A Morales Minute

 It's now become tradition for Jaime and I to throw a New Year's Eve party. We've had friends ask us if we were still having one because they were making sure they didn't work that night. :) Makes us feel good knowing others look forward to parting with us. I didn't get any pictures of our spread of food or fun with friends...just means we were all having a good time.  I put out our chocolate fountain. Looked so pretty with the fruit and angel cake laying around it. We snacked, played games, visited and laughed with Taylor's, Andersons, and Whitemarsh's. Others we'd invited couldn't get babysitters or were out of town. However, having 8 people made it easier to play games around the table. Everyone is happy to end 2021...and then there's the thought that we are going in to 2020-Too. Will 2022 be a mirror of 2020? Mask signs are still on every business door. Not every business enforces it now but still the state has the mask mandate. Everyone in s

 Last month I was having problems with my eyes. They were red, a little painful to blink and upon the doctor examining them he said they were inflamed. Doctor prescribed me eye drops and instructions to come back in about a week. When I went for the followup he said that he didn't know why they were inflamed. He said that sometimes things in the body can cause the inflammation so he'd like to run blood tests and see if there's something that can be found that's causing my eye problems. I said ok. I went a few days later for the blood draw. There was a lot more blood drawn than I realized would be. Even the phlebotomist was surprised how much. I thought, well if you're checking this many things in my blood there's going to be something that pops up.  Sure enough, on December 16th Dr. Barney called me. He seemed to stammer over what to say. I knew it wasn't good. He said the antibody levels of one antibody are extremely high. Normal is 0-19. Positive high is 2

December 27th, 2021 marks our 19th wedding anniversary. We've had some ups and downs but what I can't get over is that no matter how difficult times can be, Jaime still chooses me. He's always good to try and do things to make me happy. He's still as cute as ever too. He always makes time for us to spend together for my birthday and our anniversary and sometimes little trips mingled throughout the year. Having older kids definitely makes that easier to do as well.  On our anniversary we went to Budd's Broiler for dinner. Everything was so tasty. When the waiter told us their non-alcoholic beverage menu I couldn't resist getting a virgin piña colada. We had some delicious ones while in Cancun. Since I couldn't be somewhere warm for our anniversary I got a drink to remember our warm days in Cancun in October. I enjoyed my drink! It was a nice evening with Jaime. After we ate we walked around and did some shopping to help our food settle.  The next day we drove

Christmas morning the kids came in to our room and woke us about 6:20. The girls set their alarm to get up at 6am. They wake the boys and then they all go see what Santa brought them before they come and wake Jaime and me. Like usual, our kids made out pretty well. Lindsey and Olivia got Nike Air Force shoes and lotions from Bath and Body Works, Aidan got an Apple Watch that he can text and make phone calls on. Good idea Santa ;) we weren't ready for Aidan to have a phone with a screen that could possibly be lost or whatever else. Tyler got a Nintendo Switch light to play Nintendo games on the go. Jaime got two pairs of dress shoes and a yummy smelling lotion that I find extra nice. :) I got a new cordless Dyson vacuum...to replace my other one that doesn't stay charged for longer than a minute or two now. I'm excited to have another.  I didn't get any pictures of our family on Christmas morning opening gifts!! Can't believe it. But I at least know that I was presen

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Jaime's family. Most years we do Christmas Eve with my family and his but this year we felt it'd just be easier time-wise to pick one house to go to. We like to have the tradition of having tamales for dinner on Christmas Even. :) They were delicious. After dinner we played games.  Some played Dungeons and Dragons And some played Seaside-opoly. Monopoly but with a twist of all things from Seaside Oregon. Kind of a small twist to the game. we had a good time. Monopoly is still a long game, even if they rename it Seaside-opoly lo.  Mario kart races on the switch And we couldn't go without a round or two of dancing to the game Just Dance. The kids love to have fun with Aunt Bel. I love how she's always so happy, upbeat and positive around the kids. She's so good to my kids. She would have been a great mother but she's an incredible aunt and I feel so blessed to have her as my sister through marriage.  The kids played their Christmas

This year's holiday card.  Front Back I don't write a separate letter but next year I'm thinking I want to make one of those holiday cards that says a few did bits about everyone. Short and sweet, greeting card like and easy to read but filled with love.  I like to post our holiday cards on social media and send it out with a Christmas greeting. That way it gets out to more of our friends and family. :)   

