LiFe & TiMeS of: 3 Ladybugs & a Lovebug

2011-12-07T15:03:00.001-08:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year....
I love Christmas. It makes me so happy.
Lily is over the moon about Christmas, this year. Holidays have become so wondrous again, now that she is old enough to grasp what is going on around her. She is obsessed with Christmas, and asks everyday, "Mama, read the Grinch book, puh-leez?" Another fun thing about Lily is how much she has turned from a baby into: a little girl. Due to the fact that she is my oldest, the other day it occurred to me all of the things I could never imagine her doing, that she now does. She eats food completely by herself. She can peel a nectarine for herself. She goes to bed in her own big bed and puts herself to sleep. She says complete sentences and uses pronoun like "I" and "You" correctly. She potty-trained completely in 5 days, and hasn't had an accident or a diaper since. She can recite her favorite books back to me, word for word. You spend so many hour as a mother taking care of a little helpless infant, and before you know it they turn into their own little independent people.

Speaking of adorable helpless infants, Sophia is getting so big! She still has a killer set of adorable, huge baby blue eyes. She has her two bottom teeth and her to top teeth are looking like they should cut anytime this week. She said her first word (to Daddy, of course) which was, "Hi!". She has been crawling for the past 2 months, but has recently gotten ridiculously fast...so I have to watch her really closely with the Christmas Tree.
The two of them are the best of friends. They love to play peek-a-boo together. They love to have dance parties. Most adorably they love to lay on the couch together and cuddle. I know they may not feel like it at various points throughout their life, but I kind of think that the greatest gift I gave either of them as a parent is: each other.
Alex is, excitingly, done with finals this week! I am so very very anticipatory of this because I've been flying solo as a parent the last few weeks while he has been insanely busy. I cannot wait! I am having fun teaching Relief Society, coordinating our ward play group, and being happily engaged in a wonderful book group and couples' discussion group. Anyway, hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season and remembering to stop and be grateful for the little things. At the end of the day it's not called Present-mas.

"Hey Mom, where we going?" "Crazy, wanna come?"

2011-08-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

Wowza! What a summer we've had! We feel so blessed and excited and thrilled with our life right now. We've moved into our adorable little 2-bedroom bungalow by Liberty Park. We went on a vacation to Bear Lake, a staycation to the Homestead in Midway, and blessed our little Sophia Makalita last week. We have an adorable 3-month-old and a rambunctious 2-year-old and have added a lovable, mellow 8-year-old Brittany Spaniel (Jack) to our household, as well. What? You're already a hot mess, Eva, and you decided to add a dog to the mix???!!! Ha, yes, I did and as CrAzy as it gets around here sometimes, I must say that I LOVE(!!!) having a full house. I love the hustle and bustle, I relish the chaos and with every moment full of shrieks, giggles, barking, phones ringing, tv blaring, music playing I know that I AM ALIVE. This is my life, and I truly wouldn't give it up for anything. No amount of fame or fortune could ever tempt me to give up my prince, my princesses or my castle ;) A little about the Princesses:

Lily- She is currently 26-months-old. She is as adorable as she is naughty. She is a chatterbox, and loves to watch cooking shows with mommy and help daddy bake cookies. She is an AMAZINGLY loving and careful big sister, and watches over Sophia more dutifully then I ever could have believed a 2-year-old could. The other day when I walked in the other room Sophia rolled over and was awkwardly caught on a pillow so Lily comes running out "MOM, Fia (this is the adorable name that she has given Sophi) fall. Mom help." She is such a careful guardian of her sister, and always lets me know when "Baby Crying." and when "Fia hungry. Feed you." this is her way of telling me that I need to nurse Sophia. Lily loves to be outdoors and cries everytime we finish a hike and Alex has to take her out of our hiking backpack. She is my little tomboy that ADORES soccer and her shrieking excitement at Real Salt Lake games is absolutely heartwarming.

Sophia- My happy, mellow girl. I can't believe how lucky I am. She is the happiest, quietest baby. I thought Lily was a good baby (which she was), but Sophi is just the most chill little girl in the world. She is content to patiently wait and watch and be entertained by what is going on around her, and she is a superb sleeper. She takes 4 naps a day plus sleeps 12 hours at night and only needs to wake up for a feeding once. She smiles and last week giggled for the first time at Mommy :D She holds her head up like it's nothing, is rolling over easily from her stomach to her back and has (twice) rolled over from her back to her stomach (TROUBLE!). She has the cutest little gummy fat kid grin where her eyes crinkle up and her chin and cheeks get all dimpley.

My wonderful Prince Charming is as amazing as ever. Sometimes I like to be a total creeper and watch him while he sleeps or when he's cooking or playing with the girls and doesn't know I'm watching him. I'm constantly amazed by him. Next week he'll start working 40 hours a week, plus 15 credit hours of school, plus a 15 hour a week internship for his master's program. Yet, he is so excited about it, because he is finally getting to do what he loves. I am always so amazed by his enthusiasm for helping people. It will never be about the money for Alex, it will only ever be about doing what he loves and helping others. Who gets excited to spend 15 hours a week at a Suicide Watch facility? My lovie, that's who.

To steal my brother Torry's line: I LOVE MY LIFE! Not every second, mind you, because like a great movie, life can suck for a moment, but still turn out to be the most riveting thing you've ever experienced. I have had a stellar week, because #1 I officially lost all of my baby weight (still have some flab toning to do, though) #2 My girls have been taking naps at the same time! #3 I've started my Master's application for the MSW program at the U! Could life get any better right now...I submit that it could not! :)

Better late than never...BUT better EARLY than anything!!!!

2011-05-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

She came, she came, she came! Most of you already probably know this by now, but my beautiful baby girl, Sophia Makalita Morgan, proved the universe really does love me and decided to come a whole week early. So we had a delightfully surprising April baby. As my wonderful sister-in-law Amanda pointed out, she was born on an incredibly auspiscious day with both the Royal Wedding & the demise of Osama Bin Laden. Meaning: She is a princess who will fight evil :)

She was 7 lbs 5 oz, 21 inches & came at 11:04pm. She is PERFECTION. I can't believe she's already almost 2 weeks old. The birth was a wonderful/difficult/and spiritual experience for both Alex & I. I was able to make it through without an epidural, something that was very important to me with this baby for personal reasons that I will explain at a later date after my life settles and I have more time to update my blog more thoroughly. For now, she is a fabulous eater, Lily LOVES her sooo much and has adjusted better than I could have ever imagined, & I am terrified for when Alex goes back to work on Monday. I know we'll all be okay, I just don't want him to go. I love having all THREE of my lovies at home :) I'm a lucky lady

Doomy Gloomy April Weather

2011-04-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

They say "April showers bring May flowers." So what does April snow bring? Right now I'm really missing the warm weather and sunshine of our Mexico vacation. And I'm really hoping for an on-time (or early, but that would just be asking too much of the universe) May Baby. I'm officially 36 weeks now, full-term. Miss Sophia is getting HUGE, which means I am getting GRUMPY and ACHEY (spelling?). I feel like a 60-year-old...my knees and hips hurt, it's hard to roll my way out of bed, and stairs are my arch-nemesis. Ah well such is the side-effects of gaining 32 lbs in 9 months. I know it will be worth it in another 4 weeks, when I can see her...just got to be Patient (not my strong suit). In the meantime, Lily has gotten to watch Care Bears everyday this week, so I can take a nap on the living room couch, because I'm finding it physically impossible to sleep at night. I never realized how strong motherly guilt can be, but I feel overwhelmed with it everytime I let her watch an episode just to get her out of my hair for half an hour. I really don't usually let her watch TV everyday, but sometimes I just got to give myself a Mommy Break. Ah well, suppose this is why most people grow so much closer with their parents when they have children of their own and realize what that feeling of constant worry is like. Although this little pick-me-up made my day today...

