Googling

A few months ago, Renee hooked me up with Site Meter, a way to track traffic at your blog. I love to check it out and see all the different locations readers are coming from, and I often get hits from other countries, connections from my friends' blogs, and just random hits, too.

But my favorite thing about it is being able to see the Google searches that brought people to my blog. Here are some recent ones:

• Indoor S'mores
  
• Kristi Merrill
  
• Alyson Von Feldt
  
• Family "fifth birthday" party
  
• Are trampolines any good?
  
• Broke arm on tramp
  
• Merrill family
  
• Lion House honey butter recipe
  
• Ice cream truck music
  
• Dough rolling out
  
• Making Lion House rolls
  
• Merrill blog Matt Texas
  
• Build your own shock collar circuit
  
• Difference "merry-go-round" carousel clockwise
  
• Hendon Rocks
• How to keep your dog from digging under the fence
• Merrill Family Texas
  

How a Picnic Entry Turned Into a Camera Tip

Originally, this was going to be an entry about our delightful family picnic. Nate and I made some lovely (and tasty) deviled eggs, plus an assortment of other picnic snacks, and our family went to Bear Creek Park for a quiet evening out with the turtles and ducks. Have I mentioned that it's turtle paradise at said park? And that there are many turtles who swim in the river? Without drowning? But I digress.

When I downloaded the pictures from our family picnic, I noticed that the evening had somehow turned foggy from the time I took the pictures to the time they appeared on my computer screen. Notice the upper left corners of the pictures above and below. See how Matt's face looks fuzzy? And how the trees look out of focus? What could be wrong with my camera?


If this ever happens to you, perhaps you should check the other images on your memory card. Perhaps you'll find one like this one,


which may prompt you to open the lens cover and see if there are any fingerprints smudged on the lens, and there you will discover your problem. This problem happens quite often, as I have a five year-old boy with a penchant for photography. Or at least for sneaking away with his mom's camera as often as possible.

Lens cleaning tissue. Always good to have on hand.

The Merrill Boys

Each week in Primary, one child is the "spotlight" for the week, and each family has collected information about their kids. Here is how our boys responded to the questions about themselves:

Nate Merrill
Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Food: Sausages
Favorite Treat or Candy: Orange tic tacs
Favorite Book: Thomas the Tank Engine
Favorite TV Show: Spongebob Squarepants
Favorite Movie: Sharkboy and Lava Girl
Favorite Primary Song: I am a Child of God
Favorite Activity or Hobby: Riding my bike
What would he like to be when he grows up? A firefighter


Christopher Merrill
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Treat or Candy: Fun Dip
Favorite Book: It's too hard to choose just one
Favorite TV Show: Spongebob Squarepants
Favorite Movie: Sharkboy and Lava Girl
Favorite Primary Song: Book of Mormon Stories
Favorite Activity or Hobby: Video Games
What would he like to be when he grows up? A video game designer

Happy Mother's Day to Me

I hope you don't think that just because I haven't written about Mother's Day means that I didn't have a fabulous weekend, because I did. Matt and the boys were very good to me this year.

Nate thoughtfully chose some cute PJs for me, as he knows I always love cute PJs and we all know you can never have enough cute PJs. I would post a picture of them, but there is a slim possibility that Matt helped choose this year's cute PJs, but all I can say is that the picture would not be entirely appropriate for a family blog.

Christopher was also very thoughtful, and I knew he was excited about his purchase, because on Saturday, when I was at Ikea with Brent, Christopher kept calling me and saying, "Mom? If you want to open your Mother's Day gift early, that's okay with me!" I know he had me in mind when he chose this gift:Matt was also extremely thoughtful, and chose something shiny and new that I have wanted for a long time: I've really been whining about not being able to watch video on my iPod, and even though Matt really needs the longer battery life for his traveling, he selflessly gave the new iPod to me. I am in love with it. And with my kids and husband, who also took me out to PF Chang's, one of my very most favorite restaurants. They all gave me lots of hugs and kisses and personal attention and I felt very spoiled.

Thanks, boys!

Brently

If you are a loyal Merrill Family blog reader, you are already familiar with the delightful Brent Hall. Known as "Uncle Brent" to my kids, he is really like a brother to me, and although we used to have our offices next door to each other in Salt Lake City, we now only get to see each other a couple of times each year.So imagine my delight when I found out that Brent would be here for a few days for a business trip, and was extending through the weekend to stay with us. Hooray! Then imagine us shopping, eating out, going to the movie (Spiderman 3), and just hanging out.

