A real piano for us!

This funky little Yamaha is my new piano.  It's made of walnut wood and is in pretty good shape overall.  It's from the mid 1980s and I've been looking for a piano every day for 3 months!  Not just any cheap piano.  I was picky and wanted a better quality piano, but not an expensive one because I have a budget!  This was advertised for $800 in Washington.  I had missed a beautiful Baldwin piano in Vegas but I just couldn't get down there because kids were sick and Merril was out of town.  I couldn't figure how I'd get it from Vegas anyway so we missed.

The littles and I drove to Washington to check out this piano.  I wasn't going to miss out on it.  We popped off panels and played the keys.  I said I'd think about it and left.  I called Merril and decided to get it.  I knew that even if it's not my forever piano, it's a good deal because it's a Yamaha.  I called the owner back and said I'd get it.  Merril went to pick it up and the guy said he liked my little family so much that he only charged $700.  Sweet!  The bench that came with it was an organ bench so I have a new one ordered and on the way.

I think it's kind of goofy looking and might add front legs to it at some point.  I think it looks like it would fall over but it's SO heavy that it's not going anywhere!  It sounds nice and feels nice so that's what's important.

Update:  We waited a week and had it tuned and cleaned.  The tuner said it was in really good shape inside, we got a great deal and it should give us years of music.  Yay!

Christmas is near, time for some cheer!

We had a whole crew of Merril's family join us in cutting Christmas trees this year!  Janalynn rode with us. 

There was no snow on the ground and it was so nice outside!

Merril got a chainsaw in a trade deal and was so excited to cut down a tree with it!

Kids played!

We went to lunch at the Jacob Lake Inn and they were nice enough to accommodate our huge group!

Here's the beautiful blue spruce.  We cut 2 trees this year, blue spruce for the upstairs and white fir for the basement.  They're beautiful!  Merry Christmas!

Family pictures 2017...

 It was family picture time!  Oi.  It's always hard but we did great.  Grandma Campbell wanted new pictures so we dressed up and hiked to the boonies for some pictures.  We didn't need ours done since I did ours a few days before.

Everyone knocked it out of the park!  All smiling faces, great attitudes, and I didn't have to edit them at all!  LOOK HOW FANTASTIC THEY ARE!

The family one is exceptional!  Perfecto!   I love them so much!

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!