Merritt Memories

I spent all week trying to recover from our vacation to Disneyland. It's always funny to me that you end up needing a vacation from your vacation! I am finishing up laundry, trying to. I still have about 4 more loads. I've done 5 so far. I try not to do anything other than dishes on Sunday, but sometimes I have to. By have to, I mean choose to because I want to get caught up. I feel exhausted! When life gets like this, I tend to draw inward and run away from my responsibilities. I'm trying really hard to change this behavior. I don't know if it falls in the category of anxiety or depression. It almost feels like both! I'm typically a very relaxed person, but when my life feels like it needs to go faster than I want to go, I just want to stop and lay in my bed. I think it also might be diet related. Since Britten, my diet is terrible and I can't seem to get back to my emotional well-being. I feel better when I eat better, but I also really want the sugar...such...

I can't believe how fast Britten is growing up! He is talking and understanding so much. He knows all his letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. He is full of energy and never stops, but we are definitely grateful he has joined our family. We had a small celebration with balloons, streamers, cake, and ice cream. We even had party hats! He opened presents. We thought we would introduce him to puzzles this year, so he got a whole box full of them! Books have become a favorite of his, so we gave him a few Daniel Tiger books. He loves them! This year was his first special trip with Grandma Lori to have dinner and pick out a present. They went to McDonald's where he chose chicken nuggets. For a gift, he chose Legos, a Super Hero set! He loves Legos!  It was his first year of understanding gifts and candles. It was fun to witness! I did my annual birthday interview as well. Britten's Favorites: food: h...

I say it all the time, "My kids are growing way too fast!" I really don't know how this happened, or when. I have been wanting to get moments back. Like snuggling, reading, singing...they aren't coming back. So, instead, I'm just going to relish in the time I have left with my 5 kids (yes, I have 6, but I still do all those things with Baby. It's the older ones I miss). Tonight we invited the neighbor kids over to have a movie night. We watched, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. My girls were complaining that they are the only ones who haven't seen the new Star Wars  movie. I want them to understand what has happened before I take them for a girl's night, so we are watching them. We ordered pizza and decked the ping pong table with major amounts of junk food! A kid's dream! I love that all of the kids can watch these movies! Ryan who's 18 all the way to Britten at almost 3, each loving them for their own reasons. It makes me feel we are w...

My oldest child just turned 18! I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I mean, I'm happy that my kids are growing up and are starting to experience life and all it's complexities. On the other hand, it means they are closer to leaving home and it means I'm getting older, too. I have said before how much Ryan and I are alike. We neither one enjoy being in the spotlight and are very laid back. We asked what he wanted to do to celebrate, but he really didn't want to do anything. We had a family party with the traditional cake and ice cream. He wanted some new shoes, so he got those. That was that. I now had an 18 year old. The world just got a new adult, a very fine one in my opinion.  Ryan graduates in May and he is planning on serving a mission right after. We are getting ready to start that process as well. When he gets back, he plans on starting his education. he want to be a software developer/programmer. He loves his computers! He has a plan all in pl...

Every year I come up with a word. This word is to remind me what I want to work on through the year. I have goals this year, I do. But, my biggest goal of all this year is to remember who I am.  The other day as I was getting ready for church, a memory came flooding back to me. Now, my mind does this quite often. I have an extremely short short-term memory- two shorts are needed because I forget. A lot. Because of this, things come rushing into my head in a panic-like fashion. There is always a sense of urgency. This is what happened that Sunday. Only, it wasn't something recent I had forgotten, it was from 20 years ago. When I was going through the Temple for the very first time, Dustin and I had a minute to talk. He said, "Do you know what my mom just told me?" I shook my head. I wasn't paying attention- hello, there's all this incredible beauty around! I'm not paying attention to anything! He pulled me close and said, "She just told me that when...

I have started mastering my new camera from last year, so I picture overload! We splurged this year at Christmas because it is technically Ryan's last Christmas with us. We had the kids do a scavenger hunt to find their Santa gift. It started with a piece of coal in their stocking as a clue. That lead them to the furnace outside...10 minutes later, they found a surprise in the closet. Going to Disneyland!!! After that, we opened gifts at our home and then traveled to Grandpa Russ and Grandma Lori's house. We ate lunch and opened more gifts. We came home and it had snowed on Christmas, so we played in the snow with some neighbors.