Fishing

Hayden was really excited about learning to fish. We heard about this great place in Odgen where almost everything is provided (including fish!).

One afternoon on early-day from school, Dana took Hayden and Emma to check it out.



What a great fisherman! Hayden caught two delicious trout. Dana and Emma caught two more. Notice that Emma is petting hers in the bucket.

Emma came home with a great story to tell me: "Nemo took my POLE!". We didn't get a picture, but Emma's pole was last seen floating in the lake. After the fish swam away with her pole, what else could she do but try to catch fish with her princess blankey?

Yummy!

Best Photo Day Ever!

We had such a great time playing in the park and having pictures taken. Check out the amazing Kimber and her fine work. We'll post more about this later but just had to share the link.

She's Finally Here!

Announcing Erica Ann Morrey

Born Wed Sept 16th at 6:15pm
7lbs 1 oz 18.5 inches
She's such a cutie! Enjoy the pictures, we'll write more later.

Emma's Bruised Lip

Any guesses how my little princess wound up with this big purple bruise on her lip?

Did she fall off her bike? No.
Her bed? No.
Did she run into something? the door, the wall, perhaps? No.
Was she in a fight? No.
Is it make-up, or a chocolate milk-mustache? Nope.

Is it a "suction bruise" from a bottled drink? Yes! You win.
Apparently she got quite a seal around the little bottle and sucked with all her might. Thankfully, it faded quickly.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

Baby Face

It's amazing how technology has changed since Hayden was born in 2000. Here are some pictures taken today of our baby "girl". The gender-view picture today looked even less convincing to me than the one a few weeks ago. The tech and doctor today both said it's a girl (as did the others a few weeks ago), but honestly the picture just doesn't convince me. Doesn't the face look like Emma? Baby looks healthy and is growing on track.

PS - I think these super sharp elbows are the same ones that have been punching/kicking on my stitches. Don't they just look like they're aiming for something?

Breathing Free!

I'm SO glad to have that pesky cyst gone! It had worked its way up to 10cm in size, about the size of this pretty grapefruit. I feel much better having it finally removed. The surgery went well, the baby was closely monitored before, during and after - including every 2 hrs throughout the night - so much for resting in the hospital! In fact, I think this little baby is so excited to have the extra room to spin and kick - she's never been so active. She definitely wants us all to know she's awake and well. I actually wish she was a little less active, as kicking on my stitches is mighty uncomfortable, but I'm glad to know she is awake in there.





As soon as I woke up from surgery I could feel a difference in my breathing. It's wonderful to be able to breathe again. I still have some pain and swelling, but hopefully within the next week I'll be back to normal routines. Thanks to all of you for your concern, prayers, babysitting, meals, etc, etc. We appreciate all your love and support.

Cat's out of the Bag!

Yep, we're expecting a baby in September!

Here is a picture of how we told the kids.

We ordered them a cookie delivery, treats AND good news go together. We told them before we went to Disneyland in March (since we had to explain why Mom wasn't going on any roller coasters).


The kids are both really excited. Emma has been taking extra good care of her dolls. Hayden is hoping for another sister, as he says "Emma is so much fun". At our 20-week ultrasound the tech voted it was a girl, but the baby kept crossing its legs so we couldn't tell for sure. We'll go back in a few weeks and maybe we can tell better then.


The ultrasound (and MRI) also revealed that the stubborn cyst we've been watching since week 7 has not been behaving itself. It's growing instead of shrinking, and doing it's best to be difficult. Prevailing wisdom is that it needs to come out, probably in the next week. We'll keep you posted as things progress and we make some deciisons.

Happy Birthday Emma

Lunch at McDonalds with a "cool" playland.

Afternoon at Jumpin Jacks (she loved it once the first 30 minutes of fear wore off)

Banana pancakes for breakfast, balloons from Daddy.
(Yep, it's the same dress as the day before... 3 yr olds apparently LOVE to dress themselves)

Emma and her favorite guy!

Mommy's attempt at a "princess dress" cake. Not too bad!

I think Emma liked the cake!

And she loved the doll that came out nice and clean :)

Happy Birthday Emmie :)

Movie Day

Hayden loves to plan activities for us to do together. In March he made us an invitation to a "summer party" . We ate a picnic in the family room next to a blue sheet Hayden had set out as the ocean. We had sand pails and even an umbrella (sorry, no pictures).


A few Saturdays ago he spent hours down in the basement working on a special surprise for "the family". On Sunday he revealed the surprise - a Movie Party! Hayden had cleaned out the entire playroom to make a Movie Theater (all the toys and games had been moved to the back hall, we'll talk about that later). He'd even darkened the windows by taping up sheets.





There were signs of coming attractions, and each "theater" was clearly labeled (our movie was in theater # 10).




Hayden prepared snacks, and the seating arranged with low chairs in the front, taller chairs in the back, and blankets for us all.


There were remote controls for lights and for the movie.

