Sorry... so crazy around here....

My friends and family life has been crazy for me... I have not forgotten any of you at all. I am still checking out your blogs when I get the chance but I rarely make comments because I am usually looking at them on my phone while I am waiting somewhere. As for not keeping up with my blog, I am truly sorry!!! I will eventually catch up! I took a college class this semester and well... it is keeping me very busy. But we can't wait to see all of you in December... yeah!!!!

Niagara Falls

We LOVED this place... seriously any of you can come and visit and see these sites they are Awesome... Dad you would love... I mean LOVE to take pictures here, that's all I could think of is how much you would love it! Mom you would love all the green trees, nothing beats the east coast! Casey I know you love history, come check it out. Ammon church history, I know you want to see it!!! HINT...HINT! Okay so maybe I just miss all of you and need to come see you instead.
This is the water before it goes over the falls... we had not seen the actual falls yet!

Here is our first look at the falls, I will never forget it, it is so overwhelmingly awesome!!!!

Observation point

Maid of the Mist boat tour into the falls

Mist from the American Falls

The American Falls

A picture canada and the mist of Horseshoe falls from far away in the boat.

Closer pic of the American Falls.... Dad you would love this place so many cool pictures!

Horshoe falls we are leaving the mist.

The canadian side of Horshoe falls this was as close as we could get because I forgot all our passports and birth certificates.... oh well!

Horseshoe falls, look at all the mist, as we got into the city you can see the mist in the sky, it looks like it is coming out from the middle of the city buildings... so very cool!!!

At the end of our trip on the Maid of the Mist, boat is leave Horshoe falls

Observation deck

Cave of Winds its as close as you can get to the falls

Madison and Benjamin at the bottom of Cave of winds we are going to the Hurricane deck to get in the falls... Yes!!!

Me, not the cutest pic, but I have to document that I am actually on these trips!

Shane with Aleyah asleep she was so tired!

On our way up to the top!

This is the last picture I could take before we went up to Hurricane deck, where it is too wet to take pictures, see below how wet we got even wearing ponchos! Aleyah was asleep I couldn't believe it, but not for long!!!

After the Cave Winds, we are completely drenched!!! It was soooo much fun our kids loved it and wanted to do it again! (Notice the special sandals we had on because you get sooooo wet!)

Horseshoe Falls observation point

Church History Trip to Palmyra, New York

After Niagara Falls we went to Palmyra... if any of you come out to see us this is one of the many choices you can go do...hint hint, wink wink!
Hill Cumorah

Hill Cumorah

Cute little girl, she loved Hill Cumorah

Characters from the Gold Plates

Grandin Press: Where the first Book of Mormon was published

A first edition Book of Mormon that has never left Palmyra.

Peter Whitmer Farm Visitor Center and Chapel

Peter Whitmer Farm Log Cabin

Sacred Grove

Joseph Smith Family Farm House

Palmyra Temple veiwed from the Smith Family Farm

The log cabin built as a temporary home until the other home was done... this is the home where young Joseph Smith had the surgery on his leg.

Steelers training camp

We are soooo lucky, Shane's school Saint Vincent hosts a Steelers training camp (it is tradition from forever ago) YES, the actually Steelers play there all the Big names: Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu and Chris Hoke ect. You know the actual team that won the Superbowl... yep in town to go and watch for FREEEEEE!!! So we had to do it! It was actually fun the kids loved it!

Camping at Keystone State Park

At the end of July we went camping as a family, I only took pictures at the lake I forgot to take any while we were actually camping... silly me! A big huge thanks to Shane he did almost all of the work for this fun family trip! Love you babe!

Little Handprints

I just love being a Mom!!! Aleyah thought it would be great fun to play with Daddy's deoderant. She made a huge mess... so I cleaned it up and I thought I got everything. The next day I walked in the bathroom and the sun was hitting our tub just right and I could see these tiny little white hand prints that I had missed the day before... I will miss these kinds of things when my kids grow up! (hope you can see them)

Happy Birthday Shane!!!!

For Shane's Birthday we went to Pittsburgh and tried a new pizza place (that was on the food network) it wasn't all that great. (at least that's what we thought) We went to a park to play. These pics are after we got home: we sang Happy Birthday and had some icecream cake.
Happy Birthay Shane, We love you!!!

FREE FOOD!!!!

We will go to extremes to get free food. Chick- fil- a had "Dress up like a cow day" and get a free meal!
So we did it was fun and the food was awesome!!!

Mountain Biking

We went mountain biking with some awesome friends (Ben and Nicole, they are going on the cruise with us so some of you will get to meet them!) I loaded the pics backwards so they are all messed up anyways this is us before we went out that is why we are still clean. hehehe

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!!!

We went to a Childrens Amusment park called Idle Wilde for Benjamin's Birthday it was fun
and now he is a big 5 year old! Happy Birthday Buddy, we love you!

