Megan Lynn Maples

2012-01-13T22:04:00.003-06:00

it's official: i am the worst blogger ever. i haven't even been to my blog since last may. oops.

i'm not sure that i would be able to accurately summarize the last 8 months of our lives in a little blog post. may seems like so long ago, yet 2011 came and went so freaking fast. craig and i continue to move forward in our career paths (which keep evolving into things we had never dreamed of) and make our lives in texas.

we officially became grown ups on august 31 when we bought a house! i can't even begin to explain how great it is to have our own place. yes, it is a ton of work (which is a little draining for a lazy-butt like me), but it is so much fun. we are still getting the hang of everything we have to do and balancing taking care of it with work/church/friends/family.

we hit our 2 year anniversary of living in texas on january 2. sometimes i still can't believe that we moved from california to texas. i mean, just when you think you have your life all figured and planned out, God shows you that He has something even better in store for you - He is in control, not us. we really do love it here, but we miss california. well, really we miss the people...and disneyland.

stay tuned in the next month to see a new addition to our family. our german shephard puppy, chief, will be making his debut into the world in february and we'll be bringing him home in april. Lord help me. i am soooo not a dog person. craig and i will be outnumbered by animals in our house. tobias, coco, then chief. it's like a zoo.

love.

10 things i am thankful for

2011-05-14T22:22:00.003-05:00

1. craig taking last weekend off. we haven't spent an actual weekend together in over a year, and it was awesome. i felt so spoiled being able to actually see him and spend time with him for more than an hour.
2. my job. i love what i do, i love what i am learning, and i know that God placed me here for many reasons - to be an example to my co-workers, and to be able to provide for my family once craig starts medial school.
3. choir. i'll admit that i'm a gleek. i've been in everything music since i was 2, and it feels so great to be a part of it again. i sing every wednesday night, and sunday morning as a part of a choir. i have been blessed by being around them and by singing again.
4. friends. i love my friends in california and that we still keep in touch. i love that i've seen so many of them in the last year (here in texas and there).
5. lifegroup. i can't really explain how much i've been blessed by the couples in our lifegroup over the last year and a half. they are such fun and caring people and i am so excited that we are a part of this great group.
6. lifegroup babies. now, this may seem like a funny thing to be thankful for, but i don't care. i love our lifegroup babies. i love that i get to hold them and play with them and see them each week. i kind of have a low grade baby fever and this is holding me over until craig and i are actually ready.
7. my cats. they have such quirky little personalities and are such sweethearts. i am thankful to have them here with me while craig is working.
8. my family. it's been amazing how much we have grown closer over the past year. i get to see them 2 times a week, and it's great. we've all been able to come together through the last year of insanity and grow through it.
9. craig's family. we haven't been able to see them as much as we would have liked to this past year due to craig's insane schedules, but we have seen most of them a bit. i can't imagine being married into a better family. the love and support that they all have for each other is inspiring and contageous. even with us out here, we still feel it.
10. starbucks via. who doesn't love a $1.00 awesome cup of coffee?

love.

long overdue

2011-03-19T21:20:00.002-05:00

hello there. i'm terrible at this thing. once again, so much has happened in between posts. here are the biggies:

~the packers won the super bowl!!!

~craig has started paramedic clinicals in a local hospital and on an ambulance. he's a mad man! he's working 4 days a week, has clinicals the other 3 days, and is still doing school work.

~erin and i went on our nerdy vacation, and it was so much fun!!! harry potter world looks exactly like the movies, and is such a fun place. we spend 8 hours in that little section alone. disney world was great too! the vacation went by too quickly, and i am so glad that we ended up going!

there's my updates in a nutshell.

love.

2011-01-22T14:10:00.002-06:00

on january 1, craig and i had lived in texas for a year. a whole year! i just can't believe that we've been here that long already! it feels so much like home here, but there are times where i laugh at the fact that i live in texas. i kind of figured that when i moved to california, i'd be there for good. we are loving it here though. craig has fully immersed himself in everything texas from country music (which i still can't listen to) to buying a truck to buying a gun and eating bbq brisket. it's so fun to explore around here since everything is still so new and this state is so big!

work for both of us is going well! craig still has a crappy shift (wed - sun, 7pm-7am) and is in paramedic school. this week he has off of work because he has 7 12 hour days of skills tests and practicums for paramedic school. after that, he'll begin his emergency room rotations and paramedic shifts on an ambulance along with working. he'll be just a little bit busy. i was a little worried about the fact that he'll be gone so much and i won't see him but, as it turns out, i'll barely be home while he's gone.

the hotel that i work at is hosting the afc team for the super bowl this year. that alone should tell you how insanely busy i am going to be. since i work in the sales/convention/catering department we'll be doing all kinds of things for the team while they are here. major overtime = major $$! i'm excited to be a part of such a huge event. tomorrow we'll find out if we'll have the steelers or the jets in house! the packers or the bears (hopefully the packers) will be staying at omni mandalay...and i must admit that i am going to be so stinkin jealous if the packers are there instead of with us!

other than work, school, work, and church we don't have that much going on. i seem like i'm never home, so days like this are nice even if it is spent cleaning our way too dirty home.

less than a month until my nerdy vacation with erin! harry potter world at universal and disneyworld!!!

love.

out in the open

2010-12-30T21:55:00.003-06:00

i keep writing and deleting posts. for the last few months, each time i've written on here i've had at least 1 prior draft. the reason i keep deleting them and starting over with random nonsense is because the subject i keep going back to is my mom. i keep deleting them because they seem so negative and i don't want this to be a 'poor me' blog. but, since my mom has ever so prominently been on my mind since she walked out on us on july 28...i may as well just get it out in the open.

