Questions & Answers

charmed said...
yay! *does the happy question dance*

how many kids does Steve have now?
how many kids do you think you will have?
has your family's money situation gotten any better?
How is Sheri doing?
how is the show sisterwives? I don't have cable
how are your girls doing?

Steve has nine kids now with eight of them living at home.

I'm thinking I'll have four to maybe seven kids? I'm not sure and I'm just going to do one at a time I hope!

Sort of.

She's settled down in her new place and Lauren and Hannah are going to see her sometime after the New Year.

I'm not watching 'Sisterwives'. I don't think Macy is either.

Patty and Laura are doing really well. Patty is really strong and is doing things ahead of a lot of schedules for infants and Laura is just being my angel.

Helene said...
Megan,
How about sending us an update on Renee Rachel? We've hardly heard anything about her!

She is doing fine but is missing her mom. Macy does most of the care for Rachel and her little boy Jacob just because it makes sense for some practical reasons. Rachel has a lazy eye and the doctor says it will be something to look at when she gets a little older. Other than that she seems just great!

Abby Waccon said...
Would you ever consider adding another wife or do you have a friend that you want as another wife?

I won't say never but I will say not now. I hate to say too but I really don't have any of my old friends anymore.

Alice said...
Pass on my best wishes to Macy and give Jacob an extra smile too. Boys often are VERY different from girls. Wait until he starts moving around! Now that will be fun!

Do you plan to get more livestock in the Spring, such as dairy cattle? What livestock do you currently have? Goats, horses, pigs... that sort of things?

Shari had been in the house in back. Is the house being used for something else now?

How does everyone feel about the more casual attitude towards wearing dresses? Have the older girls changed what they wear too?

As you can tell, I'm curious as to how well all of you have settled into the new place now that you've been there for a while.

We won't be running dairy cattle here because it is too cold. We have our horses and they don't mind the snow too much and then the cattle we have are doing fine so far. The guest house is closed for the winter to save money on heat and all and we will probably open it up in the spring and use it then. Being more casual has been nice but we still dress up for church. Lauren and Hannah are liking it but for them it means they get to wear shirts and jeans. We're settled in and it seems like home now. None of us really miss California all that much because there is so much freedom here. Like if Lauren goes riding she can wear a gun and no one around here will care. I like it because it is so quiet and you don't hear a freeway or anything except the birds and all.

Robyn said...
There have been alot of changes. e.g. moving house, Shari leaving. How does Steve share his time between his 3 wives. Has this changed since you first joined the family? Are you happy with how it is now? Does everyone have enough time?

Yeah, we are all pretty happy with how things are. Not a lot to talk about that way we just seem to all know what is right for everyone and we go with it that way.

~Heidi~ said...
Megan, now that you are truly settled in this lifestyle:
1. What is your support system outside of your family?
2. Do you ever wish you were an only wife?
3. How have you adjusted to having Macy added to the family?
4. Has there been any change in hierarchy since you went from being the third wife to the second? Is there that kind of hierarchy in your home?
5. How are you liking the new home? Do you miss NorCal?

1. Not much. My old friends don't have much to do with me anymore and makes me wonder if they think you can 'catch' being poly or something. My mom has a boyfriend now so we don't talk much. My other support system are my online friends. I chat with some people on Yahoo when I can and there are some sites I go to and chat with friends sometimes and then there is this. I used to get a lot from the blog but it got kind of nasty and that made me back off a bit, I guess. But I do have some good friends from here I email with when I can.

2. Not any more. I would not want this any other way anymore.

3. Just fine. She's really easy to get along with. She's mostly quiet but she has this really sweet loving side to her that just makes you feel special when she turns it on. She is a really special friend to me and always will be.

4. No, we just all have our own thing. No one lords it over anyone else in things.

5. I don't miss California at all. We don't worry about nosy people here and that is the very best thing. California people are hypocrites because they are all into the gay rights and all but then they are hard core about poly. Here no one cares just that they want you to be a good neighbor is all. I think most of our neighbors know who we are but they see the kids are nice, we keep things really clean, we're not trailer trash, and we don't want to turn the place into another California so they like us and we get left alone.

