Merry Christmas from the Keith's!

Here's an electronic version of our Christmas card we sent out this year...



Friends and Family,

I can hardly believe an entire year has passed and it’s time to sit and write about 2009. This year has been filled with true joy and love... full of God’s grace and many blessings.

Jaxon decided to grace us with his presence a couple weeks early in February, and was born perfect and healthy. He is now 10 months old and he is a true bundle of joy to us. He is the happiest and most content baby, and loves to laugh and play. He is crawling now and is into everything he’s not supposed to be… it continues to amaze me how he loves to play with everything except his toys! His dimples and his laugh make us smile… we love spending time just the 3 of us. I can’t believe in just 2 short months we’ll be celebrating his first birthday. Time flies for sure, and we’ve loved every second.

Tyler continues to work as an Avionics Technician and enjoys his job. He loves that there is always something new and enjoys keeping up with the ‘latest and greatest’ on the electronics side of things. I am still working for the Bank and I am now the Supervisor over 2 separate locations. It has been a challenge to say the least… I’m looking forward to the day I am able to stay home with Jaxon. Tyler and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary in July and to celebrate we spent the weekend as a family in Omaha. Our first family vacation – and it was a blast! We have lived in our house now for 1 ½ years. I love decorating it and turning it into our home. And of course Tyler loves the never-ending “honey to do” list. :) We love having a place to call our own.

Also this year we finally found a church home and an amazing group of friends through our small group. I am also back into the “worship scene” and help play keyboard and sing on our Worship Team. I am so thrilled to be back in ministry and we are grateful for our friends and family who have supported and prayed for us this past year.

We are thankful to serve a God who is in control and provides us with exactly what we need. He has blessed us in many ways and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in 2010! We pray you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love to all,

Tyler, Megan, and Jaxon

Q&A w/ Chad

Chad asked the following questions...

Are you Jimmy Ray?
Guess you'll never know.

What part of driving to work each day is your favorite?
Any part that I'm talking to God... okay, I know not the answer you were looking for, but I really do try and pray on my way to work each day.

Would you prefer to drive in reverse all the time if given the option?
Absolutely not. I would crash and burn within 100 yards of starting.

What does it feel like to have a nose ring?
You actually can't even feel it. The only time you feel anything or can tell that something is there is when you are changing it, blowing your nose, or trying to pick that annoying booger that is tickling your nose and now you can't reach it because the ring is in the way.

Have you ever flipped anyone off with your toes?
I wish. That would be amazing.

Name a time when you farted in public.
Did you know that the average person farts 14 times a day? And considering I'm at work for 8 1/2 hours per day...... 'nuff said.

Q&A w/ Kallie

Kallie asked me the following questions...

Who’s your fav sister?
Even if I had a million other sisters, you would still be my favorite.

How do you balance your relationship with God amongst everything else in your life?
Well, as much as I'd love to write about how I do it so perfectly, I can honestly admit that I'm not very good at balancing my relationship with Him. What I try to do is pray and chat with him on my way to work every morning. It's a 20 minute time that I usually either sit in silence or talk to him about things I may be going through, requests I have, or things that are just on my heart. I am honestly not very good at it but I am trying harder. Then throughout the day I just try and remember to keep talking to Him all day long. One of my goals for 2010 is to put him first. Literally, first. Anytime anything exciting or something really bad happens to me I always pick up the phone to call or text someone that I feel like would be there for me to share in my pain or excitement, and never remember to pray or thank God for whatever it is. It is going to take practice and reminders, but it is what I'm going to be striving towards.

What was life like in Africa when you went on that trip and built 25 medical homes for people with hemmoroid problems?
It was the hardest but most rewarding 5 days I have experienced to date. Why don't you tell everyone about the time you were out in the mountains with your ex-boyfriend and had to pee on his hands just for warmth from the frost bite? (Which is probably the reason he's your EX boyfriend, right? Right.)

