Cool Rescue....

Search and rescue provides some pretty cool opportunities for Merril.  They were able to rescue a guy in Yankee Doodle Canyon and lower him down.  Merril went down with him.

He's a rockstar.

Baja 1000

I know what you're thinking.  Merril was in the Baja 1000, right?!?  Nah, he wasn't.  He just went down to watch with buddies, Darryl and Wade.  They got to Ensenada right at midnight and watched the motorcycles start.

They stayed in this divey hotel that could be rented by the hour.

On a side note, Merril is growing out his beard and it's looking pretty awesome!  The next morning, they watched the trucks start.

They camped the next night and had to buy gas from a race team because they were out in the middle of nowhere.  They just figured there'd be gas at some point.

They went to this pebbly beach too!  It probably isn't very comfy barefoot but looks cool in pictures!

Kind of like you're the only person in the world.

Jack's in Cali for his 12th birthday!

Jack went with Merril to California to pick up a car.  Wade and his daughter and Ryan and his son went too. They played at the beach.

And got some yummy fish tacos.  And it was Jack's 12th birthday!

I don't have a picture but he passed the sacrament for the first time and it was the cutest thing ever!  He looked like he knew just what to do and I love having another priesthood holder in the house!

Maxine turns 15!

I can't believe it!  Maxine is 15 years old!  She's been studying for her learner's permit test and was worried that she'd fail it the first time.  She passed and she was pretty excited about it!  A lot of her friends have had to take it more than once and she didn't want to be like that.  She's opening a gift from Grandma Campbell.  She loves a type of calligraphy that requires brush pens and I told Grandma that she would go crazy for them.  I love the look on her face when we opened them!  Ha ha!

Athletic weekend...

Merril and Maxine had a busy weekend!  Maxine had a swim meet over at the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center and Merril was racing in a mountain bike relay called the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow.  Both have hollow in the title.  That's funny.

Maxine swam the freestyle and breast stroke.  

From a very young age, she's always loved to swim.  At the lake, when the rest of us are on the beach, she's in the water.  All.the.time.

She's a freshman so if she wants, she can compete for 3 more years.

The mountain bike team was called Logan's Heroes.  I still chuckle.  (Merril, Adam, Logan, and Bob)

I brought some kids out after Maxine's swim meet and we watched Merril come in!

Gave high fives to the kids!

Since the race is all night long, Merril did a few runs in the dark.  Two of the guys weren't feeling well and Merril ended up doing 6 laps, when he thought he'd only be doing 4.  

Then he came home, showered, and attended all 3 hours of church.  He's pretty awesome!

Wow! Cedar City has a temple!

The Cedar City Temple is finally finished and ready for the open house!  We had tickets and I tried so hard to get us there early but all was in vain.  We were still late.  It turned out we weren't as late as I had thought.  I imagine Satan was just trying to ruin my day.  The temple was beautiful on the inside and I'm so excited for the people that will be able to call it their home temple.  It will be so much more convenient for them!

We tried to take a selfie outside the temple. It was hard to get everyone and the temple in the shot.  I'm trying to hold up Julie, Merril is holding Mark, it's cold and we're all giggling and being silly because we want to hurry so we can get on the shuttle where it's warm.

A nice lady offered to take our picture with the temple, which is also nice.

Somehow, I like the first one better.

Update:  At the temple dedication, the temple president said that for a short while, the newest temple in operation and the oldest temple in operation with only be 45 minutes apart. We are lucky to live in such times as these!

Happy Happy Halloween!

Here is the Halloween gang at the ward trunk or treat!  Jack was a black ninja, Maxine was a mermaid, Mikayla was a kitty cat, Mark was a farmer, Juliet was a bat, Merril was a baddie and I was the police.

I love this outfit!  Juliet had the glasses that made it ah-mazing!

There was a chili cook off, that was delicious.

These are my primary ladies, Mandy and Libbi!

We carved pumpkins!

Maxine carved a Hamilton pumpkin, inspired by her love of the musical.

I got like zippo pictures of actual Halloween night.  Max was a sport and took the littles around.

This is the fire pit!!  Awesomely.  The flagstone looks amazing but I'm getting scared that it's not going to be enough.  For months, all I could think is that I have wayyyyy too much and now I'm worried the opposite is true.  I'm trying to finish the firepit area because Maxine wants to have her birthday party outside roasting s'mores for part of it!  Eeek!

Rampage and Glow in the Dark Fun Run...

Merril was excited to be able to go help with the Red Bull Rampage again.  It's getting paid to do cool things and who doesn't love that?

Maxine is taking online PE because she hates PE at the school.  One of the requirements is to participate in a race.  We signed up for the Hurricane glow in the dark 1 mile fun run.  You could also do a 5K but I like the fun runs.  Mark and Daddy stayed back.  Max, Jack and Julie took off ahead of me and Mikayla.  Mikayla is an awesome little runner!  She gave me a run for my money, I could barely keep up.  Jack won 2nd in his age division!  He is so quick!

I love to run but not far and generally only for about 20 minutes at a time.  It works out to around 1.75 miles.  My times are poor.  I'm not fast and don't seem to be getting faster, even though I've been running consistently for about 3 years.  Some say it's because I don't push myself.  Meh.  That's not what it's about for me.  I often run alone, so it's just me and my thoughts, getting my blood pumping and being outside.  So it's not about getting a better time, it's about doing something I kinda love.  But only in short, slow stints. 😉

Maxine's art...

This is a piece of art from Maxine's class!  I can't believe she made this with her own brain!  I've always struggled with drawing people but she's getting really good at it.  

I love this!

Mark's birthday...

My baby is turning 4!  How is this possible!  Mark is the snuggliest little guy!  He often says "Thank You" without being prompted and can chatter nonstop like you can't believe.  The older kids say he's spoiled, something that I'm going to work on.  We celebrated with Merril's Dad and Justin because they all have birthdays together.  We went to a park and played baseball.  Merril was on a search so he missed most of it. 

On his actual birthday, we opened more presents and I pretty much let him get away with anything he wanted.

Getting solar on the house...

A guy from Vivint Solar came by and asked if we were interested in solar panels for the house.  Merril and I had looked into solar a few years ago but it was so expensive that it didn't seem worth it.  The price had come down considerably and we took the plunge.  Now we have solar on our house and I hope it is a good investment for us.

Water Canyon Hike...

What a beautiful day for a hike!  Merril hiked water canyon with search and rescue and wanted to do it again.  Darryl and Shauna, Logan Phipps, us and the Hummels embarked.  Amy and I were hanging back with our littles.  The hike was very pleasant and we came across a huge wild blackberry patch.  At this point we split.  Amy and I headed back to the cars and the rest continued on.

There were rapells and water.  It's October so the water was cold.  It was a hard hike, maybe a little too hard for the younger folks.  Maxine and Jack said at some point everyone cried.  They all made it but it took them all day.  Peeps were tired, cold and dirty by the time they came home but I think they'll have memories from that day for a while to come.

Merril took the kids to the Grand Canyon...

Merril took the kids to the Grand Canyon with Wade Beatty and his kids.  I think Max and I were at a swim meet because we didn't go.

Temple visit...

This is Maxine's best friend, Ellen.  Ellen lives in Zion National Park because her Dad is a park ranger.  It's hard to get the girls together but we try to as often as possible.  This time, we planned a temple trip.  

The girls did baptisms and I went upstairs and did initiatory work.  Then we went and got food because we were starving.  I think as soon as Max can drive, she's going to be headed to Springdale a lot.

Mikayla lost a tooth

Mikayla lost her first tooth!  Little did we know, her permanant tooth is almost fully grown in behind her baby tooth.

She's been looking forward to this for a while!

We're waiting to pick up Maxine from swim team.  Bubbs spends a lot of time in the car and this is how he feels about it today.  I love those eyes!

Conference weekend...

 I absolutely love conference weekend!  I love watching conference, eating snacks and watching more conference!  It's such a wonderful weekend for me! It's time to reflect and recommit myself to the gospel, to be uplifted and feel the spirit, and feel grateful for the ones I love.  I love being a mormon!