Traditions....

Only 22 sleeps until we get to go Bobby (that's what we call Grandma) and Grandpa's house for Christmas. Lucy asks every morning, "Do we have just 2 sleeps yet, Mom?" Oh how I wish! With Thanksgiving being so early this year, it seems like we have FOREVER until the big day. We got our tree and decorations up the day after Turkey Day. I feel like I spend a lot of my day saying, "Gra...ham! No no!" He wants to pull the ornaments off so bad! Now that a lot of us are starting little families of our own, I thought it would be fun to ask what traditions you've been carrying on or starting. My favorite that we've done is buy an ornament for the kids every Christmas that reflects their interests or personality for that year. We actually just started last year. We have them open them on Christmas Eve. Lucy got a Cinderella slipper (her favorite princess at the time). It was Graham's first year, so we bought him this cute little letter 'G'. Lucy was so excited when we pulled out her ornament and she talked about opening it last year. I think it'll be awesome when she has a bunch to look through and put on the tree. They'll be little representations of her during that year.

This year I'm hoping to start a new one. My friend gave me this binder that has a scripture, song, and story for the 24 days before Christmas. I still need to run off the copies and get a binder, but hey.....I have 2 more days, right?

Anyways....what are some that you have started? I really want to make the season magical and exciting for my kids. I'm hoping to make it a peaceful time to that we can talk about the Savior often and have the spirit in our home.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Bether Dear!

My sister, Beth, had her 22nd birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday, Betherboo! We love you so very much. Our lives would be oh so boring without you and your craziness. You are the life of the party and we're all so lucky to have you. Thanks for being such a wonderful sister and super fun aunt. Lucy talks about Beth all the time. Last week we had to make a family tree for preschool and we didn't have enough leaves for everybody. But you can bet there was a leaf with Beth's name on it!

Happy Birthday! You're always there when I need someone to vent to! We love you!

August Rush ****

Jason and I went to see August Rush at the theaters today. Great show!! I loved it! Freddie Highmore (I think that's right) stars in it. He was the little boy in Finding Neverland. I loved him in that and even more in this one. It's rated PG.....very clean and very good! Go see it! It made me wish I played an instrument of some kind.

Has anyone seen Enchanted yet? We're hoping to see that one soon

For these moments... I am thankful!

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already. We had a very nice day here at the Ray house. Flag football was first on our list. Every year some guys from the ward get together and play. The kids and I went along and I even got some game time at the end. We hurried home to get the turkey in the oven on time for our 3:00 feast.

We had over some friends for the big meal. It was different not spending the day with tons of family, but we had a fabulous time. There was tons of food, of course. This was our first time doing the turkey alone, so Jason and I had some differing opinions on how it should be done, but it turned out great. For dessert we had our choice from lemon meringue pie, pecan pie, apple pie, and Jason's favorite- Kentucky pie. Very good!! After dessert we played some Family Feud and Win, Lose, or Draw. Our friends saw a new side to Jason and I. I guess they didn't know how competitive we can be. Boys against girls isn't always good for us!

We have so many things to be grateful for. We are happy and healthy. Life is good! We're so grateful for wonderful friends that make life away from family bearable and take care of us. Friends and family far and near.....we love you all!

P.S. Lucy insisted on wearing her "crazy hat" throughout the evening. What a goof!

Calling all scrapbookers!

Okay......I'm having a little bit of a dilemma. It's been ongoing for a few months now. I'm trying to decide if I want to make the switch to digital scrapbooking. I see so many advantages......no mess, no picture printing, I can have the pics the size I want on the page without planning ahead (8x10 of a snapshot, etc...). I've invested quite a bit into stamps and stuff (I keep telling myself I would still use them for card making and little projects). What do you all do? I'm thinking of getting the Adobe Elements software for Christmas, but I'm nervous. It's the unknown. I have a tough time with change. Switching from 8 1/2 x 11 albums to 12 x 12 albums was a major event at our house. I couldn't decide for a long time and it was all I could think about. I'm currently having the same problem. Lichelle is probably laughing because she has answered my numerous questions on the topic.

If you are a scrapbooker....what do you do?

Great Family!

