JamesnMeagan

Blogger app

2011-10-19T21:15:00.001-07:00

So I'm trying out the new blogger app. Hopefully it'll make blogging easier. Here's some fun pics of Ryan to enjoy.

Dancing Videos

2011-03-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since the last post, here are some videos of Ryan dancing.

A few videos to Share

2010-10-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos of our little man. These were taken at his Grandma's house.

Diamond Fork Camping

2010-10-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Friday night we went camping for James' brother Eric's birthday. Eric, Crystal, James and I went to Diamond Fork Campground which is up Spanish Fork Canyon. Grandma and Grandpa Meyer watched Ryan for the night and had so much fun with him. We ate yummy hot dogs, steak bites, s'mores, and hot chocolate for dinner and had eggs, bacon, grilled cheese, steak, muffins, and hot chocolate for breakfast. We played games and chatted around the campfire all night and it was lots of fun. We love hanging out with Eric and Crystal because they are so much fun!

Some of the beautiful scenery around our campsite

Our campsite. Eric and Crystal's tent is huge it definitely could sleep 8 people. James and I need to get a bigger tent before we go camping with Ryan.

Crystal and I around dinner time. Ignore my chipmunk face. I'm eating.

James scarfing down a hot dog.

Eric happy to be camping.

Me eating yummy steak bites.

Crystal is sooo excited to be camping!

I have a weird face in this picture, but it lets you see my new haircut and colors. It's dark brown underneath and then has big chunky highlights of bright blonde and red on top. It's way cute! My good friend Talara does my hair and does a really awesome job! This pic was taken right before we left Eric and Crystal's house to go camping.

Friends

2010-10-02T21:20:00.001-07:00

Our friends Corey and Jenni came over to hang out. Jenni took a lot of pictures of Ryan here are some of them.

Ryan Sleeping

2010-09-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

When Ryan sleeps he is ALL over the place. This is a cute pose I caught him in one night while he was sleeping. He's up at the top of his crib sleeping sideways. Such a cute sleeping boy!

Tater-tots

2010-09-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

We went to Sonic one night this week and Ryan was so excited about our Tater-tots. He loved touching them and picking them up and looking at them. I don't know if it was the texture or the grease that he liked about them. He even tried to feed them to himself and to take bites of them. He didn't know how to swallow them though, so they ended up back out of his mouth. I thought this picture was really cute though.

Anniversary Trip

2010-09-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

So as many of you have noticed I'm not good at blogging, but I'm going to keep trying to keep my goal for the last 4 weeks.

I never blogged about our anniversary trip. For our 6th year anniversary my mom was in town so she watched Ryan for two nights while James and I went to St. George. We had a hotel voucher we got from buying our couches at RC Willey last year so our hotel was free and we ate at some awesome restaurants. James got an awesome Cannon Rebel for his anniversary present. I'll just post some pics to show you the trip.

We stopped at a Ghost Town (Silver Reef) on the way to St. George, in Leeds.

We searched on the internet for restraunts before going and this one looked really good. It was amazing!

I loved the interior design and they had huge pieces of artwork on the walls. This picture is blurry, but it's the only one our waiter took.

James had an amazing meatloaf that was infused with Tabasco and other yummy spices.

I was still full from our lunch at Jack n' the Box so I had a really good salad that had lots of fruit, nuts, and a yummy vinaigrette dressing. I love restaurants that present their food and make it look so pretty.

We had my favorite for dessert, deep fried Oreos with a milkshake for dipping. It was divine!

On Friday, James and I hiked around Zion National Park. You can read more about the hikes on my hubby's hiking blog. We did the River Trail, Upper Emerald Pools from the Kayenta Trail, Middle Emerald Pools, and Weeping Rock.

After a long day of hiking we ate dinner at the Anazasi Steak House. We started off with Cheese Fondue and then had two amazing steaks that came out rare on a volcanic stone that kept cooking your meat while on your plate, that way you could have your meat exactly how you liked it. I had filet mignon and James had a bison steak. They were amazing. To top it all off we had dessert fondue at the end. We found out that you got free movie tickets when you got dinner with an appetizer and dessert there so we went to see Scott Pilgram v.s the World. It was amazing! One of our favorite movies now.

On our way home on Saturday we stopped at Kolob Canyon and did a little hike called Timber Creek Overlook.

We also made a stop to Cedar Breaks National Monument to see the sites, which included a field full of sheep that were also all over the road and many majestic overlooks.

We had lots of fun on our trip and were really grateful to my mom for watching Ryan for the weekend.

SLC Bees

2010-09-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Adobe had a night at the Salt Lake City Bees game. They fed everyone and then we all had sweet seats to watch the game. The game started at 7:05 and Ryan's bedtime is usually 6:30. Ryan was great durring dinner and even before the game started. A few minutes after the game started he even fell asleep. At the end of the first half of the first inning though the announcer came on and scared him to death. He awoke with a blood curdling scream like someone had hurt him. We exited the stadium quickly and went home. Good thing the game was free and we got to eat the free food before he had a meltdown. Poor little boy fell right asleep in the car and went right to bed when we got home.

Bath time

2010-09-19T18:45:00.001-07:00

Ryan loves bath-time, especially now because he gets to be in the big tub. He finally has enough hair for us to play with in the tub and he loves splashing in the water. Here are a few pics from tonight's bath. He scratched his eye on Friday so it's still a little red from that.

Dry Mountain Peak

2010-09-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

James and I decided to go camping and hiking before the season was over. A few weekends ago James' mom watched Ryan overnight and we went camping at Payson Lakes campground. It was beautiful! The next morning we attempted to hike Dry Mountain Peak. This mountain was only 2 miles round trip, but so incredibly steep. James made it to the top, but I didn't. We still had lots of fun and it was a nice break from being parents for the night.

Close to the top of the mountain

Before the Hike

Beautiful Payson Lakes

James at our campsite

Me at our campsite

Journaling

2010-09-15T16:43:00.001-07:00

I have been challenged to write in my "journal" 5 times a week. I'm going to do this through my blog since it is my "journal". I'm determined to meet this challenge so you should see more postings for the next 6 weeks. Some things to look forward to are pictures of the cute baby and some pics of my new hair. It's nothing like I've ever done to my hair so stay tuned for updates!

Month of July

2010-08-10T18:35:00.001-07:00

We have been up to lots in the Meyer household. James' Aunt Kathleen, Grandma Meyer, and Cousin Nephi came to visit so Grandma Meyer could meet her Great-Grandson. We went on a hike to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. I'll include some pictures at the end, but to read more about it go to James' hiking website here. Also if you would like to "like" Utah Hiking Info on Facebook you can get notified whenever new hikes are posted. They post two hikes a week in Utah and they post hikes that range from family and kid friendly to hikes for experienced hikers and backpackers. You can also follow utahhiking on twitter to get notified as well. I'll also throw in some cute pictures of Ryan at the end because you know that's why you are really here.

Donut Falls

Eric, Meagan, Nephi, and Crystal

8 months old

After Bath Time

Playing Piano

Getting Dressed

Naked Time

Milk Mustache and Beard

Fiesta Days 2010

2010-07-24T12:42:00.001-07:00

We took Ryan to Spanish Fork's Fiesta Days today. It's probably about a 1/5 of the size of the Provo Freedom Festival but it was fun to get out in the Sun and walk around. It's only a 15 minute walk from our house to where the festival was and parking was a beast so we packed up Ryan in the stroller and walked over to the festival. We ate yummy food and then on our walk back home got some shaved ice snow-cones. We let Ryan have a few bites and his reaction was quite funny. Even though he hated the cold he kept wanting more and more.

You'll have to click on the picture to really see how funny it was.

