Morgan Family Moments

sunday will come

2010-02-20T21:29:00.001-08:00

We Live!!!

2009-10-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

In order to appease my huge number of blog fans (I think the total may be up to 2 now), I thought I would return to the blogging world. Rather than bore you with an extremely long post describing the crazy summer that flew by, the morning sickness filled last several months, or the monotonous yet fun life of a SAHM, I will simply start fresh.

I recently celebrated my birthday (please do not ask how old, let's just say I am OLD) and my DH offered to buy me a new camera for my birthday (interpreted, that means that I would do the looking, shopping and purchasing of the camera and thank him later for getting it for me.) Thanks honey!!

After looking at several different options, I decided to take the plunge and enter the world of digital SLR photography. When my Canon Rebel T1i arrived, let's just say I was slightly overwhelmed. It had about a hundred or so more buttons/functions than my little point and shoot camera had. But, I am not known for giving up.....well, diet and exercise don't count....so I stuck my nose right in that owner's manual and started studying. Here are the results:

Ahhh, my sassy little gal.

Not bad for a beginner. However, there are SOOOOOO many things about my camera that I still want to learn about. If you have any tips, tricks, instructions, websites, etc. - ANYTHING that will help me move on from beginner to novice, I would love the advice!!

And as for all my blogger fans (I hope you two are still awake), I will try to do better and update at least once a month. :)

A Little More....

2009-06-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post, because I don't want to forget this moment. The other night we were all in the living room watching a movie and Kyle suddenly says, "I love all my family. I love Dad and Mom and Mason and Hadley." Then, he leans in to me and quietly says,
"But Mom, I love you a little more."
I still smile and get teary-eyed when I think about it. That made my day and I don't want to forget it!!

One Decade Gone!!

2009-05-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Like we all say...."Where does the time go?" My baby is ten years old now! I guess he's not A baby anymore, but he'll always be mine.

It seems like just yesterday....

And now.....
He was so excited to find this present on the morning of his birthday! He's been collecting aluminum cans for over a year to save up for his very own motorcycle. Mason had saved over $300 (just from cans!). We decided to pitch in the rest and surprise him with it for his birthday.

Happy Birthday Mason! We love you!!

Spring Break Trip

2009-04-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

With Lynn's job it is really difficult for us to leave for Spring Break, but I twisted his arm and convinced him that we needed to take the kids somewhere, anywhere, for a couple of days so that we wouldn't be totally bored the whole week. While going south to somewhere warm was really tempting, I thought it would be nice to go to Salt Lake, see some sites there and visit my mom. Here's a few pics:

(Maya, Hadley, Kyle and Mason)

Tuesday night we arrived in Salt Lake and my mom and my aunt were so kind to watch the kids while Lynn and I went to the Jordan River Temple. We wanted to go to the Draper temple but were running late and found out that you needed to get appointments ahead of time because they are so busy. That was fine because a temple is a temple, right? It is always wonderful to be in the temple.

My mom took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and they had a blast. Nina and her family came down and played too. Thanks so much Mom and Aunt Carmen!

The next day we enjoyed a ride on Trax (exciting for small town kids!) and went on a tour of the Conference Center. Kyle and Hadley have never been there, but it was fun for the rest of us to go again.

(On top of the Conference Center. Windy and cold....)
We were lucky enough to see an apostle during our trip. Elder D. Todd Christofferson was wandering the halls and we also rode in the elevator with him. It's always an awesome feeling to be in the presence of a prophet of the Lord.

Afterwards, we visited the observatory of the church office building - if you have never done this, you need to! It's amazing!
(See the capitol in the background?)
It is the very top floor of the building, 26th floor I think. And the elevator is the fastest elevator in Utah - you travel a floor a second, maybe even a little faster. We want to come back again on a clear day - they say you can see the whole valley from up there.

(How cute is this?)

(I told you....the view is amazing!)

(Ahhh.....another cute pic)

(Like I said, it was windy that day....)

After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon at Discovery Gateway. A very fun place for kids, but a little pricey if you don't have a membership there. I guess all that matters is the kids had fun, right?

That night the kids enjoyed another night of swimming at the hotel (thank heavens for Marriott rewards - free hotel stays!!). For small town families, an indoor swimming pool and a stay at a hotel is sometimes all the vacation we need!

After some minor car problems (thanks to a full gallon of watered down gas - don't buy gas from the Chevron in Orem that is southwest across from University Mall!!), we made it home safe and sound Thursday night. It was a fun trip, but it's always great to be home!

The Answer is....

2009-04-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm trying not to be depressed after all of your really low guesses.....:) Here's the scoop:

I watched as my total started at about $177 and then plummeted down to $54 and some change - it was awesome! As you can see, my savings was over $120!! And, I still have a coupon for free milk and two 10% coupons for next time, plus I will be sending in for a $20 rebate. Granted, I didn't pay as little as some have done in the past, but I was still super excited with the savings! Hopefully, as I gain experience, I can someday post an even better savings total! Thanks to everyone for playing.

Name That Total.....

2009-04-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

As a coupon virgin (so to speak...), I have been anxiously awaiting the day that I could unashamedly display a picture of my great savings. The day has arrived! Without further ado (much to the embarassment of my husband and son), here it is!

How much did I save? Nope....not so fast.....I'd like you to guess. Comment with your guess of the total cost for all 46 items. Please take note that there are two packages of country style ribs, two gallons of milk, a new release movie "Bedtime Stories", seven boxes of cereal, ten betty crocker icings, eight bbq sauces, and more! I'll post the total in a couple of days. I can't wait to see the guesses!

Ahhhh....March is over!

2009-03-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

Do you hear that? It is me, sighing.....March is finally over! It has been fun, hectic, exciting, crazy....it came in like a lion for me and is now going out like a lamb (unlike the weather). I guess I'll back up a ways and report on some of the events of the last couple of months - so as we all say, "beware of long post!"

Although it felt like we had barely put last year's Pinewood Derby car away, it was once again time for Lynn and Mason to put their creative juices to work. Mason made the design, cut out the car, painted it and Lynn attached the wheels/axles. I must say that I was once again impressed with the good balance of creativity and competitiveness displayed by father and son. They want to win (of course, who doesn't!) but they also enjoy spending the time together building the car.

Circleville Pinewood Derby - Jan. 29, 2009

After a long night of some pretty intense racing, Mason ended up with 2nd place! He was pretty excited and we were so proud of him - because he did almost all of it himself! We had a great time and were glad that our group doesn't go race at a stake level. :)

Valentine's Day 2009

Valentine's was fun, between the kids' artwork, gifts, Lynn's "heart-attack" and our favorite - sugar cookies! - we definitely felt the love at the Morgan house!

Kyle decided that he wanted to try out wrestling this year. Mason has never shown any interest in it - he is faithful to basketball - but I'm willing to let my kids try most things at least once. So, we signed up and attended wrestling practice - with a four-year old. If you're thinking that's crazy.....you're probably right!

I foolishly left my camera at home when we attended the first practice. It was the most hilarious thing I have ever seen! Kyle and his best buddy Jaden were excited to wrestle but they didn't know what that entailed! Needless to say, we parents were in tears from laughing so hard at the boys trying the "Piute roll", single and double leg takedown, etc.

Tournament day finally arrived....

See, there are other people as crazy as us!

Kyle did really well. He won his first match by default, lost his second match and then pinned his third man. He would have won his second match because he had the little boy pinned the whole first round, but they don't let them win the first round. Then the second round he got on the bottom and just couldn't get back up. But we were so proud of him and he had a lot of fun! The best part was the silver medal he received!

Here he is with his friend Jaden - proudly showing off their medals.

Hadley's 1st Birthday

I made it through Hadley's first birthday without crying, amazingly enough.

Here she is on the cute little chair Grandma Vanya gave her - which she loves!

Loving her new dolly.....

Thanks to all the cousins who came for the party!

Hmmm....she's not to sure about this cake.

Maybe cake isn't so bad!

Ok, so now, the reasons why I'm glad March is basically now over:

1: Circleville Elementary Spring Sing
This is an annual event that the school puts on. I actually LOVE helping with this, but it is quite time consuming. Each class picks one song that they would like to perform and then the whole school performs two songs together. So, that gives me NINE songs that I choreograph and teach within a matter of four weeks. This year was extra fun because of the songs they picked - and the kids did an AWESOME job! I'm always so amazed at how smart these kids are - they learn the moves rather quickly and perform them wonderfully when the night comes.

Here's half of Kyle's preshool group and you can see the rest of the school in the background.

Kyle (in the middle with the glasses) singing "Be a Friend" from the CareBears - he sang his little heart out!

Mason - we didn't get a picture of him doing the best part :( Their song was "Hittin' the Hay" from Barnyard. The boys had a part where they would jump and alternate kicking their legs out to the side - the crowd went wild during that! This was a super fun song and I got a good workout teaching it to them!

The whole school - they performed "We Rock" and "Footloose" together. Tons of fun, but glad it's done!!

Reasons #2 & #3 I'm glad March is over:
2: Region Drama
About a month and a half ago, Scott Bagley asked if I would be willing to help some students prepare for the One-Act Play competition for Region Drama. I stupidly agreed to (not realizing that I would be teaching two other things at the same time). We had less than three weeks to learn, memorize and prepare the play. Halfway through, one of the lead parts quit and I had to replace him. But, the kids were so much fun to work with and we had a great time. The play did well, but didn't make it to state. However, all the students who competed in individual events are going to State competition and two of them received medals at Region. I was really proud of them!

