Our first posting!

Since so many of the Merrill kin has their own blog, which has nothing to do with the creation of our own blog, we are excited to announce this blog!

We made the big move from South Jordan, Utah to Sierra Vista, Arizona. Both Karalee and I were teachers, but I switched careers, to the Border Patrol, and Karalee is now a homemaker. We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our first child, a boy, at the end of June.

Absolutely you can prepare for an exciting blog (subject to Karalee's editing when I post) about the Utah Jazz, BYU, politics, the Mormons, and of course, our family.

Currently, we just rented a house in Sierra Vista. We like it a lot. It is a good location to commute to work and is very near to the business areas of Sierra Vista.

My co-workers give me a lot of guff for living in Sierra Vista, as opposed to the Tucson area. However, to justify our decision, Sierra Vista is closer to work and to a significant business area of a town than any other possible choices in the Tucson area. Also, the climate is quite mild compared to Tucson (and Salt Lake City, for that matter), we actually know a couple of people in Sierra Vista (My Uncle Si and Aunt Joan Boughan live here, as well as two of their eight children), it's a little cheaper here, and Sierra Vista isn't nearly as big as Tucson (which suits me well, since my hometown is home to 400 people--Tucson is home to over a million people while the Sierra Vista area is home to about 70,000), while it still has nearly all the amenities we desire. Perhaps we'll decide to move to Tucson, but the chances of that happening are very slim.

Karalee is very busy as a homemaker--doing things she dreads doing most: calling for services, doing taxes, etc. She enjoys teaching more than doing all these tedious errands! However, we're confident that once we're settled into the house the most tedious of errands will become a lot less frequent.

As far as my new job with the Border Patrol, I am being trained in all the various activities I will be assigned to complete as an agent. I am anxious to become a full-fledged agent so I can be better able to defend our American way of life.

We're like everybody--we love visitors. Some people say--if you're ever in ___________ don't be a stranger. Well, many of you have little reason to ever go to Sierra Vista. But, there is plenty to do here aside from just visiting us: Tombstone is nearby along with Kartchner caverns, Bisbee is a very artsy town, and Tucson is a little over an hour away, with such attractions as an air museum and national forest with all those Saguaro cacti. I'm sure that as we get to know the area more we'll discover even more attractions.