Picture-less Post

On Christmas Day, or at least the day after, my plan was to post pictures and blog about the big event. I knew I was getting a digital camera. I had dropped so many hints! And then, there was the added insurance. On the day after Thanksgiving, I bought a digital camera and told Mike he could give it to me for Christmas if he wanted to. His reaction confirmed my suspicions. No doubt about it. There was a camera under that tree with my name on it.
And, sure enough, my sweetheart came through with my #1 request. A shiny red, hold-in-the-palm-of-your hand Sony digital camera, complete with case, battery pack, computer hook-up cords...the whole package! Well...almost the whole package. There was one tiny little thing that was missing. No memory stick! (Without a memory stick, you can't take pictures!) What kind of camera company would do such a thing! Apparently several, because none of the digital cameras that were opened at the Merrell home on Christmas day (three of them, plus one cam-corder) had memory sticks.
So, I will have to be patient for a few more days. (I have posted before of the benefits of living in a small town. One of the disadvantages is that there are only two main stores in town...not much fun the day after Christmas when they are packed with after-Christmas shoppers.)
I do have the memory stick, now, and will soon begin posting pictures again. Just not tonight!

Mickala!

Mickala has always been a good sport. It is rare to ever hear her complain. Thank goodness. She had a lot to complain about on her birthday this year. I was sick and didn't even get out of bed to wish her a happy birthday before she left for school. Her birthday present didn't arrive until after the big day. I didn't get a cake made or bought, so she didn't get to blow out the candles as we sang to her...which we didn't do. All of this would have been bad enough if it was a regular, normal birthday. But this one was a little more special than regular or normal. It was the big 18! Still, she didn't complain.

Now here it is, a month later and I am finally finishing this post!
Happy Birthday, Mickala!

Mickala with her friend Karissa, who also just turned 18. Mickala and Karissa complement one another. Karissa adds the frills and fancy, while Mickala adds the daring and decision-making. They have been having fun together since grade school. This is another of Mickala's good friends...Jenessa. Not my first choice of pictures, but the only one I could find on this computer, and it actually does capture the type of relationship these two have shared through the years.
This one is a picture of Sami and Mickala. I have many memories of dropping Mickala off to spend the night at Sami's grandparents. She always came home stuffed up the next day, because she couldn't (wouldn't) stay away from their pet dogs.

Mickala has many friends. She is friendly, out-going, good-natured and fun to be around. And, I have spent more money on formal dresses for her than all of her siblings, combined.

Here's a few pictures that capture Mickala's personality...

I'm going to quit now, because I keep accidentally deleting pictures and it's becoming extremely frustrating, especially since I keep going from one computer to another.

Whoops! I almost forgot to add this one! ..................>>>>>>

This is one of my favorite senior pictures. I always said I knew I was finished having babies when I got my blue-eyed blonde. (The blonde is a bit of a stretch, but the eyes are definitely blue.) Isn't she gorgeous! What a fun daughter to raise! Belated Happy Birthday, Mickala.

Catching Up

I just looked on Aspen's blog and it says it has been 4 weeks since I last posted! Wow! That's almost as long as it's been since we started tending TJ and Taylor four days a week! I wonder if there is a correlation?! (Answer=YES!)

I don't know if I even remember how to post pictures any more! (That is one of the reasons I have taken so long to post...I am still at the mercy of anyone downloading pictures to the computer so I can use them in my posts.) But, I think I saw a new folder of pictures, so I'll be using some of them. Before I get to them, though, I need to get caught up with a few other events.

September memories:

In September, our beautiful grand-daughter, Taylor Nicole was blessed by her father, Jason. Taylor is a sweet-natured, happy little princess. We all love her very much.

I think it was September or early October when we took Taylor and TJ to the corn maize in BlueBell. Taylor and I never got past the first clue! But Grandpa and TJ made it clear through to the end! We have pictures of this special day, but they have not been down-loaded to the computer yet.

Other October events:

In early October, Aspen and the girls came out for October Conference. It was great to have them here. TJ was thrilled to get to play with his Salt Lake cousins and Sadie was thrilled to get to play with the dress-up clothes. She put on four or five outfits a minute, while Kylie was content to stay in the red chiffon number most of the time. TJ hopes Grandma will start adding a few boy outfits. It was fun to have Brynlie walking all over the place.

A favorite October memory was when the whole family was together for family pictures, followed by a trip to Lagoon.

We have more Lagoon pictures, but they keep uploading at the top of the page, so I will try and put them in future posts instead of continuing on with this frustrating project. I do want to mention how much I am looking forward to seeing the family pictures we took at Murray Park. So far, I have only seen one of them! (Note to Kristi: I don't care if you like them or not; I will love them...please let me see them!)

