My favorite month...

October. 

October 1st 

Our anniversary. 5 years this year. We traveled to Gatlinburg as a family and had the most fun and time. 

Visited the aquarium + saw some penguins. Emma found a love for pumpkins. Stayed in an amazing cabin. UT beat GA in last seconds of the game - cue Dustin laughing and screaming at the top of his lungs. Hot Tub + wine with my hubs - enough said. 

October 4th, 14th, and 15th 

Beautycounter socials and launch of our Holiday Collection. I never really thought I would like throwing socials, but they are honestly my new favorite thing about Beautycounter. They are completely casual and we are educating women, NOT selling. Its amazing what these women will learn about their personal skin care products in these get togethers. 

So much fun. 

Plus our Holiday Collection is gorgeous. 

Who wouldn't want to give the gift of safe beauty for Christmas! 

October 22nd 

Gentry's Farm with the family. I love having days where you have nothing planned except for being together and doing all FALL things. It was the best day. 

Pumpkins + cool crisp air + looking at chickens, goats, bunnies + hand holding with my mini + hay bails + all the pictures. It was the perfect fall day... and I didn't want the weekend to end. 

October 24th

Today. Emma is 28 months. I think she knew it was her day because she had a bad case of the Mondays. Straight up grumpy. Still tired and her teeth were hurting. Awful drop off which is the norm these days. Completely clingy to me or 'my mama' stage again. She loves her daddy when mama is not around. Still a picky eater. Sass talker. So so so smart. Everything is Emma's stage. 'my minnie' 'my guys' 'my mama'. Loves to sing and dancing is back - cue 'sake my booty'. Getting close to that 2.5 mark aka Christmas Eve and I cannot wait. 

Side note - Haven't bought 1 Christmas present yet. AH! Should probably get on that, but we have to worry about Halloween first. Fall Festival at Church on Friday with Trunk and Treat and Trick or Treating on Monday! Cannot. Wait. 

Emma - Judy Hopps

Dustin - Nick Wilde

Me - Assistant Mayor Bellweather

So. Excited. 

Its been a while...

When you are enjoying life as much as we are, its hard to sit down and write about it. So, sorry its been a while... 

My Grandma Hammer, Emma's Great Grandmother, came to visit for Amelia's baptism and I snapped this picture and I'm heart melted. She is such a special woman and this was a special moment for sure. 

Emma is now 2 years + 3 months and so full of sass and so goofy! (part her mama, part her daddy). She is very stubborn and independent while still staying very close to me or her daddy. She has her daddy's smarts. SO smart! I might be a little biased but when teachers from her school confirm that she is very smart, you have to believe it. Loves coloring and is sticker obsessed and also loves playing kitchen "Look mama, I'm cooking like daddy" - that's right... mama does NOT cook. I'm fine with that. 

Emma can now count to 10 in English and Spanish (skips 4 and 7, but its still adorable.. and loves to say Cinco!), sings Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, Baby Bumble Bee (she loves this one), Itsy Bitsy Spider, says her own prayers "tank you, Jesus", knows a lot of animals names.... and STILL LOVES Mickey mouse Clubhouse (club-a-house) - Emma's pronunciation. And she has officially lost her baby fat rolls... She has a sway back like her mama so that belly sticks out, poor thing. 

Emma and Moose's relationship is still hit or miss... but when it is a hit, you capture it! This is now framed in our house. "Kiss for Moose"

Her hair has gotten so long and soft (thanks to the Beautycounter kids collection) and this mama has hair envy. It's becoming more of strawberry blonde like a her GiGi. I'm hoping its just the summer sun fading it out, but when both grandmas have blonde hair, both grandpas and her daddy have brown/black.. you never know. 

I'm hoping she keeps the red! Us blue eyed gingers are one of a kind. :)

Emma is still doing great with her glasses. She actually requests them in the morning. "where my glasses?" We are also still patching. She typically is pretty good with this, but she has her days. Poor Dustin has to handle this everyday. 2 hours every day. She can get a little clingy or snippy during those 2 hours, so we try to distract with a movie. Some of her top favorites right now are - Home, Good Dinosaur, Ratatouille, 101 Dalmatians AND Mickey Mouse Club-a-house. Either way, Dustin and I feel like it is really helping and working with her left eye. We actually go to the eye doctor today to see the progress. Cross your fingers for a good report!

We tried potty training Labor Day weekend and quickly realized that she is too young and didn't really get the concept. Saturday was probably one of the longest days of our lives, Emma included. She basically was nakey all day and DID pee-pee in the potty several times, which we were so proud of her for! However, Sunday... she knew what was going on and refused to drink anything, which defeated the purpose of learning to pee-pee in the potty. Monday - this mama was over it and so was she, so we were in pull-ups and happy. 

We are going to try again soon!  

It's finally Fall here in Nashville and it feels uh-mazing!! High of 67 today! Why do I have to be in an office right now? At least I can look out the window. Take what you can get! 

So with this Fall weather brings our Anniversary (October 1st 2011)!!! 5 year anniversary!! What? When did that happen? So, we are headed to Gatlinburg to enjoy this weather, take E to the aquarium, and hunker down in a cabin in the woods. I'm so excited!! Hello hot tub and being lazy while watching the Georgia and UT game! As of right now, we are undefeated! Woop Woop! #GBO

And with fall comes, playing outside with friends! This is James, also a ginger and our neighbor across the street. They are too cute together!

All I wanted was a trip with my little family to the mountains.. and Dustin delivered! He's so awesome. We LOVE him oh so much!

More to come on that... I'm sure there will be a ton of pictures taken! 

XOXO

Life Lately...

Life has been so incredibly busy lately...

July went by super fast. 

