Mike and Linda: March 2010

Time to catch up the blog!

I have just spent the day catching up my blog. It has been months. I still have a few more posts to make after this one, but it is late (early) and I need to go to bed, so I am calling it quits for the night. It feels good to get it done. I hope it posts in the right order.

Valentine's Day!

We invited the Souths over for Valentine's day dinner. We had honey-baked ham, baked beans, red fruit, and pink veggie dip.

Kylie is hugging her bear from her daddy.

Being on a diet, I was proud of my idea for celery sticks stuffed with salsa. The others are stuffed with cream cheese and bacon. Aspen did not like those.

Here the girls are with their Valentine surprises they make for mom. As usual, Brynlie has her eye on the cookies! Happy Valentine's Day!

Tending Taylor and a trip to Quartzsite

In January, Jason and Sasha got to go on a cruise and Grandma and Grandpa got to tend Taylor. (Grandma and Grandpa Carr got to tend T.J. because he had to stay in school that week.)

Sasha left a present for Taylor to open every day. (T.J. got presents, too)

Day one was her favorite present...a Dora the Explorer DVD...before the week was over Grandma and Grandpa had learned a whole new language...oh maaaaan!

Dale and Elaine stopped by on their way to Quartzsite and brought T.J. with them. You should have seen and heard Taylor squeal when she saw him. She adores her big brother.

After spending the night with us, we took TJ and Taylor and met up with Sasha and Jason at a place called SearchLight. From there, we all traveled to Quartzsite where we met up with Carrs and Fishers, While there, we went on some serious 4-wheeling rides!

Getting ready for the big ride. Are you sure you want to go, Taylor?

Well,of course she does! And, just for the record, TJ adores his little sister.

Here they are, Taylor sandwiched inbetween mom and dad.

Here is one of our friends showing us the tarantula he found the day before! Oh boy, Annie...are you ready to go to Quartzsite?

Some scary mine holes that were way too deep for my comfort zone.

Jason's got his hands full.

We had a great time in Quartzsite.

Christmas, 2009

Well, this was a first! We decorated PALM TREES for Christmas!

Did you know that palm trees have sharp thorny frods? Oh yes...blood was spilt by both of us!

All the kids were here except T.J..

I love this picture of Mickala and Will! Mickala is going to laugh when she sees it.

This one's a little better!

Here's Chuck and Kristin waiting for the Christmas singing to start.

Brooke gave us her first piano recital!

Sadie wants to play, too!

Annie and Russ sharing a chair between them...talk about skinny!

Vince and Jason are trying out the air hockey table that Santa brought for Christmas.

Brooke wants to play, too!

Oh my goodness! Santa was way too generous to the Merrell family!

Happy sisters!

Cute girls!

Oh Maaaaaan! Taylor loves her Dora chair!

The day after Christmas...the beginning of the Amazing Race...hmmm...it looks as if someone might be getting some extra help...hmmm...didn't they come in first place?..hmmm...are we sure we want to do this at the family reunion?....well of course we do! The Park family is full of good natured, easy going folks who are ALWAYS good sports, right?!

She was a beautiful woman! Venna Merrell 1924-2009

Mike's mother passed away October 15, 2009, just two months shy of her 85th birthday.

She was such a beautiful woman and she had a special way of making me feel beautiful whenever I was with her.

These are some of the last pictures we have with her.

Mike flew to Salt Lake on Friday and he, Markal and Shara Dawn worked on funeral plans. Mike's dream was that the funeral services be done by the family. With only a few exceptions, that is what happened. Although I would not recommend that all families do this, for our family, it was perfect.

After flying home to St. George Friday night, Mike and I drove to Salt Lake on Saturday . Shara Dawn painted her mother's nails and then Mark, Shara Dawn, Mike and I put her in the casket. That was a very sacred experience for us all. We then transported her to Vernal, stopping first in Roosevelt to pick up the vault. It made for an interesting drive...Mike and I in our pick-up with a casket in the back, followed by Mark and Shara Dawn, with the vault! We arrived at Randy and Lou-Ann's that evening. They kept the casket in Randy's shop until time for the viewing Sunday night at the Maeser 3rd ward chapel.

Sasha got to do her Grandma's hair. She asked her good friend Jana Zufelt to help her.

The flowers on the casket were beautiful.

Bishop Jones conducted the funeral. He made a joke about Bruce that made everyone laugh. Everyone else on the program was a family member.

Mike Durrant let us use his car for the funeral coach.

The Merrell men set lowered the casket into the grave.

I am pretty sure that Ivan and Venna were smiling down on us when this was all taking place!

They all helped.

And took pictures...

visited...

This is a great picture of Justin and Mitch Batty!

I posted a lot more pictures on facebook, but there is one more thing I want to record about my grand daughter, Kylie.

She was very emotional at the viewing the evening before. She cried a lot. On, the day of the funeral, she was much more composed, but still very much interested in what was happening. When it got time to do the final preparations before closing the casket, she was right by Mike's side, watching intently as he tucked everything in its place and closed the casket. Two times I attempted to get her to come back with me, but both times (once by Randy and once by Shara Dawn) I was gently told to let her be. I appreciated that. I hope Kylie has good memories of this day.

Zion's with Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad came for another visit in October. We decided to take them to Zion's National Park.

Here we are at the entrance.

It was absolutely gorgeous up there!

I really love this picture I took of Mom as we were waiting for Dad and Mike to get back from a hike. It's one of the prettiest pictures I've ever seen of her.