The Gray Family Website

Summer Update

2011-08-07T11:16:00.016-07:00

We have had an adventure-filled Spring and Summer.

Hudson played basketball this winter and Rick was his coach. They only went 2-6 for the season but they had a lot of fun and did a great job.

School finished up in May. Here is Landon with his well-loved kindergarten teachers Mrs. Paul (l) and Mrs. Hugley (r). Special bonus that Mrs. Hugley will be moving up to first grade this year and again be Landon's teacher.

Just a shot of Kathryn and her boys
Kathryn and the boys tried to have a good adventure at least weekly this summer. Here they are at the zoo up in a "treehouse" at girrafe height and at the children's museum.

Kathryn accompanied Rick to a meeting on Oahu this April while Grandma watched the boys back home. Here's a shot at dinner overlooking the lagoon.

Landon turned 6 in February and had fun party with his brothers and friends at an adventure park in Scottsdale.

And Keaton turned 4 a little later in the month and had a fun party at the railroad park (his favorite place). Here he is blowing out the candles on his train birthday cake made by Grandma Gray.

Landon played baseball this spring and took to it very well (he's a natural). It was a coach-pitch league. They went undefeated (we think - no one kept score) and did well enough that the coach tried to line them up to play the 7-8 year-old age group teams but had no takers. Here he is enjoying a beverage after a game...
And with many of his teammates (Landon is third from the left) and his coaches (head coach on right, assistant on the left)

Rick and Kathryn got dressed up for a Mayo Clinic black tie event this spring.

In July, the whole family spent a week in the San Diego area, mostly going to Legoland California. Hudson spent the weekend before at a church camp for 3rd and 4th graders and had a great time. We picked him up from the bus and loaded him for the drive to San Diego! We spent a day each at Legoland, their waterpark, and their aquarium. We also spent a day at the ocean and on the final day sampled our favorites.

Here are some pics at Legoland...

And at the water park...

Lunch for the stair-step boys...

The whole family in 3-D glasses before a movie...

Riding one of the favorite roller-coasters (Technic)...

Our boys built an incredibly cool castle out of legos: OK, actually it was 99% built and glued together and they just let kids add on to it.

At Legoland

A day at the beach for Landon...

And for all of us...

At "Mini-land" where they've built several cities out of Legos including New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., and more.

In August we went to Michigan to visit Grandma and more family. Here are the boys with second-cousin Madison and Marti and Mark's dog Gunner:

Keaton at Hardwood lake on the ranch in grass about as tall as him.

Landon threw a tennis ball for Gunner to fetch about 100 times and exhausted both of them.

Grandma read a lot to them, especially at night.

With the Harmons: Ed, Cathy, Hannah, Faith, Eddie, and Donnie.

Lunch on a chilly day with cousin Callie and Grandma

Hudson liked going with cousin Caleb shooting targets

With cousins Callie and Caleb

We built a fort in the woods tucked behind some trees. All was done with Landon and Hudson pounding many nails (and no fingers).

And we spent a day swimming at heart lake

We've been very blessed. Best quote from these seasons:

Landon after Rick heated up the hot tub on a chilly spring day, lying back in the warm water with his head back and eyes closed: "This is my life...and I LOVE my life."

Winter Update

2011-02-02T20:09:00.007-07:00

Lots has happened since our last update. We'll take it month-by-month...

Hudson had his 8th (yes 8th!) birthday in September. He had a blast with several of his friends at a place called Makutu's Island.

The boys had done a summer reading program through our library which allowed them to earn tickets to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. We went in September and although the hometown team lost, it was a fun game and a fun family experience.

Labor Day weekend we ventured to Los Angeles to Knottsberry Farm amusement park. Although a lot of the lines were long, the boys (and their parents) had a great time. Keaton, of course, liked all the train rides, Landon liked the water rides, and big-stuff Hudson got to go on Ghost Rider - a big wooden roller coaster - with Rick. It's a really fast coaster and like most wooden roller coasters it beats up the riders a little. Hudson appeared to be scared to death the whole ride but got off with a smile on his face saying he loved it. The photo that they take on the first big hill of the riders was priceless: Hudson looked white as a sheet! He was a brave guy though and handled it a lot better than many adult women we saw getting off it.

Back to school this fall was a bigger deal, as Landon joined Hudson at Desert Sun Academy. They have red, white, and blue shirts for their uniforms and although the picture below shows them in different colors the first day, they have coordinated their colors on their own every day since then. Landon has the same Kindergarten teachers as Hudson has and seems to really like school. He's really impressed us with how well he's done. He, like Hudson was, is now into writing and illustrating homemade books at home. Hudson continues to do very well in school and enjoys second grade. His teacher is pretty strict so she's not his favorite but he still enjoys it. He's reading at a 5th grade level and is very into reading (likes the Hardy Boys mysteries right now) and is also on a second-grade basketball team. Keaton misses his brothers during the day but likes having his mommy (and the toys) to himself all day.

October brought Halloween and Harvest festivals at some local churches. At the first one, Landon add his hot dog and candy so fast and bounced on so many bouncers that he threw up on the way home (Kathryn knew it was coming luckily so it was into a bag). He paced himself at the second one and everyone had a wonderful time. Keaton was a puppy, Landon a pirate, and Hudson a firefighter.

November brought NASCAR to town. Hudson, Landon, and Rick went to the 400 mile race and sat directly opposite the pits. Hudson's favorite had a great race and was in the top 5 when he ran out of gas and had to pit one lap before the finish and dropped way back. Landon's favorite driver did pretty well, finishing in the top 10, and Keaton's favorite (though he only heard about it later) crashed and was out of the race. It was a good time (and loud!)

December brought a very sad time for our family. Rick's sister Bonnie, who had battled leukemia for about a year and a half, went home to be with the Lord in early December. She had undergone a bone marrow transplant a year prior but suddenly developed a severe infection and lost her transplanted bone marrow. Her husband and three teenage children are having to adjust to a huge change as we all are to a lesser degree. Bonnie was a fantastic Christian woman and it was amazing to see the impact she'd had on so many lives at her memorial service. Nearly 1,000 people attended. She will be so missed but walked worthy of the calling she'd received.

And, of course, December brought Christmas. It was a wonderful day. The kids had a great time with gifts they loved. Aunt Kerry and Grandma Gray were around Christmas morning. The atmosphere was a little tempered for the adults because of Rick's sister's death, but the joy of the boys overcame it all.

We're looking forward to what God has for us in 2011 and can't wait to connect with all of you.

Summer Update

2010-09-01T20:32:00.012-07:00

We've had a nice Summer. We had the chance to get away a few times also. Our first trip was the first week of July to Forest Home Family Camp in the San Bernadino mountains of California. The camp allows the whole family to have breakfast together and then spend time discussing a core Christian value (for example Integrity was the theme one day with honesty in sports competition being the discussion starter for the family) then there are fun programs for the children while the adults have a time of Bible teaching or an option to go off by themselves. Then everyone has lunch together and then have family time together in the afternoon with opportunities to swim, go on zip lines, play miniature golf, climb on elevated challenge courses, etc. Then the family has dinner together and at 7:30 child care assistants come to the cabin and put your children to bed so you can go as adults and play games, shoot pool, or just get away. Kathryn's sister, Karen, and her family came the same time and we enjoyed spending time with them. We had a really good time, and the boys enjoyed spending time with their cousins. Unfortunately Hudson got sick our third day there and we ended up having to leave early. Here are some pics...
Keaton in his harness preparing for the elevated rope challenge course

Kathryn and her sister Karen getting ready to go on the zip line down the mountain
Us on the walking bridge crossing the river

The boys and their cousins Elizabeth and Jonathan getting ready for the challenge course
Lunch with Kathryn's sister, Karen, her husband, Lee, and cousins Elizabeth and Jonathan
We came back to Arizona and a couple of days had a new visitor to our backyard: a bobcat. He helped himself to a sip of pool water...
The last week of July, Rick and the boys went to Michigan to visit family. They had a great time riding the four-wheeler on the ranch, swimming with cousins in the pool, picking blackberries and raspberries on the ranch, and following cousin Caleb into the woods to see him shoot squirrels and birds. The first Sunday, a lot of family came around to have lunch together...
Caleb build a fort in the woods with Landon first then Hudson and finally Keaton joined in...

They also went swimming and boating at Heart Lake, where Rick's Grandma lived while he was growing up and his Aunt Janet now lives. Hudson and Landon spent time scouting out the lake...
The grass was a little taller on the ranch than we have in Arizona as Keaton found out...
Rick's sister Marti had teddy bears made for the boys out of Rick's dad's signature clothes. The boys called him "Papa" and so Marti called these "Papa bears" and said the boys could now have hugs from Papa whenever they wanted
Bedtime preparations and reading with Grandma seemed to be a little more drawn out than the typical night at home...
But they still got a taste of putting in a little honest work, like going out onto the back of the farm to haul in, split, and stack the wood Grandma had cut down in the woods. Hudson doesn't look like he minds too much here...
They went to visit the neighbors in the "Three Bears Cabin" and here are Hudson, Landon, and Keaton with their cousins Callie and Caleb on their porch...
Lunch with cousins and friends...
And after swimming in Grandma's pool, the boys got into their "Toy Story" character towels. Grandma got three different characters, not realizing the one Hudson ended up with was Jessie, the cowgirl. He was a really good sport and still thought it was cool:
And one day they had a BIG water balloon fight. This is the "before" picture with the containers full of water balloons

Now Hudson is back to school (2nd grade) and Landon has started Kindergarten. They enjoy being in the same school and always make sure they match up their school uniforms (they have a choice of red, white, or blue polo shirts with the school shield on them). They seem to like their teachers (Landon has the same teachers as Hudson had) and still carpool with the twin neighbor girls who are eight and also go to Desert Sun Academy. Keaton seems to like having Mommy (and all the toys) to himself and has been Kathryn's little buddy running errands. He recognizes Kohls on sight!

We love you all.

Ranch Photos

2010-08-13T13:21:00.004-07:00

For you, Bonnie, in case you didn't get them all...

"The Bowl"

Stump Field

Stump Field

Sandy hill on Lake Road

Pipeline

Hardwood Lake

Hardwood Lake

East Water Tank Site

Corner along east fence line near the "bowl"

Back Road

Spring Update

2010-04-01T21:32:00.010-07:00

It appears that our posts have degenerated into quarterly updates. I guess that makes us stick to only the highlights!

January brought lots of outdoor fun - baseball, basketball, football, and the like. We also went to the Barrett-Jackson classic car auction and the boys had a ball...

February brought trips to the Phoenix Children's museum and birthday's galore. Rick's neice, Rachel, also paid a visit and Rick and Kathryn went to Hawaii while the boys stayed with Grandma. At the Children's museum, they found a ton of fun things to do - even painting a purple castle...

Rick and Kathryn spent five days on Maui and had a great get-away...

Landon had his fifth birthday and Keaton had his third birthday in February and had fun with some good cake and lots of gifts...

March has been a beautiful month with lots more outdoor activities.

Hudson had continued to enjoy school and his first grade classmates. He's reading and writing exceedingly well and even enjoyed an extracurricular art class. He's tested into the gifted program at his school.

Landon is still the entertainer. He's done very well in Pre-K and has learned a lot. But more that compliments about his scholastics, we tend to hear "he's such a hoot!"

Keaton is cute as a button and now that he's three is asserting his independence much more. He really wants to do things on his own.

We'll try to include some quick stories as they happen in the upcoming weeks and months.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T22:00:00.008-07:00

Those finding this on Facebook can find this post in it's original format at our blog here.

Merry Christmas everyone. We trust you had a blessed celebration of Jesus' birth!

It was a fun and busy Christmas season for us. We had a lot of fun with plenty of parties and celebration. We hosted one Christmas party and attended five others in the course of two weeks.

Landon had his first ever Christmas program (at his pre-K). Here he is with his two teachers, Miss Miller and Mrs. Osborn. (Note that he tucked in his sweater because he was so proud of his new-to-him belt and wanted everyone to see he was wearing it.)

And this is him before the program with his "best friend," Peyton and, of course, with his mommy...

And our little performer seemed to really enjoy putting on a performance.

We hosted our Christmas party for the church class we co-teach, First5, and it included a white elephant gift exchange. As usual, the gag gifts ranged from the terrible re-gift to the hilarious to the provocative. Photos were taken of each couple in front of the Christmas tree, including us...

Kathryn's older sister, Karen, and her family spent a few days with us around Christmas during their move from Austin, TX to San Diego. Our boys were at least as excited to have their dog, Bear, with us as they were to have their cousins, aunt, and uncle.

Our church had a Christmas program with trucked-in snow hills for sledding, horse-drawn hay rides, and lots of games and food. We also attended Christmas eve services with Karen and her family. At one point we had four lit candles in the hands of four children ranging from 4-10 years old. Luckily it was only for one song and then they were put out before any fires broke out.

Christmas morning brought much excitement, though not enough excitement to affect our boys' sleep. We finally broke down and woke them up at about 8:30 a.m. when there were no signs of movement! They enjoyed all their gifts with the big hits seeming to be their NASCAR driver shirts, legos vehicles, remote controlled dogs, electric racetrack, and going to the store with Grandma and her cash! On hand for Christmas in addition to our immediate family, were Rick's mom, Kathryn's mom, Kathryn's two sisters, Karen and Kerry, and Karen's family Lee, Elizabeth, and Jonathan. And of course their dog, Bear! Here are a few scenes from Christmas morning:

Landon

Keaton

Hudson

All 3

With Aunt Kerry

Aunt Kerry also organized a "Noodle Hockey" showdown using the pool "noodle" toys as hockey sticks and a ball instead of a puck between our family and Kathryn's sister's family. Well into the game there was a collision between Kathryn's brother-in-law, Lee, and his eight-year old son, Jonathan. Unfortunately the crown of Jonathan's head hit Lee right on the bone above his eye which split his skin open. It was only about one inch but Rick took Lee to Mayo and gave him three stitches. Not exactly the picture we had for the ending of the first ever Noodle Hockey challenge. The important thing was that our Gray family won!

Latest Gray Family Update

2009-12-09T21:32:00.005-07:00

For those of you seeing this on Facebook, you can see this in it's original form at our blog here.

It's been way too long since our last family update. So plenty of catching up to do...

The boys had a lot of fun the rest of the summer. We did lots of swimming in the pool and even had a slip and slide set up in the back yard a lot. Here they are in their matching "I Went to Michigan Shirts."

Being home together all summer resulted in nothing but joyful playing together, never any fighting or stealing of each other's toys (ya right!)

One of our neighborhood churches had a fun day for children that we went to. They had fire trucks and police cars. Hudson and Landon got to spray a fire hose. They had blow-up bouncers and water slides as well as a petting zoo. Hudson and Landon also went on little horseback rides (we couldn't talk Keaton into it)...

Kathryn had the boys on a program of one new adventure every week this summer. They went to the Phoenix Children's museum, the Arizona Science Center, the Railroad Park, and of course the Phoenix Zoo...

In August, Hudson started school back up in the first grade. He likes his first grade teacher, Miss Schweikert. At the end of school last year, Kathryn asked Hudson if he preferred any particular first grade teacher and he said Miss Schweikert. But when asked why he wanted her for his teacher, he just shrugged and said, "I don't know." When Kathryn went to the parent teacher meeting before the school year started, however, she found that among the first grade teachers were two women in their 40's and one young, single, blonde: Miss Schweikert. We still don't know for sure that he picked her because he thought she was pretty, but it sure seems suspicious. He's done great in first grade and has started taking his book-writing to a new level - his last two books were fully illustrated and at least 25 pages each (Dog and Bear Become Friends and The Little Panda). Here's Hudson on his first day of school this year...