Also imagine Nate and Christopher adoring Uncle Brent and asking him to please stay. I felt the same way.

The Horror!

This. Was. On. Our. Kitchen. Floor.

My apologies for the poor focus. I asked Matt to lift up the cup under which little scorpion was trapped so I could take a picture, which I did do very quickly, then ran away.

I have a serious fear and irrational phobia about scorpions, due to a trip to Belize I took my senior year of high school. Every night, in our "cabin," we could hear the scorpions crawling on the walls. Inside. And two mornings there, when I was getting dressed, I looked down and they were crawling on me. Nice. Kelli Bramlett was the only one brave enough to grab the tongs, catch the scorpions, then jam them into containers of alchohol, as requested by a BYU professor who wanted some specimens from Belize.

So what do we do now? Massive chemical spraying to discourage their entry into our home? Start wearing shoes in the house at all times so as to be able to squish intruders when necessary? Or perhaps we should consider a move to a slightly less warm climate, like ... Alaska?

Line 24

If you visit Google Maps and are in need of directions from New York to Paris, line 24 will be very helpful to you.

Blessing

Christopher's teacher has a reward system in place for the students called a "star catcher." On each child's desk is a chart on which they record stars for good behavior. Once their chart is full, they can choose a reward, such as a homework pass, a reward from the treasure box, being teacher for the day, and so forth.

The class pet is a little hamster named "Blessing," and, when Christopher filled up his star chart most recently, he chose the reward of bringing Blessing home for two nights.

I do enjoy all furry creatures, but haven't had any pets like this around in a long time, and she was quite fun to play with. She seemed to be very accustomed to kids holding her and picking her up and handing her back and forth. Charlie was extremely fascinated with her, and I am certain he could have spent all day in a state of bliss just sniffing her.

Although she was very cute and sweet and all that, even I, the friend to all furry creatures, was happy to see her returned to the classroom. Two boys, a dog, and two (and a half) cats keep our lives busy enough for now!

Kristy and Christopher are Reading

What the Storm Brought

Last week (and the week before), we had much severe weather, with rain, wind, thunder and lightning, and multiple tornado warnings with sirens. Even Christopher, who used to bolt for the closet under the stairs when the sirens went off, now just grabs a couple of video games and says, "Tell me what they say on the news." Ho-hum. I like to look out the window to see all the neighbors standing on their front porches, scanning the sky for a funnel cloud.

The day after the storms, Charlie and the cats were gathered around a small object on the front sidewalk, and Charlie was barking furiously. We all clustered around what turned out to be a little turtle, who was, as Nate put it, "very shy."

Since Matt was out of town, I realized that we could take care of it for a day or two, and if Matt had been out of town longer, we may have considered keeping the turtle as a pet. However, Matt frowns on the idea of reptiles living in our home, and I'm not all that crazy about the way they smell, either, so the boys and I decided to set it free.We drove to Bear Creek park, which has a slow-moving river in which we have seen many happy turtles. We took the turtle to the edge of the river and set it down. It poked its head out a little, but didn't move much. I wanted to see the turtle swim away in a happy fashion, so I went ahead and dropped it in the water.

It sank. Without moving. Do you think we drowned the turtle? I am quite concerned.

Some People Don't Tell the Truth

My cousin Kathy and my friend Ruth both swear that the Lion House roll recipe is super easy and anyone can do it. After my friend Jennifer was here last month and made homemade rolls (with no mixer, food processor, or breadmaker to assist her), Christopher has been asking for them. Like this: "Mom? Can you make some of those really good rolls? Like Sister Baird's?"

Sigh.

So I decided to give it a whirl the other day and decided that making delicious homemade rolls is really an art form that may or may not be able to be perfected with "practice, practice, practice," as the recipe suggests. Perhaps some people are born with the ability to make delicious homemade bread products, and either you have it or you don't, like being able to draw gorgeous charcoal portraits by hand. I will never be able to do that, no matter how hard I try, and I fear that Christopher may have to suffer with "storebought," as Brian calls the variety purchased at the store or neighborhood restaurant.

Here's Nate rolling out the dough for the rolls. They actually tasted pretty good, but I didn't take a picture of the final product, because they looked downright goofy.


