Excuses...

The reason for my drastic drop in blog attendance and participation....

Last Monday, May 19th this was the forecast:
Monday: 110° F 79° F Clear
Tuesday: 106° F 76° F 41° Clear
Wednesday: 88° F 63° F Partly Cloudy
Thursday: 79° F 61° F Chance of T-Storms 20% Chance Precip
Friday: 81° F 63° F Chance of T-Storms 20% Chance Precip

The weather has been even better in real life and is still wonderful. There has only been light rain and lovely cloud coverage and Below 80 since Wed. Right now it is 67, and I love it!

Yeah, it's boring to talk about the weather, but I can't help but enjoy how beautiful it is....mainly because last week it was so hot!

We've been working on our porch/yard and hope to have pictures soon....before it's 110 again!

Happy Memorial Day!

One for the quote book...

I thought I'd share this...when I should be facilitating the toy bomb clean-up!

A conversation between Justin and I:

Justin: "Mom, there's a baby in your tummy."

Me: "What kind of baby am I having?"

Justin: "You have to make it a boy."

Me: "How do you know?"

Justin: "I had a spirit and Father Heaven told me he is a boy. "

Justin, after a pause....: "His name should be Ongja."

He told me on another occasion something similar...Something to the effect that he saw Heavenly Father in a cloud and he told him he's having a brother. Sweet, kind of interesting, out of the usual, possibly prophetic?!

I wonder how much kids really do know. We'll find out in a few months...but I can tell you one thing, the baby's name will NOT be Ongja!

Zion a.k.a. Paradise

We had a wonderful camping trip this past weekend! We go camping in Zion every year because we love it there...and it's close to home! Usually Patrick and his brother Damon hike the narrows but we went too early this year and the water level was still too high. I enjoyed the 80 degree weather more than the usual 95 degrees we have during the summer, so I didn't mind! We had fun on several other hikes and had a great time!






The best part of our site was the abundance of caterpillars. We found one at ever turn; on the tents, in our clothes, climbing our leg, falling from the trees, in our tents or squished under our shoes. We even found several packed with our stuff when we arrived home! It was bug heaven for the boys. Every time Justin or his cousin Bradley would find another they would announce their acquisition with excitement like it was the 1st they had laid eyes on. We also got to observe them going into their cocoons and Justin even used the word metamorphosis that his grandma Austin had taught him. Sadly, those not so gentle 4 year olds were also a form of caterpillar population control...They learned that caterpillars are not good swimmers and cannot withstand the pressures of even small hands. Poor little bugs!

We had a perfect site right along the river with lots of shade, great views and lots of caterpillars of course!














The highlight of the trip was at the top of the Emerald Pools Hike. It was more beautiful than I remember! There were wonderful views, a beautiful amber pool, streams, tons of mud, cool shade, tasty lunch, and some very happy wet kids! We hung out by the pool for over an hour but if I had my choice, it would have been longer!











Happy kids and a happy mommy! I found so much joy as I watched my kids, especially Justin enjoying the wonderful outdoors. So much learning and discovery! I love the picture of him playing in the stream. I would LOVE to add that feature in my backyard when we landscape... Well, I can at least fantasize, can't I?? In reality, I'm thankful to be able to visit such beautiful place that only God could create.

Click here for lots more Zion ... If you are up to it!

Lots 'o' love!

Mother's Day.
After my shower I found my walls adorned with these!
Those boys sure do know how to make a mommy feel special!
Patrick said, "I know the ones I wrote don't come from the right perspective..."
I just laughed at the thought of not wanting to see words of appreciation etched on my heart(s)!

Hooray for piggies!

I have always felt pity for any girls I would have and the state of their hair, especially since I barely get around to brushing my own sometimes! A few weeks ago after some introspection and looking at many, many pictures of Anna with ratty hair, I admitted to myself that my little girl looks more like a little rat! I decided it was finally time to start putting up her shaggy hair! I started the habit with my comb, rubber bands, spray bottle, Baby Einstein for distraction and bows (if I'm lucky. )I now look at her more adoringly and am not as easily annoyed when she proceeds to tear apart my house the way toddlers do so well. It was an enjoyable moment to watch her as she played and pretended to eat with a spoon and a little dish for over an hour! She has such a cute personality... luckily her hair looked cute to match it. I admire all you mommies who take such good care of your kiddies!

I stumbled across a CUTE blog all about hair! Something to look forward to when Anna has more of it! http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/

Accomplishment

It is pathetically gratifying for me to see the fruits of labor! 1o organized, labeled boxes are a beautiful sight to me. I've been needing to go through and organize kids clothes for over a year and finally got to it...but probably wouldn't have tackled the dreaded task if my mother in law and sister in law Becca hadn't graciously joined me! It's much more fun to have help doing the dreaded things in life. Organizing the garage is my next dreaded task...but I doubt anyone wants to do that...including me!

Ivy and Anna had fun too! The cabinet was a great hit.

