My first post

Maggie is always bugging me for not posting on the blog and I tell her it is because I don't have any pictures and I don't want to just post without a picture. Well this week we had to get our picture taken in this uniform to put in our personal record. So I thought I would put it on. This is not the uniform that I wear on a daily basis. Some people do but since I go to a lot of construction sites I wear the camouflage uniform that does not get dirty as easily.

The Blanket-Eating Baby!

This is Graham 's new trade mark. If he finds one of his two favorite blankets, it immediately goes straight to his head, so he can feel the softness on his face. Then he carries it around as he roams the house chewing on it. One of the blankets is a complete mess. He grabs on with his front teeth and pulls, so there's big snags through out. He does this when he's trying to settle down to sleep, too. What a character!

"Sing us a song....your the piano WOMAN!"

Well, we finally brought our piano into the house. It's been sitting in our garage for over a year. We got the piano while we lived in Logan. Dad Hickman got it from a lady he sold carpet to. She didn't want it anymore, so we took it off her hands. It was pretty beat up, but hey, it was free! We finally cleaned it up and stained it a little bit and now it looks pretty good.

I've decided that by the time we move next year, I want to be able to play the hymns. I took lessons for about 6 years when I was little, but I stink. Lucy can attest to that. Yesterday when I was playing, I heard her talking to Jason in the kitchen. Jason said something about Mom playing the piano and Lucy said, "That's not Mom that's Graham?" So complimentary.

Favorite San Diego Pictures....

I just love these two pictures. Lucy absolutely LOVES chocolate milk. I got her a big jug with a cool tiger straw at the zoo. She was in heaven. She's smiling so big.....I'm glad I got some pictures of it.

The other picture is at the pier at Imperial Beach. It's right near Coronado Island (where we stayed). Lucy loves her Daddy!

San Diego Sunshine!

We're back! The kids and I joined Jason in San Diego from Monday to Friday. All my military friends are thinking, "Wow, you were whining and complaining about one lousy week without your husband!" Yes....I was. Anyways, moving on....

We had a great time! We stayed at the North Island Navy Lodge on Coronado Island there on base. The hotel is right on the beach. There's a park in the sand there, too. Lucy had so much fun playing. She loved making new friends with other kids there. She played for hours. Graham wasn't a huge fan of the sand. He's walking pretty well now and the sand wasn't letting him do his thing.

Graham did not like the hotel room. He didn't have much room to move around. It was really cramped with all of our stuff in one little room, but we survived. Nights didn't go so smooth, so we were all pretty tired most of the time. Graham is trying to get 4 of his molars in...not fun. Jason had his training during the day and then he was free for the evenings.

We spent one day at The San Diego Zoo. Our friends, Chris and Valerie Auger, were at the same training. They got us in with their season passes. It was awesome! I asked Lucy what her favorite animal was. She liked the tiger and the pygmy hippos the most. I always love the elephants most.

Jason and I got to go to dinner and the to the outlets one night while the Augers watched the kiddos. We found some sweet deals. Yes....I just wrote sweet deals.

We got back yesterday evening. All in all it was a great trip. It's been crazy coming back to reality. Jason got a call last night saying that the ward needed crews to go work on the grape vineyard today. So, he spent a couple hours begging people to come work with him. He was up at 6 to drive to Fresno. I have a primary activity today at noon. I need to get busy making some rice krispy treats for that. We're practicing for the big primar program tomorrow. I have sharing time on Sunday, too. I'm definitely procrastinating!! I better get to work!

Come home, Jason!

Well, Jason has been gone for 6 days and we're surviving.....barely. My kids are fed (don't ask what they've eaten), they're somewhat clean (just don't look to close) and my house....well, we won't talk about the house. It seems I gain a whole new appreciation for Jason when he's away. As we've gotten to know other couples and I've talked with other women, I've recognized that I have it really good in the husband category. Most of you know that Jason is the easy-going, friendly, happy type. But he's also a great Dad and an amazing husband. You should see the faces I get from my friends when I say, "I don't do bathrooms." I could probably count on two hands how many times I've cleaned our bathrooms since the kids have been born. Many of you might be thinking, "Remind me to use the toilet at home before I go to the Rays house". It's not that they don't get cleaned.....my wonderful husband does them because he knows how grossed out I get. He does a great job, too!

