Some to Grow On...

Greg had a fun birthday, thanks you all of you. Here he is with his presents... a new ASU sweatshirt and registration for a triathlon. We had a few late entries in the "memories of Greg" contest, so here are some for the honorable mention category.

Mine happened in the spring of 2006. Nicolle and I had gone to a voice recital at Wake Forrest and I drove. I dropped Nicolle off and as she walked to the front door, the door opens and there was Greg to greet her. They had just found out they were pregnant with Clara, and there he was anxiously waiting for his family to come home. He greeted her so lovingly, like his world was complete now that she was home. I love Greg because he is not just an incredible husband, but he is the best husband for my best friend. I am so happy for them and the love that they share with one another and for the family that they have become. I love you both so much. Happy (belated) Birthday Greg. -Trin


I have TONS of funny Greg Sherwood memories, but I'll only share only a few! * Greg is funny junk! I was on the U4 Ward Council with him and he would write "notes" on the back of his yellow notepad and discretely show them to me from across the room. I frequently got in trouble for busting out laughing at some of his random comments! * When Nicolley and I lived together, I always teased Greg about being one of our roommates, ... only he didn't sleep there at night. He could often be found taking a nap on the couch during the day, though! * Remember the time that Greg trimmed the overgrown oleanders in our back yard? He had on a backpack and his headphones on ... listening to U2! I took quite a few photos of him before he knew because we couldn't get his attention.* Greg, Nicolle & I were driving somewhere in his Jetta, which didn't have a stereo (if I remember correctly.) He had his headphones on and was singing along, loudly, to U2. Nicolle and I couldn't hear the music so it sounded really bad and we laughed and laughed ... and Greg just kept on singing. * Greg called me one night and asked me for the "hugest favor ever." Before he even told me what it was, he offered to buy me a steak dinner (that gave it away that it really was a HUGE favor.) He asked me to referee the Church Championship Basketball game, which I did. He felt SO bad because it turned out to be a pretty violent and unsportsmanlike game. * Remember the time that the 3 of us went to IKEA when you came to visit AZ? Greg was our little Swedish tour guide and made us taste the Swedish meatballs at the cafeteria. He also coached us as to which candies and cookies were best. That was a fun day.* Greg took me on a "date" one time (long before he met you, Nicolley) after I had my heart broken by a dumb guy. We went to the Barrett-Jackson car show in Scottsdale and had a great time. It was very kind of him to notice that I needed a friend to cheer me up. He's good like that. * So Greg had (maybe he still has) a little Homer Simpson mug that he always drank out of. No matter how many times I offered to get him a better one, he always defended Homer and refused to drink out of any other cup.* Editors note: Greg still drinks out of that cup all of the time... I have to beg him to use a real glass when we have company for dinner. Clara has found it a couple of times and loves to carry it around the house... must be genetic. Greg picked me up at the airport when I went out to visit you after you moved to NC. He and I had a great talk about you both longed and prayed to have a baby. I told him how I have a similar kind of longing & wishing for a husband. We came up with a plan: we decided that I would pray for you to get pregnant - and you would both pray for me to find a husband. Well ... not very long after that, I got a phone call telling me the good news (which I was sworn to secrecy about!) I was, of course, SO THRILLED for you and am grateful that Clara has come to bless your lives. (I'm still waiting for a husband, though. Keep praying!)Oh my goodness! There are SO many more, but I'll stop for now. Thanks for doing this, Nicolley! What a FUN way to re-live memories! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Greg! I'm glad you were born! :)-jd

Greg was one of the first people I met in the ward when I moved here, and was so kind and helpful. I knew how to get to work my first day on the new job thanks to him! I also remember one of the first interactions outside of church when I ran into him at the cafeteria at work, and he asked me if I was a morning person or a night person. ("hmm", I thought, "that was random") I know now, it's just part of your charm. Ü Thanks for your friendship! Hope you had a great birthday!-bigger (Turns out they were looking for a new seminary teacher. Carrie answered right, because she said she was a night person).


Madi's (Greg's niece) favorite moment is when you called on the phone and pretended that you were Barbie! She still talks about it and "Silly Greg" all the time!!Kari



First, anytime spent on the lake wakeboarding, on the the slopes snowbaorading or playing hoops will always be a memory for me. Anytime Greg would catch even the smallest amount of air (which was very rare) you heard about it for days on end...and I think the smile didn't fade for a solid week.But the most memorable time was when Greg proposed to Nicolle...he did it at your house in AZ. We helped him prepare the house, and had flowers ready in the other room. He was going to make some excuse about having to stop by our house before a date and then pop the question. We called him to let him know everything was ready and tell him we would be out of the house by 6:00....Greg acted surprised and said we should stick around and just wait in the next room. I think he was more than a little nervous/scared and was looking for moral support but Rachael and I were not sticking around for the big moment. Needless to say everythign went fine and the rest is history.Happy birhtday Greg.Jefe anf Rach

I don't know, Jefe, that looks like more than "the smallest amount of air."