andrew and i both got texts on that wednesday afternoon from her. they said that she loved us and wanted to talk later. when i got off of work that text was followed by a phone call from my dad saying that my mom, all her things, erika, all her things, and the dog were gone. gone. all that my mother left for my dad (other than his things and the furniture) was her wedding dress and a note that said 'i can no longer live with you. i've taken erika. don't try to call or text us. leigh'

the next five days were spent with the rest of us trying to get a hold of erika (my mom had taken away her phone) or my grandparents (who said they didn't know any details but haven't talked to us since she left). five days later, erika was returned home. my mom had taken erika on what she said was a 'fun girls roadtrip.' it wasn't until they were 2 days in that my mom said that she was leaving my dad and not ever going back...which is when i got a call from a hysterical sister & we were able to figure out that they were driving to northern wisconsin.

since then my dad has been served with papers, and she wants nothing to do with the rest of us. now here's where i fight my urge to try and salvage this sad post into something more peppy, or at least nonsensical. but i'm not going to. not this time. there has been too much pain over these last 22 weeks/almost 6 months that i don't think needs to be hidden. of course there are more details, but then this would turn into a novel instead of a post.

i can see that this is a huge reason why we are here. i can't imagine not being by my family while all this was going on. it's been such a roller coaster that we're all going to have to deal with for awhile.

you'd think that after your parents have been married for 26 years she would have had the decency to at least tell him that she wasn't happy and that she wants to go live her little party life on her own. let's just say that i'm learning a lot more 'this is what not to do' things from her than you probably should from your mother.

there. it's out.

2010-12-23T21:44:00.002-06:00

i just had a fantastic weekend. craig's parents came to visit! they flew in on sunday & stayed until tuesday night (craig's days off). we gallivanted all around the dfw metroplex and practically ate our way through the days. it had been way too long since we had seen them. i hadn't seen mike since february & jeanie since march (craig hadn't seen them since june). i feel so blessed to be a part of their family. it's always so much fun to be with them!

now, i finally found my camera & bought a new charger...and now i can't find the chord to connect to the computer. apparently my little blog isn't ever supposed to have pictures up on it. i was proud of myself for taking pictures though! i guess i'll have to update you all on what we did when i find the chord so that you can see some of them.

love.

2010-12-09T20:42:00.002-06:00

well, it's almost 9 and i'm about to go to bed. usually i'm not this much of a grandma, but i didn't get off work until 7 tonight and i'm not going to get off until after 8 tomorrow night so i figure it's ok. my managers are all out this week on sales calls/conferences which means that i have a lot to do to make sure that everything gets done on time. i'm not sure what i was thinking by signing up to help with work holiday parties this weekend...but hey, overtime is always a happy bonus on the paycheck.

a big reason of why i am so tired is because i spent last weekend in california! my dear friends erin & courtney surprised me with a plane ticket out for our 7th annual sub hub elf party! i had so much fun with the girls at elf party and i loved spending so much time with my friends. i was also able to go to lunch with my m-i-l jeanie on sunday before flying back home. :-)

craig and i have lived in texas for almost an entire year. oh. my. gosh. time went by quickly. we're just about 3 weeks away from hitting the 1 year mark, and i'm just about 3 weeks away from hitting the 2 year mark for being a vegetarian. eek! i don't really miss meat that much anymore...i think because it messes with my stomach too much. i can eat pork & bacon though. so i guess that means that i'm not a true vegetarian, but that's ok. there's not a lot of vegetarian options in texas, so it's kind of hard to make sure that i get enough protein.

ok. enough of my random.

love.

jacque's baby shower

2010-11-19T22:01:00.007-06:00

since most of the couples in our lifegroup are pregnant there are going to be quite a few posts about baby showers. we had jacque c's a month ago and it was so much fun! we had a few games, lots of food and there were some great gifts. i had to steal some pictures from jackie m's blog since she is the photographer of the group.next up: jamie's shower that we just had in a fun little tea room in the decorators wharehouse.

love.

2010-11-12T21:11:00.006-06:00

4 months. 16 weeks. 112 days. a third of the year.

it doesn't matter how you look at it...that's a long time to not talk to someone. that's a long time to act like you don't care. that's a long time to hurt the people that were the most supportive of you. that's a long time for you to act like nothing has happened.

it's been a hard 4 months. it's been an insane roller coaster that has had too many ups and downs for my liking. i get mad at myself for being sad or hurt that she left...like i don't think that she deserves my sadness. it really bothers me that when i see something that she bought me or reminds me of her and then i get upset. it's like this whole thing is always around me and i can't catch my breath.

it's been over a month since she has tried to have any contact with me (and even that was so minimal it's almost not worth mentioning) and even though i don't really want to talk to her right now i get mad that she hasn't even tried. it makes me feel unwanted by her, unloved by her. how can a mother be like that?

i can't thank certain people enough for being there for me & my family over this time. from old friends to new friends to some family to members of our church to co-workers...everyone has been great. i am so much more thankful that i am close to my dad, brother, & sister. i am so much more thankful for being a part of the maples family.

and now as the tears stream down my face and i'm not even sure why i am deciding to write this and post it on the internet, i'm saying goodnight. i could still really use your prayers (obviously).

thanks. love.

