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...