Boys, Boys, Boys!!

You can sure tell that there are older girls in this house when your 4 year old acts like she is 12. This was our conversation when I picked her up from pre-school today.

She got in the car and with her eyes bright with excitement and she screamed

"ahhhhhahhaahhha, oh my goodness Mom, you won't believe it, today a boy gave me a note in my back pack."

Mom:  "What boy?"

Ava: "His name is Luke" Ahhhhaaaahhh (this is her screaming with a huge smile on her face)

Mom: "What did the note say?"

Ava: "I don't know, he like totally was writing, and he like wrote all this stuff, and then he like was totally cutting the paper and like then he like totally put it in my back pack."

Mom: "Wow can I read it?"

Ava: "Sure Mom, he is like totally way cute"

Chloe, Olivia and Elle are all now screaming with her.

Here is the note

Mom: "Wow, this says that he loves you".......more screaming from all the girls in the car at various pitches and volume levels.

Ava: "I KNOW. he like totally loves me and he is totally cute aaahhhhhhahhhhhhhaahhhh" the screaming continued for several minutes. A reminder......she is 4 years old. This just cracked me up.

Then Elle proceeded to tell me about Issac who is in her class and LOVES her and won't leave her alone.

Then Chloe and I had a long discussion about a certain boy who was staring at her today and it was a very very good thing in her book

Olivia had all her crazy boy stuff last week so basically we spent the whole 30 min ride talking about boys.

It was a good thing Chris wasn't here, the poor man is so outnumbered.

* photos by Lisa Hatcher

We are meant to Create

The Relief Society meeting Saturday night was good. I would say good, not great but I know of so many people who felt it was great and that is one thing I love about the gospel, we each have the spirit and will be touched according to our needs. Maybe it was that for the first time my husband was there with me and I was a little distracted. It was so different to have him sitting by me.

One thing that I did really enjoy was Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. Several years ago I heard Sister Ann Madsen give a talk about the temple. In it she emphasized that in the temple we learn so much about the creation because it is our destiny and our purpose to create. I was so moved back then by this thought. Each of us are driven from somewhere deep inside to be creators of something. For each person that means something different. When we hear the word create we often think crafts, sewing, painting and the arts but it is so different than that. My husband is in a constant state of creation and he has never made a wreath or done any scrapbooking. I am not crafty or creative in the traditional sense at all but I am always creating and that brings me joy. What have I created? My husband and I have done many businesses together. I have created strong opinions and a knowledge base to back those opinions up. I fill my mind constantly with books and reading and from that knowledge I change and move myself and the direction my life is going. I am creating a wonderful life for my family. I have created children with my husband and we have worked prayerfully and with all diligence to raise good human beings who love the Lord and have a sense of their divinity.

I believe that each of us, man or woman, find our greatest joy when we create. I believe that whenever we build something better around us that would not have been had we not been there then we are fulfilling our divine purpose. Our Father in Heaven is a creator and set the path for us. I truly hope that I am making my little corner of the world better by being here. I hope that my contribution to the world will be to the benefit of others and not myself. I hope that I will always build and not tear down. Here is a link to the talk if you didn't get to hear it.

I think I am weird

I am just starting to grasp how weird I am....We all have those little idiosyncrasies that we hide from other people because we realise that these things we do may not be normal. I think I am wondering if there is anyone out there like me????
Ok this is my weirdness. I LOVE smells. If this were just smells like flowers, cinnamon rolls, or perfume that would be one thing but I also like different smells. Such as: I love the smell of my husbands neck, I can't get enough of it. When we cuddle up in bed at night the first thing I do is get situated so my nose rests directly in his neck where I can just breath him in. Whenever he and I are close I always put my nose to him and just smell him and I find that smell to be irresistible. I am not sure he even knows that I am always smelling him. Tonight he was sitting on the couch and I just walked over, sat down, wrapped my arms around him, put my nose to his shoulder, inhaled for several minutes, then walked away. I think he had no idea what I had just done.

