The Shaw Family

Tunnel vision

2012-01-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

I know I edited these two different ways, but some just looked better to me one way than the others did. It was fun having a little photo shoot today while Morgan played in her tunnel. She is no longer a baby. She is such an independent, silly, kind, polite, cuddly little girl and we love her so much!

Zoo Day

2012-01-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

This week we went with our friends to the San Diego zoo. I was really excited to take Morgan because she hasn't been to the zoo since she was itty bitty and I knew she would like it. I was right. Although, we did have issues with her just running off in the crowd. I had to leave the stroller with my friend and take off after her. I wasn't very happy about that, but luckily everyone seemed to be very understanding. One woman saw Morgan run by her and then saw me running towards her and shouted ahead for someone to stop her. That was appreciated :).

Our first stop was the Gorillas. They are always one of my favorite and one Kevin's least favorite for the exact same reason, because they are so close to humans!

I couldn't get Morgan to cooperate when I tried to get a picture of her by herself, but when I put her with her friend, Joe she did just fine.

Here is Emily with her two boys. This picture makes me laugh. I couldn't get a great one...it was obvious that her boys just wanted to run around.

We had to see those adorable pandas of course and take a picture next to the giraffes which is my other favorite and the same as Morgan's "buddy" that she takes everywhere.

Thanks again, Emily! We had a great time and Morgan loved spending so much time with Joe :)

The last few of 2011

2011-12-31T14:27:00.001-08:00

To finish off 2011 I thought I would just post the last few pictures I have taken this month. Of course they are of Morgan, but no one really wants to see me anyways :)

She loves playing on the computer now. My sister sent over a little people farm game that Morgan refers to as "barn" and basically she can hit any key and it will do something.

I took Morgan to the duck pond to feed the ducks and when we came home, I stopped and talked to Kevin for a little bit. Then I noticed it was really quiet. When I went looking for Morgan I found this...

For some reason Morgan really likes wearing her snow hat and sunglasses and sometimes she likes wearing them at the same time. Kevin said she insisted on wearing them both when he took her shopping with him.

Unfortunately, for this past week, Morgan has had a bad stomach bug. She had a really high fever and was throwing up. It threw our whole schedule off. One night she requested some oatmeal so I made it and set her in her chair. I sat down and then look over my shoulder a few minutes later and saw this...

Poor little girl :(. Thankfully, she is doing much better now. I look forward to being able to play outside again!

Christmas break

2011-12-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

I really didn't take many pictures this Christmas. Really, I haven't taken many pictures at all lately which I hope to change. I really need to get back into it. This Christmas like every Christmas since we have been married, we got a real Christmas tree. Morgan really paid more attention to it this year and we let her help us decorate the tree. Luckily most of our ornaments are homemade ones and aren't too breakable.

On Christmas Eve we went over to Kevin's sister's house. We played Christmas carols on chimes (very cool) and joined them in their family tradition of going out to Chinese food for Christmas eve. It was nice and good until Morgan spilled her apple juice all over her and my bag. Thank goodness I thought ahead and had another change of clothes for her. After dinner we we back to their house, relaxed for a bit (washed my bag and Morgan's clothes) and then we filled up on some hot chocolate and went to look at Christmas lights. We had a really nice time.

Everyone was really generous. Morgan received a lot of great gifts!

We got our nephews a big blow up ball that you can get inside of. I don't know about you, when I was a kid I would have loved this! Apparently, they did too, which turned out great :).

I don't know why, but this year I was really missing my family. I got a little emotional over being so far away from everyone, but I have to say that I have really felt the love from those family and friends I have here and across the country. I have really felt blessed by my heavenly father. I know he is watching over us and that he truly loves us.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and here is to a Happy New Year!!

A great Poem

2011-12-24T07:39:00.000-08:00

This time of year can make us really miss the people that have passed on. Whether is is a friend, a sibling, parent, child, aunt or uncle, we really get sad thinking of them and wishing we could be with them. I was looking up good Christmas stories and I came across this poem and I thought it was too sweet not to share.

MyFirst Christmas In Heaven

I see the countless Christmas trees
around the world below
With tiny lights, like Heaven's stars,
reflecting on the snow.

The sight is so spectacular,
please wipe away the tear
For I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs
that people hold so dear
But the sounds of music can't compare
with the Christmas choir up here.

I have no words to tell you,
the joy their voices bring,
For it is beyond description,
to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me,
I see the pain inside your heart.
But I am not so far away,
We really aren't apart.

So be happy for me, dear ones,
You know I hold you dear.
And be glad I'm spending Christmas
with Jesus Christ this year.

I sent you each a special gift,
from my heavenly home above.
I sent you each a memory
of my undying love.

After all, love is a gift more precious
than pure gold.
It was always most important
in the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other,
as my Father said to do.
For I can't count the blessing or love
he has for each of you.

So have a Merry Christmas and
wipe away that tear.
Remember, I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year.

This poem was written by a 13 year old boy who died of a brain tumor that hehad battled for four years. He died on December 14, 1997. He gave this to hisMom before he died. His name was Ben.

Once there was a snowman

2011-12-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

As I was shopping with Morgan one day last week, I came across a fun decoration from Hallmark. It is a snowman that you stick on the wall and let the kids pick different eyes, clothes, etc... Think Mr. Potato head in sticker form. Well I decided to get it and it was a HUGE success. The only problem is, is that she can be a little rough taking pieces off of the wall and she has ripped a few things in half, but I don't really care. After Christmas is will end up in the trash anyway.

Morgan's 2nd

2011-12-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

We were planning on being in Florida to celebrate Morgan's second birthday, but it just didn't work out. We are finding out how difficult it is going to be to have a child with a birthday in December. Everyone is super busy planning for Christmas and Kevin had some work events he had to cover so having a party for her is kind of tricky. Instead of having a big party, we had a couple to little celebrations to make it up to her.

The first one was with her grandparents. They weren't going to be around on her actual birthday so they came down and we went out for dinner. When the waiter came by with a little cookie for her she got really shy. It kind of reminded me of myself. I'm not one to be the center of attention.

But she can be pretty silly too!

On Morgan's actual birthday, Kevin took work off and we went to the Paradise Pier hotel by the Disneyland theme park. Morgan LOVES Mickey Mouse as well as most of the Disney characters, but we are not ready to take her to the park just yet. At this hotel they have a character breakfast where the kids get to meet a handful of the characters and dance and play with them. She LOVED it! Kevin and I both got a little teary eyed seeing her smiling so big and just having so much fun.

The day after her birthday was a Friday and that was pretty much the only time we could have any sort of a party. With most of Kevin's family being out of town, we just had a couple of friends over for some pizza, cake, and ice cream. Morgan had a blast. Thanks again, Sabrina, Frank, and Tasha for bringing your kiddos over and celebrating with us. :)

Timing is everything

2011-12-11T08:32:00.001-08:00

The other day Morgan and I went shopping with Kevin's mom, Linda. After we had lunch we headed over to the mall so Morgan could ride the carousel. The only problem was, is it was right around Morgan's nap time. She had been on a carousel once before and cried when I tried to take her off when the ride was over. This time well...see for yourself.

At first everything is just fine, but then she drops her Mickey mouse and...

She was trying to get off of the reindeer so they settled for a ride in a sleigh. She fell asleep pretty much right when we got in the car. Timing really can be everything :).

Where did November go?

2011-12-10T20:40:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I went a whole month without a post, but I think I had a lot on my mind and not too much on my camera.

The end of October brings the anniversary of my friends death and the beginning of November brought the sudden passing of an acquaintance I knew from my old church at the age of 44, along with the loss of my uncle after a long battle with cancer. All of that together made me slow down a little and just think of each day as a blessing and try to enjoy my family. This is what I'm going to call a "photo dump" post. I few random pictures that I did take this past month.

Ready for a morning jog!

"Princess Batman"

Playing in a fort

She makes this face a lot now. I don't know when it started or why, but it is insane.

There you have it...the photos of November :)

Halloween festivities

2011-10-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

This year we weren't really sure what we were going to dress up as for Halloween. Last year we did a family Star Wars theme, which seemed to be a big hit, but we really didn't want to spend much money at all this time around. So I came up with some costumes that were near to my heart :)

Here is my inspiration:

Characters from E.T. What is funny, as my friend Elizabeth pointed out, is that I chose to dress up as characters in a movie dressing up for Halloween. Yes, I am just that complicated :) No really this was one of my favorite movies growing up (if you can't tell from the almost life size talking stuffed animal I am holding below). What is funny is that apparently, neither one of my parents have seen this movie so when I emailed them pictures their response is um sure you look good.

