A Merrell Christmas to you!

This year we had Christmas Eve at my parents' house with all my brothers and sisters and their kids.

It was, of course, insane.

We had an ugly sweater contest.

Wow - there were some real winners!

All the Merrell Ladies

The Richardson's.

Including Tyler in his festive Chip n' Dale ensemble.

My brothers Erin and Blake

My Parents Dean and Peggy

(with whom Joel and I tied for

the ugliest "couples" sweaters)

Me and my Joelseff.

Joel picked out our sweaters. Aren't they awesome!? I'm almost positive that Joel's is a

Bill Cosby duplicate.

The Spratlings

And the winner:

My hilarious Mom.

JoLynn's Ballet Recital

JoLynn had her first dance recital last week. It was SO cute!

Our good friend Michelle teaches a dance class once a week for free - she is so sweet, she just loves dancing and little kids and she is so sweet with all these girlies!

That's JoLynn in the back next to the girl in the black leotard.

Notice how she's a full head taller than everyone in the class.

Sugar Plum Princesses

This dance was so cute.

They danced to Mary's Lullaby and they each were supposed to bring their favorite baby doll. JoLynn refused to dance with a doll, so she brought a horse instead.

JoLynn leaping her heart out!

JoLynn with her best friend Addison. Despite their difference in size, they are only 6 weeks apart in age. Addison lives a few streets down and JoLynn loves having her over often for play days.

Sisters

Our friend Gina (Artistic Impressions) took our family pictures for us this year. I love them! Maybe because I love the people in them! I love these ones of our 3 girls.

On the ninth day of Christmas a stray cat brought to me...

a dead bird torn to shreds

and a load of pooh in the back yard.

This lovely gift was waiting for us on our porch this morning. Joel walked out the door and an ulgy mangy orange cat was lazily sleeping next to this mess. I think it's the same one who snuck into our garage last week and peed all over our camping gear. Who do these fiends think they are!? We set up the cat trap last night, baited with a can of tuna... Joel said when he walked out and saw this it was as if that nasty orange cat was saying to him, "Here's what I think of your trap, Sir..." and literally gave him the bird.

On the up-side, we did catch one of the pests. I feel kind of bad though - this one looks too healthy to be a stray and is obviously lacking in street smarts; he fell for the baited tuna instead of going for the live bird. But with no collar we had no choice but to take it to the humane society (after cleaning up a few shovels-full of it's pooh).

So, Mr. Mangy Orange Cat... watch your back - you're next!

Left Overs

What do you do with all that left over Halloween candy and birthday cake frosting? Make spooky Christmas gingerbread houses of course!

Thanksgiving Day

Joel and I started the day off bright and early. We ran the 10k Turkey Trot in Mesa. It was great! Joel did really good, even if he did get beat by a girl (that would be me). Granted it was only by 5 seconds, but still. I smashed my time from last year, so I was feeling pretty good! Do you think they decided to pick the ugliest design on the planet for these t-shirts? I do.

Then we went over to the Merrell's for the feast. It was all so delish! Isn't this the best picture of my mom? This looks like a scene from a movie... the family waiting at the Thanksgiving table for the momentous arrival of the perfectly browned Turkey. Everyone claps as Mother sets the bird at the head of the table to be carved by Father...

The girls wasted no time burning off those calories on the trampoline.

It's so fun to have cousins to play with!

So much to be thankful for this year!

Pet Peeve #1

For over a year now, our neighbor's cats have been making our backyard their community litter box. I find it extremely offensive and aggravating! Most of them are not even real pets, just strays that our neighbors leave food out for... the cats go there to load up, and come here to unload. It is so gross! I'll send the kids out to play, and they'll come back in with cat poop all over their shoes and hands. They pee on our back door and it REEKS like no other! At night those disgusting pests will sit on our fence and meow unbelievably loud, keeping us awake. I could go on and on about how much I hate these vile things! So we got a cat trap... we are not going to kill them or hurt them in any way, just "relocate" them. I can't wait! Wish us luck!

p.s. If you own cats, or dogs for that matter, don't let them share their business with everyone around you. RUDE!