The Best Days of My Life

This poem below is written by one of my favorite bloggers, Heather. I was instantly touched when I read it. It sums everything up and why I love being a mother so much! Of course, I had to tweak the poem just a bit to fit our family, but I love it! Let me share it with you....


My house is always NOISY . . .

Kids running.
Toddler whining.
TV blaring.
Phone ringing.
Kids laughing.
Kids arguing.

My house is always FULL of chaos . . .

Friends in the house - almost EVERYDAY . . .
friends of the kids.
friends of ours.

Usually I am doing about 5 things at once . . .

folding clothes,,
solving disagreements,
making lunch,
checking e-mails,
returning texts,
finding toys,
playing games,
reading books,
singing songs,
vacuuming.

This is my LIFE . . .

complete chaos,
loud,
crazy,
busy.

There are times I find myself . . .

craving silence,
dreaming of being stranded on a deserted island,
wanting to lock my bedroom door,
needing Calgon to take me away.

But then I remember . . .

that one day they will all grow up,
their friends will go home,
they will not need me quite so much,
the house will be silent, and
I
will
miss
them!

I will miss the . . .

noise,
the sound of little feet on the stairs,
the fingerprints on my windows and walls,
the laughter that fills the house,
the endless hugs throughout the day
the thousand questions I am asked,
hearing them yell, "Momma or Angie,"
and call out "I love YOU."

So I will embrace the . . .

chaos & noise,
messes and spills,
the loud days,
and busy times.

Because I realize that these are days filled with . . .

togetherness,
love,
family,
fun,
memories to last a lifetime.

These are . . .

The
Best
Days
Of
My
Life.

And I thank God for them!

Let's go boating!

This weekend we took the boat out for the first time and we had so much fun! It was just Brent, our friend, George, the kids, and I. We already had the tube for tubing, but Brent really wanted a knee-board. So we took the boat over to Bass Pro (yes, there are parking spots for boats in the water) and we ran inside to buy some items, plus a knee-board. Then the fun began! We had all sorts of fun on the water. We blared the radio and jumped in the water! The kids loved tubing (except for Ashlan who just watched) while Brent and George preferred knee-boarding. Brent has knee-boarded before so he got up immediately and started doing 360's, etc.... He's a show-off! It was George's first time to knee-board and he got up quickly! We were impressed! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the men knee-boarding, but we did get some pictures of the kids tubing... I can't wait till this coming weekend! I plan to spend every minute at the lake! Maybe I'll do some knee-boarding myself!

Trying to figure out how to turn on the boat and what all the beeps and whistles mean!


Kate and Ashlan are ready to go!


Of course, the boys have to check out the engines!


George and Nick tubing. George tried so hard to flip Nick off the tube! I think he succeeded too!


Here they are jumping over the waves!


And of course, Kate and I had a BLAST on the tube!


I promise to take more pictures this weekend!!!!

He's a TEENAGER!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NICHOLAS!
Nick turned 13 yesterday! We can't believe he is a teenager! Nick has been looking forward to becoming a teenager for a LONG time! We decided to let Nick schedule the entire day and evening of his birthday the way he wanted. So, we hung out all day and that evening Nick, Brent, and Jim (Brent's father) went to eat at one of Nick's favorite restaurants, Master Grill. I WISH WISH WISH I had a picture of the 3 of them dining for Nick's birthday. That was the perfect dinner outing for Nick because he loves his dad and grandfather so much. Notice - Nick planned this outing and NO GIRLS were allowed!
Once they got back from dinner, the family celebrated with cake, ice cream and presents. It was a very low key birthday, which is how Nick planned it. He will be celebrating at a future date with all his friends! He looks forward to that!
Here are some pictures from the day!

I woke him up in the morning singing, "Happy Birthday, You are 13 today!" He wasn't happy I woke him up and he started throwing pillows at me!


Moments later he walks downstairs and falls asleep on the ottoman.


Then the girls wake up and shower him with hugs and attention! Their brother is a TEENAGER!


This is the cake Nick picked out. You had the option of 'white' or 'black'. Obviously, he picked white.


But when we picked up the cake, it was 'black'. They ran out of 'whites'. But that was okay! Instead of pretending it was Nick on the couch, we pretended it was Michael Jordan on the couch!


Nick and Kate


Nick, Kate, and Ashlan


Brent, Nick, and I


One of Nick's gifts was Rock Band. We played it until the wee hours of the night.... Here is Ashlan playing the guitar or as she calls it, 'ba-tar'.