Emma had her first sleepover with her bestie Audrey. Audrey's mama and I are best friends but she lives near Chattanooga so we rarely see each other. BUT when we do, its like nothing has changed, except for growing toddlers of course. 

Then came the dreaded molars. Lots of teething. Stomach aches. Tempers. AND time outs... lots of them. 

Then we finally were back to normal... and we felt like we could concur the wold!!

July also brought Beautycounter to the Murdocks household. It's a new adventure for this mama and I'm loving every second of it. To be completely honest, this whole paycheck to paycheck living is for the birds and its not fun, so this is just a little extra cash flow in our pockets. My goal is to put majority of it in our savings and Emma's savings for the future.

SO, what is Beautycounter you ask?! Well its this amazing company out of Santa Monica that is bringing safer and more effective skin care products to women and their families. Our CEO and founder Gregg Renfrew had been doing everything right as far as health goes; using the right cleaning products in our house, feeding herself and her family properly and then realized that what she was putting ON her body was highly unregulated. The US has not passed a major federal law to regulate the safety of ingredients used in personal care products since 1938. This is shocking and terrifying. Companies are allowed to use harmful chemicals/ingredients and make their own judgment on safety for this products. We are here to change that! We've banned more than 1500 chemicals through our "never list" all while still having products that perform. Our mission is to get safer products into the hands of everyone. So besides the monthly income by becoming a consultant, this mission is something to hold on to. Especially being a mama to my Emma bug, I want to make sure that her skin care products are safe for her precious little body!  

So the products... well they are amazing as well. We have a lot to choose from when they first began. (OH and did I mention, when you become a consultant, you get up to 35% off products... hello!) 

There is the Body Collection that includes the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion. This is probably one of my favorite collections. I have it all. 

The Kids and Baby Collection. Emma uses the kids line which has shampoo, conditioner, and wash. It has transformed her hair. Never a knot in that bad boy, which is huge. The baby line has wash, protective balm (diaper rash helper), and oil (alternative to lotion but also can be used for makeup remover on mama's faces). 

There is the Nourishing Collection. Its our simple, effective, lightweight, coconut oil based line. I might have the majority of these products as well. The cleanser and night cream being my favorite and nightly routine. 

There is the Rejuvenating Collection or our "aging gracefully" products. These are plant based and do not have any retinol in them which is commonly found in anti-aging products. Retinol is a nutrient that may cause DNA damage and speed the growth of skin tumors. 

We have makeup too!! It creates more of a natural looking face, but I'm obsessed. We have foundation (2 kinds), concealers, blush, eye shadows, lip sheer and glosses, and after 3 years... we have Mascara. All carefully formulated. I used the tint skin in porcelain, the tawny/whisper blush, several of the eye shadows, and Petal and Twig of the lip sheers. 

We have several other items too. Sunscreen. 3 different kinds of face oils. A new concept for me but has helped with many people that eczema, rosacea, or even combination skin. Hand Wash and Cream. You will find this at my kitchen sink and in the bathrooms. Charcoal mask and bar, which I just tested out last night. Let me just tell you, my face feels like a baby butt. I followed it up with the night cream just out of habit. 

So as you can tell there is something for everybody! Oh did I mention that we are coming to Target and we were just featured in Vogue's September issue? And sooner than later, there will be a teens line, a men's line AND deodorant!! That will not stay on the shelves. 

So as you can see, the Murdocks have been a bit busy with day to day life plus an added "hobby" for this mama. 

Take a look here for more information on our story, products and how to be a part of this amazing company! 

www.beautycounter.com/kyliemurdock

Me and the hubs celebrated my new adventure plus his promotion to Tech II at Genetic Associates. So proud of him! 

Can't believe Emma's 2 year and 2 month will be here on Wednesday! Little bug is growing up so much and so fast. She is so so so smart. But more of that, later this week! 

Wedding Weekend - Bertt and Bink

My best friend and cousin, Lindsey Talley wed the love of her life, Brett Borm on July 2nd! It was a thrilling weekend. So much love, joy and laughter... and Memphis heat. It was beautiful. 

Friday started off the events.

First up - since this is a soccer family - The First Annual Borm Cup. 

Second - the Bridesmaid's luncheon was held at Acre. The food was delicious.. including goat cheese dates, spicy french fries, and grilled chicken salad. Lindsey gave us amazing gifts - robe, air plant, candle, soap, jewelry dish, and a makeup bag. All wrapped up in a beautiful wicker basket. Too much but I loved all of it. 

Third - Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner - It was at the Millstone Nursery in Memphis. I was skeptical at first because there was no AC, in July, in Memphis. Why does Lindsey hate me... she knows this mama gets hot... very easily. BUT it turned out beautifully and it was a fun filled night. Drinks, Gus's hot chicken, Gibson donuts (OMG!!)

My sweet grandma was ready to part with her bright pink lips! 

She's pretty good at a selfie.

Saturday came quickly! First up, starbucks with dad, and then off to Kimmie's house to get our hair and makeup done by the fabulous Allison and Gloria. We all looked beautiful, especially the bride. 

Then - we sped to Cedar Hall (we were supposed to be there at 3p.. got there at 3:15p thanks to Kimmie's driving!) We changed, cried, took lots of pictures, had more champagne, and it was finally time to get our girl down the aisle. Us bridesmaids were nervous to walk down the aisle, for whatever reason... Lindsey had her moment of prayer and silence... but SHE WAS READY and completely breathtaking. 

Afterwards, we partied, danced, sang, and ate (all the food and cake!!). We lined the road with sparklers.... and Bertt and Bink were whisked away in a gorgeous antique car.  

Stunning! - photo by ME!

The happy couple! They did it!! 

Mom and Me. 

Dad and Me. 

My forever wedding dates... Emma and D

Beautiful weekend for 2 great people. #berttandbinkgethitched