Josh, Mel, Rylee, & Dallin

Finally

2010-08-30T11:31:00.011-06:00

Ok, so here is finally a spattering of Dallin Pictures for those who've been waiting ever so impatiently. He's nearly a month old now and doing great. He's eating well, sleeping well (during the day) and growing by the minute. Rylee is a great Big Sister so far, always ready and willing to help change a diaper or get the Binky if Dallin is crying. Zowie tends to get get a little jealous, but she'll get over it. Mel is doing great, she's almost completely recovered and getting back into the swing of life.

Dallin has already been on his first camping trip, we went to Zion with Mel's family about two weeks after he was born. He did great, although Mel did stay in St. George at her sister's place at night rather than rough it in a tent with a newborn. Rylee loved camping, especially sleeping in the tent. Overall it was a great trip.

That's about all I have for now, hopefully I'll keep up on this better with new pics of Dallin and Rylee.

Running Low

2010-04-29T21:39:00.011-06:00

This is a terrible picture of me. In my defense it was taken, by me, at 2:00 in the morning. Aside from the misguided pleasure of subjecting you all to this monstrosity, there is a story that goes along with this picture.

It was Mustache Day at work this last Wednesday, a day where all the guys grow, or shave as the case may be, ridiculous mustaches just for the fun of it. So this was mine. Most everyone knows that I always have a goatee, I never leave home without it (without one I don't have a chin. It's a definition thing). So Rylee has never really seen Daddy without his goatee. So I shaved the center out for Mustache Day, and the minute Rylee saw it, her response, in a very matter-of-fact way was: "Daddy, you're running out of hair."

Well, after Mel and I managed to collect ourselves, I questioned her on this statement, which she follow up with: "Yeah, your chin is broken."

I love my daughter.

And now, here are some random picture updates of this adorable Call-it-like-she-sees-it girl.

One last story:

I can't show the picture of this one, but it's a great story with which we will embarass the crap out of her when she's a teenager. Rylee's potty training right now, and she's coming along at her own pace. Her new thing to do, is once she finishes her duty, and wipes, she then sticks the wad of toilet paper between her little cheeks and proudly states, "Look, I have a tail!"

Awesome.

Baby Names

2010-03-24T07:47:00.002-06:00

So, I'm sure everyone knows by now that we are having a boy in August. We're pretty excited about this and have begun the painstaking process of contriving, considering, and rejecting names for the kid. We know for certain that his middle name will be McKay, it's my middle name and it's my dad's middle name, and I've decided to begin a tradition of it. The unknown variable is the first name.

We've toyed with names from father's, (Mel's dad: Steve, too many Steve's on their side; my dad: Rex, hates his name and would probably be more offended than honored by it, besides that would make my son Rex McKay Morrey, Dad's name, and that would get confusing). We've toyed with names from grandfathers, (Mel's side: Guy and Van, both have been used by siblings and cousins already, my side: William and Charles, both have been used by siblings, well, one sibling already, thanks, Bo). Mel has rejected all of my suggestions, like: Cutter, Deacon, or Tobias.

The funnest so far, though, have been Rylee's suggestions. She knows that Mommy's going to have a baby, and that she's going to have a brother, but at this point she doesn't really understand what that means. She likes to tell us that she has a baby in her tummy, too. Way cute. So I've found a new enjoyment in asking Rylee every day, or every few days, what she thinks we should name the new baby. Typically she will give us a name like, Baby, or Big Baby, or Little Baby. Those aren't as fun. But she has gotten creative a few times with names like, Sheeps, or Jesus Christ Amen. I've decided to start a list to the side of the blog here to keep track of all of Ry's name suggestions. I'll try to keep up on it as much as possible.

I haven't put pics of Ry up for a while, so I will try to remember to do that soon. It's been far too long.

Random Cuteness

2009-10-23T21:03:00.007-06:00

Ok, it's been a while since I've updated this thing with pics of our adorable little girl, (you all know she is) so here are just a few random pics found on our camera.

I have no idea what she's doing in the laundry basket, but she sure is cute.

Here she is holding her new Barbie that she earned for completely filling her potty chart.

