Pumpkin Patch

I have very fond memories of going to a pumpkin patch during my childhood....we went to the same one every year in California. Before we lived there we would make a special trip and stay at my grandma's house just so we could go. This pumpkin patch was the best!! It had rope swings, hayrides out to the pumpkin field where the pumpkins were still growing on the vines, it had tons of yummy treats for sale, TONS of fun decorations to look at and things for kids to do. it was always a day long event and I remember never wanting to leave!! It was a tradition that didn't end until we moved too far away.... This was not your ordinary pumpkin patch by any means!! It was amazing!! :) Certainly nothing will compare...especially the place we went to last night!! haha It was fun though and brynlee enjoyed picking out her pumpkin...she still had no idea what we were doing and it was freezing cold, but at least we went!! Joe doesn't get home until later now...so we went along with my family for family night. Of course I left my camera at home...so these are from my phone. Sorry about the pink line along the bottom....my cover kept getting in the way!!

Murphy Family Pictures

We don't do family pictures like this very often becuase as simple as it would seem to get everyone together for a couple hours....it isn't!! lol I am the picture addict and probably drive everyone crazy....but once every 3 years isn't too much to ask right?? :) Sure do love this family, and I am so glad they accept me for who I am and love me even so!! My friend Haley Studebaker took these and she did a great job! The "adults" made things a little challenging becuase we were all concerned about the kiddos smiling and looking...Shouldn't it be the other way around?? lol But here they are...

Our Family

Than(Joe's Brother), Veena (Than's Wife:), Sarah & Aaron

Grandma Grandpa & Grand kids

All The Guys

All the Girls

Emily- Joe's sister. Isn't She gorgeous? :)

Andy- Joe's Brother. Aka Uncle Panda! :)

Mom & Dad Murphy

All the kids

The Whole Fam

Utah State Fair

Well this is only posted a month late....but better late than never!! :) My sister and I took Brynlee to the fair with free tickets thanks to my mom.....it was fun this year becuase she LOVED looking at everything and seeing the animals and even took a ride on a couple rides. She really liked the carousel but the other ride which I don't even know what it was scared her to death! She pretty much cried the whole time!! lol I like to go to the state fair, but everything is SO overpriced it drives me crazy!! They even made ME have tickets to go on the rides with brynlee who also had to have tickets!! SO dumb!! She's 1!! It's not like she can go by herself!! Of course the food is so good, but still SO overpriced!! lol That's the fair for ya!! It was fun, we didn't stay long becuase it was really hot!! How I miss that warm weather already!! All in all it was fun and Brynlee actually enjoyed it....unlike last year she mostly slept through it all! :)

Weightloss Update

Well I have in total lost 11 pounds since my whiny complaining post about not being able to lose weight. This has been with the help from the HCG diet which I LOVE!!! It does miracles to your body!!! I started the HCG a few weeks ago and then had to stop after five days becuase I got sick. I maintained my weight for 2 weeks by watching portion sizes/eating healthy. I was worried I would put everything right back on after losing 7 pounds on HCG. But it is possible to keep it off, you definitely have to change your lifestyle and be committed though. I just started again on Mon and have lost another 4 pounds in the past 3 days. Don't get me wrong the diet totally sucks and I hate every minute of it, but oh how it is worth it when you get on the scale every morning and you weigh 1-2 pounds less than the day before! It's like magic!!! :) I will probably only do the HCG 5-7 more days because I don't have much more to lose. (which they don't recommend, they recommend doing it the full 20 days, I'm totally breaking the rules...oh well!) But today was the most exciting day, I weigh what I weighed when I was in 18!!! My body may not be as toned but it hey, I'll take what I can get!! haha I have been running and run 2.5 miles 3 times a week, I'm trying to go longer each time! It's taken me 3 weeks to get to that point and I am proud of myself!! Oh and that is while pushing a jogging stroller which is kinda hard to do I promise! I really want to run a 5K before winter and I want to train to run a 10K in spring! Hooray for weight loss, I feel so much better about myself, it really has been an accomplishment for me!!! No more complaing, if I don't like it, I can change it, but nothing in life comes easy!!!

