I hope that everyone had a great Christmas! I was so busy with work that I didn't get around to doing Christmas Cards so consider yourself carded!

Guess who I made-out with last night! I don't mind sending out a little sugar to get some bling under the tree.

Last night Spencer played Santa at the Eagle Kids Academy holiday program. Of course, the kids sat with Santa and I took pictures. Spencer did an AMAZING job being Santa. He drove all dressed up and did his best to get everyones attention. He was such a good sport! I was so proud that he was willing to do it and that he did such an amazing job.

Didn't mean to post the pics of the kids being "special" I meant to post the turkey pics. Since I think that my friends and family should see what I have to put up with, I am not going to deleat them. Here are the pics of the turkey.

What a fabulous Monday. Mady came home with the most adorable Turkey! Her preschool teacher Miss Janet does such fun projects with the kids. I am so thankful for her energy! I think that we may have to make a turkey family and put them on the plant shelf next year.

After I dropped Mady off, I make my Monday trip to Goodwill. Sometimes if I am lucky, I get to see Trixie. If I haven't told you about him/her, then you wouldn't know about the man/woman that I see there on Monday mornings. For some reason, when I see him/her, it facinates me. The man/woman has boots in every color and every time I see him/her they are a different color. Anyway, last week I saw this buggy there and wouldn't pay the full price. Today, the color tag was %50 off. I was so excited! I am going to restore it and had to get a before picture in. I think this will be the perfect picture prop for 1-3 year olds! I can't wait to post a pic when I am finished with it!

My Madyson turned 5!!!!! It was a really pathetic birthday but she is forgiving. I was sick all day long. It is really hard to make a fabulous birthday cake and be throwing up all day. I surrendered A LOT of control and let the kids decorate the cake. I learned how to make fondant and we had a blast cutting it out. I would rather have them play with fondant for cupcakes or cake rather than cookies. It was easy to work with and I didn't freak out too much while they did it. The cake didn't turn out how it was supposed to me in my head but Mady seemed to like it.

Time to play catch up. For the last few weeks, my time has been spent in fast forward motion. I don't know how I have had the energy to get through the last month, but I have! We went to Rexburg for Halloween. I did a few sessions there and of course celebrated the holiday with my brother and sisters. When we were getting ready to go trick or treating, Ethan threw up so I stayed behind and spent a quiet evening with my sick little boy. Unfortunately, he started the domino effect and just about everyone ended up with the flu bug. Sorry guys! It seems like every time I get to together with my family someone ends up getting sick and shares with everyone else. At least I got some cute pics pre-puke!

In the middle of last month I was the photographer at a wedding. The most beautiful bride was a serious trooper as it poured rain during her outdoor reception. Before I left, I told her that I wanted to do an additional session so that she could have some dry pics. Long story short, since her dress was in serious need of dry cleaning, I suggested we do a "Trash the Dress" session. We didn't literally trash her wedding dress, but we didn't worry about getting dirty. It was SO MUCH FUN! I still get butterflies in my tummy when I think about how amazing they looked. Here are a few pics. The day I fit in my wedding dress again, I am SO doing this....

Could you just eat these kids up? Most of you don't know who they are so I wouldn't blame you if you gave me an eye roll just now. These are my nephews and my niece. Now couldn't you just eat them up? I took these out front of my Grandpa Pap's house. When we were visiting him, I spotted that Jeep across the street and lucky for me my SIL will let me do whatever I want to when it comes to pics. It makes super excited for when Ethan gets big enough to do a "homeless brothers" photo shoot together.

Today I really really really should have been cleaning. Sunday was a very lazy day and I had tons of housework to do. I had an awful nights sleep and didn't want to spend my energy cleaning, only a crazy person would do that. Instead, I finished a project that I didn't have time to do but did anyway. Last Thursday my friend/cousin showed me a post from one of my other friends blog. A lady named Holly is crazy talented and she did this to her wall for her son. Hers was WAY better, but this turned out good enough. The only thing I bought for this project was the wood frame. I got it for a whopping $1.50 at the Goodwill here. If my parents happen to read this, the green frame is that random frame that you guys left at my house. You thought you were being funny....thanks for the frame!

Guess who has a little junk in his trunk? I took this pic yesterday, doesn't he look yummy? Ethan is doing so much better. He is over 18 pounds and on the charts!!! He LOVES to eat. He eats solids at least three times a day. I have been blessed with the insight to make my own baby food so that he doesn't break our food budget. I can't even explain how much I love and adore this little boy. He is the spirit in our home that makes it complete. He smiles so easily, it is amazing what a toothless smile can do for you sometimes.

