It’s good to be Meg Willardson

This is kind of a long one. Our driveway is a constant game of musical car/chairs. Life will feel much more quiet and lonely in the fall, so we are living up every day of summer to the max up in here. 

 Soren and Corbin attended a luau themed multi stake dance last night. They both had much to report on when they got home. 

I love these two! They’ll probably move to Idaho in the fall. It’s a dream to have them here for dinner every night. 

Corbin is a target for weekly pranks on his car and we have no idea who it is. Yesterday they got him in broad daylight and Saran wrapped his car 😂😂😂 teenagers are the best. Corbin is getting a little angsty that he doesn’t know who is after him, but overall has remained a very good sport about. I’m amazed we have not caught them yet. 

Happy Birthday Elder Ratsachack! Sugar Creek representing in Korea Seoul South! 

I hosted two parties before we left town a couple weeks ago. A “surprise” party for Masza and a farewell gathering for the Spears. 

I especially loved having Grovers and Chandlers here late to hang out with us Sunday night. I love having my big kids here for summer and a house full of young adults, but I also felt so enriched and full of joy after an evening visiting with  peers. We need to spend a little more time with friends in our demographic. I loved it.

One of my marathon training buddies John from the fitness center moved to Colorado last week. I was in a boot for 2.5 weeks and unable to join the last group run, but I happened to stop at the fitness center desk to ask a question and got a quick visit and well wishes for everyone at whole health’s favorite cheerleader. Good luck in retirement John! Watch all the K dramas you and Stephanie can find,

The night before we left town, Logan asked for a perm. Starting a perm at 11:30pm probably wasn’t the smartest thing we’ve done. The whole house reeked from the solution and we ended up opening windows and running fans and burning candles all night. And we accidentally left the windows open all week. Oopsie. The perm looks good though Brogan! Between Logan, Ryan, Noah H, the Ratsachack boys, and now Jacob H, I have learned SO much about how to cut Asian hair. And now Logan’s ultra straight hair has some body to it. 

Reese and Logan are parents now 😂😂 

They and have selected Ammon to be their son. Or more accurately, Ammon chose them. Ammon and Logan are pretty silly together. What a duo. Add Corbin and Ryan and Soren and we have quite a party. It’s a whole mood. With Corbin gone the week before and after Puerto Rico, Ammon came around as Logan’s plus one instead. They are so alike it’s comical. They made matching crop tops from thrifted Buc-ee’s tees last week and I am perpetually out of string cheese. 

Took some flowers to Chris, grabbed double tree cookies, and then tofu at Lin’s with Blud. I feel so fortunate to have this bonus child to love. A kindred spirit for sure. Címǔ is the greatest most honorable title anyone can have.

My beautiful Jamine Willardson hits her 6 month milestone serving the Lord in Seoul, Korea. I am so proud of her hard work. She inspires me to live and serve more authentically and courageously. I love her and miss her beyond measure. 

It’s that special time of year! HolleeAnn brought me this tee shirt lol. The thing I love most being eaten by the critter I despise the most. Very clever. The little kids have adopted it and it makes a daily appearance as a pajama shirt. 

Sisters gonna sister 

Some Meg Willardson tacos for my people. These are a favorite and there’s not really a “recipe” so I probably haven’t posted about them before. There was once a taco truck here called big rub and this is a combo copycat of a few of their offerings. 

Meg’s Big Rub Tacos

Leftover smoked pork butt 

Flour tortillas (get the good kind ok?) 

Pepper jack 

Black beans 

Avocado

Nacho cheese Doritos crushed

Brisket sauce (blend sour cream, franks hot sauce and paprika) 

Look at these cute Willy cousins. Corbin and Soren spent the week in Utah with cousin Jackson Schauss and uncle Scott. Java and Avery were at girls camp. Aaron flew out to join them on Wednesday and take a boys fishing trip. Before that, they spent days living it up at top golf, family dinners, a movie, arcade day, swimming, tennis, and a Bees game. My boys are ready to stay in Utah forever. 

Madeline Low, Claire Willardson, Jackson Schauss, Corbin, Henry Low, Soren (Preston and Sofia Low not shown here but they were around all week) 

We had a fun time here with just 3 kids home during the day, and Reese Logan and Ryan hanging out for night shift. Arts and crafts and outdoor fun by day, basketball, movies, good food, and Crumbl cookies every night 

We picked up cute Flora for a play date one day on our way to do some service for a friend of Corbin’s. Flora is so much fun and a great little friend for Esme. 

Some of Corbin’s friends must miss him terribly lol. I forgot to lock his car and found it filled with confetti one morning. Did I still drive it all week? Absolutely. 

On the way home from the redneck waterslide on Friday, Ryan rolled down all the windows, Esme queued up Take Flight by thebandfriday, Congratulations by Post Malone and Clarity by Zedd as we cruised through beautiful backdrop of Garfield and pea ridge at twilight with good music blaring, Bear and Sloane threw confetti that swirled all around like we were in a snow globe while we sang along at the too of our lungs. It was a vibe and we all felt it. Such a golden hour moment. 

Being a summer mom is so much fun. 

The triple threat had a Sam’s Club lunch date with Auntie K 

Welcome Home Isaac!!! Elder Johnson finished his mission to Germany and we got to welcome him home. He came over Saturday for a haircut from “Mama Meg” and tell us all the things. Loved hearing him play our piano and guitars again. 

Had to take a pic of the content of the newlyweds’ fridge. There were 3 more crumbl boxes on the counter. They bring home cookies every day and we all sample them. Imma be in serious trouble when the key lime one comes back! The Dubai chocolate cheesecake cookie is pretty good. 

