McKay's Mission

We are so happy and excited for McKay. His call to serve a mission to Italy/Milan will commence on September 3, when he enters the MTC.
We were priveleged to be with him and his family on Sunday afternoon, when his father Bruce conferred to him the Melchizedek Priesthood and the office of Elder. It was an emotional explerience for all who were there and especially for McKay. He will now be able to go through the Temple and continue to prepare for his mission. He will be a great missionary.

IT'S TIME TO HEAD BACK TO BEAVER

First of all, may I say that we sure enjoy all of your blogs. The most recent we have enjoyed include: Austin and Lela's account and photo's of Claire's blessing, Stephanie and Scott's, Shellie and Chad's, Melissa and Keven's and now Miranda and Bryce's. It is such a neat way to feel more aware and involved in your lives and families.
Grandma, Diane, Marianne, Jessica and two of Uncle Mark's sisters are having their annual scrapbook "outing" (convention) here in Phoenix this weekend after which we will be packing up to head back to Beaver, about the 27th of April. We have enjoyed the wonderful winter climate here, but we are also anxious to get back to Beaver.
We attend the same Ward here as Jim and Diane and like everywhere, the church and members seem to be the same and make us feel welcome and that we belong. Diane and Jim invite us to Sunday dinner each week and of course that has been nice. We live about 10 minutes from Diane and about 20 minutes from the church.
We have some wonderful neighbors and friends here and enjoy some nice activities here in the park. The manufactured home park we live in, is built around a 9 hole golf course, but with my bad hip and Grandma's back, we haven't been able to enjoy that. We just finished our Spring Variety Show, where the chorus I'm in sang seven numbers. Grandma has weekly Bingo. Grandma is still doing her very nice "handwork" with afghans etc. and I am still enjoying scroll sawing. I just finished a potrait of Grandma from a pattern I made from a photo. I really like it. If I can figure out how to do it, I will attach it to this post.
We miss you all and love and cherish each one of you.

Love, G ma and G pa Murdock

HAPPY EASTER

We had a very nice Easter Sunday. After attending meetings at Jim and Diane's Ward, we had a nice ham dinner and then played games and visited
It was interesting to Grandma and I that Diane and family, as well as Pete and Jessica each had egg-ala-goldenrod for breakfast. Do any of the rest of you have that tradition going? If any of you don't know or remember what it is or the recipe, just drop us a line and we can fill you in. We have always really liked it a lot.

Our weather is really nice right now, with the temps in the 80's. Nghts get down into the low 50's.

I just had to add one more short entry.

Being able to use some of the other links, you provide, is really a great feature of this "blogging". One example would be all of the great recipes that Jill Kendrick supplies.

Springtime in Arizona

It is so enjoyable to read your blog entries and to see the pictures you post. I check them almost every day.

Grandma and I are doing quite well and are sure enjoying the springtime in Arizona. The daily high's are generally in the 70's, though this weekend they are predicting we will hit 80. The night-time low's are in the 40's. With the recent rains and the warming temps., everything is really getting green. The poppies and desert marigolds are in bloom and many more of the plants are just starting to blossom.

Diane, Jim and family invited us to go with them today, for a visit to the "Titanic" exhibit which is traveling through Phoenix. We are unable to go with them because, Grandma is getting over a bad cough. She feels quite well, but her cough would clear out the whole exhibit hall and she doesn't want to be arrested for suspicion of spreading TB or something worse.

Pete and Jessica are excited about their new home, being built in Chandler (the southeast part of the valley, about 30 minutes from here. We were able to tour the model home, with their floor plan. It reminds me quite a lot of Keven and Melissa's. The day we were there, they had just poured the concrete slab and within three days, she sent us a picture that showed the framing was done. "Amazing".

Their little boy, Cameron, had his one year old birthday party and had the traditional chocolate cake and sugar high. Following his party and the tour of the "home site", we went to a barbecue place in Mesa, that Pete highly recommended. The food was really very good.

Our plans are, to head back to Beaver around the 28th of April, after Grandma is finished with her scrapbook convention with "the girls". She sure looks forward to that each year.

We miss you all and are so thankful for all of you and what you mean to us.
Love, GMa & GPa

With all of the coverage of President Hinkley's life, service, leadership and death, it has made us reflect on just how blessed we are. To have a present day prophet to help guide us through this life's experiences and challenges, is one of those great blessings. As many of you did, we watched and listened to his funeral service. What a great and wonderful man.

Our family and each other are also things we are very thankful for.

We are doing well here in Arizona. The warm weather sure is nice. We have had some good rain storms and are supposed to get more this next couple of days.

We have been invited to go to Jim and Diane's after church for a "Superbowl" lunch and watch the game.

A New Adventure

Well, we are entering in to the "blog world", thanks to our grandkids, whose blogs we so enjoy. What a great idea to keep a "journal" of important events and pictures to share with all the family.

Any advice you can pass along will be most appreciated.

As I said above, we have so enjoyed the blogs of our grandchildren and are getting all those links. Do Derek and Becca have a blog? How about any other family members?
As I learn how, I will post any photo's I think would be of interest.

Grandma and I are enjoying the warmth and weather here in AZ, but sure miss all of you. Grandma is doing some scrapbooking and I have been able to do some scroll sawing. We enjoy the ward here. We attend Jim and Diane's ward in Cave Creek, about 20 minutes from where we live.
We would welcome a visit from any of you.