Morgan Family Week in Review - 12 -18 June 2011

Sunday started with attendance at Sacrament. I taught my Sunday School Class and the lesson was about Heber G. Grant, Success Through Reliance on the Lord. We made it til the beginning of Priesthood, and boys needed to get home to take a nap (Phoenix was coughing and crying and Zion would not sit still in his class). Sunday evening we invited two families over for dinner: the Ryan and Joanie Harbor and the Perry & Krista Seale along with Perry's brother. Tara made Hawaiian Haystacks which has become a staple for Sunday dinners in our home.

Monday Tara took her friend Bridget to lunch for her birthday.

Tuesday morning Tara took the boys to see The Spongebob Movie at the Dollar Theater in Round Rock. At work on Tuesday we had a potluck in which included main dishes from India. It was all very good and tasty....but very hot and spicy. Here are a few pictures from the Potluck:

I worked in the office at Dell, Monday through Thursday with my partner Julie Diep (she is a remote worker from Houston) and then took Friday as a personal day. Had a lazy morning in which I watched a movie, then Tara, Exodus, and I went to a faculty and staff appreciation luncheon at the Round Rock Campus. Afterwards I was going to spend the afternoon visiting with my friend, Justin, while his wife got a massage, but stubborn as he was he did not leave his office, so I went back home and Tara and I worked on a new puzzle together while the boys were napping.

Saturday morning I had a date with Zion and I took him to breakfast and then we went shopping for fresh fruit at the Round Rock Farmer's Market. Once I got home with Zion, Tara took Phoenix over to Treehouse Pediatrics because he has been coughing for the past week. We had at 1040 appointment at JC Penney for our 2nd Annual Father's day photo session. Later that evening we packed up one more time and took the boys for dessert at The Yogurt Experience.

Morgan Family Week in Review - 5-11 June 2011

The week started with Fast Sunday and two of the three boys being sick (Zion and Exodus). Tara stayed home with them while Phoenix and I went the the last two hours of church so that he could attend Primary and I could teach my Sunday School Class. This was my first class and the lesson was about Heber J. Grant, Man of Determination.

Tuesday Tara took the boys in the morning to the see the Rugrats Movie at the dollar theater. I picked up my mother on my lunch hour and took her to the County Annex to get a duplicate copy of her car registration.

On Wednesday she set up the Slip and Slide in the backyard so that boys could all have some fun playing in the water. On Wednesday night Damon and Tara Demars came over for a visit with Master Ellis Demars. He has grown so much since we saw him when he was just a few weeks old.

It was a good week at Dell. I went in Monday through Thursday and then worked from home on Friday. Thursday morning I picked up my mom and took her to a dentist appointment. Tara and I broke out 4.5 fast with a quick lunch date at Olive Garden. I taught class number two at Texas State on Thursday night and spent the last 20 minutes talking to a student who may be interested in pursuing a graduate degree.

Friday afternoon after work, I stayed home with the boys and Tara picked up Natalie and took he to see Prom and then went for dinner afterwards to Panera Bread.

On Saturday, Kyle Grant picked me up and we drove to Keller, Texas to see Mandy and Brian's new baby boy, Owen. We took off at 9:30 made it to Keller at 12:30. Stopped by a Dickey's and bought lunch for everyone and then we were back on the road at 4:30. When I got home that evening, Tara and I went next door to our neighbors home to celebrate Russ Sage's 60th birthday. Tara and I capped off our evening by doing a bit of shopping at HEB.

Morgan Family Week in Review - 29 May - 04 Jun 2011

We started off the week by going early to church so that I could receive a new calling: Sunday School teacher for the 13 year old class. We met early with Brother Hancock to extend the calling and then after church, Brother Hancock and Brother Mattson set me apart.

Monday was Phoenix Blythe Elijah Morgan's 6th Birthday. In the morning he opened is cards from Grandma and Grandpa Clift and Aunt Lisa. To celebrate he had a few of his friends meet him at Gattiland for pizza and games. He invited Taylor how he had not seen in over six months.

Phoenix had his 6 year old pictures taken on Wednesday. We also found out that Robert, the manager of the picture studio, is moving to Arizona. Robert has been taking our family pictures for the past two years.

On Thursday we met Tara, Ellis, and Damon Demars for lunch at Mighty Fine. Later that evening, Byron started teaching MGT 4375 for the summer semester at Texas State University-San Marcos at the Round Rock Higher Education Center.

Friday morning Tara took the boys and Ms. Sarita to the Brushy Creek water park where she met up with Bridget Barbee and family. Phoenix attended Cade, his classmate's, birthday party at the local swimming pool on Friday evening.

We all woke up on Saturday morning and went to breakfast at IHOP. We then attended our nephew Xander's baptism at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Xander was baptised by his brother, Benson, and later confirmed by his father Josh, myself, and several others. Since our stake performs stake-wide baptisms, we also were able to see our Jackson Steed, a good family friend, baptised by his father Jason.

Morgan Family Week in Review - 22 - 28 May 2011

On Sunday we attended Kamryn Carden's 1st Birthday at Futurity Farms out in Elgin, Texas.
The boys love going out there because they get to see and pet all kind of animals.

On Monday morning I was summoned to Williamson County Court for Jury Duty. I made the first two cuts but then they released me with a vote of thanks and sent me on my way with $6.00. The one thing that I learned that day was that the Great State of Texas has there own Texas State Flag pledge and the attending judge made us all say the Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas Pledge.