Landon started pre-K this year at La Casa de Cristo preschool. We've long said "Wait 'till they get a load of Landon..." and it's been true. Landon is Mr. Social and arives at the school campus and walks through greeting all the children around: "Hey, Peyton, how's it goin' today?" He loves pre-K and is doing very well; here he is on his first day of school...

And Keaton is growing like a weed. He's really starting to talk a lot more and put together longer sentences. He's quite a joker and likes to say strange things followed by "I tease!" Of course with his brothers at school, he gets away with more things with Mommy like having big lolly-pops...

Hudson turned seven in September and we had a fun birthday party. He had several friends to Chuck E Cheeses for pizza, cake, and games. He enjoyed the party and opening presents later at home...

In October, it was announced that Rick is being inducted into the Otsego County (MI) Sports Hall of Fame (article here). The induction ceremony will be in February 2010.

Halloween brought lots of fun. Hudson dressed up as a surgeon, Landon as Buzz Lightyear, and Keaton as a Michigan State basketball player (but on the actual Halloween night it was too cold for shorts and a tank top - even in Arizona). We spent the night at a neighborhood church's Harvest Festival where there were lots of games, bouncers, and candy. Here's the family there...

Landon also had a harvest festival at school and they went to a local farm. Here he is in his farmer outfit for school...

Keaton has taken over Hudson's first PowerWheels jeep and turns out to be a good driver. One day he decided to wear his bicycle helmet to go for a drive...

Hudson's school had a pajama and sleeping bag movie night (Monsters versus Aliens) a few weeks ago. Hudson, Landon, and Kathryn had a good time...

As most of you know, Hudson is very into cars. Over the past year he and Landon have gotten very into NASCAR racing. They watch races on DVR and have their favorite drivers. Hudson can even name many of the crew chiefs for the major drivers' teams. So in November, Rick took Hudson and Landon to Phoenix International Raceway for the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. They took their earplugs and braved the crowds. They sat on the "Hillside" where you bring your own chairs and sit on an elevated area overlooking the track.

The crowd was great with so many people excited to see young boys at the race and trying to make their experience a good one. There were no obnoxious people or drunks as Rick had worried might be the case. And as a bonus, Landon's favorite driver finished first and Hudson's favorite driver finished second!

By about mile 300 of the race, Landon fell fast asleep! Amazing with how noisy it was...

We're all looking forward to Christmas and are thankful for all God's blessings. We appreciate those that have been praying for Rick's sister Bonnie. She received her stem-cell transplant for her Leukemia and is doing very well. They had planned to keep her near the cancer center for 50-100 days but she was able to go home by day 52. So far no problems with graft versus host disease so we're very thankful.

Merry Christmas to all of you and we'll certainly post Christmas pictures in December.

July Update

2009-07-26T15:36:00.010-07:00

For those viewing this on Facebook, you can get the original content at our blog here.

OK, OK - so we never got around to a June update, but here goes...

We went to Michigan for the last week of June/beginning of July. Rick and the boys went for a week and Kathryn joined them for the last four days. It was a good time to see family and friends. All of us, especially the boys, enjoyed the farm and cool weather. Rick got together with two of his friends and former college teammates who he hadn't seen in a couple of years - Chris Wooley and David Greenwood. They had a great time catching up.

The boys were attached at the hip to their older cousin Caleb Opper, who is 16. He stayed at Rick's mom's house with them for most of the week. What more could three young boys ask for than an older cousin to take them on 4-wheeler rides, shoot birds and targets with, build forts in the woods with, race cars on X-box with, and more. Here is Landon with Caleb looking over a fort in the woods.

A couple days later, Cassandra (18) and Callie (14) joined them and the boys now were surrounded at all times! Cassandra's friend, Colleen, also came north with them and was very sweet with the boys too.

Callie and Keaton watching a video

Cassandra and Colleen with Keaton

Callie playing with Keaton

Hudson and Landon each got to sleep with Grandma

Take a Grandmother that loves to serve her family with food and a two year old boy known for loving berries and what do you end up with??

Keaton disappeared into the backyard for a while and Rick found him digging in Grandma's garden. This is what he looked like...

And nearly every night Grandma read to the boys at bedtime from "My Bedtime Anytime Story Book."

The Michigan memorial service for Rick's dad was on July 1st. It was a beautiful service that honored him and honored God. Hundreds of people came including some family members that we'd never met or hadn't seen in more than 20 years.

Rick and Kathryn also traveled to Lansing and were able to see Rick's sister Bonnie who had been hospitalized for over 50 days undergoing treatment for her Leukemia and her husband, Steve, who was undergoing treatment for his Lymphoma that was diagnosed during Bonnie's treatment. She was looking much better by then and in fact went home a few days after we saw her.

On the house front, it is under contract and due to close at the end of July. The buyers have already moved in as they asked for early occupancy so they wouldn't have to move twice after closing on their house. It isn't exactly cause for celebration but more of a sigh of relief.

We're doing well and can't believe school is coming soon. Hudson's school begins on August 9th and Landon will be starting pre-K four days per week at La Casa de Christo this year. Both are excited.

Take care all and we hope to hear from you soon.

May Update

2009-05-05T22:04:00.008-07:00

For anyone picking this up through the link at Facebook, you can see this content in it's original form at our blog here.

Our computer issues preventing photo downloads have been corrected so let's see if we can catch up on the Gray's doings for the past couple of months...

In March, Rick and Kathryn went to San Diego for one of Rick's meetings while the boys stayed home with grandma (Rick's mom). We went for four days and stayed at the Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island. We were able to meet up with our next door neighbors who have a yacht there and go for a cruise in San Diego harbor surrounded by dolphins. Here's a photo of Kathryn with John and Donna and their daughters Katelyn and Lauren abord their yacht.

We also were able to visit with our friend Suzanne Swain and her boys, Zac and Josh. Suzanne's husband, Jim, was a resident with Rick and they both came back to Mayo Clinic in Arizona the same year. We ended up being next door neighbors. The Swains moved to Rochester, MN about a year and a half ago. Suzanne and the boys came back on spring break and we had a great visit. As usual, the Gray boys were overjoyed to play with their older friends.

Rick had his 40th birthday in April and Kathryn planned an 80's themed party to combine with the 30th birthday of our friend Stacy Dickerson. Everyone pulled out their best 80's themed gear and had a great time. Here are Kathryn, Stacy Dickerson, and Julie Dickerson in their costumes.

Our boys had a fun Easter egg hunt before church. They found all the eggs (we kept it indoors this year due to a prior year's ant-infestation fiasco) in short order and still haven't eaten all the candy (not big sweet teeth among the Gray boys).

Kathryn and the boys before church on Easter

Rick and the boys before church on Easter

In late April, Rick and Kathryn went to the American Cancer Society Jewel Ball Fundraising Event in Scottsdale. It was quite the gala event with live jazz and dancing as well as the fundraising auction. It was a good time. Here's a photo of us on the red carpet.

Hudson was chosen to play a role in his elementary school's play. He took the role very seriously (as one would expect from our classic firstborn) including the recommendation that he wear a vest for the role. Here is a photo of him on the way to his big debut. He did very well. By the way, the vest is one of Kathryn's...

The next week, Hudson's school put on a "core knowledge" program for parents. Hudson wasn't supposed to play a role (presumably because he was part of the play), but when his classmate called in sick the day before the program, he was asked to memorize her part in case she was out again the day of the program. He looked at the lines once and said he had it down - and he did. The child truly has an amazing memory. Here he is in the program...

And as part of the group program...

Landon has enrolled in pre-K for next fall at a local Christian school. He likes to count as high as he can or say the alphabet and follow it up by saying, "I am soooo ready for pre-K!" He's got quite a personality, still.

But his big adventure last month was the night he decided at dinner to put a corn kernel up his nose "to see what would happen." Rick tried to get him to blow his nose to get it out but in the process just got it pushed up higher. Rick then tried a trick he read about on a medical study to blow through his mouth while holding his opposite nostril closed (it was reported to work on 15/19 children) but that just annoyed him. So Rick took him in to the Emergency Department. They had trouble getting it out and Rick had to go to the OR and get a catheter they use for vascular surgery to bring down to use on Landon. The ER doc called the catheter (Fogerty catheter for you medical folks) a "noodle" to Landon. He told Landon that he and Rick were going to put the "noodle" up his nose to get the corn out. The first try didn't work but it made Landon sputter and spit. When Rick told Landon that they were going to have to try again, Landon said, "But that noodle is POOPIE!!" It came out on the second try.

Here's our corn boy imitating the position of a professional baseball player...

Keaton is getting more and more words going and his still Mr. Independant. Here he is eating breakfast with his brothers...

February Update

2009-02-26T10:37:00.004-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since our last update. A lot has gone on and we've had computer problems at home.

Rick's dad continued to deteriorate from his dementia with Lewy Bodies and was admitted to hospice care in early January. He died peacefully with Rick's mom and pastor at his side on January 30th. Rick arrived shortly after his death. We held a memorial service in Arizona and there will be a Michigan memorial when Rick's mom returns in April or May. He was a great man, husband, father, and grandfather. We will greatly miss him but he's left a terrific legacy and he's much better off home with God now.

Hudson reading one of his homemade books to his kindergarten class.

On January 5th Rick had urgent surgery for a herniated disk. He had terrible leg pain - he couldn't walk or sit at all. Epidural steroid injections and the like didn't help at all. But thankfully he awoke from the operation pain-free and had remained so. He had to take two weeks off from work but is back at it full force. He had developed calf weakness from the herniation for which he's doing rehab. It's expected to come back in a few months with rehab.

Last week all three boys had a 24-hour flu, but each of them has recovered. Rick and Kathryn each had a day of feeling badly, but no throwing up for them. Rick's mom had a similar day like that. It happened while Rick's sister, Bonnie, was visiting from Michigan and she got hit with it too.

It was great to have Bonnie here. She was a real support to Rick's mom and the kids loved having her here too.

Landon turned four on February 14th. We had a great party at Chuck E. Cheese's with grandma, D.D., Ducky, Aunt Kerry, and a couple of grandma's friends from Michigan. Here are some recent pictures of Landon:

Our computer problems are preventing us from downloading more pictures, but we'll do so soon! Take care all.

Merry Christmas (kind of)

2009-01-06T20:57:00.006-07:00

It's been a while since we last posted an update, and there is a lot to talk about.

In early December, Rick's parents arrived. Grandma and Papa moved into the casita, but Papa had been diagnosed with dementia with Lewey Bodies and he really has been declining quickly. We enjoyed spending time with them but Papa continued to have more and more troubles.

In mid-December, our Church had a Christmas celebration including trucking in some snow, donkey's to ride on, lots of food and games. Grandma, Papa, Rick, Kathryn, and the boys had a grand old time...

Hudson sledding down the snow slide

Landon "sledding" down the snow slide

Rick and Keaton sledding down the snow slide

In November and December, Hudson developed a new hobby: writing books. He takes sheets of paper, staples them together and then writes and illustrates books fashioned after some of his favorites. He has now written around 40 books (no kidding). Here's a photo of on of his book covers:

When we set up the Christmas tree, Hudson and Landon cared more about playing in the box than decorating:

Later in December, Papa had to be hospitalized at a facility specializing in dementia. It made for a tough time leading up to Christmas, but Christmas day itself was still a lot of fun. We had Grandma Gray, DD and Ducky Grimes (Kathryn's parents) and Aunt Kerry (Kathryn's sister) with us on Christmas morning. Christmas night, Aunt Karen and Uncle Lee (Kathryn's sister and brother-in-law) and cousins Elizabeth and Jonathon joined us.

The boys enjoyed opening and playing with their presents. Here are some photos:

The boys enjoyed the family around...

Jonathan, Landon, Keaton, Elizabeth, Hudson

Hudson ice-sking with DD

Landon ice-skating with Mommy

Landon and Elizabeth

So we had a joyous time remembering Christ's birth and celebrating with family, but still had heavy hearts due to Papa's declining health. He's due to be released from the inpatient facility soon but will likely require a group home with hospice care as his disease is so rapidly progressing that he is unlikely to live much longer. We know he is saved by the grace of God sending Christ, so we celebrate that he'll soon be home in heaven but it won't make it easy for us who will be here missing him. We already miss him as what made him who he is really isn't there even now.

Adding to the stressors around the holidays, Rick has an acute herniation of a lumbar disc which produced severe leg pain and eventually weakness of his left calf. he spent his whole vacation week between Christmas and New Year's lying on the floor (even to sleep). Despite steroids by mouth and epidural steroid injections, he didn't improve and on Monday (January 5th) he underwent an urgent microdiscectomy operation. The surgery went very well and he awoke pain-free. He still has calf weakness but that is expected to improve.

Well, that seems like enough action for one month, huh??

October Update

2008-11-07T21:39:00.007-07:00

Lots going on over the past month here. Everyone is doing quite well.

Our Little Arsonist
A couple of weeks ago, Landon and Hudson were running around the house having fun chasing each other. At some point, Landon ran through his room and tripped over the electric cord for a reading lamp that was clamped over his bed. Unfortunately he had also turned the light on and it fell, landed on his bed and began smoldering through his sheets. Rick smelled something and found it face down on his bed and it had burned through his sheet and the cover of his mattress. No real harm but it was a bit of a scare.

Hudson the stickler for precision
At dinner Rick was wearing a shirt that had "2001" on it. He asked, "Was that shirt made in 2001?" Rick explained that that was the year the company had been founded in that year. Hudson replied, "And now it's 2008." Rick said that was right and asked him, "How many years are between 2001 and 2008?" Hudson thought for a while and just as Rick started feeling guilty about asking a kindergartner to do subtraction of numbers in the thousands, Hudson said, "Six!" Rick said that he was close but the correct answer was seven and counted through the years from 2001 to 2008. Hudson said, "But, Daddy you asked how many years are BETWEEN 2001 and 2008, and that's six." Touche.

Halloween
We took the boys to a Harvest Festival at a church near us. The boys had a great time. They played games, rode on bouncers, won candy, and generally had a ball.

Landon
Kathryn was bathing Landon and was scrubbing him pretty good. He suddenly said to her, "Stop it, Kathy!"

Don't they look like Brothers?
Hudson

Keaton

Hudson

Keaton

Happy Birthday Hudson

2008-09-22T15:30:00.005-07:00

Hudson had a terrific 6th birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza on September 13th (the Saturday before his birthday on the 16th). He invited six friends: our twin 6 year-old neighbor girls Kaitlyn and Lauren; James, Bryce, and Sydney (friends from his current kindergarden class); and J.J. a friend from his pre-K class last year. Also there were his proud parents, Grandma and Papa Gray, Aunt Kerry, and his brothers. They had a great time playing games and eating pizza and cookie-cake.

Kaitlyn, Hudson, and Lauren

Bryce, Hudson, and Sydney

J.J. and Hudson

Hudson and James

Our serious 6 year old

Hudson was selected as one of two student council representatives for his kindergarten class. Putting aside the fact that it's a bit silly to have kindergardners as student council representatives, it was funny to see how seriously he took his duties. He came home from school the day after his first meeting bearing the paper on which he took notes. Written on the page were three neatly printed phrases:
"Mix it up"
"Canned food drive"
"Responsibility"

Landon the Entertainer
Landon continues to be our charmer. He's been coming up with new dances to do and enjoys having his new job of the big brother while Hudson is at school. He's memorized a couple of memory verses in the past two weeks and is showing he's more than just a pretty face.

