A lot has happened in the last few weeks, so I will just hit on the highlights! We had our Merkley family reunion in July in Zion National Park. It was so beautiful and so much fun to be with all the Merkleys! All of Chris's immediate family was there and most of the extended Glade Merkley family made it as well so we had a blast with so many cousins and aunts and uncles around. We played lots of games (including the traditional Mormon Bridge tournament), went swimming, hiked, and had plenty of time to relax around the cabin. One of my favorite parts was the hike to Angel's Landing. It was VERY strenuous, especially for someone who is completely out of shape (cough cough), but totally worth it. The last stretch had some crazy drops and narrow paths leading up to the landing at the top that had a view of the whole canyon. It was spectacular, and I was exhausted. I would do it again though! Chris's favorite part was a late night glow-in-the-dark volleyball game with a bunch of the cousins. It was really fun once we figured how to charge up the ball so we could see it! Toward the end of the trip we made a quick trip down to Vegas to try to sort out some house issues. The lenders wanted us to get Nevada drivers licenses to prove we were really going to live there- believe it or not, this is not the most random or annoying thing they have made us do to get this house! The trip turned out to be a waste because we didn't have all our documents, BUT on the way back to the reunion we stopped to get a pregnancy test and found out (in a Walmart bathroom, how classy are we??) that we are expecting our second baby in February 2012! This awesome news obviously made us forget the frustrating trip and we got to tell Chris's parents and siblings in person before we left the reunion. We are so excited to have another baby in the family. I've been feeling a little sick, but hopefully that will start fading soon. I've also had more cravings with this pregnancy than I did with Jake, so part of me is thinking it might be a girl. We'll just have to wait and see! Jake has a little baby that we practice being soft on. Most of the time he is very sweet with it and rocks back and forth when he snuggles with it. We're hoping the biting and throwing that sometimes happens will not carry over to the real baby, but we've got time to work on that! Jake's personality has been showing more and more every day and we love watching him figure things out. He's recently started testing boundaries and learning what jokes and tricks are. He loves to make people laugh and has come up with a new 'silly dance' that he does pretty often to get everyone's attention. He's also turning into even more of a climber and we have to watch him because he is pretty fearless. I had to rescue him from the second shelf in the cupboard the other day. Daddy and Jake continue to wrestle constantly, but now Jake has learned to take control and will roll Chris onto his back and jump on top. It's pretty funny to watch. Jake and I only have a couple weeks left in Houston, as we will be going straight to Las Vegas (and hopefully to our new house) after our Hansen reunion. Chris will come back to Houston and get as much out of summer sales as he can- I'm proud of him for working so hard this summer! He's awesome! Until then, we get to look forward to a week long visit from Grammie Merkley and Chris's youngest siblings in a week from tomorrow! We have been excited for this visit all summer! It will be so fun to have them here and to let Jake get some Grammie/aunt/uncle time :). We love Summer!
Saturdays are our fun day to play with Chris in the afternoon!
Jake loves getting messy- he thinks he's so funny... :)
Matt recently became an Eagle Scout and became the 6th and final Eagle Scout in the family! (7th if you count Dad too)
The view on Angels Landing
