The LaPRAYs

4th of July

2010-07-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

Our annual day to completely disregard the Geneva Convention was a fun one this year.

As always, we went to Washington for the 4th. The weather wasn't perfect this year, but it was nice to get out of the heat. Below is a video of the finale. Probably our biggest finale to date. We have a friendly competition each year with the neighbors, but despite being outspent a little this year, the LaPray/Hume/Huff team was the unanimous winner again. Enjoy the video.

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Our Kids

2010-05-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Our dogs are not allowed on the couch. Recently Jon woke up in the middle of the night and found that the dogs have been sneaking downstairs after we were asleep and making themselves a spot on the couch. It is hard to be mad at them when they look like this. We just hope that this habit will be corrected before our new couch comes tomorrow!!

Family Camping Trip

2009-08-31T20:55:00.002-07:00

We went up to Bowman lake for a few days with Chelsey’s family and had a great time. We loaded up the truck and dogs for a three day adventure in the dirt.

Our first order of business was to see how the dogs liked the water. Marleau (Great Dane) tried swimming twice and after displacing most of the water in the lake, decided he would remain a shore dweller. Chelsey was proud of herself for teaching Colter to fetch a stick. He loved the water enough for both dogs.

We were glad that the dogs were quite tired because the four of us shared a tent. I guess it might have been good preparation for having kids because I don’t think Chelsey and I even saw each other all night. It was fun though, and the dogs loved it.

We had a ton of fun and hope to go again soon.

Conrete is in!!

2009-08-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

Loves His PaPa

2009-07-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Marleau stayed with Jon's dad for a few days when we were in Washington. Tonight we had Jon's mom and dad over and Marleau quickly expressed his love for his "grandpa". Yes, Marleau is sitting on the chair in the first picture. Crazy Dog!!

4th of July!!

2009-07-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

As we do every year, we went up to Washington for the 4th of July. We left Marleau with Jon's dad and flew up on Wednesday. This year we played a lot of volleyball and as always, ate way too much.

Chelsey's uncle ordered more fireworks this year than last as you can see in the pictures. Just prior to this picture being taken, someone commented that now the cops would know exactly who was involved in the fireworks show. Let's just say that the fireworks' status in this country are not what you might call "legal" (That was a Big Daddy quote). But there were a lot of them, and were relatively inexpensive.

This year we decided to fuse three mortars together so that we could light them off faster. We decided to set up 18 mortar tubes in clusters of 3 which made lighting them up much easier.

This was the finale for our show. Hope you enjoy!!

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A Long-Awaited Addition to our family!!

2009-06-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

We would like to introduce you to our new roommate, Marleau. (Name explained in the link) His previous name was Snoopy, but there is no way we're having a dog this big and call him "Snoopy". So as he adjusts to our home, he'll also be learning a new name.

We are used to the social behavior of Labs and were a little scared of this beast at first. A lab will make it obvious that they are happy to see you while this Dane is much more reserved. He is well trained, just a little bit stubborn but as sweet as can be. So don't be scared to stop by, he is a sweetheart.

We were happy to get a Dane for free, especially since this one needed a good home. We have no problems with people who breed or purchase dogs from breeders, but we feel like there are plenty of good dogs out there who need homes. So feel free to stop by and see our friend Marleau.

30.5 Tons Lighter!

2009-04-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Buying a home is like dating, you get so caught up in the house that you love, it is easy to overlook less than desirable attributes. Take this picture, it just looks like your normal tract-home backyard right? Wrongo!! Look closer, it slopes up two feet to not only our neighbors behind us, but also to the neighbors on the side. What's the big deal? What we didn't think about was what it would take to level the yard so that we could actually have a usable back yard.

The good news however is that Jon got to take off his daily white shirt and tie, to play with big boy toys all day. Using Chelsey's dad's bobcat, and Jon's 50% company discount with hertz to get a dump truck, Jon got rid of 30.5 tons of soil from the yard. We could not believe that there was that much extra dirt back there, but we are happy to see our yard in a more level state.

