The Morgan Family-old blog

The Better Choice

2008-11-03T16:03:00.002-07:00

I have been taught that this country was founded upon principles of rightousness, that God had his hand in what the founding fathers were doing when they established the United States of America. Obama has proposed many things that go against everything that this country was founded upon. Remember what principles this country was founded upon and go out and vote for the man who will keep those principles alive!

Vote John McCain Nov. 4th, 2008.

Yes, We are moving!

2008-10-27T22:29:00.004-06:00

Yes we are moving!!! To a new blog address that is... :o) Our new blog is: www.morganfamdam.blogspot.com
Come visit us soon and make the change on your link list! Hope to see you all soon!

Pictures from Kendrick's B-Day Part 1

2008-09-28T22:37:00.005-06:00

Here are just a few of the pictures that were taken last niht at Kendrick's birthday party. These are from Leslie's new film camera that she bought from Kim and Ethan.

It wouldn't be a Morgan party without a baseball cake.
Will, right, a family friend, makes balloon animals.
He was great with the kids. You can see Kendrick with his sword on Grammy Mac's lap.
Kendrick's cousin Payslei
The birthday boy.
Grandpa and Grandma Morgan

Look at all those presents.
Kelsey, left, and Addison sporting their "princess crowns"
Kendrick (with a little help from Bailey)
opening his dump truck wagon from Mommy and Daddy.
The birthday boy starting in on his cake. Les ran out of film at this point, however, Kim was shooting with a digital and Bailey was shooting as well. We are hoping that someone got "the final product".

Stay tuned for more pics coming soon.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY KENDRICK!

2008-09-28T00:22:00.002-06:00

I wanted to let everyone know that today (Sept. 27) was Kendrick's first b-day.

Pictures and videos coming soon

A couple of pix

2008-09-23T21:23:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of pix of Kendrick.

Hammin' it up for the camera!

Kendrick and Payslei Fishin' in Dave and Gina's front yard with Addie and JT's new fishing poles! It is so fun having cousins be close in age and proximity! Kendrick has been learning to walk and Payslei took a hold of his hand and was helping him walk. It was so cute! Gina got a pic of it on her phone but I didn't. I'll have to ask her for a copy.

Just as a note: K is doing so good with walking! As long as he is barefoot or in his shoes that I usually have him wear he is all over the place! He tries running when he gets excited but ends up on the ground after a step or two. :o)

My new toy!

2008-09-23T21:08:00.002-06:00

I was at Dave and Gina's watching the kids one day and decided to do some dishes after we ate lunch. They have a portable dishwasher and I was loving having a dishwasher to use concidering I haven't had on since....let's see....before my mission.... Oh yeah it was when I lived at Gina's parents all the way back in 2002! Thats right it's been 6 yrs!!! .... Oh wait... I did have one while we lived at my in-laws when we first got married for about 1 month.

Anyways, I was enjoying using the dishwasher so much and thinking about all the dirty dishes in my sink at home that needed to be washed... blah!!! I hate doing dishes! At least by hand! So as I was sitting on the couch I spotted the RC willey ad and decided to look through it. To my surprise they had a portable dishwasher on sale!

Now mind you this was a saturday and we all know that ads end on saturdays. I called Phill, maybe I txted him, I don't remember, he said he was for it but then he asked how much it was and I told him and that that was the sale price. He doesn't like having to make big purchase decisions quickly. He likes to take his time and think it over first... Not good when something is on sale and that sale ends today. He asked if I had looked anywhere else I said no and told him to look online and we could talk about it when I got home.

I went home and he had found one at Best Buy on sale also but for about $75 less than RC Willey! Yeah even cheaper! So I went shopping after I dropped him off at work and what did I get? Yes thats right! A DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH for me... Here is a pic of my new toy!

Sing ..... Sing a song

2008-09-04T12:48:00.007-06:00

Back awhile ago, Les and I kinda had a fight when she didn't know what she wanted to do on one of my days off. I HATE letting one of my 2 days a week go to waste, and I got frustrated that she didn't know what to do. I suggested going to an Owlz baseball game (big surprise huh?) well it wasn't a big surprise to her either.

She got mad and said that we ALWAYS go to thing that I want to go to and that she was sick of going to "baseball crap". I asked her what her "ballgame" was (i.e. the activity that she likes to go to) and she said concerts and plays.

At this point I knew I was in trouble. Les and I are complete opposites (though I think both of us have started creeping toward the middle in our 2 1/2 years of marriage) when it comes to music. In fact, I just barely asked her what her two favorite types of music are ... her answer?

Country ... Public Enemy #1 in my book.

and ...

... LDS church music ... I have to be in the right mood for church music (a mood I've very rarely in).

Well, I knew that I better find a concert that 1) Would be someone she actually would want to see, and 2) wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg to get inside to see.

I started looking where else? GOOGLE. I found a couple for artists that were coming to USANA, but those tix were 50-100 at the cheapest.

That's when I found Wendover, NV. As the slogan goes, "It everything you love about Vegas ... only closer."

There are three main casinos in Wendover and together they have a concert hall where a lot of country artists come to perform. I was looking through the list and saw that Phil Vassar (whoever he was) was coming on Aug. 31. I asked Les if she would like to go see him and she immediately beamed and got really excited.

I was actually pretty excited too, because the cheapest tix were $10 and that was part of the argument that started this whole thing --- we could get the whole family into an Owlz game for $8 total and concerts were just too expensive. So I'm thinking that we're made in the shade. We could have sprung for closer seats, but as long as you hear the music it's a good concert right? .... right?? ... come on! ANSWER ME!

Ok, I guess I was wrong and after looking at seating charts, pictures of the stage and a few other things. Leslie decided that she wanted to get the $50 floor seats because, "this is the only concert she gets to go to all year."

Our seats were on the 5th row almost in the middle of the stage, in fact, they were two seats to the right of center.

Our view from the stage, taken with Phill's camera phone
(they made us take our regular camera back to the car before going inside)

Les' mom was kind enough to watch Kendrick and let him sleep over at her house as we took off on our date.

Wendover is 2 1/2 hours from Provo. You go up I-15 to I-80 and head west until you reach Nevada. We left Les' mom's house at 2:30-3 p.m. and headed north. We both knew we better stop for lunch/dinner since the concert started at 7 and there wouldn't really be much time to eat once we got to Wendover.

There is a place in Salt Lake called Italian Village that makes "pizza benders", which are soft-doughed calzones. They are AWESOME! You can order whatever you want inside, but you might want to ask Les if that's a good idea. (***hint*** it's not) The original comes with ham, pepperoni and sausage inside. We went there and ate and then hit the road to Wendover.

As soon as we hit I-80 it started to rain. It wasn't hard at first, but then it progressively got A LOT worse. There were points on the drive that we were driving through buckets full of water, with 2-3 inches of water on the road itself and visibility down to 30-50 feet. We took it slowly, and as we were about to cross the Utah-Nevada line ... the sun came out.

It was 6:30 when we went inside. The seats that we sat on were nice leather rounded seats with a mini table for cup holders between every other seat. For a better idea click here. When we got in the theatre it was us and about 6 other people. We had a pretty good laugh, thinking that Phil Vassar might actually be able to pick me out for not knowing ANY songs(which it turned out I recognized three).

It eventually filled out and was a nice intimate setting for a concert. Phil even mentioned that it felt like playing in some one's living room.

As for the concert, from someone who doesn't like country, It was actually pretty good. I didn't stand up much, but Les did. She sang her heart out and we smiled and laughed through most of the evening.

They announced that Phil was going to sign t-shirts in the lobby after the show, so Les got really excited to be able to meet him. Apparently, so was everyone else, because there are a huge line when we got out there. But once Phil got there it went pretty fast.

The tour manager said that we could take pictures, so EVERYONE pulled out their cell phones and snapped away. ... ... ... Sorry for the poor quality.

Phil Vassar

Phil signing a T-shirt and poster for a couple from Lehi.
In fact, one of their wedding pictures is in Phil's video for "Love is a Beautiful Thing". If you go to the top of this post and watch the video, their picture is at the 1:18 mark. I was taken in front of the Provo Temple. The poster said, "Thanks for choosing us. 'Love is a Beautiful Thing' " With that picture in the middle. Phil signed the T-shirt and their wedding picture that was on the poster for them .... Cool huh?

Phil signing Les' T-shirt

Phill and Les in line waiting for Phil Vassar to come and sign the T-shirt

Les sportin' her new shirt the next morning at breakfast.

RED VINES!

2008-08-11T14:29:00.004-06:00

So for our trip Les and I got plenty of snacks and candy to munch on (remember the Dum-Dums? Click here if you don't.) Anyway, we had a ton left over ... wait, that's not big enough ... we had a TON ... there we go much better. The thing that we have the most of is Red Vines.

Well, one day, Les was eating some and Kendrick wanted some. Les gave him a piece, and he quickly slobbered all over it.

Here are some pictures of the whole situation.

Standing up for daddy before he has to go to work

Chomping away at the Red Vine.

Getting it all over the place. On my face, my clothes, mommy's shirt and everything else.

I was at work when this whole thing happened so I had to hear about it after and check out all the cute pictures.
Les couldn't get too mad at him ... not with that cute smile he flashed her in that last picture.

Click-happy daddy

2008-08-09T15:31:00.004-06:00

My little sister Bailey got a nice new camera for Christmas and since I have one of the cutest kids in the entire world, whenever Kendrick and I are at my parents' house, we go out and I like to take a bunch of pictures. Here are some of those pics. They are from early June.

Standing up and smiling for daddy.
Reaching for the camera ... but oh ... the sun.
Hi everyone

Hope you all enjoy the look at our little boy.

Fourth of July

2008-08-09T15:18:00.004-06:00

Ok .... So while I was working on our trip posts, life continued to go on -- amazing how that happens right?As many of you know (and for those that don't) Provo goes all out for the 4th of July. From the hot air balloons, to the Parade, to the Stadium of Fire, Provo has it ALL!

Well, for the Morgan family the parade is what we focus the most energy and time on. Normally the teenage grand kids sleep out on the parade route in "our" spot and save it for the rest of the family that comes in the morning. Les, Kendrick and I live three and a half blocks from the parade route so it nice to just get up and walk down there before the parade starts.

Well, this year, lines got crossed and the was a misunderstanding about who was going to save the spot. as it turned out, nobody did.

Fortunately, my Grandma Morgan was performing in a play about the women's of the revolution called "Patriots in Petticoats" -- SIDE NOTE: It was awesome. I was afraid it was going to be too hot but it was very nice. -- that was playing during the 4th of July weekend at the Crandall Historical Printing Museum. The museum is located next to a bank, and the owner had put up bleachers for his family to watch the parade from. Well, he offered to let us sit there so we did.

Here are a few pictures of Kendrick at the parade that were taken by Bailey.

Watching the big balloons float past our spot.

Getting a kiss from Grandpa in his spiffy new UVU shirt that he caught at the parade. Also watching the parade with Uncle Vince.

Wearing daddy's Chicago Cubs hat (for the red white and blue in the logo)

Hanging with my (soon-to-be) NEW Auntie Katie.

After the parade we went to my parents house and hung out until 5-6 p.m. then went up to my grandparents house for the Stadium of Fire. They live in the foothills above Provo, just below the Y on the mountain. It is a perfect view of the entire valley and especially the stadium.

Mommy and Kendrick waiting for the fireworks to start.

Our son the fish -- California trip Part 7

2008-08-01T01:46:00.009-06:00

For those of you that are jumping into the story from here you might want to read from the beginning here. Or Part 2, the long drive. Or Part 3, Sequoia NP. Or Part 4, visiting friends and family. Or Part 5, the Angels game. Or Part 6, the Dodgers game.

