Outdoor pool in N.Utah....

..comfortably usable about 8 weeks out of the year, 2 of those while school is back in session. Although it seems a not so smart idea to build, it sure is a lot of fun to use!

N. eyed the straight shot slide last year but didn't find the courage till this year to try it. Now of course after an entire afternoon of repeated "up the stairs and down the slide" he says its boring for him.
Z. thinks she'll try it next year, that is, if it really is boring.

The daredevil streak in T. keeps mom on her toes at the pool.
If it weren't for the height requirement he would be running up the slide stairs with his brother. He did like the twirly, slower slide but had to push himself along with his hands for optimum speed.
He continually talked S. into following him from one pool to another, one end to the other.
Mom of course had to follow along quickly.
Isn't the pool a place for moms to get tan while sitting at the side of the kiddie area, resting? Definitely going to bring daddy along next time, he likes chasing kids more than resting.
(He would argue this point, while chasing them)

The highlight of paying 5 bucks a piece to swim is the other 5 bucks kids beg you to fork out for the shaved ice. Student budget means sharing, which means whining and in S.'s case a full temper tantrum.
Even with the short season and the outrageous cost, a day at the pool and shaved ice can't be beat.

Summer+Siblings

Looks can be deceiving.
They might all sit close to each other in a small area, but not because they enjoy one another.
If one kid lays on the hammock then they all think they have to lay there too.
They're jealous. (As for their cute smiles, not spontaneous, its a trick we work on and also otter-pops make them feel happy)

5 minutes later.
See what I mean?
It looks cute but you should have heard all the "I'm squisheded!" and "Higher" ""SLower!" "Stop" "Don't Stop!!" "Mom he/she wont blah blah blah blah".

What I do like about the pictures I take of them space-hogging is that eventually I forget the sound of the shrieks and howls and all I see are their cute faces all together. It reminds me of how blessed I am.

They may be noisy and obnoxious sometimes but my family is certainly the best part of my life!

Grandma Tractor

Easy to hug!
Waving goodbye till next trip........

Dog days

Izzy makes the most of her summer afternoons by snoring after giving in to a giant yawn.
I think the kids have been watching her too closely and followed suit.

I can understand resting in the shade on the grass or snuggling up under a few pillows but the dinner table, even on a squishy booster seat, doesn't look even sort of comfortable to me.

Yellowstone Rocks!

It's finally June, summer, time for a vacation!
Izzy wasn't so sure about having to sit on pine needles so the picnic table in camp was her second choice. (First choice is always a lap, but weighing close to 30 lbs she just isn't a comfortable lap dog)
Her tie off leash was super long but wouldn't you know it she always ended up with it tied around a few trees, canopy stake lines and a leg or 2 until she had like a 6inch leash.


First thing the kids always want when camping is MARSHMALLOWS! They don't even care if its around a fire or inside a delicious s'more. Stuff them in! Somehow mom packed enough cheese sticks to feed us and an army but left home with only one bag of mallows packed. Fortunately there are a few stores in the park that sell them, and under 5$ too.

The weather started out sunny and beautiful, we didn't even think we would need the heater in the pop up trailer the first night. Daddy worried the kids would freeze though, when it started to drizzle, so he did turn it on. Full Blast. Aimed at moms face. Melted sleeping bag, rather than frozen kiddos, that's okay.


So, the other thing, besides a lot of marshmallows, you should always remember to take camping are good camping shoes, weather proof is preferred. Leather and some other sponge like-absorbent material- flip flops , not preferred. Who can really remember to take everything camping though, its impossible.


A little drizzle here and there didn't stop any of our adventuring. Hoodies and ponchos are easy to put on and off as needed. N. was embarrassed to be in a yellow poncho until he saw a lady in a make shift black trash bag to keep dry. Pointy head, one arm. Giggle giggle.

