Megan and Jesse Grover Family

Kien at Age Two

2011-06-22T15:43:00.001-07:00

Since yesterday I covered Kien's birth story, today I wanted to catch up on a few stats on Kien at age two. He is such a funny character and though I know time will fade my memory of these days, I wish I could record and remember every detail of this precious little person's childhood.

Weight: 31 pounds
Height: 38 inches—will find out for sure at next week's wellcheck

Fave Foods: green beans, celery, grapes, strawberries, chocolate candy, milk, chips, pretzels, oatmeal, chicken fingers.

Fave Things:
-Sports- any kind though right now the fascination is baseball

-Stuffed animals-he's fond of his Winnie the Pooh right now and sleeps with him at night

-Dancing-right now he likes to dance to the Turbo Jam DVDs- he's so weird J

-Slides-he loves going down the slides at playgrounds and is not timid at all

-Cousins-he loves to play with his cousins and has funny sounding names for them. Caselyn and McKoy are both just "A-coy", Ava is "A-ya", Ellie is "Eh-yee" and Sophia is "EEE-AAAA"

-Climbing-he is into climbing everything right now, especially the counter top in the kitchen.

Stuff he Says:

-"A-go, A-pooh, a-daddy etc….. "This is where is (insert thing), so when he's looking for his Winnie the Pooh it is "Ah pooh?"

-"No No no-o"- This one's hard to get without hearing him say it. This is "I Don't Know" but he says it in a sing-songy kind of tone.

-"Bup"- This is what he says when he wants "up" on something. He will come to you or the thing and tap on it and say "bup, bup"

-"Gank ku"- This is "thank you" It sounds like thank you but he starts it with a "G" instead of "th". He says this ALL the time and is a very polite boy. Anytime anybody gives anything to anyone he calls it a 'gank ku."

Kien Grover: A Birth Story

2011-06-21T08:05:00.001-07:00

Today my little monkey turns two years old. I can't believe it has gone by that quickly! It amazes me that he has been with us for two whole years now and I can't imagine what my life would be like without him.

I wanted to take the opportunity to write down the story of his birth in honor of his day today.

On Saturday, June 20^th, 2009 Jess and I spent the afternoon at family's house for a birthday party for his Grandma Dudley. Surprisingly though the sunny skies turned dark and a huge rainstorm caused us all to dash inside and bring the picnic in with us. At this stage, I was huge and was scheduled for an induction the coming Thursday.

One of Jesse's cousins jokingly said to me "You better be ready tonight because they say that thunderstorms and the pressure change from the weather turning can cause you to go into labor."

Whatever, I thought. I haven't even felt a single contraction so I doubt that's happening.

We had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way home because we had a friend and his wife spending the night at our house and we wanted to buy more pillows to make sure we had plenty for everyone.

Then, we went home and hung out with Courtney Roper and his wife, Britney. Courtney had rented a movie from Redbox called Fireproof and we were all groaning because it looked so cheesy. But we put it in around 10 pm and started to watch. Britney was the first to fall asleep and went in to bed soon after…..Then about 30 minutes later, Jesse fell asleep and went to bed also. So, it was just Courtney and I left watching the movie until about 12:30 that night.

As soon as it was over, I went to bed as usual.

The next thing I knew it was 7:00 am and I was waking in bed with very painful contractions. I told Jesse that I thought I was in labor and we needed to pay attention for the next contraction to see how far apart they were. Only two minutes later, another contraction came on suddenly.

Jesse called his mom to ask if she thought we needed to go to the hospital right away, (even though I already knew we should). She said TWO minutes?! Yes, go to the hospital. Even if it ends up being nothing, you're better off safe than sorry.

We hurriedly brushed our teeth and threw on some clothes. Jesse went and knocked on the guest bedroom door and told his friend Courtney that we needed to go to the hospital because I was having contractions. But I said to them not to worry because I was sure it was going to be false labor and they would just send us home. Ha!

We went to the car, our black Honda, and started the ten minute drive from our house to Mountain View Hospital in Payson. While we drove, I called my parents and let them know that we were on the way to the hospital and that my contractions were very strong. My mom assured us that she and my dad would hop in the car and head our direction right away.

