Vancouver 12U Tournament May 15-16th, 2010

After 2 long warm days at the softball complex.. Riptide took First Place in their bracket. Saturday we were at the park from 7am till after 7pm. Played 4 games. lost the first one by 1 run. Won the second game 14-2, won the 3rd game 11-4, and lost the 4th game in an international tie breaker by 1 run. Then Sunday came back and won both games to win first place.We all expected Grandpa to snooze during the games...
Even Presley could not hold out after 10 hours...
But Grandma??? What? Grandma sleeping too?

Nice smiles Steve and Presley!

Maddy's nice leap into home plate

A whole lot going on in between games on saturday. Grandpa this is when you are suppose to nap. hint hint!!

Maddy played catcher for a few innings in a couple of the games.

Syd really enjoyed getting to run the score board.

Grandma using her umbrella to shade herself from the sun.

She was sitting in front of us and opened her umbrella... none of us could see the game so she had to go sit on the other bleachers. :) say cheese!

Sunday after softball games... we came home and barbequed and had a bonfire. It was a gorgeous evening.

The moon was so pretty!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for enduring a long 2 day tournament. 6 softball games in the warm sun. We had a great time and were so glad to have you there with us.

Gresham/Barlow District 6th Grade Track Championship

Thursday May 13th, 2010 was the Gresham/Barlow School District 6th Grade Championship Track Meet @ Clear Creek Middle School. In attendance was: Clear Creek Middle School, Dexter McCarty Middle School, Gordon Russell Middle School, Damascus Orient, & West Orient Middle School. The weather was absolutely Perfect!

Maddy ran the final leg of the 4X100M relay. They came from behind to take 1st place! other events: 200M: 1st place 29.67 sec.

100M: 1st place 14 sec.

long jump: 1st place 12 ft. 8 in.

After Maddy ran her 100M. sierra quickly took her to her softball practice. The rest of us packed up and headed over to catch the rest of Cole's baseball game that had been going on at the same time as the meet. Gresham played David Douglas and won. We got there just in time to see Cole bat.

Happy Mother's Day May 9th, 2010

Come Sunday Morning I have to say I was spent. Our busy schedule has kept us going non-stop for the past 5 weeks in a row. This was seriously the first day I got to sleep in to 8am! It felt so good! Sydnee was so sweet, she brought me my favorite Blueberry muffin and chocolate milk in bed for breakfast. Such a sweetheart! Sierra went and picked up Maddy from a birthday party sleepover and the rest of the kids got ready for church with out complaints. After 3 hours of meetings we took Grandma Judy to a late lunch at Red Robin. We had a gift certificate and it worked out perfect. No waiting! ( I know that you are all thinking how sinful of us to go on Sunday... well.. I did not have to cook and there was no mess at my house at all! so there!)Then we came back and had Coconut Cream pie for dessert out on our deck. The weather was absolutely gorgeous!
Steven with his Mom Judy, Sydnee, Cole, Sierra, Presley and Maddy

Steven and his Mommy!

The beautiful 2 dozen white and red roses we gave to Judy

Our Family: Maddy, Sierra, Sydnee, Cole, Steven, Presley and Me
Thanks for a wonderful day I love my new purse!

It's pretty awesome having a couple teenage daughters. They know what I like! :)

Judy gave me a beautiful heart teared necklace.. if you look close you can see it on me! I absolutely love it! Thank you Judy!

Presley wrote me this amazing letter inside a card and decorated a box with a picture of her on it filled with hershey's hugs and kisses! I love it!

Sydnee and Presley made me a rose bouquet of hershey kisses at their Acheivement Day activity! YUM!!!
They know i love chocolate!

Cole, again looks just thrilled! He pulled up the sleeves of his shirt to get some sun on the upper part of his arms. Right now he has a 3/4 sleeve tan from his baseball jersey. I asked Cole if he made me a card or wrote me a letter... He stood on the railing of the deck and made a speech instead! It was touching, thank you Cole!

Sierra basking in the sun while it lasts... it seems to only come out on weekends around here.

My Maddy... enjoying all of it!

Neopolitan Legs!

After 30 minutes sitting in the sun Sierra's legs were Pink, She is the strawberry! Sydnee sat in the shade so she is still a nice shade of vanilla! And mine have seen a bit more sun than there's.. chocolate!