I wish our story of you running off to the ocean as speedo boy would have made it. Or maybe how happy you get when the Lakers whoop up on the Suns (like just recently in fact), or something like those. I may be wrong on which of us fits where, in each story, but they're all good times in the Book of Greg.-M & L

Bag Tag

The title of this blog is fairly reminiscent of the dreaded early 90's "fag-tag." I promise the similarities end there.

My SIL, Karen, "bag-tagged" me, which means I had to take a picture of my bag and of all of its contents, then display it here for all of you to see. Here it goes...

My diaper bag/purse/toy carrier/gym locker:

The contents:From L-R: Clara's snacks (cheerios, pretzels, peas), gum, a plastic duck (it's wings flap when you push on it's feet... totally worth 4 square inches of bag space), a granola bar, wipes, blanket, burp cloth, water bottle, dirty socks (nice), baby lotion, lip gloss, pen, car wash coupon, goggles (these and the dirty socks validate the "gym locker" designation), swim diaper, regular diapers, wallet.

I hope you all found this fascinating. If only I were Brittney Spears, this could have made the headlines of Entertainment Tonight.

Who else wants to join the fun? C'mon, you know you are dying to try it... Let's see some bags!

Greg Sherwood, THIS IS YOUR LIFE!

For your 31st birthday, here are 31 "favorite memories of Greg" from your friends and family (in no particular order):

1. When Greg Met Nicolle and took her to a concert he was so excited to tell me that he held her hand! We were trying to figure out how to make it "smooth" so he could kiss her. Although my advice was to "pretend to trip" I don't think that is the route he chose - but whatever he chose, it worked! Also that he always thought it was so funny to touch my feet! ...UGH

Happy Birthday Gregory!
(Cami D. -:¦:- friend)

Does he look smooth, or what?

2.Greg had come up on a Sunday to visit (I think it was when Grant was blessed) and he was in the living room playing some Lego game that he made up with Nathan and Spencer. They thought that he was SO cool and played that game for several days afterwards. They love having their Uncle Greg come and visit! (Koni - Greg's sister)

3. Working with Greg in the Rancho Elder's Quorum Presidency was a real blessing to our ward and to me personally. I remember we had this "friendly competition" going on with the Relief Society on which organization would visit the new move-ins first. Greg and I were so into it that we visited one familyas soon as they moved in (the Ellis's) and they were so grateful, but then Merlin Ellis wondered why we were there because he was a High Priest! Oh well, so we put in a few extra visits...at least we beat the Relief Society!Be sure and tell Greg Happy B-Day! -(Toby)

4. My favorite memory of Greg - Early morning daddy-daughter time cuddling with new born Clara to help Mommy get some much needed sleep. Greg is an awesome Dad!! -(Nicolle's Mom )

5. The story of Greg faking a cough while standing in the sacrament line so he could eat the sacrament bread. Also, Greg in his white shirt and loosened tie and khaki pants every Sunday.(Micheal Aagard- friend)

6. Greg telling everyone the same "made-up" story about how he got a black eye at some point during the church-ball game, and then deciding that you were getting annoyed with hearing the same "made-up" story over and over again about his black eye, and so he came up with a top five list of "made-up" stories as to how he got the black eye. But then he would tell anyone who asked him about his black eye all five of the stories, which didn't really help in terms of avoiding the redundancy. (David- friend)

7. My favorite "Greg Moments" are when I make fun of Arizona State or the Phoenix Suns and he responds with a fake laugh that sounds like Jabba the Hut. It's a deep, slow laugh that sounds like, "Uh...uh....uh...uh." Always makes me chuckle. I also like how he passes notes to me in sacrament meeting, many of which are funny. It makes me feel like we are a couple of gossipy teen-age girls, but he makes Sundays fun. (Andrew Sweat- friend/bishop)


