How cute are these guys?

Connor has so much fun playing with his cousin Madison. She is 5 and I think that is Connor’s absolute favorite age of kids to play with. They had so much fun the other night-chasing each other, driving the jeep, and just being silly. I took these pictures and couldn’t wait to scrap them. Luckily, Nick just bought a nice photo printer so I could print them right out. I love the immediate gratification of digital pictures!

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Yestday, I went with RyAnn and a bunch of her friends to the Ft. Worth Zoo. When I asked Connor what his favorite part was he said “the jeep with the monkey.” Not the white tiger that we saw up close, not the birds we fed, not the elephants or monkeys. A toy jeep is his favorite. That is so typically Connor!

Proposal Memories and the Omni

My brother and one of his friends showed up last night out of the blue from Abilene. I absolutely love surprises and this was a really great one! Patrick, Noel (I don’t know how to put the accents on the e…but her name is Noelle, not Nole), and I decided to go to the Omni today. I *heart* the Omni. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s this huge, dome shaped movie theater. The picture is all around you and you feel like your right in the middle of the action. It’s the kind of thing where the motion makes you feel like your on a roller coaster. It’s a the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and it’s a big elementary school frield trip spot. It’s just so fun and educational. We saw a movie about the Nile river. I now want to travel to Africa and raft down the Nile and see the people who live there. It was just really, really cool and inspiring.

After the movie, we drove past the Botanical Gardens. Something very speical happened there 6 years ago. Derek and I got engaged. This was just a normal picnic in the park, take a walk, pop the question kind of engagement. Derek climbed up a tree and had carved “Meg will U marry me”. We got engaged about 20 feet up in the air. I remember I was very suspicios of him on that day-he was just acting so weird. But I certainly did not expect to climb up a tree and see a proposal! The funny thing is I didn’t notice it for the longest time. I think Derek was getting nervous that we would climb down without me even noticing. When I did finally notice, I didn’t even realize that it was for me at first. I just thought “awww…that is so cute!” Then after a few more seconds I realized that it was a fresh carving and that I was Meg!

So, of course since we were right there I wanted to go climb our tree.
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My brother took some good pictures of it, but of course I forgot to download them before he left. So this is the best I can do today. The white arrow is pointing to a heart with our initials carved in it (something we did around 1996, I believe). Just above that is the proposal. Such fun memories. I married such a sweetheart!

The Fireman

All day today Connor has been referring to himself as “the fireman”. It is totally cracking me up.

“Mommy, tell Logan the fireman is putting up the ladder.” (said while playing with an electric and power company truck that he thinks is a firetruck.)
“Mommy, tell Logan the fireman is watching Dora.”
“Mommy, the fireman wants grilled cheese for lunch.”

He is a lover of all things firetrucks, and his fascination has grown even more since Pops took him to the firestation. Of course, being the tentative, cautious child that he is, he wouldn’t actually go in the station. He just wanted to stand outside and look. But the firemen still gave him a firehat that he wears while he’s at Nonny and Pop’s house. While we are at my parents house, he has a yellow construction hat that he wears and calls his fire hat.


The fireman has worm me out today, so I’m off to take a quick power nap before Cindi gets here for some good scrapbooking. These are two of my favorite things about coming home-power naps and scrapbooking. I love vacation!

The Smells of My Life

Isn’t it true that the sense of smell is the sense that can evoke the most memories? If I’m not mistaken, I think that is an actual scientitic fact.

I went to see my old high school volleyball team play a game last night. I haven’t stepped foot in that gym in 7 years and when I walked in I was seriously blown away. It smelled exactly the same. I felt like I was 17 again, getting ready to warm-up. It got me thinking about other scents that remind me of the same thing whenever I catch a whiff. This is the olfactory version of the soundtrack of my life.

  • Cool Water cologne always reminds me of the first year Derek and I were togeter. I still love that cologne.
  • Freshly mowed grass takes me back to all my years playing soccer and reminds me of endless hours not only spent at the field playing, but also spent there with my dad while he reffed.
  • Sea Spray flavor from Bath and Body Works. I’m pretty sure they don’t make this one anymore, but it was my favorite when I was 16. It reminds me especailly of volleyball because I would put it on after our mid-day practice so I didn’t stink the rest of the day.
  • Secret Spring Breeze deoderant reminds me of my semesters at ACU and the summer I worked at camp. Pretty random, but whenever I buy that flavor now I always think of that time in my life.
  • Real Mexican black beans and tortillas reminds me of being pregnant with Connor. We went to Mexico on a mission trip when I was in my first trimester with Connor. I was so nauseous the whole time and that’s what we ate everyday. This isn’t necessarily a smell that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy…it actually makes me feel a little sick still.

Okay, so this list isn’t as long. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

Frustration

I’m 25 years old. Now, that’s not really that old in the grand scheme of things, but it’s old enough. In my 25 years, I have probably been on at least 60 flights (counting each individual leg as a flight), and the majority of them have been in the past 5 years. I had never missed a flight. Never even come close. So, why is it that I just missed the my second flight in a row? And both times it was me flying alone with the boys, which just makes it all the more stressful. I’ve been on 5 flights (again, individual legs) alone with the boys and I have missed 2 of them. I am 3-2. Sucks. Totally sucks. But, I guess the important thing is we made it home safely. I may write more about this tomorrow, I may not. I think I just want to forget this day completely.

But please, just remember to be kind and helpful to others when they are in need.

Today

Today was a whirlwind. Actually, this whole week was a whirlwind. Is it really almost Sunday already? I just feel like time is flying by so fast these days.

So here’s what I should have done today:
-Laundry
-cleaning-in particular the bathrooms and the bedrooms
-Get most of the way packed for our trip home on Monday. The whole packing thing is a major undertaking and even though we aren’t leaving until Monday morning I really needed to do most of it today. Especially since packing my scrapbook stuff is a day long project just in itself.
-Read the last of “The Marriage Builder” for our small group tomorrow.
-Bake some yummy dessert for our small group.

Here’s what I actually did today:
-4 loads of laundry
-cleaned 1 of the bathrooms
-got the boy’s clothes most of the way packed.
-packed just a smidgen of the scrapbook stuff I need.
-played outside with the boys.
-read Connor’s library books to him several times. Two of them are about airplanes and one is a Thomas book that nearly puts me to sleep.
-Watched 2 episodes of ER, 2 episodes of America’s Next Top Model (smut, I know. Pure smut.), and 1 Elmo video.
-Made a pretty good dinner (if I do say so myself)
-Finished up these two scrapbook pages. The first is this weeks Effer Dare, and the second just because I was on a role.

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-burned a couple of CD’s-pictures and music.
-Updated my iPod for the trip, including 32 Hi-5 songs for Connor. That’s a butt load of Hi-5. But I am hoping that it will make our flight just a little more enjoyable-both for Connor and those around us.

While I didn’t do everything that needed to be done today, when I put it down in a list like that, I can see I did actually accomplish a lot today. Especially considering that Derek had to work all day.

So, it’s off to bed for me in preperation for the busy-ness that will consume tomorrow. And then it’s to Texas we go! I’m so looking forward to it. Looking forward to seeing my family and friends, looking forward to having help with the boys, looking forward to lots of scrapping, and looking forward to hopefully finding our perfect house.

The Flash

I was so excited yesterday. Connor actually wanted to sit next to Logan on the couch. So I get out the camera and as soon as Connor sees it turn on, he’s off. Typical.

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That’s Weird and other randomness

I have decided that I like formatting this blog and changing up my banner almost as much as I like actually blogging. Whatever floats my boat, right!

Connor has picked up a couple of phrases from me. No, not freaking- although he did say that the other day. Not in context. Just over and over again. I just told him that wasn’t a very nice thing to say and I haven’t heard it since. (But inside I was really laughing…)Derek told me it would happen and sure enough, it did. I am much more careful to only say freaking when he’s asleep-although I certainly think there are worse things that a two year old could pick up.

