Recap

This week has been great for two reasons.

1. I've been able to work at the dental office (the one I interned for this summer) all week to make some extra moo-lah. The office manager is out on vay-cay so it worked out perfectly that I was here this week to fill in for her. I WISH we lived here so I could work here permanently. The office is 5 minutes away from the house, the hours are 7-2, and it is relatively low key!  Lets be honest. It has given me a chance to get out of the house for a little bit, have some time for myself, do what I enjoy doing, and make some money too! 

and

2. I found THIS blog. I have been through all her tutorials. 

I AM DYING FOR MY SEWING MACHINE!!!  

I made some Christmas coasters for my Grandma before the break. I didn't wrap them up because I didn't want to make a HUGe deal about it, since they were...coasters...But I gave them to her the night before the went home and she seriously almost started crying. She loved them and come on, everyone needs coasters!!

I already asked my mom for a few items that I could have that have been sitting in her upstairs closet since we moved to NC. Those babies have some serious POTENTIAL! Hello projects! And, we are planning on sanding and painting the free dressers our realitor gave us when we moved here. You're surprised I don't love the cream and floral paint job?? YIKES. And yes, I am putting Ryan to work before school starts because once it starts up again...MIA mi esposo Ryan!!!!

We also have plans to redecorate our front room, move things around, and get RID of our cable. I can't really make sense of us paying only for internet and the price per month not cutting down much lower, but I can't STAND cable right now. So. Much. TRASH. on TV. Get out of our HOUSE! I'll probably cry for a week without my trashy shows and MTV and TLC and Food Network...BUT most things are on the internet anyways!

So, Here's to a FABULOUS New Year!!

some of my hopes:

>next December we can say that we are HALF WAY THROUGH law school! Boo-ya!

>Brinley talking, and possibly getting MORE teeth. Yes, only 2 on the bottom stll.

>good internship over the summer for Ryan.

>start nannying for some babies. (one starts Feb, the 2nd starts April)

>getting pregs.

>keep growing my hair out.

>be better about exercising, eating more veggies, and drinking more h2o.

>celebrate my 25th b-day!!

>call my old girlfriends more often to catch up.

>craft and sew until I can't anymore!!

>be a better wifey, mommy, sister, daughter, and ME!

The week in review

Christmas was fabulous. We had such a fun time together. My favorite quote was when my nephew saw all the presents Christmas morning from the top of the stairs and he said "How did Santa bring the basketball hoop through the chimney?" Ummm....because Santa has magic....He turns 4 in February and he is already wondering...greaaaaat.

I must say, I haven't really stopped eating until I got here November 30th. We can't stop eating good food. I am looking forward to getting back into our routine of eating simple meals and not eating so much during the day!!! Diet...YES please!

Here are some cute pics!

Trying to get the kids together for their annual Christmas Eve Jammie picture! They were cranky!!

Christmas morning checking out her stocking. She was loving her new sippy cup out of everything!

See what I mean?? YAY! Brinley got a STOOL from Santa!!! No...just kidding. There is also an awesome table too but Ry and I decided it wasn't worth it to build for her to use for 5 days and then for us to TAKE IT APART. For the love. No way. So, I'll post pics when we get that baby set up. 

My new Pink Pepper Spray!! Thanks Jared! Now I can go for walks in Talley!

Brin's new kicks from Auntie Jill!!! THEY ARE AWESOME!

And after Jared being around for a week, Brinley finally decided that he is a "cool guy" and she loves her Uncle Jared. She always giggles when she is with him! So cute.

OKAY. So my Mom and I have been holding in this secret for 3 weeks. We were at Target one day and saw these footie pajama's in the boys section. We looked at each other and started busting up laughing. It wasn't even a question. We needed 4 XL pajamas. Dad, David, Jared and Ryan. We got home, wrapped them up quickly and didn't say anything. Mom brought out the boxes, they all opened them at the same time, and they all FA-REAKED out. They got up, ran around and only David came out with his jammies on. Then my Mom helped my Dad, I helped Ryan, and then all the boys helped with Jared. David didn't understand..."Why don't these fit?" Ummm, because they are 14-16 boys. HAHAHA We were rolling around and crying laughing so hard! 

