MattAndMeag.com

Medal of Honor

matt — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:47:14 GMT

The other night at the Republican National Convention a video was presented about a man who earned a Medal of Honor. I saw this video and had to post it. If anything brings both sides of the political parties together it is the support of our troops. This is a remarkable and touching story. It reminded me of my brother and the amazing things he did just minutes before he was shot and killed at work. It also reminds me of the scripture that states, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Macy+Fruits+Veggies=happiness

meag — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:33:35 GMT

Macy LOVES fruits and veggies! Maddie does too, but no one gets excited about "bewwies" like Mimi! We went blueberry picking a few weeks ago and she could not stop eating the blueberries. I have to limit the amount of fruit she eats and make sure to give her other foods first, otherwise all she would eat is the the strawberries and blueberries. She will just sit there saying and signing, "Mo bewwies, mo bewwies pease!" She even picks the fruit out of yogurt and leaves the creamy part behind. Mimi will usually eat 1 or 1 1/2 plain pancakes, but when the pancakes have blueberries in them she has been known to eat three of them in one sitting, which is even more than I can eat!

The other day Macy wanted to help me "cook" dinner, so I pulled our step stool up to the counter and let her climb up. She helped me by putting the red pepper pieces I had chopped earlier into a bowl. While she did that job I got busy doing other things. The next time I looked over at her I saw this:

Yes, that is my dainty little girl shoveling huge spoonfuls of red pepper pieces into her mouth. She started out with the spoon but then decided that her fingers worked better:

She was chewing with chipmunk cheeks and juice running down her chin, giggling because Momma caught her:

She is such a cutie. I hope Macy always keeps her love of fruits and veggies!

A gift from an angel to our angel

meag — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:10:49 GMT

Last Friday was Maddie's third birthday. We celebrated it on Saturday but on Friday night Matt and I took the girls to Jimmy Mac's for like the 4th weekend in a row--Matt is addicted to the prime rib and I cannot get enough of their super-fluffy yeast rolls, and the girls love it because that is the only place I ever let them eat French fries (I know, I am such a mean momma).

After we got sat at our table, Maddie and Macy were being the good girls that they usually are, fairly quiet yet completely adorable, of course, but for some reason they were attracting more attention than usual. At the table next to us sat a white-haired man, grandpa-age--probably in his sixties, and two women. About midway through our meal, they talked to Matt a little bit (they were closer to him and Maddie) and said hi to the girls. The man leaned closer to Matt, looked pointedly at Maddie, and told him, "She is priceless." You could tell he was very taken with her.

Our server dropped our check as usual when we were almost done eating and Matt gave her his card to pay. When the people at the other table got up to leave they said goodbye and told us how gorgeous our girls are. They were really sweet and of course Maddie and Macy said "bye-bye" in their cute little voices, which the people loved. A few minutes later our server came over to us, gave Matt his card back, and told us that the gentleman at the other table had paid for our meal and told her to give us the change. We were shocked, especially when we counted the change and she had given us $59 dollars back (our bill had only been $41). We checked with our server to be sure she had given us the correct change, and she assured us that she had. We could not believe the generosity of this kind stranger who just saw something very special in Maddie. Matt had not even told him it was her birthday. We tipped the server $20 and used the rest to buy Maddie these blocks for an extra birthday present from the angel at Jimmy Mac's. We will always remember how he recognized her special spirit and chose to bless our family that day. Without even knowing it he made Maddie's third birthday extra special and unforgettable.

I only wish we knew who he was so we could thank him and let him know how touched we were by his kindness.

Honesty is the best policy

matt — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:37:50 GMT

The other day I went to the local oil shop (Grease Monkey) to get my oil changed. I pulled in and was greeted by an employee asking me various things about my car and if I had been in before. This time is was my “beater” truck that I brought in to get serviced. As we got to the computer station inside the building the salesman asked me multiple questions about wether I had various things serviced on my car. The thing I can’t stand about the salesman at oil shops is the constant pressure to get you to purchase extra services. I knew it had been a while since I had some of those services done so I decided it was time to do it. The total came to just under $300.

