The Merrills

The Halloween Book

2011-11-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

My first Halloween with child was just 4 years ago. I have since had two more children. I sit down and try to say what each child was in what year can just make my head spin! This year I put together a book of my kids in their Halloween costumes for every year. I had this idea in my head for a few years. I made sure to get a good picture of my children to put together in this book. I have fianlly made this photo album that I have set out so anyone can see how my children have grown on Halloween. On the back of each picture, I have written a little something about that Halloween adventure.

I bought this photo albulm at Hobby Lobby. The vinyl is from uppercase living http://katidiane.upercaseliving.net

This is Raelyn's first Halloween. She was an Angel. This is me and her and my tiny baby bump with Maelee inside.

This is Maelee's first Halloween. Raelyn is Snow white and Maelee is Tinkerbelle.

The little witch and the little Angel. Althought, the Angel didnt want to smile for the camera.

This is Tyson's first Halloween, He is a Garden Gnome. Raelyn is a bumble bee and Maelee is a fairy. Noticed the last 3 Halloweens were all on the stairs. This was our last year at that house.

This is for this year. I took a picture, but haven't printed it up quite yet. Raelyn was a Go Go Girl. Maelee was Rapunzel. Tyson was a tacky tourist.

I will contine with this tradition until my kids are too old to be dressing up for Halloween. I am now working on a Thanksgiving Photo Album and then Christmas.

Disneyland

2011-10-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

Monday the 17th of October we left for Disneyland. Our first family vacation since Raelyn was 6 months old. The six hour car drive was a dream if your definition of a dream is three screaming children. Raelyn and Maelee seemed to do everything contrary to the other just to make the other mad. I am sure I never did that as a child. Some peace was found when they each played with their leapsters. Of coures we only purchased two games and they always wanted the game the other had. Go figure. Though 30 minutes after arriving to our hotel Tyson decided to go all Michaelangelo and nunchuck Raelyn's leapster into a table leg. Busted the screen and rendered the Leapster worthless. . . good thing we are at the happiest place on earth.

The first day at Disneyland was a blast. First stop was the tea cups. I pull the camera out only to find out that I left the battery charging in the hotel. Of course our camera only takes the special Sony battery, so no pictures of the morning of Day 1. Tyson loved the tea cups and carousel. Raelyn loved all the rides, except the Matterhorn, and Maelee enjoyed Dumbo and the carousel. After three and a half hours we breaked for lunch, Tyson and Maelee were beat and ready for a nap.

In our three days at Disneyland we did meet Tiana, Ariel, Belle, Snow White, and Rapunzel. It was so fun to watch Maelee interact with them. I often forget how real these things are to the kids. The two nights we watched Mickey's parade at the end of the day, Maelee could not stop waiving to all the princess'. Even on the Ariel ride Maelee was waving to Ariel and Eric in every scene.

Raelyn loved all the rides, except of course Matterhorn. Our first stop the first day was the tea cups, followed by Alice in Wonderland. After that, Raelyn told me she wanted to ride a real rollorcoaster. So we went on the Matterhorn. I rode in the back of the car holding on to Mae, and Rae was all by herself in the front of the car (Kati stayed behind with Ty). By the end of the ride Raelyn was laying down completely flat in car. She did not ask to ride another real rollercoaster again and every time we passed the Matterhorn I had to hear both Rae and Mae say, "Daddy, I don't like the Matterhorn."

Tyson absolutely loved the tea cups, Finding Nemo, and Buzzlightyear rides. If you have ever been on the Nemo ride, you know between scenes bubbles blow up by the windows to block your view. When the bubbles would block Tyson's view, he would lean over to look out Raelyn's window to the right, then Kati's window to the left just to make sure he was not missing anything. He had a lot of fun on the Buzz Lightyear ride trying to shoot the evil emperor Zerg. Not a bad shot for a little guy.

The Ward Campout

2011-08-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

We went to the ward camp out this weekend. It was in a beautiful spot just north of Strawberry. Tom and the kids love to camp, so it was nice to get-a-way for the weekend. It rained, which I thought was nice, and it was cold at night. We left 60 degree weather to come back to the dreaded 100 degrees. bleh.

