the Murphy family

More pictures from our trip

2012-01-05T13:02:00.003-05:00

Grace's baptism, Halloween and the Biltmore

2012-01-04T16:56:00.008-05:00

I have to post more pictures later. The computer keeps stopping me.

So I have been horrible at keeping up with my blog. We went down to South Carolina at the end of October for Grace's baptism. We stopped in DC on the way down and did baptisms at the DC temple. Grace's baptism was beautiful and we were happy that we were able to be there. We decided to stay for Halloween and we even dressed up. It has been a long time since we have been able to go trick or treating so that was a blast. We were able to stop at the Biltmore house in North Carolina on the way home. Keith has been wanting to go there for a long time. They use this house in the movie Private Eyes with Tim Conway and Don Knots. The house is huge and beautiful. We were able to go up on the roof. I am afraid of heights so I was always close to a wall. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to visit Jessica and Lance again.

Scary night at the Murphy home

2011-09-30T08:31:00.009-04:00

Friday, September 23 was Kiley's 19th birthday. Before we went out for dinner we went looking for a new cae because this 1995 blazer was ready to go to car heaven. We were home by 10:15pm and all of us in bed by 11pm. Around 2am I heard a noise that sounded like a bear knocking over my garbage can, (I always think the noises in the night are bears) and I saw a flickering light. Well I just wanted to go to sleep so a little later I hear it again and luckily Keith heard the noise and saw the light. He looked out our blinds and jumped out of bed saying that the car was on fire. He goes outside and moves his truck which is parked right next to our flaming car and gets the hose and is trying to put out the fire. I call 911 and by this time the kids our up. You know how on TV 911 stays on the phone with you until help arrives, well this guy didn't, maybe it's only if there is a life threatening problem. Oh well. The fire company arrives, most of them miss our driveway because well, we live in the woods. The first responder and Keith get the fire out. It takes 3 people to hold a fire hose. This all ends around 3:15 am on
Saturday morning. Kiley's birthday went out with a bang! I just have to say that I was amazed that Keith could get out of bed so fast from a dead sleep. Trust me I don't think that will ever happen again, he cherishes his sleep. I am so grateful that it had been raining out earlier in the day and that it started to rain again. The trees above our car have black leaves. It also gave me peace of mind to know that the fire would not start back up again. Earlier in the night we had gone to the mall and I was tired so I was sitting in our car and texting Keith that we should call the dealer in the morning and stop the process of getting another car and just fix this one up. When the fire was out he was joking around saying that he didn't think I would go that far to get a new car. HaHa Well now there is no choice, we had to get a new car. Everyone is asking how the fire started. I don't know if we will ever know but some of our mechanic friends think it was in the wiring or maybe an animal chewed the wires. We are grateful we weren't in the car when it happened because 2 of our doors wouldn't open. Keith's trombone was in the back of the car and so was my serger. The trombone made it, only the case was melted. My serger wasn't so lucky, it melted and is stuck to the car. We feel very blessed that we are safe and that it did not spread to the house or the surrounding woods.

Plan B

2010-09-01T13:30:00.002-04:00

I have not been able to get to my weight watchers meetings so I cancelled my membership. I wasn't following the plan anyway. I am planning on making better food choices and exercising more. Of course the big bowl of homemade carmel corn is not helping with my food choices. I love to walk but the bears that are in my neighborhood make me wary of leaving my yard. So I finally purchased a wii fit. I LOVE it! You do not realize how hard you are working because of the fun games you are playing. I have to admit I really like the hula hoop game. I am sure that I look very silly wiggling my hips but Danny has the higher score so now the competition is on. I am hoping to also get a curves membership but for now this will help a lot more than what I was doing which was just thinking about exercising.

Guess who came to dinner?

2010-07-28T18:52:00.004-04:00

So I was talking to my friend Ann on Monday evening. I happen to glance out my downstairs door window and I see a big black thing carrying a big white thing. For a moment I think that it is carrying a goat but there are not any around here then I think that it might be our white cat, but the white thing was too big for that and then I realize that it was our garbage bag. Now this is all flashing through my mind really quick and the next thing I do is shut the door all the way because the kids(including the husband) never shut it all the way and I am thinking if this bear even comes close to the door and leans on it, he will be in the house. Next I scramble to find my camera and snap some pictures through dirty windows. I might have to clean them so I can get better pictures. I was a little shaky because I am afraid of bears when they are this close. I do think he is pretty and I didn't mind using the zoom when he was out back and I was on the deck close to my open door. Anyway, the kids were not thrilled with how much he ate. I think he tore through about 6 bags of garbage. By the time I saw him he had already eaten a ton. I did make the kids some cookies for cleaning up the mess. He did come back around 1am this morning looking for more but lucky for us garbage pick up was Tuesday afternoon. I am going to have to spray some ammonia on the garbage I hear that keeps them away. Enjoy the pictures.

Weigh In

2010-06-24T18:12:00.002-04:00

I forgot that I had Weight Watchers today and told my friend that I would help her with her 2 little girls while she did a mystery shop today. Luckily for me it was in the Newburgh mall and there is a Weight watchers store there so I was able to weigh in. I only lost .2 which I think is 2 oz but it is a loss. I did not exercise as much as I wanted to this last week. I only got out twice. I did walk the girls around in their stroller today so that was good. I have been really super tired the last couple of days, and have not felt like moving at all. Well it is a new week and I am going to keep on working on that exercise goal. Actually next week I think I will do really well because it is girls camp week and I will do a ton of walking. I won't be able to give you an update until Friday or Saturday next week. Hope all of you have a great week. I am off to YW/YM.

New Driver

2010-06-18T11:51:00.002-04:00

Kiley passed her test to get her drivers permit. She only missed one question which was about blood alcohol content. I let her drive us home and she did great. She does like to drive as close as she can to the right side of the road. No damage yet. Yeah! I would take a picture but my camera has died and I think it took its last picture. Hopefully I will get a new one soon.

teenage angst

2010-06-18T08:38:00.002-04:00

Kiley's boyfriend broke up with her yesterday and if you are my friend on facebook you can see how I responded to it. I will man up and say that I was not very mature. I am not super upset about her not having a steady boyfriend and all the worries that brings a parent, but Kiley was so heartbroken and that broke my heart and brought the worst mothering instict out in me. So thank you to all who sent good wishes to Kiley and today is going to be a way better day for her and she doesn't even know it yet. Keith gave me the money to take her down to get her drivers permit. So stay off the sidewalks because there will be another teenage driver in NY state by this afternoon!

