Goodbye, Idaho!

The last month has gone by so fast! It feels like just yesterday I received the news that I would be picking up and moving to Utah till Christmas. Tomorrow morning I'll be loading up my car and hitting I-15 to my uncle and aunt's house in Farmington. Work starts on Tuesday at Richter7 and I'm really excited. I'm not too hyped up on being the new guy again, but I think this will be a great experience. I'm going to miss good old Idaho.

I went to church with my parents today, then Tyson and I are going to his parents' house for dinner. His birthday was Wednesday, but his family wanted to have a family party today. After that we're heading over to my grandparents' house in Ammon so I can say bye to them. Then back to my parents' house for some card playing. It should be a pretty fun evening. Tyson and I went to the Blackfoot Fair last night. We had a good time. We definitely didn't eat as much as we thought, but we spent a lot of time just walking around and taking in our surroundings. I love watching people at the fair, it is so entertaining! We had a lot of fun.

The next few months are going to be an adventure! I'm really excited to get going with Richter7. It is going to be hard not being able to see my loved ones back in Idaho as much, but it will all be just fine. We're going to make it work. The next time you hear from me I'll be in Utah, so wish me luck on the move tomorrow! Not to mention my first day of work in Salt Lake, ahhh!!

Surprise!

It has been a great week! I love being so busy and spending so much time with my family. I don't have to be to work in Salt Lake till Tuesday now so I'm not even going to move down till Monday morning. I've been able to relax a little bit more and take my time, it has been nice.

On Tuesday night we went to Amber and Che's for a housewarming party...or so I thought. When Amber and Che' got up to thank everybody for coming and get started, she announced that the party was also a going away party for me! I was completely surprised and didn't have any idea. Of course everybody else knew! Even Tyson knew. I started to cry, it was kind of embarassing. But I was really surprised, and it was just really nice of Amber and Che' to share their night with me. They were very sneaky about it. People even gave me presents, it felt like my birthday! We had a great night. I managed to forget to take my camera out until after everybody but my siblings left, so they are the only ones in the pictures. We had so much fun!

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Our Party Guests:

Mom & Dad

Grandma & Grandpa Murri

Bill & Teresa Bush

Jon & Courtnee Bond and their kids Ashton, Oaklee, and McKinlee

Nari Miles (Che's mom)

Aaron & Britney

Che' & Amber

Amy, Adam, Mark (Amy's boy friend), and Tyson

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Tyson & I

Sisters!

Amy & Mark

Aaron & Britney

Tyson & I

Che' & Amber

I love my twin!

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We all had a great time at the party. Amber and Che' are so great for making me feel so special!

Five More Days Till I Move to Utah!

I still can't believe I'm moving to Utah at the end of the week! I'm really excited, but I keep finding myself having random break downs just thinking about all of it. I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that. Thankfully, I've got a full schedule to keep me busy until I have to leave on Saturday morning:

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Tomorrow is my last day working at Carino's till January. So weird! I never imagined a "last day" at Carino's for any reason, it's just totally weird to me. After seven years of working there (almost to the day) I feel like it is the perfect time to take a little break. I'll be back at Christmas time so I'm just taking some time off from Carino's for now.


Tomorrow night Amber and Che' are having a housewarming party to kick off the start of their lives in their first home. After doing some touch ups and painting the entire inside of it, we went in and decorated the whole thing with all the decorations they got from their wedding (which was a ton!). But it looks really good, and our family is going over there tomorrow night for a party to celebrate with them. I'm really excited for that.

Wednesday is Tyson's birthday so I'm going to take him out to dinner. My guesses on what he'll want for dinner will be either seafood fettuccine alfredo from Olive Garden or chicken parmigiana from Carino's. Or he'll throw me off the track and want Thai food. Who knows! I guess we'll see!


On Thursday night Amber, Che', Tyson, and I are going to have a Rock Band night at Tyson's house. Amber and Che' have never played, and I haven't played since that rockin' night I played with Tyson, Clark, and Kristi back in June. So we thought it would be a good time if we all got together for a little Rock Band. I love that game!

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So that's my week! Nice and packed with a whole bunch of social activities to keep my mind off this weekend. Of course I also get to go get a new head light and tires put on my car so that should be a pretty good time. Not to mention all the packing I haven't done. Lovely. I can't wait!

