30 June 2008

Peaking Paris

These are just a few. I have just barely began to load these onto my computer. There are hundreds. And trying to comment on each will be a task. The one with Mona Lisa was hysterical to me: see all the people shooting her photo? I just couldn't help but think that my favorite image of her is going to have lots of other people in it. Great visual commentary. Everything is as it is. So hard to shoot anything "wrong" because everything is so beautiful there! 









28 June 2008

Reunion 2008 Who-Gives-Who

Hopefully all of you visit the blog! If you don't, then, you probably won't know who you are giving to! (Just kidding! We'll probably tell you!) Just to tell you, most of these were picked completely randomly! We had a few direct requests here and there, one person had who they had last year (hee haw haw), and some people's siblings gave to who their sibling gave to last year!!! Wait, that's confusing . . . um, never mind! (Sorry if I spell any names wrong!!!!)

Graham -  Abby (Graham as in Estee's baby)
Austin -  James
Garrett -  Nelson
Kayla -  Dallin
Bo -  Tommy
Emma -  Ethan
James -  Landon
Dane -  Austin
Grace -  Sasha
Gabe -  Sunee
Tommy -  Scarlett
Landon -  Grace
Abby -  Whit
Gretchen -  Gabe
Cozy -  Emma
Sunee -  Nelson
Dallin -  Garrett
Netty -  Graham
Ethan -  Cozy
Scarlett -  Shelby
Sasha -  Dane
Teage -  Lucy
Shelby -  Kayla
Mady -  Netty
Savannah - Gretchen
Caroline -  Ruby
Annabelle - Bo
Amelia -  Ryan
Lilly -  Jake
Whit -  Annabelle
Ryan -  Caroline
Eliza -  Mady
Dallas -  Lilly
Jake -  Savannah
Myles -  Will
Lucy -  Mary
Ruby -  Teage
Will -  Dallas
Mary -  Amelia
Nelson -  Myles

P.S. My mom and I haven't figured out the adults' who-gives-who, but I'm almost sure my mom will post it on later!!!!!



Just a few highlights...

Out trip to Paris last week was AWESOME! Yes, it is a beautiful city, lots to see and do, but let's be honest for us, the highlight was being there with DALLAS!! I know I don't have to explain in much detail about the excitement my kids had in looking forward to seeing Dallas. I am so thankful that we were able to get to see him and spend some great time together!!
Here they are...making the plan of what to do and when to do it. I think most of you are aware of Ty's love for maps, it's great to add one more city map to the collection. (Although he thought Dallas' map was superior to the one he had:).)
We met up with Dallas on Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame. Lucy took the opportunity presented to squeeze him as hard as she could...I wish you could have seen their excitement as they saw him across the plaza!!
And here, Dallas got a chance to squeeze on Ruby...you can tell from the photo that she is smiling back at him...it was really fun. And a fun thing for Ruby will be that she met Dallas for the first time at Notre Dame in Paris, France! How fun is that!?
Here we are chillin' after our tour of the Louvre. It was really amazing that we found eachother here. It was Sunday afternoon and the train that we (the Allen's) were taking made us a bit late for our meeting time with Dal. There were SO many people there...I kept saying a little prayer that we'd be able to find him, because his phone wasn't working...and hello, there were thousands of people there and it is SO huge. We decided to start our tour and just hope to find him. We decided to started out at the Mona Lisa...and guess who we found also at the Mona Lisa? Their tour had already started, but they were there!! Thank you Heavenly Father for answering my little prayer!! (Can any of you guess what Dallas is dong with his left hand? If you get it right, I'll bring you a wonderful candy bar!!:))
Sunday we also made our way to the Eifel Tower!! It was so much fun! Wow, it's an awesome sight to see!! This was what my kids were most excited to see. They knew about it and it was a really fun time. The weather was wonderful...this photo was taken after 8:00 pm! We were really excited to see the tower with all the lights on at night...we got back to our appartment at 11:25 pm and it still wasn't dark!! just becoming twilight...so we didn't get to see it with lights...bummer!!

Anyway, just wanted to share a few fun times...you know you could each have this much fun if you came over for a visit...really!!!

Loves to you all!!!

25 June 2008

The Ragsdale Blog!

We are happy to announce the arrival of our very own bouncing baby blog!
Just in case anyone feels like checking it out once in a while. I will try and post here often as well, but here is the address (since I can't list it under our other blogs list....HINT DALLAS!)

leeandestee.blogspot.com

there you go. Sure love all of you, and miss yer guts!

k my favorite hair cut EVER!



i just had to share---WENDEE did it--cut my favorite hair cut! Lots of layers, just have never been able to wash and go (since my way short hair) and wow my hair has alot of wave in it---i can seriously say that i dag on love it--cheesy picture but i just washed and went--LOL

23 June 2008

Graduation and Things





Hello family! It has been a long time since I have posted a blog. I thought I would share some photos of Shelby's graduation and things! This next year we will have a funny thing happen. We will have a girl starting the first grade in every level of eduacation. Amelia will be in Kindergarten. Annabelle is starting Middle School. Savannah is in High School and Shelby will be a Freshman in College! Kind of interesting huh!