2010-11-06T11:11:00.003-05:00

i really love fall. i love that the air is getting a little cooler (there's a fine line between cooler and cold though) and that the trees are starting to change colors. i really missed the colorful leaves when i lived in california and am happy that we will have that here. i woke up early (for me on a saturday) and made some chai and curled up with my kitty kitties on the couch with a blanket. i was actually surprised when they both hopped up on the couch to snuggle me. they are really sweet cuddly cats, but on their terms. :-)

craig and i aren't planning on having kids for another 2-3 years, but we can already tell that our 2 spoiled cats are going to have a hard time with new additions. we're also hoping to add a dog into that mix in another year or two (craig said our dog WILL BE a german shepherd and it WILL BE a boy dog and his name WILL BE chief...hahaha).
here are our cats on our unmade bed. coco's on the left and tobias is on the right. they're brother and sister from the same litter. craig had coco and i had tobias before we got married.

love.

another thankful post

2010-10-23T21:27:00.002-05:00

when it's been awhile since i've written anything and there's so much to say that i don't even know where to begin, i like to do a thankful post. it kind of sums things up...

~craig and i having a day off together!
~fall
~pumpkin spice latte's & frappucino's
~our lifegroup
~the relationship between me, craig, my dad, my brother, & my sister since my mom took off
~my cats (who just turned 3)
~craig pursuing his passions by going to paramedic school
~rain
~the great cuban restaurant we found in arlington
~our jobs
~letters
~walks
~catching up with best friends
~planning the nerdiest vacation (harry potter world & disneyworld!!)

love.

GO PACK GO!!!!

2010-09-12T22:26:00.003-05:00

i'm a proud cheese-head, and they just started off the season in a great way!!!

thankful

2010-09-04T22:57:00.002-05:00

i figured that i need to write another thankful post. there are so many negative things consuming my life right now, but i have so many more positive things. God's really helping me to see the good things going on and is teaching me to rely on Him more and more.

~craig. his sense of humor, his servant's heart, his comfort, his leadership, i could go on and on.
~our new truck.
~coco and tobias.
~fun and colorful jewelry.
~my dad, sister, and brother being close by.
~lifegroup.
~phone conversations with friends.
~snail mail.
~flowers.
~craft time.
~a clean apartment.
~baths.

love.

that's all for now

2010-08-12T20:55:00.003-05:00

that last post was dramatic. it's not that i was being overly dramatic either. i feel like i was actually being underly dramatic given the situation. maybe one day i'll tell what made me be dramatic, but it's kind of hard to post...like writing down what is going on makes it even more real.

with that i'm going to try to turn this around.

work has been busier than ever! i've gotten crazy amounts of overtime the last couple of days. it's a good thing that craig's in california this week because i feel like i've barely been home. i love being busy, but it sure makes me tired.

random thing for the day: i found myself on an elevator with some nfl players today...well known nfl players. they are HUGE. i mean HUGE HUGE. the ones that were in the elevator with me were so tall and so HUGE. i know that they have to be that way because they beat on other HUGE guys for a living. i was more shocked by that than who they were. perhaps that's because i don't like the team that these particular players play for.

on another random and exciting note! i'm going to the world's oldest dr. pepper museum with some friends on saturday and am too excited. i love dr pepper and am excited for the roadtrip out there and the day that goes along with it.

love.

disclaimer this post is NOT about craig

2010-07-30T21:40:00.003-05:00

these last few days have been insane. they haven't seemed real; like they're out of a movie.

i don't understand. i'm so hurt. i'm so angry. i'm so numb. i'm so frustrated. i'm so worried.

a sweet friend put ecclesiastes 3 in front of me. it's something that i am trying to hold on to. it's hard.

am i ever going to accept this? will there be reconciliation? will anyone come out of this alright?

so many questions, and not many answers.

thankful

2010-07-26T22:01:00.004-05:00

i wrestled with a few topics for this next post and a 'thankful' post is what i landed on...because there's been so much to be thankful for lately.

~a great new job
~a 75% pay raise
~a new truck
~a good home for the surf ninja
~craig growing into such a man of God
~being broken and humbled
~friends in california
~new friends in texas
~our cats
~having a garden tub...bubble baths are so great
~emails and letters from friends
~netflix (life gets a little lonely when you have the opposite schedule of your spouse)
~my relationship with my brother and sister
~tye-dye
~dr. pepper

now, i know that some of those may seem superficial, but hey, i can be thankful for the little things in life right?

love.

new

2010-07-05T12:59:00.002-05:00

quite a few things are new for us right now.

~we bought a new truck! goodbye 1989 gmc sierra and hello 2010 chevrolet silverado. after a year of putting up with the surf ninja (loooong story) we decided to get craig a new car. he definintely deserves it. the truck is amazing. we got an incredible deal on the truck too which makes it even better.

~i start my new job tomorrow! i was supposed to start today, but hr forgot that it was a holiday. anyways, i'm a sales assistant for the omni starting tomorrow and am excited about it. it's a completely different career path and i can't wait to begin.

~random new experience: i got my first ticket today for speeding. :-( i totally deserved it and am actually thankful that i didn't get pulled over sooner when i was driving faster. when we moved here i figured that one of us would get a ticket because they actually follow the speed limit here for the most part. at least i went almost 8 years before getting a ticket.

