Merry CHRISTmas!

2 posts in less than a week?! WOW- I'm shocking myself! :D I just wanted to put a Merry Christmas wish out into the cyber universe. I caught President Monson's talk from the Christmas Devotional on BYUtv last night and it sure made me think about the true meaning of Christmas. It is something I have struggled with in teaching my children. Children get so excited about the gifts and the lights and the gifts and the treats...did I mention the gifts? :D I love the gifts too- don't get me wrong, but I want to instill in my children a pure spirit of Christmas- not the commercialized spirit of gimmegimmegimme! So since Christmas is on a Sunday this year, I decided it was the perfect set up to have an activity each day leading to Christmas from Mon-Sat that helped keep Christ in our hearts and in the front of our minds this season. Here are a few things I found that I plan on doing.
In my search for traditions that are Christ centered around Christmas I found a wonderful story - http://www.haberstich.com/ChristmasStory.htm that explains the symbolism of our everyday Christmas symbols, but how they represent Christ.
Another idea I found was to give Christ gift for his birthday. So we are going to write down things that we can "give" to Christ- like doing service for others this year, praying EVERY day, being kind to everyone, and so on so forth.
Of course baking cookies for the neighbors is also on our list, and watching a nativity video from the churches website.

I don't know if anyone else has had this dilemma, but if so I hope maybe these ideas helped you too! I can't help but cry every time I see a video of the Nativity. It touches my heart in  away that overwhelms me ,and I think it must be my spirit rejoicing at the memory. I love this time of year because of all of it's beauty and mostly because of our beautiful Savior and all he has done for us. I want all of you to know that I KNOW he came to earth and I know he will come again! He loves us all and if we open our hearts to him, and forget ourselves and our wants this Christmas that he will fill our souls with the the true meaning of Christmas! god bless you and keep you all this Christmas season my friends!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Home Sweet Home

Not yet, but in about 6-7 months we will have our very own home sweet home! We are participating in a program that goes through the rural housing development corporation, and the USDA, where you and a bunch of other families ( we have 9 families) build each others houses together. So for about 6-7 months, 35hrs a week we will be out building our first home here in Payson right next to the new Payson Temple! Can you say excited? EXCITED!!! We just signed all the papers yesterday, and January sometime is when construction shall begin! And for those of you who love us SO MUCH, we need volunteers!!! Volunteers help us get our 35 hours each week, and get us closer and closer to finishing our house sooner. So if anyone would like to come wield a hammer with us some time let me know! We would love to have you! I will make sure to update and show off our progress as the next few months go by, but go to http://www.rhdchome.org/ to see more about what we are doing. I would post our house plan, but it is in PDF form...hmmmmmmmm. I'll figure it out :)

WooWooWoo look who's Two!!

So my little man turned 2 today! TWO!!! It's was a snowy day today, but I remember 2 years ago bringign my little Jax home on a sunshiny day to meet his big sister. I remember Riley changing his bum, him crying, and Daaelynn looking at me like she was going to cry too LoL It was funny having to explain to her that he wasn't hurt- he just didn't like a cold butt, and crying was how he let us know! So much has changed, but I am just as in love with my little boy today as I was 2 years ago holding that sweet baby.

 He loves to dance, he loves candy ( oh greeeeaaat!), he loves his big sister, and playing crazy kids with her, and he is his daddy's boy- loves his "vroom vrooms" AKA cars :D What I love is getting Jaxie kisses- even if I have to pout to get them sometimes, his enthusiasm- he just jumps around all excited and ready to go, and his little sense of humor that makes me day! Thinking about my little ones growing up makes me want to cry, but I love seeing the people my children are becoming! I hope that I can be the kind of mother they deserve, and they will know how much I love them forever!

Freebies2deals!

So I have a few deal sites I follow, but one of my faves is freebies2deals. She is a local Utah girl so she always has the best Utah only deals around PLUS online and nationwide deals! I have scored so many great deals including 2 fandango tickets for $9-$10! I've done it several times and can you say Harry Potter opening week and Eclipse? I just snagged 2 more and have them reserved for Breaking Dawn the Sat after it opens! $5 to see a spanking new movie? Heck yah! I've even already shopped for Christmas ( no hating!) I got Sorry adn the Game of Life for $4 each, a stuffed Alice doll (18inches) for $6 (shipped) from the Disney store, $10 Kinex box of 325 pieces ( free to store shippint), and FREE mag subscriptions like Better homes and Garden, Woman's Day and Car and Driver for Riley.

