Getting to Know Our Contributors Week--Megan (Megs)

Welcome to our Getting to Know Our Contributors Week!

Mondays are my day, so here's a little more about me!

Do you have any pets? No, but we all totally want a dog. Our house came with the perfect doggy door. It's like destiny. And our little boy just lights up when he sees a dog. Too bad my husband is allergic. We'd have to get a  Labradoodle or something. 

What was the last book you read? I read Web Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso to my husband while we drove to Salt Lake City recently. It wasn't my choice. He's does web development and marketing as a career. But I really like to read John Grisham, Dan Brown, and religious novels. I am intrigued by stories that mix historical facts with a fictional story-line.

Do you like to cook? Yes, and I like to try new recipes. My husband is one of those people who is comfortable sticking to the same old stuff, so I only have a few recipes mastered.

Where and what do you like to eat when you go out? I love this little sushi place we have in town called Benja's. One of my new favorite places is La Frontera's--I absolutely love their Chicken Chimichangas. I also really like to try new places and different menu items that I haven't tried before. It drives my husband crazy that I would spend money on something that I don't know if it will be good or not, so sometimes I try not to be so adventurous.

What are your pet-peeves? Some pet-peeves of mine are when people don't put a new roll of toilet paper on when they use the last sheet and when bathrooms don't have garbage cans. Also, another would be that my husband hides my pillow almost every night before bed. Apparently "it's a game". Oh ya, and when he tries to undo my bra at church by pretending to scratch my back--he knows that it drives me crazy! Who does that?! Oh man, and I totally still love him.

What is something that you regret about your past? Letting a boy talk me out of finishing tryouts for softball in high school. I also regret taking my childhood blanky on a camp-out with some friends and losing it. Some person I didn't even really know I think had it packed in their car I never saw it again. I am still devastated. I don't even know the person's name to try to contact them.

What is something that you don't regret about your past? I don't regret meeting my husband and deciding to marry him :) I also don't regret going on an church mission. It honestly was one of the most challenging yet rewarding 18 months of my life. It solidified  what I already believed. Honestly I gained so much perspective about life. Click on "my faith" to learn more about what I believe.

Do you have brothers and sisters? What is your relationship like with them? Yes, I have 5 siblings-- 4 sisters, (Abbey, Lizz, Ginger,& Jane) and 1 brother (Andrew). I'm the oldest. They all live from 3 to 6 hours away from me. I have this weird sense of humor that comes out when I see them. It's pretty random, but yet we all get it. Check out this sweet picture of me and my sister that is just younger than me when we were little kids. She had recently cut her own hair, and I decided to doodle all over her face and arms. That is my beloved childhood blanky over the stool as our tablecloth! 

I also married into an amazing family (both Gary's dad's and mom's side)--So I count Sandy, Brad, Nate, Amber, & Kaitlin as my siblings too!

Which sport do you like? I like to play volleyball and softball. I played volleyball a little in high school. We also used to do a volleyball night with our friends at a park in town. We should start that up again...when it gets warmer. I like to watch any sport too, but probably not when I'm just hanging out by myself.

Do you live in a house or an apartment? A house that we love. We've had fun doing our own remodeling and painting. 

Have you ever lived in another country? Nope--never been out of the country. But I dream of it all the time. I studied art history and I am dying to go to Rome or Paris.

Have you ever met a famous person? One time I was driving around, hanging out with my younger sister when I was about 20 or so in my 1983 Subaru a.k.a. Blubaru. My car started to stall, and I barely made it past where all the cars came off of the freeway onto the street I was on. The car was dead (it had a broken axle), and it was snowing blizzard-like outside.  My cool (a gray and black screen old school) cell phone was not working at the moment because a little boy drowned it in a fish bowl. My sister and I had to face the storm and ran to the nearest gas station just as a tour bus was pulling up. I ran to the pay phone and this guy with a P.O.D. jacket on that had come out of the bus asked me where the Krispy Kreme doughnuts were. That's my only claim to fame. And for all I know, he could have just been the bus driver.

