Kylie's birthday party!

Last year when I sent out invites for Kylie's birthday party almost everyone was out of town. I expected that it would be the same case this time so I didn't worry too much about how many I was sending out. If you count the three babies that joined us there were 17 kids that showed up! Most of them were kids in the ward and they are a great group of kids. We had so much fun. Jamey and Tawnie both brought over their swimming pools and we had a sprinkler running under the trampoline and this kept the kids entertained most of the time. In fact, I was a little hesitant to ruin their fun by making them play some games.




The first game that we played a where I gave each of them an ice cube with a balloon in the middle. I had each of them rub the ice cube to melt it and then they opened the balloon that had a paper on it. Each paper had number on one side and a word or two on the other. We read them in order (some were a little soggy so I had to just tell them what they said) so that they could find the "treasure". The papers together said "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, If You Want a Treat, Look Under a Shoe." I had a cooler sitting out of the porch and put a shoe on top of it. It took the kids a while to figure out that that was the shoe (a few even picked it up and looked under it, but not in the cooler) but finally Rhon said to look in the cooler. They all got to pick a Popsicle (or three by the time the afternoon was over) and then went to the trampoline to eat.

The other game that we then played (thanks Lauri for the idea!!) was really cute. I gave each kid a bowl with a piece of bubble gum in it. Then we filled them with whipped cream and had them stick their faces in to find the gum, without using their hands. Then they had to race and see who could find the gum, chew it, and either blow a bubble or at least stick their tongue out in an attempt if they didn't know how to blow a bubble.

Afterwards we opened presents out on the trampoline...
and then ate Kylie's cake. Aren't I such a great cake decorator?!! :) I really had planned on making cupcakes myself, but thought I'd take a quick look at what the bakery had and this just seemed so much easier (not to mention prettier!).

Brynlie before the cake and Popsicles...
During...

And after!

Thank you to both Jamey and Tawnie for helping take pictures!!! And to Brad for coming over earlier in the day and mowing the lawn and killing LOTS of wasps and hives! It is so nice to have such great neighbors that are there to help, especially with Jared working out of town as much as he does.

I'm looking for volunteers!

Do any of you find yourselves in a rut, cooking the same things over and over again, week after week? Do you stop by a friends house and smell the delicious dinner cooking and try to think of an excuse to get yourself invited to dinner? Do you smell the neighbor's BBQ and wish they would take pity on you and pass some over the fence? Okay, maybe it's just me...

I would like to start a Freezer Meal Group and want to know if anyone (that lives nearby) would be interested in doing this. Here's how it works: Each participant makes a certain amount of a dish that they are really good at making. We meet one afternoon or evening and bring our coolers full of our meals and exchange them for other peoples meals. That way we can save money and time by buying and cooking in bulk and then we get to come home with a variety of ready made meals. If you don't have a lot of freezer space or have a need for a lot of meals then only bring a couple of dinners. The more that you bring, the more that you get to take home.

If you are interested leave me a comment and once I see who and how many would like to participate we can plan a date to get together. Depending on how popular this is we could look at meeting again in another month or two or three. Don't worry about coming up with something original. If we have a few of the same dish that's okay. I like trying out others recipes and seeing which ones I like best. And hopefully we will get enough people that we could use the duplicates!

Chuck and Kylie at Lagoon

I never got around to posting pictures from Lagoon a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't let this one go without a post. I think it is pretty self-explanatory. Thanks again Chuck for the great photo opp!

4th of July

Our Independence day weekend started out on July 1st when our new neighbors Eric and Stacey invited us down to their house for fireworks. It is always exciting to get new neighbors, and even more so when they are as great as these two are. What makes them even better is that their girls are both close in age to Sadie and Brynlie! We love having lots of kids in the neighborhood.

Here is the only picture I got of Stacey all night, and she blocked by her camera. I am AWFUL at taking pictures (just ask Tawnie).

Here is Eric, on the left, talking to Brad.

Waiting for the fireworks...

Eric and Stacey's little girl Ava, and Brynlie.
Tawnie, little J, Jason, and Maddie.
Playing with fireworks.
This was Sadie, 5 minutes after we got home that night. She was worn out! And conveniently asleep on her mom and dad's bed instead of her own...
Sasha's baby came early so we change our holiday plans a bit and decided to spend the day in Vernal. Jared was already out there for work and decided to stay for a couple of extra days before coming back to West Jordan. The morning of the 4th we got up early and went to the parade. Sasha and Jason were still at the hospital waiting to be discharged, Mickala was in the parade, and Kristi and Chuck were still in bed, so it was just us and my parents.

Trying to get candy...

That afternoon Sasha got brave and decided to have our BBQ at her house. The girls were so excited to finally see TJ and go swimming. TJ came back with us to spend the night and watch the fireworks. Kylie and TJ are such good friends. All weekend they walked around holding hands. The next few pictures are blurry because it was dark and I didn't realize until the next day that Kylie had been playing with my camera and had goobered the lens.



Sadie was so thrilled with the fireworks, for the first half. She layed down by her dad and slept through the last half.

Kylie and TJ watching the fireworks. I am amazed at what great friends they are. TJ cried real tears the next day when we left to come home and Kylie had to coax him out of the bedroom. I am so glad that they have each other.

Up at my parents house we finished the day off with a few more fireworks. The kids were so tired from their long day of playing and weren't as thrilled this time.

We missed Vince, Meagan, Russ, Annie, and even Jason and Sasha since they weren't able to do much this weekend.

This past week was also a big one for my parents because they were faced with the decision to finally put my Grandma Merrell in a care center. I went with my dad to visit Grandma on Saturday before I left and it was so sad to see her there, asking every minute or two when she could go home. She has Alzheimers and the doctor has said that she now needs someone with her 24 hours a day. For the past couple of years my parents have been her primary care givers, which is a much bigger task than most realize. I know it was an agonizing decision for my dad to make, but it was something that had to be done, and hopefully he can be at peace knowing he made the right choice. Here's my Grandma with Sadie back in 2005.

More pictures of Taylor

Sasha and Jason's little girl Taylor Nicole arrived a couple of weeks early on July 2nd 2008. She weighed 6lbs, 1 oz, and was 19 inches long. She is so tiny!! Sasha only had to push through 5 contractions to get her here, and afterwards told Jason that the delivery was "a piece of cake".
Sasha was induced early, but the only complications after the delivery were low temperature and sugars (which only affected the grandparents at the hospital that had to wait a couple of hours to see their new granddaughter). Other than that, everything went smoothly and both mother and baby are happy and healthy.
Kylie and Sadie are so excited to have a new baby cousin.
Brynlie (who was supposed to be my baby forever and never grow up) was HUGE next to her baby cousin. It's amazing what 9 1/2 months can do!
It is so exciting to have a new baby in the Merrell family...and not have it be mine!

Sasha had her baby!

Say hello to Taylor Nicole...(I'm not sure on the spelling of her first name)