That's right.. everyone in this town dies..

BFF Lauren came to stay with me this weekend!!

This is the longest we have ever gone without seeing each other.
We were college roomies twice.
We probably would have been roomies forever, but one time our landlord went bankrupt and went to prison for fraud and stuff and never told us and we all got evicted. Good times.

After she graduated BYU, she went to Australia for grad school.

I took her to the airport to send her off to the-land-down-under and I cried like a little girl.

It was also a really stressful airport trip, so I blame that too.

After a year, she came home for a break and came to see me in California.

That trip ended in an even MORE stressful airport trip.

Thank goodness she drove this time! (Not from Australia guys, from Canada).

But anyways, we haven't seen each other since July 2011, so it was a beautiful reunion!

I wish I could say we has all kinds of crazy adventures, but I was sick, and then she got sick.

And then I got a migraine on top of my sickness.

We're pathetic.

But there was a lot of Arrested Development.

Lots of chocolate.

Lots of talks.

Lots of Wingers.
Lots of playing with cats.

Lots of music sharing.

And lots of shopping!

I love this girl with my whole heart.

She saved my life when I was a young teenager

and she saves my life now that I'm all grown up.

She's kind, funny, understanding, supportive, and the best example.

I just love her guts!

cat model

If anyone is looking for a cat model, I have a great one for you.

Lady is the prettiest cat in all the land, but she needs to start pulling her weight around here.

  So we are forcing her into the modeling biz.

She could model food products

She is really good at "sexy eyes." (Yes I just referred to my cat as sexy. Let's not talk about it).

She's good at looking worried. You could cast her in a scary movie.

She's really mastered that "looking off into the distance" thing.

She looks reaaal good from behind.

She can do "melancholy" very well.

She's great at reaching longingly towards the camera.

She's just really professional, guys. And hot.

anywhere i go, you go

It's been on of my favorite poems since I first read it when I was 16.
Recently, it has taken on a whole new meaning in my life.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Sweet gift from my husband, personalized just for my little girl. He knows me so well.

Things my students say

Time for another installment!

CK: How many people have been to Saturn? 

Me: None. 

CK: Mars? 

Me: None. 

CK: But it's right next to us! 

ZG: My mom is really flowery. 

Me: Why did you just say that? 

ZG: I'm just trying to be a nicer person. 

Me: What are some inventions that changed your life?

IH: The popcorn popper 

ZG: I wish I were a demon. 

Me: That's a weird thing to say.. 

ZG: Oh, did I say that out loud? 

AS: I'm the Capitol of Texas! And my iPad! And your mom! 

ZG: I hate Abraham Lincoln for inventing the English language and making it so confusing. 

CE: I just tried not breathing for a minute so my words got all messed up 

ZG: I've always dreamed of using the word "although" at the beginning of a sentence. 

Me: Why? 

ZG: It sounds so smart! 

Me: Then use it. 

ZG: It's a little too soon for that, Mrs. Merkley. 

CK: I'm not trying to be a homosexual, but Zach's hair cut looks realllllly good 

CE: Ow! 

ZG: Yeah you better be ow-ed 

JM: Can I go into the hall to practice this.. thing? 

Me: Practice what thing? 

JM: This thing I wrote. 

Me: What is it? 

JM: Just a thing! 

Me: Is it for a class? 

JM: Kinda. 

Me: How is it kinda for a class? What is it? 

JM: It's just like a thing I wrote that I need to practice. 

Me: Jose, I can't just let you go into the hallway to practice a "thing." 

JM: Okay, it's something I worte because I am doing something with Dustin. 

Me: What are you doing with Dustin? 

JM: Having a.. a battle. 

Me: .. a rap battle? 

JM: Maybe.. 

Me: So you want to leave my classroom to go practice a rap you wrote for a battle with another student? 

Jose: Yep! 

Me: Nope! 

ZG: I didn't even need to go to health today. All we did was watch a video about people growing up and throwing up. They weren't really throwing up. It just rhymed. 

CE: How many licks does it take to get to a tootsie roll pop? 

ZG: I learned what stud meant the other day. 

Me: What does it mean? 

ZG: It's like.. A stud in your ear. Or handsome. 

CE: You should draw the wings on the eagle. 

KO: Why? 

CE: Your handwriting looks like wings. 

KO: What does that even mean? 

CE: Your handwriting sucks.. And wings are hard to draw.. So it's like the same. 

ZG: I'm related to Tim McGraw 

Me: Oh yeah? 

ZG: Yeah, we have the same last name. 

Me: Your last name is Gray. 

ZG: I changed it to McGray. 

Me: That's still not even the same last name. 

ZG: You're always trying to prove me wrong!! 

 Last little one. We were writing essay's on whether or not we thought "The Outsiders" was too violent to be taught in school. This was on his outline:

translation: "people are used to violence." 

 I get much worse spelling errors than this every day, but for some reason, I love the way he spelled violence. (Ps. The correct spelling of violence was on the board).

400,000 pictures

I finally uploaded the 1 million pictures from my birthday weekend in California. I cannot be held accountable for the ridiculous amount of pictures Nathan and I take, especially of our niece and nephew. But seriously. This is a lot of pictures.

Carson loves his uncle Nathan. And he loves playing basketball.

Ava and Grandpa!

I'm obsessed with those eyes.

Ava modeled for me and my new lens I got for my birthday.

This is what 25 looks like.

So swag. Sometimes I think he is secretly my twin brother who was born 10 years after me.

Sooo excited to see her daddy!

Poor sick boy.

Nathan looks like a freaking ginger in this picture and it makes me so happy.

Just missing Jessi and Marshall!

Two of my very favorite boys

Never been creepier. 

Seriously. The eyes.

Sunday BBQ

Bahahahaha

Bubba Man. I love him so much.

She loves uncle Nathan more than she will ever love me.

Thanks so much for flying me home mama! It was the perfect weekend.