L & R MeierWorks

A couple years ago I was trying to come up with inexpensive gifts for both Luke's and my family. This is a difficult task as we have a huge family and I like to give gifts that are both useful and fun. I prefer not to give edible treats for birthdays and Christmas, I try to save those for Mother's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. So, I decided to start searching Pinterest.

After posting about a hundred things on a hidden board, it was decided. We were going to make lawn dice for our parents and other homemade gifts for the siblings (more on this later). We'd never heard of lawn dice before, but thought they could be fun. We purchased a 4x4 board from the hardware store, cut and sanded it down into 15 dice, then wood-burned the dots. Both sets of parents received 5 lawn dice, as well as a mesh laundry bag to hold the dice and Yahtzee score cards. (http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~davis/yahtzee.pdf)

We had such fun working on this project together and since making them, had considered making more and improving on the final product.

This idea simmered for nearly two years.


I mentioned that we had decided to make homemade Christmas gifts for siblings. At that time we only had two siblings with children so I decided to make activity books for them and the kids. Again, Pinterest was my main source for ideas which I compiled into a book of over 52 crafts and activities that would be good for kids ages 2-10. Included with the homemade books were a few materials that I thought wouldn't be readily on-hand for the activities - craft sticks, masking tape, Velcro, etc. My sister-in-law loved it and lovingly called it: "Mom's Sanity Keeper - Some Parts Included" this planted the idea of selling them at Christmas bazaars the following year or maybe even open an Etsy shop.


As I don't know what the copyright issues would be to sell these books and knew I would have to replace nearly all the pictures. I decided this wasn't a product I could really spend the time on with an active toddler and baby on the way. (It still may make it's way to our site, but at the current time it's on hold.)

 A few months ago we were brainstorming ways to make a little extra money because Luke's job at Starbucks wasn't keeping up with our growing family and income needs. We had been searching for a new job for about three years and it seemed we weren't going to be able to make a job change soon. So, we started to seriously talk about opening a shop on Etsy. I had some ideas of what I might want to sell on the site; however, I felt a bit intimidated and not a hundred percent convinced my items would be of interest to anyone.

We landed on wood dice for a few reasons: Luke got a new job working for a small construction company and was able to re-purpose some of the materials leftover from job sites, It's a project we enjoy doing together, and Luke has experience woodworking.



Luke was able to put together a few prototypes to show friends and family, after positive feedback we decided to take the plunge and open our store: L & R MeierWorks (lrmeierworks.etsy.com) on April 9th. To date we have over 400 views, 11 favorites, and 4 online orders. Not bad for only being up and running for 2 weeks.
It is wonderful to see how God is providing through this. Right now we're just covering our costs for tools and materials, but nearly daily we're receiving encouragement to keep going. And we potentially have a small game store that may either display, purchase a set, or become a seller. Not sure if that will materialize, but it was fun to have them excited about our product.

Praise the Lord for how He provides!

Home-made Taquitos

I've made these several times before and they probably aren't the most authentic taquitos, but I sure enjoy them. They are also great for road trips and little kid fingers which is a plus.






Cooking time: 15 minutes/batch
Yield: 40 taquitos

Ingredients:

• 2 large Chicken Breasts
• 1 Packet Taco Seasoning (or a couple tablespoons of homemade taco seasoning, listed below)
• 20 Corn-flour Tortillas
• 3 Cups grated Cheese (I usually use Cheddar, but this time I added some Monterey Jack cause I had it on hand and needed to use it up)
• Cooking spray

Instructions:

• Place the chicken and a cup of water in a slow cooker, set on High for 4 hours.

• Once chicken is cooked through, shred using forks and add taco seasoning. Stir and let sit for a few minutes.

• Cut corn-flour tortillas in half. Warm briefly on a skillet, they are easier to roll when warm.

