Enjoying the sunshine

May-perfect hiking weather. Saturday we headed to Provo and hiked the "Y" with some friends. Lincoln added a good little burden to my back and Koby was bounced between Amy, James, and Cole. At one point, us girls thought it would be fun to try and run with the kids on our backs, it wasn't.

I think that was Linc's 2nd time hiking the "Y". Both he and Koby are good little hikers.

 

Then we headed to "Slab" for some AMAZING Provo pizza. They have amazing flavors. I wish I could remember them all, but I can only remember my two favorites...I got a chicken cordon bleu slice that was delicious and Cole got a buffalo wing slice that was extra delicious. We will definitely be going back.

After our little recharge, we headed to the park for some tennis. Em joined us too:) I'm a big fan of this warm weather. We are so active in the Spring/Summer. Now we just need to find a state that doesn't have long, cold winters like Utah...

 Sunday, we enjoyed the Solar Eclipse with some neighbor friends. We found if we wore 2-3 pairs of sunglasses we could see it...

I tried to take a picture through those sunglasses, but obviously that didn't work...

We finally got tired of Linc and Koby fighting over Koby's bike. So Tuesday we finally upgraded Koby. He couldn't be happier. ( Well, actually he would be if we bought him one of those annoying bike horns, but then the neighbors wouldn't be too happy).

This is just a random picture from playing this morning, but I am starting to see these two look more alike...

My little baby turns one on Saturday:) Yay Linc!

Appreciate

Since March 29th, 2010, the International department at OC Tanner has been my home away from home.  It's strange to say that, because I don't think I have ever had a job that I would even consider calling my home away from home.  But that's really what OC Tanner was for me.  It was the first job that I think I have ever had that I was excited to go to everyday.  It was the first job that I have ever had that I feel like made me a better person.  It was the first job that I felt like my co-workers were like family.  This isn't to say that I haven't had jobs in the past that I liked, or people from those jobs that I became close to, but this place was different.

I have so many memories, it would take me forever to write them down.  I don't think a working day went by without laughter, and I don't even know how many times I cried because I was laughing so hard.  There were practical joke, so many practical jokes.  "Moldy" bagels, salt in the water bottle, role model pictures, and even an occupy movement.  Good times.  I loved that nothing was sacred with the International team.  If you said one thing that could be interpreted the wrong way, you were done.  You would be made fun of until the next person said something stupid.  I even had my story of losing my pants read in a department meeting.

Along with all the fun, I feel like OC Tanner was a place I was given countless opportunities to grow professionally.  My boss never micro-managed.  He trusted me with my responsibilities and counted on my to figure out ways to make things better, which I hope I was able to do.  I know that the things that I learned will be invaluable to my career in the long run.  OC Tanner's mission statement reads, "We help organizations appreciate people who do great work. Because celebrating great work inspires people to invent, to create, to discover. And when people are inspired, companies grow."  I don't know if I helped the company grow in anyway, but I know that I was inspired on a daily basis to do the best work that I possibly could.

I am really grateful for my time at OC Tanner.  Thanks Brad, Janet, Steff, Ty, Angie, Jordan, Lu, Bob, Michael, Elisabeth, Mo, Wendy, and Erin for making everyday a blast!  I am going to miss you guys.

Dear Mama

I know it's a day late, but I still wanted to show some love to all the moms in my life.  Strangely, as I was thinking about what to write, an old Tupac song came into my head.

Ain't a woman alive that could take my mama's place...
I can always depend on my mama.
And when it seems that I'm hopeless,
You say the words that can get me back in focus.
When I was sick as a little kid,
To keep me happy there's no limit to the things you did.
And all my childhood memories,
Are full of all the sweet things you did for me.
And even though I act crazy,
I gotta thank the Lord that you made me.
There are no words that can express how I feel...
And I appreciate, how you raised me,
And all the extra love that you gave me...
And there's no way I can pay you back,
But my plan is to show you that I understand,
You are appreciated.

As weird as it may seem to associate mother figures with a Tupac song, he did a good job expressing some of the things that I feel when I think about my own mother.

There are a few mothers that I would like to tell how much I love and appreciate them.  The first is my own mom.

Mom, I hope you know how much I love you.  You have always been a great example to me in my life.  Even though you may not be one to do much teaching with your words, the way you live your life has taught me to be kind to others, patient with my children, to always be positive, and to rely on my Heavenly Father. You are awesome!  Being around you always makes me happy.  I am lucky to have a mom that I know loves and cares about me.

The next mom is my mother-in-law, Laura.

Laura, thank you for making me feel like part of the family from the very first time I met you.  I hope you know how much I love and admire you.  Thank you for being so supportive in all my endeavors and thinking that I am much smarter than I actually am :)  You are also a great example in my life.  I love being able to talk with you about all the things we do, ranging from nutrition, to politics, to spirituality.  I have heard horror stories about some mother-in-laws, but I am glad that isn't the case for me, you are the best!

Last but not least is Megan, my wonderful wife, and the mother of my children.

Meg, I don't think you can being to comprehend how much you mean to me.  I am pretty lucky to have married my best friend.  You are a great mom.  I know Koby and Lincoln love you a little bit more than they love me.  I am grateful that you decided to put some of your personal goals on hold to stay at home with our kids.  It is comforting, when I am work, to know that they are in good hands and being taught and taken care of by you.  I can't imagine what our kids would turn out like if I was the one at home...  You are an awesome wife and a great friend.  Thank you for supporting my in everything I do.  For believing in me even though sometimes I don't.  Thank you for pushing me to be a better person.  Thank you for being patient with me when I go through an occasional rough time.  Thank you for always being there.  I love you more than Otterpops, cookies, and a whole lot more... that's a lot of love :)

There are many other women who have been influential in my life, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and friends.  I hope you all know that I love and appreciate you all.  I am a couple days late, but Happy Mother's Day!

I feel loved

Wednesday ways my 25th Birthday. Birthdays aren't a big deal to me, but this year it was not only an especially special day, but also an especially special week. Therefore, I think I now love birthdays.

It started Sunday. Shane and Em had me and the boys over for the evening (James was still in Tennessee so he couldn't come). They spoiled us. We had a delicious dinner and some amazing strawberry shortcake.

Lincoln spent the evening admiring Shane's deer. Koby enjoyed playing a new version of Blokus with Uncle Shane.

Then we went to the park for some good old fun play time. What 11 month old do you know that walks all the way up the stairs and goes down the 20 foot slides? Lincoln sure does!

It was a great evening and I really appreciate it breaking up my long weekend without James.

Then came Tuesday. I told James I really wanted our traditional, tasty Oreo Cheesecake for my birthday. I planned on making it. Well, Tuesday night I came home from Youth group to a handsome chef in my kitchen...making me that Oreo Cheesecake. I kept trying to help and he kept shooing me out of the kitchen. He made a delicious Oreo Cheesecake FROM SCRATCH, all buy himself. What a man!

Then came Wednesday.

James asked me what I wanted for my birthday...I told him the following two things:
1.  Text me every 30 minutes throughout the day
2.  Be my Velcro for the night:)

Guess what?! He did just that. James successfully texted me every 30 minutes (minus the 2 hours he was in a meeting)...It may be weird, but I think that made my day greeeeat.

I did a little personal training in the morning. If you want a happy day, exercise is the best way to start! Then we went to my friend Dani's house for lunch.

After lunch, the boys and I ventured out. Then the Young Women came and heart-attacked my door. They also left my favorite...chocolate covered cinnamon gummy bears:)

This heart was so cute! Just call me Megan "Honey-ton"...

James came home, we headed out and grabbed some Subway (Thanks Dani!) to enjoy at the park. We always have fun at the park...

Next we headed home for a little cheesecake with some of our favorite friends..

James did an excellent job-the cheesecake was delicious! We also had a great group for a little Loaded Questions. It was a fun night. Maybe a little too fun, James and Shane crashed on the couch within seconds...

I really appreciated all of the texts, calls, and Facebook messages from family and friends. I think I need to be better at wishing people a happy birthday because I got many happy birthday wishes and they made me feel really loved:)

but wait that's not all...

My week got even better.  Thursday...James let me get some new workout shoes! I have had my old tennis shoes since Koby was a month old! It was time.

These shoes are awesome. They are breezy and bendy-two things which definitely make me run faster and jump higher. My good friend Amy hooked me up with a couple of her Insanity DVDs to use. James and I will definitely need to get all the DVDs and take "the insanity challenge". Koby happened to be taking pictures around the house and snapped this one of his sweaty, sweaty mom after testing out the Insanity workout. This is the look of both true exhaustion and true love...

Friday my friend Natalie took us to the park and then we shared ice cream cones on our porch with some close neighbor friends. Koby and Lincoln shared a good 10 minutes of peace with me...it was a beautiful gift:)

Friday night we got the kids to bed and headed out for a date! I think it was our first time out in like a year? Maybe? It was so much fun! The Smiths, the Finch's, Lisa, James, and I went to Dave's last Sports Comedy show. It was funny! And it felt so good to be out! I am grateful to be in Young Women's and have lots of sweet babysitters on hand.

Today is Sunday, Mother's Day, and what do ya know...I'm spoiled some more.

Thank you everyone!!

It's May!

Holy cow it's May. Our life has been crazy lately. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss the days when James and I were in college. All we had going on was our part time jobs, homework, and spending every minute together. I remember I used to call him and ask him to get off work early and hang out with me....his usual time to get off was 4:30 and that was just too late- haha. It's Saturday night. James is in Tennessee working. Kids are in bed. I finally have a moment to myself and I am lonely. After 5 1/2 years I still want to spend every minute with him. I would not be a very good military wife.

I guess I will wait to post this until Monday, since I told everyone James is out of town. Don't worry about us though...I moved our bullets into my underwear drawer and our trusty 22 is under my bed and I know how to use it-Thanks Dad:)

So much has been going on lately. First off, James accepted another job offer. He is sad (understatement) to be leaving O.C. Tanner and all of his wonderful co-workers, but we are excited for another adventure. His new job is with Goldman Sachs. It's a good move for us and came at the right time. The only downfall is James' work hours will be increasing by a good 15 hrs. a week. It's ok though. We are grateful!

I have been utilizing our unfinished basement the last couple weeks as my own little gym. I started personal training again. Just one person, a friend. It feels good to get back in the swing of things and put my good college education to use. It's fun. I am so glad I chose the right major for me- I love personal training. Now I better be a good example...put the cinnamon gummy bears down and lose my last few pounds of baby weight.

I'm turning 25 this week! Life is moving by too fast. I still get asked if I am a teenager on a weekly basis. I guess My boys haven't aged me as much as I thought:) They are keeping us busy though. Koby has a new love. Thanks to the show Wipeout we now get to do pretend obstacle courses everyday. He is very imaginative. He makes courses out of Legos and Tinkertoys. When he is not playing Wipeout, he is outside playing. I often see two little nude cheeks running around because 30 seconds to put on his pants after he has used the restroom is just too much time to waste inside. Don't worry I always catch him quickly:)

Koby is also working on writing his name. He is getting better each day...

Linc is 11 months. He is a mover. He walks everywhere now. I now understand why they call them toddlers. Lincoln walks everywhere with his hands up in the air. I think it's how he balances. He definitely toddles when he walks. It's pretty cute. He can always be found walking around with a car in his hand.

Life is still good!

Thank you

Last Saturday was Run for Innocence's Blue Ribbon Walk.  I just wanted to thank everyone that came out and supported us and our cause.  It was one of the coolest experiences in my life to be able to see that many people supporting a cause that I so deeply care about.  I also wanted to say thank you to all the people that helped put everything together.  Dehn, for the posters and for taking some great pictures.  Emily and Shane for helping us with the set up, games, slack line, coolers, planning, and a whole lot more.  Preston for sharing his story and thoughts with all of us.  I especially want to thank Megan for staying up countless nights the past couple months just talking about and planning the event.  I can't adequately express my appreciation to her.  I am sure there are a few others that I am forgetting, but please know that I am grateful to everyone that helped out in one way or another and to everyone that came out and supported our cause.

It was a great experience hearing everything that Preston had to say.  I know it has strengthened my resolve to do what I can to fight childhood sexual abuse.  It was also a really cool experience being able to talk about why I wanted to start Run for Innocence.  It was the first time that I have ever talked about my own experience with abuse in such a public setting.  Those close to me know that I am not a huge fan of public speaking, but as nervous as I was, it felt really good.  Not that I had anything to get off my chest, it was just an amazing feeling to put everything out there and not be worried about being judged.

In the end, I don't know if we made a difference.  I sure hope we did.  But if anything, I know the whole experience have impacted me for the better.  I know that I want to do everything I can to help my kids be safe from sexual abuse.  I hope we can do it all again next year.

Thanks again everyone, I can't tell you all enough how much I appreciate the support!