Girls Camp

What an experience to be able to go to Girls Camp! I had such a good time!!! I thought for sure I'd be counting down the days until it was time to go home, but it was actually the opposite. I was a little sad when it neared the time to leave. To say we have a good group of girls is an understatement! Never in all my years have I seen a group of girls that get along so well and are so grounded in the gospel. It didn't matter what group of girls you put together because they were all friends. Age didn't matter, interests didn't matter, how long you've been in our ward didn't matter.... everyone included everyone. It was so refreshing! I spent the whole week up there and loved every single second. I enjoyed all the silliness. I enjoyed the food. I enjoyed making new friends in both the girls and the leaders. I enjoyed all the devotionals. I enjoyed being on that spiritual high. And the list goes on and on. There's so many things that I want to remember about my experience there and I'm so mad that I didn't keep a journal while I was there. So here's some pictures and stories of a few things that I don't want to forget...

We played Minute to Win it games, and the game I was in charge of was right in the path of the smoke from the fire. I looked like this the whole time we were playing.

Skit Night was definitely a night that I'll never forget. Not because it was so memorable, but because the girls and leaders won't ever let me live it down. I was in charge of skits and gave each group of girls a standard out of the For Strength of Youth pamphlet to center their skit around. And of course the leaders have to do a skit so I made up a little skit for us to do. I combined the left over standards that weren't used and had a setting where a group of girls (the one in the hat is our dearly beloved Bishop Hyer who was kind enough to take the place of a leader who had to leave last minute. I think that totally made the skit what it was though. We have an awesome bishop!!) anyway, they were sitting around talking about life and would talk about things that maybe went against the standards in the pamphlet. So, who other to save the day than the "For the Strength of Youth Woman!" (Yours truly) I put on a purple cape and dashed around the room saving the day. I think the shining moment though was when Kentina (the bishop) just didn't think she was as good as the girls she saw in the magazines. So myself and all the other girls (leaders) decided to teach her a lesson by doing an awesome lip syncing rendition of Firework by Katy Perry. Looking back at the video I've gotta ask myself, "What were you thinking?!" I REALLY got into it and have got to say I was a really good lip syncer. The things we'll do for the love of other people.

This is me, our camp cook Annie (one awesome cook and person), and our YW President Debbie (also as awesome as one can get). I don't really have any other pictures of the other leaders. Our Camp Advisor, Erin, is pictured in the skit picture with the bishop. I've got to say I probably learned more from her than anyone at girls camp. She's a very insightful person and gave me a new sense of hope for my struggles that I'd been facing.

Me and Lacee my Mia Maid advisor

Miss Gaby is our Laurel President and she does such a good job. She has such a strong testimony and such a sweet personality.

Our hike was pretty nonsenseful. There's two things that I had to throw my fish lips out on the girls. #1- They were SO messy. No one knew how to pick up after themselves. And #2- They were a bunch of whimpy girls when it came to the hike. Not two minutes into the hike they were complaining about how hot it was, they all of a sudden had these mysterious illnesses and wondered how far we had to go. I had never seen so many whiners in my life. It got so bad that one of the priesthood holders ended up making rounds picking up the girls on his four wheeler and bringing them to the top. Ridiculous!! I think there were only maybe 4 girls that actually made it the whole way.

Misty Lou.
I really grew to love this girl at camp. She's such a leader and such a kind person, not to mention her unwavering devotion in the gospel. She is such a straight arrow. She's such an example to me. The highlight of our friendship at camp though was when Erin and I were talking late one night (it was about 2:30) and we heard one of the doors open and someone say, "Are you guys awake? We have some questions." And then out comes 3 of the Laurel girls wanting to know all sorts of questions about life (mostly those types of questions concerning the birds and the bees). Hallelujah Erin was there. Between the two of us we answered their questions in the most respectful and reverent way we could. It was hilarious/awkward/eye opening. I'm glad that we, as YW Leaders were able to answer their burning questions instead of them finding out in some crude way (the way I did). And don't worry, we told them all to still talk to their parents about all of this and then we went to each of their parents later and let them know what was talked about. It was definitely a night that I'll never, and I'm sure those girls will never forget.

We went boating while we were there and it was really fun. It's always fun to just let loose and be a kid again.I rode on the Weenie Boat for the first time (side story... the girls didn't know the Weenie Man song!! I was shocked and appalled and immediately taught them while sitting around the camp fire the first night. They thought that was the most awesome song they had ever heard and it was sung the rest of the time at girls camp over and over and over. It was especially appropriate when we rode on the Weenie Boat). This was definitely the funnest thing I did while there. I loved being on the back because you got tons of air. This is also one of those things that I couldn't stop laughing on. I hadn't laughed that hard for that long in such a long time. My abs got a really good work out that day.

