Saturday, December 5, 2009

Hello

Hello,

We haven't taken many pictures in the last month. Here is an update on everyone.

Tag- takes 5-6 steps at a time. 70% of the time he crawls, the other 30 he walks. He just got over being sick and got 7 shots this week. It was heartbreaking. Tag is a happy, laid back kid who is constantly on the move. It is a hard stage for getting anything out of church when we have to chase him all over the halls for 3 hours.

Tai- She got her hair cut. I still need to take a picture. She now has short bangs all the way across. She has been really sweet lately and loves to play with her brother. She gets really bored at home since its too cold to play outside. She enjoys pbskids.org and watching old movies with her dad. She also loves going to pre-school. Her favorite food is spinach. No joke. The other night she was in bed and let me know she was still hungry, I asked what she wanted and she said, "4 leaves of spinach, spinach is my favorite food!"

Mark- is a really good stay at home dad. He takes good care of the kids, feeds them, changes more diapers than me now, and even cleans. He is finishing up his classes from U. of Illinois for this semester. He is excited about a class he gets to take next semester in music librarianship.

Me- I made my first Thanksgiving Turkey. It was too moist for my taste. Everyone else liked it though. I am keeping busy coaching gymnastics and getting ready for our season to start. I enjoy my family and watching them grow.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Funny hair and gas problems

Tai has the biggest rat in her hair, I have never seen anything like it. I cannot get it out. I am just going to leave it but I think my only option to get rid of it is to cut it. Although it looks like all of her hair is ratty, look closely at the top left that is where the big rat is.



Gotta love that funny face!




I just saw this and had a good laugh at Tag's hair.


Then I saw this and had an even bigger laugh. This is Tai about the same age as Tag is now.

And now for a funny story that happened to us this weekend....So there we are at the gas station and Mark is pumping. I let Mark know there is a sign that says "Pump does not automatically shut off". I am patiently waiting in the car and when I thought he must be done I take a look back at Mark and he is holding onto the hose and gas is blasting everywhere, it looks like a hose off of a fire truck just out of control. He could not get it to stop and keeps saying..."what do I do, what do I do?" Well, I get out of the car and run over to him, of course being sprayed by gas and take the handle and undo the latch and it stops. At this point we are covered in gas and there were gallons on the ground everywhere. I'll be honest, I was mad and I was sure that when I started the car we would blow up. I will forever remember the image of Mark holding onto the pump for dear life and that look of panic upon his face. Every time we think of it we crack up. Funny now, not then. Too bad I don't have a picture of that!






Saturday, October 17, 2009

A beautiful evening

Tai loves to go up to the mountains. Last evening she convinced me to go and I am glad we did--it was gorgeous.
















Keeping busy...

We are lucky Uncle Sky could come visit us Conference Weekend.
When your baby turns one you can get a free cake from Albertsons. Tai and Tag share the same birthday Oct. 7th so naturally they should share the same cake.

Tai wanted this Tinkerbell outfit for her birthday instead of the bike we were going to get her. It was so funny listening to how she really thought she would be able to fly. I was then sad seeing her disappointment and not understanding why she couldn't fly. "...but I have wings".


Sometimes Tag will wrestle this bear. Super cute.



Updating the blog is down on the list of priorities lately. Since I work now, it seems that my only free time is after the kids go to bed around 9:00. That's really when my day begins (at least my time alone begins). So, to my 3 readers of this blog, I apologize. Hey, I'm not complaining. I get to do what I love--be a mom and coach gymnastics. If only I could incorporate overseas travel every so often I would have the perfect life.








"There just aren't enough hours in a day" I have heard others say. This has never been me until now, and I like it.








This weekend Mark went to Shampoo-Banana. That's what the locals call Champaign-Urbana where the University of Illinois is located. He has to go to campus once a semester to meet in person with his professors and classmates. So far so good. He has only been lost one time so far compared to about 15 last time he was there in July. I am truly proud of him. He is becoming quite the traveler. He changed planes 2 times to get to Chicago and then had to find the right shuttle station and shuttle, he then met up with a total stranger who was hosting him for the night via http://www.couchsurfing.com/. Then he had to find where his classes were being held in random buildings on a huge campus. Then he had to find and walk to his hotel. Tomorrow he must find the right bus to the train station, take the train back to Chicago, (where at this point last July he almost go ran over by a bus), find a taxi to take him to another hotel then a shuttle to the airport the next morning. Whew! I find that kind of travel exhilarating, but for someone who is legally blind with Aspergers it is a lot to handle. That is why I am proud of him. He made it back in one piece last time and so far so good this time.