Our costume trial run was at our friend Tasha's birthday party.

After I came home from the party and I looked at the pictures, I realized I needed a wig because I look bald under my sweatshirt!

For Morgan's costume I couldn't find any "cowgirl" costumes that were anywhere close to the one "Gertie" was wearing in the movie. So...I used what we had. Morgan had a checked skirt already, but when I went to the fabric store they had NOTHING similar. So I had to settle for plain red for her vest. BUT I have to say it felt really awesome to make part of her costume. It was one of those "I am really a mom" moments.

Under close examination there are plenty of flaws, but hey I am not much of a seamstress and I made up my own pattern as I went along.

We took Morgan to our church's Halloween party and I was surprised that there were a few people that knew who we were dressed as right away! I was expecting to have to explain it all night long. However, there were some people that literally didn't know it was me behind the make-up until they saw me holding Morgan.

I have no idea what face Morgan is making here. Ha!

If you look behind Morgan you will see how we decorated out trunk. I made a moon with the bike flying across it and made a mock communicator with the umbrella and tin can etc...

Happy Halloween everybody! Beeeee Gooooood :)

Painting Pumpkins

2011-10-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago (yeah I am a little behind on posting sorry) our friends came over for another play date. This time we painted pumpkins. Joe, being a year older than Morgan, had a little more of an attention span and was really enjoying painting. Morgan painted, but was done about 3 minutes in. Oh well it was worth a try and maybe next year she will get more into it.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Kevin's parents joined us for a trip to the Pumpkin patch. We were planning on going later in the month, but Kevin's work schedule is kind of taking up all his weekends so this was the best one for it.

Morgan really doesn't look at me when I want to take pictures anymore (SO FRUSTRATING), so I really didn't get any good ones of her with the pumpkins themselves. I tried my best to at least get some good "action" shots. This is what I got.

First thing we did was watch some pig races.

Morgan rode a pony for the first time.

I think she was having fun. She just had this kind of blank expression on her face the whole time. She loves animals, but she may be a little like me and not like to be the center of attention. We were all watching her waiting to see what she would do.

Morgan seemed to really wake up when we went to the petting zoo. She put her face right in a goose's face. Scared me, but luckily the goose didn't do anything. Then she chased a rooster around and AROUND the pen. Someone opened the door, letting the rooster and Morgan out of the area. I had to quickly follow her out and watched as Morgan chased that rooster under a fence to the horses. She kept saying "chicken come back" over and over again.

Morgan also really liked chasing grandma around the corn maze.

Morgan and I took a little "train" ride to finish the day off and then we all left and went to Sonic. Yum cherry limeaid :)

Halloween treats

2011-10-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

First, I just wanna say that I LOVE fall. I think once the cooler weather starts to hit I literally feel better. Is that weird? I just love boots and cardigans, pumpkin flavored (almost) anything, hot chocolate or cider, and just all of the festivities that happen around this time of year.

It has rained over here for the past two days (yay) so Morgan and I have spent most of our time indoors. Looking for something different to do, I decided we were going to make some cupcakes.

She did a really good job of stirring the batter. I would let her pour the ingredients in the bowl and then let her stir as much as she liked.

Then she helped me by filling the pan with all of the cupcake wrappers.

I had a chance to use the pampered chef frosting contraption my sister gave me. I am not much of a cake decorator, but it was fun seeing how the different pieces worked.

Morgan sure did like the finished product, but we made sure to share with some friends too!

Painting with pudding

2011-09-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

I can't remember exactly where I saw this idea, but I knew right away it would be perfect for Morgan. She isn't quite ready for regular finger paints because she still likes to put (almost) everything in her mouth, but she loves to color and isn't afraid to get messy.

This is really simple to do...just make some vanilla pudding and separate into different bowls or on different plates. Then add food coloring so the kids have different colors of "paint" to play with.

It's nice to give them time to be creative and they get to have a little snack at the same time. Who doesn't love that? :)

Board Game

2011-09-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

I came across this in a box the other day.

It is a board game that my friends Lena and Jamey made me for my birthday one year. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was my 19th birthday. What a great idea huh? I think we played it exactly once, BUT it is like a little time capsule showing all of the places we used to hang out and all of the questions were based on people we were friends with at the time. Here are some of the questions:

Q:

it's steven...I guess they weren't exactly sure because we always just called him Vinny.
Q:

And here is the best one :)
Q:

Sorry, Mon..., but that it sounds about right coming from those two.

I bet you guys didn't think I kept it...well I also have a huge box of letters from middle school, high school, on up and they were for "my eyes only". :)

Out and About

2011-09-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a pretty good week. It seems like we have had a little something to do everyday. Which is nice considering how long we had been stuck inside recently.

This past Saturday we interrupted Kevin while he was working on his car so Morgan could take a little ride in hers.

After that we took some time to admire the progress Kevin was making on his own car.

On Wednesday, my friend invited me to join her mother's group for breakfast at a close by airport. I know sounds weird huh? But the cafe' had a patio where we could sit and let the kids watch the planes and helicopters take of and land. It was neat for them to be able to see that on a closer level.

On Thursday, we decided to head back to the splash zone, but this time we brought friends with us. We had the whole place to ourselves. It was great!

Here is to hoping that next week will be as nice as this one was :)

The splash zone

2011-09-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

I took Morgan to the Lake Skinner splash zone today. I have desperately needed a place I can take her where she can run and play and I don't have to worry about her running into the street or falling off of stairs or ladders. This was a great choice!

She had such a good time and even made a couple of new friends. I think we will have to go back next week :)

Surf, sand, and make-up

2011-09-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Morgan and I headed out to the beach with our friends Emily, Joseph, and baby Aaron. The weather has been much nicer this week and it felt great to get some fresh air.

This cute little car was given to us by my in-laws neighbor. She has a granddaughter a little older than Morgan and has been generous enough to pass along clothes and toys that she has outgrown. Morgan loves it!

It was a quick trip. We didn't stay too long. We ate lunch and let the kids play in the sand. The waves were pretty big, but we let them crash against our legs. Morgan loves that part and gets so upset when it is time to go.

A couple of days earlier, Morgan was watching me put on make-up like she loves to do and I let her put some on. These pictures don't show it because I barely put anything on her, but she has some light eye shadow, blush and lip gloss on. She was pretty excited about it.

Going stir crazy!

2011-08-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

What have we been up to lately? Well, we have been stuck inside! At the beginning of last week Morgan had a bit of a fever and was complaining about her mouth hurting. I could see that she is getting some new teeth so I just assumed that is what the problem was. Well...you know what they say about assuming? :) Turns out she had something called hand,foot,mouth. The problem is I found this out AFTER we had a play date with some of our friends. The only reason I even found out she had anything at all is because she started getting a rash on her legs and arms. Apparently, hand,foot,mouth is SUPER contagious so...I had to call my friend and let her know I exposed her children to something really unpleasant-BOO :( I was so scared of making that call, but luckily my friend is so easy going and was just like "hey, kids get sick". I was grateful for that :).

So like I said we have been hanging out inside for a while and after watching a billion Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba episodes we were both getting a little stir crazy.

To entertain myself I made Morgan some hair bows using my friend, Elizabeth's tutorial .

I thought they turned out pretty cute and they are so easy to make. I made five bows and the cost was under $5!

Here are the rest of them on her board. (I made this a while ago. I just painted a canvas and added ribbon. Another super easy project)

Now that Morgan is feeling better we are able to get out more, but with it being over 100 degrees outside we want to stick to places with air conditioning :)

2011-08-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

I am FINALLY getting around to posting the last pictures from my trip. I feel like eventhough I took quite a few pictures, I didn't take as many as I would have liked.

You know how people joke that you don't need to buy kids expensive toys because more than likely they would rather just play with the box?

I can see the truth in that :)

I am so thankful for these boys. They were so sweet to Morgan and really helped watch her for me so I could relax and visit with everyone.

I love my family so much! I don't get to see them nearly enough.

The Biltmore

2011-08-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

Before this trip I didn't know what the Biltmore Estate was, but I'm glad I got a chance to check it out. It was the home of one of America's wealthiest families, the Vanderbilts. It sits on 8,000 acres of land, and besides having a house the size of a castle, it also has beautiful gardens, a petting zoo, a winery, and a separate Inn for people to stay in. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the house, which was a shame. Each room had a different "theme". They also had a bowling ally and indoor swimming pool in the basement. Here are some of the pictures I was able take that day.

