Junior Golfer

Grandpa Val took Mason to Riverside for his first 9 holes of golf. Watch out PGA!

Or just WATCH OUT!

Mason took his job as ball washer very seriously. He even got stung by a wasp while performing his duties and only cried when he was told he couldn't wash the ball at that hole anymore. "But the ball is still dirty!!" he pleaded.
Thanks Grandpa Val for a very fun time and being so patient with Mason. That's what Grandpas are for, right?

Lemonade Stand

On one of the 100+ degree days this summer Mason, Cannon, and Kennedy decided to do a Lemonade Stand. They set up their stand and waited for customers to come. Cannon was in charge of the money and filling up Kool Aid cups. Mason and Kennedy sat on their chairs looking cute and modeling the product on their faces, hands and clothes. Their selling tactics worked and they made a decent amount of money.

Mason's cut of the money combine with money he had at home was enough for him to buy the train he was saving up for.

Mason now believes lemonade stands are the answer to any money shortage. Whenever Mason wants something and I tell him he'll have to save his money for it he immediately responds, "I want to do a lemonade stand, Mom."

So this weekend I was at work and I got a call from Mason.

Mason: Mom, I pooped my pants.

Me: Oh no Mace!

Mason: Daddy threw away my Buzz Lightyear underwear and now I won't have any underwear.

(for the record Mason has enough underwear for a small country)

Me: Shoot. That's what happens when we go poop in our underwear and it's all yucky, huh?

Mason: It's okay Mom. I'll do a lemonade stand and buy more underwear so I have plenty.

New York

Back in December, for our 5th Anniversary, Scott surprised me with a trip for the two of us to New York. He scheduled it for this summer so Brynn would be older and it would be easier to leave the kids for a full week. It has been four years since we went on a vacation with just the two of us. No friends, family, or kids. Just my wonderful husband and me. It was much needed and a lot of fun. Get ready for a boring post with a lot of pictures of us documenting our very fun trip.

Day 1

• Flew to NYC without a single problem. We and our luggage made our connecting flight in Detroit without even breaking a sweat. This is a first in Murray family travel.

• Checked into Courtyard Marriott in Times Square.

• Went out for an evening in Times Square.

It was very hot and very humid. Get used to our gleaming faces in all the pictures.

We thought it was crowded on Tuesday night, but once we saw what it was like on the weekend we realized it was practically empty that night.

I loved all the ladies they have along Broadway. They are all wearing different outfits and have different sayings. This was my favorite.

Day 2

• Changed hotels to The London where we stayed the rest of the week. First 5 star hotel we have ever stayed in and it was awesome!
• Shopping on 5th Avenue. Oh how I wish there was a little blue bag from Tiffany & Co. in my hands. Had to get a picture with Scott and his beloved I phone in front of the Apple.


• Anniversary Dinner at Il Tinello. This was courtesy of one of Scott's distributors at work and was by far the finest dining we have ever experienced. The servers just stood a couple feet from our table watching us. Scott looked over his shoulder and a server was there to ask if he needed anything. It was a little awkward at times, but the food was unbelievably good. I even ate some fresh tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, and artichoke hearts (because I felt too embarrassed to pick them out when everyone was watching me eat) and enjoyed them. Anyone who knows my eating habits knows that is a HUGE deal for me.
• The Addams Family. A really funny and entertaining musical about the Addams family. This was highly recommended to us and it did not disappoint at all. Day 3


• Walk through Central Park. Beautiful. It was so nice to escape the crowded, busy, and smelly city for a while. By the afternoon this is what all the sidewalks looked like until the garbage trucks rounded every night. Needless to say it was more than a little smelly.

• Museum of National History. If I had to describe this in one word it would have to be BIG. I got most excited looking at things Mason would have enjoyed. It sure made me miss the little ones. We took pictures by all of Mason's favorite dinosaurs for him and even did our impressions of them. Scott and the giant Ammonite. (Mason loves Ammonites)

T-Rex Ankylosaurus Ornithomimus Triceratop Corythosaurus

After this we were completely Museumed out so we opted to skip the Met and Guggenheim.

• Manhattan Temple. I loved seeing the Angel Moroni rising up above the city.


• Ed Sullivan Theater. We were hoping to attend a taping of David Letterman but they are on their summer hiatus. The theater was just down the street from our hotel so we stopped by to see the Hello Deli, but that was closed, too.


