DAD'S BYU CHALLENGE

Football season is now upon us.

Dad decided to it would be fun to do a contest.

If you want to join check it out at this blogspot www.riseandshoutcougarfans.blogspot.com

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Some husbands surprise their wives with roses

Some husbands surprise their wives with chocolate

MY husband surprises me with...

... my very own Dwight bobblehead.

I like him (Clayton)...a lot

oh I like the bobblehead a lot too!

Ofcourse he had to buy himself the Michael Scott bobblehead too...funny guy!

DRINKING FROM THE TEAT

For all of you waiting for the pic of Clayton drinking from the teat of a cow...

Sorry you will have to wait a little longer. My apologies.

MOMMA MIA

Happy Birthday Mother Dearest!

Today my wonderful mom turns ...
Did you really think that I would risk my life by telling you how old she is!?! I really enjoy living and would like to keep on enjoying it. Only our family and the government knows how old she is...oh and maybe her doctor... and the home teachers... and Dorris at the Post Office, but other than that the secret is OURS!

Sunday, the whole family traveled long and far to be together for the event. By long and far I mean Logan (Cort, Clayton and I), Elwood (Rach, Nate and the rug rats), Murry (Kamerica) and next door (Grandma)... oh and Brandon made a brief appearance from his room in the basement. I think the journey was the hardest on Grandma and Brandon.

Mom loves L.O.V.E.S Clayton's steaks. Lucky for her he was nice enough to oblige cooking duty. After a hearty dinner (seriously who uses the word "hearty"?) "heavy, heavy hangover" presented it's ugly head and presents were opened and wishes were made.

Here are some pics from the festivities...
Thank-you Dairy Queen for the awesome ice cream cake. However, in the future (per Clayton's request) would you please put actual cake in the ice cream instead of crushing up oreo's and calling it cake? Thanks.
Tydon has this think for running around with no pants on. I think he might be on to something. Maybe I will give it a try tonight. Kidding...maybe.
Who forgot the candle's? I can't show you a picture of Mom and Kace (always has to be there) blowing out the candles because THERE AREN'T ANY.
Sweet digital picture frame. The person (or people) who gave that to you must ROCK!
Dad and Tydon (with pants on) on the tractor. Tydon loves to ride on tractors and 4-wheelers.

Good times. Thanks for having a birthday mom. We are so thankful for all you do for us. Your example and selfless acts don't go unnoticed. However, you definitely don't get all the praise and appreciation you deserve for them either. We love you so much. Go treat yourself to an outfit at Christopher Banks or American Eagle on Dad. I will let him know later...maybe.

OH CRAP!

We received the following two letters on Saturday:

Letter numero uno came from the State of Utah and was addressed to Clayton

Please be advised that the following convictions for moving traffic violations have been entered on your driving record.

VIOLATION

FAIL TO STAY IN LANE - 24 JULY 2008 (this ticket was a joke)

SPEEDING - 15 MARCH 2008

SPEEDING - 24 AUGUST 2007

PASS ON WRONG SIDE - 17 MAY 2007 (I think the local Highway Patrol was bored on this day seeing that this ticket was a huge joke as well)

The total number of points assessed against you for these violations is 160.

Should another entry including any out-of-state convictions, be recorded, your driving privilege may be suspended.

If suspended, you would be without a driver license or driving privilege card with no restricted driving privilege available.

You may clear your record of points by driving violation-free for two consecutive years. Points are reduced by half after one year of violation-free driving and traffic violations are removed from your record after three years. In addition, you may complete the defensive driving course offered by the Utah Safety Council and receive a 50 point credit, one time, in any three year period.

yada, yada, yada,

Awesome. Freaking awesome.

Letter numero dos was from our insurance agent

NOTICE OF CHANGE AT RENEWAL - UTAH

As part of our underwriting process, your policy was reviewed for changes needed to comply with current requirements. As a result, your policy is being renewed with the following change for the reason indicated: The auto portion of this policy will not be renewed due to the driving record of Clayton McMurdie.

There IS an upside to this. First, Clayton didn't get a ticket from August of 2007 to March of 2008. That is a good streak for him. Way to go Clayton. But now that I think about it, he got a ticket when we went to Hawaii that wasn't listed...luckily. Second upside is that my brother, Brandon got the same letter stating that if he got one more ticket then his license would be suspended as well. Looks like Clayton will have a buddy in his defensive driving class.

