Tyler, Megan, Noah, Kennedee, & Lauren: 2014

I can't even tell you how grateful I am for summertime. I loved being home with my little munchkin and getting to spend some time doing things that I normally don't get to do during the school year. Although this summer was a little bit different. School finally got out on May 30th this year, but just because that means we are done with kids doesn't mean the teachers are done. Of course not. So starting June 2, we had a district training at one of the bigger high schools, June 3rd we had another training which was luckily just at our school, and then June 4th and 5th I met with my team. We are given 4 paid days during the summer to meet as a team and collaborate on things for the following year. I also met with my team the 23rd and 24th of June, and also the 5th of August. We met so many times that it kind of took away that summer appeal. But I suppose that the time that they give us to plan is important and helps us be prepared for the next year.

Aside from schools trainings and meetings, our family also traveled a lot this summer to visit family. We were able to visit all three of our families which was awesome, but it also made the summer fly by so quickly.

At the very beginning of the summer, we decided to buy bikes from Costco, including a trailer for Noah so that we could go on family bike rides. Noah loved his helmet so much that he wore it all around the house and even to eat in. We truly loved those bikes this summer. We rode to the park with our bikes, we rode to the rec center, and really anywhere that we would desire to go in Provo, we could get to on our bikes. We even went on a really nice 8 mile bike ride with Tyler's dad all the way down the Provo river trail one morning. Then one, very sad morning, Tyler walked outside, came back inside and said, "Megan, your bike is not where it was." Yes, my bike was stolen 2 months after we bought it. I didn't report it, we just went and got a new one. It really was my fault for not locking it up, but I guess it was because I was beginning to feel so trustworthy of our neighborhood...not anymore. But my new bike is awesome, and I haven't actually even used it very much because we were gone so much this summer. But it will be a great bike for future use.

We also got new sod this summer in our backyard. It was an awesome thing. I really wanted to have a place for Noah to play in the backyard, where we wouldn't have to worry about him escaping. We loved our grass this summer and really were able to use our backyard and didn't have to worry about Noah getting so dirty. I love grass. I also feel like we used our backyard a lot more than we ever have, especially eating dinner out on our deck. It was wonderful.

For Noah's birthday this year, we decided to get him some early birthday presents to be able to play with in our backyard. We got a trampoline, a slide, and near the end of the summer, we ended up getting an awesome 10 ft. long, 2 ft. deep swimming pool. It was so fun to have so many toys in our backyard. If we didn't want to go anywhere, we could just go out in our backyard and play. What a beautiful thing. We still had to go to the park to use the swings though. Maybe in the future we will get a swing set of our own.

One of Noah's favorite things this summer was eating popsicles, or he calls them "poples". I really think that he thinks there are five food groups. "Poples" (popsicles), "cokies" (cookies), "see lo lo" (cereal), "whoa get" (yogurt), and "eat balls and becky" (meat balls and spaghetti). If he could eat all of those things for every meal, he would be the happiest camper in the world. Just some other things that he says that I love are, peas (please), when he asks for something. He used to say hakes (thanks) after we would give him something, but now he says hank you (thank you) pretty well. He loves to laugh really hard at everything, and it's more of an evil, outbursty kind of laugh. So funny. He loves playing on the pad (iPad), because he loves "Mickey Mouse House" and "George" (curious george). He still really loves baths and really emphasizes the "th" on bath when he says it. His enunciation of all words is super impressive to me compared to other kids his age (if we are comparing, haha). He impresses me all the time with his language development and he picks words up here and there and can correlate the words that he is saying to what he actually sees or is talking about. He's a genius, that's all there is to it. He has me convinced anyways.

The first weekend in June we decided to hike the Y in Provo again since we hadn't done it since we got engaged. I was also determined to carry Noah the entire way in the hiking backpack that we got for the summer, and I accomplished my goal, even if I did feel like I was going to go into cardiac arrest at any point during the hike. I was not in shape for the hike, and I really don't know what is so appealing about hiking. I mostly just felt like I did 3 years ago when Tyler dragged me up the mountain for the proposal:exhausted, sweaty, and wondering why people do this for enjoyment. I suppose I accomplished a goal though, so that was fun.

On June 9th, I flew out with my grandma and Noah to go visit my mom in Colorado. I haven't been to my mom's house since I was in college, so it was so nice to be able to go spend some time with her in Colorado and not make her travel to see me. We also got to spend some great time with my brother Sean, my nephew Seanlee, and my little sister Emiliana. We swam, played outside in the backyard, went to the city park rides, went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, and just visited. My little sister was a lifeguard this year at the city park pool, and so we went to swim at her pool a few times. It was such a nice week.

June 25th, we headed back to Colorado, Steamboat Springs, to spend a week with my dad's side of the family for our every other year family reunion with the Bluemel's. We went hiking, swimming, played tennis and pickle ball, played card games, ate yummy food, and enjoyed visiting with family that we hadn't seen for a while. Noah's favorite part of swimming was backing all the way back the length of the big swimming pool against the shed wall, and running all the way to the kiddie. swimming pool. The funny part though was as soon as he would get to the edge of the kiddie swimming pool, he would stop and only let his feet get wet. He made it seem though like he was going to dive right in once he got there. It was really funny.

We were able to spend our anniversary, July 2nd, at home this year for the first time (our 1st anniversary we were in Bear Lake with my dad's side of the family, and last year we were in San Diego with my Mom, Rudy, and Emiliana) which have been so fun, but it was nice this year to just be together. We had Tyler's mom babysit Noah and we went and played pickle ball, we went swimming at the Provo Rec Center, and we went and had dinner at Goodwood BBQ, one of our favorite places to eat! It was wonderful spending the day with my honey buns, and I still love him more than ever.

