Life Style of the Rich and Famous

Our gym has yoga classes, but then it also offers the "elite" yoga classes. There is an area called the Life Studio that does more hands on yoga and pilates. It is all mahogany wood, with rice paper shades, candles around the room and a much more pleasant atmosphere than the sterile and sometimes smelly regular studios. For $15 you can join a class of about 10-15 people at the Life Studio and receive more individual direction.

Our gym was offering a free trial class so of course I was going to take advantage of that. When I showed up, I found out the regular teacher for that time slot had left the gym. Apparently he had a big following so most of the students left with him. The sub was a lady who normally teachers during the day. Because of these events I ended up being the only one there so I got a private lesson. It was INCREDIBLE and so much fun!!! She was able to get me correctly into all the poses and give me some good hints/pointers. I got one of the best yoga workouts I've ever had. As we are doing these poses one one one in this beautiful studio, I felt like a rich movie star with my own personal trainer. If I really was a rich movie star with my own personal trainer, I bet I could have the same body as them! Or at least close...

Ready or Not, Here I Come

Morgan is supposed to transition into the Pre-Kindergarten class on Monday. To help the kids with the transition, they were in that classroom for a while on Wednesday. Apparently Ms. Theresa (the Pre-K teacher) told Mark that Morgan would be starting in their room now. When I went to drop her off, I found out that that was not true. She was supposed to be in her regular preschool class until Monday. The kids are only visiting the Pre-K for a few hours here and there, just to get them acclimated to the new class.

Morgan started to cry because she was really, really looking forward to moving up. Ms. Adrian (other Pre-K teacher) told her she could stay in her room if she wanted. So Morgan went up to Ms. Maria (Preschool teacher) and told her that Ms. Adrian said she could move up and she would be in the Pre-K class now. Then she marched down the hall to the Pre-K class, sat down with the other girls. As I left, I saw the older girls asking her something and Morgan replying with a big nod and a proud look on her face.

Mark got the evening report that she did a fine job and was keeping up with the kids that are about to enter Kindergarten in one week.

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My

I was holding out on posting this because April has all the pictures from our camping trip. Since she has company this week, it looks like it will be awhile before I get the pics. I'll have to post those later.

This weekend we went camping with the neighbors. They bought the same camper as we have, so we were helping them on their maiden voyage. We went up to Fredrick near Pine. When we arrived at the campsite the camp host warned us that bears have been coming into the campsite. When their is bright sun and loud people all around you, this news isn't so disconcerning. However, when it's night time and you hear loud stomping around your site followed by snorting the news is a bit more disconcerning. What was worse was this noise was followed by the camper shaking from side to side a couple of times, more stomping and then loud banging on the dumpsters three sites down. Needless to say, I was pretty scared. Meanwhile, Mark and Morgan were snoring away and my brave, brave guard dog was whimpering quietly. I at least expected her to give us some warning/help!

Besides the exciting bear encounter, we all had a great time. There was a really cool rock formation behind our campsite where people had taken logs and wedged them betwen the rocks as balance beams. The kids had a great time climbing all over this. We visited it three times. We also took the kids and dogs for a hike along the stream. It's amazing how well kids can hike when there is a group of them egging each other on.

I think April and Tim love their camper as much as we love ours. It makes camping so much easier and more enjoyable. Plus it's better at keeping out bears than a tent!

Fun at the Fair

We took Morgan to the County Fair after work this evening. Morgan was a bit excited. We usually have to coax her to put her hands up to get stamped or wrist banded when we go places. As soon as shee saw that wrist band, her little hand was up in the booth before I could say a word.

The fair itself was quiet disappointing. Besides the rides and one small building of animals, there was nothing else there. Good thing the admission cost included unlimited rides. We sure got our money's worth out of that. I think Morgan rode every single ride she was big enough for except one - a big boat that swung back and forth. She said it was too high for her. Many rides she did twice - like the roller coaster. She was extremely disappointed that she couldn't ride the bumper cars yet.

We have one sneaky little girl. She was riding a boat ride that was in real water. I was watching her and could tell that she wanted to touch the water. The whole time she was keeping her eye on the guy running the ride, then she shifted to the other side of the boat so he couldn't see her hand. Next thing you know, plop into the water went her hand as quick as could be, with her eyes never leaving the guy. Tricky-tricky.

