Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my angel Mother's birthday.
My sister Laurel gave a beautiful tribute to her, please be sure to head over to her blog and read it. I echo what Laurel has already said, and just wanted to add some of my favorite pictures of my Mom and add a few thoughts as well.

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." ~Washington Irving

I will always be grateful for a mother who is also one of my best friends.

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. ~Abraham Lincoln

It's only been since I became a mother myself that I realize what my mother has sacrificed in order to be the amazing mother that she is. Her first thought is always of someone else. She has been such an amazing example of selfless love.

My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~Graycie Harmon

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take."
~ Cardinal Mermillod

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." ~George Washington

When I think of my beautiful mother, I see her smiling face, which is a culmination of all that she is -- loving, kind, sweet, thoughtful, tender-hearted, strong, powerful, and inspirational.

Those things which we call extraordinary, remarkable, or unusual may make history, but they do not make real life. After all, to do well those things which God ordained to be the common lot of all mankind, is the truest greatness. To be a successful father or a successful mother is greater than to be a successful general or a successful statesman. ~Joseph F. Smith

I know that any success of my own (or that of my siblings) is due in large part to the constant efforts of my parents. The above picture is an example of a day owed entirely to the efforts of my parents -- the four adult siblings in the temple together, enjoying the blessings of the temple ordinances. I know that we have all grown to love the Lord because my Mother (and my Father too, of course) loved Him first. She taught by precept as well as example, those things that were most important and we never doubted her dedication to the Gospel.


I love you, Mom. I love you for who you are, who you've helped me to become, and for the great blessings you bring to my life. I'm grateful that I get to have you with me when I bring another baby into the world. After all, anything I do well as a mother, I do well because you were my amazing example.

Happiest of birthdays. Hope you know how much you are loved.

Spring Break -- Las Vegas

{all the kiddos, minus little Seth}
One of the highlights of our Spring Break trip was a quick overnight visit to our dear friends, The Pauls. They moved to Las Vegas last year and we have missed them dearly! Nate and Ethan became fast friends, as though no time had passed. The Pauls were our across-the-street-neighbors when we lived in Dallas for med school, and they've been some of our favorite friends ever since. How lucky we were to be close enough to go visit them!!

Sweet Elenna was celebrating her 6th birthday and we got to celebrate with her!

Ethan and Nate. They share a love of all things Star Wars and Wii. :)

The menfolk. Love Adam's face in this one, what the heck?!
Somehow I don't have any of me and Jennette (whoopsie) so you'll have to imagine our hot selves in a photo ...

Aidan was cracking us up with this style of cupcake-eating. The style of 'Get It All Over Ya.'


Thanks, Pauls, for a fabulous evening, a great nights' sleep, and a FABULOUS breakfast ;) wink, wink. Love you. Hope to see you again soon!

Spring Break -- Saint George

{Sorry for the giant amount of photos!}

For our Spring Break (part one), we met Adam's parents in Saint George at their condo. His brother Paul, his wife Rachael and their two girls joined us for a few days, too! It was a nice trip, even with the two days of driving each way :)

Here are a few pictures of our trip....

The kids at the Kids Table ... waiting on hamburgers from Grandpa's new grill

One of the best parts of the condo is the lush grass that grows just outside the front door. The kiddos loved playing there, throwing the balls as high as they could.

(Just glad that Nate has a smile on his face)

Nate and Sydney were good little buddies and were so sad when our time together was over!

We went to a restaurant called Pirate Island for dinner one evening. It was a fun theme restaurant, decorated really cute and even had good food! (Sometimes if the restaurant is too fun, the food is no good, you know?!) Here are our little pirates.

Showing off their tokens ... ready to play in the arcade!

We took the kids to a jump house place ... you know the type ... a warehouse full of bouncehouses. This is Rachael and her girls.

I thought it would be fun if I could show you the boys' faces as they went down the slides ... totally opposite reactions, haha!

Aidan had a terrified look on his face every single time he went down the slides, but then would rush to go again. Cracked me up.

On a hike near the condo ... it is so beautiful in Saint George!

The boys with their grandparents (these are Adam's parents)

Isn't it lovely? I love how the view we got from the condo had snow-capped mountains and red rocks ... it's such a unique place.

