Melissa's shoes--from Target

As we were leaving the restuarant, we could not help but notice what darling shoes Melissa was wearing:

Murphy girl's Night OUT

On Thursday, April 24 we had our first Murphy Girl's Night Out at Los Hermanos in Lindon. Everyone was there except two of my girls, Ashleigh and Jenny, who were too busy and had too much going on. Austin just got home from his National Guard Training, and he is a green beret now. Him and Bill came down just to say HI and visit. Austin looks so good! What a lady's man. No wonder they called him "Stud-muffin" in high school. We were totally out of control and irreverent, and I am sure the restaurant was glad to see us leave. We are planning on having this activity once a month, so we can get together more often. Those attending were:

Natalie, Miriam, Gayle, Breann, Stephanie, Dawn, Melissa, Sharon and Haylee

My trip to Colorado City

Last October (2007) Joel and I went to St. George, Utah for his annual "Tournament of the Goons", or TOG as it is called. That is where his buddies from high school (BY High) get together for a weekend of food, fun, and golf. They have a golf tournament where prizes are awarded, etc. The best part for me is the food--always good. The host was Ray Beckham. His wife Elaine, rescues women and girls from polygamy. She runs a non profit organization and basically helps women escape, and puts them up in a safe house, etc. On Saturday, she had a rented van and some women in her neighborhood had donated some very nice furniture for this safe house that has been established in Colorado City. This safe house belongs to the trust that oversees the property in Colorado City. Joel and I went with her, and some other volunteers, to deliver the furniture to the safe house. It was quite the experience to be able to go there with someone that knew what was going on there. This home had 27,000 square feet, with 17 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, along with a huge industrial sized kitchen. A former polygamist and her husband run this place. There were all kinds of people living there at the time. We spent the afternoon, moving boxes, furniture and visiting. As soon as we arrived there, the people who live there started driving by, checking out what was going on. I stood by the curb with my camera, and they didn't want their picture taken, so they didn't stay.

Joel and the "keeper of the inn"

Joel and his women--the former polygamists who helped with the moving.

On the far right is Sara Hammond. Her mother is still in polygamy, and her father is dead. He didn't even know who she was when she lived in

the compound. She had 11 mothers. Her mother is in a wheel chair and lives in Centennial Park, and is taken care of there. Sara wants to get her out of there, but where would she go at her age???????

The view from the back of the house

Sara again. She is so bitter towards men, she said she will NEVER get married, EVER.

Local children walking by

These two girls are sisters, and asked Joel if he was a reporter. They live nearby and work at the restaurant "The Merry Wives". These girls would love to leave, but don't dare. They are the sisters of the home's caretaker, who's name I can't remember!

My poor cat

Snuggles, our 18 year old cat is in BAD SHAPE. He wondered into our yard years ago as a beautiful kitten, and never left. I am not one to be a lover of cats, especially when we have dogs. Over the years he has been shot with bb guns, been in numerous fights, had his ears almost torn off, etc. He has been the cat with nine lives and still going. Last winter we did not think he would survive another year. He is in our garage sitting next to a portable heater. Last winter he quit taking care of himself, as in fur balls and matted fur. He always had been such a well groomed cat. He can barely walk now, but he still eats his food. No one in this family has the "guts" to do something humane to him. My son -in-law Eric offered to take him to the west desert and shot him......... Natalie thought that was horrible. When the Wimmer's were getting ready to go camping a few weeks ago, Chloee asked if Snuggles was coming along to be killed. Judge for yourself:

POLYGAMY

Polygamy is alive and well in America. With this attention being paid to those "folks" in Texas, I can't help but post thoughts of my own. My own great, great grandfather GEORGE REYNOLDS was the LDS church scapegoat for polygamy. He was the "test case" for polygamy in "Reynolds v. United States", the first freedom of religion case to go to court. He was a general authority for the LDS Church , and a longtime secretary to the First Presidency. He married his first wife, my g-g grandmother Mary Ann Tuddenham. Later he took on his second wife, Amelia Jane Schofield. The court rejected Reynold's argument that the Latter-day Saint practice of polygamy was protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. His conviction was upheld and he was imprisoned in Utah and then to the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln. He was released after serving his full sentence of five years. Apparently he did not learn his lesson from being in prison, and upon his release, he took on yet his third wife, Mary Gould. My great grandmother Amelia Reynolds was his oldest child. She took care of everyone. Two of the wives were sickly, and it was her job to take care the home. My grandpa suffered a nervous breakdown in 1907 as a result of stress ( too wives and too many children?) and overwork. He died in SLC at the age of 68 and had a total of three wives and thirty two children.***

***information from family records and Wikipedia.com

Today polygamy is against the law. The LDS church does not condone it, and does not practice it anymore. Ever. To my non-LDS friends--the Mormons have nothing to do with these polygamists. Mormon women do not wear goofy long clothes, and poofy hair with a braid down the back. I personally do not believe that polygamy will fly in the hereafter. NO woman in her right mind would put up with it. Agree?

