Morgan's 14th BiRtHdAy!!

For Morgan's birthday, she requested Olive Garden for dinner (which we did a few days before her birthday).  As we were waiting to be seated, I had to laugh at this brood of mine.  As is typical, no one (including my husband) sits and quietly waits.  There was tickling, wrestling, and laying on top of each other.  They have so much fun together! (until someone gets hurt of course :)

Morgan opened one of her presents at dinner...her coveted Ipod Touch!  We wouldn't let our kids get one until they turned 14, because we didn't think they were old enough to be responsible about texting.  I've had too many friends who have told me their kids were addicted to texting, and we want our kids to be present with their friends and with us when they are with us.  We will still have to do some teaching I am sure, but hopefully she's old enough to exercise a little more restraint and understand both the benefits and drawbacks and act accordingly.  She's one smart cookie, so I'm sure it will be great!  Anyhow, she was over the moon that she FINALLY had one!

 Some of her friends at church did a "heart attack" welcoming her into the 14-year-old class at church.  So cute!!  GREAT group of girls.  I'm so glad Morgan is a part of such an awesome group of friends!

That Saturday, on her actual birthday, we did a family party for Morgan, where she opened the rest of her presents and also invited a few of her closest friends over to celebrate with cake, ice cream, and swimming!

This part is what made my heart melt.  Colton was SO EXCITED and had been planning his gift for her for WEEKS.  He knew Morgan really wanted this specific necklace she had seen online.  He had me help him order it (with money he had earned by doing extra jobs) and he had been anxiously waiting to see her reaction.  Loved this!

Morgan with her friends...

Labor Day Trip to Sedona with the Carroll's

For Labor Day weekend we went with our good friends, the Carroll's, up to Sedona.  We love Sedona because it's only 2 hours away, it's BEAUTIFUL, and has lots of fun hikes (like 100's!).  The afternoon we got there, we decided to hike "Cow Pies" (named for the formations of the rocks).  It takes 4-wheel-drive to reach the trailhead.  This part of the road was kind of a climb, and had lots of deep gauges and potholes.  After our family got over it, we hopped out to watch the Carroll's try to traverse it (the part with the potholes is back where the car is...

Apparently their 5-year-old thought it was a lot of fun bouncing around in the back seat!  He wanted to do it again!

We got to the end just as the sun was starting to set.  It was beautiful the way the red rocks just lit up!

The next day we did another favorite trail of ours - the West Fork Trail.  This hike is easy and takes you along a creek the entire way, actually criss-crossing it the whole way.  You have to rock hop and walk along fallen logs to get across (no bridges, except for the one at the very start that you see in the picture below).  It's really fun!  On either side are sheer cliffs which give you shade as you walk (unless the sun is straight overhead).  It's gorgeous!

 

When we got to this spot a couple miles in, we decided to stop and play for an hour or so.  We built a dam, the kids went down rocks like slides in the water, chased garter snakes (yes, snakes! but they were teeny tiny garters), relaxed, and had fun!

 

Totally fun weekend!!