Of course one of our favorite things to do there is SWIM!

We took advantage of the many things the condo's rec center had to offer ...

...including the mini-golf course!

I included this image (above) even though it's a little blurry ... I thought my family would get a kick out of it ... can you see his tongue sticking out? He sure is his Grandpa Busath's grandson! haha!

BIG thanks to Adam's parents for sharing the condo with us for the week. It was a perfect getaway!

Easter 2010

Please excuse the bed-head hair ... it is just how we roll around here. There was no time to be wasted on vanity, after all, there was CANDY HIDDEN IN EGGS in our backyard! Time was of the essence!
Hope you all had a lovely weekend. We really did. We had a fun and delicious egg hunt, and then had our church missionaries over for a yummy Easter dinner.
Happy Easter, Y'all!

Name This Baby! {Post Edit}

We've added a fun little poll to the left
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Please be sure to vote and help us name this baby! (And yes, we reserve the right to veto the blog vote and choose our own. haha) And be sure to leave a comment to tell me how you feel about those names, even if you have to tell me what my sister Angela told me : "I hate all of them."

POST-EDIT : How come none of you called me out on saying that the poll was to the RIGHT when in fact it was to the LEFT (and I even had the arrow pointing to the left!)? C'mon now people, I expect you to help me when I have my Blonde Moments and correct me! :)

Happy Birthday, Laurel!

Today is my sister Laurel's birthday! I hope that California is especially beautiful for her special day. And that she gets to eat some cake :)
Here are some things about Laurel :

L Loving. Laurel has one of the kindest, most tender hearts of anyone I know. She would do anything to help someone in need.

A Awesomely Talented. She is amazing at digital scrapbooking and design, and is a much better photographer than I. If you need proof, just check out her website : http://laurellakey.com

U Unique. Laurel is unique in a refreshing way, and her perspective is often so helpful to me so that I can see things differently. And as the older sister who often thinks my perspective is the only perspective, I've been grateful for her point of view.

R Reverent. She has a connection to all that is Divine in this world, and is close to the Lord. She reveres that which is sacred and spiritual, and strives to do what is right.

E Extremely great mother. Laurel would do anything for her two boys, and I know they mean the world to her. They will grow up to be so grateful that Heavenly Father placed them in her care, because she takes that trust very seriously and tries to be the best mom she can be.

L Loyal. Laurel is an extremely loyal friend, wife, sister, and mother. She is dedicated and would give every ounce of herself for her loved ones. It's a privilege to be one of those people and I'm still working on deserving it.


Love you, Laur! Have a fabulous birthday celebration!

A Promise To Keep

Wow, Spring Break has come and gone, and Easter is almost here.... who pushed the Fast Forward button on my life?!?!

I have so much to share, so much to tell you, so many pictures to post... Someday it will all magically happen. Until that day, here is a little plug for my Digital Photography class. We call it Mamarazzi Boot Camp and it is SO FUN! We had one in Dallas in March and it was a blast. We are planning two for the fall (so far) and the details are here. One in Salt Lake City and one in Dallas. I would LOVE to see some familiar faces in the class... sign up quick before all the spots are gone! :)

Mamarazzi Boot Camp

There is ONE spot left for our Mamarazzi Boot Camp (Digital Photography 101).

This Saturday, in Dallas.

Head over to the website for more information and to enlist!

Just before the start of the New Year, I had an embarrassing fall and broke my little pinky toe. I was trying to get up from sitting on the floor and got my momentum going before I got my footing secure. And I bit it. Hardcore.

It's still not healed. And my little piggy on the end is a sad sight, it's still twice as large as its counterpart and painful when I step on it wrong. That is sad.

It's also sad that yesterday, while picking up pizzas for Nate's Valentine party at school, I stepped on a patch of thin ice and fell again, this time landing square on my knee. But my knee didn't hurt nearly as much as my pride -- I fell in front of other parents who rushed over to see if I was okay. I could hear the carpool lane talk later -- "Did you see the pregnant lady fall? Oh man, did you get a look at her face as she hit that ice? Priceless."

At the Valentine party, I backed into the coat hangers at an incredible rate of speed and bruised the fleshy part of my ample arm, something fierce. This is just a normal day for me -- fall, bruise, repeat.