Weigh in

2010-06-18T08:32:00.002-04:00

I went to weight watchers yesterday, (well kind of), I did weigh in and I lost 1 pound! I was expecting to gain because the Hershey bars that we had in the freezer for smores are no longer available and I ate some heavy meals, and I only exercised on Monday. So I will take the 1 pond loss and be happy. Just imagine what I could do if I stayed away from the sweets and exercised more often. I did exercise yesterday. I went on a 1 1/2 mile walk with Kiley and my mom. So onto another week. My goal this week is to exercise a lot more than I did last week. I plan on either walking or doing one of my videos.
Ta ta for now.

The start of my weight loss journey

2010-06-14T09:33:00.003-04:00

One of the reasons that I wanted a dog was to get me out walking. I figured that I would need to walk the dog and I would get exercise as well. Keith was very supportive when I wanted to find her a new home. He even offered to help make posters because he didn't realize how fast craigslist was going to work. He also offered to walk in the mornings with me even though he can walk circles around me well actually today it was zigzags, maybe the bears will have a hard time catching him if he zigzags. So even though I was very tired this morning we did a 2 mile walk on our hilly road. The dog had been the cause of some of my lack of sleep but I thought that I would get some sleep the last 2 nights and that was not so, I may have to resort to taking Benadryl, it works so well during my IV treatments. I want to post pictures even though I do not look like I want. I feel like my face is even too fat because when I try and smile I can only get a straight line. I am not going to post how much I weigh but lets just say I have over 100 pounds to loose (and I am not going to try and find them once they are lost). I will post how much I loose or gain each week. I am going to weight watchers so that is where I will weigh in. I go on Thursdays, so you will have an update on the pounds each Thursday. I will also post pictures, and maybe even some recepies. This obviously is going to be very very very very hard for me and I would love to be thin and healthy tomorrow but we all know that is not how it works in the real world. Please no one go all Jillian Michaels on me and yell at me because that will not work for me. I know that the medical problems are already catching up to me so this is an important goal for me to achieve. So even though I was very tired I got up and walked this morning! Yeah for me! I hope you all have a great day today.

Catching up

2010-06-12T13:14:00.011-04:00

So here is what has been going on in our Family. Kiley received her Young Women Medallion. I posted a few pictures of her with a couple of the other girls that earned theirs. I brought home a shih tzu puppy which didn't turn out so well. I did not realize the lack of sleep that I was going to have and that in turn effects my myastenia so I found her a new home today. I feel sad because I thought she was adorable during the day but at night when she did not want to be in her kennel and she would wake up I did not have very kind thoughts toward her so I found her a new home. I do feel like I gave up and did not give it enough time. Oh well, now our home will not smell like wet dog. Port Jervis high school does a baccalurette for the seniors. It is basically a blessing given to the seniors. They alternate the church that it is in every year. The seniors wear their cap and gowns so it is a nice picture oppurtunity. As you can see Danny decided he wanted in on one of the pictures. We are very happy that Port Jervis is not afraid to put religion into their schools. The next huge plethera of pictures is of Kiley getting ready for prom which was last night. We ordered her a beautiful modest dress from Utah and we had fun getting her hair done at walmart. You can see that she was enjoying herself. I paid way to much for it but at least I know how to do it now. One of the kids there told her that Princess Leah would have been jealous of Kiley's hair. Good thing she has a sense of humor. I think she looked beautiful and I had a wonderful time getting her ready. I will post pictures of graduation which for NY is at the end of June.

Catching up and finally posting more pictures!

2009-12-29T10:11:00.018-05:00

So I am a little behind on blogging, so I posted 59 pictures for you all to see what we have been up to. Enjoy.

This is our poor tree that died from lack of water. My family knows that next year may be our last year of having a real tree unless they do 2 things, first it must be tied to the wall and second it must be watered, if those things are not done then I will be shopping for an atificial tree next year.

It looks like a moving blob of pine needles.

My mom and I made a ton of fleece stocking hats and here are some of the pictures of the hats that I listed for sale on line. They are on Ebay this week and they are also on www.etsy.com My site is www.beckyboutique.etsy.com or you can just search for fleece stocking hats. Tell all of your friends. I also now have an Etsy button on my profile on facebook that will take you to my store.

Doesn't take much to keep a 14 year old boy entertained. The only problem is our stair are too wide for the slinky to go down the steps. So he has it go off the table onto a stool and then the floor. He is dying to take it to school and have it go down the school steps.

Kiley's favorite movie.

A Mario shirt to wear when he is playing the new Mario game.

I think the kids loved their soft blankets. They sure were a bear to sew.

More pj's

Finally a game! I think he likes this more than the alarm clock.

The game In a Pickle. It is actually quite fun to play.

This should help Kiley because she is always cold. Her room is the coldest one in the house.

Wow, I got an alarm clock. No more sleeping in!

Tired of posing for pictures.

Kiley got snow men.

Darn, it's not the new game that I wanted just some cute puppy dog pj's

Danny ripping into his present on Christmas Eve. Every year they get to open 1 present on Christmas Eve and it just happens to be their jammies.

trying to get a good picture for the cards

Our beautiful tree before it DIED.

Every year our marching band splits up to 3-4 stores and plays for the Salvation Army kettles. They seem to bring in more money when music is playing.

After we re-decorated the tree.

This is what happens every year after the tree is decorated. I really need more unbreakable ornaments.

Picjking out our poor, ill fated Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving dinner at my parents, I think that my dad was hungry.

Trying to take a family picture for Christmas cards and now you know why you got the picture that was in the card. Maybe next year I will send one of the goofy ones. You never know what you'll get from our family.