When we arrived at the hospital, Jesse parked in the first row of the lot and we walked into the building. I was waddling a bit, but for the most part I was walking just fine under my own power.

When we got up to the labor and delivery ward, there were a few nurses at the desk just getting started for the day. It was only 7:45-ish by this time. We said to the nurses "I need someone to come and take a look at me because I think I am the early stages of labor…." The nurse looked at me standing there on my own and asked a few questions. They sent Jesse back downstairs to the registration desk to check us in while they took me into one of the delivery rooms to see how I was progressing.

After the first nurse came and took a look at me, she walked out to the other nurse and I heard them whispering and then the other nurse came in as well and took a look at me. I wasn't sure what was going on at this point but another contraction was coming on strong.

Finally, Jesse got back up to the room and when he arrived the nurses told us that I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to start pushing any time. They couldn't believe that I had walked into the hospital, up the elevator, and into the labor and delivery department on my own that way. They thought I must have an extremely high pain tolerance and had probably slept through much of my labor.

At this point, we'd only been at the hospital about ten minutes. Our doctor had been paged but was doing an emergency c-section at another hospital 20 minutes away. It was a Sunday, so the anesthesiologist was just on call and not on-site. He had also been paged, but so far he hadn't responded to the pages.

So, that's when I started getting scared……really scared. I had always planned for a slower labor using an epidural with my doctor standing by…But suddenly I was faced with the reality that this little baby was coming soon and my doctor was nowhere in sight and neither was the epidural. I started hyperventilating because I was so scared and the nurses put me on an oxygen mask to get me to calm down. They continued to call the doctor and anesthesiologist to get their status while they tried to keep me calm as best they could.

Suddenly (and thankfully) the anesthesiologist came rushing into the room. He apologized and said he had been in the shower when his pager went off the first time. Luckily he lived close by and dashed over as soon as he saw the page. He said that since I was so close to delivering that the epidural may not even have time to kick in before, so he gave me a local anesthetic along with the regular epidural. At that moment, he was my favorite person in this whole world, and Jesse says that I kept telling him that….repeatedly.

At the same time I was receiving the epidural, my doctor also came rushing into the room. He had finished his c-section in Provo and had driven straight to Mountain View to help with my delivery. So, now all the important pieces were in place and I relaxed a little bit.

Within five minutes of arriving, my doctor put on his gown and told me to push. Four pushes later, and our son, Kien Edward, was here.

They quickly checked him over and cleaned him up and declared him perfectly healthy weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches long.

He was born at 8:50 am on Sunday June 21^st, 2009-Father's Day. So from the time I woke up to the time he was born was one hour and fifty minutes. I had arrived at the hospital and delivered him all in time to still eat the breakfast that the nurse brought in.

Feb. 1st, 2011-4 Years and Counting!

2011-02-01T06:35:00.000-08:00

Today I celebrate my four year wedding anniversary with Jesse. I can't believe it has already been four years since that day. So much has happened since then that it just amazes me to look at where we are now and then to look back at where we were then. It's just like that Brad Paisley song "I thought I loved her/him then....."

Happy anniversary, Jess! I can't think of anyone I would rather have spent the last four years with, and I look forward to forty plus more in the future together.

Goal for Next 12 Months

2010-11-04T10:07:00.001-07:00

Those who know me well know that I am a complete bookworm. I am the type that always has a book with me wherever I go—just in case I find a snippet of free time, I certainly wouldn't want to be caught with nothing to do. J

The book I'm reading right now, The Mormon Way of Doing Business by Jeff Benedict has been pretty interesting. It is about 8 businessmen who have reached the very top of success by adhering to a very different standard because they are LDS. Here are just a few of the men that are spotlighted in this book:

-Dave Checketts, former President of the New York Knicks, and CEO of Madison Square Garden Corp.

-David Neeleman, founder and CEO of JetBlue Airways

-Kim Clark, former Dean of the Harvard Business School

-Jim Quigley, CEO of Deloitte and Touche financial services firm

Anyway, so the book talks about some of the habits that have helped these men get to the top of their industries. One of them that was common for all of them was their commitment to continued learning and study.