Tuesday morning Tara, Kelly, and I went for a three mile walk. Tara and I went to Brackenridge hospital to visit my fraternity brother, Justin Yule who had a UTV accident.

Wednesday morning, I did a quick two mile run. That afternoon I attended the CRP for staff, lunch, and an afternoon session. Tara took to the boys to the dentist. Wednesday night, Jamie Echols and family came over for diner. Tara made Cordon Bleu and fresh green beans from the garden along with garlic mashed potatoes. Jamie brought some yummy brownies.

Thursday I was able to get the yard mowed and cleaned up the back yard and set up the patio set. On Thursday night I attended Alex Oldroyd's Eagle Court of Honor.

Phoenix's last day of school was on Friday. Tara attending his end of year party in the morning and then later in the day, Tara and I both had massages. Friday night we attended a Graduation Party at Brushy Creek Park and the boys were able to play at the water park before coming home.

On Saturday I went for a run/walk at Brushy Creek trail for the first time since early March. I didn't get started until about 9 and it was already very hot and windy. When i finished I delivered graduation cards to several of our family friends and was able to give Daryl Gibson a few fresh green beans from the garden. When I returned home, Tara told me that the garbage disposal was not working so I called InSinkerator and did some troubleshooting and got it working again. Overnight the wind had kicked up and knocked over the patio table and umbrella. Tara and I we out attempting to fix the table when the wind caught it and it just right on the edge of the patio and shattered the entire glass tabletop. So then we spent the next 30 minutes using the Shop Vac cleaning up the mess. It was sort of sad b/c we purchased that patio set while we lived in our first apartment waiting for our house to be built back in 2004. For dinner we rounded up the boys and headed to Red Lobster for family date night and then did some shopping at Sam's and HEB.

Morgan Family Week in Review - 15 - 21 May 2011

Week started with attendance at church. Sacrament went well but Zion did not want to be left in Primary, so I took Tara and the two younger boys home and I went back for Sunday School and Priesthood.

Sunday afternoon the family met up with Hinze's, Steeds, et al, at Pepperrock Park to celebrate Benson's and Natalie's birthdays. The weather was perfect and we had a fun few hours spending time with family and friends outside at the park.

The week was pretty laid back with Tara back on the scene from her New York visit. Tara met Bridgett for lunch at the new Rosa's cafe on 1431. My mom stopped by with fresh baked cookies on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon Tara had to take Exodus to Treeshouse because he was not feeling well. The doctor said it was a virus in his throat. Then on Thursday, Exodus had his 18th month well check.

I went in to work on Wednesday and Thursday with week. I had a demo of USP on Thursday morning at PS3 and then attended a session of the LATAM 1.5 CRP.

Friday morning I took Phoenix to school and stay with him for breakfast. I went back later that day to pick him up along with his classmate Hayden Turner for a play date. Phoenix said his "joints were hurting" so when we all got home I gave him some Tylenol and he settled down and had a great time with his buddy, Hayden. Tara was supposed to have a massage today, but she even mentioned that she was not feeling well.

Friday evening, I had a work dinner at the Walburg Restaurant in Walburg which is about 30 minutes northeast of the house. Scott met at the house and then I drove. We all had a good time and the food was great. We even stayed for a while after dinner to listen to the band which reminded me of my times in Germany during Octoberfest.

On Saturday morning, I got up at 6 with Phoenix. Phoenix had a soccer game in which he almost scored a goal and had a very good assist. That even Tara and I had a date in which we went to see Bridesmaids and then went to dinner at the Seoul Korea House on Anderson.

Garden of Eden - May 2011

Well it is not looking good for the cucumbers and squash. Most of the plants have shrivelled up and there are but a few blooms left. We have been watering every other day, but it has not seemed to help. The green beans look really good and we pulled off a few of them this week, but not enough to to. Tomatoes and peppers look ok, but only one of the tomoate plans actually has tomatoes on it. The figs look pretty good with only watering once a week, but the plum and apple have not really shown any promise.

Pictures to follow either this evening or tomorrow.

Garden of Eden - April 2011

Here is the graden and the fruit trees 35 days from initial planting. All is well except for the green beans. Not all of the green beans sprouted so about 10 days ago, the boys and I planted some in a starter kit in the house and then transplanted them today. Hopefully the wind will not blow them over. We have blooms on all of the of squash and cucumbers and we have green tomatoes. Hopefully by the end of May we will be eating fresh veggies. I have noticed that the plums seems to have been infected with something. There is a small sap like substance that is leaking from the few that have not fallen of the branches. I am watering several times a week, but what we really need is some rain.

Austin Toros

We got the hook up on some free tickets the the Austin Toros vs. the Idaho Stampede game. We love going to the Cedar Park center because every seat in the house is a good one. We received an added bonus of getting to see Antoine Walker of NBA fame on the Idaho team.

Garden of Eden - March 2011

This year we decided to plant less plants to see if we could yield more vegetables during harvest. I marked each picture with the type of vegetables that we planted. The boys each help plant the green bean seeds and some of the other plants.

Austin Fair and Rodeo

We jumped in the car and headed to southeast Austin to the Fair and Rodeo with the boys.......the boys had the funnest time at the petting zoo. No trip would be complete with out purchasing an $8 funnel cake!