Confession of a Lame Blogger

I really shouldn't be blogging right now. I have so much homework to do and laundry to fold. I don't know why I am. It seems like I go weeks without even looking at this thing and then I have a weekend where I am on it ALL THE TIME. The inconsistency is probably why hardly anyone reads this any more. Heck, I probably wouldn't read this blog anymore either.

The truth is, the last six months of my life have been the hardest few months I have ever experienced. A combination of health problems and events out of my control have really caused me a lot of anguish. I was glad to see 2010 go. No, glad doesn't adequately describe it. I was ECSTATIC to see 2010 end.

So, I guess the reason I haven't been very consistent with blogging is because I didn't have many happy things to say and I don't want this blog to be a whine fest. Your welcome.

Life is full of ups and downs. This life is a time to grow and that means hurting sometimes. We can't pretend that away. Despite the fact that life has been the pits for the last few months, I have to say, I really have grown. I have felt the healing power of my Heavenly Father and have seen direct blessing from Heaven. I have become even closer to my spouse and found that he loves me even though I am not perfect and that makes me joyous. I have found that even though he isn't perfect, I love him more everyday and that makes me giddy. I have been blessed by the love and support of loving parents. Their wisdom, care, and love for me have overwhelmed me with gratitude.

(Just one example of my parents' awesomeness. I was surprised to get this amazing fruit basket in the mail on an especially hard day. How did my Mother know that it was just the expression of love I needed to help me get through?)

Maybe, most surprisingly, I have found that I have a strength in myself that I didn't recognize before. I have learned that I can be strong even when I feel so very weak. That recognition has filled me with confidence and self worth that I haven't had before and I think that's pretty cool.

So, I am not apologizing for having a lame blog. It is what it is. But, I hope you won't give up on me. Please be patient with me and this lame blog because the truth is, I need good friends like you.

Love is in the Air

One thing I LOVE about being married (besides being able to spend the rest of my life with my handsome husband, of course) is that I have my own house. Now don't get me wrong, I've had some AMAZING roommates over the years. In fact, most of them I consider my dearest friends. However, there is just something WONDERFUL about having your own place that you can make yours. Since we've been married, I've been way more into home decor than ever before. I love that I can make my house mine. That also means that I get into holidays way more than I ever used to. So, I decided today that I needed our little apartment to be "Valentined." Since we are on a budget, I decided it had to be cheap but awesome. So, I got some printables from the lovely ladies at the blogs below, found some old frames that I had lying around, bought some Valentine letter blocks for $1, and whoala! My house is in the full Valentine spirit!

Find the Keep Calm and Kiss On printable HERE

Find the All You Need Is Love printable HERE

Find the Valentine Subway Art printable HERE

Find the Dr Seuss printable HERE

I love that I have a big window sill to decorate. I have now fallen in love with printables. And I LOVE that I get so spend my Valentine's day with my favorite guy.

The Holidays

  The Holiday/Finals season got away with me and I have failed to blog about our WONDERFUL holiday! We were able to go back to Oregon for a few days and visit our family. I CANNOT tell you how much I needed to go home. My parents really are my best friends and I just needed to spend time talking and laughing with them. It was so rejuvenating!  

Joe and I were able to participate in all the Harris and Flager Christmas traditions. The annual Harris candle-light dinner was nothing short of amazing. Here's a picture of my parents carving the duck we had. 

We played lots of Ping-Pong with the Flagers and just relished every moment. It was a great Christmas!

We had to come home on the 26th because Joe had to work on Monday. :( So, I worked on a paper I had to write all week. Our 1st Anniversary was on December 29th and Mother Nature celebrated it as she celebrated our wedding a year before--with TONS of snow in Utah. It even snowed in Oregon too. I wonder if snow on our anniversary will be a yearly occurrence.

To celebrate, we at the top of our wedding cake. Some of you may think that is weird, but it is something my family has always done. You freeze the top layer of the wedding cake and then eat it on your first anniversary. Joe could NOT wait to have it. It was so yummy at our wedding.

It reminds me of a marshmallow.

All the black stenciling came off with the foil, so it looked grey. But, I still love the flowers.

It was Cookies n' Cream flavored cake with Cookies n' Cream flavored icing in the layers. YUM!

So, it wasn't as good a year later. (That wasn't really a surprise.) It was still pretty good, but just a bit dry for our taste. But it was fun anyway. I LOVED my wedding cake and it was great to relive how wonderful our wedding was.