Silly holidays and profound realizations

2011-03-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

As you all know, this past week we celebrated the gloriously Irish holiday of St. Patrick's Day. While I've always enjoyed this March holiday, it is a bit of a silly holiday. We wear green so no one will pinch us, people walk around talking about Leprechaun's gold, and outside of Utah, people generally use this holiday as an excuse to get drunk off of green tinted beers.

In my real life, this past week has been one of those weeks. By one of those weeks I should clarify that I am not perfect. Shocker, (sarcasm) I know, but I do not perpetually have the best attitude in the world. Sometimes, I just feel like being a stinker. This week, I don't know if it was the exceptionally grey and bleary weather, or my suddenly exceptionally whiney and occasionally tantrum-prone toddler, or the fact that I've hit the stage in pregnancy of permanent uncomfortableness. It was probably a combination of all of the above, but I just felt grumpy. I spent the first few days of the week being grumpy. I stomped around the house feeling like a cleaning martyr, made a sarcastic remark every time I had to ask my husband to do something instead of him magicly reading my mind, and generally lost my temper with my Lily and just put her in her room to cry instead of talking her through whatever was frustrating her. Lily loves the Care Bears, and I felt like the Grumpy Care Bear, walking around with a lightning cloud trailing behind me.

But then...

I kept watching the footage of Japan.

We are lucky enough to have a wonderful Japanese ward in our stake, and I received an email from some of our stake YM/YW leaders detailing a few stories of how their family members still in Japan have struggled through this catastrophe. And I felt...as ungrateful as I am. I realized I have the luxury of being grumpy. The luxury of getting moody over the little things, because the Big Things in my life are all going quite splendidly. I watched the news footage show the ongoing disaster, and imagined everything I owned and the people I loved being swept away in a matter of moments.

Nothing will make you feel better about life faster.

So the second half of the week, even though I had all the same things to be grumpy about, I still felt better. I enjoyed a silly St. Patrick's Day, and Friday night went to a St. Paddy's dinner where I spent time with good company drinking Apple and Ginger Beer until late into the night, and ate a fabulous meal of corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage crafted by the ever-culinarily minded Mr. Colt Smith. And I realized, silly holidays have the ability to give us profound moments of happiness. The Good Life is for people who know how to find joy in the smallest or silliest of moments. The Good Life is for people who know how to enjoy what they have.

So, in true Irish fashion, and inspired by the round of toasting done at our dinner party last night:

May you find your Good Life,
May you enjoy something ridiculously silly,
and may you be spared from having to learn what
you really care about the hard way...by losing it.

This is the face she makes when you tell her to say, "Cheese!" Silly girl...

St. Paddy's Day Greenery

Life...or something like it

2011-03-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

We have been sooo Crazy around here!
Highlights:
-Took an amazing vacation to Cancun with our wonderful Morgan family. Epic.
-Alex came home to find his acceptance letter to the Master's of Social Work program at the U on our doorstep! :)
-The next day at work Alex found out he got a job promotion that he applied for a few weeks before we left :D
-We have 8...8 weeks until our 2nd little angel is scheduled to arrive.
-I have to speak in church on Sunday on How to Make an Eternal Marriage

Lowlights:
-I have to speak in church on Sunday on How to Make an Eternal Marriage
-I am incredibly huge and uncomfortable.
-We brought home some friends in our stomachs from Mexico...yes...we drank the water.
-I will be a single mother for the next two years while my husband does both full-time school and work.

C'est la vie. Despite recognizing the difficulties, I mostly just feel incredibly lucky and blessed, everyday. The good in our lives far outweighs the difficult.

Besides, how can you not feel blessed when you have this to wake up too everyday: ;)

Guess what I'm excited for?.....

2011-02-10T23:55:00.000-08:00

My FAVORITE holiday is rapidly approaching!

Adventures in Ba-bas and Bubble Baths

2011-02-06T00:59:00.000-08:00

I apologize to anyone reading this who may get sick of the continual references to my everyday adventures as a mother, but this is what I do. This is the full-time job that I contribute to a productive society. You wouldn't be surprised if a doctor continually referenced health and wellness or a lawyer couldn't stop talking about policy and precedent, and the work I do is no less consuming and equally, if not more, important.

So what difficult case did I face recently? There were two actually. First, the Ba-ba (binkie), and second, the bubble bath. Let me start with the case of the Ba-ba. You see, Lily loves her Ba-ba. She also loves her Bank-ee (blankie). Blankie has never been too much of an issue for her. She's only ever had it when she sleeps, or when we are in the car for long periods of time. Bank-ee is actually not really an issue for Lily or for me. The binkie and I, however, have a Love-Hate relationship. I Love that it soothes her so effectively, but I hate having it/ losing it/ dropping it/ having other babies steal it/ having Lily demand it/etc etc. Previously, I have never felt too urgent of a need to get rid of the thing. Partially because Alex and I have done a lot of traveling with Lily, and I did NOT want to be that Mom on the plane that makes everybody's flight miserable with their screaming child. And Lily was an exceptional flyer, so if you popped her binkie in right before take off, she'd snuggle up and go right to sleep for the majority of the flight. However, starting at the beginning of fall, I began to slowly wean Lily off the binkie for one Major reason: Nursery. You see, Alex and I were nursery workers for the year and a half of our marriage before we had Lily. We knew the utter chaos that one kid having a binkie in their mouth can cause, and that that binkie almost always made its way into someone else's mouth before the end of the day. So I sneakily began to hide Lily's binkie during the day, and distract her when she asked for it. The strategy worked well for several months, and she has only needed it in nursery once, when she was having a particularly rough day. Lately, though, I've been thinking about our new addition, and the idea of double binkies is horrifying. So last week, we began the tough stuff. No binkies all day long. The first two days were rough, I won't lie, but not as bad as the all out drama I had imagined. She just kept walking around the house saying, "Ba-ba? Ba-ba?" and when I told her, "No, Ba-ba is ka-ka (our word for yucky)" she'd lay down on the floor and whine until I could distract her with something else. She adjusted quickly, though, once she realized I was serious, and then by Day 3 I started no binkie for nap time, either. She wasn't happy about it, but again we just kept talking about it and that was it. So, we now have her trained that Ba-ba is for Ni-Night. And I have achieved this amazing benefit out of the whole process, she asks to go to bed now :) She wants to go ni-night because then she gets her blankie and her binkie and she is a happy camper. I will continue on this process, but I think we will allow the binkie at night for another month before it disappears altogether. Partially because we have a 5 hour flight to Cancun in 3 weeks, and a week spent in a hotel without her typical routine. I'm content that it would just be too cruel to her and me to get rid of it completely until then. Come March, though, all bets are off.

