WHY do I do this to myself?????

Aghhh, it seems like the last week before Christmas is always the same for me. I just get myself involved in so many little projects, or big projects, and I end up crafting till I get a headache! That or we get our family Christmas pictures and I have dark circles under my eyes from late night sewing/hot gluing/painting/staining/etc etc ETC. And this year I took on an unusually large amount of projects because I figured we would save loads if I made most of our gifts this year. Which begs the question, which is more expensive, store bought gifts, or a stay in an asylum????

A little, okay a LOT sad

So I have come to the realization recently that my little girl is just getting to be such a BIG girl. She has decided she is too big to: 1) Cuddle her Mom 2) Let JD or me buckle her car seat 3)Basically have help in any way (eating, drinking, changing, the works)

Here are some pictures of her being a Mom to her little monkey. She got out this blanket and wrapped him all up and kept rubbing the side of his face and tucking him in.

I got out a bottle for her and a spoon with a tupperware bowl, and she went straight to it. She spent probably a half hour taking care of her little "bee bee"

So I guess my biggest problem with the whole thing is I am so conflicted. Everytime she does something like this, I am so proud of her and her grasp of the world around her. She picks up on things so fast and I guess I am doing a good enough job that she wants to pretend to be a mommy. But does she really need to be pretending to be a Mommy now?

She is just getting so SO big, and she is needing me less and less. She even DEMANDS that I leave her alone most of the time. Six months ago I was complaining she was too clingy, and now I would trade a night out at Texas Roadhouse for a night with her just cuddling me.

There is a song by Trace Adkins that the chorus goes like this:

"You're gonna miss this, You're gonna want this back, You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast, These are some good times, So take a good look around, You may not know it now, But you're gonna miss this"

The biggest difference between my life and that song is that I am painfully aware of HOW MUCH I really am going to miss this.

So here I sit, spending precious nap time writing about the daughter that I honestly miss just for the two hours away from her while she sleeps. She is such a perfect, wonderful, absolute joy!And now she's awake, and I can't miss a minute!!!

Little Helper

When we decided to get out all the Christmas Decorations, Morgan was MORE than willing to be our little helper. I'm sure that any of you guys with kids totally understand this, and she has hit this stage of life FULL ON. Well, first she decided the ornaments were balls, and great to throw around the house: Then, once she saw her Mom and Dad hanging them on the tree, she caught on and had to do it all on her own!
So I feel two ways about this next picture, I either think it is so gross because she ate a blue candy cane and her mouth is stained from it, or I break into a huge grin because her smile is just so contagious!

Once the tote was empty, she decided it looked like a good place for a nap. She grabbed her "bubby" (blanket) and tossed it in there and then proceded to climb in and say "Ni, Ni Mom. Ni, Ni Dad" (night night) She didn't actually go to sleep in there, but JD and I got to enjoy a good five minutes of her pretending to be that way!

Little Moments

Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought I would

share a few of the pictures we have on our

computer that remind me of times and things I have

to be thankful for. I love my family, and all these

little moments, so enjoy!

JD and Morgan in her first snow










My silly girl...
enough said








Happy Cousins

JD suffering through Curious George games, again, with a pants free Morgan







So proud of our Easter Eggs

Morgan's first cookie beater...almost had to force it down her throat that first bite

Sour Lemon Face











I miss naps with Morgan :(










Her "sitting in everything possible" phase









Road trip Peek a Boo











Unsure of her first Birthday cake

Snow...and rosy red cheeks!

Basically, we have so much to be thankful for, one of which, JD is staying up to let me finish this, even though he really wants to go to bed! I am thankful for our family, and our callings, and our determination. I am thankful for Morgan's unceasing smiles, and her goofy walks. I am thankful for the little blessings the Lord sends our way, like clothes from people in our ward, or a home teacher stopping by when we really need it. But more than anything, I am thankful to be a Mom and to be considered worthy of the family I have and that I have been chosen to raise up unto the Lord. So much to be thankful for!!! It would be impossible to list it all, but I am just so grateful for the wonderful blessings in our lives!

