Okay...so I know I haven't blogged since the beginning of December. It sucks not having my own computer! I can't keep up with anything. Scott's computer is a pain because it doesn't accept my camera, so it is incredibly difficult and time consuming to get my pictures on my blog. I am SO behind! I'll catch you up quickly and then post pictures when I can.

DECEMBER 25, 2007 - Christmas - Was great! This was the first Christmas we have spent with my family in 6 years! (Actually on Christmas day) The kids of course raked in the gifts. Hayden got his first computer (actually, he got two computers! -- what do you expect, we live with Dave Pollard now) and he loves playing them. I love it too, because they are all learning games and it keeps him occupied other than watching movies all day long. By the second day he had mastered the mouse! He is so smart! I think Laney's favorite present was the baby stroller. She pushes that thing around all over the place. Sometimes she pushes her little baby around in it, but mostly she pushes around her blankie (or bee-bee, as she calls it).

January 15, 2008 - My Birthday - What a hoot! I went to Hollywood for two days with Becky. She took me to the Dr. Phil show and the Price is Right. What can I say...it didn't all go the way we had planned. We made a lot of memories, some I think we both hope to forget. We arrived Monday night (Jan 14th) late. Our hotel was really nice...and really inexpensive for the location - we started off pretty good and super excited about the two days of fun we had ahead of us!...That is, until Tuesday morning rolled around. We were up and parked in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (parking for Dr. Phil) by 7 AM. We entered into the holding room where a woman was speaking to the audience about "saggy pants"...what? Could this possibly be the topic for the show? You have got to be kidding. Sadly, it was. We were supposed to be excited about talking about saggy pants. Woo hoo...?!? When we got in the studio, they separated Becky and I. They took me down to an empty seat and told me they were going to shuffle me around throughout the taping. They didn't end up doing that, but they did take me out before the show was over, so I missed the end. Just in case you were wondering, the show aired yesterday. I'm SO SORRY if you missed it...! (That was cyber-sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell.)

After the show, we tried to get into the second taping, but it was full. For the next large portion of the day, we drove around looking for a hotel room for the second night (because our hotel the night before was sold out). I'll spare you most of those details except to say that "Hollywood" is not the beautiful place you think it is. When you walk into a hotel that looks creepy and still costs over $100/night and ask the Indian man behind the counter if it is safe and he, in broken english says, "I have been here for 27 years and I'm still alive...that is the best answer I can give you,"...lets just say, we would have rather slept in our car. We finally found a hotel where we felt reasonably safe and that was affordable. The rest of the day, we drove around and shopped in stores where scarves cost you $7,000 (Fred Segal). We hoped to get a glimpse of someone famous, but no such luck. On to bed...to rest up for a better, more exciting day on the Price is Right!

January 16, 2008 – We arrived at the CBS studios at 6:30 AM ready to "COME ON DOWN!" When you arrive, you receive an “order of arrival number” and we were pretty high up on the list, so we were excited! We had to be back by 8AM to get in line. We kept asking people around us if they had been there before, hoping to find someone who would know what we were in for…but to our surprise, everyone we talked to was there for the first time, just like us. We soon figured out why. We had to wait in the cold, on cold hard benches until 3PM – for 7 HOURS! And, mind you, the whole time we had to remain in numerical order. We were stuck on the end of the bench next to this old guy who told me he liked it when I “vibrated” (because of the cold, my leg kept shaking). Every so often, they would come by and move us from one bench to another, but only to wait for several more hours. The worst part about all of this is you don’t know what’s happening next, so you have no idea how much longer you have to wait, and you don’t want to give up and leave because you have already spent ALL this time waiting! After we got our name tags, they lined us up for the audition process. We finally got through that and made it into the studio, only to be sat in the WORST seats possible. We were behind the production table, so we were pretty much blocked from seeing the stage or Drew Carey. We had to look up at the tiny screen above us the whole time, so our necks hurt terribly by the time it was over. At the end of the taping, they offered to have anyone stay for the second taping because they had plenty of extra seats. We were in no mood to stay for another taping, we just wanted out of there. The only good part about it was Drew…he really was a great host! If in like 10 years we ever forget how terrible this was and decide we want to go back again, we did figure out what we need to do to have a little bit better experience the next time.

