The Best of 2009

As this year is quickly approaching an end, I am reflecting back on the bests of this year.

1. We moved away from the snow and cold to warm and sunny Queen Creek, AZ. For those who are not sure of where this is, it is in the greater Phoenix area in southern Arizona. I am so excited to not be shoveling snow off my driveway anymore. I love that I was able to wear short sleeves for Thanksgiving. Most of all I love that I am close to most of my family here.

2. Blaine made his dream of being a business owner, come true. December 1, 2009 was the first day of business for Murdock Logistics. he started with 2 semi trucks with 53 foot trailers and 2 truck drivers and has them running freight all over the country. He was able to do this with an investor to fund the operation and because he was laid off. I am sure the Lord was watching out for us when this happened. If he was working, he would have never done this venture.

3. Joshua started high school. Although not on my top ten list (I really am starting to feel old now), it is on Josh's. He was so excited to start high school and meet new friends. Mainly he wanted to play high school football. His dream came true when he made the JV team at his high school. This is only the second year his school has been open and they did not have sports last year due to the lack of students. Josh was playing the starting defensive line and helped his team achieve the first victory for the school's football team. His father also made a trip out to watch him play this year which was one of Josh's highlights.

4. Jared started junior high. Again this thing where my kids are growing up is making me feel really old. Jared was so excited to be in junior high. He was on the football team also. His school did a flag football team and they played all over the valley. Jared loved being part of the team even though he did not play that much. He tried hard and his father was able to make it to his last game of the season. This was a huge deal for Jared, and the coach even let him play a bit more during that game.

5. Cayden started full day kindergarten. He did not get to finish preschool because we moved in March, so I was concerned that he was not up to the level he needed to be for kindergarten, but he surprised us and has done so well. He was one of the first 5 people in his class to get into the 100 club. That is where you can count to and write to 100. They had a small ceremony at the end of the semester for all of the kids that were in the 100 club. Blaine was able to go and see Cayden get his award. Cayden has made so many friends and loves his teacher. I am so thankful that he was able to attend this school!

6. Kayla turned 1. Our little princess has gotten so big! She is finally in the 5th percentile for weight (up from the 1st percentile at 9 months)! She is finally wearing 18 month clothes at 19 months. She finally has hair that can be put into 2 ponytails and stay for more then a few minutes without tons of mouse and hairspray! My baby girl is growing up. We thought she had outgrown her milk allergy, but she started having symptoms again so she is now on soy. she seems to be doing well with that and I am so thankful she does not have to be on something hypoallergenic!

7. My mom and I are finally building a relationship. After my whole life of being envious of others who could tell their moms everything and wanted their moms to be the first to know special secrets, I am starting to have that same relationship with my mom. I took an awful situation to make it happen, but we are making lemonade out of lemons and building our relationship.

8. We the first Whittle Thanksgiving get together. This included my uncle Mike and his whole family and all but one of my brothers and all of our families. There were 31 people there. WOW!!! It is the first time that we have ever gotten together since the kids left home. There were 3 grand kids that had to go to another parents house for that holiday and my dad who was not able to attend, were there in spirit. Since I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters and my uncle has 2 children and all but one sister has children of their own, that was lot of Whittle family members in one place.

9. I have been able to reconnect with many lost friends through facebook. I was so excited when I was able to find people that I had lost touch with on facebook and write short notes to catch up or just view photos of their families. What an amazing thing the Internet is. I also have been able to reconnect with my grandmary via email!

10. My husband and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this year. I am married to such an amazing man. He is so wonderful to me and puts up with all of my grouchiness and orneriness. He has been such a rock during our struggles this past year and I never could thank him enough for all that he does! He has become Mr. MOM while he has been building his business, and even though I give him a hard time, he has done a wonderful job of coordinating the kids' schedules and making sure things get done at home. He has even become quite the cook!

There are many things that did not make the top ten list but these were the highlights. There were also many sad and trying times that we have struggled through, but overall we have had a wonderful year and have grown so close. Trials bring us strength! Thank you to all who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers.

Promised Photos!

Jared picked the biggest pumpkin he could find.Cayden picked one he could carry!
Cayden aka GI Joe and Kayla aka the princess

Kayla, Cassia, Cayden, and Jared

October over....ALREADY???

