Winter Blues

How would it be to wake up to this view in January?? I definitely wouldn't have the winter blues. Now I see why my mom never wants to leave...


The freezing cold temps and yucky inversion sent us southbound to sunny St. George for a whole week. It was HEAVENLY to see clear skies and sunshine! We played at the park without coats, swam in the hot tub (boys fave activity) and shopped consignment furniture stores with the ladies (my mom, Grammie and aunt). Wish we could all just move down there for the winters. Need to work on getting jobs down South or early retirement of some sort. We were all punished with horrible colds when we returned (fevers, chest coughs, the works) - not fun! And we all know moms are NOT ALLOWED to be sick when their kiddos are sick. Just wanted to sleep all day, be waited on and get a little sympathy - yeah right.

Nerf Gun War

Christian's preschool field trip to Discovery Gateway Museum - Mom & Mason got to tag along.

Who could resist this face??

Many of you know I had a shih tzu for 10 years and he was my BABY. Well my mom and I spontaneously "borrowed" this darling shih tzu puppy overnight (horrible idea). I was in love, calling Troy telling him I wanted to bring her home (to which he threatened to leave me)...but by morning I was singing a different tune. The dang puppy kept me up ALL NIGHT - digging at my hair, whining, peeing, running laps on my bed. So horrible! Guess I needed to be reminded that I don't want a puppy anytime soon. Toddler are enough work!

Christmas 2010

Oh the anticipation...

Always Mr. Attitude and The Entertainer

Troopers in action

Annual Matching PJ Pose at Nana's

X-mas Morn - Star Wars Fam

Another Christmas has come and gone in a flash! It's always a very busy and exciting time of year. We had a GRAND holiday season filled with family, friends and lots of laughter. We are truly blessed. The boys were in STAR WARS heaven Christmas morn - trooper helmets, blaster guns, light sabers, ships and all the guys. Who could ask for more?

Other holiday highlights:

• Personal visit from Santa at our house - kids running to open door with huge eyes then Mason turning to run the other direction. When he left, Christian looked up and whispered, "I hear the reindeer." Priceless.
• Directing the wild kiddo Nativity at Morgan fam party (30+ kids in costume)
• Having hubby/daddy off work for 2 weeks!
• After-Christmas White Elephant Party with the Durbanos (always a classic, with gifts of breast implant samples, hidden cash and an impromptu marshmallow war). Party ended with everyone piling their bad gifts on my lap and singing happy birthday!

Onto the New Year...If you're like me, I struggle with setting New Year's resolutions and don't typically do it at all. Too much pressure. However I liked this idea I stole from a friend's blog (thanks Jen) and thought I'd share. She picks a "word of the year" to focus on as an inspirational way to better yourself throughout the year (with a lot less pressure). Check it out here. I may even steal her word for 2011 - "focus" as I could use some focused attention in many areas of my life - my clutter, my patience, my fitness, balancing work/home life, etc. I also like these ideas for words of the year: simplify, joy, gratitude and present (living in the moment).

I'm looking forward to a new year of adventures and memories (and warmer weather). Bring on 2011!

Dancing Machine

This is what I see in my rear view mirror daily, finally captured it on film.
My boys sure LOVE a good beat!
And what great hair for whipping around...

Merry Christmas to All!

It's really here!! From our lil' elves to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!

Hoping the true meaning of CHRISTmas brings you much joy and peace. Enjoy your families and friends and have a WONDERFUL holiday!

The Lights

Attempting any adventure with the kids always turns into exactly that:
AN ADVENTURE.

Riding Trax, dinner out, spilled drinks, Temple Square lights in rain, running boys, slipping and falling boys, crying boys, boys running under the fence toward the camels, boys who insisted on wearing jeans with holes in the knees and snow boots in 2 sizes too big, headaches for mom & dad...but we can say we did it!
Check that off the Christmas fun list.

Reege, Trout and Turkey

Sunny St. George for a long Thanksgiving weekend. Our home away from home...

Gotta love Reege. Live with Regis and Kelly, that is.
Spontaneous date night in Vegas ended up at Regis taping at Wynn. My VIP hubby just had to talk to a few people and we had tix in our hands. Kelly was darling, funny and SO TINY. Regis was quite small himself. They were great, interacting with the crowd between takes. Random, spontaneous fun - just my style.

Gobble Gobble - Happy Turkey Day!
Love my lil Turkeys

(this was the only turkey my kids would eat)

Christian & Daddy fishing time - they were in heaven. Christian caught his first fish - a rainbow trout at the stocked fishing pond in Ivins. He was so excited and told everyone how we eat fish for Thanksgiving dinner, not turkey. Who knew?? So yes, we ate some trout as well and it was quite tasty.

Way to go Daddy and Christian!!

Viva Las Vegas, reliving our younger years (many were spent here)!

No cameras allowed inside, this is the best we could do.