We did have other boxes of jammies. hahaha we Fooled them GOOD!

We also took Family Pictures at our neighbor's backyard.

Aren't the pictures great? I am so excited to blow them up and frame them!

I love seeing all yalls Christmas pictures! I'm glad everyone has had a fun break. Ry doesn't start school until Jan. 10th so it is nice that we have a little break even when we get back to Florida. I have no idea when we'll all be together again, so we're trying to savor every moment!!! 

First EVER Christmas Party

We decided to go all out.

It was SO worth it.

After our party, we enjoyed in the "Root Beer Tasting" portion of the night. We had 16 different types of root beers and did a BLIND taste test. It was awesome. It was A LOT of root beer to swallow after the 16th one, but it was tons of fun. Hanks won, classic, bold, and rooty. Perfect type of root beer!

Happy Birthday!!

Ryan's birthday was today. I really tried my best to make sure that he felt special today! First, Brinley let us sleep in until 8, Ryan went for a run while I decorated inside (streamers and balloons!) and then we both got cleaned up to go out for our surprise lunch date. My parents went to this Mexican restaurant called Vida a few weeks ago and have been NON stop raving about it. There aren't too many places in between fast food and tacos from a bus...if you know what I mean. SO I was super excited.

THEN the other day this was our conversation:

(somehow it slipped out of someone that I was taking him to a surprise lunch)

Ryan: You're taking me to lunch??

Meag: Ya! For your birthday!

Ryan: Where are we going??

Meag: To a restaurant that has your favorite food!

Ryan: You found a Thai place???

Meag: No. (dang it).

Haaahahaha I laughed pretty hard when he said that. I kept the same plans even though his #1 fav IS Thai, but we've always been talking about finding a good Mexican place.

I kept the restaurant a secret to Ryan...until we got lost downtown. I honestly had no idea where it was even though we had directions. 

We finally found it after driving around for 15-20 minutes. IT WAS SOOO WORTH IT! He was so surprised! The food was DELISH. ahhh there is just something so magical about authentic Mexican that isn't...scary or sketchy...or run the the bathroom asap after you eat it.

Happy Birthday, Ryan babe! You are my number one man and I love you more today than I did yesterday. I just can't get enough of your hugs, laughs, smiles, kisses, concern for others, and how good of a daddy you are! Brinley and I LOVE you!!!

We had SUCH a fun day. After we put the kids down, we had our FIRST Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. It was INSANE. 

That post is NEXT!

Stay tuned...

Temple Blessings

There is just something so special about being together as a family.

Even better?

Being together as a family in the Temple.


It was Jill's day and there were no empty seats.
(except Tiffany who had to stay back with a nursing baby, but if she could, she would have been there...)

Christmastown

Last night we walked through McAdenville AKA Christmastown. We are in the "know" and parked in a secret lot to avoid the 2 hour backup trying to drive through the town. Secret, JUST WALK. It is about an hour long to walk through and the lights are way better than being in a car. Three Christmases ago, we ate at PF Changs for our Christmas Eve dinner, and with Jill, Jared and I packed in the back seat and my parents in the front, we (okay, my Mom) thought...I'm sure it isn't busy tonight on Christmas Eve. We were dead wrong. We were at a stand still for 2 hours. SOOO we had pretty bad feelings towards Christmastown. Up until last night. It was AWESOME.

weekend in photos...

We had a wild weekend.

The boys. Out getting the tree.

Tired Grandma-great and Grandpa-great while watching Jared's slideshow of mission pictures...

Football outside!

Girls making peanut butter cups! SO good homemade and SO easy to make!

Down at the dock. It finally was in the upper 40's low 50's so we went out for a walk to the water.

This picture is EXACTLY how Brinley feels about her Gramps. She gives that CHEESY, chin-tilted smile and just stares at him. They love to share treats and snuggle. They are toooo cute!

Sunday outfit for the Christmas program at Church. When my parents went to Scotland this summer, they came back with our tartan plaid. We were a cute plaid family at Church! Brinley was out of control cute!

Jared, taking his FIRST nap since being home. He fell asleep almost instantly after sitting on the couch after we got home from Church. He deserves it!

A fierce game of Scrabble with Grandma and Grandpa!

(I won...)