Kate playing on the guitar


Brent having fun on the drums


Nick


We let Nick stay up all night if he wanted....and he did. I finally made him go to sleep at 7:30 this morning. Hopefully he will sleep the majority of the day. This is how I found him about 30 minutes ago!

Sail Away, sail away, sail away......

You want the good news or bad news first? I'll make that decision...let's start with the good news!

GOOD NEWS: Brent and I have talked about getting a lakehouse/boat for about 6 years. After years of thinking and talking, with his call schedule the way it is and how often it is (and it doesn't look like it's changing any time soon) we have decided against the lake house for now. But a boat is NOT out of the question! There are plenty of lakes around here to have a boat on. Lake Ray Hubbard being our first choice of lake to have a boat on because 1) it's close 2) we have some friends who already have boats on Hubbard 3) the area around the lake is growing with numerous restaurants and 4) did I already mention it's close? We are so excited! We meet a great guy who was selling his slip at a particular marina we really liked and he wanted to sell his boat, as well. The slip is already built out with counter tops, a grill, a refrigerator and included in the deal are skis, tubes, life vests, etc.... The boat is a couple of years old but has minimal hours on it and is in great condition. The boat is a bowrider, yet Brent really prefers a cabin cruiser. Luckily for us, the slip has parking for TWO boats... So I can see Brent buying a cruiser, as well, in the future!
We get possession of the boat, slip, and accessories on Friday! We are so excited! We plan to build out the slip some more and add a television, more storage, and a bar!

Our slip. The deck is 20'x15'. The owner has left us his furniture (table, chairs) but if you know me well enough, I'll be doing my own re-decorating soon.


Cobalt 262 Bowrider. Sorry about the cover on it. I'll get more pictures once someone helps me take the cover off....






These white compartments are what holds the ski's, ropes, etc... I'm glad he included these in the sale of the slip!


This is someone else's slip on the dock. I love how they did their bar area!


A look down the dock we are on...


Okay, ready for the BAD NEWS: I got a speeding ticket on the way out to the marina today. Whoops!

The Little Morgan Ladies....

Susie Sunshine

Kate loves to cook and bake so it didn't surprise me this past year when Kate bought a cookbook at her school book fair. Yesterday, we were going through the cookbook and I asked her to pick something fun she wants to make. This is what she picked....

Susie Sunshine Cake
(cookbook picture)


So Kate, Ashlan, and I got our baking supplies and ingredients ready to go and began making Susie Sunshine....


(yes, I know I have the girls sitting on the kitchen counter....not exactly sanitary.....But it was all about convenience at that point)






Our final product.....Susie Sunshine!
(I think our version looks more feminine than the cookbook!)








Both of my girls LOVE to cook and bake. We're always making cakes, cookies, pies, etc.... Here are some pictures from the past of our baking experiences.....

It all starts at the grocery store....


They even enjoyed the 'play kitchen and cookware' when they were younger!


We LOVE making cookies and decorating them!









This was a picture we took for a church project last year! Too funny.


By the way, Susie Sunshine tasted GREAT! We took her with us to a friends home this afternoon and she's all gone now!
Yummy!

ALASKA-The Last Frontier

We just got back from our Alaskan Cruise and what a great time we had! This was Brent's fourth time to Alaska, my third, and Ashlan's second. So just from seeing how often we go, you know how much we love it there! This time we traveled with 6 friends of ours. One of the couples has a 6 year old daughter, so she and Ashlan had a BLAST together! I must make a note that Nick and Katie did not travel with us this time. They decided to spend 6 weeks in Maryland with their great grand-parents (which is something they look forward to every summer). Nick has been to Alaska twice before and Katie has been once before. They were more excited about Maryland this summer, so that's what they got to do (and are currently doing).

On this particular cruise, we opted to leave from Anchorage and sail down to Vancouver, sailing through the Inside Passage. We visited College Fjord, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and ended in Vancouver. I always remember Alaska as being cold, but this time, it was MUCH colder than previous trips there. At some points, I was freezing! Brent and I always hike Deer Mountain in Ketchikan when we are there, and we have always made it 3,500 ft to the summit with no problems (other than fatigue) This year we made it 2,500 ft when we ran into 10 ft deep snow. The trail was lost under the snow so we could not go any further. That is even more proof that this trip was colder than any of the others in the past! Freezing or not, it felt great and it sure beats the 100 degree heat here in Texas!

We took around 1,000 pictures. Obviously, I couldn't post all those so I narrowed it down to 70 or so. And I can't post 70 pictures on this blog, so I have posted the link below on where to view the pictures..

Just click HERE for the pictures!
Be sure to click on View Pictures....then click on View as Slideshow