Morrises

After taking a sabbatical from blogging because of my disenchantment with the whole idea of blogs, I am coming back, realizing that it is a great way to celebrate the fantastic moments in life and to see how many ways I am blessed! (And please don't compare your life to mine and think that we are always having fun, or that my kids are always so cute, or that my house is always so clean, or that we are always so fantastic, because that is the unreality of blogs-and you would be way disappointed if you were to spend some real time with us :).
So here are some updates from the end of summer:
First, camping near Liberty, UT. I think I was the most excited to get out and go camping now that we are back in beautiful Utah. So excited, in fact, that camping is what I chose to do for my birthday (and I could have even had a free babysitter!). So, we packed some regular camping food, as well as some new (to us) healthy camping food, and we had a great old time. The only downer for the trip was that I actually didn't sleep. I had spent so much time comforting my kids that there would be no bears that would come eat us, that my own mind started running wild (I listen to the news too much maybe) and combine that with some actual animals going through our campground at night and BAM, no sleep for me! But we went on a great hike with some walking sticks Daddy made for us and we got another "Best Day Ever!" from our kids.



Day at the Davis County Fair!

My life has seemed chaotic since we've been back and my blogging has reflected that. I have become unplugged in America vs. Taiwan where I was constantly plugged in to feel like I was still in touch with life back home. And since we've come home we've discovered a new level of "busy" as we have tried to cushion the costs of moving abroad (twice in 2 years) and owning our first home.
But we are happy and here is some evidence:

This is Euan in all his hammy glory with his cousin (aka partner in crime), Abby, who I watch during the week.

And Sophie, who loves all things pretty and stole her new Primary teacher's heart today at church when she told her, "I think you are beautiful".
During the summer, we made a video of her called "Flock of Seagulls" which was a collage of her morning hair. We did this because while we were staying with Scott's sister, her uncle Bob said that he was excited to wake up in the morning just to see what Sophie's hair looked like and that it reminded him of the band Flock of Seagulls. What do you think?


And of course we are loving our new home. Here Scott is doing what he wished he could do every day in Taiwan, but couldn't because of the all-tile flooring. And the kids look like they are loving reaping the benefits of our new ultra-plush carpeting as well.

I couldn't forget to put this picture which I was so excited to take because it was one of the times I was homesick the most in Taiwan: Meili's first day of school. Now it's not Kindergarten, but it felt like it to me because it was her first day of school in America, even though it was 1st grade.

And this one is for Scott's sister, Ann, who passed on the treasured "626" pajamas to Euan, who is fitting to wear them because he is the new "Stitch" in the Morris family.

One of our fall getaways to the mountains we love so much...

A trip up to Scott's parents' cabin (and me too lazy to turn the picture)


Sophie wearing a dress that my mom made for me when I was little (and I must say she looks remarkably like me-I will try to scan in one of me wearing it...)

And pumpkin carving for Halloween at the cousins' house is where I will have to leave you hanging for now because we broke our camera and the pictures since that night are on there (hopefully to be retrieved :)

We are happy and have had an eventful year which has made us even more grateful and aware of our Heavenly Father's love for us. And we hope all that are reading and following the adventures of our little family have a healthy and happy New Year!

I had some meetings at the church this morning and as I walked to the church (it's a block away), the weather reminded me of exactly 10 years ago when I was living in Russia and every day was cold, foggy, overcast and it seemed to always be snowing at least a little because of the humidity. It was beautiful! We are so happy to be back home for the Holiday Season. We got so homesick last year when we had to squeeze Thanksgiving into a normal evening meal (though we invited some people over to make it a bit more special) and last Christmas especially when Scott had to work on Christmas and we tried to be excited while opening our presents on a Saturday morning in our short sleeves while home and all the beauty of the Christmas season seemed so far away. It really is special to live in a nation which has Christian holidays.

