Christmas 2008

PhOto ShOoTs!

I know I posted the first one quite awhile ago but here are some more of the pics we took using the timer on our camera. Not too bad considering we went a little too late so the lighting wasn't the greatest.

You've probably figured out that one of my 'hobbies' is photography. I love taking pictures and having fun editing them. :) Well my sister-in-law asked if I would take their family pictures and of course I was more than happy to. I thought they turned out pretty well so I figured I would share some of them.

I had to have more of us too!

School cancelled!?!

So it has been cold and snowy down here this week and we woke up this morning to this!

I was getting the kids ready for school this morning and luckily Chris was on the phone with Shannon and she told him that Washington county cancelled school today. Well we had no idea since we didn't watch the news last night. So thanks Shannon, I would have sent my kids to the bus stop. I know it doesn't look like much to those of you that live up north, but it said this is the first time in 10 years they have cancelled school because of the snow. I know, it seems crazy to me too. I guess they aren't equipped for snow removal? Mylee was actually upset that they didn't have school, but she got over pretty quick. We dug out the old snow stuff (luckily Libbey had given us a snowsuit her girls wore for Kinny or she would have been out of luck) and Chris took them outside to build a snowman. They have had so much fun out in the cold wet snow.
Well I better get ready and finish all the stuff I have waited until the last minute to get done.
Merry Christmas!
(I can't believe it is next week!)

Happy Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our Bode! We can't believe it was 5 years ago that Bode joined our family. What a whirl wind it has been ever since. For those of you who know Bode, it is never a dull moment. He is an extremely energetic child that can not hold still for anything. He is a sweet heart though, he came to every one of us this morning and said 'it's my birthday, can you give me a hug?' What a kid!

Oh! I took him to the doctor yesterday to have his ears checked since he has been acting like he's not hearing very well again, and we have to take him to the E.N.T. tomorrow. The pediatrician used some instrument that blows air then sucks the air to see how much the ear drum moves, (a line is supposed to spike up into a little box) both ear drums have no movement at all (the line was totally flat for both ears). So we will let you know what the E.N.T. says. I'm guessing tubes again.

I have so much more to post but don't have the time right now. I can't wait for Christmas break!

Our new header!

We went and took our pictures yesterday so I can try and be on top of getting my Christmas cards out early this year. ;) The new header is one of the pictures and it was actually Kobe's idea to sit biggest to smallest. Turned out pretty cute, especially since we didn't have an actual person taking the pictures, I finally figured out how to use the timer. I'll post more pics later when I have more time.

Silver Medal Wrestler!

We have been trying to get Kobe to wrestling match for a couple of weeks now but could never find out when or where they were. We finally got him to his first wrestling match this year and he did AWESOME! There was a couple of times that he had to remember he was wrestling and not grappling (he is used to going to his back since he has been in karate/jiu jitsu for 3 years now) so we were so proud of how well he did. He won his first two matches and after the second one he came to us (looking a little pale) and said he felt like he was going to puke :(. So he stood over the garbage for a minute and said he was fine (didn't puke). Then we had to wait another 5 minutes or so for his final match and he stood and walked out on the mat and gave us a funny look and told the ref he didn't feel good, so back to the garbage he went (again, didn't puke but didn't have much color either). He went back out on the mat to try and finish his last match but couldn't quite do it so he took second place and got a silver medal! Here he is with his medal and I posted a couple of clips from the matches.

This is the first boy he wrestled

More WreStLinG :)

This is the second boy Kobe wrestled.

Wow! 11 Years!

It is so crazy to think that we have been married for 11 years. I remember it like it was yesterday! I remember being nervous that I would get cold taking our pictures outside in my short sleeve dress but it was a gorgeous day. It was nice and warm and not a cloud in the sky, probably the most beautiful November day ever (in Manti anyway). Time goes by so fast! With each year that's gone by, each child, and every trial we have faced together we are more in love now than I could have possibly imagined 11 years ago. I know that sounds so cheesy but I really feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I love and appreciate all he does for me and our 4 kids.

Happy Anniversary Chris!

HaPpY HaLLoWeeN!!!

This morning Mylee and Kobe had their Halloween parade at school.

Mylee had a hard time deciding what to be this year, she changed her mind atleast five times.

