DeJa Vu

Remember This?...

Apparently, they are twins born at different times... The second video is a little long so you can fast forward to the end if you want.

At least Morgan eventually tasted her cupcake.  Lyvie didn't even like it touching her.  Silly girls.

July fun, Olympics, etc.

This picture sums up their relationship.  Morgan loving Alyvia (maybe too much) and Alyvia looking at us like "what are you going to do about this??!!?"

She has discovered the tastiness of her toes!

We tried to force a binky on her without luck.  She loves her two fingers!

We had a little family Olympic party.  This is Morgan enjoying the rings

Festivities, or competitions, sponsored by The Grapes.  Morgan won the chipmunk cheek contest.

Derek definitely won the grape carving contest making all sorts of shapes including a perfect star.  We didn't get a picture of any of the shapes, only this and the following two pictures.

This was Morgan's favorite, the grape lollipop.

Enjoying the east coast rain.

Enjoying "Cinderella" at the park with her cute friend.

Here are a couple videos.  Kind of long and not that exciting, but it is always better to see video than still pictures just to get the live version of Morgan.

In an attempt to keep in contact better with family (mostly so we're not forgotten by living so far away), I will be posting mostly pictures from now on. Hopefully I can keep up better than this past year (which shouldn't be too hard since I didn't post one thing!) So hopefully you get an idea of our lives out here and if you want more details, you can always email/call/txt one of us because we'd love to talk to you!
Here is our greatest moment for the year...inviting Alyvia into our family.  She was born and still sleeps with at least one hand up by her head.  Der said its because she came into the world in defense of Morgan.  Morgan's pretty gentle for her age, but she is only two.  Alyvia's still a squishy newborn in this pic, don't worry she gets cuter.

The Pillowheads

Morgan showing her love of swimming.  She could spend all day, every day in the water.

Congrats Daddy!

Our first Christmas spending at our own home.  Missing family, but enjoying eachother.

Welcome Alyvia!

Der got in Morgan's crib with her, she thought it was the funniest thing EVER! 

Morgan stuck a toy carrot in Alyvia's binky.  Silly girl!

She is still in LOVE with dogs.

Camping has become Morgan's new favorite thing, she talks about it all the time now.

Hiking.  Notice Alyvia's hiking stick too?

Sam I Am the salamander (Morgan named him)

Attack of the Mullet

Morgan got her first hair cut this weekend! And it ... was ... traumatic! Don't worry, not for Morgan, she was fine with it all. In fact, she didn't even notice and she was patient and a complete angel. But her parents on the other hand, had a rough time. My hands were shaking from being nervous because I had never cut a girl's hair before let alone a baby's whose fate of whether she was called cute or not by strangers depended on me. Then there was her dad standing to the side being a supporter who, right after I made the first cut says; "Stop, stop! Just stop. I think that you need to stop right now" which didn't help the nerves at all. So I had to kick him out of the room. It was very traumatic for both of us, but all the while Morgan sat calmly in the sink playing with whatever she could reach. Despite the difficulties, I'm glad that we cut it.

Mullet Before:

Less of a Mullet After:

Long time, no post

Despite the Thanksgiving post that I just found and posted today (see below), I haven't posted since Morgan's birthday and now she is about 16 months old! This girl is growing WAY too fast. She doesn't even seem to be a baby anymore like she does in some of these pictures, but a toddler now! See the end of this post for an update on her. Below are some pictures from our Christmas vacation. Morgan got to play with her cousin Hadlee for the first time (first time that they could actually notice one another anyway). This picture seems to sum up the playdate. One of them running away from the other with a toy that, of course, they both want when there are plenty of other toys around. Silly girls! Although, this play camera that Morgan is carrying around was given to her because Hadlee had two and Morgan took it with her all day, everyday, wherever she went this whole vacation. Thanks Hadlee!

These pictures were a select few of our Christmas experience. Below is one of my favs. Derek enjoying a long, lost toy. Yes, that is a GameBoy!

We were also able to get family pictures with my mom. We think they turned out great!

Then arriving back home, life slowed down again. Here Morgan is trying to keep busy on a cold, winter, inside day.

This was our insane snowstorm we got when we got back. We got nearly 2 feet of snow! It almost could have buried Morgan.

And finally, Morgan's hair is long enough to do something with it! Hooray for pigtails.
As for a little update on our little Monkey, she has become our little talker! She started by saying "hot" and "Pease" while visiting Utah then proceeded to learn practically 20+words since then! Of course, they aren't all real words, some are made up but she knows what they mean. Like "bock" for pen or pencil. But she always says it when pointing to a pen or pencil! So funny how babies learn and adapt however possible. Just in the past week or two, she has been so interested in animals and can say a lot of their sounds, which is pretty cute hearing her say "wack, wack" for a duck. he he. Unfortunately, along with the toddler cuteness, also comes frequent tantrums. Did they mean "year 2" when they called it the "Terrible Twos?" Or is it going to get more intense? Please don't respond if your answer is 'yes.' I don't want to know.

Anyway, here she is showing her cute little personality jabbering on (not really any real words here) but definitely trying to tell us something about that paper she's writing on. And the last video is of her singing! I think this is so cute to hear her try and sing when she can't really even talk. So I had to catch it on video. Sorry that you can't really see much, but it was definitely the sound I was focusing on.