Mertlich

2011-06-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Mason working on his pinewood durby car for cub scouts

There it is, it needed more weight, so they glued a big nut in the seat...Mason named it "the Nut behind the wheel"...He did very well, but didn't place for a trophy.

Justin was cooking some food for us on a very windy day and it kept blowing out the flame, so he put Nolan and Mason to work keeping the wind away.

Pack meeting where Mason got his Wolf award, here they are doing a silly cheer, I'm one of the Wolf leaders! First time with one of my boys, can you believe it, with all those boys, I was never in cub scouts with them...without them but not with them.

Mason being awarded his Wolf

Pinning on my mothers pin.

Mason and I were going on a walk together, and he saw a chew can, and picked it up, I said eweww put that down, then I had a flash back to when Dad came home from the construction site with a Copenhagen can with a cut off finger in it...I will never forget that. So we went home and got it all together....Dan, Dylan, Nolan, and Justin will never forget this either....They fell for it for a while, it was great fun.

Man I love being a mom to boys......well.....and a girl

On Memorial Day we went to Toquerville to see the grave of my great, great grandfather John Conrad Naegle, Dad found it on Grave search .com, so we went there and took some pictures for us all. Kind of cool.

Roses from our front yard!

Flags were there on all the military head stones!

2011-04-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

We had another fun visit from Jason, Tiffany, Gunner, Paisley, and baby Harper, the end of March, it was so much fun but I forgot to take more pictures, so here are a few on the trampoline, Gunner just wants to be like the big boys, not always such a good thing, Look at them fight.

Aren't they angles?

Nolan getting the "Rookie of the Year" award in wrestling, we just had his award banquet at the High School (he's still in the middle school, but 9th grade wrestling is at the High school.)
His Coach is in Justin and Afton's new ward in Hurricane where they just bought a house, isn't that cool? And Dan and I saw him and his wife at the temple, It's so fun for me to live in an LDS community.

The Saturday before Easter, Mason got to have an Easter egg hunt in the pool! They do that in the St George indoor pool, and I thought it would be so fun to it at home...Well it was so cold he had to wear his wetsuit, but what a brave soul, he did it....notice he was alone in there?

Happy Easter, Love you all!

2011-02-25T12:53:00.000-08:00

Red Robbin hot air balloon landing just around the corner from our house.....

Is that where they get the beef for their hamburgers???

Jason and Tiffany and their family came for a fun visit and to bless Harper, the big boys went for a motor bike ride... oops Austin wasn't ready for the picture

Jason, Ryan, Mason, Justin, Dan, and Austin

It took some work getting all those men in the cab of Austin's truck

....they fit!

A critter that Jason saw under our trampoline, He and Mason caught it and put it in a cat cage..

It was not very happy with us and hissed...well I guess there was no noise, but it was not happy it looks kind of like Heidie's rodent.... about a week later, Mason went to a museum and said they had one there (stuffed) and they said it was a mountain beaver?

Jason and Harper, on her blessing day, February 6th 2011
We were so excited to have them here. so it was done in our ward...hey that's a pemco pen in your pocket isn't it Jason....Dad's are starting to run out of ink...best pens ever though.

getting everyone together for a picture....it was hard work

someone is a little bossy

But it worked
left to right....Tiffany's mom holding Gunner, her sister(hiding) Aunt, Grandma, Fred (peeking out) Tiffany holding Paisley, Suzanne, Jason holding Harper, Afton, Ryan, Nolan, Sarah, Dylan, Austin, Dan and me, and Mason in the front. Oh, I just saw that Ryan was holding up the rabbit ears behind Jason's head. He will never grow up...remember the picture of the kids I had taken at a studio when Mariah was a baby...The picture never came in and I complained...so they sent it to me in the mail for no charge....Well, Mariah was crying, eyes were everywhere, and Ryan was holding rabbit ears over Jason's head..They photographer must have been in trouble for not catching all those mistakes....but I love it now

Tiffany's Grandma Shauna, Paisley, Tiffany Jason and Harper, Fred and Dan.
Gunner's head leaving all the nonsense.

What a beautiful family...I wish I could turn it for this blog, but I needed it this way for my wall at home, so that's how I took it.

Cute pictures of the kids.....

Aren't they precious???? notice Gunner's tats?
tattoos

2011-01-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

We had some snow!! OK not enough to even play in, but the kids did. This is Dylan and Mason

Not too good for the palm tree

Nolan at a wrestling match, my pictures got mixed up, so more later.

just a fun trip to WalMart, we always see some pligs there, I was trying to take a picture with out being caught, so I missed most of the girls...no babies with them

my superman, a snuggi from Wendy

Car show in Mesquite

2010-12-27T12:45:00.000-08:00

Nolan with Mariah's extensions

The family picture we took on Nolan's birthday, after church

Nolan's birthday

fun to have Mariah back, now we have a bunch of boys with mullets

We've been having some flooding here in St George

I'm standing in the first sunshine I've seen in 7 days...I know sob, sob, sob.

Took a drive to the Enterprise Dam, the road was washed out in the flooding, we went on the shoulder and continued to drive to the dam.

It was so full that it was washing over the top

more washed out road.

2010-11-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Mason likes to take things apart...I give him what ever stops working and he goes at it...

Dylan at a concert for his 6th grade class

Dylan got part of a new skateboard(the deck) for his 12th birthday, looking at the small picture the computer shows...I didn't know he was making such a face....Oh well

he wanted to go to the skate park for his birthday, so I took him and a friend "Triston" to the park for a couple hours.

Now that he's 12, the "mexistash" had to go....Dylan's first shaving...When I caught him with my camera, he didn't like it. Once again, Oh well

Nolan

Thanks giving 2010...Not too big of a crowd this year..The Barney family came and Justin, Afton is in Boise with her family, and Austin and Sarah went to her Grandparents house in Enterprise. They stopped in later. Mason has a turkey that Aunt Wendy brought, on his head..the game was that he would go around the table and peck someone on the head. That person got to share one thing that they were grateful for. Your turn Justin!

