Year in Review...

We've had lots to record this past year, but I thought I'd make a quick list of some of our greatest memories (both good and not so good) of 2008.

1. Since it's so fresh on our mind, our Christmas trip, and bonus deer incident.
2. Brian's birthday / BYU football game (yes, I really do enjoy them occasionally)
3. My improved Lego skills
4. Getting fences put in!
5. The Purple Lion Hunt at the zoo.
6. We added Sadie to the family!
7. Morgan took her first swim lessons.
8. Memorial Day weekend...I'm sensing a trend with family vacations and disasters. Are they synonomous?
9. Learning to garden.
10. Pet Rock (this one is for you, Ashley G!)
11. Potty training. After doing this and having a kid with the flu, I think I'd pick potty training.
12. The good ol' "OutPotty." For a while there, we couldn't leave home without it!
13. We learned a new definition for the phrase "Dare Devil." It's called Morgan.
14. Anytime we caught our kids (in this case, Morgan) having fun and enjoying life!
15. Morgan's first "owie" and, with it, the Drama! Will it ever end??? It only seems to be getting worse!

Sadie's Surgery

All went well this morning at Children's Hospital! In fact, it's only 10 am and we've been home for about an hour already!

Sadie had tubes inserted in both ears this morning. She being the youngest in for ENT surgery today, we got the first slot (7:30 a.m.). This was great because she couldn't eat anything after midnight and had to be hungry coming out of surgery. (side note: she might starve to death--she was only 19 lbs. this morning--Morgan weighed that at 1 year!)

Everything went perfectly with the procedure. In fact, the only less than perfect thing is she can't get her ABR hearing exam until next week because there was so much fluid and it was thicker than they anticipated. This means it will take longer to drain out.

Thank you to everyone for your concerns and prayers! We appreciate everyone who has helped us out also. It's been a blessing!

More Backgrounds

Here's another link to cute blog backgrounds.

http://onecuteblog.blogspot.com/

Here's Our Report...

So, Google maps reported that the trip from Denver, CO to Kingman, AZ is 13 hours, 6 mintues. Well, they need to add another feature to their map--it's called KIDS! We left at 5:37 a.m. and arrived in Kingman at 9:37 p.m.!!! What a day! The kids did really well, considering they are kids and it's pretty boring (poor Sadie had to stare at the back of the car seat for 16 hours!).

Here's a cute shot of Sadie:

And Morgan, who entertained herself by tattooing her body with stickers:

We made it to Kingman, and, Friday morning, before we left for "Sandy Eggo", Morgan and Grandma Boring made yummy French Toast for breakfast:

On Saturday, the weather was beautiful! Alex and Tyler's wedding and reception was very nice. Santa even came to visit the reception. And, in the words of Morgan, a very scared 2-year old, "I don't want Santa to talk to me."

Here I am with my Aunt Lori, Grandma Miller, and Sadie at the temple.

The happy couple coming out of the temple.
Can you just see Alex and Tyler in 5 years??? I think the best part of the picture is the worried looks on the older 3 girls' faces.

Morgan, Elaena, and Afton kept the party going at the Ginos' house by constantly entertaining at the piano. Here's a picture and following is a video.

Freida....our lifesaver! She just took Sadie when we got to Kingman and we basically didn't have to take care of her until we came home 10 days later! Brian's sister came with us to San Diego so she could go on a blind date with a family friend of mine (Brian Schroeder). Freida won't share details, so we can't report on the date, sorry.

We went as a family to see a living nativity presented by a church in the San Diego area. It was cold, but Sadie stayed comfy! Thank heavens for the Maternity Fast Pass! All 15 of us got to skip the 2 1/2 hour line because Courtney is 8+ months pregnant! They saw her and sent us all to the front of the line!

Morgan's most anticiapted (yet, anti-climactic) event of the trip to San Diego was a ride in Papa's "trailer bike." Here she and Elaena are waiting anxiously to climb in and go for a ride.

We all went to dinner and boy, were we a lively bunch! Here's Damma Ginos with Sadie.

Morgan wrapped all of the gifts to her cousins "all biden mineself!" I think she should work at the gift wrapping booth at the mall next Christmas!

Here's Sadie Ladie on Christmas morning, just relaxing in her jammies.

Morgan accepted the great undertaking of unwrapping ALL the family's gifts. THANKS to everyone for the great Christmas! We are excited to bring it back from AZ someday soon and enjoy it!

Here's Morgan and Aunt Shelles. I don't think we ever got a picture of Michelle and Morgan both looking at the camera.

Saturday, December 27. We got packed up and in the car by 5:30 a.m., prepared for another LONG day home to Denver. 6:05 a.m., all the plans changed. Ever heard the phrase "Deer in the headlights"??? It's real! And, the terrible thing about it is there is no avoiding it! So, we are in limbo, waiting to find out the fate of our Honda Pilot. In fact, I just got off the phone with the insurance adjuster and we likely won't know what they will be doing (totaling it or repairing it) until next Monday!

So, we found flights the day of, for only $100 each! Needless to say, we needed to get back home, so we headed to the airport. This is one time that I am grateful for delayed flights! It took almost 2 hours to get over the Hoover Dam! We left 4 1/2 hours before our flight was supposed to leave and would have missed it, had it not been delayed 40 minutes. We literally walked through security (which, by the way, if you book one-way flights the day of, they have to hand search ALL your bags) and 5 minutes later, we were boarding our plane.