Megan had made her girls tutu's to be witches so that helped Mylee make up her mind. So I made her a tutu like Baylee's then added the bows to the hat and her shoes. Turned out pretty cute and pretty cheap! ;-)

Kobe was the only one that knew what he wanted to be and didn't change his mind. A football player! If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he says a fighter and a quarter back so I'm pretty sure that is why he was so set on being a football player. Kobe was happy and I was especially happy because we already had everything he is wearing!

Bode and Makinlee had their Halloween Party yesterday for preschool. Bode changed his mind a million times of what to be (ninja turtle, cowboy, star wars guy, etc.) until he was going through the dress ups with Makinlee and found Kobe's power ranger costume from a couple of years ago. He was happy with that and I was happy again to not have to buy anything.

Makinlee always wanted to be a princess but which princess was her dilema. (Snow White, Cinderella, Jazmine) So I made her a tutu and her dad found her some wings at the party store and she wore one of Mylee's crowns and was a Fairy Princess. Of course when she came out to get treats she had taken them off.

The preschool had all the parents come and park their cars in the parking lot to let the kids come out to trunk or treat. They thought it was great! I'm not much for decorating for halloween so I just got some garland and spider webs with some big spiders of the kids, but the kids thought it was cool. (Makinlee let me put her crown back on for this picture!)

Another busy weekend :)

Friday afternoon the studio put together a carnival and we had a really good turn out! The kids had a lot of fun too! They got to wear their costumes, play games, jump in a bounce house and even go through a spook house. Mylee helped in the spook house, that's why she has the zombie look going on. Makinlee did have a crown and wings and looked so adorable but by the time I had a minute to get some pictures she had taken them off. I'll get pictures of them in full costume when we take them to the carnival at church and post them.

Right after the carnival we had to change the kids in the van on the way to belt graduation. Mylee and Kobe received their green belts and Bode received his beginning purple belt. Some of you may already know this but on October 1st Chris received his blue belt in Jiu Jitsu. He was totally surprised too! He had no idea he was getting it. The top left picture is their main instructor Mr. (Aaron) Reis and the bottom right is the assistant Mr. (Gordon) Bell. They are awesome with the kids and the kids just love them.

Well, there you have it, another day in the life of the Ray family.

Fun at the Park!

The kids love to go to the park that was recently built not to far from our house. Here are a few pictures of our trip to the park last weekend.

Welcome Home!

I had a staff retreat this weekend and had a fun weekend learning lots of good stuff to use. I came home tired, sore and bruised from dancing and learning some fun floorwork, but was happy to see this when I pulled up to the house. Mylee wrote this on the driveway, (it says Welcome Home Mom!) what a sweetheart! It was a nice break from the kids but as crazy as they make me sometimes, I did miss them and it is so good to be home.

Staheli Farm

Every October Stars has a day at Staheli Farms that the dancers and their families can get in for a discount. The weather wasn't that bad when we first got their but there was a huge black cloud that seemed to be getting closer and closer so we just kept our eye on it.

The kids love to see the animals and there are slides and swings and all sorts of stuff for them to do. We went through the corn maze (it wasn't actually corn this year, not sure why) and we love to go up to their pumpkin patch and let the kids pick out a pumpkin but while we were waiting in line that huge black cloud was just about on top of us and it was getting colder and windier. We debated for a minute because you have to get a ride up to the patch and then wait for them to come back and get you, so we decided we didn't want to get up there and chance getting poured on. So no pumpkins from the patch this year. By the time we had got out to the parking lot it had started to rain a little so I was glad we decided not to go, I was already cold, I didn't want to be cold and wet. :(

The pig that Kobe and Bode are petting in the picture was hilarious. I'm pretty sure the pig did not want to be bothered, everytime someone touched him he would start to snort. Chris of course had to keep tormenting the poor thing and got it snorting pretty good.

Another Parade!

We were in the Dixie Homecoming Parade on Saturday morning and it was a little colder than the last parade. I think the kids still had fun though. Kobe, Bode, Makinlee, Allee & Tyree all rode on the float and Mylee and Baylee danced behind the float.

Mylee Climbing!

When Mylee saw the pictures I posted she said "Uh! Where's the one of me climbing the highest?" So I told her I would get it on here, so here it is!

Of course Chris had to make the comment "I bet you're braver than your mom was back in the day!" So I responded with, "I would have been brave enough then, it is just that I have 'five' kids to take care of now." (Ha Ha! Just kidding, I love you hon!)

