Art City Eagles

I work with some pretty hilarious and amazing people.  We usually do some sort of dance or skit for our end of the year talent show, but this year I had a different idea.  I thought it would be awesome to do a faculty lip dub.  Then, the next night I was sitting in Costa Vida and heard the song Without You but David Guerra and Usher.  My mind started thinking of how amazing summer is going to be without students.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my students, but man I am ready for summer.  Ready for sleeping in, working out at anytime except for 5:30 am, eating lunch later that 11:30 am and using the restroom whenever I like, it is heaven.  The song was perfect.  That night, I bought the song, mapped out some ideas with Shoni, the next day we were filming!  It was pretty high tech.  I scotch-taped my digital camera to a wheelie cart and ran around the halls of the school dancing with some of my best friends.  It turned out amazing, if I do say so myself.

Art City Elementary Lip Dub 2013 from McKell Murdock on Vimeo.

Cursive

Remember how cool personal blogs used to be?  Yeah, me neither.  It is a dying art, kind of like cursive.  I only perfected my cursive writing (well.... made it readable) when I found out I had to teach it to my students.  Now I pretend like it is kind of important.  Maybe I should try to bring blogging back.  Maybe not.

What really happens

Once upon a time, in January 2011, I went to Jumpin' Jacks with my family. I just love bouncing on those bouncy houses. I was having a great time til' I sat down and looked slightly upward to the ceiling. That is when I realized why Santa didn't come to my house this year. I don't know if I am the first to find him, but I will not sit idly and let Santa suffer. It must be known what monsters the people at Jumpin' Jacks are. If this isn't proof enough, look closely and the the toad that is welcoming everyone to this fine establishment with the double-handed, single-finger wave. Right back at ya' Jumpin' Jacks!

Grand Indeed

When I was in New Zealand we were going to a place called Rotorua on a group trip. We were only going to stay a couple hours and go to a certain show. Our hosts didn't think that we were doing Rotorua justice. They said that in Rotorua (10 minute drive) were these cool hot mud pools and we had to go. One lady in particular said "that's like flying to Salt Lake and not seeing the Grand Canyon!" She had no idea how far that really was. (That seemed funnier at the time.)

Point of that little anecdote is that I went to the GRAND CANYON! Eight months ago, I went to the Grand Canyon for the first time. Kellie and I decided that we should probably take a boy. You know, to be safe. So Seth came along with us, to "protect" us.

As this picture so perfectly demonstrates, he was a way bigger wimp than Kellie and I. We would have been fine by ourselves. But he is funny. You might be wondering why we are in Dixie National Forest? We missed an important turn.

The Canyon was indeed Grand. I was in awe.

Someone from NZ actually took this picture. Funny eh?

We rented bikes and rode along the rim. It was a lot of fun. I really want it to be summer again.

Conversing with Children

Last week I went camping with some family up Albion Basin. Miranda's kids were there and as usual, provided us with lots of entertainment. I thought about this conversation again today it made me laugh out loud.

Miranda was justifying some holes on Hatee's pj's and said something about her washing machine eating her clothing.
Ty: Yeah, washing machine my butt.
Micah (in all seriousness): Ty-Ty, your butt's a washing chine?

To see another form of entertainment provided by Micah, fly on over to Ty and Bre's blog. Oh, I love these kiddos.

Mt. Nebo

On Saturday Ty, Bre and I climbed to the top of Mt. Nebo. It was ... hard but good. I'll leave it at that.

This was right before the climb of death, that is why I am still smiling.

On the death hill, there was not as much smiling.The three of us having lunch at the summit. Feeling pretty happy about being on top of the mountain.
The summit.

If Bre and I were in a band, this would be our new album cover.For the last 2 miles I pretty much wanted to kill myself. I was so tired. But now 24 hours later, I feel good about it and happy that we made it to the top. I was really pleased because I had a lot of good company for the hike. I made some new friends, there were about 4 flies that flew circles around my head for the WHOLE 8 hours. It was so nice of them to buzz sounds of encouragement in my ears the WHOLE 8 hours. They would softly pat me on the back, head, arms, legs etc. not bothering me at all. Thanks fly guys. See you next year.

Did you know I am a Godmother?

Did you know I am a Godmother? Well, I am. I think I am a good one too. This is my Goddaughter Josie Mae. I think that she is great, and I am pretty sure she adores me. When I looked up what a Godparent is supposed to do, it said that traditionally, godparents are informally responsible for ensuring the child's religious education is carried out. I think that we can all agree that I am a great candidate for this job. I love her.

Spring Break 2010

Long breaks from school and work are great because you get to relax, sleep in, play, and not be too responsible. Long breaks from school and work are not so great because eventually you have to go back after having a taste of freedom.

My break began by hanging out with these two princesses (I can't wait to show these photos to Ev's future lady friends).

After it snowed in the UC, we headed to Moab to play with these monkeys. This photo is before all 7 of them told off some boy scouts for killing tadpoles. Saving the environment one young amphibian at a time.

We hiked around Canyonlands for a day, looking at petroglyphs, old Native American granaries, and jumping over potholes.

According to this little man, we found lots of dinosaur eggs, bones and nests. Unfortunately we were unable to find any remnants of the tie-dyed triceratops.

At one point Rio and I had a very inspirational conversation that went a little something like this:
River: "Kell, why do you have your sleeves rolled up? To get a tan?"
Me: "Yup."
River: "Why do you want a tan? To get a boyfriend?"
Me: "Exactly."
River: "You know, if you found a "real man", he wouldn't care what you looked like."
Me: " Hmmm...."