~craig started his new shift with medstar and it sucks. he now works friday, saturday, sunday, and monday from 9:15pm-9:15am. he has to be a night owl and we're figuring out how to make the most of our time together. at least this schedule's not as bad as when we first got married and only saw each other for 2 hours a week. eek!

love.

giving it up

2010-06-23T21:32:00.003-05:00

isn't it so hard sometimes to truly and whole-heartedly give something up to God? it's easy to say that you will, but not so easy to do.

the last month-ish has been a trying one for me. craig and i have gone through a period in our lives where we were both being broken by God. and not broken in a terrible and mean sort of way, but broken in a painful, 'let me put back the pieces' sort of way.

i found out a few weeks ago that i could no longer do my job due to my messed up back. i've had crazy problems with it in the past, and it hasn't gotten better. in fact, due to all of the bending/sitting on the floor/lifting, etc that goes along with being a preschool teacher my back was going to get worse. after a stressful blubbering weekend i gave my director my 2 week's notice. my last day was on friday...and i held together for the whole day...until about 10 minutes before i left. my kids asked me if they could come home with me since i wasn't going to be their teacher anymore and when i told them that they couldn't they cried...so i cried. it was really sweet and really sad.

i was struggling a lot with why this happened to me. i have such a passion for working with kids and i know that i am good at it. after much prayer (from me and craig, family, and friends) i was finally willing and able to actually give God my full trust. He always has a plan no matter how confusing and painful it may seem.

well, like clockwork...once i actually gave it all over to God the new job opportunities came pouring in. in fact, it's only been 3 days and i have been offered a new and fantastic position. i am now an assistant in the sales department for the omni hotel in fort worth. i'll be assisting 3 national sales managers (who helped win this omni the sales team of the year award) book clients at our hotel. i am so excited about this great career opportunity and i know that God opened this door for a reason.

so, i learned a very important lesson these last few weeks. God is faithful and is worth putting all of my trust in.

love.

craig's birthday

2010-05-22T11:51:00.003-05:00

craig celebrated his 25th birthday at the beginning of this month. i can't believe he's 25! thanks to free airfare (courtesy of my mom being a flight attendant) and super discounted hotel rooms (thanks to my brother working at a fantastic hotel) we were able to have a great weekend in san antonio. we went all over the riverwalk, saw the alamo, went to the zoo and a japanese tea garden, and were able to relax. it was so great and i love spending vacation with craig.

date night.

2010-04-18T12:40:00.002-05:00

craig and i are fortunate enough to be in a much better financial place than we were last year; thank God. since we have some extra $ we've been able to go out every friday or saturday for date night and it has been great! we've done the classic dinner then a movie thing a few times, we've gone on mini vacation weekends, and we've been able to explore some of dallas and fort worth.

last night we wanted to go out and i really wanted to dress up. i got a new dress from the liberty of london collection at target and i wanted to wear it. we were looking at going to downtown fort worth, but then remembered that nascar is there all weekend, so that probably was not the best idea. i moved my search over to dallas...specifically deep ellum. i found quite a few places that looked fun and just picked one: monica's aca y alla.

i picked the mother of all birthday/bachelorette/engagement/date places for those who love tequila. now, craig and i don't drink, but it was very entertaining for us to watch those that do. there was a live band complete with mexican rocker dance moves who invited guests up to the stage to shake some tambourines among other things. there were a few b-days and brides in the house so they started this huge conga line with all of them plus their groups around the restaurant and ended with everyone in the line getting tequila poured into their mouths. i'm pretty sure craig was terrified the whole time that the band was going to pull him up on stage. i would have laughed so hard, but craig would have been incredibly uncomfortable.

the food was good, the entertainment was hilarious and the company was superb. all in all it was a good date night that took us away from our usual. i love date nights with craig, but i'm sure that he'll be picking the next place we go.

love.

in a nutshell

2010-03-27T11:35:00.004-05:00

here are a few snippets of what has been going on in our lives...

~craig got the 5th highest score on his very first firefighter exam (out of 182 people) and will move on to the next step in the interview process...the physical tests

~i have been working at allison's clubhouse for 9 weeks and love it there. i have made a lot of progress with my kids and am starting to have a lot of fun with them.

~we are pretty much all moved into our place. we love it and the cats love it.

~we are loving our life group from our church. it has really been a blessing to get to know people here and meet with them on a weekly basis.

~we've been going to the church on rush creek since we moved...it's been so refreshing and uplifting.

~i'm trying to plan a trip to california to visit my friends some time in april. i miss them terribly.

~it seems like i've had a never-ending time of sickness the last month. i got a sinus infection that i'm sure turned into bronchitis. that whole thing lasted about 3 weeks. i thought i was in the clear and finally getting healthy until thursday afternoon when i started feeling like i was going to throw up. sure enough, right when i got home from work it happened, and i've been super sick now for the last 3 days.

that's all for my snippets right now.

love.

snow day

2010-02-12T15:50:00.003-06:00

i haven't had a snow day since early high school or junior high. well, today i got one. it started snowing early yesterday morning, and there was already a good 3-4 inches of the stuff by the time i got to work at 8:30. 5 hours later i got sent home because the snow was piling up and the roads were getting worse. we got something crazy like over 9 inches of snow in 24 hours which is a record for texas.

of course once i got home craig wanted to go outside and play in the snow, which we did. he told me today that he loves snow. i don't have the same sentiments for it, but it was fun to play in and it makes the area even more beautiful.
love.

praises

2010-01-24T17:04:00.002-06:00

~we love texas

~i got hired at a great preschool. i start on monday and will be the main teacher in a 2-3 year old class

~craig's emt license finally transferred from ca to tx

~craig is in the middle of the hiring process for a few different ambulance companies

~we found an apt

~we have a church that we love

~free rent/groceries courtesy of my parent's letting us stay with them

~mine and craig's relationship growing even stronger as we go through all these changes together

love.