I have TONS to post. Our internet was out for a while and I have stayed nice and busy. I am starting to fill up my calendar with photo session, I LOVE FALL!!!! I was released from my calling as primary counselor and put in as a nursery leader. After being over the nurseries, I am more than happy to serve there. It is a tough job but I would rather be there than anywhere else. Carson has started the 2nd grade and I am so happy to have him back in school. So far he hasn't been to the Principal's office, so the year is starting out great. Mady has been to one day of preschool. I feel SO blessed to have her where she is. I love her teacher and love what she will be doing this year. Mady loves to learn and is SO ready for Kindergarten but missing the cut off by a month. She will be a know it all next year but what else will be new?

I will post lots of fun pics soon! So much to do and not enough hours in the day!

SMOOCHES!

My wheat field is ready! I have no idea when they are going to harvest it so I am willing to do some sessions ASAP for anyone who is interested. My sessions start at $50 for the first 4 people and picture CD startS at $65. Call me or email me at mjrayphotography@gmail.com

Tonight, I am sitting at the dinner table with one of my dearest friends in all the land. After the Ray Reunion, my friend Lorie and her kidlets joined me and my kidlets in Pine. We had the entire cabin to ourselves and loved every minute of it. You would think that two women who love to take pics and scrapbook would have had their cameras out the entire time together. We didn't take a single picture while we were up there!!!! I guess we assume that such wonderful memories will be burned into our brains, never to escape!

During the reunion I had my camera out a lot. If I didn't have Ethan in my arms, I had the camera. Sadly enough, it felt like they weighed the same. One of my favorite parts of the reunion was letting Carson be free! He and two "cousins" found a "TP" and turned it into a secret fort. They weren't going to let me up there so I decided to go unannounced. I did manage to take a few pictures and this is one of my favorites. Yes, those are worms that Carson put in the bottom of the water bottle!

I am going to Santa Barbara in the morning to spend a few weeks with Spencer's parents. Spencer went back to Boise last Monday and I won't see him again until next Friday. I didn't realize how long our break apart was going to be! Oy, I kinda miss my boyfriend.

Poor Sadie didn't want to go outside! This is the last picture that I took of her hiding under my bed. Yep, that means she is gone. I turned into a softy and let her hang out with us Saturday night. That led to letting her sleep in our bed. Normally, I would have told Spencer to forget it, but I was the one who made her follow me to bed. Truth be told, I will miss her. I won't miss her poop, her hair or the fact that she has eaten every one of the ripe tomato's out of the garden.

We donated her to the Meridian Police Department. We had a Sheriff come out and test her and he said she would be ideal to train to be a drug dog. How exciting is that? I was bummed because the Sheriff showed up while we were at church. Luckily, Nicole and Rustin were home (seriously, I am so LUCKY they were home) they talked to him and he wasn't going to wait until church got out. They weren't playing hookie, they attended Kimberlee's homecoming. Anyway, Nicole DROVE over to church and found me to come home. I found Spencer and he went home to give Sadie away. I wanted to get pics of her leaving with him, but I had to stay at church. So, this is the picture I ended up with! I want to give a HUGE thank you to my dear friend Cheryl who helped me find a place for Sadie poo poo pants to be, and to Nicole for knowing how important it was for us to give her away. Seriously, I would have flipped my lid if we would have missed the Sheriff!

After we got home, we were telling the kids that Sadie is gone. Carson didn't care, he said "oh." Mady said, "It took FOREVER for us to get rid of her." I guess that means is wasn't a bad decision. Poor Spencer, I hope that he will forgive me some day soon!

My sister STEPHANIE kinda loves me. She sent me this perfect bouquet of CHOCOLATE. I can't think of any better way for a sister to show some love. The balloon cracks me up too. Carson was a little worried at first but he finally gets the joke. Thanks Steph, you are so sweet and so thoughtful. Love you too!

I decided to start out my 3rd decade with a dramatic change. As I am sure you can tell from the pictures, I cut my hair a bit. It was more than 10 inches so I was able to donate it. I was really excited about that part. I will have Nicole take a pic of my tomorrow. My hair dresser did a PERFECT job especially without seeing a pic of what I wanted. It is super short in the back with some length in the front. Spencer approves, I am pretty sure that he wants to make out with me now.

Here is a pic of Carson's 48 hour hair cut. Don't think that when I say I won't finish cutting your hair if you don't cooperate that I am kidding. The funny thing is, he is totally embarrassed. You wouldn't know it by looking in the pics but whenever anyone would say "hey cool hair" he would bury his head in my side. The rest will come off tomorrow!

I have to be thankful that Mady doesn't understand how ghetto she is. I won't buy a plastic pool for her to play in because they ruin the lawn and the dog will eat it. Thankfully, she LOVES the small bucket, why ruin a good thing. She better enjoy it before Ethan is on the move cause the bucket of water will be outlawed.

