Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was awesome! My brother Bryan came down from Oklahoma City. Trisha cooked a smorgaborg: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, pineapple, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, green beans, cream cheese pie, razzleberry pie and ice cream. It was excellent!

We were also excited by a deal we got shopping Saturday morning: a scanner, fax, copier, printer and photo editor from HP for $25! (I love the goodwill store...)

Happy Thanksgiving from the Grittons -

Jeff Gritton

Charity Auction

Charity Auction for Benson and Claire



Benson and Claire were born with a rare genetic disease in which their liver produces too much oxalate, called hyperoxaluria. Claire is on the waiting list for a combined kidney/liver transplant; it is expected that Benson will need one as well. A transplant can cost over $500,000.

They are doing a chariy auction online to help raise money. Seems like a great way to get Christmas shopping done. Hurry! The auction ends November 16th at midnight (I checked it out and they have some really cool stuff - baby hats & headbands, cakes, quilts, purses, Jazz tickets, Wii game, haircut, photo shoot, jewelry, etc).

Our Daring Adventure for Two

Jeff had a wonderful idea a few weeks ago that we should go to San Antonio for a weekend. I didn't have to work Friday so I dropped him off at work in the morning, packed the car in the afternoon, and headed to Dallas to pick him up and start the road trip to San Antonio.

But his Hyundai wasn't so excited about the road trip - and wasn't afraid to let me know.





Jeff's car had some problems this past week. Jeff looked at it with some guys in our ward who are good with cars; they figured it was the battery and replaced it. It seemed to be doing great...until it rebelled against Dallas traffic (I don't blame it too much). I suppose the little guy had decided he had enough - shut off while waiting for a light to change at the intersection & refused to start up again.

I would've laughed, except that I was blocking bumper to bumper traffic at a major intersection during rush hour. As I was on the phone with the police (trying to get some help since I was too shy to try to stop the traffic weaving around me to get someone to help push the car off of the road) an angel of a man appeared out of nowhere to help me. He gave me his paperback copy of the Bible to hold while he blocked traffic and then pushed the car out of traffic onto a side road. He was a missionary of a church, I'm not sure which one...I was so so so grateful for him showing up! He was an answer to prayer. Tears streamed down my face, partially from being embarrassed from driving a ghetto-mobile, partially from the reality of the trip facing major delays, and partially out of gratitude. He simply said, "Don't panic. Everything will be ok. Have a blessed day." And with that he was gone. He truly did bless my day.

Despite the odds, we decided that we still wanted to make the trip to San Antonio and took my Civic instead. It was hard to make the drive in the dark, but we made it there safe and sound at about 1:00am.

Speaking of ghetto adventures (that I LOVE):





The Microtel Inn wasn't exactly a 5 star hotel on the riverwalk. But it was a bed to sleep in. Which we were thrilled about (plus it accentuated the adventure).



I loved the empty picture frame in the elevator! It was definitely worth taking a picture of it.


Saturday morning we got up and went to Six Flags. Our season passes are transferrable with location & parking - free sounds good to me. And NO lines!



Beautiful scenery



And we found a new car




Then on to the Alamo...



The picture above is of the shrine dedicated to those who died in the battle of the Alamo. It really is amazing. They knew that they faced insurmountable odds, and yet they chose to defend their independence to the death. I really felt like I was walking on sacred ground, knowing how much they had given up for our freedoms.



And now where the Alamo used to be is completely commercialized & turned into any money-making scheme that one could think of. The shrine is, however, in the boundaries of where the Alamo used to be.


And on to the gorgeous river walk...



It was so beautiful! The perfect end to our weekend adventure.

Happy Birthday Edison

Happy Birthday Edison!!!

This blog is for my nephew, Edison, who loves "Wiggles" so much that he won't go to bed until he knows that "the wiggles went to sleep."

We went to San Antonio this weekend, where we found "Wiggles World" at their Six Flags. I bet you never knew that the Wiggles live in San Antonio, did you? So here's to you Edison...

(and yes, I admit, it may be a little bit of bribery since he will want to see them so badly in person that his parents just might come to Texas for a vacation). :0)












Happy happy birthday Edison! I can't believe that you are 2 years old now! We love you so much!

Love,

Auntie Trish

Welcome to Texas

My mom and dad came to visit us here in Texas at the beginning of October. But since our silly little computer wouldn't let us download pictures (or maybe it was my silly little camera)...I couldn't post this until now. Not with pictures anyway.

It was so much fun having my parents here!

We went to the ostentatious Galleria mall (4 levels, with an ice skating rink in the middle). We ate yummy dessert at The Grand Lux (an up-scale Cheesecake Factory). We got key lime pie and Red Velvet cake to share. Yummy!

We also ate at "Whataburger"












And went to the Fort Worth Zoo.






I loved the orangutan! He was so much fun to watch as he played with this blanket. He was practicing for Halloween, I'm sure. Looks like he has the ghost thing down.

Watching conference with them was so nice. I always love General Conference! We got to watch it online this year. We also went to the Stake Center for one session.

We went to 'Dat's Good 'Que for dinner to keep the Neeley tradition of barbeque following priesthood (only we had to do it before). Then my mom and I made homemade cinnamon rolls while the boys went to priesthood (to keep the Gritton tradition).


It was so much fun having you guys here! We love having people come to visit (hint, hint).

