Morgan Family

New Blog: The Daily Moos

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Hey we switched blogs so our new place is: http://thedailymoos.blogspot.com/
We were just having problems, so we switched. Enjoy! :)

Progress of the Basement

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:30:00 +0000

So as per the request of my dear sister-in-law, here are a few pictures of the basement. If you didn't know we are working on finishing the rest of the basement. Terra and Tim and Maylee are coming to stay with us in November while Tim does some of his rotations. We are very excited. It will be very fun to have them here. This is what we have been up to lately: (Besides being extremely "homely")

This is the door and window into the play room under the stairs.

This is the cubbyholes. We will put 3 shelves in each cubby, so there is somewhere for kids to put toys away.

Looking the other way into the playroom.

Inside the closet Jon put in at the bottom of the stairs.

The closet we put in at the bottom of the stairs. We had extra room at the end of the tub, so we walled it off and made it into a closet.

The bathroom.
All the sheet rock is up. All we need to do is tape, mud, and put in the sink and toilet.

The bigger bedroom.

Smaller bedroom. It has a corner closet. We are getting the sheet rock up right now.

The hallway.

Hope that gives you a little update...and I'll try and get some pictures up when it is done! :)

Trip to Arizona and The New Arrival!

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:34:00 +0000

So we took a serious road trip to Arizona. Unfortunately, daddy didn't get to go, but we made the drive anyway. So being brave, Emily, Alma and I took the kids for the 12 hour drive down to see Terra and Tim. We left Tuesday night so that the kids could sleep while we drove. We took the 89 route. I tell you what, a WHOLE lot of NOTHING! Not to mention a whole lot of dead spots for phone coverage. Just a few small towns and all asleep and EVERYTHING closed even gas stations so that after like 10:30 pm maybe 11 pm NO POTTIES! So a little about our driving down adventure. So in one of the stretches of nothing, I saw a cat sitting on the side of the road. When I got closer, I realized it was a BIG cat. Prolly a cougar or mountain lion...one of those cats. I was glad I was in the car and it wasn't and that I was driving past it at 65 mph. We also went through a lightening storm. It was really cool. At first we saw it in front of us, then we went through it, and then we were able to watch it behind us. So we got to watch it for like 2 hours of the drive. At one point, Emily and I were talking and all the sudden Alma let out a huge snore. We both started laughing really hard. We arrived at like 4:30 in the morning. We had a great time. Here are a few highlights from the trip:

We got to spend Terra's birthday with her. It was great. We played games. Adam helped me make a cake and decorate it. We put M &Ms on it to decorate it, Adam helped me arrange them too. He was so excited.

We also went swimming everyday. The kids loved it. Even Sarah loves swimming. While we were down there, we found the kids some swim suits on clearance. Ari picked her and Sarah matching Disney Princess ones. Adam got some cool Hawaiian floral print ones. Adam can now swim under water. Ari is getting good at floating on her back with help. Sarah just loves being in the water. She was always trying to jump out of our arms as soon as we got there.

We also went t0 a really fun train park. Adam loved it! They had a miniature train you could ride on. He LOVED it and actually ended up riding it twice. We all went for the train ride together, and then Alma was a sport and took him again. Adam told me after that Alma thought the train was the coolest, apparently so did Adam. When we finished riding the train as a group, Adam said, "Mom, this is the coolest I hope I get to come here again to ride the train again." So needless to say we let him go again so that he would feel fulfilled. They also had a carousel. That was what ARi really wanted to ride. So we took her on it. We put Ari on a horse, then I put Sarah on another horse and held her. Part way through the ride, Sarah decided she didn't want to be on the horse anymore. So me being a genius, grabbed her off and mounted while it was going while holding Sarah and the diaper bag. Talk about talent!! Sign me up for the movies. :p Anyway, Sarah and I finished the ride on a horse together! After that we played at the little park they had. It had a Jail and a Wagon and stuff. The kids favorite was the Jail because it was shaded in there and they loved peeking out of the bars. They climbed on the wagon first, but it was REALLY hot...metal wagon +100+ degree weather=HOT!!! But it was fun to play.
This was at the Train Park, but we took this picture special. After dinner the night before, Adam had gone up to Terra and patted her tummy and said, "Gee Terra, you were really hungry!" We all got a pretty good kick out of it.
We were also there for the birth of Maylee Pearl Bowden. Terra and Tim are such good parents. She is so cute. Poor Terra was supposed to be induced Sunday night, but they didn't actually let her go in until Wednesday morning. But Terra did GREAT! She was awesome! Maylee made it here safe and sound! So announcing the newest member of the family: Maylee! The kids were SO excited to have her here. They loved seeing her and holding her. Sarah was so excited to see her too! (Despite the picture where they were both tired and hungry and we made them dress the same, she LOVED Maylee.)
We had a great trip and headed home a week and a half later...and drove through the night Friday to Saturday. Emily was a champ at keeping me awake. :) Thanks a million! The drive home was exciting because we lost power to the outlets with 8 hours still to go....so NO MP3 player, NO movie player for the kids....but we made it. Not to mention NO POTTIES after like 10:30 pm or 11 pm. All in all great fun! And Maylee was so cute!

