Morrissey Family Blog

8th Grade volleyball game; Aaron with Knudson boys (new pastor’s kids) at an Honorbound conference; breathtaking morning walk; the kids’ room at church mid-organization

Doug caught Aaron in the middle of dropping the yogurts he was bragging he could stack; Aaron eating a snack of cheese.  He finished the whole block and then had 2 pieces of pizza.

We went hiking with the Horsts on the most amazingly beautiful fall day.  Here we are on Eagle Rock; eating mouthwatering turkey kabobs over the fire; Chris climbing.

Chris with interesting hair; Shannon at her first game (she is in left back corner); Doug’s surprise for his birthday

Backpacking

Check out the vista beyond Shannon and me; lake is quite dry; pre-dinner relaxation.

Leslie can make fire!; See the little froggy we caught?

Wedding Preparations.  I was the decorator for Mike and Kristen’s wedding.  It was a lot to do!

My friends Amy and Cheri were invaluable; low centerpieces; high centerpieces without curly willow

Family Photo Shoot at Wedding.  All of the kids were in the wedding, so I got some pics of them beforehand.

Wedding Decorations

Wedding aisle; arch; long view

Gift wagon; fireplace; guest registry table; table number table

barn for reception; sweetheart table; low centerpiece table; high centerpiece table

The Actual Wedding.  Didn’t get many pics here because I just wanted to have fun!

Shannon as “flower girl;” Close-up of Shannon; whole family; Bride and Groom dancing!

Gibraltar with the Nissleys; Kristen and Mike’s wedding shower; Doug and I see Samson; Doug, Shannon and Christopher go to the Farmer’s Market

Lata’s birthday party at our house.

The kids on the raft while boating with Gordon and Nancy.

All ready to board for an adventure!

And this is what we come to: an amazing condo in the sky.  Night, and then day.

Some typical mealtime photos.

Palms; walking to Finding Dory, walking in the waves.

On a hot day we toured Pearl Harbor (Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri) and got shave ice, lots of it.

We went on a wonderful excursion where we could swim with dolphins and meet sea turtles up close.  There was lots of entertainment on board as well.

The vaca wasn’t over after Waikiki.  We went to a spot on the North shore with the Polynesian Cultural Center, A great zipline company at Keana Farms, and some snorkeling at Shark’s Cove.

Before Hawaii, we had a most memorable time with Ralph, affectionately known to our family as Grandpa Bob, or GB.  At first we didn’t recognize him – We thought it was Doug coming home.  Except that Doug has some gray hair in his goatee.  The first pic includes him wearing the jacket we lent him for his stay up north.

We took him to pick up Shannon and Christopher from Kenbrook Bible Camp, we encouraged him to tromp through 10 acres of wilderness with us (and on the path behind we met a horst), and we took him to Blue Marsh Lake for a 4th of July outing with the Groffs/Schans.

Once he left, we went with Gordon Groff, Roger Schans and the oldest Schans to Hersheypark.  Unfortunately this pic does not include Josiah.

And then here is a random pic of Shannon and Christopher with a baby bunny they found at church.

Do you remember the month of June?  It seems so far away.  Well, I have a backlog of photos to share with you.  The first happening after school let out was Christopher going to Texas.  Because we weren’t there to take pics of him, here is one of him going… (check out the attendant’s face)

                                               and coming back.

While he was there, Shannon and Doug and I went to D.C. to check out the Holocaust Museum. 

We also ventured out to get pizza and stopped at memorable sights along the way.

While Chris was still in Texas, the rest of us went to youth camp.  Here is a panoramic of Shannon, Leslie, Aaron and Lata playing ping pong.

Here is a nice pic of Shannon.  She is getting really good at makeup.

After much prompting by Shannon, Leslie and the two youngest took Reese to the dog park on a beautiful day.  Lots of dogs on this day.  Check out how the little mutt one photobombed my nice pic with Reese?

Shannon is now on the worship team at church!

One of our fellow body combatters hosted a gala to raise money for her foundation.  They give money to families who are struggling with pediatric cancer to pay for rent and mortgages.  It was a great time out with some of our friends from combat, and for a good cause. It was held at the Eden Resort.

You never know what is going to happen in this agri-county.  Cornerstone’s rep is so huge that even the turkeys are trying to be seen by them.  Sad that they have to be turned away.

Here in Lancaster County, even the men are getting pregnant.  Here are the three men who take body combat, willing to endure a little ankle-swelling to keep the weight gain down. The next pic is of our three instructors.  So who is the truly pregnant one?

The Nissleys invited us over for Easter dinner this year.  Was wonderful.  Aaron couldn’t resist getting a few more calories, though.

Speaking of calories, here is a taco sundae Leslie made for dinner one night.  Want the real sweet thing?  Rita’s opened up for the summer and guess who was there on the first day –

Spring is often about preparing the yard for the summer.  Leslie chose a great weekend to get the mulch dumped; she couldn’t be there to help.  Awwww.

We got a new mailbox, so Chris made a base for our old one and stuck it in his room.  Little did he know that it was home to many bumblebees. They still to this day every once in a while emerge from their mailbox home.

And not only do we help at our house.  The last pic shows how Doug and Shannon installed a tetherball pole at church.

Finally, spring has been about volleyball for the boys.  Chris’ season was short and sweet, unlike Aaron’s JV season.  Here are some pics of Aaron with his team.  The first is of the first tourney of the season.  They came in first.

We then hosted a team breakfast at our house.  They were watching Shannon and Chris on the trampoline, and then went out to join.

The fourth is a typical game.  The final picture is of the team winning the tourney hosted by Warwick.

https://youtu.be/SRqZMJBNyO4

In the field of five teams, this group of ninth graders was the youngest team of them all. They started out in the semifinals in third place but won both the semi finals and athe finals to earn their gold medals.