These two show Rylee with morning hair. Yes, that's her morning hair. We couldn't style it that cute if we tried.

And finally, here's our little Zowie "decorated" by Rylee.

Ok, two quick Rylee stories:

1. So far Potty training is going really well. She has no trouble letting us know when she needs to go potty and loves flushing the toilet afterward. She's still struggling with going number 2 in the toilet, but we're getting there. She has come up her own terminology however. Disclaimer: We did not teach her these, she came up with them all on her own.

When she goes potty she calls it "Poopin' a water". And when she goes poo she calls it "Poopin' a big one". Where she came up with these we have no idea. But they're so cute that we can't help but perpetuate them.

2. Just the other day we were cleaning the house. Rylee wanted to bring her little rocking chair out into the living room, but since we were cleaning the room I told he she had to leave it in her own room. She tried to bring it down the hall and I promptly picked it up and returned it to her room. That did not make her happy. I then proceeded to clean the kitchen and make dinner. When I came back out I found her sitting in the living in her chair. I told her to come and eat, and after she was sitting in her highchair I again took her rocking chair back to her room. Well, she saw me do this from the kitchen and yelled, "Hey! Don't take my rocking chair to my room right now!" (She always adds the words "Right now" when she's angry.) She then followed up with this exclaimation, (and the reason for the story) :

"I am so sick of this!"

Yes, she did. Guess where she got that? Hehe. We laughed.

Bryce, Bryce Baby

2009-08-28T04:01:00.012-06:00

First off I will apologize for the title. It's cheesy, I know, but I couldn't help myself. A few weeks back we went to Bryce Canyon for the weekend. I'm just now getting around to throwing some pics up from it, so enjoy.

We forgot a coat for Ry (great parents we are), so she spent the first evening wrapped up in her blanket.

Cute family shot at a lookout spot.

Rylee with her cousins Davey & Jami.

Mel and Madison

The whole family.

And finally, a few random shots of the canyon.

And now a few Rylee stories for those who haven't heard them:

1. We were in church not too long ago sitting behind Mel's brother's family. Rylee loves to play with her cousin Timmy, but they tend to play like cats and dogs. During the meeting Rylee and Timmy began to fight over a toy truck that Timmy had brought with him. Both were saying, "My truck!", "No, my truck!". To silence the foray we quickly separated the two and sat them on opposite benches.
Well, Rylee, who still had the truck, kept saying to herself, "It's my truck, it's my truck, it's my truck."
We've been trying to break her of the whole "My" phase, and so Mel leaned over and told Ry, "If you say MINE one more time, I'm going to take the truck away."
Rylee, not to be beaten, thought seriously about this for several moments, mumbled a few things and finally said, "It's Rylee's truck."
That's my little smart alec.

2. As we were sitting eating dinner one night Rylee was singing the ABC's while she ate. As it is her version of the ABC's tend to be a bit choppy, but in this case she added her own ending. The song went something like: "ABC... QRS... Now I know I... Need more white milk, Mommy." And she held up her cup.

My kid's so dang cute.

More later.

Fashion Victim

2009-07-02T04:47:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Rylee decided to take fashion into her own hands. She was up earlier than usual and therefore I was up earlier than usual as well. Consequently, while Mel was at work, I spent half the morning on the couch in a half-comatose state while Rylee ran around the house doing her own thing. (Now before you freak out, I was paying attention to her, I wasn't completely unconscious.) At one point, however, I rolled over to find her standing in front of me in nothing but her diaper, her black church shoes, and her snow cap with the fluffy bobbles on top. When I laughed at her because it was so cute, she responded by saying, "Hey! I yike it." (Yike of course meaning Like). Hey, who am I to judge her choice of attire? Hehe.

