Point Defiance

During the summer while Matt and Tiffany were here in August we took an afternoon trip out to Point Defiance for a picnic and for a walk around the gardens, and to play on the beach. It was a hot day, but we had so much fun!

It's a....

That's right we are having a baby and we found out on August 14th that we are having a BOY! So now we have one of each. Nathan couldn't have been any more excited. I thought his face was going to split in two from smiling and beaming so much.

We decided to tell our families with a box full of blue balloons. Emily was so excited to show everyone the blue balloons. She has been the sweetest little thing. She says hi to the baby and gives him a big kiss all the time.

Junior is scheduled to come to our family on Christmas Day.

August

August has been such a busy month! The first weekend started out with helping my parents clean their carpets and Nathan helping Scott out with the music for a wedding. That Saturday we picked up a big girl bed from my cousin Robin and then rushed up to the temple to do a session with the Gray Family in preparation for Ryan and Ashley's wedding later this month. It was nice to get back to the temple.

The following weekend Nathan went on a boys bachelor party camping trip up to Green Water. Sounded like they had a really fun time shooting, eating and enjoying each others company. While the boys were gone us Gray girls got together to go out to lunch at Red Lobster and shopping until we dropped at TJ Maxx and my new favorite store Home Goods. That night we went out to dinner with Ashley and some of her friends for her Bachelorette party over at Red Robin. What a fun filled packed day.

Monday the 13th we went to the eye doctor for a quick check up on Emily's eyes- things are looking really good. No drifting and no preferences starting. It is kind of annoying though because you go sit in their office for an hour just to be seen by the doctor for like 2 minutes. Later this night we went over to see Matt and Tiffany who came for the week. It is Matt's birthday so it was nice to help him celebrate.

Family Reunion

The end of July we had the opportunity to make a quick trip to Utah for a Gray family reunion. We left early Friday morning (right around 4) and got to Utah around 6 that evening. We spent the night at Nathan's cousin's house- Corey and Lindsay up in Brigham. They are such a cute couple, and so much fun. I wish that we lived closer to them. Lindsay is so cute, and she has the same taste in things as I do! They have a trampoline, and Emily just loved jumping on it. That was all she wanted to do.

The next morning we got up bright and early to beat the rush into the shower (we got to be the first ones in!). After everyone was ready we made the trip down to Alpine. We had to make a few stops on the way to pick up some food for the BBQ. Luckily Emily took a little nap on the way down. The reunion was really fun. I got to meet the rest of the Gray side, and it was nice to just sit and chat. They had some fun water activities for the kiddos. A giant blow up slide with pool and a giant slip and slide made out of banners. Emily had such a fun time running and playing with all the big kids, and a big thanks to Auntie Kirsten for taking her down the slip 'n slide! They also had a craft station with materials to make masks. Emily and daddy had a fun time crafting away!

Later in the evening after food they played some games. They did and egg toss, and a gunny sack race. Kirsten won the race, and Scott landed in the mud from the slide.

Instead of making the drive back to Brigham that night we decided to spend the night with my brother and his wife Tiffany in Provo. We then went over to see Bill and Nancy and Grandpa Leale, and then made the trek back to Brigham City to have dinner with all the Bowen's. I felt bad because Emily wanted to jump on the trampoline quiet a bit, and he didn't get to spend as much time with his cousins. We had to get to bed as early as we could. I think it ended up being around 1 in the morning and we had to get up early to make the long trip back to Washington. Emily did so well in the car. The portable dvd player was such a life saver.

We had such a fun time being with family this weekend, and hope to be able to spend a little more time next time.

A Quick Trip to Salt Lake

On May 25th my sweet Mormor (Danish for Grandma) passed away. My parents, Emily and I made the long trip to Salt Lake to attend the funeral and to get some of the things settled with their possessions and work on getting the house ready to go on the market. The funeral turned out really nice and it was wonderful to hear about her life and the memories that her children had of her. It was so nice to be around the family and to see what they have all been up to. It was such a hot day, but it was nice that it was not raining. We had a wonderful luncheon of soup and salad. The two munchkins Emily and Ezekiel did such a wonderful job during the funeral and didn't fuss too much.

The rest of the time we spent there we had a fun time going to temple square where we were able to have lunch with Matt and Tiffany, and see all of the fun sites including playing in the water features. Such a long, fun, hot day and thanks to Matt and Tiffany for running after the kiddos all day.

We were able to spend a day shopping with stops at Tai Pan, Hobby Lobby and Seagull Book. We were also able to stop and spend time with some of my cousins- Kirsten and Jessica.

Easter

I had such a fun time getting things put together for Easter. Even though Emily doesn't really know what is going on, she had a really fun time- makes everything worth it!

The night before Easter we put a carrot out for the Easter bunny by the front door.

The next morning I said to Emily, "Did the Easter bunny come?" She got so excited and ran straight to the door where the bunny had left her a basket full of goodies and a baby doll.

We had such a fun time getting ready for church. Emily got a beautiful new Easter dress, and she loved wearing it. She is such a girl and loves to look at herself in the mirror. We only stayed for Sacrament meeting (Emily needed a nap before we headed up to the Easter festivities). Sacrament meeting was so much fun the program was a musical one about the life of the Savior. Emily loves music and sat on  her Daddy's lap the  entire time just listening.

It was such a gorgeous day and made for a really fun Easter egg hunt. Megan and Quinten hid all the eggs, and Emily knew just what to do. She found all of the eggs and wanted to find even more. I don't think I have had so much fun on Easter in a long time.

Egg Dying

Emily loved loved loved to dye eggs. She loved to put them in each color. We had to watch her carefully because she would throw the eggs into the dye. She would say, "I throw rocks!" She wouldn't even bother with coloring them with crayons and just wanted to dip them in the dye as fast as she could get her hands on them.

We were lucky enough to get to dye eggs twice. We had a family home evening activity with the Grays coloring eggs and then that following Friday we had a pre-Easter activity with my parents where we made sugar cookies, and colored eggs. Emily was a pro by now with the eggs and she learned how to balance them on the loop and place them in the dye. She had such a fun time, and so i stocked up on lots of half price egg dying kits to do through out the year.

The Friday before Easter we had my parents over for a pre-Easter ham dinner, and a little activity of making sugar cookies and dying more eggs. Emily had a blast doing both as you can tell from her little facial expressions in all of the pictures. Having a little one around sure does make the holidays a little more special.