Good Times at Bear Lake

We were lucky enough to spend a few days up at Bear Lake with our friends, the Wright's and the Perry's. We had a blast!! Here's some of the many highlights:Even though the weather was a little chilly, we still spent a lot of time outside. Here's Kate and Graham taking a minute to pose it up for me.
Can you say betrothal?

Elli, Lindee, Grayson, Lydia, Lucy, Kate, Zander, Graham

Here's 8 of the 9 kids getting ready to do one of their many races. Claire, the Wright's newest addition was the only one missing.

The kids were fascinated with the merry-go-round this trip. Lucy had to keep asking me if she had been on it too long because she was worried about getting sick. Been there, done that.

Many of the kids had a turn to be buried by Jared. Lucy is smiling, but she was a little nervous about not being able to move her legs.

Lucy, Lindee and Lydia

We ventured a couple times over to the pool. The first day it was pretty cold, but the kids really wanted to do it, so we toughed it out and went. Friday was nice and warm, so we got a fun afternoon full of sunshine and swimming.
Saturday evening we took all the kids mini-golfing. There was a lot of chaos, but the kids had a great time.

Here's a photo we caught of the crew before we headed back to the condo.
After dinner, we played games with the kids out on the grass. Here's Grayson and Lucy during a gripping game of Red Rover.

The kids spent a lot of time playing in the sand. Graham was Mr. Destructo, so the castle builders had to watch out for him.
Lucy was more into seashell finding then castle building. I love how blond her hair is getting. Isn't she cute?Here's the contractors after project completion.

We celebrated Kalleen's b-day while we were there. Nothing too exciting. Just some surprise cupcakes. The kids really go into it and wanted it to be a total surprise.

We are so grateful that the Wright's invited us to go. It had been a few years since we've been able to make it and we missed it soooo much. We always have a fabulous time and make memories to last forever. I loved playing games at night after the kids were in bed and pulling out the good treats. We ate ourselves sick every night we were there. Jason was missed tremendously. You'd be surprised how even the smallest things are just not the same without him around. He LOVES going to Bear Lake with the Wright family. We've decided to make it a Ray family tradition. Hopefully the Wrights will continue to oblige! Thank you so much!!

It's a BOY!

Well, it's official. We're having another little boy join the Ray family. It's nice when you have a girl and a boy already.....the pressure is off. I was a little sad when they told me it was a boy, but I think I would have been equally sad if it was a girl. I imagined for a few months having a boy or having a girl, so when they told me the definite gender, the other imagined baby wasn't going to happen. Does that make any sense? I'm just glad there wasn't a boy AND a girl coming!!

All in all, I'm doing well. We're getting excited for the changes coming up. 5 more weeks and the kids and I will be moving. 8 more weeks and Jason will be home! We're anxious to get our little family back together, but we're also dreading leaving our big family here in Utah. If only we could be moving just 1 hour away instead of 12!!

Party Time!

A few weeks back we were invited to our friend, Caleigh's birthday party. The Sare's were our neighbors in Lemoore and they were visiting family in Heber and decided to celebrate her birthday while in town. Here's Caleigh and Lucy. Lucy found some old glasses that I wore in 5th and 6th grade. (Yes, I know....they're huge. My mom keeps telling me they were in style then.) Well, I took the lenses out so Lucy could where them for fun one day and that one day turned into at least a week.
Here's Grambo enjoying his ice cream cone.

Behind the house there were some cows that Graham really wanted to pet (he says pep). Dave climbed the fence and waled with Graham over to the animal. Mama cow would have none of it. She backed away the closer and closer they got.

Caleigh, Audrey, Lucy and Graham

The kids had a ball playing with their old friends. I had a great time visiting with Tara and Dave and meeting their families. We miss seeing them everyday and were so glad they invited us to their get together.

More on the glasses situation: Lucy seriously wore them everywhere. She begged me to let her wear them to school and claimed that she couldn't see very well without them (there weren't any lenses in them). We finally came to the agreement that she could wear them anywhere, but church and school. She wore them ALL THE TIME. When we were in the car driving, she'd ask me how I thought she looked. Frequently we would discuss whether they looked better down lower on her her nose or pushed up to the top. I was worried that the phase would last forever, but then I was a little sad when it ended after a week. She keeps me laughin'!

Passing the time....

My family has really been helping me pass the time while we are here. We're always trying to think of things to do with the kids or new places to go.

A few weeks back we decided to go to the Nature Conservancy in West Layton. It was me and my kids, along with Blaine, Lindsay and their little George. It was a little dry and kinda hot and we had hoped to see a little more wildlife, but we still had fun following the path to the "castle".

Here's Lucy laughing again. I love to catch pictures of her giggling. Especially when she's laughing at Graham.
The "castle" we walked to and ate our lunch at.

Cute George enjoying his root beer.

House Hiking

A while back, Lucy decided that she and Graham were going "hiking". She found them both back packs and loaded them full of their favorite stuff animals and belongings. When dinner time came around, we decided to have a picnic on the deck. Graham refused to take his gear off.
Here's Lucy laughing at her crazy brother.

This is a scowl we see more often then we'd like.

Tumblin' it up!

Lucy Goose has been taking tumbling classes since January. She has really enjoyed going each week and showing us some of her new moves when she gets home.

Her end of the year program was a couple weeks ago. She was so excited to have everyone see her on stage. She had many questions regarding the theater the recital was being held at. She kept asking if there would be a movie screen behind her when they were performing.

I really enjoyed watching her up there. You could see how excited she was and she just kept smiling as she did all her cartwheels and jumps.

She had quite the fan club in the audience. I was grateful that so many people made the trek through ridiculous traffic to come. She was missing her Daddy, but having so many there supporting her made her happy.

Lucy with her trophy


Lucy with her proud mom

After the program, the whole family went to Wingers for dinner. Here's Lucy and Abby hammin' it up for the camera.