My good friend and college roommate, Melora, lives in Bedford, New Hampshire. Fall is a great time to visit! The colors were turning and we had great weather . We spent four days driving to the coast, checking out lighthouses, hiking and kayaking. We also saw the longest covered bridge in the U.S. and took a tour of Saint-Gaudens. Oh, and some shopping, movie watching and eating pumpkin spice yogurt-covered pretzels. Yeah, pretty sure I ate half the bag by myself.
The fact is, Mt. Rushmore is not actually on the way to anywhere. So, since I’ve always wanted to see it, we decided we would just drive there and see it. It was way cooler than I even thought it was going to be! So worth the drive! Did you know there is a Woolly Mammoth Dig Site close to Rushmore? Then, on “the way home” we stayed north and visited Yellowstone National Park. Did you know they have their own Grand Canyon — with two amazing waterfalls? Oh, and “Old Faithful” was cool too. 😉
Well, since almost everyone lives out of state, we decided it would be fun to have everyone come home for a family vacation this year! We started with a 4th of July extended Morgan Family Reunion and then spent the rest of the week having a great time together. Madeleine was our photographer / videographer and after taking about a million videos, she put together this great documentary of our week…enjoy!
Just a few pics of the kiddos in their new Easter outfits – complete with sunglasses! This year Alan’s parents invited us to Easter dinner at their house. I was thrilled since I had to speak in sacrament meeting that morning!
The next weekend was General Conference and the kids came and had a sleepover at our house. Totally fun to have a houseful after so much quiet. In keeping with tradition (meaning we did it with Kenyon), we gave Emmy a bath in the kitchen sink. She loved it!
Last year when our good friends Steve and Marla Lundgren were asked to serve a mission working at BYU-Hawaii, the four of us starting planning our visit to see them. My spring break from tutoring happened to coincide with BYU-H’s spring break and the result was a wonderful week filled with fabulous weather, good food, BYU Men’s Volleyball game, sightseeing, hiking, snorkeling, whale watching, and of course game playing every night!
Clark is currently serving in Corsicana Texas. He is doing well and working hard. He and his companion have hard days and good days. They are really enjoying the ward and the people they are teaching.
I always love all of Christmas, but for sure the best part of Christmas Day is talking to our missionary! Clark looked and sounded great! He was wearing his Dollar Store singing Christmas tie.:) He was kind of missing the snow – it was in the 70’s in Dallas! We sure appreciate the families in his mission that helped him have a great holiday.
Loren, Anne and the kids were in Idaho for Christmas this year. We celebrated with them before they left – Kenyon didn’t mind opening a few presents early! This was Emmy’s first Christmas and I was excited to give her her first baby doll. It’s been a few years since I got to give anyone a doll for Christmas. Of course she loved it…how do we know? Because she immediately put it in her mouth of course!
Alan and I got to spend this past weekend with Tess and Trevor! We were excited to go check out their “newly” wed life in Arizona. Of course we waited until it cooled down a bit. 😉 We had fun visiting the Midwestern University campus where Trevor is attending medical school and seeing Tess at work at the optometrist office. Friday night we watched the BYU football game late into the wee hours of the morning. Saturday we participated in a sealing session at the beautiful new Phoenix Temple and then hit a few golf balls (some of us better than others) at a cool driving range. Sunday was their regional conference which was excellent and we finished the day with dinner and games. It was great to see their life so that we can picture them living it when we talk with them. Definitely something my “mommy heart” was needing!
Who says missionaries don’t get to dress up? Elder Brown and companions surprised their ward members by sporting mustaches at the ward Halloween party.
