7 Years!!!

Happy Anniversary to me and Joe!!! We made it to seven years without any itching. This year though we are celebrating it apart from one another. Joe is back in Washington for now and I am here in Utah. We did get to celebrate a bit while he was home though so I really don't have much to complain about. At least I got some time.
Anyway. . . Here we are 7 years ago to the day. It was a wonderful magical day. For those of my friends who don't know, we were married 28 April 2001 at 10:30 a.m. in the Manti, UT temple. For April it ended up being a beautiful day, and in Utah that is saying alot. I was so happy that day. And now, after 7 years, I am even happier. That day I thought I could never love Joe more, and now with each passing moment my love for him only grows deeper. He is an amazing husband. So strong, so smart, so wonderful. He sacrifices so much for me and our family. He is so good at making sure I always know how much he loves me. He is my best friend. I love that we can talk about anything and everything. I love that the Lord blessed me to fall in love with my best friend. He is my world. Lord bless him while we are apart.
Joe is also an amazing father. I was told that it would be difficult for me to conceive and instead, we were blessed with Hyrum nine months after we were married. They've been coming about every two years since. So 4 in 7 years. Joe's never flinched. He's always taken such good care of his family regardless of the sacrifices. He is a wonderful father. His babies love him very much. I love to watch them with their daddy. It's such a beautiful site to see your babies looking up at their daddy with such love and admiration. We are all so proud.
This isn't the best picture of me, but it's the most recent that I have. I am so proud of my husband. We serve our country together. I hate this war and I hate that he has to be gone, but I am also so proud of him and the ideals that he holds. We both believe that one must be doing something to change this screwed up world we live in. If people with belief in the potential of this world and country aren't willing to stand up, this world will only continue to spiral completely out of control. We may be like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dam, but I figure at least we will be fighting to make the world a better place, and that's gotta count for something.

Blessings

Well, we had the best three days. Joe is gone again now. Back up to Ft. Lewis for an indeterminate amount of time. I wish so much that he could have just stayed here but what do you do. Maybe I am just weird, but I figure there is no point in wallowing too much in something you cannot change. I miss him terribly and can't wait until he is home again but I can't change the situation so I can either focus on the positive things in my life and be a bit happy or wallow in absolute misery which gets me absolutely nowhere but miserable.

Anyway. . . The first day Joe was home, was mommy and daddy day or rather husband and wife. That was the day we got to celebrate our anniversary which is tomorrow (7 Years!!!!). We went out to dinner at Red Lobster and just spent the whole afternoon and evening together talking and walking. It was wonderful.

The second day, Hyrum had his field trip to the zoo and we all went along with him. We were assigned four other kids to look after while we were there, so we had a total of 8 kids. It was actually alot of fun and no more work than keeping our own in line. It was crazy busy there because there were three other school districts there at the same time, four buses from each district, making it twelve buses full of Kindergarteners running around the zoo plus teachers and chaperones. It was a bit crazy and very loud, but a whole lot of fun. Here's Danny and Porter chilling at the zoo. Emma and her new friend Katelyn, a little girl from Hyrum's class. They held hands pretty much the whole time and went everywhere together. It was so cute. Daddy taking Porter around. Joe had to keep picking him up and moving him along because otherwise Porter would just stand and stare at the same thing all day long. He loves the zoo. Here's the five from class at the elephant. Kids in the picture are: Katelyn, Hyrum, Serenity, Marshall, and Brennen. They were such a great little group. Emma and Katelyn on the elephant with Hyrum looking on. Marshall, Serenity, Emma, Katelyn, Hyrum, and Brennen inside the small animal building. I think this was the place everyone had the most fun.Joe having fun with all of us. He was a great help and a great chaperone.The rest of these pictures are just hanging about the house with Joe here. Here's Daddy with Danny. It was great. I was so worried Danny would have a hard time with Joe but there is no denying who's his daddy. It was great seeing him laugh and play with Joe.Emma loves her daddy. She was so thrilled having him here.
Daddy just enjoying some snuggling with his Danny Boy.

I wish so much that he could have stayed but I am so proud of my husband and the work that he does. He is so smart and so brave. I know that the work he does will help to save many lives from either death or life that is almost worse than that. He is a wonderful father and an amazing husband. I am so blessed to have him in my life. I cannot thank the Lord enough for him. I will miss him desperately over the next year, but I am so very proud of him.

Pass

Well Joe gets home tonight on pass for three whole days!!!! So I may not post for a little bit. I am so freaking excited, I don't know how I am going to make it until tonight. It's going to be so wonderful to be together again. We get to spend some time for our anniversary together (even though he won't actually be here for our anniversary), we are all going on Hyrum's field trip to the zoo on Friday, and lots and lots of family fun. I just can't wait to see him again, and have him hold me, and smell him, and not have to freeze in my bed anymore, well at least for a few days. Anyway, after he leaves, I will be so sad and I will post all the family fun. Here's to the best few days!!!!

