October 2011

We started off October right with a FABULOUS General Conference. I know people say it all the time, but I seriously LOVE General Conference and I swear it is always perfectly presented, just for ME. :)

One of my personal favorites was President Uchtdorf's talk: You Matter to Him. It is always a nice reminder that you are never alone and that the Lord knows us and our needs and desires, individually.

We continued through the month enduring more school and work along with a few other fun events. The first weekend in October we attended the back end party for our Vivint Summer sales experience. It was fun to get all dressed up for the evening and spend time with our "summer friends." Unfortunately I don't have any pics of the occasion, but I am trying to track some down.

Shaun also went through the temple that weekend. It was so special! It is always such a special occasion to see so much family there, together, working in the temple toward a common goal. The power of eternal families and the blessings that come from temple work is very real and I am so grateful we have the opportunity to be a part of all of it.

The following weekend we went to the Corn Belly's set up down at Thanksgiving Point with Tadd and Melissa Jones and enjoyed walking around and getting lost MANY times in the corn maze.

We also had my dad's birthday on October 17th. Again, it was a low key birthday, mostly consisting of time spent together as a family, laughing our guts out.

I'd say he's aging gracefully... the silver hair may be deceiving, ;)

Later in the week we all headed up to Layton together for our annual "Howl." All of my mom's family comes up to Steve and Jill's house for a fabulous Halloween party. If you know my Aunt Jill, you know how much she LOVES Halloween and goes all out to celebrate. We all bring pumpkins to carve, eat lots of yummy soups and desserts, while we listen to spooky music and catch up with each other. We look forward to it every year and it is always a hit. :)

Here's a picture of our porch with the pumpkin we carved :)

The next week we had a ward party that Brad was asked to participate in. I was THRILLED to hear about it because it is something that was TOTALLY out of his comfort zone. It was a ward lip sync and each group did a song from a different decade. The Elder's Quorum did I Want You Back, by Jackson 5. Because Brad is young, they asked him to be Michael Jackson. He was dressed up in a fabulous blouse and tight pants and a great HUGE curly black fro... I think he used the fro to try to hide his identity and his nerves, because he was constantly shaking it into his face while he danced all over the stage lip syncing the song. It was truly hysterical. Unfortunately, once again, still needing to track down pictures of the glorious event.

My dad resigned from his job at Xango, needing a change of scenery and for other various reasons. This happened back in September and he was on the hunt for a new job. After my family's great experience in Russia, they were up for any adventure. My dad interviewed with a few companies in and outside of Utah. He was offered a job as VP of HR the week before Halloween at a place called InVue Security. The job is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Say what?!? (for those of you that don't know, we lived in Charlotte, North Carolina before moving to Alpine) and.. He accepted the job. My dad had to leave the very next day to get there in time for his starting day. He decided to drive ALL the way there so he wouldn't have to rent a car for the next two months. My family decided they would have Megan finish out the semester in Utah and get Shaun set off on his mission from here and then they would head out in January. In the mean time, my dad would live with family friends and come back to visit about every other week and through Christmas.

That same week I started my second practicum for my student teaching. I was assigned to a fourth grade classroom at Lindon Elementary with my dear friend Rachel Bean. I was really excited to be assigned to this school since it was so much closer to home. It only took me 20 minutes from my kitchen to the classroom; so much better than the 40-50 minutes getting to my classes on campus. We celebrated Halloween with the class and we had a lot of fun dressing up for the day.

My dad left the weekend before Halloween so Brad and I stayed at home with my mom to watch the first few, darling little ones coming around the neighborhood trick or treating. Then we headed over to Jason and Shaylee's house for some yummy food and celebrating. Shane and Shannon came over with Cove and Paige as well. It was so fun to see the little ones all dressed up and playing together. That about sums up our October.

September 2011

September started with me returning to Oh My Crafts for work. I was SO lucky that they were nice enough to find a place for me to come back, after being gone all summer. I was moved into a different office, doing different things, but that was fine; it added a little excitement to my work. For Labor Day we met up with Tadd and Melissa Jones for lunch and shopped around at Sports Authority and Nordstrom Rack. Then we headed home to drive up to Layton with the family for an BBQ with mom's family. We ate a lot of yummy food and played a bunch of games including kickball and an intense Corn Hole tournament.

The following weekend we headed up to Boise, ID for cousin Jake's homecoming. It was so exciting to go up and see him. Jake and I have always been pretty close, so it was fun to see him again and finally introduce him to the hubs. (Brad and I met just weeks after Jake left) It was beautiful weather. Of course, the boys played some golf and us ladies lounged around, helping get stuff ready and enjoying the opportunity to relax.

Anyone else recognize his mission president and mission mom? ;)

Days during the week continued to go routinely with me working and going to school, and Brad going to school, continuing to look for a job. Brad also started his last season doing BYU intramural football. He earned new football cleats this summer during sales and was always super excited for his games.

I never had to ask when his games were, because I usually came home to this on his game-days:

It's always fun to go to these games and catch up with all of the wives and chat about anything and everything. Unfortunately it has gotten us into trouble a with our hubbies a few times, when we miss come crucial plays :s

The next weekend, September 17 was Brad's cousin Chris' wedding. He married a darling girl names Lauren and it was all just beautiful! The had their dinner at La Caille, such a fabulous place! Brad's parents flew up for the wedding festivities and stayed with us for the weekend. It is always so great to be able to spend time with his family, especially since we don't get to see them very often. They had a great turn out and we were able to visit with family we hadn't seen since our own wedding.

Shaun's birthday was the next week and was pretty low key. Everyone was pretty busy and Brad and I had to be down in Provo for a lot of the evening. We brought Zac up with us from Provo that night and we sang to Shaun and spent some time together just bonding and laughing, as always when we are all together. I CANNOT believe he is 19 years old! His mission was getting closer and closer.

Look how handsome this birthday boy is:

...he makes me laugh :)

That weekend was ANOTHER wedding. My cousin Ginger got married remarried to a FABULOUS guy. We are all excited to have a new addition to our family, including his darling kids. They seem so happy and we are excited for them.

Aren't they darling together?

We survived the month of September, our last September as undergrads. Ya hoo! Brad continued looking for a job as he played house-spouse while I helped bring home the bacon (summer sales helped us too, so I can't necessarily call myself the "breadwinner").

We truly are blessed in so many ways and that has manifested itself in our lives daily. We are so grateful for all of the people in our lives and all the lessons we have learned through our trials.