funny girls

Elizabeth has been complaining that her ear is hurting her so I told her last night that we would go and see the doctor in the morning.
So when she woke up she said, "Mom are you going to take me to Dr. Seuss"? I had to ask her what she meant so she said, "You know to check my ear, you said you were going to take me to the Dr."!

Last night I was praying with Alexis and my tooth was hurting so BAD! So I told her that she needed to say a quick prayer so I could go and get some cold water on it. So her prayer goes even longer than normal, and she kept saying the same thing over and over, and I was in so much pain that I had to run out of the room and go and grab a glass of cold water. When I went back down to her room she was so heartbroken and was crying. I felt so bad and she told me that she felt like she should start over. She has such a tender heart, and I felt horrible.....

working on the house

Ryan and his dad have been working hard all weekend and all this week on getting power, water, sewer, phone, and everything else you need to the house. It is almost done!!!! (Yea)




We had a few large dead tree's that we had to get out of the way, and we were able to use my dad's tractor and just pull them out and move them so easy. We burnt a lot of the tree's and had a fire going all day.
I am still trying to talk Ryan into letting me burn down the old house but I don't have him talked into it yet. I have had a few people that work for the city that have said they would do the same thing, but he is sure that someone would want the wood. So I hope soon we will have the old house out of the way.... I just think a huge bonfire would be fun.
My Parents and most of my family went on a vacation to Virginia and on the way to Salt Lake they stopped by to drop of the tractor. I am so sad I didn't get to go with them, but with us building a house and having so much work to get done..... it was a really bad time for us. I am so lucky that I have such a great dad that will let us use whatever we need and is always willing to drive the two hours here and back. We are so blessed to have the best family's in the world and there is no way I could ever repay them for all they do for us and all the hard work they have done with us on our house. Thanks for all you do! I love you so much

toothless hillbilly

(Chris these pictures are for you!!! :)

So these two ugly, bloody, huge teeth are my old teeth that I just had pulled out. (one today, and the other last Thursday)
I had a canker on my bottom gum under a crown that would leak and it started in February.... It didn't really bother me at all, and I didn't think it had anything to do with my tooth. Then last week I used some medicine to get ride of the canker and then that caused my tooth and gums to hurt very, very, very bad!!!! So I went in and they saw that I had somehow cracked the root under the crown and that was why my gums were leaking. They got that pulled out and then sent me home thinking that would fix the problem but it just kept getting worse. I was in so much pain on Monday night that I fell to the floor and had to cry..... Then took a trip to the ER so I could get some pain killers so I could at least sleep through the night.
I went to the Dentist as soon as I could today and they found that the top tooth also had a crack in it and was the reason I was in so much pain. The problem was below the gum so we decided to pull it out......
I feel like such a hillbilly, and it will be a long time before my bones will heel so that I can have a implant put in.... I think they said it would be about nine months or so before it will all be done.


Sorry for the gross pictures but I have to have it for my book and to scare my kids so they will always remember to brush there teeth!!!!! But you can see that my bottom tooth is missing and my top back tooth is also missing.
My crown that we have paid more that $1500 for..... and the other tooth that was pulled today.... You can see the crack on the bloody tooth, and the crack on the crown on the picture at the top.

Close up of my huge hole in my mouth..... so I didn't realize how huge your teeth really are. They were able to stitch up my bottom tooth but for some reason there was not enough tissue to stitch up the top so there is just a large hole.... I am a little freaked out about eating and getting things stuck in it......
I am really starting to wonder if I am being punished for something, and if not..... why in the world does everything always happen all at once?

Annie jr.

Our town is doing a play and they have been sending out notes to let all the kids at school know about the auditions. Alexis was very excited and wanted to try out for it. So Ryan called his mom and put her in charge of getting her ready because Ryan and I both have never been involved in anything like this. So Grandma Harris helped Alexis learn a song, "It's a small world after all" and helped memorize "there was a old lady who swallowed a fly".
There was a lot of kids trying out for the play and we waited over a hour for Alexis to go on stage. I couldn't believe how nervous I was for her. I can not get up and sing in front of people.... and I was worried that she would get up and be to scared to do anything at all. But when her turn came, she got up and sang her sound great, and then did her part on "there was a old lady who swallowed a fly", and she had such cute motions going along with it.
We have not heard back yet and don't know when we will find out who made it into the play, but no matter what, I am so proud of Alexis for being so brave and doing such a great job!