Veteren's Day parade in Port Jervis. I could not believe how many Vet's and people were there. I love our small town.

Port Jervis has a halloween parade every year and the high school band marched in it. Danny decided to be a cowboy. He borrowed Keith's belt and hat and boots for the parade.

Danny with another favorite past time.

Kiley with lots of homework. Yes, she finished it on time.

One of Danny's favorite pasttimes

The kids with our cat Marshmallow

Spirit week at Port Jervis High School. bet you can't guess what the school colors are.

No explanation needed here.

Celebrating Kiley's 17th birthday.

Danny being a teenage boy and trying to eat monster cookies and drink milk at the same time.

Branch Temple trip to the Manhatten Temple. Keith and Erik were getting one of the cars.

On their way to the bus stop at the end of the driveway. Notice how Danny has the important thinkgs that are needed for school (mp3).

They both bought new Converse high tops for school. Kiley wears hers almost every day, Danny doesn't like how long they take to put on.

Kiley on her first day of being a Senior. My how time flies.

Danny on his first day of High School.

My Young Women Made some baby blankets for a service project.

We took the kids to youth conference up in Albany in August. I think that they had a good time.

Marshmallow Midget Ball

2009-09-05T14:12:00.002-04:00

So on Thursday we had our combined activity. I googled and found this. It is basically baseball played with large marshmallows and a spatula on your knees. I let them have as many tries as they needed to hit the marshmallow. If you catch a fly mallow in your mouth with no hands it counts as 2 outs. Brittiny managed to do that. If you try this activity I suggest you use knee pads if you have them. The kids were sore after but they seemed to have a great time. I have a video but it will take way too long to upload so the pictures will have to do. Yes the little white thing in the picture is the marshmallow.

Salem the Kitty

2009-09-05T14:02:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday I saw an ad on Craiglist for a free black Kitty. Well Keith has been wanting a black cat so I called up and off we went. I wasn't really liking this kitten because he is very skinny, and at the house he was very skittish. He did not want to be held and kept hiding. Well the kids really liked him so we brought him home. He is growing on me. He always has to be by someone or he will meow at you with the most annoying loud meow. Whenever I am on th computer he has to be in my arms held like a little lap dog. That is why I am typing with one hand right now. Kiley just saved me and put him out so this will be faster. In the first picture it does not look like he has much of a tail, but he does have a full tail, it is just a little crooked. Anyway we are starting to love him.

What we have been doing this summer!

2009-08-11T17:26:00.018-04:00

So we have been busy this summer. My sister and her kids were here for 2 months this summer, we have had a couple of parades, branch picnic, girls camp, a baptisim and swimming in the Delaware. We are getting ready for Youth conference this week. We get to go to Albany and it is with 3 stakes. I guess 180 kids are already registered so I think that everyone will have a great time.

Swimming in the Delaware wore us all out.

Brittany Roa's baptisim.

Port Jervis night out against crime. The band marched and there was a lot of free food and fun times. Kiley and Danny love to dance the EFY version of the Cotton Eye Joe and love to teach their friends.

Everyone always has a great time swimming in Grandmas pool.

I think Jackson is winning the race.

Even mom and dad are jumping in the pool!

The Monticello Young Women! Aren't they beautiful?

the 4th year girls after their service project.

umm, frozen grapes on a hot day!

Keith modeling the new purse I made.

Branch picinic water balloon toss.

Making our banner for girls camp.

Port Jervis Fireman's parade

Keith getting Kiley to not pout.

We played a lot of kick ball with the kids this summer. I love watching Blaize run. I think we all will fond memories of kick ball.

4th of July parade.

Jackson loved to hit people with the noodle!

Big changes in Monticello Branch!

2009-06-29T09:47:00.003-04:00

There were a lot of changes in leadership in our branch yesterday. The Relief Society president, Young Women president, Primary president and the youth Sunday School teacher were all released. The new callings are as follows

Young Mens president - Lou Maldanado
Relief Society president - Holly Fuller
Young Womens president - Me (Becky)
Primary president - Cece Prange
Sunday School teacher - Lisa Banks

I was very surprised because I was just called as the Relief Society president in December. I am excited for my new calling but very nervous because I have never served in Young Womens before. Everything has changed since I was a kid. I guess that shows my age. I think that everyone is going to do a great job fulfilling their callings.
ps any ideas for yw activities send them my way please.

Word of the week

2009-06-29T09:40:00.003-04:00

We are trying to broaden our vocabulary with the word of the week. We try and choose a word that is not normally used, and one that is fun to say. Try and work it in your conversations during the week. FYI the word we are using this week, someone in our branch used it twice yesterday.

PLETHORA- noun- 1st A very large amount or number of something especially an excessive amount.
2nd An excess of blood in part of the body especially in the facial veins causing a ruddy complexion.

There is a PLETHORA of words in the dictionary.

Have fun using this word remember to be gregarious when dropping these words around your friends and collegues.

Pizza Dough

2009-06-17T10:35:00.003-04:00

I thought I would post our pizza dough recepie. Mostly so that if I am away from home and want to make homemade pizza I can find the recepie. This is an easy recepie and the kids love to design their own with toppings even their friends love this and that is nice when we are trying to save money.

PIZZA DOUGH

This makes 2 pizzas

2 Tbls of yeast
2 cups of warm water
5 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of sugar
4 Tbls of oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix all of the rest of the ingredients together. Let rise 1x, punch down and spread onto pizza pans. We spray a little pam so it is not quite so sticky. Then put on your sauce, cheese and toppings and bake at 450 - 500 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Let me know how your family likes this recepie.

Pictures

2009-06-16T19:20:00.006-04:00

Kiley and the boys!

Kiley went to the Priest Laurel prom down in NJ.

Pictured is - Kiley, Connor, Adam, Isaiah, and Caulin.

This is Danny's OM team at States eating lunch at Friendly's. They had a great time and they placed 4th at states.

The above pictures are of Danny's OM team at states and the judges are asking them questions. The picture below is of our branch. The one of Danny is at the Tri state spelling bee.

Here are some pictures of Kiley and Danny's Odyssey of the mind teams.

This is Kiley's team working on spontaneous.

