THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Jack o Lanterns big and round,

Kids in costumes can be found,

Cook-off chaos will abound,

THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Spider tricks and

trunk or treats,

Lots of candy we will eat,

Batman & Robin can't be beat!

THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Super Heroes shouting BOO!

Batman brothers, Ruby-roo,

"Ruvy-Ballet" in her tutu,

THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

OO-oo-OO-oo

THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Finding Fall

I discovered fall today driving through my neighborhood! Since I've lived in Arizona for 11 years now, it caught me by surprise. There has been NO fall to speak of, and it makes me a little heart/homesick as of late. How could I NOT have noticed this glimpse of fall, all these years?!? Even though I MAY be color blind, the trees lining the street were definitely looking different somehow, possibly a brownish-rusty color to them.

Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror, white frames (past Labor Day!) with brown tinted glasses. Ha...joke's on me in my sepia toned world!

On a side note, we really did find fall this year, and it was a nice treat. Check out our Fall Break post down below to see Autumn in Sedona.

Wordless Wednesday

11 and then some

Little Miss is growing, growing, growing and becoming her own little person now! She sleeps through the night better than Dylan and is taking good naps, if we happen to be home for them. She loves to wave BYE BYE and gets mad if someone leaves and she doesn't get to. She's also very irritated with her head bands and more often than not, pulls them off the first chance she gets. What she doesn't know yet is her mama will always be more stubborn than she is, and I will not give up on the head bands until she can wear clips! Ruby can say Dada, Mama & UH-oh! She eats only big people food now, but still hasn't gained any weight. A few days after her 11 month mark, she was still at 15 pounds. (I'm trying not to worry about it.) The other day I discovered her hip bones. That was a first, my boys were so chubby, I never found a bone in their bodies! Ruby is almost always standing now with her music table, couches, mama's legs, whatever she can find. She also is a big helper at dinner time and loves to play in the lower cabinets while I cook. You know, right under foot!

Here's some photos of her taking off her bows & tutu. The tutu was a dress rehearsal for Halloween at Music Makers and it did not go over well!

Get me outta here!

Headband on...TAKE THE PICTURE already!

I'll show you, Mama!

On again,

but not for long!

Off again...take that Mama!

I can't wait til she's a teenager!

Wordless Wednesday

Fall Break

This was our first official FALL BREAK since Kaleb was born, and it was nice. (I used to get two whole weeks when I was teaching, but those days are long gone!) We fell out of our routine and more in love with nature and each other. We played and played and played the week away: park dates, play dates, day trips, lunch with dad in the middle of the week.

Our favorite day was Saturday at GRASSHOPPER POINT in Sedona. We love to hike!

We found fall!

And then of course there was the ZOO.

D was all over the place...we love us a good splash pad!

D & Ruby playing in their own little cave.

Kaleb was really good about watching out for Dylan. There were lots of big kids there!

Ruby held her own in the lazy river & water fall.

We managed to see a couple of animals while we were there.

When Dad comes, we go to the Petting Zoo & Harmony Farm. I would skip it every time!

Earlier in the week we went to JUMP CITY with the cousins.

Ruby with her first belly shirt & mini skirt....ha! Jenny's girls were DYING to hold her and were so much help with the boys. It was sweet!

We also drove by our first home in Chandler in between the dentist and doctor appointments. It made me so sad to see how much the new owner had let it go. We think it might be in foreclosure now.

Around the corner we had some fun at the park.

And now the blog is caught up....well, sort of!

10 years!!!

A day short of 10-10-10, Ben celebrated a decade of work for Openlane (aka Autotradecenter, ATC, ATC Onlane). 10 years, 1 company. To him, I'm sure it feels like forever. To me, it's gone by so, so fast! I can remember that young pup so clearly, sitting in his cube, phone in hand, bleached, spiky hair & hawaiian shirt on (pictures may need to be scanned for this post). This was the man I fell so head over heels in love with, the man I'm still falling in love with! Ben chased me down to AZ with no job, and a very old Blazer w/ sheepskin seat covers in 110+temps. He had a little money in his pocket and a duffle bag in the back seat. I think he was hoping to find something to put himself through school with, then move on to bigger and better.

Turns out bigger and better, keeps on being offered to him within this little internet company. What started out as a company of less than 20, is now hundreds strong, spread out throughout the country. My husband, the internet car salesman (;, went from an entry level call center position, to manager of the call center, manager of the sales side, account manager, and I'm sure I've missed a few positions in there. We just found out Monday that Ben will be promoted to Program Director by the end of the year!!! He also gets a bonus & five extra vacation days from his company for working ten years....wahoo!

Ben is such an extremely hard worker and a wonderful provider. Through these ten years, he married me, bought 2 homes, finished school, and had 3 kids....well, I guess I did that last one, but he definitely helped! All of his hard work has allowed me to fulfill my lifelong dream of being a stay at home mom, for which I am truly grateful! One of the things I love most about Ben is once he's home, he's home, and can put all his work stuff behind him. When he's here, he's my guy, and the best dad on the planet. Seriously. The kids light up, run to the door, and I think it's all of our favorite part of the day.

To celebrate, Ben was gifted an iPAD, an iTUNES gift card, and a dinner with us to Outback. Who knew the iPAD would be so much fun!?! The perfect gift for my tech-guy. One of his clients gave him a gift card to Best Buy as a thank you, and we pitched in the rest. And there was a peachy dessert, of course!

He's being goofy on purpose in this pic. (:

We're bursting with pride, and love, love, love you, Michael Benjamin Murdock! Thank you for ALL you do, I'm sure we don't say it enough...especially me.