our next big adventure

2010-01-13T18:40:00.000-06:00

well, we made it. we got to my parents house on december 31st at 9:30. the drive was a very long and pretty uneventful one. the first day of our trip began at 6:30am and lasted until 3:00am the next morning. taking into account the time changes and such, we drove 19 hours that first day. the second day seemed to fly by since we only spent 10 hours in the car after a full nights rest. jeremiah was able to make the trip with us, and definitely made the drive much more enjoyable for craig (craigs truck doesn't have a radio or anything). our cats and turtle did really well. tobias and coco were afraid of the car for awhile on the first day, but they got used to it. we stayed at this dump of a hotel on our trip that they hated. you know a place is bad when the cats are ready to get out of there.

but we're here and loving it. it was pretty cold for awhile, but it's warmed up now. craig already has his texas driver's license and his truck's registered and plated. he's much more on top of it than i am. we got my car 'inspected' and will get it plated/registered in the next week or so. that has actually taken a surprising amount of time to do, so that's what we've been doing.

i have an interview for a nanny position tomorrow morning, so prayers for that would be great. almost all of craigs things for his emt license have transfered over so he can start applying for jobs soon. prayers for that are also greatly appreciated.

alright, american idol auditions are on. craig and i are loving this whole 'having tv' thing.

love.

christmas time is here

2009-11-29T15:42:00.001-06:00

thanksgiving came and went so quickly. i can't believe that it is already the end of november. christmas time is here! i was able to decorate my christmas tree twice thanks to my cats deciding to wrestle under it/with it at 6:30am this morning. i woke up to a huge crash and my cats running for dear life. it would have been funny if i wasn't so mad at them. i thought they had learned from last year when tobias decided to take a running leap at the christmas tree from the arm of the couch. i guess not. luckily, they only broke 1 ornament that i can easily fix. the thing about the ornaments on my tree is that they are almost all handmade. the girls on my mom's side of the family have a tradition where we all make handmade ornaments for each other each christmas. i've been a part of this tradition for about 10 years now, and i absolutely love it. my christmas tree is so much more special to me because of what i am able to decorate it with. and let me tell you...my family is very artsy farts. the ornaments aren't crappy ones that are thrown together haphazardly. they are so creative and well done. if you ever get the chance to look at my tree you'll see what i am talking about. under my tree are all the presents that we will be giving people this year. i know that i finished my christmas shopping earlier than the average person, but this is late for me. finishing on black friday is usually a no-no for me seeing how i am normally finished at the end of september. call me crazy, but it stresses me out to not be done in super advance. i wrapped all of the gifts super cute too! i am proud of my wrapping this year. i got great gift wrap at target in the $1 section and hand stamped names on the gift tags.

i've already begun watching the classis christmas movies (national lampoons christmas vacation, and rudolph {the claymation one}), drinking chai, and listening to christmas music. i wish it would cool down a bit here. i know that i shouldn't really be complaining that we are having 70 degree weather while the rest of my family is freezing in snow and 40 degree temps, but it just doesn't feel like christmas time when you can still get a sun burn.

there are so many things that i am looking forward to this december!
~4th: sub-hub annual elf party
~6th: disneyland with erin/v.i.p tickets to fantasmic (i'm sure i'll blog about this one)
~12th: our moving party (this one's a little bittersweet)
~13th: disneyland with craig
~15th: maples so cal christmas party
~18: my preschool's christmas concert
~19: randy's graduation
~23: glen ivy spa day with oreo
~24-25: christmas with the maples up in nor cal
~30: moving

as you can see, my december has really booked up. in between all of those events, i have work until the 18th. i am excited to not have to work at the most dysfunctional preschool anymore, but i am sad to leave my 3 year olds. they have become so precious to me and i really do love (most of) them. since our big move is a month away i still have so much to do. i've kind of started going through our things. i need to pick up the pace so that i can get it all done.
hopefully i will be able to update again before we move. if not, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

love.

we're texas bound y'all

2009-10-10T17:54:00.000-05:00

hello to the few of you who read this. i know that i have been fully neglecting this lately, but i don't have the privilege of stealing wireless from our neighbors anymore since they've moved.

i have some big news to share with you, and no--i am not pregnant. craig and i are moving to texas in december! we had been thinking about it for awhile, and we finally made our decision in july. we are going to be living near dallas which will be about half an hour from my family. that'll be a nice change because i haven't lived by them in almost 6 years. we are so excited to begin this new chapter in our lives. at the moment, it's bittersweet. we can't wait to go on this great new adventure, but it's going to be hard to leave our friends here. some of my best friends live here, and i'm not exactly sure what i am going to do without them.

i've been researching moving trucks/trailers today which has not been that fun. let me tell you: it's a good thing that we have a savings account. our money is about to be totally invested into a metal box with wheels that is going to take all of our things (well, not really all of our things) from southern california across some of the most boring states (arizona, new mexico, and parts of texas) all the way to grand prairie, texas. some of our bigger pieces of furniture won't be making the trip with us. our couch, fridge, and tv were all free and not worth lugging along...our bed frame is, uh, broken...and we'll be selling other pieces as well.

other than the whole moving thing, craig has started his fire-side shift in east la. he gets to run all of the 911 calls in his area and deal with gang bangers, heart attacks, gunshot wounds, etc. he loves it. it's the perfect fit for him. he's getting some great experience here before he heads into paramedic school in the fall.

i got hired at a preschool as a 3 year old teacher, and i absolutely love my kids. i get to team-teach with a friend from biola which makes it even better. we have 18 kids that we spend 9 hours a day with for 5 days a week. it's basically like i have 18 children. it's kind of funny how i went to school and got an elementary education degree and then realized that i want to work with preschoolers instead. oops. life's kinda funny that way.

