Update!

Wow, things have been quiet here on the blog for a while, but I’m going to try to change that up a bit.

I have been settling into being the only human in the apartment, which is kind of weird, but also fun.  Nanook keeps me company, and even if he doesn’t like a lot of other people, he loves me!  He is getting big and will be going in for his one year check up sometime next month.  I’m excited to see how much he weighs and see what the vet says about when I can take him hiking.  We’ve been doing shorter walks around the neighborhood, keeping to mostly flat, paved ground.  This morning we went 4.2 miles, the longest he has gone, and he did awesome!

Working two jobs has kept me pretty busy.  I’m working 40 hours a week at my office job (it used to be 32 hours per week), plus coaching 5 to 8 hours per week at CrossFit Huachuca.  I love both jobs, which is good since they keep me busy!  Nanook loves going to the office job with me, and is one of the best office dogs ever.  He still doesn’t bark, and he is shy, so if people come in he normally hides under my desk.  There are a few people he will come out and see, it just takes time!  Everyone that stops by regularly knows he is there though, and always ask how he is doing.

That is just a quick overview of the life of the Arizona Merrymon right now, I’ll be trying to do some more updates, as this fall looks like a lot of fun activities to share, including CrossFit competitions, hiking, and more!

 

V & T Railway

     Recently, the Merrymons in Nevada took a train ride!  We drove from Sparks to Carson City, where we boarded a steam locomotive that was fueled by oil.  The engine pulled 3 passenger cars.  The trip was narrated by conductors who were dressed in 1890’s period clothing.  After a slow 12 mile ride we arrived in Virginia City, where we were able to spend a few hours roaming the city.  We found some grub at the Firehouse Grill and Saloon.  I was happy to have a seat inside by a heating stove, because it had been hailing just before we arrived, and my feet had gotten a little damp.  We were able to watch a Memorial Day parade right out the window where we sat.

After lunch we wandered the street and found a few gift shops to browse through.  There was a fudge shop and a candy store or two in there also.  There were period actors around town, and many historical buildings and such.  We hope to go back and check a few other things out another time.  Before leaving we purchased some goodies at a local shop, and headed back to the train.  The return engine was fueled with coal.  We were surprised how often the train’s whistle was blown, as there were many small crossroads along the track’s path.

There were a few animal sightings along the way.  While on the train we saw some deer and wild horses.  In Virginia City we saw a burrow with its owner, and a pig on a leash.

Maybe if you come visit Nevada, you might find yourself on a trip to Virginia City!

More updating-The Summer

I can’t really say what all happened over the summer because I was not there. Reuben and I flew up to Michigan in mid May to go help out at The Springs Ministries for the summer. We went to The Springs specifically because that is where B.J. and Bethany live and work.

Reuben was a bulk of the media crew. He stayed up into the wee ours of the morning almost every week (and several weeks more than one night) to perfect the amazing videos they put out every week.This is a picture of Reuben with some of his equipment. He is holding his Walkie-Talkie in his right hand and has his camera bag slung over his shoulder.

I my job was titled as head of cleaning crew, but I did a few other things as well. I got igloos (large water containers) out to key locations so counselors could keep their campers hydrated. I cleaned bathrooms. I accidentally played a part in leading the dramas (skits with a point) for a few weeks. I also got to serve food to campers and staff. My favorite thing to do was catch and belay.

The nice thing about camp was that I did not do any of this alone (minus belay because only one person can do it. I always had a team with me. They differed in who and how many each week. From a four man squad to just me and an accomplice. Every week had similar tasks, but the team changes and new challenges every week kept me from losing my mind.

This is a picture of me belaying a camper up the climbing wall. I am there to draw in slack from the rope and keep them from falling to far.

B.J. did an amazing job of running the programs. There were specific people in charge of each age group, but he was above them all making sure everything ran well and even ran a few thing himself, like high ropes, fight night and the zip line.

Pic of B.J. hooking someone up to the zip line where I was probably catching and Reuben took a lot of pictures so this may have been from him.

I do not know what the context of this picture was. I just found it.

