Wedding Pics

I know it's been a while since I promised wedding pics. I've been busy/working/lazy/sick. I had some great memories looking through our pics. It was such a wonderful day...I wish I remembered it with more detail. I just remember the warm, glowy feeling it gave (and still does give) me....Here they are enjoy!

This one is my all time favorite. It was one of the first ones taken and I could have been perfectly happy stopping here....plus then I wouldn't have gotten all sunburnt.
My sexy hubby. Doesn't he look all GQ?

Here I am in my dress. 6 years, 3 kids and 20 lbs ago...
Since watching Say yes to the dress, I wish I could wear it again. Semi-unfortunately it is now professionally cleaned and preserved in a box I can look at it, but not wear it. I told Steven I might just have to buy one at a thrift store for those occasional urges. I'm a dork...oh well.


The fountain and lush landscaping at the Oakland temple. Check out those clouds....it was sprinkling on the way to the temple and I almost started crying, but the weather was perfect...not a drop while we were there.


Check out all that beautiful landscaping and the temple in the background...this is the opposite side of the temple grounds from the last pic.

I remember saying to Steven about this point, "Think we will be done soon? My face is getting tired from all this smiling..." Standing on one of the bridges...Those palm trees look awesome at Christmas all decked out with lights.

The wedding cake. My mom and grandma made this fondant creation...their very first one. I know you can't see it too well, it has our initials "SRT" and little hearts. Don't tell my mom I told you this, but there were only 2 pics taken of the cake, this one and one of us cutting it...because the layers shifted in driving it over to the church and my mom and grandma touched it up and said to the photographer to take a picture only from this view so you couldn't see the leaning or cracks in the fondant. (Oh, dang...my mom reads this blog....Mom the cake looked perfect! Promise! I was/am totally thrilled with how it turned out!)

Okay, you talked me into it...Here is the other pic. Notice the slight leaning...To be perfectly honest, I didn't notice a thing was wrong until someone told me. And it didn't look bad at all...the master cakemakers covered it up perfectly.

Our first dance.


My lovely flowers. Rory, a lady in my family's ward does flowers....like gorgeous arrangements and on a budget. She is a miracle worker. This was my temple/tossing bouquet.


A couple in black and white. Check out the view of Oakland in the background. This one is from the observation deck of the temple.

Ah, kissing...I really like this one too.


The wedding party...My bro-in-law Matt, Steven's brothers Adam, David and Aaron, my best friends Jacosa and Jessica, and my sisters Nicole and Melissa...Once again, check out those awesome flowers. And yes I know I'm sitting weird...I had a corset on and had to remain fairly straight up. The thing that kills me is how young everyone looks...


I hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane with me.

THE END.

Slacker

It's been a while since I've posted...I'm such a slacker and rather busy. So catch up is in order. What has happened since I last posted....(Warning. This post is kinda long...)

**Kim went to Girl's Camp from June 14th - 17th and had a blast. It was stake camp this year. The theme was testimonies. She said that she had lots of fun. No pics, because she was so NOT taking my digital camera. We sent along a point-and-shoot camera. One day the pics will get developed.

**On the 15th, Logan celebrated his 5th birthday. It is amazing how the time is just flying by. He will be starting Kindergarten in August and I can't believe it. He is so ready! My 1st born boy is just so amazing to me. He is genuinely a happy kid. Doesn't this pic just say it all...


Isn't that cheesy grin to die for. Every time I tell him to smile, I get that. He is so eager about everything in life. He is so eager to learn. He has been reading and spelling for a couple years now. He is learning his math facts and putting using them in practical applications. For his birthday, he got 5 one dollar bills from the Birds. (To which he commented, "Mom, I think Melissa sent me $5 because I turned 5 today.") He counted each as he folded it and put it in his new piggy bank (Also from the Birds.) He got some more money from Grandma Ray and quickly added the two sums together to announce his grand total. He loves to dance. He loves to laugh. He loves to sort laundry. He loves to read. He loves to cuddle up on my lap and snuggle with me. He loves to make up songs and stories. He walks around the house with the mini-Children's Songbook singing Primary songs for hours on end. He loves the computer, especially the educational games. I don't know if that child will ever get tired of learning...such a wonderful blessing.

Here he is cheesing for the camera. (Not sure what gang sign he is throwing out, but if he's the ring leader I wouldn't mind joining.)


