Southern Caribbean Cruise

I'm warning you now, this post is more of a journal for me, so it will be lengthy. Matt and I just got back from a cruise in the Southern Caribbean. It was so dang fun! We had such a blast. It was our first time "crusin." We went with Jill & Eddy, Jill's sister Julie & Mike, and Matt's brother Aaron and his girlfriend Fitriah. What a fun bunch! We seriously had such a great time together. It was a seven day cruse. We left from Puerto Rico, and from there went to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antiga, St. Lucia and then Barbados. What a fun way to explore several beautiful places in one trip. Matt and I enjoyed every island. Each one we'd love to go back and spend a good week exploring. It was so much fun!

Matt and I flew to San Juan on Friday the 18th. We stayed the night and spent the next day exploring Old San Juan. It was a beautiful city. Matt took some awesome photos, but they're on his camera so these aren't it.






I loved the architecture there. I'll have to load up some of Matt's photos later. He really captured more of the beauty there. We met up with Aaron & Fitriah earlier that morning. They took a red eye Friday night and arrived Saturday morning. We got on the ship later that afternoon and then set sail to St. Thomas.

I didn't get any pictures in St. Thomas. I was too busy trying on diamond rings. I guess St. Thomas is known for diamonds. We spent the first couple hours walking up and down the shopping corridor, and I swear every other store was a diamond store. Fitriah and I loved shopping! I found 3 rings I'm regretting not buying. It's better for our pocket book though. They would have cost about $10,000 for the 3, but in the states they would have easily been $25,000 or more. It was so tempting. I'd buy a new ring every anniversary if we could afford it! Anyway, we had a great time seeing the city. We got a tour guide that was so dang fun. He took us around the city, and to a fun beach. It rained a lot that day, but we still had a great time. At one of the beaches, a local band was playing "rasta" music. I could have listened to it all day.

There are a lot of crazy folks out there. One guy in particular was 70 years old (it appeared anyway, he could have been younger). The picture below explains it best. He had a donkey he was hauling around in an attempt to get photos for money. He'd approach people and say "hey, do you want to sit on my ass?" The poor little mule looked like it was on it's last leg. I got up for a photo, and it may have been the last for him. This guy had painted his hooves, and put these ridiculous sunglasses on him. Here's a picture.




We went on and on to Jill, Eddy, Julie and Mike about this crazy guy and his donkey and his dreads. When we finally showed them a picture of him, Eddy said "why didn't we talk about his shirt before?" It made me laugh so hard. Here we went on and on about this guy, but forgot to mention how crazy his outfit was.

Well, I'll have to post more later. This takes so much time! How does anyone have enough time to keep theirs up to date, and read others? I'm so behind on all of your blogs. Sorry!

Do I Love My Husband or What!

I have the coolest hubby in the world. We have this ridiculous driveway that is steep. EVERY time it snows, we battle getting up the driveway in my stupid jetta. I would love you all to come test drive the dang car in the snow and see for your self...IT SUCKS! It drives horribly in the snow. We have burnt tire marks on our driveway for all of our several attempts to get up the driveway (most unsuccessful, even with only a trace amount of snow on the driveway). I'm sure all the neighbors know when the Deming's are home due to the revving of the engine and screeching of the tires as we floor it to make it up the slope. Ok, so back to the point. Matt has been a champ at shoveling all winter. We don't have a snow blower, so it's quite the task. This morning, I'm talking to my cute mother-in-law, and I look out to see this site:



It takes a real man to be comfortable in moon boots and his wife's bathrobe to shovel the snow. He said he felt real cool as cars drove by, and as the neighbor's were out and about.



So great, isn't it?! I love it! Anyway, on a different note, we took a fun little neighborhood field trip to see the Holiday Fire Station. At events like this, I'm realizing Amber is so shy. She wouldn't let go of my hand and didn't want to participate until it was time to get in the fire truck. That was by far her favorite part. I told her early in the morning we were going, so needless to say it was a long morning filled with excitement until 12:30 rolled around. She was way pumped. Parker loved it too. He was the opposite of Amber. He wanted right in the action and was walking around exploring.

Good way to start out the year

Parker decided to bring in the new year with a bang. Earlier this morning while I was getting ready for the day, Parker knocked out his front tooth on our coffee table. Not chipped, not cracked...OUT! He has a big gaping hole where a tooth used to be. Can you think of anything worse? I was putting on mascara when I heard a big crash followed by screaming. I ran in to the living room and saw Amber hugging Parker and saying "it's ok." I immediately saw a mouth full of blood so I assumed he bit his tongue or cheek. There was so much blood I couldn't see anything. I quickly took him to the bathroom to rinse out his mouth. I got a washcloth and was dabbing everywhere when I all the sudden saw the gap. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was seriously in shock. So many things were running through my head, but mostly "is this for real?" "how can we fix this?!" We took him to a pediatric dentist, and unfortunately nothing can be done. He'll have this gigantic gap for years to come. To make matters worse, it kind of "stunts" the growth of the permanent tooth, so we're looking at a good 7-9 years before his permanent tooth grows in. I was hoping with technology these days some sort of artificial tooth could be put in, but the dentist said it'd just fall out. I was so convinced we'd get this fixed I took these "before" photos thinking he'd be toothless for just a few hours. As I was snapping them, I'm thinking "this is so crappy now, but we'll laugh at it in years to come." I'm pretty devastated. Mostly upset because of the "what if" or "if only" and especially because kids are so mean. I don't want kids making fun of him. It makes me so sad to even think about it. One more blow, is we haven't taken his one year picture yet! It's sad we didn't at least capture that before today. Parker didn't cry long though. He must be brave. As soon as I picked him up he stopped crying, and it seems it hasn't bothered him at all since. The only thing I noticed is it took him a lot longer to eat a piece of bread. SAD!

