Using What I've Got

So Micah and I are getting ready to move into the home we are going to rent, and I'm feeling like I need a change when it comes to my furniture. But unfortunately I don't have the finances to go buy new things. So...what I decided to do is use what I already have and just mix it up a little! And because I'm having so much fun, I wanted to post about the changes I am making. I'm trying to do everything the cheap way! And since most of my friends are frugal like me, I thought you guys would enjoy. ;)

My first finished project was to update my cheap bookshelves I bought from WalMart 5 years ago. I realized that some of my wrapping paper I bought 3 years ago matches the colors I'm doing for my living room perfectly. I had the idea to just use spray adhesive and basically make the wrapping paper into wallpaper for the backside of the bookshelves. So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the Elmer's Spray Adhesive, and got started! From start to finish, it literally took me 20 minutes to do TWO bookshelves. So fast and easy, I can't believe I didn't do it sooner.

  
Have a great day! ~Meghan

A few months in

     Well, little Lucy Anne has now been around for 4 months!!! 4!! I can hardly believe it. And on top of it, I can hardly believe I ever survived without her.
   
      I've heard mom's say before about how once they have children it is as if that child had always been there. And I never really believed it until a few weeks ago when I attempted my first 'me-time'. I handed her over to Micah for literally 80 minutes. I hopped in the car and I immediately felt like I had forgotten something important. Once I was satisfied I was ok to go I soon realized I didn't know what to do with myself! I settled on going to Barnes and Noble, and I found myself just sitting there not sure of what I should do while there. I never used to be this way, I used to be soo independent! I could be on my own perfectly content for hours! But now, I couldn't handle more than an hour before I was dying to get home.

     This little girl has completely won the remaining part of my heart not already owned by her father. I am more and more in love every day. I never thought I could get excited by the most mundane things that she does, but I do.

     As of right now, Lucy can use her hands to touch, bat, and grab. She loves her feet, mouth, and Micah's beard. She can blow bubbles, and loves to make delighted screams and squeels (sometimes laugh). She is trying very hard to sit up on her own, can roll over from tummy to back, and enjoys splashing. She still loves being held, and gets very angry when she isn't center of attention. But of all these things, my personal favorite is morning-time. She is very smiley and happy, and that has become our bonding playtime.

   All those times that I prayed to my Heavenly Father begging for a child I promised that I would love that child and do my very best to raise her. Some days I feel overwhelmed, but over-all I feel like so far I have kept to my promise, and will continue to. Besides, she is so cute, its easy to love her! ;)

Have a great day! ~Meghan

The delivery: When 2 became 3!

I don't know if this is of any interest to anyone, but I wanted to write down my delivery story so that I can remember it all later. :) Here it goes!

The week before I delivered, my family came to visit. I was so huge I was miserable moving around, but I kept trying to get labor started. We went on a couple walks as a family, and Micah and I tried ALL the other recommended labor inducing theories. Nothing seemed to be working, I didn't even have contractions besides my normal braxton hicks. My family planned on leaving to head home at 6 am on Sunday Nov 25 , so in a last attempt at inducing labor I drake 2 spoonfuls of castor oil at noon on Saturday. YUCK! The oil didn't work the way I wanted it to, I just had to go to the bathroom a lot....LOL. That night we stayed up talking and playing games, and went to bed at 10:30.

At midnight I was awakened with very strong contractions, already 4 minutes apart. I had two contractions before I woke up Micah. He told me we would continue timing them for 7 or 8 more contractions and then head to the hospital. I downloaded an app on my phone to time them, and after only 4 more contractions we realized we needed to start getting our hospital bag. I let my mom know we were headed in, and we took off to the hospital around 12:45. I could have killed Micah on the drive there, he drove sooo SLOW!!! Normally I am nagging him to slow down, but in that moment I wanted him to hurry! I was so worried we wouldn't get there in time (even though we only live 5 min away).

Thankfully I was pre-admitted, so they got me up right away. By the time we got me hooked up with the monitors and they finished asking me questions, my contractions had gotten closer together, and I was really starting to struggle with the pain. It caused me to throw up about 5 times because of the pain. At 2:35 they officially admitted me to the hospital and we sent out our texts to our friends and family. My mom arrived quickly after.

