretty happy to be back on NC turf.