Happiness

On Memorial Day I spent the morning running. It was a run to support recovery for those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol in Olney, MD. I had a great time. It was hot. It was humid. I was done with 1/2 mile to go, but I made it. 35:51 minutes for 3.1 miles. Josh and the kids were very supportive. Who wouldn't want someone to cheering for you and yelling your name? I know I would! This is me and the kids after the race. See that smile on my face? That's my fake smile. I really was thinking "I gotta sit down!" I lost my training schedule the last few weeks so I kinda just played it by ear- not being really serious. Not the best idea in the world! And here's me pouring water on the kids since they insisted. It was so hot! 94 degrees with lots of humidity. I had so much sweat pouring off my face it stung my eyes. That didn't even happen on the July 4th race where it was 100 degrees. It's all about the humidity and you can't predict how humid it will b...

I've been reading the May Ensign with the General Conference Talks in it a lot lately. This morning I read Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk entitled "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten". I love Elder Christofferson. His son was in my mission in Spain and he was just like a mini Apostle. He spoke low and deep and was so humble. In his talk, Elder Christofferson tells a story about a currant bush. The bush had grown up to be six feet tall and had no berries on it. The gardener (President Hugh B. Brown) saw this and pruned it back drastically, leaving only stumps. President Brown noted a small, tear like drop on each of the stumps, as if the bush was saying to him " 'How can you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth...And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me...How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.' " Someone mentioned this story on their blog post as well and I complete...

via internets a newborn. His/her head all solid and firm in my hand, covered with a sort of peachy fuzz that is like smooth velvet to the touch. I dreamt last night of this little wee one. A few details made me think that I had adopted this little treasure from heaven. One- I did not give birth to him. He was not my birthson. He was someone else's, but I held him like he was my own. Two- This baby boy was bald, with no hair at all- just peach fuzz. All of my kids have had hair at birth- long, silky hair. Elizabeth astounded us all with her dark tresses. Asher's blonde beauty was talked about by all the nurses and even Ethan and Jonah who were born preemies had long, fine strands of silk. I just checked pics to make sure. When we first began thinking about adoption two months ago, I searched online for as much information as I could. During my search I found the blog lds adoption connection . I began reading it often, rejoicing in it's encouraging words and finding joy in ...

I love Pizza! Invariably, when someone asks what my favorite food is I say "PIZZA!" At first it was because that's what I had always said ever since I was 7 years old. Now, it is because it truly is my favorite food. Of ALL time! Here are my top TEN favorite Pizzas- not in order. #1.My Mom's Homemade Pizza. My Mom would make her own pizza, in two round metal pans, with self-raising dough that would take an hour to rise. It would take a long time to make, but whenever I saw that big metal bowl out on the counter with a towel on top- I knew we were either having cinnamon rolls (yum!) or pizza and either way, I was in HEAVEN! #2. Giovannis. In Santa Barbara. Pure Heaven. Picture this- a family of nine- 2 parents plus 7 hungry kids who only ever went out to eat at McDonalds (can you believe it?) or Taco Bell, plus a kind and generous Aunt and Uncle who have adopted us as their own, walk into a California Pizzeria. The smell? Pure heaven. The sound? Pans clanking, people c...

So, I made it for a week without blogging! Technically, five days since I wrote this post on Tuesday and then scheduled it. Lots of things are a happening in this beautiful land of Maryland, South of the Mason/Dixon line. While I was gone, I discovered lots of new blogs online and I'll have to show them to you. Jonah lost on his first tooth in April! Ethan had lost his two bottom teeth and they had mostly grown in by the time Jonah's one little tooth decided to fall out. It had been wiggling loose for a week and finally he pulled it free at school and stuck it in his pocket. He didn't tell the teacher because 1. he doesn't really talk to his teacher- he's shy like that. and 2. She would make him go to the nurse's office who would put it in an envelope for him and he did NOT want an envelope. I'm just glad he didn't lose it. Ethan lost his first one since he also put it in his pocket and kept showing it to his friends. Thus, resulting in a letter written ...

Me, with Elizabeth, on the last day I was pregnant with twins I will be taking a vacation from my blog for about a month. Hope to see you all again then. Love, Megan

Elizabeth at age 20 months I had to get three cavities filled yesterday. I hate going to the dentist and I hate getting cavities filled. So when I found out that 1 cavity to be filled had changed to three I was apprehensive to say the least. Then came the gauze, the numbing gel and the two shots in the mouth. In the mouth!!! On the second one, that was actually in the roof of my mouth, I yelled out loud. I have never done this before. Not while getting an epidural, not while getting a root canal and definitely not at the dentist. I was hurt and a little embarrassed and began to cry. Someone gave me a tissue and they proceeded to work. I had just finished reading a talk from April's General Conference on my smart phone and all I could think about was this quote: "Not one of the trials and tribulations we face is beyond our limits, because we have access to help from the Lord. We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us." (More Than Conquerors through Him That L...

Us with Ethan- I think- in the NICU. I was looking for a cute picture of the twins together, but they didn't really put them together, so I didn't find any. I do have one somewhere! Ethan and Jonah on their blessing day- 4 months old. Seven years ago today, two little beans were born. They were 4 lbs and 14 oz (Ethan) and 5 lbs and 1 oz (Jonah) and they arrived a surprisingly 5 1/2 weeks too early. They had twin-to-twin transfusion and ended up spending 4 and 5 weeks- respectively- in the hospital. They each came home to a doting 20 month old sister Elizabeth and thrilled yet tired parents Josh and Megan. It's amazing that they survived together considering their twin-to-twin. Ethan and Jonah, about 8 months old Ethan and Jonah, recently Jonah and Ethan- taken last year And now, today they have grown up to be strapping, healthy young boys- just like Jonah's blessing in the hospital said he would. You would never guess that Jonah had to be on five different medications,...

The following post has nothing to do with the above picture. Have any of you seen Extreme Couponing on TLC? It's a new show. I haven't because we don't have cable and you can't get TLC on hulu.com but I hear I can go to the Green Turtle to watch if I really am that desperate- which I am not. Anyways, the girl who does it lives in my hometown! Crazy, huh? She has been teaching classes to groups of Moms who want to save money using coupons for $30 a class. She won't let anyone divulge the secrets they learn because she wants them to take the class and make a little more money. I've learned a little by watching some of my friends who have taken the class and by seeing what they do. They organize all of their coupons into one binder and put them into plastic sleeves...Ok- I feel a little dishonest divulging this information, so I'll just stop right there. What do you all think about coupon/extreme couponing? This is my blog. My name is Megan A. -So excited for F...

As most of you know, I love, love, love the Eyre family. They started a website called Values Parenting and they started Joy School- a school for teaching toddlers and are also book writers and public speakers. Richard and Linda Eyre have 9 children and I have recently found some of their daughter's blogs: www.71toes.blogspot.com and thebostonshumways.blogspot.com. I love reading their blogs, looking at their photos- as they are both photographers- and reading what they have to say about raising a family unto the Lord and about being a Mother. On Tuesday, I read Shawnie's post on 71 toes where she posted her talk from the American Mothers National Convention (she won a Mother of the Year Award there). I want to share it all with you as it struck such a chord with me: " I've had a few people ask me to post the 3-minute speech I had to give at the American Mothers National Convention last week. So here you go: One beautiful spring morning when I was a teenager, I had...

I walked the baby aisles at Target yesterday, gift registry in hand, looking for that perfect present. You see, my friend is going to have a baby. A baby girl. And I am thrilled. And sad. And depressed. Asher left me alone to look at the "boy things" in the next aisle over- the aisle full of baseballs and t-balls and bikes. I know that aisle. I've been there a lot these past two years. I've been trying to get to the baby aisle. These past 3.5 years now. Normally, I'm completely fine with it. Well, at least pretty much. But, Mother's Day came and with it the realization that my kids are growing up . There were no little toddlers to climb up on my lap and knock over my breakfast tray when the kids brought me breakfast. There were no diapers to change, no soft chubby baby rolls to wash. And my Mother heart yearned for another one. Any one. A skinny one, a chubby one, one that looks completely different from all my other ones. Any one. And when I mentioned it to J...

There are times in my life when I am especially grateful. It's usually when I have just gotten over a very hard trial- like being sick or moving or Josh working long, hours- or when I am in a reflective, pensive mood. Both of these moods happened to strike at around the same time these past few days. I had been sick for so long in April that even taking a walk- let alone a jog- without my whole legs burning on fire made me bask in GRATITUDE for my health. Why is it that what we have often gets taken for granted: decent health, the ability to make babies, etc? But when a few of those things are taken away, you realize how amazing and truly life giving they are in the first place. It is my hope and it will now be my prayer to enjoy the things that I have NOW and not stress about the things that I DON'T have. Things will work out. Probably even better than I ever thought possible. Because when Heavenly Father shuts a door, He opens a window somewhere else. Or maybe He even opens t...

