June 2012

After the Wray Reunion, our lives went into even more of a blur.  We finished packing and cleaning everything.  Logan came into town and we went to Cedar Point and had a ton of fun.  And then packed everything into the truck the following day and moved to New Jersey.  Then began the unpacking.  It was a pretty crazy time in our lives.  I only had a week off work for the entire moving experience.  We got a lot of things done before I had to go back to work then Josh was able to finish up some things on his own.  We still have a few things that we could probably unpack but never will :)  The whole moving experience was full of stress.  I'm so grateful that we wont have to do that again for 3 years.

We love our new place.  We live in a duplex/triplex.  We are the end unit so we have lots of windows which I love.  I wasn't going to take any pictures because I didn't feel like cleaning first :)  But I decided that I couldn't do this post without pictures.  So here are the pictures without cleaning so just ignore the mess and clutter.

We have two fairly large bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs.  Here is the master bedroom.  It's a little too big as we don't really have any furniture, but better than being too small :)

Master Bathroom.  I LOVE having double sinks even if they are tanish/brown :).  The bathrooms were really the only reason I didn't really want to live here.  The floors are ugly, showers/tub are gold and the toilets and sinks are brown.  But I have grown used to them and love our place now.

Master Closet:

Second Bedroom aka my office/craft room:

Second full bath located upstairs.

Our Living Room that is located on the main floor.

Kitchen....please excuse all the junk.  We plan on painting the little island piece either a bright blue/teal or maybe a bright red....not sure yet.

View from the kitten looking into the dining area and living room:

Laundry room and half bath which are both located off the kitchen.

Our Basement/Family Room/Computer Room:

We love our new house and have really enjoyed New Jersey thus far.  We love our new ward.  They have truly opened their arms to us and have been so friendly.  Our lives here in New Jersey seem to be completely different than in Cleveland but I think we are adjusting well.  Josh and I have already had two callings each.  Josh was first called as the cub scout leader and then was released and called as the young men's president.  I was called as a primary teacher and last week was called to the first counselor in the primary president.  I think I prefer just being a teacher but I am sure I will soon love this calling too as I have in the passed.

I love working from home.  I love not getting dressed and to having to deal with office drama.  It's great!  I'm not sure that I could go back to working in an office.  Josh is now working (he started late June/early July) and is no longer a student!  He now gets a paycheck!  We love that!  Residency has been a little trying and exhausting.  We are both just hoping that these three years fly by which I am sure they will.

The second weekend that we were in New Jersey, we headed to the beach with the Huish's, who moved here from Ohio with us.  We are so excited to be so close to the ocean.  It was beautiful and the waves were huge.  We played in the sand, went into the water and walked the boardwalk.  We had a good time.  Here are some of the pictures I took.



Josh's brother, Chase, married McKenzi in June.  We were able to go back to Idaho after being in New Jersey for just a few weeks.  We are so thankful that we were able to go and be there for this very special occasion.  She was a beautiful bride, he was a handsome groom and they just looked completely happy.  We are so excited for them.  (picture compliments of Katelyn Wray Photography via facebook)

This is the only picture I that was taken with my camera the whole wedding weekend.  This is Alexander and myself at the family dinner the night before the big day.

The weekend following the wedding, we went back to Cleveland for a baptism of a boy that Josh home taught and a wedding for a different couple that Josh home taught.  To say that June was a busy month is an understatement.  While we were gone, a huge storm had hit New Jersey.  We came back to no power, which ended up lasting a full week!!!  It was one long week as well as the hottest week of the entire summer.  It got up to 100 a couple days.  We stayed in the basement pretty much the whole time as that was the only place that was somewhat cool.  We also spent many hours at the Huish's.  I don't know if we would have survived without them.  Their power came back on after about three days. 

It was pretty crazy looking at all the damage this storm caused.  Here are a few of the pictures I took.

This is how we ate the first first days as we tried to use up all of our meat before it went bad.

And that pretty much covers our exhausting month of June.



Wray Reunion 2012: Part IV

Last Post for the Wray Reunion, I promise :)  On Thursday, we headed down to Amish Country. This is by far Josh and my favorite thing we did in Cleveland.  We loved going down there.  We started out taking a ride on a horse drawn wagon and went through acres that held several exotic animals. 

We then headed to Wendell August.  That place is amazing.  I could spend a lot of money there.  In the back they have a place where you can pound an imagine into the aluminum.

We ate lunch at an delicious Amish restaurant.  We looked in a few furniture stores and explored their amazing craftsmanship.  Then we all departed and went our separate ways into the several different shops.

On Friday, we went to Kirtland and the John Johnson Farm.  I didn't get my camera out but did steal a few pictures from Becca and Ashley.

Kirtland:

 

 

 

 

 

John Johnson Farm:

 

 

 

Saturday everyone helped us clean and pack our last things in order for us to move a few days later.  Then they headed back out to Idaho.  We sure miss but are so thankful that everyone was able to come out.  We are so thankful for Vince and Jill for doing everything that they have for us.  They are amazing people.  I married into a great family!

Wray Reunion 2012: Part III

OK, I am determined to get caught up on my blog.  So here we going.  Continuing where I left off in May (yes, I know that it is now September). 

 

This seems so long ago, but that's because it was.  When the Wray side of the family came too visit us when we still lived in Ohio, we really did have a blast.  On Tuesday, we celebrated Rylee's birthday with her opening presents, a great breakfast, a fun day and cake and ice cream.  I stole these pictures from Ashley's blog (thanks!).

 

 

This day consisted of a girls day out and a boys days out.  As the girls. we went to Charmin Charlies, which is an awesome jewelry/accessory store that is sorted by color.  We had a blast looking around and buying a few things.  Sadly, this is the ONLY picture of our girls day, but I do have to say its pretty cute.  It's Miss Reese having a blast shopping.  After Charming Charlies, we went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory.  Yum!  It was a great day.

 

While the girls were shopping and eating, the boys headed down to the Football Hall of Fame and did their thing.  Here are a few pictures that Josh took.  It looks like had a great time having their male bonding time.

After our day excursions, we met back at home ate a quick dinner then headed to downtown Cleveland for an Indians game.  We had a blast but Josh and I were a little sad as we knew this would be the last time we went to the stadium.  We love it there!

 

It was a GREAT day!  By the end of the day, we were all completely exhausted by the fun day.

 

Wednesday, we went to Kalahari, which is a large indoor water park.  No pictures there.  I know I'm not fond of taking pictures in my bathing suit :)  But we had a blast going on all the water slides.  Since we went in the middle of the week and while school was still in for most schools, the lines were not bad at all.  It was a great park.  We had so much fun this week and wish we could relive it :)