Thanksgiving or Halloween?

I think I have to go back to November. Or possibly October.

First there was the family reunion, which means that it was time for me to get sick. I always get sick, every time 2 or more Merkley families with children get together and we are there, I get sick. It started out really fun. We played Koob (I think that is how you spell it, and Mom, I think the boys would LOVE this game.) I made survival bracelets and got blisters from pulling the para cord so tight. We watched the BYU football game on a huge screen. I made birthday spaghetti. And then I got sick. Let me tell you, getting sick at Camp Hunt is not fun. First of all, Scott and I were staying in the loft of the director's cabin, and there is one bathroom and you can hear everything that goes on in there, and no street lights to see by. And, I am terrified of the dark. So, I had to wake Scott up to take me to the mess hall. Well, we went around the front, using the squeakiest door and the front door to the mess hall was locked. Scott had to go alll the way around to open it for me. Then, I ran to the bathroom, which has a realllly hard tile floor and kind of high toilets. I barely made it the first time. And it was scary in the dark. I had to turn on a light and the fan every time I went in there. Once, I tried not turning on the light because it was so bright, and I walked into a bowl that was sitting on the floor. Morning finally came, and I was still not feeling better. Scott decided that we should go home, and I puked in the car in a Sonic cup. I have not had Sonic since.

But I got better. I bought a car! Yay! But I have no pictures of it for you, because I am having difficulty finding where I put the camera for safe keeping. I hate it when I do that.
Anyway, I have a 2006 Mazda3. It is a 5-speed manual, with a moon-roof, 6cd changer and 400miles to my 12 gallon tank. Boo-yah.

Also, we had our first Trick-or-Treaters! We almost didn't have any, and then there was basically the entire neighborhood. I had fun at the beginning, and then I just got tired. Not only did I have to hand out candy, but Mia wanted to jump on everyone. Scott thought that it would be unfair to have her stay outside all night, so every time I went to the door, I had to hold her back on her leash. The medium-kids thought it was cool. My favorite trick-or-treater was this little girl about lets say 3 turning 4 dressed as a rock star. She had huge, crimped hair, gloves with no fingers, sunglasses shaped like stars, leggings, miniskirt....wait...I think I am describing most teenage girls who graduated in '88......anyway, she also had one of those little mics for a play karaoke machines. When I asked her what she was, she cocked her head to the side, put her hand on her hip, held the mic up and sang, "I'm a rockstar!" in her best impression of Tina Turner. It was awesome. She was cute.

If I take any pictures of my car, or find the camera, I will post them eventually.

Things to come

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the tons of people who read this blog..both of you will pleased to know that I am planning on blogging on: my new job with my new classroom, coaching volleyball, my first trick-or-treaters, football games, basketball games, and Thanksgiving. And some really cute videos of Mia in there.

Rest assured, it will come.

Mia's Favorite Pasttime

Meet Mia and her favoritest things in the world, and they are called her toys.

This is Mia's other favoritest thing the world, and it is called digging great big holes that Scott hates! She loves it! The feel of the dirt under her nails and on her nose and on her feet and on her blanket and in her water and on the black couch inside the house. Ahh, yes, it is a favorite.

Garden Pizza

This is our garden about a month ago. Scott was putting up some metal fence for the green beans to climb up. We also had just placed that hose. We were hoping that the extra water would help. On this side we have two different kinds of corn, melons, two different peppers, pole beans, okra, and cucumbers.
This is the other side of the garden. I think that we may well have crammed more things into this garden than I have crammed into my purse. And that is saying something. On this side we have onions, radishes, tomatoes, peas, beets, zucchini, crookneck, spinach, carrots, lettuce and potatoes.
This is Mia "helping" with the garden. She mostly just bites at Scott while he bends over the puppy fence. Or if he is weeding and is on his knees, she will bring a toy and sit on the back of his legs , or run in and out from under him. Silly puppy. So this is our garden now. As you can see the corn has grown considerably as well as the beans and the cucumbers. And I think that the okra is doing well. In fact, if I went outside and took a picture now, which I really don't feel like doing...the pole beans are actually above the top of the fence. And the melons and wrapped themselves around the corn. This side of the garden is my favorite. Mostly because the smell of summer is actually the smell of homegrown tomato plants. Every time I check the garden, I lean over and smell them, and it is precisely at this moment that Mia thinks it is appropriate to jump on me, virtually landing on my back. Its great fun. And this is the best part. This is Beet Crust Pizza! We have zucchini and crookneck on it, as well as basil pesto, tomatoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. MMMM.

Our Newest Acquisition

Before:After:
This is my Yamaha 47" Professional Upright. It's loud, and it's amazing.

The Pup

I think that it is time to post a couple pictures of our puppy. I will go in order, so that you can see how she has already gotten older and bigger.
This is the absolute cutest picture of Mia. When we first brought her home, she did not like the tile at all. She would only walk on it to get to the carpet. She also would not walk on the patio out back either. This is still her favorite place to lay down when we are in the kitchen.
We have actually recently discovered that the toy that Mia has destroyed here was good when she was not teething. She is currently loosing all of her teeth and biting everything. Everything. She figured out that there was a squeaker in this toy and that is what she wanted. Just the squeaker.

Mia loves to sleep. She is a lazy puppy. This is one of the cutest little sleeping pictures. I don't know how she ended up having two blankets outside, but she is holding one in her paws, and the blue out is like a pillow on her. Super cute.
This is Mia in Provo waiting for Scott. She loves the grass. When I first put her down on it, she rolled around and lounged. She only picked up her head long enough for me to get a picture.

Easter in St George (still catching up)

After Great Basin National Park, Scott and I went down to St. George.
We had an Easter egg hunt...my first one in red rocks and no grass! But those rocks were fun to climb on.
I decorated my first Easter egg, which I decorated to be a soccer ball, and Eliza put a cute face on it to make it look like it was being kicked!We also decided to take a practice Christmas picture...then I realized we didn't have our puppy yet! But here ya go, that is a sheer cliff behind me...I was terrified.