Holiday Hangover

One of the greatest movies of all time, National Lampoon's Christams Vacation, has a great line. When Clark asks his father how he got through the Holiday's, he responds, "I had a lot of help from Jack Daniels".
Ah, how this could not be more true as I sit here in my big empty house, with a glass of wine contemplating on the past month. We have had a blast! Parties, food, Wii, wine & more food. The makings of the holiday season. As stressfull as this time always is for me, I still love it. Thanks to Grandma Loush for taking baby girl for a few nights. Sleep is such a good thing :)) Pictures to come, to lazy to upload at the moment. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, with a little help from Jack Daniels!

Holiday Fun

I found Madi walking around the house looking like this... so cute!



The holidays are so much funner when you have a kid aren't they? I have always loved Christmas. I've really enjoyed decorating the new house inside & out. Now I finally have room to put out all of my decorations, and still have room for more :) Now, all we need is a really good snow storm so I can take Madi sledding. We decorated sugar cookies with the Piercy's the other day. Jack & Madi were on a sugar rush for most of the evening.
We also did Thanksgiving at our house this year. My fist. Holy hell, I never knew how much work goes into that day. It was a blast though. And we really enjoyed having everyone over! I look forward to doing it again. And maybe next time, I won't have to finish cooking the Turkey in the microwave!

Hot night in Lehi

What a night in the Morgan household we just had! This morning about 1:30 am we wake up to FIRE, FIRE, FIRE The house fire alarm system had been activated. Never had I shot out of bed so quickly. I instantly told Ryan I was getting Madi. Poor thing was still asleep as I quickly got her out of bed. Now note that the day previous I had spent the day putting up all our holiday decorations. So, my fist thought was that the trees were in flames but, no. There was no smell, no smoke, no heat coming from any walls, doors or ceiling. But, that damn alarm was still going off 15 minutes into it. I was now thinking that in might be carbon monoxide. So, who else to call but the Fire Department. They told us to evacuate immediately which we did. A lot of things went through my head in those moments. Realising that everything I needed in the world, I had right there with me. I had my wonderful husband & daughter. I had also taken the advise of someone long ago to make an "oh my God box". This is a fireproof box I keep next to the bed. It contains all our passports, SS cards, birth certificates, wedding photos, Madison's birth, and any other items that are close to us. In that moment, I was calm knowing that if our new beautiful home went down in flames, we had insurance, and all of it could be replaced.
Fire trucks, an ambulance and two police cars ensued. After a search high and low, they could not find any reason for why the alarm had been activated. They reset everything and went on their marry way.
I did not sleep well last night. Many thoughts. But, one conclusion. As long as my family is safe, I have all I need.

Family Pictures

My friend Bonnie was in town this weekend and captured some great family pics! Here are a few. Thanks Bonnie!

Halloween 09

Halloween was a blast this year! It was our fist one in our new home. Madi was a bunny. She was not a fan of the ears that came with the costume but, she looked so damn cute anyway!

Pumpkin Painting

We had our weekly "family home evening" with the Piercy's this week. Pumpking carving was the activity for the night. (On top of Greg & Ryan getting in their NFL football fix) Jack & Madi had a BLAST with the finger paints as you can see. Of course, Madi kept sticking it in her mouth which made her teeth all black for a bit :)

Ahhhhh Grass....

Fist of all, I know it has been a LONG time. This is really due to the fact that I just got internet this week. Yes, we have been in our house for damn near 3 months and it took the idiots this long to figure out how to run a data line to our house. Ugh. We have been working on the house and yard from day one and it FINALLY looks presentable. After much weed pulling and rock removing (thank you family), sprinkler lines & curbing, we added the final touch today with grass. We are officially done for the season and will resume in Spring. It might take us that long to pay it off anyway! Next year is the back yard. We are so happy here and have loved having a home. What a change from the tiny condo life :)

Home Sweet Home

We have been itching to move for a while now. We have been sticking it out in our condo for as long as we could. With Ry working in Orem now, we needed to find a place somewhere in the middle of both our jobs. So Lehi it is. I know, Utah County? But hey, we can do all our stuff in Sunday and have no crouds because they will all be in church! I wonder if they have a wine store? We got a GREAT deal. It was a foreclosure and is brand new. Never lived in. We are so excited to have our big house and big yard (when we get it in of course). Should be moving in about a month. Hopefully we sell the condo by then, if not, two mortgages for a while will be our life. But, believe me, it will be worth it!

