Cornelius Chronicles

13!!  How did Loyd ever turn 13!  I can't believe how fast time has flown and how tall my little boy has grown.  Where once he looked up to me he now towers over his mother and looks down to me.  He is a fun brother, a kind friend to furry creatures everywhere, an excited gardener, and avid reader.  He has the heart of a romantic and obsesses over online gaming.  He has big dreams of making it big as a YouTuber, but humors his mother by agreeing to keep going to school and get his college degree in engineering as a backup plan.  I am proud of this boy and love his so dearly.  He has overcome so many challenges and works hard every day to be an amazing son, fun brother, and heartfelt disciple of Christ.  I have loved watching Loyd grow and mature and can't wait wait to see how much more he is going to accomplish and learn in the year ahead!  

For Loyd's birthday we thought we would have a fun cousin party at Grandma Phillips' house and the snow arrived just in time.  This has been a worryingly dry winter, but at least we had snow for the party to play in.  The kids had a wonderful time swinging in the snow, playing laser tag in the snow, throwing snowballs in the snow, sledding in the snow, practicing with the snow scooters in the snow, and building a menacing snowman army to protect the girls from the boys.  Only one soldier was successfully completed.  His name is Bob and he has menacing eyebrows and a stick.  Only Maeve could make a snowman this awesome!  I just love her imagination! We then came home to a fun welcome "heart attack" from the Morgan 3rd Ward Relief Society.  It was very sweet of them to think of us.    

In January Aunt Liz talked us into being brave and organized a super fun cousins ice skating day at the Bountiful Ice Ribbon.  We've never been ice skating before, but after a few nervous steps the kids were natural ice skaters.  Everyone had so much fun skating outside in the beautiful falling snow and enjoying the brisk winter weather.  I think everyone had a fun time and I was surprised how fast and dexterous the kids became so quickly.  I guess I better start prepping them for a run at the winter Olympics. ;)   

Pandemic induced home schooling is still moving forward.   Rebekah has really been awesome about being responsible to get her high school work done every day, even working ahead of schedule and completing her classes way ahead of the end of each term.  She is such a hard worker and a diligent student.  I am proud of her.  Not to mention she makes my job as her home school mentor super easy.   Loyd and Xavier and plugging away at homeschool middle school.  Loyd wizzes through his daily work in no time at all and then spends the rest of his day enjoying life as a teenager who doesn't have to be to school at 7:20AM.  Xavier is very diligent to get his school work done every day first thing in the morning without prompting or reminders.  He works hard and does his best because that is the kind of person he is.  I'm proud of his work ethic and his desire to do well in school.   Maeve and Owen are in elementary and need much more supervision and help to get their work done each day. 

 On January 10th Xavier was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood as a Deacon by Dustin and the Bishopric.  It was such a special day and we are so proud of Xavier and his willingness to take on the duties and responsibilities of holding the Priesthood.  I know he will work hard to remain worthy of this gift and use it to serve others.  I can't wait to see what a work the Lord has in store for him!

The home projects seem to never end and take up most, if not all of my free time and extra brain space.  I keep hoping we'll be done with them some day, but I'm not holding my breath.  Here's a few pictures of the things we've been working on around the Morgan house.  Kitchen table refresh with fresh paint: Before - the cute little round kitchen table we bought from DI and used as newlyweds at BYU After: Now it's quite the fancy two-toned table in the same paint as the kitchen cabinets.  Dustin built out and installed White Maple custom or bespoke shelves for the basement.  They just about hold all of our board game collection.  :)  These turned out so pretty.  I'm very proud of Dustin and his handyman skills.  Before: Original 1974 kitchen. It's so dark and worn out, but who's got $30,000 for a total kitchen remodel?   After: Check out what a couple of pails of paint and a very talented and helpful Mom can do!  My Mom worked so hard alongside me to pain

It's mid January and there really hasn't been much snow to speak of this Winter so we thought we would make some fun winter art and hope it gave Mother Nature some chilly inspiration... ...I guess it worked!  CiCi is our resident Snow Bunny, but she really doesn't like it.  She much prefers sitting out her winter days and nights comfortable and warm inside the house, rather than hopping through the snow.  She is such a spoiled bunny.  :)   

We were so lucky to have our dear friends the DuBrays come and give us a mid-pandemic visit all the way from Pumas, California!  Owen and Anberlyn had so much fun playing and playing together.  It was as if no time had past since they and we moved from League City, TX.  Of course the kids had a wonderful time together, but I think Miss Rachel and I had just as much fun, if not more catching up and visiting.  Oh how thankful we are for our fun DuBray friends and oh how we needed their friendly, unexpected visit!