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...