(-:

It's time for questions!

I'm just not thinking of stuff to write so I figure it is time to let you all ask questions.

You can ask anything you want. I may not answer it if it's too gross or whatever but feel free to leave that up to me. If you want to ask anonymously I'm okay with that.

Jacob is doing good and so is Macy. He's not very quiet and I guess that just means he's a boy! (-:

Welcome Jacob!

Macy had her little boy on Thursday night and his name is Jacob. He's got the blackest hair I have ever seen on a little baby and his eyes are baby blue but that might change. Macy did really well with the labor and started late on Tuesday. We got her into the hospital for the birth and it went fine really. Both of them are home now and doing great.

I'd write more but my heart just isn't in writing right now. I don't know why.

Thursday December 2, 2010

Thanksgiving was a really great time and I hope it was good for all of you, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Things have been VERY busy here and I have much less time to be on the blog or on Yahoo anymore so sorry for all the IM messages I have not returned.

Before I get into anything else...I'm pregnant! I thought I was pregnant a couple weeks ago and took two tests and they said I wasn't pregnant but then it just felt familiar and I KNEW it so I took one again yesterday and it came up with a = and then I did it again and it came up the same! Wow.

I'm expecting it is just one this time and got to say that twins is something I only ever want to do once. I looooove my girls but it was not an easy thing to do with twins in so many ways. Ooooh, enough about me.

Macy is getting ready for her baby. The doctor says anytime now and that is about right. We've got baby stuff ready for her and she is doing really, really well. Macy totally NEVER complains and I wish I could learn how to be more like her that way.

My resolution for 2011 is to shut up. I really talk too much and then what I do is talk about me. 2011 will be more about other people and less about me.

We've got snow on the ground now and things are pretty. It is not a lot of snow yet but that is coming because it is not supposed to stop snowing until maybe Wednesday. The chickens are in the barn and doing good and some of them are pretty silly when they get in the snow.

We're doing better with money and that's mostly because Christie is working again. She is due home on Tuesday and then next Monday she has to go back to work out of town. We all really miss her. Eric and Emmy are doing great and part of the big family thing that is nice is they have lots of love and attention and Steve is home all the time right now so he is spending a lot of time with Eric who is almost 3.

I am working at a restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights now as a cook and doing good at it. The pay is amazing to me and then there are tips at the end of the night and I am stopping my allowance from the family for now and planning on paying some back in after Christmas. It's nice to have money of my own for that.

We heard from Shari. She called on Friday night and talked to Lauren and then Steve and says she is doing well. She is in Seattle now and has a place and lives in a place called Capitol Hill and says it is nice and close to where she works. She is wanting Lauren and Hannah to come visit her after New Year's and Steve says it's fine with him. Lauren and Hannah seem a little happier after talking to Shari and maybe they will be happier after they see her.

Steve had our cattle checked for brucellosis because there is some worry about it around here and they all came up fine. He pulled them in to a smaller part of the ranch so they are not on the fence line and near other cattle or the buffalo for now.

Macy shot her first coyote last week. She was home with the babies and saw the coyote around the barn and went out from upstairs and shot it. Steve and I found it when we got home and it was a pretty awesome shot because coyotes don't let you get a second shot at them. It's scary to see them that close to the house but everyone around here says it is normal after the rodents go into hibernation for the coyotes to come around homes looking for cats and dogs.

I really wish I had more time to write but I don't. It's just me doing most stuff these days so I need to go.

I really hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Megan

Just what's up is all

Haven't put anything on here for a while mostly because it's just been really busy. There is a lot to do with winter coming on and we've had to get a lot of things done. We got four truckloads of alfalfa put up in the hay barn this week and I am so stinking sore from all that! We had two of Steve's friends come to help with it all but it was still a lot of hard work to get it all done.
It's in the 30's at night now so we towed the chicken coop into the barn and got them set up for the winter. They can still get outside to play and all but they will be safer in the barn with the weather coming. My big surprise yesterday was finding a silver lace hen with TWELVE chicks hiding under the steps on the side of the house. Not all the chicks are silvaer lace so I am thinking some of the chickens were laying there and the momma hen just sat on all those eggs. This puts us around 220 chickens now and we're making some good money from the eggs which is really helping out.

