The Big Peek!

Sorry this is a few days late, but we were having some computer issues, mostly Internet/router issues. Richard finally reset the router and it is working much better now!

Here are our updates for the week:

--Our house closed! From the sounds of it, it was touch and go for a while but our nice realtor was the ultimate professional and didn't bother to stress us out with the details! So we are feeling much lighter now. In this crazy, unstable market, we are feeling really lucky because we took a huge gamble. Having to only make one extra house payment was really, REALLY lucky!

--AND it appears we are having a Girl! Totally crazy! I really thought it was going to be a boy. But we are totally thrilled with a girl. It is growing on the kids, even Sam is ok with it. Tonight at dinner he was complaining to the waitress about still being the only boy. She was cute and made him feel better by telling him her husband is the only boy with 15 sisters (he is Samoan).

So for those of you who can't make out the picture, the top is showing her girl parts, like she is sitting on the lens of a camera, her thighs are to the left. The bottom picture is her profile. Heidi said she already has the Murray mouth and bump on the back of her head. We're thrilled that everything looks healthy, and she is measuring as 21 weeks and 2 days, which bumps my due date from 7/20 to 7/15.

We will now be taking all suggestions for names. We were almost stumped with Brinley. I'm not sure we have another girl name in us. Sam thinks we should name her Samantha. Maddie thinks Abbie, but that would make what, 3, 4, or 5 Abbie's on the Hurst side. Brinley just insists that we are having a brother. As it is, the name in the running is Thecityof. Cute isn't it....Thecityof Murray.

One Last Post (for today)

Just a few last things for today, and then everyone will be caught up with our lives.

--Sam lost his first tooth, which is always quite the ordeal at our house.

--Maddie pulled out her 7th tooth (thankfully she would rather do it herself now).

--Brinley has discovered her love of lotion!

--We finally have an offer on our old house, so if all goes well we will be closing on or before Wednesday.

--And finally, we have our ultrasound on Thursday, so stay tuned, I'll update Thursday to let you know what we're having, and yes we will be peeking! We're voting for a boy, to even things out, but we'll be happy with either one of course. Let me know of your predictions!

To Be A True Jedi

Yes, this is totally disgusting. This is how Brin and I passed time while the kids were on the rollercoaster. All the things in Goofy's garden and house, and she wanted to drink out of this silly hose! Maybe that's why she has been sick since we've been home....hmmm....

I'm sorry to do so many Disneyland pictures, but Sam and Maddie both got chosen to do the Jedi Training. Richard informed me that if Sam didn't get picked, we'd have to go to every show until he did. Thankfully, he got picked during the first show. Richard put on the telephoto lens and got some pretty awesome pictures. I had to share for all of you Star War fans!

Here Comes Disneyland

So, towards the end of January, Richard brought home this certificate. He laid it on the counter and said do something with this before it expires. I started looking at it and it was a travel voucher. It expired, and had to be used by April. So my wheels started turning. The kids were off track, and the winter has been so cold, so I decided we were going to take the kids to the beach somewhere! So, we had about 3 weeks to plan a trip. My first thoughts were Mexico, but that was quickly nixed, because I'm the only one with a passport. So then to Hawaii, I called the travel agent, and that was quickly nixed, on 3 week notice, the cheapest she could do was $6500. The voucher wasn't for that much! Bummer. So then to Florida, but the average temperature was low 70's, so not really beach weather, so we settled for Disneyland. I'm so glad we did. We've avoided taking the kids back to Disneyland because they have been a little, to put it nicely, wimpy. But boy did they prove us wrong! We had so much fun! I'm so glad we got to go. We had beautiful (high 70's-80's) weather. We were all feeling good. And the kids were AWESOME!

We've saved up our Disney Reward points, so the trip was totally cheap (out of pocket). Those Disney points are the only way to go. You can buy all of the outrageously expensive food, and snacks, and trinkets, and souvenirs, and not come home feeling like you wasted your whole life savings! So to anyone planning a trip to the Disney family, I'd highly recommend getting a Disney Visa.

We went to Breakfast with Goofy the first morning. I won't get on my soap box about that. The kids had a blast and got a ton of autographs!

It's Great to Be Eight!

Happy Birthday Maddie ( a little late, but we still have to blog about it). Maddie had a fun birthday this year. She got to do a lot of fun things for her birthday. She got spoiled rotten this year by everyone and thanks to a her Grandma and Nana, she now has, hands down, double my wardrobe. She is in heaven! Between the clothes and the Hananah Montana garb, she is set for life. Here are a few pictures of the celebration.

Maddie had a friend party this year, and decided to go Ice Skating. The girls were all so cute and had a fun time!

First Things First

So first of all, I'm sorry I'm such a terrible blogger. I hope nobody checks my blog faithfully, like I do Jess's or some of my cousins. I know their blogs will always be updated, and, like Jess's, if they haven't been updated, something is wrong. I was going to try to update every week, but, from the trend, I think monthly is a good thing.

So February was an equally insane month as December and January. I'm still waiting for life to calm down. I was talking with my aunt yesterday and she was telling me about a house they saw at the St. George Parade of homes, it had a bowling alley, two movie theaters, it was over the top. My thought was, why would you put something like that in your house, when would you have time to use it? Sad. Anyways, it has been a fun February!

Yesterday (which really isn't February anymore), Maddie got baptized. We're so proud of her. It is so hard to believe we have an eight year old. Richard and I were talking last night, and the first four years seemed to go fast, but they were ok, but the last four years have gone by in blink of time. I got to play the piano for our ward's New Beginnings program this week and I had the thought that in four years, Maddie will be participating---AHHH! If those four years go by as fast as the past four years went, holy crap, we're in trouble!

But back to the big day, it was a lovely morning, and Maddie looked beautiful in her new dress! By the time we got out of the baptism the wind was blowing in a lovely storm, and our nice spring weather is gone! We had a fun little party with of course lots of food!

Thanks to everyone for coming and making this a special day for Maddie. We're so lucky to have such a great family!