To my friends who have gone private...

PLEASE send me an email! i totally understand the private thing, i'm thinking of doing it myself, but i hate that i can't check in on you and your fun lives anymore....so camilla, valerie, jenny, mickelle...my address is lissamurdoch@hotmail.com.

Big Judd's... Landon and the Pickle

last night we went to big judd's for dinner. brock couldn't believe that i had lived in idaho for two years and never eaten there! for those of you not familiar with rexburg, big judd's is this little hole in the wall place a few miles out of town where they have HUGE hamburgers. if you eat a whole one (or double or triple) plus the fries and drink you get your picture on the wall. we decided to share one but it was so good i really probably could have eaten it myself. hmm but for some reason that's NOT something i would be proud of and i DEFINITELY wouldn't want my picture on the wall. brock, on the other hand, says we're going back soon so that he can get his. :)

the funniest part was when we gave landon a pickle. i wasn't being mean, i thought he might like it...i love pickles! he played with it for a minute, put it in his mouth, and made the funniest face i have ever seen. the pictures aren't that great because i took them with my phone, but they are still hilarious! he tried it over and over, like he kept thinking he would like it the next time...finally he decided it was better to play with than to eat.

Halloween

oh, how i love halloween!!! this year was so fun because luke really got into it. he even picked out his own costume...he told me way back at the beginning of september that he wanted to be a pumpkin. he was so excited to go trick-or-treating and he didn't want to stop! he kept telling me "i don't have enough candy yet!" so we were out late with the big kids. (he didn't end up with THAT much candy...either that or we're all piggies...because it was gone by sunday.) we didn't get any pictures of luke because he was too excited to stand still...but the professional ones are so cute that it's ok. :) i love it that brock dresses up. i know it's just for me and he wouldn't do it otherwise and that makes it even cuter. the kids got a kick out of it too. landon cracked up everytime he looked at me in that witch hat, he must have thought i looked funny! he was so, SO cute in his puppy costume and when we got home he got his first sucker. i have never seen a happier baby! the weather was even nice (and being in rexburg at the end of october, that is a big deal!) oh and those cute people sitting on their porch are my grandparents, she made popcorn balls and had the best candy, i just love them and am so happy to be by them for awhile. hope you all had as much fun as we did!

Carving Pumpkins

we carved pumpkins the other night, and i am in love with luke's. he drew the face himself and i helped him carve it, and then he kept going back to add to it. my favorite is all the little pins in the mouth...they're "braces like mom's!" sally made caramel popcorn and hot dogs, and brock's pumpkin of course is amazing...i need to take a picture at night, though, because it's way cooler lit up. i love halloween!!

"Prom Night"

when we decided to come back to rexburg so that brock could go to school, i told him that i wanted to go to a BYU-I dance with him. really, no one goes to those, but i still thought it would be so fun to get all dressed up and go on a fun date, and take pictures...and, i have always wished that we would have got to go a high school dance together! so even though i know brock thought it was totally embarrassing and lame, he brought me flowers and asked me to the fall formal, and we went last night!
we had such a good time. we only danced to one song because it was a swing band playing and neither of us know how to swing dance at all, but the band was fun to listen to and the best part was watching all the other couples!! it made me so glad to be married to someone i am in love with and am so comfortable around, and not on a date with someone i felt obligated to go to a dance with. it was so funny though! there was this one guy who seriously sprayed binaca in his mouth when his date wasn't looking. we watched them for awhile and i felt so sorry for them, because it was obviously VERY awkward! we went to dinner, had ice cream afterwards and when we came home the kids were in bed and the house was still clean, YAY for our great babysitter riley! and YAY for such a great night!

YUM!!!!

i'm totally drooling over the recipes on this blog...http://getoffyourbuttandbake.blogspot.com/
megan told me about it...it's a lady here in rexburg and she updates it at least every day! so much good stuff i can't wait to try! just thought i'd share in case anyone is like me and stuck in a cooking rut!...if i cook at all! ;(

I've Been Tagged

I have been the lamest blogger lately. As soon as we get more settled in I think I'll be better...but for now, my friend Stephanie tagged me so at least you won't have to keep looking at the poop. :)