Lucy is such a funny girl. She loves to sing. Most of the time she sings songs she's made up, but every once in a while she'll sing an actual song. If she messes up on the words, she DOES NOT like to be corrected. For example: She likes to sing "Love is Spoken Here" occasionally. The first line goes, "I see my mother kneeling with our family each day". Lucy's version: "I see my mother kneeling with our great family each day". All you other families.....you're just okay. Apparently we're great!
Perhaps you noticed the band-aid on her forehead. Lucy fell off my bed when she was playing. There was no blood involved, but she insisted on the band-aid. She's had it on since Saturday. I asked her this morning if we could take it off. She said, "No, Mom! It'll come off when it's ready to come off!" When she got back from preschool she was in a very grumpy mood. She said, "Every one kept asking what happened to my head and it was making me sick telling everybody!" Yet.....she still didn't want it taken off. Go figure!

Me, Myself, and I

It's been a weird 24 hours for me here in Lemoore. Jason and the kids left yesterday afternoon to go to Monterrey for the night. Jason's brother, Marty, and his wife are vacationing there, so they went to go have dinner and see the aquarium there. I was helping host a baby shower this morning, so I stayed home by my lonesome.

It's so quiet! It was weird waking up this morning to silence. No alarm, no shower running, no Graham noises.....just me and the empty house. I got a little sad when I walked by Lucy and Graham's empty rooms.

The break has been nice, though. I had a great time last night. First, I went and got my eyebrows done (wow....it had been a while and boy did it hurt!). I then went with some of my friends to book club and then came home and tried to finish my pages for a scrapbook swap I'm in (they're due tonight....I need to focus, yet here I am). When my mom came last week she brought me the first book in the Twilight series, so I've been reading that. This morning was the baby shower for my friend, Jill. It was a lot of fun.

Jason and the kids will be back this evening. What a fantastic husband I have. He didn't even hesitate when thinking about taking the kids to Monterrey by himself. I kept asking, "Are you sure you don't want to leave Graham?" He'd reply with a questioning look, "Why would I leave him home?" He's such wonderful father and I feel so blessed to be able to share my life with him.

Pay it Forward...

A friend of mine is doing this and I thought that it sounded like fun.

I will send a handmade gift to the first three (3) people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. (or just promise to do it somehow). I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this on your blog and comment away. So get posting!!

Maggie's side note: Just do it....It doesn't have to be anything major! (I'm saying this mostly to convince myself not to stress about something just fun....I have a tendency to do that.)

Happy Birthday, Blainer!

Today is my little bro's birthday. Blaine is 24 today! I am so grateful for him in my life. He is ridiculously talented and so dang funny. There are few people who match his wit. I love spending time with him. Blaine and I have always gotten along very well. Anyone who has spent any time with the Hickman fam will know that we have a tendency to bicker, fight, debate, argue (whatever you want to call it) a lot. Strangely, Blaine and I never really do and we didn't when we were young, either. Looking back to when we were growing I like to say that Blaine idolized me, so he did whatever I told him to. There was no reason to fight. We are a lot alike, so that may be part of it. There aren't many people who understand or "get" my craziness, but Blaine does and he has a wonderful way of helping me through my rough times. He gives solutions without judgement and knows the right things to say at the right time. I know it's a gift he's been given.

I love you, Blaine! I'm so glad you were born!

Triathletes are we!

We did it!! We completed the Treasure Island Triathlon! Although, it should now be called the Duathlon because the swimming portion was cancelled due to an enormous oil spill in the bay. We found out that we wouldn't be swimming the night before when we checked in. We were pretty bummed when we heard. We've been training for a while now, so it was disappointing. But that disappointment turned into relief the next morning when we were starting the race. It was SO COLD!! Blaine's age group started at 7:30 am and mine didn't start until 8:45. So I was standing around in the cold for over an hour trying to keep my feet from going numb. I got to see Blaine do a couple laps on the bike before my wave started. The course was crazy! I wasn't too impressed. For the bike we had to do 6 laps to do the 25 miles. There were so many turns! By the end of the race there were 3 or 4 crashes (none were near me, I was going to slow to get involved in any of that drama). There was one killer hill at the end of each lap. I thought that was kinda mean of the event planners. By the time the biking was done, I was beyond happy to be off of the bike and onto the running. For the run we had to run to do 3 laps to total the 6 miles. The run is by far the easiest part for me. It was tough, don't get me wrong, but I definitely need to work on my cycling time. The end of the race was cool. Jason and the kids, Mom and Dad, and Blaine were there cheering. The announcer says everybody's name and where you're from as you cross the finish line. I was so happy to be done!! The race was tough, but we left with such a great feeling of accomplishment. It couldn't have been too bad....when we got back home, we were already online trying to find the next race. Bring it on!!

