The Grossman Family

2011-05-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Our Future Olympic Gold Medalist

Garrett has been on a swim team for about a year now and he loves it.
He swims 4 days a week for 2 hours each time.
He never complains about going.
The swim team recently had a swimathon
and Garrett swam 200 lengths of the pool
in 1 hour 50 min.
What a trooper.
Watch for him in the future olympics.

Where does time go?

2009-04-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

I was going through some pictures tonight that we had taken at christmas time, trying to decide which ones to put in the twins graduation announcements. I was kind of taken aback. Looking at these beautiful amazing children, ( I'm a little prejudice). It all seems a little surreal that they are graduating this year and leaving us. Half my family is leaving my home this year. Some days it can"t happen fast enough, but only because the pressure of future decisions causes much stress. Zannie sometimes tells me I'm pushing her out, but only because we see her unhappy and needing a change. When we talk about it she agrees but is very afraid of leaving the nest. Andrew not so hard, he is planning on serving a mission and happily preparing for it. I know I've said this before, but time flies. hang on to your little ones while you can, and start saving money now!

I Love General Conference

2009-04-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

I love that my whole family is spending four hours in the same room in our house. (this is very rare.)

I love the spirit that fills our whole house.

I love listening and receiving guidance from our church leaders.

I love watching zannie take notes. I know she is doing this for a seminary grade, but I am thankful for teachers who require it.

I love glancing at her when our prophet is speaking and seeing tears in her eyes.

I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

I love that Garrett sings very loudly with the choir and knows most of the songs because he has learned them in Primary.

I love it when he leans over to zannie and says, "I love it when these people sing."

I try to love it when my boys are sleeping through it and I'm praying that subconciously they will retain some of the message.

I love my DVR so that I could record President Monsons last message on Pornography and make my boys watch it when they are awake.

I love that our puppy Gunner wandered from family member to family member snoozing in each persons lap.

I love the spring weather on conference weekend.

I love that I am reminded of the many blessings I am grateful for.

I have a tendency to get weighed down by life quite easily. Conference gives me a boost and makes me grateful. I remembered a cross stitch hanging my aunt Michelle had in her laundry room in Wyoming, it said, "if all of our trials were hung on a line, you'd choose yours and I'd choose mine." Heavenly Father does not give us more than we can handle.

I love General Conference!!!

18th Birthday and an Eagle

2008-11-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

SUCCESS ! Our journey to an Eagle with Andrew is done. Ironically it ended on the last day possible, his 18th b-day. Better late than never. The board told us that only 3% of registered scouts ever become an Eagle. I found that amazing and Andrew felt even more accomplishment.
Poor guy had to have his mother in there crying with them. I really wanted to bust out the camera when he was shaking the boards hands, but I didn't want to humiliate him completely. he refused to let me take a picture of him next to the sign on the door. I told him that someday his kids would be really grateful that I took pictures of these momentous occasions.

Much to zan and Andrews dismay there was no sleeping in on their 18th birthday. Zan's friend Jared came over bright and early at 6:oo to help me make breakfast. We all had a busy day and I knew if we were going to party it had to be early. We had french toast w/ strawberries and cream,(courtesy of Jared) eggs, and bacon. I was out the door at 7:20 for work, Zan was on her way to Vegas for shopping, and Andrew was preparing for his Eagle Board of Review.(in between games on the xbox). I can't believe my babies are grown up.

TAGGED

2008-10-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

I swore I'd never do one of these but after much harrasment for my lack of blogging I will try to reenter the blogging world by doing this one. Be warned if i get another tag chances are it won"t get done. Things are crazy as always at the grossman house. I started a new job in august as a lunch lady. Not something I dreamed of being as a child but it works with the kids school schedule.
I have also been working at a quilt store a couple of days a week. As you see my lack of blogging is for a good reason. I have been trying to get used to working 40 hours outside the home and another 40 inside. I have decided that is not something you get used too. Don"t be upset if i don"t blog everyday! Here Goes.