I have been sick and very busy at the same time. I think that what has happened in the last7 or 8 months has been Heavenly Father's way of saying SLOW DOWN. So a long story made kind of short is that I will be in the hospital every month for a few days receiving IVIG treatments and I also had a hysterectomy in May. I am feeling very good energy wise today except I am having a slight problem with one of my incisions, other than that I have not felt this good since September. I still get tired easily and I really want to start exercising but I am a little afraid. I am going to start walking just a little at a time and work my way into more time as I beginn to feel better. I have had a hard winter and new year but there is always someone out there in worse shape or having a more difficult time than I am.

I am very greatful for my wonderful family and that includes everyone! My doctors who I am very luck that they are the best and have not made any mistakes on me so far--woohoo! The Gospel of Jesus Christ that gives me hope that I can return and live with my Father in Heaven again.

That being said I have a few pictures that I thought you might enjoy. I am not very good with my camera indoors yet. I always seem to get blury pictures. I think I am on the lookout for a new digital so any suggestions of ones that work would be appreciated. I love a big optic zoom and slim features of the one that I have but it is very hard to get a clear picture. So I apologize for any blury pictures that you have to look at.

Word of the Week

2009-06-15T12:06:00.002-04:00

We are starting a word of the week. Every week there will be a new word up on the blog. We want to see how you use the word during the week and how many times you end up using it.

gregarious - adj. 1. very friendly and sociable
2. used to describe organisms that live in groups
3. used to describe plants that grow in clusters

I met a very gregarious little girl the other day.

NYSSMA

2009-06-09T20:51:00.002-04:00

Hey guys,
It's Kiley. I got to go to NYSSMA this past Saturday on a level six vocal piece. I tried for All State. I got a 96 on the piece, which was in Italian. I'm eligible for All State, which is good. I had a really good time. It was a really good experience. Just to see how many kids came to try out with their voices or their instruments was just amazing. I heard some of them warming up and could tell they put a lot of time and effort into their pieces. It was my first time ever going and I went straight for the level 6. It was really fun and I plan to go again next year.

bears and bunnies

2009-03-16T21:44:00.004-04:00

Well I have been busy! I have made some stuffed bears and bunnies and I am trying to sell them online. Gina told me about a place called http://www.etsy.com/ where you can list your homemade items and people will buy them. It is not an auction. I am excited to see if anything I list will sell. I am hoping to keep the stuffed animals on there and then maybe some baby blankets and burp cloths and I also plan on having cards on there. My username is beckyboutique, so check it out and let me know what you think.

Keith is still out in UT working. I am hoping that he will be home before April 4th which is when Danny goes to states with his Odyssey of the Mind team.

Nerd Alert! We are so excited for our nerd Danny! He is in the Tri state spelling bee this weekned. If he does well he says that he will then go to nationals in Washington D.C. I'm not sure if that is true or not but we will keep you posted.

Kiley is keeping busy with the usual teenager stuff. School, looking for a job, and trying to hang out with her friends as much as possible. We get to start all of the college testing soon. I can't believe we are at that point in our lives. I remember when she was just little, I never thought that time would go this fast.

Too hot in my house!

2009-02-03T21:39:00.002-05:00

I try to keep the fire burning and the house warm. We have a little bit of oil but I am hoping that we do not use very much of it. It was snowing all day today, so I decided to bake some cookies. I was really excited to try this recipe that my mom found. It is an old family recipe that was lost. I have very fond memories of these cookies from when I was growing up. (who doesn't have fond memories of cookies)? Mostly in Wisconsin. They are Dutch sugar cakes. So I baked them and they are not what I remembered. Either I did something wrong or they are not the same recipe. I remember them being more puffy or full in the middle and mine are so fragile that they fall apart when you pick them up. This is not stopping anybody from eating them. They still taste good. Anyways my indoor thermometer says that my upstairs was at 82 degrees. We were sweating up a storm. I didn't even have a very big fire going today. I wonder if the snow creates extra insulation? Oh well I think I maybe sleeping with the window open tonight because I am used to sleeping cold, and it is only down to 79 degrees. At least the furnace is not coming on. I guess sometimes you just can't win. The Seminary kids will be happy because they won't be so cold tomorrow morning. Hopefully they will be able to stay awake.

Murphy's Law

2009-02-03T13:39:00.003-05:00

I often think that our family should change our last name because of Murphy's law. If something can go wrong it will. Keith has been out west since January 5th. He was also gone for about a week and a half right before Christmas. He had work out in Ut and not any here so we were grateful for the work. I have learned so much since he has been gone.

1. I should learn how to fix cars! The vans timing belt went while he was gone the first time. So the kids and I have been driving the big red truck. Then the truck broke down twice while he was gone. I think it wanted to break down again on Sunday evening too. We left my parents house very late on Sunday (Super bowl and The Office), While we were driving down Drury lane it was making a really loud strange noise. I pulled into the gas station, looked at the tires to make sure they weren't flat and looked underneath the truck to make sure we weren't dragging anything. Nothing so the kids and I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to bless this truck that it would work and started it up and no more strange noise. We made it home safe and sound!

2. I really like my husband! Sometimes when your spouse annoys you think oh I wish he would leave for a little while. Well I am going to try and just laugh next time he annoys me. Besides he is usually laughing while he is annoying me.

3. I would love a shorter drive way. It has snowed a lot here in NY. In fact it is snowing while I am typing this. We have a wonderfully long driveway that is great every other season except when it comes time to shoveling! I know I have 2 teenagers and they need to learn and I do make them shovel but I am usually out there with them because I feel guilty if I am not helping.

4. Keith does so much to keep our house running! When he is home I do not worry one bit about anything breaking because I know that he can fix it. Plus he always keeps the woodstove going which I took for granted. I smoked out our whole house yesterday trying to get it started again because I let it die out on Sunday. So we will smell like campfire for a while.

5. 6am comes to early in the morning. Keith teaches early morning seminary along with everything else he does so I am taking that over while he is gone. I am right there with the kids hoping for a delay or snow day so I can sleep. I do like teaching because I am learning so much but I like my sleep too.

