A Morales Minute

Jaime and I celebrated our 16th anniversary by going to Spokane and staying at our favorite hotel. The Davenport Tower.  We had dinner at The Melting Pot. Their fondue is really good! We had our own private booth closed off with a curtain and separate from the rest of the restaurant. It was in a hallway titled "Lovers Lane" Every time our waiter would come he'd knock then open the curtain to come in. How cute is that. I didn't have to steal a kiss from Jaime. We could get all the kisses we wanted without putting on a show for others. lol  They took our picture and handed it to us along with a box of chocolate dipped strawberries.  Don't go to The Melting Pot if you're in a hurry. We spent 3 hours there but we enjoyed our time. Also we had the full meal this time. Before we'd just had cheese fondue and the dessert fondue. We added the meat fondue this time. It was so good. I loved all the different dipping sauces they had to go with it. The ch...

We get together quite frequently with Sarah and Brandon Ritchie. Tonight we went to The Outback for dinner. They're headed off to Cameo Heights Mansion bed and breakfast for a short getaway. They asked us to come along but we're headed out of town for our anniversary ;) So instead we went to look at a million dollar house with them (it's a hobby we have. Just going to look at big houses for sale. haha) then we went out to dinner.  They're pretty silly. Brandon is a goofball and loves to let it show.  They're a usual date night friends. We're planning a trip with them in a few months! It's fun to look back and recall all the trips we've done with them (some with pretty funny stories) as well as many dinners and late nights hanging out. They keep moving further from us. I'm hoping Richland is as far as they get!

Christmas is finally here! It seems like when you're a kid it can't come fast enough. This year for me I kept feeling like I wasn't ready for it. Knowing what to get the kids seemed harder. They have so many toys already or they're getting out of toys and want expensive electronics that I don't want them to have yet. But thanks to Jaime he was able to find some fun things for the kids online. He did most of the Christmas shopping this year.  We started Christmas Eve by going to my parents house for dinner then our FHE lesson about the Christmas story read from the Bible and then we sing the correlating songs in between verses. After that those who had musical numbers to perform got up to sing or play the piano.  After FHE we headed over to Jaime's parents house to open gifts.  Lindsey has a new love for vinyl records, cassette tapes and CDs. She was wanting this stereo that plays all three plus has a radio and audio output. She was so happy to open it...

We went to mom and dad's this evening to celebrate Jaime and Stuart's birthdays.  Stuart's birthday is the 26th.  Happy Birthday Jaime. I love you and love the man you are. Thank you for picking up my slack and making our kids awesome. You're a wonderful helper around the house. I think you do more to help with household chores than you did a few years ago. Probably because I was dropping the ball somewhere but I want you to know that I appreciate all your help. Thank you for supporting me in new goals and challenges I've attempted. No one could do what you do for me, as a husband, father, and breadwinner. Love you to pieces!! When we got home from dinner we found this sign in the yard. Some students from Jaime's school thought it'd be fun to leave a fun treat and birthday wish in the yard. Super cute! Then after we got home and put the boys to bed Jaime and I went to play games at the Frederickson's house with a bunch of others. It m...

The best way for Tyler to wake up on his birthday is to have his favorite breakfast ready for him. Over easy eggs on top of toast. It's his favorite food. The kid loves eggs. Pokemon cake. I wasn't feeling the best, extremely tired for some reason so while I was asleep on the couch Jaime made and decorated the cake for me. It was a learning experience for him. Tyler just wanted a cake so he was happy to have anything anyone made an effort to do. Jaime's efforts paid off. His first cake turned out great and I can't thank him enough for doing it.  We had his favorite dinner with family. Spaghetti.  This kid got way too many hot wheels. But he was so excited to get them and some legos. Hot wheels from Grandma and Grandpa Morales and Bel as well as us. Marcus and Aide got him Legos. Grandma and Grandpa Naylor got him Pokemon cards.  Happy 9th Birthday Tyler! I hope you've had a wonderful day!!

After running the cable bridge run I had the afternoon to rest. Jaime took me to lunch at Costa Vida after I took a hot bath and warm shower. I felt rested enough for the evening. We had a beautiful dinner for our ward Christmas party. It was nice that I didn't make breakfast, lunch, or dinner today. :) I love our ward. We had brisket, chicken, ham, and pork roast to choose from with a side of potato casserole, salads, and rolls. Our ward has some very talented cooks! We had a good time visiting with friends then after the dinner Jaime and I helped to serve the desserts. There were many different types of chocolate desserts and then volunteers helped scoop vanilla ice cream into the bowls of chocolate desserts that people chose. Jaime helped scoop ice cream and I kept the chocolate desserts going on the table. Adding more as people came through. It was fun hearing all the comments made about the yummy array of choices. It made my evening just standing there talking to everyone w...

I signed up to run my first 10k. I've run 6 miles before but this is the first time I actually paid to do it. Haha Sarah met me at the start of the race. She ran the 5k so our paths split shortly after crossing the cable bridge. I do love running across the cable bridge. And today was perfect! The sun was shining and I had blue skies to run under. It wasn't freezing cold which makes it an even better run.  My medal for completing the race! I didn't do too bad. I had under a 9 minute mile. I placed 32 in my age group for women. I was happy to complete the race in under a hour!

Lindsey has been working so hard to keep her grades to all As. She received an invite to celebrate her 4.0 GPA  with others at school who maintained a good GPA for the first Trimester.  It just so happens that the day she received the invite I took her and Olivia to lunch with Dad and me. The last few months Dad and I have been meeting up to have lunch once a month after his shift at the temple. Lindsey and Olivia had early release at 10:40 this morning so they were able to make our dinner date with Dad. We enjoy it so much that we planned one for next month on a day that the girls have early release again. We went to The Olive Garden today, next month...Red Robin!

Tyler and Olivia had their first piano recital since starting piano lessons with Bonnie Hall. Olivia did so good. She had her piece memorized but still had her music in case she forgot. The girl didn't need it. Later that evening she kept playing the song over and over, even with Lindsey singing along. Olivia has started using the pedal with some of her songs. She's improving so well and loving developing this talent of her.  Tyler is so excited to be playing the piano. Bonnie works so well with him. Tyler does a great job at practicing every day. Sometimes he starts playing the piano without having to be reminded.  Bonnie had two recitals today. I thought this was how many students she had. Nope, she has about double this amount! Busy piano teacher. I'm so glad I was able to get a couple of her open spots. It was when Emily Daw moved. Bonnie taught both Emily and Sophia so when they moved I called Bonnie up knowing she had openings. Piano teachers around...

We volunteered to fill a Salvation Army bag with food for a holiday meal for a family who could use the help. For Family Home Evening we took the kids to Winco, armed with a shopping cart and a long list of items to find throughout the store.  They were great helpers! Another great way to usher in the season of giving. 

We started December by going to the city tree and listening and singing along with Olivia and her school choir. Standing next to an outdoor heater while singing with so many from the community definitely helped feel like the Christmas season has begun!