101 Things to do before I die...

I've been thinking about this list of mine lately (probably because it's the new year and I'm thinking of goals and "newness" and change). I just got finished watching the Ironman Triathlon from Kona, Hawaii. I think i've been watching this event, off and on, since I was pretty young. I'd flip the channels on a random saturday during the fall and catch the condensed coverage of the event. I remember always feeling touched by the awesome narration of the event and the heroic accomplishment of the athletes that cross the finish line. And yes...I did get teary eyed then and I full on cry now. I just shake my head and smile and kind of weap as I see these people finish what they sacrificed so much to compete in. The elite athletes finish the 2 mile swim in around 55 minutes, the 150 mile bike ride in under 5 hours and the 26 mile run around 2:45. The "age-grouppers" (people like you and me, but probably a little more commited and motivated) finish in about 12-15 hours. Some finish just before midnight which is the cutoff. There were people who had aritificial limbs, in wheelchairs, short, heavyset, tall, young and old. One of the last people to finish was a woman who had competed in her 17th Ironman. She was 72 years old. The narrator said, "she's 72, how old are you??" He also added, "what did she sacrifice to finish this race? What did that man sacrifice to finish? What did their families sacrifice to help them finish?"
I've always been really impressed with individual events. I'm not so into the traditional team sports that generate millions of dollars to fill their stadiums so people can watch people who get paid gazillions. The endurance athletes are the one's who impress me the most. I love seeing and knowing that they are out there alone with their thoughts and their will to finish and not give up. I grew up standing at the end of many marathons and watching my dad finish, among the elites, and I'd get teary eyed, because I knew how much he had sacrificed to be there. I ran a marathon,and yes, i had water in my eyes because I knew how much I had sacrificed to get to experience that. I've done a few mini triathlons and I have to say that it was a major accomplishment and success for me because everytime I get out of the water I know I didn't drown and I can get on with the run and the bike where I feel more comfortable. Try something hard, accomplish it, and then try something else that is hard. Will I do a full ironman someday? Probably not, but Brad says he wants to do one someday and I will be the one at the finish line...with tears in her eyes.
And this probably should be on my life list, but it isn't. In highschool, I was a closet Neil Diamond fan. Now I am open about my love for his catchy lyrics (seriously, Sweet Caroline, Coming to America, Forever in Blue Jeans, etc.), snazzy diamond studded clothes, (guess you can do that with a gem of a last name), and deep voice. My cute Brad surprised me with a ticket to see him live at the Delta Center (he out did himself with a fun scavenger hunt to lead me to the tickets)Unfortunatly, he will still be in Missouri, but I get to go with my sister. Other members of our family will be there, also, but we're not sitting with them. I can't wait.

Creating.

I've really been trying to get ready for christmas since we've been back from Thanksgiving. This year I wanted to get all my present bought and wrapped (which I did, yeah!) so that I could truly enjoy the spirit of Christmas and family when we go visit in Utah. This year I decided to make several Christmas gifts as well. Luckily I got the last thing finished on Monday because that night Chloe became really sick. Because she has had 2 seizures that have accompanied her 2 major illnesses we are extra cautious when she gets ill. So, long night into a short story. We went to the doc she couldn't find anything, so we went to the hospital and had her blood drawn and she had to have her urine collected via a catheter and then they found some bacteria so she had to have a shot of antibiotic then back today for another dose of antibiotic. It is pretty taumatic to have to hold your child down to have a catheter put in. Yikes! B-rad was able to come with us and help out and that made me so grateful. He's only a second year med student but I find myself asking him 21 questions about everything the doc has said. It helps reassure me. Anyway, here are some pics of what we've been up to.
This is a picture of my dulce de leche plate. If you want to impress your friends take a can on sweetened and condensed milk and put the whole thing (unopened) in a boiling stockpot of water and just let it dance for about 2 hours. Make sure the water never goes under the top of the can. When you remove the cooled can lid you have this rich carmel dip. Amazing, I know! I couldn't believe my eyes.

Me and the Chloe Blue. She has been extra cuddly. Brad got the boot last night and she and I shared the bed. She even took Brads pillow. He loves his down pillow so that was a major sacrifice for him.

My purse. My cute friends were going to help me make this but we never connected so I was kind of forced to just pick through the pattern on my own. Although, i did ask them tons of questions. There was something SO satisfying about finishing this project. I really admire people that can sew. I don't think I can say "i can't sew" anymore because i've really made quite a few things. I've learned quite a lot from my little projects. Namely, it's really important to measure correctly or your pieces don't match up, needle break!, there will be lots of unpicking, and relax your shoulder muscles!!