When I told Adam about falling in the parking lot and how embarrassed I was, he said -- "Don't worry, those other moms already know you, so they're probably aware that you're clumsy."

Yep. No surprises here!

{almost} Wordless Monday

I'm Dreaming of a Pantry

Don't you hate when your amazing plans get de-railed? Or am I the only one who hates it when I think something is headed a certain way, and then I have to re-adjust?

I'm a planner by nature. I like to have things to think about, plan for, and look forward to. I can be spontaneous about some things, but about most things I want to know The Plan. To the last excruciating detail. I'm sure that this is not so much fun for the people in my life, because if they so much as mention a "possible" something, I'm already in my head planning out how it would work. If Adam mentions that we "might" go on a trip to such-and-such a place, I'm thinking about what time we'll leave and which hotel we'll stay in. I'm already planning what I'll wear when we go out to that one restaurant we love. And then he is, of course, regretting ever telling me about it.

I do this for the little things, and the big things in our lives. It has been killing me to have our future so up-in-the-air. I've mentioned it more than once on this blog. I don't get uptight about it because I'm not sure things will work out -- I know things will always work out -- but mostly because I want to know where we'll be living. I want to start planning for the next house, and the move, and time it out perfectly so as to have the most smooth transition as possible.

Originally, Adam and I had planned that we would start looking for a new home as soon as we had an answer from Baylor (which is where he works now as a resident -- and where he has applied to become faculty of the residency program). Well, last week we got the official news that things are a "go" and he's got the job. Exciting! I immediately started dreaming about a kitchen pantry and a garage door that doesn't open into the master bedroom (yes, you heard that correctly) and perhaps a neighborhood with kids that my kids could play with. But after a quick review of finances (it didn't take that long, there isn't much to count...haha) we realized that if we could stay in this house for a few more months, we could be prepared to move into a much better home than we could move into right now. So, like, late summer. As in, we're going to bring our baby home to this house. As in, we're going to be here for six more months. I'm more than a little disappointed. I know I should be grateful that we even have a house. I know that, but I guess the difficult part for me is that, mentally, I'd already moved away from this place. The home with no pantry :) The home with kitchen cupboards that don't close and kitchen drawers that fall out if you pull them past the half-way point. The home with the worn-out tubs that the landlord painted with white paint. The home with the fence that is falling apart and the laundry closet that is the first thing you see when you open the door, along with the living room and the kitchen sink (all things that make a surprise visit difficult to field). The home with white walls and nasty wallpaper and oh-my-heck do I really have to live here six more months?????

I guess the thing that makes me the most sad is that I'd really hoped to have the nursery ready when the baby arrived...the nursery in our new home. There isn't much of a point to decorating when she won't even use the room here before we do move (she'll only be a couple months old when we do end up moving...and probably still in the bassinet next to our bed). And it makes it even more sad because I've decided on the colors and I'm really excited to get started... but I can't! :( I mean, how cute is this inspiration piece?!?! (and coincidentally the only piece of animal print in the whole room, don't worry, I'm not going overboard...)



And don't tell the baby, but she's going to have to share it with my photography clients.... How can I NOT use this at work?! :)

Don't worry, spoiled me is going to be alright. I just have to adjust. I have so much to be grateful for, and hopefully someday I can add A PANTRY to that list ;)

Even in our imperfections (like our binky addictions), we're darling.

And we love you. We want you to know that.

The whole Murdock clan wishes you a beautiful Valentine's Day. May you have those you love around you and may you remember that no matter what, there is Someone who loves you for all that you are, all that you are becoming, and all that you will be someday. There is One who loves unconditionally. There is Someone who wishes to teach you about True Love. Learn more about His Love on this very special website.

We love you! Happy Valentine's Day!