Christie is gone on work and I miss her a lot. Macy and Steve are home and so are the girls and all the babies but having Christie gone the place is so quiet! Steve is off work now for the winter but says he might get some work clearing roads if there's any landslides or whatever that happens. It feels weird to not want anything bad to happen anywhere but then to know we need the money when it does.

Both of my girls are crawling now and Patty is doing a little standing when she pulls herself up on things. Patty is 100% Steve's girl and you can tell she will be really strong when she gets older. My Laura is doing nice and she is so happy all the time! Macy calls her "Pigeon" because she coos so much! The girls are calling her that too so I am wondering if it will be a nickname for her. Laura did get a bad bruise from her vaccinations last week but will be okay. It just looks like she got kicked is all.

The economy is not good and that is hurting a lot of families. At church on Sunday the pastor told us that aid had to be given to four families in the church to save their homes and there will be a meeting tomorrow after church to talk about the church buying their homes so they can stay there. It's really bad right now. Everyone talks about how they have less money than last year and then taxes go up in January and people are just wondering how they are going to get by. I got an email from my friend Carmen who said her family got their foreclosure notice and have to be out by the end of November. She will have to quit school and go get a job to help pay rent because her father got laid off from his job making lights. It's not looking good and I keep hearing on the news about a recovery but everywhere I look I see things getting worse. It's really scary.

One of the older men in the church has pancreatic cancer and they think he will be gone by Christmas and that has a lot of people really sad. He was a soldier in the Korean War and his kids got him to move here after his wife died and he is the nicest man.

I need to go work on lunch but wanted to get on here.

I hope all of you are safe, warm, fed, and have good jobs.

Cooking Tips part Two

There isn't one brand of knives for everything. I have a sashimi knife that I love to use for filets and for trimming beef and the knife I have for that probably won't need to be sharpened for a very long time. My boning knife is a six inch Forschner and it works really well. I also use a Forschner offset knife for bread and it does a really good job but if I want to make really perfect cuts with bread I use my sashimi knife. I use a six inch Shun usuba for prep instead of a cleaver. The brands are not as important as what knives you like. I started school with a Wusthof set and then traded and bought knives from my classmates until I had my own thing going on. They all did the same thing.

Sharpening a good knife means using a whetstone with oil and if you don't know how to do this don't learn how on an expensive knife! If you think that means I messed up a good knife you're right!

Pots and pans don't have to be some expensive brand. Just go to a restaurant supply place and go look at their stuff. What you want are thick bottoms for good heat distribution and none of the non-stick stuff on them. Cast itron pans are awesome but you can't use them on a lot of cook tops so be sure to read the manual for your cook top before you use on. If you have a gas cook top you can use any pot or pan you want.

Cooking Tips

I'm taking a moment from making bread right now to post some tips because people have asked and because it is on my mind. I'm making sourdough bread with the starter I mentioned last week. It's sweet and bitter in the right way (I hope!) and it's supposed to be on the side for dinner tonight.

#1. This is pretty easy: Keep a clean and organized kitchen. A good chef/cook uses a kitchen the same way most people use their hands. It's part of you when you do it right. You can just reach for stuff without really looking and you know it will be there. When you're in a hurry a organized kitchen can save you up to an hour prepping for a big dinner. It was the first lesson we had to learn in school when we set up our labs.

#2. Get some good knives and then get good with them. Buy some radishes or potatoes and practice making things. Practice dicing. Practice peeling. And then practice sharpening them. There are a lot of good knives and the best ones fit your hand, they don't rust, they keep an edge, and they don't bend unless it's a boning knife and you want that to flex a little.

#3. Get a food thermometer. You need it for making bread to start out. A good yeast bread starts by getting the yeast going and that means using 105-115 degree water. Too cool and it won't rise because the yeast isn't alive enough and too hot and you killed the yeast. You also need it for cooking roasts. I put one in a roast when I start cooking it and when the core of the roast hits 135 I pull the roast our and let it temper and while it tempers the core warms up to 140 or so which is perfect.