3: Junior Prom
The Juniors asked me to choreograph their promenade. I've done it several times in years past, but I was a little nervous for this year. First, because last year's promenade was amazing (great job Loana!) and I didn't know if I had much creativity left in me! The Juniors made it a little harder by changing their minds about their song 3 times! But, it went well, we had fun and the kids also did a beautiful job.

So THAT'S why I'm glad March is over! But.....now what am I gonna do with all this time on my hands? :)

365 Days Later....

2009-02-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

Where does a year go? Here is February 27, 2008:

And here is a year later:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HADLEY!!!

Three Months Old

Six Months Old

Nine Months Old

Warning to Women!!!!!!

2009-02-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

I know it's been forever since I've posted anything, but I wanted to post this really quick.

ALL WOMEN MUST READ THIS!!!!!

My thighs were stolen from me during the night a few years ago. I went to sleep and woke up with someone else's thighs. It was just that quick. The replacements had the texture of cooked oatmeal. Whose thighs were these and what happened to mine? I spent the entire summer looking for my thighs. Finally, hurt and angry, I resigned myself to living out my life in jeans. And then the thieves struck again.

My butt was next. I knew it was the same gang, because they took pains to match my new rear-end to the thighs they had stuck me with earlier. But my new butt was attached at least three inches lower than
my original! I realized I'd have to give up my jeans in favor of long skirts.

Two years ago I realized my arms had been switched. One morning I was fixing my hair and was horrified to see the flesh of my upper arm swing to and fro with the motion of the hairbrush. This was really getting scary - my body was being replaced one section at a time. What could they do to me next?

When my poor neck suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a turkey neck, I decided to tell my story. Women of the world, wake up and smell the coffee! Those 'plastic' surgeons are using REAL replacement
body parts - stolen from you and me! The next time someone you know has something 'lifted', look again - was it lifted from you?

THIS IS NOT A HOAX. This is happening to women everywhere every night.
WARN YOUR FRIENDS!

P.S. Last year I thought some one had stolen my Boobs. I was
lying in bed and they were gone! But when I jumped out of bed, I was relieved to see that they had just been hiding in my armpits as I slept. Now I keep them hidden in my waistband.

Thanks for sharing this with me, Nina!

Walking With Dinosaurs

2009-01-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went with some friends to "Walking With Dinosaurs." All I can say is........WOW!!!! It was AWESOME!!! We had pretty good seats, but even if you were sitting up high you would still be amazed at these things. They looked so real and the kids LOVED it! I must admit, even I really enjoyed it! Our pictures didn't turn out too great, so I'm using some pics from their website. If you ever get a chance to go, I would HIGHLY recommend it!

We could not believe how humongous these guys were! They were LIFESIZE. So if you read closely, they were 72 feet long!! And they were as tall as a three story building!

This guy was pretty cool too.

The plate on this guy's head was gigantic!! They had two of these fighting. The boys were captivated.

Definitely the absolute favorite of the entire night. It was really funny how they brought in the T-rex. They got you all excited and set-up for him to come in - even had his huge shadow showing behind the curtain - and then......out comes this little T-rex and lets out a cat's meow. It was just the baby. Very funny! But not to worry, Momma came out and it was a definite crowd pleaser! Huge and loud!!

Before the show started we wandered around the Energy Solutions Arena and found David James and.....I can't remember the other guy's name......watching the Jazz and getting ready for their sports reports. This is Mason, Kyle and Michael. Mason invited his best friend to come along with us. And yes, Mason and Michael are the same age!!

Mason and Michael

Lynn, Hadley and Kyle - Hadley actually enjoyed it too. She got a little tired and hungry, but never got scared! See Kyle's Perma-Grin?

Paul, Teresa, Abby and Gavin.....thanks for inviting us to this you guys! We loved it!

You can see more about the show at www.dinosaurlive.com

My Sassy Baby

2009-01-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

I was watching one of my favorite morning shows a while back - Good Things Utah - and they talked about a 2009 Baby of the Year contest being put on by "Sassy Babies" store at Gardner Village. Well, how could I resist? So, here is my sassy baby:

Here is the website with the information for all of you moms with sassy babies of your own: www.sassybabies.com and look under "casting call."
They are accepting entries until January 31st and there are four categories for boys/girls ages newborn to three years old. It looked like they will be giving away some awesome prizes too. So enter your baby too - because we all know that our babies are the best, right!?!

What?!? It's 2009?!?!?

2009-01-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

Of course, like the rest of you, I have been too busy to post anything until now.....so let's play catch-up!!

Ahhh....the peaceful before....

So much for clean and peaceful!!!

It really doesn't look that bad I guess. This was the first year in over ten years that I didn't have my mom, brother and sister here with us for Christmas. I was really sad to not have them here, but we had a great time anyway. The kids didn't wake up until eight o'clock - thank you kids!!!! Hadley (missing from the picture above) didn't get up until 9:30!!!

She was excited to see the "mess" in the livingroom when she woke up! Because of lack of patience, the boys helped her unwrap her presents - they didn't want to wait all day for her to unwrap each present!

Hadley's first baby doll!!! I'm sure someday she'll know the proper way to care for her baby....

Grandpa and Grandma coming to check out what Santa left.

I love the look on Hadley's face...."Not too bad I guess."

Kyle's "haul."

Mason's "haul."

We received another special Christmas present....tickets to a Jazz game!!
We went to Salt Lake for a couple days, visited my mom and went to the Jazz v. 76ers game on Monday night. The kids all wore their Jazz jerseys. Hadley looks so cute in hers!!

Kyle doesn't look real thrilled....he just woke up from a nap.

Several cousins came to the game too. From left to right: Mason, Mickell, Baylee, Myndi, Hadley & me, Clellan (Mickell & Myndi's cousin), Mikaylee and Kyle.

We were in the lower bowl on row 23. I was worried that would be way too high, but they were not too bad! It was so much fun to be there with the kids and enjoy their excitement too. We were even on the big screen ("jumbo-tron") a couple of times!

I think Lynn's pretty pleased with his little Jazz fan!

Here's the team! ...In the background ;)

Since our hotel was only a couple of blocks away and the weather wasn't too bad, we walked to the arena. We then decided to stay afterwards and the kids got to go down on the floor. They were really excited about that! Overall, it was an awesome night!

Hadley was wiped out! She was SO good during the game. I think she enjoyed it as much as we did. She clapped and yelled right along with the rest of us!

What a great ending to a great year! Hope you had a Happy New Year and may the upcoming year be filled with love and happiness!

Christmas, Christmas Time is Here.....

2008-12-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

Whoa! I can't believe that we only have a few days left until Christmas!! Once again, the time is flying by and I can't slow it down. We've enjoyed a lot of fun Christmas moments already.

We had our annual Ward Christmas party/program/dinner. The kids did a great job singing, the food was delicious and it was great to see Santa. Here are a few pics:

The primary took pictures of the kids dressed in costumes of the nativity (Mary, Joseph, wisemen, shepherds, angels, etc.) and then presented them in a slide show. There was narration of the biblical account and the children sang several songs as well. It turned out really nice.

The kids all got to sit on Santa's lap. Hadley wasn't too sure about Santa and Mrs. Claus, but when her brothers sat down with her, she didn't cry!

Kyle: "I want a red power ranger and some presents." Hmmm....hopefully he doesn't care too much about what the other presents are!

Mason: "I want a ripstick, a skateboard and a paintball gun." Much more specific than Kyle.

Our Christmas outfits. It was SO much fun to buy a Christmas dress this year! And I think they all look pretty cute - but, of course, I'm biased. :)

FINALLY! We got some snow! It wasn't a lot - probably three inches at the most, but it was enough to go sledding and play in the snow! And Hadley got to experience snow for the first time too!

I'm Nine Months Old!

2008-12-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! It's me, Hadley. I decided that since I am nine months old now, it is MY turn to put a post on this blog! I'm having my mom help me because if I tried to type this myself it would look like this:

;aleiN;KND9Flkne;IEDDHEFFP98ELKN;KD;LAIID;FKENLKN;lkdoinf

Anyways, Mommy was tagged by Angela, but we decided it would be fun for me to do this tag. So here goes!

8 Favorite TV Shows (In no particular order):
Hmmm....I don't really watch a lot of tv, but I do like anything bright and colorful! Here are some of the shows I watch with my big brothers.
1. SpongeBob Squarepants - I haven't decided if I really like this one or not....
2. Dora and Diego - I LOVE these guys!
3. Little Einsteins - "We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship!"
4. Jazz Games - Go Utah! Deron Williams is my favorite player (that's what Mason tells me)
5......I can't think of any others!

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Eat
2. Sleep
3. Have my diaper changed
4. Crawl EVERYWHERE!
5. Make a mess of the cupboards and drawers I can open
6. Play pattycake (my favorite!)
7. Play in the bathtub (my second favorite!)
8. Try to stand up without holding on to anything - I know I will do it soon!

Favorite Restaurants
I don't really get to pick where we go, but I like the food at these places that my family picks:
1. Wendy's (I like french fries and ice cream!)
2. Chinese food (Rice...yummy!)
3. Denny's or IHOP (we love to eat breakfast any time of day)
4. Chuck-a-rama or Golden Corral (Buffet = Anything I want!!!)
5. Pizza Hut (Who doesn't love it there?)
6. Taco Bell
7. My Mom and Dad like Rusty's Steakhouse
8. Mason and Kyle like McDonald's sometimes too

8 Things on My Wishlist
1. A new doll for Christmas
2. More teeth besides the six I already have - I want to try a steak!
3. My very own tractor - I love to drive my brothers' tractors!
4. Walking - I'm so tired of being on all fours, I want to run with my brothers!
5. A baby brother or sister (hahahahaha!!)
6. Play in the tub all day long
7. My own remote control so I don't have to share with Daddy
8. No More Diapers! Or wait....maybe that's on Mommy's wishlist....

