Meeting your deductible is not something to boast about

Well, thanks to my children I believe that we have met our deductible this month. Caleb and Haley both had well-child check ups, those went well. Haley, for those of you who do not know, broke her collar bone the first week in July and we made a special trip to the hospital for some lovely x-rays. She is fine, but our bank account could be doing better. And now for today's adventure.....

That is Peter's head with two staples placed there to hold the wound together. Ack! Haley woke up this afternoon and I went upstairs to get her. Peter has this thing he does where he hides somewhere in the room and tries to surprise/scare you when you walk back downstairs. Unfortunately for his head he chose behind the couch today, which is right by the fire place. Dun...dun...dun. I walked in to the room, he popped out of his hiding place only to crack his head on the fire place and yes, blood came gushing and pain ensued. I gathered all children together and we made a trip to the insta-care to have it taken care of. He was so brave and strong. He did not like those staples one bit and he is not fond of keeping them in for 7 days. I just hope he does well and no infections come because we are traveling to Scofield this week. And his hair is in desperate need of a hair cut, but that will just have to wait. I feel so bad for him! He does not want to tell anyone about it, the only way I got this picture is because he wanted to see what it looked like. And it is only the middle of the month! I think we need to take it nice and easy the rest of the month and play it safe. Oh, and I am definitely rearranging the furniture tonight to avoid any future collisions with the fire place. Life can be such an adventure with kids!

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ

Jonathan and Caleb were baptized on Saturday and it was an awesome day! The weather was beautiful when we needed it and the Spirit was felt strongly. It was wonderful. Looking at this boy's picture and I am so proud of him! He is such a special boy to me and I have had so many prayers for him and he had a perfect baptism. He felt the spirit, he felt special and loved and he had fun; what more could you ask for? We sang the "rainbow" baptism song ("When I am baptized") and Peter gave the opening prayer, so sweet. Those two things at the beginning of the service really brought the spirit. Then Granny Gray gave such a perfect and beautiful talk on baptism. She had a picture for each of the steps we need to take from birth to baptism to the temple, until we return to Heaven. Some of the others included being kind, repenting, sacrament, family home evening; she did a wonderful job. I especially liked how she emphasized that we be obedient to all of the commandments, not just the ones we like or the ones that are easy. All of the cousins sang "I am a Child of God" and it was very touching. Then Grandpa Spann gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Then the boys were baptized. Caleb wanted Jonathan to be baptized first so Caleb went second. He was so excited to go in the water. And after he came out of the water and he was leaving the font he exclaimed, "This is fun!" What a cool kid! I love him! The boys took a L O N G time in getting dressed and coming back out but while we waited each person took a card and wrote down some thoughts for the baptism boys. When the boys were confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost it was very special. I will not write down the specifics but I will say that Rob is a man very close to the spirit while using the Priesthood and he always chooses his words carefully so I know this confirmation came from Heavenly Father. After trying to take some pictures outside we headed home to get ready for the "dunking party."

Look at those cute kids, wiggles and all.

Thanks to whoever took this great picture.

Okay so about the dunking party. I have had this thing planned since last year. Yes, I plan ahead. Since Jonathan and Caleb were getting "dunked" I wanted us to eat all foods that would be dunked. So, the menu included French Dip sandwiches (homemade and yummy), veggies and dip, oreos dunked in milk, and for fun #8 cookies. It was so much fun. Everyone came over that was at the baptism and we just talked, ate and hung out together. It was a fabulous day. When I asked Caleb how he felt he said, "great"..."perfect"..."really happy." I am so glad that he had such a special day. I also asked him to write down his feelings and thoughts of the day, so he would not forget. This is what he wrote, "When I was baptized I remember watching Jonathan being baptized and I could not wait to be baptized. I was baptized after Jonathan. I remember it was fun, exciting, awesome and my ears were cold ever since I left the water." How funny is that? Oh, the things that a child remembers. One other funny tid bit from the baptism. Dacia said that they had problems keeping the water warm while filling the font. They had to keep resetting the controls to keep the temperature warm. But in the end the water was like 85 or 90 degrees, pretty cozy. But every person (basically Rob, Jason, Jonathan and Caleb) you talk to that got in the water says the water was cold at their feet and ankles but warm the rest of the way up. Huh? I cannot explain that. That aside it was a great day. We felt the spirit so strongly and I am so glad that Jonathan and Caleb could be baptized together. It was also neat because their cousin Jackson and his family traveled from North Dakota to be here for the baptism. We have such a terrific family! They are so supportive and fun. We really are blessed.

It's official...He's 8!

