Sunday Family Time

Sunday was nice to relax and visit with family. My cousin Steve and his cute family from Colorado were visiting this last weekend...what a great time to visit! Brianna and Tyler were down as well with little Hailey girl and we were able to have a big family dinner. Pete came home from being in Colorado for the past 5 days with his dad on a "Jeeping Trip" with his dad. (They were in Silverton driving fun Jeep trails, he had a great time with his dad)

It was fun to just hang out and visit, after dinner with visited while the kids played with left over sparklers from the 4th. The first picture is of Melanie helping me make dinner...she always has to be in the middle of what I am doing...I love it!

Pioneer Games and Yummy BBQ

After the parade the kids get to play games out side for a few hours ...this was our wards responsibilty this year. So we ran a couple of the games luckly they were water games and we stayed cool. Megan and Melanie had a blast thier favorite was the greased pig chase, and pie eating contest. I only got pictures of the greased pig chase all the kids lined up waiting then ...the chase! If you caught the pig you got to keep it, luckly enough Megan and Melanie did catch it!

After the Games we had some yummy open pit BBQ, ( yes I know how small town all this sounds) The last pictures is of the girls and I after all the events tired and ready for some rest! Aren't they cute little pioneer girls!

24th of July Celebrations!

I have recently realized that I blog about my family and happenings in our life but manage to leave out a really big part of out lives! Our church! As most of you know we belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and we are very active and very involved in our church. Both Pete and I have callings/assignments in the church which we do voluntary and are not paid for. Pete is in the Stake Young Mens Presidency and recently finished putting on a scout camp for the boys, lots of work and also lots of fun! I have been working with the little kids 18 months -11 years old in the Primary Presidency in our ward. I have had this calling for a year now and have decided it is the best! I love teaching the children the gospel they are so much fun and so sweet. Megan and Melanie love having me in primary and asking if anything I make if it is for primary!

Anyways last week I was busy getting ready for the 24th of July Celebrations! (The 24th is where we celebrate our pioneer heritage and ancestors who treked across the plains and finally reached Salt Lake City!) Primary was asked to do a float and that became my assignment. Our theme was "Pioneers building Temples since 1836" we had some children dressed as pioneers with bonnets and dresses and then we had modern pioners with contruction gear! The kids loved it and had a great time! Now after my first float attempt I think I could calmly do this again!

Da Zoo

Last week I did a lot of deep cleaning getting ready for the crazy life that starting a new school year for all of us brings. So this week I promised FUN for the girls. So we started Monday with the Zoo! Melanies favorite animal was the polar bear because he likes to swim like our dog Koda.
Megan thought the rhino was pretty funny because he just flopped around in the mud. Her favorite was the tigers...a true SD TIGER fan at heart through and through. The zoo had a new kiddie area that they could play in the water. It was great for the kids to cool off but if I were you I would bring a towel and maybe change of clothes for the kids.

HAIR CHATTER...

Having my hair cut has created some chatter in the house...
Megan: "Mom you look YOUNG AGAIN!"
Melanie: "Mom you look like Grandma Merrill!"
Hummm...
A few days later I was demanding that the girls clean thier messey room or else...
Megan: "I liked the mom with long hair better she was nicer!"

For You CHERYL

I cut 12 inches of my hair and donated 10 of it to "Locks of Love" last Saturday. Many of you know my sister-in-law has cancer and just finshed her first round of chemo. Two weeks later she has lost her hair due to the treatment. Cheryl is having a wigg being made for her by a group similiar to "locks of love". I am grateful for those people who are doing this for her! In the mean time Cheryl I'll be growing my hair out with you!

Cheryl is such a strong and amazing person, she too is going back to school to get her degree. She was carrying 5 accounting classes when she was diagnosed with cancer and endured through 2 different knee surgeries. I asked her if she was going to withdraw from a few classes to lighten the load... and to my surprise she told me she was going to "Hang in There"! Meanwhile I thought my own life was a tornado with my 4 classes while coaching Track! At the end of the semester Cheryl pulled STRAIGHT A's!!! What an amazing person ! Cheryl we love you, HANG IN THERE we love you!

What to do when it RAINS...

The last few weeks we have had some much needed rain. For a few days it rained almost 3 days straight! So with the cousins gone AND no swimming we had to get creative. We created "Merrill Express" which was a train for Meg and Mel's favorite stuffed animals. That little craft entertained them ALL DAY! As for myself we have 3 apricot trees that were LOADED with apricots. So my mom and I picked and made jam all week (65 JARS) CRAZY I know! I must admit that it was all worth it when we enjoyed it on a slice of homemade bread...YUMMY! Well that is what we did while enjoying the rain!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

The girls LOVED thier matching dress-up dresses that Grandma Gibson bought for all the cousins. Thier favorite part was TWIRLING and JUMPING on the trampoline! When I was little I had a slip for church that was like these skirts except it was white. I would find any excuse to wear it during the week it was fun to wear as dress up! The little white slip was handed down to my two younger sisters and by the time Brooke got it the slip was pretty much rags! Girls are so much FUN! I Love my girlies! Thank Heaven for Little GIRLS!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

We were all decked out for the 4th of July! The 4th is one of my mom's favorite holidays and it shows through her grandkids. We still have the Gibson cousins and they had so much fun at the parade, BBQ and fireworks! The kids learned at the parade the harder they waved the more candy they would get! One lady on a float took a picture of the kids...they were pretty cute!

COUSINS + COUSINS= FUN!!!

Cheryl started chemo this week and so we took care of her kids while she was in the hospital. It is such a helpless feeling so we focused on the kids and making memories with them. This past week my kids have ENJOYED being able to play all day non-stop with thier cousins. We have tried really hard to make it a super fun week for all the kids, we swam at the Benson Pool, the Cove and in the back yard with the slip-n-slide, trampoline, and swing set! Cheryl we love you, get well soon!

We love to go to the LAKE!

My parents have a ski boat and we have enjoyed frequent boating trips already this summer! We are all skiing even my parents (go grandma and grandpa!) we are currently trying to master wakeboarding and slalom skiing . The girls enjoy tubing and jumping in the lake everytime we change skiers. Pete and Megan have become pretty creative during thier tube rides, Megan is such a dare devil! Anyways a day on the lake is something we all enjoy and it is so relaxing!