New Years to Remember

Well life has been crazy busy but very blessed. Gisel and I had a random New Years Eve that we will never forget. It was 7:30 pm and Gisel had been sick so she just woke up from a little nap and I had just returned from the gym. She looked at me and asked "what should we do for new years?" After a few moments I decided to book a hotel room  up north (the Marriott discount is fun) and we randomly drove 30 minutes to the Renaissance North Shore Hotel where the front desk clerk was great and hooked up a free suite upgrade and we were able to settle in and have a nice dinner at Ruth Chris Steak House.

After that we decided to explore the hotel and had another random experience when we walked by a Pentecostal New Years Worship Service and they invited us in. As fellow followers of Christ we accepted the invite and had a blast. The music was loud, the shouting and praising was loud, and it was great to feel the faith and experiences of this congregation. Gisel had never seen people speaking in tongues and push people over to get the bad spirits out so that was something we will never forget. After that we capped the night with saying happy New Years to our families and watching the ball drop in New York! These are pics of us running errands on New Years Eve!

 

We have also enjoyed spending time with family and friends over the holidays in Chicago and in Texas!

Gisel's first companion from her missionary work came all the way from Australia to have some fun; Everyone asked if they were sisters. 

My dad and I had a guys weekend in Chicago when Gisel went to Utah!        

                                          

Thanksgiving was great with Uncle Jud coming up and some of Jessica's family coming in from Kentucky! Megan and Spanky also came up from San Antonio and Gisel's brother Zahir and his wife Aubree's family stopped by from Frisco, Texas to visit the Fort Worth, Zoo.

We also had some surprise visits from my BYU Idaho people with my old roommate Laif and his wife Janet stopping by for some pizza and then we ran into Gisel's old music teacher Brother Moore!

Christmas was great and pictures will come soon. I stayed for the weekend and Gisel was able to spend the week with my family where she beat everyone in bowling and had a blast catching up on movies!  

Life has been good and full of fun...oh and WE ARE HAVING A GIRL! April 26th is the big day! Thank you for all of your support and we send our love and best wishes for 2012.

Moving/New Jobs/Weddings/Good Times

Well it has been a while since we put a post up but life is great and busy. In the past few weeks we moved out of our sublease and Marriott put us up in a hotel for 10 days with our things in three different places. :) Part of that time we went to California for Gisel's sisters wedding! Congrates to Mariel and Sam Solesbee.

                                                                                              Their wedding was beautiful and it was great spending time with the Osuna's and Solesbee's. Sam  got us all free passes to DISNEYLAND and California Adventure. It was my first time to go to Disneyland and it was the most amazing time! Gisel said I was like a big kid the entire time and it was a blast. We drove these little go carts that go 40 mph for the bachelor party and then experienced a great wedding and reception for the beautiful couple! 

Cubs Game! FHE

After the ten days in the hotel Gisel and I moved into our new apartment with the help of our friends Brent and Todd! We love it! IKEA became a good friend of ours as we finally have a table, coffee table and TV stand! Gisel and I also both started new jobs! Gisel is a nanny for the cutest two boys who live right down the street and she loves it. She is also finishing classes online so she is a busy little lady. I am now a sales manager for Marriott and I work out of their regional sales office next to the O`Hare airport. A lot of training right now but it has been really fun. We have been to some great events and games thanks to groupon and last minute deals! The past few weeks we went to a pre-season Bears game, Andre Rieu concert, and we just had an

Andre Rieu

Bears Game 8th Row!

                                                                                                                 FHE at a Cubs game. Oh and yes before all this happened my boy Matt Hyatt came into town while my awesome brother Will was surprised by his wife Jess with tickets to Chicago for their anniversary! haha It was an awesome weekend! To sum all this up....life is blessed and beautiful. We have been very grateful to be in Chicago and though we do miss our family and friends back in Texas and BYU-Idaho we are grateful to be here!

Hugo's Frog Bar w/ Will and Jess

Big Matt Hyatt 

,

I LoVe 2 See ThE TeMpLe :)

So John and I were called to work at the nursery about a month and a half ago. There are about 13 kids and they all are really sweet. They always have their play time, then snack time, lesson, coloring and singing time! So this last Sunday during singing time, we were doing "I Love to See the Temple" and the kids always sing with so much enthusiasm and do the motions to the song, they are so cute! so there we are... John and I standing with the kids and they start singing:

"I love to see the Temple, I'm going there someday..."

