Wednesday, August 29, 2012

More to come

Here are some of the highlights from our summer. The stories will follow.

Girls Camp 2012
The epic Sumo Match


Cousins


Uncle Matt and Aunt M.


Canoeing on Red Fish Lake, ID


Temple session at the Twin Falls temple.


Grandpa



Rock Climbing



 Shoshone Ice Cave


The Gorge by Twin Falls


more cousins



Riding with Aunt Tab



SPICE!!!


Oquirrh Hills Temple


AND
PARAGLIDING!!!


Thursday, July 12, 2012

and...

I know, it's been too long since I've posted. I need to put up pictures of our house and from Girls Camp, but my computer is having a wee bit of trouble. I woke up one morning and everything in my mail file and photo folder was gone. Yep, just.... gone.  LT wants to rebuild my computer, I just want a new one. I have a feeling, he'll win.

Any who.

Here are 2 O moments that are too good to pass on.

This morning O started telling me a story, it went like this.
"This guy woke up and he was a zombie, but he was sad because he wanted to be a fairy".

Last Saturday O saw the box of Sweet Potato Pancake mix in the garbage and dramatically declared, "OH, this is the worst day ever!!!".  I pointed out we still had another box and she then, emphatically stated, "OH, this is the best day ever!!"

On a different note, we may get two more goats. I'm suppose to pick them up Friday. They are fainting goats. LT laughed out loud when I told him. Oh dear.

My phone died and I bought a new one. I have no idea how to use it, but O has already discovered the camera and video settings. No fair.

This week we went to 6 Flags and O braved the Tower of Doom. She asked to go on it again as soon as we finished the first time. She is so brave and a total daredevil. I love that she is so tall and able to be my ride buddy.

I still can't find a bunch of stuff since we moved.

I'm excited to head to ID soon. Hooray for Sun Valley and hooray for vacation.


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

What lies ahead

We officially bought our house today.

Wow!! I can't believe it.

I was so nervous and trembly during the first part of the closing. I almost cried. The former lady of the house, A, the original owner, her daughter and son-in-law were there too. They are incredibly nice people. A wants to visit in the fall to see her garden again. I'm looking forward to learning more about what she has planted. I can't believe she designed and built the home and then lived there for 30 years. Wow, 30 years is a long time. I hope to live there even longer.

She told us 2 dogs are buried in the garden plot. Hum, I may plant our garden elsewhere. She wanted us to know so we wouldn't think we were digging up her late husbands body. Ha ha ha, what a character. AND, she told me to get O a dog. Boy am I glad O wasn't there to hear that. The last thing I need is someone else planting that bug in her ear. She's convinced she's getting a dog anyway. (Truthfully, my heart has softened to the idea over the years. Don't pass out mum)

After the closing, we went to the house. I arrived before LT and I breathed in the scent of my new home. Then gagged and coughed because it REALLY needs some cleaning. It's pretty stale, but I don't care. It's a beautiful place and we love so very much about it. It was nice to have a solitary moment to appreciate the feeling there.

I feel an incredible amount of peace and contentment. I wonder if that is left over from the others that loved living there or if it is my own. Either way, it is mine to plant and sow. I look forward to O playing in the dirt, harassing the goats, gathering the chickens eggs, dancing in her ballroom, doing homework, learning the law of the harvest, camping outside and on and on.

I will be posting more pictures soon. I'm excited to, over time, turn the potential we see into reality.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

What a way to start the day.

O came into my room this morning, stark naked. She'd had an accident in her bed. So, I pulled off the sheets and took them downstairs to the laundry. The house was going to be shown this morning so while I was downstairs, I decided to vacuum. Before long, I heard vacuuming upstairs. "Aw, what a sweet girl, she is helping out". I came upstairs to find my sweet girl going to town with the vacuum, buck naked. I laughed and laughed and told her thank you for helping and then asked her to get dressed once she was done.

Before long I heard water running in the kitchen and O was yelling for me to help her. So, I went downstairs to the kitchen to help her and there she was, standing on a stool, in front of the sink trying to do the dishes, still naked as can be. Whatever, she was helping out, so we did the dishes with her naked.

We had family pictures taken today. I can assure you, O was fully clothed.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Here I go

I'm irritable and bothered. I seriously misplaced my patience earlier on this week and have yet to find it again. I think I've used up all of my reserves too. 

I'm bothered by the news articles I've been reading about this upcoming election. This year I made a point of following the Republican candidates.  I'm not republican but I want to know who my options may be. 

I faithfully watched the debates and thought about the topics discussed. I never liked Cain, or Bachman. Huntsman didn't have a chance. I thought about Newt for a while, but the more I learned about his history and paid attention to his words, I decided he was off the list. The only thing I liked about Santorum was he believes a healthy family unit is what will help our nation stay great. I liked most of his comments about social issues. 

I REALLY liked Ron Paul. He seems like, out of all of the guys out there, the least corruptible. I really, really liked a lot of what he had to say. But, I didn't like his policy on drugs and some of his policies on National Defense. AND, I'm not sure he'd be successful negotiating with both sides of the aisle. I'm off and on about Mitt. I worry that he is going to ignore environmental concerns to appease big oil. I think there are many, many positives about him. He really does know how to runs stuff. I was living in SLC when the Olympic games were tagged as being in debt and unaffordable. He came along and managed the games without debt. 

Speaking of debt, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are the only guys running their campaigns without debt. HELLO AMERICA!!  I'm NOT impressed with Obama, at all. He keeps trying to fix things by spending money. 

