Halloween 2013

Halloween was low key this year. Again. We just have a hard time planning it when Halloween falls on a day when we don't see each other at all. The next time we get to go to a Halloween party, we are going to go ALL OUT.

But, this year wasn't too bad. The Special Ed teacher and aides at school usually plan a group costume, and as usual Brandon helped me come up with the theme.

Where's Waldo! I couldn't find a shirt that had red and white stripes, so I just improvised with a white shirt from DI and red duct tape. It was a success, even the kids told me "Hey, you look like the guy from Where's Waldo!"

But here's the 3 Waldos, one of my aides was a baseball player.

Side note: I made the hat. I figured out how to make a pom pom... I smell an etsy sale.

Brandon was even less ready for Halloween than I was... he wore an orange shirt under his scrubs and called it good.

I did get home and find something to keep me from going trick or treating:

We will dress up again someday, but for now we'll settle for taking selfies.

Brandon went to the temple while I was at work. He said he wants to make it a tradition, because what better way to clown rate Halloween than by doing work for the dead? He's so righteous. Love him!

A weekend with two of my favorite men.

I don't get to spend that much time with just my dad. So, when he said he was going to be in Utah over the same three day weekend I had from school, we made it happen so we could head down.

Our original plan was that I would bring Brandon to work for the Friday morning shift (6 to 2), them pick him up and we would be on our way. That hit a snag, however, when Brandon went to go wake his wife up and got a growl in return. I will go ahead and excuse myself... It was parent teacher conference week and it was long.

So, instead of us leaving from Rexbrg at about 1:30, we left at 3. We were trying to make it down to the Boise State BYU game, and we did make it but around halftime. It was still great... And BYU won! My favorite commercial was where someone was determining statehood for different territories, but Boise applied and they denied it. The caption was, "Boise is not a state." Haha I loved it.

Brandon and I.

We are so much shorter than my dad.

The next day, we started out by going to the gym. It's been a while, and I'm running a 10K in 2 weeks so I figured I should get a start on that... And it was painful. But after that, we went to the Draper temple and it was BEAUTIFUL. Seriously, I can't get enough of these temples. We were there for a couple hours, and I just felt a peace that everything was going to be fine.

We took our customary picture outside the temple (#15 for Brandon and I)...

We hit up Mac's lacrosse game, and then got ready for the custom Brick Oven cousin dinner. It's been years and I've never made it down to one, so I was thrilled to be a part of this one. I think hanging out with cousins is the best.

And, look who showed up!

Sunday was spent at church with Grandma and Grandpa Murphy, followed by naps and another Murphy cousin dinner.

It was seriously a great weekend, I'm so glad we had the chance to come down. Now, if I could fight off this impending cold it would be even better!

First year of teaching, continued.

Ok, yeah it's been a while. It's been a long couple of weeks... except for Spud Harvest. That was a beautiful week off. I went to California, and didn't worry about a single school-related thing. But ever since then I've been up to my nose in work... The learning curve just got a little more steep.
But instead of dwelling on that, I'm trying to think of the positive things that are going on and that I'm grateful for.
-I have such a great support network.
- I don't always agree with all of the teachers, and it's weird being in charge of the aides that have more experience than I do, but when it comes to the kids I work with some of the most compassionate people ever.

Also, I'm almost done with my first semester! yayyyyy.
I can safely say I have worked my TAIL off this semester.

Barry University.

So, Brandon had his interview in Miami for PA school last week. This interview was REALLY early, because all the other emails said something to the effect of around the new year. But we were so excited! Just having an interview was a good sign.

He stayed with Tanner and Alyse (and sent me a picture of their cute baby boy):

 

I was on pins and needles the entire time. I knew that Brandon would do well, and between his Spanish history, work history, and raw animal magnetism (No? Not a qualification for PA school?) he would do fine. But still. It's nerve-wracking!

Well, he called me tonight... HE GOT IN!!!! Yessssss! It is STILL super early, since he hasn't heard back at all from any of the other schools. But they have a deposit, which we are going to put down now. And see what happens with other schools.

But yay! I'm so excited. This week has been one of learning at school, and it's good to know we have a future beyond Rexburg. (I like Rexburg, really I do. Just after a while...)



