Our Crazy Christmas!

Christmas is always busy around the Merkley household, Justin is just getting use to the idea that Christmas is celebrated for a whole week in Vernal, but I have to say I think this year may have topped them all. The "normal" Christmas festivities alone are plenty but this year we thought we would just throw in a Graduation surprise party (for Jesse) a Mission farewell (for Nate) Family Pictures, an Amazing Family Race, and Swimming, Sledding, and Movies (for the kids) needless to say we had a "CRAZY" Christmas this year!

just singing a few Christmas carols (this was a new tradition my aunt started this year, not sure if it will make it in next years schedule but A for effort Aunt Lisa)...

The boy cousins...

The girl cousins...

Barsie and I getting our craft on...
My Dad making the worlds BEST fudge (I know everyone thinks that about their recipes, but really my Dads is the best :) sorry!) He gets serious about the whipping process if you can't tell, in fact I would not be surprised if occasionally one of the secret ingredients may be a drop of sweat...
Christmas morning....
(this makes me laugh, it always feels crowded at my moms house but this picture makes me realize just how crowded it really is)

The Amazing Race...

Our new favorite tradition, thank you Alisha for all the work you do to make this so fun!!! I had no pictures of this night so I had to steal these from my cousin Melissa, and because I could not have narrated this any better (I just stole her whole post, and am hoping it's okay with her)... so in her words.......

See we Merkley's can be quite competitive and so rather than getting our competitive aggression out during a game of Family Feud or Uno we had an Amazing Race the day after Christmas.

These are the 9 teams that competed and raced all around Vernal, Utah with it being, like, 2 degrees outside. Literally 2 degrees.

Don't we all just look like the nicest people alive? You wouldn't guess that the arguing began even before we could all get out the door!

Jodi and Jesse were the Grey/Blue team and were the winners of the game.

Makall, my Dad (Melissa's), and Aunt Lisa were the Black Team. At one point they were calling me asking where I was headed, and I thought they were trying to cheat so I faked faulty cell coverage and hung up on them. Turns out they were just trying to help. What a nice daddy I have.

Autumn and Alex were the White Team (here predicting that they will come in second, which I think they did. Second or Third). From what I hear Autumn is a little scavenger who stole mine and Michael's house of cards after we WHOOPED everyone at that challenge.

Justin and Ashley were the Green Team and although we were SUPPOSED to follow all traffic laws, Justin was a little speed demon. I should know....I was right on his tail. Hehehe

Nate and Barsie were the Orange Team. Since Nate was SOOOO intimidated by us, he had to try to slow us down by trying to block our car in at every challenge, BUT YOU CAN'T TRAP ME NATE!

Aunt Julie and Uncle "not the first born" Terel were the Red Team. One of our clues sent us to Grandma and Grandpa's "first born's" house. I headed off to my dad's, even though the clue meant for us to go to Uncle Terel's. That is where Michael and I lost the game! But I can see how everyone thought Uncle Terel is the older child, he is much more mature acting than my dad!
Sid and Michelle were the Yellow Team. They call this their game face, I called it their "mad they know they are gonna lose face"

Michael and I were Team Purple. And we came in dead last! But you know what they say... save the best for last.
and a HUGE shout out and thank you to Alisha for planning this whole thing and to her hubby Dave for helping her out. They did so much work and planning for this and it was seriously awesome.

What FUN night!

Lights at Temple Square, and an early visit from Santa himself!!!

We took the kids to the Christmas Lights, they loved it! Jett was so excited all day, I don't know why we had never taken them before but it was a great experience!


So yesterday, Jett came upstairs dressed in two different top and bottom P.J.'s, black snow boots and a hat and asked me if we had some black gloves, I just thought he was getting in something warm to go outside so I said Jett, you are NOT wearing that outside...He replied saying: No, Mom, I'm being Santa Clause and I'm going to put presents under the tree for our Family (he has been watching " The Santa Clause" oh, about 3 times a day for the past few days and I guess thought it would be fun to reinact the movie!) I had to make him take a few pictures and he then proceeded to place every toy in his "Santa bag" under our tree! (I'm just not sure which to give Taya and Lincoln, they all kinda looked like ones for him ;)

Thanksgiving Activies!

