A Late Merry Christmas and Early Happy New Year!

Christmas seemed to come and go so quickly this year but we had a great time. We were able to go to Shelley the weekend before Christmas and celebrate early with Eric's family. They of course spoiled us rotten and spoiled baby gray as well, thank you so much for everything. Our little girl got a new red sweater, purple jacket, pj's, onesies, and an adorable dress. Then for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, we went to my parents and had a great time with all of my family that came into town. Our two nephews Treb and Aiden loved opening presents and playing with their new toys. Aiden's favorite was the Don't Break The Ice game and anything Spiderman and I think Treb really liked his variety of new toys. They are both growing so much, but are still just as cute as ever. Treb does a high five, knuckles, kiss series and it's way stinking cute. Aiden has such an amazing imagination and has a really thick Texas accent, Ya'lls house, etc. They are both quite entertaining and Christmas with children around is great fun we decided. We are anxiously counting down our last month before our new arrival. We are excited to be new parents and that is our main goal this upcoming year:) Any pointers that you could help us with would be awesome. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and have fun plans to celebrate the New Year.

Road Trip to the Oregon Coast

Eric and I just returned from a wonderful little vacation to the Oregon Coast and to the Oregon/USC football game. It was so much fun, even though there was quite a bit of rain here and there. There was also beautfiul sunshine, great food, and of course good company. We decided that we needed one last road trip prior to our new addition because travelling with a little one might not be quite as easy as it is now. The first day we drove straight to the town of Florence on the coast and spent two nights there, then we drove to Eugene for the football game, and then on to Newport, Lincoln City, Portland, and then home. It was quite a bit of driving but was a great time! Here are some of our pics:

Two month break and now we're back

Well, where to begin....I know it has been over two months but I promise I have a good excuse....I'M PREGNANT and have been extremely sick! Our due date is February 7th and we are so excited for our new addition to our family. Eric is so excited for me to feel better and not to have to do everything in our home including cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc. To recap a little of our summer, it started off with a month full of birthdays including Eric's, my dad's, Hollie's, Chandra, Matt, and the birth of baby Hadley. Then we headed on our trip to Lake Tahoe for my brother's wedding. It was beautiful there and we had a great time. Above are some of the fun pics.....We are hoping to one day go back there to enjoy the area without pausing for me to get sick:( Then we are headed to Idaho Falls in a few weeks for a trip to Island Park and then on to Yellowstone. We also snuck in a camping trip and a little bit of sun time and boating. Overall, it has been a great summer but has flown by way too quickly.

Our One Year Anniversary

Wow, what a busy, but fun month it has been. We celebrated our one year anniversary by taking a trip to Las Vegas for some sun time, shopping, and other touring. We had a great time in Las Vegas. Some of the highlights were:

Anniversary dinner at PF Chang's and Planet Hollywood

Hoover Dam

The Broadway Lion King Show at Mandalay Bay

Sun Time and Shopping

The Cheesecake Factory and Caesar's Palace

We had a wonderful time and it was a great time away from work and the normal routine. Right when we got home we headed to Shelley and Island Park for the Memorial Day weekend and Rebecca's(my sister in law) graduation. Congrats Rebecca and there will be more pics and updates to follow soon from our weekend in Shelley and Island Park!

Eric is done with another semester, YAY!

Eric took his last final exam yesterday and is now done with another semester. His classes were crazy hard this semester and I am so proud of how hard he works at school and is able to balance his full time job, home, church, and school. We are headed to Las Vegas in a few weeks to celebrate one year down and one more to go before he finishes his MBA. Also, we can't forget that we have our first anniversary coming up, I can't believe we have been married for almost a year. It's been a wonderful year and the time has just flown by! We ate our wedding cake this past Sunday and it was still so yummy! Also, my brother, Bryan will be getting married in Lake Tahoe at the end of June so we are anxious to see all of the family and to have some upcoming fun vacations.

March Madness Fun!