During the service they noticed that my battery was corroding and leaking a lot from the battery…not good! So I paid the extra 20 or 30 bucks to get them to replace it for me (on top of the cost of the battery which brought it to $90). I’ve replaced enough batteries to know how dirty I would get and I didn’t feel like getting dirty that day. After about 45 minutes of waiting in the lobby they called my name to the desk. They explained the numerous services they performed on my truck. I noticed that there was one thing that they failed to mention when enumerating through the services…the battery replacement.

I was faced with a decision. I could have done one of two things, pay the bill and run or be honest and let them know of the clerical mistake. Having been raised in a good Mormon family and being taught by my parents that “honesty is the best policy” I decided to be honest. I told the annoying pushy salesman of the mistake. Once I told him of the mistake his countenance changed to one of gratitude. He told me “if you would have just left I would have lost my job.” I could tell by the way he said it to me that he really meant it. I could sense a little emotion in how he said it. This example goes to show the affect you can have on other people by simply being honest. Honesty truly is the best policy. I hope that each of you reading this blog post will, when faced with a decision, decide to be honest. I can’t believe all of the dishonesty in the world today. If everyone would simply be honest the world would be a better place.

Football Season 2008

matt — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:02:31 GMT

It’s that time of year again! On Wednesday I attended the very first practice at Kentridge High School (my old school) where I’m volunteer coaching the lineman on the varsity team. I’m stoked to start up coaching again this year. I’ve been more involved this season as I attended spring training and now I’m attending the summer practice getting us ready for Kentlake HS on September 5th. This should be a good year for us, I expect us to make it back to the playoffs, but I believe our competition is better than last year so it will be a tough road to get there.

One thing that I’ve noticed as I’ve come back to football after finishing my career over 6 years ago is that things have changed. The kids have changed, they don’t seem to have as much drive and passion as when I was playing. They don’t seem to have as much intensity either. A good example of how things have changed is the fact that after practice on Wednesday a Sophomore reached into his pocket (we are only in helmets and jerseys so the kids wear shorts) and pulled out a cell phone and started talking to someone! Now this happened after the last drills of the day but before the quick “take a knee” team meeting where the coaches talk for a few minutes about how the practice went. I couldn’t believe it, I was dumbfounded. The next day I spoke to Coach Dacus (he was my line coach when I played 11 years ago). I asked Coach D about the cell phone incident that I saw yesterday. He mentioned that they addressed it in the morning practice and then he said “in my 22 years of coaching I’ve never seen anything like that!” There is nothing more I can say to that then just to say “wow”.

The best R-word

meag — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:49:29 GMT

The R-word has really been on my mind the last week or so with all of the controversy surrounding Tropic Thunder. I can't believe that of all the people who worked on this movie, not one of them thought that there was anything wrong with how it portrays people with intellectual disabilities. Maybe even more sad is that they worked with many consultants from the African-American community to be sure that nothing was offensive to that group of people, yet they did not consult with anyone over the portrayal of the disabled. Yes, I know Matt and I can get kind of preachy about not using the R-word. I sometimes feel like a hypocrite when I ask people not to use it because when I was younger I totally used it all the time and never even thought twice about it. But, then we were blessed with Maddie and she opened up a whole new world for me. Now I understand why that word is hurtful and should not be used in a slang way. Now I feel terrible for my previous thoughtlessness. To equate Maddie's medical condition that she CANNOT help with stupidity and idiocy is so degrading and hurtful. When people say, "That is so r_____" or "I am such a r______" or "You're r_______," that is exactly what they are doing: using her diagnosis as an insult. It really hurts me to hear it being used that way, and I dread the day that Maddie encounters it and understands what it means.

In light of that, I wanted to share this totally awesome video online about using the right R-word for people with disabilities--Check it out! I especially love the little cheerleader girls!

