Today

We went to see Toy Story 3 for our Family Home Evening game on Monday night.
There's nothing like a trip to the movies to help my children
love each other just a little more.


As we waited until the last minute to bring 2 year old
Benjamin into the theatre. . .

I studied the Buzz that used to dangled safely from
Jordan's little hand whenever we would leave the house.

I looked at him.

Buzz what happened?
The little boy who used to yell
"to infinity and beyond"
is over there by the popcorn counter standing five foot ten.
And I worry if I blink we will be back here with our grandchildren.
It's going too fast.

A Little Lesson
I know if our arthritic footless Buzz could talk he would say. . .
"It's going fast but enjoy today
enjoy every minute of it. . .
and
don't worry . . .
e-t-e-r-n-i-t-y
is a long time."

As for the final scenes of Toy Story 3 - I bawled. . .
bawled like a baby.

Operation Father's Day

Sometimes Father's Day is a time to shout out to the dads of our lives and say

WE LOVE YOU!
Thank you for all you are and do
dad of my kids
dad of me and
dad of my husband.
Sometimes Father's Day is an excuse to go and buy
something that wasn't in the budget and not feel too guilty about it . . .
Exhibit A:


A Little Lesson:
I hid these babies in the little forest next to our house.
Purchasing them, bringing them home and executing operation father's day brought
covert operations
secret plans
strategic manovering
and
undercover clandestine actions.
Considering all my cohorts were under the age of 12 . . .
I seriously think I could work for the CIA.

City Slickers

When I see them on the ride-on it might as well be horse wrangling up the cattle.
It's so foreign.
So country.
So home on the range.
I'm about ten seconds away from renaming my blog pioneer woman.

A Little Lesson:
Okay, perhaps a little extreme.
One thing I know for sure. . . it doesn't matter.
We can live on a 250 acre ostrich farm or in a penthouse in New York city and we still have to
be kind
be honest
forgive
be patient
go the second mile and
get up after we've fallen down.

Divide and Conquer

We all left at the same time. . .
Boys turned right on 240th street and the girls turned left.
Boys went father son camping, girls went on a "girl's night out".
Boys roasted marshmallows, girls drank blueberry milkshakes at White Spot.
Mom spent lots of money on a shopping spree for the girls.
Dad spent lots of energy wrangling Benjamin in the woods.
Girls slept poorly: hot heaters and noisy fans to dry drywall mud.
Boys slept poorly: woes of sleeping on the ground.

All Murleys reunited on Saturday for lunch.

A Little Lesson:
We don't divide up this way very often.
Love it.
Sometimes girls just need to be girls.
And boys just need to be boys.

Big Strong Arms

Benjamin is a lucky little boy.
He will travel through this life with a big brother.
A big brother with big strong arms.
Because when all you are wearing is some flip flops, and a t-shirt,
sometimes you need a helping hand,
to avoid the rubble.

A Little Lesson
Jesus of Nazareth is referred to as our Redeemer, our Lord, our King, our Savior, our Advocate
and. . .our older brother.
An older brother with big strong arms who promises to carry us over the rubble
when all we are wearing is some flip flops and a t-shirt.
I believe Him.

Hooray!

A few Saturdays ago for my birthday, my buddy Tam swooped in at 7:30 am made everyone Eggs Benedict with fruit and swooped back out again to return to her busy busy life.

The next day for breakfast I made oatmeal.


A few weeks ago Meliss, Chris and I swooped up to the lake to surprise De for her birthday with a weekend filled with kayaking, pedicures, fishing on the dock and chocolate covered strawberries all planned and executed by her hubby Art.

This weekend I have about nineteen loads of laundry to fold.


A bunch of Fridays ago Magna swooped in and turned a house full of beautiful girls
into tigers, fish, avatars, ponies and tropical hula girls for Emily's birthday.

This Friday both my girls have spent 2 time-outs on the stairs and it's only 4pm.



Two Wednesdays ago for my birthday Craig swooped home and took me downtown to eat at the blue water cafe (one of Vancouver's finest restaurants) and to see Sting live with the London Philharmonic Symphony, we sat about nine rows back in the center. Incredible.

This Wednesday our family was selected from our ward to clean the chapel.


