Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day at the Merkley Family Farm. It was cold and windy so we spent most of the day inside. Noah finally figured out how to pull himself up on the furniture and spent the day scooting around and playing with Wendie's baby, Kerri. It was a fun day and so much fun to spend time with family.



Jesse doesn't look to happy to have his picture taken!

A yearly tradition

I guess it has become a yearly tradition to take a quick family snapshot in front of the Wisteria in Steve and Michelle's backyard. Quite a change from last year! We have two more babies, two more bellies and Garret is home! Hopefully next year there will be more additions and not just two more babies... hint, hint!!

Accomplishing something!

My mom always says to remember when to do something, associate it with something else. So, around Mother's Day, we try to find the best deal on strawberries to make strawberry freezer jam. I was telling Luke the other day that this was like candy to me and my siblings growing up! It was alot of work, but I managed to turn this...

INTO THIS!!!

Alright, it really may not look like that much, but it will feed a family of four for a year. And every time Noah heard the camera click and take a picture of the jam, he would do this silly smile and make a funny noise. I think it's his version of saying, "Cheese!" So I had to take a picture of him too... he is really getting into these crazy smiles. You'll see...

And to top it all off, my brother, Brent and his wife Julia wanted us to make jam with them. We repeated the whole process on Friday! When my brother saw how much sugar goes into the jam he said that he is going to stop putting a half a jar on a piece of toast. Told ya... candy!

First cousins, once removed?

Luke is always trying to explain to me how cousins, first cousins and removed cousins work. But everytime he explains it, it is different. Or I remember it wrong. I will just explain it the easy way: below are pictures of Noah and Grandma Michelle's brother's daughter, Emily. I guess that makes them first cousins once removed in Luke's world. I thought these were just the cutest pictures of Emily and Noah and I had to share them!

Coming to see Garret

One of the things I really love about the Merkley/Deters extended family is their incredible support for one another. They are always there for eachother and Garret coming home was no exception. The Thursday after he came home we gathered for Garret to give us a personal mission report and to visit with one another. It was a great experience to hear about Russia and the mission work there, straight from the missionary's mouth...




Aren't they a handsome bunch of boys... I mean men. I'm partial to the one in the Mountain Dew t-shirt. Nice outfit choice, honey. I bought that shirt for him last year at the first Pepsi soda shop in North Carolina.