• Scoop a small amount of chicken on the cut edge of the tortilla and sprinkle a little cheese over the top. Roll tightly from cut edge. Place on cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

• Once you have about a dozen on the cookie sheet spray the tops with a coat of cooking spray, then place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Using tongs, flip taquitos over and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and serve.

•  The extra taquitos, once cooled, can be placed in a Ziploc bag and frozen for future quick meals.

Taco Seasoning: (combine all spices)

• 2 parts Chili Powder
• 2 parts Cumin
• 1 part Paprika
• 1 part Cayenne Pepper
• 1 part Oregano
• 1 part Onion Powder
• 1 part Garlic Powder
• 1 part Salt
• 1/2 part Black Pepper
• 1 part Corn Starch

For this child, we prayed...again!

We are so excited to announce that we are expecting our second child!

We had our first appointment today and it is all becoming real this little one is on its way. Discovering today that we were not at 10-12 weeks like we thought, but nearly 14 weeks! 13 weeks 5 days to be exact. Our little one will make his/her appearance around July 16th. I don't think Luke or I have stopped smiling since seeing the ultrasound of Little Meier this morning and hearing the nice, strong heartbeat.

We made our announcement to our families the week of Christmas and my sister was able to catch the Johanesen Family reaction on camera. I'll, hopefully, be able to post that soon. But in the meantime I'll explain how we told everyone:

We brought in an extra gift for Seth to open at the family Christmas party. We let him open the gift as if nothing unusual was happening, just a "secret Santa" sort of gift. Inside the bag was a nice little t-shirt that says "Big Brother," I held up the t-shirt on Seth and said, "Show everyone what it says, buddy." Great reactions from everyone and we're so thrilled to be adding this little one to our family.

Wedding Season

We're beginning to receive "Save the Date" postcards and wedding invitations in the mail, and recently someone said, "In every wedding, something will go wrong." My cousin, who will be getting married next year, then asked, "So, what went wrong at your wedding?" Here are a few things that happened with mine:

1. Luke's tux was too small
2. My maid-of-honor got food poisoning the night before the wedding
3. Our pastor had kidney stones and we weren't sure who was going to be officiating the wedding (He did end up officiating, but was still in a lot of pain)
4. My maid-of-honor's dress didn't arrive until just before we started taking pictures, about 4 hours before the wedding ceremony.
5. The week of our wedding our friend who was making our cake said she couldn't make it anymore. We did some negotiating and were able to get it taken care of, but instead of getting our cake and 300 mini cupcakes, we got our cake and 300 regular cupcakes...SO MUCH leftover cake!
6. I forgot to get straps/sleeves made for my wedding dress (It was originally a strapless dress, I just wanted a little extra embellishment)
7. Our photographer didn't get some of the pictures I thought we'd get.

All in all though, we had a WONDERFUL wedding. So many friends and family showed up to support us, and really, at the end of the day, the important thing to remember is that you're getting married to your best friend. You're about to start your life together and the wedding is just the starting point. It doesn't have to be perfect. Some of the details don't matter.

So, to those of you about to get married and are stressing about how many guests you have coming or that small decorative item that you "need" to have, but just can't seem to find, think about the days, weeks, months, and years after the wedding. You have so much to look forward to! Don't get so caught up in the details that you forget who you're getting married to and why.

It's OK to be Ordinary

Lately, I've been learning to be content with being "unseen."

When I married Luke, he was the Director of Student Ministries at our church. Everyone knew Luke, so everyone knew me. Before meeting Luke, I was a track coach, a swim coach and teacher,  and a LOT of people knew me. It was a bit awkward for me because I am the middle child from a large family and was not really used to being noticed, but at the same time, I didn't mind so much.

Then, as the years passed and jobs/life changed, I have become "invisible" again. I am not a youth pastor's wife, I am not a coach, I'm not the "big name on campus" so to speak. I'm barely even recognized as Luke's wife,  Seth's Mom, or even Autumn's Sister. I'm simply a, *shudder* Homemaker or Stay-at-home-mom as some people call it. I don't think I ever thought I'd be "just" a wife and mom. I thought I might have some ministry or impact on lives outside my little bubble, but that's just not the case right now.