Thank you to my sweet husband that does so much for me! I love you and had a wonderful Mother's Day. To all of children... You are the best! I am so blessed to have all of you in my life. You each make me a better person.

To my Mom's, Sharlene and Judy! I love you and hope you both had a great day!

And to all of my sister's , sister-in-laws, friends, Aunties and Grandma's I hope this day was special for you too!

Cheers to all the Mother's in the world!

Youth Temple Trip May 8, 2010

Saturday May 8th, 2010 Our ward took the youth to the Portland Temple to do baptism's for the Dead. We got the late time slot. Traffic was horrible getting there. We barely made it there in time for our session. What normally takes 35 minutes took us an hour.I snapped a picture of the girls before we went in because I knew after it would be dark out.
We only had 3 girls attend. Kiara, Sierra and Madison. Next to her is Shelli Acton

Me with the girls.

Sierra and I... it kinda looks like we are posing for our engagement picture. We look ridiculous. Our large bags... ya think we would have set them down for the picture. We were a bit pressed for time.

We had 6 YM attend and another Sister in the ward also did the baptisms.

Brody,Lance,Sierra,Kiara,Madison & Shelli

Back row: Ryan, Kari,Cole, Morgan and me.

We waited and waited for the other leaders in cluding our Bishop to come out but they went out the other side and by then they had left. So we did not get a picture of our whole group :(

GHS vs DDHS May 10th, 2010

Monday May 10th, 2010. My parents flew in from AZ. to visit for 10 days. First event is attending Cole's Baseball game against David Douglas high school. Gresham played a great game. Cole got 2 great hits. His first time up to bat he cracked inbetween 1st and second base and right past the right fielder. One of Gresham's Coaches was not there so no on was coaching first base to tell him to go to second.. he ran thru and realized the ball was way out in the fiels he then turned and took second... He couk=ld have easily gotten a triple out of it. He held up at second.
They tried to pick him off. He must have dove back to second base 5 times before he finally stole 3rd.

They tried to pick him off at 3rd too.. but he finally stole home

His second time up to bat he hit it between 3rd base and shortstop and got a single. Both his hits were RBI's. He never had a ball hit to him in the field. No body did for that matter. Our pitcher struck most of them out or they hit the ball just in the in field and easy outs.

It was a great game. (Cole got walked his 3rd time up to bat.)
Grandma And Grandpa Merrill trying to stay warm.

It was a bit cool out. Especially since they just came from 97 degrees and our high that day was 56!

Presley looks so cute in Grandpa's hat!

After the game Sierra and Grandma were trying to pose on the bleachers

Syd taking the pictures of Grandma loosing her balance

Here is a pose she could manage

Sierra and Syd!

LOVE IT!!!

Syd's shades are upside down.. special!

Friday May 7th, 2010 Baseball game in Sandy

Friday Gresham played a practice game against Sandy High School. The same team they had played 3 times this week. Cole had a good game. He got a single off a nice bunt.
Cole played right field. Several balls were hit out to him.

He caught every one!

Thank goodness!

It had rained the night before and the ground was still wet in areas. There was a steep hill to come down to get to the field and Presley was running. Her feet went right out from under her and she slid down on her bumm. She was none to happy. It knocked the wind out of her.

It was hard not to laugh, it looked so comical but she was in tears so I had to refrain. Sydnee however did not. She laughed and laughed. That didn't go over well with Presley.

Thank goodness for spray and wash and oxy-clean!

Thursday May 6th, 2010 Maddy's 4th Track Meet

On Thursday May 6th, Maddy had her 4th track meet. As you can see the sun actually came out and it was a gorgeous afternoon. Perfect for a Track Meet.Maddy ran the final leg of the 4X100M relay. They took 1st!

200M: 30.2 sec. 1st place

100M: 14 sec. 1st place

long jump: 13 ft. 1 in. 1st place

We all enjoyed watching her compete.
Maddy hung with us inbetween her events!

Sierra had my camera for a bit... this is a few pics I found!

Peace Bra!!!

Thumbs up!

Okay, They were teasing Syd that she was a bully, then Presley came up and they started teasing her that she was a bully too. Presley Did not take that well at all. She ran off pouting! When she saw me take a picture of her she ran and bulled me down. LOL

Sitting in the grass at the school there were weeds growing up thru the grass. Syd starts picking them and asks if it is wheat. I decided to take a picture of her wheat and she tried grabbing it from me before I could. Syd comes up with the most comical things. I just love that girl!