Lake Powell...

Another summer full of Lake Powell=)
All the girls!

Brad giving Sunny the belly rub of a lifetime!

Playing football on the beach... It only took me 48 times of running up and down the beach and diving/falling into the lake to catch the dang thing. I'm pretty sure we all had a gallon of sand in our suits!

Brad's back roll...

Mandy's laugh attack

Here's something you don't see everyday at Lake Powell... Just some cows walkin across the beach.

I wish I had pictures of everything, but my camera fell in the lake... oops=) Brad got FRIED, Danny jumped off the boat WHILE Tim was wakeboarding behind it to catch the football (twice), Sunny peed on Lucky, Mandy was surfing and went STRAIGHT to butt surfing (aka burfing), I learned how to drive the boat and land jumps on the the wakeboard, and as usual, we played games until all hours of the night! Thanks for the AWESOME trip... I love Lake Powell just to see the funny things that happen=) We have the funnest family!

Uncle Butt's Softball Game

Brad had his first game of the season on Thursday!!! I'm so excited, I love softball. (They're on Thursday's at Murray Park and everyone is always invited.) They won 12-4ish... I can't remember. Anyway, the weekend before Brad went to California for work and they went to an Angel's game while they were there and Brad bought Coop a little baseball and a bat. Since my whole family came to Brad's game on Thursday, we brought Coop's present and gave it to him there. He was SO excited! So Brad went and pitched to him while Kayelyn (Brad's mom) taught him what to do and how to hit. Then he wanted me to come bat so he could pitch it and he told me everything Kayelyn told him... it was SO cute. He said "Bend your knees" as he kinda squatted and hit his knees, and "put your elbow up" and he would show me as he told me what to do. He is probably the cutest kid on the planet. I can't even express how much I love my family. My mom and dad came and Stace and Brooke brought Cooper and Bailey, and Brad's whole family (except Mandy and Tim because they're in Vegas) was there too. Thanks everyone for coming to cheer on the butt! getting ready to hit it outta the parkBrad pitched in his real game too, and he did awesome!

Coop smashed that ball! He did so good, and he informed us that "When he grows up, he's gonna play softball."

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone, I know, I'm a little late. We spent Easter with Brad's amazing family this year. From coloring eggs (and using robin eggs for lipstick) to making rice krispy fondu, it was a blast.

St. George...

We had our annual trip to St. George to judge the dance competition last weekend. My mom and Coop and Bay, Brooke, Shannon and Ava, Courtney and Michelle, and Mandy and I all judged together! Except this year, the way down was a bit more eventful... Mandy and I were just driving along peacefully, 8 miles away from Beaver at about 12:30 in the afternoon, when all of sudden I look down to an unfriendly little light on my dashboard. It was a little yellow thermostat. What the? It's a pretty new car, and we've never had any problems with it. but then all of a sudden, the light turned red! So we decided we should probably pull over. Mandy pulled out the owner's manual to find that stupid thermostat light and what we should do about it. In the mean time, a police officer pulled up and knocked on the window... "What's going on laides?" Whatever, and then he left, so we called mini and they told us not to drive it or it would warp the engine. So my awesome husband Brad called road side assistance for us while Gary was on the phone with mini. I was on the phone with my mom who was in St. George to see if she could come get us=) We were supposed to be at Dixie High at 3:30, and it was probably 1:30 now. So finally (after we RAN down I-15 in the snow to find a mile marker), a tow truck pulls up, but don't worry, we didn't have a ride to Beaver yet... So Mandy and I climed in the cab with the tow truck driver=) Come to find out, we could have stayed in the mini. He was way nice though, and he knew some of Kayelyn's relatives that live in Beaver! (Good old Vern, he's known for his yodling.) So he took us to the repair shop and we just sat in the waiting room cleaning out our wallets and purses for 2 hours! We met some other people in there though, and her daughter graduated from Woods Cross (It was Sasha Lira's mom, for anyone that knows her). Well then my mom came to the rescue! Except she had to drive my cousin Shannon's car because my sister's car was overheating too! So we finally pulled into Dixie High at 5:30 pm... only a couple of hours late=)

After we got there, and the competition was over, we did some shopping (of course), and the boys went to preisthood. and the weather on Sunday was perfect! Bradand I went out and laid on a blanket to read a book and hang out on the grass=)All in all it was a pretty fun weekend=) and Thanks Mand, I would probably be dead on the side of the road somewhere if you weren't there! Love you!

FaveREDS!!!

My dreams have come true!!! I just wanted everyone to know that there is now a bag of RED Starbursts only! It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone and everyone... I ate a few too many before I took this picture if you can't tell by my red tounge=) I bet even people who AREN'T compulsively addicted to starbursts would even like them!

Viva Las Vegas!

We went on a little get-away to Vegas last weekend for Mandy's cheer competition and Brad's birthday. Happy birthday babe! Here are some photo's of some of the fun things we did!

The beautiful Las Vegas temple! The grounds there are really SO pretty!
This is inside the forum shops at Ceasars Palace=)

What's a trip to Vegas with out going to the m&m store?

...and the coke factory!

We went to the ESPN Zone for Brad and Tim's birthday dinner... the big 2-5!

This is me punching Brad's face! hahaha...

15 down, 1 to go...

...semesters that is! I'm still trying to get used to being called Mrs. Merrill=) It's pretty cool though and I am learning SO much doing my student teaching. I only have 24 days left! The first time I presented a powerpoint in my lesson my cooperating teacher got out her "clicker" for me to use and I might have over reacted a little bit on how cool I thought it was... she bought me one of my very own the next day=) I'm so nerdy, who knew I would get so excited over something like that! I guess that's a teacher for ya!