Each of them spends time every day in study of the scriptures.
Each of them also devotes time each day to reading good, enlightening books. One of the men said he has a personal habit of reading three books simultaneously: one on a gospel topic, one a non-fiction book such as personal development or a historical biography and the last would be their choice.

MY GOAL

For the next 12 months, I would like to adopt this as one of my goals. Each month I will select 3 books to read: one gospel topic, one non-fiction, and one fiction because I enjoy it. Along with this I want to spend some time each day studying the scriptures.

My books for November:

GOSPEL:
The Mormon Way of Doing Business-I am only about a third through this, so I need to commit to finishing this before selecting a new one for this category

NON-FICTION:
Driven by Larry H Miller-a biography of this great business man's life

FICTION:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins-everyone talks about it and I've been waiting to read it

Do you have any recommendations for next month's books in any category??

Catching Up

2010-10-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

So, I promised that a catch up post was soon to come—so without much further ado-I give you the summer of 2010. My how the time has flown by!

May

Kien's First Surgery

So, from January to May of this year, Kien had FIVE diagnosed ear infections. Needless to say, it was miserable for him and for Jess and I because he wouldn't sleep very well, he was irritable, and he would get really high fevers that would spike around 103 in the middle of the night.

So, finally after a lot of thought, we decided it was time to get P/E tubes placed in Kien's ears to help with infections. We took him to the surgical center on May 27th where they gave us all name tags that said "Kien", "Kien's Mom" and "Kien's Dad." They even gave Kien a little stuffed lion toy with a t-shirt that said "I Ain't 'Lyin' I Had Surgery at Central Utah Surgical Center."

All the nurses in the surgical pre-op ward thought he was hilarious. He was so thrilled and excited with all the fun sights and sounds around him and thought it was just awesome to wear his little blue surgical cap and yellow baby hospital gown.

He came through like a champ and 5 months later has not had a single ear infection since!

June

The Klampets (errr…I mean, the Grovers) go to Hawaii

These definitely aren't the best pictures from the trip and I will do another post with some better ones.

On June 3rd, a week after Kien's ear surgery, the whole Grover family (2 parents, 7 kids and kids-in-law, 3 grandkids, 2 aunts, and 1 uncle hopped a plane to Honolulu.

We wanted to do a big family trip before Brett left on his mission so Hawaii it was!! We spent 4.5 days on Oahu taking in sights like Hanauma Bay, Waikiki, The Polynesian Cultural Center, the Cheesecake Factory (oh...sorry-is that not a sight??), etc...

Then we headed to Jesse and I's favorite place EVER. The island of Kauai. We had rented an awesome house in Princeville near Hanalei Bay. If you've never been there, it is the most beautiful place ever. It's where movies like South Pacific, Jurassic Park, parts of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and more were filmed.

Kien’s FIRST Birthday!! -June 21, 2010

Shortly after returning from Hawaii, Kien turned one year old! I can't believe my baby is ONE!

Enjoying his very own piece of birthday cake--what a disaster!!!

Opening presents-at this point, Kien loves anything Elmo and got several Elmo toys

Daddy and Kien-smiling like goobers at Grandma and Grandpa Grover's b-day party for him

The personally made cupcake cake that Aunt Ashley made for him with Curious George! It was so cute!

The four Tilt rugrats celebrating in style-an inflatable pool + popsicles = delightful fun

I couldn't have pried that popsicle away from Kien if I'd tried!

Brett Says Bon Voyage!-June 30, 2010

On June 30, Jesse's baby brother, Brett left on his mission to the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Spanish speaking mission.

We love you and miss you Brett! We are happy to say after 5 months though that he is doing fantastic and enjoying himself very much. He's currently serving the Lord faithfully in Stillwater, Oklahoma on the campus of OSU.

July
Independence Day

On the 4th of July, Kien and his cousins were part of the Sandy Children's parade near Little Cottonwood Canyon. We spent all night on July 3rd decorating wagons, bikes, etc... so that they could parade in style.

