Megan' s Blue Ribbons

This last weekend was the all school reunion in conjunction with the San Pedro Valley Fair. Megan's 2nd grade class entered their best art and writing displays and also entered in the scarecrow contest. Megan came away with ALL BLUE RIBBONS, and the class won the rosette blue ribbon for the scarecrow contest. She was sooooo proud!!! A few things to notice is #1 Megan's Tiger Spirit, #2 Look at how many blue ribbons were given out, #3 Her excitement! Melanie and I helped with the scarecrow in Megan's class with cute Sara and Mylie Weitz. Hey Ben does that flannel jacket look familar?

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!?

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!