If anyone is still reading my blog

I can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged. It just has been the craziest month. My mom came to visit at the beginning of April and then I had a four day break that was completely crazy and then Drew's brother and their five children came to visit. It was tons of fun. We had seven boys under the age of nine running around. We had a blast. (I will post about this in a few days) Then we got sick, birthdays, callings, etc. etc. It just has been a little crazy but I am going to try to post a few things in the next couple of days. I have missed all my blogging friends. I hope you are still out there!! Thank you Katrina for the photo!

Crockpot reciepes

I know summer is coming and crock pot cooking seems more for winter but I also love to use it in the summer because it doesn't heat up my house. Off the blog Today's Daily Dose I found a bunch of incredible crock pot reciepes. Check them out here and here. I just love the crock pot because it is simple and tastes great.

Do you have any great crock pot recipes to share?

Another Blog

Well lately I have been on this craze to save grocery money. I have started the The Grocery Game. It is truly amazing. I have never gotten so excited to grocery shop each week. When I go to pay I feel like I'm in Vegas only the numbers are spinning backwards and the savings is going into my pocket!! It has been so much fun. Not only have I stayed within our buget but I have also added tons to my food storage. I have decided to start another blog about my savings adventures.

CVS Fabulous Finds *** Kroger Bargins

Can you guess how much I paid for all this??

If you have time check out my other blog here.

Have you found any bargins this week?

Launching Our newest project!!

When we started the adoption process for the first time I really wanted to keep everything hush hush and then as time kept ticking away we started to spread the word more and more. I realized that we had a very positive outcome. Many family and friends were able to pass the word along. (and I always think you never know how or where that little word is going to go) So in an attempt to begin the process a little more open I wanted to share our latest creation with you. Drew and I have been spending day and night creating our new website to share with birthmothers. Our website is www.drewandmegan.com. Please take a few minutes and check it out. Please remember this was not done by a professional (after you look at it you might think we should have had a professional do it) but we just wanted to be able to write it and create it from our heart.

In honor of adoption I wanted to share this sweet poem:

Not flesh of my flesh

Nor bone of my bone,

But still miraculously

My own.

Never forget

For a single minute:

You didn't grow under my heart

But in it.
© Fleur Conkling Heyliger

Easter Week

This Easter Drew and I decided to do something a little different (see my post below on a book called Christ Centered Easter.) We started on Palm Sunday (last Sunday) and did a little activity each night of the week to focus on the Savior. It has made such a difference. I truly felt the spirit. It was especially strong in our home the whole week.

Sunday night we discussed the last week of Jesus's life and made a timeline with these pictures. I also found clip art on the computer and made a coloring book that corresponds to the pictures on the wall (my kids were able to color the pictures all week long.)

Monday night we discussed the Easter Story ( I found one similiar on sugardoodle) with little visuals in the Easter Eggs. My kids absolutely loved this activity.

Tuesday and Wednesday night we discussed what a parable is and discussed different parables. The first parable was called the parable of the bicycle (a modern day parable) and the other was the Ten Virgins.

On Thursday we read a story called the Belayer (scroll down) and made these cute edible tombs. As we were reading the story I got really emotional and it was so sweet to see Derek do the same. I know that he felt the spirit. It was a touching experience for the whole family.

Friday we made Easter Story Cookies.
It is a fun activity and my boys really got the idea behind the resurrection.

On Saturday night we had a Jeruselum Dinner (lentil soup, flat bread, olives, grapes, nuts, cantaloupe, grape juice, etc. )and ate things that would have been available during Christ's time(in the future we will eat on the floor and won't use utensils but for now we did a modified version) and then we watched an Easter Dream.

This morning, Sunday before Easter Baskets we read this story called Jeremy's Egg.
This week was a wonderful experience that really brought us closer to the Savior.

After this week I think Easter has become my new favorite holiday. It was so great to incorporate some new traditions and make extra special memories for the whole family. I know next year we will do some of the same activities and create some new ones. I am excited for this new tradtion because I know the older my children get our discussion about the Savior will grow and our Easter Celebration Week will hopefully help us to continue to get to know him even better.

Best of Swap!

I love swaps and I most recently participated in the Best of Swap! It was so fun. I traded with another girl Shannon from Utah. I had her and she had me. We had to send each other the Best of our City and State. I sent her some fun stuff from Tennessee like toffee from the Nashville Toffee Company, Tennessee T-cakes (that Oprah loves!), CD of country music, Colts chocolates and few other fun items. Shannon was from Provo, Utah and sent me some really fun things like BYU paraphernalia, Jazz pencils, Lion House rolls, honey, fry sauce (which I love!) and green jello (which was very funny). It was a great swap. Thanks to Kristen for setting it up!

This is what I sent

and this is what I received. It was so much fun! I love getting packages and getting to know new people.

Have you been in any fun swaps lately?

My Little Man

I finally took Owen to get his two year old picture taken. He is very shy and didn't want to pose but finally after a little while he warmed up and we managed to get one good shot. I usually spend a bundle but since Owen wasn't cooperating I spend the fewest amount of dollars ever on pictures! New pictures just make me so happy. He sures looks like a little man and not a little baby!

Snowy Saturday!

