In Memory.........

My Grandma passed away this morning. Growing up it wasn't very often we got to see our grandparents on my mom's side since they lived in Indiana and we lived in Utah. Carlie was fortunate enough to see my Grandma twice in her life, once when she was about 6 months old (in 2003) and then Carlie and Cayden both got to see her during the summer of 2007. The visits were few and usually far inbetween but I will always treasure the ones we had:)

This was the last time I was able to visit my Grandma.

Betty Zane Darland Tucker, 79, of Peru, Indiana, departed this life at 8:23 a.m. on Saturday, October 16, 2010, at her home. Zane had suffered a serious stroke the week prior, and had been cared for by her daughter Vickie and sister Jan since that time.

Born June 8, 1931, in Kokomo, Indiana, she was the daughter of Darrell and Elsie Louise (Cunningham) Griffey. On February 16, 1949, she was married to Richard E. Darland in Kokomo, and he preceded her in passing on August 2, 1987. Zane then married Marvin Tucker in Peru, Indiana, on September 23, 1993, and he survives. Zane was a Homemaker, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Peru. She was very involved with the recording of family geneology for the Griffey and Cunningham sides of the family, and enjoyed visiting with family members and discussing family history. Surving with her husband, Marvin Tucker, of Peru, are her mother, Elsie Griffey, of Bloomington, Indiana and Florida; one daughter, Vickie Wilde (husband Vern) of Salt Lake City, Utah; three sons: Richard "Rick" Darland Jr. (wife Amy) of Senoia, Georgia, Mike Darland (wife Carrie) of Lafayette, and Vince Darland (wife Gayle) of Peru; three brothers: Ronald Griffey (wife Patti) of Joplin, Missouri, David Griffey (wife Carolyn) of Rochester, Indiana and Florida, and Michael George Griffey (wife Estrella) of Delphi, Indiana and Palin, Guatemala; two sisters: Janice Kidder (husband Ralph) of Brownsburg, Indiana, and Cecilia Wilhelm (husband Dennis) of Bloomington, Indiana and Florida; 18 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Zane was preceded in passing by her father, Darrell Griffey; her twin sister Mary Jane Marschand; her brother Darrell Francis Griffey; her nephew Steven Marschand; and a daughter-in-law Chris Radel. Friends may call from 5 till 8 p.m. on Monday, October 18, at the Murray-Weaver Funeral Home in Galveston, Indiana. Services there on Tuesday, Bishop Scott Haupert officiating. Burial will follow at Galveston Cemetery.

Fall Break

We started our vacation in Long Beach, CA

We ate at our favorite restaurant, Tequilla Joe's (on the pier)!! It is a really good Mexican restaurant.

We went on a boat tour at the pier in Long Beach. We told the kids it was a mini version of a cruise:)

Then we went to Disneyland!!

Haunted Mansion

Cayden was finally tall enough to ride on Splash Mountain so we had to go even though neither one of them wanted to:) As you can see by Carlie's face she was not too happy afterwards! She had the worst seat of all, the first one!! We all got wet but she really got wet:)

The parade is always a favorite!

Carlie's favorite thing this trip (besides the tea cups) was getting autographs from the disney characters!! Cayden's favorite ride is still Dumbo and riding every train that we could find:)

We got to go into Disneyland before it was open to the public for the character breakfast!! A rare thing to get a picture at Disneyland with no one in the background:)

The highlight of the trip was going to the Character Breakfast!! The kids loved getting to have there pictures taken with all of the characters:) We hadn't ever done this before. It is kind of pricey considering the kids don't end up eating more than two bites because they are too distracted with the characters, but the food was good!!:) Now that you have to go to special spots and wait in 2 hour lines we would have never gotten as many pictures with characters if we wouldn't have done this.

Witch Hunt

We went to Gardner Village with one of my friends and her kids!! They had so much fun doing the witch scavenger hunt. At the end you can take your list to the bakery and buy a cookie for $.25:) It is FREE and at Christmas time you can go search for the elves!!

Sundance

We drove up to Sundance with some friends to hike to this waterfall and have a picnic, it was worth the hike!!

First we had to ride the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, always the highlight for the kids!!:)

Taking a break!

The views are beautiful this time of year!