Look at these kids! They couldn't be happier! The just love to go camping. Seriously, the absolutely love it! That is our camping trailer in the back. We bought it a year ago, and it was the best purchase ever. I am all about camping if I don't have to sleep in a tent. It is a pop-up, so it is small to store and roomy to camp in.

Here are some pics of the kids having fun...

It is so hard to get Tyson to look at the camera when I am taking a picture. He kept turning his head. He also won't hold still so I get a lot of pictures of him walking

This log was the kids' favorite part! They kept asking to go play on the the log. The could play here for hours! We didn't want to stay for too long since it was far from the campsite and Tom and I are afraid of bears. (He brought his 9mm to protect us :0))

I was trying to get a few cute shots. This is Maelee sniffing a flower

This is me. I hardly ever have pictures of me. I try to make sure to at least get one pic of me. Seriously, this is the only one we took while we were there. I wish we had taken a more flattering pic. But, hey it's camping hair, right???

Tom is all about camping wearing his cameo.

Tyson's turn to smell the flowers.

Tyson is so adorable! Tom put on his bandanna on Ty. He loves his only little boy. (Ignore the ASU shirt, since clearly Tom graduated from University of Phoenix and I am enrolled in NAU. It was a hand-me-down)

The log

It was so nice that there are so many small children in the ward for our kids to play with. We hardly had to entertain them. Tyson just loved being outside. He, like most boys, loves to get dirty. He loves exploring. He loves trying to act like a big kids with the big kids.

I love ward camp outs. They are always short and sweet. It is so much fun to camp with the ward members and get to know them better. It is also nice that it is only on night.

August 19-20, 2011

The Bunion

2011-07-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have had these hideous bunion since I was 14 yrs old! Most people do not develop them at such a young age. Most people get them as they are older. I am just lucky I guess. So I decided it was time to get something done about this! I went to a Podiatrist and scheduled a surgery. The surgery is quick and was only 1hr long. The recovery, on the other hand, is 8 weeks!

What is a bunion? Well, it is your big toe joint that gets pushed out when your toe gets pushed in. High heels and tight shoes can overtime cause a bunion to form. In my case, genetics played a role. Not exactly sure how, it just sorta did it on its own.

Here is my before pic. This was taken just hours before my surgery.

This is my first follow up appt 4 days later.

(Caution: if you are faint of heart)

This is what it looks like today! It has been just over a month since my surgery. I still have 3 more weeks left wearing my boot. The swelling will go down in 6 months or so. I am feeling great and can't wait until the boot comes off and the cute shoes come one!

(Yeah, I know need to paint the nails. Gonna get a pedicure once the boot is off )

Poopdate

2010-09-29T14:16:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, my children have chronic constipation. It is an uphill battle with the girls to keep them regular. They receive a stool softener daily and without it they will get backed up. We are in the process of weening them from it. Tyson, no surprise, also gets constipated. However, we found as long as we keep prunes in his diet he will stay regular. Thank Heavens! No more anal fissure for him. I hope someday, they will all poop.

We literally log all of our children's BMs. It's the topic of our conversions around the dinner table. We talk about poop all day long. When I give Tom a call at work, without a doubt we will converse with one another about our kid's poop. I am sure the guys at his work that listen to recorded conversation giggle out our conversations because it always involves poop. We even describe the type of BM because they need 'mashed potatoes' and not 'play dough' poop. Seriously, we talk about poop ALL THE TIME!

So with all this poop talk, we coined the phrase "poopdate" It's an contraction of "poop update" or a pun for "update". We give each other poopdates through out the week so we know how our kids are doing.

So yes, know that you all learned this new awesome word, you can now use it in your daily conversations. So the next time you need to tell someone about your poop, just think "poopdate"

Raelyn's First Day of Pre-School

2010-08-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Raelyn starts pre-school today! She was so excited! Last Friday we went and met her teacher and had so much fun. I think she will do well because she wants to play with friends all the time. We went and bought her new school shoes and a folder. She picked out a Disney Princess folder.

I asked Raelyn if she needed a little snack before she left to school. Of all the things, she wanted a carrot! Here is a picture of Maelee and Raelyn chopping down on their carrots, their most favorite vegatable.

Tyson is 6 months old!

