Bidding Farewell to 2014

What a great year 2014 has been.  We have had many adventures and fun times together as a family.  Probably our biggest adventure this year was our big road trip to South Dakota in June.  This trip was so fun that we are already wanting to go back!  

Logan has grown so much this year.  He has learned to walk and talk and copy everything he sees and hears.  He has his own little personality and knows what he wants in life.  Logan started going to Nursery this year and he loves it. In fact he leaves us after Sacrament Meeting and goes to Nursery by himself.  Logan thinks he is as big as everyone else and is not afraid to try things.  He is learning so much and can already say his ABC's and identify O, Q, S, M, and B.  He is not even 2 yet!

Colby is also getting so big!  He loves Spiderman and playing outside on his bike or scooter.  Colby is a very routine oriented child.  He likes things to happen a certain way or he lets you know what's up.  We always have nap time or quiet time after lunch everyday.  The other day Colby finished his lunch, told me he wanted marshmallows for his nap snack and then went to lay down.  I didn't even tell him to.  By the time I got his marshmallows, he was already asleep.  He put himself down for a nap!  I couldn't help but laugh.  Colby is also learning a lot.  He can write his name and knows all of his alphabet.  He even knows most of his numbers up to 10.  Emily's kindergarten teacher was very impressed with him and told me that many kindergartners don't know those things when they come to kindergarten.  That made me feel better because Colby has his own mind and teaching him has been a lot different than Emily.  In order for Colby to cooperate with learning, it has to be his idea and then he can learn so fast but if I try and force him he will not do it at all.  It is amazing how each child is different.

Emily is now 6 which means she is all grown up (in her eyes).  She started Kindergarten this year and absolutely loves school.  Emily is one of the top in her class and helps the other kids learn as well.  She loves playing with her friend, Brielle, and these two girls have so much fun together.  Emily also loves to read and is on a first grade level.  By the end of first grade the kids should be on level 18 in the leveled reading program and Emily is already on level 15 and she is in Kindergarten.  She has also picked up on Math really quickly too.  Emily makes friends really easily and every time I go help in her class the kids ask me if Emily can come over to their house for a play date.  I am glad she is doing so well.

Russell started back to school this year.  He originally was planning on going into the RN program but then switched to Emergency Management.  He has learned a lot about homeland security, management of an EMS agency and more.  He is doing really well and has gotten A's so far.  With all of his training at the Fire Department, he was able to receive his Associates of Fire Science degree from UVU.  Russell has also started testing at different fire agencies again and recently scored very well with the Logan City Fire Department.  He ranked third overall which is awesome.  We are still waiting to hear back from the chief but it is looking good.  Who knows we might be moving to Logan... Brrr!

I have also been busy with everything.  I looked back on the goals I made for 2014 and I am sad to say that I don't think I did very well on accomplishing them...  I did really well for the first half of the year but then the summer and vacations, and holidays and birthdays all seemed to distract me.  Well I hope to do better next year.  One thing I feel I was successful in this year was getting back into shape and working out and running.  I was able to accomplish one bucket list goal of running a half marathon.  I have really enjoyed getting back into running and I like feeling healthy while I am running and afterward.  Another big change in my life this year was being released from being Primary President and being called to the Relief Society Presidency.  This was a big shocker to me and it took a while to adjust but I am adjusting.  I still feel very inadequate but I am trying.

Well we had a great year in 2014 and are looking forward to more adventures in 2015.  Some of the things we have to look forward to are: a wedding for Traci in May, a new baby for Jess in June, and a possible mission call for Tyler.  2015 is looking like a good year.

Here is a little teaser of what is to come in 2015.  Yep, snow!  It snowed on New Year's Eve and through the night so when we woke up, the first day of 2015 we played in the snow.  

Goodbye 2014!

Climbing to the Top of the World

After a fun Christmas celebration, we wanted to take it easy and just get out and do something.  We decided to go play Laser Tag and hike around on the Red Hill.  It had been so long since I played Laser Tag I had forgotten how fun it was.  We went with Jen, Rick, Paul and Alex, Sean and Traci, Tyler, Robert, and we brought Emily too.  I wasn't sure how Emily would do in the dark with shooting noises but she had a blast.  She was even pretty good because she was small enough to hide from the lasers.  We all had a good time even though Robert and Sean killed us all.

