Wordless Wednesday

A Grateful Heart!

This is my better late than never Thanksgiving post. We have SO much to be thankful for this year, I'm tempted to take the 100 challenge & list it here. But since it's a month after the fact, and I'm just trying to journal one big event before the next begins, I'll save that post for next year.

Here's my top 10 in no particular order: 1) I'm especially thankful for our health and modern technology that gives us the ability to find and treat cancer early. 2) My handsome hubby who keeps me laughing and feeling loved no matter what! 3) 3 Giggly kids that love to learn and be together. 4) Answers to prayer. 5) A home that we've outgrown, but is surrounded by friends whom we love. 6) My Savior 7) Ben's job that provides for all we need and then some 8) Good food 9) Kid free workouts 10) Family near & far

Thanksgiving Day started with a Turkey Trot for this gal. I signed up the whole fam, but Ben wasn't feeling well, so I ended up going solo again. My first 5 k was the Maricopa Turkey Trot last year that I ran with my friend, Robyn. We were both happy to "run" the thing without stopping and barely made it ahead of our girlfriend's mom. Slightly embarrassing, but I remember finishing in just under 33 minutes and was happy about it at the time. We were also star struck by running into Sione from Biggest Loser and he was cool enough to let us strike a pose! This year I started out with some girlfriends from church, but ended up just going at my own pace. My ipod wasn't working, so I had Ben's phone with Pandora & Green Day. Let's just say, Green Day & I ROCKED IT! Still not super fast, but I finished in 26:30, a personal best as far as I know. It was fun to see how far I've come & I somehow managed stay in the same time zone (within 2 minutes) of the high school cross country girls, so not bad considering I hadn't really ran that much since last spring.

Then the race really began....in the kitchen. Ben & I made a turkey (super moist & yum this year...thanks OVEN BAG), veggie tray, cranberry spinach salad, dressing, sweet potatoes, cherry & pecan pie.  We celebrated with our dear friends the Scoresbys & Lines and it was quite a feast!  3 turkeys & a counter full of pie later, we were all in hog heaven!  
Sandy made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate afterward, the guys watched football while we planned our black Friday shopping, and we ended the day at the park.  So nice!

Chrissy ditched me for Black Friday, so I tagged along with Sandy & Jenna. I had the best pastrami sandwich & sweet potato fries ever at Chompies and we did get quite a few deals. That afternoon I took my kids to the park and then to Arthur Christmas all by myself. Ben had the afternoon to himself & worked on his Thunderbird application, then met us for dinner.

The next day we started what may, or may not, become a new Murdock family tradition.  We took off for a day trip to Payson to cut our own Christmas tree.  

So fun!  We started out in merry spirits, drove the 2 hours there and stopped for lunch. We went on to the forest, found snow, and 3 hours later....a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. A few comments from Kaleb we may never forget: "Let's just go home! Why are we getting a tree anyways? We're going to be in Oregon for Christmas." That was around hour 2 of tromping through the forest.  We eventually let him pick a tree that we love. 

It's tiny, scraggly, and crooked, but it smells good. The kids each took a turn cutting it. 

We decorated it Sunday after church and the kids loved every minute of it. Every time I see it, I smile. It's covered in kid-made, mismatched ornaments, half blinking, half non blinking lights, popcorn-cranberry strung garland, and a crooked angel on top.  Perfection!

Wordless Wednesday

Text on Tuesday

Just wanted to send a quick note and let everyone know that this afternoon I was accepted in the MBA program at Thunderbird. Classes begin the second week of January. Wish me luck!!


BEST NEWS EVER! I got a text saying call me ASAP first, but after we talked, BEN sent this text to his family & me on Monday. Coincidentally it was the day he proposed to me, 11 years earlier, which is also about the same time his dreams of Thunderbird began. 


Here's another fav from the week, from my girlfriend, Robyn-Bobyn! She's the proud mama of Team Barker...that's right, 5 little boys. And all of them, oh so cute, inside & out. One of them will be Ruby's Prince Charming. ;)

All right y'all. We decided on a name. Samuel Hardman Barker. I'm sure we'll just call him Sam. He's sure a sweet baby!


Jenna and I were able to sneak away and visit them at the hospital when Sam was one day old. He was delicious, to say the least, and now I'm a bit baby hungry. How can one resist a babe so sweet from heaven with the hiccups?!?  

People I Want to Punch in the Throat

Okay, so I have this friend from my teaching years whom I love dearly. Outside of elementary school life, she swears like a sailor! So when she shared this blog post, I knew what kind of humor I'd likely find. Consider yourself warned, but it is hilarious. Especially if you have an Elf, fight with your hubby over who "gets" to move him and/or remember at 3 am, and have friends... people you really actually know (not just on f/b) and love, that do these over-the-top-super-fun things with their Elf.
'Nuff said.

Elf lovers/haters, read on here: Over Achieving Elf on the Shelf Mommies.

Wordless Wednesday

Text on Tuesday

From my friend, Allison: jog.fm.


Go there and find songs to add to your playlist that will help you time your miles...ie. I want to run 9 min. miles, and there's a list for that!  SWEET!


From Ben, my love: SOOOOOO COLD!!!!! (Really?  Who is this guy?  The guy I married never gets cold!  I guess 11 years in AZ...) He was at football practice with Kaleb in 40 degree weather.