2010-08-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

Tyson is 6 months old! I can't believe that my baby is already half-way to 1 year old! He went to his well-baby check up today, he weighed a whopping 19 lbs and 10 oz!!!! He is 27.5 inches. Both height and weight are in the 90th percentile. His head is above 97th percentile. He is all around a big baby! Maelee was this big at her 15 month appointment. Raelyn was this size at her one year appointment. I absolutely can not believe that this is my kid! I absolutely love that he is so big. He is very strong as well. He thinks he is like a one year old .

Tyson has 6 teeth! Can you believe it? He had is first 2 come in at 3 months old. Then his top 4 came in all at once about a 2 weeks ago. Not even 6 months old with 6 teeth! He amazes me. This is soooo different than the girls.

He is now sitting unsupported. He started sitting up at 4.5 months, once again my earliest sitter. He enjoys anyone giving him a smile or attention. He loves food, although we do not allow him to have it. Today he was sitting in my lap and Raelyn was right by me eating a Ding Dong. Tyson leaped out of my arms as far as he can and snatched some right out of her hand! Too bad I am a mean mommy and would not allow him to eat it. I wish I could feed him solids but with the digestive issues that my children have, I just cannot allow him to eat certain foods. Poor kid, but mommy knows best.

He loves his sisters. He enjoys their company. You can often find him laughing at them. He really likes them to play with him. He loves Raelyn's soccer ball (pictures below) he loves to push it and then reach as far as he can for it. He is even starting to get on his hands and knees reaching.

I have really enjoyed the last 6 months with my first baby boy. Boys are girls are truly different. He is my best baby. I hope it continues in toddlerhood.

I Love You Tyson!

Kids Bedroom

2010-08-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

We are making progress! This is the picture of the kids' bedroom. It was a lot of work, but we finaly got it painted. I did a wall a weekend for a total of 5 weekends. It absolutey looks awesome! It is not quite finshed yet, we still need to add some curtains and accesories.

I am sure you can tell, there are 5 different colors! I had to paint the white first. Tape it off then alternate between the light and dark colors. It was a ton of work, but so worth it! It looks soooo much better than the pink and white stripes I did before.

Merrill Update

2010-06-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

Since I have a few moments while the kids are napping, I thought I would update everyone about the Merrill Family.

Tom is still working at University of Phoenix. He is working on his on is Bachelors degree in Finance. He just bought a pop-up camping trailer and hopes to go on many camp outs with his family. He enjoys the outdoors with his little girls.

Kati just applied to nursing school! She is waiting to be admitted into a program. She hope to go to Gateway Community College for part-time nursing school. She also is training for a 10K in November. In the beginning, she could barley run for a minute without stopping. Within six weeks she was able to move herself up to a 2 mile run. She is enjoying her Uppercase Living business and it keeps her busy. She is now watching her sister's little baby girl, Ava. She is almost 2 months old and is sweet as apple pie.

Raelyn is 3 years old now! She really enjoys being outside. She loves being a big sister and helping with Tyson. She is quite the expert when it comes to making baby bottles for Tyson. She know exactly how much water and the number of scoops. She tries to do everything herself. She loves to help her mommy in kitchen. Her favorite thing is to bake cookies! She also enjoys making smoothies. She loves to press the button on the blender. If you can't find her in the kitchen, she can be found in her playroom playing with her play kitchen. She loves to make pretend cookies and smoothies and serve them up to her sister and parents. She also enjoys the soccer ball she has got for Easter. She loves to run and kick it. She is actually quite good! When she is 4 years old she will play soccer. In August she will start pre-school. She will love to learn and be with friends.

Maelee is 2. She celebrated her 2nd birthday in April. Before her 2nd birthday she refused to wear a diaper and demanded to wear panties. So she started going potty before her 2nd birthday! She is doing fantastic. She too loves her baby brother Tyson. She loves him a bit too much. She is still learning how to be gentle. She likes to do a lot of what her older sister does. She loves to watch movies and carefully picks one out. She is talking well and learning sooo much. She know her colors and animals. She knows most of her shapes. She has learned the concept of matching! She like it when she finds two object with the same color or shape.

