October Vacation

Our September was kind of a rough month.  Erik was working nights the whole month, which left all of us exhausted and disconnected. Not that I don't LOVE putting the kids to bed by myself every night, and sleeping alone, and tiptoeing around all day while Daddy sleeps... Still, we're really glad to be on an easier rotation. And to make it better, the first week of October was vacation to Lake Powell! Our NY family members flew in to Phoenix to spend General Conference weekend with us, and then we drove up to the lake.

This is a pretty good indication of what Conference looked like at our house. Good thing they publish the talks afterward!

A little cousin sunbathing up top. The family that tans together goes through chemo together.

A family hike to Rainbow Bridge

Poor Sam, the lone boy with 4 older girls. He wanted to be part of that club so badly - it didn't always work out so well for him.

The water was perfect for water skiing because there was so much less traffic. Erik was in heaven.

Erik and Sam in paradise

These paddle boards were fantastic! They were perfect for getting into slot canyons and exploring without disturbing the serenity of the lake. Definitely my favorite activity this time around.

Morgan's favorite activity was learning to shoot bows and arrows on the beach.

So beautiful. We all decided we like Lake Powell better in the fall. No sunburns, it cools down at night, and it's much less crowded.

On our way home, we detoured briefly to the Grand Canyon, just long enough to take some pictures and support their gift shop. 

Honestly, the cousins were much more interested in each other than they were in the scenery. After many failed attempts to impress them with the visual grandeur, we gave up and decided they had chosen the better priority anyway.

 There is nothing better than being surrounded by natural beauty with your family. And watching our kids all become great friends was the sweetest reward for the hard work that vacation inevitably is.

Goodbye summer

I can't imagine that anyone checks our blog anymore - I mean, when did I last post, January? And even that post was a catch-up of epic proportions. However, tonight I have decided that instead of sleeping or preparing a church lesson I would rather catch up on my one form of journaling. Even though I hate myself in the morning, I find myself prolonging my bedtime night after night for a just another hour of "me" time. No kids, no distractions; this month I don't even have a husband since he's working the night shift. 

Here we go: the top 10 pictures from the last several months. 

Hey, we had a baby! Kathryn Elizabeth Merkley, 8 lbs 8 oz. Gorgeously jaundiced. 

 

Baby Kate is the most mellow and sweet baby we could ask for.

A trip to Lake Powell with the Merkleys led to a beautiful new friendship - "Dude and Little Dude"

       

Morgan's first dance recital. She was brilliant. And so was I, because I skipped the actual recital, and just watched her 10-minute slot during the dress rehearsal. Saved myself 3+ hours of agony.

Happy 4th of July! For some reason, most fireworks are illegal here in AZ...

  

Did I say 10 pictures? I lied. I've never been able to limit photos on this blog.

We had a family wedding in San Diego, so Erik went to work and the kids and I drove to CA.

So excited to see the ocean

Magic and sunburns at SeaWorld

No comment

Lots of extra tantrums, tears, and trauma since Kate was born. In fact, the next picture is a bar graph that Morgan drew illustrating how much we love each of our children. Morgan is the neglected one in the middle.

A trip to Utah in July to taste the raspberries, see the sights, and best of all, visit family.

We blessed Kate at the beginning of August

 

How we've adjusted to having 3 children. Bless Apple and Netflix.

Monsoon season! Almost too hot to enjoy the rain.

  

Starting gymnastics

Our beautiful blue eyed girl

And back to school. THANK GOODNESS.

4 is the new 14

After months of desperate anxiety, Morgan finally turned 4 and promptly asked how soon she would be 4 1/2. This one cannot wait to grow up.  

Daddy contributed the birthday donut and 4 roses

She was so excited for her birthday party, but like every year, Erik and I bet on how many meltdowns she would have before the night was over - I think this year it was 2.  She just can't seem to handle that much attention and excitement.  We didn't anticipate the distraction it would be to her bladder, though, and ended up changing clothes and mopping up the bathroom right as the guests arrived.  Can't wait to share that story with a future boyfriend some day.

The guest of honor: "Uncle" Blake back from his mission! Notice the original birthday outfit...

I don't care if my kids want strawberry cake, princess cake, or anything else for their birthday.  This is what I make every birthday, and probably will for the rest of time.  If I have to make birthday cake multiple times a year, I want to love it.

She's smart, loves to read and learn, a good helper, obstinate, a trifle OCD, and has a sassy mouth.  She's becoming alarmingly like me, which is probably why we butt heads all the time. Since I can't really expect that turning 4 will make her any easier or more mature, I suppose I'll have to step up and be the one to change. Darn it.

Second Choice St. George

This last October, we had the amazing good luck to have a week of vacation scheduled at the same time as the Merkley houseboat time share.  We were so ready for a little relaxation at Lake Powell.  Do ya'll remember that awesome temper tantrum the government threw a while back, shutting down all kinds of national parks?  That ALSO coincided with our planned week at Lake Powell.  We told Morgan to pray for a miracle, but I don't think God has much influence in Washington anymore.  We ended up scrambling to find a vacation that didn't involve federal land, and settled on St. George, that mecca of the west.  We did enjoy ourselves, and decided in the end that Lake Powell might not have been the best choice anyway - I was in the early stages of pregnancy, someone else had vertigo, and there was a recent finger operation that needed to stay dry.  That didn't stop us from deriding politics, politicians, and Washington in general. We did some hiking in nearby state parks, caught "Mary Poppins" at the Tuacahn theatre, and enjoyed food and shopping. Utah reopened their parks on the last day of our trip, so we all hurried to Zions before parting ways with family and friends.

On our drive to Zions, a bunch of warning lights came on in our car - not what we wanted to see the day we needed to head home.  I dropped everyone at the park, then turned around and drove back to St. George to find a car dealership.  Thankfully it was open on Saturday, and thankfully they had time for me, and thankfully they had the part we needed.  And I guess we were thankful that it wasn't enormously expensive and that it happened before we drove home through barren desert.  We were grateful God was watching out for us, but I think we would have preferred just to have the car work in the first place. :) Ah, those blessings we could do without.