You're next Mandy. See the cute little turkey cups...everyone got one from Aunt Wendy, then a pen went around and we got to write on the feathers what we were grateful for.

2010-11-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

Time to think!!!

Nolan's last game of the season, towards the end of October, there was a storm brewing in the sky, it was beautiful, I tried to catch lightning in the distance..but couldn't

Nolan's football team...Desert Hills Thunder. Nolan is on the second row, far left, second from the left, they were posing at the goal post and I was in the stands, so I'm glad this turned out as well as it did from sooo far away.

After the game, as the JV game was going on, Nolan's team is all 9th grade.

The sky got darker and darker, and the lightning closer and closer, then they announced for everyone to exit the field and to leave the stands, it was kind of exciting, but scary because two weeks prior to this game a couple high school boys were struck by lightning just as school let out and they were waiting for their ride home...one is still in the hospital, and neither well enough to get back to school....yikes.

Some fun October pictures

I'm a lunch lady at an elementary school close by, I dressed up for Halloween, but needed 3 hair nets to cover the high tower.

The real costume, I had a cute little firefighter to protect me.....the trick or treating happened on Saturday!!! NONE on the Sabbath, it was so exciting. What a community/State. I love it.

2010-10-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween month!!!
this was Justin's creation

some ghostly swimming! Dylan was moving too fast for the shutter speed

I just needed the flash on!

skim boarding on the pool

Mason

Dylan

Dan's birthday Sept 2

Nolan taking off his football uniform after the game

We can watch conference at home on our TV without paying for it!!!! See the little rabbit ears hanging down from the TV? Dylan had the wonderful idea to watch the Prophet from the door of their tent like the people of King Benjamen. We were impressed and let them set up the tent in the family room, all was well until I decided to look inside the tent....he was reading a novel...the little twerp. I took the book with a smile and conference went on well.

Mason is a cub scout and I'm his wolf den leader!! First time, with all these boys that I've been their den leader. cool huh?

Pictures sent to me on my phone. too small for me to see, so I post them.
this is Logan working on a car at Millers, so Quinn is helping.

Ryan at the fair with Mariah, another favorite shirt (thanks Jason), Mariah said he spent about 10 min. playing with the Mastiff dogs.Maddison's first day of 2nd grade.

Gunner just like dad

More just like dad

and OH NO more just like dad

blurry shot of Ryan and Maddison at the fair, in my small shot, I couldn't see that they were in front of the zibra. I'd like a zibra

Ryan and Maddison

Logan and Josie

Logan and Emma (Josie's daughter)

Emma

Kendall having fun at preschool

Mason shopping with Justin, I think they had a fiesta after this trip to the dollar store

Kendall coloring I love all my pictures sent to me on my phone, thanks Jason, Diana, Mariah, Josie, Justin and Aimee.

Dylan's 11th Birthday

2010-09-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

Only in Utah

I found this post in my drafts....I guess I never finished it, So a little over a year ago, these were taken

the drags in Mesquite

Yikes, a cafe in a little town in Utah

Big buck elk on a farm

2010-09-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

Mason dressed up in Nolan's football uniform, Desert Hills Middle School....Thunder football, Nolan's pretty excited to practice and work out and play.

First day of school, Aug 10th ...Yep it's way still summer, Dylan is in a new school, he's in 6th grade, where they are in an intermediate school (6th and 7th grade) Sunrise Ridge Intermediate. I asked him to step out of the van for a picture next to the school sign.... are you kidding, he wouldn't budge, but he'd smile from the front seat.

Mason first day of 2nd grade

I actually took the picture in front of the school earlier in the morning when I took Dylan to school, then back home to wait for the bus, so here he goes.

Mason made a couple shirts, one for Gunner and one for him to keep!

The picture doesn't do the scene justice, there were huge flocks of birds flying in huge V's through the sky, it really was something to see.

We've watched this corn patch grow from seeds, many times we drive by Nolan comments how fun it would be to go through one, would they get lost, would they get scared not being able to see anything for ever??? so we dropped them off at one end and drove to the other end to pick them up.

I got nervious waiting because it took them longer than I thought it should, so I was glad to see them come out.

They said it was fun, but their arms itched.

Happy Birthday to Mason Aug 17th!!!

Now the big baptism day!!!! Aug 28, 2010

Nolan and Jacob Rainey were the two from our ward for the month of Aug.

WOW, I told him I would put it on the blog, it didn't stop his wacko faces. The two boys each picked someone from their family to give a prayer and a talk. Without planning, they each picked their teenage brothers for the talks, so Nolan gave the baptism talk and Jacob's brother gave the Holy Ghost talk...so we started the baptism at 11:20, had an opening song, prayer, baptism talk, and the Holy Ghost talk. Then walked out in the hall to go to the RS room where the font is, but a previous baptism was still in there, we looked at our watches and it was 11:25... it took 5 min for all that.... the talks were good and short.

The Mertlich group that was at the baptism, Justin (Afton was in Boise), Dan, Nolan, Dylan, Me, Austin, Sarah, and front and center...Mason. We also missed having Ryan there (he's in Washington) and Mariah (she's in Washington, nannying for Aunt Holly and Uncle Andrew)

2010-08-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Mariah, Nolan, Grandpa Fred and Mason at the Coral Desert Rehab and Recovery for Grandpa's knee replacement surgery in St George

Three of the guys there, who've made fast friends and support with the knee recovery, Perry, Jerry and Fred, We've been invited to enjoy with the freindships, even invited to Perry's Pizza Party lastnight.

The big day for the staples coming out, we got to go and watch the big event

The nurse Rocky even let Nolan take out some staples

Then Perry invited Mason to take out a few from his knee, he had so much fun he kept going and going. ( he took out about 6)

Nolan took out another from Perry's knee, Mariah was invited also, but declined.

