Merrill Family Reunion 2009

This past weekend was the Gary & Sharlene Merrill family reunion. We enjoyed our weekend camping at Big Lake. The second day there I lost my camera, so I was unable to take any pictures of our great weekend. On the last night Sharlene found my camera and so I took some photos on the last day. Everyone was so kind to take pictures for me with their cameras, so when I receive those I will post them.

On the second day Anna & Loren were there

and our kids enjoyed playing together.

Caroline & Adam hanging out.

Daycee, Charlotte & MacKenzie playing chinese checkers.

The "last person" to have my camera before it went M.I.A.

Allergies

Today Carson was tested to see if he was allergic to outside allergens. And he is. He's allergic to everything including grass, trees, cats, dogs, horses and anything else you can think of. Carson has been having constant headaches for sometime now so we finally got him checked out. Hopefully the allergy shot he'll receive once a week will prevent him from having to many headaches. He was a trooper during the procedure. They numbed his arm and he received about 100 shots. It is a long process because they have to see how your going to react to each dose. Carson definately has some battle wounds to show his friends and family.

In this picture you can see the test shots at the top of his arm. This will let the technician know how his skin reacts to histamines.

Below those are the first 38 shots.

In this picture he was given the same 38 shots but with a higher dose. The shots in the third column are swollen so much that they touch each other so it looks like one big welt. Those are the grasses that he's most allergic to. On the bottom part are the last of the shots that were given at an even higher dose of allergen. You can see how swollen the they are, they grew even bigger a few minutes later.

Carson showing off his big muscles. He was such a trooper. When I was little my mom would always buy me a prize after I had to get treated for the 100 warts on my legs. Since I'm just like my mom and fully believe in "prizes", I had to take Carson to get a prize for being so brave. We went to "Short Stop" and he picked out a king size Twix.

Family Time

Monday night Harly's softball team challenged the parents to a game. The girls won 9 to 7. It was a lot of fun and the kids thought it was funny to watch their parents play.

Later that evening we took a family stroll around the block. There were a few on bikes, a wagon and a stroller. Two seconds into our outing Mackenzie crashed on her bike. So we had a crying girl the whole way. We were met by a little doggie and of course a few screams from the girls. That was definately an adventure.

Happy Birthday MacKenzie!

MacKenzie turned 5 years old on June 10th. She had a little party with her cousins and friend Rachel Condie. This is her with her pink phone and new outfit. We went to Phoenix over the weekend and celebrated more birthday at Peter Piper Pizza with grandma and grandpa Wellman, grandma Slade and cousins Courtney and Jenna. The kids had fun playing games and picking out their prizes. MacKenzie got $5 from her grandparents and $2 from her great grandma. Thanks mom for letting us stay with you at your house!

On Saturday night we went to Caroline's 1st birtday party. Everyone had fun swimming and seeing their cousins. Harly and MacKenzie received beach towels for their birthdays from Grandma and Grandpa Merrill.

Grandma Merrill with MacKenzie, Daycee, Halee, Harly and Sage



Thank you for the beach towels grandma, we love you!

Best Sisters!

Summer Fun!

We've had an eventul summer so far. Here are some of the activities we have been doing.

Clayton and Carson dropping off their hunting application in Pine-Top.

Clayton played majors baseball, Carson played minors baseball,

Harly played coach pitch softball

and Daycee played T-ball.

The regular season is finally over and All-Stars is just now beginning.

Clayton played first base and pitched a few games. Carson played short stop and he also pitched. Harly played short stop and she was the star of her team with the most pop-flies caught. Daycee stood in the outfield and watched the other kids chase the ball. She's a little shy when it comes to playing t-ball, but give her a cheerleading outfit and she is ready to go.

Clayton batting

Carson batting


Harly batting and coming home. She hit a home run her first time up to bat.



Aarron and MacKenzie playing "Clue" on a Sunday afternoon.







MacKenzie lost her first tooth at 4 years old and received a dollar from the tooth fairy.








"Hanging" out at Ramsey Park with our cousins.




Harly

Aarron




Adam








A few weeks ago the kids helped me plant our garden and we are already seeing the plants grow. We planted peas, bell peppers, radishes, squash, cucumbers, lettuce and corn. So far everything is growing except for the peppers. Pretty soon we'll be getting some chickens of our own so we can start collecting eggs too. I can't wait!

Rain, Rain GO AWAY.....

....come again another day!!

For the last two weeks we have had afternoon thunderstorms that just won't quit. That's great for my new garden I just planted, but it's not so great when the kids can't go out to play. This past weekend we had a visitor, Andrew Williams, Dayson's friend from the police academy. He came just in time to watch Clayton's baseball game. It was a long game and it was a really cold night. The next morning Dayson, Andrew and the boys went fishing at Becker Lake. They didn't catch anything and had to leave early to be back for Clayton's game at 10:30. We then headed up to Big Lake for an afternoon drive and of course it was raining. There were even some snow flurries falling our windshield. I wished I would have taken some pictures of our day trip. Later that evening we went out to dinner with my sister Rita and her husband John and their daughters Cammie and Christie. Chritie's boyfriend Paul was also there. It was fun being with just the adults, and again I wished I would have taken a picture of our dinner date.

Thanks Andrew for coming and staying with us. Our family had a lot of fun and can't wait for you to visit again.