Keaton the strong-hearted
Keaton continues to show he'll take a back seat to no one in this family. He's become quite forceful in expressing his opinions through pointing and sound-effects. He impressed Grandma by sitting down in front or her new 5-piece curler set in five interlocking different-sized pieces and assembling them without error. His favorite thing lately is brushing his teeth. He keeps running into his bathroom, climbing up on his stool, and getting out his toothbrush and toothpaste to run around the house with, scrubbing his six teeth.

Visitors
We had special visitors from Michigan the week of Hudson's birthday: Papa and Grandma Gray. They stayed with us in the casita and we all loved having them around, especially their spoiled grandchildren!

Michigan Trip

2008-08-08T21:36:00.005-07:00

Rick and the boys went to Michigan at the end of July for a family get-together centered around Rick's father's birthday and his parent's anniversary. They had a great time. Here are some of the highlights:

We were able to gather most of the cousins that were there...

And add the Aunts, Uncles, and (of course) the Grandparents

Plenty of mud to play in...

Grnadma provided plenty of toys:

Rick and five of his sisters:

Swimming at Heart Lake:

Hudson pulled Keaton around in the little red wagon

Cousins Callie and Caleb reading at bedtime to Hudson and Landon

Grandma helped Hudson paint a special rock for her

Landon feeding Elk at the Gaylord Elk park

Hudson and Papa watching TV together

Deep thoughts

2008-07-07T15:32:00.003-07:00

Hudson's deep thoughts within the last week:

After being in bed for about 30 minutes one night (with no conversation about this subject for about 2 weeks), Hudson came out of his bedroom and asked:

Is the summer solstice the longest day of sunshine and the winter solstice the shortest day of sunshine for the whole Earth?*

While picking up toys before bed, Hudson asked Rick:

Daddy, does everything have weight?**

And after getting the answer prefaced by "This is a little complicated," he said:

OK, that wasn't that complicated.

And out of the blue, Hudson asked Kathryn:

Mommy, I know it takes a mommy and a daddy to have a baby, and I know that the mommy has to carry the baby in her tummy, but what does the daddy have to do?***

After a brief, age-appropriate answer, he said:

Hmmm...the next time you and daddy have a baby, I'd like to see that.

Landon's deep thought (about his age) this past week

Mommy, why does it take sooooo long to become four???

*No - that is true for the Northern Hemisphere, for the Southern Hemisphere it is reversed

**No - everything has mass, but only has weight if it is in the presence of something with gravitational force, like planet earth.

***Come on now, this is a family blog...

Independance Day

2008-07-06T20:34:00.005-07:00

We had a fun Independence Day. We joined some friends for fireworks after letting Keaton and Landon have LONG afternoon naps. The fireworks started about 9 p.m. (we start getting ready for bed most nights at 7:30 and lights are out by 8:30) but the adrenaline was definitely keeping the children going.

We had no idea if the fireworks would be a great experience or a disaster of fearful children. Hudson is not a fan of loud noises, Landon is pretty fearless but hates thunder, and Keaton was a total black box. But they loved it. It actually got a bit embarrassing with our friends and their acquaintances because Hudson yelled "Whoa" with every single firework. Landon and Keaton were mesmerized. It ended up being quite a fun night. An interesting side point: one of the acqaintances of our friends that went to the fireworks with us was Joe Smith of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

All is well otherwise. Everyone is healthy; still own two homes.

Rick went to an event with Mayo Clinic "legacy" donors at a retreat in Colorado. It was a beautiful setting and the owners of Bootjack Ranch, where it occured, are a wonderful Christian couple. They happen to have the ranch for sale (they are moving to Paradise Valley, AZ) so you can see how beautiful it is by clicking the link to their video presentation.

Hudson recently set up a car dealership in our family room:

Landon likes to "hold" Keaton:

Hudson became interested in volcanos recently, so of course he and Daddy had to make a home model for he and Landon to watch erupt:

June in the Desert

2008-06-01T21:14:00.006-07:00

For those of you outside of Arizona, we've had some wild swings in weather. Within 24 hours, we went from 110 degrees to 58 degrees. But then we had a beautiful stretch of days in the 70's - unseasonably cool for an Arizona May. But now we're back to normal, about 95-105 for highs and lows around 70.

We're doing well. Still paying for two homes and praying to get down to one! The boys are doing great and keep playing together more and more.

Here are two conversations that occured in just one night at our dinner table:

#1
Landon: Daddy, we were at Chick-Fil-A today and when we went to the play area, a lady said someone had pee-peed on the slide.

Hudson: There was a wet area near the top - we couldn't tell what it was. I went around it but Landon put his foot right in it.

Rick: Landon, did you do that?

Landon: Yes

Hudson: Sometimes he just tries to test my limits

#2
After Landon declined to let Hudson use one of his toys...

Hudson (for once, not in a know-it-all tone): Landon, you're still pretty selfish, but all you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart and you won't be as selfish.

Landon: O.K.

Landon hitting a T-ball (notice the ball flying away in mid-air)

Our next-door neighbors have two girls with a pink Corvette that they drive with Hudson and Landon's red Mustang

Hudson and Landon emptied a storage ottoman and got inside

And then managed to get Keaton into it with them...

Hudson at his Pre-K "graduation" program at Scottsdale Christian Academy

His teacher, Mrs. Roper

Some Photos to Share

2008-04-14T09:48:00.004-07:00

Our frinds David and Heidi Anderson came out to have dinner a couple of nights ago. David is a photographer and took some photos of the boys that can be seen by going to his website clicking "enter," then clicking "client proofs" at the top of the page, and entering "grayboys" (all lower case) into the password. Enjoy - he did a great job...

Update

2008-04-10T20:34:00.003-07:00

Here's the real Funny Landon Quote

Landon has a bear blanket (a small baby blanket with a teddy bear head on it) that goes everywhere with him. Recently, Kathryn caught Landon looking bear blankie in the eyes and saying...

I'm going to beat you like a rented mule!

We've moved!

2008-04-05T15:29:00.010-07:00

In case you wonder why it's been forever and a day since we've updated the blog, it's because we've been making regular runs to Home Depot and the dumpster. We moved. Yes, we bit the bullet and moved out. We had stayed in our first home for three months to keep furniture in it in an effort to make it more attractive for selling it. We finally just had to draw a line and go, and we don't regret it. It's been a good move, we've gotten re-organized, and now we don't have to clear out when prospective buyers come through our other house.

The move was relatively uneventful (no news is good news). We hired a team of three men to move us who charge by the hour. We hired them for a Saturday, so Rick took off the Thursday and Friday before so we could move as many items ourselves as possible. Papa and Grandma (Rick's parents) took Hudson and Landon to their motor home and D.D. and Ducky (Kathryn's parents) took Keaton to their condo for those days. We were able to transfer everything in the house except the furniture over those two days, so the moving company only had to move the big items. Nonetheless, they barely fit everything in their truck.

The only hitches in the process was that our treadmill didn't fit through the door of our exercise room (Rick had to take the door off the doorway and lay the treadmill down on its side and twist it through. Somehow it went in, with scrapes in the wall and rubber marks on the tile) and the moving van dripped oil in our new driveway. We had everything out of boxes and in place by the end of the night on Saturday, since we were able to space out the move over three days. Also, we had limited boxes to carry everything over, so we had to unload things as we went.

Coloring Easter Eggs

SInce the move, plenty has happened aroung here. Papa and Grandma sold their motorhome (actually bartered for a new car) and moved into the casita for the last couple of weeks they were here. They seemed to settle in pretty well and they boys loved having them close by. Hudson and Landon went on lots of bike rides with them around our neighborhood. We also had a visit from Rick's Uncle Ben and Aunt Gail during that time, who are from Southern California. They stayed in the casita with Papa and Grandma and were able to go to a couple of Anahiem Angels spring training games. We enjoyed spending the evenings with them and catching up. Papa and Grandma headed back to Michigan at the end of March and picked up Rick's sister Marci in Colorado along the way. She plans to spend a couple of weeks with them in Michigan and was able to help with the driving.

Funny Landon Quote

Landon has a bear blanket (a small baby blanket with a teddy bear head on it) that goes everywhere with him. Recently, Kathryn caught Landon looking bear blankie in the eyes and saying...(we'll reveal the answer on Thursday, but vote for what you think he said in the left-hand column)

Easter Egg Hunt

Funny Hudson Quote

We've (obviously) been praying for our house to sell. Hudson regularly also prays for our house to sell, including with his classmates at school. A few nights ago, Rick was trying to have a good perspective (that God is shaping us through everything that happens) as he was praying with Hudson and Landon at bedtime, and prayed, "God, we're thankful that our house hasn't sold..." at which point Hudson interrupted loudly with:

No we're NOT!

Some Follow-up photos

2008-02-25T22:08:00.011-07:00

If you haven't visited the blog lately, be sure to check out Landon's birthday photos below.

Many of you saw our Christmas Card photos. They were taken by our friend, David Anderson, who is quite a talented photographer. Here are some other photos he took that day.

Look who's three!! ...and Maui wowee

2008-02-18T20:58:00.013-07:00

Happy birthday, Landon. Our cute little guy is getting bigger! We celebrated Landon's birthday on Saturday (his actual birthday was on the 14th). Papa and Grandma, D.D. and Ducky, and Aunt Kerry joined us at Chuck-e-Cheese for pizza, cake, and lots of games and gifts.

D.D. had asked Landon what kind of cake he wanted. He asked for: "A zebra driving a train with a blankie." And that's exactly what she made for him!

He got lots of monster trucks and balls for gifts. We had a fun time. Here are some photos:

Rick had a business trip to Maui last week and managed to coax (ya, right) Kathryn to go along. The boys stayed home with Papa and Grandma. We had a great time reading at the beach and sleeping in, watching movies in our room, and overall unwinding. There were several nice dinner hosted by the organizers of the meeting and we had a valentine's day dinner with ocean breezes blowing on our faces. The weather was perfect all week: upper 70's during the day and low 60's at night.

The only bad part of the trip was the flight there. We left Phoenix at noon, scheduled to arive in Maui at 3:40. We flew for three hours and were about an hour off the coast of California when they discovered that one of their high-frequency radios that are used to communicate when over the ocean was not functioning. Eventually we had to turn around and fly three hours back to Phoenix - 6 hours of flying and we were back where we started. After a couple of hours, we were off again and finally arived about 11:30 p.m. Everything got much better thereafter!!

We stayed in Wailea and there were a lot of whales with their babies migrating by that we would see each day. They gave us a nice suite with an ocean view. Here are some photos from our balcony:

Rick got to play golf with his friend (and host of the meeting) Jim Swain:

We finally got a photo taken of the two of us a few minutes before we left:

Funny Landon quote:

The morning after Landon's birthday party, Landon woke up a said:

"Am I still three?"

The quiz answers...

2008-02-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here it is...

Hudson

Keaton

Keaton

Hudson

Landon

Congratulations to Grandma who got five for five! Red Ribbon to Brad Irving who got four of five correct.

Lots of Adventures

2008-01-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

All is well with us. Everyone is healthy and doing well. We're still the proud owners of two homes.

Our future "sanitation engineer"
Some of you may know that Hudson saves most of his birthday money because he says he wants to save up for when he's 18 and can get a commercial driver's license so he can buy his own garbage truck. We have at least six varieties of toy garbage trucks in our house. Well, Aunt Kerry had a patient who happened to be a garbage truck driver who tipped her off to a way to get Hudson a ride in a trash truck.

Kathryn made arrangements and signed the waivers. On the prescribed day, there was a knock at our door and Hudson and Landon were invited to ride in a garbage truck. Each got to go for a ride, operate the remote arm to empty a garbage can, and operate the other buttons. They had a blast. Here's the scene:

Barrett Jackson Auto Show

Scottsdale plays host each year to the biggest classic car show/auction in the world. The Barrett Jackson Auto Show. Before the auction begins, they have a "family day" during which adults get a discounted entry ticket and children enter free. Rick took Hudson for a second time and they had a blast. Here are some photos:

Papa pitching in

Grandma and Papa and D.D. and Ducky have been pitching in a lot with watching the kids. It's produced some cute scenes lately with Papa:

Hudson the Hero, Kathryn the prescient

Lately when Hudson and Landon take a bath, Keaton likes to crawl in there and pull himself up on the side. He tries to splash around with his hands. Here's how it looks:

A few days ago, recognizing that Keaton is growing quickly, Kathryn told Hudson that if Keaton were to ever fall into the bath, to pick him up above the water and yell for Mommy. Today, they boys were in the bath and Kathryn and Keaton went out to the kitchen. Keaton crawled back to the bathroom and started splashing with the other two. All of a sudden, in he went, face down, fully clothed. Hudson pulled him up out of the water and pushed him out of the tub, easing him onto the floor. By that point all three of them were crying and Kathryn ran in to take over. Hudson was the hero of the day for sure, but as usual asked us not to make a big fuss about it.

This week's child photo quiz

You can record your vote by clincking the "comments"

Who is it?

1.
A. Hudson
B. Landon
C. Keaton

2.
A. Hudson
B. Landon
C. Keaton

3.
A. Hudson
B. Landon
C. Keaton

4.
A. Hudson
B. Landon
C. Keaton

5.
A. Hudson
B. Landon
C. Keaton

Happy New Year

2008-01-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

We had a great Christmas here. We had lots of family around: Papa and Grandma Gray, D.D. and Ducky Grimes, Kathryn's two sisters with Karen's husband and children. Hudson and Landon loved having Elizabeth (8) and Jonathan (6) around and they did lots of fun things including going to the park and going with Aunt Kerry to the Amazing Jake's ameusment park.

Chritsmas day was a lot of fun. Hudson got his first bicycle and seemed to really take to it. Both Hudson and Landon received lots of other gifts that they loved. We had a nice Christmas Eve service at church, though we didn't arive early enough and had to sit on the floor.

It seemed everyone got a cold during the holiday period at some point so we all commiserated. We all were able to still get out and enjoy each other and the celebration of God breaking through into this world in flesh.

Elizabeth Partridge feeding Keaton:

(l-r)Hudson, Jonathan, Landon, and Elizabeth at Amazing Jakes

Hudson took Keaton for his first ride in the Mustang...but Keaton wasn't so sure:

Hudson on his first bike

We dedicated Keaton at Scottsdale Bible Church on December 28th

Hudson and Landon with their cabin constructed with their Christmas gift of Lincoln Logs

Keaton

Landon opening his set of Farm vehicles and Equipment

Hudson and Landon visiting Papa and Grandma's Motorhome Park

Hudson and Landon at the Christmas children's event at Church - they hauled in snow

Papa and Grandma with the boys in front of the Christmas Tree

Hudson figuring out his new bike

Finally a new post...

2007-11-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

We can't believe it's been almost a month since out last post. Updates below and some photos and quotes as well.

Last weekend, Kathryn and the boys went to the zoo with Aunt Kerry. They had a great time:

The petting zoo

Dual driving of the green tractor

Dual driving of the red tractor

Funny Landon Quote #1:

To appreciate this quote, we recommend you say it out loud as you read it...

Kathryn got Landon down from his booster seat after dinner and said to him, "There you go, Landon, you're free."

Landon: "No I'm not, Mommy, I'm two!"

