New Stuff ♥

Wow it has been such a long time since I last wrote! So much really has happened I don't even know where to start.  The school year has come and gone and now its summertime.  Part way through the semester David had to go to Wyoming to work for a week so he could have a job for the summer.  That went well, while he was gone there I stayed with my family in Ephraim since it was my Spring Break, which I really enjoyed.   While he was gone I found out some very exciting news that we had been waiting for, I was PREGNANT!! I found out on a Thursday and he wouldn't be home until Saturday.  It was so hard to keep it a secret from everyone especially him! I went and picked him up from the airport and on his seat when he got back to the car, was a little present.  I wrote out a note that said Congrats Daddy we love you! Then there was a little package with a little baby onesie and some baby lotion.  His face was priceless when I told him.  We are due the day before Thanksgiving and we couldn't be more anxious!
Exactly a week from today and we will hopefully find out the gender of our little miracle.  Its still unreal to me that we will be parents so soon and that we will be seeing out little baby before the end of this year! My pregnancy really has been pretty easy.  Yes I have been sick and yes I have thrown up but I figure that is just the way that the baby has to remind us to take care of ourselves because they are in there and they do need good things.  Its so amazing how many things have to go just right in order for the baby to be born healthy and yes I do worry about it, but I know that God will bless me with the baby that is just right for us. 
Now back on track... After school finished we moved back to Wyoming for the summer.  David has a really good job here so that's why we came back.  He really enjoys what he does and I'm hoping we can get him a similar summer job in Provo next year.  This is our last summer coming back to Wyoming for the summer, particularly because it would be really hard moving everything back and forth plus have a new little baby.  David and I both decided this when we first got married and I feel it is the best choice.  I have been trying to get a job for this summer and I have had a couple of interviews but I haven't heard back from anyone yet.  Its kind of hard for me being here because I am away from my family and I get really bored and depressed here just because I never know what to do. Its alright though because I know that it helps us out financially and so its worth it.  I just really wish I could find a job to do so I can get out of the house a couple hours a day. 
We are hoping to become apartment managers in the fall to help us even more with finances but we don't know if that will work out.  It really would be awesome if we could pull this one off but we will see!
With all these life changes coming so quickly, we have a lot to prepare for.  We have so much we need to get ready for in the next couple months but mostly we have so much to be grateful for! I'm so excited for everything to happen and I just am so anxious for everything!!

Changes

There have been a lot of changes in my life over the past couple years.  I went to my families ward in Ephraim last week and they asked me to talk to the girls in young women's about finding joy in trials.  I thought that I would be able to breeze through everything that I said without and problems just because I didn't realize how big of a deal everything was to me until I got up and started talking.  I cried through the entire thing and I felt really bad just because I couldn't stop crying no matter how hard I tried.  Anyways here I kind of what I said,