I wasn't meaning to go on a rant about how life isn't what I expected it to be, but rather, I want to share about the peace and hope that I am finding in this time in my life.

I've been reading through a book "Anonymous: Jesus' hidden years...and yours" by Alicia Britt Chole. It's about the unseen portions of your life that no one gushes over or applauds. It's the everyday, hum-drum, boring stages of life that we often see as useless and wish we could skip through for the more exciting stages. But I'm learning that those so called "useless" days, weeks, months, and years are actually where we develop our foundation and strength. I'm only a third of the way through the book, but so far it's hit quite a few points that are close to home, especially for a mom of a young child.

I don't know if it's just our culture, but it appears that everyone is striving to be famous.  Not just popular in their school, but to become the next YouTube sensation that will be known world wide. However, how many people will know the Rebecca Black song "Friday" in ten years, most people have already forgotten the three year old song and groan at the remembrance of that terrible auto-tune monstrosity.


You don't have to be popular or famous, because the most important person already knows your name, He sees your everyday life. It's OK to be ordinary, this does not mean lazy or unambitious, but it's OK to have times in your life where you're "invisible."

A Simple Gift

I have this bulletin board hanging in our hallway that has piqued the interest of nearly every person that has come over. And since it was such fun to make I thought I'd share my (pinterest.com) idea.

Two months ago Luke and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and Luke's 30th birthday. Since I really wanted to focus on Luke's milestone birthday our anniversary kinda took a backseat. Except for one thing. I made a special gift to help us celebrate all year long.


I gathered 52 date night ideas, printed off blank gift certificates, and organized a date night once a week for the entire year. Thanks to some help from http://www.thedatingdivas.com/ and http://justsomethingimade.com/2010/12/last-minute-gift-coupons-free-printables/ It was a lot of fun finding dates that we could do on a budget.

The week of our Anniversary, I was so excited to give Luke this brightly colored stack of envelopes, each filled with a month's worth of date nights. I had initially planned to wait 'til after his birthday to give them to him, but I think I only made it to 8am, Monday morning, his birthday was Wednesday, our anniversary, Friday.  Still, Luke was thrilled with the idea, and eagerly opened the first envelope.

Now, there is one rule to the date night envelopes: We can only complete the dates nights up to the current month. Meaning, since it's March, we are able to pick and choose which dates we can do out of the January through March envelopes. But we can't take a date from August to do this month. So far we've completed 9 of the first 13 weeks. Not bad for it being the 12th week of the year.

By now I hope you're a little curious as to what exactly is in these envelopes. So, I've copied the list here for you! Feel free to steal the ideas, they're not completely original, but they're still fun for us.

January:

1 – Thrift store shop for a "new" game

2 – Double date to see The Hobbit

3 – Make doughnuts!

4 – Have a Chicago themed dinner

5 – Enjoy a homemade dessert by candle light (no computer, phone, or television!)

February:

6 – Start a project together

7 – Play a board game

8 – Buy a book and read it together

9 – “Spa” Date: Bubble bath, lotion, foot/back massage, and dessert

March:

10 – Play a video game together

11 – Go on a dress-up dinner date

12 – Movie marathon: LOTR, Pride & Prejudice, Bourne, Pirates, Ocean’s, Iron Man, X-Men, etc.

13 – Write a prayer list and pray together

April:

14 – Do a puzzle together

15 – Go out for coffee at a local coffee shop

16 – Rent a Redbox movie and grab some theater candy and a soda – Enjoy!

17 – Write a love note to each other. Exchange or read to each other.

