Moving week

Sorry no pictures, at this point everything is packed. It is hard to believe, but also exciting to see our "stuff" packed ready to go. I can say my emotions this year are different than moving up here. I remember when all the boxes were out of our last house. I just walked around it empty house and cried, thinking our lives as we know it are about to change. Ryan was in Chicago already and the boys were at friends. I don't think tears will flow this year, but I can say there are thing about this move that are sad. BUT, we are excited to be heading back to Texas - family and the SUN! Except - my mother already called to say it would be very cold and rainy there - YIKES, why does the cold follow us? Update on our living - we have bought a house in South Austin, and no we have not sold our house here. Please continue to pray for someone to love our sweet house and snap it up. If not, March 1, we can take a buy out from Ryan's company. There is an end in sight, but it would be much better for us to sell the house ourselves! We will not close on our new home until the end of February, so once again we will be traveling the state staying with family while Ryan works in Austin.

Pictures

Horrible picture I know, who wants a picture of me with my mouth wide open. Well if you hadn't had BBQ in over 15 months you would be like this too. I think all we will eat when we hit Austin in BBQ and Tex-Mex. When Ryan and I went house hunting, we ate at IWB (Ironworks BBQ). I made Ryan take this picture because I was so excited to be coming back!
This is Jackson. Most of you know him and have been praying for him. Doesn't he look great? Please continue to pray for Doug, Mel, and Jackson. He is scheduled for his bone marrow transplat the end of February if RSV is under control in the Denver hospital. The three of them will head to Denver for 6 months for his treatment.

Like I said before, we had such a great time at Christmas with family. The boys loved everything about the holidays. They were so fun to buy for this year. Does it keep getter better? Ben is into everything sports and Carter is loving superheroes, especially Batman!

This is Christmas Eve, if you can't see the snow if coming in sideways. It was like that all day. It snowed 8 inches in Jacksboro, I don't ever remember that much snow! We thought we were coming to Texas for a snow BREAK! Every year on Christmas eve, Santa goes through the town handing out stockings. This year we had to chase him down, the kids were excited to get back in the warm car after this picture.

Oh where, Oh where?

Oh where, oh where have the Merriman's been? That is the question I ask myself about the past month. We had a wonderful Christmas in Texas with both families. We spent the month traveling around the state - looking for houses and living out of our suitcases! We made the long way back celebrating that it was our last trip across country! We have had several lookers on our house, but so far no takers. Please pray that someone will snap our house up! It would be a huge relief for us! Ryan is house hunting for us this week in Austin, hopefully he will find something for us; we haven't found anything yet! For the next 3 weeks, Ryan is flying down to work during the week and flying back here to us on the weekend. I will try and upload pictures from the holiday season, the boys had a blast!

Bulls, Snow, and Sledding

One thing that the boys LOVE to do when there is snow is to go sledding. We have a great hill by our house. On the weekends when there is snow, the kids in the neighborhood all go there for fun. You should hear the laughing as they go flying down the hill.

We went to the bulls game on Friday. The game went into overtime with the bulls winning! The boys had such a great time. They were into the game yelling and singing the songs. Everyone around us would crack up laughing when Carter would get up and dance!

The boys have spent the last couple of days playing out in the snow. Ben has his wish of not moving to Austin until after the snow. We had a snowball fight and tried to build a snowman, but the snow was like powder and didn't stick together. We are excited that the temperature is back up in the 20's and 30's. We had a day when it was 3 degrees, know that's cold folks! We said we were actually glad it warmed up to the 20s. Even though it is cold, I am trying to enjoy this weather. Hopefully I will never have to experience it again. I am looking forward to packing up the snow gear!

Update & Pictures

Carter loves taking pictures. This is his picture of his feet!

We have been busy getting ready to put our house on the market and getting/keeping it clean. We spent last weekend in Chicago enjoying the sites and watched the Miracle mile parade with 800,000 other people. We went swimming in the indoor pool after the parade. Word to the wise, never let your children drink a extra full cup of chocolate milk before the start jumping in the pool. After 10 minutes both boys managed to clear out the 15 people in the pool by throwing up IN THE POOL, yes, I said both of them! On a lighter note, Ryan and I also celebreated 7 years of marriage. He was so sweet to come home with flowers. He also left his wedding ring in his swim shorts in the HOTEL! Well, it only took 7 years to lose it!

Pictures and update!

The boys received these Tech stickers and went crazy! We had to get our "gear" on and play football in the basement.

Last weekend we went into the city for the cruise tour on the river. We had great weather and the boys enjoyed the boat ride. We learned so much about the city, I suggest it if you are ever visiting the windy city. After the cruise we had dinner at Navy Pier to end a wonderful family day. We have been busy getting the house ready to put on the market. Hopefully it will go up soon, please cross your fingers that it sells fast!

True to his word!

When Ryan accepted the job to move up here to the Chicagoland, he promised me it would only be 12-18 months. I agreed thinking that was true. After several months of being up here, he was informed that it would be more like 3-5 years. I was a big girl and said "okay" I can handle the cold weather for 5 years! Well, true to my sweet husband's word, we will only be here about 14-15 months. Yes, you are hearing me. Today Ryan accepted a job with Kellogg's in Austin, TX. We are moving back home, YEA!!! It seems so good I almost can't believe it is real. Its not that I don't like it here. This is a wonderful place to live with great people, it is just REALLY cold. I am excited to move back to the warm weather and much, much closer to friends and family. Plus, I was born in Austin, so it is special to be headed back there! Please pray that our house sells very fast! Ryan starts his new position after the new year! We will keep you posted. . .