There was also a kids Mutton Bust'in competition that any kid could sign up for. Morgan really wanted to do this, that is until she saw the first couple of kids do it. For those who don't know, Mutton Bust'in is kids lying on the top of sheep and holding on for dear life as the sheep runs across a corral. She pretty much thought it was a crazy, why on earth would anyone do this, type thing.

As you can tell from the pictures, attendance wasn't exactly high tonight.

Mystery Flower

While weeding our garden awhile back, I pulled something out that appeared to be something that didn't belong. Basically, I never remembered planting this plant. My mom pointed out that this was a bulb and probably something that we wanted to keep, so I put it back in the ground. It recently bloomed. Obviously it's some type of lilly, but I have no clue what kind this is. Anybody know?

Little Ms. Modest

We were driving to school when we drove by two guys running without shirts on. Morgan comments "Boys should not go outside naked". So I told her that sometimes boys get hot and take their shirts off and that is OK. To which replied "Well, people don't want to see that!" This coming from a girl who would be naked 24/7 if she could be.

Watch Your Language

We consider ourselves to be pretty conservative parents. Morgan must wear her helmet even when she is just riding her tricycle, she doesn't watch much tv - maybe three hours a week, we don't let her see any thing that is too scary (definetely no spiderman, harry potter and such at this age for her), she has never had gum or soda, and we want the Bratz dolls to stay out of our house. So we were pretty surprised to learn that she is getting in trouble for her language with other parents and teachers.

Have you ever heard the response to "guess what?" as "chicken butt"? We have been answering Morgan with "chicken butt" forever. Well we found out Madison's parents don't want her to say that. How about "bootie" when referring to ones bottom? As in "shake your bootie". Another one parents and teachers don't appreciate. And the final one (that we know about) that Morgan is not supposed to use at school is "what the heck". Even though the way she says it is so cute and Mark and I have no problem with it, we've had to explain to her that she is not supposed to say those things at school or around friends.

I guess this is one issue where we give her more leeway than most!

A Day at the Neighbors

Today we spent the day at our neighbors Tim, Jodi and Madison's house. Our golf course was hosting the US Amateur Public Links Championship so they were having a viewing party in their backyard. I can't believe how many people were following around the golfs in 100 degree weather. It was crazy.

Madison and Morgan were the only kids at the party but they had fun. Madison has a slip and slide and watching the girls attempt to use it was hilarious. They would only go down on their stomachs when Tim had them Superman and then chucked the down. Otherwise the girls would just run through it and plop down on their butts at the end.

Morgan was playing so well and there weren't any melt downs so we stayed at their house pretty late. In the evening, the girls settled down with some Barney. I checked in on them and Morgan looked completely like a complete zombie. I asked her if she was ready to go home. The girl who still throws a complete fit over half the time we need to leave someone's house, nodded her head, got up and said goodbye to Madison and proceeded to walk out the door. She was done.

Favorite Age (Again)

Can I just say that this is my favorite age with Morgan. I know I said that last year, but I have to say it again. I'm sure each new year will be a new favorite age, that is, probably, until she turns 13. It's amazing all the new things she does/say the older she gets. She is so fun to be around.

She's alway really been into games, but now that she's older, she able to play more. Tonight we started to play the classic cards games. She got some Dora cards for her birthday and we busted those out and played Old Maid and Go Fish. She doesn't play her own hand yet. First she has to be able to hold all the cards in her hand at once. But she helps Mark or I play our hands. She's got the knack of the games pretty fast and Go Fish is really helping her with her numbers. Up until now she really hasn't cared about identifying numbers (She can recognize up to 6 but then gets confused). I swear I had to tell her a dozen times that yes, that is indeed still an "8". But she is having a great time and so are Mark and I.

Newest Discovery

I am having way too much fun with all these internet blogging options. My latest discovery is this neat website that allows you to make digital scrapbooks. You can find them at Scrapblog . Use the arrows to view all the pages. Enjoy!

Count and Cook

Morgan has a new favorite game. She got it for her birthday and I think we have played it every day since. It's from Cranium and is called Count and Cook. There are food disks that you place on the playing board. You pick a recipe from the cookbook. Then you move your chef around the board. When you land on a food you need from the recipe you put it in the book. There are star disks that allow you to pick any food and put it in the recipe. She thinks this is just hilarious. She thought it was a hoot when Mark added tomatos to our chocolate chip cookies. It's a very simple game but she has such fun with it. Plus it helps them learn what kind of ingredients go into different foods. The expanded directions say that you can make up your own recipes too so it can grow with her.

I love the Cranium products!