My mom came to spend the 4th of July with us, which was so fun. She brought Seanlee with her, and he and Noah got to get to know each other even more while he was here. I kind of think that Seanlee thinks Noah is a little bit annoying, but I can guarantee that Noah feels the same about him. But most of all they love each other. It was wonderful for them to be able to spend so much time together this summer. They had never met before I went to visit my mom other than through FaceTime, but playing together was a whole other story. Seanlee was so good to Noah and so patient with him. He is a good cousin. While my mom was here, we played in the backyard, relaxed, and went swimming at the Provo rec center. We kind of love that place. The boys had a blast and my mom and I were able to have a really nice visit.

Our trip to Bear Lake with Tyler's family was next starting the 8th of July. My mom was actually invited by Tyler's parents to come with us which was wonderful of them to offer. It was so nice to be able to spend more time with my mom because I rarely get to see her other than during the summertime. We had a wonderful time in Bear Lake. We enjoy spending time with Tyler's family pretty regularly when we are not on vacation, but everybody is usually busy with their own things, so it is nice to be on vacation with them because everybody kind of slows down and actually gets to visit and things. We did some really fun things in Bear Lake like renting jet skis, and playing tennis, and eating yummy food, and going to the beach. We also had some unfortunate things happen while at Bear Lake that I will only mention briefly because I don't really want to dwell on them, but I think it is worth mentioning just for the record. We found out on June 18th (the same day that we traded in my beautiful Chevy Cobalt for our new 2014 navy blue Chevy Equinox) that we were expecting again, but while at Bear Lake at only 8 weeks, I miscarried on July 9th. It was a really sad day, because we were really looking forward to growing our small family by one more, but apparently the timing was not right. It will happen when it is supposed to happen though, and we will keep our attitudes positive, because Heavenly Father knows what is best for our family, and so we just need to trust in His plan, and everything will work out. As for the second thing that happened, I lost my wedding ring. I would always take it off in our room if we were going swimming so that I wouldn't accidentally lose it in the lake, and I remember Noah playing with it one time, but I was sure that I had taken it away from him. But as we were packing up to leave on the 13th, I realized that I didn't have it on, and it wasn't anywhere to be found. It was only when we got home, after drinking almost the rest of the strawberry lemonade left in the box in our fridge, that Tyler was taking out the empty lemonade box, and heard something slide across the box, looked in and there was my ring. We had already ordered a replacement ring, which I love, so we ended up keeping both of them, and laughing that we found the ring in such an interesting place. We think that Noah did get ahold of my ring, and put it in the box in Bear Lake to "keep it safe." So funny.

The rest of July we were able to enjoy spending time at home, relaxing and enjoying our house and our backyard. We even got to go to Lagoon, just Tyler and I, on July 23rd. That's the first time we have been to Lagoon for like 3 years! It was amazing. Our final family vacation was with my mom's family in Breckenridge, Colorado. My mom has a time share there, and planned our vacation for the 8th through the 15th. What she didn't realize, or that was the only time that she could schedule the timeshare, but my first day of work was the 13th, so we ended up only being able to stay in Breckenridge until the 12th. We still had a great time though in a really beautiful place. We were able to go swimming almost everyday, we walked up and down the main street of Breckenride, we rode the free gondola up to a different time share to use their outdoor heated swimming pool, got an amazing pedicure with just the girls, and really just enjoyed visiting with family. Tyler even convinced us one night to stay up until midnight to eat hamburgers, which my mom said that she hasn't done for 20 years. My mom found a new career, being the zombie model on the price is right for the Halloween episode. I think my mother has finally lost ALL of her marbles. She is crazy. But I suppose that is what makes her so hilarious and fun.

We were happy when our total of 31 hours of being in the car this summer ended. We really love being home, and I am excited to have started school. I love having a routine and a schedule, and being at such an awesome school with awesome coworkers. It's hard being away from Noah during the day, but luckily this year I am working fewer hours than I was last year, so I am not away from him as long. I still feel like I have a good chunk of the afternoon to spend with him, even though the past two days of school have nearly killed me. Isn't the beginning of a new school year the best? It seems though that I am really going to enjoy my students this year. They are already quickly catching on to our routine and rules, and compared to the 28 I had last year, 20 has been awesome so far! I look forward to getting to know them, and I feel like year 5 of teaching is going to be a lucky one!

One more exciting thing, and then I will end my novel. We got new cabinets in our kitchen! They are beautiful! We only replaced our upper cabinets because we really love our granite countertops, but there were only a few upper cabinets above our sink. We extended them by adding a corner cabinet, and two new cabinets on either side of the window in our kitchen, along with a brand new pantry! I am so excited to have more space, and also to have gotten our microwave off of the counter with a gorgeous, custom made microwave shelf! We were so fortunate to have Tyler's cousin design our cabinets and install them for a really great deal. It will be a great addition to our already awesome kitchen, and will be even more appealing to a buyer when we are ready to sell our house (which won't be happening any time soon).

We are grateful for the things that are going on in our lives at this point in time, grateful for our families who are so willing to love and support us, and we are especially grateful for one another. We love our almost 2 year old and how much he is learning and growing, and are excited for what's happening in the present and for what will happen in the future. I am also grateful for having enough patience to finally update this silly blog, even if it is just for me to get my thoughts out. But if anybody does still read this thing, I hope you enjoy hearing what's going on in our lives right now. Now enjoy some pictures.