The Morleys: February 2014

I forgot a few things in my last post. I'll start with our uhaul trip from Texas to Idaho. I don't recommend it to anyone haha. Moving in general! I hate it! A lot of our stuff got damaged even though I was good about covering furniture and boxing up everything.... I was sad when we unloaded it. Our table is probably the worst. The legs and chairs look horrible, and the top has a quite a bit of scratches and dings. Thankfully we bought it off the clearance floor at rc willey and wasn't too expensive. Dan and I flew down on Wednesday, packed up our truck on Thursday, thanks to some amazing helpers! The good thing about Dan working in the fitness industry is everyone he works with and came to help was buff and loaded our whole 10'x20' unit in just a few hours. When we packed it, it took Dan and I all day! That thing was PACKED!

I was nervous about the trip and driving that huge load 1700 miles. Dan drove the whole time! So we took off right after we finished packing and drive through little town after little town. They all reminded me of Melba. Middle of no where, no stop lights, two lane road, no place to eat or sleep. Well we were about 4 hrs I to it and it was starting to get dark. Then it started raining. Freezing rain. We could barely see out the windshield. Out wipers and lights sucked and it was scary. We were freaking out. Right when we were ready to just pull off on the side of the road we saw a sign for a super 8 in 10 miles. Longest 10 miles of the whole trip! We got there and it was sketchy!!! Our room looked like something from a murder mystery movie. Stained carpets, bad lighting, nasty worn out bedding. It was gross. So there was a little diner and we had hardly eaten all day and it was the only place to go, so we got some dinner and the tv was on and all it kept talking about was this giant winter storm coming through the same spot we were driving! And not only was it going to be freezing rain and fog, they issued the whole- don't drive u less you absolutely have to warning. We were freaking out. We got back to the room and I was sick to my stomach. We were watching the weather Chanel and as soon as storm "cleon" passed, storm "Dionne" was going to follow right behind hitting Utah and Idaho and Nevada.... The same days we were driving through there! So we texted out families, told them what's happening and got a game plan to just get up and drive as far as we could. We barely slept that night. The next morning everything had a sheet of ice on it. We got the windshield cleared off and some gas and got on the road.

After about 50 miles, the sun came out, the fog lifted, and the roads were clear. We couldn't believe it!

We drove all the way to Phoenix that night I believe. I think it's was like 13 hrs. The roads were pretty good after that. I really enjoyed driving through a different part of the country than we took our first route back home. It was beautiful! Lots of cacti and funky Joshua trees and rugged mountains.

Kinda hard to see but there's a to. Of cacti

Joshua tree

We had to drive across that bridge, which looks small in this pic but it was huge! And up really high! I peed my pants. Little bit! This was on our way to Vegas right by the Hoover Dam.

This was on the back side of Vegas, I can't remember the name of it.

We made it to Vegas and stayed at my parents time share. We caught the shuttle to the strip and had dinner at planet Hollywood, which was awesome. Walked around Caesars palace and hit the black jack tables.

Goldmembers outfit from Austin powers. We ate dinner at the table right next to it.

"Is this the real Cesar's palace? Like did Cesar actually live here?"

(Side note, I don't know how to spell Cesar......Caesar? My autocorrect is showing me both ;) )

Anyways! It was the weekend of the NFR and the weekend so the table minimums were like $25. We found one for $15 and say and played for like 2 hrs next to some Argentinian guys who were so funny. We were doing really well, then the table turned but we walked away even. Which is a great thing when Ur in Vegas!

The next day we drove all the way back to Melba, which was a long drive but we were so ready to be done!

We love our new rental house, it's so nice compared to our cat pee one in Texas. We have a big back yard which is my favorite part! It's by the freeway, our bank, Walmart, and my gym. The boys have a big play room and the master bathroom is awesome. We are glad to be settled somewhere and hopefully we can take a big breath and relax for at least a Year before we have to move again.

