MISSING IN ACTION (or M.I.A as some like to say)

Here is a preview of what we have been up too

1. Lewdness

 2. Flexing our muscles

 3. Shaving our nipples ON THE BEACH. IN PUBLIC. WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE.

(ok so this was just one person...one person who claimed to not have enough time to do it in the privacy of the hotel...weird)

 4. Jumping off of things

Sometimes in groups of 3 and sometimes with 5 year-old kids.

 5. Swimming with Sharks

 6. Puking after swimming with said sharks

 7. Belly pictures taken by a 9 year-old

 8. Lots of snorkeling, swimming and sun

Detailed posts coming soon...

SummerBINGO

SummerBINGO Bucket List

So my reasoning to do a WinterBINGO list was because WINTER sucks.  The list was to help us get through WINTER without too much pain and too many tears. 

However, we never seem to have a problem finding things to do in the SUMMER.  Maybe that is the problem.  There are too many things too do.  So in order to help us get as much done as possible (it is the last SUMMER just the 2 of us after all) I created a SummerBINGO list.

Last November a total stranger Michelle, from the EnjoyUtah! blog emailed me and asked me if she could post my winterBINGO on her site.  Of course I said "yes" (Even though she reference me as "Heidi McCube" on her post).  Well she came up with a summer one as well (my list and hers aren't the same) and then Studio 5 on KSL posted her Summer Bingo on their site.  So pretty much I am famous and have started a trend.

That's all

oh yeah and if you would like a copy email me at heidimcmurdie@gmail.com

ENJOY!

MOTHER'S DAY

MOTHER'S DAY 2012

22 weeks

For obvious reasons this Mother's Day meant more to me than past years.  Could it possibly be the little bambina who will be joining our family in 4 months?  I am so excited and extremly nervous to take on this role given to me by God.  In a Mother's Day message on lds.org, Elder M. Russell Ballard said,

“There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood.”  He also stated that, “There is no one perfect way to be a good mother.  Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children.” Elder Ballard recognizes that some women are “able to be ‘full-time moms,’ and some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work,” but “what matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.”

I hope and pray that my children will feel my love and know that they are my top priority.

Elder Ballard goes on to say,

“A mother’s nurturing love arouses in children, from their earliest days on earth, an awakening of the memories of love and goodness they experienced in their pre-mortal existence.  Because our mothers love us, we learn, or more accurately remember, that God also loves us.”

I love that.  I love the fact that through my love, my children will be able to learn and remember how much their Heavenly Father loves them.  I just hope that I can show them just how deep my love runs for them.

One of the greatest examples of Motherhood to me is my own Mom.  One of the things I admire the most about her (besides her endless patience with me) is the ability she had to be my parent and my best friend at the same time.  I think that is a tough thing to do.  But she did it and did it well.  She was able to give me guidance and counsel (and yes punishment) and be my friend, my confident, my shopping partner, etc at the same time.  She always has a listening ear and listens to all my whinings (there are plenty), to which she never complains.  Besides Clayton, she is the first person I run to with problems, exciting news to share, sadness, happiness, etc.

So to you mom THANK YOU for your patience, friendship, listening ear, selflessness, kind words, time, love, affection, example, for making me feel like I was the coolest thing ever, for going on walks with me,  etc.

I LOVE YOU and am LUCKY to be able to call you MY MOM!

Mom Day O' Fun 2012

Back to the rest of this loooong post...

Clayton out did himself as usual.  Last week he called me up at work and asked if I had anything planned for a certain day in July.  JULY?  Like I know what is going on in July.  I said that I didn't think so and then asked him "why."  He said something to the effect of "none of your business" and to "mark this date on my calender."  If you know me at all you know the anticipation of surprises KILLS me.  After his phone call I figured that he had bought tickets to see the new Batman movie (something he is pumped for).  After googling the release date I figured that couldn't be it.  I then googled things happening on July ___.  My search yielded nothing.  Then it struck me.  A concert.  Could it just so happen that Coldplay decided to not be lame and come play in Utah.  Nope.  They are still lame.  But they are playing in Canada that particular weekend in July.  Maybe he would fly us there...maybe???

