Hannah Gets Married!

I wanted to be sure to report about an important Murray family event that happened in October.  My oldest niece got married on Mary's birthday (Mary was a flower girl) in October to a great guy named Joseph Cammack.  (We now have three different Joseph's - two on the Murray side and one on the Sullins side- in our family!)  It was a whirlwind romance - they just met in the spring.  But they were oh so in love - it was a joy just to see that young uninhibited love oozing from them. 

My baby sister Catherine's wedding was just last year, so it felt kind of funny already having a wedding for my niece.  I guess depending on when they start having children - I could be a great aunt soon!  That's a VERY scary thought!

Anyway, it was a beautiful Colorado day - warm and full of Autumn .  The temple ceremony (Denver temple) was really beautiful (my life-long friend Sara saved me and came to watch Mary and Jonathan so Jeff and I could both go in).  Howard (her other Grandpa) performed the ceremony - he also performed me and Jeff's and I think it may have taken place in the same room that Jeff and I had ours.  Hannah looked so... BEAUTIFUL of course... but just fresh and full of love and light and virtue and youth.  It was just like something out of a movie... or book ... or Heaven?  Weddings are a natural time to pause and reflect and I found myself doing that a lot throughout the day.

Of course Ivan- my brother, and Beckie- my sister and her family came out as well as my 89 year old grandma - Iola. 

A couple of days before, I threw Hannah a shower -though really I had so much help from Beckie and my Mom that I don't know if I can really take the credit.  We had some yummy food (Beckie provided as as much as me) and Pink Berry Frozen yogurt - Hannah's favorite (and mine and Jennifer's and Emma's) frozen yogurt.  We had three pretzel rods dipped in various chocolates and dips for party favors - made by my Mom and Beckie and my Mom brought some balloons for decor.  We had a lot of people here and we had a great time.  We had a few activities - the Newly wed game - where you ask the bride the same questions that you've previously asked the groom and then we all went around to give advice and of course we opened GIFTS!  I really had fun - which is saying something when you are the hostess - because normally you have to just worry about everything coming together.

The pretzels (and adorable Sheri Anna) before getting packaged up:

What was left of the food - minus the veggie pizza that I didn't get out in time.  : )  (A couple dips, pumpkin bread, fruit pizza, double tomato bruschetta, and the yogurt on the end.

Anyway.... here are some pics now from the wedding.  (And FYI all photos of this post are courtesy of Beckie, because I lamely didn't take ANY of the shower or wedding!).

I had to include this picture of Emma who was is becoming so gorgeous she almost took the spotlight away from the bride.  Of course Eve and Sterling are beautiful too.

I found myself thinking a lot about what Jennifer must be feeling to have her daughter grown up and married. I can't even imagine what that day will be like with Mary.

 ....All because two people fell in love.  I love this pic of my happily married parents.

Mary loved the caramel apple station.

 Look at these two!  I love their smiles!!!

 I love this pic of Jennifer and Scott - parents of the bride!

Dancing!  Joe and Eve.

Mr. and Mrs. Cammack..... and Sheri Anna.  : )

Me holding Beckie's new baby (did I mention that????) - another cousin Jonathan's age named Christian.

Friend Christina (she looked so stunning that night) holding Christian too.

Me stealing a smooch from delicious Jonathan.  Who does he look like here???

Big Brother Sterling kisses Christian too.  I love this pic!

As I finish this post, it reminds me of what a great family we have - how much we love each other - how important each member is - how we are all sealed for eternity together.

Best wishes Hannah and Joseph!  May your love get deeper with each sunrise.

An Insecurity Revealed AND Stephanie and Sigmund

So.... I am about to reveal something about myself that is a bit....um ... revealing.  : )

We all have insecurities right?  Well one of mine - that sort of developed late in highschool  - was that I didn't feel very smart. 

This insecurity developed when I took the ACT and didn't do very well. (I think I did pretty well on the SAT however).  This affected my self esteem - but worse for me at the time was I wasn't accepted into BYU.  I had always heard my Mom talk about how wonderful a time she had at BYU.  And I had always imagined going there.  And of course, that was the best option for a college bound Mormon (at least that is what many of us grew up believing).  It was a dream that was lost.

I'm okay with all that now.  Truly.  I don't believe I was meant to go to BYU.  And I LOVED my experience at CSU.  And I realize that the test scores had a lot to do with the fact that I just never really figured out how to take tests.  I've never been very good at them.  I don't know how to study for them....Actually some tests I have done very well at.  But anything where I had to study a massive amount of text and then have a multiple choice test, I wasn't too good at. 

Also, I don't come from a very academic family - which doesn't mean my parents didn't care about education or school work.  They absolutely did.  But we valued other things.... hard work and our religion and developing our talents.  I know now that my not testing well doesn't mean that I'm not smart.  We just focused on different things.  And too....I feel like I am smart enough to have been successful in life.  I've always succeeded in my endeavors and often risen to the top.  I've been able to get along with people.  And I have a Bachelor degree from a university.  A fellow choir member of mine told me that she thought I was smart because I was funny and always coming up with a quick quib.  So... I am okay now.  I know I'm not the smartest.  But I DO know that I'm not dumb.  And I'm happy and grateful with so many of the other gifts God has given to me. 

One more point is that I've often heard that actually the smartest people in life are NOT usually the most successful people -that the B students often fare better in the world.  I've always found that interesting.  It is the more well-rounded individual - the one who knows how to get along with others - and work hard - that does the best in the long run. 

Still, I wish I was smarter.  I am in awe of contestants on Jeopardy.  Seriously, how do they know so much???  I don't know if I'll ever know.  I wish I was more knowledgeable in so many subjects.... history, geography, science, vocabulary....  Hopefully each year that I live I will learn more and more. 