Well, now for the part of the story that you've all been dying to read (but mostly see). Ever since I posted a picture of Kendrick in the pool at Leslie's dad's house in Part 1 of this trip blog, many of you have constantly been asking me to put up the pictures of Kendrick swimming.

Well, here you go. If any of the photos need explaining I'll put below the picture.

Kendrick loves the water. The only problem is when he gets tired, from being out in the sun. The up-side of that however, is that it makes for some GREAT photos. ... and nice long naps after.

So these pictures are from the third time that Kendrick went swimming. It was one of our last days in California. The trip was enjoyable for all three of us. I got to go to two baseball games; Les got to show Kendrick off to Holly, Kelly, Uncle Ron and Aunt Jan and a few old friends; Kendrick go to see California and meet Lehi, Leslie's dad's big dog, as well as play with his Grandpa and Grandma Wurtz and Auntie Sarah.

We love you all soo much. It was fun to get away and have a great vacation.

However ... ... ...

not all of us had an enjoyable car ride home. Haha.

**That's it for our California trip, we now return you to your locally broadcast blog from Phill and Leslie**

Dodgers-Indians: Cali trip part 6

2008-07-14T23:22:00.018-06:00

For those of you that are jumping into the story from here you might want to read from the beginning here. Or Part 2. Or Part 3. Or Part 4. Or Part 5.

Yes, I Phillip James Morgan ... an Angels fan went to a Dodger game at Dodger Stadium. And yes, I the aforementioned Angels fan ENJOYED MYSELF at said Dodger Stadium.

I guess I should start at the beginning of the story huh? (Yeah, moron that's the best place to start.)

Well, if you remember, I had gotten sick Tuesday night into Wednesday day (The day of the Angels game). I thought that it was food poisoning and thought that the rest of my wonderful family would be fine and not get the nasty little bug. ... Boy was I wrong!

Thursday night into Friday morning (the day of the Dodger game), Leslie got a tiny bit of it too, only making one trip to the can as opposed to my 3-5 ... ANYWAY!

She was still feeling under the weather when our lovely son Kendrick also got the diarrhea bug and was not a happy boy. At this point I'm afraid that my SECOND favorite part of our trip was going to get cancelled.

Leslie, being the wonderful (not to mention beautiful ... even sick) wife that she is, said that it would be ok with her if I went to the game and she stayed at her dad's house with Kendrick.

After numerous confirmations that she was serious, I called Michelle (Leslie's sister) about the tickets that she was going to be getting. She said that she knew a guy and that all I had to do was to call him and the tickets were ours. She also mentioned that his tickets were $30 each, which was fine with me.

I call him, not knowing his name (and to this day I still don't), and said, "Umm ... My name is Phill Morgan and I'm Michelle Brady's brother-in-law. She said that you had tickets to tonight's Dodger game?"

"Yeah," came the response, "did you want the field-level tickets ($30) or the loge-level seats($20)?"

"The field-level." I said.

"Ok, how many do you need?"

After checking one last time with Les that she was indeed not going I said, "Just two."

Now this is where it felt really sketchy to me ....

I asked him, "So how do I get these tickets?"

"I'm at a restaurant called 'Phillippi's' ... " and he gave the the address, which from what he said was less than a mile from the Stadium. "Just call me when you get here and I'll meet you outside."

Ok, I thought, I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure that everything will go the way it should.

I packed my "bag of tricks*" for batting practice ...

* -- The 'bag of tricks" includes 3 different types of pens (regular sharpie, fine point sharpie and a gel pen) for autographs, a draw-string backpack (which I ended up having to use because the other back was "too big" bahhh!), a hat for each team (in this case the Dodgers and the Indians. {I'll explain why later}), a cheat sheet with all of the players' pictures, names and numbers on it. Very similar to this one, a camera ,and of course my glove.

... and gave a kiss to Kendrick and Leslie. Before I left Leslie made a very interesting little comment that stuck with me for the entire drive to the park.
"Whatever you do to get the tickets, DON'T GET ARRESTED."

Huh? Arrested? Why would I get arrested? Maybe because this whole situation reminded me of a deal with the mob? You know, the whole "Behind an Italian restaurant is a guy ... knock twice, then once, then twice again and he will give you what you want." type of situation.

I jumped in the car and headed to Phillippi's. On the way I called Michelle, who said to call her once I was at the restaurant. After getting to the restaurant I tried calling Michelle and got no answer. I tried to call Leslie to hear what she thought I should do ... Me being paranoid at this point ... and got no answer SEVEN TIMES!

I decided to call the guy with the tickets. Again, another "mob" twist came into play. "Do you see a Chinese restaurant across the street from Phillippi's?" he asked.

"Yeah I do," I said.

"Go around to the back of that restaurant and I'll meet you there with the tickets."

GULP!

More paranoia sets in as I frantically call Leslie, still without an answer. I'm pacing at this point as the guy comes to the side of the building (looking sketchy I might add) and waves for me to come over to him.

"Are you my guy?"

I nodded, still trying to call Leslie ... still no answer.

"Here are the tickets." He says as he hands them to me and I hang up my last-ditch effort to contact someone I know.

"It's $60 total right?" I ask.

"Yeah," came his reply.

I paid him and that was that.

No cops. ... No "offer I couldn't refuse" (other than the tickets I mean ... they were $60 face value, AND I GOT THEM FOR $30!) ... No "swimming with the fishes" ... Nothing like that.

I decided to just chill for a minute to catch my breath, relax and once and for all get a hold of Leslie. When I still didn't get an answer I thought that I should just get to the stadium parking lot and make the trek to the gates so I could be the first on in the park.

I made my way to the parking lot gate where the attendant told me that the parking lot doesn't open until 2 hours before the scheduled game time, which just so happened to be the exact same time that the gates to the stadium opened too (game time was at 7:40 p.m.), but that they started letting cars lineup at the parking lot gate 15 minutes before they open.

It was 4:50 p.m. That meant that I still had 40 minutes ... 40 MINUTES ... before I could even park my car!

Frustrated, and still trying to call Leslie, I turned around and looked for a place to park. There was nothing on the street and I was panicking again. That was when Leslie finally answered and tried to calm me down. It worked a little bit, and it also improved my luck, as a car pulled out on the side of the road just as I was approaching.

Even though it had been 8 years since I had had to parallel park a car, I still did it with pin-point accuracy.

I grabbed my bag as Michelle called and said that she was on her way and that it would be pointless for both of us to park in the Dodger Stadium parking lot (Parking: $15 ... Finding free parking for one of your two cars on the side of the road: PRICELESS. There's some things money cant buy, for everything else there's Mastercard ... errr ... except for the Dodger Stadium parking lot where they only take CASH lol :0))

I told her that I had already parked and that I was just going to walk to the stadium gates so that I could be the first one in the park. She laughed at me, told me how much of a hike that was and said that she would be there in 5-10 minutes and would pick me up.

I thought that I would start walking and if I wasn't close to the stadium by the time she got there, I'd turn around and go back. Well, I talked to the attendant to see how far it was and he told me a mile. Not too bad. But I felt bad leaving Michelle, so I hung out until she got there.

When she pulled up it was 5:07 p.m. still 8 minutes until we could line up. "Pull up and see if they'll let you line up," I told her. She pulled up to the attendant and he pointed to Lane 2 so that's where we lined up and waited.

I was thinking we would be one of the first cars to park and I could make a mad dash to the stadium gates, so I prepared for "battle", putting the pens in my pocket, folding my cheat sheets and getting everything situated for a quick "look through" by security when I presented my ticket.

However, we were not the first ones in the parking lot and so most of the prep work went for not. Oh well.

I had heard that Dodger Stadium opens up the center-field gate and lets you go on the warning track for batting practice, which is the only stadium I know of that does that.From these pictures (provided by dodgers.com) you can see exactly how it is set up. I thought, however, that the fence to hold you onto the warning track went from straight-away left to straight-away right. I also thought (thanks to picture #2 above) that there would be some room to maneuver and ask players for the baseballs.

Oh how wrong I was ... on both accounts.

We headed straight to center field. I had my pack open and ready for inspection, my ticket in hand and my cheat sheets ready to be read. However, there was nobody to take my ticket. Yes, to stand on the warning track is F-R-E-E (that spells free...credit report dot com ba-by :0) ... free!
If I really wanted to I could park on the side of the road, hike to the stadium, stand and watch batting practice, then walk back to my car and go home to watch the game on TV. It's a good thing I don't live in L.A. or I might just do that A LOT!

When we got onto the warning track, I soon realized that the corral went from left-center to right-center .. a much shorter distance than I had prepared for. It was VERY crowded as well. So we went to the field level (yellow seats) and I squeezed into the first row next to the left-field foul pole.

There was nothing during the Dodgers portion of BP. Sure a few balls rattled into the corner, but nothing that I had a realistic chance at getting.

Remember that I had a Dodger hat and an Indians hat in my "bag of tricks"? Well when the Dodgers left the field and the Indians took BP, I quickly switched hats to look like an Indians "fan".

See, when teams go on the road they like to look for their "fans" and reward them for supporting them on the road by throwing them balls during BP.

So if I look like a "fan" then I have a better chance of getting a ball. When the pitchers came out to shag fly balls Scott Elarton and another pitcher stayed in left field. I called each of them by name, but they ignored me. Finally, about 15 minutes before BP ended Elarton got a ball and turned and threw it in my direction. His throw was 5 feet to my left and I couldn't get to it.

During BP Michelle found some seats and got a world famous Farmer John Dodger Dog. I went and sat with her and took this picture of our view toward home plate.

I got up soon after that and went back to the foul pole because the Dodgers' starter Clayton Kershaw ... who Michelle and I agree looks A LOT like Orel Hershiser ... right?

Anyway, I saw him walking toward left field to start to warm up for the game. I decided to stand behind the Dodger catcher Danny Ardoin (Ar-du-ah) in case of an over throw .... it never came, but I did get a few pics of Kershaw throwing.

Here's a picture that AP took of him during the game.

When they were done warming up I tried to ask for the ball, but no dice. I returned to Michelle, who probably thought I was an idiot for getting up and trying to get a baseball, but for me it's a hobby ... kinda like fishing. You have to be patient, persistent, knowledgeable and kinda lucky.

She explained that no matter what happened during the game that we weren't going to leave early because "Dodger games never start until the 7th inning" ... prophetic words.

Some of the position players came out to run, stretch and throw before the game, so I ran down to the "front row" (Dodger stadium had box seats that you have to have a ticket to get all the way to the real front row so I had to settle for the 10-12th row from the field) and waited for the players to finish with their warm up throws.

I had targeted Andy LaRoche and Andre Ethier. I thought that LaRoche was going to end up with the ball, so I started yell, "Adam (thinking of Andy's brother who plays for the Pirates), could you toss me that ball when you are done," but he fired one last throw to Ethier. I panicked and waved my arms and flashed my glove trying to get his attention. I yelled once more, this time to ANDRE Ethier, "ADAM, could you toss me that ball ... PLEASE!"

Now, I knew as soon as I said it that Adam wasn't his first name, but I also knew that his first name started with and A, so I might be ok. Fortunately for me it was ok. Ethier looked up, saw my Dodgers hat (I switched back before going to see Kershaw) and fired the ball to me. It was pretty beat up (two big gashes and grass stains on half of it) but I didn't care. That pushed my streak to consecutive MLB games with at least one ball to 5. That was it for pregame, I sat down and relaxed as the game started.

I knew before I went to the game that Michelle was a HUGE Dodgers fan, but I didn't realize how big until I went to the game with her. Her enthusiasm for each player was sky high right from the opening pitch. Honestly, I thought that her energy would wain around the 6th or 7th inning ... it didn't. She was constantly on her feet, yelling and screaming for her boys in blue. Les later asked me if I saw a different side of Michelle at the game and I told her that I finally saw the sports fan that I had heard so much about. ... ... And I was glad that I did.