8 shows i like to watch
1. Greys Anatomy
2. Amazing Race
3.Project Runway
4. Biggest Loser
5.Jon and Kate
6.The Hills ( i know so juvenile)
7.Lost
8.The Office

8 restaurants i like
1. Cafe Rio
2.Texas Roadhouse
3. Macaroni Grill
4. Cheescake Factory
5.Great Harvest (try the california cobb sandwich)
6.Did i say Cafe Rio
7.Samurai 21
8.Cafe Rio (we don't have a lot of options here)

8 things that happened today
1. woke up at 6:45
2. showered
3. did garretts hair
4. made orange chicken and rice for 400 children
5. blogged
6.visited with my neighbor
7.made meatloaf and potatoes for dinner
8.went to the gym for fhe

8 things on my wish list
1. a Maid
2. to be a stay at home mom
3.good scores on twins act test
4.a cook
5.Fall weather all year
6.Candice has a healthy pregnancy
7.lose 70 lbs
8.Andrew finishes his eagle by nov 5 his 18th b-day (way to procrastinate)

8 things i am looking forward to
1. Thanksgiving with family
2.Christmas Break
3.two new nieces or nephews ( thanks candice )
4.Andrew finishing his eagle
5.a day when i have eight things to look forward to
6.
7.
8.

8 people i am tagging
1. noone so don't tag me back. lol

Deja Vu

2008-06-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

Can you do the Hokey Pokey or YMCA or even Disco duck? I took the kids to family night at Crystal Palace skating rink. The same rink I went to growing up and it seemed as though nothing had changed except the music. Our music was Thriller and Beat It. I didn't hear any of that but the classics were still there. Hayden and Stewart weren't really into YMCA, even after I demonstrated the moves. I can't imagine why. This was Garrett's first experience with a skating rink and he loved it. Stewart got third place in the races, but they disqualified him for hitting a cone. How Rude. Your still a winner in mt book Stewart. Kenady pretty much skated hanging onto the wall. It typically took her about 30 min. to get around the rink once. When she heard the announcement for hokey pokey I could see the fear in her eyes thinking she might miss it. I walked her out to the circle for the dance and they didn't notice I wasn't wearing skates untill about halfway through. The DJ asked all those not wearing skates to leave the rink. I was the only one.
Hayden helped Kenady finish the Hokey Pokey.
It was a fun night!

Friendship Bread Take 2

2008-06-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hayden's first round of friendship bread went something like this:

Hayden spent 10 days cultivating his bread starter each day adding another special ingredient.

At the end of ten days uses 1 cup of special starter and multiple other ingredients to make the bread.

uses 1 1/4 cups of baking powder instead of 1 1/4 tsp. (you can see where this is going).

Puts bread in the oven. Within 10 min. bread is overflowing out of pans.

Hayden pulls pans out of oven and immediately turns oven on to self clean. (I am gone at this time)

Luckily I come home shortly thereafter and smoke is billowing out of the oven.

I instantly start yelling and questioning Hayden and tell him he can"t cook without me anymore. He typically leaves a huge mess for me to clean up when he is cooking.

We get the self clean turned off and I can tell Hayden is very upset.

I instantly feel very guilty. What kind of mother am I. I shouldn't have yelled and I should have been helping him make the bread. We hug and both cry and spend the next two days cleaning out the oven.

You can see our first attempt wasn't so hot. Take 2 went much better. We went over measurements of each ingredient. Had a lesson on how to be a clean cook, putting things away after we used them. It was actually fun and the bread looks yummy.

Hayden wants to be a chef. He has a long road ahead of him!

Reunited........

2008-06-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

This past week we were in Vegas visiting and the first thing Garrett saw as we walked in grandma and grandpa's house was this hat.

I think he was drawn to it subconciously. It was instantly on his head and within a matter of minutes he had finagled grandpa into giving it to him.

He was sooo excited when we got home and I showed these pictures we had taken of him last time him and the hat were together.

When he wears the hat he is Indiana Grossman! Jeff suggested we get him into acting classes pronto . He needs some sort of outlet.

