Cornelius Chronicles

She did it!  She knew she could do it and then she did it! After a fun evening of hanging out with Grandma Phillips, Aunt Liz, and me watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, Diana took her first free standing steps!  She saw Grandma across the party room, knew she wanted to go to Grandma, and then took steps (laterally!) to get to her!  Diana and Grandma Phillips have a special connection and just adore being with each other.  One time Diana went from full tantrum to immediate giggles just by having Grandma walk into the room.  She loves her Grandma P.  It was the cutest first steps ever and so exciting!  Diana did this amazing feat (feet) of personal locomotion on Friday, November 10th at 7:40PM, 2 weeks before her 1st birthday.  Yea, Diana!!! Diana is also developing a love of reading.  She loves to sit on my lap and read a few board books together every day.  She enjoys the snuggles, looking at the pictures, and exploring the mechanics of how books work.  I love every precious second o

My mom is doing a lesson on the history of Utah beverages for Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) this upcoming week and she wanted to take a field trip to one of the places in her lesson manual.  So Dustina and I got to spend a fun afternoon eating lunch at the Shooting Star Saloon in Hunstville, Utah.  It's the longest continuously running saloon West of the Mississippi!  We ate yummy hamburgers, had fun talking to the super nice waitress/bar tender, and learning a little bit about the local found mother, Granny Smith.  Turns out, Dustin is related to her through his mom's side of the family and can now say he's from old Hunstville pioneer stock!     And then a few pictures of the fun I get to have with the kids in the backyard enjoying the cool Fall weather and our awesome swing set.  Everyone loves to spend time on the swings.  :D

This kid is one gutsy guy.  He had so much fun at Xavier's nerf blaster birthday party in Grandma P's backyard that he wanted to recreate the fun and adventure for his birthday too.  So, knowing it is November in Utah and the chances for freezing temperatures and possibly even snow were high on his birthday I did the only thing I possibly could.  We threw his party a few weeks early and had the best time ever!  We played nerf blaster wars, drank hot chocolate, and ate birthday s'mores cooked over a campfire.  Everyone had fun, and most importantly, Owen felt loved and celebrated.  Happy early birthday Mr Awesome!

John, Owen and Dustin worked hard to carve a fabulous 2-faced jack-o-lantern to decorate our spooky house for Halloween.  Then we got to work getting all of these cute kids dressed up and costumed for a fun filled night of trick-or-treating in the business district of town for the annual Morgan Hometown Business trick-or-treat and in Grandma P's neighborhood.  Everyone looked awesome, scored some great candy stashes, and had a fun time! John's design Owen's design  Rebekah - sporting her cloak of awesomeness she designed and made from scratch! So talented and creative!  Loyd - Christmas tree!  In honor of his favorite holiday Xavier - a worker character from a video game he likes to play Maeve - magical woodland creature with beautiful peacock feathers (Rebekah made the original costume in Texas and Maeve was super excited she got to wear it this year.  Teenage sisters are the coolest!) Owen - a pumpkin headed character from the video game Terraria John - Rubble from Paw Pa