Kien’s first (and I hope-I really hope-last) broken bone

On July 21st, Jesse and I both noticed that Kien was really whiny and wouldn't put any weight on his right leg or try to stand up. It was really worrying us and we thought maybe he sprained an ankle or something like that.

So the next morning I took him over to the pediatrician to get it looked at. They sent him to the hospital next door to get x-rays and lo and behold Kien had a broken tibia in his right leg.

Needless to say, I was an emotional wreck because neither Jesse nor I could pinpoint exactly how it had happened.

Because of his age and the type of fracture, the pediatrician (which was not our regular pediatrician I might add but just the dr. on duty that day) sent us to Primary Children's hospital to get a full body x-ray scan on Kien. Basically, they wanted to rule out child abuse as the cause of the break.

Jesse and I were distraught. We couldn't figure out how the break had happened and just the mention of "child abuse" is enough to send any parents into hysterics.

Obviously the full skeletal scan came back with no evidence of abuse (Well, DUH!).

Anyway, my bro-in-law is a PA that has a specialty in orthopedics and broken bones etc.... We talked to him that evening after all of the hoops we'd had to jump through and he told us more research about Kien's fracture that reassured us a bit.

A spiral fracture of the tibia in a child of Kien's age is commonly referred to as a "toddler's fracture." It is the most common break a toddler can have and occurs usually when a child who is learning to walk twists his foot while falling down or something similar.

So, Kien got a gigantic camouflage cast for 4 weeks through July and August. He still managed to get around really well and get into everything in spite of the cast.

The only bummer about this is that having a cast during that time has delayed Kien starting to walk on his own. :(

August

Kien's First HairCut-

Kien is very lucky to have a daddy and a grandpa who are both career barbers. So, when the time came for him to have his very first haircut, we headed to Brad's Barber Shop where his Daddy cut his hair.

He was so thrilled because he had been to visit Dad at the barber shop countless times but had never had the chance to be the one in the barber chair.

He was wiggly obviously, but overall he was really good.

Yes that is me and Aunt Ashley grinning and acting like goobers in the mirror. This is pre-haircut.

This milestone makes Jesse a little emotional because it reminds him of pictures of himself as a baby in the barber chair receiving his first haircut from his own father.

So, in a way its like watching time come full-circle for him and every time he talks about it Jesse expresses how much he loves our little Kien and how much he loves his own father and the chance to spend every working day right next to him in the barber shop.

Drum Roll Please.........

2010-09-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, you can hardly believe it and/or stand it. I just wanted to alert you all to the upcoming "catch up" post that has been long-awaited and long overdue.

I bet you can hardly stand it- you're so excited!

Peace out.
Megan

It's So NOT the Climb!

2009-12-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

So, its been six months since the blessed day that Kien arrived and I began my slow descent from the weight gain of pregnancy.

Granted, I have already lost a significant amount of weight. How did I do it? Giving birth--obviously.I have already lost nearly all of the weight I gained over the course of my pregnancy, minus about 10 pounds....But I could stand to lose another 20pounds in addition to that, so I feel like I've got a ways to go yet.

And for whatever reason-it's making me feel a little Grinchy today. Perhaps its because of the holiday season and the constant presence of all sorts of "Who-Hash" and every day a party where we sit down to feast. And we feast. And we feast. And we FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!

So, maybe because of that, or maybe its because of my four pound setback on my descent down the slope of weight gain, I'm feeling a little annoyed about it today. Boo to the people that leave the hospital fitting back into their regular jeans. I reject them! (But secretly wish I could be a part of your exclusive club).

Hence, the title to my post. Down with Miley Cyrus and her ballad of encouragement to all. Because today, it is SO not the climb.

Now, back to my usual cheery self.****

Happy freakin' holidays.

****Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this tirade are the brief personal opinions of the blog owner and in no way reflect the general holiday attitude of said blogger. She is actually quite excited about Christmas and the holiday season and wishes each and every one of you a Happy and Merry!

Let's Just Face It!

2009-09-24T07:59:00.001-07:00

Let's just get the disclaimer out of the way and maybe I will feel a little less guilty about it having announced it to the blogging world. I am a terrible blogger. It's not that I don't want to write. I LOVE to write!

