Sealed Deal

2012-02-22T20:11:00.002-08:00

Lets analyze what we see before us...

My sweet husband makes me more happy than any one in the world, but we cant disregard the obvious...he kind of a freak! I mean, aren't we all, but we are only truly privileged to see the "freak" in a few people in our life time and your spouse is definitely number one on that list.

1) let first observe the lighter....why?Why Chad would you think that a lighter would be an essential napping tool? If anything its wouldn't it hinder your ability to sleep if you caught on fire.However, it has become a normal scene...where Chad is, fire follows.

2) Next...hand-in-shirt. All the greats do it, Washington, Napoleon, other fancy men. If that hand not in his shirt, its scratching something, or tapping/drumming on something. I just think the hand-in-shirt helps us understand Chads view of his hand as a weapon and his shirt as the holster. Those hands are gold, why not tuck em' in at night right?

3) Universal Remote...because who more fitting to choose whats on TV than the man staring at the back of his eyelids. I say that sarcastically...but honestly, if I were to touch that remote he would wake up and know exactly what just happened on the hunting channel (now that could be because the same thing happens on the hunting channel 365 days a year... that's everyday). Still, Chad is the remote master, regardless of consciousness.

4) The fluffy pink pillow he has learned to love! Yes ladies I talked my husband into haveing two fluffy coral pillows on our livingroom couch...be jealous. And after a lot of denial and positive reinforcemtnby his loving wife....Chad has learned hat nap time is better with a fluffy coral pillow! And Kayla wins!

5) oh yeah thats just chads head, but somewhere in there he is dreaming of his beautiful wife and how he is going to sweep her of her feet when he wakes up...right??

he is so adorable

2012-02-20T22:53:00.003-08:00

The Fires of Looove!

I'm a bleeding heart! I love Valentines day! Or any excuse to spend money frivolously in the name of devotion! And this year, we finally could afford it! well, kinda. We have been saving our change for months for our year of traveling this year. We are going to California three times and Utah and possible Az too to we have a lot of saving to do, but we just bought our tickets for a fraction of the cost we were planning so we had a lot more saved than what we need for the trips. Chad thought this would be a perfect opportunity to live up that dream of a"themed room and the AmericInn down the street we always made fun of. Just to give you a taste for how goofy it is here is the "Chivalrous Knight Theme" suite...Yeee-a, Reealy bad! But we've always wanted to do it so we could say we have done it :)

We had decided that since the weekend after Valentines, was a long weekend, we would postpone any "celebratory festivities" until then to avaoid over doing it money wise. But something about Valentines day, the love was in the air or something! We didnt get eachother anything but the whole day was so...lovey! half way through the day we both simultaniously decided that we would skip the weekend activity and finished the rest of the day with va bang. Finacially, it would have been a little irresponsible and we can always use more vacation money in California so we did the best with what we had and celebrated V-day, Merrell style...aka Chocolate Cake! But first we went to deliver Valentines to all the primary kids in our ward (and by "Primary", i mean nursery.And by "all the kids" I mean, all four of them). I made these fun bubbles because i am pretty sure that if it were not for the magical science of bubbles, those children wouldn't even remember my name each week, ( "kaya wif de bubbuws", darling, i know).
And thanks to my sweet husband who bought me balloons and too much chocolate to walk home to after work, I was able to enjoy the chocolate all week and the balloons for 10 seconds before tying them to the bubbles as a weight.
And here is the cake that made the evening! Chad loved it (German chocolate) I loved it, (pinterest sucess)and we both had half a slice and went it to chocolatecoma! We had such a a nice evening and someday...far from now, we will stay in one of those cheesy/semi-trashy themed rooms, but for know our little apartment can be just as romantic and a lot less cheesy!Love you sweet heart, happy valentines day!

2012-02-20T22:21:00.002-08:00

WARNING! Totally Nasty Post!

I'm not sure if this post is entirely necessary, but considering this tramatizing experience shook me to the very core and redefined my personality, I feel like it needs to be recorded somewhere.

I thought I was easy going, adventurous even, but now, I'm a new woman, a woman with limits and with needs. I NEED to never be exposed to this image again. Chad had gone to pick up some deer meat from our boss in Rigby, and I was under the impressing that i would have little to nothing to do with the meat after it was put in to our freezer considering i am not a huge "gamer". To my surprise (and complete oblivion) Chad brought home two deer...actual deer...with fur and hooves and eyes and ears and other stuff that freezer meat typically doesn't come with. Considering I had just cleaned (or "defunked" as my mother would say) the kitchen and had it smelling like lilacs (thank you Glade), I was put into cardiac arrest when Chad and Preston brought in black trash bags full of dead dear and shlapped it on my kitchen counter!

I tried to keep my cool and be the "sure, whatever you want babe!" kind of wife that Ive been but I cant tell you how tight my chest was as I saw them pull out smelly dead deer quarters and cut the fresh meat off the bones. BLECH!
I tried to keep my cool and let everything happen, but I was getting looks from everyone in the room that said "kaylas going to explode any minute...lets watch" so i tried to keep my distance. but after this experience... I have limits

1) Chad needs to tell me next time he wants to cut up a dead deer in my kitchen
2) I limit myself to only eating meet that ISN'T quarter my my sweet husband, bless his manly heart
and 3) I have a right to cardiac arrest....A RIGHT!

... blech

2012-02-17T21:06:00.001-08:00

Chads 27th Birthday!

it official...I....am....THE MASTER of SURPRISE!

This month has been crazy! I really wanted to do something special for chad this year, its one of the first years that i have had money to get him an actual gift that didn't involve a printed off coupon on cheap printer paper for a back massage or something tacky and homemade with macaroni noodle and yarn. STORE BOUGHT (amazon store to be specific). Needless to say, i wanted to go all out.

Side note: Chad has this egocentric tendency to flaunt how unbelievably UNsurprisable he is... i don't know why he gets so much pleasure from this but thats far from the top of the list of things i don't understand about my husband.

Anyways, i decided I would surprise him in every way possible! I knew this would be hard but i took some pretty extreme measure to keep everything hidden from my hubbers. I ordered all his gifts from a new account with amazon so he wouldn't be able to find it (don't you think for a second that he didn't try!) I picked each package up from the UPS office across town, which in Rexburg means 7 minutes away. He had NO way of knowing any of his gifts. It just about killed him... it was awesome.

But the best part is, a week before his birthday i invited everyone we know and love in Rexburg to a surprise party for him on the Saturday before his birthday. He was clueless. He had been inviting friends to go to a movie on Saturday night ( all of which I called a week in advance and told them to accept his invitation then a day before or the day of, come up with an excuse and back out) on top of those few couples he invited to the movies, there is an addition 12 to 15 people that he hadn't seen in a while that were there to surprise him.

Everyone who helped... THANK YOU! it was amazing! He loved it and I sure was grateful for all the help and support! Happy birthday sweetheart! LOVE YOU!

Here are some pics from the eventful evening!

I know this last ones super random! Its his favorite breakfast! Happy birthday Chadders!

2012-01-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

FUNNY STORY!

So chad and I decided to go to applebees on a tuesday night. Very randomly! You see, we are doingthis diet with my family and we both have been so diligently eating our salads, fish, chicken and fruits and veggies that we needed to mix it up...so we decided to order salads at applebees. any ways we get there and Chad decideds he wants to treat himself to the appitizers instead.. he deserved it, no Dr. Pepper in two week... thats something worth celebrating!!! I decided to get a salad and use all the dressing ( i know, crazy girl over here, I'm an animal). So I get my salad and it looks pretty good... not as good as a burger.. but still good. I take a bite and I honeslty wanna throw up, there was just about every kind of fruit and veggie that you could imagine on this salad and, IM sorry, but onions with fruit... no bueno. I started shuffling the food around the plate til to my dismay our waitress noticed... what was I supposed to say??? " No, its great, I just like to look at the colors" NO. I told her I wasnt into the onions and It didnt say they had that on the menu or I wouldnt have even said anything. She took it back and started on the signature salad. As soon as she left, Chad started laughing at my blushed cheeks! I was one of 'THOSE' girls, one of 'those' people that sends thier food back. It wasn't as big of a deal as I made it seem but Chad sure had fun making fun of me for the rest of the meal. I had just about HAD IT with his jokes about me being a picky eater, then Karma came to the rescue, just as she always does when Chad gives me a hard time. Chad teased me excessively as we walked out tot he car and just before I gave him a peice of my picky mind, the waitress runs out of the restraunt and infront of a large group of people in the parking lot, yells at the to of her lungs, "Chad Merrell! You forgot your wallet!" Now, I want to make sure we all can understand the density of this woman's voice... easily equivilant to a blow horn or a small stadium speaker.... LOUD AND PROUD! Chad blushed a deeper darker red than I had ever witness and I laughed shamelessly right on cue! It was so...so... it was Justice at its finest! I love nights out :) Always full of embarrassment and pit falls. :)

2012-01-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas was the BEST!

ok, it wasnt 'the best', in fact it wasnt even AAMAZING. but the word that does describe it is 'sweet'. It was a very sweet christmas, the same kind of sweet that a little old lady has, or a kitten swatting at a ball of yarn.. that kind of sweet. Just mild and very low key, but pretty awesome. We were tiptoeing around the conversation about what to do Christmas morning because we had this little creeping feeling that it would totally suck so when it came, thats exactly what we expected... so thats exactly what happened, it sucked but then we went to church and had such a wonderful three hours, I got to explain the nativity to sweet kaden in Nursery (all the other kiddos got to go home for Christmas so it was a two teacher to one toddler ratio) Sacrament meeting was beautiful and the spirit reminded Chad and I just how amazing Christmas was, away from home or not. We came home and played with gifts and put on a christmas movie! Then Chad started in the construction of our awesome fort! It literally covered the entire front half of our apartment and we moved the mattress to the front room for ultimate comfort and luxury. Chad did a great job and while he was building the fort I was making my first attempt at home made chicken noodle soup with hame made egg noodles and all... three hours later... Best. Soup. EVER. with alot of help from my hubby, the noodle were a total success, and i also aced my scalloped potato crock pot recipe! It was so good!

