So maybe you decide to wrap a couple of Christmas presents to put under the tree. An hour later your living room looks like this:


and you have a mess everywhere. But you have some good ideas coming right? Well, another hour later you have this:

and this nifty gift box

A unique gift bag (never throw out old Christmas cards. The uses are limitless!)You can imagine it is turned right--sorry

And don't forget the paper bag stockings--Easy to travel with and perfect for those who will be on an airplane by 7:00 on Christmas morning. (Turn it with your imagination again)

(In case you were wondering, Kirk is not home right now or this crafty couple of hours probably wouldn't have happened.)

Merry Christmas!

I love roller coasters. I get such a thrill from zooming up high and falling and twisting and jerking and. . . you know what I mean. Since we moved to LA, I have wanted to go to Six Flags. The problem is, Kirk hates roller coasters, so I haven't had anyone to go with. Yesterday, though, Jayna and I were able to go to Six Flags and we had a blast! We went on every roller coaster that was working, including the new X2. It was my favorite! The seats rotated around 360 degrees and you never knew if you would be facing the ground or the sky! There was special effects like fire too! It was definitely the best roller coaster I have ever been on. There were some photo ops with different characters as well. Our favorite was Batman and Robin. Whenever someone was about to take a picture, they would go crazy--kicking, punching and yelling. We got a video on it with Jayna's camera.

We had a great time! Thanks for going with me Jayna!!

We had a great time celebrating Halloween this year! I haven't dressed up for a long time and it was really fun. One of my students gave me the idea of being Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus series. I had a lot of fun making my costume. I bought a purple dress on clearance at Target and then colored pictures of different chemistry things on fabric and sewed them on. I completed it with a "meter stick" belt, a molecule braclet, stopwatch around my neck and finally, I tied H2O molecule models to my shoes. I wore the costume to school and then to our ward party Friday night. Saturday a group of our friends went out to dinner. We were all dressed up. Kirk wasn't too thrilled about the idea of dressing up, but I was able to convince him to be a Jack-O-Lantern last minute. We all went to BJ's for dinner. The waiters seemed really excited to see a group of adults all decked out in costumes. Once we ordered our drinks (water or lemonade) I think they may have been a little disappointed at our soberness. Oh well! After dinner we headed back to Daniel and Kylies for a desert of carmel apples and cookies. Here are some pictures of our costumes:


Here is the entire group. For dinner we were all dressed up, but some of us here aren't. We had leprecauns, Woody and Jessie, Olive and Popeye, Karate Kid and his teacher, the couple from the roaring 20's.

Katie, Kylie and Ashley planned a great party. Thanks girls!

October has been one of those months where I feel like nothing much is going on, but when I look back, we've been really busy.

It started with conference weekend. I loved the talks, especially Elder Uchdorf's about simplifying life. I'm really not crazy busy, but I could use a little more focus on the basics I think. We were able to spend Sunday conference with my aunt and uncle (Greg and Elaine) down in Orange county. We're going back down there for Thanksgiving--if anyone wants to join us :).

Last weekend we headed up to Pismo Beach to spend time with Randall and Clara Lewis. Randall and Kirk have been best friends since high school. Last year, Randall and Clara moved to San Jose, about 6 hours from here. We decided to meet up in Pismo beach, about half way between our homes. We left on Friday afternoon and luckily didn't have too much traffic. We had rented a little beach condo for the weekend and it was perfect! It had 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen, a nice living room and a sweet patio with a barbeque grill we used Friday night. Here's Kirk and Randall, enjoying a cold one! (notice the can behind Kirk's neck. It was a bud light that the owners of the condo left for us)

Saturday morning we went hiking up by Morro Bay. It was a gorgeous hike on the cliffs above the beach. There was one place with stairs to take you down to the water. We saw lots of seals and even an otter, playing in the waves. Clara spotted a rattle snake too. I really love the coastline up there. I love to watch the waves crash against the rocks.



It is so beautiful. After hiking, we had a quick lunch at home and the went to the beach in Pismo for the rest of the day. We played in the waves, threw a fisbee and flew Randall's trick kite. It was a perfect beach day. The air was really warm. The water was a little cold, but not too bad. We were able to go out to dinner that night, looked at the stars (we don't have stars here in LA) and stayed up a talked. Sunday morning we got up and had a yummy waffle breakfast then went for a walk to the beach neaby. We left Pismo around noon and miracle of miracles didn't have traffic all the way home so we made it in about 3 hours. It was a great weekend and really nice to have a break from everyday life. I only wish it could have been longer.

Yesterday, Kirk and I decided to go fishing. We also wanted to go hiking and make it a fun day so we went to the East Fork of the San Gabriel river. We hiked in about 5 1/2 miles and then started fishing. Here we are holding our beautiful little trout.


