It’s good to be Meg Willardson

Beautiful Quincy got to go to the temple this week!! The Seoul temple is not in her mission boundary, so she only gets to attend once, maybe twice during her whole mission. She was sooo happy.

The water bottles I ordered in May just arrived 😂 

Logan and Ryan said they are “finally official” now that they can add their own water bottles to the corner counter with the rest. Welcome to the family, boys. 

Took the trips to see the live action Moana. Music is 10/10. I’ll give it a 3/10 simply bc nothing was real. This earth is so beautiful. Just film in real locations. “Live action” should really be referred to as “CGI version”.  Cute movie though. Lovely actress and music. Dwane Johnson’s ridiculous wig is 11/10. Very funny. 

I’m not usually a very prepared traveler, but after not being able to buy ibuprofen for a fever in Croatia, you’ll never find me in a foreign country without some meds on hand. we are still in Utah and Corbin has already used all the mucinex. Aaron’s child for sure.  

Beating Aaron in Duo this week was my biggest flex. I just hit 175 days 👊🏼

Yes my kids work at Crumbl, but sometimes you need the best* sugar cookie. Which only I can provide for myself 😂

Isaac/big Chloe brought a girl home. Mama Meg approves. On Sunday, Tiffany pointed out that Addie was flanked by mothers of the two daughters who never dated Issac, but both care immensely about his profile and would 100% be screening his relationships if they were here. Sloane stepped up as substitute and as Chloe’s biggest fan she gives full approval of the girlfriend. 

Also super great to have Clive’s in town last week. We gathered to swim at Saumi’s and the kids had so much fun. It was a dream to float with Mardee, daughter Campbell, and Mary and Ali. I had 29 texts and two voicemails from adult children when I got out of the pool. Can a mother hang out with friends for an hour? 

Reese is an organizational master. Is there a college degree for this gift? Doesn’t matter, she already has a masters. this girl can make order of any space and it is a gift. She has been slowly working her way through my mom’s home and purging her own boxes of teen and early college memories. 

Patti on John’s lane is finally selling her lake home on lake Ann. It needs a MAJOR remodel but it is THE dream location for me. Best lot on the lake. My biggest dream. 

Timing/expense are not in our favor and I am going to watch the house that I have remodeled in my sleep for the last 5 years go on the market this week. I’m kind of sad that this pipe dream is not coming true for me. I could tolerate this as my backyard view. So beautiful! 

I taught the metfield ward activity days kids about bees this week. Super fun. 

Aaron and I took ourselves on a dinner date one night. We laughed that he’s a same side of the booth guy now. 

Not really, the sun was in his eyes on the other side. But our side by side dinner was hilarious. We texted this pic to the kids and they had strong opinions about it as well. We cried over their funny Gen Z responses. “L move, dad.” 😂

It is too hot in Arkansas rn. Sooo humid, but zero rain. It’s gross. 

Esme finished a cute painting number craft this week. 

Reese gasped and pulled this from my parents shelf in disapproval, “Grammie! Spicy!” Then she died laughing, “I am so dyslexic!” She didn’t recognize the cursive C as font and thought my parents had a book called “the Arousal” out for display. Richard Paul Evans you dirty dog.  💀💀💀 we have laughed about this for a solid week. And not that I’m in Utah, my mom and I have laughed more. 

No lettuce because I can’t be getting a vegetable diarrhea parasite the day before my trip, but it’s BLT season and these are going non stop at my house. Logan is a BLT convert and announced this to be the best sandwich he’s ever eaten. Nicely said, new favorite child. ;)
 

Willies on Table Rock: fishing

After we checked out Saturday, we spent a few hours fishing at roaring river. It was so hot outside, but right next to the water was tolerable with shade. We arrived pretty late in the day to catch anything, but got a lot of bites and probably would have caught several with a little more skill and if our group wasn’t line fishing with a dozen elephants. We cleared that section of the river just with our noise. 😬

Soren and Corbin left an hour early with Hyrum and Ammon, and Reese and Logan took off shortly after. Aaron and I stayed with the triplets. Dinner was “adult swim” at Torchys with Aaron and I, Reese, Logan, and Ryan, and then Ryan, Soren, and Logan met Corbin, Hyrum, Scotty, and a bunch of other guys for hoops. 

I love how intentional Aaron is about family time. I also admire his generosity and inclusiveness. There was a little bit of negative feedback when Aaron first presented the plans for the weekend. Changing plans is hard and unknowns are difficult for many of my family members. But he insisted and we had the best time together. 

Check out the way Bear is looking at him in this pic. We all feel the same way. 

 

Willies on Table Rock

 Aaron is such a fun dad. This was the last full weekend we have with very one home before school starts, so he asked everyone to get Friday off work, then he rented a house on Table Rock Lake for a couple nights, and a party boat all day Friday. We played games, watched movies, had the funniest conversations, and made incredible memories. We missed Jamine Quincy (Korea) Ryan (working) big time. 

We pulled off a great surprise for Corbin. Reese helped get Ammon’s work shift rearranged at Crumbl, and during our first night at the house, Ammon and Hyrum came through the door. They piled on Corbin and spent the weekend with our family. Everyone loved it, even Sloane, who is “mortal enemies” with Ammon. Corbin was SO happy to have this extra time with his boys before they leave for their missions in Brazil in a few weeks. 

The party boat had two water slides and a platform on top. Perfect for our family. We also had a big floating water mat. Everyone except Reese, Aaron, and I swam out to the bluffs and cliff jumped. Reese was an amazing DJ and kept tunes going all day. We snacked, laughed, played games, lost an anchor, raced off the slides, wrestled, and swam for 6 hours on the lake, then ate pizza at the marina. 

Soren has a special talent. This kid can catch any food (grapes, cherries, marshmallows, cheese balls, whatever) tossed to him in his mouth and he rarely misses, even with a terrible throw. It’s amazing. My brother mark has this same gift. We spent a solid block of time just tossing food out to him on the water. 

Back at the house, ukes were played, the badly untuned piano downstairs was played, cards were played, and lore was dropped. We watched anaconda and the proposal after the little kids went to bed, Aaron gave out mission prep challenges. I packed the hair clippers and gave a bunch of haircuts. Esme and Logan win the family plank challenge.