When are you going to have another kid?
Ummmmm... welllllll... really I'm not sure. We are so happy and content right now just the 3 of us, I am not sure when it will happen. If it was up to my husband, probably never. But I'd like to have them 2-3 years apart, so we'll see.

What’s your beauty secret to looking great all the time?
Haha, you are such a jokester.

What kept you motivated when you lost all your weight? And kept it off?
The biggest thing that kept me going is remembering how great I felt right after I'd work out or when I could would try on jeans at the store that I really didn't think would fit, but I pulled that size just in case. Even now the other day I pulled out my "skinny" pre-pregnancy jeans because all my other ones were dirty, thinking "there's no way these will fit". But sure enough - slipped 'em on and zipped 'em right up! It was a great feeling - even though my body is no where near the condition it was pre-baby. My stomach is still so flabby and I have cellulite in places no one wants to know about. But it will come... all with time, and hard work. :)

Who is jimmy?
My best friend. ;)

Is there any way that we are going to live by each other again?..ok that made me sad.
I sincerely hope so. I go back and forth about this, because I want you to live by Shane who I know makes you the happiest I've seen you, but I miss you so very much. So I hope someday you guys will pick up your little farm house and move it right next door to us. Or maybe we'll pick both of our houses up and move them out to Colorado. Deal? Deal.

I love you?
And I love you. :)

Our own Christmas Traditions

This year we will be spending our Christmas at home. For the first time since we've been married, we'll be all alone on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. As much as we love being with both of our families, I am really looking forward to this time... just the three of us. Jaxon's first Christmas, and it's the perfect time to start some of our own traditions. Here's what we've done so far...

- Set up our main Christmas tree and decorations... it was an amazing and tearful night. For some reason I cried a lot that night and kept getting teary, I had really looked forward to putting up our tree with Jaxon and it was all too perfect! He was fascinated with the lights... I loved the sparkle in his eye and had to capture it on film...


And here's our pretty "main" tree:


- Next up, I had been begging Tyler to get a tree for the downstairs to put our keepsake ornaments on. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but he finally caved and I won. ;) I really wanted a tall and thin tree so we were on the hunt for one. We both grew up with real trees but our upstairs "formal" tree is artificial, so we decided to go with a real tree for downstairs. We searched high and low for a tall and thin one, and eventually gave up... decided there's no such thing. I am really excited to go pick out a real tree each year for our downstairs. Anyways, here's my short & plump 2nd tree that I love!


Jaxon's "first Christmas" ornament:


Tyler's first ornament:


A house we got from my Mom last year for buying our home:


- We are going to go meet Santa! Even though Jaxon won't be raised believing in Santa, we still want to meet him! :)

- Going to a Christmas Eve service... this year we actually get to go to OUR church's service which I am super excited about.

- Then after we get home, we'll open 1 present and the rest on Christmas Morning... both Tyler and I did this growing up and would like to keep the tradition going with Jaxon! Usually that 1 present for us was pajama's or a little gift... I'm going to go with the pajama route.

- Making breakfast Christmas morning... I am thinking of doing homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit, or pancakes/waffles and fresh fruit. Yummy? I think so!

- Reading the story of Christ's birth before opening gifts. As you may remember my family always recites the story by memory (each person has a specific verse) but I'm not sure if we'll get brave enough to do that. Reading it is sufficient for now, I don't think Jax is ready to memorize quite yet. ;) After the story, we'll open presents then thank the Lord for what the presents represent... His gift to us, Jesus.

That's all I can think of for now... I'm sure as Jaxon gets older and the longer we'll be married the more traditions we'll create as our own little family.

What about you - any fun Christmas traditions you have?

Q&A w/ Kari!

Kari asked me the following questions...