A WORK of Art, A Thing of Beauty, (FINALLY) A Place of Rest

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Yard when we looked at the house.

The weeds we had to kill...look Round-up won in the back corner.

Starting the trenches for sprinklers...and to clear weeds.

Burying trenches, and weeds.

Our good little helpers.

The backyard all flattened and ready for sod!

Our garden area. :)

Laying sod.

The side all done :)

The back...YEAH grass!

So we have finally called the work on our yard good for the time being. We have little things, and more to finish later. But as of now we are calling a time out...
So we have a garden area with where our shed will be in the future. (One of the things for later.) We have put in a sprinkling system, flattened the front and back, leveled and put down sod. It was A LOT of work. But it looks good. I love looking out the windows to see green (or yellowish want to be green) instead of brown. It's FANTASTIC! We were so lucky to have so much help from family. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! You are the best! :)
So a little about the adventure...the front yard was HORRENDOUS!! Something about hard clay and a ton of rocks. Not kidding tons. We couldn't even use a rototiller because there were too many. We sifted them out with my parents rock sifter, which fell apart before we were done. We probably won't have to buy any rocks to go under our cement though. :) So in one week we got the front yard ready. Jon's parents were getting rid of a bunch of grass and told us on Tuesday that we could have it if we were ready for it that weekend. So yeah, got it done and laid sod that Saturday. We had enough for the whole front yard. The next week, we did the whole backyard. It was two weeks of hard work in the HOT sun. But it is awesome now.

Umm...Catch Up?

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:15:00 +0000

Hey so everyone, including me, is a little tired of the same post for the last several months. So here we go…I’ll try and recap.

So we moved to our new home. We love it! We have lots of space. We didn’t actually get to move in until the middle of May, but we are here now. During the interim we stayed with Jon’s parents. They were very gracious and the kids loved being with Grandma and Grandpa. In fact, Ari loved having someone to get her chocolate milk every morning as soon as she got up. She generally has to wait because I’m feeding Sarah, but she could go get Grandma or Grandpa and they would get it for her. Lucky girl. Now she has to wait again.

Since we moved in we have been working hard! Chris and Jon put in a home theater system in the basement. It is really fun. We have almost unpacked…the important boxes. Of course there is plenty to go through in the storage room, but we are almost back to everyday life. We are working on the yard too. We have the sprinkler system in and are working on leveling the yard back down. We also have a garden. It is looking good. We have corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupe, zucchini, and pumpkins. It was kind of a requirement. When we were looking at houses Adam started making lists of what we needed… 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, music rooms, and a garden big enough for pumpkins and tomatoes for mommy. He even prayed for it, so we have a garden with pumpkins and tomatoes. It’s kind of funny because I like tomatoes, but I really don’t eat them all the time. He just thinks that if he gets pumpkins, mommy needs something too.

We have had fun too. So a few stories: Adam’s has figured out that Daddy won’t leave mommy. So when we are trying to leave and he isn’t ready he always checks where I am to make sure I haven’t left so he won’t be left. In fact, we were getting ready to leave my parents one evening and we asked him to go potty before we left. He looked at me and said, “Mommy, go inside.” Then he told everyone that “Daddies don’t leave mommies.” So he wanted me to go inside so that he wouldn’t be left. Funny kid, but smart kid.

Sarah is getting so big. She army crawls EVERYWHERE!! She also loves animal crackers. She will stick the whole cracker in her mouth and suck on it as it dissolves. She makes terrific messes with them.

Ari loves being a princess. Grandma Morgan set up a Princess Lemonade Tea Party with her and Isabel. They invited their other grandmas. Then we found out that Janel would be in town so we got to have her, Jenny and Adrienne and Kelli and Sam come along too. It was really fun for the girls. Ari however kept trying to escape to play with the boys. She enjoyed painting her nails, but then she was done and wanted to go with the boys. (They were playing with Alma downstairs and outside.) She was funny; I had to keep grabbing her to keep her with us.

So a little more about the tea party: we started with painting nails. Even Sarah’s nails got painted. Then we had a luncheon with fruit, sandwiches, and pink lemonade. Then Grandma Zelma read the girls a story. Then we all went downstairs and made hot pads. Then we let the kids all play. It was so fun, everyone had a great time!

Check out the gallery, I’m going to put some pictures there.