The best part of this day was going to Sprinkles. It is a little cupcake shop that we learned about on Oprah. They have GREAT cupcakes. We got a box of them to take home. My favorite was the chocolate coconut…yum, yum!!

Becky, I love you and thank you for taking me to Hollywood for my birthday! Even though it didn’t go as well as we would have liked it to, I can’t imagine anyone else I would have rather shared those days with. I really did have fun making those memories with you (many of which I did not mention here…) I look forward to our next road trip together! Love you, girl!!

Going, Going...GONE

Once upon a time Brad Graves had hair. He loved his hair and struggled with whether or not to part with it (though his wife and friends told him it was a good idea). Then one night, after much nagging from those surrounding him, he decided to seek the wisdom of the Lord and asked God to show him what he should do about his precious hair. He randomly opened his Bible and before him was Micah 1:16, "Go make yourself bald and cut off all your hair..." And he did. The End.

Black Friday MADNESS

Well, I did it. It was my first time shopping the day after Thanksgiving…holy cow…it was so much fun! Becky and I decided a while back that we were going to go together. She is a pro and does this every year, so she walked me through the 101 of Black Friday shopping. We registered about a month in advance to receive the secret ads via email, so we had been planning our adventure for several weeks. They came over for Thanksgiving and together with my family, including Grandma and Thomas, we made a feast. We had an 18-pound turkey, butternut squash casserole, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, cranberry sauce, home-made apple cider, biscuits, gravy, stuffing, pies and other desserts, and more I cant even think of now. It was great! Leftovers galore! Later that evening, we went to Brad and Becky’s. The kids and Scott spent the night there while Becky and I shopped. We left at midnight to hit the outlet malls (this was a last minute decision…we didn’t know they opened at midnight…woo-hoo!!) We were shocked at the amount of people there…it was unreal! Trying to find a parking space was nuts! But, God was looking out for us because just about every place we went, we got a great parking place! We hung out at the outlets for about 2 ½ hours to kill time before Kohls opened at 4 a.m. We ended our early morning there at Ruby’s diner with some fried zucchini and hot cocoa. We arrived at Kohls about 10 till 4, hopped in line and waited for the doors to open. They did and we were off…to find everything on our list before someone else snatched the last one up. Amazingly, we got everything we wanted and then some. After waiting in-line FOREVER to check out, we were on our way to Target. All in all, we caught the early-birds at Kohls, Target, Penney’s, Linens-n-Things, Wal-Mart, the Rack, and Ulta. We finished our shopping venture around 3:30 p.m. totally satisfied and surprisingly still feeling alive. I went to bed at 8 p.m. and slept till noon the next day! Ha! It was so much fun. Becky…we are definitely on again for next year!

OUR FIRST NEW CAR!

God is SO good. We had connections with the owner of one of the largest dealerships here in San Diego and he HOOKED US UP! We were able to purchase a 2008 Acura MDX. It is black with black leather interior. Scott even surprised me and bought the navigation model (which comes with GPS and a back-up camera). It is beyond perfect for us! My favorite part about it is the 3rd row of seats, allowing for 7 passengers. It feels so roomy inside, yet really doesn’t look that big from the outside. We have yet to name her. Hayden calls it our “Batman mobile.”

A WHOPPING 6 MONTHS LATER...!

Wow. I know. Where to begin.