We all headed up to the Red Hill afterward to enjoy the scenery and the climb to the top of the world.  The boys fell asleep in the van on the way there so I volunteered to stay with them (so I could take a nap too!).  Russell took Emily up to the top of the Dixie rock so she could see the whole world.

She loved looking out over the city and seeing everything.  Emily even became a pretty good climber once she got her confidence up.  When the boys woke up we all hiked around and became mountain climbers.

Even Logan took to the rocks like a pro.  Emily and Colby love playing with Paul and Alex and try to do everything they do.  They had a good time chasing each other on the rocks and hiding in little caves they found.  We really need to do this more often.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!  We really had a great Christmas this year and it felt like we celebrated for a full week rather than just one day.  It was nice to be around family and celebrate the Savior's birth.

We began our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve at my parent's house.  There we had dinner and then acted out the Nativity story.

We got the little play from this month's Friend magazine and each of the kids had parts to memorize.  They did a great job.

Grandma Morwood and Janet gave each of the kids a present so we got a picture of the grandkids with Grandma.  She is 96 in this picture.

We then went home and did some of our own traditions.  First we open one present:

New Christmas pajamas!  I was able to make these pajamas this year.  They are of things the kids like.  Emily's are Frozen, Colby's are Spiderman, and Logan's are doggies.  I love how they turned out and so do the kids.

Then we each wrote our note to Santa.  Emily asked for a doll, Colby wanted a remote control car and Root Beer, and Logan just scribbled on the paper.  I'm sure Santa knows what that means.

The next morning was Christmas!  Unfortunately Russell had to work at 8 am so we got the kids up bright and early at 5:30 to open presents.  They were tired by excited at the same time.  Emily was shaking because she was so excited!

Logan was so fun to watch.  He loved opening presents.  He liked his motorcycle from Santa and will not let Colby ride it at all. His favorite gift by far though was his remote control Thomas the Train.  He loves that thing and has played with it and taken it everywhere we go ever since.  Trains are his favorite thing right now.  Everything is a choo-choo train, even semi-trucks. 

Colby got everything he wanted and more.  He loved his remote control truck and drove it all morning.  Then the bad news happened...  He drove it down the stirs at Grandma's house and the wheel broke off.  He was so sad.  Luckily Santa left the receipt just in case and we were able to return it a few days later and get a new red truck.  He loves this truck too.  Colby even got the Root Beer he requested.  This kid loves root beer and since we hardly ever buy it, Colby decided he better ask Santa for some.  Well Santa brought the good stuff, Henry Wienharts!  Colby was so happy.  He also got his own scriptures and a scripture bag to go to Primary with now that he is in Sunbeams!  And his own little computer to help him learn even more.  

Emily had a good Christmas too.  Her big gift was an American Girl doll.  She loves it so much and has named her Emma.  Emily is always asking to use my camera to take pictures so she also received her own digital camera.  She has taken so many pictures and most of them are pretty good.  It is funny to hear her with her camera as she is trying to get us to pose or look at the camera for a picture.  I really hope I don't sound like that but I probably do because where else would she have learned it...  I made a bunch of doll clothes to fit Emma including an Elsa dress to match Emily's Halloween costume and pajamas to match Emily's as well.  She also got a bunch of books to read and a new journal to write in.

Russell and I also had a good Christmas.  It was so much fun to see the kids light up when they saw their gifts.  They were so excited and that is what totally made our day.  Russell did surprise me with a Garmin watch.  This watch is so awesome!  When I wear it running it tracks my progress, tells me how many miles I have gone, my pace for each mile, and even how many calories I have burned.  I am still learning a lot about how to use it but it is so fun to see my progress.  I also received a food dehydrator so I don't have to keep borrowing my mom's.  Russell wanted a new fishing pole so he could take the kids fishing so he got that and of course new SOCKS!  He also received a new Leatherman from Emily because she told me he needed one.

We had a great Christmas at our house.  After our traditional breakfast of eggs and muffins, Russell had to head to work.  The rest of us just chilled and watched Planes and took a nap!  Then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's to give them their gifts and make the rounds.

