This past week in pictures....

Happy Halloween!!!!!

I'm the self proclaimed Halloween queen. I LOVE IT!!! I'm so excited for it this year, because when Halloween comes around it means we'll be home! YAY!!! Anyway, I thought i would start making Halloween crafts just for something to do here. I found these glow in the dark eyes on marthastewart.com. My friend Johanna, (who loves Halloween too) and I made them, it actually took all day. But I think they turned out great!

Poor little Stockton, had another ear infection. He slept on my shoulder for 3 hours! I felt so bad that he was sick, but I loved just holding him!

He is getting so BIG!!!!


Bryce was watching Stockton while I was getting ready for the day. When I came out of our room it was really quiet in our apartment. I asked Bryce where Stockton was and he's all, hmm.. I don't know. (typical dad, if there isn't any crying everything must be ok, right?) Everything was ok, I found Stockton asleep on the floor in his bedroom.

Stockton is finally starting to want to feed himself. And is doing a pretty good job!

Stockton has figured out where the animals go on his barn. Each animal has a different shape on the bottom. I know every parent thinks this, but Stockton is so SMART!!! :) Maybe he should be doing this at 14 months.....anyway, I love him no matter what.

Our office does an activity every Friday before the guys have to go to work. So this past week we went to the lake by our house. All of the guys had a race in canoes and then had a water balloon fight. Then Bryce and I took Stockton on a canoe ride out on the lake. I LOVE the water!!! It's so peaceful and just plain fun! We had a great time!!!

Oh, how I love this man!!!! Enough said. :)

Stockton has finally moved up in the world to a forward facing car seat! YAY!!!! Life is so much easier, and he is SO MUCH happier in the car! Thanks to my friend Jennifer Arthur for helping me do research for this car seat. We love it!!!

Stockton's first ride in his car seat with Nana and Papa on the way to the Royals baseball game. Yep, he's my son! His thumb is ALWAYS in his mouth now!!!

oops... out of order, oh well! Ray and Lisa Nelson came to visit us this past weekend! It was SO GOOD to see them!!!! We stayed up on Saturday until 2 am just talking and playing games. I was so sad when they had to go home on Monday. I couldn't ask for sweeter, more loving in-laws! I'm very lucky!!!! I love you, bonus mom and dad!!!

Ray and Stockton are best buds now! This picture captures how they were acting together all weekend. Stockton loved to wear Ray's hat and would just laugh the whole time he had it on. He loves his Papa!!!

Just a picture of us while at the Royals game. It was much better this time around. We sat in the shade and it was MUCH COOLER this time!!!!

We're still doing good! We found out today that extended season (Sept. 5 - Oct. 8) will be here in Kansas City. We're glad and sad at the same time. We were looking forward to experiencing a new city and taking on a new adventure. The other part of us is thrilled that we (I) don't have to pack up and move for 5 weeks and then pack up again and move home.

I'm so glad that we've taken on this adventure! I actually love Kansas! It's so pretty here with all of the trees. I do miss our family and friends, but it's been good to get out of our comfort zones a little and stretch and grow out here. At the same time, I'm looking forward to going home (although I have 11 more weeks to go). It will be nice to have time with Bryce and to see people we've been missing! Anyway, life is GOOD!!!!

Summer life 2011

I went with Bryce one day while he was out knocking. Holy cow!!! There is no way I could EVER do this job! I'm so grateful that Bryce is working so HARD for our family! And things are going well for him. He's the #2 sales rep in our office! There are days where he has a hard time, but for the most part he really likes what he's doing.

Stockton and I are just doing our usual thing. Although, it is so nice to live close to our friends. At some point during the week we usually get together with other wives and kids to go do something or just hang out.

I know it's been forever since I've blogged, but our computer crashed so I haven't been able to update. But, here we go........ :)

Last Sunday (July 10) I guess there was a big rain storm in Utah. We usually have problems with one window well filling up with water and leaking into our basement. We've known this for 3 years and we've tried to come up with a solution, have a sump pump down in the window well to pump any water out. Well on Sunday, we had some problems and not with the window we usually do. Two window wells filled up 1/2 way full of water and came into our house. And what do you do when your 1,000 miles away??? Thank goodness for AWESOME parents!!!! They went over and tore out my carpet (one bedroom was completely soaked) and pulled back carpet in my family room. Then they got a punch of fans to dry out the pad and carpet. They think that they've been able to save the carpet, but we'll have to find someone to come relay it. Thank you, thank you Mom and Dad for all of your help!!!!

And I believe now how our window wells filled up with so much water! This storm came about two days after we found out about our house.

I love living in Kansas for the awesome storms we get here! I've never seen rain like this before. At one point I could hardly see outside, it was raining so hard. LOVE IT!!!! I'm my daddy's girl that for sure! He LOVES any sort of freak weather! :)

Bryce and I got to go see Harry Potter @ 12 am! What a good show! I will never go see a movie opening night again though. Maybe I'm just getting old, but the theater was full of 12-14 year olds that were screaming and talking loud. Just shut-up and watch the movie!!! But, we had a good time.

Sunday, July 10th our friends Brittany and Rob Peck arranged for all of our friends out here to go see a Royals game (baseball). It was really fun, other than the fact that it was 105 degrees outside.

Stockton with his friends Taelie and Broox Arthur. I watched these cute kids when Jennifer went knocking with her husband, Ben.

Oh, my little helper! Stockton thinks it's so fun to pull out all of the clothes in the laundry basket while I'm folding them. :)

Just because.

Stockton LOVES his daddy!!!! Whenever Bryce comes home and Stockton happens to still be awake, Stockton just can not wait for Bryce to pick him up and give him a hug!!! I love what a good Dad Bryce is to Stockton. I didn't picture Bryce wanting to be with our child all of the time. I'm so glad that I was wrong!!! He loves this boy more than anything in this world!!!

Stockton loves to wear Bryce's hats! He walks around with the BIGGEST smile on his face!

Stockton in his Jazz jersey.

Grandma Murdock

October 2,1919 - May 25, 2011

Ok, I'm going to try to write without crying. (This section is mostly for me.) I've been putting off writing anything about my Grandma because how can I put into words how much I love this wonderful lady?!?!

My Grandma is my hero! Not only was she a FABULOUS wife and mother to all 8 of her children, but she was also a school teacher and taught piano, she is just everything that I want to be! Giving and selfless, always thinking of others and she was a GREAT cook! Her house always smelled like homemade bread with a touch of bacon and clean clothes. Weird combination of smells, but oh, it always smelled so good!!!! She was such a good example to me and her other grandchildren.

I feel like I have a special connection with my Grandma because she died on my birthday. I know that sounds silly, but I will never forget the date that's for sure!

I love you Grandma! And will miss you, but at least I know I will see her again!!!

(I almost made it without crying)