A Morales Minute

Ready for our New Year's Eve celebration! We had quite the spread. And even added more before any of our guests got here with their snacks.  Because New Year's Eve fell on a Sunday we decided to make a smaller guest list and invite families and do some fellowshipping.  The bishop's family came so we knew we were in the clear for our get together. 😜 Rob and Carly left before we could get the picture but we had a good time with everyone. They just got back from a long drive from Utah so they were tired and knew they wouldn't make it to midnight.  We introduced them all to our new game Herd Mentality. We had so much fun and it brought out some good laughs. We're grateful for friends and had fun ringing in the new year.   

This is for us pattern loving members of my family. 😇  

A month ago I set up a surprise birthday dinner for Jaime with some friends from his childhood/high school days. Bel helped me pull it off perfectly saying that their parents wanted us all to go out to dinner together. Jaime thought that's where we were going. The kids said they wanted to ride with Grandma and Grandpa and so off Jaime, Bel, Chris, and I went on to Lu +Lu Craftbar and Kitchen for our dinner reservations. When we got there I said we had reservations and she told us where our table was. We walked over to it and Jaime was confused to see people sitting there. Then he realized that he knew who these people were! They stood up and said Happy Birthday! Jaime was so surprised.  Brad Charvet and his wife and then Trevor Galey. I was a little bummed that his wife Megan came down ill that afternoon. Steve Aguilar was going to be there but his family was sick also. And as for Chrises Snyder and Sartain they were not going to be in the area to be able to come but sent their wel

There's been quite a few duals and tournaments this month that we've gone to support Olivia in. It's been neat to have other family members come when they can as well.  This girl gets so tuckered out during this time of year. She puts in her all for wrestling practices. She just fell asleep on the floor and Koda curled up next to her.  She's definitely improved from last year. It's only her second season wrestling and you can clearly see she's able to incorporate moves she's learned. The last few weeks she's had several tournaments she's wrestled in. She's lost some and won some.  She got a couple pins in Kennewick at the Lioness Tournament! Getting a hit to the head that's caused her to get black eyes...on more than one occasion. The shadow makes it harder to see but it's there.  It just progressively got worse each day! Every time she would come and talk to me I couldn't help but give a sad/sorry face every time I looked at her. lol

I'm in charge of getting the senior wrestlers posters made. I was able to get a photographer set up and a day they could all get together to have pictures taken. The girls had ideas of poses they wanted for their individual pictures and group pictures.  This pyramid is impressive and they pulled it off well! With the number of senior wrestlers dropping out it made our number of 7 to 4 work out perfect to do this pose for pictures.  They're so cute. They got some really good pictures. I'm excited to see the giant posters made. They're going to be big! 3x5. Same size as the girls senior softball posters. Olivia is just getting more and more merch to set up for her graduation open house!  

The kids came and woke us up at 6:30am. Christmas morning comes way too early for Jaime and I. lol But I do like going out and seeing the kids excitement to see what their Santa gifts are. I'd say everyone was really blessed this year.  Lindsey got a new Apple watch. She'd been wanting a replacement for a while.  Olivia was excited to get some Ugg clogs.  Tyler received not one by two Lego Technic car build sets! Aidan received a really cool Harry Potter train Lego set. He could hardly wait to put it together.  Being the first time Grandma and Grandpa Morales have been with us over Christmas Eve they've never had their stockings filled and a Santa gift beside it. So they were pretty surprised to come out in the morning and see their load of goodies and this Lego Disney Up set. They love this Disney movie and are excited to build and put it together at home.  Jaime also got a new Apple Watch. Now he won't have to charge it during the day so the battery lasts till he goes

Jaime's turn to open the advent calendar for Koda. I don't know why but it's fun knowing that Koda can be excited for something throughout the month like we are with our different holiday activities.  It's a beautiful Christmas morning. I love when Christmas Eve or Christmas falls on Sunday. We get to go to church and listen to Christmas musical numbers and wonderful words about our Savior Jesus Christ. I felt the spirit so strongly by Sister Karen Sharp. Her words pierced my heart, they really were words for me. I'm so grateful for my brother and Savior Jesus Christ. I've truly come to know his love for me.  After Church we got ready for Christmas Eve with Jaime's family. We were so excited to have them here with us. We enjoyed a yummy tamale dinner and then played a variety of games.  Bel set up a game for the kids to play to win prizes.  It's harder than it looks. That bouncy ball can bounce right out of those muffin tins if you bounce it too hard. We