Happy Birthday Taylor!

Happy 12th Birthday Taylor. I am taking a break from blog catch up to post for Tay's birthday. Taylor has had a HUGE year. She started middle school and gets all A's (okay one B). She has turned into a young woman. She worries about boys and how she looks. I could have done without that for a few more years. We moved and so our backyard touches her BFF. We took a video of when we told the kids we were moving. For the first time in Taylor's life she cried "tears of joy." Taylor has a special sense about her. She knows how to help and interact with people in such a sweet tender way. She is very kind. A few months ago we were out of town at a soccer tournament and taking some time at an arcade. She spotted a girl who was alone and looked sad. Without my even knowing she went over to the girl and gave her all of her tokens. Taylor also has "crushes" now. The great news is she talks to me. I would not trade the time from 2:10 when Taylor gets home to 3:50 when Jord gets home for anything. Taylor and I have nearly two hours. That time is precious. Taylor is so determined and resilient. She is one tough little nut and is bound to make a difference in this world!!

Taylor loves the "finer things in life." She recently got a foot spa and loves it. When she asked me for it I about died! But she really wanted it and begged until the Easter Bunny finally showed up with it. She loves her hair done, make up on and cute clothes. She is definately turning into a teenager!

Taylor has fun no matter where she goes or what she is doing. She is a natural leader and I love to watch her guide a situation. She is funny and silly and makes me laugh!

Taylor loves her violin. This photo is after one of her violin concerts. She is playing for the fourth year now and getting very good. Taylor also loves her Grandparents. When we go on vacation she always wants to sleep in the same room as Grandma. I will often her Taylor's voice still talking Grandma's ear off at midnight. Those conversations are precious! We are so blessed that Taylor has grandparents that she loves and sees very often, grandparents that are part of her daily life! Taylor is pretty.. Grandma Tamra calls her porcelain. She is just beautiful. A large part of that beauty is the light in her eyes. She will enter Young Women's tomorrow and I have cried off and on all day. She is so excited! I pray that passion for the gospel grows stronger as she gets older. She is never afraid to look someone square in the eyes and tell them what she believes is right. She has an incredible testimony. It is often Taylor who reminds us of scripture study and family prayer.
Taylor recently started playing competitive soccer. She has made some of the most incredible friends and the experience has been fabulous. She has become so athletic and its so fun to watch her and these girls! Go Tsunami!
Taylor has the most darling friends. I love their innocence and wish it would stay that way forever. They are good for each other and promote good things. They are also silly and funny. I recently read a book entitled "6 ways to keep the little in your girl." One of them was "be the carpool queen and party mom." In other wards, have your kids friends at your house, talk with them and spend time with them. I am so lucky there girls spend so much time at our house! I love it and I love them!

Taylor is SO good with little kids. She loves her little cousins and begs to spend time with them. We always tease that Maelee has been on "Tay's hip" since she was about a month old. Taylor recently took up driving the rhino at the ranch and there is always 3 or 4 kids in there with her. Her Aunts and Uncles love Tay because she is always such a help with the little kids.

Taylor truly is an incredible young woman. My motto in raising her is "do no harm." If I can just stay out of her way she will do incredible things!! She is so driven and has such a strong internal compass... Which I hope she continues to strengthen. Happy Birthday Tay. You truly make my life a better, more meaningful place.

Spring Break 2012: Day 1

For Spring Break this year we decided to spend the week in St. George. We were hoping to get some warm, relaxing weather. And that we did. I am not such a good photo taker but the kids traveled down perfectly! We made it in 6 hours with 15 people and 3 cars. We even stopped for lunch! The condo we stayed in was perfect. The kids all slept in the "dorm." It was equipped with 4 double beds! Perfect!! After we arrived and got settled we went to Red Lobster. When we used to go and visit Kim and Shea we would always go to Red Lobster on the first night of vacation. The tradition help strong. Like I said... no photo! This living room was constantly packed with people. We had plenty of room but as usual everyone congregates near the living room and kitchen. Here we are doing nightly scripture reading and prayers!
You can't really see her but Jord had to get glasses. She is far sighted and her Dr said her left eye is very bad. I will take a photo in her glasses. She looks darling!!