6. There are a lot of wonderful people out here in NY who are willing and do help me and the kids whenever we need anything! I get phone calls and visits making sure that everything is going well. I am so greatful for everyone that has helped us in our time of need and I hope that real soon it will be our family being able to be of service to others.

So as you can see I miss Keith and can't wait for him to be home! I think that I have taken for granted how lucky I am to have such a wonderful handy fix it man for a husband. Plus I miss him making me laugh almost every day of my life.

Other than that the kids and I have been keeping busy with Odyssey of the Mind, Seminary, school, shoveling the driveway, going to the hospital for IV treatments, church stuff, and going over to grandma and grandpa's house.

I thought I would include a picture of the logs that almost made me have a really bad day. Here is the story behind the logs. I had been having the kids bring in would and stack it near the wood stove so it would be easy to keep going. Well they had stacked it so close that a few of the logs were touching the side of the stove. This was the first Sunday that the truck broke down, so we were not able to make it to church because we did not have a ride. The Elletts were on their way over to see if they could get the truck running. I was upstairs and I kept smelling smoke. So I checked the oven and I walked around the house. I finally went downstairs and saw all of this smoke coming from the family room. That is when I saw the logs. They had a little bit of a spark and they were charred and smoking. I guess it was a blessing that we were not in church because I think that would have caught our little log cabin on fire really fast. So no harm done and the kids now stack the wood a good foot away from the stove.

I hope everyone else is having a great winter. I know I am because I count my blessings everyday and I am learning that we are truly blessed!

Exciting Times in Port Jervis

2008-12-10T14:06:00.006-05:00

So the Murphy Family Band Geeks have had a busy weekend. First, Keith and the kids played at the Kmart Salvation Army kettle for 2 hours and froze their toes. Then later that evening we had a Tree Lighting in downtown Port Jervis that the Broome Street Marching Band played Christmas music for. I was amazed at how many people came. I guess there is not much to do in a small town because there were a lot of people there. The salvation Army was there with free hot chocolate and cookies. They are even having a light decorating contest and then they will drive the Senior Citizens around to see all the houses. When Santa and Mrs. Clause arrived I swear Buddy the elf was there too. We usually cut down our Christmas tree every year but due to time constraints we bought ours at a little nursery in Port Jervis. We found our tree, a Blue Spruce that only cost us $25, after Keith and the Tree guy held up almost every tree on the lot for us to look at. We have a silly tradition that started after we watched Vern saves Christmas one year. Vern would sing the song O Christmas tree and he only knew that one line so he sings the whole song with just that one line. When we find the tree that we are going to bring home we stand around it and sing O Christmas Tree like Vern did on the movie. Now you have to remember that our kids are with us and we are singing in public, you would think that they would be embarrassed. but sometimes they are the ones reminding us that we have to sing. This year the tree guy joined in. We decided that we would decorate Sunday after church. That ended up being pretty late on Sunday evening and we had to move every piece of furniture at least 3 times before we found just the right spot. We started to put the lights on the tree and found that we needed more strands of lights so the decorating would have to wait until Monday evening. On Maonday the band played again at another tree lighting in Port Jervis and more free hot chocolate and cookies. They even let me play the Jingle Bells. The top of our tree is a little sparse with lights but we have 1,000 lights on this tree so any more will have to wait until next year. I even made ginger bread cookies for our tree. Danny and Keith were in charge of the tinsel and you can see by the pictures what a great job they did!!! We have another tradition that I don't really care for and pretty much happens by accident and that is our tree falls down after it is fully decorated. This year we were lucky and were able to catch it before it hit the floor so only one smashed ornament this year (This is the reason I made cookie ornaments). Well our tree is all decorated and looks beautiful and the tree lights keep going out because there are too many. Oh well. I tried.

Cards and OM

2008-12-03T13:17:00.003-05:00

So I finally listed my other 2 cards on ebay. I am excited to get back into this. It is unbelievable how much money people will spend on cards. Last summer people were spending over $100 on 1 card! Granted the cards were stunning. I am not complaing because I would love for someone to pay a lot of money for my cards. I no that won't happen for awhile plus there are over 1,000 cards listed every day so there is some serious competition. Let me know what you think. Now I have to get ready for Odyssey of the Mind. Keith and I are the High School coaches and we have our first meeting today. I have to figure out what we are going to do. It is going to be easy and hard at the same time. Keith and I are not allowed to help the kids solve the problem in any way. They have to do everything, costumes, set, skit, we can't even give them advice or tell them what we think! So in that senxe it will be easy. The hard part is to guide them without helping them, to help them learn problem solving skills and creative thinking, that is going to be the hard part. Today, we are going to vote on the problem that they want to do and I am going to try and find some puzzles or mind games for them. After that we have Kiley's first chorus concert tonight. For being stuck at home I still am very busy! TTFN ( Tiggers ta ta for now)

stuck at home

2008-12-02T23:12:00.002-05:00

Murphy's law says that we're the Murphy's and Keith's truck is broken so I have a lot of time at home. I am finally feeling better and I have time so I made some cards today and I finally listed one on ebay. Well at least I have something to show for my time, a big messy stamping table and glitter all over me and my house! I really enjoy stamping and creating so I don't mind too much being stuck at home, plus I can't spend any money if I am at home. Hope you enjoy my card. I will show you the other ones I made when I post them tomorrow. TTFN

Counting my Blessings!

2008-11-13T13:03:00.003-05:00

I am out of the hospital! I hope that I do not have to go back for a very long time. I was in for 6 days having an IVIG treatment. Basically I got new plasma that is supposed to kick my body back into doing the right thing. I think that I will be put on medicine, but I will find that out tonight. So being away from home and around a lot of people less fortunate than me got me thinking (I had a lot of time to think), of how blessed my life really is. I have 2 healthy great kids. I have a son and a daughter. I have a wonderful husband who can fix anything! I live in a cute little home complete with wildlife. I have the best family in the world! There is no stopping the fun when we get together and that goes for both sides. I have wonderful caring friends. I have realitively good health. I live in a free country. Last but certainly not least, I have the gospel in my life. What more could I ask for? I am really glad that I won't be having my vitals taken every couple of hours that was getting really annoying. I am happy to be home. I will kind of miss the hospital bed, they are kind of fun to play with when you get bored.