My issue is.........

TIME!

1. Yes, I take lots of pix of my new kiddo. I love him lots and I want to record this time of his life. Hence the guilt for not blogging.

2.I want to stay updated and in touch with friends I get to see and talk to far too infrequently.

.....But being a full-time working mommy of a 3-month old, wife of a busy husband, primary house-keeper and cook of my household, and other things I just don't have the time. I would love to give daily (or even weekly!) updates about my world and pretty it up with a nice fancy template but that is far too much to ask. I just can't be bothered to do it.

So I will do my best. I love ya'll and hopefully I won't completely fall off the blogging wagon.

So there. I said it.

Our LIttle Monkey

2009-08-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Kien Edward Grover

2009-08-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

So, you are all wondering when I am going to post about our son, Kien, I'm sure. The truth is that being a parent has been a real shock to the system for me. I never knew how much your life could change all in a single instant with the arrival of a baby.

Being a new mom has definitely not come easily for me, but now six weeks later I feel like I am settling into it. Those first few weeks are definitely a roller coaster ride of high and low emotions, sleepless nights, worrying about taking care of your newborn baby, etc.... I think that being a dad has come very naturally for Jesse though. He is such a great daddy.

So, for the last six weeks I have spent all my time figuring out and enjoying this precious little boy. I'm sorry that I haven't posted about him until now. Call it a little bit of selfishness. I haven't wanted to spend the time away from holding him, watching him sleep, feeding him, and everything else that comes along with having a new baby. I'm sure you are all excited to see pictures of him finally and I will do my best to update with new pictures frequently. (I won't promise anything yet though because one of the many new things I've discovered about being a parent is that your time is no longer just yours. )

So, here he is. Our little Kien. He was 6 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches long when he was born and had a head covered in light brown hair. He's a really good baby and sleeps well at night. He only gets us up once and we get to sleep the rest of the night!

He was very impatient to get here when he decided it was time to come because I was only in labor for about two hours. He was born one hour after we arrived at the hospital, barely enough time for the doctor to arrive to deliver him.

Life is completely different now that he is here, but I can't imagine my life without him now.

He has had a pretty exciting first six weeks of life. He's been on his first vacation to St. George, he has been up Santaquin Canyon to camp with his family and he has celebrated his first Fourth of July and Pioneer Day holidays!

I love everything about him. Especially the little noises he makes and the gooing noises when he is happy. The first time he smiled it completely melted my heart. I am so excited to watch him grow and learn so much every day.

Gratitude

2009-04-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually one to go all philosophical on my blog--but I have felt a strong desire to write about how grateful I am for where I am in my life right now. Jess and I have been enjoying a crazy roller coaster ride the last few months, but I can honestly say that I am more content with how things are than I can remember being for a long time.

At the end of January, Jess lost his job because of the economy and the virtual halt in the new construction business. We had kind of seen it coming but were still a bit stunned when the time actually came. So, for the last two and a half months Jess has not been working and I've been the little pregnant wife bringin' home the bacon. :)

What a blessing this has turned out to be for us. Huhh??? I know that's what you are probably thinking because really this couldn't happen at a less convenient time what with the impending birth of our first child and all and the lovely mortgage we've taken on in the last year...but it truly is a blessing. And here's why:

1. I've always been big on tithing and never struggled to pay each month. But because I've never been in a financial bind, I've never been able to really deepen my belief about paying tithing. But now I definitely have. I am certain that it is because of obedience to this that we are doing just fine even though we've been without Jesse's income for nearly three months now. Mathematically it just doesn't add up--but I guess some things in life just don't make much sense logically.

2. I'm SO grateful that both Jesse and I come from families that taught us the importance of saving and being careful with how we spend our money. I'm so glad that we listened to this advice and have money socked away for a rainy day emergency such as this-even though amazingly enough, we haven't needed to use it yet. Again, I have to say that tithing is a total miracle.