This year for gifts for our parents and the Bassett's we gave them personalized puzzles we made off of Shutterfly.  These puzzles are so cool.  All we had to do was upload whatever picture or pictures we wanted to Shutterfly and then they turned then into a 250 piece puzzle.  We made one for us too and it was so fun putting it together because it was our faces we were piecing together.

I have to get this in writing... It snowed on Christmas Day in St. George this year!!!  OK so it was just a few little flurries and nothing stuck to the ground but hey, it snowed!

After hanging out with my family and having dinner and celebrating Christmas, we headed over to the Farnsworth's when Russell got off work.  Jen, Rick and their family came down a day early because a storm was coming in and they didn't want to get caught in it.  It was fun to see them again and meet our new nephew, James.

Here are all of the grandkids, except James, playing with Uncle Tyler.  

Because some people had to work on Christmas Eve and Day, and we didn't think Jen and Rick were coming down so early, we decided to have Christmas a day later.  So we treated the actual Christmas Day like Christmas Eve.  So that night we acted out the Nativity.  Emily was Mary and Alex was Joseph, Russell was the donkey, and of course baby James was Baby Jesus.

I love this picture!  I think it looks so sweet how Mary and Joseph are looking at the baby Jesus.  It was just one of those perfect moment pictures!

We also had the Three Wise Men (which were more like three wise guys) bringing gifts. Traci and Annalynn made perfect angels as Traci carried in Baby Jesus and Annalynn brought the star.  Paul was a great innkeeper and Colby and Logan were the shepherds.

And here are all of the grand kids, including James, in their new Christmas pajamas from Grandma.

The next day we celebrated Christmas at the Farnsworth's house.  We got to open more presents but most of all the kids got to play with their cousins that they don't get to see often.  

During some down time, I brought out some Gingerbread men for the kids to decorate.  They had a good time and loved eating the cookies afterward.  I had to tell them to hold on so that I could get a picture before they ate their men.

We are a crazy bunch when we get together with the Farnsworth's.  But we sure have fun.  We played a lot of games including The Candy Bar Game, Spit on Your Neighbor, Quelf, and a new game we got for Christmas, Telestrations.  It is so fun.  This game is a combination of Pictionary and Telephone.  We had a blast playing it so Traci bought the 12 player version of the game as well.  We also played Laser Tag and hiked the Red Hill.  

This was a fun Christmas Season spent with family.  It is so nice to have family close by and definitely a blessing.

I had to throw this picture in too.  As I said before, I made Emma an Elsa dress like Emily's so here they are modeling their matching dresses.  I love it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

'Tis the Season for Parties

That's right, 'tis the season for Christmas parties and this week was full of them!  We started out on Friday (19th) with Emily's Kindergarten Class Party.  This party was so fun but so simple.  I remembered to take pictures this time.   We started out by playing Christmas Bingo.  All of the kids had fun getting three in a row and they liked the stickers they won as prizes.

Then we made a fun craft.  We made candy cane reindeer.  It was so funny to see how all of the kids made their reindeer look different from each other by bending the antlers different ways.  They all turned out cute though.   

I saved the Olaf I made for Emily's Frozen birthday just for this party.  Russell helped all of the kids play Pin the Nose on Olaf.  They loved it and wanted to keep playing over and over.  

Finally in our last game, we got to build snowmen:

Oaklee, Justin, and Noah made great snowmen and all of the other kids had a blast "building" them.  Everyone was laughing so hard as they wrapped their snowman in toilet paper.  To top it off, we gave each snowman black coal buttons, mittens and a hat, and we couldn't forget the carrot nose!  The snowmen turned out so cute.  At the end we all sang "Once there was a Snowman" and when we sang "In the sun he melted" all of the snowmen burst out of their paper.  The whole class laughed.  End with cookies and we had the perfect party.  It was a really fun party.

Saturday (20th) was our annual Morwood Christmas Party.  This party is always fun because we get to see cousins we haven't seen for a long time.  After dinner of soup, we act out the Nativity.  This year Emily was an angel and Colby was a Shepherd.

My mom wanted to get a picture of all of the grandkids so here it is.  They were so cooperative! (not.) Anyway, this year they showed a slide show of all of the Morwood Christmas parties we have had from 1989 to 1996.  It was so awesome!  I loved seeing all of the old pictures and seeing how much younger we all looked.  It was fun to have a little flashback and remember all of the old traditions and memories.

