Snow in Portland?

I thought we moved here to Portland so we wouldn't have to deal crazy amounts of snow. well I was wrong. We got hit with what the media is calling the "Arctic Blast". The first few pictures of Ethan are from earlier in the week. The last few are from last night around 10:00 pm. Yesterday it snowed all day, and this is what it left. Today it is going back and forth between snowing and raining. Thus there is a thin layer of ice all over everything. We are just grateful we still have heat!!

Twas father who carved the turk..."

The Holiday Season is all about traditions. Some of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions are 1: Watching grandpa carve the turkey, 2: The smell of so much great food and making it from scratch with your family. 3: The spirit of the holiday. To give thanks for those who founded America. What a blessing it is to live in America and to be free!

Pumpkin Patch

We recently went to a pumpkin patch. While there wasn't much a of a good pumpkin selection, Ethan enjoyed the boat ride out and the train ride in. He liked it so much that he would lay on the bottom of the boat and get as close to the water as he could. I ended up taking him back later in the week thinking he would enjoy it just as much as the firs time.... wrong.

Talents

I've always wondered how parents could recognize talents or personality traits in their kids. It seems so young to determine a child as a dancer or a musician. Since Ethan has come into our lives I understand what other parents are talking about. Ethan has two strong interests right now. The first one is throwing balls. He loves it, and is really good at it. Saturday night Ethan even watched a baseball game with great grandma Janie for 30 minutes or more without becoming bored at all. Today Ethan and I walked to the park. He spent more time watching the tennis players play, than going down the slide or swinging.

As you will see in this video, Ethan's second talent or interest is music. In church his favorite thing is to open the hymn book and beat his hands. During one of the choir numbers of general conference this weekend, Ethan took a children's book and opened it like choir music and conducted the choir! This video shows his love at the piano. He plays it so gently and seems to be so interested.

Chicago

We recently (ok like 2 weeks ago) returned from a trip to Chicago. We stayed with some dear friends and had a bunch of fun. I think my favorite part was how well Ethan got along with Ben and Beth's daughter Genevieve.




Millennium Park is in downtown Chicago. The face changes in the background and at one point the mouth opens and water comes out.



Ethan and Genevieve enjoying playing in the water.






This is also Millennium Park, at the bean looking thing. It was really cool.



I just liked this one



This is the toad that Ethan touched and that Genevieve nearly kissed.



A day with Rosanna



John's mosquito bite



This is a park outside of Chicago, that was mostly under water due to Hurricane Ike. We were mostly bummed out about it because all the barbeque's were completely under water. We were hungry and had no way to cook our food and so Ben had to go to the nearest town to buy one. Nonetheless Ethan and Genevieve had a good time playing football.



how precious is this!!!

All in all it was a good trip, even if the hurricane ruined one day at the park, and John had an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite and had to see a doctor. It was tons of fun!

Addison Mai

This is Addison Mai Millet, the newest member of the Gray family. She came into the world last week, Sunday September 7th. Congratulations Sarah and Jon!!!! She is adorable.

To anyone who was wondering, she looks just like my sister.

Tribute to Pelle

Pelle came into our lives December 26 2005. That fall John started begging for a fish, particularly a beta fish. I have never cared for them. I tried to ignore John's wish, and it didn't work. He started painting pictures of fish. So I decided that year for Christmas I would go ahead and buy him a fish. I got a cool vase from Pier Imports so it wouldn't look so tacky and put rocks in it and a plant. I cut a paper fish and put it inside. Then the day after Christmas John went and picked out the perfect fish.

He was beautiful Dark crimson red. John named him Pelle after a soccer player from Brasil. He lived with us in Rexburg Idaho for the remaing of our time there. When we moved to Portland he traveled by way of a quart jar in our drink holder of our car. When I was pregnant I was home a lone with Pelle most of the time. I would sit at the bar counter at John's parents house and talk to Pelle and try to teach him tricks like how to eat the food particle from my finger by jumping out of the water. He was patient with me when I interrupted a training session to run to the bathroom and puke my guts out from the pregnant nausea.