Lion House Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk (instant or non-instant)
2 tablespoons dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, shortening, or margarine
1 egg
5 to 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour

Method:

In large bowl or electric mixer, combine water and milk powder; stir until milk dissolves. Add yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg, and 2 cups flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add 2 cups flour; mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiff and remaining flour may need to be mixed in by hand). Add about ½ cup flour and mix again, by hand or mixer. Dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour).

Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about one tablespoon of vegetable oil all around sides of bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out). Cover with plastic and allow to rise in warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes.

Scrape dough out onto floured board. Turn dough over so it is floured on both sides; gently flatten to about 1 inch thick. With rolling pin, roll out to a rectangle about 18 inches long, 8 inches wide, and ¼ inch thick. Brush with melted butter. With pizza cutter or very sharp knife, cut dough in half to make two strips about 4 inches wide. Make cuts through strips of dough every 2 inches, making about 18 pieces of dough.

Starting with short end, roll up one piece of dough, with butter on the inside. Place roll on parchment-lined pan with other short end down on the paper. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Be sure all rolls face the same direction on baking pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light to medium golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter. Serve with Honey Butter. Makes 1 to 1 ½ dozen rolls.

Helpful Tips for Making Rolls

Always add flour gradually and keep dough as soft as you can handle. A soft dough will produce a lighter roll.

It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour called for in the recipe—add only enough flour to make dough manageable.

To shorten dough's rising time, use one of these methods:

1) When dough is thoroughly mixed, oil bowl and cover dough with plastic wrap. Fill sink or larger bowl with about 2 inches of hot water or enough water to come about half or three-fourths the way up outside the dough bowl. Place bowl of dough in bowl of water and allow to rise until double in size.

2) Just before mixing dough, turn oven on lowest possible temperature. Place a pan of hot water on bottom oven rack. When dough is thoroughly mixed, place in oiled bowl. Cover dough with plastic wrap; place in oven. Turn oven off, shut oven door, and allow dough to rise until double in size, about 50 to 60 minutes. Shape or cut into desired rolls. Place rolls on greased or parchment-lined pans and allow to rise until double in size. Bake according to recipe.

Brush top of rolls with butter when first taken from oven.

How to consistently make attractive, good-tasting rolls? Practice! Practice! Practice!

Fido-Shock

Recently, Charlie has developed a very bad habit of digging under the fence and out of the backyard. You may already know that our dog is quite spoiled, and gets a daily Sonic burger, car rides with his mom everywhere she goes, and a prime spot on the foot of our bed. So if he has to stay in the backyard for a few hours because we're at church or it's too hot for him to go on a ride with us, he really doesn't have much to complain about.

We started our search for a no-dig solution at Petsmart. They had a shock collar with a remote, which looked great, but as the Petsmart guy told us, it really doesn't work too well if you're not there to operate it. I thought it looked terrific for the kids, but I'll just have to add that to my wishlist for later. They also had the usual electric fence for $150, but it involves burying a cable and having to make a complete circuit, so we decided to pass on that option, too.

When we got in the car, Matt said, "I need a really good redneck type of solution." He wanted something cheap, easy to install, and effective. We decided to go to the Keller Feed Store, which is where we found the answer: Fido-Shock. It's just a bare wire that sits below the fence, and delivers a very mild jolt to any creature (or kid) who dares to stick his nose below it.


I supervised Charlie's first shock, which he received after Vic placed one of Charlie's tennis balls just below the wire and Charlie attempted to retrieve it. One small yelp later, and it appears that Charlie is cured! He won't go anywhere near that wire now.
And just in case you think it's mean -- just know that there is a crazy lady one street over who poisons dogs who go in her yard, and Charlie has almost been hit by cars several times. It's all because we love him!

Vic & Syl

This weekend, Matt's dad, Vic, and his stepmom, Sylvia, flew to Texas for a quick but fun few days with us. The kids had a great time with both of them: playing basketball, going to the park, eating out, going to church, having a big Sunday dinner, and just hanging out at home.

Matt and I also were able to leave the kids with a babysitter Saturday night and had a great dinner in Fort Worth with Vic & Syl, followed by a movie.


It was so nice to have them here for a few days! Since they live in Las Vegas most of the time, and Salt Lake only part of the time, we usually don't get to see to much of them when we're in Utah.

Here is a picture of Nate saying to Vic, "I am really going to miss you!"