#4. Cutting boards. Plastic for meat and then wood for breads. The wood board needs to be wide enough to work your bread and hold some extra flour for the board and it should be a hard enough wood that it doesn't dent. I oil my boards with vegetable oil and once a year you should clean them really good. We have a steam cleaner and I used that when we moved up here and it got all the old oil off the boards and now they look really good.

#5. Kitchen Bouquet. It's this kind of gravy stuff you can get at the store. It makes awesome gravy and I use it instead of keeping reductions in the freezer for everything. I still use some reductions for some stuff, but Kitchen Bouquet is better than some of the things I could scratch make.

#6. Butter. Use butter whenever you're told to use a butter substitute. That's because there's no substitute for butter! Olive oil and vegetable oils are great for some things but when it comes to frying, making a glaze, making a decent English muffin you just have to use butter. I know there are health issues for some people so just use less or just have it once in a while but it has got to be part of your cooking supply.

#7. Pans with thick bottoms and none of that stupid nonstick stuff. When that nonstick stuff starts to come off your pans it goes in your food and you're eating it. A thick bottom pan helps evenly distribute heat and that prevents your food from scorching. If you LIKE that burnt taste just ignore this. You don't need a $3,000 set of pans, just good thick pans that hold heat.

I'll post more another time but this is enough for now. (-:

To Helene

Helene, I wasn't going to write anything tonight because I don't have a lot of time but I wanted to write back to you.

When I said that SHari's daughters were enjoying the new peace I really meant it. Lauren and Hannah have said that a lot. I'm not sure how to explain it but I get it. I was so used to a family meaning fights all the time that it was weird to be with this family where no one fights. The thing was that what I had at home was so bad that I didn't notice that as nice it was here it was still stressed all the time with drama from Shari.

When Shari left things got rough for a while and then they got better. We are not doing so well with money anymore but it is soooo calm here now. Shari was not like some awful person but she was always saying...shit to everyone and you'd just feel like crap after she said this things to you that were not so bad you could just tell her off but they were bad enough you felt it. Does that make sense?

She always said shit to her girls that made them feel like they were failing in some ways and she did it to everyone else too. It doesn't mean she was bad all the time but she was the unhappy person in the family and without her around it just got better is all. Lauren and Hannah are pretty honest with us (me, Macy, and Christie) and if they were not happy they would say so. It still upsets them their mom left like she did and they miss her. I do too! But now that her stress is not in the house we all noticed it being gone. If she was to come back that stress would have to stay gone. I don't think she is coming back but still.

One thing I REALLY hate about women is how some of them make shitty comments to people but they do it in a way that if you say something back YOU are the one everyone thinks is wrong. )-:

I don't know what you think of all that but what I think is that I didn't see the problems with Shari before but when the problems went away is when I noticed them. Same with everyone else. And all that doesn't mean we don't miss Shari, we just don't miss the drama.

"Sister Wives" stuff

For my family and for our church this has been big news this week watching this to see what happens. Part of the problem is the people on the TV show live in Utah and the Mormons probably feel like they are supposed to 'prove' something to the rest of the country by prosecuting the Browns. I'm glad we don't live in Utah but it's still a worry because if a big deal is made out of this then that will make it harder on our family I am sure.

Someone emailed me and asked if we knew the Browns and we don't. But they do seem like some of the families we know so it's not like they are so strange. The one big house is pretty normal but the husband with the fancy car is not normal for us at all. Most families don't like to attract attention so their cars are pretty normal. Christie has her Volvo and I think that is the fanciest car anyone I know has. Where we live now it's mostly pick up trucks and 4WD SUVs and that's what most families have.

I saw the show with the 4th wife and the jealousy and I totally understand. It's hard and it isn't like it is so much jealousy against the person it's more like it's the situation. Macy coming into the family was a good and Godly thing to do instead of telling her to leave but that led to Shari leaving in some way so I have mixed feelings about it. I love Macy but if she had not had her problems that made her come to us we would not have had a 4th wife and then lost Shari I think.