February is for Lovers

Oh, what a fabulous weekend. January was a tough month for the Murdocks, and although there are a few struggles still lingering, this weekend was so wonderful that I hardly feel the need to complain. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably still complain, but I don't feel the need. (haha)

January was a particularly stressful month for Adam with regards to work. He was working at Children's and working some long hours (which are actually regular resident hours, but with his really easy schedule lately, it was tough to have him gone so much...and it was tough on him to work such long hours). He worked two weeks straight without a day off (and still taking call at the hospital -- sleeping there overnight every few nights). Anyways. January was tough for all of us. Finally, that rotation was over last week and he had the weekend off. We took full advantage and spent Saturday doing errands and chores...together...which makes doing them so much easier and so much more fun! Saturday night we got a babysitter and went on a real date. Generally, we celebrate Valentine's Day on a weekend in February that is NOT close to February 14th. We find it to be much more relaxing, because it's easier to find a babysitter and easier to get a table at the restaurant we are going to. So, we had our Valentine's Day date this weekend, and went to dinner and a movie. It was so lovely to just be together. I really missed my husband last month!

Superbowl Sunday was great too...we made it to church on time and were all there! I don't think that's happened for awhile. After church, we came home to a roast cooking in the kitchen and while we waited for it to be ready, the whole family dog-piled on the couch and took turns napping on one another. It was so comfy and perfect.

Many of you have asked about our plans for the future. Most of you probably know that Adam is going to be done with his residency in the fall (September) and that we have been thinking about the next adventure (read: job) for awhile now. I have hesitated to talk about it much, especially on the blog, because you never know who is reading -- and I don't want to say anything that would hurt his chances at a fabulous job. (I tend to do that -- say things that I immediately wish I hadn't!) Anyway, a few months ago his residency program director asked him to consider applying for a faculty position with Baylor (basically, he would be the residents' boss...or one of them at least) and so he did. It's been a long road since then (I'll leave out the details but MAN it has tried my patience!), but we're hoping to hear for sure tomorrow. Of course, Adam has told me at least five times that he'll "hear about the job tomorrow" so I'm not holding my breath. I am, however, completely sick of not knowing what we're going to be doing next. It might be nesting with this pregnancy, but I am desperate to know where we'll be and find a house and a school for Nate, etc. It's killing me to wait! I'm not a patient person! :) I was really hoping that we'd know for sure that we were staying here and then be able to find a home and move before the baby is born. We'll see if that is going to happen or not.

And lastly for this boring post, if you haven't already -- and actually, even if you already have -- head over to the Mamarazzi Boot Camp blog and check out this amazing workshop! We've been working really hard on it and I would love to have you be a part of it! Also, we're planning a Salt Lake City one for the fall (maybe August?) so PLEASE let me know if you're interested in that. We'll for sure do one if we have enough interest.

Love you all!

Snippets

My goal to post more in 2010 is really not going well! So I decided to post a few random items. It's not the best post, but at least I'm posting, eh?

Just before the holidays, our Wii broke. Nate wrote a very sad letter to my brother Thomas about the Wii being broken. My brother got a kick out of it:


To Thomas from Nathan 11 11-19-09
Dear Thomas there is bad news and good news the bad news is the Wii broke and the good news is I will be ok.
Do you like the Wii broken?
yes or no
Love, Nathan 11

Nate's "number" in school is 11 and he always writes it along with his name. {Don't get me started on the fact that the school has given my son a number. Is his name not enough of a distinguishing factor or do we need to further emphasize that school is prison by giving the inmates numbers? Do I need to have his number tatooed on him somewhere just to be certain that the teacher will know who he is?}

We have since sent the Wii away to be fixed, and it came back to us a couple weeks ago. In the short time span of those couple weeks, I have considered purposely breaking it more than eight hundred times. Even the little guy begs for the Wii all day long. He loves to play Baseball on the Wii Sports disc.

****

One of the things I dislike most about my day is that I drive Nate to and from school. It gets a little old. But, it's a decision we made so that he could go to the school he's in (there are no buses from our neighborhood to that school because it's not our "area school" but in our district you can choose to go to any school you'd like). The main reason for my dislike is that the other parents who drive their kids to school are idiots. Plain and simple. They have no concept of four-way stops, and some even drop their kids off across the street and make them run across the busy street (through the traffic, with no crosswalk or crossing guard) instead of waiting in the drop-off line. This morning I almost hit a child who bolted across the street in front of my car.
But the four-way stop thing is what gets me the most angry. Every single morning people do rolling stops, don't pay attention to who was at the stop first, and just power their way through the intersection. There is no courtesy, no regard for, you know, laws. And then they will stack themselves into the intersection three or four cars deep, blocking the intersection. Ans when I don't go because there is no room behind the last car and I'd be in the intersection, I get honked at.
Grrr. It almost makes me want to walk the four mile trip twice every day. (Almost. But I've posted about that before...it's not a good option. And that street I talked about in that post? In December a little girl was walking along the street where there are no sidewalks and was hit and killed....and the driver kept on going.)