**Next up, on the 17th of June Steven and I enjoyed out 6th wedding anniversary. Wow, how has time flown. I'd post a wedding pic, but they are upstairs on the other computer and I'd hate to wake Steven up...maybe I'll remember tomorrow because I have some really cute ones.

Just to show what a wonderful man I'm married to...guess what we had planned for our anniversary....You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you. We were going to go to the church cannery and can 26 cases worth of food. Exactly what you'd like to do on our anniversary, right? I think not, but I have wanted to go for months and wanted to go with Steven so he could help. With him already having the day off work I floated the idea of going then, fully anticipating he would balk. Instead, he agreed to go because he knew it was something I really wanted to do and he didn't care so long as he got to spend time with me. Isn't that just awesome...now you see a little of the reason I married him. Turns out, they were doing inventory that day, so after driving all the way over there they were closed. Oh well, we will just go another day. (Hopefully soon...)

To complete my wonderful day, he let me relax and watch "Glee" and "Yes to the Dress" on Netflix as he cooked us the greatest dinner from scratch....Beef Wellington, Twice Baked Potatoes, Honey-glazed Carrots and Green Beans, Fried Zucchini and Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries with Strawberry Sorbet for dessert. It was delicious! I couldn't ask for a greater man to spend Eternity with....I really couldn't!

**June 20th, we flew my mom into town. She watched our kids while Steven and I took a little vacation getaway (the one we had planned for our 5th anniversary until a surprise baby decided to show up and nix that plan). After much debate, we decided to go over to Twin Falls. Not too far, some stuff to do and a temple in town to take advantage of...well, except the temple was closed for cleaning the whole time we were there...Oh well, we still had lots of fun checking out antique shops and the planetarium and going mini golfing.

Here we are at the Twin Falls temple. We figured we would probably get some sort of blessings for making an attempt to attend the temple. The grounds were beautiful of course, and it was nice to reflect on the day we got married.


For something to do, we decided to "hike" to Shoshone Falls. Um...wasn't a hike at all. At first we ended up on the wrong side of the falls...thanks google maps...but it was pretty all the same. The view from the North side of the falls.


Here we are with the river leading up to the falls it the background. Don't we look happy!?! We really, really are!


Here we are on the South side of the falls. (The touristy side.) If you follow where my finger is pointing, that's about were we were for that last pic...see how much google maps sucks sometimes...But it was kinda fun seeing the falls from a different view.


Ah, the view of the south side of the falls. We spent some time reading the plaques (which I enjoyed, Steven probably just tolerated it for my sake) and talked about the wonder that is this awesome Earth we live on...The trip was fun and a chance to relax, slow down and enjoy some life without the constant demands of kids....something we haven't had in our whole marriage. (Remember, Kim was 6 when we got married and if you can do math, you probably figured out that Logan was born 2 days shy of our 1st wedding anniversary.)

I think we realized just how much we love each other, our kids and well....our lives. It was wonderful...and a big thanks to Grandma Andersen for holding down the fort. Mom stayed a few more days and helped me with some sewing projects around the house (pics to come soon) and we had lots of fun chatting and shopping.

So far this summer has been great! Looking forward to more fun to come.

ARGH!!!

I bet you thought I was going to whine about how sucky my life is....well, I could, but I'll refrain for the time being...

Instead check out these handsome young men living out their deepest desires....to be a pirate.

They are so dang adorable running around and yelling "ARGH!" I think I've even heard a "Walk the plank." They've even got Evan joining in with "AAAAAAGGGG". Too dang adorable.

After a few days of sword fighting at the park with sticks and pretending to be pirates, I decided they needed to dress the part. Thanks to the dollar tree (and my fabric stash) these young men have an eye patch, a hook hand, bandanna and telescope. Now to get the foam swords out of the closet and they will be ready for some major looting and plundering.

We got in!!!

I just got off the phone with the elementary school we have been trying to get Logan admitted to and we are in! Currently we are set for PM kindergarten, but they have me on the waiting list in case an AM spot opens. (Which I think would be best for me personally...)

Since we realized Logan would be starting Kindergarten shortly (about a year and a half ago), Steven and I have been trying to decide what to do. You see, Logan isn't your typical kindergartner. He reads at about a 1st grade reading level. He already knows lots of addition and subtraction facts (in fact, dad has started in on multiplication because Logan just soaks it up.) He would be so bored in a "typical" class.