Perks of the job....

My mom works a couple of jobs one of them is working at Thanksgiving Point. She had a end of the year party for all of her teenage volunteers and we got to mooch off of their party and have dinner, lots of treats, and lots of fun! Brynlee loved every second of it and it was hilarious to see her with the animals at the Farm. She has always loved the Farm but now that she can walk she enjoyed herself even more!! She just ran from one animal to another....she would stop look at the animal, jibber jabber something in her own language, laugh at them, and run to the next one!! It was hilarious!! She had lots of snow cone and her and I had matching blue mouths the rest of the night. They had a climbing wall, which I can proudly say I proved my husband wrong when he doubted I would make it to the top!! I even climbed the thing in flip flops!! :) All in all it was a fun family night that didn't cost us a dime...thank you mom for working where you work!!

She thought the goats were the most funny. :)

Blue mouth Brynlee with her Grandpa Packer

Brynlee didn't like being in "Jail"

She loved the horse ride!!

LOVED seeing the animals.

Bouncing on the big blow up trampoline thing.

Brynlee's 1Year Pictures & Family Pictures!

Okay seriously if you don't already know I am a picture addict I'm sure you've figured it out! :) My new goal is I will only do yearly pictures of Brynlee now that she is a year. I can't promise anything but it would definitely make Joe happy if I stuck to that goal!! haha I really only needed pictures of Brynlee but decided it had been awhile since we had some fun updated family pictures too!! Our amazing friend Chelsea Johnson that I knew from California (we were in the same ward as her family) took them and she did an AMAZING job!! I seriously love so many of them I couldn't just choose just a few to post!! She also made movies of the shoot too I will figure out how to get those up becuase they are so amazing they totally make me cry every time I watch them!! Brynlee did pretty good considering it was pretty close to bedtime and all she wants to do is walk around...can't keep her still for too long!! She totally captured facial expressions Brynlee ALWAYS does that no one really sees becuase she is usually smiling, so I totally loved that!! Thanks for the amazing picures Chelsea we love them!!! :)

I never realized how cute she looks even when she cries!! lol

Weight Loss Blues

Bear with me today...I just need to vent a little. So I've been trying really hard to eat better, count calories, and get my "pre baby" body back. I know I will never have the body before birth because it has changed, but it can be close, I see amazing looking women everyday that have 3 or 4 kids! Every time I try to talk to someone about this they never understand and think I'm crazy for feeling the way I feel. But I'm entitled to feel the way I feel. Even though I am a "small" person I struggle with weight issues just like everyone else. If I eat whatever I want because I am short it goes straight to my stomach!! Have I ever had the "perfect" stomach. HECK NO!! Maybe in high school...but even then it wasn't great! The stomach for me is the HARDEST place to lose weight!!! I want to exercise and I try to here and there but I feel like I never have time! I feel like where in my day is that going to fit?? I have to get the amount of sleep I am getting, I cannot get up any earlier because I can barely make it through the day already!! I'm just feeling discouraged today. I want to get the rest of the weight off before I have another because I know it will be even harder the next time. I've lost 5 pounds in the past month just by counting calories, which is really good for me, and I really only have like 8-10 to go. I really don't care how much I weigh though, it's the shape of my body!! Is my stomach really always going to be so stretched out looking?? Any suggestions, or tips would be so helpful!! Right now I am doing the HCG diet. It is hard, because it is so strict, but I am on my 3rd day and have lost 4 pounds. That I am so thankful for! We'll see how this goes and hopefully in 2 weeks I won't be complaining anymore!! haha Don't get me wrong, having Brynlee is worth every second of my messed up stomach lol, but it's the pressure to be thin, the fear of getting bigger and bigger with another pregnancy, and the fear of looking back years from now wondering how I let myself get where I am. Anyways...I really am blessed and I really do try and count my blessing when I feel this way! I really am grateful for the body I have, I am SO grateful for the beautiful daughter I have to show for it, and I am thankful I am healthy and able to do the things I need to do!! Sorry for complaining so much, tomorrow will be a better day!! :)