Can you hear teenage screaming?

Let the frenzy begin...
....pass the popcorn
....spare the ears....

Late News Flash - my Son and his wife
and my beautiful Grandchild
are in Forks, WA this weekend
they have been asked to videotape
all vampire sightings....
just the sparkly ones...

Happy Anniversary Matt & Bethany!

Wanna marry me?
Yep!

Matt was home from his mission to Taiwan for about 5 minutes and I believe he proposed right then and there at the airport! Ok - so he waited to ask Bethany's dad first - which was about 6 minutes after he landed... Bethany is the daughter in law that everyone dreams of having - and we drew the lucky straw and welcomed her into our family 4 years ago legally, but we fell in love with her many years before that. Matt and Bethany had worked in Special Needs Mutual together and Matt's heart was smitten. Bethany attended BYU while Matt served his mission - after a botched April Fool's Day joke - with a fake wedding announcement picturing her and a total dork she worked with came in the mail - we realized how horrible it would be to ever lose her! Del and I wanted to marry her just to keep her from anyone getting her!! (: Matt's prayers were answered as he found out that she actually wanted to marry him too! (Whew) Mike and Ashley were married a month earlier, and then Matt and Bethany - we gave 50% of our children away to their sweethearts within a months time! (not that we were complaining - I mean look at how beautiful they are!!)

They always regarded themselves as Royalty,
and they treated each other as such. I have
always admired their mutual love and respect
that they always show for each other.
Matt knew how special Bethany was to her
Mom and Dad and never wanted to ever
do anything to ever let them down regarding
their beautiful daughter. Bethany took
Matt and softened his rough edges and gave him
a reason to love and live life to it's fullest.
Their compromises have been rough - Bethany had
to learn to throw a roll across the table at dinner, and
Matt had to learn when it was time to stop playing WII.
They are doing very well at both goals....
As a couple they have dedicated themselves to
working hard to make the world a better place,
having fun, seeing the beautiful world around them,
playing 21 questions when forced to stand in any line...,
graduate with their Master Degrees from BYU
and recently their jobs have taken them on an
adventure into uncharted territories.

We gained another family to love - The Stimpson Family.
Bethany's mom and I have always seen eye to eye,
mostly because we both look at Matt and have to close
at least one of our eyes! (We actually both love Matt very much!)
Mark and Del are great dads to their kids and
Matt enjoys being the 2nd Alpha Male in the family
of 3 beautiful sisters and a Morydog.

Our family grew in love and numbers also!
Mandy, Mike & Ashley, Bethany & Matt,
Old Lady, Older Man, and Ryan

Matt and Bethany always have a plan.

They work hard at being a family, and sharing their
family with their extended family. Their life long
plan... to live happily ever after... and they are
off to a great start.
Congratulations on 4 amazing years
of true love and dedication.
We all love you so much!

Here's the first edition of their sweet plan.

Our Grandson - Andy!
(Eat your heart out world!)

What's in YOUR lunch?

Ok kids, you have your backpacks all ready? Sack Lunches packed? Money for PTA and School Pictures? Pencils, books, post-it notes? Great - now set out your new jeans and tee shirts, fresh undies and stuff. Great.... wait.... 1/2 my kid are in college the other half are working in wonderful jobs because they graduated from college.... gosh I miss the smell of new pencils. Ashley - enjoy that $3,000.00 class from the U, dang those masters programs are expensive (; but you DO have those killer shoes to wear. Mandy, please be patient with yourself with 20 credits, work, and practice - be very kind to yourself, and breathe. Ryan - you have a big heart, and big shoes, you fill them well, continue to ace all of your classes and when you pick a law school, I like the box next to BYU Law. Mike is back to work at home now (whew) - and there's a steak sammie in his sack lunch. Matt will probably be eating in the cafeteria in Seattle, and Bethany and Andy will be packing their lunch for the picket line - as her school district strikes... not so fun! (probably will include some fish shaped crackers!!) Elder Hillary also packs his lunch - the little sweet Spanish ladies in his area taught him about some great things to pack - most of which I can't pronounce. Del takes soup and crackers. I'm usually taking my lunch at 8 am as I start work long before all the little school kiddies even get out of bed, always a BP&J sammie washed down with a Rock Star that will wipe out my kidneys soon. Hey - SO - Everyone enjoy your lunches today! Don't forget to floss after! ....wait...I smell pencils.... and there you go....

