MAGNOLIA HIGH SCHOOL HOMECOMING 2009'

WOW WOW WOW IS ALL I CAN SAY!! THE QUOTE THAT WE HAVE HEARD OVER AND OVER SINCE BEFORE WE MOVED HERE IS "EVERYTHINGS BIGGER IN TEXAS" WELL, WE FOUND OUT THAT HIGH SCHOOL HOMECOMING SURE IS AND ALL THE TRADITIONS THAT GO WITH IT:) SO OK! THIS IS HOW IT WENT DOWN.."" PHILLIP SAYS I WANT TO ASK ANGELA TO HOMECOMING? OK GO FOR IT THAT WILL BE FUN.... SO A FEW WEEKS LATER SHE WAS OVER AT OUR HOUSE SWIMMING AND HE COMES IN WITH THE BIGGEST SMILE ON HIS FACE AND HE SAID SHE SAID YES!! YEAH!! SO OK... BACK IN OUR DAY... YOU WENT TO THE HOMECOMING GAME WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND OR GIRLFRIEND OR JUST YOUR FRIENDS ESPECIALLY IF YOUR BOYFRIEND PLAYED FOOTBALL OR YOUR GIRLFRIEND CHEERED...AND THEN THE DANCE WAS AFTER THE GAME.. WELL, NOT HERE ITS A ALL WEEKEND AFFAIR. I DON'T THINK ANY OF MY DATES EVEN BOUGHT ME A COURSAGE FOR HOMECOMING IT WAS JUST COME DRESSED CUTE IN CASUAL CLOTHES AND GO TO THE DANCE AFTER THE GAME AND THEN GO TO MCDONALDS...HERE IT IS FORMAL.SO YOU HAVE TO BUY FORMAL CLOTHES AND THE GIRL BUYS A FORMAL DRESS AND SHOES AND JEWELS AND GETS THE NAILS AND TOES DONE:) OK SO IT WAS A BLAST.. THE WEEKEND BEFORE THEY ALL CAME IN FROM SCHOOL AND SAID THEY HAD TO MAKE HOMECOMING TSHIRTS AND WEAR THEM ON THE DAY OF THE GAME... OK SO OFF WE ALLLLLL GO TO WALMART BUY SHIRTS AND PAINTS AND IRON ON LETTERS AND OF COURSE BLING FOR THE GIRLS.. SORRY BUT MY MOTTO IS EVERY GIRL HAS TO HAVE SOME BLING!:) SO FRIDAY NIGHT WAS TSHIRT NIGHT THAT ENDED UP INTO A PIZZA PARTY AND ROCKIN TIL MIDNIGHT, IT WAS FUN FUN!!SO ON SATURDAY I TOOK PHILLIP OUT SHOPPING FOR HIS OUTFIT:) FUN.. HE COULD HAVE CARED LESS.. AND THEN ON SUNDAY ANGELA ASKED ME TO GO DRESS SHOPPING WITH HER AND HER SISTER AND HER MOM WHICH WAS A FUN TIME, I AM NOT USE TO DOING THESE THINGS SINCE I HAVE BOYS IT WAS QUITE A EXPERIENCE BUT OH SO MUCH FUN AND THEY BOTH PICKED OUT CUTE CUTE DRESSES AND SHOES...SO THE NEXT FRIDAY MORNING WAS THE DAY OF HOMECOMING AND IT ALL STARTED AT 6:45 A.M. THERE IS A BIG TRADITION HERE THAT FOR HOMECOMING IF YOU HAVE A DATE YOU BUY THEM A HOMECOMING MUM FOR THE GIRL AND A GARTER FOR THE GUY..I HAVE NEVER EVER IN MY LIFE SEEN THIS...IT IS CRAZY.. YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE PICS TO EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! I CAN NOT EVEN DESCRIBE IT.. YOU PUT ALL THEIR HOBBIES AND INTEREST ON IT..MY GOODNESS! AND THE BIGGER THE BETTER!!WE DID SO GOOD BECAUSE ANGELA WON BEST MUM IN THE FRESHMAN CLASS AND HER SISTER WON IN THE JUNIOR CLASS.. WOOT WOOT.. WE DID GREAT!! SO OK THEY EXCHANGED THESE AND WORE THEM ALL DAY AT SCHOOL.. CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE WEARING THESE AND TRYING TO CONCENTRATE ON SCHOOL WORK AND CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE BEING A TEACHER... OH MY I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO THINK:) SO THEY GO TO SCHOOL COME HOME, HANG OUT HERE AT OUR HOUSE AND GO TO TO THE GAME WHICH WE WON 21-14 IT WAS A GREAT GAME.. TONS OF FUN!! AND SO THEN ON SATURDAY WAS THE BIG DANCE,THEY HOOKED UP WITH SOME FRIENDS FOR DINNER AND THEN ALL WENT TO THE THE DANCE TOGETHER, THEY HAD A BLAST!! AFTER THE DANCE THEY ALL CAME HERE AND HUNG OUT AND TALKED ABOUT WHO WAS WITH WHO AND WHO WAS WEARING WHAT AND ON AND ON AND ON.. OH MY IT BROUGHT BACK SO MANY MEMORIES:) TO BE IN HIGH SCHOOL AGAIN.. i HAVE MIXED EMOTIONS.. IT WAS ALOT OF FUN IN THOSE YEARS WITH NO RESPONSIBILITIES BUT YET THE HEARTACHES OF GROWING UP AND DEALING WITH BOYFRIENDS AND MEAN GIRLS:) I PRAY MY KIDS HAVE GREAT EXPERIENCES AND LOTS OF BLESSINGS IN THEIR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS.. NOW WE ARE EXPERIENCED TEXAS HOMECOMING PEOPLE SO WE NOW KNOW WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO!!:) WE ALL HAD A TON OF FUN AND LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR!!!

