Some Christmas Day photos!

Actually, these are from last night.
On Saturday's we usually have donuts, but Shipley's is probably closed today...so Kirk and I slaved over cinnamon rolls from a tube. They were yummy and Grant especially liked them. Here are some photos from this morning... The first pictures are from last night. So far...it has been a great day! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Picture Mishap...

Well...this morning we got Grant dressed up pretty nice and we even put gel in his hair so he could take his picture with Santa Claus at the mall. Yes...I have procrastinated this picture until the last day. We thought we would be early at the mall, but a line of about 200 people had already formed. Soooo....we will procrastinate this picture again until next year. Since he was already looking cute...we just put him in front of our Christmas tree for a little photo shoot. Here is what we got... Keep in mind that we never finished decorating our tree. O-well!

More Halloween Pictures

Well, like I said before...I am behind on posting pictures to this blog. I will continue with Halloween pictures just to finish off this time of the year. There are a lot, though...so I will probably finish another night. I guess I will probably have a Halloween part 3.

Here are all the Laurel cousins at the end of our Halloween evening. I must say that everyone had a blast! The kids were running around from door to door screaming thank you at all the nice people...it was pretty hilarious.
Grant at the Halloween carnival at the high school behind our house. There were a lot of bouncy houses...and he loves those!Another cousin shot before all the fun!
Well, I just noticed that I put the pictures in reverse chronilogical order. O well! I am tired now...so there will be a part 3 later this week. Still to come is the pumpkin patch and some pictures of me and my colleagues at work dressing up for the season. Those are pretty funny and shouldn't be missed!

Halloween 2010!

Wow! I am really getting behind in all of the different posts I want to do. I have a lot of different ideas, but they just slip by and those ideas are now lost forever. Luckily, I am not a perfectionist and this doesn't bother me too much. This could really drive someone else crazy. Well...better late than never...but here are some of my favorites from Grant's Halloween pictures. Can I just say how much I love Halloween pictures? I think they are so cute! I can't wait for next year where I can have a family theme. :) Pumpkin patch pictures to come. Maybe this will help remind me to actually post them. :)

Oilerfest 2010!

For the past few years, the high school I work at (and graduated from) has a week of celebration before the homecoming football game and dance. The students have all sorts of spirit days that mostly involve dressing up as superheros and such. The day before the game there is a decent size carnival/fair with all sorts of booths put on by the different clubs at the school. Grant and I decided to check out the festivities. Like always...Grant did not want to leave! Grant enjoying the classic ring toss game. Do you like his shirt? I made it myself.

Pre-Church Picture!

I thought Grant looked cute today!

Ohio 2010!

Well, Kirk decided that we could fit in a trip to Ohio this year...so off we went on a really short trip to Ohio to enjoy family, the Great Geauga County Fair, and mild/cool weather. Since Kirk has a new job...he doesn't really have that much time off until the end of the year, hence the short trip.
Unfortunately, we didn't take too many pictures...but here are some of the highlights of Grant's good time at the fair...which was mostly on the kiddy rides with his cousin Bryson. Can we say...obsession with the rides? Besides the fact that I did end up getting a pretty nasty cold...we had a really great time! It was a nice teaser of the cooler weather to come (maybe in a month or two). Thank you Nona and Papa!
Also...my mom was able to make the trip out with us! We had quite an adventure through the airports...but we are glad to say that everyone survived and we are still friends. :)

DisneyWorld 2010!!!

Well...I've been slacking in posting pictures from our Disney trip in June and I can honestly say that the overwhelming number of pictures has really deterred me in posting something. But I know I should since it was such a big part of our summer this year and we did have an awesome time! Grant especially had a great time and really enjoyed hanging out with his Ohio cousins! He pretty much did every ride that he could do for a kiddo his age and size. He loved riding the trams in the parking lots since he thought those were trains! Yes...it was pretty dang hot, but our hotel was close enough that we could leave and come back without any problems. Also...the drive to Florida went pretty smooth as well. The stylish minivan worked its wonders! We will definitely go back in a few years and Kirk and I look forward to riding some of the roller coasters. Enjoy a few of the pictures!!!!