Then on the weekend, we REALLY celebrated our anniversary and the New Year. My wonderful parents reserved an ADORABLE room at The Inn on the Hill bed and breakfast in Salt Lake City. we got to stay for two nights and it was a PERFECT weekend.

First of all, the room had an amazing view.

Then, on New Year's Eve we had quite the fun and romantic evening. We started with dinner at The Roof restaurant which is across from Temple Square. The food was SO YUMMY and the view from our table of the Salt Lake Temple was simply stunning.

Since it was New Year's Eve, they gave us hats and noise makers. Joe looked like a member of the Rat Pack in in his hat (so handsome!).

Then we went to see Savior of the World at the Conference Center. What a wonderful show! The actors were SO talented and the music was amazing! It was great to start the new year with our thoughts on the Savior. Before we headed back to the hotel, we enjoyed some of the activities that were around Temple Square, including a presentation of Polynesian dancers. It was so fun!

At midnight they set fireworks off at Temple Square and we could see them from our hotel room. I can't think of a more perfect way to start a new year!

Now, the vacation is over and reality has set in. I've already completed one week of school and Joe is back to work and starts classes tomorrow. We are grateful for all the Lord has blessed us with in 2010 and hoping for a wonderful 2011.

Looking Forward to 2011

• Draw Closer to God
  • Personally
    • Personal prayer morning and night
      • Don't wait until too tired to pray
        
    • Personal scripture study
      • Start the day off right
        
  • As a Family
    • Family prayer daily
      
    • Family scripture study daily
      
    • Family Home Evening Weekly
      • Tuesday night preferable
        
      • Plan lessons on Sunday
        
    • Church attendance weekly
      
    • Temple attendance monthly
      
• Strengthen Marriage
  
  • Let Joe make his own choices
    
  • FORGIVE
    
  • Date Night once a week
    
  • Family dinner 5 nights a week
    
  • Show acts of kindness daily
    
  • Be intimate often
    
• Lose Weight
  
  • Weight Watchers for at least 3 months
    • Track food
      
    • Weekly weigh in
      
    • Eat healthy
      • More fruits and veggies
        
      • Lean meats
        
      • Whole wheat carbs
        
    • Drink 64 oz. water daily
      
    • Treats moderately (within the weekly allowance)
      
• Improve Academically
  
  • Be at school at 8AM Monday –Friday
    
  • Stay until 5PM Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
    
  • Stay until 8PM Monday and Wednesday
    
  • Stay on top of reading
    • Schedule homework in Google Calendar
      
    • Do all reading the night before the class
      
  • Keep current outlines
    • Outline every Friday
      
    • DO NOT PROCRASTINATE
      
  • Get help
    • Ask questions and make sure to understand concepts on Friday
      
  • Memorize Weekly
    • Memorize what was outlined the week before throughout the week
      
    • Review outlines on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
      
• Be More Financially Responsible
  
• Make a budget with Joe
  
• STICK to BUDGET
  
• Make dinner 5 times weekly
  • E-Mealz
    
  • Do grocery shopping on Saturday mornings
    
• Eat Out less
  • Bring lunch to school
    
  • Stick to eat out budget
    
• PAY TITHING AND FAST OFFERING

Tis The Season . . .

. . . to freak out. It's that time of year again. No, I'm not talking about Christmas, although that may be happening too. No, I'm talking about FINALS. That dreaded time of year when I am faced with a brutal understanding of just how much I DIDN'T learn this semester. Ugh. Well, at least I have a nice desk to study at, comfy PJs, a space heater to keep my toesies warm, and a coco motion that makes the PERFECT cup of hot chocolate to keep me going. Oh, and I have 2 cases of Diet Coke. They are already almost half gone. But hey, I only drink them during finals, so I am allowed. 

Also, I wrapped, packaged, and sent all my Christmas packages today. Yay me! They went to New York, New York; Phoenix, AZ; and Berlin, Germany. I hope they bring my brothers and brother-in-law some smiles. 

Oh, and my husband has been wincing in pain all weekend from a toothache. Poor guy. I had to take care of him, but I don't mind. I love him, so it's OK. He's at the dentist right now. Thank heavens for good friends that are dental hygienists and so they can get him a last minute appointment on a Monday morning!

Well, that's it for me. Time to get back to freaking out, oh, I mean studying. 

Here's a picture of our Christmas decorations. I love our little tree. Did you know I collect nativities? I just love them. Joe had to point out that we have seven baby Jesus-es in our living room. Isn't that just great?!

Thanksgiving 2010

 The Lord has truly blessed me this year. Here are a few things for which I am grateful:

A loving Heavenly Father that never abandons me.