Then John leans over (with a "making fun of" tone of voice) and he's like: "I already went Sssucker's!!!" hahahahaha it was the funniest thing! We couldn't stop laughing! He was so mean, haha I was just like, these poor kids are two years old and he is giving them a hard time cuz they haven't gone to the Temple! I wish I would've recorded it, hilarious! hahaha

Perfect picture for this post haha... (San Antonio Temple, after our sealing!)

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Our birthdays are only ten days apart, so my b-day was a week ago, on the 22nd, and it was soo much fun! His mom was still in town and she had been celebrating my b-day since she got here lol... then his dad came in town as well and we had a great week! For my b-day, John first gave me two great photo books, one of our engagement pics and one of our wedding pics! I literally cried when I saw them cuz they are just so precious! I just love him! He also rented a jet ski and it was awesome! (we didn't actually jet ski until Tuesday cuz a storm came that morning of my b-day, so then we just went to the hot tub which was fun as well) but when we jet skied it was crazy! i even drove it! i was going one mile per hour but what the heck it was so fun haha when John was driving I told him to be very careful to not drop me and he didn't but it was cuz I was holding unto him so tight! then his mom made me a big chocolate cake with M&M's on top cuz I'd told her that's how my mom made my b-day cakes when I was little :) so it was great! Then we all had lunch at the John Hancock bldng.. great view! then we went to the Navy Pier and rode one of the biggest and I think slowest haha ferris wheel ever! so fun! and also his mom (who wanted to kill me for making her do this) and I got on the wave swinger ride! lol then we went to see the musical West Side Story, and ate more, lots of cake and talked to my beautiful family back home and everywhere else and it was an amazing b-day! We also did the famous Chicago segway tour Tuesday afternoon

and it was so much fun but we felt so bad cuz a lady in the other group in front of us snapped her ankle on the segway! it was crazy! they were crossing the street and somehow she hit the light and I guess lost control and her foot got stuck under the segway and this thing kept on going with her foot under I guess and broke her ankle! the ambulance and fire truck came and it was crazy! I's so thankful that didn't happen to me! or John, I guess I'm just grateful we know how to drive a segway :) anyway... great times!

Let's Go to Bed Bath & Beyond!

So we were getting ready for John's mom to come into town the day before his birthday and we had recently bought a sectional couch from one of our neighbors in the top just above us. It was a really good deal, the couch is in really good conditions, except, this people had a dog that shed a lot, and even though they obviously cleaned the couch before they sold it, I still often find dog's hair on it and I can't really stand that! lol I told John I wanted to fix that, so he said that we will eventually get it reupholstered but in the meantime he was so sweet that he grabbed some rubber gloves and started cleaning it himself, (someone had told him you can get hair off like that) he did a great job, but it wasn't enough... sooo, last Monday, I had gone to Bed Bath & Beyond, (which with my mexican accent I often say Beth Bad & Beyond haha) earlier that day to get new shower curtains and while I was there I decided to look at furniture covers :) specially for couches! Didn't have much success and when John met me there we both decided to just get some chenille bedspreads to throw on the couch to cover it. I was so excited to get home and throw those things on the couch! so we did! We had bought two and realized our couch was bigger and longer than those blankets... it looked really ghetto haha... I wanted to go back and get one more to cover what was left of the couch... and to return the shower curtains cuz they weren't the right color! We looked at the clock and it was 8:45pm... so we both were like, "should we go back tonight? what time do they close? we're not gonna make it! yes we are... no we're not.. let's call to see what time they close..." LOL by that point it was already 8:50pm... we called and yes they closed at 9pm... we still kind of went back and forth for another 30 secs... and finally said.. ok.. lets go! so...

8:51pm- we get in the elevator... by this point John had said, "everything has to go perfect" and so far everything was going great! no one else got in our elevator so we went down 45 floors pretty quick!
8:52pm- We get to the car and start pulling out the parking lot...
8:53pm- We're finally driving... he was driving SO fast I was just praying he wouldn't run into anyone!
8:54pm- Still driving! haha... the momentum had gone way up and we started hitting all green lights! then I said "ok good! this means we're doing something right! Heavenly Father wants us to get there! Cuz yesterday we were hitting all red lights..." but then realized that we were on our way to Church yesterday hahaha... so that was just bad luck, not that Heavenly Father didn't want us to get to Church!
8:55pm- We hit our first red light.. and lots of traffic, and still 2 blocks away... so, I get out of the car and start running like someone was going to take my life away and John rolls down his window and starts yelling "run run run!! hurry! you can do it!" hahaha and everyone starts watching us and I'm just laughing as I'm running! it was hilarious!
8:57pm- I'm way out of breath but I made it to Bed Bath & Beyond and exchanged curtains and got my other blankie! LOL

Funny part of the story... we ended up not using those chenille bedspreads cuz they leave a lot of fuzz! hahaha... oh wow!

