Morg's Mind

Thursday thought

2011-09-15T09:16:00.000-06:00

Some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them.

Wednesday Rewind

2011-09-14T21:14:00.000-06:00

Here is another mission picture. Elder Carter and I are in the projects in South Newark. This was the location of the twig, which is part of the Spring Garden Branch.

Wednesday Rewind

2011-09-07T19:50:00.000-06:00

This was October 2001 General Conference weekend. This was the crew from the Spring Garden Branch that was headed to the Priesthood session. This was, as I recall it was a great session and an awesome group.

The week to come

2011-09-05T19:37:00.001-06:00

I can hardly believe that I am only two weeks into the school semester and I am already wondering how I am going to be able to do it all. This week for some reason has me feeling extra overwhelmed. Maybe it is Eston starting preschool. Maybe it is me starting subbing again. Maybe it is me working on my first story for Weber State News.
Whatever it is, I can not believe that I am already feeling that way. I am hoping that it is just a temporary feeling that will go away at the end of the week. Furthermore, I have full confidence that I will be able to get through it with no problems.
Normally when I get this feeling, we only have one or two weeks left in the semester. Usually, it is not this soon. Also, it normally ends up turning out to be great. That is why I am not worried. Plus, if I do not have these feelings and fight through it for victory, what am I paying Weber State to learn anyways?

Preschool

2011-09-02T20:14:00.001-06:00

Wednesday night Cheri and I took Eston to his first ever "Back to School Night." He is starting preschool next week and got to go check it our and talk to his teacher. He was very excited to see the classroom, but more excited when he looked in the backyard and saw the trampoline and slide.
When we got there, the teacher had a nice little gift for each of the kids and Eston absolutely loved it. It was a colored cup with a pencil, eraser and number line. She also had some treats on the table for everybody to partake of and that too made Eston extremely excited. He scarfed down the brownie spilling crumbs all over the floor.
After we went to meet the teacher, we stopped to get dinner. Carson was at Grandma and Grandpa's so it was just Eston with Cheri and me. It was there at dinner that I realized how quickly he has grown up and how proud I am to be his dad. He is such a good kid and has so much ahead of him. I just hope he doesn't let anybody stop him from doing and getting what he wants in life.

Wednesday Rewind

2011-08-31T11:23:00.001-06:00

This was Easter of this year. Don't they both look handsome in their Easter outfits? You would never guess that Carson and I had spent the early morning of this day at Wee Care. He is holding is camera that he got from the Easter Bunny. Eston is holding his Batman soccer ball.

Tie Tuesday

2011-08-30T15:41:00.001-06:00

First Week

2011-08-29T14:53:00.000-06:00

Well the first week of the new semester is over. I have been to all of my classes and at this point I think I will really enjoy them all. The plan is for this to be my last fall semester. I am finally into the meat of the communications program and going to be doing some reporting and anchoring. Along with that I will also be learning the shooting, editing, etc part of it as well.
I was able to finish my internship last semester. I interned at the Deseret News sports department. As I was meeting with my professor for the internship, I also learned that I can start preparing for Senior Seminar now. I was unaware that I could do some evaluative research for my research project. So, along with all of my classes that I am taking, I am also going to be putting together my demo tape. Then when I am in Senior Seminar, I can do some focus groups and have my tape evaluated.
So, the next year or so is looking to be a fun and exciting one. Thank goodness I have a good wife that supports and loves me. I do not know how I would do it without her. I wish beyond anything that I did not have to put so much stress on her, but after this year, I hope that can change.

Tie Tuesday

2011-08-23T20:27:00.000-06:00

Kindness

2011-08-19T14:33:00.000-06:00

Over the last couple of days, I have witnessed a couple of events that really got me thinking about the way things are said. In the first event, I walked away feeling that something could have been said a lot nicer and not come across so rude. The second event, the person said something that could have come across very rude, but did not.

This is not something new to me by any means, but after both instances, I thought about how easy it would be to just think about how we are saying something and if it is coming across the way we want it to. For the most part, I think that people are really good at doing that in general. However, sometimes we need a reminder.