Also in October, we had a bit of drama at our house. After setting Taylor on the couch, I walked into our bedroom and startled a SNAKE that was warming itself on the floor, in the sunshine! Oh my goodness! What a scare! I was quite proud of the way I managed to stay cool, calm and collected. I went to the garage to find a small rake. My plan was to get him to coil himself around the tongs and take him outside. Unfortunately, when I returned, the snake was nowhere to be seen! I knew he must have slithered under the bed, but it was scary lifting up the bedskirt to search for him. Fortunately, Mike came home about then and he took charge of the situation. It took about 15 minutes before we (Okay, Mike) got him back outside. (Again, there are pictues, but they have not been dropped onto the computer yet)

But my favorite memory of Ocotober was when Meagan showed me the ultasound picture of their Baby! Yes! Vince and Meagan are going to have a baby! Since they don't have a blog yet, I am taking the liberty of making the announcement public. We are delighted and can hardly wait until early May when baby is due. (Aspen said they will find out if it's a he or a she in mid-December).

November events

Taylor went with me to vote and she wowed all the poll workers. She got to wear my sticker that said "I Voted" for the rest of the day.

Mickala and I started her on-line Algebra class and she got a 100% on the first of six sections! Yay!

Mike continues to recuperate from an awful cold that has hung on for several weeks. St. George is sounding more and more exciting as the winter months are upon us.

I have spent many hours preparing for our Super Saturday event which will be held on Nov. 22. We have lots of fun projects to do and I hope that Sasha and Mickala will be able to come.

I have also spent a huge number of hours scanning and uploading pictures for the Mary and Albert Park memories book I hope to have ready for the Park reunion next July.

That is all for now. The next few posts will be from some housekeeping I am doing with my blog posts. I have already posted one and hope to get the others done in the next day or two.

Happy Anniversary Russ and Annie!

This is a little late! I missed Annie's birthday back in January, so I thought I'd combine it with Russ and Annie's first anniversary in June! But, then I missed their anniversary, too, so here I am, five months later, finally getting it posted. (If I'd have waited two more months, I could have started over and used it for Annie's next birthday!) Oh well, better late than never. Happy Birthday and Anniversary (Annie) and (Russ and Annie)!
These pictures were taken at Sasha and Jason's reception in August 2007, by Kristi. Annie has always been photogenic. Her expressions always make be smile.

This picture showed up on Annie's blog after a trip to San Francisco, maybe near the Golden Gate Bridge? Hmmmmm.....

I love this picture with the Logan temple in the background and Russ's hand in his pocket.

I also missed Russ's birthday in June, so I'll insert this picture, wishing him a belated happy birthday, as well!

We took this at the petroglyphs about a mile from our house. In case you can't see, Russ is pointing to a couple etched in the stone. Amazing to think that these two and those two were in the same place with all those years between them!

This is one of my favorite sisters pictures! It was taken outside the Denver temple.

What a beautiful daughter! I am very lucky to be her mother. She was probably my easiest child to raise and she continues to bring joy and happiness to our lives. I admire her many talents...she has immagination and enthusiasm, strength of character and testimony, patience and drive; she is both tough and tender. I am so grateful that Russ has come into her life. Even after such a short time, it is hard to remember her without him. I love you, both!

SUBSTITUE TEACHER!

This weekend was Stake Conference. We were supposed to have a general authority, Elder Johnson. But he was needed for a different assignment, so we got a "substitute"...Elder Kikuchi. What an inspiring man! One of his messages (which he said came directly from President Monson) was that in these times of economic troubles, pay your tithing! And keep Monday evenings for Family Home Evening. He specifically mentioned kids'sports as something we are substituting for a Monday night gospel lesson. Quoting President Packer, he told us that faith and fear cannot co-exist...we must choose faith.

I left the Conference feeling very spiritually filled...and, perhaps more important... I felt the desire to put his counsel into action. It was a good feeling. He was a great substitute teacher!

Nauvoo, 2008

Five years ago, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversaries, Ken and RoJean Bassett and Mike and I traveled to New York to see the church historical sites in New York and Ohio. We had such a wonderful time that we decided to do the second half (taking in Independance, Liberty, Far West and Nauvoo ) for our thirtieth anniversaries. Bassetts had already been back to Nauvoo on more than one occasion, but they were good to go again!
This picture is out of order, but it is what I will always remember when I think of this trip . We didn't arrive in Nauvoo until after 10:00 at night, so this was my first view of the temple. We rounded a corner and suddenly it was there, taking my breath away!

But, I am getting ahead of myself. First, we flew to Kansas City and rented a car. RoJean requested a PT Cruiser, but we ended up with this mini-van! Considering all the luggage we were constantly loading and reloading, I guess the mini-van was a good choice.

Here we are at the visitor's center in Independence. It was the perfect place to start our journey.One of the first sounds we heard was an orchestra of wing-humming bugs called (something I can't remember, but it ends in a "Kadas" or something like that) This was one of several phone calls received by Vernal's indispensable city manager!