Dixie Rock!

So Sunday afternoon the Josephsens call and say they are going to head over to Dixie Rock and let their boys do some rock climbing and asked if we wanted to go. So we jumped in the van and headed over. We had a lot of fun!

Thanks Ben and Jonnie!

If I remember right Chris' family would tease me when Mylee was real little and say she is going to be such a little priss and not like to get dirty. I think they were wrong. While rock climbing she hung upside down and would push away from the wall and do a 360. She climbed 15 - 20 feet up the wall, shes a little spider girl. And yes she was having fun holding the lizards too.

Kobe got pretty brave too and did all the same things!

Bode got a little more brave and tried the same stuff but was having a hard time getting all the way back around doing the 360. But as you can see he didn't have a problem hanging upside down!

While the rest of the kids were taking their turn rock climbing Makinlee wanted me to keep taking more, and more, and more pictures. She would say 'how about this mom?' and I would say 'oh, that's beautiful!' and take another picture for her to see.

Anyway, the kids had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

Messy Mak!

What a mess!

You wouldn't think one little girl could make such a mess with one cookie!

Swiss Days Parade in Santa Clara!

We were in the Swiss Days Parade yesterday with the

Southern Utah Stars National Dance Team.

What some cute kids! From left to right we have Kobe, Allee, Mylee, Makinlee, Baylee, Tyree and Bode. (Mylee is especially excited about dance this year since her cousins are on the Show Team with her)

Of course we can't take a picture without doing our funny faces! ;)


There is Makinlee (the red arrow is pointing her out) with some of the girls in her Micro Mini's class, waiting patiently on the float to start the parade.


There's my boys! I'm pretty sure they (along with all the other dancers)
ate more candy then they threw.

And here is Mylee!
She danced through the parade with the rest of the Show Team (with the ones that were able to be there, we missed the ones that weren't). It was a nice day, a little warm when the sun came out from behind the clouds, but we had fun!

Chris' fishing trip!

Chris went on a weekend fishing trip with some buddies up near West Yellowstone last week. He didn't come home with a fish or even a picture of a fish, but he did see these! :) He forgot that you can take video clips with the digital camera. The kids thought these were pretty cool pictures! Hopefully we will be able to take a family trip to Yellowstone sometime.

First Day of School!

Mylee and Kobe started school on Aug. 12th. Mylee is in the 4th grade this year and loves it and Kobe started 1st grade and he likes it more each day. I always ask them how school was and what they did and on the first day Mylee said 'it was fun' and Kobe said '1st grade is soooo boring'. I just had to laugh. He likes it more now, I think he just had to adjust to being there for a full day.
Bode and Makinlee started their first day of preschool on Sept. 4th. I thought I would have to stick around for a minute for them to get used to it so after I signed them in I turned around to go hang up their backpacks with them and they had already hung them up and was on their way to sit down, they weren't even going to say bye. After school they were both little chatter boxes telling me all about their new school, they obviously loved it. Out of the blue Makinlee says, 'mom, am I 5 now?' It was so funny, she thinks she is so grown up now that she is in school.

I just had to take this picture because I just thought they looked so dang cute!

Just some of my favorite pics!

Most recent pic of the four kids together!

I saw a picture similar to this online a while ago and i thought it was so cute. This is actually the second picture of their dirty little feet I have taken cause I just love it so much.

Makinlee on the beach in Florida when the entire Wright family rented a house and spent a week together. It was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again! The sand looked white and she said 'look mom they have snow!' I guess she only knows sand to be red here in St. George.

Marlee and Makinlee on the beach in Florida!

Family Vacation!

For Labor Day weekend the entire family went to Panguitch lake to camp. Other then not having showers and getting dirty and smelling like campfire we all had a blast. Atleast the six of us did! :) We would love to do it more often and pick a different place each time.

All the boys trying to catch those fish!

Mylee's big catch!

Kobe waiting patiently for his turn to fish!

Bode - the master fisherman!

Makinlee at dinner. What a rag muffin!

(a cute one though)

Kinee, Tinners, Tinee!

Makinlee is our baby and is 3 years old but thinks she is 20. She has many nick names and answers to all of them. She loves to dance and is always being her big sisters shadow. She started preschool this year and thinks that makes her even bigger. She hasn't started karate yet but loves to grapple with big brothers and sister, nobody better mess with her or her siblings!