Christmas

It always feels a little weird reading Christmas posts when the snow has melted and Easter decorations are out, so I forced myself to post this before it was much more than a month late. Part of the reason it has taken me so long to post this is because I wasn't quite sure what to write. I wish I could say what a magical Christmas we had this year and that it was our best Christmas yet, but that was not the case. At least not from my point of view. I'm not sure if it was the nasty sickness we got slammed with to kick off the holiday season, or the long challenging year we had finally taking it's toll on me, or Mason's selfish and greedy attitude that ruined it for me.  Whatever the reason, I had a really really hard time finding joy in Christmas this year.  I tried to push through my negative feelings to make sure Christmas wasn't a total bust for my kids, and I hope I succeeded.

Pre-Christmas

Of course we had to visit Santa so the kids could tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Mason asked Santa for an "Eagles football with a tee to kick off" although he wasn't very confident Santa would be bringing him anything at all.  You see, Mason has had a pretty rough year as far as behavior is concerned. The problems we have been having all seemed to get worse as Christmas approached. When anyone asked Mason what he wanted for Christmas his response was always, "There is no way Santa will bring me anything. I am on the naughty list for sure." We had never said any such thing, he came to that conclusion on his own. It made me really sad to hear him say this over and over and made me feel like a horrible parent. I constantly tried to build him up and encourage him to start making better choices so he could be on the nice list, but he was convinced it was too late to change anything. In the weeks right before Christmas we did see at least an effort on his part to make better choices. I'm happy to report that the new year has brought with it a new Mason. I am finally seeing a glimmer of hope that this phase might end. 

 As usual Brynn totally freaked out when it was her turn to see Santa. She created quite the scene with her screaming and hysterics and we never even got through the door frame. I have come to accept that Brynn's picture with Santa when she was 6 months old is the only one we will ever get. 

Brynn just sent her request in a letter asking Santa for "a pink camera like Mason's"

Miles sat on Santa's lap, but I think his face tells us exactly how he felt about it. 

As if one Santa visit clearly wasn't enough for our kids we tried it again a few days before Christmas when my dad took all of us to Riverside's Breakfast with Santa. Santa arrived via golf cart with Buddy the Elf.

 He told stories and sang songs with the kids. Brynn stayed in the other room with me.

 Santa was great and all, but what we really enjoyed was the delicious breakfast we had with our cousins.

 Brynn absolutely adores Rachel Faye!

 Then we had our cousin gift exchange. I love how close all these little cousins are!!

Christmas Eve

For everyone who dreams of a White Christmas, this is definitely one to remember. On Christmas Eve Day it started snowing and didn't slow down the entire day. This made our trip out to the Murray's in Woodland Hills an adventure.

We started off with a Shephard's lunch

 Then everyone bundled up and headed outside to enjoy all the fresh snow.

 The snow was almost up to Brynn's waist. She got stuck a time or two, but it didn't stop her from having a good time.

After the traditional candlelight dinner it was time for the nativity. Mason wanted to be a wiseman...yet again. It's because they are the ones who get to hold cool boxes full of things.

 Brynn was a shepard, but wasn't very cooperative with the costuming.

 

The final cast. Honestly I'm not really sure who played who.

 Miles was supposed to be a sheep, but he ended up wandering around as a lost sheep.

 

We finished off the night by opening our Christmas jammies. We tried to get a picture of the all the kiddos together...

 

 It didn't really work.

I was scheduled to work Christmas Eve, but was lucky enough to be put on call so I was able to stay and finish things up with the Murrays. As I was laying in bed with Mason we heard Santa's sleigh bells ringing outside and then the phone rang and I got called into work. I got to go in and take care of a mean little old lady with dementia who was yelling, hitting, and kicking me all night. Merry Christmas to you too! I came home in the morning and as soon as the kids woke up we dove into Christmas. 

Christmas 

Honestly we didn't get many pictures since just managing the chaos kept us busy the whole time, but it was a great morning.

 Mason was thrilled with his Eagles football Santa brought. He also lucked out and got a new bike from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Val. His other favorite gifts were Ninjago legos and his Jazz Jersey.