On to the retaining wall!!!

Alright Already

2009-02-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

We can't handle another "you've gotta update your blog" comment. And you're right, 6 months is a little long to have the same thing posted. I know everyone's life is busy but we seriously find little extra time in our lives, but we sincerely apologize.

Currently Chelsey is finishing up her last semester of pre-reqs. She'll be taking an MCAT course this summer and then will take MCAT in august. After that, she'll have at least a year to relax!!

Jon got a job at hertz which he wasn't super excited about but he is happy to at least have a job. He will be starting a master's degree in August and feels that he has a new appreciation for school now that he's been working 50+ hours a week!!

I could not find any pictures to post, so I just decided to post this funny one.

Remembering Our Friend

2008-08-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Our family had a rough week. One which we have long known would come, but hoped it somehow would not.

Recently my dad and I decided that our beloved friend and companion Rosco had reached the point where his suffering outweighed his happiness. He was diagnosed with bone cancer in his right front leg about a year and a half ago and due to extra stress, developed arthritis in his "good" leg. In the last few months his discomfort grew quite a bit and he really just laid around the last few weeks. After twelve years of his constant presence in our family, we had to let Rosco go.

I understand that to some, dogs are just animals and that it is silly to be saddened at their loss. To our family, Rosco was no less a member of the family than any of us. I wanted to share my thoughts of the importance Rosco has had in my life and in my family's life.

When Rosco was born, his mother buried most of his siblings and only he and two sisters survived. My sister and I had to walk from her house in Antelope two or three blocks every 4 hours for about a week to make his mother feed the puppies. The constant care he required should have been an indication of how central he would become in my life.

Rosco was not the cutest of puppies. His nose and paws were much too large for his body. So much so that my sister and her husband tried to get me to take one of the sisters rather than Rosco, but my mind was made up. Soon he grew into his features and became one of the most handsome dogs I’ve seen. His sisters on the other hand grew up to be not so great looking dogs. He was a slow developer, but was truly the best of the litter.

While I have always been Rosco's master, my dad without question has always been Rosco's favorite. Their calm, gentle natures created their love for each other. On each and every night of Rosco's life in our home, Rosco would start getting antsy around 7:30 or so and would start jumping on my dad to get him to take him on his nightly walk. It didn't matter if I had taken him just an hour before, or if it was raining, or if my dad had not gotten home until after midnight, Rosco and my dad would set off for their walk. My dad has spent over 4000 nights during Rosco’s twelve years walking him around the block. His patience and love for Rosco was repaid by unwavering loyalty and love from a dog.

One night Rosco’s leash was on him, but my dad got sidetracked. Growing tired of waiting, Rosco put his leash in his mouth and set off on his normal walk by himself. I can't imagine what the neighbors must have thought as he walked himself around the block on his normal route. However on Thursday, Rosco did not want to go for his walk giving my dad the final sign that it was time to let him go.

On another night my toddler nephew Matthew accompanied Rosco and dad on their walk. About half-way around the block, three roaming dogs circled to attack my dad and Matthew. Gentle sweet Rosco continuously circled my dad and nephew fighting off the three dogs until neighbors came to their aid. Despite his large stature, Rosco was the most gentle off dogs, but as we found out would do anything to protect his family.

The children in our family loved Rosco. They would chase him, jump on him, ride him, sleep on him and loved to feed him. Once when Matthew was a year old or so, he had food in his hand to feed Rosco. His entire arm disappeared into Rosco's mouth and when he finally pulled his hand from Rosco's jowls, the food was gone and Matthew's arm was unharmed. Other than maybe accidentally knocking one over, Rosco never in his life did anything to hurt any of the grandkids despite their torment of him. He was truly a gentle giant.

My parents have their grandkids over nearly every Friday night. I came home late one night and found the kids running wild with my dad, mom and of course Rosco asleep amidst the chaos. I can’t help but laugh every time I see the picture of he and my mom asleep on the kids’ bed.

