Thanksgiving Dinner

Not only did Calvin carve our Thanksgiving turkey he artistically displayed it back on the platter. Pretty fancy, eh?

Now showing all over St. George

Audrey performed with two groups this past week. She played trumpet with her high school jazz band and french horn with her band and the Dixie State University Band. French horns always get all the good parts and she had some good ones plus a couple of solos. She sure loves her music!

Babies and Water

What is it that babies find so fascinating about water? At home, Kate loves to sit on the edge of the sink and fill little cups with water or just splash as the faucet is running. Grandma figured out a way to keep baby happy without having to hold on to her the whole time. We both had a GREAT hour.

TERRY FATOR LIVE in VEGAS!

Connie and I took Katrina and Karen to Vegas for their birthdays last night. It was loads of fun. We began the evening eating in a Tapas Bar. You order different Spanish appetizers and share them. It was sooo good. Karen got the winning dish of ham and cheese thingies. I came in 2nd with bacon wrapped stuffed dates with blue cheese. They really were delicious!
We saw Terry Fator at the Mirage. This was the first show I have ever been to see in Vegas and it was really good. I didn't like the feeling of developing lung cancer as I walked through the casino to get to the theatre but the rest of the evening was firs rate! Here's a link to Terry if you haven't seen him or know who he is:

Link #1
Link #2

28 Days 'Till Christmas

If you wonder what Santa is up to as we approach the holiday season...he is in sunny St. George relaxing at my house. Eat your heart out!

Camoflauge the Turkey

I sent home turkey patterns that the students were supposed to dress up in such a way that they wouldn't get eaten on Thanksgiving. Here were some of my favorites: the turkey as the hunter instead of the hunted, Santa turkey and Kevin from "UP".

Wonderful Connie!

This is the bulletin board Connie came and put up in my classroom for November. During parent conferences one parent turned to me after looking at the bulletin board and said, "You really LOVE teaching, don't you?" What could I say? I replied, "Why, yes I do!"

Couponing

Karen and Verenda have started shopping the Super Savvy Way with some lady at the Daily Herald. Coupons are the way to go! They got me excited and I connected with the online sight for St. George and as soon as I get my newspaper coming in, I will start buying smarter. I have printed out online coupons from coupons.com, redplum.com and smartsource.com to get started. Since I ALWAYS have more month than money I'll let you know how I do. If you live in the greater St. George area and your only local Sunday paper is The Spectrum go to www.grocerysmarts.com and type in the code for our area which is g84cjg (case sensitive) for local specials. YEA saving!

Conference in Orem

We watched the remainder of Conference at Ron and Verenda's house. Pictured are Calvin with pen poised enjoying the "highest form of meditation" to quote Randy, which is sleeping during a church meeting. Ron picked me a colorful crop of carrots and other goodies from his garden to take home. His favorite veggie was the flying saucer squash that grew from an heirloom squash seed Karen had given him.

Temple Square

WOW! What a thrill to be in the right place at the right time with the right people...if you know what I mean. It was powerful to be seated with God's living prophet on the earth and most of the twelve apostles. Just like in days of old. The Stake President seated behind us had brought an elderly non-member relative and was showing him pictures from an Ensign of the "Twelve" and explaining their previous jobs and what they do now. It got me excited to hear him so excited as he tried to get Uncle ___ excited. We were there Saturday morning for the powerhouse talks. It was so GREAT that we ran back to Nana's apartment, gulped down her homemade veggie stew and ran to get in line for the afternoon. One of these pictures shows us after they let 600 more people in the Conference Center. We were numbers 601, 602, 603 and didn't get in. *sigh* We had to settle for watching conference in the historic tabernacle. There was lots of room in there. The next best seats were the Joseph Smith Auditorium with plush seats but we wanted to tough it out on hard wooden benches in the balcony. We were basically too lazy to walk to the Joseph Smith building.

Second Grade

Here is the bread we cultured in our class. After recess we gently rubbed our hands over a piece of whole wheat bread and then gave it three sprays of water and sealed it in a plastic bag in the dark for 2 weeks. The control bread looked good enough to eat. It was amazing what grew! Our volcanoes were lots of fun too!

Fall! I Love High School Football!

Calvin and I went to Desert Hills High School Homecoming football game last night. The stadium was packed and there were swarms of kids covering the grass over both end zones. This is a predominantly Mormon community so if each family brought an average of 5.5 kids....It was something to see. I wore my Bob's Team t-shirt and it happened to be the color of the rival team. My bad. This picture is Audrey in the pep band with her friend boy, Kyle. For half time the band stood on the field and played (no fancy moves which was disappointing because I thought they had been practicing a drill). They did look good as they marched out--perfect formation.

I Love To New Temples

So I took Allen to the St. George Temple and we had a unique experience. I had family names that needed to be done but was saving them for Ben and Connie since it was a couple. Since I had Allen with me we got to do the work for them. The baptisms had been done but we did all the rest of the work including being married. It was fun do go through the whole process all in one day.

Audrey Moments

Officially in high school, we see Audrey with friend Megan at a cross country meet with the nieces cheering on "The Thunder". She is SOOO excited to have a band uniform and get to march at football games. I wonder how long that will last? Their band is about 70 students.

The Return from Mexico

Allen returned from the mission field August 14 at 11:07pm. He looked good and had a way good accent. Allen is now officially taller than Ron 6'6' vs, 6'5'. We enjoyed him 8 days and he was off to BYU.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

If you read Karen's blog, she is catching up on her posts and inspired me to do the same. She talks about our adventure in the snow at Zion's park. Here is the cowboy riding off into the sunset at the end of our trip. I love this picture!