I love the smell of my kids hair. If any of my daughters sit on my lap I just sit and smell their hair. If at any time in the day Ava comes within smelling distance I have to kiss on her and then I smell her more and have to kiss her more. I think that Heavenly Father knew that babies and children needed lots of care and love so he made them smell so scrumptious that we would be compelled to kiss and hug them. I find that so many of my loving feelings toward people are based on how good they smell....that is so weird. I have never heard anyone else say this or admit this. Am I the only one who has acute smelling instincts? I think that is why I loved the book Twilight (actually I liked Midnight Sun even more) because I really understand Edward and the smelling thing. I totally get him!

Don't think that if I know you and we are hanging out that I am trying to smell you....there is a limit to my weirdness! I keep my crazy smelling practices to family but oh how I love the way they all smell. I even blogged about it one other time but I was much more couth about it. Here is the post.

So why I posted about this I have no idea...I just know that the past few weeks I have been noticing how often I am smelling everyone in my family and I thought, I think this is not normal. I could have passed this on to my daughters cause they seem to be obsessed with how they smell. They are using the best smelling lotions and perfumes and as they leave in the morning for school they ask "Mom, do I smell good?". I think that is so cute.

Perfection is overrated

Perfection is way way overrated. I served a mission and it was on my mission that I noticed that many of the best missionaries were the ones who grew up lower to middle class, didn't have too much in the way of worldly things and had to work hard for the things they had. I don't know why but I saw many great men who's background was growing up in Idaho on potato farms. They didn't have the best clothes, probably didn't get all the advantages in the way of lessons, opportunities, advantages and this is what I noticed about them:

1. They didn't complain. They were always positive and took everything in stride. It was just yes sir, and straight forward obedience. No constant questioning and annoyance over what they were asked to do.

2. They worked harder than anyone else. Taking a nap, day off or any other self motivated activity wasn't an option.

3. They were humble. They knew the source of their strength and ability and never struggled in giving credit to others and build others up.

4. They had a firm faith in the gospel and shared it with strength and humility

I came home from my mission determined to marry a man from Idaho...ha ha, I think back and laugh at my idealism. No my husband is not from Idaho and can't plant a potato if his life depended upon it. He did have many of the qualities I had seen in those boys on my mission but he lacked many also.....don't worry I trained him and he has now overcome all those original faults. What would he do without me? ha ha.

So what I am trying to say is that everyday I have to remind myself that it is ok that this morning I wasn't up first thing to make my kids breakfast, they fended for themselves and did great. It is ok that my kids aren't' in every lesson possible and spend more time at home this year. It is ok that they have to spend a lot of time cleaning their rooms and helping me around the house sometimes missing all the fun their friends are having. It is ok that they don't have all the latest designer clothes (well, really none at all) and that we shop at Target and Walmart. It is ok that their bedrooms aren't all dolled up and painted with themes and perfect accessories. It is ok that we moved into our house 3 months ago and I still haven't hung a picture. It is ok that my kids don't have every advantage. It is ok if I throw my hair in a pony tail and race through my day without a shower.

It is just absolutely ok that I live in abject mediocrity in so many areas. I love all the imperfection. Raising children is not about perfection. In fact sometimes the more imperfect the better. There are only a couple of things that I think need be close to perfect.

1. Love

2. Acceptance

3. Teaching them morals, values and truth

I am sure there are a couple more!!

I think women put pressure on themselves to keep up, have a perfect house, be cute, thin, accomplished and great mothers. I don't really connect with those women because I am so far from being like them. I love real women who are just themselves. I also don't know many of these perfect women (thank heaven).

