Ed's Knee Surgery

Ed has been dealing with an injured knee for about a year and finally decided to get it fixed! He had to have an ACL graft, both miniscuses repaired and the head of his femur shaved a little bit because of a chip in the bone. This is him pre-surgery~
This is mean... this is him coming out of anesthesia. He kept asking me to give him high five. It was so funny. We are still laughing about it!

He had to spend one night in the hospital but he was SO tough. He never took any pain medication the whole time he was in the hospital. The doctors/nurses say that the ACL repair is a very painful surgery but for some reason Ed got so lucky and never felt any pain at all in his knee. The nurse said that she has never, ever written "no pain meds taken" on discharge forms. She was shocked and asked me to call her if he ever ended up hurting ha ha!

I got to bring him home and be his nurse. I decided that he does NOT make a very good patient though because he has WAY too much energy to lay in bed. It just about drove him crazy to lay around for the weekend and do nothing!

He had surgery on Thursday May 5th and went back to work on Monday. He only went to physical therapy three times because he had more range of motion in 3 days than most patients do in 3 weeks they said. He never did feel any pain in his knee at all. Honestly the worst part of his whole surgery was laying in bed! I am married to one tough man!!!

Second Chance Prom

I can honestly say that I never thought I would be returning to high school to attend PROM! Apparently our local high school has an annual "second chance" prom so our group of friends decided... oh, why not! We even sprung for the limo! We went out to dinner...

We stopped downtown to get some pictures taken...

Then we danced, danced, danced.... Looks like we are all havin' a good time!

Yea... we are totally crazy! I promise the only thing in those glasses is Sparkling Cider, but I'm pretty sure the limo driver thought there was a lot more than that! He even said- if you ever need another limo, please request me to be your driver. I'm not sure if that means he thought we were funny or what! I thought it would be a ridiculous way to spend the evening but I was floored when we saw about 500 or more people there. Apparently there were lots of other couples wanting to have a "second chance" at prom too! I'm grateful for good, fun friends and the chance to laugh 'til my belly hurt!

Happy Birthday to Ed!

Happy Birthday Ed! We love you!! I can't believe he's "31" already. Where has the time gone? And weren't we just 18 years old? Now we have 3 kids with one on the way- yikes! I wish I could name 31 things that I love about Ed but I'll just name a few... He's kind, patient, loving, will help anyone with anything at anytime!, awesome dad, attentive and caring husband, thoughtful, has a strong testimony, works super hard!, can fix anything or will try 'til he figures it out and smart! I think this list could go on and on but those are some of my favorite things about my husband. I love him more and more each day and I'm so thankful I get to spend eternity with him! He's my best friend and I couldn't imagine life without him!
For his birthday this year we kept it low-key since it was on Sunday. On Saturday I took him on a date. We went out to eat and then went to see Couples Retreat. It was so nice to spend some time with just the two of us. Thanks Meish for watching the boys! We got Ed a few pairs of jeans that he was badly in need of, some new shoes, a new church shirt... boring! And a new stereo that has the ipod docking station.

Ed's not a big fan of cake so I made him chocolate chip toffee bars instead and we sang "Happy Birthday!"

I love you Ed and hope you have a great day... I hope that we can make you feel as special for one day as you make the rest of us feel year-round!

Lagoon!

Our company has an annual company party at LAGOON! We have so much fun every year. The kids are finally getting big enough to ride the rides so this year was especially fun!
All my handsome boys!

Ha ha ha ha!!! I took this picture because Ed got SO scared on one of the kiddie rides that he took Talen on that he wet his pants. Just kidding!!! That would be funny though- it just looks like he wet his pants. He actually took Talen on a ride that happened to splash water right on that particular spot on his pants. You better believe that I teased him about "wetting his pants!"

Look at that face! He wasn't too sure about MOST of the rides. He didn't even like very many of the kiddie rides but the slow moving ones were okay. He isn't quite the dare devil like his big brothers are. He gets it from his dad. Ed hates all rides. He only rides the sky ride (Talen's favorite ride) which is just like a going on a ski lift. BORING!!! Actually Ed gets really motion sick so he has to steer clear of anything that spins or moves fast- which pretty much rules out every big ride!

They are too funny! Look at those expressions. They had so much fun!

Talen was such a trooper- he stood by and watch while we went on rides all day without complaining even once. The only thing he asked for all day was some cotton candy. Sure- why not- what's Lagoon without the accompanying sugar high you get from all the junk food?

Me and Tegen went on EVERY fast roller coaster there was. I'm so happy to have a great little riding buddy. He didn't even get too scared.

We had so much fun and can't wait for next year! Tray is hoping to grow about 6 inches so that he can ride all the big roller coasters. I'm not sure if I should break the news now or later that a growth spurt like that is highly unlikely!