We are on a Dubai chocolate kick around here. Kasey, Aaron, Reese, Logan, and I tried out a new dessert place called ChoKolata late one night last week for Dubai strawberries.

On Monday night, Neal and Hyrum called to announce they were coming over to make me dessert. They showed up with all the ingredients for Dubai chocolates and joined Corbin and Ammon in toasting filo crunchies, mixing pistachio filling, double boiling chocolate and anlmond bark, and filling chocolate molds in my kitchen. 

I gave Neal his mission haircut (and once again going to dye back the color job he let a friend do) and then they watched an old Rim Reaper game where Neal hit a game winning buzzer beater. 

Ryan sent Jacob Hill over for a post mission haircut and Jacob kept saying “this is great! This place is great! I like this!” 

Jacob never really ran in the same circle as Quincy and had never been to our house before. I assured him that it’s not always a chocolate factory or all fun and games around here every night, and all the boys in the kitchen just stopped and stared at me and then said almost in unison, “yes it is, Jacob.” 

Just last night, Parker O, ZVan, and Ryan came over to watch the NBA first round draft pics and I kicked them out at midnight. 

You know, I think they might be right. 

Soren started Invisalign yesterday! His jaw hurts abd he cannot fully close his mouth now. Excited to see the transformation over the next 24 months. 

We had a very low key Father’s Day.

The kids made Aaron the cutest cards and sang in sacrament meeting. 

I received a text from Sarah Allred on the same flight home as Aaron  and the boys. 

Kasey came over for Father’s Day dinner and we made cinnamon rolls for Aaron and to send a pan home with Ryan to the Mains family.  Aaron and the boys got home late and reheated leftovers. Paul HolleeAnn and Gigi. HolleeAnn said her “cinnamon roll radar alarm” had gone off 😂 they brought us Georgia peaches that are SO GOOD. 

Aaron is such a good father. 

Reese spoke in church and talked about simple truths he taught her that she grasped onto when life got shaky. It was a great talk. 

We are all so blessed to call Aaron ours. I love him with all my heart.

The cutest little sacrament singers 😍

We went to Redneck waterslide on Friday after big kids finished work. Everyone had road rash and mystery bruises. Perfect. This was Logan’s first time and we lived it up, got shortstop on the way home. I love Arkansas. Sloane and Esme took turns riding on Ryan and  Logan’s shoulders and Reese and Intrief to keep our hair dry and failed. 

The triplets went to a stake primary activity Saturday and came home with 3 kazoo horns. I’ve never been more of a minimalist 😂 oh boy they are sooo annoying and the kids love them. Reese even  said, “I can’t wait for you to throw those away. Where is junkyard mom?!”  

What a life.

It is so good to be Meg Willardson. 

Puerto Rico: the red eye

One of the reasons we went to PR is because of the super affordable flights I found. The two downsides of said super affordable flight were that we flew out of KCI and the trip home was on a red eye. The terminal we flew out of had no AC. Ryan and Soren left to find nice restrooms for showers/clean up and reported that they found a terminal with working AC. Hallelujah. 

One memorable thing that happened in the airport was in the bathroom, a young and tired mother traveling alone with her tiny baby got very overwhelmed and asked for my help.  It took me back to the years of traveling alone to California with 3 little ones. Anyway, this cute young mom was panicking about not having a place to set her baby down and was obviously sleep deprived. It was nice to be able to give her a hand. It also gave me perspective of how much easier it is to travel now than when I had babies in diapers and an escape artist runaway toddler. Everyone did really well. I loved the baby and toddler phase but I am particularly thankful to be in this stage of life. 

We made it home, everyone showered and napped, and then surprisingly, no one rushed outta here. We still spent the whole day together, and stayed up late into the night talking as if we hadn’t just been together every minute for a week. 

I’m so happy they are friends.

 

Puerto Rico: Old San Juan

We set out for 3 beaches but the surf on the north shore was too rough. We hit up roadside Grexican food (gyros and churros? Winning!) for lunch, drove on to another beach that was fun to walk around, even if the water was too rough. Explored some trails, and eventually found ourselves on a self guided art installation tour courtesy of a reel aaron watched. We walked the cobblestone and tiled streets, played on the old fortress grounds, watched people fly kites, and ate the best shrimp and carnitas tacos on the beach for dinner. The highlights of old San Juan were the colorful buildings, watching the 100s of feral cats (we watched one hunt a pigeon. Wild stuff! Cats are gross.) and everyone’s final favorite: the local TJMaxx/Marshalls where the little kids picked out novelty snacks for the trip home, and the big boys found matching “team shirts”. 

We learned we are not an Instagram family. You know, like those bucket list influencers who get paid to travel and post what they do? We spent 20 minutes passing around an aggressive hermit crab and counting who could hold it longest without getting pinched, and Corbin boosted Ryan up on a fortress wall to see inside a pigeon nest and then Ryan got flogged by the pigeon. Enjoy a few outtakes of our unpolished and dreamy-for-us island adventure. 

One of these two does believe we are an Instagram family. I’ll let you guess. 

And one of these two is selectively prickly now. That’s ok. We all feel out touched sometimes. I’m still going to hug you. 

Predator 

Reese was loaded on cough meds and very loopy. She is so funny and had us cracking up. I love the way she captures beauty everywhere. Just know that any photos from this trip that look good were probably taken by her. Her content actually IS worthy of being an Instagram family. 

Hi bestie!