8 Things I Love
1. My Family
2. Talking and Singing - even if nobody knows what I'm saying
3. Laughing and Playing
4. Being able to go anywhere I want to in the house
5. Jumping
6. Taking a Shower or Bath
7. Rice cereal with fruit, sweet potatoes, crackers, apple puffs, milk, water.....just food in general!
8. Exploring!

Well, that's me in a nutshell! Thanks for reading - gotta go, its naptime!

Diary of an elk hunter

2008-11-14T16:05:00.000-08:00

Six days of hiking over 20 miles of hills, rocks and mountains, this is what I have to show for it.....

He's not a monster, but he was sure fun to get!

Quick synopsis:
Last day of the hunt, crack of dawn, we see a bull right on the skyline. I tell Lynn, he grabs my gun, I struggle to get my shoes on but don't have time. I quickly open the door, aim and shoot. The bull falls like a sack of bricks on the first shot. He slowly tries to get back up but I cure that with the last and final shot. Lynn's cheering for me and I'm jumping up and down still without shoes on! We walk off the road about 150 yards and find him laying there.
It has been a fun week with plenty of adrenaline rush moments, angry and disappointing moments of shooting at a couple of really big bulls but missing because they were just a little too far away. For the last day of the hunt, after fearing that I wouldn't get one at all, I'm pretty happy with the results. Like I said, he's not huge, but he's a lot bigger than what I had before!
By the way, it's about fifteen degrees on the mountain at the time of the shoot and the north wind was blowing at about twenty miles an hour - I was very happy that we got the job done early and didn't have to do our daily five to seven mile hike today!

So....at the end of this amazing week, I've learned so many things.
First - never give up. Even though it may not turn out exactly as you hope, you can still have a happy ending.
Second - I was reminded of how much fun I have when I'm with my husband. Sometimes life and kids push the husband/wife relationship to the back burner. It was WONDERFUL to spend all this time with Lynn. He really is my best friend and I am so happy that I have him in my life.
Third - God truly has so many beautiful creations on this earth that we need to take time to enjoy them. While hiking through rocky hillsides or sagebrush flats, I could find beauty in every step of the way. No matter how tired or cold I got, I was still grateful to be able to enjoy all of it.
Another lesson - even when it is bitter cold outside, you can still stay very warm by hiking up steep terrain!
Next - it is better to shoot at the big ones and miss than to never have shot at all!!
Also, it's surprising how tired you get after a huge adrenaline rush!
Last, sometimes it takes miles and miles of hiking before you get the prize on the easy road. Would I trade any of the moments and experiences of the previous days for the easy kill on the last day? Never!

WARNING: The following paragraphs are for personal journal keeping purposes, read at your own risk! Long and descriptive - it might be boring for you! If you'd like to read about the moment of triumph, read at the end of this post starting at "Day 6 - Last day of the hunt."

After nine years of applying for the bull elk hunt, I finally drew out this year. While I should have been extremely excited, I actually felt a little bit of trepidation. Of all the years to draw out, I picked the year that I have an eight month old baby who is still nursing at home. So I was really worried about having to leave Hadley for most, if not all, of the day.
Lynn - who by the way was really excited for me and is still patiently awaiting his turn to draw out after having the maximum number of points - went scouting for a big bull for me. While he was able to spot several nice ones, we didn't really have one specific bull in mind to hunt. We were hoping to find a decent one on the first day and get it done.

Day One (November 8th):
We awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4:30 a.m. and headed up the mountain. A friend of Lynn's (Shane) knew of a couple nice bulls in a specific area and we decided to go there. We rode four-wheelers up a ways and then began what I would soon find to be the longest, hardest hike of my life. I've decided that Shane and Lynn are speed hikers, while I am a very out of shape, slightly overweight, mother of three. Anyhow....after about a mile long hike uphill, we spotted three nice bulls jogging up the next draw (we figured they heard us). The last one, which was also the fastest one, was the biggest and Lynn called "a shooter." Unfortunately, they busted up over the hill pretty quickly. So of course, we go after them. On our way we see another bull standing broadsided, staring right at us, seemingly unworried of our presence. Shane and Lynn took a look and had me look as well. We decided at that point that he was an ok bull but wanted to go try to find the other big one. Once again, we spotted four more ok bulls, but none that we were too anxious to shoot.
Moving on around the hill, we could hear the first three bulls in the trees below us. We were sneaking through the cedar trees when I look to my right and see the bull heading in the opposite direction less than 40 yards away from me. That was amazing to see one so close by, even if I only caught a quick glimpse of him through the trees. That would be the last time we would see him.
Shane followed his track while Lynn and I walked across the top of the ridge in case he spooked the bull out. No such luck. Finally, after hiking more than five miles, we returned to the four wheelers and headed home for lunch.
That afternoon was fruitless as well and we found ourselves already regretting not shooting one of those bulls we had seen in the morning. We had been given exactly what we had ordered on a platter, but refused itMason was able to ride his four wheeler with us that afternoon and I learned that my little boy is quickly growing into a man. I'm not sure if I like that or not!

Day 2 (November 10th - took a break on Sunday):
I made the mistake of telling Lynn that despite my need for an hour long soak in the tub Saturday night, I was willing to hike whatever distance he wanted me to in order to shoot a bull. He took full advantage of that. Another long day of hiking. I seemed to have survived hiking a little better this day though. I didn't feel so tired that I was sick, so that was good. Once again, no luck. We did see four nice bulls about a mile away at the highest ridge - so no chance there.
One highlight was a nice buck that came within twenty yards of the truck. He was a little preoccupied to be too nervous about us - he's in the rut.

That afternoon, Lynn glassed (hunting lingo for using binoculars and a spotting scope) the hill we had seen the bulls on Saturday morning and spotted two more bulls up there just before dark. Aha! Our look would be changing for sure. We planned the next morning hunt for that spot.

Day 3 (November 11th):
Another friend, Rick, joined us this morning for our hunt and helped us find an easier hiking route to get to the same spot we had been on Saturday. It was still a long, uphill hike, but we followed a trail most of the way, making it much easier.
We were so positive that this would be the morning....Lynn told me exactly where I would need to shoot, we planned how we would carry the bull out, etc. No need for all of this, we didn't see anything except for another nice buck. We took a quick ride over to another spot and did see some cows, but no bulls. By this night, I was really discouraged.

Day 4 (November 12th):
Lynn decided we needed a change of scenery so we drove around through Antimony and hunted up on "the table." It's beautiful country that reminds me a lot of the Monroe mountain - open sagebrush, patches of quaking aspen, plenty of great places for wildlife. We stopped at daylight and spotted six bulls on a far ridge, but we decided to take a quick look around the bend before going after those. We were glad we did, just around the bend Lynn noticed a huge group of elk down the end of the ridge. When he looked through his spotting scope he found several nice bulls in with about a hundred cows. We quickly jumped on the four-wheeler, headed down the trail and started "the sneak."
Stopped once just above the herd and I had my gun up and ready. Could have shot at a smaller bull, but soon saw a nice, heavy-horned bull come up the rear of the herd. Unfortunately, he stayed hid behind the cows so I didn't get a shot off. The huge herd kept moving up the ridge and over the top into some trees. We decided to follow.
The wind was blowing from the northwest, so we headed below the elk to stay down wind. It was so amazing to be so close to this herd and to hear the cows chirp and the bulls bugle. I haven't heard that sound in a very long time. After hiking down around the hill we found a lonely bull mulling around in the sagebrush. Once again, tried to get positioned for a shot but he meandered off to the other herd before we could shoot.
We continued on "the sneak." This was so much fun for me! Quietly and quickly sneaking through the tall sagebrush and various cedar trees, watching and listening to the herd just above us in the aspens, knowing that they have no idea we were there. We spotted a beautiful bull at the edge of the trees and I wanted to shoot him so badly but we couldn't see enough of his body to even try. Thus, we waited once again for them to come through the draw and up another ridge. We didn't have to wait long. We tried to get a rest on a bush and I picked out my favorite bull from the several in the herd. I was SO nervous to shoot! It took me a couple minutes to finally calm down enough to try. Finally.....BOOM. Nothing. I missed! Several tries later, the bull was still standing and I was frustrated! Soon, a bull that we thought was the bigger one came up out of the draw and I tried to shoot at him too. Missed again. Lynn realized that I was out of bullets and we had left the backpack along with the rest of the ammo up at the top of the hill! It wouldn't have been so bad except that two other hunters showed up out of nowhere and started shooting at my bull! Lynn booked it back up to get the bullets while I stood and watched the other hunters miss the same bull I shot at. I was actually glad that they couldn't hit it either....I didn't feel so bad about my poor shooting. To make a long story short....we didn't get the big one that day and I was mad!! My chance at the big one was gone. After a little hiking trying to spot them again, I calmed down and realized how much fun we just had. I'd much rather see one and miss than not see one at all. This was by far the most exciting morning of the whole week.
It was easy to decide that we were coming back to the same spot the next day.

