We all grew so much this year — We grew together, we grew further in love with each other, we grew up, we grew stronger, we grew more aware of ourselves and one another.

Here’s a link to our holiday playlist for the year!

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Marriage is actually very enjoyable.

This year has had its blessings but not without its challenges. We worked through all sorts of adulting-type nonsense but were so grateful to end every day with our partner. Being married to one another has felt like such a wonderful affirmation that everything we ever aspired to become, we became. Parenting together, conquering career highs and lows, supporting one another in every way - being Mr. & Mrs. Murphy gave us the undeniable strength to climb the steep mountains and not jump off the cliff.

We know life will continue to throw curveballs and for that we’re grateful that Tom is great at baseball and Jess is one of the most athletic people anyone has ever met and also can circumvent time and space through manifestation.

We loved taking Sunnie (Tom’s mom) to Kauai this summer! It was the coolest experience to have the Murphys and Rotters vacation together.

The kids are thriving!

Stella turned 13 and is having so much fun performing in choir and theatre and just got cast as Dory in Finding Nemo Jr! Her friends are adorable and everyone loves everything “preppy!” which no longer means what it used to. She had a pink disco-cowgirl themed birthday party and everything was SO PREPPY.

We know now that modern gen alpha “preppy” means pink, suburban mom brands like lululemon, Stanley water cups, and color-coordinated outfits. 7th graders know what’s up and the dictionary will add a new definition any day now.

Miles turned 10 with a Star Wars themed karaoke party! They continued to act and sing, they played Mufasa in The Lion King Jr. and did their first on-camera job. They are living in their own personal Legoland and are still reading ravenously. They also started playing saxophone this year! (following in the footsteps of their Papa & Great Papa.) But they still love percussion! Lastly, they finally learned how to ride a bike!!

Charlie started a VC fund with all the money he earned from the tooth fairy this year. He is 7 now and still loves running fast! He scored lots of goals in his first soccer season with Tom as the coach of the powerful “Blue Thunder Dragons” in AYSO. He also has begun singing at school in music class and doesn't seem to hate it. Maybe he’ll join the other two in a performance someday! (and maybe not, and that’s okay too!) He has revealed exciting new personality traits like his love of spa treatments (pedicures, mostly), necklaces, crystals, and a well-styled ensemble.

married & bright.

Jessica cemented her love for event planning and design with our wedding, and followed it with 7 additional planned and hosted events throughout the year. She continues to sing and write with her band JEMS (new album dropping June 2024) and was on strike for 118 days but made it out alive. When she isn’t blessing the world with her song, she spends time volunteering at Charlie and Miles’ schools, and wants everyone to know that she is saving lives by donating blood.

Tom is the rock of our family, making every member of our household feel protected, cared for, nourished and respected. In addition to his friendship fostering career, Tom’s creativity has been flourishing as the band leader of our family’s jam sessions. You can expect to see 2-3 children creating music with Tom at any moment of the day when he picks up a guitar and throws the kids an instrument. He also successfully built Jessica an outdoor bathtub haven and has proven himself to be incredibly handy, crafty and ingenious.

Grandpa began this year with a sad loss (as we all did) when our first cat Constellation ran away. We don’t know exactly what happened but one day he disappeared. We think he met a nice old lady who wanted a very friendly kitty and hope that old lady wasn’t actually a coyote in a bathrobe. Grandpa would wander around the house calling out for Connie and we felt so badly for him. We thought we’d wait until after our wedding and summer break to look for a new kitty and then in August, we discovered a sweet little fluffy black and white kitten at the same shelter where we found Grandpa. Her name is Betty. She has the most perfect personality and loves napping with her head on any elevated surface or body part she can find and can find hair ties anywhere in the house so she can play hair tie hockey. She saunters with her fluffy tail in the air, hugs people and jumps on Grandpa’s back when they’re playing. They snuggle up together and lick each other clean. They’re definitely in love and it’s the sweetest turn of events we ever could’ve imagined!