Happiness

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara, California. How about you? This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

I am always wondering where would be the best place to live. Is it Maryland with it's beautiful greenery? Utah, with it's fabulous mountains? California with it's beaches and family? Or is it Arizona? Upon returning from a lovely Thanksgiving break in California (thank you, Doug and Sheelah!) and with Breaking Dawn, from the Twilight Saga, still seared onto my memory, I will now discuss the argument of Team California versus Team California, I mean Arizona. Team California: -I grew up there. -Lovely weather -Sweet people. -Family, and lots of it! -Beaches. -In n Out -Lovely shopping. Team Arizona -Great weather. -Beautiful vistas and sunsets. -In n Out. -Stretches and stretches of desert (which I love). -An uncle and nephew and a nice distance from family. -Cheap...

Asher came home from Kindergarten today with such cute books, I had to share! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am thankful for the green grass. I am thankful for the brown hills. I am thankful for my family and myself. He threw in an extra girl in our family. There is still someone to come to our family. It made me smile! Happy Turkey Day! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

My Parents visited and were a HUGE help. Thanks, Mom and Dad! *With the kiddos here. Finally- some ok smiles. Guessing time again- which one is which? Does this game ever get old? Ok. I'll tell you- Ethan is in blue and Jonah red. Of course! Asher, age 5 Flowers brought from the Relief Society President. Lovely, no? This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

My Mormon.org Profile I recently updated my profile, changed my picture and added the fact that we live in Arizona now. It's a fun project to work on. Josh has a profile too! Love it! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

via internet Ok. One more blog post about this past couple of weeks, and then I am done. In the midst of this trial, I had a dream. In it we had moved close to the Kleinmans and the Andersons and Ellen and Jason were visiting with their two kids. There was bread dough rising on the counter and I was tickling their baby boy, who was about one, and making him laugh. I laughed and people were in awe of how happy I was. I was truly happy and I realized- there is more to life than just ourselves. We are entwined with all the people we love- mostly family. I saw MaryRuth, her hair up in a long ponytail, and gave her a big hug. This week Diane Hill, my visiting teacher, came and brought us a banana cream pie. People in your ward can act as your surrogate family. They can love you, watch over you and make you happy. From this dream, this is what I know: We feel our Savior's Love when we spend time with our families, when we serve others unselfishly and when we use our talents for good (bak...

The second round of medicine they gave me did nothing, so they had to schedule a D and C. I had one with my last miscarriage as well. We went in on Friday morning for a consult and since the Dr. I was seeing could only do it on Wednesday and we wanted to get it done sooner, we waited to see another Dr. who could do it earlier. The Dr. was very sweet and we scheduled it for Saturday at 10 am. My Mom and Dad were able to watch the kids for us, so that helped a lot. Friday, I was actually feeling fine instead of sick which the medicine made me, so my Mom and I ran around shopping and going to a very fun Holiday Boutique. We also hit Target and Joanns, ate a yummy homemade pizza dinner and then Josh and I went to a session at the Temple for Stake Temple Days. It was a very fun, busy day- to make up for the days I had spent waiting around to miscarry. 8 am found us at the hospital. I had not eaten or drank anything and by the time 9:30 am came around you had a still pregnant woman, sitting ...

amywhitneyphotography.blogspot.com I am thankful for fun friends and fun blogs. One of my friends from High School lives close by and is in our same Church Stake. Her blog amywhitneyphotography.blogspot.com is adorable and I love her photography! Her kids are adorable too! If you need at photographer in the Phoenix/Mesa Area, she is amazing! fifephotography.com Fifephotography is done by Amber, a friend from BYU. She shoots with her husband in Utah and I love, love her photos! If anyone needs a photographer in Utah, she is your man- I mean, lady! I love how photography is so accessible now a days! Good cameras are available everywhere, from point and shoots to really fancy DLSRs. I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, but I like looking at photography blogs. I just recently learned about shooting in RAW. It allows so many more pixels in the image when you take it and really lets you do a lot in terms of editing and changing things like white balance. I don't think ...

