Team Ram-Rod: January 2009

Thurs, Jan 29th

This is a special thanks to Gamma and Boppy for letting us live with them. We are truly blessed to have a warm place to relax, sleep and do school work. I think these days, Clara is especially grateful for the warm house to come back into. She has a lot of fun in the snow but now when we say "go to bed" (means that we want her to go downstairs into her crate) she will do it without hesitation. So, thank you again Gamma and Boppy! From all of us!

Mon, Jan 26th

I just wanted to Thank BJ for all his wonderful support and help as a Daddy. He does countless things to help me when my hands are full with Ray or I just want to finish something I have started (that is usually when Ray puts up a stink). The best thing is Ray is sleeping in his own crib for over a week now...and BJ made it all possible. He held me and comforted me as Ray had to "cry it out" in the beginning and now BJ holds the 4 night-in-a-row record for being the one to get Ray to sleep. I love you BJ! Good luck on your second week of school tomorrow!

Our Week

Yesterday Ray crawled up the stairs on his own! I had gone upstairs to get somethings started while Ray was sleeping with BJ in the bed. I guess Ray was a bit fussy and BJ put him down on the floor to play (he loves to crawl right off the bed). Next thing I know he is upstairs with me!

BJ is back in School! He is taking 14 credits at Florissant Valley College. He goes all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He works at home doing Homework on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he has had everything done and can start to enjoy the weekend.

Thursday Emily had a Doctor's appointment so we took the boys to the History Museum. It was a blast! I had never been in a museum quite like it.

This is the Thomas Jefferson statue you see just as you enter the Museum

Looking toward the entrance from the second floor where we spent most of our time. They have things set up so that children can explore, touch and learn...it was really fun, and a lot of walking

We took a drinking break to rest up a bit before going downstairs.

The Plane from below

Josh and Jack learning:)

Fun Times

We have already made some fun memories for 2009.

It is always an adventure to feed Ray

The first weekend of the year we traveled to Pittsburgh for a family funeral. Here's what Ray looked like as we where leaving the house for the 10 plus hour car ride:

You can't really tell but the poor kid had a 24 hour stomach flu when we left...I don't recommend having a kid throw up during a car ride...it isn't fun AT ALL!

We did get to stop and see the Columbus, Ohio Temple:

This is the reflection of the temple in the Dodge Charger we rented for the trip...BJ and I don't recommend to buy this car...ask us if you need to know specifics.

We finally made it! It was fun to see where BJ's parents lived, met, and became members of the church...it was cool to see the rivers and bridges and all of BJ's relatives.

Over all, the last 100 miles where the toughest, they always are, because Ray didn't want to be in the car another minute!

So the next week we decided to do something closer to home. We went to the Science Center here in St. Louis. Grace, David, Emily, Rob, and all the boys were there.

We even got to build the Arch!

I think the boys favorite part was knocking it down.

Really cool ball thing:

Moving Dinosaur Exhibit:

I special thanks to Gamma and Boppy for watching all five of the boys while all the parents got to relax at the Temple and go out to dinner!

Every January in St. Louis Bald Eagles come through the area, it is a big celebration called Eagle Days. You go out to the river and can see tons of Eagles flying around. We mostly saw just stupid Seagulls. It took us back to our days in Utah with all the Gulls.

Catch up

Well, I needed to get a lot of pictures posted and hopefully catch everyone up.

This is our family photos we did for Christmas Cards...if you didn't get a card let me know!

We all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year...including our cat Cassandra:

However, we did have a scare...Clara disappeared on Friday, the day after Christmas, and we found her again the following Tuesday...our own little miracle. Stay tuned for some of the fun things she can do. One of our New Years resolutions is to appreciate the wonderful dog that she is and what a blessing it is to have such a sweet dog for Ray to grow up with.

Ray with Santa...I need to scan the pictures we had done at the Mall they are so cute. Ray cuddled up into to the Santa's Beard and we got a group picture with all his cousins.