7 Month Milestones

Morgan is 7 months old now. I know it's cliche but the time is really flying with her. Here is a list of her new milestones:

She finally rolled over from back to front. She's been so close for a few months but hadn't been able to get over that one arm. Once she did that, she hasn't stayed on her back.

She pulls herself forward onto her tummy when she is sitting to reach for things or just for fun, then she gets high centered and flails her arms and legs. She can hold herself up with her arms though.

She talks all day saying, "dadadadadadada." Tom is happy.

Her favorite thing is for us to hold out our fingers and she grabs them and pulls herself up to standing position. Seriously, we could do it all day it's so fun.

She got her high chair and eats like a big girl. She can grab cereal and put it to her mouth. Sometimes she can let it go in her mouth too.

Here are some other random pics from recent days.

Workout girl in her Nike outfit and leg warmers.

Looking at the snow.

Morning hair.

All ready for Christmas and loving the tree.

Piggies

Bath hair, courtesy of daddy.

Santa, Baby

Tom took the day off today so we went to the mall to visit Santa.

Morgan did really well with him. He liked her so much, I'm sure she'll get a great gift this Christmas. Enjoy this $25 picture...
Morgan's Christmas dress.

Thanksgiving Pictures

Here are pics from our Thanksgiving weekend.

Tom and his turkey.
Our place settings.
Some day we may have a dining table and chairs and not have to borrow from the church, but then again, maybe not.

The pecan pie. I made the crust and my mom made the filling. Sooooo good.

On Saturday we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the BYU vs Utah game. Well, I guess I should say that Tom, Jo Ann, Ron and my dad went to watch. The rest of us showed up two hours later and left before it was over. What can I say, I'd rather shop than watch football.

New Moon

Yes, I am one of the die-hard Twilight freak fans that went to the Midnight showing of New Moon. I even had some tattoos that I got with the book and put them on my neck and wrist. The wrist says "Edward" because I definitely belong to "Team Edward."

The other crazies with me are Nicole, Angela and Collette. We were also there with Amber and Sandi but they weren't there for the pic. Angela, Sandi and I played basketball from 9 to 10:15 and then met Collette and Nicole in line. Collette got there around 9:30 and was at the front! Yeah, Collette!

It was a good time and the movie was so much better than the first one.

Thanksgiving Day

Today was such a wonderful day. We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house with my parents, Jackson, Shyanne, Tom's mom, Jo Ann, step dad, Ron and coworker, Kevin. It was our first time to cook a turkey. Tom studied how to prepare it for weeks and it was so delicious, thanks to America's Test Kitchen and PBS. My mom and I made a pecan pie from scratch, too. We made everything else but it was the normal stuff and boring to read about. I did forget to make the green bean dish that I had planned to make and started preparing the night before. Oh well.

We spent the morning cooking, then I took Shyanne and Ron for a 3 mile run, dropped them off at my house and ran another mile. It was one of those days that I just didn't get tired.

After dinner we went to New Moon (which I'd already been too -- midnight on opening day!). When we got home I put away the fall decor and got out the Christmas stuff.

I used to not like Thanksgiving very much and would plan stuff like trips to Hawaii and not care about missing the holiday but I have a greater respect for the day now. With so many people having a hard time right now I feel very blessed and thankful that we are doing well mentally, physically, economically, spiritually and emotionally.

To close this post I have decided to write 20 things that I am thankful for that come to my head first.

1. My husband and daughter.
2. Our extended family that is so wonderful and are willing to travel to visit us in Idaho.
3. My church calling in the young women.
4. My health.
5. That Morgan was born without complications and has been over all very healthy.
6. That I had the opportunity to bring a life into this world.
7. Our house.
8. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (this is in random order, obviously) who love us unconditionally.
9. Tom's job that allows me to stay at home with Morgan.
10. Everyone who helped us move into our house while I was in the hospital and those who were so welcoming when we got here.
11. Books.
12. Movies and TV that allow me to veg and wind down.
13. Restaurants where Tom and I can have date night every week.
14. Date night.
15. Our babysitter, Kelli, who is so good with Morgan.
16. A king sized bed.
17. The United States of America.
18. To be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
19. The holidays that bring festivities and fun from all around.
20. Nice people.

Lights! Camera! MURDER!

Tonight we had a great time at a Night of Mystery murder mystery party hosted by Amber and Collette, or should I say, Dana Darling and Penelope Hughes. I started off as Angel Wood, a seductive actress that just won an Academy Award, and ended as the lieutenant because Angel Wood was the one who was murdered. It was a lot of fun and everyone got into their characters well.

The way to play is prior to the party, each guest receives a detailed character description (including costuming and acting tips) and background information on their characters. The guests arrive at the party in character and are given a set of objectives (to complete at the beginning of the party). The objectives given to each of the characters are designed to help the guests mingle with one another and to help divulge more information about possible motives for the murder that is about to occur.

When the lights went down, so did I. The rest of the night we were given clues to use to help us solve the murder (and I came back as someone else). Amber was the only one that knew who it was beforehand (because she was the host). None of the rest of us guessed correctly at the end of the night. It was Brady Comeback!

Here are some pics of the night. Thanks again Amber and Collette!

Dana Darling and Brady Comeback/Amber and Brent

T. Redd and Jada Broken/Robbie and Sandi

Hobart Hughes and Natasha Gibson/Garrett and Tasha

Ward Winner and Penelope Hughes/Russell and Collette

Angel Wood/The Lieutenant and Hunter Starr/Kelli and Tom

Laughing Gerber Baby

I took this picture of Morgan and I think she looks so pretty in it. I love her eyes and lips. We've been told that she looks like the Gerber baby and Cindy Lou Who, and we agree to both.

Lately we've gotten a funniness confidence boost. Morgan is finally laughing at random things we do. She's been laughing for a few months but now it's for real. Last night she was sitting with Tom in the living room and I ran across the kitchen and slid (on purpose) on the hard wood floor all Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" like. Morgan thought that was the funniest thing and started cracking up. Of course that meant that I did that for the next 20 minutes but it was worth it. It was great exercise and hearing my kid's laugh if the best sound in the world.

Another thing that she is doing is balancing when we hold her in the air by her thighs. She has pretty strong core muscles and does really well standing while holding my hand. I think she might skip crawling entirely. We'll see.