What’s your favorite thing about being a mommy?
Ah, Kari. I could write a book about the things I love about being a Mom. The quiet moments where Jaxon is laying on my chest asleep while I'm singing to him, watching him play and develop and learn new things, his smile and his cheesy "through the nose" laugh, the beginning of "real" hugs, hearing him talk and babble on and on... I could go on forever. I love reading to him and talking to him about Jesus... man, I am struggling coming down to my 'favorite' thing. I love the opportunity that has been given to me... I love that God has blessed me so much and he chose me to be his Mom. So does that narrow it down at all for you? :)

What is your favorite book?
I am not a huge reader, although I wish I was. I would say a book that has "stayed" with me the longest would be "Butterfly in Brazil" by Glenn Packiam. It's a book about how the littlest things you do in life can make a large impact and difference. I always pray that I would do the little things in life with excellence, because I never know when and how this is going to be affecting me or someone else in the long run, and how God will use it for His glory.
I also really liked the book "The Shack". Honestly not many other books are coming to mind. I would love to read the Twilight books at some point too.

What kind of music do you like?
I like any kind of music that carries a good strong melody, good harmonies, and a catchy beat. I like country, christian, pop, and some r&b stuff too.

And how are you?
At the moment? I am good. I am really excited for Christmas this year... so many fun things planned with Jaxon and I can't wait to spend Christmas morning as a family for our first Christmas. It will be perfect and I can't wait. :)

Thanks Kari! Merry Christmas!

Q&A time!

Do you ever have a time during your blog life that you are literally just out of things to say... life passes you by day by day and you just can't bring yourself to write a post about absolutely nothing? That's where I am. I have been given a lot of grief by a couple of you crazy kids lately about not writing, so here I am... writing. Except, I'm going to copy Leah and ask you to give me some writing material.

So here we go! Lets have a Q&A! Ask me anything. From married life, to being a mom, to owning a home, or maybe about my faith, my favorite color... haha, anything within reason. ;)

Most of you I know in person so it should be interesting to see what you come up with.

Later alligator.

Wordless Wednesday . . . bathtime!

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiago?

Sorry for being MIA the past week. It was a week from youknowwhere and each day I just focused on getting through the day and praying the next day would be better.

I was ganged up on multiple times this week by a couple of my employees and thrown under a semi by their comments and very hurtful things they did and said about me. I was THIS.CLOSE. to just quitting... I spent hours a couple times this week in tears in my office... just feeling overwhelmed and wondering what in the world I did to deserve it. I guess I just feel like this whole job situation would be different if someday I could look back on this and say "You know what... it was worth it. All of the stress, anxiety, and hurtful things I went through was worth it." But the sad thing is, I'll never be able to say that. I'll never be able to say that what I'm going through has made me a better person, because I really doubt it ever will. Anyway, I won't go in to detail because honestly, I just don't want to relive it or think about it on this beautiful Sunday.

Jaxon and I spent last weekend in Iowa visiting Tyler's family, while Tyler was out pheasant hunting. We had a really good time and Jaxon had a blast playing with his uncles :) It is always a relaxing time for me to go there because I am forced to sit and relax instead of worrying about my house and all things I should be doing. My sister met us there on Saturday to join us for trick-or-treating... here's a couple pics.




Jaxon turns 9 months tomorrow so I am excited to see how much he weighs at his appointment on Tuesday. Just can't believe it's been 9 months already... sigh! This week, I think, will be the end of my nursing days as he now has 2 big chomping teeth and bit me HARD {to the point of bleeding} this weekend. So the decision is now, do I quit and feel like a failure for not making it to a year, or do I suffer through? It has to be possible to train babies to not bite since people nurse a lot longer than 9 months, but I don't know if I can handle the chance of going through that pain again!

Yesterday at work this lady came through with her sister and I sat and watched them laugh and drink their Starbucks together. It made me really miss having spur-of-the-moment times with my Sister. Hopefully someday again soon.

It is beautiful today... 70 degrees in November... really?!?! Where's my snow and freezing cold weather? Although I must admit I am loving this quick break from winter... I have been able to take Jaxon on a couple walks this week and that really helped me unwind from work each day. Going to try and get outside to enjoy the day today again.