Thursday Thought

2011-08-18T07:43:00.000-06:00

“Summer is kind of like the ultimate one-night stand: hot as hell, totally thrilling, and gone before you know it.”

— Cosmopolitan

Wednesday Rewind

2011-08-17T11:13:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of Carson that was taken by Deb and Chris Cope at our annual Layton office Christmas party. I love the how the bright red hair stands out in this picture.

Tie Tuesday

2011-08-16T08:14:00.000-06:00

The Redhead

2011-08-15T23:29:00.000-06:00

Some of you may have heard me make comments about this beautiful child's personality. He has some of the cutest red hair I have ever seen and the personality that comes with red hair. It is crazy to me to see how different he is from Eston. In fact sometimes you would not even know they were brothers. Eston has always been a really easy going child and never got into anything. Carson on the other hand can be very needy and is always getting into something. Cheri and I have had more frustrating moments with Carson than we have with Eston. At the same time, Carson has the biggest heart. From the day he was born, he has always been able to sense when you need a little bit of love. There have been times when I have been down and depressed and out of the blue Carson will come up and give me a huge hug. It is those moments that you realize just how much love you have for your child no matter how much trouble or frustration they may cause for you. When we first saw the red hair, I was pretty sure that it would not stick this long, but it has and I am loving it. I am extremely proud to call myself the father of this little redhead.

Am I Getting Old?

2011-08-12T23:37:00.000-06:00

Twice last week right before I went to bed, the movie Titanic was on. Between both times, I saw about the first hour of the movie. I would have stayed up to watch it, but both times it did not get over until 1:30, but both times left me wanting to watch more of it. I was not sure where to find the movie and I really did not want to pay to rent it, so I figured it was a lost cause and I would forget about it sooner or later.
Well, on Monday morning, I was getting ready to take the kids to my parents house when I discovered something that made my day. Whenever I go to my parent's house, I take a couple of boxes from my garage that belong to my brother Jeremy. As I was taking one of the boxes, I saw the movie Titanic sitting there. I grabbed knowing that Jeremy would not care if I borrowed it. Really I wanted to watch it right then and there, but I did not have the time.
Finally last night, I decided I could not hold off any longer and I put it in. I had not seen the show since high school and was expecting to find that it was still just as good and the few funny parts were still funny. Well, I was very wrong. I am not sure if I changed or if the movie changed, but I am guessing it is me.
As I watched the parts with childern hit be hard, because the kids in the movie are about the same age as my little kids. It was very easy to imagine my little ones standing in the hall crying.
Some of the funny parts were still funny. Like when they break through the wall and the guy says that they are going to have to pay for the damage. Then there is the part where Jack says he is going to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star.
Then there were the parts that I thought were funny back in high school, but now seem sad and horrible. Back then, I thought it was funny that people were falling from the top of the ship, hitting the rails and then falling into the ocean. Last night, I thought, this is horrible that people actually died like this.
So, I got to watch the whole movie again and I was happy about that, I still stayed up later than I should have, but I watched it. I also learned that with time and age come some maturing which is good, but does that mean I am getting old?

Thursday Thought

2011-08-11T07:51:00.000-06:00

Today's thought comes from Lily Tomlin.

"The road to success is always under construction."

Wednesday Rewind

2011-08-10T09:11:00.000-06:00

This was while we were waiting for the Ogden 5K to start this year. The race starts at 7:00 and the starting line is at the mouth of Ogden Canyon. I was really cold and tired and that is why I don't look very enthused to be there. The kids had that nice stroller to ride in that we were able to borrow from Jenni. I pushed that thing the whole way, most of the time running. I came in at 42 minutes, but I also had to stop and use the bathroom, so really 40 minutes.