Pneumonia, crashed computer,etc

I feel like most of this year has been a bust, waste, or whatever. On January 11, I had my hand surgery, and had an arm cast for a month, most of which was spent in bed due to muscle spasms and pain. The spasms were from the removal of the tendon that reconstructed my thumb and joint. Then there was the trauma of physical (pain) therapy. That lasted for another two months. Before that was over, I contracted pneumonia, and spent ten days in bed coughing, coughing, coughing. It was weird, because the sickness came on really fast--like within an half hour. I was surprised how fast it attacked. I still have a cough and feel not so good, but I am up and going. Then this week my computer froze, and Ashleigh is trying to clean it by erasing everything. The hard drive is probably corrupted, so I am still waiting to get it back. In the meantime I am working from my slow laptop---and it is slow. I'm glad that April is here and maybe spring is around the corner.......

My hand and thumb looks deformed now, and I get to get the other hand done when I get the courage--maybe next January. That is a good time because it is winter and nothing is going on.

The Gumpster Syndrome

Just what is the "Gumpster Syndrome" you ask? It is when an old fart loses his spouse to death, and then goes kinda nutty. You have to be at least 65 years old, and have nothing to offer someone. You have to be really good at lying. As soon as their wife is laid to rest, the vulture women come calling. Never mind the older, more mature woman, it is the younger single mother kind, who has at least three or more teenagers. Of course they don't receive any kind of child support, and they own nothing, ya know, the kind that rents. But if you are lucky, they might own a beat up van with worn out tires. They are more than happy to take over where the mother left off. They say that they don't want anything that belongs to the first wife, but won't let the man give anything of value to the kids. That territory is theirs , because they have their hook in now, and marriage is just days away. Never mind that the man collects pensions and social security, that is better than nothing. The best thing is that these men can marry in the temple more than once, so temple wedding it is! When the wedding day comes, the couple cannot figure out why everyone is crying, and really doesn't' want to be there. I didn't bother to show up. Could it be that the loved one hasn't been in the ground long enough? Or could it be that the loved one was really loved, and now missed a lot? Don't bother giving gifts, they have it all. The new wife is younger than your own daughter and is anxious to be "grandma " to the grand kids. The new groom gets to look forward to giving away his new step children at their weddings, and maybe even get to send a few on a mission. Life is great. The family is now fractured beyond belief, and no one comes to the family gatherings anymore. Every one does their own thing and hopes someday someone will come to their senses. But the new wife is happy. She gets to serve dinner on the dead wife's china, gets the sewing machine, and makes sure nothing material leaves the house. The "old family" is no longer welcome in the new home. the love nest. It never gets better..........

This has happened twice in our family. Two people that I really love are suffering right now. Judy doesn't even have a headstone on her grave.........

EASTER

Joel flew out this morning, to help his sick Mom who is in the Eisenhower Hospital in Palm Springs, CA. She is hoping to come home to Provo later in the week. She has congestive heart failure and is going down hill fast. I have been coughing up a storm for a few days now. I thought that I better get to the doctor, as our insurance ends at the end of this month, due to the layoff.

Diagnosis: pneumonia of all things! I don't have time for this! I must admit I really don't feel too good right now. It really hurts to cough...... Maybe I will get lucky and loose some more weight. I lost ten pounds with my hand surgery. It was really hard to get out of bed (we have a bed that you almost need to pole vault to get on it.) I didn't have the strength to go to the fridge, plus there was not COKE in the house, and no one in the family would bring me any. One day I did beg my sweet friend Kathi to bring me some. Did it ever taste good! Illness or stress is a great diet.

I missed out on all of the Easter fun yesterday @Jenny's house. I laid in her bed coughing. We did have an egg hunt, and a really good ham dinner, which didn't taste that good to me since I was not feeling well. Anyway here are some pictures:

By the way: Where did that blond headed kid come from? (Olivia)

George Bush's WAR

It's the five year anniversary of the start of this helpless war, and as a nation, the death toll is almost to 4000,00 lives. Dick Cheney was interviewed on tv, and was told about 65 % of the nation no longer supports the war. His reply: "SO". So? How far removed is that? What does he care. Soon he will be fly fishing all summer in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. That is how he spend last summer......