The Aftermath

Morgan woke up today and the first thing she said was "That was so much fun". The second thing she said was, "Can I look at my presents". I don't think she fully got to appreciate her gifts yesterday amongst all the chaos. All the gifts had been put back in their gift bags yesterday, so she re-unwrapped everything one by one. She received so many wonderful things and she wanted to play with everything. First we needed to go to church. With all our camping and other activities, it had been a while. She was actually excited to leave her toys and go. When we got back her number one thing to do was use her "Make a Sundae" kit. It has four really cute bowl that look like cones and matching cone patterned spoons. She really like putting all the toppings on and making one for each of us.


After that we had to head outside to play with all the really neat bug stuff Uncle Matt got her. Between his stuff and Baba and Gigi's stuff, she was in heaven. We caught and examined a white spider, ants, some bugs I have no clue what they were, and big huge grasshoppers that have taken over the Lambs Ear. The grasshoppers were her favorite.

She also really enjoyed the singing birthday card from Uncle Matt (he did REAL good this year - just like all the other years!) I swear we heard that song a hundred times and she would laugh just as hard on the last time as the first.

She played and played all day with all the new stuff. It was a great way to decompress after yesterday.

We Survived

Today was Morgan's birthday party and what a party it was. We ended up having 15 kids and I don't know how many adults ranging from family, friends and her old teacher Ms. Toyia. Morgan was so excited to share her gymnastic school with everyone. At first, Laura, who's in kindergarden announced that she was too old and would just watch. I think it only took her five minutes before she was joining right in. Even Hannah, the oldest wanted to to participate.

Klayton, Kaitlynn, Emma, Emily, Caleb, Connor, Kaylor, Laura, Hannah, Taralynn, Kaitlynn and Morgan (missing from pic: Madison, Emma and Gavin)

They started out on the floor doing streaches and warming up. The two coaches brought out a parachute and the kids bounced stuffed animals off it and hid under it. The coaches did a great job keeping everyone enaged and changing up the activities. They moved the kids from area to area - doing floor obstacles, then the uneven bars, then the rock wall and trampoline and then a giant slide. Even the adults were having a great time. It was cake time before we knew it.

Klayton, Morgan, Taralynn

Morgan had a Barbie cake. A real Barbie doll was put in the center and the cake was cut to look like her dress. Pretty cake to look at, but a real challenge to cut. Instead of cutting the cake, I ended up carving it like a turkey! The smart kids picked the cupcakes we had since they were ready faster than the cake.

Following cake it was present mayhem. I don't think mayhem even properly describes the situation. It was pure craziness. I alway debate on whether to open the presents at the party or not. The kids enjoy seeing what everyone got, but boy is it a headache. Kids were throwing presents at her, some trying to open their own, others grabbing at the things open, Morgan barely has time to look at a present and the next one is being thrusted at her. She held up quite well despite the circumstance and did a good job thanking everyone.

For party favors we handed out hula hoops. Those went over extremely well. I was like meat in a shark tank the way those kids swarmed for the hoops.

Within 10 minutes of leaving the party, Morgan was fast asleep. Too bad we couldn't too!

For more pictures see the link on the right.

Gone Baby Gone

I was goofing around with Morgan and said "Oh I'm so sad. My baby is gone. You aren't my little baby anymore". To which she replied "Nope. Not anymore" and then she thought about it for a second and added "but I can still be your kid. I'll always be your kid".

Other Side Notes:
Morgan brought cupcakes to school today. When they started to sing Happy Birthday to her, she threw a fit. Why? Because it wasn't her birthday anymore so they shouldn't sing. I've since explained to her that they will be singing to her at her birthday party too. I didn't want that to be another tantrum experience.

What Morgan wants to be when she grows up: A real Princess living in Disneyland. But she's not going to live with any boys (princes).

Happy 4th Birthday Morgan

I can not believe that Morgan turns 4 today. People tell you that kids grow up too fast, but you can't fully appreciate how true that is until you wake up and sudden your little baby has suddenly turned into a preschooler. I couldn't be prouder of the person she has become. While she's strong-willed, stubborn and can be quite the drama queen; she is also hilarious, compassionate, and smart. So happy birthday buggaboo. We love you so much!

