Morgan's 6th Birthday!

YAY! we finally got our computer to upload our pictures. So I have a lot to catch up on, but first, Morgan's birthday was almost two weeks ago. . .and it's about time I blog it!!

Morgan chose doughnuts for her birthday breakfast! It's just about the only day she can get away with having fried bread for the first meal of the day!

I wish I could say I made this cupcake cake, but, it was actually Wal-mart! Cute right?!

Since we can't take homemade goodies to school anymore, we decided to take the cute cake to Morgan's class to enjoy with her classmates. They loved it!

For a couple years now, Morgan has been wanting to go in to Build-A-Bear. But I kept telling her "someday." Well, her birthday was finally that day! We figured since we're not having a "friends" party, we could do something else special. After McKay got off work, our little family had a night of celebration. The first stop: Build-A-Bear!

Morgan chose to stuff a bunny. I didn't realize how many different kinds of animals they had. Mckay wanted her to get a cute little turtle. It was dang cute, but how do you dress it with a shell on it's back? Anyway, I thought she made a good choice with the soft bunny, and man is it soft!!

Here's McKay and Morgan picking out what sound she wants in her bunny. She ended up picking a women's voice that says things like, "Hey Girlfriend!" and "Let's go shopping!" Not our suggestion, mind you! WE wanted her to just get a little heart that sounds like it's beating.

She liked stuffing her bunny. She just stepped on this peddle and the worker helped her get fluff in all the different parts until it was as floppy and cuddly as she wanted.

After it was fluffed up, she got to give it a "bath." It was just air coming out of the yellow shower heads.

The finished product! Morgan and "Ruby, " her new little furry friend! She wanted to name it Diamond, and I said, "How about another gem?" We figured Ruby was cuter for a stuffed bunny, and easier to remember. After Build-A-Bear, we went to Red Robin for dinner and Morgan ate sooo much food! She even ate almost all of the free slice of mud slide cake! Morgan has never been considered a good eater, so we were prepared for our money to go to waste once again, but she really pulled through!

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe how old Morgan is. Then again, I expect so much out of her, like she's already twenty! I feel bad because I know what that's like being the oldest, and especially a girl. You end up being your mom's "right hand man." I also feel like she was the oldest for a reason and that particular role, in any family, comes with a certain amount of responsibility. So I figure she can take it. So far, she has proven to be a wonderful little helper.

Here's a little story about what was going through my head the night before her birthday:

"Mom, I can do it by myself now! I'm six remember!" Morgan says to me as I wash her hair in the tub, the night before her birthday. When she said that, I was caught a little off guard and I had flashbacks of when I would give her baths in our little bathroom sink in the old 1940's duplex apartment we lived in when she was born. We lived in downtown Boise and our neighbor in the duplex (sharing a wall) was a complete ashtray head. I was always so worried that the smoke wafting from his apartment would seep into our precious baby's lungs. She was so little when she was born, She looked frail and fragile. However, she has, since the day she was born, been very strong...willed. And oddly, very muscley! This is what I remember of when our feisty little Morgan came in to our lives, six years ago:

It was Sunday December 15th, and my due date was the 20th, so I figured I had a few days, even though I was more than ready! I hadn't had ANY progression that would make me or my midwife (filling in for my dr. ) think that I was about to have a baby! Everyone at church that day said, "anything happening?" "Hope you're not here next week!" But my answer was always, "Oh, I'll be here. My mom went 10 days over due with me!" Well, that night at about 10:30 I was walking from the couch to our bedroom and it felt like I had wet myself. So I thought, "Great, my first baby and I'm already having blatter problems." I went to the bathroom and it felt a little like someone else had control of my nether regions. I couldn't stop anything from coming out. That's when it occurred to me, " I wonder if it's my water? But it didn't come out in an embarrassing flood like it does on movies." I figured I better call the midwife anyway. So I did, and she said it's hard to know what it was until they run a test. We went to the hospital, had the test, it was positive for amniotic fluid and I was officially checked in to the hospital at about 12:30 Monday morning. Keep in mind that I was STILL not having any contractions and I was no more dilated than I had been the whole pregnancy. A blessing, I guess! Eventually contractions started at about 3:30 or 4a.m. and she made her way in to the world at 9:47a.m. A whopping 6lbs. 2oz. and 21inches long. So basically, she is a girl version of Mckay, long and skinny. . .still is! I knew, from that day on, that my life would never be the same! It wasn't this gradual flow in to the hard work of being a parent, lovely, fall-in-love-instantly, process with Morgan. She came out, screaming with jaundice and colic, and said, "welcome to motherhood!" I really have learned a lot about myself from being Morgan's mom. . .I have learned a lot about motherhood. What a blessing she has been and continues to be in my life! I love you Snoops!

Good Friends- Good Fun!!

