31 December 2008

*You may want to skip this post if you have a weak stomach*

Ok, I'll get to the Thanksgiving, Christmas and other posts later but for now I need to tell you all how much I love my husband since I didn't get the chance to post on our anniversary.

5 years ago, on December 20, 2003, we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. I can't believe it's already been 5 years because honestly we still feel and act like newlyweds. 6 years ago we had our 1st date. Who knew that it would turn into forever? I love to think back and remember the first time we held hands, the first time we kissed, the first time he told me he loved me and when he proposed. Each one of those precious moments was made into an eternal story as we kneeled across from each other inside the temple and made promises with our Heavenly Father to honor Him and one another for always. Someday I would like to go back in time and relive those moments. As we drove home from Utah the other day we decided that it's a good thing we're going to be together forever because even that isn't going to be enough time.

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Dear Brent,

I have so loved being your wife for the past 5 years. You make everything in my life good and I can't wait for the rest of forever. I love to look at our wedding pictures because the joy you can see in our faces is the same joy I feel in my heart everyday. Thank you for being a wonderful husband, friend and priesthood leader. Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving me and for making me want to be a stronger, better person. I love how you make me laugh and how you make me feel. I may not get butterflies anymore when you hold my hand but what that has been replaced with is so much better. You are my everything. I can't wait for the exciting places you will take us. I hope that Heavenly Father will bless us with a baby soon so that we can share the incredible amounts of love we have with a sweet little one. If I could be permanently glued to your side, I would, because I hate to be away from you. Some of my very favorite moments in my life have been when we are just sitting around being silly together. All I will ever need in this life is you and my faith in the gospel.

Forever yours,
Emily

P.S. Can you believe how young we look in these pictures?! Man, those were the days. Thank you for not being afraid to fall for an 18 year old. You cradle robber. ;)




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"[The gospel] takes men and women and it joins them together in an eternal covenant of matrimony, holy and pure, given of God, which supplies the necessities and meets the purest and strongest desires of the soul. It makes men and women complete--husbands and wives for time and for all eternity. What a glorious thought this is!"
-Joseph F. Smith

"As a husband and wife are each drawn to the Lord, as they learn to serve and cherish one another, as they share life experiences and grow together and become one, and as they are blessed through the uniting of their distinctive natures, they begin to realize the fulfillment that our Heavenly Father desires for His children. Ultimate happiness, which is the very object of the Father's plan, is received through the making and honoring of eternal marriage covenants."
-David A. Bednar

"When all is said and done, when you have lived your lives and go on to eternity, you will not take five cents of wealth that you have accumulated, not five cents. There is only one thing that you can take with you, and that is your eternal soul and the love and companionship of your husband or your wife. Live worthy of it."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

"There is no scene so sweet, no time so sacred as that very special day of your marriage. Then and there you glimpse celestial joy."
-Thomas S. Monson

19 December 2008

Merry Christmas!

I don't have time to write a long post but I wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas! I didn't have a chance to get Christmas cards sent out this year so I hope this counts. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday week! We will be in Utah for 10 days enjoying the freezing cold snow. We can't wait! (And no, I'm not being sarcastic, we actually can't wait for the cold weather.)

I promise when we get back, I'll start blogging more regularly. Ever since Nov, I've just been too swamped to blog.

Here is one parting thought:
If your stocking can easily fit a 6 month old Kaleb, you may have made it too big...

15 December 2008

Something to look forward to.

I was talking to my mom tonight about our move to London and she reminded me of a funny bit from the Simpsons. I know that this is not entirely true but it sure is funny...



This is another funny one I remembered last night whilst I was thinking about "British Smiles".

Watch more Saturday Night Live videos on AOL Video

08 December 2008

Skype



We have it. You should, too! Especially if you'd like to actually talk to us while we are in England. You pay for a mic and optional camera (or have it already installed on your computer), and pay nothing else to make computer-to-computer calls from anywhere to anywhere. You can find us at username: b_e_gray.