As soon as Cjristmas was over it was back to work work work. we did so many check outs, empty checks, maintenance calls, painting ect. So crazy! We almost forgot about new years when it hit! Thank heavens for our awesome friends JUSTIN AND KELSEY and the Pyles as well! We all had such a blast, we played games, ate pizza and Bro. Pyles made some AMAZING home made chocolate milk! Absolutely addictive!

So much fun and just in time for School to start again! <3 <3 <3

2011-12-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

The day started out BEAUTIFUL! 7:00 and we were on our way to Targhee National Forest to get us a TREE! The Sunrise was just amazing and everything about it said " Go Merrells! The world is on your side today". The world lied.As we drove into the deep fog leading us into the mountain of the Targhee National Forest, we thought very littel of the obvious signs of distress. Like, going from a beautiful sunrise to thick discusting, novisibley deep fog in 5 minutes time. Nope, we just kept truckin along.

We stopped at three or four scenic stops to get out and look around of a suitable tree but to our dismay, the trees were all very..Charlie Browny. Very sticky and lacking in density. We didn't let it bother us, Charlie brown it is! We decided we would have more luck if we went a little high in the mountain and deeper into the forest roads. We found a little road called Sheep Falls Rd (which will now, forever be remembered in infamy) And it looked plowed enough for our tough 4 wheel drive beast of a Jeep. We drove about three miles in on this forest road until BAM! There it was, the tree!

Chad, like the manly man that he is, got his saw and got that tree on its side in about 3 minutes! We cut some branches off for me to make wreathes out of and ties the tree to the top.

Isn't it awesome! (please lie and agree with me!)

We were all set to go, chad did a great job strapping the tree up on the jeep and I cheered from inside the warm cozy car. We started going forward to look for a place tot urn around but there was nothing so Chad remembered a place just about 50 yards back and we planned to reverse that sucka till we got to the opening, then turn around and head home. However, we didn't realize that the snow there was not only sparkly, thick and beautiful but it was also straight up POWDER, meaning it wouldn't compact at all. its just slippery and there is a ton if it. Before we even knew what was happening we had slide off the road and our back right tire was off the ground. (btw, jeeps are perhaps one of the easiest vehicles to tip).

We tried a few different this, turning the wheels different ways, distributing weight differently by after about 30 minutes, it way further stuck than before. we called our insurance company, and considering how much we pay for full coverage, we assumed " full coverage" meant that it wasnt going to be a huge deal considering it was partially on the road, that was less than 5 miles from the main highway that was less than ten miles from the nearest town. Wrongo! Apparently, even though the road was recently plowed and it had no signed indicating otherwise, the sheriff told our insurance company that it was "supposed to be" closed. A sign would have been nice but whatever! SO they weren't even permitted to come back there at all, not to mention, if they were to come back there, our so called " full coverage" only cover the first $150 of the towing (which for those of you unaware of the towing prices, that would pay 1/12th of the cost. SOOOO! We called our favorite people in the whole wide world Justin and Kelsey Halbert! Being the saints that they are, they dropped everything, picked us up some Arctic Circle and rushed out to the rescue! The road sign wasn't visible from the high way so to pass the 45 minutes it would take them to get there, Chad and I walked to the high way. Note to self, never ever ever wear PJs (thin t shirt and sweatshirt, sweat pants and boots, to go cut down a tree, dress for the worst.) I about froze and since chad was wearing jeans he was soaked by the time we got there.

Justin and Kelsey arrived shortly after we got to the road and made the whole day turn around! What had once been a total disaster, turned into a fun challenge. Kelsey has to be one of the sweetest, most optimistic and submissive (not in a negative way but in a Christ-like way) person I have ever met, I don't think she'll even know what a strength she was to me that day. Anyways, we took down the straps that were holding our tree and hooked it up to their four-runner. We tried a few things and ended up dragging the Jeep along the side into the path of a rather larger tree. The tow straps then did something I had never seen strong tow straps do... SNAP! it was so discouraging. We got in their four runner and headed to the nearest town to get more reliable tow ropes and possibly some chains.

I'm sorry, it was just too funny that the store we chose to check first for tow equipment was called "Last Chance" General Store. Seriously, how fitting! We got some heavy duty tow ropes and headed back out! Mind you, at this point it was about 3:30 and we had been outside pushing, pulling and praying for this jeep for about 6 hours, so this was defiantly a final attempt for the day considering it starts to get dark around 4:30-5 o clock. We had a few good tries and we even drug it a little further. We ended up cutting down a second tree (sorry mama earth) because the jeep was literally going to be drug right into it. the men sawed away at this 20 foot pine and finally got it to topple, thankfully, in the opposite direction of the jeep and us. The stump still put a pretty big dent into the plastics but if that's the biggest problem that we have at the end of all this, id be happy. We tried everything, we put branches underneath the tires to create more traction, we pushed on the front and tried to rock the back tire back on to the ground but it became very clear that this wasn't going t o happen. Felling a little defeated but ultimately grateful for a safe turn out, we decided to lock up the jeep (because there are so many people wanting to steal a jeep hanging off the old "closed" forest road.) and had the Halberts take us back to our house and drop us off. We were so lost! How were we gunna get this car out! We called our friend Zane, who had a big truck, more than capable to taking car of this and he said he would call us the next day and let us know when he could help us out. I was happy with that! i could survive a night without a car knowing that i would get it back the next day with little to no expense. the next day he calls us and informs us that his truck battery is dead....of course its dead, i could have told him that! We needed it, so NATURALLY, it would be unavailable to us!

We had very little options, we didn't know anyone else with a big car or truck, I started networking, trying to get out the distress call and Chad kept calling and "thinking". We prayed for a Christmas miracle (that was supposed to sound cheesy). The next morning (day three of this crappy story) we called Cindy and Ken, our boss and her husband. They had a tracker so we were gunna ask about that. Ken just happened to have all the towing equipment in the back of his HUGE 3500 truck and was more than willing to come down at 8:15 in the morning and get us out! these seemed optimistic but we were completely convinced yet, not with our track record, something could still go wrong. Preston and Jordan Jensen, came over to help and all the boys were off to save the jeep by 8:30.

All day I was os worried until about 12:30, Chad calls with the good news! They got it out! I just couldnt believe how much effort went into this blasted TREE!!! We got it off the jeep, now safely parked in our lot and brought it in anxious to get it decorated! Having spent the majority of our Christmas money on getting the jeep out, we had quite a smaller budget for decor and present so DI gave us all that you see, besides the berries that I bought on sale a few week ago. I think you can always describe your tree with two words. Last years tree...Absolutely Perfect! It was beautiful, a full grow Nobler Pine and this year, after all the work put into it and the time we spent in the woods that day, i am pleased to say the two words that I would use to decribe this years are...Ghetto FABULOUS!

^ last years tree of perfection
THIS YEARS GHETTO FABULOUS "Jeep Wrecker"

Was it worth it....absolutely not, but the experience was defiantly unforgettable! This has been such a great way to get us into the Christmas Spirit and remind us what its all about, serving other and appreciating the angels in our lives, I know, so cheesy but i cant help but feel so overwhelmingly grateful for this week and all the love Ive felt from my friends family and the Lord. You gotta love the Holidays :)

2011-12-14T23:41:00.000-08:00

December is the best. hands down. Thinks to note about why this is so...
Mistletoe. REAL mistletoe.
Egg Nog
Main Street lights
Hot chocolate floats
1st Christmas Home evening
Sharing Past Christmas stories
making "house" ornaments
making stockings
making wreaths
Cutting down our Christmas tree
Ugly sweaters
CHRISTMAS MIRACLES (that ones for Brennon who believe that just about anything good is a Christmas miracle)
Caroling
SNOW
No School
Packages in the mail
Beautiful Christmas cards
Christmas music on the radio
Christmas specials on Netflix
Making the perfect gift for your husband and secret Santa

2011-12-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

My WiSh LiSt

Christmas is such a stupid excuse to remember all those things that you dont have. Honestly I dont know about you guys but I never get paid an extra 300-500 dollars in December because its Christmas . . . Christmas bonus . . . OK, so SOME people do, but not this girl and all christmas list are to me are a yearly inventory of the things I went through one more year without. No that sounds depressing (and it kinda is) but I just wish Christmas was more Christ centered so We all didnt stress so much about "gifts" and money, thats definatley not what I want to do with my break. However, there is something kinda sentimental about Christmas lists. Writing christmas list has always been a fun part of the season with my family. I wish so badly that i had saved some of my list and not sent them to Santa, he never sent them back! Except one year. I remember I was in 6th grade and I asked Santa for a Saxophone, he politely mailed me a letter informing me that although he knew i had been a good girl and really wanted a Saxophone, it wasnt somehting I would get that year...awkwardly enough, a few days later my universe was shattered when a boy in my sundays school class slipped that his mom was santa...i cried all the way home and lets just say that Sundays dinner conversation was less than pleasant. Any who, lets just say ever since then I have lived vicariously through my younger siblings who put so much detail and thoughts into their letters. I was reminiscing with my mom on the phone the other day about how we would wait anxiously for that MASSIVE magazine so that we could shotgun our turn to sit down for an hour or so and carefully circle and initial all the toys we wanted! Good times when the highest price of my biggest Christmas toy was $35.00. Good times.