Rick was changing Keaton into his pajamas and told Hudson and Landon to brush their teeth for bedtime and that is they were efficient about it they would have time to have a pillow fight before bed (one of their favorite recent activities). Apparently Landon wasn't fast enough for Hudson, as Rick found that Hudson had finished brushing his own teeth and was doing this when Rick entered the bathroom:

Funny Landon quote #2

Keaton was crying and Landon walked over to him as said:

"Any blood, Keaton? Any broken bones, Keaton? OK, then move on!" (We don't know where he could have gotten that)

Two weeks ago, on a Sunday, Keaton threw up a few times. He spent the rest of the week spitting up more than usual and with a poor appetite. By this past Sunday, he was back to normal and since then he has made up for lost time by eating like a horse. No teeth yet, but he still wants our table food at dinner.

Last Sunday, on the day Keaton was back to normal, Hudson was up all night throwing up. He had a poor appetite on Monday, but said he felt back to normal (though Kathryn didn't think so). Kathryn was proved right when he said he wanted to go into the play room to play for a while and Kathryn went in a bit later to find this:

We close escrow on our new house on November 21st (the day before Thanksgiving). We still haven't sold our current home. We have a couple coming back this weekend for a sixth (yes, sixth) visit to see our house. The wife is bringing more of her family to see it (she brought her mother on the the fifth visit). Our realtor spoke with her and the potential buyer had a Freudian slip, saying she was bringing her family to see "our new house." Our realtor took it as a good sign, but they have seen slow to act because they aren't yet sure they want to sell their own home in this market. We'll see...We know God has the correct plan for us, and we're trusting Him as we look for His guidance.

And the answer is...

2007-10-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry we didn't post the answers to the quiz by Wednesday as promised - we ran out of hours in the days. But here are the correct answers:

A. Hudson

B. Keaton

C. Landon

Congratulations to those that got all three correct:

Callie
Bonnie
Grandma
Caleb
Cassandra
The entire Harmon Gang (as a group)

Thanks to all who voted for the fun!

A house update...

We're scheduled to close on our new house on November 21st. You can see the recent progress in the photos below. We are praying for buyers for our current home this month, but are preparing for either circumstance. We have a couple coming back for a third showing this weekend and they've told our realtor that they've spoken to a mortgage lender, so we're praying that they may be the "ones." We're trusting God's plan regardless.

View from the street (Click photos to see larger version)

The entry

The kitchen

The family room

New Quiz

2007-10-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

Who is it?

These are three different Gray boys...but which picture is who? Post your guesses by clicking the "Comments" below. We'll post the answers and the winners by Wednesday.

A.

B.

C.

October is here

2007-10-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

We're doing well here. Still spending time working on items for our new house. Lots of fun stories and pictures.

Funny Hudson Quote
Hudson was showing Landon the auto section of the Sunday newspaper and teaching him the names of all the cars. There was also a section of motorhomes and Hudson started teaching Landon the difference between class "A" and class "C" motorhomes. Landon didn't find it as interesting as Hudson thought it should be and his attention wandered. That prompted the following statement from Hudson:
"Landon, now focus like a laser-beam!"

Funny Landon Quote
Two days later, Kathryn was feeding Keaton while they were watching Rick play basketball. Keaton was apparently distracted because Landon told him:
"Keaton, focus like laser-beam!"

Hudson seems to be part of a "love triangle" at his pre-K class at Scottsdale Christian Academy. He goes to school three afternoons per week and our neighbor's little girl, Bailee, is in his class. Kathryn and Bailee's mom share the driving duties: Christina takes them both to school and Kathryn brings them both home. Bailee and Hudson have, naturally become fast friends. Bailee went to DisneyLand with her family for a week and during that time a little girl named Hannah started spending a lot of time with Hudson. When Bailee came back, she wasn't the only girl around. Hudson's teacher, Mrs. Roper, even told Bailee's mom that "she's got some competition now." :)

The answer is...

2007-09-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

C. They were riding a virtual reality roller coaster.

Hudson and Landon loved riding this thing. They rode it 5 times in a row and wanted to ride it more, but we cut them off.

Hudson's 5th Birthday

2007-09-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of Hudson's 5th birthday party. Some stories below:

Hudson's birthday was a lot of fun. He received some great gifts and we ate some great cake. Two of Hudson's gifts produced a lot of fun the day before his birthday. His gift from Daddy was $10 and Saturday afternoon to spend together and spend how he wanted. Then, Papa and Grandma sent him $20 (and made Daddy feel cheap) along with $5 to spend on Landon.

Rick and Hudson went to the Mall where there are two toy stores. Hudson had asked Landon what he wanted for his gift, and set out to find him a semi truck first. He didn't find anything satisfactory at the first store, so he and Rick moved to the second store. He found a tanker truck which he was sure Landon would love. He made sure that it was less than $5 and went up to pay for it first.

He then looked around for something for him. He found a set of trucks and construction signs, etc. that he liked. He held on to it and checked out all of the other options (to his father's delight) before deciding to buy that choice.

He had had his eye on a flatbed semi at Target and so when he and Rick left the store where he's bought the first gift, the conferred on what to do next. First, they reviewed the available remaining funds: $18. Rick asked what he wanted to do with it and he (again to his parent's delight) pulled out $10 and said he wanted to save it (see funny quote later that resulted from this). He decided to play next, then go to Target for the flatbed truck. The mall's play area was closed, so they proceeded to Target.

At Target, Hudson searched for the flatbed truck, but they didn't have it anymore. But then he found a packaged set of toys that included that flatbed semi along with several other trucks. He decided he wanted that (to his father's chagrin) and asked how much it cost. It was $20. He had $8. Rick carefully, and fearfully, explained that he only had $8 and that to get that he'd either have to spend the money he wanted to save or return the other toy he'd bought. Hudson quickly said, "No, I'll get something else," put it down, and looked around for something he could get with $8 and he was very happy with what he got.

Funny Hudson Quote
On the way home from the above trip, Rick asked Hudson about the money he was saving:
"What are you saving your money for, pal?"
"I'm saving up so I can buy a trash truck when I'm 18 and get my commercial driver's license."

Here is this week's photographic quiz: What are Hudson and Landon doing below?

a. Testing out new massage chairs
b. Showing off their new "side-by-side" bunks
c. Riding a virtual reality roller coaster
d. In time out chairs for fighting over a toy

Vote by clicking "comments."

And the answer is...

2007-09-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

B. Hudson stood his ground and they kept him there as they should have. They thought he was part of the older age group. All but the obligatory contrarian, Brad, got it correct.

He sounds a little suspicious now, like his daddy was, that they might try that trick again. He told Rick that he didn't like the aftercare program. When asked why, he said, "What if they try to put me on a bus?" He seems to now be more confident that they won't.

Hope you all like the new format - we know it's a bit obnoxious but at least it's colorful. Note some new features: In the left-hand sidebar you'll now see a poll question and some links to other sites/blogs. If you have a blog, please give us the address in the comments and we'll add.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

2007-09-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Keaton likes his "Ultrasaucer"

Kathryn likes to keep the boys' hair longer, but when it's long they get wild bedhead:

Hudson loves to hold and play with his little brother:

At the Diamondbacks game:

Hudson and Keaton did a reading program at our local library and "read" enough books to each earn a ticket to an Arizona Diamondbacks game. We all went on Labor Day. We won't talk about the game itself, but the family had a good time.

Funny/Smart Hudson Quote:
Rick often does a "word of the day" with Hudson. He had just finished the word of the day (spry) when Hudson said:
"Daddy, I have a word of the day for you: Coalesce"

Hudson's remarkable memory
Hudson was talking about his upcoming birthday and Rick and Kathryn suggested that Landon would be giving him a gift. To this Hudson said:
"Landon, you'll be able to give me a present. You can go to the store and pick something out for me. Just like last year when you got me the drums and instruments." [And he remembered correctly]

Quiz
Hudson's pre-K school ends at 3:15 which is right in the middle of Landon's nap, so he stays for the aftercare program until 4:15. While at the aftercare program his second day of school, the supervising teachers [high school girls] announced, "OK, everyone line up to get on the bus." Hudson went up to the teacher and said, "I'm not supposed to go on a bus, my Mommy is coming to pick me up." The teacher said, "No, everyone is supposed to get on the bus now, so line up."

What did Hudson do?
a. Cried
b. Stood his ground and insisted that he not get on the bus
c. Ran to hide out of the teachers' view until they left
d. Got on the bus

Final Quiz Answers

2007-09-05T14:43:00.001-07:00

OK - we don't think we can make it any easier, so we will simply congratulate those with the most correct answers:

Grandma
Papa
Heather
Bonnie
Cassandra
Brad Irving

All of you got exactly 33% (1 correct)!

It seems that nearly everyone thought Landon was the crier the first day of Hudson's school; only Heather, Bonnie, and Cassandra recognized that mothers always cry the first time they drop their child off at school. Kathryn even paged Rick at work right after the drop-off to report that "Hudson is fine, but his mother is crying and barely holding it together..."

Your guesses at Keaton's percentiles were pretty evenly split. It turns out he's a tall, skinny guy: 98th percentile for height and 19th percentile for weight. It makes for entertaining clothing as he either has to wear "flood pants" or ones that fall off of him. Oh well, we're used to pants falling off our boys by now.

We love you all and will have a new quiz and update coming this weekend.

Keaton and his Mommy

Why buy toys??? Hudson and Landon playing with boxes after a delivery:

Quiz Answers...

2007-09-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to...NO ONE! Sorry, we have to admit the quiz was too hard. No one got all three correct. No one got two correct. Only two people got one correct.

OK - we're not really going to put up the answers, we're going to redo the questions but make it more realistic on the possible answers. But first a Hudson quote...

Landon's other parent:
Landon wanted to play with the toy Hudson was playing with. Hudson said:
"Landon, you need to learn that you'll only have a happy life if you are thankful for what you have instead of focusing on what you don't have."

1. On Hudson's first day of school on his own, only one member of our family cried. Who was it?
a. Hudson
b. Kathryn
c. Landon

2. Keaton had his 6-month check-up and had all his measurements. His length was in what percentile (meaning he's longer than what percentage of 6 month-old boys)?
a. 98th percentile
b. 73rd percentile
c. 44th percentile

3. Keaton's weight was in what percentile?
a. 77th percentile
b. 19th percentile

Back by popular interest...

2007-08-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Since there was such a big response to last week's quiz, we're bringing a new quiz this week (see below). But first, an update...

The house report: We continue to have a lot of traffic from potential buyers (we have about 2 showings per week) but no offers. One potential buyer from Chicago is coming back for a second visit when they return in a few weeks. There is apparently at least one other home on their "second look" list, so we'll just have to see. Our new house is coming along. They are working on interior paint this week. The doors and baseboards are in as well. The front doors are not stained yet. They anticipate starting to install cabinets the week after the holiday.

The kids: Hudson started pre-K at Scottsdale Christian Academy this week. He goes for three afternoons per week (Tuesday-Thursday). He seems to really like it so far and Thursday said he wanted to read some books to Rick because they got him excited to read. He sat down and read six books to Rick (only partially actually reading accurately but trying hard). Landon really wants to go to school too and tried to convince Kathryn to drop him off by saying, "Me four-and-a-half!" (referring to age) because she had previously told him he would start school when he was four-and-a-half. He's still quite a ham. Keaton is doing well and has started eating fruits, vegetables, and cereal. He seems to enjoy real food. He also turns out to have double ear infections this week. He had a cold and just hadn't seemed to get over it. Rick thought he was faking it for attention but it turns out he had a legit explanation.

Rick and Kathryn: We're getting old so nothing really new!

On Thursday, our recurring backyard visitor showed up again and came closer to the house than ever:

Yep, that's the bobcat and that's our patio that his feet are resting on. He spent most of the afternoon in the backyard, just hanging out. We didn't have any rabbits eating our landscaping at all that day.

Here's Hudson and Landon ready to head in for Hudson's first day of school (siblings and parents were invited for the first day):

Here's Hudson showing off his traffic pattern set up on his city-scape rug. If you look closely you may be able to notice that all of the cars are in their proper lanes:

Whenever Rick mows the lawn, Hudson always helps with his lawnmower and pushes it the whole time Rick is moving:

Here's Kathryn and her youngest boy:

When Landon eats brownies, he's not allowed to wear a shirt. Here he is showing off his muscles:

And now, this week's quiz (click on "comment" below to vote). We'll post the answers this weekend and congratulate whomever gets all the questions correct:

1. On Hudson's first day of school on his own, only one member of our family cried. Who was it?
a. Hudson
b. Kathryn
c. Landon
d. Rick
e. Keaton

2. Keaton had his 6-month check-up and had all his measurements. His length was in what percentile (meaning he's longer than what percentage of 6 month-old boys)?
a. 98th percentile
b. 90th percentile
c. 73rd percentile
d. 52nd percentile
e. 44th percentile

3. Keaton's weight was in what percentile?
a. 97th percentile
b. 77th percentile
c. 51st percentile
d. 36th percentile
e. 19th percentile

Good luck!!!

Answers to the kid-matching photos

2007-08-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

And the answer is...

A. Hudson

B. Landon

C. Keaton

Congratulations to the following who got them all correct!!:
-Grandma
-Callie
-Cassandra
-Bonnie
-Rachel and Hannah
-Cara
-Eddie, Donnie, and Cathy

One new photo of what our kitchen counter looks like on Saturday mornings now when we're making waffles:

Quiz Time

2007-08-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

Smart Hudson Quote:

The whole family was in the kitchen and Keaton, who was a little under the weather, had started babbling and kept going for quite a while.
Hudson: "Man, Keaton is verbose today."

Quiz: Identify which Gray boy is in each photo...

A.

B.

C.

Click on "Comment" to submit your answers. The correct answers will follow in a couple of days along with cudos for anyone who gets all three correct!

Early August Update

2007-08-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hello World! Keaton August 2007

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All is well with the Gray family. Not a lot of big news but a few stories...

Hudson Funny/Smart Quote:
Hudson had colored streets (black asphalt, yellow lane dots, etc.) on several sheets of paper and then asked Rick to drive cars on it with him. Hudson put his motorhome down on the left lane; Rick put his Hummer down on the right lane.
Hudson: "You're in the wrong lane, Daddy."
Rick: "No, you're in the wrong lane, Hudson."
[Hudson looks down at the street and pauses]
Hudson: "No, we're in England."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photographic Deja-vu:
Landon - August 2007 (Age 2 years, 5 months)

Hudson - August 2005 (Age 2 years, 10 months)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Funny Landon Story

Kathryn put Landon to bed for his nap. Landon asked for milk in his sippy cup for his nap, but Kathryn explained that she didn't want him to have milk sitting out of the refrigerator for three hours while he slept. He wasn't happy about that. Kathryn put him in bed, water sippy cup at his bedside, and headed into the playroom with Rick and Hudson. They heard Landon's door open and close, so Kathryn went to investigate.

She found that he was in his room, silent, with the door closed. When she looked outside the door in the hallway, this is what she found:

He had opened the door, in protest had thrown out the water sippy cup, closed the door, and went back to bed.

Michigan Trip Update

2007-07-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Smart Hudson Quote

Hudson and Landon were racing trucks up and down the hallways. On one trip, Hudson's truck hit a rug and stopped, but Hudson didn't. He toppled over the top head-first.

Kathryn: "Whoa! I guess that was an example of...hmmmm...velocity, huh?"
Hudson: "No, that was inertia!"

Funny Hudson Quote #1

Hudson: "Landon, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Landon: "Trash truck..."
Hudson: "A trash truck driver?"
Landon: "Yes."
Hudson: "Yea, I want to be a trash truck driver, a semi-truck driver, or a fire-fighter. But you have to go to school first. First you go to kindergarten, then you go to school for a lot of years, and then, when you're pretty old - like about 17 or 18 - you go to college. Then you can get a real job."