Sooooo, towards the end of the day Debbie and I were talked into riding this...
Neither of us really wanted to, but of course we both caved and got on. If I said it was fun I'd be lying. That thing was awful!!! The water was so choppy by this time and Debbie and I got tossed around like rag dolls. Our bodies were bending in ways that they shouldn't bend. My voice became hoarse because I was screaming so loud. Debbie and I were holding on for dear life and didn't dare let go to tell them to stop. Finally Debbie was brave enough to raise her arm up and the horrid ride was over....

While being pulled in closer to the boat a look of horror came across everyone's faces. Why? Because of this...

While being tossed around I had somehow given myself a shiner. I immediately put ice on it and as the day went on the swelling went down and ended up looking like this...

On the second to the last day there we had a hair day where everyone got their hair braided.

This is the Pebbles group who got their hair braided up the back and then put a floppy bun on top.

And then lastly, we went to Provo Falls to have our Personal Time and open our letters from home. This is always such a spiritual time for the girls. I too was able to have a spiritual experience there. I was able to reflect on my time at girls camp and record a few feelings I'd been having in my journal. I also got to read a letter from Matt where he said every right thing he could say. He said things that I definitely needed to hear. It was a perfect way to spend our last day at girls camp.

I'm so, so thankful that I'm in the YW's now. My life has changed since being called to this calling.
I'm happier.

So. Weber Days

Good old So. Weber Days has come and gone. This year was a year of firsts for some of my kids...

Isaac's first time playing in the 3 on 3 tournament.
He, his two cousins Cooper and Trevor, and a friend Casey made up their team. Their team came in 4th overall. (Thank you Larry for giving them an actual title of 4th Place. I know it's not really an actual "place" for the tournament, but what the boys don't know won't hurt 'em).

Maya's first year running in the Kid K.
Her and her BFF Reesie ran together. I got the privilege to accompany these two fine young ladies during the race. They cracked me up! The whole race was non stop chit chat. There wasn't a single competitive bone in either one of them. They were there just to enjoy each others company! But with that being said, they still did really, really good! They were so close to getting on the podium. Next year, Mandy and I decided that we'll push the girls a little harder and show them what it really means to be a Poll!! :)..... Just kidding, I wouldn't dare take the sweetness and fun away from those two.

There were no metals for the Merrill clan this year and Isaac assured me over and over and over that it was okay. Are you sure about that son...? (Cuz to me he seemed a little concerned over that fact... I'm just sayin').
Matt and I competed again in the Anything Goes. (Pictures are MIA. Anyone out there have a picture of our team? We looked awesome!) The theme was Adventures of the Silverscreen and we were told to dress up as anything from the movies. Of course our team went all out! We dressed up as The Wizard of Oz. I was Dorothy, Matt was the Scarecrow, Michelle was Glinda, Matt W. was the Tin Man, Liz was the Wicked Witch and Jeramy was the Lion. As always, it was super fun! In years past we've never placed, but this year all was different!! We took 2nd place baby!!! We were super stoked about it. Unfortunately our win was a little tainted because we totally got jipped on the costume award. Our costumes were awesome! There's no way that a team in T SHIRTS!!! could have beat our costumes. Oh well. Ya win some, ya lose some.

Isaac's first year running the Richard Bouchard Memorial 5K.

Isaac REALLY wanted to run in the 5K this year. He didn't train a lick and yet still came out 5th overall in his age category. I think he's caught the running bug! He's still talking about next year's 5K and wanting to join a track team of some sort.
Matt said that at the last 1/2 mile Isaac was ready to throw in the towel, but there was no way Matt was going to let him quit. So Isaac pushed through it, tears and all! Way to go Isaac!!

Rocky's first year not being in his stroller to watch the parade.
I bit the bullet and sold all of our strollers. So this year at the parade Rocky wasn't confined to a stroller and was free to gather candy to his hearts content. I thought he'd be all over that, but he was quite the opposite. He didn't really care about the candy. If a piece came near him maybe he'd bend over and pick it up, maybe he wouldn't.

Luke was dying over the bubble bath thing all day long. I told him I refused to pay $3 bucks for him to roll around in bubbles. So he used his own money and played to his hearts content. That kid cracks me up. Such simple things make him so happy!

Isaac competed again in the Youth Anything Goes. As always it was a blast and was talked about for days after!
Maya's first time on the rock wall.
I thought she'd be a little nervous about it, but that girl had no fear. Of course she didn't get two feet off the ground..., but I was just happy that she wasn't clung to my leg scared to try it in the first place.

8 is Great!

My sweet Lukey Lou turned 8 at the end of July. This was a day he'd been looking forward to for a long time. For months he would bring up how excited he was to turn 8 and get baptized.

The Sunday before he turned 8 Grandma Merrill made him a special birthday dinner.

The #1 thing on his birthday list was to get a bike. He also wanted a mini basketball and a Nintendo gift card (which of course he got also).

To celebrate he was able to invite one friend (of course he invited his bff Brooksie) and we went to Classic Fun Center. After that we went to the drive in movie's and saw Cars 2. It was a really fun day!

Luke thought this was the most awesome cake he'd ever seen. He couldn't stop giggling when I lit up the sparklers.

Lucky for Luke, he was able to be baptized just a few days after his birthday. All morning long he was smiling from ear to ear. I'm so glad that he was that excited to get baptized. About a month before his baptism day I sat down with him and told him that it was his choice and nobody else's to get baptized. I told him to pray about the things that our church teaches and then if he truly believes in it, then he should make the choice himself to be baptized. I don't think there was a question in his mind though about getting baptized. He KNEW that's what he wanted to do, and he KNEW that our church is true. I'm very proud of him.

During the baptism and confirmation I felt the spirit very strongly. When they asked all the worthy priesthood holders to come up for the confirmation I noticed how small in numbers we were. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks that I was forgetting that Travis was there too. There's not a doubt in my mind that he was there too. During the confirmation Matt said the most beautiful prayer. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband that can be so in tune with the spirit. The words that came out of his mouth were Heaven sent and meant just for Luke.

Later that day after our family got together for brunch, we took the kids to Temple Square. It was just what we needed to complete the day.

New York

Waaaaaaay back in July, Matt and I decided to take a last minute trip to NYC. Matt's sister Maria lives in Manhattan and just found out that she got accepted to BYU law school and therefore was moving within the month. So since it was our anniversary month and she was leaving, we thought it was a good time to hurry and go.

We took a red eye flight, got there early on a Friday morning, got our luggage, took a cab to the city, met Maria at her apartment, ate breakfast at a deli, and then headed off for the start of a VERY long and tiring week of sight seeing.

Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That was really cool! (Okay, everything we saw was really cool...I guess this was just the start of the coolness!) It was awesome to walk through the Statue of Liberty Museum and learn all the history that is behind it and then get the chance to actually go inside it. (Matt tried to sneak his way up to the crown but got denied. It was a 3 MONTH wait to get tickets up into the crown!!! Whaaa????)

Ellis Island was also super awesome. I probably liked it a little more than the Statue of Liberty. It was a humbling experience to stand where all the immigrants stood as they made their way to the U.S. To hear about some of the stories and the history behind that place it gave me the chills.

Later that night we went to see Spiderman on Broadway. This was a good/bad show. Good because the special effects and scenery was way awesome! We had really good seats that allowed us to get a really good view of Spidey flying through the air. Our seats were called "The Fly Zone" and that's where Spiderman and/or Green Goblin would get ready and land. We got some really up close views of all the action when Spidey and Green Goblin would fly and fight. On the other hand, the acting and the music wasn't all that great. Compared to other Broadway shows I've seen, this one was a little lacking.

Busy, busy Time Square!

The Stinky Subway!!

On Day 2 (actually all the days are a blur now and I have no idea what day we did what, so I'll just put a little narration with each picture instead) we ate brunch at a cute cafe type place. That was one of the good things about having Maria there with us... she knew all the good places to eat!

Maria also knew a lot of history about the place and all the popular places to get your picture taken. She was like having our own personal tour guide. I can't imagine going there with out her!! Here we are in front of the famous Fire Department that you see in a lot of shows (I was really big on stuff like that. If it was in a movie or t.v. show I was all over that!)

This is the cemetery that's right next to the very first church on the island. (I really wish I could retain information... I have no idea what the name of the church was called now). Alexander Hamilton was buried here.

We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral and was able to witness a live wedding. It was so bizarre that these two people were getting married with hundreds of sight seers mozying in and out of their wedding. It was a beautiful church though. Matt has some pictures on his camera that I need to post. There's one of me being totally sac-religious praying in one of the pews. (It was totally funny at the time).
This is the view of Ground Zero from the top of Maria's apartment building. I'm sad that we missed the unveiling of the waterfalls that they now have there. All we got to see were construction walls. It was however mind blowing of just how catastrophic that event was. Those buildings were HUGE, and to have them come tumbling down....?? I'm speechless.

We went to the Hershey's store and the second I saw this giant Hershey bar I thought of my Lukey Lou back home. He loves Hershey's and even more than that, he loves novelty items. That night after seeing it I called him and told him all about it. Over and over and over he kept bringing up how much he wished he could have it. So I broke down, went back the next day and bought it for him. :)

One of the weirdest and most random things about NYC were all the people dressed up asking for $ to get your picture taken with them. It seemed like every corner had random people in random costumes. We saw Spongebob, a guy with a cat on his head, Spiderman, Elmo, and a really jacked up Mickey Mouse. I told Matt that we'd make a killing if we dressed up in our centaur costumes and stood on the corner of Times Square.

This is one of the very few pictures of Maria that I got. Her and Matt are standing in front of the Rockefeller Plaza.

For the most part I enjoyed NYC. I did however have one HUGE disappointment. The Carnegie Deli. I'd seen it on the David Letterman show many, many times and thought it looked pretty good. Matt was pretty insistent on going (against Maria's better judgment) so we went. What a rip off!! For $15 bucks you got two pieces of bread with a ginormous slab of deli meat between the two of them. And that's it. No mustard, mo mayo, no tomato, no lettuce, no side dish of chips or fries, nothing! I had to slice up the giant pickle that came as the "free" appetizer to give my sandwich a little flavor. To say the least, this place was a big let down. It's nothing but a bunch of hype!

One of my most favorite places was Central Park. Amongst all the hustle and bustle and city life there is this huge park that takes you away from it all. Matt and I were only able to cover about 1/4 of it! Before we ventured into the park I asked a park ranger what the best route to take is and he mapped out all the famous sites that are in movies and such (he said the magic word). So we leisurely strolled through the park for a couple of hours, taking breaks here and there when we felt like it. It was really nice. (We did have one minor altercation though. Matt had to use the restroom, so I told him I would sit on the bench a couple yards away and wait. Well, for reasons unbeknownst to me, when Matt was done using the bathroom he went in the opposite direction and kept walking to the fountain below. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for him on the bench that I told him I'd be waiting at. 20 minutes later, I'm still waiting and at this point getting a little worried. Visions of him getting mugged in the bathroom are going through my head. So I texted him only to find out he was waiting at the fountain for me! I was not a happy camper!!!)

Matt and I were able to get tickets to see the Late Show with David Letterman. It was really cool to see all the behind scenes stuff that goes on. I kind of like it in my little naive home viewer world though. The whole taping of a show seemed a lot more exciting than it really was. The studio was super small. It looks so big on t.v.! The actual stage area was 10 times as small as it looks. The distance from Dave's desk to Paul Shaffer and his band was just only just a few steps away. The seating area for the audience was very compact and small also. They must use a lot of camera tricks. The actual show was good though. It went by super fast! Harrison Ford was the guest and he was pretty funny. Unfortunately, we had just barely missed the show when U2 was the guest. They had a taping just before ours.

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and this time Matt was the one that was a little disappointed. The whole trip I kept saying how things weren't quite how I expected it to be (meaning, it wasn't like it is in the movies) and after this little excursion the rolls were reversed. Half way through the museum and looking at all the art Matt asked, "where are all the dinosaurs?" I told him I didn't know and maybe they were on a different level. Well, a little more into it I realized that Matt thought we were at the Museum of Natural History (as seen on Night at the Museum.... see I'm not the only one comparing everything to what I see on the movies). Poor guy. That's the museum he originally wanted to go to. And I don't really care for museums all that much (seeing as I don't retain information, everything I see or read about sticks for just a moment). So the second we realized this we bailed.
This is Matt standing in front of part of a real Pyramid.

One cool thing about the museum though is they have special exhibits that only last for maybe a few months at a time. While we were there we got to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit. We weren't suppose to take pictures in there, but I snuck this one in. He had some of the most bizarre and interesting clothing designs I have ever seen! It was definitely worth seeing.

We went to two more musicals while we were there. We saw Jersey Boys which was really good. It was the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I LOVED all the music! However, I could have done without all the swearing. The other one we went to was Memphis. That also was really good. It was the story of the birth of Rock' n Roll. The music was amazing and the acting was amazing. Both Matt and I really enjoyed this one.

For dinner one night I really wanted to go to this pizza place that I heard was really good that was on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge. So we took the opportunity to walk across the bridge. This was a little more than I bargained for. The weather was really hot and really muggy. We hadn't even gotten to the "bridge" part of the bridge and we were all sweating. It was also a lot longer of a walk than I anticipated. The views from the bridge were amazing though. I guess walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is just one of those things in life that you can say you did. Too bad for us, once we got across the bridge that stupid pizza place had a line coming out the door and all the way to the end of the block. So we opted for the pizza place just one block down that in my opinion was just as tasty as pizza can get.

On the last day there we tried to squeeze in all the little things that were on my check off list. The last thing left was go to the top of either the Empire State Building or the Rockefeller Center. We took the good advise from Maria and chose the Rockefeller Center because the Empire State Building was always really crowded. Well, to go to the top of the Rockefeller Center we found a package deal that made it cheaper than just buying a ticket to the top. The package included a tour of the NBC Studios. That was a fun little tour. We got to see several news studios and the SNL studios. I love seeing all the behind the scenes stuff. They use so many camera tricks and special effects for filming shows.

The view from the top of the Rockefeller Center was AMAZING! We had a perfect view of all of Central Park on one side and then all of the high sky scrapers in the city on the other side. Very cool!

Other things we did that aren't pictured (I really need to download all the pictures from Matt's camera), but are worth mentioning:
-The Shake Shack... To everyone and their dog, minus yours truly, say this is the best burger EVER! It was alright if you ask me.
- Grand Central Station... This was super cool. It was just like I thought it would look like. I felt like a flash mob should be busting out in dance at any minute while I was there. It also really brought me back in time; back to the good old days when people traveled by train.
- FAO Schwarz... What a fun toy store! I could have spent a lot of time in there if it weren't for my two hustle and bustle shopping partners. You name a toy, they've got it. I really loved looking at all the vintage candy they had. I felt really nostalgic looking at it all. (My mouth is watering as we speak thinking about the frog gummies).
- All the places we went to eat... Max Brenner (super yummy turkey crepes), Four Carrots in Bloomingdales (super yummy chicken salad sandwich, tuna salad sandwich, and egg salad sandwich, all on a different type of roll, Mmmmm my mouth is watering again), Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill (my dish was just ok, Matt's was good- it was worth going though just to say I ate at a Bobby Flay restaurant).
- The Farmers Market... It was so nice to see a little country in the city. This farmers market was near Bobby Flays restaurant and it stretched a few blocks down one street. I loved seeing booth upon booth full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Matt and I bought some jam for gifts and then we bought some cookies for dessert. One of the best gingersnap cookies I've ever had!

Overall I'd say the trip was a good one. It wasn't the perfect trip though. My complaints are as follows:
- The city stinks! Literally. I felt like I couldn't breathe in a good breath of fresh air the whole time. If I did I would get a nice whiff of garbage or vomit.
- I guess to go along with my first point, the city was dirty. Garbage was just thrown onto the curbs at the end of the day. People didn't use garbage cans. The subways had filth and grime lacquered onto any touchable surface. It was really gross.
- The people there are way too busy. Matt's sister had to school us on the proper etiquette of being a New York tourist because of this. We weren't allowed to stop in the middle of the side walk for any reason whatsoever. You also couldn't walk at a leisure pace. If you broke this unspoken rule, then you would hear it from one of the NY natives. It was go, go, go, go, go, go and make sure you're out of my way. People there were in a H-U-R-R-Y. Why are they in such a hurry? I don't know. New Yorkers don't stroll into work until 10ish, so why not allow yourself enough time so you don't have to be in such a rush. This one baffled me.
- The weather there was very unpleasant. I'm use to dry Utah air, not humid, clothes stick to you the second you go out the door, air. I felt like I needed a shower the whole time we were there.
- An NYC vacation isn't a relaxing vacation. It's pure site seeing and going from one landmark to another. And to get to these different places A LOT of walking is involved. My feet ached so bad at the end of each day.

Okay, after all that complaining I did say that overall the vacation was a good one. Why...?
- It was really fun to finally get to see in person all the things that are talked about and shown in movies and t.v.
- There is so much history in New York! I loved being able to see for myself this city that helped found our country. At moments I found myself just being still and trying to really take in where I was.
- It was fun to see Maria in her element. She's grown to love NYC and become a New Yorker herself. I could just see the pride of the city whenever she'd talk about it. If ever I was complaining about the smell or the hustle and bustle, she would grin from ear to ear and proudly nod her head. (I was also very amazed at her ability to navigate around in the city. She knew those subways like the back of her hand!)
- I don't care where we were, it was just nice to go on a vacation with just me and Matt without the kids.