3 Greiners in the Summer

Probably my very favorite picture of the summer right there! 

Our fam at the Balloon Festival

Mom and Austin!

Me and my Sweetie!

The Smith Family...Good lookin' group, I'd have to say!

My handsome bros on Independence Day

PJ.  Our faithful guard dog...

GOOD MORNING!!!

Wow, can you tell we're more busy in the summer than any other time during the year??!!!  I wanted to blog and update y'all on our summer so far.
June Highlights:
1) Family Time!  We spent A LOT of time outside together.  June was a HOT & DRY month, but we decide to endure the heat and enjoy beautiful Utah by hiking, swimming, and playing!

Uncle Karl and Austin

2) Austin had his first swimming lessons this summer!  He "helped" me teach the Mom & Tot class at Ivory and he passed off EVERYTHING!  Yea AUS!
3) My 28th birthday was on the 14th.  It was a mellow, yet very nice day.  Gregor worked a half-day and we went to lunch with family.  I got some sweet running gear from Gregor and Austin, then headed up to Eden to prepare for RAGNAR.

Austin decided to go swimming in his clothes and we didn't have a diaper for him...Don't worry, my mom came and saved the day pretty fast!

4) RAGNAR!!!  This was the coolest, hardest race I've ever done!  2 day, 12 people, 3 runs.  I had the privilege of running for the "Holy Schmidt" team, the nicest group of people I've met in a long time!  We got to stay at their gorgeous cabin in Eden and enjoy running from Logan to Park City Relay-style. I actually ended up running 4 times because one of our teammates got injured so I ran a 6.9 miler, a 5 miler, a 2.7 miler, and finally and almost all uphill 7.8 miler to finish.  No sleep, tons of lactic acid from sitting in the car, and a calf injury...When do I get to run again next year?!!!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!
5) Father's Day!  It was fun to celebrate my sweet husband with a yummy breakfast, and an easy, chill day at home.
6) Visit to Grandma and Papa's up in Ogden.  We got to see a bunch of family members and enjoy some fun and good conversations!  Austin got to meet some cousins and aunts and uncles for the first time, too!

Aus did a header off our back porch.  Scared the crap out of us!

7) Gregor fixed his bike and has been a cycling FOOL!  He and Logan have done a ton of fun rides this summer and I'm so glad my hubby is finding an awesome, renewed athletic love!  He and I went for a ride yesterday and he kicked my butt hardcore and he was on a Fixie (a bike with only one gear) while I was on a road bike.  I guess his big thighs are good for something besides swimming!
8) We bought a new car!  We had been looking for a newer, bigger car for our growing family and found a gorgeous 2006 Mercedes SUV for an amazing price!  I feel a little pretentious driving such a nice car, but I feel really blessed to have a vehicle that is dependent and family-friendly!

July Highlights:
1) RAIN!  July finally cooled off a little and the rains came!  There have been a bunch of fires in Utah Valley this summer from Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs to Alpine.  It's been a little freaky to see the mountains burning.  I was bummer a little because we had to reschedule lessons at Ivory a couple times, but it's better that those scary fires were put out!
2) Austin has become such a little "helper".  He loves to help me cook and clean and then undo everything we just did and then some.  He's SO freakin' cute, though!  It's hard to get upset with him when he smiles at me!  He's helped me make koolaid a few times and loves baking, too!
3) Austin and I do a lot of day trips.  We went to Thanksgiving Point on a few occasions in July, but my favorite was probably when we went to the Animal Farm and got to pet some fun critters.  Austin LOVES cows and was totally perplexed with them for about 3 minutes, then decided that eating the hay and dirt (and probably some poop, too) was a much more fun way to spend his time.  It cracked me up and don't worry, we washed him up VERY well after we left!  We also got up SUPER early on the 4th of July to go to the Balloon Festival.  We caught the back end of the festival, but got to go to breakfast with my family then go and watch fireworks with Car and Log down in Provo.  Good times!
4) My first nephew was born on July 12!  Tate Logan Peterson is our family's newest addition and he couldn't be cuter!  It's funny that my sister, Carly, is so blonde with big blue eyes, and her baby looks NOTHING like her!  He is Logan's boy all the way!  Dark brown hair, big, dark brown eyes, Log's barrel chest, big thighs and skinny calves.  It's pretty funny!  He has the sweetest disposition and is really patient with his big cousin, Austin, picking at him all the time.  I'm glad I have time with this sweet newborn.  I've forgotten what its like with a little tiny baby, mine's a MONSTER!
5) LOTS and LOTS of swimming!  I've taught every single session this summer and it's been exhaustingly wonderful!  We had our best summer ever at Ivory and I'm so happy that it went as well as it did.  I'm aiming for even better next year with a lot more advertising and full classes!

