gotta catch up!

aaaaa!!! how do i EVER get so far behind on my blog posts?! here's my best attempt at a quick catch up...in random order.

just cute..this girl loves monkeys.

caitlin was awarded the Scholar of the Month award in November. such a smart cookie!!

the girls went to the ward Christmas party with the Bishop's family because they wanted to sing in the program, and we had a residency Christmas party the same night. thanks guys for taking 3 extra kids that night!!

brooke and abs with st. nic

best friends

abs and ems wanted to push their beds together to make a giant bed so they could all have a sleepover in the same room.

abby received her Letter Master award the other day in her class. her teacher is so cute.

i flew out this past weekend for a short 2-day trip to my aunt gloria's house for my grandpa murphy's memorial. it was so nice to be there with family, and my mom and sister were able to be there as well. the memorial was PERFECT. i didn't get as many pics as i wanted, i'll get some from my mom and post them soon. these will have to suffice for now....

mom making some gourmet lasagne

my cute preggo sister sarah and i. she and jake were the masterminds behind the darling gingerbread men.

the military came to play taps and such for my grandpa. it was so sweet...a PERFECT addition to his memorial.

my mom and her siblings paying tribute to the wonderful man my grandpa was.

ok, so this was ADORABLE. my cousin's sweet little baby ryan was SOOO tired, but he just would not fall asleep. they handed him over to bob, and the SECOND he hit bob's shoulder, he was fast asleep.

abby wrote this message for me on her white board the other day and left it downstairs for me to find. how stinkin' cute is that? brownie points, for sure.

christmas time!

emma and the crazy faces she pulls. what a goofball.

my aunt sent my girls an aquadoodle after they fell in love with the one at her house. such a great idea...why have i never seen these before?

when we were in california in october, nate spent a lot of time in gary's shop making a coat rack for by our garage door. it turned out AMAZING...i love it!

the girls and our cute neighbor hayden havin' a sleepover.

first snow to play in....and the girls loved it (surprisingly enough)

thanksgiving at my mom's house with my side of the fam. cute cousins! no boys...and we're pretty sure sare is having a girl too. GIRL POWER!

nielson family thanksgiving. look at these good daddy's taking care of the babies.

boys on cleanup crew.

my girls fight over who gets to hold brinlee every time we're around them.

so i took the girls to feed the ducks/fish at a pond the last day of good weather this fall. we took a bunch of bread, rolls, and buns, and the ducks, seagulls, and fish were LOVING it. until some lady pulled into the parking lot on the other end, and unloaded BOXES and BOXES of bagels and donuts and bread into the pond. she must work for a HUGE bakery, and she must've been getting rid of the stale food. i was irritated at 1st because my girls were having so much fun feeding the ducks, until they realized there was better food somewhere else. but then we started noticing the FUNNIEST thing! the fish would eat the bagels, but they would be pushing them across the pond while eating them. it was so funny to watch a bunch of bagels moving around the pond seemingly by themselves. (video is on the bottom...if it shows up)

last one :oD

THIS is how it should be!

Surf's Up! No more freezing weather and snow! THIS is what I wish I was doing this winter....

A Little Holiday Rock....

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

In Loving Memory

My dear sweet Grandpa Murphy passed away earlier this afternoon. I could never imagine a life without him in it as my Grandpa. He was the BEST Grandpa any person could ever ask for. He was funny, fun, witty, and loved us unconditionally. So tonight I want to remember some of the wonderful things about my Grandpa Murphy.

Grampa Murphy and Gramma Jo

As you can see in most of these pictures, Grampa was VERY proud of his grandkids, and his great-grandkids. He rarely left the house without a t-shirt on that had pictures of the great-grandkids on it. Anywhere he would go, people would comment on his shirts, and he would (very proudly) tell them who each one was, and brag about how cute they are.

As you can also see, Grampa didn't leave the house without his WWII veteran's hat worn proudly on his head. He was a patriot, and LOVED to tell about how he drove Bing Crosby and Bob Hope around in a jeep during the war as they would provide entertainment for the troops.