This was a project my friend showed to us group of med school wives. I made a couple of these. This is the one for Chloe's room. The little red circle is a magnet. I love to jazz things up with sequins.

I really like the show design on a dime. I watch that show and think of all the stuff I could make. If only I had a staple gun, a nail gun, and 1000 dollars. I do have some projects on the new year horizon, though.
And, I decided to opt out of the Christmas card creation this year. I came to this decision after I had already bought the stamps though!! So, know that you are all loved and we will post our Christmas fun later.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very fun Thanksgiving week. Brad finished his 5th quarter of school last Friday. He did so well and the Chambers family was in much need of some R and R. But on Friday night a bunch of us girls went and saw the Twilight movie. Saturday morning we left for Branson, Missouri. It was about 5 hours south of Kville. We invited some friends to come with us and share our condo. We had a fun filled week with lots of games, treats, good food,trips to the park, giggling and running kids, shopping, and to end the week-a homemade Thanksgiving meal. Here are some pictures of the week.

The meal.

The girls after hardworking in the kitchen. We should've added Trenton to the picture because he did a good job with the turkeys.
The 3 of us decided we would do the midnight shopping thing. None of us had done it before and we thought why not try it out. Wow! Crazy busy stores. We only went to 2 stores and it tooks us over 2 hours!

We got a lot of personal attention from the Santa at one of the shopping centers. He volunteered to take this picture with the group.

some more Thanksgiving...

Santa decided to get out of his chair because dear Chloe was just crying. He said he'd let me sit in the chair and then pose himself in the back (seriously, nicest Santa ever. When I asked him if he was really married to Mrs. Clause, he said "no, but I wish. She is cute!) I love how Chloe is looking at him and as for me? well, I am always ready for a picture (laugh)

Taegan, Brad and Chloe.

Obviously, we get very excited at what Chloe gets excited at. You can't see her reaction to the water is equally as big as my reaction to her.

You can always count on Chloe ot take a free ride. Here she is with her little friend Olivia. I can't believe they are only 1 year apart. Chloe looks SO big.

I am Thankful for so many things. But my tops list (and pretty standard list from year to year) is My Brad, My Chloe, Starsky, our families/friends, a warm house, good health, food and not just basic food but like really good food and yummy recipes and lots of options, living in the USA, Brad pursing his dreams, my imagination, my talents, my faith, and the Savior without which none of the above would be possible.

This is why you don't leave your keys in your car...

So, sometimes I leave my keys in my car. Think and say what you will, but I think my $45 lesson is enough for me to not do it again. Today, I left my keys in the car as I went to exercise group. We had a great run and I was ready to get home and get showered so I could make it to book club (previously mentioned last night). I find that although I have left my keys hidden in the car a dozen times I didn't anticipate the dog and his amazing abilities. Apparantly he stepped on the automatic lock and that is how this whole mess happened. I had several people try and help. One man even stood in front of the car and tried to make Starsky real mad so he would step on the lock button again. An on looker said, "that was probably 1 in a million shot that he did it the first time so I bet he won't do it for you again. He was right. Curse him. Eventually I had to call a locksmith. The only time i got really frustrated in this 1.5 hours was when the triple A lady kept transferring me back and forth between offices and personnel and she kept saying my name was mare-A-knee (that's how she pronounced it) The frustration came to the surface when I kindof too loudly said, "my name is Melanie...it's a normal name, not Mare-a-knee. Then I had to spell it for her and she understood!! So I paid 45 dollars to the nice locksmith man who kept laughing at me as he first said, "lots of peoples dogs lock their cars and boy you must be cold". You think. I had been standing outside for about and hour and had the sweaty afterrun feeling. Chloe and I did get some good "choo-choo" in on the curb and she walked round and round the flower garden. I missed bookclub (sad face) but made it just in time for another appointment I had at 1130.
And an apology...I tend to lose things. I always, always forget my phone or don't answer it because it's on silent, I often forget silly things on vacation like a brush or toothpaste. I am usually the mom without a dipaer when I need it but always have it when I don't need it. Chloe takes everyone elses snacks. Chloe likes to use markers and pens so they are all over our house. I only vaccum occassionally because our vaccum stinks, literally. But all in all, I'm a good friend, I always do what I say I am going to do, and I would get your back whenever you need me. (smiles)

Nickel and Dimed...

