Thursday, September 27, 2012

September 2012

Whoa!  I just realized how long it has been since we updated our blog. A whole year!  I need to catch up, but let's start with right now.  It will be easier to remember.  We moved to Orem 3 months ago and are enjoying being so close to family.  The kids started school earlier this month and we added our newest school-goer Spencer to the mix.  He is loving Kindergarten.  He was sad the first day when class was over.  He began to cry when I picked him up because he wanted to ride the bus.  What a cutie.  We were so worried that he wasn't ready as he is pretty immature for a 5 year old, but so far he seems to be doing great.  I love how he is coming home telling me the letter sounds and words they spell when you put them together.  Jonathan is loving 4th grade.  I worry that it is too easy for him.  His homework is done in a flash and he seems to be sailing through.  He was on the wait-list for A.L.L (which is like salta) for advanced learners, but unfortunately a spot didn't open up so he is back in a normal classroom this year.  I don't find that a problem as long as he feels challenged and is learning something and not just sailing through on what he learned last year.  Jonah did get into the A.L.L (advanced learning lab) for 6th grade and has struggled a bit with the work load and staying focused, but he seems to be improving daily in his determination and study skills.  Sometimes the smart ones are used to sailing by on their smarts and need to learn how to work.  He is learning that and I have had several discussions with his teacher on how to help and facilitate his learning.  I hope he continues to improve.  Addison was so cute the first day.  She went with us to drop the boys at school and cried when we told her it was time to leave.  She wanted to go to school too!  I think I will put her in a pre-school next year.  She is definately ready for that.  She potty-trained herself when we moved and seems so mature for her 2 almost 3 years.  She loves to sing and dance and read stories with mom. 

My favorite activity is hearing the kids prayers.  Spencer's are so cute!  They are almost always the same, but he always says, "We fank vee for the Holy Ghost.  We fank vee for Jesus." somewhere in there.  I love it.  Addison is also striving to pray and usually we have to have more than one prayer per praying instance as she wants to say it too.  Can't hurt right? 




Jason is still working at Fido-just a long commute.  He often takes the bus to Salt Lake in the early morning (still dark out) and comes home late after 7.  I miss him!  And I'm still working, but from home more often than not.  Life is good and we are tired, but happy.  The most recent special experience was attending the Brigham City temple dedication with Jason, Jonah, and Jonathan last Sunday.  Jonathan was so excited to be in the "temple" as the stake center becomes an extension of the temple.  It was a marvelous experience and the spirit was strong there. I hope the boys remember that their whole lives.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Happy 37th Jason!

Today was Jason's 37th Birthday! I made him a yummy breakfast of croissants, nutella, cream cheese, sausage, eggs, yogurt and granola, cucumber, tomato, orange slices, and of course the Gray (recent) tradition of candy on the table. I know cucumber and tomato may not be normal breakfast fare, but Jason seemed to like it. I've been telling him about some of the breakfast foods we ate in Jordan when I was there. I found the food fascinating. After breakfast Jason went on a bike ride on the Jordan River trail and met up with Addi, Spencer, and I at Gardiner Village for some shopping fun. Mmmm...vanilla taffy. Tonight we had a small party with Garlic Burgers (delish-if I do say so myself) Caprese salad, and a lemon cake with homemade candied lemon peel. All of Jason's favorites. I guess we like to celebrate with food, but no one was complaining. Jason loved all his gifts and is very excited to use them all. Especially funny were the identical birthday cards from Dave/Mindy and Dacia. May the force be with you! Thanks for all the well-wishes. It was a very fun day.



If only I could get Jason to take a normal picture!

I think Addison only ate hershey kisses for her breakfast.



















Let me just say that it is hard to light 37 candles! Tee Hee.






Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Epic Water-Balloon Fight!!!

What takes 1 hour to prepare for but is over in 2 minutes? Well, lot's of things! But in this instance it was our Epic water-balloon fight! The Morgans and the Grays had a blast soaking each other. Of course, Dacia was recruited to fill the bombs. Some pictures may be out-of-focus as it is hard to focus when you are running away from a loaded arm. What a fun way to end the summer!