04 December 2008

Gray's + Gordon's = Awesome!

Brent and I went to Arizona a few weeks ago to visit Melissa, Jake & the girls and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it. Actually, Melissa finally blogged about it so most of this (especially the work of choosing which pictures to upload) was done by her. Thanks, Glow Bones!

We had lots of fun while we were there. The first night, the Gordon's got a babysitter for the 2 older girls and just the grown-ups (plus Ella) went out to a yummy Chinese buffet and then to see Quantum of Solace. We love the kids but it was fun to go out as just the big people. We hadn't done that since Molly was a baby.

The next day we went to the Goldfield Ghost Town. Jake had been there before, but none of the rest of us had. There were even some things that were fun for the little kids.




We took a 20 minute train ride on a little train tour around the town and surrounding desert. (That ride is where the new pic at the top of the blog comes from.) Molly took the next 2 pictures. She's pretty good once you can get her to stop putting her fingers over the lens.






Really boring prospector/train conductor guy.

After lunch we went on the mine tour.

I'll let you figure out what that last picture is of. The tour guide called it the "Honey Wagon".

Janie was too tired, though. She was fussy and cranky for the beginning of the tour. By about halfway through she fell asleep on Jake's shoulder. This is how she spent the rest of our time at the Ghost Town. My favorite part is the giant trail of drool running down Jake's back.
There was also lots of playing, for the adults and with the kiddos. And lots of baby Ella snuggle time for Aunt Emily and Uncle Brent. I was sick so I tried not to hold the baby for the first day or so but it was too hard and I caved.
(Just to clear the air, that hand in front with the hairy knuckles and the boyish wedding ring is not mine. It's Brent's. He was holding Ella but I wanted a picture with her so I just snuggled up behind. Long story to explain to you that I don't have hairy knuckles.)
As always, we had lots of fun and had a really hard time leaving. We got to our gate 5 minutes before boarding. Maybe someday we'll get to live closer. Although this move to London might set us back a few years on that plan...

02 December 2008

Pops and The Goob

I'm really behind on my blogging (sorry!) but to tide you over until I can get caught up, I thought that I'd post this picture of my dad and my "little" brother, Brendan. This was taken last week in Houston. Pretty good looking guys, huh? And they are both about 6'5", (I think dad's actually 6'6"). Brendan will be turning 17 next week. I haven't seen him in a couple of years but I think about him almost every day. He is a really smart guy, plays the saxophone, and got his Eagle last year. I will forever and always think of him as being 7 years old. Love ya, Goob!


24 November 2008

Finally, mustard has a purpose!

Saturday was Brent's birthday!! Happy late birthday, my love! Sorry I didn't get around to making a fun post about you before now. Good thing you already know that you are my favorite thing on this whole planet!

We had a pretty lazy day. Just what Brent wanted. We had an open house at our building in an attempt to fill our vacancies but no one came. Oh well. It just meant I was able to dote on my hubby. He is in desperate need of a new suit and in London he will need to wear one to work so last week, his mom picked up a couple of awesome suits in Utah because she had a great coupon. Thanks, LeAnn! But even with great deals, 2 suits cost us $400 so that was Brent's birthday/Christmas present. Boring, I know! So in exchange, I made him his favorite breakfast: waffles, eggs and bacon. That man is a breakfast food nut! Have you ever seen Elf? The movie with Will Ferrell? Well, Brent and Buddy the Elf have very similar views on syrup.

We mostly watched TV/movies and goofed off on the computer all day. He listened to the BYU vs Utah game on the internet. BYU lost. Bummer. We also found and scanned all of our necessary documents to apply for our visas. I'm not sure why they needed copies of our college diplomas and resumes but whatever. That evening, he was nice enough to give me up for a few hours so that I could go see Twilight with the Young Women. The YW had been planning to see it as a group ever since they heard it was being made into a movie so Brent understood. I asked him about 7,492 times if he was sure and he promised he was so I went and he stayed home and watched a boy movie that I wasn't really interested in seeing. When I got home, we had ice cream. He didn't want cake or pie, just ice cream and candy. Boy is he easy! :)

All in all, I think it was a good day for him and now he's 28! Love ya, Bubs!