Well friends...if you read this blog then you will be surprised to read that...
MY TOOTH BROKE AGAIN!
So Sunday morning I had to remove part of my fractured tooth from my own mouth for the 4th time in 2 weeks. Seriously, why oh why would you ever want to be a dentist. Oh, I just felt like crying. I got another appointment because the dentist "guarantees" her work. Nice of her! and I got my tooth fixed yesterday. I had to have tons more of the original tooth shaved down so they could add more fake stuff. Does that make any sense to anyone else?On my way out of the office she says to me, "you really should just try and let that tooth be more for cosmetic purposes and try and use it as little as possible." Umm...thanks but it's my front tooth and I'm pretty sure we have teeth for a reason. But today, I found myself eating a sliced apple and biting it from the left corner of my mouth. It wasn't a pretty site, but a funny one i'm sure. Anyway, I am just crossing my fingers that this tooth lasts longer than a week and then I think I will be in the clear-well, in the clear for a little longer.
Changing subjects, last week I went to the library to check out a book and I rented one of those quick reads that you have to read within 7 days or they charge you 2 dollars if it's late and you can't renew. Well I got this book called Sunday and Tiffany's and began reading it with gusto. About that same time I obtained a copy of our book club book for the month called Nickel and Dimed (something in America) and I had to read this one quick. So here I am reading 2 books at the same time and trying hard to not favor one over that other because they were both good and different. After 3 days I finished the book club book and after 5 I turned the last page of the Tiffany's book. I love the feeling of finishing a book and after finishing 2 i felt especially proud. I kinda smiled when I put the books down and turned off the light for bed. Reading really makes me feel smart.

In case anyone is keeping track...

...my tooth broke, again. 3rd time in one week. Yikes! This time I decided to change my approach. I went to a different dentist and as a result paid less and ended up getting a refund for my previous work. This time it only took them 2.5 hours! Seriously, I was there forever. I don't think I was the number one priority on the block. The dentist tried to give me a shot! (what for??) I pleaded no. She tried to take an x-ray(what for??) I pleaded no. Needless, to say I hope I am done with this stuff.

A good Halloween.

Hope you all had a fun filled Halloween.

Some Halloween

The hit costume this year was the monkey suit. These are 2 of the cutest monkeys, Chloe and Olivia.

We went to two trunk-or-treats. This was my attempt at decorating out car.

And here is Chloe dragging her super full bag of candy.

These are 2 of our Chloe's friends, Sam and Asher. The cutest little boys live in Kirksville-Chloe is a lucky girl:)

Broken tooth, black eye, Normal, and Halloween.

So I have this front tooth that is my weak link. I broke it 5 or so years ago and as a result I have to get it "fixed" about once a year because the filling pops off. Well, Sunday night, the tooth broke. It's amazing how you can instantly feel hideous. I found a random dentist in the phonebook (chose her because she had a cute picture) and my tooth was fixed by 11 on Monday. Yeah, back to normal. Until, at 2 that day, it broke again. Hideous, again! The dentist couldn't get me back in till Wednsday. Meanwhile, I had already made an appointment with another Dentist for Tuesday to have some other stuff done. Then back to the other dentist on Wednesday. When I showed up I told her of this burning sensation I had been feeling on my upper gums. She took a look and there were these like singed/burned canker sores up there. For extra fun, I am one of the rare percentage of people that has an allergic reaction to the cotton they use. So, needless to say, this time the dentist was extra careful:) Finally, at 930 on Wednsday, I was back to normal. And this was all done without tears or laughing gas to calm me down. Everytime I go to the dentist I think this is the time I am going to have them gas me up but I always tough it out. I leave with sore shoulders and a tension headache. I don't know what has happened to me in my adult like but I really really really don't like the dentist. I don't even have real teeth problems but something about the sounds and smells and thought of teeth breaking just makes me a little sick.
Too bad I didn't still have my broken tooth Wednesday night because that is when I received my first black eye. Seriously! I have a pretty bad black eye. I am taking Chloe to a little swim class and she threw the ring and it connected with my cheek bone. I thought I was blind! I jumped out of the pool so fast and ran to the bathroom with her in my arms. I half expected to see blood but instead I saw an already large lump forming below my eye ball. And this is how I looked in the morning.

NORMAL. Brad and I just found out we will be living in Bloomington/Normal Illinois for the next to years of our medschool experience. The town we are in is too small to give all the med students ample medical training and hands on experience so all the students move to several locations around the country. We get to move to this cute town about 4 hours east of us. We are excited to be 2 hours south of Chicago and 2.5 hours north of St. Louis. We will still be 2 hours away from Nauvoo but in the other direction. What a new adventure to anticipate.
And these are just a few halloween pictures of our little MONKEY.