Too Funny

I don't know what was funnier, the video itself or having Porter standing next to me busting a gut laughing right along with the baby. It was hilarious. I was crying it was so funny.

The Best Day Ever

Alright so today I knew was going to be crazy busy. I had housework, had to take my sister to two jobs today, had to take Hyrum to school, had to completely clean and rearrange my room, and so on. I thought how on earth am I going to get this all in one day. However, at around 9:30 a.m. the doorbell rings. I'm thinking, oh goodness what now. There's the FedEx guy and I'm thinking "oh great now I have to deal with a stupid package for the people who use to live here (we got those ALL the time since we moved here)." However, the guy says he has a package for me. Then I see it's from ProFlowers. I started to cry. Joe had sent me a dozen red roses with a cute little teddy bear and the best note ever. Emma loves them. I love them. With that, I knew I could do everything today with a smile on my face. So even though I have been crazy busy all day and the day isn't over yet and I still have more to do, this day has been one of the best days ever. Thank you so much sweetheart for your gift, not just of flowers, but of thinking of me when I needed it most. Man I love that man.

Porter and Emma's Well Child Exams

Well, I would have posted this yesterday but blogger was being totally stupid and wouldn't let me upload any photos. I'm glad that it's finally working a little bit. Porter and Emma went to the doctor yesterday for their checkups and I figured I had better get an update out there. They are both doing great. Porter weighs 28.6 lbs. which puts him in the 40%. He is 37 1/2 inches tall, which is the 80%, and his head circumference is 50.2 cm which is the 90% (that's the funniest one for me because out of all my kids he's always had the smallest head.) He was so good at the doctors and didn't need any shots so that just made his little day.

Emma was also very good at the doctor. She, unfortunately, had to get four shots yesterday which made her absolutely miserable. She also had to get the chicken pox vaccine which makes her contagious to Danny for the next week or so, so I'm praying very very hard that he won't contract the chicken pox, but I guess it won't be the end of the world if he did. At least he's young and not a teenager like I was. I still wouldn't want to deal with it, but it wouldn't be a complete and total tragedy if it did. Emma weighed in at 36 lbs. which puts her in the 50% and then she's 41.25 inches tall which apparently puts her in the 75%. I've always though she was small, but I guess as I thought about it, most of the little girls in her Sunbeams class are smaller than her, height wise at least. I've just always had the boys and it is different for boys and girls. She's doing much better today from the shots. Alot less crabby.

Well that's about it. Today we are enjoying our beautiful weather and I am praying desperately that it will keep up for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are meeting some friends at the zoo and are going to have a fun day there, so I'm really hoping for great weather. I will post stuff from our fun day tomorrow.

Hyrum's Well Child Checkup

Today Hyrum had his well child exam. He's doing great. All healthy. His blood pressure was a bit high for his age and so he has to go back in a couple of weeks to have it rechecked but the doctor said it was probably just because Hyrum was nervous about what would happen at his appointment. He weighed in at 51.8 pounds and was 47 inches tall, which puts him squarely in the 75% for his age, which is exactly where he's been since he was two so he's continuing down that path well. For perspective, that means that if he continues in his current growth pattern and all that he will likely be between 6' 3" and 6' 5" when he is done growing. We are very proud of Hyrum and his mommy is sure glad she has one very healthy, happy, big little boy.

My Little Garden

This is my little garden. Emma and Aunt Kerrin helped me to plant. It was a lot of fun, and I am just hoping and praying that it will grow very well. I am so hoping to get some great veggies and some pretty flowers. The flowers are Emmy's and the veggies are mommy's. I planted lettuce, red onions, spinach, and carrots. Emma's flowers are pretty colors, that's all that matters to her. She thinks they are rosies as she says but all that matters is that they are pretty. I am so excited and so anxious. I've never been much with the green thumb and I am so hoping that I can develop one. I don't have the greatest plot and the lovely water meter and everything makes it so beautiful but it's all I have and I figure, you've gotta learn to work with what you are given.

This was the fun part of the day. Danny got his own little jungle gym. He loves it. The only annoying thing is that the other three kids also love it and it ends in anger and tears as Emma gets mad at Porter for touching it and takes it away and yells at him and he starts crying. It's so wonderful.

The other fun stuff for the day. Apparently Hyrum told Aunt Kerrin he was going to marry Emma. Kerrin told him that he couldn't marry his sister and he said "no another girl named Emma." Kerrin asked him who she should marry and he frankly looked at her and said "you have to find that out for yourself." Out of the mouth of babes. That is one very smart six year old.

