The McMurray Family: 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

New Information

On Sunday Justin took the morning off of work and we decided to go to the Christmas Music and Spoken Word since we had 2 tickets. My neighbor took our kids to church (thanks Sarah!) and off we went. I was having a very emotional week and still really struggling with my emotions and they were pretty high on our drive out to SLC. Of course Justin and I started talking about how grumpy I am all the time and how hard it is for him to go to work all day and then come home to a frustrated wife and I told him it's hard when he is just working on another proposal that they probably won't win, again.

He then told me that the proposal that they are working on is for all of the main jobs at his company here in Clearfield which I had no idea about. I never really know what the proposals are for but I have told many of you that his job will probably be in jeopardy at the end of 2012 with Northrop Grumman in Clearfield getting split up and very few jobs left. He told me that they are now going to fight for their jobs and have a good chance at winning which will extend the contract for another 8 years. I seriously had no idea! Here I am whining about him working when he is working his butt off to save his job, his new job which will start when this proposal is done, his brother's job and probably around 300 other people's jobs.

Well, I have to admit that the day still wasn't perfect and I was on the verge of tears all day but I am feeling much better now. Monday I decided to take on a new approach and really try and handle things better and I even made him and his coworkers candy which he loves.

It's amazing when you find out new information how it can change your outlook. This is still going to be hard, but we will figure it out somehow. He now has Friday off and we are going to go to the temple and then let the holiday parties begin. Anyway, I am glad to have this new information, I feel a lot better.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

So Hard

So, this Christmas season I have done all I can to feel the Christmas spirit but there is something standing in my way. Justin has been chosen to be the deputy lead of a new proposal which is moving along quickly and urgently but that means that he has to work really long hours, usually until 10 PM each night. It's hard to feel happy and joy when your spouse is gone all the time and you are feeling like a single mother to 3 small children. Even writing this post I feel like crying because I'm struggling.

He normally gets the week off between Christmas and New Years, but not this year. He is now planning to work Mon-Thurs that week and he said I should be happy that he doesn't have to go to California but in some ways that would be easier because then he wouldn't have to come home to a sad and grumpy wife each night. He is then planning to leave and go to California for the bulk of January and I don't know if he'll even come home on weekends at this point. He currently has to work weekends and so I don't even get a break then which is really hard.

I know there are so many other women who have military husbands or pilot husbands who are gone all the time but they must be stronger than I am. Instead of feeling happy and relieved when he is home to help, I just feel depressed and upset that he isn't around more. I can be having the best day but when bedtime comes, I start to break down and the fatigue and tiredness of the day sets in. I don't cope well with him gone a lot because I have always been a person that struggles handling the entire household without very regular breaks and help. I definitely have friends and neighbors that step in and help occasionally but I still feel so sad lately.

I love my husband and I'm so glad when he's around on a regular basis, but I wish I could just let go of some of this frustration I feel when he is home late instead of feeling so distant and bothered. I'm sure I need to be reading my scriptures more and praying more but sometimes those little things just seem so hard to do. However, they are what I need to be doing to cope with this difficult time in my life.

It's nice that Justin has such a steady job and he can provide so easily for our family, but I would certainly take a pay cut and a new job for him to be around a little more.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The next few posts.....

The next few posts do not go in order, but I'm tired and I finished updating the last few months of trips and kids etc. Enjoy!

Conference October 2011

What do you do to entertain yourself during conference?

Justin's project

My project

Soccer Timmy!

Timmy does well at soccer some of the time. Some days he does really well and focuses on his playing and kicks butt (luckily this happened the day grandpa came to watch). The other times, well, he dawdles a bit but it is still fun to join his friend Jackson in sports.

Exersaucer

We sure love to put Mikey in the exersaucer, it keeps him out of trouble, well, most of the time :)

My kids!

I love my kids, they are so much fun!

Mikey is sitting!

Mikey finally mastered sitting up at about 7 months, yay!

New York City!!

I know these posts seem a little out of order but here you go. Back in October Justin was invited to a conference in Long Island and told me nonchalantly that I should go with him. Well, I took him up on his offer, got my Mom and Dennis and sister-in-law Andrea to babysit the kids and walaa, we went on a fun trip! We flew out Monday and joined up with his coworker for a fun afternoon of riding bikes and seeing the most beautiful homes. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I went to NYC all by myself and had a fabulous time being quite the tourist.

