Phew!

Alright so I have now posted our major event over the past year since Dan's graduation. Now that I feel like we are caught up we should be a little better about posting. Dan and I are getting very, very excited for our trip next week. We leave on Friday for Fort Lauderdale, FL with Sara and Lowell. Then on Saturday the 12th we will embark on an eight day cruise in the Carribean. We are both very excited. When we get back, we'll be sure to post about our adventures at sea.

August 2009 - Camping at Blue Ridge Reservoir

Dan and I. . .

















. . . along with Danny, Anna, Daniella, and Kendell. . .

















. . . thought it would be fun to take a little adventure to the outdoors. Sara and Lowell and their kids couldn't make it this time but I hear they are planning on going soon :). We drove up to Blue Ridge Reservoir on Friday night and just stayed one night. It was short but it was pretty fun.

We all know that Kendell is a busy body and all he wanted to do was crawl around in the dirt and eat the rocks. We finally got smart and took him to play on the tarp. He enjoyed that a whole lot more!
















In fact I think we ALL enjoyed it too!
















On Saturday morning we went to the reservoir. . .
















. . . and Danny threw his fishing line in a few times but the fish just weren't hungry!

Celebrating Birthdays in August

Well on the Ellsworth side of the family we have been having monthly Sunday dinners (we do this on the Merrill side as well). For the month of August we decided to do a birthday celebration. It was Daniella's birthday and we had missed quite a few birthdays over the summer with most of the family being up in Idaho. So we decided to celebrate everyone's birthday at once. Anna's birthday was in June, Lowell and mom's in July, and Daniella's in August. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone. Anna and Danny made breakfast burritos for dinner and then we had a few presents to pass out.
















Dad thought it was all too tiring so he had to take a little nap!

August 2009 - Seth's Acceptance Day

My mom, Sara, and I were able to make a quick trip to Colorado to visit Seth for Acceptance Day. It is the day that they are officially done with basic training and are part of a squadron (I think?). Anyway the three of us surprised him. He had no idea that we were coming. He was most surprised to see me as he knew that I was crazy busy with work and such. Because we flew in on Tuesday and flew out on Wednesday night I was able to make it. They do a parade and march around the field and are presented to the "Big Wig" not sure what his title is. . . Commander or something like that. They had their backs turned to the audience pretty much the entire time and so he didn't see us until we came on the field after the whole thing was over. He had a big smile on his face and was excited to see us. Because he wasn't expecting to see us, he had quite a few tasks planned for that afternoon. So the 2 or 3 hours that we had with him we were busy running around campus. We picked up his books for classes, got some pants from the tailor and went and spoke to some professors as well. We didn't even have time to eat the lunch that we brought him. We left the lunch in his dormitory and wished him good luck! Here are a few pictures from the fun adventure:

My mother, armed with her camera, anxiously waiting for Seth to come on the field. It was a little sunny that day and my mother tried to offer us umbrellas but of course I declined. Sara used it and didn't get sunburned, but the left side of my body got a little burnt from the Colorado sun.

















Where's Seth?
















Getting his shoulder things (I don't know what they're called!)
































Mother and son united again. . .
















Hey there's me! I was very excited to see my brother in his uniform and marching around.
















There we all are.
















As we were walking around campus I made Seth stop so that I could take a picture of him. In the background is the chapel that is on campus.

June 2009 - Mary's Graduation

Finally I made to the end of the road to graduation. It was a long road and boy was it worth it. I am so happy to have graduated and closed that part of my life. Don't get me wrong I am grateful that I had the opportunity to go to school but it was a long road and I am glad to be done. I did two years of undergraduate work at BYU then I went to Midwestern University where I earned a Doctor of Pharmacy. That's right you can call me Dr. Merrill!!
















My father was able to hood me at graduation. He probably doesn't want me to tell this story but I have to. . . The night before graduation there was a banquet held in honor of the graduates. I invited my mom and dad to join Dan and I in this celebratory dinner. I picked up my mom and Dan met us there. Because our family seems to be so busy, Dad of course was double booked and he had to go to a Kiwanas (he's the president) Club meeting before coming to the banquet. Prveviously however, Dad hurt his back and essentially couldn't do much without being in pain. So he shows up late to the banquet but could barely make it there. We even considered asking the hotel if they had a wheelchair we could use. I asked Dad if he had taken anything for the pain (i.e. drugs), as you know I am a druggist, and of course his reply was no. So I leave the banquet to find a gift shop at the hotel that might sell some medication. They were closed but I convinced the cashier to sell me some drugs through the gate (a little shady I know!). With a little bit of drugs and laughter, we were able to make it through the dinner with little embarassment on my part in front of my fellow graduates. The next day. . . was graduation. Remember he was supposed to hood me. How was my Dad who could barely walk supposed to hood me in front of hundreds of people? I asked the same question. . . . Somehow we made it through and it was all quite enjoyable. I laugh about it now and am grateful that my dad was able to be there with me to share this important event in my life.




















