Happy New Year

We spent an awesome night welcoming in the New Year with some old friends and had a great night eating, talking & laughing! It started with a yummy dinner at Tucanos with everyone and then some of the older kids went on to their own parties while the rest of us went back to our house.

 Our friend Ana is from Spain and one of their traditions is to eat 12 grapes at the 12 strokes of midnight...one for each month of the new year for good luck. I have yet to make it through all 12 grapes in 12 seconds. :) But we all try. :)

This is Nick getting ready for the grape challenge and below is Hailey & Shaylee getting ready as well. I think Shaylee and I ate the fewest in the allotted amount of time but we did eventually get them all down so our luck might be a little slower in coming this year. :)

Christmas

Christmas this year was AWESOME...for a couple of reasons: 1) Bryson moved back in with us a couple weeks before Christmas so we had him here on Christmas Eve AND Christmas morning. That hasn't happened in a long time so it was definitely a treat! 2) I loved how excited Nick was to give Hailey the gift he bought for her. :) I think he was actually more excited to give her this gift than he was to open his own...how often does THAT happen with a teenager??? :)

 Nick had Hailey close her eyes while he got her present set up.

 TA DA...it was a new fish tank for her fish with a filter and a light. Who is surprised that it had to do with an "animal"? NOT ME! :) This fish is the world's longest living gold fish...it's the one Nick won for his cookies at a mutual activity and has lived FOREVER! He gave it to Hailey awhile ago since she did not have a pet of her own. :) He's actually hoping it dies before her birthday in May so he can get her a beta fish to go in the cool new tank for her birthday. :)

 Hailey was very excited to get these hair coloring "crayons" since she was pretty jealous that we got this kit for her cousin for Christmas. :)

 Bryson asked for money for Christmas so to make it more fun to open I put it in these nesting boxes. You would be amazed at how small you can fold bills to fit in the tiniest box! I think there were 10 boxes within boxes.

 Nick made me this candle at school. He had to go in during flex to make it and they were only accepting a certain number of students for this project so he said he literally ran from one end of the school to the other and was the 2nd to the last student let in to make these.

 Nick and Hailey entertained themselves by taking pictures in the car while they were waiting for Brian and I to come out to go to Grandma's that afternoon. :)

I love Christmas! I love how it brings the family together and causes us to reflect on our Savior and his role in our lives. I love how the kids think of each other and not just themselves. I love the time off of school and work and being in a warm home drinking hot chocolate. And I love getting together with extended family and laughing and enjoying the time together.

Looking forward now to everything the new year will bring!

Recognition Night

When Hailey turned 12 and joined Young Women's she made a goal to complete the entire Personal Progress Program before she turned 13. I have never seen her go after a goal like she did this one and 3 days before she turned 13 she accomplished this goal. That was back in May and on 12-12-12 along with 12 other Young Women from our ward she received her Young Womanhood Medallion. It was an awesome night where she was asked to speak about this accomplishment and I got to talk about her for a couple minutes which I was happy to do. 

These little girls are such a big part of Hailey's life that we were very happy they could be here this night...even though they probably would've been anyway since they are the BISHOP's cute kids. :)

 I know this picture is blurry but we had to get little Lulu in here. :)

 Fancy dessert table!

 Table decorated with some of the things that represent Hailey including the book of faith promoting stories she gathered from friends & family for one of her projects, piano music, swim meet ribbons, basketball and volleyball medals, triathlon medal & basketball shoes.

 11 of the 12 girls that also received their medallions that night...the 12th girl left before we could get a picture.

 Very cool that these two friends could receive their medallions together after we almost lost Janelle to a car accident last year!

 ...silly girls.

 The four of us received our medallions as parents/leaders on the same night which was very cool.

 ...and we can be silly too! :)

Very proud of Hailey and this big accomplishment in her life. Next step is working on her Honor Bee which she has already started.

2012 Iphone Pictures

I have finally gotten around to downloading the pictures off my phone so WARNING...PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!

In July...on his 15th birthday...I took Nick to the DMV and he passed his Drivers Permit test on the first try. I'm now seriously considering writing my congressman (or whoever is in charge of this) and letting them know that I completely disagree with parents teaching their children how to drive. It is taking YEARS off my life!!!! He's a good driver overall but there's still something unsettling about having your 15 year old in control of the vehicle with no prior training!

 Of course we needed to document our dog who is "anti-walk". I believe he's the only dog on the planet that rolls over and plays dead when the harness comes out because he HATES walks!

 Hailey's summer was again filled with early morning swim team and we're gearing up for it again this next summer.

 BFF's - Hailey & Shaylee

 In August Nick received his On My Honor Award and his varsity letter.

 We also had a farewell dinner with Bryson as he left to go to Florida with the Marines for 3 weeks.

 Hailey has been very interested in learning how to do different hairstyles this year and we have spent many evenings with her experimenting on my hair. Then she takes pictures of it with my phone and shows it to me. She's getting pretty darn good!

 Nick, Nick & Jacob went to the Multi-Stake Halloween dance...WOW

 Brian and Hailey participated in the Daddy-Daughter Ballroom Dance evening with the Young Women. They were very fun to watch but have both decided ballroom dancing is not their passion. :)

 Hailey and I kidnapped Shaylee in the early morning hours of her birthday and took her to Ihop...

 Where she ordered soup...at 5:30 AM! :)

 Hailey continued to improve in volleyball and has a killer overhand serve!

 Most Saturdays leading up to November 1st I would drive by the Mt. Timpanogos Temple to check the status of the scaffolding removal leading up to my nieces wedding and updated her on the progress.

 Typical Sunday afternoon at the Morrow house.

 This is the view I woke up to on October 30th when coming out of surgery.

 At the end of November we had our annual Holiday Party at work and the comedian pulled our friend Doug up on stage...he was a good sport.

 Our friend Jeff Dale was also pulled up there. :)

 Graduated to a boot and off crutches!!!

 My sweet friend Chris shared her ottoman with me so I could put my foot up at the office.

 Apparently you swat flies better if you're up on their level.

 Wedding Day for Chelsea!! (My brother's daughter.)

 Piano recital for Hailey.

 Not sure why this picture dropped in out of order, but Shaylee also received her complimentary birthday sundae...at 6:00 AM. :)

Well, I guess I tried to upload too many pictures because some of them did not drop in, but that's part of a year in review from my cell phone's perspective. :)