Forever Friday

2010-07-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that James and I used to be in a band with some of our good friends Mark and Shiloh. James and Mark played guitar, Shiloh played drums and I sang. For awhile we had a drummer named Jon and another guitarist named Greg. Everyone has since moved from Utah and moved on with life, but many of you have asked to hear our songs so I thought I would finally post them on here. The first one is Everlasting Maze that James and I wrote and the second is Lame that Mark wrote. I also included some pictures at the end. We performed at Hollywood Juice Cafe, Froyo twice, Fresh Cup Coffee House twice, BBQs, and BYU's Battle of the Bands. It was a lot of fun while it lasted, but life came and split us apart as we all had kids and moved away.

Forever Friday BBQ

Some Awesome Album Pictures

One of our Shows at Fresh Cup Coffee House

One of our shows at Froyo

Another Show at Fresh Cup Coffee House

Recording Studio Pics

St. George Family Reunion Trip

2010-06-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

We went to St. George for a family reunion with James' family. Here are pics from the trip.

A few of us went golfing. I had only been to a driving range before, so it was fun to actually golf.

We had a pool at the house we were renting so we swam a ton. We tried Ryan swimming. He didn't like it too much. Especially when the other kids were in the water, because they would accidentally splash him in the face. We did get some family swim time in though.

Ryan had lots of playtime with Mommy and Daddy

There was even a crib in our room for him to sleep in

We went to Snow Canyon State Park and ate lunch and played on the Sand Dunes and hiked through Jenny's Canyon

We also went to the St. George Narrows or the Red Crack and squeezed our way through it.

We also got to go to the temple with some of the family

RIP Chickens

2010-05-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

When we got home tonight we had a message from our neighbor's that a dog that they were dog sitting somehow got in our fence and ate our chickens. :( RIP Milly, Lilly, Chloe, Zoe, and Phoebe.
Here are the last pictures we took of them. Our friends came over and took some more recent ones, I'll have to get them from them. James is taking it pretty hard, because they thought James was there mom and would follow him all over the yard and would be all excited when he would come outside.

Calling all Children People...

2010-04-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to be losing my nanny soon because she is having a baby of her own. I'm looking for someone who needs some extra money who would be willing to watch Ryan full-time Monday through Friday every week. Preferably someone in Utah County. He's a really mild mannered baby and only cries when hungry or when something is wrong. He naps well also. Please let me know if anyone is interested. I will probably need the person to start in June. We love Katy who has been watching Ryan, but we're also happy for her to have her baby soon as well! Here's some newborn pics we finally got back from our photographer Brittney Warburton. If you like them and you are in Utah we can get you her contact info. Ryan's so much bigger now that's he's almost 5 months old. In these he was 7 weeks.

Catch Up

2010-03-14T11:50:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a post full of catch up pictures.

We bought some baby Chicks so we can have eggs when they get big.

Here are some more pics of the baby and of us. I got my hair cut so here's some pics of that as well.

First Bath

Our neighbor made this cute hat

James thought it would be funny to act like he was sleeping like baby Ryan

Age and Size Comparisons Part 2

2010-02-22T10:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some more comparisons with my huge CareBear to how big Ryan is getting. I'll post the old ones too.

3 Months

2 Months

1 Month

A week or so old

2010-02-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

We're going to post this on Craigslist but we thought we'd let our blog friends have a chance first. We are selling a Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS. Great camera, phenomenal colors, 12x optical zoom 7.1 megapixels. $100. Reason for sale: We're upgrading to an SLR. Comes with: 4 rechargable energizer 2500 mAh batteries with charger, case, it takes SD memory card and will not come with one.

Christmas

2010-01-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas was almost a month ago, but finally I have time to post about it. My parents were both in town to see little Ryan and so this was our first Christmas where we got to spend it with both families. My sister-in-law Crystal's mom was also in town so it was a huge gathering at James' parents house for Christmas dinner. Here are a bunch of pictures of Ryan's first Christmas.

Ryan with his soon to be best friend from across the street Rex at the ward Christmas party

Ryan with Santa at the ward Christmas party

Ryan with his stocking I made him

James with the stocking I made him

Ryan with his Grandpa Woods

Ryan with his Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Christiansen

Ryan with his Grammie

Size Comparisons

2010-01-16T20:46:00.001-08:00

So we decided to take some pictures of Ryan for size comparisons with my gigantic carebear. The first one is when he was only a week or so old. The second is a month old. Next week he will be 2 months old and so we will do another picture. He is getting so big already!

Smiley Boy!

2010-01-13T14:39:00.001-08:00

He's starting to smile!

I can't say enough how awesome it is for Ryan to smile at me. It makes all of the nights when I'm up feeding a fussy baby worth it!

Sorry for the lack of postings right now. I'm back to work for the month and being a new mommy and there just isn't much time to blog. I will catch everyone up soon!

The Whole Story

2009-11-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

So I thought that I would finally post the whole labor story.

WARNING: If you have a weak tummy or don't care about medical things you might not want to read this post.

My whole pregnancy I had been planning on having a natural birth using Hypnobabies. I had practiced a ton and felt really comfortable that I could do it. I was planning to labor at home for awhile so I could be comfortable as long as possible and then head to the hospital a few hours into my labor. Baby Ryan had other ideas. He decided that he wanted to be a breach baby my whole pregnancy. We tried EVERYTHING to get him to turn. We did acupuncture, chiropractic, and all the weird stuff you find online like laying upside down and different exercises to try. Early in my pregnancy I tore a ligament on my right side of my uterus and my chiropracter decided that probably my left side tried to make up for the right side because all my muscles stayed tight on my left side and wouldn't let the baby flip.

We were left with the decision to keep waiting and probably get a C-section since Ryan would keep getting larger, or try to turn him at 38 weeks and get induced if it worked and have a C-section that day if he didn't. We prayed a lot about it and at first thought we would just wait it out. The next morning we felt awful about that decision; it just didn't feel right. We prayed some more and decided to go ahead and try to get little Ryan to turn.

I had been going to the midwives, but had seen one of the doctor's with the practice a few times as well towards the end since Ryan was breach. I really liked Dr. Young though and he seemed like a great doctor. We scheduled the turning for 6:30am on Friday November 20th. Again, it felt really weird to schedule having a baby. I don't really beleive in inducing unless it becomes dangerous for mom or baby, but we were going in with faith that we were making the right choice.

Our alarm clock got accidentally set for pm instead of am so we didn't get to the American Fork hospital until 7am. By 7:15 they had me prepped and had given me drugs to relax my uterus to make it easier for the baby to turn. It hurt so bad, but Dr. Young was able to turn the baby. To us it seemed like it was easy for him, but he said it was REALLY hard and he didn't think that it would work once he had started. After the baby had turned they broke my water, started me on pitocin and called Roberta, the midwife on call that day (also my favorite midwife) to take over.

The first little bit wasn't too bad with no drugs. I went 10 hours with no drugs going from dialated to 0 cm to 3cm. By then I was so worn out that I was falling asleep in between contractions and going straight to REM sleep. The contractions were about 1 min to 2 min apart and were just getting closer but I wasn't dialating at all. I had been at 3 cm for a few hours. I decided that I better get an epidural because if I was in this much pain I didn't know how I would react when it got time for transition or pushing.

The epidural actually wasn't bad at all. The anesthesiologist was great and did his work in between contractions. The numbing shot was the only thing that hurt, and it was just like a bad bee sting and went away after 10 seconds. Immediately the contractions died down and I felt so great. The next 6 hours went by really fast and I got a little nap. Ryan was still doing great. I had read up on the pros and cons of epidurals and had decided I didn't want one before hand just because of some of the side effects that can happen to mom and baby. Luckily the side effects that I was scared of didn't happen to us.

