California Dream'n

Yeah we're Dream'n we were still there!

Morgan got to meet her new cousins. Believe it or not, Morgan is the oldest. Bode (left) is Haylee's third child and is about 20 hours younger than Morgan. Kasen (right) is Kalli's fourth child and 5 weeks younger. They had a great time playing together and while in CA. It was so fun to have my two sisters there with their babies.

While in CA we spent the day on Lake Oroville on a party boat with about 40 of Brent's family members. Brent's borther has a ski boat for tubing and wake boarding as well as the wave runner above. After a some deliberation but not much, Brent's parents were convinced to take the wave runner for a spin. Judy(68) and Paul (72) had a pretty good time and so did the kids and grandkids watching grandma freak out.
We also got to attend the wedding of my best friend from High School that was held at Lover's Point Monterey. Needless to say it was beautiful. As we enjoyed a faboulous lunch at the reception, we were able to watch dolphins jumping in the bay. I was so glad we could attend. Congrats Melissa and Sean!
While in Monterey, we took 17-mile drive to the Lone Cypress and passed Pebble Beach Golf Course. Wow I miss the beach!
We were also fortunate enough to be able to attend the finialization of the adoption of three more siblings for Brent. That makes 13. These three beautiful children have lived with Paul and Judy close to four years now. James, Jessica, and Cody, welcome to the family!
Finally the most important thing that happened on our trip to CA was blessing our sweet Morgan. We did it in my parents back yard with more than 70 people in attendance (hence the reason we didn't do it at chruch). Brent did a fantastic job and had us all in tears. Morgan was a little angel. P.S. Her mom made the blessing dress (thanks for your help Kristi) and Morgan wore her lace booties I brought back from my mission in Belgium (not pictured here).

Bath Time

Here's another video at my mother's request. Morgan loves her bath time and we always enjoy giving her one because we get lots of smiles. Enjoy!

Pretty in Pink...and green

Isn't the point of having little girls to be able to dress them up every now and then? This is one outfit we were looking forward to Morgan growing into (then again, there are a lot of outfits we look forward to being able to dress her up in). Thank you Toni Hart. Not only is Morgan smiling more and more, she is figuring out that she can make her own sounds (besides crying, which she is pretty good at). We have lots of fun talking to her and listening to her make cute little noises back. Her parents couldn't be more proud.

...a hunk, a hunk of burning love

We finally made it to Graceland. It was so exciting that Morgan slept right through the whole thing. It was actually quite interesting to learn a little more about how accomplished and generous a person Elvis was. That guy has got a hallway lined with enough gold and platinum records to build a second great wall of China. Below is a photo of Paij, Morgan, Elvis, and a hunk of burning love.

For being the King, the man certainly had some funky ideas about style and decorating. Shag carpet on the ceiling? It takes a secure man to wear an outfit with more sequins than all the stores in the greater Memphis area combined.

Another Beautiful Morning

Janne took this video when Morgan was waking up from a nap. I just can't get enough of my little smiling baby.

A weekend in Nashville

My niece, Janne, flew out to help us out with Morgan while Paij and I have conflicting school schedules this term. She flew into Nashville and so we decided to make a weekend out of it. We went to the Hard Rock cafe for dinner the night that she flew in. We told Janne to bring her fake ID (which she forgot) and we were unable to sneak her into one of the honky tonks to listen to live country music. So the Hard Rock was a back up plan.

On Sunday we went to church and toured some of the sites in Nashville. We visited the Parthenon, Bicentennial park, Bellmont Mansion, and the Gaylord Opryland hotel. The picture below is of the Parthenon. It is a to-scale replica of the one in Athens as it is believed to have been originally built.
On Monday we shopped at the Opry Mills Mall. Actually I walked laps with Morgan in the stroller while Paij & Janne shopped. Afterwards we went to the Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson. He's the guy on the $20 bill. The picture below is of he and his wife's grave.
All in all it was a great weekend. Morgan was great. We couldn't have asked for her to have behaved better. The only bad part was having to come back to Memphis.

Mud Island River Park

On Saturday we went down to the Mud Island River Park with the Eisenbarths and had a great time. It was a little humid but in the 80's so we couldn't complain about the weather too bad. Morgan did great in the Baby Bjorn and slept the whole time. This is down at the end of the river park where Mississippi River ends at the Gulf of Mexico. You can even rent paddle boats there. It's pretty cool. A Memphis must see.