To be honest, I probably would have taken A LOT more pictures if Morgan weren't with me. She got really cranky during the tour and Melissa's stayed with her while my mom and I went to the basement. She got a little bit of a nap in while the rest of us ate lunch, but when she woke up it wasn't fair to keep her strapped in. So, when we got to the gardens I let her run free. You can tell from her face she was super happy about that.

After the gardens, we stopped by the petting zoo area so Morgan could see the animals. She really liked the goats and sheep, but can't say either yet so she just points and says "Baa, Baa"!

Checking out the Biltmore was a really neat experience. We didn't see EVERYTHING and it still took up our whole day. Man we felt like we got quite a workout that day. :)

Lake James

2011-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

After a week in Tennessee, Kevin had to fly home for work, but Morgan and I hitched a ride with my parents to the Brother's household in North Carolina. While we were there they borrowed a boat from their friends and we took it out on Lake James.

Ted and Melissa

The nephews...Collin and Blaine

Mom, Morgan, me and my dad

My parents aren't too into swimming and Melissa has a "thing" with lake water, but the rest of us, including Morgan were ready to jump right in!

She even had her turn at driving : )

Baby got back? haha I kept laughing because I didn't put her in a swim diaper and her regular one blew up like this.

What a nice family outing. Except for the part when Morgan was exhausted and seemed to have a bottomless pit of a stomach. That wasn't as fun, but all in all it was a really fun time. Thanks guys!

Fun and games

2011-08-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

The rest of our visit in Tennessee was spent mostly just relaxing and enjoying my family. It had been a year since our last visit, and Morgan was so little then. I have to admit it made me sad to see her have to get to know everyone all over again. Of course she wanted to hang out with her cousins right away. She definitely thinks she is a lot older than she is.

She LOVED jumping on the trampoline with the big kids.

And playing the the wading pool.

These are my brother's kids, Hannah, Adam, and Rebekah

One thing I look forward to when I see my family is playing games together. This time we played "Don't forget the lyrics" and "Clue".

Like I said in the beginning of our visit, Morgan had to get to know everyone all over again, but by the last night she was running around giving everyone hugs.

She especially made a friend in Adam. After he got over having to share his toys, he and Morgan were good pals the rest of the trip.

One night in Nashville

2011-07-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

After my parents party, Kevin, Morgan and I packed up and spent the night with my friend Elizabeth and her husband, Lee in Nashville. We got their close to midnight and Morgan was wide awake and ready to play with their dog, Bela. The problem was, Bela wasn't quite sure if she wanted to play with her. Morgan would walk towards her with her excited toddler "scream" and Bela would take off. It was so funny to watch. By the next day I think Bela warmed up to her and they were friends.

After we got some sleep, we woke up and got ready for the day and headed out to brunch. We ate at Monell's restaurant. WOW! It is a historic house that was turned into a restaurant and what I love about it is the friendly feeling. You sit at a table with complete strangers and pass the food around the table like a family dinner. It literally feels like you have been invited to eat with them, instead of paying for it. The food is pretty awesome too. It is a fixed menu, but there is so much food you have more than enough to choose from. I would recommend anyone try it if you are ever in the Nashville area.

After brunch we went and saw the new "Winnie the Pooh" movie. It was the first time we took Morgan to a theater and I think she did pretty well. Before the movie started she just wanted to run around the chairs and basically anything to not have to sit still, but once the movie started she did pretty good. It fell right around her nap time so at one point she wanted to fall asleep, but would open her eyes quickly after they had closed to see what was going on with the movie.

When the movie was over we took her back to the house so she could nap, and we relaxed and hung out.

When Morgan woke up it was about time to have dinner so we headed out for some tasty Southern Barbeque.

After our delicious and filling dinner, we drove over to a lake that is right next to their house.

And then I looked over and I noticed that their were hay bales across the street. Don't ask me why because I really don't know, but I have always wanted to take pictures on top of hay bales. So...

Those suckers are A LOT harder to get on top of than I thought. Kevin had to give us a little boost. Now I can check that off of my weird list of places I want to take pictures.

Thank you Elizabeth and Lee for letting us some and stay with you. It was so good to visit and catch up, and Elizabeth I am so lucky to have lifelong friends like you in my life. You are awesome!

Party on

2011-07-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

My parent's 50th anniversary. What a great reason to celebrate!! Their children tried their best to make it a fun day for them, and I think we succeeded :)

I mentioned before that they received tons of cards from old friends and family. It was fun to see my parents open them up and feel so loved.

My sister, Melissa put together a list of "momisms" and "dadisms". Basically, a list of different quotes or sayings we remember our parents saying to us growing up. My dad had a little longer of a list because he tends to reuse his material a little more. Anyone that has ever called my house to speak to someone other than my dad has experience some of this first hand. Melissa also put together a list of songs that represent different moments of their life together. What was great is as she was saying a song we all started singing the song out loud together. It was completely unplanned, but made the presentation even better.

Ted, my brother-in-law put himself in charge of the food and made some great barbeque.

I interviewed my parents individually and asked them some questions about when they first met and how the proposal happened. What their favorite vacation was, what they believe their spouses best quality is etc... It was kind of fun to see what answers they came up with and it made me realize that I didn't know about their first date or anything like that before so I learned a lot.

My other sister, Lezlea printed a couple of my parents wedding photos and had them framed for them because we noticed that they didn't have any around the house.

My brother, Brent made a video using pictures. He made one section that was all about my parents dating, wedding and then their kids and then he made one with EVERYONE in our family as a child. He even asked me to send some pictures of Kevin as a kid to sneak in there. It was great because as we were watching it Kevin was completely surprised.

Although the party was mostly just family we were lucky enough to have a few close family friends come as well. One being my friend, Elizabeth. She lives in Nashville and was able to drive over and celebrate with us.

I think the party was a huge success and I know my parents saw just how loved they truly are :)

Family Pictures

2011-07-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

My parents 50th wedding anniversary was this year and the whole family (minus one sister) met up in Tennessee to help celebrate with them. It had been a year since I had seen everyone so I was really excited for this trip to come. The day before the anniversary party we had some family pictures taken. I haven't gotten all of them back yet, but here are some that I did get.

My parents with four of their five children

The siblings...Heather, Brent, Melissa, and Lezlea

The whole family...(minus one brother-in-law, plus one kid I have no idea who he is...Carmen is pointing to him :)

The grandkids and two great-grandkids

Melissa's family

Brent's family

And my little family

It was HOT outside and it was hard to get everyone (especially the kids) to look at the same time. I am hoping that we got a really good one for us to frame. I can't believe it, but I still haven't gotten any professional pictures taken of my little family since Morgan has been with us.

Home again, home again

2011-07-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

I just got home from the East/South and I have TONS of pictures to go through and post, but I wanted to thank all of you who sent my parents a card for their 50th anniversary. The last I heard they had received 94 cards! It really made their day special. Thanks again :)

Good Hygiene

2011-07-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Morgan LOVES her toothbrush. The problem is, a lot of the time when you are trying to help brush her teeth she will just bite it. So...there you are trying to clean her teeth and she thinks it is a game to make it as difficult as possible for you to actually complete the task. The other day it was Kevin's turn to get her ready for bed and when she started biting the toothbrush he came up with a new way to get the job done.

She is trying to say "cheese" like she does now when I bring out the camera.

It is important to have good hygiene at a young age :)

The 4th

2011-07-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

We had a nice, relaxing fourth this year. We started off the day by taking a walk around our neighborhood. Then, we went swimming in our community pool.

Morgan's hair looks red like her dad's in these pictures :)

Just a side note **The swimsuit Morgan is wearing was given to us by a family friend, Sherry Walker. She recently lost her battle with cancer. Sherry we miss you and appreciate your kindness, openness, and all around sassiness :).**

After swimming we came back home and enjoyed some Jello jigglers,

And played some games :)

We had a great day together as a family!

The fourth is also my father's birthday.
Happy 70th dad! I love you and I am so thankful to have you as my father :) We can't wait to visit with you in a couple of weeks.

Pictures at the park

2011-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have to admit it...last night and this morning were pretty rough for me. Some of it because Morgan is teething and feeling uncomfortable which causes more screaming and crying than normal. Some of it because I am feeling stressed over bills and money. I had a good break down this morning, picked myself and Morgan up and headed to the park.

