Memorial Day!

Ok so this is round two at getting these photos and videos to upload. So our holiday was a good one. It started by Cambria and I going to Layton park to help with a photo shoot. The family we took pictures of were so fun and cute. Then we came back to pick up daddy and got a few things done around the house while Cambria slept. I made brownies and they we headed up to Layton again for a BBQ with the Call side of the family. It was fun to socialize and swim. Cambria got the chance to swim in a real pool. She seemed to enjoy it!

Sunday night at the Merrill homestead!

Sundays are always enjoyable days at our house and its even better when we can convince our families to come to our house and hang out instead of us doing all the running around! My parents (Justensen's) came out to visit since the were in the neighborhood putting flowers on relatives graves that are buried in Bountiful. So they cam down and brought my sis Emily, my bro Stephen, and one of my favorite cousins Ben. It was fun. I made brownies which was a nice recipe that turned out awesomely and we fed the lizard some cockroaches. ( ok secret time....we have a cockroach farm in a rubbermaid at our house.... they can't climb up the wall of the tub because its slippery so there is no risk of them getting out. We got them so that they could multiply and be a renewable food source for the lizard. Its been great we haven't have to buy crikets every week, which stink terrible, and you don't even notice they are even in the house because they make no noise. Also they are healthier for Gaz our lizard! fi you want to check them out just come over and I will show them to you but unless you ask I won't say anything about them.) Anyway continuing on... Then the Merrills came over with Stacey and Taylor. They all talked with each other and the dads got deep in conversation i'm not sure what about because i was making frosting for the brownies but it sounded intense. They weren't arguing or anything it was just a deep conversation which I was pleased they could enjoy talking to each other. Christian got out the wii and they all started playing smash brothers and were having fun. Its just nice to have every one over. They had brownies and ice cream which turned out great!! I'm certain I will be using this recipe again. My parents decided it was time to jet so they set out. Once gone the hair cutting began starting with my husband...at least I think it was him his hair was so long I didn't know anymore. So here are the pictures of the transformation and my husband returning to me again!
Here is the hubby getting a hair cut from his mom! Yes that is a power puff girl beach towel.... real men use them.
It was just so long.... He could have parted it and looked like he was from the seventies thats how long it was.Here is a dead cat... Just kidding that is all the hair that left my husbands head. I wonder if his head feels lighter now?
TA-DA!!! My husband is back!!! What a stud!!! I love him no matter what his hair looks like but when its short it reminds me of the day I fell in love with him so I thoroughly enjoy it when its short.
Next up was Taylor. He didn't like the clippers part at all... Of course I called him a baby.... But thats how our relationship is. No, he's a sweet heart and makes me smile!



Here is Taylor all finished...I'm pretty sure he's more comfortable not wearing a shirt. Seriously though he runs around half dressed at home all the time. We just laugh.
Taylor showing off all his hard work at the gym!

Cambria and daddy!

Christian was trying to design a user interface for his world of warcraft account. So he sat down on the couch and Cambria came and sat by him and started voicing her input. I love it when she tells me stories and is very serious about what she has to say. Also its so cute and fun to see Christian talking with her. Its one of those cute daddy daughter moments!

Can you tell we love our daughter!

Cambria is so much fun to tickle and play with. I love her laugh in this video so I figured I would share it with you all!

Cambria and the geese

We went to the Layton park and Cambria was excited by all the movement of the birds. She didn't really like the seagulls. I love that she is old enough to enjoy animals now. Its nice to go out of the house every now and then!

Just a few videos of our sweet Cambria!

So in this video Cambria was trying to be more than helpful and was grabbing at everything I pulled out of the fridge. Which resulted in this video.

Sad times.

