Nasa Space Center

Our friend Paul doesn't like to make it known that his dad is the Director of the Johnson Space Center. His dad was an astronaut on the Discovery missions in the 80's also. Paul is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He got us tickets to Nasa today. It was so much fun! And inspiring. I loved it. 

Kensington in front of the module

We went through a simulation of the first Space Station created which was called SkyLab. It was really cool. This man was floating in circles to demonstrate no gravity. He looked seriously like Paul! Two of us said that at different times. 

You could press different buttons to choose which planet you would like to lift this weight on. It differs in difficulty depending on where you are. Blake was demonstrating. 

I love this picture of the earth. 

Before the IMAX movie began. It was about the Space Station. We liked it a lot. 

Flight simulation

"no gravity" :)

So cute. Bella has a pal in Uncle Paul. 

At one point today Brae said she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. Then a fashion designer. She changed her mind when she saw the MRE's they eat up there. 

Kensington 

Me

Ken and Brae. 

Fun Times!! 

Twilight Spoof

This is SOOOO funny! Blake's friend from BYU made this film and he stars as Edward. I love this! 

The producer's name who stars as Edward is Zach James. Google him if you are interested in more of his work. He is with "LinkedIn". He's amazing. :)

2 IS my favorite number

Our softball season came to an end tonight. :): That's how I feel about it. Happy and sad. We had a lot of fun playing together and making new friends on our team. We started out and were a horrible team. Halfway into the season we were tied for last place. Then by some miracle things turned around for our little team in the second half of the season. We were lucky enough to get a new addition to our team who was an awesome hitter and our men really turned up the heat too! Last week was the first game in the playoffs which was single elimination and we WON! It was so good. So, tonight if we won the first game we played in the second. Let me just set the mood of today before I tell about what happened:

I woke up in the  middle of the night with a stomach bug. I felt pretty yucky all day and have been on the couch for most of it. I wasn't happy about playing tonight. Blake told me I should stay home. Each team has to have two women or they get automatic outs each inning so I didn't want to let them down so I decided to try it. So, out on the field we went. The other team was really good and I didn't think we had a chance to win but we did so amazing! I am usually not very happy with how I play but tonight we were both on fire. I played 3rd and Blake was at short. He played short every single game and I was split between right field and 3rd each time. I started to get pretty comfortable at 3rd. On one play I stopped the  ball and it popped up and hit me in the face. Blake made some awesome plays, one in which he ran from short-behind second and caught it! So good! We hit well too! On the first hit I pulled my quad muscle in my right leg. :( To make up for it though I had two killer plays one of which was when Blake caught it and threw it to me and I ran to tag the player. The force of the ball or me tagging him ripped my thumb nail up and it started to bleed a little. The second play went to outfield and Reggie fired it to me (it was fast) and I caught it (miracle) and got the player out! Blake made a head first dive during one run and was safe on third. Good game! We won 15-11! So, even though my stomach felt like crap we were happy to play a double header and be in the championship game for 1st/2nd place. 

We knew the last game would be against a hard team. At one point we were 1-7. 1 and 7 and now we were playing an undefeated team. What we didn't expect was how bad it would hurt. Literally. Pain comes in many different forms. Tonight it came in the shape of a softball. I began on 3rd base again. Began and started to wish I hadn't. Their players should have been in a major league. They hit the ball so hard and so fast. They kept hitting it right to me. Right away the ball hit me right in my shin. The same leg as my pulled muscle and it hurt so bad. Some tears on the field. It is still throbbing now. They kept hitting it to me, smacking it so hard! They changed me to 2nd base and there one of my own team members threw the ball to me and hit my same shin to the side of the first hit. I forgot to mention at third I also had a ball hit me in the foot. Maybe I never learned to use the mitt, huh. At this point I was just scared and wanted to go home. No more great plays from me. Blake continued to do well! He had a hard play where he caught a blazing ball. One where he dove and caught the ball. One of his hits went almost to the fence, he got a triple! I was really proud of him and our team. Despite our great efforts we lost and we lost count of how badly they were beating us. They were intense and all I know is I wanted it to be over. Great season! So glad I could play and have the opportunity to do something like that with my husband. Great people, fun times. I am sad it's over in a way, even though I couldn't play much longer anyway. Next season I will be on the bench with little half and our four baby's cheering the spring team on! Go Hardknocks!!! 