Plus the elementary schools in our area suck. Don't get me wrong...Kim had great teachers, but the administration just sucked. The principal (from what I'm told) is just "serving her time" until she can get a cushy job. When we had to contact them about a boy in Kim's class that should have been allowed in the classroom, we didn't get much help. And when I inquired about testing for admittance to the challenge program at the middle school I was given totally wrong information and I'm still peeved about that. So as you can see, I just couldn't go through that all over again.

We thought about homeschooling. Which would have been ideal because we could go at his pace and cover things that really interested him in depth. But I just feel there is such an important social aspect to school that I couldn't imagine doing without. He would miss out on so much. I think of middle school and high school sports. I think of prom and school clubs. Not to mention, working in a group environment you learn problem solving skills that could be transferred to the workplace.

But my main fear...Logan is such an easy going kid and not hard to get along with, but he is happy in his own little world and doesn't go searching for friends...I feared that if he was homeschooled, he would socially awkward. That weird kid that doesn't understand what is going on in the world. Not quite understanding how to get along with other people on different levels. Not knowing about the new "in" thing...even if he doesn't get to buy one, at least he would know about it.

So after much discussion and some prayer, we looked into our options and discovered this magnet school. With a math and science based approach. Perfect for our little engineer. We submitted our application and crossed our fingers (while formulating a back-up plan.) So imagine my dismay when we got a letter saying we didn't make it in from the lottery and we on the waiting list. I mourned a little and looked harder at my back-up plan.

So imagine my excitement when I got the call saying we were in. I'm so juiced! I can now plan. I know we will start school August 22nd. Now I just need to find out if we are AM or PM for sure and talk to my boss about arranging my work schedule. Worse case scenario, we aren't able to work out a schedule at work and I just fill in for people...or work Saturdays...or just quit.

But at least we got in!!! All the rest will fall into place according to the plan that is meant for my family...guess we'll see what that happens to be in a few months at the latest.

Happy 1st Birthday Evan!

Here I was a year ago today....the proud mother of my 4th child. My precious 3rd little boy. My last baby. (Luckily, I'm not that fat anymore...but because I'm still "nursing" I am still fat.)


Not too happy to be away from mom. (I guess things haven't changed too much.)


A close up of that adorable, fat little, smooshie face.


Fast forward to the present day...My little man turned 1 yesterday! It has been a bittersweet occasion for me. While I'm excited that he is growing and developing, I'm sad that my last little baby isn't a baby anymore. Tell me that isn't the cutest 1 year old...I dare you!


Steven took the day off work to celebrate. The day started off with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, along with a big cup of whole milk...which he slowing liking more and more. Then off for pictures and some shopping. Then his free Iceberg birthday milkshake...sure, Steven and I are eating most of it, but he will get a little. Nikki and the kids came over for dinner, dessert and presents...

Here is Evan with the traditional 1st birthday pizza dinner.

Here is Steven's "artist interpretation" (which means setting the camera on the table and taking pictures "lazy man" style) of Evan eating dinner. Look at that intensity...


Here is Evan mad that the pizza is gone and dad is taking way too long decorating his cake...So he decided to play with the table cloth.


Ah, finally the cake is here. He didn't waste any time before diggin' in...


Remember the other boys and their 1st birthday candle? (Logan touched the flame, burnt himself and cried. Owen touched the flame, didn't care and moved onto the cake.) Evan dug into the cake covering his fingers in frosting and then used them to extinguish the candle. Such a smart little boy!


Double fistin' the cake...first the right....


Then the left...


Then a good smooshin' handful...


The cake is now gone...what do you have for me now?


Oh, yeah...the red velvet cake ice cream (yes, Neelie...you heard me right.) OH...so delicious! Highly recommend it. Blue Bunny brand.


On to the fun part...opening presents. Here he is unwrapping the race car from mom and dad.


Then the "wheelie" cars from Logan and Owen. Notice the ramp box in the back...surely the best toy of the day since all the kids were climbing over each other to play with it. (Don't say anything, it might embarrass her, but I even caught Kim playing with it earlier today.)


Here are all the kids crowding around the birthday boy wanting to hand him presents or help open them. (John, Logan, Owen and Evan are checking out the cars...Katelyn looking at her present a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD...which BTW, we watched last night and AGAIN today.)


Here is Evan enjoying his present from Kimmy. A Squeaker, I mean Rattle...don't ask.