The obvious downside is Clayton being dropped from our insurance which sucks. If somehow I can convince them to keep us they will hike our monthly rate up higher then it already is at $153.00/month. Don't worry you will see jars with Clayton's picture on them at your local grocer in the next few weeks asking for donations for our insurance bill. All donations WILL be tax deductible.

I would be a hypocrite if I criticized Clayton. I myself have had to meet with the driver improvement officer regarding my driving record. However, marriage has saved me and my record. I never drive anywhere except for the 2.5 miles between Icon and my house everyday. I think my record is the cleanest it has ever been since I was 12 years-old. Unfortunately, with the two letters above that all might be changing seeing how I will be driving more.

p.s. I am not the horrible wife you are all drawing me up to be in your minds. Clayton gave me the ok to blog this. In fact, I think he even wanted me to.

WEEKEND OF WEDDINGS

Wedding bells have been ringing so much lately that I am starting to get a monster headache. Don't get me wrong I love weddings. I love seeing people in love (ahhh) and I love the free food. Mostly the free food.

Thursday my cousin Brian married Ali in the SLC Temple. The sealing was beautiful. I don't remember a thing that was said at our sealing so I love to go to other sealings and get loads of good advice.

I love the SLC Temple, but that place was a madhouse on Thursday (I say that in the most heavenly way possible). If not for the brides in their dresses one might mistake the sight for an American Idol addition. I don't mean to get all Ryan Seacrest on you but it is the only comparison that I could think off. Ali dress was beautiful and she was even more gorgeous. They were so happy and we wish them all the best.

Rachel told me that on 8/8/08 that the SLC Temple married 88 couples. Later my mother in law told me that on that same date they married 120 couples. I'm going with my mother in law on that one. Sorry Rach. 88 couples on 8/8/08 seems too planned.
Because I like looking at pictures of myself (which I really don't) here are more pics of the day. First pic is of my dad, my mom and myself in SLC close to the Temple. Second picture is of Kami and I at the dinner at Thanksgiving point.

Friday, Clayton's cousin Jeremy got married in Layton. Apparently we didn't get the memo that it was a causal affair. We showed up in our Sunday best. Everyone else was in shorts and t-shirts. ugh. We felt pretty cool. We stood out like, I don't know...like two people going to church while everyone else is going to the beach. I wish I was going to the beach. Don't get me wrong I love church, but let's face it dresses and skirts are not comfortable. At all. But that is just my opinion. One of my favorite parts of the wedding was when the bride was walking down the aisle and some guy (who didn't know they had started) about ran her over. Funny. The ceremony was good. The bride was beautiful. And we didn't stay long enough to partake in the FREE FOOD. Dang it! Oh yeah and there are no pictures because I left my camera in the car. That never happens.

That is all.

A REDNECK BOA IN UTAH

"Just when i thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this... and totally redeem yourself!"
- Harry from "Dumb and Dumber"

I have had some "poor me" moments the last few weeks. Some of them came out in posts, some didn't. Clayton got the blunt of my pity party. Poor guy! I am sure that I have mentioned that we were going to celebrate our anniversary on the 8 &9 because Kami and Erik were getting married on the 7 and we both had to work on the 4 (which is our anniversary). In the middle of June I told Clayton to plan on taking the 8 & 9 of August off because of Kami's wedding and our anniversary. Like a good husband he obliged. As it turned out every B&B in our price range was booked for that weekend and so were some of the bigger hotels in SLC. After weeks of searching I gave up and told Clayton, "Looks like we are staying home that weekend." In wife language this means, "it is totally up to you, the husband to plan something." On the 6th (the day before the wedding) Clayton informed me that he was going to work on that Friday, the 8th...the day he previously had TOLD me that he would take off so we could do something. This is when the pity party really kicked into high gear... and it was quite the party!

Surprise #1
Conversation on the morning of the 8 (the day we were supposed to be doing something and also the day Clayton told me that he was going to work):
5:28... 5:29... 5:30 Annoying DJ on 94.5 fm comes on the alarm clock
Heidi: Clayton its 5:30. Time to get up.
Clayton: I'm not going to work today.