A new song

My girls have many things that they love and love to do but one thing wins out above them all. They love to write music. Everyday they are having us listen to another song they have written and we are always amazed at how young they are and what they are coming up with, especially lyrically. So yesterday Olivia finished off a song and last night I kept waking up with it playing in my head. For some reason (probably because they are on my mind) it makes me think of a love story (Stephanie and Christian). The song may not apply totally but their story is so compelling almost everything around me makes me think of them.


Here are the lyrics.
By Olivia Bray (11 yrs old)

You turn me on, Got me moving at the speed of light
and you've got my hand, don't let go I am trusting you.
You attract me, with that smile, that's unbeatable
and you, know that I, couldn't live without you.

Chorus
And I've got to know where you're taking me
yeah, I've got to know where you're going
When you took my hand you promised
to catch me any time I fall

You light me up, like the sky on a summer night
and you give me hope to move on when I've lost the fight

Chorus:
But Ive got to know where you're taking me
and I need to know where you're going
when you took my hand you promised me
to hold me up if I start to fall

Bridge:
And I know that you're always gonna be there
yeah I know that you are always gonna care

Chorus:
And I don't care where you're taking me
I want to go where you're going
Just take my hand and I promise
to catch you anytime you fall.

You light me up like the sky on a summer night
and you give me hope to move on when I think I've lost the fight.

I made her record it this morning first thing before she had even gotten ready. Thanks Olivia! She ended up waking up the little girls who were not happy to be up at 6:30 am. Oh well. The accompaniment needs to be arranged and is slightly raw so right now it is just basic chords.

Disregard previous post

I apologize but please disregard my previous post. After posting on my blog Ava my youngest begged me to go on a bike ride. I haven't ridden my bike all summer as we have been so busy with the move. So I hopped on my bide, put her in the little trailer in the back and off we went. As we started we were laughing and I said "Ava we need to do this everyday this is so fun!!"
Then we turned the corner and the rest of the ride was hills. I had to stand up the whole way just to get enough traction to keep the bike moving and I was huffing like the Little Engine that Could! "Mom, why are you riding with you bum in the air" Ava said. "Don't talk to me right now, I can't breathe!" was my reply. When I got home after only a 1 mile ride I was sweaty and out of breath. When I was 20 I could have done that with no problem even if I hadn't ridden in 8months.

I must have been smokin something when I wrote that last post.

Getting older is AWESOME

I write this post to give hope to the young. I look at the women who are younger than me and think....wow I am so excited for you, you just have no idea how great it is to get older. I am not sure if I am alone on this one but when I hit my 30's I was so happy and thought the 30's were way better than the 20's. I didn't waste any emotional energy on the things I worried about in my 20's. Now that I have hit 40 I can't believe how much better it keeps getting. At this rate 50 will be INCREDIBLE. Why? As you age you just get better, smarter, more at peace with yourself and more accepting of your role in this world. If I had read this post when I was in my 20's I would have said "no, way. I am not like her, I love my life now and she is deluding herself to assuage the pain of all those wrinkles." That is why getting older is so great we are no longer worried about whether we are right. There are women in their 20's who do "get it" really young, but that just means that they will be so much farther ahead when they are in their 40's and they will be thrilled with their growth.

I have noticed that not everyone chooses to get better as they age. I am amazed at the few who seem to get more bitter, insecure and focused on weird things like perfecting their physical bodies with every type of surgery imaginable. I think, wow how have you missed the boat on how amazing you are just being you. It just becomes more and more clear to me with each year how amazing it is to be alive, completely imperfect and be ok with it all. So often I see women who are older than me and I can see absolute peace, joy and confidance in their imperfect faces. I hope I grow to be like them. I can't wait to be a grandma. How awesome will that be!

Just plain amazing

Tonight as we were driving to see Chris finish Olivia said "Mom, when ever I think of Edward Cullen I feel physical pain in my chest, I feel like I miss him and he isn't even real but he is soooo amazing. You are so lucky Mom because you have an Edward." Those of you who have read Twilight you know what I am talking about and YES, I have an Edward. He is my super human, amazing, handsome husband. You have to be super human to do what he does and today was proof.
After we saw him off on the bike we headed out to buy poster board so we could make signs for him along the marathon route. Here is a sampling of what my girls came up with. I let them make all the signs. We also used sidewalk chalk to write all over the path. He LOVED it.Here he is beginning his marathon!!

