Surprise Game Show Winnings

One lazy Saturday Mike came down and poked his head in our room. I was reading when he asked me to come out to the living room. In the living room he had a card that said:

"Megan,

Congratulations! You are the next contestant on 'Mikey has a HUGE surprise for you show!!!

But first you must answer the following questions correctly to qualify for you surprise...

Are you ready to begin?

Question #1

Who is your favorite person in the world?

a. Your husband

b. Michael Vaughn

c. Marisa

d. Bart

e. None of the above

Question #2

Which of the following is your favorite quality of your husband?

a.Dashing handsomeness

b. Charming demeanor

c. Impeccable auditing skills

d. Dry sense of humor

e. All of the above

Do you have what it takes to win 'Mikey has HUGE surprise for you?!? There is only way one to see! Please submit your questionnaire for grading by the judges!"

Upon submission (he might have been slightly biased)... I was rewarded with another card that when I opened up, I saw this:

I was so excited!! I desperately wanted to see Broadway's production of The Lion King at the Capitol Theater. When the day came we partied hard! Every member of Mike's family came into town for a family Lagoon day. Thank you Mansfields!! It was very fun, very hot and we ended the afternoon very tired. Mike and I left early, caught a shower at home, a quick nap and went to dinner before the show. I forgot my camera but we took a couple pics on Mike's phone before the show.

It was such an amazing performance! I might as well have been 5 yrs old by the way I was grinning as the animals came down the aisles at the beginning of the show. It was incredible! You obviously can't take pictures but here are a couple from online. The giraffes were my favorite! I can't imagine the creativity and the talent that went into this production. It was truly unique and impressive.

I was so grateful for an exciting surprise (he knows I LOVE surprises!) from my sweet husband. I most especially enjoyed going to the theater with him! It's something my family did a lot growing up and therefore, is one of my favorite things to do. I miss going more often and Michael knows it. Although we could do anything and have fun together, it was great to have a special night out.

**Mr. Mansfield makes me one happy wife!**

Perspective

They walked by... one, two, three.

Seeing nothing but a tree.

Fourth walked by happy to see,

A hidden face smiling at me.

Perspective.

A New Mantra

"Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation."

- Eat, Pray, Love

Transformation is coming.

(not in the form of pregnancy)

The Magic

How much would you pay at Smith's for...

4 rolls of Bounty paper towels

1 box of 45 count Tampax Pearl tampons

5 Colgate toothbrushes

1 bottle of Downy lavender fabric softener

5 Lady Speed Stick deodorants

2 Herbal Essences cans of mousse

2 Herbal Essences cans of hairspray

5 Weber grilling marinade packs

2 bottles of Old Spice men's body wash

2 boxes of American Beauty penne pasta

22 (yes, TWENTY-TWO!) tubes of Crest (17) and Colgate (5) toothpaste

Go ahead and add it up...

Oh really? Is that how much you'd pay??

Well I paid...

$10.72.

Unbelievable, right? Well, believe it-- I have the 2 and half foot receipt to prove it. My best receipt so far that says I saved 88% off my bill that started at $122.10, dropped to $61.84 and finished at $10.72!!

Now that's the magic of Savvy Shopping baby!

Welcome! Come on in...

Without further ado, our home. Enjoy the tour!

Our front porch.

I love, love, love this bench! Our good friends gave it to us last week as a housewarming gift. I am so happy just sitting on it with Mike on a good evening staring at the temple. Thank you SO much Satterthwaites!!

Entry way

To the left of the entry way is the.... formal living room.

(This room is currently serving as storage for my sister's sofa and my chairs. You'll notice throughout the tour that we're building each room piece by piece. So we're not there yet with the decorating, mostly cause we don't own that much furniture, but we're enjoying the journey!)

Walking through the entry way from the front door leads into the... living room.

Behind the living room is the... kitchen nook. I adore the oversized window and doors on both left and right of the kitchen area that lead to the backyard. When we complete our yard it's going to be fantastic to open up those doors and let the air breeze through from our patio area.

Walking past the eat-in area is the... kitchen. You have to know how LITTLE counter space we had the first two and half years of our marriage to understand the appreciation I have for our island. When I saw it I actually hugged it. Counter space... I love you! I've always wanted dark hard wood floors so these beauties warm my heart at night after my sweetheart of a husband has cleaned and buffed them and they shine up at me. Yes, I have a serious relationship with my floors. (And, of course, with my husband!)

Walk through the kitchen and to the left and you'llbe at the garage entrance where there is a... guest bathroom. Not much to say here- it does it's purpose well! :)

Also on the main floor is the... master bedroom.

Obviously one of my favorite rooms. I love many things about it. One: I love the three little windows above the bed. Two: I love the high, slanted, unique ceilings. Three: I am obsessed with the sitting/reading nook with windows. It is my own, personal reading area complete with a ridiculously comfortable chaise lounge ($45 @ the overstock liquidation sale!).

Opposite my reading nook is the master bathroom.

His and her sinks and a jetted tub for stress-releasing evenings. I didn't take a picture of the shower which is to the left of the tub in the above photo. Also in the above photo is the door that leads to the closet. I definitely did not clean it the evening of picture-taking... therefore, it is being left out. It's a closet. To the left is Mike's area and the to the right is mine. There is also a giant window that doesn't really make sense to us but is nice for natural light (Ha ha...I guess?). Although it mostly remains with the blinds closed because really, how clean do you all keep your closets?! Also in the above photo with the sinks is the WC. Nothing special there but again, it does its job.

Upstairs overlooking the living room is the door to... Mike's office, which is put to good use pretty much every night as he studies for the CPA exam. He's one hard-working sexy man of mine.