The city of San Francisco is amazing! We went to Fisherman's Wharf and shopped around for a little while. Very cool! We got some chocolate from a cute little candy store there. Lucy had a monumental break down because she couldn't decide what treat she should get (I could relate. I've been there). The Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge were awesome. Especially at night. They're all lit up and they stand out in the fog. I couldn't believe how steep some of the streets in the city were.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the night before the race. Blaine and I left the hotel for a little while and went for a walk. As we reached the top of one of the many hills, I said, "Okay Frisco....where's your night life?" I was totally joking, but I guess this guy heard me and walked over a minute later and asked what we were looking for. I made a complete idiot of myself when I responded with, "Oh, maybe a Walgreens or Rite Aid." He looked very confused. Blaine had to explain to me that he had heard my night life comment. Oops.....

We went into this little cafe and shared pear bread pudding dessert (first time trying bread pudding...not too bad). It was nice hanging out with just him and talking. Blaine is an amazing person and a wonderful brother. It's been so cool sharing these race experiences with him. I can't wait to get started on our next one (slight exaggeration.....I can wait a little bit).

P.S. We're trying to figure out how to get our videos onto our computer. Hopefully I'll be able to post some of our footage of the race soon.

Here Comes Trouble!

Graham has been doing the cutest things the last couple days. Yesterday he started flipping his ears with his hands. He does both ears at the same time. He's usually stomping around (Graham doesn't walk, he stomps) when he does it.

Tonight when Lucy was getting ready to say her bedtime prayers, Graham put his little head down on her bed and started jabbering quietly like he was praying. Sooooooo cute!!!

He's also been doing some not so cute things. He can open my oven!! He does it with such ease! I need to get a snap lock thing ASAP. If I forget to lock the dishwasher, he pulls everything out of it. He is obsessed with hair, too. He keeps pulling Lucy's hair any chance he gets. She, of course, flips out every time--- which is awesome. What a little rascal!

Jason comes back tomorrow night and Mom, Dad and Blaine are flying in! So excited! I have to say that I've handled this time alone with the kids fairly well. They only got chicken nuggets 2 out of 4 dinners and Lucy has only cried for Daddy a couple times. (She usually cries for him when I've lost my cool and yelled at her). We love you, Daddy!

I've been TAGGED!!

My buddy, Lichelle, tagged me about a week ago. I'm supposed to tell 7 things about myself and then tag 7 people to do the same. I've taken a while doing this because I can't think of 7 interesting things. Oh well....here it goes:

Side note: the picture has nothing to do with my interesting things.....I just found it the other day and thought it was funny. It's me and my brother, Blaine. Check out the couch...YIKES!)

1. I love candy corn. Most people would say they "like" candy corn, but I love it. I used to like any brand, but I have decided that Brach's brand are the best. I also like conversation hearts, but only Brach's. I love candy! I could give up cake, cookies, ice cream, donuts, etc...., but I could not give up my candy!!!

2. I am extremely afraid of heights. This fear came after I had children. It's a pretty big phobia. When I rode the New York New York roller coaster in Vegas this summer.....I honestly felt like I might pass out as we climbed to the top. I'm turning into a boring mom!!

3. I hate talking about food storage. I know it's a necessary thing and I'm working on it, but it stresses me out...big time. My heart sinks when there is a lesson on it or an enrichment on it. Two things that give me stress....the idea of polygamy and food storage. Yep.....I put them on the same level.

4. I am not a night person. I can stay up till about 10:30 or 11:00, but then I fall asleep wherever I am. At Utah State I missed out on a lot of fun because of this. If there's something that needs to be done, I am much better off going to bed and waking up really early than staying up late. Along with that, I HATE getting ready for bed! The routine ticks me off and takes too long!