Happy Birthday John John!

So a week ago, on July 12th was my hubby's birthday and it was such a fun day! I woke him up singing happy b-day and made him some strawberry shortcake! Then his mom and I had a sailing boat trip planned for him that morning, it was a surprise! We all took a cab to the harbor and he was like "where are we going!?" We finally got there and he looved it! it was soo fun! a rented a little charter and we had a guide and we just sailed for two hours on lake Michigan! so cool! Then we came home and I had planned a surprise b-day party for him that evening with some of our friends here in Chicago. It was kind of fun and exciting planning it all without him knowing anything... I thought I had it all planned like a week and a half ago but then a week before his b-day he gets home and tells me he got that day off so that complicated things and I didn't know what I was going to do to prepare everything that day without him knowing what was going on! I figured it all out, everyone showed up to the party right on time for the surprise, and had party poppers for when he came in lol, it was great! we had lots of food! pizza, cake, ice cream and it was all so good! He was reaaally surprised which made me happy! My baby is now 26 :) he is such a big boy! haha he is doing great with his job and hopefully we'll find out soon if we're staying in Chicago or not! But I think we will! His mom is in town and we are just having soo much fun! I love being in the Merrifield clan! :) They are great!

Happy 4th of July!

Our first 4th of July together was awesome! John fortunately didn't have to work so we went shopping in the morning trying to find a dress for my sister's wedding, then we came home and made some delicious turkey burgers! Then we wanted to go play tennis but decided to go rent some bikes instead and that was really fun! it was the perfect day for riding bikes!

We rode all along the lake and the beach, took pictures and then met some friends and walked to the pier and played some frisbee while we waited for the fireworks show! Then we all came to our little place and had ice cream, chips and salsa and it was a fun fun day! I love being able to spend time with my hubby and do all this fun stuff together. I thought I wasn't gonna be able to see him all day yesterday, since I had to go work (babysit) earlier than usual, before he went to work, and then I had a lot of other stuff to do so, when I got back he was already at work, and didn't get back til late at night, (10:30) but somehow we always make it work so we met for dinner just right across his hotel at a great McDonald's :) He looked so cute and handsome in his little Marriott suit, which there's really nothing little about it, my baby is pretty big lol... so I made up a song for him last night... "You make my day, you make my night, you make every minute of my life, I love everything you do, and that's why I-LOVE-YOU!!! lol... it was really late at night and I was too hyper so don't judge me lol I don't remember the tune of the song or anything else, I just know we both fell asleep after I sang it a couple times haha, good times!

FuN DaTe NighT!!!

John and I had a great Saturday yesterday! We slept in, which felt so good cuz all this last week he started working at 6am so we were up super early... but yesterday I had gotten us a deal to go bowling, it was 2 hrs of bowling for 2 ppl for only 15 dlls!! it was so fun! we made sandwiches and went to the Temple first and brought a change of clothes and then went bowling! We also played in the little arcade they have at the bowling alley, he got me a pink puppy from the claw machine, he is so good at those! we also tried to get a bag of chips from the vending machine but it got stuck! then the guy came to help us get it out so he put another dollar and 25 cents and tried again and got stuck again, so now there were 2 bags of chips caught in there (it seemed like they were gonna fall down but they were getting caught on the top, it was weird) and then he put another dollar and 25 cents and it got stuck again!!!!! so there were 3 bags of chips stuck in there, finally one fell down and so we got it and kept on bowling, but then we turned around and we see the guy beating up the vending machine trying to get the other 2 hahaha, it was really funny. He finally got them and gave them to us! :) it was really fun! n then when we were leaving there was this really amazing fireworks show! so we stopped and watched it sitting on the top of his car! it was like the perfect ending to our day! life is great, we love being in love! -the end :)

FuNny StoRy foR all oF yOu wHo miSseD ouR WeddiNg!