Then on Thursday Justin was going to be done with his conference at noon so I borrowed his coworker's SUV and hit the mall for a few hours. Then his coworker drove a few of us into NYC and we saw the 9-11 memorial, amazing! Then we walked around some more and ate dinner in Times Square, it was a fun evening.

On Friday Justin and I hit the city solo. We went on a boat cruise over to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. We tried to look up my great grandpa but couldn't find his information although my Mom said they have found him before and printed off the ship ledger. Since it was raining we skipped Central Park bike riding and went up the Statue of Liberty which was fun but time consuming. Then we flew home Saturday, what a fun unexpected trip!

On our fun bike ride, we had a blast!

Nellie on top of the Empire State Building

Justin on top of the Empire State Building

View from the Empire State Building

Riding the boat away from NYC

On the boat to Liberty Island

Occupy Wall Street

9-11 Memorial Fountain, amazing!

The 1st of 4 building being built at Ground Zero.

With Justin's Coworkers in Times Square

Love these houses, all on the same incredible street!

My mouse mousse dessert ;)

My hot chocolate recommended by my sis-in-law, can't remember where at (a french name)

Me shopping at South Street Seaport

Frozen Hot Chocolate at Seredipity III (doesn't look at all like the movie)

FAO Schwarz, candy store.

Times Square (I saw an off broadway show in a tiny theater, The Fantastiks. I would've rather seen a big show in a huge theater instead like Phantom.)

Swimming Mikey

If you've seen Mikey lately, you know that he likes to swim, it's funny! Here are some pictures. He is getting close to crawling but not quite there yet. He gets up on his hands and knees a little bit but not all the time. Maybe in the next few weeks......

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Well, we finally made it to Disneyland in November after last year's illness fiasco in which we went to California and spent a few days indoor due to rain and then spent the second half of the week with illness and came home without doing a thing, it was such a downer!

Well, this year we made it and it was fun (besides the major coughs we were each experiencing). We left Mikey with my sister-in-law (thanks Andrea!) and just took Tim and Allie, we highly recommend not taking a baby :)

We drove to Vegas on Monday and stayed at the Excalibur for so cheap and the kids loved staying a castle :) We walked around a bit but we got there late and the kiddos were tired. Then we drove to California and went to the beach on Tuesday. Very cold water but we went in up to our calves and still had a grand time, especially at the rocks looking for critters at low tide!

We went to Disneyland on Wednesday and hit California Adventure first. We saw some friends from Utah (Chris Fidler and Richard Sieger and wives etc) and went on a few fun rides. Then we headed to Disneyland and partied. I insisted we stay late the first night and see the parade since I knew we would be worn out at the end of day 2. We loved the parade (Allie loved seeing the princesses and Tinkerbell waved at her, it was great!)

We went to Disneyland again Thursday and met up with a buddy of Justin's from work and we went around Fantasyland with them but then we split up. Timmy was my buddy on Splash Mountain and Allie and Timmy both loved Thunder Mountain and we went 3 times. Allie was barely tall enough with her taller shoes. We went back to CA Adventure and I'm so glad we went on the flight ride, it was awesome and Justin's favorite. I even got to go on the Tower of Terror ride :) Justin was so nice to let me go on my favorite rides by myself. We left around 5:30 and ate dinner at Denny's. On Friday we packed up and stopped at the Calico Ghost town on the way home and I thought it was great! I had mentioned on the way there that I would like to see a recreated ghost town so Justin found one on the way home and took me :) He even let me go shopping for 45 minutes at a factory outlet too. He said this was my trip and indulged my whims :)

On Friday we stayed with Justin's sister Maureen and bro in law Christian for the night. We went hiking with them on Saturday morning and then drove to Wales, UT to pick up Mikey (since Jer and Andrea were there visiting my Mom and Dennis). It was so fun to get the baby back and he even said Mama several times to Andrea during the week (although he does not say it so much to me yet.)

All in all, the trip was a resounding success. The only thing that would've made it more perfect is warmer weather at the beach (but then bigger crowds at Disney, hmmm). Fun times!