Losing Shari messed us up with money so there is no way we would have a 4th now so that is not a worry. Everyone is happier without Shari being so serious and upset around the house and even her daughters are pretty happy now and loving the new peace in the house. I read one article about the Browns that said the life was a fantasy land and I think that sometimes it is. It's kind of weird sometimes when you go like weeks without an argument with anyone. I mean it is good but I was so used to fights with my mom all the time that now it is kind of weird sometimes. I can understand why this life would look so weird or even fake to someone who is used to a lot more drama in their life.

I think part of it is we keep quiet anyway so our lives are not that exciting with bad things happening. There are no fights over money, the bills are always paid first, we have food on the table, the house is warm or cool when it needs to be, we have nice clothes, cars are not a problem, and we all have some private time and our own space when we want it. There is just nothing to really get upset about.

New topic: Cooking

Steve was out hunting and he and his friends came back with 22 geese. I volunteered to clean them and prep them and the men all jumped and said yes. Yay! That meant I got 22 goose livers to make foie gras with! They were pretty lean so I added two sticks of butter and then a little broth reduction and it came out pretty good. It was funny some of the men had never had goose liver before and they acted like it was something awful until they tried it. We roasted three of the geese and they came out pretty good. Wild geese are more lean than the ones you can get in the store so they are not so greasy and I liked that.

I'm trying to do sourdough bread and I am growing a starter right now. It's three days old and I am going to try some on Sunday for dinner and see how it goes. I have tried before and they don't do too well but this time I am using brewing yeast we got from a home beer making friend and I like the smell! It has the right bitter scent to it so I am hoping it comes out okay.

It is almost 8:30 and time for our movie. We are going to watch "The Book of Eli". It is supposed to be a good story but lots of violence. I'm not so much on the violence but it is supposed to be a good movie anyway.

Have a nice weekend!

"Sister Wives" people going to jail?

I have had problems with some of the secrecy that we do and I thought it was too much sometimes. Like why can't I give my phone number to a friend? Why can't we trust anyone outside the church without a big deal?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5840580/kody_brown_star_of_tlcs_new_reality.html

That is why. I don't know what is so wrong about a man having four wives and taking care of them!

Larry King has to take care of SEVEN wives and no one cares. Donald Trump has three wives to take care of.

It's okay for these men to have a bunch of wives in a row and it's okay for Hugh Hefner to have a BUNCH of girls he just has sex with all the time and all that's okay but if they have more than one at the same time that is supposed to be bad?

So why are we wrong and they're right?

Welcome Renee Rachel!!

Last Sunday, September 5th, at 9:25pm our family welcomed Renee Rachel into the world! She's got dark brown hair like her mom and she was 8lbs 3oz and 20 inches tall. Christie is doing just fine and is happy to be a mom for the third time!

The week has been very busy and I have not been on here a lot but it is for a very pretty reason!

I hope all of you have had as blessed a week!

Alice's questions

Alice is a really sweet lady who needs prayer for a small stroke she had and she also had some questions so I am posting them here:

I was wondering who kills and dresses the chickens when it's time?

Steve does. I can't do it.

Are you thinking of getting any more stock to use for food such as goats & dairy cows, or pigs & cows for their meat?

We are running Angus until the snow comes in. 50 of them are ours and Steve will probably take one for meat pretty soon. I really don't want dairy cows again they are so much work.

With so many females in the home, does everyone tend to use their special talents to improve the atmosphere of the home? (Such as you doing a lot of the cooking and Steve doing the fence repairs and other household improvements.)

Yeah I do a lot of the cooking now and we all have our things to do. Lauren is good with the tractor so she does a lot of the plowing when it needs to be done and she moves the pipes when they need to be moved.

Does the family have a job chart of things that need to be done daily?

No, we just do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. Everyone knows their thing so you just know you need to do it because everyone else depends on you to do it.

Do you think that Shari's and Steve's girl are possibly depressed? Or maybe they are taking advantage of their mom not being there to encourage them to do their fair share of the responsibilities. (I got the feeling from some of your earlier messages that everyone in the family contributed to the daily care and responsibilities.) I understand that you and the girls feel that Shari abandoned the family.