A Little Lesson
Can we all say hooray for birthdays.

Colourful Personalities

Most people loose socks.
They blame the washing machine.
We loose Ikea cups.
This is my fourth installment since I started having kids.
I always buy this many.
I learned in grade four science. . .
matter cannot be created or destroyed.
They must be somewhere.

A Little Lesson
For the record, I have friends who will read this post and say. . .
"What? I don't understand. Where did they go? Don't they live in your cupboard?"(Judy)
others will say. . .
"I hear ya sista, only four installments, we're on installment number seven over here!"(Sariah)
and others who will fall somewhere in between.
Thank goodness.
Life is is a lot more fun that way.
Certainly more colourful!

Every Single Day . . .

Everywhere I look, every single day,

there is a new mess.
cement, drywall, mud, debris, wood, nails, dust, plastic,
I can't keep up . . .

Everywhere I look, every single day.,
there is something new in our yard bursting onto the scene to check out. . .
leaves, berries, flowers, vines, trees, bushes,
I can't keep up . . .

A Little Lesson
Life

It's all about what we choose to look at!

Really

Sacred Moments

Everywhere I turned they were there.
Sacred moments. . .
The Vancouver Youth Temple celebration was all around us for almost
a year of our lives and we were in the throws of this enormous production.
I wanted to journal the extraordinary experiences I was
having day in and day out. . .but I didn't know how to do it.
Posting on the blog everyday normal family experiences like I did for so long mixed with emotional, spiritually overwhelming, and life changing experiences of the temple celebration
seemed almost impossible.

It felt like trying to write neatly while riding a roller coaster.

There was the whirlwind of the pre-temple celebration.
Then there was the whirlwind of the actual temple celebration.
And now I live in the less wind and more whirl post-temple celebration.
I have a lot to say. . .
I will have to share my thoughts and experiences slowly between the day to day
grind as to not become totally overwhelmed.
I know I will never forgive myself if I don't journal these sacred days, weeks and months.

A Little Lesson
Speaking of sacred moments . . .
When I went through the temple with the temple committee one last time a few days before it opened to the public for the open house I could hardly believe my eyes. Room after room after room left me gasping in awe of it's exquisite beauty. Woven into the architecture, the design was my favourite flower . . .the dogwood. Ever since I was 16 I've wanted to plant a dogwood tree in my yard. There is something so incredible about its white simple beauty. My mom has offered year after year to buy me one for my birthday, but there was never the right spot to put it in our old house. The twelve of us finally made it to the celestial room. I stood in this holy place exhausted from months and months of work and sweat on the temple event and knowing that I still had one more month to go before this long journey was over I looked up towards heaven and covering the ceiling of that sacred room was countless white dogwoods prestinely painted with perfect elegance and grace. I started to cry. I know that I am not the only one in the world that loves that flower, but my tired heart and soul for just a brief moment, said quietly to my Father in Heaven "thank you" for giving me this glorious gift that felt like it was painted just for me. . . indeed a tender mercy of the Lord.

Ouch!

I looked at the date!
OUCH!
Where did I go?
This blog is to record my life and the lessons I'm learning along the way!
Life has never been so full.
Life has never offered me so many lessons.

LIFE:
with a few lessons . . .

We moved from our beloved home in Vancouver to our new home at the Ridge of the Maples
I refuse to compare . . .it is like comparing children . . .it should never be done . . .
I loved it there I love it here . . .

It snowed the day we moved in, I love living in the country . . .
When there is a deer crossing sign 50 meters from your house . . .it is the country.

Christmas was quiet and lovely . . .
I like it that way . . .

I finished writing the music for the temple celebration. . .
20 songs and arrangements . . .
that's step one, there are 47 more steps before the music is actually finished and ready.
When I grow up I want to be a sound engineer, until then, I am dog paddling in the deep end.

I now have an island in my kitchen, I love islands.
I even like the name island, it makes me think of tropical paradise, right here in my kitchen.

Jordan and Emily filled with enthusiasm and anxiety started their new school. . .
Being the new kid has its perks. Emily decided after day one it must be
similar to being a celebrity rock star.