This year we spent Thanksgiving at Justin's Grandma's, I forgot my camera so I had to borrow these from Justin's cousin's (thank-you) Just some random Pic's of the activities for the day!

Lincoln and his olives

Just a friendly little game of poker

....and some solitaire frenzy

Taya and Halle playing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Deck the Halls" Boutique

All us girls decided to get a little crafty a couple weeks ago and do a boutique in Vernal, we made everything from watch bands, to blankets, to bows, home decor, and tutu's. So fun, especially just to get to hang out with everyone...
Michelle, Jamie, Jillie, Me, Jillian, Autumn, Alisha and Megan

Oh, and if any of you are needing any of these things we do have some leftovers we would love to get rid of :).......

The Jazz Game!!!

My Bro-in-law and new Sis-in-law invited us to a Jazz Game game, complete with a free dinner at the terrace in the arena before the game and nachos and snacks at half time, we felt like VIP's... Kelli LOVES sports (lucky Tyson) so they do a lot of games, for their honeymoon SHE wanted to go to a Baseball game, all your husbands are jealous right now (I know) maybe she can help me a little. Anyway, it was a really good game until the fourth quarter, the Jazz ended up losing :( We still had a great time though, Thanks Kelli and Tyson for a fun night and great company!!!

Kelli & Tyson

D'will's ,wife, cute new baby, and brother, because obviously I spent more of the game people watching than actually watching the game :)

Halloween 2009

This year it felt like we celebrated Halloween for about a week. We were crazy busy, with church carnivals, pumpkin walks, school parties, kids parties, adult parties, trunk-or-treating, trick-or-treating, etc., etc., etc... We had a lot of fun but got a little tired of taking on and off Halloween costumes and make-up, every day for a week. Taya was a 50's Girl, Jett was a Sky View Bobcat football Player/Optimus Prime, and Lincoln was a Pirate/Robin the boys couldn't decide what they wanted to be so they were both (depended on the activity of the day)!

Da da, da da, da da, da da... Batman (and Robin, of coarse)

Look at those two football stars...and in full character of coarse. (Jett and his friend Braden Alder)

Lincoln's new favorite part of Halloween...


My kids went to the Pumpkin walk with my sister and brother and their families, Justin and I couldn't go. Of coarse, Justin was just devastated that he missed the pumpkin walk this year... it is like his favorite thing :) (not really) Thank you for taking them Alisha and Dave!

Happy Halloween!!!

"PROM NIGHT"

Every year our friends the Cale's Have a themed Halloween dance party...this year's theme was "Prom Night". It was any era so we thought it would be fun to go 80's but I couldn't find an 80's dress like the other girls so I just went with normal prom attire (I guess) I have no idea what they wear to prom these days!!! Any way we have a ton of fun! Happy Halloween!!!

Some of our pic's turned out way blurry, they had the fog machine a little heavy...this whole room was filled with smoke, the fire alarm kept going off... seriously!

The Guys

The Gals

Gettin' our groove on!!!

San Fransisco!

Justin, my Dad, brothers and brother-in-law spent a weekend in San Fransisco, one last guys trip before my little brother Nate leaves on his mission (in Dec.) They went to a 49er's game and to Alcatraz and I guess just hung out. I think they had a great time other than their 11 hour drive turned into a 14 hour drive when my brother Sid, a little past SLC remembered he left the football game tickets at his house in LOGAN! (they all to turn around and come back to get them) all I'll say about that is... and you guys are always saying that I'm getting more like Mom all the time!!! See Sid maybe it is just something that happens when you have kids, and you only have one :)! Ha Ha Ha

Dad, Justin, Jesse, Nate, Sidney, Dave

Alcatraz Prison

49er's VS Falcon's

Soakin' Up the last little bit of Summer!

