What have we been up to?

So... It has been a while.  I would love to say I was sorry about that, but I am really not.  I have been chin-deep in school right now, work, and keeping our home and life going. 

 

But we have been living.  I promise.  So, what have we been doing?

Well... we (meaning Aiden) have been watching old Spiderman cartoons in Buzz Lightyear underpants...

 

 

 

 

Sending pretty girls to homecoming (Cousin Kelle...) 

 

 

Going to my alma mater's homecoming football game... 

 

 

 and generally goofing off. 

 

And we are happy.  Very happy.  There are days when, well, Aiden is a three year old boy and I am a full time working student single mother of a three year old boy.  Those times are rare and intense, but we have so much love in our home.  Nothing else matters.

Happy Weekend

 With all the stress, school, work and all the rest of the crap that we do every single day, I decided to take a full day off from all of it.  And so Aiden and I had a grand adventure today.  First, we went to a church thingy.. and he was great.  Then we hit a movie.  Early movie and we had a blast!!

This is us in the lobby of the theater.  We saw Brave... again.  He loves it and wasn't nearly as scared as last time. 

 

There is nothing like Pop rocks and a movie.  Awesome.

Then we went for Aiden's favorite - expensive Mac and cheese from Noodles.  He enjoyed Mac and Cheese and I had amazing Thai Curry soup. 

 

We went home and had a nap... followed by a church ice cream social.  This group of people is wonderful to me... to us.  This my ward.  They are such an amazing support to all of us.  I love that when we have a social planned, the turnout is phenomenal and everyone is so great.  Someone goes and gets Brother Bagley, the widower that can't see to drive... someone remembers that Sister Ross is lactose intolerant and has soy ice cream... We are truly a ward family and I love it.  I really don't want to ever leave this place. 

 

 

 

Well, part of potty training is accidents.  But we had a diarrhea accident at the neighbor's house, so we came home, stuck Aiden in the "rain in the tub" (shower), and watched Toy Story.  What a snuggle bug.  Then I got to snuggle him to sleep.  Love him.  Love being his mom. 

 

Labor Day...

Labor Day is our play day!  One solid day without work stress, one day without worrying about school or anything else.  Just me and my little man and a fun-packed day that ended way too soon.

 

We started off with a sunrise (almost) breakfast picnic at Fernwood with Aunt Kari and Shiree.  Shiree was patient enough to take Aiden on many a "maventure" and we talked until the sun got hot. 

 

 

 

We took Aunt Kari home and Uncle Dave took Aiden on a ride on his "tractor" while he mowed the lawn.  Aiden had the time of his life.  What a fun morning!!

 

 

We followed it by giving Aiden a choice:  beach, golfing, park... and he chose.... the Treehouse Museum.  His favorite place.

 

 

It was pirate day at the museum, so we hung out and had a blast.

 

Then off for a bowling game.  Wow, Aiden is the very best at bowling.  He wanted to do it all by himself.  He could barely manage the ball, but he did it and loved it.

 

 

 

We came home, made cookies, watched a movie (Mirror, Mirror)... and Aiden fell asleep in my arms at 6:10pm.  What a day!  What a very fun, exciting day!!!

 

 



Excuse me while I stress...

Over the last few weeks, many things have happened:  Our darling Miko had to go back to the pound... the biting of our other dog was getting too much.  Three ripped out teeth was enough.  He was cute and loveable, but just not a good fit. 

While this is not a blog that I talk much about work, I need to put in here that work has been a major stress the last few weeks and, while I will not go into it much further, through negotiations, research and some hard lines in the sand, I have a contract in place which is even more generous and thoughtful than the one I had previously.  And I have peace of mind, which is priceless. 

And, the big elephant in the room... I started yet another year of "back to school"... bless my heart.  While I think every semester that I have bit off more than I can chew, this time I know I have.  Fifteen credit-hours, working full-time, teaching piano and, oh this other thing called Single Parenting... There is no slacking off for me... and so far three or four hours each night studying and massive amounts of Diet Pepsi have kept me afloat. 

So, dear readers, if you do not get regular updates, please trust me that I will promise to post the big stuff, and please excuse me while I stress a little until mid-December. 

Our new addition

We would officially like to announce the newest addition to our family - he is Miko.  

Okay, so he wasn't named Miko until Thursday, but now he is (thanks, Breanna for the cute name) because his original name was Bosley, but as Breanna pointed out, that is a hair-restoration company.  

Miko and Roman are really trying to work things out.  Roman is a 6 year old middle-aged lazy dog and Miko is a 1-year old hyper cute running fiend.  They are doing well, but they need to find their places now. 

Aiden is having fun with all of it.  He loves pretending he is a puppy.  And that is hilarious.

Another wonderful wedding.

Congrats to my wonderful and handsome nephew, Braydon, who married his sweetheart on August 9th in the Bountiful Temple.  Allie is a cute and wonderful lady and their wedding was lovely.

Family Campout

Thank you to my wonderful sister for a very fun family reunion this year.  The theme was, appropriately, the Olympics.  We had our own Olympics complete with the Eternal Flame, the running of the torch, the uniforms (see the awesome sweatshirts), activities (Canoe rubber ducky race...) and some great fun.  I love that we all get along so well.  More than anything, I am glad that none of the Ray boys died of drowning, burning at the fire, or being stabbed by their pocket knives. 

Our eternal flame was so awesome that the caretaker had to come and tell us "not so much happy juice on the fire."  The best part of this whole thing was the running of the torch to a bagpipe song.  Loved it.

Shiree and Kelly.  They are so stinkin' cute!!

Our "team uniforms",  Mister was a great camping buddy.

A view of our motorhome along with two of the cutest three-year olds you have ever seen.