Morgan Family Traditions

We have a tradition in my family that started with my grandparents. Each Christmas they would bring out "The Christmas Pie." It was a large pot filled with presents. Each present had a string attached to it. The pot had a large piece of wrapping paper covering over the top, and all the strings were poking out of the top. We'd each get a string, and say the little nursery rhyme "Little Jack Horner, sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie. He stuck in his thumb, and pulled out a plum and said what a good boy am I." As soon as it says "pulled out a plum" we'd tug on our string and pull out a present. My parents have incorporated that tradition into their family. They get a present of all siblings/spouses and all 21 grandchildren. That's 36 presents small enough to fit in a bin! This year it was done in shifts. It's such a fun tradition, one that I distinctly remember as a child. It's fun that my children will have the same memory.




This is Joyce and Stu's little boy Jake. He made his way into a box and was having a blast. He is such a good little boy. There were so many times this week I'd look at him and get "misty eyed." I wonder if it will be that way his whole life. The poor kid is going to hate visiting us. Anytime he shows up we all surround him and smile and get cheesy. He gets mauled! We all want to hold him and squeeze him and especially kiss him. He is so sweet, how could we not? It's so nice to have him in our lives. What a blessing, and miracle to have him in our family. He brings so much joy! Stu was such a sport to come to a lot of family stuff with us. I'm sure it was really tough to be around us all, but it was sure nice to have him there. It makes us feel like Joyce is with us.




Parker was born in the middle of a Morgan baby boom! There were seven babies born within a year of our family, so we tried to get a picture of all seven of them at the cabin. Unfortunately Emery (Joan's baby) was taking a nap, and Jake was so wasted he fell asleep mid picture. So here are six of the seven (all six are boys!).


From left to right: Nate (Eric & Katie's) Ben (Brian & Julie's) Jake (Joyce & Stu's) Parker (us), Will (Steve & Mandy's), Andy (Carrie & Jason's), and Brooke (the oldest Grandchild (Roger & Susan's). Not pictured, Emery (Joan & Chad's)

The Cabin

We were lucky enough to go to my parent's cabin over the weekend. It's only an hour away, but you feel like you're in the middle of no where. It is so quiet and peaceful, and the kids can run wild and you don't even think about it. We went sledding for most of Friday and Saturday. Libby (our dog) loves to chase Matt as he sleds down the hill. She runs as fast as she can and barks the whole way down. She is SO warn out afterwords that she literally crashes. Her eyes shut tight and she doesn't move for hours. Our cute little Libby is blind and has hip dysplasia, so she is WAY handicap but it doesn't stop her. She goes nuts and totally over does it. Matt and I were talking about her, and how she literally is our child. We love watching her reaction just as much as we enjoy watching Amber and Parker.

Amber and her cousin Spencer are best buds. They enjoyed sledding together. I was so surprised at how much Amber loved sledding. She was having a blast, and only liked the sleds that made her go fast.


Parker enjoyed himself to! He had such a huge grin on his face as we sent him off down the hill. Speed wasn't a factor for him either. It didn't even phase him.

Christmas Day

Thanks Aaron & Fetriah for our presents! I don't let anyone play with Flounder or Ariel. I take them everywhere I go, and especially love to play with Flounder in the bath tub.


I've already worn my vest several times, and luckily mom took it off when I ate my big bowl of spaghetti.

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm a little behind on the blogging, so be forewarned that this post may be lengthy. I hate how fast the time flies. It seems we just put the decorations up. Anyone familiar with the song by Michael McLean about a lady who cries when she takes the tree down? I wouldn't recommend listening to it, but ti's true isn't it? I hate it's a whole year before Christmas again. We had a lot of family in town, so it's been fun visiting and catching up. So much happens in a years time. Matt and I started a new tradition this year (at least we hope it'll continue). We went snow shoeing Christmas Eve up Millcreek Canyon. It was BEAUTIFUL! We were having the time of our lives. I could have been gone all day! Amber unfortunately didn't like it as much as we did. She was bored half way through. I don't know why! What's not fun about being strapped to a confined area on your dad's back in the cold snowy weather when you're two years old? I can't think of anything she'd rather do! Parker really enjoyed it though, and was kicking his feet and had a grin on his face the whole time. We wore him out though and he eventually fell asleep.



Later that day we went to Matt's sister's new condo for dinner, and then headed to Temple Square. It is so beautiful! We took trax down. It was like a blizzard outside. It made it all the more spectacular. Matt took this photo, I thought it was incredible!



Taking trax was fun. The kids imagined they were on the "Polar Express." We saw several cars that had crashed both on the way down town and back home. It was quite the weather. We wondered if we should even go, but come on, it was Christmas Eve! Temple Square is a must! That's another tradition I hope to continue.


After our downtown adventure we went back to his sister's house and had hot chocolate and opened a couple presents. The grand kids got matching pajama's and a fun book and bear from Grandpa & Grandma Deming. They were so excited, but beyond exhausted. Matt and I booked it out of there and headed home. I don't know who was more excited for Christmas, Amber or me. I couldn't fall asleep and woke up well before the kids. I made some yummy treats that morning, but I was the only one who ate them. I make my favorite things thinking all will enjoy, but it seems my little family isn't as fond as treats as I am! I guess that's a good thing.