Last night I had six of my good Stansbury friends over for some Christmas fun. I decided this year, instead of giving gifts to all of them, that I would have a party at my house instead. This is what we did; I had this idea, which formed from many other ideas, that I would give each of my friends a notebook, I had one as well, and we passed them around and wrote in each others' books about how much we love them, or how they inspire us, or just what great friends they are, etc. We also played this great game called "The game of Things." It was very interesting. . .finding out more about people you think you know pretty well. My cheeks hurt from laughing. One of my favorite questions for the game was, "Things you don't know much about." Kate said, "Chinese people and their culture." Funny, right?! OK. Maybe you had to be there! We had just talked about how Marrya's six-year old daughter Audrey is on a Chinese people kick and she thinks she knows all about them!
Anyway, it was an awesome night with good friends, good Christmas music and, might I add, good food! I made some of my favorite holiday treats like caramel corn, thin mints, peanut butter balls, and grape juice with pomegranate 7-up, and a few other snacks that Wal-mart supplied!
So, I'm so used to my pictures not being on my computer that I completely forgot last night to even take a picture! I don't think anyone did. . . What were we thinking?! We should've marked our first Christmas party in history with a picture! Hopefully, we will be able to continue this tradition and continue writing in eachother's books, sharing more meaningful time together. My only regret is that I can't do the same thing with all my friends. Thanks Marrya, Kim, Kate, Jill, Rachel, and Christie for your friendship, support, and love! And for coming to my shin-dig!

A Wonderful Sunday

What proud parents we are today! Morgan got up in Sacrament meeting and bore her testimony all by herself and it was the first time ever!

I was in the mother's lounge (surprise, surprise!), and then unexpectedly, I heard Morgan's little voice over the sound system and my eyes started to water with pride and joy! It's so cool to hear your child give their testimony, and without help!

Obviously, I didn't have a pen and paper to write down every word she said, so this is just what I remember...it was short:

"I would like to bare my testimony, I know the church is true, I know that Jesus loves me and I know that he loves you too. In the name..."

Mckay said Morgan kept asking if she could get up, then as soon as someone else would get up, she got frustrated and said, " Dad, I wanted to go!" So Mckay just said, "go up right after this guy." So she did and got the job done! It was a big step for Morgs and we're very happy for her and the start of truly building her testimony.

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Then . . .if that wasn't enough for the day, Mckay and I had a make-shift date for dinner. See, we were supposed to go on a date on Friday, but all of our normal babysitters were busy, so we decided to rent WALL-E and we watched that with the girls instead.

Well, today Mckay took over the responsibility of cooking dinner, all of it! And really that would be enough to get my heart racing, but the dinner was fantastic and the icing on the cake! He might be making dinner more often...bad move Mckay!

For dinner he made us juicy rib eye steaks and sauteed onions, carrots, and asparagus. Of course, it wouldn't have been complete without a little Martinelli's sparkling apple juice! Oh but wait, it gets better. . . He also lit my smelly candle in my kitchen and put Andrea Bocelli on the surround sound. Did I mention that all our girls were taking a nap. A true phenomenon! I think it was better than anything we could have done on Friday because it was a little spontaneous and yet completely thought about on Mckay's part, which is what means the most. Am I right? Ladies, how many times do your husbands do any or even a little of the planning on date night? So, it was as perfect as it could be. Now is one of those times that Mckay's irritating perfectionist ways comes in handy. The meal was divine and so was the company, or lack there of (kids)! I love you McKay! Thanks for our sweet date!

*My FAVORITE Song*

Well, if we were talking about any kind of music, I might have a hard time narrowing my favorite song down. But, we're not! We're talking about Christmas music, and for me, there is only one that is my favorite. It's my favorite by a long shot. . .hands down! You might be able to guess by glancing at my playlist, I'll wait. . . I know you want to look! Well, if you're too lazy, alright, it's Oh Holy Night! How could this not be everyone's favorite? It expresses exactly what we should be celebrating on Christmas and how we should be celebrating. When the song is done right, it will make me cry every time! "FALL on your knees, oh hear the angels voices, oh night divine, oh night when Christ was born."

When I was younger, I was part of a community children's choir. I'm not gonna lie, we were pretty good! The leaders happened to be a part of my ward, and while they weren't the most lovable people right away, they knew their music, and somehow, made kids (ages 8-18) sing like angels. I only was a part of it for a couple years, but I had the privilege to be there when they sang Oh Holy Night for one of their Christmas performances. I think I was 12 years old, and I vividly remember the feeling I had when we sang that song and the warming chills that came over me when we sang, especially on the "Fall on your knees" part! I can still sorda remember my alto part, and my favorite version of it will always be with more than one person singing it. A choir, a quartet, I don't care! It's about the feeling of the masses falling to their knees because we know He was born and He died and He lives for us!