Of course Dan was there to support me and I think he was just about as excited as I was to be done with school.




















Nonna was there cheering nice and loud like a grandma should. She seemed very proud and was happy to be there. Dan's dad, John, was also there however I didn't seem to get a picture of him.
















Daniella came as well. . .
















And Sara. . . . She might not like this picture but I think we look very happy in this photo.




















Dad wanted this picture since we will all be doctors one day. We're just waiting on Ben to be done with school. Soon enough he'll be done too! (~2 years to go)




















Samantha was there to support me but none of her brothers wanted to come. They though it would be too boring to come to graduation. Honestly I kind of agree with them. Graudation ceremonies are kind of boring, even when you're the one graduating.
















After the ceremony we all went out to lunch to a super yummy Indian restaurant. Even Kendell had fun there.

Chrismas 2008

Just wanted to share a little bit of this last Christmas.

Getting ready for Christmas. . . .

It is family tradition that we make cinnamon rolls and have them for breakfast on Christmas morning. This last year Daniella helped me make them. Man were they pretty tasty!

Christmas Eve we spent at Dan's parent's house:

Traditionally Dan's Mom makes lots and lots of cookies for Christmas. We all look forward to eating them every year. Maybe she'll let us help a little more next year that way it isn't so much work for her.

Then we had everyone in Mary's family at our house. They all slept there Christmas Eve (except for Anna, Danny, Danielly, and Kendell - they came over Christmas morning insted) and we woke up together as a family on Christmas morning. It was really fun and we sure had a blast.

We moved our three couches downstairs around the Christmas tree so that we'd all have a place to sit. I still don't think we had quite enough cushions but we made it work.

September 2008 - Moving to Our New House

Well we were finally able to move into our house, only a week late due to loan processing issues. We were very excited and we still absolutely love our new house!


Dan driving the moving van. We only had to make one trip! (it was also a very large moving van)















Here it is. . . . the new house!
















Dan measuring to put up blinds and as you can see we were still trying to get everything put away. Dan's Dad and brother, John, helped us put all the blinds up the day we moved in so we'd have some privacy.

August 2008 - Microburst at Our Apartment in Tempe

The week that we were getting ready to move out of our apartment in Tempe and into our new house, we had what we called a "microburst." It was monsoon season and it seemed that we got the worst of it that night. I haven't ever been in a hurricane, but that's what it felt like. Dan said that it kind of reminded him of the hurricanes that he lived through while on his mission. It was Doris' (Dan's mom) birthday and we had all gone to Tutti Santi's for dinner. It started storming but we all got home safely. Dan and I were just chilling in our apartment when it started to rain really, really hard. At the apartment we had weeping willows that served as shade trees where we parked our cars. The shade was nice however when there were big storms, the trees had a tendency to lose branches and hurt cars. So when we heard the storm Dan went out to move our cars so that they wouldn't get damaged. He was able to move one car and just as he drove away part of a tree fell right where the car was.........
















That is our door into our apartment as well.

Then Dan went to go move the other car and didn't see that this tree had fallen over. So he started to back up, but another branch had fallen where he had just moved that car. . . .































So he just sat in the car until it died down a little bit so that he could get out of the car without getting hit by a flying branch. He was able to finally get out and after the storm died down we moved the branch and were able to park our car behind the complex away from the trees.

We lost power throughout all of this as well. . .

















And a tree blew the fire hydrant over so it was spewing water into the street on the fallen down power lines.

We slept that night wthout any power and it took them about a day to get the power back on. It was all very crazy but grateful that now one was hurt. They had to close the street in front of our apartment down because of the fallen power lines. They had police there guarding it so that no one would get hurt. We couldn't drive anywhere. The next morning I had to walk to a different street so that I could be picked up by my friend and carpool to school. Crazy, huh?

It's Been A While

So I started this blog in hopes to be a little better at posting what is going on in our lives. Alas I haven't done so well (note: Dan hasn't posted anything either!). Anyway I thought I'd do a little catch up before we leave on our trip next week. I am finally settling down at work and have officially started at my home store. I have a set schedule now which is a huge relief. The hardest thing the past few months has been not knowing what my schedule was for more than about a week at a time. I am a big planner and not being able to be in control of my schedule was starting to get to me.

Dan's work is going pretty well too. He had to go to Grand Rapids, MI a few weeks ago for 10 days (wow it was a long time!!) for work. It was really crazy busy there and one week he worked over 90 hours (way to go DAN!). It has calmed down a little but it is still pretty crazy at work. His company is doing pretty well and it may get kind of crazy the next couple of months if things go as planned at work. We are both very grateful to have the job security that we do!

Alright I'm am now going to give a little timeline of what has happened and share a few photographs with all of you. Here it goes. . . . .

May 2008 - Dan's Graduation

Dan's a hybrid graduate: 1/2 BYU 1/2 ASU

Here is some of the family that was able to come to the celebration at the park after graduation. Chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, chips, and of course. . . . CAKE was on the menu!

My dad seemed to like the blue frosting. Yummy!!!