Birthday Girl!

Our baby Madi turned one on May 29th. We had a great BBQ at my parents home. Thanks Mom & Dad! As you can see, little bug enjoyed her cake just a little bit. She was a riot to watch. Needless to say, she had a slight sugar rush that kept her up until midnight. Oh well, you only turn one once right? I can't believe how fast this year has gone. It seems like yesterday I was just pregnant with her. And now she is this walking, talking beatiful being. What a joy it is to be a mom. What a joy to be Madison's mom. I love you buggy!

TuTu's & Pearls

This has been another one of those weeks. Poor little Mads had to have tubes placed in her ears on Thursday. Let's hope this will help ease up on all the ear infections. Lord knows she can't be on antibiotics all the time! I am seeing an improvement already and I hope she continues to progress.
My friend Bonnie was out to visit a few weeks ago and took these great pics of Madi. She did such a great job, as always. I think she really captured her personality. Thanks Bon Bon!

Zoo

For the first day of Spring, my Sister, Mom and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! This was Madi's first time too. I think she just enjoyed being outside more than anything. But she did love the monkeys :) Jack, my nephew, loves the "roundo roundo". Otherwise known as a carousel. Thanks Mom and Dantzel for such a fun day!

Antibiotics, Taxes &Automobiles

Well, this week has been one to remember. It started off with me getting a cold from hell. I had no voice at all and was miserable. Madi is still not feeling well on top of it. More on that a bit later. So, Wednesday morning, I was deliriously drove to work after a long night. I park in the underground parking lot of our building. On a normal day it's tight parking but on this day... Let's just say that my nice expensive white car met a red cement pillar. Ugghh. The insurance company called today and it's over 2k work of damage. Thank God for a $500 deductible. And for an understanding husband. He just laughed and said he was glad I was okay. I finally took Madi into the doc today. I had a feeling it was a little more than teething or a cold. And sure enough, she has a raging ear infection in both ears :( Poor little thing. Good note is, we did our taxes last night and we actually get a return this year! Yeah! Usually we owe because were in a crappy tax bracket. Too bad most of the return will go towards the car. On the bright side, I'm feeling better. Madi is on antibiotics. And I have a rental car! Things are looking up!

Teething

The Morgan household has been crazy as of late. Our jobs have been super busy, creating late nights and very early mornings. And to add to it, Mads is teething. Uggghh. Usually she is the most content little thing but not lately. She's up most the night :( There is only so much coffee in the world, and it's not cutting it lately! I went to the store today and bought every teether known to man! We'll see how they work out. Besides the teething, Madi is getting funner and funner by the day. I now get "Ma Ma" all the time. I still damn near cry every time she says it. We are working on "Da Da" now. She is crawling all over the house which is making for weekends spent baby proofing. I am realizing that our house is a death trap! What were we thinking with some of our furniture choices? I still look at her every day and can't believe how beautiful it is to be her Mom!

Yes We Can!

So I have not posted for a while. Really trying to get back into the grove of things after the holidays. (Ya, I know it's almost February) However just wanted to make a note of how proud I was today to be an American. The inauguration of Obama today was something that I will not forget. How amazing it was to see millions of people gather and be a part of history. Not trying to push my political views on anyone. That is what makes our country so great! I truly believe that no matter what political party, race or religion you may be, today was a celebration of all of us!