Getting To Know You

If you are reading this you are automatically selected to answer all of these questions and post them on your blog so I can get to know you:) Have fun getting to know me!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00am
2. Diamonds or pearls? Both

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Indiana Jones
4. Your favorite TV show? The office
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Whole grain cereal, or egg whites with wheat toast, or almonds with milk, or peanut butter with a banana, but this morning I had a shake:)

6. What is your middle name? Michelle

7. What food do you dislike? Pickles and licorice

8.What is your favorite CD at the moment? Leona Lewis, Spirit & One Republic, Apologize

9. What kind of car do you drive? Hyundai, Accent

10. Favorite sandwich? I'm not much of a sandwich person, but I can always do a PB&J on wheat bread with 100% pure and natural peanut butter and jam

11. Who you despise? People that have no compassion

12. Favorite item of clothing? My black workout pants. Whenever I have them on I am doing something good for my body (ie, running, dancing, pilates, etc)

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Tuscany, Paris, England, (Most of Europe), Scotland, Netherlands, Australia, Machu Picchu in Peru, The Great Wall of China, Argentina, the Caribbean Islands...etc. Pretty much I want to see the world:)

14. Are you an organized person? YES!!!!!!!!! I live by my calendar

15. Where would you retire to? I don't know...Maybe when I come to that point I will have a better idea, as for now I'm not ready to end up anywhere. But, I have to say I would really like to be by my family.

17. What are you going to do when you finish this? Leave for Island Park for a weekend fishing trip with Ashton and our friends.

18. Furthest place you are sending this? I am posting it on my blog, so anywhere really.

19. Person you expect to post first? Tough one?

20. When is your birthday? August 26th

21. Morning person or a night person? Both Actually...it really takes away from my sleep:(

23. Pets? Ashton and I love our fish:) But someday we would like a big dog for the family.

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Ashton and I just got back from Mexico...and sometime this next year we might be going to New York or Florida or someplace fun:)

25. What did you want to be when you were little? A singer...still workin' at it:)

27. What is your favorite flower? My absolute hands down fav are Tulips, and not just because the are gorgeous. In order for Tulips to bloom they have to be planted in the fall and go through a freeze. I always compared that to life and our trials:) I know I am corny.

28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? When Ashton Graduates, next May:) Yippee!!!

29. What are you listening to right now? Nada

30. What was the last thing you ate? Egg whites on a half a piece of wheat bread

32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple and Fuschia

33. How is the weather right now? Hot and dry

34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Cori

35. What is you favorite soft drink? I actually don't drink soda and haven't since my Sophomore year in high school...but when I did...Cream Soda-LOVED IT!!!!!

36. Favorite restaurant? Olive Garden

37. Hair color? Brown

38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie

39. Summer or Winter? At the end of Summer, Winter, and the end of Winter, Summer!!!

41. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

43. Do you want your friends to do this too? Yes, Yes, Yes!!!

44. When was the last time you cried? A couple of weeks ago when someone was telling me something really sad.

45. What is under your bed? Ashton's instruments:)

46. What did you do last night? Cleaned mom and dad's house (Ashton helped), played with Cori and her cute babies, and went to a going away party for our friends who are moving to Arizona. Sad

48. Salty or sweet? You can't have one without the other really. For instance, at the movies you have to get Popcorn (salty) with Peanut M'M's/ Reeses Pieces (sweet)

49. How many keys on your key ring? 6 (too many)

50. How many years at your current job? Almost six months

52. Do you make friends easily? I try to and think I do:)

53. How many people will you send this to? Probably a lot...I think I will post it on my blog:)

54. How many will respond or post on their blog? Not Sure

55. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Of course, that is what makes it so fun!!!

The Adventures of Ashton and Meghan in Cancun, Mexico

Sorry it has taken me so long to share with you all about mine and Ashton's amazing trip back to Mexico. I have been a little swamped at work (after missing a week and have been trying to catch up:) Well here it is.

Saturday: As soon as we got off the plain I could feel the humidity hit my skin like a wall...it actually felt really good, and I didn't start sweating right away:) After we picked up our bags we headed out of the baggage claim area and instantly people were trying to sell us their trips, their taxies, and whatever else they were offering. Luckily our shuttle was waiting for us, so we didn't get too distracted. We spent most of Saturday getting settled in at the resort, eating dinner, and picking up our rental car. Saturday night we all headed down to the pool to enjoy the amazingly refreshing water. It was a really relaxing day.

