Mandy (Vidkal) MURPHY

After graduation, not knowing what I wanted to do, I moved to Albuquerque and lived with my cousin. It didn’t take me long to figure out it would be better for me to take my parents offer and go to college. I headed down to ENMU in Portales. It was a small university which was perfect for me. After 2 years I knew I wanted to travel so I applied for the exchange program and ended up in Anchorage, Alaska where my brother Jeff was. I spent 1 1/2 years up there and loved every minute of it. There is so much beautiful country that is still untouched by man! Once again, feeling the need to travel, I headed to a town outside of Mobile, Alabama. It was just a little too much culture shock to go from Alaska to Alabama so I only lasted about 3 months and headed to Colorado where I am now.

My plan in moving to Colorado was to finish my schooling at CSU. I needed to have in-state tuition so with a year to wait I started trying out all kinds of jobs. I sold beer at the Bronco games, I worked as an in-home aid for a quadriplegic, I did some construction clean up, and even some roofing. Finally, I settled into a good position for me at Lutheran Medical Center as a surgery scheduler.

Then, came the year of 1999/2000 which would change my life forever. After dating a great guy for 4 years we decided to say "I do forever and ever" at the top of a mountain in Lyons, Colorado. Little did I know that I would end up getting pregnant on our honeymoon. We actually got married, bought a major fixer-upper house, and found out I was pregnant all in about 6 weeks. It was a crazy time. We ended up gutting our house in Golden down to concrete walls and dirt floor. Thank goodness it was a really tiny house. I learned so much and can now do a little bit of everything as far as drywall, electrical, plumbing, tiling, etc.

We had our first little girl in March of 2000, Josephine Alexis Murphy (Joey). She would then be followed by another little girl in 2003, Mattea Aspen Murphy. It is amazing how much our girls have taught us and it is so fun to watch us grow constantly as a family. Joey will be starting 3rd grade this year (amazing how fast time goes). She is all girl! She has been in ballet since she was 3 and still loves it! We always have the music on and little dancing feet everywhere. Mattea will be turning 5 this week! She loves dirt and rocks and water mixed in there too of course! For now though I think her favorite thing is changing clothes 10 times a day, and then putting them in the dirty hamper!

We now live in Frederick, Colorado, which I really enjoy since it has a small town feel to it. My husband Joe owns his own company doing hardwood floors. I help out with the business, stay home with my girls, and work part time (still at Lutheran Medical Center and at Good Samaritan Medical Center) doing payroll, as well as a unit secretary in the operating room. I enjoy my work and my family and look forward to what the future holds! I am sure our girls will teach me oh so much more come those "teen" years.

I am excited to head down for the reunion, see everyone and see Los Alamos too (I haven't been back for 13 years of so). It has been awesome reading all the bios and the message board! Thank you so much for all those who helped put it all together! We will see you soon and would love to hear from anyone at mjmjmurphy@msn.com.

Me & Joe after a fun filled 4th of July

Winter last year

Mud Rules

Joey & I in Mexico

Joey with her dog Lily Pad

Mattea doing her favorite thing

Yellowstone in the spring

Stupid human tricks