The two finished knees, What a party.

Mertlich Reunion 2010

2010-07-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Mason at a library day with the firefighters

Getting ready for the picture

The shot of the kids and their spouses
Bundy, Vicki, Dan, Julie, Dan, Wendy, Andrew, Holly, Brigham, Kristi, Donna, and Scott

Got Suzanne in there on the left, and Fred in there on the right

Hyrum and Eva's kids...Dave, John, MaryJo, and Fred

These are the cousins...so Fred's cousins and Aunt Evelyn (front black pants)...I didn't pay enough attention to name the rest for you, although you can find Fred and his siblings.

Went to Brig and Kristi's house in Paradise, UT I told Nolan I would post any bad shot he gave me.

These are cousins too....Rachael, Cali, Kadee, Dylan, Olivia, Mariah, Porter, Nolan, Mason, and Elizabeth

They all wanted a goofy shot......kids.....

Dan B, Brig, Kristi, Wendy, and Dan M

Porter took a picture for me so that I could sneak in there.....and Olivia too :)

2010-07-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Dylan went on a road trip with Dan for work, these are some of the sights they saw, these are stones, blue glass type stuff.
The time I went with Dan, Fred's arm was hanging from the dinosaur's mouth

Found Fred Flintstones car

pictures retrieved from my phone

2010-07-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

Mariah and Dylan, these are some pictures that Mariah retrieved from my phone for me to post on my blog, this way I can see them too!!! Way too small on the phone.

Nolan and Mariah

Austin in one of his most favorite shirts, thanks Jason

Mason after a visit to the dentist, we sure had some laughs with him.

Oh I love the detail that I can see now that the picture is bigger. Gunner, that's not a bandanna like I thought is it??? And poor little Paisley has an owie on her forehead, stitches too huh?

What a cute big brother

Oh I'm so glad you send me these pictures on my phone Jason, I love them!!, and I miss those little ones.

Some pictures of Kendall that Aimee sent me, I'm so glad I can see what a cutie she is.

Not the best quality, but fun for me to see

Kendall maybe a little younger, might have been on my phone for a while.

Maddison and Ryan

Maddison cooking pancakes, She's growing up. I'm glad Diana sends me pictures on my phone too.

2010-06-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

Austin the groom

Sarah and her dad

We've had a nest of Kill Deer birds in our parking area, we've been watching them and enjoying their fake broken wing if we come too close to the nest (in the gravel), well they hatched

This morning when I went out to look the Dad and the three that had hatched were gone, but the mom was there with the last one who had hatched, and by the afternoon, even she and the youngest were gone. wow that was fun.

2010-06-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Graduate!

With one of her best friends Sara Naegle. The school has the graduates go out in the hall and stand in a reception line so that people can congratulate them. Only in a small school huh?

Dylan at Baker Dam Reservoir our ward had a Father Son camp out here

The roses are in bloom and smell so sweet

Mason wrote a story for Maddison, before he mailed it off, I took a picture to save. It's based on a true story with some embellishments. Do you recognize Ryan's story of "Stucki" from a previous blog?

These videos are at graduation, the first one is of part of the video they played at graduation, where each student had a baby picture, then child picture, then their graduation picture, I missed her baby picture while pressing record. The second one Mariah loved because I didn't know I pressed the record button. And the last is the whole 2010 graduating class of Enterprise High School, all 53 of them. oops the last video didn't work.

2010-05-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

Mariah's graduation announcement

Dylan got an award at the "Give Me Liberty" program at school, he had to memorize all the States and their capitals, the Preamble, the Gettysburg Address, the presidents of the United States, and other requirements that I can't even remember.

Mason the Fire Fighter!

Mariah's 18th Birthday!! She was excited for this big birthday, but later said she doesn't feel any different

Dinner out for her birthday

Mormon Ad - Homefront - SciFi

2010-05-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

2010-04-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Happy 23 rd Birthday Justin

He works in St George, lives in Enterprise, about an hour away, so when he works late and then needs to work early (this time 3:30 am) he'll spend the night at our house. That's why no Afton or Mariah, they were in Enterprise.

we were watching a movie and Mason fell asleep, but we found him with one eye open, we all had a good laugh before we closed it for him and moved his hand away.

The wind blew in these big tumble weeds. Hey the house in the back is for sale!!! Move here and be our neighbors!

I got to go to Salt Lake for General conference held in the Conference Center!! What an amazing place, and it held sooo many people, we had a fun, little bit of a reunion too.

Mom, me, Wayne, Becky, Bryce and Jordie

We stayed at Merlin and Maria's house, then had a few more visitors for a couple hours, On the back row, Maria, Merlin, Eunice, Aunt Barbara, her grand-daughter, Tiffany, Me, Afton (Justin is taking the picture), Becky, and at the table, Mom & Aunt Helen, with Wayne & Uncle David.

I kept telling the boys how tall Bryce has gotten, so we pulled a quick one and took this funny picture of me squatting down to make him taller, I was laughing too hard to fool them when I got home and showed them.

I would normally not use such ugly pictures of me. The advantage of me being the one posting the pictures on the blog, is that I get to decide, but just look at the joke we did with photo manipulation, not at me.

Stucki the dino

2010-04-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Nolan's shoes after dirt sliding down the hill.

Spring Break for the Barney's and they came and spent some time with us! The end of March

Mason, Mandy, Kadee and Mariah posing at the top of "Stucki" hill, Ryan claims to have found dinosaurs up on this hill, so we all went with him for a hike. There is a corner marker up there with a family name on it, Stucki, pronounced with a long u, but Ryan has named his dinosaur Stucki because it's stuck there. we all had fun playing around.

Mandy and Kadee

Maraiah

Mason

Oh no Mason hang on!!! Ryan's got you

Too much fun to be in danger huh?

