Work work and wor

Senior year is kicking our trash. 

Screen 1: byu college application essays 

Screen 2: BYU online independent study Econ class 

Screen 3: court ordered safe driver course 

Phone: NFL Monday night football updates 

She’s Crafty: pottery wheel

 The little girls and I were inspired by the crafts at the wishing springs art fair and decided we wanted to create something when we got home. I pulled out Aaron’s pottery wheel. It’s been sitting unused in the garage for over a year and I decided my years of education from watching reels of other people create ceramic art totally qualified me to give it a whirl. Turns out, that’s a lot like assuming one can do a triple axle after watching the Winter Olympics. 😂  

I really liked getting my hands in the clay though. This medium is a feast for my sensory seeking hands. 

Evelyn brought over a little pottery wheel that she got for Christmas and I gave each of the girls some clay to work with, too. I mostly just wedged, but made two cute little vases. I didn’t save them, because the joy (for me) was in the learning and creative process. I think I will get this tool out again, soon. I think it would be fun and reasonably possible to make a set of ramekins. 

It’s good to be Meg Willardson : F is for Fall Break Edition

1) Fave: Whoa what’s this? 

New favorite child coming in hot! 

2) For Real?! Aaron asked me how to use the “new mop” yesterday. Said “new” style of mop is shown below. 

We have been using this style of mop since 2011. 

3) Fans: Esme and Sloane stayed up late to watch the BYU Notre Dame Holy War with us. Aaron and Ryan patiently answered questions and explained rules to them. Ryan has developed a soft spot for these little sissies and they know it. They are quite spoiled when he’s around.  Corbin and Soren were in Springdale at the dance (by “dance” I mean they watched the game on the big screen there). It was super weird to not have a house full of boys over for the game. I will admit I miss the ducklings. Corbin does too. He sort of mopes around not knowing what to do without a constant entourage of like minded boys to hoop with. 

I still made calzones though and we decided we need to attend both the BYU game in Kansas, and a Razorback game this season.  

4) Fair: the Spanker Creek Craft Fair is sadly a thing of the past, but aaron, Soren and I took Esme, Sloane and Evelyn G to the arts and crafts fair at Wishing Springs gallery. It was small, we didn’t buy anything, and there were no tiny donuts to be found, but it felt like a fall day and the people watching was select. 

 5) Freshman Field Goal for 3million! BYU hosted ESPN Game Day on the fields outside the dorms. A freshman made a 30 yard field goal for 3 million dollars. IN A SPIDER-MAN SUIT. The crowd lost their minds. Ain’t no place like Provo. The football/holy war memes and reels this week have been hilarious. 

6) Fall Break: since the boys left town last week, and Aaron and I originally planned to attend a wedding next weekend, we opted to stay home dog Fall Break. Corbin took the ACT on Saturday, the boys attended a dance in Springdale, Corbin went golfing with Landon W and got to visit buddy Ryker who was in town for the weekend. We ate out a few times (Dons with Pezeleys, Torchys with Ryan, Taco Bell with Grandpa Hal, Wrights for just Aaron and I) On Friday. We did crafts and had small adventures. On Friday morning, I reserved a badminton court and we played for an hour! Aaron met us during his lunch, and played, too. I forgot what a fun sport this is, and that it was once a pretty big part of my life. The kids are really getting into it-especially Sloane. My toe keeps me from doing too much, but I had a good time with the triple threat. 

7) Friends: my parents got rid of a big, obnoxious Halloween arch with a zillion pieces and no hardware or instructions. Bear recruited Lost Boy Max to help him assemble it. 30 zip ties later abf we have a tinsel tacky half-blinky Halloween porch. The kids love it. It’s something special. 

8) FaceTime: our favorite part of the week! FaceTime calls from our favorite missionary! We got to hear fro. Her twice this week, because last week was postponed. We watched Jamine bake homemade pizzas and eat some crazy teeny tiny octopus and ramen noodle combo. Q is so busy as an STL this transfer. She loves the work and is committed to it. 

9) Fox Friends: Bear is determined to catch the fox he swears he heard in our backyard. He keeps catching raccoons. Look at this beast. 

10) Fade: lined up some pals of Corbin’s this week. 

