Synopsis of Summer 2012

So, summer is coming to a close. The more I think about it, the more nauseous I get. The only thing keeping me going is 1) knowing I get to see "baby boy" after the semester ends; and 2) it's my last semester of classes! I'm sure that my Kindergarten Practicum teacher (despite the fact that he is what's making me nauseous) will help me get ready for student teaching in January.

Anyways, just to sum up our experiences in the summer, I will list off the things we did with pictures. The italicized one are from our "Rexburg Bucket List"... we're almost done with it!

1) "Dark Knight Rises" midnight premiere

(Our only picture from the night. The flash was really strong.)

Then Dallin came into town! And while he was here...

2) Wind caves hike with Mikey

3) Big Judd's

 4) Saw Ririe, Idaho

 5) Rexburg Rapids (for free, which made it better)

6) Twin Falls, the temple, falls, and Grandma's childhood homes

 7) Rigby Lake... we didn't get a picture but we will!

8) Family Reunion in Aspen Grove... just some highlights.

 The one picture of us from the week.                    4 Murphy girls... and baby Austin!

Dad being a balla. Obviously.

Then Bethany came back to Rexburg with us!

8)  Bear World

9) Drive-In Theater... Bethany and I did not get pictures but it was great.

10) St. Anthony Sandbar

11) Birthday party for this little guy:

12) Celebrated one year of marriage together in Logan.

13) Job hunted (and finally got one, thanks to Dianne!)

14) Celebrated my birthday, and made it great thanks to Brandon.

Dinner:

 Cake:

 15) Finished my baby blanket for the little guy.

It's going to be a great semester! Terrifying, but great. And Brandon put in his 2 weeks notice, which is a miracle. I get my husband back, and it means we can actually go places now on the weekends if we need it.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sorry this is the morning after her birthday... but you get the point.

This time last year, I was picking up Brandon from the airport for our wedding. I told him that we needed to do a lot, because it was my mom's birthday. But of course when we got home, my mom told us to not worry about it. She gave up her birthday to make sure that my reception (2 days later) and wedding (3 days later) went smoothly. And they couldn't have gotten done without her orchestrating all the help from everyone.
I told her that since we survived my wedding, our relationship was stronger than ever. It's true! I've enjoyed being able to call her any time I want and complain about my major. She understands how it is to be in an all-girls major, and has helped me survive the biggest year of my life. It's been hard not going home, but luckily we don't live THAT far away. I can't wait to go home and visit in December!
So I hope Austin sent you another "I love my Mom because" collage! You deserve it.

Planning for Our Anniversary

So I just learned that life is funny and has its own way of working out.

I had spent weeks planning an anniversary trip. I had a few criteria for it: I wanted to go to a new temple (per keeping with my photo book of temples). I also wanted to go somewhere that we probably wouldn't go again. We wouldn't be able to leave until the morning of our anniversary, because Brandon was working the night before. So I looked at a lot of places that were within a day's drive.

I had booked the hotel, found the quickest route, and even looked up restaurants and attractions to do while we were there. Our destination? Vernal, Utah. One of the biggest reasons for me wanting to go there was this:

Isn't it beautiful?

Brandon even gave me permission to plan the whole trip, because he learned after the Twin Falls trip incident that I actually do plan fun roadtrips and activities.

We had a budget, and within that budget I was able to find a good little "Country Grub" restaurant and a motel to stay in. Also, Vernal has the largest deposit of Jurassic era fossils in the world. So we had some cool things to look at!

However, last night we realized that driving 7 hours each way was not in our best interest. Also, if we went somewhere that was closer to Rexburg then we could find a better place to stay, better places to eat, and could still go to a temple that we haven't been to.

Where are we going for our anniversary?? You'll see... I don't like posting our trips before we go. But I'm using my investigating skills to make sure that it's fun for us.

And aloha Vernal temple... we will meet again.

Olympics on the Brain

Last night we moved our mattress and slept in the air conditioned room. Halfway through the night, I told Brandon, "Hey, I know how our kids can get into the Olympics!"
"Oh yeah, how?"
"We can train them in jaywalking!"
"............ Can they get medals in that?"
"Yeah I'm pretty sure they can!"



I've been watching Olympics possibly too much these past 2 weeks.

Finally, a sleeping story about Brandon.

So most of our sleeping stories have been about my embarrassing things and habits while sleeping. 

Well, FINALLY I have something on Brandon!

So, one night of the reunion I was in Brandon and my room talking to my cousin Brinley. (So if you don't believe me, I have a witness!) Brandon was asleep, and suddenly rolled over. I asked him, "Are you sleeping?", expecting him to just roll back over and go to sleep. Instead, he looked at me and said, "What's with all the beach weather?" Brinley and I looked at each other, and we both realized that he was sleeping talking. I asked him what he was talking about, and he said, "What's with all the beach weather in Utah?? There isn't even a beach here!" He was quite emphatic on this point. I started laughing, and he groaned and said, "It makes sense!" I told him we'd talk about it in the morning, and he fell asleep. Needless to say, in the morning he did not remember it.

So there we go. I am NOT the only one who talks in my sleep. It only took about a year for him to show it.

Bear World

So I'm waiting for more pictures before I post about our Murphy family reunion, so until then I will tell you about a part of our "Rexburg Bucket List"... Bear World.
It's about 10 minutes from our place, and was pretty shrouded in mystery. It had billboards with claims such as "Best part of my Yellowstone vacation!", but I didn't really know what it was. Luckily, we have a friend who works there and could get us half off passes, so we didn't have to pay $16 a person. We took Bethany, and these are the pictures we got:

White elk, "only 1 in 6 million!"

Beavers

Giant Mountain Goat

Buffalo

It was so bizarre to watch a deer walk across the road.

Better picture of the buffalo.

Once we got to the bear part of the park, they warned us to keep our windows shut because bears sometimes pull people through their windows. We also had to keep moving, because bears climb on the car when they're stopped. Have a nice day!

Grizzlies.

Just taking a bath!
After this my camera died temporarily, so you don't get to see the bear that was literally 2 feet from our car. It was surreal, I was refraining from screaming the whole time.

White wolf.

Entrance to the gift shop.

Bethany wanted to kiss the bear.

Bethany and a bear totem pole.

I wanted that baby fawn to come to me so bad!

Fattest goat ever.

This deer looked like it was about to die.

Bethany was way too excited.

Our new pet.

Bethany and the fat goat.

A peacock with eggs.

Scraggly peacock.

Weirdest looking chicken ever!

Moooose.
Brandon found this baby fawn, and had me come pet him. Immediately, he started licking my hand. I almost died!

This is how bad our height difference is.

Three of the bears.

Brandon and Bethany got onto a kiddie ride.

With Ryan, who got us the passes.

It was fun! And half off, so we don't need to worry about going again. Much better than I expected. And another item off our bucket list!