How do you spend your free time? I'm the type of person who doesn't really get bored. I am perfectly content initiating creative activities for myself, finding something to read, blogging, organizing things, trying something new, and painting. I also like to spend time with my family.

Tell me about a favorite or funny event from your childhood. I remember bits and pieces of going on a trip on passenger train when I was about 4 years old. We went to California, then all the way up to Washington to visit some cousins and then took the train back to Utah. 

Have you ever been in an accident?  I got hit by a car as a pedestrian when I was 18, a few days before my high school graduation. It's really a crazy story. I was holding Gary's hand while we were walking back to his car after swimming at the dam with a bunch of other seniors. All of a sudden I was not-so-much holding his hand anymore. The car was going about 40 mph and the bumper hit me in the back while my arm swung back and broke the windshield. I don't remember hitting the ground--I just remember standing in the road and saying "I'm okay." But apparently from the look on Gary's face, it didn't seem so much like I was okay like I thought.  There was blood everywhere! It was a hit and run too. Gary didn't know whether to go after the car that hit me or to help me, but he ended up calling out for someone to help us. Anyway, long story short, they caught the driver because the car had  broken windshield. The driver got cited for a bunch of things--not having insurance was why they took off I guess. I ended up being okay for the most part, but a friend sympathy limped across the stage with me to get my high school diploma. Also, I got in a little fender bender just after my little boy was born. I was eating a sandwich while I was driving that dropped in my lap, and I rear-ended a lady in a Jaguar. Luckily she was super nice about it and there wasn't much damage. Thank you kind lady in the Jaguar.

What countries have you visited? Um...the U.S. of A. That's it.

Do you have a nickname? Pretty much anyone close to me calls me Megs. I think it confuses a lot of people that just meet me--they think it is possessive term or something and wonder what it is that belongs to me. So those people end up just calling me Meg. My mom and dad call me Meggy-egan sometimes. One of my sisters calls me Ham sometimes.

What do you do on Sundays? Go to church and hang out with my family. We sometimes visit a few of my husband's aunts and uncles that live nearby and have dinner with them.

What do you do? What's your job? I am first and foremost a mom and wife. I also do commissioned oil paintings and have a little photography business on the side. I'm actually starting to lean toward focusing on my painting/drawing instead of my photography.

What is your motto in life? That anyone can be creative if they want to--it just takes patience, and sometimes a lot of it. 

What is/are your favorite movie(s)? Since I was little, I have loved Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I also really like James Bond movies. I wish I was a secret agent. I like anything that really makes you think too, or has a twist to it that you didn't expect.

What kind of people do you like? I love people who are happy--the ones that get you to laugh so hard you get an ab workout. Also, I love people that are straight forward and honest who just tell you how it is--good or bad.

Which languages do you speak? I speak English (obviously), and a little español.

What are you best at? Artsy stuff--making things look good. I'd have to say patience too--maybe only with certain things.

Any bad habits you need to work on? Washing my hands in scalding hot water--it makes my eczema flare up--I guess I have some subconscious theory that the hotter the water, the more clean my hands will be.

Who has had the most influence in your life? It used to be my friends, then my parents, my mom especially--but now it is my husband and little boy.

Would you like to be famous? I guess it would depend on what for. I don't think I'd want to be a singer or actress, although I wouldn't mind being really ridiculously good at those talents. But I'd probably like to be a famous author or artist--those seem a little more low key and normal. I think that for anyone it would be harder to have a real perspective on life if you were always in the spotlight and had all the material items you ever wanted.

What do you think you will be doing five years from now? I think we'll probably be trying to keep up with more kids.

Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person? I love the feeling of accomplishing so much when it is still morning. I feel lazy if I sleep in too long.

What is your favorite season? I absolutely love summer. I love all the things you can do in the summer like camping, boating, and just being outside. I love the warm. I love that you don't have to wear 50 layers of clothes and get all sweaty to try to be at a bearable temperature. But I do love all the warm things about Christmastime too, like the warm fussy feeling when someone opens your gift, hot chocolate, and the warmth from a fireplace, etc.