We wanted to encourage him but we also know that he loves a good laugh. For some crazy reason our signs were the only ones posted. At the end "Chris Bray" was a celebrity amongst the athletes.....everyone was asking "who is Chris Bray". I think everyone enjoyed our signs and sidewalk drawings.

We spent a lot of time just laying around and waiting.

As the day went on the girls got a little bored and therefore crazy.

He anticipated coming in at about 14 and 1/2 hours. He came in at 13:18:00. That was over an hour less than we thought he would do. The swim took him 1:13:22 The bike 6:42:00 and the marathon 5:03:52. He was happy as he came in and we all cried. I am so proud of him.

We sent him straight to the massage tent and boy did he need it. We could see he was in a lot of pain.

Afterward he sat down by his bike and it was very difficult to get him back up again. A hot bath some Herbal muscle massage and a foot rub and I sent him to bed. He was out before his head hit the pillow. Oh we love him so much. Great Job Sweetie!

As a quick side note. I took notice of all the women who were competing, I thought, "hey maybe I should do one of these one day?" So I looked them all over to see who was competing and if I looked up to the task. Bottom line, I think they were all transvestites. I have never seen women with legs, arms and bodies so built and muscular, they were crazy huge.

Nope I won't be doing one any time soon.

And he's off!

We got up at 6am and headed out to see Dad begin his day of agony!

We got there early enough to catch him just before he got his wet suit on......oh it was so worth it.!! You sexy man you! In Oklahoma we don't have those professional starter guns....oh no, Billy Bob just shows up with his 12 gauge shot gun. We were sitting right beside him and Ava wasn't too happy about the 5 starts for all the different levels. She kept her ears plugged pretty tight.
I don't know the percentages but I think there are very few people in the world who have ever done an Ironman.....My husband is such a stud.

Here he is coming out of the swim....he came in the top 1/3 of the group finishing in around 1 1/2 hours.

He started out on the bike and we came home as it will be 6 hours.

We are going to make signs to put along the marathon route. He will finish biking and begin the marathon at around 4pm.
GO CHRIS!!

I married a superhero

I once heard Jerry Seinfeld do a comedy sketch about how no matter how old a man is deep down he still thinks he is, or longs to be, a superhero. Well, my husband is a superhero!
I have had butterflies in my stomach all day as we checked in today for his Ironman. For those who are not familiar, an iron man race is:

2.4 mile swim (about 2 hours)
112 mile bike (anywhere from 6-8 hours)
26.2 mile run. (around 4 hours)

He has had butterflies about it too.....Here he is checking in

Here he is 10 min later.....you know you are nervous when you have to go so bad you are willing to use a foul smelling porta potty. The average time is 14 hours total. Can you imagine 14 hours of excruciating physical exertion. The girls and I will be there at 7am as he begins and we will be there to see him cross the finish line at about 9:30 or 10:00pm.

Here are a few of the conversations we had with the girls tonight.

Olivia: "Has anyone ever died doing this"
Dad: "yes"
Olivia: "Dad, please please please don't do it. I don't want you to die"

Dad: "Sweetie, come on, I am not going to die"

Ava: "Dad, I don't want you to do your race tomorrow."
Dad: "Why sweetie"
Ava: "Because I really don't think you can win. Here Dad run around the room, let me see how fast you are"....Dad runs around the room....."Ok, I guess you are fast but you aren't very good on the bike so I still don't think you can win".
Dad: "Ava, I don't think I can win either."

Chloe: "Mom, Olivia says that people have died doing these, is that true?"
Mom: "Yes sweetie it is true, it is very rare, but people have died"
Chloe: "Mom, I am really worried, do you think Dad will die"
Mom: "No hon, I don't think he will die."

