Jen's Life and Lit

Endings

2010-07-12T21:10:00.006-06:00

Tonight Lauren and the boys destroyed a bench and fire pit that we built together as a family in 2005.

Our house has a beautiful view of the valley off the back patio, and soon after we bought the place we decided it would be fun to have a fire pit out there. Since we've never seemed to do anything in a conventional way, we built the pit out of tin cans, then stuccoed over them. The bench we made out of straw bales and stucco to match the house. It took us a couple of weekends of hard work. The boys were little then, 5 and 7. Since then we've used that bench and pit over and over again. The boys like to build up a fire and roast marshmallows. We've had a tradition of building a fire in celebration of the winter solstice. Seems like every birthday party has involved a fire in the pit in one way or another. We've also cooked meals out there--
chickens on a spit, dutch oven potatoes.

Over the years they started to crack, and we kept talking about repairing them but never did, and the cracks got worse and worse. Yesterday after the open house, our realtor told us that several people commented that they were in rough shape, and suggested that we take them out. So tonight Lauren and the boys bashed that pit and bench right out of existence. The boys are bigger now and with all 3 of them yielding weapons those suckers came down so fast it made my head spin.

Well, the symbolism is obvious.
I stood out on the pile of rubble and thought of all our years of hard work, good times, and traditions. I'm grateful for those years and I know there's more of those things in all of our futures.
But for tonight, I'm just feeling sad.

My Beautiful Nieces and Nephew

2010-07-02T16:28:00.004-06:00

I have the most beautiful nieces and nephew in the world:

Morgan Shae

Katie Bug

Little Worthy

Lexa Rae

Love you guys!

My parents' yard

2010-07-01T16:44:00.006-06:00

Here are a few random pics from my parents' yard:

And one of Riley just cause I think it's cute:

I love summertime in Blanding.

Testing, testing...

2010-06-29T10:36:00.002-06:00

I'm changing my blog template, so this is a test. Here's a pic:

2010-06-23T13:40:00.003-06:00

Dylan presented some of his writing at a culminating event for the summer writing program last night. He did such an amazing job and his writing blew me away.

Trudi Pierce, his teacher, mentor, and friend, puts this program together each summer for a group of about 8 students who love to write and think about their world. She is amazing.

This year's theme was seeds and soil, and on the last day they were asked to write a piece using the prompt, "the song of seeds and soil is" Here is what he wrote:

A New Life

The song of seeds and soil is the source of every dream. It is the food that we are thankful for, and the life we take for granted. It is why we laugh, and cry to ease the pain. It is why I sit here today to write what I am feeling, and what brings a smile to a mother's face while she helps her small child start a garden. And what makes her cry as her child grows and goes away to start a new life. But the child does not forget what he once had. As he sits in bed, old and alone, he remembers his five year old self, creating a garden. He pulls out a paper and pencil and begins his story: The song of seeds and soil is...

2010-06-22T13:29:00.002-06:00

While Dylan was out of town with his summer writing program, Riley and I took a camping trip to Sand Island. We had a beautiful spot on the bank of the San Juan River:

We laughed a lot and had some good old mom and son bonding time:

Riley played in the mud, which always makes him happy:

I read, which always makes ME feel happy:

Love you, Riley! I had a great time!

Dylan Turns 12

2010-05-16T10:14:00.004-06:00

My little boy turns 12 today. He had Ben and Erik over last night.
They made a fire in the pit and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.

We gave him juggling torches. Eric gave him some leather gloves. I fear for my home.

They messed around in the sprinkler and had a great time.

Happy Birthday Dylan! I love you!

Pieces of My Life

2010-05-09T19:43:00.002-06:00

Hiking With Grandpa

2010-04-23T19:29:00.005-06:00

This is for Danelle, who apparently thinks updating my blog every 6 months is not sufficient....

We went hiking over Easter weekend near Comb Ridge with my mom, dad, and Alexa. We were looking for rabbit teeth for a project of my dad's. Where does one find rabbit teeth you ask? In coyote dung, of course. We found some, too! Here are some pics...

Snow Creations

2010-01-22T17:00:00.002-07:00

The boys may not have had school today, but they worked pretty hard anyway...

Dylan's comfy chair:

Riley's Wild Thing:

Riley's Curmudgeon:

Riley's Gargoyle:

Dylan and Riley's Penguin Slide:

Why can't every day be a snow day?

Riley's Snowhead

2010-01-21T13:12:00.005-07:00

The snow wouldn't stick well enough for a snowman, so Riley got creative and made a snowhead instead. Very Calvin-esque if you ask me...

Sushi!!

2010-01-17T18:38:00.003-07:00

The pics speak for themselves....We made sushi, then we ate sushi...
Yum.

Bueller!

