Happy Birthday, Clay and Grandma!!

Today my brother, Clay and my Grandma Morgan get to share a birthday. It's so nice when two of your favorite people get to be put on a post together. We hope the two of you have a great day and we can't wait for a great party tonight, Clay, complete with German chocolate cake.

Grandpa Morgan, Clay, and Grandma Morgan
Clay performing his uncle duties.
We wish the two of you the best!!

Nice Try

Justin has attempted to put up our lights a number of times this year and something has gone wrong or come up every time. Last Monday night we decided that for FHE we would try to hang them one last time. Well, of course, it snowed that day and was freezing cold. Every time he tried to get on the roof, he would slide right off. So, we are sad to say, there will not be any lights at 624 Eagle Way this year. He did put forth a great effort, though.

Justin in his final attempt

Ogden, Ellie, Anna, and Scotty

While Justin was stressing and getting frustrated over the lights, the kids did manage to have some fun in the snow.

Ellie's Birthday!!

On Saturday, Ellie celebrated her 7th Birthday. She got up early to start the day with opening presents and then we headed to Utah to see the lights at Temple Square.

She was so excited to get a new Vera from Grandma Manwaring. She wore it all day with a big grin on her face.

On Sunday night, we finished off her birthday celebration with cake and ice cream. She came up with the decoration for her cake and put it together herself. She was so proud and it looked so cute and festive.

Happy Birthday, Ellie!!!

Happy Birthday, Ben!!

Today Justin's brother, Ben, turns 26!! We want to wish him a great day. I can't believe how much you've changed over the years. It sure shows what a good wife and son can do for someone. Just kidding Ben. Enjoy your yummy lunch at Johnny's and have a great party tonight. Maybe you could ask the boss for the day off!! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Gregg!!

Today Gregg turns the big 5-6. We hope you have a great day and I'm sure you will. You always know how to have fun and we're looking forward to the traditional clam chowder and red velvet cake. We wish you the best!! You're such a fun grandpa and a great dad!!

Happy Birthday!!

Megan is 1!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet niece, little Megan, who has the best looking arms I've ever seen. We hope you have a fun birthday and that you get lots of laughs from Addie. We miss getting to see you!!

Happy Birthday, you little cutie!!!

Getting the Tree!!!

Last year we went to the mountains to get a Christmas tree for our family and had so much fun, we decided to make it a tradition. So, early Saturday morning, we headed to the mountains in search of another Christmas tree. We didn't have a lot of time to search, but still had a great time. The kids loved riding around in the sled as Justin pulled them over anything in the way. We eventually found a tree that we thought would work. It had nice firm branches and seemed really full. That is, until we got it home and had to cut off a few feet from the bottom to fit it in our house. We didn't realize that was where the fullest part was.

We know it's not the perfect tree, but every time we see it we remember our fun trip.
This is the beginning of the decorating. My hands are so sore and dry today from stringing all of those lights.

Here's the final product! It's a little skinny, but we love it !!

A Little Late!

This birthday post is a little late, but I wanted to wish our brother-in-law, Kevin, a great #29. His birthday was on Saturday and got to spend the day moving into a new place. We're so excited for he and Becky to be living in Idaho Falls now.

Hope you had a great one, Kevin. Happy Birthday!!

It's Natalie's Birthday!!

We hope you have a great birthday, today, Natalie. Twenty-two years and still looking good. You're so much fun to be around and we can't wait for a great pizza party tonight.

Happy Birthday, Nat!!

Happy Birthday, Micah!

Yes, it's another November birthday. This time it is my adorable, and I mean ADORABLE, little nephew, Micah! He is one today and just makes my heart melt. He has the cutest little cheeks and sweet little face. We hope you have a great day spent with your fun brothers.

Happy Birthday, Micah!!

Just a Little Announcement!

We've decided to make it official. We are expecting. I haven't been to the doctor yet, so I don't have an exact due date, but it should probably be around the end of May. We decided to tell the kids last night for family home evening. That was the strangest thing we've ever done. Ellie and Ogden just laughed at us. It was a little confusing to them. They all thought that we must be going to adopt a baby or something. They just didn't understand how it could happen when I don't have a big tummy yet, little do they know, it's growing quite fast. Let us know if you have any great name suggestions. So far, Anna, the only one taking us seriously and even caring, has suggested Jonathan and Luciana (I wonder what movie those came from).

