Feels like a California December!

Our November and December have been ridiculously warm! 

Evidence: Eric's last campout with his scouts from our old ward, the first weekend in November:

 He's really going to miss them. :(

 

On a totally different topic, Eric took the girls on dates in November.  He went roller skating with Katelyn and to the movies with Whit.  he was going to take Owen to a BYU football game, but it was freezing so he'll pick a basketball game soon instead. :)

 Obviously Katelyn had a blast with her Daddy doing one of her favorite things.

 Eric did a great job putting Christmas lights up on our new house, and we love that we have a Christmas tree outside!

 Maris loves to suck on her toes. :)

 and look at the lights of our indoor tree.

 I ran a super fun 5k for a friend's brother who has cancer...on the only cold day in November. I was the first woman stroller pusher to finish, in just under 27 minutes.  There were almost 700 people in the race!  Fun.

 I've seen some amazing sunsets out my kitchen window!

 We had a super fun Thanksgiving at home with Derek and Raycelan!  The kids had a blast playing with them all day long while Eric and I cooked. (They helped with that too!)  Katelyn and Whitney kept acting out things for them to guess, it was so funny.  And Whitney played the Picture Game and Dalmuti for the first time, and fell in love with Dalmuti!  I'm excited to have another fan in the family!

 The food was delicious and the kids had fun talking about what we are grateful for.  We are so blessed.

 Maris' first Thanksgiving!  She's getting big enough to sit in her chair and eat baby food, and she LOVES to be involved in our meals.

 She is sitting really well by herself!

 Further proof of the warm weather!  For a couple of days last week we hung out outside for hours!  If only it didn't get dark at like 4:45.....

 The kids got out all the sports equipment and made up some games, it was cute.  And of course Kate also did some reading.

 Maris was in heaven, she loved it outside!  I can't wait until Spring!

 Also in the last couple of weeks Owen has talked me into stopping at several parks when we've been out running errands-- I just can't say no when it's so beautiful outside and I know soon it will be cold for months!!  These I took when he asked if we could run around the BYU track.  Well why not??  You know I want to encourage that kind of thing!  So we ran a lap and half, slowly, with me holding Maris, and she thought it was hilarious when I would make her "chase" Owen.  This girl doesn't laugh a ton-- she's kind of hard to impress. :)  So I got these pictures when I was making her laugh.  And it was so bright apparently!

 And last but not least, my new favorite shirt.  So clever of them to make a Christmas Harry Potter shirt (stag=reindeer) and sell it for $7.50 at Walmart.  Yes please.

We are having a great holiday season, even though Eric and I are frequently overwhelmed by our emotional children.  Yes Whitney, we must hate you because we are trying to get you to put your laundry away before you get to watch a TV show.  No Owen, you cannot pull your sister's hair because you are too impatient to wait your turn.  Sorry Owen that I unloaded the kid cups and now you are having a meltdown, I didn't know you wanted to do it.  Sorry Katelyn, I don't know why you are the only one who understands what it's like to have the most annoying sister in the world and now you're crying like it's the end of the world.  Sigh.  Parenting is hard.  But I love Eric and we will keep trying. :)

Kate solo

Here's a video of one of Katelyn's solos from her Fall Rococo Performance.  She's kneeling in the front, second from the left, and then she gets up to sing and starts a little ahead of the music. :)  Also there's a key change or something in the middle of her part, I never saw the music but it's pretty challenging!  She did great.  Her other solo video didn't turn out as good.

 

Here is the whole Rococo cast, and their directors on the right, Chad and Tina.  They used to be in our ward, they are so fun.  Kate's on the bottom left.

Another picture of her in action during the song "It's a Good Day".  I still have all the songs stuck in my head, and I can't wait for her next session this spring, they are doing 80's and 90's!  She had so much fun, it was like my old drama club at Berenda except higher quality because there are less kids and you have to pay for it. :)  I'm so glad she can be involved in something that makes her happy and is worth our time and money. Yay Rococo!

