Blog It

I feel like I go through phases where I am blogging EVERYTHING and I love it.  It is so fun looking back on the random details of events that I wouldn’t remember if I hadn’t blogged about them.

Then I go through phases where I have a TON going on and I don’t write ANYTHING about it because I am a blog slacker.  Bummer.

Right now I am definitely in a blog slacker phase, which means I have a ton of catching up to do.

Instead of doing a gazillion individual catch up posts (which feels like an overwhelming task) I am just going to do one big “here is a general idea of what has been happening with us” post and then consider it a fresh start for future blogging!

Daryl/Macklyn Bonding Time: Twice a week while I am at work Daryl has Macklyn all to himself for a couple hours.  I have no idea what they do, but judging from the pictures I have found it looks like a lot of Muttenbusting practice, iPhone time, and what appears to be exercising?…

Chuck E Cheese: My friend’s son turned 2 in January and we went to his Chuck E Cheese party.  I remember that place being AMAZING when I was a kid.  It is never the same going somewhere as an adult…

Mack loved seeing her friend and eating cake, but she was not impressed with the ride selection.  We put her on some and she stared at us like “Really? This is all you got?”  I knew letting her ride Trixie around was going to catch up with us sooner or later!

Valentines Day: I hate Valentines.  I am pretty sure it was invented by a flower or card company to boost sales.

Daryl always feels like we need to do something for Valentines day so when we started dating we ordered “good” pizza (Dominos!) and rented a movie to watch together.  No gifts and pizza sounds great to me so we have just kept doing it for the last several years.

This year I decided to make a pizza and it was delicious.  Daryl also surprised Macklyn with a purse and surprised us both with lovely cards.

While I think it is a dumb couples holiday, this year did open my eyes to the possibility of loving it as a family holiday.  We will see what happens…

Please note it says Happy Birthday, not Happy Valentines day.  Haha.

Macklyn  Updates: Macklyn has started talking more which is fun.  Almost nothing she says sounds like English.  Unless you are around her all the time, then you know that she knows several words but just has her own way of saying them.  Right now she says (or tries to say) the following words:

Ma * Dad * Hot hot hot! * WhatsThat?! (one word) * WhosThat?! (also one word) * Phone * On * Ya? * Dog * Woof * Hey * Baa (Watter Bottle) * All Done * More * Tick Tick Tick (Tickle Tickle Tickle)

Bubbles: The temperature raised above freezing for a couple days in February so we headed outside to enjoy the “warm” weather (you know, 45 degrees).  Daryl worked with Macklyn on blowing bubbles and she loved it.  She would blow a little too aggressively at first but eventually got the hang of it.

Blanket Rx: Macklyn’s latest thing is that she will bring me a blanket, turn around, and wait for me to wrap it around her (like a towel).  Normally it is a small blanket but when she doesn’t feel well she insists on being wrapped in my large BYU Alumni blanket at ALL times.  Poor kid about had an anxiety attack the first time she realized it wasn’t coming in the bath tub with her.

I am so grateful for how healthy Macklyn is.  In the last 16 months she has probably been sick four times.  Those four times feel like WAY more than that so I can only imagine what it is like for parents whose kids really are sick all the time.

Book Worm: Macklyn is obsessed with reading.  It is so cute to find her in her rocking chair reading or just hanging out on the floor with a book.  Sometimes she will bring me a book and read it to me (read= points at pictures and makes random sounds)

Daryl’s New Job: Daryl officially transferred over to Sun Crest and he loves it so much.  They sell colored diamonds and he is great at it.  He has been traveling a lot lately which is a bummer for Mack and me but it has provided him with some pretty awesome opportunities.

Super Bowl: Daryl was SO excited the 49’s were in the Super Bowl this year.  So excited that he picked out some fabric the night before so the Merkley’s could show their pride.  We were bummed they didn’t win, but it was still fun watching it and hanging out with all of our friends.

New Calling: I was recently called to be the Secretary/Personal Progress Coordinator for our ward.   I am pumped.  I think 12 year old girls are hilarious so I look forward to spending a lot of time with the Beehives 🙂

Between that, my gymnasts being in their 2nd competition season, tutoring math, and every highschool girl wanting help with tumbling before cheer tryouts, I’ve been pretty busy.  It will be nice when Spring comes and there is a little bit of a break.

Cabin Fever: I hate being outside in the cold and Macklyn hates being at the house all day, so we have had to come up with some compromises.  One of her favorite things is playing on indoor playgrounds at the malls.  Whenever we go to Provo or Orem I usually stop and let her run around for a while.

Gymnastics Reunion: I love my old teammates   No one really understands what it is like working your entire childhood/adolescent years to be “a college gymnast” (most 10 year olds are more worried about recess than learning to flip on a 4″ beam)  College athletics is AMAZING, but between being a full time student, doing gym/treatment/weights/running from noon-6pm everyday (before going back to your night classes), being involved in what feel like a gazillion student-athlete activities and trying to have a normal college life you are pretty busy and really tired.

I am so grateful for my teammates who went through it all together and made everyday worth while.  After taking classes together, practicing together, traveling together, and competing together they become the kind of friends that you love forever and can pick up with like you haven’t been apart at all.

Plus, they are the only ones who understand what it is like to finish a 15+ year career when you are only 21 and feel like you have had a complete loss of identity and that you are turning into a crazy person 🙂

So glad I was able to see everyone.

Other Random Goodness:

She is still just the cutest

And still loves popcorn

Macklyn comes with me to coach on Fridays.  She is getting very good at bars and tramp 🙂

Despite Daryl’s attempts to pretend she is a boy, she loves girly things.  I guess nature beats nurture this round.

Daryl’s Goes to Texas

A couple days after Mack and I got home from “Grandparent Weekend” Daryl left for a business meeting in Texas for the week.

Needless to say, Macklyn wasn’t excited about him leaving:

On Monday Daryl got up and headed to work to meet the other salesman that was going with him.  About 30 minutes after he had left I found out he had locked my keys in my car.  Awesome.

I hurried and called him to see if he could leave his jeep key somewhere.  He hadn’t even made it to US Synthetic yet because of all the snow.  While it was awesome for me (he just left his key in Provo to pick up) but it was a bummer for them because the drive to the airport was going to take WAY longer than planned.

After braving a horrible storm they made it to the airport just in time to board their flight.  Then they sat there for 45 minutes while the plane was de-iced.  Seriously, the weather was crazy.

They eventually made it out of the frozen tundra of Utah and into warm Texas.  Not going to lie, I was pretty jealous when I would be shoveling the drive way and would get texts about the 70 degree weather he was enjoying.  Lucky dog!

They worked really hard while they were there, sold some diamonds, and made some great contacts.  They did a great job.

But for as hard as they worked, they played JUST as hard in their free time.  They took full advantage of their per diem and ate some where fancy every single night.

Daryl also decided to take a tour of the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium while he was so close.  That was definitely the highlight of his week.

Daryl came home Friday night and Macklyn was LIVID.  I don’t know if she was mad he had been gone for so long or if she felt like he was too loud when he came in, but she was not having it!  She took her souvenir, then refused to talk to or even too at Daryl.

The next morning all Macklyn wanted to do was hang out with Daryl, carry her purse around, and give kisses to her little horse.  I think they were both happy to see each other after spending so much time apart.