Just Like Me

My mom always tells me how when I was little if there was a spider or snake or anything that would scare most other kids that I would just go up and grab it or stomp on it. Or if there was mean dog that was scaring my BIGGER brother I would go and kick it.
Brytlee is starting to do things that really reminded me of MYSELF. The other day the girls were so freaked out by a little spider and Brytlee went running to the rescue and said, "I'll get it". And that is what she did. I had to laugh because she is the youngest and she had to help her older sisters kill a little baby spider.....

what the luck....

This week has been a crazy one with me getting hurt and doing something really dumb..... First thing that I did was fall down some stairs while I was holding Brytlee and the way I did it was probably the worst way that I could have.
In the house we are in there is a stairway going to the downstairs and then right next to it is another set of stairs going the back porch. I rolled my ankle on the stairs going to the down stairs and then fell down the other set of stairs going to the porch.... I was holding Brytlee so I tried to keep her from getting hurt.... I put one of my hands under her head and scraped my hand up on the wood floor.... then my legs hit the top stair, my ribs hit the middle stair, and my elbow took the rest of the fall. I am really sore, and look a little beat up......luckily Brytlee was not hurt at all..... just a little shocked. The next time I picked her up she said, "Don't fall mommy" in the cutest little voice.
Then later that week, to make myself look even more abused, I colored my hair myself and right after getting our of the shower Alexis called and told me that I had to run her piano books to her asap because I didn't put them in her backpack. Without even looking in the mirror I ran them to her and by the time I got back the color that was on my face wouldn't come off.
So what I did next is something no one should ever try, and note to self.... don't ever do this again!!!!
I grabbed a Mr. Clean magic eraser pad and used it on my face. The color came off right away, but it also started to burn like I had just burnt myself with a curling iron. I took soap and water and cleaned my face, and then washed it again and again. But the burning didn't stop and my face was really red. And this picture was taken four day's after it happened and notice the nice scabs that are all along the side of my face. Really beautiful!

Easter Dresses

This Easter Aunt Sara bought all the Merrill girls a beautiful matching Easter Dress! As soon as we all get together again we are going to have a group picture with all the girls in their matching dresses. It is going to be so CUTE!!!!
The girls woke up early and were so excited because they knew they were finally going to get to wear their new dresses today. The dresses looked so beautiful on the girls, and EVERYONE at church today kept telling the girls and I how beautiful they looked and how much they loved their matching dresses. I hope they don't think I am conceded because I just keep saying, "I know, they are so cute huh"!
We took some pictures after church in the park right outside the building and for some reason Brytlee was in a very silly mood. She didn't want to take a pretty picture, she wanted a silly picture.





Brytee being silly!


Alexis and Elizabeth even had the perfect matching shoes to go with the dresses. They had gotten them from our cousin Jaycee and they love to wear them because they have heels.



Thank you Sara for the girls BEAUTIFUL dresses! We all love them so much!!!!

Easter

The Easter Bunny came and visited our house this year and made a big mess. I didn't even have to ask the girls to clean it up.... they just did it on their own.
They were so excited that they all got a little pony and some fun games for us to play together as a family.

We listened to conference and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Harris's house for a Easter egg hunt.


All the girls got so much candy that I told them that it should be able to last until next Easter!



We were able to go and stay in Idaho falls for a few days because it was also our spring break. We had a lot of fun seeing all of our family, and going to birthday parties. We were going to have a big Easter egg hunt but when we woke up the morning we were going to do it there was three inches of snow..... so we just said never mind! My mom and dad colored eggs with the girls and hid them in the house and that was just perfect. My girls found out that they like to eat hard boiled eggs and I think they ate about five or six each.....