How Things Change at Four Per Morgan

1. My shoes don't fit anymore (in reality they do)

2. I grew tons over night

3. I can't be carried anymore

4. No more lullabyes at night

5. I'll be five tomorrow

How We Celebrated

I took off work today to spend the day with Morgan. First we headed to the bookstore where I read her every Princess, My Little Pony and Fancy Nancy books in the whole store. Then we went to the movie theater to see Kit Kittridge (American Girl). This was the first movie that she sat through the whole thing without getting scared. It was a cute movie. Some of it was probably over her head, but she seemed to enjoy it. Next it was off to the grocery store to pick up cupcakes for her school. She fell asleep on the way home and napped for almost an hour in the car.

When Mark got home she opened presents. At first she acted odd about her camera, but then she couldn't put the thing down. She also got some Fancy Nancy dress up clothes from Baba and Gigi which she loved and a Dora Hop On which she hopped on all over the house - and hopped off all over the house. She was laughing so hard.

For dinner we went to her favorite restuarant - Old McDonalds (aka McDonalds). She took her camera into McDonalds. I was a little worried what people would think since she was going up to all the kids in the playland and asking if she could take their pictures. Hopefully not too many parents got concerned.

Then she had her swim lesson. Her normal teacher was on vacation so their was a guy filling in. I don't know what was going on, but her and the other two girls in her class refused to get in the water because they "didn't want a boy teaching them". One girl finally got in about 10 minutes in to class. The second girl left. Morgan finally got in 15 minutes (or half way) into class. Of course she had fun once she was in.

I think she had a great, fun birthday.

Party Like A Rock Star

Morgan spent the night at Grammie's while Mark and I headed up to the Greeley Stampede with Sara and James. Why would we be going to the Stampede you may ask. Oddly enough Poison was playing in concert that night. Yes, the glam rock band from the 80's.

Poison Then

Poison Now

The concert attendees were a very ecliptic group - young, old, guys with real mullets, guys wearing mullet wigs, people dressed conservatively, people dressed, ummm, not so conservatively. It was an interesting crowd. But when the lights went down, we all had one thing in common - the desire to rock out to Poison. And did we! The concert was awesome. Nothing like flashing back to your teenage years.

After the concert we went to a local bar where C.C. Deville was hosting an after party. Luckily our hotel was only a block away so we could walk to the bar. We would have much rather seen Bret Michaels, but his after party was in a different town and we were not up for driving. Not a good sign when the band doesn't put in an appearance together after the concert. The bar was a mad house. We got our pic, he signed my Ed Hardy shirt (he even told me "Cool shirt") and then we were out of that crazy place.

The picture was taken on Mark's camera phone in a dark bar, so it's not the best, but it's better than nothing.

4th of July Fun

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great one with lots of fun activities. During the day, we took Morgan swimming at the Fitness Club. We bought her swimming goggles for her swim lessons and she loves those things. She was dunking herself all the way under the water with those things on. She's come such a long way from the girl who would scream because her ears would get wet in a bath.

After swimming, we went over to the Moore's house for some BBQ festivities. Hannah and Caleb were playing baseball and Morgan was watching intensely. She plays T-ball at home, but hasn't tried to swing at a moving target before. She decided she wanted to try - and without any help. Now Morgan isn't the most athletic. She's very good at gymnastics, but isn't the best runner or most agile one out there. It's taken her several months to get good at riding a biking, so I was thinking this wasn't going to go well. She fooled me! She made contact with that ball during each of her turns. Towards the end, she was hitting the ball four times in a row. I was very impressed.
When it got dark, we headed down to the Town Hall for the firework show. Morgan does not like loud noises so we prepared her. Once the show started, she had her hands over her ears. I thought she might be scared, but then she started talking about how the multi-colored ones were her favorite. The show was quite impressive and lasted about 25 minutes.

Morgan was asleep before we even left the parking lot.

Eddie, Morgan and Caleb

We are SO going to have to keep an eye on these two when they get older!!

Our baseball bunch

Don't Try and Pull One Over on Her

After handing out all the birthday invitations last week, there is still one taped to a cubbie. Morgan's friend Ashley's (yes the infamous Ashley from the threesome drama) mom has not yet taken the invite home. Morgan has been very concerned with this and has told Ashley a couple of times that she needs to make sure her mom gets the invite. Obviously, Ashley's mom has no intention of going to the party, but the least she could do is take the invite down. She forgets who she is dealing with.

This morning, Morgan decided to take the matter into her own hands. She saw Ashley's mom leaving and ran after her shouting "You need to take the invitation home." Her mom stops, turns around to look at Morgan with a puzzled look. "The thing taped, to Ashley's cubbie, it's an invitation to my birthday party. You need to take it home." Her mom replied "Oh, OK. I will".

Way to take things into her own hands!