A New School Year !!!

So sorry I have not posted in forever but we have been super busy as always!! Well, as you know Summer is Over and a New School Year has started and it could not be better.. Both of the boys started new schools this year and absolutely love them. Both of the campuses are alot bigger than they are use to but they have adjusted just fine and we have not heard one complaint from either one of them!Fall Baseball has started too and we are gearing up for the season to start, opening day is this Saturday so we are anxiously awaiting that! Chuck was asked to coach a team so of course he did not hesitate to say YES:) I think he loves it more than either one of the boys do,, now hear me if you know The Ray Boys that's all they love to do both of them, they eat sleep and dream baseball its their life and they get it honestly from their Dad! anyway he decided to Coach and he was so excited because this is the only time in both of the boys lives that they are able to play on a team together so we were more than excited YES! practice at the same time, games at the same time, get to watch one game instead of running back and forth to the other field..woo hoo... Will not have to be at the field 6 days out of 7 YES YES YES.. went to NO NO NO real quick.. Phillip says he would rather play on a team with his friends for the Coach he has played for since we have lived here.. Cant make it easy for us so we gave in and said ok that's fine have fun that's what its about right have fun and in the mean time we are both grumbling and Peyton is just thinking wow you would rather play with your friends instead of me and Dad hmmm.. so guess what its RIVAL TIME now oh my gosh I do not know if I will be able to stand it..... and can you imagine when they play each other OMG!!!! help!! Can you all come for that game so I do not have to go it alone?? Anyway it will be fun!!So school has started and Fall Ball is on the way so Life in the Ray house is getting back to normal!Stay Tuned for the first Texas Homecoming Game and Dance post.. It is more than you can even imagine..... Thanks for making us a part of your day!!

