Rounder and Rounder I Go

I'd apologize for not blogging in ages, but I start out every post like that so I'll dive right in.

I'm in my final semester of college and will graduate in 3 weeks. 

This semester has been weirdly busy and not busy at the same time.

I should explain...I am only taking one studio class this semester so in terms of having to run around like a crazy person and live on campus, I'm actually pretty relaxed on time. But then somehow despite not taking as intense classes as normal, my classes still keep me busy. 

The beginning of the semester was rather calm, but then once we hit over half way through the semester, my teachers all decided that we need to have lots of papers and projects due in the next 3 or so weeks. So despite being extremely close to being done, I feel like I have a ton to do before it's over.

In case you have forgotten, I am 34 weeks pregnant (below was at 31 weeks though). 

I feel quite round though luckily not horrifically round. You can thank hiking through the snow and climbing 4 flights of stairs a few times a week for that. You may ask "why not use an elevator?" 

Well the elevator in the Spori building sounds like my little brothers' car, which is older than me. It sounds like death and breaks down at least once a semester, so that is why I take the stairs. Plus I suck at exercising so this keeps me active.

Garett has finally gotten his diploma! 

He graduated in July, but there were all these funky complications that required him to spend the last 2 months trying to fix it. Basically it came down to this one class being wavered for basically the same class with a different number and changing his catalog year. But now he now has his bachelors in Microbiology! He's also taking a GRE prep class and we're beginning on looking at where we wants to apply to for grad school. 

We just got back from Thanksgiving break with my parents. It was great to see them! I think we are more or less officially ready for our baby boy. We're even making some progress on names. Slowly, but surely. 

Below is a picture of the Spori building that I get to hike up each day. 

Pretty, but tiring.

This is the time of year that I always get a bit nostalgic. 3 years ago I met my in-laws for the first time and I was terrified. Garett and I had been only dating a few weeks and I was scared they wouldn't like me. Luckily they were extremely sweet to me and Grandma and Grandpa Bonds opened up their home to me and they all made me feel welcomed. 

This is a picture of the apple orchard where Garett and I first met and then later he proposed to me here. It's beautiful, quiet and will always have a place in my heart. It's where everything started for us and I could not be more grateful for the events that led to us meeting. 

We used to take walks all over Rexburg, even in the snow. This was one of the place we would walk to on the outskirts of town. Looking back we must have really wanted to spend time together to walk that far in the freezing Rexburg weather in the evenings. I'm not sure you could get me to do that anymore, or at least not after dark.

We're preparing for a new chapter in our lives and to be honest I am actually pretty excited. I'm extremely grateful for a husband and best friend that keeps me level headed. I'm grateful that we have the same goals and dreams that we can work on together. He lifts me up in every way and makes me better than I ever could be alone. So though the future is still a bit unknown and parenthood will be a challenging adventure, I am not scared. I know Garett will always be here by my side and we will embark on this adventure together. This season I am grateful for my little family and how it is growing. I love our little boy and I am excited to meet him. I could not ask for a better support system, especially as I work to finish my Bachelor's degree and play host to a very sweet baby boy for a few more weeks. 

I hope y'all had a nice Thanksgiving with delicious food and good company. I hope you remembered to give thanks for the blessings and people in your lives. 

I guess this is a belated Happy Thanksgiving. 

Have a great week y'all!

-Megan

For the First Time In My Lifetime!

My parents are moving! Okay it's not technically the first time, they moved to their house in NC when I was one. But that house is the only house I can remember ever living in.

I'm excited for them; it will be a new adventure for sure.

Utah does have beautiful mountains, as well as NO humidity (Yay for not sweating always), and my family will be much closer. =]

But before I get too excited about having Thanksgiving with my parents AND my older brother for the first time in 6 years, let us take a little trip down memory lane:

Or down LC Road.

If I had a dollar for every time I drove down this road. Whether for school, going to a friends house, Sonic, the bank, any other place to eat, and about 90 million other places along the road.

But the place I will miss the most is where I spent most of my life.
Where my parents chose to raise their family, an enriching and loving home, where I always felt safe and knew I was cared for.

Sorry this is the only picture I could find of the front of the house. Blame it on me not being able to find the cord for my external hard drive (where I'm certain to have better pictures).

A rather crappy back view of the house (again, my apologies).
That tree in front is one of our 2 cherry trees where we spent late spring afternoons up in the branches picking cherries for my mother to later make into delicious pies and other good things.
I remember one spring we picked 3 huge bowls of cherries, enough to last for weeks.

When I came back this last time this tree had grown significantly. Given this picture is about 2 years old, but thriving and beautiful nonetheless. Where those grape vines are, we used to have a garden, or attempted thereof. As pretty as deer are, they make trying to have a garden, a pain.
But when I was younger, I remember we would grow squash, carrots and tomatoes (probably more good things, but my memory isn't that good). When I was little, I love carrots so much that I would pull them out of the ground and eat them dirt and all. No wonder my nails are so strong.

I will never forget walking down to that stop sign every morning in middle school. My mother and I would huddle on the front porch steps at 6:30 in the morning, wrapped up in a blanket, waiting for my bus to come. Despite being half asleep, I liked that time with my mom.

And this swing set. Gosh I could tell hundreds of stories about it. In the winter we would eat the icicles off of it and slide down the slide only to try to repack the snow on it, just to knock it down again. Yes we were silly for trying, but we tried nonetheless.