We were asked to silence our cell phones and avoid talking.


The movie was great! The company was even better :)

He's Back!

Randy's back from Iraq! Arrived at his base in GA late last night/early this morning. Yay! Best news I've had in forever. Welcome home Randy, hope to see ya soon!

To read why he's my hero... click here

Hurty Eye Brows

Emma is sick today...


She says her cheeks are hot and her eye brows are hurty. Isn't that just the cutest way to say "headache"?


She's just so cute with her pink pillow and blankie and water bottle, but when I tried to take a picture she said "Oh Mommy, not now".


Maybe later.


Feel better soon, Emmie!

My Hero

This month my brother, Sgt. Randy S. Walters, US Army, will end his second tour in Iraq as an EOD. I don't have the vocabulary to express how proud I am of this guy, and how much I admire the work he does every day. For those who are not familiar with EODs, here is how the Army describes the duties of an EOD:

• Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Soldiers are the Army's preeminent tactical and technical explosives experts. They are Warriors who are properly trained, equipped, and integrated to attack, defeat, and exploit unexploded ordnance (UXO), improvised explosive devices (IED), chemical, biological, and nuclear ordnance and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). EOD Warriors are the culmination of the best tactical and technical training the Army and civilian academia can provide.
• They are prepared to perform missions in support of Army units worldwide, across all operational environments. EOD Specialists perform duties locating, identifying, rendering safe and disposing of foreign and domestic conventional, biological, chemical, or nuclear ordnance and IEDs; WMDs and large vehicle bombs
• They conduct intelligence gathering operations on first seen ordnance and IEDs, and support very important persons (VIP) missions for the U.S. Secret Service, State Department and other Federal agencies. Some of your duties as an EOD Specialist may include:
• Research and identify ordnance using EOD technical publications
• Explosively disposing of hazardous ordnance
• Prepare and maintain EOD tools, equipment and vehicles
• Assist in the preparation and use of advance robotics
• Assist the EOD Team Leader in performing all actions required to safely mitigate ordnance explosive hazards
• Assist in the training of Soldiers in IED awareness

Wow, can you see why I'm so proud!! It's a dangerous job, to say the least. Though highly decorated from his service, he rarely discusses the accomplishments of his unit, and never discusses personal success. When we ask about the decorations and medals on his uniform he replies "Just doing my job". He is humble, committed, honorable, and brave.

When our Dad passed away suddenly a few months ago, our first thought as a family was how to get the news to Randy, so far from home. Dad and Randy happened to share a phone call earlier that same day. It was devastating to deliver the sad news to Randy later that night. I am so grateful to all the organizations that worked so quickly and made it possible to bring Randy from Iraq to Utah within 48 hours. Amazing! We were sad to see Randy go back to Iraq after a few short weeks of leave, but enjoyed all the time we got to spend together. We have since been counting the months, weeks and now DAYS before we will see him again.

This coming week, Randy will celebrate a birthday in Iraq for the third time (and he's only 24). Best of birthday wishes! I don't know if it will top this day (i'm sure he'll LOVE me posting this one)...

Randy - we can't wait to see you soon!

Space Month

I've written before about Hayden's fabulous teacher, here is another example! In March the class studied space, of course Hayden was thrilled. The students were each assigned to do a report and project about something that interests them in the Solar System. Check out the class table, don't the projects look great!

The class also built a rocket, complete with a control panel computer inside. They got to take turns reading inside the rocket during the month.

After the class learned about the space shuttle, Teacher invited Dana to come demonstrate some model rockets which he and Hayden built together. This was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed the Death Star rocket the best!

All the rockets launched well, except....

Our "Bad Luck Blackbird" ended up a block away from the school. Luckily, the nice homeowner was able to return it to us in a few days.

The highlight of the month was a trip to the Planetarium downtown. We saw a movie in the dome theater about kids who built a cardboard rocket and travelled the solar system. It was fun to get to spend time with Hayden learning this month. Thanks to a fantastic teacher to provides such fun opportunities for the kids to learn.

A Special Day with a 2 yr old Princess

We had such a great time on our Disneyland trip (more pictures to come soon). One our last day in the park, we split up into Boys and Girls and spent the day together. I learned so much about this almost-three-year-old, and it was fun for me to watch her excitement. It was fun to let her just do whatever she wanted - go on the same ride time after time after time, dance until she got tired, walk slowly holding hands instead of racing around in the stroller, stop and see the pretty flowers.


A few things I learned about her:

She has a loving and caring heart.
On the drive down, I sat in the back seat next to Emma. I watched her bundle and re-bundle her dolls with loving care. As the blanket slipped, she noticed and would ask "Are you cold" and then bundle them up and say "There, all better". She did this over and over. She took such great care to make the blanket just so, no creases, tags pointing down. She sang to her dolls and held them all close. She was a great care taker.