Tyson is 3.5 months old. He is a big boy! He weighs 16.5 pounds. He is much bigger than his sisters. He is such a good baby. He doesn't mind who is holding him. He gives away smiles for nothing. He was sick a couple of weeks ago, he had RSV. When I took him in to be seen, no one could tell by looking at him that he was sick since he gave great big smiles too all the nurses and doctors. He now has 2 teeth! That's right, 2 teeth at 3 months old! He thinks he is 6 months old. He wants to eat and sit up like a 6 month old. He has teeth. He is the size of a 6 month old!!! He is the best baby ever. I really think big babies develop much faster than average size babies. I mean he was a one month old when I brought him home from the hospital.

Tom and I will celebrate our 6 year anniversary tomorrow. The last 6 years has gone by so fast, we have come a long way in 6 years. It is also crazy to think how fast the last year has gone. The day after our anniversary we come home from our Vegas trip to find out we were expected our third child! And now here is in our home. We are so blessed to have our 3 children. We are so grateful for everything we have. I hope to be able to update more often and post pics.

Tyson Jared Merrill

2010-02-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Tyson Jared Merrill

Born February 11, 2010 at 7:55 pm.

He weighed 9 pounds and 7 ounces

and he was 21.5 inches long.

The Kids' Bedroom

2010-01-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

After months of going back and forth, we have decided to put all 3 kids in the same bedroom. Which means, we need to make it gender neutral!!! I wanted to re-decorate the room whether or not is was a boy or a girl. Having a boy just made it a

better excuse!

So the theme I had for Raelyn and Maelee was a Surf, Sun, Sand. It was super cute! I painted the walls pink and white stripes. Then decorated it when hibiscus, flip flops, and surf boards. Here are a few pictures to show how the room was before.

The first thing we did was take down all the decor. Which was hard to let go of such cute things! We picked out a paint color yesterday and hope to paint soon. We just finished spackling all the holes in the wall.

We bought new sheets and pillows for the Girls' bed. I hope to get their comforter sets by the end of the month as well as the crib set I have picked out.

This project will take us a couple of months, but I thought I would share the progress with you each step of the way!

Only 6 more weeks until we welcome our first son!!!

The Dryer

2009-11-02T08:04:00.006-07:00

So the girls are at that age. What age you ask? The age when the dryer is no longer something that just mommy plays with. They have had so much fun lately climbing in and out of the dryer. The giggles seem the loudest when Raelyn is inside asking Maelee to close the door. After closing the door, Maelee will then turn around and ask, “Where’s RaeRae?” Shortly thereafter Raelyn kicks the door open and the hysterical laughter ensues. Last night they probably spent a good 45 minutes to an hour. Best toy we ever bought. Now only if I could teach them how to fold the laundry, and not just play with it.

It's a Boy!!!

2009-09-17T13:16:00.003-07:00

Tom and I will be welcoming our third child this Valentine's day! We are excited that we will have a boy. We were for sure it was going to be another girl, but to our surprise it is a little boy. We do not have any names. We are stumped! I am sure we will find something we like and can both agree on.

It will be so much fun to add a little blue to all the pink! We know our girls will love their little brother. They will be great little mommies to him.

5 Year Anniversary

2009-06-09T09:06:00.027-07:00

5 years!!! Tom and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Friday! We went to Las Vegas on a quick get away. We have never left our girls over night before, so it was definitely an adventure.

This is a picture of us in our suite! We stayed in the Venetian. It was such a beautiful hotel! We could have not picked a better place to stay.

Here are a few more pictures of our Hotel Suite. Just to get an idea how nice it was! You know you are staying somewhere nice when you have three flat screens, one in the living room, one by the bed, and one in the bathroom! No joke, they had a phone by the desk, one on the night stand, and one in the toilet room! Yeah because we all need to talk on the phone while we are doing our business.

We did so many things in the 36 hours we were there! We were non-stop! I have the blisters on my feet to prove it!

We rekindled our love on a romatic Gondola ride. We even kissed under the bridge for good luck. We shared our Gondola with a sweet older couple that were celbrating their 45th yeah anniversary.

This is the Blue Man Group. I just had to get a picture with them.

The next few pictures are from the wax muesem that we went to! It was the most fun we had! Tom and I went a little nuts, but it was too much fun to pass up.

Look over there!

Sitting with the beautiful Julia Roberts.