First, we played with chalk and then I followed her around taking some pictures as she played. For a while I have been looking forward to the time when she was more stable and could (for the most part) get around the playground by herself. Although, I am excited we have gotten to that point, It also reminds me how fast we got here. It is hard believe how big she is sometimes.

I must say...playing with her and taking these pictures made me feel a little better :)

sidewalk chalk

2011-07-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our friends came with us to Old Town Temecula. They were having a sidewalk chalk drawing contest. They divided it up by ages. It was pretty cute to see the elementary school kids drawings, and it was impressive to see what 18 yrs and up could do. Here are a few of my favorites.

This one of the Elephant was my favorite!

After seeing all of these I thought Morgan and I should have a little fun with some chalk ourselves. Ya know get our creative juices flowing? (Or just desperately try to entertain an 18 month old who is feeling stir crazy :)

I consider operation entertain toddler a success!

2011-06-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Me: Morgan look over here...SMILE!
Morgan: I don't think so mom.

Me: (dancing now) Saaaayyyyyy cheeeeesssseeeee :)
Morgan: What on earth are you doing crazy woman? I'm not going to smile for you.

Me: (still dancing) Do Dah Dee Do Blah blah Hee Hee
Morgan: Ok...I give in. I will smile just stop doing that!

Pool party baby

2011-06-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Or should I say a baby pool party? :)

This week Morgan and I went over to our friends Emily and Joseph's for a play date. Emily set up a little kiddie pool for the tots to play in. Morgan loves anything having to do with water so she was stoked.

These three cuties had a lot of fun together. Notice Morgan's flip flops in the pool? It was a little too slippery without so I had to put them back on. That slide was a little tricky for her too. She kept trying to skip a step. These boys are both older than her and it is amazing how much of a difference a few months make when it comes to balance.

Now I want to do a little comparison. Above is Joseph, he is Emily's older boy. Below is Aaron he is Joseph's little brother.

So you can't see Aaron completely, but you can tell by this that they don't look alike. It is so funny seeing them next each other. Joe is blond, blue eyed and fair skinned and Aaron is brown hair and eyed with a tanner skin tone. So funny. It makes me wonder what my future children will look like.

2011-06-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

Kevin's 33rd birthday was this week and to celebrate we went to Knott's berry farm. He is a big Disneyland fan and I originally wanted to surprise him and take him to club 33 for his 33rd, but no one could really tell me how to get in. Anyone I knew that had been got in through a very random connection that was a once in a lifetime thing. So if you are reading this and know how to or would like to help us get in to club 33 leave me a comment and let me know! I will love you forever :).

Anyway, back to Kevin's birthday...Kevin already requested a gift so I didn't really go pick anything out for him, but I had to give him something SO...I made him a candy card. Morgan and I presented it to him and I got her to say "happy day" because birth is just too hard for a one and a half year old to say. Then we loaded up the car, got a chick-fil-a breakfast, and dropped Morgan off at her grandparents house.

I had never been to Knott's before so it was fun to see what it was all about. Here are a few pictures from our day together:

We had a fun day together. Babe, I love you and I hope you had a very happy birthday.

A few sweet moments

2011-06-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

I don't have any specific thing to write about, but I did want to post some pictures of Morgan (surprise!). I just wanted to document some of the funny things this girl does on a daily basis.

Morgan has entered the stage where she wants to dress herself. This often leads to pants on her head or trying to wear my shoes. This one particular day she was trying hard to pull her swim diaper on over her clothes. When she brought it to me I thought "what the heck? If it makes her happy...I will just put it on". So I did and feeling content she went on to play with her toys.

The other day we had our friends and their two kids over. I have noticed that Morgan thinks she is A lot older than she is and always tries to follow the "big" kids around. On this night she decided she really liked Calvin and when we put a movie on, she climbed up on the couch and sat as close to him as possible. He was such a good sport and so nice to her. It was pretty cute to see.

A couple of weeks ago Morgan and I joined my friend Pam and her baby at the beach. It was a nice breezy day and it wasn't crowded at all. Morgan is obsessed with water and so I would take her to stick her feet in the ocean. I would get a little deeper and think lift her up when the waves came closer. She LOVED it. Actually, she would get upset when I would try to walk back to our towel. My friend ended up trading off with me and took her out again so I could have a break. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

This last picture was taken last Sunday. Kevin got up with Morgan super early and he let me sleep in (Thank you!). I came in the living room to find them both asleep while cartoons where playing on the TV. I love to capture these special moments.

So that just happened

2011-06-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started off pretty good. Morgan and I were just playing together and having a good time.

She let me put her hair in pig tails, which NEVER happens.

And she found this beach hat to be super entertaining.

Then she ran off to her room. This isn't unusual, she loves to go look at her books and pull all of her clothes out of their baskets. I always walk back and check on her every few minutes just to make sure everything was ok. Well, yesterday I went back there expecting to see her reading to herself or trying to put six pairs of pants on at a time and I found THIS instead...

That is Desitin and it is not the easiest to wash off! I put her in the bath tub which she usually loves, but because I had to wash her hair like a million times she was asking to get "up, up, up" and I didn't want to torture her. So last night she had a hint of gray hair.

Also, when Kevin got home I headed off to the gym. When I got back he told me to "look at my daughter". I looked over and I saw this...

What you can't see are the bottoms of her feet and the palms of her hands (totally scribbled on). Apparently, she had somehow found and pen and snuck it passed her dad. She was sitting in front of the coffee table and he was sitting on the couch. He thought she was just watching cartoons until he heard the tapping of the pen. YIKES! She was a busy little girl yesterday. I thought I had to keep a close eye on her before...looks like I didn't know the half of it :)

Oh and on a side note everything I have since read about getting desitin out of a child's hair talks about Dawn dish soap being the best thing. So I used some dish soap on her hair after breakfast this morning and it seems to be much better!

The blueberries taste like blueberries...

2011-06-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

Today Morgan and I joined our friends Lilley and Sabrina at the blueberry orchard.

At first, Morgan wasn't quite sure what it was I was trying to teach her to do, but once she realized that it was food we were taking off of these plants she really got in to it.

It is a miracle that any blueberries made it into our bucket at all! She loved eating the "fruits or her labor" :).

This little orchard was literally only 5 minutes away from our house and it was such a fun outing for the kids. Apparently, they have a story time for kids in the morning and they show movies at night.

Morgan LOVED running down the rows of plants. It was great timing too because right when we got home she was so tired she was begging for a nap.

Of course I wanted to make good use of our hand picked berries so I made blueberry waffles for dinner. Gotta love Breakfast for dinner. :)

Thank you Sabrina and Lilley for inviting us to come with you. We had a great time and would love to head back again soon. :)

Hodad's

2011-05-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives? Well we do around here sometimes, and unfortunately, it is usually right before bed. I say unfortunately because it has been the cause for a lot of late night cravings. For those of you that haven't seen this show, it is on the food network and it is hosted by Guy Fieri who also hosts Minute to Win it. People write in telling about places where they live that have the best Steak or Breakfast or Chili etc... And Guy travels around and sees how everything is made and then does some taste testing to see if it lives up to the hype. One of the places featured on this show just happens to be only an hour away from where we live, so of course we had to check it out. That place is called Hodad's.

I would consider Hodad's to be described as a dive. It is a small restaurant a couple blocks up from the beach and it sits right next to a liquor store. The area itself was kind of sketchy, but EVERYONE apparently, knows about Hodad's

This was the line we had to wait in to get a seat. I think it took us about 45 minutes to finally get in. There were a couple of "Nay Sayers" who walked by letting us (the food sheep) know that it was only a hamburger. Those people were quickly evil eyed by everyone in the front of the line who were almost done putting in their time. I have to admit I was losing my cool after a while, but it was only because my one and a half year old daughter wanted to run off and would whine and cry when we held her. (Another reminder why we are waiting to go to Disneyland).

Once we got inside my frustration fell away and I was able to take in the scenery. The walls were covered with license plates from all over. Most of them had different phrases or expressions hidden in them.

"It Hurt" I thought this one was pretty clever.
The next one is just of a nickname we sometimes call Morgan.

