Morgan turns 15!!!

Last weekend on October 30 Morgan turned 15! I can't believe that she is already that old! As I slowly woke up that morning of her birthday I remembered vividly the day I had her. As I was reminiscing I just started to bawl in bed! How did my sweet first born child go from this:

to this!!

I have been having a hard time adjusting this fall! So many changes with all the kids being at school all day, high school and all the demands that brings, seminary, and the fact that my kids' are gr owning up way too fast. So as I laid their crying that morning of her birthday all these emotions came flooding out. Jon was wondering what kind of bad dream I had, had??? But I quickly had to suck it up and get up to fix her birthday breakfast. We woke her up and gave her breakfast in bed and gave her our presents. She then was off to dance team for the majority of the day. She had practice for three hours, then a short break, and a team retreat from 4-10 pm. So I barely saw her the entire day!! A week earlier she had a birthday party with some of her friends. We took all of them to a corn maze. They loved it even though it was wet and muddy. We headed back to our house for a scary movie "The Ring", games, and to eat chocolate fondue. Many of those kids were SCARED of that movie and were hiding under blankets and pillows!I think everyone including Morgan had a great time!

We are so blessed to have Morgan in our family! She is a very hard working and dedicated young women! She's striving to do her best in everything she does; school work, dance, and living the gospel. She has never missed seminary yet this year, she makes sure she's reading her scriptures daily, and is keeping up on her Personal Progress. Just yesterday she says to me "Mom, you need to make me practice my piano every day, OK?" What kids says that?? She is extremely busy this year and we are very proud of her and how she is handling it. We have had some rough late nights, I'm not going to lie but she is doing great in school. I'm glad that we have such a good relationship. We love to shop and talk together frequently. I'm very happy to have her as our first child and I think she is setting a great example for her younger siblings! As I was crying that morning of her birthday I thought to myself, "What am I going to be like on her wedding day??" A wreck!!

Conference

Several months ago Jon decided that he wanted to try and take Mason to his first Priesthood session in Utah at the Conference Center. He scored some tickets and also asked his dad if he would want to join them. I tried to convince him to fly but they decided to drive Larry's car and make it a fun road trip. Mason missed school on Friday and they left Vancouver about 8:00 am.

That evening they stayed in Boise, ID which is just over half way to Salt Lake. Mas was excited to stay in a hotel, go swimming and out to dinner! The next day they finished their drive with not much time to spare. Jon had forgotten his tie so they had to make a quick purchase and get some lunch before they headed off to the Conference Center.

They had a great time attending the Priesthood Session here. Jon said it was huge and couldn't see very well but they loved the experience.I love these pictures with the Salt Lake City Temple in the background! After Priesthood the three of them headed to Ogden to spent the night at his Aunt Linda's house. They had a great time visiting, eating and laughing together. Sunday morning early they left her house to head home. They had been in Utah for less than 24 hours. They only made a few stops for lunch and gas.But they drove all the way home that day and were at our house by 7:30 pm. I was amazed that they made it so fast. It was a whirlwind of a trip for them but all three of them had a fabulous time.

Brooklyn's Birthday!

I know that it has been like six weeks since her birthday but I must did document this occasion! Brooklyn decided to have a combined party with one of her good friends' Elizabeth Zundel. They are only 12 days apart in age and have most of the same friends. Since Karen and I are friends we came up with the idea to combine the parties. We had an outdoor movie party on August 21,2010. We first fed all the girls a barbecue dinner. They enjoyed playing outside together, playing our Just Dance Wii game, and eating! Karen made this amazing cake/cupcake display of a movie ticket and popcorn cupcakes!

This was a hit with everyone and the birthday girls' enjoyed blowing out the candles together. All the girls then got their goody bags filled up and ready for the movie outside! We had a wide variety of movie candy and of course popcorn!! They loved snuggling up with blankets and watching a good show!

I think everyone had a great time and were very full of junk by the end of the evening!!

Here are all their friends! Cambree Morgan, Cassidy Dustin, Lilly Grismore, Rachel Zundel, Brooklyn, Elizabeth, Callie Mills, Brinley Jackson, Emily Young, Lauren Kartchner, Sage McKague, Faith Skinner, and McKenna Sork.

Some Facts about Brooklyn at age 10 (I'm mostly doing this for my own journaling purposes)

She is very independent and a go-getter. I rarely have to ask her more than once to do a job. She is a big helper and is already babysitting occasionally for short periods of time. She loves to read and do math. She is very on-top of her studies and diligent with them. She loves to give the FHE lessons. She plans them from scratch, makes assignments, and delivers them with ease. She loves to play soccer and the piano. She won't quit at something until she has mastered it! She enjoys her friends and everyone seems to love Brooklyn! She likes to play ball with Mason but also enjoys playing Barbies, Pollies, or School with the little girls'. When we were watching our neighbor boy he had a messy diaper. I wasn't at home and I told her that I would change it when I got home in about 10 minutes. She told me "no mom I can change a diaper." And she did it all by herself for her very first time. She still loves the color Blue and really doesn't like the color Pink. She has been very responsible with her dog Charlie and she adores him! She also loves another birthday present that she received, getting her ears pierced. She love to shop for new earrings and wear Morgan's old ones. She is such a joy to have in our family. We love the spirit she brings to our home and cherish her deeply!