Well there I am happy to say that we are still alive and mostly well. Josh and Jared have a case of the stomach flu. Jared, of course, is not as quick to recover because of the asthma. He goes in next week for shots. I can not wait for him to have the H1N1 shot and not have to worry about him so much. Cayden and Kayla have escaped the illnesses so far and the hand washing and hand sanitizing have skyrocketed at the Murdock home.
As for the crisis es in our lives, they are still there. Last month Blaine was laid off from his job. We are so fortunate that the nursing industry picks up in the winter and I have been able to pick up tons of overtime. We have not had to struggle with the bills much and that is such a relief. Blaine is starting his own trucking business and has almost everything ready for trucks to start rolling the end of next week. HOORAY! I am thankful that the overtime is here when I need it, but I really miss being at home with the kids. they really are the joy of my life. I am feeling very disconnected from my family now that I work 4-5 12 hour shifts every week. I am also very fortunate that I have not gotten sick! We are saying our prayers that we can continue this path as long as the Lord wants us to, but will be just as thankful when our time is up!
Our family is becoming very close because of the other major crisis in our lives and that is the only thing the is good about it. I can not wait until this one is over!
Halloween was wonderful and the kids had a blast. I did take pictures, but am typing this blog update at work do they are not posted. Sorry! I will get them up this weekend cuz I am off for 2 days in a row! We did get our family pictures done and our amazing photographer aka Andrea Whittle, posted them on her facebook. She is not private, so I am including the link to see our cute and adorable children as of last week.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2039061&id=1111500298&ref=mf

I wish everyone a wonderful foist week of November and I will get pictures posted very soon!

Not OK

I have been getting quite a few phone calls and messages on facebook and by email from my wonderful acquaintances asking if I am OK. Well, I am not ok. I keep trying to put a good show on, but I am really not ok. I keep getting more and more bad news and just when I think it is done coming, there is more just waiting to come out. I really am so grateful for everyone that has been giving me encouragement and for all the prayers that have been said on my behalf. Thank you to each and every one of you that are thinking of me and my family and praying for us. It helps knowing that I do have those around that truly care.

15 Already!

Here is my first baby boy! I can not believe that he is already 15. I remember his birth, his first birthday, and most moments in between then and now. I have watched as he changed from baby to toddler to school-aged to teenager. he looks more and more like a grownup each day and less and less like my little boy. Joshua does not like to get his picture taken. In fact, the only way this photo was taken, is because Cayden was playing with the camera and took it. He thought I would erase it but, I love these random photos so here it is!

This is the cake and the party guests.

And the wish was made, he got all of the candles on the first try. He received a x-box game and speakers for his I-pod. What a great day for Josh!

Schooltime

So I have been kinda in a funk when it comes to taking pictures lately. I am not really sure what my problem is. I love photography and love scrap booking everything, but I can not seem to get my camera out and take any pictures.
I am really sad about it right now because I missed all of the boys' first day of school photos. Cayden even started kindergarten and I did not get a photo of it. Kayla is making some amazing firsts and no photos. Joshua made JV football and has played 2 games. Jared is on the school flag football team and his season is almost over. All without photos!
after reflecting on what the heck is going on, I have come to the conclusion that I have an over busy life. I have 3 kids in 3 schools. High school, junior high and elementary school. I also work fulltime (four jobs), my two older boys are both in football and have to run all over the place to get to games and picked up from practice. Kayla is growing so fast I do not want to miss a moment and Blaine is ALWAYS at work. So, I have decided that inspite of really wanting photo documentation of our life, I really am having a hard time finding the time to do it. I decided that I need to cut out some stuff and get back to what I really enjoy. My family!
I have hired a housekeeper 3 hours a week to help keep up with the house, I have decided that I will not work more then 36 hours a week. I am hoping that with these small changes I will be able to make more time for our family and the photos that I love so much!

So Tired!

The other night I noticed Cayden was falling asleep during dinner. i told him to go upstairs and get in the shower so he could go to bed. He said, "Mom, I am not tired, my eyes just will not stay open!" I told him to take a shower anyway. He headed upstairs and I thought he got in the shower. I loaded the dishwasher, went upstairs to check on his progress, and found this at the top of the stairs. I am pretty sure that he was beyond tired!

Haircuts!

My most favorite time of year is football time. Now not for the reason you think. I am not into watching football or really into sports (except shopping, which, in my opinion, should be a sport.) I love it because that is when my boys willingly get haircuts! They grow it out from March until football starts in the fall. I did not get a before and after picture of Josh, I have been a total slacker with the camera lately. Here is Jared (aka JD) before and after his wonderful haircut!

I love the way they look after a haircut. I think my boys look so handsome with shorter hair, and so clean cut. I wish they would keep it that way. they love having long hair in the summer when they go to California with their dad, because then they look like surfer kids. Since they spend the entire summer surfing, and it is their hair, I stopped fighting them on it.

Here is Miss Kayla with not one but two backpacks on. She loved the stuff the boys had for getting back to school. When Cayden's zipper on his backpack broke, he let Kayla have it. She walks around everyday with it in her hand until I put it on the right way. then she walks around with it on for about 20 minutes until it falls off and she comes back for me to put it on right. She does not let it stop her from playing with her toys, she just likes to have it on. She is such a silly girl!