Day 5:
I was truly surprised to see the same herd in almost the exact same spot again this morning. After missing the bulls the day before, I was a little gun shy this morning and decided not to shoot when I first had the chance. We figured that I was shooting from a good four or five hundred yard distance the day before and that was the reason for the misses (maybe Lynn was just being nice) and the bull this morning was at least that far again today. After following the herd over the ridge we spotted them on the run. At the top we were surprised to hear a shot fired just to the left of us. Those hunters were back again too and we spooked the herd right in their direction! Lynn and I quickly jumped behind some rocks and watched the herd stampede less than twenty yards in front of us. I had my gun positioned and waited for the go signal from Lynn. But the big one never came through. I must say, that was an intense adrenaline rush to have these animals sailing past me close enough that I could have been run over if I hadn't jumped behind the rocks! I was shaking for a good ten minutes afterward!
Once again, we did a little more snooping around in the trees, saw some cows and very small bulls, lots of deer and even a nice buck, but no bulls again. But wow! What a day! I was so tired that night that I had no problems falling asleep after getting the kids to bed!

Day 6 - Last day of the hunt:
I fully prepared myself this morning for a fruitless hunt. I was already figuring up what I would say when people asked me if I got my bull. I slept most of the way to Antimony and up the mountain. I didn't have my coat or shoes on. Lynn's friend Shane was following us today again. I finally decided I better wake up and be ready for when we would stop and ride the four wheeler. It was just at the crack of dawn and all of a sudden I noticed something off the side of the road on the skyline. "Lynn, look over there, I think it's a bull." He abruptly stopped and got the binoculars out. I realized that it truly was a bull and told him to get my gun out. He did so and started to hand it to me.
I said, "Hold on, I need to put my boots on."
"Forget your shoes! Just open the door and shoot at it."
"Is it big enough to shoot?" I asked him.
"At this point, anything will do!"
I quickly opened the door, got my dead rest and said, "O.K. Here I go."
BOOM!
"You nailed him!" Lynn shouted.
I immediately slammed another shell in and prepared to shoot again. Sure enough, the bull stood back up and slowly tried to walk away. BOOM! Second shot and he was down again, never to stand again. By this time, Lynn was around to the side of the truck by me and Shane had also pulled up behind.
"You did it! You got him!" Lynn's shouting.
Here I am, jumping up and down in my stocking feet, so excited that I actually hit the darn thing.
Now, it was show time. We walked about 150 yards off the road and there he was. I was so worried that we'd get to him and he'd be a puny little willow horn. Well, he's not a huge bull, but he's a nice six point. Lynn and I call him a "respectable" bull.
For the last day, I couldn't have asked for a better turnout. I shot a bull at the crack of dawn, just off the road, and was home by noon! Nobody had to spend all day draggin him out of the hills somewhere, we didn't have to cut him up and pack him out in pieces. It was great!

She's Done It Again!

2008-11-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Well, my friend Susan has done it again....she's taken some awesome family pictures of us! Thanks Susan - we love them!

4-Four-4

2008-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

I actually thought this tag was pretty fun!

Instructions:

1. Go to your picture folder on your computer.
2. Upload the 4th picture from the 4th folder.
3. Post it.
4. Tag 4 friends.

I don't know how I did it, but I promise this was the fourth picture from the fourth folder!

This was when Hadley was about a month old.

So, now I tag Terra, Kena, Jamie Chappell, and Channa. Sorry if you've already done it....so many to choose from!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

2008-10-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

For FHE we decided to carve/decorate pumpkins. Well, Lynn got stuck at the barn until quite late so we improvised a little.....

Allyson had these cute pumpkin face pieces at the store. So with those, a few permanent markers and a little bit of imagination, the boys came up with these!

Hadley liked them too. She couldn't keep her hands off of them!

So.....thinking that I had lucked out and didn't have to deal with the mess of carving pumpkins, I went to bed that night clean and happy.

No such luck....

Mason came home and begged us to carve pumpkins. How can I say no?

Fortunately, Mason carved his own and helped dig out the guts of both pumpkins.

I really think the resemblances are uncanny.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

It's a Party!!

2008-10-29T07:38:00.001-07:00

The annual Koosharem Halloween party - an event that we cannot miss! The elementary school puts on this fundraiser every year and it is so much fun! The kids had a blast decorating cakes for the cakewalk (thanks Aunt Myrna for baking the cakes and Grandma Vanya for buying the decor to put on them!)

Mason, Hadley, Kyle, Maya

The boys found these sports masks down in my Halloween costume box and wanted to wear them for the party. They looked so funny!

Kyle

Mason

Hadley, my sweet little pumpkin.

Calling all Twilight fans....

2008-10-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

I just watched the latest trailer to the new Twilight movie (thanks Carrie!) and I am soooo excited for the movie to come out. So.....

Attention: All gal pals that are fans of Edward and Bella!!!!

How about we set a date?
I think it would be fun for us to go see the movie together! Let me know if you'd like to and we should have a girls night out!

Blast from the Past Month

2008-10-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

I am sure that the rest of you are the same way....a month flies by and you find yourself wanting to share all these fun tidbits that happened during that month. So, here's a little bit of our "exciting" lives in good ol' "roundtown."

While doing a routine eye exam at school, we found that Kyle was having a little trouble seeing the pictures. So one eye exam with a doctor and a couple hundred dollars later....here we are! Kyle has glasses! They look pretty cute on him (the picture doesn't do him justice). He was so proud to pick them out himself.

Hadley got two more teeth this past month. But not the front two....her two eye teeth (I think that's what they're called). We call her our little vampire...just in time for Halloween!

We went to the cabin during General Conference weekend. We had big plans for lots of fun! We didn't get up there until late Friday afternoon, just in time for dinner and settling in. Saturday morning we woke up to snow! It snowed all day long, so we pretty much stayed in all day and listened to conference. Lynn and Mason did go for a quick four-wheeler ride. Still, we had a lot of fun playing games, watching movies, hanging out together. Sunday came and we had to come home. The boys were really wishing they had brought their snow sleds to play in the seven inches of snow!

If only I could look as cute as Hadley after two days without a shower!

We had to get a picture of this awesome pine tree on the mountain! I've seen the aspens twist and turn in weird formations, but never a pine tree. It stood really tall too!

I finally got around to do a little canning. We went to Koosharem and Mom and I canned some peaches and the boys were a great help! I also did some salsa. Mmmm....gotta love it! We did have a pretty good time!

I've always wanted to take my kids to the State Fair. I remember going there with the school as a kid and it was so much fun. I convinced Lynn to come along (I reminded him of all the animals they have there...that helped a little!).

I know, I know....why would we get a picture next to a cow, considering the fact that we are dairy farmers? Well, it was a pretty big one!

John Deere Tractors - a common product found around the Morgan household too!

The boys had fun riding some rides. Mason was really sweet to ride some of the little rides with Kyle.

Kyle letting out some wiggles in the bounce house.

Mason doing a little bouncing of his own!

Lynn and Mason enjoying the infamous yellow slide of the Utah State Fair!

For some goat farmers, this goat in the background was the best part of the fair! (I really hope we don't have one of these with our herd someday!)

That same weekend we were able to meet the newest member of the Hampton family - Cali Renner. She is the sweetest little thing! I told Nina that I am really jealous that her babies have so much hair - I think we could put pigtails in Cali's hair already! It was so fun to see all of them and get to hold baby Cali.

The boys each got a turn holding their newest little cousin.

Just a fun little pic of Kyle and his friends. Tucker (Jamie's son) on the left, Jaden (Mekeisia's son) driving and Kyle on the right.
Well, thanks for reading!

Who Needs Kiddie Kandids?

2008-09-25T09:53:00.001-07:00

I finally found some time to have some fun with the pictures Susan took of the kids. I am so pleased with the final results that I had to share. Sorry, there's a lot of them....I couldn't decide which ones to not show you!

New Pics!

2008-09-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

So I finally got around to getting some new pictures taken of the kids. I am so lucky to have friends who have amazing talents! Susan so kindly agreed to take pictures of my kids. We took them out to the old Butch Cassidy home just south of Circleville. Hadley was a little cranky by the end and Kyle was tired of posing too, but we got some great pictures! Thanks Susan!!!!

When You're Bored....

2008-09-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

O.K. So I have been tagged....several times. Thus, when you are bored, you can take the time to read this.

Four things I love about my husband:

I answered this question in a previous tag, so please look at that! (Yeah, I'm being lazy!)

Four movies I can watch more than once:

1- Forest Gump - my favorite movie of all time

2- Dumb & Dumber - makes me laugh every time

3- Top Gun - Young Tom Cruise, volleyball scene....need I say more?

4- The Best Two Years - very funny, but not too corny LDS movie

Four T.V. shows I watch:

1- Everybody Loves Raymond (reruns) - almost too much like my life!

2- The Office - I'm newly hooked!

3- Anything about house flipping, redecorating, remodeling

4- CSI.....any of them

Four places we have been:

1- Nauvoo, Illinois...twice and I could live there!

2- New York state - Palmyra, Niagara Falls, but didn't make it to the Big Apple

3- San Diego - Lynn and I both love it there too. Channa's blog brought back some sweet memories of that place!

4- Samoa....when I was really little, I hope to go back someday.

Four people who E-mail me regularly:

1- Sherri

2- Jamie

3- Nina, my mom, and other relatives

4- A handful of stores who know I am a sucker for sales!

Four favorite foods:

Once again, answered this on a previous tag!

Four places we would like to visit:

1- Hawaii...hopefully that will happen soon!

2- New York City

3- Europe

4- Book of Mormon lands in South America

Four things we look forward to in the next year:

1- Hopefully losing some weight!!!!!

2- Finish landscaping the yard....right, Lynn? :)

3- Hadley walking, Kyle graduating from preschool, Mason turning 10.

4- 13 year anniversary!

TAG #2
High School Tag

I sort of answered the same questions in a recent email, so I'm mixing it with the tag questions:

Did you date someone from your high school? Yes

Did you marry someone from your high school? Yes, but we didn't meet until after I graduated.

Did you car pool to school? The Big Yellow Bus Carpool!