See the vans WAY down there? Lucky for Justin, Ryan got to him just in the nick of time.

The pile of rocks show where the corner marker is with the name "Stucki" on it. Afton, Gideon, her brother who just got back from a mission and was visiting them for the week, Mariah, Mandy, and Kadee, that's Ryan's hand up showing Mandy something, I can see his cowboy hat up behind Mandy's head.

Justin and Nolan

This is "Stucki" see the eye, nose and ear, as pointed out by Ryan

views from all around

What we saw when we got to the top and looked down

Justin, Ryan, Afton, Gideon,Mandy,Mariah, Nolan, Kadee, Mason, and Aunt Wendy. There's a video at the end of this blog showing how some of the boys got down. It's taking sooo long to upload, that I'm only doing this one video, I have more

Afton with her brother Gideon at a park near our house where we had a picnic with Uncle Dave, Aunt Karen and their family, we had some fun and some good food.

Wendy, Dan B, and Dan M

in the back is Austin and his fiance Sarah, hanging on every word from Dan

Kadee, Mariah, Mandy, and Mason

to the way left in Hyrum and sitting, his new fiance, then Dylan, Nolan, Kadee, Mariah, Chris' wife, Trina, Mandy with her back to us and up front Aunt Karen holding....I'm not sure who, it looks like Mason but it could be her grandson. No, I looked at the shirt, it is Mason.

At another time, the kids and I are out by the fire pit I made with a propane gas ring, I can't figure out how to rotate the picture

2010-01-25T15:51:00.000-08:00

We've had a few days of stormy weather here, not the typical blue skies and sunshine, in fact, It seemed like we were in Washington with all the rain we got in a couple days, but then it cleared out and the clouds lifted and this is what we saw!!!, it had snowed in the higher elevations. This is Pine Valley Mountain. The boys in Enterprise got a couple feet of snow in that storm. Enterprise kind of is behind that mountain.

Car show in Mesquite, this was the car I took a picture to show the kids, they didn't want to go.

Mariah and Ryan got new glasses from an awesome web site with complete glasses for $8, Mariah's were $8, Ryan paid a little more because he had tinted lenses for $5 more.
www.zennioptical.com

This pair of Mariah's was $12.95, not bad though! I gotta pass along the deals when I find them, especially when you don't have insurance that covers eye glasses.

2010-01-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

I got a new camera for Christmas (my old one broke) so here are some pictures I just took to check it out, missed any Christmas ones. Oh well.

The goats think they're dogs, and the dog thinks she's a goat, when I feed them hay, she eats it too, and growls at them when they try to eat her dog food. Of course the goats don't like the dog.

He's talking to them not spitting on them.

Went with Dan for a drive to do a job, I always enjoy the scenery

In this cute little town called Centerville I found Fred Flintstones car!! Where's Fred??

OH NO, I think I found out where Fred went

More pretty scenery in the area where "My Friend Flicka" was filmed, Dan's family (MacFarlane) owns the ranch and house where it was filmed, I was too slow getting the camera out, so this is around there. Those are lamas walking in the field.

The sun only shines on half of the trees, isn't that crazy?

2009-12-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Dinner, it was so fun.

Jason, Tiffany, Gunner, and Paisley came for Thanksgiving, so we had all our kids except Logan. It was so good to get together, this is the turkey bowl and Frisbee toss. It was such a nice day.

Gunner and Paisley

Gunner

more football

I was getting an action shot of Jason and Nolan walked in front of the camera, so I used it anyway.

Justin

Ryan, Dan Mariah (holding Paisley's baby), Nolan and Austin

We found this quarry of "Utah Ice", beautiful crystal rocks, other's have called it gypsum? But I can't imagine it into sheet rock.

Mason with Utah Ice

Mason, Afton, Justin and Dylan

It is amazing stuff, Nolan wants to sell it on E Bay?

On the same trip to the hills, we went to this cave someone excavated, we were told there was shale oil in it, Justin tried to light some black stuff.

I had some pictures of Kendall(Logan's daughter) sent to me on my phone by her mom and Mariah put them on a flash drive for me so that I could share them with others

Kendall (I don't know how to rotate it)

So I did the same with pictures sent to my phone of Maddison, they're growing up!

Maddison Halloween

Maddison crazy hair day at school, I love it

2009-11-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

When Jason and Tiffany visited, the middle of October, we had so much fun and did lots of fun stuff, but my camera broke so I can't get any of those pictures off of it, Dan used his camera for these shots and I'm so glad. This is all I have until I figure out how to get the others off my broken camera.

Logan is the only one of my boys missing, Gunner fits right in there!!

It was fun to have all my kids (except Logan) there.

2009-09-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

Sunset from my driveway

Justin and Afton's wedding 09/09/09 in the Boise Idaho Temple, it was really nice and fun to get to see family that I haven't gotten to see for way to long. Justin's blogspot has some more pictures, so check it out, he also has a couple videos of the goats fainting.

Ryan, Nolan, Dylan, Mariah, Mason, Justin, Afton, Me, and Dan

My wonderful Sister, Heidi and her baby Joshuah, he wanted to get into the fountain

Wayne's got a story going, although his audience is small, I'm sure it was good.

Mariah, my mom, Mason and Becky

Becky and Wayne, Ryan, Dylan, Nolan Suzanne and Grandpa Fred

Trying for the fountain again.

Nolan, Dylan, Mason and Uncle Wayne in the FREEZING hotel pool

we went to the reception after the short swim and I didn't get any pictures there, so none of Austin and his fiance Sarah. darn

What a surprise we ran into ZZ Top, Logan

breakfast at the hotel, our last bit of our short reunion

Back home
I took these couple pictures because the sky in the background shows the storm that's rolling in, even though we're in the bright sun and heat.

I dropped my camera and had to see if it still worked, Dan didn't like me checking it on him.