Of course you don't get Grampa Murphy without Gramma Jo. She was his EVERYTHING. Two peas in a pod. They were made for each other, and she waited on him hand and foot every minute of the day when he couldn't do things for himself. She was a lifesaver to him. They are so lucky to have each other. May you be blessed with comfort Gramma Jo...you'll see your sweet other half again in heaven. We love you Gramma.

All growing up Grampa Murphy and Gramma Jo would come get us in their van, and drive us to their house to sleepover for the weekend. It was a party time for us. We would have our own jammies in drawers under their waterbed. He had an ENTIRE candy/treat room. And I'm serious. What kid doesn't LIVE for candy, ya know? He would let us pick little bags of candy, or soda. We would each 'claim' what recliner we wanted to sleep on. Then he would help us feed Mugsy and Muffin and Penny (his yorkies) their 'Pupperonis' from on top of our ears. :o) The dogs even knew which ear was for them. What fun memories we'll always cherish of our weekends at Grampa's house.

Grandpa was FUNNY. He was a jokester. Always teasing, joking, having fun, making everyone laugh. This is him with his best friend Jack Kluge who passed a few years back.

Boy how he loved his great granddaugthers. I've never seen a great grandpa as proud as he was.

Although we may not share the same religion, I know that Grampa is in Heaven watching down on us. I know Gramma Jo will, as will the rest of us, be with him again someday. I owe so many wonderful memories, and so much of my childhood to him. I love you so much Grampa. I'm so glad we were able to come out and visit a few weeks ago and spend time together. You will ALWAYS be in our hearts.

california!

i promised it was coming, and here it is! i had to cheat and make collages of the pictures, since there are over 70 of them. i just couldn't leave any fun pictures out!

synopsis: nate got a few vacation days, so we decided to drive out to grass valley, california to visit my mom's side of the family. we stayed at gloria and gary's BEAUTIFUL house (or should i say the 'apple estate' ;o). the trip was packed with wonderful family, much fun, great food, and much more. the girls were able to meet and play with kimmy, lily, and ryan (my cousins' kids), and they had a blast.

we also were able to sneak awayand go to auburn, where i grew up. it was fun to see my old house, old school, and everything else i remember as a child.

i'll try to summarize each collage, we'll see how this goes:

first off, blogger won't let me move these pictures down where i want them. so here they stay. this is the house i grew up in, in Auburn. i can't believe how small it looks now, and how MASSIVE the trees have gotten! those were just new trees when we lived there. crazy.

and this is the last day of our trip at pauline and bob's. we had a yummy dinner and dessert. thanks guys for hosting! (oh...and check out the piggy back ride travis is giving ALL the girls at once. he rocks.)

we stopped in reno, nv to have dinner with my grandma jo and grandpa murphy. they are the BEST...we love you guys! (that's emma and kimmy on the bottom)

this was the entertainment favorite of the kids the whole trip. gloria found a GREAT new use of her salad spinner. you pack it with ping-pong balls, start pumping it like crazy, and pop the top. it's insane! those things SHOOT out of there, it was hilarious.

out back at the 'apple estate', we had fun in the sand box, hammock, personal driving range (down the mountain)

gary bought an old car and he took us for a ride in it. it was AWESOME...i felt like i was in a dick tracy movie or something. the girls thought it was kind-of strange..no seat belts! their favorite part was the horn of course. the bottom pics are of the kids and abby holding ryan. and then travis giving the girls a ride on the rolling turtle ottoman.

one night we had homemade bbq'd pizza night. gary invented/made his own massive smoker/bbq out back, so we all made our own pizzas and took them out to be cooked. this is nate trying his 'skills' at throwing the dough in the air. i think gloria thought he was a nutcase.