Great long weekend getaway with the family. Turkey feast times 2.

Live Nativity at Tuacahn was fun. If you're down South this month, go check it out. Short and sweet and great reminder of the true meaning of CHRISTmas. Mason loved the camels and thought the shepherds were pirates. Go figure.

So much to be grateful for this year, as always - my beautiful, healthy boys, amazing friends and family and life. All is good.

Ho Ho Ho

Annual Festival of Trees Santa Pic - pretty bad this year!!

At least Mason wasn't screaming. Instead he was shoving Santa's hand saying "OW" over and over - he didn't like Santa's firm grip. I don't blame him! His hand placement almost looks inappropriate. Check out that scowl and he wasn't putting his gun down either. That's right, armed and dangerous. Santa wasn't the friendliest guy this year. He didn't even ask the poor kids what they wanted! That didn't stop Christian from sharing his long list.

Merry Christmas to you Santa, hope the season gets a little jollier for you Old Man!

ps - forgetting the stroller at the Expo Center with a 2 year old. Impossible. Check out our sweet rental ride, the wheelchair. Instant entertainment for all!

The Cage

For the past month or so, Mr. Mason has been climbing out of his crib. 5 minutes after putting him to bed he comes running down the hall yelling, "good morning mom!" It's cute and funny the first time but by round 10 I'm ready to scream. At naptime, I resorted to locking him in his room. That's right, anything to keep my sanity. He would knock on the door and yell for me a few times but after 10 minutes or so...silence. Then I would pick the lock and discover what new place he'd found to sleep that day. Laying across the floor by the door, on a pile of books behind his rocking chairs, sometimes he'd climb back into his crib and my favorite was when he was hiding behind some bins in his closet, fast asleep.

My sanity finally arrived this week (thanks to a tip from a friend) - the Crib Tent - aka Baby Cage. Woo hoo! The first night he thought it was great - a new toy to play wild in. He was bouncing around, slamming into the sides yelling "I'm in my cage," but he quickly got the picture as we tucked him in and "zipped him inside." He now cries "don't zip it" at bedtime and coaxes Christian to "unzip me Ch-chen." I give it another week before he busts a hole through the thing but for now, we sleep in peace. Amen!

the face smoosh

Other Mason Randoms of Late:

• Marching around the house singing the Star Wars tune (also sings himself to sleep with it - "dun dun dun" to the whole "trooper song" as he calls it)
• Swallowing a lego helmet - telling me he ate it - and then watching for it to come out the other end, just lovely
• He's quite the "hoarder" having to take a stash of toys with him everywhere we go, we usually have to pack a bag
• Beating up an older kid at the mall - poor kid was trying to make friends with him in the food court line when Mason clobbered his face and put him in tears!
• Requesting "diet coke" with his Happy Meal - root beer does the trick

Oh we never fail to be entertained by our wild but oh so cute lil' guy!

Blah

Don't like the cold. Too cold and it's getting colder. Not ready for winter. Blah. Not a fan of this blustery wind and dark skies. So depressing. Makes me want to eat and eat some more and lay on the couch in sweats all day. Then I feel lazy and frumpy. Need the sunshine. And a better attititude about winter. Will work on that...but for now, boo to the cold!

And add in the piles of laundry, neverending dishes and explosion of toys. Extra blah! However I do love those laughing, smiling, wild boys who made the mess :)

Now where's my nanny, housekeeper and next beach vacation??

lil' Utah Fans

okay, so they lost BIG TIME but we have a fun story anyhow...
My mom happened to be at Home Depot when the ESPN College Game Day bus rolled in. She decided we needed to be on TV so she called and told me to get the boys in their Utah red and bring them down (thinking surely the faces of cute children will get her onscreen). Well, it turned out to be more of a promotional party with radio stations, games, BBQ and giveaways. The radio station announced they were holding a poster contest to win game tix.

That's where our little Christian took home the gold. With Grandpa Jace's help, he stamped his painted feet onto the poster with the words: "Stomp the frogs - go Utes." Nothing too fancy. Must have been his sweet, innocent little face that sold them. To our surprise, he won much more than game tix - VIP backstage tix to the ESPN Game Day filming, breakfast with the crew and 5th row tix to the game. Since he was most excited about the "Bob the Builder" Home Depot hard hat (which he also won), we gave the tix to our uncles who were in heaven! They got to meet Erin Andrews the the whole ESPN broadcast crew and sit across from them during filming.

Then Daddy and Christian hit the big game - to which Christian thought they won! Scoring popcorn, snow cones and a big foam #1 finger was definitely a WIN in his eyes. Just goes to show that any sporting event is a WIN for a kiddo.

Go Utes! Better luck next time...


Christian in the front with the finalists

Cousin Costume Madness

An attempt to capture all 15 Morgan cousins in costume

Screaming, bribing with candy, running away, pouting but they're all here!