Here we are at the fair, they had a free petting zoo and Tanner absolutely loved being on with all the animals. His buddy Christian is in the zoo also having a good ol time the other pic is of a kangaroo that the boys were able to pet

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This is tanner being a big boy drinking out of a straw wow, tear, he is getting so big

WOW

So a lot has change and many of you may know this, but Caitlin and I both work for the university of phoenix as enrollment counselors. I am a Health Care Southeast EC and Caitlin was Business and tech until today when she was informed that she would be turning to the dark side, Health Care. I am actually really excited for her as this will give her a much larger opportunity to succeed. We also have some extra people that are living with us for the last month, she has been watching our son, which has been a blessing. Thank you Katy so much. Another thing is that my Lil sis Rochelle is almost to full term with her second pregnancy and is have a boy and Caitlin's older sis Candace had a baby recently also a boy. For me and Caitlin we now have four nephews and 2 nieces. I love our families so much, they have been such a huge support even when it looked like there was no light at the end of the tunnel there they were holding up a spotlight for us. I don't think that we could ever say thank you enough. Oh yeah and Caitlin and I are taking classes and I should finish my Associates degree in about 14 months what an awesome present for me, yea!!! Caitlin is going into Human Services so that she can obtain a career in her dream position of Adoptions agent. I am the luckiest guy in the world, my wife has the biggest heart ever and is ever helping those that cannot help themselves. Love he tons.
Now tanner, holy crap, is almost 17 months but do not tell his mother that. I will post some pictures but i warn you that i know not when and he looks like he is older than he is. I am so glad that he has such a happy soul. He has to be the happiest baby ever.

Tanner and work

So I thought that I would write and tell everyone with Tanner's fascination with reading. He woke up this morning and started to cry because he was hungry. As he begins to motion to me that he would like food to eat his eyes catch hold of a book that was left laying in the front room. He ran over to it opened it up and began to read the book. Now we can't understand what he is saying but basically he say, "blah blah blah" then turns the page, "blah blah blah" then turns the page. It is quite nice to see his excitement about reading.

Work, well it is not all that is was cracked up to be so I have gone and acquired employment at the University of Phoenix. I will be starting there on the 24th at 730am. I am an enrollment counsellor, and so excited that i will have salary instead of commissions. Everything in life has a learning curve and I think that i found my for sales. SUCKS if you ask me. Caitlin has also applied to numerous places. The coolest place, I think, is the University of Phoenix. And the even cooler part of it is that she has received the first email with more to do and fill out. I think that with both us working at the university of Phoenix we will have everything paid off in a matter of 8 months or less. HOORAY

I know and I am not sure that i am sorry

So....life has been so crazy. My little sis graduated from high school. My middle sis found out that she is expecting again for around sept- nov..can't remember. My big little sis came down for a visit and air's grad. Ariel moved out and rochelle and michael are moving to bullhead(why i don't know). I have gained employment at Momentum payment processing(gift card, credit processing, etc) and we will be moving to phoenix within the next 2 weeks. tanner will be turning one in 4.5 days! wow that year flew by. We are traveling down to phoenix this weekend to look at places to live and visit some friends hopefully. and life continues to be good. After tanner's Bday part(530 pm the 9th of June at my parents house in kingman) we will post pictures. I may even show a little bit of a time line to show how much he has changed in just 12 months. I have one more day of training and then i will start my appointments on Monday.

Pictures

SO a lot has happened and i know that everyone that checks this is disappointed in the ability for us to keep everyone updated on how we are doing.....We are good. Still in good Ol Kingman and still trying to get out. We haven't been doing a whole lot other than Birthday stuff for Caitlin Iain Greg(Her dad) and Myself, Christmas, New Years, Family pics, Tanner's Photo shoot and i have been working a whole lot.

other than that i don't know that there is anything to share.....oh yeah tanner is walking now, not real steady but he is taking a couple steps a time. He loves playing bears as he chases and growls at me. No major plans other than an awesome friend bought a ticket for caitlin to fly out to Philadelphia in march. we will wright if anything fun happens and also in a couple days to make sure every thing is made known.

Twilight Movie Premiere and After Party,Midnight Show and Tanners 1st teeth

SOOO awesome things happened this past week...................

1st. I got the chance to attend the Hollywood Premiere of Twilight on Nov.17th and attend the after party where I met everyone and I mean everyone that was in the movie. The director and of course Stephenie Meyer herself. I would just like to say that they are some of the nicest and most down to earth people I have ever had the chance to meet. I got to talk to Kristin Stewart (Bella Swan) for a few minutes and she is sooooo nice and very pretty in person and she seems really down to earth. I also got to speak with Catherine ( Director ) for a little while and she asked how I got into the Twilight series I told her my husband introduced me to them and she thought that was the coolest thing. I also got to talk to Jackson (Jasper) and Kellan (Emment) for at least a 2o minutes each. they totally chatted with me like we were old friends and they were all so genuine and nice. Now on with the movie. I actually liked it a lot, but it was better the second time around..... They did a good job trying to stick with the book and where they deviated from that it was great. Ohh also the girl that plays Alice (Ashley Greene) said I had a really pretty dress... it was great. I got lots of complimants that night :) . I also just found out for sure they are doing New Moon... Yes!!!

On thursday night Nic and I went and saw the Midnite Showing and went to wait in line a 7:30.... it was a long 5 hours but good thing we did otherwise we would've had crappy seats... it was a lot of fun.

Also Tanner has his first 2 teeth that FINALLY came through. He is getting big so fast!!

Lastly I just wanted to say thanks to Meredith and Nic for making this last week so much fun!! I love you both. also PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE dont take the few select pictures I post from the after party, there personal and they mean a great deal to me, thanks!

Twilight Rocks!!!!

Ok so here are a few pictures that we have taken since Sunday. Tanner is becoming more and more fun as he DISCOVERS new and awesome things. The first picture of things discovered is that he can Arch his back and if not put in the restraints right he can throw himself from a stroller, that what happened in this first picture

Second He has been learning that he can grab and feel. His newest thing is to grab your hand and put it to his face or feel you face he especially likes hair.

These last three are to Celebrate his first Halloween.

You Can see him ask, "Can I have This one MOM?"

Just a Chilling me and my pumpkins

Wait Where did I go?????

So here is a picture of my father right after his surgery on Tuesday. Everything went as planned and just like the obstinate P.I.T.A. that he is he is already trying to do way more than he should. They went in though his neck and did all the work to his spine through a little hole that is now completely covered by that awesome white bandage that he has to have till it falls off by it's self.

This second picture would be Tanner's first "Big Boy Food" as mommy calls it. It was a feast of sweet potatoes and then some more sweet potatoes. I didn't get to watch it but I hear that he absolutely loves them. If he could he would shovel the whole thing in his mouth as fast as baby possible(i was thinking humanly but he doesn't have the control as much as he will some day and babies eat a lot less.......except for Tanner) he would have. His looks and actions, like grabbing mom's hands would suggest that Caitlin is slow to feed. We are still doing well just looking for a place of our own to get out of our parents hair.

Well it is Getting to that time of year again when we look at all we have to be thankful for and to be honest I don' t think I could ever be thankful enough for family. As some may know and other do not, my father will be going under the knife to have 2 vertebrae removed and two cadaver vertebrae replaced in his neck. this will happen on Tuesday the 21 of Oct at 7:50am. I have family that are traveling all the way from Wyoming to be here in support of my father and plenty of fam and friends that are praying for him, So thanks. Tanner just had his 4 month appointment and after examination found to be growing and achieving the milestones just like he is supposed to. As for our family...well we are living in Kingman trying to find somewhere to live and will probably live here till around may-July depending on when i find a job and somewhere to live in Tempe area. For now i guess that is all. I put two picks up the first is tanner playing with some pumpkins just having good ol' fun and the second is the Merritt clan having some good ol' fun. hope you all enjoy i will be updating to let everyone know about me pa and also about our living conditions.