Funny Hudson Quote #2

Landon: "My tummy hurts."
Hudson: "Oh, I'm sorry. You should try to poop - have you pooped today?"

Well, we've had an exciting couple of weeks. Rick, Hudson, Landon, and Keaton went to visit the boy's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, great uncles, and more. The trip went well overall. The boys were terrific on the plane trips and even put up with three legs to the trip on the way to Michigan (Phoenix to Memphis to Detroit to Saginaw). The hitch came once arrived in Saginaw. None of the three car seats made it, so it took nearly two hours to make it out of the airport with three car seats from the airline. Also, a compartment on Hudson's Hummer suitcase (the hood) had been knocked over during the trip and all of his underwear and his swimsuit had fallen out in some cargo hold along the way. So after driving two hours to Gaylord, everyone stopped at Wal Mart at 2:30 a.m. so Rick could buy underwear and swim trunks for the next day. And once they got to Grandma and Papa's, Rick found that the huge can of powdered infant formula he'd packed in the suitcase had popped open and coated all of the clothes in a thin film of powder.

Once settled in, though, they had a great visit. The Oppers spent the whole week, the Harmons were there for a few days as were Marci and Tori, the Maxons were out most days/nights, and the Southwells were around many of the days too. Hudson and Landon loved playing with their cousins. Callie, Cassandra, and Tori spent a lot of time holding Keaton. Caleb taught Hudson how to shoot a BB rifle. Hudson managed to coerce both Cassandra and Caleb into driving trucks 1/4 mile down a dirt road through mud puddles. They all did a lot of construction projects with Lego's, Lincoln logs, and dominoes. All three boys hung out with Papa and Grandma but, not surprisingly, Hudson managed to sleep between them every night. Landon was addicted to four-wheeler rides on the ranch (often with Callie) and to swinging on the swing with his cousins.

The Oppers also took us to their cottage where Hudson and Landon were able to play on the beach and build sandcastles and were taken on a motorboat ride by Uncle Steve.

And on the last night of the trip, Rick attended his 20th high-school reunion (yes, he's that old). He had a chance to catch up with many high school friends.

The trip back started eventfully as they received notice the flight was cancelled the night before leaving and they were rescheduled on a late flight with a four hour layover, but Rick was able to get them on a flight from a different airport (that was actually a shorter drive) that got them back to Phoenix at the same time originally planned. So in the end, the cancellation allowed an extra hour of sleep and the same arrival time so it was a blessing! Again, the boys all did very well on the trip home.

Kathryn had a busy Mommy repreive week while her boys were in Michigan. She scouted out some decorating stuff for the new house, got some of the necessary hardware ordered, and, oh yea, had a spa day!

As luck (or something) would have it, there was not a single showing of our house the week Kathryn was home alone with house all tidy. As soon as the four boys hit, there were seven showings in the subsequent week. Still no offers, though...

Here are some highlight photos from Michigan:

Picture-less update

2007-06-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

We have been waiting to download some new photos to put up an update, but since we're slow to do so, we thought we'd at least start with a written update on what's been going on. We'll add the photos later.

Rick and Kathryn are doing well. Rick has new residents coming in to begin surgery training on July 1st and so has been doing a lot of orientation. Kathryn is masterfully juggling a 5 person household while keeping the house in condition for buyers and real estate agents who drop in on short notice. Continue to pray for God's timing and buyers for our home. It's been on the market for about 10 weeks now. We've had at least 20-25 showings, three second visits, and one offer that was withdrawn. One of our neighbors just sold their home for a reduced offer that we think is about our asking price but their home is about 100 square feet larger than ours, so we are considering a reduction in asking price. Pray for the wisdom to figure out the best approach.

Hudson is doing great. He's a really fun boy. He did Vacation Bible Experience (apparantly they don't call is "school" anymore) last week and really enjoyed it. He continues to amaze us with his sharp memory (see quote below). He has really taken to our neighbor's 8 year-old boy, Josh Swain and they like to hang out with each other. Landon is also doing great. He is hilarious; he always seems to find a way to make the family laugh - often by putting strange items on his head. His speech and language have really taken off and he likes to talk on the phone now. Landon is doing well also. He seems to smile every time someone talks to him (maybe we don't talk to him often enough!). Hudson loves him to death and will spend up to 20 minutes at a time sitting there talking to him and playing with him. He had his 4 month checkup and continues to grow in length (90th percentile) but has slimmed down in weight (20th percentile). He still weighs 2 pounds more than Hudson did at that age, but actually a little less than pudgy-cheeked Landon did. His pediatrician also commented that his head was quite large and asked Kathryn, "Does his father have a big head?" You can insert your own puchlines here.

Hudson Memory Quote:
We had the Swains over for dinner about a month ago. When they came, Hudson and Landon each received a hotwheels car from them. This week, Hudson and Landon broke into an argument about who gave Landon his car: Landon claimed it was Zac and Hudson claimed it was Josh. Josh had given Hudson his car. Rick, not knowing what happened but thinking that it was most logical that the Swain boys had each brought one car to give to them told Hudson that he may not be remembering correctly and that Josh probably have him his car and Zac gave Landon the other one. To which Hudson replied:

"No. The Swains came in and Josh stopped in the entryway with the red Ferrari in his right hand and the yellow Ferrari in his left. He handed the red Ferrari to me and then the yellow Ferrari to Landon. Zac was not carrying any cars, just a pool towel."

Debate Ended

Hudson's Memory

2007-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, Rick found that someone had keyed his car and had it repaired. Today, Kathryn and the boys were driving past the autobody shop where it was repaired and Hudson spontaneously said the following:

"There's Raintree Autobody where Daddy got the black TL repaired when someone keyed his car. They did it on the passanger side so he wouldn't see it. He found it when he and I were going to Sam's club and he was putting in my car seat on the passanger side. It's Landon's carseat now that we were putting in because I have a new one now. And remember that rental car that Daddy had? I think it was a Lincoln Town Car and it was so big it barely fit in the garage."

As you might expect, in retrospect we now remember that all of that was exactly what happened.

Keaton is Growing

2007-06-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Smart Hudson Quotes:

Kathryn and Hudson were discussing what he did at the gym children's play area. Hudson said:
"My friend Nathan was there. Nathan's name is polysyllabic."

The boys are doing well. Keaton is growing as you can see below. Landon is talking a lot now, though it's pretty tough understanding him sometimes. The uncanny thing is that Hudson always seems to know what he's saying and translates for us. Hudson is really maturing. Today, he and Kathryn put Landon and Keaton down for their nap and decided to watch the "Cars" movie together. Ten minutes into the movie, Kathryn was tired and decided to take a nap. Hudson finished watching the movie, turned off the DVD player and TV, and went to the bathroom. In the process, he dribbled a little on his pants, so he quietly snuck into he and Landon's room without waking Landon, put his dirty pants in the laundry, and changed into the new ones. He then went to the playroom and quietly played until Kathryn woke up.

We have weird conversations

2007-05-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

Funny Kathryn Quote

Cassandra's recent birthday prompted Hudson to request that everyone pretend to be a member of the Opper family. Since Cassandra reached legal driving age, Hudson chose to be Cassandra and all the other members were distributed with Keaton being designated as Uncle Steve. After nearly an hour in character, this resulted in the following weird statement by Kathryn:

"OK, Cassandra, wait for a minute, I have to take Uncle Steve back to change his diaper and put on his jammies."

More Gray Boy Chatter

2007-05-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Big brother taking care of little brother

Current status of our new House construction

Overheard after bedtime

Some background: Hudson has a little stuffed animal frog that is only about 3 inches high and so very easily disappears. It drives Rick and Kathryn crazy because about two nights a week it results in late evening searches so Hudson can sleep with it.

"Brother?'

"Yes, Landon."

"Kuk!"

"The house construction video?"

"Yes."

"You can watch that the next time it's your turn to pick a video to watch."

[Silence for a minute]

"Landon?"

"What?"

"Do you want to come up and help me find my frog?"

"Yes!"

[We could just picture Landon climbing the ladder to the top bunk and the two of them rummaging through the sheets and blankets.]

Not much else new. We've had around a dozen showings of our house, one second-time visitor, but no offers yet. Kathryn is in a new Beth Moore Bible study. Rick traveled to Chicago last weekend for a day for a meeting at the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.

Rick plays pickup basketball at the church gym on Monday nights and Kathryn has been bringing all three boys there to watch on those nights lately. That's prompted Landon, whose vocabulary continues to grow, to put together his longest sentence to date when he told Kathryn what he thought was going to happen that Monday night: "Daddy play ball church."

Landon's other parent

2007-05-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

Those of you who've done "Growing Kids God's Way" will appreciate this one.

Funny Hudson Quote #1:

Hudson was telling Rick and Kathryn about his day (very exciting as he spent the afternoon and evening at his friends' house) when Landon came up repeatedly trying to get Hudson's attention with his typical, "Brother?...BROTHER?...BROTHER!!?..."

Hudson: "Landon, I'm talking right now. Here, [pulled Landon's hand onto his forearm] put your hand on my arm to let me know you want to talk and as soon as I finish my story I'll talk to you."

Funny Hudson Quote #2:

After putting Hudson and Landon to bed, Rick crawled up onto the top bunk with Hudson to lay with him for a few minutes, as he sometimes does with both older boys. After a minute or two, the silence was broken...

Landon: "Brother?"

[silence]

Landon: "BROTHER?"

[silence]
Landon: "BROTHER!!!!?"

Hudson: "What, Landon?"

Landon: "Hi."

Hudson: "Hi, Landon. [turning to Rick] Do you see why he drives me crazy sometimes at night?"

May is here already?

2007-05-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

Photographic Deja vu:

Hudson and Landon June 2005

Hudson and Keaton April 2007

The time seems to be flying by again this year. Here are some of the happenings in AZ:

Keaton is doing well. He had his 2 month checkup and is healthy. He's also our biggest so far (he'll have to be to defend himself!). He weighed 11 lbs. 12 oz. and was in the 95th percentile for length. He received four shots and didn't seem to like them at all.

Landon remains the showman. He never hesitates to put a bowl on his head or whatever else might draw attention and laughs. His language has really exploded and it's fun to watch Hudson teach him to say various words.

Hudson is still type A and a great big brother. He and Landon seem to have bonded much more since sharing bunkbeds. They play together a lot and Hudson really looks out for him. Hudson also smothers Keaton in kisses and hugs. We've noticed that Hudson generates more smiles from Keaton than anyone else - but we think he also generates more crying from Keaton than anyone else.

Kathryn has been a real trooper. We've had about 5 or 6 showings of our house and she calls to the boys to "activate the Gray team." They clean everything up and head out of the house. You'd think it would be hard enough to juggle three boys under the age of four without that stuff.

Our new house is still being framed. We found that the windows, ductwork, and fireplaces (yes, fireplaces in Arizona) had been installed when we visited last weekend. It's a good pick-me-up to go see it when we get tired of showing our house and fixing everything up.

Funny Landon Quote:
For this funny quote to have it's effect, it's helpful to actually say the words out loud as you read the quotes. Trust us, it will have more of an effect this way.

Hudson has been teaching Landon a lot of words and, of course, car and truck were among the first. This past week, he decided to add to Landon's vehicular vocabulary...
Hudson: "Landon, let's teach you to say SUV."
Lanson: "Oh."
Hudson: "Say 'S'"
Landon: "S..."
Hudson: "U..."
Landon: "Me"

Funny Hudson Quote:
Hudson poked Rick with his butter knife at dinner. Kathryn, ever the prosecutor, told him that could be considered assault. Hudson asked for an explanation of assult, and it included that it's not assult if you're defending yourself.
Hudson: "Yes - what if someone was attacking you with a sword, then you could use a knife to defend yourself."
Kathryn: "Yes, Hudson, you could."
Hudson: "But I'd want a cutting knife, not a spreading knife!"

A link to our house tour and a quote

2007-04-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

Thought those of you who haven't ever been to our home might like to see it in the virtual tour they made for putting our house on the market. Here's the temporary link (still needs some editing). To see the various area of the house you just click on the tabs above the photos: http://www.tourfactory.com/337032

Smart Hudson Quote (and cute)

"Hey Landon, want to learn how to count in Spanish?"

"Ba!"

"O.K. Say uno.....good, now say dos....good..." And on it went with Landon trying to repeat after him through diez.

There's a "For Sale" sign in our front yard

2007-04-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

At our neighbor's 4th birthday party. Hudson is front row far right, Landon is second row far right with the hat on.

Easter

Coloring Easter Eggs

Hi everyone. All is well in Scottsdale. Today they delivered and installed the "For Sale" sign in our front yard. It's really weird to see that. Kathryn spent a couple of afternoons with our realtor snooping in area homes for sale to help set the asking price. She had fun checking out the houses and decor and also being a bit of a voyeur.

The kids are doing well. Keaton really seems to be growing fast. He actually smiles on demand (Rick didn't believe it either). Hudson and Landon still mall him all day long with kisses. Hudson's pretty good at replacing his pacifier.

Funny Landon Quote:

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Landon."

(Makes motion with hand hitting his other hand)

"The birdie, Landon?"

"Ba" (His word for 'yes')

"Yes, the poor birdie" (see story from the last post)

Throwing his head back and closing his eyes: "Died!"

April is here

2007-04-01T22:53:00.000-07:00

I mostly sleep and eat...

My brothers mostly ignore me...

My eyes are open sometimes.

My Mom likes to put me in these ridiculous outfits.

The "car show"

Hudson at our house construction site.

It's amazing that 2007 is already 25% done. What's more amazing is that we recently realized that Hudson has completed 25% of his life under our legal authority!

All is well in Scottsdale. Keaton is growing as he should and sleeping OK. Hudson is getting into the weather and wanting to swim a lot. Landon remains our showman and has been wanting to wear his sunglasses inside and out like a rock star.

We had an interesting experience this week. Hudson, Landon, and Rick were on the patio when a bird flew into the window, flopped onto the patio floor right at their feet, and died a not-too-pretty death. After properly disposing of the body, the boys ran in to Kathryn to tell her what happened. Before Hudson could tell the story, Landon got her attention and communicated enough to let her know that he was talking about a bird and proceeded to act out the event complete with sound effects, flopping onto the floor and closing his eyes! It was a hoot.

Hudson theology for the week:

When the subject of golf came up -

"You know that golfer, Tiger? He doesn't know God so he'd go to hell."
(We're pretty sure that came from Grandma...)

Hudson Sweet Quote of the Week:
"Keaton, of all the babies in the whole world, I'd choose you."

More Gray Family News

2007-03-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Sorry about the time between posts, but things seem to be busier at our house these days! Today's installment will be the Gray family FAQs:
1. How is Keaton doing?
Keaton is doing great. He had a check-up with his pediatrician today and he's put on 1 lb. since birth and 1lb 11oz since leaving the hospital. He's really sweet and doesn't fuss hardly at all. We've learned that he really doesn't cry unless he has a legitimate complaint. We're really enjoying him.

2. How are Hudson and Landon accepting the new addition?
They really seem to love him. Hudson wants to hold him all the time and keeps telling him, "You are the sweetest baby in the whole wide world!" and "Of all the babies in the world, I would choose you." Landon is a little less effusive but likes to say "Hi baby," and kiss him. One day when Keaton was on the floor and Kathryn was in the Kitchen, Keaton started to cry and when Kathryn looked over, Landon was standing next to him trying (too hard) to look innocent. But overall, they've been very loving.

3. How is Kathryn doing juggling three boys?
Extremely well. She's got a working schedule that seems to be working well. She's been able to get them out to the library, the store, and the doctor's office already. Not much down time left during the day, though!