Cayden has been so excited to start kindergarten. He has been asking me every day since we moved to Arizona if he is starting kindergarten tomorrow. He finally did start July 27th. I was sad to see him get on the bus. I was even more sad when I forgot my camera and the most sad when he did not get off the bus! After heading to the school and yelling for a few minutes and 45 minutes of panic, I finally found my little kindergarten boy. They had put him on the wrong bus! When we had gotten his bus pass, they gave him the wrong color pass. the teachers put him on the color bus that was the same as the pass. Unfortunately, it was not what bus he was suppose to be on. The good news is, they got him the right pass! His older cousin gets him after school and walks him to the right bus, they ride together, and then get off together. I can not even begin to say how upset and scared I was. I am just so happy that it ended well!

Three reasons why you do not give a 2 year old icecream in the car!

I thought if I gave my niece Cassia a shake with a straw it would be fine to take in the car. I guess I have forgotten that the mind of a 2 year old and the mind of a mom are not on the same track. She decided that it would be fun to paint with the straw as a brush. Here are the results of her painting. The two year old wearing a new dress.

The inside of my car when she was done.

The cutest face that I could not be mad at when she smiled and said, "Look Emily!"

The funny things Cayden says.

The other day I was having Cayden practice writting his name and do his ACB flashcards. I told him he had to know all this stuff before kindergarden. It was working for a while until he wanted to do something else. anyway to try and get out of doing work, he said to me, "Mommy, I can not think anymore! I think my brain got broken and the xbox needs to fix it." I had to laugh. Leave it to a 5 year old to figure out how to get out of homework already!

She's Walking

Really Kayla has been taking steps for 2 1/2 months, but this week she decided that walking was so much better then crawling. She now walks just about everywhere. My kitchen floor is constantly cluttered with tuperware, lids and toys that she drags out, I put away and she drags out again. This is a fun game for her. she loves to help me put the stuff back so she can pull it out again.

Although she does not look so happy in this picture, I think she is ready for bed! please note the cute little shoes, I got them at Savers for $0.99! They look brand new and are even Stride Rite, she likes the little sparkles on them and picks them out, of her 2 choices I give her, every time.

The Promised Photos

Kayla playing with the balloons at the 60th anniversary party

The entire Posey family, well minus most of the grandkids and one child.

Lexi

Cayden

Cody

The older kids eating

John and his sweet little Cassia

The happy couple after 60 years

Grandma and Kayla

Cayden and Lexi

Jared the chef

Josh the teenager

Lake Powell, beautiful!

Jenna and Cayden -best cousins

Jenna

Trey (the other best cousin)

Aunt Debbie with Cayden and Kayla

This is the bow holder that I made for Kayla's wall.

Fun in the Sun

I have failed to update my blog every week as I had originally planned. My excuses are usually long and wordy so, I just didn't get to it will have to be the excuse for this time. The past few weeks have been filled with fun in the Arizona sun. Blaine's mom and sister and brother in law came down for a week to see us. Blaine has the most crazy schedule in the summer. I am not really sure why, but he tells me that ice usually sells better in the summer. his family rarely saw him, but we had fun with them. One day we took a tour of Chase Field where the Arizona Diamondbacks play. Lynn (BIL) wanted to go to a game but they were in St. Louis for the week. It was pretty cool to see the locker rooms and all of the behind the scenes stuff and hear the history behind it. We were the only people in the tour so we got to ask lots of questions and take our time. It was cool. Our tour guy took this picture of all of us. Like I said we were the only people in the tour, so he was very accommodating.

Tammy (SIL) wanted to go to the Phoenix Zoo. We knew it was going to be hot, so we decided to go early and avoid the heat. Well, we got there early (8:30) but it was already 102 outside. I should have watched the news the night before because there was a heat advisory out for that day. by the time we left (1:30), it was 114 out. We were all very tired and ready to relax in a nice air conditioned house for the rest of the day. We did have fun at the zoo though. Here is Kayla, she was the only one that did not have fun. She pretty much just drank here juice, cried and sucked on her Binky the entire day.

Cayden got to feed the giraffe while we were there. He thought it was pretty cool. They have a huge long black tongue that scared him a little when the giraffe stuck it out to get the food Cayden was holding. I only took a few pictures the entire week they were here. I know, I was a major slacker!

The week before they came was the fourth of July week. I did not get many pictures of that either. Andrea and I took the kids to the beach pool. They love to swim there. It has a zero entry beach with real sand, so the kids built sand castles and played in the water for a few hours. I then took the kids home for naps before dinner and fireworks. I had to go collect rent from one of my dad's tenants, so I stopped by there on the way home. The kids were sleeping already so I left the car running in the driveway and went to get the rent. I did not realize that the tenant had 2 pitbulls. I am TERRIFIED of dogs.