8. Here is our favorite Greg moment: I am sitting in my house minding my own business when through the window comes a glare. I look over and it's my crazy neighbor Greg Sherwood. He is swinging his new toy machete at some tree roots! A little while later his lovely wife Nicole pulls out of the driveway. I see Greg making sure the car was around the corner. His eyes fixed on the car to make sure he was in the clear. I knew he was up to no good!! I walk over and he tells me about these "limbs" that he wants to cut off the top of the trees in front of their house. I sat there and watched him climb the tree with his machete like the missing link all the way to the top. At this point I feel like I am part of his crime! He claims Nicolle would be upset if she saw him climbing the tree so he waited until she left. Needless to say nothing happened. But just the thought that Greg would do this behind his wife's back was very uncomfortable. As a result we decided to move 40 miles away and sold the house to someone who knew Greg (so they thought!!) Moral of the story:Don't be a nosey neighbor and mind your business!- (Carlos and Melly Bosch) 9. when we first moved into the ward and Greg came over to our house to introduce himself - he didn't make eye contact with either one of us the entire time he was talking to us. When he left, Michael and I were like "Did he ever look you in the eye? Me either!".
Also the time we were over at your house and Greg demonstrated how he got from the couch to your downstairs bathroom after his hernia surgery. the best part of that memory - we had only known you guys for like 2 weeks! he went from not even looking us in the eye to being comfortable enough to slide around on his back in front of us! ha! (Shelley Aagard- friend)

10. When I was a freshman at BYU, Nicolle and Greg came up to Utah for a visit while they were engaged. It was my first time meeting Greg. Upon introduction, Greg spoke with an extremely severe and very believable stutter. I was surprised Nicolle had not mentioned this beforehand. I tried to act completely normal but inside I felt sooo uncomfortable. Heartlessly they kept this show up for what felt like forever! A couple hours later while we were driving Greg said, "Dddddddddid you rrrrrrrrreall...llly thu thu thuink I ta talked llllllllllike thissssssss?" I STILL wasn't sure what was going on so I played it off and said, "like what?" Nicolle and Greg proceeded to burst out in laughter. I was SOOOO embarassed, but almost 7 years later I think I can finally forgive him. :) Happy B-day Greg!-Boog (Nicolle's sister).


11. MTC!!!! Of course :) (Hope Larsen, friend in AZ)
What... this photo doesn't look like it was taken at the MTC? There must be a story behind this...

12. Greg is always so funny when he comes into primary to speak to the children. He always has some highly entertaining story to amuse them and get them all riled up. One of my favorites was when he told a story of how when he was little he tried to put nuts and bolts inside his baby brother or sister's ( I can't remember which one it was) mouth. Of course the teachers were all horrified and one child even asked Greg to please stop telling his story because it was grossing him out. In the end he never explained whether the baby was ok. He just told us that the spirit prompted his mother to go check on the baby, so he left us all wondering if the baby survived! I assume that it did though. (Natalie, friend)

13. Do you remember when I came to your home to look at your Italy pictures? Greg said, “You wouldn’t believe who we ran into while in Italy!? (so-and so)!” Editors note: insert the name of someone you know who would look hilarious in a speedo. "The next picture was a muscle-bound, shirtless man on the beach. A week or two later, I received a call at work. “A "so and so" is calling for you.” It was Greg. :o)- (Heather Johnson, friend).

14. I haven't been here super long but...Greg was the 1st person I spoke with on the phone about getting help with moving in to our new home. He was very helpful and members of the ward showed up to help us on our moving day. Thanks Greg and Happy Birthday. (Greg Wheatley, friend.)

15. Watching the Simpsons with Greg and having him laugh almost thru the entire show. It was funnier to watch Greg than it was the show. And also the fact that according to Greg (and Bryant) there is a moral lesson learned in each episode. (Kari- Greg's sister)


16. Greg and the vita pups stories in the high school lunch room. Editors note... Greg holds the record at Victor High School- for downing two entire slushies in 30 seconds... must have been quite a brain freeze. (Kris, Greg's sister)

17. Greg was willing to run a ½ marathon with me after running that far in his total training the week before. (Kris, Greg's sister)

18. Greg can always makes your kids smile. (Kris, Greg's sister)


19. When we all slept on the roof, I think it was the night before Easter. It wasn't very comfortable. Good memory for me. (Aaron Ames, friend and roomate in AZ).

20. Greg sent a fake rejection letter from Stanford School of Business to Greg Dibb, telling him he was rejected from the program. That was a good one, still makes me chuckle a little. (Aaron Ames, friend and roomate in AZ).

21. Playing soccer at work at ON Semiconductor. We had to wait until the coast was clear, and then we would take shots from his cube, across a walk way, down an aisle, across another walk way into my cube. I think we called them world cup tournaments. It was truly a game for masters. (Matt Freemen, friend and co-worker in AZ).

