25 Random Facts

I was tagged on Facebook to post 25 random facts about myself. I thought I would post them here, also.

1. I was born a Hoosier, raised a Buckeye, and am now happy to be a “Ute”

2. I grew up with two brothers and a sister who all still live back in the Midwest

3. I have the most wonderful, generous, caring parents in the world

4. I graduated from high school in Springfield, Ohio in 1995 where I had great teachers and GREAT friends. The school was surrounded on three sides by corn fields.

5. I spent five years getting my four year bachelor degree at Brigham Young University and loved every year (I really did pick a long major…really). Go Cougars!

6. I spent five years teaching middle and high school science and loved four years of it (one year was at a terrible school…I still wonder how I made it through?)

7. I spent a semester student teaching in Mexico at the end of my bachelor’s degree. I loved it

8. I had the greatest roommates at BYU, and lived with them for almost the whole time I was there. We still keep in touch

9. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and love and live my religion

10. I left home at 18, got married at 24, and had my first child at 28. I loved that time I spent finding myself

11. I married a wonderful man, Ephraim Hanks, in 2001

12. Ephraim is a marriage therapist. Yes, I’m married to a marriage therapist. We have some pretty interesting arguments…I mean discussions

13. I have two beautiful boys and a third on the way. So in two months I will have a three year old, a two year old, and a newborn. What am I thinking??

14. I love reading when I can find the time. The last books I finished were How to Win Friends and Influence People and The Secret Life of Bees. I’ve started The Poisonwood Bible and if I could convince my three year old to nap, maybe I could get some more reading done

15. I work part-time at Sylvan Learning Center teaching math to high school students. I love it and I love my husband for coming home early so I can go

16. I love to be outside and love where I live. We have warm weather 9 months out of the year

17. I loved snowboarding before I had kids (I haven’t been since but will start going again someday). And I love my husband for teaching me how…he’s going to heaven, for sure

18. I really want to take a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands with my husband for our tenth anniversary. Now, what am I going to do with my kids? Any takers?

19. My husband and I teach the three-year-old class at church on Sundays. That makes for some interesting comments on the lesson

20. I hate being pregnant, even though I don’t get sick at all. The only thing that makes it worth it (besides the babe at the end) is feeling the baby move. I love that

21. I have huge babies…my first was 9 lbs 15 oz and my second was 8 lbs 15 oz (he was a week early)

22. Both of my boys have LDS prophets for middle names. Noah McKay and Anderson Taylor

23. I changed the way I look at the world after I heard about Stephanie Nielson and her blog…visit www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com for more info

24. I love playing tennis and can’t wait to play again this summer when I’m not pregnant. I coached while I taught high school

25. My favorite time of the day is when my husband comes home and we play with the kids. My second favorite time of the day…when I get to be with my husband and the kids are in bed

and 26. I have many faults and insecurities but will not post any of them, because I'm a red and, well, reds just don't do stuff like that.

Still summer

The great weather has been hanging around even longer than expected. Here the kids are playing outside again (all three of them).

Summer, are you jealous?

I think summer was a little jealous of all of the fun we have had in the Southern Utah snow this winter season. So jealous that she's decided to show herself lately. It has been at least 60 degrees all of this past week. Today we basked in the sunshine and enjoyed all 63 degrees.
Noah and I sat outside on the porch swing yesterday evening and enjoyed vanilla pudding and animal crackers for dessert. Today Ephraim took off work early and we took the kids to the park. I love where I live. Thank you summer and thank you Southern Utah.


(As for you, Summer Endsley, I hope you're not jealous but I do hope you miss us)

I'm back

OK, I'm back from a long needed vacation. No, I didn't go anywhere tropical or fun. I'm just back to the blogging world. The Holidays were so fun and exhausting that I needed a hiatus.

I'm back largely due to an e-mail I received from my father today. I've copied and pasted it below:

Megan

I have sent your web site out to a lot of my friends – they are looking for an update – they are worried about Andy’s head – is it better?? Come on where are the new pictures – where is Popeye and Olive Oil’s picture – you have had that a long time – lets get it on the site.

Randy

This may seem a little demanding and forward but if any of you know my dad, it's all done in love and good humor...I think. So here ya go, dad.

Christmas was great this year. We had so much fun with all of Ephraim's family. So much fun that I was feeling very tired and worn out from all of the festivities. I thought I was just having a hard pregnancy this time around but realized after all the family left and went home that I just needed to take it easy.


(If you're wondering why Andy's PJs are zipped open...my son has a fascination with his belly button. It's a comfort thing. He sucks his thumb and puts the index finger of his other hand in his belly button. Wierd, I know. Any clothing that prevents this process must be altered).

Eph's brother Chris and his family came down for the week after Christmas and Ephraim took the week off. We did lots of fun things...Jumpin' Jacks, the Aquatic Playground at the Rec Center, dinners, movies, a New Years' Party and Parade, and lots of talking and food. LOTS of food. My OBGYN cringed a little when I weighed in at my last appointment. This babe is livin' it up.


We have been taking it easier since everyone went home. Eph's sister, Summer, and her family also left after the new year. They moved up to northern Idaho for a new job. We had been living across the street from each other for the past 4 months. (Is it a coincidence that our move here and their move away came so close together?...hmmmmmm). We love them and miss them very much.

So, dad, I'm back. About the "Popeye" picture...I think it "accidentally" got deleted from my e-mail. Send it to me again and we'll see what we can do. Oh, and Andy's head his much better, thanks for asking.

Andy's head

I think this is a record for how often I've been blogging. Especially with how much I still have to do for Christmas. This post is in regard to Andy's rather large head (see Santa picture from two posts ago for confirmation). Andy falls a lot and always seems to faceplant on the floor. He has what we call a "permabruise" on his forehead. Yesterday evening Andy fell off of the chair and bumped his head again. This time was the worst. We waited, the swelling went down and we felt he was going to be OK. But the swelling went up again late last night...to twice the size of the original bump. We almost took him to the ER but opted against it after consulting with two nurses (are we bad parents for worrying about the cost of an Emergency Room visit?) This morning he is doing much better. His head is still big, of course, and the falls will keep happening. But at least for this Christmas season we might not have to visit the ER (we were there on Christmas Eve last year for Noah's allergic reaction to cashews).

Christmas Cookies

I made plates of cookies for all of the guys at Ephraim's work. We started out with 20 plates of cookies. Now we're down to 19.

Santa's Pajama Party

We had a great time tonight for Family Home Evening. We went to a local photo studio for a very fun Santa PJ Party. We got to listen to Mrs. Clause tell stories and sing songs about Santa.


We ate delicious treats we made ourselves.


We wrote letters to Santa Clause.


And we had a classic Santa Picture taken that we will treasure forever (well, most of us will treasure, anyway).



On another note, Noah was walking around today with a pad of paper and a pencil in his hand. He was making his Christmas list. He asked me what I wanted for Christmas (pencil and paper in hand, ready to write...what, I'm not sure...he's only 3). I told him I wanted a back massage. He informed me that Santa didn't have enough money for a back massage this year. "I want curtains for my Family Room," I said. "That's a good one, mom. Santa has enough money for curtains this year." Thanks, son.