Our bubble bath adventures are much less stressful, and mostly just cute. Lily LOVES taking baths, especially bubble baths with her rubber duckies. Lately, she's gotten to the point where she asks for "Bubbles, Ducks, Bubbles, Baff!" multiple times a day. I give her a bath every morning after breakfast, this has been a part of her routine for some time now, but I still find it really funny that she still keeps asking for baths more often than that. I've never actually let her take multiple baths and my stock reply is, "It's not time for bubbles, Lily," to which she usually looks slightly downcast and thoughtfully wanders off to her toybox. It's really quite funny. She doesn't tantrum or cry, she'll keep asking until she's sure you really mean No, but then she just kind of sulks away like "Meh, it was worth a shot." On the other hand, when she does get to take her bath, she gets so excited that she just yells "Ducks" and "Bubbles" at the top of her lungs a few times just to let you know how awesome she thinks her baths are. It's very silly. And now she loves to lay down in the water on her belly and splash around like a little mermaid baby. It's always an entertaining process. Until she tries to drink the water. That is a behavior that I will NOT allow, and it took her a few times of learning the hard way that if she tried bath time was over. The silly thing is the other day, I turned around and grabbed something out of the medicine cabinet and when I turned back around, there was Lily grinning at me innocently. The only reason I knew what she had tried when I wasn't looking was that she still had a perfect ring of bubbles around her mouth and chin from where she had tried to dip them in to get a little taste. She was such a little sneak, but it was so cute to see this perfect ring of bubbles around her mouth that I just started laughing at her, and then she started laughing at herself thinking she was pretty darn funny. Needless to say, it was too hard to punish her at that point, but I put a quick end to any future attempts by telling her the bath was all done. What am I going to do with her? I don't know, but I definitely wouldn't want to be without her.

2011

2011-01-23T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hello blog-o-sphere, we haven't talked in a while and I thought it was probably high time I catch up on things. This is, after all, the closest thing I have to a journal. I mean, I have a journal, but it's mostly filled with extremely long entries where I try to catch up on everything that has happened in the 6 months since the previous journal entry. Sometimes, it's impressive if I write in it once a year. So, I can honestly say that while I am a really bad blogger, I'm a worse journal keeper. It's one of those things that habitually makes it on to my New Year's Resolution list (hence why most of the journal entries I do have are in January), but always falls off after a couple nights of writing a quick paragraph before I fall asleep holding the pen. Typing, at least, is faster and therefore I squeeze in more of what I have to say before I get so tired I have to shut the laptop. That moment is rapidly approaching, so here's the what's what of the Morgan household to date:

Alex has finished all of his graduate school applications, and now is the horrendous stage of Not Knowing...where we'll be, or what program, or what our future holds. It's "The Waiting Place" as described by Dr. Seuss in Oh, the Places You'll Go! We have each other and we have our faith, though, so in the end we know everything will be alright, but sometimes, in the moment, it seems like the World is just too much for one little In-Love Family to handle.

Lily is getting to be quite the precocious toddler :) It amazes me how smart she really is, and the things she picks up on that I wouldn't think she would. Her vocabulary is also exponentially increasing to the point where it's impossible to keep track of the dozens of words she uses, and her doctor tells me she remains far ahead of her age group for receptive and expressive language, which explains both her good behavior, and her decidedly stubborn behavior when she knows what you want her to do and doesn't want to do it. My favorite thing about all of it, though, is that she now says prayers. Albeit, simple prayers, but there are few things more special, sweet, and hilarious then the prayer of a 19-month-old. She thanks Heavenly Father for all of the people in her life, praying for those who she thinks about most by name, parents, grandparents, cousins, and friends, it's a long list that she makes every night. Then she thanks him for the things in her world that make her happy...aka food, doggies, and bubbles. Then she asks him to "Bess us" (Bless us), and wraps up her prayer by saying "Amen" at least four times before she's decided she's done. The first night she decided she wanted to copy Daddy and say prayers Alex and I were so tickled by the pure adorableness of it all, that we let her say at least four prayers in a row back-to-back, just because we couldn't get enough of it. Another funny side effect of it all is that we always say prayers right after we read scriptures and before we go to bed, so whenever Lily sees a set of scriptures now she asks, "Pwayers?" and folds her arms in preparation. She is such a light in our lives, our little heavenly flower, and I think I'm a very blessed mother.

And now I am getting incredibly sleepy, so I will wrap this up before I keel over. I am still consumed with my husband and daughter, still working, still pregnant, and still Young Women's President. These four things pretty much sum up my life and daily activities pretty sucinctly. Baby Sophia is still growing...which means I am still growing...wider and wider. I am getting to that stage of just feeling huge all the time, and I still have 3 1/2 months to go. Whew...it feels like soooo long...but can you imagine being an elephant, pregnant for 2 years or something ? That's just wrong. It makes you wonder what they did during the creation process to tick God off? ;)

Now I'm getting loopy and tired, so I will say Adieu, and come back and visit soon. Toodles.

Where did the month go?

2010-12-20T11:09:00.000-08:00

Dear me! I just realized I didn't post anything about some very important news... We're having another girl, and we've decided on a name: Sophia!!! Alex wants to call her Sophi for short and we love that it means "Wisdom". (I'm really into etymology and name meanings, it's a hobby of mine and its funny how true it often is). :)

Like I said previously, I didn't have a very strong feeling with this baby. I kinda thought it was a boy, but I was wary that I might be thinking that just because the pregnancies have been so different. The week of the ultrasound, though, I became increasingly convinced we were having a girl for several reasons. #1- I had a dream we had another girl. Sounds weird, but I also dreamed Lily was a girl long before we found out. A very vivid dream in which she had loads of jet black hair, if you don't understand the significance of this refer to my newborn pictures of her on the sidebar. #2- Without prayerful thought or consideration Alex and I decided that if it was a boy, we were done having kids. 2 seemed like a great number, and we both would like to have a son, so we just decided it "made sense" if we were done. Everytime Alex and I make important life decisions without praying about it, because they "make sense" God has a way of forcefully reminding us that's not how it works. So a few weeks before the ultrasound the thought occurred to me that we had dictated to God how we wanted things to go. I think He just shakes His head at us and says, "Oh really? You think you get to pick things like this and they come wrapped in a pretty bow?" I told Alex this meant we had set ourselves up to have several more girls, until God was satisfied with the number of children we had produced (this was said slightly sarcastically, but also seriously). Sure enough, we are apparently not done having children. It's also funny because I have frequently teased Alex that we are going to have a house full of girls. Although he denies it, the prospect makes him a little green when he thinks about the teenage years and just the general drama that all women emit when they're feeling temperamental. He's just a really good girls' dad, though. He handles women well, and Lily is SUCH a Daddy's girl and I Love the she LOVES him. He will be an amazing father for his boys, too, but I am glad we're having another girl for Lily's sake, too. I always loved having my sister so close in age to me. We fought like crazy, but she was also my best friend. #3 Last but not least, I really wanted it to be a girl because when I pulled out my maternity clothes I found all of Lily's newborn clothes that she wore about one time each. They made me all gushy and I really wanted to be able to use them again after months of saving them for the next baby.

