Snowboarding/Skiing

It has been 7 years since the last time I went skiing. For a couple years, I had a season pass and would go several times each season. Then I moved to Victorville and never made it up to the ski resorts around here. After moving to Wrightwood (a ski resort town), there was no way I could pass up another season, so a couple weeks ago Fischer and I went to Mountain High for a few hours to play around. We had so much fun and are going again tomorrow. I love that the ski resort is only 5 miles from our house. It's time to buy skiis for me and a snowboard for Fischer! If I could only convince Barry it's so worth the cost, he might try it too. I love being in the mountains! I am finally "HOME" :)

Marathon Training

Well, really I'm training for a HALF marathon. I don't quite have the desire to do a full marathon. My race is on September 11th at Camp Pendleton. Two years ago, Fischer and I ran our first 5k and it was such an adreneline rush. I loved the race atmosphere, and believe it or not it was quite spiritual waking up at 5am to do an early race. I loved the whole experience and have been wanting to do a half marathon for two years. When I started training in 2008 after Chloe was born, we soon found out we were pregnant again and my training stopped. Then I miscarried and got pregnant again within a couple months. Now that Annie is here, I can focus on my training again. She was 7 months old on Easter Sunday, and I feel that I'm finally at a point where I can focus on getting back in shape and doing this race. Last Monday started my official training. Right now, I'm trying to be able to run 3 miles nonstop. I did 1.25 miles without stopping last Wednesday and am focusing on doing 1.5 miles this week. Monday and Tuesday I made the 1.5 miles, but did some walking to get there. I'm having a hard time getting my mind to believe I can do this. My legs are heavy and my body feels sluggish. I'm focusing on eating healthier and drinking more water. I also started taking a multivitamin today. My frustration right now is that I "KNOW" I can run 1.5 miles if I did 1.25 last week, but my body is fighting my mind. I am doing my runs on my treadmill, which is probably another reason I'm struggling. I got an Ipod for Valentine's Day, so I'm using that, but I think I really need to go outside and run. I really want to go outside, but I can't leave the girls at home alone while I run and by the time Fischer and Barry get home we are eating dinner and focusing on family time. The only other option is to get up early and go before Fischer leaves for school. HAHAHAHA, yes I am laughing. Getting up early is not my thing. Today I got up at 5:30, but had to feed Annie first and didn't finish my run until 7:00am, an hour after Fischer leaves for school. I have a double jogging stroller, but I have three little girls. It sounds like I'm coming up with all the excuses in the book, but I'm really trying not to. I find the time to run on the treadmill every day; I just can't make myself get up early in order to do it outside. I'm going to have to figure something out though because if a mile is hard to do on the treadmill, I can't even imagine trying to do 4 miles and then up to 12! But, "I can, I will, I am able!" I'll be updating my progress as I go, but for now, here is a picture of me a couple weeks ago at the LA Zoo. I'm hoping to lose some weight as I get further along in my training, so I'll post pics as I see changes. By the way, I'm a half marathoner :)

So far behind!

Now that I'm back on Facebook, I realize I have totally neglected my blog. Things have been wonderful for our family. We love our new house and town. The snow has melted and we planted some beautiful flowers in our yard. Fischer has moved back home and our family feels complete once again, except for us missing Morgan so far away in Florida. We look forward to her first visit to California this summer. Chloe has spearheaded potty training for herself and I am trying to keep up with her desire. School is going well; I just started another term yesterday and Barry is 9 weeks away from his Bachelor's degree. I am meeting with a kindergarten teacher today to discuss the possibility of Gracie starting school a year early (her 5th birthday is after the December 2nd cutoff). If it's not recommended, I am going to enroll her for preschool starting in September at the ROP program at Fischer's high school in Phelan. Fischer and I went to the ski resort yesterday and enjoyed a few hours on the slopes. It was the first time in seven years that we have been able to do that. It was a lot of fun. Annie is pure heaven and is still the most wonderful baby. My life is busy and blessed and so complete!

We're moving!

Since moving to the high desert of California in April 2005, I have been PRAYING to get out of here! My hometown is nothing to shout about, but it's green. Brown is just not my color :) Barry started applying for jobs out of state in May, but so far nothing has come of any of them. I guess the government doesn't like to move very quickly. So, we made a compromise and decided to stay in California and close enough for him to commute, but far enough away that I can have my green landscaping. So, we're moving up to Wrightwood on the 23rd. I'm really excited. We found a nice 4 bedroom house on a fairly level lot. It has a garage and it's fenced (hard to find in the mountains!) I'm looking forward to the snow and being close to a ski resort, the small town feel and community atmosphere, and getting out of the GHETTO :) Sorry to all the friends I have who live in the desert; I hope I don't offend you, but this is not a place for me. I will miss my friends, but I'll be close enough that I can still see them when we can make plans.

Quick post

I have a lot to catch up on, but for now I had to post this:

It's pretty hillarious when your 4 yr old thinks you're taking too long to respond and decides to put the new diaper on the 2 yr old herself. She did a pretty good job too! I was feeding the baby and couldn't move for a few minutes. I guess this is Gracie's way of showing me that I was taking too long and she has no patience OR she's extremely helpful and will be a great mom some day! I'm hoping for the latter. What a big girl she is...