I was only dilated to a 2 and I was 80% effaced, so I thought I had a ways to go. Boy was I wrong! My contractions started to peak, only go down a little, and then peak again. No resting time in between. So I started to dilate quickly. I warned the nurses, my mom would dilate to a 4 and then jump to a 10, so they kept a close eye on me. I did the same thing as my mom. Thankfully they got the epidural for me, and also enough antibiotics for the Strep B so Lucy wouldn't get sick, before I delivered.

I pushed for only an hour before Lucy was born. Because of the epidural, I couldn't move my left leg, but unfortunately I could feel a lot of it because the machine that is supposed to allow me to press the button and release more meds wasn't working. By the time they caught the problem it was time to push. At first I was shaking uncontrollably, but the oddest thing happened when I actually did push, I stopped shaking. I felt good. It feels like a dream, probably because I had my eyes closed for a lot of it. I was trying to focus and I was so tired that I couldn't use any energy on my eyes. lol.

The moment she was born I felt this amazing sense of relief and emotions run through me. I began crying, and I found Micah and so was he. I just wanted to hold my baby girl, and know that she was healthy and ok. It was amazing that first feeling of holding her, I couldn't stop crying and looking at her. She was born at 6:52 am, 8 lbs, 20 inches. I was so overwhelmed it felt very surreal, but I was very happy.

We are now so glad to have our precious baby. Its finally starting to sink in that she is OUR baby, and we couldn't be more happy! We love this little angel. :)

Have a great day! ~Meghan

Over halfway there!

 Its about time I post again! Sorry about the huge delay. :) I am now at 23 weeks into my pregnancy, and I'm feeling great! The baby is kicking her little life away and I'm starting to feel all the other aches and pains of pregnancy that hadn't affected me thus far. I don't know if any of you have experienced this, but I have been having some really strong pain on the outside of my left foot. My massage therapist friend says she thinks its because I'm over-compensating. I have a pinch in my back above my right leg that makes it hard to put too much weight on it, and she thinks that I'm putting to much now on my left. On top of that, I think I'm starting to develop shin splints. Lol, if its not one thing then its another. But, even with all those aches everything is soooo worth it. I get to feel the cool things too, like the feeling of her kicking. Its such a neat sensation, I get excited each time and immediately grab whoever is next to me to see if they can feel it. Unfortunately, my future daughter is just like her parents and is already very ornery, and doesn't like to cooperate with that. hahaha. Oh well, soon enough she will be so big that she'll have no choice but be felt by everyone as she wiggles around.
I'm starting to get all these stresses and worries about the future and everything concerning the baby, work, housing, money, etc. I just keep trying to remember to lean on the Lord and let him direct me in the way I need to go. I'm sure it will all work out if I have faith.
We are both so grateful for this blessing, she has already been a source of inspiration for us and we are both seeing the world with a new perspective and drive to make sure whatever we do is what is best for her. :)

Have a great day! ~Meghan

Our Cruise

Its been 2 weeks since we've been back from our cruise, so it is definitely time that I finally post about it. Micah and I went on a Carnival cruise to Baja Mexico. IT WAS AMAZING! We had such a blast. It was long awaited for to be able to go on a trip just the two of us, especially since we never really got to take a big honeymoon. And now that we have a mini Espinoza coming we wanted to make sure we got a trip in before he or she comes. :) So here is the quick version about our trip!

We arrived in California on Monday morning, and we were happily surprised to find that everything just fell into place perfectly for our travels and arrival. Everything from the gate, to baggage claim, to arriving early and getting checked in quickly just worked out in our favor.

Then Tuesday we arrived in Catalina Island and they had boat taxis to shuttle us back and forth from the Island. Catalina was personally my favorite port, and I think I could take a guess that it was Micah's too. It was so gorgeous, and the whole town was super cute and unique. The coolest part was that no one really drove a regular car, they all drove golf carts!  And you could tell each families personality by their golf cart. Some were painted cool colors, others were tricked out, some were extended for more people, and my favorite, some had carseats in them! They all were so unique it was really fun to walk around and see them all.