Anyway, Connor has started to say “that’s weird, that’s cool, and that’s cute.” Most of the time he even gets in in context. For example the other day he built a wooden track and said “Mom, look! That’s cool.” Or when he and Derek found the phantom bunny on their walk the other day, he came in and said “mom, that’s weird.”

But sometimes he just doesn’t get it. He really likes to help and watch me change Logan’s diaper. Logan had a “big one” and Connor exclaims. “Wow! That’s cute.” I couldn’t help but laugh. But no matter what I said he insisted that it was cute.

Last night Derek went to bed before me which has maybe only happened 5 times in our entire marriage. I was just surfing around on the web, looking at blogs and such. Then I started using google to search for people’s blogs-people that I was friends with in high school that I haven’t seen in at least 5 years. I didn’t find anyone, but I did find my high school’s volleyball website. I got so nostalgic about high school. I get like that sometimes and Derek just thinks it’s weird. I would love to go back and play volleyball again. I just miss being a part of a team, being competitive, and being in great shape. Sure, I could get into good shape again, but it sure wouldn’t be as fun as when I was in shape from playing.

I didn’t really appreciate how fun high school was until I wasn’t there anymore. And I just think it’s so ironic that while I was in high school I just couldn’t wait to NOT be there anymore. But now looking back, it really was a lot of fun.

Of course, my life is fun now, just in a totally different way. I think the bottom line is I just wish I could play volleyball again. Man, I miss that sport.

So, since I can’t go back in time I will just keep up with how my old team is doing, think back fondly of my teenage years, and live vicariously through the people on MTV’s Laguna Beach.

Effer Dare and other pages

Since I can’t think of anything to write about I thought I would share some of my recent scrapbook pages. This first one is my layout for Effer Dare #3

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And here’s just a few more that I’ve done recently.
Hopefully tomorrow I will have some more words.

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10 Years Ago

Ten years ago today, I was getting ready to go out on my very first real date. I was 15 years old and about to start my sophomore year of high school. I had met this guy on a church mission trip and I had the biggest crush on him. I had had crushes on guys before, but never like this. This was the kind where my knees turned to jello and I got nervous at just the mention of his name. The kind of crush where I remembered the first words he ever spoke to me (“Megan, you are the entertainment.”) I so vividly remember two of my best friends pulling me into the bathroom at a Chili’s to find out if I liked him. He was three years older than me and about to leave for college. I thought for sure he wasn’t really interested in me and just liked the attention I gave him. But after spending a week together on the mission trip and a week together at church camp as counselors, I guess he had really noticed me because he officially asked me on a date.

I remember what I wore. White shirt with a little bit of lacy trim, Gap jeans, and white sandals. I remember exactly what we did. We went to eat at Spaghetti Warehouse (lasagna for him, manicotti for me) and went to see the movie Nine Months. But I don’t remember anything about the movie because I was too nervous. I remember him taking my hand partway through the movie and my heart skipping a beat. I remember that endless drive back to my house. I was so nervous that he was going to kiss me…but also so nervous that he wouldn’t. Finally the moment of truth. We talked in the car for a long time. Talked about how he was leaving for college and how he didn’t want to have a long distance relationship. He told me he really liked me and hoped we would stay in touch. Then, just like a gentleman, he asked if he could kiss me. Of course I said yes. My heart was pounding, and my palms were sweaty as he leaned in…there is really nothing quite like the emotions surrounding that first kiss.

We went out one more time that summer of 1995. When he left for college we both thought that was it. Just a little summer romance. But then the phone calls started. And the letters. Then the weekend visits. And what started out as just a summer romance turned into so much more. My first love. My only love. 4 years and 4 months later I walked down the aisle to the man of my dreams, my biggest crush ever.

And 10 years is really just the beginning. I hope and pray that we have 50 more years that are even better than the first 10.

And so I leave you with this. Just a few of our most memorable pictures from our first years together. A few to note…the little one on the left (third one down) where Derek has a hat on is the very first picture we were ever in together, taken on the mission trip where we met. The bottom right one we took just moments after getting engaged in a tree. I can seriously remember the stories behind every single one of these pictures, but I won’t bore you with that right now!

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