Thanks for all the presents. Thanks to the Richardsons for coming over and celebrating with with us. (Plus watching my little bedlam-ities, so Steven and I could step out for a little while during nap time.) It was a wonderful day for all!

Happy Birthday my Sweet Baby Boy!

Meridian Idaho Temple

For those you who listened to conference Saturday morning you heard the awesome announcement about the temple that is going to be built in Meridian Idaho. I am so excited! You don't even know. This is like an answer to my unofficial prayers...let me tell you the story.

The end of December, I was driving with my family over to Idaho Falls for my cousin's wedding. My dad wanted to stop by the Twin Falls temple since he hasn't been there yet. As we were driving by and I looked at that magnificent building I was a little sad we didn't make it to the open house...keep in mind here that I was 9 months pregnant, it was the middle of August and it was a 2 hour drive EACH way...so you can probably understand why we didn't go, but I was still a little sad.

You see, I understand the importance of the temple in our lives here and our future in the worlds to come. I appreciate and honor the covenants that I made in the temple many years ago. I would like for my children to have a greater understanding and appreciation for the temple then I did when I was younger. (Not that my parents didn't do their best job trying to teach me, but when you live an hour and a half drive from the temple, you don't take your kids to visit as often as you might like.) I think this bond with the temple is most important in these latter days, especially in this world where the family and the church don't seem as important...where black and white are taking on all shades of gray.

I want my children to love the temple, to want to enter the temple, to live worthy to step foot inside when the time comes.

I yearn to take my children inside the House of the Lord so they can see the beauty and sacredness of the temple. I want them to feel the spirit as we walk into the celestial room or the sealing room. And I want them to want to feel that feeling again and again as they return.

So, I thought to myself, it would be nice if they would build a temple close enough that we could take the children to the open house. Then I thought to myself, I live 10 miles from a temple...they aren't going to build one anywhere near where I live. But I silently wished that I could take my children to see the inside of a temple.

So imagine my surprise and utter delight while listening to conference when the announcement of a temple in Meridian was made. I about jumped out of my chair! Steven guesses they might construct it around the Ten Mile Overpass which is a mere mile-ish south of my house. Imagine walking to the temple! Or they could build it out in north Meridian, which still isn't very far...maybe a ten minute drive at most. You don't even know how excited I am...okay...maybe from reading this post you might get an idea of how excited I am.

I can't wait for them to announce where it will be. I also can't wait to see what it will look like....

This is my current temple, the Boise Idaho temple:


Now don't get me wrong, but I'm not a huge fan of the look of this temple. It is beautful as a House of the Lord, but it just doesn't touch my heart like some of the other temples...


The Oakland temple...where Steven and I were sealed almost 6 years ago. Look at those palm trees and the absolutely awesome fountain and "stream-thing". Beautiful....


Or the Sacramento temple. Where Kimberley was sealed to our family October 13, 2006 and our lives became whole and complete. It is my current favorite temple....


But the Logan temple (which yes, is where we got the name for our 1st son) is what I secretly hope the Meridian temple will look like. Guess we will just have to wait a little longer and see....

PS...These gorgeous antiqued temples pics are from Lil Luna. Just another of the million craft projects that one day I will get to.

Loving Life...

Because I have been absent from blogging lately you may wonder what has been going on at the Ray House...Let me answer that for you, complete with pics.

February 22nd Kimberley turned 12. A great milestone for any LDS girl...a day when she graduates from Primary and moves to Young Womens. Kim has been gushing about all the fun being had at the activities...and she's only gone 3 times! Here she is opening presents. Notice the extreme excitement at receiving a gift card...this small piece of plastic allows her to purchase clothing that is so much cooler than anything her mother could pick out. (But just so you know when we went shopping she bought a sweater EXACTLY like one I already own...guess I don't have such bad taste after all.)
She loved each and every present! Most especially the cell phone Steven and I got for her. Now...before you all get offended that you don't have her phone number, there is a reason. She only gets 10 minutes of talk time a month and text messages cost 10cents a piece. So mainly the phone is for emergency situations. Unless you all want to scrounge up $10 a month then we can bump her up to 60 minutes a month and unlimited text messages....Perhaps one day, but for now she is just excited that she can look cool with her phone that plays music and has a QWERTY keyboard so she can pretend text people.

Here she is laughing and trying to get away from Steven taking her picture. Wasn't very successful was she....Did you notice the baby gate on the stairs in the last pic? Yep...Evan is becoming a little beast just like his older brother Owen.