About 15 hours in baby Ryan's heart rate started to drop as he made his way through the birth canal. This is pretty normal but they put me on oxygen to just help him to get more oxygen in between contractions. It helped, but when it came time to push his heart rate started to go all over the place. It would be at 190 and then jump down to 50. Roberta decided to call Dr. Young back in case I needed a C-section or help with vacuum or forceps. Dr. Young came in a told me all the pros and cons of using a vacuum but said in my case he'd reccommed it to get the baby out as fast as possible. I said ok give me three more tries and then we'll try the vacuum. I tried for three more contractions and he was getting closer but his heart rate was starting to really scare everyone. There were a ton of nurses in the room for when he came out to act fast. Dr. Young took over and used the vacuum. Once the vacuum loses suction 3 times then he can't use it anymore legally. Somewhere around this time I got so overheated that I threw up. Not so much fun when you are trying to get a baby out quickly. The vacuum lost suction twice and then he told one of the nurses to go and run and get the equipment for a C-section in case we needed it. At this point I got a surge of adrenaline and was determined not to have a C-section. In my head I was like "he's coming out on this one I just know it." With the help of the vacuum and a huge epistiotomy he came out on my last push just before haivng a C-section.

He ended up having the cord wrapped around his little neck twice which is why he was having such hard issues keeping his oxygen levels up. He wimpered a little when he came out and hearing that was so great since I was scared about things being wrong.

He was breathing, but was struggling breathing, so they showed me Ryan and then James and him went away to the nursery to get things checked out. My roommate from college, Heather, is certifying to be a doula and so she was there during the labor for training. She stayed with me until I was able to see Ryan and James again.

So in the nursery it took them an hour to get an IV into Ryan. He still has little bruises in his hands and feet from attempts. His fluids were really low and blood sugar because of the cord being around his neck. Finally they got an IV in his arm, which the next day they took out and put in his head because he kept moving his arm around and making it bleed. His oxygen and fluid levels and blood sugar came back up so they thought he could come to my room for me to finally hold him. By now it was about 3am and the nurse brought him in and since I hadn't pumped yet we tried to feed him a little formula through a syringe and tube. He seemed to like it, but then started choking so the nurses took him back to be re-evaluated. About an hour later the pediatrician came to our room to let us know that Ryan had started throwing up bile and had been admitted to the NICU to do some checks on his intestines to see if there was blockage. They did some x-rays and they couldn't find any blockage and he had started to have poopy diapers so they stopped being worried and the bile stopped. He ended up just being stressed out so his body reacted by throwing up bile. Now all we needed to do was to get him to breastfeed really well for a whole day and then we could take him home. I got released from the hospital at 9am on Monday morning and then we stayed on as boarders that night. It's a sweet deal for only 35 bucks we could stay in the room; we just couldn't get medication or help from nurses anymore. By Tuesday morning the pediatrician Dr. Wilcox said we could take Ryan home that afternoon. They started to wean him off his fluids and he kept his levels up by breastfeeding and we were so happy to bring him home.

All in all, even though things didn't work out the way we had planned, I am so happy to have Ryan here healthy and strong and considering everything that happened I am so grateful for the midwives, nurses, and doctors that knew what to do and that handled everything so well. I'm still going to try to have a natural birth for our next baby, but I'm still really happy and pleased at how everything worked out for little Ryan's birth as well.

Ryan James Meyer Enters The World

2009-11-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

What a crazy experience for a first time father to go through. The birth was not that uncommon from other stories I've heard, but until now, they've all been stories. Reality is quite a bit more taxing.
But after 16 hours of labor, we've got a new baby boy, born 11:49 pm 11/20/09 weighing in at 6 lbs 7 oz and measuring 18.5 in long. He's seriously the cutest thing ever. Check it out for yourselves!

Here's one of the proud mother:

Trip to Alabama and Georgia

2009-10-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

I've still got to catch everyone up on our trip to Alabama and Georgia. My Gran passed away in the middle of August so we got to go spend time with my family in Birmingham, Alabama and Waycross, Georgia. It's always sad to see someone pass away but it was good to know that she wasn't suffering anymore. She had cancer that turned into Leukemia and within a two weeks she was gone. It's good to know that we will see her again someday.

While we were in Alabama we got to hang out with family, eat at the Waffle House and go to the Birmingham Zoo. In south Georgia we got to go to the Okefenokee swamp and go on a boat ride and see Alligators close up. It was fun to get to see my family since I haven't been back in almost 2 years. I guess that is one good thing about funerals is that they bring families together to spend time with each other.

James holding a Lorakeet at the Zoo

Cute Red Panda that was eating

James and I at the Okefenokee Swamp

One of the Gators

5 Year Anniversary

2009-09-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

So our 5 year anniversary was August 13th. These past 5 years have been the best of my life and I'm so happy to be married to such a great man.

We wanted to do something kinda big since we are about to have a kid and cut our salary in half. We spent the weekend in Salt Lake City and stayed at the Anniversary Inn that has themed rooms. We ate at the Melting Pot, which is my favorite restaurant, but it's way expensive, and went to the This is the Place Park and the Hogle Zoo. Here are some pics.

This is the Place Monument

James learning about woodworking

The Anniversary Inn Jungle Room. They give you free cheesecake and sparkling cider.

James exploring the room

The Melting Pot

The Hogle Zoo. It was rainy and 50 degrees when we got there. So we bought matching hoodies

3D Ultrasound pics

2009-09-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

So I've been really bad about posting. I have a lot of catchup work to do. A lot happened in August. James and I had our 5 year anniversary, we spent a week in Alabama/Georgia because my Gran passed away and I'm in the 3rd trimester finally. I'll make posts for the above items, but to celebrate being in the third stretch here are some 3D ultrasound pictures for you to look at.

Cute little face with his hand on his cheek. He looks very contemplative or bored.

Cute little mouth open. Looks like he's laughing , singing, or crying.

During the ultrasound there were times we thought he looked like James' baby pictures and times he looked like mine, it seemed that my genes won out though because most of the time we thought it looked like he favors my baby pictures. We'll have to wait and see when he comes out.

Escalante Trip for Pioneer Day

2009-07-30T18:43:00.001-07:00

For the Pioneer Day holiday weekend we went to Escalante with our friends Mark and Talara and their three kids. Talara's family gets together in Escalante every year at her grandparent's house which was built in 1895 and is an old Pioneer home. It was really fun and James and Mark got to go on some hikes while all the women chatted and hung out. We got to see a parade and ate tons of yummy food and it was a great vacation.

James and Mark's hike through Spooky and Peekaboo slot canyons

Ancient Cave Art

Waiting on the parade (I was hot since I'm pregnant if you can't tell)

James, Madisson, Talara, and Jayna soaked after the firetruck in the parade soaked them

Dinosaur Tracks

The Results are in!

2009-07-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound yesterday afternoon and it was an amazing experience. I had been feeling the baby for a little bit already, but it was really neat to actually see that it's a real living baby inside of me. It was really neat for James, because he only recently has been able to feel the baby and only some of the time. He was so excited and smiling the whole time. So the verdict that you've all been waiting for is we are having a very healthy baby BOY! I've included ultrasound pictures below so you can see.

Legs

Profile

It's a BOY!

Foot

Eric and Crystal's Wedding

2009-06-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

James' little brother (by little I mean younger than James, but older than me) Eric got married last Saturday, June 20th. It was a really neat week and experience being a part of their wedding party. Crystal, Eric's wife is the only member of the LDS faith in her family so I got to be an escort (helper) with her through the temple for her endowment session and I got to help her get ready for the wedding on the wedding day in the temple. They were married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in Utah and it was a good day for pictures. It poured later before the reception so we all got soaked.

