Photographic Memory

This week I feel like I should have been carrying a camera with me all week because my memory is completely and totally shot and a photo is basically the only way I am going to remember anything from the past 7 days. It's somewhat pathetic and annoying but that appears to be the only possible solution to my current memory loss.

Highlights of the week included time spent at home, in my own home not some other location or the car as it has been for weeks.

I did laundry Monday... I think in the end I did a total of 10 loads in one day and then Alayna had the gall to have a blow out diaper right after I started the last load. I was NOT happy to say the least!

Tuesday the girls and I hung out, painted, played games, cleaned house (not that you could tell by the time daddy came home but we did it honest!).

Wednesday we were planning on a trip to the temple but Grandma Merritt got sick so we decided to wait another week before trying again... Little miss Alayna still doesn't take a bottle so leaving her for the 5 hours or so that we would be gone just doesn't work for her or whoever was stuck dealing with a very clingy and fussy baby! As a consolation to the inability to go to the temple we were blessed enough to be invited to go play at the pool with one of Eliza's little friends. I had so much fun getting to spend some time with grown ups and the girls thought the pool was the best thing in the world!

Thursday was uneventful in fact we really spent most of the day hanging out at the Waite household. Eliza played with the twins and we had a much needed shopping trip in there at one point too. Eliza was in desperate need of new shoes that wouldn't make the blisters on her feet any worse, apparently shoes that are too small don't feel very good!

Friday was a really fun day! We spent the whole day (literally) at the lake for the PurePlay (Brian's company) company picnic. There was the boat and they rented a jet ski that was a blast! I have never been on a jetski until now and I really loved it! Ben went out with me and taught me how to drive and then set me loose! I loved it! We even forced Eliza out onto the jet ski with daddy and she actually drove the thing all by herself (what a big girl!) She wasn't such a big fan of going on the jet ski at first but then once she got to drive it she thought it was awesome! The rest of the day was spent playing with the 2 other 2 year olds (she made very good friends with Landon) and the one other girl there. What a fun fun day! Alayna spent the day being held and sleeping because she kept putting rocks and dirt and everything else she could reach in her mouth. Ben was a great sport and took the 9 yr old boy out on ski's with him, He had a really hard time getting up so he was really sore afterward but the kid sure seemed to appriciate it in the end! (Plus I'm sure the practice wont hurt Ben hehe!)

Saturday we tried to recover from the fun... Ben went to work so he didn't get to recover from Friday but us girls did! That afternoon we went to Grandma Merritt's house to learn how to quilt with Ben's cousin Jamie. So I have spent the rest of the weekend being a delinquent mother and playing with the other grown-ups! I learned so much and now I've got a terrible itch to get the stuff to start quilting and make my own now!

That was the week hope you had fun with yours!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

The best Fort ever... indoor camping (that's the way to go!)

Alayna's loot... and her favorite way to eat. DON'T TOUCH MY FOOD!

I swear Alayna starts with a hat... they're apparently highly over rated though!

My Girls!

Just look at that little tounge... I think she enjoyed biteing the pool the most!

It's been a really fun week in the Merritt house. Someday my kids are going to have to look back at this week and realize just how cool their mom really is! This week we did it all! Ok maybe not every cool thing possible but we sure did a lot!

Monday: went to Loveland to borrow the Belle dress my mom made for the girls camp skit for my ward. (I heard it went very well for them!) we spent the day playing with mom. Eliza, Grandma and I all went to the store while Alayna was 'sleeping' it just so happened that the twins left shortly after us and the dog had a freak out session that resulted in a woken and very unhappy baby! Eric cuddled her and they both got a nap out of it. I have some pictures but it'll have to wait for another day for those because they're on my parents computer.

The rest of the days of the week kinda blend together. Here are some highlights!

Grandma Merritt went to Florida. Grandma Waite (and the whole Waite clan) went on Trek (pioneer re-enactment in WY 3 days of pulling hand carts and sleeping on the ground). Eliza went through some serious Grandma withdrawl. She was so ticked off that she couldn't go see them or go water their plants etc etc etc. Funny funny girl!

One day we stayed inside it was miserable hot out all week and I couldn't stomach the heat more than once at the park. Plus I got a guilt complex from putting Alayna in a hot swing without anything to protect her legs and she got a little burn from it! But the day we stayed inside we built a fort and played 'camping' for the afternoon, had a picnic in the livingroom and got to have a pretend fire! Alayna thought the best part was the jar of baby food snacks she found and happily dumped in her lap. When Eliza and I tried to clean them up she had a fit and dumped them back out. Silly girl!

I finally got really brave and took both girls with me to the pool! I have been too terrified to do it before now and it was a fantastic experience! Eliza was very independent and Alayna didn't turn purple for more than an hour of play! No pictures but it was still a blast

On the hottest day of the week (asside from Saturday which got up to the 100's) I broke out the baby pool and Alayna had her first outside pool party. The water felt great because it was so hot outside she didn't even care that it was cold until Eliza dumped water all over her head! Which then resulted in an abrupt end to the backyard pool party

Most of the rest of the week was filled with workbooks for Eliza, coloring, and naps for everyone who could sneak one in!

Ben spent Saturday at the Stake Farm weeding in lots of mud and water. He came home looking like he got the strangest case of chicken pox in the world... turns out it was just all the spots his bug spray missed... his elbows and the back of his neck are all spotted and itchy! That evening he went out on the Lake with some guys from the ward and they apparently had a very good time because I kept hearing about it in church! Eliza made and delivered some welcome home cookies for Grandma Merritt and that was our week in a nut shell!

Ward Campout!

