Merritt Memories

It is 2:00 am. I just got done vacuuming my bedroom. Why? Because I am unable to fall asleep without my husband. He works graves and we no longer sleep at the same time, snuggled right next to each other. Honestly it bothers me. Dustin and I met February 14, 1996. We were at the same ice skating rink for our ward's mutual activity. No, we were not there as part of the mutual group, we were leaders. He had just returned from his mission, three months prior, and was the deacon adviser. I was there because my brother was the Young Men's president and I was helping him. My brother introduced us. Dustin offered me a ride home and upon arriving, asked me out for that weekend. I apologized and told him I wouldn't be able to this weekend. I told him that I was going home for my boyfriend's mission farewell. Not words he wanted to hear, I'm sure. He asked about the weekend after that, I agreed. We said goodbye. February 24, 1996. This was our first date. He took me to see Va...

The first part of November we were hit with two big snow storms. We took advantage! My kids love to play in the snow. I, however, do not. I was good sport and went out anyway and took some snapshots. I love winter snapshots! For some reason, they are my favorite! So enjoy! *note: My kids were off track all November, Ryan was in school Dustin loves the snow!! (crazy) He hooked the sled up to the 4 wheeler and pulled the kids around for a good hour. I was too late to get pics of the girls. They gave up early and wanted their hot chocolate (always a tradition after snow play). The boys were not! They even made a jump. Their cousin Jerimiah had slept over, so he got to join in the fun! Fun for everyone! Now I'm just waiting for spring. (why is winter our longest month?)

While blogging about our trip to Mexico,something wonderful happened. Dustin and I celebrated 14 years of marriage! I consider this a huge accomplishment. We have come along way since those early years of marriage. We are both so different. He no longer yells, complains, and argues that the toilet paper is on wrong! I have convinced him that there never was a right way and he should just be happy if it finds it's way to the toilet paper holder. We are both not quite as opinionated as we once were. We have learned to find common ground, but we still have hard time with not being right. Something that will never change, I'm sure. It amazes me to look at old pictures and really comprehend how young we were! That has definitely changed. We are no longer that young, cool couple. We are the middle aged grumps. We both wake up each morning with stiff backs and joints, cursing our age. Our bodies are not what they used to be. We both have gained about 30lbs from that day. My goal after...

The next two days were spent on the boat, heading back to LA. I have to admit we were ready to see our kids again by the end. We managed to keep ourselves busy. Dustin entered a free throw shooting contest, he took third place. We also took advantage of the rock climbing wall on the ship. I have to say one of our favorites was the frozen yogurt machine! We ate a lot of that stuff!! We enjoyed the adult time this trip offered us. It was our first time ever being away and we took full advantage!!! Thanks to all our family that made it possible. And a BIG thanks to my Honey!! It was the best birthday and anniversary celebration!!!! I experienced my first taxi ride, my first trip out of the country, and my first time to ever swim in an ocean!!

Puerto Vallarta was a very modernized city. Right outside our port was a Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, and their local mall. Talk about convenient! Since we like the city tour so much in Mazatlan, we chose to do the city tour here as well. If we had time and still felt like spending money (man it went quick on this trip) we were going to do a zip-line. We traveled up a very large mountain! I though we were going to die! But in the end it was worth the scare. Our driver took us up to view the city. It was beautiful! As we watched over the ocean we saw some whales hovering close. We never saw their tails, but you could definitely see something in the water and the guide said this is the time they see them. After roaming the modern part of this cit, he took us up into what the call the "canopy," basically it was their rain forest. Many poor houses. It was quite humbling. We ended up in a little village. We were able to see the kids coming home from school. One boy was riding his do...

Mazatlan was by far the poorest city we visited. It was pretty shady, but it was by far my favorite city. We had the best tour guide who took us into the city and explained the culture to me. I really loved it. We basically shopped in the market and a few galleries there. But we did visit an awesome church. The building was gorgeous! It was, however, strange to be taking pictures of the church while there were people worshiping. It really was the poorest city. The minute we stepped off the boat, you knew it. There were little children wandering the streets, selling tiny boxes of Chiclets gum for money. They didn't know English. They would just come up to you and say. "Money?" It was so sad. It took everything in me not to put like a dollar in every child's plastic cup. They were so dirty and hadn't had baths. It was awful. The city market was culture shock! I have never seen so many bugs in my life. Vendors who had money, covered their food goods with plastic, bu...

We were really excited to get off of the ship and see Mexico. Cabo did not have an actual dock, so we had to be tendered in by little boats. There were like 3,000 people on this ship! It was going to take a while, so we waited, and waited. Finally it was our turn to load the tenders. little boats down below to take us to shore Cabo from the ship waiting to be tendered in We got ashore and the first thing we saw was this: Not very appealing and the smell was awful, but we kept watching. It was interesting to see how they cut the fish up. In Cabo they really just dropped you off in their market. We were met by some very aggressive taxi drivers and tour guides. All were pining for your business. It was overwhelming. I have never been out of the country, so it was shocking for me. I felt bad turning everyone down. We had already booked sea kayaking and snorkeling through the ship. We found that to be a mistake. We paid $155 dollars and there were guides willing to do it for $70. Oh, well. ...

(our sad little pic of the boat) While this is day three of our vacation, it is day 2 on the boat. We were headed to Cabo. It took me a while to "get my sea legs", but I found them with the help of Dramamine. (I have yet to get rid of it completely now that we have been back for 5 days) We enjoyed sleeping in, no rush to be anywhere. We just ate and ate. We found the all you can eat frozen yogurt machine and helped ourselves whenever we walked past. In the afternoon they had a volleyball tournament. We entered. Our team took 2nd place, not too bad. We even won a silver medal! I wish I would have brought my camera, but who would have taken the pictures anyway? I then decided to go to the gym (I was still trying to be good). It was nice to be able to workout. I knew I needed it after all the food I had been eating the last two days. But, then it was time for dinner again. Oh well. It was a formal night and, again, no pictures. (Dustin will not be allowed to be in charge of the ...

Day 1: Long Beach, CA We left Salt Lake early on the 6th. We flew into Long Beach and stayed there for a day. We were lucky enough to get a deal for the Hyatt. It was such a nice room, better than the Super 8 we were planning on. The first thing we did? Slept. Yes, we are officially old! We napped until my friend, Kellie called. I was so happy to meet up with her. It had been since her wedding in 2008 that I had seen her. It was so nice to spend lunch together. I wish we had brought our camera!! Her boys were adorable! Joey is her oldest. He was a crack up! He was our entertainment. After lunch we all went to the pier where he put on a show for us. We were lucky to have a stage just for him. Her little boy, Merrick, had woken up by now and what a cutie!! Oh how I wish we had our camera!!! Darn it! Later that night, Dustin and I returned to the pier (after another long nap). We ate at a little Italian pizza place called Stefano's. So yummy! We toured the shops. I found a cute hat!!!...