One of Gregor GIANT catches!  Haha!

6) Gregor went out with Logan, Log's dad, Dean, and their cousin, Kade on a fishing/backpacking trip through the Uintahs.  They caught over 100 fish combined and loved every minute of hiking/fishing/and FREEZING (during the night).  I'm glad they got to go, but I was very glad to have my husband back when they got home!
7) THE ZOO!  We took Aus to the Hogl Zoo for the first time in his life in July!  HE LOVED IT!  We have a lot of African influence in the decorations in our home (Gregor's from Africa) and so he was super stoked to see the elephants, tigers, lions, rhinos, and monkeys!  We got a huge kick out of watching his fascination at these amazing animals and feeling a little like kids again ourselves!  Gregor LOVES animals, too so both my boys were on cloud nine that day!

Austin "helping"

At Thanksgiving Point

Uncle Collin and Hammer

My little German Baby

My new nephew Tate!!!  He's perfect!!!

The size difference blows me away!

Dad and Aus at Sundance.  Mountain Biking Heaven!!!

Tater waiting for his daddy

Cousins!

My beautiful sister, Car Car

I'm beautiful, too, right?!

On a walk-about

Carly and I at SheDaisy

Water time!

I gave Oakley a haircut all by myself!

My son is SO brave!  Drinking out of a Lion's mouth!

Another fav of mine!  My boys at the zoo

GOR ILL A!

Me and my Honey, Gregor

Tater in his powder blue tux...

Gorgeous sunset on an evening run

I'll update y'all on August hopefully next week.  We have lots to talk about with the Olympics, camping, etc!  I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures with picasa because the blogger picture loader BLOWS!  (If any blogger people are reading this, please fix it!) Any tips would be super helpful!  LOVES!!!

My Boys

I haven't been very good at blogging lately, but I wanted to write a quick note about my sweet boys.  I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful family!  I'm completely outnumbered, but I really don't mind!  Gregor is the best husband I could ask for.  He is such a wonderful provider.  He works so hard to take care of Austin and I.  His job at Bluehost has been a huge blessing to us, and he's proven in only two years how valuable he is as an employee.  We seen promotions and raises and so many, many blessings since he's been there.  I truly feel like Heavenly Father has guided us so lovingly in these past two years.  Gregor is my best friend.  I love that I can just look at him and we start smiling about something silly, or we know exactly what each other is thinking.  He really loves me!  I've sometimes had a hard time accepting that he does, I don't know why?  He's so handsome, smart, funny, strong, and just an all-around wonderful guy.  Its hard to believe I've got it so good!  He's a great dad to Austin, he teaches him so much.  I'm amazed by his patience with me and our son.  I'm sure we both drive him pretty crazy sometimes, but he's always kind and patient.  I sure love my man!
Austin is such a treasure.  Its awesome to me that I am the mother to such a beautiful, strong, independent, loving boy.  I can't believe how much he's grown over the past year, it blows me away.  He learns something new everyday.  Lately, it's been how to open random things, turn on lights and lamps, walk down stairs, and make sounds for different animals and things.  He's so smart, so curious!  It's gotten him into trouble a few times, but he learns pretty quickly.  He's got a great laugh, and a huge, crooked smile!  He's a BEAUTIFUL boy, like baby model beautiful.  Curly blond hair, huge blue eyes, a strong, yet chubby little body, cute little nose, just a cutie!  I watch him sleep at night and just think how lucky I am to have this little boy in my life.  He teaches me so much.  Being a mother has been the hardest, yet most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life.  I'm so grateful for that!

Playing in the fountains at City Creek

Me, My Sweetie,  and CarLog at Avengers!!!

Enjoying a Hagen-Daas Bar a little too much!

My handsome boy in his birthday outfit from Great Grandma and Papa Smith

It's neat to me that I can call these two my family.  The transition from being the daughter/sister to being the wife/mother hasn't been easy, but it's been so worth it and I'm grateful that I have my little family to make it such a wonderful ride!  I love you Gregor and Austin!!!  Love, Kendall/Mom

1st Year? CHECK!!!