Pictures of the House

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:47:00 +0000

The kitchen: I love the island! Well, I just love that it is BIG! And we aren't trying to share the dining with the kitchen! And I have a pantry!!!!!
The front of the house. Don't worry, it will be finished when we move in. They should be pouring the driveway and stairs, and putting in the carpet and such pretty soon. :D

New House

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:40:00 +0000

So I promise to try and catch up after we move. But things have been crazy trying to get everything packed and ready so....we are behind. However, people keep asking for pictures of the house so really quick I'm putting some in the gallery. (And when it lets me I'll post some here...)

Adventures in House Hunting

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:11:00 +0000

So...as you know we have been looking for a new place a little further north since Jon is now working at Hill. So recently we have been out actually looking at houses. Well...I just want you to know that there are still places out there that no normal person would give a thought to. I'll give you a couple of examples: (Now understand that we looked at the information that our Realtor gave us online, so all the places APPEARED decent online....lol.)

First example was what has become referred to as "The Humming House." We were out looking and we pulled up to one and well, we almost didn't go inside. It was right next to a power substation. So there was the LOUD buzzing from all the cables or whatever buzzes in those stations. The house was actually really close to what we were looking for EXCEPT the substation next door. I mean NEXT DOOR. The one boundary of the property was the barbed wire fence to keep people out. Can you see me telling the kids to go play outside? "Hey kids, go play, but make sure not to kick your ball over there...or don't climb that fence you might really get hurt!" Yeah right. Not to mention you would have yell anytime you were outside to be heard over that noise. So a backyard bbq...not happening. So yeah, that house....thumbs down.

Example number two we like to call "Alcatraz." Proof that they used to make basements dungeons! (Obviously they didn't post any pictures of the house EXCEPT the two rooms they remodeled...) We went to look at it because it said 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Priced decently. Once again...YIKES!!!!! The upstairs (besides the remodeled rooms) looked like the 50s. (which was okay because it was built in the 50s.) However, we went down to the basement and it was all cement...small rooms with tiny little windows. The basement kitchen smelled of something dead and rotting. K...if that isn't bad, it was only 5 foot ceilings. I had to duck to walk around down there! DOUBLE YIKES!! Can you see me sending the kids to their rooms? "Hey! Go to your room!" "No mommy, please anything but that!!!!" Geeze! I tell you what it was bad!

Anyway...that just goes to show, you CANNOT believe what is posted online when house hunting...you gotta go look at it.

On a lighter note...we did find a nice one! It is in the process of being built. They are going to finish when they get a buyer. So the buyer gets to pick carpet and paint. It is 3 bedroom and 2 bathrooms. (The basement has room for 2 more bedrooms and another bathroom...unfinished) It has a huge kitchen with tall ceilings. (which Jon likes) :)

Nuff for now...hope you enjoyed! :)

My Amazing Hubby!

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:48:00 +0000

I just wanted to write an say how much I love and appreciate my hubby! He is amazing. He works so hard so I can stay home and take care of our kiddos.
For those who haven't heard he started his new job up at HAFB. He is going through orientation and such, but should be starting the real work soon! He can't wait for that, he is getting a little bored. :P
Anyway, I just though you all should know I think he is the bestest! I am such a lucky girl. :)

My MOST Embarrassing Moment Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Okay so you know how much I love my kids, right? Well you also know that everyone tells you not to let what they do embarrass you? Usually I'm pretty good at that, I just try to laugh and say, "ah kids!" Well this time, NO CAN DO!
Sunday, Jon's dad was released as Stake President so we went up to the Stake Conference to be there for him. Adam was SO excited to go see Grandpa. The meeting went pretty well, I thought considering it is 2 hours...kind of long for little kids to sit through. But they did with minimal trips to the hall, drinking fountain, bathroom.... Afterward, Elder Hinckley and Elder Garff wanted to meet with the outgoing stake presidency and their families before we left. It was so cute, Elder Hinckley asked if everyone was there, Ari ran up jumped on Grandpa's lap and said "Yeah!" (That's not the embarrassing part.) Both Elder Hinckley and Elder Garn gave big thank yous to the outgoing stake presidencies and their families. It was very nice.
After we went up to meet them and shake their hands. Adam went up and jumped on Elder Hinckley. Jon and I gasped. But he didn't seem to mind, and shook his hand and then told him he had a mouse in his suit pocket. He then took his hand and ran it down his arm and up Adam's to his armpit and tickled him. Adam looked at him funny and said, "You don't really have a mouse, you were just pretending, huh?" Elder Hinckley looked at him and said, "I'm sorry, Yeah I really don't have a mouse." (Ok...now you may be wondering why this is SO embarrassing...it's not this...it get's better.)
We go to meet Elder Garff and shake his hand. We were then visiting a little and all the sudden Adam reaches into his pocket and extracts his keys! While doing this, all his change and contents of his suit coat pocket fall out. Adam bent down to pick up all the stuff and give it back to him. ( I am of course dying...my son just pick-pocketed Elder Garff!) So while Adam is picking everything up, Elder Garff asks if he wants a lucky quarter. Adam says yes and Elder Garff picks one to give to him. He told Adam it could go in his mission fund. Good idea! Then Grandma says yeah it's for when you get older. Adam stopped, dropped his shoulders and head and started to cry. Sort of freak out that he didn't want to die so he didn't want the quarter! If I wasn't embarrassed enough already, I really am now. Elder Garff is looking at him like what just happened. (I realized that he heard Grandma say it's for when you are old, and he thought...when I am old, I die. I don't want to die, I don't want to go on a mission, I don't want the quarter...So he had kind of a break down.) So I tried my best to calm him down, tell him he's not going to die, everythings is okay, etc. etc. And I quickly say good bye and we leave the room.
Yeah...I'll admit I was pretty embarrassed! So not only did my son pick-pocket the general authority, when he offered him a lucky quarter, he freaked out about it!
Ah kids! But what can you do about it. Love 'em anyway! At least I can laugh at it now!