Surprise #2
We get up, I go to the bathroom (you really did want to know that), wash my hands and notice the the bathroom sink is mistakenly clean. What the... I swing over the shower curtain and the shower is clean too. I run to the Kitchen and it is all clean too. While I was asleep last night (at 8:30pm) Clayton cleaned the entire house. Now that is love!

That afternoon we decided to go hiking. We ended up at the windcaves which we had both hiked before. On the trail we passed this family of 4. Now these guys look granola. I know we drive two Subaru Outback's and I went through chaco phase but these guys seemed to be the real thing. Dressed in Khakis, straw hats, hiking boots with green socks and walking sticks I was convinced that this was a family who stopped every 3 feet or so to observe vegetation and chart it in their notebooks. We nodded a friendly "hello" and kept going. As we were passing they told us that the caves are "very beautiful." Clayton, looking out for my best interest asked Father Granola if they saw any snakes on the trail. They said they saw a couple of small snakes (as if a "small" snake is ok) and a real small BOA about 2 feet long. At this point I'm thinking "turn and run back to the car" along with "I didn't think that Boa Constrictors lived in Utah." Seriously does anyone know if there are Boa's in Utah or had the Granola's been smoking some weed in the caves? Anyway I put my bravest face (which is still pretty wussy) and hiked on.
We must always get a picture of Clayton relieving himself...the view is pretty anyway.



After the hike we went back to the house where Clayton told me that I had to leave for an hour or so. There was nothing left for me to do but go shopping... or at least that is what I told myself. After awhile Clayton called and told me that I could come home.

Surprise #3

I pull up and this is what I see...

Clayton cooking me kabobs. Not only was he making the best bacon wrapped kabobs ever, but he had styled his hair to look redneck. He told me that he designed his own Bed & Breakfast theme room. Then he welcomed me to Randy and Regina's Redneck Room. I'm sure the landlords are going to loooove this next picture.

Surprise # 4

Oh your eyes do not deceive you. Clayton really put a swimming pool in our house, hooked the hose to the kitchen sink and filled that bad boy with warm water. I know what you are thinking...saweet! I laughed so hard when I saw that. After dinner and a swim in the pool we scored us some Jamba's and watched Definitely Maybe in which I promptly fell asleep 45 minutes into.

Surprise # 5

The next morning Clayton made me breakfast in bed. See I told you that he is way more creative than I am. Then we headed over to Bear Lake to take in some sun and Raspberry days.

Surprise #6

I should have taken a picture to document this because Clayton says I make him look bad when I talk about it...Clayton took me to get a shake and actually got one for himself. Amazing.

Thanks for the awesome weekend Claytonious. You totally redeemed yourself even though you were planning it all along. I in turn learned that pity party's make me look like a jerk when your husband is so thoughtful. Love you.

MULTIPLY AND REPLINISH THE EARTH

Well Kami and Erik, with the wedding come and gone there is nothing left for you to do but clean up the confetti, wipe the cake frosting off of your lip, peel the Oreos off of your car and uhh...MULTIPLY AND REPLENISH THE EARTH. That is my advice to you, Kami and Eric. If you do this quickly people will not throw you chastising looks in the Temple (Rachel) and hit you in the knee so hard that it turns a wicked yellow color before the sealing is over (Brandon). Surprisingly so, Pops didn't look at us once when that was mentioned. I know. I was foolish enough to look.

It was a perfect, beautiful day. Well I think it was...what I was able to see through the high heeled induced nauseousness was perfect and beautiful. Fact. I don't wear heels. Not even the 1.5" heels I wore to Kami's wedding. The heel was about the size of a heel one would see on pumps. If you were at the Logan Temple on Thursday you would have noticed me as the only drunk person there. Ok so I wasn't drunk I just looked like one walking in those stupid, feet killing heels. I needed my flipflops.

For all of you wedding lovers out there here are the pictures (there are lots of them).


The boys...they are wierd. Because Clayton and I are vain (kidding!) we must have a picture of ourselves. I guess Cort is vain too because he had to sneak in.

Sick! Kissing picture! Let's keep it clean, shall we!?!
Kace, Tydon and Cort.

