Continuing the Tradition!

As many of you know, the Christmas Eve tradition of eating tamales is alive and well with a lot of the Merinos. Well, the Merinos in PA are doing their part to keep it going.

There is a severe shortage of mexican food in State College. We have to travel for an hour to visit a half-way decent restaurant. So this year we decided to try making our own tamales. I have to admit that we are pretty proud of ourselves. After cooking the entire day, we enjoyed a full Mexican meal. Steve made refried beans, mexican rice, and red chili sauce. Carrie made the tortillas (my first lesson was the day after we got married) and we both made the tamales. It was delicious! All the work was worth it because our leftovers lasted for about 3 days!

Mom's first blog post

I can't believe I actually found my way to this blog. I need Morgan or Britney to show me how to get around on the computer.
I have been busy in November and December tutoring a high school student four hours a day to earn some extra money for the holidays. I should have more time in January and then, hopefully, I'll be able to write some interesting things and maybe share some pictures and recipes.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. How I wish we could all be together. Maybe we can all talk together on Christmas day on a conference call. By then Andy should be home again on safe soil in the good old USA. What a Christmas gift for our family!
Remember to open your valuable Christmas cards as soon as you get them.
And, more importantly, remember that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season".
I love you all.
Mom

Just Testing

Hi Everyone:

I am just testing this to see if I can contribute. I have little patience with all the numbers and letters and the miriad of instructions that I have to punch in or read or erase just to see a picture. My age is showing. When I have a day I will read the instructions and see if I can learn something. And then I will try to add some pictures with a little description of what they mean. The blog appears to be off to a good start. Lets see if we can keep it going. Maybe Julie and I can add more than we have at present.

If the weather holds we will leave for Littleton on the 21st and spend Christmas with Dave, Jess and the kids. Andrew comes home on Christmas Eve. We will fly out to visit him at the end of the month. Then I have to get back because I will be teaching a class this semester at Dixie College. It is herpetology, the study of lizards and snakes, and other related critters.

Dallin is a good-looking little kids. And Sadie is getting pretty big. Everytime I see her curly hair and also see her dancing, I think of her as a lil Irish lass. I have no idea how much Irish she may have flowing through her arteries and veins.

Love you guys

Grandpa Merino

Happy Birthday Britney!

Britney's turning 13! Our first teenager! Happy Birthday! We wish we could share cake and icecream with you.

Happy Birthday Morgan!!

Morgan is turning another year older! Happy Birthday, we all wish we could be there to help you celebrate! (sorry, I didn't have a more current picture of Morgan -- but this is definitely how Sadie remembers her)

Dallin's Birthday!

Finally, almost a week later, I am posting some pictures of Dallin's birthday. It's hard to believe that he is already a year old. It's equally hard to believe that most people in the family haven't met him. He sure is cute!

Introducing . . .

Hey everyone . . . This is it. Julie asked me to start a blog for the entire family. I've already invited a few people to be authors. But I don't have current addresses for everyone. So, don't feel left out, I will be sending you one as soon as I get them.

So the purpose of this blog is to make it a little easier and more fun to keep eachother posted on our lives. Feel free to post as often as you want. Just remember that it will only work if everyone participates, so I will probably start bugging people if I notice that there isn't much activity.

If you have any questions on how to do things, let me know. 'Til then . . . happy blogging.