Happy Birthday to Me

Well I figure I profile the kids on their birthday, I probably should show some affection for my own although this day isn't starting out quite so great. First, the kids didn't let me get any sleep last night. Two, it's cloudy, cold and snowy. Third, I have to try and go shopping with three of my kids while Hyrum is at school today. All three together, make for a rotten start to a birthday. The one good thing is that I don't feel as old as I guess I am getting. 29 this year. It seems very weird. I remember when I was a teenager, looking at women my age and thinking they were so old and now I am here and it's like, what was I thinking.

Well, most of the stuff anyone would want to know about me is on the side of this blog, but for posterity sake I'm putting it all here.

I was born on the 2 April 1979 in Connecticut, where I lived until I was about 9 years old. Then my dad moved us all to Illinois, first to Eureka and then to Macomb where I lived out my remaining childhood. A very boring town, or as my sister calls it the Burning Apocolypse, didn't illicit very many adventures of note. I grew up normal like.

The one thing about living where I did was that I developed a very special love of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and all the pioneers that endured the hardships of the frontier and the intolerant minds of old Nauvoo. Macomb is about 45 minutes from Nauvoo, which in Illinois is a very short little trip. I only mention this little tid bit about myself because it is apparent in the naming of my children. We chose to name them all after the people in the Prophet's life who loved him most.

I married my sweetheart, Joseph Royal Merkley, on the 28 April 2001 in the Manti, UT temple, and I am so blessed to have married my best friend. We have four beautiful children; Hyrum (25 Jan 2002), Emma (11 Feb 2004), Porter (10 Sept 2005), and Dan (21 Nov 2007). For the past six years my husband has served in the Utah National Gaurd and he has been full-time Gaurd the entire time. We've moved all around Utah and even spent a year in California because of his duties, but have finally settled here in Ogden, UT for a while. We just bought our first home!!!!

I graduated from Macomb Senior High in Macomb, IL in 1997 and went straight to Western Illinois University for a couple of years. After about a year break I headed out to Provo, UT and BYU. I got my BA in English from Brigham Young University in 2002 while my husband was at basic training with a six month old in tow.

I plan on going out into the working field once all my kids are in school, but for now, my kids are pretty much my life. However, I have to admit that I desperately miss adult conversation. One of my favorite TV shows puts it this way, "my kids have taken away my ability to speak like grown-ups." Well, that's a butcherization of the actual quote, but you get the point. I love meeting new people and would love to have more real friends but unfortunately all the moving around I've done over the last seven years hasn't allowed many real friendships. I still really wish that I had one or two real friends that I could talk to all the time. I'm especially adult deprivied right now because my husband is deployed. I do love my life though. I have a wonderful home. Wonderful kids. An amazing husband. What more could one ask for, right? I truly am blessed.

Well, I'm trying to stay positive today but I really hate that Joe isn't here today. I never really thought my birthday was all that important really, not until he wasn't here. Now I realize just how much I appreciated having a day when I got treated special, instead this year, it's just like any other day and that's got me a bit depressed. Oh well. At least it can only go up from here.