4. Are you getting any sleep?
Some. Keaton's doing well. Rick feeds him at 11 p.m. and then we see what happens. Kathryn trys to get to bed by about Most nights 9 p.m. so she can get a few hours sleep before the night feeds. Most nights he wakes up to eat at about 2:30 a.m. or so and again at 5:30 a.m. or so. Some nights he only gets up once about 3:30 a.m. All in all it works pretty well.

5. What's happening with the new house?
The foundation and plumbing are in and framing begins this week. They are still projecting an October or November move-in.

6. When are you selling your current house?
Because of the current slow market and the fact that April is the busiest month for home sales int he Phoenix area, we plan to list our house for sale within the next few weeks. We're not sure if we want to pray that it sells quickly or not! Pray for wisdom for us as we try to figure out the right real estate agent, the right price, and the right strategy for timing.

D.D. visiting at the hospital

Ducky visiting at the hospital

Our friend Ann Chitwood visiting at the hospital

Our friends Paul and Stacey Dickerson with Ethan (who is only about 2 weeks older than Keaton) visiting at the hospital

Hudson visiting at the hospital

Aunt Kerry visiting at the hospital

Papa visiting at the hospital

Grandma visiting at the hospital

Hudson doing his usual snuggling with Keaton

Cool Dudes

Aunt Karen visited

Hudson spent about 45 minutes washing his Mustang in the driveway

Landon thinks chocolate ice cream is pretty great

Landon with Mommy in the hospital bed

Announcing the Arival of Keaton Taylor Gray

2007-02-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

Keaton was born this morning at 8:10 a.m. Arizona time. He weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long. He and Kathryn are both doing great and are perfectly healthy. He has blond hair and (of course) blue eyes.

We are thanking God for a safe delivery and a healthy baby. He shows no signs of Down's syndrome (he had a finding on the prenatal ultrasound in his heart that slightly increased that risk) and they did an echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart) that was perfect.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. More pictures will follow when we get to a point where we can download on a high-speed connection.

Lots of Stuff All at Once

2007-02-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hudson Playing at Grandma and Papa's Motor Home

Playing in the Backyard Sandbox

All is well in AZ - we've also gone from snow to 76 degrees (hurray). We do have a lot going on all at once. To give you an idea:

This week: Landon's birthday and birthday party, delivery of a new bunkbed, changing Landon to a big boy bed, acclamating Hudson to a little brother roommate, get-together with our home fellowship group, meeting with our pool designer for the new house, meeting with cabinet makers, and interviewing our third candidate for a real estate agent. (Whew!)

Then we only have one more week before Keaton arrives (yep, we've settled on that name). Kathryn's c-section is scheduled for February 27th. Pray for her endurance in the final weeks of pregnancy with all these things going on. Increasing her stress is that the first real estate agent recommended we put our house on the market March 1st. We've already vetoed that, by the way, but nonetheless there is a lot happening around our house.

The boys are doing well. Hudson is staying in the motor home for Sunday and Monday nights while we get his room overhauled. The car bed is going in the garage for now and the bunkbed is coming in.

We hope you are all doing well!!

Funny Hudson quote of the week:

As we were getting ready to drive away from church on Sunday, Kathryn realized she didn't have her sunglasses with her. She asked Rick if he had them or had seen them, at which point Hudson asked if she had lost them at church. Kathryn said that she may have, to which he said:

"Well you know they were your responsibility!"

Snow in Scottsdale?

2007-01-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Look carefully (or click to enlargy) and you can see snow falling in this picture.

Yep, it snowed here. We had about a week-long cold snap that culminated last Sunday with (gulp) snow in Scottsdale. I assure you that we didn't need any snowplows or shovels but there was enough to dust the ground for a while.

We're doing well. They've dug the foundation at our new house lot last week and plan to get the foundation done this week. They are predicting completion in October or November (so that probably means November or December).

Kathryn is doing well. She's to that uncomfortable point in the preganancy at which she's ready for it to be over. She's been a trooper, though; she's still going to the gym 3 times per week. She's had several women approach her there over that last couple of weeks to tell her that she's inspired them to stay active during their pregnancies.

Hudson is spending a couple of nights with Papa and Grandma at the motor home this week. Landon was pretty upset that his brother left; despite his brother bossing him around all the time, he apparently really likes to be around him.

Funny Hudson Quote of the Week:

When Rick told Hudson, "Instead of going to the motorhome with Papa and Grandma, why don't you stay here? I'd like to spend time with you this week."

Hudson: "Well, Daddy, you have to learn that you don't get everything you want in life."

Smart Hudson Quote of the Week:

Hudson asked why a motorcycle was called a motorcycle and Rick explained the "motor" part and the "cycle" part of the word. Then he asked why a car is called a car. Lacking an etymological knowledge of that word, Rick strayed into defining "automobile." To which Hudson replied:

"Then a motorcycle is also an automobile since it is self-moving also."

Guess what our boys like to eat????

2007-01-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. We're doing well. The biggest item here lately, for those that of you that don't know, has been Hudson's teeth. We found out a couple of months ago that he had some teeth come in without the enamel formed adequately. Because of that, they had worn down. He needed a root canal and two caps. As you might expect in a four-year-old, it had to be done with him sedated. He did really well and everything went fine. Kathryn things he would be a mean drunk though by the way he talked when he got home ("I don't like that hat on you; it looks bad.").

The funny thing around here has been that Hudson and Landon LOVE croakins (I'm not sure I know how to spell that). For those that aren't a part of the Gray family of origin, croakins are a tradition in our family. They are really a Swedish dish that are really called something like Cruk-Crockers. They are potato dumpling around a core of salt pork that is boiled and later can be sliced and fried. They are something of a legend in the Gray family because new members (who marry or are born in) get introduced and seem to either love them or hate them (and more seem to hate them). One prospective son-in-law even threw them up.

Well, our boys are not big eaters regardless and they neither like pork nor potatoes very much. So the last thing we expected was for them to love coakins but they do. Hudson has "forced" Grandma to make two more batches of them after the original because he likes and keeps asking for them. Below is a picture of Hudson with his plate full of croakins.

Funny Hudson Quote of the Week:

"Nothing that you'd be into."

His response to Rick asking him after church, "What did you learn in your Sunday School class today?"

Merry Christmas

2006-12-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas to you! We're so sorry that all of you couldn't be here to share a wonderful Christmas with us. We were thankful to have Kathryn's sister, Kerry, with us as well and Grandma and Papa Gray. We had a wonderful celebration.

We spent Christmas Eve together going to Church, having dinner, and swapping stories. The boys actually went right to sleep. Christmas morning started about 7:15 a.m. (not bad!). Hudson and Landon got to see their two unwrapped presents (a battery-powered Mustang for Hudson and a Cadillac Escalade scooter for Landon) and play with them for a few minutes and then we all ate breakfast. Then we opened gifts. Hudson was of course really into it. He ripped apart the paper and couldn't wait to see what was inside. Landon was pretty overwhelmed. He didn't get into ripping wrapping paper and just wanted to play with the first toy and didn't really care about checking out anything else for quite a while. Overall, they had a ball and so did we.

The best part of the day, though, was the afternoon of Hudson driving the new Mustang in the cul-de-sac. Landon decided he'd try being his passenger and ended up loving it. Hudson taught him how to shift for him. He then discovered that at one end of the cul-de-sac if he turned quickly and hit the brakes, he could get the Mustang to skid sideways. The sight of the two of them cruising in that little car together was priceless.

In case you aren't aware, you can "click" on the photos above to view an enlarged version of the image. We love you all.

Christmas is Coming

2006-12-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Merry Christmas to you all. The Arizona Grays are doing well.

Grandma and Papa (Gray) arrived in Arizona two weeks ago. We have enjoyed having them over as have the boys. They also traded in their old car for a Honda CR-V and Hudson went with them to the dealership to make the final deal. He was really helpful.

We're excited for Christmas. Rick will have the whole week off (sort of) and we're looking forward to spending a lot of time as a family. Kathryn's birthday is next Thursday, too.

We had a recent "snow day" in our neighborhood park. They hauled in a truckload of snow and the boys and other neighborhood kids had a blast.

We love you all and wish the blessings of CHRISTmas for you all.

Funny Hudson Quote of the Week

Hudson likes to have the whole family pretend we're other people or things. When we're the Oppers, Hudson consistently wants to be Callie. We've also been praying a lot lately for Aunt Bonnie's herniated disk and Uncle Steve's kidney stone. Hudson suggested that the family pretend to be the Oppers, and Kathryn (to tease him) said, "OK, I'll be Callie and you be Uncle Steve." To which Hudson said:

"Hey!! I don't want to have a kidney stone!!"

We're slacking on the blog!

2006-12-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

We have really been slacking on blog updates - I can't believe it's been almost a month since we've posted here. Sorry to those who check regularly! We really do have the goal of updating the blog once per week so don't give up on us!

We're doing well. Kathryn's belly continues to grow but she's feeling well. Rick is in the middle of interview season for the new surgical residents at Mayo Clinic. It's a fun but busy time. Hudson is doing well. He is still a stickler for rules and order, as any good firstborn would be. He's become pretty sweet to his little brother instead of just trying to annoy him most of the time. Landon continues to be our little ham. He never hesitates to put food on his head or do anything that will draw the attention of the crowd.

We've been doing a lot of decision-making with our house we've contracted to build (probably part of the reason we've been lax in keeping up the blog). We've now finished the planning of all the appliances, the lighting, the flooring and counters, the cabinetry, the color schemes, and the wiring. It took us seven 2-3.5 hour appointments to get all that done, so we're happy to take a break for a while. It's been fun, excrutiating, exciting, and frustrating all at once. We're happy how the plans are coming along.

Grandma and Papa arrived in Arizona last Sunday. The boys (and us) have been really excited to have them here. They've been able to spend a few afternoons with us and we've had a great time.

We're excited for Christmas. We love you all very much and wish God's blessing for all of you in this season.

Trip to Michigan

2006-11-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to Michigan. We loved connecting with family, especially seeing Hudson and Landon with their cousins. We also had a great time connecting with old college friends of Rick's. We built a lot of great memories, and these pictures do it just partial justice:

With some Opper cousins in a leaf pile

Papa with Hudson

Papa comforting Landon

Trip to Michigan

2006-11-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Caleb, Callie, Hudson

Papa reading "Rainbow" to Hudson

Caleb and Landon

Caleb and Callie reading to Hudson

Grandma Hunting Squirrels

Arizonans trying our hand at snowballs

Hudson four-wheeling with Grandma

New Baby Photos

2006-10-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone - well there he or she is. We had an ultrasound on Friday 10/6/06. Everything looked good. We decided to not have them show/tell us the baby's sex during the ultrasound. Everything looked good overall. I'll explain the above pictures:

The first photo is with the head at the left, facing up with the body going to the right curling up with his/her rump curling to the top right and legs coming back toward the left.

The second photo is a shot of both feet.

The third photo shows a profile with the head/face at the left and the chest on the right. The dark areas in the chest are the heart and stomach and the white sections toward the bottom are the vertebrae.

The final photo is a close-up profile of his/her face.

We are blessed an thankful that everything looked good with the baby. The only finding of note was an intracardiac echogenic focus (click to follow link to more information). This is a "white spot" on the ultrasound in the heart. In the absence of other ultrasound findings in a woman over 35 (as is our case) what it means is that the risk of the baby having Down's syndrome is 0.5-1% instead of 0.25-0.5% without this finding. It's actually a not terribly unusual finding on an ultrasound in the second trimester. We are simply praising God and trusting Him in every way for this baby.

Thank you all for your prayers. We love you.

Expensive Baby

2006-10-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. We're doing well. Well, the big news is that this third baby on the way is already the most expensive one by far - because we're moving. Yep, we've decided to get a place with more bedrooms. Actually there are several reasons for us to move but this baby is certainly a prominent one. Kathryn is doing well. We go in for an ultrasound tomorrow.

We're going to be building so we won't be moving for about 15 months. We're just moving about 8 miles north. We're pretty excited. We have a lot of items to pick out and decide on in the next couple of months.

We're flying to Michigan on October 23rd. The whole family is excited about that, too.

Hope you like the new pictures.

Happy Birthday Hudson

2006-09-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we have a four year-old in the house. We had a fun day of celebration. Hudson had really been looking forward to it. Showing remarkable confidence in her son's restraint, Kathryn stored the wrapped gifts sent via mail as well as the gifts from us at floor level in Hudson's room for several days leading up to the 16th.

We let him choose two gifts to open on his birthday morning (before the planned party at dinner time.) He played all day with those two gifts. Sometimes I think two gifts are enough for any child, but it didn't stop there.

We had a party at Peter Piper Pizza. D.D. and Ducky, Aunt Kerry and the three of us all got together for Pizza, Games, Cake, and presents. It was a blast. Hudson loved all of his gifts as you can see in the pictures. Although his parents bought him a musical instrument set: a drum, drumsticks, a tambourine, maroccas, and a harmonica, no one else is allowed to give him noisy gifts in the future! :)

We wish you all could have been here and so does Hudson.

Monsoons are here

2006-09-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. We're doing well. It's monsoon season here - for those that don't know about the Sonoran desert, summer is when we get some humidity and we get some rain. We've had a lot of good rains this summer so that's great for the AZ water supply.

We had a recent bout of brief sickness in our house (again). Landon developed a fever for a couple of days without much else for symptoms (except feeling punky). A few days later, it hit Hudson, but for him it was only about 36 hours and then it hit Rick and Kathryn, each also for about 36 hours. We are grateful to be done with it and that it was brief. Kathryn is otherwise doing pretty well with the pregnancy.

We wish you all could see how the boys are growing and changing. Hudson is still all boy - into cars and trucks and wants to be a garbageman when he grows up. Despite that, he still likes to play a game during which we all pretend to be other people. He almost invariable chooses to be one of his female cousins or a female character of some type. Understandably this practice over time began to concern Rick who finally asked Hudson, "Why do you usually want to be a girl?" To which Hudson replied, "Because I like girls." (Still not much help).

"Why do you like girls?"

"Because I'm a boy and boys like girls." [whew! We think:)]

Landon is our version of a "strong-willed child." Not in the usual sense: He is consistently obedient and compliant. But the child wants to do things himself and usually refuses help. Having trouble getting a bite of food on the fork? If we help him stab it with the fork, he will take the bite off the fork and start over - by himself, thank you very much!

Hudson continues to have a very sensitive spirit. When we picked him up at his Sunday School class a couple of weeks ago, they had a stack of what we thought were CD's. They were labeled with an ad for an upcoming animated movie about the donkey (colt) Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Thinking it was an audio CD, we took one and told him we'd listen to the songs, but it turned out to be a DVD. With all the build-up, Rick decided to show him the DVD which at this point he believed to be a short trailer for the movie. But when he put it in, it turned out to be a 15 minute movie! And we started at bed-time. Hudson was fascinated and it seemed to be a cute story so Rick left him watching it while Rick went to change Landon into his pajamas. While changing Landon, Rick heard Hudson walk into the room and turned to see him with a face soaked with tears saying, "No one is helping him. They threw him down the well and no one is helping him."

Rick ran back with him to the movie. It turns out the story of the Colt loosely follows Joseph's life at first: mean brothers who tease him and eventually throw him into a water well to get rid of him. What a boo-boo to leave him alone watching his very first DVD movie - even if it was tacitly endorsed by the church! Rick sat and watched the rest: the rescue from the well, the disciples coming to choose him, and the triumphal entry. But boy was Hudson ripped up for a while while that little donkey was in the well singing his sad song! Lesson learned.