The celebration has been going on for about 2 weeks now but today marked the official day when Robert Caleb Gray reached the all important 8th birthday. It was SO MUCH FUN! Well, except the part where he got a bad tummy ache right in the middle of his birthday party, but we won't dwell on that. On with the fun. The party began 2 weeks ago when we all headed to the rodeo in Lehi. It is a tradition for Caleb to go to the rodeo and we had PA, Emily, Steve, and Jorge along for the night. It was great! I think our favorite part was the "half-time" entertainment; when they brought out some BMX dirt bikes and excited us all with their jumps, tricks and flips through the air. It was AWESOME! We also had fun cheering on the riders and getting excited for the action. Caleb's (and mine) other favorite part was when a bronc rider, named Caleb, rode almost right in front of us and waved to the crowd as his horse was bucking. It was cool.

Lehi rodeo 2011

Now for the part where I do not have pictures. Rob headed to scout camp with our camera and we headed to Scofield to party like awesome people on our own until he met up with us. Granny Gray was totally wonderful and let us borrow her truck so we went down early and stopped by Caleb's cave, had a picnic on a rock nearby and headed to the cabin. Upon arrival at the cabin we found that the water pump was out and we would not have water for the next day or so. So we roughed it in the cabin for a day and fortunately for all 4th of July vacationers we had water by Thursday night. I never knew I would be thankful to be able to do the dishes. :) Friday we played all day in the lake and Saturday we went to Scofield's parade. The boys got a LOAD of candy and then both Peter and Caleb climbed the rock wall. It was Peter's first year climbing and through some struggles he made it to the top. Caleb also made it to the top and rang the bell with pride. That night Rob came up the Scofield (yeah!) and we were able to watch the fireworks off the island and loved them all!

Next celebration, Caleb's birthday party:

The birthday boy in all his coolness! The driveway says "Caleb is 8 8 8 8 8 8..."

I decided that 8 years old was the age we would start doing the traditional Gray birthday breakfast. Complete with candy on the table (a minimal amount), and the Special Boy plate, cup and utensils. Caleb loved the giant cup but unfortunately he was so excited to drink the milk from it that he filled up on milk before he finished all of his yummy food. Peter is definitely looking forward to his 8th birthday, he cannot stop talking about all the things that he gets to do when he is 8.

Since it was such a special birthday for Caleb we went all out and called a company called Scales and Tails Utah to come and bring some reptiles to our house and do a show for the kids. Since they would be bringing a snake, or two, we had a snake cupcake cake. It was fun to make and the kids really liked it.

The next are a few shots from the party, it was very fun! The presenter was named Caleb, very cool for the birthday boy, and he was funny and fun to watch. They brought a tortoise, lizards, and snakes to the house, talked to the kids about them, showed them off, and at the end of the party the kids got to touch and hold a few of the reptiles. Like I said, we all had fun. Caleb, the presenter, said the funniest things and really made the kids enjoy themselves. Caleb was laughing and smiling the whole time (unless he was concerned that the snake was too close for comfort).

Since Caleb was the man of the hour he got to hold a lot of the animals himself. He said the tortoise was heavy (named Fuzzy Wuzzy). He really liked the bearded dragon. At one point the dragon tried climbing up his shirt and he was a little alarmed at that. Then when the presenter placed it on Caleb's head he was loving it, until the dragon pulled his hair. :)

This was the biggest snake of the whole show, 10 feet long, a baby python named Sher Khan. Yeah, that's a baby python. We had so much fun with the show! After it was all done the kids all went into the back yard and Caleb opened his presents. He received so many fun things from his friends and Rachiele cousins. They were all such great presents! Unfortunately at this point of the party Caleb had some pretty bad stomach gas and he spent the rest of the party inside. While his friends ate snake cupcakes and played in the pool, Caleb was down and out. But he slowly felt better and was able to play with his brothers before ending such a great day. Two other things that must be remembered about today. The presenter told Caleb that if at any time the reptile got heavy or he did not want to hold it anymore to say "banana." While holding the tortoise and the bearded dragon he was fine. But when it came time for a rather long snake and Caleb was holding it with his arms outstretched he realized how big it was and blurted out, "BANANA!" I wish I could show you the video because it is so funny. Item #2, at the end of the day Willy was in the house alone and we were cleaning up outside. We all came in, Willy was in the bathroom running water and I walked into the kitchen to see the leftover cupcakes all mutilated. Someone had either dug in with their finger or taken a bite out of the top of each one, and then moved on to the next. I went into find Willy in the bathroom and asked him, "Did you have some cupcakes?" And very matter-of-factly he looked at me as simply said, "Yeah." It was so funny. He did not see anything wrong with it. Frosting smeared all over his mouth and a cup in his hand, he went on to say, "I went in to get a drink." AWESOME! Happy Birthday, Caleb! Next stop, Baptism! Yahoo!