The Merkleys: what's going on around here

So many little things I need to update. Here's a listy post of our lives! Are you ready for a long post with lots of pictures? I am sick of being behind on my blog, so I am dumping it all at once.

+ The summer of traveling was really a blast and I am missing both our families like crazy, but it's nice to be home and just hang out. Nathan is still out of school until the end of September, so we have our nights together and it's the best! We try to get out and do fun summer things while we still have the chance, but we also do a lot of sitting around and just hanging out. It's kinda the best ever.

Trying to clean the bathtub

+ We do go outside though!

Silver Lake

Our backyard! Our favorite place.

Same outfits. Different days. Oops.

Dinner dates! (Before stupid whole30)

We spend a lot of evenings at parks in our neighborhood

We've been on some hikes

+We started the whole30 two weeks ago. If you don't know what that is, it's basically Hell. Just kidding. Kind of. Basically, it's 30 days of whole eating. It's insanely restrictive. No processed food of any kind. No grains of any kid. (Oh how I miss bread and cereal). No dairy. No added sugar or artificial sweeteners, not even natural sugars. No legumes. No caffeine. No corn oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, or peanut oil. (Did you know that soybean oil is in EVERYTHING?! Because it is. And it sucks). Basically you can eat meat, vegetables, and some fruit. Then there are the mental rules. No snacking. No drinking your meals- like smoothies. No imitation desserts. I'm not gonna lie, it has sucked. I am still not really feeling any results so that's sucking more. I haven't lost very much weight, and I am still exhausted all the time. People say that I will feel amazing halfway through, so hopefully it kicks in soon. The caffeine and sugar withdrawals the first couple days were insane. Then my stomach just hurt a lot because it wanted sugar and carbs. I 'm not hurting at all anymore, but I am just bored with my food. SOOOO BORED. And my cravings are still intense. So I will report back later, but right now I am kinda "Eh" about the whole thing. I want to finish the month because I have already come so far, but I am not really getting why people rave about this thing so much. My sisters and one of their husbands are also doing, and thankfully, Nathan joined. I don't think I could keep doing it if he wasn't.

When we found whole30 approved ranch dressing. It doesn't taste like ranch though.

+I have gotten to hang out with some awesome friends lately, and Sadie has gotten to play with their dogs! It's been perfect. Sadie likes animals more than humans anyway. We went to see Michelle up in Logan one day, and Sadie fell in love with Max.

And last Friday Lucy came over and brought Cosette!! Poor Cosette was really scared of Sadie and how loud and aggressive she is. But Sadie didn't care.

+We have had some fun nights, and some snuggly mornings.

She's obsessed with the moon

+Nathan and I sometimes stay up too late playing games. Because we're really cool.

+The Falkner's came over to play last weekend! It was so much fun to catch up with them and to FINALLY meet sweet Brody. We wish they lived in Utah!
ps. We didn't match them on purpose. We think it's just because they are already in love.

+We love meeting Nathan down town for lunch. (Even though we have to make it and bring it ourselves. STUPID WHOLE 30). Then we can go play at our favorite play place! City creek play place is PERFECT for little, little kids. I love it.

+Lady is still being so Lady. She is so kind and patient with Sadie, it's kind of amazing. It was an answer to prayers for sure. Sadie follows her around trying to kiss her and she poked her and hits her and is suddenly obsessed with finding toys and shoes and putting them on Lady while she is sleeping. But Lady just lays there and takes it.

+Nathan and I are both still in the YM and YW and we love it! Here are some pictures from out last combined activity. Dinner and blind-folded soccer. AMAZING.

Sadie going after the ball

Shoes on your hands is hilarious.

+Nathan took Sadie on their first, real daddy-daughter-date. He's had her alone many times, but this was the first time he really took her to do something special, instead of running errands or hanging out at home. They went to the Planetarium, and Sadie was amazed.