Funny Hudson Quote:

During the Saturday breakfast ritual of going through the car ads in the newspaper, Kathryn was asking Hudson what cars were shown. Upon turning one page, though, several Motorhomes were being advertised. Kathryn asked him if he knew what kind of Motorhomes they were.

"No, I don't know many kinds of motorhomes...except that Papa and Grandma's is a Residency."

Impressed that he could remember their Motorhome model, Kathryn tried to jog him memory for another by asking, "What kind of motorhome does Mr. Mike and Miss Sally [friends of Papa and Grandma] have?"

To which she was quickly corrected, "No, they don't have a motorhome; it's a park model."

Sniffles in the Summer?

2006-08-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Photo above was taken when Landon stole Kathryn's sports bra out of the laudry basket, put it around his neck and started running around the house giggling.

Hello all. We are doing well, but we had a spat of colds last week. Landon started it off with a cold and some diarrhea. Hudson got it next with a cold and a tiny amount of diarrhea. Then Rick got the cold and just a little upset stomach. Only Kathryn was strong enough to avoid it! Everyone is back to full health now.

Kathryn is doing well. She still is feeling tired and has a nagging nausea when she hasn't eaten but otherwise is doing fine. Rick brought home a doppler from work so we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat last week. It was pretty exciting.

Rick is also doing well. He has next week off work to hang out with the family. The boys are still a lot of fun. Last night during our home fellowship, they went into the playroom together, played nicely together, and stayed out of trouble for an hour without our help! Hudson was quite the big brother, coaxing Landon into staying in the playroom and making sure he played safely.

Funny Hudson Quote of the Week

"See that long one that looks like a snake? That one came out really fast!"

Said while he was sick after getting off the toilet.

What's New

2006-08-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all. All is well with us here. We've had a good couple of weeks. Rick has a four day weekend this week so we're all hanging out together. We spent the morning with friends with a bunch of kids playing at a pool together.

Kathryn is doing well. She's understandably fatigued but overall doing well. The boys are doing great, except Landon has developed a little bit of sniffles. They're a laugh a minute.

Funny Hudson Quote of the week:

"No, it was Landon's."

After Hudson's nap, I took Landon into the bathroom to put him on the potty chair when I saw one of the nice towels with the boys name's embroidered on them on the floor with something purple on it. It looked like marker or something to me. I walked to Hudson and said, "I need you to come to your bathroom and explain something to me."

He knew to what I was referring immediately and said, "Well, after I went to the bathroom you forgot to wash my hands so I went in to wash them, but the soap dispensor was out of soap. So I went to get some baby wash from the tub but I couldn't reach it. So I got some bubble bath [which is purple] but I spilled some in the tub. So I got a towel to clean up my mess."

"So you used your good towel to clean it up?"

"No, it was Landon's."

And it was.

It's August!

2006-08-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Well by now you know that our big news is that Kathryn is pregant with our number 3! She's about 10 weeks along, so the baby will be due in late February/early March. We're very thankful. Kathryn's been feeling pretty good - some nausea but not a lot. She's also feeling a little tired but all in all it could be worse.

You can all be praying for us as we try to decide what to do about our housing with a third on the way. Our house has two bedrooms for the children that share a bathroom. We're trying to decide if that will work well long-term. We're looking around at least and praying about it. There is one new community being built that offers a 4-bedroom home that we really like. But believe it or not, the demand for homes here is so strong that the developers start 3 new homes per month and you have to enter into a lottery to get the opportunity to buy one of them!! We put our name in for now but we're one of 45 in the drawing! What a crazy city we live in.

Hudson and Landon are doing great. Lately they've been wanting to play on the swingset a lot. Landon can climb the steps up to the 5-foot tall platform now and Hudson slides down before him and catches him. It's pretty cute to watch.

Funny Hudson Quote of the Week:

"C'mon Landon you've gotta work with me here!"
Overheard as Hudson was trying to help Landon get up into his chair.

Back from Vacation

2006-07-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since our last post, but our vacation was also a vacation from the blog. We spent the last week in San Diego. We had planned this week to be in Michigan but since we have to go in October, we decided to make that the only trip so we headed out to San Diego for a break from the heat. We had a terrific time and had perfect weather; here's the run-down:

Saturday: Drove 6 hours to Solana Beach, a northern suburb of San Diego. We rented a condo on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. The boys did great on the long trip. We don't think Hudson stopped chatting for any of the 6 hours. Aunt Kerry met us there.

Sunday: Spent the morning on the beach at our condo. In the afternoon we had our friends who had moved to San Diego, Luke and Cindy Johnson, over to catch up. That night, Aunt Kerry babysat while Rick and Kathryn went out on a dinner date.

Monday: Spent the day at Balboa Park. We explored the science center, arboretum, carousel, automotive museum. It was fun for everyone and Aunt Kerry headed back to Arizona that night.

Tuesday: Went to Legoland. It's a great park for 3-10 year-olds and we had a blast. We rode rides like a jeep safari, a mini-train, a water park, an oval track car race (with no tracks for the cars, just free rein for 3-5 year olds!), a race of fire trucks to put out a fake fire, and a mini-USA of U.S. cities built out of Legos. Hudson also rode his first real rollercoaster: Coastersaurus and he loved it. It was pretty big, too - it made an 8-10 year old boy in front of us cry. Legoland was a big hit. Landon was too little to do much, but he enjoyed the water park.

Wednesday: We spent the day on Coronado Island on the beach near the Hotel Coronado. It was a beautiful beach and nice facilities available to us courtesy of the Johnsons. We had fun splashing in the ocean and digging in the sand.

Thursday: Our slow-down day. We slept in lazily, read and played in the condo, and walked along the beach and bluffs.

Friday: We had a lazy morning and then split up for the afternoon. Hudson and Rick went back to Legoland to take advantage of our second day of the two-day passes we had purchased while Landon and Kathryn went to the beach at our Condo. Kathryn and Landon had fun playing in (and occasional eating) the sand. At Legoland Hudson started out building racecars out of legos and racing them against other children's cars. Then he and Rick rode several other rides, but when we got back to the Coastersaurus, he said the same thing at the end of every ride: "Let's do it again!!!!" Only the park closing stopped us at seven rides on it in a row.

Saturday: Drove back home. Again, the boys did great.

We are feeling refreshed and very blessed and thankful for our time away. We were definitely ready to get home, though. We love you all!

What kind of parents take their 3 year-old to a movie?

2006-06-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

Yup, we did it. After a bit of consternation, we decided to take Hudson to see the movie "Cars." We were originally planning to have him see it on video, but ended up deciding that taking him to a theater would make it seem more "set apart" so he'd be less likely to want to see more TV/movies at home. Can you tell he's our first child with all the thought we put into a rather simple decision?

He loved it. He jumped a few times at the loud revving of the engines, but never got scared at all. It was a pretty long movie - about 2 hours and he shifted positions a lot, so we couldn't tell if he was just a being a boy or if he was getting a little tired of it. But when the credits rolled (with some animation re-starting on the side) we asked if he wanted to leave. He said, "Let's wait until the pictures go off and don't come back on."

He's been (we've made him) a victim of the Disney marketing machine. He has a "Cars" coloring book, a "Cars" sticker book, and a few plastic "Cars" figures. So he knew the main characters names before the movie. By the way, it's a cute movie that's fun for any age (apparently down to three).

Landon is still having a lot of fun running around. He's starting to fight back when Hudson takes things with which he's playing - and he's got a pretty accurate slap! He's definitely a second-born: much more adventurous, much more stubborn, not as into precision and detail and more into fun. He is really creating his own identity more and more every day.

Kathryn and Rick are doing well. Rick sprained his ankle playing basketball this week but it doesn't seem all that bad, just pretty swollen.

Thanks for the comments and updates!

Funny Hudson quote:

"Oh no; it dropped the call!"
Said while talking to a pretend person on a pretend call on his pretend Spiderman cell phone.

Is it officially summer already?

2006-06-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. It's seemed like summer here longer than just this week. Everyone is healthy here and we're putting up with the heat well. Work has been reasonable for Rick; Kathryn is doing well and her Tuesday morning Bible studies have started back up. Hudson is still having fun with his cars. Kathryn went to pick him up at the gym childcare center and found all the workers gathered around him being entertained by him identifying all the cars. Landon is toddling around everywhere now and has become a climber. The gym staff told Kathryn that he was but she hadn't really seen evidence of it. That day, though, she took the boys to the library and after getting some books with Hudson found him standing on top of one of the tables.

Smart Hudson Quote:

"It's an amphibious truck."

Hudson explaining why it was OK when he was told that his story shouldn't have the trash truck drive into the water.

June is Here

2006-06-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Things are going well here in the Valley of the Sun. Monsoon season officially has arrived. For those of you that don't know, we actually get a fair amount of rain in the heat of the summer. We get monsoons with a lot of wind in the evenings and get a little bit of rain sometimes and downpours others. We also get a lot of lightning and thunder. So far we've had just wind with a little bit of rain and lightning the past few nights. We all pray for more rain than lightning to limit the fire hazard.

The boys are doing well. Landon is now going from sitting to standing and walking by himself - and I might add is very proud of doing so. Hudson continues with his car and truck obsession. Today he guessed that the worker who came to patch a seam in our countertop had driven a white Ford pickup - a good guess based on sales figures - and he was correct.

Kathryn is back in Tuesday morning Bible study after a couple of months off. She's enjoying her group of Moms at her table and the teaching.

Rick had last week off of work and did his honey-do list around the house: fixing some irrigation lines, replanting some lost landscape, cleaning hard water spots off the pool water feature, and cleaning out the garage. He also got a chance to play with the boys a lot and went golfing twice.

Funny Hudson Quote of the Week:

"You can do the underwater parts with Landon."

Said to his daddy while they and Landon were in the pool and were about to do swim lessons. He regularly lobbies to leave out the parts of the swim lessons where he goes underwater.

Smart Hudson Quotes of the week:

"What did the pastor say about the car and it's gasoline?"

Hudson to his mommy on the way home from church. He's been coming to big church with us and seems to be doing his own thing (coloring, driving his cars on the pew) most of the time, but it's clear that he's taking it all in. Pastor Darryl had used an illustration of us following God's word as being like a car running on gasoline, and when we don't, like a car running on corn oil.

"No, that's just some adhesive from one of my old stickers."

Hudson to his mommy after she questioned whether the small, round, gray, sticky object on his finger represented a booger. She didn't even knew he knew what 'adhesive' was.

It's heating up in AZ

2006-05-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Well we've reached triple digits in Arizona. We're ready for a few months of air conditioning. The evenings are still beautiful, with the temperatures in the 70's-80's (which feels pretty cool with a humidity of 15%). Our family is doing well.

Thank you all for posting comments on the blog - it's fun to get your comments and updates!!

We've dealt with two cases of "pink eye" over the past couple of weeks. Hudson was first and it cleared up pretty quickly but Landon got it a week or so later. He's a challenge to get eye drops into sometimes!

Hudson has been funny lately - he's taken to using a lot of figures of speech. So a lot of his sentences recently have begun with "Speaking of which,..."

Landon is still as smiley as ever. He's toddling longer distances but we still think he's too lazy to not crawl.

Funny Hudson Quote of the Week:
"No, tell Grandma's version of it!"
After requesting Rick to tell him the story of the three pigs and the wolf and the story being told, he requested Grandma's version which as it turns out has the three pigs escaping to a motorhome at the end that the wolf couldn't blow down.

Happy May

2006-05-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

All is well with us. Here's the update:

Last night Kathryn hosted her Bunco group at our home. It's a group of women from our church who get together once a month to play Bunco as an excuse to talk and eat sweets. About 34 women converged on our house and a good time was had by all. The boys cleared out of the house and went to the library and dinner at Red Robin. They had fun.

Hudson continues to enjoy having two arms without casts. He's been doing really well with using the bathroom and we seem to have now conquered #2 as well as #1. Landon continues to prefer crawling to walking. He's really cute toddling but doesn't show it to us enough. While Hudson enjoys annoying him, he's also very protective of his brother. He hovers over him any time he's within 20 feet of the street or pool.

Funny Hudson quote of the week:

"Nothing...we just sat around and stared at the walls."His response to Rick asking upon arriving home from work, "What did you, Landon, and Mommy do today?" He said it with a mischievious smirk, knowing he was cracking a joke.

Smart Hudson quote of the week:
"Was Adolf Hitler a bad man who tried to take over other countries?"
Asked on Wednesday night at Red Robin. Last Saturday he had asked to hear stories and Rick had told him about the Revolutionary War, World War II, the Berlin wall, and a few others.

We've halved our diaper costs!

2006-04-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Well, as you may have surmised from the title of this post, Hudson is now potty trained. If you don't care about a potty training story, skip to the next paragraph! Some of you know that we tried about 6 months ago and he got the "hold it" part but not the "let it go" part; he held his urine for 18 hours straight. It took us until now to be brave enough to give it another try (also delayed by the broken arm). On Saturday we had him sit on the potty chair with a diaper on to practice letting it go. By Sunday morning he started going without diapers and hasn't gone back. He had one accident in bed one night but that has been the only time in four days.

Hudson's arm is really working normally now. He was pretty stiff for a few days but is now back to normal. Landon continues to walk more and more also.

Work has been pretty busy for Rick. It's caused a few nights of not getting home by bedtime over the past couple of weeks. Things usually get more reasonable around this time of year, though so we hope that will get better.

Funny Hudson Quote:

"How you like them apples!"
Hudson to Daddy (unprompted) in the garage after he and Mommy beat Daddy home from the library.

No more cast!!

2006-04-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the era of the cast is over. Hudson was able to get his cast off today and is doing fine. His arm (especially elbow) is pretty stiff and his muscles are fairly atrophied but all is well. The bone is healing great. He should be good as new in no time.

Also, Landon seems to be walking! He has been taking a few steps at a time today but it seems to be the real deal now.

It was a pretty big day around here. Daddy and Hudson slept in a tent in the backyard last night. Other than needing some extra clothes and blankets at 3AM (Daddy was the cold whimp, not the boy) it was a great, fun night. Rick awoke to loud birds and Hudson saying, "Those birds sound happy!" Then Mommy took the boys to the railroad park and fun was had by all. Then Hudson got his cast off - both boys cried while the cast saw was cutting it off. Finally, Mommy took the boys to the mall tonight. They got to play and have a fun dinner there.

We love you all.

Lots of Events

2006-04-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Sorry about the long time between posts but hopefully this update will help you to understand why.

Two weeks ago, Kathryn and Rick were out of town while Papa and Grandma watched the boys. Rick had two meetings in a row. First we went to Tucson to the La Paloma Resort on Monday. Kathryn spent time by the pool while Rick was in meetings but both of us took some R&R time one morning with Rick on the golf course and Kathryn at a half-day spa package.

Wednesday night we drove home and saw the boys but Thursday morning we were off to fly to San Diego. Kathryn enjoyed the shopping and pool while Rick was in meetings and we saw a movie together and went out to dinner every night. We returned home Sunday afternoon.

The following week was a real adventure. On Tuesday, Landon got sick. He threw up most of the day but was a little better by Tuesday night and seemed to be over it by Wednesday. Wednesday, it was Hudson's turn. He threw up most of the day but seemed to settle down by bedtime. Unfortunately, by Thursday mid-day he was back to throwing up. It continued through the night and that same night Rick and Kathryn got sick. Hudson threw up all night and Rick was also throwing up while Kathryn was keeping it down by staying as still as possible. It was quite a night. By Friday morning, Hudson was really dehydrated. We took him to the pediatrician and they admitted him to the hospital for IV fluids. Rick was still sick and had to do seven operations. As soon as Hudson got some fluids into him, he stopped vomiting immediately. He spent a day at the hospital and was good as new. He really charmed the nurses. Several of them bought him cars and one spent nearly an hour reading books to him.

