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.