Tie Tuesday

2011-08-09T07:49:00.000-06:00

Getting the Grade

2011-08-08T23:40:00.000-06:00

This Summer I have had the chance to do an internship with the Deseret News. Throughout the semester I was supposed to work 180 hours for them. During the 180 hours I was required to write a log each week of my experience and meet with my professor twice.
The semester ended last week and I was only at 122 hours and had only met with my professor once. This is a created a problem since I clearly had not met the requirements for the class. My professor assured me that it would be fine and that she would give me and incomplete until I was done with my hours and then she would change it to a complete.
After talking to the folks in the Financial Aide office, I found out that an incomplete would not be good. Due to the incomplete, my aide would be held up. That is money that we desperately need at the moment and do not want held up. So, I took the situation to my professor and increased the hours that I would spend at my internship.
Well, luckily my professor agreed to give me a complete as long as I gave her a signed contract stating when I would complete my internship and meet with her for the second time. I am so grateful to her for agreeing to help me out with this. Somehow it always seems to work out in the end.

The Train

2011-08-05T13:42:00.000-06:00

Last night as I got on the train, I did the usual, look for a spot where nobody else will surround me. Usually at night this is a very easy task as there are not a ton of people that are commuting at 11:00 p.m. Last night, however, the task proved to be very difficult. Instead of being close to empty, the train was full. It was full of young, loud, drunk and annoying people. On top of that I was extremely tired and wanted to read. However with all of the noise, there was no way that was going to happen. You might ask, why not just switch cars and get away from that group. Well, every car was full of people that match that description.

As I sat there listening to all of them talk (because I could hear them ALL) I thought about my two little boys at home. I really hope that Cheri and I can teach them how to properly behave in public. I hope they understand that they don't have to be loud and use every swear word in the book and then add some more to the book. I hope they turn out to be gentlemen who think about others long before they think of themselves.

Almost done

2011-04-08T05:52:00.000-06:00

Well it has been almost eight years since I started school at Weber State University. In those eight years I have had some great things happen in my life. I was able to get married. We also have had two awesome boys.
After all of that, I am almost done. You see, yesterday I was able to register for the fall 2011 semester. If all works out correctly, this will be my last fall semester. Each semester before I register, I log on to Cat Tracks. Cat Tracks is a program that shows students at Weber State University their progress in school. When I logged on this time, it said I only needed sixteen more credits. I almost threw a party right then and there. However, I was at work and all by myself and that would have been a lame party so I decided to hold off for a while.
So, I would just like to say to all of you out there that are reading this(which according to my stats is only 3 people) and are fighting a never ending battle, I tell you there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am beginning to see it and I promise to not dim it or turn it off. In fact I will make it brighter and more energy efficient. That way it can stay on longer for less money. Hopefully though it won't have to be on much longer for you or me.

Thursday Thought

2011-04-07T05:48:00.000-06:00

Thursday Thought:

“The pessimist complains about the wind;
the optimist expects it to change;
the realist adjusts the sails.”

~ William Arthur Ward

Wednesday Rewind

2011-04-06T05:46:00.000-06:00

This is Christmas Day at the Wilkins house. The was Carson's first Christmas and as you can see he is very interested in the present that I am opening for him. It was the ornament that Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins gave him. If I remember correctly it is a blue giraffe that was in that box.

Tie Tuesday

2011-04-05T17:45:00.002-06:00

Thursday Thought

2011-03-24T03:53:00.001-06:00

Today's thought comes from M.P. Hinckley. It is framed and hanging on my wall at home.
"Be kind. Everybody you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Wednesday Rewind

2011-03-23T03:47:00.001-06:00

This was the day Carson was born. At first Eston wanted nothing to do with him. At the point this picture was taken he was starting to warm up to the idea of Carson.

Tie Tuesday

2011-03-22T15:44:00.002-06:00

Thursday Thought

2011-03-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

From www.coolfunnyquotes.com comes this great thought:

Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling?

Wednesday Rewind

2011-03-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

This last summer Christi had her friend take family pictures for us. This is one of those and it is also the pose we used for our 2010 Christmas card photo.

Tie Tuesday

2011-03-08T18:40:00.002-07:00

Thursday Thought

2011-03-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

Beginning next week, you will see a brand new feature here on this wonderful blog. It will be titled Thursday Thought. I hope to give you a great quote or fact that will get you thinking. Enjoy!

Wednesday Rewind

2011-03-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2009! We went and picked out pumpkins to paint. Eston had such a great time. He loved painting them even more. What I really love about this picture is that Eston is closing his eyes. This is funny, because when I was young, I would smile for pictures the same way and we have a picture of me smiling like that with my dad.