Getting his bike racked and ready

Here we are in front of the lake he is going to swim in tomorrow morning....oh I am nervous for him.

He is a super hero to me because the day we got married we wrote a list of all the things we wanted to accomplish before we die. Because of his perseverance we have accomplished everything on that list and are working on list number 2. If Christopher Bray ever sets his mind to something there is nothing that can stop him from accomplishing it. I have never seen anyone with such resolve. He will never give up. He told me 16 years ago that one day he would do an Iron Man and tomorrow he will fulfill that. I love him so much and will be praying for him.

If anyone wants to you can get on http://www.redmantriathlon.com/ and track his progress. He has a gps chip on his shoe that will give us updates as to where he is. His bib number is 161.

Good Luck Sweetie!!

2nd time around

So, I really don't want to seem like it bothered me at all that I was matched with a Mr. Lothar Matthaus in my celebrity lookalike match up. I really didn't think about it all day, only 7 or 10 times....it could have been more but who is counting?
Until tonight when I looked at my friend Sarah's blog and there she had posted her celebrity match ups. Oh it was nothing great just Faith Hill, Kate Bosworth, Katie Holmes and a few other amazing beautiful women. I could care less and it really didn't bother me but just in case the picture I submitted the first time was not straight on or the site was experiencing difficulty when it matched me with a man I decided that I needed to try again with another photo. I figured that I would give it another go, just out of pure curiosity. Here were my 2nd round match ups.

I HATE THAT WEBSITE!

Why Blog?

A couple of days ago my niece wrote a post about "The purpose of blogging" I left her a mile long comment and I have decided to turn it into my own post.

When I first started my blog I sent it out to my family and very close friends, I was so excited for this new form of communication and connection. It quickly went sour as I found myself being judged and ridiculed. I was so so sad. One tearful night I decided that I would end my short blogging experience and keep my heart safely on the pages of my journal where I couldn't be hurt.

The next morning I realized that in my life I have never cowed to meanness or unjust pressure. I would continue regardless of what others perceived about me because of it. How grateful I now am that I persisted. This is what I love about blogs:

In my favorite movie of all time "Shadowlands" there is a quote. "We read to know we are not alone". Maybe we blog to know that we are not alone. I can read about other peoples experiences and see how alike we all are, I am not alone!

Laughing.....I have had some of the best laughs from reading blogs. There are some really great humorous writers out there and I love their comedic view of life. I have a sunnier outlook after reading some blogs. Here's a post that had me laughing, and this one, and this one also.

I gain a new perspective. I have had some of the hugest paradigm shifts in regards to my life and how I am living it as I have read about how others are living theirs. I cherish the new perspective I have about my mothering, my relationships and the things I spend my time on. All this I have learned from reading other peoples stories.

Connecting with other people. I have both connected and reconnected with some really great people. I have 7 brothers and sisters and somewhere around 35 nieces and nephews so it can be hard to keep connected with everyone. I feel close to those who have blogs because I know what they are doing. I also love that I get to meet new people that I wouldn't know if I weren't blogging. Heck, I got a comment from someone today who lives on a farm and has a huge garden. I plan on putting in a big garden in our back yard next year. She may regret leaving the comment because I now totally intend to pick her agricultural brain. How great are blogs?

The negatives of blogging:

Self doubt.............Really, am I the only one to read other peoples blogs and think?......"man I am not even close to being as good a mom as her", or "Oh they take such beautiful pictures...I suck at photography" (is it just me or is everyone who is blogging an amazing photographer?). or "Their family is so close and my siblings loathe me" or "I can't write as well or witty as they can, no one will be interested in what I say". And last but definitely not least...."What? they have 30 comments and I have one? no one likes me".
Ok, maybe I should quit blogging....ha ha that just gave me a good belly laugh.