Here's a very small sampling of reasons why Emily hearts Brent:
-He loves kids more than any man I know & they love him right back.
-He is smart and is really good at thinking ahead (which I am not).
-He is incredibly funny!
-He looks really great with a goatee (superficial, I know but c'mon, he is SO good lookin'!)
-He knows how to get me to do things I don't want to do.
-He prefers to drive, especially on long road trips.
-He either truly does love everything I cook or is really good at lying to make me happy.
-He can figure out what other shows actors are in. Like when you watch a movie and can't figure out who that person is, Brent knows.

I'm glad I get to keep him forever.

Oh, right, you're probably wondering where the title of the blog comes from. Well, Sat morning while making bacon I lost the bacon game. Cami & Melissa know what that means. I got burned. Big time. A big piece of sizzling hot bacon landed on my thumb while I was trying to take it out of the pan. It blistered almost immediately and I carried around ice for an hour or so until I realized that wasn't going to help in the long run. We have some burn ointment but that didn't help so I did some research online. I found lots of funny sounding home remedies but decided on just one. Mustard. The stinky, gross yellow kind people stick on their hot dogs. I hate mustard. But I was desperate so I slathered my thumb in it and let it dry. The pain stopped after about 15 minutes and I kept it on for 2 hours. When I finally washed it off, my thumb wasn't even red. All there is now is the blister. Weird. So, go mustard?

17 November 2008

My 6 quirks...



I got tagged by Cami and Meredith. I'll go ahead and fill this out, even though I'm pretty sure that I have a lot more than just six quirks.

1.I don't throw stuff away. I'm getting better, but as one of my mom's kids I'm genetically obligated to keep stuff forever in case I might need it later. This includes things which have no practical use, such as all scraps of fabric larger than a quarter, anything cute or tiny, and presents/trinkets that have sentimental value even if I don't remember who gave it to me or why it has sentimental value.

2. I hate shopping more than any rational adult female should. Well, let me qualify that. I hate clothes shopping more than any rational adult female should. There is something about trying to come up with "cute" outfits, trying on clothes, spending money on myself and braving crowds in an attempt to not look like a hobo that is just not appealing to me. I am usually crying by the end of most shopping trips so I NEVER take anyone with me if I can help it. This should explain, to those of you that notice and/or care, why I don't have a very extensive wardrobe and why it's all from Target. Don't get me wrong, I FULLY appreciate great clothes and "cute" outfits, I just go brain dead and shut down as soon as I set foot in the store. When I lived close to Cami she would drag me to the stores and I would just stand in the dressing room while she buzzed around picking things out for me. I miss that arrangement.

3. I am an Obsessive Compulsive Housekeeper, or OCH as my sister prefers to call it. If something isn't done perfectly, I have to do it again until it is perfect. This often prevents housework from getting done if I know I don't have the time or energy to do a job properly. I almost always clean my house in the same order: livingroom, laundry, bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen. I would SO rather scrub a toilet than do the dishes. Weird and gross.

4. I know the lyrics (or have at least heard) of virtually every song written between 1950 and 1972. My dad and sister like to play the "let's see if Emily knows this one" game where we listen to 10 songs in a row on the oldies station and see how I do. I've NEVER gotten below 80%. I attribute this to the fact that I ALWAYS have music playing and until I was about 13, I listened to nothing but oldies and classic rock. I used to be able to name the bands, album titles, and often release dates of the songs. Who knows that kind of pointless info? Now that I'm older and listen to a larger variety of music, my hard drive is getting full so I'm slipping on the details. I also have an affection for 80's music.