I know...I know you look at this face and think what a sweet little baby....But lurking behind that sweet grin is a little demon...

Okay....he still looks absolutely precious, but you can see the mischievous-ness in his eyes. Every time the gate is down he crawls like a bandit and starts climbing the stairs, laughing the whole way up. Then he sits at the gate upstairs and swings it back and forth. Or if the bathroom door is open he plays in the toilet. Or if there is paper on the ground he shreds it up into confetti and eats it. Catching my drift yet!?! Also notice the teeth...yes, Mr. Evan has 6 little teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom) all gappy and cute...that is until feeding time...I keep telling myself only a few months left.

Speaking on beasts...Owen has been trying to be good...well, most of the time. We now have to lock the pantry and the fridge because 3 days in a row when I went upstairs to shower or switch over laundry or put Evan down for his nap, Owen opened the freezer got out the chocolate ice cream, retrieved a spoon from the drawer and sat on the kitchen floor eating away to his hearts content...well, until I came downstairs and found him...

(That isn't a picture of the event...just my smiling little man.)

We are working on behaving. His new phrase "I be a good boy" has been helping some. When he wants to make a bad decision I ask him "Do you want to be a GOOD boy or a BAD boy?" Normally that helps him remember what he should be doing instead of what he wants to do. A couple days ago he was whining about something relentlessly and driving me nuts. I told him, "Owen, go upstairs and play. You are wearing me out." To which he responded in the most innocent voice with his big brown eyes in full force "Mom, I not wear you out."

After the above picture was taken, I tried to get him to look at the camera. Instead he swung the binoculars and whacked himself in the face...hence this picture...

Logan our big boy is just along for the ride. He has been enjoying going to work with me so he can play with some kids his age. Tuesday afternoons his favorite friend a boy named Owen (who we have to call Big O to keep him and my Owen straight) comes into the gym and they have a grand time running from killer bees or playing the Leapster.

Last month we submitted our paperwork requesting he be admitted to Galileo Elementary. It's a math and science based magnet school out in Eagle. They had the lottery last Tuesday, but it totally slipped my mind and we totally forgot about it until yesterday. So we won't find out if he was admitted for a couple weeks. If he didn't get in, Steven and I have decided to homeschool him for a year and try again next year. Wish us luck either way.

Here he is being silly. Don't ask why he is sucking his toe...I don't know why and when I asked he just laughed at me.

Things are going pretty good for Steven. His boss came to him the other day about switching over to another section in his department. He would be getting paid to write computer scripts....something he loves and enjoys. It would mean less stress at work and a better chance at getting him enrolled in a masters program focusing on computer programing. (Honestly, I've been bugging him about going back for his masters on and off for a few years, but he keeps putting it off...I'm hoping this would get him more motivated to do it.)

For your viewing pleasure...Steven playing a flute. As part of Kimberley's band class she had to teach one of her parents how to play her instrument for their concert. After much disagreement and threatening to let Kim fail that part of the class Steven stepped up and learned. I think he enjoyed his time with Kim wonderfully. (And isn't too bad at playing either.)This year, since I'm not pregnant or completely distracted, we got around to planting some seeds for early indoor starting. Since they are older seeds we will see if they sprout. (If they don't I know a place that sells starts for cheap....) We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, cabbage and watermelons. Look how excited the boys are. I let them put the seeds into the dirt and they helped fetch water from the fridge for me.

And here is the newest addition to the Ray family...our piano.

It is gorgeous! We got it free from some neighbors that moved (sniff, sniff...we miss the Ramages). According to our research it was made about 1911, so my new baby is 100 years old. We had a lady come out to give us a quote on getting it tuned and fixed. Since it is 1/2 to 3/4 a note off it will probably take 2 tunings and some TLC to get done. But we figured $200 is worth it for our kids to learn to play the piano.

All in all, I am doing pretty well. I keep busy reading, checking blogs and cleaning...I am working on a couple decorating projects to sprouce up the house. First I am tackling our Living Room. I got new curtains and have a paint color picked out. Working on pillows and the wall art. Don't worry...as the projects get completed there will be pics. Work has been going good. It sure is nice getting paid to watch my kids and watch Disney movies.

So...there is your update. Hopefully, I will get better at posting more regularly. But then again...between work and spring being just around the corner we might be out more often....