We'll miss you, Karen!

meag — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:20:18 GMT

Yesterday was Madison's last official visit from her Early Intervention therapist, since she will be turning three next week and thus moving on to preschool. Karen has been working with Maddie since shortly after we moved here to Washington almost two years ago, and in that time she has become so special to our family. Her coaching, guidance, teaching, suggestions, support, and friendship have helped Maddie's skills to truly blossom. Karen was instrumental in helping her to achieve so many things:

Crawling (in Maddie's own special bear-crawl way)

Standing by herself and walking with supports:

Walking independently:

Eating more varieties of foods and using utensils:

Helping her fine motor skill improve through play-doh, drawing with crayons, stringing froot loops onto pipe cleaners, etc:

Strengthening her body to help her to be able to dance, bounce, and play more confidently:

Matt and I are so grateful for Karen's hard work with Maddie. She made such a difference in our family, and especially for Maddie's future. We will miss her and her Thursday morning visits so much!

Ty Detmer Sporting Clay Tournament and Charity Dinner

matt — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:14:22 GMT

My Dad sent me this email today mentioning that Ty Detmer spoke to him about organizing a charity event so that he could raise money for the past BYU football players that Ty played with. My brother Kent was one of them. One of the unique/tragic/ironic things about my brothers BYU football team is he along side 3 other BYU football players from his same class have died of tragic deaths. I really appreciate Ty Detmer and his willingness to use his popularity to help these families with the loss of their fathers. Ty was one of the greatest college football quarterbacks of all time. To now see him do something like this is really admirable.

Here is the email my dad sent to me:

This is a note from Ty Detmer and the charity drive he has put together. Ty's Web site is www.regonline.com/tydetmer.
I thought it might be of interest to all of you.

Griff.

I am thrilled to be hosting the first annual Ty Detmer Sporting Clay Tournament and Charity Dinner. The money raised will go
to help support the BYU Athletic Department as well as the Bryan May Memorial Fund and the Kent Griffith Memorial Fund.

I had the honor to play with both Bryan and Kent and look forward to having this event on their behalf.

Both men left this earth too young and my hope is that we can have a fun event and raise some money for

their young families as well as the Athletic Department, which has been so good to me.

I hope you can join us this year for our inaugural event and look forward to many more to come.

Sincerely

Ty Detmer

Frappachino vs. Slurpee

matt — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:12:12 GMT

Tonight after dinner Meag and I took the girls out to get a drink. Since we’ve been in Seattle we have totally spoiled ourselves with the Starbucks Cream Frappachino’s (i.e. a glorified milkshake). They are the tastiest milkshakes…err “fraps” I’ve ever had. They are pricey as well, about $8 every visit (Meag and I get Grande’s and a lot of the times Meag will get a tall).

We used to be Slurpee addicts. There was a 7-11 down the street from us in Orem that we would frequent all the time. They had some of the best/unique Slurpees ever. Meag loved the Coconut Slurpee and there was a Vanilla Slurpee that was “off the hook” too. The beauty about the Slurpee is they are refreshing and cool you down quickly. The down fall of the Slurpee is they can give you brain freezes a lot easier than a “frap” can if you are not careful.

Tonight we decided to go with the Slurpee, mainly because we haven’t had one in over two years. It was nice to only spend $3 for Slurpees.

Tropic Thunder – Ben Stiller has gone too far

matt — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:06:56 GMT

Ben Stiller (comedian for those of you who may not know who he is) has gone too far. Check out these few links below. One point I’d make here is I bet that the movie producers consulted with Black people and others of different ethnicities, people who are fat, etc. about what would offend them but I can almost guarantee you that they didn’t consult with someone who has special needs.

http://www.silive.com/entertainment/tvfilm/index.ssf/2008/08/thats_just_crude.html This article is from a liberal who enjoys comedies and describes that he isn’t offended by the F-word, nudity and other stuff but he describes how the movie crossed the line with the use of the R-word. This goes to show how offensive this movie is.

http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2008/08/02/thunder-disability-react/ This is another link describing what organizations are getting involved to voice their disapproval of this movie.

Meag and I both don’t get why people don’t understand that the R-word is offensive just like the N-word is for African Americans. I’m hoping the bad publicity that this film will receive will help us get the word out about how offensive this word is. Please don’t support this movie by going to the Theatre and watching it or renting it on DVD, Paramount and Ben Stiller don’t deserve your money!