Happiness is our Heritage

Saturday night was the General Relief Society Broadcast.  I was so excited.  I LOVE this time of year.  I love the inspiration and direction that our General Authorities give us.  I know that everyone has hard times, and they help us get through them.  The Relief Society general presidency spoke and then President Uchtdorf concluded. He was amazing.  He started off by saying that women under value their abilities and who they really are.  He then said that there were two principles for peace.  1.  Principle of Service:  When you are serving, everything seems illuminated and when you spread sunshine, you can't help but get some on yourself.

2.  Principle of Creation:  Creation means bringing into existence something that wasn't there before.  The more you trust and rely on the Spirit, the greater capacity you have to create.  He states that it doesn't have to be any big thing.  Start with a smile, or create an atmosphere of love in your home.  If you follow these two principles you create a pattern of happiness that will get you through any trial.  Later that night, I lay in bed thinking about the broadcast.  What can I create?  I decided then, that I would make an effort everyday to create something of substance and beauty.  I made a reminder that I will put somewhere where I will see it most.  Feel free to click and print off a reminder for you.  Place it on your fridge, bathroom mirror, in your car, wherever you will see it and ask yourself, "What am I going create today?"

1st Fieldtrip

Jeremy had his first Kindergarten Field trip to the "Big Red Barn" on September 26, 2008.  Also known as South Ridge Farms.

He was so excited, he woke up at 7 to get dressed.  He came and woke me up and said, "Teacher says to wear short sleeves, so don't forget okay mom."  Finally the time came to walk over to the school to board the bus.  I had two other boys with me: Jessey and Keyton.  At first, they were a little shy but they came out of their shells and we all had a great time.  On the bus, we counted how many green signs we could find.  I had to use my camera phone for the next pictures.  As I was headed out the door, I grabbed my iPod instead of my camera, they looked kind of the same.  Whoops.
They were really excited to ride a bus.

Then we got to the barn and we hopped on a wagon and they took us out to the pumpkin patch.  The boys had fun running around and playing in the field (of course they would, they were boys.)



Then we headed back to the barn for some doughnuts and a bathroom break.  Then we were back on the bus heading for home.  As I was taking Jeremy to school this morning, we passed a school bus that was dropping off kids, and he turned to me and said, "Oh, well, it looks like I've got another field trip today."  He can't wait for the next one.

Family Traditions

As Matt and I were driving home from our date last night, and with the changing leaves, I began to think of all the traditions we have started.  My parents instilled in me the importance of tradition.  Things that your children can count on.  I feel really fortunate to be able to make traditions with my little family.  Here are a few that are near and dear to my heart:

Halloween:  I LOVE Halloween.  I am not quite sure why, but I really enjoy it.  I love the decorations and dressing up and begging for candy.  It's great, here are some past Halloweens.

General Conference:  Twice a year, we make the trek up to the Salt Lake and listen to the words of our Prophet.  I love Temple Square during Conference, the feeling and the Spirit is just overwhelming.  Of course, for my kids, it means going swimming, but it is a tradition nonetheless. 
 
Christmas Lights:  We bundle up the fam and ride the "Polar Express" (trax) up to temple square and take in the lights, watch the story of the first Christmas, and grab some hot chocolate.

 
Memorial Weekend:  We head down to Junction to visit Matt's Granddad's grave.  Every year, without fail we make down there one way or the other.

Christmas Eve:  Every year we head down to Richfield to celebrate the coming day with a visit from Santa himself.


Family Vacation:  We go on at least one every year.  We have been to Moab, Fairview Canyon, Disneyland, and Vegas.

I totally hiked Delicate Arch while I was 8 months pregnant.  I will never do that again.

You can barely see us, but we hiked up Fairview Canyon the year Dad got hurt. 

My Dad was screaming at us while my mom took the picture.  It's a pretty funny shot.

I sure do LOVE Disneyland.  We have taken several vacations to the Happiest Place on Earth.
Family Pictures:  Always a must.

So those a just a few of our traditions.  Like I said, I am grateful for my parents who taught me the value of tradition, and I am so glad that Matt and I are able to continue old traditions (4th of July and Ute Stampede) and create new ones.  So what traditions do you have?

Fa-la-la-la FALL!!!

As previous posts have mentioned, I sure LOVE fall.  Well, here are the first pics of the fall leave.  My "usual" spot for taking fall pictures hasn't quite matured, so the real fall pictures won't be for a couple of weeks.  We've got to give it time to marinate.  So, to tide you over, look how pretty:





That bottom picture still shows the green leaves.  So stay tuned for some beautiful leafy fall pictures.  Anybody want to join me?

