Sisters Sharing their Bedroom

My poor poor children have to share a room...Megan especially has already at the ripe age of 7 expressed her desire for her OWN ROOM. Melanie wants to sleep with the light ON and Megan wants to sleep with the light OFF! So I thought I was brilliant when I bought Megan a cute little sleeping mask to block out some of the effects of sleeping with the light. It worked for a day or two til Melanie decided she too wanted a cute sparkley sleeping mask. So I buy another mask...hoping it would encourage Melanie to learn to sleep with the light off. NOPE instead they both can't sleep with out their masks and yet we still have to leave the light on for Melanie. It makes no sense, and talk about high maintance already!

When Dad is in CHaRGe...

I ran to the store last Saturday afternoon and left Pete in charge of the girls... Pete was outside working in the yard and the girls wanted to go swimming. So Pete said SURE...but don't forget to put on SUNSCREEN! So when I came home this is how I found my little Melanie. Look how concerned she is about those UVB and UVA rays!

1st Day of School (a few weeks ago)

Megan started 2nd grade on Aug. 7th and is enjoying being a "Super Second Grader". She enjoys school so much expecially PE and Recess! This week she got 100% on her spelling pretest and if you called her she would probably tell you all about it...still! She is kinda competive in everything (wonder where she got that?) we really work hard to tone that aspect down A LOT!

Melanie started Pre-school this week and goes twice a week...which I am realizing isn't enough! She begs as soon as she gets home to have a friend over...all day, everyday...she is missing Megan.

I too started school this week, hopefully my last semester at Cochise! Yay! I am tackling College Algebra, Anatomy & Physiology II, and AZ/US Constitution. Wish me LUCK!

This Fall I am also helping coach the middle school girls volleyball team. I am enjoying working with the girls, a lot of them ran for me last spring in track. The season is really short only 5 weeks long so that is a plus for me! It will be a busy Fall for sure!

Way To Go Cheryl!

Last Week Cheryl completed her third round of chemo and edured through 6 long days in the hospital. Ben is working nights and Cheryls family was gone for the week attending a family wedding. So my mom, my sister and I went up to Phoenix to stay and help. I can not express how humbling it was to watch Cheryl go through that. The hospital can be such a lonely and depressing place to be, not to mention the physical strain of the treatments. Cheryl would try hard to keep her thoughts on postive and good things. We got caught up on all our magazine reading, and enjoyed the Olympics of course. Brianna and Cheryl made hair bows on a good day while other times Cheryl enjoyed often visits from her kids. The kids were always so sweet with her and every one of them never wanted to leave their mom in the hospital, I think if there were 3 little beds in her room they would have stayed the night. Cheryl and I had deep talks that we each expressed our own trials the Lord has given us. Our conclusion was the same the Lord loves us and knows us and we are grateful for the faith and strength He gives us.
Cheryl you are so beautiful and amazing to me. Keep your spirits up and know how much we love you!

CONGRATULATIONS Officer Jeremiah!!!

We were able to see Jeremiah graduate from the academy earlier this month! We also celebrated with Heidi and Jerimiah's friends and family on that Saturday for a BBQ. Heidi and Jeremiah now live in Surprise and we were able to see their new house which Heidi has decorated SOOOO CUTE!

The cousins are always excited for an excuse to play with each other! It was a fast weekend but we did manage a few pics and even worked hard to get all the Merrill cousins on the couch for a picture! The last pic is of Melanie and Quinn holding hands going to Heidi's house they were excited to see eachother!

Last minute SUMMER FUN!

Summer is coming to an end and we ended it with a last minute camping and boating trip at Apache Lake. We spent 2 nights and 3 days camping and having lots of boating fun! My sister Brianna and her husband Tyler and thier little girl Hailey came with us last Thursday, then my parents joined up with us Friday and Saturday. We enjoyed living on the lake for a few days and we played hard while we were there. The three little girls where in separable! They even made thier own make-believe fire pit since it was too hot for a real blazing camp fire. One of our favorite things after playing hard on the lake was pulling up to one of the little sandy beaches and enjoying the sand on our feet, and dad teaching the girls how to fish. Megan is a pretty good little fisher. Pete is getting pretty good at skiing and as for myself I am suffering through my rookie year of wakeboarding. It really is a lot of fun, yet as soon as I get too confident I CRASH and BURN!!! OUCH!!! I was sore all weekend! Anyone have any great tips out there!?