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Okay well, I added the pictures from the Arizona trip to the image gallery under, go fig, "Arizona Trip." (I know I'm SO original...but at least I'm practical. :P ) And for fun a couple more here

Visit to Arizona

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:21:00 +0000

Hey so we just back from Arizona to visit Terra and Tim. It was so nice to see them and enjoy some somewhat warmer weather. We left Wednesday (11th) night after we found out Jon was starting his new job up at HAFB on Tuesday (17th). (Originally we planned to leave Monday-16th and come back Saturday- 21st, but everything changed when Jon went in and found he could start on the 17th!!! Which we were really happy about.) Anyway...
So we left Wednesday night at about 8:30 p.m., when Jon finished scouts. We drove all night and arrived about 8 the next morning. This was nice for the kiddos because they slept through a greater part of the drive. They did wake up at 1 a.m. -ish when we had to stop to fill up gas and feed Sarah. Ari went back to sleep about 3 a.m., but Adam didn't go back to sleep until close to 5 a.m. We did get to cross the Hoover Dam and there was no traffic in the middle of the night, go figure. :P
Thursday, we slept on and off most of the day. Terra and I took the kids for a walk to find the pool so that Daddy and Tim could take them swimming later. The weather was nice, it was in the 60's. They went swimming while dinner was cooking. We played games and went to bed. (Jon helped Tim study for his test...I slept through most of that.)
Friday, we took the kids to the park and let them run and play outside. It was awesome! They made a new friend on the playground. Now funny story: Ari is my little flirt. So she fell and skinned her knee on the way to the park. While they were playing she had to show their new friend her knee. Then she made him kiss it better! Gotta watch that girl! Anyway, it was kinda funny. The kids and Jon and Tim went swimming again in the evening while dinner was cooking. And we played games and went to bed.
Saturday-Valentine's Day, made hearts and hung them all over Terra and Tim's door. We also hung them on the neighbor's door. We went and played outside, vollyeball and frisbee. We also went swimming and played games. (We played Pandemic most the time, but we also played the Pirates of the Carribean Dice game and they taught us a new game with the Rook cards called 7 Hands.)
Sunday we went to church and then played games with the kids and took some pictures. We played games and packed up so we could leave in the morning.
We drove back all day Monday (President's Day) The kids got SO sick of the car, Jon and I did too.
All in all it was a FANTASTIC little trip. We LOVED seeing Tim and Terra. Thanks for letting us come down and crash your place. :) We love you!
Now...very important, pictures:

Gotta figure out how to add more...so just wait and I'll get some more up!

Some New Pictures of Sarah

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:49:00 +0000

Just thought you might want to see a few new pictures of Sarah...

After her baby blessing in December.
She looks really happy to be all dressed up.

This is Sarah at 2 months.
I actually caught her smile, sort of.
Of course, then Ari started helping and well...no more with smiles, sorry. :(

Girl's Day with Dani

noreply@blogger.com (Tamina) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:17:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, Jon told me that he wanted me to take a break. He told me that I needed to go do something fun and he would watch the kids. So I emailed my cousin, one of my very bestest friends, to plan a time when she could come and we could get out without the kiddos.
So, today was that day! I had a blast. We went to lunch at Chili's and then just wandered around stores. We wandered around Dollar Tree, Roberts and Kohls.
It was SO fun to just get together and visit. We used to play all the time, but since both of us are married and have children, we don't get to see each other much. So, thanks to Jon for giving me a few hours of freedom to go. And THANKS Dani for taking time to go with me! Can't wait to do it again sometime. :)

Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:44:00 +0000

Welcome to the new Morgan Family Blog. I’ve decided that I shouldn’t re-invent the wheel anymore and just use a blog site to manage it for me. This will hopefully make it easier for us to post content and keep in touch with everyone. Hopefully I’ll be able to import all of the historic blogs too, so we’ll see what happens with that.