We saw lots of desert big horn sheep on the way. A couple of them were right on the trail and we got to watch them for a while before they wandered off. We ended up seeing 13 in all and it was really cool.

We caught a bunch of fish and headed back down the trail. On the way down we saw a big bull snake and a tarantula to complete our desert animals.

It was a really fun day and so nice to get out. The weather was perfect: 75 degrees and sunny!

Kirk has been applying for a pediatric dentistry residency program right now as well. He applied to 23 schools and currently has 5 interviews all over the place: Memphis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Buffalo and Rochester (NY). We are really excited/nervous. Hopefully he will get a couple more. The interviews are all between now and Christmas and then we find out the end of January where he gets in. It is exciting, but kind of stressful too.

I still go to work every day. We have homecoming this week which means extra hours helping students practice skits and dance competitions and of course the parade and football game on Saturday. Luckily I get a couple days off next week :).

One more thing. I have a new goal as of this last week. I am going to read the 4 gospels by Christmas. I figured out that I need to read about 5 columns a day to finish. Every year I want to focus more on Christ and the reasons for Christmas,
but get stuck doing everything else. I think that this will be good because I'll be reading about Christ for the next couple of months and that will help me get in the mindset. I'm writing this because I know that if I tell someone about it, I am a lot more likely to follow through.

So if you're still reading, that's what is going on in the Morris household lately. We're looking forward to visits from both of our families next month (minus Alan who's on a mission).

I know that you're thinking I may have forgotten how to post on a blog, or that I've lost my computer or something, but no. You were wrong. I've just neglected this blog for months.

I do have somthing post-worthy to show today though. Kirk and I decided to go bass fishing at Castaic Lake. We normally go trout fishing in a river or surf fishing at the beach, so this was somewhat of an adventure for us. Kirk had heard that this lake had some good bass fishing so we thought we'd try it out. We got up early and left about 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, September 25. It took about 45 minutes to get to the lake, then we found a spot to park and hiked down to the lake. There were already several people around the lake, but we found a spot to fish. We tried for a while and didn't get anything, then Kirk got really excited because we saw several fish swimming up to the surface. We tried for another couple of hours without any luck. Kirk and I were both thinking it was about time to quit when I felt a small tug on the line. I reeled in this monster:


Here is a picture of the lake with beautifully dry southern California mountains around it.

All in all it was a fun day and we were both glad that we went, even though our arms didn't get sore from reeling in the huge fish we were hoping for.

Today is my last day of summer break. That's right, I go back tomorrow, and it is still July! I've had a good break though.
Last night Kirk and I got back from our backpacking trip to Sabrina basin. We left LA on Wednesday after Kirk had finished at school, about 6:15 p.m. We arrived at our campsite that night around 11:00, after picking up our permit along the way. We quickly set up our tent and fell asleep. The next morning, we packed up and headed to the trailhead a few miles down the road. The trail started at Sabrina Lake and it was really pretty. We only passed a few people along the way and pretty soon we were at Blue Lake. We could see lots of fish in the lake, and since my husband lives to fish, we pulled out the rods and caught a few. Here is me at a stream crossing along the way. This is the only one we had to wade through.

We continued hiking and made it to our campsite at Sailor lake a little while later, about 4.5 miles. Again, there were lots of fish, so Kirk went to go catch a few and I laid on some rocks for a nap! We set up camp, had some dinner and then hiked another half mile to Hungry Packer lake.
Hungry Packer was rumored to have bigger fish in it and it didn't let us down. Not only did we get to catch fish, we enjoyed the scenery at a gorgeous high altitude lake. The lake was surrounded by granite cliffs and had an amazing waterfall dumping down into it.




The next morning, we got up with the sun and headed out to fish at Echo Lake. What a view to wake up to!

It was about a mile and a half from our camp. It didn't have a trail to it, rather we just followed a creek up to it. Actually, I panted after Mr. Mountainman and struggled up a small mountain to get to this lake at 11,600 ft elevation. It was a hard climb! But we made it, only to find that the lake was frozen! Here we were, July 23 and this lake hadn't thawed out from the winter. Wow. Although we were disappointed that we couldn't fish this one, the scenery made the hike worth it!

We scambled back down the hill, pausing to take some pictures of marmots and fished at Moonlight lake instead.