I know, I know

Okay, so I KNOW how silly some of you think the Twilight series is, but I had to take a moment to just say I loved the movie. I read all the books, and there was very little I was disappointed in, which doesn't happen very often if I have read the book before seeing the movie. There were a few things that didn't quite mesh with the book, but I think they did an AWESOME job keeping the sap out(there is some sap, how could there not be? BUT, it is good sappy not oh puke me sappy) and the action in. JD (who absolutely hated my reading of those books, he says not every husband can be like Edward and I sure as heck better not expect it) Anyhow, JD liked it! He even said it was the best movie we've seen in a while! So that, on its own, should be a testament to the movie's like-ability. I won't go on forever, but I loved the guy that plays Jasper, he just cracked me up. The other thing? The high school crowd was just perfect...totally nailed the Forks high school experience. Well, I will let you all enjoy it for yourselves, but I recommend it to everyone!

Just one quick disclaimer: I went into the movie with low expectations because I have been seriously disappointed by books gone movie before. SO, on that note, if you are expecting it to be AS good as the book, I think you may want to rethink that standpoint. But, if you are just going to see a good flick, its a good one!

It Begins...

So, for any of you that I talk to on a regular basis, you are already aware of our new family member, Spirit. Yes, Spirit. Morgan has decided that it is absolutely essential for her to get a daily dose of this movie. And, the best part is no matter how many times she sees it she still yells, "Horse, GO, GO, Horse GO" so very frantically when the mountain lion tries to attack the herd. (If its not ringing any bells, its a Disney movie with a wild horse and the plot is basically: Captured, Free, Captured Again,Free Again, Captured Again Again, Free Forever FINALLY) Anyhow, Morgan's fascination with the flick has made me feel I should apologize to my brothers and sisters for the constant Winnie the Pooh they had to endure, and (as long as we are just passing around movie apologies) I feel I need an apology from my little sister about the Little Mermaid, haha DARCI.

I know every kid has their favorite, and this happens to be Morgan's. Its not too bad actually, it has a decent soundtrack (which I can now sing word for word mind you), and we usually just put it in the portable DVD player and she can watch it quietly without the rest of us feeling like we live in the Old West. Well, here are some pictures:

So Concerned:

Oh, everything is A-Okay, phew!

Family

As everyone is aware, yesterday was voting day! Well, JD, Morgan and I have worked very hard passing out door hangers and working to share our passion for Prop. 102 with our community.

Prop 102 is similar to Prop 8 in California, it states that Marriage is between one man and one woman, period. Our family took our hour at the polling place, holding the sign and answering any questions anyone had about the proposition, and, as you can see, even Morgan got involved! I was so proud of our state when the numbers came in, and Arizona's constitution will now have an amendment classifying marriage as it should be. I am thankful Arizona has decided to do this, but it still makes me a little sad it had to be an issue in the first place.

Lately JD and I have just been worrying about the economy and how things are right now, and we don't know for sure how anything is going to play out. Last night, as I sat near tears just from built up stress, I was comforted and distinctly felt, "Your family is sure. The gospel is sure. The Lord is sure." My worries were gone, and I knew even if we lost everything, I would still have JD and Morgan would still have her parents. That is what is important, and I am so grateful for the temple and the covenants that bind regardless of the turmoil that surrounds us.

Happy Halloween!!!

Well, our second Halloween with Morgan was great! I was so proud of her, she learned to say trick or treat (or at least treat treat, which is close enough!) and anytime anyone would ask her if she was a mouse she would proudly respond with a loud

"SQUEAK SQUEAK!"

Plus, we have been working on saying thank you for a while now, and she has never quite gotten it, but last night with the repetitive door to door thank you's she's finally got it down! Who knew Halloween could be such a great learning experience?

We went to the Mangum's halloween party last weekend, and our family dressed up as the three blind mice...but nobody got it. So we decided to ditch the sunglasses for the real deal and chose to actually be able to see in the dark!

My sister and her family, plus two kids she babysits, came to a harvest festival the youth of our church put on, then we did the world famous trunk or treat and came home to finish it up with some good ol' fashioned classic trick or treating. It was a great night, and we still got Morgan to bed at a reasonable witching hour!!!

Pumkin Festival Fun

Well, now that the primary carnival and program are done, I am finally stress free enough to take the time to blog again! Both the carnival and the program went really well, but we both knew Saturday would be one big stress fest regardless of my insane amount of preparation, so we decided to go to the pumpkin festival to get my mind off of the days later events. It worked! I had so much fun watching Morgan, I am so so SO glad we took the time to do it. First off, we were kind of bummed that it was 2 bucks a person to get in, and then on top of that everything cost money. BUT, I was very proud of JD because he let go of his incredible thriftiness to let us get a good pumpkin and take Morgan into the petting zoo. And oh yes, we had to get shaved ice, who can ever pass that stuff up? Morgan spotted me knocking on a pumpkin (don't really know why I did it in the first place) and she started systematically knocking on every pumkin in the whole stinkin patch. We then went to the petting zoo and that was so fulfilling to see Morgan and JD having such fun! It was 3 bucks a pop, so I stood on the sidelines snapping photos. On our way to the car, we stopped back by the pumpkin patch and got the biggest pumpkin I have ever been lucky enough to have, and Morgan got a little teensy one for free! (Free is always good!) All in all, it was one good way to distract this crazy stress faced mom!