And They Say You Are Lucky to be a Stay at Home Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:56:00 +0000

So I just wanted to share my day. Well...first things first a little background coming in to the day. My kids have been sick with the dang cold going around, needless to say, not been sleeping well. I am only 7 weeks past having a baby and started a period (so in a really good mood) and have clogged ducts. (If you know what that means ...OUCH!) Now to today:

The kids woke up at 8. Not a problem. They wanted yogurt. Not a problem. I changed Sarah's diaper and thought I should check on the kids who were supposed to be eating the yogurt at the table. Well, walking out of my bedroom I saw Ari in the front room PAINTING one of the banana chairs in yogurt. It was all over the chair, the carpet and her. I sent her in for a "cold" shower. (It was lukewarm) I got her all cleaned up and changed and then we went to clean up the mess in the front room. (Blueberry yogurt...what better fruit to have mashed into carpets, clothes and chairs.) We got that all cleaned up and started about the day.

I had the kids take turns on their leapfrog computers. Adam, as usual, was very frustrated with Ari because she was doing it wrong. She wouldn't pick what he wanted; she moved the joystick all around instead of just to one side, etc. etc. I decided that they were done, they both had turns and now they were just fighting over it, so I told them it was playtime.

So then of course, it's feeding time. (With Sarah it always seems to be time to eat...) Anyway, so I go to feed Sarah and the kids decide they are hungry too. So I let them have some cereal (I don't feel good and I need to feed Sarah, so I pour them bowls of cereal and milk) I give them the same caution I ALWAYS give them before we eat: Eat nice or you get a "cold" shower. I leave them to eat and head to feed Sarah. So while I am feeding Sarah, I hear a bowl empty onto the floor. I finish the one side, and put Sarah down to go check what happened. Well, Ari didn't want that cereal she decided she wanted a different one. (Not Little Einstiens but Mickey's Clubhouse) So she emptied her bowl of cereal (and milk) on to the floor and poured the other cereal. I left the mess and decided to deal with it after I finished feeding Sarah. (She was screaming because she wanted to finish eating.) So I fed her the second side. She started pooping while eating, and she kept pooping. So by the time she was done eating she had pooped all the way up her back TO HER NECK! So not only was I nursing on clogged ducts, I was trying to keep from getting all poopy.

Now I had to decide what to clean up first...Sarah covered in poop or the kitchen covered in cereal. I decided I should take care of Sarah first, so I grabbed a changing pad wrapped it around her back and went to get wet wipes and a diaper for Sarah. On my way I did what I shouldn't have, I looked into the kitchen. What did I see, Ari flipping the cereal all over the kitchen! At that point, I grabbed Ari and her bowl, threw the bowl in the sink and bathed her right there in the sink. I sent her to dry and headed back to change Sarah. I stripped Sarah down and washed her in wet wipes and put her in new clothes. Then I found Ari and put her in her bed for time-out. While she was in time-out I took Sarah's plethora of poopy clothes down to soak in the washer. When I got back up I talked with Ari about what we do and DON"T do, then we cleaned up the kitchen floor.

I decided it was time for a break at this point and turned on a movie for the kids so I could go in time-out before I completely lost it.

Unfortunately the kids can be worst enemies and I had to keep interrupting my time-out to break up arguments about this toy or that. Oh well, at least none of them died today!

As you can see, stay-at -home mom's have NOTHING to do and are always SO LUCKY to be able to enjoy all the FUN with their kids! Hope this makes all of you want to have oodles of kiddos! (But in all honesty, it is pretty great that I get to stay home and raise my kids. And hey, I wouldn't get to tell stories like this if I wasn't home, huh?) Here's to another day...

Christmas and New Year's…the Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:44:00 +0000

We had a GREAT Christmas! It was SUPER busy, but fun. We loved having Terra and Tim come up from Arizona, and Adam, Mel and Kale here from Texas. The kids loved seeing them all again. Yes, Tim is Ari's new best friend and she still asks for him when we go to Grandma's house. Both Terra and Mel gave us GREAT news during their visits: they are both expecting. Melanie is due in July and Terra is due in August. We are SO excited for both of them and pray all goes well with their pregnancies.

We had lots of parties and it was fun to see everyone. We also had a white Christmas, but I am getting sick of the snow now. (I am not a fan of the cold...snow would be great if it wasn't so cold and we didn't have to drive in it.)

Christmas Eve, we went to the Morgan's and had the kids dress up for the nativity. Sarah was baby Jesus, Ari was an angel and Adam was a wise man, Isabel was also an angel, Ben was a shepherd and Noah was Joseph. (For Sarah's safety, they put me as Mary...go fig.) The girls were done being dressed up really fast...basically long enough to take a picture. Then Grandpa read them the story of the Nativity. It was fun to be with family and sing the carols and remember what Christmas is really about.

