New Years party "Mormon" style...

Happy New Year!!! Last night our friends Amy and Kelly had a party at their house, to help ring in the new year! It was a blast! There's nothing like great food, non-alcoholic Champagne, and a very competitive game of "Scene It"- Men against Women. And let me tell you, we killed them! The Men were such poor-sports about it!!! They said we cheated? ( How do you cheat at Scene it?) blah-blah-blah. Really it's more like cry-cry-cry (Big Babies!) But seriously, it was so much fun! It marked the first time Troy and I had been together, without a child, in almost 2 1/2 years! It was really weird not having Avery right by me, but I guess it was good for all of us! He had a great time with sister Kasey, and she was happy to tend him, because we paid her!

We feel so fortunate to belong to a Church, that is full of such amazing people! Our lives are so enriched, by them and we are so thankful! Speaking of Church, today was one of those days, that you leave and say "That was one of the greatest Meetings I've ever been to! Our friend Kelly spoke in Sacrament Meeting and it was truly one of the most powerful talks I have ever heard!

He focused a lot on Repentance, and starting over. He likened it to the coming New Year, being able to start "New" or fresh, it was really wonderful. What an amazing blessing we All can take and liken into our own lives, The gift of Repentance. I look forward to this New Year, and all that it will bring...

My New Years resolutions are

1. Be happy

2. Be happy

3. Loose a little weight...

Another Chicago Christmas...

Merry Christmas everyone! Wow, I can't believe it's come and gone! It was over so fast.

I hope Santa brought all you asked for! He sure came to our house! Avery made out like a bandit, thanks to Santa- Nana and Papa! It was the first Christmas, that Avery would actually open presents, but still it wasn't easy to get him to do it! He would get one opened a then want to play with it. After an hour of this Troy and Kasey started to open some for him. He was so fun to watch, he was most excited when he opened his Diego Backpack, he screamed with joy!

Kasey had a great Christmas too. She made out with a lot of money!!! She can't wait to go to the mall, I don't know if we can do it again this soon, I guess we'll see? Sadly, we didn't get to witness in person Jaylyn and Hallie's Christmas, but from what we've heard, and from what they've told us, they too came out on top, so to speak!!!

Hallie got a cell phone, yes she's 8 years old- when we told this to the Missionaries, Elder Hinrichs said "She just became accountable for her sins, I guess she's old enough to be accountable for a phone too!"It was so funny! Anyway, Hallie called about 5 times on her new phone, she was very excited, and we are happy that she got it, so we can talk to her more!

Jay was also happy Hallie got a phone, cuz now she won't have to use hers!!!

The Missionaries spent the day with us. We had lunch, watched football, played with toys, took the tree down, I know it might seem weird that we took the tree down but it was dead, and all the very deadly needles were falling on the ground, so we decided to just get it out! It was funny though, as Troy and Kasey were taking it to the curb, one of our neighbors said "Dude, it's still Christmas!" Troy said Bah Humbug! Just kidding, he explained that it had died, and become a danger to our family! Then we ate dinner together, watched more football, and Deal or no Deal. It was really nice having the Missionaries here, Kas and Avery have so much fun with them. We hope they had a good time with us, it's going to be hard to see these two go.

We missed you all more than we can even try to explain. We love you all!

Merry Christmas...

Twas the night before...

We went over to our friends Amy and Kelly's house last night for a steak and crab dinner. It was absolutely delicious! I would have written about it last night, but we got home so late, and we were very tired and ready to go to sleep and dream of sugar plums and what ever else they dream about in that story, I can't remember. Anyway, we love Amy and Kelly and their family so much, they are so good to us, they fill in as family, when we need them the most, which is ALWAYS!!!

They are originally from Utah also, so we hope that both of our families will some day soon be back there...

Troy and Kelly actually used to play Baseball against each other in High School, and they were even on an All-Star team together, and didn't even know it until we got here and they started talking about it, what a small world! It was a wonderful evening, and we are very grateful to them for making it a lot easier for us to be here! Love you guys...

FYI- just in case you were wondering who was on the t.v. behind us, it was the Jazz, "You gotta love it baby", and let me tell you Kelly lives for the Jazz and for BYU. Every time we go over to their house, we have to watch the winning play, from the BYU, Utah game, and no matter what we watch sports, Amy just loves it... ha-ha

Meg's 34th Birthday... Ouch!

As painful as it might be, I celebrated another birthday. The day started at 6:30 this morning, when Troy woke me up with tons of kisses and said "Get up sweetie, time for basketball" We went to play basketball this morning with the Missionaries, and a few guys from our ward. They meet every Saturday to play ball. We actually hadn't played with them since we first moved here.

It was fun. Troy played great, I did alright. I had to guard one of the missionaries, and I've never been so (Aware) of how much contact you actually make with the person you're guarding. I guess it was amplified due to the fact that this poor kid is on his mission, and usually they have no contact with the opposite sex, besides a hand shake!!! But he was a good sport, I apologized when we finished, and he said it was OK, he's such a cutie! We love our Missionaries, they come over to our house all the time. We always have a great discussions with them. They're coming over to our house for Christmas dinner, we're very excited to share that time with them.

