ABOUT

Hello! I’m Jaycee and I am so happy you’re here.

I’m a wife, a mom to three, and my favorite color is yellow. Welcome to my teeny, tiny, cozy corner of the internet.

Here’s a little bit more background about me.

I was born in Utah and raised in a little valley with one high school, no stoplights, and at least twice as many cattle as people. I grew up loving to read and sing, loving the outdoors, and loving to be with my family. I was also raised as an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and my religion and relationship with God are still a huge part of my life today.

I served a mission for my church from 2016-2017 in Sacramento, California and it changed my life. I returned home after fulfilling 10 months of my 18 month call, due to a complete rupture of the ACL in my right knee.

I met my sweetheart, Colter, in the fall of 2017. Our first date was on Halloween night and we were married one year later (almost to the day). Colter is my best friend and a huge reason that I write this blog. (It was actually his idea).

Colter and I are parents to Calvin, Della, and Dorothy. Calvin is four years old, loves to build things, and has been obsessed with anything that has wheels for years. Calvin is also autistic. Della is two years old, would play catch all day long, and never runs out of energy, especially if she’s using that energy to test boundaries. Dorothy is our new baby and surprised us at birth with an extra 21st chromosome AKA Down syndrome. Be expecting a lot of blog posts about the things we’ve been learning as she has joined our family. I write a lot about my experiences with motherhood and all of the adjustments I’ve had to make with each child.

The five of us live in a 3-bedroom apartment in a smallish city in Northeast Wyoming. I am a stay-at-home mom to my cute kids and I absolutely love it. It is my dream job for sure. Colter is working in network management for our city and studying to receive his degree in Cybersecurity and Network Management.

I love to read, take and edit pictures, binge-watch Netflix, write this blog, organize things, shop on Amazon, and be outside, just as long as I have sunscreen on. I learned to knit about a year and a half ago and am definitely obsessed. I’ve also recently starting getting into High Fit and I’m really enjoying it.

About the Blog

I started Barrel of Merrells on the suggestion of my husband. He said that I was a good storyteller and that he thought I would enjoy having somewhere to express all of my thoughts and opinions. Especially since I have the tendency to talk his ear off about everything on my mind when I’m standing in the kitchen after we get home from work.

My goal here is to give anyone with an internet connection the chance to see into my world and to view the world around us through my eyes. I have a long history of only seeing the negative side of things, but I’m working to change that. I want to be honest about how I see things, positive about the constant changes in my life, and authentic in the way that I write about the ups and downs of my journey. I also have a lot of opinions on a lot of different subjects and I am not a concise person…in speaking or in writing. So gear up for some long-winded reads!

Here at Barrel of Merrells you will find posts about good days and bad days and God and food and marriage and motherhood and hacks and special needs and whatever else I happen to have an opinion on. It’s all here and it’s all authentically me.

Also, I’m aware the pictures on this page need to be updated. I’ll get to it soon…I hope.