Rosco was a very obedient and well-trained dog. Other than my bed, he never was allowed on any furniture and never broke that rule. Once when he stayed with Chelsey and I, he had been snoring a little so we pushed him out of our room and closed the door. In doing so, we did not put his bed out for him so when we woke the next morning we found him on our couch looking at us as if asking what was he supposed to do, we forgot his bed. It was absolutely hilarious and one of those memories that sums up his position in our family.

Despite my amusement, Rosco hated having things put on him. When I put a hat on him, he hated it, when I put a tie on him, he hated it, when I cut a hole in a pair of shorts for his tail to go through, then put the shorts on him, he hated it, when I made glasses out of pipe-cleaner, he really hated it. When I put a birthday hat on him for his first birthday, well he didn't mind all that much because he started eating the cake!! Sure he hated these activities, but he endured long enough for a picture and never even bit me.

One thing he always did wear was his collar. I would tease him by taking it off and he would get all upset. This quirk entertained me his whole life as I teased the poor pooch. When my dad took him in to be put down, I wanted to make sure they did not take his collar off until he was gone, because I knew if they took it from him he would be very upset. I was glad to know that my dad made sure that they did not take his collar from him.

Rosco hated suitcases. Whenever we started to pack to go anywhere, Rosco would noticeably begin to mope around. He would lay right in the middle of the hallway and sleep the day away as we packed. When I began to pack to leave on my mission, he plopped himself down next to the fireplace and put his head on the hearth. Truly a pathetic pooch!!

Rosco went camping when we went with Chelsey’s family. Sure he loved swimming and marking the forest, but he spent most of his time staring at Chelsey’s mom preparing each meal. He loved to eat. He loved the kids’ table at family dinners because he knew chances were good that somebody was going to accidentally drop their plate on the ground.

Rosco could be on the opposite side of the house and would hear my mom open her favorite snack of breadsticks and cheese. No matter what he was doing or how much pain he was in, he would run to the kitchen to get his share of the snack. My mom has mentioned that it has made her sad to open the breadsticks and not have Rosco quickly join her to help her eat the breadsticks which do not have quite enough salt for her tastes.

I am so grateful for Rosco. Along with Chelsey and my family, we have mourned his passing. I have cried a little less each day, but I think there will be a bit of sadness in our family for weeks to come. I thought for a moment that I wish I could just get over my sadness but honestly, I’m okay with it and enjoy thinking of my good friend.

There will be more dogs and more heartbreaks, but Rosco will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who loved him. I am grateful that I will see Rosco again and look forward to that day. I am thankful to my sister, whose dog Howie was Rosco’s father, for giving me Rosco. I can’t fully express my appreciation for my dad who has been Rosco’s caretaker for 12 years and who was with him until the very end. I will never forget his devotion to my friend. I share my dad’s sadness but find happiness reliving memories of the greatest dog ever.

Summer Vacation

2008-08-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Disneyland was a blast! There were 9 of us that went: Me, Jon, my mom, Jessica (my sister), Ethan (my nephew), Weston & Spencer (my brothers), Tony and Gina (my brother's best friend and girlfriend). We went for two days. The first day was a full day at Disneyland. The second day was spent at California Adventure for the first half, then back at Disneyland for the remainder of our day. It was a nice and much needed vacation. And of course a much needed calorie binge of churros, ice cream, fried foods, lemonade and every other sweet bit of goodness we could get our hands on! I still find myself doing Mickey's Fantasmic dance whenever Jon least expects it. :) I think the best rides have got to be space mountain, peter pan and the Hollywood tower of terror. We just had so much fun and some of our family members were able to meet us there. My aunt Janice spent all day Saturday with us! At dinner that night, there was a guy making ballon figures for kids, and my aunt and I were thoroughly impressed...so we decided to be kids and also get balloons. Too bad we didn't get a picture! Anyways, Jon is telling me this is a long post...so I guess this is all for now!