My baby boy turns 1 today!  I can't believe it!  Austin Friedrich Greiner is the best little boy I know!  He has grown so much over the last year and has brought everyone who knows him so much joy.  Austin is 22 lbs and 31 inches tall.  He is a big kid and loves to do everything on his own.  He loves to give hugs, feed himself, swim, explore, eat, and play.  He loves his Mom and Dad, but also loves spending time with his extended family.  He loves his grandma and papa's dogs, and chasing their cat all over creation!  Austin has the bluest eyes and the greatest smile ever with his funny crooked teeth.  His favorite movies are: Cars, How to Train Your Dragon, and Finding Nemo.  He likes to help me cook, fold (more like unfold) laundry, sweep the floor, and vacuum.  He is my best buddy and I'm so glad he's our son!
Being a mother has changed my whole life.  I can't believe the amount of patience and love I have in my heart now.  I thought I knew what unconditional love was when I met my husband, but having a child has been the most learning experience I've ever had in my whole life!  Austin is so sweet and so wonderful, but is one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced!  He will drive me completely crazy, and then in the next moment, make me love him more than I have before.  Having Austin in our home has made me love my husband even more.  Gregor is the BEST dad!  He just glows when he gets home from work and gets to play with Austin.  He is teaching our son to be a great man by being great himself.  I sure love my husband! 
I'm so grateful for the opportunity that Heavenly Father has blessed me with in being a Mother.  It is the best/hardest calling, but is so incredibly and completely worth it!  I hope all the mom's out there feel the same!  Through parenting, I'm realizing the love that our Father in Heaven has for his children.  It is real and eternal.  I am grateful for my parents and husband's parents and for my Heavenly parents and for the blessings and lessons that they've given to me and my family.  I hope to be a righteous mother and provide my son (and children to come) with all the things that they need in their lives!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAMMER-BABY!!!

Lucky Number 11

Where is time going?  I can't believe its already Austin's 11-month birthday!  Is my baby really going to be a year old in a month?  Holy cow!
Well, March was certainly a wonderful month for the Greiner family.  We started the month with a few fun trips to Ogden to visit the great-grandparents, up to the Peterson's cabin up at Sundance, a day trip to the Sweet's Candy Factory with some friends, and a few trips up AF Canyon.  Austin absolutely loves spending time with his family, but this month he has started getting a little shy with people.  This is so weird to me because this kid has always loved getting passed around and meeting new people.  He's been really clingy to his mom (ME) especially.  I think it's because he's teething again and realizing that there are a lot more people in this world than he originally thought!  He's growing like a weed and is now in his big boy car seat!  Putting him in the reclining one was getting hilarious, his long legs would dangle over the end and he just looked squished!  He loves his big boy seat and loves facing forward and getting to look out the window while we drive around.  This month has also brought about legitimate temper tantrums.  YEA!  It is actually pretty funny.  Austin throws his head back and wails, but it is so FAKE!  You can totally tell the difference between his feelings really being hurt and when he fakes it.  Pretty funny!
My little baby also doesn't look like a little baby anymore.  He's all boy.  100%.  He loves doing things on his own, loves dirt & water, making a mess, animals, and playing with balls.  We keep wondering what sports he'll want to do when he's older.  Right now I'm leaning toward swimming and soccer because he loves the water and loves kicking things around the house.  He's walking 99% of the time now, and is loving being more independent.  The only thing that is not advancing his is sleep habits.  This is totally the "I want my mommy" kid!  He will not sleep a full night in his crib.  It's killin' us, but ya know...it'll work out!  I have faith!

Austin after our tour of the Sweet's Candy Factory

Gregor and I also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on March 20th!  He bought me 2 dozen pink and yellow colored roses (just like when we got engaged in Austin, TX.  Yes, there is a relation to our son's name).  We got my sweet sister and brother-in-law to watch our Austin and we went to dinner at the Roof in SLC.  Oh, man!!!  Best food, best night!  I am so lucky to have my sweet, wonderful Gregor!  He is so good to me and I love him with all my heart.  I can't believe it's only and already been 2 years!  I feel like we just got married yesterday, yet I feel like we've never not been together.  It's amazing!
Well, that's the update...I'll include some pix of our family from March.  LOVES!

