Murray

Cousins

2008-05-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

The last day of our trip we spent at Stephanie's. All of the cousins got together that night for dinner. Whether they are playing the Wii or goofing off in the backyard, they always have fun when they are together.

Newport Beach

2008-05-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

A highlight of our trip down to So. Cal. was the Beachcomber Cafe at Crystal Cove State Beach. It is a cute little place on the beach we ate breakfast at with my sister Stephanie and her family. It is a definite must do if you are ever visiting the area.

Sea World

2008-05-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Rainy or not - here we come...

Mother's Day Message

2008-05-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day I woke up to a chalk board next to my bed. Tyler decided to leave me a little message. He is a sweetheart.

Teacher Appreciation

2008-05-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

Since it is teacher appreciation week, Tyler took flowers to his teacher. Aubrey was so excited and helped pick flowers in our yard for hours. She also made a bouquet for her room to make it even more fancy.

Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year, we had a potluck at the park by our house. Lots of our friends came and Baddleys brought their big blow-up slide. Good times.

Boys will be boys

2008-05-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Jeff and his friend Steve have to unwind after long weekends at MBA school. What better way to do that than eating raw eggs?! Jeff chokes one down quickly. Can Steve really do it???

Game Day

2008-04-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

Tyler wanted to have a football party this year. He usually has just a family party with cousins, but this year he has a great group of friends from school and church too. He is highly addicted to football, so we decided to have a flag football game. It worked out great. We mailed out "tickets" as invitations, played some games while we waited for everyone to arrive, and then walked over to the high school field to play the game. We came back to the house after for pizza, cake, and presents. Tyler loved it - his very own football game. Aubrey and Kenzie had fun cheering them on.

Tyler's 7th Birthday

2008-04-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

We went to John's Incredible Pizza for Tyler's Birthday. I cannot believe that my baby is 7! I don't want any of them to grow up. It was fun to spend time with just our family and celebrate.

Yes, its compost

2008-04-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Gross! We had 50 yards of compost dirt delivered for our backyard and the kids thought it would be fun to jump around and play in it. They played for hours and had the time of their lives. Tyler, my clean freak, got down and dirty and didn't seem to mind the smell at all.

Indiana Jones

2008-04-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

A new favorite at our house - playing Indiana Jones. Tyler is now a huge fan. Aubrey, of course, loves it too since she always follows in her brother's footsteps.

Taking candy from a baby

2008-04-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie is such a great baby and pretty even tempered. Don't even think about taking away her candy, however. Like her sister, she has a definite sweet tooth. She loves lollipops and one of her first words was chocolate!

Joyschool

2008-04-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

I have loved teaching Joyschool for Aubrey this year. She adores her cousin Lilly, so any extra time they can spend together is great. They have so much fun together, even while they are learning!

Sisters

2008-04-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie is getting so big. It is great that the girls are able to play together now. We don't have much of a yard yet, but they are still content playing with each other out in the back.

Pretty as a Princess

2008-04-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

Fancy Nancy - a new favorite for Aubrey! She has always loved dress-ups but now she is also fascinated by the books and even wants a fancy room. Zoie had a fancy princess party for her birthday and Aubrey loved every second of it. She'll take any chance she can get to dress up like a princess and she sure knows how to milk it.

Baseball, Baseball, Baseball

2008-04-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

This season of baseball has been great so far. Tyler is playing with the Rocklin Pony Baseball League. Thanks to some great coaches, he has really grown a lot. He loves to play catcher and is great at it. He even got the game ball.

Community Helpers

2008-04-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

The first grade put on a play about community helpers. Tyler was a dentist. It was so cute. Our favorites (besides the dentists of course) were the garbage truck fans.

Date with Mom

2008-04-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

Aubrey and I went to go see Annie for our girls' night out. We has so much fun and Aubrey got to wear her Annie dress from Halloween. She was beaming throughout the whole performance. A girl from our ward (Abby Alexander) was Annie and she was absolutely amazing! Now every time that Aubrey sees her at church, she is star struck.