Senior Sunrise

2008-05-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

It seems like yesterday they were babies. Where has the time gone? Last week the Dixie High School graduating class of 2009 spent the night at the Recreation Center. They played games, listened to music, ate yummy food, and just hung out until about an hour before sunrise. They made their way up to the D on the mountain and rejoiced because they are officially seniors! I was at home crying! Keep your babies close because they grow up fast.

Chaotic and fun

2008-05-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got to bbsit Robyns kids while her and Travis went to Florida. We had a good time but it turned into a very busy three days. Stewart had 2 music Recitals. One for Cello and one for Piano and a tryout for a youth orchestra group, which we thought was at Reed Whipple and ended up being out by the airport. Logan also had a piano recital. Kenady had pictures for her dance group and we got to the pictures with her old tap shoes. She informed me as we pulled up that we would need to go into the dance shop next door to buy her some new shoes. Luckily I am anally on time to the extent that I'm usually 30 minutes early to things. Grandma ran to the house to get the right shoes and got a speeding ticket on the way. KK looked sooo cute in her costume though.

We tried to squeeze in some fun swimming at the YMCA. I thought I was being a good mother and aunt by lathering up the kids in sunscreen. It was a very hot day. Stewart came downstairs and informed me the pool was indoors. I had only gotten to Kenady and Garrett. This ended up being a problem when Garrett started rubbing his eyes and got sunscreen in them. We had to pull over twice to flush his eyes with bottled water. All in all it was chaotic but fun. Isn't this what life is all about.

GOOD TIMES

sunscreen incident

little boy BIG imagination

2008-05-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

Garrett has always had a great imagination. For someone that had to be constantly entertained as a baby he sure does play well by himself now. Occasionally I have to ask him if we can have a break from sound effects, and he'll give me about 30 seconds and go back to whatever he was doing.

I will find GI joes, Star Wars figurines, whatever is the toy of the day hanging from lampshades, stair railings, light fixtures, bookshelves. It always makes me smile!

Have you ever seen a better use for Tinfoil than this Tin Man costume. I don't think so.

I wish my baby didn't have to grow up. If he is anything like his dad though he will never lose the imagination!

Andrews Eagle Project

2008-05-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Oh where do I even start! Can I just say I'm glad that it's done. Sadly I have two more boys to do this with. Will I make it through. Growing up with only sisters, this scout stuff has been a real learning experience for me. I am currently Garretts Wolf Den leader so I am learning more every day. Andrews actual project wasn't that bad. It was getting to the point where we could actually do it that was hard. Donations are hard to come by in an economy like this, but we found a few generous hardware stores that were willing to help, and G&G Stewart chipped in some too. {thanks mom and dad}. Getting a busy 17 1/2 yr old to get it done was probably the hardest feat. He made boxes for a homeless shelter that they use to store nonperishables in. They are lacking in storage space so these boxes help them greatly. We had a good turn out and we appreciate the out of towners coming to help. G Stewart, G Grossman, Paul, and Brian. Good Times

Happy Birthday to me

2008-04-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Zannie made the cake, Andrew the frosting

The Candle is a do over from Gr. obray b-day. It is an emergency candle our ward handed out for Mothers Day. We were desperate.

Today I am 35. I'm getting soooo old. This weekend has been exhausting. My Grandma Obray and my B-days are a day apart. Grandma turned 80 this year so we had a big party for her at my house. It was meant to be in the backyard. We spent all morning getting it set up. Big white umbrellas,bright festive tables and decorations,Frank Sinatra playing in the background. It was a beautiful morning. The wind kicked up about an hour before the party blowing away all of our hard work. Needless to say the party was relocated inside. There was about 60 people squished inside. We still had a great time. Grandma has some great friends and neighbors. You can see why I was actually looking forward to my b-day this year because even though we had a great time, it meant the stress of the party was over. Zannie and Andrew wanted to make me a cake. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting, my favorite! They asked if we should play games and I said YES! I told them my favorite game was mom lays in bed all day and the kids and husband clean the house. Thats not what they wanted to hear. Oh well I tried. Heidi, Paul, and Gracie are staying for a few days. I can't get enough of Gracie. She is hilarious. This has been a fun quiet relaxing day. Happy birthday to me!