A= Attached or Single: Attached
B= Best Friend: Brock and my mom
C= Cake or Pie: ice cream cake or cheesecake
D= Day of Choice: sunday
E= Essential Item: computer
F= Flavor of Icecream: peanut butter cup
G= Gummy Bears or Worms: worms. they're bigger
H= Hometown: modesto, ca
I= Indulgence: cookie dough
J= January or July: july for SURE!!
K= Kids: the sweetest, cutest 2 boys ever!
L= Last movie I saw at a theater: house bunny...seriously one of the funniest movies i have ever seen! GO!!
M= Musician: hmmmm. depends if you consider britney spears a musician.
N= Number of Siblings: 4. 2 sisters, 2 brothers. love you!!
O= Oranges or Apples: oranges
P= Phobias or Fears: something happening to my family, and sharks
Q= Quote: "it's only a mistake if you don't learn from it...otherwise, it's just the price of the education" (i don't know who said it first, but i heard it from my dad)
R= Reason to Smile: brock is home!!!
S= Season: fall...yay for halloween!!
T= Tag: kacie, kellie, megan mckinley, kaili, rachel cook
U= Unknown fact: i won lots of spelling bees when i was a little girl
V= vegetarian or oppressor of Animals: have to say i love my meat...but that's a lame way to ask it
W= Worst habit: not picking up after myself
X= Xray or Ultrasound: ultrasound? i guess it depends on the situation? that's a weird one.
Y= Your favorite food: any sandwich with bacon and avacado, pasta, sweet potato fries, chocolate chip cookies, chevy's chips and salsa and tortillas, i just love food...
Z= Zodiac sign: capricorn

HOLY CRAP!!

what is it with moms and poop stories? and why do i feel the need to share?? okay, but i do, and seriously...this is a bad one!

landon had a little diaper rash so i let his little bum stay naked for a minute while i was booking my flight back to california. he had just peed, i figured it would be fine...but i wasn't watching because i was watching the computer screen. luke yells to me, "mom!! landon made a big, huge mess!" and he was RIGHT! i have never seen anything like it! and i have never seen a kid look so excited to be covered in poop! of course i had to take a picture...so here it is for your viewing pleasure. :) sorry if you get grossed out easily!







i thik luke has caught on to the fact that i always take a picture of big messes and things that he probably shouldn't do, but that i think will be funny someday. he must have been feeling left out, because as i was giving landon a bath he comes in with his shirt on backwards and eyeliner all over his cheeks...and says "take a picture of me!" so that's what the one of luke is all about. :)



i have become an expert carpet cleaner this summer- we've spilled spaghetti sauce, sweet potatoes, a FULL BOTTLE of monavie, (purple berry juice) a container of bubbles, yogurt, but this was for sure the grossest. i've actually been able to get all of that out to where you couldn't see it anymore. the trick? oxi-clean and LOTS of boiling water, and a ton of scrubbing. 2 hours later it looks as good as new! anyway, isn't that just sick??

Memories

I totally copied this off of Jodi and Amanda's blogs...it was so fun to remember fun things about them, I wanted to do it too!!
Okay, here is what you do.
As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little, or a lot, anything that you remember. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. Ahh!... memories...

More Sneaky Food!

i am loving this tricking luke into eating vegetables thing so much that i have to post about it again! i've been doing my own "recipes," actually, just adding veggie puree to whatever it kind of looks and tastes the same as. in the last couple days i've put sweet potatoes in barbecue chicken sandwiches and squash in scrambled eggs. (they were a little more wet than i usually make them. luke would never notice that, but brock ate them too and didn't say anything.) today for lunch i rolled frozen popcorn chicken in sweet potato puree and then cooked it in a pan sprayed with pam to make it crispy. i even added sweet potato to luke's ketchup! landon eats the purees just by themselves and so it's so nice to have two uses for them! i love this!! here's some pictures of luke eating his lunch so happily...so oblivious to the fact he just ate like half a sweet potato. and one of landon who is happy about eating sweet potato...and spinach. why can't kids stay like that??

Colonial Farm

this was so cute! i've been wanting to do some of the colonial stuff while we were here, but williamsburg is pretty far away. this place is about 40 minutes from where we live, it shares a (very tall chain link)fence with the CIA! it's a farm where people really work, cook, everything, like it is 1771. saturday was the market fair so they had lots to see and EAT! luke is obesessed with play-doh right now, so the pottery guy was his favorite. we made corn husk dolls and saw a bunch of animals, and luke got a pop gun. i really, really hope he remembers the rule about not pointing it at anyone! i ate tons of good fruit and bought bread from the cutest little boys pulling a cart around. it was fun to see everything how it was back then... i am still glad that i live in the 21st century, though!