Saturday, April 30, 2011

Scout O Rama Fun










































I don't know what the deal is with my red-eye fix. Now they are freaky eyes.














Thursday, March 3, 2011

In Memoriam

Today was a sad day for our family, but not as sad as for our pet. "Sparks Gray" lived a short, but fulfilling life. He had his own tank with a plant and a filter and all the nice things that fishys like. Unfortunately for him, he had an owner named Spencer. This morning I was dead asleep in bed, no pun intended, when Jonah ran into my room yelling: "Spencer just dumped the fish down the sink!" Sure enough the tank was empty. We (Jason) tried to salvage Sparks by taking off the U-pipe under the sink to see if possibly he might still be there, but alas, he was gone. Jonathan offered to say a prayer for Sparks. He prayed, "Heavenly Father, please help Sparks get to the ocean quickly." I about lost it then. I didn't mean to snicker, but I'm afraid I did. I really wish all drains did lead to the ocean like in Finding Nemo.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Murder at the Pinewood Derby

Doesn't the title to this post remind you of an old Hardy Boys, or Nancy Drew, or Boxcar Children mystery novella? Fine, me either, but it was fun to write!

"I want a design that will go fast!" This is Jonah's response when I asked him to design his first pinewood derby car. Well, leave it to Dad of course, to put things off until the last minute. I advised him that the design couldn't be too complicated, since we only had a couple of days until the derby. Never mind that I had been asking him to do the design for a month. Of course I told him that it doesn't matter who wins, it's all in fun!



I call Jonah's...the Golden Doorstop.

I don't remember what he called it; the Golden Bullet? the Golden Rocket? The Golden Wedge? It looked better without the weights attached.


Jonathan's is the Silver Speedbump.

I can't remember the name he gave his, either. He designed his own too. He wanted it flat, with a bump in the middle.

Unfortunately, since Jon-Jon technically isn't a cub scout until March, he wasn't allowed to race with the other cubs. He did race in the open heats (free-for-all) after the cubs were done.

Jonah's did pretty well. We decided to have two wards participate since the rental cost of the track is so high. Jonah ran 1st in every heat he raced, but his overall time placed him 5th (out of 25-30?). The funny thing is there was a cub whose car weighed in at less than 3 oz (max weight is 5 oz), so I gave him the weights I was going to put on Jon-Jon's car, and the cub ended up beating Jonah's overall time, though they never ended up racing each other in an actual heat. I think the kid ended up in 2nd place. He kept having to retape the weights on every couple of heats or so.

(Jonah at weigh-in. The weights weren't yet attached. Did I already mention procrastinating 'til the last minute?)

Even without the weight, Jon-Jon's car beat a lot of others in the open heats, though weighing only 2 oz. Now, I have to pause here, and declare that I am NOT one of those dads who pours all this money into the cars, and squirts graphite powder onto the axles between every heat. (Yes, the cars that won all had that kind of attention lavished upon them.) (Oh all right. So I am honest enough with myself to admit that if I had known we could, I would have done that too. The graphite powder between heats, not the crazy money.)


I remember making my first and only Pinewood Derby car as a cub scout. I designed it myself, carved it with a cub scout knife myself, and painted it myself. It was a KITT Car, from the eighties television show "Knight Rider" with David Hasslehoff. I asked my dad for help when I was done, putting on the wheels and weights. He drilled holes and countersunk fishing weights. It was cool. And amazingly enough, I won the cub scout division in my ward! Ok. TMI. This is about the boys, not me.

They both had a blast! I made them design their own cars, and even though I made the cuts on the bandsaw (kudos to you Dave!), they did all the sanding, and some of the painting. I would have made them do all the painting but it was the last night before the race, and after a couple of coats, it was way too late for them to stay up. Who am I kidding, it was way too late for me to stay up.















So are you bored with pics of small, wooden cars?, then get ready for this!
More pics of small, wooden cars!!!









No wonder he lost! It's crooked!

Fin.