The Cabin

We went to the Taylor's cabin for the weekend over the weekend of the 4th of July. We always have fun when we go with them and we are thankful that they allow our rowdy boys to come :) Tess loves being outdoors!!

 Tray and Jayden getting ready to ride dirt bikes

 Marinda and I rode in their Rhino while all the boys rode dirt bikes and four wheelers.

 Tess loved it! She was so happy to be riding outdoors. Marinda was kind of scared to be driving the Rhino by herself but she did great!

 Ed and his faithful little follower (Talen). Seriously, how cute is that?

 Tess had to take a turn too!

 Our crazy son Tegen thinks he is a lot bigger than he actually is. He had to go for a ride on Ed's HUGE dirt bike, but he did a great job!

Random happenings!

Tess loves the piano and she loves to crawl up on the bench with her big brothers and play (or pound) a little bit.

 So funny- love this kid!

 He is getting SO big- I can't believe it!!!

Camp OFFA

In June 2011 Tegen and Traysen participated in a football camp called Camp OFFA. It was a three day camp at one of the local high school's. It was awesome, there were several NFL players that helped teach the boys different fundamentals of football. They separated into different age groups and worked on fundamentals.

 At the end of the camp they got medals so this was the medal presentation.

 There were SO many kids there. We are all hoping they put on the football camp again next year!

 At the end the kids were allowed to get pictures and autographs from the NFL players. Tegen and Tray's other friends wouldn't do it but Tray was right there in the middle of things. He loved getting the autographs and pictures.

We are going to have peel that red sweatshirt off of Tray now!!!

Traysen is NINE!

Traysen is NINE! We are so proud of him and love having him in our home. He always has a smile for us and everyone around him. He is so witty, funny and charming. He is very smart and he is the best big brother ever. He absolutely loves, loves, loves his little sister. He and Talen tend to fight a bit but he loves both his brothers nonetheless. He is obsessed with football. He says his number one choice for a career is the NFL and if for some reason it doesn't work out he will do the NBA. I love his enthusiasm. He is so funny, he wishes his name was Dave so he has asked us to call him Dave. Hopefully this is a short-lived phase! He is definitely a blessing in our family.  Tray had a birthday party with all of his friends at our house. He is quite the social butterfly!!

 The balloon fairy always visits during the night and showers them in balloons.

 Traysen was so excited he couldn't wait until after school to open his presents so he opened them in the morning before school.

 This seems to be Tray's annual cake. He always asks for a fudge marshmallow cake... It's his fave!

 Unfortunately, a few days before his birthday he got a black eye. We went swimming and he went down the slide and slid right into someone else's head! What a shiner!!!

We love you Traysen!!!! 

Author of "The Adventure" Traysen Murdock

Tray's big third grade project was writing and binding a book. He wrote, illustrated and actually made "The Adventure". They had an author party and explained about all of their books to the parents. He did a great job!

 Tray and his two best friends.... Jayden Taylor and Connor Belnap

 Tray and Mrs. Anderson- she was a great teacher for Tray

Springtime is here.. kind of...

So spring has sprung and the boys have been loving playing outside. There new favorite thing to do is do flips on the trampoline. It scares me to death- but they're boys- I've learned to deal with them scaring me!

Halloween

It was such a nice Halloween this year. The kids didn't have to run through the rain or worse trudge through the snow thank goodness! Tessa was an adorable little BSU cheerleader.
Traysen was a football player again- wow what a surprise!

Tegen chose to be a football player too... a football player with attitude!

Talen as usual did his own thing completely. He didn't want to be a football player or a cheerleader (ha ha! thank goodness) so he was Darth Vader. And I must say of all the cheesy costumes I've bought over the years this was my favorite.

They seriously loaded up on candy. Oh well I guess that's to be expected, right? At least they got a couple of toothbrushes from dentists too :) Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween Piano Recital

Tegen and Tray had a Halloween themed piano recital. It was fun and different! Everyone dressed up and played "spooky" songs. I didn't get as many good pictures as I would have liked. Ed was out of town and I was trying to videotape, use the regular camera and hold a baby. Sorry boys! I didn't get any pictures of them at all while they were playing their pieces because I was videotaping them- darn it!
Each boy got an award but oops! I didn't get a picture of Tray receiving his award.

Their piano teacher also teaches several of their friends so I got a picture of the whole group of friends/students.

Talen and his buddy Alex posing for the camera. They're pretty good sports about being dragged to every game/recital/activity that their older brothers participate in.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

Traysen FINALLY lost his other top tooth. The poor tooth was just hanging by a thread but he refused to let us pull it. In fact when the other top tooth was that loose I had to have the dentist pull it while he was getting a cavity filled because he is so scared of losing teeth. It's so funny- he's one of the toughest kids you'll ever meet but he's a baby when it comes to this. We wanted to pull his tooth out yesterday but he wouldn't let us. We told him that it was going to be really hard to eat and he said "That's fine- I'll just eat pudding for the rest of my life!" I think he was serious too! He finally let me pull it out this morning. Now he's as happy as can be. We'll wait to see what the tooth fairy puts under his pillow tonight!