Yes, they are a little depressed and it is totally okay. They still do their fair share of work but things are just more relaxed now and it's more that things get done because they need to get done and not because someone said to do it.

More questions from Charmed

ok, I got some more questions Whats the hardest part about being a new mom?

Not sleeping. I never really thought about how important sleep is until I wasn't getting any. Now it is the best thing in the world to sleep all night long because then I am not tired the next day.

the best part(s)?

Where do I start? I love my girls soooooo much! I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it is when they smile at me or when I am just holding them. I wish I could save some of that feeling for sometime when I really need it.

I don't know if you ever mentioned this or not, but are your girls identical, or fraternal twins?

Fraternal. Laura has red hair and Patty is sandy blonde like me. Patty is also bigger than Laura and she is a lot more active. Laura is the one who loves to be held the most. They're reall different in a lot of ways and I think I said that they do have matching outfits but I never dress them that way at the same time. I like them being different.

do all the wives have their own bedrooms?

Yes.

do you still bunk together sometimes when someone else is with Steve?

Yes.

Favorite movie?

Princess Diaries is still my favorite movie. Titanic is in there too and I also like Notting Hill.

Favorite song?

Delilah by the Plain White T's.

favorite color?

I don't like one color but I like colors together. Blue and Gold, blue and brown, red and black, red and white, orange and green.

favorite food?

Probably pork just because I like all the things you can do with it.

when you have more kids and have a pregnancy with just one baby, do you think you might give birth at home?

I'd like to do that if I can. I don't really like hospitals.

I remember you writing about Christi's kids swimming as babies, do your girls know how to swim?

I've had them in the pool a few times but I can't let go of them. Christie says it is okay to do it but I just can't. They will learn how to swim but just not now.

Morgan's questions

I will keep doing the questions because it's soooo easy to have something to write about! Here are Morgan's questions:

What do the kids (mainly the older ones) think of the poly lifestyle? How is the subject handled with this kids?

They grew up around poly families so they don't really ever say too much about it. They know they have choices in life so they don't have to do it and even if they did want to do it it takes a long time for a family to be able to do poly. They have to be debt free and all that. About half the kids from the church leave for college and don't come back when they are done and that is just fine with everyone.

Do they have outside friends, and do they realize that their family is different/uncoventional?

Not a lot of church kids have outside friends and it is just because most families homeschool.

Do you guys make much of a distinction between whose kids are whose or are you more like one big family?

Everyone knows who their mom is but I think the nice thing for the kids is they have different moms to go to for different things. In some ways we are the one big family but then in others we aren't. No one makes a big deal about it.

What is Steve like as a father to all the kids?

I wish he had been my father. I mean that. He is really good with the kids and he makes a lot of time for them and still gets lots of things done. I think he works out of town sometimes to get some rest because he is so busy when he is home.

How often do you have sex with steve?

Right now more than Christie because she is due pretty soon and is not in the mood and Macy is at about 6 months and is not always interested. Sometimes he just sleeps with Christie or Macy to be close to them and that is really sweet. He did the same with me before the twins were born. But lately I am with him more than usual.

Maybe this has been answered before, but I can't remember. Are your intimate times always 1 on 1, or do you ever sleep with more than one sisterwife and steve? What is that like? I hope none of these are too innapropriate/personal!

Sometimes we sleep together and that's mostly just cuddle time and maybe some kissing and it is really nice when it's cold out. It's nothing weird.

Ollie & Charmed's questions

Ollie asked these things and the questions are not so bad really so don't anyone get all upset okay?

1. Are you liking sex more now?

Yes I am.

2. Is it still scary when your husband is trying to impregnate you?

Sometimes it is. I mean it is hard not to think about what it means but most of the scary stuff had to do with being a mom for the first time and that is over with so it is not so scary anymore.

3. Are you looking forward to being pregnant again?

Mostly yes! I don't know how to explain it but I really liked being pregnant at least until like the last month or so and I am hoping it will be easier when it is just one baby and not two.