Projects Galore

2008-03-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

The Murrays are always working on some sort of project around the house. Today Jeff decided to add some recessed lighting in the family room. He grabbed a few tools from the garage and started cutting holes in the ceiling. He has worked so hard this last year adding all kinds of things to the house from Kate's wish list. What a great hubby! The kids love to help out to. They were thrilled to cut a few holes out themselves.

Happy New Year

2008-01-08T21:07:00.001-08:00

We started off the new year with Jeff's parents, his brother Greg, and his family. After passing the flu around, we were able to do some fun activities together. One of our favorites was playing in uncle Paul's backyard. They have a fantastic yard that my kids love. There are huge oak trees, a pond, a stream, bridges, lots of room to run around, and a great tire swing.

Christmas Trauma

2007-12-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas isn't Christmas without some family drama or trauma, right?! Well this year Aubrey took a flying leap off of the stage at the church onto her face. Cousin Connor got a new basketball from Santa so all of the boys headed to the gym to play basketball. Aubrey wanted to go watch. A few of the younger kids, including Aubrey, were on the stage and someone closed the curtains. Aubrey was dancing and twirling on the stage and went running through the curtains, not realizing that the edge was just on the other side. She flew off and landed right on her face. We thought that she would lose her teeth since her gums were black from the bruising and her nose and top lip also took quite a beating. It was scary for a little 4 year old but the only permanent damage is one chipped tooth and a scar above her lip. We feel really lucky!

Time To Open Presents

2007-12-25T16:39:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2007-12-21T15:47:00.000-08:00

My Little Angel

2007-12-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

Aubrey adds so much spunk to our family. I cannot imagine life without her bouncing around all of time. Lately, she has really been trying hard to be a great helper and big sister. She loves Mackenzie so much and really wants to take care of her. This week I got the flu and was miserable. Jeff had to go to work and Tyler was at school so it was just us girls at home. I just could not get out of bed so I told Aubrey that she could be my helper for the day. She was fantastic! She would get the baby out of crib, change her diaper, get the binky or bottle. She was truly my lifesaver that day and will always be my little angel.

'Tis the Season

2007-12-16T20:58:00.001-08:00

Why go on rides when you can play in the water?

2007-11-26T20:44:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving we went down to So. Cal for a week. We spent a day at Disneyland with all of the cousins. It was loads of fun. We had 11 little kiddos running around and only a few adults so things got wild. The highlight of the day was not the rides, but running through the water in California Adventure. They spent more than an hour there and all got soaked!

A Fanatic In The Making

2007-11-05T13:06:00.001-08:00

To say I love BYU football is an understatement! To some it might be considered an unhealthy addiction, but what can I say? I love it! BYU football is a spiritual experience for me. I will have reached the pinnacle of my life when I am able to fly around the country every week for each BYU game. This obsession started when I was just a small child. I still have a scrapbook that I made when I was seven, filled with newspaper clippings of Robbie Bosco, Glenn Kozlowski, Jason Buck and Vai Sikahema. Like the gospel, BYU football is in "every fiber of my being". Is it any wonder that my children would follow suit? The first song they ever learn from the Primary Songbook is the Cougar Fight Song. Okay, so it's not actually a Primary song, but it should be!

As a testament that children learn from their parent’s examples, Tyler now bleeds blue. Over the past couple of months Ty has raised the bar on his fanaticism and moved into the “Fully Invested” stage. Nearly every minute he can spare he’s running around the house with his BYU football, watching games on TV, or drawing pictures of his favorite players (John Beck, Ty Detmer and Austin Collie). Every morning is a battle to get him to wear anything other than a BYU shirt to school. His teacher must think he doesn’t own anything else. He recently wrote a letter to John Beck, and is anxiously awaiting the chance to see him play with the Dolphins. Just yesterday, our friend Brandon Hardy gave Tyler autographed pictures from Austin and Zach Collie. Tyler was thrilled!

One of my favorite recent memories was taking Tyler to the UNLV game in Las Vegas. Being there with him was pure joy! He was so involved in everything that was happening, asking questions about every play and player. It's so much fun now that he actually understands the game.

Over the years, Kate has learned to live with a fanatical husband. Now she is learning to deal with two fanatics in the house. She's probably so thankful that Aubrey still prefers to dance and wear dresses as opposed to a football helmet. Although, she is getting quite good at tackling Ty.