After lunch and a short break at our camp we hiked a couple more miles to get to Midnight Lake and fished there. (I told you, Kirk lives to fish!) This lake was also really beautiful. It was really dark blue and had a waterfall/stream pouring down into it. We spent the evening back up at Hungry Packer lake. We ended up hiking about 6 miles that day, but were both super tired by the time we went to bed.
The next morning, Kirk decided he wanted to fish at Moonlight lake once again because it was so close to our camp. He made me a deal. We would fish for 2 hours or until each of us had caught 15 fish. Sounded good to me. It turned out to be ridiculously easy fishing and I caught 8 before he even had his line ready to go. I ended up with 22 at the lake and Kirk caught 16 in a lot less than 2 hours. We went back to camp and packed up and hiked out. After a quick stop at Taco Bell, we were on our way home.
Trip summary:
Best parts: Awesome country with amazing peaks and beautiful lakes, spending time with Kirk and catching more fish than him on the last morning.
Worst parts: A gazillion mosquitos!! I hate having mosquitos around me so much I wore a head-net most of the time we were there. Everytime I took it off I got bit on the face. I even got bit through 2 shirts and my long pants.


All in all a great way to spend my last 3 days of summer break!

Friday morning I was officially the highest person in the continental United States for about 5 minutes. I was standing on the summit of Mt. Whitney. I made it to the top.

Here's the short story: 32 hours on the trail, 16.5 of those hiking the 22 miles round-trip to the summit. Brit (my friend from the ward) and I camped one night then started backpacking and spent one night on the trail. She got sick and I summited by myself. It was amazing.

Here's the long story (or you can just scroll down for pictures). I want this for myself, so I remember the whole trip. Read as much as you feel like.

Wednesday July 7, 2010. I was all packed and ready for the trip. We were scheduled to leave about 3:00 p.m. At 10:30 I got a call from some of our group who had to cancel last minute. So that left just Brit and I. We decided to go anyway. I had been planning this too long to cancel on the day of. Britt and I left LA about 4:15 p.m. The traffic was bad and we made it to the ranger station to pick up our permits just as it was getting dark. Then we drove to Horseshoe Meadows campsite and set up our tent in the dark and went to bed. Somewhere around 3:00 Britt started feeling the effects of altitude sickness. It didn't hit me until about 5:00 when I started feeling very nauseous. After relieving myself of the stomachache (aka throwing up), I made us some oatmeal and we packed up and got ready to leave. We drove about 30 mintutes to the trailhead. Brit wasn't feeling very good and I kind of had to convince to keep going with me as she was still feeling sick, but by the time we were ready to start hiking, she was feeling fine.

We hit the trail about 9:30 and made it to our campsite at 4:00, 6 miles later. The last mile and a half were really hard. It was the steepest part of the trail and the trail was hard to find in a few places. Along the way we met 3 guys in their 50s who were also camping where we were that night. It was nice to follow them and we took breaks in the same places a few times. Finally we reached Trail camp, elevation 12,000 feet. Here's a picture of a meadow along the way. That isn't Whitney, but I liked this picture.

We were both exausted and hungry so we set up the tent and ate dinner. Then we pumped water and planned out the next morning. I am a faster hiker than Brit and really wanted to make it to the top, 5 miles away. We decided that we would start hiking at 5:30 the next morning and each go our own pace. I was planning on making it to the summit and then turning around and findin Brit and then we would hike down together if she was still pretty far from the top. We also visited the campsite of the other guys and had some hot chocolate and talked with them for a while. I asked if I could tag along with them the next morning if Brit wasn't feeling up to it and they said that would be fine.

Friday morning, 4:45. My alarm went off and I climbed out of my sleeping bag. I got things put away in the tent and then left to make some oatmeal while Brit started rolling up her sleeping bag. I walked out of the tent and saw the most beautiful sunrise! Pretty soon the sun came up just a little bit more and lit up the peaks (including Whitney) around the camp. It was so pretty!


I was feeling nauseous again, but managed to eat about half of my oatmeal before I had to relieve my stomachache for the second day in a row. This altitude was killing me! Brit wasn't feeling good and decided not to start hiking with me. I ended up leaving camp by myself at 6:00 a.m. I had heard from others the day before that it should take about 4 hours to reach the summit from Trail Camp. I started up the switchbacks (all 95 of them) and reached the ridge at 7:45. I was able to see over into the next valley which was partly Sequoia national park and it was so pretty.

From there, I coninued up a gentle incline for the last 2 miles to the summit. I was pretty hungry because I didn't really get breakfast. I had plenty of food with me, but pretty much had to force myself to eat becuase I felt sick every time I tried anything. This part of the trail was the hardest for me because I had very little energy, but I kept going. I started to count my steps and would take a break to eat every 1000 steps. It actually helped a lot because I felt like I could see progress. I met 7 people coming down from the summit, but I was the only one going up. I almost turned around a few times because it was really hard, but I kept thinking about how I had to call Kirk that night. I didn't know what he would say if I told him I turned around 1 mile from the summit. I also knew that would bother me and I would have to hike it again. This hike was hard enough that I didn't want to have to come back and do it again. Finally I looked up and I could see the hut on the summit just above me. I got so excited and hurried up the last 100 yards to the top. It took me 3:45 hours to get there from Trail Camp. There was one guy up there. He was just leaving and I asked him to take my picture before he left. Then I was alone on top of Mt. Whitney, by myself. It was incredible. I was so proud of myself for making it and just turned around and looked in every direction. I could barely see one road and everywhere else was just beautiful mountains, lakes, forest and rocks. And I was above it all!! I took pictures in every direction. I didn't stay on top for long; it was really windy and cold, even though I had 5 layers on and my winter gloves.

