Our Tomato & Pepper Plants are Growing!

We haven't done a post in a while, so we wanted to "touch base" and let everyone know that we are still alive and well! We also wanted to update you on our little vegetable garden. Remember the pictures of our new garden back in April? Well we wanted to share a few "Then and Now" shots to show everyone how we are being blessed in our gardening efforts this year. We are grateful for all of the rain we have been receiving and know that our plants REALLY appreciate it!
And another really cool thing that we noticed one night as we were out watering our plants was that apparently some tomato seedlings from our plants last year dropped and found a nice home in the soil, because we noticed at least 3 extra tomato plants that have recently started sprouting and one in particular had a "sketchy" root system, but with a few days of Tender Loving Care it is perky and looks excited about the upcoming summer! Enjoy the pictures! And Happy Gardening to all of our Fellow Gardeners this Summer!

Our Tiny Cherry Tomato Plant THEN

Our HUGE Cherry Tomato Plant (and others) TODAY!
The Day we planted our Tomatoes, Peppers and Basil
Today, About a Month and a Half Later
We have Baby Tomatoes!! How exciting!
We could hardly believe it the other day when we came outside and saw our first Pepper!!!

Micah the Keyboard Player!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Micah is now a member of a band! He is very excited about all the new and exciting opportunities that are coming his way! He gets to be the keyboard player, and I get to be his "groupie"! You know, pretty much the "proud wife in the crowd". Their first gig is going to be the last Saturday of June. They are playing for a Sock Hop at our church building. Right now they are practicing a ton of 60's songs! As you can see he is really getting into his music! The band decided not to order sheet music, so they are learning all of the songs by ear! Micah is so talented that at the same time he is listening to the song on his MP3 player he is also writing the music for it! Genius I tell you! I just wanted to end this post marathon for the night, by giving everyone a little glimpse of what the other half of the Gray household is doing tonight!

Jammin' to "The Jailhouse Rock"

He obliged me by stopping for a quick photo!
The Keyboard Player in Action!

Happy Birthday Grandma Louise!

One more post for the night! I think this is definitely a record for the Grays, 3 posts in 1 night! Here are some pictures from Grandma Louise's birthday celebration on May 30th!
It was a little bit of a bummer that Micah wasn't able to be there, but he was having fun anyway! He just joined a band with several members from church! They are practicing oldies right now as they are going to be playing for a Church Sock Hop at the end of June! I can't wait to be his "groupie"!
My parents made a yummy dinner and my mom made a great cake for the birthday girl! And of course we had opportunities to take lots of fun pictures! That is one great thing about our family is that we absolutely LOVE to celebrate, especially birthdays!

Getting ready to blow out her candles, and Jessie is so excited!

Jacob & Jessie posing for a picture~ They are all grown up now!
Louise and her Beau, Charlie ~ What a Cute Couple they are!
Family Picture in Front of the Weeping Willow Tree ~ this one's for you Micah, I set the self-timer all by myself!!

Playing in Northern Virginia!

Some of our favorite times are spent playing with our nieces and nephew in Northern VA. Micah and I usually go up for the weekend and we attend the temple on Friday night, and on Saturday we go over to Nathan and Sarah's house to take care of their kids so that they can get away to the temple too! Then we get to visit with Nathan and Sarah for a while when they get home. It is always good to catch up with each other's lives in person rather than doing it through emails or over the phone!!
The kids are absolutely adorable, they have so much energy and they say the cutest things too! And a double bonus, they LOVE having their pictures taken! So, Micah and I being the "picture people" that we are take every opportunity to take pictures with them when we go! I spent a lot of time inside with the two younger girls, Abigail and Lydia, during this trip. My dad has always laughed that I get so much excitement out of the simplest things! Well, this day was no different ~ I figured out how to set the self timer on our digital camera and I still get all excited (inside of course) every time I set it now for a self portrait. Ah, the simple things in life!
While I was inside taking pictures and mastering the art of the self-timer, Micah spent a good amount of time outside letting Hannah, Joseph, and even Abigail run out some of their Saturday afternoon energy! We were tired at the end of the day, but it was well worth it! Thanks Nathan and Sarah for giving us the opportunity to play!

Me & Abigail cheesin' for the "self timed" picture!

Micah, Hannah and Joseph stopped playing for a second to smile for the camera ~ Aren't they precious~
Micah and Lydia ~ Can you see the resemblance?
Hannah loves Lydia so much, can't you tell? What a precious moment!

