My girls ('cause Jackson has figured me out) are conditioned to start cleaning when I play "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. It cracks me up because I just have to put the music on and they start dancing and cleaning up the stuff of the floor. In case you were wondering why Staci only has one pigtail in her hair, she is in a terrible stage where she won't keep her hair done at all! So, that's why. Hope you enjoy this little clip!
So, if any of you don't know... Morgans LOVE Ketchup. Staci has decided that she loves ketchup the most when she can dip everything on her plate in it. The other day I gave her a hot dog and a banana and raisins for lunch. She ate the hot dog first, but then she dipped the banana and raisins in the ketchup for an extra special treat. Then, when all the food was gone and she still had ketchup left on her plate, she finished the ketchup! Yep, the above picture is Staci just licking the ketchup off her plate, but then I think it got too messy (you can see in the picture below that she had it on her forehead and nose and all around her mouth) so she decided to finish it the polite way and use her fork. Now she wants it for everything. She says "bepbup" and demands it with almost every meal. What's a Mom to do?!
| Global Personality Test Results |
| Stability (33%) moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious. Orderliness (40%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment. Extraversion (80%) high which suggests you are overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense too often of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity. |
Today I am thankful for my blessings! This little girl is one of Jackson and Natalie's best friends, Krezlyn. Her grandparents are our neighbors (their backyard connects to ours) and they watch her after school everyday. She comes over and plays with the kids all the time, and we just found out today that she was in a serious car accident, where her car was split in two, and she was thrown 130 feet and landed in a parking lot. She was sitting in a car seat, and had her seat belt on, and amazingly, she lived! Doctors told Krezlyn's parents that only 1% of people thrown that far from a car live through the accident. And actually, she is going to be okay. It will probably be a long recovery, but she will recover. When I spoke to her Grandma today, I asked her if she was up for visitors (she's going to be in the hospital for a while, and has been there a few days already) and she said she was. I took all three kids down to Primary Children's Medical Center today to visit her. I think maybe she was not quite up for visitors yet, for she could not respond or talk or move at all, and the poor thing was in head-to-toe bandages, but I know it meant a lot to her parents who were both there. When we first got there, the nurses were changing her sheets and I could hear her crying in the room. We waited outside until they said it was OK to go on in. The kids had picked out a stuffed unicorn at the store to give Krezlyn, and when they gave it to her, you could kind of see her face light up. Her mom told me that she was so sad and had been crying because they had to take away her favorite stuffed unicorn to be washed with the bedding. We showed up only 10 seconds later with a new one. I think my kids must have been inspired to pick out the unicorn, because it was nothing I would have ever picked out! I wanted to get her a toy, so she could have something to play with at the hospital, but the kids just wanted a stuffed animal. After seeing her, there was no way she could even hold a toy right now, much less play with it. So, I am thankful for the little blessings, like stuffed pink unicorns when you need them, and HUGE blessings, like seeing a friend live! I know our Heavenly Father watches over His precious children here on earth... and by children, of course I mean ALL of us!
Jackson, Brooklyn (a friend), Natalie and Krezlyn (a friend) last fall in our backyard
Some days it is easy to be patient, and others it seems like the hardest thing in the world. I told the kids this morning that if they would do a couple of little chores... and I mean little.... then I would let some friends come over to play. Boy, instead of hearing the last part of the sentence, they just didn't want to do any work! Jackson started whining and crying and telling me that I was the meanest mom in the whole wide world. He then told me that I never help them clean up. Hmmmm..... My patience is being tried today. So, what is the secret to getting children to help work? I have tried making it fun, playing music, making charts, rewards, punishments... I am just not sure what to do. Any tips?
My Dad and Staci... she was a hard baby, and he and my mom came to help me "get some sleep"
My Dad with six of his twelve grandkids 
This is my dear and wonderful friend, Anna Davies (pictured with her kids, Caleb and Emma). She is one of the strongest people I have ever met. She has been struggling with cancer for the last few years. Just a few days ago she had to have her leg amputated entirely to try and save her life. She has had the best attitude through all of these trials. She even came up with a long list of why it is better to have one leg than two... you know, like getting pedicures for half price! The main tumor was in her leg, but it has spread to a few other places in her body. They are hoping that by eliminating the main tumor, they can get the other cancer under control. I am praying that this can happen, also, and that she can go on to live a long and very active life. Keep a prayer in your heart for her if you will. She and her husband live in Texas right now, but Anna has been in Arizona for the last couple of months so she has the help and support of her family, while she is receiving intense treatments and having the surgeries. I am anxious to see her when I am down there visiting next month. There is a link to her blog on the side of mine (rick and anna) if anyone is interested in hearing about her courageous story.
...But this was only about 2 hours after we got out of the emergency room with Staci. Yesterday (Father's Day) around 9:00 in the morning, I heard Staci start crying. At first I didn't even think about it... I was making a nice Father's Day breakfast and was trying to hurry and finish so we could take it to Geoff in bed.... didn't work, but we tried. Anyway, after about 1/2 an hour I noticed that Staci was bleeding pretty badly, but acting OK. I looked in her mouth thinking maybe she bit her lip, and found that she had a huge gash in her tongue. I am assuming she fell somehow... since climbing is her FAVORITE thing to do, but since I didn't see it, I am not positive. The tongue got continually worse because she was biting it more and more (because it was bothering her, I guess) and so we took her in to the emergency room at about noon. I had heard that it is very rare to put stitches in the tongue because they close up on their own pretty quickly, and every doctor and nurse we saw at the hospital said that the tongue would probably be fine.... but once they looked at it, they all changed their mind!! Poor baby! She had to be put in a twilight sleep to have the tongue repaired. As you can see from the pictures, she is doing OK now. This was only with a little Motrin, and we haven't even given her the prescription pain killer yet, because she seems to be doing OK... in fact, she is climbing all over things again!!
A mouth full of stitches!!! (Sorry if you don't like to see things like this....but I know my Mom wants to see it! She is a nurse!)
A HAPPY BABY in spite of it all!!
Geoff is such a good daddy to Jackson, Natalie and Staci
"Papa" (my Dad) with Jackson, Natalie and cousin Susannah
We Love Grandpa Morgan!
My Grandpa Hiatt
Christa, myself and the kiddos
Those little people at the bottom of the picture are Christa and I at the Temple
I love how temples look at night! Especially this one!! 
My brother, John, has put up with a lot in his life being the only boy in the middle of a family of girls! But because he was the only brother, we all have a special place in our heart for John! He is such a kind and loving person! I love you, John! Hope you have a wonderful day!