Monday, September 21, 2009

Do you remember? The 21st night of September?


I didn't want to forget to post my favorite song on my favorite day of the year!




Possessed?

We just experienced the most horrible, horrible night. We were rudely awakened at 3:00am by a whining, yelling and I should mention almost 4 year old girl. I won't go into the details but I will just say what followed was 1 and a half hours of non-stop devilish screaming and thrashing. I am not exaggerating--non-stop, 1.5 hours. She was relentless. Just as I was concluding she truly must be possessed by an evil spirit. As she was taking a breath, I was able to sneak in, "How about we go see if the pigs are sleeping?" (yesterday we had stopped off on the side of the road to look at some pigs) She finally stopped. Just like that. If she was able to control her screaming I guess she wasn't posssessed after all. Or maybe the evil spirit she possessed calmed down in looking forward to joining the swine. In retrospect even she doesn't know why she acted like that. As I am writing this Tai is a sweet, polite angel. I don't get it? This happens at night about once every 6 months.


One Sunday Afternoon

A few weeks ago here in Utah the dedication of the Oquir Mountain Temple was broadcast to the stake centers. I went to the morning session and Mark to the afternoon session. It was here that I once again realized I am getting old. For the first time in my life I wished I had arrived early to sit on a soft bench. Although I enjoyed the dedication mentally/emotionally. I did not however in the slightest degree enjoy it physically. I couldn't sit still. I had to shift positions every 5 seconds. The chairs were so hard I couldn't believe it. Were these different chairs? No, the same chairs they have always been, yet they had never been so hard. I looked around to see if anyone else had a problem. Nope, not one wiggle from anyone else. I even considered leaving early it was so bad, but I stuck it out and now I understand when someone says "Let's go early to get the soft chairs" I get it. I am old. Plus, I now like olives and I never have before.
Here we are picking up Mark from the Temple dedication. It was a windy and lovely afternoon.
On the way home we stopped to see some horses...

...and a train


Then Tai built a tower...in all honesty I don't know if this is the same Sunday or not.



Then Mark built me a special message. I thought it was really sweet :)
Did you notice this does not look like our house? That is because we moved. We moved south about 20 min to Springville. I now can get to work in one minute flat by jogging then hopping the fence in front of our townhome. It is glorious! It saves at least 40 min. of driving a day, plus a whole bunch on gas. We don't need to drive anywhere. We have Walmart, Wendy's, Del Taco, a bank, our church, and a church family storage/cannery center just to mention a few all within walking distance. This makes it awesome for Mark. Plus, we don't have to do yard work, we have a huge grassy area connected to our back porch, a playgound, trails, a workout room and an indoor pool. I love our new place! The day after we got back from Mexico we decided to go look at this place, we signed the lease the same day and the next day we moved.
It was so fast! That made it sound so easy. It wasn't.



Sunday, August 23, 2009

What a summer! Part 1











Mexico was a dream...I'm pretty sure I will move there someday...




Wednesday, July 15, 2009

What a difference!

Before:


After:


...much better :)

Friday, July 3, 2009

Remember Independence Day




If you don't have plans for tomorrow why not celebrate our independence by putting our efforts towards trying to preserve our independence. Attend a tea party. There are over 1300 of them around the country. We will be attending the one in Orem. Click here to find the one near you: http://www.teapartyday.com/


All of us need to be involved to make a big enough difference to actually change things.


What's new



Meagan and Mark update:
Here is what is new in our family. I went back to work coaching gymnastics at All-American. Then, only a few weeks into it another opportunity presented itself at another gym as the director of the girls team program. After much debate and in spite of not wanting to be a traitor, I decided to take the new job. I hope there are no hard feelings. It has been awesome so far. I love developing my own team. It is a growing gym w/out high levels (the highest being 7), so it is a wonderful opportunity for me to grow and develop the program and myself. It is a blessing that I am able to get 30 hours a week coaching, especially since Mark is starting grad school soon. He is going back to school to become a..........Librarian:). He actually wants to be on the computer systems side of librarianship, digitizing and organizing information. His program is at the University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaign. It is mostly an online program but will go to campus once a semester for a few days. He starts in a couple of weeks with a 10 day class at the University. The rest of us are not going so please pray for Mark to not get lost and especially pray for me to make it through with out him. (He helps a lot around here) It will be tough for both of us but we will be rewarded immedietly after with a trip to Mexico with my side of the family to forget all our cares. I can't wait.
Tai update:
I think she might be over her outragous moodiness. She has calmed down a lot in the last month or so. She is now a "good girl" more than not. She is still very independent. She loves to play outside in the sprinklers, garden (oh yah, we attempted our first garden), and with her friend Valeria from downstairs. She finally learned how to ride a bike with training wheels. She is an angel (behavior) at church and with the babysitter no doubt because she is shy. She can read and more impressively write. (small words, phonics style)
Tag update:
I am not liking his hair lately so tomorrow I will cut it like a normal boy cut. He just got over Roseola (something like that) and his rash is almost gone. He sure looked miserable a few days ago poor guy. He is an expert roller, a less experienced eater and a no experience bottle drinker. It has been a struggle with me working and having to rush home to nurse him. He has crawled a few times and frequently gets up on all fours. He still gets along well with Tai and prefers her over anyone. He gets the most excited when he sees the catepiller at the begining of Baby Einstein. It is so cute to see him kick his thunderous legs so hard. Mark said he rewound that part 20 times and Tag got excited every time.
In other news: I lost 25 pounds in 2 months AND found my first gray hair!
So now you know too much information.

Hyperinflation

The last few months I have been doing some research on hyperinflation, the causes and effects. It is a scary subject but one in which we need to be aware because we are headed right for it. We don't know when it will hit but when it does it is too late to prepare for it. I will summarize my findings as simply as possible. The printing of money by a government without it being backed by gold is what causes hyperinflation. That is exactly what our government has been doing in the last decade or two, but there has been a dramatic spike in recent months where they have been printing trillions and trillions of dollars (as you probably are aware) with nothing to back it up. (If you want to know more on this problem and all about the history of the FED and even what lay in store for us in the future read: The Creature from Jekyl Island. It will blow you away.) Anyway, the effects of hyperinflation are devastating- money becomes nearly worthless. It can take thousands of dollars to pay for groceries. This has happened in many countries around the world. Brazil, Ecuador, The Weimar Republic and most recently Zimbabwe. In the Weimar Republic it was cheaper to burn money rather than wood because the price of wood was so high. True. It can happen to us too, don't think that the US is somehow immune. The best way to prepare? Stock up on food and supplies (enough for a long period of time) hmm, where else have we heard this? Also buy Gold and silver. There is a convenient store in LA who already accepts silver instead of dollars. If you have a lot of money and don't know what to do with it, I would suggest investing in gold and silver mining stocks, and agricultural stocks. That is what I would do if I had money, but we don't so we are trying to build up our food storage. I don't think we have much time. It could happen as soon as the fall. Good Luck.
There is no harm in preparing for the worst, but much harm in not preparing at all.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Letter

I missed Glenn Beck today. I usually get to watch it 2-3 times a week. I get his daily newsletter too. A lady from Arizona sent him a letter and I guess he read it on air today. I wanted to share it with you. This is how I feel too. A lot of us feel this way. Do you? Something is happening to "we the people" can you feel it? There is a new movement that I believe will lead us to a third party-- the Independent American party.

Here is the letter:


http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/26742/

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The cutest laugh ever!

Trip to Arizona

Tag is holding the keys to our rental car that we took on our trip to Arizona. It was a nice new Nissan Altima that was a pleasure to drive. When we got back to Utah we still had an extra day to use it so we cruised around feeling pretty rich.


Grandpa Tom and Tai. Precious moment.


These guys loved the swings in grandpa and grandma's backyard!



I'm glad my mom was able to spend some quality time with her youngest grandchild.



After Sunday dinner, Luke started it off by laying on the living room floor, then one by one everyone joined perhaps so their food could digest better? Pictured: Isaac, Skyler, Tai, Shawnie and Luke.
We had a great time! I hope we can come back soon.




Sunday, May 31, 2009

no readers

Well since I can't seem to find the connecting cord hook up my camera and since I have very few readers I might as well post about some dumb random boring things:

1. I am tired of people using the word "swagger". Its like all of the sudden for the last 6 months or so EVERYONE is using this word. Don't get me wrong, I must admit I do like this word but I do not like everyone using it all the time. ...talk about trendy...

2. So, have you had the KIRBY vacuum people come give you a demonstration yet? We did on Saturday... I really didn't think it would take 3 hours either. But there we were at the end of 3 hours actually contemplating getting this incredible machine. I can't believe I was so close to paying thousands of dollars for a vacuum. But it was amazing! It can clean anything--carpets, beds, hardwood, tile, its a duster, a carpet shampooer and to top it all off an air compresser and treated my daughter to a yellow and pink balloon. How could we deny this thing. I must say though what actually got me to consider purchasing was when he demonstrated how it could clean the grout in my kitchen. I had started to think the grout was supposed to be black. But the Kirby turned the black to white. Incredible. Just think what I could do...I could "protect my investment" and make my home new again. Not to mention extend the life of my electronics and furniture (even though the KIRBY costs way more than all of our furniture and electronics put together). But even still, I considered it especially since after minutes of indecision led to reductions off the price little by little... and financing. In the end we could have got it for nearly $1000 cheaper than he first offered, quite a savings. But in those final moments of decision as we were discussing in the other room away from the sales rep, my husband did a very smart thing. He looked it up on ebay where we could get it brand new for 1/3 of the price. I did feel bad saying no after 3 hours of hard work by this guy, but I have to remind myself that HE took the risk and wasted 3 hours of our time too. So, now I am over it and glad we did not purchase... but that was a close one. Rest assured, one day I will buy you KIRBY, just not today.

3. One busy Sunday! Today was quite a busy day for us and I hope next Sunday can be a little more relaxed. Beware, this is really boring, I warn you now. It all started this morning when Mark had a preisthood meeting at 7:00am which meant I was alone in getting the kids ready for church by 9:00. I can do this no faster than 50 min. by myself so when the clock said 8:10 I knew I had to get up that second or I would be late. I met up with Mark on our usual bench (4th from the back on the right side) just as sacrament meeting was starting, complete with 3 big bags and carrying the car seat which weighs at least 100 lb by now. I got released from my calling in the Primary Presidency so it was sort of sad since I have been in over two years and I must say is the best calling ever. Meanwhile, Mark was being sustained as the new Elders Quorum President. It was a full day at church to say the least. When we got home we barely had time to eat some watermelon then I took Mark to choir practice from there he had to see the bishop for something and then went home teaching. He barely made it home in time for me to go visiting teaching (it is the last day of the month you know :) and I barely made it home in time to take him to a Stake Welfare Meeting and immediatly after that I met him back at the church to be there when he got set apart for his new calling. And by the way, that was an incredible experience and he was blessed with some beautiful things. By the time we got home it was around 6:30. We ate somewhat of a dinner and then I had to figure out a babysitter for tomorrow because I am going back to work! Yay for me. I am going to be coaching gymnastics-my favorite hobby in the world for about 4 hours every morning. I guess I'd better go to bed because it has been a tiring day.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Colorful Kids

Everytime I carry Tag down the stairs we walk by Tai's room and when Tag sees it he starts kicking he legs in excitement and leaning towards the door like he wants to go in there. He LOVES to spend time with Tai.

Remember a few days ago when Tai picked the Tulips? Well, this time she and her friend picked the rest of them. UUGH! It made me so mad! We had a nice long discussion about this and put it this way, it won't happen again. (I guess it can't cause they are all picked!) They are beautiful though.

This is just the half of it. Let's just say it was on all parts. Tai obviously found my hiding place for the markers.


Futbol

Cristiano Ronaldo
Tag's perspective

Today Tag and I were able to enjoy some of a futbol game: Manchester United against Arsenal (on TV). It just so happens Tag had on soccer socks so I had to take a picture and of course that picture led to this post. Anyway, people say that Cristiano Ronoldo is the best player in the world. I have to give a whole hearted YES to that one. Before I even knew who was playing as I flipped to ESPN 2 and saw players running around, one caught my eye with the most incredible moves and finesse like I've never seen in a soccer player. I said to myself- that has got to be Ronaldo, if not, whoever that player is- he will be my number one favorite player. Then 10 seconds later I saw him up close and sure enough-- it was him. If you don't like soccer- watch Ronaldo for a few and you will be a fan. Whether that be a fan of soccer or of Cristiano I don't know but it probably depends on your gender :)
Side note: I do feel a twinge of pride because Ronaldo is from Portugal and like most of you know I served a mission in Portugal. So he is more mine than yours :) (except for Luke- we take equal ownership, although Luke does probably deserve a little more than me say 60% since he was in Portugal during the last world cup (when Portugal was in the semi finals) and has a Ronaldo jersey...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

PHEEENOMINAL!!!!

American Idol last night was the best night in the history of American Idol in my opinion. Maybe that had to do with the theme Rat Pak Standards-- I love that stuff. There are 5 contestants left and all five are great singers. Usually there is a frontrunner and usually you know the one that should be voted off, but they are all spectacular right now! I think all 5 are going to make great albums.

Adam- I have talked about him before and his amazing upper range. He can scream like no one else can. He has ultimate control over his voice like I have never seen. He is definetly in it to win it and seems to have had a strategy all along. He is good. Real good.

Allison- This girl can sing like no other! She is only 16 it is hard to believe. She is a rocker but I loved her song last night. She can definetly sing a ballad. Nice sound. Love her...

Danny- Power soul. He puts his heart into the songs and SINGS them if you know what I mean. Reminds me a bit of Taylor Hicks (AI winner) but Danny is 10 times better. Great tone. Great voice. Amazing.

Matt- Personally I like him a lot. He can do runs that are interesting and difficult and not typical. I think he lacks a little polish and once in a while is slightly off pitch but I truly enjoy listening to him and will buy his album for sure. I think what Randy said at the beginning of the season is true he is like a Michael Buble' and Justin Timberlake combined. I like that vibe...

Kris- Nothing stands out about him. He just has a good, sweet voice suitable for an "unplugged" kind of thing. Its pleasing. No criticism. Enjoyable to listen too.

I think the finals should come down to Adam and Allison but Danny could sneak in there. But like I said. I like them all!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Catch up

One day last week it snowed. Alot. The next day it was gone and hot. For the last two weeks I literally switched from the heater to the cooler in my car every day. One day hot the next day cold. That is spring in Utah for ya.

A nice neighbor of ours came over and trimmed our trees for us. It was so nice I felt like crying. Mark and I just can't and don't know how to keep up with everyone else's nice yard here. I look at our grass and say hey, thats pretty green compared to Arizona yards.


Tai insisted on carrying the big branches while Mark chose the small ones :). Actually Mark did work hard at moving all the branches to the front where it will be picked up next week during our neighborhood cleanup.



Good Job Mark! I have to catch a picture when he does outside work, cause Mark is an inside kind of guy and it makes me happy when he gets out of his comfort zone.




After I pulled out all of the stickers in the tires from last year and repaired the holes we were able to take our first family bike ride of the season and Tag's first one ever!





...on the tandem. Yes, I know folks, it is pretty funny to watch. Everyone stares, teenagers mock and adults laugh...but it is sure fun.






This was precious. Both zonked out for hours while watching Return of the Jedi. I passed on that movie.







Oops, Tai and her friend Valeria picked my lovely tulips so we decided to put them in this vase. The stems were short but it looked kinda cool like this.







Today, I sadly cut Tags hair. Of course he needed it, but I wanted to let it grow long like a native american. My dream is dashed.
Before.









After. Yes, I know it is lopsided. I will have to finish it later, the one pair of scissors we have were too dull, probably cause we use it on everything--paper, food, hair you name it :) I liked it long better:(






















Annual Easter Egg hunt on the Tabla side. Tai is the one with the plastic bag for a basket. (she didn't notice or care about that luckily)












Easter dinner and egg hunt at cousin Ryan's who lives in Bountiful. Lindsey cooked a wonderful dinner and Tai loved playing with their 5 cute kids. We had a great time at the Smiths place!













I love this picture. This is at the Smiths. Love the couch, love the wall. Classic.













Here we are at the car repair shop getting a transmission flush. I finally found "my mechanic". He was a Peruvian race car driver and doesn't rip people off. Once I went to firestone when I had to get my brakes fixed, they quoted me about 600 and something dollars. I found my Peruvian and he did it for around $200. What a difference. They even give me rides home if I don't want to wait at the shop and they greet me by name when I walk in even though they don't speak English.















Kids just love farms, don't they? We spent a morning at Thanksgiving point farm where Tai enjoyed a horse ride and all the other farm animals, she especially loved feeding the goats.