Summer is officially over (here at least)

Well, the kids headed back to school today. They were very excited about it. They got to ride on a school bus for the first time (they didn't want Mom to drive them on their first day to the new school - not cool). We have been very busy working on the place out here and enjoying company. We had the Hackbarts stop by in July and got to spend some time with them while they were out touring the country for a month. The kids really enjoyed seeing their kids and of course Ken and I had a great time visiting with Mark and Kaycee, hopefully we can do it again sometime. Then my sister, Monica, and her family came out for about 10 days. Jeff came out to help my Dad work on the house. They got a lot done and we now even have a working toilet in the upstairs of the house!!! Monica and I took the kids over to one of our friends house who has a farm and the kids enjoyed feeding all of the animals and collecting eggs and things like that. I have included some pictures of all of them out there. We also were able to celebrate RJ's birthday while they were here. So we took a day off of work and headed out to the Jamestown resevoir for the day. the kids got to go swimming and played games. We BBQ'd and just generally had a good time, we also went to the Jamestown Speedway after the BBQ and watched the races. The kids had a blast. The Crown Royal Nascar car was there so we got pictures of the kids next to it too. There are also some pictures of all of the kids riding in the Go-Kart with the next door neighbors. They all took turns and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Hope everyone has had a wonderful summer, we look forward to hearing from each of you.

Love
The Morgans



First Day of School, waiting for the bus.


Ready to go!


How exciting - they get to ride the bus!


Kids at the Jamestown speedway with the Crown Royal Nascar



Anthony and Rj with the Crown Royal Car


Monica and RJ at his birthday picnic


Birthday picnic


Grandpa Strickler and RJ at the birthday picnic


Kids at the farm


Monica and her kids with the pigs


RJ feeding a goat


Tanna feeding the goats


Kids feeding the goats


Anthony and Audra riding the go-kart


Maddie and Audra riding the go-kart


Tanna and Audra


Maddie, Julia and Audra


Maddie and Troy


RJ and Troy


Anthony made a batch of bread all by himself. It turned out really good!


Maddie showing her brother how to climb a flag pole without a ladder!!


Maddie and Julia playing with their new kittens.


The kids playing with their new kittens, Tiger and Oreo.

Home on the range.....

We have been very busy settling in the past couple of weeks. The kids are now very involved in community events and Ken and I are meeting more people every day. So far everyone we have met is very friendly and helpful, you have to be careful what you mention that you still need to do, because if people hear that you are trying to do something and aren't sure how, they will be there doing it for you before you know it. We mentioned that we had a tree go down during the wind storm and that we would have to get a chainsaw to be able to move and the next morning the tree was already moved over to the wood pile before we even had a chance to do anything. We really appreciated it, but it was a surprise!
The kids are full force in baseball now. They have had 2 games so far. They won one and lost one. Anthony pitched part of the second game and did pretty good. He can throw some really good strikes, he just needs more practice to get consistent. However his batting is really good. In the first game he hit 2 out of 4 times at bat and the second time he hit 2 out of 3 times at bat. So not too shabby. Maddie also is doing great with baseball. She has decided to stick with just coach pitch at this time after getting hit in the nose at the first game by a way-ward pitch. We have since advised her to move if the ball is coming at you instead of stand there and look at it!
Julia is actually enjoying the baseball games too, because there is always a playground right by the ball field and she gets to play for several hours at the playground while we watch the 2 games. I have included pictures of both of the kids playing ball as well as some pictures of our house and yard.
Ken also got some great news this week. The job he has been waiting on with Techteam (physically working at John Deere) came through for him on Friday. So he gets to start back to work on Monday the 23rd. He ended up taking about a 50 cent an hour reduction in pay from Vegas, but with the overtime they offer we think he will end up making more over the course of the year then he did in Vegas. What a blessing!
Maddie had her 9th birthday on the 4th of June. We had a fun day as a family, then on Saturday we had another family over for a BBQ. The kids got to play and had a great time. I didn't get pictures at the party since the kids were running to the far reaches of the property, but that's ok.
Hope everyone is doing well, write when you can.
Love,
The Morgans



Maddie on her birthday in her new outfit from Grandma Garnetti


The Dining Room in our new house



The Living room is pretty cramped with all our furniture, but it still works.



Dad, here is the picture of the curtains I put up in the living room...



Pictures of the yard from the front of the house



Picture of the back yard, the property goes as far as you can see in this picture.



Front of the house.



Front of the house from the street corner



More of the back yard, by the fire pit



Maddie's baseball pose



Anthony's baseball pose



And of course, Julia's baseball pose



Anthony at bat



Maddie at bat



Anthony pitching his first game



Anthony pitching for his team



Maddie at bat



Maddie running to first



Maddie scoring a run for her team.

Settling into our new home!

It has been a very busy month for us since our last posting! We have moved and gotten all unpacked and settled. The area that we live in is just beautiful. It's peaceful and quiet and yet there are still other kids around for ours to play with. Anthony has already joined the local Boy Scout troop here and is now gearing up for scout camp next month.
Maddie and Anthony have also both joined the local baseball team in Wimbledon and are enjoying giving that sport a try. All of the kids love chasing the snakes and catching the bunnies that live on our property. It's really wonderful to see such excitement in the kids faces when they come running in to tell us about their latest outdoor adventure! They are sooo tired at the end of the night as well, that we don't even get complaints about going to bed. How nice is that!

I haven't taken any pictures of the house yet, hopefully those will be on the next posting. However, I did include some pictures we took in Fargo (my friend, Joline Anderson and her kids invited us for dinner the night we took my dad and Tracy to the airport), it was great to see her after quite some time. Hopefully we will get to see each other more often now. By the way, Reesa, we decided since we both live here now, that the reunion should definately be in North Dakota!!! :-) I have also included some pictures of the kids with the bunnies and snakes that they have caught and of Anthony's most recent scouting event on Memorial Day. Hope you enjoy them.

Luckily we managed to get here and get settled before Maddie's birthday so that we can still have a special day for her. I will try to post some pictures of her birthday party (it will mostly be family this year) in the next couple of weeks. We are also thinking of putting the kids in a summer school program for the month of June, since they got out of school 2 months early in Vegas and school was already out here when we arrived, that way they wouldn't be as far behind come next year!

I think that it about all of the news for now. Please feel free to make any comments on this post, the kids love reading the comments that people send or post about the pictures.

If you did not get the e-mail with our updated address and phone numbers please let me know and I will resend the info to you.

Have a great week.



Anthony playing with my friend, Joline's son, Colton



Joline and the kids, her 2 and 2 of mine



Julia at Joline's house



Joline and I haven't seen each other in about 9 years we figured out. She lives in Fargo so we got to stop and say hi when we dropped my dad and Tracy off at the airport.





Julia LOVED the baby bunnies we found





Can you tell??





She thinks they are her very own little pets!





Maddie caught a bunny too!




Anthony showing Julia the buny he caught! She wouldn't let anyone else touch hers though!





Anthony caught a snake too.




Maddie's still not too sure of them, but she is getting braver!



She hasn't dared to hold one quite yet though.



Julia almost caught her first snake.....look real close and you can see the snake in the grass, she was close. No fear in this child!




Anthony getting ready to meet his new Scout Troop in Wimbeldon, ND




The troop will have about 6 boys in it by the end of the summer, but for now it's just 2, same as he had in Vegas.




They were picking up flags and crosses from the cemetary on Memorial Day for the American Legion.




They also had to take down and fold the American Flag on a very windy day without letting it touch the ground. They did a wonderful job at it.





Anthony holding the flag after it was folded.