One of the best things is the three windows that pretty much encompass the room. There are some great views on both side of the mountains.

To the left of the office is my (pretty much empty)... workout room. The good news is that in the next week a treadmill will occupy this space. Yay!! I'm so excited!

To the left of the workout room is the... guest bathroom. It's so nice to have a separate bathroom for family and friends.

Next to the bathroom is (currently) the... craft/play room. This is mostly "my room" where all my therapy toys, crafts, cedar chest, memories, etc. reside. It is planned to be the future nursery. It's going to be pretty much one of the cutest nurseries ever. :) Mostly because of the charming step down into a play area off of the room. I am going to put a glider in that area and rock my baby to sleep while I look at this...

In the future maybe that area will be a small sitting/reading area for my children or maybe we'll go all out and create it's own little door so when you walk through you are transported into a castle, spaceship or some other magical space for make believe.

And finally... this is the guest bedroom. I understand it's mostly empty now but I have big plans for this room. As for now, it's already housed 5 nights of guests. We LOVE having a room for them and welcome any of you to spend a night when you're in town, in need, want to have a sleepover... whatever. :)

So thanks for joining me for the tour. Again, we extend an invite to all that'd love to come for a game night, drop-by, FHE or weekend.

**The point of having a home is to fill it with family, friends, laughter and love. We look forward to many to come!**

A New Adventure

Some of you may know that Michael and I recently purchased a new home in April. We've lived here for 2 months and we are slowly repairing and improving. We love it! It's such an exciting adventure for us. We never, EVER could have done it without our incredible families. Here are some pictures of my family helping us patch holes, replace lightbulbs, clean walls, wipe out cupboards, etc, etc, etc... (all the dues required in purchasing your own home, right?).

Boys working hard... although it currently doesn't look like Jonny is, he actually cleaned ALL the walls in the whole house.

As it was a full days' job we had a little lunch in the kitchen. Ree actually brought some amazing chocolate cake for her birthday (we celebrated it about 5 times this year so don't think I'm a horrible sister-- it wasn't her birthday or her party on the day we cleaned).

A couple of the fantastic things about our new home is living near these beauties!

Although I still haven't found the time to go around and take pictures of the inside, here is a picture of the outside...

We love, love our home and can't wait to start an adventure of a different kind here sometime soon ("soon" is really a very relative term so don't read too far into that).

Health Ideal

Canyoneering

Every May my audiology group typically does a humanitarian trip. In past we have gone to Mexico, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. This year, the trip ended up falling through due to all the turmoil in Mexico-- so we opted to do audiology-volunteer work at a school in Moab for a couple days. Truthfully, the volunteer work only took us a matter of hours. So the rest of the time we played!

The first day we all hiked to the famous Arch (my first time seeing it actually!).

Some of the students in a rock window, the famous arch on Utah's license plates and more of the group as we worked our way up.

The next day we chose whether to go regular hiking or canyoneering. I am so happy I decided to go canyoneering with Liz and all the boys. It was ridiculously fun! In case any of you don't know what canyoneering is (as I didn't)- let me tell you... it is a riot! Basically, canyoneering is getting through a canyon by walking, scrambling, etc. and using rappel gear to descend once you get to the top. Beau and Chris were our "secret-taking-the-backroad-trail" guides, and they fulfilled their promise to get us home in one piece. With the help of the men as an occasional step stool for the girls (hey- I'm only 5'3!), we all hiked/crawled/boosted/jumped/lifted our way up to the highest point in Arches National Park-- Elephant Butte.

Liz and I were pretty proud of ourselves. We were the only girls to brave the 4 hr hike!

The canyoneering group (minus me, the picture-taker, of course).

The view from the top of the world (or at least the top of Arches National Park). Us signing the register to proclaim we made it to the TOP!

Me rappelling down-- woo! I'm the tiny pink dot so look closely. Wow, what an amazing rush!

On the second rappel, we decided to flip upside down half way. Some of us (Liz) had some great shots!

Others struggled a little to get all the way upside down, not naming any names (Beau and Dr. Larsen). It was quite the hilarious scene to observe.

I highly recommend canyoneering to anyone that gets the chance. It was a blast and hope Mike and I can do it together soon!

Sometimes it's the little things...

...that make a home yours.

The permanent mark on our linoleum floor where Mike and I (still under debate who is personally responsible) accidentally leaned on the stove knob while putting away groceries, caught our groceries on fire, realized I have not been trained how to appropriately react to a fire and Mike running in and knocking the flames onto the ground. Resulting in above.

The hole under our porch where one, two, possibly three snakes resided. You never know when a snake is going to completely ruin your ice cream cone on the porch.

The pink (debatably mauve by some people's account) carpet. I cried the first time I saw you (not the happy kind). Yet it's amazing how your horrid color seemed to fade and be less important to me as the years went by. I think I actually accepted you as if you were a nice, pleasant beige. Now that's growth on my part.

The cheesy glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling of our bedroom. We made fun of them but somehow never had the time in two years to take them down. So they will happily pass to the next resident and they will think that those tacky stars were my fashion faux pas.

The "flame" key. Also another thing to pass to the next lucky resident who will think that we thought the key that looked like fire was cool. No, definitely was not us.

The shelf that Mike built me to store all the cleaning and laundry supplies due to the paucity of storage space. And the amazing labels he made to organize cleaning supplies vs. food storage vs. laundry materials (yes, I'm very much in love with him).

The extra security measures, the motion sensor alarm and second door lock that Mike bought and installed for me to make me feel safe while we lived those three long months apart. Ironic that I felt I needed these on our little lane in Logan after we left our keys in the door for an entire night without being robbed, killed, etc.

Even if it was the little imperfections that made it perfect. It was ours.