5. I have a degree in Physical Education and Health. After going through the secondary education program and student teaching, I have no desire to teach school. I coached soccer for a couple years and loved it, but teaching.....no thanks. Hopefully when and if I go back to work, I can find another way to use my degree.

6. I am a routine oriented person (to put it lightly). I get upset when anything throws off what I had thought my day would be like. Example: Jason tells me that he has to be to work at 7:00 am instead of 8:00. Which means I have to get up an hour earlier to work out or not go at all (which is what usually happens. Another example: Graham doesn't go down for a nap when I had planned or wakes up earlier than I had in mind. I'm working on being more flexible.

7. I'm an aspiring optimist. In the last year or so, I'm becoming more and more self-aware. In most situations I plan for the worst and then I'm not disappointed or surprised when something goes wrong. I don't want to be this way. Recognizing the problem is the first step, right?

TAG your it! I've tagged seven people: Lindsay, Emily, Collette, Tanna, Aimee, Kalleen, and Camille. Within 7 days, write 7 things about you or you'll be stuck with 7 curses upon your head (that's what I've heard, anyways!). Pass it on! It's fun to read new things about people!

Will I Survive It?

The count down has begun. Only 6 more sleeps (that's how we judge time with Lucy) until my big triathlon in San Francisco. 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6 mile run. Lots of anxiety going on about this race. First worry: the pool here on base has been broken down for over 2 weeks. The boilers actually broke a couple months ago, but they were still letting people swim as long as the temperature was over 65 degrees (for those of you wondering, yes....that is very, very cold to swim in). 2 weeks ago the temp. stayed below 65 and they haven't opened in up since then. They've been saying the boilers will be fixed any day now, but I call every morning and no progress. So, I haven't swam for a while. Yikes! Second worry: I have to find a wetsuit. When I tell people from California that we're swimming in the San Francisco Bay in November, they jump back in horror and exclaim that they would never, ever do that (making me feel very confident). The tough part is that I live 2 1/2 hours from the coast and I'm having a hard time finding places that rent wet suits and I don't have $200 bucks to pay for one. I called places in San Francisco and they all tell me that I really need to try one on before the race and they can't be sure they'll have one for me if I wait until I get there. My third worry also has to do with the swim in the ocean. I've had people ask me if I've practiced swimming in the waves (I'm tempted to reply, "Oh...I have my own personal wave pool in the backyard. I'm set!"). Hopefully it won't take me two years to do the swim.
Jason left this afternoon for a Jr. Officer conference in San Diego, so I'm on my own with the kids. I've got to try and find a sitter while I go to a place in town to swim a couple times to gain some confidence in that department. It should be interesting!
The best part of the week comes on Thursday. My brother, Blaine, is competing with me in the triathlon, so he and my mom and dad are flying in! We'll drive to San Francisco on Friday and compete on Saturday. We're so excited to have them here!
Even though I'm extremely nervous for the race, I'm really excited, too. There's going to be a lot of people competing to qualify for the Olympics, so it should be neat. Blaine and I will be a couple hours behind them, but oh well! Pray for us....we're going to need all the help we can get!

We love Shelby Bows!

My great friend, Lichelle Perry, started a little business a couple months ago making bows and hair accessories. A bunch of my ward and neighbor buddies put in an order and we received them a couple weeks ago. We love them! Lucy looks forward to choosing what bow she is going to wear everyday. These flowers are her favorite. They have a sparkly middle that she has to show everyone. I'm excited to buy some more to give her for Christmas. Great stocking stuffers. I have a link to her site on my side bar. Check it out!!

Happy Halloween!

"I don't want any more pictures, Mom!"

We had a very happy Halloween here at the Ray home. Lucy woke up in the morning asking if it was time to go trick or treating, so it was a long day! She got to dress up in her jammies for preschool. Very cool. We had pizza at our friends, the Knolls, home and then it was finally time to go trick or treating. Graham dressed up as a bumble bee and Lucy was a witch. Graham had fun yelling at people from the stroller. Lucy wanted to show me every piece of candy she got. When we got home we told her she could choose 3 pieces of candy and then it was time for bed. You know you're addicted to candy when you are disappointed that your daughter chose the swedish fish you had been eyeballing since the third house you went to. Surprisingly, Lucy hasn't asked for one piece all day today. Even more surprisingly, I haven't had a piece yet. Go Maggie!