The kids were so excited to wake up Christmas morning to see that Santa had come. (Talk about a late night Christmas Eve...it was great fun to get everything all set up, not to mention helping Annie get Alma's book all done! It was good times, huh Annie!) Adam got a castle and a Mac truck (with extra cars to ride on him). He LOVES it and doesn't like to go ANYWHERE because he would rather play with his toys. Ari got some ponies and a little people house. She likes the ponies, but she would rather play with Adam's REALLY COOL castle than her doll house. Oh well, isn't that the way it goes? What Ari was really SUPER excited about opening Christmas morning was Kung Fu Panda. It is one of her favorites right now and had been asking to watch it for weeks before Christmas. So when she opened it she hugged it SO tight and we have seen it lots of times since Christmas. (Good thing I think it is pretty funny...) Santa also brought a Wii. As much as the kids like to play it, they still play with Adam's castle more.

After we opened gifts at home, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Smoot's. The kids were thrilled to see that Santa had left toys there for them too. So Grandma's house now has a really cool gears set, more dishes and food for the kitchen and a baby car seat, pack-n-play and stroller. (So funny story about the gears...Adam was with my mom when she found them. So she told him if he was good maybe Santa would bring him some to play with at Grandma's. So for several weeks he was telling everyone he was getting "beers" for Christmas. It took me a while to figure out what he was talking about. Since we talk about "beer" so much at our house. We finally figured out that he thought that the word was "beers" instead of "gears." We got it all figured out though and he knows that he builds with "gears." It was quite funny though.)

After that we went up to the Morgan's. The kids had fun opening their presents and especially playing with the cousins. When we went down to do the parents presents, we turned on Kung Fu Panda. We were all surprised how quiet and good they were. We even checked on them and they were just playing nicely and watching the movie. It was wonderful! We were really glad that the big storm didn't start until we were leaving that night. However, it made it so we missed the get together with Grandpa and Grandma-great. (Smoot-side) But the kids were so tired and the snow was TERRIBLE so we went home and hunkered down.

Also that weekend, Sunday to be precise, we had Sarah's baby blessing. We decided to have it while everyone was here. Since the 28th was the only Sunday everyone would be in town we had her blessing that day. It was wonderful.

New Year's was a fun too. Jon got off early New Year's Eve and we went up to the Morgan's. The kids played and had a blast. Then we went down to the Smoot's and played games. It was fun to hang out with Terra and Tim before they headed back down to Arizona. We also enjoyed hanging out with everyone else. The kids loved playing with Kale too. (He is 1 and is SO big!) The kids would always look around for him to come and play with them. I think he liked them too; he was always following them around.

As I said, we had a GREAT holiday season. We hope everyone else did too! If I forgot anything PLEASE add it. And now let me put in my two cents (more).... I hope we all took time to remember the real reason for Christmas. I am so thankful for a Savior who came to earth. The little babe born in a stable, who would grow up to be the Savior of the world. What a WONDERFUL gift. I hope we remember that all year through. I love my Savior. Christmas is such a wonderful time and I hope you all loved it too!

Update on Sarah

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:48:00 +0000

So have you all been on the edge of your chairs? I know I have. (and unfortunately we get to stay on our chairs a little more) But we did get some answers. So we took Sarah to Dr. Wilcox, an excellent ophthamologist. (He also sees Ari for her wandering eye.) Anyway, He looked at her and she has small cataracts in the middle of each eye. She was born with them. What does all this mean? Well...Since they are small we are going to watch for a little bit and see how much they are actually affecting her eye development. Since she is still small...only a few weeks old, she can't focus well anyway, and doesn't always follow. (Even if her eyes were normal, newborns of that age don't always follow or focus.) So we will take her in at 6 months (in May) and see how her eyes are developing. As long as her eyes develop normally (for the most part) we will just continue to watch and see. If at some point Dr. Wilcox sees that it is causing developmental problems for her, we will have surgery and remove them.

So as I said, we got some answers, but we will play the wait and see game. So please keep little Sarah in your prayers. We appreciate all the support!

Our Newest Member of the SUPER Pooper Club...

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:29:00 +0000

So I just thought I would let you know what a great pooper little Sarah is. Last night in one of those feedings, she started pooping. Well, she burst through everything and all over mommy. Undecided Of course we knew she was a great pooper from the start. You know the first day you are supposed to get 1 wet diaper and 1 poopy...well our little star did 6 poopy. (She BARELY made the 1 wet.) Don't worry though everything works just fine!

She is a pro at waiting until you take the diaper off (even though you've waited for her to finish, and pushed her legs up to get out the rest...she waits!) then she strikes. She has gotten both Jon and I on several occasions. Not to mention, she has power behind it so if you aren't holding the diaper up, she'll blow it over. (Trust me on that one...I was painted.) Yell Anyway...Just thought you would like to know what kind of FUN we are having here!