Our Friday Night BBQ

We invited our friend Paul to bbq with us tonight. Braelyn's striking a pose as dad grills our chicken

Ken and Brae being silly 

Our chef made some yummeeee chicken. 

The gang minus 1 and a half

Uncle Paul with Ken and Bell

This man is really special. He loves the girls and they love him! He is tremendous with them and is super patient and loves to spoil! 

Bella and Cali hanging loose

*Notice our chef's grilling utensil of choice. A fork! Made his grilling experience more fun. 

For dessert Uncle Paul brought ice cream. Bella got a few scoops then didn't want to finish it. What kid doesn't want to eat their ice cream. She was upset at me. 

The guys played a little X-Box to finish our fun night. I enjoyed listening to them be in control of themselves since the kids were awake. How is it that men get SO into their video games. haha It was fun to hear them play. 

This was a really FUN time and I am grateful Paul could hang out with us. The weather out is cool and it was relaxing to just be together. Happy Weekend!!! 

Halloween

We had a REALLY good Halloween! For the first time in a long time we didn't have anything planned for our Saturday. We LOVED being home, relaxing and being together! 

We had a fun night too! We love this picture of the girls!! Bella was a cave girl, Brae was a bride, Kensington a fairy and Cali was Tinkerbell. (Bella cracked us up)

Normally pretty reserved- but put a cave girl outfit on her and watch her go!! She kept doing this pose with her bone! 

Cali looked so sweet. She wanted to show off her Tink shoes. 

Cute fairy Kensington

Not sure if she thought this was a gun or what. :) This bone was a big  hit when we went door to door. 

Beautiful bride. should we be worried that she wanted to be a bride at 11? I think this picture looks a little like a nun. 

We went to our friend, Paul's parents neighborhood to trick or treat. We stopped by their house when we were done going door to door. This was Paul's dad on the floor with his two twin nieces. So cute! 

Paul put Cali to work passing out candy to a ton of teenagers. 

I swear Cali is the tiniest 8 year old ever. I love it! Bella helping with the door. 

Brae and Ken watching the girls. 

We had a great day and really fun night even though Halloween is my least favorite holiday. So much work for one night. At least the kids enjoy it! I am excited that we are officially in the holiday season now! 

My Birthday Celebrations

For my birthday Blake and I went out on a date to Galveston and ate at my favorite restaurant (one of them), Saltgrass Steakhouse! mmmm Yummy! You can see the ocean in the background. The food was fantastic! Like always. 

After dinner we walked across the street and down onto the beach. We have never walked on the beach at night. It was awesome, a little scary. It was pretty cold in Galveston so we were freezing but it was a nice change from the stinking humidity. The sand felt good on my feet. This was us before we left. Bright flash!! 

Saturday morning we continued the celebrations. Cali, Bella and I went to get Shipley's doughnuts for breakfast. This is what we saw as we were leaving our apartments. So beautiful! It's a little hard to see in the photo but there were a bunch! As we drove away the balloons got bigger. Bella was so cute because she asked me "mom, can you grab one and bring it back to the girls?" 

Bringing our doughnuts home to eat! Lots of sugar and lots of lb's. Eat up! For my birthday I get 5 pounds. 

Little Murdock

I am happy to get to announce something extra special for my birthday! When I was dating Blake a good friend of mine told me that if we ever got married I should get in on his gene pool right away. We followed her advice and are happy to announce our "honeymoon" baby. That's right- we're PREGNANT!!! We have been waiting until the right time to share our good news and today is the perfect day. I want nothing more for my birthday than to  have a happy, healthy and safe family and I pray with all my heart that baby will grow to be strong and healthy. We are looking forward to meeting our new sweetie next May!