2009-08-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

Justin came for a visit in hopes of putting his car back together, that didn't happen, but while he was here, I took a few pictures. Mason has trouble cooperating for pictures.

We're standing in front of the grapes, they were good, but the birds got to them faster than we could get to them.

A night time swimming party with the camera flash on, while Justin was here, Nolan was at scout camp.

with out the flash

I had picked up a picture frame with 9 picture slots, one for each of my kids, so after church I asked them each to pose for a shot, and got one of Dan and I too.

some thought it was funny/stupid

some didn't want to cooperate

and some did

now I just need to get one of Austin, and have Jason and Logan send me one or better yet...come for a visit and I'll take one!!!

I thought this was fun, they didn't

LOOK AT MY GARDEN, I normally don't like gardening, but I'm getting lots of cucumbers and tomatoes, and cantaloupe, they are sooo good

and look at that watermelon, it was so good and sweet. School has started here on August 13th way too early.

Happy Birthday Mason

Happy Birthday Uncle Bud too I guess a few others like TJ Hanni, friend Ben George, and Mariah's friend Sara Naegle.

2009-07-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

We had a fun visit from the Barney family, I was just too slow getting my camera, Dan and Dan were involved in a great game of Foosball, you could tell they were both good at their game, but by the time I got the shot off, they had finished. Most people use their living rooms as a formal room, not us it's a game room for now.

Mandy and Mariah had fun together

Mason lost his upper front tooth, the next day he lost the other, but I just realized I haven't taken a picture of that yet.

4th of July, Happy Birthday Austin!!, He's living in the Enterprise house so we went there for the Birthday and for the 4th of July races.

Does he get his wish?

Out of order picture, Justin's 22nd Birthday while he was visiting in April, I didn't have my camera so we took this picture with his, he's here in St George again and he told me about the picture I asked to put on his camera so here it is.

2009-06-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

We went to a car show in Mesquite while Grandpa Fred and Suzanne were visiting, it was fun and hot. I they also had an open header contest (loud), a slow drag (that was funny, about a 20ft course, no gas, no brake, last one with all four tires over the 2x4 wins), and a burn out contest, I have a video of that I'm going to email to my boys, if you want to see it let me know.

Ryan with two of the three baby goats we got!

Ryan, Dylan and Nolan, my corn in the background has tassels and ears on them now.

Mason loves the girl goat

This is the littlest baby boy, he loves Mariah and lays his head on her, do you think she loves him too?

Aunt Kristi found them for us and helped us get them, they're fainting goats!!! so far we haven't seen them faint, we don't want to scare them too bad yet.

2009-06-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

Austin sanding by his truck, the boy does not like getting his picture taken and I had to talk him into getting this guy shot to send to Logan because he would appreciate the truck.

Now this is a shot which only those possessing testosterone would appreciate, it is not a girl thing only a guy thing.

Long story so read it if you want the history of this mountain or skip it if you don't have time.
About the time that Molly Mertlich was born (2 years ago?) Grandpa Fred was visiting and during a trip into St George, he told me a story about him as a kid, each time they would drive into Southern Utah, his parents would tease him about some mountain formation named "Molly's Nipple" he said he was 12 and that would embarrass him so they would continue to do that. I'd never seen the formation and Grandpa Fred didn't know exactly where it was. So about a year later, as I was reading one of my LDS fictions, it told about Orin Porter Rockwell having a friend in a Lady named Molly something who ran a house of ill repute, and he named a number of mountain formations after her, as I read that in the book, I knew that part must not be fiction, and one of them had to be "Molly's Nipple". Then a few months later, as Dan and I were looking at houses we went into Hurricane looking at this house at the foot of a mountain, it was a beautiful setting, I looked up and couldn't believe my eyes, I was looking at what had to be that formation. Every time I see it now, I have to laugh, and from each side of the mountain, the formation doesn't change.

I have a couple "budding" photographers Dylan took these shots and the ones of the basket ball shooting, Nolan helped with those, I'm so glad that I can just delete them when were done, so go for it guys.

This is Dylan. Is it a trick shot?

This is Nolan

On a trip with Dan while he was out for work, we stopped by Bryce Canyon, I'd never been there, WOW and pictures don't do it justice.

The wind was really blowing and filled up his shirt....I'm serious....I'm not lying, see it blew right down his shirt sleeve and into the front? But the picture was so good I had to use it.

Required family activity, we are heading out to the Dinosaur Tracks, only about 10 miles from our house 8 of it on a dirt road. I had so much fun.

We're going to walk where the dinosaurs walked.

somewhere out there

Yikes are we having fun yet?

look! there they are

This one was a small one

Mason found what he claims is a Pterodactyl fossil he's pointing to its eye.

Look in a line in front of Mason, do you see those big tracks?

Each of his hands are pointing to separate tracks!

Another trip to the dirt road so Nolan would have a chance to drive the jeep.

2009-05-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

Dan and I went to a car show here in St George, it's NOTHING like the Good Guys car show and swap meet in Puyallup at the fair grounds, but it's what we have here. I took a few pictures for the boys, Ryan, Jason, Logan, Justin or Austin dad would have much rather been there with one of you.

I saw Willie Nelson sitting in a car and had to take a picture, I know he's a dummy but it's Willie, OH you mean it's a manikin.

We have an irrigation ditch in the back of our property and the boys cleaned out a fort area under the tree, and put a bridge over the water.

it's actually hot, but Nolan had on a "wife beater" tank undershirt, and I told him I won't take a picture of him in that, so he threw on his jacket, also the boys don't usually walk around in black socks and shorts, the picture was taken after church when they changed all their church clothes except their socks, cute huh?

Dan found a diesel tractor, it's a guy thing but he's having fun with it.

Went to Enterprise to clean and paint the house there, Mason wanted to help so I gave him the little corner to paint. I came out of the other room and saw just how he was helping!!