Also she went in for her 2 week appointment. Man she is growing like a champ! Well putting on weight like one anyway. She is now 8 lbs. 1 oz. (Up from her birthweight of 6 lbs. 13 oz.) However, I think she may have gotten a couple Foote genes because her height...well it went backwards and she measured 20.25 inches (down a quarter inch from her birth height of 20.5) No worries though it was probably just a mismeasure at the hospital. They're pretty quick. The Doc says she is looking good, except....

She has little white pinpoint dots in the middle of each pupil. I noticed them earlier and Mandy asked what they were. I told her I was gonna check with the doctor at her appointment. Well, it just so happens...we don't know yet. He looked at them and in frontal veiw her eyes refract light like normal. However, when she moves her eyes around it doesn't look quite right. So, needless to say we are going to an opthomologist on Wednesday (tomorrow) to have them looked at to see what's up. The doc said it could be tumors, cataracts or nothing to worry about. YEAH RIGHT, don't worry. Right tell that to any mom! Tongue out So here I am being calm as can be waiting to worry til after the appointment tomorrow when I hopefully will know what is going on. So, here's hoping it's nothing...otherwise we're heading in for some surgery of some sort, I'm sure.

Well...that should keep you waiting on the edgte of your chair til the next update!

Sarah Elyse Morgan

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:39:00 +0000

Hey everyone! So after 5 1/2 hours in the fighting chair...we had Baby Girl Morgan. (And by the time we left she had her name: Sarah Elyse Morgan.) We got to LDS Hospital at 8:45 am on Friday morning and due to waiting for okays from the Dr. (he was at the dentist) they started the pitosin at 9:45-ish. Like always, Tamina's body took SO well to the medicine and the contractions started every 2-3 mins. (like clockwork...) The Resident Dr. came in about about 11:30 am and checked to see if he could brake the water. He didn't think he could do it yet, so he and the nurse left. About 5 minutes later, Dr. VandeMerwe came in and checked and did brake my water. Of course, that speeds things up.

I finally decided to get an epidural at about 1pm because the pain in the back was getting so bad. The anesthesiologist put in the epidural and watched. I was still hurting and he explained why it didn't really help the back. Frown But he gave me extra to help cover it, and it did for a little bit...but not the whole time.

The nurse checked me about 1:30-ish after the epidural was in and I was a 4 and 80% effaced. So, she left.

During this time no, we didn't answer phones. So, Janene and Kim thought I must have had the baby and came down. We called my mom back and Adam had needed to check on Mommy and see how I was doing. (He had been checking since 7 AM..."Mommy, how are you?" "Do you have the baby yet?" "Why not?"...Same questions. He was really excited to see the baby.)

So Jon played with Ben, Kim hurried and came while she didn't have Isabel since she was sick. It was fun to have Ben to keep us entertained while things got worse. However, the contractions moved down, so the moniter didn't show the contractions very well. Kim kept telling me to work harder because they didn't look bad enough to be doing anything. I started feeling them in my back again, so I knew something had to be happening.

The nurse came in at about 2:20-ish to check me again. She said that Dr. VandeMerwe was in Farmington so he needed lots of time to get back down so she was going to check every hour to give him plenty of time. Then she checked me and gasped. She said you are a 9+ and the baby's head was right there. SHe then said she would hurry and call the Dr. and to not push til he was in the room and dressed. K, so it is hard to try and hold off for over 1/2 hour. He showed up just after 3pm and got all ready. After 4 sets of pushes she came out. (No tearing or cutting! Laughing) So she was born at 3:16 p.m. (15:16 o'clock)

He pulled her out and her cord was really short. (I think they said shorter than Ari's.) Jon cut the cord and they put the baby up by me so I could see her.

She measured 6 pounds and 13 ounces (12.5-round up) and 20.5 inches long. My mom brought the kids down after and they were very excited to finally see their new baby sister.

She is SO cute and we are so excited to have her in our family. Adam and Ari just love her too. Adam wants lots of turns holding her. Smile Ari is such a BIG helper...Undecided But it's fun to see how much they both really like her.

Thanks Mom and Dad Smoot for watching the kiddos during this we appreciate all you do. Thanks Kim for taking pictures for us. We appreciate everything everyone has done.

**By the way, she has already done a diva moment. Just after she was born, I was feeding her and she started to choke a little. I picked her up and she stopped breathing. She went a dark purple. So we hurried and called the nurse. She came down and checked her lungs. Then she realized it wasn't the lungs but the stomach. They then pumped her stomach. She had 10 ccs of amniotic fluid which had choked her. Luckily they got it all pumped out and she is doing great now! **

A Shout Out To Mr.Clean's Magic Erasers

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:27:00 +0000

I just wanted to do a quick HURRAH!!! for Magic Erasers. As you know I have a little artist...and well I am ALWAYS cleaning murals off the wall. Well today she used a blue sharpie. :( Thank heavens, the Magic Erasers actually got it off!!!!! Not to mention all the crayon and pen it has gotten off of various places. :D So thank you Mr. Clean for your Magic Erasers!!! They really are MAGIC!

