Merritt Memories

We had such a nice Christmas this year. The kids were all very excited for gifts. Every Christmas Eve we open our Christmas jamies and give a gift to Jesus. Our gift to Jesus this year was making sure we are doing REGULAR family scripture study. We have been doing really well. I'm so proud that my kids have extended it to their personal scripture study. Especially Aaron. In the month of December, he read the entire D&C and Pearl of Great Price. He told me with pride last night that he has officially read his entire triple-combination. Now, he's moving onto the Bible. All the other kids have started The Book of Mormon for a second time!   For Christmas Eve dinner, our friends offerd to smoke our pork loin in their giant smoker. Oh, was it ever good!! We had homemade mashed potatoes, sugar snap peas, and rolls on the side. It was yummy!!           We made it an early bedtime. And woke up to see that Santa had come! E...

I don't know what it is about Sundays in our house, but they always seem to go wrong! Maybe it's the 1:00 church. There's more idle time. Anyway, yesterday was one of those days.   It started out with a laugh. Dusitn was helping Becca get ready for church after her bath. Becca told him how she was so sad for the little baby turtle that she watched get eaten by a baby herring the night before. We love to watch the Discovery channel and sometimes forget that our little ones might not really understand.    He asked her a simple question. "Honey, who would you rather die, the turtle or the bird?" He said he saw the dots connect and she smiled and replied, "Oh! It's the circle of life!"   This little girl makes us laugh everyday! She is crazy, but in a cute way.   After this, it all went down hill.   We have been deciding what to do about bedrooms. Normally this is probably not a big issue, but when you have eight people who need to...

I did not grow up in Utah. In fact, my growing up years were evenly split between Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada. I loved moving around! Change does a heart good. I have been begging Dustin to make a huge, out of state move for a while now. He refuses. I will die here in Utah. I have learned to put those feelings away and live life, but there is sadness about it in the back of my mind. One of the greatest things to me was that wherever I went, after getting to know someone, I was always asked, "Are you Mormon?" I remember sitting in science class my 8th grade year and talking to another girl I had only known for about 15 minutes and she asked me this very question. I could name a bazillion more times, but I won't. My reaction was always the same: I'd get a big, huge grin and reply, shaking my head, "Yes, I am." I have been lucky to always have a positive response to my response. When I came to Utah, I was escaping boys. My plan was to attend scho...

I can't believe it's December. Another year is almost over. I do love this time of year though. I try to be thankful all year long and remmeber my Savior always, but I'm not as good as I want to be. I enjoy having little reminders wherever I go.     Dustin put up Christmas lights today. The girls' hearts are happy! Kate asked the other day if we owned Christmas lights. It made me sad that she wasn't old enough to remember. We used to be really good about being festive, but by the time we HAD time to put them up, there was only 2 wks left of the holiday time and usually a bunch of snow on the roof. I'm glad they can see that we actually do have them.     I am so thankful for my little family. We are so blessed. I wake every morning grateful for all that I have. I love that my kids are relatively kind to eachother- we have our moments. I know that if it really came down to it, they would whole heartledly defend and protect one another. It brings my he...

I have wanted to blog for a long time, but my life right now is not cooperating. I feel I am being pulled every direction. It sounds bad, but I'm actually grateful for it because it has made this pregancy fly by. I have 9 weeks left!!!   Everything pregnancy wise is going well. We are expecting a boy to arrive at the end of January. Dustin and I have not agreed on a name. I have had the name Britten C Russell picked since I was expecting with Kate. He has agreed to Britten, but wants to use the initials RC instead. I can not allow this. When I hear RC I think of "remote control". He thinks using the initials shortens the name. I will always feel we named our child, Britten Remote Control Merritt. Not going to happen!!!   The kids are getting excited to have a baby in the house. The girls rub my belly every morning and say. "Good morning, Baby." It will be nice to see them interact when he is here.   I'm getting excited too. I'm tired and I...

Dustin has taken Ryan and Aaron hunting for the past few years now. He also has taken them on 4 wheeling trips with his dad the last couple of years. They really enjoy it! This year there was no luck deer wise, but the boys told me they had fun anyway. It's really all about bonding time. I'm grateful they are able to spend time with such great men.  Dustin and Ryan Aaron and Grandpa Russ They did some fishing on the 4 wheeling trip up at Mirror Lake Hunting in the woods = lots of walking They built their own blind all by themselves. Can you see then in the one below? Hard to believe they didn't get anything! They came back dirty and stinky, but we were glad to have them back!!

Grace turned 11 on the 18th. September is a busy, crazy month. I have 3 of the 5 birthdays and it is also the start of a new school year. I feel like I'm always running behind. I hope my kids will forgive me for always posting late. She is turning into such a young lady. She is still my sweet, angelic child. She has started testing me, however. I really kind of enjoy seeing her develop this way though. She has always been so shy and scared of change. I see her bursting out of her shell and becoming her own person. It is quite extraordinary. Grace is the middle child. I have always felt a little guilty of this. I'm not sure why. I was the middle child out of the last 5 kids in my family and never felt ignored or scarred, but I tend to treat her like she is. It's something I need to change, she might become even more herself. I interviewed her as well. favorite food: potato soup favorite color: light blue favorite movie: Star Wars favorite book: The Hid...

On September 13th we celebrate the birth of our Rebecca! She is 7 years old now. It amazes me how time flies by so fast. This year was Becca's friend party. I asked her what theme she wanted and right off the bat she yelled, "BARBIE!" She loves Barbie. She loves anything girly and Barbie is as girly as you can get! I never make the party last too long since I feel they get bored and out of control, so I kept everything short and sweet. I found a site where you could print out your own paper dolls. The girls loved choosing their own and coloring it. Then we painted fingernails and decorated them with nail stickers. We opened presents and then had cupcakes and ice cream. She had such a fun time and great day!  the girls had fun helping me decorate take home party bags and favors wonderful gifts from wonderful friends opening her RC Barbie car from Mom and Dad opening gifts from friends: a Littlest Pet Shop a new Barbi...