Lovin the Snow!

The weather here in Idaho actually warmed up today, so we decided to take advantage of it for a little fun in the snow.

Ready to take off.
Goodbye!

Kenzie playing with Shelby.

The snow was too deep in the lot next to us so we had to move to the road.

Christmas break is cruising by!

Family Fun!

The day after Christmas Grandma & Grandpa Murdoch drove up to visit us. Glen and Katherine also came up. We ate, played, played, played, and had fun. We missed Jeff, Haley, Kamryn, and Hunter! We hope Hunter is feeling better.

Isaac, Max, and Brayden watching their Dads play the Wii.

Ally and Kenzie

Justin and Glen playing Mario Kart

Dinner

The girls helping Grandpa Murray make breakfast.

Ally and McKenzie put on a fabulous HSM show for us. We had tickets and awesome seating for their performance. I love the creativity these girls have!

On stage during their performance!

Before Glen and Katherine headed back to Logan we watched Madagascar 2. Grandma and Grandpa stayed a couple more days with us. We had a great time.

Merry Christmas!

What a fun morning we had! I love watching the kids open presents. I love watching their excitment and enthusiasm. The following are some pictures of our day!

We spent the day playing with all of our gifts and just enjoyed hanging out in our PJs. We received a lot of fun Wii games and accessories. We've been bowling, skiing, did a little yoga, went jogging, etc. all from our family room. Gotta love the Wii!

Christmas Eve

We started off Christmas Eve by going down to Blackfoot to Grandma and Grandpa Mecham's. We had a delicous prime rib dinner. Yummy! We were able to enjoy the afternoon with Alan & JaNae, Jason, Ann, & Kit, and Grandma and Grandpa. We had a nice afternoon and evening.

Then we headed home to begin our Christmas Eve traditions. First, we opened our Christmas PJ's from Grandma Kathy & Grandpa Murray.
Second-Dad read "The Night Before Christmas".
Next, I read about the birth of our Savior from the New Testament. The kids placed the flannel board pictures down as I read.

Now it is time for a Coke! We each get a Coke and we have a toast as a family. Thank You Grandma Mecham for always finding the cokes in a bottle and getting them for us!

Finally, we get the cookies & milk ready for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

What a fun day! I love Christmas Eve, I love the excitement, I love being able to think about and discuss the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate this big day!

The kids had a hard time falling asleep--of course. We checked on Santa's location several times throughout the evening on the internet.

Happy Anniversary Justin!

I just wanted to wish my husband a Happy Anniversary! Happy 13th Anniversary! We sure have had a lot of fun! It has been an amazing adventure! Below is our first picture together, I honestly still get just as excited to see Justin and be with him as I did then.

Spring Break 1995

Justin and I had just started dating in February and he left Spring quarter to go work in Idaho. During Spring Break he invited me up to meet his family. He told me he lived on an Indian Reservation-being the naive person I was -yes I pictured teepes etc. He told me a big story about where he lived so you can imagine how relieved I was when I saw his neighborhood and home. This was the first time he told me he loved me, I remember this like it was yesterday. I am not really good with words and my response was "Me too". Nice!

USU's Homecoming 1995

We had a long engagment! We were engaged in May and finally married in December. I don't think Justin really wanted to go to Homecoming, but he was nice and asked me. This is the day we became "True Aggies!". We had a fun time dancing. I actually miss going dancing, neither of us are very good but we loved to country swing.

Our Wedding December 15, 1995 - Jordan River Temple

What an amazing day! We took our finals headed down th next day and got married. It was beautiful, but freezing cold. I'll always remember the incredible love and feelings I had that day in the temple.

Graduation USU May 1997

I only put this picture in because of the fun memories. We always had so much fun! The thing that I love about us is we still have fun! Justin thanks for being my best friend! I look forward to many more anniversaries! I LOVE YOU!

Grandma Glenda's Christmas PARTY!

We were able to go down to Utah this weekend for Grandma Glenda's Christmas Party. Traditionally it has been held on Christmas Eve, we want to thank Grandma for moving it up a little so my family could make it. I don't know if it is the kid in me but I was SO excited! EVERYONE was there this year all my cousins, aunts/uncles, great grandkids, etc.. Now it feels like Christmas! Thank You Grandma for being such a wonderful example to us! Thank you for planning this party so we could all get together!

