sequoia national park

^Small crisis right at the beginning but we recovered!^

^Sequoia!!^

^General Sherman aka biggest tree in the world. Whaaaaat!! Amazing!!^

^ They are always so happy for the camera ^ :)    ^ Awesome flip moves out of the backpack^

^ Romy was so excited to climb on everything^

^The deer stayed around for a long time until Roman threw a stick at it^

^Banks kept finding pieces of "art"^                     ^Hollowed-out-tipped-over giant sequoia^

^Even the roots of the tipped trees were amazing^


^Jump!^


^Pretty sure my face looked like this the whole time. I am in love with giant trees^


^Inside the Room Tree^


^More Room Tree^

^Roman! He kills me with his little personality^

^Yeah, he carried both kids.^

We drove to Sequoia National Park and San Francisco "on the way" to my brother's wedding in SLC. It's 17 hours or so out of the way but completely worth the drive. Not to mention, there is nothing I like more than 17 hours of movies for the kids so Ben and I can sit in the front seat and hold hands and talk about everything in the whole world, which we pretty much did. Anyway, the Sequoias were absolutely breath-taking, and we thoroughly enjoyed our morning of hiking and staring at these amazing trees and looking at deer and maybe-sorta-kinda- taking a pinecone for the road. Sometimes I forget that when life starts looking kind of narrow, all we have to do is get our babies out in nature and let them run wild. Happy boys, happy parents, wonderful memories for our little family.

San Francisco pictures coming up next post!

mike and mellaina get married

(alternate title: THE BLOG LIVES ON!!)

 After a long break I think I'm actually missing recording some of the haps around here so I'm going to give the old blog a go. No promises. I'll try to post on facebook when I update so no one (cough*mom*cough) has to keep checking all the time.

 My youngest brother Mike got married to the sweetest girl this past weekend. Everyone is excited to have Mellaina around as a permanent fixture in the Morris family, most especially if she stays in touch with Roman's new girlfriend Chelsea. I wish I had a picture of them together. He is totally smitten and talked about his undying love of Chelsea and Mellaina all the way home from Utah. Anyway, the happy couple got hitched in the SLC temple, and while I'm sure the ceremony was beautiful, Ben and I had the best time watching all the kids and hanging out with Brian and Amy. It was a beautiful day and filled with so much happiness and love. Three cheers for family! And now, a million pictures. :)


  

I think in my next life I'll be a wedding planner. There is just nothing better than a beautiful wedding.

holy smokes you guys,

Tomorrow I'm going to look like the photo below all day. It is 2 a.m. and I'm like a little energizer bunny right now! It's really annoying but I thought I'd take advantage of the quiet to write a few things down and post a few pictures for my mum. Hi mom!













Roman has been quite hilarious lately. He is getting so crazy sassy we are finally having to crack down on him. Its sad how often he slaps his brothers in the face. But kind of funny. But sad. You can see why I've been hesitant to crack down on the hitting and whatnot... secretly I think it's really hilarious to see this little tiny person test all the boundaries he can, but sadly his brothers do not find it quite as funny, so we are working on putting a stop to it. For now he mostly still hits but follows up with a sweet "I'm sorry" and a hug and kiss.

He will only go to sleep if we put him in bed "like an excavator," complete with beeping and crashing sounds. And then blanket, and then bunny, and then silky must all have the same treatment. It's very endearing and makes him so happy to sleep.

Also, he is obsessed with basketball. He plays several times a day, even all by himself. Sometimes he'll just wander out back and start shooting hoops all alone. Ben, as you can imagine if you know him well, is thrilled beyond belief. Keep playing baby! Too bad he'll only be 4 feet 2 inches tall as an adult.

Banks is still as skinny as ever. He is seriously skin. and. bones. It's wild. But he's full of energy and happy to have his best buddy benson at home to play all summer. He is a swimming machine, totally fearless and at ease in the water. It's a total change from last year but very welcome.

Benson is a getting to be gigantic and super smart. He finally can ride a bike, and loves it, of course. Though we've been telling him for years he would love it, he always insisted it was dumb and not worth learning. Ah, we have such ammunition now! It's great to win a few battles like this as a parent, as this serves as a shining example of how smart we still are, and how he should trust us when we assure him he will like something. He has suddenly become very bold in his food tasting, and recently tried (and loved) sushi. I am, obviously, thrilled to have a sushi buddy! Yahoo!

Ben and I are great. Ben is taking his test in just a couple of weeks. He will do well, and is very excited to be done with studying for a while. I have just one burning question in my otherwise very happy life:

Whyyyyy do people wax poetic about hanging their sheets/towels/laundry on the line to dry? What is this "Sun" smell they speak of? Does their laundry not smell like dirt, like mine always does, and -worser still- feel like sandpaper against their skin? I don't get it. Tell me your secrets people. I am even opening up comments if you'd like to throw in your two cents. I really am dying to know!

Well this is stupidly long, and bravo if you made it this far. I am going to attempt sleeping again now. Wish me luck.

graduate

I had to include this one. This is Banks' best friend Allen. Banks told me he likes Allen because "he looks like a ninja." haha I'm sure Allen's parents would be thrilled to know that.





Banks graduated from Pre-school last Saturday. The ceremony was short and sweet and I always love a chance to see one of my kids sort of in their own element, playing and interacting with peers. Strangely, the parent in front of us cried pretty much the whole time. Maybe she knows her son is going to be a kindergarten drop-out and she was cherishing his only graduation.

Banks didn't really give two hoots about graduating. But he's excited to have the summer off and then ride the bus with Benson to elementary school!

motherhood on a friday night

"Cradling a swaddled infant in their arms, mothers would distractedly touch their lips to their babies' foreheads. Passing their toddlers in a hall, mothers would tousle their hair or even sweep them up in their arms and kiss them hard along their chins and necks until

the 
    children
          squealed
                with
                     glee.

Where else in life could a woman love so openly and with such abandon?"
-The Snow Child

well, it's true

We were sitting at the kitchen table the other day, just shooting the breeze, and Ben said to Benson, "I bet you are the smartest kid in your class." (Insert Mom assuring him it's not smartness that counts, but good old fashioned hard work, ahem) To which Benson replied,

"No dad. I'm not. But I AM the best looking."

Bahahahahaha!

We sort of tried not to chuckle and said a few, "Well yes you are. We think you are sooo very handsome," and such and he simply said,

"Well it's true. I'm the only kid who ever has their hair done."

Oh the complicated world of a 1st grader.

Isn't it nuts

 

that no matter how crazy the day has been,

I find my thoughts and heart wandering

toward my sleeping babies  

and I am nearly overcome with intense love for them?

I think that is one of my favorite things about living.

I want to bottle those moments and drink them up whenever I'm feeling down.

Mmmmmm, so delicious.