Well today friends was a particularly hard day for me. I woke up this morning to Cambria crying. So I went to go grab her and get breakfast for her. As I was making her a PB and J my phone began to ring. I ran to my room to grab it. Its my mom. So I answer and talk for a sec then my mom says that absolute worst words to hear, "I have some sad news for you". In the few seconds in between what she was about to say next flashed the following thoughts....my grandma passed away, my brother got in an accident, my dad got hurt. Well she continues to say that our dog Tylee was hit by a car and was instantly killed. (sigh of relief for the first three thoughts). However though I was happy that my people were ok, I still lost a family member. Tylee joined our family when I was fourteen and was a cavalier king charles spaniel. She was a tri-colored medium sized dog. She was an awesome dog! She had so much life as a puppy but wasn't really that naughty. She would play fetch and chase my moms yoga ball all over the yard. She also was terrifed of hula-hoops, we don't know why. She would hold her own against the maltese Molly that we also had at that time. As she grew up we decided to breed her and sell the puppies. I'm pretty sure that she had 4 batches of puppies but it maybe was 3. She was a good mom to the puppies and was tolerant of all of us coming in to see them all the time. Unfortunately dew to an ear infection she lost her hearing, which lead her untimely demise. I'm a tender hearted person when it come to pets and animals in general. I've been rather torn up today and find my self crying at random moments over it. For those of you who have ever lost a pet close to you understand this sadness. Its tough. So this evening we had a funeral at my parents house. Which since the passing of our oldest dog Newton has been a norm when a pet dies. We waited for my sister and her family to get there for the services. Once she was there we all gathered and told our best memories of her and said our goodbyes. We may sound like an odd family to you but for us our pets are apart of the family. they go camping with us and travel with us. After she was buried we went inside for ice cream and brownies. I can take comfort in the fact that she didn't suffer it was all quick. We didn't have to decided whether to put her down. I know that she will be missed by those who knew her. Tylee rest in peace in the great dog park in the sky :D

Our Cam!

Ok today Cambria didn't want to take a nap and after trying like eight times we decided to just let her just come out and play. Well she was getting a little tired so Christian let her sit on his lap while playing computer games. She seemed to enjoy herself so at about 7:45pm Christian told me that she was falling asleep. It was so cute that I grabbed the camera a recorded her battle with sleep. Enjoy its pretty freakin' cute. Also it may be a little shaky I was laughing. Jeff Powell was here too and thought it pretty funny! Enjoy!

In Memorium

I thought it was time I contributed to our blog somewhat. View the picture above, listen to this youtube video on a seperate page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSz16ngdsG0), and read.

This is the long story, of my friend Blue.

It was only yesterday, it seems, that I was given the keys to "Blue". Jeff was the one who coined the phrase if I remember, on one of our trips home from school. It was a 1989 Honda Prelude. He was a year my junior, blue, and still kicking strong on his small but strongwilled V4. He was the car given- no, we were the people chosen, to use him to travel to and from work and school.

Hailey began our adventures, driving blue when I was too young. He had survived the abuse and neglect of teenage drivers before us, and seemed to acustomed to our speedy late-to-school trips, our fast food wrapper insulation, and even the exploding loss of his right sideview mirror apendage. Once I became old enough and Hailey was content to allow me the freedoms of the road, I was given the keys to Blue.

We had many adventures Blue and I. Together we attended all sorts of sporting events, school activities, and sardine packed lunches. Together we avoided local law enforcement when our friends carelessly hung their airsoft guns out of the windows. And together, we blasted music riding down Emerald while Jeff and others surfed out of his sunroof.

Times were good, but Blue wasn't as young as he used to be, and as close as we were, I was also still a teenager.

It was just a few weeks from today when it happened. We were headed to Jenny's place. We were going to pick up her money so we could get treats to share for our end of year SBO party. Tyler Smedly, and Caleb West decided to join us, and since I had my lisence and my car was close, I volunteered Blue to take us.

Now Blue and I had been working on e-braking. We were able to slide the corners by my home with ease. Wanting to impress my good friends (the foolish teen I was), I decided to slide a little around the last corner to Jenny's home. To my surprise however, construction in the area had left soft padded dirt all over the street. Combined with my inexperience and excess of speed, and poor Blue's now softdirt filled treads...

WE HEADED FOR DISASTER.

Blue slid around the corner much slicker than usual, and in my panic, I overcorrected...

and gouged out the eye of my closest friend.

Oh...and totalled the nice brick mailbox we ran into.


