Strange Animals at the Zoo

Some animals at the Zoo

Grafity from top to bottom

Woke up this morning with GRAFITY all over our car…covered with chocolate pudding, coffee, deodorant, smeared baking powder, sugar, and who knows what else. It was a mess from top to bottom and words that were not good at all. Anyway, dad got right on it, scrubbed, washed, scrubbed some more, washed some more…and a hour later it was clean. Could have gotten upset and mad, but had to look at the bright side of it…..we have a clean car….and NO broken windows.

Chelsea loves the kitchen and no fear for climbing. And she knows where to find the candy. This morning she was all dressed up in her ballet outfit and wanted to dance. So she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen where she could dance to her mommy's music.

Mikal celebrated his birthday with his and Matt’s families after church on Sunday…. 14 years old. Mikal's was ordained to the office of a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday. And so neat to have Matt join in the circle and his family all there to support. Awesome! Mikal's first Stake Dance is a Multi-region dance on August 25th at the cannery. He already has a ride with several of the youth in our Ward. Mikal is such a good big brother and is already teaching Steven how to enjoy books.

Sam called and is so excited about his baptism in a couple weeks. Looks like he is ready for cub scouts.

Annika is getting ready for some more traveling. She is excited to play with her cousins in a couple weeks. Her mommy and daddy will be tagging along....

Merrill Reunion at Home

The 4th of July week we spent with ALL of our children, their spouses, and 21 grandchildren. Matt and Heather planned the reunion and kept us busy the entire time: Temple trip, Marylyn's olympics at the park, Pizza cook off, Fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl, Day at the Beach, Scrapbooking, Santa Barbara Zoo, Swimming-barbeque-fireworks at Dave & Heathers, and ending at Sea World. The most fun for us grandparents was watching all the grandchildren mingle with one another since several are of the same age and interests. We also enjoyed spending time with great grandma, great grandpa, and aunt Dale from Maryland.

Temple Hill

We have been here serving in the Temple full time for the past two years and loving every minute of it. One of our 'Volunteers' who comes monthly is a lady from Nigeria, now living in the USA. She started about a year and a half ago serving in the Laundry. A very shy lady with no direction for the future. She has enjoyed serving in the temple, made several friends, has a part time job now, and is thinking of serving a mission. When I went to Laundry to visit with her the other day she had a big smile on her face, stood up to give me a hug and tell me about what she has been doing the past few months and about her future goals. It is wonderful working here in the temple and to see lives change for the better...to have goals, purpose, and real JOY. Serving others is where we receive real JOY...serving Jesus - Others - and then Yourself.