Playing Catch Up & A Visit with Grandparents

It seems like it has been forever since we have "blogged". It truly is one of my favorite things to do, but sometimes other things take precedence.
Now that we are back and getting on track we wanted to share a few pictures from our trip to Shawsville, VA to visit with Micah's grandparents. We have so much fun when we are able to get down to visit. Even though the trip takes about 6 hours (round trip) on the road, it is well worth it!
Micah's Grandpa is so entertaining, and since he is a Grandpa he has so much wisdom and has had so many experiences during his lifetime. He loves to talk about them and we love to hear about them. He has been to war, been through college and got his Master's Degree. He has taught College level Civil Engineering classes, been married to 3 wonderful women, shared many precious moments with his children and grand children and great grand children over the years!
Almost every time we visit we can count on a ride to the Cracker Barrel for dinner in Ann's Cadillac ~ we always feel so spoiled when we go, but that is what Grandparents do best, right?
Here are some pictures from our most recent visit! We are looking forward to visiting them again sometime later this summer!

Here I am outside at their House

Here is my Handsome Prince on the Porch
Grandpa and Ann preparing for yummy food at Cracker Barrel

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great weekend this past weekend! On Friday night we got to go see a play at The Four County Players in Barboursville, VA! The play was called "Lend Me A Tenor". A friend of mine from work does a lot of acting for them ~ he is so great ~ we had a blast! If anyone is looking for an inexpensive date night or just a fun thing to do on a Friday night, you should definitely check out the Four County Players, because all of their Friday evening shows are only $5 a piece ~ and trust us, it is worth every penny!

Then on Saturday we got to take a trip down to Shawsville, VA (about 2 hours South of Charlottesville) to visit Micah's grandparents. They are always so hospitable. They took us out to dinner at Cracker Barrel and we got to ride in their Cadillac ~ we felt like we were living the "high life". It was fun! Plus it is always good to get a chance to talk to Grandpa and listen to all of the amazing journeys he has been on during his lifetime ~ and their have been many!

On Sunday was Mother's Day and it couldn't have been a nicer day! We were able to talk to Micah's Mom in the morning before church and then after church we were able to head to my parents house for a yummy dinner and some great company! And an added treat, my grandma and one of my aunt's and a cousin showed up too! We had a lot of fun reminiscing, talking, laughing and of course eating some yummy food!

We are so grateful to have such wonderful Mothers and Grandmothers and to be able to communicate with them on a regular basis. Heavenly Father has really blessed us with a loving and supportive family, and we are so thankful for each one of them! This is definitely a Mother's Day to remember and one that will go down in Gray Family History!

Now here are some fun pictures from our weekend journeys.........................

Here we are with Grandpa & Ann at the Cracker Barrel

Me and Mom posing pretty with her Mother's Day Lilly
3 Generation Shot taken about 24 years ago ~ approx 1984
Here we are now ~ Posing Pretty in 2008
The Whole Gang (well all that were present for the Mother's Day Dinner on Sunday)

My Handsome Husband & New Vinyl Flooring In our Bathroom!

We have been talking about putting new vinyl down in our bathroom since we moved into our house (1 1/2 years ago), and we FINALLY did it!
Micah took the day off from work this past Thursday and set out on probably his biggest house project ever! Thanks to "Home Improvement 1-2-3", a book that we got from one of my uncles a few years ago, and a very dedicated husband, our dreams of a new bathroom floor became a reality this past weekend!
Micah did an amazing job, and I am so proud of all of the hours and sweat and love that he put into this project. We were both so excited to have our new floor completed on Thursday that we both just wanted to walk bare-foot on it! New vinyl feels so nice on your toes:)
I bought some artificial flowers from Micheal's on Friday and I hope to make a new arrangement soon, to add that extra sparkle, and then it will be totally complete! I am so grateful for a husband who is willing to take on projects like this, so that we can save our money for more important things in the future, like adopting children!

BEFORE THE WORK BEGAN

THE TOILET & SINK ARE OUT!
THE OLD VINYL IS OUT ~ SUBFLOORS AREN'T THAT PRETTY!!
APPLYING ADHESIVE TO THE SUBFLOOR
MY HANDSOME HANDYMAN & THE NEW VINYL FLOOR!!