39 Weeks and Almost Done!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Today I had my check-up. Everything looks good. :) And the even better news...Doc says we are set to induce Friday! So Friday morning we'll be heading in! We are all really excited. Adam keeps asking if it is Friday yet. :D Anyway...just thought I would let you all know since everyone has been asking when this baby is really going to come. The answer: Friday at the latest.

Back up and Running

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:40:00 +0000

Hi! I know we haven't had anything for a while. (The computer has been down.) So the good news is we have it back up and running!

The quick update: Halloween was a great success. The kids loved it. The Monday before we carved our pumpkins. (We went to the patch on Saturday afternoon and the kids had a great time picking out their pumpkins.) On Halloween, we went trick-or-treating at Daddy's work. It was fun to go and see where he worked and let him show off the kids to all his co-workers.

When we got back we hurried and stuffed our huge spider garbage bags full of leaves for the ward trunk-or-treat. They had chili for dinner and then the trunk-or treat after. We put the huge spider coming out of our trunk with orange lights. It was pretty cool. :)

What did the kids end up being for Halloween? Well, Adam chose to be Flash again. He had a Darth Vader costume we borrowed from Chris, but when it came time to wear it...NO GO. He only wanted to be Flash. So we let him...not worth the fight and hassle. Ari was the little cow during the day. (She LOVED the cow costume, especially the tail.) Then that evening she was Princess Leia. She loved the wig with the buns, she called them her ears.

After the trunk-or-treat, we went and saw Grandma and Grandpa Smoot. The kids played for a bit and we took some pictures. Then we went home to bed.

Saturday morning (Nov. 1st) we went up to the Morgan's. The men all helped Chris and Jen move to their new apartment, and the kiddos played. We had pumkin pancakes, Yummy! We also attempted pictures of all the grandkids. Didn't work too well, but we have pictures of them in their costumes in the same area. ;) (With kids what more can you ask for?)

All-in all we had a GREAT Halloween. The kids got tons of candy. They still talk about Halloween and are ready for it to come again. :) Look for pictures, they will be coming...I just have to get them off the camera.

***No promises of time, we're hoping for a baby real soon! ;) ***

Rylee's Halloween Party

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:56:00 +0000

On Saturday, we went to Rylee's Halloween Party. The kids were so excited that they had been invited, and Adam asked how long til Saturday for a week! It was such a blast to watch the kids have so much fun! They thoroughly enjoyed it. :D

When we got there the kids decorated cupcakes. Adam didn’t want to, but Ari was all about the treats! (Adam was a little cranky when we got there because he had fallen asleep on the way down…hence not wanting to participate or wear his flash mask.Undecided Just the costume, which he put on WAY before it was time to go. )

The kids then went out to do a piñata. Adam was SO excited. He LOVES piñatas. Jon had a great time pretending to talk for the mummy piñata and moving it around on the kids. Adam was really excited because he was the one who actually broke it open. I'm so proud of my boy! :P

After the piñata, we had pizza for dinner. (Always a success with my kiddos…they love it.) Next they did a spider toss. So the kids took turns throwing bean bag spiders.

The last activity was a mummy wrap. Lucky Devin and Alma were wrapped up with TP by all the kiddos. It was way fun to watch them figure it all out. Adam started tying the TP to get it to stay. Ari also had fun trying to get it to stay on. Then she decided that Alma was boring and tried putting on Kambrie. She chased her all around tossing pieces of TP on her head and laughing. Undecided (The whole time she was chasing poor, little Kambrie around and trying to hold her…silly girl!)

Anyway, the party was a hit! We were so glad that Dani and Rylee invited the kids. They had so much fun. There are pictures in the gallery under 2008 Halloween Party. Hope you enjoy them! :D

My Pretty Little Princess

noreply@blogger.com (Jon) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:43:00 +0000

So a quick little blog. Ari has a bunch of dress-up clothes. She is really into these green high heel shoes and a little hula skirt. So today, she came upstairs all decked out in that and a green boa with a purse. She told me, "Mommy, pincess, pretty." So I told her she did look like a pretty princess. Then Adam came up with about 3 or 4 more purses for her. And helped her get them all on. Needless to say we had to do a photo-shoot of my pretty princess all decked out. Some of the pictures ended up in Ari's Album in the gallery. Enjoy! She really is my pretty little princess!

Had to add one of the pictures here. ;) She is just so stinkin' cute!