Ok, so the day before our wedding, we were all in San Antonio and John and I went with both of our parents to look at the place of the reception. I had just seen it in pictures. We brought the center pieces and arranged some stuff there and then we were trying to figure out where we were going to put our cakes! We had two cakes. The groom's cake was a square chocolate cake with dipped strawberries on top and on the sides, and my cake was round, white with light turquoise designs and soft yellow roses on the top... something like that.. they were huge! because we ordered cake for 300 ppl! So, anyway, we finally decided where to put the cakes, where they would both fit and just look very pretty! So the big day comes. We were happily married in the temple, and then it was time for the reception! We had mariachis and everything was so perfect! We didn't have a line, so my dad starts playing the wedding march as John and I come in! It was so cute, everyone's clapping and then I quickly looked to my right where the cakes were, and I see this little cake, almost like a birthday cake, and I just thought "oh! for some reason I'd imagine my wedding cake bigger than that, in fact, much bigger than that!" but whatever, with all the greeting and excitement I didn't pay too much attention to it, but later on when everyone is having dinner, Jess, my sister in law comes laughing and she says: "did you hear what happened to your cakes??... They were stolen!! These are not your cakes!!" so Im just like, ohhhhh wow! LOL So our cake lady was delivering our cakes, but she stopped to deliver a cake before ours and left the van running for the AC, so our cakes wouldn't go bad I guess and someone steals the van!... with our cakes inside! CRRRAZY! I know! Who does that anyway? So those cakes were done in like 2 hours right before our reception! Until this day I don't know if the lady had them in the freezer and just pulled them out or I don't know how she pulled that off but despite the fact that those were not our wedding cakes, still, she decorated them how we'd asked her, except, there were no strawberries on the chocolate cake, but anyway, they tasted soooo delicious! Im not kidding! Best chocolate cake ever! lol Whoever went to my wedding can agree with me! I was SO surprised! It was a very funny experience, we told the story when we were giving the toast and we were all just laughing! Great memories! It was a very fun and special day! Loved it :)

Grooms Cake... This is exactly how our cakes were going to be,  and they were, just a smaller version LOL...  

And this was my cake, except round and in the colors I told you... light turquoise and soft yellow roses...  very pretty!

Happy 2 Months of Marriage!

John and I have been married two months today. In these two months we have learned to enjoy life even more! I am extremely grateful for the man I married. He makes me the happiest woman every day, he makes me smile every day. I have lots of things I need to work on but I am trying to be the best and perfect wife for him. Our first two months have just flown by! It seems that it was just yesterday when we were in San Antonio, that was a blast by the way! We enjoyed staying in San Antonio for a couple days after our wedding, still not knowing where we were gonna end up living! Then we decided to not go to Rome, Italy, for our honeymoon, because there was a chance that I could get deported back to Mexico, (I am not illegal by the way, :) I am just here under a student visa but since I got married my status changes so I can't leave the country until that is fixed!) so we just said, "Why even risk it? Let's go to Hawai!!!" and Hawaii was the perfect honeymoon!! We went parasailing, kayaking, snorkeling, dinner cruise and it was just amazing! Then by that point we already knew we were going to come to Chicago for his work and got lucky and found a great area and apartment to live in and after we flew back from Hawaii, the next day we flew to D.C. to visit the Foulgers! His Mission President and wife and that was so much fun too! 3 days later we packed up our stuff... which was kind of already packed from all that traveling we had done, and drove to Chicago baby! And here we are, loving married life. Can I just say the I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!! We are SO blessed! We have the love and support from our families and friends and that's just priceless :) Life is just getting better and better! Two months of marriage baby and moving on strong!

We are back! yes we are!

After two months... or three... we're back! and would love to share our fun times with ya'll again! So we are just living it up in Chicago, we love it! John works 10hrs a day at the JW Marriott in downtown Chicago and he is just rockin it! He is I have to say, the best manager in the entire world. Besides the best husband, and the best man, my best friend, and the best I've ever had! We live in the 45th floor in a great area right by Millennium park where there are events going on every day, its so much fun! We are just loving it! I just wanted to start giving ya'll some updates, John put me in charge of our blog so, if you don't hear from us again, you know who to blame, but that won't be necessary.. I hope :)

Marriott Here We Come!

So John had been applying for lots of different jobs everywhere and a few weeks ago he had a couple phone interviews with Marriott Hotels (for their management program) which they all went great and they flew him to LA last weekend for a final interview and so we've just been waiting to hear back from them to see if he got the job or not! so today he picks me up from school and Im making lunch (tuna fish with salsa and lemon.. nothing fancy.. but its really delicious! u should try it some time! and mexican rice :) so then he starts saying a prayer and in the middle of it he decides to throw in "and Im grateful that I got the job with Marriott..." so it took me about a second to process what he'd said while I stood there with my mouth open and a face of "what the heck" and "that's awesome" and "why hadn't he told me anything!?" and after processing that I started hitting him as he finished praying... LOL! it was awesome! right after his prayer of course I shouted with joy! so proud of my baby and so happy for us! I am so in love with him, he's the love of my life, he's the apple to my pie, the straw to my berry and the one I wanna marry! lol... looove him! We are excited for everything thats coming up! Our wedding is in 30 days exactly! cant wait! Life is good!