Across the street from the visitor' center in Independance is the Community Church of Christ's (formerly the Reorganized LDS) temple. This is their only temple in the world and they conduct tours through it. We went on one of the tours.

After Independence, we traveled to Liberty and toured the visitor's center there. It is built around a reconstruction of the old Liberty jail. It gave me a new appreciation for several Sections in the Doctrine and Covenants that were received by the prophet while incarcerated there.

We tried out this fun little cafe for lunch. We ordered several interesting dishes and shared so everyone got a taste of everything...stuffed zuchini, portabello mushrooms, marinated cucmbers and tomatoes, some breads...I can't remember everything, but it was delicious!

We went to church in a little town called Cameron. The people were so friendly! Before the meeting started, we met a man who had married a girl whose grandparents and several other relatives live in Vernal. I used to work in the family history center with her grandpa, Al Maxfield, and we also knew her other set of grandparents, too (although their name slips my memory right now). One of the Sacrament meeting speakers was from Altamont, so it felt kind of like a reunion!

After church, we traveled to Far West where we met a young family who had felt inspired to move back there a year or so ago. (There were many on this trip who told similar stories!) We then traveled to...

While there, we met a woman who was traveling with her son-in-law. She was originally from Roosevelt! She reminded us all a little bit of RoJean's mother.

As I stated earlier, we arrived at Nauvoo at night and saw the temple under the lights. I was surprised the next day to see that the temple is white and not the same color as the Vernal temple like it appeared to me in the dark. It's such a beautiful temple.


While in Nauvoo, we went on three different rides. The first was in this wagon which took us through the city and showed us different places of interest that we would want to go back and visit during out stay there.

The next ride took us to the countryside. We heard several stories about the early settlers to Nauvoo. Our guide was wonderful at his job and I was moved to tears several times as I listened to his stories.

The last ride was driven by oxen. Fun!

Outside the visitor's center, there is a garden with Relief Society statues. Here I am standing next to one of my favorites.

The Family Living Center was WONDERFUL! We had such a good time...

...making a rope...

...learning about candle dipping...

...and barrel making. We also enjoyed demonstrations on rug making, bread baking and pottery.

We enjoyed visits to other buildings as well. This one housed the printing press.

One night, we attending a play put on by the senior missionaries. We laughed 'til we cried and then cried some more. The people on the right are the actors.

We attended a session at the Nauvoo temple.

Outside one of the buildings, we discovered many trees with very large "pods" in the branches. The pods looked soft and cuddly, but were in reality very prickly. Several were on the ground, popped open to reveal their insides...chestnuts! We are sure there is an object lesson in this.

Here we are at the blacksmith shop. Our ancestor, Adin Newton was a blacksmith, so this was an interesting visit for me.

And here I am standing very close to the Luman Andros Shurtliff homestead.


A view of the temple from Parley's Street.

Beautiful flowers that Mike fell in love with. They were HUGE and grew on long stems, kind of like sunflowers.

We made the mile or two trip to the Old Nauvoo Cemetery. Many, many of the stones are gone or illegible, so they have constructed a gazebo-type structure just at the entrance, with the names of those who are burried here. This was one of my most favorite places. It had a sacred, peaceful feeling. While there, I remembered reading in my Great-Grandpa Luman Andros Shurtliff's journal of the sadness he felt when they were forced to leave Nauvoo. He returned one last time to the grave of his first wife, Eunice (and children) where he tells of crying many tears.

This was another favorite place for me. It is the upstairs room of the red brick store (now owned by the Community Church of Christ) This is where Joseph Smith formally organized the Relief Society. I felt honored to be in the place where those first sisters gathered and felt sure that they are pleased with our Relief Society today.

This is Mike standing in the Seventies Hall. My Grandpa was a seventy, so we looked up his name in one of the books ...

...and I got to write my name in the register of those ancestors who had come back to visit!

Here we are in Brigham Young's home. ( I don't think the picture hung there when he lived in it.)

This is the Carthage jail, where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred.

And this is the original door that was stormed to get to the prisoners. Notice the bullethole. (I wish there was a cropping tool I could use on me!)

The last day of our trip was spent in Hannibal and St. Louis, Missouri.

The lighthouse where the Widow Douglas lived (Tom Sawyer)

The steps we had to climb to get to it!

The St. Louis Arch... A view from the top!

We had to stuff ourselves into these very small capsules that took us to the top of the arch. My claustrophobia kicked in big time! I am glad to say that I did the St. Louis Arch, but I doubt that any bribe exists that could get me to do it again. My stomach was churning and my head was starting to spin as we rode up and down... and I kept thinking over and over in my mind, "My name is Linda Merrell and I am a claustrophobic!"

Here is RoJean, trying to get a good shot of the arch. Well, it WAS there, until I tried to fix all the blank white spaces in this post. No way am I gonna try and find it again. Just use your imagination. She is laying on her back in the grass.

I'll end with the pictue I began with...my favorite memory of our trip to Nauvoo!