Daddies really are great. They'll carry a sleeping kid anywhere, rain or shine, hill or valley.
This was just the first of many this trip.
I think all the hiking and rain actually gave them more energy and I'm certain they are all taller than they were before we left.
The best things about the trip were the exclamations of "Whoa" , "Cool" "Look!" and of course, the best for mom was, the absolute lack of the ugly" bored" word.
Beautiful scenery, beautiful weather(you see more steam from the fumaroles when its cooler and there isn't any heatstroke), beautiful family. Yes, it was a beautiful trip. Nothing could be better than to share Gods earth with the whole family.

When it did end up raining too hard (which miraculously only happened after the hikes) the car made a great, dry, picnic spot, not to mention the entertainment in the form of a dvd player and screens for movie watching. I promise it wasn' t often ,and the kids were much more "unplugged" than some of the teen visitors ,who even around fantastic displays, were glued to their pda's. What a world.

Although rainy, every night we did stay warm with the heater off and on and the fantastic idea of hot water in 2liter bottles in the kids sleeping bags. For now, we all still fit in the trailer but, no one better grow much or the boys(dad and N.) will end up in their own Scout tent. Somehow we all slept even with Izzy and her snoring, even slept in, most mornings.

Yellowstone is chuck full of awesome stuff to see. I think we saw everything there was to see from the car and on quick hikes. When the kids get bigger we'll do it again and do some longer hikes in the back country too.

One picnic we were overtaken by an elk momma and her young. WE were there first, but ended up running away to the car since they were just too close for comfort. Izzy was smart to hide under the table(Okay, she was looking for inevitable dropped chips ,but she seems smart) so she wouldn't be charged and killed by the momma elk, like the Ranger told us had happened earlier this year. Mommas are sure mean about protecting those babies. Thats why when we did finally see a bear and her cubs we were rushed away by more rangers. We saw every type of wildlife except for wolves. Too bad for D. That would have checked off his wildlife list completely.

The wood we bought was the opposite of flammable. Now the kids know what a cardboard fire is. One night after cutting wood with his Gerber tool until it broke D. got a fire to start for real. Took 2 hours. Then it started , without warning, to hail and we had to run for cover. Maybe we should have put up a canopy over the firepit? D.'s flip flops are by choice after discovering the only thing he forgot (besides his art history studying materials, for his big test)were his socks. 2 socks, 5 days, too gross for him!

N. and mom started renaming some of the mud pots, geysers and other cool sites. We liked our names better, they were more descriptive most of the time than the original name. How did we never get tired of walking around different colors of steaming smelly water and mud? Its an amazing place!

The little ones have the right idea, use daddy as a vehicle. They got a lot of looks! Daddy has some tough legs!

There was just enough rain to have puddles and mud and then we got beautiful blue skies and sunshine. A little bit of sunburn (tricky overcast day), a few soggy socks but generally, best trip ever!

Bears and wolves in cages closed up the adventure. It was a little confusing to understand seeing wildlife in the wild and then seeing wildlife behind fences. Some of the kids thought the park animals we saw were let out of their cages. It makes sense when caged animals are all you know.
A diet of pancakes(yeah for the park stores again, after the new mix we brought with us had weevils, both packages!) and sandwiches wasn't satisfying enough for D. and T., I guess. Fish for dinner.


D. did get to mark off wolves as "seen" but it only half counts when its outside of the park in an enclosure at the Wolf exhibit. The kids had more fun there pretending they were a family of wolves, crawling around in the dirt and gravel, in a cement den, outside the wolf fence, than they did seeing the grizzly's and wolves.


What's next? It's back to the horrible "bored" word and mac'n'cheese lunches. Yeah for memories and pictures to take us back anytime we want!

"Cherish"

I dont know if there could be a better word to describe how I feel about the children God has blessed me to be with everyday.
They make me laugh. They make me cry. They make me think. They make me choose to be a better person.
I told Z. today ,as she was making wishes for her tomorrow, that my wish was, that I could keep her little like she is forever.
She just smiled at me.
That is how I want to keep her.

