This Summer...

MMMKAY, so I wrote this about a month back, buut since I was late getting pictures, its just now going up :)

This Summer has been zooming by! I can't believe its almost time to head back to Columbia. We have had a great summer living with the Bradham's. We have gone boating, gone to the movies, played tennis, hanging out with friends and have done a LOT of swimming. I have been working as a housekeeper/nanny for a family in the ward and its been fabulous!!! They have the most well behaved, polite children and its been a blast.
I think this was our only official "date" night lol. We stayed pretty busy with family and friends


We also found an apartment to move into when we get to Columbia. I have enjoyed designing each room :) My wonderful mommy even donated some of her old decorations to us. I LOVE pillows and when I went shopping for some decorative ones, I found that they were way over priced. So, I decided to make my own. Sorry, don't have any pictures yet...maybe soon.

Also this summer, my little sister got married! I was beyond thrilled that we were able to go, and even more thrilled that I was invited...since not all of our family was. (eloped last minute) She was beautiful! The wedding was simple and totally her. Best of all, she married a great guy who really really loves her! Yay Bre! Love her! It was great to be able to spend some time with my mom and aunt and cousins....can't get enough of my little Caden :)



In just 2 weeks Ill be flying out to Utah...YAY!!!! SOOOOOOOO SOOOOOO excited! I miss my Auntie Trina and her family so much!! This time GB even gets to come!

I have felt extremely blessed this summer and I can't wait to get into our new apartment and have our own little home again for the first time this year :)

Some Days

I know I have been HORRIBLE at keeping this sucker up to date...my B. What can I say? I am just flat out lAAzy! While I should be writing about our summer adventures...I have other things on my mind. Sorry about this post, its more of a..vent post :) But hey, life's not perfect

Some days are just so hard to let go of anger and hurt. I have had a great summer, but a challenging summer as well. I've had to deal with a few people who have been making my life unnecessarily difficult. For the most part I can say to myself, "Meagan, don't let this upset you. You can choose to not be emotional and not let this bring you down." For the most part, I listen. But some days....I just can't seem to want to be good. I get so mad and frustrated and to be honest, a little full of rage. Ughh RAGE, sounds so harsh. But its honest. I want to scream and give them a piece of my mind and then some. I get so naughty on some days that I think, "eternal families are NOT always a blessing...but then again, at least the guidelines are strict." Not that I would pass with THAT attitude.

I have challenged myself this year to let go of whatever drama and stress I can, and to be as Christ like as possible. This includes NOT participating in any gossip and not judging others, but rather try to see them the way Jesus does. This is SO not easy. I think its sort of funny when you pray to the lord to help you with a particular aspect in your life, how he REALLY tests you on it. Its like he is saying, "how bad do you want to be better?" I think I have done well with being classy and staying happy and positive, but its certainly no walk in the park, and I am far from perfect. Lately, when I have my naughty days, I think of Christ. I think of how he must have felt being beat up and spat upon by people he loved, and yet, he said nothing, but rather prayed for them. I challenged myself a few days ago to pray for those who have and continue to hurt me. I'll let you know how it goes. For now the words "pray for those that dispitefuly use you", and "love thy enemies" keeps repeating in my mind...

Pinky promise my next post will be happy and ...upbeat :)

Da Beach

As every year, we went to the family beach house in Holden. This year we got to take the Chaunce. He absolutely LOVED it! We have always known that he loves the water, but watching him swim in the ocean and pull out shells was one of the most adorable things I have ever seen. We had a ball eating crab every night, surfin' the waves with sting rays (except paranoid me), watching dolphins, and chasing the Chaunce on the beach. We even changed things up this year and hit up Myrtle Beach where my family used to vacation. Turns out the only thing goods about Myrtle Beach anymore are all the awesome Putt putt courses. As always, it was a marvelous week at the beach!













Until next year Holden(or until we find a time to sneak in :)

Arrivederci Italia!

Okay...NOW I can get back to the trip. We took the last week and drove from Milan down to Roma where we flew out.Driving was great because we were able to view the country side.We saw some B.E.A.Utiful sites. We even saw a small city up on a hill and took a detour up into it. We drove between the buildings just like we were in the movies. I felt really cool ;) We made other pit stops in Venice and Florence before made it to the Amalfi Coast. We scootered along the coast which was personally my FAVORITE thing we did while in Italy. I can't even begin to describe how magnificent it was. I also can't believe we managed to live through it. We ended in Roma and spent 3 days saying good my to my favorite place in Italy...Here are some pics of our great trip.























I was so grateful I got to share this with my dad. We made such wonderful memories while in Italy and I am beyond thankful that GB and I were able to experience life abroad before the tiny humans come along.

Pompeii

I really should be better at blogging. I have yet to blog about our last week in Italy and what we have been up to since we have been home. My dad and step mom came out for my dads work and got to travel Italy with us for a week. We had a really good time, but its always a blast with my dad. We went to a few cities, but this city deserves its own post.

Pompeii!
This place was incredible. It blew my mind and I absolutely loved it. For those of you who don't know what Pompeii is, it is a city by Mt. Vesuvius. When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD the ash spread down to this wicked city and smothered everyone to death. The ash preserved all of the city and remains into casts. These casts have now been dug up and preserved. Being that I am extremely passionate about anthropology, I was in heaven.
Once we passed the Colosseum, we entered into the main city, where a sweet man who worked there gave us a personal tour. We learned all kinds of cool history. He even took us to a closed of section that was being excavated and we were able to view the remains of a HORSE!!!! Oh bless you sweet man, bless you. This was an amazing day!!!!



These poor 3 families died while trying to escape their vineyard.



Around the City



This is where they keep all the artifacts that have yet to place. I would cut off my right arm to be able to go through all this stuff!



If you can't tell, I LOVED this place!!!