3. I'm very grateful that Jesse's dad worked so hard years ago to establish and own a successful barber business with an impeccable reputation. Everyone down in the Spanish Fork area knows "Brad the barber" and if they don't go to him themselves, then they know plenty of people who do. Because he took a risk years ago and started his business, Jesse will have a stable and steady career in a few months when he finishes barber school and joins his dad in business. And it will give Jess and I the opportunity to take over the family business in a few years and allow Brad to spend more time with his family and grandchildren. Jesse is honestly more content with this choice of career than I've ever seen him-and he truly has a natural talent for it too. He's only been in school for a month and his instructors feel he could be ready immediately to start working.

4. Without the bad things in life, the good wouldn't seem so special. We are so happy to be preparing to welcome this new little baby into our family. It makes us so happy, and while now is not the most convenient of times to deal with job loss, we wouldn't change our situation for the world. We are so excited to meet our little boy and bring him home. And even though we won't be the wealthiest of parents right at the start, he will definitely not be lacking in love. And that's what's truly important, after all--right??

Last, we're grateful for friends and family that are so supportive with their love and concern. It's been a great blessing for us. We'll be sure to let you know how things go as Jesse gets closer to graduating.

Welcome to the Family, Ellie Jane!

2009-04-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

On April 3, at 3:01 pm Ava was excited to become big sister to little Ellie Jane. She is such a sweet and tiny little baby and weighed only about 6 and a half pounds. Jeff and Megan are thrilled to have her and excited/nervous about having another member of their family.

When I held this tiny baby for the first time, I couldn't help but wonder and think about who she will become. It seems like just yesterday that I held Ava as a baby and now she is almost four years old, and constantly has us laughing. At the time, she was the first grandbaby in my family. Over the last year, we've had a bit of a baby boom and Ellie is the 3rd grandchild and our little Kien will be following soon after.

We are so grateful to have Ellie and another reminder of what is important in life and what makes us happy regardless of any other situations in life--family.

Snakes, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails...

2009-02-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well, if it's not obvious enough from my title, Jesse and I are having a baby boy! We went in for the ultrasound yesterday afternoon and were able to get a good peek at our little guy. It was amazing! It is crazy to me how he is moving and "swimming" around in there so much, and I really can't feel it that well yet.

But, it looks like everything is looking good. As far as the ultrasound could tell us, he is healthy and right on target for a June 30th due date. After seeing him in there, it just makes me more excited and anxious for the day that we actually get to meet him for real.

So, needless to say, we are thrilled, especially Jesse. He is so excited to be a Daddy and have a little boy to pass his love of sports and BYU football to.

...Still Waiting...

2009-02-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know that we are still awaiting -and waiting.....and waiting....to find out if we are having a little Phoebe, or Phoebo (Friends fans will get that).

Anyway, we are going in on the 16th for the ultrasound. So, until then, I'll keep waiting and waiting a little longer....

I'm interested to hear what ya'll would guess!

Here we go...

2009-01-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

Ready or not, Jesse and I will be entering the world of parenthood this year. I know, I know, I haven't posted since like September. And I'm not going to try to pass it off as "I've been so busy doing this and this and just couldn't manage to jot down a few paragraphs and post a few pictures in the last THREE months."
I just didn't want to make the general announcement on the blog until I had spilled the news to family, friends, and at work so hence the belated announcement that I am pregnant. 16 weeks pregnant to be exact.
My due date is June 30th which I've been told is a perfect time because I won't have to endure the hot months of the summer whilst I'm "great with child."
So, there's the big news. I will be having my ultrasound soon so I'll send along the news of whether we're having a boy or a girl soon.
So, my new year's resolution is to post more often and to be better about taking lots of pictures. Everybody tells me that I will be sure to take lots once the baby comes, but I don't want to wait until then so I will do my best starting now.

My Latest Pet Project

2008-09-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

My Latest Project...and possibly my latest pet passion.

Ok. So, the freakin' cutest Quilt and Fabric shop just opens in my tiny, little rural town of Salem, and I am jazzed about it. They have the cutest stuff I've seen anywhere, and they have patterns and fabric all cut and ready in kits for you to take.