A Savior who died for me.

A testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

A handsome husband that loves me in spite of my many faults.

Caring and supportive parents who taught me correct principles and gave me opportunities to grow. 

Fun and intelligent siblings that have made ever family vacation an adventure.

The opportunity to get a legal education at a great school.

A healthy body and mind.

This beautiful Earth in which we live.

Isn't it a wonderful time to be alive? I feel so very blessed.

For Thanksgiving, Joe and I, along with my pal Valorie, headed up to Syracuse, UT to spend the time with my Uncle Jared and his family. We had a wonderful dinner with all the fixings! Their five kids were as cute as ever and it was great to spend time with them and catch up. Joe got to watch a football game with the boys and Val and I played on Christine's iPad and watched the silliest Christmas movie. It was great!

I was in charge of making the pies. I think I went a bit overboard. I had to make 2 pumpkin pies, and I wanted to make a caramel apple pie that I had seen my sister, Allie make. Well, I cut up enough apples for 2 pies, so that is what we got! I have to say, the apple pie was divine!

Here are the apple pies right before I put them in the oven. This is my first lattice top and I think it turned out OK. You can find the recipe here. The only modification I made was to mix 1Tbsp of cinnamon with the apples.

Here are the pumpkin pies. I used my Mom's recipe (which is just the Libby's recipe) because it is the best. You can find it here. Yes, I bought store bough crusts. Hey, give this law student a break!

And here are the baked caramel apple pies. They were SO yummy! I think this might have to come a Thanksgiving tradition in our home!

STUMP the Professor

So, I said that I was going to post every week, and after one week I failed. Sad day. But to be fair, I did have a midterm (that was actually a comprehensive final) on Monday morning that I had to study for. I am so glad that is over, but finals are right around the corner and I am NOT ready at all. Oh man.

This last week was STUMP the Professor at school. I, along with 2 other girls, have been planning this all semester. We've easily put 30 hours into it each. I am so glad that it went off well! Basically, STUMP is a charity event that benefits the local battered woman's shelter. Students buy tickets and then they get to submit questions that are submitted to 2 teams of law professors. If the professors can't answer the question, then they are "STUMPED" and the student that submitted a question gets a prize that has been donated by local businesses. All the proceeds and left over donations go to the battered women's shelter. It was a lot of work to put it together, but it was a lot of fun too! We raised over $1100 for the shelter, and that's a new record for the law school! Wahoo!

The winning team: Professors Fee, Baradaran, Scharffs, and Gerdy

The runners up: Professors Daniels, Baradaran, and Anderson-Jones. (Professor Moore not pictured).

The Party Planners: Me, Stefanie Franc, and Camille Borg

The Pumpkin Incident and a Simple Equation

Well, this week has been a much of the same as old: school for me, work and school for Joe. In fact, there isn't really much to report except for the pumpkin incident. You see, I got a little ambitious and decided that I wanted to make a pumpkin pie from actual pumpkins. If you know me at all, you know I absolutely LOVE anything pumpkin. So, I thought it appropriate for the pumpkin fanatic to make an authentic pumpkin pie. I bought special pie pumpkins. Did you know that pie pumpkins are a different kind than Jack-o-lantern pumpkins? Supposedly they are sweeter. I followed the directions: cut them up, cleaned them, baked them until they were soft, let them cool, scooped out the meaty insides, mashed it all up to a puree, and then put it in a glass mixing bowl to store for the night. It was pretty late and I figured I'd make the pie the next day. As I was putting the bowl of pumpkin in the fridge, for some reason unknown to man, the bowl slipped out of my hands, hit the bottom of the fridge, and then smashed into a bazillion pieces on my kitchen floor. It was a pumpkin glass mess, which was horrible to clean because I couldn't just sweep it up. So yeah, I never got to make that "real" pumpkin pie. Oh well, it will have to wait until another day. Good thing I still like the canned stuff. Moral of the story--don't use glass mixing bowls.

Other highlights of the week include buying Christmas presents for people, a trip to Costco with Joe where we ate a record number of samples, hearing a speech of a man who has been in prison for 18 years for a murder he didn't commit, and having yet another week without snow. All in all, it was a pretty good week.