At the Doctors. Hoping. Praying. Expectant. Due in June. A June bug baby. On the screen. At the monitor. An empty sac. The empty sac Was just like My Heart. Empty. A miscarriage. Again. I stood and turned And left, Walking past the Swollen bellies In the waiting room. Swollen with waiting Waiting for something I wouldn't have. At least not right now. Tears slipped down my cheeks, My heart was swollen with grief Yet my womb was empty. Again. This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

I took a few head shots of Josh for his profile pic on linkedin. They turned out pretty good! If your not friends with Josh on linkedin, look him up! :) Well, I took the prescribed medicine on Monday. Lots of cramping but nothing. Tuesday morning, I called the Dr. and they said it could take a day or two. If it was going to take that long, I needed extra support. I called my Mom and asked her to come. She and my Dad arranged things, which was quite a sacrifice for them and arrive around 9:30 pm last night. What life savers! My Mom is cooking dinner as we speak. Tuesday brought nothing but more cramps, so I called the Dr. this morning just to see how long the light of the tunnel would be. They told me to come in. I went and they said the drug only works 80% of the time. I am the lucky 20%. Hmm. They sent me home with another prescription. To try again. So far nothing. Just major period-like cramps. My labor was 52 hrs with Elizabeth and while this isn't a labor, it looks like my b...

Another pic from our House in Maryland Sometimes in life, things don't go as planned. You try your best and life lets you down. Last week I went for my second visit with my OBGYN. I was planning to see a beautiful little 7 week old embryo, moving around a little with a teeny, tiny heart going thumpa, thumpa, thumpa. All we saw was an empty sac. It took a few moments for it to set in. Anytime now they would find a heartbeat, I thought. But they didn't. The sac was measuring too small. They told me to come back in a week- today. To do another ultrasound. To check and be sure. I knew that I hadn't got my dates wrong. It was a miscarriage. I have been through this before but it doesn't make it any better. Dang it. CRAP. And maybe another word as well. I don't get mad very often. But when I had spent the last 3 weeks hoping and dreaming. And then it ends, just like that? Luckily we hadn't told the kids or many people. We went back to the Dr. yesterday, after a week ...

Appreciating nature- a good way to de-stress! I've really being trying to have less stress in my life lately. It makes for a lot healthier life style. Here is a list I came up with of 30 ways to have less stress in my/your life: 1. Spend time with friends (talking/laughing/chatting always helps!) 2. Swimming/walking/running 3. Eating healthy- including fruits, veggies, protein, vitamins 4. Reaching out to the world 5. Service to others 6. Pets- dog, cat, snake, etc. 7. Talking to your spouse @ problems. 8. Taking time for yourself- reading something good, Stephen Raspberry Hot Chocolate 9. Planning trips/vacations (for me) 10. Making & setting goals. 11. Really praying 12. Pondering the scriptures 13. Taking vitamins (did I say that already?) 14. Living Righteously 15. Trusting in the Lord 16. Going to the Temple 17. Knowing where your money is & how it's working for you. 18. Listening to sweet tunes. 19. Having the Spirit with you. 20. Writing letters/writing (for me) ...

Grandma's Room in Maryland I miss this room. (If you want to see it personally, stop on by on Sunday between 1:30 pm and 4 pm- it'll be open!) We have been here for 3 months tomorrow. Our first home has been on the market for as much so and even a little bit more. There have been a lot of lookers but no takers. I really think it shows better with furniture it in. But since there is none, it will just have to do. This 20 ft extra room of ours was my favorite. This was where Grandma and any other guests for that matter stayed when they came to visit. We called it Grandma's room. We have a guest room here and we still try to call it Grandma's room but it just can't live up to it's predecessor. I blogged in that room, napped in that room, wrestled with the kids on that bed. That was where Asher made a hole in the wall when he was jumping on the bed. That room was where Beta, our only pet fish, lived. Who now lives with good friend Matthew. Hopefully. Today, I read a...

I love to see the Temple. I'm going there someday. To feel the Holy Spirit. To listen and to pray.

You may or may not know about me. 1. I love Ham and Cheese Sandwiches. LOVE them. Could eat them every day. 2. I really like to be organized. I'm not really good at it, but when I try and work on it makes me really happy. 3. I really like planning. I like to plan my day, my week, my month, my year, the next five years, the next twenty, etc. Sometimes things don't go as planned, but oh, well! 4. I LOVE listening to General Conference. I almost always try to watch all of the sessions when they come on. Sometimes I fall asleep, but hey- I'm there! 5. I am starting to love Arizona. The Desert smell after the rain, the clear blue skies that change into cloudy ones from day to day, our amazing Church book club that has been meeting for years! 6. I often think about babies and when can I have another one. 7. I wouldn't mind having twins again (huh?) 8. I love new and trendy graphic designs. 9. I have extremely vivid dreams and often have 3 or 4 a night. 10. Cancer runs in my f...

me. bored in photography class. practicing on my hand. The other day we went to the Temple, Josh and I. We drove and I sat up front (where else would I sit?) snacking on Tropical Trail Mix from the Wal-marts and drinking Grape Propel from my favorite (and only) pink water bottle. Now, where is this story going? Well, I'll tell you. We parked in my favorite spot- on 2nd street, across the street and right in front of the small side gate (well, almost right in front- someone actually was parked in my favorite spot so this was my second favorite spot) and this was after several debates on whether we should actually try a different spot this time. The air smelled like a bird had died and gone to Heaven- which if it did, being close to the Temple was probably the best place. The weather was gorgeous- a mild 72 and the people were friendly- smiling at us as though we were friends even though we are really strangers. That's usually how it goes at the Temple. We enjoyed lengthy session...

Natalie Holbrook ! Cjane and NieNie . That is all. This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Blogs are like books- you can never get enough of them. They are always there- tempting you with their treasures, tantalizing you with their home decorating/crafting/baking ideas. And Pinterest? It is the new library at my fingertips. Within a minute I can be directed to two or three new crafty blogs. ones I've never heard of . I step into a new world, bookmark it so i can find it again and fall in love. I've only re-pinned blogs- I just downloaded my pin it bar the other day. No longer do I have to bookmark sites to find them and fall in love over and over. Now i can just pin them. And they are organized too! Now, i wish my brain worked just as smoothly! here are 3 new sites I found and love, just like i love jane austen and John Grisham: (Never Home) Maker I made these frozen banana bites last night- delicious! Design {etc} Kitchen Krafts Enjoy! Megan

via pinterest from Ethan (since he was a toddler). Happened Friday evening Oct. 28th 2011, 5:45 pm. Right before dinner. The frozen pizzas were cooking in the oven (yep- frozen!) and I had just finished reading a book about Mommies to Asher. Ethan came up, squeezed in and started reading it to me. "Some Mommies drive a minivan (me!). Some Mommies drive a motorcycle (not me, but it was established I did ride one once). All mommies like to hang out with their kids (me!) . All Mommies like to kiss and hug their kids." I proclaimed "I do too!" and proceeded to give him a big kiss and hug. Ethan shyly said "I haven't kissed anyone. Ever." This is my 7 year old speaking. It was true. Except Jonah when they played the game "let's-kiss-on-the-lips-to-be-silly" game when they were four. "You can kiss me!" I proclaimed. Promptly and admirably. And he did. He leaned over and planted one right on my cheek and then I knew. It had been a lon...

Elizabeth as a cat girl! Josh was a soccer Hooligan and I was a Twilight fan- on Edwards' side (I'm usually on Jacob's. Ok. I switch back and forth- I'm a fair weather fan!) Ethan as a zombie, night stalker Jonah as a vampire! Asher as Spiderman! All 4 kiddos Along with candy, someone passed out these cool glasses. The kids loved them! They also got mini pumpkin slinkies, a clip on a bag of pretzels, some stretchy mice (which Asher slept with last night!) and some granola bars. I was not feeling so great so I handed the camera over to Josh and he took these great shots of the kids! Halloween went great this year! The weather was warm- 90 degrees so it felt like summer and not really Fall to me. It felt like people were pretending it was Halloween and dressing up and trick or treating for fun. No Hot Chocolate, fire in the fireplace or thick Halloween costumes for us!! Josh took the kids out around 6:15 and they got back around 7:30 pm. I let them eat and then pick out 2...

Not a good exposure! OK (Our class shoot with a model.) As some of you know, I have a few favorite blogs I read daily. You know that I read them because I often refer to something that they said that inspired me, touched me or I thought was clever. I'm often like "you know- Nie Nie is expecting a girl right? And she has this adorable necklace that shows 2 pink little baby feet. I love it!" Or "You know the blog I read 71 toes - Shawnie- she talked today about how you should teach your young women to spend a little time in the morning to look nice and then go out thinking about how to serve others. I love that. Well, a month ago Stephenie Nielson advertized a free photo shoot in Mesa right near my house. I really wanted to go but never signed up. Last week she advertised another one and I signed up right away! I spent a couple of hours last Saturday learning about aperture, ISO, exposure and then putting those to practice in a photo shoot with a model. I had a ...