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!

Ice Skating

Richard had been on a business trip for a few days, and got back on Friday (which is early day) so we decided to take the kids ice skating. They even had a pair for Brinley, who loved being pushed around the rink.

Playing in the "Snow"

We have had a crazy winter this year. It seems to me to be extra cold this winter. In the past few years, we would get a snow storm, and then the next few days would be warm enough to melt the snow. But not this year, we keep getting one storm after the other and I am about sick of it.

A few days ago, it actually warmed up to about 30 degrees, and so the snow was getting a little slushy. We have empty lots on both sides of our house, one of them has mounds of dirt. Sam and Maddie have been wanting to try to go sledding on them for a while. Parker, Zach, and Sam were playing and were totally hyper, so I sent them outside. They started to slide down the hill, in just their clothes (no sled) and pretty soon the snow was gone. Did that stop them? OF COURSE NOT!

Sam finally stopped because he said the mud on his face felt like make-up. Even though they had coats and gloves, and long sleeve shirts on, they still had layers of mud caked on their arms. Everything was covered. Me being the mean aunt/mom wouldn't let them come in until they rolled in the snow to wash some of the mud off....then they had to strip down to their tighty-whiteies (which were brown with mud) on the front porch. I did a massive load of muddy laundry, and we all survived, even Parker who had to wear a pair of scrubs I had...how embarrassing.

Brinley and Max

We all loved having Jess and Jon and their family come to visit for so long. We had a blast with them. Brinley really had a lot of fun. Jess's boys taught her she could climb on the table and counter tops (we're still grateful for this). On their last night here, the adults went to dinner and then had a little party for the kids afterwards. Here are a few pictures from that.

Brinley loves to shake her booty...especially if everyone is watching!

Brinley was always wanting to give Max loves. She's going for the kill...taking after her dad already!

'And Max is taking after his dad already too...

The Crazy Life With Zach and Sam

I am quickly realizing I'm a terrible blogger. The kids have been off track again, and getting them to leave me alone to post a few pictures is nearly impossible. If I am on the computer, they think they need to be on it playing. After the constant nagging, I finally give in. So Jess, I'm sorry don't keep this as up to date as you do, or as you'd like!

January was a fun and a bit slower of a month than December, thankfully. I'll catch up on January later, but today inspired to load my new pictures because of Zach and Sam.

I was working in the den for awhile this afternoon, Sam had Zach over to play and they were down in the basement playing soccer with a fun over sized soccer set Sam got for Christmas from Alex (thanks Alex). Sam came running up in a frantic scream yelling that Zach was stuck. I listened for a minute and heard Zach's freak out scream which is 1 pitch below the noise only dogs can hear. Let me back up just a minute, my parents have moved out of their house and into an apartment, so we have a bunch of their boxes down in the basement. The kids know that they are not to touch the boxes. However, I guess in the mind of 2 six year old boys, looking for a lost bouncy ball does not count as touching the boxes. I guess Zach shimmied his way up the tower of boxes, and slid down the back (I'm still not sure how he did this), didn't find the ball, or his way out. So this is how I found him.... (look closely, he's back there)...

After I made sure he wasn't hurt, I had to get the camera....and laugh. WE got him out by pulling on his arms, and taking a few layers of skin off his stomach. I don't think he'll be doing that again (then again, it's Zach and Sam they probably will).

Mom and Dad, I promise nothing got broken, boxes are not even out of place. I don't know how he managed but everything is just fine! We'll cordon of the boxes tonight

Our Whirlwind Life

Whew! What a month. I can't believe December is just about over with already. It has flown by for the Mighty Murray clan. Not that December is crazy enough with work parties, and family parties, and church parties etc. We decided kind of last minute (in my book) to add moving into the equation!

Here's the scoop, we haven't sold our old house, but we didn't want to lose the new house either, so the builder wanted us to close by Dec. 20th. I figured, we would close on the 20th, get Christmas over with and then move at a nice leisurely pace. WRONG! Richard said we were having communication issues because he never thought that at all. So, interest rates were rising, the kids wanted to do Christmas at the new house etc. etc. etc. So we closed on the 14th, the builders gave us the keys that day, after Maddie's FINAL dance recital, the work horses (aka Lynn and Jerrie) came and emptied all 5 of our clothes closets, and the moving began. By about 5:00 pm on the 15th, we were in, mostly unpacked, furniture delivered, Directv hooked up (priorities) and we were eating take out Chili's with the Olsen's.

Sunday, Erin and her kids arrived, Tuesday, Jess and her family arrived, and Tuesday night the partying began. We had lots of sleep overs and play dates, and of course lots of eating. Richard began to panic because it was such an unproductive week. But the kids had so much fun playing with all of their cousins....especially ice skating!

We ventured to the new ward on Sunday, and after choosing the wrong building (there are only 12 within 2 blocks) we finally found our new ward and it seems really great! We're excited to meet some fun new people.

We are LOVING our new house. It was so nice to have Christmas come, and not be totally stressed out on all of the loot the kids acquired. We actually had closet space for all new toys! Hallelujah! Richard came home giddy on Friday, he left work at 5:00, and made it home in 20 minutes, which means he shaved about 40 minutes off his rush-hour commute.

We're having a bit of static issue. We brace ourselves anytime we touch anything, especially a light switch, or kiss someone. The couch is an instant bad hair moment, as you can see.

The kids had a nice Christmas, Maddie got her karaoke machine (and we are all about done with Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus). Sam got the Death Star that transforms into Darth Vader (after about 4 hours of Dad working furiously on it). Brinley got an aqua doodle, and a stocking filled with kisses and peanut butter cups. She's my girl, give her chocolate and she is happy for hours!

Sam looks thrilled here. Richard thought he was going to teach Sam how to transform this lovely toy. After hour 3 (or 15 minutes really) he realized this will have to be Dad's job. It's even above Mom's paygrade.

Sorry for the marathon post, but I did have a whole month to catch up on.

Oh I almost forgot, Santa brought a stocking full of baby supplies to our house this year, which as Sam puts it, "I guess Mom is having a baby or something." So yes, we are adding baby #4 (AHHHH) in July. Sam's pulling for a boy because he is tired of being girl trapped ALL of the time. We're excited and as crazy as it is, the timing has been nice, I have been so exhausted by 10:30 every night, I don't bother staying awake worrying about 2 house payments or anything like that.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and that Santa brought all that was wanted. I hope this New Year is full of great joy, love, and happiness. On my calander for December the quote was "To be content with what we posses is the greatest and most secure of riches." In 2008, my goal is to be content with all the many blessings we have....especially my wonderful family.