Our food was pretty darn good! I got a single cheeseburger and I still have to take some veggies out so I could fit my mouth around it. They load you up with crisp tomatos and onions...and whew...it is a lot! Their fries and the onion ring that accidentally fell into my basket were good too. I would definitely recommend Hodad's to a friend. I didn't get any pictures of our burgers, but I did snap a shot of our chocolate milkshake.

Look at that chunk of ice cream sticking out of the top! Yum, I would say it tasted like rocky road ice cream without the nuts and marshmallows. :)

After our awesome and completely filling meal, we decided to walk around Ocean Beach for a little bit. So we started on the side walk and ended up on some rock formations.

It was a nice way to spend the day together as a family.

Beware of flying fruit

2011-05-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of posts ago I mentioned a little outing where we played a round of baseball with citrus fruit and a stick. Well this weekend we played another round, only this time we came prepared with an actual baseball bat.

We walked away sticky and smelly, but it was a blast!

A day at the fair

2011-05-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend all of the Shaw siblings and their families met up at their parents house. There was as fair going on down the road from their house so we all went to check it out.

They had all sorts of booths set up representing different companies, of course wanting you to buy stuff, but with 25 cent hot dogs, drinks ,and other fair type food it was pretty fun.

They also had some "entertainment" (some questionable belly dancers), booths set up for carnival type games, a climbing wall, bounce houses, and a little petting zoo.

After the fair we went back to Kerry and Linda's house to rest for a while. Then we grabbed some carrots jumped on the golf carts and went to feed some of the neighbor's horses.

Tom's farms was our last stop where we bought some candy and fun flavored sodas.

Morgan had so much fun that she wore herself out! She fell asleep in the golf cart and stayed asleep for a good while like this...

It was a nice way to spend a Saturday :)

Music

2011-04-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned before that Morgan likes to get into EVERYTHING? haha I know I have, but it is true. She is a very busy girl, but I know she is a smart girl too and she pays way more attention to us than I thought. The other day I saw her get my Ipod out of the drawer and do this.

Morgan also loves music now. My favorite example of this is when I was driving around running errands and listening to Weezer. It is a really nice day so I rolled down some of the windows. As I was singing along to the song, I look back to see her smiling ear to ear and moving to the music.

Growing up one of my best friends and I bonded over the fact that we know a lot of different lyrics, sometimes to the most obscure songs. He and I always had a bet that our kids would be stronger in this "talent" the the others. Although we were only (sort of ) kidding about this I watch Morgan and wonder if she will be interested in music like I was. My friend has since passed on, but certain songs make me feel like he is right here with me.

Bubbles

2011-04-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday

2011-04-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

After church on Sunday Kevin's side of the family all met up at his parents house for Easter dinner. It is nice when the family gets together. Especially, because Morgan loves playing with her cousins and her grandparents dog, Sophie.

After we ate we drove around on the golf carts (they live on a golf course) and ended up among some citrus trees. One thing led to another and we ended up playing baseball with a stick and some fruit. We all took turns trying to bust open the fruit. Juice was being sprayed and chunks of fruit flew everywhere. It was all pretty fun, except the part where I scraped up my arm by choking up to high on the stick :(. We were also bummed because no one had brought a camera to capture the moment.

After going back to the house for a bit we decided to head back out on the golf carts to feed some turtles and fish in some of the ponds on the golf course.

But then it quickly turned into Morgan's bedtime and she let us know. So...when we got back to the house it was time to go home.

I hope everyone had a happy Easter!

Egg Hunt

2011-04-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

The day before Easter our church hosted a little picnic and Easter egg hunt. Morgan loved running around and playing with the other kids.

When it came time for her to hunt for eggs and knew just what to do.

She had so much fun that she crashed soon after we got home and didn't wake up until 8am!

2011-04-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been SUPER busy lately, but I don't really have much to show for it. I have been called to be the 1st counselor in the Young women's program at my church for about 3 months now. That means Tuesday night activities, every other Thursday leadership meetings, and then I have to meet with the presidency of the class I am over. So...all that on top of trying to keep the house clean, cooking, laundry, taking care of a child *read-spend quality time with her* , running all sorts of errands, and trying to get your taxes done (yes I know I am cutting it close here), it can start to feel like a lot after a while. I know that these things are good things to complain about, well, all except the taxes :(, but I just wanted to let you know that this is why I haven't been as good about keeping up with my blog lately.

I also wanted to share a few pictures that I hadn't had the chance to post yet.

I hope everything is going well with all of you guys!

First Haircut

2011-03-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

Today Morgan got her first haircut.

As you can see it was long overdue.

She did really well. She just sat there and let her grandma do whatever she needed to do.

All done! Thank you, Linda. Now we can actually see her beautiful baby blues again. :)

My granola girl

2011-03-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Morgan doesn't like to have any clips or bows in her hair. (much to my dismay) She prefers to let her hair go natural and wild.

I know, she needs a haircut badly!

Morgan also loves eating with her hands, being outside, playing in the sand and dirt, and if I would let her everyday she probably wouldn't wear clothes.

Unless it is her daddy's undershirt :)

She also hates to wear shoes and socks. It seems like two seconds after I put them on she is working hard to take them off.

Unless, of course that is all she is wearing!

What a silly little girl we have. I love her so much!

Climb every Mountain

2011-03-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

couch, chair, table, or toy box

I have a hard time keeping up with her lately. She is very curious and ALWAYS on the move. Lately, her favorite thing to do it turn the oven light on like 30 times in a day. She also has moved on from the kitchen cabinets to our desk drawers. I need a nap!

Lullaby

2011-03-02T21:18:00.000-08:00

When Morgan was first born my mom would always ask me "Are you singing to her?". I would have to admit that I wasn't singing to her as much as I probably should, but when they are so little and sleeping most of the time you just don't think about it. Well, at least I didn't. I understood that It was important for a babies calmness and security as well as making a connection with their mother. So, I listened to my mother and made sure I sang to her. Then as she got older I could tell that she was interested in my singing and it made much easier to remember to do it more often.

I was thinking about what songs I sing to her and I realized that I have a handful that I tend to shuffle through. Sometimes I will be holding her and trying to think of a new song. That is when "Crazy little thing called love" by Queen or "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips will come pouring out of my mouth. I have a pretty large memory bank of songs and I find it funny that over and over I sing the same ones.

Here is my list of my favorite "lullabies" to sing:

Blackbird-The Beatles
Somewhere over the rainbow-Wizard of Oz
You are my sunshine
Homeward bound -Simon and Garfunkel
Freshman-The verve pipe (I know strange choice, but it is mellow)
Favorite things-Sound of music

I really don't know why I picked these songs as my go to songs. Really they picked themselves because they kept coming to the front of my mind. So, I am curious. What songs do you sing to your children? And if you don't have children what songs where sung to you as a child or when you do have kids, what songs do you plan to sing to them? I think I need to add a little variety to my set list. :)

Trip to the dairy farm

2011-03-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

Last week my good friend, Emily and I took our Kiddos to a local dairy farm. I heard about it from some women at church and we thought it would be nice to let Morgan and Joe see some animals close up. Plus, we heard they had amazing chocolate milk. : )

All in all I think it was a good, cheap trip. It was neat to see the kids point to all of the different animals. Joe is a year older and can name them by name, but it was fun to hear Morgan moo when asked "What does a cow say?" (She also says "woof woof" any time she sees a dog and kind of grunts for a pig)

Oh and they were right. That chocolate milk was delicious!

What ever happened to Billy Bob?

2011-02-27T20:03:00.000-08:00

If you were a kid in the 80's like me than most likely you know that before there was Chuck E Cheese's there was a little place called Showbiz pizza. Instead of a Giant rat, its front man was a hillbilly bear named Billy Bob. There is a picture of me in some old photo album wearing a birthday hat and dancing to mind blowing songs played by Rock-afire Explosion, a motley crew of animatronic animal musicians, that rocked out to classic songs from the 60's. I remember thinking that was the coolest place ever and I always wanted to go play there.

Recently, Kevin and I took Morgan to check out Chuck E Cheese's. I was curious to see what she thought about the hustle and bustle of all the kids running around. She actually enjoyed it a lot. The only problem is a 14 month old doesn't quite understand that you have to take turns to ride the rides. So not only did Morgan have a blast running around and riding rides, she also had a few tantrums as well.

Morgan and daddy checking out the concert.

Morgan driving the car. We were actually impressed because we never told her what to do. She just grabbed the steering wheel and started turning.

Then "real life" Chuck E. came out to say hi.

"Is it ok, dad?"