I don't have one shred of self esteem left

So tonight I found a fun website that will take a photo of you and compare it with celebrity photos. It then tells you which celeb you most look like. I loaded my photo and waited for 2-3 min as it searched it's database for my twin. I had visions of michelle pfifer, angelina jolie (hey a girl can hope). Who did they come up with? Lothar Matthaus?? First, who the heck is Lothar and why would they consider this person a celebrity. Second......he is a MAN, An UGLY MAN at that. Go figure. I personally think the website was having technical difficulty. I am sure they will send me an email in the morning and appologize for their ghastly mistake. Lothar Matthaus

The most horific thing is that when I put our pictures side by side......I can see it.

I'm not in Kansas anymore!

This book is so so dear to me.....It is a Swedish author and there was something so wonderful about it for me as a little girl. I loved these 3 triplet sisters. I loved the wonderful messages held in each of the books (there is a series) but this one in particular was my FAVORITE. I was mesmerized by those "New Dotted Dresses". I loved the art, the message and the characters. The three little girls go out to play in their new dotted dresses but meet an old lady carrying a heavy load so they help her with her load and then a whole funny series of events happen. I think I related to this story because I loved pretty things as a little girl but I was a tomboy and couldn't keep clean or out of mischief for the life of me.

I was absolutely thrilled when I went into a small bookstore and found these books. Tonight I gathered my two youngest to read it. It has a great moral to the story about always helping others in need so I figured it would be a great lesson to talk about as we read. We began to read about how the little girls are playing in forest and see a sweet old woman carrying a heavy load of wood they run to her and ask if they can help her. They worry about getting their dresses dirty but remember that their mother always taught them to help so they take the woman's load for her and offer to carry it home. At this point I am going to pause and talk to the girls about being helpful to others when Elle sits straight up and with the most concerned look on her face and with a very forceful voice says..."MOM, I would NEVER NEVER do that". I was taken back by her response, "What?" I asked. "Mom, these are very bad girls and I want you to know I would never do that". I cocked my head and wrinkled my brow so she could see I was confused. "That old lady is a stranger and could do horrible things to them, even kidnap them." she said

Well my sweet childhood memories of reading this book and learning about being kind were all swept away....I couldn't argue with her. I watched Oprah this week about the horrors of child predators and the alarming rate at which it is growing. I sat silent for a long moment to switch my paradigm.
"You are right Elle" I said, "you should never ever talk to, or help a stranger if Mommy is not there". How sad.

The things I miss the most!

Our old house!

Ok, you know that we moved a couple of months ago. We love our new house and neighborhood but there are things that we miss. Today the weather was beautiful so Chris and I went on a long walk back to the park by our old house (we lived in for 8 years). It brought back to me the things that I loved about our old house. They are:

1. Mitch Park being only 1 mile from our house. Chris and I would go for a 5 mile walk everyday in the early evening. It is beautiful and full of wildlife and fresh air. We would talk and talk about everything and plan our life. Since our move we haven't walked as much. We made a resolve to start again.
2. My blackberry bushes. This is at the beginning of the summer so there were only a few and they were not ripe yet but oh they were so good when they were ripe. Our renters got to eat them all summer. I will be planting blackberry and raspberry bushes in our back yard when the time is right. Cant wait!!
3. My hydrangeas. They were HUGE, beautiful and I loved them

4. Our peach tree. We planted this tree 3 years ago and with in a year of planting it this little tree had so many peaches that I thought the poor thing was going to fall over. Again, our renters reaped the juicy rewards of our labors.

5. Our pond. I loved this view out our back window. The water was as green/blue as could be and our girls caught hundreds of fish, turtles and frogs. We have the best memories here!!

6. Our neighbors. We had the best friends and neighbors and after 8 years it was very difficult to leave them. We made lifelong friends and we miss them.