The GOOD- I ate a DOVE peanut butter ice cream bar this afternoon. SOO good! Now, they are all gone and I can buy what I've been craving next- a MAGNUM double! They have a layer of chocolate, then carmel, then chocolate. I would eat these all the time in Spain! Yum! We would call them MAGNUM Doo-Blays though. Spanish has no room for double. The BAD- Asher peed in his pants during his last Preschool Spring Concert. In the Front Row. With all cameras rolling. Except mine. Which had no card space. That's right! I could see him doing the little dance half way through, but I figured he could make it. With ten minutes to go, he let out a "I have to go to the bathroom!!!" And he went. Right there. In front of everyone. And then he said: "I just went to the bathroom!" I was mortified. I calmly took his hand and lead him into the nearest bathroom, which he informed me was the girl''s bathroom, but the boys bathroom was blocked by two Dads and one Grandma, so ...

It's 3 am and I'm up blogging. I shouldn't be, because today is Friday and a very busy one at that- a library run with returns, invitations to be made before Sunday for the boys 7th birthday, Asher's final Preschool concert at 12:30 (waaahhh!), a make-up piano lesson, sewing lessons for Elizabeth and Heritage Night at school. But, I am awake. Things have been stressful around here and so whenever I get woken up by a child in the middle of the night (unless I've taken half a unisom) I am awake! Thinking and planning and wondering and hoping and maybe a little worrying but not too much. It doesn't help that we are now potty training Ethan at night, so I get up almost nightly. We're on week 6- mostly. We took a couple days off when he ran the batteries to the alarm to the ground and I had to buy special new ones. The alarm had been going off for almost an hour before I heard it. Um, yeah. I must have been really tired (see thebedwettingstore.com for product pu...

This afternoon Asher and I trekked it out to Olney, Maryland, a good 25 minute drive from here, to hit Cafe Rio- a fabulous Mexican Restaurant we loved in Utah. A month ago we found out from a friend on facebook that it would be opening and I have been excited to go ever since. I was supposed to meet some friends/Visiting Teachees there but they both have little ones that needed naps in the middle of the afternoon and since I don't, we picked up and drove out there. It was Fabulous!!! I got the pork barbaqoua burrito with black beans and mild sauce, enchilada style and had some fabulous lemonade type of drink. Whenever someone said it was their first time the workers would yell "First Timer!". For a Utah based business, there were a lot of first timers. Asher said "This town is loud." It was made to look like a town in Mexico with roof tops and hanging lights. A few shops down was a toy store, kind of like the boutique toy store in San Luis, and we bought a toy ...

With baby giraffes! Whenever I see one, it makes me smile! I bought a small, hard figurine one at Sears the other day. I really needed some cheering up and for $6.99, it wasn't too steep of a price to pay! Whenever I see it, it makes me smile! I'm all for taking care of ourselves, finding time to think, ponder and pray, and letting ourselves splurge once in a while. Sometimes it's a cute pair of shoes. Or a new lipgloss. Or a new toy. And sometimes, it's a giraffe. This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Can you guess who this is? Ethan or Jonah? (And no cheating by looking at past pictures!) This morning I was making lunches and Asher, my 4 yr old, complained: "Mom! He hit me!" Ethan, the 6 yr old was quick to explain "But it didn't hurt!" Ethan, just so you know- you will still get in trouble for hitting, even if it didn't hurt! Then I was doing laundry while the twin boys were doing a little imaginary play. Jonah: "Pretend I'm the boy and you're the girl." Ethan: "No. I'm the boy." Jonah: "No. You're the girl. The girl is lucky." Ethan: "Ok." Jonah: "I'm the boy and you're the girl and there is a big man with a gun behind us and we're about to kiss..." Ethan: "No, I'm the boy!" It's so funny that neither of them obviously wanted to be the girl. We even have a girl in the family- but she wasn't in the room- she wasn't a part of it all. These kids...

We had a crazy busy weekend- a chilly 9 am t-ball game in the morning Saturday. Then Josh mowed the crazy growing lawn while I watched the kids and then took a friend grocery shopping. We packed a picnic dinner so the kids wouldn't mess up the nicely cleaned house and we spent 2 hours at Seneca Creek State Park. So fun! There is a lake surrounded by trees and in it we saw thousands of tiny black tadpoles- J and I had never seen so many before! Ever! There is also a tire park there with every climbing thing made out of tires- including the swings. The kids loved it! Sunday was a busy day with early Church at 9 am. I played the organ and that went well. 2 babies were blessed and normally I feel really sad, but I felt ok that day. Naps for the Parents, a show for the kids and a Mix and Mingle at someone's home for the 7 families that are moving out of our ward/Church this summer. We all crashed into bed that night. I'm still recovering. And I have 1 orange cadbury creme egg l...