"I've never seen teeth like that before."

Right after this picture another tantrum started. I took her by the hand and started walking to let another little girl have a turn and she freaked out. This girl goes crazy for giant characters. I guess we know how she would be at Disney. Too bad we aren't taking her until her 5th birthday :)

After we left I kept thinking that just wasn't as cool as when I was a kid. It felt smaller and well not as edgy because Showbiz was a little rough around the edges. I remember being a little scared of the gorilla keyboardist, but loving the show just the same. I think about the gradual transition from Showbiz to Chuck E. Cheese and I can't help but wonder what ever happened to Billy Bob? He was such a sweet, loving character. Sure he wasn't the most educated of all childrens characters and he might have promoted alcoholism (*Note the jug of moonshine on stage), but I loved him just the same. Billy Bob thanks for helping making my childhood a little more fun!

Coasters

2011-02-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

Way back in December I started making some coasters out of tile. It took me a while to complete this project because I kept finding myself involved in Christmas activities or chasing after my daughter, but after I got my creative juices flowing and just went for it I came up with these two designs..

I have to say I was actually pretty happy with how they turned out and I know Kevin was happy to have our dining room table back :)

If this is a project you think you would want to do all you need is:

Tile

220 grit sand paper

bonding primer

waterproof ceramic type paint

and felt to hot glue to the bottom

utah Part 3

2011-02-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Utah, forever ago, I met my friend JoAnn. She and I were roommates for a while and had a blast. JoAnn is now living in Idaho, but when I told her I was going to Utah she made the drive down so we could meet up. I thought that was so amazing that she would drive all the way over there for one night.

I had never met her husband before and she had never met Morgan so it was nice that we can now actually say we know who the other is talking about instead of just feeling like we do.

I learned that Jordan does not like taking pictures and therefore rarely ever takes a normal one.

This is the picture I got after trying to do a stupid dance to get him to smile. He may not be looking at the camera, but seeing this smile on his face makes me consider my mission a success.

These guys will be welcoming their first child, a daughter, in April.
Congratulations guys! I'm so excited for you :)

HoAnn it was SOOOO good to see you. I'm so glad that we have stayed such close friends over the years. You and Jordan make a cute couple and I know you were just meant to be a mother. I love you hand twin! I I hope we can see each other again soon.

This whole trip I was really impressed with how comfortable Morgan is with people she just met. She really likes people and loves feeling like she is part of the action. My mom warned that this could be a bad thing later on. I will definitely have to teach her about not talking to strangers.

On my last night in town the Alabama crew got together again. This time Jared asked if I could stop by for a quick visit because his family wasn't quite well enough to venture out, but he wanted to make sure we got to meet up if even for a second. So...a few of us stopped by on our way to kjirsten's place.

Here is Jared's cute family. They are expecting their first little girl in May :)

It was so nice to see everyone. I find myself saying that I recharged my "friend battery" after missing people for so long it is nice when a friend comes to visit or I get to visit someone else. It just makes me remember that even though I am still building friendships here, I do have people that truly know and love me. Even if they are hundreds of miles away.

Brooke thank you so much for letting Morgan and I come and stay with you. It was so good to spend time with you again. You are such a compassionate and sincere person and I love that about you. I always find myself laughing when you are around and that really is the best medicine. I know you aren't quite sure where the future will take you, but I know that we will always be friends. I love you Squnch face!

utah part 2

2011-02-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

Every time Brooke and I get together at some point she does my make-up for me. It is one of our traditions. Well....one of Brooke's roommates happens to do hair so it just made sense that together they would give me a make over :)

Before:

After:

she added some blonde and it is considerably shorter. It is hard for me to not be able to just throw it up in a ponytail, but knowing me, if it were longer that is still all I would be doing. Thank you so much, Leah! I'm so glad I got to meet you. You are one cool chick and you are hilariously funny. I enjoyed getting to know you and I hope we will get to stay in touch :).

One thing that I love about good friends is that you really don't have to do much to have a great time. One night we had some of my oldest friends from Alabama over to have a cook out (there is some southern jargon for ya) and to play games. Let me introduce you to-

Jessica

Mark

and Vinny

Isn't his beard out of control? Apparently, this is brought on by his mother asking him to shave. Instead he decided to grow it out even more. He said he isn't shaving until MAY! Brooke lovingly pointed out that with his head shaved and beard like that he looks like Shel Silverstein.

Crazy huh? Anyways, it was nice to see everyone again and to have us all in the same place. (All except my friend Jared who couldn't come because his family was sick) We attempted to take some group pictures. These are the only ones I can post. The rest are not exactly blog appropriate. (I'm talking to you boys)

After dinner we played some games. The first being Beatles Rockband. I swear I had nothing to do with that. Brooke's roommate just happened to have that version :) Austyn, Jessica's little girl was a riot. She has such a spunky personality. She was the singer for Rockband a couple of times and she wouldn't let her mom help at all.

Jessica already knows she is in for trouble with that one ;)

After Rockband, the kiddos went to bed and we went upstairs and played catch phrase. Ok can I just say that I love that game? Every time I play it I have so much fun. We were all being ridiculously silly and laughing way too much.

Here is Vinny with his girlfriend Kjirsten. I really wish we had known her and Brooke when we were growing up. They would have fit right in.

Now on to part 3

Utah Part 1

2011-02-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

I recently took a trip to Utah and stayed with my awesome friend, Brooke. She and I met when I was living in Florida. She was a nanny there at the time and she and I hit it off. Well there were three of us that would hang out (Shout out to you Elissa!), but when our third Musketeer moved away we had to fend for ourselves. We spent a lot of our time taking pictures, watching movies, and being all around ridiculously silly.

It had been a really long time since I had seen Brooke and it was so nice of her to let Mo and I crash with her. She instantly loved Morgan and kept telling me that she made her want kids. It was nice to have another friend FINALLY meet my daughter.

I tried my best to catch up with other friends while I was there too. One being my friend, Tami. She and I met when I lived in Utah, several years ago, when we were both working at the same call center together. Sometimes it makes me laugh that we have stayed good friends because on the outside we don't necessarily have many things in common, but I love Tami and I love how different we are. She had two little boys and is pregnant with her third. Poor Tami. She wanted a daughter really badly, but I think her husband is totally excited about having all boys.

After grabbing some lunch, Tami asked if Brooke and I wanted to bring Morgan over to this inflatable gym. They have bounce houses, slides, and all kinds of inflatable activities. So we headed on over to the Kangaroo Zoo.

Tami, it was so good to see you and your boys. Thanks for inviting us to play with you guys. Hopefully we will get to see you guys again soon.

To be continued...

Almost 30-Yikes

2011-02-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month I entered into the last year of my twenties. High school me is telling me that I am OLD, but the present me disagrees. I don't feel old so even though I willl accept how old I am I think I will live by the saying "you are only as old as you feel". So I guess I am about 26ish. :)

I enjoy celebrating my birthday, and I hope that no matter how old my birth certificate tells me I am, I will continue to do so. I might even adopt my mother's mantra that the whole month of February is my birthday!

Kevin and I went on a date to play mini golf (my choice) and then we enjoyed some In and Out burgers. This may sound underwhelming to some of you, BUT it was actually almost exactly what we did on our first date. Plus, we never really get out without the tot and it was SO NICE to be able to enjoy a night by ourselves. A big THANK YOU to my wonderful mother-in-law for watching Morgan for us.

A shower for P.

2011-02-05T21:10:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I make up nicknames for my friends and for some reason they usually sound like a wannabe rappers name. I recently attended a baby shower for my friend that I lovingly call P. Lemmie. She is expecting a little boy on March 1st and she makes a beautiful pregnant lady. Don't ya think?

This isn't everyone we came to the shower. Unfortunately, we only thought to do a group shot after the shower was over and we were just sitting around gabbing and of course we had to do the "silly shot". Kudos to P. MAN that is one scary face! :)

Just for fun I thought I would throw in a picture of us at my baby shower.

(P. trying to stick her stomach out to look like mine)

P. Lemmie,

I am so excited for you and M! I know you are going to be amazing parents. I can see how much love you already have for this little boy and I can't help but think how lucky he is :) I wanted to say thank you for being my friend when I didn't feel like I had many. I can't tell you how much it helped to know that you were just down the street to go jogging with or just watch a movie. I'm sad that I don't live close anymore and we can't take our kiddos on daily walks to the park, but I will try to come and visit you as much as I can.