They love the pre-styled mug shots and I love the pink striped backdrop 

11) Fear of Forgotten Fun. Ok. My moment of vulnerability here. I’m realizing that one of my biggest fears right now is the idea that I will stop being fun. Not to throw shade at people my age, but my oh my do we all need to have more fun. It is like pulling teeth to find a friend to do a thing without a schedule and a plan attached. I’m not saying burdens aren’t heavy, because they are. But last week I had a few conversations where it seems like every woman in her 40s is just waiting around to have type B fun. Like fun can’t happen outside of a plan on the scheduled day off, or on a family cruise. I am learning that I might not be among a majority with my mindset that every day can be fun. And not just fun, but a little unexpected and loosey goosey. Exploratory. 

My mom told me often as a kid that “only boring people get bored”. Perhaps I am wired to require a lot of stimuli and excitement. I really do appreciate slow days as well. Anyway, I’m not ignoring difficult circumstances, or opposed in general to plans or fun within a boundary. I am just not about placing limitations on the day that might keep me from finding all the people and things and places and experiences in life that could be enjoyed if we linger to visit a. Extra 20 minutes, or show up unannounced, or just give the random call or make the extra stop. It seems just so dreadfully boring to not love your life. I try to say yes to more things than I say no to, and even though my life is full of routine and ordinary, I still wake up wondering what is waiting for me. I like to like things and I love to love. I hope to never become boring or stop appreciating little (and big) joys found in simple pleasures. 

A few things I took note of last week were: 

-folding hot fresh towels. I love having a working dryer again! 

-a call from Q on a Wednesday! 

-warm lake water

-jalapeño cheddar smoked sausage 

-giant curly hair that lasted 4 days

-a text from Kasey with pics of France

-my missing sunglasses were found

-curling Sloane and Esme’s hair for church 

-a really good smelling fall candle. I’m forever a sucker for a scented candle and I love it so much when my house smells good. 

-time to blog and read 

-a ministering visit with a young sister 

-an uninterrupted extra long lunch date with my Aaron 

-fall leaves, crisp air, and rain 

-watching a movie in the middle of the day. 

-sharing recipes with Reese

-BYU beating Notre Dame

-ginger softies 

-getting to drive Corbin’s car for a day 

-wake surfing 

-a crisp new tube of mascara

-kids on ukuleles 

-running errands with Ryan

-a text from my sister Amy—she’s coming here for Christmas! 

-driving with the windows down 

-Soren’s amazing curls. He is such a puppy, 

-time in the House of the Lord 

-emails from all our missionaries. 

-these crazy beautiful purple flowers blooming outside the fitness center. They look like they’re from another world 

Anyway, that’s a tangent. “Take the trip” (as Chris would say). Do the thing. Feel the feels. Show up with energy to be matched. Live and love the living. 

12)Foodie- tiny octopus soup, Rocky Mountain oysters, and chicken feet. Quincy ate some delacacies this week in Korea! 

13) Formidable: I impressed my whole family on Wednesday. Blew their minds actually. Reese mentioned on our face time call that Soyoung often texts her a Korean word that she can’t translate. She texted it on messenger and Q laughed and said “I know that word.” So I said “lemme try to sound it out!” And from my mediocre knowledge of the Korean alphabet, I totally read it! It says “KWIEN-Shee” which = Quincy! 

Yay for learning little things. 

14) Fortunate Finds-Esme is a 4 leaf clover finding ninja right now! Her junk journal is filling up with little pressed leaves of luck. 

15) Fluency—ga not a chance. But Duo and I are going strong. I’ve got a few friend streaks rolling as well. 

Soy aprendiendo hablar mucho, pero yo necesito estudiar más porque yo tengo mucho que aprender. 

“Unfortunately, that glove box can only offer you a pocket knife, a tampon, or a toy race car.”

This month’s Meg Ryan Adventure Day was epic. 

First stop: donuts, obviously. 

To help my Turf Toe to heal, I need to stop wearing old running shoes to my Lift classes. We headed to Branson and hit the Nike, Lululemon, and New Balance outlets. I found some Nike cross trainers and they’re game changers! 

Yay supported toes.  

Ryan has roller coaster on the pre-mission bucket list. Unfortunately SDC was closed. 

Fortunately, a new alpine coaster just opened up at Shepherd of the Hills, and it riiiiippppps. 

Special shoutout goes to Corbin and Aaron for playing musical cars with us for the day. Corbin took the FJ, and Aaron had the van. We zipped back home with windows down and music up, starting with the instrumental favorites: Her by Allen Jeynrod, the Message from the Project Hail Mary Soundtrack, and To Build a Home by the Cinematic Orchestra. 

Then cycling through all the classics: Never Be Like You by Flume, Waves by Kanye, and Driving by DWLLERS. 