Double Digits!

My baby loves sunshine, just like his Mama! 

March 2nd marked the 10th and most awesome month yet with our Hammer-baby!  Austin again has made leaps and bounds in his growth and development this past month.  He is now 31 inches tall, 22 lbs.  HUGE!  We're going to be switching him over to the "big boy" car seat pretty soon.  (I just need to clean it first!  Yea for hand-me-downs!)  He eats just about everything, but his favorite food by far are cheddar and veggie puffs.  He loves to feed himself.  Every time I try to give him a spoonful of something, he tries to take it away from me and stick in his mouth.  This usually results in a GIANT mess and a very happy baby!  Once I was feeding him some oatmeal and bananas and after about 10 minutes of fighting him, I just decided to let him feed himself.  I think he may have eaten maybe a third of his food, but watching the joy on his face whilst smearing gooey stuff all over himself and his high chair was priceless!  He's been popping teeth like its going out of style, he's got 3 out and 4 more on the way.  Needless to say, the sleep schedule has gone out the window.  He's been achy and sookie, wanting his mom to snuggle him 24/7.  Ugh, hard, but I feel bad for my baby...it's rough growin' up!

He loves the ocean! 

Austin and I got to go to California in February, too!  Candice was competing in her final Conference Championship swim meet for BYU and we got to go out and watch her!  The trip was fun, but hard because I had to be a single parent for a weekend, but definitely worth it!  My family came down and their help and support was invaluable!  We got to go to the beach, Collin and I swam in the ocean (FREEZING!), shopped, ate, and watched some great swimming!  It was really fun to go down with my sister, Kate.  She is sooo cool!  I have such a wonderful family, but it was so great to finally get home to my sweetheart.  I missed Gregor sooooo much!  (I think he missed me too!)

The sink bath after the Oatmeal/Banana Mess

Exciting news though!  Our boy is a walker!  He started taking steps at about 9.5 months, but is full-on walking now!  He completely surprised us one night while Carly and Logan were over.  I think he was showing off, but decided that he was going to do laps from the kitchen to the living room and back all evening.  We got some film of it, I'll be sure to post!
Gregor is still working wonders as the Retention Manager at Bluehost.  He was given a raise (!) and had a change in the organization of his department.  His old boss has been changed over to work with a couple other departments and his new boss totally loves him!  We've been really fortunate to work with this company, they've taken really good care of us and it's been so awesome to see Gregor moving up so quickly!  I'm so proud of my cute hubby!  Gregor is also found his niche with skiing.  I blame my brother-in-law, Logan, for this newfound hobby.  I don't think its a bad thing, don't worry.  Gregor's such a great athlete and is really trying to develop new athletic skills since retiring from swimming.  He's becoming a great runner and outdoorsman.  We're getting really excited for summertime and all the adventures we're going on!  It's going to be so nice that Austin is older this year and can do a lot more than when he was a newborn!

At Seal Beach

I'm doing good!  Just staying busy with mommy-ing, teaching orchestra and private violin lessons, and gearing up for a great summer at Ivory Ridge.  I'm also serving as the Enrichment leader in my ward right now.  It's a big calling and I can't say that I've always been so excited about it, but it's really taught me a lot about charity and organization!  It's really changed my perspective of my ward, too.  I've had a hard time in this ward for some reason, but I'm finding that the more I serve, the more I love the sweet women in the 9th ward.  They are awesome!
It's been an exciting time in our lives.  We're looking to buy a house this year, possibly even build!  I never thought that I would be to the point in my life that I would buy a home.  It's crazy and a little scary, but so worth it!  I've also signed up again for the Pink Series Half Marathon again and am looking forward to getting signed up for my first full marathon this year as well.  I was planning on doing the Utah Valley Marathon in June, but I don't know if we'll have the money for it.  I think I'll just train like I'm going to run it and then see if the money comes through.  Oh, to have some cash!  Oh, well.  Someday!

Austin and his new GIANT moose, Morris.

Ready for a bath!

Fingerpainting.  Don't worry, it's not blood.  He got it EVERYWHERE while we were making Valentines for Daddy.

Well, all-in-all, February was a fabulous month!  We are happy, healthy, and doing great!  More coming soon!

NINE! Months, that is.