Graduation Weekend

Last weekend...after a lot of time away from home and hard work...Kirk graduated from his MBA program at Rice! We are very proud of him and all of his hard work devoted to getting more education. For those of you who know me well...I am a strong proponent of higher education and I am really glad that Kirk decided to go back to school. Well...it was a lovely weekend. Kirk's parents were able to fly in from across the country and spend time with us and to attend the graduation ceremony. Here are some of the pictures...

Hot weather fun!

Now that Kirk is done with school (congratulations Kirk!) we have more time to get things done around the house. First on the list was to wash our cars. They have been filthy most of the year. Since it was so hot outside and Grant wanted to play...we just put him to work washing the cars. He cleaned one spot for about half an hour...and it was spotless. Everytime I moved him to another spot...he wandered back to his original place. Who knows if he got the concept...but he liked getting splashed with the water hose. Also, you can see my new car that I got a few months ago. It is a minivan...and I am proud of it! I love the power doors and so does my son! Minivan owner and proud!!!This was done over the span of 2 days. Hence...the different outfits. :)

Pearland's Farmer's Market

Pearland now has a Farmer's Market in the Old Townsite near the old CJ Harris Elementary. I believe it is every 2nd and 4th Saturday. It is still very small...but we had a great time. I bought an orange and lime tree for the backyard with some of my birthday money! The weather was great and we had a really nice time in the fresh air with my parents.

Longer than expected!

Two Friday's ago Kirk and I decided to go to the by the Houston Temple with Grant. We didn't get a babysitter since it was a really last minute decision...but we wanted to hit up the distribution center and the LDS bookstore near by and walk the temple grounds with Grant. We left with plenty of time...or so we thought. It was around 3 and we "hoped" the stores would be open until six. Well, after almost two hours in the car in Friday afternoon traffic and watching the entire movie Madagascar in the car...we made it. Luckily we were not killing each other at that point...tension was high though...when we realized the bookstore and distribution center closed at 5. Ugh! We did walk the grounds and take a few pictures of Grant. The flowers were amazing! Since we didn't accomplish our goals of buying some things for Grant for Easter on this trip...we made another shopping and temple trip this past Friday. It was Good Friday and Kirk and I both had off work and Grant still had daycare. This time we accomplished everything we wanted...plus more. Second trip...1 hour not 2

Surprise! It's a playground!

Well...Kirk and I have been thinking about getting a playground for the backyard for sometime now. We do live extremely close to a really nice park that is in walking distance and another one in our neigborhood--also in walking distance, but I was really craving the convenience of opening the back door and letting him play. Plus our backyard was looking kind of boring and needed some color. My main requirement was that I wanted something sturdy and heavy. After the last hurricane and seeing all the broken wooden playgrounds sitting out with the trash...it was easy to tell what kind would survive if it needed to. Also...I really wanted someone else to assemble it. I know Kirk could do it...but I have heard too many horror stories of horrible directions and a million little pieces.
When the guys arrived on Wednesday, I didn't know how long it would take...but 2 hours later it looked great! (See Lola at the bottom right again sneaking into our pictures. I really need to make my next post about our treasured family pet. :)
I picked up Grant from daycare and I told him I had a surprise waiting for him. He didn't really seem to care, because he was watching the movie Cars in the car. He is a little obsessed and points to the TV whenever we enter my car and says Cars. His new bedroom with a big boy bed will be devoted to the movie. Pictures to come soon because it needs a few more finishing touches. When he saw the playground he was pretty excited and he went right to playing and running around. Here are some of his first moments on his new toy.


And believe it or not...Grant can do the rock wall by himself. It does require close parent supervision, but I was really surprised!
Ah...I love being a suburban mom where a playgound can bring so much pride and joy to a family!