Merrill Family Reunion

We had our Merrill Family reunion again this year up at West Piney girls camp.  It was fun to get to hang out with our family and see everyone.  My girls always have so much fun going to the cabin with the big slide!  Adison loved the slide and the swings.

My mom is getting the spa treatment. 

My Grandma does a fish pond every year and the girls love it.  Brytlee was so funny because when she got her bag she was a little mad.  When I asked her what was wrong she put her bag up and pointed to her name.  (it was spelt wrong)  I told her that they just didn't know how it was spelt, and that was a different way they could spell it.  She just looked at me and said, "it still makes me mad"  I had to laugh and then go and write it on the other side the correct way, and then she was happy.

and miracles still do happen!   Adison has not taken a normal nap for a while now but she still needs them.... So I just went and snuggled  her for a few minutes and she fell asleep!

My dad is doing the candy out of his potato gun again.  The kids LOVE it

I felt so bad.... so I figured that she was in a normal bed so she would just get up and come get me when she woke up... but instead she just cried until she was like it was taking her breath away.  So sad.

I taught Alexis how to drive the Rhino while we were there and she was so excited.  She was a good little driver

All my girls love to go on the Rhino rides and the four wheeler rides!

Adison took all her candy and had to get all the paper off all at once.  Then she put them back in the bag and they all stuck together like one huge blob of candy.... 

Lex and her buddy Conner have so much fun together.  They get along so great and are just the best of friends.  This family reunion was a little strange because all the little kids that were there were all our family's.  But my kids didn't mind at all. 

Elizabeth's Birthday!

Elizabeth turned 9 years old this year.  I am still in shock that my kids are growing up so fast.... She was so excited for her birthday and was happy about every gift that she got.  We had a fun little family birthday party for her on her birthday and then on the weekend we had a birthday party with the Harris family.  We told our girls that we are going to start  doing friend birthday party's every other year, and me being pregnant this year I was so thankful for that.  A few weeks after her birthday we went to Idaho falls and had another birthday party for her at Annette's house.  It was a combined party for Summer, Chris, Elizabeth and my grandpa Butch. 

she asked for a rainbow fish this year and showed me a picture of the one she was talking about.  She was thrilled about her cake and I am glad.

Elizabeth is such a happy girl, and is so easy going.  She is the peace maker of our family and hates it if anyone is ever sad.  I still love that if someone is getting in trouble or yelled at, she has such a soft heart that it will make her cry as well.  (I don't love that she cries, just love that she is that caring) 
She is a great friend to everyone and has lots of friends that love her.  Every year her teachers tell me how great she is with all the kids and how sweet she is. 
Elizabeth has a great love for the Church already.  We were running late one Sunday and I told the girls that they would have to hurry and get ready and I would come back and pick them up because I wanted to take the sacrament.  She was really upset and told me that she really needed to take the sacrament also.  It made me feel horrible... but she was still in her pj's and just getting out of bed so there was no way we were going to make it in time.   She is always the one to remind us that we need to have family home evening, and helps keep us on track.
While I have been pregnant this time, Elizabeth along with all my girls have been very sweet to me and always ask me if I am ok.  Elizabeth gets nervous is we are walking and I stub my toe, she will ask, "mom are you ok?  be careful, your pregnant."  I just think it is so cute.  Or if I am being a lazy mom, she will tell the other girls to leave me alone because I am pregnant.  
I am so thankful to be this wonderful girls mom, I love her so much.  Time is going way to fast and I know it isn't going to slow down anytime soon.  I just want to take in every moment and enjoy it.  I sit back some days and watch my girls play and dance around together and it really is just like heaven to me.  

first day of school

The girls were so excited for school to start this year.  They all have very good teachers and get to be in class with some of their friends.  Brytlee is in the first grade this year and her teacher is Mrs. Jensen.  She is doing very well and her teacher tells me that she is very smart.  She has all A's, she is reading very well, and is good about doing her homework and other work that she needs to get done. 

Elizabeth is in the third grad this year, and her teacher is Mrs. Bayles.  She really loves school, and loves her teacher.  One of her best friends is in her class and she was very happy about that.  She is doing really well in all the subjects and also has all A's.  She loves to come home and relax after school so she usually does her homework at school or on the bus before she gets home. 

I had to take the first day pictures on the second day of school because I could not find our camera anywhere and kept blaming Ryan for leaving it in the dash of his truck and letting it get stolen.  I ended up finding it in my bag from camping... so this picture was one day late, but they still all look adorable and excited for school to start.