So, 3 reasons I hoped/thought it might be a girl. I also won $2 from Alex, who bet me on the way to the ultrasound that it was a boy.

Anyways, it's the most wonderful time of year! Hope everyone is geared up for the holidays! I can't wait, I love Christmas time!!! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everybody!!!

A thought...

2010-12-06T23:24:00.000-08:00

This evening has me in a thoughtful mood, and as I sit here writing with our living room lit only by the soft glow of Christmas lights, with Alex and Lily tucked into bed snoring softly, and with a bowl of my favorite comfort food (mac&cheese) warm in my lap, I can't help but think that happiness is a funny thing. I say this because I think that if many people looked at my life, on paper, how "the world" sees it, they would think it was a pretty rough place. We're two newly graduated college kids with 1 1/2 babies, a 2-bedroom apartment, 1 car, and plenty of times spent holding stuff together with duct tape until we can make it to the next paycheck. Alex gets up at 4am and stocks the shelves at Costco just to put food on the table and give us health insurance. I spend my time working around other people's schedules so I can tutor their children twice a week instead of getting to spend time with my own. Neither of us is able to find work in this economy that we deeply enjoy & love, but can live on.

And yet...

I am so happy. Sometimes, at night when we're home cuddling and watching a movie while Lily rifles through her toy box in front of us, I think I have the most amazing life. Or when I'm upset and grumpy and Alex stands in front of me and grabs me by the shoulders and wraps his arms around me with such loving tenderness and understanding concern that I feel like nothing can really be That wrong. Or when we spend hours in the kitchen cooking together and making up our own recipes by just throwing together flavors we like. Or when we go to DI and Alex finds nice pants that he can wear to work and destroy and he is so happy about it for at least a week. And these things...these things are only the tip of the iceberg.

The funny thing about happiness is that most people in the world think that happiness is synonymous with money. Even though study after study have shown that this just isn't true. Well, I should say it is true with real poverty. It's hard to be happy when you are struggling just to survive. And I mean Survive, here. Not "Oh, I really want a(n) Iphone/new table/nicer car/bigger house/(insert any American "necessity" you can think of here) and I want it so bad and I'll just be so unhappy without it. More like, "I don't know how I'm going to pay the electric bill, and I have no money for groceries this month, and I'm suffering with severe pain on my left side but can't pay to go to a doctor." But once you get past the point of survival, money and happiness have NO correlation. Really, rich people aren't happier and poorer people aren't miserable. So many people in the world are miserable no matter where they are, no matter how much money they have, and no matter how materially they've been blessed. And I, I am the opposite of that. Some people may think my life is less than ideal, but to them I would quote the French writer, George Sand, who said, "There is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved." I treasure these "newlywed" years of being purely poor and happy. I love this stage of young family growth. And I think about what we will look back on and tell our kids about when we get older, and mostly, I know it will go something like this, "Well, we were poor, but we were happy."

~Angels~

2010-11-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

So as most of you know, we're expecting another little angel :)
Our 2nd baby will be due on May 6 (which is Grandma Sandy's Bday), 2011!
Although this baby was a surprise, we're very excited and can't wait for it to get here :D
Lily is going to make an amazing big sister and will enjoy having a playmate around.

I'm now almost 15 weeks and will find out next month whether or not its a boy or a girl. With
Lily I just knew she was a girl; with this baby, not so much of a strong feeling, but I think it might be a boy.

I've been a bit sick with this baby since week 6, but morning sickness is a lot more complicated when you already have a toddler! Somedays I just felt so sick I couldn't get out of bed, but Lily became a real problem solver. She'd wake up and come in our room (she's been in a toddler bed for a few months now), where I'd be curled up in a ball trying not to lose it. Almost every morning the first word out of her mouth was "Foo.." for "food", because just like her daddy, she really likes her breakfast. At first I'd just say "Wait, Lily. Wait, mommy is feeling really sick." She quickly learned, though, that I kept a pile of crackers on my bedside table to help with the nausea. So now, even on mornings when I feel better, she comes in and tells me "Gra-ger!" which is how she says "cracker", a word that she learned to say and sign incredibly well during my first trimester. I'd lay on the bed feeling miserable and hand her cracker after cracker to tide her over until I could work up the energy to get up and make her real food. At least it makes for a good story about how she had to learn the word, though. :)

Still, though I wasn't as sick with this baby as I was with Lily. At the worst stage, I threw up every few days, which was WAY better than throwing up 2-3 times a day, everyday, like I did with Lily. The harder part was the pure Exhaustion, that part I don't remember being so bad with Lily. Maybe it's because I have Lily this time, but I just have NO energy and I'm tired ALL the time. It's getting a little better, though and I'm hoping that like with Lily I'll be feeling better by week 17.....I hope!!!

Anyway, other than baby news, Alex and I have been working on his graduate school applications. There is soooo much involved in these applications! It's like having a second job, but we're slowly making some headway so I'm excited for him. We decided to delay my applications a few years, since we were surprised by this baby #2. I've been working part-time as a private tutor and I've really been enjoying it.

Well, life is good, time is flying, and we're in love. Happy Day to you :)

Back to....Life

2010-08-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

We're alive!

It's been a few months now, but the summer has been such a whirlwind of fun.

I can't fit all the action into one blog, but I'm going to try and play catch-up.

On June 8th our little bug turned 1 :) We had an amazingly fun ladybug bash, but I just wanted to post her pictures of eating her cake for now and I'll try and get the rest of the party uploaded...eventually.

She's such a joy and a treasure, she has the silliest, but sweetest personality, much like her daddy's. Except she definitely got my stubborness. Ha, that's karma for you :D

Lily wasn't sure about everybody singing and staring

And she didn't understand why we were getting her hands dirty in the squishy cake...

But then she warmed up to the idea.... :D

Mmmm cake!!!

This CrAzY Life of ours :)

2010-06-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Goodness, there are so many exciting things that have happened for us in the last two weeks. Alex and I graduated from college, Lily turned 1, and I had to speak in Stake Conference yesterday. It's been crazy town :) I'll have more on all the fun later, but today Miss Lily had her 12-month-old appointment and I wanted to update her little stats. She's thinned out so much! She's in the 50th percentile for her height (29 in.), 20th percentile for her weight (19.75 lbs), and 50th percentile for her head. :) Her doctor says she looks like she's got my body make-up. They said the 2 or 3 little steps she'll take on her own count as walking, so since she started pulling herself up pretty earlier she's sticking on the same physical developmental schedule that the doctor was expecting. The doctor also said that miss Lily has the vocabulary of an 18-month-old and the receptive language skills of a 24-month-old :) My little smartie pants, but the doctor says this explains the tantrums (her new favorite thing to do lately) because her receptive skills are exceptional but ahead of what she can reasonably communicate, hence the frustration. Ah, I'm very glad she's doing so well, but I'm not excited about this early case of the terrible twos....