On Friday before they got married we went to Crystal's house to set up tables for the reception. James couldn't find his wallet when it was time to go and we remembered seeing it at home so we didn't think anything of it and just figured it was at home. The next day we were frantic because his temple reccomend was in his wallet, and he couldn't get in to see his brother get married without it. We had to make a few phone calls so our Bishop could look up records and call the temple and vouch that James did have a current reccomend. We cleaned our house over the weekend and still couldn't find his wallet, but in checking our bank accounts nothing had been taken out so we knew the wallet probably hadn't been stolen. On Monday evening after work we felt like we should check Crystal's house again. In checking we found the wallet in the grass by a wall. It was semi-hidden, but we felt so blessed that it hadn't been stolen after being in the grass 4 days and during a wedding reception.

The wedding was wonderful and I have more pictures that I might post later. These are ones that a family friend took. We had a family luncheon at the pizza factory after the wedding and then the reception was that night. Like I said we got soaked so those of you who know my hair know what that means....lots of friziness for the reception yay! And after getting up at 6am to straighten my hair was a pain. But the reception went well too and the rain cleared up just as it was supposed to start, which was good since most of the reception was outside.

Here are a few pictures that a family friend took. When I get other pictures I will post them in another post.

The happy couple leaving

Dancing

Me looking like a ghost and James looking happy

Beautiful Roses

2009-06-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

One of my co-workers, Sharon, grows beautiful roses in her garden. She has even won national awards for her roses. She brought me these two beautiful roses Monday morning to celebrate being pregnant.

Exciting News

2009-06-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

James and I are super stoked because we are having a baby! I'm 15 weeks along right now and not sick anymore. Yay! We got to see the baby once at 8 weeks, and we've heard the heartbeat twice now. On July 16th we get to find out what the baby is. I'm really excited so we can REALLY start planning and setting up the baby room once we find out. I know I keep saying how excited we are, but after trying after over 3 years, we couldn't be happier. This Mother's day was amazing, because I wasn't sad like I usually am when all of the other mothers get celebrated. James got me the gliding rocker in the picture for Mother's Day this year. Last night we bought my first few maternity clothes items as my pants aren't fitting well anymore. We also have been getting tons of free stuff from everywhere. Who knew first-time mothers got so much free samples and stuff.

Our little tadpole at 8 weeks

15 Weeks

Some sweet things that we've already gotten in the mail from family

Concerts

2009-06-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

So James and I got to go to the Fleetwood Mac Concert Last Night which was amazing! I absolutely loved it! I have been to see Stevie Nicks by herself twice and I enjoyed her by herself a little more, but it was still an amazing show. I thought I would do little photo chronology of the concerts I have attended. James never attended concerts of famous people before I met him so I'll put on the list when he started attending them with me. Since some are from long ago before digital pictures and since I'm at work and don't have access to all my pictures, I will just post a random pic of the person in concert. James' favorite concert was definitely Smashing Pumpkins. I have loved all the concerts, but my favorite was probably Aerosmith because I went with two of my best girl friends in highschool (Autumn and Tiffany) and two of my best guy friends (Cullen and Curtis). We had grass passes so we danced the night away and Aerosmith even came out to a separate stage on the lawn near us and played for us on the lawn as well. I hadn't really realized how many concerts I had gone to until I compiled this list. I absolutely love concerts it's so fun to see good music live.

Summer of 1998: Stevie Nicks Enchanted Tour in Raleigh NC (Opening Act: Bozz Scaggs, went with my good friend Imani: we are both huge Stevie Nicks fans)

Summer of 2001: Stevie Nicks Trouble in Shangri-La Tour in Raleigh NC (Can't remember if there was an opening act, went with my friend Imani again)

October 2002: Aerosmith Girls of Summer Tour in Raleigh NC (Opening Acts: Mest and Kid Rock: definitely not my favorite bands)

James and I got married, so now he comes to the shows with me.

March 2006: Counting Crows in SLC UT (A picture I actually took)

Fall 2007: Smashing Pumpkins in Orem UT (Opening Act: The Bravery: Had really bad potty mouths, while Smashing Pumpkins were way clean)

March 2008: Collective Soul in SLC UT

Summer of 2008: Journey, Heart, Cheaptrick in SLC UT

Journey

Heart

Cheaptrick with their wicked crazy guitar

June 2009: Fleetwood Mac Unleashed Tour in SLC UT (More pictures I actually took, no opening acts either)

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-06-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

I have tons of pics to post, but I'll put those at the end. For Memorial Day weekend James and I decided to go to the Grand Canyon since I had never been there. We left on Wednesday night and stayed in Kanab and then on Thursday morning drove to the Grand Canyon. It wasn't too hot and was pretty cloudy. It didn't make for good pictures, but it was nice that it wasn't too hot. Thursday night it rained and rained for like 10 hours straight. We didn't get wet in our tent but it was so loud it was hard to sleep. Friday we woke up and made some Heavenly Hash for breakfast. We then did an amazing hike down to "Dripping Springs". Getting back up was hard, but way worth it, it was so beautiful. We ate at a super nice restaurant in the Grand Canyon to reward ourselves for the hike. When we left the restaurant it was colder outside and the wind was picking up again. We got back to our campsite and it started raining again..... James turned to me and we decided that we had HAD it, so we smooshed our muddy tent and tarp into our trunk and slept in the car, which was much less noisy than the tent and slept while it rained another 10 hours straight. The next morning we left and decided we'd stay in Kanab for 2 nights instead of just 1. We found the LAST motel room in Kanab and played around Kanab. We went to this movie set museum that was free and played around there. The Sunday we got up and went to Bryce's National Park which was absolutely beautiful. We then drove back to Kanab again and stayed the night. Monday morning we got up early and went to drive through St. George and though Zion's National Park on the way home. James took over 300 pictures on our whole trip. We saw a bunch of deer and coyotees. We even saw some wild turkey's but they ran away before we could get their picture. Now after that long story enjoy some pictures.

Our Campsite. It was a nice campsite. Even though we shared it with over 300 other people they were spaced out enough that we weren't overcrowded.

The Grand Canyon behind us

Getting ready to go on our hike. Notice the clouds.

Bryce's Canyon behind us

Las Vegas

2009-05-14T16:05:00.001-07:00

So Way over a month ago I visited Vegas for a work conference. It was a lot of fun and I also got to see our old neighbors from our old duplex Jamie and Garth! Here are some pics.

My home for 5 days at the Mandalay Bay. It was awesome and had a huge jacuzzi tub in the bathroom and separate shower and there was a TV in the bathroom so I took lots of bubble baths while watching TV.

Me and Jamie watching conference together. Her family was awesome and had me over for dinner and to watch conference the Sunday I was there.

This was my favorite store by far: The M&M Store! It was 4 stories high and had tons of cool and yummy things.

Penn and Teller were the entertainment for the conference so we got to see them for free!

My co-workers at the conference

Only in Spanish Fork...

2009-04-26T13:55:00.001-07:00

Made in China, shipped directly to Spanish Fork.

Omniture Summit

2009-03-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Once a year at James' work they do a conference for all of their customer's called Summit. James got to spend the week in Salt Lake and even got to see Maroon 5 live at the Grand America Hotel. Omniture put James up at the Little America Hotel across the street. Since he had a huge hotel room by himself I decided to stay one of the nights with him. I got to Salt Lake by 6pm and we went out to dinner at the Lion's House and then I left the next morning after James presented. He did an awesome job by the way. He got to present their new products to their CAB(Customer advisory board).

Valentine's Day

2009-03-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

I always seem to be playing catch up. For Valentine's Day James and I just relaxed and played all day and didn't run ANY errands or did any chores. Our normal routine on Saturday is work work work since we both work full-time it's our only time to clean house and run errands. James took me out to a place called "Flour Girls and Dough Boys". They are the cutest little bistro and they usually only do lunch but they were doing a special for Valentine's day. It was awesome! They have the best homemade breads, soups, and desserts. They also took a stab at doing main courses and it was way good.

Winning Again!