I guess I should really get this post done on time this week. maybe Jaron will even get his e-mail and it wont be a week late... and if I'm really lucky my e-mail will work and everyone will get the message that I did an update this time... that is all assuming of course that technology is for using to our benefit and not for throwing through walls or at your overly rambunctious two year old!

We had a fun week. Eliza and I have continued on our journey into a bit more independence and therefore it has been a week filled with temper tantrums and time outs. I have had more than one day this week where I swear the only things I get to say to Eliza all day is

"GET OFF your sister!"

"NO! you are Not allowed to push her over I don't care if I'm on the phone you still can't push her over!"

"Eliza she can't breath when you lay on her please get off"

"Alayna get that out of your mouth!"

"Eliza no taking the baby's toys! She had it first your turn is next"

"Alayna get off the stairs baby, you are going to cry when you fall" (then she falls of course and cries!)

"Hurry up we're going to be late!"

"Where are your pants! I told you you couldn't go outside without your pants on!" (I swear I dress my kids in the morning if they don't stay that way it's not my fault!)

What's the deal!? Honestly child my patience feels like it's running on fumes and you are going to be that little spark that makes me expode one day! Good thing you are so adorable and you make your sister laugh. It's a good thing that I have just as many moments of watching Eliza read stories to Alayna, or bring her toys, or get down on the floor and crawl around and hear "chase me 'Layna" and they scoot around the kitchen floor! I love them so much it's absolutly worth every moment of frustration to see them be so very happy with eachother!

Anyway... back to the week... well the weekend. Ben took Friday off and spent the morning packing for the ward camp out that evening and I spent the morning busting my buns trying to get some homework I forgot about done. Ben's so incredible for packing all that stuff up for us! We had a fantastic time at the camp out with the friends and the pets and everything else! The major downer of course would be the inability to sleep. My goodness it's rediculous how hard it is to sleep in a tent when your cold. The girls slept fine but neither Ben or I got much sleep all night. Ben cooked breakfast all morning, Eliza slept in and I just hung out with the other families in my area! Such a nice relaxing trip all the way around. Friday night we had a fireside with everyone doing little skits with their families and such it was so funny! The bishop's family had my favorite skit of all... it was a fishing song... I'll have to find out what it was called so I can give a better discription but it was really funny to say the least! Saturday we cleaned up camp after breakfast, took Eliza on a little hike and headed home. Ben and I shamelessly slept most of the afternoon while Eliza watched a movie and Alayna had a nap. It was a truly fantastic weekend and I look forward to more weekends like that in the future! Hope everyone's week was wonderful!

PS for more pictures check out my facebook... here were a few I liked for those who don't do the facebook thing

Happy 4th Of July

Spa day with Eliza... her painted fingers and toes. She even got to paint my fingers! (supprisingly very well done for a two year old!)

Alayna with her hives. This is what she did from 8am-4pm that day. (sorry for the poor lighting you can't really see how bad the hives really were in this picture!)

ON to the post:

First off a huge Thanks and heartfelt appriciation to all the incredible Men, women, and families who have sacrificed everything for the freedoms and privillages we have here in this wonderful country we live in! I am Proud to be an American!

This week has been another one of those not so fun weeks. I have dilligently tried to see the perks to how horrible it's been and the one I finally came to see was that at leasts the girls were sick and all before I started school again on the 4th!

Alayna went into the doctor on Monday morning for the ear infection I was convinced she had... well sure enough she had an ear infection. We started her on some amoxicillin and forced that down her for 2.5 days before she broke out in hives all over her body. She literally had hives from head to toe. Poor kid was really really miserable I was really relieved when I finally gave her some benedryl to help and she finally slept in peace. Eliza had a really tough time with Alayna needing mommy so much she kept picking on Alayna and touching her (it really made her scream with the hives!) thus Eliza spent a good portion of the morning in time-out for being out right mean. By some mercy from above Carolyn (Laura's mommy) was willing to take Eliza for the afternoon for me. I was about to totally loose it by the time I droped her off so I really appriciated the wonderful blessing of fantastic friends who are so willing to help. The next day wasn't nearly as bad and the girls were back to normal playing together and laughing! Alayna still had the hives but she wasn't nearly as uncomfortable.

Saturday was a good family day... kinda. We went to the ward 4th of July breakfast Ben was an excellent cook and Eliza loved getting to play at the park. The rest of that day was spent cleaning the house while Ben fixed his air conditioner in the truck. The truck ended up being quite the project but he got it done! Eliza played at Grandma Merritt's for a little while and I cleaned like a mad man all day long. We also went and cleaned the church. That went a lot quicker than we expected which was nice!

Sunday was 4th of July! Happy independence day. We went to Eric's ordination as an Elder which was nice and then spent the afternoon/evening at my parents house. The fireworks ended up getting rained out, we went home late put our very tired girls to bed and went to bed ourselves.

Other random things from the week: Eliza wanted to go to the park, Mom said no because I needed to cook dinner.

Eliza: WHY!?

Mommy: because your tummy needs some dinner.

Eliza: NOOOO!!! my mouf (mouth) need food not tummy!

Ah the joys of the simple logic of a child!

Alayna has started following me everywhere I go. If I leave the level of the house that she is on she will scour the entire main floor before going to the stairs sitting at the bottom and crying until mommy will come and get her. The best part is that she is perfectly content to just sit and play in whatever room I'm in just so long as I'm in there too.

Eliza's speach has improved a lot over the last few weeks. She's got a little bit of a lisp when she says 'yes' and has taken to showing some verbal excitement in the things she wants to do. Such as going to grandma's house usually earns a very excited "YETH!" She's also gaining some more independence... it's a little forced but I've come to the sad realization that I have been babying her way way too much these days so we're working on it. The current result is lots of tantrums but she eventually does what is ask of her so I'm glad that this will not last forever... I hope.