Date Night

Scott and I are always looking for opportunities to go out on a cheap date. Last night we went on a date that didn't cost us a penny, but there was nothing cheap about it. Scott's department got to use Nu Skin's courtside tickets to the Jazz vs Atlanta Hawks game. We were sitting with our feet on the hardwood floor. I could have stretched my legs out and tripped the ref after a bad call if I had wanted. It was awesome!! Not only were we right in the action for the game but we were treated to an amazing gourmet dinner before the game and refreshments at halftime. Based on the price tags on our tickets we went on a $1800 date for free. Can't complain about that... even if the Jazz did blow it and lose the game. Thanks Nu Skin!! Hideous picture that shows where we were sitting. Us and the Dastrups and I'm assuming the guy behind us is the one who yelled "it's the shoes Beebee" to Mike Bibby LITERALLY every time they came down the court. Can you say annoying?

Experiences

Like most people, I have enjoyed watching the Olympics this past week. The winter games mostly consist of sports and athletes I know nothing about, but tonight was different. Tonight I watched the skeleton competition and it brought back a lot of memories. Here is a little known fact about me, 10 years ago, when I was a Sophomore in high school, I spent the winter training for the 2 man bobsled and skeleton. It was the year 2000 and the Salt Lake City Olympics were just around the corner. They were trying to increase Utah's field of women bobsled and skeleton athletes. Most of these athletes have a background in track and field because of the importance of explosive sprint speed to start the race, so the coaches went around to local High Schools inviting some of the top track athletes to come train for the year completely free. When I was approached and invited to do this I thought, sure, why not. So every Wednesday for the entire winter my mom drove me up to Park City no matter what the weather conditions were and waited in the freezing cold while I had a 4-5 hour practice (I wasn't 16 yet so I couldn't drive myself). The things I remember most about my time at the Utah Olympic Park are how cold my feet would get no matter how many hand warmers I had stuffed in my socks, how many bruises I got on my shoulders from banging into the walls, how crazy it felt to be going so fast and only being able to see about a foot in front of me, how bad I was at being the bobsled driver (they only let me drive once, and after I almost flipped the sled they decided I was much more fit to be a pusher), and how at the time I never realized what a once-in-a-life-time experience I was having. I was never particularly good at either sport, but I sure had fun trying them. My point in posting this is that I never want to forget all the amazing experiences I had growing up and how every one of them was the result of sacrifices my parents made for me. I hope I can provide my kids with as many opportunities and experiences as I had growing up. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Fun in the Sun

Every year by the time February rolls around, all of us in the Murray household start to feel a little gloomy and ready for winter to be over. To try and curb the seasonal depression that inevitably starts to set in, we planned a little getaway to sunny Arizona to visit our desert dwelling relatives. I was a little worried about the long drive with Brynn who still hates being in her car seat for more than 15 minutes at a time, but with some good timing and me sitting next to her singing and dancing she made it just fine. Our vacation plans pretty much consisted of Scott enjoying a round of golf with Steve and Brandon; spending time with Brandon, Whitney, Rachel Faye, and SteveJenna in their new houses; and just trying to soak up every ray of sunshine we could. We did everything we wanted and more. Since the main purpose of family vacations is to create memories, here are my favorite memories from the trip.

* Staying at Brandon and Whitney's awesome new house.

* Seeing how much Rachel Faye has grown up since Christmas. She is barely 20 months old but looks and talks like she is 2 1/2.

* Rachel calling me Auntie. (It's confusing having someone with your same name)

* Mason being so excited to play with Rachel Faye and all of her cool toys.

* Mason's favorite toy being Rachel's singing and dancing Elmo Live that I'm pretty sure he thought was real because it moved and talked on its own.

* Noticing the distinct difference between the way boys and girls play, for example, when Rachel carefully put her doll in the stroller while Mason pretended like Elmo was eating it.

* Going to the train park. Enough said.

* Watching Mason's knuckles turn white from holding on so tight on the carousal.
* Watching Rachel Faye chase birds at the park.

* Going to the park in February.

* Listening to Brynn laugh, laugh, laugh on the swings.

* Parks with SAND.

* 75 degree weather....ahhh.

* Whitney inadvertently telling Mason he could get a new Hiro (train) toy tomorrow and then thinking he would forget overnight, just to have the first words out of his mouth the next morning, "Whitney! We go get my new Hiro of the Rails toy now?!"

* Scott and I sleeping in until 9 am thinking Brynn was setting a new record for sleeping in when really Brandon had gotten up with her at 7:30 and played with her all morning.

* Steve having an awesome connection that let them golf at Dinosaur Monument for a steal!

* Steve's friend Dave having a connection and getting us into Tia Rosa's on the Saturday before Valentine's Day without having to wait a minute.

* Playing Settlers with Brandon, Whitney and SteveJenna.

* Brandon telling Mason a bedtime story about a train named Jonah that was swallowed by a whale.

* Rachel talking more and more about choo choo trains as the days passed. Sorry Whit.

* Taking Rachel and Mason to nursery at church and realizing Brandon and Whitney didn't exaggerate at all with how weird it is.

* Staying at SteveJennas beautiful new house.

* SteveJenna's backyard that is like an oasis.

* Playing on a blanket with Brynn in the shade of an orange tree.

* Mason running all around the backyard playing with Weston aka "Rusten".

* Mason saying to Weston, "Let's play hide and seek, you count to ten." * Steve helping Weston play hide and seek with Mason.
* Mason trying to get Weston to shake and sit for a treat, and when the treats were gone trying to get him to do it for a leaf. * Steve and Jenna playing trains with Mason.
* Watching the Olympics with SteveJenna.

* Brynn driving Weston crazy with all of her noises during the night.

* Mason throwing a fit because he wanted the green Dinosaur Train book when no such book exists, at least not to my knowledge.

* Mason telling me on the way home that "Rusten" misses him and is sad and needs his dog mommy to make him feel better.

Those four days were just what we needed. A huge thanks to our gracious hosts Brandon & Whitney and Steve & Jenna. We might have to make this a yearly tradition.

Happy Birthday Scott!!

Scott turns the big 2-7 today. Wow, I can't believe I'm married to someone that OLD!! To celebrate the occasion here are 27 things about Scott you may or may not know.

1. He was a miracle baby and had a twin that died inutero.
2. He is exceptionally good at packing bags, cars, boxes or anything else. Seriously he doesn't waste an inch of space!
3. He is NOT a morning person.
4. He is very good at planning and executing surprises.
5. He has a talent of stopping tantrums dead in their tracks by distracting the child with something random.
6. He has worked at Nu Skin Enterprises for 6 years.
7. He loves to play basketball.
8. He always puts his family first.... I love and appreciate this about him.
9. He plays Mr. Mom two nights a week while I'm at work and the following morning while I sleep.
10. He has a Bachelors degree in Exercise Science.
11. He is very supportive of me and has sacrificed a lot to let me continue working because he knows how much I love it.
12. He loves to tease.
13. He is the 4th of 15 kids in his family.
14. He has a larger than average mouth.
15. When he was in elementary school he would practice time tables over and over so he would be the fastest in his class. (he's very competetive)
16. He served his mission in Korea.
17. He never let me practice drawing blood or starting an IV on him when I was in nursing school.
18. He is very romantic, but shhh, don't tell.
19. He is very spiritual.
20. His ears are uneven on his head.
21. He is really smart.
22. He is a good teacher.
23. He does not like messes.
24. He is a very good kisser.
25. He works hard at whatever he does.
26. He is the best, no seriously THE BEST, husband in the world.
27. His Birthday is TODAY!!!