Love,

H. Shizzle :)

She's at that age

2011-01-30T21:38:00.000-08:00

At least that is what everyone tells me when I explain the mischief that my little girl is now getting in to. Now that is she walking, she thinks nothing is off limits to her and that EVERYTHING is there just for her to eat, rip, throw, climb into, climb on top of, etc...

This afternoon I was smelling something coming from Morgan's room. When I went to investigate I found Morgan covered in vick's baby vapor rub! She rubbed it all over her hands and feet and of course on her face. The fact that I was smelling it down the hall lets you know how much it was. Off she went to the bath tub. Only problem is, that stuff apparently doesn't come off easily. Kevin said he had to throw in some dawn soap to finally do the job.

A couple of weeks ago I saw Morgan looking through her books in her room so I went to do something in the living room. The next thing I know Morgan comes walking up to me and when I looked at her I was a little surprised to see something white all over her face. I could tell by the smell that it was Desitin. Again, off she went to the bath tub. (I have the feeling we will be having a lot of those impromptu baths)

When we moved into this condo the kitchen already had some baby proofing done so we haven't really had to do anything. The only thing is, is that there are some drawers that Morgan can get into. I haven't really worried about it because one drawer is full of table cloths and place mats and the one above is ziploc bags and saran wrap. Well, she has recently discovered she can open both of those drawers and has fun throwing everything out and climbing inside. I actually, don't mind the bottom drawer because having her entertained while I do some chores is worth folding the table cloths up later.

Here are some pictures of Morgan in action.

She also doesn't want to stay seated at church. She thinks she should be able to run around and scream and laugh. It doesn't help that she can see that some parents let their kids go out into the hall and play. I may seem strict, but I don't want her to think she can fuss enough and we will let her play in the hall. SO...she either can look at her books, eat snacks and play with some quiet toys and sit in the chapel or she can go outside of the church and sit on my lap the whole time. Today was the first time I really tried to enforce that and after a very angry tantrum, she finally calmed down and we were able to finish sacrament meeting sitting in our chairs. I know this will be a weekly struggle for a while, but as everyone says, "she's at that age."

For Mom

2011-01-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

My mother and sister-in-law (Hi Dana!) made Morgan this dress and sent it to her around her birthday. I had been meaning to get her picture in it for a while now and I finally got around to it today.

Nice face huh? She was super distracted outside...looking around at anything and everything. She wouldn't even look up at me. I could tell she didn't like her feet touching the grass so I went to my car and grabbed a blanket for her to sit on. Needless to say this wasn't our best photo shoot ever, but at least my mom can see how cute she looks in her dress.

Back at home I managed to get a smile. :)

Thanks guys for the dress turned out really cute and it fits her perfectly!

Just like us

2011-01-09T21:38:00.000-08:00

Even though babies seem to live an extraordinary life, they are still just regular people like you and me.

They have the occasional bad hair day.

They help sort the laundry.

They sometimes get themselves in situations they don't know how to get out of.

They enjoy a good nap.

They dress up for church.

They like to cut loose and have a good time.

They eat blueberry pancakes.

And they like to ride horses in their bedrooms?

Ok so maybe they are pretty special. :)

Welcome 2011

2011-01-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, welcome 2011 with open arms! My husband and I constantly talk about how rough last year was for us, and we are both optimistic that this year will be much better.

For a few years now on New Year's Eve Kevin and I will write out some family goals that we want to achieve together. Those usually include financial goals as well as spiritual ones that we work towards as a family. We also write out a few personal "resolutions" that we hope to keep throughout the year. Some of mine this year are:
1) Finally lose the baby weight!
2)Be a better wife/mother
3)Learn and new skill or hobby
4) Run a mile in 9 minutes or less (in high school I could do it in under 7...sheesh)
5)See my family at least twice this year
6)Try a new healthy recipe once a month
7)Share my testimony with a friend

After going to bed at 11:30. (I couldn't even make it to midnight!) We woke up in the morning and celebrated the first day of the new year by going to Big Bear and playing in the snow. We literally drove up the mountain, stopped on the side of the road, got out, and played in the snow. We were not the only ones to do this. We saw several families with the same idea. We just found a spot that no one had claimed yet. It was fun to see how Morgan reacted to everything. At first she was all for it, but then she didn't like the new cold, wet ground.

It was a fun day and a great start to 2011. Happy New Year everyone. I hope this year brings nothing but great things. :)

This Christmas

2010-12-27T22:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some things we did this year to celebrate Christmas

Went to Kevin's parent's house and participated in the Golf cart parade

Bought a Christmas tree for $10 because it was "less than perfect". (Score!)

Tried two new cookie recipes

(This was before the homemade icing was poured on top. Yum!)

Celebrated with Kevin's family on Christmas eve eve walking the canals in Naples looking at lights

Did NOT get Morgan's picture taken with Santa (oops! I guess there is always next year)
Did NOT send out Christmas cards (Man, I am really on a roll here :(
Went out to eat on Christmas eve to Claim Jumper with Kevin's parents
Hosted Kevin's parents at our place Christmas morning

Nearly suffocated everyone with the smoke coming out of our oven while making this:

No, Seriously....the smoke alarms went off and we all had to go outside there was so much smoke. Um, Yeah that was wonderful. Luckily, Kevin was able to resolve the issue and everything turned out great.

Did Not take nearly enough pictures of Morgan opening presents

Kevin won this panda at his work Christmas party and My sister sent her that riding toy. I haven't even had a chance to take a picture of the awesome rocking horse her grandparents got her. Morgan is one lucky little girl to have so many people that love her.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and now let's get ready for a great new year!

Erin's visit Part 2

2010-12-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

Like I said in my previous post, we took Erin to San Diego, and we started in Old Town. None of us really wanted to spend much money, so we mainly walked around looking at shops and such.

After Old Town we went to the Gaslamp district to see what they had there. I feel bad that we didn't get to take her to the water, but we had a one year old that was already way off of her schedule.

**Family Hug** It is actually pretty funny, any time Morgan sees me hug Kevin she comes up and wants to be a part of it. We have a lot of these moments when Kevin leaves for work in the morning.

Erin, thank you so much for coming and visiting! It was so great to see you. I'm sorry we didn't take you out on Jet Skiis or Go karts this time, BUT I did introduce you to Beatles Rock Band so that is something :) Morgan had a blast with you and we were all sad to see you go so quickly. Hopefully, we will get to see each other again soon!

By the way, Morgan did wave and blow you a kiss as soon as you turned to get into your car. Oh well right? :)

Erin's visit Part 1

2010-12-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

My dear friend, Erin came to visit us last weekend. She got to meet Morgan for the first time and help us celebrate her b'day. I asked her if it was weird that I have a daughter and she told me that it was a little. I don't blame her for feeling that way. We have known each other since we were 9 and to be honest, sometimes it is weird to ME that I have a daughter : ). Morgan warmed up to Erin pretty instantly and they became good friends.

Erin brought Morgan a couple of birthday gifts.

This cute book...

and this adorable sweatshirt.

The next few pictures were taken from Erin's phone.

I especially like this last one. It is taken apparently seconds before she fell asleep.

Erin came to visit once before and we took her to the L.A area. This time she was supposed to fly into San Diego, spend a little time looking around and then drive over. It didn't exactly turn out that way and she never made it into San Diego. So...we thought we would take a day and drive her there and look at some of the sights. So that is what we did!

First stop Old Town...

Tutu much fun

2010-12-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

Growing up I wasn't a super girly girl. I loved to play sports, didn't wear skirts or dresses (except for on Sunday), and I would spend a lot of time "hanging out" with the guys. So in my mind, when I thought of my future family, it just made sense to me that I would have sons. When I found out I was having a daughter I was really happy and excited, but I wasn't sure I knew what to do with a little girl. You can imagine my surprise when I found myself buying this little outfit for Morgan.

Isn't is cute? I found it on THIS website. They have all sorts of tutus, dresses, onesies, and shoes that are a little more funky.

Now that I am older my interests and style is changing (of course) and I LOVE having a little girl to dress up. I think she makes a pretty good model too. Don't you?

Balloons

2010-12-13T18:48:00.000-08:00

Morgan's Grandma gave her a fun bouquet of balloons at her birthday party. We took them home with us and have had several days of enjoyment.This girl loves balloons. She will actually sit and play with them for quite a while.