The long and short of it is- if you haven't checked her out or gotten into the groove of $ saving yet you gotta go visit Melea! Freebies2deals.com!

Time to Revisit :)

So remember my post last October about finding who Megan is? Well I think this has to be a yearly thing lol Because again I got frustrated with myself today...:( Boo! I went to Micheals and had a bit of buyers remorse hehe! SO I re-read my last post, evaluated it, and have discovered some very interesting results.

I am still a funny girl, an avid reader ,an artist, a chill mom, anda tom boy! I am still working on not neglecting my art ( part of the frustration btw :D) I have added at least one thing to my AM list though. I am also a student now- I enrolled in UVU this semester for 2 classes. I am enjoying it even though one of the classes is math! Blah!  I am also working on  a Health class, but I need to crack down on that a bit more- it is an online class so i am schedualing myself.

I'm still not a girly girl, thin ( DAMN!) :D,  super mom, or a super crafter. The last one is still on my struggle list, and I am setting up a plan to rectify it. I think I get involved in too much, and some things have to give when that happens. And although I am not super mom I am ironically on the PTA now hehe! I do the birthday board at Daae's school now. And I get up at 7:30 AM now people! LoL That is amazing people! Like the world has slipped into an alternate dimension!

And then there was the I want to become list. The first was a better daughter of God. I am happy to say that in the last year I have improved :) And Jaxon asks to say prayers and puts his little hands together, and says "Mamen" :D So if that isn't a step in the direction of building a stronger spiritual family I don't know what is! It's dang cute too LoL I do have a whole lot farther to go, but line upon line right?
I also wanted to be a better mom, and a better Megan as well. I think I have improved here too, but I do also have much more to work on!  Especially the figuring out the "things" I want to do and the things I need to pass on.

So here is my update! I am so glad I relooked up that post because I have felt like I was slipping back into the Who am I? mode. AH refreshing!!!!

Hello There!

I love how my blog has suffered for the summer LoL Suffice it to say that we have been busy little bees! Between getting Riley back in tip top shape, work, getting all my school stuff going on, and our summer to do list we have had a full summer. so here is a little photo montage of our summer exploits!

Splash Park!

Happy 24th of July!

Feed the Duckies!

Happy 6th birthday Daaelynn!

A Tinkerbell beauty set! Yeah!

Hello you Handsome Devil you!

Swinging at the park!

Bye bye cookies!

Happy 4th of July with cousins! ( and the LAST day Jax nursed btw :D )

Dancing at Aunt B's wedding!

Jaxon's first camping trip!

Holy T-Rex at BYU's paleontology museum!

Swimming at Payson pool!

Hi baby cow at Thanksgiving point!

Howdy farmer Jax!

Phew! We had a lot of summer fun, and we're not done yet! School is starting tomorrow, but we've still got some summer fun left to get to :) Well off to bed I must go to get up at 7:45.....I want to cry! LoL More back to school pics to come! 

Blessings!

So it's been a little while since I checked in. And things have been going along very well here in our home! Riley is doing great! He is healing nicely and even startted going back to work on Monday- he was getting stir crazy! I can't believe it was a month ago that we were doing Dr. appointments and finding out he was goign to have open heart surgery again. In that time we have had SO MANY blessings! And this post is to name all those blessings by name. Heather watched our kids as we left to go to the ER, and then IMC. Our Bishop met us at the ER and gave Riley a blessing. Riley's Uncle Scott has an AWESOME wife! She used travel points she had to put us up in a hotel close to the hospital for 2 nights, and my wonderful dad put us up for one. It was a HUGE blessing to be that close to Riley. My little sister, Anisa, came and stayed with me the Thursday- Sunday that Riley had his surgery and helped me with my lil Jaxie when he couldn't go into the ICU. Marci and Chad and the kids hosted my lil girl for the whole weekend, and Jaxon for a night- He broke though, and needed Mommy after one night LoL Riley's retro Ride buddies went ABOVE and BEYOND and jumped my battery the day it died at the Dr's office, then took it and fixed the AC compressor, and replaced the battery- and charged Riley nothing! Nothing!!! They are so wonderful! Our wonderful ward brought in dinner, and have helped us so much with the trials we've been given. Riley had several wonderful friends come and see him- Justin, Jeremy, and Rob. Riley's parents were an awesome support as well! Between rides up to the hospital, helping us when I had to go back to work, and taking care of some burdens that seem small, but really were huge- they have been wonderful. My parents are not physically here, but the emotional support, the daily phone calls and concerns, and helping with other obligations as well, have been invaluable to me! And then the support and prayers of our other family and friends have been felt and appreciated! And of course Heavenly Father for placing these amazing people into our lives. And helping us ( mostly me!) have faith in hard times. I know I will need it more and more as we go on with life. Thank you all so much again. We love you all!!!!