2009-03-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

I get my cute blog backgrounds from this site: Smittenblogdesigns They are really awesome and don't usually give giveaways, but I just happened to be perusing their freebies when I came across a giveaway and I totally won this!!!!!
I will take a picture with the shawl when I get it in the mail to post online instead of this model that I got from their website. I also am really behind in posting what we did for Valentine's day. I'm never home to hook up my camera to the computer to get the pictures off, but hopefully at the latest this weekend I can get that done.

99 things

2009-02-24T14:43:00.000-08:00

I've seen this on a lot of peoples blogs and since I had some downtime at work today, I thought I'd take a stab at it. These would be the 99 things for Meagan and not James.

Here are the rules:
Bold the things you’ve done and post on your blog.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (With my handsome hubby)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (if having one stuck to the side of your foot counts)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (drawn)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Redwoods
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (a few times)
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Dominique Dawes, Grant Hill, Jimmy Page)
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Morning Funnies and Craziness!

2009-02-19T08:09:00.000-08:00

James has been staying in Salt Lake this week while he is at Omniture's yearly Summit conference. On Tuesday night I spent the night and stayed with him but last night I was by myself. When I'm by myself I usually have to stay awake as long as I possibly can so that I just fall asleep when my head hits the pillow, otherwise I start worrying and such. I actually was having fun reading "Believing in Christ". It's an awesome book and I would recommend it. So It got to be 1:30am and I decided it was time to go to sleep and leave my book. I went to set the alarm for 6:45 because I had a meeting at 8 this morning so I would need to leave for work a little earlier. At 6:45 the alarm went off and I was sooo tired. I mean unusually tired. It was also a lot darker than usual so I looked out the window to see if it was storming or something and it was just dark. So I pulled myself out of bed and got ready and went to the car. When I started the engine the clock in the car said 5:30....I was like WHAT????!!!!! I picked up my cell phone and looked at the time....yep it's 5:30am. I must have set the actual clock for 2 hours later when I set the alarm. I started laughing at myself. So I went back and slept for 2 hours and then got out of bed and headed to work feeling a lot more refreshed than waking up at 4:45am. Yuck! I guess I need to be more careful when I'm tired not to mess up doing things.

Bloggy Giveaways

2009-02-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

So my dear friend Shalyse posted months ago when she won something from Bloggy Giveaways. I have been addicted to the site. Everyday they post another giveaway where you go to the site of whatever they are giving away and usually you just have to say what you like from their site to enter. They did a huge carnival with over 1300 giveaways. I just was notified that I won this. I'm really excited to try it when it comes in the mail!

Omniture Christmas Party Catch-Up

2009-01-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

So over a month ago Omniture had their huge Christmas party. It's always at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake. There always seems to be a snowstorm the night of the party too. We forgot our camera so our friend snapped these pictures of us. Omniture paid for James' tuxedo rental and I found my dress half-off at a sale Allyse's Bridal was having in September. We had a blast and lived it up in style. They had gourmet appetizers, main dishes, and desserts all with a Latin Theme. Our entertainment this year was a professional dance group that performs in lots of movies all the time as back-up dancers. They were pretty good, but a little scandalous since they were scantily clad. ;) Because of the snow we were late and didn't get to have professional pictures done there, so I'm glad our friend had her camera to snap a few shots after the party. I also had a hair appointment to get my hair done, but again because of the snow I canceled my appointment so I wouldn't have to get out in the snow before that night.

Welcome to Spanish Fork

2009-01-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago when we were driving home from the Festival of Lights we passed this gas station and we had to stop to take a picture of this sign.

We thought it was funny. Welcome to Southern Utah Valley for us!

Happy New Years!

2009-01-01T10:42:00.001-08:00

So for New Years James and I went to his parent's new house and hung out with his family and the Beuker's from his family's ward. We had a ton of fun. We played the Wii and watched Stardust and ate lots of yummy food. We also played Apples to Apples which is a tradition when we hang out with the Beukers.

Yummy Food

James' Apples to Apples Cards

Meagan's Apples to Apples Cards

Christmas

2008-12-30T13:09:00.001-08:00

Christmas was really fun this year. James and I got to stay in Utah with his family this year which was really nice to stay here while we were still trying to get our new home in order. James' mom got his Dad a parakeet for Christmas. It's actually a really cute present, because that was their first pet when they first got married. We got to babysit the parakeet for 2 nights before Christmas so that James' Dad wouldn't know that his mom had gotten it for him. He was a lot of fun! Eric, James' brother spent the night at our house for Christmas Eve and we watched the Patrick Stewart version of A Christmas Carol. I made Raspberry Cream Cheese French Toast for Breakfast and then we went to James' parents new house to open presents. It's really funny, because James' parents just got into a house about a week after we got into ours. James and I didn't get each other presents this year, because of the house and the car(see post below). We did get a lot of nice things for our new house though, including gift cards to help us to get things that we need. We also got some fun movies and yummy treats.

The Christmas Tree

The Hidden Parakeet

James Pouting

James and Eric

All of the Presents

The Cute Parakeet that James' Dad named "Spud"

The rug we got as a present

New Car

2008-12-30T13:00:00.001-08:00

So we were totally not expecting to get a new used car right around Christmas when we just had put a huge down-payment on a house, but our car decided that it was going to die on us. We both took a day off work and went car shopping and found this great steal! It blue-booked for $2000-4000 more than what we got it for. So we love our new car even though it came at the worst time.

Christmas Eve Breakfast

2008-12-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

So my boss and I decided to make pancakes for all of our employees this morning. I made green and red pancakes for Christmas. The only ones left by the time I got my camera out were green ones. It was a huge success!

Meagan's Birthday

2008-12-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

So I know it's been over a month since my birthday, but we've been really busy(see 2 posts below), so I'm just posting about it now. James was out of town on business on my actual birthday, so he took me out to dinner at the Melting Pot (my all time favorite and most expensive restaurant). We had been planning the trip all year so when it came time and we were also buying a house we were nervous, but James decided to do it anyways. We were totally blessed though, my parents sent me a $40 gift card to the Melting Pot for my birthday and then my student employees at my office did something I never expected: they all pitched in and got me a $50 gift card to the Melting Pot. We only had to pay 12 for the meal and that included the tip! It's so much food we thought we were gonna burst afterward. You have a huge cheese fondue, big salads, then the main course with TONS of meats, and then a chocolate fondue with everything you can think of to dip in it. We really feel like God was looking out for us. I can never thank all my awesome employees enough. Here are some pics from our trip.

Spanish Fork House Stage 2

2008-12-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

So James took a few pictures while I was writing up my last post so you all could see some of our progress on the house.

Me Blogging in our Office

Stairs from the top

All of the boxes we've unpacked so far

Kitchen (Notice our fish)

Winnie the Pooh Room

Master Bathroom

Upstairs Yellow Bathroom (The camera made it all look yellow)

Spanish Fork Here We Come!

2008-12-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

We finally found my usb camera cord! Yay! So you guys can see pictures of our house while it was empty. As soon as we get some things unpacked then I'll take more pictures of the house. We're about 1/2-3/4 of the way done. Mark who was our Realtor, brought his wife Talara and the kids to see the house when we got the keys, so you can see them in some of the pictures.