She loves to dress up.
Each day Emma dressed up as someone new. She would dance and twirl around in her princess dresses. She waved to everyone who said "Hello Princess". She knew exactly who she was that day (Minnie, Cinderella, Belle, Emma) and acted well the part.

She LOVES the Carousel.
I think we went on this ride at least 10 times. Each time she chose her new pony to ride, Emma would introduce herself, pat the pony nicely and ask if he was "ready to ride". She especially loved the Carousel at nighttime when all the sparkly lights were turned on.

She loves Snow White. What a surprise this was to us! She leaped out of her stroller when she saw Snow White and started singing and dancing around to the "Hi Ho" song. We had never watched Snow White at home so I was stunned to see her know the whole song. She loved seeing "The Hi Ho's" (the dwarfs). She entertained people in line with her "Hi Ho" dances.


She loves her family.
After every ride, Emma wanted to be sure no one was lost. She'd ask "Hey, where did Hayden go", or "Where did my Daddy go". And when we met up again, she was always the first to spot the family members. She spotted them well before I did and would excitedly exclaim "There's my Daddy, there's my Hayden". I didn't know a 2 yr old and 8 yr old could get along so well, but they do. They genuinely enjoy playing together and spending time together.

Happy Birthday Mom

In honor of my mom's birthday this week, here are 10 things I love about her!


1. Mom knows how to have fun!



The "whipped cream on the nose" Thanksgiving tradition would never have caught on without Mom going along from the start.


2. On a snowy December 22, 1973 you and Dad joined together to start our family.



















3. On another snowy day - December 23, 1974 you became my Mommy!


From the look on your face in this picture, one would never know the physical pain you endured (and would endure in the coming days). You wrote then that "joy replaced the feelings of pain". I always feel loved when I read those words.







4. Thanks for always being there.


I knew that every day I came home from school, you'd be there. If I was sick, you were there. When I came home from a date, there. When there was a piano recital, there. When there was a chance to take your 8 yr old daughter as your date to the symphony or other concert, you chose to be there with me. When I went to the temple, there. When I need advice, there. When my kids have something special to share, you're there for them. When I need a friend, still there.






5. Thanks for sacrificing with Dad so that we could grow up in a great place, with great friends, with room to play (with drinking fountains in the yard!) and in a home where I always feel welcome.
6. You gave me my sister!
(Ok, there's a longer story here, let me explain).


One night we had a chat before bed and I had again prayed for a baby sister. As much as I loved my two brothers, I wanted a sister so badly. I remember wanting a sister more than any Strawberry Shortcake doll or any piano book. You never discouraged my wishing and were always so tender in listening to my prayers. Then finally when I was almost 8, the sister came. My life wouldn't be the same without my sweet sister Carrie.

7. You are multi talented.

Here we are on Randy's blessing day in 1985. Notice the cute smocking resses that Carrie and I are wearing. Remember the play clothes, T-shirts, jammies, bathrobes you used to make? And the beautiful Christmas stockings. Might be time to bust out the sewing machine again for the grandkids!

8. You shared your testimony.


I remember mornings where I woke up to find you in the living room reading your scriptures in your famous red bathrobe. Even when you read alone, I noticed. You always attended Relief Society and Homemaking and served faithfully. I loved it last year when you memored the 1st Presidency's statement of the Living Christ and recited it for us from memory.

9. You make friends for life.

We kids have heard (for years) the stories of your high school bunch and the favorite cousins you played with growing up. I was touched by the beautiful flowers at Dad's funeral from the "Bear Lake High School Class of '68". I was happy to see so many of your cousins at the funeral, having traveled some distance. It was fun to go to lunch with you and your "Lunch Bunch" of friends from the ward this week, and to see your friendships that have lasted for so many years. I remember the "Sew and Tell" group that has remained close for going on 30 years. You make good friends wherever you are.


10. You taught me to love music.

At first I'm sure I wanted to play the piano just to be like Mommy (and not to be left out of the group of kids who came to our house weekly for lessons). But it didn't take long before I loved it! I listened to you play beautiful songs and couldn't wait to learn them. I then learned them more easily because I'd heard you play them for years. When I tried to make my own violin from a shoe box, a wooden spoon and rubber bands, you and Dad gave in and got me a violin. You never forced me, but always encouraged and supported me. I was so honored to play with you when we played Rhapsody in Blue for the stake, and then at the tabernacle for the Freedom Festival. Thanks for being my favorite duet partner!

Bonus #11!!!
11. You are a strong lady!

You haved faced the challenges of the last few months with a strong heart and a positive outlook. I'm sure there are many days when you cook lots of "Tear Soup". I'm sure there are many lonely times. But you have shown me that those times are not all the time. I've loved spending time with you at Deer Valley, Disneyland, Christmas, or just at the house sorting papers. You are stronger than I ever knew.

Happy Birthday to the beautiful lady in the center below. Bust out that tiara and let's sing a round to the birthday girl (with harmony, of course).

(has it really been more than 8 years since our last family picture? We need to work on that...)