We decided we wanted to go snorkeling with a group from the ship, and we were sure glad we did, it was soooo fun. That was both our first times doing that, and we got some funny pictures of ourselves. I ended up getting nauseous at the end of the activity, I think the baby wasn't too fond of having my stomach pushed in from the wetsuits.  LOL. Over all it was a marvelous day, and I got extremely sunburned. hahaha.

Wednesday we were in Ensenada Mexico, and Micah and I went with a bus to Rosarito to go to the beach. It was cloudy almost the whole time, but we enjoyed being on the beach, and Micah loved having his first time swimming in the ocean. There was a group of couples next to us, who were obviously LDS, and so I called one of the ladies over and talked to her about it for a while. A few minutes later I noticed them all digging in the sand, and turned out one of the women there had lost her wedding ring. Of course we had to help them look. So we sectioned off parts of the beach that it could have fallen, and gathered about 13 people to look for it thanks to my wonderful bilingual husband, who convinced locals there to let us borrow their tools to look in the sand. I remembered my friend Alea Peters, and how she had had a similar situation during family photos so I asked Micah to see if anyone had a metal detector. Unfortunately they didn't, but they did have these scoops that sifted through the sand well.
Long story short, we found the ring 5 minutes before we had to be back to the bus, and her husband was the one to find it and become "her hero!" :).

Our last full day was Thursday, and that was a hard day, because the boat was rocking super badly. I was very sick from all the motion, but Micah being the genius that he is figured out if I could at least see the waves it would make me feel better. So we sat out at the end of the boat for a long time until I felt better.

We got to watch a lot of fun performances and we really enjoyed just doing whatever we wanted. It was nice to just relax and forget all our responsibilities in the real world. But by the time we came home on Friday we were ready to be back to our normal lives, and we missed our puppies. :) Overall, it was a fantastic trip!

  
Have a great day! ~Meghan

What We've All Been Waiting For

Hello my friends,

As many of you know, Micah and I have wanted to start a family for a very long time (especially me, lol). We have had our fair share of struggles and heartbreak, but we are finally proud to announce WE ARE PREGNANT! As of today I am now 12 weeks into the pregnancy, and everything looks promising and is going very smoothly! My due date is November 29, and we are soooo excited! We wanted to make sure we waited until we were out of the red zone before we did the official announcement, but now that we are past that, I can fill you guys in on everything you've been left out on.

On Wed, March 21 we found out we were pregnant. I had been feeling nauseous on and off for about a week, but I didn't want to get my hopes up only to have them shot down again. So I waited until the 21st to take any test because that would be the day of my expected period. I didn't even warn Micah that I was planning this, so what a shock when I got a positive result! I remember walking downstairs with my test and Micah was on the couch relaxing. I asked him, "hey, you wanna see something cool?", he in turn responded, "sure", so I handed the test over, and after the initial shock he said, "wow, I was not expecting that!" HAHA! What a good sport! :)

On Mon, April 2 I was at 5 1/2 weeks, I was still nauseous, but everything seemed to be going well. Until I noticed that I had started to bleed. Because of our past history in this department, I of course freaked out. I immediately called the doctor and told her what was going on. She scheduled an ultrasound for the next morning to see what was going on. I called Micah and all the strength I had held on to in order to talk to the doctor completely left. I started to let my insecurities and worries pour out to him, and just like the amazing man he is he quickly returned home to take care of me. There is something about having him next to me that always makes my fears and troubles melt away. He stayed positive and helped remind me about the beautiful blessing our Branch President had just given me that everything would be fine. The next morning he went with me to the doctor for my first ultrasound. And sure enough, everything was fine! The bleeding was not fresh, it was left over blood from when the baby implanted into the wall and burrowed in deep. I cannot explain the relief we felt.

The ultrasound tech got looking at the little blob of a baby and asked me to hold my breath. After a few small tests she pointed out a flickering on the screen. She saw a heartbeat! At 5.5 weeks! When a heartbeat is seen, the percentage of chances for a miscarriage drops dramatically. She said it was so small she couldn't say for a 100% so we scheduled another ultrasound for the following week.