Ah well, it probably doesn't help that we all spoil her so much....but she's just so stinkin' cute! ;)

Hawaii Pictures

2010-05-26T12:59:00.001-07:00

Here's a sampling of the pictures my brother took while we were in Hawaii :) He's such an amazing photographer!

There and Back Again

2010-05-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

Whew, so...this blog is a bit of a travel log, but only because we went on 2 significant trips and I didn't write anything about them...unfortunately...I also didn't really take any pictures on them either.

First, Alex, Lily and I took a trip to Saint Louis at the beginning of April for my presentation and the American Culture Association National Conference. The conference itsef was awesome. The free hotel and plane ride on the school's tab was even better, but I must say that St. Louis was NOT my favorite city. In its defense the majority of the conference took place downtown.
This however, is a picture of my good friends Alena and Kylie, who also presented at this conference, and who Alex and I had a Blast with :) The 4 (and a half) of us actually entertained ourselves quite well and had some awesome adventures discovering the city. I'm sure there are some beautiful places farther out in the suburbs, but not any that we saw. All in all the urban center was rather lackluster.

Now Hawaii ON THE OTHER HAND is the most phenomenal place to be. Ah, I'm getting wistful just thinking about it. What a wonderful week for us! Alex finished his last final on Tuesday night at about 11:55pm. We got on a plane on Wednesday morning at 6AM, and were in Honolulu by noon. My brother Torry picked us up and took us everywhere, let us stay at his apartment, and found us the most gorgeous hotel for the weekend. It was pure heaven, and absolutely THE BEST way to end our undergraduate careers. We laid on the beach in the sun, went surfing (Alex rode the first wave he caught all the way in, I was so proud!), stayed at the Marriot Ihilani resort in an awesome suite that my bro got because he's a local, ate DELICIOUS food from all over the world (including the BeSt SeAfOod BUffEt in the world), went to a fabulous Art After Dark party at the museum, had a sweet barbeque at night on the beach with all of my brother's buddies (actors, camera guys, producers, groupies) from LOST, and generally just felt like we never wanted to leave. Really...I got teary boarding the plane to come home. NOT that I don't LOVE our lives here in Utah, BUT it was so nice to get away. And I know it wouldn't be the same to live in Hawaii as to escape there, but I'll just keep on dreaming.

So here is the view from my brothers apartment, he lives about 5 minutes away from Waikiki in a sweet high rise. The entire west wall of his apartment is just all sliding glass doors that you can open up completely and just live semi-outdoors. It was awesome.

And this is a picture of Lily and I that Alex took the day after we got home...notice le tan ;) Unfortunately the tan is not lasting long with Utah weather being what it is right now...lame.

Unfortunately my camera died in Hawaii the first day, (of course I forgot to pack the charger) after I took the two pictures at my brother's apartment...also lame. Fortunately like any good cameraman Torry is a master photographer and took photos for us the whole time we were there...now I just have to get him to put them on a dvd and mail them to me.

Well now we're back to the grind for a little while, but with lots of big events mixed in. Mothers' Day was perfect. I married such a wonderfully kind and thoughtful man. Flowers, chocolate-covered strawberries, and another setting of our china. He is so good. Not only that but I got to play RockBand for the first time in Forever courtesy of Auntie Amelia and Uncle Danny :D Best. Mothers' Day. Ever.

Seriously, though it was really emotional for me to be able to celebrate my first real Mothers' Day. I love my little angel so much, it never ceases to amaze me how much she completes my life and our family. I had a teacher in 7th grade who once said that trying to explain how much he loved his little girl was like trying to explain what it feels like to have someone pull your heart, put it in an adorable little body, and have it walking around outside of your body. I don't know why, but I couldn't tell you one single thing from that Utah Studies class, I just remember clearly him saying this one day. Maybe I remembered it because it seemed like such a strange way to describe Love, I don't know. The point is, now I GET IT. I know the exact feeling that he's talking about. I understand it, I understand how her joys and aches and pains feel like an extension of my own emotions. It is like a supreme lesson in empathy, and I have no doubt it is a Supreme Creator teaching it to me.

Ah well, anyway Lily got to see both her grandmas that day, too. Here's Grandma Jenny:

And this one is Grandma Sandy and Alex, too. They are both making a funny face because Uncle Danny just said something weird/funny about eating the dog or something like that:

Well now it's on to Graduation at the end of May, Lily's 1st Birthday (a HUGE deal in Tongan culture) at the beginning of June, Alex (June 21) and I's (June 22) birthdays, and the next stop on our crazy traveling family tour: TONGA at the end of June.

Man, I Love My Life.

12 Days!!!!

2010-04-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

till Hawaii!

So close!......must..........................finish....................thesis..........................!!!!

This is Angie in Hawaii when we went during Spring Break 3 years ago :) Now that was a crazy trip! We took the clubs in Chinatown by storm ;)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-17T21:28:00.001-07:00

Ah ha ha! Life with the most beautiful leprechaun ;) I must admit, I adore dressing Lily up for holidays. Really, it really really makes me look forward to every little holiday, no matter how obscure.

I am running around like a tornado right now. Whew sometimes I wish Life would just SLOW DOWN.

But then I guess I would just be bored. Count your blessings, eh?

Anyway had to post a memento of my sweet girl in her green.

Went to the Christmas Box House tonight and read bedtime stories to the kids with my Young Women....makes me want to adopt the world (sigh)

Once again the last month has been full of sooo many things I have to catch up on:

2nd Wedding Anniversary to the most amazing man in the world
Spring Break
Lily's 9-month birthday and professional portrait session
My sister-in-law coming home to visit
my musical performance for a stake fireside

And as always still working on my thesis, thesis, thesis
And getting so excited for HAwaii, hawAIi, haWaiI

But first: St. Louis! Still super exciting....
But......I have to work on my presentation...ugh...

No real reward without hard work, I suppose.
ah well, better dig in...
ciao amores mios

I know I've been MIA but not on purpose

2010-02-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

Life happens and life is CrAzY :) This entry is a shout-out to two of the best things in the world: Valentine's Day & my mommy.

First, Valentine's day: I loved it when I was single and I still love it being married. I don't care about the presents or the hype....

you may say I'm a dreamer...but I'm not the only one...

I Love that we have one day a year that you are just supposed to focus on LOVE! Love, love, love I truly believe it's the answer to the world's problems, and that lack of it is what creates them. So on Valentine's Day I LOVE to focus on All the kinds of Love, not just romantic (I still spoil my Alex, but he knows I love to spoil other people for Valentine's too).

