my kids have the best dad

Nuff said.

Happy Father's Day, babe.

an overcast day at the beach is better than ANY day at school

 Yesterday was our first summer beach day. Even though the temp in the couple of days before was in the 90s, we woke up to cloudy skies. Didn't stop us.

These two girls cozied up.

Cold? That doesn't stop the boys from getting in the water!

 My nephew Nathan's first time at the beach!

 Peanut Butter sandwiches always taste better at the beach.

 A school of dolphins swam back and forth and did some flips just past the break. The kids were mesmerized.

Welcome Summer!

Rotten Eggs

Oh the possibilities...

Divide and conquer: one parent per overly crowded age group

If you frown when you're upside down does that make it a smile?

Or maybe he just knew the outcome.

Nash and the contents of his one egg. Note his enthusiasm.

Dedan managed to grab 4 whole eggs.

One had a temporary tattoo

...of a flower.

The Mormon Prom

I went to my Senior prom...with my friend...whose date was my little brother.  Long story, but it was a fine night. Fine. Not exactly how you want to describe your prom night, right? Even then (a few years ago) prom seemed like a night where guys bragged about hook ups, everyone talked about getting rooms, drinking, being outside their parents control....Call me prude. I can take it. But there was more to life for me than all that "can't wait to grow up" behavior.

Last Friday, I got to help my nephew out as he picked up his date for the Mormon Prom. That's right. These days in my neck of the woods they have a regional prom designed for LDS kids - and any other high school age student (16+) who wants to abide by our standards.

The night started out like any other prom with Wyland picking up his beautiful date, Shelby.

 Then they headed over to a friend's for a gazillion pictures by parents (and aunts) posing as paparrazi.

 Then to the church where they met with lots of beautiful, modestly dressed young ladies and their equally good lookin' dates and head to the charter buses. That's right, charter buses.

 Wave bye bye to Shelby and Wyland. They're headed to the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.

I wasn't there to keep taking pictures, but here's what I heard about the rest of the night.

They offered a buffet meal in the hall of mammals

(which made Wy wonder if anyone else found it a little ironic).

Had some dancing in another hall.

Got to wait in line for a nice little limo ride with their buddies.

Brought home a balloon flower for his lovely lady.

Prom'd so hard that they nearly fell asleep on the bus ride home.

Waited patiently for his fantastic chauffer at the church and then escorted his lovely lady home.

From the cryptic and few statements he shared with me it sounded like a fun filled night where they got to be exactly what they are: kids.



Excuses, excuses

In case you haven't heard me blab about it repeatedly already, I am a college student again...just long enough to transfer needed credits to BYU for my degree. But that potentially long story is not what I'm here for today. Since school started I've been a bad, bad blogger. Plus, facebook is easier. Aren't most of you there anyway?

So here are a few brief highlights of what you've missed while I've had my nose in a text book.

Yes, we got Emma a cell phone and added her to our plan. In the first month our bill said there were over 4,000 texts.

 It really did snow here. It was lovely. Dedan spent about 8 hours playing in it and building snowmen.

 It was almost as much fun to destroy them a few days later.

Anyone recognize this building? If so, you probably watched last week's musical. My mom kept telling me about how John's doctor is in the building where they film...so when we went we took our camera.

 I've been working with Cub Scouts. Dedan's at far right. Night time flag ceremony. Up, saluted, pledged and down in about 10 minutes.

Emma & friends performed Cee Lo Green's Forget You at the Jr. High talent show a couple of weeks ago. They rocked the house.

The Young Women basketball season occupied our Thursday nights for a while. My Emma is the blurry one with her hands in the air and awesome shoes that match her shirt. Of course, in our ward we called in Beehive Ball. You can do that when you have eleven girls ages 12 - 14 show up nearly every week, practice on Saturday, try hard and still come in 7th out of 8 wards. It WAS entertaining.

See now...reading my blog is kinda like we went to lunch after a busy couple of months...in a one sided kind of way. Of course, if you want to meet me for lunch I'm free all week.

Spring Break!

My {SUPER} hero...

Monday - His day off. I left early so I could study for my first college test in years. He got Dedan out of bed (a huge feat everyday) and delivered him to school, played with Nash, and did all the laundry before I got home from school.

Tuesday - He started his new schedule working evenings instead of overnights (yea!) and before he left for work he took Nash to preschool while I fulfilled some of our volunteer hours at Dedan's school then picked Nash up and took us both to lunch.