Me, Jon, Mickey and Tink

The Group (sans Chelsey)

My sister and Ethan.

Tony, Spencer, Ethan, Weston.

My FIRST post!!

2008-07-31T01:06:00.000-07:00

I feel kind of silly. We have had this blog now for a while, and this is my very first post! Jon has done all of the blogging up until this point, and I just learned how to log on for the first time tonight. Sorry this is very short and not very exciting. We will have a better post in a few days after we get back from Disneyland.

No progress in the yard, but the dining room is finished-ish!!!

2008-07-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

We decided that the extensive white throughout our house needed to go, so we decided to finish the downstairs painting. Two walls in the dining room are a darker metallic paint and the rest is in our standard color which is a darkish beige. We still need to finish the dining room ceiling which will be faux wood beams and we need to lift up the chandelier a link or two. We are excited to finally have a dining room table, but are still hoping for chairs that don't fold up after they are used!!

4th of July in Washington

2008-07-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

We go to Washington nearly every 4th of July and this year was no exception. We stay with Chelsey's Uncle and family and this year we were there from Wed-Sun. On the fourth we go out to a friend's lake house and play volleyball and ride the waverunner/boat. It was a ton of fun and only 70 or so degrees!! We also get incredible amounts of fireworks and put on quite a show. Jon is in charge of the pyrotechnics and Chelsey does the filming. This year we set up 21 mortar tubes, although one of them blew up after a few launches so we were down to 20 tubes. The Video below is the finale!! I think I am just now getting my hearing back!!

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Widow House

2008-06-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

There is a cricket in our unfinished backyard that has been annoying for the past few weeks and I decided that mowing down all of the weeds would drive him away. (To no avail, he lives!!)

Anyway, while clearing away the foliage (Weeds) in the yard, I saw the biggest black widow ever known to man. Seriously, the thing's opisthosoma (Its arse) was the size of a penny extruded into a sphere. HUGE!! I tried to kill it, but it ran down into the drain pipe that is connected to one of our gutter downspouts. While sealing up the connection with black duct tape as to trap the beast in the drainage system, I saw just a few feet away the second biggest widow know to man.

Being the grown up I am, I found some of Chelsey's Tupperware and caught it for pictures. When I first put the penny in, the thing actually attacked it. Glad it wasn't my finger!!

The Feud Is Over!!

2008-04-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

During this season of American Idol, there has been a bit of fun contention between Chelsey and I. During the first set of auditions, I heard them say that one of the contestants was from Selma, Oregon where I spent a couple of summers on a family ranch. Much to Chelsey's dismay, the girl trying out was the girl I was, we'll say friends with, during those two summers. During her audition I told Chelsey who she was and she didn't believe me, then the phone rang and it was my sister making sure I saw that the girl was auditioning.

From that moment til now, Chelsey has had it out for poor Kristy Cook. Honestly I thought after the "Eight Days a Week" monstrosity that she was the worst one on the show, but she stuck around for a while fueling the feud between Chelsey and I.

Sadly, poor Kristy was voted off and my moment of fame is over. Honestly, I don't know why Chelsey would be jealous, I mean Chelsey is as close to perfect as a woman gets. Try to convince me otherwise, I dare you.

Feeling tired, but seeing progress!!

2008-04-05T22:40:00.001-07:00

Spring break is so fun. I spent the entire week on my sideyard developing a close relationship with Sir-mix-a-lot. He and I went through sixty or so bags of concrete in the last few days, but the entire footing for our patio area has been poured. On Monday I'll start with the cinder blocks to start building the big wall. I don't really know how to build a cinder block wall but I figure as soon as the mortar is mixed the learning starts!! Wish me luck!!

New Addition to our Family!!!

2008-04-02T20:03:00.001-07:00

Meet Sir-Mix-A-Lot. He is our Chinese made cement mixer that we recently added to our family. He has promised to help me get the yard done and I'm glad to have him around to keep me company!!
We'll be adding pictures of the progress we make in the yard. It's not that we think others really care, but we like to see what we've done.

