A Morales Minute

The first pack meeting of the year. The boys had a STEM project. They had 20 spaghetti noodles, some masking tape and a yard of string. They were to build as tall of a tower as they could with those three things to hold a marshmallow on top. There were four groups made of cub scouts and their parents. Aidan and I were in the same group as Dax Allred and Meredith Taylor. We put together a good tower! It was the first one up and done. Another group and three dads working hard to make theirs taller. It kept falling but just before time was up they got it to stay and it was the tallest. However, if the competition also included that the towers were to stand for a certain amount of time our tower would have won because the "dad tower" fell shortly after.  So Aidan and Dax were pretty pleased to know that they built a structurally sound tower that never fell. Way to go!

Emily Daw surprised Olivia with a weekend visit. The Young Women of our ward had a weekend ski trip planned. Emily was able to go to it as well so she went to the church where the girls were supposed to meet. When Olivia got to the church she was shocked to hear Emily was there and they ran for each other and embraced in the sweetest hug. They were so happy they cried some happy tears. They were connected the entire weekend.  They stayed Friday night at the Bishop's cabin for a young women sleep over. Turns out it rained all night so they were not able to go skiing/snowboarding because it was too slushy. Instead they spent Saturday at the cabin playing games, shooting, riding in the 4 wheeler. It was enough of a crazy day that these two slept in the car on the way home. Of course, next to each other. I wish I could keep Emily! We had Emily here Saturday night, all day Sunday and then she left Monday morning.  Emily braided Lindsey and Olivia's hair togeth

We invited Jaime's family over for a nacho dinner and watching the Seahawks game. Most of the NFL games are on Sundays so we don't get to watch them play very often. That's why we like to  make a family party of it when they play on Saturdays.  Liandrew is a lot more engaging and knows the kids better. He lets Olivia and Lindsey hold him more. He's going to have some good cousin friends. Everyone dressed up in their Seahawks attire. Except for Chris. He's a Raiders fan so he came sporting their gear. Which explains why he's not in the picture. He took the picture for us. hahaha All 5 of the Morales grandkids. It's fun when I can look back and see my kids as little munchkins wearing their blue and green fan gear. And now they're so much older and bigger and still holding strong to supporting the Hawks.  The cutest little Seahawks fan!

The kids were gone for a few days at my parents house. It's still Christmas break so mom wanted to have them for a few days. Jaime and I enjoyed the relaxed time alone. While the kids were gone Jaime and I went to watch Marcus coach one of his freshman girls basketball games here in Pasco. They played Lindsey's school so it was fun to cheer for Chiawana and the girls we know from church as well as cheer for Marcus's team. It was a close game but Chiawana beat Grandview by two points. Free throws at the end of the game. But it was the closest game Chiawana has played so they were impressed with Marcus's team. Grandview was in the lead the entire game until literally the last minute! It made the evening more fun having a close exciting game to watch.  While the kids stayed at Mom and Dad's, Dad took Lindsey and Aidan shooting. They're the only two of my kids who like to shoot. They both do pretty good. Dad let Lindsey try dad's new AR-15 he got for Ch