The War Has Begun

This is just the first battle.  I assume that there will be many many more battles with carnage and casualties left and right.  I thought I had a little more time before I had to strap on my armor and start fighting.  At least until Bailee was in school, but these are trying times for young mothers with young kids and I am afraid I will be fighting this war for many many years.  So I call this battle, the Battle of Spiderman and the Baggy Pants.  This battle began around the first of August when we were buying the kids' school clothes.  I saw the "cutest" brown shoes for Jeremy.  Thankfully, I had him with me and I showed him the shoes.  Sidenote:  I am a shoe snob.  I am of the opinion that you buy your kids one pair of really nice shoes that will last the whole year.  Jeremy hated my "cute" shoes.  He did pick out a pair of brown "skater" shoes so he could be like his dad.  Thanks a lot Matt.  So we buy them. A few shopping trips later I see that JC Penney's has their jeans on sale.  $8.  You can't get that at Walmart.  So I picked up a couple of pair for Jeremy.  Fast-forward a couple of weeks.  Sept. 10 to be exact.  The previous weeks I had noticed that Jeremy was wearing his crocs to school everyday.  I am not even going to start on what a fashion faux-pas it is to wear crocs with socks, so moving on.  I asked him why he wasn't wearing his skater shoes that he picked out and I spent $30 on.  Before you say anything, I know that trying to engage a 5-year-old in a battle of logic is doomed before I even begin, but I couldn't help myself.  I HATE those shoes.  I liked my perfectly proper dark brown leather shoes that he had no interest in.  So imagine my uproar when he says he HATES those shoes and he wants character shoes.  "ALL the kids at school have character shoes AND Ammon AND Sam."  I told him too bad.  He picked out those shoes, and those shoes are the ones he is wearing.  Sometime during the next few days, I related that story to Cindy and she begged me to let her get him some character shoes.  I told her as long as they weren't Power Ranger (that's a story for another time) she could get him whatever character shoes she wanted. So she comes up on Sunday with Spiderman Character Shoes.  Jeremy was in Heaven.  He slipped those puppies on and ran outside to climb a tree.  Apparently those lame skater shoes aren't any good for climbing trees.  In fact, his detest for them is so great, he separates them as much as he can:
 
So a few more days pass and I notice that he isn't wearing those jeans that I picked up for him.  He would his ratty old wranglers or shorts, but never the jeans.  Finally I couldn't take it any more.  I sharpened my sword and I prepared for battle.  This 5 year-old had nothing on me.  I survived the Prom Dress debacle of 1996 so I totally had him.  The start of the next week, I woke up Jeremy and told him to put on the jeans that I bought him.  "No, they are too baggy.  I hate them."  "Put them on or I will put them on for you."  "I don't care if you wear them."  "No I mean I will put them on you (5 year-old minds amaze me sometimes)."  "I won't.  I hate them."  "Alright, you asked for it."
I then preceded to wrestle him to the ground and sit on his legs.  You would think that I could incapacitate a 5 year-old.  He was kicking and screaming the whole time.  It took me ten minutes, but I managed to get him dressed.  Now, by this time he was throwing a MAJOR Tantrum. Sharon can vouch for the massive tantrum Jeremy was throwing.  I even think Linsey heard it clean down in Newcastle.  So before I reach the point of wanting to glue horns and a tail to him, I take him over to Grandma's.  She calms him down and says that he needs to wear clothes that he is comfortable in.  So she gets him some different clothes and sends him off to school.  I am fuming.  He is 5, he shouldn't care what he wears.  If it is this bad now, how is it going to be when he (and Bailee) are teenagers.  So I come home from work that day and see that mom has taken the liberty of sewing his pants so they are no longer "baggy".  And now Jeremy is fine with wearing them to school, and he hasn't given me a problem since then (with the jeans).  He still refuses to wear his brown skater shoes.  Not to worry though.  I am prepared to fight this battle until they have children of their own.  And when Jeremy brings me his little boy who is screaming because his shoes are lame.  I will be the one to make the problem disappear. Ahh, the circle of life.

Seriously!?!? I Mean Come On.

Wow!  I mean, wow!  I think I have had my fill of Lindsay Lohan.  This week, she blasted VP Sarah Palin saying "Oh, and ... hint hint Pali-pal -- don't pose for anymore tabloid covers, you're not a celebrity, you're running for office to represent our, your, my COUNTRY! And in the words of Pamela Anderson, 'She can suck it.'"  Well, little miss Lohan if I follow your logic, you ARE a celebrity and have NO business being a politician, so can it.  I am not quite sure what makes you qualified to say anything at all.  You have been in and out of drug rehabs for years, you have never gone to college and you are the WORST role model for American youth.  So, I think Obama can have you.  If anything you will only hurt is campaign.  So why don't you focus on what you are good at - nothing.

