Baby #4

Joe and I found out that we are expecting Baby Morin #4 in October. We are very excited to complete our earthly family this year. This will be the very last- doctors orders. I am feeling nauseous which, for me, is a good sign. I have had 3 blood tests to detect progesterone levels. So far, the levels are normal. I am so grateful not to have to have progesterone supplements. Today, 3/15/2016, I went in for an early ultrasound to detect a heartbeat and see if everything is normal. (Probably because I am now 36 and considered "high risk" and with the history of a miscarriage on record.) We are happy to know that the baby was there and is measuring 7 weeks 3 days, which is spot on schedule. There is only one baby and a heart beat was detected. We are happy and grateful for this miracle. Here is his/her first picture:

Joe and I just told our family members this week. (3/23-3/24). We haven't made it public but those who actually read this blog will know. We are aware of one other baby in the family that will be coming around Thanksgiving so we are super excited to have cousins so close together- about 3 weeks!

11th Anniversary!

Joe and I celebrated 11 years of marriage last month by eating at our favorite local sushi place, Shoga, in Orem. Man, so dang good. The Tuna Tataki is our favorite starter. Heaven!!

Afterward we headed to The Chocolate Cafe for dessert. It was new to us and the piece of chocolate cake we shared was delightful. We were confused by the atmosphere but liked the food.

Our friend Bethany offered to watch the girls while we went out to celebrate. They had their own fun with her kids Rachel, Bree, Ty, and Kensley. We are grateful for all of them for taking such good care of our girls. They sure enjoyed the evening. So did we!

I love you, Joe!

 Our engagement photo (above)

 

 Our wedding photo and me eating sushi on our date.

Kids Sayings (Since the New Year)

3/13/2016
I was baking cookies after church with Saige. When the timer on the oven went off, Saige yelled, "Mom, cookie time!!!"

3/11/2016
Maia and Heidi had so much fun playing Legos with each other so nicely on Thursday that Heidi said, "Maia and I are going to have sister time today..." I was thinking to myself, "aw, how sweet. Sister time sounds so great." Then Heidi finished her sentence, "Maia and I are going to have sister time today without Saige ruining everything!" Sister time meant time without "little sister". Hmm..

1/30/2016
Maia- "Mom, I feel like Saige has a super power for taking things that aren't hers."

1/27/2016
Maia came in from playing outside in the snow and I said, "Hey! How was it?" Maia said, "BRB mom. Bathroom break."

Is It Really That Easy?

From Feb. 23
This afternoon Joe's mom came home from the hospital after receiving surgery yesterday for a broken hip. Maia had just gotten home from school and Lin was feeling tired and nauseous from pain meds. I took the girls outside for a couple of hours to play so Lin could rest. The whole time the girls were playing so nicely with each other.

Maia and Heidi were riding bikes, being so courteous in sharing the sidewalk; Maia helped hold up Heidi as she was trying out some roller skates for the first time; they were sharing sidewalk chalk without any problems; and they were complimenting each other's cartwheels! WHAAAAATTT?

Saige was coloring with chalk, eating Maia's chips, pouring water out of the girls' cups and onto the sidewalk, etc. They were even patient and kind to her.

Being outside today rocked.

The winds picked up and the sun started to go down and we're back inside. All 3 are together and I'm starting to hear, "Ugh! Heidi!" and, "Maia! You have to help me!" and, "Mom, Saige is jumping on my bed!" etc.

Whomever said, "home can be a heaven on earth" must have had a big yard with the sun shining all year round. Is it that easy? Is that all we need? Sunshine and a yard? It seemed like that was all that was required today.

I do believe that the sun and the outdoors are therapeutic. I am itching for spring.

SUN!

We've had a horrible inversion layer this month so far. We've also had fog that has turned the trees "white" in the morning with the cold temperatures. It has been looking so depressing and dreary. Cloud cover for maybe 2 weeks at least. I can now imagine, kind of, what Lehi saw in his dream when he talks about the "dark and dreary wilderness." 

Well, today started off the same way, minus the fog, which was nice. And THEN at 4:15 or so, the sun made its appearance through the clouds! Hallelujah! I couldn't believe it! It was so beautiful! It was 49 degrees! I hurried and grabbed the bubbles so we could enjoy the sun for as long as we could! Oh, it was glorious! Oh, it was beautiful! Oh, how I want it to be spring! I felt ALIVE! It was such a great blessing for us today!

Maia had dance this afternoon so she missed the bubble party. However, she wanted to drive by the snow sculptures after dance, so we did. There's a house about 4 blocks from us that has these snow sculptures out in front. Some guy sculpts and then spray paints his sculptures for everyone to see. It's so cool. I love that he does it for free and for fun. This really is "Art City". This mermaid is his latest. Earlier this winter he had a woman on a motorcycle, a snake, an owl, and a couple of other things.