So, as this year is coming to an end, we are grateful for the blessing of family and friends. Everyone has been such wonderful support to help us out. And, we are especially fortunate we weren't hurt. Only the deer and the car.

Read the quote at the top of our blog again.

(Under where it says "the boring family")

We were expecting a nice wedding for my sister: Then, a nice Christmas:

And time with family:We got all that, plus a bonus adventure! Life happened!

We left for home today by car. We're coming home via airplane. About 45 minutes into our travels this morning, we hit a deer. And, the policeman said to Brian, "You didn't pick a small one!" (For all you hunters, it was a 4-pointer) Needless to say, IT picked us. So, we'll keep you posted on details. We're all okay, and we we're flying home instead. Morgan was so excited to lay down for naptime because we told her we would go on an airplane after!

When we get back to Denver, we'll figure it all out. I've always wanted to drive a little Kia Rio with no power steering and no power locks in the Denver snow!

So, life's what happens when you're busy making other plans.

Mommy's Helper

Mommy: Morgan, where did all the toys go??

Morgan: Sadie wants to play.

Need I say more?

For "Damma"

Here's Morgan's contribution to the Christmas Tree this year. She thought everyone needed gifts under the tree. (I don't have anything under the tree this year because I requested a new microwave, and it's already installed).
I asked Morgan who the gifts were for and at first she wouldn't tell, but then she revealed that there is one for Mommy, one for Daddy, one for Sadie, and one for Morgan. I hope mine is the...Lego box!!! Oh, Brian helped with the "bows" on top.

Christmas Parties

It's that time of year again. Time for Christmas Parties and, along with them, silly party games. Here's Brian's artwork. Look at it first, and after you've come to your own conclusions about what it's supposed to be, I'll tell you at the end.

Here's the artist in action!

"Well, I think it looks like..."

The final product. Can you find: a christmas tree, a star on top of the tree, a present under the tree and an ornament on the tree? Good luck!

Baby Boy Ben Coming After Christmas!!

Well, that's what Afton says when she's referring to her soon-to-be brother. Courtney, here's a sneek peak of the blanket. Just remember, I secretly want to keep it because it's so dang cute! Here's Morgan, modeling it for me to take a picture.

Sadie's Getting Bigger

This post is just for our sweet angel, Sadie. Despite being almost 17 lbs. (actual weight: 16 lbs, 12.5 oz) at her 4 month check up (translation: a LOAD to carry around!), she is such a doll and we're so lucky to have Sadie in our family.

Here's Sadie sleeping in the swing.

This week, I discovered that Sadie is ticklish. The best spot is the bottom of her rib cage. Don't you just love her laugh???

Blog Backgorund Troubles

So, I've quizzed a bunch of people about how to change my blog background and Ashlyn and Tiffany even sent me instructions, which I, apparently, am too dumb to follow because I could never get it to work just right. Today, I am smart enough!
I found a website, Simply Chic Blogs and found a cute background, AND I got it to work! If you're looking for cute backgrounds, check this site out!

Oh, and if you can't tell, I'm into the polka-dot theme these days! Morgan's pajamas, t-shirts, Sadie's outfits, and now my blog!

"If she wasn't so dang cute!"

That's what a lady said to me when I took a sccreaming Morgan into the hall today. But, then she praised me by saying, "Way to stick with it, Mom!"

You know it must be cold in your house when...

...you walk into the bathroom and see your two year-old like this:It's been pretty chilly the past couple of days and the HIGH in our house is lower than the LOWEST temperature I saw on the thermostat at my parents' in San Diego last week!

Morgan figured out that the hot air was coming out of the vent. I walked into my bathroom, only to see her content to squat over the warmer air. I guess she was a little cold before she got into the tub!

We Made it Home!!

And, I LOVE Brian!

When I left on Thursday, the kitchen looked like this:

When I came home today, it looked like this:

Thank you, Alie and Tyler for getting married!! I haven't even used it yet, but I love my new microwave and can't wait to pass the old one on to you!

Oh, and by the way, here are a few pictures from our trip. BTW, Dad--the airport was EMPTY today! We were checked in and through security in under 10 minutes.

Sadie, sleeping on the plane.

Auntie Logan and Sadie, playing on the floor.

Sadie has discovered real food (my mom fed her like 5 grains of spanish rice at the restaurant). She thinks it's quite tasty!

Here's Sadie and Kaden, her future hubby. Kaden is 6 weeks and Sadie is 4 months. Now that all the adults know we're arranging marriages for our daughters, just keep it on the DL so they don't object when they're older! We'll make them think they fell in love on their own!

Here's Mackenzie, Sadie, Lauren, and Kaden. Lauren and I have been best friends since we were 9 and it's been so fun to have babies together this time around! This is Lauren's first. Even though we live in different states, we always have great times together!

I'm So Proud of Myself!!!

For all of you that don't know, I went to San Diego for the weekend, because my little sister, Alex, received her endowment. She's getting married to Tyler in December. Long story short, I'm still here. But, because I'm still here, I got to do something that I thought was really cool!

S0, Alex, even though you could have done this in 5 minutes or less, I spent about 2 hours. But, I'm so proud of myself, because I learned how to photoshop! Here's the final product. I hope you like it!

As for the rest of the pictures of my trip (well, the pictures of Sadie), I'm still not home yet, so I will upload those when I return to Denver this evening (hopefully).