Love Amy

Conquered!

We did it!
Total of 181 miles in 30 hours and 59 minutes.
38 hours of literally NO sleep...HOT days and COLD nights...sore muscles...and we kept runnin'!
More to come.






22 June 2008

The Wasatch Back Relay

It is over! Whew, are we ever glad! Dad and I had the great opportunity to see much of the big relay that Joni and Jesse participated in. It was way impressive and fun to be part of. We saw Joni receive her first hand off on Friday night about 7:45 p.m. It was up on the north side of Pineview. The race actually started in Logan early in the morning, but the first 6 of their 12 man team started there. Joni was runner #8 and Jesse runner #9. They both were looking at about 3.5 miles.By the time Joni began the evening weather was coming on, so it made the run pretty nice weather wise. Both she and Jesse had this nice weather and a pretty level running leg. We watch Joni pass to Jesse and Jesse to his bother, Chris. By then it was around the south side of the lake and going up Snow Basin and over Trappers Loop and on toward Morgan and Hennefer. Joni's next run started at 4 a.m. after sleeping for maybe 2 hours. This run would be 7 miles. One big hitch: just before handing off to Jesse on this leg, Joni's knee gave out on her. This meant pain to Joni. We didn't watch this night time run because we had the little kids and they slept at our house. Half of the runners went to Brad's house to try to get some sleep before their afternoon run. We went to Heber to watch the rest of the race. Joni started her run about 2:45 p.m. on the south end of Heber near Dear Creek Res. Yes it was HOT! This would be a 6 mile run of moderate difficulty. However with Joni's hurting knee, it made it a very difficult run. We drove along with her, passed her and waited for her to get to us and kept doing that until she finally handed off to Jesse at the Wasatch Park. I must say this was a difficult thing to watch. I just wanted to put Joni in the car and drive her to the exchange point. She wasn't running in her true form. She was favoring her hurt knee. I thought she wouldn't be able to make it, but SHE DID! I was never so glad to see her pass off to Jesse! Tears, pain, and gratitude that it was over! Then away went Jesse running UP the mountain. It was 3.5 miles of very difficult altitude ascent. He went from 5700 ft. elevation to 7200 ft. We followed him along and were amazed at him!!! He ran all the way! What's more, he made incredible time. I could not believe him. We watched the runners until about 6:30 and then went to Brad and Carolyn's house for a nice barbeque with them. The little kids had come to the end of their desire to sit in the car. So we weren't able to see them all cross the finish line, but they made it! 39 hours, I believe. I can't remember the milage, but Joni and Jesse can comment and tell. It was an amazing experience and we are ultra proud of Joni and Jesse. They accomplished a great task! Yes they won! Anyone who does something like this is a winner! Hooray again for Joni and Jesse! xoxoxo Mom

21 June 2008

The Race Thingymajigy?

Hello all of the Graham family! I was just wondering how Joni and Jesse did on their race. Did they win????? Just wondering . . . 

17 June 2008

Memories

Tonight I had the privilege to go with Stan to Ogden to see Grace in her dance recital. She is with the famous Clytie Adams School of Dance. Grace was a beautiful little ballerina! She lives up to her name very well. The whole show was spectacular! I was taken back to so many years of attendance there and watching my ballerinas as they went through many years there with Clytie. It was a really a sweet time of memories for me. Hopefull there will be a video and you will be able to see this professional production. Full orchestra, fantastic staging, fantastic lighting, everything perfect. And to think that tonight was just half of the show. Tomorrow night Cast B will perform the whole production. It was a great evening of excellent entertainment. Thanks to Grace for her beautiful dancing and inviting me to go. Maybe there will be a photo on the blog or something. Love, Mom/G.G.

Fun in the Sun!!



Hey all!! As those of you that have been to Europe will remember...when it's HOT, it's HOT!! We don't have the blessing of A/C here, and well...that leads to days in the pool! Now, I know our pool doesn't quite measure up to Scott, Stan, Amy, or Angie's pools....but let's be honest, it does the trick! We've spent several an afternoon playing in the water and eating popsicles to try and cool off! The two main floors of our house do stay "ok"-we keep the windows open all night and then close them and tightly close the blinds all day, and yes, we feel like we live in a cave, but we stay cool! The cellar stays nice a cool, but there isn't much to do down there! I want to introduce you to perhaps the best purchase we've ever made...


I love this machine with all my heart!! It is so fantastic to work out on! It doesn't hurt my knees it doesn't hurt any of my joints at all! It works my arms, legs, back...the whole shabang! It's great because it's sturdy enough for Ty to workout on as well. We've really been putting the kilometers on lately (watching episodes of 24 make your workout really fly!). So, I'm "cooling down" now and thought I'd share with you all! Just FYI, Ty purchased seasons 1-6 of 24 while he was in the states last fall and it feels like I'm watching it for the first time! I'm in season 3 right now, the suspense is killing me!!