Temple to Temple Relay

Yesterday we ran the Temple to Temple Relay. MAN it was tiring!

We were in the earliest wave, meaning we were the slowest. Butttttt that was pretty typical. I loved the team spirit that was everywhere. People pulled off the side of the road to cheer people on, and not just for their teams.

Brandon ran the leg right before mine, which was 5.2 miles. Of course he did great, he ran it in less than 50 minutes. He is such a good athlete, even if he gets nervous before his runs and doesn't think he'll do well.

I ran the 5th leg, which was 6.8 miles. Umm, up until that point the furthest I had run EVER was 4.5 miles. I was so nervous beforehand, and I just kept praying that I wouldn't succumb to the cold. It was really cold and windy. I would be lying if I said I didn't walk, but when the wind is against you for so long it takes it out of you. They had mile markers, but I'm pretty sure they weren't in the right spot. For example, it said I ran my first mile in 6:30. Now I KNOW that can't be true, but it was great motivation.

When I hit mile 5, I said, "Ok, I have officially run further than I have ever run before. Now let's finish this sucker." And I tried my very hardest to run my bunnies off.

When I crossed the finish line and passed off the baton (a snap bracelet), I sat down and my legs immediately went to sleep. I rested for a minute, then we were off to the next leg. Something scary happened on the way there. We were driving, and saw a huge combine with the sign "oversize load" driving behind some runners. One girl in neon yellow did not seem to notice it. I commented to the people in our car, "Man, that guy's going to hit her if he's not careful." But we kept driving, with our friends behind us. When we got to the drop off zone for the next leg, our friends weren't behind us. Rachel called her sister, who was in the car. They said the combine actually did hit that girl about 10 seconds after we passed her. We didn't even see it, but they said she had a huge gash over her eye, a broken arm, and a pretty bad concussion. She was talking about her laundry when they pulled over. Of course, that freaked me out! The last full song that was playing during my run pushed me to run has hard as I can for those couple of minutes, and I think if I had walked there she would have passed me. Who knows, that could have been me. But I think that I had a guardian angel watching over me, and he or she helped me get to that finish line when I did.

Brandon snapped some pictures of me running up to the finish line... embarrassing.

I have my tongue stuck out... because I'm just pretending to be tired.

Phew.

Pain. As soon as I sat down my legs went numb.

Yes, I'm smiling!

Rachel and I... between the 2 of us we ran 14 miles. I'm glad I have a friend to challenge me!

Oh, and PS, Brandon had to go straight to work instead of to the finish line. What a champ.

(At the finish line, Idaho Falls temple)

This made me think a couple things. One, I need to work on my pace. Two, if I ran 7 miles without too much strain (after the fact), then I can definitely do my half in May. I just need to keep running, and both of these things will come to pass.

Oh yeah. One guy ran it by himself... and he ran it faster than our team. He ran the entire 39.5 miles by himself. It was insane to watch.

Also.

Remember how when I started running, I had a goal to run a half marathon?

I SIGNED UP FOR ONE.

Ohhhhh geez what did I do to myself.

I did it because I need motivation to keep running this year, and because I can feel good about traveling for a half marathon. Anything less would make me feel bad going out of the way... and pretty much everything is out of the way here.

So, I signed up for the Idaho Famous Potato Half Marathon on May 17. I figure if we are in Idaho, why not do something totally stereotypical?

I need the motivation to run during the winter... we're probably going to get a gym pass since BYU-Idaho has the ridiculous rule that once you graduate, you can't go back to the gym. Unless you want to pay $6 a day. I'm bitter about that.

So, I'm about a third of the way there with my running! That's not bad, right?

Happy Birthday Dane!

This time last year, I was on pins and needles. I knew that Alyse had gone into the hospital to have the baby (!!!) And I was DYING to know how everything went.

Finally, the text came. He was here! All 7 pounds of him. And I've loved him ever since.

The hardest thing is that we don't get to see him very much!! But they can move closer to us... or we can move closer to them... right?

(The first time we met Dane... everyone was dying to see Dan the Leiningers.)