First: The Pumpkin Patch

Knock Knock!

Hey, these things ROLL!!!

Then On To The Petting Zoo:

ooooh, a goat!

SO MANY GOATS

Just petting a pig

Which lucky bunny should I hold?
Hmmm, I choose you!

JD was making a duck noise, and Morgan just started mimicking him. So then he decided to just teach her how, it was so so very cute!

Then, pick a Pumpkin and back to the Car!

And here I thought I was just cleaning the Truck

Okay guys, I just had to share this story! Last Saturday I was going to be giving a few friends from our ward a ride to the Relief Society Broadcast so I went out to clean the truck. I took Morgan with me, because she just LOVES to pretend she is driving. She turns on the windshield wipers and the blinkers and thinks its about the coolest time ever. So, I am cleaning out the truck with her in the drivers seat, and I closed the door. BIG MISTAKE! She loves pushing buttons so much, and as soon as I closed that door I knew it was trouble. See, I was already in my church clothes for the broadcast, so I had no pockets, so I put the keys to the truck in the door panel. And Morgan pressed the lock key. So, here I was, outside the truck trying to convince her to press the unlock button, but she just kept locking it over and over again. Well, normally we would just get the extra key, right? Except when we went to Mexico, we hid it so nobody could break into our house and steal the truck. And guess what? It was a good hiding spot because neither of us could find it! Well, after calling the locksmith who gets kids out for free and him saying he couldn't be out here for another hour and a half, I decided to be proactive and call the fire department. Let me tell you, all the neighbors come out when you have a fire engine parked in front of your house!!!! Did you know the fire department doesn't have any special tools for getting into your car? They just want to take a screw driver and go at it! So, JD, being the loving truck owner that he is, said absolutely no way. Anyhow, we ended up finding the extra key after about 45 minutes, and Morgan was happy the whole time because she found a theater size box of candy in the center console! The keys are MOST DEFINATELY staying in my pocket or hand from now on!

Our Phase 10 Distraction

Normally our family goes to my parent's house for dinner on Sunday nights, but since my parents are currently in New Mexico being motorcycle mama and papa, JD and I spent all day yesterday at the house. It was kind of nice, for some reason on Sunday we were both much more willing to drop our own personal interests to spend some quality time with the family. We went on a nice LONG walk with Morgan, she has learned the "walk" word and demands we take action when she "requests" it. Anyhow, we ended up playing Phase 10 together and that is one game I have forgotten how much fun it is. Well, as anyone who has a kid can tell you, it is basically impossible to play a board game or card game without your little one insisting on participating. We got out all our expired credit cards and maxed out gift cards for her to have her own playing cards, and that worked for, oh, two minutes. So then I decided to get out some coloring stuff for her, because, this is her new love. I think they must have taught her in nursery to use the other side of the paper because she will spend a long time perfecting one side, then turn it over and draw about two scribbles on the back and scream, "Mowe!" Which is more, when you can't quite pronounce your r's. So, she got bored with the colored pencils, and I gave in and gave her some markers, which I also think she learned in nursery because I have never heard her say that word before and she definately has it down. And she knows blue too, but blue just means any marker other than yellow. Sorry, I could go on forever about her little quirks, but I will get to the point of the story now! JD was two phases ahead of me, and had about 80 points less, so I was really concentrating on getting that stupid seven cards of one color before he phased, which was a bad thing since I was no longer paying any attention to Morgan. Well, here is what happened in one hand of Phase 10:

As you can see, she is rather proud of herself. She kept saying, "Pretty, pretty"

This is a good picture just so you can see that she not only drew all over herself, she also ate the markers and drew on her head! The best part though, was this conversation between me and JD:

JD: Those markers are non toxic right?

Me: No, they are crayola and they kill children.

She also decided it was a good idea to color pretty much anything besides the paper. And yes, that is a colored cookie.