Our trip to Washington DC

We went to Washington DC on May 15 and 16th with our friends the Daniel Family. We went so I could do a 5k Race (sorry no picture, I ran it all by myself and I did not want to carry the camera) We also wanted to go to the temple. While we were there we thought we would see some of the many sights! We are planning on going back to see more... seriously you need a good 2 weeks to try and see it all. So if any of you want to come visit we can go, it is sooo much fun I love it!

Washington Memorial and Reflection pond.

Outside the Lincoln Memorial

Statue of Lincoln ( I know, duh Renee)

Us and Lincoln (hehehe)

Looking out from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Memorial and the Reflection Pool.

Viatnam War Memorial

World War II Memorial

Smithsonian

We only went to the Smithsonian: Musuem of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum (there were sooo many and we did not have time for all but we are for sure going back)

Arlington National Cemetary

John F Kennedy's Grave and his immediate family

Jefferson Memorial- Washington DC

Here we are going in to the memorial

Here is the statue of Jefferson

Leaving the memorial ( its evening now and the lights came on)

This is a view of the Washington Memorial from the Jefferson Memorial
on the lake next to the Jefferson Memorial

Washington DC Temple

These pictures don't do this temple justice... it is huge and beautiful!

This is Shane and I watching our friends kids outside of the Temple
(so they can go in) and then the next day they watched ours for us.

Our Trip to Philadelpha, PA

We took a trip to Philadelphia PA on May 7,8 and 9th

Liberty Bell

Washington Square

Benjamin Franklin's Grave

Benjamin Franklin's History
(He was a huge maker of Philadelphia as a city)

Independence Hall

Independence Hall is the most Historical Buiding in all of Philadelphia, PA. This is a picture of us out front and off to the side of me on the ground are to placards that state "This is where Lincoln stood to give a speech", and next to it " This is where John F Kennedy stood to give a speech" ( I can't remember what the speeches were...sorry.

This is the courthouse, in Indepence Hall

This is the famous room where the Declaration of Indenpence
was created and signed. (Soooo very cool!)

This was our Nations First Meeting place for the Senate

Philly Cheesesteaks

A few weeks before we went on our trip to Philadelphia, we saw a PBS show about good places to eat and they said the best 2 places to get a philly cheesesteak was at Geno's steaks and Pat's King of Steaks. (Which funny enough are across the streat from each other) So we got one from each of them. Shane and I liked Pat's King of Steaks the Best (it was the one that the city of Philadelphia has recognized as the inventor of the cheesesteak) Yummmy!!!!

The Delaware River

Our Hotel in Philadelphia was on the Delaware River in the Historic District. Across the river is Camden New Jersey. The boat at the bottom picture, one is a dinner ship and the other is a museum.

Amish -- Lancaster County, PA

I didn't take very many pictures here, but we went to see the Amish.

This is a moving table at an Amish Bakery, we got shoo-fly pie (yummy)

This is a little petting zoo there.

Wildlife

We have tons on of wildlife here in PA. This is a picture of Aleyah, Benjamin and Anna (a friend) feeding the ducks. Also we had 2 diffrent families of Robins nest here (see last picture) we got to see the mommy and daddy birds bring food for the little chicks. So far we have seen raccoons, groundhogs, deer, bunnies, ducks, lots of birds, squirrels and chipmunks all in our back yard...so awesome!!!

Mammoth Park

At the end of April we went to a park called Mammoth Park and it has this huge slide for the kids they loved it. You can slide with wax paper and go super fast. My first trip down I was holding Aleyah and went so fast I came flying off the end and almost dropped Aleyah, the people at the bottom laughed and some gasped in shock (because I had a little one with me) I didn't know that the nylon pants I chose to wear would be sooooo slippery!!!

Easter Egg Hunt at the Harris' House

On April 11th we had an Easter Egg Hunt at the Harris' house (Thank you Gabe!) and the Daniel's family was there as well. It was fun... we had the hunt and then afterwards we went to Five Guys burgers and fries (new to our area) It was a blast! Thank you to Gabrielle and Jacquie for all your hard work you guys are AWESOME!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Aleyah!!!!

I am so very sad my baby is growing up way to fast. Aleyah turned 2 on April 4th and we had some friends (who are like family) over for a birthday dinner.

Hempfield Township Easter Egg Hunt

On April 3rd we had a community easter egg hunt. (It was supposed to be at a park, but it litrally rain ALL DAY the day before the hunt, so the grass was soggy) Some of these pictures are of us waiting to start and some are of the hunt and some are of the end with our friends the Harris'.

Caught ya'!!!!!

We had the sprinkles out to decorate some cupcake and I caught Aleyah eating them... it was sooo funny she scooted a chair over to the counter, climbed up and score...she had sprinkles!!!!