Somedays, though, I wonder just how I will make it through one more 2year old tantrum without knowing where D.'s stash of Swiss chocolate is hidden.
Most times are like this week though, lots of laughs, lots of learning.
(Yes, the dog is sticking her tongue out at You!)
When I asked Z. about her Sunday school lesson today she told me that only the "mini kids" got to help with sharing time. She is big into helping so it was devastating. I couldnt stop my laugh long enough to show my sympathy though. Mini kids! She is tall for her age but come on, they are only like a head shorter, and those are the 3 year olds! I think the Starwars minikits and the nearby minipark has got her thinking mini.

(Peek a boo is still fun!)

S. has a new way of talking that may seem confused. She asks for help "up-ing" and help "off-ing". Makes sense when I think of her other actions. Playing,Running, Crying. The most funny to me is "lunching" which is telling me I better have some dinner planned 'cuz its too late, she's starving.

(Science Fair display,and glowbracelet(?))
N. came home from school dying to tell me all about pajama day. In the early grades its awesome to get to wear your pjs, its not as cool though to a 4th grader. Well, thats not exactly true, if you wear the wrong type of pjs its not as cool. He had my favorite "trying not to let my whole face crack because of my giant smile" look on, as he described one of the older kids zip up-footed "the kind that everyone hates", "like from the 60's or 90's" pjs. 60's or 90's?! Anyways, I just love that kid!

(Not the tallest Merrill, just the most heart)
T. got in on a conversation we were having about the dog and her knees and hips. Her legs are small and her body is big which can make it tough. She young and sporty (aka RocketDog ) but it causes worry when the kids pick her front legs up and make her dance on her little back legs.( I think I am a protective mother since she can beg at the gate to be let out on just her back legs just fine, she is actually jumping like 2 feet in the air over and over, just fine) So, we described her knees as "grandma" knees to the kids to give them a visual connection to grandma in a wheelchair and Izzy after "dancing". T. understood very well , he even came up with his own visual. "Daddy has grandma knees!". I havent heard a moan out of D. about his old, creaky knees since!

Cherish Each Day with Your Families

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"Near the end of his life, one father looked back on how he had spent his time on earth. An acclaimed, respected author of numerous scholarly works, he said, 'I wish I had written one less book and taken my children fishing more often.'

"Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. 'Where did the years go?' they ask. We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present."

Thomas S. Monson, "Dedication Day," Ensign, Nov. 2000, 66

Learning to sew

....seems like a great talent to work on, at least that is what I think most days when I see Z.'s newest creations. Typically its a small pillow, doll shirt or a quilt piece. Lucky T. got the Bright Orange Hat this time!

It really does fit him very well, its just that Cub Scout Pack meeting isn't really a place to blend in when you are in the Bright Orange Hat. Why can't we all(meaning mom) walk around feeling so well pleased with ourselves and the Hat maker, no matter where we happen to go?



Because this same kid started talking 6 months ago and hasn't stopped, most of the shots we have of him are with his cute little mouth explaining something to the camera.

Here he is explaining his itchy hives and how he might be 'lergic to sand,shoes,sleeping,milk,seatbelts, you name it. It turns out it was strawberries. Glad we got it figured out, the hives in his mouth and throat were making mom a little nauseous. No one should gag on their lunch and then try again and again to get it down, at least not around mom.




And finally some pictures of the 2 youngest outside. Spring has been so looked forward to! (D&C 59:18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart)

This is one of like 3 days it hasn't been freezing and windy since the official start of the season. The poor tramp must feel neglected. A good dose of jumping seems to cure a lot of ugly symptoms around here(pediatrician disagrees) like whining, arguing, common boredom and others. Mom even takes a turn now and then, dad too, but dads version of jumping always follows with some kind of twisty flippy thingies that mom disagrees with( and same stated pediatrician). He is 35(!)years old , you know.
Sweet doggie face wants in on the action. She loves to get on the tramp , and can easily, but then gets all nervous and cant figure out what to do next. It's like she thinks she is one of the kids and doesn't want to miss out on the action.