Halloween

2007-11-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

Halloween this year was really fun because the kids were SO excited about their costumes. Usually they get a little assistance when choosing what to be. This year when they were asked what their top choice was, there was no hesitation. Tyler chose to be Jack Sparrow and Aubrey was Annie.

Aubrey wished for an Annie dress for her birthday and it was perfect since it doubled as her Halloween costume. We were a little worried that she might think twice about her costume once she saw all of her friends be fairies and princesses. No need to worry - she was in heaven! She raced through the streets singing, "Tomorrow" at the top of her lungs.

Apple Hill

2007-10-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

I love the fall here in Northern CA! It is so beautiful with the changing leaves and the weather is perfect. Tyler had a day off of school and Jeff was working so we decided to head up to Apple Hill for the day. We picked up Lilly, Grandma, and Aunt Lorraine on the way. We tried all kinds of apples, drank plenty of cider, visited the Pioneer Museum, fed the animals, made candles, and rode ponies. The highlight was watching Aubrey ride. She has a real passion for horses and would ride all day. Oh, how I wish I lived by my friend Shanda! It would be a whole new world for little Miss Aubrey.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2007-10-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Recently, we took a trip down south to Disneyland. We had a blast! My sister Jill takes each of her kids to Disneyland for their 2nd birthday. We've never been able to go in years past, so we were excited to join them this time. Grandma and Grandpa Murray were there too, along with longtime family friends the Lozadas, and Means. It's a bit of a challenge coordinating such a big group, but it was worth it. The kids especially loved playing with their cousins.

It had been couple of years since we had last gone, so for Aubrey, it was like the "first time". She was the perfect age. Like most little girls she was in princess heaven. Her most recent obsession has been The Little Mermaid, so meeting Ariel was a dream come true. She found it especially hilarious that her little sister Mackenzie got to sit on Ariel's tail.

This trip to Disneyland was monumental for our family. We were finally able to move beyond Fantasyland to some of the bigger and better rides. Aubrey (Our little daredevil) was finally tall enough to go on nearly all of the rides, which she did without a hesitation. Tyler has always been much too scared in the past for the "big rides", but this time he stepped up his game. With the support of his cousins he went on every big ride in both parks. I especially loved watching his face on the "Tower of Terror". That ride scares me, so I was proud to see him do it.

The best part of our trip was winning a "Dream Pass" as part of Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams". A Dream Pass is basically a fast pass for all of the rides. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. We were standing near the exit of Autotopia when a Disney worker approached us and said, "Congratulations!" and handed us each a pass. It was awesome! We didn't have to wait at all that day. We actually had a hard time using up the passes and had several rides left when we were leaving the park. We ended up giving them away to a family on our way out. As always, we were sad to leave and head back to reality, but we bought season passes so hopefully, we'll be back soon!

Mancation '07: "The Year of The Stache"!

2007-08-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

After last year's posh retreat at a three story cabin in Mammoth Lakes CA, Mancation '07 returned to it's roots in good ol' Hatch, Utah. This year marked the "Year of The Stache", as all participants were required to sport facial hair normally seen at a NASCAR event. There is bound to be some fun when 11 guys get together and pretend to be a bunch of rednecks!

No Mancation would be complete without some beautiful hikes, good fishin', lots of guns, and crappy food (Not a lot of choices in that part of the world). By far my favorite part of the trip was hiking through the Narrows in Zion Canyon. Going ballistic on a computer monitor with a Cold War era Russian gun was pretty fun too!

Mackenzie Brooke

2007-08-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie is not feeling well so I stayed home from church with her. The house is quiet and it is nice to have some alone time with just the baby. She is at such a fun age (just turned 7 months) and her personality is really shining through.

I decided to grab the camera, feeling sorry for the third child, and started shooting away. It turned out to be a great day and I got a chance to capture a few precious moments.

Our Genesis

2007-05-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

Can you really say that you are fashionable these days unless you blog? Everyone else is doing it, so why not us? Well, I figured I would give this a try. It may not be pretty, but it's the effort that counts!