Happy Birthday, Kaylin!!

We wish a very happy birthday to our sister-in-law, Kaylin, today. The big 24!! I'm sure you have some big project to tackle today, it wouldn't be like you to just sit around. We hope you day is great and wish you the best and that your boys spoil you rotten.

(Kaylin is on the left)

Happy Birthday!!

Sorry, this was the only picture I could find of you in the files I have available right now.

Kate is 2!!

Happy Birthday to my adorable niece, Kate. Actually, it was yesterday, but I hope she (or Elena) will forgive the late post. I was gone all day yesterday. We hope you had a great day. Kate is such a cute little girl and has been so much fun to watch grow the last two years (what little growing she has done).

Happy Birthday, Kate!!!

Happy Birthday, Anna!!

Today is Anna's birthday. We're so excited for a fun party tonight and hope you have a great day. What a great mother and grandmother you are and always bring so much joy to the room. We wish you the best!!!

(Anna and Ogden)

Happy Birthday!!!

Halle is 7!!

Today is my niece, Halle's, 7th birthday. She is such an adorable little girl with so much personality. She always keeps everyone on their toes with her cute comments and questions. We wish you the best day and a super fun party.

Alyssa, Ellie, and Halle

Happy Birthday, Halle!!!

Happy Birthday, Samantha!

Today my niece, Sami, hits the double digits. A big 10 year old. You are such a sweet girl. If you hadn't noticed, I'm still limited on my pictures right now, but I love this one because this is how Sami looked when I first met her. We hope you have a great day, Sami. You are such a good helper and the kindest, most patient little girl I've ever known.

(Sami and Justin)

Happy Birthday, Sam!!!!

Happy Birthday, Ogden!!

The day has finally come. Ogden is now 3! He started off the morning with his sisters waking him up to give him a birthday wish. Then it was time for presents and his favorite, pancakes, with a candle. Oh, the festivities are never-ending when you're 3 and even better when your sisters have the day out of school.

Have a great day!!

Surprising kids

Yesterday I had parent teacher conferences for both Ellie and Anna. Ellie's teacher told me how good Ellie is and how she NEVER, EVER gets in trouble. I wasn't surprised. She has a fear of being in trouble and will do anything to avoid it.

I was surprised, though, when I went to meet with Anna's teacher. Our whole meeting couldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes and she said that Anna's doing great. I was a little curious, though, because she hadn't mentioned anything about her temper. (Anna's our little spitfire, in case you haven't had a meeting or a chewing out by her, but she's also our sensitive little sweetheart). So, when she asked if I had any questions, I said, "So, does she have any problems acting out in class or anything?"

Her teacher looked at me as if I was crazy. She said, "No way!" I couldn't understand it. She told me that Anna's always the first to do what is asked and always does it the first time.

Justin just about went into shock when I came home and told him the news. I've decided at the next p/t conference that I'm going to ask the teacher how she suggests I get Anna to behave so well at home.

ALSO, another funny from Ogden. The other day I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he told me he wanted a motorcycle. Looking for more options, I asked him what else he wanted and he replied, "Two motorcycles."

Needless to say, motorcycles are on the birthday list!

A Knight?

Ogden's little cousin, Carter, was a knight for Halloween. Ogden has been talking about it for days now (he really likes Carter). I was pretty impressed because I didn't realize that he knew what a knight was. I realized he wasn't quite as smart as I thought when he asked me the other day, "Who's going to be the fork for Halloween?"

Dunder Mifflin

Our ward had an Elder's Quorum costume party. Our friends, the Daws were dressing up as Jim and Pam from "The Office", and talked Justin and I into dressing up as Dwight and Angela. It was so much fun. Justin kept freaking me out at times because he was such a good Dwight, scary I know. We drew in side burns on him that you can't really see in the picture, but they really added the finishing touch. We had a good time at the party, although if we hadn't shown up it would have just been an Elder's Quorum presidency meeting.