Jason is a wonderful Dad. Lucy has asked AT LEAST five times a day if Dad is on his way home. She looks forward to playing with him after work and he can always get her to smile. In the evening when we go outside to play, Graham has been following the other men around. He misses his Daddy.

Most importantly, Jason keeps me sane. As many of you know, I'm crazy. Jason has a way of settling my anxieties, and slowing my thoughts down so I can manage life. He is my perfect match. He makes up for all that I lack (and wow...do I lack!). I think I fill in for some of his, too. I feel very blessed to have a husband who works hard, goes with the flow (because I don't know how), and loves unconditionally.

Our Little Man

Graham had his one year check-up today. He weighs a whopping 24 lbs. and he is 31 inches tall! He's in the 90 percentile all around. He had to get 5 shots as well. He handled them well. He only cried for about a minute and as soon as I picked him up, he was smiling in no time.

Graham is such a funny baby. He's always so quick with a smile. We've had a few different people say that he looks like the baby on The Incredibles. The cashier at the store last week said he has a smile like Squints off of Sandlot. When he smiles he shows all 8 of his beautiful teeth.

He's getting very good at the whole walking thing. He can walk across the room now. It's kind of nice...the walking has slowed him down for a bit. He crawls at the speed of light! I'm sure once he masters the skill, I'll be playing a never ending chase game wherever we go. He's also entering the- opening-and-closing-of-all-the-cupboards-and-drawers-phase. We're looking forward to when he realizes he can pull out all the stuff.

We started a few months ago doing the Signing Time videos with Graham. He can sign "more" and he's done "milk" a couple times, too. But most of the time we sign to him and he just smiles really big at us and watches.

This year has flown by! It's hard to believe he's a year old already. But at the same time, it's hard to remember what our life was like without him. We love you, Graham! We love waking up (even though it's 6:00 am) to your big, bright smile every morning! We love your jabbering that often times sounds like you are cussing at us. We love hearing and watching you drum your big hands on any hard surface you can find. You make our lives so fun and bring us so much joy!

My Military Man

Jason was promoted from the rank of Ensign to Lieutenant Junior Grade on Friday. They had a little ceremony for him outside of his office. I thought the shin dig started after lunch around 12:30-12:45, but when I pulled up to the office, there were about 30 people standing around waiting for yours truly. Little embarrassing, but oh well.

His boss had some great things to say about him before they had him sworn in. It was nice to hear how much they appreciate his hard work ethic and friendly disposition. He said that Jason has handled everything they put in front of him and gets the job done. We had lunch afterwards with all of his coworkers. We feel very blessed that Jason enjoys his work environment and what he does every day.



The military life is different than what we expected, but in a good way. We really enjoy living here on base and the people we have met are amazing. We are surrounded by so many people who sacrifice time from their families to make our lives in the United States better. I watch my neighbors and friends whose husbands are deployed and they seem to handle it with such ease. They have rough days, but they push through and keep counting down the days until their sweethearts are home. Jason's time for deployment will come and I hope that I can keep raising our kids and keep my cool the way these women do. Before moving here to Lemoore, I had no idea what it would really be like. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends close by that make our lives better and help us in so many ways.

FYI

As you can see, I've added some elements to the margin of the blog. I started a list of books I've read the last few months. I would love to hear about some good ones you have read. I love reading, but sometimes I can't decided what book to start.
The Lucy Quotables section is pretty self-explanatory. She says the funniest things all the time, and I always wish I had someone to tell. So, I decided to put them on the blog, so we'd remember them. Enjoy!

Livin' it up....Labor Day style!

We had a fun filled, labor-free, Labor Day (except for the bathrooms that Jason cleaned and the kitchen floor he mopped..... what a great husband I have!). It is finally starting to cool off this week after our record-breaking temperatures last week (107 degrees and up). We started the day watching the kids play in this super cool water slide thing. We borrowed it from a neighbor. After that, we went to a BBQ with some friends from our ward and then came home and went for a nice evening walk. It was a very relaxing, happy day. You'll all have to check in on me next week. Jason is going to be leaving Monday and he'll be gone for 2 whole weeks. My neighbors mock me because many of their husbands have been gone anywhere from 3-6 months. I'm not sure I would survive that! I know my turn will come, but until then, I'm really dreading the 2 weeks without Jason. Which one of my Utah friends is going to drive out and see me??