What can we say, we like her...a lot!

Yes, we are proud parents. Aaron comes home from work and thinks she smiles just for him. I feel like all her pictures are of her sleeping, but let's face it. That's what she does these days. And she's good at it!


His new favorite friend.


Coming home. Can you tell we had a fun trying to learn the art of the
car seat?


Eliza's favorite position and pastime.


See, I told you it was her favorite.

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For...

...has arrived!



Eliza Averett was born at 9:15 a.m. on May 25th.
She weighed 9 lbs. 13 oz. and is 21.5 in. long.
And she's beautiful. We think you'll agree.

Updates

It kind of feels like life is full of updates lately. It also feels like I'm a slacker at providing them. We look for updates every morning on what's happening half way around the world, and I realized today that I should say something about it on here for those who are wondering.

Thanks for those of you who emailed your concern for my parents. They are safe, and thankfully, we are able to get emails from them again. Power was restored to the hotel where they live. Whether it was restored to the whole city or not, I'm unsure. They are a little frustrated about the situation and feeling a little helpless, but that is understandable. Mom has learned a valuable lesson from all this - we have been able to chat back and forth through gmail several times and she learned how to make a smiley face out of a colon and a parenthesis :) A skill no one should be without.

My brother has been much better about blogging the happenings, so for further info I invite you to check out his blog. Just click on the Colorado Merkleys site on the side. (Hope you like the extra traffic, Josh :)

New Addition to the Family!

Before the news and pictures about the new addition we just have to give a little update about Angela's Parents. You may have heard that there was a Cyclone in Myanmar this weekend. There is kind of a weird situation because not much news is coming out of the country so far so only limited information is known. What we do know from the reports is that coastal areas of the country had up to 70% of the buildings destroyed and 90,000 people are now homeless. In Yangon where Angela's parents are there appears to be much less damage, but still a lot of destruction. We have not heard from them since the storm, but their accommodations are very safe and we are sure they are alright, who knows when communication will be back up. It is a little interesting how the timing has worked out with their schedule. They have been having quite a time trying to get anything but english classes going up to this point in their mission. They have had other plans and other programs to start, but much of those plans have not worked out. They will likely be very busy now and we suspect that they will be a part of any aid the church will be allowed to provide. Our prayers are with Angela's parents and the people of Myanmar.

Now, although selling the 4-runner was fresh on our minds, we have had quite a bit of anticipation for other big events in our lives. One of those big events happened this week, and it was a long time coming, Angela has been very nice to let me be pretty selfish and get something I have wanted for a long time but could just never bring myself to do it because there really is no purpose except for fun. Well, after a long talk about how this is not the beginning of us having toys, which I agree with, I went up to 70+ miles per gallon and added a new member to the family.


We went out in the desert last night

Oh and here is the picture that there have been many requests for, sorry it is not the best picture of either of us, three more weeks and counting.

In Memory

It was a sad day Monday when it came time to sell the 4 Runner. We liked that car, and it had taken us many places. I wanted to keep it around for Scouts, but it just wasn't to be. This post is an ode to the 4 runner, you were great and we will always have fond memories of you. Enjoy your new home in Montpelier Idaho, where you will be put out to pasture and enjoy the surrounding mountains for the rest of your hopefully long life.

Scouting for Scouts

I didn't realize it has been so long since we posted last. We will have to try and do better. We have slowed down a little the last month or so. Traveling is not so comfortable for Angela now and there is a lot to do around the house and with visitors. This last weekend I went with the Scouts to Lake Powell. Our ward has youth conference there the week Angela is due so we went to scout out the area and claim a campsite at Wahweap. We even had a pretty good object lesson when some drunk girls came to our bonfire and offered us some beer, ahh the joys of Lake Powell. This trip we just played in the sand and went hiking. The water is still a little too cold to ski.
A little evening fishing.

Bonfire preparations

I only got a video of this but yes the flames were 20-30 feet.

Dam overlook

Horseshoe bend, it is to big and close to get a better picture, but it is awesome to be there.

Chris and I

Pictures from the Edge

One of the good things about living in St. George is that we get to have visitors who have to come down for business. We get to see them and have an excuse to go and play. This happened this week when William came to see us. (and maybe to go to a conference on water rights too, which is more fun?) It was also Angela's spring break so we did some playing around St. George and then went out and stayed at Toroweap on the Grand Canyon Wendsday night. The canyon drops straight down almost 3,500 feet and had we had a water balloon launcher we could hit the river with rocks. Now you know what we will take next time. We had been there once before, but we didn't find the overhanging rocks in the pictures until this time.
Looking up the Colorado river.

Looking down the Colorado river with Lava falls in the bottom,

Zoom in on this picture to see us on the rock.






Here is my try at artistic photography,

There are a lot of these pools on either side of the road on the way to the point.