Haloween

2008-11-05T16:05:00.003-05:00

Kiley and Danny wanted to go trick or treating this year. I didn't let them go last year because I thought they were too old for this, I guess you are never to old to dress up and beg for candy. Well being the bad mom that I am I felt guilty for depriving them of this pleasure. So I told them that if I didn't have to spend any money on their costumes they could go. Kiley wore her 50's costume that I made her a couple of years ago and Danny borrowed Kiley's pirate costume. I still wasn't sure if they were going to go because they were still making arrangements to go with their friends. Well I think my kids are pretty cute but I have to admit they don't look quite as cute in their costumes as their little cousins do. I think they had a good time. Kiley even had to sing for some of her candy because the family made all of the teenagers earn their candy which I think is a good idea. I only saw one hooker costume this year, thank you very much! I wonder if she had to sing for her candy. I wish parents would care more for their children and not let them dress like that. Oh well not much I can do I guess. I hope that everyone had a happy halloween! Next year I am going to distract my kids by letting them have a halloween party at our house. I will try and have them build a haunted house in our back yard. Well we will see if I remember this by next year!

Snow day

2008-11-05T10:21:00.005-05:00

Kiley doing homework by candlelight.

Keith fixing the power!!! Yeah for Keith!!!(he just saved us a ton of money!)

Playing Nertz by candlelight.

We got snow on October 28th. It started as a beautiful day. I love a snow day because life has to slow down. Well life really slowed down for us. About 4pm the power went out. Not a problem we have a gas stove and dinner was already started so that was good. I love candles so I lit all of my candles and we found the flashlights. We also have a woodstove and a fire was already burning so we were set. We played nertz by candlelight and the kids sang silly songs. A friend of ours lent us his generator so we got the power started again. Unfortunatley that is when things started to go wrong, or so we thought. The water would not pump out of the washing machine or the dishwasher so we thought we had 2 broken appliances. The next evening when we knew the power would be back on Keith went to turn ours on and the switch was broken. So Keith needed to put a new electric box in. Thank heavens that he knows how to do that. Things were getting a little tense around here for a while but Keith came to the rescue and used his fix-it skills and we now are all powered up!!!!

I now understand why the early settlers went to bed early and got up early, because there is just not too much to do when you do not have electricity! I have learned that I need more candles, matches and a few more lanterns. I also need to have extra batteries stored next to the flashlights. Oh, when we finally did get the power on we found out that the dishwasher and the washing machine worked. There must be a safety on them so that there is not a power surge or so that we do not use them if there is not enough power. Kiley and Danny are so happy that the dishwasher works because otherwise they are y dishwashers! I am so happy that the washing machine works because when you get used to having one in your own home it is hard to go with out! I am extremely grateful for modern technology and will try not to take it for granted. I am sure that I will be reminded every time the power goes out. Now we just have to save up for a generator!

Keith's Salsa Recipe

2008-10-24T20:31:00.002-04:00

Maranda has requested Keith's salsa recipe. It is really easy. I am not giving measurments because you just do it till it tastes good.

Diced tomatoes
Chopped onion
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped garlic
Salt to taste
Lime Juice to taste
Seeded and chopped jalepeno pepper (optional)

Keith does not add the jalepeno but I like to add it. We add a good amount of garlic because we like it. I also advise to add the salt and lime juice a little at a time and taste it each time till it is to your liking. I hope you enjoy this we do.

Our Family Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe

2008-10-24T10:43:00.002-04:00

My sister Jess called and asked me for this recipe and I keep forgetting to give it to her. My mother - in - law gave me this recipe and it has been our favorite ever since. The cookies stay soft, they taste good and they are easy to roll out. I decided to put it on the blog because then I won't loose it. Enjoy!
Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp vanilla

Cream those ingredients together and then add your dry ingredients

2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
5 cups of flour (add extra flour if you need it to make workable)

Mix your dough together. Roll out and cut into your favorite shapes.
Bake at 400 for 6 - 8 minutes adjust the time as needed.

I also use butter and pure vanilla because that really adds to the taste.

Jess, I am sorry it took me so long to get you this recipe!

Keith & Kiley

2008-10-21T12:08:00.002-04:00

Ok, so last night I was upstairs reading a book and minding my own bee's wax when I overheard a conversation between Kiley and Keith that made me chuckle.

Let me begin with some background info. Kiley is now 16 and is technically old enough to date according to church standards. I did inform Kiley right before she turned 16 that even though she is old enough to date she still has to ask us if she can, and of course give us all of the details.

I guess Kiley is Im ing with a friend when I hear< "Hey dad ____ (name with held) just asked if I could go on a date with him this Friday is that ok?" Then I hear from Keith " no, we have something going on this weekend." Kiley then asks " What do we have going on?" Keith in a rather loud voice " I don't remember, we just have something going on!" Kiley, "You don't have to yell dad, I'm right here."

I was laughing so hard! I think that Kiley figured out that she can pretty much get what she wants when she asks Keith, but I guess not when it comes to dating. It will be interesting to see what we have coming up this weekend.

Sorry Kiley for laughing about this but you will understand when you are a parent.

birthday party

2008-10-15T12:50:00.004-04:00

I missed a couple of pictures. I couldn't resist the one of Ashley Ey getting hit with a marshmallow by her little brother.

Kiley's Sweet 16 Birthday Party

2008-10-15T09:31:00.013-04:00

Everyone was sitting down along the front of the house to watch the fireworks. We heard a lot of oohs and ahhs. Keith even had mortars, I think those are the ones that go up in the sky. Dave and Caulin taught a new version of the line dance they already knew to the song I like to Party.

Yummy Birthday Cake!!!!

This is our Senior Couple, they had a lot of fun with the marshmallows! Malinda didn't have time for the shooter she just threw them at people!

Everyone made their own shooters.

The kids found a whole bunch of sticks for roasting marshmallows, the sticks are not in the picture.