18 – Bed & Breakfast – go for a one night hotel stay

May:

19 – Find a new kind of Root Beer you haven't tried before and make some floats

20 – Enjoy some late night nachos and conversation

21 – Buy a few flowers and putter in the garden together

22 – Go out for Chinese food

June:

23 – Pretend to be a tourist in your home town

24 – Flamingo a friend’s yard

25 – Go for a short hike up the Columbia River Gorge and kiss under a water fall

26 – Pack a picnic dinner and go to a nearby park, don’t forget lawn Yahtzee

July:

27 – Go to a local bakery, buy two cookies, and go for a walk along the Springwater Trail

28 – Go to a Drive-In movie

29 – Go to the Berry Festival

30 – Build a fort and enjoy a book together

31 – Go putt-putt golfing

August:

32 – Pick one thing to do from the “100 things to do list”

33 – Flicks on the Bricks night!

34 – Golf at McMenamins Edgefield

35 - Stargaze from the patio

September:

36 – Go to the Dollar Tree and "surprise" each other with a gift

37 – Pick a date from the last few months and have a do-over

38 – Pull out our wedding album and reminisce

39 – Light some candles, turn on some soft music, and dance together

October:

40 – Walk around downtown Gresham

41 – Double date to The Truffle Hunter

42 – Play a card game

43 – Begin brainstorming Christmas gifts

44 – Enjoy a hot cup of tea on the patio

November:

45 – Wendy's Frosty night!

46 – Head to Edgefield, try a new drink and share an appetizer

47 – Search ebay together showing toys and other items that were special in childhood

48 – Go to Portland's Saturday Market and get a Voodoo doughnut

December:

49 – Christmas shop for Seth

50 – Take a drive and look at Christmas lights

51 – Wander through the Troutdale antique stores

52 – Remember the dates we went on and share about our favorite moments

My next project is to update that bulletin board with some spray paint and maybe some fabric. :D

Potty Training

So, apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. Here I am attempting to train my 18 month old how to use the toilet.

We've been working at it for a while. A few months ago we started simply by sitting him on the potty, just so he would learn not to be scared of it. He would cry the first few times, I'd hug him and keep him there for no more than a few seconds. We then decided to move his diaper changing "station" to the bathroom so he'd start connecting diaper changes with going potty.

A little over a month ago we got a little toilet seat that sits on the toilet. We began to sit Seth on the toilet after nearly every diaper change. Occasionally he would actually "go" on the potty, usually with the help of the sound of running water (we'd turn on the faucet briefly).

Lately, we've been so encouraged with his progress. We're obviously going the slow route. He's not able to either take his pants/diaper off  or climb up on the toilet on his own. But recently  something's clicked for him. He will go poop in the toilet! We rarely have to change a poopy diaper anymore! We're still working on getting him to the bathroom when he has to go pee. He's gotten the idea that he needs to go use the toilet when his diaper is full, but not before... Even so, I am SO happy with his current progress.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out when we'll start using big boy underwear and  move away from diapers during the day. My thoughts right now are to wait until he can pull his pants off or communicate he needs to go potty...Or start using the underwear a couple hours in the afternoon to get him used to the feeling of underwear rather than diapers.

Yes, I am bragging a bit, but I'm not trying to say my way is the best way, I'm still learning how potty training a toddler is supposed to work. I also only have one child that I am taking care of and I can sit for 15+ minutes in the bathroom with Seth waiting for him to be done. Sometimes this means reading several books, blowing bubbles, and playing peek-a-boo to keep him sitting on the toilet, but it's what works for now.

I don't really want to resort to giving him treats for using the toilet, and so far just saying, "Yay, Seth!" when he goes, is working. But I'm sure there is going to be some point in this process that I'll be cleaning up the floor, for what seems the millionth time, and wondering if he'll ever be fully potty trained.

I'm also learning through this that diapers are really convenient. I don't have to worry when the last time he went was when we're out and about. But diapers are also really expensive, kind of a big reason I wanted to start potty training now. Also, Seth seemed to be ready and he's doing well with the process.

So, that's a little glimpse into what's happening here.