Longmont Stake Fair

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Matt thought it very nice of his Stake to plan such a big birthday party for him....and planned months before they even moved to Longmont.

Annika loved blowing big bubbles. Jenna and the girls participated in face painting by the YW. Dave, Matt, Christa and Nate in Pie Eating Contest. They had lots of games, food, and fun for the entire family at a neighborhood park.

Hwy 70 towards Colorado

The scenery was beautiful as we drove through Grand Junction. Glenwood Hot Springs, Georgetown and we could even see snow on the tips of the CO mountains.
We spent four nights with Dave & Heather in their new home










And four nights with Matt's family.
These two bro's just live 5 miles apart.










Marylyn, Annika & Andy flew in
from WA to come play with us in CO.

Utah Friends & Family

Had a nice visit with the Bybee family.

Connie Hull with Karen and Royce and grand- children.

Joe's family are settled in their new Utah home. Lots of room inside and outside. Alyssa did recently brake her ankel while jumping on their trampoline. Daniel did his fast offering collections in a golf cart. Meg is excited to be enrolled in early morning seminary which gives her more electives at school. Miranda still loves school work best. Ben-jamin is having fun checking out his new home.

Heritage Park - Wednesday

This is the Place Monument commemorating the Mormons' entrance into Salt Lake Valley.





















Heritage Park is a living-history village with more than 40 structures typical of an 1847-69 Utah community. This home was about the size of Dave's moving pod and housed a family with several children. Marv's pioneer ancestors experienced the handcarts and wagons. As we walked through the village we could feel the faith and strength of our pioneer ancestors.

Cove Fort

After attending the St. George Temple Tuesday morning, we drove on to Cove Fort, which was built in a 7 month period in 1867 to serve as a way station for people traveling between the central Utah communities of Fillmore and Beaver...a 60 mile journey that usually took 2 days. The fort provided safety, shelter, fresh stream water and plentiful livestock feed.

At the top of each bed there is a rolling pin which was used to roll out the leaves or straw in the matress and kill the bed bugs. This is the kitchen where meals were prepared and served.

During the huge Utah forest fire in August, it completely encircled this fort and also the trailers that house the missionaries....the only thing burnt was a large trash can. We were amazed as we looked around at all the burnt land and yet the building and trailers were safe.

We drove on to Payson where we met Joseph's family for a barbeque at Gerri's home. As the sun started setting we drove on to Lehi to spend the night.

Leaving California for Utah

We left CA very early Monday morning and decided to take a stretch in Las Vegas walking around this amazing hotel...they even have a large beach area with waves, sand, lounge chairs. After lunch we hit the road again heading for St. George.

After getting our hotel we went to the St. George Visitor's Center where we learned that this temple was dedicated in 1877 and the only temple available to the pioneers for several years.



Monday night for "family night" we got tickets to the Tuacohn Amphetheatre where Donny Osmond was performing. He put on a great show...very personable, entertaining, and fun music. The second half he showed video's of past performances when he was a kid and then sang the same songs with today's beat.

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.