What made it all the better, when I let Zowie outside for the morning, and then went to the restroom myself, I came out to find Ry chasing Zowie around the backyard in this getup; out in public where just anyone could see, hehe. Like her father, my daughter has no shame. Here are a few pics of the outfit:

Famous

2009-06-04T05:34:00.002-06:00

On Monday this week Mel, Rylee and I took some Russians visiting my from Latvia to the open house of the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was a neat experience and is a very pretty temple. We enjoyed the walk through and are excited to be able to attend this new temple as it will be the temple assigned to our geographic area. As we were leaving a news anchor from KSL Channel 5 asked if we would answer a few questions for the news. We said "Sure, why not" and talked to him. He then asked Ellen, the Latvian girl staying with my parents a few questions as well and put it all on the four o'clock and six o'clock news as well as quoting us in the article on KSL.com. It's not a big deal, but it was kind of cool. I'm going to try to post the video link below, I don't know if it will work.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

There and Back Again

2009-05-26T18:50:00.019-06:00

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from our trip to Baltimore and Washington DC a few weeks ago. For those who don't know, my little brother Gordo moved his little family out to Baltimore last fall to work for the Navy. So in May we decided to go out there for a visit and to see the sights in DC. Mel was really excited because she's always wanted to go to our nation's capitol. We also went to Gettysburg, (another place Mel has always wanted to visit), the National Zoo, and Six Flags. Here are some pics:

This is Rylee and Dima standing in front of the Washington Monument while we waited to get our tickets to go up inside of it.

Here is the Washington Monument itself. The second picture is taken from the Lincoln Memorial. I really like this monument so I took a lot of pictures of it.

These are pictures from the Tomb of The Unknown Solider and Arlingotn Cemetery where my great-grandparents and great uncle are buried.

Here are a few of the planes at the National Air & Space Museum.

In the Archives where they house the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, along with other important papers from our history, you are not allowed to take flash photography because the light will damage the documents. So this is the best picture I could get of the Constitution.

These are a few pictures from Gettysburg. The battlefield is huge and is peppered with various statues and monuments to the various battalions and regiments from every state that fought in the battle.

This is the painting on the inside of the Capitol Building rotunda. It depicts George Washington surrounded by Lady Liberty, Lady Justice, and some ten or so other ladies with significant meaning that I can't remember. Personally I think it makes him look like kind of a Playa, hehe.

This is the Wall of Stars at the WWII Memorial. Each star on this wall represents 100 soldiers who died in the war. It's rather humbling to see just how many people gave their lives fighting against the tyranny of Hitler.

This is us with Bugs Bunny and Wyle E. Coyote at Six Flags. The second picture is Gordo, Al, Mel and I soaked to the bone after going on the log flume at Six Flags. It took us all day to dry off after that. Luckily, even thought it had been raining all week, the sun came out for the afternoon to assist in the drying.

And finally the DC temple. We were able to get babysitters on Wednesday night and go with Gordo and Sharee to do a session at the DC temple. This temple has one of the most beautiful Celestial Rooms I've ever seen. Well worth the trip.

That's all I'm going to post even though I have hundreds more. Needless to say it was a neat trip and it was good to spend some time with Gordo, Sharee and little Dima who is talking up a storm and just the cutest little guy.

And toes.

2009-03-20T18:37:00.003-06:00

Mel has taught Rylee a new song. The video will speak for itself. It's pretty much the most adorable video ever, but I might be a bit biased.

Everybody Dance!

2009-03-02T19:48:00.006-07:00

This is just a quick clip of Rylee Playing Dance Dance Revolution. She loves it and most of the time won't let Mommy and Daddy play at the same time because she has to be using at least one of the two pads.

"Give it to us raw and wriggling."

2009-02-12T05:43:00.003-07:00

Last week Mel said four little magic words to me: "Let's go get Sushi."

I love Sushi, so I wasted no time agreeing to that one and Monday we went to Benihana's with some friends of ours for a Sushi lunch. It was delicious. Mel and I both got the lunch special which is two full rolls and a bowl of Miso soup for $10. Mel got an Alaskan roll, which consists of rice, seaweed, cucumber, and raw salmon, and a Vegas roll which is crab with cucumber, avacado, seaweed and rice deep fried and topped with a jalapeno slice and a dab of hot sauce. Both were excellent.

I had a Rainbow roll, which is a standard rice roll topped with three different kinds of fish, Salmon, Tuna, and Yellowtail, and a Dragon roll, topped with Eel. Eel is by far the best Sushi you can get. Unlike the others, the Eel is actually cooked in a type of BBQ sauce. Very tasty.