Our view of the field in the middle of the game.

Thanks for a great day at the ballpark Michelle.

Les also asked if I showed Michelle a different side of me ... because I guess I'm a completely different person during BP than I am during the game and outside the stadium. For the answer to that question I guess Michelle will have to post a comment.

Dodgers left fielder Juan Pierre warming up between innings.

As for the game, I knew that it might be an ugly day for the Blue Crew .... which it was for the first 7 innings. Cliff Lee, who might win the AL Cy young award this year, was pitching for the Tribe and had shut out the Dodgers through seven and left the game with one out in the eighth and a 4-0 lead.

When Lee left with a runner on and one out in the eighth, it was the bullpen's goal and objective to protect the lead.

That didn't happen.

The Dodgers got on the board when Rafael Betancourt served up an RBI double to Jeff Kent. And Rafael Perez came in and gave up James Loney's RBI single up the middle to make it 4-2.
That's the lead that was handed to Borowski in the ninth, and it disappeared in a hurry.
Angel Berroa singled and Russell Martin doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Juan Pierre's awkward, check-swing single off Borowski's leg brought in a run with one out. After Pierre stole second, Borowski was forced to intentionally walk Matt Kemp to load the bases. Kent then tied it when he grounded out to short to bring home another run.

It was Borowski's third blown save of the season, yet it wasn't a full-blown disaster. Usually, when Borowski blows one, he does so in dramatic fashion. This time, he was able to get the third out before the Dodgers found the finishing blow.

Because Borowski was able to get out of the 9th without further damage, this game kept going.

In the 10th, an Indians offense that had gone quiet after Kershaw's departure woke back up when Dodgers closer Takashi Saito took the mound.

Saito walked leadoff man Jamey Carroll, then gave up consecutive singles to Ben Francisco and Ryan Garko to load the bases. A fly ball was all the Indians needed to regain the lead, but

Franklin Gutierrez couldn't provide it. Instead, Gutierrez hit a grounder to short that resulted in a 6-2-5 double play.

That could have been the deflating moment that ultimately unraveled the Indians. Instead, Peralta calmly stepped up and ripped a double to right that Andre Ethier couldn't get a glove on (pictured below)."I know I've been struggling with runners in scoring position," Peralta said. "But I tried to concentrate a lot. In that situation, I had to be confident in myself."

"That should be a big lift for him," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "You saw what Jhonny is capable of going down the stretch last season. I can't tell you how many clutch hits he had for us. And in the postseason, arguably he was our best hitter and run-producer. So it's in there for him."

The Dodgers went quietly in the bottom of the 10th and lost 6-4.

Despite the loss I had a blast. Thanks again Michelle for a fun night.

A Night at the BIG A -- Cali trip Part 5

2008-07-14T23:20:00.017-06:00

For those of you that are jumping into the story from here you might want to read from the beginning here. Or Part 2. Or Part 3. Or Part 4.

I guess this is my favorite part of the trip and it almost didn't happen. Remember when we mentioned that we went to dinner with Leslie's dad, Cindy and Sarah on Tuesday night? And that I would feel it later ... well here's the rest of that story.

After we went to bed that night, I was restless. My stomach was turning over, I was hot in the covers and I couldn't get comfortable all night. I felt like I was near vomit the whole night and to make a disgusting story less graphic, I threw-up 2 times that night and spent the rest of the night either with the runs or in a cold sweat in the trailer. NOT A FUN NIGHT!

The next morning was the day of the Angels game so I was bound and determined to be healthy enough to go to the game. After taking 5 pills from Leslie's dad -- I learned later that they were clay tablets -- I spent the whole morning on the couch drinking water. I was also on the phone trying to see if we were getting tix from Howie Kendrick through our family friends the Barbers.

The family at the ballpark. Phill had just taken a big bite of the killer nachos in his lap. Mmm.

My plan was to be at Angels Stadium at 4 p.m. so that we were the first ones in the ballpark for batting practice. My goals for the game were to catch at least one ball at to get a baseball signed by Howie. Kendrick trying to eat daddy's hat.

***TIMEOUT**

For those of you that don't know Leslie and I are naming all of our kids after baseball players. "What? Even your girls?" Yes, even the girls. Anyway, I think it would be cool if we could get each kid something special from or about the player that they were named after (i.e. a signed ball, a picture of the player, a jersey, etc.) I already had a ball signed by Jim Abbott and we had got a ball signed by Trevor Hoffman last year when we saw the Padres play the Rockies in Denver before Kendrick was born. So we obviously needed one from Howie and then one from Rex Hudler.

***TIME IN***

More playing with daddy's hat.

After batting practice (BP) I saw Rex, who is an Angels' broadcaster walking across the outfield. I yell to him and got a wave. I didn't think, "where is he going?" so I just explored the park and saw him doing the pre-game show. I called Les, who was in a seat with Kendrick, and she came over as I asked Hud if he could PLEASE sign a ball for me.

"Because you said please," was his reply. I was so happy. I had totally forgot that I could get Rex's in California too.

Rex Hudler's autograph. Look for a better picture on Saturday or Sunday.

As for Howie, I already had a ball signed by him, but I wasn't the one who got it signed, so I felt like I needed to get this ball signed for Kendrick.

"Lets go Angels!!!"

We made the giant trek up to the upper deck just as some of the Angels' players came out to stretch. The first one out of the dugout ... ... Howie Kendrick. I immediately started to go down, but had forgot my glove. I wasn't too far and went back as Leslie said that her fear of heights was kicking in big time and she didn't like our seats. So we decided to try to find seats lower. I ran to the Angels' dugout as she tried to find seats. **Side note from Les: if you've ever been there you would plain scary know how high it is and it's just looking down! And anyways, who really wants to see little spots running around a little field when you can sit WAY closer. A note to everyone... unless you are in the front row you can always get a closer seat. Don't settle for a crap seat... even if that was the one you paid for. :o)

Kendrick cheesing it up for Daddy and the camera.

I slid into the front row,two sections on the outfield side of the dugout from the end of the dugout and started yelling at Howie to come over and sign. I even mentioned the Barbers. Now I'm not sure what made Howie decide to sign, but he came over. Unfortunately, he started at the far end of the fans. I panicked and tried to move to where he was. Just as he was about to where I was he started to go the other way. I decided that as people started leaving, I'd slide my way toward Howie and hope that he'd come back. He did. I was the second to last person he signed for.

Kendrick with the scoreboard during Howie's at-bat.

The conversation went like this:
Phill: "Howie can you please sign this for me?"
Howie: "Yeah sure."
Phill: "I'm actually Vince Morgan's older brother."
Howie: "Really? How is he?"
Phill: "Really good. He's getting married soon. ... Hey, could you sign that 'To Kendrick'? It's for my son."
Howie: "Yeah sure."
Phill: "Thanks we are huge fans."

And that was it. I had accomplished my goal. He wrote on the ball "To Kendrick. From your Pal Howie Kendrick."

Howie Kendrick's autograph. Look for a better picture on Saturday or Sunday.

As for the game, the Angels and starter Jon Garland (pictured below) got down 3-0 early, but were able to take the lead with a run in the bottom of the fourth and then three runs in the fifth.One of the key plays in the fifth was Howie's infield single to David Wright that loaded the bases with nobody out and the heart of the Halos' lineup coming to the dish. Vladdy doubled in two runs, tying the game at 3-3. Torii Hunter then singled in Howie, giving the Angeks the 4-3 lead and puting runers on the corners with no outs. We should have scored a lot more but Torii Hunter made a huge base-running mistake.

With one out, Rob Qinnlan hit a sharp ball to David Wright at third and he threw Vladdy out at the plate. Hunter, who was on first, rouned second and started slowly jogging with his head down to the Angels' dugout (on the third base side). It wasn't until he was half way between second and third that he realized there were now two outs. He got in a run down and was tagged out at third to end the inning and the Angels' momentum.

"Torii just lost track of the outs and that was that," Angels' manager Mike Scioscia said.

The score remained 4-3 until the bottom of the ninth, where Francisco Rodriguez came in to close the game. Rodriguez hadn't blown a save in his past 25 chances before the game against the Mets, converting all 25 and extending his club record in that category. But that night he did. K-Rod gave up a single and a stolen base to speedster Jose Reyes, then a game-tying single to David Wright.

In the top of the tenth, Justin Speier grooved a slider to Damion Easley (pictured above), who deposited the baseball in the Angels dugout.

Justin Speier holds a new baseball as Damion Easley rounds third after his game-winning solo home run in the top of the tenth inning.

The Angels lost 5-4, but we had a good time. Kendrick did not like daddy and the others yelling at the umps. We did make him cry a couple of times but he calmed down with Les holding him and well I had to keep my yelling in check. Kendrick did love clapping with everyone else cheering our Angels on. He enjoyed watching the game and at the end of the night he enjoyed falling asleep in Les's arms and being held by his loving wonderful brilliant mommy, and my wonderful, brilliant, loving and amazing wife!

Howie batting in the fifth inning. I wish I could have taken Bailey's camera with us to get better game shots (and a better zoom), but she needed it at youth conference.

Howie standing at first with Reggie Willits at second with no outs in the fifth.

Our favorite picture of Kendrick hamming it up before he got tired.

Making the rounds -- California trip Part 4

2008-07-08T12:31:00.011-06:00

For those of you that are jumping into the story from here you might want to read from the beginning here. Or Part 2. Or Part 3.

When Les was going to go on the trip with just Rachelle we got really excited to show off Kendrick to her cousins, aunts, uncles and old ward members. So that's what we did on Tuesday.
First stop was Leslie's cousin Holly's house. Jared and Holly have a 15 month old daughter named Kaylee, whom Leslie and I had only seen once, when they came out to Utah when Kaylee was 4 months old.

This is the look that Kaylee gave Leslie every time she would look at her. She started to warm up to me a little towards the end of the visit but was great with Kendrick.... Leslie just wanted to put her 2 cents in about this pic. :o)

It was fun to watch the kids play. At first Kaylee was apprehensive, not knowing who this new boy was. Kendrick jumped right in, heading for Kaylee's toys. She did warm up to him though, eventually showing Kendrick her pink and white dog. She was really good at sharing too.

Kendrick started to get tired, but we stopped by a family that lived in the ward. Kendrick was his normal self, smiling and flirting up a storm. He then remembered that he was tired and started fussing again. So we went "home" and put Kendrick down for a nap.

After he woke up we went to dinner with Leslie's dad, Cindy and Sarah (which Phill would feel later, but that's a story for another post). After dinner we were back to making the rounds. We went and saw Leslie's aunt Jan and uncle Ron and then it was off to see her cousin Kelly. Les was super excited to see Pat and Kelly, but especially Tyler their new addition to the family. Here is a pic of Les and Kendrick with Kelly and little Tyler. Little is a realitive term... Kendrick looks so big next to Tyler but there is only about a 5lb difference in their weight!

*** Look for more on the trip soon ***

California -- Part 3

2008-07-01T12:06:00.018-06:00

For those of you that are jumping into the story from here you might want to read from the beginning here.
Monday morning we got up and drove the 40 minutes to Sequoia National Park. I had never been there and neither had Leslie. When we were planning the trip we saw that Sequoia NP was close so we started doing some research so we knew what we wanted to see.

We both thought that Sequoia was where you could drive through the tree trunk. Through the research we realized that the tree trunk drive was in Yosemite NP, north of where we were going to be. Sequoia is home to the General Sherman.

The General Sherman sequoia tree in Giant Forest holds the title as the largest living specimen on earth. It is 275 feet (83 m) tall with a massive trunk 36.5 feet (11.1 m) in diameter and 109 feet (33 m) in circumference at the base. Even more remarkable is the fact that at a point 120 feet (36 m) in the air the trunk of General Sherman is still 17 feet (5 m) in diameter.