What kind of car did you have? BMW (Big Mormon Wagon) - a huge van that had a fridge and table in it, we also called it the "eco-van"

Did you pass your drivers license test on the first try? Yes!

It was Friday night...where were you? At some sort of sporting event.

What kind of job did you have in high school? Worked at local store

Were you a party animal? maybe.... like a sheep

Were you considered a flirt? I didn't think so, but got voted that anyways!

Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? choir

Were you a nerd? Probably, in a way.

Did you get suspended/expelled? Never

Can you sing the fight song? Dear ol' Piute high..... I guess that's a "fight" song

Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? Scott Bagley

Where did you sit during lunch? At the lunch table eating, of course!

What is your School's full name? Piute High School

When did you graduate? 1995

What was your school mascot? A Thunderbird

If you could go back and do it again, would you? No. It was fun, but I'm over it.

What do you remember most about graduation? Jeff Morgan falling backwards off the stage in the middle of the program...hilarious!!!

Where did you go for your sluff day? Whole week of California...the good ol' senior sluff!

Who did you take to Senior Ball? What is a Senior Ball?:)

Were you in any clubs? Speech & Drama

Have you gained any weight since then? hello...I've had three kids, so yeah, I've gained a "little" weight!

Did you have fun at Prom? Yes!!!!

Who was your date? Lex Allen

Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? Haven't seen him in years.

Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Already went, I'm old!!!

Do you still talk to people from school? Only the ones I want to!

Hold on...there's more!
(like I said....only when you're really bored!)

FIVE

10 Years Ago I.....
1. Was pregnant with our first child...Mason!
2. Lived in Circleville
3. Worked at Stan's Merc
4. Drove a green Chevy Blazer
5. Was in the Young Women's presidency

5 things on today's "to do" list...

1. Laundry
2. Make bunko cards for a friend's bunko
3. Make a lesson plan for teaching music in Antimony Friday
4. Order pictures of the kids
5. take care of three kids!

5 snacks I enjoy...

1. Chocolate
2. Yogurt - only orange cream
3. Granola bars - chocolate chip
4. PB&J - still just a kid at heart!
5. Chocolate milk

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...

1. Make Lynn retire!
2. Build a nice home for my mom and hire somebody to de-junk her old one!
3. Start big trust funds for the kids.
4. Build a huge bird lover's paradise for Lynn and his flock of birds.
5. Donate....

5 places I have lived...

1. Salt Lake City
2. Koosharem
3. St. George
4. Circleville
5. that's all!

5 jobs that I've had...

1. Waitress, Cook, Cashier - Koosharem Cafe
2. Cashier, etc. - Grass Valley Merc
3. Secretary - Dixie College Continuing Education
4. Class Coordinator - Dixie College Continuing Education
5. Currently: Music Teacher and Support Specialist at Junction Seminary

And finally.....

3 Joys:
1. My hubby....he's been gone with work the last couple of weeks and I realize more than ever just how much joy he brings to my life.
2. My three kids....no matter how my day is going, these three can bring a smile to my face with just a look!
3. The gospel....truly the only way to have peace in my life.

3 Fears:
1. Deep water - no matter how hard I try, I'm still terrified of deep water!
2. Heights - the older I get, the worse it gets
3. Mice - if you know me, you know just how truly scared I am of these little....things

3 Goals:
1. To run a 10k...I ran my first 5k this last summer and took 3rd place! I am NOT a runner, so I was pretty happy.
2. To maintain a clean house. Yes, Nina, I did laugh when I read this one on yours....but good job having it as a goal! It is still a goal of mine!
3. Maybe get a master's degree.....maybe.

2 Obsessions/1 Collection
1. I don't really have any "obsessions"....and my only collection would be my cows (Mary Moo Moos collectibles)

Phew! I think that's it.
So....TAG! You're It (whoever you are.....) :)

My First Tag...

2008-09-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

O.K. This is my first "tag" and I must thank Mekeisia for not tagging me with the photo tag...we spent the weekend in Salt Lake and then I had the stomach flu for a couple of days, so my house is a mess right now and I'd hate to have to show all of you what it looks like! Here goes....

7 things I CAN do:
1. Cut hair - I'm no professional, but I do o.k. Mostly boy haircuts and simple girl cuts.
2. Play musical instruments - piano, violin and flute and a few others if needed, but piano is the only one I feel very comfortable with.
3. Pick up almost anything, any size, with my toes. In the process of giving birth to Kyle, I broke my tailbone. So for six months after, it was extremely painful to get up and down...thus the need to use my toes to pick things up.
4. Organize - I love to organize things. There are parts of my house right now that do not exhibit this talent, but I do enjoy it!
5. Work/Play on the computer. I'm a computer geek. I love to do anything I can on the computer.
6. Hunt - in fact I quite enjoy it. I can't wait to go elk hunting this fall!
7. Do a high kick (with only my right leg) like the good ole' days of drill team!

7 things I CANNOT do:
1. Crochet - and it drives me nuts! I can do a chain just fine, but when it's time to turn and come back....I just can't do it!
2. Tread water. I'm still pretty scared of deep water. But that is one fear I plan to conquer....someday. :)
3. Have mice in my house....I'm terrified of mice and I almost can't live in my house when there is a mouse in it. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with that issue much.
4. Remember if a ton is one or two thousand pounds. In fact, I'm not sure right now!
5. Drive a stick shift. I still remember getting stuck at a stop light in Cedar City...how embarrassing!
6. Cook - I try my best, but my food is never as good as my mother-in-law's! :)
7. Understand why this list was much easier to complete than the first.

Seven things that attracted me to Lynn:
1. His blonde hair and blue eyes.
2. His humility.
3. He loves kids and kids love him.
4. The gospel is important to him and he sets a great example for our kids.
5. He cares about people and wants to help others all the time.
6. He is SO good to me.
7. He's a hard worker. I don't think he has a lazy bone in his body.

Seven things I say most often:
1. According to Mason, "O.K"
2. According to Kyle, "Leave Hadley alone!"
3. According to Hadley, "Hi beautiful!"
4. According to Lynn, "Lynn, would you....." At least I feel like I'm always bothering him to do some honey-do for me.
5. I love you.
6. Holy Tamoly - got that from Lynn.
7. The goats are out!

7 favorite foods:
1. Anything chocolate.
2. Burritos
3. Lasagna
4. Wendy's 99 cent chicken sandwich
5. McDonald's chocolate shake
6. Sweet-n-sour chicken
7. My mom's cheesy chicken dinner

7 celebrity admirations:
1. Oprah Winfrey - her charitable spirit
2. Sarah Palin - her pride in being a mom and shaking things up with the "old boys club"
3. Dara Torres - even at age 41, she's still not giving up her dreams
4. Reba M. - for being an amazing musical artist and not too bad an actress too!
5. President Hinkley - I consider him to be a celebrity because he reached out to the world in a positive way and showing the world what we should all be like
6. Sean Hannity - I'm a news junkie and I love watching Hannity and Colmes, but mostly just Hannity - he doesn't put up with any of the Democratic schmooze.
7. Kate Grosselin (of Jon & Kate plus 8) - mother of twins and sextuplets....need I say more?

7 people I'm tagging:
Carly, Jamie, Kristi, Megan, Susan, Terra, Nicole
(only if you want to!)

Finally...some scrapbooking time!

2008-09-09T11:23:00.001-07:00

Now that Kyle and Mason are back in school, I have a few hours to do some scrapbooking. It just works out that right after I get Kyle off to school, Hadley falls asleep for her nice morning nap. I could spend the time doing extra housework, but who wants to do that? So I've done a few pages and thought I'd share them with you.

I purchased Photoshop Elements a couple months ago and have finally decided to give it an honest try. It's a lot different than My Memories Suite and takes a bit longer to do a page, but you can do some extra fun things with it. This page of Hadley is kind of corny, I know, but it was still kind of fun to do. I love that I can cut the background out of pictures. I really need to get me a pen, though, because it's really hard to do with a mouse!

This was another fun thing I tried...a clipping mask. I was able to "cut" my set of pictures out in the shape of a "4." The possibilities for this are endless!

I did a few pages in My Memories Suite too. I think I'll flip back and forth between the programs. I'll use MMS when I need to get pages done quickly and I'll use PSE when I want to do something with a little more "spice." Either way, I'm having fun, getting done and have NO mess to clean-up!!

First Day of School

2008-09-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Kyle and Mason both started school. Mason started 4th grade a couple weeks ago and Kyle started his second year of preschool yesterday. They were both pretty excited to get back to school. Kyle was really anxious to get back. He's been begging to go ever since Mason started going again. It gets kind of boring here without Mason around I guess.

August 18, 2008 -First Day of Fourth Grade!!! (By the way, his shirt says, "Your mom pays me to go easy on you."

No turning back now! (Circleville Elementary)

How can you start school without a John Deere shirt?

He's so little to be riding on such a BIG bus!! It's moments like these that I have to hold back the tears and be happy for my little guy!

Midway

2008-08-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

The week before school started, we went for one last "hoorah." My mom had meetings in Midway and invited us to come stay too. Lynn was right in the middle of chopping hay, so the kids and I left on Tuesday with my mom and Lynn came up Wednesday night.

We stayed at the Zermatt Resort. It was incredible! I've never been to Midway before....I could live there. It is so beautiful! And the homes were awesome!

The first night we were there, we went bowling. I know, I know.....bowling? We live so far away from anything, that we don't get to do some of these "ordinary" things at home. We had a lot of fun together. It was so cute to have Kyle in those little bowling shoes!
Afterwards, we went swimming. I wish I would have taken a picture of the pool. It was indoor/outdoor - the kind you swim through a little tunnel to go outside. But the cool part was the hot tub. It had a huge, rock waterfall that flowed into the jacuzzi. It was all I could do to keep my boys in the pool and not the hot tub!