Project #2

2008-03-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

Our HOA has been hounding us about getting our plans in for our backyard so I drew them up last week. I really want to get a dog and we need our yard done before that. So, I started on the side yard and dug for and installed the sprinkler supply system. Today I dug the footing for the semi-circle sitting half-wall thing. I'm hoping to get the wall built in the next week and a half. We're still taking comments and suggestions on our yard if you have any. Also if you have a shovel and hours of nothing to do, come on over!!

Also, I need cinder blocks!! I like free ones!! If you know of any or see any on the side of the freeway, let me know!!

Project #1 Complete

2008-03-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

Now that I've started the second project on our house I figured it was time to show the first project we tackled a couple of months ago. Chelsey decided she wanted to spend a day of her winter break painting the kitchen and living room. I think the color is Bonjour Beige, I'd call it light brown, but what do I know. It came out really nice even though Chelsey's brothers helped us!! Sorry about the ugly blue chair in the background, believe me Chelsey is doing everything she can to get rid of it.

No more bad hockey posts

2007-12-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

I've decided not to write posts regarding my hockey team unless we win. As you can see, it's been a few weeks, so I'll let you figure out how we're doing.

Lost again

2007-11-15T16:01:00.001-08:00

Yep, we lost 4-2 last night and yet again at the end of the game the goalie went ballistic on me. His defender smacked him across the face mask with his stick, and the goalie thought I did it. Then a few seconds later the defender actually swung at me with his stick, but he missed. I've always thought I was a fairly likable guy, but apparently I have some enemies!!

TailSpin

2007-11-08T12:03:00.000-08:00

I know very few care, and by very few I think I mean myself, but we lost yet again last night. Luckily the Chiefs can't win so we won't ever get to last place!!! I hate loosing!!

Losers!!

2007-11-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

We lost 3-2 last night. I only had 1 assist and hit the posts 4 times and had tons of opportunities. The puck just doesn't fall the right way sometimes. That Drops us Down to 5th Place and the hard part of the season coming up.

Jon Scores 5!! And gets time for fighting?!?!

2007-10-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

It's true, I picked up my first, and probably last five goal night last night. Then with just a few minutes left, I went at the net and got knocked by a defender onto the goalie. (The same one pictured below, who I scored three on, last time) I could tell he was pissed and ready to fight, so I just kept laying on his head so he couldn't get up. Yes I'm a wuss, but seriously, he's freaking huge and I'm not!!. Then he came after me and said I'd been on top of him all night, so I responded that I hadn't been on him all night, but that I was the one scoring on him all night. I'm told Chelsey was in the stands yelling at me to stop but I couldn't hear her, otherwise I'm sure I would have been much nicer about it!! I got to sit the rest of the game, all one minute and a half of it. It was a lot of fun. If you want to hear more detail, I love to tell the story!!!

We won 5-0 which put us back into 4th place, now down by 1 point.

I'm #14

Maison LaPRAY

2007-10-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

We had decided that we were going to just live in an appartment for a few more years since the prices have been so high in the Roseville area. Well Chelsey went to lunch on monday with Nikki Crandall and Nikki told her about a house down the street from her. So we went and on friday of the same week we had our offer in and a contract to purchase. Talk about a crazy month!! We went from being completely unprepared to buy a house to moved-in in about 4 weeks. We appreciate everyone that helped us with the whole process. We love our home and hope to spend some time in it once school is out. Oh well, it will make for a fun christmas.

Model Home Website

Jon Scores His First Hat Trick

2007-10-18T16:52:00.001-07:00

A month or so ago I had the privilege of scoring my first hat trick. You may not be impressed, but if you had seen my drunken skating just a few months before, you would understand how far I've come. Sure it wasn't exactly the best team in the league I did it against, but I was happy anyway. I had family in town to see it and quite a large fan club, so it was a good night to do something that I'm not really good enough to do. Props to my sister Andrea for this amazing photography!!