Our Christmas Letter

Just wanted to post our Christmas letter I sent to our family this year. That way if you didn't get one, you can still know what all has happened this year with the Grant's! Hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

December 2009

Hello Family and Friends! Wow has a lot happened this last year! The biggest news of the year (as most of you know) is that Guy is done with school, and he got a job, and we bought our first house! We moved to Cody where Guy works for the Department of Transportation as a Civil Engineer. I am so proud of his hard work with school, and I am so happy that he is all finished. He really loves his job. During the summer he worked 60-80 hours a week and I never heard him complain once! We love living in a town where there is family, and where we are both close to our “homes”. Cody is the perfect place for us. We bought our first home in September. It’s a perfect starter home for us.

Besides work, Guy enjoys going to the Rec Center every weekday morning. He also went hunting this year and got a five point Elk. This summer he also bought a four wheeler. I am sure he will have a blast with it.

As for me, mid November I started working with two dentists as a Dental Assistant. I love being back in the dental office! I work 2-3 days a week, so it is perfect. I love to be home with the boys, but it is nice to get out of the house and make a few extra dollars too. In July I got to go to Northern Montana for a family reunion on my mom’s side, how beautiful it was there. Then in August, my brother Max and his family came to Thermop for a family reunion. How fun it was to have my whole family there! First time in 3 years! What a fun summer! As most of you know however, I lost one of the most important men in my life in August. My step-dad of over 14 years lost his battle with cancer. I sure do miss Mike and think of him every day. But I know he is in heaven watching over us.

Micah is almost 4, and started his first year of preschool this September. He loves it! It amazes me how smart he is. He knows how to spell and write his name, he also knows all his shapes, colors, and uppercase letters. Now we are working on lowercase letters and letter sounds. He sure does love to learn. In his preschool class he has 2 cousins and lots of friends. He is always so excited for school. He still loves his superheroes and watching cartoons. He is mom’s little helper and is such a well behaved boy!

Gabe is 19 months old, and a very busy child. He always wants to wrestle and play with Micah. He is very strong-willed! (I wonder where he gets it?) This summer he battled bad ear infections, but through lots of chiropractics he finally got better. We are just starting to understand a few of his words. He’s quite the talker, but it’s still gibberish to us. The funny thing is, he refuses to call Guy “Dada”, we are both “Mama”! I can’t wait for him to talk more.

We have had such a wonderful 2009, and we hope that you have too. We wish you all joy and happiness in 2010. We love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love, Guy, Afton, Micah, and Gabe Grant

PS- Guy and I are both on Facebook, and our blog is: aggrant.blogspot.com

A job for a Laramieite/Cheyenneite

For any of you that live in the Laramie/Cheyenne area and need a little job, I got one for you. My mom works for Redbox in Gillette, and they are looking for someone to work in Laramie/Cheyenne. It's a easy job, just a little time consuming. All you do is stock the machines and clean them, with the occasional repair/jam. If anyone is interested, let me know. I helped my mom with it, and it's a good job.

Update from the Grant's

I too have been bugged a lot lately about not blogging, so I thought I would do a quick blog (I guess it's quite long, so hang in there!) to update you on our family.

Guy's work has slowed down a lot. He is working 40 hour a week now, and it is so nice to have him home at a decent time everyday. About a month ago, he got his elk, a nice 5 point. However, that meant a lot of cutting up meat! (Which I did NOT enjoy!) It is nice to have a full freezer though.

I just started working part-time as a fill-in dental assistant for 2 Dentists here in town. I worked 2 days last week, and another 2 days this week. I love it! It's nice to be back in a dental office after 5 years! I will start working 3 days a week in the end of Dec. for about 2 months, and then we will see how much they need me. I have also been busy with exercising. I have been working out 4-5 days/week. And have lost 8 pounds, only 7 more to go! Other than that, I have been busy with the boys.

Micah is doing great in preschool. He sure does love going to school with his cousins. He also loves to do homework at home. He likes his new primary class. (There are 7 boys and 1 girl)I can't believe he will be 4 in one month!

Gabe is starting to talk like crazy. Although it's still hard to understand him, he tries to say what we say all the time. He is now sleeping in a toddler bed, and he loves it. The transition went really well. He loves to wrestle his brother.

We have a very busy rest of the month coming up. Guy and I just got called as sunbeam teachers. We are also going to be going to Billings 3 times in the next 12 days! Our niece Kasi is going on Thursday to take out her endowments, Saturday is our Stake Temple Day, and the next Saturday is Kasi's wedding. And not to mention Thanksgiving at our house! YESH!

Hope all is doing well. We miss all of you that we don't see very often. We (I) can't wait for Jess and Kat to come! So hurry and get here! :)

We got some new family pics, so I will try to get them uploaded on here soon!

We are coming to Laramie!

Hey all you Laramieites! The fam and I are coming to Laramie next Wed. the 23rd through Sun. the the 27th. I want to go and have a girls night out Friday night, so put it on your calenders. We will also be going to the game Sat. and sacrament on Sun. Hope to see all of you!

More Sad News!

I know I am the barer of bad news lately, I'm so sorry about that. But this is more for me and my memory.

Sunday night my step-dad died. He has fought cancer for over seven years, and finally gave up the fight. The last 6 months had been pretty rough, and he had lost around 50 pounds. And the last two weeks were really rough. 2 weeks ago, his doctor gave him the news that there was nothing else they could do for him, and that the cancer was everywhere. This was the first time he wasn't optimistic. That's when he said he is ok with dying, and that he has accepted Christ as his Savior. At last weeks appointment he found out that he had fluid around his heart, so we figured we only had a few weeks left with him. I got to see him last Thurs and he wasn't doing well at all. We went to our new house, and he had a hard time walking from the street into the house. He was so weak. After seeing us, he went on to Thermop to see his mom and brothers. On Sunday they took him back to Billings (where he lived) for his weekly appointment. When they got there, he wanted his brother to take him to the ER, when they got there, he had passed away.

I am happy that he isn't hurting and unhappy anymore. I know he is in heaven and watching over us. I am glad that he got to see all of his family this last weekend. I am also so thankful that we got to see him 3 days before he died. Ever since I found out that he wasn't doing well, I pictured him in a hospital bed either in a lot of pain or doped up on medicine and incoherent. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle either situation. So I am relieved that he went so quickly.

The hardest part for me is knowing that we won't see him on earth again. The other hard thing is knowing that my kids won't ever know him. Micah is still so young that he will probably not remember him much.

Mike has been a part of my life for the past 15 years and I loved him like he was my own flesh and blood. He was one of the most loving and caring person I have know. He was also so very selfless.

He will be missed more than anything.




These pictures were taken August 2nd, 28 days before he died.

Sad News!

Two nights ago one of my friends, and high school mates, died in a horrible car crash. Her one year old son also died. Please keep her family in your prayers, and also her daughter who survived, and is in pretty bad shape. What a wonderful mom she was! Life is SO Fragile! I will miss you Sara!

Happy Anniversary Love!

Today is Guy's and my 5th Anniversary! It has flown by! What a great 5 years. Looking back, we have lived in 4 different towns, 7 soon to be 8 homes, have had 2 precious boys, have gone through 5 years of college, and it's all been great! We are so blessed. I am the luckiest girl in the world! Love you hun! Here's to many more years to come!

Side note: Today I am in Gillette visiting my mom, and doing a Pampered Chef show. What a horrible wife, to leave my hubby on our anniversary. What an understanding husband I have! We will have to celebrate when I get home.