Oh My! Hello Irony!

WoW! So fun reading my last blog! LoL Well I guess I do actually have good things to report. My family and I had to wade through a whole lotta crap before we got to the good stuff, but sometimes that is what you need to happen to see all the good and all the miracles in your life.

So you know that ultrasound that my husband had? Well the ultrasound turned into a MRI and the MIR turned into a phone call to get my hubby to the nearest ER because they thought he had an aortic dissection ( blood is leaking between the layers of the aorta). EEK!!!! I looked it up...and probably went as pale as a ghost because I read that if the aorta ruptured there was a 80% mortality rate. Not the best moment in my life, just the opposite actually! So they life flighted him to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray and did a CT scan. The good news was that it was not an aortic dissection...the bad news is it was an aortic aneurysm, and there would be the same conclusion if it ruptured. His condition was urgent, but could wait a day for the Dr.s there to prepare to do open heart surgery and replace the aorta and the aortic valve with a mechanical graphite one.

So Thursday the 12th was probably the WORST day of my life so far. I was a bit of a wreck and my husband was scheduled to go into surgery the morning of the 13th...Friday the 13th btw :D After a blessing on him and on me I did feel much better though! I don;t know if you know what goes into doing a surgery like this, but it is a scary thought! There is a lung and heart machine involved, and blood draining, and cooling the body into suspended animation! Craziness and pretty scary!! But after everything he came out of it fine and is on his way to recovering right now. It will be quite a few weeks and months before I expect him to be tip top again, but I am just grateful he is here!!! And I will tell you that God has had his hand in this the entire time. I am amazed at how he has worked this in our lives. I know that we will have more trials come our way from this, but I am just blessed to have my husband and the father of my children here with me. I hope that we can live many many MANY more years with each other. For everyone who has helped and supported us- THANK YOU!!! We have AMAZING family that was able to help us, and an amazing ward that has already been such a comfort, and has offered so much! I am sure you will hear more from me as we get him home and settled! Till then keep us in your prayers, and check out how happy this little guy was to see his daddy!!

I'm Done

So my hubby has bronchitis, and also gets to go have an ultrasound of his heart tomorrow just to make sure it's ok. My son ran a temperature of 100-104.5 most of yesterday, and all of last night while I played the part of human pacifier, and temperature checker every hour- I got TONS of sleep!!! And I am about ready to delete my facebook because people are annoying me. These go in order of concern BTW- the facebook thing is a minor poo compared to the 1st two things! I am just worried and tired...and tired... and have no motivation for anything!!!! On a good note Jaxon has been fever free today, but way whiny and insistent on nursing whenever he gets a notion to do so :p GRRRR But Daae and I seem to be healthy! At least that is a little sunshine through the clouds! Hopefully I will only have good things to report next time!

Hello!!!

Hi there! Nope I didn't drop off the face of the earth :) I did however drop off the "loose weight" band wagon over our little vacation. Funny I worked out with my mom while I was down there but I drank about 6+ Dr. Peppers in a 3 day period- WOOPS!! And then I got home and I don't know if it was post vacation blues or weighing myself and realizing that I had gained weight over vaca, BUT I slacked off last week in a bad way. Which brings us to this last week! I'm getting better and back on the wagon! And although Vegas put some weight on me we had a great time! We went to the scary suspension bridge over the Hoover Dam- AH!!!!!!! I am not a heights person- I only got out there about a 1/4th of the way before I was ready to scoot back onto solid land! And there is about a 4 1/2- 5 foot railing on this thing! That's it!!!!!!!! SCARY!!!!!

We also went to my parent's Friday night date spot- the pinball place! I seriously think we need one here in Utah because it was way fun! I am planning on saving up for my own lord of the rings pinball machine for my basement someday...when I have a basement... :D
Jaxie riding in the car at the pinball place


We also went to the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef and saw all the fishies and petted some Rays- they were slimy, but oh so cute!!!!! I think Daae got a good kick out of the whole thing, and Jax enjoyed it when he finally woke up! Daae and the Big blue fish!