My day is always made better by pictures of Dane... when I get them I do 2 things- drop everything and show them to Brandon. And he had BETTER always appreciate them, or else... (he does)

He has the personality for about 10 kids, but nobody was surprised by that. He loves his mom, and LOVES his dad. And he appreciates us, I think. He even liked Austin when he met him!

I made this (thanks Instagram)... it caught the few times we've made the same faces. Except the sleeping picture, I just like that one. Ahh, he's my favorite. And I can say that right now, because he's the only one!

 

And now this sweet boy is a year old.. happy birthday Dane we love you! 

Faith.

I've had cause to think about the Plan of Salvation lately. I am so grateful for my knowledge of it, and knowing that no matter what happens we can be together. I just need to do what's right in this life, and have faith in Heavenly Father. To watch some people go through their own personal Gethsemane is terrible, and I just pray that they can rely on the Lord.

As per usual, I found solace in Les Miserables. I mean this in the most sincere way... Les Miserables is a great story for anyone who wants to know how to react to trials. If you listen to the last song, it has a very spiritual tone to it. Just listen. "To love another person is to see the face of God."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtbcZmCc7rg&noredirect=1

Interview #1

Brandon got his first P.A. school interview!

It's at Barry University in Miami... which IS the same school that Tanner Coleman is going to.

He's interviewing October 11... which means we need to buy him a ticket soon!

We are praying that he gets more interviews, but I feel so blessed that we got one. That's what we said we wanted.

We decided that we would love to live in Miami for a few years. It is just so different from everything either of us have lived in, so it would be an adventure. Plus, cheap flights to the Caribbean- who wouldn't love that??

23

In high school, a band I really liked to listen to was Jimmy Eat World. They have a song titled "23", and it's one of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsgtHf9Bewo&noredirect=1

One of the lines says, "Amazing still it seems, I'll be 23". And that's what I've been singing in my head for about 2 weeks now. 23 to me seems so big... and I know in a few years I'll be wishing I was 23 again. But for right  now I feel big.

So, poor Brandon married a woman who takes her birthday seriously. And by my birthday, I mean the actual day. I always got to celebrate my birthday on the DAY, so it's hard for me to change that. How grown up of me, right?

Anyways, Saturday was a low-key day. I got my Lucky Charms for breakfast (of course), and Brandon wrote me a very sweet letter telling me what he loves about me. Other than that, we just had a nice Saturday. We went on a walk and went out to lunch, then Brandon had to go to work. They called him in early... of course. Brandon said he had some big things planned, so all day I waited. Of course, I didn't JUST wait. I got to talk to a lot of family and Skype with my favorite boy:

(someone was moving too much for a still picture)

I think it was also being emotionally wrung out from this week at work, but I was a little miffed that my husband who said he had surprises hadn't showed anything yet. LITTLE DID I KNOW he had a lot of things planned. But my birthday was uneventful.

So the day after we went to church, and Brandon gave me a blessing for the upcoming school year. I'm so grateful for a husband who is worthy to help me with my anxiety and stress.

But Brandon was being sneaky, and had a big dinner planned. It smelled super good, but that's all I knew about it. At about 6, someone knocked and some of our friends came in the door. Which explained why there were like 3 gallons of mashed potatoes. The dinner was to DIE for- it was a pork roast with apricot preserves (which normally I don't like, but this time it was really good), mashed potatoes, and asparagus. After dinner, it was time for dessert.

Now, before you look at the cake and think we're really weird, let me explain. I was telling Brandon that all these stores are having crazy Labor Day sales, including DownEast. They had this super cute swimsuit for $15, and I asked if I could get that. Brandon said, "Sure, what kind of cake do you want besides a swimsuit?" and I said, "Umm, a chocolate swimsuit cake". So...

Brandon made a chocolate swimsuit cake. Hahahaha I laughed so hard. And it helped that the cake was amazing. I don't think a bakery could have made a cake this good.

Brandon also made me a birthday hat... here's the collage picture I made of the party to explain.

After that we just played games and enjoyed ourselves.

So now I'm really embarrassed that I was a diva about my birthday, and I know that Brandon will always do what he can to make my birthday great.