As always, Santa visited us and gave each of the kids a present.  There were no tears this year from my kids when Santa came; they knew the drill.  Logan was so funny this year.  He was not quite sure about this Santa guy.  Then Colby got called up first and got a present.  That is when Logan realized that this guy gave you a present!  When his name was called, Logan ran right up to him and sat on his lap.  

The kids got Water Wow books from Santa this year.  They love them and will color with them for hours.  They are perfect for church.  You fill the special pen with water and then let them go to town coloring on the special pages.  The white pages turn colors and reveal fun pictures when they get wet.  When the pages dry, they turn back to white and can be colored again.  We love these books.  Thanks Santa!

Even at 27, Clint still gets a present from Santa though I wonder if Santa really checked his naughty and nice list twice on this one.  Clint's girlfriend Haley must have also been good enough to get a gift from Santa too.  This was a fun party too.

The next day (Sunday the 21st) Jess and Danny took us on a fun hayride through Hurricane.

Finally yesterday (22nd) we had another family Christmas party at Lacie's house.  This little Christmas party has become a new tradition of ours.  We have done it for the last 4 years.  Apparently I was told that I was in charge of it next year...

Anyway this was also such a fun party.  I could not stop laughing.  When we first arrived, we made a cute little snowman ornament out of a tea light.  I should have taken a picture on them but they were cute.  Then we had dinner and played a Christmas trivia game.  

After dinner we played a bunch of fun little games including flipping tortillas on your head, and ring toss on your head too.  We also played Bingo and Charades.  Charades was so funny.  My favorite was Clint's interpretation of Mrs. Claus which really was more like a bearded lady with big boobies!  We could not stop laughing.  Finally we had a Christmas sock exchange similar to a white elephant.  

We have really enjoyed this week with all of the fun parties we have been to.  Now we are looking forward to Christmas.

Riding in an Open Sleigh

We had such a fun Family Home Evening tonight.  Jess and Danny and their friends hitched up their horses and took us on an actual horse drawn hayride!  We rode through the streets of Hurricane looking at all of the Christmas lights and "singing" Christmas carols.  Of course since we are such a musical family, we did more looking at lights than singing.  It was so fun!

In total we filled four horse drawn wagons.  It was a little cold but as you can see we bundled up with blankets and gloves and it was just right.  Thanks Jess and Danny for the fun ride!

Christmas Decorating

We did things a little different this year for Christmas decorations.  Instead of putting all of our Hallmark ornaments on the tree, we decorated our tree with all homemade ornaments.  I really like how simple but nice it is.

The kids drew pictures of Christmas things and put their pictures on the tree.  We also made red, white, and green paper chains to wrap around the tree as garland.  Emily and Colby even put their race metals from the Run Run Reindeer on the tree as an ornament.  One fun activity we did as a family was make popcorn and cranberry garland for the tree too. 

I have always wanted to do this so this year we did it!  Each of the kids had their own needle and thread and made their own garland.  They had fun poking the cranberries and popcorn and making their own patterns.  They especially liked eating the popcorn but not so much the cranberries.  Logan's face was priceless when he bit into a cranberry.  Needless to say he spit it right out!  I think he thought it was a grape.

I love how the garland turned out and it looks so good on our tree,

Here is Emily.  She wanted to type a little bit about the popcorn and Christmas: 

"The popcorn is so good to me I like it so much it makes me want to freeze.

Funny popcorn looks different ways they look so much funny!

Jingle bells jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul with a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal.

Its starting to look a lot like Christmas when all the bells ring. I love popcorn so much!"

She is getting so smart!  I hardly helped her at all.  

Another fun Christmas decoration we did together as a family was made gingerbread houses.

These little houses were so fun to make.  We each made our own house. The kids decorated their own by choosing their own candy and showing us where to put it.  I think we ended up eating a lot more candy than should have...

Don't you think they turned out so cute!  We love them.  Colby and Logan have slowly eaten all of the candy off of their houses since we made these.  The little sneaks.  

Last weekend we had a girls craft day at my mom's house.  

My sisters and their daughters and Haley was there to make this cute Christmas craft.  Here is Emily's and mine.  I think they are so nice.  Emily says she had a lot of fun making this beautiful craft.

Our house is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  In only ten days it will be here.  This month has gone by so fast.