A couple of days later something came in the mail for him and Clayton not being able to hold his excitement asked me to open it (3 days BEFORE Mother's Day).  

TICKETS TO WICKED!

I was stoked (even with the 8 pm show time where I will have to bring toothpicks to prop my eyes open)!  I have wanted to see this for a years now. 

And if that wasn't enough...

I have been getting these annoying, persistent knots in my back lately.  Clayton has been the lucky giver of the daily back rubs.  Late Saturday night after yet another back rub from him, I laid on the couch to fall asleep to watch TV to which he informed me that he was going to the store to get a card for his mom.  Since my eyelids were practically shut I said ok.  Around 10pm (yes on a Saturday night I feel asleep well before the 10 o'clock hour) he woke me up to go to bed.  As I dragged my lazy, sleepy butt upstairs I walked into our room and found this heaven sent object sitting on my side of the bed.   

A) He must LOVE me very much and...

B) He is tired of giving me backrubs.

Pretty sure it is a combination of the two.

THANKS CLAYTON FOR A GREAT DAY!

THE 3 LITTLE PREGO'S

Once Upon a Time...

...there were 3 good friends who were all pregnant at the same time

Left to Right:  

Jessie (due in October with TWINS...whom will most likely make an appearance in with Baby M in September), Me, Terra (due in June with a little girl).

and the Husbands (because we all know that it takes two...)



Left to Right:  

Mike, Clayton (the dork intellect of the group who showed up in his work clothes), Josh

They like to "pretend" that this pregnancy stuff is just as rough for them.

We are so lucky to have these guys as some of our very best friends and now our kids will have no chance but to be friends as well.

THE WEEKEND OF GREAT HAPPENINGS

LAST WEEKEND...

...was the kinda weekend that makes returning to work on Monday really hard.  So many great things happened.  I seem to be into making lists lately so...

1.  Wedding = No work.

I love weddings and I love not working.

2. Random encounter with THIS guy

Story:  So after the wedding dinner we ran over to Icon because it was a pay week and Icon's apparel store was open (I know!  Going to work on my day off is lame, but they only open the store on the Thursday and Friday of pay week).  We needed to get Clayton some of their minimalist shoes (and I may or may not have found some workout tanks for my bulging belly).  We were in there just checking things out and all of a sudden Clayton comes over to me and whispers, "Pres. Uchtdorf is in here."  Of course he was with the CEO and the other execs, but that didn't stop me from butting into their conversation and saying, "Hi" and shaking his hand.  I might get fired for interrupting, but it was totally worth it.  When Clayton was on his mission in Hawaii he got to have dinner with him.  To this day Clayton brags about it.  Of course he brought that up and him and Pres. Uchtdorf talked about his mission president and stuff for a bit.  Very cool experience.  He is so friendly.  I'm pretty sure he sleeps with a smile on his face.  He is quickly becoming one of my favorite apostles.  Is it bad to play favorites?

3. IMAX/3d showing of The Avengers

If you know me at all you know that this is not my kinda movie, but Clayton loves this stuff so if he is happy then going to this movie is considered a GREAT thing in my book.  Plus Brandon lost a bet with Clayton and a bet with me so he ended up buying our tickets.  FREE tickets = Another GREAT thing.  

 4. Nielsen's Frozen Custard and Spanky's Deli

I LOVE Nielsen's in Bountiful, but not really a fan of the Nielsen's in Holladay.  I don't know how the two can be that different but they are.  After the movie we hit up the Bountiful Nielsen's for a shake.  Soooo good.  I was too busy shoveling it into my face to take any pictures.  Since Clayton is prejudice against ice cream he headed accross the street to an unknown deli called, Spanky's (sandwiches are their ONLY specialty I promise!).  He loved his sandwich and I loved my shake.  All was well with the world.

5. Baby Shoes

We spent the night at our second home (Kami and Erik's casa...thanks again!) and the next morning Kami showed us this adorable website for baby shoes and the ones she got for Baby M.  I still can't get over how cute they are!  I would show you if I could remember the website...

