Homecoming

Nick's first Homecoming Dance was a blast! He asked Scilla, a senior that he didn't know super well but has always had a fun friendship with through a couple of other girls in our neighborhood. It was the perfect date as she is fun, laid back and apparently quite the dancer. :)

 Nick of course had to have a booty shot during the picture taking portion of the evening...haha.

 They doubled with Dallin and his date and Nick had a lot of fun with them because Dallin's date turned out to be a reptile lover whose brother has a business breeding reptiles of some kind. :)

 My favorite part of the evening was after Nick went to Scilla's to pick her up, her mother came back to our house with them to get more pictures. I love this for 2 reasons: 1) Even though we had never met her, I loved that she felt comfortable to come over and take pictures with us and 2) Now when I want to follow Hailey to her dates houses in the future to take pictures, they'll know I'm not the only mother who does this. :)

I had to take a picture with them and her mother because she was dressed up to go to the General Relief Society Broadcast that evening and coincidentally she totally matched Nick. :)

From Marine to Missionary

When Brian and I made the trip to southern California to see Bryson graduate from Marine boot camp we thought we could never be prouder of him than we were at that moment. Re-reading the post about that experience here still brings tears to my eyes.

But the last couple weeks have at least equaled but I think even topped that experience and the feelings we had. It started when Bryson got home from school on Thursday, September 5th and walked straight to the mailbox...like he had been doing for several days in a row. :) I was in my bedroom and had the window open and I suddenly hear a "Yeeeehooooo" coming from the curb. Then in he walks with this big white envelope in his hands addressed to "Elder Bryson Kyle Morrow". What an emotional moment!

The plan was to open it at 6:00 that night when family and a few friends could be here and he had to focus at a job interview before that (which is the reason he is dressed up for the occasion.)

About an hour before people were coming I suggested we have everyone write on the envelope where they thought he was going...and I added, "I think you're going to North Carolina." His response was, "I hope not, it's too humid and there's a marine base there." So I guessed Quebec on the envelope since he didn't want me to put North Carolina. :) He had lots of people text in their guesses and he wrote them all on the envelope.

Waiting patiently for a few people to FaceTime in...

Such an exciting moment pulling out the "call".

It wouldn't be the Morrow house if there wasn't some kind of story to go along with the simple procedure of opening a mission call. :) When Bryson opened the envelope he grabbed the booklet, held it up to his friend who is a recently returned missionary and asked if that was it. His friend kind of shrugged his shoulders and said he guessed so, so Bryson opened it up and started reading the opening letter that started with, "Welcome to full time missionary service..." and he read, and read, and read and there was no call. He kept stopping and saying, "There's no call. Where's the call?" Now, thoroughly confused, he starts flipping through the booklet as his friend comes up, grabs the envelope on the ground and pulls out the letter. :) By this point, Bryson has seen the map of his mission in the booklet so he knows where he's going but the rest of us don't.

Blurry picture but I had to put in him laughing when he realized he didn't pull out the letter with the call on it. :)

NOW he reads the call and low and behold, he's going to the NORTH CAROLINA, CHARLOTTE MISSION!!!! You better believe I grabbed that envelope after he was done reading it and put my original guess of North Carolina on it! :)

I can't even describe what a cool moment that was to hear him read his mission call. We are so excited for him and the experiences that are in front of him!!!!!

Nick had to leave to go to work right after he opened it so we didn't get him in the picture below.

Hailey could not be prouder of her brother but she is having a hard time thinking about him leaving and not being right across the hall from her!

Of course there has to be a crazy friend shot as well. :)

Part of his preparation packet from the church is online and I love the countdown they have on it for when he reports to the MTC.

One week and 2 days after receiving his mission call, we had the amazing opportunity of going through the Temple with Bryson. What an incredible experience.

President Spencer has had a big impact on Bryson and we were so glad he and Heather were able to be there with us.

We love Bryson so much and we are so excited for this next chapter in his life. The people of North Carolina are very lucky to be getting this guy for the next two years!

Bear Lake 2013

We love Bear Lake!

Last year we missed our annual Bear Lake trip with the Atkinson's so even though summer was about over, we decided to schedule an end-of-summer trip so we would not miss out 2 years in a row. Key learning - it's rainy the end of August at Bear Lake!