We ate the best spicy chicken in Popeyes history, swapped out the van with Aaron, picked up kids and met Todd to pick up the Hog. (Which I towed myself for the first time thankyouverymuch) and hit the lake. Aaron joined us after 5 and we all decided will be spending as many afternoons out here as we are given 75 degree days. I know I dragged my feet on this for like…a decade, but I’ll eat my words now. We are having so much fun with this new toy. Good call on the boat purchase, Aaron. Look at these happy kids. I’m here for it!  

I got wrecked in a tube battle with Bear and Ryan and tried wake surfing. I’ve never done this before, but I got up on the first try!  After a long tine, I tried tossing the rope in, but didn’t last long on the wake without it. 😂

We played until the daylight gave out. Boys stored the boat and the girls went home and made tacos. 

 We stood around the island munching tacos, sharing tales from our adventure day. And to think, the day started out just like any other typical Tuesday.

Long live Summer

Long live adventure days

Temple Nights

 Corbin, Aaron, and I went to the temple tonight. I went early and did the 5pm endowment session to catch Ryan’s shift as a temple worker. Always special to spend a few minutes in the celestial room with him. Then he was at the front desk and got to greet Corbin and Aaron take them to the baptistry. I joined them and Corbin baptized me for 6 family names of Kasey’s that I brought. I was happy to get a pic with Corbin, Luke, Dan, and Dashell. They’ll be on my Sunday school class in January, and we decided this was the first of many temple nights. 

Goodbye Geddes Family

My friend, Aurielle and her family moved to Utah today. Jeff and Aurielle are so genuine. We connect well over things others don’t always understand. Large family life. Foster care. Bonus kids. Gardening and DIY projects. She is so fun and generous and creative and unphased by messes or things like a kid running around with like a snake in the house of something. Jeff and Aurielle are gatherers and missionaries. The kids can play for hours on end and have unmatched creativity. I will miss talking about beautiful and hard things with her. Today I helped with moving/cleaning and ended up getting to hold the newborn baby. Here’s cute Zara holding her with Evelyn. She was a darling friend to Sloane and Esme. And Bear sure loved to wrestle and run around with Hans, Beau, and Huck. Corbin had a bond with little Ellie, who liked pretty much no one but Jeff (her dad), but somehow would let Corbin carry her around. I just love how wild and feral and fun they all are. They live and love at level 11 and they do it so freely it speaks to me. This sweet family will definitely be missed. We still have so much to learn from them. 

Stay in touch, friends! 

 

Justice

Mormon

“And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works.”

The news has been covering the story of a local couple who were sentenced this week for fraudulent crimes. 

I have been following this couple since 2018. 

Lacey Carney was the CASA worker for the twins. She wreaked havoc on our case, and the twins were victims of unethical, deceitful, and malicious activity. I, too, was placed under a microscope and criticized, blamed even, and had my character as well as my ability to mother attacked from the witness stand. I have much to say about my experience as a sometimes powerless foster parent. When one of us is feeling extra anxious, we can often pinpoint the trigger being related to the fire/covid/foster adoption appeal nightmare. The body keeps score, and it can take some time to recover from traumatic situations. I look back at what we all survived  and think, “well no wonder our nervous systems are shot. We had to live in a state of hyper vigilance for years. We could not publicly share our concerns and out attempts to resolve them privately brought cruel calculated consequences. 

To be clear, I forgive Lacey. 

I do not wish her ill or any harm. Zero. 

This sentencing does vindicate the Herculean efforts Aaron and I made while fighting a broken system with some truly corrupt motives working against us. Not in a vengeance seeking way…it’s more like validation and emotional deliverance. 

It was a wolf in sheep’s clothing situation and we were all called crazy and irrational. Little Bear was called a liar. We felt like we were pointing fingers and shouting into an abyss as we called out very concerning actions, trying to advocate for the twins and protect them (and ourselves), but the louder we got, the bigger the retaliations against us grew. We were cornered, trapped, and threatened many times. 

When the adoption was finalized, I received a whole file box of appalling documents and reports that still make me sick to my stomach to think about. Good was called evil and evil was called good. I am so grateful we had a judge with the gift of discernment. She saw what we saw. 

Years later, it is validating to see one more bothersome loose end tied up. Someone with power finally recognized corruption, had the courage to speak up, and good triumphs over evil as justice is served. 

I know this is a heavy and emotional case for the community, but the sentencing only brings peace to a place in my conscience where it felt like dust never fully settled. 

I will rest better with the assurance that no more children will not be placed in harms way.