Thanksgiving in Sunny Florida

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Morgan in her home state of sunny Florida. We rented a vacation home for the week in Bradenton, about an hour from where Morgan lives. It was hot and humid the first couple days, then it rained, and the last few days were nice and cool... nothing like the typical California weather we have come to expect this time of year. The flights to and from Florida went as scheduled and event-free thankfully, but remind me never to fly with three little kids again... it was so much work! Barry's mom went with us and without her help, I don't know what we would have done! Fischer was supposed to go with us but he got the flu, so he stayed behind with Nana and Papa. This was the first time that Morgan got to meet her grandmother and her sisters. It was a very nice week together and we look forward to seeing Morgan again next summer here in California. We are so thankful for the opportunity we had to spend with Morgan for the first time as an almost-complete family. Fischer was extremely missed, but he'll be able to meet her next time.

Here's a really cute picture of Morgan with Annie:


One of the park days with Grandma:

The view from our house at 4825 Bookelia Circle in Bradenton, FL: the backyard pool and spa, the pond behind the house, and the front yard. It's so green compared to Victorville, but also much more humid.

Gracie and I helped Morgan create her very first scrapbook. It was filled with pictures from our last trip in June when Barry and I came to visit her. She beamed with pride at the finished product. Next time, we'll do a scrapbook of this visit for her to keep,

Mary and Barry slaving away over Thanksgiving dinner. It was so yummy! Turkey, yams, stuffing, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry jello, rolls... did I forget anything? Oh yeah, the pumpkin and chocolate pies. Did you know the typical Thanksgiving meal has 5,000 calories!!!! We needed to do much more than walk a mile after dinner, but that was nice too :)

Chloe was riding Donkey (from Shrek) like a horse all over the house one day. It was so cute:

On a day trip, we drove by these massive sand creations. They were so amazing. Here are a couple of them:

Another stop on the day trip was to a museum. The girls had fun on this train engine.

I think this is the only picture we got of the whole family the entire week.

Barry with Annie at Coquina Beach in Bradenton, FL.

Another stop on the day trip was to see this sculpture of "Unconditional Surrender" created after the popular photograph by Seward Johnson. It is located in Sarasota, right on the bay. Check out the size of it compared to Morgan and the buildings and cars behind it. It was 25 feet tall!

A cute picture of all the girls together:

Barry with Morgan:

Morgan let me do her very first braid. She'd never had her hair braided at all, so I did a french braid the first night after her bath, and when she woke up I took out the braid so she could have wavy hair.

The girls had a blast at the park.

Walking... no RUNNING while holding hands to get to the park.


Gracie just loved getting to know her big sister. It was so neat to watch them together. I know she will miss her so much now that we're back home. Too bad we don't live closer.

The girls sticking their feet in at the spa in our backyard. The screened-in pool was a very nice touch to keep away bugs and some UV rays (and the gators we never saw). It was such a quiet community and a really nice, big house. I could sport living there :)

This was cute. First Morgan put her hands behind her head, then Chloe copied her, so I got Daddy to do it too for a funny picture.

Family Pictures

Our friend, Maria Miles, was so gracious to take some family pictures for us at a local park a few weeks ago. These are some of my favorites. It was so hard to get everyone to smile at the same time because one of the girls wanted to cry, yawn, or sleep! This is why we don't go to the portrait studios anymore. Thank you, Maria! You have a beautiful talent! All the pictures turned out wonderfully and I'm looking forward to scrapbooking them :)

Halloween season

I love Halloween. This is my favorite time of year! I get to celebrate my birthday four days before trick-or-treating every year and it's such a blast. This year we went pumpkin hunting two weeks before Halloween and then my sister and her family came to visit for the big night out. So these pictures capture the goings-on for the past few weeks.

Every year we go to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen to get our pumpkins. This year we took Barry's mom with us. The weather was nice and warm. After we got our pumpkins, we ate their yummy BBQ sandwiches and enjoyed the peaceful scenery for the afternoon.

For Halloween, Barry and I were a bride and groom. Gracie was Dorothy, Chloe was Minnie Mouse, Annie was a ladybug, and my niece Brooke was Little Red Riding Hood. Bobby and Sara didn't dress up, and Fischer was supposed to be a refrigerator, but he was at Nana and Papa's.

Annie's blessing

At 5 weeks old, Annie Kayleen Ray was blessed into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. We were happy to have Grandma Mary, Uncle Joey, and Aunt Jodi join us on this special day. It was a very spiritual church service, as there were two baby blessings and the confirmation of my friend, Gina Snow, during the Sacrament meeting. The testimonies born today were so wonderful; it was great to see all the children get up today and tell of their love of the Savior along with the adults. I felt the spirit strongly and was very emotional as my friend, Jeanne Bradley, gave me a note at the end of church with the blessing written down.

Standing in the circle along with Barry were Bros. Horvath, Snedegar, Player, and Johansen. Some of the things that were blessed upon Annie were strength, guidance by the Holy Spirit, diligence and faithfulness in her faith, that her bright spirit will not fade away, that she'll mature in the gospel, that she'll feel the love of her parents, sisters, brother, and other family members and that she will turn to them during difficult times, that she'll rely on the counsel of church leaders, scriptures, prophets, and the Lord for guidance, and that she'll be a wise and dedicated student and learn the things Heavenly Father wants her to know.

I am so grateful to have this beautiful child from Heavenly Father to raise, love, and cherish. She is a wonderful baby, and I feel so blessed to be her mother.














Daddy and Mommy with Annie.





Gracie wouldn't pose with her sisters and brother for us to get a picture of the four of them, but Fischer went out of his way to wear a shirt and tie that matched their cute polka-dot dresses. He's such a handsome young man isn't he?!

The family picture: Aunt Jodi, Uncle Joey, Grandma Mary, Barry, Annie, Chloe, me, Gracie, and Fischer.