Sunday: Ashton and I got up a little earlier and got ourselves ready for church. We ended up finding a ward that met in the heart of Cancun just a couple of blocks from a real Mexican mall. And I say real, because it wasn't a mall for tourists. But I'll talk about that more in detail in a minute. Ashton and I headed into the church and the rest of our party (Ashton's parents and their friends) went to the mall. After sacrament we met a really cool couple, the husband worked for a hotel chain and he met his wife on one of the islands. She related her conversion story to us in Sunday School, here is my condensed version of her story. As a little girl her non practicing Catholic mother would let her go to the LDS church with her neighbor friends but would never allow her to be baptized, regardless of how much she loved the church. As she got older she never really had the desire to drink, smoke, behave in an unchaste way with men, or do anything that might question her virtue. She said that deep down she always new that those things were wrong and so never had the desire to do them. In her teen years she, her brother and her mother moved to a small island that only had a small branch that met in a house that she was unable to contact, so she went on with life, still living virtuous. When she got a little older she met her husband, who at the time was working for a hotel on that island. He asked her if she wanted to go to church with him on Sunday. She agreed, thinking it would be a Catholic church...little did she know that their was a new LDS church and that this guy (her future husband) was an LDS return missionary. That morning as they walked through the doors of the church, she was startled to see the three men from her dream the night before in a picture hanging on the wall (they were the prophet, and his first and second councilors). After discovering who they were she felt the spirit so strongly and decided that it was time for her to be baptized (now she was old enough to be baptized without her mothers consent). She asked her future husband right then and their if she could take the missionary discussions and be baptized...and the rest is history.
It was an amazing story and made everyones hair stand up. After the class we were taking in the hall when we ran into a guy who literally looked as though he had just gotten beat up. He had a big black eye, his pants and shirt were dirty and untucked, and I think he was missing a soc or two. Ashton walked right up to him and started talking to him. He was nice and friendly and when asked about his shiner, said that it was too dangerous for us to know (ps he was kidding). After a couple of minutes we discovered that, while he was nice and had a sense of humor, he was just a little bit crazy. We came to this conclusion after he started say that he has had personal revelation that their is going to be a war for water in Mexico between the hotels and the people. First of all, has anyone seen how lush and green the jungles are in Mexico not to mention their are ton's of underground rivers still going strong; and second, most of the Hotels make their own water through revers osmosis. We were nice to him though, and just kind of nodded to his claims in wonderment with smiles on our faces. After church we headed to the mall to meet up with the rest of our group. It was a run down building that was hot, sticky, smelly (both sewer and exhaust), and sold amazingly cheap jewelry. An absolute fabulous necklace with earrings only 18 pesos. Translation, a buck eighty. Awesome, I am pretty sure I saw a similar necklace at Vanity for $15 US dollars.
After shopping their, hitting up the touristy flea markets, and eating at an awesome restaurant we headed back to the resort to get ready for some karaoke. Mike and Charlotte insisted that I entertain them. I wasn't complaining though, it was really a fun night. We were the only party to break a glass and also the only party void of alcohol.

Monday: We got up early and drove to Tulum. It was gorgeous and hotter than heck. I was really happy that Tulum had an amazing beach with refreshingly blue water that we were able to cool off in.

A view of the park from the entrance.

Family Shot

Another gorgeous view

Ashton and I enjoying the shade...really!
The sting ray that we both stepped on by accident. Yeah, scary. We are just lucky we didn't get stung

Tuesday: We headed to the jungle for an amazing Selvatica (?), canopy tour. Sadly upon arrival our cameras battery decided to die. But we did buy the video and bought a couple of the pictures that they provided. If you would like some pictures of the tour, check out Cori's blog, because the went on the same one, just a week earlier.
Anyways, the tour included and 2 mile tip line from between 12 different trees, a mile bike ride through the jungle to a cenote (by the way the coolest thing ever and so refreshing) that also had a zip line that dropped you into the water (a little scary but a real rush) and then a very tasty Mexican lunch. After the Tour Ashton and I hit the beach at our resort. It was so much fun. We were in the water four hours, in fact when we got out my lips were so pruned that I couldn't even feel them. That night we ate at a restaurant called captain Willies, a little pricy, but the restaurant literally hangs over the ocean. PS the food is delicious.

Wednesday: Wednesday was our free day. Ashton and I played on the beach, swam in the pool, painted some Mexican style pottery (a vase and an apple piggy bank) and then the big storm decided to roll in. It was actually kind of fun. Thunder, lightning, and rain everywhere. At one point during the downpour Mike opened the sliding door to the balcony and within seconds was drenched. Talk about tropical storm. But it was overall a perfect day.