I seriously suck at updating this! My laptop is kind of a piece and it always shuts off randomly and takes forever to turn on so I just have stopped using it..... And blogging! But I just found an a app so I can do it from my phone, so here's to more blogging in 2014..... Hopefully;)

New Year's Eve was pretty chill for us! We played games and had good good with family. Dan and I didn't really set exact goals, but we have talked a lot about what we want to accomplish this year as a couple and individually. We really want to make this year awesome... And after last year, hopefully that won't be too hard! January wasn't really off to a good start. My Grandpa passed away after he had surgery on his stomach. He was 88, and lived a full life, but it all seemed to happen too quick and I wasn't ready for him to go. Seeing him at the hospital was hard and I know he was in pain, so I'm glad that he is in a better place and reuniting with my grandma and his siblings and old friends. But I sure miss him and think about him every day. The hardest part for me was that I feel like I didn't take advantage of his last few years on earth. His mind was starting to go and I never felt like he really knew who I was, and I hated to see him like that so I kind of kept my distance. I would say hi to him and give him a hug, but it was hard to have a full conversation with him. But regardless, he was always fun to be around and would always say sweet things. Before we moved to Texas I had a good conversation with him at church about our whole situation, and I just vented all my frustrations and worries and I wasn't sure if he really knew everything I was saying and following my ramblings, but I just needed someone to talk to and just kind of threw it all up on him. When I finally stopped talking, he gave me great advice and helped put me at ease about everything. He told me life was short, and there are always big decisions that need to be made and they can be scary, but to just have faith. He said it would be a fun adventure and I would learn something from it all.

In that moment he was so clear and so understanding and told me just what I needed to hear. I will always cherish that memory and be thankful for his advice.

Other than that, we have been sick for weeks! It started out with Damon getting pink eye, then a little head cold, then rafe caught it so we took them in and got some eye drops. Damon had an allergic reaction to it, so when we took him back to the dr. Rafe had full blown pink eye and an ear infection so we got meds for both kids..... It started to get better and the pink eye went away. The colds spread to Dan and I and the boys seemed to be better for the most part. Then they got sick again and their coughs were getting back to the dr again! They've been in their meds for about a week now and seem to be on the up, but Dan and I are all plugged up and coughing and it is SO annoying! It's just been cycling through our family and the dr said its viral (of course) and just has to run its course. Well 4-5 weeks I to this and I'm ready for this "course" to be done now!! I hate it when both kids are sick and not sleeping, and we are sick and not sleeping,but he fact that this has been going on this long..... I'm ready to lose my mind! No church no gym no hanging out with friends, we have just been quarantined at home!

Dans beat friend Matt came up to visit this last weekend and we had a blast with him. Dan and Matt are two peas Ina pod, if there's anyone who knows my husband, it's him. They are the same person in so many ways. I think the weekend was all communicated through movie quotes;) haha which I've grown to love, but in the beginning I thought they were so weird! But after almost 5 years of marriage I can hold my own;) for the most part we stayed up late watching movies and having talks about life. We took Matt to a hockey game and to some of our favorite places to eat. We were sad to drop him off at the airport yesterday.

It has been snowing like crazy here! I tried to send the boys out every once Ina. While when it was over 20 degrees to get some fresh air and some energy out of their systems. I love watching them play outside. Damon, for the most part, is so sweet to him. He holds rafes hand to help him through the snow, shares the toys, and almost seems to be more interested in rafe having fun than himself. It melts my heart. They grow closer every day. We play hide and seek a lot and they always hide together in the same spot. At bed time Damon loves to sing rafe songs before he goes to his room, and when they wake up it's always the sweetest thing to hear "hi Damon!" "Hiiiiii rafey!" That's probably one of the best parts to our day is seeing them greet each other in the morning.

We have taken rafes binky away, which has been ok..... But with the sickness and his now double ear infection, he cried a lot at night so we have it back. Ugh. But he doesn't seem as obsessed as he used to be. Same with his blanky. Now that he doesn't want either, he seems so much older! I love and hate it. I feel like my baby isn't a baby anymore but a full blown toddler! Where does the time go?! I've been baby hungry to say the least, but thanks to Obama care for us to get insurance is soooo expensive that it's making us stick to our original plan of waiting one more year. $600 a month.... Really Obama? But I am really enjoying these moments with the boys and love having them be so independent! It's kind of a break for me.... So some days I'm like, no babies. But then when I see a baby I'm like, uuuuuuhhhhh I need one of those. Haha

Well here's some pics of what we've been doing lately!!