Binky Drama

This last Thursday, I kept finding Aleyah with a Binky in her mouth all day long, she is only supposed to have them for nap time and bed time. Anyways so I got fed up with it and decided "NO More Binky's". WOW (and "wow" does not cover it) that day was ROUGH..needless to say she did not take a nap on Thursday or Friday but slept okay through Thursday night, but last night (Friday) she woke up at 5:30 and I could not get her back to sleep, no amount of comfort seemed to comfort her...(even sleeping with mom and dad) so we got up today at 5:30 and I thought she is going to need a nap so after about an hour of crying and throwing a fit she fell asleep, finally. But I have not caved in to those blasted binky's. Such drama!!!

Finally warm enough!!!

It is finally warm enough to BBQ and Shane took the kids

outside to play.
Aleyah stuck around for the pictures...Madison and Benjamin are running around and me... well
I am stuck making dinner for everyone!

Madison's 7th Birthday

We had a very small family party for Madison to celebrate her 7th Birthday!

Rock Climbing

I posted the pictures backwards but oh well this is to go with the post before it.

Rock Climbing

At REI in Pittsburgh we can rock climb for free so we took the kids it was so fun.

New Kitchen

An awesome friend Krista Stirk gave us a kitchen for Aleyah and she LOVES it!!! I keep finding her playing all by herself. She is so cute and growing up fast!

Super Bowl Drama

Shane being the super funny person that he is decieded to play a joke on one of his professors:
First off I need to give you some back ground information... the Steelers fans out here are CRAZY and I don't say that lightly it really, truly is like a religion to people here. Seriously you would get beat up for liking another team (so if you do, you do so in secret) Anyhow Dr. Barnett (Shane's professor) is not a fan of football at all. But the professor who's office is next door is a outragous Steelers fan. So Shane thought it would be funny to decorate Dr. Barnett's office with Arizona Cardinals stuff, right before the super bowl. He followed him back to his office to get his reaction. I am sooo glad he has a sense of humor or Shane might not have done so well in his class.

2005 Cruise

Awhile back I said I was going to do slideshows of different memories... so I put the Cruise in 2005 ( my first cruise). However I could not get it to work like my last slideshow so I had to make it super small just to fit it there. So I am going to try and put a big one in the main part of my blog. SO HERE IT IS!!! MEMORIES LOVE THEM!!!!

ROCK BAND PARTY!!!!

Rock band party: Little kids

We love it when the kids play good...so the grown-ups can play too! Cousins and friends so very cute!

Driving back to Pennsylvania....snoring, boring!

Yes, the drive back felt so very, very long... but we made it!
On the map I am looking at Nebraska, half way home and I am so bored that I had to pull out the camera! Poor Shane he had to be the most bored of all us. Driving on straight, flat, dry, black, roads for 28 hours. AHHHHH!

"Merry" Christmas or maybe not so "merry"

I downloaded all the pictures from Christmas and I just laughed, NOBODY is smiling... we look like we are having the time of our lives... I guess WHEN we ARE having fun I forget to take pictures... These pictures were taken when we were waiting for Rob (our missionary) to call home. Really we do have fun together. Merry Christmas!

The making of the: "Gingerbread House"

The kids and even the grown ups had fun making ( and sometimes eating) the gingerbread house.

CRAZY .. or just plain lazy!

Okay... it's been a Long time since I updated my BLOG... as most of you know. Shane and I made a surprise trip home back to Utah and surprised the family... (That was so much fun, wish we could have taken pictures of your faces) Also I got a new camera for Christmas so I have to figure it out before I can get pics updated on this blog. But I will work on it... Oh yeah and by the way it my turn to have sunny weather in PA while you guys wallow in the snow... hehehehehe!!!

PEEK -A- BOO!!!!
It was so very, very cold... I stayed inside to take pictures. The kids noticed me taking them and thought it was funny to make faces through the window. Silly kids!

Memories

Friends and Family I wanted to put a slide show on my Blog titled "memories" I plan on changing the pictures quite often. It will be based on Holiday's or fun times that we miss with all of you. So keeping watching and you could see holidays, birthdays, cruises, vacations, weddings ect. The slideshow I posted today is pictures taken on Thanksgiving 2007 at my Mom's house (we don't usually have it there, but it was fun)

Super Duper SMILES!!!

It is so hard for me to get pictures of Aleyah with a smile... I bring out the camera and she just clams up...so today I went nuts with her... I love her cute little smiles and I finally have proof!

Mommy and Me

The kids and I had a little fun with the camera, not much else here to do in PA when it rains alot. Besides Madison begs me all the time to use the camera so what could it hurt.

