Tess and Madeleine gathered all the “Morgan Family” girl cousins at Tess’s apartment for a fun afternoon making gingerbread houses together. “We are a happy family!”
Category Archives: Family
A Morgan Thanksgiving
Elder Brown Update
Elder Evans and his wife (who are in our stake) were on assignment to Cusco, Peru. After they finished speaking to all the missionaries, Elliot went up to them and introduced himself as being from their stake and in their daughter Becky’s ward. Sister Evans ended up visiting with them for about an hour or so. She came home the next week, sent us a lovely email, with some really nice praise for Elliot and his companion and this photo and then she delivered a handwritten note from him. People are just so nice.
Halloween Fun
This year we had the missionaries for dinner Halloween night. I wondered if they would be up for the traditional hot dog mummies, but I think it might just have been a refreshing change from the expected lasagna! 🙂 Of course we missed having Kenyon here, but the girls came over for dinner and Clark did his pumpkin magic.
BYU 30th Reunion
That’s right, I graduated from BYU 30 years ago! My, how the time flies. I actually hadn’t realized it was 30 years until my friend and roommate Melora from oh so long ago called and said, “Let’s go!” So she and her husband Thomas flew in from NH for Homecoming weekend. We had a good time visiting with Robbie Bosco and Lee Johnson and Jim Hermann. If you don’t remember, it was 30 years ago that BYU was undefeated in football and went on to win the National Championship. Go Cougars!!!
Auntie Madeleine’s Photos & Movie
Madeleine spent a week with Loren, Anne and Kenyon in South Bend, Indiana, where Loren is doing an internship at Notre Dame. She also spent a couple of days visiting with a friend in Chicago on her way home. Of course, she took a few photos…well okay, she actually made a movie….
Here are some of the photos she took that are my favorites!
Last “First Day of School”
This is Clark’s last “First Day of School” picture as he begins his Senior year of High School. I was telling him the other day that everything he does now is going to the be for the “last” time for me. He was quick to remind me that everything he’s done his whole life has been for the “last” time for me. True. Happy sad times all rolled into one.
Our 31st Wedding Anniversary
We celebrated with an overnight get-a-way at the Marriott downtown. We enjoyed a scrumptious steak dinner and then got to go see the Broadway play, Wicked. It totally was as good as everyone said it would be! By total coincidence, we ended up sitting next to neighbors and family. So much for getting away “just the two of us!”
Morgan family hits Jackson Hole, WY
Very spontaneously, we decided to drive up to Jackson Hole for the 4th of July weekend with four of my siblings and their families. We all got rooms close to each other and had a great time running the river, watching the parade, enjoying (BBQ program), and watching fireworks! In the picture below, I’m in the corner wearing the brown hat and Alan is in directly in front of me. Our family filled up 2 boats! My dad would be so proud of all of us…he loved river running!
Team Brown takes Oregon!
A family vacation in Oregon has become somewhat of a tradition for our family. However, this last time wasn’t just a regular ‘ol beach trip. First stop, Corvallis Oregon, where Phillip earned his master’s degree in creative writing from Oregon State University. You should probably start calling him Master Brown. Siblings, parents and grandparents made the trip to Corvallis to support him. We attended graduation at Reser Stadium (sans soon-to-be-mentioned super cute toddler), where Phillip, now especially distinguished (see presidential wave photo), was hooded and received his diploma. We took photos together and then the entire family went out to an Italian dinner afterwards to celebrate.
After church on Sunday, our big Mormon family piled into a wee pub to listen to Phillip and his cohort’s reading of poetry and stories they had worked on as part of their theses. Phillip read a few poems with his lovely NPR voice and finished with “Sunset Alert” — a nod to his childhood memory of Mom always alerting the household whenever there was a nice sunset. We’re all so proud of Phillip — er, um, Master Phillip.
Besides the pomp and circumstance, our trip was also different than previous ones because we had with Alan’s parents with us and oh, a toddler cuter than anything you can imagine. That’s four generations by the way! So, ten adults + almost-two-year-old Kenyon headed out to the coast Sunday evening to spend the week at a beach house in Waldport, Oregon.
We filled our days with long walks on the beach (as cliche as it is, we actually did), braving the tides of the cold ocean, watching World Cup soccer games, visiting Heceta Head lighthouse, flying kites in the gorgeous weather, playing Nertz and Quirkle, enjoying a game of Loopers on the sand, having a crossword competition between the boys and the girls, writing Haiku, working on family history, completing a jigsaw puzzle and practicing mindfulness.
Monday evening we celebrated all sorts of things — Phillip’s graduation, birthdays for Loren and Phillip and Tess, as well as Father’s Day for Wally and Alan and Loren. For one of Phillip’s graduation gifts, Loren collected art from family members to go with Phillip’s thesis poetry collection. It turned out great!
Some of the high points of the trip besides Phillip’s commencing, of course: Kenyon being cute, Kenyon smiling, Kenyon rocking Madeleine’s sunglasses, Kenyon showing off how ridiculously intelligent he is, Kenyon doing anything, Kenyon asking to be read “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” an average 12.7 times a day, etc.
Other highlights: Mom found a glass bottle with a message in it, someone accidentally loaded the dishwasher with liquid hand soap, four generations built a sandcastle together, Mom enjoyed having meal teams (so she didn’t have to be in charge of all the meals) and a “professional” photographer* and one day Tess won almost every game we played.
We were absolutely sad to leave the ocean, but we enjoyed the family time together and can’t wait to go back.
*I took about 1,600 photos over the course of the trip (about a fourth of which actually turned out, and about 75 percent of which were of Kenyon), and put together a slideshow for those who wish they could’ve been there and want to live the experience for themselves.
P.S. I also wrote this blog…and yes, I am currently my mom’s favorite child.