The next day we slept in (now that's a vacation!!!!) and then spent the day looking around the resort. It was so nice to just relax and not have to do anything!

The grounds all around the resort were so pretty. The boys even saw some goats on the hill beside the resort! That made them feel more at home!

She may not look like it, but Hadley is having a good time! She's wanting to go to the pool!

They even got a ride on a carousel. Thanks Mom for taking us with you to Midway!!
That evening, my brother John, his girlfriend Kae and her cousin and sister came up to play with us. We played some miniature golf, went swimming and had pizza. It was great. We were really excited that Lynn got there too.

The next day we finished up our little trip at Seven Peaks Resort.

We all had a fun time playing in the water. Hadley had the most fun with her newfound favorite snack....licorice.

Mason took a "dive" off the rope swing. Way to go bud!!!!

Here are the boys going down the SLOWEST slide in the whole park. We were laughing so hard when they had to push with their arms just to get to the bottom of the slide!

Kyle liked this little slide too. But the water in this part was FREEZING!

My sister Nina, her husband Jon, and their little girl Maya, joined us for a while at Seven Peaks. It was so much fun!!

There was even a rare sighting.....

Lynn wearing flip-flops! Take a good, long, look...you will probably NEVER see that again!!
It was a great end to summer!

Fun on Cedar Mountain

2008-08-25T07:12:00.002-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Sherri invited the kids and I to come and spend the day at her family's cabin on Cedar Mountain. It was so pretty up there and we had such a great time.

Here's Mason, Matthew and Brielle.

Mason really looks up to Matthew and they have a lot of fun together. They had a blast that day with target practice at a dish network dish! Kyle had his own "gun" too - it was a stick the boys found that looked just like a little gun.

This one's for you Sherri!!!! :) Sherri and Hadley enjoying the outdoors too.

You can't tell from this far away, but Mason is in Heaven! He wants his own motorcycle so badly, but his "mean" mom is really hesitant. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold him (and his dad) off any longer, especially since he showed that he can ride this one of Matthew's so well.

Mason stayed overnight with them. Here they are doing one of Mason's favorite things....roasting marshmallows.
Thanks Sherri, Brielle, and Matthew, for a wonderful time at your cabin!!!

Bouncing Baby

2008-08-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd post these cute little pics of Hadley. We got her this jumper a couple months ago (thanks for the recommendation Stephanie King!) and she loves it. But she curls her toes and bounces on the tops of them - I can't believe she hasn't broken one yet! These are a few of her funny little faces she makes.

She's a chub, weighing in at 18 1/2 pounds. But I'm enjoying that while it lasts, because she'll be crawling soon. She loves to roll all around the house and she's trying to get up on her knees. I hate that babies grow so fast, I wish I could just bottle all of this up and keep it for a while...before I know it she'll be a teenager....scary....

Happy Birthday Kyle!!

2008-08-10T21:22:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that my little blonde terror is already four years old! He's been waiting so long for this birthday to come, all his friends turned four several months ago and he's been pretty patient. He was so happy it finally came.

Here's Kyle after decorating his cake. He and Mason decorated the "grass" and "dirt" areas on the cake. Kyle strategically placed all the tractors too. It turned out pretty cute!

Kyle anxiously awaiting to open his presents.

All he wanted for his birthday was a "big dinosaur" and a "loader." Well, he got the dinosaur and three loaders. He was a content boy!

What a cutie!!

Mud Bog

2008-08-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

For the last three years, Mason has participated in the Piute County Fair Mud Bog.

Mud + 4-wheeler + boy = Heaven!

Mason in the lead!!

That's one muddy boy!

July in Retrospect

2008-07-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Where did July go? We've had a lot of fun, so thought I'd quickly post a few pics.

Mason and a few of his cousins decided that they wanted to decorate the new "goat trailer" that Lynn built and enter it in the 4th of July parade. They planned it, cut the cardboard out, attached it to the trailer, painted it, everything. I was really proud of them for doing such a great job and working together on it. They even won a prize!

The annual program came next and Miss Terecea had her preschool kids say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem. Kyle gets really nervous about those kinds of things and the past few programs he's been involved in, he has sat and watched because he was too scared. We were so proud of him because he got up there and sang his little heart out. I'm always amazed at how well the kids sing the National Anthem. These little 3 and 4 year olds know it word for word (even if some words are mispronounced!) Kyle was right by the microphone too, so we could hear him really well!

The boys both did really well in the races, running pretty fast! The one of Mason is kind of hard to see, but he had to literally "fight" his way to the finish line. The blonde bully next to him kept elbowing him and trying to knock him down! But, he held his own and did great.

Little Miss Hadley was wiped out early. It was too hot for her taste, so she and Grandma Vanya went back to the house and enjoyed the cool air and a nice long nap. And bless her little heart, she got her first tooth today too! Doesn't she look cute? It was so fun to buy a girl outfit for the 4th! Thanks Mom for taking care of her while we took care of all the games for the day!

I'm always amazed at how so many people from Circleville work so hard to make it a great day for everyone else who comes to town. You don't realize how much effort and time it takes until you are in charge of something. Thanks to everyone who made the 4th of July a success!

The next day, Lynn's brother Lane invited us all to Piute Reservoir. We had so much fun playing in the water, riding the tube, digging in the sand, and just hanging out. Thanks Lane!

Lynn's comment when he saw this picture: "Some of us should never wear shorts!"
Awww shucks, honey, I think you're cute!!

The whole Morgan gang. (Or at least most of us!)

Kyle & Carlee diggin in the dirt.

Mason hanging on for dear life!

I just had to share this cute little picture of Hadley. I walked into the livingroom to check on her and found her sound a sleep in this exact position - foot up on the couch and hands clasped together - so cute!

We finally got a day to stay at the cabin. Lynn loves to go and we never go there enough.

This was Hadley's first stay and she seemed to really like it too.

The boys love to ride the four-wheeler around.

It's so nice to get up in the hills, away from everything and just enjoy the scenery. It rained all night long, which makes it even more fun!

Whew! Hope you had as much fun this month as we did!

Lynn's Class Reunion

2008-07-27T15:51:00.001-07:00

(Back row: Lynn, Travas Blood, Amy (Smith) Taylor, Penny (Kennedy) Bassett, Wendy Westwood; Front Row: Lindy (Torgersen) Wilson, Connie (Lay) Thornock, Sandy (Coleman) Thornock)

On July 3rd, Lynn's high school class had a reunion (along with the two classes younger than his...so there was 1991, 1992, 1993). It was a fun evening and it was nice to see some people that we hadn't seen in a long time. The nice thing about both of us having gone to the same high school, but graduating several years apart, is that we both know the people and don't have to feel too out of place going to our spouse's reunion.

They've made a website for Piute High School alumni that is kind of fun. If you'd like to check it out, be the administrator for your graduating class, or find out about your old high school chums, it is: http://www.classcreator.com/Junction-UT-Piute-1992/class_index.cfm

Ogden Trip

2008-07-27T14:25:00.001-07:00

This last week we decided to go to Ogden and visit my little sister Nina and her little family. It was so much fun to see them and spend some time with them. We did some fun things like watch some of the Pioneer Day parade, watch people surfing and skydiving at the Soloman Center, play arcade games, watch "Wall-E", and swim. Hope you enjoy the little slideshow I have made from photatobug!

View PhotatoBug Slideshow

My Husband The Hero

2008-06-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

I've always considered Lynn to be my hero, but yesterday he cemented that title in stone.
We decided to go to his mom and dad's for a little while. We pulled up in front of their house and noticed some kids playing in a front yard across the street. I was a little nervous because I noticed that there were two really young kids playing right by the ditch. So we sat in the truck and watched them for just a moment. Sure enough, the one child started walking right toward the ditch. Pretty soon she got right to the edge and toppled head first into it. We had no idea if there was water in the ditch or not, but Lynn immediately jumped out and ran towards the child. I was holding Hadley and so I felt helpless - all I could do was scream to the other kids to get the baby out. The aunt of the young child was at the side of the house and looked over at me wondering why I was screaming. I yelled to her that the baby had fallen in the ditch and she started running to the ditch too. (I'm starting to shake and my heart is pounding just typing this!)
I became even more panicked when I realized that Lynn did not stop at the point where the baby had fallen in - he was running farther down the ditch, downstream direction, so I knew there was water in the ditch. In a matter of seconds he was in the water and pulled the baby out. I was running towards them and couldn't tell if the baby was alive or not. He turned her over and patted her back and pretty soon she was coughing up water and started to cry. This is one of those moments when a child's cry is the most beautiful sound in the world. (Now I'm starting to cry thinking about all of it again.) Lynn had saved this precious child's life!
This all occurred within a matter of about 30 seconds. Those 30 seconds have replayed in my mind a thousand times. The more we have talked about it, the more we have realized the hand of the Lord in all of this.

Lynn had a bishopric training meeting that he should have gone to that evening - but he was unable to go for other reasons.
We had been at the house for about an hour before this happened, debating whether or not we wanted to go down there or go do something else. I finally said, "Let's go down to grandma and grandpa's for a little while."
As we were getting ready to go out the door, I noticed some flower pots that I've been wanting Lynn to hang up for me, but I thought, "No, I can have him do that later."
None of the other children playing in the yard even noticed that she had fallen in. There were no other people outside to see her fall in. Lynn and I were the only witnesses to this - and I am so grateful that we were there.