Happy Birthday Momma!!!!//Nana!!!XOXOXOXOXOXO

Today is My Momma's Birthday and I wanted to take this time to honor her on my blog today~~ Wow! Where do I even begin!? There is a TON to say and I am not sure where to even start! But I will start by saying Happy Two Two Momma!! I hope that you have a amazing day and that it will be filled with lots of love and a ton of blessings because that is what you are to me and my family! My Mom is my Momma and she is also My Best Friend she is My Boys Nana and she is My Husbands Other Mother.. We are so blessed to have her in our lives! I Thank God every single day for this woman! I Thank HIM for hand picking her to be My Momma.. I can honestly remember when I was little how she would hug me and tell me that she loved me, I remember her telling me I could be anything I wanted to be, I just had to do to my best, I remember her laying with me when I was sick, I remember her sitting outside watching me ride my bike and roller skate..I remember when I was about 6 years old, I was so excited that it was her birthday and me and my friend snuck off, there was a field behind our house and then there was a IGA grocery store, we took 100 pennies and bought her a birthday cake and it had to have yellow roses on it because that is her favorite flower( or so I thought:)I just remember I wanted to have a party for her because she always made sure I had a pretty cake with flowers on it and always made sure I had a party!!We moved quite a bit while I was growing up and I will always remember my mom always made sure that we were happy and that we made friends.. After I became a teen, I was very rebellious and just loved to make her mad,, I guess it was being the age and thinking I was grown and I knew it all, I am really surprised that she did not kill me because I think back and think how blessed I am that she did not give up on me and that she continued to pray and pray for me and that she still loved me! Oh I can remember some times but I sure will not share those not so sweet moments that will be between me and her..haha:)After many prayers.. God really started working in my life and I realized that friends come and go and even boyfriends came and went but My MOMMA was there forever so I thought it would be best if I got all my priorities right.. Chuck and I started seriously dating right after our senior year and he just loved my mom, he saw pics of her when she was in high school and he would tell her he would have given my daddy a run for his money if he was back in their day:) My Momma was beautiful and she still is!! She always would quote to me "Beauty is as Beauty does" she always told me to be myself and never ever feel like I had to hold someones hand to make it... she told me the first quote for as long as I can remember she still does:) but the last one was when I was in high school, I remember her writing me a poem and a letter that I still have! Anyway Momma if you ever really wondered if I ever listened to you and really took what you were saying to heart YES I did and I still DO!! When Chuck and I got married my parents made sure that our wedding was beautiful and that everything I wanted they made sure I had it! My momma was at my side with all of the planning and all of the showers and just everything...My momma has always played a very important role in my life not just as a MOTHER and FRIEND but everything a Mother should be.. She has always always set a example of what a Mother should be, what a wife should be, what a friend should be!! She as set the example of what a southern lady should be and act like, she has set the example of what a daughter of Christ should be... After our boys were born, SHE was there and she was very excited, she was there when they both were born, she was there when they both came home from the hospital, she stayed with us and helped us adjust, she would cook and clean and take care of me and the baby, she even would spend the night with me and let me sleep after they were born and she would get up and take care of them the first week, I think that was when Phillip was born by the time Peyton was born I had it, I was a pro..hahaha!! She was always there and I appreciate that and will remember that forever!! When the boys were 2 and 4 we moved to St Louis, Mo and I can honestly say I was sick I missed my momma so much!!They have always helped us move into our new homes when we have moved and after they left to go home from St Louis, you seriously thought someone had died.. I missed her so much!! My Momma has always been there for me and my family and I seriously do not know what I would do without her.. Now please do not think we have this lovey dovey relationship all the time we have the Mother/ Daughter relationship just about everybody has, I am sure there are times when she wants to kill me but I know she would not trade me for the world and me either~~ Momma, Thank you for being who you are and being the best Momma and Nana that could ever be~ Thank you for always being there and loving me and doing all the things that you do.. Thank you for making sacrifices when I was little and even now! Thank you for being the christian woman that you are and Thank you for loving me like no one else in this world does! You are one in a million and we are so glad that you belong to US!! Happy Birthday Momma/Nana.. We love you more than we could ever tell you and we wish you nothing but many many blessings today and always!!

D-Now Weekend

Wow! What a amazing weekend! It was incredible and I can not say enough about it!! There are no photos with this post because of privacy reasons for other peoples children who attended this weekend retreat that I do not have the parents permission of putting their childrens photos on this internet blog.

Anyway the weekend was more than I could have ever imagined! Our church offered a retreat weekend and the title was "Pursuit to Purity" it was from ages 6th grade to College age and we had different christian speakers come in and talk about different topics for the girls it was on Godly Submission and Beauty with Modesty and then virginity and dating for the boys it was on Chivalry and Respect and Lust and Purity of the mind and also virginity and dating.. These leaders did a incredible job, they shared their personal stories and their struggles and their praises and how God was so incredible faithful to all of them. We had a pastor speak and teach the truth on how God feels when we sin in those areas and then they had incredible worship. It was so so so good..