Sarah decorating the cake.

fixing the cd player, I don't know how they could see what they were doing with so many extra hands. We even put President Snarr to work hanging Christmas lights so that people could see were they were going because it gets so dark here. The other picture is Jade, Shannon, Kiley, Brianna, and Rebecca.

I finally have some time to put stuff up about Kiley's party. Let me start by saying this was suppossed to be a party with just a few of her friends coming over and hanging out maybe have a barbaque. Well as we started to make the list of friends I started adding people that have not been up to the house yet or that we haven't visited with in awhile and we really enjoy their company. I think that we ended up sending out 36 invites. Now I had to count everyone that was coming so that we could plan for enough food. Keith of course thought that fireworks were needed, so we had those, and we made some great cd's of dance musicand pulled Lance and Jessica's old stereo out, Alan and Gina gave us the idea to make marsmallow shooters so our party was complete. We had 61 people at our little house! I was worried we would not have enough room but there was plenty. We had a beautiful day it was just a tiny bit chilly so the bonfire was wonderful to sit around. Ok so most of you who are reading this know what a double cake pan is, well I have a round one(it is a pan that can hold 2 cake mixes). Kiley wanted a red velvet cake so I made it from scratch from a recipie that dad gave me. I made 3 layers of that cake in the double cake pan. The cake was huge. People are still talking about how big the cake was. The day starts out ok I don't have a ton of cleaning to do just a little but we have food to get ready. Danny was at a scout overnight, I thought he had a ride home but it turns out that I needed to go and get him from Middletown which put me way off schedule. I guess I will have to not procrastinate if there is a next time. So people start showing up a little early or even on time. At first I panic but then they askto help so it was a wonderful thing to have all of that extra help! The only big glitch in the party was when the kids were carrying out the steroe the cd player fell and broke. Kiley was devastated because line dancing was going to be a big part of the party. Well Danny and a couple of the girls were trying to fix the cd player, they had the whole thing opened up, a few adults were trying to but Sister Hearn came and saved the day. The tragedy was thwarted and we had line dancing. The hit of the party had to be the marshmallow shooters. If you are wondering what they are it is a gun made out of pvc pipe that you put a marsmallow in and blow it out. It was amazing, our senior couple from the branch was there and he was a Bishop before his mission, well he was introduced to marshmallow shooters at girls camp and boy did he know how to use that thing! One of the girls would put a few mini marshmallows in her mouth and shoot out one after another. Sounds gross but the laughter was great. Even my dad got in on the fun. I don't want to blame the bad pictures on my camera because I am sure some of it has to do with me but, I am not good at taking pictures in bad lighting, plus I was busy so I did not get a lot of pictures. I am hoping that my friend will email the ones they took. I did get a couple of videos, my favorite is when I had 47 people stuffed in my kitchen singing happy birthday to Kiley because she had a great big smile on her face and that is what a birthday party is all about! I think that everyone had a great time. I do have to say thank you to my friend Sarah who saw how frustrated I was getting with decorating the cake and she took over and made it beautiful! She even put a flute and a violin on it!

I alsohave to say thank you to Cece Prange and Linda Snarr because they made 80 hamburgers for us! We had plenty of food. In fact we had enough that we brought in all the left overs and had a branch potluck after church the next day.We hadplenty because lot of people brought a dish to share which I am really grateful for! We did leave the lettuce at home, actually we threw it outone of the kids found a frog and it hopped right into the lettuce!

Here is a video of the marshmallow fun! The above video Danny took of the cd player being fixed. I think he was just as excited as Kiley that it was fixed mostly because he helped to fix it. I don't think that it took 2 hours to fix but maybe I am wrong.

Okay here is the Birthday song please don't listen too carefully to my out of tune singing right by the camera. I think that you all have an idea of what the party was like. We had so much fun, except for Monday when I scrubbed all of the floors in my house because there was marshmallow all over. At least we don't have any carpeting so nothing was ruined. We even found a marshmallow stuck to the pole in the basement a few days later. We wish that all of our family could have been there to celebrate with us. I guess we are just going to have a lot more get togethers because this was so much fun visiting with everyone. I apologize for not making this look prettier but if I did then it would be another month before this was posted.

Saturday

2008-09-14T21:59:00.004-04:00

Saturday was a busy day for our family. Keith had a job, and the kids had a full schedule. We started the morning with a band concert. Then we raced home (within the speed limit) and Kiley changed so she could go to her friends sweet 16 party, then I went home for a few hours and tried to stay awake and then went and picked Kiley up and took her over to the church so she could go to super saturday. I lucked out and Keith was able to pick her up so I didn't have to drive anymore. Except the drive home from the concert each way was at least a 35 minute drive or more. Sometimes driving makes me really sleepy. Danny had a great day playing on the computer and the wii. I put a video of one of the songs that they played at the concert, it is called Sing, Sing Sing. This song always makes me want to dance. I apologize ahead of time for the shakey camera, I have to press pretty hard on the shutter button to record and if I even lift my finger a little the video stops. Maybe someday we can get a real video camera, but for now this works. Enjoy!

labor day

2008-09-05T13:22:00.002-04:00

We spent Labor day over at my mom and dad's house. They had tickets through Newburgh ward for a Renegades game. We were able to eat dinner and watch the game. During the game a guy came around and asked if anyone wanted to throw tennis balls into a hula hoop. Danny wanted to so grandpa gave him the money to buy the balls. The Renegades played the Staten Island Yankees. The Yankees were winning by a lot, 6-1. The Renegades scored 2 more runs in the 9th inning when I took a bathroom break, someone said they should of had me leave sooner. Anyway my family are not big baseball fans and we were thinking of going home early but, I wanted to see the fireworks and I didn't want to waste dad's $5. The fireworks were much better than we expected. They told all the people with Tennis balls to go to either dug out, They showed them were the hula hoops were and then told them to throw the balls. Whoever had a ball in a hoop would get a prize. Sounds easy, right? Well there were balls bouncing all over the place, and then they called out all of the names and Danny had gotten 2 in. So he wona $25 gift card to the Renegades shop were he picked out a nice long sleeve t-shirt. Thanks dad, I guess it wasn't a waste of money this time. All in all we had a good day, because we went swimming earlier and spent itme with our family!

labor day

2008-09-05T13:16:00.003-04:00

labor day

2008-09-05T13:13:00.002-04:00

labor day

2008-09-05T13:07:00.002-04:00

Swimming in Grandma's pool

2008-09-04T20:26:00.001-04:00

first day of school 9/3/08

2008-09-03T22:08:00.000-04:00

Today was the kids first day back to school. They got up and packed their lunches and were ready to go. J.D. even waited with them at the bus stop, which is just at the end of our driveway. Kiley is so organized that when she came home she had her list of school supplies that we needed ready to go and she even high-lighted the dates of her tests. I hope that I can be like her when I grow up!