everything else is peachy keen over here. we have a lot to do over the next few months, so your prayers are greatly appreaciated!

love.

northwoods and weddings galore

2009-07-26T19:11:00.000-05:00

apparently the last month of my life has been busy. i've meant to update this quite a few times, but never quite got around to it.

vacation was so much fun! it was so great to be with my family up in the northwoods. that side of the family gets along so well and is always a lot of fun to be around. we went all over the woods of wisconsin and michigan while we were there. we hiked around bond falls, had a bonfire, cooked out by a lake, went to an indian casino (which was so funny) and hung out together. it was exciting to see how big my cousin's son is! joshua is a little over 1 year old now and he was running all over the place. hopefully next summer craig and i will be able to stay up there for more than a week.

getting back to la took us way too long. there were torrential downpours and tornadoes touching down at the chicago airports. it took us 2 rental cars, 7 cancelled flights, a hotel, 8 hours of driving, and 3 airports to finally make it home after 40 hours of trying. it was definitely an interesting end to our vacation. craig ended up having to miss a day of work because the weather was so terrible, but his bosses were pretty understanding since you can't do anything about the weather.

this summer has been full of weddings. in fact, i just got back from my 6th wedding last night.
~courtney & andrew~may 8, 2009
~jennifer & justin~may 15, 2009
~carrie & justin~may 30, 2009
~rachel & jonathan~june 27, 2009
~kolbey & dan~july 10, 2009
~sara & kyle~july 25, 2009

it has been really fun to see how different each wedding has been. you can really see the personalities of each couple in their wedding. weddings are always a so much fun anyways because it gives everyone an excuse to hang out and dance! all of us sub-hub girls love dancing the night away at weddings. we've got some pretty great dance moves. ;-) weddings have been taking up the majority of my weekends this summer. from traveling for them to coordinating kolbey's, they have all been so much fun.

i'm getting ready to go to texas for a couple of days this week. i'm checking out a few things while i'm there, and it'll be nice to spend some time with my family. craig has picked up a few shifts this week, and any free time that he'll have he's going to spend fixing up our junk truck. say goodbye to the bright orange paint and hello to black paint.

ok, that's enough updating for now. i'll try to update again soon with more details.

love.

next week and this week

2009-06-13T23:27:00.000-05:00

craig and i are leaving for vacation tomorrow! we are going to spend a week up in land o' lakes, wisconsin with my mom's side of the family. they are always so much fun, and the northwoods are gorgeous in the summer. we are planning on hiking around waterfalls, kayaking, visiting fort wilderness, and just relaxing with family. it seems like we have been looking forward to this time for a year and it came so fast! i hope that it doesn't go by too quickly!

on another and not so exciting note, i got into a car accident this week with my friend courtney. we were driving woody's car to ikea on wednesday and got so close. there were a lot of cars on the road, but traffic was moving pretty quickly. suddenly the car in front of us was nearly stopped and we couldn't stop in time...so we hit them at about 50 mph and they were barely moving...and they hit the car in front of them. the airbags came out (which was probably one of the scariest things i have ever expereinced), and we were both wearing our seatbelts. there was so much powder from the airbags that we couldn't see anything, and the smell was so overwhelming that i had to crack open the door so that we could see and breathe.

onstar came on and called the police for us, so we just waited...in the middle of the road (there were 6 lanes of traffic and we were in the 3rd one from the right) until the firemen and police got there to push the car over to the shoulder. while court was stearing the car, the wipers kept swishing back and forth like crazy and the horn decided to honk and honk and honk. that part was really funny. it's like the car needed to get some last words in there before it was totally, well, totaled. we are both very lucky that we are fine. i have some huge bruises on my leg from the airbags, and i was a little stiff...but that only lasted for a day. courtney pulled a tendon in her arm from the airbag, and she was a little stiff too. but, it's 3 days later and we're both moving around with no problems at all, so we are so thankful. God really protected us.

more updates

2009-06-03T15:19:00.000-05:00

quite a bit has happened since my last post. surprise surprise. craig and i have moved into our new apartment and are finally settling in. we really love this new place. it seems more homey for some reason. maybe it's the fact that i was able to paint a wall. color adds so much, and after having nothing but white walls for the past 5 years i am so stoked about this. it is so great to be living close to so many more people. i haven't lived this close to any of my friends in 2 years. i love it.

we still don't have our orange truck. we're hoping to get it back tonight...but we'll see. haha. it seems like we will never get that thing. we really need to get 'surf ninja' off of the side so that we won't be as embarrassed to drive that piece around.

i was finally able to go to the chiropractor last friday! unfortunately i have more wrong with me than i thought. :-( i have a pinched nerve and compressed disc in my back (which i already new) and i have a pinched nerve and compressed disc in my pelvis which is causing it to be unaligned. lovely. i had laser therapy done on it which didn't hurt, but afterwards the technician had to work out the muscle and that caused me the most pain i have ever felt. it was so awful. i haven't really been able to move since then. hopefully now corporate will approve my claim so that i can get everything worked out. the chiropractor thinks that i'll have to get treatments 2 times a week for 1-2 months to fix my hips, and then 2-3 times a week for 6-8 weeks to fix my back. i have a long road ahead of me. i'd just like to be fixed.

we are now 1/2 way through sub-hub wedding season. so far they have been so much fun, and have all been unique to the couple. i can't wait to be able to go to the rest. it is so fun to be able to support my friends as they embark on this great new part of their lives. they've all been so supportive of me and craig this past year, and i love being able to return the favor.

on that note, craig and i have been married for over 11 months now. we're only 25 days away from our 1 year anniversary! it has really flown by!

the silver lining

2009-05-21T03:20:00.000-05:00

so these past couple of weeks have been insane for many reasons.