My little reader

Madison has learned how to read and loves it. I found her like this and thought it was so cute

TRICK OR TREAT

Our cute little family right before trick or treating The kids in their costumes

We went trick or treating with this awesome family The Daniels: Beau, Jacquie, Kailee and Ava. Also in this picture a friend in our ward Bro. Earnsburger.

Beau, Jacquie and me laughing (which we do alot they are so funny)

Me... Shane took lots of me so I put one in.

Benjamin and Kailee Kailee, Ava, and Aleyah

Kailee and Ava

Aleyah

Madison and her friend CJ

Halloween at Fort Allen Elementary

Here is Madison at here school parade... what a darling little princess!

Carving the Pumpkin

Okay so the pictures are loaded backwards but I don't want to change them so Here is the fruit of our labors Mr Jack o Lantern. And all these other pictures are the pumpkin GOO FIGHT we got into and it was huge, I had to clean Shane, myself, the kids, the walls, windows, table and floor. BIG mess but totally worth it... so much freakin' fun!

Aleyah

Aleyah was afraid of the goo in the pumpkins so she would not help. So these are the pictures I took of her... they were so cute I had to put them in. She looks so sad, but actually she was afraid... it was so funny she was kissing the pumpkin... but then as soon as we cut it open she was afraid of it.

SLACKER!!!

I know I have been remiss in getting my blog updated often enough! Well today I went to download pictures from my camera to my computer and my interface cable (I just learned today what that is) is not working. So I ordered a new one online and I should get it some time this next week then I can put new pictures of Halloween up! Yeah!

Family Pictures in the Park

We wanted to have some family pictures so we took the kids to Mt Odin park/golf course and took these pictures. The leaves here are changing and it is AWESOME!!! But just pictures of the trees do not look even close as they do in real life.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a Pumpkin Patch for one of our Family Home Evenings, each of the kids got to pick out their own pumpkin. It was so much fun!

Shane's school

This is the actual college campus St. Vincent: Right now Shane has all of his classes here at the school and I go here almost every morning to workout. Another view of the fields and some buildings at St. Vincent
This is Excela, he will have some classes here in the next few semesters. (It's the one on the end)
Closer view of Excela

SEPTEMBER 2008

Here are some pictures for September, boring...yes a little. We have done some fun things, like we went to Pittsburgh and rock climbed at REI. But as luck or my unique talent would have it, I forgot the camera. So I decided just to post some pictures of us anyway.

Shane studying... he does alot of that can you imagine! Don't you love the earphones, they help him block out the noise from his family.
Me teaching the FHE lesson.

Madison and Benjamin

Madison doing homework... and watching TV (so productive). Say Cheese... oh, I mean Ice cream!
Oh so very handsome!

No Mom, you can not have some!

Aleyah's Fashion Show

Aleyah loves to wear her PJ's unzipped, so trendy! She also loves to wear shoes that are too big, so chic!
Gimmie those puppy dog eyes!
BLING, BLING!... every girls needs a little glitter!
Ice cream, it's the new NOW in make-up. WOW!!!

Our home and life in Pennsylvania

First view of our family room Second view of our family room
Front of our Townhouse # 162
"Our front yard" or just taking a picture off our porch, this veiw is what I get see when I go to bed and when I wake up... I love it! Oh yeah and that corner is where Madison gets the bus right in front of our house...so very awesome!

The back of our townhouse Our back yard
The way way back yard
Our kitchen
Just thought this one of Shane was funny so I threw it in.

Daddy Reading to Aleyah Family Home evening (on how to be reverent)Madison is not shy at all ...
Hey look a raccoon
Mmmm...mom's food is the yummiest!

Our move to Pennsylvania

Hey Family and Friends...
We love and miss all of you! We are loving it in here in Greensburg, PA.
It is beautiful and the people are awesome. Shane is doing great in school ( I will send pictures, soon). I am having a great time meeting new friends and learning how to blog. Madison is in 1st grade and making new friends. Benjamin loves to watch Disney channel and already has a female admirer.
Aleyah is starting to talk alot, we always worry when we hear a cute little "uh-oh" come from another room.

I will update the blog with Pennsylvania pictures soon!

Merrill Family EVOLUTION....our history!!!

Our new little family of 3 in Hawaii family of 3 and 1/2.
Family of 4
Our 3 beautiful children... Madison, Benjamin and Aleyah
Family of 5

Madison 2002 to Aug 2008

Madison 3 mo. old Madison 15 mo. old

Madison Age 2 Madison Age 3
Madison Age 4
Madison Age 5 (first day of Kindergarten)
Madison Age 6 ( lost 1st tooth)

Benjamin 2004 to Aug 2008

Benjamin 2 mo. Benjamin 13 mo.

Age 2 Age 3
Age 4

Aleyah: 2007 to Aug 2008

Aleyah 2 mo old

Aleyah 5 mo. old
Aleyah 9 mo old
Aleyah 13 mo. old
Aleyah 15 mo. old