Murri Family Reunion

WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY
This post contains about 15 pictures. They are awesome, yes, but to some it is tedious looking through so many pictures on one post. Just thought I'd give a heads up!

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Every second weekend in August my mom's side of the family heads up to good old Ashton, Idaho, for our Murri family reunion. So August 7-9 we did just that. My grandparents own a cabin on Fall River and we all bring our tents and camp trailers up for a weekend of food, cards, and ring toss.

This year was the first in almost eight that we would all be together because of missions and other such events so we decided to get a big family picture. And every year since the year 2000 we have played a ring toss game my grandpa made and had a tournament with it. My cousin Tyrel made us t-shirts this year so it made things extra fun.

We had a great time at our family reunion! I took a LOT of pictures while we were up there, but here are just a few so you can get a taste of what we did that weekend.

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Family Photos:

my family

the whole Murri clan

all the boy cousins

all the girl cousins

the parents

Random Reunion Events:

We decided to do something different this year and have a 5k. I decided to run it, and I even beat my last 5k time by four minutes, I was so excited! This was everybody who got up at 6:00 to run or walk.

the awesome shirts Tyrel made - Jena wanted a picture of the logo on her phone so different people were holding the shirt straight for her.

Ashleigh and I were twins for the night! Blonde, wavy hair with grey t-shirts! (Ashleigh will be one of the people I live with while I'm in Utah this fall.)

We had ribs for dinner on Friday night and it was delicious! Jena and I wanted a picture of us chowin' down. (Anybody seen the movie Anchorman? I can't help but quote this line!: "Ribs. I had ribs for lunch. That's why I'm doing this.")

The Ring Toss Tournament:

This is what we did almost the entire weekend. If we weren't eating or playing a game of cards, we were watching people play ring toss for the tournament. My brother Aaron and our new cousin-in-law Kristen (Brandon's wife) were playing in this picture.

Uncle Lance and Grandpa battling it out

This is a close up of one of the boards during a game.

My people! Jena, Tyrel, Amber, Deidre, and I have always been really close. We are good buddies, that's for sure! After eight years of use, we decided to retire this board. Everybody in the family signed it and we put it away for good. (That's why we're holding the board in the picture.)

a close up of the retired board

the whole family in our ring toss shirts

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We had such a great time at our reunion! I've got to be one of the luckiest people in the world to be part of such an awesome family.

Until next year!

Olympic Humor

To no surprise to anyone, I watched the Olympics tonight until they ended for the evening. Of course, after I helped my mom and grandma pick beans. I was able to catch the gymnastics steel rings and uneven bars (which was incredibly frustrating to watch as Nastia Liukin should have won the gold - lame). After the games as they were closing things up, Bob Costas brought up a point about how many Americans have been complaining about the late hours they've had to stay up watching the Olympics and the lack of sleep. (Seriously, why are they complaining?) Dr. Nancy Sneider happened to agree with me and came up with the following ways to feel rejuvenated and refreshed after long nights of watching the Olympics. Enjoy!

1. Stay hydrated.

2. Your body only needs four hours of sleep, really.

3. Wear sunglasses to work to hide the red eyes.

4. Turn on your iPod and blast whatever Michael Phelps listens to on his iPod.

5. Just skip work. (It's the Olympics! And they've been awesome - better than we've seen in a while, why are you even complaining!)

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I couldn't have said it better myself! I hope you guys have all enjoyed the Olympics, no matter how late you've had to stay up!

Isn't it so worth it? I think so!

If You've Heard it During the Olympics, It's Probably On My Blog

With all the Olympics I've been watching I've also watched a lot of commercials. Coke and the Special Olympics are two that come to mind. The picture on the left is from the Chevy Malibu commercial where the car is being put together, it is one that has been frequently played. One thing most of the commercials during the Olympics have had in common is that the song playing during each of them is a song I have on my playlist for my blog. I noticed that the other day and thought it was so weird! For example, the Special Olympics/Coke, Chevy Malibu, and Chevy Malibu Hybrid commercials' songs are three examples featured on my blog. Apparently I have the same taste as everybody paying for a commercial spot during the Olympics! Anyway, I just thought it was pretty random and I wanted to share it with everybody. Have a great day, and enjoy the rest of the Olympics! They've been awesome!

Life is Short

Yesterday was very strange. I felt kind of weird all day, and I just kept getting a feeling. I felt like something was going to happen, but I didn't know what. Every time my 17-year-old brother Adam called my mom's cell or the house I was worried, and I didn't know why. What happened later brought that bad feeling to reality.