Wednesday - More class for me. I'm pretty sure he and Nash wrestled most of the time I was gone. Well, that and he totally cleaned the kitchen (which was almost fair since I had to completely clean the bathroom after Nash broke a glass bulb cover that spread everywhere)

Thursday - He let me go to lunch with some of my girls while he watched Wednesday's Idol by himself and picked up Nash from preschool then entertained him until he had to leave for work.

Friday - Got up early to help with kids since I have an early class on Fridays. Made hot cereal in a to go cup when I said I didn't have enough time to eat and my mouth hurt from dental work on Thursday. While I was at school he bought & installed 2 new bulb covers for our bathroom that are prettier and allow more light than the one that Nash broke. Didn't say a word until I noticed it that night and sent him a text at work. Humility.

Today - Took the boys to their pancake breakfast, picked me up & chauffered me to our Vons so I could (at the last minute) supervise Emma selling Girl Scout cookies. While we were there he replaced my broken headlight which we'd just talked about the day before...and I'd already forgotten.

Best. Husband. Ever.
He's supportive, handy, remembers stuff I forget, loves our kids, nurturing, hard working, good at telling me when to shut my mouth/slow down/step away from the iPad aaaaand easy on the eyes. {hubba hubba}

Wait...
if he's Mr. Incredible do I get to be Elastigirl?
Or maybe he's Batman and I could be Catwoman?
Who was Wonder Woman's boyfriend?

Best of 2010: Emma

photo by Dejah Morris

* Not getting sick when everyone else seemed to be.

* Going to the temple to do baptisms for the first time.

* Going to Disneyland with Caitlyn.

* Strengthening my relationships with my friends.

Best of 2010: Nash



photo by Dejah Morris

 * Playing with the puppies at Auntie Rachel's house.

* Being in preschool with my friends.

* Playing in the waterfall on vacation in Colorado.

Best of 2010: Dedan



photo by Dejah Morris


* The field trip to the zoo with my class at my new school.

* Having my first sleepover at my cousin Sean's house.

* Dad got a job.

Have Emma. Will Wrap.

Don't have time to wrap your own presents?

Need a gift wrapped before it comes home from the store?

Don't want to pay for the extra bag and bow at the store?

Emma's Gift Wrapping Factory!

Small Presents=50 cents

Medium Presents = $1.00

Large Presents=$1.50

You define whether the gift is small, medium or large

LOCAL pick up and delivery available

Confidentiality guaranteed

Leave a comment with your email address and we'll make arrangements

(unless you have our number then just call us)

Happy Holidays!

Comfort Cooking

I love to tease my mom about the food she made when I was growing up. I know. It's not nice. She still loves me. Truth be told I'm like most kids who have a dish or two that no one makes as well as Mom did. This soup (her favorite thing to make) is slightly green (my favorite color), creamy and perfect for a cold day (and by that I mean anything under 65 degrees here in SoCal). She's made it twice for activities at church recently and both time people asked me to ask her for the recipe (not because she's intimidating... I'm just available on line more often).

This is my Christmas gift to you. Make it. Share it. Claim it as your own. I won't tell.

J.R.'s Mulligatawny Soup

3 T butter
2 bunches chopped green onions
3/4 C chopped onion
saute until onions are clear then add
4 T flour
stir & add
2 Qts Chicken broth
2 T curry
1 1/4 C raw rice
1/2 pint cream
2 med Granny Smith apples (peeled & diced)
2 C diced cooked chicken
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cook on low until rice is cooked stirring frequently.

Mr. No Name

Sixteen years ago I was at an activity for the young single adult members of the local branch of my church. The person(s) in charge of the activity totally slacked their responsibility, so we were just sitting around. I decided to be productive and introduce myself to people I hadn't met yet. A few minutes later I came to a young Marine...who would not tell me his name. His response to my request, "If you really want to know, you'll find out."

He was right.

Nowadays I call him lots of things:
Father of my children
Babe
Har (sometimes Haaaaar!)
CARPEN'R (when he's not listening to me)
Sweetie
Boyfriend (the kids hate it when I use this one)
Perv
Husband (lucky me!)

but today we all can all call him...
The Birthday Boy!
He's 37.
Yes, that's younger than me. I'm good like that.


Opening gifts with his helpers



Happy birthday, my love! (Ooo. One more for the list)