So many of these little things that caused us to be there at that exact moment. If we had been just two minutes earlier or two minutes later, that 18 month old little girl would have died in that ditch. Lynn said that when he found her she was laying in the very bottom of the two foot deep water, swiftly moving downstream towards the culvert.

When we went to bed last night I said a long prayer of thanks that I have such a wonderful husband who didn't even have to think, he immediately went to the rescue of this sweet young child and that the Lord let us be there to help.

So, because of this rescue and so many other reasons, Lynn is my hero.
I love you Lynn!

All-Star

2008-06-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Mason was so excited to find out he had made the all-star baseball team. I thought I'd post a picture of his full baseball team.

Front Row (lt to rt): Joey Willardson, Ryan Westwood, Tuff Robinson, Riter Robinson, Mason, Kesler Blood; Back Row: Coach Tim Westwood, Logan Dalton, Anthony Haaland, Tanner Gleave, Parker Dalton, Jaden Kennedy, Cole Payton, Coach Troy Robinson. (Not pictured: Beau Sylvester, Austin Trapp, Buddy Gardner)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

2008-06-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe that my last post was so long ago! Time really does fly - whether you're having fun or not! But, we have had a lot of fun. I thought I'd quickly post a few things that we've done lately.

On Memorial Day Weekend, we traveled to Heber to ride the Heber Creeper and spend a "Day Out With Thomas." Kyle is a big Thomas the Tank fan, so we thought it would be fun to go do this as a family. It did turn out fun. Kyle loved seeing Thomas in "real life" and we had fun together as a family.

Mason and Lynn were able to go to one of the Jazz playoff games against the Rockets. Mason is a HUGE Jazz fan and so as part of his birthday, we decided to surprise him with tickets. I was able to find some tickets on KSL. com for them to go. They were actually really awesome seats for not too bad a price. These pictures were taken with a cheap, disposable camera with no zoom - so yeah, they were pretty good seats (not so great pictures!). I must admit, I was a little jealous that I couldn't go (we could only get two tickets and I couldn't leave Hadley) but it was so fun to see how much fun Mason had. Maybe next year I can go!

Baseball...baseball...baseball. Mason and Kyle have both started playing baseball. This is Mason's first year in Babe Ruth Baseball and Kyle's first year playing T-ball. Boy has that kept us running! But I think the boys have fun.

Mason had swimming lessons the first week after school got out. He's getting to be a pretty good swimmer and loves going off the diving board!

So, that's a little taste of our lives for the past month! Hopefully it won't take me so long to find time to share more!

Hadley's First Photo Shoot

2008-05-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Quite a while ago, I took Hadley to a friend's house for her first "photo shoot." (I'm just a little slow getting this post done!) Sundee takes pictures as a hobby, but I like her photos more than a professional. She had so many cute props and she was SO patient with us!! Here are a few of the HUNDREDS of photos she took. THANKS SUNDEE! YOU'RE GREAT!

This was the picture we used for her blessing announcement. This was Sundee's idea. Isn't it so cute!!! It only took us over an hour and about 100 snaps to get it! We really wanted her to be asleep for it, but the fuzzy rug kept tickling her nose and keeping her awake. Oh well, I think it turned out cute anyways.

This one is so adorable, if I do say so myself. The color photo is cute, but this black and white makes it perfect. The hat is actually pretty funny....it's a darling lime green and it was much too big on her, but it made it even more cute!

Gotta love the big orange flower!!!

Sundee did all the cute backgrounds/overlays on these pics. I can't tell if Hadley is too happy to be in this picture!!

Another darling overlay. Thanks again Sundee for the GREAT job you did on these pictures!!!

Whirlwind Week Part III: Baby Blessing

2008-05-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

Isn't She Lovely!!

To add to the plethora of activities for the last week, we decided to bless Hadley this Sunday too! I had family come and stay during the weekend, which was so much fun. My brother John and his girlfriend Kae, my sister Nina and her husband Jon and daughter Maya, and my Mom all arrived on Friday and stayed through the weekend. It was great to spend time with them. I always have so much fun with all of them, they are so funny! They were a tremendous help preparing for Hadley's blessing and the dinner after church. Sunday arrived and it wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. Lynn did such a beautiful job blessing Hadley. He is the greatest dad any kid could have! He loves our children (and me!) so much, we are truly blessed to have him in our life! And as I said, Hadley's blessing was perfect. Lynn's dad swears he could see a glow come over Hadley as soon as Lynn gave her her name. It was such a special day for us!

My grandma DeLange made this blessing dress when I was in high school. I made a porcelain doll for a young women's project and she made the dress to go on the doll. It's been waiting a long time for an angel to wear it!

I was so glad that my Mom brought my Grandma to the blessing. It was special to have her there to see Hadley in the dress she had made more than 15 years before!

My beautiful little family. What a blessing in my life!!!

Here is my family! I love you guys so much! Thanks for everything you do for me!

P.S. I finally found time this week to do some scrapbooking (I think I was actually having withdrawals from not having time to do some pages!!!) and I posted the new pages on my slide shows on the side, so take a look! I know some of you have started doing the digital scrapbook thing, make sure you share! I always love new ideas!

Whirlwind Week Part II: Mason's Birthday

2008-05-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

So the second reason for my crazy week is it was Mason's 9th birthday. We decided to have his friend birthday party last Thursday after school because with baseball and everything, we wouldn't have time any other day. He invited a group of his friends and we gathered up at the elementary school. Mason wanted to play basketball at his party but the weather was cold (surprising....) so we had the party at the school. That was a great idea! No mess at my house, no worrying about a dozen boys terrorizing my home, easy clean-up and return to my clean house!

Happy Birthday Mason!!!!

Whirlwind Week Part I

2008-05-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

This past week (actually the past two weeks) have been CRAZY! I have several things I want to share, so I'll break it up into parts. It's been so crazy because Mason has started playing little league baseball. I'm so used to the lazy days of coach pitch....a game or two, here and there, no big deal. Well, those days are gone! Now I get to experience practices several nights a week, at least two games a week, traveling to Panguitch, Bryce Valley, Valley, Kanab and who knows where for games and tournaments....ugh! And I only have one kid involved! Those of you who have already experienced this or are experiencing this now, especially with more than one child, I sympathize!!!! Mason had been so busy with ballgames and chores that the other day I finally had to give him time to just play and be a kid - no chores, no baseball practice, nothing, just play. Mason is enjoying it though. His coach does a great job and teaches the boys a lot. I wish it would warm up so that I can sit outside and watch the games, rather than having to lock myself and the baby inside the car to stay out of the cold and ninety-mile-an-hour wind. I don't have any pictures yet, but we go to Valley today for a game, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon!

Thanks Antimony Kids!!

2008-04-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

I teach music at Antimony Elementary once a week. I haven't been back since before Hadley was born in February, and last Friday was my first day back. When I got there, I was surprised with a baby shower! The kids all brought cute little gifts for Hadley. Here is a picture of all the kids - Yes, there are only this many kids Kindergarten through 6th Grade! They made the darling quilt you can see them holding, and they all signed it. What a treasure! It was so sweet and we had a lot of fun. I think this was probably the first (and will be the only) baby shower that the boys had gone to! I really love working at the school. The kids are so great. There is just something special about a school that has less than 25 kids. And I really enjoy working with Julie, Mary Jean and Natalie. They have become dear friends to me. So...Thank You Antimony Elementary! You guys are great!!

Digital Scrapbooking

2008-04-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of comments about my digital scrapbook pages, so I thought I'd explain a little bit. First of all, I AM NOT AN EXPERT!!!! I love working with the computer and I enjoy scrapbooking, but I was getting WAY behind because I got tired of the mess of traditional paper scrapbooking. So I started to look into the digital scrapbooking thing. At first I was confused and overwhelmed by the many options for programs available. Then one morning I was watching television (it was like around five in the morning, I was still pregnant with Hadley, she was kicking so much that I couldn't sleep, so I was up watching infomercials) and on came this infomercial about Polaroid's "My Memories Suite" scrapbooking program. Of course they made it look fabulous, so I ordered it. Before it came I was feeling a little bit of buyer's remorse, hoping that I wouldn't be totally disappointed with the impulse purchase. Totally the opposite occurred....I love this program!

I paid about $100 for the program...I know it sounds like a lot, but wait! The research I had done before found that I would pay anywhere from $60 and up for a program like Adobe Photoshop, and those programs did not include any papers, embellishments, etc. The "My Memories Suite" comes with hundreds of papers, embellishments, etc., it is extremely easy to use, has some photo editing capabilities, and the possibilities are endless. Wow, I should get paid by Polaroid for this! Anyway, because of this program I have done more than 100 scrapbook pages in the last 3 months (I'm not kidding!). I am so excited that I am actually getting caught up on years of pictures! In fact, I used my program to make the title for my blog.

The Pros of Digital Scrapbooking:

No mess! No papers, scraps, nothing! No cleaning up afterwards! And hey, it's good for the environment!
I don't have to worry about the kids getting into the stuff, ruining pages, they can be right with me while I'm scrapbooking!
I'm not spending so much money on supplies! I bought this program and that's it! I can reuse papers and embellishments as much as I want. I've even downloaded THOUSANDS of freebies from the internet.
I can crop, resize, adjust pictures as much as I want without the expense of buying them from a photo shop. It's all digital. I've even gone back and scanned in pictures that I had already printed and finished pages that I needed to do years ago!
I can easily print the same page several times for several books - one for each kid and one for a family book if I want!
I can print the same page in several different sizes for any use!
Archival quality....forever! I can save my pages on CD or DVD and have them forever. The colors and pictures won't fade or rip or anything! If the pages printed don't look good in 20 or 30 years, my children have the digital images that they can print out again!

