"Let [this] be a time to remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the Wise Men. My brothers and sisters, may the spirit of love which comes at Christmas time fill our homes and our lives and linger there long after the tree is down and the lights are put away for another year. "-President Thomas S. Monson

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I love the prophet of the church. He is an inspired man. This is an excerpt from his talk, entitled A Bright Shining Star, at this year's Christmas Devotional (click here for the whole talk).
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Merry Christmas! May the true meaning of Christmas fill this season and carry over into your next year.

Give Great Thanks!

We wish you a very happy thanksgiving!
May this holiday be cozy & filled
with family, (good) food, and much laughter!
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We are truly blessed!

growing like a weed

Griffin is growing like a weed.
He was born my biggest baby at 8lbs. 6oz.
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At 2weeks old he weighed 9lbs. 5oz.
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And today at his 1month check-up
he weighed 11lbs. 5oz. and is 23 inches long.
In his first month of life, Griffin gained 3lbs.
(45% of his body weight) and 2inches!
We are shocked; we've never had a big baby before!
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I have a good friend who turned me on
to baby's first 52 weeks.
The idea is simple-take a picture of
Griffin each Saturday to show his
growth and progress for 52 weeks. It's remembering
to pull out the camera that's hard.

I must admit that I'm off to a poor start,

but I've added a reminder to my phone and
will have to settle for 50 weeks of Griffin (in perfect pictures).
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My next goal, is to learn to use photo shop, so that can
add a cute tag to each picture specifying the week.

Happy Birthday Griffin- Week 0

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Cheater picture-Week 1

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Cheater picture-Week 2
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Week 3

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Week 4

Toy Story 3 (Jilley style)

Every kid has their cute interpretations
of how to say words or communicate
what they need and want.
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My all time favorite Jilley word is "ra-ra".
In Jilley speak, a ra-ra is a pacifier.
Jill coined this term when she was very little
and still uses it daily.
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Her latest "Jillism" isn't so much a word as it
is a tune. She loves Toy Story 3, and I've found
that she prefers to sing the opening song,
in the opening scene, to me when she
wants to watch the movie.
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See for yourself...

And as a bonus, I recorded Jill's "hiddy-up!"
I love the cute way kids say things.
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Here's a snippet of the actual scene to help
put it all in context.

P.S.- My favorite "Jackism" was pissed-a-deer.
Sadly, he knows how to correctly say this word now. :(
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Jack: "Mom, look I pissed-a-deer."
Me: "Pissed-a-deer? What's that?"
Jack: {annoyed} "HUUH!""You know,
you can see me, then I pissed-a-deer. Poof!"
Me: {holding back laughter} "Oh no, where'd you go!"

all mine

I love these kids! I'm so grateful to call them mine.
Jackson, Jillian, and Griffin...
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Being a mom is such a hard job, but their
love, smiles, and laughs make it so much easier to
view parenthood (and life) with "rose colored glasses."
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I know that someday I'll look back on these
crazy sleep deprived days and resolutely
state that these were the happiest days of my life.

the music of our lives

Kent & I are so grateful that we

get weekly concerts from this little girl.
When Jill climbs up on that piano
bench to play and sing we can't help but smile.

This video makes Kent and I giggle.
We can't make out much of Jill's lyrics.
And yet there is a distinct pattern to this
song and what we think is the chorus,
gets stuck in our heads
(and a hey, and a heeeyyy)! Enjoy.

holding hands

Jack loves to draw.

And I love seeing what he
comes up with.
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Jack told me this picture is:
"Our Family Holding Hands."
Papa is the big red guy in front, the red
fuzzy thing in the top right is Thor (the dog),
he's holding hands with baby Griffin,
Jack is the orange guy with his name in
the same color, and I'm the little pink thing.
Who ever everyone else is, Jack didn't specify,
but that's pretty much part of the
charm of 4-year-old art.
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I've decided to start taking pictures of the kids
artwork that I adore. Some of it will hang
on our walls, some of it will make it to the blog,
and some of it will just get filed with the rest of
our photos on our hard drive. But where ever the art
goes, I know I'll stop feeling guilty when the hard copy
hits the recycling bin; and that makes me truly thankful.

Gettin' the squeeze

Ever feel like Thanksgiving is the forgotten Holiday?

Yeah, me too.

This year I'm going to take the time I should to

be thankful for all that God has given me.

Santa, you'll have to wait because I won't be ready for

you until Black Friday!

Today, I'm thankful for my hands!

I use my hands for almost everything.

Typing, cooking, making beds, driving, holding my kids,

paying bills, waving, etc, etc, etc.

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What are you grateful for today?

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(more thankful thoughts to come this November!)

And Baby Makes 5

He's Here!

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Griffin Duke Howe
born October 23rd, 2010
@ 4:08 am
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8 pounds 6 ounces (gasp!)
20 inches long
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Can anyone say tired? It's hard work laboring through the night.
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Mom and baby are doing so well.
More details to come...