When Ethan was born Pelle watched Ethan grow from the big glass vase on the counter. I don't think that Ethan paid much attention to him, but we know Pelle watched.

The other day John came home from work and noticed that Pelle wasn't looking so hot. John took him out of the vase and we watched him closely from another jar. He died a few hours later. We laid Pelle to rest under the only flowering bush in our complex. I never would have thought I could develop feelings for a little fish, but over the last 3 years I did. We will miss you pelle! Hopefully fish heaven will treat you well.

Love Always,
Mary, John and Ethan

Ethan's Tricks

Ethan is full of tricks. We have been able to catch a few on video. Check him out!






In this video Ethan shows off his mad throwing or pitching skills.





Etan shows off some hopping skills he is developing. I think he thinks he is really doing it too.



I can't get enough of his awkward dancing. He takes after his daddy thats for sure!

Cowboy?

I know its been FOREVER since I have posted. I have about 5 or six things to post over the next few days.
Today I was folding laundry with Ethan. We all know how that goes, you fold something and he takes off with it a makes a big mess with clean laundry. Thats why I usually do it in th evenings. My sister, Becca, had the bright idea to put johns dress socks on Ethan. And so we did. He was also playing with my belt. As a "garnish" I added the hat. And this is what our little cowboy looks like now.

Summer Family photos

We have spent a couple of Sunday afternoons at a nearby park taking family photos. Which one do you like?

The PIrate Park

Last week a friend showed me where the pirate park is. Its a neat park that is shaped like a ship and has a big sandbox for digging. So we took Ethan there again yesterday to get some wiggles out. He actually likes the slides there. I have never been able to get him to play on the playground equipment by our house. I think the big kids on it scare him. This park was more young kid friendly.

Many Faces of My Sister

My dear sweet sister has a little problem. Whenever there is a camera in the same room as her she cannot resist the urge to take photos with it. Its some kind of sweet revenge or addiction that she has. Most of the time she takes pictures of her feet. Once in a while its a tiolet seat. Another common photo is her face making funny faces. I don't think that she ever means any harm. So this post is mostly for my family who know exactly what I am talking about. Dear Becca I think you had this coming!!!!!

The Oregon Coast

We love going to the coast. There is something very relaxing about watching the water come in, and go out. This time was fun to take Ethan outside and play in the sand. He enjoyed throwing his ball in the holes John dug for him. Most of all he loves to chase dogs. He can barely walk in the sand and running is out of the question for him. Here we see the a dog in the far distance and then Ethan getting more from the the dog than what he thought was coming.

Multnomah Falls

Recently we bought a hiking backpack and finally we got to use it this weekend. With all the rain we have been getting, it was so wonderful to see the sun finally! Ethan loved hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls. When we got to the top he loved looking over the edge, which made me a little nervous. He is so fearless and would probably jump off the top had we let him. We plan to make this a regular activity this summer since Ethan enjoyed it so much.

While we were there, there was a group trying to repel down the front of the waterfall. Crazy! The never got it to happen while we were there. If you look close you might see the line.

John and I have been spending our FHE nights reading Love and Logic. Its a parenting book, an alternative method to the traditional spanking. Meanwhile we heard about this method of talking it out with your children in the car. So, thank you Rosanna for this wonderful new method of parenting. John and I are looking forward to these days.

The bike

So for Ethan's first birthday Grandma and Grandpa Kendall gave Ethan a bike. At first He didn't care much for sitting on it. He wasn't used to the feel of it. But once he caught on to the fact that he can go places on it things have changed. From the time he wakes up in the morning to the time he goes down at night Ethan wants to be outside on his bike. He sits on his bike and waits and whines to go outside. As long as he is outside he doesn't care.