Happy Anniversary Mandy and Ryan

"Um Mom, I think I'm in love with him..."

"No, I know I am"

Pretty tough to let your beautiful daughters go

off and get married at 12 years old - but we
made an exception - because we also fell
in love with Ryan. (ok - she was 13)

I remember stealing Ruth - her new mom-in-law to
be, and making sure she came with us to pick out Mandy's
Wedding Dress, and also for the pictures.
(She's the amazing mom of 4 Ninja Boys)
I only almost killed her in the passengers
seat of the car a couple of times!
*someone forgot to warn her about my driving...
We had a great girl's day out with Ruth,
Ashley, Bethany and I, oh - and the
bride to be. (ok she was 14, or 15)

Margo did a wonderful job with Mandy's bridals,
and she was amazing the day of the wedding.
There were a lot of choked back tears because
I wanted to keep her my little girl for a bit
longer - but after meeting her sweetheart
we knew that it was a perfect match.
(ok, she was 16, or 17, or was it 18?)

We did try to warn Ryan about Mandy,
he didn't want to listen. I would love
to have you hear him now talk about
the funny things she does, and we all
just look at each other and say,
Didn't we warn him about that?
Most of the things Ryan really had to get
used to were the crazy things our family
does and how in your face we all are.
He's pulled his weight many times at
our family gatherings and it's really fun
to see him come over to the dark side.
They work very hard to make sure that
they take care of each other and their
love is very contagious - they both are
always smiling - except
when the car
is sad....
(was it 19?)(or 19 1/2?)

Here's the next best reason we love the
fact that she married Ryan. The Merriman
family are exceptional human beings!
Randy, Ruth, Ryan, David (now married to
beautiful Ashley - no not ours, his) Kyle (leaving
for Honduras on his mission in a week or two)
Missing is Kevin - who was on his mission in Brussels,
eating brussel sprouts, and speaking French. We
sent him a tie and he wore it on the day of the wedding.

The most important thing on that day?
Our family grew just a bit bigger, and
that meant a whole lot more love.
Happy 2nd Anniversary Mandy and Ryan.
You have shown us many things
about life, love and the pursuit
of dual college degrees...

Now we have Bob, Dad, Matt & Bethany,
THE CUTEST GRANDSON Andy!!,
Ashley and Mike, Mandy and Ryan, and Ryan
Mandy's Ryan is the one she kisses,
we love having 2 Ryans....
(We think Ryan H should marry a Bethany,
an Ashley, a Mandy or a Bob.

Mandy and Ryan are currently starting
their Senior Years at BYU. Mandy is a
Music Performance Major and Ryan is
pursuing his degrees in Economics and
Political Science and will be attending
Law School upon Graduation.
(I voted for BYU Law School)
She performs and tours with the BYU
Wind Symphony (just returned from Korea)
and Ryan is the fastest runner you've ever seen
for the BYU Cross Country Team and Track Team.
Mandy is the Primary Secretary (she's scared of children)
and Ryan is in the Elders Quorum Presidency and chief
moving van person every weekend.
Great Kids...

(Wait - I think she was 20...)
YEP! Still too young to be
kissing the boys in the first place eh?
Bobby Shew loves you both

Scruffy is coming home....

'Michole' (as Mandy says it) Doxstader
come home. We freaking miss you.
(You had better not talk funny)

Edited: I stand corrected Mandy -
Michaow Doxstaida
and his first born son will be
Tommy Hawker...

What was I thinking? OH - that's right, I WASN'T!