Views from the summit. Looking down to where I camped the night before:


Me--On top of the world!

I headed back to Trail Camp with tons more energy than I had hit the top with. I made it back in 2:15 hours. On the way down I met several people. Everyone wants to know if you made it, if it was cold, how's the trail etc. I was also wearing my BYU hat and met a ton of LDS people on the trail. Backpackers are very friendly people too.
I had to eat some lunch and then repack at Trail Camp and then Brit and I headed out. She was feeling much better and had actually hiked up to the ridge while I was gone before she started feelin sick again. We made it back to the trail head at 5:00 after hiking 4 hours. My feet were pretty sore, but my legs felt fine. We had burgers and fries at the Whitney Portal Store at the trailhead and then left to go to the valley. We debated about driving home that night, but were both really tired. We ended up staying at the Whitney hostel that night which was a good choice. The shower felt nice and we were both asleep by 9:00. We made it back to LA about noon on Saturday.
Great trip, but one that I don't want to do again (soon). It was definitely the hardest hike I've ever done, but also the most rewarding. I wish that I could have made it to the top with someone else, but it was really cool to do it by myself. I had to prove to myself that I could do it on my own and it was so awesome to be there by myself too. So, if you're looking for a tough 2 days with an awesome ending, get a permit to hike Whitney.

Here are a few more pictures of our trip to Utah before we went to the Green River.
I went hiking with my parents, Melissa and cousins Derek and Clara to Scout Falls. It is a couple of miles up the Timpanokee trail (to the top of Timp). It was so pretty! I love AF canyon!

Derek and I stuck our heads in the waterfall

The group of hikers

We were able to meet up with our friends Jer and Stormie. They live in Texas now and we hadn't seen them for a couple of years.

Of course, we had to go fishing on the Provo River. Here's Kirk with his biggest fish. Doesn't he look happy?

Here's me with a fish too!

I went golfing with Tom and Kirk. It was my first time and I really enjoyed it. We got sprinkled on the whole time and it really rained through 3 holes. I would totally go again though.

We had a great trip. We were also able to see a lot of family at my parent's house on Sunday evening which was great too. Thanks everyone for entertaining us while we were there.

A couple of weeks ago we were able to spend some time in Utah. I'm the kind of person who likes to be out doing thing, especially in the summer time. Although I love my parents and my in-laws, the idea of spending a week at either of their houses didn't sound too appealing. So, as part of our Utah trip, Kirk and I also planned a camping trip to Flaming Gorge and rafting down the Green River. We invited the parents, Kirk's cousin Laura, and the in-state siblings (Connor and Melissa) and of course, they all wanted to come. Our plan was to leave Wednesday morning, camp Wednesday and Thursday nights and head home on Friday. Due to a "giant" storm that was supposed to hit the area, we postponed our trip by one day and left early Thursday morning. (I say "giant" because we didn't see much of a storm, but the campground people did say it was pretty windy. I really didn't want to postpone, but when you're outvoted 8:1, you give in.) Kirk and I were able to fish on Thursday afternoon. The canyon up there is so beautiful! The fish are really big too. We had a lot of fun. Then we went back to the campsite for my favorite part: dutch oven dinner, s'mores and banana boats. My dad goes camping just to eat the good food and I totally inherited that from him. I love food cooked out by a fire. Friday morning Kirk and I went and fished again without much luck while everyone else went and picked up the raft. Then we spent 3 hours floating down the river. It was really relaxing. There were a couple of rapids, but nothing too big, especially because we had a big boat. It was really nice to get out and enjoy another area of Utah. It was such a pretty place. Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

Kirk, making sure we had the right flies to hook them!

My parents--aren't they cute?

Tom, freezing (the temp was around 45 F), by the fire

Connor, showing off his new shades

My biggest fish at the river. I really didn't want to lose him! Kirk calls my right hand here the "death grip." The fish was fine, and I got my picture though!

Kirk's fish (notice the canyon behind him)

Our group on the raft (you can't miss my hubby's farmer's tan. No, that's not a shirt)

Kirk, leading us down the river

The Dads

Melissa and Connor