Back in St George, our roses are blooming and are beautiful and smell so good

Mason took these close ups of the roses. I was impressed

Mason and Dylan in front of the house with some of the roses in the background.

2009-04-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

SPRING BREAK
Mariah and Nolan had spring break from school in Enterprise. It's been hard letting them continue attending in Enterprise while we spend only the week-end together, so this was fun to spend this time together in St George playing in the COLD pool water, that wasn't crystal clear yet.

Yep she did it again, the hair color changed again. Of course I love the blond that is more natural for her, but what can I say.

Dylan and Mason

Nolan just a blur

Dylan

Mason the movie star

We got a palm tree and Dan was busy digging the hole for it!!!

Before Jr Prom

She had to do this alone in Enterprise, so I have no more pictures of this night

Why do I get ugly looks when I ask him to smile for a picture?

Kolob state park up near Cedar City, it was pretty!, look at the road it's the same color as the cliffs and it's paved.

We have had such fun with family coming to visit around Easter time, we had Jason, Tiffany, Gunner and Paisley, and at the same time Grandpa Fred and Suzanne were here, it was so fun to have a lot of people here. Paisley loved Mason, and the feeling was mutual, in fact, Mason told me he loved me and if he was older he'd want to marry me, then he added but if Paisley was older then he'd have a decision to make.

We went to the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center for an Easter egg hunt in the pool, it was crazy and crowded. Gunner did pretty good with a few pool toys gathered in his basket, here's a few of them.

Gunner with the tube suit, wanted to be in the middle of the jet of water ( Nolan is laying down)

Dylan following Gunner with Jason watching close by

Nolan Gunner and Dylan

Another smile for me pose

Love the rubber boots, we laughed remembering Mason calling them his rubber-band boots, and then when we moved to So Utah, they were called by all the farmers and their kids "irrigation boots" makes sense huh?

Mason dressed up as Spider Man and the kids had fun watching him most of my pictures of this fun time turned out blurry. Gunner wanted to put the suit on and did the same crawling on the floor thing that Mason did, it was cute, but the only picture of Gunner in the suit is the water break below.

After Grandpa and Suzanne left, but before Jason and Tiffany left, Justin brought Afton for us to meet her, so we just continued the fun, then Jason and Tiffany left and we spent some more time with Justin and Afton, here we are at Del Taco with Justin showing us his food, nice.

St George Temple at dusk Dylan and Mason in the picture.

Through the window of the visitors center

Just an hour after Justin and Afton left to head back to Boise, they were involved in an accident, luckily it was at an intersection after getting gas in Cedar City, not on the Freeway. They are fine, no one hurt, but the car has seen better days.

2009-02-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

New address
3366 E 2170 S
St George, UT 84790

A POOL!!! Do you think it needs cleaning? Don't worry I'll have it clean by the time you visit. This is one of my favorite features of the new house we bought in St George, I'm so excited I took just a few pictures!!! I have more, but thought this was all the patience you could endure.

I just love my pool guy, but he has his work cut out for him.

The kids will love the slide. I love the pool guy

into the pool area

from the kitchen looking into the family room, the walls are peach color, but we've been painting and they are now tan.

Entry way looking into the living room, green walls painted tan now

looking from the family room into the kitchen, to the left of the bar is the dining room

Master shower (walk-in)

Master tub

Master bathroom, much bigger than I'm used to!!!

Master bedroom

upstairs appartment.....now come and visit....you'll have your own space with your own entrance.

Front view of the house

Front from another angle.
We've been busy cleaning and painting, and are about ready to move except that Mariah and Nolan want to finish school in Enterprise (they actually don't want to move at all) I don't know if we'll just take Mason and Dylan out of school and transfer them now or wait for the year to finish up. I'm ready to move out of the snow now though. More has been melting each day though. The new address is at the top of this blog.

Happy birthday to Jason today!!! Wish we could be with you

2009-01-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many times I've read this book with my children as they were learning to read, but this is the first time that the story affected the child like this. Mason is reading these short books, and as he was reading this one to me, about Bob who hops on the bus with his dog, and a few other people hop on. Then at the "lot", they proceed to hop off, last being Bob, but the dog is left on the bus, Mason was so sad for Bob, who sobbed and sobbed, that he began to cry, I thought it was so cute and tender, I had to get my camera with the excuse I was going for a tissue.

Not to worry, the story ends well, with Pops the bus boss, getting the dog back to Bob. I recommend this book!!

It finally warmed up a couple days here and the snow started melting, then the rains came, but that didn't keep us out of it, our feet are still webbed you know. Mason wanted to make a boat and sail it down the flowing gutters. We had a couple people driving by who commented about us being the only ones out in the rain, which was true. I thought that was the end, but just a day later, it turned cold again and now we have about 15 inches of snow again and still coming down.

2009-01-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

Mason having fun with Grandpa Fred Mertlich during a visit just before Christmas

Ryan's birthday Dec 22nd, there's a lot of candles on that cake huh?

27 to be exact

Dylan, Ryan, Mariah, Nolan, and Mason

The snow kept coming and made for a white Christmas, and some shoveling, notice Mason's bike buried to the right.

Mason, Nolan and Julie. The snowplows bury us, see the bank behind us, the school is what's across the street.

The snow is still here, but melting some during the day and freezing at night, here is a neighbors house with the longest ice cycles I've ever seen

everywhere I went this day, I saw ice cycles backed by the beautiful sun, it was really fun to see

I'm a little slow, but this is why we put ice cycles on our Christmas trees, it really happens in nature.

Mariah got the "Student of the Month" for the month of January in the 11th grade. They had a nice luncheon for the students and their parents, and a letter from the teacher who submitted her name.

Mason got to bring "Wrinkles" home from school and enjoy him for a weekend, then write about the fun they had, he read "Puppies are Like That" to Wrinkles.