Panicked- I asked if everyone was ok and began to back up. The remains of the mailbox's corpse scraped off the hood. I quickly pulled towards Jenny's place while Tyler screamed "YOU'RE LEAVING THE SCENE OF A CRIME! YOU'RE LEAVING THE SCENE OF THE CRIME YOU COULD GO TO JAIL YOU JUST HIT THAT MAILBOX OH MAN WHAT WERE YOU DOING YOU ARE GOING TO JAIL!!"

Undeterred, I pulled into Jenny's driveway, where she gave me a hug (man I needed that hug), and asked if she should call her parents, Caleb helped too but I was still focused on the hug (and the fact that I had just impaled my car, and seemingly fled). I told them to wait there and try to get another ride while I called my parents.

I Drove? Ran? over to the house where an older woman was standing in the driveway talking to her husband. I was in tears by then(I'm an emotional guy), apologizing and explaining what happened. That I killed Blue-err---hit her mailbox. I called my mom and told her what happened. She came over right away.

Now the couple whose mailbox I had destroyed, were in a feud over what should be done. The wife felt that it was scary enough for me and that I learned my lesson, but her husband was hellbent that I should be made an example, which ticked my mom off. An officer from Layton came, awesome guy, he understood, and told me that I would be charged for something because it was my careless driving, even as a new driver, but that I wasn't going to jail or going to be made an example (much to the chigrin of mailbox dad).

I felt miserable and told them I would pay for the repairs and that there was no need to screw my insurance over it, but the dad was absolutely stubborn that I should get in trouble for all the speeding teenagers of Layton. So it did hit my insurance, and hard. My mom remained calm and handled everything very well. I ended up paying for the new mailbox, and still acknowledge that I murdered its previous tenant everytime I drive by.

Blue's eye was eventually repaired after weeks of grueling surgery. He was my close ally for only a small time after, until we sold him and I took the helm of my dad's old Beemer. Though our time together was all too short, it was good, and I still consider that day in 2004, the day he passed. I plan to make a nice little memorial for him at that mailbox in the next week and place it there, look for it, and remember Blue.


Now, the picture isn't of the car itself, but as close as I could find, and with the power of our imaginations (photoshop), we can pretend it is him. I also included music to set the mood.

Continued...

Of course Cambria didn't like that I was spending so much time at the computer and not her so i had to go play for a minute then finish up lol.While Scott was in town we went to the zoo! It was a lot of fun! Cambria gets more and more interested in the animals every time we go!I recently began selling Mary Kay! It way super fun and low key! I got to go to career conference and to a special birthday party at one of the Top Directors house. Not everyone was invited I was so excited so the first picture is all the girls that got to go with Tammy Crayk, and then me and Tammy. She's like a celebrity in the Mary Kay world! Also I have to do 100 facials by June 15th. If anyone wants a totally free facial let me know!
We have this box of papers that needs to be shred. Which just so happens to be Cambria's favorite play spot. She takes all the papers out then puts them back in. Sometimes she climbs right in the box and plays that way. Its always sad when the box tips over when she's inside it. :(
Cambria got to have her first Easter egg hunt this year. This look on her face pretty much says it all. She's just a little excited over those eggs!And in true Cami-lu fashion she tries to eat the plastic egg!

Our Lives at the present!

Well hey everyone! I'm sure many of you do not check our blog anymore since I haven't posted since January. But I want to be better at this so that people can see how we are doing. Lets see the last four months....
Cambria turned one! It was such a fun party! Thanks for those who were able to come and celebrate with us.









Christian and I had our birthdays in March as well! this is us are the Clark Planetarium going to see under the sea! We are such attractive people!
Cambria got her first hair cut from her Aunt Christina. I was rather impressed that she sat so still! She's a a pro!

Sorry its been so long!!!

Wow its been quite awhile since I have updated this. We had a great holiday break and are getting back into a routine. Christian started school today and Cambria was ten months old yesterday. We were extremely blessed to have such a wonderful Christmas and New Years!
Here are some pictures and videos of the past three months...only the best of the best lol.