The kids had fun playing in the stream at the base of the waterfall. My kids didn't like how it hurt to walk barefoot on the rocks!! The sacrifice you have to make so you don't have to hike back in wet socks and shoes!!:)

It was a perfect day to go to the mountains and see the fall colors!!

Lovely Walmart!!

I love going to Walmart!! Every time it is a new experience and every time I ask myself why I keep coming back!! Today the lovely cashier questioned why I was buying so many paper products (paper plates, Kleenexes, napkins, forks, spoons etc.). I told her they were for my daughters school class. The lady looked confused. I proceeded to tell her that my daughter goes to a charter school so I was donating it so the teacher didn't have to use her own money (not that this should even matter because I am sure people donate items to public schools too, but what else do you say). You would expect the next thing to be said would be something about how nice that was! Instead, she gave me a horrified look and proceeded to go off about how horrible charter schools are!! "You don't get school lunch and they don't bus you" (was the only reasons she could give)!! Obviously she doesn't know much about charter schools. For some reason when we chose to put Carlie where she is I wasn't thinking about that!! Man, I should have considered those things more!!:) I just smiled and said, "we love her school"!! I just got another horrified look like I was crazy!! Now everyone isn't going to believe in or want the same things but come on, don't put something down that you know nothing about! Not everyone has the same feelings about charter schools as we do but we have experienced it firsthand and we love it, we would never change a thing! We are lucky and blessed that she gets to go to such a great school, it is one of the best decisions we ever made for US!!:)

Pirate Island

We went with some friends to Pirate Island tonight. The kids had so much fun!! Everyone is dressed up like pirates and talk like pirates! It is like going to Rainforest Cafe but Pirate style:) They have an arcade area with games and the food was great too!!

Score!!

Cayden made his first goal EVER, today in soccer (the day I forget the camera of course)!!! He was so proud of himself and couldn't stop talking about it all day:) Way to go Cayden!!!

Brandon & Rachel

My brother got married tonight!! It was perfect weather for an outside wedding and they both looked great!! They had a dessert bar with all kinds of chocolate desserts and candy (never go to a wedding with that kind of food without eating dinner first)!!:)

Deciding whether to be nice or not with the cake, they both were too nice!!:) I am glad my brother found Rachel!! They are the perfect match:)

LOTOJA 2010

Night before LOTOJA 2010

206 MILES

(Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming)

4 PEOPLE

(Lance, Kent, Jeremy & Danielle)

10:14:30.303

(The goal was 10 hrs.)

Placed 17th out of 60 relay teams!!!!

RACE DAY!!!!

Starting line right before Lance started the first leg

The race has begun!!

Kent (Danielle's brother) getting ready for the second leg of race

Transition zone

Kent, Jeremy & Lance

Danielle getting ready for 3rd leg of race

The timing chip had to be traded off at each transition zone

Lance starting the 4th leg (the transition zones were so quick you were lucky to get any pictures)

Jeremy getting ready for the 5th and final leg!!

Jeremy just crossed the finish line!!

The Finish Line (the team minus Kent who went home already)!! Everyone on the team did awesome!! Everyone was so fast that we would barely make it to the transition zone in time to trade off riders!! We can't wait until next year!!:)

Utah Football 2010

First Utah game of the season!!

Breakfast Cookies

Cayden refuses to eat anything that is a fruit or vegetable!! Will not even try it. I at least have him fooled with these breakfast cookies that are full of fruits and other healthy things. He loves them!! They are actually pretty good and I don't feel guilty letting my kids eat them for breakfast or whenever they want:) They freeze well so I double the batch and have them ready when we need a quick breakfast or snack.

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

1/2 C. peanut butter

1/2 C. applesauce

3/4 C. packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ripe bananas (mashed)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 C. flour or (3/4 C. all purpose and 3/4 C. wheat flour)

1/4 C. toasted wheat germ

2 C. quick cooking oats (not instant)

1 C. chocolate chips or (raisins or cranberries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With electric mixer, beat peanut butter & applesauce until combined. Beat in brown sugar. Add egg & vanilla, beating until mixed. Stir in bananas, baking soda and salt. Add flour and wheat germ, mixing until combined. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Drop 1/4 C. dollops of batter 4-inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Press down slightly with the palm of your hand to flatten into 3-inch rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are browned. Let stand 1 minute on tray and then remove to wire rack.