We piled this crew in our car and headed up there even though the forecast was not looking very friendly. 

 On the way up, we stopped to eat dinner and discovered our blinkers weren't working. So we made a pit stop at AutoZone and Nick decided he needed to go out into the parking lot and "twerk" while he waited. Sure wish I had this on video...that kid is a mighty fine dancer...hahaha!

 We arrived at our campground at 9:30 pm to a complete downpour and darkness. Brian, Nick & Bryson sported their headlamps while we tried to set up our tents without getting them soaked inside. The marine and 2 eagle scouts (Bryson, Nick & Nick) had their tent set up within 5 minutes. Brian and I, let's just say we struggled. After I was completely soaked through, I went back into the truck (where Faith and Hailey were) and started calling hotels, resorts, bed & breakfasts to see if there was any room at the Inn for those of us who really didn't want to camp...no luck! After finally getting our tent set up and all of our stuff transferred into it, it was actually pretty nice hearing the pitter-patter of rain on the tent. Hailey and Faith decided to sleep in the Expedition so it ended up just being Brian and I in this huge tent it took us forever to set up.

The next day we woke up to beautiful blue skies and the weather held up for us to have a perfect day at the lake! We brought the 4 wheelers with us and rented two jet skis and a couple of paddle boards. So fun! Hailey and Faith spent the majority of the day on the 4 wheelers. I love how they wore their life jackets riding the 4 wheelers. You just never know when you might drive straight into the lake and need them I guess. :)

 Nick and Nick headed out on the jet skis so Bryson and Brian headed out on the paddle boards. I stayed on the beach and waited for the Atkinson's to get there.

 Faith and Hailey did take a couple short breaks from the 4 wheelers to try out the paddle boards and take a very scary ride with Bryson on the jet ski...apparently Bryson is a crazy driver and they spent as much time flying into the lake as they did sitting on the jet ski. Hailey said it was fun, Faith said she has too much to live for to do that again. :)

 Brian broke his toe shortly after this picture was taken. He lost his balance and fell off the paddle board but mistakenly thought he was in deeper water than he was. When he hit the water, he pushed back up in a swimming motion thinking he was going under but when you're in waist-deep water, you end up kicking the bottom with such force that it breaks your toe. Ouchy! Bryson never fell off his board. :) I don't have any pictures of Nick and Nick on them but they actually took the boards for about an hour out to the middle of the lake and back...they were champs!!

What I REALLY wish I had a picture of is Ana and I trying to paddle board. I can't even describe how funny that was but I am very proud of the fact that I stood upright on the board for at least 4 minutes. :) Let me just say, it's harder than it looks.

 The crew eating lunch on the beach. Why do regular ole' sandwiches and chips always taste better when you're on a beach at a lake?!

 Faith and Hailey turned each other into mermaids with the sand. One of them might be a little better at making the mermaid tail than the other. The first picture is what Hailey did to Faith and the second one is what Faith did to Hailey. :)

 Heading back out on the 4-wheelers.

 Hot dogs with JDawg sauce around the campfire. We finished up dinner right as the rain started again so we thought that would be a good time to abandon the campsite and go get shakes. :)

 We have so much fun each year with the Atkinson's and were so glad we could squeeze this trip in before it gets too cold. These girls have known each other since Hailey was 6 months old and Sandra was 3.

 And just thought I'd throw in this picture of these two sexy dudes! :)

 John & Ana's oldest daughter Jessica got engaged the night before our trip so it was fun to meet her fiance' up there and get to know him a little.

 And of course I had to add the best photo bomb pictures of the trip...

Not our typical first day of school...

Nick is a sophomore...crazy! Gone are the days of hurrying out the door for the bus, this guy now just walks out the front door to his car and off he goes to pick up his friends for their first day of school. When did this happen? Why are they insisting on growing up so fast? At least he still hugs me goodbye and let's me give him a kiss on the cheek before he leaves each morning. I love that!

Hailey didn't have a typical first day of school either...she slept through her alarm. This is the girl who gets up at least an hour and a half early to get ready each morning...way before my alarm is set to go off. With early morning seminary this year, she was planning on getting up around 5 am to get ready...when I got up at 6:30 to make breakfast and lunches, I noticed her room was still dark...and she was supposed to be leaving in about 20 minutes. The rush was on!!! So we got after school pictures rather than before school pictures. :)