Our Ten Year Anniversary... Woo Hoo!

Wow! Time sure flies! I married my best friend on February 20, 1999. I feel so blessed to be married to such a wonderful person. He is truly an amazing father and husband and I feel so lucky to be married to him. He does so much for me and our family!

I scanned some of our wedding pictures in. I can't believe how young we both look- does that mean we look old now?

For our anniversary Ed's sister watched our boys... again... thanks Triska! and we went on a date. Originally we had planned to go on a cruise or other fun trip for our ten year but we decided to keep the money in the bank and do something here in town. We went out to eat and then went and stayed at a themed hotel room downtown. It was gorgeous. And guess what- yep, I forgot my camera. The room was so pretty if you want to see it go here. We stayed in the Rome room. When we arrived we had chilled sparkling cider and cheesecake to eat. There was a 8 foot projection t.v. that came down from the ceiling, there was a chromalighting tub (fancy name for jetted tub that has lots of different lights in it), and a huge steam shower room. It was such a gorgeous room. It was very elegant which is different than other times we have stayed at themed rooms. In the past we've done jungle type rooms so it was something different to not have the rain forest sounds and monkeys ooh ooh ahh ahhing over our heads. In the morning they brought us some juices, hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, and fruit, granola and yogurt parfaits. It was such a relaxing fun night- and a bit cheaper than a cruise :)

Well we had a blast that night. And I am still completely in love with my hubby and can't wait to see what the next ten years brings us... I see visions of teenagers and consumption of tons of food since we have 3 boys, but it ought to be interesting anyway!

Finally!

I have just one word... dang COMPUTER! Okay, technically that's two words but sheesh! I know that we just can't live without computers but sometimes they cause more headaches than they are worth. My computer has been acting crazy lately; therefore, I have kind of dropped out of blogland for a while. Hopefully I'll be back now! I'm just working off a different computer. January and February is always our craziest time of the year. We have 4 birthdays, valentines day and our anniversary. And we always like to throw a sport for the kids in there too just to top it all off. Here's what has been keeping us so busy:

Ed got a new truck. It looks just like his other one except it's new. Hmm... go figure! He's ecstatic though so I'm happy if he's happy. If you look closely at his feet you can see he is wearing socks with the flip flops- what a fashion statement :) Love ya anyway hon!
Tegen turned nine. My baby turned NINE!!! I can't believe it! He's getting so big. This what we love about Tegen- he's so smart, he's funny, he keeps me on my toes, he's a great big brother, he's loving, he usually does what we ask of him without too much complaint. He's a joy to have in our family and we love him so much! They always get a room full of balloons on their birthday when they wake up- they still love it every year even though it's not a surprise!

The boy is absolutely obsessed with Guitar Hero... and yes- he can definitely kick my ummm... behind...

Look at that cheesy grin- how cute is he? We had pizza and cake and ice cream then took him down to Lava Hot Springs with a couple of his friends. He was in heaven. He takes after his mother and loves HOT water.

Four days after Tegen's birthday is Talen's. See why we are so busy? Talen is such a special little boy. Everyone in our family loves him to pieces. I don't know what we would do with out his little personality in our home. He cracks us up. Yesterday he told me "Mom, I'm sure glad you're my mom. You're the best mom ever. If I didn't have you to take care of me I would just have to live with my kids (his brothers) and that wouldn't be good. I would miss you." Ahhh... he melts my heart- seriously!

He has been begging for a camera and a scooter... Lucky him I guessed right when I went shopping. He loves them them!

We are mighty sick of cake and ice cream. Between my birthday on the 18th, Tegen's on the 31st, Talen's on the 3rd and my dad's on the 8th I really don't care if I ever see cake again.We decided to change things up a bit and go for cupcakes instead... oooh! What a change!

Even though we have been way busy I am thankful for it all. It means that I have a family to celebrate with! And there is honestly nothing more important to me than my family. I feel so blessed!

Ice Fishing

On New Year's day Ed took the boys ice fishing... Brrr! Where was I? In my toasty warm house of course! Our brother-in-law Mitch has all of the equipment and a big tent and 3 boys that are our boys ages so off they headed. They were gone for about five hours. Ed said they caught over 100 fish. Most of the fish they caught were tiny little Perch but the kids loved it so much.
Here is Talen's big Trout... He was so proud!

Tray also caught a pretty big Trout!

Here is all of the kids holding up their catch of the day. Ed said they would take a fish off the hook and immediately another one of the boys would say "Fish on!" Ed tried talking me into going with them, but I think that this favorite past time of theirs should be a father/son outing ONLY! Boy time is good... really good... especially if the word "ice" is anywhere in the title.