Anyway, today was a great day!!!

Heidi's 5th Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Heidi's 5th birthday with her friends from church. She wanted an art party so we (Joe and I) did our best to deliver something fun. Thank goodness we have a real artist in the family to help with all the prep.

Her friends Emi, Seneya, Luke, Anika, and Ella came to celebrate. We started off picking aprons as each guest arrived and coloring in some frames with oil pastels.

Then we moved over to Bob Ross and played "High-five the artist". Each child got to give Bob Ross a high-five with the paint that matched their apron. They loved getting their hand all messy in the paint. It was my favorite part. Those kids were so cute about it.

Afterward they got to paint their own masterpiece. I loved their creativity.

Joe got the piñata ready while I cleared the paint table to get ready for cake, ice cream and snacks. 

Heidi loved her cupcake piñata and her 6-layer, bigger-than-her-face rainbow cake.

It was interesting that the thing that was most eaten was the fruit that we offered. Barely any ice cream or cake was eaten. Kids just wanted fruit! No cheese or crackers either. 

We finished off with some presents and 2 hours were up, just like that! Perfect! 

We love our Heidi girl and we are glad she had a great party. She gave us hugs to show her appreciation after everyone left. 5 years of this sweet girl in our family! She is sweet, funny, imaginative, a performer, girlie, graceful, and loving. 

Heidi, we think the world of you and are so grateful for who you are and all the love, joy, fun, and humor you bring to our little family. You always want to play and spend one-on-one time with mom or dad. You love that quality time. You also love being hugged, kissed, and cuddled. I love all of you!! Love, Mom 

Summer 2014

July flew by and we were busy! Here are some pics from the end of July 2014

We liked to visit the splash pad, in rain or shine. I promised Heidi that she could get a snow cone at the splash pad one day. It started pouring rain. I quickly packed up all our stuff and told the girls to head toward the car. Heidi ran toward the Sno Shack in a panic instead. She thought she wouldn't get the snow cone that I promised her. She was willing to do it all by herself. She took her wallet with her and looked for her dollar. She was happy that she finally got her snow cone. This girl has guts and a major sweet tooth. 

Pioneer Day! Who could forget? July 24th we celebrated Pioneer Day with a 5k run from the Provo Temple to the unfinished Provo City Center Temple. Maia started on her scooter but realized the bumpy road hurt her hands too much so we stored the scooter away and she finished the race with me. Joe took his modern-day hand cart (aka jogging stroller) and ran ahead of us slow pokes. But we all finished and it was a fun experience for our family.

Above: before the race. Below: after the race. Don't mention the courtesy shuttle back to the parking lot to Joe. We could have run a 10-15k in the same amount of time it took the 5k committee to figure out shuttles. It was a joke. But, we'll know how to do it next year.  

After the race we had a picnic up at Hobble Creek Canyon. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being together.

At the end of July my oldest niece, Marin, came out to attend EFY and a Habits for Life camp at BYU. It was so fun to spend some time with her between camps.

Especially at the BYU Creamery. Mmmm.

At the beginning of August Maia decided to try her hand at basketball and completed a basketball camp at Springville High School. She said she didn't really like it. However, she really liked the t-shirt she got at the end of camp and said she wanted to do the camp next year. She'll do anything for a new t-shirt, I guess.

Heidi is improving in her speech fluency. She has hit an all-time low on number of stutters on an evaluation at therapy! We are so proud of her. She is working hard and we are excited about her progress. Maia has even come to a couple of sessions of Heidi's speech therapy to receive training on how to support Heidi in her speech. It's a family process.

Maia has officially started soccer season. So far, she likes it! I'm wondering if her outfit has anything to do with it.

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Saige turned 9 months on August 5th. She has two teeth and is average for her height and weight. 

Here are her stats from her 9 month appt.

Height: 28 in. (66%)

Weight: 18 lbs. (48%)

Head Circumference: 43 cm. (27%) 

Saige is finally crawling! She is our latest crawler and our latest teether out of the girls. We like that she is taking things slowly.  She is, by far, our best eater. She is always hungry.

Maia started school on Tuesday (August 19th). She is in the first grade and goes to school ALL DAY! That's her favorite part about the 1st grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Chatterley and she loves school.

We had a Back to School party after the first day of school. All of Maia's friends from Primary came over to celebrate the 1st day of 1st grade.  We took pictures, had snacks, filled out an interview page for each child, and played games. 

Heidi was my model while I tried out different photo spots. I got pictures of all of Maia's friends but I forgot to take Maia's picture!!! I couldn't believe it!! What was I thinking? 

Heidi loved the balloons from the party and the light rain. She decided to dance and run in the rain with her balloon. I think it was the best part of her whole day. She is such a free spirit. She just sings and dances every day.