I got a phone call from my mom this evening. She doesn’t call me a whole lot, mostly because I call her every day. (There are a lot of things about myself that embarrass me, but being a Momma’s Boy isn’t one of them. I’m proud of that.) I recognized at the time that it is rare for her to call me, but my brain didn’t do the easy mental math that it should have.

“Grandpa died.”

I knew it was coming, but it still caught me by surprise. And now that I’ve had a few hours to digest everything, I felt like I needed to sit down and write a little bit about what my grandpa meant to me. (I’ve always thought it was weird how, on Law & Order, when someone finds out a loved one has died, they are immediately talking about them in the past tense — “She didn’t have any enemies. Everyone loved her.” It feels weird to speak in the past tense about Grandpa.)

Grandpa with his wife, Margrit, and Logan, on April 18, 2008

John Leslie Merrifield was born on December 17, 1926. I know bits and pieces about his early life — for example, he lied about his age to join the Navy during World War II, then briefly went AWOL to attend his own high school graduation — but I know more about the stuff that relates to me.

In 1949, he met my grandma, a lovely 18-year-old gal named Mary Joanna Veall, at a dance at San Diego State University. John and Joanna eventually fell in love, and they got married in 1950. They had six kids: John Jr., born in 1951; Laurie (my mom), born in 1953; Paul, born in 1955; Janna, born in 1957; Beth, born in 1961 (I think); and David, born in 1963 (I think). Those six kids provided Grandma and Grandpa with 16 grandkids, including me and my five siblings.

In 1956, my grandparents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If there’s one singular event in history that laid the groundwork for me to be who I am today, I think that is it. A lot of Church members have “pioneer heritage,” and as a Utah resident, the early LDS pioneers and their struggles aren’t lost on me. But when I think of pioneers, I think of my grandma and grandpa, because that’s where it all started for me. I can’t imagine how my life would be different without my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, but I know that the call from my mom this evening would have been much more depressing if I didn’t have an understanding of the eternal nature of families. I think it’s somehow fitting that Grandpa’s greatest contribution to my life is what makes it possible for me to say “See ya later” to him now.

I don’t think there’s any such thing as a perfect father, and I’ve heard that Grandpa had his own weaknesses in that department. But I’ll tell you this much: he was an awesome grandpa, and I think being a grandpa eventually helped him be a great dad, too. And I don’t think anyone who ever met him would deny that he was always a great man.

There are a lot of things I will remember about Grandpa. I’m sure my family and I will have a good time sitting around talking about them all when we’re together for the funeral later this week. The best I can do to pay tribute to him in this setting is to say: Thank you, Grandpa. My life is better for having had your influence. Every time I look at my Priesthood Line of Authority, I am grateful that you took the steps to be a link in my chain. Thank you for giving me a perfect mom, and thank you for being an example to my dad so he could be an example to me. I love you, I will miss you, and I know that I will see you again. Say hi to Grandma and Uncle David for me, and maybe Grandma and Grandpa Snider too, if you see them around. I’m glad you’re out of pain, and I’m excited that you finally get to serve a mission.

I love you.

We made it through one more crazy Halloween again! It was a beautiful day all day today and then around 6:15pm, it starts to rain. Seriously. Jeff stayed back to pass out candy because of his hip which left me to take the kids around which was so fun!

Logan walked by himself this year and mostly just followed Lindsay’s example on what to do. They would both say trick-or-treat and hold up their buckets, say thank you and we’d be on our way to the next one.


Lindsay was of course wanting to go faster than Logan could go, but she was so good about waiting patiently for him to get up the steps so that they could do it together. They even held hands while walking between houses. SO CUTE!


Since it was raining, Jeff opened the trunk on the van and sat in there to pass out candy and it worked out really well. We didn’t have to constantly open the door and we stayed dry! Here’s a picture of all of us.

After awhile of sitting and after their last piece of candy for the night, the kids were literally running in circles. It was too funny! Run off that sugar!


We had such a fun Halloween and we sure hope you all did too!

Tonight we had our yearly mess of carving pumpkins. I really do enjoy carving pumpkins but this year the pumpkins seemed especially hard to get the guts out. But it’s also the first year I’ve bought pumpkins really early and kept them until Halloween and they were starting to get soft, so maybe that played a part. I don’t know. Lindsay was so eager to help but didn’t like getting the guts out and the knives were too scary for me so she mostly just cheered us on. Logan didn’t like the guts and kept saying “EW” the whole time. They finally colored the little pumpkin (and some of the carpet..and some of Logan…) which kept them occupied for about 3 minutes. It was still a lot of fun to be together and this year Laney got to be with us so it was even more fun! Here’s some pictures.









Logan showing us how he colored on himself.


Aren’t they awesome!?

Today was a fun filled Halloween day and it wasn’t even actually Halloween! Lindsay had preschool this morning and at the end of class they had a little parade down the street. Her teacher invited us to come and anyone else who wanted to, so I invited a couple of people thinking Lindsay would love that. So, Jeffy, me, Logan, Laney, Mimi, Niki and Hannah came to cheer Lindsay on during her parade. When we got there we were only one of TWO parents that came to watch. Can you believe that?? I was shocked. It’s one thing if you have something going on while they are at preschool but when it’s right at the end when you have to pick them up anyway, there really is no excuse for missing it. They were all so cute in their costumes and Lindsay kept coming over to give us all hugs. I’m still a little surprised that Logan didn’t insist on walking with Lindsay but he did have three trucks with him so I guess he was a little preoccupied. It was so cute!