It is estimated to have a volume of 52,500 cubic ft. (1,486.6 cubic meters). In lumberman's terms, this one tree probably contains 630,000 board feet of lumber. (A board foot is 12 in. x 1 in. plank that is one foot long.) That's enough to build 120 average-sized houses. In fact, a single giant sequoia may contain more wood than is found on several acres of some of the finest virgin timberland in the Pacific Northwest. The trunk of General Sherman alone weighs nearly 1,400 tons. That is roughly equivalent to 15 adult blue whales, 10 diesel-electric train locomotives, or 25 military battle tanks!

The tree is actually really big. It was pretty cool to learn that there was a 1 in 30 million chance that it would grow to be that big. The ranger said that the tiny seed fell in the perfect dirt, in the perfect weather, got the perfect amount of rain and sunlight and was not eaten by the animal life. What a sight to see.

Here are a few more pics of General Sherman and the surrounding trail to the tree.

At the Giant Sequoia Forrest Visitor Center, there is another big tree called the Sentinel Tree.

Here are a few pictures from it.

This is a line on the ground that represents the Sentinel tree. I thought it looked cool so I took a picture of it.

These are a few pictures of us in the park and riding the shuttle to the General Sherman tree.

All in all we had a good time at Sequoia NP. However, by the end of the day we (and by we I mean Kendrick) were ready to go. Plus we had a 4+ hours drive to Leslie's dad's house in Cypress.

The drive took us on the 5, which runs right through my mission. I couldn't help but laugh as I passed exits that I had taken many times before, but hadn't thought about for 3 years. I had called my FAVORITE family from my mission -- the Keiths from Burbank -- to let them know that we were coming through town and I that I wanted to stop to say and introduce Kendrick to them.

Jennifer informed me that they were moving to Indiana within the week. WHAT!?!?

It was a good thing that we went on this trip when we did, or I would have been very frustrated not being able to see them.
We got to Burbank around 7 p.m. and gave Kendrick a much needed break from the car. He loved being held by Jennifer and playing with a water bottle with the Keith's youngest daughter Regan.

It was great to see them. I of course told them about the blog so ... ... I hope the move went well for you guys and don't forget to let me know when you are coming to put Amanda into BYU.

From there is was short drive to Cypress (kinda by Knott's Berry Farm) where Leslie's dad had already set up the pop-up trailer for us. What a guy huh?

*** Look for more on the trip soon ***

Cali Trip Part 2

2008-06-30T14:22:00.015-06:00

For those of you that are jumping into the story from here you might want to read from the beginning here.

We started the 7+ hour drive through the Mojave desert Sunday afternoon at 12:15 p.m. Utah time, which would have got us to Visalia, CA around 6 p.m. California time. We would have made it too, had it not been for two things. Neither Leslie or I had thought about the "Vegas traffic" until we were in it. We had forgot that many people from L.A. and the surrounding area go to Las Vegas for the weekend and then go home .... ON SUNDAY.

As we were passing Vegas at 2-ish I thought that it would be "too early" for traffic to be really bad. I didn't take into account that Game 5 of the NBA Finals was a mere 4 hours from tipoff. We made it through Vegas while Kendrick was sleeping, but he woke up soon there after and proceeded to scream. He thought we'd give him a break, go potty and stretch out in Primm (which I'm slowly growing more fond of by the way).

We were off the road for 5-10 minutes. We went into one of the casinos for Les to find a potty and as soon as we entered the doors, Kendrick's eyes were as big as saucers and he was looking at all of the lights. I couldn't help but laugh as we walked through the casino, up a ramp to the bathrooms.

Going back downstairs to the casino was not as entertaining as the first time. Kendrick looked around, but not as quickly as he had earlier.

We were back on the road in the next few minutes then came to a halt before the next exit. We sat patiently when we heard over the radio that they had closed ALL sorth-bound lanes of the freeway and all but one of the nouth-bound so that they could land a Life-Flight helicopter on the freeway.

Everyone must have heard the same thing because all of the sudden there here a ton of people out their cars walking up and down the lanes of traffic. I asked Les if we should get Kendrick out of the car and she didn't see a problem with it, so we got out.

Les grabbed the camera and started taking pictures, both with her camera-phone (which some of you received a text) and the regular camera.

We had a giant bag of Dum-Dums so I opened it up and started walking up and down the highway giving them out to complete strangers. It was a blast! I would ask parents with their windows down if they wanted some suckers. The parents would say no, but their kids would be grabbing at the bag already. It was nice to be friendly when most people were just pissed off that we had to sit in traffic.

After an hour of chilling with many other drivers, the Life-Flight helicopter took off and we knew it was time to get back in. The funny thing was, when we finally did start moving again, there were people still walking down to their cars. We couldn't help but laugh and think, "Didn't you guys realize they were going to open up the freeway after the helicopter left?"

We soon came upon the accident and this is what we saw.

If you look in both of the traffic pictures, you can see an over-pass. It was just on the other side of that over-pass that the motor home rolled over. If we had not gotten off the freeway for a little break, the accident might have been right behind us, or worse .... we might have been in it.

We heard on the radio right after passing the accident that there was one confirmed fatality but didn't hear what happened to the other people that were in the accident. We felt so grateful that Heavenly Father was watching over our little family. Before every vacation that my family ever went on, after the car was packed (and sometimes after the family was packed in the car) my dad would always have a family prayer and ask Heavenly Father to protect us and help us to get along.
I decided to do the same thing on this trip, and I'm glad that our prayer was answered. In fact, I had been planning on saying another prayer in St. George, but had forgotten. My lovely wife, suggested that we say a quick prayer to thank Heavenly Father that we were safe.

The rest of the drive was pretty un-eventful. Les watched a movie, while I listened the the final round of the U.S. Open. Yes, I said listen. I have XM radio and I was able to hear the play-by-play of Tiger's amazing comeback. It was a blast to listen to.

We got to the hotel around 7:30-8 ish. I hung out with Kendrick while Les went to get dinner. "Where did you get dinner your first night in California?"

Where else? IN-N-OUT!

*** Look for more on the trip soon ***

Haaave you met Ted, Robin, Barney, Marshall and Lily?

2008-06-29T01:03:00.003-06:00

Leslie and I have found (thanks to my friend Brandon) a new TV show that we absolutely LOVE. It's called "How I met your mother" and it's about a guy named Ted and he is telling stories to his two kids in the year 2030 about how he met their mother in 2005-2008.

Brandon let us borrow the show on DVD and we have plowed through it very quickly. We are currently watching Season 3 online before Season 4 starts on CBS in the fall.

We highly recommend it to anyone that loves to laugh. Just remember to "Suit Up!"

Californ I-A (Part 1)

2008-06-25T20:08:00.006-06:00

Recently we took Kendrick on his first BIG road trip. Yes I know that Les took him down to see Danny and Brandy in Arizona before Christmas, but this was a 10-day, 1,726-mile trip (give or take 100-200 miles) to California. The occasion ... F-U-N!

Well, to be honest, it all started when Leslie's friend Rachelle invited her to go on the trip. I didn't want to be left alone at home (where's the fun in that?) so we asked if I could come too.
Long story -- short, We rented a car and Rachelle was all set to ride with us ... but had some stuff she needed to do before she left so she decided to drive herself.

So off we went (to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of OZ ... lol), neither Les or I knowing exactly how Kendrick would do in the car. The plan was to get to St. George, stay Friday night and Saturday night and go to Visalia, CA on Sunday.

For the most part, Kendrick was great all the way to St. George. We did have to stop occasionally to switch drivers and feed him, change him and just plain get him out of the car for a few minutes.

We got to St. George around 4 p.m. and after getting situated, threw our new swimsuits on and went to the pool. ... ... Now I know most of you are thinking that there should be a picture of this momentous occasion .... .... but there isn't. Why? Because Les and I were just as excited (actually more so) to get the pool as Kendrick was and forgot to grab the camera.

This is a picture of Kendrick at Leslie's dad's pool ... more of those to come.

Anyway, we thought that Kendrick would be like his cousin Kelsey and Addison and cry and scream his head off as soon he hit the water, but he loved it! We jumped in the kiddie pool where Kendrick could stand up and touch the bottom, even though he was wearing his life jacket.

Daddy started itching to test that life jacket out so we got in the big pool (which admittedly was colder than the kiddie pool), but again Kendrick was fine. He love laying back and just chilling in the water.

It started getting dark so we dried off and went inside. Kendrick went to bed and got in a wonderful habit of sleeping through the night. YAHOO!

Saturday was a lazy day. After Kendrick ate breakfast and played for a bit, he started getting fussy so we put him down for what turned out to be a really long nap. By the time he woke up, ate lunch, Les and I had lunch/dinner and we cleaned up a bit, Les and I were too tired to go to the pool again so we just vegged inside. We were gearing up for what we knew would be a 7+ hour drive to Visalia the next day.

*** Look for more on the trip soon (and by soon I mean the next day or so.) ***

Cali

2008-06-05T13:12:00.002-06:00

We're coming to Cali!!!! I am so excited that we are finally going to be able to go to cali to visit. It is going to be our first family vacation with Kendrick.... not sure how I'm feeling about the drive down but oh well. :o) We are only going to be in the Cypress area for a few days but I am excited to go and see some fam.... Kelly I better get to see you and your new little boy!!!

We haven't been to cali since K & E were sealed almost 2yrs ago! We will be there the evening of the 18th - the morning of the 21st. So everyone make some time to see me. :o) jk sort of! Anyways we'll be posting pix when we get back.

Also, as a side note... I am signing up to do pampered chef! If you would like to host a show or even do a catalog show let me know!

Kendrick's first post

2008-05-22T12:18:00.001-06:00

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Cute huh?

"Riding" on the scooter

2008-05-20T12:55:00.002-06:00

We went to lunch as a family and Kendrick wanted to get on the scooter with Uncle Chase .... cute huh?

My other best friend

2008-05-20T12:41:00.003-06:00

Auntie Bailey and her friends got a giant stuffed Tiger and Kendrick recently has decided to climb on top of it. Leslie thought that it was so cute so I grabbed the camera and started snapping away.

My new best friend

2008-05-20T12:13:00.004-06:00

Lately the weather here in Provo has been wonderful, so I've taken Kendrick out to play on the lawn and get out of the house (ours or my parents'). I always grab the camera, because hey, I've got the cutest son in the entire world right?
Well, when we were outside Bentley (my parents' dog) came out with us. The following photos are a sequence of what happened when Bentley came over to take pictures with Kendrick.

Kendrick and daddy (behind the camera) has no idea what Bentley has in store.

"Oh hi Bentley. Daddy and I are taking cool pictures in the sun."
"Oh what do you smell?"
"WHAT THE ...?? THAT'S NOT SMELLING!"

Kendrick fell over at this point while Leslie was standing there yelling, "BENTLEY STOP IT! I KISS THOSE LIPS!"
Needless to say it was a pretty funny moment. Kendrick seemed to enjoy the whole thing and didn't even cry.

Mommy Alone Time!

2008-05-15T23:44:00.004-06:00

Check out my new blog. "My Fun Stuff" on the side. The faster way is for me just to put the link here so here it is. http://www.allmycreativeness.blogspot.com/ Come and see what I do with my "mommy alone time" Hope you enjoy!

Pampered Chef

2008-05-15T10:20:00.003-06:00

I am hosting a Pampered Chef party! If you are in the area and would like to come leave me a comment.

You are invited!

When: Wed May 28th at 7pm!

Time to come clean

2008-05-09T16:56:00.005-06:00

As most of you know by now LESLIE IS NOT PREGNANT!
My little brother Vince just got engaged tonight to a "bundle of joy" (I swear, I've never seen her not happy). Her name is Katie Crawley. She fits in really well with THE family and I'm sure I'm not the only who's happy that Vince is getting married.

