The Mergenthaler Family

We love our baby boy. These pictures over the last few months show how fast he is growing and how much we love to snuggle with him.  He is the best cuddler!

Taking pics of our cute Christmas PJ's from Grandma didn't go that well. The pajamas are cute, the kids are cute, the kids' faces are not that cute.  Maybe our crazy pajama pictures are a good illustration, or maybe even a result of our crazy Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve Eve for that matter.  We had a very busy couple of days before Christmas.  We spent time with a lot of different families doing a lot of good things including shopping for families in need, doing baptisms at the Nauvoo temple, playing at the church gym, wrapping presents for our family and others, acting out the Christmas story with another family, eating meals with other families, and more.  By the time we got to bed at midnight on Christmas eve, I truly felt weary from good works. Dare I post a series of pics from our Nativity story?  It's about as crazy as the pajama pics. Even in the chaos and noise, there was a lot of joy and service. Merry Christmas!

It has been a long Sunday so far. Rick left for church around 8:30 this morning and won't be home until about 9:30 or 10:00 tonight. As much as the Sabbath is supposed to be a delight, it can also be long, stressful, and exhausting.  This afternoon as I was trying to encourage Brooklyn to put her clothes on (for about the twentieth time), I told her she needed clothes on to go to the church to visit Daddy. Right away she brightened. As she quickly got her clothes on she joyfully exclaimed, "Oh, Daddy!  I love my Daddy!  He's my Bishop!"   Having the Bishop as your dad or husband creates some interesting circumstances. Tithing settlement is one. We are scheduled for his last appointment of the night tonight at 7:30 pm. He will visit with us, talk to us about tithing and it's importance, probably give us a treat, and ask us if we are full tithe payers--all things any bishop would probably do at tithing settlement, except we have to make an appointment wit...

Both Andrew and Ricky had basketball tournaments today. Andrew's was 1 1/2 hours away at UNI. Just last night I was wondering if it was worth the sacrifice to our family to get up at 6 am and drive so long to maybe play. But Andrew was looking forward to it. Turns out it was worth the sacrifice. But it was still a rough, long day for me. While Rick, Andrew, and Brooklyn were at that tournament, I stayed home to help the remaining kids with their Saturday chores and take Ricky to his tournament which was only 15 minutes away. Ricky's team didn't fare as well. They have been practicing on Sundays, so Ricky hasn't even been practicing with them and was a little lost. Also, caring for a newborn at a basketball tournament for 5 hours is no picnic. Sean came along to keep me company while the girls stayed home. I was disappointed to find they didn't finish their chores while I was away, so I came home to a pretty scary kitchen. I was tired from a sleepless night, early mo...