Obviously this was a couple weeks ago, being that it is now freezing cold. Alisha and I made a quick trip to Vernal for a cousins wedding a couple weeks ago without our husbands, and the weather was so nice we decided to soak up the last little bit of weather while we could. We hit the last open day of the water slide, and on Sunday had a picnic with my Dad's side of the family at Remember the Maine park. It was such a nice day the kids LOVED it and did not want to leave, they had so much fun playing in the water. I had not been here forever, (maybe since high school) and I had forgot how great this place is. Defiantly my idea of "the perfect" day, hanging out with all my family in a beautiful place on a beautiful day! Oh, it's making me miss summer (and my family) already :(
just relaxing and soakin' up the last little bit of summer weather.
My Grandma Bev and Grandpa Pudge




Grandpa Terel teaching Jett how to skip rocks!

Taya and Grandpa playing in the water and crossing the river!

Miley Cyrus!

Taya's best mother/daughter date EVER! A couple months ago I got tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert. Taya has been anxiously awaiting the concert since then. She spent the night before picking out her outfit and boots just like ones that looked like Mileys. We invited our friends Saige and Tyra to come with us, and we all had so much fun. The girls were in heaven. It was so fun to watch thier excitment and remember how cool things like this were when you were a kid. We went to SLC a little earlier, did some shopping and ate before the concert, and after 2 1/2 hours of LOUD music and thousands of SCREAMING little girls, the first thing Taya asked was why it was so short?

Taya, me, Saige and Tyra!

Miley got really sick during the show and ended up running off stage during her third song. Her stage manger came out and announced that they were going to give her little break, that she had the flu that was going around. Tyra and I were little concerned they might cancel the show, but after a fifteen minute break she came back on and did a really good job. I felt really bad that she had to perform feeling so crappy, but purely selfishly was glad she did, I couldn't have imagined the ride home if we'd not got to see the concert that night!

Taya and Saige jammin' to their favorite songs...

What a great night, thanks Miley, for some really great memories!!!

5 Years Old!!!

Last week Jett turned 5 years old! I can't believe he is is getting so big! Jett is about as BOY as you get, he is FULL of energy and keeps our family laughing, he loves most all SPORTS (he has loved balls since he was a baby) it depends on the season, but football is probably his favorite... and of course Jett wanted a football party, what else? So we went to Mac Park with some of his little friends and played ball...

Jett's Uncle Sid got this Adrian Peterson Jeresy for him and he has worn it almost everyday for a week now. He LOVES it!


as we were cleaning up I turned around and found Lincoln and Simon (my neighbors little boy) taking care of the rest of the boys cake and and ice-cream! (if my sis-in law is reading this, she is freaking out right now, major germs I know, but we figured the damage was already done and it kept them in one spot for a while so we just let them go at it!)


Jett and Lincoln playing with his new farm set from Great Grandma Bev, check out Jett's "farmers"...because when do you not see football players in a coral? right?

Happy Birthday Jetter, We love you!

First Day of School!

Taya is in 2nd grade this year, Mrs. Honeymiller is her teacher this year. Taya LOVES school, she never wants to miss a day and last year even cried when I had to check her out early one time. The first day of school, for her, is better than Christmas morning. I just wish her enthusiasm could still be the same when highschool rolls around, but I have a feeling it might not always be this way. So I guess I'll just have to enjoy it for as long as it lasts!


This is Jett's 2nd year of preschool, he has a September birthday, so he just misses the cut off for kindergarten. and I'm just great with that, I think it will be good to be the oldest, rather than the youngest. He unlike Taya, could do with or without school, I think to Jett, the best part about school is just the social aspect, and I have no idea where he gets that from (wink, wink) This first pic. is just one of many attempts of me trying to get a picture of him, doesn't his look alone tell you just how excited he is... time to break out the magic...
...all I have to do when I "need" a good picture of Jett is give him a ball, and wallah...he is all full of SMILES (and poses)!

Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon

Last weekend Justin ran his first half marathon!!! I'm ALOT proud and a little disgusted, okay... or maybe just a little bit jealous, being that he hasn't ran for years and he and my brother decided 2 weeks before the race to run it (we all thought at first they were totally joking), they trained on the treadmill 4 or 5 times (seriously) and ran 13.1 miles in 2:03 without stopping once! Really? Who does that?!?! He must have got those genes from his Mom, who also ran in it and placed 1st in her division (GO! Cheryl!) My Dad and sister also ran it, and the rest of us would have love to do it (because we totally could have ;) but who would have stood at the finish line and cheered everyone on??? They all did so AWESOME!
Sid and Justin, look at them... they look like they could of gone another few miles!

Alisha 1:59

Dad 1:52

The moral support team... hey, at least we didn't have to get all sweaty or mess our hair up :) look on the the bright side, right?

Way to Go Dad!!!

Park City Vacation #3

So, for the third time this summer we headed back to Park City, apparently we can't get enough of the place this year, and who can? it's such a great place. We spent almost a full week with my parents in their time share, soakin' up some sun for one last hoo-rah! before the kids had to head back to school. One day we bought an all day pass and did the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster, Mini golf, Trampoline and kiddie rides from 11:00 a.m. until 8:30 that night. The adults were wiped out by the end of the day and the kids could have keep going for a few more hours. We all had a ton of FUN and I loved spending the time with my Family!




Grandpa and Taya on the coaster...
One of my most embarrassing moments... as Taya, Jett, I and Michelle were riding up to the alpine slide on the lift I got talking to Michelle and not paying attention accidentally kicked off one of my sandals (* note to self: next time don't wear flip flops on the ski lift!!!) From on the lift it looked like it was only about 5 feet from one of the slides, so my bright idea was to go down that slide jump off by it and retrieve my sandal. When I actually got there I realized it was much farther than 5 feet away and the weeds that didn't look so tall from the lift, came up to my chest. There was no way I was going to find it. With all the people on the lift yelling at me, that my kid (Jett who was still sitting on my stopped sled) was go to get hit by the next sled coming down, (which was my Sister-in law, that was the plan, people, for her to go down after me, it might not have been a brilliant plan, but I did think that part through) my bare foot now cut and legs scraped from the bushes, I jumped back on my sled and finished coming down. When I got to bottom my sweet Mom volunteered to hike back up the mountain and help me look for it, so I could have shoes for the rest of the day. So I borrowed Michelle's sandals and with some nice people's help from the lift above directing me I finally found my flip-flop. The funnist part was it made Jett (our little worrier) so nervous that the next time we got on the lift, I took my sandals off and held them, Jett just sat and looked at them and finally asked "Mom do you want me to hold them for you?" :)
My mom and I retrieving my stupid flip-flop! I'm just glad I was able provide a little entertainment for everyone!!!






Taya, making a necklace at one of the craft classes, she loved all the free little kids classes this year, she went to about two everyday.
We spent most of our time hanging out by the pool, playing games, relaxing and B-B-Qing!






...and of coarse a good vacation always includes reading a good book, right??? It's just not usually the activity of a 7 yr. old :) that's our little Taya!

On our way home we stopped with my parents to get lunch at the Last Samurai. I thought the kids would think it was cool, they had never eaten anywhere like here before.
Notice Jett in the next picture...5 seconds after I took the picture he had jumped off his chair and was headed back out the front door :) it was so funny. I don't think that was what he was expecting when we told him we got to watch them cook the food!

We talked him into coming back and the next little volcano he ended up thinking was "awesome!"
ummm! I hadn't eaten at one of these places since we lived in Sun Valley, 7 years ago, it was so delicious!!!

The Living Planet Aquarium

In between our Cherry Hill reunion and our Park City family reunion we had an extra day in SLC to kill, we had heard that the living aquarium was kinda neat so we decided to take the kids. It was really fun, even Lincoln was totally digging it. We just happen to get there right before they fed the sting rays so the kids got to help feed them little anchovies. Taya loved it, Jett wasn't as sure but it was a really neat place.









That clump of stuff in the corner would be an Octopus!