Our family is growing! It is fun to look at past pictures and see the growth. Thank you Torie for coming early and taking our picture! We will adding one more to this picture in 2009, Glen and Katherine are expecting! :)

Below is a picture of Grandma Glenda and all of her grandkids! It was so much fun seeing all of them and visiting with them. I have the best cousins in the world, if your not jealous you should be. Thanks guys for being such awesome examples to me!

Kamryn's dance recital

Since we were down for Grandma Glenda's Christmas Party we were able to go to Kamryn's dance recital. Kamryn did an awesome job! It was fun for Kenzie to watch a dance performance because usually she is dancing. We had a lot of fun! Haley and I convinced the kids the line was too long to wait and talk to Santa after the dance recital. Haley grabbed the kids a candy beore we left.

High School Musical 3

Our awesome kids both received such good grades they both earned free movie tickets and dinner at Applebees. Saturday we took the kids to Applebees to redeem their free dinner. We were planning on going to HSM 3 after but Kenzie didn't feel great so we waited till Monday to go to HSM 3 for FHE. We had a private showing of HSM 3 the kids loved it! The kids all really enjoyed the movie. Justin endured his third High school musical, I think deep down he really likes these movies.

More Thanksgiving Weekend Fun!

Saturday Glen, Katherine, Ally, and Isaac came up to see our home and play with us. We had a really nice visit with them. The kids all loved playing together. Glen and Katherine introduced us to Settlers we had a lot of fun playing with them. We can't wait for our next battle! Thanks for coming up and visiting us!

Thanksgiving Memories

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We are very thankful for all of our many blessings and grateful for the opportunity to gather with family. We ventured South for Thanksgiving. We had dinner with the Mecham family in Blackfoot. It is hilarious to listen to the kids as we drive through Blackfoot. "Blackfoot sure is growing", "Have we left Idaho", "I loved Kindergarten", "Remember......." etc.. they are so cute.

The kids were so excited to see cousin Kit. They had a lot of fun at the park and playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Max was excited to see Uncle Alan-he loves playing with Uncle Alan. Grandma Mecham prepared a delicous dinner! Tons of yummy spuds, rolls, turkey, and ham. We did miss the Holt family and hope they had a nice day.

Kit and Ann came up North to Grant and stayed a couple days with us. We had a nice visit. Ann and I prepared for our shopping adventure in Idaho Falls. I always love watching everyone shop and strategize on this day. We were able to purchase most of the things on our list and had a nice morning.

Justin and Kenzie went out on a date Friday. They were able to go down to Salt Lake to a Jazz game with Chris and Tyler. Kenzie LOVED it! They went to dinner at the Training Table, got ice cream, a cute pink jersey, and were spoiled at the game. What a lucky girl, yes mom was a little jealous. While Kenzie and Justin went to Salt Lake Ann and I took the boys to play at Leo's Place. They had a fun time, Kit scored big on one of the games and won enough tickets to purchase some fun prizes.

BIG Juds

We had a fun weekend with our friends the Nelsons and Getsingers. First, Friday night we met our friends the Nelsons at Leo's Place- always fun for the kids. We ate salad and pizza and the kids played until they were exhausted, and the adults were able to visit.

Saturday our good friends from Blackfoot (Mae and John) drove up to visit us. The kids loved showing them their new bedrooms. We enjoyed visiting with them! We went and had lunch in Archer at Big Juds (famous for their gigantic Big Jud burger) anyone from the area knows all about Big Juds. Mae brought us some of her famous dried apples, and apple butter. I hid the apples - but they are still almost gone. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends in Blackfoot! Mae and John have always taken good care of us and we are thankful for their friendship.

Loving this November Weather!

We are loving the sunny weather we are having in November! Here are the kids ready to go to church. I love my kids! Life would be so boring without them. As I've been unpacking boxes, looking at old pictures, I am amazed at how fast time flies! We are really enjoying being in our home, new neighborhood friends, and our ward. Our sacrament meeting was on blessings Sunday, believe it or not my kids listened, we had a nice talk on blessings after church, our family is so grateful for all our many blessings!

