3-0

I turned 30 today. I have been thinking about the last ten years and everything that has happened. It was a great decade. Here are some of the things I have done...

Turned 20 while working in South Carolina. Came home and went to school at UVSC for a semester while working at a shoe store. Got my associates degree. Studied for a semester at BYU-Hawaii. Went skydiving. Served a mission in Washington DC. Came home and went to BYU for a couple of years while working at dental offices and with Jamie. Went to Disneyland. Went to Tijuana with my younger brother. Went back to DC for a visit. Graduated from BYU with a Bachelors in Exercise Physiology. Got accepted to grad school (in physical therapy) at the University of Utah. Spent a month in New Zealand and Australia. Got a job in Salt Lake. Moved to Salt Lake. Got a different job. Got another different Job. Moved to Provo. Bought a house. Bought a duplex. Kissed lots and lots of boys. Met the last boy I'd ever kiss. Cruised the Mediterranean. Got engaged. Got married. Honeymooned in Belize. Sold the duplex. Got laid off. Cruised the Hawaiian Islands. Wrote a book. Moved to Idaho. Got a job. Cruised Mexico. Vacationed in South Carolina. Got pregnant. Hiked Machu Picchu in Peru. Had a baby. Bought a house. Quit my job. Visited friends and family in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin. Hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner. Went to Disney World. Watched my baby learn to crawl. Saw her take her first steps. And today, on my birthday, saw her first two teeth poke through. I have had a wonderful 10 years!

New Callings

Our ward recently was split so they have been redoing a bunch of callings. I was in the young women and Tom was in the primary. We got called in to talk to the second counselor in the bishopric a few weeks ago. The week before we saw the bishop outside of church and told him we would do anything but scouts. When we were with the counselor guess what the calling was... Webelos! Seriously my heart sunk and I was starting to think of ways we could get out of the ward -- that's how much we liked scouts last time. Tom started sweating on his forehead and we were both like, "Um. Huh. Well." Then we started the nervous laugh and I mentioned what we told the bishop the last week. As if on cue, the bishop walked in. The counselor explained what we were talking about and the bishop took one look at us and said, "lets rethink this one." So technically we didn't say no to the calling. I'm just happy that we can now stay in this ward. I really love the people and I love my house. Moving would have been inconvenient.

Our new callings (that we willingly accepted) are young men's secretary for Tom and primary chorister for me. I admit that I'm a little bit nervous, not being musically inclined and all. I start next week and I think it will be fun.

12 Month Stats

Morgan got to go to the doctor yesterday for her year immunizations -- lucky girl. She did really well though and only cried for a minute. She also was weighed and measured. Her stats are:

Weight: 18 lbs 5 oz -- still 10th percentile

Height: 28 inches -- 10%

Head: 46 cm -- 75%

She is growing well and her weight is perfect for her height. I guess she should look like Charlie Brown with a big head but you really can't tell.

She took her first steps yesterday! We were so excited.

She sometimes says "mama" and chants "da-da, da-da," although I wonder if she understands the meaning of the words.

For the past few days she has been talking really fast. It sounds like "tickatickaticka" or "digadigadiga."

When you tell her to say "dad go" she does. She came up with it and I doubt she knows what it means but we play along. We're pretty sure it doesn't mean that daddy left.

She has stopped doing this but a few weeks ago when we'd read her the book "Baby Boo" she would say "jes" or "yeth" after the question, "do you want to play?" It was pretty amazing. She must want to play a lot.

She is sleeping through the night and has been consecutively for about a month. It is so wonderful for us. My midnight swearing has been eliminated!

Morgan will kiss her baby dolls anytime you tell her to but she won't kiss us on demand. Lucky dolls. She's going to be a great mommy.

She has been going to bed with a doll in one arm and a Gloworm in the other. When we check on her later she usually is sleeping on top of the covers away from her toys or with her bum in the air.

I just love this little girl. She has been such a blessing to me. When people ask if I miss her being a new baby I honestly can say that I don't. I have loved every stage and I always love the stage we're in the best.