Tie Tuesday

2011-03-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Rewind

2011-02-23T06:02:00.001-07:00

So, at Christmas this year, we let Eston take over the camera for a moment and here is one of his masterpieces. As you can see I got a package of white shirts. They are long sleeved white shirts to be exact.

Tie Tuesday

2011-02-22T18:01:00.001-07:00

Wednesday Rewind

2011-02-16T06:33:00.001-07:00

This is Christmas 2009. I am helping Eston go through his stocking at Grandma and Grandpa Hellewell's. The item we are looking at is a Wiggles doll. That was is Anthony or "the blue Wiggle." He is kind of over the Wiggles at this point in his life.

Tie Tuesday

2011-02-15T18:30:00.001-07:00

Wednesday Rewind

2011-02-02T19:23:00.003-07:00

Carson just turned one! Here is a picture of his birthday balloon. He loves Mickey Mouse and as you can see, he is more interested in looking at me than the camera.

Tie Tuesday

2011-02-01T18:07:00.001-07:00

Wednesday Rewind

2010-09-08T09:22:00.001-06:00

This was Christmas at my parents house. I am not sure where Eston is headed, but he looks like he is determined to get something done!

Tie Tuesday

2010-09-07T08:37:00.001-06:00

Labor Day

2010-09-06T20:32:00.005-06:00

Happy Labor Day!

Infected

2010-09-03T20:44:00.005-06:00

The weekend of July 24th was the last time Carson had a full night of sleep. There have been a couple of nights that he has been up all night. This has worn on Cheri and me. More for Cheri than for me, since I sleep like a rock and she doesn't sleep at all. The reason for the long streak of no sleep has been due to ear infections. That is right I said infections. I started in the left ear really bad so Dr. Rose put him on amoxicillin. The next week, we went back to the doctor and the ear infection had spread to the right ear. So, we moved on to the next medication. We did that for three weeks. One thing has led to another and now on Tuesday little almost eight month old Carson will have tubes put in his ears. Hopefully, this will take care of the ear infection(s) he has had for the last month and a half and he will be able to sleep thru the night again.

Wednesday Rewind

2010-09-01T20:02:00.003-06:00

Here is my Lady in Red. This picture was taken on our fifth wedding anniversary. I surprised her with a new camera and this was one of the first pictures taken with it. She looks amazing in Red, HUH?

Tie Tuesday

2010-08-31T08:06:00.000-06:00

Back to School

2010-08-30T19:22:00.004-06:00

Well, it is the end of August and that means that it is time to once again go back to school. One day I am going to finish! I am a junior and this semester am taking 7 credits. I have pretty much exhausted the evening classes that the communications department offers. That means a whole new experience as I am on campus during the day. The first day, I felt very out of place. I am a 28 year old father of two boys and am attending school with all of these newly graduated from high school aged kids. Luckily that feeling only lasted a minute or so, before I remembered it doesn't matter, because they don't care about me and I don't really care about them(unless we are put in a group to work together on a project).
As far as my classes this semester, I am lucky to have a couple of easy classes and one hard class. My hard class is research methods, which will give me my biggest paper thus far in college, 22 pages. However, the professor says it shouldn't be that hard. The other two classes are studio production and performance, where I learn how to do my job and the radio DJ class, where I DJ at the college radio station. I loved that class last semester and I don't see that changing this semester.

Helping Hands

2010-08-27T09:23:00.000-06:00

Just when you think your situation is bad, you always find out that somebody has it worse than you do. On Monday and Tuesday, I was kind of feeling that our situation was pretty bleak. Tuesday night, I had a reality check. Cheri came home from a meeting and informed me that some of our neighbors/friends were in pretty desperate need of food, especially baby food. Hearing this, we both felt extremely bad for them. So, we grabbed a box and filled it with food to give to them. Really it wasn't a lot, but we hope and pray that it was enough to help them realize that there is hope and they can rely on their friends. As we were filling the box, I realized just how good Cheri and I do have it right now even though we are struggling. The lord does bless us and watch out for us.