1. we bought a $600 piece of junk truck (so that craig could use it to build/restore an old muscle car) that has had absolutely everything wrong with it...including stolen registration tags. so far, we've invested a bit over $3000 into that piece. the silver lining? that sucker will run for over 100,000 more miles, so we can either keep it and run it into the ground or sell it once we're done using it...once we finally get it back from the shop.

2. i've been fighting with corporate still about my back. i've now been out of work for 7 weeks and they don't care. my store manager and the district manager have been fighting for me (which i am so so so thankful for), but the guy at corporate couldn't care less. so, here i am at home with an incredibly painful back and no paycheck. super duper. the silver lining? i'm still trying to figure this one out...

3. we're moving to a new apt complex in fullerton, which is about 20 minutes from where we live now. the rent is hundreds of $ cheaper (phew) and we'll be so much closer to craig's family and friends. in fact, we'll be one floor above and 3 apts over from our friends courtney and woody. we are so excited for this next step in our lives, and i am looking at is as a 'fresh start' for me. i won't feel like as much of a hermit and i will hopefully be starting a new (and better) job in that area. the silver lining? pretty much everything i've already stated.

4. since we're moving i feel like i have done nothing but prepare for it for the past 2 weeks. i've moved apt complexes before, but it seems like so much more of a hassle now that craig and i are married. i have to make sure that the mail gets forwarded...pack...get this apt in tip top shape so that we can get a huge chunk of our $2000 deposit back...pack...deal with edison...pack...and on and on and on. it's such a huge hassle. the silver lining? i am feeling very helpful and worthy since i've pretty much taken on all of the moving responsibilities.

5. we puppy-sat for courtney and woody's dog bailey while they were on their honeymoon. don't get me wrong, i loved having bailey. she provided us with so much entertainment for the week that we had her...after all, she was only 7 weeks old. i've never had a dog before, so that was quite the growing experience for me. craig and i kept calling bailey a kitty, and her barks meows. the silver lining? who doesn't love a puppy?!

even though the last 2 weeks or so have been really stressful, i have been trying to find the silver linings in every situation. with all of the stress and pain every event has caused me and craig, i have to remind myself that God is in control...which has been quite hard for me to remember. it can be so easy to focus on the bad in life which will just bring you down. the silver linings may seem to be all the good that it coming out of this stressful time right now, but i know that it will get better for us. i just have to trust.

the silver lining to my life...i have a beyond-amazing and supportive husband, great friends and family, and God keeps stretching me and making me grow in ways that i couldn't have imagined.

whirlwind

2009-05-04T16:08:00.000-05:00

on friday, april 24th, manda, erin, and i headed out to palm desert for a little oreo time. it was such a fun and relaxing weekend! we got to the house on friday night and relaxed by going in the spa and watching a little csi miami. the weather was just so great on saturday that we spent almost the entire day outside. we sat out by the pool and rode scooters down through the neighborhood. that night we went out to dinner at cafe italia to celebrate manda's birthday. the restaurant is known for having singing waiters and waitresses, and is always full of elderly golf-loving couples. we were by far the youngest ones there, but we still had a lot of fun! we went back to the house after dinner to set a few little things up for manda. the three of us spent the rest of the night eating cupcakes, talking, and smoking cigars. it was such a great weekend for the three of us to spend some time together and catch up a bit more.

after getting back home i unpacked and then packed for my trip to dallas. my mom was having sinus surgery on monday, and i was going to keep her company. she was pretty out of it at times, but other than that she was normal. it was good to see my family again so soon. on the flight back home i noticed that i recognized a passenger that got on the plane. it was owen wilson. yep. the movie start himself. he was only on the plane from dallas to austin, but hey...i was a mere 2 inches from owen wilson. the rest of the flight i was occupied by 'the undomestic goddess' by sophie kinsella (whom i love) and dewey (the famous library cat).

i got back from dallas on thursday at 4:30, sat in traffic for nearly 2 hours, got back about 10 minutes before craig, unpacked from dallas, packed for san diego, and then craig and i were on our way. i booked us a hotel room in san diego on thursday night, and then i got us tickets to the wild animal park for friday. craig's 24th birthday was on saturday so we got a head start on celebrating his birthday. the park was so much fun. we walked the whole park and got to see so many animals. we had a lot of fun, and i am so glad that craig enjoyed the trip. on saturday he had to work-and of course he didn'g get off on time-so when he came home i made him a home cooked meal and watched a movie. then on sunday (after a lot of cleaning) we went out to dinner at lucille's with craig's family. lucille's is always a good choice with craig. after dinner we had everyone over for some cake and more hang-out time.

now, i am finally back home and things are back to normal. well, as normal as it can be at the moment. :-)

fresh start

2009-04-23T01:46:00.000-05:00

craig and i are moving to fullerton. it all happened pretty fast. we went to check out the apartment complex on wednesday and then went back on friday to sign the papers. we hadn't even been talking about moving from our apartment. we like it here, but rent's a bit expensive and they won't lower it at all. there are a few other not-so-good things about our complex too...like: one of our neighbors smokes pot in the courtyard on sunday nights/monday mornings and it's so strong that it wakes us up, my car got broken into in the gated parking lot, and we're kind of far from the people that we want to be closer to. it's kind of funny because the complex we are moving to is going to make us so much closer to craig's family, and our biola friends which will be fantastic. we're also going to be 1 floor above our friends courtney and woody. we are really looking forward to this move and all that comes along with it. we really want to take advantage of the community that we will have while we live in fullerton before we move to who knows where.