A month away!

Well the big day is only a month away now! It has been really busy with everything going on. Gisel found out that she still has 14 credits to finish school but she is a saint and will finish well. Life is good and we are excited for the next step. Gisel is always great at having something funny to say or do. The other day we went and saw Alfie Boe in concert...the guy is incredible! He is the lead in Les Mis and if you youtube him you will see. We had a chance to meet him and he sang "Some Enchanted Evening" and then said it was for us after he finished singing. Great performer! Gisel is also singing in the LDS General Conference choir for the Saturday Afternoon session if you have a chance to watch. Hopefully the camera will zoom in and show off her pretty face :). Anyway thank you for your love and support. All is well in Rexburg!

 Alfie Boe in concert! Second Row

 The three Osuna girls after Mariel's performance. Mariel, Aubree, and My Baby

Skype Date while I was in LA

Tyler Moss, Me, My cousin John Prichett and Dallas Jaussi on the set of the new Spiderman movie coming out next year. My cousin John does sound for Movies! Great time. 

March Madness!

So Gisel and I are filling out our March Madness Brackets! It is really funny to hear here choices. I have not given her any tips on teams but for example to pick between Penn State and Temple she said, "Oh I served my mission in Temple Square! I will choose that one." Then for Tennessee vs. Michigan she said,"Oh I lived in Tennessee!" haha. She is my beautiful lady! Well see who wins!

Some Recent Pics!

Road Trips! Its what we do

Just enjoying the ride.

Yes we are on a camel 

Yes she is a cutie! This is from a fashion show she was asked to be in. 

Listen to this playlist: Lovin My Boo

The Perfect Fortune Cookie!

So Gisel and I had a long day after finding out she still might have 24 credits to take at BYU-Idaho when for months we were told she would be able to graduate but that is a whole other story :). So we decided after working out to grab some chinese food. When we were ordering our food the waitress asked if Gisel wanted fried or white rice and I insisted on white rice (because its healthier) and Gisel went along with a smile. When the food came out Gisel said how she did not like the white rice and so no biggy we received some nice fried ride (not as healthy). Now this was no big deal at all and I said sorry for pushing the white rice and she started poking fun at me for being too much of a health nut. I said she would appreciate that in the long run ;) but of course Gisel is a very healthy girl too and just wanted fried rice for the night. haha. So as we were having this fun discussion at the dinner table and laughing the waitress brought us our bill and THE FORTUNE COOKIES. I opened mine and it has no relevance to me or my life and then Gisel could not help but shout and smile as she opened the perfect fortune cookie at the perfect moment. "YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT ANSWERS, PEOPLE JUST HAPPEN TO ASK YOU THE WRONG QUESTIONS." haha Well she was really happy about that one and saved the fortune for every future conversation we will have. :) Good times in good old Rexburg.

Talent Show!

I wish we had a video of it but I recently signed up Gisel and myself for my ward talent show. She is really talented so I figured we could share that :).  Well we get there and there is like 100 people which was much more than we expected but the show must go on.  We get on stage and I introduce both of us and have everyone cheer then I say I am going to play a song for Gisel on the violin (I was holding Gisel's), everyone thought that was sweet but then I said I can't play in front of her because I get embarrassed so I made her go behind the curtain.  People thought that was funny but then I said I was cold so I went back there to get my coat and the curtain opened to find me putting on my coat backwards and Gisel trying to squeeze her arms in my coat behind my back like its my arms.  It was really funny because I had to squat more and more in the most awkward pose so that she could fit her arms and actually hold the violin to play. hah Everyone had a laugh and she proceeded to play twinkle twinkle little star while I sang and had everyone sing along.  It was a good fun time. Then I introduced her as someone who really can play the violin and she rocked a song she had memorized and it was really fun.  What I noticed is how much I love how we play off each other and work together...looking forward to life!

Engagements Video!

This is the video of our engagements taken by the one and only Julie Cope! Its a cool video and I hope you enjoy it. My mom recorded the video from her phone and it worked out great. www.juliecope.com

The Good Stuff

Well life is good in Rexburg, Idaho. I am getting some interest in the applications I have been throwing out there for work.  Gisel has a concert coming up next week and Momma Merrifield is coming into to town on Thursday! Life is good. Gisel keeps up the funny jokes all the time and knows how to make me smile. The biggest hurdle for the wedding is the invitations. haha. We have been trying to find a good fit and I think we are doing pretty well now. My mom has been amazing in this process. We are having a party at my parents house in Texas if you are around on the 23rd of April and then the wedding on the 29th. Let the good times role.