5. I love The Simpsons. Not the last 10 or so seasons, the original seasons of The Simpsons back before the plot lines were trashy and the humor was dirty. Back in the day when Conan O'Brien used to write for the show. Hilarious. My mom used to tape it every Sunday and Cami and I would watch it all summer long. Many of our conversations, text messages and personal jokes include at least one Simpsons reference.

6. I love any and all things that coordinate. Colors, fabric, paper, anything. I love dividing things into groups and I can make anything coordinate. This is a large part of the reason it takes me so long to finish sewing/craft projects. By the time I've picked the perfect combination of fabrics/ribbons/etc, I've run out of time or motivation to actually finish the project. I guess that also goes along with the fact that I am a huge dreamer/planner and come up with all sorts of schemes and plans while laying in bed at night but by morning have usually forgotten what I was going to do until I've already done it a different way.

So there you have it. Now you know more about me. Just what you wanted, right?

I tag all my Studio City friends because I want to know what makes you weird! I'm not going to tag you personally on your blog. If you see this tag and want to do it, then do it! This includes (but is not limited to) both Claire's, Michelle, Beth, Pam, Tanya, Hillary, Kristen, Sarah H., Brooke, etc. :)

09 November 2008

Going Global

What do all of these things have in common?






As of Spring '09, they will all be in the same place. England!!

Brent was offered a spot in the international rotation program at work and we are moving to London in March. We will only be gone for 2 years so stop freaking out. And think of it this way, now you all have an even better excuse to travel to Europe.

I am SO immensely proud of Brent. I know that sometimes he feels like his work goes unnoticed but I'd have to disagree at this point. I don't know how many spots were offered, I know only 2 in London and they said when they announced the program that probably only 5 or 6 spots worldwide. They had to keep coming up with forms and surveys and things to narrow down the pool of applicants because they had a much bigger response than they had planned on. Do you understand what that means as far as his capabilities? He was chosen by the Chief Actuary at Farmers and the Chief Actuary for the entire Zurich Financial Group (Farmers' parent company). My man is amazing.

Although we were about to start the adoption program here in LA (our first class was going to be on the 22nd), we feel like London is something that we should not pass up. There will be opportunities there for starting our family. It is where invitro was first successful. We don't feel that choosing London means choosing no baby, it just means a different path from the one we would be starting on here.

We've spent a lot of time over the past 4 days making this choice and we know it is the right one. We've been to the temple, we've fasted, we've prayed, we've received some incredible insight at Stake Conference and if you know anything about Brent it shouldn't shock you that we spent an hour or 2 the other night writing a pros and cons list. We've talked to family members and friends and although there will be sacrifices, we could find no deal breaker.

Here are some of our favorite excerpts from the "Pros & Cons" list:

Pros
  • exciting and new opportunities (travel Europe)
  • no more apartment managing
  • perfect timing, for a lot of reasons
  • England has Emily's FAVORITE weather (gray & rainy)
  • Brent will finally be able to watch Wimbledon, in person
  • learn funny British lingo
  • we'll be forced to organize all of our stuff

Cons
  • miss our family & friends (but we'll be back once a year & if you can, try to come see us!)
  • we'll terribly miss watching all of our favorite babies/kids as they grow up
  • no longer have certainty (of how to have a baby) that the adoption program provided
  • no more free rent
  • no more Target :(

As you can see, except for missing you folks, there's nothing big enough to keep us here!

04 November 2008

03 November 2008

Things that make you go, Hmm...

Here is a video that was emailed to Brent from the protect marriage website. I just thought it was interesting.



And here's my LAST plea to my fellow Studio City peeps. We REALLY need your help on Tuesday. There is a lot to be done. Our ward doesn't have too many precincts that need to be covered but Burbank is overflowing and they could use our help. If you even have just one hour to help, please call Michele Meyer. Please. Elections have been won and lost during the last 4 hours of voting.

30 October 2008

Can't you just see the excitement in his eyes?