And fortunately both plane rides were very mellow and easy going... except when we were delayed by 3 hours going to Vegas- PAIN!!!! We were sad to go home though :( I REALLY wish my parents lived up here! REALLY! and my mom sometimes reads this blog so I am hoping she sees this! Hi Mom!!!! :D

Week 3- Woo!

Well I am getting pretty good at posting each week thanks to the attempted weight loss. I can say that I worked out more consistently this week and I have my personal trainers to thank for that AKA Daae and Jaxon! They are dancing FOOLS!! LoL Daaelynn is always asking me to do dance exercises with her and she is sure motivating! It was a better week this week for the emotional eating. I totally gained back the lb and a few after I posted last- conference eating! Doughnuts killed me! But I think I am back to the 1 lb lost- still haven't got the scale thing going :P and I probably will gain some more this upcoming weekend and not have a scale still LoL We are heading to VEGAS BABY! WooHoo!!! We really need to go visit my parents and with spring break and all it was a good time. But it seems like whenever we go down there 1/2 the trip is based on what we want to go eat! We don't have some of our Vegas favorites up here so we tend to try to get all those goodies in while we are down there. My mom had the wii dance game as well though so we will have to play it with her. So there it is my friends and on a very RANDOM side note I have a picture to share! This was taken a few months ago and it is seriously just awesomely fun. We were talking some friends about it tonight and I thought it would be good for a laugh- Jax will WAY hate that I have this picture later in life hehehe! have a great week everyone!!!

Week 2 and Conference

So week 2 was kinda rough! I was having an emotional up and down week, and that didn't bode well for my weight loss efforts. Yes...I am one of those emotional eaters. There is no feeling sugar cannot heal...well except the feeling of being too fat LoL You only think it helps till you're done eating a gallon of sherbet then the guilt- OH the GUILT! It wasn't too horrible though. I am still down 1 lb, but I need to get a better way of weighing myself. At work there is a scale we cheat and use, but it is a scale for laundry LoL Sooooo I really need to get my wii fit game up and running so I have a scale here at home. But all in all I've been doing better than I have in past, and my lovely sister in laws and I are going to do a self made weight watchers thing with each other, AND my hubby hopefully is buying a bike this weekend and we can pull the kids around and go biking about the neighborhood. So we are still on the way to a healthier Meggie! Second is I just got done listening to part of the 1st session of general conference. I only caught the very last talk all the way through, and I loved it. I have felt the stirrings of wanting to do service and implement it into my life consistently for quite some time. I think soon I will be on the hunt for something I can do each month that will serve others. One that I wanted to do when Jax was little was Meals on Wheels- they take meals to widows and home bound people, but Jax was a newborn and I didn't think dragging him around int he car would be fun for him lol But I think I'm going to re-look into doing that. It is one of those things that touches my heart, but also makes me get out of my comfort zone. But that is what makes us stretch and grow like a muscle. You gotta tear it up a bit, but it grows back stronger each time! I'll have to keep you updated on that project too. I look forward to what the next 3 sessions bring- I'm excited for conference! I must be growing up! :D Hope you all can listen in too! Peace out!!!

Week 1 and some Sat night fun!

Well first off I had a pretty good workout and watch what I eat week to start out. I might have killed it with a little of the Saturday fun, but hey- I needed some fun! I did my dance workout 3 times, and walked my daughter to school on one of the nice days :) I also kept track of everything I ate till Friday on my iPhone. SO I am starting at my 0lb lost or gained- let us see what I can post next week! Now for Saturday! I had a girls night! WOOT WOOT!! I love escaping for a while to chill and be a crazy lady! I went out with my Husband's boyfriend's wife...yes you read that right :D but aside from being car widows together we are buds too! She has a 4 month old so she needed the break too! We went and saw Red Riding Hood, and it was pretty good. I am totally shallow when it comes to movies. Give me a "happily ever after" anytime! And I am WAY bad at guessing the outcome LoL I'm the one who totally didn't see THAT coming! So after eating popcorn, drinking a Dr P, and a candy bar ( Yaaahhhhhh not helping the weight thing, but hey) and drooling over the 2 hotties in the movie- OH YAH! We went and grabbed a Jamba Juice AKA heaven in a cup! And we were kinda crazy and gave the cashier an alias instead of our real names HEHEHE! Next time we're planning for another crazy Jamba night- like break out into a fake fight! We're planning another escape in April so if you have any ideas send them my way! Till then!!

