Morton Family Update

It's been kind of hectic the past two weeks and we're only just starting August! I've been out of the office for a week, so thanks for staying patient and let me catch you up on our comings and goings.

I started the Week In The Life project July 25th and spent a week chronicling my daily life with photos and words. I was able to finish 5 out of the 8 layouts (7 days plus an intro and footer page) in Studio J, then had to set it aside to catch up on housework (booooring!) I hope to finish these this week and get them ordered for the album. I've still got supplies waiting to arrive, but I'm very excited to see this completed! Stay tuned.

The housework I mentioned above involved packing the two older children for a week-long camping vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Garrett in Fish Lake. A whole lotta laundry got done so we had stuff to take and stuff to wear when we got home (and spent more time catching up more laundry..) The kids left a few days before Brandon, Garrett and I headed up and we had a great time 4-wheeling on our favorite trails and seeing tons of deer. Brook decided she liked s'mores (finally, ONE kid likes them) and Brandon got to take his truck on a pretty tough trail out to Crater Lake. We had fun chronicling that for his trailblazer blog.

After such a nice vacation it was tough to come back to reality and I started a new shift this week as a result of our recent shift-bid change. We're working 12 hour days right now (3 plus a 4hr) and I can tell you it wasn't a popular topic at the dinner table a few months ago when we found out we would be changing from 5 eights. The plus side? Pretty much 4 days off that will ROCK! The bad? Three full days lost every week where I see very little of my family each night before we all go to bed. Think breakfast, lunch and dinner at work and in the winter you go to work in the dark and go home in the dark. I'm just about to end my first week and the adjustment is slow, but we'll make the best of it for the next few months.

Baby [insert name here... No REALLY.] is doing well. We are 25 1/2 weeks pregnant and things are going really well. Our little guy is very healthy so far and we're grateful for the blessings we have received with this very unexpected pregnancy. We have yet to pick a name (PLEASE send me your suggestions- we have a running list that has yet to narrow significantly) and this bothers me that we haven't named him yet. I like to connect through the name during pregnancy so it's frustrating to just call him Baby all the time. However, it does provide some comic relief as some people insist on calling him a different name every time they see us! "How is baby Stryker? When will we meet baby Conner?" (The funniest, most far-fetched so far is baby Jalepeno.)

We hope your past few weeks have been going well!

Warm wishes,

and the Mortons