A Look back at Baby Ray...

So, it was Ray's b-day August 14, 2010, and he turned FOUR! So, I thought I would put up a few look back to where he began pictures! I LOVED looking back, and remembering him as a little baby! We are sure glad he joined our family! He is a great addition! And we named him right! He is Steven Ray...Steven, after his dad of course, and Ray after Steve's Grandpa Ray. We were lucky enough to get a few pictures of him with Grandpa before he past away. How grateful we are for his legacy! Ray LOVES to garden and ride horses, and has a really witty personality...it is really nice to have bits and pieces of Grandpa with us here on earth! :) And he has dad's temper!... and good looks! :)

Look at those chunky and VERY KISSABLE cheeks!

This is a "future missionary" photo shoot with his cousin Benson. Benson is older, but you would never know by their size! Ray was our first 10 lb. 5 oz. baby! Notice his little feet together! I love that...he use to do that all the time! His little buddha belly would just keep him sitting there, so I think it was good for balance! :)
We put these glasses on him, and he would actually keep them on! I think he just loved all of our reactions of loving them on him!
He has always had the cutest little faces! Even now, he is just such a ham in front of the camera! Which, of course, makes it impossible to not just snap away at him! He would always play with his tongue, so I was glad we got a few captured! Seriously, those chubby hands and tiny but chubby feet, really are more than I can take! He would twist them all at the same time, when he got excited!

This is Ray in a snapshot! He was just a laid back little guy! He loved to just hang out!
More of that cute tongue! He was "helping" with cup cakes...well, helping to get rid of the batter! He just LOVED it, and would just keep licking his lips!
And another messy face! We were always feeding and cleaning off this little boy! Come to think of it, we are still always feeding and cleaning him off!
This picture is one of my favorites! It is Ray in the middle of his cousins (J.J. left side and Roman right side)! These boys are so cute, because they are all within a few months of each other! They sure have a good time when they get together!
He took to water like his dad! HE LOVED it! I love this, because you can see his little bottom teeth just coming in!
Two of my favorite men in the whole world!
His little Easter outfit! I just can't even handle the cuteness of that face!
For Halloween that year we did a Star Wars theme, and he made the PERFECT YODA! He even walked like him...and the robe went to the floor, so it was so cute to see him waddling around!
Grandpa just LOVED Ray! I think he was a little bias, because he was his namesake...and so cute! :) He would just watch him waddling around, and smile the whole time! Then he would tickle and play with him! I did a scrapbook layout with this picture and put, "Someone to Look Up To"...how blessed we were to have Grandpa for the time we did!
Ray has always LOVED Bobby! Even now, if he is doing something he knows Bobby would like (while Bobby is at school) he will say, "I am going to show Bobby this. He will love it, and want to play with me when he comes home from school!" And Bobby is so great to play with his little brothers! From wrestling to drawing long drawn out war scenes that they sit and imagine together!

Ray has LOVED horses his whole life! This was cute in Idaho. He had been riding in this horse carriage, and when they got out for a rest he just walked right up to get a closer look at the horses! He and Steve will be in 7th heaven, if we can ever get them horses! :)

The reason he is trying to open this gate, is to get into the coral with all the horses! It was FREEZING (note: his little bright red hands from the bitter cold), and all he could think about was being with the horses! This was a really fun Thanksgiving we spent with the Jepsen family in Idaho. This was at Becky's brother-in-laws house!