Have I said lately that I love my house?? I don't think I say that enough. I spend so much time thinking about how it really needs to be cleaned and the laundry really needs to be done and how there's always something to do... I truly don't spend enough time being thankful for it. I love having a place of our own, where we can create memories and raise our son. I love the way that our personalities have come through my decorating and the way that it is becoming our home and not just a roof over our heads. And I love that God has truly blessed us in so many ways. He is faithful to provide for all of our needs and I am so grateful for that.

Anyway, I think that's enough randomness for now... Here's to hoping this week will be much-less-eventful than the last, and hopefully I'll be back soon. Pray for me if you think about it... I need it.

Wordless Wednesday.

{straight out of camera}

My 'lil lion.

As promised, here's a couple pics of Jax from Fall Festival this weekend!











We had an incredible weekend and had so much fun at Fall Festival at our church. And now we're looking forward to dressing up and doing it all over again this weekend for Halloween! :)
Hope you had a great weekend as well!

I'm so excited . . .

. . . That I just can't hide it . . .

My sister is in town!! The word "excited" is such an understatement... ecstatic may be a better one? I haven't seen her or really talked to her in so long, I am just thrilled to have some time with her this weekend. She's also watching my baby today and that in itself I love... she is perfect with him, I love the way she loves him!

Tonight is my "little" brothers football game which means my parents will also be here and stay for the remainder of the weekend. Tomorrow is fall festival at our church, which means lots of cuteness from Jax in his costume in store. Sunday we have no plans, a day to relax and spend time in Worship.

I don't know about you, but the thought of spending a weekend with family just makes my heart sing. I love being around people who love me, just the way I am.

8 months.

This post is a little delayed considering my baby boy is now closer to 9 months, but better late than never!!

Jaxon... At 8 months, you are:
- 18 pounds, 13.5 ounces
- an "okay" sleeper. You have your nights that you will sleep most of the way through the night, but then we'll have a few nights in a row that you're up multiple times. We'll keep working on this one this month. ;)
- more talkative than ever! We looove hearing all the "stories" you tell us!
- eating solids twice a day, plus puffs & other snacks. You take a 5 oz bottle every 3-4 hours.
- pulling yourself up and can stand unassisted while holding onto something
- obsessed with the dogs! you love to watch them play with each other and you love trying to pet and hold them yourself. They're not too sure about that yet, though ;)
- *this close* to crawling... you get up on your all 4's but have yet to take the first 'step'.
- putting consonants together, such as: dadada, papapa, and your personal fav... blah blah blah blah
- you are ornery! you growl and squeal when you don't get your way
- just like your Daddy in a lot of ways... you have to observe everything and everyone in the room before getting really comfortable. Then, after you've taken it all in, you are very intuitive and curious about everything.

It's hard to believe you've been outside Mommy's tummy for almost as long as you were inside her tummy. It is so cliche to say, but I can't even believe how fast time has gone. We have cherished everything about you and can't wait to see all the new discoveries you're going to make this coming month. Thanks for making my life brighter, my smile bigger, and for tugging at pieces of my heart that I never knew existed. I adore you and LOVE being your Mommy!

Wordless Wednesday.

A beautiful fall day.

We accidentally slept in too late on Sunday to make it in time to church, so we decided to go to the Arboretum instead. {yes, you read that right... my son actually let mommy sleep in! It never happens... hence the reason I didn't have an alarm set!}

We enjoyed God's beautiful creation, spent some quality time together, and had some devotions together as a family. Here's some pictures I snapped along the way... nothing compared to Kristal's, but hey, I tried!

All of the images are SOOC {straight out of the camera}, no editing... I don't even own an editing program, so I couldn't edit them even if I wanted to!










my sleepy boy!

hubby's loin cloth? lol

my fav shot!

an older couple walking hand-in-hand to have a picnic... love!

Jaxon's nursery.

I realized recently that I never posted any pictures of Jaxon's completed nursery on here! What a bad, bad blogger I am. Remember this post a million years ago when I talked about our progress on the nursery, and different ideas I had for it? Here's his completed nursery... hope you like it!
{These pics were all taken before he was here, so obviously at this very moment it's a little more 'lived in', but you get the idea!}









{i now have this glider instead of that rocking chair}