We celebrated Christmas Adam with the Taylor and Edler families.  We had angel food cake with fruit and whipped cream.  It was so good.  Lots of kids, lots of talking and laughing. :) After dessert we had a gift exchange. Everyone made a homemade gift. I think it's a fun tradition. One of the best parts is seeing everyone's homemade gifts! Seeing their creativity. Everyone had a good time. Taylors are like us...any excuse to be with friends. We love getting together with them. This was the first time we've done anything with the Edlers but I'm so glad they came! They're a lot of fun. After gifts the kids played together while the adults sat around the table and played games. It was a good evening and I'm excited to do it again next year. I'm not sure who we will invite for next year. I like the idea of doing it with different people each time. Last year we celebrated Christmas Adam with Andersons. I think Christmas Adam could be a fun tradition for our famil

 We celebrated Jaime's birthday with friends. We went to dinner with Sarah and Brandon...Brandon's birthday is just before Jaime's, the 19th. We celebrated both guy's birthdays by going out to eat at Lu Lu Craftbar and Kitchen. Dinner was good and I loved visiting with Sarah and Brandon.  After dinner we went to Amy and Bryan's house to celebrate. Amy and Jaime both share December 21st as their birthdays. We enjoyed playing games with friends and having dessert. Happy birthday Jaime! We would not be where we are without you.  He does so well in whatever he puts his mind to doing. I love his confidence in his job. He truly does put students and staff first. He feels like everything they do should be to help and educate the students. I love him so much. He makes 42 look good.  This year for his gift I went with an automotive theme. I got him cup holder extenders for his truck so that he can fit his Hydroflask in a cup holder and it won't roll around the floor. He

The day is finally here. Thursday December 16...Tyler turns 12! He  had his favorite breakfast, dipping eggs on toast.  Before Jaime left for work we let Tyler open his last gift from us.  He loves dinosaurs still! He has a good imagination and will play with Dinos as well as read up on them and even playing interactive games on the iPad.  Friday was a short day of school because it's the last day before winter break. The early release made it so much easier to be able to get Tyler and his friends in to a laser tag facility in the afternoon.  They all had such a good time playing and celebrating Tyler.  I thought it was cute Lindsey and Olivia came to play with the boys. Everyone had so much fun. The boys were all so good. After cupcakes and gifts I bought them all to our house where they all played Smash Bros. on the Nintendo Switch for a while before they all had to go home. Tyler was very thankful I set up a fun birthday for him.  We do large/more expensive birthday parties for

Lindsey received this text message today! She's been accepted to BYU-Idaho. We're all so excited for her. She's still waiting to hear from BYU but of she doesn't get in there I will secretly be excited she didn't. :) If she gets accepted to BYU I know she will want to go there. With the pandemic causing schools and colleges to to all do zoom classes it really effected Lindsey's grades at CBC. I'm not sure they'll be good enough to get her in to BYU. But her ACT scores are good and maybe other students struggled the way Lindsey did with zoom courses and that'll be taken in to account for accepting students to BYU. Who knows. In the mean time...I'm just so excited she gets to go to BYUI!!   

 They're not gingerbread houses. Or graham cracker houses. This year the kids made houses out of pop tarts. Hey, they're already frosted!  It didn't take long till the kids were off and building their creations.  Lindsey's house is adorable.  Olivia built a house along with a little outbuilding on the side.  Jaime and I worked together and made a simple but cute house. :) I worked with Tyler on his house too. He did a great job! I think it's super cute.  Aidan got his walls and roof up. Then he lost interest lol. We were watching 8 Bit Christmas while we worked on the houses. The movie was more interesting for Aidan. He didn't have the desire to work on gluing candies. He preferred to watch the movie. Which was totally fine since we were all together just enjoying the evening. 

Martin, Diana, Bel, and Chris came over today for dessert and celebrating Tyler's birthday a few days early.  He was such a sweetie about his cake. He wanted something simple. So I baked up a cake, made frosting and put fudge brownie M&Ms on spelling Happy Bday. He's the best. He says "It looks great mom!" He was so happy this afternoon.  He's been wanting Unspeakable merch (merchandise) for so long. Some Youtube sensation that Aidan and Tyler both like to watch. I'll admit, some of their games and activities are fun to watch.  Fornite Monopoly from Uncle Marcus and Aunt Aide. This has got to be the 5th version of monopoly that we have.  Bel and Chris got him a Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch.  The shock and excitement of the day! Tyler got Air Jordan shoes from Grandma and Grandpa Morales.  He was soooo excited.  Can't believe he's going to be 12! He's grown so much the last year. Him showing an interest in clothes and shoes is a definite