The Front Room

The Stairs

The Living Room

The Kitchen

Dining Area

The Pantry

The 2 Steps down to the rest of the first floor

The Band Room

The Garage

Downstairs Bathroom and Laundry Room

Office (The ATV wallpaper will be coming down soon)

Yellow Upstairs Bathroom

Master Bath

Master Bedroom Closet

Master Bedroom

Future Garden Area

Patio

Tags From Jenni Elyse

2008-12-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

Do you like hot chocolate or eggnog? I don't particularly like egg nog, so definitely hot chocolate. James on the other hand loves both.
Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? He wraps them. I love wrapping presents.
Colored or white lights on the tree/house? I like colored lights, but not tacky ones.
When do you put up your decorations? Well this year never, because we are still unpacking boxes and probably will be through the end of January so we don't have time for a tree. Usually a little bit after Thanksgiving though.
What is your favorite holiday dish? Yum I love Christmas dinner food, especially stuffing and sweet potato casserole and ham.
What is your favorite holiday memory from your childhood? I can't really think of a favorite one.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lights and ornaments.
Snow! Love it or dread it? I like the first snow of the season, but then after that I hate it. Especially now because of the commute from Spanish Fork, during a snowstorm isn't fun.
Do you remember your favorite gift? Well, I had lots of them. One year in highschool I got a CD burner which was awesome! And this year is probably my favorite though, a new house.
What is the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with my family and having time to get to know them better, all of the service and holiday joy around me, and remembering our Savior.
What is your favorite holiday dessert? Divinity
What tops your tree? Star
Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I like to receive when it's things that I need, but I find greater joy in serving and giving and seeing the look on people's faces when they get presents.
What is your favorite Christmas song? “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “I Wonder as I Wander,” “O Holy Night,” “Carol of the Bells.
Candy canes? Yes, I like the flavored ones that aren't peppermint.
Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Yes. I have to really focus in on the Savior so I don't forget that He is the reason we are celebrating.
What is your favorite Christmas movie? I love some Christmas movies. I love all of the Clay-mation ones from the 70's because I would watch them every Christmas growing up. I also really love Nightmare before Christmas.
Can you ice skate? Yes and I love to ice skate.
Are all your Christmas presents ready yet? No. Moving has taken first priority, so I have a lot of shopping to do this Saturday out with the masses.

Our new animal friends

2008-12-15T15:45:00.001-08:00

So I can't find my camera USB cord because it is packed away somewhere, so I will post pictures of the house as soon as I unpack it. One of my co-workers that helped us move snapped this picture in our backyard of our animal neighbors. They have 2 bulls, and a cow and at least 1 baby cow. This is the picture of the huge bull.

We are homeowners!

2008-12-10T15:21:00.001-08:00

Today at 8am we signed our lives away. Tomorrow night we get the keys to our home! I will take lots of pictures and post them here sometime soon!

New Cell Phone

2008-11-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Hi guys - this is James. Just a quick note because I don't want to call all 88 contacts in my old phone individually: Omniture got me a cell phone a while ago (so now I don't need to bum of my in-laws anymore). if you're interested, go ahead and add this new number to your contacts:

PS - Whoever can tell where I got this font will win a prize! :)

Halloween

2008-11-19T17:12:00.000-08:00

I know this is really late, but I wanted to share some pictures from Halloween. The pictures are from James' office party at Omniture and some pics we took at James' parents house. Just so you realize, Omniture decks out the office for Halloween and it's an all fun no work day for them. You can't even tell that most of it is an office. It took about 2 hours to do the walk through of the whole office through the two buildings. His pod's theme was Enchanted Forest so we were Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

Bowser's Castle

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Gingerbread House from Candy Land

The Wizard of Oz. These are all the execs of Omniture. Josh James the CEO hires little people to be part of his Halloween Costume every year.

James in the Enchanted Forest

A leoplurodon from the trail to Candy Mountain

Candy Mountain

The Castle

The Dragon's Lair

Surprise!

2008-11-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

So if everything goes well... this will be ours on December 10th!

More to come at a later time as we go through this long, but exciting process.

My Best Friend's Wedding

2008-10-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

My Best friend Autumn got married last Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Autumn and I have been best friends since we were about 13. Autumn's mom and step-dad moved to Raleigh and we were in the same ward and high-school growing up. We went through everything together. We were inseparable until college when Autumn went to school in Florida and I went to school in Utah. It was a wonderful wedding and everything went perfectly. The wedding was outside and the weather was almost 80 degrees and gorgeous. It was way better weather than the snow that Utah was having. Below are a bunch of pictures from the festivities. We arrived in Grand Rapids on Thursday night and Autumn picked us up from the airport and took us to the hotel that most of the people from the wedding were staying at. James and I got in late so we just went to bed. The next morning was the bridal brunch at the Garden Cafe. Later James and I did some tourist things and went to the Frederick Meijer Sculpture Gardens. They were really cool. That night was the wedding rehearsal dinner and the next morning was the wedding. It was such a fun but fast trip. I hope we can go and visit Autumn and her new husband Ted sometime again.

The Bridal Brunch

Sculpture Gardens

Rehearsal Dinner

Our Young Women's leader and close friend from when we were growing up

The Wedding

Autumn and Ted

Me and Autumn (I put this pic on my desktop at work and so many people thought we were sisters. What do you think?)

The delicious and beautiful cake

Anniversary Inn

2008-10-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

So we are really bad at updating this blog. We have some back tracking to do, but I had our most recent adventure pictures on my work computer and had some extra time, so I'm blogging about our trip to the Anniversary Inn.

It all started a few months ago when James and I were doing dishes. I like to listen to the radio while doing chores to make it more fun. There isn't one radio station I listen to, I just scan until I find a song I like. We were listening to FM 100 at the time and they announced that caller #10 would win a weekend getaway package. I never win these kinds of things but I thought I'd try my luck and I was caller #10!!!!!! We won a free night at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City. They have amazing rooms. Check them out here: http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth.php

James and I figured we'd get the lowest possible room as always happens when things are free. So I called to ask and we could stay in ANY room for free. We chose the top one that is 319.00 a night. It was amazing! We got free sparkling cider and cheesecake when we arrived and free breakfast in the morning. Here are the pictures! (I also got my hair cut and dyed...I have bangs now.)

Picture Tag

2008-09-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

I'll have some real posts in a little bit. We are actually getting our own internet in our home on Monday. For our whole marriage we've used random wireless signals in the neighborhood. Sometimes we've had agreements with our neighbors to pay half their internet bill if they let us use their wireless. It's worked great, but now we have new neighbors that are really to themselves so we finally broke down and are having someone come out to install internet at our house. So we will have catch up soon.

For now, I found this cool tag on my friend Shalyse's blog. You take these things and search your answers in a google image search and you have to use a picture from the first page.

Favorite Vacation:Disney World

Favorite Color: Pink

Age: 23

Favorite Treat: Fried Oreos (so yummy, but I don't want to know the caloric intake)

Favorite Food: Fondue

Where I want to Travel: Italy (I've been there, but I want to take James there)

Where I grew up: North Carolina (I miss it so much, look at all that green!)

Where I live: Utah (Look at all that brown...)

Last name: Meyer

Middle name: Nicole

First Name: (Apparently this horse and I share a name)

Past Love: Scary Movies (I used to love these, now I'm a wimp! This pic makes me laugh though)

Favorite Animal: Ocelot (Isn't it so cute!)

Omniture Summer Party

2008-09-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

We posted about this party a long time ago, but Omniture finally got the photos they took there to us. They are really low quality so sorry about that.

Anniversary Dinner

2008-08-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

James and I went to Red Lobster for our anniversary dinner. We're really celebrating our anniversary next weekend in Park City. We'll have more pics after that, but for now here are pics from Red Lobster.

Tribute to my husband :)

2008-08-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

My friend Jenni Elyse tagged me on her blog and since James had his birthday last Monday and our 4 year anniversary is on Wednesday I thought I'd do this tribute to him.

What is his name? James Richard Meyer. His middle name is his Dad's name.
Who eats more? He does
Who said “I love you” first? Him, he accidentally said it over the phone, and I went through the roof!
Who is taller? James
Who is smarter? Both of us have ways that we are smarter than the other in different aspects and different subjects
Who is more sensitive? Definitely, me!
Who does the laundry? Both, I love my man he helps with laundry all the time :)
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? We like to switch, but right now him.
Who pays the bills? Again both of us. We like to think of our marriage as a joint effort.
Who cooks more? Me, but I love it when he cooks some of his specialties, which are high in fat, but so yummy.
Who is more stubborn? Me
Who is the first to admit when they’re wrong? This is a hard one. Both of us have had our turns.
Who has more siblings? James, but it's sad he only has one brother and I have no siblings. We definitely want lots of kids to make up for it.
Who wears the pants in the family? Again, I think it's a combo between both of us.
What do you like to do together? Play computer games, do chores, write songs, watch movies, go on dates, laugh, etc
Who eats more sweets? Depends. Sometimes I get in moods where I hate sweets and other times I'm a chocoholic.
Guilty pleasures? Right now he loves Sim City 4 and would stay up 24/7 playing it if he could.
How did you meet? We met in music 101 my freshman year at BYU. We were the first two to arrive to our class and made small talk. It took us over a month though to actually go on our first date.
Who proposed? James proposed on the lawn of the Mt. Timpanogos temple. He had told me it would be a while and we'd probably have to have a Winter wedding, but then surprised me by proposing the next day! I was so excited!
What is his best feature? Oh the list goes on and on. His hair(including in goatee), smile, eyes, body, I love my husband!
What is his best quality? Again, the list could go on and on. His confidence, he never gives up when things get tough, his positive attitude, his spirituality, his sense of humor

I love James and I'm so glad that we've spent the last 4 years together. We've spent time crying together, laughing, being grumpy, being happy, working hard, and relaxing. Mostly things have been great, but going through all the hard times has also made us the great couple that we are today. I'm grateful that all of our good times have greatly outweighed the hard and stressful times. I love my husband so much and I'm so glad to celebrate our 4 year anniversary!

To The Extreme!

2008-08-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here at the Meyer household, we like to do things to the extreme. Here's what I mean...
On Saturday the 9th, I biked 16 miles, we had lunch with some friends at Tucanos, we used our free passes to Thanksgiving Point to see the Gardens, Farm Country, the IMAX 3D Cinema, and the Dinosaur Museum. Then, Meagan stopped by a wedding reception, and we finished off the evening hanging out with our good friends Mark and Talara, and we did dinner with them at Asuka.

Today (Sunday the 10th) we went to our 3-hour church block, went to Trevan and Heather Richin's baby blessing, then we went to a "farewell" sacrement meeting for Sheree, one of Meagan's friends. In total, that's 5 hours of church, 7 sacrament meeting talks, 9 hymns, and 3 sacraments. Wow. Later on tonight we're headed to a fireside.

This is a quick glimpse into how we do things at the Meyer household! ;)

Enjoy these pictures of Thanksgiving Point!

James' Birthday/Omniture Party

2008-08-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

James turned 27 on August 4th. The whole weekend before was spent in celebration of him. Omniture even had their annual summer party during all the festivities. On Thursday night I couldn't keep James' presents secret anymore, so he went ahead and opened them. I got him Volume 1 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which included 4 different episodes and also gave him a BYU bathmat.

We left work early on Friday to go camping! It's a tradition that we always go camping for James' birthday. This year we went to Balsam campground in Hobble Creek Canyon. It's the last campsite before the right fork of the canyon ends. It was nice because there wasn't much traffic and only a few other families there.

We had yummy tin foil dinners with buffalo burger patties, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, minced onion, and lots of seasonings. They were so yummy!

After we got back from camping, Saturday evening Omniture had their annual party which was called "Carnivale". They rented out the electric park at Thanksgiving Point and had dinner catered in of hotdogs and hamburgers. It was like a mini state fair. There was a full-size ferris wheel and a ride called the "Tornado" that spun around. James and I loved the "Tornado". There were also stands with unlimited free sodas, snow cones, cotton candy, churros, popcorn, and candy. They had lots of little blow up rides and games for the little kids, including a cow train. At night we all got some free "swag". They gave out omniture blankets to all the employees so people could sit on them during the concert and fireworks. A local band called "Party of Five" came and played a bunch of cover songs. They were actually really good. The fireworks were the best. Omniture went all out and paid for a 30 minute firework show. We're talking competition for the Stadium of Fire. It was REALLY good. Here are pics from the night.

On Monday on James' actual birthday we went to his parent's for dinner and presents. James' mom made her famous lasagna, which is one of his favorite meals that she makes. James got the movie Harry Potter 4 and the Blue Planet DVD series from the BBC. They are amazing movies. He also got this very interesting game from his Aunt called Split the Ward. It's a pretty funny card game. I made fun of James, because he asked for a Strawberry cake and so he got a girlie pink cake. It fits well with his manly pink bag that I wrapped his presents in on Thursday night.

San Francisco

2008-08-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

The last week of July, Omniture paid for me to attend the Cooper University Visual Design course. It was a two-day seminar where I learned a ton about how visual design fits in to Cooper's interaction design methods, and how to effectively use visual design to communicate with a software user. Really fascinating stuff for sure.
Cooper University is named after Alan Cooper, who is the pioneer in the interaction design field (sometimes called "user experience design"). He is the inventor of visual basic and he sold this to Microsoft back in the Windows 3.0 days. In fact, Alan Cooper is really the one who invented the GUI operating system. So basically, he knows his stuff. Omniture actually uses his methods to design our web-based software applications. Okay - enough words, time for pictures.

This is the Hotel Monaco where I stayed. It's a "pet friendly" hotel, so lots of people had their dogs and cats - some of the rooms even have fish in them!

Omniture flew me out a day early so I could "play." I took a cable car to Pier 39 and saw some pretty cool things (and some pretty weird people). Of course, as soon as I saw the Hard Rock Cafe, I knew this was going to be a good trip. Needless to say, I came home with a HRC t-shirt.

They have sea lions at Pier 39. This one posed for me.

This is the whole reason I came - Cooper University.

Yeah, Alan Cooper and I go back a long way. At least back as far as July 28th, that is. He's actually a really fun guy to talk to. Lots of experience, lots of opinions, and a great sense of humor!

This is the view from the Cooper headquarters in San Francisco. Having a booming design consulting business definitely has its perks.

Overall it was an awesome trip. Tons of fun and a great learning experience. There is still way more to do that I didn't have a chance to do during this trip. I guess Omniture will just have to send me back there for another design course!

4th of July fun at Bear Lake

2008-07-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it's been so long since we've posted. It has been crazy busy for both James and I at our jobs and at home. We get home so tired all we want to do is eat hang out a little bit and go to bed.
For 4th of July James' family and extended family thought it would be fun for us all to chip in and share the cost of a cabin on Bear Lake for 3 nights. It was so much fun. Here is a picture of our cabin with me and James' brother Eric by the car.

This is the view from one of the 3 cabin balconies. It was absolutely gorgeous and we were so high up on the hill that we could see the fireworks by just walking a little bit outside. The stars were also amazing at night.(I hope you like pictures, because I have a lot more!)

The first night we went to a dinner and show and the food was so yummy and the show was an old western melodrama. It was so funny! This is a pic of James and his mom and brother Eric.

Here is a dance scene in motion from the show.

The first morning James' and I got to cook breakfast for the masses. We cooked 2 packages of bacon, a huge thing of sausage links, 2 bottles of the Bisquick just add water pancakes and 2 pitchers of orange juice. It was lots of fun to cook that much food. This is me cooking food. James cooked the sausage and bacon but he was the one taking the pictures.

My favorite part of the trip was horseback riding. I love horses, but I haven't been riding since my Junior Year of high school at girl's camp when the stake rented out a stable for the day. It was a blast. Here are my favorite pictures. The horses really liked eating the yellow flowers called "mule ears". We were supposed to not let them eat them, but as you can tell sometimes they got away with it.

Later on the 3rd we went with the whole group to the Minnetonka Caves. They were really cool. I love cave tours.