The Gifted Program

Well, Hyrum is taking some testing for a gifted program at his school today and tomorrow. I am so nervous for him. I know how smart he is, everyone who's ever talked to Hyrum knows how smart he is, but I always got nervous with tests and so now, I'm nervous for him. Joe and I were going to send him to a charter school, he even got into one, but he didn't get into the one that we thought would be best for him and so I turned to the Advanced Learning Academy, a gifted program they offer at his public elementary school. He has to be at school at 7:45 a.m. today and tomorrow for all his testing and then we wait. I am praying so hard right now that he will get in because I know in my heart that this is the right program for him right now. He'll get to stay at his school, which he loves, and still be around all his little friends. Plus, if Joe does go active duty after he is done with school, Hyrum would have had to go right back into public school, so I figure, we had better learn how to milk the public schools for all they are worth. I'm pretty intelligent and so is Joe and we both went to public school. If I have to supplement Hyrum anyway, it's worth it. He is worth all the educational work. All my kids are. I want so much for them to have good lives and that all starts with a quality education. With that they can go anywhere and do anything. I am so proud of Hyrum.

A Little Note

This was just too cute of a shot not to share. You can see his little booboo on his head if you see the big picture. Porter wasn't being careful, ran into the living room and knocked a chair into Danny's head. It was quite tragic for him.

This is my new toy and yes, that's just my hand, it's that small. I love it.

Fun with Auntie Kerrin

Well here is some more experimentation, mainly for my mother's benefit. You see the videos are too big for me to email to her and she wanted to be able to see my sister's new boyfriend. Her and Travis joined us for dinner Saturday night. It was a lot of fun and the kids always enjoy seeing their Aunt Kerrin. I told Mom that Travis has my stamp of approval which was something she wanted to here. Truth is he past the kids' stamp of approval. Example in point, Porter is pretty mellow, he pays no here or there to much of anyone, except his direct family. However, when Travis left to go to the priesthood session, Porter walked up to me and Kerrin and asked "where'd he go?" It was so cute and quite shocking to me. This being her first real boyfriend, I'm not putting too much pressure on her or him, but he is a really nice young man and he treats her very well, which is always nice. Plus, it's always good for the kids when a man comes into the house and gets down and plays with them, because that's what they miss the most with their daddy gone. Mommy can do it too but I'm not daddy, so it was nice to have him here playing with the kids. I apologize, the videos are a little long and they aren't the most entertaining, but we had fun.

This one I took mainly for Hyrum's benefit and also, I was trying to get Porter to talk some so his Daddy could hear his little voice, since he doesn't much talk to Dad on the phone.

This video I mainly took because of the way that Danny was staring at his Aunt. It was just too cute.

Mommy's Birthday Present

Well my present this year was a Hard Drive Camcorder so that I could video the kids, mainly for Joe while he is away. This is my experiment. One with Dan being himself and another with Hyrum and Emma preforming for the camara. Let's see how everyone enjoys them. I promise they will get better as I learn to operate this sweet little machine.

Sorry there weren't any of Porter, he was taking a nap when I was playing with my new camara.

Porter Did It!!!!!

Well I've been working on potty training Porter. I figured with him I'd better start now if I wanted him potty trained before the end of the year and he goes to Sunbeams. Well, we got his new pull ups today and he actually went potty on the potty for the very first time tonight. He actually went!!! It took a few times but he did it. Mommy was so proud. I don't know if he will get quickly or if it really will take a long time, but I just had to share his proud moment. He was so proud to have gone on his "tee poppy." That interpreted is "tree potty."

A Newborn's Conversation with GOD

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?'

God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.'

God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?'

God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?'

God said,' Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.'

'Who will protect me?'

God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'

'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.'

God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'

God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.'


****A friend of mine sent this to me and perhaps my true roots as a complete and total sap are coming out but it made me cry. Most days I feel like a miserable failure as a mother. I love my kids and I try so hard to teach them correct principles and proper behavior without loosing my temper or my sanity, but most days I feel like my frustrations will get the better of me. The fact of the matter is that I love my babies so much. They mean the world to me; my only prayer is that they will always know that.

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.

Enchanted

This is such a cute little movie. If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth it. I love this part of the movie. I love the song. It's just great. I guess I'm just a sap at heart, especially when it comes to love. I guess it doesn't help that Joe is gone and I'm really missing him, but I love this idea and I think it goes both ways, especially about not treating your love like a mind reader but making sure to show them everyday just how much you love them. The whole movie is really cute. I got it for Emma but I just love it.