I don't know why we don't plan our costumes earlier than 5 minutes before. I know I am going to dress up so I really need to plan next year. But luckily we always have a few things around the house we can throw together. Doesn't my black eye add to the makeup effects? And brad...what a cute cowboy.

Karo Syrup and crayons.

Chloe is a really good drawer. I may be slightly biased because I really want her to be a good drawer, but she really is good. We can tell her to draw a circle and she will, a line and she will, and "dot dot" and she'll do it. She even holds her pen all nice and delicate. I think it was in kindergarten when Mrs. Nichols told me that I had to learn how to hold my pen correct or she would keep making me write with a big fat crayon. The kids with the fat crayons were the ones who couldn't write properly and the ones with pencils had mastered the hand position. Now that's a way to build self esteem for a 5 year old! Chloe won't be in the "fat crayon" group in kindergarten.
A couple of days ago, Brad came home to watch Chloe during lunch and guess what we found when we went to get Chloe? She had pushed the kitchen chair over and dumped the entire contents of the Karo syrup bottle all over the counter, floor, and for extra fun, herself. That stuff is like glue to clean up.

When I was in college...

When I was in college I carried a book around with me all the time. This book was just a book of blank white paper that I filled up with endless thoughts and pictures and quotes. I remember specifically choosing a book without lined paper so I didn't have to "follow the rules" and "stay within the lines". By carrying these books around, I used to be more keenly aware of my surroundings and the characters and objects within it. I remember laughing as I sat on the quad at Utah State as I watched the birds sit above a group of girls eating their sandwiches on the bench. The birds, above, seemed to be mimicking the girls, below. They were girlfriends and they were bird friends. I remember writing about a certain professor's quirkiness that amused me and distracted me but encouraged me all at the same time to come to class and be attentive and listen and score awesome on his exams. I remember listening and watching and recording each emotion and sense that entered my brain, filled my eyes, and transfered to my hands to be recorded forever on the paper in my finger tips. And I vividly remember this one puddle that formed because of one section of the sidewalk being lower than the two connecting sections of sidewalk. I saw so many people step in that deep puddle thinking it was just a shallow skim of water. I stepped in the puddle on a number of occassion as well.
This brings me to my blog. We created this blog so that family and friends in utah could see how the little Chloers is growing and changing and occasionally we'd throw some pics of our self and the dog in there. And I'm pleased with how the blog is going, but I think I may just start using the blog as my blank book. Stop by for a visit, anytime.

The Murdock family comes to visit.

My sister has had this family trip planned for almost a year and I was soooo excited for them to finally get here. Even though they were only in Kirksville a short stop on their fun family trip, we had a great time and were so glad they spent time with us.
Here we are at Thousand Hills. Seems like whenever people visit it's too cold. Thankfully, it cleared up long enough for me to show them the lake and we went on this short little "hike" through the pretty wooded forest.

Aren't these steps magical. My sister and her family.

The girls.

Immediatly, Chloe fell in love with our nephew Adam. She wanted him to read to her, sit in his lap, eat by him, and hold his hand. It was pretty adorable.

More of the Murdocks

Chloe and I spent Friday night with them in Nauvoo. I'm sure they really loved our company but not the early wake up call (Chloe!!)

We walked around downtown K-ville. I walk by this pretty tree almost everyday so we had to stop to take a photo of the kids.

Chloe and Adam.

This was the Halloween craft that I mentioned on a previous post. So easy. It works better with material but you could use a light weight paper.

A cowboy roundup.

Brad's school has this event called Still-a-bration and we went with full force this year. Last year, Chloe didn't really appreciate the kids activities but this year it was super fun with her. First we went to the Kirksville High Homecoming parade in the downtown area. The highschool kids would come up and personally put candy in Chloe's little bag. It was fun and just the right amount of parade for us. Then we went over to the Still-a-bration. They had pony rides and this was a first for Chloe. By the way, we dressed her in her cowboy clothes. She even got to wear a little red cowboy hat and a blue bandana later on.

Here I am teaching Chloe the right way to make a smore. Ahh...teaching her to love the goodness while she's young.

I love this picture for a couple of reasons. 1. The lady watching. She kept getting a kick out of these kids. 2. Chloe and Luke. Luke is Chloe's little friend. We love the Humphry's because they attend all the same things we do and we always get to see that little Luke. Isn't he cute? 3. Chloe loved the balloon. She kept squeezing it and making "ohhh" sounds and giving it a hug. It popped later on.

Nothing beats a free night out, right?

A fun craft.