August in Review

#1 Graffiti PSA

(sorry for the bad language.)
Don't get me wrong graffiti is ugly &
totally against the law,
but I also think it's kind of cool &
in this case funny & it makes a point.
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I found this little gem down at the
Vta. point, doubt it's still there, but
you never know...

#2-Camping

As a kid, my parents took us camping @ Refugio
State Beach every summer. We always went with
a dozen families from our ward including Keely's family.
Fast forward 15 years and we're back @ Refugio again,
but this time we're the parents with kids in tow!
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There's only one problem with Refugio- No Surf.
Luckily Kent and Lorne were willing to humor us
(this year). Here are the boys longing for some
decent waves and wishing we'd gone to San Elijo.
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So what did this family of 4 and 1/2 do
to pass the time (without surf)?
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Jack and Kent took a kayak out on the water.
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Jillian decided she loved the sand.
She was happy for hours digging,
building, and rubbing sand all over herself.
Unfortunately, after a while head-to-toe
sand gets uncomfortable (as you
can tell by the look on Jill's face).
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Jack caved into peer pressure and
zinced his nose a smurf shade of blue.
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Here's Refugio's blue nose gang.
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digging in the sand
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making new friends
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The kids attended a Batman birthday party
right in the campsite.
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Apparently this is what you do with a broken pinata.
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search for fallen candy
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bike riding (in a cape)
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And finally goofing off in the tent.

#3-Las Vegas Cousins
Two days after our Refugio trip we repacked our
bags and headed to Las Vegas.
Kent had a business trip and we decided
it would be fun to visit our cousins.
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Our cute Vegas cousins Lydia, Liza, and Lindy

Playing at McDonald's
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For Jack's birthday he was given this
cool pool. Sadly, Ventura was
cold and overcast most the summer,so
Vegas was the first time we opened the box.

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The kids had a blast sliding, jumping,
falling into the various pools



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While we were visiting Aunt Laura made us
her famous cream cheese crust pizza.
It's seriously my favorite homemade pizza.
The kids loved helping make it.


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Jill climbed up on the counter while we weren't
watching and got into the cream cheese-yum!

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Thanks again guys for hosting all the fun!
We really enjoyed our stay!
We love you a bushel & a peck.

#4-Sprinkler Run

Cool water was just too much temptation on
this August day. The whole play group ended up
in the sprinklers.
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Cadence, Jackson, Kai, Nico, Jillian, Dax, and Randy
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Kai & Nico are two of Jack's favorite people.
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I wasn't thrilled when these two got drenched,
but who can get mad at these faces?

#5-The Mighty Blue Jays
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This was the first year Jack was
old enough to play soccer.
And like good loving parents,
we completely forgot to sign him up!
Why weren't we thinking?
This boy needs an energy outlet!
So we put him on AYSO's waiting list and
about a week later they called to blackmail us.
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The actual phone call went a little something like this:
AYSO: "Mr. Howe we might have an opening on a
soccer team for your son Jackson."
Kent: "That's great news; can we sign him up?"
AYSO: "Well Mr. Howe that depends on you.
We need a coach for this team; if you can be that
coach, Jackson can be on this team."
Kent: "{sigh} Sounds like you've got yourselves a coach."
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And with that Jack had a team & Kent had
a new hobby after work!


Jack & Kent's first soccer practice.
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Doesn't Jack look like he knows what he's doing?
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After the teams first game.
Top Lt. to Rt.- Reed, Marcus,Nicoli, Nathan
Bottom Lt. to Rt.- Jackson, Jacob, Logan
Not Pictured-Bernot

PS-Doesn't our mighty blue jay
look like a road runner?
Just sayin'...

#6-Scootin'

Jack loves to ride his scooter to the park up the street.
In August he mustered up all his courage
to "bomb" the biggest hill at the park.
He was so very proud of himself!

#7-The Ventura County Fair
August equals Fair (or at least it does here
in Ventura. Our fair highlights this year included:


1. Waiting for & riding the school bus to the fairgrounds.
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2. Checking out all the farm animals.


3. Riding "crazy cars".
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Jack was pleased he could ride alone.
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4. Rooting for our favorite Alaskan pig in the races.

Sittin' on hay bails waiting for the races to start.
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The pigs in their race boxes rearing to go.
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charging down the raceway.
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Leaping fences. The pig racing really was
fun to watch. So fun, that Jack still brings it up
months later.

5. And riding the mini Farris Wheel.

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This was the picture we took before
getting on the farris wheel.
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After Kent snapped this photo we went
up the ramp, through the gate, sat down on the
on a bench, and as the operator was trying to
buckle our harness around my big belly;
he looked over at me and asked if
I was pregnant. I smiled and said yes.
That when he got an embarrassed look on
his face and told me that ladies like me weren't allowed
to ride. I just had to laugh because I wasn't
hiding anything @ 30 weeks pregnant!

#8-Jack big puffy hearts Star Wars!

Star Wars + Legos = SUPER BIG SMILE!