Wish You Were Here...

Somehow, God took all the most

beautiful things


in the world and jammed them on a

tiny rock

in the middle of the Pacific.


When you are hot, it rains or a fragrant breeze blows.




When you are cold, the sun peeks from behind a cloud.




When you are sad, a rainbow appears on the mountain. (But who's sad in Maui, c'mon!)




When you have stared at the ocean long enough, a gentle sea turtle pops its head up to say hello.




When you are feeling mischievous, a lumpy toad lets you run him over with a golf cart.




When you are homesick, you see a BYU football sticker on a car, or you overhear tourists talking about how hot it is in Phoenix.




When you are feeling romantic, the sunset shows you colors that you have never seen and your honey is sitting next to you.




When you are tired, it's only 6:00 on your inner clock so there's nothing you can do about it.






We wish you were here to share it with us....


So here are some edited and unedited shots. I {heart} my camera.

Surfboard fence on Hana Highway.


Layla taking it all in



Mia and her shoes.


Ready for beach!

{I tri'd}

Sometimes, my mouth gets my into trouble. Like the time I said to my friend Mary, "We should do a sprint triathlon." Then I went home and worked Google over until I found one in Tempe for women only. 10 weeks of training in the pool, at the gym and on the trails led to me standing in my swimsuit at 8:00 am on Saturday morning beside Tempe Town Lake and 600 other women.

(Mary and I headed to Tempe at 6:00 am on race day!)

It had been a rocky road. I was having trouble with my hamstring, had a clogged ear for a week and intermittant back pain. Not to mention I spent last Monday through Wednesday in bed with a cold!

My wave started at 8:10 am. We jumped into the lake and treaded water for about 8 minutes until the start. Once the horn went off, you just put you head down and started swimming. I had been training in the pool at my gym which was a pathetic 14 meters long! This leg was 750 m.


The swim was fantastic, definitely my strong event. I did veer to the right a little... The temperature was perfect and it had no taste whatsoever (my two biggest concerns). ----------> Look at me staying clear of traffic.
Mary and I rented really sweet roadbikes for the occasion after we determined that our mountain bikes would be a hindrance to our times. (This argument is akin to an author of a bad novel blaming it on the pen...) The 13.5 mile ride was two loops of the same course and actually really fun. It would have been nice to have been more comfortable on the gears. They were different than my mountain bike and you use one lever to shift up and another to shift down. I couldn't keep it straight so often I would shift the wrong way first.

I was really worried about the run. The first mile was tough and your legs seem like they are on backwards after being on the bike. I found my groove and went for it. It was getting hot. I got discouraged when I saw the "Mile 1" sign. I thought it meant one mile left because I felt like I had been running forever!

Sailing into the finish was the best feeling ever!

Final time: 1:43 (See official results)
Place: 133/396
Back to real life...

Cheer squad. Not pictured are my dear friends and neighbors, Lamar and Danae Echols! Danae was working strep throat but still came out and cheered. She was the first person I recognized as I was running into transition from the lake. Also, Mary's hubby and boys and our neighbors, the Andrewsens. It really helps to see people you know!

{So cute it hurts}

Know what Layla is getting in her Easter basket? Extra "nigh-nights" so that we always have a few on hand.

A haiku in her honor....

No other will do
A pink, soft piece of heaven
She's worse than Linus

{Why Lance will always beat me}

This is how a mom trains for a triathlon.

800 meter swim

13 mile ride

5K run

May 9

Tempe Town

Mary and I need your cheers....

Fast Times at East High

Yes, I went to East High School. No, Troy and Gabriella did not go there, but a bunch of other tools did. When I was visiting home a few weeks ago, my parents and I dropped by the old stomping ground so I could take some pictures of the permanent marks I left on MacNeil Drive.

They have instilled a dress code, which I thought was pretty cool, but that didn't prevent me from seeing more boxer-short clad butts than I was prepared for.

Layla was with me and I think it was my mom's worst nightmare coming true--her daughter trucking a baby down the halls of a high school. Luckily, I wasn't the only one there with a kid...

This picture is a little self-indulgent, but I was proud. I still have dreams where I fail the last semester, or forget that I have signed up for a class, yet never attended it.

The old mural Sarah Vandeberg and I painted in the gym. We spent 3 weeks during the summer after my sophomore year doing this. I remember listening to Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from the top of the scaffolding.


The pool mural was the first one we did, which led to us being hired to to the gym. We did it during boys' swim season. Not enough Michael Phelps-like bodies for my liking, more like Jack Black-bodies.

Killing 2 Birds with one stone..

We're in a recession people! Americans are going to have to come up with cheaper ways to entertain their kids. I am using my food storage to create fun toys for the girls.

This all started a couple of years ago when Ava was reading "Ramona the Pest" by Beverly Cleary. In the book, Ramona goes clip-clopping down the street on a pair of tin can stilts. Ava, being a child of the new millenium, asked me about them so we constructed a pair from some pineapple cans. Instead of clip-clopping, it was a lot of falling and tripping as the cans tended to give way if not set down perfectly on the pavement. I had to send them to the recycle bin before we ended up with broken ankles.

Fast forward to '09...before recycling these beastly #10 can, we turned them into monster stilts creating a day of fun.

Toys for tough economic times ahead...


(Isn't my camera awesome?)

9 down, how 'bout 90 more?

On this day, nine years ago, Mark and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Never in my wildest dreams, did I imagine it would be this GOOD and this FUN....







...and this many daughters!

And it just keeps on getting better.

Dad 1, Prostate Cancer 0

My father, John, had successful surgery to remove his prostate yesterday. Though the cancer was aggressive, it was isolated in the prostate and excision of the 2.3 ounce terror was all the treatment he needed. No chemo or radiation! He will be home this evening, and Layla and I will be at his beck and call on Friday.

New Family Rule...

Layla is to be monitored at all times....

Busy...

Never a dull moment at the Merrill household.

I think we're good on our crayon supply!

I should add that I had already cleaned up these crayons twice today.

From 2700 feet, with love....

We went on a hike in Phoenix last week (those from the Rocky Mountains, insert joke here_____). Camelback Mountain is about the most famous mountain and Phoenix, so the Merrills, and the rest of the weirdos who live in Scottsdale, ascended it. It was a pretty challenging hike for the girls, but they loved scramblin' up the rocks. Layla bounced the entire time and cried when Mark stopped, paused, hesitated. We enjoyed the view from the top and the sense of satisfaction we got from completing a hike with no meltdowns (from Alexis, of course. Maybe someday I'll tell the story of my meltdown on top of Mt. Timpanogos, it's one for the books. I am surprised Mark still married me after that...)


Mia, being so patient, while Mom fiddles with apertures!

The nation's fifth largest city.

Pondering...

Happy to be on the summit....

Lessons Learned...and Still Learning

A friend of mine was frustrated with her daughter's nonchalance about her bicycle helmet. I offered to forward her some photos of Ava from an incident in August. Since my first love is my digi-scrapbook, all the effort goes there instead of the blog. Here is the page I made to commemorate the event.

Getting to know you

Oh you sweet camera, I love you and hate you at the same time. I feel so inadequate when I clutch your hard body in my hands and even more powerless when I hear your cool click-click-click and I see the clearest, most delicious picture appear on the LCD. However, I have visions of how I want it to turn out and I can translate it yet!

In the Beginning...

....there was the word, and the word was...


..."Dada."