Well I guess it is all fun and games until someone becomes a tangled mess :)

One year old

2010-12-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

WOW! I can't believe it. My little girl is now a year old. 2010 has surprisingly gone by really fast considering it was one of the most stressful years Kevin and I have experienced as a married couple. Through it all Morgan was our joy and kept us smiling.

To celebrate this special occasion we had a small family party for her at Kevin's parents house. It was fun to get together and watch her open presents and stare at the GIANT cupcake I made her.

Morgan isn't walking on her own just yet, but she decided after she had opened her presents that she was going to stand up on her own for a long time.

Morgan loves Kevin's parents dog, Sophie. She will chase her all over the place, but so far they get along really well. Sophie doesn't seem to mind. :)

Morgan doesn't get so see her cousins, Justin and Parker often so she had so much fun playing with them.

Here is Morgan's cake. There is a little bit of drama behind the making of this cake, but in the end it all came together great. Morgan wasn't too into eating it though. I wasn't expecting her to eat much of it, but she didn't really demolish it either. Oh well, I guess she is a proper little girl.

Happy Birthday Morgan! We love you so much and we are so blessed to have you in our lives. We can't wait to see how much you will learn and grow this up coming year.

Birthday banner

2010-12-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

My little girl is about to have her first birthday (where did this past year go?) and I thought it would be fun to have a birthday banner to take her picture in front of. Ya know, maybe do it every year and make a little tradition out of it. At first, I was gonna just buy one, but when I went to Etsy I saw that they were kind of on the expensive side. So, I thought I would try and make one myself. I know I have mentioned on other posts that I don't really have much knowledge or experience sewing, but that doesn't seem to stop me from trying :)

Going to the fabric store can be a little intimidating for me. It is kind of like trying to shop at Marshall's or T J Maxx. Just racks and racks of clothing (or fabric) that you have to search through to find one item you might like. I am more of boutique shopper. A smaller selection with two or three of each item grouped together. MUCH less stressful for me :). So...after I walked up and down a few aisles I came across a section that had this

A pre-cut bundle of fabric! I decided that was the best way for me to go because I probably would have been in the store for 5 hours trying to decide which fabrics went best together.

When I was looking for banners to buy I saw that one woman had cut her letters out of felt so I decided I was gonna do that too. Felt is pretty cheap. It was only like .25 per sheet and I only needed 6 sheets and the fabric bundle was $6. MUCH better than the $45 it would have cost me to buy online.

OH and another thing...I don't have any letter stencils. I looked into buying some at JoAnn's, but they were 15 dollars. My friend that I was with recommended that I just open a word document, pick a font I like, blow it up and trace it onto white paper off of my computer screen (Thanks Kim!). So that is what I did and it cost me nothing. I felt like a dork not thinking of that myself.

Here is the finished product. There are some definite flaws here and there, but overall I think it turned out pretty good.

Thanksgiving weekend

2010-11-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

We stayed in California this year for Thanksgiving and we celebrated at Kevin's sister, Kirsten's house. It was nice to get together as a family and eat such yummy food :)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving I went with my friend Pamela to see WEEZER! It was a unique concert because after they played a few of their most popular songs they had an intermission and then played the entire Pinkerton Album start to finish. Pam and I both really love that album and had a great time. Thanks again, Pam!

Number 4

2010-11-22T14:23:00.000-08:00

November 4th was our wedding anniversary, but Kevin was out of town for work so we couldn't celebrate on the actual date. Instead, we decided to celebrate this past Saturday.

I started the day off by donating blood at our church.

Kevin's parents offered to watch Morgan for us so we could go out and on our way to their house we saw this.

It's not a very good picture because it was so dark out, but we saw two complete rainbows.

(speaking of rainbows if you haven't seen this video you should really check it out :)

After we dropped Morgan off with Kerry and Linda (thanks so much guys we really had a good time) we headed over to the movie theater to watch this.

I was so excited to watch it! While I was pregnant I read all of the books and this is the first movie in the series that I saw AFTER I read the book. I thought it was great. Kevin having not read the books wasn't as into it as I was, but we both had a good time.

I can't believe we have been married for four years. Some days it feels like 10 and some days it feels like just yesterday. Happy Anniversary, Kevin. I love you and I look forward to seeing where life takes us in the many years to come.

Us now

And then

Spaghetti

2010-11-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine is pregnant with her first child. She is really great with children and babies and is totally excited to become a mother. The only part she is not looking forward to is how "sticky" babies can get. I thought about her when I was taking these pictures.

Here is a glimpse of your future P. :) and it's worth all of the stickiness it brings!

Trunk or Treat

2010-10-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Our church hosted a Halloween party with a chili cook off and costume contest and at the end most of the Adults go and open the decorated trunks of their cars, sit and wait for the little kids to come "trunk or treating". This is pretty standard for most LDS churches. This is a pretty good idea given how people have decided to ruin the fun nature of Halloween over the years by slipping razor blades into candy. Not only that, but for the really little kids, they get to dress up and get a pretty good amount of candy without their parents having to take them all over the neighborhood. For the older kids it is just double the fun!

We are pretty new to our ward so a lot of people don't know who we are. I knew this would be a good opportunity to stick out a little bit and make a way for people to remember us. Plus, I really just love dressing up for Halloween :). After Kevin and I bounced ideas back and forth we finally agreed on dressing up like Characters from Star Wars. Kevin originally wanted to be a storm trooper , but after seeing the $500 something costume he picked out (yeah right!) I got him to settle for Han Solo. I, of course was princess Leia, but not the white dress with the buns on the side of her head version. I dressed up like when she was in the woods on Return of the Jedi. Morgan was a super cute Ewok! I had to add a little bow to her costume though, because I didn't want people thinking she was a boy.

At the party everyone would comment on how great they thought we looked and especially how cute our little ewok was. They gave out awards for the cutest, funniest, and scariest costumes. Then they said after looking at all the costumes they felt they needed to add another category and they gave us the best family costumes. That was kind of fun. The next day at church there were several people coming up to us saying "oh you are the star wars family!" So I guess I was right, we have made an impression after all.:)

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that today's "pumpkin patch" is usually located in the back of a mall parking lot and consists mostly of inflatable slides? (The best being the sinking Titanic. Wow! That isn't the least bit irreverent.) That's why I was kind of excited when I received an email from a girl at church about an actual pumpkin farm close by. I don't think I actually went to one when I was little, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do as a family. Kevin's parents joined us this past Saturday at Peltzer farms. It was really overcast which was nice temperature wise, but it wasn't too great for picture sake. I managed to get a couple of cute shots, but I know they would have been much better with more sunlight.

I have found that when other people are around my daughter has no interest in me. This is Morgan ignoring me after calling her name about a dozen times.

After posing for some pictures by the pumpkins we took Morgan to the petting zoo. Kevin held her hands and let her walk around to look at everything. She seems to really like animals and has no problem walking right up to them. She didn't seem to be scared of any of them. Not even the turkey which was a little creepy looking to me.

After the petting zoo we checked out the corn maze.

Peltzer farms also has a "train" that goes around the property, Ponies for the kids to ride on, and pig races, which we missed by like 5 min. I think it was a fun trip and I'm glad we got to enjoy it with Kevin's parents. Thanks again guys for joining us. I know Morgan loved having you there too!

Feeding the ducks

2010-10-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

My friend, Emily and I wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. We decided to take our kiddos to a pond by my house. It was hot out, but by the pond it was so nice and breezy. The kids (especially Joseph who couldn't wait to get out of his stroller) LOVED to see and feed the ducks.

Joseph caught on quick how to toss the bread to the ducks. Morgan, on the other hand, would try to eat the bread herself :)

Poor Morgan is almost a year younger than Joe, but she really wanted to keep up with him and do everything he did.

I don't know why, but while Morgan was on the swing she kept holding her arms up like this. I showed Kevin and he called her "our roller coaster baby" I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she turned out to be just that. She doesn't seem to be scared of much. Except the vacuum cleaner. Such a silly girl.

How funny is this? I just had to get a shot of his hair after he went down the slide.

Do you think she had fun? Em and Joe, thanks for coming and hanging out with us we had a great day and we hope you did too.

Last weeks adventure

2010-10-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last week we:

**Had a play date with Emily and Joseph**

**Went to a car show in Old town Temecula**

(pictured above-Herby and "The Munsters" car)

**Took Morgan swimming for the first time**

(as you can see she loved it)

**And fed the horses by Kevin's parents house**

Not too bad for one week huh?