Winter 2012

As usual, we had a great year at Beaver Mountain. This year was a little different because we didn't get as much extended family ski time. Hunter broke his arm so the Watrins were a little off schedule from us. I missed that this year! We did ski a lot with some neighborhood friends. Mitchell took lessons with his friends from our neighborhood and he really enjoyed it. Here is is the Mitch Malm (middle) and Bryant White (right). I even got in a few ski days with some of my friends! AWESOME! I also got a day with my Chaser! I also loved the few precious hours I got to spend skiing with Jeff.

My one and only pictures of my 3 kids. Jordan really took off this year and did great! Sadly to say Taylor is done with lessons. She really is turning well! I love Beaver Mountain! I love that I am making memories with my children that same place my parents made them with me!
This Winter was particularly dry. In fact this storm was a spring storm but I had to capture it. Don't we live in the most beautiful place!

Book of Mormom Marathon

As usual I am behind. No excuses here, just behind. At the beginning of March our ward had it's Bi-Annual (is that what you call every other year) Book of Mormon Marathon. This is the 3rd or 4th time we have done this... I can't remember which. Every time it is a MAJOR blessing. Every time I am so glad that I took the time to participate.

Taylor and Jordan participated as well but I didn't have my camera with me on Thursday and Friday. I got a "mattress" picture on my phone and at some point will have to download it. For the last 3 Book of Mormom marathons Taylor and her friends have all sat on a blow up mattress in the middle of the room to participate. What a blessing to live in such a great place with such good, long term friends!!Mitchy fell asleep at one point... Or at least acted like he was asleep.

Mitchell was here that weekend which turned out great. He seemed to love it. He sat by Hunter and Jaren and I think they played paper, rock, scissors for a good hour!
We finally finished up on Saturday night about 8:30. When the reading was finished the Searle's played on the piano and cello A Poor Wayfaring Man of Greif. It was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. The spirit there was incredible! It was so peaceful that Samantha fell asleep while I was holding her. Those of you who know what a go-bot she is will recognize the miracle in that! I truly love this event. I love the Book of Mormon and am already looking forward to our next marathon!

Soccer in Mesquite

Taylor recently began playing competitive soccer. She has a great coach and is working so hard. They practice 3 hours a week and go to cross fit 2 hours a week for conditioning. It has been an incredible experience. The team went to a tournament in Mesquite over President's day weekend. The girls and I left on Thursday morning and Jeff came down on Friday with Ryan and Jamie. The weather was great! Other than great weather I am unsure what the draw to Mesquite, Nevada is!

Here is the "silly" photo after the last game. The girls played 4 games in 2 days. The soccer complex was beautiful. It had 5 turf fields and had a beautiful view. I know, I too thought there was nothing beautiful in Mesquite!!

Taylor's team has some incredible talent. But even more important than that some incredible girls. They were fun, worked hard and were good sports.

After an early morning game the team and their families ate breakfast together. We had such a great time meeting all of these wonderful people. I get so excited and feel so good when I know that my kids are involved with other great kids and families.
Kendall was playing soccer in St. George so we were able to catch one of her soccer games. Kendall is a great defender and she was fun to watch. Kyson is quite frankly one of my favorite people in the world and I loved every minute with him. We stayed at the same hotel as Ryan and Jamie so we were also able to meet for dinner and swim together. Super Fun!!

I am really proud of Taylor and all of the hard work she is putting in. One top of soccer she continues to play the violin, piano, participate in the photography club at school, have activity days and get all A's. I am tired just driving her to all her activities!! Way to go Tay! We love you!

Catch up

I suppose I have given up on the thought of really catching up with the blog on everything I missed. I missed our 10 day vacation to Disney World and a cruise. I missed Christmas and New Years! Maybe some day I will catch up! So.. here are the events of the past month!