After reading a few comments, I realized it might be helpful to explain why we are trying to sell our house. We are simply trying to get the equity out of the house, not that their is much left, stinkin' market. Since Spencer can build at cost, the plan is to build every two years. I don't want to move and am not super anxious to sell, but it would be helpful financially. We have looked around for some lots to build on and liked what we saw in Caldwell. I really want to stay around here, but I will go where it makes the most sense.

Ethan got weighed again today, he is up to 12 lbs. 12 oz. I have an appointment to see a dietitian when we get back from our three week vacation!

On that note, I am going to be gone for three weeks! We are going to family reunions in Arizona and California. They are a week and a half apart so I will hang out in Mesa for a few days after the first reunion and then go over to Cali. I can't even explain how excited I am. It will be awesome to see family and also my mostest bestest love in all of Mesa, Lorie. I can't wait to hang out with her and her kids. They are so adorable and I can't wait to attack them with my camera....oh it is going to be a fun vacation!

A few things to play catch up-

Ethan update. Last week he was weighing it at 12 pounds. That is almost three pounds in one month. He LOVES to eat. I feed him solids three times a day!

We finally got our house listed. I am not exactly chomping at the bit to get it sold. I don't want to leave this area. When I say area, I mean square mile, I love hit here. We will see what happens!

I am trying my best to get rid of the dog. I listed her on craigslist and didn't get one call. I was a little too honest in my listing, Spencer wasn't too impressed.

I found the PERFECT wheat field for a family photo shoot. I can't wait for it to turn yellow, it is going to be awesome. If anyone wants to set up a time to get family pics done, call me!

Other than that, life goes on!

In July, Spencer's family is having the "Ray Family Reunion." I am wanting any of the cousins who check my blog to leave a comment as to if they are attending or not. After Grandpas very generous offer, we are going! I am so excited to get to go back to Arizona and to the cabin. The last time I was at the cabin, was for a retreat that I hosted and oh boy was that an experience. Anyway, I would love to know who I can look forward to seeing there.

One thing that I enjoy in life is a nice hefty storm. I want thunder and lightning with some girth behind it. Today I was able to enjoy just that. The rain came down so hard and so fast, I just stood at the window watching the rain gutters over flow. It was awesome! I wasn't going to take a pic of the rain because I would have been soaked. It was blowing all over and I didn't want to get my baby wet. (baby as in my camera...) So here are some after shots in the slide show. It wasn't until approximately 6:01 that I went into my room and remembered that my window was open. My side of the bed got soaked! Oops! The wind was no joke, my carpet is wet about 6 feet into the room. Still, it was awesome and got me all excited!

The Flood of 2008

I have a baby Ethan update. Last week I took him in for his 4 mo. appointment and to get his shots. The doctor wouldn't give him his shots because the poor little boy only weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz. That was 5 oz. less than his 2 month appointment. He weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. when he was born so the doc was very concerned. He told me that I needed to have Ethan eating formula exclusively. I tried my very best not to break out into tears. Of course I want what is the best for my baby, but I am a very lazy mom. I don't like to clean bottles or mix formula, yeah, I am THAT lazy. I have always loved nursing and would do it no matter how much pain I was in.

The doctor told me to bring him in for another weigh-in in a week and that was today. He weighed in at 10 lbs. 10 oz. I can't tell you how good that made me feel. It totally stinks that my boobs are broken but maybe I will finally get a big fat baby! I just feel bad that my poor baby has been starving for the first 4 months of his life.

I think that I am closer to coming up for air! This month has been pretty busy. Between work, church and family, I have not taken much time to blog. I know, you have been missing me, I am used to it.

Last weekend, I planned my very first primary activity. It turned out pretty darn good. We had 90ish primary kids there and it was a blast. Our bishop was a good sport and made the party a hit.

For my mothers day gift I requested that the family take pictures. We stole our neighbor/cousins couch and took it to the park. I couldn't get the idea out of my head. Poor Spencer, I know that he thinks I am nuts. My sweet cousin Mandie met me there. She has been doing photography for a few months now and I needed her to take my pictures. They turned out great, now I just need to decide which one to print. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Happy Birthday Carson my love! Carson is 7 today, I can't believe he is so big! After he got home from school today, we put together a dinosaur puzzle thingy that was for ages 7+. We have hit the BIG TIME. Just a few pics of pre-party boredom.

I have been tagged by my adorable cousin Audrie.

7+ Random/Weird facts about me

1. I can't stand to use metal silverware. If we are out, Spencer will search wherever we are to find me a plastic spoon or fork. I can taste the metal and to touch crappy silverware makes me cringe.