That next week we went in and sure enough, there was a huge heartbeat! And the baby had doubled in size already! And on top of that we got to hear the heartbeat. That freakishly strong baby is determined to survive, which explains my massive amounts of nausea. I became so sick I couldn't even sit up straight in bed without losing all food in my stomach. Thankfully my doctor gave me some medication to help out, and after doing my blood tests and finding out that I'm low in the hormone Progesterone, they gave me a prescription for that as well.The anti-nausea meds helps me stop throwing up, but I still feel the need to do it all the time.

On Easter Sunday we announced to our families. I had already told my mom, so she helped me tell my brother in a clever way of showing him the ultrasound picture while I talked to him on the phone. For Micah's family we went up for lunch and took a present to give his parents. We waited until everyone was done eating and then brought it over. It consisted of  baby clothes and they all got the message immediately. After a lot of crying we were surrounded with so much love from everyone.

I have not been able to stay very quiet about this pregnancy, I've just been so excited! And today we got to have our 12 week ultrasound. The baby was so big! Just over 2 inches long! And sooo cute! We were given pictures of the foot prints and profile. Its so amazing seeing that, I couldn't help but get emotional, and so did Micah. We are two very lucky and blessed people. We don't know the gender yet, but we have another ultrasound in July to find out the gender! So I will make sure to keep everyone updated. Sorry, I know this has been super long, but I have been counting down the days until I could finally tell everyone everything! Love you all!

Have a great day! ~Meghan

Change of Plans!

Ok, so remember how we were going to be going on our trip in September?! Ya, that isn't happening. We are now going in May! Hahaha! And to save money, we changed the trip from a 7 day, to a 4 day. And we are still thrilled to be going on this trip.

Another trip headed our way is both my parents are coming out to visit for my graduation on May 4th. I am super excited to see them! We have them in separate rooms, so we bought an air mattress for my dad to sleep on. I hope it works well without leaking! Its the Coleman raised queen sized bed. I hope he likes it. :)
Other than that, we had a wonderful Easter with Micah's family. I got some cute pictures of the kids. Here you go!


Have a great day!~Meghan

Future Plans

This September will be Micah and my's 5th anniversary! Crazy huh?! Time really does fly by fast. Now let me back up a little bit. When we got married we were both working full time, and I was also in school full time too. So instead of taking an exciting trip for our honeymoon, we went to a hotel in Park City for the weekend that way we could be back to class on Monday morning. We have been promising each other since then that we would plan on doing a big trip for our #5 anniversary and so all other anniversaries we did something small like go to the zoo. All fun things, but nothing big. So since this year is our #5 we decided that we will fallow through with our plans and go on a trip. I started out looking into resorts and cruises. I have to had looked at about 30 different cruises, from all cruise lines, and about 15 different resorts. I asked advice from multiple people, and finally we found it. Our perfect trip. A 7 day cruise down the Mexican Riviera. We are so excited! We put down the deposit right away, and booked our flights. And as of last night, thanks to our tax refund, we were able to pay off our entire trip. So now, all we have left to do is save up to pay for extra activities while we are there. I still need to get my passport, but I got my birth certificate in the mail yesterday so now I can go get it tomorrow. That way we have 5.5 months to get it in before our trip. We figure this is our last opportunity to go on a big trip before we have any kids, and this way we can spend this time together before we take that next step. We're so ready for the trip to be here, but we have 180 days left. We sail out Sep 16th! So we will be on our cruise the day of our anniversary, which is the 21st. :) YAY!
Have a great day!~Meghan

Working Hard or Hardly Working

So I know I've been slacking on my postings, so let me fill you in a bit. I have been hired to work over at a local salon & spa, Studio127. Yay! I'm super excited. They have me doing everything I am licensed for, so I am happy. I get to go to work every day and have fun, its awesome. I am working hard and trying to learn a lot. Thankfully all the girls there are very willing to teach me and to explain things to me. School gave me a basic education, now is the time for me to really learn the details and the tips and tricks. I've only been working there for a few weeks, and I feel like my skills have already grown dramatically. I love the feeling of improvement. I am trying to push myself to be better and to learn more every day. And I'm proud that I have been successful. Some of the employees there have already started trusting me with their own hair, which to me is a big deal. I'm pretty excited. So that is my work update!

We don't really have any other updates to announce, other than Micah is doing really well in the EMT program at school. He is taking a small detour from his hospital administration program and is becoming an EMT in the meantime. The teacher seems to really like Micah too, he has started to ask Micah to do things for him instead of anyone else in class. I'm really proud of all his effort. We may not see each other much now, but when this is all over it will be worth it. :)
Have a great day!~Meghan

Birthdays!

Hello my friends!
Today is Micah's 27th birthday. He keeps saying that he is old (and he is) lol, but its so nice to get to spoil him a little bit! We DJ'd the stake dance last night for the youth, and I had the kids all sing happy birthday to him as a surprise. And I think for the first time in our marriage, I was actually able to surprise him. :) He also drove us up to Rye this afternoon to spend his birthday with his family and have homemade pizza. It was really yummy! Micah's mom is a really good cook, so it was pretty tasty. Our nephews Timmy and Tommy were funny because they kept wanting to bring me candy as a bribe so I would give them some too. hahaha. Smart boys, it worked. It has been so cold lately that we can't leave our puppies outside for too long, but it was warm enough we got to do it for a while today. And it was so funny when we got home, both puppies were all tuckered out and wanting to nap. They were so cute we got to reminisce about when they were all little and new. Birdie will turn 3 in two days, and Bogey is about a year and a half. I'll put some of their pictures from when they were both big and little so you can see the difference.
Little:

Little of Bogey, but Birdie is big in this one...:)


Big:
We sure do love our little puppies, they are our children. lol. Birdie has started performing Houdini tricks for us by somehow always being able to get out of her room. We put her to bed and shut the door and 5 minutes later she will be laying on the floor in the living room next to us. hahaha! We still don't understand how she can do it.
Anyway, other than that I have a small update,
I have started a job over at Studio 127 as a cosmetologist, and I am super excited. They seem to like me and I'm really happy there. I am enjoying getting to know the other girls and to learn more.
Have a great day!~Meghan

Happy Holidays

These past couple weeks we have been able to have lots of fun celebrating the holidays. This Thanksgiving we celebrated two days in a row by first going to the zoo with our nieces and nephews and then by celebrating with lots of food!! I made two recipes, my green bean casserole (a yearly tradition), and a new one, Meatballs! And my friend introduced me to the recipe for the meatballs, it includes chili sauce, and grape jelly! I know what you are thinking, I thought that same thing, but trust me, its amazing. I went to a pot luck at school and my friend made the meatballs. I couldn't get enough of them and when I asked her for the recipe that is what she told me. At first I thought she was joking, but no, she was serious! So she told me to try it at home, and I did just that. The recipe is super easy.

-1 bag of meatballs (I used frozen meatballs with the original style)
-1 can chili sauce (Heinz brand. You'll find it next to the ketchup)
-1 jar grape jelly

After a couple attempts at making it, I found it is best to premix the two sauces before you add the meatballs. To speed up the process, I warmed (not all the way, just a little bit so they weren't frozen) the meatballs in a saucepan, and the sauces in another, and then combined them in a crockpot to let simmer for about 3 hours. It soooo yummy, and adds a really tangy flavor. And I promise it is not spicy, the grape jelly seems to balance the chili sauce out. I recommend anyone who wants an easy yet filling meal to try it. And the plus side, tons of leftovers! :) I was a slacker and didn't take any pictures, but here are pictures other people have taken.

Also, we are very excited to come back to Utah to visit for Christmas. It almost didn't happen, but after some negotiating with my management at work, we are officially coming! We are both so excited to go see my family, I can't even put into words how much I miss them. It is extremely hard being away from them for so long. I am also extremely excited to finally meet my niece Isa for the first time, and also my best friend Chelsie's baby, Brylie. I hope they are both ready for tons of cuddles from me, they are in for a bunch!

Have a great day!~Meghan

Graduation!!!

I am done!!! Oh so done!!!! Phew! Glad that is over with. After three years to get my first associates, and then another two years to graduate for Cosmetology, I am finally done. This Monday we did a mini graduation party at my school because we won't be walking until May. My teachers invited our friends and family, and they did a lovely video showing a bunch of our pictures from throughout the program. It was crazy how much my hair has changed, it was long and curly, and now its straight, short, and highlighted. Everyone thought it was funny because no one recognized me at first in the pictures, its been such a change. But I was pleased that Micah and his parents came to support me, and I got my certificate of completion. My teachers took a group photo of our class all waiting to get our certificates, and here is the picture. You can see me in the third row, third from the left.


I am so glad that all the girl drama, the frustrations of learning, and the homework are done. But at the same time I will really miss those girls. When you spend 7 hours a day, 4-5 days a week, for almost two years, you grow pretty close. I could not have asked for a better experience or for better people to share it with. Congrats all grads!!!!
Have a great day!~Meghan

Silver Lining

There always seems to be something standing in my way of updating my blog. Whether I have lost the cord to plug in my camera, or even lost the camera itself, or I may just feel like I have no time. So my apologies for not updating sooner, I need to step it up. lol.

Micah and I have had an interesting couple of months. To kick it off, we have moved, again. This is now our 5th home in 4 years. But oh well, whatever works. We like it, it is in some ways the biggest place we have lived so far, but it is one of the cheapest too, which I LOVE. We live in a 4-plex, on the end unit, and we have our own fenced in back yard, which the dogs love. Its not the fanciest of places, but it is what we need right now, so we are happy. We also just celebrated our 4th anniversary this Sep, and we can't believe how much time has flown by! Its been a fun journey so far. :)

Also, for my own update, I am almost done with school. My last day of class is on Nov 14 (two weeks away!), and then I will be testing to get my license over the next month after that. I am at a strange standpoint in my life right now. I have been to a lot of places that are potential employers, but I am starting to get the feeling that none of them are wanting to hire right now. On top of that, my current employer is going through an entire change in the staffing, so everything seems to be up in the air. So I feel like I am being thrown off of my comfort bubble. Everything is about to change in the next two months, and I guess what I am feeling right now is confusion. I don't really know what exactly I want to do right now. Do I want to go back to school again and get my massage therapy license to add to my resume? Do I want to look for work in cosmetology, or do I want to just work in optical? Or, do I want to try teaching dance? I feel like there are so many choices, and I don't know quite what to do with myself. There is a girl in my class at school who applied to work at Disney and just got hired, and I am so jealous that I didn't think of it first. lol. There are two other girls in my class that are opening up their own special occasion company, which is an idea I've had to do for a long time. I am not much of a competitive person, so I get nervous competing for positions and careers. I also struggle with putting myself out there, I guess I'm afraid I will get hurt, but I think I need to really take a look at what I want and just do it. The question is, what do I want? (Once I find out I'll let you guys know.)

For Micah, he is getting into a really good place for his career, he finally got his foot in the door at the hospital, and he is really excited about it. Being at the hospital, is also putting him in the position to meet people higher up, so that next time another position opens he will already have a heads up for applying. I'm very proud of him at how hard he works.

Right now I feel that although life is crazy and busy working 12-13 hour days every day, I still have a lot to be grateful for. We are both healthy, and we are happy. All too often I see people who don't have such luxuries and I become more grateful that I do. I am married to a wonderful man who loves me and treats me well. I couldn't ask for more. :)

Last night we attended a Halloween party, and we dressed as Harry and Hermionie. Here is a pic. :)

Have a great day!~Meghan

Sunday Dinner

Today Micah and I were making dinner after church and a Sparrow flew into our apartment! I tried to direct it outside, but I ended up scaring it even more so I finally started to leave it alone and it flew out the door again. And then after that Micah was trying to clean up some oil that spilled with a paper towel and it caught on fire from being too close to the burner. It was a crazy way to make dinner. But it ended up being super delicious so it was all worth it. We made Chicken Alfredo, Garlic Bread, and Spinach salad.