Superpower Bubble Bath

Last night I got home from Young Women's to find that ALL the kids were ornery.  They were crying, or whining, or screaming, or crying, or refusing to eat, or did I mention crying?  Well after some quick dinner, I decided to pull out a never fail trick.  NONE of the kids wanted to have a bath.  So what does a 20-something (yes I am still 20-something thank you very much) mom do when kids just don't want to take a bath?  Anybody?  Nope.  Anybody else?  You got it, you trick them into taking a bath.  The method of choice last night was "superpower bubble baths."  I started with Ammon and Sam.  I told them to hop into the tub, close their eyes and imagine the superpower they wanted to have.   Sam said he wanted to be like Spiderman.  Ammon chose Batman (Matt would be proud).  Jeremy and Bailee were watching and they begged to have a superpower bubble bath too.  So, after Ammon and Sam were out of the tub and had their pj's on, I headed upstairs to give my two kids superpowers.  They both wanted to be invisible and super strong.  After all the kids had been bathed and put to bed, I began to wonder what superpower I would want should I ever decide to take a superpower bubble bath.  Would I want to be super fast?  Invisible?  Super smart (oh wait, I already am), super strong?  Would I be spiderman?  Batman?  Super sweet?  Super kind?  Super funny?  Would I be able to leap buildings in a single bound?  Oooh, or maybe see through things?  That one would be fun, for a while at least.  What if I could turn things into gold?  Score!!  I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be able to choose just one thing.  So what would you choose? 

Preschool?? Pre-cool!!

Yesterday was Bailee's first day of Pre-school.  Now both my babies are in school.  Just you wait, one day, one (or both) are going to come home from school with a tattoo!!  But until then here is my little sweetheart.

She was really excited when we pulled up to her teacher's house.
 

Her teacher, Mrs. Farr even posed for a picture.
 
After she hung up her back, I left my baby all alone, and she sat down excited to start her class.  Man!  Pretty soon, I (Matt mostly because I don't do heavy lifting) will be moving her to college.  I gotta say, I LOVE the ride though. 

Hey Sam . . . I've got an idea . . .

The following is what happens when Sharon decides to leave a cute little 2 year-old with me while I am putting up my fall decorations and going through my old costumes:

Such a "wicked" little witch.

He really liked Raggedy Ann's red yarn hair.

His mom walked in on this one.  Good thing we already had fun with the "girl" costumes.  He is a little "devil" sometimes.

Sure it's a little big, but Frankenstein's Monster is still pretty scary.

"I vant to suck your blood!!"

Nothing funny about how cute he looks in this clown outfit.

"Inferdel!"  He kept saying that over and over.  I love it.
Well, that is the end of my fun.  It was like he was my "life-size" doll that I could dress up and play with.  It was great!!

Labor Day Weekend

It was a busy weekend for the Morrills.  Saturday morning we got up and out the door by 6am to make it up to the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Ft. Bridger, WY. 

It was early, but we were glad that we got there.  Right when we entered the gates, Jeremy and Bailee saw some costumed participants.  Jeremy gasps, and screams, "Look Mom!!  A real Indian!!!"  The people were giggling as they walked by us. At the first "historic" building we went in, Matt found something that was near and dear to his heart: Rudimentary Accounting Ledgers.
Throughout all the area, there were TONS of tents with shops selling everything from Buffalo Pelts to Blankets, to Jewelry.  Mom and I were in Heaven, we love a good bargain.  However, we didn't appreciate one "mountain man" who was selling trinket boxes.   As we opened it up, a "surprise" jumped out at us.  I jumped so high when I saw a giant spider, I RAN out of there.  Matt, Dad, and Jeremy couldn't control their laughter.   Jeremy even got to explore a real life Teepee.  Jeremy found his ideal souvenir.  A knife in a sheath.  He was so excited, he  engaged Grandpa, in a good old-fashioned duel.  Bailee joined in and together, they defeated him.  After, we saw a Native American Indian demonstration.  Jeremy and Bailee were in awe with the colorful costumes and the rhythmic dancing.  After the show, it was really getting hot, so we decided to go to Green River and get some lunch.  Then we headed home the LONG way.  We circled around Flaming Gorge and dropped down into Vernal.  We did stop and snap a couple pictures of the Vernal Temple.

 

We made it back home around 8.  We were tired and glad to be home, but we had a blast. 
The next day, after church, we sent Cory and Sharon off, and had some dinner over to Grandma Bailey's.  Sam noticed that Mom had some candy on the counter and the following scene ensues.
"Hey hey,  Gr-Grandma, is that candy?"
"Yes it is Sam."
"Ca-Can I have some?"
"No I think you need to wait until after dinner."
"Oh, I re-really like your hair.  It's wh-white like an angel."
So what do you think that she did?  Yup, she gave him some candy.  Flattery will get you everywhere with her.  After dinner, we had some fun on the lawn.  Ben was enthralled by mom's weeds/flowers on the side of her house.  Isaac kept trying to eat Zoey's popsicle.  She finally relented and gave him a taste.  Dad asked Matt if he could haul some water  to the cows out to the meadow and Ammon and Sam begged to go with him.  Yup, they are playing with cow pies.  The things that little kids can entertain themselves with.  Don't worry though, we gave them a thorough scrubbing when they got back.  The next day I decided that since I had the day off, we would have family home evening a little early (while I still had the energy).  So we talked about holidays and being with family and then we made spiders for Halloween.  It was great.  All the kids really had a blast making them.  They were so proud of themselves when they were finished.  It was a great weekend, and I was sad to have to go back to work.  But now that Labor Day is over, it means that I can FINALLY put up my fall decorations.  Yipee!!!