Tom and Nick, best buds.

My new BFF Jessica Simpson! She had on some cute shoes!

Giving a little kiss to Indiane Jones (Harrison Ford). He's my hero!

I am working that motorcycle!

Playing some poker with Ben Afleck.

Yup, that's Arnold! I am feeling his muscles.

Playing a little basketball with Shaq!

I got married while I was in Vegas. Nope, I didn't renew my vows with Tom, I married George Clooney!

You can't pass up giving a statement to Oprah.

I am whispering a little secret to Larry King

Mark has nothing on me! -Tom

We went to a Criss Angel show! Camera's were not allowed. They probably didn't want to reveal all this Mind Freaks secrets! So we took a picture of him in the wax.

Chillin with Cameron Diaz.

I kid you not, this is a real man! They had a scary attraction at the wax museum. It was supposed to be all the scary people from Area 51. I really got to read up on Area 51.

Ok, I had the most fun at the wax museum! I just wanted a picture with everyone! I mean seriously, will I ever get to see any of these people in real life? Most likey not, I had to take advatage of it.

Tom feeling lucky at the slot machines. Yeah, not so lucky. I don't think he won anything. I have never been to a casino in my life until Vegas. I could not believe that as soon as I got off the plane there were slot machines in the terminals! Vegas is all about entertainment, that is for sure!

The very last thing we did was see the Las Vegas Temple. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to make a session. I know, I know we should have made the temple our first priority. We will definitely do it again next time!

Yoga Mat

2009-06-08T08:13:00.014-07:00

The Girls love to play with the yoga mat. They like to sit on it an play on it. They like to roll and fold it up. They just have so much fun! They cannot get enough of it.

So Tom got an idea.

Here we go Maelee.

Keep turning.

Tada! A Maelee burrito.

Raelyn's turn.

Ready?

Yay!

A Raelyn Roll-up!

We all had so much fun playing with yoga mat together. They want Tom to do it again and again.

Maelee's Hat

2009-04-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

This is Maelee's hat. She absolutely loves it! Every time she sees it, she has to wear it! She learned the sign for hat,and she is always hitting her head to let us know that she wants it. It is so cute!

Butt butt

2009-03-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

We had a very interesting Sacrament today. We were only sitting in the chapel for 20 minutes before we had to leave because our girls were getting to restless. Just in those 20 minutes we managed to get everyone's attention around us.

Raelyn was sitting on Tom's lap just playing aroun, being a typical 2 year old. The she started to say loudl butt butt. Now it is not what you think. She was actualy talking about Tom's "buttons" on his shirt. She just calls them butts. So Tom tries to correct her, but she just kept on calling them butts.

Then Raelyn was trying to climb onto my lap. She was laying across with her face down in my lap. Suddely, I gasped really loud (I must say i overreacted a bit!) and then everyone turns arounf and stares at me. I couldn't help but turn bright red. Raelyn bit me on the thigh! It started and hurt me. Everyone thought something terrible happen.

So that was our sacrament meeting.

Another day in the life...

2009-03-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Another day in the life of the Merrills. Maelee is getting bigger everyday. Tomorrow she will be 11 months! I can't believe it, she wil be a year old next month. She is just about walking! She is up 6 steps. Watch out! She will be all over the place! She knows two words. The first word she learned it Mama and the second is Na Na (no no). Not only will she tell you know, she aslo shakes her finger at you! She learned this from her older sister Raelyn who is often telling her NO! It is hard not to laugh because it is the cutest thing ever, a 10 month old saying no.

Raelyn is also a big girl! She is offically potty trained! It only took 4 days and now she is completely potty trained, even at night! It has been so nice to have only one child in diapers. Today, she was having so much fun talking on her cell phone. She will walk around the house just chatting it up. I have know idea where she learned this ;). She has also gained some interst in helping me cook. She likes to help our the ingredients into the bowl, stir, and give the right cooking utensils. She has aslo gained interest in the laundry. She wants to help put the soap in the laundry and put the clothes in . She feels like such a big girl. And she is becoming a big girl she its learning more words everyday and putting them into sentences.

I have a blog

2009-02-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I finally have a blog! I hope i keep it up to date so you all know how the Tom and Kati Merril family is doing!