And We're Back!

Well, since last we saw our heroes they were braving the streets of Bolivia. Much has changed since then. To be specific we've gone through the following:

2 houses (now on our third as of last Wednesday)
1 dog named Hobbes has joined the crew

2 graduations

2 degrees from Southern Virginia University (Ben-Business Administration, Marian-English)

2 cars

1 ward change
5 or 6 jobs between the two of us

3 different callings in the church

2 exciting years of marriage

1 pregnancy

1 beautiful baby boy we named Matthew Johnathan Griffin (now 7 weeks old)

Ben is working the night shift and so he is home sleeping during the daytime and I am being a stay at home mom. I just took a summer class on Jane Austen where we read all six of her books. Ben is also going to be an assistant soccer coach for the men's team for Washington and Lee University in Lexington where we live. Soccer is Ben's niche so he's really looking forward to fall when the season starts.

Now we are settling into our cozy new two bedroom apartment and enjoying the summertime(I'll be enjoying it from the inside where there's air conditioning). We've been to see a couple movies and Ben has patiently answered all of my inane questions like: When is the reading rainbow guy going to show up? Where's the Patrick Stewart character? and What about the Klingons? when we went to see Star Trek (little did I know how little I knew about that plot soup).

Since I'm at home now on a more permanent basis I've developed the greatest intentions to chronicle our most exciting activities on more regular intervals. Hopefully you will enjoy reading along our adventures. Here's what's coming up:

June - Ben's Birthday (he's turning 25) and his first Father's Day!

July - Ben's brother Michael is getting married in San Diego, CA so the three of us are flying out a couple days before (we have to hit up Legoland, of course) and then Matthew and I will be going back with my parents to Woodside, CA and then onto a family reunion for the Ream side of the family in Idaho the week after the wedding.

October - Ben is being inducted into his high school's hall of fame for his epic soccer career in Falls Church, Virginia.

November - Of course we have Thanksgiving and that means more family.

December - We're planning on heading back out to California for Christmas with my side of the family which will hopefully involve a beach house and more fresh sushi and crab with assistance from Rachel and Knute Ream, two masters of the kitchen.

There's bound to be more adventures on the way soon. I've been reading the ever popular adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's hero Sherlock Holmes recently, and finding myself with a dog who tries to save rocks from drowning in the river and a baby with unusually large feet and toe-fingers that could shake a grown man's hand, I couldn't agree more with this particular observation from Holmes:

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent."