A Cold Night and a Warm Heart

Last night my husband and I were invited to see the lights at Temple Square with my sister and her family. Of course we couldn't resist an invitation to see the reactions of my sister's cute, little monkeys. They met at our house and waited patiently while I put on the layers of thermal, fleece, and cotton. Topped off with some synthetic goose down. The boys were so excited and kept asking when we were going to see baby Jesus.

We headed for the cars and the two year-old said to me, plain as day, "You guys going to follow us to the temple?" Off we went. We parked the car and got the kidlets piled into their plastic, Graco chariot. The boys looked so silly in their puffy, marshmallow coats, hats with ear flaps, and mittens that couldn't actually come down far enough on their wrist because of their coat sleeves. The two year-old look at me and said in his excited voice, "We're going to go in the TEMPLE." I was so sad to have to break the news that he couldn't actually go in the temple.

We walking around Temple Square and helped the boys reach all of the lights that they wanted to touch. They kept asking where baby Jesus was, which we were saving for the end. Finally, we began making our way to the nativity scene that lights up and has some narration and music that plays every few minutes. I was holding hands with the four year-old when we heard the music playing as we got closer to the nativity. He yelled, "Let's go see Jesus!" And he pulled me along even faster. It was at this point that I realized he might think that we were actually going to see the real baby Jesus. He kept pulling me and every now and then, he'd look up at me and ask, anxiously, "Where's Jesus!?" This pulled at my little heart strings and my eyes started to well up with tears. This little, innocent child and his brother don't know a lot of things yet in this life, but the all ready know the significance of Christ. He was so excited to see Jesus. That's all he really wanted to see the whole night. What a touching little moment. We have so much to learn from little kids. It's no wonder the scriptures urge us to be child like. I hope we can all find Jesus this Christmas season, whether it's on Temple Square or in our hearts.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A Time for Sharing

So the husby and I are looking for some new traditions to start this holiday season. We have only thought of a few so far. Those include:

• Exchanging new pajamas each Christmas Eve
• Sleeping under the Christmas tree (he doesn't care so much for this one... especially since we have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree)
• Making Dutch Babies Christmas morning (some family tradition from his father involving yummy pastries)

As you can see, our list is rather lacking.

What do you do?

What should we do?

I can't wait to hear your ideas!

I Have This Effect on People...

And just when you think you've figured it out....

Which reminds of a similar incident in the past...

And now you understand why...

A few people have asked me why I'm not wearing my mother's wedding dress.

Behold the answer....

Cloudy With a Chance of Me Seeing that Movie Again

Last weekend, I went with my entire family to see, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." Since there are so many wee ones in my family, I've accepted the fact that if ever we head to the theaters, we are going to see a silly, mildly entertaining kids' show. However, I am pleased to announce that I was pleasantly surprised by this movie! It delivered the perfect balance of silliness and action sequences for kids, and witty, not so obvious humorous elements for adults. I laughed— a whole lot. I was almost embarrassed at how much I laughed. Maybe it's my love for food and giant babies... I don't know. But I recommend this movie to YOU. And the good news is that it beat out, "The Informant" by almost tripling its revenue. Maybe America does still have morals, after all...

Of course, seeing this movie only made me EVEN MORE excited (if that's at all possible) for the upcoming release of another children's book-based movie! Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!

In other news, I am home from work, sick in bed. I sure love those little kidlets in my life... even when they carry communicable diseases. My immune system was most likely weakened by my weekend menu.

Saturday

Breakfast: Ben's Cookies

Lunch: Chadders

Dinner: Movie Theater popcorn and Little Caesar's Pizza

[Side note: This was my wedding dress shopping day. Maybe not the best idea I've ever had.]

Sunday

Lunch: Leftover Pizza

Dinner: Muddy Buddies and Turkey Steak

Nephews make the best dates

I wish everyone had a nephew. Nothing beats spending an evening with darling, intelligent, fun children that you get to drop off to someone else at the end of the night.

The boys chose to go to Maddox Drive-In, in Perry. They were so busy talking about worm holes, black holes, evolution, and dogs that we eventually had to leave ... and finish our food on the go. Yes, I took the next two pictures while I was driving on the freeway, in case you were wondering.

If you'd ever care to see the red cocktail sauce pictured here, you can see it embedded in the carpet of my car anytime. 

Then I had the bright idea of the Farr ice cream parlor in Ogden on the way home. But they had been there before. I don't know why I thought I would have been the first person to think to take kids there. (Sometimes I live in a dream world.) We accidentally ordered some HUGE portions of ice cream and ended up in sugar comas just trying to make it to the bottom.

[Aren't their smiles the cutest?!]

[Yes, I'm actually posting this super flattering photo. The boys said I needed a picture of myself, but I wouldn't let them hold my camera with their sticky hands (I know), and this is the awesome photography we ended up with.]

In other news:

In the past 8 days I have been called a brat/snob three times.

I was told by a boy that I don't feel and that there is a cold, dark cavity where my heart should go. 

I had an Emma moment last week. Not the kind to be proud of.

I celebrated Taco Tuesday on Wednesday at work, for which I made homemade guacamole dip (thank you, Erika!)

I went on my first bike ride of the summer, on the Legacy Trail with a great friend and my bottom only hurts just slightly today. I never knew I could be so excited about an un-sore bottom.

My cankles have subsided. I'm considering throwing a Welcome Home party for my real ankles. 

And a good friend encouraged me to not be so indecisive in life.

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

Thus, I have started making decisions. And we'll see where those go.

Don't Judge Me

For weeks now, I have been talking to my oldest niece about our date night. I had taken her older brother and cousins out on movie "dates" when they finished reading books that were made into movies. She was feeling a little left out because she hasn't learned to read yet. So I told her that she and I could go on a date of our own. She decided that she wanted to see a movie too. But not just any movie, the Hannah Montana movie. I begged, pleaded, and bartered with her to try to get her to choose something else... anything else! But she would not budge.

So a few nights ago, I picked my niece up for our date and we went to see this movie. She made her mom do her hair again so that it looked cute. She giggled and chatted the whole way to the movie theater. I did my best to act excited while thinking to myself, "When she's an adult I'm going to use this night as leverage to get a favor out of her." We parked the car and she grabbed my hand and started skipping into the theater, grinning from ear to ear. Our conversation about how super cool Hannah Montana is was cut short as the previews began rolling. She giggled, grabbed my arm and looked at me with an expression that made me think she might actually explode. 

From the second Hannah Montana appeared on the screen, my niece was like a statue who no longer cared about her Sprite or the popcorn, and who forgot about her candy I had stowed away in my purse. It was pretty darn cute.

The movie ended. Later that night and the next day at work, many people asked me how the movie was. And I'm just going to put it out there... I liked it. Don't judge me.

Conversations with Norm

Last night some friends of mine were hosting a dessert party. I reluctantly decided that I'd better stop by for at least an hour, so I could claim that I was social this week. I was headed out the door of my parents' house and I called, "See ya. I'm going to get myself a boyfriend." To my surprise, Norm replied, "Yeah right." I stopped dead in my tracks, turned to him and exclaimed, "Excuse me!" He must have felt the need to clarify because his closing statement was, "You're too picky." [Door slams]

The End

Afterword: Incidentally, I did not get myself a boyfriend at the party. There are good reasons, however. Unfortunately, I am too tired to justify the circumstances.

Someday My Prince Will... Grow?

Being the only single sibling on Valentine's Day has its advantages. For the past few years, my sister in Nevada has sent me prize each Valentine's Day with a note to let me know that she's thinking of me. This year she went all out and sent me a Valentine's Day survival package.

The card said, "Someday Your Prince Will Come."

I told my nephews that my boyfriend came in the mail. Yes, I lied to them. But they played along with it, so I figure it's okay. Apparently they haven't seen any real prospects for a new uncle coming around lately, because they really took to the idea of this mail-order boyfriend. 

It was a frog that I had to kiss and then soak in water to watch him turn into a prince.

And over the course of 72 hours he would grow.

Even Miss A got in on the excitement.

The irony of the whole situation is that is was supposed to be simple; 

a JUST ADD WATER BOYFRIEND.

The instructions said that within minutes, the frog should start to transform into a prince. After about 10 minutes of waiting, a loving family member joked 

that I probably didn't read the instructions correctly, just like my real dating life. 

Well, it's true. I missed a step (just like in my real dating life- or at least it feels that way.) 

Once I figured out what I was doing wrong, the frog began to turn into a prince.

And over the course of the next 72 hours, he reached the height of four inches. 

Which is also ironic because that's the average height of the boys I date. 

Wow! There are so many parallels I could draw from this experiment. 

But I won't because they'll all be of a mocking, sarcastic nature. 

And as the boys tell me, if I weren't so sarcastic, they would ask me out. :)

I would post a picture of the final product, but my story isn't finished yet. 

I have yet to find the frog that I think is a prince. 

As soon as I do, I will post a picture of the actual frog-turned-prince. 

But don't hold your breath... 

who knows if blogging will still be the trend by the time this happens.

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet...