Bethany did everything (almost) office related, from registering campers and handling mail to running high adventure course (that some almost) and handling social media for camp. She does a lot of behind the scenes work and you can not see and should probably get more credit than what I have seen. (So props to you Bethany)

 

The next post of updates should be catching up on current events and the JRK studios tour! (Just kidding on the tour thing)

Jason

start of the updates (sorry but life happens and we forget stuffs)

Hello out there all you peoples. If you have noticed we have not updated you all on our lives for a good long while now. Here are the basic updates and some more details.

B.J. and Bethany came down to AZ for a late Christmas at the end of February. We opened presents, hung out and even did a touristy thing with them. We went to Kartchner Caverns down here, but we were not allowed to bring cameras or phones because of stupid people so no pictures. 😦

Feb 22-Mar 26 was the CrossFit Open. Reuben, Kathryn, Mom and I all participated. It was five crazy weekends of hard workouts to push you beyond your limits on just about everything, from cardio to heavy lifting. The new thing that our gym did was an intramural competition. There were six teams. I was volentold to be captain of the teens team and loved it. I got to make sure everyone knew what they were doing and helped them plan strategies for the workout. In the end I was doing next to nothing because they had it all figured out. But it was a lot of fun to help them get started and see them take it all on.

Starting in April Mom un-enrolled me from Connections Academy because graduation was taking too long. Since they did not accept home school credits they dropped me back two years. None of us felt like dealing with that so I took my G.E.D. over the first few weeks of April and passed with ease.

A few weeks ago, On April 21st I tried out my first CrossFit competition. It was called the Festivus Games. I performed 5 different workouts from 9 in the morning till about 4 in the afternoon. The first workout was some light cardio. Afterwards I felt like I could do the other workouts all day. The second workout was mean. It was a heavy and fast workout. That was hard. The third workout was even worse, I felt like I was going to quit. I asked Kathryn about it and she said that was normal. The final regular workout was amazing. It was only how much you could lift. I used 80lbs for my thrusters and got 60 of them in for a combined weight of 4,800lbs lifted over my head in 8 min.! Then there was a finals Workout, I was in third place of the top 5 so I got to participate. To start I didn’t feel too bad, once I got going though I realized just how tired I was. In the end I stayed in 3rd place and am really happy with how I did. Those competitions are not for the faint of heart, but are really great to participate in or watch.this is a pic from the Thruster workout

Saturday, April 29th all of us (except Dad) went up to Tucson with some friends to the Terrain Race (not train race). It was harder than the one in Flagstaff last year. It was hotter and dryer than the previous year. The hardest thing was not the obstacles themselves, but the terrain. We went over hills, through dry river beds, across gravel. The obstacles were fun though. Levi was excited to get halfway through the monkey bars this year and is looking to complete them the next time.

Reuben being silly on the floor at home with his medal and shirt after the race.

There is more to update, but I will save that for a later date.
Jason M.

Crazy Morning

It is hard to see, but there were four javelinas in our yard this morning at about 2:55am. Coda was not happy about it and barked like crazy (hence me knowing they were there, and the time…). Needless to say, not much sleep happened after that due to the amount of adrenaline that was shot into my system waking up to Coda barking!

While we don’t see as much wildlife since we moved to town, both times I’ve seen javelina have now been either in or near our neighborhood here! They were actually a little bigger than I expected, about as tall as Coda, but they really do look like a funny headed pig. The other time I saw them I was driving, so I didn’t get a good look. But now I can definitely say I have seen javelina.

Jingle Jam 2017

Annual traditions are fun, and one that we have started here in Arizona is participating in the Annual Jingle Jam at CrossFit Huachuca.  We had a blast hanging out with everyone at the gym, and Mom, Jason, and I all did the workout.  (Hence my red face in the photos, I helped coach, so did the workout after everyone finished.)

Besides the workout, we also had a potluck afterwards with tons of good food.  Thank you to everyone who participated and helped set up!

Can I just say that Josiah is really smart? I was putting up lights on this squat rack (we were not using it for the work out), and he said, “We should put paper behind it and make a photo booth!” We did, and it turned out amazing!

I mean, really, can we take a normal photo and not a crazy one? Not really…

Then Levi and I took pictures. Lots of pictures. We would pick a pose, I would do it, and then Levi would mock it. Can I just point out that it wasn’t actually planned?

We also did weird faces. This was my favorite.