The big 3-0

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ED!!!


I will try not to be too mushy here, but I might so beware... you've been warned! Ed will be 30 that's right 3o. I remember being a teenager and thinking that 30 was ancient and now that we're here it doesn't seem quite as old somehow. I know that I don't let him know how much I appreciate him enough- for who he is as a person and how much he means to me. I tell him I love him every day, but I don't know if he truly knows just how much! These are just a few of things that I love so much about him:

He usually has a really positive outlook on life and is a really happy person. If I'm grumpy he can usually make me smile and laugh. He is the ray of sunshine in our home!

He has a huge heart. He is always helping other people. I mean always... sometimes to the point where I get angry at him for being away from us so much because he is helping someone else. I feel guilty when I get mad at him because it is one of the things that I love about him. Everyone who knows Ed knows they can call him at any time-day or night- and he will be there to help!

He is not a very emotional person. He never cries or shows a whole lot of empathy, but with our family he is so sweet and nurturing. He has taken care of me when I've been sick or had my babies more times than I count. He lets me crawl into bed and takes care of everything!

He treats me like a queen. He never yells or gets mad at me. I wish I could say the same for myself, but he has never said a purposefully mean thing to me. I on the other hand am not quite as nice to him. Sorry!

And... here's the one that I take the most for granted- he is the one who gets up with our boys during the night. I am such a heavy sleeper so he always gets up with them if they are sick or have a bad dream or need to go potty. I know, I know, I should be SO grateful- and I truly am!

I love you Ed! I hope you have a great day and that you will always know that you are my true love and I am so grateful to have found you. Happy birthday babe!

Donuts with Dad...

So- I said that I would keep everyone posted on Donuts with Dad day. After the disaster that I had at Muffins with Mom I was hoping that something...anything... would happen while they were with Ed, but of course the whole morning went perfectly. Wouldn't ya know it? I'm glad they had a good time though!

Labor Day Weekend

I feel as if summer is officially over now! We went camping for our last big summer weekend. We went up to Kilgore and took the dirt bikes (of course). We can't really go anywhere without those things. We went with Ed's parents and had a nice, relaxing weekend although it was REALLY cold! Saturday was a fairly nice day but by Sunday it was windy and rainy and on Monday morning we woke up to SNOW- okay it was really more of a sleet/slush but still... brrrr!

Talen and Grandpa Murdock went for a ride in the buggy. Talen loved it!
Okay- could Ed possibly look anymore like a redneck if he tried? I totally love the dirt bike boots with the shorts look. The sad part is that he actually went riding like this at one point!
This is how we spent a lot of time this weekend. Thank heaven for modern day electronics! They played the laptop quite a bit. Okay- they didn't just play games on the computer they did play cards and Dominoes. I relaxed a lot and spent time watching movies and reading a couple of books... ahhhh it was a little bit of heaven!
So this was all I could capture of the "snow" but it sure FELT cold! Thank heaven for a nice toasty warm trailer! Believe me I had the heat cranked up in there!
This may not look like a strange picture to anyone else, but look at Tegen in the back. He is riding Ed's bike! Tegen is like 50 pounds and he is riding his dad's HUGE dirt bike with absolutely no fear! What a psycho kid! Also, Tray is riding Tegen's bike which is pretty big for him too. We sure had a good time. I am so sad that another season of camping has come to an end. I just love getting away from life for a few days and being with my family having fun!

Horse Back Riding

We took the boys horseback riding the other day... or more specifically I should say that Ed took the boys horseback riding. Unfortunately, I am petrified of the dang things! My parents have four horses so you would think that this is something that we should be very familiar with but we're not. Okay, Ed totally knows what he's doing on a horse because he worked at a Dude Ranch for a summer, but I am totally clueless! The boys had a blast though!

They rode together for a while and then they each took turns riding with Ed and Papa.

Even though I'm scared of the horses I'm glad that my kids had the opportunity to ride. Hopefully it will be something that they will be able to experience a lot more!

Ed In Moab

Ed did some crazy riding in Moab, Utah over the weekend. He went on a boys

trip with some friends and rode dirtbikes for hours everyday. He enjoyed 70

plus degree weather while it snowed here almost every day!

It looks like it wasn't ALL fun and games though! They had a few accidents and mishaps with their bikes although nothing serious happened. Ed popped his front tire. It pays to ride with people who are prepared because his buddies all had the tools to fix it right in the middle of the desert. Lucky boy!

Please let me make it... or this is gonna hurt.... a lot... Yea! He made it! Ed said this was some of the most difficult riding that he has ever done, but he had a blast. I am sure that this will now be a yearly thing- oh goodie for me! Seriously though, I am proud of him because he did such an awesome job out there!