my cousin travis was pretty much the kid entertainer the whole time. he played and played and played with the kids the ENTIRE time. they love him! the bottom pics are of the room we stayed in. it was SO rough to wake up to that beautiful view and the pool out back. ;o)

we visited the empire state mine while in grass valley. it was really cool to see how things were done, and to be able to go a tiny bit down the mine shaft. the girls just had fun with each other. oh, and the bottom left picture-that's my beautiful aunt gloria. she's amazing.

the guys came up with a clever idea. they would 'golf' down the hill, and let the girls try it out too. when they ran out of balls, they would say 'EASTER TIME!' and all the girls would scramble to get as many 'easter balls' as they could find. smart men. oh...and then the pic of emma in the cute bathtub at gloria's.

so we had the downstairs at the 'apple estate' to ourselves. we could have easily fit in 2 rooms, but caitlin opted to have her OWN room. can you tell she loved the queen sized bed all to herself? the girls also loved the wading pool out back. even though it was rather chilly to swim!

one of the days we went to the elementary school's 'harvest carnival'. um..yeah. this put other elementary carnivals to shame. it was so much fun! the top pictures is 'gramma g' (gloria) taking all the girls to get tickets for everything.

i have to explain the bottom 2 pictures. so they had a cake walk (but they used chairs, weird). anyways, the kids all did it. wouldn't you know it, caitlin won. we all were so sad as she walked over to claim her cake prize that she couldn't even eat. she came prancing back with the most proud look on her face. someone had donated a platter of GLUTEN FREE COOKIES for the cake walk that day. it seriously still brings tears to my eyes..it made her week. she was so thrilled! and then she promptly shared with everyone. it was awesome.

my little cotton candy eatin' rockstars.

ok..here we have caitlin's version of a cupcake, carving pumpkins, gloria building a fort for the girls, and of course aunt denise. poor denise, she was so sick when she came. but she made the coolest cupcakes for the kids! i also feel horrible that the bottom right picture is one of the only pictures i got of amanda and pauline. LOVE YOU GIRLS though, thanks for the memories!

and to my school. this is Alta Vista where i went to elementary school. it was a little weird to come to show the girls, and find that it is all closed down, and grown over. i have so many memories there. but i guess times change, eh? and i'll have you know i WAS the student body secretary at that school. i know, i'm famous.

top left: the courthouse in auburn. SUCH an amazing building! then we have cute ryan smiling away...he LOVES his gramma jo. and on the bottom is travis swinging the girls in the hammock, and the marble track travis built.

halloween thus far

first of all, i PROMISE my california-trip-post is coming. it's going to be a huge post, and i haven't had time to do it yet.

secondly (is that a word?)...for some reason my camera is taking subpar pictures, and i can't figure out why. so pardon the grainy-ness (yet another non-word) of the pictures. :o)

pumpkin carving with 'brooke and madisen' (as the girls call them collectively)

yum. (i try to stay out of the 'cleaning out the junk' with pumpkin carving)

oh the 'grainy-ness'. you get the idea.

megan, caitlin and emma at nate's clinic halloween party. it was so much fun!

emma's cute monster costume...fits her personality.

pumpkin head harvey, pumpkin head harvey. comes around when it's halloween time...

ok, if you haven't heard that song, forget it :o)

happened to catch nate behind the hanging pumpkin. this was our 'room' to hand out candy. (thanks audra and ron for pretty much doing our room for us!)

dr. kirk (a-reeeeba, a-reeeeeeeba!) helping the girls at the witches fishing pond

so the girl on the left and the boy on the right are brother and sister, and their AMAZING mom (another resident wife) MADE, yes MADE their costumes: ariel and flounder. CUUUUUTE!

to die for!! i love henry's face!

the girls had their halloween costume parade at school yesterday. it was so cute! i got roped into doing the 'hula-hoop-on-the-balloon' game after, i don't think i need to work out for a week. it was crazy!

abby and brooke aka supergirl

caitlin was a littlest petshop dog. and yes, that is her teacher.

caitlin's cute friends julia and madisen

i just love kindergarteners! i could squeeze them. so cute and innocent! (usually)