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Last night I was in my room watching the Olympics like I've done pretty much every night since they started. At around 10:30 my mom came in my room and told me about a phone call she had received from Adam saying he was in a car accident. He was really short on the phone, saying a kid on a bullet bike had ran into him and his friend in their car, but he was fine. Because he had to talk to the police, the phone call ended there. She didn't know if she should go to the scene or not. We talked for a minute and decided she probably should. So I stayed home while she and Amy went to the corner of Hitt and 25th by Porter's where the accident occurred.

At around 11:00 my mom called me to let me know what had happened. It was a lot worse than she had expected. Adam and his friend Jayden (who was driving) were stopped at the red light on 25th getting ready to turn left onto Hitt toward Target when they heard the sound of a bullet bike. The bike was driving at what Adam said sounded like was full throttle, when out of nowhere they were hit from behind. The force of the bike pushed the car about 15 feet into the intersection of Hitt and 25th into on-coming traffic. Thankfully there wasn't enough traffic and they weren't hit by anyone. When the bike hit, the driver was thrown to the side of the car by Adam where he landed. Adam was horrified by the sight of this person that had landed so hard next to them on such hard ground.

A witness called 911 as Adam and Jayden sat by the side of the boy, not knowing what to do next. By the time the police and an ambulance had gotten there my brother and his friend were answering questions, trying to figure out what had happened. Mom and Amy had called me when they were getting the boy placed in the ambulance. They too were able to see the sight of his injuries, and it was hard to take.

Later I received another phone call from Amy giving me the update. The police suggested Adam go to the Emergency Room and get checked. He was in a lot of shock and acting kind of odd, and there was the possiblity of injuries. So Mom and Amy took him to the hospital where the boy had just been taken. Adam's room where he was getting checked was next to the victim's. Amy eventually saw a girl come out of the room that she knew, and soon found out the boy in the accident was a friend of Amy's boyfriend. The girl ended up being the victim's girlfriend. When Amy called me this time I could hear a lot of people crying in the background. It was hard to hear everyone so upset. Amy and Mom had a hard time being there, finding themselves very emotional as well. Before she hung up she let me know the boy's status. He had some brain damage and was put on life support. The doctors didn't know if he would make it.

Adam, Mom, and Amy were home at around 1:30 am. Adam seemed out of it. He was definitely in shock, and traumatized. My parents and I talked till almost 3:00, talking about the victim and his family, and hoping for the best.

We didn't get very much sleep last night. Maybe three hours. When we woke up this morning we received the phone call that the victim, named David and 24 years of age, had passed away. It was a very emotional moment, and I can't imagine how his family is feeling. Our prayers are with them as they are going through this tough time.

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I had the strangest feeling all day yesterday, and now I know why. I don't know if the news will be doing a story on this accident. But I wanted to let everyone know what happened and that Adam is ok. He is a little sore this morning, but he'll be fine. My thoughts and prayers are with David's family. This experience has left my family grateful for Adam's safety. It also shows me how we just never know when accidents like this can happen. It is so important to not take life for granted. I love my family so much, and I'm grateful at this time to have them all with me.

I Love the Olympics!

I just love the summer Olympics! My family makes fun of me because I get so into them. I've been trying to keep up with everything I can and watch as much as I can when I'm not working. I've lost sleep this week staying up so late watching replays of everything I've missed! But I've always really enjoyed the Olympics. This year has been a lot of fun. There have been a lot of awesome moments, but here are a few of my favorite.

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The first of my favorite moments was when the United States Men's Gymnastics Team won the bronze. They went to Beijing knowing that most people didn't expect them to get a medal at all. Without the Hamm brothers, many people thought they had no chance in medaling. Although they struggled a little, they still came out taking the bronze. I loved watching their alternate, Sasha Artemev, get their highest score after his pommel horse routine! I was holding my breath almost the entire time. Out of all events, he was chosen for one event, the last of the six, and was the last team member to compete. How crazy is that?! I love it.

Last night was a tough one for the USA Women's Gymnastics Team. But I still loved watching them. After China's team captain fell off the balance beam during her routine the United States had a huge opportunity to take over the lead and take the gold. But it didn't exactly turn out that way. Alicia Sacramone struggled on her beam and floor routines, and I just felt so bad for her! During an interview after the medal ceremony she blamed herself for the team's silver win instead of the gold, and I just wanted to reach into the TV and give her a hug. I thought these girls did such a great job last night, it was such a fun event to watch. I'm so excited for the men's all-around tonight!