 

Thanksgiving Thoughts

We are well into November now.  One of my favorite November traditions I learned from my roommate in college.  Every November, she would put some paper leaves outside our door with markers and tape.  People could write what they were thankful for on the leaves, and put them on the wall.  She worked really hard to put up a leaf a day.  The only rule was that you could not write something that had already been put up.  As we got closer to Thanksgiving, we had to get pretty creative when it came to what we were thankful for to not have repeats!  While we have made a few changes (mainly because I’m to lazy to find leaves…) we find a giant piece of paper from somewhere and put it on the wall.  This year we have been really good about everyone writing what they are thankful for daily.  It is excited to see the paper run out of room as we get closer to Thanksgiving, and it is really fun to realize how much we have to be thankful for this year, even with all the craziness.

Josiah’s Birthday

Josiah had a birthday this week.  Due to crazy work schedules, we were not able to celebrate on his actual birthday, but we celebrated on Saturday instead.  Waffles and sausage for lunch, then opening presents.  You can see some of our unique wrapping bags in the photo.

Lego sets are still a favorite in our house, and he got a three in one space set, so he can build three different things with it.  So far he built the space shuttle, and a moon rover vehicle.

The boys also had fun and made a video in honor of his birthday and put it on their YouTube channel also.  You can check it out by clicking here.

New Couches (Or Dog Beds…)

We recently had a chance to get two new love seats for free (well, besides the cost of renting the steam cleaner to clean them).  The have been a welcome addition to our seating possibilities, and the dogs have decided they like them too.  In general, the dogs are only allowed up on couches if there is someone is there with them, but Mom has gotten some photos when she came out and they were both napping!

Puppy nap time! They got kicked off then, since no one was on there with them.

Coda sat with Josiah while he opened his birthday presents.  

Zeus curled up with me on the couch. He is a big cuddle bug and loves to get up on the couch with any of us.

Adventures in Phoenix

Last weekend there was an Olympic Weightlifting meet in Phoenix, and we had four athletes from CrossFit Huachuca competing.  Even though I wasn’t competing, I wanted to go and support them and see what a meet was like.  Jason decided to go with me so that I did not have to drive up and back by myself.  Plus, Larry Correia (one of Dad and my favorite authors) had been in Phoenix for a book signing the week before, and went to some of the bookstores and signed the books that were on the shelves.  So in addition to the weightlifting meet, we were also going treasure hunting!

Ready to head out!

Our first stop was one of the bookstores that Larry Correia had signed books at, and there were still autographed copies there!  We bought a few.

The signature Monster Hunter smiley face.

After our first bookstore stop, we headed to the weightlifting meet.  The women lifted first.  It was Steph’s first meet, and she did amazing.  This was the second meet for Emily and Liz, and they both hit meet PR’s (Personal Records)! Plus all of them placed in their divisions.  It was very different from a CrossFit competition, much quieter.  But when people made big lifts, there was lots of applause!

There was a break between the women lifting and the men lifting, so we left once all my friends had lifted and went to our second bookstore of the day.  We really wanted to find a hardcover signed book for Dad, and there hadn’t been any at the previous store.  We looked on the shelves and didn’t see any, but an employee asked us if we were finding everything ok, so we asked if they had any hardcovers by Larry Correia.  They looked it up in their system and said, “Oh yeah, he was just in here signing books!”  They had two copies of his newest book on a display stand separate from his other books.  We got both of them.

We got back to the meet after the men had started their first lift, so we missed Trevor’s first lift, but were there for the second.  He also hit a meet (and overall) PR, and placed in his division.

Overall, it was a ton of fun to watch everyone.  And who knows, maybe I’ll be doing a few of these in the future!  (Not sure on that yet, I still really, really like the CrossFit competitions!)

We then all headed to an outlet mall, then to dinner together.  Then we parted ways and headed home.  I was hoping to make it home without any caffeine, but that turned out to not be possible.  So Jason found the nearest Starbucks using my phone, and it happened to be at an outlet mall in Tucson.  We stopped, got me caffeine, and then shopped for cleats for him.  He got a nice pair for cheap as they were having a sale, so he was very happy.

Last stop of the evening! We liked the Christmas lights on the trees.

We made it home safe and sound, and had a great time!