For starters, we have moved back to California! Home again, home again… Oh God, please let this be it! I am so tired of moving, and the sad part is, there is another move in our foreseeable future. Our sweet little home is for sale in Arkansas. The market is TERRIBLE and we are just praying God sells it for us soon. Until then, we are shacking up with the ‘rents. Okay…that sounds bad. We are living in my parents’ guesthouse until we can sell our home in AR and find one of our own to rent here. Their “backhouse,” as we call it, is small (just one large room…a mini-kitchen, closet, bathroom and bedroom all in one). We have made the most of what space we have, using my dad’s old office cubicle walls to make bedrooms for the kids. We are rather fond of our little place and are quite content there. The only problem is we are far from where we need to be. We have moved back to this area to launch a new church called Cross Church San Diego in the ever growing and popular Carmel Valley area!! God has done an amazing work in our hearts and has called Scott and I to team up with our new awesome friends, Brad and Becky Graves. Together, we will begin a new work that we believe God will use to transform the hearts and lives of San Diego’s North County area! We have hardly begun and are already seeing the fruits of God’s blessing on this church! Check out our website at www.crosschurchsandiego.com!

I’ll try to fill you in on a few key things that have happened since I last blogged (a really, really long time ago)…

Hayden cut his hair. So sad. I loved his long hair, but it is no more. Scott found him with the scissors and a large chunk of his hair missing. I tried to cut it without buzzing the whole thing, but he cut it right to the scalp. So, we buzzed it off. He thought it was cool and told everyone, “I’m a buzz!”

Delaney is walking like a pro and has 8 teeth! (Four on the top and four on the bottom.) She has such a beautiful smile!

The road trip/move to San Diego was pretty uneventful until the last day. We went to Disneyland!! It was so much fun and Hayden ate it up! We bought him a Disneyland book so he could have the characters autograph it for him. He got Mickey’s, Pooh’s and Buzz Lightyear’s signatures. He loved the Buzz Lightyear and Dumbo rides and he went on his first roller-coaster (in Toon Town)! I was so nervous because I thought he would be too scared. It goes really fast! But, he loved it! He wanted to go again and again! It was SO cute! I was a proud mama!

Scott’s birthday was a great day! We decided to go see a taping of the Dr. Phil show because it was an audience participation show. They were looking for audience members who had “strong views on everything from politics to religion.” That is so my husband! We filled out the request form on-line and they called us right away to say they wanted us to come be a part of the audience. We decided to go up the night before and staying in a dump of a hotel (that cost us over $100!!). Early the next morning, we made our way to the studio and got our VIP tickets. While we were sitting waiting for the taping to begin, a guy named Chunky B was revving up the audience and giving away prizes. He heard it was Scott’s birthday so he led the entire audience in Happy Birthday to Scott and then he gave him a Dr. Phil mug. Ha! The show was on extremely judgmental people. There were six in all and they have now become the new “Dr. Phil House.” During the show, Scott got a chance to speak to young woman named Kimberly, who had a very harsh way of sharing her faith. Here is a quote from the Dr. Phil newsletter (the ‘man in the audience’ is Scott)…

“A man in the audience addresses Kimberly. “Of all the attitudes I hear up here today, yours makes me most sad as a pastor, because I think that you fuel all the stereotypes that [Jason] has about people who follow God. They think they’re a bunch of airheads and just follow blindly, because of your judgmentality,” he tells her. “I just want to say that if you would exemplify what Christ intended, that people would be more receptive to your message.” 

“You don’t really know me,” Kimberly says. “

Yes, my amazing husband is a star! I was so proud of him! This show aired on Tuesday of last week. The Dr. Phil house continues on Monday and Scott will more than likely be featured again. So tune in!

Of course I have to include pictures of the kids from Halloween. They had fun dressing up! Laney knew she was cute and loved showing off her little costume! Hayden had a blast being Buzz. They went trick-or-treating and helped pass out candy too!

Well, I guess that's it. I'll leave you with a few more pics. Love you all!

Pictures Galore

Here are some extra pictures from the last 3 to 4 weeks...enjoy!

