From the Mouths of Babes

Last night as we were saying our family prayer together, Ava started her prayer and ended it without saying anything. So I told her to try again and she said, "But I need your wisdom". And then came over and knelt beside me so that I could help her. We all had a good laugh and wondered how in the world she knew how to use that word in the right context. Jake looked at me and said, "Where did she hear that?" We don't know but little kids often say things that make you stop and think. They understand and take in so much more than we give them credit for. This morning I snapped this picture of her holding a photo of the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Dennis' sister-in-law, Carolyn sent it to us with their Christmas card. I love his smile and casual attire. If I am to give any "wisdom" to my children I know it will come through studying the scriptures and listening to the Prophet and imparting that knowledge to them. (just a side note-the look in President Monson's eyes reminds me of a look I've seen in my brother-in-law, Scott Pace's eyes)hmmmm!

"Rotten Eggs"

I think I've written about "Rotten Eggs" before, but here we go again. This is a game my parents played with me and my siblings when we were young. One parent is a "seller" of eggs and gives each "egg/child" a color (unknown to the other parent). The other parent is a "buyer" and comes in to buy the "eggs". The buyer has to guess colors and when he/she guesses the color of an egg, that egg gets to swing. Dennis and I used to throw the eggs onto a couch but somehow the game has ended up in our room so we throw them on our bed. If the egg is placed on the floor instead of being thrown on the bed, it is a "rotten egg" and everyone runs away holding their nose, pretending that "egg" is the stinkiest thing ever. Kids just love this game and never want it to end. Ethan is too big now but we had him pose for a picture- just for fun!

My little Sunbeam!

My "baby" is no longer a baby at all. She is now in Primary!! She loved it and went right in and sat in her little chair with her little set of scriptures. It's amazing how much a child grows in just 2 and a half years! She is such a sweet and yet firery little thing and we love her "sooooo much"!

Last Get-together before Daniels Left

Sunday, January 2nd, everyone got together again to say good-bye to the Daniels as they would be leaving EARLY the next day for Texas. I just realized I don't even have a picture of them on that day! Caden and Blake had already eaten so they weren't in this photo of the kids' table. And Morgan and Lexi were waiting to eat with the adults so they weren't in it either. We had taco salad and lemon bars and we also enjoyed a few more hands of Rook before everyone had to leave to get the kids to bed early for school the next day! What a wonderful, eventful two weeks for my kids. We so enjoyed having our families all together again! (Isn't little Meg the cutest?!)

Snowed In and Jump On It

Right after Mom's birthday, we got hit with a big snowstorm. I love the picture of the teenagers shoveling Grandpa's driveway and walkway. We couldn't go anywhere for a couple of days because the roads were iced over-even the plows couldn't clear them. After a few days of the plows putting salt on the roads, we were able to travel a bit and took the kids to "Jump On It". They love this place and had a great time jumping on the tramps. Later that night, Dave, Elena and her girls, Dennis, me and Ethan and Ava met up with Melinda and her husband, Ryan, and went to see "True Grit".

Mom's 65th!

Mom turned 65 this year and Ellie had a great idea for her. She and Elena came home for Christmas. Months prior to this, Ellie had asked that all of us (Merrill siblings) get together, just us without our spouses or children. We went to dinner together at Texas Roadhouse. I snapped a picture of those who were at the house before going to dinner and also of Dad giving Mom the roses he bought for her. It was actually quite funny. We all went out to get in the van to meet up with Dean at the restaurant but the van and Dad were gone. We all went back inside and waited and sure enough he drove in with those big beautiful roses. So cute!! After dinner we went back to Mom and Dad's for a Family Home Evening. We sang "Love at Home", a song we sang often as we were growing up. Then we each told of memories we had of mom and gave small gifts as tokens of these memories. Elena and Dean wrote two amazing poems for her. Rachel wrote her a letter of gratitude. I did an acrostic poem of mom's name. And Dave and Ellie are still working on theirs. Ellie is the one who thought of doing all of this and I am so glad she did. We had such a great time together and Mom felt so special and cared for. We also played Rook and the boys played the wii. We then watched Murder She Wrote until after 1a.m. We girls then went to bed and Mom stayed up to read. We were blessed with a wonderful, caring mother and it was nice to celebrate with her. She said it was the best birthday she ever had.

The Men take the Kids Skiing

Rick, Scott, and Dennis decided to take their kids skiing or snowboarding while we (just the immediate Merrill family) celebrated Mom's 65th birthday. Rick and his kids went snowboarding. Tanner wanted to try snowboarding too so he went with them. Scott and Justin went skiing together and Dennis took Brad and Jake skiing. It was Dennis' first time as well as Brad's and Jake's and they all seemed to enjoy it. Ethan and Ty took off by themselves as well as Morgan and Lexi. Justin's legs wore out and Tanner lost his snowboard but other than that I think it was a pretty good outing.

Christmas Day-2010

Christmas Day was so much fun! After opening our own tree we went to Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's. Everyone but Ellie's family was there or came shortly after us. We opened gifts, visited, ate, and played rook. I had to capture Dave with his favorite gift (every year), a new hockey jersey!