Cabin Time

The day after Christmas we went up to a Cabin in West Yellowstone on Bill's Island with all the Merrill family. EVERYONE was together and it was so much fun. (Cindy was at the party but wasn't able to make it to the cabin....) The kids all played so good together and had so much fun. And all the adults were able to hang out, play tons of fun games, eat lots of great food, paint nails, watch movies and talk. It was Amazing!!!!
The girl's favorite part of the trip was riding on these cute little sleds. They had so much fun driving around and pulling each other on the sleds.
Elizabeth went on a tube ride behind Mike and she came up to me and said she couldn't feel her face. I laughed and had to take a picture because it really looked frozen. But it didn't stop her, I think she stayed out for another hour after this.
The cutest thing was watching Brytlee ride around on the snowmobiles. She loved it and was always the last one to come in the house. The only way we could get her to come in was if it ran out of gas or if it was getting too dark.
The kids didn't even have to have sleds behind for them to ride on..... they had just as much fun dragging behind them.
We were able to stay for a few days and I was so sad to leave. My girls really didn't want to leave at all either but it had to end sometime. I am so blessed to have such a great family that I love so much and have so much fun with anytime we are together. I have some friends that complain anytime they have to do anything with their family and I just can not imagine feeling that way. I think my family is the best and look forward to the time I get to spend with them.

Baby

I can't get over how cute this little baby is. She is so much fun! I just loved these pictures and had to put them on.

I loved how you can see her teeth in this picture. She has eight teeth now and has to be getting more because she is drooling like crazy.
This was hard to get a picture with her hat on because she hates having things on her head. As soon as you put them on she will rip them right off. I think she looks so cute in this hat and it was given to us by my visiting teaching partner who had made it..... so I really wish she would keep it on.
Adison has not been feeling very well, and I feel so bad for her. Last week she had her first ear infection and she wasn't really that bad in the day, but at night she would just cry in her sleep and then wake up a few times a night.
Then this week she has a really bad runny nose, and is now getting a cough that sounds like it hurts. I hate it when kids get sick.

Christmas

What a great Christmas we have had!

Santa's little helpers all dressed up!

HO ho ho
The girls were so excited and couldn't believe that they had more than one present under the tree. They were soooooooo cute! I thought that since we had church at 10:30 that we would only have time to open the gifts from family and then after church we would open the rest. But there was no way that was going to happen!
Elizabeth got this sweet jersey from Santa and now she can wear it to Basketball practice. It is even her dads favorite team!
The girls got new backpacks for School and Alexis got the sweet shinny boots she wanted. (that she later decided to take back and trade for a really cute skirt she liked better)
All three girls got these really cute aprons. They all loved them and now they can wear them while they help clean and cook with mom!
When we asked Brytlee what her favorite gift she got for Christmas she said, "my pink chocolate milk" So cute! I love that something so simple can make her so happy.
My girls said so many times this day that this was the best Christmas ever. And it really was. Not because they got presents, but because we really tried to help them focus on the true meaning of Christmas this year, and the spirit was so great in our house. The girls were so happy and so sweet to each other all day. There was a point in the day that Ryan wanted them to all come down and help do the dishes, and I told him no... I didn't want to pull them away from playing so well and just being together and having fun. That is what I enjoyed so much on this day was seeing them so happy, and how kind they were to everyone. It just melted my heart!

Elizabeth's party

I was a helper for Elizabeth's Christmas party this year. It was so great and the kids were all so cute and listened really well. I was in charge of the treat and so I had them make a melting snowman or they could make a reindeer. They all loved making the cookies, and when it came time to eat them not very many wanted to. They all wanted to take them home to show their moms.

Brytlee came along with me and joined in with the class in all the activities. They did a really cute craft that was a tree ornament, and played "Minute To Win It", and then there was a place where someone was reading Christmas stories for them. It is so great that there are great moms that will come to help all the kids have such a great Christmas party.

Big helper

Brytlee is making a fort behind the couch so Adison can play and have fun. She loves being a big sister and can not wait for Adison to be big enough to play with her a little better.
Brytlee has been such a great helper for me the past little while. I am so happy to have someone that is willing to do what I ask right away, and even without asking will start cleaning up. She has been so funny with the girls when they get things out she will say, "uh... you guy's.... I just cleaned that up!" or when they are trying to sneak a treat she will tell them, "no guys, just one a DAY!" She really gets into things also, when she starts something she works so hard until it is done, and she always does a good job. I have really enjoyed her help and hope that it lasts.

Santa

Santa came to our ward party!!!! I wanted to run up and do the scene from Elf, "Santa!!!! I know him, I know him" but I held myself back. The girls were really cute with him and they all told him what they wanted for Christmas. Adison was good for him, but in this picture she wasn't holding still.

Brytlee asked for Pink Chocolate milk and some cupcake things she could paint....
Elizabeth asked for an Ipod touch and a monster high doll.

Alexis asked for an Ipod touch
Adison wanted some diapers and some baby food!

just for fun

I tried to do the sock curl in our hair and we wanted to take some pictures to show how it turned out. So the girls all had fun taking turns taking a picture with me.





I have such beautiful girls on the inside and out. I am so proud of them and all that they do. I am so lucky and happy to be their mom and love watching them grow.
And I am so lucky to have this handsome guy as a husband!!!!

Adison

Adison is getting so big. These pictures were taken the end of October... so I am a little behind, but she had just learned to climb the stairs and it was her favorite thing to do. She has not dared to go down them yet and is so careful when she is on them. While she is awake this was what she really liked to do...