I know i sounded a little cynical at the begining of the post but i LOVE thinking that if i write this list of all the things I need, some magical force will place them beneath my tree and my bank account will appear the same as it had before the tree was surrounded by awesomeness.

SSSSSOOOOOoooooo!

Here...... is my list

A few different types of really pretty lace material , just a few yards of each so I can start on a few of my projects!
A new curling iron! One thats not huge so it will actually curl my hair.
Hair cut and color because dang, its been WAY to long since I've had my head massaged and my roots looking fly
Sheer gray material for my bedroom canopy idea. It going to be so beautiful and the material is cheap ... but so am I.
A GOOD MIX! I am SO out of the music world and i miss it so much! I just want a cd mix er two to get me back in the music world!
GOOD makeup, i have been buying the cheapest makeup since I got married (no, not because i was married but because i was suddenly broke) and I really would like to get makeup that doesn't ruin my skin.
Jewelry, I wanna be girly i swear! Jewelery has always just seemed like such an empty investment... until now! I wanna be cute!
Jackets, scarfs, boots, gloves, earmuffs...ANYTHING WARM i need more of em!

I think that's it..an oil change would be nice but yes, Santa this is my list for 2011, yeah that means i'm 21 and still referring to the gift givers in my life as santas. there are more issues here huh. let a girl dream :)

2011-11-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was short but sweet this year. Now i know what your thinking.. "but Kayla, how could you possibly eat as much as you did 4 days in a row and call that a short thanksgiving?" And honestly I wish I had the answer but we may never understand the complexity of my mind. On Tuesday we left clod dreary Rexburg a drove until, literally, our eyes could not stay open. We pulled off a a truck stop in Ganado, just 45 minutes from Holbrook, and fell asleep in the back of the Jeep. We slept as long as we could, given the fact that although we didnt set an alarm we had a train rolling through just yards away from our car that shook us to the core every 2 hours er so. And with that, we were back on the road to Grandmas in Snowflake. We got there at 9 and checked out Grandma and grandpas new house. Gorgeous. We waited anxiously for family to arrive for the next few hours, then we remembered, Trish and Scott! We were to have lunch with them! We ran over to their new house (also amazing) and played with them and awesome little Jax for 4 er 5 hours. Trish and Scott made a beautiful thanksgiving lunch for us (we contributed the sprite and the carrots....so lame) and we talk and talked! I just love that family, they make me wanna move to snowflake just so we can rub shoulders with such good people more often!

Finally all the family arrived and the cards began! Grandpa corrected my alvocado crushing skills, what a wise teacher, what would we do without the elderly ( Kayla-1 Grandpa-1.... now were even....dont mess with my guac!) And we played games and talked all night long...it was like a really good dream :) Then the next morning, since Chad and I slept in the trailer with the three 7 years old girls on the Hatch side, we woke up to little Tessa, Maggi and Kamryn talking about the big stuff, you know, like boxtops for their class and being able to hang upside down on the monkey bars... cute! We came inside, got all showered up and prepared ourselves for the feast. Played MORE cards and helped prepare dinner. Being the easily entertained retards we are, Chad I escaped away to the Dollar tree and bought a dart gun (that broke after the first two shots), a whoopie cushion (that broke before we got to the car) and two cans of silly string. As soon as the kids came in from the park, we got them so good...it wasn't quite as fulfilling as it was when we were 8... hmmm. Anyways. Thanksgiving was delish but the best part was when Bethany Surprised us and came up for Thanksgiving! We (me and Chad) hadn't seen her for almost a year! There were a few tears but mainly a lot of catching up to do. After thanksgiving we alternated from watching football and yes, playing more cards. BTW still horrible at cards.

The next day we woke up and got ready for pictures. Warning to the future spouses of my younger siblings, Guttery girls have a long and painful beautification process...be patient. At noon...finally.... we were all ready for pictures! They turned out GREAT and as soon as we were done, Chad and i were in the car...driving...again.

4 hours later we were back in our beloved Queen Creek! At mom and Madis house! we got there and hit the road again for shopping for Chad for Christmas. We had a traditional Thankgiving dinner...yes that's right, In and Out burger ( if it were up to me, we would have that every Thanksgiving). We had the a fantasic night with them! Thanks to Madi, we got our first really good nights sleep on her memory foam mattress (contemplated not getting up at all)! Had a great time the next day with the Guttery Gang! I just love when all the gutts get together! We sure missed Karen and her family and Kathy and hers but Im super excited about getting to see Dallas in a few weeks! We hung out with the Mesa boys and helped them get their housing for BYUI taken care of...which i found out later, wasn't much help at all because I signed them up for womens housing... wouldn't that have been a beautiful disaster!

All in all thanksgiving trip totally broke our bank but it was so worth it to see family and hang out with everyone for a short time! Love you fam!

2011-11-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

Mom and Madi are HERE!!

Such a fun week! We were so glad to have them up here in Rexburg to see all the fun we're having and celebrate moms birthday. it was a very eventful week! We picked them up on Sunday and did a nice family dinner after which, being stuffed, we hit the hay early to prepare for the next day! NowI cant remember the exact days that we did everything (thus, I blog for my crappy memory) but i do remember that on one of the days we all met at the school and we all got to each good old fashioned cafeteria food. That was when Madi spilled her drink all over the table and Mom and I got harassed by a less than pleasant lunch lady. It was so special for Gail and Madi to be able to go with Sam and Preston to their Ultrasound to see the sex of their cute little baby BOY! yes a BOY! It was so exciting! We had family night and skyped with Ryan Kim and Sam.SO fun! Oh and did I mention homemade PIZZA! So fun! We also were able to continue our new found tradition of killing each other over spoons. For the record, i will die earlier from the stress induced coma I fall into every time we play!
Mamas birthday was THE BEST! We started the day buy going to Broulims to embarrass Preston and take pictures of him in his uniform at work.then we picked up bread, jam , alvacados, and went home and made a lunch for champions... Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips and guac. We took picture outside the BYU-I sign...because pictures=mom! We headed into Idaho falls and hit some shops! We went to an a few great store for Sam and the baby! It was so fun, then we hit up the great harvest for some free bread! it was delish! We went to Snake Bite for dinner and had a wonderful time! the food was great and the company even better!
Mom loved her presents! Chad and I finally got around to giving her a framed wedding picture and Sam made a great video collage of photos of the Merrells! It was beautiful and Mom just ate it up! We had such a wonderful weekend!

2011-11-05T22:06:00.001-07:00

Things Im Jazzed about....

Going to AZ for Thanksgiving~ seeing my awesome family, sweet little Stratton ( my goal is to make him say mt name or some variation of it before we leave, and i get to see grandmas new house.

Mom and Madi coming up here for the next week! Moms birthday is coming up and I cant wait to have a party with the family!

Last day of Jimmy Johns on Tuesday.. free at last free at last

Possibly bringing back the word "Jazzed"

Grocery shopping... for the first time...in too long

The Temple on Tuesday! So thrilled about this!

Going to Pocatello with Amanda someday to Antique!

Talking to Chad about having kids

Black Friday shopping

Creating fun gifts for family!

Planning a Pinterest party

Midterms being over this week

and finally... taking a Sunday nap tomorrow and not worry about waking up

2011-11-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a girls gotta vent..

This is one of those times...

My first address I will make to the parents of Taylor in apartment 113 ... you have failed him. I deliver a Sandwich to him almost every time that I work and he has failed to tip me or even put the total charge on my reciept. He is friendly, I'll give you that, but after the 10th or 11th time that I see him smiling at me while handing me a tipless reciept, it becomes more of a sneer than a amile and Ive slowly grow to despise your son. The average tip for a delivery driver in the US is between $2.50 and $5.00 depending on the order. My average time to deliver food is 5-9 minutes from the time I recieve the call. THAT DANG GOOD! So please, tell me that you will teach dear, smiley little Taylor to tip. Even a dollar would be nice! In Rexburg I could be driving for 5 hours and only recieve 5 dollars in tips! We get paid under minimum wage and are NOT compensated for gas so the tip money that your son is neglecting to give me is infact the money that gets me to his cute little dorm every other night. Also, he eats way too much Salami, i would steer him more towards our #6 or 15 if you care about his arteries.

Whew, sorry, but it needed to be said.

Also to Josh who ordered the 16 with bacon combo meal, yes i did only drive 4 blocks, however, when I show up with your order in less than 3 minutes after you order it, all out of breath, and you give me a twenty for an order that cost 16.50, YES, I am going to ask you if you'd like your change back, this however, does not give you the right to say things like (in a punky voice)" As much as I'd like to tip you THAT much just for driving a few block, its not gunna happen" ......

"yes please"

Thats an acceptable response to the question...dont be a jerk ok, It was a question, not a request and you should have grown out of your cheapo habits when you got your real job....as a repair man. No judgeing, just bitterness and lots of suggeting.

and finally, to the pedestrians of Rexburg.... I hate you. Not really but soetimes I say that to make myself sound hardcore and opinionated. To be honest, your not so bad but you should consider the following

look both ways (kinda thought that was common sense but lets call it something else to not make you sound so dumb)

When a car is screeching to a hault after seeing you to late, the "deer in headlights" move is almost always fatal....move please.

Use the crosswalk, $75 fine for J-walking....for a REASON! Cars wont stop if your stupid

You have the right away...not the right to make the world stop turning for your sake.... when crossing the street, consider the fact that 5 to 10 cars are watching you and waiting for you to decide which side of the street you want to slow-mo walk to. Walk...at a normal humanistic rate of speed.

ok ok ok Im sorry, thats all the negativity I have in me so I think thats good justification! Dont judge me ok, I have issues.... but so does Josh, Taylor and all the pedestrians in Rexburg!

2011-11-02T11:58:00.001-07:00

Our Crazy Halloween Weekend!

Here is Justin and Kelsey, being AWESOME! Love these guys!
Here is the terrifying HULK! Have you ever seen something so cute or so green for that matter?

Adorable costume Idea! Mr. Clean, cleaning woman and an adorable magic eraser! AWESOME. Mr clean was found using the magic eraser to touch up the walls through out the party!

A Gypsy, a pirate, a princess...and HULK? One of these things does not belong :) LOVE this family!

Sweet Little Kendal as a Hogwarts students with her parents! Props on making the costumes Lisa, your the BOMB!

Kaden (or as I like to call him K-do) Sporting a durag from one of the Minute to win it games! Not camera shy at all look at that pose!

My sweet Owl Cupcake that I have been waiting to make ever since i got a pinterest account! cute huh? I love the one that's looking at the cyclopes owl! And they were delicious!

Our spooky yet gorgeous decorations from Briton! She did such an amazing Job! Totally set our party apart form the other 5 that were in the building (Rexburg, remember?)

Our yummy dinner food, mummy dogs! thanks to Kristina who helped get all 105 of the hot dogs and taught us all how to wrap them.

Bro Hymas, this ones for you! every week leading up to the party he asked if we would do a caramel apple station and 700 caramels, two crock pots, 3 hours and 50 apples later, we did it! SUCH a hit! good call Bro. Hymas, Good call.

Our Crazy weekend!

Friday:
-school all morning
-major projects due in three classes
-Attend mandatory two hour Concert (bored outta my brains)
-Study Study Study for final exam
-find someone to cover tomorrows shift
(5 hour closing shift on a Saturday night, not easy to fill)

Saturday
-Guitar lessons in the morning
-Straight to the testing center to take not one but two midterms(btw ACED THEM!)
-Home to make 3 batches of dough
-unwrap approx. 700 caramels to put in crock pot for cramel apple station
-Meet with presidency to wrap 105 hot dogs in dough (mummy dogs, super cute)
-Fill balloons with helium, coordinate decorations, pick up surprise baskets, send husband on about a trillion other errands that I couldn't get to such as dry ice, food coloring and constant trips from the church to the house to get the things I forgot
-party! or at least supervise the party for the next three hours
-take pictures of EVERYONE and EVERY activity.
-Clean up with my awesome presidency
-home by 10:30 to prepare my talk and lesson for tomorrow

Sunday
-Wake up and fall asleep again 4 times over (curse you snooze, curse you)
-Finish talk and lesson
-Ward counsel before church
-library to make copies and prepare for Nursery
-Teach nursery and play with kids for 2 hours (running on very little sleep mind you)
-Sacrament meeting both counselors gave great talks and now i got to conduct the choir in a primary song for our primary program.
-15 minute talk to take the remanding time of the meeting
- Home to finish homework from Thursday and Friday and prepare for a quiz in three classes the next day.
-Break down in tears about how I'm incompetent and unable to keep up with all my responsibilities
-husband makes everything better and helps me find a solution.
-make out
-Praise my husband for helping me so much in all my craziness

Man I'm a lucky gal. AMAZING Presidency that supports me so greatly and helps the impossible happen! Great friends that cover my behind and step in when I am slacking and an absolutely perfect-for-me husband that always knows what to say and do to remind me that its all so trivial compared to why we are really here. He's my hero! kayla-1 weekend-0!!!

2011-11-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

2 Week Notice

Just a short two months after I get the Job as a part time employee at JJs i put in my Two week notice today! VERY bitter-sweet. Sweet, because school, with callings, with anotherfulltime job is just a little too much to tack on a stressful work enviroment at JJs where i ws getting paid less than minimum wage, had poor managment and worked WAY too hard. Bitter because i finally made some friends that I really enjoy being around! my favorite shifts where my 6 hour night shifts, the ones that should have been my least favorite became a total party becasue of who I worked with! I Love Amanda! She completley brought me into the group and made the work enviroment at JJs just a little less hostile.

Anywho, Im excited to be able to focus more on working at the Cambridge Court office. Chad and I are starting to get good at it! we are starting to really enjoy everyone to, we are getting to know people and our tenants LIKE US! its crazy! we thought for sure that since we were managment we would be hated and that we'd just have to learn to deal with that but we talk with everyone and try to help with any issue we can and people respond to that!! We are loving it! now unfortunatly, this job means that we wont be going anywhere in December because of the fact that its the busiest move-in move-out month so Chad and i are now preparing ourselves for our first Christmas alone at home :(( im really mixed about all this. i can remember last christams waking up in California with family and still crying when i talked with my family on the phone. I just hated knowing that I wouldnt see the look on my sisters faces as they opened the doll house that Danica and I had made for them or breea getting the long board that she had been begging for all year, or my parents in the kitchen making us ebelskebbers for breakfast and going to a movie with extended family all our little quirky traditions, i miss it so much, and i know i know, "we have to make our own traditions" but seriously, what are we gunna do! That wasnt retorical ...what should we do??? and suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Super excited however to go back to see family in November for Thanksgiving! I think we even get to see Grandma and Grandpa Hatchs new house! Way excited!

But you know what im most excited about??? mama Merrell and mad-dog coming up to visit in a few weeks!!! So excited to have guests come and hang with us, not to mention, we get to celebrate Gails birthdays and do somehting awesome! What that awesome thing that we're doing is, im not sure of yet, but we are brainstorming :) Cant Wait!

2011-10-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Gettin my Pinterest On!

So after a ton of Deseret Industry visits and a whole lot of spray paint, my apartment is decorated! Its not complete but for the first time in three weeks (since we moved in) that it felt like home! here are some pictures of the new projects and the almost finished product! Big shout out to Mallory Guthrie for funding my killer curtains and my sweet hunny for painting and hanging every thing up.

2011-10-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Our new HOME!

Guess who gets to park here... ME!

My sweet husband, working away in the office:)

Cambridge Court ...get ready to be MANAGED!

So Chad and I got a Job together! I cant even begin to explain how much the Lord has answered our prayers. Is I look back over the past 6 months I can remember kneeling and praying with my husband and now looking at our situations, each and every pray we said has been answered, every question, concern or plea we have made to the Lord has been address! I cant even believe how endless the Lord love is for us. We had prayed about getting a job after all that was the reason that we stayed in Rexburg for our break period, so that we could get jobs and stabilize and income, but for 6 months we had no success. We went through so many interviews and no success. Chad and i had so many points in the past 6 months where we were done and ready to give up and the Lord just gave us the exact prompting we needed to persevere and carry on. IT PAID OFF! We got a job finally! Chad & I are now the residential Managers of an apartment complex called Cambridge Court on Main street, Rexburg. It an awesome gig! I love working with the tenants and have really started to get the hang of all the computer programs that I am required to work with everyday. We have figured out a schedule where I can still work at JimmyJohns ( which, by the way, i have started to really love) And bring in another source of income, and Im still able to work in the office at the apartments every other day. With this job, we have all our rent, utilities, cable, internet, and an additional $500 a month, its perfect for us because that 500 plus what I earn every month from JJ's so we can start saving to pay off student loans and have a bebe!
Needless to say, but turns out, I'm sayin it anyways, WE LOVE our new job! Its so good knowing thatwe will have a steady job for the rest of the time we are in school and we will never have to struggle to pay rent while we are here. Chad loves the job too, we like working together, and i think its good for us to see each other in a work setting, he is so responsible and caring and even though i see that at home, its even more prevalent at work! We kinda compliment each other in the office, if he is ever slacking or forgetting something i pick it up and if Im slackin, he covers me too! its been fun so far and im so excited to get into it a little deeper and get better at this! Whoohoo for being employed!

2011-08-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

Something for the kids...

SO i realized that alot of my posts are pretty "Kayla-oriented". I DO have a Husband and he DOES have a life! I want to record more about him so my kiddos can read about their dad back in the day! So for family home evening we did a Alphabet Game where we sat down and thought of meaningful words for each letter of the alphabet that described one another! It was a little cheesy, chad doesn't do well with what he calls " typical BYU-I newlywed FHE" ideas but i made him, and i made him enjoy it too! :)

Here is what I came up with, hopeful some of these will surprise you and teach you (and by 'you' i mean my future children) a little more about Chad!

A- ASU, Chad has attended 6 different colleges, and will probably attend another before we are done with school, none of those schools where ASU, however, he has more loyalty to that school than all the colleges he has attended combined! LOVE that passion.

B-Baseball, how he loves that game, I know that I have a tender spot for some hobbies but chads connection with baseball is adorable, he just loves watching, coaching, cheering, learning and more importantly playing baseball, he is so good at it and I cant wait till we have little boys so he can go play with them!

C-Cocky i hate to say it but one of his favorite "joking attitudes" is " pretending" to be cocky! How funny . . . :[ to some people, I have to admit, now that we have lived together for over a year now and since i know just how UN cocky he really is, its actually is a little less obnoxious than it originally seemed! :)

D-Dreamer, its hard to dream when your in a dead end job, getting further in debt through school, and lookin like the next few years are going to be consistently low in progress of that, but Chad always has a dream, or a goal, or something to look forward to! Everyone has thier negative days but Chad is alwys thier to tell me how positive our situation is and remind me of all that we have to look forward to!

E-Empathetic, this sounds funny but with a gal like me i need someone that is empathetic who will sympathize with me but be able to comfort me without being brought down when I'm not in a good place. I like to see it as being in a hole, chad is able to stay out of the hole and offer a hand to help me out instead of sitting in the hole with me getting no where.

F-Forgiver, Chad is such an example to me of forgiveness, he really understands the atonement and through his understanding of that he has become and expert at forgiving! It comes in handy when your married to me :)

G-Gamer! Chads so good at any game he tries at first it totally bugged the crap outta me because i stunk at everything we did together and i became so competitive but he taught me to love it because as long as we worked on the same team, it made me a winner too :)

H-Home teacher, im so glad that he has developed that habit early in his life because its so inspiring to see his so dedicated to teaching others and being an active preisthood holder.

I-Indecisive- Love that man of mine but his desire to make everyone happy completly ovpowers his ability to make decisions. It takes us about 2 hours to figure out what were are going to have for dinner, can you even imagine big decisions?!

J-Joker, this guy cant STOP playing pranks and jokes all day long, infact we have on occasion instituted a no joke minutes where i can talk to him about a serious matter for a whole minute without the conversation going sour with a joke or a sarcastic comment...it rarely happens.

K-Kisser...and he is so good at what he does.

L-Laugher, he LOVES to laugh at everything and I never realized what a distinct laugh he has! he will laugh at awkward moments, not so funny jokes, my expense, and of course actually funny things, hell laugh at those too! I hope thats something he never stops doing.

M- Manly, Chad is a hunter, sporter, spitter, rough tough steak loving mans man. He takes pride in all his manliness too! I love it! Im such a girly girl so we balance each other out :)

N-Naughty, he is always walking the line of inappropriatness, its actually really funny. All bodily functions and intimate conversation is fair game with him, now he knows when he is stepping too close to the line and i give him the stink eye when his references are getting too risque for me but he is a naughty man!

O-Old! i mean this in a very good way, Chad brings so much knowlege and experience to our relationship, being 5 years older than me. Hes seen more, experienced more and has a few gray hairs to prove it. I tease him all the time, but he really is mature spiritually and emotionally and it really plays a big role in our relationship!

P-Punctual! So good for me! I love this, Chad is so good at being on time and being sure that we arrive and leave places according to a schedule! It was hard for me at first becasue i was NOT AT ALL punctual but its such a good quality of his that i am learning to love and be better at for him.

Q-Quirky, So so very quirky, he has his little quirks like, not having his feet out of the covers...ever! or he totally freaks out if the tag of a blanket is at the top by his face, in ANY circumstance. or how he needs to have extra butter on his popcorn or no popcorn at all! the list goes on and on!

R- Remenisant, Chad is always remenising, about anything and everything, our old house, our dating years, past trials, past triumphs, his family, all our "firsts" and its so awesome, i blog becasue i cant remember he doesnt blog because he can!

S- SO SO many for the letter s. Selective-hearing, Singer ( i think he sings more than ME), Short-tempered (ONLY in the car and with any rexburg driver/pedestrian), and Sweetheart, thats his favor thing to call me <3 <3 <3 and how i love it! i love calling him my sweetheart too, i think we talked about it one day and that pet name is among the most sincere things we call each other.

T- Tender-hearted! Sometimes Chad acts tough, or acts like situation isnt affecting him but that heart of his is so big and so aware of others feeling, thats undoubtably the reason I married him, his sweet heart and sensativity to my needs and feelings.

U-Undefeated, Mountain Veiw and Chad are one and the same, underfeated and proud of it! he is a competitor and he trys to convince me of how "undefeated he is but the only thing he is undefeated in, in my book, is by me, I would love to stay amde at him but i just cant, he always wins!

V-Vault babay, locked down. Sometimes Chad is like a vault and no matter how hard a try, he just isnt going to open up no matter how hard I try to get him to talk. At first it was really hard for me to understand but i like that he thinks before he talks and he is such a good listener that i think the vault is becoming more and more willing to open up to me!

W-Winner, at EVERYTHING. I used to HATE always losing to Chad but he has really taught me how to be competitive and have fun without winning and how to want to win!

X- is a ridiculous letter, we're just going to go with X-cess. He is a man of many wants, sometimes his desire for things out ways his logic and he will do anything to achieve his goals. Dangerous...maybe...inspiring...YES!

Y-Yummy, he is a bitter! I was never a real big bitter, id bite ears every not and then but Chad bites EVERYTHING! I actually had to designate some biting areas (these ares include my hands, ears, shoulders and well...thats it) he rarely sticks to the rules but he does it outta love! He's kinda converted me, as much as Id like to say that i was unbudgable on this one, he is kinda delicious!

Z-Zealous and oddly energetic! Its hilarious the things that man gets excited about! for example: Ordering any sort of special, at aresturant, his face just lights up, or going to see a movie that he has heard about before it hits the dollar theater, its like a special showing!

2011-08-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

School is Almost here!

I never thought I would be this excited to be back in school! Ive missed it so much! Last semester i declared my major and was SO happy with my desision, but by the time i declared it, i had already registered for classes so only 2 of my 5 classes really went towards my major but now, ALL my classes are going towards my degree and I am on my way!!! I am so excited. If i am able to get on the "Fast Track" (year round) I can finish in a year and a half! pluse all my classes are so exciting... to me at least. IM so excited for my family relations class! Last semester i had the mostr AMAZING instructor, Bro. Williams, and i managed to get into another class that he teaches! Im so excited, i would have to saythat he is most likely the main reason for me choosing my major, after hearing his stories and his work experiences i just want nothing more than to get my education in a area that will always benifit my family whether i am working or not! I love my major! finally!

What I do not like is student loans. They stress me out. I just want to make all the right decisions with money but the truth of the matter is, when you dont have money sometimes you have to choose between two mediocore options. Its so hard for me. Chads a little more realistic and thats so good for me, i need him to remind me that while we are striving for perfection sometimes we need to embrace our humanity and remember that its unattainable here! We're trying so hard to stay outta debt but we have to go to school. I was talking to my dad the other day and he said that he never took out any student loans, he just worked and paid it off as he went. I was floored, there is just NO WAY we could do that! It made me feel just a little inadiquet. but we just dont have jobs!!! At least not ones that could pay for an education! Im so grateful for Chad, he is so good at dealing with my stress for me! haha! I get so worried when talking about money and Chad is always willing to talk it all out with me and make sure that i feel comforitable with the position. What a great man im married to!

School starts in about 3 weeks and its going by so slow! I just wanna get my degree and GET PRENGANT! Sounds a little blunt but seriously I just wanna get my education on Marriage and Family Therapy and then START the family and put the education into practice. School is so exciting and i can honeslty say that its worth the investment!

2011-08-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

I'm fat... yeah im saying it, which means that all those of you who were thinking it can stop feeling bad about yourselves, your right, Kayla is Fat! BUT not for long.

So I got married and my personal health when out the window with my savings account and gym membership. SO naturally, i let just about anything into this chubby little body of mine. Mainly Dr. Pepper, but not excluding, pizza, chocolate malts, and Reeses. However all it took was one family photo at the Hatch family reunion to make me realize that regarless of my circumstances, i need something to change. I have always been in shape, in high school I danced and did volleyball all four years and well after high school i was dancing or working out almost evryday, but when my bills and Chads came together, the healthy food, the gym and the time all went away ( curse you AZ summer utility bills, curse you and all that you consume). I think that within the first year of my marriage I slowly allowed a good 20 pounds to creep up on this body of mine and since the 1 year mark and addistional 15 as shimmied its way to my hips and thighs. I was so unhappy at the reunion, i was always hiding behind something, wearing big baggy shirts or just running in hopes that id come home and find that a wild caribou had eaten a good portion of my fat while I was jogging but nay, no fat was gone, just an exhausted out of shape heavy weight, huffing a puffing while her hubby got her a Dr. Pepper outta the fridge. No bueno.

SO we got back and got started. Yes, this is my real weight as of the end of July 2011 192 lbs...shocking and depressing. HOWEVER I know that Ill never weigh that much again! I have turned over a new, skinny Sexy leaf. We started a diet and hired a trainer ( and friends from our ward who works at the gym) for a few weeks to teach us the best ways to loose weight healthy and keep it off! We jumped right into it and as exhausting and painful as it was, we strated working out everyday for at least and hour, eating all the right foods 5 to 6 times and day and sticking to that! Its been 2 weeks and I am already down 8 lbs.! I am so excited and motivated. At first I was totally embarrassed that I let myself slip this much but we are learning so much and i think we are really changing our way of life! We are eating whats called the Paleolithic Diet, i think. We call it the cave man diet becasue you would eat what a cave man would, only what he could hunt or gather, so there are lots of lean meats, fruits, veggies and nuts and berries. Its actually really good, I am always full and the better I do on the diet the smaller my appitite has become. On top of that diet we do circuit training every other day and cardio for an hour on each day inbetween. Its very tiring but the more we do it the more we enjoy it and at this rate, Chad will be getting his brides body back for Christmas this year!

Oh also something really cool, Ive been of DR.Pepper for almost a month now and havent taken and asprin or excedrin since! its amazing! NO more headaches of caffine withdraws! Chad too, he is going a little slower than me, he limited himself to a DP a day, which unfortunaly is quite the improvment, he has gained so much muscle though and he is loving the results too!

So if youd like, this is an open oppurtunity to say goodbye to the Kayla thats overtaken my body for the past 16 months and welcome back to the real me. .

Oh and if you want more information about the diet, message me, I know just about everything about it and could totally help motivate you to get started!

Sincerley, New me

2011-08-23T05:34:00.000-07:00

This summer has been pretty uneventful, yeah i should probably refrain from starting a post with an excitment deturant but lets face it, Ive got maybe two dedicated reader (my mom and my husband, both of which I force to) so hopefully my " Faithfull Followers" (by force) will recognize that despite the fact that the summer was uneventful, dosent mean it wasnt worth blogging about.

Ok actually i lied a little, we did have the EPIC Hatch Family reunion, that if i dont blog about I'll totally regret. It was Amazing! 2011 Hatch Family Reunion was held in Sliverpick Lodge just outside of Durango Colorado! It was absolutly beautiful. We were there for about 5 days, and it never got boring, we went on hikes, bike rides, to the sauna, the jaccuzzi, and when we wernt entertaining ourselves at the cabin, we were going on white river rapid rafting tours, the alpine slides, little switzerland, Maggies Burger Joint. It was NONE STOP family fun, (not to sound like a Knotts Berry Farm advertisment) but honestly, everyone had a blast! For me it was just so good to see everyone all in one cabin! Honestly almost all 38 member of the Hatch family were there, unfortunatly Bethany and Brennon wernt able to be there and I was so bummed to not be able to catch up with them but I was so nice to see everyone else! Im so blessed, my family just keeps becoming more and more special to me, I love them more each day.

So that was the lie, that WAS an exciting part of my summer. The unexciting part was the whole waking up working out, job hunting, going to work, and coming home and going to bed...that was boring. And thats still going on here in August, still no job ( unless you count Bernett that gives you on average5 hours a week for the past three or four weeks er so) but still looking and still have faith.

Infact, kind of a cool experience the other day in the Temple. So the last two or three months Chad and I have been overwhelmingly stressed about getting jobs and being able to make all our bills, we have been cutting back more ( which I honestly though we couldnt do more of), Hunting everyday, starting connection groups and praying and fasting as much as time would permit. We even had a few really amazing opportunities come our way and to our surprise, they all fell through, it didnt make sense. We thought; " Hey, were doing the work, were serveing, were paying our tithing, fasting, and praying, whats the hold up? What arnt we doing?" So last Saturday in the temple, we were sitting in the Celestial room, just enjoying the spirit and thinking and Chad leans over to me and says that as he tried to pray for a new job opportunity but he felt himself being stopped, like he couldnt pray for it. I thought about that for a minute and it came to me so strongly that we dont need to focus on that anymore. We are so worried about jobs and bills and working harder and finding new resources for income that its consuming, our lives, its in every conversation, its in every misunderstanding, and it casues us so much stress and sleeplessness. When in reality, we are doing everything in our power to improve our situation, we work hard, we dont complain and we try everyday! If we were to focus any MORE on jobs, we might simultaniously combust in to unemployment flames. We decided that the Lord wants us to alter our focus and strengthen our relationship with Him and through that, we will be blessed accordingly. Its something that we also always focus on, we fullfill our callings and read and pray daily and all but you can ALWAYS do MORE! And on top of what we already do to strengthen our marriage, if we were to put as much energy and drive into our spirituality and marriage, as we do into getting jobs and finding success here in Rexburg, we would be a whole lot less stressed, a whole lot happier and I know, from the spirit I felt that day, that we will be blest beyond our needs if we serve the Lord more addimantly. Im so grateful for my husband who felt inclined to tell me what he did that day and who listens and excepts my insights. What an amazing Man Im married to! Living in Rexburg has been probably one of the biggest leaps of faith I have ever made and I know that as hard as its been, its for my experience and as I struggle im constantly reminded that someday, i can teach my children the lessons im learning here! So grateful!

Bringin things back together here, besides the whole changing my lifes direction, amazing family vacation and new found love and appreciation for my husband everyday.... Pretty uneventful :)

2011-05-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Breea rocking it up!

Breea Helping a student

Shayna Blowing peoples minds with her mad skills!

Sister Duet! 2 young stars startin out the show!!

Ben and Chelsey Soap boat racing!

Pro soap carvers

Sam opening up Family presents and the girls night dinner!

More fun bridal gifts for Sam!

Sam and her mom, they are so cute!

Dinner Decorations, so cute!

madi reading the Welcome poem!

The cute couple!

Arizona Trip!

The trip was totally awesome! we had such a great time! The whole first half of the week was so chill. We just hung out with family and helped prepare for the wedding. Breea and her students got to play at El ricos and we all got to be apart of the show, it was such a beautiful night and everything was awesome. Chad and I had quite the list of things to do, we spent most mornings laying out and getting tan, just loving the sun, we also went to all of our favorite resturants because there is honestly NO good resturants in idaho.

Unfortunatly i missed Sams Bridal Shower but we were able to go to a girls night dinner with her and it was so fun, hanging out with Sam and her family and Madi, Gail and Kim was honestly one of the most fun things we did on the trip!

We were also able to meet up with our best friends, The Rushs and had a blast making soap boats and racing them down the MAC water ways, its a perfect poor married couples date and we had such a good time, we always do with the Rushs.

I got to hangout with my BF Mallory and that was awesome, I wish she could move up to Idaho with us, but lets face it, shes too cool for that. We went to Native, our favorite wing spot and she was nice enough to do my hair for me for the wedding! Love that girl!!

Just before the wedding Gail had the AMAZING idea to go to the river and get ourselves a wedding tan and the very next day we did it! It was a little spontainous and last minute but it was so worth it! I am definatly doing that again in JULY!

Which reminds we, I have the best news, SARA TOWNSEND and KRIS McCLENDON are finally getting married, thats why im going back to AZ in JULY! We had dinner with them and had so much fun reminicing about high school days.

We got up early the next morning and helped set up for the wedding just doing whatever we needed to to make it happen. It was a fun busy day and the dinner was beautiful, everyone said such beautiful things about Sam and preston and Preston played an amzing songon the piano for Sam it was awesome, just a great night to be followed by a a beautifull wedding the next day.

The sealer was so amazing and the service was just beautiful. Chad was a witness and that was really special for him and It was the first wedding ive been to in the temple since my own!

The reception was awesome! all the work we put in the day before was totally worth it, it was beautiful and SO fun! We are so excited to have Sam in the family!

2011-04-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Easter Cake

Chad and I love cake, well actually I love baking and Chad loves eating, it works well. We dont have any money, like, any, so we didnt do the whole easter egg basket candy thing. I think I should feel bad about not doing some cutsey wife thing but surprisingly enough ... I dont. We have ad such a busy week, I just am glad we made it to sunday! Happy Easter though, we had a great day, I got set apart in my new calling, 2nd councilor of the Primary presidency, (which in our student ward is more commonly considered to be the nursery presidency! I love those little kiddos and am excited to get to know my awesome presidency. Chad was sad that he and I wont be teaching Family History together anymore and I am TOO! I loved that calling and I loved teaching with Chad even more! we had a great easter program at church and visiting teaching was SO enjoyable. It was pretty normal, i felt bad that we didnt do anything really special so I decided to whip out the funfetti, we decided to make a double layer cake together and then Chad had the brilliant idea of making it an ice cream cake! We had a great time putting it together and i realized that I now have a a new cake to get good at making, It was....less than desirable. But it was eastery and cute so that was a pretty awesome first easter! I promise I'll be better when i have kids!

Anyways, its monday now and I just talk to my sweet motha who told me that the birthday package that she sent we (that I had been saving to open til tomorrow) was for easter too! dang it! that would have filled the gap of lameness in yesterdays poor couple easter! SO that made a perfect Family night activity! Tonights FHE:Budgeting Continued/planning for AZ/Opening easter package

What a fun package! thanks MOM! We LOVED it so much! That necklace is my new favorite and I now have a super cute ourfit to wear on my birthday!

2011-04-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here are sixteen reasons I cant wait to get to Arizona this weekend!

2011-04-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

BEST DAY EVER!!

Sorry my last post was a little bit of a downer, I just had nothing else to post about, Chad and I just had a really bad week, I had had no luck with the job hunt, we looked at our finacial budgeting plan and we were not making enough and we were just tired of it! So yesterday was the answer to our prayers! I had spend most of my morning on line looking for more jobs and just as I was walking out the door to distribute yet another stack of 10 resumes, when I got a call. It was Rachel, I HR Rep from a company I had applied with earlier that week, she asked me if I had a few minutes that she could ask me some question. We talked for around 30 minutes and at the end of our conversation she asked me if I could come in later that day for some training, I said, traing for what? She said that she wanted to train me for the job of being a telephone interviewer and she would like me to be employed with the company by the end of the day... I was SO excited it took everything in me to remain professionally stable when I replied that I would be able to come to the full week of train (which I found out later that it was paid training). I called Chad and screamed/sang the good news to him, which was promptly followed by me panicing at the fact that I had no professional work clothes to wear to the training! He hurried home and helped me find something (my husband is highly fashionable). I was walking out the door when someone came by and dropped off a package for ME! My mom had sent me some birthday clothes from Forever21! I ripped open the bag and it was exactly what I needed, a DRESS to where to the training and a few other adorable things I would try on after I got home! THANKS MOM! I love it!

Anyways, I get to the training, and get ready to become EMPLOYED! I was so excited to be there and start working! I had said a little prayer before I went that it would be as good as it sounded and that there wern't going to be any tricks. The more they told us about the job, the more it fit our lives perfectly, I'll be getting paid between $8.00 and $10.00 and hour (which is more than enough compared to the other job offers I've seen) and I would be able to work eveyday except Sunday from 3 to 8 pm. And on Saturdays, I could work 10 to 7. Plenty of hours, good pay and the best part is, I can keep this job while I'm in school, I can go to school from 7 to 2pm and work after that! I already made two or three friends and they even let up start working last night for a few hours.

Ok, now I know what your thinking, "Kayla, I hang up on people like you everyday" and in most cases, yes, your completely right BUT I like to think of my job as a "nice form of telemarketing" We are a research facility that is given numbers and customers contacts from the a company so that the company can have us survey thier customers on thier quality of service. So yeah, we are still soliciting but we're not selling you something, we're soliciting your opinion...big difference. Anywho, people are alot more likely to take the survey because it about a company or service that they use often and/or are members of. So less hang ups and cuss word...still some, but less :) I got hung up on 4 time, threatened twice and screamed at once...I'm told thats not bad for my first day. But the best part is....the headsets. They are so glamorous! I have always wanted a job in an office with a cubicle, it sounds super lame but I love the office setting. I wanted to prove just how awesome I am now that I have a headset, its like a defining part of my fabulous life style now that I have such a killer job! So here are some reasons why headsets are so fantastic

Its like a sofisticated phone right?! Ours are actually pretty comforitable and I never have to touch the numbers or hang up, totally sweet.

Justin Beiber. Thats pretty much all I have to say about that. If Justin sports them, we all should.

Jennifer Lopez? yeah Shes awesome and she wears headsets, are you seeing the trend that I am seeing?!!

The Sexy black girl from StarTrek, hers' is really cool, she is who I aspire to be when it comes to headset wearers, i mean look at the headset, its like a giant misplaced earring! I mean that in the best way.

Chole from 24. yeah Im totally addicted to that series right now and she is my hero, and it looks like her friend wanted to be like her too! She doesnt really pull it off but bless her heart for trying.

Brittany Spears...ok honestly, she puts headsets to shame but she has to be on here for the shoke factor.

So I think you catch my drift, headset=awesome and I plan on being in denial about this for as long as I work here! In conclusion, I am thrilled to be working, and bad is always followed by extremely good if your trying your best and working hard.

2011-04-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Bad day

Yes, today was a bad day, I have been job searching ( and not just kinda looking but diligently searching for hours everyday) for the past 4 months and the past few weeks I've gotten a number of false alarms.

I really wanted a god job, one that would be taken seriously so I started out by only applying to the jobs i really wanted but I learned quickly that my preference had no matter. I started aplpying everywhere! I mean, even burger king, which, if I were hired there, I might have multiple emotional breakdowns within each week of having to work at the place that i wont even eat at. But I honestly, HONESTLY applied everywhere. I hit a dry spell and wasn't even receiving any calls but yesterday I saw and opening at family dollar, yeah, its not the best job in the world but i knew that I would get great hours and I could ride my bike there so it would be a great job for now, I applied and I actually felt really good about it, the next day i got a call and they asked to do a phone interview, it lated all morning and it was going so well, they were so impressed with my resume and they loved my personality and friendliness even just over the phone, they even asked me to come in and meet the future co-workers, BUT then right before we ended the phone call she told me that despite the fact that I listed my inability to work on Sundays, they would have to schedule me to work at least 2 sundays a month. i asked her to hold or a minute. I just wanted to figure out a way to make it work but I knew I would have to refuse. I explained to her that i could work at any other time on any other day, holidays, saturdays, nights mornings, anything but sundays. All she said was "oh I understand, ok well have a nice day' (click) I was so upset, I thought I would finally have good news for Chad when he came home and something to do the next day besides look for more work. I was so upset, i don't think its been that hard for me to do whats right in a long time. I guess it wasn't hard, I knew as soon as she said I would have to work Sundays that i would decline but It was so hard to know that I was that close. I know that something good will happen, whenever I make a good but difficult choice, the consequences are always in my favor. I need work, If you know o anything in the Rexburg area, please put in a good word, I would really appreciate it! thanks!

2011-04-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

This is what its all about, or at least what the past nine months have all been about! It feels like its been forever ince we found out that Danica and Brennon where going to have a baby and now he's finally here! Stratton Fish! Isnt he adorable, and his mother, glowing and beautiful! I just love these pics! Thanks to Kristal for being there as a Kayla representative. I was completly crushed that I couldnt be there but i know I'll get to see him in a few weeks (two from today) But to keep me from crying all day from my homesickness, I decided to do a service to the facebook world and post hourly updates on the babies delivery progress, it was so fun! I text Brennon, every hour and asked him for her progress and I'd post it on facebook, it was almost like I was there! Brennon played a long very well, here were a few of the many updates I posted (courtesy of Brennon)

Baby Update: The inducification is going swimmingly and the contractions are getting stronger!"

Baby Update: Just ate a grilled cheese sandwich and some fruit, we're just walkig up and down stairs and playing cards :)

Baby Update:Brennon says be patient and quiet, Danica's trying to take a nap!

Baby Update: Baby is BORN 8 pounds, 14 ounces and very hairy :)

Isnt he adorable!!!

I love these shots with the mom and baby in the back! Stratton( or Strattons wife) will really appreciate it! Thats all i think when I see baby pics, just how much they are going to be appreciated when their older.I weird ok.

Perfect baby for the perfect mommy and dad! Brennon , Danica, well done! I cant wait to see you all! but mostly Stratton!

2011-04-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Our Quacky Family

Chad and I have wanted a dog for a long time, we even almost had one about 4 months after we got married when Taylor(Chads Brother) got a pit bull that he couldn't take care of. Anyways, we've tried but with our schedule and our lack of time and money, its just not going to happen :( Well our lack of cuddly pet has made us extremely baby hungry, because every one knows that when your a newly wed and you want a pet, you don't really want a pet, you want a baby, but a pet helps you get your cuddle ill until you realize that nothings as awesome as a baby! Chad and I were grabbing some supplies at Cal's Ranch Store and we saw three huge cages with a ton of baby chicks and ducklings, we fell in love! We went over to see the ducklings but they were already all sold and we knew that the chicks turned into chickens and we defiantly didn't want that! So We went home, duck-less and chick-less :( the next week chad came home and put this box on my lap, i thought it was just a happy meal but then the nuggets started chirping! I open the box and found the most adorable little ducklings looking up at me!

They were so cute and so quite! It was perfect! we wouldnt even have to tell the landlord, which was good because if you want a pet here in these apartments, you've got to pay a $300 deposit and an additional $25 every month. So yeah, we need a quiet small pet, and these ducks were perfect.

They wer both so cute and cuddly! we ddecided that each of us would name one, chad chose the black one and due to his...darker color, chad chose the name Gerom..nice :) and I chose Roger...dont ask :)

They are so funny. Ducklings are very territorial and thats why Chad bought two! they have to have another to watch and to be watched over by. When ever we seperated them from eahcothers sight, they started chirping and looking around frantically, its adorable! They were so small, they fit in the very center of the palm of my hand, and they would just cuddle up to stay warm against you.

This is a picture of thier first swim! they LOVED the water!

This is them at a week old! Still adorable! There adult feathers are already starting to come in!

This is two weeks old, And we are even starting to potty train them! and ITS WORKING! I've been told that thats impossible with ducks but OUR ducks are super smart! We have a sheet that we allow them to walk on over the carpet, if they leave the sheet, I tap the sheet with my hand and they run back on to it! They are even starting to respond to my voice! Not to mention, thier duckling instincts to follow thier mom, they follow me everywhere! I'll run down the hallway and, sheet or no sheet, they will run after me and get going so fast that when I stop they cant slow down fast enough and run into my ankles! SO CUTE! We took them out to play during general conference but Roger just really wanted to take notes with me!

They both just waddled up and ploped down on my book, they are getting so much bigger, its CRAZY! Its only been three weeks and they have doubled in size!

Here is Roger and Gerom Cuddling with daddy, they LOVE getting snuggled up next to his neck! So pefect! I know its kinda goofy for us to be raising ducks but hey, we're young, we've got no money, and a three dollar pet is perfect. They fun and we know we'll have to get rid of them soon but they have been a total blast!

2011-04-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Papadoodle!

So my dad is turning...something today. My dad is absolutely amazing and I wish I was able to see him on his special day! But of course my hard working dad is on a business trip :( boo! Oh well he will be back in AZ on Thursday and my family is planning to celebrate that weekend. I sent them an AWESOME package! Its got a bunch of Easter stuff for all the kids, home made card for Danica and the baby, and some CD's for my mom! I LOVE sending packages and getting packages, it makes me feel so special! Anyway, I hope Papadoodle LOVES his card and knows how great he is! I thought I would do a top ten favorite memories with my daddy so HERE'S TO YOU DAD! LOVE YOU

10. Going golfing with him and grandpa on the Holbrook golf course ( I don't remember much golfing, but the golf carts were a blast!!)

9. Sneaking me Dr. Peppers at girls camp ( so wrong bishop, so wrong)

8.Staying up late and helping me finish all sorts of homework and projects that I waited ridiculously long to start. (Thanks btw)

7.Leaving me random note just to say you love me (that's a REAL great dad)

6. Snowmobiling with you on that business trip! SOOO much fun!

5.Disneyland (even though you hate it) I LOVED how you always scream like a girl just so we would laugh and be embarrassed ( By the way, SOooo cool )

4. Beach Vacations every year, you ALWAYS got in the ocean with us and played around! STILL love that :)

3. Blessing every semester before school just to help us feel less nervous!

2. WE gotta campin trailer we gotta campin trailer! that dance you did will never be erased from my memory.

1. LETS TALK ABOUT HIKING... this is number one because this leaves the hope of tomorrow, one of these days, we will actually GO HIKING!!!!

YOUR AN AMAZING DAD! I hope on your birthday, you know how grateful I am for you, and how present you were in my life! I could go on and on with all my memories and instances that you were there for me! I LOVE you dad! Happy birthday :)

2011-04-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Its a Miracle!!

So Chad and I have been doing a lot better on our scripture reading! we wised up (finally, after 8 months) and started reading in the morning, when we weren't falling asleep and not paying attention. I'm so proud of us, its been hard to find time but we know that making this habit is really going to bring us blessings and bless our future children too! Anywho, I've still kind of been struggling remembering everything, I'm trying to write things down to help me remember all the stories and remember the scripture references but its tough for me! I'm working hard at it but at times I feel like a total failure because I can't remember squat! I've been praying to make connections with the scriptures so that my testimony of the Book of Mormon would be stronger and today, my prayers were answered!

I have a close friend who is going through a really hard time, I love her so much and my heart aches for her. I have prayed that I would be able to touch her heart and let her feel of my love and support. This week has been tough though. I've spent so long on my knees praying for her happiness and self confidence and so much time talking to her and offering my love and empathy but it seems she doesn't want it, she wouldn't even accept my sympathy and prayers, I know her heart and I know she needs support right now but she's in a place where she doesn't recognize it. Today I was upset and talking to Chad about my issues with this. I was so hurt that one of my dearest friends wouldn't let me love her, I began to suggest that I stop trying so hard and it sound completely ignorant now but at the time it seemed reasonable but I honestly wanted to stop trying so hard because it wasn't working and it was love and devotion that i could be channeling somewhere else where it would be appreciated. I felt so unhappy all day until we read scripture before family home evening. We were reading from Mosiah chapter 4 when King Benjamin was addressing his people regarding the atonement and living within accordance to the commandments. In verse 17 and 18 he says " Perhaps thou shalt say:the man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just-" I felt the spirit so strong at that time, I knew that that was for me. I knew that my friend had brought her pains upon herself and that I had tried to show her love and support her in her time of pain but in that particular day, I had struggles and started to see her situation in this light that king Benjamin is speaking of. It wasn't that I thought her punishment and pain was just, I was just running out of fuel and faith for her and my efforts to help and support her. Verse 18 gave me the direction I needed, it reads "But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God." I felt so motivated to continue supporting her. I realized that despite her lack of desire to receive my love and support, I knew that she needed it and it would be my sin to deprive her of what I know the Lord wants for her. Further in the chapter is said (in verse 27) " And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore all things must be done in order." This just gave me so much peace, knowing that As I continue to show love, devotion and empathy for my friend, if I do so in the Lords order and in wisdom, I wont wear myself down, or in other words I wont 'run faster than I have strength to' Be diligent and you will win the prize of salvation. I'm so grateful for those scriptures, the entire chapter spoke to me and I felt the Lords presence in my home. Chad kissed me on the forehead and held me close as we read, I know that he felt the spirit too and the Lord strengthened both of our testimonies through the Book of Mormon.

2011-04-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

FOOD FOOD FOOD

When I got married, I realized that I love food and that the only things I could cook with confidence were Ramen Noodles, anything from the frozen food section and chocolate chip cookies...not enough to feed a family and definitely not a great health plan either, so I set a goal to learn 2 new recipes a month and try them! Its been very rewarding and Chad has been very supportive for obvious reasons :) I just wanted to show you some of my works of art, these are Chads and my favorites so far. These are my refrigerator rolls, I got he recipe from the "My Fat Sisters Cookbook" Its one of the easiest, fastest and yummiest rolls that I have tried so far, and we eat them with everything!

This is one of our "Healthy" Sunday dinners. Most Sundays, we take a break from eating healthy and have a roast or something with a few more carbs but this is broiled Tilapia with lemon, steamed rice, sauteed asparagus and mixed vegetables. Its so delish and it only takes about 15 minutes to prepare so we eat it often! Not to mention, Tilapia is one of the cheapest fish and one of the best for you, win, win, win!

This little number is my fruit pizza! Despite is amazing looks . . . it wasn't that good. BUT, we ate it anyway and I did a few more tries and finally got it right! Love this dessert, it makes me not feel so bad about eating dessert...unfortunately I know the nutritional facts and it still a crap load of calories or 'points' for the weight watchers out there, but fruits are 0 so I still feel good about it :)

MMmmmm! Pesto Pizza with grilled Chicken! Me and Chad and Sam and Preston decided to make homemade pizzas and this is what we came up with. Our favorite is Oregano's Original Pesto Pizza so we just tried to recreate it. SUCCESS! It was amazing and under ten dollars!!!

Alright this may not look like a master piece but this meal alone, is responsible for at least ten pounds of weight gain between me and my husband! Its this amazing creamy white chili recipe that I got from a girl in my ward (thanks Mallory). It takes a little under an hour to prepare and cook and it feeds 6 to 7 people! Chad and I LOVE this stuff and try to make it as often as possible!

I thought since this one is my favorite so far, I would include the recipe! Make it! Tell me if you like it as much as Chad and i do!!!

2 Cans (16 oz)of Great northern beans
2 Cans (4 oz)of diced green chilies
1 1/2 Chicken Breasts cut into cubes
1 Medium Onion diced
1 1/2tsp Garlic Powder
1tbsp Vegetable Oil
1tsp Ground Cumin
1tsp Salt
1tsp DriedOregano
1tsp Pepper
8 Oz Sour Cream
1/2 c. Whipping Cream

Saute Chicken, onion, and garlic powder until cooked fully.Add beans, chilies and other seasoning. bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.remove from hat and stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Serve immediately and enjoy!!!

2011-04-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

SO Sammy's is one of my favorite places EVER in Rexburg! Its such a fun atmosphere!For those of you who don't know, its a really authentic burger joint, everything is made in front of you and they are famous for their pie shakes. This is so cool, I asked for a coconut cream pie shake and they pull our an actual coconut cream pie and take a slice out of it and dump it in to a cup with this smooth custard and blend it! Its so awesome!!!! And my favorite thing about this place is that on every Tuesday night they have open mic night, anyone can come and play, they have all the equipment, lighting, stage, and everything, and you can come and do whatever. The audience sits in old school desks and comfy couches, its such a cool environment! Totally My Style! Everything there, not just the food, is very handmade. The signs, the decor, everything! I LOVE IT! SO honestly, Sammy's is my home away from home! This last Tuesday I thought I would do open mic night. I Did a Missy Higgins Song first, it had been so long since I preformed in public, my knee was bouncing uncontrollably! I almost couldn't play the guitar! But it was so fun, I think I'll do it every week, it'll push me to learn new songs. I did something kinda special last week though! I was a little sneaky and I learned an amazing love song for Chad and had Preston learn it on the piano. Chad had no idea but I got up on stage to close the mic night with this song and Chad shouted after me and asked why I forgot my guitar, I then realized that I wasn't going to us it :) I told the audience that we had almost been married a year and a week ago I heard this song on the radio and it reminded me of him! He was TOTALLY shocked! And cute Chad, completely embarrassed. The song went great and Chad was on Cloud 9 All night, I was there too! Cant wait til next week!