She loves to Create

18 years ago today

it's hard to believe, but this little guy is 18 today. i can't hardly believe it. he melted my heart from the moment he came into this world. he was such a cute baby.

i was so excited to be a mom. his mom. so happy he had finally arrived. it was like christmas every day!

he had and still does have a ton of uncles in his life. he was one of the first little ones to be born of our group of friends. 

this picture sits on my nightstand. he was four and he had his mama wrapped around his finger.

when he was 5, he taught himself how to ride a dirtbike in our backyard. he's been riding ever since.

he and his friends were goofs. always playing around. being silly. this is Wyatt with his friend TJ who just passed away in February.

and wyatt and austin who have been great friends since 2nd grade. they met playing baseball.

austin was the one who introduced wyatt to hockey. it became the only sport he wanted to play.

other than football that is. he played three years of football before deciding hockey was it.

he was a good little fisherman. he loved crooked river, just like grandpa.

and he adored his grandpa.  

he shares his birthday with his gramma sandy. 

these last 18 years have flown by. i have learned so much as a mother and he has taught me so many things as well. i never knew i could love someone like this until he came along.

he has grown into a handsome young man. he is good with children. jacob thinks so too.

and jacob is pretty cute and knows what he is talking about. :)

he played his last season with Portland Jr. Hawks this year. he made many friendships while playing.

these two became great friends last year when they played hockey together. JZ is a great kid!

he had a lot of fun this year going to ducks games with buddies.

and being an inspiration to some little guys! nick came out with his mom and dad to watch wyatt play.

he rekindled an old friendship. when they lost TJ, his sister morgan and wyatt got really close. she is like another sister to him.

and some of those friends that he's had since second grade are still a big part of his life. 

he is a great big brother.

and a pretty amazing son.

being a first born means that it's been 18 years of firsts with him for me. it's been amazing, frustrating, exhilerating, stressful, joyful and sometimes painful. but it's all been worth it. i look forward to watching this man grow. i can't wait to see what it is he becomes. he is capable of anything. he is amazing. 

i love you wyatt! happy birthday to you buddy. hope it's one of your best years yet! 

 

a new chapter

it is true. the morgan family is moving to arizona, but it isn't as simple as that. 

the first time i heard any word of opening a divison of omega morgan was about two and a half years ago. immediately i was raising my hand like a child in school wanting to volunteer to move. if you know me, you know i love the sun. you know that when we experience the months and months of socked in grey clouds and rain that i long to go on vacation to someplace warm and sunny. i am one of those that is effected by the weather. jeff didn't want to go. we were in the process of looking into selling majority stock in our business. it wasn't time.

fast forward to this year. riley and i went to phoenix for a hockey tournament. he had already been to this tournament last year and loved it in phoenix. i loved the weather. i had already been there myself a few times in the month of august a few years in a row. the heat didn't bother me. when riley and i went this year, it was mid february. this time of the year in portland is dreary. occasionally we would get a nice day here and there, but never nice enough for the boys to be active outside with just a pair of shorts on

the next month, riley went back to phoenix and this time his dad took him and kelsey tagged along. riley was going for a baseball tournament. i talked jeff into taking kelsey because she never gets to travel with cheer like the boys do with their sports. i really wanted to know what she thought of phoenix. she loved it.

about this time, our division manager in phoenix made the decision to move back to portland. i guess he really didn't like it there. in any case, it opened up a position and jeff and i started talking. what were the pros and cons. what about school for the kids? what about their sports? wyatt had been going back and forth on what he wanted to do. originally his plan was to go to MMI in phoenix. then he decided he wanted to go to linn benton and transfer after a year to OSU or UofO. finally he decided he would stay home and go to pcc and then transfer to portland state. when talk of a move began, everything went up in the air again. riley has struggled the last few years of school. he did fine in elementary, but once he hit middle school he began to have some of the same issues wyatt did at his particular school. i had already made the decision that no matter where we lived, riley was going to be doing the k12 program next year. kelsey always manages to do well wherever she is as long as she is applying herself. she is her mama through and through. loves to socialize. talks to much in class. same story, different generation. we know no matter where she goes to school, she will be well liked and transition easily. to help her transition a little easier, she's taking one of her bestie's with her the first semester. not all the details are ironed out, but we will be working on that.

 

sports are huge for all my kids. wyatt of course will go to a stick time here and there no matter where he lives. his focus this next season is school. kelsey is still undecided on cheer. there are spots available on chaparral high schools jv team, but their varsity team is already full at 30 cheerleaders for the 2013/2014 school year. no matter what, she will continue to tumble at the desert storm gym. riley of course will continue to play hockey. luckily for him, a teammate that moved from portland to arizona before last hockey season will be playing for the same organization. 

kade and riley get along great. kade's dad jason had coached riley in portland for a few years. because of this relationship, riley was able to play a tournament on the bobcats spring team in chicago. he had a great time and enjoyed the hockey. we told jason about moving to phoenix and riley was given an invitation from the head coach of the 99 team to try out. this past weekend we flew into phoenix and riley tried out for the arizona bobcats 99 birth year tier 1 AAA elite hockey team. he had two tryouts on saturday and one on sunday. we were called into the office on saturday night and he was offered a position on the team. the other goalie on the team had already played on the team last year so there really was only one spot open. riley beat out 4 other 99 birth year goalies for the open spot. turns out you can count on one hand how many 2000 birth year players are playing up at the 99 birth year level in the state of arizona. pretty cool.

honest to goodness, we couldn't be more proud.

we are so happy to have several friends in arizona. not just people we know from hockey, but nick and nianne bonnenfant and their kids (jeff went to school with nick) and my very best friend from 7th grade also lives in arizona. we were able to get together for lunch on saturday. it was the fastest two and a half hour lunch i ever had. so much catching up. looking forward to doing a lot more of that. 

we are preparing for so much. looking for a house isn't easy when you live in another state. you have to rely on friends and a good realtor (thanks sheralyn and andy!). we are not selling the house in portland. jeff will still be going back and forth as he has been. vacations and summers will be spent in portland. i think that is what makes it feel so easy to me. it's not like we are saying goodbye forever to everyone. we are here for the summer until the kids start school and practices. our dream of being snowbirds is coming true, albeit a few years ealier than planned. my most favorite part of this big puzzle that is coming together so nicely is that i will see my mama even more. i have tried without any luck to talk her into moving back to portland for a while now. when i told her we were gonna move to arizona and she should buy a house there as well, she made the decision to sell her house. hopefully she will have it sold within a year and can find something close to us to buy. she can then spend her summers in portland with us. 

i am convinced that everything happens for a reason. this is an exciting time in our lives and we are looking forward to helping the business in phoenix grow. we are looking forward to new and exciting adventures and plenty of sunshine and time by a pool!