Happenings

first of all, we had Happy Murray Day.  It was pretty low-key this year, since I almost forgot about it!  It came 4 days after we moved!  So here are the awards:

Katelyn: Magical Murray- because she has read all the Harry Potter books multiple times this year, and because she is magically good at a lot of things!

Whitney: Motherly Murray, because she is working so hard at practicing to be a good mom! She is a natural.

Owen: Make-it Murray, because he loves to help Dad build and fix-things.

Maris: Marshmallow Murray, because she is a big lump, very squishy, but also very sweet. :)

 

Here is an adorable FHE lesson Whitney made up, about Heavenly Father's plan.  She made a bunch of statements that were true or false, and we had to put them on the Jesus poster for true or the Satan poster for false.

 My favorite was the false statement "we are berzz (bears)" haha.

 And she made such a cute chart showing all the steps of life.  Awesome.

 Katelyn has been working really hard all Fall in her performing arts group, Rococo.  They learned 6 songs from the 40's and 50's, along with awesome choreography, for their performance.  She has a bright future in theater!

 Here she is right before her performance, she had so much fun! 

 And I was so proud of her, she volunteered for TWO solos!  So she sang a verse of "Swingin' on a Star" and a verse of "Every Day" by herself, in front of hundreds of people!  SHe was so cute and did a great job.  It was a challenge to be dancing on the chorus and then remember to run up to the microphone in time for her solo, but by the last of 3 shows she finally got there! :)  And her singing improved each time too.

I will try to post a video soon.  Next up: Thanksgiving and Maris's 6 month post!!



These are a few of my favorite things...

Okay, I know you all have been dying for pictures of the new house... here are a few!  Just some of my favorite features.

 First of all, one of the biggest things we wanted in a new house: one big main room!  Openness!  a bigger dining area!  (You can't really tell from these pictures, but it really is bigger.  You can walk all the way around the table easily without bumping into anything.) So this is standing in the corner closest to the entryway/stairs/front room.

 This is from the other corner, and I took it to show the next favorite thing, the kitchen drawers and cabinets!!  They are so nice and there are so many of them!!  We have over twice as many drawers as we used to and several extra cupboards.  So exciting to have lots of room!

Next, I love the recessed lighting!

And my dreams have come true; I don't have to miss the football game, or the movie, or whatever anymore!  I can cook and watch at the same time! (If I'm careful with the Cutco haha).

 Loving the view out back, although it will be prettier in the spring/summer, or in the winter covered in snow. November is the ugliest month in Utah!

 My bathroom makes me feel like I'm at a really nice hotel or resort or something! Although it is weird to not have a bathroom door (the toilet room has it's own door though.)

 It's like 7 times bigger than our old bathroom!!!

 My half of the giant master closet!!  Not all the way unpacked yet.  Our bedroom is huge and awesome too, but I didn't take a pic for some reason.

 I really love these stairs, so big and open!  They make it feel like you're not going into some dark cave of a basement!  More pics of the basement later.

 This porch.  I am going to LOVE this when the weather is nice!  we are going to get some chairs or benches for sure.  I have always wanted a big porch!

 These cute little shutters on the vent above our garage- love!

 Some views of the back and side yards...

 We are SO grateful that the lawn and basic landscaping are in- now we can just upgrade with more trees, flowers, bushes and a garden!

The big main room has tons of space for Owen's daily train track adventures!

 And the future possibilities for the basement are exciting...

This is going to be a playhouse under the stairs, and it goes around the corner to the left,

 shown here.  We are going to cut a door and window into this wall- it will be adorable.

 Views of the giant room taking up half of the basement

 It's well-lit and I love it!  Past that framed wall are the future bathroom, a drywall-ed toy room (theater room) and bedroom, and the cold storage room.

 And I tried to take a few pictures of Maris in this cute outfit I bought her. She can sit up by herself for about 3.5 seconds!

 And here's one last view, of our little deck with snow on it.

 Happy November!  I am loving everything about this house except the awful commute to school in Santaquin twice a day.... only 4 more weeks of that!