We had a great day at the Heard Museum today. There are many trails to walk and the weather was perfect. Plus, we had some amazing company, so it was such a fun adventure!

We went with my friend Julie and her three fun boys. Nate and Julie's oldest (Zach) have been friends since the womb. Well, since Nate was in the womb, anyway. One of Nate's first pictures is of an 8-month-old Zach holding him the week he came home from the hospital.

I don't know how to explain what great friends the Hansons are to us. We have a long history, and, if my luck continues, we'll have a long future as well.

Julie and two of her three boys

And can I just tell you how much this little guy wears me out? He is a stubborn little thing, and yet is so darn cute. I had to take the stroller back to the car after I realized that these were true walking/hiking trails and not stroller-friendly. And boy, did that make things interesting. He needs a leash. Seriously. He is his own man, and he makes his own path.

Hopefully Nate didn't think that his Spring Break was too bad, even though we really didn't do much. At least he's too young to know that Spring Break is supposed to be more than trips to the park, the gym, and McDonald's playplace. :)

PS Julie, I'll send you these photos and a few more that I got. But I'm gonna hold 'em hostage until you send me the picture of Zach holding Nate.
just kidding.

A Public Apology

PLEASE READ.

Recently there has been an event in my life that has caused a lot of reflection on my part, and I feel the need to publicly apologize to anyone who has seen my photography website or my photography blog in the past few months.

I received an email from a client (who is now also a friend) asking me to remove the images of their children from my photography galleries because of some questionable images that were also presented. Understandably, they did not want their children to be presented in the same venue as an "implied nude" image of a pregnant woman.

I want to issue an apology to them, and to anyone who has seen and been offended by the images from that session. I have temporarily discontinued my photography blog (I'm in the middle of switching to a new one, anyway) and have removed the questionable images from my photography website as well.

Because they may have offended some of you (and definitely offended these sweet clients), I do not want to seem as though I am justifying the use of those images as part of my portfolio, but I would like to explain them. Those images were part of a maternity session that I did for someone who requested both traditional and contemporary images for their session. The beautiful woman who appears in those images chose that particular wardrobe selection, and I was asked (and paid) to present her in the most beautiful and artistic way I was able. After a couple hours of shooting this particular session, I subsequently spent hours looking at the images while I edited them. I became somewhat numb to them, and have used them in an arguably flippant manner, not once thinking of anyone else's perception of them. I deeply regret this.

I sincerely apologize and hope that you will continue to support my dream of becoming a great photographer, knowing that I commit to all of my clients, future clients, and dear friends that there will never again be any image posted on my website or blog which will be offensive. You can now view them with confidence that you can keep your virtue about you as you do so.

Thanks.

Wanna hear a story?

If you have a phobia about stories that involve a lack of home-cleanliness, this story is not for you. I'm sure that cjane has something good to say, you might want to just click over to her blog. I think she had a guest post today.

Anyway.

So a couple weeks ago, I busted my rear-end to be sure that my home was clean from room to room to room. It involved staying up all night before Nate's birthday party. This may sound ridiculous to you, but it makes sense to me. I am only successful at cleaning house when these two are asleep:
I'm not being dramatic when I tell you about this. For one, I DO NOT enjoy cleaning the floor and picking up toys at 3 a.m. nor do I enjoy finding the eighteen spoons that have been removed from the utensil drawer by my 18-month-old, scattered all over the house. And so when I say that I cannot clean house until they are asleep, I am not being dramatic. I am also not exaggerating when I tell you that I could spend my entire day following Aidan around the house, cleaning up after him. He is busy. Constantly moving. And constantly pulling random things out of drawers, cabinets, and closets and then carrying them to another room. He does this all day long! And I'd love to spend my day following him around the house, placing items back where they belong. But the problem is that I actually have other things that need to be done, like laundry and dishes and work and you know, stuff. Really important stuff.

