Track

Hailey qualified for the shot put and the 4x400 relay at Alpine Days this year. It's always so fun to see her participate in these events. 

 Getting a little coaching before her next throw.

 Getting ready for her leg of the relay.

 Coming in to the home stretch.

P'days

This is what Elder Morrow does on P'days...hangs out in a tree on top of a cliff.

9th Grade Dance

Hailey is now to the age where she went dress shopping with her FRIENDS, not dress shopping with her MOM for the 9th Grade Dance. I like that they have all the kids dress in their nice clothes to go to their first night dance.

The Gang!

 ...and the after party. What a good looking group of 9th graders!

Easter

Of course we have to start off Easter with baskets but no more Easter egg hunts now that the kids are far too mature for that. :) 

One of my favorite things about Easter are the pretty spring colors that many people dress up in to go to church. It represents Spring to me and the new beginnings of flowers and green grass and all the things I love.

I love this picture Hailey took...pretty cool photography there! And I would kill for that hair!!!!!

The wind was not cooperating with us for our pictures. :)

Nailed it!

...and this is what happens at church. :) I do wish I would've gotten a picture with Nick and the little girls because they were all dressed in purple and matched his purple tie.

Of course we missed our missionary but we're grateful for the opportunity he has to be in the mission field at this time.

I am most grateful for the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ and the peace and hope this gives as we go throughout life to know that this is not the end. That we will also have the opportunity to live again because of Him and His sacrifice for each one of us.

Elder Morrow

We love our missionary...and we love having a missionary! We definitely feel the blessings daily of having our son out serving the Lord.

His letters every week are the highlight of our week. To hear how his testimony is growing as well the life lessons he's learning is the best thing in the world. Missions are not easy, nor are they fun all the time, but the tender mercies they see in their lives daily make it all worth while. He often says that these won't necessarily be the best two years OF his life, but they will definitely be the best two years FOR his life! :) 

He loves Ron, who was the first baptism he participated in out in North Carolina. Elder Thurber, his companion on the left in this picture went home at the end of March and Elder Standefer on the right (and his companion) still shares a house with Bryson and his companion. Bryson loves Elder Standefer and I feel like that is one of those friendships made in the mission field that will be lifelong.

 I don't know the names of this family but apparently they are a very supportive family and very good to the missionaries out there. I'm grateful for them!

 This is Bryson's 2nd companion Elder Poulson and he thinks he is awesome as well. He has really been blessed with great companions so far.

 Steven, the father on the left, asked Bryson to baptize him in the river. (I love that Ron is there for this baptism as well.)

 It was VERY cold and Bryson said they had a hard time finding a good place to stand...they eventually found two large rocks they could each stand on.

 Bryson also had the opportunity to baptize this cute 10 year old named Beau. Bryson loves him!

We are so grateful for the opportunity he has to serve a mission and assist the Lord in changing lives!

A Gift

In my opinion, the temple is a gift...it's a gift for the living to make eternal covenants with our Heavenly Father. It's a gift for the dead to be able to have these ordinances performed by proxy. And sometimes, it's a gift that assists in our journey of being able to move on from trails or tragedies. 

Without going into detail in order to protect the privacy of Sis. Cochrane, Nick and I were very grateful to be a part of her journey of moving beyond tragedy. She asked Nick to be baptized and confirmed for her father and her mission president performed the ordinance. The Provo Temple is the busiest temple in the world and the Baptistery is always filled to capacity with youth. The day we went was no different. Her mission president explained the circumstances to the Temple worker and once we were all in our whites, they finished up with those in the enclosed font area and escorted us in. They allowed us to be in there by ourselves and performed both the baptism and confirmation there in the font area. 

It was an experience I won't forget, especially the feeling of how much this mother (Sis Cochrane's mother who is also deceased) loves her daughter!

Spring Break

For Spring Break we headed down to St. George...Nick had to work so he stayed home and Hailey brought her friend Faith along. 

Hailey was apparently a little behind in her scripture reading for Seminary so she spent the drive down trying to get caught up. :)

 Hailey and Faith had a great time looking for cute boys around the condo complex we were staying at and apparently Faith saw a cute one going into a condo on the floor above us. So they wrote a note to him about his "hotness" on a coffee filter from the condo and left it in front of his door, knocked, and ran. A few minutes later we had a knock on our condo door with this tinfoil note and popcorn laying outside the door. The note says something like "Thanks girls in 1412. We will be at the pool at 9:00. Hope to see you there. (Heart) The boys in 1425. Notes went back and forth for the next hour or two but in the end, Hailey and Faith had no interest in actually "talking" with them and didn't go to the pool at the appointed time. Haha. Fine with me. :)

 Hailey and Faith had a great time posing for all these "theme" pictures they came up with. I was actually just coming back from a walk so I'm taking these through the gates surrounding the pool. :)

This is just a plain jump into the pool...

 This is "clicking the heels"...Faith's heels didn't quite click till she was hitting the water. :)

 This is a star...Hailey's one leg apparently has the same problem the Olympic Ring had in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics this year and wouldn't quite open up. :)

 Not sure of the theme here...maybe Hailey trying to torpedo Faith. :)

 ...and Faith getting her back...

 Karate...

 ...and last but not least, Hailey being a baby jumping to her mommy. :)

We had a great week but it was weird without Nick...and Bryson. I missed my boys!

National Junior Honor Society and Nick's New Job

Hailey was accepted into the National Junior Honor Society. To apply you have to have good grades, write an essay and do a service project. They meet to plan activities and other service projects.

 Nick got his dream job at the age of 16. :) He is working at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country and gets to help take care of all the animals along with running the pony ride and being a cashier. He LOVES going to work. :)

The rest of March...

LOOK WHO CAME BACK. :) 

Unfortunately for Sis. Dahl, she injured her knee while playing volleyball on p-day and had to have surgery to repair the ligament. Fortunately for us, she got to stick around the Provo area for a few days to recover which meant both her and Sis Cochrane were close enough to come back to Lehi for the baptism of a young boy they taught while serving in Lehi. Therefore, they and their companions got to come to our house for breakfast before the baptism. We loved their new companions as well and it was just a great 45 minutes that we got to visit with them!!!!!

 That night we had this crew at our house making scones...ya gotta love Nick Jackson's hat. :)

 Not sure what gang signs are being made in this picture but I hope it doesn't mean anything naughty...haha.

 I had to put these pictures in just to show what special children I have...hahaha. And that they do laugh together and hug every once in a while. :)

 Spring means track season. Hailey has been doing the shot put and the 4 x 400 relay in most of the meets but has recently added the 400 into the mix as well.

 Hailey also went to the colors festival and apparently stayed about 10 minutes. :)

 And lastly, Nick made bananas foster for dessert one Sunday night and set it on fire without burning the kitchen down. Success!