It's GREAT to be 8!

Hailey turned 8 !

                

Carrot cake, her FAVORITE!

She wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday, so I took her to the mall for a mommy-daughter date.  She was so nervous, but there were some 10 year old girls there that talked her through it and watched as she tried really hard to be brave in front of her audience.  She didn't cry at all.  Fhew!

before

 after

The next day Hailey was baptized.  It was such a special day!  Hailey has been looking forward to this for a very long time.  She has such a pure, sweet testimony of her Savior and she was just glowing the whole day.

 A friend let us borrow this dress for the actual baptism that she made for her daughter 15 years ago.  It was a little big, but it was much better than those awesome jump suits.

                         Hailey with Gma and Gpa Merrell                                       Hailey Anne with Gma Anne

 Hailey with her good friend Mikayla who was baptized the same day

Hailey with her daddy just before the baptism

It was such a happy day!
 Thanks so much to all the family and friends who came to share this day with Hailey.  Sorry we are lame and didn't get  a group picture with all of you.  Thanks for being there just the same!

Count your many blessings name them 1 x 1, and it may surprise you what the Lord hath done!

For FHE tonight we had a little Thanksgiving lesson.  We talked about the Pilgrims and how their journey here was so hard and even when they finally got here their troubles weren't over.  But even with all the hardships they had going on, they found reasons to be thankful and they celebrated it.  We talked about how when we're feeling sad or frustrated or bad about things, if we count our blessings, suddenly things don't seem so bad because we realize how richly blessed we are and we can see the Lord's hand in our lives.  Hailey pointed out that if we made a list of ALL the things we are thankful for, it would probably reach from one end of the house to the other.  So we decided to put it to the test.  We each started a list, and each day we will add to it, and we'll see if by Thanksgiving it will span the length of our nice safe house (which we are thankful for).

JoLynn:

 sisters, my dog, family, God, trees, light, pens, gardens, clothes, parties, dress ups, frogs, food, deer, eyes, flowers, markers, T.V., books, cats, lipstick, balloons, doors, cups, homes, toys, marbles, pepper, clocks, hands, kites, money, curtains, candy, names, moon, noises, water, pots, lids, parrots, chairs, napkins, fences, leaves, Disney, pets, crayons, paper, mailboxes, scoops, salt 

Hailey: 

My family, books (12,000 times), nature, pencils, paper, trees, oceans, earth, spookiness, my body, the church, the Temple, marriage, spiders (12,000 times), God, Jesus, scriptures (100,000 times), food, rain, Mom, Dad

 It really is surprising how much we have 
to be thankful for. 

 Hailey and JoLynn's lists crack me up. And I am thankful for that too.

Weekend get away

We went up to the cabin in Prescott this weekend.  It was so fun as always.  It was so nice to get away and spend some time together as a family.   We spent most of our time outside enjoying the brilliant Fall leaves and the cool weather.

 This is the last road you take through town before reaching the mountains.  There are the most beautiful victorian style houses on this road and we always look forward to this part of the trip.  We had to stop this time and take pictures of the amazing Fall colors!

 All play and no work?  No way.  Hailey and JoLynn learned the art of doing dishes with no dishwasher, and they acutally thought it was fun.

 Feeding the ducks at the lake.  

I burned the pancakes that morning, so we had plenty of leftovers to feed the ducks.  They were brave enough to come and eat right out of our hands.

 We went on a nature walk around the lake.  It was beautiful!

 I dont' know which of our kids took this picture of Shae, but it makes me laugh!

 Then we played at the park

 Big kid in a little kid's swing

 We stopped at Sunset Point on our way home.  The sun wasn't actually setting, 

but the view was lovely anyway.

"make sure you point the camera high enough so you 

don't cut our heads off..."

Is she hot?

One day we were driving and the Arizona sun became too much for Hailey.  I suggested hanging the bag up in the window to block the sun, but she said this was just easier.

MHS Homecoming Game

 A few weekends ago, Joel was on a scout camping trip, so I took the girls to the MHS homecoming game.  It was fun to see some old friends.  Hailey and JoLynn were so excited about the whole thing - the band, the crowning of the homecoming king and queen, the fireworks, the cheerleaders - they were in heaven.  Not to mention Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Claire were there too :).  

These pictures crack me up.

watching the fireworks with Grandpa after a touchdown.  Mesa High won by the way.  Go Jackrabbits!

JoLynn trying to get Claire to smile.  Claire trying her hardest NOT to smile.  So funny!

"Mesa Rabbits, we are #1!"

This picture of Claire reminds me so much of my sister Cindy (Claire's mom) when she was little.  Cindy always use to stick her tongue out like this when she was feeling shy.  So cute!  

October birthdays extravaganza!

On Joel's birthday we woke up bright and early and went hiking in the Superstitions with some friends.    It was blazing hot, the kids fought and whined the entire way, it was way longer than we planned, but other than that, it was the best way to celebrate a birthday ever! :) :) :) Ha,ha!  Nothing that a little Nielson's frozen custard and grinders couldn't take care of though.  Joel requested a Mexican banquet for dinner with banana cream pie made from scratch instead of cake, so while  I lovingly slaved over that in the kitchen, he relaxed with the girls.  Happy birthday to my Joelseff.  I love you more than life itself!  