***

There are about three hundred projects going on right now in my personal and my business life. I'm so very excited about them. First is the grand-daddy of them all, the Mamarazzi Boot Camp. About a year ago, I started thinking about hosting a workshop/class for moms who want to take better pictures of their kids. I have been trying to find a good time to do it, and also I wanted to be sure that I really thought about what I wanted to offer, rather than just launching into it and figuring it out as I went. I met another photographer here in Dallas who I really like, and our personalities are just different enough that we can work really well together. I had a meeting with her several weeks ago and asked her to come on board with me and get the ball rolling for these classes. Over the course of several phone calls and several hundred emails (seriously), we came up with the Mamarazzi Boot Camp. Which actually is a slight deviation from my original idea because we won't be talking about childrens' photography exclusively, but I'm fine with that -- it will be a class that everyone can benefit from. I'm excited to have our Dallas workshop and we're working on a late summer/early fall workshop for Salt Lake City.

***

They released me from my "job" working with the young women at my church. It was the right timing, and I knew that it was coming so I wasn't too surprised or disappointed, although I was sad to be done with that calling. I love those girls so much. When Nate found out that I wouldn't be going to my Wednesday night meetings anymore, he said "Oh, GOOD!!" When I asked why he was so happy about that, he said, "Now I'll have more time to hug you."

What a sweetie.

***

THIS little man is just super cute, but OH MAN what a stinker. :) He has recently started with "Why?" after everything you say to him. It actually cracks me up, because I don't remember Nate having a "Why?" stage. "Aidan, go eat your breakfast." "Why?" "Aidan, I love you." "Why?" He keeps us laughing.
Also, I'm pretty sure that the writers of Family Guy have cameras in our house, because this video is shockingly familiar (we have this scene at least eighty times a day, except I'm not always lying down):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNkp4QF3we8

***

Somebody's turning SEVEN in a couple weeks (Feb 20th) and he is using his subtraction skills to tell us how many days are left until the 20th. He is so excited and proudly tells everyone who will listen that he is having a Lego party -- oh dear, back in OCTOBER when I told him he could maybe have a party at the Lego store I couldn't imagine he'd actually remember that. When will I learn my lesson??? :)

***

Finally, I wasn't going to tell you that yesterday I was sitting on the couch with Aidan, watching Curious George, and fell asleep. He took the opportunity to do some serious damage by stripping down and pooping on the carpet (yuck, sorry to share). But I feel the need to share that because I also should tell you that while I was typing this long post, he did the same thing again. I suppose that is my BIG hint to go and do my job and PAY ATTENTION to what my two year old is doing in times of quiet.

Y'all have a good day.

So Exciting!

I'm so thrilled to finally be able to announce this workshop! Please take a look at the website!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad with his GrandBoys -- it will be interesting to throw a little pink into the mix!

Time brings perspective. Growing older isn't getting new eyes -- it is seeing with better clarity with the eyes we've always had.
I've been getting older every day and inevitably, Dad, so have you. It's the unfair reality that time marches on, and we have our birthdays to prove that :)
All that I am, I owe to you and the Mother you chose for your children. There is so much about me that I didn't recognize as strength until I was able to see more clearly, and as I was able to see more clearly, I could recognize that the strength came from you. You set the pattern and example for me to follow long before I even knew I was following.
What Mom taught me about zeal and energy and passion and spirit, you tempered as you taught humility and gentleness and quiet strength and dedication. What Mom encouraged of creativity, you supported with consistency.
And in your seemingly opposite personalities, the two of you have taught me about marriage and complement and love -- and what our Father in Heaven intends for His children to learn through their relationships. I know my own marriage is stronger because you make the effort to strengthen yours.
I don't know what I did to be blessed to be your daughter, Dad, but I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for the opportunity to be yours. I fear I'll spend the rest of my days trying to prove worthy of that great gift, but I'm willing to try, because having you as my father has been one of the supreme blessings of my life. I'm sorry that I haven't always seen you with the clarity that a little maturity brings, and I know that I haven't been as grateful as I should have been (especially through those pesky teen years when I knew everything...don't worry, I'm a lot dumber now). Luckily for me, time brings perspective and as I grow older I am becoming increasingly more cognizant of the fact that I have
the best father in the whole world.

