Happiness

I was catching up on blogs this morning and a thought hit me " Why do I like to read other people's blogs so much?" What is so appealing to me about reading their posts? finding out how they are doing? what they are doing? what struggles they have had recently and how they have overcome them? And then the answer came to me- I love reading about Mothers who are doing the exact same thing as me- raising their children in love and righteousness, trying to make their home a place of peace and beauty, love and fun- organized and welcoming. I realized that this is my job and there really is no professional magazine (like The Economist) out there for us Mothers. So, we make blogs the literature of our lives. We learn from each other and share with each other. I have gotten so many good ideas from the blogs that I read. For example, our 10 year anniversary is coming up. I am just thrilled to have made it to this point (we're still young- I know!) and we have always planned to...

Now that we are moving, I have been reflecting on the callings I've held in this ward and the things that I have learned. I have learned and grown so much! For the past four years I have been the Ward Music Chairman. I've coordinated the music for Sacrament Mtg and made sure everyone knew what the hymns would be for Sunday and who was playing the organ and who was conducting. We had 3-4 organists and 2 conductors as of late. I would also assign myself to play the piano in sacrament mtg. once or twice and that challenged me a bit1 I have played the piano in Relief Society for 4 years as well. I love playing the piano and don't mind sitting behind a beautiful instrument and playing it each Sunday but I am excited to get a chance to chat with the women before Relief Society starts for a change. That is unless they call me to play the piano in Primary! (2 hours long!) Maybe I shouldn't tell them I play the piano! For the past 3 years, I have been an Activity Days Leader and...

I can't seem to get blogger to post pics but I still want to blog. This week has gone by so fast. Next week will probably go by even faster and soon we will be in Mesa, AZ. Gilbert, Arizona- to be exact. I was copying down our address on little cards today and Josh says to me "I think we are in Gilbert." "What?" I reply. "Yeah, everything below that line is Gilbert and everything above is Mesa." Oh. Ok. So. Gilbert, Az. We have been running around crazy getting ready for our move, but it seems like not much has gotten done compared to what needs to get done. The kid's final week of swim team was last week and so prepping for that each day and then recovering from it kept us busy. On Saturday I did a yard sale with a friend. It was 100 degrees and way hot and we got few customers. It's been really really hot and humid these past few days and people would joke about moving to Arizona. Arizona and this kind of heat are the same. Yes, one is dry an...

With today's High being 115 degrees and counting including the humidity, I was of this old seminary Church video. It's the one where the guy is stranded in the desert and finds an old water pump with a cup of water. He is instructed to use the water to prime the pump and then he can have as much water as he wants. You can watch for yourself and see what choice he chooses. I looked it up online and found it on Youtube! It's a little long but it's fun reminiscing. It's a good reminder that we need to have faith. We should follow God's commandments and hold to the rod, even if things are going rough. He loves us. He knows what's best for us. And best of all, He's always there for us. Prime the Pump This is the blog. My name is Megan.

The past three years we've been able to get to know a wonderful family in our ward- The Carrolls! They moved into our ward from Utah and have been here while doing a post-Doc at NIH. They have now found a more permanent job in Tennessee and are moving on to bigger and better things (literally!) Their kids are the same age as our kids (plus a toddler and a baby) and our kids have all gone to the same school. It's been so wonderful to have such good friends close by. Melissa was there to help with the kids when I went through my whole diagnosis with Depression and then Bipolar. We traded piano lessons and sewing lessons (I need to post pics of her projects!). Their daughter has been such a good friend to Elizabeth and she was so sad to find out she is moving. Our ward is very transient with Med. students and Post Docs and it's hard to get used to sometimes. I cannot express how helpful it has been to live in a ward with such sweet friends. Thank you, guys, for all that you ...

Touching down in Phoenix, AZ We booked our tickets to Phoenix at the end of May. It was to be a fact finding trip and boy did we find out a lot! We found out that we really, really like the place. Aunt Ellen and my friend T. watched the kids for us. Thanks, guys! We were gone 4 days- the longest we've ever been without them and I kept thinking "the kids would like that" or "I have to tell the kids about this." Good thing they are coming with us next time we go! We flew off on a Wednesday. Landed in Phoenix and toured the downtown until Josh's appointment with a law firm. While he met with them, I spent time online looking for houses on Craiglist and setting up appointments for the next day. The housing market is so hot there they wouldn't schedule anything with me until the day before. We stayed with a friend of Josh's from law school and it was so great to have someone in the area and tell us about what areas were good and bad. See kids? There are ...

picture via Pioneer Woman We are MOVING! to Mesa, Arizona! On Saturday, August 6th. Yep- that's right! In less than three weeks! It's been in the works for quite a while now but we were waiting until it was pretty much a done deal to make it official. Josh and I made a trip out to Phoenix this past week (without kids!) to find a home to rent. We found 2 homes that we like and put an application in for both of them. We found out yesterday that we got our favorite one! Woohoo! We love the area! The people are friendly, the weather is not as hot as I would have thought compared to living near D.C. Oh, and the housing is very, very cheap. So, for the next little while, our home will be filled with the sights and sounds of packing boxes, tape and children running a-muck after watching way too much tv, as I begin to pack up our now seemingly way too big home and attempt to transport all of it's belongings (or most of them at least) across the country. Friends in our ward have ...

We have wanted to go to the Hill Cumorah Pagent, in Palmyra New York since we moved to the East four years ago. We finally decided that this would be the year and we blocked out the first weekend it was showing (it shows for 2 weekends) and booked a hotel for 2 days in Rochester, NY. We made the 6 hr drive to Palymra on Thursday morning with all 4 kids in tow. True to form, the kids asked once "Are we there yet?" and I replied that we would be there around 3 pm. They then kept asking "What time is it?" "2:10" "What time is it now?" "2:12" "What time is it now?" "2:14. And DON'T ASK ME AGAIN!" The drive went by pretty smoothly and we reached our hotel. It didn't take us long to find the indoor pool and the kids were thrilled. We went out to eat at Famous Dave's (who has a Dave day on Aug. 15th and everyone who is named Dave gets to eat free- take note: David and Dave A.!) and then made our way ...

On Saturday, July 2, we took the kids to a free fishing class held at Seneca Creek State Park. I heard of it while doing a Park Quest (an awesome event held by Maryland State Parks where you do fun quests at each one of their state parks for free) and jumped on board! The kids were so excited to go! We decided to start with just 2 rods but the teacher handed out 2 more and soon all were fishing. It started off slowly- with another kid catching one and another. Finally Jonah caught one and we were thrilled! Then Elizabeth then Ethan and then Asher. I couldn't keep up fast enough. The instructors would un-hook the fish and toss it into a cooler before I could say cheese and snap a photo. After about a half hour in the sun of this fishing and having caught about 9 fish, we headed off on our own to the lake's shore and ended up catching 3 more. It was so fun! To sum it all up, the kids are asking when they can go again and I'm trying hard to find a spot in our weekend to go. Ma...

10 Things you may or may not know about Asher- 10. His first name is Joseph. I really wanted to call him Joseph but with a Jonah and a Josh already around, we changed his middle name to Asher and have been using it ever since. I love it now! 9. Asher wants to be just like his older brothers. Everything they do. He does. Usually it's a good thing. 8. Asher loves, loves, loves Star Wars. He usually can't follow the plot line in the movies, so he mostly likes to read the Star Wars books. He also likes Spiderman as well. 7. For his big birthday he asked for a bow and arrow set, a spider man watch and a Transformer dress up outfit complete with mask and a full body suit. 6. Asher is almost the same size as the boys, wears the same size shoe and clothes and they are often asked "are you guys triplets?" Funny. 5. He has lived 4 years of his life in Maryland and his first year of life in Utah. 4. He shares a room with Elizabeth and sometimes they chat quietly at night. 3. He ...

Elizabeth using the Koolspoon! (She had just gone swimming while it rained and was cold!) With lots of things happening lately in the Abbott household, I only have a minute. Today I wanted to give a shout out to a brand new product on the market- Koolspoon . Josh's brother-in-law Troy just recently graduated and received his Masters in Business. While he was going to school and being the Father of five busy children, he came up with the idea to Koolspoon . I know I've mentioned it on here before but it wasn't for sale before and now it is! Ever had your kids cry because their oatmeal was too hot? Or their hot chocolate? Or their Ramen? And then you try to put ice cubes in it to cool it down and it just gets runny? Now you can use the Koolspoon! It is a spoon with gel in it that makes food cool. You keep it in the freezer and when you need it- wham!- you can pull it out and your food is cooled! We kindly received some free Koolspoons in the mail and the kids LOVE them! They ...

Today was Fast and Testimony meeting at Church. For the first Sunday of the month, every month, we fast for two meals and have a testimony meeting where anyone can stand up and bear their testimony- or talk about what they know about God and Jesus and their experiences. A sweet Mother told of how she and her husband tries each and every day to teach their two young sons about the Gospel. She said recently they had been teaching their 3 yr. old about patience and she explained it to him this way- "Patience is when you WAIT and BE HAPPY". That is so true. The testimony meeting, Sunday School and Relief Society all talked about learning to be patient. We learned that we should be like a little child- submissive to our Father's will- patient, humble and long suffering. As I read in Enos this morning I read how Heavenly Father said He would answer Enos's prayer and help convert the Lamanites "In his due time." He also said that He would answer Enos's prayer ...