Friday morning - thinkin', hum... X96 free tram ride up Snowbird... why not! 7:30 am board the tram, 10 minutes to the top, then stupidity set in... why not run down? Read it again slowly, why not run down? So I think that I still live in the 16 year old body that used to live in the Mountains behind Mendon, hiking, horseback riding, going to the top of those mountains and down again for a simple workout on a Saturday. Well, that was many many moons ago. I decided to take advantage of the cool weather, quiet trails, and a little time alotted for adventure. At the top of Hidden Peak Summit you'll find yourself at an 11,068 foot peak, it's a 3,240 foot vertical, 1.6 mile straight down. But you're not thinking about that - you're looking around at the top where the heavens start and seeing glimpses of Mt Superior, Monte Cristo, Cardoff Pass, Albion Bason, Sugarload, Devils Castle , Mt Wolverine, and Sunset Peak. I bid Adeau to the Tram (did you know that most reasonable people ride it BACK down the mountain?) The run started out great - I am never the less invisable right? Not. 1/3 of the way down I realize that I'm not taking the hiking trail, but the trail I ski on - which includes random cliffs, deep ravines and several rattlesnake pits dotted with stinging nettle, which are normally covered by a million feet of snow! At this point I am realizing that my thighs and knees are yelling up at me "Hey Stupid!" and I actually fell and rolled a few times covering myself with burrs. I understand and remind myself that the only way to get down, is now to go up and return to some sort of actually marked trail other than a black diamond run sign, where ever that is. Did you know that God answers the prayers of even stupid people? I am now about 2/3rd down the mountain, making note to myself that this adventure only took 10 minutes to go up in the tram, and I'm working on an hour of getting down, going back up and still not there yet. (Don't be deceived by these switchbacks - shale is a new concept for me, added to steep, and shoot!) I decided to actually see if I could do a 911 call - silly me... But I did manage to find the small overgrown trail that was marked "Easiest to tram", and most all of the blasting towers. (please tell me there is civilization somewhere soon....) During the last 20 minutes or so, I'm sorry to admit that there was crying, praying and pleading, not a pretty sight. Pretty sure someone thought they were funny posting this sign.....but it wasn't....The 2 deer, 1 elk and 500 chipmunks laughed their butts off. I decided there and then - besides never feeling bad that I kill one of their offspring driving down the canyon - but that I was going to need a walker with tennis balls on the bottom of it if I ever made it to the car. At one point I did stop and take some pictures - you know - documentation of my final moments in life. I think I'll blow them up and say - ya - you've been there - don't go there again. Someone will find my bruise and broken body, next to the camera... right?

I did get to see the two Temples in the V...
(V being for - Holy Cow - what varmint just moved

in the bushes over there?!)You know you're really up there when the pictures
you are taking are of the TOPS of the trees....

My 50 before 50 list - is now - one less. *Ski and Walk down Snowbird's Hidden Peak Summit in the same year. (Does rolling into the trees count? Wanna argue with me? I'm a mountain woman now!) It's now Sunday - 3rd day on painkillers, no upstairs, no downstairs, and I believe sitting and standing would also be unavailable. I can, though walk forward and backwards very slowly and I really like the glow in the dark tennis balls on my walker. Lesson learned? Probably not. Humbled? In every way. Stupid? Beyond all compare. Prepared to actually run down a hill? Sure! I had my Visa Debit card and my Drivers License! Kinda grinning inside that I actually transversed down a mountain alone in the wild?

You know it.

Next time, ski down the mountain you idiot!
Pass my bed pan...and stop laughing...

Hut, Hut, Hut

So I'm at my 900th wedding reception of the summer and I meet up with my friends Tracy, Julie and Kyra. We're chattin' about Missionaries a bit, Kyra's son Clint is in Mexico, the same place that Tracy's son Kyle will be leaving for in September, Ryan (mine) is in El Paso and Julie is just mother to them all. Kyle, Tracy's son, will be playing for BYU Football when he returns, and so I mentioned that Elder Michael Edmonds will be headed off to Ryan's mission, he will be BYU's Wide Receiver when he returns. Kyra looked up and said, "Well, their Quarterback is headed to Clint and Kyle's mission!" Um, are we going to have enough for a team this year? Good Luck Elders - Bronco will hold your spot! Gotta love the sacrifices and courage it takes to serve the Lord...

The year that most of them were actually born!