Keeping up with the Yates Family

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Europe Pictures

So after over a month of trying to get a slideshow of our trip pictures posted on the blog, I've officially given up. If you want to see pictures from our trip, which are now over 2 months old! You can go to this link.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=h52ztt1.15mbiaxx&Uy=mryef&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=145782962653_26802124513&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Sorry I couldn't make it look any prettier, but I've determined that I.T. is not my calling!

We had a pretty uneventful Father's Day weekend. On Saturday morning, Megan came over to play with Merrick for a little while and then Zachary our neighbor friend came to play also. The kids had a lot of fun and were able to burn off a lot of energy. Merrick and Zachary were more into the sticks and rocks, while Megan enjoyed cruising in Merrick's jeep.

I was able to sneak away for a few hours and go to Dana's birthday party. It was a nice get together and we were able to sit outside and soak up some sun. I even got to see and hold little Olivia. It always amazes me how much growing babies do! It seems like she's doubled in size since the last time I saw her.

When I got home, we decided to wash the car. Merrick thought that was great fun and even helped out a little. He and Deacon enjoyed playing in the water more than anything.

Sunday we ran some errands and then had Nana and Papa T over to join us for Father's Day Dinner. I grilled some Salmon on the bbq with the Parmesean Artichoke dip from Costco on top. I think that's the best way to have Salmon!!! Then we enjoyed fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yummy! I am so excited that the Oregon strawberries have finally started arriving.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Is it almost June already?

Wow... I can't believe the month of May is almost gone. We've been busy this month and I've been bad about posting updates. Here are some things we've been up to...

As most of you know, we had a little heat wave come through a couple of weeks ago. Since we don't have air conditioning, we spent a lot of time outside, trying to keep cool. Merrick had his own idea on how to cool off. On Saturday afternoon, he was out on the back deck, playing, while I was working in the kitchen (keeping an eye/ear on him). I soon hear him say "tubby" and so I decide to walk out there to see exactly what he's talking about. Well... he had decided that his little water table, would be better suited for cooling his entire body off. He had climbed into the water table, fully clothed with shoes on and was playing. Travis and I couldn't stop laughing. We decided to take all his clothes off and let him play in there. He loved it and we ended up going out and buying a plastic pool that is more his size.

Merrick showing us his muscles! Watch out he's one tough dude!

We went to visit Grandma Kathy & Grandpa Skip for Memorial Day weekend and were able to spend a little time at the beach on Saturday before all the rain came. Merrick had fun running on the beach and throwing rocks. Unfortunately we had to cut our trip short when Merrick woke up sick on Sunday morning. He's been fighting a bug for the past week and we're hoping that he's on the mend now.

We think Merrick might have a little OCD. He hates having his hands dirty and every time after he picked up something, he had to have them wiped off.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Merrick's Birthday

Merrick turned two on Sunday and we spent the entire weekend celebrating! On Saturday we had a small party with friends, Grant, Megan, Althea and Joyce came and we had lots of fun driving the cars around and eating cupcakes and ice cream!

The crew gets ready for cupcakes & ice cream!

Megan & Althea enjoyed helping open presents!

Travis and I had decided a couple of months ago that we were going to get Merrick a play structure for his birthday. After a lot of searching, we found one and decided to start putting it together on Saturday afternoon. If you haven't assembled a play structure before, they come with LOTS of parts! We spent time organizing and making sure that we had everything. We got started on the assembly, but Merrick waking up from his nap and some rain, made us decide to hold off.

On Sunday morning, we had gorgeous weather thankfully and Merrick and Travis decided to start working on the play structure while I went for a run. Merrick's official title was Superintendent and he did a great job with quality control. After I got back, I helped Travis until Aunt Kira, Uncle Erik, and cousins Quin & Micah showed up. Then Uncle Erik got to help Travis, while Kira and I kept our eyes on the boys. Soon after, Grammy & Poppa showed up and were able to help out. We got the boys fed and down for naps and went to help Travis. By some kind of miracle, the play structure was finished by the time the rest of the family showed up and there were few, if any swear words said. The play structure got a lot of use out of it! We had a great time playing with grandparents and cousins and Merrick was wiped out by the end of the day.