TX Updates

It's Sunday evening & Jeff is at a Priesthood meeting, so I thought I would take the chance to do a little blogging. Here's what we've been up to lately:

• Jeff finished his "green belt" training in his Six Sigma course. I don't totally understand what Six Sigma is, but as far as I can tell - it is a proven approach for improving measurable results in an organization. But don't ask me more than that...you will have to ask Jeff.
  
• I accepted and started a full time job. Wahoo!!! I'm working for a pediatric practice locally. They have 3 offices (I work at all 3), but none of them take longer than 1/2 hr to get to. I count myself lucky to not have to deal with crazy Dallas traffic. So far so good. It is much slower paced, but still busy enough...which I really appreciate. You can check out their website at mdpedi.com
  
• My car is in the shop (yes, again). It is making some metal grinding types of noises, as well as the screeching when it accelerates, the little chirp when I hit any bumps (I guess something is loose? or maybe a bird really is trapped in the engine), and the loud clunking noise when I turn right or hit a pothole...Hmm...I've loved my little Civic, but maybe it is time to part....I guess we'll see.
• We celebrated our anniversary on Friday. Seems a little early, I know, but Jeff had a brilliant idea to celebrate when we got engaged, since our anniversary will always be busy with holidays & families. We went to a nice restaurant, the Grand Lux. Jeff was allergic to something & spent most of the time congested, sneezing, blowing his nose, & somewhat miserable. Poor Jeff. But good food none the less.
• The kids in my Primary class are doing SO much better (behavior wise). Maybe it is because they are trying to earn a pizza party? But more likely because their parents got phone calls a few weeks ago. Regardless, it was so nice to be able to feel the Spirit & be able to bear my testimony about temples today. The kids even shared some of their own experiences related to temples. I'm so grateful to be in the Primary! I love those kids! I think they even like Primary more now that I am more "firm."
• Jeff played Dodge Ball with the Young Men Wednesday, won 2 rounds, but couldn't walk for 3 days.
  
• We have new equipment in the workout room. Jeff and I are going to get up & run in the mornings (mornings & I don't go well, so we'll see how long it lasts for).
  
• I can hear the crickets chirping outside...love it!
• Jeff gets better and better looking every day! (I should just call him "the hunktionator" pronounced "hunk" "shun" "ate" "or").
• Sorry, no cute pics to post this time.
  

Life's Lessons 101:

Question: So what would happen if I accidentally put 1/2 tsp baking soda in my sugar cookie dough instead of baking powder? (this is all hypothetical of course)

Answer: Don't get distracted when you get to that part of the recipe (or else your husband might have to run to WalMart to buy cookies before Enrichment starts).



Life Lesson learned: I guess doing the little things right does matter...unless you don't really care what the end result is.

Hmm...Maybe I could share that with my Primary kids on Sunday. As long as I'm not sharing the cookies. I don't think they need any more sugar. :0)

Texas Summer Highlights

Texas Summer Highlights

Highlight #1: Getting settled in. The blue bags of trash were all packing paper to be recycled
Highlight #2: Dallas Temple
Highlight #3: Outdoor concert and fireworks (& a beautiful sunset)



Highlight #4: Having Robyn (Jeff's sister) visit! The picture on the left was taken in one of the super malls here, in front of a restaurant in the mall, "The Rainforest."

Right: We went to a "Rough Riders" (semi-professional baseball team here) game. We're all wearing our
"Rough Riders" hats.



Highlight #5: 4th of July. We went with some friends to see fireworks. While we waited we played a round of our favorite game, "Lost Cities." It was our first victory against Craig & Michelle. They were only selling pest control for the summer & are back at BYU now. We miss them!





Highlight #6: Donating our old kitchen table and getting a "new" one off craigslist. You may be wondering where the table is that we donated...I'll give you a hint...Jeff is sitting on it in the picture. We've found that lots of things are multi-functional. We do miss the filing cabinet, but love having a kitchen table made of wood instead of metal. :0)



Highlight #7: Jeff participating in a screaming contest sponsored by a Spanish radio station here. He hit 126 decibels. Wow! I'm so proud of my little screamer! He earned us a $100 gift certificate at the auto shop, "Viva Mexico!"

In short...we've had a wonderful summer!

Our Adventures Together

It's official...I've started a blog, no turning back now. I think this will be a great way for Jeff and I to keep in touch with friends and family and to record our adventures together. It may even give me that "feel good" feeling like the one you get after you write in your journal.

For those we haven't been so great at keeping in touch with...Jeff and I met in our student ward December of 2007. Lucky for both of us, in November I was a hair away from taking a job in Maryland, feeling like my life I was stuck in a rut at that point in my life. But it just didn't feel good enough...Now I know why.

Jeff asked me out on our first date in January 2008, and consistently asked me out every weekend thereafter. We had so much fun together and I absolutely loved being with him. He still asks me out every week, we still have tons of fun together, and yes, I still love being with him (even more now than I did then...amazing!). :0) We were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on December 30, 2008.

We lived in Sugarhouse while Jeff finished school and I worked in a pediatric office. Jeff graduated in May and he took a job in Texas (Dallas). Which is where we are now. We have been in Texas for almost 3 months now. It has been both wonderful and challenging to be here in the "great state" of huge rainstorms and kind & generous people. While it does feel somewhat remote from everything that I knew and was comfortable with before, it certainly is not the dust bowl I had envisioned.

Being here in Texas has been an opportunity for Jeff to learn and grow into his career (and for me to learn and grow in job searching). But I shall count my blessings...it is so nice to be there before he goes to work, welcome him home from work, and have plenty of time to spend with him.

We hope you enjoy our blog as we share life's adventures with you.