Box Fort

Big, empty boxes make for awesome forts, except when you get stuck in a window that is way too small for your head, let alone your entire body! I don't know what it is with Taj and his need to stick his arms, legs, or head through small spaces. This is definitely not the first time he's been stuck. I've pulled his head out of our front porch railing and his feet out of the back of our kitchen chairs on several occasions! I think it must be a boy thing, but I guess Haiven will test that theory when she gets older!

Santa

I don't think Santa could have been any happier to have Taj sit on his lap. Either Santa was having a really bad day or he's muscling through the gag reflex while Taj sat on his lap with a poopy diaper! Gross right? Well Taj was the next kid in line and there was no way he was going to go to the back of the line over a poopy diaper! Hopefully Taj is still on the nice list.

Lights

We ventured out to see the lights at Temple Square last weekend and we didn't last very long at all! It was so cold and slick that we spent most of our time at the Joseph Smith Memorial building and in the the visitor center. We did a quick walk through of the lights and then headed home, but Taj did seem to enjoy the lights (an his hand warmer) a lot more this year and that made the trip worth it! Temple Square lights are definitely worth seeing for those of you wondering whether or not it's worth it to take the kids out in the cold!

Blessing Day

Taj and his cousin Alivia with Grandpa Shuck (another nickname):)




We blessed Haiven on the 4th of December. Both me and Brannon's families traveled all the way up north to come for her blessing only to find out that church had been cancelled on account of the wind damage from earlier in the week! We thought our neighbor (who is in the Bishopric) was joking when he told us church was cancelled because the debris from the storm needed to be cleaned up. Well he was not joking, but we did get to bless Haiven anyway, much to our joy and relief! We blessed her in our living room and Brannon did a great job despite the noise Taj and his cousin Livy were making. Taj actually crawled between the legs of the men blessing Haivi during the blessing and sat on the floor right under Haivi as they blessed her, all the while kicking his legs and making gremlin noises. Livy wanted to know why she couldn't join "T Man" and expressed this loudly! Somehow Brannon was able to do a wonderful job blessing Haiven through all the distraction. It was actually kind of neat to bless Haiven in our home. It was definitely a blessing we will all remember!

Nicknames

Haivi loves her daddy as long as he doesn't talk in his baby voice!


Check out that pucker (her consistent reaction to Brannon's baby talk)! At two months old she already know how to melt hearts!


We are all smitten in the Morse household with little Miss Haiven, or "Haivi Gravy" as Brannon calls her. Sometimes he even omits the "Haivi" and just asks, "Where's Gravy?" I'm hoping that's a nickname that doesn't stick! I never knew what kind of nickname Taj would have since his name is only one syllable and three letters long, but I think at the ripe age of three he has a nickname that will stick, "T." I can definitely live with that and I think he will be able to too. "T" was also my dad's nickname when he was growing up, so that's kind of cool. We didn't plan it. "T" was something everyone just started calling him. He also goes by "T Man," which he might think is pretty cool when he gets a little older because it almost sounds like a super hero name and what little boy doesn't wish he were a super hero? I know Brannon got his nickname "Gabby" when he was about three years old, so I thought it would be neat to document when Taj got his. It's not hard to wonder how Brannon got his name! I don't really have a unique nickname like Brannon or Taj. Brannon came from a town where pretty much everyone has a nickname. I never know who he is talking about when he is reliving old memories with his buddies. I hear names like Delburt, Pat, George, Bones, Newt, Bobba Louie, Hermcat, Turp, Bubba, Big Daddy, Construction, Slim, Doug, McGee, and a plethora of others. If you're looking for a unique nickname, head on down to Tropic, there are plenty to choose from!

Hurricane in Kaysville!

I am standing in the pit where the roots of this tree used to be.

Last night when Brannon told me we were supposed to have some strong winds in Davis County today, I didn't think twice about it. I mean, I grew up in Monticello where it is pretty much always windy! It was never unusual to see a trampoline or two flipped upside down or some shingles missing or a fallen tree here or there, so I was literally freaked out by the howling winds that woke me at about 5 am this morning. Things kept hitting our house and our power kept going on and off. Then a couple hours later it did go off for good for most of the day. So far we have power again, but I'm not going to bank on it quite yet. I ventured out with the kids in the safety of our car when the winds died down to assess the damage. I couldn't believe what that 100 mph wind had done to quiet little Kaysville. They actually classified that speed of wind as Hurricane 2 status. Trees have been uprooted everywhere, people's roofs and shingles and siding are missing, trash and debris is everywhere, fences are down everywhere, power lines are down, business signs are gone, and there were a few fires. They also had to shut the freeway down because all the semi trucks were blowing over. There were semis backed up for miles on the freeway by our house. I have never seen anything like it! The only casualty at our house was a single shutter. We really got lucky. I really feel bad for those who have had a lot of damage done to their homes right before Christmas, as if Christmas isn't expensive already! The pictures I took were from my neighborhood in Kaysville.