I love this picture. The look on Rachel's face is awesome. I wonder if she has to go the bathroom or if Cort just farted in her face? Hmmm.

This is the "normal" picture of the siblings.
It sure was nice of Cort and Brandon to show up to YOUR wedding Kami. Geez... Did both of you have to serve missions when I got married!?! Plan better next time. JK
The fashion police say, "don't were white socks with black pants."
The 'rents with Kami and Erik.
Good thing Kami is there. haha. I think that is a cute picture.
Kami and Erik stuffing their faces with cake, while Brandon chills in the back...possibly waiting to catch the bouquet?

Shout out to Candy. can you guess which one isn't Native American or in denial?
I think Clayton was more exhausted at the end of the day than the Bride and Groom or maybe he had too much cake.

Everyonce in awhile I would set my camera down and SOMEONE or SOMEONE'S would take pictures. I have made a slideshow of these pictures. The culprits probably didn't think that the pics wouldn't end up on the www and that is exactly why I am posting them. Enjoy

Congrats Kami and Erik!

AND SO IT BEGAN

As Kathrin (shout out) clearly pointed out on one of my previous posts, Kami and Erik getting married on August 7 is really stealing my (and Clayton's) THUNDER. Thanks guys. Seriously . You see Clayton and I got married August 4, 2005. Because we are taking time off of work for their wedding on Thursday, we could not get our anniversary on Monday off. Feeling bad yet? Try harder. We have decided that we will just celebrate it this weekend. But to make us feel better maybe they could swing a few of those gift cards our way.

Don't get me wrong we did celebrate. I decided to take us on a trip down memory lane. Clayton was kind enough to humor me. It all started at the Logan LDS Temple. I had packed us a picnic and we ate on the Temple grounds. Old Grist Mill provided the food. When Clayton and I were first married we would go to the gym and on our way home from working out we would stop at Old Grist Mill to get sandwiches. It was a year later that we decided that we could make our own sandwiches. Who knew.

Rewind to the summer of July of 2004. Clayton was home from Hawaii for the summer and one of his friends asked him to go to Church with her. He called his friend, Spencer to find out what time his ward started (thanks Spencer). As luck or fate (you decide) would have it Spencer was in my ward. Our ward met at the institute.
Clayton told my friend Amanda that it was her job as a member of the RS presidency to set us up. One month (and one broken nose) later we went on our first date...to the driving range. Those of you who know me know that my golfing skills are not well...quite up to par (pun very much intended). One thing on that date really stood out to me and that was how easy it was to talk to this boy. It wasn't the usual "how many kids in your family?" "what do you like to do?" questions. Our conversations were so comfortable and came so naturally. It was like no first (and somewhat of a blind) date that I had ever been on.
We went out a couple more times that summer before Clayton headed home to Hawaii. That is where the email relationship came in. I guess you could say that we had an Internet relationship. I wasn't looking for a relationship, but the more I emailed him the more my feelings grew. I started to get really excited for him to come home for Christmas. This new feeling was really baffling to me. Two days after he got home we had our 1st kiss (December 12) at my house. Rumor has it that I threw him against the front door, but I beg to differ. That Christmas was one of the best ever. We spent pretty much every day together that month. The night before he left to go back to Hawaii we were in his parents basement watching tv and he said, "I love you" and got up and ran to the bathroom. He doesn't remember saying it out loud, but he remembers saying it in his head. Strange. As he drove me home that night he said it again...what he thought was the first time. That next day he flew out and the next four months were really, really hard. Finally in April I went to see him in Hawaii and it was then that I was pretty sure that we were meant to be. June 12 (six months after our first kiss) we got engaged (at my house...see this house I was living in had a lot of significance). I'll save that story for another time seeing how this post is long enough as it is.

7 weeks later on August 4th we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan Temple. And that is the story of us. Did anyone make it this far? Didn't think so. These other pictures are other stops we made on our trek down memory road...

Bench on Cliffside that over looks the Temple. This is where we used to go makeout! Good times.
Anniversary Inn. Where we spent our first night as a married couple. Bow-chicka-bow-bow.

I'm so glad that Kami and Erik have found each other. I wish them nothing but happiness and love...even though they are stealing our thunder/glory!