January was a GREAT month for the Greiner fam!  We rang in the new year with a birthday party for my Sweetie, Gregor.  (His b-day is New Years Eve).  We had a bunch of friends over and a wonderful time and actually rang in 2012 by chillin with Austin on the couch.  My kind of party!  We've had a lot of adventures this past month...I'll include a few of them!

Austin (Hammer) has been making leaps and bounds in his growth and development!  He is now 20.1 lbs and 29 inches tall.  He knows how to suck out of a straw, stand on his own, open cabinets, climb the stairs, make faces, blow raspberries, clap his hands, feed himself (sort of), unfold all the laundry, and unroll the toilet paper!  He loves baths, any type of water, actually.  Running, dogs, stairs, food, cars, new places, girls (heaven forbid!), books and cartoons.  He "helps" me all the time by pulling everything out of drawers, pulling things off the table, and dumping his toys everywhere!  He is my joy and his Daddy's best friend!  We are having the time of our lives with this little kid, he's the best!

We've had a lot of adventures this past month.  Here are some pics of a few of them! Austin, Candice and I have a tradition we call "Wednesday/Funday!".  Since Dice doesn't have afternoon practices on Wednesdays, we plan something fun to do just about every week.  Kyle (sniff, I miss that guy!), used to take part in our Wednesday/Funday celebrations until he left on his mission.  One of our adventures last month was going to Thanksgiving Point to visit the shops and walk around the gardens in the main area.  Since we are poor about 90% of the time, we did mostly free activities there, like checking out the dinosaur museum gift shop, checking out the barn and livestock animals, walking around the gardens, and getting a cheap, but enormous, ice cream sundae from the deli.  Candice and I had a lot of fun entertaining Austin.  He especially loved the Arboretum because of the waterfall and little stream running through it.  That kid LOVES water and we couldn't tear him away for almost 45 minutes!

Millie the Cow, Austin couldn't figure her out...

Staring at Millie, very perplexed! 

At Bounce Around Town.  Austin barely let me hold him to take this picture, he wanted to go play!

My dear friend, Gena Lattin and I do a lot of fun activities together.  Our boys are about a year apart, but they're about the same size, so they play pretty well together.  This picture is from the Bean Museum.  We went to go look at dead animals...yep, it was a learning experience!  (I'd rather go to the zoo, but Utah winters call for more indoor activities!).  Hammer loved the play room, even though most of the toys were broken.  He LOVES cars and makes car sounds when he "drives" them around.  It's stinkin' cute!  A couple of other activities we've done include going to "Bounce Around Town", a fun, smaller version of Jump On It made for little kids.  Austin was very wary at first of the giant blow-up pillow/trampoline and the bouncy slide, but by the end, I couldn't get him to leave.  It was also very cool, because we got in for free.  They don't charge for the parent (which is dumb, because I think I had more fun than any kid in there), and they only charge a dollar per year of age and since Aus is only 9 months, he was free!  So awesome!

I think that I've mentioned that Uncle Karl (Gregor's lil' brudda) has moved up to go to school at UVU.  He's a stud and we love having him around.  Austin ADORES him.  Every time Uncle Karl comes over, Hammer is all smiles and jumps right into his arms.  This is a picture I took after Gregor and I went to a dance and Karl was watching Austin for us.  When we walked in they were both sacked out and just as I was taking the picture, Karl woke up.  Pretty funny!

I can not believe how big my boy is now!  He is huge!  It's been so fun having Austin become more and more active and more and more independent.  He's pretty much walking, he takes steps here and there, and I'm sure will soon be running through my house trying to destroy everything!  Gregor took this picture of him.  I love my boys!  They really are best friends.  I love to see Austin's reaction when his Daddy gets home from work.  He just dives into Gregor's arms and gives him a huge hug and kiss (more like a suck on the face).  It's priceless!

Austin's new talent is drinking out of a straw.  This was the very first time he did it!  We caught it on film!  He wasn't the biggest fan of the lemonade, but the fact that he could drink it was pretty appealing! 

These pictures are from a mini photoshoot we did on the couch.  Austin had just woken up from a nap and was being silly.  He loves posing for the camera and can also make the weirdest faces!  I love his little chubby cheeks and double chin.  Cracks me up!

So as you can see, we're all doing pretty well.  I'll have to get all the pictures and activities from February up soon.  Until then, Loves and Hugs from the Greiner's!