Jason......

For some reason I have been especially busy the past 2 weeks or so. Why? Beats me. But on Tuesday night I took the evening off and went to the Jason Mraz concert!! It was fantastic. After seeing MUSE (my favorite band) in concert I figured that I need never go to another concert again- it was so amazing I was ruined for all others(and as my sweet hubby pointed out, it was so loud I would probably never even be able to hear another concert.) It wasn't MUSE, but Jason certainly didn't disappoint! He is an incredible musician and it was a wonderful night, despite the horrid smell in West Valley! I went with my wonderful friend/cousin-in-law Candice, who has had her own very busy week. (congrats on the cutest baby ever!)Here is a picture of us in the parking lot just before the show.

We really enjoyed watching the brass section dance...they had sweet moves!


Thanks for a great night out Candice! And even more thanks to the best hubby ever for holding down the fort!

Fun at the Fire Station

This week the fire house in Orem had a safety fair. This was the 2nd year we have gone and it is a lot of fun. The fire fighters and EMTs do demonstrations with the fire hoses, the jaws of life, putting out a live fire, loading the ambulance, etc...Here we are with The Murdocks and The Normans. Maybe our kids would take us a little more seriously if we wore uniforms like this on a regular basis.

Also, we went to Cornbelly's fall fun place a few weeks ago. It is a family favorite.

this was before we went into the belly of the beast...the smiles weren't so plentiful afterwards.

here we are on the hayride...i put this picture on so that you can see the beautiful pumpkin patch behind us....which was not captured in the family photo!

nice bus....

anyway, it was a beautiful fall...all 2 weeks of it! now we move on to the snow. (I can't believe it snowed yesterday!) I love Halloween, and it is a good thing because it is the only thing keeping me from busting out the Christmas decorations. I am going to get a head start on the holidays by loading my Christmas tunes back onto the ipod. I wont listen to them yet, but i want to be prepared for when the time comes!

Dancing Queen

We were outside one evening and decided to capture Ellie's sweet dance moves

Pictures from Summer / Fall

Here are some random pictures from this summer & fall...

Yes, we're still alive!

Ok, so i know that we have been terribly pathetic when it comes to updating our blog. Sorry about that. I won't guarantee that I will post faithfully, but I will give it a try.
There is no way that we could really catch you up on all of the events of the past several months, but I will try to fill you in a little. The main reason we stopped contributing the the blog-o-sphere is because I (Melissa) got very sick. This happened towards the end of January (happy birthday to me!) and stretched out month after month after month. Finally things changed this summer and i am now feeling so much better. Hooray! We are really grateful to so many friends and family who offered prayers on out behalf, helped out with the kids, brought meals, etc.
Now we are busy with all the normal activities that fall brings. Josh started 2nd grade and loves it. He is a great student. Sam started Kindergarten and is a good student as well, but i was informed at parent/teacher conference the other night that he has a problem with kissing all the girls! Ellie is in preschool 3 days a week and LOVES it, as do I!

Matt had the opportunity to go to Louisville, KY a couple weeks ago to be a volunteer at the Ryder Cup Golf Tourney. He stayed with his sister Niki in Lexington and went to the tourney with Jared each day. For those of you unfamiliar with the Ryder Cup, it is only in the USA every 4 years and it is the USA vs. Europe. (USA= 16 1/2 Europe=11 1/2. GO USA!)


For some reason I decided that I needed to make lots of jam, so yesterday I did 4 batches of peach and today I did 3 batches of pear. I haven't even used half of my pears! (guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year!) After I dig out from this project I will try to do some more posts or slide shows with a few of our other summer / fall activities. Be patient with me. Also, if you would like to see more pictures of the fam I post quite a few more more on my facebook page than I will in the blog. (I lOVE facebook!)