At church, on Wednesday, we made some fun Halloween crafts. If you are looking for something to do with the kids and you've already frosted the cookies, and picked and carved your pumpkin, these are a fun aftenoon activity.
I just made a purple Royal icing. You use 1lb. bag of powder sugar, 3 eggs whites, and 3 tsp. of cream of tartar. You whip it with a hand mixer or in your kitchen aid mixer for about 5-7 minutes. It should form peaks when it's done. If you aren't going to use it right away put a damp cloth over it. While the girls frosted we kept the cloth over the middle of it just to ensure that is would work for them before it dried out. This frosting dries very very hard. We decorated with: candy corns, Peeps, Hershey's bars, chocolate licorice, tootsies, marshmallows, fudge oreos, and some fun ghost sprinkles.

Another fun craft is to wrap empty toilet paper rolls with cute halloween material and ribbon and add some stickers or marker it to say a halloween phrase. Tie the hanging ends of the wrapped fabric with a ribbon and you have what looks like a big piece of candy. We filled them with candy last night, also. I'll try to post pics of mine later.

Go Brad!

Here is a little October 14th shout out to my favorite Brad. I hope it doesn't make anyone blush. Just teasing!

B-Best friends from the beginning. It's so nice to enjoy doing the same activities together, enjoying the same types of foods and movies and games and people. We cheer each other on and are a team forever.
R-Really smart. Seriously! I helped Brad study the other day (basically, I struggled reading sets of 9 letters combined to make a word, but these "words" break all sorts of english rules and somehow he's expected to remember what all these things mean and how that applies to a future patient and then be able to regurgitate it on a high pressure 50 minute test. Sheesh!) Example: This is from a flashcard that is right by the computer "progressive multifacal leukoencephalopathy effects oligodendrocytes-demylisity patchy demylnation-oligodendrocytes can be shown to contain vital antigens." What!!!
I'm not sure if I'm a great helper because I spend most of his time asking tangent questions about health and such and spending loads of time saying, "how do you do this. You are really smart!"
A-Adorer. He sure loves me and Chloe and he lets us know. We've been married for almost 5 years which is like 1700 days and he's probably rubbed my back till I fell asleep over 1500 of those days. I'm addicted to back rubs and I think Chloe is starting to be, also. There are definitly advantages of living with someone and cooking for someone who thinks you can do know wrong.
D-Dominate it. The other day we did a track workout and he blew past my 100 meter dash at a cool 12.3 seconds. I know! He could've run faster, too.The fastest man in the world runs a 9. something. Some of the olympic women were probably in the high 11. Seriously, Brad, who are you? A med student who goes running like never and can still be so fast and fit. Dominate it...an entire bag of harvest cheddar sunchips in one day. One day! I guess I did contribute to eating about a 1/3, though. Another D word is Dad. Brad really is a helpful Dad to our little Chloe Blue.

C-Clever as a cat. Brad says some clever one liners that always keep my laughing.
H-Helpful. Brad always cleans the bathroom. I despise toilets and bathtubs and he happily conquers whenever I remind him to do it. He also helps put the laundry away and often folds it while he insists that I sit and watch tv while he folds. Ahhh!
A-Adorable. Athletic. Accepting.
M-My Brad. When we were engaged I always referred to him as My Brad. He's my best friend and on January 2nd, 2004 I officially got to "keep him" forever.
B-Bike. Brad really, really, really likes his bike and bike websites and bike races and bike accesories/gear and bike magazines and bike talk and planning for his "future bike"
E-Educated. I'm so glad that Brad is pursuing his education in something that he is excited about and can see himself doing forever. Another E word is Employed. I'm glad that he will be the one that is employed one day!! and supporting me at home with the fam.
R-Respectful of adults. That's kind of wierd to include but I just observed the other day that he has a way of listening and respecting his elders that's pretty rare and admirable.
S-Service. Several of you know about and participated in our fabulous 500 balogna sandwich service project. Unforgettable, but it set the standard of service and experiences of searching and seeking outward.

Now, if you are so inspired and haven't recently done one of those husband tags than I tag you to do one like this.

Fun at the farm.

Last Friday was Wellness Day. Brad had the day off of school so we took the day to play. We went to a nearby farm with some other families and did a corn maze and a tractor ride. With a little 18 month old, everything is an adventure and a discovery. We had fun.

Chloe walked the whole corn maze. She tried to keep up with the other little kids. Doesn't she just look so "in charge" in this picture.

We found the whistle in the middle of the train-designed corn maze. Each of the kids took a turn blowing the whistle.

Click on the picture below to see it in better detail. Chloe particularly loved the jump house. We weren't sure if she would. I think it goes back to her loving to jump on her bed in the mornings.