... to CB Auction 08

It is that time of year again, where we make tasty desserts and bring our fat wallets. Last year I just came to support everyone, but this year I am participating in CB. I got to be a part of the whole thing! This year was different from past years because we had a new location and catering service donated. It was such a blessing! We had a packed house, we actually had to set up more tables! The desserts looked amazing, and there was some nice things people could bid on. Again this year, I did not get the tea set that I wanted. Sniff, sniff... We had a lot of fun though, just being together, meeting people and supporting each other. We raised a little over $7 grand, which is well needed for the teams. We have teams going out to Africa, Asia, Kazakstan, Mexico and Auburn; so we need to raise a boat load of money!

... to SImply Thai.

My family can be really excited about trying something new and different. But there are certain things they are just a little hesitant to jump on board with. Thai food was one of them. I LOVE Thai food. It is by far one of my favorite kinds of food. I have been trying for months maybe even years to get my family to go out to Thai food. No way. Not even on my birthday could I get them to take me out to Thai food. 

    There is a game in our game closet that is unlike any other game we own. The victor gets to choose his spoils. Seriously. Before the game begins everyone writes down what the want if they win. I wrote down that I wanted to go to Simply Thai for dinner with my family. As you might guess, I won. So my family had to all go out to Simply Thai.

Turns out daddy actually likes Thai food. Alison did enjoy the food despite her facial expression.
The whole trip turned out to be quite tasty!

... to find a wedding dress!!!

I went wedding dress shopping today with Alejandra. Yeah, don't worry I'm not the one getting married. One of my best friends, Alejandra, is getting married this August!! I'm so excited!!! So we went dress shopping today along with her mom and her future mother-in-law.

First stop was David's Bridal, which we had actually stopped in at before but they didn't have one of the dresses Alejandra liked. Our number one choice: The Grecian Princess. It's my favorite, probably something I might like whenever I get around to getting married. The second dress was very similar but we didnt like the bubble look at the bottom.

Second stop, Bellevue Bridal Boutique, where she used to work for awhile. After wading through the size 24's and overly beaded dresses, we ended up finding a few that might work and narrowed it down to two that we liked here. This one we all really like but it will have to undertake several alterations. Alejandra made me try it on so that she could fuss with it better. (I really did not look good in it, I blended in with the dress!) The other one (which is more like my third choice) had a cool bodice, but I think it had too much beading, and it has buttons; I really don't like buttons. Tough decisions!!! In the end, Alejandra decided to go home and think about it. She really like the one at David's which was around $350, but she is also in love with the one in Bellevue which could be close to $800 with alterations and a rush order. Choices, choices, choices. It must be tough to be a bride!

... to devastation and ruin.

Don't let the title scare you. Devastation and ruin is just the name of the game. This is a childhood memory game that my sisters and I played all the time with our dad and he used to play it when he was a young tike. Since I was babysitting four kids this weekend we thought it would be a good time to take a stroll down memory lane and bust out devastation and ruin. That is the name the kids gave the game, we just called it dominoes and marbles before. I like devastation and ruin better though.
This is how it goes. First build your helpless little village out of dominoes. The battlefield is the wood floor in the kitchen.
Second gather your marbles, take position, aim, and fire. The weapon of choice is a vacuum attachment.
Watch the sleeping village fall prey to annihilation and destruction.
It is a blast (no pun intended) to play with kids. They thoroughly enjoyed causing devastation and ruin.

... with Marissa and Nikki.

A couple Sundays ago I had Nikki and Marissa over to watch a movie and eat lunch/breakfast after church. They both help out in Kids Church with me so we just like to have a blast everywhere we go. We all like breakfast so we thought we would have breakfast for lunch. We each made our own pancakes. There were raspberry pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, apple pancakes, chocolate raspberry pancakes, apple raspberry pancakes and naturally original pancakes. I even busted out the heart and teddy bear pancake mold. Then we felt like hot chocolte, Marissa got a little excited about the whipped cream. We discovered that Marissa had not seen Remember the Titans which we thought was just one of those movies everyone should see. So we sat her down and introduced her to the Titans. Good times after church.

... to honor a dear friend.

I have an amazingly talented friend. Amy Fisher is her name and there are barely words to describe her. So I will solely focus on one of her many accomplishments. She was recently accepted to Emory Graduate University in Atlanta, Georgia!! They offered her a full ride scholarship with a stipend! Congratulations Amy! She will be pursing a MA in Jewish studies. She graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul with a BA, double majoring in Religious studies and Classics with an emphasis on archeology. Amy has gone to Israel for the past few summers to a dig in Omrit.I have no doubts Amy will make an amazing professor who will inspire her students. You truly are a talented young lady, full of wisdom, fun, and beauty. Your awesome Amy, and I am so proud of your accomplishments! Congrats, you earned it!

... to the YMCA!

Look out world, Megan is going to the gym, I'm gettin fit! My family recently got a family membership to the YMCA in Auburn. I actually do go. For a while there I was going five days a week. I am a wellness challenge winner for life. I barely know how to use the equipment. I can use the elliptical, and the stationary bike, the treadmill and... yeah thats about it. Don't worry I'll get there, I will graduate to the weights. Im just taking my time. After the first week, I lost weight, which is not at all why I go. I hope to gain some weight eventually. Only time (and whether or not I figure out the weights) will tell!

P.S. The snow looks amazing on the foothills!! I'm so glad we got some more snow!

... to a groovy Easter celebration.

Kids church was awesome on Easter!! We had such a blast. First of all, the Saturday before we had a great time putting on the The Great Egg Hunt. The egg hunt itself was nothing special, but the festivities before hand were awesome! We had a Nickelodeon style game show, complete with slime. There were lots of balloons,... lots of balloons. We played human bumper cars, heads up, and slime pit. If you want to know what exactly those games involve, you'll have to ask me sometime. I was a stage grip, basically a team leader who helped kids get organized. Then of course there were prize drawings. A Wii, family zoo pack, and a gift card to the family fun center were among the prizes. The whole thing was a huge success, four hundred kids showed up!!! Then Sunday we got to see some of those same families. My favorite game that we played was called Chips Ahoy! Naturally you have to eat some chocolate chip cookies (with your hands behind your back of course) then you must run over and out on some pirate clothes and shout "Chips Ahoy!" Good times, good times in kids church.

At home we had some sweet Easter baskets. I got some Dove body wash, a razor, and the classic chocolate bunny among a few other sweets. My poor mom just wanted a nice photo of the three of us, we just wanted to make sure she captured the real Murray girls.

... up the professional ladder.

Yep, I'm moving up the ladder at LMI. I finally got my stamp at work. Now I can buy off my work without having it double-checked by someone else. I usually have someone check anyways, but still... Linda also gave me my own caliber. Ooooo. Pretty nifty looking huh? I can measure to the thousandth of an inch! Pretty exact. Just thought I would show off some tools of the trade.

Random Thing #3

My sisters and I found our grandma's magnifying glass. Yeah, we had fun taking pictures with it.



Of course I look the freakiest. We had some serious laughs with that though.