After preschool, Lindsay and I went to the store while Logan took his nap and on the way home she tuckered out and then slept on the couch for another hour and a half! That doesn’t happen very often anymore! She had taken her M&M costume off and wore a dress up dress to the store and her pretty dress up shoes so when I laid her down on the couch she was cold so I just put her M&M costume on her for a blanket. She’s such a beautiful sleeper!

After THAT, we went to the elementary school’s Halloween carnival with Mimi and Ashlee. It was a lot of fun! They had games and things to do in different classrooms throughout the school and the girls had a lot of fun. It was super crowded, but seriously, is there anything out here that isn’t? Thanks Mimi and Ashlee for inviting us!
Doing a cake walk.


Listening to a Halloween poem.

Our ward had a really fun Trunk-or-Treat last night and the kids had a blast! Before the trick-or-treating started, Lindsay would jump up and down saying, “MOMMY! MOMMY LOOK!” and pointing to all sorts of scary, funny, pretty costumes that she saw. Too cute. We had a really good turn out and some people really got into the decorating part and the kids loved that part as well. One car had a big web and huge spider and Logan kept saying, “Mommy, PIDER!!” Once we were about to start trick-or-treating, I realized I hadn’t even tried to see if Logan could say trick-or-treat. He couldn’t really at first, but sure enough, once he heard Lindsay say it he was good and then we just followed her to each trunk and did what she did. It was so fun! I only got one picture before our camera died but it’s a cute one. It’s Jeffy with the kids and cute little Hannah. Thanks Activities Committee for such a fun night!

I got tagged by a friend to pick the 6th picture from my 6th folder of pictures and this is what I got.

Isn’t she sooo tiny? Every time I see this picture I ask myself this question:
“Why didn’t I HOLD her instead of just propping her up like that?” Hehe, the inexperience of new parents. Isn’t it fun? And now my baby is turning 4 in six days (wow, what’s with the number 6 today?).

I tag EVERYONE!!

For a couple of weeks I have known that yesterday was going to be a fun filled, non-stop day of fun. And I couldn’t wait!!! We started off the day by going to Boo at the Zoo and the kids really had a lot of fun! They got to wear their costumes and go trick-or-treating in various parts of the park. But when we got there, there were THOUSANDS of people there and lines as long as Disneyland lines for the candy so Jeffy and I just decided we would be the odd ones there and look at the animals and just ignore the candy part. Lindsay was totally fine with it and didn’t even care that she wasn’t going to get any candy. Yes! Less candy to worry about later!
Standing in line to get in the zoo.

Sitting on the famous elephant. Logan was scared of the loud noises the elephant was making.

Lindsay having fun!

Cute Logan by the elephants.

After the zoo we got some lunch and drove home and went straight to Patti’s annual Halloween party. She is such an awesome lady for putting this together every year and it is always such a good time. We love sitting with friends and chatting the afternoon away while watching the kids play games.
Lindsay doing a ring toss and she got her second ring around the witch’s hat and got a prize.

Lindsay with her prize, a whistling straw. Yippee… And she’s also wearing her friend Emily’s wings.

Logan taking his shot at the pinata.


Lindsay’s turn. And WOW! She hit that thing HARD! She didn’t break it but the girl has got an arm!

The kids got some candy and then they gave Patti hugs and we went home. Then Jeff and I went to a benefit dinner for Glenn Beck and had a really nice time. He’s going to post about that later. It was an awesome day!

Last night we had a fun night out with our friends. We went down to Provo to a park down there for a picnic dinner, and after each of us going somewhere different to get dinner, we sat down and enjoyed talking while the kids played at the park. Then after wards we drove down to lower Provo River and went on a Haunted Cruise that lasted about 20 minutes. The kids really enjoyed it and us parents enjoyed it mostly because the kids did. Logan had a great time taking more candy out of the bowl than he was supposed to but I didn’t mind because it kept him from screaming. Then after that we went to get some frozen yogurt and told stories about old retarded roommates. It was a really fun evening and every time we all get together I feel so blessed that we have found such wonderful friends here that we can really have fun with and that our kids get along with so well. Thanks guys for an awesome night!

Last Monday for FHE I thought we’d take the kids to Thanksgiving Point to do the Barnyard Boo. But when we got there it hadn’t opened yet! So, we walked around and saw all the animals and the rode the ponies and the kids seemed to have a good time. It was FREEZING so I was glad I thought to bring their coats, hats and gloves because they were much needed. We then went back on Friday and did all the Cornbelly things and for some reason I didn’t take any pictures of that, but we really had a great time as a family. The kids loved the big slides and the hayride was their favorite part. It was a really fun evening and after we go to things like that, I’m always so happy we live in a place that is so family oriented.


Logan wanted to get in with the cow…

This cow thought Grandma Snider’s pants were yummy…

…and the tag on our stroller.

I love how Logan looks up to Lindsay so much! He is always watching her to see how to do things, it’s so cute!

Logan loved standing on the fence.

A couple of weeks ago we went up to the canyon with our friends the Martins’ so that Niki could take some new pictures of our family. She is an awesome photographer! She was able to get some great pictures of us, including Logan who would NOT sit still! Thanks Niki!







These family pictures are so cute because they show very well how crazy Logan can be.




..and the one that makes me want to cry because it’s so sweet…