Fire house field trip!

Melissa, in my ward organized a field trip to the local fire house! Tons of mommies and thier kids from the ward came.
Justin was bouncing off the walls. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. The picture of him below is a perfect representation of how he felt. It was also fun to see them leave in the firetruck because they got a call!
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Click for more pictures of the field trip:

2008-05-04 May 2008

Time for a change!

When my backyard doesn't look like this:

My kids and their knees won't always look like this!

After a year and a half there is finally hope for our backyard! We built the retaining wall, just poured the concrete and are in the process of putting up the porch. Then for the grass and foliage! I have visions already!
Anyone have experience installing a sprinkler system or
have good instructional video???

Anna's room: Occupied

Anna has officially been relocated from our bed and crib located in our room! The transition was a big success, just in time for the new baby. If she wanders into our room in the middle of the night, usually looking for a drink, we just take her back and that's it! I even put a drink and a snack for when she wakes up in the morning...just so I can get a little more sleep!









What a cutie!

The well positioned pillow.

What would your husband say if you sent him this and he actually could take off work?

Julie Morris to Patrick

show details 1:45 PM (1 hour ago)

Reply

You said you wanted to take time off work right?? I just saw online that BYU women's conference is tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.

I have a strong desire to go and it's not too late... You could take time off work and watch the kids in between TracPro. Justin has Pre-school tomorrow 9-1 and you could drop Anna off at Sis Crockett's for co-op 9-12. I also have co-op already scheduled for both Friday morning at the Henderson's 9-12 since I was going to Helping Hands of Henderson orientation which I can reschedule. You could have those times undivided, put the kids to bed earlier and work late into the night. Friday you would need to get the truck and pick up supplies and wood from my dad's and home depot to work on the Porch Saturday. I'd leave early Thursday morn. and get back late Friday night...

My thought...That's a lot to ask, I know, but I would really appreciate it! How bout I watch them while you hike the narrows next weekend?:0)

President Ballard agrees. "Third, give your wife a "day away" now and then. Just take over the household and give your wife a break from her daily responsibilities. Taking over for a while will greatly enhance your appreciation of what your wife does. You may do a lot of lifting, twisting, and bending!" It would be 2 days and a night, I know . What do you say? Love, Julie



And he said yes!!!!! Now the questions are, where am I staying and am I riding up alone or can I carpool with someone at the very last minute!!! Know anyone from Vegas going or how bout you??

--
Julie Morris

Art time!

I wondered if the time would ever come when Justin enjoyed art projects, coloring, painting, cutting, molding Play-doh and the like! He would only scribble on a page for 10 seconds and be done. Many start that stuff earlier and I just thought maybe it wasn't his thing.

Well, my dreams weren't dashed in pieces because around the magical age of 4 he began.

GMa and GPa Morris were right on cue with the build it your self airplane!

The Tongue of Concentration! It's hereditary.

Justin now loves to make things and I love to see what he makes too. My fridge is still adorned with his first coloring project that he colored carefully and his pieced together paper funky star fish motif. I 'm loving this! It's the small stuff, right!?:0)

For the quote book...

Justin has a way with words.....

Bob (a friendly, witty, cheesy checker at Trader Joe's) and Justin were having a nice conversation while Bob rang up our goods.

Justin was wiggling and jumping around so Bob asked, "Do you have ants in your pants?"


After a bit of thought, Justin replied in a serious, matter of fact tone, "No! I just have a penis!"

The dozen or so people within earshot had a nice chuckle while waiting in line. I just got a red face...and chuckled a bit about it later. Patrick has always wanted to use proper terminology...I wonder now if that was such a good idea!

Conference

My little family, Dad, Mum and sister traveled up to conference. It was an Amazing experience! We even got to be there for the solemn assembly. I was in awe of the huge ordeal it is to orchestrate such an event. All of the ushers, emergency personnel, sound guys, police, and sheer number of bodies all moving in an organized fashion.





On a funny side note...During the opening prayer I started noticing coughing then throat clearing. I couldn't help but wonder, "is this all intentional." I was too distracted to even listen to the prayer! It was so absurd to me. Eventually I realized that that Conference Center just has excellent acoustics and with that many people, someone is going to be coughing every .2 seconds.


Can't figure out how to rotate this one...use your imagination!



While I was in the Sat. A.M. Session: Patrick watched the kids!

Anna decided to become one with the floor and got a new flesh wound. Justin tested the lovely furniture for durability. I wonder if any other lil' boys were doing this in the J.S. Memorial Bldg.?!?!

While Patrick was in the Priesthood Session: I went shopping at Ikea!

Just creating a wish list for when I go back and have room for goods...



When we got to go together to the Sunday PM Session: My friend Alicia's Family was wonderful to babysit my kids in Sandy!
We were so blessed to be part of such a wonderful conference!

My favorite talks:

Daughters of God

Elder M. Russell Ballard

“My Words . . . Never Cease”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland