Happy Birthday for Me and Bolt

Happy 25th Babeo! Me and Bolt love you so so much and hope you have the best birthday ever. You are the best and we are so happy you are a part of our lives. We really are blessed to have you. You are amazing and we hope you have the best next year of your life as possible!

Love
Bug and Bolt

Bolt Like's the Grass!!!

Living in apartments is kinda hard with a cat because we can't let him go outside and play even though he would love it! It's against the rules and i think all the little kids outside would scare Bolt to death anyway, but I still feel bad for me being inside all the time. He use to be pretty skiddish about the doors opening and the outside but lately he has been trying to escape. SO, we decided to let him go outside the other day and play in our back patio area. It's partially fenced in and mostly cement but has some grass too. I wasn't sure how he was going to do outside since he hasn't been out there to many times and the last couple times he did not like it. He hid in the back corner and played with some tall grass for a little bit before getting adventurous and walking around more and he eventually made it to the grass area. The first time we put him on the grass last fall he hated it. He wouldn't put down all his paws on it but this time he loved it! he was jumping around and laying in it and everything. He even tried to escape from the fenced in area and made it once. We caught him but he was not to happy to come back in . I'm so excited to move so that he can play outside and be a crazy kitty out there. He will just love it!

Update!!!

Jace and I have been busy getting everything packed and ready for moving in 6 weeks. We have taken up a couple loads in Dory (our Escape) and we dont have too much left to pack besides the big furniture and kitchen stuff. We are getting very excited to move and can't believe how fast time is actually going. It use to be a little over 10 weeks but now only 6. happy day. Last week we were able to find a GORGEOUS kitchen table and 6 chairs on KSL.com. I just love it adn it will look so good in the new apartment. I can't wait to eat at an actual table again. It will feel so strange! We also found a new washer and dryer for a really good deal. I am so excited to use them. They are almost the exact same as the ones we have that I absolutely love so I hope they work just as good. There hasn't been to much excitement going on around here besides moving plans and our crazy kitty being silly. He keeps us entertained. Hope everyone is doing good. Love you all.

Moving!

So I have been slacking on this whole blogging thing and I apologize. I will try my hardest to do better but I don't guarantee anything since I have been super busy. Hopefully when we are done with school in May I will be better at it. If not, I apologize in advance. :) Anyway, on with the update.
Jace and I have been really busy with school and Jace has been busy with work too. He was able to fly last week to Salt Lake from the new St. George Airport too. He was excited but I was nervous the whole time since I don't like airplanes. It's nice to have him home this week and not leaving to teach a class. We have 9 weeks of school left and we are so excited to NOT be busy anymore. Jace will be completely done too! He is graduating May 6 with his Bachelors Degree and I am so so proud of him and all his hard work. These last 9 weeks are going to be hard though because we are both ready to be done with school.
A couple weekends ago we were able to finally take a vacation which helped rejuvenate us a little. We went to Fillmore for our vacation and it was so relaxing and nice. I just love going there and not having to do anything like clean my house or study and it is so quiet there too. I love not hearing all the semi's outside all night or the garbage man at 6:30 am. It's simply wonderful. We also spent the weekend doing some research and planning for this coming May. We have been talking about moving to Fillmore and hope to make that our permanent home too. Summer will be a good time to see if it would work out for us, so we asked if we could live with Jace's parents for the summer and they said yes! They are so nice. I just love my in-laws. Our things would be put in storage while we lived with his parents so we spend a little of our weekend getting prices. There are only a couple storage unit options in Fillmore and one of the owners is in the ward. Jace talked to him about prices for a storage unit and they are very reasonably priced. Thanks heavens! But we got an even better deal. The owner has been looking for a couple to live in the apartment there and be on-site managers. He knows Jace from one of his sons playing with him when they were young and offered the position to Jace and I! We very happily accepted the offer and are so excited to be moving to Fillmore. Now we don't have to put our stuff in storage and get to live in a very cute 2 bedroom apartment with a garage! We are counting down the weeks. We will be moving right when it's getting really warm here and just about perfect in Fillmore. Perfect time to move. :) I am so grateful things are working out for us to move. We are truely blessed.

Frisbee Golf

Last Wednesday we had gorgeous weather down here in sunny St. George so I decided that we needed to be outside and enjoy it. I decided to surprise Jace with a Frisbee. Weird I know, but since we got the move Jace jas been playing disc golf and he is really good. I of course am not so good at it but remember playing as a kid and not being to bad. SO, I decided it would be fun to really test our frisbee skills and play for real. Not on the playstation. I ran and got us two frisbee's at Ben Franklin in one of my breaks in school so I'd have them when I got home from class at 3. I was so excited to play and couldn't wait for class to get over. When it did I hurried out the doors only to find that the dang breeze had picked up. :( Kinda bummed me out. I gave Jace his frisbee and told him my whole plan of surprising him and that I was mad the breeze came to play with us. He told me that we could still play and at least try. So we walked to the park and played for about 30 minutes in the gusts of wind. It was pretty fun. I was still crummy but better in life than on the game. Jace was fair definetly better on the game though. Not sure what that all means but heck, we had a blast playing!

