The Oregon Coast: Revisited...

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Oh, and don't miss this video!

As a result of Spring Break's poor weather during our trip to the Oregon coast, we thought we'd try it again in August. Regrettably, the weather was still not on our side. It was cold and mostly cloudy.

So, we made the most of it.

This trip was Connor's first time to bring a friend along. Their constant giggling was great to hear! When we weren't at the beach, we were in town going through the tourist attractions. When we were back at camp, we enjoyed the fire and the kids playing tag and other games with the other camping kids.

The boys had their own tent to stay in with the dog, Jake. They were sandy and hairy by the end of the trip but we all had fun nonetheless. We will likely not return to Oregon for a very long time. We've been burned too many times with the weather and this was our last try. Next Spring we'll go to Arizona and who knows where 2011's summer will take us — I invite the opportunity for something new!

Birthdays this month

Happy Birthday, Jerry! -- August 21

Happy Birthday, Mom! -- August 28

♥♥ I love you! ♥♥

The launch of www.jodimorganphotos.com...

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Well, I finally did it. Created my own website to showcase my work as an individual. Take a moment to view it, and if you're so inclined, provide your critique to help me improve on it. Thanks in advance!

An update on what we've been up to...

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It's been a while since I've posted to the blog and with that, I've become a little rusty... I actually managed to forget some of my steps — hopefully, you can't tell the difference!

A little announcement

Before I dive in to our Spring break adventure, I thought I should announce how proud we are that Connor will be taking his science fair project to district! What this means is the school was impressed enough with his presentation of his project that they have moved him to compete in the district. We'll find out the results of this later this month. His project was on which fruits produce the most volts of electricity and tested it against a grapefruit, lemon, lime and orange.

Our Spring break

Like the past couple of years, we headed to the Oregon coast. Despite the lousy weather, we did manage to get out on a few hikes. The days we weren't able to really get out, we were lucky enough to have internet access, which saved us. We had sleet, rain, hail and lots of wind... to the degree that we did lose internet access for a day.

Heceta Head Lighthouse

We dedicated one day to a picturesque drive to Heceta, and visited their lighthouse. It was a gorgeous day and it's funny how easily our spirits were lifted by just some sunshine being out. Complete mood change, it was great! The ocean waters was like watching fireworks. Waves crashing in, making these huge displays of spray in the air; thick sea foam barreled into the shallower areas... looked just a consistency of thick, soapy lather. We hung out for quite a while just watching it. Mesmerizing!

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I think next year's Spring break will take us to a warmer, sunnier place. We'll plan to visit the Oregon coast in the summertime instead, so we'll have more cooperative weather.

We hope you've been enjoying your Spring! (c:

Happy Birthday to Patty!

Patty's birthday is here (February 21) and so I've gone through our photo archives and made this short video I hope you enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Mom (and Grandma) — We love you!
Brett, Jodi & Connor

♥♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥♥

:: ♥♥ View the short slideshow ♥♥ ::

It's a long weekend for us with President's Day being on Monday, so we've decided to remain home given the lousy weather we're experiencing. But today, it's Valentine's Day and my sweetheart bought me a lovely flower arrangement that is an art piece in of itself. While these pictures don't do it justice, I can't help but share them with you! I am such a lucky girl to be married to such a wonderful person and ♥♥ I love him ♥♥ dearly! To many more years together and for you as well!

The cute files... from the Morgan Chronicles archive

Over holiday break with the time off I had, I ported all of our old videos to DVD so I could digitize and tweak them. It was so fun for me to reflect back on the earlier years when Connor was little. Here's one I put together today. Brett and I had a hard time understanding what he was saying back then — it was so funny!

A ladylike affair...

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Today, I met up with some work friends at this great tea house called, The Secret Garden Tea Room & Gift Shop. It's set in a Victorian mansion in Sumner and it sort of felt fancy to be having tea in teacups and be in such a quaint place and setting.

Note: Don't be too judgmental about their poor website. I did at first, but realize they're not in the website business, and they focus on what they're good at—Tea and good food!

I had never been to a place like this before. As you could imagine, they have every kind of tea you can think of. Great sandwiches and soups and salads too. For lunch, I had a vegetarian quiche with Gorgonzola cheese (a recent favorite of mine) and Orzo Pea Salad with a delicious scone, accompanied by caramel toffee tea. It was all delicious. They have a "Frosty Cranberry Salad," which is slightly frozen and is a sweet and tart concoction some of the ladies who ordered it seemed to enjoy. I might have to try it the next time I go. (c:

Dessert (which I didn't need but couldn't resist). I had their Chocolate Tea Cup. As the name implies it's a chocolate teacup filled with coffee mousse—it was decadent.

Good conversation and good company; it was nice to regroup to catch up. The venue was spot-on and I will definitely have to revisit it again!

Northwest outdoors in the winter...

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It's 2010 and before we venture back into the corporate world again, we've been out and about despite the cool temperatures, and taking in some of the sights around the northwest outdoors. Above is a photo from our visit today to Flaming Geyser State Park which runs along the Green River. As the name would imply, we didn't see any "flaming" geysers, but we did see some bubbling ones. I think in the summertime you see the flaming ones, but it's wetter here so this is understandable. We've also taken in some great views of our grand Mount Rainier for you to enjoy from a trip we made just after Christmas.

Wishing you all a prosperous and successful new year!