The Moments You Live For

Don't think that this is what happens everyday, but I seemed to catch one of those rare moments that make being a mom totally worth it. I came into our living room and caught Meili reading to Sophie and ran to get my camera. Meili, for the most part, is very motherly by nature. However, this tenderness is more often saved for her Teddy Bear, "Teddy", and not for her little sister. Still, they are fairly good at playing together and Sophie can handle herself quite well when Meili gets a little rough. In fact, Meili is sometimes the one crying after their wrestling matches!

If you are Meili or Sophie, the best part of playing outside in the garden isn't actually getting super duper dirty (though that is pretty awesome), it's actually the bath you get from Mommy or Daddy when you get back inside! They love picking vegetables (Sophie obviously wants me to make Fried Green Tomatoes because she keeps picking me some beautifully green tomatoes), they love digging in the dirt, and they love making rock piles, but the BUBBLES are the BEST!

The Runner, The Stripper, & The Chinese Speaker

First: The Runner
I finally did it! I finally ran my Second Half Marathon! After training 3 seperate times and stopping for 2 pregnancies and a winter, I finally pushed through a summer of running and ran the Spanish Fork Half Marathon last Saturday! Even with a slight touch of the stomach flu, I cut nearly a minute off of each mile! (I definitely paid for it the rest of the day, though!) But now that it's been a couple of days, I am really proud of myself and I'm ready to even get out and run a couple of miles tomorrow.
Second: The Stripper
It was just a normal morning. I went downstairs to get Sophie up from sleeping and I was shocked to see a completely naked baby standing in her crib waiting for me to pick her up. Sometime either when we put her down or when she woke up she had taken off both her pajamas AND her diaper! So of course I also had quite a yucky mess in her bed to clean up, but I could not stop laughing for about a half an hour! Now that was something I wish I had a picture of, but to avoid future blackmail material, I decided that I would just let my memory keep that vivid image alive!
Third: The Chinese Speaker
After a two year hiatus from the language, Scott is taking a Chinese class again! He is so excited that he has been only speaking Chenglish (Chinese/English) for the past couple of weeks since he started. He decided to pick it up again because we are thinking of doing a PhD in Chinese Literature instead of English Literature.

One thing in Provo Never Changes-US!

One huge benefit of still living in Provo is that tons of our friends who move away are still somehow drawn back once in a while and we get to see them! Here are some of our friends we've gotten to see this summer:

Nate, Heidi, Kezia, & Ivy

Jeremy, Nadia, Beckham, & Ravi
(Burke was there, but left before picture time. Next time, Burke!)

I know there are lots more, like Brett and Brooke Wilson and Nate Cox, but we didn't get a picture of you! For the rest of you who come, but don't call because you think for sure the Morrises have moved on-we haven't!

Fourth of July!

I am trying to catch up on our blog! We are some of the only people left in this whole country (and world) who still don't have a digital camera (except on our phones and on our video camera). So our blogs are a little dated because our pictures are dated by the time we develop them!

Here is our Fourth of July pictures. I had to show both because they showed 2 things that are common in our house: Meili chugging milk and Meili being super funny! We were watching the awesome Provo parade. We couldn't believe how people had started camping on Sunday for the parade on Wednesday! Luckily we got a sweet spot on Tuesday. The girls loved the balloons and the jugglers and the big fire truck. Meili tried so hard to get a flag that she could wave, but we just kept missing our opportunities. Both Mei and Sophie loved the bands the most, though. Sophie kept stealing treats from the family who were sitting next to us. We were sitting so close to them that I hadn't really noticed until she had a handful of dried mangoes and I thought, "I didn't bring dried mangoes!".

Later that day we had a BBQ at South Fork Park up Provo Canyon where I made Spanikopita turkey burgers that were way too awesome to not be naughty.

And, of course, that night the fireworks at Stadium of Fire woke the girls up around 10:00, so they got to see those, too. It was one of the funnest Fourth's I have ever had. I love my family!

Sidra's 5K

This is a 5K that I did at the beginning of the summer with Priscila (Scott's cousin-in-law) and Vicki (A friend in my ward). It was my jump start to begin training for my Half Marathon that I am doing in 2 weeks. This past Saturday Vicki and I did 9 miles! It was great to run that far because it has been forever since I have been able to do it! Yeah! So this was me about 8 pounds ago! Double Yeah!!! (Love the action shot at the end? If you notice the time, you know how slow of a runner I am. So if I can run a race, just about anyone else can, too!)

Kool-Aid For Sale!

Earlier this summer, Meili and Sophie helped some of our neighbors run a Kool-Aid stand. Sophie was more interested in playing with the sign and slathering more sunscreen on her alabaster skin. Meili found an unwanted success when instead of saying, "Kool-Aid for Sale!" she started saying, "Kids For Sale!". Luckily, there weren't any takers!

The Gobbler and the Sampler...

This is one of the girls' favorite meals, which Scott and I title "Sneaky Spaghetti Sauce". The sneaky part? There are a ton of veggies! And the girls still gobble it up. But, really, can you tell who "gobbles", and who actually just "samples"?