A Morales Minute

Aaaannnd they're off! Ready for a new year.  

My parents are away on vacation to the Oregon coast. They sent this picture. I thought it was a great one. I'm glad they're healthy and happy and able to go on trips they want.   

I went with Olivia to get her senior pictures done. Lyndee does such a great job. So grateful to have a friend who is so easy to work with and shares her talent with us.  So excited to see these when we get the finished pics!!!  

 

A friend posted on Facebook that she wanted to hike the Enchantments hike in Leavenworth. It's over 20 miles. I don't know what but as soon as I saw her post I wanted to hike it. But I was nervous to commit to it. Finally, almost last minute I decided I would. The group was able to secure two condos for our large group to stay in.   So I joined the girls to get some hiking and conditioning in.  Look how beautiful that view is! It's always so much more fun hiking, walking, exercising when you're with friends. I'm nervous but also looking forward to this hike. I'm always curious to see how my body will weather and how far I can push myself for such things.  

 It was BYU night at the Dust Devil's baseball game. We went with Mom and Dad sporting our BYU attire.  It was a beautiful night and lots of fun to be together. Unfortunately the Dust Devils were losing pretty badly so mom and dad left early. Now if it was a BYU game and Brian was there, then my parents would stay till the end. ;)

When I heard tours for the Hanford B Reactor would be ending for a few years I decided I needed to get out there and see it. I knew some of the kids had already been there during field trips. Or so I thought. Turns out only Olivia has been. I didn't know that when I reserved seats for me and Tyler to go. I should have had Aidan and Lindsey go with us. But Lindsey went a few days after Tyler and I did. When it reopens after they make some renovations, then I'll take Aidan.  Tyler was the only minor on the tour.  We both enjoyed the tour. I'm amazed at all the intricacies of the reactor and the short period it took to build it all.  The valve pit People are so smart! I enjoyed hearing the history and learning. Seeing things still there from the WWII era is neat.  The Hanford site does not look like this anymore. It was quite the small community back in its bustling days, preparing to go to war making the atomic bomb.  The control room Hear Here telephone booth Kilroy was here

  Every year mom plans a week for us to come in August and swim and have fun theme dinners. As the kids get older it's harder and harder for us to be able to stay an entire week due to their different commitments and activities. This year we had one themed dinner.  The theme was owls. (excuse the poor landscape photo) It was super cute and was a very delicious dinner.  I enjoyed the hot summer days that we got to spend outside and swim. It was different from years past where we had breakfasts out on the deck, early swims, lunch, then another swim and lots of time to lay out by the pool. With Mom and Dad's new diet plans it makes meals different so it's just dinners that seem to be the main attraction. Maybe next summer will be little less going on since Olivia will be graduated and sports won't have started yet and maybe non of the boys will be in leadership. lol I'm just grateful for the times we get together and the memories mom likes to make with our kids. 

Olivia was having a bit of ice cream so she got out Koda's ice cream for him. She held the bowl for him to eat it while she at hers. Too cute! With a pup as cute as this, how could we not spoil him! He's the perfect fit for us.   

One thing I love about being a part of Jaime's family is that they love to get together whenever they can. We always have such fun when we're together. Lots of laughs and fun conversations. I just feel so much love for each of them as we spend time together.  After Marty and Diana got back from their vacation they wanted us to all go to dinner together. It was after Marcus's family left and we did miss them.  But I still love how they all wanted to get together. We had dinner at Red Robin.  Chris taking a picture of everyone while laughing just capsulated the joy of this picture. I love it.   

  We made a trip to Moses Lake to attend the temple open house. It's a beautiful temple and actually has a lot of color in it. I'm used to seeing temples all white inside, symbolizing purity and heaven.  This celestial room is full of color. Green carpet, pink flowers painted on the ceiling, light green wallpaper. And what really stood out to me was that the celestial room doesn't have any windows! No natural light filters in through stain glass windows.  As different as this temple is, I know that more are being built like this and they are all houses of God. All beautiful and are the only places on earth that we can perform vicarious work for others and seal families together forever.  I'm so grateful for the testimonies of each of my children and Jaime. That they all wanted to go and see this house of the Lord.  We missed Lindsey, she had to work, but she was able to go with Lori and her kids the following week. 

Can a mom have it any better than this!? My pup snuggled up beside me and getting massaged by the kids. Wish I could get this every night!