Wow…I have dreaded blogging again because so much has happened. I’m not sure where to begin. I guess I’ll start with this…

My Parents Come to Visit

Yeah! My mom and dad (a.k.a. Nana and Papa) arrived with all kinds of presents for the kiddos in hand. Mom made lots of clothes for both of them and brought material to decorate Hayden’s room. It was so great to see them and watch them interact with the kids. We miss them because they live so far away…

Dad brought his new awesome camera. I had so much fun using it while they were here. Most of the pictures on this blog were taken with it. I do miss it now that it’s gone.

Hayden’s Birthday

We decided to decorate Hayden’s room for his birthday. Bob and Larry are his favorite, so we Veggie’d his room out! Nana, Papa and I traced the characters on the wall and then we all (including Scott) painted. It turned out very cute. I had ordered some posters on line, along with a Larry Boy pillow buddy. Nana made him sheets and pillow cases for his bed and Aunt Jaye sent a Veggie fleece blanket she made. (Nana also is making curtains for his room…when they come I’ll take complete pictures.) Hayden loved his new room!

We had a big party for Hayden on Saturday. We rented a big Spider-Man jump house and grilled-out hamburgers and hot dogs. Nana bought one of those helium tanks and blew up tons of balloons. (That was a party in and of itself for him!) Among the guests were Nana and Papa, Grammy and Grandad, Mamaw and Papaw, Aunt Charis and Uncle Caleb, Uncle Blake, Cousins Morgan and Carter, and his friends from church Catherine and Easton, Dru and Belle and their families. He got all kinds of great gifts and had such a fun time. He was exhausted afterward and took a super nap! I’d say it was a success!

The Papa Projects

My dad is a force to be reckoned with. No one gets down to business like he does. Within 24 hours of them being here, he had pretty much mapped out his time – what projects he was going to accomplish during his visit, the tools he needed to complete them and then had purchased everything he needed. It was awesome! He did everything from installing towel racks and toilet paper rolls, to switching out door handles, to gluing our table together, to cementing our mailbox in the ground, to caulking our windows, to fixing our computer (that took hours upon hours in itself), and that was just day one! And how do I repay them? I back out into their rental car. Nice. We also got our fence installed while they were here! (Praise God!) It was a great two weeks for the Grimm household!

Laney is Eating!

I took Laney to her 9 month check-up only to find out that she had not gained a pound in two months. The doctor said to just skip the baby food and try table foods. She still wont eat much, but she does enjoy yogurt, the occasional mashed potatoes, crackers, pretzels and spinach (go figure). And, of course ice cream, but what girl doesn’t?

Mother’s Day

This was a sweet Mother’s Day. Hayden and Daddy went to the store and picked me out some gifts. I received flowers, chocolates and a movie, Just Like Heaven (I love that movie!). Laney was dedicated at the Mother’s Day service at church. The picture below was the one they used for the service. Isn’t she so stinking cute!?! Of course, we had an incident after church. Laney had fallen asleep in her car seat because she was so tired, and Hayden thought it would be fun to wake her up by reaching over and scratching the fire out of the entire right side of her face. She cried so hard she couldn’t even cry anymore. Her face bled and I had to wash it with peroxide and put antibiotic ointment on it. Hayden was, of course severely dealt with and really felt bad about what he did (I think). At least it all happened after the dedication and the family picture. Ugh.

Puzzle Man

Hayden’s new favorite thing is puzzles and he’s really good at them! He has several of them and he can do them all by himself. And he does them…over and over ALL day long! My boy is SO smart!

Fun in the Sun with the Slip ‘n Slide

Hayden got a slip ‘n slide for his birthday from his friends Catherine and Easton. We couldn’t use it right away because it was raining here for days. Finally, we got nice weather and we took advantage of it! We had a picnic in our newly fenced backyard, played with the bubble machine that cousins Gabe and Ella sent and then got drenched on our elephant slip ‘n slide. What a great day!

So, I guess that pretty much catches us all up. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but I think I’ve about written a book, so I’ll be done. I'll post more pictures later. Good night.