Happy Birthday to my Emily-girl!

Today my baby girl turned 1. I love this girl so much. I was sure that I would never love anything as much as I loved Gracey. It wasn't until Emily came along that I realized that love isn't just shared or divid out...it seriously multiplies in an instant. I love this little ones personality, her humor, and her subtleties that only a mother or father can pick up on. It has been a truly remarkable year having her in it. Because of her arrival Gracey has become a great big sister, I have learned the importance of having and sticking with a schedule, and Corky has mastered the art of carrying "bose a dem" (translated to "both of them" in Gracey language).

This little one truly melts my heart with her big blue eyes. Happy Birthday Enemy! (also Gracey language...translates to Emily. We all picked that one up.)

9 months Portraits

Current Snapshots

Christmas!!

Christmas was nice and quiet around here....and as perfect as it gets I think. This is the 2nd time that we have done Christmas in our own home and not travelled and I really love it. Of course I love mine and Corky's family and always wish I could see them more often, it is just so nice to enjoy Corky's easy-going work schedule and just chill.

Christmas Eve we did go to some friends house who stuck around here and had dinner with them. Then the kids dressed up for the Nativity and it was really cute. Not being with family for the traditional big dinner/party, being with good friends is the next best thing.

Santa was so good to Gracey and Emily this year. He brought the kitchen that Gracey has been wanting so badly and Emily is old enough that it entertains her just as much.

The girls were spoiled, as was Corky and I. Corky got me a brand new camera that has been so great to have already. My pictures aren't blurry anymore, the resolution is excellent, and it has a 10x zoom. It should last us quite a while. In case anyone is curious it is aSony Cyber-shot DSC H-3. Corky also got me the Rockband game....which leads me right into Corky's present.

Corky got the X-box! He has been wanting one for so so so long but have never been able to justify the time or money. Since he won't be going to medical school and won't be spending all his evenings studying, we figured this would be great to play with.


We fully enjoyed everything about the Christmas season this year. We feel very blessed to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior and to know the true meaning of it. We also are happy to have reasons to buy each other fun things. I love the holidays. There is definitely no better time of year. As you can see in the next collage, we are already enjoying our fun toys and are happy that the girls can be included. You also may notice that my Christmas tree is already down. I promise, I am not a scrooge...just always anxious to have my house back to normal. I love everything about Christmas decorations but I think if I kept them up for long periods of time....I wouldn't love them so much!

Gracey's performance.

Last Thursday was Gracey's preschool performance. We have quite the little performer on our hands (maybe spazz is the better word for it). Corky and I have been cracking up over this video all weekend and are happy that we were able to get it onto the computer in time to spread the Christmas cheer!

A little Quiz

1- If your daughter runs up to you with red stuff coming out of her nose, what's your first guess?
a) blood
b) red hot candy

2- If your daughter was too freaked out to blow her nose, would you think it is because she is scared of
a) the blood coming out of her nose?
b) the fact that something is stuck in her nose ?

3- After realizing your daughter has a redhot stuck in her nose and its finally taken out but she is still crying, what do you think the reason is?
a) it was scary?
b) the cinnamon from the red hot kind of stung?
c) all of the above


My (Morgan's) guesses: 1) a 2) a 3) a
The real answers: 1) b 2) b 3) c

Why do kids stick things up their noses???

Divide and Conquer

Earlier in the week, Corky decided that he wanted to take Gracey golfing this weekend. I was more than willing to agree to that. Not that I want to get rid of Gracey by any means but I barely can remember what it was like to look after one kid. Corky has been pumping Gracey up for this all week and this morning when I was trying to help them get ready to go, she only "wanted Daddy's help." She wanted only him to help with her shoes and sock, with her breakfast, with her coat, and anything else that she needs assistance with. She would have preferred Corky to do her hair too I am sure, but I wasn't going to let that one go! It was pretty cute to watch those two with each other, they make a pretty great team. As Corky said it so perfectly, "Gracey has a daddy-crush this morning!" She sure did. I hope they had fun, I can't wait to hear how their day was. From the sounds of it, Gracey was well behaved through all 18 holes but that is as far as I know.

Meanwhile, back on the home front, Emily and I had a great day! I was able to get the house pretty clean (minus the bathrooms that I am in no mood to clean today) and was able to spend some major one-on-one time with my little girl. Gracey goes to preschool 5 days a week for 3 hours but Emily is usually taking her morning nap through most of that time. Not to mention that I am scrambling to shower and do other things during that time of the day. Anyway, today we had no schedule and I have almost forgotten how much fun it is to have just one kid. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE having two kids....it is never dull and so much fun, but today was such a nice break from the hard work it really is. I got to devote all of my attention to Emily, the way I used to be able to do for Gracey, without worrying that Gracey will be jealous.

I think I hear a car pulling up right now....I can't wait to get the report!

As I sit here checking my email, I realize that not many more things bring holiday cheer into our home than listening to Corky sing "O Holy Night" like Cartman from "Southpark." All while he does the dishes from dinner.

He makes me laugh.

Guess who is getting out of the army!!!!

WE ARE!! WE ARE!!

I'll be honest, I am a little frightened to enter the civilian world but we are SO FREAKIN EXCITED and are going full speed ahead into job searching. Corky is already lined up with a job placement company so we are excited for that.

We knew we had 2 paths to pursue....the first being medical school through the military, the second being to get out of the army. The military school that Corky was applying for, USUHS, is highly competitive and so we knew it was a long shot to be accepted, especially after only preparing for it in 6-8 months. Of course nobody likes to be told they aren't accepted to anything, but when Corky was told that today we both breathed a huge sigh of relief. It would have been a really great opportunity but it would have kept us in the military for another 17-20 years.

Now that we know which path out of those 2 we will be taking, we have like 50 more paths to choose from! Ideally we would like to end up in SLC/Provo area but you just never know. St. George would be fun too.

I never thought we would get to this 5 year mark where his commitment to the army would be coming to an end. It always seemed such a long ways away!

Craziness I tell ya!

This is what I have been doing....

Hi! My name is Morgan, and I am the creator of this blog....in case anyone has forgotten. It has been forever since I have been on here. I don't even dare look at my google reader to see how many blogs I need to catch up on.

Maybe this is old to everyone else, I wouldn't know! This has had me and Gracey cracking up all day long!!

This afternoon Gracey and I wrote a letter to Santa Claus. I wrote the letter after she told me what to write, then she traced it. Then she cut out fun toys out of a catalog that I was going to throw away (actually recycle for those of you who are "going green")

We are definitely getting excited for Christmas around here.