Thursday: Because of the stormy weather we decided to visit Chichen Itza on Thrusday hoping that cloud cover would help with the unbearable heat. It did, a little. We found out ahead of time that Chichen Itza had a cenote the public were allowed to swim in, so Ashton and I resulted to our swim suits and cover ups for our dress attire. It also helped with the heat.

Cutest taxi driver I have ever seen:) Ashton's parents insisted that he drive the entire time, but he liked it and we got everywhere much faster.
Me in the car
I wasn't kidding when I said the jungle was lush and full of water. They literally have to use a huge machine as big as a garbage truck to cut the jungle back from the road. Not to mention they also have little fences too.
In front of the big pyramid. Sorry we had no control of how well the picture was taken(the top of the pyramid was cut off)
Ashton standing in front of the city of warriors. (Geologist say that it is supposedly tied to the two thousand stripling warriors because the markings on the pillars represent warriors and their are two thousand)
I think it is the building were they practiced astrology and various other sciences...yeah that's what it was:)

Just as we were finishing up with the ruins the storm began it's downpour, which was a good thing because Firl, a member of our party, was just about to go into heat stroke. After making it back to our car we headed to a town called Villodolid (sp?) where we ate dinner in this amazing restaurant. It was huge, beautiful, basically only covered on the top and on the sides replacing walls were beautiful pillars. I order hot chocolate(by the way it was real hot chocolate with coco and oiled cinnamon) and fajitas. It was truly amazing to be sitting their enjoying our meal with the storm all around us and occasionally spraying us with water. Outside of the restaurant was, what seemed to be, a dance floor creatively tiled. I'm guessing for all of the fun Mexican parties. PS that night we did Karaoke again, and the same scenario happened again. We were the only non drinking party and also the only ones to break a glass.

Friday: We got up early and headed to Excaret. I would highly recommend that you make that an important stop if ever in Mexico. It's a huge park with: a half a dozen beaches perfect for snorkeling and scuba diving, swimming with dolphins, rivers that you float through that run under caves and caverns, a huge butterfly observatory, a huge fish aquarium (with all kinds of creatures, including sharks and turtles), alligators or crocodiles (I can never remember:), caged (kind of) animals lining all of the trails, restaurants, blow holes, palm trees with hammocks, and if that isn't enough an amazing show at the end of the night in an enormous theater/arena. Very, very worth your time and money.

Me standing in front of a huge waterfall inside the butterfly observatory.
Peter Pan
Baby turtles sleeping. I guess they put their hands on their backs like this when they sleep, cute, cute, cute:)

We were walking through the park and saw a big rock hanging on a chain from a tree. Se stopped to read it and got a kick out of it...enjoy

The sound of drums fills the park at around 7pm when they start ushering people to the theater. On the way in the path is sporatically lined with people dressed in Mayan and Toltec character.

Randome:

Just as we were leaving the park I got to see a baby chicken hatch. It was sooooooo cool...I almost started crying:)

Saturday: We enjoyed the rest of the hotel as we waited for our shuttle to come and pick us up. It was a smooth plain ride home and once in Utah stopped at a McDonalds and finally made it home by 11:00pm.

Ashton

& Meghan

Waiting for our shuttle and sad to leave Mexico

Life is what YOU make of it

Life is a conglomeration of choices, decide what you want and chose accordingly.
For example:

If you hate being late...get up a little earlier
If you hate losing your temper...then don't
If you hate being left behind...move a little faster
If you hate it when people drive slow in the fast lain...then never drive slow in the fast lane
If you hate feeling sooooo incredible busy all the time...every now and then scratch out the least important tasks from your day
If you don't like your saggy fanny...put on your running/dancing/Pilate's shoes more often
If you don't want to feel unprepared...then pull out your book and study till your brain hurts
If you don't want to forget a fun day with family...bring your camera
If you don't want the boat of life to pass you by...then jump on it, if needs be swim beside it, or build your own boat
If you feel unorganized...get a calendar or a day planner (has totally saved me)
If you feel insecure in front of an audience...make it a point to put yourself in front of one as often as possible
If you feel as though you never have time for yourself...make time for yourself (ps It is possible)
If you feel like you worry too much...then let it go
If you feel bad about something you did or said...then apologize and do whatever you have to to make it right
If you think you feel sorry for yourself too much...start feeling sorry for someone else.
If you think you know everything...sit in on a Differential Equations class
If you think you could do something better than someone else...try to do it
If you think you are losing all of your vocabulary from being out of school too long...read a book every month
If you want to run a marathon but think it's to hard and their is no way you could ever do it...do it anyways
If you want to walk the great wall of china...save up, buy a ticket to china, and walk the wall
If you want a stronger testimony...then read, pray, ponder, and practice
If you want to be more kind...then start think of others first
If you want to be more thoughtful...then leave hand picked flowers at your mothers door, or make your husband/wife their favorite breakfast
If you want to be happy...then smile and be happy