When the latest Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, came up, the owner of the shop threw a Launch party at her house--and it was totally nuts all the handmade prizes they gave away. They had a crazy Twilight quilt with all black, white and red fabrics along with hand-made purses, t-shirts, and all that jazz. It was all stuff that they have at the store too. So, needless, to say that piqued my interest in going to the store. It made me want to take up sewing and quilting and try out my Susy Homemaker skills.

So, without further ado--I give you Project Number One. It's a sassy little apron number that I am making with a lovely little blue and orange fabric combo.

Pictures of the finished project will follow...hopefully I don't tear my hair out figuring this out.

Aloha...from Utah

2008-06-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

OK-So I promised I would catch ya'll up on the last few months that I've been MIA from our blog. So, I will pick up where I left off a while back.

Jess and I were able to go to Hawaii with my family for the first time in March. It was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back. We got to fly over with my brother and his wife, Megan and my 2.5 year old niece Ava. When they picked us up early Friday March 8th to fly out, Ava couldn't stop telling me how we were going on the "airpane" and kept asking me every 2 minutes if I could see the airpane yet. SHe did pretty well on the LONG flight, but by the time we got to the airport in Honolulu, she was toast. She just wanted to sit in the chairs and fall asleep.

We were soo tired, but we didn't want to miss a single minute of being in Hawaii, so as soon as we checked into the hotel and freshened up, we headed straight to a restaurant with native cuisine...the Cheesecake Factory. Again, Ava was so tired that she wouldn't eat. She started picking up her fork and combing her hair with it.

I asked her what she was doing and she answered like it was the stupidest question. "I the Little Mermaid, and I am combing my hair with the dinglehopper." I couldn't stop laughing.

THat night, Ava saw the ocean for the very first time. SHe couldn't get enough of it, and was pissed when we took her away. She's gonna be a total water bug.

Jess and I caught the most beautiful sunset of our entire trip that first night at Waikiki too. P.S I don't know why it's not letting me rotate the photo, so sorry for the sideways sunset!

The next day we went to Pearl Harbor before we went back to the airport to go to Kauai. THat place was really amazing and made me get all emotional.

They tell you about the "black tears of the Arizona" which is the battleship which is sunk at the bottom of the harbor. THere is still oil that bubbles up to the surface from the Arizona, over 60 years later. They say that these "black tears" will stop when the last surviving crew member of the Arizona passes away and their ashes are laid to rest on the ship.

Anyway, this blog is getting really long so I will just give you some highlights from our trip and call it good.

Favorite Moments
1. Sunset in Waikiki
2. Jumping off waterfalls in Kauai
3. The Laie temple
4. Our house in Princeville, Kauai
5. Riding in the car with Ava singing "Wheels on the bus"
6. Seeing a humpback whale do a full jumping breach just 100 yds off the beach in front of us.

Funniest Moments
1. Jaime taking an hour to get the courage to jump off the waterfall
2. Jesse trying to boogie board and getting tanked by every wave
3. My brother getting mad at the hostess of a restaurant because they said that they can't split the bill more than two ways because the cooks can't follow that many tickets. He promptly replied "Why, is he retarded?" It was funny.
4. Ava's tired ranting gibberish in the rental car.
5. All the chickens that run wild EVERYWHERE in Kauai.

I can't wait to go back to Hawaii again. I've never been anywhere like it and I'm so glad that I got to spend the time with my family.
Aloha!

I'm a dirty, rotten blogger...

2008-06-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

OK- So my friend Kjerstin gave me a hard time last night about our blog. She asked me a week ago if we had a blog and I told her yes. Well, apparently, she looked it up and saw that I haven't posted since.....February!

For all my friends out there, I am a dirty, rotten terrible blogger. So, yes, Kjerstin, I am going to get back into blogging. And yes, everyone, I will be posting later tonight with updates on our life...our new house, our recent vacations, and everything else.

So, I will be back tonight with pictures and details. :) P.S. Rach-- I know you are in town and can't wait to see you and Gio.

Life is Good!

2008-02-28T10:13:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I were talking last night about how truly blessed we are. Things are going so well for us right now. We just put in an offer on a house we love and are waiting to hear back on whether they accept. We are going to Hawaii in a week for the first time.