After I graduated High school I thought I had my entire life figured out.  I was going to go to Snow College and get my nursing degree.  I was going to marry the man that I was engaged to, my High School Sweetheart, the only man outside of my family that I had ever loved.  When all of a sudden a phone call changed absolutely EVERYTHING!! A soccer coach from a school in middle of no where Wyoming called me and asked me to go play for him.  I didn't know if I should go or not.  I already had all my plans figured out and I didn't want to change them.  But it had always been my dream to play soccer in College, even though I didn't feel I was nearly good enough to play, but it was still my dream and I wanted to take the scholarship so badly.  I took it and that is where everything took a 180 degree turn around.  My family and Colton took a trip to Wyoming and made it a great vacation.  We went to Yellowstone and just had a complete blast.  Finally the time came for my family to leave.  My dad gave me a priesthood blessing that was beautiful, not to mention it was the first time I had ever seen him cry, with the exception of Kody's (my little brother) death.  Everyone was teary eyed and I was practically bawling.  This was the first time I had ever been this far from my parents, and I didn't know anyone at all! I almost backed out and just went home with them because I was so afraid of the unknown. I felt there was no way I could do this! God gave me a task way too hard.  I knew my family and Colton were both just a phone call away, but it really just was not the same.  I didn't have their arms to run to if I was having a rough time and I just didn't think I could do it.  But I decided to at least give it a try.
 Soccer season started off fast and we were in it full fledged. It was rough with all the conditioning we had and just everything being completely different but it was a lot of fun! I got to travel to different states that I had never been to before and I got to meet a lot of new people.  I didn't really know too many people on the soccer team very much because I felt like I was the odd ball in the group.  About two weeks into it all I was so upset from everything, and me being away from my family and I didn't know anyone yet, it was very rough.  I called my parents and asked them to come get me.  They told me they would the next day.  I prayed that entire night and just fought through everything.  I decided to stay and just fight it out a little longer.  I had no idea why God was so insistent on me staying. I didn't know anyone and I wasn't real active in church yet because we had to miss a lot due to soccer games. I felt that was the one way that I was going to make it through was if I became more active in the student ward.  Finally I was able to go to church! It was such a relief, although I still didn't know anyone I was becoming more familiar with everything around me.  I didn't know why I was there but I trusted God did.  He had a plan and He knew what He was doing.
After a few months there things started going downhill with me and the man I loved dearly.  I didn't know what to do.  I was so distraught and it was affecting my ability to play soccer.  I wasn't able to focus or do anything I needed to and things just became way to difficult, I was missing him and I was missing everything we had done together.  I finally couldn't handle it any more and I just had to break off the engagement.  It was the hardest thing I had ever done in my entire life.  I didn't know why God wanted me to do this.  I cried for days and I felt that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop.  I still didn't understand anything God wanted from me.  I turned to God and I really meant everything I said! Its amazing how turning to Him for guidence can improve your life in so many ways.  At first I wasn't playing that much soccer.  I wasn't playing in many games and I just became the benchwarmer.  At this time I really didn't understand why God needed me here so badly.  Everything was going down hill and nothing was working how I thought it would.  Until one day my soccer coach decided to put me in shortly after the game started and I played the entire game! This happened for almost the rest of the season until it came time for regionals, he sat me on the bench again and I didn't get to play after all the hard work I put in.
I finally found out the reason why I was in Powell Wyoming.  I met a man that is so amazing.  I fell head over heels for him and I realized God really did have a purpose for me.  I felt that I would never been good enough for him and I felt there was no way he would ever want me. But he did.  After dating a few months and going through a lot together we got married.  We got sealed in the Manti Utah Temple on June 25, 2011.  It was the most remarkable experience ever and I am so grateful for all the struggles I have had in my life. I am grateful for all those who have shaped my life today.  I wouldn't be who I am without you.  I'm so blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It gives me the opportunity to go to that castle on the hill and remember the sacred covenents we made with each other and the ones we made with our Father.  It helps me to know that I can be with my family forever and that when the time comes for us to have children that I will never have to say goodbye to them. Life is truly amazing if we only find our maker and turn to Him in our tribulations.  If we don't fail, we don't learn, if we don't learn we don't grow.

Recap!

Wow I sure haven't been on here for a very long time! Everything is going great in my life.  I guess I'll have to start out with Christmas and the big change that was.  We went to my families house the week before Christmas to have a "Pre-Christmas" It was so awesome and we got a lot of great things.  We then headed to Lovell to spend time with David's side.  It was for sure a big change.  It was weird not seeing my family open presents and seeing their bright shinning faces early that morning.  It was really hard for me since I am huge into my family.  It was a big change but it was one I was willing to make for such an amazing husband.  We spent about a week there and It was a really great week.  We then went to my house for New years eve and celebrated the new year with each other for the first time.  It was such a fun time! My dad being the jokester he is made my grandma about laugh her self to death, then he started laughing and couldn't stop.  It was super awesome!
The new semester has come and it has been alright.  All my teachers are all very unprofessional and they don't even seem like professionals.  But I guess as long as I am able to get good grades then they will be good enough teachers.
Anyways now that I kind of recapped i'll start talking about something that really hit me hard today.  We had a lesson that the Bishop taught.  It was about leaving our families to cleave unto our spouses.  We aren't supposed to leave them entirely but we need to start raising our own families also.  This was especially hard for me to do especially since shortly after getting married we moved to Wyoming ten hours away from my entire support group.  I didn't know what I was going to do and it was really hard for me.  I had a rough couple months trying to cope with every single difference that had happened all at once.  But guess what I made it out just fine.
Life is definitely different being married and having to combine two completely different ways of life, but it is a journey that I don't regret at all.  I'm so blessed that I am married to such an amazing man.  He has his head on right and he is willing to do pretty much anything for me.  I cant believe that we have been married for almost 8 months already.  It seems like just yesterday we got married, but yet it seems like we have been married forever.
I love life and I wouldn't change all my experiences for anything ever!! Thanks to everyone for all their love and support in everything!! I couldn't make it through life without my cheerleaders.

Life

Sometimes I just don't understand life. 

There are successes and failures,

there are good times and bad times.

Music brings out the best and the worst in people

If someone is having a bad day they make sure everyone around them knows it. 

I don't understand why life has to be so complicated at times. 

I don't understand why life cant just flow,

Why does there have to be broken hearts?

Why cant we all just enjoy everything we have and never regret anything!

We are who we are because of the things we have experienced. 

We are what our life has made us.  Things happen for a reason.

Life is so undefined, it is always changing although you may not be. 

People have different dreams as they grow older, they change at different paces. 

