Tomorrow is the beginning of a long road for the Ray family. Jason leaves to start a new job two and a half hours south of here at Port Hueneme. After weighing a few different options, we decided that the kids and I will stay here for a while. Jason has to go on some field exercises for 3-4 weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so rather than pull Lucy out of school just to move somewhere and have Daddy leave right away, we decided to stay here where we have a good support group and friends. Jason is deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan in March, so the kids and I are moving to Utah to live with Grandma and Grandpa while he's gone for 6 months. For the months of January and February, we'll see Daddy on the weekends and then prepare for him to leave us for a while.
Hopefully you were able to follow that. In summary: As of tomorrow, Jason won't be living with us permanently (we'll see him on weekends for a while) until we are reunited next August and move to Port Hueneme. It's gonna be awesome.......
Monday, November 17, 2008
Last Day on the Job
Today was Jason's last day at work here at NAS Lemoore. He'll drive to Port Hueneme tomorrow to report to Naval Mobile Construction Batallion 5.
Last Thursday the people at Jason's work put on a little party in honor of his last week here in Lemoore. He was given a Navy Accomodation Medal for his accomplishments while working here. It was nice to hear his bosses speak so highly of Jason. I'm so proud of him and I've always admired his strong work ethic.
It will be interesting to see what Navy life is like at a different base. We've been a little spoiled here because his work is less than 2 miles away from home and his bosses have been very family oriented and accommodating.
The next 9 months are going to be a challenge for the Ray family. I know we'll get through it, but I'm a little anxious to see exactly how.
Last Thursday the people at Jason's work put on a little party in honor of his last week here in Lemoore. He was given a Navy Accomodation Medal for his accomplishments while working here. It was nice to hear his bosses speak so highly of Jason. I'm so proud of him and I've always admired his strong work ethic.
It will be interesting to see what Navy life is like at a different base. We've been a little spoiled here because his work is less than 2 miles away from home and his bosses have been very family oriented and accommodating.The next 9 months are going to be a challenge for the Ray family. I know we'll get through it, but I'm a little anxious to see exactly how.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Little Buddy
My little buddy has been sick the last few days. Nothing too serious, just some stomach trouble. I've decided there is one bonus to having a sick kid. He'll snuggle with me and let me hold him while we watch TV. Graham is usually moving all the time, so even though he's grouchy and not feeling too hot, I love feeling so needed.I also wanted to document a few things that he's been doing lately. It seems the last few months I've wanted to just freeze time. I don't want him to grow up so fast!
This picture is of Graham eating his breakfast. He hasn't been willing to sit in a high chair for well over 6 months now. He prefers to stand at the bar on a stool or chair. Here he is chowing on his breakfast of choice, a waffle.
He continues to get better and better at all his letters and their sounds. He points them out all the time and never really mixes them up or makes mistakes. We have a hard time understanding a lot of what he says, but his letter and the sounds they make come through loud and clear.
He also can count to 13! It's so dang cute to hear him do it.
When Graham falls down or hurts himself somehow, no matter how upset he is, if I say, "Are you okay?" he'll say, "I okay." He says it in this pitiful mumbly voice. It cracks me up every time.
He loves saying hi and bye to everyone. He never just says it.......he yells it as loud as he can. He throws in a "how are you" every once in a while, too.
Graham HATES holding my hand when we're walking (what 2 year old does).
He loves to sing and one of my favorite things is to hear my kids singing from the other room.
That's all I can think of right now. Maybe I'll add more later. Love you buddy! Hope you get feeling better soon!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Halloween in UTAH!!
Jason and I decided to load up the kids and head to Utah for Halloween weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and made it all the way to St. George and stayed the night with Jason's sister, Shellie. My neighbor and her two girls tagged along, so we had a van full of kiddos to entertain, but we survived.