Also, why is it one candidate can "evolve" and it's okay, while another candidate is labeled a "flip flopper"? Which technically, he never did. He never "flopped" back. Seriously, words.

I'm starting to get even more bothered, so I'm stopping this and moving on.



So, O graduated from her preschool this past Friday. The program was, of course, cute. 

Here is the class of 2025!!


I really don't know what she's doing here, but she looks thoughtful.


This is how she posed for LT. 
AND, this is also why she will likely have ankle, knee and hip problems later in life. 
What a goofball. 


Here she is with her Rockstar preschool teachers. She loves them and so do I. I'm nervous for Kindergarten next year and she thrilled.

Scars on 45
These guys have a great sound. They kind of remind me of Coldplay, but better. They have a lot more going on with their instruments and vocals. I really really enjoyed their set. I've been listening to their album non stop since the concert and that was 2 weeks ago.

Ingrid. 
I heart her. She was so much fun to be with. 
I would love to see her again.

These guys were at the merch table so I grabbed them for a pic.


If all goes well, we will be closing on our house next week. I'm not quite sure it's real yet. I feel good, but pretty mellow about it too. We have a lot of cleaning to do before I will allow ANYTHING into the house. I'm kind of a control freak about bugs in the house. ha ha ha... I'm excited to get out of limbo land. I'm going to be busy cleaning, moving, updating addresses and accounts, and preparing for girls camp all at the same time. At least, I get to finish up June with a week at Girls Camp. It is stressful there, but it is also totally worth every ounce of preparation and stress. I'm really going to miss my girls when I move. They are a handful, but they've endeared themselves to me in their own little way.

On The Nightstand.
Now that my television shows are over for a season, I've spent more time reading. Funny how that happens. I was at the library and picked up two books at random, they are;


The Mostly  True Story of Jack By Kelly Barnhill
It's young adult fiction and I really enjoyed it. It was fun to step away from of the other books I'm reading and escape into a land of magic and mystery.

The Clockwork Universe, Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World  By Edward Dolnick
Well, it's interesting and it provides bits of science trivia I can share with LT. So far I've learned about the Greeks understanding of gravity before Isaac Newton explained it.

Backyard Homesteading , A Back-to-Basics Guide to Self-Sufficiency  by David Toht.
I reserved this book and I RELLY like it. In fact, I'd like to buy it so I don't have to keep renewing it from the library. I first checked it out to read about raising goats but there is so much more in there I just want to own it and use it as a reference book as we progress with our land. We are starting with goats to help clear the land. I will prepare a plot of land for gardening this fall and then in the spring we will look at at the possibility of raising chickens, for eggs and meat. And I think, eventually, I'd like to try beekeeping.  Have I mentioned before how excited I am to move to our new place?

Women of Character, Profiles of 100 Prominent LDS Women" by Susan Easton Black and Mary Jane Woodger.
I bought this book because it was on sale and I thought it would be interesting to learn a little bit about LDS women past and present. One thing that is evident in this book is that UT was way ahead of the times when it came to women suffrage and women in politics. I grin a little when I think about all of the haters saying mormons see women as second class citizens. Whatever. Take that haters.



Saturday, May 12, 2012

Mother Dearest

My mum is awesome. 

She always complains about any recent picture I post, so I'm posting some oldies. 


I can say for many, many years, I severely under appreciated her. Now that I am older and a tad bit more mature AND a mother, I can really appreciate who she is and how much she loves me. This mothers day, I hope she knows that I love her dearly. Thank you Mum for being the wonderful, generous you that you are.

Pamela Read Murphy

A flower in the teeth and a bottle of milk. 
Ya, I don't know what she's doing either.

SEA WORLD SAN DIEGO
I had to post this picture because our hats are so awesome. 
Plus, my shorts are scandalous!!

Hammy Pammy

Pam-Pam

Nursey Nurse

Pam-a-licious

I'm not sure, but I think that is her childhood pet pig, Hamlet. 
She always spoke fondly of him.

Pensive Pamerson



Friday, May 11, 2012

11 on the 11th.

Happy Anniversary to us!!

We went out to dinner with O tonight to celebrate, and she was really put out that I wanted to sit next to Daddy. The nerve!! We shared memories of our wedding day and laughed. We've experienced a lot in 11 years and it has certainly changed us. And changed us for the better. Here are some of the pictures from our "I Do" day 11 years ago. They are blurry and cheesy, and I love them.


Leightons hair was so long back then. I can't remember the last time he had hair long enough to "flip". We were so stinkin' young.



I love that we chose to get married at the Jordan River temple instead of the Salt Lake one. EVERYBODY gets married at the SL temple, and I'm just not the type of person to do what EVERYONE else likes to do. I'm so glad we went where we went. I was the only bride there that day. No assembly line, no comparing brides and dresses and wedding parties. Just us.



I love that my wedding dress wasn't the typical wedding dress. I love that I didn't have to go shopping for it. I love that it had a flowy skirt. I love that it was comfortable and pretty, uncommon, and one of a kind. (Funny thing about that statement. When we moved into our home in Midvale, our next door neighbor, who is an amazing woman, gave us special names. She was battling cancer and I'm not quite clear on how it all worked, but we became part of her tribe. She named me "One of a Kind" and LT was "Go My Son". She said my name was a very special one and the male "One of a Kind" was her brother. I felt very appreciated for being my own self. )


My parents. I like my smile in this one, so I had to use it.



I love that I arm wrestled with my bff on the lawn at the temple while wearing my super cool wedding dress.



This is the spot where LT proposed to me. It is a really beautiful place, it's too bad you can't tell from the picture. Neither of us knew what we were getting in to.