You Utah Republicans: if you vote for McCain, you are voting for a never ending war, and more of the same as now. McCain is nothing more than a clone of George.
I Know. the only good Mormon is a Republican Mormon, or so I was told...

Gas for my diesel Jetta is now close to $4.00 a gallon. I thought it was bad when it went to $3.00. Do you think the present administration cares about that? I don't think so.

Remember the fallen soldiers when you vote in November.

Picture is the flags flying at the American Fork Cemetery for the funeral for Nathan Barnes, who died serving his country.

March updates

Well, the month got off to a great start when Joel was laid off from his job at XanGo. About 55 others were let go too. We got rest of the month's pay, plus severance. It will be OK--Joel always lands on his feet. He and his friend are going to open up a small car lot somewhere........

I got the release from my hand doctor this month. I can resume my normal activities' whatever that is! That means I pick Jayda up from school, watch the noon news, surf the internet for food recipes, take an afternoon nap, let the dog out, talk on the phone, check my email, and then maybe fix dinner.

My dad, Donald Rasmussen, found out that he has cancer of the lower jaw. He underwent 9 1/2 hours of surgery on Friday, March 7th. The doctor removed his lower jaw and took out some lymph nodes. They could not do any more surgery, such as reconstruct his jaw, because his cardiac doctor would not OK him to be in surgery longer than 8 hours. We pray for him everyday and hope that he recovers soon. Our family went to St. George this past weekend (13th to 15th) to see him. He is swollen, and will never be able to chew again, as his jaw is forever gone. We wish him all the luck in the world, and I know he will be up and going soon.


Today is St. Patty's Day--remember: KISS ME, I'M IRISH.

More Family/Funeral Pictures

Sharon and Randee----related in marriage--some people think we are sisters.
Carrie, Joel , Jenny with Becky
Becky and granddaughter Carrie
Becky and Brice Cornaby

Randee and David Murphy

Glen, Audrey and Dave

Murphy siblings:

Joel, Phil. Gayle, Dave and Robert with Mom

Becky's grandchildren:

Matt, Carrie and Alan

Ashel Robison with my girls, Natalie, Jenny and the back of Ashleigh

Growing like a weed

Brady is growing up so fast, he looks different every time I see him.

Brady's Blessing

Miriam and Mitch laughing it up.....again.

Olivia, BRADY and JenBrady was blessed on Sunday, March 1, 2008. It was a wonderful day, and most of our family was there. There was food galore, and lots of fun and laughter. I didn't take very many pictures, as I was too busy talking and watching Mitch and Miriam laugh their guts out. Something funny happened at church and I never did get all of the story, but I guess it was a good one.

The girls with grandpa Andy

The Road Trip

We had an adventure in February. Some of us in our family went on a "hurried trip" to Palm Springs and Long Beach California for the funeral of our beloved Uncle Garland Sutton. We went in Jenny's van, with the following: Joel, Sharon, Jenny, Jayda, Randy, Ashleigh and baby Brady. We stopped in St. George. on Friday night, and stayed in motels and some of us stayed with my Dad and Martha. We got up the next day and went to Palm Springs for the weekend. Natalie got a buddy pass and flew into Palm Springs on Friday night--since we all could not fit in the van....... We arrived to great weather, but we brought a lot of confusion with us--to many people for a starter. Randy planned on flying out on Sunday so he could get to work on Monday. Randy could not get a flight out of Palm Springs at all. So he decided to try to fly out of Long Beach on Monday. The caravan of cars left early Monday morning for the funeral. Randy could not get out of the Long Beach airport either. With a buddy pass--you fly "stand by". So Randy went to the funeral and met some more of our interesting family.

The funeral was very nice, and Aunt Becky was really sad. Her and Garland had been living together at the local care center. It was a long day for her, and Grandma Loneta came to the funeral also, and it was a long day for her, as both her and Becky are in wheel chairs, and their health if questionable.

Family came from all over, and Garland had a good send off. We will really miss him, as he was always there for us, and came to all of our family celebrations--all the way from California for weddings, funerals, more weddings and more funerals. They are the best.

By the time Monday night rolled around, everyone was exhausted. Natalie, Jenny and Randy were dropped off at the airport to fly home. Ashleigh started crying, she wanted to go home too, but were driving the van home. Natalie and Jayda were crying and Joel had asthma and was coughing his head off. I read a really good novel about Marilyn Monroe the whole trip and just sort of ignored it all. I was still recovering from my hand surgery, so I was kind of miserable at times also. Dave referred to the trip as a FIASCO, and he was glad to see us leave. Here are some of the pictures from that trip.