And how can we forget these boys! Was that not one of the coolest moments in Olympic history or what?! I think the best part of these four winning the gold at that relay against the French the other night was how arrogant the French were beforehand. I believe the phrase, "We're going to smash the US," is what comes to mind. I'm so glad they didn't! That race was so intense how the US came up behind the French at the very end. That's what I call a competition! That was some good TV right there.

I just love the Olympic games! I can't imagine all the years of training and hard work these people go through to get there. But I'm glad they do it so I can watch them on TV and cheer them on as they go for the gold.

I'm so excited for the men's all-around gymnastics tonight!

Ring Toss & Rock 'n Roll

This weekend was our annual Murri Family Reunion and it was so much fun! We had all five of the new in-laws there and they fit right in. Not to mention the 8th annual Murri Ring-Toss Tournament (hence the awesome logo Tyrel made). This year was hardcore. We had t-shirts and everything! I will be posting pictures later - believe me, I took 300. This reunion was so fun, and also special in a few ways. The first is that for the first time in eight years we had every member of the family present, including grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. This was also the 30th anniversary of my grandparents owning their cabin we have the reunion at every year. We always have such a great time, its awesome. (PS The person on the logo is my aunt Janell, and I took that picture two years ago! Woo hoo!)


My little brother Adam had to leave the reunion early tonight because he and his band were participating in Battle of the Bands in Idaho Falls. They play a lot of differents shows in the valley and have recently made a CD. And it turns out they totally swept Battle of the Bands and took first place! They won $1000 and eight hours of recording studio time, which normally costs around $200 an hour. Amy sent me a text up to the reunion tonight to give me the good news and I was so excited to tell everybody! I'm so proud of my little brother, he's so incredibly talented. He plays the guitar and drums, but in the band he is the drummer. He's so good! I just love him.

5-Minute Chocolate Cake

My friend Megan had this little recipe posted on her blog and it is the best idea! It is an awesome way to satisfy a craving for chocolate cake without all the mess and hassle of baking an entire cake. (I know. You're thinking, "Alli, not want to bake? No way.") I'm only human! It only takes five minutes and you've got yourself an individual chocolate cake. Don't believe me? Give it a try, it is so easy! And let me know what you think!

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Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons cake flour

4 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons cocoa

1 Egg

3 Tablespoons milk

3 Tablespoons oil

1 Mug

Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa

Spoon in 1 egg

Pour in milk and oil, and mix well

Put in microwave for 3 minutes

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug

Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!

This little cake is great served with a little bit of vanilla ice cream, topped with powdered sugar or berries, or just left alone. I just love it!

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PS - I just wanted to make a note that I watched "Ferris Buehler's Day Off" all the way through for the first time last night! Now I can mark it off my list of things to do in life, yay me!

"Ah, salmon skin roll."

For all you "Friends" fans out there (Kaylie and Amber, I know you got that immediately), the title of this post is a line from the episode "The One with Unagi". And that's exactly what I tried for the first time last night - sushi! I went out with a group to Blue Hashi in Idaho Falls and decided to be brave about the whole sushi thing. I was a little unsure, but it was my duty to try something new. And sushi was that something new. As an entree, I played it safe and got noodles with chicken and veggies. Lame, I know. But Tyson and I ordered a shrimp tempura roll with no sea weed, so that was my moment of bravery. His sister Angie said it was best without the sea weed - apparently that's where the gross flavor happens. When it was all said and done, I really enjoyed it. The shrimp tempura didn't have any raw meat or fish eggs in it. (Although Tyson tried some with both raw fish and fish eggs, that was classic.) But the roll I had was pretty tasty. The whole sushi experience was a good one, and now I know what to order the next time I have sushi. I'm so proud of myself for trying sushi!

My Blog Received a Facelift

I was thinking today about all the changes I am going to be making in my life here shortly. There's so much going on, it's going to be crazy! I guess that's all part of growing up. With all those changes I was thinking it would be fun to change my background on my blog. I needed something new, I was bored of the other one. I'm pretty sure I like the background I've chosen, but I haven't 100% decided on it. What do you think?