• South Pacific. Our original plan for this night was a movie in the park at Brooklyn Bridge Park. But since it was raining we decided to get last minute tickets to a show instead. We had heard how great South Pacific was and since it was closing the next week we decided to check it out. It was a very classic love story with classical music. It was well done, but wasn't exactly our style and left us a little bored at times. Day 4


• World Trade Center 9/11 memorial. Basically a huge construction site right now. They are building a memorial that will be finished by next year for the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. I would love to go back and see the memorial after it is all finished. It should be really amazing.


• Random sites along the way. Any "Friends" fans recognize this building? We have been re watching all the seasons of Friends (my favorite series ever!) and so we could pass up finding the Friends apartment building on the corner of Bedford and Grove. The show was shot in a studio in Burbank, California, but this is the actual building they show from the outside. There is a little restaurant called The Little Owl that is located below where Central Perk would have been located. I can't figure out why they don't change the name and redo it to look like Central Perk. They would get tons of tourists. We were shocked how many other people were there taking pictures of the building. We thought we were the only Friends losers.

Came across Murray Street.
This was as close to the Statue of Liberty we got and it was good enough for us. Us by the Hudson River.

• China Town. What a horrible place. Scott's wallet was lost/stolen while we were there. Considering the circumstances surrounding the 5 minutes between when he had it and realized it was gone we are pretty sure someone stole it out of his pocket. I hate people that steal. Our losses could have been much much worse, but it has been horribly inconvenient.

Mets vs Phillies baseball game. Scott strategically planned our trip when the Phillies (his lifelong favorite baseball team) were playing the Mets at Citifield. In the weeks prior to this game our 4 favorite players: Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins were all injured. We were devastated. Thankfully all of them but Chase Utley made it back for our game. Ryan Howard didn't start but we got to watch him in batting practice.

Day 5

We decided we better relax and take it easy on our last day so we didn't return from our vacation totally exhausted.

• Run in Central Park. We ran 6-7 miles and went around the entire park. Loved it.
• Police Station. We had to file a report for Scott's wallet being lost/stolen so we could get paperwork that would allow Scott on the plane without any ID. They wouldn't give us the paperwork because it didn't happen in their precinct.
• Inception. It's been a very long time since we've seen a movie together in the movie theater. Love, love, loved it.
• Blue Man Group. Our finale for the trip was seeing Blue Man Group. Our tickets were front row in the middle. We were in the poncho section, where they give everyone ponchos to wear because you are likely to get stuff all over you, and we did. It was very entertaining! I highly recommend it!
  

  Day 6

• Slept in

• Got to airport hours early so we could figure out how to get Scott through security without any ID.

• Scott got a personal interview with the TSA supervisor who called a number that looked up all, seriously ALL, of Scott's info. Scott then had to answer a bunch of really random and personal questions about himself including naming all the cars year make and model that were or had ever been registered under his name and his dad's name, birth date, and address (that one stumped Scott since his parents have moved since he lived at home), and many other personal questions. They had really good questions that would be very hard to know if you weren't the person you claimed to be. So don't ever try to fake it.

• Scott got patted down. Scott had to wait in this glass cube prison forever and finally a guard came and did a very thorough pat down and searched all his bags entirely. I tried to take a picture while he was getting patted down, but a security lady yelled at me. I did sneak a picture of the cell on his phone after and while they were searching his bags.

• We finally made it through security and once again made it home smoothly.

• Reunited with kiddos. It was so good to see Mason and Brynn at the airport. I missed them like crazy! They stayed with my parents all week (thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad) and the report I got was they were complete angels the entire time, but were definitely missing Mom and Dad by the end. Brynn ate and slept like a champ, contrary to my expectations of leaving her for a week. I swear she got bigger and her hair definitely got longer. Her vocabulary grew quite a bit including calling my dad "Bam-pa".Mason got emotional on occasion stating he just wanted to play dragons with his mommy and daddy but loved demanding Grandma and Grandpa's undivided attention for a week.

This trip was just what Scott and I needed. It is amazing how rejuvenated I am, especially in my role as a mother. I have enjoyed my kids so much this week and my patience is a million times better than it was before the trip. I am so happy to be back in Utah. Scott and I realized how much we love where we live and hope we can stay here for a long time.

Wow, congrats if you made it all the way through that horribly long and boring post. Promise to get something more exciting up soon.