Jim (Chandler), Pam (Angie), Angela (Amber), and Dwight (Justin)

Cute little spooks!

We had a fun and busy Halloween last week. As soon as the kids got done with their parties at school, we headed to Idaho Falls to trick -or -treat at Northwest Cosmetics. It was pretty scary and Ogden still talks about it. Then we headed to visit Emily and Natalie and Grandma Manwaring. By the time we got home, we had missed trunk or treat, not that we were dying to go, and instead just took the kids around the neighborhood before they went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ogden.

Ellie was the perfect princess Leia. She's been wanting to dress up as her for years now, and I finally gave in this year. She looked adorable.
I was so excited when Anna agreed to be a witch this year. I can't think of a better costume for Anna. She was the most adorable witch I've ever seen and she loved it because the package described it as a "glitter witch".

Ogden had a hard time agreeing to be anything, that and his dad is sooooo picky. We finally convinced him to be a basketball player, once we told him he could be "Troy", not that he really has the right outfit for Troy, but hey, he'll believe anything.

Here's our cute little trick- or- treaters before heading out to the neighborhood. They had such a good time and Ogden keeps reminding me that he told people thank you when they gave him candy.

I'm Back!!!!

Yes, I'm finally back to the blogging world. I'll have some cathing up posts later today!!

Happy Birthday, Alyssa!!

I have to start this birthday post with with another apology. Yesterday was my niece, Alyssa's, 9th birthday and I totally spaced getting a post up for her. I hope you'll forgive me, Alyssa. Actually, I was hoping that your day was as busy as mine and you didn't have time to get on the computer, also. I do hope you had a great day, though. You are such a good, sweet girl and my girls always enjoy spending time with you. I hope that your "spa party" was a blast. I can't imagine anything more fun.

Happy Birthday, Alyssa!

Happy Birthday, Becky!

Becky is 29 today!! It's always nice to send out a wish to a fellow blogger. We hope you have a great day and that Kevin found just what he was looking for. You'll have to remember this birthday really well, because it'll probably be your last one for the next 10 years. Have a great day, Becky. We're looking forward to some yummy cake tonight!

A Late Birthday Wish

My computer is still waiting to be fixed, but I really need to get a birthday wish out to my sister, Sally. Her birthday was last Sunday, the 14th. I'm sorry this is so late and that I don't have a better picture, but I hope you had a great day. You are such a fun sister and we miss having you close, but hope that Aric and the girls spoiled you rotten. I know you were afraid I'd show a picture of you pregnant or something, but I opted for Adeline instead.

Happy Birthday, Sally. Oh, and by the way, how does 30 feel?

Student of the Month

This morning I got a call from Ellie's teacher telling me that she was going to be recognized in an assembly this morning for the month's life skill of Responsibility. I hurried and got the kids and I ready, (in about a half hour, pretty impressive for us) and headed over to the school. In the assembly Ellie was awarded as one of the student's of the Month. She is such a good girl and I was so excited to go see her get the award.

I wasn't surprised to hear that she won for responsibility. She is such a responsible girl and great helper. I was just glad she got it this month, because next month's life skill is Courage, not Ellie's strongest point.

Congratulations, Ellie!!

A Late Birthday Wish

Last Tuesday, on October 2nd, my nephew Grant turned 9. I feel awful I couldn't get the post up, but I hope you had a great day and that you got a ton of cougar memorabilia! You're a great kid.

Happy Birthday, Grant!!

Update

I've been out of the blogging world for a while now. My computer's been down, so I've had to pull out the old one, which means, not many pictures. Hopefully I'll have it back by next week to keep updated.

I do have a funny from Ogden this morning:

This morning Ogden told me he wasn't feeling very well. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "My belly button's hurting."
Apparently it didn't hurt for very long, 5 minutes later her was fine.

The wait is over!!

The wait is over. The office is back!! It's been a long summer of reruns, but last night we finally got to continue "The Office". This is the only show that we watch faithfully. We love it!! We kicked off season 4 with a party at our friends, the Daws, and enjoyed the full hour premiere. What fun!!!

You can go to Angie's blog to see pictures of the fun party. I forgot to take any, I was a little into the show.