We saw God move in this place and move in these kids hearts and we saw conviction and brokeness, we saw Him lift them up and give their hearts and souls to Him.It was so incredibly awesome!!We were asked to be a host home for 6,7,8th grade boys so we said yes we would love to and we are so glad we did. They were the best boys I have ever seen! They were all so polite and very very respectful to us and our home and very grateful for everything and made sure to let us know.. We will be praying for all of these boys and their Counselor who was Tony the Youth Pastor at First Baptist Kennard, what a guy! he was so good with these boys! One of the students from our youth group was saying that he was so impressed with the kids from Tony's church that they all knew their bible from front to back and knew where to find it in the bible if you even said a quote.This speaks volumes for Tony and his teaching, these kids are truly blessed to have him in their lives! We just want to say Thank You to all of the leaders, counselors and families who invested in our boys lives and all the other children who were there. Retreats like this set strong foundations in a teens life and we feel so blessed that our boys got to experience this! We pray that all the teachings that they received this past weekend and all of the feelings that they experienced good and bad that they will remember those for forever instead of days or months! We pray that the leaders and counselors will be blessed beyond measure!! Not only were our children moved and blessed this weekend, we were too!! I hope that if you have teens of your own that you will try to find something like this and let them experience a life changing event! Have a great day and Thanks for making us a part of your day!

The Lewis Family Comes to Texas

Our Sweet friends The Lewis family came to visit us.. We go wayyyyyyy back with them. Phillip and Joey met when they were in 1st grade and started playing baseball together when they were little bitty.. We automatically became friends with Troy and Sue!! They also have a daughter Courtney who is 20 and of course there were times when Phillip would wonder if she was coming to the game?lol:)She is a real cutie!!Anyway we have been bleacher buddies for years up until we moved.. We actually said Goodbye at the ballpark:) what a ending!!Anyway they came up on July 24th and they were here for the weekend and we had the best with them.. Of course we had to take them to our favorite mexican restaurant, when we lived in St Louis we would always go eat mexican together and drink margaritas:)so we had to introduce them to TEXAS mexican food:) and then on Saturday we just hung out here in the pool allllll day long which was nice and relaxing and then we went to Incredible Pizza so they kids could play and it ended up the hubbys had a good time too.. They have go karts and so they pretended to be Nascar drivers and Troy won he even got a First Place ribbon:)after our incredible time at Incredible Pizza we came home and played Rock Band, we had a blast the only one who did not serenade us was Miss Sue, I think if I would have put the microphone down long enough and filled her wine glass up she might have:) I just could not put the mic down, I was a ROCKSTAR and I was loving it!! Then on Sunday we all went to breakfast at Shipley Doughnut shop yummmmm:) I love doughnuts especially Shipleys and then off to Galveston we went. What a fun time that was we all rode the ferry across the bay and it was so neat, the pelicans and seagulls were everywhere and even the dolphins were swimming beside the ferry it was just so cool, it made me want to go on a cruise( which I am working on)so from the ferry we went over to Moody gardens and saw the turtle pond lol which turned out to be fountains not turtles.... and then we went to Kemah boardwalk where we had a blast, we had lunch at Joes Crabshack and then walked around and looked at everything, Kemah is a neat place it has shops and restaurants and is a amusement park.. I swore I would not ride the rides but Peyton wanted to so I did and it was fun!!It is definitely a place that we will go back to! We got home and the guys played basketball while Sue and I stood and laughed and took pics.. We had so much fun with them. They are such a precious family and we are so Thankful that God let our paths cross! We will be forever friends! I have to say after we said goodbye it took me a few days I was so sad and missed them a ton.. They are just fun fun people who we just love to be with. Our boys love hanging with Joey and now they are all at a age where they do their own thing and we can just sit and vist..ohhhh so nice.. Never thought we would get to this place in our lives.:) Troy and Sue remember me chasing a cotton top baby in diapers trying to get on a baseball field in the middle of the game:)lol and me running full speed trying to catch him and then the time where he was acting bad so I snatched him up and he hung on to the steel metal bleachers and almost drug the fans with us..lol Oh my goodness and they still love us!! what awesome friends they are! We love you Lewis Family and can't wait to see you all again soon! Lets plan out carribean getaway!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo