New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year's Eve 2016!  Time flies!  We kicked it live at the house ready to ring in the new year!

Maxine went to her first stake dance but wanted to be home to see the ball drop.

Mark and Mikayla did pretty great until 10:00 p.m.  Then they went to bed.

Ready for 2017!

The crew that made it until midnight!!

Cedar Mountain...

 Merril took the kids up to Cedar Mountain for fun.  He took his snowmobile and I stayed home.  The kids had fun digging in the snow banks.

Dumont Sand Dunes...in the RV!!

Christmas is over and we are finally taking out the RV on vacation!  We decided to go South towards warmer weather!

Selfies while we drive!

The trip started off on a high note because right when we pulled into Dumont sand dunes, it was time for bed.  Merril went outside to check on the trailer and I started making down the beds.  The couch folds down and has 2 armrests that pull out.  When I pulled out the first armrest, I spotted an item that had been missing!  IT WAS MY WEDDING RING!!!!!!

Yay!  The kids and I started screaming and jumping up and down.  I threw open the door of the RV and screamed to Merril, "My ring!  I found my wedding ring!!"  Merril could barely understand what I was screaming about, he thought we'd found a mouse.  Lol!

I was high and beaming the rest of the night!  My ring was missing for a month and a half.  We prayed in gratitude that night and I was very thankful that my wedding band was on my finger again!  I always felt that it would show up one day!

The rest of the trip was fantastic.  The RV has a heater, which is nice.

The morning was a little cold but it warmed up by noon.

We rode and played in the sand and ate and rode some more.

Jack and Merril rode over to a totum pole.

It's pretty tall.

I really love RV camping!

 In the evening we started a fire and Merril made some great dutch oven potatoes and chicken.

Unfortunately, we had to head back the next day.  The kids tried to start another fire but it just didn't want to light.

On the way home we stopped in Baker, CA to see The World's Tallest Thermometer!  Which isn't as interesting as it sounds.  I always imagined it being a large glass tube filled with red alcohol but it's more just a large tower with a digital temperature.

Merril had work to do in Vegas so he met up with his new employee, Austin, and dropped us off at the Stratosphere.

If you know what you're looking for, you can see the RV in that empty parking lot.

We had sodas at the observation deck.  The plan was to kill time until Merril was done working but he was taking longer than we wanted to wait.  We could wait in the RV for a few hours or I could just drive us home.  That presented it's own challenges because the RV had a trailer attached and driving through Las Vegas in the RV was a little daunting.

But in the end the kids just wanted to go home so I got brave!  I had to pay attention a lot more than just driving the Tahoe but I'm happy to say that we made it home without a scratch!  It was a great little vacation!

Potty Training Rock Star!

On December 12th, Mark was in the tub and said he needed to go to the bathroom.  So we hopped him out and coaxed him into sitting on the toilet.  We closed the door and he totally went pee.  So we encouraged him to wear some underwear.  He did pretty good that day, a few accidents but he also made it to the toilet a few times.  The next day, he made it a bunch of times to the toilet.  After a few more days, he was telling me when he needed to go! He caught on the fastest of all my kids and with the least amount of resistence!  Holy moly!  It's a Christmas miracle!

So it's been over a week and he is doing amazing!  We've been talking about him using the toilet and encouraging him for a long time.  Told him when he was ready, we would help him.  All the other kids cheer him on!  We cheer him on!  Only positive reinforcement allowed!  No sticker charts, no toys or candy as a reward, just words of encouragement.  It has been the easiest potty training ever!  No diapers anymore!  Wow it's amazing!

Celebrating My Un-Anniversary...

Merril is great at surprising me.  He surprised me with a night at The Inn on the Cliffs above St. George for our other anniversary, the day we first met.  Upon checking in, there was a bottle of Martinelli's and a cheesecake!

Then we went to dinner!

We had to make it quick because we were leaving for a Christmas party up North and had to leave early in the morning.  But we were able to watch the sunrise and eat breakfast.

A breakfast of sweet rolls, orange juice, and a yogurt parfait was delivered.  It was too quick but we'll take what we can get!!!

New Kitchen Appliances...

I'm working on finding stainless appliances for the kitchen.  I found a slightly broken refrigerator, used dishwasher and a super beautiful slightly used stove.  I searched on Craigslist and found a scatch and dent place in Vegas and found a matching microwave.  The fridge is being a little trickier to fix that we had thought but at least some of the appliances are starting to go in!  Yippee!!

Did the tree look that big in the forest?

I think Merril and I get less and less picky about our Christmas trees the older we get.  We pull over, look for 5 minutes, pick one, saw it down and head to Jacob Lake Inn for treats or dinner.  This years tree is pretty flippin' awesome!  It might be bigger than our living room.  *eyes wide*

It looks so nice decorated.  It's so nice to watch tv in the evening with just the tree for lighting.  Merry Christmas!!

Cutting a Christmas tree!!!!

Coming back from Phoenix, we planned ahead and packed a saw and purchased a tree permit ahead of time.  It was a little cold but not very snowy so it was okay.

I'm pretty excited about it being Christmas time!!

Really I only need this guy for Christmas!  Love him so much!

Thanksgiving in Phoenix...

It was our turn to have Thanksgiving with Merril's side of the family and so we went to Phoenix.  Jody wanted to do a run and so we signed up the WHOLE family!  Merril, Maxine and Jack ran the 5K, Juliet and I ran the 1-mile fun run and Mikayla and Mark ran like a 10-yard dash.  

We were able to personalize our running bibs.  LOL!

Julie and I ran first.  I was too chicken to run the 5K.  I've been running consistently for about a year but I only run for 20 minutes at a time and I didn't want to be wiped out for the rest of the day.  Julie was kind enough to run with me.

We watched the littles while everyone else did the 5K.

Bubbies!!

It was a good time.

The next day, Grandma wanted to ride bicycles to the temple in Gilbert, AZ.  It's about an 8-miles bike ride.  Mikayla and Bubbies wanted to ride with the big kids but they were a little slow and the streets were really busy.  After a mile, we pulled them and transported them closer to the temple and waited for the others.

We rented a house down there, which is pretty much the only way I want to vacation anymore.  It's SO NICE to have our own space to veg.