Dribble, Shoot, SCORE!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Bradley just got a call he has been waiting for, he spent Fri. and Sat. night trying out for the Division 1 competitive soccer team in the Tooele area, and as you may know because of my heading, he MADE it!!!  Scott and I are beyond excited for him.  He has always had such a talent and has had many people comment on his abilities, but to make this team is an extreme accomplishment in and of itself.  So excited for this next chapter in his life.  Congratulations Bradley it is well deserved you have worked hard!!!  

The Help

I know I may regret this later on, but I just had to share!!!

My sister Erin and her husband Drew were heading out of the country and they needed someone to take care of their kids', so off to Maryland I flew, although they were not leaving until Tues. afternoon, I flew out Sun. night so I could kind of get a idea of what to expect with the kids and most importantly make sure that they were okay with me!!

Mon. morning brought some cute excitement from my little 'Lesa who acted as if we were next door neighbors instead of someone she sees only twice a year, she just started chatting and I don't know that she ever stopped, except to sleep, she even told me that we had the same hair and she had to put a lock of her hair on top of mine to prove to me we were the same!  And much to my delight Baby Van took an instant liking to me, he just snuggled me and laid his little head in my lap and didn't shy away from me at all, phew, I was set!!!  Later that same night Aunt CiCi (Taci) came up and with Erin, myself and 'Lesa in tow we headed into town to go out to Dinner.  I really do enjoy spending time with my sisters and we were having so much fun just chatting it up.  A while into dinner, 'Lesa proclaimed that she needed to go potty, she being only 3 and still needing a little supervision asked if Aunt CiCi would take her, but I quickly offered to take her since I knew this was not Taci's favorite thing to do.  After 'Lesa sat on the potty for a while she said to me "Nope, I guess I don't need to go", so she hopped down.  I on the other hand now had to tinkle myself, so I asked 'Lesa if she would just stand right inside the stall and wait for me, we were in the handicap stall since they are bigger and perfect for more than 1 person.  As I sat down, my cute little niece asked for some toilet paper so I gave her some and watched as she started to kind of roll it around in her palm, I had finished so as I went to grab some toilet paper for myself, I heard 'Lesa ask for me to scoot up, I didn't even think about how odd of a request that was, simply since I had to lean forward anyway to get my own toilet paper, and before I knew what was happening, I felt this little swish up my bum and heard in 'Lesa's sing-song voice "front to back", which is what Erin hollers out to her every time she goes potty.  Oh my gosh, I nearly came up off the toilet in surprise, but I didn't want to scare Alesa by shouting and shooting off the potty, so I simply finished myself and proceeded out the stall (I am sure beet red) washed our hands, and headed back out to Erin and Taci.  As soon as I sat down and there was a break in their conversation I jumped right in and proceeded to tell them what had just happened, I don't think we could have laughed harder, we were all in tears from the hilarity of it, and at this point I was just really glad I had actually gone to the bathroom because I swear I would have peed my pants from laughing.  I know that the whole restaurant thought we must be crazy, but we just couldn't stop, and even when we would semi-calm down all it took was for one of us to say in a little sing-song voice "front to back" and we would start all over again.  Once we left the restaurant we headed over to Kohl's to do a little shopping and Erin was telling us how much Alesa loves to help out, to which Alesa quickly responds with "I help Aunt Mellaly tonight", so Aunt Melanie said, "tell your Mom how you helped me tonight, Lesa!" and without hesitation she states proudly "I wipe her bum, front to back!!!"  Oh gosh, I am laughing hysterically just writing this and reliving that moment, I know I cannot even begin to put enough comedy into my writing as what we felt that night, it was seriously one of those experiences that embarrass you to death to admit, but it is truly so funny that you can't keep it to yourself!!!

Thank you Alesa for being such a big Helper for Aunt Mellaly!!!

and remember Happy Hiney's say "Front to Back"  :)


(p.s. the title picture is of Alesa and Bradley, roadtrip 2010)

Heavenly Alarm

So Scott has been saying lately that I am a snorer, I really don't know if I believe him yet, due to the fact that I am still waiting for evidence of this fact.  But, whatever!!  The other morning though, Scott was telling me that my snoring actually saved him from being late to work.  He said that I rolled over and started snoring right into his ear, he was a "little" annoyed at this gesture of snuggling and rolled me over, as he was laying there annoyed he looked at the window and noticed it was light outside, to which he then looked at his alarm clock and only noticed then that his alarm had not only not gone off, but that it wasn't even set and it was time for him to get up and get out the door.  So my thinking is, how cool am I, that I can not only act as an alarm clock but that I get to stay asleep while doing so!!!

I do think that if (and that is a big if) I do actually snore, I owe it all to my Dad and the Merkley in me.  Besides growing up and hearing my Dad almost bring down our house with his nightly snoring, I also remember one night a long time ago when there was a Merkley Chorus of sorts.  It was I think my Grandma Merkley's 80th birthday party and there was a multitude of Merkley's around, we were all at Grandpa and Grandma's house in Tridell and of course when all the cousins are around there are many pleas of "can I spend the night" heard from many children to their parents.  I remember that I was lucky (or so I thought at the time) enough to get to spend the night at Grandma's house, after talking, laughing and visiting with my cousins until late in the night, I found a spot for my sleeping bag and settled in for the night.  Just as I felt the peace of slumber knocking on my door, I heard a sound that brought me right out of my reverie; someone was snoring.  After getting used to the idea of listening to this, I again settled in and was awaiting the sandman.  Just as I felt my body starting to relax, I was again startled by the sound of another snorer, Augh!.....  The next moments seemed like a nightmare to me, the bad thing about this type of nightmare was that; I was awake and therefor had to live through it, for you see one Merkley after another started snoring, they filled the house with snore after snore, they were coming from upstairs, downstairs, back bedroom, master bedroom, front room and I am sure down the lane at Uncle Errol's house too.  I at one point started waving my hand as if to conduct a symphony, the only thing was I was not enjoying this musical rendition, at all!  When it was time to get up (for those who actually slept) I was so grateful, but sadly for me and my mom, I was a little ornery the next day for my Grandma's actual birthday party celebration, but being with family is always a plus, so we had a great day anyway, and the next night I did not ask my mom if I could spend the night because I was too tired to go through that ever again!!!