Then he had mom make Wrinkles some pajama pants. It is now Jan 22 and there is still enough snow on the ground that I can't see more than a patch of grass in our yard, but it is melting a bit. 45 min away in St George, it is warm enough that I had to take off my coat AND sweat shirt.

2008-12-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

Which would you choose to fill up at.....1.67 a gal or 2.49 a gal, gee I think I might drive to the next station. They've since gotten more competitive on their price. Today gas was at 1.41 at the Smiths store.

I was helping with the Kindergarten class and got to look at their "I'm thankful for..." papers, I saw paper after paper that looked like church papers instead of school papers, it warmed my heart and I had to share this one with you, I don't remember who wrote it but it was precious.

Ryan and Dylan at the Ward Christmas Party, good food and a great nativity program by the primary children.

Mason and Nolan

Of course pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus, Nolan is sooo excited to be on Mrs. Claus' lap!!!

"Stocking Stuffers" a play that the High School put on. Mariah played a doll in one of the scenes, we thought she was just the cutest doll, she's our doll.

Mariah on the left, after "the people" leave, the dolls come to life.

The funniest part was when she sat down on the bed and her shoe went flying off, she kept her cool and went on as if nothing had happened, here she is with out one shoe, I think the blob in the right corner is the shoe.

singing carols with the audience and Santa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Nolan!! He is now a teen-ager, says he doesn't feel any different, boy is Dylan happy to be there? he didn't want to be in the picture.

Dylan, Mariah, NOLAN, Ryan, and Mason

Well, we all got the same storm, some just got a little more snow than others. It's night so the pictures are a little dark, they're across the street at the High School.

Nolan, Mason, Ryan and his dog Lacey, and Dylan

Ryan

Dylan in back with the snow ball, Nolan in his snow cave, and Mason in front

Lacey checking out the snow cave Nolan was in

2008-11-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

I saw Mason trying to put a school picture into his FBI badge that he was making, and he said "I wish I was wearing a suit and sunglasses in my picture." Well I could make that happen, so here's what he made and then played for a while "Erresting" people.

Mariah took my camera while we were looking at a house for sale, here's what she took.

Dylan has turned 10

Not the best picture of some of them, but they had fun Justin, Mason, Dylan and Ryan

Mariah's new boyfriend, he's kind of rough and pretty intense, not the best dancer.

OK it's a statue at some Elks hall in St George

MandyBarney had a softball tournament in St George and they invited us to it and to the pool at their hotel, the kids had fun for many hours, here's Kadee and Dylan

Mason and Dylan

Kadee, Mason and Dylan

Mason, Kadee and what's left of Dylan We had fun in the sun of St George

2008-11-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

I'm back after a long remodel of our local library, where I use the Internet to
post on my blog, I'm back and have a long list of pictures to share.
Ryan has moved here with us in Utah, he's not too happy about it,
but he's going to get some vocational rehabilitation and that will be good for him.

He brought his dog Lacy with him, Dan loves that...NOT

We got a wonderful visit from Jason, Tiffany, Gunner and Paisley
here is Aunt Mariah holding Paisley (about a month old)

Mason and Gunner on the lawn mower

Gunner on Grandpa's tractor

We found a praying mantis, Gunner and I had fun looking at and playing with it.

I had been following Gunner around from one four wheeled item to another, then he heard the construction going on across the street at the High School, and that's all it took, he was off to those wheeled (tractors) All I could do was follow him.

I made him stop at the curb, he wasn't too happy with the front row seat, he wanted the drivers seat.

Back at home, he even likes the two wheeled vehicles
even if they're meant for the barbies. Jason says he tries to ride on anything he sees.

Me holding and enjoying little Paisley, knowing it will be a long time
between visits

Mariah's support for football player #57 during one of the home games,
he works with her at Tucks, the little fast food place in Enterprise, in fact
he's the owners son.

Tons of fun at Tiffany's grandmas pool in St George
Austin, Mason, Dylan, Jason, Justin, Nolan, and Ryan in the back
loving the sun and the water.

The muscle pose for some of them

Mariah playing with her hair

We had a private concert from Hannah Montana
she was so cute!!!

Mariah is desperate for a sister, scary what a beautiful girl
Dylan would make.

Mariah's first Date
she still claims IT WASN'T A DATE
just friends going to a dance.

Dylan is proud of his black eye
is it a boy thing?
he got it horsing around with friends and a football

Dan, Mason, and I went for a couple hour ride and saw some beautiful landscapes
and saw three seasons, it was fun.

Mason claims that these are KING KONG'S castles

OW, poor little Mason "got bounced off the trampoline by Justin"
and hit the only little rock in the soft dirt.
as I sat and calmed him on the swing, I could see the scull under the cut
it reminded me of Logan's accident when he was about two years old, when he pulled the
hamster cage down on his forehead, and cut to the scull. I knew Logan survived
so Mason would too and had Justin take a picture.

sorry about the morbid pictures, but it was intriguing.

he was so tired from the worry and crying about needing
stitches, that he fell asleep during the 5 stitches in the under
layer and the 7 stitches on the outer layer.

He had some VERY worried brothers, they went off the say their own
little prayers for him, Dylan made him some nice posters to come home to,
and we hope we all learned to obey the rule of only one person on the tramp at a time

And all is well!!!!

In our house shopping looking and longing, we found a great street
that we looked at 5 years ago, and we were reminded of this Egbert ranch
I know I've got to be related somehow, there aren't that many Egberts out there

2008-08-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

Nolan enjoying the summer

Dylan in the pool

It is still summer isn't it??????
Well school has started

Mason on his first day of kindergarten

Mariah's back to school look

I don't know why the sink was the bath or swimming option
for Mason but that's where Mariah found him

The strangest lizard running around our front yard
I don't know what kind he is but look at that tail
he wasn't very big, about as long as my palm. (NO I didn't put him into my palm)

2008-08-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Mason - now 6 years old (we forgot to put the candles on the cake so they had to go on his piece)

2008-07-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

OH NO my baby is growing up
these were some sad few days
for Julie when we noticed loose teeth
on her baby

Mason thinks it's great, two teeth out
in one day

Nolan found a red bow tie and cummerbund
in Austin's stuff and was excited that it matched
his suit lining

just dressing up for fun

Justin and Dan took a wildland firefighter course together
here they are in their PPE's (personal protective equipment)

aren't they handsome?