My temple team of musketeers (10 in total) have traveled to
Vancouver, Bellingham, Abbotsford, Surrey, Victoria and Nanaimo stakes
giving firesides and auditioning youth for the Temple Youth Celebration . . .
Tomorrow we head to Vernon next weekend we fly to Prince George.
When the exhaustion sets in we laugh. Then we laugh some more. Sometimes we cry.

Jordan played his first competitive basketball game for his school team the other day. . .
My boy is a natural, a five foot eight inch natural.

Emily got a new baby kitten . . .
Sometimes you say yes to things.

Lucy went on an adventure, it cost $100 bucks to retrieve her from her adventure.
We need a fence . . .

With Daddy's new commute schedule he set up our computers so
we can do family scripture study via video phone. . .
If it wasn't for the fine words of Nephi and his comrades
I would of shut this being on camera in the early a.m. a long time ago!

Feelin the Love!

The marathon Festival of Nativities is over and my heart is full.
Thank you friends who came to smile at me from the congregation.
Thank for Tam who drove from Pitt Meadows.
Thank you for Al who drove from Surrey.
Thank you for Meliss who drove from Tsawwassenn.
Thank you for Sariah and Karen who drove from Mission.
Thank you for Violet who surprised me and drove from Olympia Washington.
Thank you for Colleen who shocked me and drove from Kelowna.

It was Thanksgiving weekend.
It was black Friday.
You all still came.
Thank you.


A Little Lesson:
There is a lot of highway between me and many of my friends.

“The most beautiful discovery true friends make
is that they can grow separately without growing apart.”

That doesn't seem to matter.

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and

can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

Feeling the love deeply.

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg

even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”

Thank you...

Floating

Clara asked Craig. . .
"Dad how do we actually get to heaven?
Do we take a train, a car or a bus?
Or do we just float there?"

A Little Lesson:
Last night I floated.
My hands kept my body at the piano, but the rest of me was floating.
I floated when Mary assures the baby Jesus that God was near.
I floated when the angel sang to the world that Christ is born.
I floated when the Wiseman wondered where would the Lord sleep tonight.
I floated when the Innkeepers wife poured her soul
out with regret for not making room for the Lord.
Night one of the Festival of Nativities is over.
I feel so blessed to be part of a group of people who also share their testimonies through music.
Two more nights to go.
Physically I am spent, spiritually I am full.

Hang on Tight

I am overwhelmed by what lies ahead of me this week.
My head spins when I think of what needs to be done between now and Thursday night.
But then I hear them sing the songs and play their instruments in rehearsal and I remember. . .
Joy to the world the Lord is come, Let earth receive her King!

A Little Lesson:
Sometimes my life no longer becomes a balancing act.
I take all the balls I have in the air, bring them close to my chest and hang on tight for the ride. Then I pray. . .and then pray some more.

Lucky

"Jesus is lucky" she says.

"Why?" I reply.

"Because his birthday is so close to Christmas he gets presents twice!"

A Little Lesson:

I'm lucky to have you Clara.

Halloween Time Out

She practiced all morning.

Holding out her bag and yelling "Trick or Treat!"
Until her older sister finally yelled back:
"Stop it! You're ready. You don't need to practice ANYMORE!"

A Little Lesson:
I would love to say that is where it ended.
Clara happily stopped saying trick or treat.
Emily happily went on with what she was doing.
Nope.
That would be how it would go down in the fairy tales.
Clara didn't stop.
Emily didn't let it go.
They both ended up on the stairs in full costume.
I wish I had a picture of my lion and my smurfette in time out.
Those are the pictures that make family history worth reading about a hundred years from now.

He's Just Not That Into You

"Should we try your costume on sweetie?"

Sorry Halloween.
We tried.
We dazzled him with carved pumpkins and treats.
We lured him with an elephant a lamb a ninja and a dinosaur costume.
Not happening.
I hate to say it . . .
But,
he's just not that into you.

A Little Lesson:
Sometimes you have to admit defeat and call it a day.

Too Cool

he was the classic hippy.

he was about 3mm away from being too cool to wear a costume.

phew!

we just made it.

barely.

A Little Lesson:
Next year, we will have to get Benjamin more into the game.
The Murley haul will be down by one.