One of the people I LOVE A Lot, is my mama. She's amazing and strong, and has never let the cards that life dealt her hold her back. And I love her for it. She's been dealt a tough hand with her health lately, but she handles it like a champ. I love you Mom!

In other news this week: Guess who's the speediest crawling baby around? My little lovebug! She also cut her third tooth this week and it looks like #4 is on it's way too. She's getting so big and it's so cute how she follows me around from room to room. Ah, happiness. Here she is with her Japanese toys from Uncle Torry:

The month is almost over???

2010-01-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

Whew, well I'm not quite sure where January has gone, but well, it's mostly gone. Alex and I have been capitalizing on our New Year's Resolution to get in shape :) Alex has been playing some early morning racquetball and church basketball two days a week. I'm taking a rock climbing class, and as one of the only girls in my class, I think I do a fairly good job keeping up with all the hot-shot male climbers. It pushes me to work harder, so it ain't so bad. On top of this Alex and I have been doing this intense DVD workout known as P90X. It's supposed to be a 6-day a week program but the last two weeks have been so insane that we've only done 4 of the six days, but STILL, that's like working out 7 days a week with an easy routine. Anyway, it's not that I think that anyone out there in the world should care about our exercise routine, it's just that I'm rather proud of us. I think that any New Year's Resolution that makes it out of January is an accomplishment.

We've also been trying to clean up our eating habits (except for Kraft macaroni and cheese, I don't care how bad that stuff is for me, I'll never give it up!), so last week we made a delicious dinner of Mussels, Spinach Salad, and Garlic Bread.

First we sauteed the garlic, paprika, thyme, fresh parsley, and basil in olive oil and 1 tsbp of unsalted butter. In that lovely mixture we put in the mussels and covered the saute pan. The mussels took about 15 minutes to open up, and then I left them in their broth mixture and juices, plated them, squeezed a little lemon juice on top and voila! A healthy scrumptious main course in minutes. The spinach salad consisted of Roma tomatoes, mushrooms, and red and yellow bell pepper, which we topped with a lite poppyseed dressing. Essentially this dinner is extremely high nutrient, low calorie, and incredibly fast and easy to do. So don't despair Mothers of The World, it is possible to make healthy, fine cuisine that is quick and delicious. Fast food isn't good food, but good food can be fast.

Life is beautiful, if hectic. Lily is almost crawling. She's become an expert army crawler, but the last few days she has decide she wants to do the real deal, which means: time for baby gates! It amazes me the things she gets into in seconds...and I know this is only the beginning ;) No more slug-baby for us. I love every second of new discovery with her, though, and every moment of wonder when she does the most basic of human tasks. Blessed am I. Things get crazy and sometimes it can seem like everything is about to fall apart, but when it does I thank God for a husband that surprises me with flowers and never leaves without a kiss and a baby girl whose little dimple smile lights up room. Adieu, my dears, may you be equally as blessed and clever enough to realize it when you have it :)

Things I haven't managed to blog about....

2010-01-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

1. Lily's First Christmas
2. Our senior theses
3. My conference presentation
4. Our new classes
5. Our new callings
6. Alex's new work schedule
7. Our new fish

Nutshell:
1. Amazingly precious
2. Internalizing vs. Externalizing Behavioral Problems in Preschoolers (Alex's) & How Facebook and other social networking sites affect familial communication and relationships (Mine)
3. 200 presenters at the American Culture Association's National Conference, only 25 undergraduates nationwide are chosen to present. I am one of them. Presenting on my senior thesis topic (see below). Paid 4 day trip to St. Louis, Missouri, including 5 star hotel stay, airfare, and food. Alex and Lily are coming with :)
4. Alex's: Intro to Sociology, Statistics, Methods of Counseling, and Senior Placement at the Children's Center.
Me: Biology,Senior Seminar, and directed studies credit for the National Conference (see above)
5. Alex's: Executive Secretary for the Bishopric. Mine: Young Women's President. We both feel humbled, blessed, and slightly overwhelmed.
6. No more Sundays, and no more Monday nights!!! Wahoo!!! We finally managed to clear a regular church and family home evening schedule. The price of these two days, though, is that I rarely get to see him during the week, except for that we always have a Tuesday lunch break together, and we still have a one-night-a-week date rule.
7. His name is Benjamin the Beta. He is Blue and Beautiful.

Anxiously engaged in a good, but hectic work!
Pictures, anyone?

Auntie Manda and Lily

Auntie Kava and Lily

Lily and I with our brand new Benjamin for our little family Christmas

Lily's "Baby" Grand Piano from Daddy. She loves it, plays it all the time :)

Alex got his favorite game, Settlers of Cataan. He has since convinced many, many people to play it and to buy it.

Our New year's Eve Party girl and her Martinelli's bottle

Alex and I snowboarding on New Year's Eve

The present Alex made for me at the cabin

Lily and Hannah, Christmas morning, trying to eat each other's socks :)

We have a half-year old!!! :)

2009-12-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

Our little Lily was officially 6 months old on December 8th!!! It goes so fast and I feel so blessed that I've been able to enjoy every second of it with her. She had her doctor's appointment yesterday and she certainly is a tall glass of water, at 27 1/4 inches she is in the 97th percentile! She's starting to thin out and lose a little bit of her baby pudge, but she's still got lots of healthy baby chubbs at 17 lbs even, putting her down to the 75th percentile for weight. She is most excited about all of her new baby food! So far she loves anything we give her, but she eats rice cereal, applesauce, and bananas most regularly. She LOVES finally getting some big kid food of her own. Unfortunately she also got lots of shots yesterday, too. She got her regular 3(2 shots, 1 oral) plus a swine flu shot and a seasonal flu shot. It was really sad for her, but I'm just glad we can actually relax a bit for the rest of the flu season.

Here's my angel eating her num-nums:

And here's Daddy being silly:

And this is Silly Lily, who likes to spit out her binkie randomly, but when she spit it out this time it landed on her forehead and stayed there and she couldn't figure out how to get it :D....

10 Days Till Christmas!!!! We're sooooo excited!!!!

A moment of thanks...

