My Man in Afghanistan

Jason sent this picture earlier this week. Just look at that smile! Love you, Sweetie!

Haircuts

Grambo was in desperate need of a hair cut. I was loving it long, but with the weather changing, he seemed miserable. Here's some before pics. You can see how crazy it was in the morning. The picture above cracks me up.
Here they are getting it done. When I told Lucy that Graham was getting his cut, she wanted hers cut, too.

Here's Graham's after shot. He was pretty psyched about the suckers he got afterwards.

I was going to have Lucy just get a trim, but after they were done she said, "You can't even tell!" So, we cut another inch off. I think it looks pretty darn cute. She loves it, too. The day after she got it done, she was walking out to the backyard and I overheard her say to herself, "I just love my hair!"

Road Trip to Denver

With Jason gone, I have been desperate to find activities and adventures that will help the time go by more quickly. My dear friend, Lichelle, and I decided to venture out to visit our other buddy, Katie, in Stapleton, CO (basically, Denver). We had such a fabulous time and the week flew by way too quickly. Katie has a super fun park right near her house. The kids loved it. Here's Graham cheesin' it up for the camera.
Katie's poor dog was tortured most of the week. The kids couldn't get enough. Lucy wants a dog sooooo badly, but I keep putting her off and will continue to put her off for at least 5 more years. Here's Lindee and Lucy walking Rex with the double leash.

The sandbox was a hit all week. The kids were very entertained. Lucy and Miles paused for a Kodak moment. A lot of the sand ended up in the house, but between the 3 moms, we were able to keep it swept up.
Here's Graham and Elli trying to get as much dirt as they can to stick to their bodies. Most of it ended up in their hair this particular day.

Bedtime was an adventure all it's own. It took us a couple hours to get 7 kids settled down for the night. Here's Lichelle trying to calm them down with a book.
Here's the whole gang at the Bass Pro Shop that we visited one morning.

Miles, (love the face he's pulling) Lucy, Ava, Graham, Lindee, Elli and Zander

This place was a hit. They loved seeing all the animals and watching the fish in the massive fish tank.
Here's Graham in front of the huge fish tank. He loved it!

One night during the week, Steve, being the generous man that he is, was willing to watch all 7 of the kids so the moms could go to dinner. Here we are on one of the well known streets of Denver (I want to say Larimer Way, but I don't think that's right). We went to a fabulous restaurant and one of the highlights of the night was when Lichelle sang her heart out when Milli Vanilli music came on.
Here's 6 of the 7 kids chowin' down on some popcorn as they watch Kung Fu Panda.

Here's how the 5 kids rode 7-8 hours in the car. What a bunch of troopers. I have to say the drive there was 5 times better than the drive home. Sheesh!


Here's the 3 of us in all of our morning glory before Lichelle and I took off for home.

We had such a fun week. Thanks to Steve and Kate for being such fabulous hosts. They were very laid back and didn't let the fact that 7 kids were destroying their house and traumatizing their dog phase them (at least they acted very well). I loved our evening chats after the kids were asleep and the car ride talks Lichelle and I had. I've been blessed to know and love these two gals for about half of my life and I am so grateful for the friendship that we have.

When I move back to CA, they'll have to make a road trip out to see me, again. These kind souls traveled 12 hours to Lemoore a few years back. They must really love me!

Happy News!

Ray baby #3 is on the way! We are very excited and hopeful that all will be well with our little one.

I am about 12 weeks along, although with some of the problems I've been having, it seems more like 30. In these short 12 weeks I've had 5 ultrasounds already and a few scary bleeding episodes. I have what's called a subchorionic hemorrhage, which is a large word that basically means the placenta is pulling away and causing trouble. I'm supposed to be "taking it really easy", so I'm doing that the best I can with help from my family. I don't know what I would have done if I had stayed in California and had these problems. I'm so grateful to them for all they are doing for my kids and I.

My due date is November 4, and Jason returns the end of August. So, he'll be around to deal with me at my crankiest and biggest. Dreams of looking super hot and toned when he returns have been replaced with nightmares of outweighing him by 30 pounds and him not recognizing me when he gets off the plane.

We feel very blessed to be expecting another child and to be surrounded by such a wonderful support system while Jason is gone. Hopefully our children will survive 4 more months without their Dad......their Mom isn't a very chipper pregnant person.

Things I Love Tag

I was tagged by my sweet friend, Jill, to name 10 things I love that start with the letter "G", so even though it's 3-4 weeks late, here it goes. Once I got going it was fun!


1. Graham...of course.

2. Goldfish...used to hate them, but now I love them

3. Googlereader....It makes blog reading oh so easy

4. Good book.... so good you don't want to stop to eat or sleep

5. Goose....one of our nicknames for Lucy

6. Go Lean Kashi cereal

7. George......my nephew

8. Grandma and Grandpa.......they are saving me from insanity while Jason is gone

9. Groundhog Day......as in the movie with Bill Murray, not the actual holiday

10. Guacamole

Choose a letter and play along! It was a fun, quick post!

VICTORY!

Sunday night after everyone had left and the kids were in bed, my sister, Beth, and her husband, Jason, wanted to play Masterpiece. This is a game Beth got in 5th or 6th grade, but have continued to play. I usually agree to play when they pull it out, but I'm not too thrilled about it because I always lose. Well, as you can see from the pictures, those days are behind me. A new era has begun. Maggie and Masterpiece are now one. Yes, I beat the record that Jason had held since July of 2005. Sweet!! These records are written on the box the game is kept in. Here I am in all my glory as Jason cries in the background.

Masterpiece anyone??

Easter Fun

Our Easter festivities started Saturday morning when I took the kids to an Easter egg hunt in Kaysville. You can't see his face very well, but he is not happy. Graham was a grouch for nearly the entire time. He was only smiling during the 2.5 minutes that he was actually hunting for eggs. When we first walked up to the park, I'm pretty sure Graham thought he saw his Daddy. When he realized it wasn't him, he was not a happy camper.
We met up with the Perry's. Here are all the kiddos with their loot.

In one of Graham's eggs, their was a pirate eye patch. He got pretty good at saying, "ARRRRR!"
Saturday evening Grandma helped the kids color some eggs.
Here's Goose with one of her favorites.

Sunday morning I had to wake the kids up so that we could fit everything in before 9:00 church. Lucy and Graham were both excited about their sunglasses from the Easter Bunny. Although Lucy was not to enthusiastic about the Winnie the Pooh kite she got. Not a Pooh fan, I guess....who knew?
Here's Graham in his studly green glasses. This boy loves the color green and points it out everywhere.

The Easter Bunny also hid a bunch of eggs around the living room. Some of the eggs had questions about Easter or songs to sing about the Savior. It's a small attempt to bring a little spirituality into the holiday.

Here's my two sweeties in their Easter outfits from Grandma and Grandpa.

Jason called that morning and the kids and I were able to talk to him for a while. I think it really helps Lucy to be able to hear his voice and talk to him about what's going on in her life. Graham enjoys it, too, but I think it confuses him. He asks about him more and doesn't really get why he's not here. It's hard enough when you understand why he's gone. Hopefully, it'll get a little easier as time goes on.

That evening we had dinner with everyone here at the house. The weather was beautiful and so we spent a lot of time in the backyard visiting and watching the kids play. Heidi hid some more eggs and the kids searched them out. The eggs each told a different part of Christ's death and resurrection followed with a question. Some of the scriptures she read and questions she asked got me thinking about my testimony of the Savior and his purpose. I am eternally grateful for his sacrifice and for all he suffered for me. I feel so blessed to know of his Atonement and what that means for me in my life.