2008-07-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

Father's Day week-end our Elder Justin
Mertlich came home from the Canada Halifax
Mission

Dan, Grandpa Fred, Justin, Dylan, Nolan, Mason and Kadee
Grandpa, Suzanne, and the Barney's came for the week-end

After the talk in Sacrament
we went to Mesquite Nevada for some fun in the sun
well, starting MondayJustin, Mariah, Mason, Nolan, Mandy, Dylan, & Kadee
at the pool in Mesquite

Love the swim cap

we have polygamists here in.. well, all of Utah, and they have a certain
look, besides the clothing difference kind of pioneer looking,
the hair on the women is never cut and
they put a BIG swooptie poof in the front...
here's Mariah's plig look

Notice Justin's missionary tan?

Mariah and Mandy had a hair color swap, not even planning it

we had fun, I could have stayed here forever

Mason

Nolan got his first black eye and was pretty proud of it
he got a ball to the face during one of his little league games.

2008-05-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

It's her BIRTHDAY!

Happy 16th Birthday Mariah
the bad part was it was on Mother's day
so she had to share

2008-04-08T09:46:00.001-07:00

Taking Mason to school this morning we saw this field in town.Do you think it's still cold here????
ice from the irrigation water hitting the ground and fence

They've started irrigating the fields, but it's still cold in the mornings

Enterprise Dam

Enterprise Dam

The lower reservior is so full that the spillway is overflowing
causing beautiful waterfalls

we played around the small one
for Family home evening last night

2008-04-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

We needed to get a little warmer, so we drove about 40 minutes

and went to Winchester Hills, a development we like that

backs up to BLM land where there are sand dunes, it was so fun.

Dylan

Mason

Nolan

Back in Enterprise, spring is trying to happen
Mason after watching Bonanza,
he wanted to be the sheriff.

April 6, 2008

Mason after general conference, he likes to dress up

and often wears his tux to church, he found a carnation

probably dropped after a funeral a couple days ago, there was

a button hole in the tux, and

shazam!

We were one of two families who went to the

church to watch conference. I guess they all have

cable or satelite. One of the things I was excited about

moving to Utah, was watching conference on TV without having

to pay for it, I picked probably the only place that doesn't get

signal for that station.

2008-02-16T13:31:00.001-08:00

2008-02-16T13:19:00.001-08:00

2008-02-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

We came home from church to this, it was still coming down hard
February 3, 2008Nolan, Mariah, Dylan, and Mason

Mason out by the road in our walk way. Feb 4, 2008

2008-01-03T14:32:00.001-08:00

Another Enterprise sunset in December

below, Nolan's 12th Birthday Dec. 12th

The boys are standing on the frozen pool

When I was in Washington for my brother's funeral
I was able to take the older boys and their families out for dinner
Christmas decorations at Mazatlan Restaurant
Logan, Jason, Ryan and Mom

Diana, Maddison and Ryan

Tiffany, Gunner and Jason

Aimee and Logan

Diana, Maddison, Ryan, Julie, Logan, Jason, Gunner, & Tiffany
at the cemetery December 9, 2007

2007-12-04T16:46:00.001-08:00

Tonight's sunset from our back deck December 4th 2007

Dylan's snow ball, he rolled it from across the street at the school
it is now the only thing left of the snow (3 days later)

Sunday December 2nd, a little snow fell Saturday

2007-11-09T15:51:00.001-08:00

The before picture of Dan's new toy

After the paint job...Mason in the leaves

Fall here in Enterprise, it's still warm and dry.

Camping just minding our own business...and look what found Nolan...
OK we were really at Cabelas in Lehi

2007-11-07T15:54:00.001-08:00

LOOK OUT

African safari at Cabelas in Lehi Utah

Halloween Dinner black spaghetti and meet balls

Dylan Eagle of the month in October
Nolan also Eagle of the month in October, each teacher picks one student each month who is a good example to the other students and does what's asked.

2007-11-07T15:46:00.001-08:00

Gunner summer of 2007
Gunner when they were visiting St George summer of 2007
Jason when he was about 7 mo old, Gunner sure looks like him

Awesome Jeep ride to Aspen Park

2007-10-24T12:30:00.001-07:00

This is Mason up at Aspen Park with the beautiful fall colors

Love our jeep rides a little wind blown and cold it even rained on us on the way back down the mountain, but boy was it fun

2007-10-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Dylan learned how to complete a back flip yesterday, he's so excited he wanted everyone to see him. There is a trampoline under him in this shot.

Austin working on a friends motorcycle. He has his Jim's Service shirt on, he must have just gotten off work.

2007-10-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

Summer of 2007... Snow Canyon

Dylan

Diana, Maddison, & Ryan

Austin & Mason at Beryl Dunes

At the Beryl Dunes
Ryan, Maddison & Diana

Snow Canyon

Dylan, Nolan, Katie, Mason & Taylor
Coral sand at Snow Canyon

Mason, Summer of 2007

Mason on the neighbors horse

Austin Graduation, May 2007

Dan and Nolan in the golf cart

Dylan

Dylan, Mason, Austin & Nolan
park in Enterprise

Mason

Pioneer boys

Cathedral Gorge
Pioche, Nevada

2007-10-03T10:16:00.001-07:00

Zion's Park Sept 29, 2007

2007-10-03T10:11:00.001-07:00

Happy 5th Birthday Mason
August 17th, 2007