 Brynn was thrilled with everything she opened. Her favorites included her camera, princess barbie dolls and clothes from Grandma and Grandpa

but her favorite things was her "phone and purse with lots of things in it". Which she had asked for exactly like that.

 

Miles got a Strider Bike from Grandma and Grandpa. He obviously still needs to grow into it a bit, but it will be perfect this summer!

 Miles didn't care about a single thing he got, except...

 the orange he got in his stocking. He carried around his "ball" all morning throwing and shooting it until he discovered he could bite off the peel and eat the yummy inside. Then he nabbed Brynn's, then Mason's, then Mom's, then Dad's.

 The most exciting gift for all of us was finding out we are having a GIRL!! I had an ultrasound 3 days before Christmas and had the tech keep it a secret and fill this box with pink tissue paper for a girl or blue tissue paper for a boy. We then kept it tucked safely under the tree until Christmas morning when we opened it to find pink, pink, pink. We were all THRILLED!

I was pretty positive I was having a girl based on my pregnancy, but didn't want to get my hopes up. Since we are 1000% sure we are done with this baby we are so happy we will have 2 boys and 2 girls.

 Grandma's Sleepover 

This year Grandma's Sleepover fell the week after Christmas because that is when Brandon and Whitney were in town. I cannot even describe my kids' excitement levels in anticipation of this night. I dare say they were as excited for this as they were for Christmas itself. 

They all got to open their jammies first thing. We snapped a picture and then the adults took off to a yummy dinner at Red Lobster and a night to do whatever we wanted without kids.

 The crew is rapidly growing and is up to nine.

Chase (2), Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Val, Miles (1)

Cannon (7), Mason (5), Andrew (2), Kennedy (5), Kendall (2 months), Rachel (4), Brynn (3)  

The girls.

 

 Grandma with the little ones in the hot tub.

 The big kids.

Don't worry, no one lost an eye with those gigantic icicles Cannon and Mason found.

 They then came in and had homemade snocones.

and bounced in the bounce house.

The kids all slept and my parents survived the night.

That is a peek into our Christmas.

Birthday Boy

  Amid all the Christmas excitement and activities going on in December we were able to set aside a day to celebrate Mr. Miles turning one! I know it's cliche', but seriously, where did the last year go? Deciding what cake to make Miles was easy since he has one true love in life and that is balls. Soccer balls, footballs, big balls, little balls, it doesn't matter, if it's a ball and he can get his hands on it, then he's a happy boy. So naturally we chose to do a little ball party for him. In addition to his basketball cake, I thought it would be fun to make little cake pops decorated like different sports balls. 

 Miles loved them! He almost always is chewing on some type of ball so you can imagine his excitement when he chomped down on a ball to find yummy cake goodness inside.  He DEVOURED it! Before we could stop him he had the whole thing shoved in his mouth and was begging us for another one. 

 As for presents, my mom and dad got him this awesome little sports toys with all different sports stations and balls. It completely stole the show and he hasn't been the least bit interested in any other birthday or Christmas presents since. 

I love this sequence of blurry pictures showing him running and kicking a goal. Even on sports mode our camera couldn't keep up with his enthusiastic excitement.

 His party wasn't anything fancy, just a little family dinner, but we had fun celebrating Miles.
Since I haven't been very good about documenting Miles' cuteness the last few month I am going to purge a lot of facts and stories about him now.

• LOVES balls. 
• Loves books, especially touch and feel books. His favorite book is B is for Bear. When he was 10 or 11 months old I was trying to help him identify eyes by pointing out all the eyes in the books we read.  He missed the concept and started calling books "eyes" for the next week or two. He did eventually learn how to say "book" but still points at most pictures in books and says "eyes".
• Has a special green blankie. Anytime he gets a hold of his blankie his thumb goes straight in his mouth, but he NEVER sucks his thumb without it. When he gets tired he goes to his crib and reaches through the slats to hold his blankie and suck his thumb until I come put him in his crib.
• Is obsessed with emptying every drawer and cupboard within reach.  Also loves to "help" unload the dishwasher. (It's usually while I'm trying to load dishes and is not helpful at all).
• This boy can eat!! He will eat pretty much anything we eat. It is not uncommon for him to out eat Mason and Brynn.
• LOVES the bathtub. Up until he was 11 months old bath time was a stressful ordeal for us because he seemed bound and determined to drown himself even in 3 inches of water and with our hands on him at all times. He must enjoy having his head underwater because he constantly dunks himself. I am dreading the swimming pool with him this summer.
• He is an amazing sleeper and for that I am eternally grateful! 
• Learned early how to climb up stairs and loved doing it, but took an extremely long time learning how to go down.  He seemed to have a huge phobia of going backwards down the stairs. We would turn him around and try gently pulling him down to teach him and he would scream and claw like we were taking him to slaughter. He finally got over the fear and now travels the stairs like a champ.
• LOVES his Grandpa Val. Started calling him "Pa!" without any prompting from any of us. When Grandpa is around Miles doesn't want anyone but him. Let's be honest, we all know it's because my Dad loves sneaking him all sorts of goodies.
• Adores Mason and Brynn and lights up whenever he hears their voice or sees them.
• Puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. We constantly find him with chipmunk cheeks full of treasures. One of his favorite things to carry around in his mouth is a golf ball. Did I mention he has an abnormally huge mouth and can easily fit an entire golf ball in it. I swear he has a secret stash of golf balls because we take them away from him, but he always shows up with another one. It's mind boggling. It's a miracle he hasn't choked by now.
• Plays a darling game of peek-a-boo by putting blankie over face, hiding behind our bed and popping up, or by simply putting he face against any wall or surface and holding really still then popping up and laughing. 
• Has a completely different look than Mason and Brynn. There is no doubt he belongs to us, though, because he is Scott's little mini me.
• Likes music. Shows his enthusiasm for a song by waving his right arm back and forth over his head (imagine like he's waving a lighter). He does this for everything from The wheels on the bus to the sacrament hymn in church. It is quite hilarious.
• Likes being chased around by a crawling and growling Scott.  Recently he has started running straight to his beloved spatula drawer and whipping out a weapon to defend himself with. What can I say, he has great protective instincts.
• He has the most adorable chuckle. For a long time it was how he expressed his approval of things. He would chuckle after every single bit of food we fed him. He would chuckle whenever people talked to him. He would pretty much just crawl around the house chuckling. Now that he is talking more and has found other ways to express his needs and wants we don't hear his constant chuckle, but thankfully he still gives it out pretty generously.

Those are a few things that stand out to me about Miles at 1 year. 

8 years

It's crazy to think Scott and I have been married for 8 years!!  We were practically children when we fell in love and decided to be sealed to one another and begin our own little family.  In the last 8 years our family and grown and changed quite a bit.

December 18, 2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Our family will be growing even more this May when we are expecting another baby!

One thing that hasn't changed is my love for Scott.  

I love you Scotty.

Bah Humbug

I feel like such a Scrooge this year. I have really been struggling to tap into the Christmas spirit. I will be lucky if I get all my Christmas shopping done on time, so I am pretty sure I won't get around to sending out a Christmas card. I guess this will have to do.

Merry Christmas

From the Murray Family

Scott, Rachel, Mason (5), Brynn (3), and Miles (1)

My coworker and friend, Rachel Lark, took our family pictures. She did a great job! If you are wanting family pictures for a steal, then check her out.  But you better hurry, because once word gets out her prices are bound to go up.

A Year of Babies

This year has been the year of babies in our family. Every childbearing sibling in both of our families will have had a baby this year (okay Miles was a few weeks earlier that 2012 and Chris and Kacie will be having a baby a few weeks after 2012, but close enough).  We started off with Miles in December, Isla Claire Murray (Jenna and Steve) in February, Christopher Jeffrey Spaulding (Becky and Jeff) in April and now we have 3 more additions.

Preston Jeremy Reese

 born to Janessa and Jeremy Reese

October 5th

6 lbs 10 oz  19 inches

 I couldn't find a picture of the entire family, but here is everyone but Janessa.

Kayla, Jeremy, Preston, and Avely.

next up was

Kendall Olive Hale

 born to Whitney and Brandon Hale

October 28th

 7 lbs 1oz  20 inches

 Rachel Faye, Whitney, Kendall, Andrew, Brandon

and finally

Lauren Kristen Murray

 Born to Lisa and Vance Murray

November 13th

6 lbs 11 oz  20.5 inches

Lauren, Lincoln, Lisa, and Vance

Chris and Kacie will finish things off with their baby boy in early January and then we will have one awesome group of cousins for years to come!

Football Fanatic

Every day I am faced with more and more evidence that Mason is growing up and is no longer my little boy. He goes to school every single day instead of twice a week. He takes showers instead of baths. He reads to me instead of me reading to him. He talks back to me instead of obeying...argh!! He likes going to BYU football games to watch the game instead of only to get a cougar tail (a foot long maple bar doughnut). He opted to watch football with the big boys instead of playing with the kids on Thanksgiving. He is wishing for an Eagles football for Christmas instead of some other toy. 

Yep, Mason has reached the age where he has fallen in love with football. In fact, he has become quite the fanatic. Scott has loved teaching Mason all about football and fostering his love for the Eagles, BYU Cougars, and Orem High Tigers. It's been fun watching Mason turn even more into a mini Scott. Mason is sad that football season is coming to a close, but don't worry, he is showing a lot of excitement about the Jazz and BYU basketball so he should have plenty to keep him occupied.

 

*Funny Mason comment*

Scott gave Mason an old Kyle Korver Jazz jersey. Mason asked who Korver was and if he had dark skin. We told him he used to play for the Jazz and that he did not have dark skin. Mason responded casually, "I'm going to pretend he has dark skin because the guys with dark skin have big muscles and look really cool....and they're really good."

Stay-cation

Scott had some days off of school last week and we really wanted to squeeze in a mini family vacation. We decided that instead of spending all our time and money going somewhere far away we would just find a hotel in Salt Lake and have a fun filled stay-cation. The only criteria we had for the hotel was that it had to have an indoor swimming pool. We stayed at the Raddison which ended up being in the perfect location where we were within walking distance of everything we wanted to do. I'll spare all the boring details and stick to the highlights.

• Discovery Gateway children's museum. It was fun to watch Brynn and Mason enjoy some of their old time favorites and also discover some new things they liked. It was Miles' first time there and he absolutely loved it. No surprise that his favorite spot was the ball area. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Swimming in the hotel pool.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• City Creek lighting of Christmas lights and arrival of Santa. Mason and Brynn had a lot of fun. Miles was not impressed being bundled up in his stroller all night.
  
  
  
  
• Eating at McDonalds every single day.
• Swimming in the hotel pool, again.
• Disney on Ice. Brynn was really into it and loved all the songs. Mason was so preoccupied with a silly little Mushu stuffed animal he wanted, but we wouldn't get for him, that he hardly paid attention to the show until the Mulan part at the very end. Miles did well for the first half and then decided he was done sitting still. Thank goodness for back row isle seats. Mason and Brynn have been on a serious Mulan kick so the Mulan segment was definitely their favorite. As we were leaving, Mason told us he wants to be Shang in Disney on Ice when he grows up. To give him credit, Shang's back flip was definitely the coolest trick during the show.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Scott was beaming with pride when Mason was adding every Eagles and Phillies item in Fanzz to his Christmas wish list. His pride quickly turned to embarrassment when Mason insisted on getting a Shang barbie doll for his trip souvenir. The way I see it, when he grows tired of Mulan then Brynn will have a boy barbie doll to play with. 
• Did I mention swim in the hotel swimming pool? We went swimming multiple times a day.
• Found out firsthand the biggest downfall to having an amazing sleeper like Miles who we just lay down in his crib at home and he puts himself to sleep. He needs his room and his crib to go to sleep. He would not go to sleep in the pack n play, wound not lay next to us on the bed, and would not let us rock him to sleep. There weren't many naps or early bedtimes happening. 
• Walked around temple square and visited the Church History museum.

Overall our stay-cation was a huge success. We got all the fun parts of a vacation without the travel.