6. Another Weekend, Another Hike

Since we were in the area already we decided to hike to the Adam's Canyon waterfall.  Beautiful hike (i say that about all our hikes, don't I).  

This is not the waterfall.  Please note that if we had gotten lost no one would have ever found Clayton because he is totally camouflaged with the rocks.  Next time I'm making him wear bright pink.

7.  Uhhhhh

I don't even know what to day about this picture.  It is GREAT in the way that there are actual dorks that really do this kinda thing.  On our way out of the canyon we saw these guys in all their Dungeons and Dragons glory.  Either they are video game nerds (the guys who are responsible for that funky smell at your local Gamestop) or they were doing a school project (although I didn't see any video camera)  I'm hoping for the later, but I fear it was the former.

 8. Cinco de Mayo celebration at El Matador

Mmmmmm shrimp the old way and the new way.

 Sadly only 20% of this belly picture is baby.  The rest is El Matador awesomeness.

See...I told you it was a GREAT weekend

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Yesterday at work someone made my day by giving me this adorable picture

Any guesses on who it might be?

I will give you 3 clues

1) He prefers Nachos from Beto's over a milkshake (pure abomination)

2) He hates cats (oh the irony of this picture...is he "loving" the cat? or trying to strangle it?)

3) Once when he was saying a nightly prayer with his wife he asked the Lord to...

"Bless our baby that it will give our bodies the nourish and strength that we need."

to which wife interrupted the prayer and said to husband,

"HEY! WE AREN'T GOING TO EAT OUR BABY!" 

If you guessed CLAYTON give yourself a pat on the back

BANANA BOATS

So my brother had a birthday

But this post is not about him

If it was I would mention...

How he always showers at our house and...

leaves his dirty clothes there...

when he lives TWO MILES AWAY!

Or how he is a cellphone addict

Can't get him to leave it alone

I might also mention that he comes over on Monday nights to watch The Voice

But regardless of his stinky clothes we sure do enjoy his visits!

but NOT his dirty clothes

Nope this post is about Banana Boats.

Anyone know what they are?

I didn't...until my brother had a birthday

and requested them as part of his birthday meal.

First of all I have to mention how Clayton and I are awesome gift givers.  Not only did we wrap up his dirty clothes and shoes that he had left at our house from a recent shower, but we also gave him this half empty thing of toothbrushes.  I know, I know we outdid ourselves.

 And to the Banana Boats

Step 1) slice open a banana (leave peel on)

Step 2) load it with awesome caloric goodness (milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, marshmallows, etc)

Step 3) wrap it (peel and all) in tinfoil

Step 4) throw it in a fire pit full of hot coals.

 Step 5) Roast a S'more while you are waiting

 Step 6) Order Mountain Man Nate to turn over your boat while you wait.

 Step 7) Take pictures of the roasting banana's

 Step 8) Roast another S'more while you wait so your stomach doesn't devour itself.  You will also need to remember that smoke follows beauty

 Step 9) Unwrap, blow to cool and enjoy!

 After the banana boat excitement wore down there wasn't much to do but watch Rachel's kids preform tricks.

 THE ACT

 THE GRACEFULL FALL

 Ty preparing to be a Bishop one day.

P.S. Maybe blogging wouldn't be so stressful sometimes if I would space out my posts instead of doing multiple posts in one day.  Just a thought...

OGDEN HIKE

WATERFALL CANYON

Saturday after Clayton had been battered and bruised at Elders Quorum dodge ball, I dragged him on another hike.  I will probably get in trouble for posting this without mentioning that the EQ president gave him a black eye at this oh so spiritual church event.  Don't feel bad for him.  He wears the black eye proudly.

Anyway we went hiking.

Up waterfall canyon in Odgen.

We did this hike once a year or two ago.  Back then we took a wrong turn onto the Bonneville Shoreline trail which lead us the loooooong and "not so scenic" way to the waterfall.  This time we took the right trail (always choose the RIGHT when in doubt) and got to the fall about 8 hours faster.

 Ohhh...Ogden.  Home of meth labs, homelessness and a thriving dog food factory.

Next hike on the list...Adams Canyon or Fifth Springs.