Murdock's Musings: GRAMMAZONA

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

GRAMMAZONA

Waiting for Gramma at the airport...is she here yet?!?

Kaleb in the treehouse.

Shopping with the girls...maybe I don't need a girl after all?

D's first (of many to come!) ride on the carousel...he LOVED it!

Dylan is King of the Slide Mountain!

This is how I found them when I came home from my interview. So sweet!

The Birthday boy with his baby friends: Drew & Nicholaus.

The AWESOME new Cougar Cavern (I think) at the zoo! Complete w/ splashpad, slides, a waterfall, stream, shade & more... we loved it!

Gramma's famous Bonnie Butter cake with French Silk Chocolate frosting. YUM!

K & Gramma on safari checking out the orangutan family.

When I was a little girl we used to take at least one road trip a year down to "Grammazona." Well it was either that or "Summerzona," I couldn't make up my mind. I guess I associated Arizona with two things...Grandparents and the summery hot sun. I always loved our family vacations visiting Arizona, but would have never guessed that I would live here for as long as I have... 9 years! Especially now that over the past year my ENTIRE family has moved back to Oregon, except for me & mine, it seems at times like I've had enough of this place. But life's not fair as I've been told several times by said family, so you just as well make the best of it, and that's exactly what we did.

We really enjoyed having my mom for 10 days, and made the most of every day she was here. She made living here feel like vacation again! I cleaned my house really good before she arrived, and then forgot about it while she was here. We threw Dylan a BBQ bash with the grandparents and a few of his baby friends, went to 2 chick-flicks, out for Mexican food, shopping with my grandma, and somehow managed to fit in a trip to the zoo and a few sewing projects, too. Mom also watched the boys so Ben and I could go on a date, and it was SO nice! We went to PeiWei's, the temple for sealings, and then to Cheesecake Factory for dessert afterward. It was hard seeing her go, and hard to get back into "Sara in Real Life" mode, but life goes on. We sure love you, Mum...thanks for all you do to keep us close to you even though we're miles apart!

4 comments:

Kelly said...: That looks like so much fun. It is always so hard to get back into the swing of things! I hope you are almost there. I guess we really need to talk.. what interview were you at? Are you getting a job? I'll have to call you this weekend!; September 26, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Robyn said...: Yay, horray for moms. Seriously. Glad you guys had a fun time. Where were you shopping is those pictures?; September 26, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Val said...: Such cute pictures - miss you!!; September 26, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Barb said...: Sary,
I just looked over your blog again and realized I hadn't thanked you for all the fun I had! I wouldn't trade our time together for anything! Kaleb is always such fun and is growing up so fast! I had more fun on "safari" than he did! Dylan is soooo precious! I loved being able to see his first steps, again, something too precious to miss! Ben is so wonderful to me when I am there and I appreciate it so much and you, of course, are THE best daughter and friend in the world. You probably won't notice this after all this time but I love you and miss you again! I'm sure we may have to do something about that!!! Love you, Mom; November 4, 2008 at 12:14 AM

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The Days of our Lives

4.14 K pitched during his game & did great. I had to share at a RS night how I was spiritually prepared for my trials. It was difficult, but I think everyone felt the Spirit. I also was inspired to think about "spiritual love languages" and knowing how the Lord speaks to us individually. Gained insight into my own p. blessing as I was preparing.
4.15 Helped in D's class & took home packets to grade. Reminded me of my teaching days. :)
4.16 My VT came over & taught an inspired lesson about patience. Diana braided ruby's hair into a crown & Tiara brought pretty pink g. daisies.
4.17 Went to the Kennedy Gold Mine with Kaleb's class. I love that he still holds my hand & wants to hang out with me in front of his friends.
4.18 Baseball Sat. Both boys had games that overlapped. Ben got home after 10 pm from Philly, thankful for where we live.
4.19 Taught about the importance of the B of M. Shared my fave scripture, by small & simple things great things shall come to pass.
4.20 Ruby's the best one in her dance class. Met the boys at R. Robin for dinner.
4.21 FINALLY got my hair done again. Ben & I went out after kids were in bed & got some See's.
4.22 Caught up on g. shopping. K & D both had games & Ben had to run Pack NIght all at the same time. D hit 2 doubles, a single & learned not to throw his bat. K hit a double, too. Also got hit pretty hard in the calf.
4.23 Went to a fun surprise baby shower for Tiara & spent the night eating yummy food & having fun with girlfriends. Hike with Roxy.
4.24 Helped plant seeds in Ruby's class. Kids had friends over after school. Date nite w/ Ben. He finally took me to a girl movie: The Age of Adeline. Over dinner he told me more about his promotion as COO & that he negotiated a million shares in stock. (out of 8 m). He seems pretty excited.
4.25 Bball games rained out, spent the day catching up around here, riding bikes & playing catch. We told the kids about Ben's promotion & moving to TN this summer. They took it really well.
4.26 Finally changed blog to private & felt impressed to journal about spiritual things & just our lives in general again. It's been too long & WAY too much has happened.

words to live by...

President Hinckley used this quote by Jenkins Lloyd Jones in a talk he gave while I was in college. It always stayed with me and I try to remember it when life doesn't seem to go according to my plan (basically all the time!). “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.

"The fact is most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. …

“Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

“The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride” (“Big Rock Candy Mountains,” Deseret News, 12 June 1973, A4).