The Miles’ and the Bray’s spent the day at the Lake House on the 4th. Carrie and Jim had visitors all day long! Holly Henderson and her family stopped by for a dip in the lake. We couldn’t resist asking her to shoot a family photo for us and she said ‘Sure!’. It turned out great 
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July 4th was great this year. My sister, Carrie, had just given birth to Norah Laurice Bray and the whole family congregated at the Bray’s to catch a glimpse. Norah is so quiet and nearly always still and looking content (hope I’m not jinxing that . Carrie’s other daughter, Lucy, is about 17 months old, rambunctious, and full of life. For the past week it seemed as though Lucy was not interested in spending time with her new sister but Friday night she finally sat down and showed her new sister some love . I can’t wait to see the fun they have growing up together!
On the technical side of things, the pictures of Lucy and Norah were tough to take! It was a small room and a was pretty dark with all of the lights on. I had the ISO at around 1250 so they were a little grainy and some were blurry. My sister is so great with her family’s interest in cameras . She calls us the paparazzi and you can even hear me taking pictures in the videos posted to the Team Bray Blog.
Life has been a blur lately. Work is going well for me. I have several jobs in process and a few coming down the pike and it really feels good to have that work cushion Praise God!
I am getting married in t-minus 90 days (give or take and I still need to sell my house and buy another one in our new location. I recently hired a Realtor after having a go at FSBO and I’m feeling good about that decision. I like that someone is getting paid to sell my house… it’s a lot of work for one person to do and I’ve got enough on my mind right now . She seems very positive about the house selling so I’m excited. Here’s the listing.
My sister gave birth yesterday!!! whoa! Norah Laurice Bray has left the womb and she looks really amazing. Carrie and I visited this afternoon and got to spend an hour or so talking with Jim and Carrie and holding our new niece. You need to see these pictures of her taken by our friend Holly. They are amazing.
I spent a good chunk of the day working with my future father-in-law, Rick. He is installing new flooring in the house and we had a good time working hard together. It was a long day but I think the flooring will be worth the effort… it looks awesome!
Too many tidbits about my life . I’ll post a few photos I’ve taken and sign off for now. Below is a cute photo of my folks and a few of my niece, Maddie, hamming it up .
This past weekend was a great break from house selling and other work. Carrie and I watched Lucy while my sister and her husband went out for a movie. Lucy lives life in full tilt. When I walked in the door her face was covered in frozen raspberries and she was screaming in delight. Soon her feet hit the floor and I had fun chasing her around the house and watching her laugh. That night we played in the lake, gave her a bath, had crackers, watched ‘Signing Times’, read some books, prayed, and put her to bed. Lucy’s life is full of fun and Carrie and I had a great time with her.
Jenny and Steve had us over for dinner tonight. For dessert we blew some bubbles! Grandpa demonstrated the technique and Maddie followed suit 
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I love that green behind my Dad! I don’t know where it came from but it sure makes that pink bubble wand POP! Happy accidents
I’ve been having trouble with my mower! It runs fine but it hadn’t been mowing. It kind-of ripped the grass instead of cutting it and I thought I needed to buy new blades. So I mentioned it to my Dad and he said, “Let’s go out to eat and I’ll help you find the blades and install them!” He’s always ready to help . After dinner, a trip to Lowe’s, and a few minutes of sticking our arms under the mower and getting scratched up my Dad discovered that the blades were installed upside down!! So we flopped the blades and now ‘Old Red’ mows like a dream!
I’m sure it’s not a surprise to anyone that he figured it out. He’s so talented and has the know-how that enables him to assess a problem and fix it. If he doesn’t know how to fix it then he’s usually able to do some research and figure it out. And he’s always willing to sacrifice his free time to help others and he never asks for anything in return. My brother and sister and I are so blessed to have such a great Dad who models God’s love for us on a daily basis.
I love you Dad! Happy Father’s Day!
My parents were inundated with Grandkids this weekend . It was pretty great. I love my niece’s. They are growing up so fast that every time I see them they have some new trick to show. They are both using sign language quite a lot so at the age of 1 (and some change) they are already communicating with each other. I love it when Lucy rattles off “hambooga” and Maddie does the best impression of a horse .
They are spunky and fun and I picked a few of the photos I liked best from our day together. I lost a bunch of great shots because I’m still working on getting the camera FOCUSED in the midst of the action. I’m determined to find some trick that will make it easier… if anyone reading this has any ideas feel free to let me know.
We did it!
A few months ago my cousin Callie asked me to help her out with a t-shirt design. She and her husband Michael were taking part in a walk to help raise money for Juvenile Diabetes research. She had come up with ‘Sugar Daddy and the Pancreatically Challenged’ as the theme for the shirt which immediately conjures fun images, right? She further thought we could feature a Sugar Daddy as the lead singer in band and have a Pancreas, syringe, and heart monitor as the band members. So I came up with the design you see above and she had them printed. I’m not sure how much money they were able to raise but the t-shirt design won first prize . Woo hoo!