Alexis started Jr. High this year and is in the 6th grade this year.  I feel like it is so early to be in Jr. High already but she was very excited about it.  I went with her to find all her classes and her locker before school started and I was so nervous that she would never get her locker combination down... but she can do it like a champ now and is getting to all her classes without a problem.  A few of them are as far away from each other as you can get but she has been just fine.  Alexis is a very hard working student and does her best work in all she does.  She had  a hard time in her Technology class this year, but with a lot of hard work she did great and was glad to be done with it and move on to P.E.  I swear a lot of the work that she is doing in the 6th grade is harder than what I had to do in 9th grade.  They are starting these kids so much earlier on everything and these kids are just getting smarter and smarter.   Alexis does have to work really hard in math and she is very blessed to have a dad that is great at math and can help her to understand it.  I don't feel like her teacher this year is the kind of teacher that she really can get things from, so he usually has to help her understand it after she gets home from school.   I was so heartbroken last week when she had worked so hard on studying for a test and had it down so great and felt like she got a great grade on her test, and then come to find out she got a C.... It was such a hard thing to watch her go from feeling like she got it to being so crushed.  She cried and cried and felt so bad.  But I just had to tell her that I was still very proud of her because I know she did her best and worked very hard on her test.  Math is just a really hard subject.... especially when they ask the questions in a way that is almost trying to trick you....    Anyway.  Alexis is really enjoying school, and she is doing very well.  She has a A in most of her classes and in Math she is working really hard to get it to a A.  I know she will get it!

 

It doesn't feel like it was that long ago that all my girls could fit in these matching dresses.  Time goes way to fast.  Brytlee is wearing Elizabeth's old dress and Adison is wearing Brytlee's old dress. 

Alexis had a crazy outfit day or something like that.  ( I can't remember what they called it)  But she has on four skirts and looked pretty funny!

Brtylee looking adorable!  I just love my girls so much and I am so thankful for them all.  They are such wonderful girls and I love being their mom. 

Harris Camping

This year before school started we had a Harris family reunion.  We went to the same place that I had gone a month before for girls camp called Bloomington.  Ryan has always talked about how much he loved this place, and so we finally took our girls to see how beautiful it is and how much fun.  Adison was in heaven with all the dirt and being outside all day. 

 She was so messy but we were camping so she was just fine with that. 

 The great thing about Bloomington is that a half a mile from our camp site you can walk up to a beautiful glacier lake.  It is so beautiful and has some great cliffs to jump off of and a fun rope swing.  We saw a mom moose and her baby on the hike up to the lake on our first day. 

 My girls had no fear.  I was so surprised because my young women were so scared to go off of the rope swing and didn't really want to do it at all.  I think only two of our young women ended up doing it, but our Bishop was a champ and did it three times to try and get them going. 

 Adison is a little fish.  (a messy, dirty, little fish)  she loves the water and is a great little swimmer when she has her little floaty on. 

Brytlee loved the rope swing! 

 This is Brytlee on her way to the water. 

 Elizabeth is my other little fish.  I have to say..... this water is from a snow glacier, and it is soooooooooo cold..... so you can see that these girls love the water.

 Alexis loved the swing also.  I lost count on how many times all my girls went on it.

the momma moose was still at the little lake on the way back to camp and she was a little close to the trail.  Ryan was very nervous so he was not happy when I started to take pictures.

 Lex with the momma moose in the back.

 I am way out of shape and already have a baby that I have to hold in my belly so Ryan had to pack Adison each trip.  She was a little mad at me, but he always made it fun she got over it. 

My dare devil husband doing his back flip off of the rope swing.  I swear he was trying to give me a heart attack the whole time.  The place he ended up jumping from on the cliffs really made me nervous. 

 Ryan doing another back flip on the rope swing. 

 you can't really see it very well, but Ryan and the kids are over by a dead tree in the center of the picture.  That is where it is easy and safe to jump from.  The place Ryan jumped from isn't even in the top of this picture.  I was proud of my girls for being brave and trying both the swing and the cliffs.  They did great.

 Brytlee jumping of the swing.

 there goes Lizzy

 And the fall!

The girls found this little fort on the trail and would hide in it and then try and scare anyone that passed them.
We had such a good time, lots of great laughs, great food, and the kids had a blast playing together.  At night they loved the spooky stories about big-foot and on one night Chase dressed up in a gorilla suit while they were telling a big-foot story and then he ran through the camp.  It was really funny because his wife laughed and said, "why were you running like such a pansie"  It was dark and he couldn't really see so he was running a little like a girl...
Denton had the kids all learning how to tie knots and use a bow and arrow and other fun camping things.  They all loved it and just had a blast!