What a cutie!

Winning shot! - for that hole.

Cute couple don't you think?!?

Bolts growing up!

Our sweet little kitty Bolt is now 6 months old! He's growing up so fast and is so much fun. I'm so glad we were able to get him. He is getting so big though. I didn't really notice how big he actually is until I looked at pictures from the first day we got him. He was so tiny!!! Lately he has been very curious. He loves the toilet, bathtub, kitting his litter out of his potty, poking his head through the blinds and playing with his toys and food. Yes he plays with his food. He will get a piece out of his dish and slide across the floor chasing it then finally eats it. He also loves to watch the kids playing outside in the front yard. They went back to school this week so he has been meowing at the window for them. He will run from side to side chasing the kids in the window. He just loves watching them and I love watching him. He still gets "needy" though and I have to hold him and he tries to suck my neck. If anyone knows how to make that stop please let me know. Anyway, Here are some pic's of him and how much he has grown.

First day we got him. He barely takes up a corner of his bed.

Getting a little bit bigger. Fills up a side of his bed. I love how his
mouse is in bed with him. He loves that thing.

Fills up his bed. :) So cute.

Still getting bigger!

I love this picture of him. He looks so bored. Haha.

Being "needy". This is a daily thing.

Snow!!!

So today we woke up to snow! Well, Ernie actually called and told us that the news said we had snow so we looked out the window and there it was. I just loved it and had to take some pictures of it before it melted. It felt a little more like winter with the snow too. It was just great!

Family Picture

Merry Christmas everyone! I know I'm late but it's the thought that counts right?!? I am so happy we were able to get a cute picture of our little family with Bolt looking at the camera. It took a couple tries and Bolt taking a nap in between photo shoots to get this super cute picture though. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a Happy New Year! :) Love you all!

Bolt, Halloween, and The Oscar Myer Weinermobile!

Well we have been really busy lately but I wanted to update my blog and put up some of these cute pictures of my two favorite guys. Bolt is growing up really fast and getting so big. He is eating a ton. Last week he was able to jump high enough to get on the couches so he has been sitting on the back of our love seat and watching the kids outside. Today he was eating the blinds so I just raised them so he couldn't reach and all the sudden there I could hear 5 or 6 little kids laughing and saying, "It's a kitty!". I peaked my head around the corner to see what was going on and sure enough. There they all were, playing with Bolt through the window. They would run their fingers on across the glass and he would try to get them. They just loved it. Then they knocked on the door and asked to pet our kitty. I grabbed Bolt and let the kids pet him. He didn't like that too much since they were all yelling and trying to pet him. He hissed a coupled times then ran away. I am now the kitty lady of the complex. Haha.
Halloween was a little different this year than most. We were in Kanab taking care of Nancy after her Gall bladder was removed. We took our pumpkins out there to carve them and just hung out. I had a ton of homework so it wasn't the most relaxing get away for me but Bolt sure enjoyed exploring a new house!
One last highlight from the last couple weeks is that we got to see the Oscar Myer Wienermobile! I thought it was pretty cool to actually see on, and to look inside it. That about all the highlights I can think of. School is getting really busy and stressful but we are hanging in there and trying to have some fun along the way. Can't wait til Thanksgiving break to not have school and eat some yummy food!

Jace and Bolt watching the fire

Bolts Halloween Costume

He LOVES plastic bags

Sitting on His scratching post

The Wienermobile!

The front of the wienermobile. It's smiling too!

I dressed up for School as a cat. Bolt loved it.

This is his "I'm innocent" face

and this is his "Aren't I so cute" face

Newest Member of the Family.

So I'm stuck sitting at this computer and decided since I don't want to get up I would update my blog on the newest member of the family and reason I'm stuck in this chair. We have a sweet 10 week old baby kitty. He is sleeping on my lap right now and looks so peaceful so I don't want to move and wake him up. I bet you wonder how we came to own such a cute little thing since our apartments don't allow pets so I will tell you.
It all started with my visiting teachers coming over to say "Hi!" and met me. One sister brought her kids with her and they were talking about their dog. The little girl said she liked to play with her little dog Daisy and the other sisters dog too. After we left Jace and I looked at each other and said, "Why do they get to have pets?" We have asked a couple times about the pets we've seen around the complex and they always tell us they are medical. So Jace asked the manager after the whole thing with my Visiting Teachers and she said we just needed a note a doctor saying we would benefit from a animal-cat or dog, no horses or anything. I needed to get my prescription refilled so we decided to make an appointment with the doc about that and the note for a pet.
Long story short, we got a note from the doc and approval from the apartments to have a kitty. We found our kitty at the Washington County Pound. He was owner released and his card said 8 weeks old. He was chowing down on his food when we got there and he just kept wanting to eat. He didn't even care that we were wanting to take him home. We paid the $10 fee for our little guy and then took him to Petco with us to find some stuff for him. Petco seemed really expensive and there was a dish I liked more at Walmart so we went there. Luckily they are in the same parking lot so I just stayed in the car with the kitty and Jace went in to get all the stuff. I have the best Hubby ever. Love him lots.
We finally made it home and set up all the kitty stuff we got. The litter box and food/water dish and all the fun toys. We went back to Petco for food since all Walmarts food was basically corn. What cat eats corn voluntarily? They eat chicken and turkey and fish. Not corn. Anyway, we got him a little mouse to play with and he loves that thing! He cares it around everywhere and sits on and pushes it all over the kitchen floor. It's so fun to watch. He wasn't yet potty trained so it took a couple days of training before he got the hang of it. Good thing we have the little green to clean up those spots. We are still working on him actually covering up his poopy. He tries but seems to aim at the opposite corner as his poop. He'll get it down though.
We took him to the Vet and the vet said he was 6 or 7 weeks old not 8 like what the card on his cage said. The vet told us he will lose his teeth at 13 weeks so i've been checking his teeth everyday. He even got his first shots this vet trip. he did so good. Didn't meow or anything.
He has been such a blessing to our little family and reduced so much stress. He just make me smile whenever I look at him.
It took us a while to name him, but we finally came up with a name. BOLT! We chose this name because he bolts everywhere. He doesn't just walk. He has to run. It's too cute. Here are a couple pictures of our crazy man.

SO cute sleeping together. They were both so tired.

This is normal reaction when you play with him. He loves his back.

At the Vet. I love this picture. It's like
he's saying, "What are you guys doing?"

He loves my purse!

What a pose. He sleeps so much and in so many weird positions.

Homecoming Dance & True Rebel Night

So I've never been to a school dance before not college or High School. Well I did go to Red an White in High School which is a senior dance but we never went to the dance. It was kinda lame so I decided that Jace and I needed to go to Homecoming so we could get the full college experience and High School for me. :) Rhett and Natalie came with us too which made it alot of fun. We danced and danced and danced. It was great. We also went to True Rebel Night after the dance. It's a a tradition at Dixie in which at Midnight on Homecoming Saturday you and your date go stand in the fountain and kiss. The water was so cold but it was so much fun. I am so happy we went and have such great friends to go with as well.

All dressed up for the dance

Rhett and Natalie

The Group

Us dancing the night away

All of us in the freezing cold fountain

Kissy Kissy in the fountain

True Rebels! :)

Homecoming Parade

So it's home coming week for Dixie State College and today was the Homecoming parade. My PTA program just started a club for us called the Student Association of Physical Therapist Assistants or SAPTA so we represented in the parade. There are 23 students in the whole program and 4 of us showed up. Sad I know but we had fun. Big Sexy was the "float" for us so that was a lot of fun. We saw and heard a lot of comments on how nice the truck is and Jace's Favorite was a little boy say look how shiny daddy. It was cute. We had music too and Jace and I are deaf from it now because it was so loud in the cab. Oh well. The three girls in the back of the truck threw candy but ran out half way through the parade. So over all it was a good and alot of fun. Here are some pics. I saw alot of camera takin pics of the truck in the parade so maybe we will be famous! haha J/k. We also heard alot of What is SAPTA? It was great.

Tiffany Kelsy Sierra and Me

The not so cool looking banner on one side

The banner Jace and I made at midnight that everyone liked the most. :)

The other side of the trucks banner. Loved how none
of them matched each other.

Blackfoot Family Reunion and Demo Derby

This past weekend was the Merrell family reunion. It's in Blackfoot ID and is a really long drive for us especially with all the school stuff Jace and I have going on, but we decided to stretch ourselves thin and go up. It was alot of fun and I loved seeing the family but we are extremely tired. It wore us out. I only have time for a quick highlight of the weekend and had to get these cute pictures up of my hubby.

Highlight #1: Jace finally got to ride a horse for the first time. Unlce greg was so nice to saddle his horse Rose to let the kids and us ride. Anthony and Olivia had never ridin a horse before either so it was their first time too and they all loved it.

Highlight #2: The demo derby was very fun and had alot of good hits. Tailee fell asleep on my lap again this year too. I don't know how she sleeps through the noise but as she does it somehow. We saw one of the cars at the gas station when we got to Blackfoot and told the kids (Anthony, Chacen, and Tailee since they rode with us) that the car was going to the fair. Tailee told me that they were going there early so they could practice. Haha. Too cute!

Highlight #3: We got to eat yummy scone nuggets. I look forward to those every year. Hopefully we can make it next year so we can eat some more!

Highlight #4: It was good to see all my family. Wish they all lived closer and that we could make it up to see them more. Guess they will have to start taking advantage of our guest bedroom.

Well, that's all i have time more. Possibly more to come, depending on time. School is EXTREMELY busy.

Leading the horse. I love that hour heads are looking down at the poop.

Love this picture. Olivia's first time on a horse. She
started crying when the horse coughed and farted though.

Getting ready and learning how to "drive" from Uncle Greg

Jace's first time riding a horse. He looked so good. :)

Me and my Tailee

Jace is a pro now. :)

Anthony looking at the cows.

Cutest picture all day. I love my hubby and those sweet kids

Truck Update

Last Friday my boss gave me 2 free movie tickets for working so hard and filling in for people so Jace and I decided to have the date night we missed last Saturday from the truck dying. We got ready and Jace called Texas to put on names on the list again so we wouldn't have to wait. We decided to take Big Sexy too since he was fixed and had been working really good. We were so excited to have a real date night and to take the truck too, but we didn't make it out of the parking lot. We made it out of the parking spot and about 20 feet in our parking lot before Big Sexy died. I couldn't help but laugh since it was the same situation as last time just in our parking lot. Jace was able to pull off to the side of the parking lot out of the way and try to get it started again but no luck for a couple minutes. Big Sexy would start and run for about 20 seconds then die. It was like it was getting choked. But Jace was able to back it up finally into a parking spot. The longer he let it sit the longer it would run. So he let it sit a little bit, would start it, put it in reverse, and gas it. We are so glad it worked. It took about 35-40 minutes before getting the truck in a parking spot again but no one came out to see what we were doing and we were reving it up pretty loud and cars drove by too. What a rude world we live in. Even last saturday 3 cars pulled in the parking lot we were broke down in and one guy even waved but no one stopped to ask if we needed help. Our hood was up and the tonneau cover was up and nothing. Not even the 4 or so cops driving by stopped to help. Kinda made me sad to see how inconsiderate people can be.
Anyway, after getting the truck a the parking spot again we jumped in the car and went to Texas. The food was great and we didn't get sick since we thought maybe the truck was trying to keep us from eating there and getting food poisoning or something. We even had left over for lunch the next day. :) We saw The Switch which was really cute and funny. I enjoyed it lots. It was nice to have a fun evening even though Big Sexy still needs a new fuel selector valve.

Big Sexy Dies :( But LIVES!!!!!

So Jace and I decided to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner to celebrate/mourn the last Saturday of summer. We called in and put our name on the list to not wait in line around 6:30 then jump in the truck to head over. Jace had spent the day doing diagnostics on the truck to make sure it was ready for school so we drove Big Sexy to Texas but we didn't make it. On our way there Jace switched fuel tanks and a little bit after doing that Big Sexy died. Jace could push the gas and get a little reponse but then it was like the key turned off. Luckily Jace was able to turn into a parking lot just a block away from Texas. It was quite the trick getting the truck to turn since there was no power steering though. Sadly the parking lot we were in was a private parking lot. We call Ernie and Gail on all three of their phones and no answer. We called Grandma and grandpa to see if Ernie and Gail were over there but they weren't home and no one answered their house phone either. Then we noticed that Jace's phone only had 20% battery life left. Not good because you see, I didn't bring anything with me. I left my purse and phone at home so that no one would call and interrupt our dinner. Big mistake. We called as many people as we could before Jace's phone died and I wrote phone numbers down on an envelope in case we had to use someone else's phone. Long story short Uncle Mont came to our rescue and took us home to get the car and my phone. We had free towing within 15 miles so Big Sexy was towed home. I cried when I saw it loaded on the tow truck, but at least it made it home.
Jace was so worried about the truck that that night I woke up to him pushing my feet and the bed at 2 am. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I have to move it." I asked what?!? but he woke up enough to walk back around the bed, lay down, and go to sleep. He doesn't remember doing that but I thought it was cute. They couldn't put the truck all the way forward in the parking spot so it needed to be pushed up. I think Jace was trying to move the truck in his sleep and I was the truck I guess. He is a cutie.
Jace got the truck working again today and I love it. It was hard to share our one car with our crazy schedules. I guess the fuel tank selector was the problem. There was no pressure in the fuel line/tank so Big Sexy wasn't getting any gas. I am so blessed to have a smart hubby that keeps trying til he finds the problem then fixes it. He did so much research and talking to his Truck Friends online. I am just so proud of him for fixing Big Sexy. I love him so so much and Big Sexy. :)

On the tow truck. :(

In the wrong parking spot. :( The tow truck couldn't get Big Sexy in
it's normal parking spot so it went in the back of the parking lot. :(
At least she is home though.