Girls Weekend in Park City!!!

What a fun weekend I had with all my Murdoch Family! The Murdoch girls decided to have a girls weekend in Park City -- FUN!!! We went out to dinner, sat in the hot tub, stayed up late talking and went shopping at the outlets on Saturday. Thank you to all of you who made this happen. This is definately going to need to be a yearly tradition!

I have been blessed with the most incredible family! We have so much fun together! I cherish my childhood memories with all my aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. I truly feel like a had a fairytale childhood, loved all the adventures, camping trips, sundays at Grandmas, etc... Most of my friends don't even know all their cousins, I can't imagine growing up without mine! The best part is all my cousins have married awesome spouses so our family continues to get better all the time.

Our Princess turns 7!

What a fun Birthday McKenzie has had! We can't believe she is 7! Last weekend we started celebrating her Birthday with Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Murray. Grandma took Kenzie and had a manicure! Kenzie loved it! She can't wait to go back! I'll have to get some pictures from Grandma because I didn't have my camera a the Nail Spa.
If you can't tell my daugher loves High School Musical! Last night we even played her new HSM game, it was fun seeing Justin bust out some dance moves. Saturday night we watched HSM 2, so we could prepare ourselves for her game Sunday evening. McKenzie and Justin were the champs, the boys and I didn't do so well - Max did have some good dance moves.

McKenzie took three of her friends to Leo's Place. The girls had a fun time! Non-stop fun for these four girls!

Joy, Kenzie, Taylor, and Allison

Happy 7th Birthday Kenzie! WE LOVE YOU!

Halloween 2008

The kids had a fun Halloween. The weather was so nice during Halloween we actually carved our pumpkins outside. I let the kids do everything all on their own, we found some awesome pumpkin carving knives, kid safe. Max allowed all the neighborhood kids to carve his pumpkin.

Brayden and McKenzie both had fun Halloween parties in school. The two wards here did a trunk-or-treat. Lots of fun! The weather was so nice! I think it was the first year they didn't have layers of clothing under their costumes. We had a fun night! Max was of course a cowboy, sporting some awesome chaps thanks to Aunt Haley, McKenzie was a "nice" witch, and Brayden was a vampire.

Home Sweet Home

Every morning here in our new home we've enjoyed the sunrise. One of the first things the kids do when they get up is check out the sunrise. They have been awesome! The above picture is a view out our back door. We also have the most amazing sunsets. I haven't been the best photographer lately but maybe I'll capture a sunset over the next couple days.

We love being in our home. We've been so busy that it all seems like a blur. We still have boxes everywhere, but we love being here. After going through the building process we take a lot of pride in our home, I think because we picked it all out. Stressful process-one I don't want to do again.

We have wonderful neighbors! Our kids are enjoying playing with all the kids. They love being able to ride their bikes around! McKenzie said about the only thing she really misses is our lawn and our big trees. Me too Kenzie! We'll put our yard in the spring - for now we'll enjoy all the dirt. One of these days I'll finish unpacking and start decorating.

Warning!

I just posted a TON of pictures of our home we're building, if these pictures bore you can check out our kids in older posts. We are almost done! Just a few things left! I posted so many pictures you actually have to go to older posts to see the kitchen, then don't miss my cute kids dressed up for our Halloween Party.

Bathrooms

Upstairs bathroom. Max refers to it as his bathroom because it is by his room.
Downstairs bathroom. (Brayden and Kenzie's bathroom)

I wish I could take better pictures but you get a good glimpse of our home. I can't wait to move in. It has turned out nice and looks better in person so your all welcome to come visit.

Basement Family Room

Master Bedroom

I didn' really take pictures of the bedrooms. This shows the tray (I think that is what it is called) ceiling in the master. Our office we painted an accent wall USU blue, Max has an accent red wall in his room, McKenzie has an accent pink wall (she also has a nice walk-in closet), Braydens room doesn't have an accent wall he is decorating with John Deere stuff and we couldn't find a green we liked for a wall.