Summerfest

Last night Ashton and I skipped out on packing and instead took Hannah to Summerfest. It was so much fun and Hannah was a riot. My fav part of the entire night, and I am pretty sure Hannah's too, was the Polynesian show. She was dancing, cheering, and asking questions, but mostly just staring at the stage mesmerized. I will post some pictures of that later. Any ways later that night we all got milkshakes from McDonald's, and watched 101 Dalmatians. Hannah loved the movie but was so tired that she ended up falling asleep in my lap half way through (Ashton and I stayed up to finish the rest of the movie). After the movie, Ashton carried Hannah up to bed. I think all of us were pretty tuckered out by that time, because we had no trouble falling asleep. Thank goodness.

Leaving On Saturday

Okay, I thought I would wish everyone a farewell until June 21st. Ashton and I are heading off to Mexico tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn (well actually before the crack of dawn) and I don't think I will be able to use the Internet while I am their.

PS Cori and Craig: Hope you guys had sooooo much fun, and just to let you know Ashton and I had a blast with Hannah. Love you guys:)

Dance Baby Dance

So a couple of weekends ago Cori told me about this really cool dance workout video that she bought to keep her abs slim and her skill peak. I finally caved in and ordered Dance To Enhance and The Five Day Latin System-I have been missing dancing so terribly and feared that I would loose all of my skill if I didn't do something. I patiently awaited their arrival, and was sure to check the tracker everyday to see the snale speed travel of my two dvd's. Yesterday, I checked the arrival date which was supposed to be today, thursday, but a couple of hours later, when I was at the gym, I got a call from Ashton that a package had come for me. OK, not only is it wonderful to get things in the mail(excluding junk mail), but it is even better when it arrives a day early and surprises you!!! Any ways, I got up extra early this morning so I could give at least one of them a try before work and I absolutely loved it. I didn't realize how rusty I had gotten, but I am just glad that I am actually doing something about it now:) Thanks Cori!!!

Happy Birthday Tashi

Happy Birthday sis...hope your day is as special as you are:) We Love You!!!
Love, Meghan and Ashton Young

Everything Princess

It is so amazing to me how much I really love my nieces and nephews. Even though they aren't my babies, I sometimes feel like they are because I love them like they are. I would go anywhere, give up anything, and do whatever I needed to for them without even skipping a beat. This last weeked Hannah came and stayed with me and Ashton. We had so much fun with her... I almost didn't go to work on Monday because I wanted to keep her longer, but considering that Ashton and I are leaving on Saturday to spend a week in Mexico, I figured it wouldn't be the best thing to do. Here are some highlights of our fun weekend.

Just so you know everything was princess with Hannah; princess baths with bubbles, princess hair, princess breakfast, etc. I loved it!

Ashton and I picked her up on Friday night and started by taking her to the river for some fishing. Don't worry Cori, I didn't fish, I was attached to her at the hip. She loved it, and had so much fun. She even got to see a fish being gutted. Don't worry, we didn't force her to see it...she actually wanted to see it. At one point I asked her if she wanted me to pick her up and taker her away, she shook her head, said "no," and took a step closer. Wow I wish I had more of that in me when I was her age. She was so brave and curious and thought it was pretty neat.




I introduced her to cat's tail...she played with it the entire time. We even made some bracelets with them.Hannah wanted to see what her cat's tail felt like wet, so I dipped it in the water for her. She thought it was the coolest thing. Hannah, her wet cat's tail, and me.
Hannah and Uncle Ashton. She was asking him all sorts of questions about fishing, and he was laughing at all of her responses to his questions. At one point she asked about the worms on the end of the hook, and Ashton told her that the worms were food for the fish. Hannah replied, "Oh, so it is a restaurant for the fishies." We spent the next couple of minutes laughing. Ashton was so protective of her at the river. He wouldn't let her get with in four feet of the bank. He loves that little girl.

Every time we got in the car Hannah would ask for the radio to play her "Keep Breeding" song (AKA "Keep Breathing") and when it didn't come on she resulted to calling the radio, a "mean radio." Later that night, when Hannah and I were on our way to the store to get some ingredients to make cookies, the song finally came on. Hannah was so happy that after the song was over she started to call the radio station "nice radio." I was trying so hard to keep myself from laughing. We spent that night watching Cinderella II and making cookies. I have a cool little stool that I use in my kitchen. Hannah loved it and was so excited that it was just her size, so I let her sit on it at the coffee table in the family room as she had her cookies and milk and watched her movie.