Last weekend we had such a fun time in Boise at the NCAA tournament. We left bright and early on Friday morning to go to Boise. The first game we watched was between Utah St. and Marquette. Unfortunately, despite our wonderful cheering Utah State lost by one point. I still can't believe they lost....anyways the players were wonderful and so were the cheerleaders. Utah St. won the cheerleading competition by far. I am now trying to talk my lil sister into going to Utah St cuz it seems like such a fun school. Their student body does cheers like....You will miss it, You still suck, and Cut your hair. At first, I thought the cheers were kinda mean but then the whole stadium gets into it and you forget about whether it's naughty or nice.

Then we watched a game between Mizzou and Cornell and Cornell lost miserably. That's okay though because Mizzou is still in the tournament and they are a really good team. Their cheerleaders not so good though...

Then we went to our favorite restaurant PFChangs for a late lunch and it was a great day! My husband and I had a great date watching March Madness games and hopefully we will get to go again someday:)

We are off to the NCAA tournament!

Well, for those of you who don't know my husband is a huge sports fan....espn in the morning, over the lunch hour, and all throughout the evening. He even checks espn on his new blackberry and acts like its work he HAS to get done:) He was very excited to hear that Boise was hosting a round of the NCAA March Madness tournament. He woke up early Monday morning and bought our tickets. He came in to wake me up at about 6 and let me know that the tickets were a little more expensive than he original thought. Being half asleep I said okay sounds good. When I woke up I found out what the total was for the two tickets and was quite shocked that is was double the price we had thought they were going to be! The tickets sold out very quickly and I am glad Eric got them when he did. I am sure we will have a great time. Go Utah State Aggies!!!!

I know it has been forever....

I am still not thinking I am very good at this whole blogging thing because before I know it a month goes by and I haven't updated the blog. Anyways, the main update is that my husband and I have been sick forever it seems like! I started it probably being exposed to something at the hospital, passed it on to him, and then don't you worry I got it back this week in the form of bronchitis. I am really far behind at work because I missed alot of work time this week, but I think that we are on the mend. My husband assures me of this as he just finished gargling with hydrogen peroxide and then I am going to clean like crazy and disinfect our house.
Our Valentine's Day was so fun and relaxing. Did I tell you that I have an amazing husband??? We started the morning by lounging around the house and Eric cooking me his famous breakfast burritos. Eric then informed me that I couldn't leave the house from the hours of 10-3....hmmmm I wonder why? These were the second flowers in two weeks and they both made my days.

Then we went to the mall and I picked out some cute jeans for my husband and then we researched cell phone plans. We ordered Chili's to go because all of the restaurants were crazy busy and it's quite a task for me to eat in public with my new TMJ appliance. After that, we came home and had such a fun night eating dinner and watching a chic flick. I love him so much and appreciate him taking such good care of me.
Today I taught the relief society lesson on the sacrament and am looking over the lesson for next month. The Infinite Power of Hope from last conference. I think this will be a great lesson to teach but I can already sense some emotions....Why does that always happen to us girls? If any of you have any great thoughts or insights from the conference talk, please let me know because I love hearing others perspectives.
Finally, I am headed to Poky tomorrow for another doc appt for my TMJ appliance. Kim and I are going to have lunch or hang out and everytime I see her I wish she lived in Twin Falls. I don't know if our husbands would like this because they would potentially never see us and see the damage we do to the bank account, just kidding. Hopefully when I go to Poky next week we are going to coordinate a trip to Shelley along with it. We haven't seen Eric's family in a month or so and it seems like it has been forever...We miss you guys! We hope all is well with everyone else and I think that spring really is on the way because we have seen the sun a few times this week.