We decided to surprise everyone and not tell them we were coming. We got into town around 5:00 pm on Halloween evening. We stopped at the Perry's house to put on the kids costumes and then headed over to Heidi's house (my sister). We parked the car a few houses down and sent Lucy and Graham to the door. Abby and Oliver happened to be walking out their front door about that same time and when Abby realized it was Lucy walking up to her, she was so excited! Her reaction alone made the whole trip worth it. She hugged her and lifted her up. It was so great! She ran inside to tell her mom we were there. Heidi didn't believe her until Lucy walked in. Heidi made Jason and I feel so loved. The surprise factor made it all the more joyful.
We finally got to meet our new niece, Ella, too!
We gathered up all the kids and trick or treated our way over to Mom and Dad's house. We sent Lucy up with her cousins and all the neighbor kids. We told her not to say anything until Grandma noticed her. She was so shocked to see her there and it made me so happy to walk up to the door and give my Mom and Dad a big hug.
Here's Graham in his 3rd Halloween costume of the year: Nemo
Saturday morning, Abby was baptized and confirmed. We were so glad we got to spend that special day with her. She's growing up so fast. We love Abby and we're so glad she's a part of our family.
That night we went to dinner with Jason's siblings. Jamie and Marty didn't know we were coming, so it was fun surprising them, too. It was so fun catching up with them and just hanging out.
Sunday morning we went to see Grandpa and Nana Ray. It was nice spending time with them and having the kids interact with them. After that, Jason took the kids over to Jamie's house to play with her little ones.
We spent most of the time just sitting around my Mom and Dad's house visiting and eating too much. Good times! I love spending time with family! We got a couple days filled with lots of laughter and memories. Even though the drive was long, we are so glad we went! Only 44 days until we drive back for Christmas!!
We decided to surprise everyone and not tell them we were coming. We got into town around 5:00 pm on Halloween evening. We stopped at the Perry's house to put on the kids costumes and then headed over to Heidi's house (my sister). We parked the car a few houses down and sent Lucy and Graham to the door. Abby and Oliver happened to be walking out their front door about that same time and when Abby realized it was Lucy walking up to her, she was so excited! Her reaction alone made the whole trip worth it. She hugged her and lifted her up. It was so great! She ran inside to tell her mom we were there. Heidi didn't believe her until Lucy walked in. Heidi made Jason and I feel so loved. The surprise factor made it all the more joyful.
We finally got to meet our new niece, Ella, too!
We gathered up all the kids and trick or treated our way over to Mom and Dad's house. We sent Lucy up with her cousins and all the neighbor kids. We told her not to say anything until Grandma noticed her. She was so shocked to see her there and it made me so happy to walk up to the door and give my Mom and Dad a big hug.
Here's Graham in his 3rd Halloween costume of the year: NemoOur trip was short, but we packed it full of fun and games.
Saturday morning, Abby was baptized and confirmed. We were so glad we got to spend that special day with her. She's growing up so fast. We love Abby and we're so glad she's a part of our family. That night we went to dinner with Jason's siblings. Jamie and Marty didn't know we were coming, so it was fun surprising them, too. It was so fun catching up with them and just hanging out.
Sunday morning we went to see Grandpa and Nana Ray. It was nice spending time with them and having the kids interact with them. After that, Jason took the kids over to Jamie's house to play with her little ones.
We spent most of the time just sitting around my Mom and Dad's house visiting and eating too much. Good times! I love spending time with family! We got a couple days filled with lots of laughter and memories. Even though the drive was long, we are so glad we went! Only 44 days until we drive back for Christmas!!
Trunk or Treat and more
I'm a little late on the Halloween post, but here it goes.
We attempted to put an alligator costume on Graham that we had borrowed from a neighbor, but he would have nothing to do with it. We decided to put him in his favorite Spider-Man pajamas and he was ready to party. Whenever we put them on him, he says, "MAN!" meaning, of course, "SPIDERMAN!"
Our friends, Gavin and Hayley joined us for the evening. We had a great time showing off the costumes. A lot of the primary kids were wondering what I was dressed up as. Not a good thing to hear when you aren't wearing any kind of costume. They were confused by my hair. They hadn't seen it dark yet and I wore it curly (which I rarely do). I had to let a couple of the kids pull on my hair so they would believe it wasn't a wig! Check out the shorts and flip-flops I'm sportin'. I think it was like 80 degrees that day.