Our yard, it was just big enough to be whatever we wanted it to be and to explore it over and over and over again. I'll miss waking up to 15+ deer in our backyard, and watching those beautiful creatures taking advantage of our crab apple trees and other fruit trees.

This is a view of the fort from our willow tree. Only one of the most beautiful trees I could ever imagine. My sister and I would climb this tree and pretend we were in a club called the shoestring club. Do you remember that Catherine? With the Brunstetter sisters.

A better view of the tree. Beautiful huh? It was the perfect tree. Just tall enough that you had to actually work to get into the tree, but didn't need a chair. It had branches that were somehow perfect for sitting in and reading books. Another thing we liked to do was have one person stand under the branches, while another person shook the branches. The one standing underneath would spin around as the pedals fell down and it felt like a blizzard of flower pedals. I promise it was more magical than it sounds.

We used to have a tire swing on there, that we would spin around on until we made our friends sick, or everyone but me sick. I had a thing for speed even at a young age. If my skin didn't feel like it was being stretched, I wasn't going fast enough.

This hill was perfect for slip n' slide, sledding or rolling down. I am pretty sure there is a shoebox with a dead frog buried on that hill. That was the year that we got a horrible storm that flooded the bottom of the hill on our road.

But nonetheless, this house has been good to us. We even painted that fort once upon a time, with mud. I'm certain we were probably covered head to toe in NC's red clay, but we didn't care. We painted every last inch of that fort that we could reach. I am sure our mother was happy with us. But whether painting the fort, or it being our spaceship, ship, house, bakery, self catapult, library, secret hideout, magic lair, or whatever else we wanted it to be, it was good to us, and I will not forget it.

I could go on and on about the memories of the house itself. Our barbie/playroom, that old kitchen set, eating dog food/ants, Aaron screaming "choo choo" around the house, family scripture and prayer, all our fascinating missionary dinners, sliding around in our socks, camping out in the foyer, sliding down the banisters and much much more. I'll never forget that house. I'll always remember it fondly.

I hope you take time to think about the good times you've had wherever you have lived and appreciate them. A house isn't a home unless it is a place you make memories with your family and loved ones. A home is where your heart is, where the people you love are, and where you choose to make your own. At the end of the day, your home may be far or near, but the memories you had there will always be with you.

I know I won't forget, I hope you don't either. But with a new move, brings new adventures and new memories and I can't wait to get started!

Don't forget.
Meg

Just Me

I'll probably put another post up in a bit, or tomorrow about my life. But for now I just want to elaborate on some thoughts recently. I miss posting just random thoughts and opinions. Maybe that is what I am missing in my life, I no longer spontaneously bust out dancing, make weird noise or faces (as Hannah and Lizzy would know). I have almost lost my randomness outside of my interesting earrings. In honor of this sad loss, and to regain it, I think I may dance around my apartment all day and start randomly hugging my friends here.

I MISS HUGS! People rarely hug here and aaaaaah hugs are SOOO happy and fun! I love hugs and expect many when I come home. xP

My other thoughts lately have been on friends. What makes a true friend? To start, someone who cares about you. I don't mean just asking about your day or something. I mean sincerely care about your feelings, problems, thoughts and opinions. True friends are hard to come by, at least for me anyway. Though I may seem outgoing, I am still quite shy and trust very few people. Out here I have struggled somewhat because most people here just seem like fair weather friends. They ask you about your day but don't actually care unless you say something positive and let us face it, not every day is a happy one. But pondering on these thoughts, I started to realize who I counted as true friends and those that I honestly care about. it opened up my mind to questions of why I care about these people. Some are a given, family and my closest friends. But then there are others that I care about yet I am not always sure why. But that is the nature of friendship, you never know who you are going to meet.

Another thing is peace and solitude. Last night my roommate stayed over at a friends and for the first night in awhile, I was completely alone. I ended up staying up for hours just thinking and embracing the quiet serenity of night. Not that my roommate makes much noise to start, but something about that aloneness. Here you are NEVER alone, except to shower pretty much. There is always someone in the next room, talking away. And so I enjoyed my few hours of me time. Not to sound selfish, but you never realize how important alone time is, until you never have it.

My last thought for the night, is laughter is the best medicine. I laughed more and harder today than any other day, since I've been in Idaho. Maybe it was because we got lost, stuck in the sand dunes, ate pizookie (pizza cookie), played mario party until 1am, or just hung out. But maybe it was also because there is a bond between Alisa, Cacia, Rachel and I (the other 2 are gone for the weekend). Our silly freshmanness, or just honest goofiness connects us to each other. These memories we make are vital to our friendship. They connect us and make a bond that may last a life time, or maybe a few more semesters. But we will always remember the fun times of trying to push Rachel's car out of the sand, or riding over the bumpy dirt road, while muddy water flies up over the car. Or hanging out on Alisa's bed quoting Madagascar, even playing Mario Party and failing miserably due to Alisa flying through the directions so we have NO clue what on earth we are supposed to do. But all this is worth it for the laughing until you cry and your sides hurt and you hit your head against the window only to laugh even harder.

So enjoy your time, don't be scared to laugh. Do dumb things, make happy memories and connect yourself to those you care about. Because at the end of the day, your friends are a part of who you are and will become.

"Horses and 'like' horses live there too"
Meg