I learned a recipe for an amazing salad, that I never thought I would like, but now I love:
Its a Spinach Salad, you take baby Spinach, sprinkle Feta cheese in there, and Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing, and just toss it all together. It is absolutely amazing. And very healthy.
Normally I don't like fresh spinach, but in this salad, I can't get enough. Try it, you'll love it!

Have a great day! ~Meghan

Micah the Amazing

So for those of you who don't know yet, Micah has been laid off in his job at EZ Money. Looks like they had to shut down his whole store and they did not have any management positions open so he had to be laid off. (Don't worry though, he already has a new job) Well Micah, being the skilled and talented man that he is got his boss to approve giving us the desk from his office that they no longer have a place for. So now we have a hardwood desk for free that would normally cost us several hundred dollars! And on top of that they also gave us their nice office chair as well! Here is a picture of the desk in our beautiful office. :)

Have a great day!~Meghan

Only in Pueblo

I went to lunch today with my in laws and as we were walking out I saw a full blown pepper in the parking lot! It was hilarious!

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Homemade Icecream!

Hello Friends!
So this year our stake is heading off to Wyoming for the handcart trek! In our small little branch, I have 1 young woman who will be attending, and so my goal has been to get her extra excited to go on the trek. So my first attempt was to find a recipe that we could make homemade icecream with, and even though this exact recipe did not turn out to be authentic, it was still very fun and delicious. And the best part? It is super fast and very easy!!!! It takes all of about 10 mim to make, and I just have to say, this is the best ice cream I have ever had! Here is the recipe:

Homemade Icecream in a Bag: (serves 1)

-2 tablespoons sugar

-1 cup half and half

-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (which I actually did a full 1 tsp.)

-1/2 cup salt (the bugger the granules, the better, Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine. ~I just used table salt)

-Ice Cubes, enough to fill about half a gallon size ziploc bag

-1 pint size Ziploc bag (the tougher the seal and plastic the better)

-1 gallon size Ziploc bag

You will start by combining the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract all into the pint size ziploc bag. The directions did not call for it, but I found that quickly mixing everything in the bag made everything work a bit easier.

From there place the ice in the gallon size bag and pour the salt on top, and shake it up a bit. Then put the smaller bag inside the larger bag. (This is why it is important to have a tough bag because if you don't salt could get into the smaller bag and ruin the icecream. I used the bags that zip-lock closed and had no problems)

Seal up the larger bag and shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5-7 min). You will be able to feel the smaller bag to determine when its done. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add any mix ins you want, and you can eat the icecream straight out of the bag.

Have a great day!~Meghan

A Sweet Farewell to Kiki

Oh my dear Kiki, we have been through so much together, we have driven for miles, and we have hit many milestones. You were there when I first learned how to drive a manual, and you were there when I graduated high school. You carried my belongs to my first apartment when I moved out, and you drove me around when I needed to contemplate my life. You saw me get married and you endured me taking you through all kinds of rain, slush, and snow when we moved to Colorado. You have carried all my loads whether as an emotional teenager who needed a breather drive, or as an emotional adult who needs a breather drive. Through thick and thin you were always there for me and you have witnessed many terrible and wonderful moments throughout my life. I owe you so many 'thank yous' and 'i love yous' because to me you are not just a car, you were my first car. You will never be replaced in my heart! So Goodbye and Farewell.....I love you Kiki! :)



Have a great day!~Meghan

Isa Paige Dallon

Hello my friends! I apologize for not posting more often these last couple months. I have a big announcement though, my newest niece was born! Her name is Isa Paige Dallon, and she was born on the 15th. She weighs 8 lbs and is 19 inches long. I really wish I could have been there to see her be born, that is probably the hardest part about being in Colorado for me. I miss all the big events in my family. But even still, I was very excited and still was able to call my brother Brandon and his wife Xilvia while they were in the hospital there and give them my best wishes. I got a few pictures that they had posted on Facebook, here they are! (You'll notice she has dark hair, we're all crossing our fingers that her hair stays super dark!)

This is Ashe and Mia my other niece and nephew, holding their new little sister.

Have a great day!~Meghan

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