Somehow I managed to age another entire year in what seems like a week.  Where does the time go?  How did I get to be thirty-something?  Joel gave me the day off and I spent the morning taking as much time as I wanted getting ready, wandering around San Tan mall by myself, and taking a nap.  It seriously was the greatest!  It's funny that all Joel wanted for his birthday was to spend time with me and the girls (whining, fighting, and all) and all I wanted to do was spend time alone.  Ha,ha!  But I wasn't a loner the entire day.  Joel took me out to lunch at Macaroni Grill and it was delish!  Then he fixed dinner and my parents came over for some evenin' visitin'.  Joel got my wedding ring fixed (which I haven't been able to wear for almost a year because of a broken prong) and gave it to me looking all shinny and new.  Now hopefully I will stop getting hit on everywhere I go.  Sheesh, I'm a married woman!

JoLynn turned 6!  Joel was totally on the hunt for stuff you can get for free on your birthday, so he took her to Krispy Kream to get some FREE birthday doughnuts, then to Denny's to get her FREE birthday grand slam breakfast, then to lunch at Chick Fil-A to get her FREE birthday icecream.  She exclaimed several times throughout the day, "OOOHHH, this is the BEST birthday EVER!"  Ha, ha!  What a cutie!  I got to go help in her class that day, so I made 4 dozen cupcakes to celebrate with while I was there, only to find out her school doesn't allow birthday treats.  What a perfectly good waste of time and sugar!  I would have been mad if JoLynn hadn't already been filled to the max with FREE sugary garbage, but seeing as how the day wasn't even half way over I took it as a sign.  Her teacher made sure she got extra special birthday attention throughout the day though, and I could tell JoLynn was feeling pretty special.  That night we had all our family over for a chili and corn bread feast.  Overall, I'd say it was a pretty fun day for a 6 year old.  Happy birthday my juicy JoLynn!  You are my sunshine!

Happy Halloween!

This year Hailey and JoLynn wanted to go as the Sanderson Sisters from the movie "Hocus Pocus"
(cheesiest Halloween movie ever made, by the way.  Bett Middler at her prime.  Yikes!).  
Shae was their black cat Binks.

They were totally into character.  It was so funny!
(and, no those are not fake witch teeth.  Our daughters were just blessed with superior dental beauty, what can we say!)

This is Shae's little play group that gets together once a week.  They are so cute!!!  JoLynn loves to be my helper when it's our turn to have it at our house.  Shae looks forward to "play goop" all week long.  These costumes lasted for about 30 seconds before they were all stripped down and trying on each other's accessories.  What a bunch of cuties!

To Do Lists

I've been writing out little To Do lists for Hailey and JoLynn after school because I'm tired of being a naggy mom, having to remind them over and over again to do things like homework, practice piano, empty the dishwasher, pooper-scooper duty, etc.  So when they get home from school, I hand them their little "To Do" sticky note and when all the things are crossed off, they have the rest of the day to do what ever they want.  It's been a pretty effective system so far.  I might say a little too effective.  While I was in the middle of making dinner,  JoLynn stuck a little sticky note on the counter in front of me with some To Do's of her own for me. It said:

-Play with JoLynn after dinner

-Eat otter pops

-Go for a walk

Oh, if only!  I wish I could frame it and make it my permanent everyday To Do list.

This is JoLynn being...   JoLynn :) :) :)  Love this girlie!!!!

 This crazy girl of mine LOVES to be outside with our dog.  Rain or shine, day or night, if ever I don't know where she is, this is the first place to look.  She gets so dirty and sweaty out there, and always comes in smelling like the dog, but hey, it keeps her happy!  She has discovered the joy of dress-ups and usually leaves a trail of diaper and clothes from the dress up box to the back yard.  She was outside coloring in the 115 degree heat when I took this picture.  Right after I took this picture, she decided to go for a swim in Rocky's water dish.  Right after that, she decided to let herself air dry for the rest of the day naked in the back yard.  

 Shae is by far our most head-strong child.  She's not one to wait around for someone to help her with things.  If she can't reach something or do something the right way, she will figure out a way to get what she wants, and FAST.  When she's trying to do something she knows she's not supposed to do, she will grab my hand and take me to the other room and tell me, "go way!" so I don't see what she's doing.  Most days she leaves me wanting to cry and laugh my head off at the same time.  She can be so infuriating, yet so dang cute all at once.  She has learned the phrase "I mean it!" and uses it all the time:

I wan wacha moomie, I meeenut! (I want to watch a movie, I mean it!)
I nee dink a mok, I meenut! (I need a drink of milk, I mean it!)
I hat furth, I meenut! (I had it first, I mean it!)
 Stopet, I meenut!  (Stop it, I mean it!)

I luloo, I meenut! (I love you, I mean it!)




... anybody want a peanut?