Over the years, I have been called a great many things. Some of my nicknames have been terms of endearment and some have been adjectives or names that I never wish to hear again. However, it's the labels that have been given to me by my nieces and nephews in recent years that have been my favorite! I have been everything from a breakfast food to an adjective that means emitting a strong or unpleasant odor. 

Here are some of the many pronunciations of my name, Megan:

(spelled phonetically for your sake)

Nay-nee

Bacon

Gay-guhn

May-nee

Me-me

May-me

Me-kuhn

Meggy

May-tuhn

May-nuhn

Stinky- I know, it sounds nothing like my name. Odd, isn't it? :)

A Little Bit Goes a Long Way

This cute boy sitting on my lap is one of my nephews. He happens to be the nephew who made my Christmas this year. :)

Like any single person, there are aspects of Christmas that I dread every year. I love the season, the shopping, the food, and the family. But sometimes the family parties, and other parties, can be painful to get through. I have been the only single sibling in my family for 7 or 8 years now and I feel like this year was the first year that I felt okay about braving another Christmas Eve alone. Some of my nieces and nephews are a little older now and keep me company at the parties, that helps a whole lot.

This Christmas Eve, the nephew pictured above showed up at my parents' house and marched straight downstairs towards me, with a little green box in his hand. He said, "This is for you, Megan." And he handed me the box. I've never received a Christmas gift from a niece of nephew before because they're all pretty young. They're just learning to get gifts for their siblings and a cousin whose name they draw. So the single act of him giving me a gift melted my heart right then and there. I gave him a big squeeze and told him that I loved him. He ran off to play with his cousins.

After he walked away his mom told me that when they were at Target a few weeks ago, my nephew had seen this gift and mentioned to his mom that it would be something that I would like. Even though I wasn't on his list of people to shop for, he decided to get the gift for me and pay for it with his own money. He is only five, so you can imagine that he doesn't have much of his own money to begin with.

At the end of the evening's festivities, after all the kids had opened their presents, I opened my gift from my nephew. Inside the box were two pairs of mittens. They DID look like something that I would like. In fact, I had seen them myself at Target and commented on how cute they were to my friend. My nephew was so excited about his gift for me. His little tender heart understands at a young age how good it feels to do things for other people. He has no idea how much his little act meant to me. I get choked up every time I think about it or brag to my friends about my new mittens. It just goes to show that a little bit can go a long way!

I {heart} my family

Mustache Monday

Rather than bore you with a story, 

I'll just let you enjoy the pictures and come up with your own story. 

"Ketchup"

"Ketchup" was a term I used in my classroom for the times in the school day's schedule when we could catch up on any and everything that needed catching up on. This post is a "Ketchup" post because I have a medley of events to catch up on as far as blogging goes.

First thing's first.... I think everyone in cyberspace needs to know... I won the Guitar Hero Competition at work last week. It's a shame you can't see my fake tattoos in this picture. 

Oh! And I convinced the rest of my department to put fake tattoos on as well. I happen to have a rather large supply of fake tattoos. 

On an unrelated note, if any of you happen to come across any super cool or cheesy fake tattoos, please let me know.

Tonight one of my best friends and I had the opportunity to have dinner with former students of ours who happen to be brother and sister. Their mom called us to arrange the dinner and we showed up as the surprise guests of honor.  I have to say, I felt a little like a celebrity when five kids came running into the front yard to greet us, screaming our names. My former student, Christian, was one of the few boys in my class last year that wasn't too cool to give his teacher a hug. He was always so sweet to me and laughed at all the jokes I told, even when they weren't funny (which only happened like once).  It was such a fun night! But I have to admit I'm exhausted from being mauled by five small children non-stop for three hours. (How did I ever teach school?)

A couple of weeks ago, I needed to make a treat for a game night with some friends. I handed the job over to a few of my nephews just to see how it would come together. It was the cutest thing... there were marshmallows and Golden Grahams all over! The oldest of the bunch took the job very seriously while the other two snacked on the ingredients that were spilled on the counter. I didn't have the heart to tell my friends that three darling children had either touched or slobbered on each piece of the treat. 

One of my nephews turned 6 last week! Here are some super cute photos of some super cute kids at the birthday party.

This is How I Roll

This is the pool where I spend my Saturday afternoons. More specifically, this is the Spring Float that I spend those afternoons on.

This is the giant tricycle that I once rode for the length of an entire DHS Homecoming Parade. Now it's a high force towing vehicle for pounds of crazy kids.

These are some of the crazy kids that I get the pleasure of being related to.

... And more of those crazy kids. Good luck getting the 3 of them to look at the camera at the same time!

This is what the Hansen Hair Salon looks like on a Sunday evening. Also doubles as black mail against my nephew when he's old enough to be embarrassed by this photo!

And THAT is how I roll......