The only possible disadvantage might be the printing. I know there are a multitude of places you can have your pages printed at. I have two different places that I've had my pages printed. I order from a site online and it costs anywhere from $1.50 to $3.00 to print, depending on the paper (cardstock or normal weight paper). Or I've had them printed at Costco for $3.00 a page (12x12 size on photo paper). I probably prefer the Costco prints because of the quality of the photo paper, but I have been very pleased with my online orders and they cost less. So it may seem difficult to pay so much for pages, but I figure it costs about the same by the time you add up the cost of the paper, pictures, and embellishments you would use on regular scrapbook pages. Also, Polaroid and other places offer books already bound that you can have a whole book made up if you want!

Here are some pages I've done with "My Memories Suite":
This is an online freebie that I found. All I had to do was add Hadley's picture and then I added the title at the bottom. Simple page, yet so cute and so easy!

Here's a fun page. I used a picture as the entire background of the page and then added photos on top of it. This would not be possible with regular scrapbooking!

This page was pre-made by the program I have, I just added journaling, my pictures and I was done!

I always have "odd" snaps that don't really fit with other pages. So I've made these fun snap
pages that are so easy to do with digital scrapbooking!

I've even made some "little" pages that I had printed at Walmart on regular 4x6 photos to give to family and friends.

Well, I've rambled on long enough on this post. Hope this peaks some interest to you! I LOVE doing it. Like I said before, I'm not an expert and I'm definitely not perfect at it, but I love the end result and love to see my kids look at their books over and over again. Next to my children themselves, these books are my treasures!

Oh Yeah! Easter

2008-04-09T06:59:00.000-07:00

I realized that I never put up anything about our Easter. Maybe because it was kind of a crazy blur. With Hadley, we weren't able to really go anywhere. We usually like to go to Capital Reef on Saturday and picnic, roll eggs, etc. But it was way too cold to do that! We did go to the "big" Easter egg hunt at the elementary school and the boys got lots of candy. And we also did take them to Richfield for chinese food and bowling (I know...thrilling isn't it?). We did enjoy that. Kyle really enjoyed it because he kept getting spares....even if his ball did go so slow it would almost stop halfway down the alley! My brother John and his girlfriend Kae came to visit that weekend too.
Easter came and Kyle was sick with the stomach flu all day long. Needless to say, I was glad to see that day end. Well, here are a few pics from that "lovely" weekend.

I'm Gonna Be a Bear

2008-04-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

My dear friend sent me this email and I absolutely loved it...so I thought I'd share it with all of you!
"In this life, I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.
Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.
When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.
If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. you swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.
If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.
Yup, gonna be a bear!"

"We're From the Country"

2008-04-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

Last night was Circleville Elementary's annual Spring Sing where the kids perform songs and dances that they have learned. I was asked to help choreograph their dances this year...I really love doing it! The kids are so cute - even the 6th graders who "hate" doing it! The theme was a Country Roundup and the classes all picked different country songs to learn. Preschool: "The Old Grey Mare"; Kindergarten: "Hey Good Lookin'"; 1st Grade: "Little Bitty"; 2nd Grade: "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys"; 3rd Grade: "Beverly Hillbillies"; 4th Grade: "Should've Been a Cowboy"; 5th Grade: "Rockytop"; 6th Grade: "Cotton-Eyed Joe." The kids all did great, as always, and I think they really enjoyed the country theme. Here are a few pics. I felt really bad because Kyle got too scared and wouldn't do it. Although he did give a private performance for us at home afterwards and we were able to video it. But Mason did perform and he did a great job too in his Hillbilly outfit. If I can figure out how, I'll post a video clip of it. I know that most of you reading this come from a small town around here and remember how little the school is, but some might think that 140 kids (grades Preschool through 6th) isn't very many - but that's alot for us country folks!!

"Time-out"

2008-04-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this funny picture. Kyle got in trouble and had to spend time in the chair for yelling at Mom. I know, a 3 year old losing their temper...shocking, isn't it? Anyway, he was sitting on the chair crying and before his 3 minutes was up (I'm a Super Nanny fan, can you tell?) he got real quiet. I looked over and he had fallen asleep! Mason couldn't resist and got the camera out. Luckily, after a long nap, Kyle was much happier.

Happy 88th Birthday Grandma DeLange!!!

2008-03-29T18:24:00.001-07:00

We were able to go to the care center in Panguitch and help wish Grandma LaBeth a Happy 88th Birthday. It was so great to see her. Mom, Uncle Robert & Aunt Ann, Uncle John & Aunt Myrna, and Uncle Charles & Aunt Karen brought decorations, cake, ice cream and even a crown for the birthday girl. Aunt Myrna said it was Grandma's "Sleeping Beauty" crown, because she sleeps so much. I said that was great, as long as no "Princes" come in and try to give her a kiss!!! I have a few pictures of the big bash, but understand that Mason was the photographer....so all the pictures are from a four-foot-high viewpoint! I asked Aunt Ann to email me some of her pics, if I get some I'll post them on here too. It was so great to see Grandma...she is such an amazing lady. I will forever be in her debt for taking me in as her own and teaching me so many important things in life. I'm especially indebted to her for raising a wonderful daughter who I am fortunate to call "Mom."

One Month Old!

2008-03-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it....Hadley is one month old!! Where does time go? She's growing like a weed, weighing in at a little over ten pounds already. My only complaint is that after one month I still have way too much weight to lose! All this Easter candy lying around doesn't help....I guess I better hurry and finish eating it all, huh?
I'm sooooo ready for some warm weather! I dream of the beach and the warm summer sun. I swear I was supposed to be born somewhere with white sandy beaches. How did I end up in the middle of sagebrush? Oh well, good thing I like Circleville so much! Speaking of beaches, anybody have any good ideas for a family vacation? My ideal vacation is to rent a beach house and spend a whole week playing in the sand and getting a tan. Unfortunately, my boys don't share my same enthusiasm for tanning and relaxation. For some strange reason they want fun and excitement, go figure. I'd love to hear of some of your favorites....big or small, local or exotic, cheap or expensive. Whether they are feasible or not, one can dream....can't she?

Tell Me!!

2008-03-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

This has been so much fun!! I've even heard from a few long, lost friends! So.....if you look and you have a blog, website, email - anything - so that we can keep in touch, please let me know!

And the winner is......

2008-03-26T15:41:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to thank all of you for voting on the baby bedding poll! It was a close race, but Mad about Plaid won! What a fun way to have friends and family involved! So thanks again!

"We Should Cry"

2008-03-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

Since we have the brand new baby, our spring break did not consist of any exotic vacations - except for a Saturday night trip to Richfield for Chinese food and bowling. The boys spent most of the weekend over at the barn with Lynn. Well, one night Mason and Kyle came home with a funny story. They had decided to go and see any brand new calves that had been born that day. The new calves are kept in a pen with a locking door. After petting the calves, they found that Mason could not open the door back up. Dad was not around to hear them if they wanted to scream. Fear began to set in on Kyle and his only solution at the time was...."Mason, we should cry." How cute is that?!? I was equally pleased to hear that Mason's solution was to pray several times. And with the pure faith of a child he told me that after the second prayer, Heavenly Father gave him the strength he needed to get the door to finally open.
Just call Lynn Old MacDonald. He has been having kids for the past several weeks - well, his goats have been having kids. They are sooo cute and little! Why do we have goats?, you ask. Good question. I don't know either. But, the boys all love it. Here is a picture of a few of the cute little things too. If anyone is interested, they will be for sale soon - and if you talk to me, I'll give them to you at a bargain!!!!

Easter.....Already?!?!

2008-03-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does it seem crazy that Easter is already here? Time flies so fast and it doesn't help to have the time change and Easter come earlier. Well, I need some help....from any of you who happen to look at this blog (poor folks!). I'm going to try and set up a survey and would like your opinion. I will show some options for Hadley's nursery and let me know which one you like best. Hopefully it works! Thanks!

Two Weeks Later

2008-03-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here we are 2 (and a half) weeks later and still surviving! I'm adjusting to the 3 child situation fairly well, although I haven't ventured out with all three anywhere yet. We are keeping Hadley "hid" in the house, hoping to keep away as many "bugs" as possible. The poor boys are getting used to having to change their clothes and get disinfected as soon as they get home. They seem to be adjusting well also, even Kyle only shows the occasional lack of attention attitude.
At Hadley's two week appointment we found that she is eating well - she already weighs 9 pounds. We're really glad she is doing so well! Speak of the little devil....she is calling, so I will report again later!

Four + One = Bliss!!

2008-03-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

On February 27, 2008, in a large white room with machines galore, Hadley B. Morgan entered the world and joined our family. We are so excited to have Hadley with us! She was definitely a surprise. We don't "peek" before the baby comes, so we had no idea whether to plan on blue or pink. In fact, Lynn had us all convinced that this baby was another boy. So, when Dr. Brown (who by the way, knew all along and kept the secret!) announced that our baby girl was here, I looked at Lynn and said, "Really?!?" I couldn't believe it!! I immediately started sobbing like a baby - which I have done when my boys were born, but I don't think I cried this much!
She is such a great baby. She hardly ever cries, but she is a grunter!! At her 2 week check-up yesterday she had gained over a pound - weighing in at 9 pounds! We are thrilled that she is doing so well!
I don't know how well I'll keep this blog up - but hopefully you will enjoy it. I mostly want to post scrapbook pages of the family that I have done. I've started into digital scrapbooking...and I'm hooked! But, that's another posting. If you want specifics, just let me know.