Saturday morning I got up before everyone else and decorated the table "princess pretty" and made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for toppings, eggs, and OJ. I got Hannah and Ashton up and took them down stairs. I wish you all could have seen Hannah's face when she saw the table. I tried to get a picture of it but she turned her head just as the camera snapped. These are some other pictures of breakfast that morning.

PS. I have a little mermaid snow ball, Hannah loved it and carried it with her everywhere, you can see it sitting next to her arm on the table.
Hannah was so excited that I gave her a fancy big girl princess cup with her OJ. She did so well drinking it, and she only spilled once and just a little bit on her tummy. She loved the whipped cream, so I let her have a little extra on her waffles, but don't worry, I checked to make sure I wasn't feeding her straight sugar for breakfast.Yummy...yummy. (PS Sorry about my no-make-up face and bed hair)

After breakfast I came out of the bathroom to get Hannah ready for her princess bubble bath and Ashton was serenading Hannah, she was just soaking it all up. It was so cute, I had to take a picture.

When I asked Hannah, what we should do with her hair today she said that she wanted sleeping beauty hair. All of you know sleeping beauty wears her hair with gorgeous curls that could only be achieved with hot rollers. So Hannah and I both put hot rollers in our hair, and she was so excited to be twins with me.
When I got out the camera to take a picture of her with her hot rollers still in, she ran over to our bench in the computer room, laid down on it, and whipped out a smile.
Here is Hannah with her Sleeping Beauty curls. She loved them.

This is probably my favorite picture of Hannah, look how piercingly blue her eyes are!!! She looks like a little angel.


After we were all ready for the day, Ashton and I took Hannah to the farmers market that they hold every Saturday at the park. Ashton and I bought some 100% natural and organic Honey. Wow it was amazingly yummy, and ps you can totally taste the difference. Uncle Ashton bought Hannah a pretty purple little girl bracelet that she picked out herself, she loves the color purple.
Hannah running on the grass all prettied up:)

Sunday we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house and aunt Tashi hooked up the "Keep Breathing" song to the Bose. I started singing to Hannah, holding a spoon as a microphone. She looked up at me and said, "Aunt Meghan, can I have a microphone too?" I pulled a spoon out of the drawer and we sang to song together. Sorry about the fuzzy pictures, Hannah was too involved singing to pose.
Hannah sing wither her dog.
Hannah would like to dedicate this song to all of the three year olds in the valley...Rock on sistas!!!

Later that night I started singing "Stop and Stair" while helping Hannah with in the bathroom, she looked up at me with big excited eyes and a smile on her face and said..."That's my daddy's song!" We sang the rest of the song together for Craig.

Sunday night we got home from mom and dads and Ashton pulled back to coffee table and we laid down a bunch of blankets and pillows and watched Cars with pop corn and orange juice. In the morning Hannah and Ashton had eggs and toast for breakfast and then we both kissed Ashton goodbye as he left for school. I got the dishes done, gave Hannah a bath, cleaned the rooms up, and when I was braiding her hair into two braids she asked me "Aunt Meghan, which princess has this hair?" I sat for a moment caught off guard and then said "Princess Pocahontas." She crinkled her eyebrows in disbelief and said "no sleeping beauty." I laughed to myself. We spent the rest of the morning feeding the fish and playing on my new digital piano.

It was so fun having Hannah, I have felt a little homesick for her today (if you can't tell), and feel kind of like I lost my little buddy. I guess this means that I will have to do weekends with Hannah more often.

Better late than never

I know this is from a while ago...But I had to show everyone. I was really proud of myself. This is what I made all of the mothers in the family for mothers day. I baked the cake and cupcakes the night before and then on mother's day morning I got up really early and started decorating.

PS Thanks Emily for the cake decorating tricks.

Another Twilight Post

This is a clip from the movie that was played at the MTV Pre-Awards Show...It gave be goosebumps when Edward looks at Bella---yah, I know, I am pathetic, but at least I don't stand alone in my obsession. Here it is Clip from Twilight

Ashton

Ashton, I just wanted you, and everyone else who looks at this blog I guess, to know how much I love you. You work so hard in quite ways, I hope you know that they don't go unnoticed by me. I love and appreciate everything you are and everything you do. I love that I can still look at you at just about any random time and feel as giddy, silly, embarrassed, and corny as little school girl. Thank you for giving me your kisses, your hugs, your jokes, your laughs, your patients, your forgiveness, your love, and for cutting me slack, it means so much to me. I love you, more than words.
(PS sorry about the picture, I was having a hard time trying to figure some of the effects out, so I just posted it the way it is)