This is why. I got bit! This is the picture 2 days later. My belly was too swollen to wear regular shorts or capris for a week.

We did have fun watching the fireworks out at my dad's house. We got eaten by mosquitoes, and killed a scorpion, and fought the heat. Despite all of this, it was so much fun. Kayla and Cayden loved watching the different colors explode in the sky in many different shapes. I loved seeing their faces light up. I can not wait to show them so many more things as they grow. I so enjoy being a mother!

Updates...

We have had a very eventful summer this year. For the past few years we have not done much as far as vacations in the summer, but this year I think I made up for it. The older boys go to their dad's house during the summer but I rarely do anything fun with them during the summer. This year we went to my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary party in Mayhill, NM. You all know where that is right? My guess is not. It is a tiny town of lees then 200 people in the middle of nowhere. They have a small cattle ranch and lots of room to explore. The boys love going there. We were able to spend 4 days there this time and they got to run all over, help feed the cows, and Jared learned how to bake. Jared has always been the one that loves to learn in the kitchen and he really learned tons this trip. My grandma is about the best baker that I know, so I would say she is an expert. She instructed us on how to make cinnamon rolls and cakes from scratch. The results were super yummy! We ended up making 4 batches of cinnamon rolls. They would disappear as soon as they were cool enough to get out of the pan. I decided that I HAD to get a bread maker for home so that I could make these yummy treats for Blaine to enjoy too. He was not able to get off work, so he was not able to go with us this time. The wedding party was a hit, lots of family were able to attend, and lots of pictures were taken. I am still editing them but I will post a collage or slide show when they are finished.

The trips there and home were long, but so worth it to see my family that I had not seen for so long. The trip takes about 7 hours if you stop one to two times for gas and a potty break. with 4 kids 14 to 1, it took 9 hours to get there and 8.5 hours to get back. When we got back there was a rush to get the older boys' laundry done and them repacked for their flight at 7 am the next morning. 5 loads of laundry does tent to take a while so I was up late and did not sleep well (I never do when I know they are leaving, I really hate it.) They were on time for the flight and as luck would have it, the flight was delayed one hour. I got to spend one more hour with them! I really enjoyed hanging out with them in the airport, Jared was being super silly from lack of sleep and Josh was having fun on the inside, he just did not want to look silly in case anyone was watching! Teenagers!

My sister was here for the whole next week. I was so excited to spend time with her. We talk at least once every day and I was glad to have her close by for a short time. We let the kids play while we chatted for most of the week. We also took a few shopping trips!

The next week, Cayden, Kayla and I headed up to St. George to Blaine's family reunion. Blaine could not get time off work, so we went without him. Another 8 hour road trip that took 10 hours this time. not really a fun time, but well worth it. We got rained out of going to the lake the first day and instead played at the pool by Grandma Maggie's house. Friday, the family headed to the Grand Canyon minus us. I was not really up for another long car trip, so I stayed in St. George and hung out at my sister's house. The boys played in the backyard, the little girls took very long naps, and we made Kayla lots of pretty hair bows. Then we went out to dinner and the kids played by the water fountain and threw in pennies, each time trying to get the penny into the little bucket the the girl in the fountain sculpture was carrying. Saturday was the reunion part of the get together. I was impressed with how interesting Maggie had made the info. She even made books with family trees and journals of many family members for us to take home. It was really cool. After that, we took the kids to the pool for mare swimming. Ann and I were in charge of the kiddos and we forgot the sunscreen. Jenny brought some later but I forgot about it and needless to say, no one had any one. Fortunately, the only one who got really fried was me. I just feel so bad when the kids get burned and they hurt and it was my fault. If I get burned it was my one fault and I can not complain to anyone about it. Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. I was thankful that our trip lasted only 9 hours and was so happy to be home in my own bed.

That summarizes our last 3 weeks. I have tons of pictures but I have not gotten them all edited yet. I will post pictures soon!

Cute Photo

Birthday Firsts

Here are some really cute pictures of Kayla during her birthday party. She had so much fun, I think she loved her crown, it took a little while for her to figure out to leave it on her head though.

She thought her cake was pretty.

She was not sure of what to do with the cake on her plate.

She never dug into it. She was very careful about not getting too much frosting on her hands.

Cayden said he needed to help Kayla open her presents because she did not know how to yet.

She was having more fun with the paper and the boxes and bags then the toys.

She finally started playing witht he toys and played for about an hour with all the thing she got.

Happy Birthday Princess!