2009-12-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

I had to take a moment and say that even though Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago, this whole season makes me feel so incredibly thankful. As always the thing that I am most thankful for is my husband. What would I do without Alex? It makes me weepy even considering it. Now that we have our beautiful daughter everything else makes me weepy, too, because the world is a bright new place with her in it. For the first time since I was a little girl I feel a giddy excitement for Christmas, but it's even better because I'm not excited for myself...I'm excited for her!!! I'm so excited to create magical memories and traditions for her that she will hopefully cherish no matter where life takes her. Ah it's a beautiful thing! I'm one lucky mama :)

Cooking with the Morgans

2009-11-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

Well, last week Alex and I decided to do some "real" cooking and make up our own recipe for stuffed red peppers. This recipe included

red bell peppers
mozzarella cheese (low moisture)
mushrooms
mini orange and yellow bell peppers
a clove of garlic
and any other vegetables that sound nummy to you :)

First, cut the bell peppers in half and cut out the core and seeds. Cube the mozzarella cheese. In a small bowl create a mixture of olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice, parsley, basil, and a just a touch of paprika. Mix the cheese cubes in with this mixture and let them sit while you complete the next section. Saute mushrooms, mini peppers, garlic, and other appetizing vegetables in a mixture of white wine and olive oil. Saute the vegetables until they are lightly cooked and then remove from heat. Spoon vegetables into red bell peppers. Also spoon cheese cubes out of mixture and into red peppers. They should look like so..... We had extra cheese and mushrooms left over so we put one cheese cube in each mushroom cap and baked the mushrooms with the peppers for about half the time. We baked the 4 red bell pepper halves in the oven at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes (But the easiest way to tell is when the cheese starts to brown and the edges of the bell pepper crisp). While that was baking we made a pot of basmati rice. When the peppers finished we placed them on top of the rice pile, and spooned the leftover mixture of olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice, parsley, basil, and paprika over the rice.
It was a delicious dinner and our favorite part is that it was a hearty vegetarian option. Alex and I really try to have at least 2 dinners a week that are vegetarian, because it helps keep calorie intake lower and most Americans seriously over-eat in the meat department. Plus it's our own personal take on the Word of Wisdom and eating meat sparingly. Nummm nummm nummm :)

We went down to Cedar City to watch my little brother play football at SUU yesterday. It was really fun, and Jeff played awesome. I also promised my Aunt Leslie I'd post some more pictures of my adorable nephew Nate in his Ranger costume, so here you go Aunt Leslie: And here is a picture of Nate and Lily playing on the horsies at CostCo:I went down to Provo to chill with Jesse and Megs one day when Alex had to work late, it was highly entertaining.

Last but not least, here is a video of Lily playing with her Grandpa Morgan's hair. Steve has some supremely luscious locks, and Lily LOVES to sit on his shoulder and try and eat them!

And this is my favorite picture from the whole ordeal...

Life is good, my Love is sweet, and contentedness is mine :D

All Hallow's Eve

2009-11-04T21:08:00.001-08:00

Ah! October has come and gone and I feel like I have no idea where it went! It has been a busy month just living life. Lily is talking and giggling ALL the time now and she has turned into quite the daddy's girl :) She gets very excited and kicks and wiggles and yells when Alex comes home. Alex loves every second of it, and so do I. I'm just always so grateful that he is such an involved hands on Daddy!

Halloween was eventful and exciting! We had to be up in Heber by 9am because my twin step-brother and step-sister were getting baptized. It was very sweet and Alex enjoyed being a witness and a part of the circle. Afterwards we went to Don Pedro's for a big lunch and visited Auntie Kava and Uncle P so that they could see Lily in her costume, and we stopped at the hospital and saw my mom for a quick second on her break.

Here's Lily at the restaurant with her cousin Nate -

After that we drove back home and changed as fast as we could and headed to the Real Salt Lake Playoff game! With the help of Alex's good friend Q, I got free tickets to surprise him! He was so excited and the best part was THEY WON! After that we headed over to Danny and Amelia's to see the new place they moved into that morning. Of course we had to take pictures of our little angels together!

By the time we got home we were absolutely exhausted, but sweet Alex surprised me by renting the Tinkerbell movie :) So we watched as much as we could before we fell asleep!
Ah busy day! Loads of fun, and of course I have to post more pictures of my Lily Bug!

A terrible time to lose a camera...

2009-10-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

Alex and I have officially lost our digital camera...somewhere...so if anyone has any clue where it could have disappeared to, I am failing in my motherly duty of documenting Lily's infantile life. Bleh...so frustrating..

In other news, Lily has her first cold and I think it has become one of the worst experiences in my life. She just doesn't feel well but she doesn't understand why, and it is very taxing on both of us. I should just count my blessings that she was a summer baby and this is the first time I've had to deal with this, but I just feel so stinking bad for her.

We've moved!

2009-09-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

Whew! Yesterday was a pretty intense day of moving! Poor Alex hurt his foot on Labor Day, we were playing sand volleyball and he stepped on a charcoal that fell out of the grill. He's been kind of a miserable dude and on top of that it made moving this weekend much more of a challenge. I was very nervous when we had a lot of people lined up to help us move yesterday at 9 and no one showed up....but Daniel saved our bacon and showed up at 9:30 with his trailer and a dolly. He was worth 10 people to me! Anyway, then our friend Alex Griffin and our friends Trevor and Christine Schow showed up and all was well! Alex and Trevor had the bulky muscles and Christine was a champion packer. Someone should pay her to do that for a living ;) Ah well! We are finally in our new house and I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance...and finish unpacking...so it may be awhile....

We have a niece!

2009-08-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Danny and Amelia were finally able to welcome little Hannah Grace into the world yesterday! She was 6lbs 14oz and 19 inches long, just a bitty thing! Lily and I waited at the hospital with Grandma and Grandpa Morgan and Amelia's Mom while she was born, which was definitely an adventure. We were all very anxious for her to come! Alex still hasn't been able to see her in person (he was at work bribing his bosses so he could get off early), but here are some pics I took in the hospital when I got to see her.

and here are the proud parents after all their hard work (okay so really Amelia did most of the work here...)

So many babies! We went and visited cute Lisa and Casey and are very excited for little Roman to come now too! Lisa's belly is absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen and I think Roman is going to be one cute little dude.

Sad news :( Lily had her immunization shots today and she's not feeling too hot. Poor thing, but I know it's good for her in the long run. Still, Alex held her while she got them so I wouldn't stress myself out. I am sooo not excited for flu season...ughh...but I am glad she's getting big enough now that she should do a little better. Her doctor said that she is just "perfect". I adore her pediatrician (Dr. Jennifer Cox, Alpine Medical Group), she has been absolutely fabulous at answering all of our questions, even the ones we don't think to ask! Lily is going to be one tall glass of water ;) She is in the 90th percentile for weight and 95th for height and the 50th for head circumference and her doctor said she couldn't be any more pleased with her growth and development. The shots were yucky, but the rest of the appointment was actually really fun and reassuring for this protective new mom!

Also, our apartment is coming right along! Alex and I are so excited to move in but it always takes time to get a space to feel as homey as it should. I am such a homebody that Alex thinks it must be why I am such a "nest-expert".

We are also very excited to go to the Real game tomorrow! Tickets were $10 courtesy of 101.9 The End. Awesome! It'll be fun to chill with friends and enjoy Alex's night off.

Anywho, went down to visit Jesse and Meg last Thursday and Lily looks so much like Nate now that she's getting bigger! They totally look more like siblings than cousins.

Family is forever, gotta love them!

August Update

2009-08-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

Fun times this month.
Lily was blessed on the 2nd in Alex's parents' ward. It was very special and beautiful and so much fun to have so many family and friends over afterward. Here's a tidbit of Lily in her adorable dress (and the bonnet! Love the bonnet!)