On a more spiritual note, I have re-gained a testimony on the power of scripture study. This last semester, I have felt like I haven't been as happy, effective, or energetic as I usually am. I just felt like I was in a funk. It's hard to explain. Anyway, I realized that I've been slacking on all the little stuff, you know, the daily prayer and scripture study. It's not that I didn't want to do it. It's just that life had gotten so busy that after nights of falling asleep during my prayers and scripture study, I just got out of the habit. So, I decided to repent. I say repent because that's really what it was. I changed my heart and made a decision to put those little but oh so important things back into my life. So every night BEFORE I was tired, I took some time to myself and read my scripture for about 30 minutes. I am reading the Doctrine & Covenants and have fallen in love all over again with that book. Can I just tell you that this last week was one of the best weeks that I have had in a long time? I slept better. I studied more effectively. I could concentrate better. I felt happier. I wasn't annoyed as much. I wasn't as stressed. It was great! I know it's because by doing those important little things, I qualified myself for blessings and to have the Holy Ghost with me. You know, it's such a simple equation. Obedience to God = Happiness. I don't know why I allow myself to get so off track. I think it's because we have a lot of opposition in this life and we forget how important those little things are. Well, I am going to try my hardest to not forget again. That's why I am telling you. So if I ever get off track, you can remind me of this experience so that I will get back on it again.

I have a testimony of the power of the Scriptures. I am so grateful for righteous men and women who sacrificed so that we can have the teaching of God. I am grateful for prayer. I know it is a direct conduit to God. I feel so very blessed.

I have decided to be better about blogging, but not for the sake of blogging. I have two amazing brothers on missions and I feel I need to be better about writing them letters every week. I remember when I was a missionary serving in northern Spain, letters from home were a major source of strength to me. I don't know why, but they were almost rejuvenating. So, I am going to try and write a letter once a week to them and post it on my blog. I guess it will be hitting two birds with one stone. I am hoping that posting my letters here will provide me some accountability. So, here we go!

My Dear Missionary Brothers,

How I miss you! I drive by the MTC every morning on my way to school and my thoughts always turn to you and I say a silent prayer that you will be safe, healthy, and find those who are honestly seeking the gospel of Christ. I love reading your letters. You make me so proud.

Things are pretty crazy in the Flager home! The semester is drawing to a close and so things are picking up. I heard Christmas music playing on the radio the other day and it sent me into a mini panic. Isn't it sad that Christmas means FINALS? I can't wait until the two aren't always associated.

I am really enjoying my First Amendment class. The more I study about our Constitution, I am convinced that it is inspired. We are learning about the freedom of religion right now and I find it fascinating. I am helping to plan a charity event that will benefit the local battered women's shelter and so that has been keeping me busy in addition to school. I am hoping that we will raise at least $1000 for the shelter. I have been making good headway in reading the Doctrine & Covenants recently and have a goal to finish it by the end of the year. Also, Grandma Harris sent me a bunch of family names to take to the temple. She has worked on our family history for 40 years and now I am trying to help her finish what she has done. Joe and I went and did baptisms last weekend and I felt the spirit so strongly. I don't know if it was because I knew it was our family that were getting the ordinances done, or what. But, I have no doubt that they have been waiting for that to get done. I can't wait until we can get all their ordinances done!

Joe is one busy dude. He leaves at 7am every morning for an hour long commute to work, works until 4:30pm, and then on Tuesdays and Wednesdays is in class until 9pm, and still has an hour drive home after class. The nights he is not in class he is studying. He is working really hard and will be excited when the semester is over. Sports season is in full force and so our home is filled with football and basketball every weekend. I have learned so much about sports. You'd be impressed.

Well, there isn't much more to report. School and work keep us pretty busy. But, I hope you know that we love you and are so proud of you. I know that you are doing the Lord's work and serving His children. Stay obedient so that the Lord can bless you. Remember that you will regret the things you DON'T do. I know you are doing your best and can't wait to hear about how the Lord has blessed you this week.

Love Your Sister, Megan

Halloween Part 2

Saturday we invited some friends from our ward over to celebrate Halloween. Dinner consisted of taco soup, a veggie tray, homemade caramel apples, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We carved pumpkins, watched the Oregon v. USC game, talked, and laughed the evening away. I absolutely LOVED having trick-or-treaters knock on my door! All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better Halloween!

Making caramel apples!

With almonds of course!

Get a look at those eyelashes! I saw them at Wal-Mart and just couldn't pass them up. The remind me of the ice princess. Joe didn't like them at all and kept asking me to take them off. I think they freaked him out a bit, but I thought they were fun!

This is the BEST pumpkin I have ever carved. We used a pattern and it turned out pretty good. I have to say, I proud of my Batty!

The Siezmores and their impressive wolf pumpkin.

The Steeles and their cute owl pumpkin.

All three jack-o-lanterns in all their glory!!

Happy Halloween!