Merit's Birthday part 2

Our neighbor owns a bounce house business.  Logan knows him from way back, they are the same age and went to school together.  I'm pretty sure our kids think we live next door to a celebrity, they get excited every time they see him drive by with his trailer, or when he has one blown up in the driveway to clean.  They call him "slide guy", "bouncy castle man", and occasionally just Luke (his name).  Anyway, he let us borrow a bouncy castle for Merit's birthday.  I am completely blown away by his generosity and we definitely owe him a batch of cookies (or three).

We got a Costco cake and invited the whole neighborhood down between conference sessions.  We had a pretty steady stream of people from noon until 5:30.  It was probably the funnest and easiest birthday party we have ever had, and the kids were seriously on that thing from 8:00 am when it arrived until 7:00 pm when we finally made them eat.  They passed out in the living room at 7:30 and didn't make a peep until 8:00 the next morning.  Even if we had paid for the bounce house, it would have been worth every penny. I wish I had pictures of all the kids there playing, but I always feel a little like a creeper taking pictures of people, and frankly, I was too busy chatting with other moms and eating cake! My mom and Kristy's family even came for a few minutes, and it was really nice to see them.  Even Logan had a blast, and I went down the slide a couple times.  Chap says he could hear the baby laughing:)

Merit's Birthday

We tried really hard to make her birthday fun this year, but it seems like every day you really want peace, the kids fight like cats and dogs.  So we left.  Can't fight if we aren't home, right?

We went to Harmon's for a cookie, we bought balloons at Party-land, we had a picnic with Dad at a duck pond, we went to Cal-Ranch to see animals, we almost talked daddy into getting a bunny, we made a cake with experimental coconut oil frosting (it had a weird texture, but I LOVED the coconut taste).  It was a jam packed day of happy, celebrating our spunky, beautiful girl.  Here comes a million pictures.

We had Grandpa and Grandma Shirley, and Anisa's family over for cake and presents, and Merit opened presents like a boss this year.  She was very excited about her ducky cake and even blew out her candle. So grateful to have her and her fun personality in our family!

Trampoline Shenanigans

The kids are still in love with their trampoline.  And I'm still amazed at how well they play together on there, and how much they still enjoy it.

Camping

We went with Ron and Shirley and Anisa and her family camping down near Logandale in the middle of March.  It was so warm! It was fun to go and play in the sand and ride 4-wheeler, climb rocks, and even sleep under the stars.  Merit is getting more spunky all the time.  She thinks she can do everything Chap can do, and she mostly does.

Ducky Pond

It has been really warm, and I've been trying to be fun.  So one day after preschool we went for a picnic at the ducky pond.  Chap still likes to feed ducks, and Merit is pretty much mesmerized by them.  They were really good kids and actually ate their lunch before we fed the ducks.

Merit's Quilt

I finally got Merit's twin size quilt finished.  I intended to get it finished before she was born, but hey, better late than never.

Not really sure when I'll get around to making a quilt for this baby.  I've been looking for gender neutral fabrics, and it's kind of a joke.  I may end up just waiting.

Dentist

I took the kids to the dentist and it was a big difference since last time.  Chap cooperated pretty well and I didn't have to hold him while he got examined.  This time Merit get a check up too.  She even got x-rays!  She did a lot better with those than Chap did:) 

The hygienists couldn't believe what a good girl she was.  They even cleaned her teeth with the typical cleaning tools instead of a toothbrush.  It was funny because when they sat her up in the chair she just kind of stood up because her feet were at the bend.  The dentist said everything looked good, to keep doing what I'm doing.  I said, "So keep brushing him while he screams?" and the Dentist said, "Yeah, I should probably get a sign that says that!"  

How we trampoline:)

Logan is a genius.  The kids want to jump when it's cold outside, but that's not all that fun for me since I'm pregnant and "not supposed" to jump on a trampoline, so I would get cold. Logan masterminded a plan to take the electric blanket outside.  Genius!

New Carseat

Merit graduated to a new carseat after Christmas.  I've been agonizing about it for a while, I want one just like Chapter's but they don't sell that model anymore.  I ended up going with the new version, because I do love Chap's so much, but honestly, all the things they did to improve it just annoy me.  I guess I'm getting old and stuck in my ways:)

She likes it though, and it's a really pretty and girly seat!

Christmas

As per tradition, we went out to eat with Logan's family on Christmas Eve (to George's Corner again) and then drove to look at Christmas lights.

Our kids are young, they aren't old enough to be so excited to wake up super early on Christmas and drive us crazy.  Christmas morning started bright and early with Grandpa knocking on the door.   I was not very happy, but what do you do?  We decided to ignore him, but eventually the knocking woke Merit up and we had to get up and let him and Shirley in and go wake up Chapter.

The kids got what they asked Santa for.
Chap: a Camelbak backpack just like the one he saw at REI and a dog pillow.
Mer: a Little People doll house and a cat pillow.

They got spoiled as usual, and even got a trampoline this year!  That was a Black Friday adventure:)

But overall, a good time was had by all and we even made it to church!

Snowman

Merit made her first snowman at my mom's the weekend before Christmas.  It was a pretty good time, Chap liked eating snow, which freaked me out, but oh well, he hasn't died yet:)

My Birthday

As usual, I am bad at taking pictures of my own life events, but I turned 29 on Dec. 9 this year.  It was fun because it was on a Friday, and Logan gets off early on Friday's, but it was also the ward party and he had to cook :( Chapter also guilted Kristy into ordering me a birthday cake since I didn't have one.  And that, is the only picture I have...

Raking Leaves

The leaves finally came down on Dec. 5, it took forever this year!  As usual, we raked them up into Logan's truck and fed them to Grandpa's cows.

Christmas Tree

We went to Sevier County for Thanksgiving, and while we were there we went to cut a Christmas tree with Justin and his fiance's family.  I was negligent and didn't pack snow clothes for the kids and it was pretty cold, but luckily Logan found a great "corner" tree pretty quickly and it was a memorable time.

7 Magic Mountains

We went to Vegas with Anisa's family to take their family pictures and have a little fun.  She wanted them taken at a place called 7 Magic Mountains just outside of Vegas near Jean, Nevada.  We stayed at the Goldstrike in Jean and it was super sketch.  Bad.  Ugh.  Just thinking about it makes me shudder. But catching happy hour at Hash House a Go-Go was fun.  You can get a bucket of chicken tenders and fries for only $5!  And the 7 Magic Mountains were pretty cool.