Ahhhh....March is over!

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....

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!!!!!!

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

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

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?!?!?

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!