Baby Merrill coming Feb. 2013/San Diego

When I take a prego photo I'll post it.  I am 14wks, and kinda embarrassed to say all the weight I have gained makes me look fat... not pregnant.  I can't wait till I actually look prego and not just fat.  Maybe by 16wks...

San Diego!

chillin' like interns

This past weekend Will and I went to San Diego to visit his dad.  His dad works there mon-thurs then flies home, so we asked him to stay the weekend and we were able to stay with him.  We had a BLAST!  We got there late Thurs night.  Fri morning we went around as "interns" touring the multiple job sites Dad works on.  All of the sights were different boarder patrol facilities such as training shooting range, prison, offices, ect. and his job is to make sure everything building wise is safe and getting done.  It was so cool to see it all!  Fri. lunch we went to Phil's BBQ, which was SO GOOD!!! Much better then Rudy's I have to say, more food for a better price :)  Fri. afternoon we explored a dog beach, and was there for a bit.

Boarder fence leading into the ocean

Beach Break:  ABC burrito and
Banana Crunch French Toast

Sat. morning we woke up and drove to Ocean Side.  This is where his family goes each 4th of July for vacation.  We ate breakfast at this amazing place called Beach Break.  YUM!  Banana Crunch French toast is one of his families favorite, and I have to agree with them.  We stayed at that beach and played in the water... then it got really cold and the clouds started misting on us, so we drove back to San Diego.  Within an hour of getting back to the hotel, it was sunny.  so, we packed up and headed back to the "Dog Beach".  Now, I know we don't have a dog, but it was so funny people/dog watching.  I defiantly have to say, dogs really do match their owners.  Also, just an FYI, don't open up jerky at the beach, before we even had a bit in our mouth, our blanket was swarming with HUGE WET DOGS!!! Gross!!!  The whole next 2 hrs we were there, the same dogs would come over and sniff our blanket saying "I know you have something in there..."  After the beach Will and I went for a refreshing jog... I even ran up a hill!  It was GREAT!  Oh how I miss running those Nebraska hills.  Don't worry, I only ran about 1 1/2 miles, and it took me forever!









Sat. morning we went to sacrament meeting then headed home.  About an hour outside Yuma we stopped at a Rest stop, cuz you know us prego people, we got to go pee A LOT!  Anyway, I walk out of the bathroom and Will asks "Did you fee it?"  Feel what?  "The Earthquake".  Apparently Will got a little "tipsy" using the bathroom and come to find out, 2 miles from where we were staying there was a 5.5 earthquake!  The worst thing was, I didn't even realize it.  lol.  I remember slightly losing my balance walking over to the bathroom (the girls was way far away), but I just thought it was cuz I was Prego and sat in a car for too long.  After surviving the "terrible" quake, we safely made it home to our comfy beds in AZ.  Wishing we didn't have to go back to work.  Needless to say, We will defiantly be visiting Cali again!

Food Storage...

#10 cans stored in guest room. 
I am thinking of getting another shelf to
hold them in

For the past 2 years I have been married, I have been working on collecting a 4month supply of food storage.  I got this article from EverythingUnderTheSun.blogspot.com and how she organized everything.  It seemed to make sense!  Finally!  Food storage that seemed easy enough I could do. 

Since then, I have found recipes, thought about how to cook, store, and organize everything, tried to find where it's most convenient and cheap to buy the bulk items, and store them reasonably.  I can't say I am officially finished with the 4th month supply, b/c I need to go to the "family Canning" night at the cannery to package powdered milk, and find one more can of powdered eggs, and stock up on propane, till I am finished!  Wahoo! 

3L bottles you can get on sale
in the summer at Fry's fro 49cents.
We have a big barrel in the garage
but it's always nice to have 
smaller sizes.

The thing I am most excited about is that I typed up and included lots of charts on what I did, how to store it, organize and rotate it.  I have been working on using more wheat, powdered milk, and potato flakes in my cooking.  I have experienced with multiple diff. bread recipes trying to find one that was simple enough for me to make, but I didn't have to buy yeast for.  So, I have since learned to make sour dough bread, and even started, and killed a sourdough starter.  It's been quite the trip trying to figure everything out.  Now that I am nearing the end of this 4mo supply, I am having fun trying out new recipes for the next 4 months. 

GREAT rotating can system
you can get at Costco online
for $300.  Worth it!  They also
have the size for #10 cans
which holds 112 cans.

If any of you are interested in what I did, I can e-mail you the file.  What it has is 7 breakfast, 7 dinner, 3 desert, and bread recipe.  The bread I included for making 3x week for lunches.  Everything is added to make a serving for 4 people.  I have planned it for worst case scenario which means no electricity, stuff to keep things cold, and no source for water.  I made a grocery list for all the food items for ALL meals, and how much you need to buy of each.  I am so excited about this, I felt like I was never going to finish.  But although food storage does cost money, and take up space, I believe it is completely worth it and I feel blessed already with following the prophets counsel on self preparedness.  I think the biggest thing I have learned is that I have to be patient... I can't buy everything at one time and it might take 1-2 years to just build up a small storage, but I now know that I have 4 mo supply of food I know how to cook, use, and will eat in case of any emergency. 

Squirrels!

Since we have lived in our house, we would occasionally see this squirrel.  He lives between our neighbors shed, and the brick wall.  We always see him on the brick wall, and as soon as the back door thinks about opening, he would dash off.  I named him Mr. Squirrel.

Here He is enjoying the sunshine

Last Sat. morning, as I peek out the window after breakfast to check on Mr. Squirrel, to my surprise I saw this...

Do you see them?  The white shed helps them stand out.  Sorry I couldn't zoom in on them better... my camera isn't Pro.

two smaller squirrels!  At first I thought I was going crazy... but soon I saw that Mr. Squirrel.... who I have now named to Mrs. Squirrel had twins!  We decide they are girls and enjoy throwing out old bread or muffins to them each evening. 

The Babies watching Mama

LOVE this pic!

 Well, during the week we would see 1, 2, or 3 of them out and about, until Thursday, we found this.....

I love how the parents are always just laying around in the sun

 4 of them!  1 Large, 1 med, and 2 small ones..  We decided Mr. Squirrel joined them!  (He's the medium sized one)

We have been pretty excited telling everyone that Mr. Squirrel is a girl, that had twins, and now the dad shows up!  Once we thought our little squirrel family couln't get any larger... today I woke up to look at the window to find this....

Dad, Mom, It's hard to see, but there are 2 babies wrestling in the middle, and Baby

 5 of them!  So, the large is the mom, medium is the dad, then there are 2 "Twins", and a little runt of the family.  I don't know how I am going to come up with so many names!

I don't know if you have seen the moving "Up", but it's really cute and those crazy dogs always go crazy when you say "Squirrel".  Now, my husband and I love texting, or randomly saying "Squirrel" just cuz it's fun, and we go look out the window to see them.