2008-04-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Does it seem like we have a-lot of dances around here? We do! Zannie was invited to Las Vegas High School Junior Prom by a friend of hers Ryan. She was very excited to go since she hadn't made it to Dixie High Prom. We spent all of Saturday preparing for the dance. We hit the MAC counter at Fashion Show Mall for makeup and eyelashes next was to our favorite hairdresser Colette for hair then on to the chop shop for nails and toes. We made it to my nieces house with moments to spare for the pickup. They had dinner and dancing at a friends,Gondola ride at lakes of Las Vegas,and watching 50 first dates to round off the night. Fun Times. My little baby girl has grown up too fast. Time flies when your having fun!

With our powers combined

2008-04-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

Dixie High has a dance called El Cheapo. Girls or boys can ask and usually the one asked has to pay. So its a mad rush to ask someone so you don't have to pay. The point is to go on a date for as cheap as possible.{hence the name} The theme this year was superheros. Andrew and his date Annie were Captain Planet. Zannie and her date Kadin made up their own. Zan was Zan-da-man and Kadin was fadin kadin. They had some fun cheap dates. Andrew went skimboarding at the river and Zannie and her group went to Zions for a hike. They both did fast food for dinner. Pretty cheap, but fun. The pictures are my favorite. We were rollin on the ground at Andrews.

Good times

2008-04-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry another bad picture. Zannies cell phone this time. There is a joke in our family now that I will take a picture of anything and blog it. Zannie walked by Andrew and his friend Will a minute ago playing risk and told them to watch out that I might come and take a picture of it. Ha ha she's hilarious isn't she! Shes my favorite daughter (and only might i mention) in the whole world. :D <------ zannie just added that last little tidbit. I asked her what the D was. Am I the only one that didn't know that was a smiley face. So anyways back to the picture. Grandma bought us a tree for our backyard to make it pretty for her party. We needed a few stakes to hold it in place and the twins were forced to come with me since Andrew and I had just been at the phone store and we picked Zan up at work. Zan decided she needed to sit in the wagon and text, so Andrew and I took turns pulling her. On one of my turns she decided she would use the point of the stake to draw happy faces on my bum. It is quite a large canvas and she was able to fit quite a few. Good times. Sorry if I'm rambling tonight Jeff has worked till 11pm all week I'm lacking in adult conversation. Love ya.

Funny Garrett

2008-04-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Garrett and I were on a hunt for a backpack today since his is falling apart. I can't believe how hard backpacks are to find this time of year. The wheels in his brain are always turning. Here are a couple of our conversations.

Mom: "Oh look there's Kohls, they will have backpacks"

Garrett: " No No not Kohls"

Mom: "Garrett I'm sure they'll have backpacks"

Garrett: "I'll believe it when I see it except for Jesus I'll believe it without seeing it"
{by the way kohls does NOT have backpacks right now}

Conversation 2

Garrett: "Mom who made up Santa Clause"

Mom: "I don't know Garrett"

Garrett: "Did they make it up just to hurt kids feelings when they found out it wasn't real?"

Mom: stunned, didn't know how to respond.

P.S. Mom and Candice I know I have a ton of grammar mistakes, please try to ignore them.
Hair by Zannie

Working 9 to 5

2008-04-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

On Easter weekend every year St. George has an arts festival downtown in the Historic District. Since the place Zannie and I work is in this area we always end up working. Its a fun weekend and the store is always packed. Hayden and Garrett had the opportunity to run the shave ice booth. You would have thought they had died and gone to Heaven. They probably would have done it for free, but Tiffany paid them and they got free candy and soda. I included a picture of Andrew working at his job Hungry Howies. Don't be decieved by his face in this picture he actually does like his job. Sorry the pictures are so bad I used my Camera phone. It was all I had with me and I had to capture the moment. I'm not a true blogger yet I don't carry my camera everywhere I go.

