Happy Mother's Day - Especially Dayna!

Merrill & Ellertson Family Spring Break!

Merrill March and April Updates

Madison's Class Presentation of Pecos Bill

Jordan and Madison's Piano Recital (see the videos below!)

Annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner with green spagetti noodles, green salad, green dressing, green breadsticks and a green drink ... YUM!

Concentration is necessary for Easter egg decorating.

Jordan wants to get it just right!

Hunting for eggs!

Checking out the Easter loot!

Lauri's Family Birthdays

Each year within one month after Christmas two/thirds of my nuclear family has a birthday! This year my oldest, Amanda, turned 16! My husband, Mark, turned 40! Madison turned 9! And my baby, Taylor, turned 7! It is no wonder all we can afford to eat that month is birthday cake!

What's Been Happ'n?

How to put on a coat when you are only two.

Winter Wonders with the Hayman/Hatch household

Well, here it is, another Winter Wonderland. This was one of the first snowstorms of the season. Kendy wanted to help Daddy snowblow the driveway, but wouldn't step in the snow. So, with too big of gloves and too big of boots, this was as far as she got.
Maigen had her 11th birthday on Dec. 5 and decided to go bowling for her party. Katelin and Kylee weren't with us. This was Kendyl's first try at bowling for the night. On Gregg's turn she rolled his ball down the kid-guide and bowled a strike! Awesome!

We ordered a pizza and it quickly disappeared!! Here is Maigen blowing out her candles back at home.

On Sunday, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Williams for the December birthday get together. For December birthdays there was Richie turning 8, Maigen turning 11, Amanda turning 16, yes 16, Dayna turning 29.......again and Mom turning 29........again......as well.

My birthday was Dec. 18th. Gregg and Kendyl brought me a bouqet of balloons and a gift certificate to get a pedicure and manicure.......Ahhhhh......bliss...... Here we are sitting in my home away from home (my cubicle). Also for my birthday, Gregg and I took a road trip to Denver, CO for the Broncos vs Raiders foot ball game.

Here we are at Invesco Field at Mile High. Our Hotel shuttled us to the stadium. It was only a mile and a half away. The game was awesome, the weather was great, our seats were in a great location. You would've had no idea by the weather it was the middle of December. It was 50 degrees at kickoff. Gregg is a big Raiders fan. He was wearing an orange hat and a blue sweatshirt (Bronco colors) but was cheering for the Raiders. He got heckled a bit by the fans around us, but do you think that bothered Gregg? It was a great game too. The Raiders won with 30 seconds or so left on the clock in the 4th quarter with a touchdown. I think the final score was 20-19. We left the stadium and walked back to our hotel where our car was parked. We hit the road home at about 6:15 PM and got home around 2:00 AM. I drove to Denver and Gregg drove home. I tried to stay awake on the way home, I really did. But, that inevitable head bob got the best of me. What a wonderful birthday present.......Thanks Gregg!

This is Broncos Receiver, Brandon Marshall, signing his autographs. I also saw Matt Prater give his beannie to a little boy. It was so sweet. The little boy was ecstatic. Matt Prater is no. 5, the kicker.

I have tons of pictures if you want to see more. What a great weekend! I missed the kids though and it's always nice to come home....... Next up.....CHRISTMAS, here we come!!

Happenings from the Watts Clan

Richie's last game of the Fall season. Richie is playing goalie.

Hiking at Cascade Falls in American Fork Canyon.

Richie, day 1 of being admitted to the hospital with phneumonia, H1N1 and asthma complications. He was a very sick little guy at this point.

he had a great turn-around, adn started getting better in no time!

4 days later and he was oxygen free and ready to go home! Thank you again to everyone who helped us during this rough week. Your love and prayers touched us greatly. xo

Mom took this of me and Cody right after we got home from the hospital with Richie.

Alora's "CHEEEEEEEEEEEESE" face. She has learned to make this face every time there is a camera in her face....which is A LOT! (this does, however, make it difficult to get a "real" smile out of her!!!)

At Dayna and Gregg's neighborhood Halloween block Party. They had every game/treat/food/candy imaginable!!! It was great fun.

Eating our (free!) hotdogs and chips on the lawn. (But we did donate for next year's fun!)

Alora eating on the ground....

More eating on the ground.....

Every year we get together with our friends and carve pumpkins. This year we (OK, just Mom) was feeling lazy and decided to paint them instead. They turned out really cute, and we had a lot of fun doing it! A new tradition is born!

On the hayride at Black Island Farms.

Check out our carrots!!!!!!

Carter and his buddy Trace picked the "best ones ever"!

Alora in a whole-lotta corn havin' a whole-lotta fun!!

Kendyl's 2nd Birthday party at the Hatch home.

Kendyl's big announcement!

The so-called Velma look-alike, hence the idea was born!

Kendyl at the Trunk-Or-Treat.

The fam dressed up and ready to go Trick-Or-Treating! Carter was Duke from GI Joe, Richie was Snake Eyes from GI Joe, Alora was a Bee princess (courtesey of Lauri!) and I was Velma (courtesey of Jordan, Shelby and Katelyn for their bright idea!) Dad was....Dad.

Kyle Klein and Tami after a 5k race in Brigham that Kyle and his wife put on for charity. Personal best at 30.01!