And the best part? Rylee enjoyed the sushi, too. Mel fed her several bites of her Alaskan roll, which she ate enthusiastically. When asked if it was good, she nodded her head and said through a full mouth, "Mm Hmm."

Below is a picture of Rylee taking a bite of Mel's Alaskan Roll.

Bowling Champ

2009-01-02T17:59:00.003-07:00

For Christmas Mel bought Rylee a Barnyard Bowling set. It consists of six milk can bowling pins and a bowling ball imprinted to look like a cow. Rylee loves it. We set the pins up for her and told her to throw the ball at the pins. I will let the following video show you Rylee's most effective idea of bowling.

An Ode to Rylee's Shoes...

2008-12-24T08:44:00.006-07:00

This post is dedicated entirely to Rylee's love obsession with shoes. Typical of women, though a bit earlier than I expected, Rylee is absolutely captivated by shoes. From the first time when she was maybe eight months old that she brought her little pink shoes to me and insisted that I put them on her, Rylee has spent more waking hours finding shoes, carrying shoes, wearing shoes, removing shoes, and providing shoes for others, than any other activity she has ever been involved in, bar none.

If she doesn't have shoes on, she finds a pair and brings them to us, holding them up with sincerity, begging us to put them on. If we don't have shoes on, she will go to the closet, where all the shoes are piled up on the floor, select a matching pair, (flip flops for Mel, tennis shoes for me) and bring them to us, throwing them at our bare feet with an insistent squeak that we immediately don presented shoes. If she finds a pair of our shoes laying around, whether she has shoes on already or not, she will try to stand in them and, if she is succesful in getting her feet in them, will then shuffle her way around the house in her new prizes. If she finds someone else's shoes laying around, especially if it's a style she's never seen before, she will study them, pick them up, test them, try them, and then either wear them herself or set out to find the rightful owner who obviously is unaware that they should still be wearing them.

So here are a few pictures from throughout her lifetime wearing, playing with, and exploring: Shoes.

-Josh

Disclaimer:

2008-12-12T00:59:00.001-07:00

"Blogging: Never have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few."

I must admit straight away that I have never been very keen on the whole blogging thing. One reason, as those who know me can attest, is that I tend to avoid all things popular or common. If something reaches the mainstream, such as blogging or Harry Potter, and everyone else is doing it, I tend to steer clear of it. I am a unique snowflake, dangit! (See insert)

Another reason I have avoided it is simply because I am lazy, (Surprise, I know). I neither have the time, nor make the time, to spend updating a stupid web log.

But the main reason for my opposition, I would say, is that I have never really seen the point to it. Most blogs are little more than lonely people needlessly ranting their overrated opinion about some uninteresting and inconsequential topic that a host of maybe three people will read and one person may agree to or even care about. Those who I feel need to hear my opinion on any given subject will hear it, whether they want to or not. I don't need said opinion digitally archived and shared with the world in its entirety, (Indeed, in most cases that would be a bad idea as I frequently find myself scrambling to recall any given opinion and erase all knowledge of its prior existence).

However, in light of the recent exodus of The Geek (Gordon) and his family, and their subsequent entrance into the world of blogging, my eyes have been opened to a new and useful, even enjoyable use for blogs: keeping in touch with family and friends who have moved farther away than George Lucas's famed galaxy.

And so it is that I shamefully join the Dark Side, (I hear they have cookies) adding my meager voice to the mainstream populous in the realm of the Blog. I say shamefully, though I must admit to being a little exited to put some creativity to work here. Admittedly, this blog will be little more than an excuse to shamelessly plaster pictures of my beautiful daughter, Rylee, all over the internet. She is without doubt the star in this modest family and we are not oblivious to the fact that everyone would rather see her than us. In fact, for the most part we prefer it that way as well, hehe.

Thus begins the blog of Josh and Melanie Morrey. Hopefully Mel will update this mess as often, if not more, than I do. Stay tuned for a plethora of Rylee pics forthcoming.

-Josh