Update on the Life of the Merrill Family

Warning: The following post was a combined effort by both Curtis and myself, and as such it is a bit confusing. I uploaded the pictures figuring that Curtis would put them in the order he wanted, but he assumed that I put the pictures in the order that I wanted, resulting in him trying to piece together a story out of the pictures that I chose... it is very random and a bit confusing, but a very fine effort by Curtis to make sense of the madness. My bad!

As you can plainly see our house is practically finished. Karalee tried to put up a video tour of our house...

As you can also see, Nathan is practically grown. Strangely though, nearly every stranger who comments on him, figures he is really a she. Given the camouflage pants and our frequent references to him, I can see why people just figure he is a girl anyway--making our duty to work harder pointing out his sex even more desperate--more blue in the wardrobe coming up!
Told you the house was practically finished! This is our "Great" room. It's big! All we need now to complete the "Great" room is a flat screen TV, a sectional, a lounging chair, a piano, and the finishing touch of a professional decorator (Crissy). And, we have the perfect plan to get some of this stuff free--some people on the base here in Sierra Vista (Fort Huachuca) buy brand new furniture and entertainment stuff and, apparently to their immense surprise (I mean who gets transferred in the Army?) then six months later are transferred to Korea, Japan, or Germany. They can't take a lot of their possessions and sometimes can't sell it in time. So occasionally, they'll post something on Craigslist mentioning "free" or just leave their stuff on the sidewalk to be hauled off as trash. We're praying that this stuff happens just when we're moving into our house!
It's pretty much a mansion.
I don't mean this photo being the mansion, but the photo above this one--silly!

This is the progress being made on the Gila Valley temple in Central, Arizona. As you can see, it's almost as far along as our house is. It's probably about the same size as the Albuquerque temple. If you still don't know exactly what that means, it's bigger than the Monticello temple--like twice the size. It's also bigger than the Redlands temple. It's probably about half the size of the Jordan River temple--a little bigger than half as small. I think it'll be a busier temple than the Albuquerque temple though. I think it'll serve about 10 stakes and four of those stakes will be minutes away. Two more stakes are only about an hour away and the other four are less than two hours away.
We were in Central, Arizona because, on a complete whim, Karalee, Curtis, and Nathan went to Ramah to visit Grandma and Grandpa Merrill (And Central is on the way to Ramah). We went on a whim because Curtis' schedule is so unpredictable. Sunday September 20th was the best time to go, so that's when we went. The 20th is also the day we decided to go to Ramah and had made absolutely no prior plans to going. We had wanted to go sometime, but our schedule did dictate (once I found out my schedule) that the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of September were the best days for us. While there, Grandma Merrill took us to see ice caves, which are about 25 minutes east of Ramah, New Mexico. Here is a photo of the ice cave. We also trekked up the remains of an ancient, extinct volcano and enjoyed the scenery, plants, and animals on the hike. Karalee especially liked pushing the baby cart up the gravel trail!
Grandma took the kids hikin', so Grandpa took the kids shootin'!Here is a photo of a gun-toting mama standing next to her father-in-law. Karalee is a dead-shot with the 22 rifle, which she is likely holding in the photo, as well as an SKS rifle. The SKS is certainly louder than the 22 and kicks more than the 22, but neither fact deterred "Janie" ('s got a gun)--she let the pop cans (and dirt around the pop cans), ranging from a distance of 10 to 35 yards have it with a bunch of led! Nevertheless, a pistol made even louder noise than the SKS, and so Karalee didn't bother to shoot that one.
This photo represents four generations of Merrill. Nathan is being held by his dad, Curtis, and Curtis is standing to the left of his grandmother, Lois Hope Clawson Merrill (who is 92 and very much going strong!) Next to her is Gene Merrill, Lois' son and Curtis' father, and Curtis' mother is on the far left, LaVerne. On a side note, Grandma Merrill, as of about 8 years ago isn't just a great-grandmother, but a great-great grandmother (not by Curtis, but by one of Curtis' cousin's daughters).
Grandpa Merrill and Nathan.
What a happy boy with his great grandmother!
More ice cave!
To the right of the people in question (LaVerne and Curtis) is the remnants of the cone of the volcano I was telling you about.
The happy couple standing next to that volcano cone!
A somewhat random photo of our favorite, and according to his mother, "patience teaching" nephew Kaleb!
As you can see here, Nathan holds his head up very well and loves tummy time.

And that's the update!