Gray goes to the dentist

So I finally got Gray to the dentist today. I think the last time he went was in September. The process of moving and getting insurance set up, etc. put us behind. And of course I wasn't too thrilled about taking him anyway. He doesn't normally do very well in these types of situations.

1. He HATES to have to sit still as I'm sure most 2 year old little boys do


2. He doesn't even like to have his teeth brushed by me


3. He's going through a stage where he is terrified of noises, including the clippers at the barber shop

So I post on Facebook about how "excited" I am about taking him today, and Gordon comments, "Maybe this will be the time he chills out and just sits there...LOL!" Well, I guess he had SOME faith because that's exactly what he did. He was SO good the WHOLE time. Didn't cry not even once. Not only did he not freak out about ANYTHING, he even helped them by opening his mouth, etc. Even the dentist couldn't believe how well he did for his age. I was SO proud.

As soon as we left, he was back to being his rowdy little self and I was left wondering whose child that was in there! But I still love my strong-willed little boy. We took him to In-n-out and Target's dollar section for a reward!

Hard Times

So, I'd love to pretend our life is perfect, and only remember the good times, but let's be honest, that's just not anyones reality and it doesn't do any good to go through hard times if you can't look back on them later. So today I'm going to talk about the church plant. We haven't had alot of success through our invites and outreach as far as getting people to come to a service. So, we decided to put more effort into Bible studies. A couple of weeks ago, Gordon went door to door at our apartments asking to do a survey about church and culture. The survey asks questions such as "Do you go to church regularly?" If not, "why?" "What do you look for in a church?", etc. The final question asks them if they would like a Bible Study. Out of the five people he talked to, he got two Bible Studies. I would say that's pretty good odds. The only thing is we aren't seeing positive results after the Bible studies. The last one, Saturday, the guy said he wanted to get Baptized. He said he would come to the church and get baptized after service. We got everything set up, including borrowing a portable baptistry, and the guy didn't show up. I understand the law of the harvest. I know we have to sow before we can reap, but we could definitely use a little glimpse of hope!

We had a great day full of family time today. Spent the afternoon at Folsom Lake.

Gray enjoying a push up at the "yake"

Fourth of July

This past Sunday was the 4th of July, so we decided to cancel our church service since most people would be spending the day with family or going out of town. So...we decided to go out of town ourselves. We ended up going to Visalia (the town where Gordon grew up) for a weekend of no obligations or responsibilites, just a time of relaxation and fun. We didn't even tell anyone we were going. We had no plans except for the 3 places we wanted to eat while we were there. We spent a lot of time outdoors. I'm convinced the sun is more intense in the central valley than here.

Gray's farmer tan

Every time we go somewhere, we always have our days packed full of activites. So, it was nice to just be able to get away and do nothing.

Too much fun in the sun

Gray and mommy wading in the creek at Plaza Park

Daddy and Gray playing at Jefferson Park

Food Friday

So, I haven't done a post in a couple of days. I guess sometimes my life as a stay at home mom can be a little monotonous. We did take Gray to Vacation Bible School in Auburn last night. I guess he's not quite old enough. Either that or it's just the stage he's going through where he seems to be scared of everything. Bro. & Sis. McCool and their church did an awesome job.

Anyway. I've been inspired by my new friend Amy http://miraflorfamily.blogspot.com/ to start blogging about food on Fridays. This isn't difficult for me because I love food and I love to cook. Well, I love to bake especially. So, most of my recipes will probably be desserts!

I'll share this recipe for my first post since I just made it last night!

TennTucky Blackberry Cobbler

courtesy of Southern Living Magazine

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1144182

Okay, that's all for tonight. I seriously need to go to bed. I don't know what's happened to me since I moved here. I used to go to bed at 11:30 every night. And lately Gray has abandoned his "too good to be true" habbit of sleeping until 9 every morning. I don't know what it is, I can be exhausted all day, but when it gets late, I get a second wind. BUT, if I don't make myself go to bed, I will feel like a little too much wind hit me in the morning...ya know...a tornado :)