How many times did you move as a child? I think 3 times. I was born in Phoenix, AZ, then moved to Logan, UT for a short time when I was really young, and then to West Weber, UT. I only really remember our home in West Weber. We lived right next to my grandpa's farm. Here I am in the driveway on the tractor with my grandpa when I was little.

What cartoon or TV show character best describes you? I'd have to say Pam Beesly Halpert from The Office because she is down-to-earth, she likes to draw and paint, plus she is married to her best friend. I love that she and Jim have all sorts of inside jokes.

Image from HERE 

If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be? I'd want to live somewhere where I could learn another language and experience a different way of life---which could be anywhere, but maybe I'd lean more toward somewhere in South America in the jungle or something.

If you knew you could try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt? Writing novels.

What super-power would you most like to have, and why? I would love to read minds...or move stuff by thinking about it. In fact, I had a dream last night that Johnny Depp taught me how to float in the air just by thinking about it. I think it was because I saw a preview for The Tourist before I went to bed.

Would you rather take pictures or be in pictures? I am usually the one taking them because I have had a photography business on the side. But honestly, when I go through our family pictures, I always wish I was in more of them! I have gazillions of Gary and Tucker, but not as many with me in them. I hope Tucker doesn't think I abandoned him during his childhood.

Are you a beach, country, or city person? It's hard to say. I grew up next to a farm where there were fields between all the houses. I got to have so many pets as a child--bunnies, lambs, puppies, kittens, etc., and I think that was a really good experience as a child. But I don't think it is as convenient as being in the city. I do love the beach too. It would be ideal to live in the country, very near to the city and a beach! Anyone know a place like that?

Where do you spend most of your money? Other than payment on our mortgage and bills, probably the grocery store. Pretty lame.

When did you start feeling old? I don't think I am super old. Up until I was about 25, everyone thought I looked like I was still in high school. Funny story: Once when I was about 23, when my husband worked as a school bus driver, he got permission to take me on the bus for a field trip he was driving bus for. I sat right behind him. The teachers started marking attendance, and they asked me my name to make sure they could mark that I was there so I could get credit for going on the field trip. Hopefully I looked like one of the more mature high school students. I think I look more my age now, especially since I had my little boy. I am a little older than my husband and he likes to give me a hard time about it. But I do admit, I was a little shocked about my age when all of my itty-bitty little cousins started graduating high school and going to college.

How would you describe your overall style? I really like a natural look--clean, simple, and not overly done. I like lots of blues, greens, browns, and whites. 

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? I would be any shade of blue. I have loved this color for as long as I can remember. In high school I wore A LOT of blue. Pretty much most of my shirts were all blue. But I have since then ventured to other colors. Next favorite color: green.

What is the best material gift you ever received? I love my Macbook. I didn't even know how much I would love it when I got it. It was Gary's idea to get it for me. I hadn't even really used a mac too much when I got it, but I will never go to a PC again.

If you have a significant other, how did you meet and what attracted you to him/her? I met Gary when I was a Junior in high school. I came home from school and told my mom that he had the most blue eyes that I had ever seen in my life! Pretty cheesy, but he had me hooked ever since. We were really good friends at first and hung out every school day during lunch. We kind of went our own ways after high school but stayed in touch. We even went 3 years without even seeing each other in person because of church missions, but still ended up together again 6 years after we met and got married. Here's a pic of us in high school (yup, I'm wearing a blue shirt). He is sitting in the desk in front of mine and leaned over for a picture.

What is your favorite TV show? Probably The Office or Wipeout. How can you not laugh?

Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Probably The Home Depot.

If you have children, how many children do you have and what are their names? I have two boys, Gary--27 (haha! just kidding, but seriously sometimes I feel like it's true), and Tucker--18 months.

Well, that is a little bit about me!