Lily is also very excited that she will have a new cousin soon, that is as soon as Hannah decides to make her entrance and rejoin her B.F.F.B.B.
That's right, it's a catchy little phrase I coined myself ;) (Best Friends Forever Before Birth). Once Hannah gets here little Roman shouldn't be too far behind to join the throngs of girl cousins! Surrounded by that many ladies from birth, he's destined to be a ladies man! Ah, so many babies makes for a happy family :)

School starts next week and I am very weirded out about not going back for the first time since I was 5! However, I treasure the time I am able to spend at home with my baby girl and count every minute as a blessing. She's growing so fast! Alex and I marvel at her. Her fascination with the world around her combined with our fascination with her creates a very loved and attended-to child ;) Today she sat and "talked" to me for a half an hour, which consisted of smiling at me and trying her darnedest to make noise come out of her mouth.

This is also a very exciting time for us as we are getting ready to move! We were lucky enough to find a two bedroom basement apartment in Sugarhouse that is still very close to school but much closer to Alex's work, all for the price of our apartment now! We feel very lucky with the many things in our life right now that have worked out so beautifully. We choose to be believing people, and I can't help but feel an amazing gratitude to my Creator, so many many things in our lives in the past months have clicked and fallen into place like a perfectly sculpted jigsaw puzzle. All of these things happened because we chose to put aside our own plans and ideas for a time and let the spirit guide the choices we made. Some were very large life-changing decisions and some were the tiniest of details, but it is always comforting to know that God does not find any issue too large or detail to small that he won't help and guide us if we ask.

Here's a peak at the house we'll moving into! Much ofas (loves)!!!
Song of the Summer: Michael Franti - Say Hey, you can watch it in the youtube bar at the bottom of the page.

Bah....hospitals are fun....

2009-07-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Once again...refer to previous blog....WE ARE BAD BLOGGERS.
Our beautiful little angel did arrive on June 8, 2009. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 21 inches long. She is the light and joy of our lives and Alex and I feel that she is the greatest blessing Heavenly Father has ever given us.

In a health update- We left the hospital a day early and I have been recovering well for the last 4 weeks up until Wednesday when I was plagued with an intense stomach pain throughout the day. Long story short, we ended up in the InstaCare where my vitals were not so good, so then a short ambulance ride later landed us in the ER at IMC where hours later the CT scan revealed a gangrenous appendix that was about to burst and spread infection all over my still tender and healing innards. Within an hour or two of this realization I found myself laying on the operating table staring at a very fuzzy anesthesiologist and trying to remember what number comes after 4.

My body feels like it's been through the ringer...twice...which it has. Someone told me that last month I got to feel the joys of a vaginal delivery and this month I get to feel like I had a C-section.

Out of the hospital the following night, we've stayed at my in-laws for the past two nights. I feel exceptionally blessed to have such wonderful family right now. My mother stayed with Lily through the night of my surgery, and my in-laws have been able to help Alex get through the last few rough nights when I haven't been able to get out of bed. My cousins, sister, brothers, and father where at my side as soon as they could be, and Steve, Sandy, and Danny cut their Bear Lake trip short to come home and help.

All in all my return to non-pregnancy glory has been delayed, but I have my health and my family and feel satisfied that that is enough.

June is our family's birthday month :)

2008-11-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

We have a new little bundle of joy on the way! Oolex and I are expecting our baby on June 8, 2009 (-ISH, since only 5% of babies are born on their due date).

We are so excited! Now if I could just get over this morning (A LIE! all-day/night) sickness all will be well in Evalex land...

Back to School

2008-08-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well we're headed back to school for the year. On top of that Alex and I have both found very rewarding new jobs, Alex at Costco and me at the Westminster Bookstore. We've got a crazy schedule ahead of us but hopefully this will be the last year of that :) To be continued........

Decidedly Bad Bloggers...

2008-06-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

So we're not so good on the constant update blog thing...I've realized. This might also equate with the fact that I'm a terrible journal keeper as well.....

In Happier News-

WOOT OBAMA! That's right Hilary finally has stopped beating the dead horse and perhaps we'll see some real juicy stuff between McCain and Obama now, as well. Alex and I had an overnight job for work yesterday, we stayed with an elderly gentleman and helped him. He is an incredibly astute retired pediatrician though, and loads of fun to talk politics with. I also learned a lot about the prospective first ladies, and I must say that on further analysis, even if I didn't like Obama, I'd rather have his wife in the White House. Michelle Obama-working class family, Mrs. McCain-alone is worth more than 101 million because her father was one of the founders for.....(I never would have guessed this) BUDWEISER, of which she still owns massive stock and influences the company. Mrs. Obama-put herself through first Duke University, and then law school at Princeton and won a prestigious spot at one of Chicago's top law firms. Mrs. McCain-Got a Masters in Special Education, but has never actually taught.

Subtle differences, but I like the idea of having a first lady in power who has (as William Shatner would say-sing) a love of the common people. The Common People like You.

Song recommendation: Common People, William Shatner's HAS BEEN album

San Diego Lovin'

2008-05-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

So we returned from San Diego last week, what a blast that was! Slacker that I am I am finally going to put up pictures from my sweet sister's wedding. On May 8, 2008 Kavamahea Leilani Tukuafu married Pedro Mena at sunset on the beach in San Diego, California. It was really quite a crazy trip, Love Bug and I flew with Jesse, Megan, Baby, and Jeff. Needless to say....Baby was loads of fun on the plane ;)

We spent the first day driving all over So Cal so my mother could relive her childhood-and also so we could pick up tables and chairs for the reception. The best part though was eating lunch at the pier and strolling around with everyone. We found this AWESOME hat shop! Ha...yes....fun was had:

Michael Jackson meets The Rock

'Ze Ladies

<- Oo-la-la
Oh dear....yeah....that's my husband......

Thursday the girls all went and got their nails done in the morning while the boys goofed around at the hotel on their own, then when Kava was whisked away to get her hair done, we all bunkered down at Aunt Leslie's and started setting up the reception. Everything went well until Kava's hair trauma (no re-living necessary thank you very much), but it all worked out in the end so why worry?
The wedding was sweet and beautiful and I (of course) cried. The food at the reception was amazing and the yard looked perfect. The sun came out for Kava's day when everyone said it wouldn't which is just further proof that God is happy about Kavs and Pedro :)

Friday we went to the zoo all day and it was so much fun. The hippo exhibit was especially entertaining as the hippos decided to....procreate....underwater......while there were fifty people standing around watching. Poor Oolex was blushing :)

*Baby Panda sleeping in a tree*

There was this absolutely amazing monkey exhibit with the most adorable little monkeys that were just having a blast playing in the sun.

Saturday we strolled around and shopped before getting on the plane home. Too short, but it was a great trip.

Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's an essays worth....right up until my camera broke at the zoo :(

Major bummer....

Peer Pressure

2008-05-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

Whilst attending the lovely Mayday/Wedding celebration of Emily and her new beau, Lovebug and I found ourselves under "life-documenting" scrutiny. So, under peer pressure from Lisa Adams (Don't worry Lisa, we still love you) we've created our own blog....that's right.... we've joined the ranks of all those people.... people who blog, that is. Alas, we are both unfortunately people pleasers ;) Enjoy.