I know, I know. We have been lame, lame, lame for not keeping up our blog. And it's kind of sad that as soon as we moved back to America, we disappeared again (so to speak). I'm not sure why this happened. Perhaps we thought our readers wouldn't be interested in us anymore now that we are back to the average American routine. Or perhaps it's because we have been so busy adjusting back to said American routine. Or perhaps we are just lazy. Maybe it's a little of everything. In any case, here's the rundown.
Well, we arrived back in May and stayed with Scott's sister for 3 weeks while we waited for our home to be re-carpeted, a necessity because of the previous owners love of nasty dogs who peed freely all over the house (we had it checked with a black light to prove what the stench already told us).
Meanwhile, Meili went to the last month of American Kindergarten and LOVED it. I mean, everyone was speaking English! She was so happy that she came home and when asked how it went, she said, "It was the best day ever!". And she repeated that sentiment every day for the whole month.
Sophie was just happy playing with her cousin Jack who is close to her age every day from morning until night.
Euan, on the other hand was fully traumatized by the move. What once was a great sleeper and a mild boy turned into a MONSTER who wouldn't sleep for months. No, literally, he wouldn't sleep. It was so bad that even after re-doing sleep training on him, I can count on one hand how many full nights of sleep I have gotten since we've been back (6 months).
Scott went straight to work fixing up other little problems with the house (leaky roof, etc) and also trying to find a job. He got hired to teach online at BYU-I soon after we got back, but that didn't start until September. Finding a job isn't the funnest thing in the world. Especially with a brand new mortgage looming over your head. And moving is always expensive, but moving from a different country (for the second time in 2 years) is draining. Especially if you come back to very little because you sold everything. But thanks to Scott's family, we got by, and Scott found a job in July teaching for Steven's Henager College.
Also, we were really blessed to have a small day care that just fell into our laps. Our neighbor needed someone to watch her 4 year-old boy 3 days a week and Scott's sister needed someone to watch her 3 year-old girl and newborn. Plus, her 2 elementary-age girls are on the track program so I watch them for 3 weeks every 3 months. And one of our other friends just moved back to town and is busy trying to find work, so i am watching their boy who is the same age as Euan once a week.
At first, I honestly didn't know if I would like it or if I had the energy for it, but I love it.
So, Scott working two part-time jobs and me running a full-time day care and throw in me selling a little AVON on the side and we feel busier than ever.

We are here in America! I miss Taiwan, but we are definitely happy to be back for all of the reasons that we left (family, friends, Meili's schooling).
I'll just share a couple of things since we don't have internet in our home yet:
The most interesting thing that happened to us on our journey back to America was that we flew over an erupting volcano! It was over southern Japan and it was really amazing.
Mei and Sophie are super happy to be home and near cousins and Meili loved the month that she went to Kindergarten here.
Euan took some time to adjust back to America. He didn't sleep and he and the girls all got sick, though his lasted a whole month!
After 3 weeks of staying at Scott's sister's house because we were waiting for new carpet to be installed (the old was soaked with pet urine!), we have now been in our own house for about 2 weeks. And we want people to come visit! We have lots of room!
Scott got a job soon after we came back which is part-time starting in fall as an online instructor for BYU-I. We have some other leads for more work, so keep praying for us!
Since we want all of our friends and Scott's students to be able to keep up with us on our blog, we are going public again.
I really hope that we have access to the internet soon because I really want to show you our last month in Taiwan, our journey home, and our first month home.

Since our big Chinese New Year break during the month of February, the girls haven't gone to Chinese Kindergarten. Instead I am homeschooling them and hoping to have Meili up to par for Kindergarten when we get home. But without many outlets or friends, here are some ways that mommy deals with having 3 children at home all the time:
*Go to Scott's High School next door (when the 10,000 students aren't there-which is rare) and go "scooter riding" on the girls' scooters, and don't forget climbing trees and hiking the hills.



*The kids also love it when I put on some classical "ballet" music so they can dance. They also help their brother get on his special dance clothes since he wants to do everything they do, even if it means putting on a tutu...

...or a princess costume. (To which Scott cringes at the mere mention).

*Errands with mommy. These always give us a chance to practice our Chinese skills because everyone stops to see and talk to the waiguoren (foreigner) children. We're going to miss how nice people are, but I don't think that we'll miss being pseudo-celebrities.

*And don't forget, just relaxin'

(by the way, I totally love picnik for fixing our red eyes at the click of a button. Pretty sweet.)
There aren't many pictures of "school", I guess maybe homeschooled means un-schooled.

Meili heard about a window seat that will be in our new house, so she made her own now because she thought it was such a great idea. I found her reading to her brother there soon after.

And Sophie was reading in her bed...

He's just so cute...