We just found out that we are going to be an aunt and uncle again (my sister Kristen is pregnant) and we both have great jobs and Jesse is working on getting his painting contracting business going. So far it's going well.

I just had to write a quick message of gratitude for the many blessings that we have in our life. We are truly lucky to be so young, but to feel like we are so far along the path of where we want our life to go.

We hope you all are doing well and would love to talk to you soon.

Love,
Jesse and Megan

What would your book be about?

2007-12-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

Have you ever read a book that you couldn't stop thinking or talking about afterwards? Well, right now, everyone I know, including me, is fascinated by the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. If you haven't read it yet, stop reading this post and run to Barnes and Noble. There are currently three books in the series with a fourth coming out in 2008. The first is Twilight, the second called New Moon, and the third is Eclipse.

All my friends at work have an obsession with this book series. The storyline is so intense and the author really has a way of bringing you into the emotions of the characters.

My favorite thing about this series is that the author, Stephenie Meyer, is LDS. She graduated from BYU and is now a stay-at-home mom living in Phoenix, AZ with her family. She just up and decided to start writing a book after she had a vivid dream one night. And the result of this dream and her acting upon is a national bestselling series that has outsold the latest Harry Potter book. It's truly amazing to me what one person can accomplish in life if they follow their hearts and their dreams.

I have ALWAYS wanted to write a book. It's on my list of things to do before I die, so recently I've been thinking about what I want to write about.

So my question to you is: If you were to write a book, what would it be about and why?

I'd love to hear what ya'll would write if you could create anything you wanted.

Love,

Megan

2007: A Great Year

2007-12-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm finally-and officially-a blogger. I know it's about time. My main reason for this is because I am notoriously bad at keeping in touch with people and I want to be able to do that more easily.

So.....this has been a crazy/wonderful year. Here's the highlights so make sure to keep up with me:

February 2007: Jesse Grover and I (Megan Tilt) were married in the Salt Lake Temple on the 1st of February. What an amazingly, special day.We had our wedding reception at the Provo City Library on Academy Square which is a Beautiful building. Then we were off to our favorite place-Disneyland-to honeymoon. For an adult man, Jesse is crazy about Disneyland. His enthusiasm for the place has really rubbed off on me too. Jesse also moved into our "cozy" basement apartment in Payson, Utah, where I'd been living since November 2006.

March 2007: Jesse and I found our own cute apartment in Orem, Utah near UVSC. We loved this place cause it's close to everything and truly felt like home to us. It was a great newlywed apartment.

April 2007: I sold my beloved baby-blue Volkswagon Beetle Convertible and we bought our practical, Black Honda Accord. As boring as it sounds, we both LOVE our car and were happy to go out and make our first major purchase as a married couple.

July 2007: Jesse and I made our third trip in a 12 month period to California to go to Disneyland. I told you we love that place! THis time we were able to go with Jesse's sister, Ashley and her friend Irene. Irene had never been to California before, and it is always the most fun when you are showing somebody the magic of Disneyland for the first time. You should have seen her face on the Tower of Terror ride: It was priceless!

August 2007: We moved out of our cute little apartment and moved in with Jesse's family in Salem, Utah so that Jesse could go back to school and not have to work for a while. Of all the in-law families I could end up with, I'm so grateful that I have Jesse's. They are truly awesome and I have felt like a part of the family from day one.

Oh, yeah, and Jesse turned 26 years old this month! I surprised him with some great BYU football memorabilia- a football signed by LaVell Edwards, a picture signed by Steve Young and Jerry Rice, and a SPorts Illustrated from 1990 when Ty Detmer won the Heisman (signed by Ty of course)

September 2007: I turned 25 this month! Wow, I can't believe how the years since high school have flown by. We were able to spend a whole weekend with my family in St. George where I got to play with my niece, Ava, and swim with her in the pool. I love spending time with my family. That's been the hardest part about moving to Happy Valley.

Those are the highlights of this AMAZING year in our lives. Above all, I am so grateful to have found my husband-my best friend- and the time has flown by with him. I know that we still have the best years of our lives ahead of us....but it's hard to imagine that it can get better than this!

Hugs,
Megan