Anyway, after basketball, we came home and wished that we had Kandace and Tyler's hot-tub. Troy and I are a little out of shape! We both had to take Advil to help with the pain!!!

Then for some reason, we decided to go to the mall? It was CRAZY! Every person that didn't go out of town was there, and they were all in a huge hurry, just like they always are around this place! Still, it's hard to say too many bad things about the mall, I mean shopping is shopping, no matter how long the lines are! After spending a little dough, we came home, to check on Kain, who was fairly good this time, only a few things were out of place, and sporting his teeth marks! But he is so dang cute, you just can't help but love him.

Finally, we went to dinner at a new restaurant called Emmett's, right down the street from our house. It was okay. I just think we were all so worn out from this day, that we would have been just as happy staying home and eating some "Sticky rice" All and all, it was a great day, and really it was only missing two things, Jaylyn and Hallie. We miss them so much, it hurts!

Thank you all for your Happy Birthday wishes, it means so much to me...

Oh, I also wanted to thank Nikki for the special pillow she sent. Troy thinks it's really going to change everything, as long as it always reads TONIGHT!!! Ha ha love you all

Work party- Fun, Fun...

Troy had his work party today, and we decided to tag along! It was fun. They really have the party for all of the people that work "Behind the scenes" so to speak, so it's all Hispanic people. They actually make all of the products they sell right there in the office building. It's really neat to walk around while they're making things, it's crazy to actually see things being cut and sewn. So anyway, it's a huge spread of Mexican food that is sooooo good, and a very, very loud D.J. that played all Spanish music, and spoke only in Spanish! Avery had fun dancing around, but Kasey and Troy wouldn't dance, so I didn't either. We didn't want to give them anything else to talk about, or actually laugh about. The only time we did understand the guy is when he said something about "Gringos" and everyone looked at us and laughed? Oh well, the food was good and we got a gift certificate to Best Buy, from Troy's boss.

Well, Feliz Navidad, amigos!!! Love you all, thanks to everyone who comments, it really let's me know who loves me and misses me the most!!!

"Pre" Birthday pics...

How cute is this cake?

Here I am with my gifts!!!

These are my friends Amy and Amanda...

WHY you ask, a perfect "10"...

I wanted to explain why I have a great love for the number "10". Actually it's not just me, my husband also loves this number. We both wore the number "10" in High School, and we would have in college and pro-ball, but you really don't get to choose your number unless you're a "Superstar"

So anyway, the love for this number continues. We both use it anytime we can. So of course, when we got Married, we wanted to have our Wedding on the 10Th, of what ever month we decided on. Well, one day we just couldn't wait any longer, so we said lets get married this month on the tenth. That was six days away, and when we started telling everyone, it just wasn't going to work. A very "KEY" player in our wedding would not be back in town, that week until the twelfth, but we just couldn't wait until the next month so we said the TWELFTH it shall be! It was a beautiful wedding, held at our home. We only invited fifty people, all where family, with the exception of about four people...

My Dad knew how much we wanted to Marry on the tenth, so he wrote a toast to us that I absolutely love ...

I wish to present a toast to the Newlyweds...

Here's to the girl, who even in the pre-existent life, could hardly wait to come to earth and reach the ripe old age of 10...

Because she knew, even then, that the number 10 would be her favorite and lucky number.

Here's to the boy, who at the mature age of 10, set out on a lifetime quest to find a girl who shared his favorite and lucky number.....10

Here's to the girl, who had so much athletic prowess, that she received several scholarship offers to play Basketball, and was highly successful because on her jersey, she wore the number....10

Here's to the boy, who as a great Baseball Catcher, got just one step away from the Major Leagues in 3-A Baseball, and on his uniform, of course, the number....10

Here's to the family we'll always be grateful to- for bringing these two together. The Doezie family... Dave, and Ty and especially to JoAnn and Kandace, thank you for introducing Troy to Megan, and Megan to Troy

Here's to the Beautiful children who make this union complete; Jaylyn, Kasey and Hallie

Here's to the Fantastic woman who mothered the bride... Irma Clawson and here's to me, Megan's Pop... after all- AH HELPED.

Here's to the girl, who when she first laid eyes on Troy, not even knowing he was a Baseball player said to herself, "He'd make a fine CATCH"

And here's to the Man who took one look at Megan and knew his number was up. Oh, boy, did she have his number!!!

Now before the final toast. Here's my tribute to the Bride and Groom.

She's got a smile that makes the sun afraid to come up.Her eyes can make the starry skies go hide in shame. You ask about whom am I speaking? Megan is her name.

You say you're walking with the world on your shoulders? I tell you she can send it spinning into space. It isn't sorcery or magic, just look into Megan's face.

His personality we find extremely awesome! There's not a girl who wouldn't die to have this boy. The Gods are smiling down upon us; They have sent us Troy.