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning. We usually don't get very much snow here in Tennessee. It was really beautiful and the best part is, it only lasted one day!! The whole neighborhood came over into our backyard because there is a huge hill that is perfect for sledding. The boys had a blast! It was so fun to watch. However, I am now offically ready for Spring to come!

Happy Belated Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Well March 2nd was Dr. Seuss's birthday and Derek's class has been celebrating all week with today being the pinnacle. Derek's class had a read-a-thon and they could come dressed in costume or PJs. Derek chose the costume and gave me one day notice to get it together. I think it looks pretty good, thanks to safety pins and liquid stitch (my kind of sewing!)

What last minute projects have you been working on?

Exciting News!

Finally after six years and just a few days shy of seven months Derek lost his first tooth. We have been waiting and waiting for this day to come. It was exciting, unexpected and I am so happy it happened at home so we could share it!

What exciting moments have you experienced lately?

Great, Super, Awesome Resource!

I bought this book last year and just recently had time to read it over. It is such an amazing book full of wonderful ideas for Easter Week. I just have to pass it along to all my friends. The author ispired me with her words, "For years I felt that our family's Easter celebration was as hollow as the chocolate bunnies we devoured on Easter morning. All my life I had been told that the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the most sacred and significant events in all creation. If that is true, I reasoned, then shouldn't Easter, the commemoration of those events, be the highlight of our year?" I am definately going to incorporate some of their ideas to make Easter more meaningful at my home instead of the focus be on having Easter Egg hunts and eating Chocolate bunnies. It is full of wonderful activities and stories and scriptures to fill your spirit. There are wonderful ideas in this book that can be fun but help your children have a better understanding of Christ and the reason why we celebrate Easter. The book begins with ideas starting on Palm Sunday and going each day until Easter arrives. You can order this book here.

My little man turns two!

Born not from our flesh but born in our hearts, you were longed for and wanted and loved from the start, conceived from a blessing sent straight from above, our very own son at last home to love.

All babies are special from the start and my little Owen has an extra special place in my heart. After the birth of my first son Derek I came down with a very rare condition called PPCM. The doctors informed me it could be very dangerous to have another biological child. At the time being young & twenty-six, having a husband in law school, no real income, living away from family it was extremely scary, painful, and heart breaking at times. Thankfully, my heart has healed completely but it is still dangerous to have more children. However, it is true what they say that time is a great healer. I have also found that when we face what we feel to be the greatest trial or adversity, the Lord is always there to comfort us and provide a way that we never saw before. When Derek was about two we decided it was time to begin the adoption process. We knew long before then that this was going to be a wonderful opportunity & the right direction for us to go but the timing wasn't right until Derek was two (or so I thought). Two years after sumitting our paperwork we were still waiting and had many disappointing moments along the way. I decided to go back to work. I really couldn't take it anymore. I needed to preoccupy my mind & time with other things. Well, when you create one plan the lord always has something else in store for you. In November of that year I received an email that a baby boy was going to be born in California. Within days we were in contact with the birthmother and I was very nervous. As an adoptive parent you never know when they might change their mind. As the next couple of months progressed we had a feeling that this was it. Owen's birthmother was amazing and wonderful to us. She made the whole experience extremely precious. She called me almost every step of the way. She walked into the hospital and told everyone that this was Drew and Megan's baby and that we were on are way from Texas. We had some very tender moments in the hospital. I will forever be grateful to her.

Derek & Owen truly have been the greatest blessings and joys of my life. They alone have healed my broken heart.

This is when we were sealed as a family in the Salt Lake Temple.

Owen when he turned one!

The two year old Thomas the Train celebration!

We opened gifts and had breakfast in the morning and celebrated in the afternoon at Chucky Cheese. Owen loves all the rides and had a great time.

We came home and celebrated with a Thomas cake. Owen was a very happy two year old!

We sure do love our little O!

Valentine's Parties

This month has flown by. We have been so busy. I am glad to finally get in some blogging time. It has been a fun month mixed with parties, visitors and unfortunately a little sickness. But we are on the mend and I am back to blogging. At the beginning of the month Drew and I had a little couples Valentines Party with some friends in the ward. We invited people we knew well and some that we want to get to know better. It was a ton of fun.


I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to decorate my house and make it feel fun and festive. We served Pork Tacos and had a whole Mexican themed dinner and dessert. We played some fun games. I made up a game where people saw a picture of a famous couple and then had to say their names. It was so fun. The winner got a prize because I think parties are always more fun with prizes. Then we played my version of the Newlywed Game. It was great. We literally laughed for three hours straight. As party favors I made these cones and filled them with trinkets and candy.

These are some of our fun friends at the party!

It was such a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day. We will definately do it again!

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The next week we had a party at school and then a little family party. Derek and his grandma, who was visiting from Utah!

They played a fun game where the kids had to take a spoonful of conversation hearts and walk to the otherside of the room and fill a heart dish. They had two teams and it was a race. If some hearts fell on the floor they had to pick them up and go back and start all over! They had a blast. It was so fun to be there with Derek and see him enjoying himself. I forgot to dress him in red I don't know what I was thinking!!

We had a little party with our family that night. I like to buy a little gift and candy for each person and put it by their plate. It was a lot of fun. Drew sent me these wonderful roses.

These are the fun gifts we made for my parents and sent them for Valentines. The boys had so much fun putting their handprints on the apron. I made a bag for my MIL and put the boys handprints on the back. It turned out really cute.