2010-01-10T14:13:00.004-07:00

I gave my brother's-in-law fake mustaches for Christmas. I put this one on, and lo and behold, I became Ed Rooney. Not exactly something to aspire to, but hey, I guess we can't pick our talents, right?

"I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind."

"Last thing I need at this point in my career is fifteen hundred Ferris Bueller disciples running around these halls. He jeopardizes my ability to effectivley govern this student body."

"Tell ya what, dipshit. If you don't like my policies you can come on down here and smooch my big ole' white butt."

"Pucker up butter-cup."

Mountain Boarding

2010-01-03T16:48:00.003-07:00

Riley got a mountain board for Christmas and we took him out in the hills today

He did really well...

...for the most part...

....

No broken bones so far--just a little snow in all the nooks and crannies

Skate on, Rye!

Snow Shoeing at Chicken Creek

2010-01-02T17:13:00.004-07:00

The boys and I spent New Years at Chicken Creek, near Mancos.

Lauren was sick, so he stayed home...

Which was a bummer, because the boys and I had never snow-shoed before.

Turns out there's not much to it...

And we had a really great time.

I think doing something we've never done before is a great start to the new year. Happy New Year everyone!

Catch-up Blog

2009-12-29T17:46:00.004-07:00

Ok, so it's been forever, and I won't even try to catch up on life since August. Here are some pics and you can fill in the blanks:

We got a bountiful harvest from our new garden

Dylan and Riley find a praying mantis

We dress up for a Hurst Family Halloween Party

My mom, dad, Kim and I go to Portales for the first time in 28 years

Winter Solstice Party (Dylan, Riley, and Ben)

So there you have it. 6 months in 5 pictures.

Cruisin' Alaska

2009-08-04T10:38:00.005-06:00

I just got back from cruising to Alaska with my mom, grandma Zentner, Lindsay, and Kim. Here we are on the ship's deck near Hubbard Glacier:

Here are some highlights...
We ate:

And ate:

And ate:

And drank:

And drank: :)

Took tons of pics (about 650 between us):

And saw some breathtaking sights:

It was a 7 day cruise, and we visited Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria British Columbia, and Seattle. Grandma Z behaved herself most of the time, we laughed until we cried on several occasions, and had an absolutely fabulous time. Love you guys! Thanks for a great trip!!

Haircut!

2009-07-11T16:51:00.005-06:00

Well, he finally did it. After talking about it for months, Dylan finally got up the courage to cut his hair. Here's how he looked before:

He had about 15 inches cut off, and donated it to locks of love:

And here's how he looks now: (Drumroll.........)

Way to go Dylan! You look awesome!!

How Does Our Garden Grow, July Edition

2009-07-04T09:32:00.004-06:00

Well, It's been a month and a half since we created our new garden space and planted a garden. We've been eating lettuce, peas, green onions and zucchini already, with lots more coming along beautifully. Here's how it looks today:

Good times...good times.

2009-07-02T12:48:00.007-06:00

Just got back from a trip to sunny California. Here are a few highlights:

Day 1, DISNEYLAND!!!

Day 2: The Beach!!! We went to a little state beach area called Crystal Cove. Spent the whole day there. The first pic is of Dylan 2 days later. The poor boy...this is after sunscreening with SPF 50 twice during the day.

Day 3: Knotts Berry Farms. We took Morgan with us, while her family went to Sea World. Had a great time...lots of great roller coasters!

How Does Our Garden Grow

2009-04-25T14:00:00.009-06:00

We spent all last weekend creating a new lawn and garden on the south side of the house. Here's how it looked before:

We're putting a lawn in on the top area where Riley's standing, and the garden went in where Lauren is. Here are a few pics of the work in progress:

Here are a few pics of what it looks like right now:

Next step is to plant the grass. We've already planted a few things in the garden!

Our "vintage" trailer

2009-04-05T11:53:00.004-06:00

We bought a 1969 12 foot travel trailer a few weeks ago for $300. We prefer to call it "vintage" as opposed to "white trash", although I would say others may disagree. We have big plans to redo the inside, paint it, and use it for camping and music festivals. For now, I'm just embarrassed to have it parked in the driveway. Here are the "before" pics:

This is the sleeping area. It will eventually sleep 4. This whole portion has now been torn out so we can start over.

There are 2 broken windows. Probably the easiest of all of the repairs.

The Kitchen. Seriously.

Wish us luck, cause we're gonna need it!

Dylan NOT doing an angry mole rat impression

2009-01-21T20:17:00.006-07:00

Dylan does a crazy good angry mole rat impression (don't ask--I have no idea). Here's me trying to get it on camera, and him being belligerent about it:

Happy New Year!

2009-01-10T09:54:00.009-07:00

We went to Blanding to celebrate the new year and Big Worthy's birthday. Here are some pics from the great Pinata bash and a day of sledding with Grandma and Grandpa. BTW...Riley says his New Year's resolution is to become a goth. Why can't I have a normal child just once?