Luke is 3!

how did that happen, by the way??? i always heard older people say that life goes faster as you get older, well i guess i am older now because that three years flew by so fast i want to cry. 3 is big...luke is big! i look at him and he has these long KID legs, no chubs or little thigh rolls. and we just have conversations...he asks me questions, and he knows so many things, and has so many ideas and opinions. i hate that it is going so fast, but i also totally love this age. he makes me laugh so hard. he is so eager to learn, and loves so freely. he gets excited about the littlest things and makes everything more fun. i love my lukey!!

for his birthday we had a party at...where else but his favorite place right now, chuck-e-cheese. he was so excited that he was almost frantic, it was so funny. his favorite this time was the monster truck ride. he does all these boy noises now...all these sound effects...like EERRRRRRTT!(like a car skidding?) CHEOOOWW(like a sword?) anyways, it's really funny. such a boy. he loved having his friends there, thanks for coming guys! :)

the best part of his birthday is that his grandma, my amazing mom, came to see us and help celebrate! she is seriously the coolest and we have had so much fun. i'm so bummed that she has to leave tomorrow. :(

I FOUND IT!!!

i thought for sure my camera got sold for like 20 bucks at a flea market...and then the greatest thing happened!! when i unfolded my stroller yesterday it fell right out of the bottom! i don't know how we missed it, although it must have been stuck in the metal frame part to fall out like that. i was so excited i yelled out loud! now i can put up some new pictures!

about the 4th of july...it really was incredible to see the fireworks over the washington monument, and to be right there where it all started. even after huddling under umbrellas for 20 minutes while it poured, i was still really happy to be there. it was so fun to lay out our picnics and walk around with the other girls, and so perfect when the guys showed up. watching fireworks is totally romantic. :) it wasn't until afterwards...on the metro that we had waited almost 2 hours to get on, that i decided this was a one time, now we can say we did it kind of deal! the smell was what pushed me over the edge. we were lucky (unlucky?) enough to get a seat, so we were directly under the armpits of like 10,000 that were standing,arms raised, holding on to the bar. yummm. plus luke was sick all night, and then when i thought i lost my camera...not such a fun time.

...but i'm still glad we went!!

SUCCESS!!

the other day i bought jessica seinfeld's "deceptively delicious," HOPING that i could get luke to something good for him. (i've heard all the criticism about not tricking your kids and teaching them healthy eating habits...yeah, well i didn't, and now he hasn't had an actual vegetable in seriously like a year, and i'm desperate!)well....IT WORKED! i made the peanut butter banana muffins and this morning when i told him he could have a cupcake for breakfast, he looked at me like i was the coolest mom ever and ate TWO!! besides peanut butter and banana, they also have carrot puree and oatmeal in them, and actually taste really good!! i'm going to try the mac n' cheese with carrot and sweet potato next...

4th of July in DC

maybe i'd post some pics if my camera hadn't got lost on the metro!!!! :(

These Diapers=Diaster

when i was in cali i went to an enrichment night about "going green"...and it got me thinking. as a child i was totally a whale saving, recycling, energy conserving nut. seriously, i sent my allowance to the free willy foundation. (they freed him. and then he died. so much for that.) WOW, how things have changed... (i don't recycle. i choose plastic at the grocery store. i love meat. i drive an suv. i'm all for arctic drilling...) BUT i saw these diapers and thought that i could start with one little thing, plus they are supposed to be better for your baby. even though they're totally weird looking because they're brown, i gave them a try.

DISASTER!!! i took landon to the doctor (for like the millionth time in 2 weeks...more about that later) and was just holding him on my hip because his carrier is just way too heavy these days. i went to hike him up and EWWWWW! my whole hand was covered in poop! good thing i was almost there...but when i laid him down to change him i realized that i was also covered from my waist to about my knee. serious. and all the way up his back, and down his legs, in his shorts, just really the messiest diaper he's ever had. i brought him home in just a diaper, so ghetto, and realized on the way out that we had left a little poop drip trail all down the hallway. thank goodness for costco baby wipes that clean everything!

I'M STICKING WITH HUGGIES!