After 4 months and 270+ hours of studying, Brent took the CAS Exam 6 yesterday, we'll find out the results in late December. I explained a little about his exams back in July. There are 9 of them. He takes them to get his professional certification as an Actuary (one of the best descriptions of what an actuary is is found here). The exams are very labor intensive and it feels like we are perpetually stuck in grad school. He studies for about 4 months for each exam. Well, he did anyway. It looks like for the last 3 he'll need more studying because obviously, they get harder and harder. If you want to learn more about Brent's job and exams, you can ask. Or maybe I'll have him blog about it himself.

Anyway, the tests are in the morning and last about 4 hours so Brent is always home by 2 on tests days and that's when we celebrate. We do whatever Brent wants to do. For example, after his test in May, all he wanted to do was veg on the couch and eat snack foods. This time, we saw Eagle Eye on IMAX (a little heavy on the swearing but, SO GOOD!!), and with our coupon we only paid $15 for both tickets instead of $16 each. Since it was a 4:50 showing on a Wednesday we were the only people in the ginormous theater until a couple walked in during the previews. It was awesome. After the movie, we went to Chevy's for dinner and ate way more food than we should have, and still had plenty leftover for us both to have lunch today. Their fried ice cream is so yummy that it should be illegal. It was kind of a late birthday celebration for me since we didn't do a whole lot on Saturday so Brent let me pick the restaurant. I had wanted to go to Macaroni Grill in Burbank but when we got to the theater, we saw the Grill was closed. Stupid! I love their rosemary bread. Anyway, we improvised and went to Chevy's instead and we had a coupon for it too which made it all the better. Best tortillas ever. I didn't take our camera but I caught a few things with my phone, which explains the poor quality of the pics.

Giant, empty theater. We should have been making out instead of taking pictures...what were we thinking?


Even food tastes better without the pressure of studying hanging over our heads...

25 October 2008

Flashback Friday - ME!!

Saturday (when this will actually get posted) is my birthday. I'm turning 24. Yes, I know, I'm young. However, I'm finally getting a little older! Woo! I've never really had a normal concept of age because I have some siblings that are 14 and 15 years older than me so no one ever seems "old" to me because they are probably the age of at least one or 2 of my siblings. I've been told I seem much older than I am and I've always felt that way, which is nice, but then my birthday rolls around and I'm reminded of how young I actually am. Long story short, happy birthday to me, one year older and extremely grateful for that (please skip all lectures on how someday I won't be saying that)!

I always think about my parents on my birthday and wonder what their life was like adding one more baby to the mix. I'm am the 5th of 5 girls from my mom and the 6th child of my dad's. Thanks for bringing me to the world mom and pop! I'll be awaiting a phone call from my mom telling me the story of the day I was born. She does that every year, and I love that she loves to tell me about it.

Emily Jane Black
October 25th, 1984
San Bernardino, CA

Here are a few pages from my scrapbook.


23 October 2008

Soup of the week

This week's soup was Butternut Squash. I stole it from Beth's blog. It sounded really yummy, and smelled SO good while it was cooking. Brent really enjoyed the smell wafting into the bedroom where he was studying. The results? It was ok. I always forget that I am not a squash/sweet potato kind of girl but try them once in awhile just in case I've changed my mind. I think I'm getting better though because the soup was good, especially with the crusty baguette. I think I may have put in too much curry and next time I will use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. The savory chicken flavor didn't complement the squash very well. Long story short, we didn't love it but we liked it enough to tweak it and try it again in the future. If you like squash though, I bet you'll love it! Oh, another plus was that since I bought the squash pre-cubed, it was SO easy to make! Here's the recipe:

Butternut Squash Soup

4 c. butternut squash cubed (buy it already cubed from Trader Joe's or your local grocery store, it will save you a lot of time.)
1 peeled and quartered Granny Smith apple
1 c. chopped onion
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
dash of allspice or nutmeg
1 5 oz. can evaporated milk
2 14.5 oz. cans of chicken or vegetable broth

1. Put all ingredients except milk in pot and bring to a rolling boil.
2. Simmer for 25 minutes (until squash and apple are very soft).
3. Put mixture in food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
4. Poor back into pot. Stir in milk and serve at desired temperature.