Finally, last week, Rick was traveling again to a meeting in Baltimore. Kathryn and the boys stayed home except Hudson went to stay with Papa and Grandma Friday and Saturday nights. Rick returned Saturday night and we got together Sunday. Papa and Grandma left for Michigan via Colorado on Monday morning. Hudson was really sad to see them go, as were the rest of us.

Funny Hudson quotes:

"Wait just a cotton-pickin' minute."
To Grandma (he picked up this phrase from her) as she moved a little too quickly past the hotwheels car display in a store.

"We had to pull over into the parking lot of the place where you and Mommy got married."
Explaining to Rick where Kathryn pulled over when Landon got sick. Kathryn had pointed out the Chapel where we got married to him more than six months prior.

More Snow Pictures

2006-03-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of the snow-capped McDowell Mountains from our backyard

Snowy Arizona

2006-03-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hi all. We awoke last Saturday morning to snow! We didn't have any on the ground at our house but the mountains were snow capped all around us and some areas in the mountains got as much as 4 feet of snow in 24 hours. We'll post more pictures soon.

Karen, Elizabeth, and Jonathon were visiting for a warm Spring break but ended up throwing snowballs instead. Elizabeth spent the night last night. Some funny Hudson quotes from her stay:

Elizabeth: "Let's play fairy princess; and you can be a fairy prince!"
Hudson: "No, let's be cars instead!"

Elizabeth told Hudson about losing teeth.
Hudson: "I have a book about a bunny who loses a tooth and he put it under his pillow and his parents put a dime there for him."
Elizabeth: "Maybe it was the tooth fairy that left the dime."
Husdon: "No, it was his parents."

Our Big "Break"

2006-03-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the delay between posts. We've had an "interesting" week or two. The big event happened last Sunday night - Hudson was swinging and telling grandma a story when he decided he needed both hands to explain it which lead to him falling off to the side. Long story short, he broke his forearm.

He's been a real trooper - he never so much as took tylenol and didn't seem to slow down at all. He was in a splint and a sling for three days and then picked out his bright green cast on Wednesday. He'll be wearing his long arm cast (shoulder to knuckles) for about three weeks and if his x-rays look OK, then a short arm cast (elbow to knuckles) for another three weeks. He acts like nothing's happened except now when he colors he makes his mom hold the coloring book for him.

He really charmed the folks in the pediatric Emergency Department from questioning whether it was his ulna or radius that was broken (his radius) to telling the story of what happened in flamboyant detail ("What happened to you, Hudson?" "Well, Grandma was sweeping up rabbit doo-doo...") to dialoging with the cast tech about what forms the vapor trails behind jets (condensation forming on the plane).

Funny Hudson quote:

He had a piece of thumbnail peeling off that he asked Kathryn to come in to help get rid of after he was in bed. Kathryn wiped it with the lights off but, as it turned out, it didn't come off. A few minutes later, he wandered out of his bedroom and said, "My thumb still has a thing on it." Kathryn said, "O.K., pal, come on over and I'll get it." As he passed by her he said:

"No, Daddy's a surgeon, he can fix it."

Our Third week of February

2006-02-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. We've had an interesting week. It started well with a visit from Uncle Ben and Aunt Gail. It was nice to have them here from California and of course they're two of Hudson's favorite people as the source of all his Pepsi cars and trucks. Kathryn has been sick with a cold that seems to be dragging on. Grandma and Papa have taken Hudson to the motorhome for the night and day to provide some relief for her. Somehow I think he may get to stay up late, read some extra books, and generally get away with anything. We love you all.

Happy Birthday Landon!

2006-02-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

The big event this week was Landon's 1st birthday. We had a party at Eatza Pizza with our family, Aunt Kerry, Papa and Grandma, and DD and Ducky. Landon enjoyed his pizza - he has totally given up baby food and loves pizza. He also dug into the cake like crazy. We had a really good time. He got a hat, a xylophone, a swing seat, and a trash truck (guess who gave him that one!).

Everything else is well. The pool PVC pipe is fixed and the boys love their swingset. They also have a new pastime of firetruck races (induced by Grandma) as you can see in the picture here with their matching pajamas.

We love you all!

This week's posting

2006-02-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

PHOTO: Landon with his severe bed-head

Hi everyone. All is well with the Gray's. We've had a good week. The big events of the last week:

The Swingset: We ordered a swingset for the boys from Walmart. Not just a swingset of course, we had to go whole hog and get the one with a fort, rock wall, cargo net, slide, picnic bench, and sand box. We thought we were getting a swingset but what we got was 113 pieces of lumber, 30 other parts, and more than 700 pieces of hardware! After about 15 hours of assembly, Rick was feeling pretty good about how it had gone and did the last step of staking it down to the yard. A little while later we turned on the waterfall in our pool and and we had a waterfall coming out of the lawn at one of the stakes! Oh boy...It turns out it just requires a little repair of some PVC pipe but it was still quite a letdown at a moment of triumph.

The Party: We had a Superbowl party for our Sunday school class. We ended up with about 40 people and had a great time. Papa and Grandma and DeDe and Ducky helped with the boys during it.

The boys are doing well. Landon is working on his walking but he's not quite there yet. Hudson is still in motion and smart as a whip.

We hope you're all doing well and we love you.

Funny Hudson Quote of the week:

While brushing his teeth one night this week:

Hudson: "Mommy, instead of me going to the dentist, I think we should have a toothbrush truck come to our house."

Is it February already?

2006-02-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

2006 is already flying by it seems. The Grays are doing well. We're enjoying the Arizona winter. We are gearing up for our annual Superbowl party for our young marrieds Sunday School class. We are planning to have about 50 people at our house so it will be quite a madhouse!

Rick and Kathryn are doing well. We bought a swingset and have been working on the "some assembly required" aspect. So far about 8 hours of "some assembly" has been done and we're about half way there or so. Hudson is pretty excited about it, though. Landon is becoming quite a chatterbox and seems to be saying "mama" these days.

Funny Hudson quote of the week:

(Background: Hudson has been feeling like he's missing out on some action after he goes to bed and we've been finding him out of bed at his door listening to what's going on. We've been trying to break him of it, but he keeps coming up with new and better excuses and reasons to get us to come back to his room. He's ususally said he has a question he needs answered when told to go back to bed.)

Rick: Hudson, get back into your bed.
Hudson: I have a question I need answered.
Rick: No questions after bed-time, head back in.
Hudson: But I need another kiss first because when I rolled over your kiss fell off!

This week at the Gray Houshold

2006-01-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. This week was a good one. Our family had routine days and nights and we have come to appreciate the joy and blessing of the "norm." Pappa and Grandma Gray had their motorhome in the shop for a few days and they stayed with us. The boys had a ball with them and were crushed when they were ready to leave. Rick and Kathryn took advantage of the built-in baby-sitters and went out a few times including seeing the Chronicals of Narnia movie. A fine movie that we wholeheartedly recommend.

Last week, Papa and Grandma took Hudson to stay with them at the motorhome. We were a little worried that we'd be driving down there to pick him up in the middle of the night. What we really should have worried about is him being willing to come home! He had a ball and cried about coming home. I think part of the draw to the motorhome had a little bit to do with all the popcorn he talked about. He seems to have adjusted back to his tough existence with a playroom full of toys, a car bed, and doting parents.

Funny Hudson quote of the week (a tattle-tale):

At dinner, out of the blue: "When I went with Papa and Grandma back to the motorhome, Papa drove past the motorhome and missed it and we had to turn around and go back..." Can't keep any mistakes secret with him around!

A few more Barrett-Jackson Pictures

2006-01-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Barrett-Jackson Car Auction and Show

2006-01-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, we took the boys to the Barrett-Jackson Car Show. We had a good time and saw a lot of fun cars. Hudson was of course in hog heaven.

Sunday night, Hudson went to spend the night at Papa and Grandma's motor home. The plan was to have him spend the day Monday and then depending on how well he did, maybe also spend Monday night. Well, as it turned out, we had to pry him out of the park to get him home on Tuesday afternoon. He had a blast and of course was spoiled royally by Papa and Grandma. What great memories to build.

Lot's of new stuff

2006-01-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the long break. We're planning to add a new post once per week now - on Wednesdays most likely. Sorry if you've been checking without any recent updates.

Since we're 3 weeks behind, we'll try to make up for lost time...

We dedicated Landon two Sunday's ago. Both sets of Grandparents we're able to be there and it was terrific.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone. We had a terrific Christmas. Rick was on call but was able to be home all day. Kathryn's sister, Kerry was also able to join us. For Hudson, the hotwheels carwash and the garbage truck were the two gifts that caught his attention the longest. The remote control Mini Cooper was right up there also. We hope you all had a blessed day.

Christmas is coming

2005-12-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

News of the day: Landon seems to have not gotten over his cold. He seemed over it except an occasional cough but today he is coughing much more and felt like he had a little bit of a fever.

Funny Hudson quote of the day:

After stumbling, falling out of the van onto the asphalt, and bumping his head: "Why are parking lots so hard?!"

Computer issues solved

2005-12-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

We've been offline for a bit only able to post from work which doesn't lend to regular updates - sorry about the long gap of no posts. We're set for the forseeable future now.

The biggest event was on Monday night. While we were praying, Hudson asked (as he had several times before) how one gets to heaven. I explained it again to him and asked if he wanted to pray to God to accept his offer of forgiveness through Jesus who paid the punishment for his mistakes. Unlike previous times, he said yes. I suggested the words for him to pray and he repeated them. He then ran to Mommy to tell her about it. Certainly we don't know the level of understanding of a three year old but we've learned to not underestimate Hudson's grasp of difficult concepts. We know for sure that our prayers are being answered in that the Holy Spirit has worked on his heart. We are celebrating that work.

Our Christmas party for the Plunge went well. We had a white elephant gift exchange that was a hit and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Yesterday our neighbor, Suzanne Swain hosted a Christmas party for about 35 children - with Hudson being the youngest. It was complete with inflatable 'bouncers' and a Santa with an elf. Hudson was a little hesitant around the Santa but wasn't afraid. He gave gifts to all the children selected by their parents. Hudson got a Thomas the tank engine, and had an absolute blast. When the Santa asked Hudson what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "A trash truck." He was happy with the train, though.

Funny Hudson quotes of the day:

1. At the child-care center at Kathryn's gym, they used to 'paint' cars on his hand but haven't for a while. He asked them to today and they said yes.

Day care worker: "What kind of car would you like?"
Hudson: "A Cadillac DeVille!"
Day care worker (after completing a nice car): "There, how's that?"
Hudson: "Is that the best that you can do? Where's the other door?"

2. While getting ready for bed:

Hudson: "If a fire truck catched on fire, how do they put out the fire?"
Mommy: "Another fire truck comes to put it out."
Hudson: "What if all the fire trucks are on fire?"

Happy Thursday

2005-12-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that a few weeks back Hudson tripped and konked his head on the slider base of our sliding glass door. He got a pretty good goose-egg out of it as you see in the picture above-right (click for a bigger image).

We've had a good week. Everyone seems to be over the sniffles. Mommy made a special effort to get the boys going early on Tuesday to take them to the Railroad park. It's a local park that has a full-sized train engine with two former presidential train cars, a small train for kids and adults to ride around the park ($1 per ride), and big play areas and playgrounds. They had a blast but were totally exhausted by nap time.

On the way, Kathryn stopped by her old work at the Paradise Valley town attorney's office and saw her old co-workers and let them meet Landon and see Hudson again.

Hudson has taken to giving Landon "horseback" rides on his back while on all fours. It's a pretty funny scene.

We're Back

2005-12-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry no posts for several days - some computer issues. Our household had some sniffles but everyone is on the mend. We've also started the weekly (or more) Christmas party stretch. There was a Mayo party last Saturday and we have 2 parties next weekend (one hosted by us).

FUNNY HUDSON QUOTE OF THE DAY (actually a few days old)

The setting: Hudson (never having been an adventurous eater) sits in his chair at the dinner table. We are having meatloaf for the first time in his lifetime. His plate is currently empty while Kathryn puts a big portion on my plate and I put it down at my placesetting.

Hudson: What's THAT?!!
Rick: That's meatloaf, pal, and it's good.
Hudson: I don't want it.
Rick: Well, you don't have to eat it, you are welcome to leave it sitting on your plate.
Hudson: I want to leave it sitting on YOUR plate!!

SMART HUDSON QUOTE OF THE DAY

Kathryn (to Hudson): Your brother thinks you hung the moon
Hudson: What's that mean?
Kathryn: It's an expression...
Hudson: Oh, a figure of speech.

Who was right, Mommy or Hudson?

2005-12-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your comments, everyone! Several of you have asked who was correct about the car - Mommy with the Honda Civic, or Hudson with the Honda Accord (old body style). For future reference, when it comes to cars, always assume Hudson is right and Mommy is wrong!! It's just that one of them is much more interested in them than the other. Hudson was correct. He was wrong, however, with the "honey" reference - that hasn't returned!

Well, it's official: Landon is crawling. Ironic as it is, he decided to crawl (on all fours) for the first time not during the 13 hours a day his mother spends with him, but during the two hours per weeknight his father is home. To make matters worse, she had run to the store. Daddy did get it on video (not usually his first thought), though.

We are in official Christmas spirit. We had friends over last Saturday, this Saturday we go the the Mayo Clinic department of surgery Christmas party, and the following Saturday we are having our Sunday School class (the Plunge) of about 50 newly marrieds over for a Christmas party. Merry Christmas to you all.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2005-12-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

All is well with us. Landon has a bit of a cold but feels well anyway. We got our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving and starting getting some lights up. We sure love this time of year, even though it's 72 and sunny.

Hudson had a night out last night with Aunt Kerry. She sure knows her nephew! They first went to the Hummer dealership and he got to try on an H1 and H2 for size. Then they ate at Red Robin and went on to play with train sets at the children's area of Barnes and Noble. What a night!

We've put some picutures up below...

2005-12-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

Christmas Lights up in our courtyard

2005-12-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Our Christmas tree

2005-12-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hudson in his "Samson Hair" from church

2005-12-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

The Boys (Click for Larger Version)

Today's funny Hudson quote:

Kathryn: "Look Hudson. There's a Honda Civic."

Hudson: "No, honey, that's a Honda Accord with the older body style..."

Another Day of fun boys

2005-12-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

No big events today. Hudson had a great afternoon because Kathryn took he and Landon to the park where he got to play with another boy's toys - always a special treat. Then he got to go to Target to look at the hotwheels cars, police cars, and garbage trucks.

Landon is now officially doing the "army crawl." He takes some steps on all fours some but mostly stays low.

Both boys got haircuts yesterday - Hudson by a barber while sitting in a jeep chair and Landon by his daddy. Hudson seemed to like his experience a lot more. They both look so much older with their little boy cuts.

We're Online

2005-11-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Thanks for visiting our new blog. We have decided to start this blog so we can stay in better contact with all of you. We hope to post what is going on with us frequently so that you can feel a little closer to us even when we're apart. Please give us feedback and let us know what you'd like see on our site. We'll be starting a little slowly as we get used to the process, so be patient with us at first.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words...we'll also try to put up new pictures a lot (we know that will be the biggest draw!).