Happy Birthday, Monkey!

Here are some pictures from Morgan's birthday party. We had a yummy bar-b-que with a bunch of our friends and family that could make it.

Here's Morgan blowing out her candle (okay, I did it).This is before she tried the cake.This is the first big bite after a bunch of little delicate tastes.This is when she realized that eating cake is so cool. It makes your hair stick out and everything.

Then we did the pinata. We wanted everyone to have a turn hitting it but it only made it through a few of the kids. Morgan's claiming her piece of candy from the pinata.Presents were the last thing we did. She didn't focus very long on this but luckily I took over for her.

We really have the best friends and family that would come to a one-year-old's birthday party to show their support. Thanks everyone!

Birthday Party Decorations

I have been planning Morgan's first birthday party for months so a long time ago I decided to go with a "monkey" theme. I looked online and at party stores for girl monkey decorations and couldn't find anything. Finally I found the cutest invitations and party favors but each invitation cost like $2 so I ripped off their idea and made my own invitations and decorations (except the pinata that I bought at Zurcher's and added eye lashes and a bow).

Invitation

Pinata

Monkey Bean Bag Toss

Hula Hoops (okay, I didn't make these either)

Pool's Open! (and ice cold but the ambiance was great)

Monkey Banner

12 Month Banner (each of the poofs is a hair bow)

Monkey Birthday Hat
Monkey Birthday Cake

Tulip Festival and Oregon Coast

Last weekend I was totally popular enough to be invited to go with the cool girls in my ward to the Oregon coast for Angela's birthday celebration. We started with a trip to the Portland temple after seven hours of driving (I almost didn't fall asleep during the video). We had some serious laughs, glutenous meals, and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning. We ended at Cannon Beach with a short walk to Haystack Rock.

Here we are at the temple. Me, Shamarie, Angela, Robynn, and Marlene.

This is the Tulip Festival.

This is just behind our oceanfront hotel in Seaside.

This is our hotel -- The Inn at Four Winds (I definitely recommend it).

Cannon Beach

Thanks girls for such a fab weekend.

Play Time

Some of Morgan's favorite things to play:

Crawling up... and then down (our new reached goal!) the stairs.

Learning to walk by pushing her toy from aunt Mari.

Taking out the dish cloths for mommy to put away.

The "don't get me" game on daddy's shoulders. I'm chasing them and she is holding on for dear life to Tom's hair.

Early Birthday

While my mom was here she gave Morgan and me our birthday presents since they probably won't make it for her party. Morgan got some clothes and a fishy light screen that she loves to watch. I got Guitar Hero 5 with a rad (yes, rad) guitar! Thanks mom and dad!

Easter Morning

We were so lucky to have my mom and little bro and sis with us for Easter/spring break. Tom and I made breakfast on Easter morning before conference. Here is everyone else waiting for our deliciousness. Apperantly Morgan couldn't wait for the food.

This was Morgan's Easter basket, swim suit and an outfit that will fit her in about 9 months that I bought because it was such a great deal.

Jackson and Shyanne got new swimsuits in their Easter baskets too.

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt at the park in our subdivision. This massive church put it on and had a climbing wall and some inflatable slides and things for kids to do but it was so cold outside that we couldn't stay for more than 20 minutes. Morgan's age group had their hunt first and we barely made it. Morgan didn't quite understand the whole "hunt" philosophy so Tom gathered her 10 eggs and we opened them. She won a little stuffed cow that we picked up at the end and later put in her Easter basket.

We took Morgan to the movie just after we left. She seemed to enjoy Percy Jackson bla bla... The Lightning Thief (the name is so long that I don't remember what it is). My mom and brother and sister were there with us. We all went to separate movies though.

Here's a family picture with the Easter bunny. I had intentions to go to the mall and get a picture with Morgan and that one but that is such an ordeal for a picture. Anyway, this is good enough.

I was also able to play the big sister by putting highlights in Shyanne's hair and waxing her eyebrows. I definitely won't quit my day job, but I did alright.