But here is why I'm writing this post....

My sister's sister-in-law - her name is Stephanie - is one of these really smart people.  Her and her husband went to the Colorado school of Mines for crying out loud.  And she has some engineering degree I think.  She has a little boy - not quite a year younger than Mary.  And I thought it would be good to get to know her and see how smart people do things.  At a birthday celebration for my sister this past summer, I asked her if she'd like to get together with our kids and I could see how she approached teaching her son.  She agreed and ever since about August I think, we've been hanging out about once a week doing lots of fun outings. 

So.... I wanted to share some of the things that we've done with them.  It has been good for me to see how "smart people" do things.  But more than that, it has just been fun to get to know them and take advantage of many of the fun things there are to do in Denver. 

Here are some pictures from the various outings we've had:

The Zoo
Stephanie is a member at the zoo and so always gets me in for free.  Prior to Mary turning three, I didn't have to pay a thing!  Nice!  She always brings this fun wagon for the kids to sit in and Mary loves being pushed around in it.

The Museum
We had a great time at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science - especially the little kids section.  Here is Sigmund.  Isn't he adorable?

The Botanic Gardens
I've always loved the Botanic Gardens.  And Mary's favorite thing was feeding the fish and turtles and eating a popsicle from the popsicle stand.

The Berry Patch Farms
I have always LOVED Berry Patch Farms and this year was no different.  Boy! Were those strawberries and raspberries delicious!  And there are so many fun animals too.

 Check out those golden raspberries!

Miller Farms
This place was really cool.  You go and pay an entrance fee and then they drive you to different areas to pick as much produce as you can carry!  We picked broccoli, corn, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, onions, and more!  But it was really cold the day we went and I didn't pack enough gear.  Mary was miserable and crying by the end.  Poor baby.  It wasn't my best parenting moment for sure.  Mike (Stephanie's hubby) joined us on this day.  Actually, they let us crash their family outing.  : )

The Pumpkin Patch
What was fun about the pumpkin patch wasn't so much the patch itself as was the blow up slide and bouncy houses.  Mary never had taken to the big slides before this outing, but this day she didn't want to leave.  We had fun.  And I must give a shout out to Stephanie for helping me out so much on all these outings.  Often she will take Mary under her wing if I have to nurse Jonathan.

Wild Life Experience

We had a great time at the Wild Life Experience too!  Mary did however throw a fairly memorable fit that day.  She didn't want to leave the slide where you slide like a penguin.  Even Jonathan joined in on the fun!

The Aquarium

What's not to love about the aquarium really?  

 Jonathan was intrigued too.

Hammond's Candy Factory

This was a fun activity to do at Christmastime.  The tour is actually kinda lame.  But the candy makes up for it!

Swimming!
Mary went down the big slide this time and had a blast of course!

So now you can see why I've been so busy the past several months!  We've been having a great time and now we have some great new friends!

Happy New Year!

Hi All!!!  And Happy New Year!
Guess what???  I"M ALIVE!!! 

Ugh!  I just feel so disappointed that I haven't updated my blog for two months - but not really guilty.  I just haven't gotten to it.  You know?  BUT...  it IS important to me and so while I haven't really resolved yet to do anything this year, I am resolving now to update my blog - I'm hoping- once a week at least.  But please don't judge me too harshly if I don't succeed with that exact timing.  : )

2012 - as I look back - was for me mostly about preparing for a new baby, having said baby, and taking care of new baby and older baby....And also it was about upheaval in the world around me.  But more about that in a bit.  Back to two children....

I know two isn't a lot.... so many of you have three times that.  But it has been an adjustment for sure.  I feel I am handling it fairly well.  But I feel I have all I can handle - at least for right now. 

Jonathan is a sweetheart.  I adore him.  And as he has gotten a bit older he has become easier.  He was never a HARD baby.  But he has been more difficult in some ways than Mary.... won't take a bottle or pacifier mainly, but also doesn't sleep as well.  He does pretty well and sometimes I think the only reason he isn't better at sleeping is because I have to wake him up to run off to get Mary somewhere.  But what can you do?  Only your best.  He still sleeps pretty well for the most part though.  He is generous with his smiles, loves to be held, has two teeth, is moving around quite well (that army crawl/scooch thing), and loves his sister, Daddy, and MOMMA!  Momma is the best!!!

Mary is in Primary now - she's such a big girl!  She is very independent, smart, spirited, has a great vocabulary, and has become more challenging to handle.  I sometimes have wondered, after feeling like such a good parent for all this time, if I've ruined her.  I don't think so.  I think she is quite normal.  But I have recently started reading a bit more to make sure I have a few more tools in my pocket.  I think she will definitely be ready for preschool next year.  She has recently been enamored with all of her new busy bags, Christmas toys, and my new IPAD.  Everyday she asks me what day it is.  And the girl can talk and talk and talk some more.  I love her to pieces of course. 

All of us are basically well and life is good.  But negative happenings in the world were the other thing that seemed to be a theme for 2012.  There was a contentious election, the Aurora shooting, the Jessica Ridgeway murder, and then of course recently, the horrible school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.  It is hard to not be fearful in this world - especially when people look at things so differently.  It has been a discouragement to me that there is so much hatred and division in our country.  I don't know what can be done.  I do always have hope though for a brighter tomorrow.

Our extended families are well.  Jeff's mother has completed her chemotherapy and radiation and now is over the worst of it.  My family is also well and we had lots of good times over the holidays. 

I hope to catch up a bit in the next few weeks about the last few months. 

Thanks!  If you get a chance, drop me a comment or two.  : )