20 October 2008

Addendum to the Tag List

My friend Hillary, who also got tagged by Beth, added a few questions to hers. Actually they were suggestions from her husband. Funny stuff.

Who's funnier? I think we're both pretty hilarious. Brent is credited with the funniest one liners though.
What was your first big fight? I think we had a few hurt feelings/disagreements while we were dating but the first big fight I remember is when we were trying to register for wedding gifts at Target. I'm still not sure why I dragged him along. I should have just done it myself.
What makes your hubby cranky? The top 3: hunger, dry contacts/eyes (so weird), lack of sleep

I've been tagged!!

Here are the rules: You answer the questions below and at the end of the post you tag 4 people. Then go to their blog and comment to them that they have been tagged. My friend Beth tagged me on her blog so here we go...

What is your husband's name? Brent Randall Gray
How long have you been married? Five years in December
How long did you date? one year, we got married on the anniversary of our first date
How old is he? he'll be 28 next month
Who eats sweets? We both do but I'd have to say Brent has a much larger sweet tooth
Who said "I Love You" first? He did, the day after our first kiss. We were sitting on his couch.
Who is taller? He is - but only by an inch or 2.
Who can sing best? He can. I think he's quite the bass and he was in choir in HS & college
Who is smarter? Um? He's definitely better at the left brain stuff but I'm better at right brain stuff. Between the 2 of us, hopefully we'll never need to pay for tutors for our kids.
Who does the laundry? I do.
Who pays the bills? Mostly him.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me, unless we aren't at home and the right side of the bed is next to a door or a big window then I need my man to sleep on the scary side of the bed and protect me (yeah, I'm weird). This did come in handy the last time we went camping though. Some drunk lady tried to come in our tent at like 3am. Brent popped awake and yelled in this big scary man voice "Who's there?! What do you want?!". See? Maybe I'm not that weird, it could've been a bad guy or something!
Who mows the lawn? What lawn? If you're talking about our apartment building, then it's Alex the gardener. If we owned a home it would be Brent.
Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time.
Who drives? Brent, he likes driving.
Who is the first to admit they are wrong? It's about 50/50 depending on who is being stubborn.
Who kissed who first? He kissed me first outside of my apartment. My roommates and a couple of my friends were on the other side of the door taking turns looking through the peephole and at one point they were singing "Kiss the Girl". He kissed my cheek first to "test the waters" and then when he kissed me for real, we were both so shocked we didn't even say good night, we just kind of turned around and he went home and I went inside.
Who asked who out first? I asked him out. He swears he had come up to my apartment to ask me and I knew that's what he was there to do but I was impatient and I was afraid he was going to chicken out. Maybe you'll get to hear his side of the story someday because he says I tricked him...
Who wears the pants? I would say we both do most of the time, but I'm kind of bossy on occasion. Good thing he was raised with only sisters and knows how to handle me. I guess that would mean he actually wears the pants and I just think I do?
How did you meet? (This question wasn't on there but I looked at some other people who have been tagged on this and they added it so I am too.) We met because we, along with 2 of my roommates and one of Brent's, all worked at the J. Reuben Clark Law Building as night custodians and we both lived at the Campus Plaza apartments and we were in the same ward and Brent was my home teacher. I'm not a big believer in the whole soul mate/one person for everybody idea but I do think we were supposed to at least meet each other. What do you think?

Dating - Easter 2003, this was the first time I met most of his extended family. Talk about awkward!



Engaged - We went to the BYU Homecoming dance up at the UT Capitol Building



Wedding Day - Can you believe I was barely 19? I can!! Yikes!



I'm tagging my sisters Melissa, Cami, Tiffani & Sara because they have some fun stories and since Tiffani & Sara have each been married for 15 and 14 years, it's been awhile since I've heard theirs. Have fun ladies! I'm anxious to read your answers.