Sometimes we need to look past all the bad and see only the good.  We need to look past the rough times and look forward to all the good ones.

We need to seek our dreams and run for them. 

I mostly needed to write this just to get feelings out.  Life has had its ups and downs for sure but everything will always work out the way God sees fit for us.  Life cant be easy or we would never grow, we would never get stronger.  We can all make it through this journey called life, and we can make it in the best way possible.  Never regret your past its what gave you your future. 

The Holidays

The holidays are kind of a funny time of year.  Everyone is always hustling around trying to get everything ready for Christmas.  They are stressing about money and finances, stressing about what they will get their children for Christmas and how they will ever afford everything they want.  Christmas isn't about getting the biggest best things for your kids, Christmas isn't about spending a certain amount of money, its about Christ. Everyone around us, including our government is trying to take the true, actual meaning of CHRISTmas out of it by calling it X-mas or the "holidays".  I don't understand it, I don't know why someone would want to take Christ out of Christmas.  He is the whole reason why we celebrate this holiday.  Christmas is not about the presents.  Its about the love of our Savior, its about the love of our families and being with them.  Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior and to celebrate everything he gave us.  He gave us so much that I could never be able to express my gratitude.  He did so much for us and provided us with such an amazing path and way.
Next month on Christmas is our six month anniversary.  I'm so blessed he is in my life! He blesses me so much and helps me through everything.  There are so many people in this world that have such hard relationships and I just don't understand, I guess its because David and I have something special.  We are willing to help each other through everything.  We are able to give each other more than we need.  We also have the gospel in our lives.  If you put Christ first, everything else will fall into place.  I truly am so blessed, I have an amazing family, I have an amazing husband, I have amazing in-laws, and most importantly I have an amazing Savior!
At this time and all the time we need to remember Christ in Christmas and we need to let others know about it also! He is always there for us even when no one else in the world is. He helped me through some of my most difficult times.  He helped me when I was struggling in Wyoming, he helped me find happiness again.  He helped me gain such a stronger testimony and he helped me understand my life so much better.  We all live for something miraculous, we all live for a purpose.  We may never know exactly why we are doing things at a particular time but the Lord sure does.  He knows why we are doing everything when we are doing it.  And he will help us every step of the way.

A new perspective

I was looking through some other blogs this morning when I came upon this quote by Majorie Pay Hinckley.
“I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

This quote made me really think about how I want to live my life.  When I have children I want to be there for them at all times.  I want to put my own needs second and put my families first.  I want to be able to help my neighbor when she has a hand full of groceries in one hand and a child in the other hand. I want to make a difference in someones life.  Majorie Pay Hinckley is truly a remarkable woman! She inspired me and so many other people.  

Family

Man married life is sure amazing!! I can't believe its already been a little over a month since I have been Mrs. allred! I'm finally getting used to signing my name as Megan Allred rather than Clark! Its so strange but I love it so much!! I have the best husband ever! He takes  such great care of me and I could never ask for anyone better!! We can both be totally goofy together and just laugh all night! Its the best having someone around who is so much like you!! We got our wedding day pictures back and oh my goodness they are gorgeous! I love every single one! I cannot wait until we have our own place! Ya that means paying bills and everything but I honestly cannot wait! Its been stressful trying to find somewhere while David is at work. Were going to make our final decision this weekend when we go to Utah for my cousin Jennifer's baptism.  I can't believe she is already 8 years old! Man where has time gone! It seems like just yesterday I was baptized! Anyways these past couple of weeks we have had my little brother Kayden staying with us.  It has been a great experience for us all. It has taught me to have alot of patience and understanding.  He is the type of kid that has to always be busy doing something and I'm still not completely comfortable just doing my own things here so trying to find things for him also is kind of a difficult task, but we have managed! We have done some pretty fun things.  We went up the mountain a couple days ago and we hiked up to a really pretty waterfall, and we roasted marshmallows and hotdogs.  It was alot of fun! We also went to the Powell Aquatic Center and went swimming.  It has this cool little place where you hold onto a rope ladder thing above your head while you walk across moving lilly pads.  It was way fun and alot of hard work! We were all pretty sore afterwards.  Especially our poor hands.  We also have had a fun time just chilling around the house and enjoying each others company!!! It has given me things to do with David being gone all day!  Its going to be so weird not having him here while David is at work, but its all good, i need to start packing stuff up anyways.

       

I'm truly grateful for my amazing family! They have done so much for me and have supported me so much through out my life that I can never thank them enough!! I dont think I could have ever landed in a more amazing family! Now that I get to start my own family out I hope I can raise my children like my parents raised us! Thanks to everyone for all their love and support! And most importantly thanks for helping me on my way to a great and happy life!!