Sorry to everyone that thought that Les was prego. Les thought that it would be fun to play a trick on her family and see what kind of reaction we would get.
*Thanks Gina for a G-R-E-A-T voicemail!

Anyway, we will get pictures of Vince, Katie and Kendrick on the blog soon.

A new addition COMING SOON!!

2008-05-05T14:28:00.004-06:00

We don't have a lot of time for details. .... Just want everyone to know that we are expecting someone to join the family soon!!

We are very excited for this bundle of joy and happy that the family is growing ... one person at a time.

More details and pictures when we get some time.

Prom

2008-04-26T14:32:00.006-06:00

Tonight is Timpview's Junior Prom. My SIL is a junior there and is going to prom with her boyfriend, Andy. Bailey couldn't find a dress that she wanted but she knew what she wanted it to look like so I said that I'd make if for her.

Now mind you, I've been making some quilts lately.... not clothes... I have made some of my own clothes but never a dress. Check that. I've tried making myself a dress but to no prevail - it looked like crap and didn't fit.... also, I'm not one for patterns... When I usually make my own clothes, I will lay out the clothes that I've bought in the store and cut out my own pattern from that. I figure I can post all of this because the dress is done and hopefully Bailey likes it. :o)

So, off to the store we went to pick out material. I had it all in my head how I was going to do it and figured that everything would work great. I decided to go and check out the patterns and see if I could get a little more help. Bailey decided on a pattern with little straps that I would have to change. Everything was cool until the material and everything was paid for, then I kinda started freaking out about what I just had offered to do. I only told Phill that I was freaking out about it. :o)

After a few more changes to what we thought it was going to look like and how it turned out, we have a finished dress that fits! Yeah me!!! I am quite proud of the dress and even though it is not exactly how I thought it was going to look I think I did a darn good job. Here are the pix. I'll post some of her wearing it tonight or tomorrow, but here it is on the hanger.

Front

Back

Front of bodice

On the Go!

2008-04-26T14:22:00.005-06:00

It is official. Kendrick is on the go. I've waited to post this until he was really movin' and not just a skoot here and there. Here is the video.

Sorry that it's sideways. Phill was trying to get the whole effect.

He will go to whatever it is that he wants.... unless that "whatever" is a person. In my case he usually will come to me up until he has about one skoot left. Then he just lays down and starts crying. I guess he figures that he came 90% and I need to come the other 10%. :o) Silly little guy.

Six month pictures

2008-04-06T12:51:00.003-06:00

This is our adorable little boy that is the light of our lives! It is hard to believe that he is 6 months old already! How the time flies! It's true what they say... The nine months of your pregnancy are some of the longest of your life, but the next nine are the fastest!

Pictures now ... words later

2008-04-02T15:08:00.022-06:00

We know that it's been awhile since we posted so here is our life (since the last update) in pictures I'll write about them when I have some time at work or something.

The pictures are aranged from oldest to newest. The oldest pics were taken three or two weeks ago at my parents.

Enjoy!

I love my exersaucer that mommy put together for me! It's a great new toy and of course I try and put all the toys around me in my mouth!

My first baseball game with Daddy and Grandpa! I love this game.... did anybody ever doubt that I would? I mean really... I gotta keep up the traditions of this family.

This is when I went to play with my cousins. Mommy was watching them so Auntie Gina and Uncle Dave could have a nice night out. JT didn't want to share me so he picked me up and started taking me away from Payslei.
JT put me back down after mommy told him that we all needed to play together and went and got his BIG truck for us to play with instead of the Elmo pop-up toy.
Payslei, what is this thing on your foot? I wonder if it tastes as good as my feet and socks. Can I have a taste?
Payslei wanted to share dinner with me and took Addie's piece of pizza and gave it to me. I was loving it but mommy didn't think it was a good idea. Come on mom, it wasn't like I was eating it I was just getting it all over everything. After mommy took Addie's piece away from me Payslei decided that she would be sneaky and share her piece with me...Mommy found that piece and took it away too. :( Poor me. Oh well, it was great fun while it lasted.

This is the egg that we got to stand on it's end. There is only one day a year that you can do this. Congrats to Tara who also got an egg to stand on its end!

I'm not biased! I'll watch any sports that you let me! Ahh the joys of March Madness!
See how good I am getting at sitting up... I'm not really a fan of sitting, or crawling for that matter... I'd much rather be standing or walking around.
Yeah! I get to stand up! no more sitting!

Mommy got frusterated with me one morning when I wouldn't eat my cereal and kept grabbing at the bowl. She finally gave up and just gave me the bowl! While she was sitting there frusterated, she figured that everyone else would get a kick out of it so she picked up the camera. Needless to say I had great fun and after taking the pix and imagining what all my aunties would say mommy was in a much better mood and got a kick out of it too!

This is the first game that mommy came to with us. And it was her first sunburn of the season....well on one arm at least. I took a nap while we were there so my blankey and I protected her other arm. Don't worry I didn't get sunburned.

Oh how I love to give kisses!

First Haircut

2008-03-04T23:35:00.004-07:00

Before

The first cut
During
Mom! I'm not sure about this!
Are you listening to me?!
After... A happy handsome boy!

I gave Kendrick his first haircut today! As you could see in the pix we just posted his hair was getting quite long..... but only on top and the front sides. So I wanted to even it up a bit. I cut quite a bit off and now he is so much more blond! I didn't think he'd look as different or as much older as he does now that his hair has been cut. I don't know if it is the blond or just the cut but he was reminding me a lot of JT today.... so I guess he does have some Wurtz in him. ;o)

Some pix to keep you updated

2008-03-03T09:43:00.003-07:00

Here are some pix of Kendrick playing with mommy, daddy, eating squash and peas, and just chillin'. His new fav thing is to lay on ur legs and push himself so his head is hanging off and watch tv upside-down. I was looking forward to giving him veggies just so I could see the faces he'd make at the food. No such luck for me. He loves it all! Give him anything but water and he just chows down! He hates water so his poop is nice and solid and he has to push hard to get it out. We tried peas for the first time yesterday so maybe those will go through his system easier. He is starting to get on a better schedule sleeping than he had been for the past couple of months. He is now starting to wake up anywhere from 3-4am and than not till 7 or 8 so hopefully he can get back to his sleeping through the nights again.

Just a cute picture

2008-02-15T13:46:00.004-07:00

Here is a picture of Kendrick and I one morning as we were trying to let Les sleep a little longer. We were watching TV when he just kept staring at me. I thought that it was so cute so I yelled at Les to wake her up and to come take the picture. I think that it turned out really well. There is a picture of my Grandpa Stallings and I in a similar pose. It is one of my favorite pictures ever, so I'm glad I get this picture with my son.

More than just a milk drinker

2008-02-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true, we tried giving Kendrick rice cereal for the first time this week. Les and I think that he didn't really swallow most of the bites he took. It looked like he was keeping it in his mouth and then spitting it up when he would take a few bites. We laughed pretty good. Here are some of the pictures that we took of Kendrick while he ate.

Hope you all have a fun week.

As a major side note: Today is our two-year anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long. I'm so grateful for Leslie and the love and support that she gives me every single day. I don't know where I would be if I hadn't met her.

Not waiting this time

2008-02-06T13:24:00.001-07:00

So we took a bit of a vacation from the blog but now that we are back in the swing we are taking a lot more photos and stuff so here's a little more.

Kendrick has been getting stronger everyday. He is wanting to sit by himself and is actually doing a pretty good job staying up to 3-5 seconds at a time without falling forward, back, left or right.

Here are a few pix we snapped while he was practicing with Les the other day.

Opps! Still working on the dismount. Before we know it he will be sitting up and throwing the ball the daddy.Les thinks that I'm nuts to believe that he's going to be throwing a ball by the All-Star break, which is July 14-17.

This is the final product. ... Kendrick sitting by himself (propped up against the couch).

4 Months

2008-01-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Can anyone else believe that it's already been 4 mths since Kendrick was born? I can hardly believe it! We had his 4 mth check up yesterday. I felt so bad I forrgot to give him some tylenol b4 we went tp help with the pain. Bad mommy! He still did pretty well though... considering. He is 12lbs 5 oz.... the opposite of his birth weight...5lbs 12 oz. :o) he is a whopping 25 1/4in. :o) he is only in the 61st percentile for his height but that beats his 6th percentile for his weight. I will try and get some pix posted tommorrow but right now it is his bedtime and the comp is in his room.

Finally... a crib for my baby boy!

2008-01-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

A crib for Kendrick!!! yeah!!! We finally got a crib on tuesday. I set it up while Phill was at work and when he came home for his dinner break he was very impressed with his amazing wife! :o) Kendrick had gotten too big for his bassenette a while ago and for a few days slept on the floor next to my bed until we got the pack n play from mom and dads to get us by. I do have to say that I did quite an excellent job putting it together. I am a put-it-together-by-the-pix kinda girl. It took less than 2 hrs. to put toghether and it only took that long because one of the pix on the directions was marked wrong and I finally gave in and read that part of the instructions. The pic and the written instructions were contradictory. Anyways, it is together now and he has been sleeping in it for 2 nights now. Now if we can only get him unstuffed so that he can breathe at night I might be able to get some sleep.

The newly put together crib with the absolutely adorable sports bedding that I got for just $69!!! Beat that! :o)

Kendrick taking a nap.

all of the baseball pix decorating his room.

Ok ok ok here you go

2008-01-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

So here is a little bit of an update on Kendrick. He is rolling over (from the front to back and is oh so close to going from the back to the front. He is growing fast and getting stronger everyday. He is so excited to get up and go that he is trying to pass up the crawling stage and just start walking. Uncle Vince was holding his hands the other day when Kendrick was standing and he just started moving one foot right infront of the other! It was crazy to watch! Too bad for him the walking is going to have to wait a bit longer as he hasn't developed the balancing act yet. :o) But here are some pix for you all to enjoy.

Kendrick sleeping with the pony that Grammy Mac gave him for christmas.

Daddy and Kendrick

Kendrick's first cristmas ornament

Kendrick and Bentley becoming friends

Kendrick and Grandpa snoozing the day away

My First Christmas

My present from Great grandma and grandpa Wurtz

Wow! Christmas is exhausting!!!! and it's only 9am!

Morgan Look-alike Meter

2007-12-21T13:58:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

A question to you

2007-12-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, I am a consultant for Close to my Heart, a scrapbooking and stamping company. I am interested in knowing if I were to get a website, do u think u'd be more likely to order product? Or do you know people who you think would order stamping and scrapbooking supplies online. I am just trying to figure out if it would be worth it to me to get a website. Let me know. Thanks.

Thanksgiving, 2 months and more!

2007-12-04T16:25:00.001-07:00

Kelsey, Kendrick and BrysonBailey, Kelsey and Kendrick Our Fam on Thanksgiving

Bryson and Kendrick

Well Thanksgiving has already come and gone and I am left with pix to post and news to spread! Kim, Ethan and the kids were here for Thanksgiving and got to meet the cutest boy in the world!!! That would be Kendrick if anyone was questioning who the cutest boy in the world is. :o)

These were taken on his 2 month mark. We went to the Dr and found out that Kendrick grew from his tiny 5lb 12 oz 19in to 9lb 7oz 21in! At the Dr's we found out that the cold he got on Monday came with an ear infection. He is on antibiotics for it so hopefully both the cold and infection will clear up. He was blessed the Sunday after Thanksgiving but you will have to wait to see those pix since they went home with Auntie Kimmie. As for these last pix we took them today and yesterday. We are so excited that he is smiling now and starting to enjoy his bouncer with all the lights and noise! And in case anybody was wondering... he def. wasn't switched at birth... he is his father's son! We can't believe how fast he is growing and are excited with every new little thing that he does.
All bundled up for winter!

