The Growing Gant Family...

Although plans had to be a bit rearranged this year for our scheduled camping trip weekend with Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Bruce (due to her appendectomy), I don't think any of us could say we had any less fun.  We got to sleep in comfy beds with comfy pillows and I don't think I got ONE mosquito bite (o;  We enjoyed four wheeling, frog catching, good eating, lots of marshmallowing (okay that's not a word but I had to) and many laughs.  Who needs a campground to have fun when we've got each other!?  Four wheelin' Frog Catchin' Marshmallowin' There's something about family that beings me so much joy (o; And because I can't think of another picture I have of the two of them together... Love these two to pieces (o;

After our incident back in April when our property was broken into, we decided that something needed to be done to up the ante on security around here.  Curtis did A LOT of research and concluded that the best use of the money we were going to spend was a dog.  Mind you, we already had two and I wasn't looking forward to having our dogs outnumber our children (o;  So, it just so happened that a sweet lady was looking for what we felt Pepper would make a perfect fit.  That solved our three dog problem.  Now came the big decision. Curtis got to know the staff at Pet Village (out of Salem).  A family business for many years, one of the owners, Jennifer, has been training German Shepherds for the police force for quite some time.  Her and her brother work together to not only train the dogs in obedience but protection.  After Curtis explained to Jennifer our situation and what we were wanting from a dog, she decided we needed to meet Freska.   ...

Another sweet time comes to an end... This year marked our second annual Brenden visit (o; I've got a gem of a cousin that comes to love on our boys, do a little farm work and experience life as we know it (a little differently than the city life in LA).  We consider it a priviledge when he comes.  Brenden, we're watching you grow into quite an incredible young man.  I love that the boys love him to pieces and can't wait till he comes again.  They'd wake up and the first question they'd ask was, "Where's Brenden!?"  So, what DID we do while he was here?!  We went to the Children's museum, loved on Grandma Marsha, played with cousins, picked blueberries, picked cherries, picked raspberries, pitted cherries, dried cherries, rode four wheelers, loved on Grandma Marsha again (o;, played more with cousins, drove Tractor, got to take home our new dog Freska, drove the lawn mower, visited Grandma Marsha again (o;. read books, went to church, went to t...

We've never had the priviledge of having my sweet nephews over to our place to spend the night.  Usually when they're up for a visit they're usually at Grandma's house-and I don't blame her one bit for wanting to keep them there (o;  Due to the most unfortunate of circumstances, we were priveledged to have them at our house twice this past week (after begging Lori to let us).  Lori had so graciously come up from Eugene to provide 24hr care to our sweet Grandma Marsha after she was released from the hospital after having an appendectomy.  Not only had she endured one surgery, but two...plus 10 days in the hospital.  She was weak, painful and requiring help with most every activity of daily living.  And Lori did just that.  She didn't give herself nearly enough credit for all the work she did (o;  Take a couple classes Lori and you'll soon be on your way to becoming an RN (o;  We figured we could entertain the boys a little while allowing G...

Here's the card that we sent MY dad (aka Grandpa Greg).  I made part of it and William helped with the rest.  He REALLY wanted to put glitter on it (o;  No rhyme or reason to the layout of the glittering, he just wanted to keep sprinkling and keep sprinkling and keep sprinkling (which of course you know means glitter everywhere!)!  I like how he wrote Grandpa...Kind of a combo of Grandma and Grandpa all in one (o; And for some reason, I can't get this one to turn right side up!!!   And here's the card we gave to their Daddy... Since Dad was at work, we drove to the station to "hand" deliver it to him...As well as play around on the fire Engine (o;  My boys are so lucky to have the Daddy as well as all the Grandaddy's they do.  I fished this one from my photo list taken a few weeks before Father's Day.  We love you Grandpa Terry!

I'm sure many of you moms of little ones can relate to the struggles you sometimes go through in getting your kids to eat their food.  Unfortunately, for William's sake, you can't live on cereal and fruit everyday. Most of you know the book "Green eggs and Ham"?  But have you ever actually fixed them for your kids?  We've read the book a bajillion times and even talked in depth about it's concept-You won't know you don't like it until you've tried it. This morning, we made the story come alive... And although they determined they still don't like eggs (and did NOT want any ham), I was proud of them for trying. I'll chalk this one up to a lasting memory...I know I'm not gonna forget it!