Wednesday Rewind

2010-08-25T08:40:00.003-06:00

Here is Eston, all ready to go trick or treating as Curious George with dad as The Man in the Yellow Hat. We had a great time and he thought it was awesome that daddy dressed up too.

Tie Tuesday

2010-08-24T08:20:00.000-06:00

The date

2010-08-23T20:25:00.004-06:00

For the last six years, Cheri has been trying to surprise me with anything. Most of the time when she tries, I figure it out. Well Saturday she finally succeeded. I had to work on Saturday night. Just as we were done taping some items for sports, I checked my phone and had a text message from her asking if I had dinner. This is something she periodically asks, so I thought nothing of it. Even though I did have dinner, I went to Costa Vida. I rode trax over to the Gateway and then back. As I was walking back to the front door, I looked across the street and noticed a Cobalt. The first thought that went through my head was, "Did I bring the Cobalt?" Then I saw my car and continued onward. As I got to the front door of KSL, I saw my lovely wife standing there with a picnic dinner. I was so suprised and extremly happy. So, we walked around back around the building, found a spot on the grass, ate and talked for about two hours. I had a great time and Cheri finally got to surprise me.

Trip to the Fair

2010-08-20T19:51:00.004-06:00

Last night we decided to go to the Davis County Fair. When Cheri got home from work, she made the suggestion that Grandma and Grandpa Hellewell go with us. So, we had Eston call and ask them, because no grandparent can say no to their grand kid. That was the case in this instance as well. We decided to meet at their house and then travel to the fair from there. When we arrived at their house, Grandpa Hellewell came over to the car and told me he needed to stop and get air for a flat tire. The gas station was not too far from their house, but that trip was enough to ruin the tire. So, now we didn't need air, but to change the tire instead.
Grandpa and I started changing the tire. We ended up having to go back to Grandpa's house to get a floor jack, because the jack in the Trooper wasn't cutting it. During the process of changing the tire we were offered help by two different people. It is great to know that people are so willing to help.
The kindness did not stop there, it continued when we got to the fair. Grandma surprised Eston with four tickets to ride some of the rides. He first rode the boats which took two tickets. Then he wanted to ride the scrambler with daddy. So, I ran and bought as many tickets as I could. Luckily I got three tickets, because the ride was three tickets. However, Eston only had two tickets. The ride operator saw that Eston wanted to ride the ride with me, so said that two tickets would be sufficient.
As the evening continued, we went into the exhibitor building. There was a church that had free face painting. Eston really wanted his face painted, so Cheri waited in line with him. Eston was the next one in line when a sheriff's deputy came up to close the booth down. Cheri explained to Eston that they couldn't get his face painted and the ladies at the booth offered him a pencil that he declined to take, because he wanted his face painted. I guess the sadness on his face got the lady at the booth and the sheriff's deputy. So, when the lady asked the deputy if they could quickly paint a smiley face on him. In the end, Eston had his face painted and the deputy had a hug from Eston and I went to bed with better perspective on life and people of the world. Kindness makes a difference.

Wednesday Rewind

2010-08-18T19:46:00.002-06:00

Here is a picture of Eston meeting his new little brother Carson. At first he wasn't too excited about a little brother, but soon warmed up to him as you can see. Now that Carson is seven months old, Eston is going back to that not too excited attitude, because he has to share his toys more and more as Carson starts getting more mobile.

Tie Tuesday

2010-08-17T08:10:00.001-06:00

On the hunt

2010-08-16T19:49:00.002-06:00

As of the first of July, I am unemployed. Well, I guess I am just half unemployed. I lost my job at Inwest Title due to the recent downturn in the economy. Luckily, I still have a job at KSL and have been able to pick up a few extra hours. Even with that I am still looking for another job.
I have applied for some jobs, attended a couple of job searching classes and (the best part) spent a whole lot more time with my family. School is in between semesters at the moment and it has been nice to not have that stress out of my life for a little bit. However, once it starts, my schedule will make it harder to find a job. I will just have to find an extremely time flexible employer. However, we have been very blessed up to now and I hope it will stay that way.