Asking for your help

2007-11-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

A new job....I am starting to sell my mirror etchings and am asking anyone all of you to link my new blogspot to yours to try and help get the word out. My blog for the etchings is www.creativeetchings.blogspot.com I would really appreciate any help I can get in spreading the word. They make great presents. If you have any questions just let me know. Thanks for the help.

mirror etching

2007-11-09T15:01:00.001-07:00

Here is the one of Christ that I am also going to be selling. This one is oval but the ones I will be selling will be rectangle.

This is my most recent project. It is a mirror etching of the Timpanogos Temple that I did for our friend Zach, aka: our matchmaker, who is getting married tomorrow. I think I am going to start selling some. So to all my fellow bloggers; get the word out, custom mirror etchings specializing in temples and a head shot of Christ. Anybody who wants one email me your contact info @ lmorgan06@gmail.com and what you would like.

I am also a consultant for Close to my Heart. For anyone in the area I have a 2pg scrapbook layout that we do the 2nd Thursday of the month at my house at 7pm. If you would like to come email me and I will give you the details. I will be doing November's this thurs, the 15th. Let me know if you want to come before 2pm that day at the very latest. Thanks.

Kendrick the model

2007-11-08T13:40:00.001-07:00

So I'm a Slacker

2007-11-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

After a few phone calls wondering where some recent pix of my cute little boy are, I am finally posting. I really have had good intentions to post but motherhood is keeping me busy as can be. Here are a couple that I took of him at one month.

Dang Red Eye! That's what we get for having beautiful blue eyes! Any way... Here are pix from Kendrick's first Halloween!
Kendrick, Addie, JT and PaysleiBailey, Leslie, Kendrick, JT, Addie and PaysleiGreat G & G Wurtz were here for Brent's wedding. This is a pic Phill took while visiting with them. Here are some of Kendrick with his great grandparents.

2007-10-15T12:54:00.000-06:00

This was taken during a session of General Conference by my little sister Bailey. She then took it into microsoft paint or photoshop and made everything other than Kendrick and I black and white.

She also made us black and white. Pretty cool photos.

As far as news. Kendrick had his circ and 2 week check-up last week. He is now 6 pounds 3 oz. and he grew a 1/2 inch.

Last night was a bad one. We think that Les ate something that he didn't like. It might have been the broccoli or something else we can't figure out.

We also took some new photos a week and a half ago. The files are too big for the blog, so I am working on saving the smaller files so look for those pics soon.

Splish splash ....

2007-10-04T15:36:00.000-06:00

Yes, we finally gave Kendrick his first bath. He did so good, only crying a few times, and not very loud at that. Les was the one that gave it to him, while I took videos and photos like a good daddy should.

Our little Man

2007-10-03T15:26:00.000-06:00

We love our little guy!

Here is a pic that i took this am with my phone.
Kendrick sleeping the day away. :o) Isn't he the most precious thing!

A few quick stories

2007-10-02T17:42:00.001-06:00

I don't have a lot of time before I have to go to work so I thought that I would just hurry and relay this little story about my "Wiz Kid"

He is getting better at sleeping longer, however, eating is a whole 'nother story. Kendrick has gotten pretty good at eating on the right side, but when he needs to eat on the left he still is trying to learn how to work it.

Les has been filling up so fast and full that the milk will leak out at a pretty good drip, so what has my brilliant son decided is the best way to get this milk? Suck the nipple? NAH! Too much work.

I can just see his thoughts now .... If it is just going to drip out why don't I just lick the nipple? YEAH!! That's a great idea. It will drive my mom nuts and I still get a little bit right? Then I can fall asleep in her arms.

Anyway, we both thought it was pretty funny the first time that he did it, but it is getting pretty annoying. Hopefully he will learn to eat on both sides ... preferably on both sides in the same feeding.

Now for the second reason I call him my "Wiz Kid". Not only is he incredibly smart (see story above) but he pees like none other! We have lost count of the number of diapers that he has peed through. Let's just say that last night he went through four pairs of pjs, 5 diapers, and only two blankets (because Les didn't wrap him up to start the night).

At 3 a.m. Wizzer woke up and started crying, so we changed him only to have him wet the fresh diaper 5 minutes later. ... And by wet I mean WET! This wasn't just a little tinkle, this was "Ol' Faithful" ... We had just changed him, clothed him in new pjs, wrapped him in a new blanket and laid him on the bed for 2 minutes when I picked him up to put him in bed and Les noticed that there was a wet spot on the bed.

Yes, the "Turkey" as his mother likes to call him used his whizinator to wet my side of bed ... oh well.

Anyway, there's a tiny little glimpse into our lives.
More stories and pictures to come soon.

More pics of our little miracle

2007-09-30T21:32:00.000-06:00

We are still taking more, (with great grandparents and such)

100 pictures and more

2007-09-28T16:29:00.000-06:00

Here are just a few of the 101 pics that we took in the first 36 hours of Kendrick's life.

By the way we are home now

p.s. more to come

Now stepping to the plate ...

2007-09-27T16:42:00.000-06:00

Yes, that's right our little slugger came into this world at 3:15 a.m. on Thursday Sept. 27, 2007. He was 5 lbs. 12 oz. 19 inches long and came through like a champ.

I got off of work at 12:10-ish and went home after a call from Les saying that contractions were a minute to 1.5 minutes apart. We went straight to the hospital as I called my parents to meet us and for my dad to assist me in giving Les a blessing.

We got to the hospital at 12:45 a.m. accomanied by a lot of pain from the contractions. The nurse measured to see where she was and told Les thay she was at 6 cm and that we were going to be staying to have Kendrick. Les got monitored for a bit and then got in the tub to try and releave some of the pain that was a constant. The tub actually helped with the pain and when they checked her again (roughly and hour later) she was at 8cm, rip roarin' and ready to go.

The nurse told Les that if she felt any presure or pushing down low, that she needed to get the nurses because we didn't want her to have to have Kendrick come into this world a la J.T. (in the tub)

It was another two contractions before Les told me to grab the nurses. They came in, helped Les out of the tub and to the bed. They checked her, told her she was at a 10 and we started pushing.

As the contraction kept coming and getting stronger and closer together, Les began to breath very quickly and shallowly (if that's even a word) having to constantly push. Because she was getting ZERO breaks, Kendrick wasn't getting the air he needed and decided to hold his breath.

The first part of his body that I saw what his long thick hair. (almost as much as hid daddy when he was born) At exactly 3:15 a.m. he came squirming out. From that point on things moved very fast. When he came out the slapped his butt and feet to get him to cry, but he didn't. We heard someone tell someone else to call for respitory. I remember the midwife asking if I wanted to cut the emmbilical cord, I said yes, but then she hurried and did it so that the nurses could take Kendrick to the baby bed, on the other side of the room, to get him to breath. I stayed with Les and held her for a bit and I distinctly remember her asking in a concerned voice, "He's not breathing?"

That's when he cried for the first time and I finally exhaled and went to his side. He had some stuff in his lungs but not enough to have to get on an inhalator or anything. After some good crys he was wisked away to the nursury, me close on his heels to get hooked up to a heart monitor and a tempeture (I know that's spelled wrong, back off, I'm work on little sleep) monitor. We stayed there for an hour or so while his body temp, and blood sugar came up.

At that point someone had told me that my parents were with Les and so I joined them to give them news on his progress and tell them that Kendrick would have to stay in the nursery until 6 a.m.

To our suprise he came in at 5:15 as was with us for an hour until the nurses came back and checked his body temp, which had dropped just below where they wanted it, so it was back to the nursery.

Anyway, he is doing fine and I will get more pics on here soon ... when we get home.

Oh What a Night .... and day for that matter

2007-09-18T14:05:00.000-06:00

I don't even know where to begin, so I guess I'll start at the very beginning ... "In the beginning God created the heavens and earth."

Ok, maybe not "the beginning," but I'll go back to Sunday.

After church, my best friend Zach invited us up to his apt. for dinner with his french girlfriend (fiance, lol) named Stephanie. I had met her once before (when Les and I were still dating) so it wasn't too awkward for me but it might have been for Les and Steph. Anyway, we went up to Salt Lake and hung out with them for the night and Les had mentioned to me that she hadn't leaked any fluids at all until later in the evening and neither of us thought anything of it.

On Monday morn, we went to the Provo library which is a few blocks away from us to find references for Les' English class where she has to do a research paper by the end of the semester. The topic she picked ta-da, was the pros and cons of epidurals. The assignment, which was due Monday night/Tuesday morning at midnight was to have a mini essay written and 10 references on your topic, so we went to the library to find books, articles, anything we could find to get these 10 references.

While we were looking I thought I had a pretty good idea and told Les to "call the mid-wives and see if they had any books or pamphlets or any info that she could use as a reference for her research paper.

Backup to earlier when were about to go, she mentioned that she was leaking, which to me wasn't a big deal, she told me a month a go, she leaks constantly, so I didn't think anything of it.

Well, when she called the mid-wives I guess she told them about the leaking and after 30 mins. of waiting for a return phone call, they told her to come in to the office and get checked.

We got to the office at 11:15 a.m. and Les got a B-Strep test done as well as getting measured to she how far along she was. The midwife told Les that she was 4cm and 90% effaced. To me that was a big whoop, until I found out what the 90% thing meant and that Kendrick might be coming any day.

The midwife told us to take it easy and try and get him to Sunday, which would put Kendrick at full term.

FULL TERM ... SHMULL TREM!!!

As a first-time father I know exactly when my son's due date is and as that first-time father I know that that date is still a month away. Needless to stay I started freaking out! Now I know all of you veterans are laughing at me, but I don't care. I didn't like the sound of "4 weeks early" and still don't for that matter.

Reluctantly I went to work only to get nothing done because I was just waiting for that phone call from Les saying that she needed to go to the hospital. I was so nervous that I called her 4 times from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Yes, that's 1.25 calls per hour.

Les meanwhile was relaxing and working on her assignment for English and getting it done while my lovely sister came over to help Les with all the stuff that suddenly "had to be done".

My parents came over and we all had dinner and my dad gave me a real good talk about how there is nothing to worry about and that Kendrick would still be a normal healthy baby, even if he came right that second.

I headed back to work feeling much better and calmer for that matter, but at 9 p.m. -- an hour after I had got back to work -- Les' mom called me ....

"Phill .... I just got off the phone with Les and she feels like she needs to go the bathroom, but doesn't want to push Kendrick out too. I told her to call the midwives and she will probably need to go to the hospital, so be prepared for that."

FREAK OUT COUNTDOWN IN 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... BOOM!!

Les called me soon after and told me that the midwife told her she needed to go the hospital to get checked.

So I called Brandon (the guy I work with)to have him come in for my and left to go pick Les up and head to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital it was a little after 10pm and they put her in the only room with the tub - which she was excited about. Unfortunately the tv didn't work and I was going stir crazy waiting for the nurse to finally come in and check to see where she was. Finally about 10:50 she came in to check...still at 4cm and 90% - lame!!!! She said that his head was really low, but we had heard that that morning also. So she said she'd be back in an hr to see if we were making any progress.

More waiting and going crazy. Meanwhile, Les was feeling more of the contractions and was becoming increasingly more uncomfortable. She was sure that when they came back to check her that there would be progress to be reported.

No such luck. The nurse returned a little after midnight to check and the report came back that she had not progressed at all, it was still 4 and 90%. She said she'd call the midwife and see what they wanted her to do.

They gave Les a shot to stop the contractions, or at least slow them down, and were sending her home. The nurse told us about the shot and said that they wanted to try and keep him in for at least another week to get to full term but that she didn't think that would happen.