Riley Idol

2008-12-27T09:56:00.005-07:00

We got Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas and have been having a dang riot with it. Here's Riley channeling Billy Idol:

2008 in review

2008-12-22T08:49:00.004-07:00

Dylan's Blog

2008-12-20T16:33:00.003-07:00

Ok, so it seems that we've gotten a little blog-happy at our house. Dylan has started a blog and has some pretty cool stuff already. Check it out at theblogthatdylanwrote.blogspot.com.

Riley's blog

2008-12-20T09:06:00.004-07:00

Check out Riley's blog! He's really excited to be a new blogger and he's done a great job of putting it together. You can find it at rileysmonstersandmore.blogspot.com.

Snow Day!

2008-12-16T06:39:00.003-07:00

Christmas

2008-12-14T19:58:00.008-07:00

Kim got me thinking lists, so I decided to make a list of my favorite things about Christmas...

Family time. 2 weeks off work with my kids, a few extra days with Lauren, and a trip to Blanding. Good times.
Christmas Eve. I love the anticipation in the air on Christmas Eve.
Amazon.com. That's a weird one, I know, but as I detest shopping, especially in December, I love that I can buy everything online, with free shipping to boot. It's the small things, ya know?
Traditions. We have so many that I love. Christmas eve pajamas, waking up to a ham baking, the pinata, doing Christmas for a needy family, etc.
The Pinata. It's become a tradition for our family to make a pinata and take it to Blanding and break it with my family. One year Lindsay and Kim almost peed their pants (ask them why).
A Christmas story. ("My father worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium, a master." )
Christmas morning. Is there anything better than watching your kids open their Christmas presents? No...nothing.
Snow. There should be a law that it has to snow on Christmas. A lot.
Saturday Night Live Christmas specials. I'm a big fan of Alec Baldwin's secret family recipe.
The Hanukah Song...so okay, strictly speaking, that's not a christmas thing, but it's one of my favorite things at Christmas, so it counts.

Merry Christmas!!

I've Been Tagged (and so has Dylan)

2008-11-12T18:22:00.008-07:00

So I've been tagged...

Apparently this means I have to say 7 random things about myself...

1. I love guacamole
2. I have a stupid human trick involving the pinky finger of my left hand
3. I think Barak Obama is going to save the world
4. I hate the sound of people eating
5. I refuse to order a "venti" coffee. If they can't figure out what I mean by "large" then heaven help them, cause I can't.
6. I've lost 40 pounds in the last 6 months, but I still have a big bum
7. I just turned 35.

Ta Da!!! Now who in the heck am I going to tag? Dylan is still thinking on his.

The Girls Hit the Big Apple

2008-09-16T15:44:00.008-06:00

Kim, My mom, and I went to the US Open (tennis, not golf) in New York last month. We had two days of amazing tennis (S. Williams, Federer, Jokovitch, Davenport, among many others) and we also saw a couple of great plays (Wicked and Avenue Q) and also saw some great New York sights. Here are a few pics...

Riley's class makes the paper

2007-12-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

Riley's class saved pennies for about a month and collected over $400 to give to a local charity. This photo and an article appeared in the Saturday edition of the Farmington Times. Yeah Riley!

drumroll.............

2007-10-31T10:44:00.000-06:00

In a bloody battle...

2007-10-29T07:53:00.000-06:00

...Riley wins, tooth loses. According to Riley, the dollar was worth it.

10 things about my boys...

2007-10-03T10:20:00.001-06:00

Here are some things you may or may not know about the boys in my life...

10 Things about Riley:

• He loves bling. He has 3 rings that he wears every day
• He collects robots
• He’s very artistic. He loves to draw and create interesting things
• He wants to live in the wilderness when he grows up, but he’s a little afraid of wild animals
• He loves being around people—he’s the only one in our family who is not anti-social
• He loves animals and would like to have hundreds of pets if his mean mom would let him
• He doesn’t mind being dirty, in fact seems to prefer it
• He has a great sense of humor and loves to tease people
• He’s smooth with the ladies
• He likes to snuggle with his mom and read about animals

10 Things about Dylan:

• He loves to read
• He collects coins
• He gets very nervous around people he doesn’t know well
• He is extremely kind to people and animals
• He will carry spiders and insects outside in his hands so that his mom doesn’t squoosh them
• He gets mortified when people kiss in front of him (even on tv)
• Subway sandwiches are his favorite treat
• At nine, he wears the same shoe size as his dad
• He has no interest in team sports, but likes solitary sports like skiing and hiking
• He likes to be clean, and showers every day whether he needs it or not

10 Things about Lauren:

• He builds beautiful guitars
• He’s written and published a novel
• He loves music
• He plays guitar, banjo, and bass
• He likes to paint
• He would love to be a hermit if he could get away with it
• If he stops moving after 8:00 PM he falls asleep
• He loves a good microbrew, but will settle for Keystone Light in a pinch
• Bad drivers make him crazy
• He ALWAYS does what he believes is the right thing—even if it’s the hard thing

Books I Love

2007-09-12T15:02:00.000-06:00

I changed the way I'm posting books. No more ratings--just a list of books I truly love. So check it out--I added a bunch of new ones, and they're all fabulous!