Happiest of Birthdays to the man that puts all other fathers to shame!!



Some of my favorite things about my Dad:
*He's a fabulous and hysterical story teller. I love to hear about the time he found a dead body in front of his house (and his mom wouldn't believe him...until she saw their home on the evening news), or the time he locked himself out of his hotel room...in his underwear (classic), or the elder from Dad's mission that rode off into the sunset with the girl he fell in love with...on his bike, or the various sundry tales from his teenage years (which I'm only beginning to hear for the first time...Dad really censored his teenage years when he talked about them when I was growing up!!).
*I love the way he calls me Emmie. Very few people call me that, and I love that it's almost exclusively reserved for my Dad.
*I think the only person that could beat my Dad at Jeopardy is Ken Jennings. Ken is just lucky that my Dad wasn't one of the contestants up against him -- Dad would've knocked him out in the first episode :) Dad used to watch Jeopardy with us in the room and would call out the answers -- then make us give him high fives when he was right. Which he was, something like 99% of the time.
*My Dad used to always use phrases like, "Be Calm." Poor man was burdened with a loud and easily-excited progeny and he had to be the reminder of the need for decency and calm -- which gave him the unfair designation as the Party Pooper. :) Since moving away from home, I've realized how much fun my Dad is -- he's just not the loud and rambunctious kind of fun -- and I even heard myself say "Be calm" to my own children this week. I understand you, Dad. I truly understand you now.
*He's one of the smartest, well-read, interesting people I've ever met. These were also qualities I fell in love with in my husband. They simultaneously make me realize how little I know, and make me want to learn more...which is the mark of a true mentor and teacher. Although our interests may vary slightly, I'm always amazed at how much my Dad has to offer on the subjects we discuss.
*He loves my mother with a pure and Christlike love. He has encouraged in her, qualities and abilities that she didn't know she had. They have worked together, labored together, loved together, cried together, and experienced life together -- and it's so beautiful to see their togetherness continue to enrich their lives. Maybe a little too much. (haha, just kidding Mom and Dad -- but really, the lovey-dovey text messages and Facebook updates are a little nauseating to your kids. FYI.)


Love you, Dad.

It's Gonna Be Famous

It's very possible that this is the best post you'll read all day.

It's also very possible that I have delusions about how funny my kids can be, in which case, this may not be the best post you read all day.

I guess time will tell.


It never occurred to me that my son was missing out on the good things in life until today. After I picked Nate up from school, I had a flash of genius (or a pregnancy craving, whatever) -- "Let's go to the Dollar Store and get an after-school treat."

Nate's eyes got wide. A treat! Best day ever. He asked, "Why do they call it the Dollar Store?" I replied, "Everything there is a dollar."

I tell you what, you could have passed a freight train through that gaping mouth of his.

"Everything costs a DOLLAR???

...Even the games? The toys? The candy?"


"Yes."


"I have twenty-two dollars so I could buy twenty-two games there?!"

"Yes."

"I cannot believe this. {seriously, that's what he says all the time, it cracks me up} I am going to buy twenty-two Wii games there."

A-ha. Having never been to the Dollar Store, Nate was imagining a Target filled with $1 price tags. I had to explain that the Dollar Tree would have some things he'd recognize and some things he wouldn't, but they didn't have Wii games. He was not worried.

"Okay, then I'm going to buy twenty-two Bakugans there."

Again, they probably wouldn't have Bakugans. But, I told him, they would have some toys that might be fun {for like twenty seconds before they break} and some candy, and he could choose three things to buy.

As we pulled up to the store, Nate was still in shock as he read the sign.

"Dollar Tree...Everything's a Dollar...

...Mom, this place is gonna be famous."



Yep, buddy, good thing we were the first to discover it.