Tessa's Wedding

the reason i went back to california was for my friend tessa's wedding...the dr. appointments and fun visit with my family were a bonus. :) me and tess were totally inseparable in jr. high and high school, and even though we've kind of grown apart in the last few years i wouldn't miss her wedding for anything. she looked amazing, of course...they were so happy and it was such a fun night. i had forgotten how much i love dancing, and how much i love my old friends! from now on i am seriously going to be better at keeping in touch...and gettin my freak on once in awhile! love you tess! congratulations!

P.S. my camera had a dead battery, so i've had to steal these pics off of other blogs. sad. :(

hopefully i can find more.

2001 was sooo long ago!! we walked together at our graduation.

Her photographer was so funny...he was trying to tell us how NOT to look like a linebacker in pictures. Instead, I look like a dork.

Beautiful bride...and my big hair!! Once it got hot, my hair went wild!

Me & Megan...miss you already!

California

i'll put some pictures up for now...i'm too tired to write!!!

Virginia

watch luke and allie dancing to the band...it is so funny! look at her shakin' it!

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

i don't know what happened here...weird. i don't know how to delete it though, so i guess green is what you get!

in front of the potomac river...like i said before, i have become so awkward at taking pictures!

oh yeah, i didn't even mention where we went...george washington's home, mt. vernon!

last week was our 4 year anniversary...i still can't believe it's been that long! that's as long as high school! it was such a perfect day. cache and megan were so nice and they watched the boys for us. we never, ever go anywhere by ourselves, not even dinner...like really this is the second time since landon was born that we'd gone anywhere. i forgot how fun it is to just be a couple...just to hold hands and have good conversation and to focus all of our attention on each other. by the end of the day i was missing those babies like crazy though, and thought brock was driving waaay too slow on the way home...i was anxious! i am just totally in love with my little family. brock really is my best friend and sometimes i can't even believe that i found someone so perfect for ME. for part of his present i made him a jar with 100 things i love about him, and it made me realize even more why i love him so much and all of the little things he does for me, the things he puts up without complaint, things that i admire in him. just a few of them:

-he raves over my cooking and always appreciates a good meal, but doesn't care at all if i don't make dinner

-he's comfortable in any group...he can hang out with my dad's friends or teenagers and be totally at home

-he has neat handwriting and is a good speller

-he never says a word or makes me feel bad about spending money

-he always wants to have a party

-he's the best shopper that's a guy that i know

-he carves the best pumpkins and puts up the coolest christmas lights (if you haven't seen them, i mean REALLY exceptional. and i love holidays!!)

-he stays really calm in emergencies (and i totally panic)

-he buys me really good presents

-he loves eating at chevy's as much as i do

-he makes the best chocolate chip cookies and crepes...better than anyone

-he always lets me pick the movie and the restaurant

-i always want whatever he's eating and he always shares

-our bathroom is always messy when he gets ready (like one sink full of makeup and the other has the flat iron and hairspray...it's bad) but he's never said a word, he just uses the other bathroom or even the kitchen sink

-he loves the temple

-he knows how to fix lots of stuff

-he very rarely watches sports on tv (and i hate sports on tv)



i better stop before this post gets 5 pages long. but you get the idea...my husband's cool. :)

This is the deal...

i lost the USB cord for my camera. i have two different cameras, and of course the one for the camera i've been using is the one that's missing. and what fun are posts with no pictures?? so, i need to figure out something soon, because i have lots of cute pics to put up! today was our 4 year anniversary and it couldn't have been more perfect!! pictures will come soon! i love my hot husband!!

Chuck-E-Cheese's (yay for potty training!)

we finally made it! luke had his little chart finished by saturday, but brock has been really sick and so we didn't go until this morning. did you know that chuck-e-cheese's opens as 9 am?? brock gets home so late that the morning is really the only time we could go...but it was so nice! we were the only ones there! we ate a really healthy breakfast of cinnamon breadsticks and an apple pie danish thing and had a way fun time. it's not as cool as i remember it though...i was telling brock that, and how this one isn't as cool as the one in modesto was, and he reminded me that everything is way bigger, better, and cooler when you're a kid...and that to luke it was so huge and so cool. does anyone remember the little strobe light/blacklight room? that was my favorite...along with the ball pit and the hot air balloon ride. (they really didn't have any of those.) and i know, ball pits are nasty, people find lots of gross things in them... but all i ever found in them was tokens and all that stuff about there being drug needles and live snakes is SO fake. check it out on snopes. anyways, it was a way fun morning and i feel so satisfied that we already did something fun today, and are home with the boys (hopefully) taking naps, when usually we are just now getting dressed!