So the real problem is that when I do try to tidy up when he's awake, he literally (and again, I'm not being dramatic!) follows me around and undoes whatever I do. Whatever I put away, he pulls back out. Just this morning I picked up the DVDs that he'd scattered around the floor, then went to put a load of wash in the dryer. By the time I came back, the DVDs were all over the floor again.

Okay, so that is just background to the fact that I started to notice that not a single one of the men (or little men) living in this home were cleaning up after themselves. Not even the head Man, who has been taking his meals at the computer desk (DO NOT even get me started on this, it's a whole other issue) and then leaving the dishes there.

So, two weeks ago, I went on strike.

I've been sure that everyone is fed and clothed, but beyond that, I've hardly lifted a finger.**

Um, that was a dumb thing to do.

Mostly because no one noticed until it got really bad. And then they were all like, Hmmm, where did that worker-lady go? I can hardly walk here. Really, WHERE is that worker-lady? The one who usually cleans this stuff up? Did she quit? When will she be back? I'm not sure what to do with all this stuff. Is there some sort of machine to clean all this up?

And then I was all like, Ha! See! If I don't do the work, no one will! Gotcha! Now you all appreciate me! Right? RIGHT???

Silence.

So, now I've got two problems: I made my point and no one cared, AND it's going to take ME another two weeks to dig myself out of this mess. Bummer.




PS If you have any real-world ideas on how to help me with my "helper" problem (aka Aidan undoing all my doings) please comment. I'm at my wit's end here. The way I see it, I have two options. (1) Tie him to a pole in the backyard and let him run circles around it all day or (2) Completely clear out my house so that there is nothing IN the cabinets, drawers and closets to make a mess with. Any other ideas?

PPS Just in case you feel that I've totally failed in the way of raising my children, I have to mention that Nate's room has been spotless for the past two weeks. I have taught him to be clean--He is adamant about keeping his own space clean. Just not the shared space, I guess.

**EDIT: I did do the dishes several times in the last two weeks, so I guess I did lift a finger or two.

Blogger's Block

A little blog post about What The Murdocks Have Been Doing Lately.
Beware: This is a totally random post of lots of pictures thrown together. You have been warned!!!

Swinging At The Park
(obviously, not getting a haircut. It's certainly time, but I just can't bring myself to do it yet. Maybe this week...)

Bowling
(Which is a whole other blog post. When did bowling get to be so expensive? There were three of us, we bowled 2 games and rented shoes...the total was $40! Who can afford that? Well, not us! We won't be bowling again any time soon!)

Lovin' on adorable babies. This is one of my favorite things to do!

(Photo Courtesy of Nate Murdock, future photographer!)

Taking terrible self-portraits.

Playing out-of-doors whilst looking like an orphan child.

Notice the trend? I can really only get pictures of him RUNNING AWAY from the camera lately.

This CRACKS me up.

Ha, ha.

Someone has been digging in the trash for discarded cups-of-ice. (Trust me, all beverages have been sucked dry by someone else)
And where are the orphan's clothes? Pathetic!



FLYING OUR NEW KITE:

I love this one (above) because of the wide angle--if you look closely you can see both Adam and Nate at the bottom of the picture. Nate loved flying the kite, and Adam really took on the challenge to keep 'er in the sky.

Seriously, Aidan could have held on tight and ridden it like a paraglider. It was that big.

Too bad he weighs like 400 pounds and never could have made it more than two feet above the ground.

These brothers play so well together! However, I'm afraid that soon Aidan will outweigh Nate. He's already way more aggressive and loves to tackle his big brother.
His big brother who is, mind you, four-and-one-half years older than him!!!



I made it to the gym FOUR TIMES this week. I just had to throw that in. (no pictures, but maybe in a couple months I'll post the "after" pictures. haha)

Aidan's nickname lately is The Tornado. Look out! He's very destructive. You never know when he'll hit, where he'll hit, or what he's going to do. And he's dang FAST!

Wrapping up the weekend in true Murdock style (well, lately, anyway...this is at least our fifth round of illness this Cold&Flu season).

Sick on the couch with a high fever.
And still begging to play the Wii.

Heaven help me!