MARCH

UGHHHH!

But!.....my pumpkin seeds came in the mail today!! So I know this is just about over.

MARRIED FOR 34 YEARS

I am amazed that I have been married for 34 years.

I fell in love with David when I was 19. We married when I was 22.

I told him the other night that my life began

when he married me. So little of what came before had

the same kind of meaning and purpose as what has come since

we married. I am pleased that we have shared these

years together. He has given me perspective on life as well as

balance. It means so much to me to be called "David's wife".

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, DAVID. I LOVE YOU STILL.

Weekend Company

Lee brought Aaron home this past weekend....or maybe he

brought her. Either way it was a good thing. We had a good weekend. I always get afraid when one of our children marry. I think they will

love their new spouse's family more than they love the one they came from.

After the four married ones have proved that untrue many times over ~

although they do love their inlaws ~ you would think I would be over that

crazy thought. It was very reassuring to my anxious heart when Lee and

Aaron came to Pinetop.

They are good together. I told Lee the other day that I think

her Father in Heaven thinks she has traveled as far as she needs

to as a single person.

Although I have argued that point with Him

it is obvious that I am not the one in charge.

So, I will just have to trust in the Lord with all my heart

and lean not unto my own understanding.

LEE'S WEDDING DRESS

We had a fun afternoon on Monday. Jill, Heidi, Connie and I went

with Lee to look for a Wedding Dress. This one that she bought

was, maybe, the 4th one she put on. It is beautiful and she

looks so good in it.

Paisley Bee

This is little Paisley Beatrice my granddaughter. She is six healthy months old.

Her heart is healthy and she is so cute. My daughter, Jill, put her down

for a nap and put this blanket against her face and wrapped her arm

around it. She is trying to help her find a favorite. This was just too cute.

When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

What does it say when the baby gets engaged? For one thing it says she isn’t a baby anymore. I thought there would be 10’s if not 100’s of young men who would fall in love with Lee and she would choose one of the many and the others would die. As it turns out, it was the first one in line. Congratulations, Aaron. You get one of the Merrill girls. It doesn’t get better than that.

The men in my life.

Tim (son), Pete (son), Jeremiah (son-in-law), David (xoxoxo), John (son-in-law)
These are my favorite men. Everyone is an honorable Priesthood holder, husband and father. And they make me happy….they make me laugh. They are my friends. I love them.

What makes a man stay with a women. Let me rephrase that….what makes a man like David stay with a woman like me? Sometimes I am certain it is that he made a covenant of marriage and he has honored that in spite of who he was married to. But on the days he is here just because he loves me are blessed days. I love blessed days and I love him.
(I read this to David and he said “it made him a little weepy”. )

P.S. Valentine's flowers from my Valentine.

I LOVE THIS FAMILY.

Baby DeLaine was blessed today. These events are good times for us to gather. I have to have a picture of us all when we are all together. Since our last picture DeLaine has been born and Lee and Aaron got engaged. Their engagement means that the adult count is complete. All new additions will be babies. Today’s count 12 adults ~ 9 ¾ children.

I know it is March and we could still get some big snow storms but I think it is about the end of one of the longest winters I have ever lived through. This little patch of snow is all that is left in front of my shed. Yes!!

I remember, as a child, loving when the first snow fell. One year, my dad took Jeff and I to visit a friend in Lakeside. I think my mom probably told him to “take these damn kids somewhere”. So he took us but told us to stay in the car. We had this car that had a back shelf (for lack of a better way to describe it) behind the back seat and we could take turns climbing up there and rolling off onto the back seat. It was dark outside and in the car. I was up there for my turn when I looked up at the dark sky and saw these huge snowflakes just falling softly from above. Jeff and I just started clapping and jumping around. I remember loving the snow. My mom said by March I was whining about how long it had been snowing.

So things change but they stay the same. I love it when the seasons change and I love the snow. But I still whine when March comes and enough is enough.

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT YOU BETTER NOT CRY

My neighbor puts up the best Christmas decorations!...... His problem is taking them down. This year he bought this cool inflatable Santa. If you stood close to him and clapped he would talk. So I took my grandchildren over to see him during the holidays. I know he was pleased that he had good stuff out there. But as you can see his Santa was left out tooooo long. (circa: March 2009) I worried about my little grandchildren coming up for a visit and seeing him out there. Kinda reminded me of the dead cows I have seen out in the field that just get left there. I saw him out gathering up the remnants of Christmas on a warm day last week. Santa is gone. Bring on the grandkids!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKEY MERRILL

Mikey had his lst birthday. I had a hard time registering his birthday in my mind. I think that it is because we were there for his birth. That has stayed so alive in my thoughts that it was like yesterday. What a sweet little boy. Connie you did good…….oh…and you, too, Tim.

ABBEY AND PARKER

This is a picture taken at Mikey's birthday party. It was the cutest thing to watch Parker help Abbey put on this back pack. It was as though no one else was even there. They were just gabbering and stopped, for some reason Parker helped Abbey put on the little pack/harness.

FOLLOW THE LEADER

I just loved this picture. Actually, I am loving how our grandchildren like each other. WE have had so many opportunities for them to be together this last month. This was in Tim and Connie’s back yard. I watched them just play follow the leader all over the yard. It was so dang cute.

TALL ENOUGH FOR HIS FEET TO TOUCH THE GROUND.

When our children were growing up we used the inside of our closet door to take measurement of their growth. I haven’t painted the door in 20+ years because of the historical significance. I get in the closet every day but don’t think much about all those marks so when Heidi showed Jeremiah and Bode the door and they started measuring him I just loved it. I would love to have all the grandkids names and marks on that door. Hmmm…extra good reason to not change out the doors.

ARIZONA

Arizona is so beautiful. These are shots of Salt River. I can’t remember the name of this formation above but it is worth noting that my brother, Jeff, climbed to the top of it and put a Show Low High School flag on the very highest point. It was there for years. I always wanted him to hike me to the top of it. Just to say I was there too but that’s ok now. I don’t need to do that anymore.