She warned us that the shot would raise Les's blood pressure and therefore make her shaky. Little did Les realize just how shaky that would be and has informed me that she will NEVER have that shot again! She was so shaky she couldn't do anything by herself but I thought it was cute. I even started calling her "twitch" which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think she was too tired to even care.

We got home a little after 2am by the time they "observed" Les and Kendrick after they gave her the shot and she was discharged. So now we sit and wait. Les tells Kendrick which days he's allowed to come and which days he's not depending on whose on call that day.

Wednesday he is allowed to come, Thurs he is not, Friday might be ok, she's still deciding. That would put him sharing a b-day with his Grandpa Morgan - which my dad says is a good day for him to be born. Sat, Sun and Mon are a go, but then he can't come until next friday if he hasn't shown his cute little face b4 that time.

Tonight is her first baby shower so she is excited and looking forward to that. So keep an eye on this and we will let you know when the big day comes and whether or not he decided to listen to his mom on when to come.

Our last drop everything and go trip!

2007-09-16T17:08:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! Phill and I decided that we wanted one last vacation where we could just up and go and not have to worry about anything so we went to Denver to go and see a Rockies game last weekend!

We left fri after I got off work and came home sunday. It was great to be able to just get away and relax especially since we knew we wouldn't be able to do that again for a really long time! :o)

On Sat we went on a tour of the stadium and just hung out in downtown Denver untilbatting practice. Phill said he was there to get baseballs. Well that he did. We came home with 4 one of which I got signed by Trevor Hoffman the Padres closer. (we are naming one of our other boys after him) We had 5 originally but there was a little boy that was sitting by us that couldn't sit still and was climbing all over the place so we gave him one of the balls. Trevor got the save and the Padres beat the Rockies 3-1.

On Sunday we went to IHOP and had breakfast and then were on our way home. We went through the Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Forest on the way home. Just before we got to the Nat'l forest we saw 15 female, 1 baby, and 4 bull elk. The bull that was with the pack of female was a 12 point bull!!!! Holy Cow! It ended up taking us 11 hrs to get home with all the stopping that we did, and needless to say that many hrs in a car.... I swelled up pretty bad. It was well worth it though. We had a great trip and are now looking forward to our next adventure.... Kendrick!

Now I can breath

2007-08-29T23:34:00.000-06:00

SWEEP, SWEEP, SWEEP!

Since the last time I blogged about my son's favorite baseball team, the Angels are 5-1 and three of those wins came in the last three days against the Seattle Mariners, who were 2 games behind going into this three-game series.

The Angels scored 8 runs and had 14 hits in Wednesday afternoon's conclusion to this wonderful series.

Big Daddy Vladdy hit .517 in the three-game series. Now the Angels after a day off on Thursday, the Halos return to the Big A for a 10-game home stand and since they are 44-20 at home, I feel very confident on winning the AL West

Kendrick has picked his teams

2007-08-26T02:55:00.000-06:00

I (Phill )was playing around with photoshop at 3 a.m. since I tried to go to sleep at 11:30 and woke up at 1 a.m. So I decided to play with logos and transparency.

He is quite possibly the youngest BYU fan.

And if he wasn't Angels fan I'd be shocked, but Michelle might try to change that huh?

What in the AL-West is going on here????

2007-08-23T23:23:00.000-06:00

I feel as though I am on a slippery slope. First of all, for those of you that don't know, I am into fantasy sports. I would dare to say that baseball is my best, seeing as though I am currently in first place in 3 of the 4 leagues that I'm playing in. With that being said, my most competitive league is finishing this week and on Sunday I had a 150+ point lead. He is making a charge and is 80 points behind me after tonight's games.

And secondly, and nearly more importantly ... WHAT ARE THE ANGELS DOING??? I know that they are 2-2 in their last 4 games, but the lead in the division is down to a single game. ... A SINGLE GAME! To a Mariners team that is 18-7 in their last 25 games. That's scary! The Angels in that same time frame are 14-11 ... Not a good trend.

Hopefully for my fantasy teams, and the Angels we can hold on to the bitter end.

And for those of you that think I'm crazy ... you're right. And I don't care, but thanks for listening to my rant. And yes Michelle I know that your beloved Dodgers are only 2 1/2 games out of the wild card and tomorrow you'll gain at least a game on the Phillies (good team name by the way lol) or the Padres, since they play each other. Good luck in Shea.

32 week check

2007-08-22T20:57:00.001-06:00

So here I am at 32 wks. Not the cutest but you can see how big I'm getting (boobs and belly) ;o)

Claudia, the midwife I saw today, said he felt like his head was down and that things were progressing nicely. Yeah for me!!! I told her how I'd been feeling and she said that I was probably starting to have a few contractions and when that happens to lay down for a bit so they don't get stronger and closer together before they are supposed to.

So all in all, a good check up! In case anyone was wondering I gained 2lbs since my last check up (about a pound a week). If he decides that he wants to stay in longer than the due date they have set up an appt to have me induced on the 23rd of Oct. if he hasn't shown his hairy little head yet. :o) I say that because I figure he has to come out with a full head of hair. Between Phill being born with a full head of hair, you all know how the Wurtz gene gives us all a lot of hair. :o) And besides, in the first 3-D ultrasound that we tried, you know the one where he didn't cooperate, we could see hair in the 2-D pictures see gave us that wk.

Phill and I were playing with the camera today so here are a couple of shots of us. Enjoy!

This is my job

2007-08-18T22:48:00.000-06:00

In case some of you don't know exactly what I do, I am a Sports page designer for the Daily Herald.

Last weekend we put together our BIG project for the year, which is a Football special section. A 44-page booklet full of information on BYU, Utah, High School and the NFL. Our lead designer, Brandon, and I worked for 3 days straight to get it done.

Brandon had started early on Friday, while I was still doing the normal sections for the paper that comes out every day. It was Saturday when we hit it with all of our might. We came into the office at 9:30 a.m. and worked nearly non-stop until 2:15 a.m. (Sunday morn).
After a quick power nap, I was back at 10 a.m. with a large Mountain Dew in hand. A few dozen pages and many hours later I was headed home at 3 a.m. (monday morning).
Again it was a quick turnaround as our deadline was 5 p.m. Monday afternoon. I got back to office at 9 a.m. and was here until 5:15 p.m.

These are the covers for the different sections (the preps section was divided into parts of the Valley (i.e. only people in Provo saw the Timpview cover)

This is the BYU section. The player's name is Bryan Kehl and he is seated in the BYU Creamery. Our theme throughout the section was "Football and the Community", so each player was photographed in a location that was specific to that city.

This is Utah's Brian Johnson posing at "The Pie" a popular pizza place off Utah's campus.

This is the Pleasant Grove high school cover the location is a burger drive-in called the Purple Turtle.

This is the Orem cover, the location is a mini-golf course called Trafalga.

This is the Provo cover. The player was shot at Seven Peaks waterpark.

This is the Springville cover, shot at the Springville Art Museum.

And last, but certainly not least, our NFL cover. In years past, the NFL cover has not fit in with the rest of the covers becase we have to choose a photo from the Associated Press and photoshop it in a way that makes it sort of fit. This year, we were able to hire a photographer in Miami to take a picture of former BYU quarterback John Beck, who was drafted by the Dolphins in this year's NFL Draft.

We are so proud of this year's special section. We are hoping to win a Top 10 Award for the third time in 4 years (2005 would be the only year missing.)

Anyway, I hope this gives you an insite into what I do all day everyday.

I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

3-D Sonogram

2007-08-16T11:37:00.000-06:00

We went in on the 7th to get the 3-D sonogram of Kendrick done and found that we either have a stubborn child on the way or a camera shy one. He kept his hands in front of his face the entire time and no matter what we did we could not get him to move his hands! Very frusterating! The tech said that she had never not been able to get the babies to move and said to come back in a wk and we'd try again.

When we got in there this tues she was looking at the 2-D version and told us his embilical cord was in front of his face. If it's not one thing I guess it's another! We did finally get a picture of our little boy. He was sleeping this time and still has his hands by his face, but was kind enough to have it on the side of his face so we could still see most of it. Here it is.

28 Weeks and Counting!

2007-07-25T20:20:00.000-06:00

Hello all! I had my appt. today and had to be hooked up to a monitor so they could monitor Kendrick's heart rate and movements. She said I should be feeling him more than just at night like I have been. Nothing to worry about. He's fine, he just likes to sleep in the mornings and well, honestly, I think I just don't have a sense for what his regular movements are, I think I'm only really feeling him when he kicks me hard.... or in the ribs like he had begun doing the past few weeks.

Also, I am into the every 2 week appts. So, if he's ontime and I don't have to go in for anything unscheduled, I should have about 8 appts. to go! Crazy how the time is flying!!! I know he's going to be here sooner than I know, and then he'll be growing up faster than I'd like him to, I just know it!

I also just got some new glasses after waiting forever but I love 'em!!!! Here's some pics for you to check out!

Here you go Kim...

2007-07-19T22:03:00.000-06:00

Ok so I've been getting hints from everyone, not just Kim, that I need to post a new pic of my belly. I was going to wait til next week when I have my Drs appt, but figured that since I got my hair cut today, and figured that I could show you all what my new hair cut looks like I might as well snap a couple of pix of my growing belly too! I can't believe that I have less than 13 wks to go!!! That is crazy!!!!

So here is the new hair cut. I was going to leave it longer since Phill likes long hair but he said that I could cut it to my shoulders so I did.

Here is the boob and tummy pic that I seem to take a lot. But hey, thats what you get when I'm using my camara phone and taking it myself.

Ok I had Phill take one so you wouldn't just have to look at my boobs and tummy.

Shout out!

2007-07-02T09:20:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to drop a quick congrats to one of my favorite companions on my mission. Kyle Robinson and his wife Heather had their baby boy yesterday (July 1) at 2:36 p.m.

We'll see you soon homie!

6 months!

2007-06-28T21:21:00.000-06:00

Well after an exhausting but fun day off I am ready to hit the hay... after I go home and start the laundry and finish the dishes... and take the pic that I promised I'd post. First Stop today, Seven Peaks water park. They finally had the lazy river opened so my "rides" were at 2 instead of the usual 1 (wave pool). Phill, Bailey, Jasmin and I all had a great time. With plans to leave at 1pm so I had time to take a shower being pushed back to 1:30, not leaving me time to take a shower.... my next stop was home to throw some clothes on and then off to my Drs. appt.

They said everything looks good and on schedule. I have gained a total of 13.5 lbs. and the top of my uterus is above my belly button - where it should be.

With the AC in the car not working and the weather being as hot as its been, I've been sweating like a pig and trying my darnedest to stay hydrated.

Ah the wonderful costco gas station. In the lane next to me the front spot pulled out and I waited patiently for the next in line to pull up and in, but when they decided to sit and wait I decided I wanted to be in my car in the hot summer sun for as little as possible I drove up to the unoccupied pump and everyone in the 3 cars in front of me just stared at me. Hey, I gave them plenty of time to take advantage of it themselves. Afterwards I did a little bit of shopping in costco and then was off to my chiropractor appt.

So needless to say I'm sure these pix I am about to take and post will look absolutely beautiful! no shower, sunscreen, sweat, can't you just imagine it?

I took this today because I felt that my belly was extra big today(June 30).

YOUR, American League West leading Angels!!!

2007-06-26T10:10:00.000-06:00

I'm tired of hearing all of this Dodger talk, so I decided to throw a couple of Angel pics on here to help my son not get confused who to root for when they play against each other.
I'm not saying that I hate the Dodgers. I've been a fan of both since I was little. My favorite player growing up was Steve Sax, who was tied with Jim Abbott. So this isn't a Dodgers vs. Angels war. Only in interleague (Which the Angels were 14-4 and 5-1 against the Blue Crew)

This is the coolest photo of Howie that I've seen for a long time.