Memory Lane

So while we were in Animas we visited Guy and Audrey Miller in Portal. They are doing amazingly well. We were going to name Audrey after Guy if she was a boy but she was a girl so we named her after Audrey Miller. We sure had lots of fun reliving roping memories and seeing the old stomping grounds.

Father's Day 2009

Audrey, Karen and I ended up being in Animas for father's day this year. Karen is having a diet coke with Dad and then she shared some with him. I just want to say once that it is unsettling seeing your name on a headstone when you are in your 50's.
We sang earlier that morning at my Dad's grave in Cruces but we couldn't choke it out for Randy...a little too emotional.

Phobias

My greatest fear is height combined with motion. It goes without saying I will NOT be crossing the Hoover Dam bypass EVER! It is so unbelievably scary looking. Enough said.

Called to Serve

I spent a week in July with Mom. Here she is as a missionary in the new Church History building lobby where she works and another picture of us posing with the brethern.

Days of 47

Washington County had an All-High School band march in SLC in the 24th of July parade. Audrey is front and center playing a melophone. It was a very impressive parade!

Summer Fun!

This picture is for my sister Julie who gets to stay home all day and play with the Grandkids. Since Vera and I both HAVE TO work full-time we thought a little payback was necessary. Everyday we eat our hearts out that you are a stay at home Mom so just for you...eat your heart out! I'd like you to think this was a movie star but we're really kissing cousins :0

Sharing the LimeLight :)

The highlight of my Friday night was running to Cedar to see Cindy and Sarah in the play, "Once Upon a Mattress." In support of their siblings, Anna and Jared dressed as a Princess and a King and cheered them on from the audience. Ben always buys the girls flowers after their performances and this is what I saw...Sarah approached a little girl that was in the play with her and asked, "Did you get any flowers?" (This could have turned out badly but...) The little girl said No and Sarah said, "Oh! Have one of mine! Another example of how the little acts of kindness we bestow on others are passed on and we never know where our influence ends. Way to be SARAH!

February Kinder Bulletin Boards

As I was looking through my pictures I saw our darling work we did in kinder in February and know everyone else will be as thrilled as I was to see kinder crafts!

President Holland Family Reunion

So it turns out that Uncle Reed Morrell is related to Jeffrey R. Holland and today was a big family reunion and bar-b-que here in St. George. Jerry Andersen sculpted their ancestor Robert Gardner and he now stands in the middle of the round about in front of the St. George Tabernacle. It was a fun day for even shirttail relatives. Audrey and I pushed through the throng to shake Pres. Holland's hand and it was very soft. I don't think I've ever had the honor of shaking the hand of an Apostle. Another only since Utah moment for me.

Spring Break!

The second Spring Break started at 2:45 on Friday, Audrey and I took off up north. We had a little car trouble but made it for most of the British Brass Concert in Provo where Karen was featured as percussionist extraordinaire again! If you have never heard a British Brass group and you love horn music it is an experience you must work in sometime in your lifetime. Vera and Clint got there right before intermission and got in free. It was fun to have them with us.

Saturday, Aunt Janis,Uncle Rich,Karen, Audrey and I ran in the Rex E. Lee annual Cancer Run. He was a president of BYU who died of cancer. We were pounding pavement around the BYU campus for the cure! I would like to tell you I won a medal like Rich (2nd place) but the truth is I did beat 35 people out of 1,500 and all the ones in wheelchairs too. I was feeling pretty good about my casual stroll around the campus and the free T-shirt I got.

Saturday evening, Ron,Ren, Audrey and I went through the Draper temple for their open house. It was the last day and we were part of the 20,000 crazies that waited until the end. For all you Merrell's... we were on the BLUE bus from the Stake Center to the temple: blue,blue,blue,blue... What a surprise to see Vera and Clint working as ushers when we got off the bus. That was fun. The Draper temple sits high on the mountainside and you can see all of the Utah Valley spread out before you to the North. It is something to see! Inside the temple the ceilings extend 2-3 stories high in the baptistry and celestial room. It is so open with lots and lots of windows and so very beautiful.


Sunday we got to eat dinner in Draper with Vera and Clint. She made us green enchilladas that were yummy. It is always fun to talk to Clint's Mom, Audrey, because we talk about widow things and it is amazing to me how much we survivors have in common. It's like you get to talk to someone who really, really does understand what you are thinking and feeling because they have been there. She was widowed at 54 also. We had a special treat getting to see baby Sydney. She is 8 months old and can crawl all over the place. Erica sure is a good mommy and looks so beautiful. Motherhood is good for her I think!

Monday was the BIG day and the reason the Merrell's gathered on the BYU campus. Brian flew in from L.A. and we heard Karen present her Doctorate Thesis to her Doctorate Committee. She did a one hour power point presentation preceeded by her world class cinnamon rolls. Then, we were all kicked out and her professors grilled her for an hour. At the end they clapped and congratulated her on passing. She is now Dr. Karen Merrell, PhD. BioChemistry. She is more smarter than the rest of us!

We ate out a lot in honor of Ron's birthday and Karen's graduation. On the way home from Provo, Audrey and I picked up Jared and Anna for another sleepover at Grammies. The fun never stops :).

I will be adding pictures to this post as they become available.

OK. Here's another "Only in Utah" moments for me.
I was priveledge to go with a co-worker to her Stake R.S. Women's Conference on Feb. 5. Ardeth Kapp was the featured speaker. Her talk was entitled, "Peace Within You." She asked how we manage day-to-day and then gave us 3 ways: 1) Goal-Setting 2) Live with anticipation and 3)Drive ourselves. She suggested that we type or write out some scriptures and insert our name into them and mail them to ourselves. She said it sounds silly but she does it all the time and gets so excited when she gets a letter addressed to her and then gets to read it like it is a personal message from Heavenly Father (because that's where the scriptures originated). For a full transcript of my notes please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to .....