Festival!

2007-09-10T19:08:00.001-06:00

It rained...

We all got sick...

We came home early.

Can't wait 'til next year!

Streak the Cat

2007-09-10T18:22:00.001-06:00

When the boys were in Blanding for the week before school started, they rescued a kitten from under Grandma and Grandpa's porch. After getting her inside, they found that she couldn't use one of her legs. Of course, they had to keep her. They named her Streak, because she streaks around even with a bum leg, and because she has a streak down the middle of her face.

The vet tells us that the problem is with her radial nerve, and that it can't be fixed. So, as soon as she's old enough we will have it amputated. It gets in her way, and it rubs on the floor when she walks, which is starting to make a sore spot, so we think it's best for her to take it off.

The boys love her, and so do the dogs (a little more than she'd like). Lauren and Sam (the OTHER cat) are not thrilled but are both keeping a stiff upper lip!

Indifest

2007-06-11T13:04:00.001-06:00

We just got back from the 2nd annual Indifest Music Festival in Pagosa Springs.

Kim and Worthy and thier kids came with us and we had a really great time. The music was really good (not quite as good as last year, but still good). We particulary liked Lindsay Mack and Bobby Lee Rodgers and the Codetalkers.

It was really fun to have Kim and Worthy with us this year, and the boys were glad to have thier cousins there to hang out with. Now we have to clean up, pack it all up again, and go camping again next weekend!! Next weekend is our family reunion at Lake near Monticello. Another weekend of camping and family--Life is so good!!

Our trip to Navajo Dam

2007-05-27T18:11:00.001-06:00

Well, we had intended to visit the Grand Canyon this weekend for Dylan's birthday, but due to several glitches, we didn't make it. So today we decided to grab the boat and head out to Navajo Dam. It was a beautiful day, and we had a fabulous time. Lauren just finished making the boat a couple of weeks ago, and I'd never had the pleasure of riding in it until today. (The boys had taken it out fishing, but I was flower shopping with Kim and Mom, so I didn't go). So we swam, cruised around in the boat, and soaked in the sun today. And even though we had been disappointed to not make it to the Grand Canyon, this was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days we've had in a long time. Sometimes flying by the seat of your pants beats all.

A Poem by Dylan

2007-05-23T08:06:00.001-06:00

One Morning at Aztec Nature Center

Geese are taking their time coming
up to shore for food
As I watch, baby robin red breasts follow their mother
to the feeding dish
Muskrats pop up from the icy depths of frozen rivers,
and a young ladybug makes its way
across the window

--Dylan Hurst Merritt

2007-02-25T10:29:00.001-07:00

This is my latest quilt. My mom gave me the fabric for my birthday, and I just finished it this weekend. She wanted to see how it came out, so I posted it!

What's up with the Merritt Family

2007-02-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest with our family (Christmas letter style):

Lauren's working for the City of Farmington as the IT training coordinator. He's obsessed with building guitars (see link to his page on the right) which takes up most of his spare time.

Jen's working for Farmington Schools, reading lots of books, and doing a bit of quilting here and there.

Dylan's in 3rd grade this year. Both boys are going to a new charter school called the Mosaic Academy, and are doing really well there. He reads almost as much as his mother, and plays video games like a madman. He has recently started collecting coins.

Riley's in 1st grade, and recently lost his 2 front teeth. So cute. His obsession is dragons and pirates, and has taken up collecting trading cards.

The family collectively has discovered the joy of music festivals (mostly Folk, but others as well), and we go to the ones in our area as often as we can. We're all home-bodies, and enjoy just hanging out at home together as much as we can.

2007-02-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

A few great books

2007-02-07T12:22:00.001-07:00

My first day as a blogger, and I've already received a marriage proposal! So exciting.

I'm starting a book list to the right. I'll rate the books on a scale from 1 to 10.

I’m currently reading Shalimar the Clown by Salmon Rushdie, and thoroughly enjoying it. I’ll get you a rating soon…

Happy reading!

Jen

Welcome!

2007-02-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! Thanks to my sis, Kim, for getting me going on this. I'll be posting family news, and also books that I'm reading or have read that I think you might like. In addition, I'd love for you to send me suggestions for great books.

More to come!!