Couldn't resist putting in a picture of Howie against the WILD CARD leading Dodgers!!!

Figgy's game-winning triple

Mobbing Figgins and Willits after the GW triple.

Erik Aybar's GW RBI double scoring Howie!!!!

Stomach, belly, belly button...

2007-06-22T22:39:00.000-06:00

It is official, my stomach is sticking out further than my boobs! I was looking in the mirror tonight and was like, "Holy cow! My stomach is huge!!!" I think Kendrick wants me tell everyone hi 'cause when I started this he started kicking up a storm! :o) (Although Phill will tell you it's because he can hear the Angels game that is on the computer). We just won't tell daddy and let mommy think what she wants! ;o)

Along with my growing belly is my poor belly button. Mich tells me it will never be the same. :o( I might just cry! I loved my belly button! For any of you who had the joys of seeing it before you would know just how cute it was! Now it is getting rounder and rounder and shallower and shallower everyday it seems.

As long as I don't end up with an outy I think I might be ok. I know you are all just dying for more pix but you'll have to wait. I have my appt. this coming Thurs and I'll take pix and post them then so you can see the sudden "popping" of my belly.

What is going on?!?!?!

2007-06-06T17:35:00.000-06:00

For those of you that don't have a calandar and/or don't know how to read a calandar, today is June 6th ... ...JUNE 6TH!!!! Today in lovely Provo, Utah on the sixth day of June in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven it snowed. And for those with bad eye sight that was SNOWED!!!!!

In the past three days the teperatures have gone from upper 80's to 40-50's today. It is crazy, I will work on taking some photos today and then throw them on here.

Check out our Little All-Star!

2007-06-04T09:26:00.001-06:00

Pictures of our little man

2007-06-04T09:04:00.000-06:00

This is Kendrick Andruw Morgan, for those of you that need everything pointed out to you (like me) this is a profile of my little stud second baseman. His head is on the right side of the frame.

This is his arm. The view is from above him and he is trying to hide his face with his arm and knee. His hand is on the right side of the frame and you can see his elbow and he rests it on his knee.

This is showing his heartbeat. 130 beats per min.

Again a view from above. This time he has his legs crossed at the ankles and we think you can see his penis, but when we asked the nurse she said that "that" is the umbilical cord.

This is what makes Kendrick a boy.

We are so excited to have him in our lives and we can't wait until he is born.

Kendrick Andruw Morgan

2007-05-29T07:58:00.000-06:00

THAT'S RIGHT IT'S GONNA BE A BOY!!!

We went to the doctor at 11 a.m. this morning to have the ultra-sound done and find out what our baby is. At first we went back and did the ultra sound which was really cool.

The nurse or doctor or who ever, did some measurements of Kendrick's head, torso, and femur to make sure that he is along the timeline that the doctors thought he would be. Then the fun began. She statred by showing us his head and the brain that is developing.

Then she showed us the spine and then a top view of his body. It was so cute, his tiny legs were crossed at the ankles and at that point we thought we saw what makes Kendrick, Kendrick and not Paige (the girl name we had picked out), but the radiologist said that "that" was the emmbilical cord.

From there we saw his feet, knees, and his arms and hands. My little man is already posing for GQ as we looked in he had his elbow resting on his knee and my guess is he was smiling.

Then came the most important part ... and Kendrick came through. He opened his legs so we could tell that he is a boy and his mommy could now go and start spending all daddy's money on boy clothes lol.

I am so glad that he is completely healthy, and even though i wanted a boy from the beginning, I would be just as happy if we were having Paige.

I am so greatful to have Les by my side for this moment in our lives. I love her so much.

And the name is ...

2007-05-29T07:57:00.000-06:00

Check back later today to find out what sex is our baby and what the name will be.

Graduation day

2007-05-25T09:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. My little brother Chase graduated from high school, so I made sure that I had the day off. It was so nice to be able to relax in the morning and then go to the graduation. I don't remember much about my own graduation, but I thought that there were more boring speakers at mine than Chase's. Following the graduation, we went to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian restaurant.
After dinner, Les and I went with my parents mini golfing. It was fun to just relax and have some fun. Of course the moment we thought about grabbing our camera was the second we got home after golfing.
Oh well.
Today, Les has her last day at the senior day care place that she has been working at for the last year. Last week, she got laid off, but was going to finish out the pay-period. The funny thing about the situation is that the girl that will take her spot is getting married next week and then will be on her honeymoon the week after that, so there won't be anyone to work.
So that is what Les will be doing today. I on the other hand will try to clean our house in preparation for Kim and Ethan to come stay here and probably everyone else wanting to see where we live. Then I will be heading to work ... still have to pay the bills.
Anyways, we can't wait till everyone gets here. It will be fun to get to spend time with the family ... and oh yeah, find out what our baby will be on Tuesday.

19 weeks - Kendrick? or Paige? We find out in a week and a half

2007-05-20T17:40:00.000-06:00

Here's a pic of Leslie that we took today at my parents house. She's counting down until we find out what we are having... one week two days and counting!!!!

The only news that we have this week is that our water got turned off today at 5 p.m., so that the plumber can work on fixing a leak in the front yard. Here's to crossing your fingers so that we will have it back up and running by Thursday.

We love you all, can't wait till we see all of you that will be here next week. Did anybody elses' stomachs look this big at 19 wks? I'll be 19wks tomorrow.

Check back here to find out if it is Kendrick or Paige that will be joining our family!

As for anybody who is wondering if I am doing my "homework", I am. According to Jamie and Sue's scale I am at 130 now. We will see what the difference is between their's and the one at the office. I went on theirs about a wk ago and it said I was 126.8 so even if the scales aren't the same I know I've gained something. I was 124.6 at my last appt. So, Kim, have you lost that 5lbs? I've gained mine. :o)

Fun Saturday

2007-05-12T14:32:00.000-06:00

Well, today Les finally continued to work on her prego shirt. She started it about 2 weeks ago, but has been so busy there hasn't been much time to work on it since, so that was one of her goals for this weekend.

Now I know most of you are asking, "Phill where's the pics of this momentous occasion." My answer is that they are in our digital camera and I will work on getting them on the blog tomorrow, when I use my parents' USB port that we can stick our memory stick in it and get the photos that way.

Also in our family news, and Leslie might have put this on the last post, but I'll add it here as well. Leslie's next doctor's appointment is May 29th, the day before the family reunion for Les' grandpa's family. Anyway, we are thinking about having a BBQ at my parents house for my family and Les' brother's and sisters and of course, Grammy Mac. We'll keep everyone up-to-date on a time, but that is where we want to tell everyone what the gender of our baby is.

Of course we will then put it here on the blog for everyone else to know what it is.

Here are the photos that I took of Les yesterday enjoy!

17 weeks!

2007-05-09T21:50:00.000-06:00

This is me at 17wks. I had my drs appt. today. I was told that my assignment was to gain weight. I think I'm looking pretty fat if I do say so myself. But the scale says otherwise. Oh well. I'm supposed to "graze all day". I get to find out what I'm having on the 29th so I am soooo stoked and can't wait for the next 3 wks to pass.

Family pictures

2007-05-07T23:14:00.000-06:00

These are a couple of the family pictures that we took a couple weeks ago. Les and I got to the park early so my uncle (the same that took our engagement photos and our wedding photos) snapped a couple of us. We look pretty good if I do say so myself.

Take me out to the ball game ---then let the batteries die

2007-04-24T10:31:00.000-06:00

Ahh the joys of technology. Last night Les and I went to a AAA baseball game last night in Salt Lake, The Bees beat the Tacoma Rainers 8-6 thanks to a six-run sixth inning. Our friends that own a car dealership got a suite from an advertising agency. So there was food and drinks and that good stuff. When we were headed to the suite I figured that there was going to be hot dogs and possibly some nachos or something like that. But last night, they went all out with chicken fajitas with black beans, Mexican rice, guacamole, and salsa (which were delicious).

Thinking of this blog, I made sure that
we took our camera, so the we could have something that was more graphical than my semi-colon winking face ;). Anyway, I took some pictures before I ate and Les took some after she ate. Then as we went to take a picture of the two of us, the batteries DIED!!!!! (OH THE HUMANITY ... i know).

So here is what we did get before the camera died.

Franklin Covey Field --- Home to YOUR Salt Lake Bees.

Leslie and Bailey eating and watching the game from inside the suite.

My dad and I watching the game.

Preparing for Fatherhood

2007-04-18T21:12:00.000-06:00

We stopped by Dave & Gina's today. Phill was loving taking care of Payslei while we were there. She started screaming and she had just eaten and had her diaper changed so we knew it wasn't either of those. He tried everything he could think of and even when Gina offered to take her, he refused and kept trying. He finally just laid down on the couch and laid her on his chest and just kept patting her back. Eventually they both fell asleep. He's going to be a great dad! I was so proud. I probably would've given up a long time before he did and I definitely would've taken Gina's offer to take her.

14wks

2007-04-17T21:43:00.000-06:00

I was talking to Mich today and she wanted to see my tummy so I took this pic and decided to post it so everyone could see. Any guesses on how big I'll be right before I have the baby? 6 months to go.

Bowling

2007-04-17T20:16:00.000-06:00

Phill had the night off and so we went bowling. He made up for me kicking his trash last time we played by kicking my trash this time. The score ended up at 121-81. Pretty sad since I'm the one taking a bowling class.

2007-04-08T10:20:00.000-06:00

HAPPY EASTER!!
This picture was taken this morning right before we went to church. Les is finally starting to show and is doing very well.
She wants everyone to know that she can't wear her regular skirts anymore. "I tried," she said.
Yesterday she was back to her normal self (i.e. sleeping in the bed) and doing very well. The headache left for most of the day, but soon returned due to a bit of playful wrestling.
We love you all and hope that everything goes well on this Easter morning.

2007-04-05T13:30:00.000-06:00

As for an update:
On Friday evening we were planning on going to Leslie's mission reunion. As we were headed up to Sandy, we were involved in a car accident. I was driving and we were in the fast lane, with the HOV lane to our left. The cars in front of me slammed in their brakes, so I slammed on mine. As we started to stop I wasn't sure if we would stop before hitting the car in front of us, so I turned the wheels to the left in anticipation of having to swerve.
Fortunately, we were able to stop before hitting the car in front of us. On the other hand, the girl that was behind us slammed into the back of our car. The momentum for the collision in the rear shoved us into the HOV lane, and we clipped the back of a truck coming through the HOV lane.
Leslie is safe and I am as well. On Saturday, Les had a bit of cramping, but they stopped. The doctor said that if there was any bleeding then we should go to the hospital.

Today, Leslie is not feeling very good. Yesterday morning she woke up with a pounding headache that wouldn't go away. This morning she still had the headache, plus her body was completely sore. That might have been because she spent yesterday with our niece and nephew (Addison and J.T.).

She decided not to go to school and stayed in bed. When i came home from school she was asleep in the bathroom (that doesn't have any windows). She said that the bedroom was too bright and that she needed to sleep. Kind of a funny story to tell later.

First couple pictures of Les

2007-04-05T13:06:00.000-06:00

This was taken the day that we told our parents. Les was so excited to be able to let everyone know.

The Beginning of the Blog

2007-03-29T13:53:00.001-06:00

I figure I better start a blog so that everyone can see how Leslie is doing throughout the whole pregancy.

We went to the mid-wife yesterday (Wednesday March 28) and she said that Leslie is now 12 weeks along, which was news flash to Les because she thought that she was only 11 weeks and 2 days. They checked Leslie's uterus and did a breast exam and everything looks great.

Then came the best part of all ... We got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which sounded very strong. It was the most amazing thing, to finally get some kind of indication that there is actually a baby. Les will go in for another apointment in 4 weeks (April 25).

I'm going to work on getting a couple pictures up here, so everyone can see the progress Leslie is making.