Hope you are all doing great! I'm going to be better about sharing...I'm committed. We're going to hop in the car for a roadtrip to Paris this weekend to see Dallas! We're really excited!! My kids can not wait to see him...isn't it fun that their memories of Paris will for always and forever include you Dal?!! We'll post when we get home and give you a debrief!

Here is a photo of Ruby for some eye candy for you, I can't believe she's already 4 months old! We are counting down the days until we get to see you all!! xoxoxo

11 June 2008

Landon Has Been Promoted From Kamas To Monterrey!

Hey guys,

I don't know if you are aware, but Landon spent 3 weeks in the South Salt Lake Mission, awaiting a Visa, and ended up serving in our backyard in Kamas for about 10 days. That was funny. But, he is now in Monterrey, and is loving it. I think you will like his letter. It is long, but worth the read.


Well, Im now here in the Mexico Mission Office. Yes, still!

Yesterday, We all split up to go to church, that was a very humbling experience. Elder Moser and I had companions (assistants I think) that spoke no English whatsoever. It was lots of fun, though. We would teach them a little bit of English, they teach us a lot of Spanish. It can sometimes get pretty confusing, and difficult, but its all right. I hear this is how its going to be for the first 5 months here...

I`ll send this right now, maybe one of you is watching the computer.
By the way, Last week I did keep refreshing the page, I dont know why your replies didnt pop up. I cant type apostraphes on these keyboards...frustrating.


So yes, yesterday (Sunday) was wonderful. After church, I tried some of my first snack food. After that, we walked to a members home who was preparing dinner just for us. I cant remember the name of the family that we went to, but it was very filling and very fun trying to communicate, learning about one another, etc. Very amazing, wonderful people.

Being only in the city of Monterrey, I havent seen much yet, but last night I found out how beautiful this place is. During the day, you can see the mountains! These are some amazing mountains here, an interesting change from the Utah mountains. The city and houses go up along the mountainside, so from the road last night, it looked like a wall of lights.

So, my flight from Texas to Mexico was okay. It was a smaller plane, and I was getting way dizzy, but I didnt care that much, I was flying over the desert of Mexico!
I wrote a letter to you all yesterday, but I am not sure how fast its going to get there. Everything you remember about Mexico is right here in Monterrey. The skinny little streets, the graffiti, the wierd traffic, everything sort of worn out. Its different, and I like it. Its warm and humid, it hasnt been sunny yet, though. It really has been perfect here, but Im sure Ill eventually get some of those extreme temperatures.

So yesterday was church, then we went to lunch, then we had a little initiation where we learned about money and who we contact if we get sick and stuff. And half of it was in spanish. Lots to choke down. But yes, I have three cards full of money, so I think I should be all right. I just have to make sure I dont get beat up.

Then, we were able to go to President Mendozas beautiful home and have dinner with his family. He really is called of God- I had an interview with him, and (we all just had a group hug, that was great!) and seriously, He is amazing! It was all in Spanish, but I got all of it. Later, he had someone translate for him so we all could understand exactly. He told us all to remember that we were called of God specifically here. By Elder Bednar specifically. There is much to learn. There is much to do.

So now, I have been assigned to the Reynosa area with Elder Farnsworth. I havent met him yet, but he is American. Reynosa is right along the border of Texas, right at the tip, then east until the coast, and a little bit South. Pretty big area - but I believe that Elder Stidham is also in that area, I think even in my ward! Im so excited!

So about mail, I think Ill be able to give you the address to the person who takes packages to Texas for us. We learned about mail, Im going to have to make sure about somethings though. I could just send it from my area, or through the mission office, ugh. I dont know what the best way is. But I see lots of packages here for Elders (the unopened ones are with Mary and Jesus stickers) So I think things will work out okay.


So yes, Im here and Im safe. I had some great experiences in the airport and the plane - Im starting out with a bang. I wasnt able to place any Books of Mormon, but I was able to get some commitments out of people. Ill have to write about those some other time, because now I have to go and get ready. Ill try to attach a picture or two here.

On the plane to Mexico, we were all franticly trying to fill out papers and hold on to our luggage, but we eventually got through everything okay. Everything is just great!

I sure love you all!!! Please tell everyone that Im doing super great, and it was so wonderful to talk to you all. I think these next 21 months are going to be fun, and amazingly short, just keep up the great work, everyone! Remember what we are here for. Love each other! This is the time to show that love.

Sorry the picture doesnt have me in it - that is on the tram that goes around the Texas Airport, we are heading to our gate. It has been fun with these Elders, hopefully Ill see them often.
I Love you SOOOO much!

Elder Graham the 3rd.

1.5 weeks left

we have 1.5 weeks left...the wasatch back relay...176 miles...over 24 hours...wish us luck...