Our weekend with Treb

Wow, what a crazy couple weeks it has been! Work has been extremely busy and my normal five day work weeks have been crammed into four allowing for a trip to Pocatello and doctor's appts each Monday. Two weekends ago we had a wonderful family weekend and great time with Sean, Leslie, and Treb. Treb is growing ohhh so quickly and is way too busy to stop for one minute for a picture, sorry no pics:) It must be the age. Anyways, we had a nice family dinner(Steak and salmon, both of our favorites) and had a great time catching up with Sean and Les. Treb and I played peek a boo and Eric and Treb would build with the blocks just in time for Treb to knock the tower down. He looks so much like his daddy and loves to watch movies on his own portable DVD player. He is almost two going on ten. We love and miss you guys!

Aiden's Visit to Idaho

Family Weekend-Aiden, our nephew's visit to Idaho

We had a great family weekend beginning on Friday evening after work. We went to my parents and had a great time spending time with Aiden. HE IS SO ADORABLE. I have to tell you a few of the cute things he said and did.....

First of all, his cookies and cream milkshake mustache.....he kept calling it oatmeal, don't ask me where he got that. He is so busy playing that he hates to eat his dinner so the milkshake was his treat for eating all of his dinner. Grandma and Grandpa sure spoil him...wait we all do!

Secondly, he loves playing hide and go seek. The first thing he said to me when we walked in on Friday was "Aunt Breah, let's play hide and seek." It's so cute, how could you say no? He would play for hours and hours. He is getting much better at not telling the person finding us where we are. The cutest thing ever was one time he wanted to hide in Brookee's room under the covers. So up the stairs we went to Brookee's room under the covers. We were laying there waiting for someone to come and find us and he looked over at me and said Breah...I luv you. I then could tell he was kinda scared so I said do you want to turn the light on and he said yes with that cute Texas accent that he has. It pretty much melts your heart!

On Friday I decided that it would be super fun for Aiden and I to make sugar cookies and play in the dough. We made stars, snowmen, hearts, and flowers. He was dying to eat some of the dough and he would sneak a little bit of the dough each time I turned my back to get a batch of cookies out of the oven. Then grandma made the frosting for us and he only wanted it to be white....but we did spice it up a bit and make green, white, and turquoise. These cookies aren't helping me with my New Years Resolutions but they were well worth it. Aiden would take one cookie at a time downstairs to the rest of the family but usually ate half of it by the time he made it downstairs to share.

Then came Saturday night. We went to my parents house again along with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and had a fun little party. Aiden was doing his tricks, flips, walking on the ceiling, and of course entertaining us all. He is in the process of being potty trained and went in the big boy potty for aunt Breah two times in a row. Cookies do the trick and work as great bribery. We learned some valuable wisdom from Grandma Glenna about many various things and then ended the night with an Apples to Apples game. This was such a fun weekend and we just love having Aiden be with us. Thanks to Bryan and Jackie for bringing Aiden to see us in Twin Falls. He is such a sweet little boy with an amazing personality. When you throw in his Texas accent, I think that he is one of the cutest little boys ever. Now we are looking forward to our weekend when Sean, Leslie, and Treb arrive.

Happy 2009....The Grays Resolutions/Goals!

As I am sure all of you have taken the time to set new goals for 2009, we have done the same. I figure that if I write them down we are taking the first step in meeting these goals. We have been married for almost eight wonderful months and have enjoyed 2008 but are also excited for all that 2009 will bring. Below is a list of some of our 2009 goals and now all we need is a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck to attain these 9 goals:

• The normal eat healthy, exercise, and weight loss as well as financial goals:)
• Work to expand our food storage each and every week
• Eric to complete another semester of his MBA by balancing work, school, and home
• Organizing our house one room at a time
• Complete a "spring cleaning project" from the selected notecard each Monday before FHE
• Study the scriptures and be prepared for Sunday's lessons by reading ahead of time
• Prepare my RS lesson at least two weeks in advance
• Spend lots of time with family and friends
• Small and frequent opportunities for service

My husband always reminds me that all goals need to be SMART, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Hopefully our list contains at least one SMART goal and best of luck to all of you in making and meeting your SMART goals. Happy 2009!