At one point over the break a certain sister-in-law, who will remain nameless (but it rhymes with Trashli), told me my hair looked like Joseph Smith. Yes you read that correctly, JOSEPH SMITH! I was flattered, of course.Now I kind of want to shave my head, or get extensions.

We ended the break with a Sunday afternoon cartwheel competition. And because we are not competitive at all, we video-taped the event to judge who won. Points were given on style, form and landing. I put the footage to some music for your viewing pleasure. I think you will be impressed with our skills.

I'm a little bit sick of bloggin'.

Don't get me wrong, I still love stalking all of you. I still read others blogs, but no longer feel any desire to update mine. Maybe it is because I like seeing the overdone holiday spirit that was shown on my last post, maybe I don't like change, maybe I am still holding on to holiday memories wishing I could thrown tinsel on things, maybe I am sick of winter.

A couple week ago I went to visit Kel in DC. Thank goodness I am not there now. We had a grand old time. We strutted around the city like we were born there, navigated the streets like we were city girls and rocked the subway like no one has before. Our 5th or so pic of the capitol. The man that took this pic must not like the Statue of Freedom on top, hence he cut it out of the picture.

Me and Kel practically bought this place out. They were going out of business (not sure if that is a good sign). Michelle was obviously very excited to see me.

Roaming around the National Mall.

Although not flattering of either of us, this is probably my favorite picture. It was raining quite hard and was cold. My face says exactly what I feel.

A shout out to our most gracious host, Kelcy. It was very nice to catch up with her. Kelcy and Darrell opened up Hotel Pierre for Kel and I. We enjoyed the laughs, Trinidadian food, and not to mention the Jag we cruised around in.

And I cannot forget Matt, the man who lives inside of this.I am not sure what Matt looks like but judging by his accent, I think it is probably something like this:Matt, without you there would have been much more cussing, honking, tears and overall despair. I think I am in love with him.

Feliz Navidad

I have been meaning to post this all month. The time has now come and gone. So let me just say that I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, filled with baked goods, sweaters, tinsel and overdone hair and make up.

Delicate

A couple weekends ago, I turned 23. In order to celebrate the whole Murdock clan drove to Moab. Some of us attended the Folk Festival and basked in the Moab sun. We all hiked to Delicate Arch and I can't believe how stunning it is.

The girls at the Moab Folk Fest.

Toad and Trash.

Ty-Ty and Bre.

I like this accidental pic of Ty and Bre. Very deep.

It was so sunny and warm. Madre even made me go buy her a hat, turns out it was kind of small. She will be very happy I posted this pic.

The whole clan. I can't believe how many of us there are. This pic is from Bri and Alina's AKA Wild Murdocks.

This is for Ash.

Fall or Autumn, call it what you like...

I love it! I think Fall is such a fabulous time of the year. I love it when the weather gets chilly enough for sweaters, I love the smell of grapes on the vine, I love the red and orange colors. I could go on and on.

This weekend Kel and I went on a hike to Stewart Falls, the trees were beautiful. When we got back to the trail head, we realized that Kel's car alarm had been going off for an hour and a half. Everybody loved us.

We watched a little flag football and also made caramel apples with Loni. Fall was well represented this Friday.

I love my job.

Each student chose a friend and wrote about what they like to do together. This made me realize that I do love my job.

Sometimes I wish I were her.

When I was little, and Dawson's Creek was cool (wait, was it ever?) I used to wish I were Katie Holmes. I just thought she was so pretty and oh so cool. Well now, I have grown up a bit, Katie Holmes went crazy and married Tom, and I have changed my views. I want to be Brandi Carlile. I do. I want to sing like her and I want to come home and have the twins playing the guitar on my porch.

We went to see Brandi last night at The Depot (which, by the way, is a SAWEET venue). She is so fabulous. It was the first show of her tour promoting her much awaited album Giving up the Ghost. She played tons of new songs which were amazing! I never wanted her to stop playing.

Stacy, myself, Candace and Miranda moments before the show. Nate is not pictured, but he was there.



A little snippets of what you can expect on Oct. 6. Her voice is just out of this world. Did I mention that I really like Brandi Carlile?

1,2,3, eyes on me...

I'm alive, my brain feels dead but my heart is still beating.  The past two weeks have been nuts, and I am SO tired.  Last Wednesday I started school, teaching school that is.  I have 26 kids is my class, and they are so dang cute.  They are short, noisy, at times whiny, but obedient, sweet and oh so lovable. I have been called grandpa, mom, dad, asked "when is lunch?", "when is recess?", "when do we go home?" so many times, I don't even want to think about it.  I have never said the words "123 eyes on me" or "push in your chair", more in my life. 

Here are some before and after pics of my class.  I can't get them side by side :(

This week we were writing sentences using the phrase "I will...".  As I was wandering I burst out in laughter when I came upon a girl in my class.  Her paper read  "I will ficks my dick."  I had to just walk away at first I was laughing so hard.  I asked "did you write "I will fix my bike?" "Yeah." Ha ha ha ha.  That b is tricky to write. 

Last Saturday I ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon.  That is right folks, 13.1 miles.  Don't forget that .1 at the end, that was the hardest part.  Miranda, Bre and I have trained all summer.  If you know me, you know I am NOT a runner.  Turns out anyone can be a runner, you just have to actually run.  Weird.  I am a self proclaimed "slogger", slow jogger (not to be confused with slutty bloggers). 

I didn't finish first, but I also didn't finish last.  The important thing is that I finished.