Our new car :)

Our Memorial Day weekend was pretty fun, I planted my garden finally! We hung out and I slept a ton, hehe. Then on Monday we bought a car!!!

Its a 2004 Chevy Impala, not my favorite car, but its bigger than our old one, newer and faster ;) I'm very excited because our Grand Am was dying and was too small.

I'll possibly post a pic later if I'm not too lazy ;)

In Memory Of....

I know I'm late, its pretty common for me ;)

I want to first thank all the soldiers, current and from the past. They have sacrificed so much for my freedom and my family. I am so greatful to live here in the U.S. in this time with so many comforts, freedoms and possibilities.

I would also like to talk about my Great Grandma, she was an awesome lady. So spunky, energetic and kind. She was the cookie lady of her neighborhood and loved having all the kids come visit her. She never stopped moving, always busy doing something. Stu and I were married in her backyard and she spent hours the day before making her yard beautiful! The neighbors came over to help out, because she just wouldn't stop, lol. She was 85, I think, at the time. She told me she was 87 several years in a row, lol, so I am not sure her current age when we got married ;)

My Great Grandpa died when I was 11 and I remember him being ill for many years before that. My Great Grandma willed him to live for quite awhile. One favorite story is when he was in the hospital and the drs said he wouldn't make it through the night. She sat on a chair rocking back and forth saying "you are going to make it, I'm not ready to lose you yet!" and "Heavenly Father, don't you dare take him yet, I still need him!" He made it for a few more years and they were a happy time.

She passed away when I was 22 years old. I loved that I was able to know her quite well, spend a lot of time with her and learning so much. She loved everyone and wasn't afraid to speak her mind, she was so great at doing it too. You never felt bad when you were reprimanded and she had everyone scared of her, even though she was maybe 100 pounds and about 4ft 8 inches tall, haha. She was the BYU basketball/football teams #1 fan and was so proud of her signed football and team photos with her in them. She barely reached the players waistes, but you bet they could hear her screaming her support. One day she even wrote one of the players, I forget which one, and told him that he was a role model for kids everywhere and that she saw/heard him swear on T.V. so he needed to be careful. She said "if you get upset just say peas and potatoes."

Thats my Great Grandma and I miss her :)

Not what I had in mind...

I have been trying to eat well and exercise hoping that I would lose a couple of pounds and hopefully some inches as well. After several months of being a good girl ;), I felt better and could feel some nice muscle tone, but no lost inches or pounds. I was a bit frustrated, but figured that muscle tone was better anyway, hehe.

Anyway, I had to have a root canal yesterday, no fun at all. And I still can't chew without lots of pain, so I get to eat lots of smoothies and stuff, which means I'll be losing a few pounds, ha! I'm sure it wont stay off, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts ;)

My Life Monday

My parents named me Meadow because they liked it.

No cool story, just "hey, Meadow thats a good one" "Ok, sounds good to me too" Though my dad likes to tell people that they named me Meadow because that is where I was concieved :P, sure dad....whatever *eyeroll* lol.

I love my name, though it can get frustrating when I tell someone what my name is "Metal? what?!" me "no, Meadow...M.e.a.d.o.w" "wow, oh thats beautiful" is the usual response, haha. But they somehow forget and call me Autumn, Summer or Misty for some reason. Telemarketers usually screw it up too, no idea why, maybe they think its my last name and they don't want to sound foolish? ha.

Oh and one favorite comment I get "Your name please..." me "Meadow" them "no, your first name" duh, like I can't see the form you are filling out and see that it says first name _______. "yes, that is my first name" them "Oh, I'm sorry, that is so pretty"

I thought that with all the more unique names out there now, I'd have it easier but no such luck. Oh well, atleast I don't run into someone with my same name often. One time in my life in fact ;)

My Life Monday

Sorry I'm so late, but it will be worth it, hopefully ;)

How I met my spouse...........

I always wanted to learn Karate, or really any form of Martial Arts and I finally got the chance when I was 17 and working a full-time job. There was a karate studio behind my place of employement (Arby's). I decided to check them out and signed up for a few months. I ended up moving into an apartment with my friends and my sister and her husband so I had to stop taking lessons for a few months. Upon my return I noticed this big, handsome man standing by the windows. My competetive self hoped that he wasn't a higher rank than me, tee hee. But I also wanted to get to know him.

I have to be honest here, I thought that the big, handsome man had a big neck, not something I enjoy. But the rest of him was fine, yum! So he goes and changes into his Gi, in the changing room, pervs. And comes out with a white belt, "phew, I am a higher rank" I thought. Until our sensei told him to go back and get his real belt. I learned later that Stu had gone to the Marine Corps boot camp and had missed a few months of lessons, he felt like he wasn't an orange belt anymore (a rank above my yellow belt, darn). So he wasn't lower than me, dang! And for the record, his neck was big because he was so buff, one bonus to boot camp ;)

We work out and I watch him as much as I can, yes I'm stealth, he had no idea :P. We became friends and hung out a bit after class, but nothing major. He ended up asking my friend out, so I figured he wasn't interested in me and I let my infatuation go. He did ask me out several times and I always turned him down, doh! Mainly because I felt like he was only asking me because his other friends couldn't go, but there was a time or two that I wanted to hang out but couldn't and was too shy to say so.

Stu was in a major motorcycle accident one day and upon hearing the news, I nearly freaked out. It was quite strange, how could I have such strong feelings for someone that I had never really known? I don't know, but I did. I ended up spending almost every day at the hospital with him (nearly 2 weeks) and then I saw him almost daily at his home as well. One of the nurses asked me questions about him because she thought I was his girlfriend, hehe.

Stu's accident was on November 21st, 1995 and we were married on June 1st, 1996. We like to move fairly fast I guess, hee! He is the best thing that ever happened to me! I can't imagine my life any different and nor do I want to. He makes me laugh daily and he is my biggest supporter, always there for me no matter what. He makes sure everyone treats me like the Queen that I am ;). He works so hard so that I can stay home with the kids and listens while I complain about staying home from time to time, tee hee.

Oh and no, his neck is no longer big. He is just right :).

I'm here, I'm melting, and I'm lazy!

Sorry for being MIA lately. I will do my life monday and post about the fun swimming the kids have been doing, tomorrow maybe.

Its freaking hot. My allergies suck. Insurance sucks. Medication freaking costs a ton. I'm freaking hot!

I went to the ENT on tuesday, she wants me to get a CT scan but it will cost atleast $600 so its not going to happen. We're trying allergy meds and nasal washing (sick, eh?) to clear up the chronic sinusitis, since antibiotics aren't doing any good. So we'll see if that works.

How was your Mothers Day?

I hope you all had a great day to enjoy your families. I ended up with a great day. But it started out fairly poorly. My children decided that fighting, crying, whining and general misbehaving was how they wanted me to know they loved me. I guess I'll pretend that it was just their way of getting my attention. Yesterday morning made me glad that I only had 3 children and that we are finished :P.

The afternoon was much better, little man decided he liked the world again and the other two kids decided that they didn't want to be in time out for the rest of their lives ;)

I am so happy to have my children. After yesterday I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband to share the parenting with me. I don't think I could survive being a single mom. I would probably be running down the street from my home screaming "I can't take it anymore, someone save me!" after the first week, hehe.

M made me a cute plate at school and L made me a card and got me a little chocolate (that she wants me to share with her, lol) and little man gave me one of his toy guns, lol.

I'm thinking that these made up holiday's are more trouble than they are worth :P. Maybe I'll boycott them from now on and wont have to worry about the "gifts" my children decide to bestow upon me ;).

Such a boy!

Here is little man fast asleep on the couch. I walked by and saw how he was sleeping and of course had to snap a pic.

Blackmail photos :)

L and I decided that we needed to pamper ourselves. I have no shame, so these photos don't embarass me, but I'm sure L will hate them in another year or so, tee hee.

Oh and no comments on how my daughter is 9 and almost as tall as me :P



In this one we were supposed to be scary, but I guess L decided we meant we were supposed to look scared? ha!

My Life Monday

Thanks to Rachelle for starting this fun topic.

I have been thinking about this weeks topic "Week 1 topic - My Most Memorable Childhood Experience" and have had a hard time deciding what I wanted to post. I had a pretty normal childhood, nothing major happend to me. Hmm....I think that I'll tell about the time our family went deer hunting. I was about 10, I think, and it was a family tradition, to go hunting every year. We'd go camping for about a week or so and freeze most of the time :P

All of us older kids took turns hiking out with my dad to keep him company. Atleast thats what we thought, it was probably more of a break for my mom ;). We would pack up some hard candy to suck on and bundle up, then trudge off for a few hours until we were too cold or hungry and we'd head back to camp. I was sitting there next to my dad, trying to play quietly because I didn't want to scare the deer away. I found these cool little squishy rocks to stack, I thought it was great fun. Then my dad decided to spoil my fun and tell me that I was playing with deer poop, ewww!! Here I was out in the middle of nowhere, not anything to drink let alone to wash my hands, sick! I was about to get up disgusted and insist on returning to camp when my dad said "shh...there is a deer, don't move." I stood up slowly and quietly with him and took a step back so that I wouldn't be next to his loud gun. He took a shot and the deer ran a few feet then dropped to the ground. My dad instructed me to wait there incase the deer got back up, he would be in shock and might stomp me. Enough said, I wasn't moving ;) hehe.

My dad heads down to the deer and finds it dead, phew. So I go down to him and watch him gut the deer, fascinating actually, but quite stinky. I'm sure not as stinky as Emily's turkey farm, but stinky none-the-less. My dad had to go get help because the deer was much too heavy to drag away. He of course wants to make sure his deer isn't stolen, so I'm enlisted to sit there with dead thing and wait for him to come back. After what felt like an eternity, probably close to an hour, he came back with my mom and his friend with a truck. I was exhaused and stinky and wanted nothing to do with camping or hunting again. We went back to camp and had dinner, I felt good enough to stand next to "my" deer for a picture, so it couldn't have been that bad ;).

My dad called me his good luck charm from then on, I think thats why this experience is one of my favorite memories.

Now what?

I'm out of school for the summer, I am not training or running a marathon this year (though I am tempted). We are not moving any time soon. My kids will be out of school in a month, gasp. They are entertaining themselves as I type, digging holes in the field out back.

I do have a few sewing projects that I want to work on, but its a hard thing to do when the kids hear the sewing machine and think "yes, mom is preoccupied, lets go destroy something." I need something to do. I do plan on planting a garden in the next week or so, but that wont take much more than a couple of days.

Give me some ideas, besides housework ;). How about some wonderful products to sell on eBay that will help me become a millionaire? tee hee. Something like this perhaps? hee!

Remind me...

of this day if I decide to experiment again. I decided to see if drinking vanilla coke really does cause my migraines.



.....it does.

And so does stress, aparently. Found that out last week during finals week :P.

Atleast I know, right?

Happy Birthday, little man.

Its hard to admit that my youngest is now 4 years old! He is suffering from the "spoiled birthday kid" blues. I say blues because I'm getting tired of it :P


Here is the cake, its gorgeous :P. I ended up using a baggie and cutting the corner off. Next time
Amber will be hired or atleast consulted with. I think I'll have her on the phone the whole time if I have to do this again ;)


Little man blowing out the candles, too cute....



Here he is again, in his new clothes and on his new bike, he was mad that I wouldn't push him anymore, so he refused to look at the camera, lol.