Danny had his first day of cross country track today. I am not sure if they ended up running or not but he sure fell asleep real fast when he came home today. He takes after his dad.

I think that they had fun today seeing their friends again and my kids are usually excited to go back to school.

raft racing

2008-09-03T21:58:00.000-04:00

I am very new to making a video on this camera. I accidently let go of the button so it stopped and that is why there are 2 videos of the kids in the pool. This summer we spent a lot of time over at my parents home in Newburgh because a few of my sisters and my brother came in. For my family it was definetly a vacation. We played a lot of ping pong, darts and swam in the pool a whole lot. The kids and I went on a couple of bike rides down my parents road. So thank you mom and dad for letting us stay and play at your house! I have a whole bunch of pictures of the kids jumping in the pool that I will try and put together as a slide show.

raft race

2008-09-03T21:33:00.000-04:00

raft races

2008-09-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

Kendra and the Beechop

2008-09-03T18:18:00.000-04:00

The stomach

2008-09-03T18:16:00.000-04:00

Ok I have a very wacky husband who loves to show off his stomach. He really loves it if he is in a restaraunt with my mom and dad. Unfortunately he has rubbed off on my brothers but nobody can beat his stomach so I thought the whole world should see this!

Adam and Keith

2008-09-03T18:14:00.001-04:00

Adam and Keith

2008-09-03T18:13:00.000-04:00

There is really no explanation needed for these pictures! Keith and Adam are having a great time being themselves.

goofing off

2008-09-03T18:07:00.001-04:00

goofing off

2008-09-03T18:02:00.000-04:00

More goofing off. If you look at the picture of Adam, Maranda and Kendra jumping you will notice far off in the background Keith and Danny sitting on a boulder. I just want to say that sometimes I complain about my camera but I shouldn't. I really don't have anything to complain about. I just need to learn how to work my camera so it's me not the camera. Anyway in the next pictures of Adam and Keith or in the picture of Danny and Keith I am really far away from them but my camera is small and has a 10 optic zoom so I can get some pretty fun shots. So thank you Keith for giving me this wonderful camera that is capturing beautiful memories of our family! Ok so I will stop the mush.

2008-09-03T17:58:00.000-04:00

goofing off

2008-09-03T17:55:00.000-04:00

So we hike up to the lake and of course there is a big sign that says no rock climbing and other stuff. they basically don't want you to sue them if you get hurt or fall. Well I see Danny and Keith hanging off the side of the cliff and saying "look mom" I about have a heart attack not realizing that they are standing on a ledge. Marand is really happy because we were able to take a picture of her were she looks tall.

goofing off at Minnawaska

2008-09-03T17:50:00.000-04:00

sitting on the ege of a waterfall

2008-09-03T17:47:00.000-04:00

So Adam and Maranda came to NY for a visit. We all took a walk in Minnawaska. We wanted to show Maranda and her parents the waterfall but it has been dry so there is not much water. Keith and the kids loved sitting on the edge, it was pretty high up there!

Minewaska (not sure if it is speeled right)

2008-09-03T17:42:00.001-04:00

campfire

2008-08-22T22:07:00.000-04:00

Well we finally had our first campfire of the summer. Perfect night nice and cool. We had fun making the perfect marshmallows. Danny just cooks them he doesn't eat them. The picture of the marshmallow is of Keith's mallow. He is the king of the campfire marshmallow!

I just have to tell you about our kitty J.D. He was born this year on Leap day. Keith named him. J.D. stands for just dog. I know sounds pretty strange but that's Keith. Keith plays with hem like he is a puppy. Well we were sitting around the fire talking and Keith throws a stick and J.D. goes after it. I thought it would be pretty funny if he brought the stick back and lo and behold our kitty plays fetch, he brought the stick back.

We had a really enjoyable evening and I hope that we get to do it again. I have to admit that I was a little jumpy. Everytime that I heard a noise I thought it was a bear coming to join us. I am totally going to have to get used to living in the woods.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer.

Hey (Kiley)

2008-08-19T14:40:00.000-04:00

Hey, it's Kiley. I'm really excited for this blog. I've had so much fun reading the other ones. It's nice to put something in. I'm taking an AP class in the fall. AP stands for Advanced Placement, for those that don't know. I've had summer work. I'm not quite done with it yet. It's pretty interesting to read. It's really long though.

Danny

2008-08-19T14:35:00.000-04:00

Hello, this is Danny. I am Beckys son, and I am the one true band geek. I just decided to post because A) I CAN'T WAIT FOR SCHOOL TO START and: B) Im going to be posting messages in this blog.

NERDS UNITE!
-Danny

We are not trying to offend anybody.

2008-08-19T13:13:00.000-04:00

Ok, The kids and I have spent all morning and into the afternoon setting up our blog. We just want to let everyone know that our family loves playing in the community band and orchestra! It is the only thing other than church that we all do together! We love that we are band geeks! So I hope that no one will take offense when we refer to ourselves as band geeks.

We think that we have picked out some fun music and pictures. We hope that you all enjoy listening and looking at our Blog! We will post more later after we do some much dreaded chores.

The views expressed by Kiley and Danny are not necessarily those of the parents.

Welcome to our Blog

2008-08-18T22:54:00.000-04:00

Hello, the kids wanted to start a family blog since we were having sooo much fun looking at all of our family and friends blogs. So we will try this and see how much fun we can have.