Later that week, a bunch of us got our kids together to take a group picture outside. The kids all cooperated very well. Graham let us put on the alligator costume, but as you can see, it was a little snug. He didn't seem to mind too much.
Our Halloween started with a trunk or treat with our ward the weekend before. Lucy was an adorable fairy. She wanted to be Tinkerbell, but when she spotted this purple number she decided to be "Tinkerbell's friend". Isn't she adorable? She was soooo excited about wearing a little makeup or "eyeblash" as she calls it.
We attempted to put an alligator costume on Graham that we had borrowed from a neighbor, but he would have nothing to do with it. We decided to put him in his favorite Spider-Man pajamas and he was ready to party. Whenever we put them on him, he says, "MAN!" meaning, of course, "SPIDERMAN!"
Our friends, Gavin and Hayley joined us for the evening. We had a great time showing off the costumes. A lot of the primary kids were wondering what I was dressed up as. Not a good thing to hear when you aren't wearing any kind of costume. They were confused by my hair. They hadn't seen it dark yet and I wore it curly (which I rarely do). I had to let a couple of the kids pull on my hair so they would believe it wasn't a wig! Check out the shorts and flip-flops I'm sportin'. I think it was like 80 degrees that day. 
Later that week, a bunch of us got our kids together to take a group picture outside. The kids all cooperated very well. Graham let us put on the alligator costume, but as you can see, it was a little snug. He didn't seem to mind too much.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
My F-18 Ride
FYI This was posted by Jason not Maggie
Monday I had the opportunity to take the ride I have been trying to get since I got here 3 years ago. My time here in Lemoore I have had multiple projects working around the jets. From building a new air traffic control tower to replacing the lights on the runway. I have been around them, watched them take off and land, felt the ground shake as they fly over and felt the heat from the engines as they fire up. I finally got the rare opportunity to actually take a back seat ride. It was a pretty amazing experience. I gained a whole new appreciation for the pilots that are able to fly these jets while experiencing the extreme stresses that are placed on the body while performing the maneuvers.
I flew with an instructor pilot who was participating and training evolution with the student pilots. The student pilots would find us, lock on their radar and then we would try to break the radar lock. I survived the take off and some of the initial maneuvering pretty well, but once we got into the consecutive maneuvers, trying to break the radar lock, I was not able to handle things quite as well. That being said, this was an amazing opportunity I am so glad I was able to experience. Definitely one of the best perks that have come with being in the navy. 
Monday I had the opportunity to take the ride I have been trying to get since I got here 3 years ago. My time here in Lemoore I have had multiple projects working around the jets. From building a new air traffic control tower to replacing the lights on the runway. I have been around them, watched them take off and land, felt the ground shake as they fly over and felt the heat from the engines as they fire up. I finally got the rare opportunity to actually take a back seat ride. It was a pretty amazing experience. I gained a whole new appreciation for the pilots that are able to fly these jets while experiencing the extreme stresses that are placed on the body while performing the maneuvers.
I flew with an instructor pilot who was participating and training evolution with the student pilots. The student pilots would find us, lock on their radar and then we would try to break the radar lock. I survived the take off and some of the initial maneuvering pretty well, but once we got into the consecutive maneuvers, trying to break the radar lock, I was not able to handle things quite as well. That being said, this was an amazing opportunity I am so glad I was able to experience. Definitely one of the best perks that have come with being in the navy. 
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Copy Cat
I've seen this on many a blog the last few days and decided to join in. You're supposed to go to your fourth file and then the fourth picture in the file is what you post. This is what I got:
This is December of 2005, so Lucy was about 2 1/2 when this was taken. I absolutely loved this outfit that my cousin Jaime gave her. I hope we have another girl someday that can wear it.
This is December of 2005, so Lucy was about 2 1/2 when this was taken. I absolutely loved this outfit that my cousin Jaime gave her. I hope we have another girl someday that can wear it.
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