2. I map out my driving route WAY before I get in the car. We are talking days in advance if I am planning to run errands.

3. I have wet my pants three times this year.

4. I will be turning the big 30 in July.

5. If I wasn't such a chicken, I think it would be cool to be a mortician.

6. I am really creepy.

7. I have to have at least one project in the works or I get depressed, literally. Crafting is a wonderful form of therapy for me.

8. BONUS I think that my posts without pictures are boring. I found this one of me and Spencer when we were 22.

Carson had his first T-ball game last Tuesday. Oh my, it was a thrilling three innings. He thinks he is such a big shot but he is alone in that thought. If he knew a thing about what he was doing, I might be a bit proud but he is clueless. One funny thing about his team, two of the boys on it are in Madyson's pre-school class. Pretty much how that happened.....Carson it too old for his team and Mady is too young for her class. Either way, it cracks me up!

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Scooter is 3 months! He is still so stinkin' skinny but that is how Carson was too. I am trying to fatten him up the best I know how.

This little boy is kinda freaking me out. He got his nickname Scooter because well, he scoots. I put him down in his crib with his feet at one end. By the time he is awake and making noises, he his head is at the other. He has been doing this for about two months now.

After I started to call him this, Carson asked why and I told him. Carson said, "Mom, I want to call him Little Sucker since he sucks his fingers." Very creative son, but it's a no go.

I haven't posted in a while. For some reason my house won't clean itself. What is up with that?
I wanted to post my adventures in snorkeling. Let me start this out by saying, Spencer feels really bad. His dad went out before us and we went on our own not really knowing where the good spots were.
Anyway, we got the gear set up and ready to go. I was brave and posed for a picture. Can you believe that I posted that? I know, I should be charging money, but for you my friends, this ones on me.

I was not excited about this but I am always the party pooper. I have lost my drive for adventure. The only times I was adventurous was when I was trying to impress a guy. Well, Spencer is officially mine so I turned into a chicken pretty fast. Once we got into the water, I panicked a bit. It just isn't normal for me to breath under water. I couldn't get it under control at first but fought through it and started to swim and "explore." We were headed out and it wasn't super clear water, plus I am near sighted, so I was kinda thinkin' whoopee.

Spencer was trying to teach me the underwater signs for communication. Don't you think we should have done this on the shore? Luckily, I am a pretty bright girl so I knew what he was trying to say to me. After a few minutes, he pointed out a sea cucumber. Me being the big fat chicken that I am started to flail my arms, kick my legs because I was pretty sure that it was one of eight tentacles that belonged to a hungry octopus that was going to attach itself to my face. It just kinda freaked me out.
We got to the point where we were at the break of the water so the next task was to get on the other side of it. HOLY COW that was not fun. I kept loosing track of Spencer and was getting really freaked out. It is really hard to breath through a snorkel and hyperventilate at the same time. We got on the other side and the ocean floor was not as close as it was anymore. This did not impress me. I said to Spencer that I wanted to swim parallel to the beach and find what we could see. I was getting tired and was not seeing the fascinating sea life that I was promised. Every little thing that did move freaked me out anyway so I wasn't hatin' on it. I told Spencer I was done and started to head back in. This would have been just fine if we were around the reef. I am so inexperienced with the ocean and tide and rocks. The waves were bringing us back in but not without smacking us against the rocks. I was instructed to let the waves take me in. OK that is fine but these huge rocks sticking out of the ocean could split my skull in two. Once the waves hit, all I could see was bubbles. I put my hands out in front of me but the waves brought me in too fast and I got smacked against a few rocks. I tried to sit/pin myself against some taller rocks but it was still hard to feel safe. As I am sitting there, trying not to die, the lovely life guard swam out on her surf board. I SO wanted to tell her to shove over and let me go to shore with her, but I still had 5 feet of rocks to get through. I told her I was fine and decided to put on my big girl panties and get out of this mess. I figured, worse case scenario, I wet my pants from being scared to death. Lucky for me, it would be between me and the ocean.

Once we got in a safe spot, Spencer's dad came over to us feeling so bad for what we had just done. They told me to go over to another spot cause they saw some eels. First of all, I am tired and I want to get out of the ocean. Second, an eel? Sorry that does not impress me, that scared the crap out of me. So I told Spencer to go on without me and swam to shore.
I didn't take pictures of my injuries because I am pretty sure it is against my religion to photograph such spots. My poor little bum bum took the tole. It is the largest area of the body so I shouldn't be surprised.
I feel so lucky that I was able to live through this near death experience in order to tell this tale. It is going to have to take a serious bribe and many gifts to get me to do that again. It just wasn't that fun for me. I am a mother and a wife and am happy to sit on the beach and chase away the chickens.