On the 4th James, his brother, and Uncle went Sea Kayaking in Bear Lake while the rest of us went swimming. It was actually pretty cold on the 4th as you can see the overcast skies.

The "cute" skirts that James and his uncle are wearing attach to the kayak and make sure that water doesn't get in. James and his uncle Phil were riding the huge waves from all the boats and Seadoos.
Later that evening James' mom and I rented a paddle boat to ride around the lake in. It was pretty fun.

The funny thing is...where we were paddle boating the lake was really really shallow. You could walk out about 100 yards and still just be up to your knees in the water. James decided he would walk out to make fun of us.

On the way up to Logan you pass the Hill Air Force Base Museum and every time we'd pass James' would drool all over the car because he loves planes. Especially F-16's. When we passed it going up to Bear Lake I suggested we stop on the way home and take a few hours to go through the museum. James and his brother thought this was a fantastic idea so that's just what we did. We ate lunch outside at the museum and took tons of pictures inside. James' was really excited to get a picture with his favorite plane the F-16. I'm not a huge fan of planes, but I love going to museums and learning. I actually learned a ton about airplanes and how complicated they are. I had no idea there were so many different kinds.

To end a great trip James and I got cleaned up and then went out to McGrath's Fish House for dinner. It was sooo good!

Squaw Peak

2008-06-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

Squaw Peak. The very name conjures up images of parked cars, NCMOs, and ancient Indian lore. Now, this is one mountain that we have mastered; we can look at it with a sense of righteous pride and glorious accomplishment. On Saturday, 6/21/08 I, with a group of comrades (which includes my lovely wife) hiked this towering mass of a mountain in no less than 6 hours. We fought the scorching heat, near vertical inclines, and killer silk worms. Above all, we survived, and lived to tell the tale (i.e. blog about it.)

Enjoy the pictures! (That's what you're really here for, isn't it?)

Strawberry Explosion

2008-06-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

So our strawberry patch has pretty much exploded the last few days. On Saturday we brought in a whole bowl full of them from the garden and then yesterday we got two bowlfuls from the garden. Wowsers! We have strawberry's coming out of our ears. I made a double batch of strawberry freezer jam with the first day's worth of berries and I've given most of them away, so I could make more jam, but I don't know what else to really make other than strawberry pie. Does anyone have any good recipes with strawberries?

These are our first batch of berries. The second time we harvested this bowl was overflowing and another one was just as full.

Demolished Memories

2008-06-13T20:22:00.001-07:00

For all those people out there who worked at IT Training on BYU campus, this will be a very emotional moment. Are you ready? Here it comes...
The Knight Mangum building is ... gone. It exists now as only a pile of rubble where once used to stand the most wonderful (old) computer software classrooms and a decaying floor that was ripped up and turned into a graveyard for Halloween.

I managed to capture on photo some of the last standing moments of the KMB:

Here is a before and after picture of the old entrance to IT Training. Students and faculty used to enter here, and leave changed forever.

Goodbye, old friend...

Super Hero Bootcamp

2008-06-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

At work I planned a senior agent retreat for the student supervisors to help them bond and build leadership skills. Our theme was super hero bootcamp and we played lots of games and ate yummy food from the Smokehouse and it was an absolute success. Here are some pictures from some of the games we played. Who knew you could make water balloon catapults out of cardboard boxes, rubber bands, duct tape, and water bottles?

Scholarship Request

2008-06-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

One of my student employees and friend is going to grad school this fall. He has a little boy and needs money desperately to pay for school since his wife is going to be staying home to watch their little boy instead of working. He has entered a scholarship contest where you vote for his video. The link is http://www.whyideserveascholarship.com\
Click on the link and then in the upper right hand corner click login and create a login. After you create the login click browse also in the upper right hand corner and look for "Change the World" by Richard. I haven't been spammed by them so no worries about giving out your email address. Every 24 hours you can vote for him. Please do not use multiple email addresses as some people have been disqualified from the contest for this. Only one email address per person voting. For voting you also get the chance to be entered to win $1000 for every time you vote. It's a pretty cool idea and I really hope he wins so his family can help pay for a little bit of his grad school. I believe the contest is over in July so happy voting!

James' Long Lost Brother

2008-06-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

So, everyone keeps telling James that he looks like Zach Braff, the lead guy in the sitcom Scrubs. He's always been a little skeptical that this is true, but when we did a search in google images this is what we came up with.

So basically they have the same lips and nose. You decide for yourselves and let me know what you think. My next project is to put Zach's hair on James' head and to see what that looks like. James is slowly teaching me how to use Photoshop and it's really fun!

St. George and Vegas Trip

2008-06-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day weekend James and I decided to take a little excursion down to Las Vegas with a small detour in St. George Utah. We left work early on Friday and drove to St. George which is about 3 1/2 hours away. We stayed at a hotel which we haven't really done since our honeymoon and went to the St. George Temple.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Las Vegas which is only an 1 1/2 hour drive. We got there pretty early and stayed with our old neighbors Jamie and Garth. Jamie and Garth shared our duplex when we first were married. We were hungry for lunch so we went to In-N-Out to get some burgers and then went to the Las Vegas temple.

When we got back we hung out at Jamie and Garth's house until dinner time when we went to downtown Vegas and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. James and I love to go to Hard Rock's whenever we go on vacation and buy shirts when we eat there.

Jamie and Garth then showed us the best parts of Vegas: The Bellagio and the Fountain show.

We then drove around town and took some other random pictures of the strip.

On Sunday we went to church with Jamie and Garth and I helped Jamie teach her Young Women's lesson. It was way fun. After church Jamie's parents and brother came over for dinner and we played the Wii.

On Monday we had to leave sadly. Jamie's family was having a BBQ at their house so we stopped by for a bit but then had to leave to drive back to Provo.

We stopped by Cove Fort on the way back, but we forgot to take the camera so we have no pictures. We loved our vacation so much and can't wait to visit Vegas and to see our friends again!

Catch up

2008-05-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

I thought that I'd catch everyone up on what's going on in our lives. James and I have both graduated and are both working full time. James recently graduated in April and me last August. James is working for Omniture in Orem. They are a web analytics company and he is an associate user interface designer.

I'm working full time at BYU now for the Office of Information Technology as an Employee Technology Services as a Service Desk Supervisor. I love my job and working with all the student employees they are so much fun!

As for children, we don't have them yet, but want them, and hopefully we'll be blessed with them soon.

James and I have a lot of free time now that we aren't so busy studying for tests and such. James loves biking and bikes any day that he can. He loves our garden as shown by our previous post and treats it like his little baby. I'm really glad, because I don't get into the gardening so much, but I can reap the benefits of yummy vegetables and fruit. I also actually get to enjoy my passion for cooking yummy foods and treats with my free time. We've also discovered that we are "computer people" we love playing computer games and playing around on the internet in our free time at night. Yes, we are nerds.

We are planning a trip to Vegas this weekend for Memorial day and are excited to visit our old neighbors Jamie and Garth! I've never been to Vegas before so I'm super excited. You will definitely hear all about it when we get back.

We have a garden!

2008-05-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

The bottom line is - I went kinda overboard this year, as you can see. Besides the weed barrier and cedar mulch, what you're looking at here is 6 tomato plants, 1 broccoli, two cucumbers, and 9 pepper plants. Since that's all that would effectively fit in the allotted space (and since I hate wasting plants), Meagan bought 5 pots to plant the rest of our pepper plants. I'm expecting at least 30 bushels of yield this season! ;)

The other portion of the garden is our berry patch which has gone nuts this season. Already there are hundreds of little strawberry and raspberry buds, and the raspberry plant has decided to explode like a ton of C4. After a very long winter of cold dead Provo, it is very refreshing to be outside growing things. It's a passion.