We had a great Valentine's Day! Taylor was able to "dress up" for school. Special thanks to Aunt Jill who helped Taylor with the tutu. Taylor knows me well enough to just tell me to call Aunt Jill whenever anything crafty or involving sewing needs to take place. Jordan dressed up for school as well but I didn't get a photo. Jeff sent me 3 dozen roses and we celebrated with dinner on two different nights. We will never pass up a party. The Saturday before we went out ourselves and then on Valentine's night my Mom and Dad had offered to take the kids so we met my brothers and sister for dinner! Thanks Mom and Dad

Every year Mountainside Elementary has "Western night." Jeff and Jordan have gone the last two years. Jordan just thinks it is the best thing ever. They get their picture taken and learn to swing dance!

Sometime in January (can't remember exact day, thats what I get for being a blog slacker) we had we our neighborhood now refers to as "the flood." Our little town was all over the news. Unfortunately "the flood" visited the Morgan's house. Our basement had water, we will NEVER complain because compared to some of our neighbors we were super lucky. We lost some carpet pad and that is all. It had rained through the night and the ground was frozen and not absorbing any water so it ran right downhill. We got water twice during that day. We ended up with sand bags and a sump pump. Here is about the only photo I got. Jeff is rearranging the sand bags. We spent the day helping our neighbors and good friends who lost everything in their basement. During that day I was reminded to the strength of my family. My dad spent the entire day helping us and our neighbors. He brought pumps and worked hard all day. My brother took extra tow truck calls so mu dad could help us and our neighbors. Shea took the afternoon off work and came and help and Hunter helped us in the evening. My mom helped with our kids. I was also reminded of the strength of the community in which I live. Men around the neighborhood left work to help others out. We sucked water out of carpets, pulled out carpet pads, dug trenches and carried sand bags. Families gave of their time and money to help others out. Before the day was over we were closer as a neighborhood and ward. I felt he spirit throughout that day so many times. In the evening when our basement got water the second time Jeff had gone down to the city sheds to get more sandbags. Before he could make it home 3 of our neighbors were here to help. They had seen him down there and came right up. Our neighbors let us use their big fans and everyone was so gracious with their time. Once again I was humbled to be part of such a great community and ward!

Weekend at CES

Every year Jeff attends CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas. This year some of the men invited their wives down to spend the weekend following the show. So, none of us wanting to pass up a chance for fun jumped a flight for Vegas.

When we got to the airport in Las Vegas we had instructions to go to door 11 and talk to a certain guy(I forgot his name). He had a limo waiting for us. We were more than a little silly! It's amazing what happens to 5 responsible mothers when they get away from responsibility (kids, house, regular life)! At one point the limo driver thought we were all married to the same man. Another taxi driver was told by my friend Katie that he needed to spend more time at home and less time in shady places. She was shaking his finger at him, so hilarious!!! The driver took us to the "show." When we arrived all of our husbands were waiting outside the show on the curb to greet us. It was very sweet.
After we went to the show we got in the limo and headed to a spa. We each had a massage and a facial reserved. It was SO relaxing. I felt super spoiled and super grateful!
It was really an incredible experience for me to see Jeff work. I knew he was great at what he did and loved it but being a part of the experience brought me some significant insight. I gained a new appreciation for the talent of Jeff and the team he works with. Their booth was incredible. I am always proud to be married to Jeff but that day I was amazed by the man I married!
We were so spoiled and went to two great Cirque du soleil shows. We spent a day shopping! We ate at fabulous restaurants. Quite possibly my favorite eating venue was this one. It was a crepe joint and it was incredible!! My favorite part was we went there right after dinner. These are my kind of people to travel with!!

I love the men Jeff works with and consider their wives to be some of my dearest friends. They are definitely people I love spending time with. On a side note, which no one will care about or find memorable, except those of us who were there. 6 of us crammed into a compact car and traveled across town. The jokes were many as were the cramps from sitting so stinkin close!!