Everything takes time.....our new yard will have a huge garden next summer and fledgling black berry and raspberry bushes. Hopefully we will find, buy and plant a peach tree with the same vitality and fertility as our old one and our new pond will be beautiful once we clear trees, plant grass and get our new back yard in order.

The things we love about our new house!! We have lots to do to be settled but we love everything....we love the basement, I love my double ovens, we love the view out back and I just love the memories we are making here!!

I am baffled

It is almost midnight on Friday night and I just can't sleep as I am so baffled by something that happened tonight?

Tonight Chris and I went out on our weekly date. I look forward to it every week and we really didn't have any plans tonight so we just headed to the mall to see if there were any good movies. Incidentally lately we have seen several documentaries that have been fabulous so we chose "Proud American". We left after 20 min...It was like a 70's B movie with the worst acting I have ever seen on a big screen. Anyhow, as we were heading out of the theater we ran into one of Olivia's classmates and her family. It was a picture of cuteness as the whole family was together for a fun family movie night. They have 3 kids all under the age of 11. I think the youngest is 6. I saw them and thought of the cute girls we had left at home all snuggled up in their beds. We visited for a minute and then as they went to leave I said "Oh what movie are you going to see?" In my mind I was thinking "Is Wall-E still in the theaters?" Their reply floored me. "We are going to see House Bunny". OK let me say I know nothing about this movie except the premise of it is enough to tell me Not REALLY A FAMILY FILM. Since when do we gather up our children and head out in anticipation of cute little story about Playboy Bunnies. I don't want to be judgemental of these people as I hardly know them. I am just seeing a trend among parents that, in my mind, is not good.

It bothered me so much and I will be honest as they walked away I just stood there and stared at those sweet little girls walking off holding their parents hands and I felt sick to my stomach. When did parents stop being the gatekeepers to the doorway of their small children's minds and hearts. How do adults not understand that everything that goes into those sweet innocent minds shapes who they are and how they see the world and their role in it.

As I came home I thought ok, maybe I have no idea what this movie is about and I am way wrong on this. So I got on a website that I frequent often that screens every movie based on kids and whether it is appropriate (link). I was going to post part of the synopsis but much of it was too vulgar to post as my kids sometimes read my blog and I didn't want them to read it. I am pretty sure that even the producers of this film were not aiming for the 6-11 year old demographic. For all I know this family ended up walking out of the movie......that would be my hope.

Sadly this was not the first time I have see this trend among families. There have been several times we have gone to movies that we will find offensive enough that we will walk out and yet there in the theater will remain children under 10 with their parents. Our girls will come home from school and tell us the TV shows that some of their friends are talking about or the movies they see and I can't believe it......all too often they are R rated. Heck My mom banned "Threes Company" in my house.......actually, none of the kids I knew were allowed to watch it. That would be laughable now.

I know that times change. I know that my mom was appalled by what was passing as entertainment when I was young and I thought she was out of touch. Maybe I am out of touch but I will fight tooth and nail to make sure my daughters see the world as a place where women are strong, smart and to be treated with dignity and respect. I am not naive I know that there will come a day when they will know that women can be treated as objects, that violence in extreme exists and that some people live and relish deprived lives but by that time I hope the roots already run deep and they will not be easily moved from the foundation their lives were built on.

PS: If you have seen this movie, loved it and took your small children to it and I got this WAY wrong. You can set me straight.

For anyone who loves politics

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I love current events and politics. I follow it all religiously but I never comment about it on my blog. I feel my blog is about family and I don't want to venture too far off. That being said my good friend Sarah, who loves it all as much as I do, has a funny, entertaining blog about politics that I had to share with you. If you are interested at all in politics this blog is well worth your read. When I have time I will also be a part time contributor. Sarah is smart witty and has a lot to say. Check it out.

Making up!!

Seriously, how cute and fresh faced are we? Boy I knew how to work those bangs in 90's....The creepy thing is...My hair looks the same now, I have just slightly altered the bang elevation. Is that a bad sign?