So let's lift our imaginary glasses and give a toast to Megan and Troy, to Troy and Megan for together they make a perfect "10"

So that's why "Togetheraperfect10" My Dad is so awesome, I can't say enough about him. He is truly the "Greatest" I love him and miss him everyday!!!

Well I better get back to my other half or my number 5, how ever you want to look at it!

Party like it's my Birthday!

Well it's that time again, when the world seems to whisper............... (your old!!!)
My darling girlfriends had a birthday party for me today, it was so nice! It was held at my friend Amanda's house (She is the party planner extraordinar) Everything was color coded, black, white and pink... She even requested all the guests wear black and white, so that the pictures would match!!! She is truly amazing! But like Mrs. Hillary Clinton said," It takes a village to throw a party,"( Well she didn't say that exactly, but close enough) so thank you also to a few of the "key" players, Amy, Kathy, And Merci... You are all so wonderful to me and my family, I can't thank you enough for your friendship!!!

I honestly could not make it here without these girls, they bring so much love to the table. They are such amazing women, and the example they set for me is so greatly appreciated. I'm always so taken back by the kindness, charity, thoughtfulness, devotion, gratitude, and willingness to serve, that they all have! I have so much to learn, and I do. I take something wonderful home with me every time I'm with these women... So again thank you all so very much!!

I'll post some pics, from today's party. I only have a few, but they are darling...

Here are the pics I promised...

Let the games begin!

Hello family and friends! I am so excited to have the opportunity to keep you all up to date, so to speak, on our lives here in Chicago! We miss you all so much... I hope you enjoy reading about our day to day adventures. I have a few friends here that do this for their families, and I've wanted to do it also for a long time. I hope to get a lot of "Comments" back, so let's begin...

We'll start with Troy. He works for McDavid and is enjoying it. He's the promotional manager over ten states. He has to travel often and that is very hard on us! We don't like to be apart from each other. He was recently in western Illinois, where he had the chance to visit Carthage jail. He took the tour and said it was really amazing to see it! Hopefully this summer we'll get the chance to go down as a family and do the tour.

Papa, Troy's dad also works for McDavid, so we get to see him when he comes out to Chicago. He recently was here and we got to spend three days with him!!! It was so nice! I'll post the pics soon. Avery just loves his Papa!!!

Jaylyn is in 8th grade. She is absolutely beautiful! She is still singing and she just had a Christmas program at West minister College, where she sang "Breath of Heaven". Although we didn't get to see it in person, Papa sent us pictures and Nana told us all about it! Jaylyn also has taken up playing the violin. She played recently at her school for their Christmas program. She is very talented, we can't wait to see where it takes her!

Kasey is in 7th grade. She too is absolutely beautiful! She is doing well in school. She just finished a season of volleyball. She had never played before, and played very well! You can see her natural talent when she plays sports, it makes me very proud!!! Basketball tryouts are Jan.3rd so I'll be sure to let you know if she makes the team! Kasey is also the second counselor in her Beehive class at church. The young men and women had the opportunity to go to the Chicago temple last month to do Baptisms for the dead. This was the second time kasey had done this and she said the experience was really amazing. It is so wonderful to watch your children's testimony of the Gospel grow!

Next is Hallie. She is in 2nd grade, and she just turned 8 years old! She is so tall and as darling as ever! She is taking dance lessons, and is truly a natural! She loves to play with her dolls, and her cousin Jett. Hallie is hoping for a cell phone this year from Santa. I don't know for sure if she'll get one, but I do know she'll be happy with whatever she gets! She is very sweet.

Avery, Avery, Avery... 2 years old and "runnin" the show!!! I can't tell you how darling this boy is! Troy and I are so thankful for him in our lives! After three girls, it's always an adventure with this boy! He keeps us on our toes. He is very smart and very funny! His favorite food is "Sticky rice" he just loves it (just like his daddy). He also loves to watch Dora and Diego. It is so fun to watch him as he does and says what ever they do! He thrives on attention, like most 2 year olds I suppose, he is truly a joy!

Kain, the d.o.g.- He's a naughty little doggy. We have to totally "Kain" proof the house before we leave, or he'll destroy it! The blinds are lifted, the food put up off of the counter, the garbage taken out, and a blanket put over the couch, so he doesn't get hair all over it when he gets up on it to look out the window! But other than that we love him like another child!

Finally, Me...
I work from home. I don't get paid it's all pro-bono work. It's basically house work and babysitting! I couldn't be happier with this job either! I love taking care of my home and my family. I miss Utah, and all that live there everyday! I'm trying to make the best of this situation, and really, it's getting better! I absolutely love our ward! I have many girlfriends that I love to see and talk to! We do a lot of fun stuff together, I'll post many pics!!!

My testimony has grown in ways I never could have imagined! I love this Gospel and will never again live without it in my life! I look forward to life with my amazing husband and children, and will continue to work towards an Eternity with them also...