Junior Prom

2008-03-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Andrew went to Junior Prom a couple of weeks ago with a good friend of his Lexi. The dance dates here are an all day thing. They picked the girls up about 11 A.M. and went caving, which from what I understand is running around in dark caves with headlamps on. Sounds like fun huh. They dropped the girls off late afternoon for them to get ready. Picked them back up at 6 went to a fancy steakhouse here called Rococos and the dance. They had a good time. Zannie didn't get invited but helped some of her best friends get ready. It's crazy how grown up Andrew looked in that tux!

This is what I love

2008-03-24T09:15:00.001-07:00

This is what I love. Not that he didn't make his bed before school, but that he read his scriptures. Heavenly Father sent us such strong amazing spirits. They are such an example to Jeff and I. How lucky are we?!

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

We had a great Easter Sunday. Got up and had a nice breakfast with the kids and then went to church. I love Easter Sunday church meetings. I love the beautifull music and lessons about our savior and the sacrifice he made for us. The spirit is so strong. Came home and the kids wanted to know why the Easter Bunny hadn't come in the morning. I swear that bunny gets lazier every year. He couldn't even round up baskets! He did find some green grass leftover from last year though. They got their usual swimsuit and candy and then it was on to dinner. Jeffs brother Glenn and his family came over for dinner. Last but not least our annual Easter egg hunt. We had to invite the neighbors over for that also because we only have one child that still hunts. An easter egg hunt for one doesn't make for a good time. {sorry not more pictures my camera is dying}

Goodbye to the neard

2008-03-23T19:45:00.001-07:00

Andrew has been growing out what jeff calls his neard not beard because his hair only grows on his neck not face. He was growing it out for a school contest. Jeff and I have been pleading with him to shave it but to no avail. The stake President asked him today to shave it before Missionary prep class because he is the District leader and needs to set an example. I love that stake president! I wonder if he could help me get andrew to do chores?

Runaway

2008-03-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

I
If you know Jeff, you know of his love of movie making when he was a kid. We have some hilarious home videos. My favorite is Ghostbusters. Well he has passed this love down to my boys. They are always working on a new project. This video is Runaway starring Garrett. Andrew is not happy that I'm blogging this. He says it does not show his true talent. He made this video to appease garrett. But we love it. Robyn and Logan saw it when they were here this weekend and they think the world needs to see it . This ones for you Logan.

The passing of Bob the fish

2008-03-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

About 2.5 years ago my neighbor took Garrett to the school carnival. Being the nice neighbor that she was she let him get a fish. Jeff thought it would be fun to get the fish a playmate so he and garrett went to the petstore and came home with not one playmate but 8. Within about a week 7 of the fish were dead, including the one from the carnival. Bob has survived longer than any goldfish I have ever known. My kids have clung to bob being that he is the only pet we have ever had. Bob was actually zannies pet for her animal science class at school.{ hope she passes that class}. Being that this fish is so important to us you can see why we could not flush him. Bob is now resting peacefully on the side of our house . We love you Bob.
Mom I know he appreciated the many times you cleaned his tank.

Crazy Sock Day and hair on my toes

2008-03-13T17:54:00.001-07:00

Obviously my first attempt at blogging was not hugely succesfull considering half of what I typed isn't there. Oh well I tried. I have a new Tutor now. Jeff is sitting here laughing at my typing skills. Garrett had a crazy sock day last week at school. The brave child borrowed socks from Zannie, { yes strangely enough she owns socks like this} Not shown are the pigs and flowers all over them. On this same morning he informed me that he was glad he had hair on his toes and his arms because the girls would know he was a real man. I told him I didn't think the girls cared about his hairy body. He said I didn't really know because I was not their age. If he says so!

April learning to blog

2008-03-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Candice is my blogging instructor today. Zannie probably won't appreciate this picture being used on the blog.