To Chris:

OK, this week we really annoyed each other....It was actually just one day but for that day I know I really ticked you off. I rarely tick you off so I actually savored the moment. You didn't know this, and never let on, but in line with "The Power of Now," my bohemian spiritual guilty pleasure, I actually just lived in the moment and enjoyed the crusty looks you were giving me. When you ignored me that whole day I pretended in my mind that you were playing hard to get and to be honest that was truly all it was because I knew that the minute I called you and gave you a little sugar you were gonna be putty in my hands. It was cute though the way you held out for a whole day and then texted me that I was mean, really really mean!! I am serious, how could I be mad at you or ever want to make you sad, you are so dang sexy and scrumptious. That is really all I am going to say. We can make up tomorrow when you get home....that will make the mad day all the more worth it!

Whats in a name?

After 40 years of thinking I had a lame name I have a new appreciation for it today!! My mom wasn't the best at naming some of her children....We have often had conversations as a family about the trials of the names she chose for a few of us. Many of my brothers and sisters came out unscathed....I wasn't one of those. Just prior to my birth my Mom's best friend's daughter died. Her name was Gale (spelled just that way). The fact that I was born in the parking lot of the hospital in a raging snow storm just solidified the name and I became Gale spelled just like the big raging wind. The spelling has been a thorn in my side as well as the fact that I have only met 3 other Gales in my life. One of those 3 Gales happened to live in the small town I grew up in and HE, yes he was the town butcher....I was cursed.

The only good thing is I am kinda like Cher, when I call someone I really don't have to qualify who is calling them the way I would if my name were Jennifer....I just say "Hey, this is Gale" and I am always pretty sure I am the only Gale they know.
I have always felt that it just wasn't a name that matched me. I would dream of the other names I could have been but then when I asked my Mom what she would have named me had Gale Lowry not died she said "Becky" and I am not a Becky so I would just be quiet and grateful for my name.

So tonight I found a website called http://www.babynamewizard.com/ .....NO I am not pregnant!!! Yet I reallly have no explanation as to why I was on babynamewizard but regardless, if you go there and go to name voyager, type in your name then you can get all kinds of info about your name.....What did I find out? That I was right, no one in the last 150 years has liked or used my name....it peaked in the 50's for a few years but basically other than that short ride on the charts it is no where to be found or used. For the first time I felt a new appreciation for my name, it is unique and suddenly I felt as though my name did match me. I do my own thing and I don't always fit into a lot of womenly circles, and to be honest I sometimes feel like I think a little more like my husband than my girlfriends. So what does this all mean? Nothing, except I go to bed tonight finally at peace with my name...I own it now!!

Laughing more!

Tonight I have had an epiphany, I need to laugh way more!! I need to dance and play more. I need to relax and have more fun!! I sometimes don't know how to make these changes. I get so intense and focused on my day and the stresses of it all. I am just so mad at myself right now for not enjoying my days more....wow here I go, I want to laugh more and I am already ruining it by being mad at myself. Ha ha. I guess I can laugh at the irony of it. There I go, that was one laugh..now I need to make it two, three...maybe four. I watched this clip on youtube and I love it....it makes me think about how much I want a full adventurous happy life. I don't want to be weighed down. I want to dance!!! Don't laugh but I cried when I watched it.....that tells you that I need to lighten up and rethink what I am doing day to day.

Here is some photo evidence that the Bray's have laughed A LOT!! Now we need a little more!

I always laugh the hardest with my husband or my sister....she is going to kill me for posting this picture but whenever she and I are together we laugh until we cry....yes that is what we were doing in this pic. She is so cute! I better redeem myself and post a cute picture of her so she isn't mad. Here she is....I caught her one morning early in the garden dancing to "My God is an awesome God". She is so special. OK, I have had my laugh for the day.
Here Les, I will redeem myself. You are so dang cute.