Funny Anna

This is the dialogue between Anna and I last night:

Amber: You girls need to clean this up so we can go to Uncle Jarom's birthday party.

Anna: How many is Jarom?

Amber: He's 32.

Anna: Is he going to die?

We're glad you're still sticking around Jarom, hopefully you can hold on another year.

Happy Birthday, Jarom!

You're how old?! Just kidding, Jarom. We wish you the best 32nd birthday, ever!! Have a great day and maybe you can convince your boss to let you take some time off and go to lunch or something. Happy Birthday!

Catching Up

The fair has come and gone, but I thought I'd post a few pictures that I never got around to doing. It was a noisy and crazy week at our house full of lots of noise, traffic, and dust.

This is the view from our back door. Isn't that lovely? The empty field behind our house became free parking for many fair goers.

This is a view from the back door at night. Notice the giant spotlights? Ya, they stay on all night. When I got up at 5 in the morning, it looked more like it was 7. It was a little hard to sleep. One night Justin had to go sleep on the couch downstairs because the shows were so noisy. Despite all of the inconvenience, we do love the fair and everyone who stops by our house to visit. (Except for Uncle Kent, since he didn't bother. jk)


We finally made it over for a quick trip on Friday night to get some great food and let the kids ride on a couple rides (highway robbery). The kids had a fun time and Ellie still talks about how disgusting the 800? lb pig was.

On Thursday, Ellie's class at school had their own little fair. Ellie took a sunflower from our garden to display and other kids took squash, pumpkins, and baked goods. It was really cute. She was so excited to bring it home and have her own flower for her bedroom.

First Day on the Job!

Today is Justin's first day on the new job at Northwest Cosmetics. I couldn't believe how calm he remained. I wouldn't have been able to sleep, oh wait, I still couldn't. I told him we had to do a picture like the kid's first day of school pictures, but when I told him to get his planner, he said I was pushing it a little too far.

Anna, Justin, and Ellie.

I wish Justin the best of luck and to bring home lots of dough (just kidding, kind of).

My Sister, Natalie

Congratulations, Natalie on your new job!!

The End of an Era (An 8 1/2 Year Era)

Bye, Bye, Melaleuca!!!

The time has finally come. Today is Justin's last day working for Melaleuca!! Although he's enjoyed his time there, I think he's pretty excited to leave. It has been hard for me to prepare for this adjustment. Justin was working there before we got married, so we pretty much don't know anything but Melaleuca.

I told Justin I'm really going to miss getting a product check every month, (Esther, we might be hitting you up), but I won't miss the awful summer picnic and Christmas party. Now I won't feel like I have to go to all of those boring, dreadful parties hoping to win something and always walking away with nothing.

Justin's pretty excited for a change and I wish Melaleuca the best of luck trying to replace him!! jk

Bowling with the Fam

Last night for Family Home Evening we decided to take the kids bowling, (you know to brush up on their skills for when we join the leagues). We had a good time. Anna loved it, but Ellie and Ogden lost their patience toward the end. Ogden didn't bowl the last two frames and Ellie didn't do the last and they still beat me. I must really stink! It drove Justin nuts that I didn't care if I lost or not, but that just makes it more fun to lose.

The balls are a little big for Ogden. Finally, something that slows him down. Just watch out when he drop kicks it. Yes, Clay, we got him to do it again.
Anna had a ball and was really good, too. She beat everyone but Justin by a long shot. That must be why she enjoyed it a little more than the rest of them.

Afterwards, we realized we forgot to get a picture of Ellie bowling, so she settled for one at Rupe's instead. Yes, that's right, we topped the night off with Root beer ice cream, fries, and scotch and soda from Rupe's. Yum!!

I had to get a shot of the cute little shoes on Ogden. They made me laugh every time I saw them.

Happy Birthday, Aric!

It's Aric's big day!! We hope you have a great day with your girls and that they treat you extra special. I'm sure Sally has something yummy involved. You have now been deemed the funny Uncle by many fellow bloggers. Way to go and keep up the good work.

Happy Birthday!

(Sorry about the late post. I've been having a few computer problems today.)