This pictures he is doing her yell at me.... anyone that is in our ward knows what this sounds like...
Yea, I made it to the top....
now lets do it all over again!
Adison has been making some very funny faces, and loves to put her lips together, put air in her cheeks and blow raspberry's. She does it for fun and when she is eating.
This face is when she is saying "uh oh" or "wha sat" (what's that)
This face is just so cute! So far she is the only girl that doesn't have blue eyes. The are a cool color right now, and I am not sure what they are... some times they look green, and some times they are grey.
Oh, what a smile. I just love this baby girl of ours.
What a kid, I love having this baby with us and I love to see my girls with her and Ryan with her. They all love her so much and she loves them all so much. Adison really loves being with Ryan in the mornings (and I really enjoy that also) it makes it so easy for me to get up and go to the gym while they have their time together. Ryan is such a great dad and takes such great care of all of his girls, and he loves playing with them and being with them. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, and my girls are so very lucky to have such a great dad!

Coloring Contest

Brytlee won the coloring contest again this year at the FCMC. She was so happy and had colored almost every picture in the whole book so I am glad that after delivering them all to everyone that it payed off.
Elizabeth also won this year at Dr. Hull's office. She was so cute, and wanted to win so badly. She has never won before and has tried each year. Both her sisters had won and she really wanted to win. She even said a couple of prayers that she could please win this year. It just melted my heart.
She was smiling all day when I told her that she had won, and the day that she needed to go and get her prize and take her picture she asked me if we could go about every hour....
I was a little sad that Alexis didn't win this year. She only had time to color three pictures and had a few that she had started that were really cute. She has been so busy with violin and basketball that she is running around every day of the week. I know that if she would have colored a few more she would have won also. All my girls love to color and are so great at it. I am so proud of them when they do their best and work hard.

Girls night out

Me and the girls went out for a night of shopping and dinner at Sizzler while daddy and adi stayed home to hang out. We went to Walmart to look for all our cousin presents and see what they would like. The girls liked picking out there gifts that they wanted to give, and enjoyed looking at all the toys that were cute.
Alexis and Elizabeth both read to the amount they needed to get their Sizzler coupons so that is why we went there for dinner. The girls were so good and kept telling each other to act like lady's.
I had a good time with them, and we had some good laughs. I did do something funny during dinner. The waiter came up and said something and for some reason I called him "Hun" I have no clue why because I don't call anyone pet names but my girls or Ryan. But I just played it cool and all the girls just laughed and laughed. Then Alexis said, "mom do you think you are going to get into trouble?" I didn't know why, so she said, "don't you think dad is going to be mad that you called him hun?"
I am so looking forward to the times that me and my girls can go shopping together and hang out like this. I love going out with my sisters and mom and just hanging out.

Great girls

Last night for FHE we wanted to have the girls make a choice for Christmas. I showed them this picture above, and asked them what made them feel sad about this picture. They had a lot of things to say about it but they didn't know that there were really kids in the world that didn't have food, or couldn't understand why people didn't take care of them and love them. It was really sad to think about and it really got them thinking. I asked them if they thought we should give up some of our Christmas presents and buy kids that NEED them some. They were all very happy to do this. I was a little surprised that it didn't even take them any time at all to think it over. We went to Kings and found each of them a name on the tree that they could buy things for. Alexis made the comment that a few of them wanted way to many things. I thought that was funny. After we bought almost all the things it came to a lot more than we thought it would be so we asked them if they wanted to just get everything for just one or two of the kids? They said that they would be willing to only get one present for themselves on Christmas day so that these kids could get everything that they wanted. (I had a hard time with this thought and didn't like that idea at all, but they were happy with it)
When Alexis and Elizabeth woke up this morning they told me that they had thought about it, and it would be a lot of money for them both to get a i pod, so maybe they would spend more money on the other kids, and they could just share one. I just had to tell, them that Santa would figure it out and not to worry about how much anything cost, and as long as they were good, they would get something.
As a parent I want to see my kids so excited on Christmas, and I had a hard time picturing them all only getting one thing..... but they were more happy to give than they have been to receive. And that is what I need to remember.
Also, when we wrote our lists to Santa this year, Alexis was so sweet. She said,
"I only want two things this year, a I pod and the shinny boots I saw. And also can you please make sure that my sisters get everything they want." She can be so sweet sometimes. I love my girls so much and I am so thankful that I have been blessed with my little family of girls. I can not imagine anything else, and wouldn't want it any other way!

Group pictures

I took the girls in to get their pictures together and I thought they turned out cute. I can not believe how grown up all my girls are. Alexis looks really old and it makes me so sick.... time has gone by so fast.



poor little girl always has a bump or bruise on her little head. I don't know why she wouldn't smile for the lady, but she still looks cute.


I love my girls so much, and I am so proud of all of them. They are all so different and great in their own ways. There are things about each of them that I just love so much, and then there are things about them that can drive me crazy, (I think it is the things that remind me of myself that drive me crazy.) I am so grateful to be a mom, and have a wonderful husband that is such a great dad. I am always the happiest when we are all together as a family. Even if one of us is missing, it just isn't the same. I don't want it to sound like our life/we are perfect in any way. I probably could have a whole other blog that was just all the complaints and bad things that go on in life, but I really don't want to remember all of them. When I look back at our life, I want to remember the good times and the things that made us happy. Life is hard, and it takes A LOT of WORK. But as long as we all work together, and want the same things, it does make life a little easier.