since we are planning on moving, i'm looking for another job. i definitely did not want to stay at forever 21 for that long. don't get me wrong though; i am so thankful that i got that job and that i got promoted to something that i enjoy. it's just that with my back injury and the fact that i'm 22, it's just not the place for me to be. i've applied to dozens (yes dozens) of administrative assistant jobs. i actually love doing that kind of work. for some reason filing, copying, and answering the phones is enjoyable to me. and, i'll be able to sit most of the day which would be great for my grandma back.

i am definitely looking forward to some change. i have had a hard last couple of months and i feel like this is going to be a fresh start for me. i am looking forward to some consistency, stability, community, and getting to live in orange county instead of los angeles county.

so this is where we are

2009-04-14T02:27:00.000-05:00

hey. i guess that i am bad at the whole blog thing. i am sure that i will get better now that i am off of work for awhile...

i'm on medical leave from work right now, which makes me feel really old. i hurt my back while moving a bunch of heavy boxes. i didn't think it was that bad at first, but after a few days i couldn't move my back, bend over, pick up stuff, etc. so, i ended up in the emergency room so that i could get some pain meds until i could get in to see my dr. to make a long story short, i saw my dr., filed an 'incident report' at my work, and have been off for a week now. i'm waiting for my employers to approve my 'incident report' so that i can go and see their dr., but they are being a pain about it all. i'm sure they just don't want to pay for it. so here i sit...all day...every day.

up until today i have done nothing but sit in bed. that's all that i have been able to physically do. today though, i was able to get up and do some much needed laundry and start my spring cleaning. it felt good to be able to accomplish something around the apt. i was starting to feel really down on myself for not being able to help out. poor craig. he was having to do so much for me last week. i know that he was totally happy to do it, but there's still something so humbling about having to completely rely on another person, even when it's your spouse. i am so thankful for everything that he has done to make me feel better and to make me feel like i am not a burden.

on another note...craig is now an ambulance driver! he has been since the end of january, and he actually enjoys it. he started a new shift just 2 weeks ago that lets us actually see each other every day, which is such a huge blessing. we went 3 months with just seeing each other 1 or 2 times a week...except for when we were sleeping. he has a great partner on his shift, and he almost has enough hours to be able to pick up a fire-shift, so that will be so exciting for him. he worked an insane 65 hours last week! yay for super overtime!!!

other than that, nothing is really going on. craig and i are considering moving to fullerton when our lease expires at the end of may. courtney and woody are living there once they get married, so it would be really fun to live close to another couple. we are just so excited about how much closer we are going to be to everyone now. i mean, i know that we aren't far, but over the hill seems to create a larger obstacle. we'll only be 20 minutes from his parents, sister and brother-in-law, 20 minutes from erin and manda, and we'll be so much closer to all of our friends/family in the biola area. we really want to take advantage of living close to so many of our dear friends and family before we move to...? we are going to look at the complex on wednesday!!!

ok. this is a long enough post for now. once i update more regularly, they won't be so long.

love.

New Year, New Adventures

2009-01-08T22:41:00.000-06:00

Since this is a new year, I decided that I would try something new...and blog. We'll see how long it lasts, but it seems like it will be fun. So much had happened to Craig and I since we've been married. I feel like I have learned so much over the past few months, and I know that I have so much more to learn still. One thing that I am being constantly reminded of is that I shouldn't worry; God keeps pounding that into my head, and I'm not always doing a good job of listening. I feel as though I have gotten better, but I obviously still have a long way to go. haha.

Craig got hired at CARE Ambulance and absolutely loves it. He finished up his 3 months of 'probation' on Monday, so he now holds a regular shift. He gets so excited about going to work and always has crazy stories to tell when he comes home. We don't get to see each other very much anymore though since he got his regular shift and I got a huge promotion at work. He works from 1pm-11pm, and I work from 6am-1pm. Boo! We were so fortunate to spend a few months together without working when we were first married, so this feels like torture to us now!

I got hired at a new Forever 21 in the Puente Hills mall about 6 weeks ago. It's actually a really fun job too! The store is 30,000 sq. ft...so it is so so so big! I've already been promoted twice, but this last promotion was a big one! I got hired as a sales associate, got promoted to cash wrap, and then recently got promoted to...(drum roll please)...Accessory Specialist/Visual Merchandiser. Woo hoo! Basically, I am in charge of the entire 'For Love' section from stocking the merchandise to setting up the visual displays, following corporate updates, building fixtures, etc. I am having a lot of fun with it so far. I got evaluated by my boss the other day and I scored really high, and am actually available to be promoted again soon. haha. Who knew that I was suited for retail and visual work?! I think that I would feel bad taking an even bigger promotion right now since I am supposed to be student teaching in Fall 2009. We'll see what happens.

Anyways, I should get going.

Megan Lynn Maples

10 things i am thankful for

long overdue

out in the open

jacque's baby shower

another thankful post

GO PACK GO!!!!

thankful

that's all for now

*disclaimer* this post is NOT about craig

thankful

new

giving it up

craig's birthday

date night.

in a nutshell

snow day

praises

our next big adventure

christmas time is here

we're texas bound y'all

northwoods and weddings galore

next week and this week

more updates

the silver lining

whirlwind

fresh start

so this is where we are

New Year, New Adventures

disclaimer this post is NOT about craig