Utah Day
A fourth grade tradition at Waterford is Utah Day. The kids all get to dress up as Native Americans, pioneers, explorers, etc. Clark decided to be the same thing he was for Halloween – William Clark from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I got chosen to be one of the mommies that got to come to the school and help the kids make home made ice cream in a #10 can. It was kind of messy, but really fun for the kids. And, for all you ol' timers, apparently we have a new state song to replace the old Utah, We Love Thee. Personally, that song never did much for me . . . reminded me of a kind of funeral dirge.
Shirley
Update on Shirley – We are enjoying having Shirley closer to us, but the drama continues. She was hauled off by ambulance the week of Thanksgiving with some kidney troubles resulting in high levels of potassium. She ended up spending the rest of the week there and was very sad to miss having Thanksgiving dinner with us. She is back home now and after recovering from the side effects of the antibiotics, she is now suffering a mysteriously swollen wrist. It seems she just goes from one thing to the next. Please everyone pray that she can regain a reasonable amount of health and be able to come for Christmas.
This was the Morgan year for Thanksgiving. Altogether there were 30 of us, 15 of which were 10 years old or younger! So, out of necessity, we had a dinner for the younger kids and then they all enjoyed a movie and treat bag in the basement while we had a dinner for the older folks. Everyone brought yummy things and we enjoyed a delicious dinner. The only family missing were my brother Matt and Elasha and their kids. They had a nice dinner with friends, but all the same we missed them. And, of course, we missed Loren who apparently was invited to two dinners and may have missed us some, but certainly didn't miss out on some good food!
Loren
Our missionary is doing great. In his mission, the missionaries encourage family members or ward members to baptize the new members, but one of Loren's investigators asked him to baptize him, so he had his first "real" baptism. We enjoy hearing from him every week. If you aren't receiving his letters and would like to, just let me know and we can add you to the e-mail list.
This semester Phillip is taking a poetry class at BYU. He and his classmates decided they wanted to put on a show combining their talents as artists and poets. They call themselves The Utah School of Young Artists. So, last week we all went down to the gallery opening in Provo where we mingled with hundreds of people (small space – good advertising) trying to get a look at the show. At one point they had a poetry reading and we got to hear Phillip read his poems for the first time in a public setting. It was very fun to see him in his element. His teacher bought one of his pieces! The artwork accompanying his poems was done by Ashley Christensen.
Tess
Tess is doing well at BYU. She was grateful to come home for the Thanksgiving break though and we loved having her here. Elliot was counting down the hours until she got here and then hated to see her leave. It's kind of hard on the younger kids to have their siblings living away from home. It is definitely an adjustment for all of us.
BYU game
We can't forget to mention the BYU vs. Utah game as one of the highlights of November. Wasn't it amazing? John Beck to Jonny Harline for the winning touchdown after time had expired! Go, Cougars!
Sorry about the lack of photos for November -- guess I'm saving up for December!