A Girls Weekend in Park City

The first weekend in December was Murray family girls weekend in Park City. It was so much fun! We flew in and spent the first night at Grandma's house in Ogden and our first morning together began with an explanation of the "that's what she said" joke for our older counterparts (a.k.a. mom, Bonnie and Grandma). Needless to say, once they got it, they didn't let go of it and it was a frequent exclamation throughout the weekend. So, we started things out right. ;-)

We woke up to a winter wonderland--a cold, snowy, winter wonderland! Ashley was our chauffeur extraordinare for the weekend. I never learned how to drive in the snow so, I was grateful she knew how! There were some treacherous roads!

Greer was extra excited because she hasn't spent any significant amount of time in the snow.

After a not-so-quick trip to sew-n-save and taco time (We love us some crispy bean burritos!) our caravan headed for Park City. About 10 miles down the road, we were all ready stopping for a bathroom break and diet coke. Sadly, this is my destiny--the diet coke needing out about as fast as we can get it in.

We made it to Park City just in time to catch the Gators playing in the SEC championship game (not playing well, but playing nonetheless). The Florida contingent was proudly representin' amid the Western folk.

Some of the girls weren't all that into the game but, were happy to hang out at the sports bar with us!

Just before we left, sad and dejected, an older gentleman (maybe 50 or 60?) set to hitting on Ashley--even going so far as to ask if he needed to upgrade his hotel room to a suite for the evening. She kindly declined and we all cringed on the way back to our condo. Ew, ew, ew.

I think the average temperature for our visit was 0 degrees. So, there was many a fire.

And of course, given my previous remark regarding the diet coke, this is what our fridge looked like. It reminded me of a frat house fridge, except that instead of beer, we shot-gun diet coke.

That evening, we had 26 women and 2.5 girl babies in our condo for gossiping and story telling. Every where you looked...

Women...

Women...

Women...

And more women!

Our reunions are real estrogen-fests. You can imagine the stark contrast between my family gatherings and Jeff's family gatherings. Until the brothers started getting married, there was nary a girl in sight. Even now, with all of the brothers married, they are usually filled with manly displays of testosterone--drive-by shooting contests, farting, posturing, and the like. It's.real.different.

The great thing is, there is a large rising generation of Murray women and they are cute as can be! (see little Clytie above and Skylar below...cute, cute, cute).

And this sacred vessel is carrying another girl! When I found out she was having a girl it just felt to me as if all was right in the world...

Ashley and I missed the after-hours party that occurred after we had gone to bed. It sounded like it was an informative session covering man-scaping (or scape-goating if you cannot remember the real term) and all sorts of strange (naked) behaviors exhibited by my few male cousins (they're real creative). The recap was hilarious (and slightly disturbing) and we all left a little more enlightened. I'm sure once the husbands heard a recap of our trip, they might have reconsidered getting us together for girls' weekends!

The next day we enjoyed a nice brunch out, a little shopping, some card games, a lot of bridge mix, and the LDS First Presidency Christmas broadcast. That was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. As we watched, we sang along with the Christmas carols (many of the women in our family have incredible voices), sat by the fire and watched it snow. It was one of those magical and incredibly uplifting moments.

Of course, any girls weekend would not be complete without some shopping! It was still snowy and even colder the next day (-10 degrees while taking these pictures! Burrr...)

I wasn't all that confident that I would enjoy spending money in the cold but, then we found the buy-one-get-two-free boot sale and I quickly determined that I did. It's just as satisfying as warm-weather shopping.

And it was even more fun all shopping in the Coach outlet! We found some great deals and all ended up with new handbags!

After shopping, we replenished ourselves with lunch at a delicious BBQ restaurant in downtown Park City (Bandits, I highly recommend it). Apparently, the moose came with the building.

Someone, who shall remain nameless, walked out of the ladies room with two, two-foot long trails of toilet paper hanging out of her pants. As I'm sure you can imagine, it was the cause for many giggling fits.

It was really tucked in there! The bulk was pulled out and left for the waiter the restaurant (Ew..ha, ha...ew...ha,ha), then Ashley found some more, and I believe there was still some left when we got home!

It was a quick trip but, it was such a great one! It's always fun to get together with such incredible women. Each is so wonderful and unique and I'm proud to be part of them.

Can't wait to do it again!

Cassie's Baby Shower

To kick off my December, Irene, Rachel and I threw our good friend, Cassie, a baby shower. She's having a little boy in a couple of weeks and it was fun to shower her with gifts for her first born! Plus, a little girl time is always welcome and fun!

Aren't these invitations the cutest!?! Cassie's a pretty chic girl and I thought they fit her quite well!

We had a nice spread of food and some rather simple, but nice, decor. Thanks Mom and Ashley for letting me raid your china and silver cabinets!

There were lots of lovely ladies that came! I think the visiting is the best part of baby showers!

Cassie was able to get a lot of cute things she needed for her little guy.

This little shirt says, "My dad is my hero." Awwww....

Craig's mom, Laura, is so talented and made all of the crib bedding. It turned out so cute and is definitely better than anything you can buy in a store!

I was in on the color scheme for the crib and made a little blanket to match.

We are so grateful for Cassie's friendship and were so happy to be able to get her ready for her little man!

Giving Thanks...

So, this post is much over due! It's the day after Christmas and I'm just now posting about Thanksgiving! To say the last couple of months have been busy would be a gross understatement. But, amidst the madness we had a very nice Thanksgiving in Tampa at my mom's house.

'Round here, we all pitch in for our Thanksgiving feast.