For REALS this time!

So my little sister is getting married! :O Say what?!?!?! Yep- Anisa Marie is getting married this summer my friends. But as much as I love my sister this post is not about her :D hehe This post is about how in 4 months I am going to have to be in a dress (I'm more a skirt and shirt gal) and there will be photographic documentation of this event! These two factors together have made me decide that I am doing it for REALS this time! Doing what you may ask? Oh you knooowwww! The big loose the weight battle! I am hoping that this time I can get it done because I now have an event that would be great if I lost some weight for AND a deadline! So here is the deal. I am going to find the time to blog every week and keep a sort of accountability record here for all to see....crap :) I don't like to disappoint people (unless it is me! That's ok!) so maybe if I feel like I have people rooting/counting onme I'll actually make this happen.

SO- the plan! I'm not going to be telling you my weight because I'm not quite there LoL Instead I will tell you the amount I am thinking I can loose in 4 months... 15-20lbs. And this I would be happy with in a 4 month period! And every week I will give you a running total of how many lbs I am down- not up! I plan on exercising M-F to my Just Dance game, to eat out way less and cook more at home, I have a food intake and exercise app on my phone that I will be utalizing, and for now Dr. Pepper is restricted to Friday and Saturday- I am going to try and work it out all together, but I think it is going to be a weaning thing.

If anyone has any tips of loving/harsh advice to give me I am ready! Let's go!!

wiggle wiggle

Hi there!!! So I know it happened almost 2 weeks ago, but guess who lost a tooth!? Hard guess huh? Daae Daae!!! She woke up one Sunday morning with a way wiggly tooth, and I swear it was firmly in there one minute and hanging on for dear life another minute! So after a week of checking the tooth every morning, one Friday I just popped that sucker out! She was jazzed! I totally forgot how much a tooth whole can bleed though! Thankfully it didn't freak Daae out. So we put the tooth in a cute little tooth bag I made, and the tooth fairy visited and left $.50 and a pack of bubble gun ( you know- to rot out the rest of the teeth :) Greedy freaking fairy!) I think I was just as excited as Daaelynn when her tooth was wiggly! The next tooth over is now loose too so we will be getting a visit again soon I am thinking! And let's hope her mouth gets bigger- her big kid tooth is kinda growing in behind her other teeth because it has no room! I have had a few veteran moms reassure me so I think we'll be alright. We will see!!!

WILL IT NEVER END!?!?!?

So guess what I've been doing today! No...not taking the kids to payless like I wanted to. Guess again! No no...not enjoying Jaxon's nap while Daae is off enjoying kindergarten. OK you give up right? I was preforming one of the lowly things of motherhood....cleaning up pukie. Oh yah! Miss Daae Daae woke up this morning and off we went with puking and what we call "squirty poops"...I am not fond of the clinical word that rhymes with mama mia :D And the poor thing has thrown up ALL DAY! Literally! There has been no breaks! If anything went into that little tummy it was back out within the hour. I am actually kinda worried about dehydration. We've been giving her pedialyte and she keeps asking for a drink but KABAM! Up it comes....DAH! So let up hope that in the morning she is feeling like keeping some food down. And back to my title...we have been sick for a month and a half- oh my! I seriously hope that we are packing it all into the beginning of the year just to feel wonderful the last 10 months! Cross your fingers for me and wish on a star!!!!

Sniff Sniff Cough Cough

Ah the melodic sounds of the Keele house! LoL my poor little blog has suffered and I am blaming illness- yep! The first 2 weeks of January I was knocked flat by the cold from hadies!!! It started with chills and shakes on a Monday and increased through the week to a lovely dazed and drugged up stooper on Saturday and Sunday- thank you crappy equate! And THEN attack of the killer sinus infection!!! Fortunately I got to take my kids to the Dr's on Friday ( Daae-cold and Jax- pink eye!) and my awesome pediatrician took care of the kiddos and gave me a sample of Dimeatapp to shake the infection- love that stuff and it didn't knock me flat!!! And although it shook THAT sickness Monday morning rolled around and so did a new cold! GEEPERS! So now my whole family still it all stuffy and sniffy and boogery....again/still! Fortunately Riley and I seem to be getting the brunt of it right now- I hate it when our kids are the really sick ones :p We sound like happily married froggies lol So hopefully this sickness works itself out quickly and we can get back to life and blogging! Wish us luck!!!!!