22. I certainly have quite a few crazy memories of Greg, but the first one that comes to mind is when he was my zone leader on my mission. He was a hard working missionary, but still would play jokes on his zone to keep things fun. It was always great to go to our zone meetings. We knew we would learn a lot and Greg would make sure we would have a blast doing it. One day after my companion and I were late for the hundredth time, he and his companion took my day planner and when it was returned I had pictures of my two Zone leaders throughout,and my whole schedule lined up for the rest of the year. Then to my absolute horror, when I went to my next zone meeting,I saw huge blown up pictures everywhere of my driver license picture with my weight and height for all to see. I'm still trying to think of a way to get him back for that day. I can laugh about it now. Happy Birthday Greg!! Don't forget to always look your best when taking a driver license picture. You never know when and who will see it. (Tiffany Johnson)

23. When I was teaching Gospel Doctrine in our ward I asked who in the Book of Mormon members of the class could relate with. There were a few different answers and then Greg said, Shiblon (who? Why) Because he was the middle brother and Alma had already told Helaman in a couple of chapters what he expected from him and what he wanted him to do and how proud he was of him and then just basically said “ditto” to Shiblon and then was mad at Corianton so he got a chapter or two. Greg related to the middle brother. I loved it and have laughed about it every time I have read the Book of Mormon since! Happy birthday Greg. You are no longer the dreaded 30 you are 31 which means you are in your 30’s. Man you are old! (Bonnie)


24. During Co-ed soccer Greg was the sweeper and I was a fullback. We were playing a team full of really "nice" guys. One of them basically plowed over me. Greg was not so happy and the next chance he had he plowed over that guy and got a Yellow card. This was the beginning of his many games of being carded. It goes to show that Greg will do what ever is necessary to protect those he cares about. (Karen, Greg's sister)


25. Greg was very active in scouting. He was an Order of the Arrow, went to camp many times and I am sure there are several incidents involved with camping that could be interesting. He also was the youngest of all three of the boys when he earned his eagle. (Greg's Mom)

26. Greg and procrastination were almost synonymous. The summer before his freshman year in college, at NAU, he was in work crew (not for the first time) and had not made any arrangements to get out to Arizona. We therefore sent him cross country on a Greyhound Bus, much to his great dismay. I am also sure there are good stories about that trip. (Greg's Mom)

27. During his mission he had the chance to have some challenging companions. There was one time when they were either in Wendover, NV, passing through, or something, and his companion was socially unskilled and said some interesting things in the establishment where they stopped. (Greg's Mom)


28. Greg and basketball... wanting to rehash every detail of the game with you or anyone else who will listen on the way home or in the following days. (Micheal Aagard-friend)


29. Watching Greg "perform" (dance and sing) Neil Diamond in the back of Kelly's truck. (Hope Larsen, friend in AZ).

30. Remember when you threw me in the air? That was fun. I love playing with you! -Clara
31. We have collected lots of great memories over the last 7 years, haven't we? One of my favorites is that when we had Clara, you were so excited and you spoke in rhyme for about 48 hours, then were giddy for days. I love watching you be an extraordinary Dad to our sweet Clara.
Happy Birthday, Greg. Here's to many more years of great memories. We love you and are so glad you were born 31 years ago!

Happy Valentines Day

It snowed last night, so we got up this morning and bundled up for Clara's first experience with the white stuff. She fell a couple of times, but didn't even mind when her face got covered with cold snow... what a trooper.
Have a great Valentines Day! Love, Nicolle, Greg, and Clara.

last weekend

The weather here has been great. We went for a hike last Saturday, around a lake in NW Greensboro. The hike ended at a house that was built in the early 1800's. Clara had fun exploring it.

After the hike we came home and made dinner. I have been trying to add more fish into our dinner rotations. We tried a new recipe that I LOVED. It was healthy, easy, and SO YUMMY!

Fiery Fish Tacos with Crunchy Corn Salsa

Original recipe yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 cup corn
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 cup peeled, chopped jicama
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
6 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 corn tortillas, warmed
DIRECTIONS
Preheat grill for high heat.
In a medium bowl, mix together corn, red onion, jicama, red bell pepper, and cilantro. Stir in lime juice and zest.
In a small bowl, combine cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, and salt. Brush each fillet with olive oil, and sprinkle with spices.
Arrange fillets on grill grate, and cook for 3 minutes per side. For each fiery fish taco, top two corn tortillas with fish, sour cream, and corn salsa.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clara is very "in" to shoes, lately. She finds shoes around the house (usually just one, not a pair), brings them to me, and demands that I put them on her. So... she can often be seen with just one shoe on, or two different shoes. Funny girl...

A late birthday present for Clara

Greg has always been late in giving presents, so I guess it should not be any different for Clara. I hope she likes it.

P.S. Thanks to our good friend Carlos for Singing and Dancing in this video.