Ashley is the pie-lady and this year she made many-a-pie. She made a delicious pumpkin pie and tried valiantly for our family-favorite, homemade banana cream pie. Her efforts started very optimistically...

But, two of the three ended up looking not quite so pie-like.

They were delicious mistakes nonetheless and mom was able to work her magic on the third attempt. It may seem like a lot of effort for one pie but, it was totally worth it!

Greer did a lot of dishes and didn't stay dry in the kitchen very long.

I make Aunt Rochelle's rolls (I guess that makes me the roll-lady). They were tasty this year!

New this year, Dave deep-fried the turkey. It was mighty tasty and very fitting I think given our long-term residence in the South. He watched many You Tube videos that convinced him he was taking his life in his hands by frying our bird and we appreciated his death-defying cookery for the delicious turkey and laughs it produced.

Mom always sets an elegant table and we use the nice china and silver. Although, when we're doing the dished someone always asks why we don't just move to paper plates and plastic utensils... I suppose now it's because we're tree-huggers.

Braden always plays with his food, always the olives and occasionally the mashed potatoes (Hey, Dad, Ashley and Braden. Do you remember "the bird that swooped and pooped right in my eye?" :-) For our other readers, you definitely had to be there!)

This year Greer got to sit by Jeff. Ashley, our resident Emily Post, was adamant that it was not proper to sit right next to your spouse. So, I got to sit and enjoy the view from across the table. :-)

The day after Thanksgiving, we helped my mom put up her Christmas tree. I just thought this was a funny image...two butts sticking out of a Christmas tree.

Jeff (not so) delicately placed the angel on top of the tree

And we all enjoyed adorning the tree. We don't subscribe to the "too many ornaments" idea around here. Luckily, this tree was extra tall and there was plenty of room!

We finished the weekend by heading home for the Florida/Florida State game, which was Tim Tebow's last game in the Swamp. It was awesome. The Gator Walk was insane, the fans were rowdy (even for a less than impressive FSU team) and everyone stayed until Tebow and the rest of the seniors left the field. It was one of my favorite moments as a Gator thus far (11 years and counting...).

To honor Tim Tebow, many fans wore eye black, including me and Ashley of course!

And here I am with my favorite Gator, for whom I am most thankful. Every day we recognize how blessed we are and are thankful that our lives are filled with so much joy.

Prayers Are Answered...

Charity has prevailed upon Ashley and she has sent me the pictures from Thanksgiving! Blog updates coming soon...

I Promise I'm Still Here

Hello, my faithful readers. I promise I'm still alive and well. I have much to blog about:

1. Thanksgiving

2. the last home game of the season

3. our decked halls

4. a baby shower

5. girls weekends in Park City

Yes, this all occurred in the last two weeks! Unfortunately, I cannot commit to when I'll get this done for several reasons:

1. I'm stressed (see numbers 1-5 above) and am trying to minimize so that I can enjoy the holidays

2. Ashley is holding our Thanksgiving pictures ransom and because I'm OCD, it all has to be posted in chronological order. Perhaps we should all pray for her to have charity and send them along anyway before Christmas when I will meet her demands.

3. I'm tired, refer to numbers 1-5 above

4. The next couple of weeks are not going to slow down! (Up next: 3 Christmas parties, YW in Excellence, Christmas shopping, several work deadlines, and a partridge in a pear tree!)

So, be patient my friends and good things will come. I promise it'll be worth it (especially my account of #5 above)!

Oh yes, and Merry Christmas to you all!

Dedication...

Just before I left on my trips we receive the bound copy of Jeff's thesis in the mail (my dissertation remains unbound--I figure it's like a wedding gift, you have full year, right?). I had forgotten that he dedicated his work to me. And while this may seem like a small detail (after all, I'm sure you can imagine how diabetogenic gingival epithelial destruction and periodontal disease really melts my butter (note: read with sarcasm)), it actually says a lot.

A thesis, let alone a master's degree, was not something that Jeff wanted to complete. He didn't want to spend two additional years in school in order to spend the four that he really wanted to, or labor over his petri dishes of cells (sometimes on nights and weekends), or send many mice to meet their maker, but, he did it for us, our little family, and especially for me, because despite his boasting about having a "sugar momma," he really wants to take care of me and any little Jeff's or Amy's that may eventually join us. I admire his persistence and am thankful every day for his willingness to do whatever it takes (regardless of how unpleasant it may be--ask him why they don't have windows in the labs in the dental tower at the health science center) to achieve his goals and provide for our family.

So, his dedication is "To my wife, Amy Tobler" and for that I am very grateful.

Happy Halloween!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! I know we did! It was nice to finally see the Gators firing on all cylinders against Georgia yesterday and we enjoyed watching the game with the da Costas. Their little man is too cute!

Jeff loves Halloween. This year he was Elvis for his dental school halloween party. Not too shabby for throwing something together in 30 minutes with stuff we had in our closet! Not many guys will have white (temple) pants in their wardrobe!

I finished my first cake decorating course and really enjoyed it! Although, I don't think I'll ever consume buttercream icing again. I'm done for a few months since I'll be traveling so much in November and December. Hopefully, I'll be able to start the fondant class in January. It's so nice to have something creative scheduled every week and to learn something new! This was my cake from my last class. Those little roses are harder to make than they look!

I have back-to-back trips to Philadelphia and Atlanta next week and Jeff has another round of tests. We're also tailgating with my Dad, Betsey and Ashley this weekend for the game. All good things! We should resurface in a couple of weeks just in time to get ready for Thanksgiving!