4. Do you still have regrets about joining a poly family?

No, I love my family and can't imagine anything different now.

5. Ever think you might leave like Shari did?

No.

6. If you did would you want to be in another poly family or would you want to have a man of your own?

I don't want to leave so this is not something I've really thought about.

7. Is sex satisfying for you? Do you have orgasms and do you ever initiate sex with Steve?

Yes, sometimes. Yes. and Yes.

8. Do you still have other women contact you about joining your church and poly community?

Just one or two this year. So it is not like last year when some of them actually contacted one of the pastors to see about doing this.

9. Now that Shari is gone are you wearing sexier clothes around the house?

Not really sexy but more comfortable.

10. What's your favorite clothes to wear?

I'm looking forward to winter and wearing a robe and pjs!

11. Ever think you will take a regular job?

I really hope not.

12. Are there any movie stars you like? If so, who?

Anne Hathaway. I loved her in The Princess Diaries and in The Devil Wears Prada. And Matthew McConaghey!

13. Favorite movie?

Titanic.

14. If Steve were to introduce you to another 19 year old girl he wanted to make his wife what would you tell her?

Steve is not going to do this but I think I would tell her the truth about what all this means and that it is not a fairy tale life.

15. Think you might be jealous of a new wife?

Definitely. I don't know how I wouldn't be.

16. What's your favorite pizza?

Ham, pineapple, and bell pepper.

17. Does your church allow alcohol?

Yes, but we are not allowed to get drunk.

18. Do you love Steve? I mean do you love him as a lover?

Sometimes I am all mushy for him but most of the time I am just happy to have him there.

19. What do you miss about California?

Not driving 40 miles to go shopping.

20. What do you like about your new home that you didn't have in California?

Peace and quiet, no crazy people on the road, no one staring at you when you go shopping, people say hi to you all the time here and no one even looks at you in California like they are scared to say hi or something. People are just a lot friendlier here.


August 27, 2010 1:03 PM
charmed said...

14. Do you and Steve, or Steve and the other wives, ever have date nights, like where he takes you out somewhere just the two of you(or them) to spend time alone? or is it pretty much the whole family spending time together most of the time?

We are not doing dates right now just because money is really tight and it costs a lot to go somewhere. I mean we are 40 miles from town.

15. Do you dress your girls in matching outfits?

No. I got some matching outfits for them as presents but I never have them in the same thing at the same time. I really want them to be who they are and not ever half of someone else.

16. Do you still run like you and Christi were before?

No. The roads are mostly gravel and it is too hard to run on them. We have a treadmill here and I use that sometimes but Christie will probably use it more after her baby comes.

17. Any regrets about joining your poly family?

The only regret I ever had was I wish I had taken things a lot slower. I was really stupid when I came here and thought it was a big fairy tale because things were so much better than with my mom and I rushed into things. I didn't have to do the wedding night and I could have waited but I wanted the fairy tale wedding night and was not really ready for all of that.

18. What kind of disagreements does your family have(if any) from time to time?

CHORES!!!! Chores are a very big deal around here because you have to figure out what you can't do when you are pregnant and then everyone else has to agree and then someone else has to do your work for you. Lauren and Hannah are not so big into doing everything since their mom left and then with Macy and Christie pregnant at the same time that means me, Lauren, and Hannah have a lot of the hard work to do and it is easy to get really tired of doing all that all the time.

19. do you ever get upset with your sister wives?

Yes, sometimes.

20. Do you ever feel jealous of your sister wives? and if so how do you deal with it?

Yes. When I was expecting the girls and had to stop being with Steve I missed him a lot and it was hard to know he was with someone else when I really wanted to be held and I got a little jealous. I just had to deal with it is all because no one was doing anything wrong and I knew what I was getting into when I joined the family. It is my problem and not theirs.

Meg's questions

If you have more children in the future, would you consider allowing your sisterwives to act as a wet nurse rather than use bottles if they were willing?

Yes, I did that for Christie's daughter Emily for a while. I don't see anything wrong with that but I know it bothers some women.

How are Shari's daughters reacting to their new twin sisters?

Just fine. I think having babies around is pretty normal to them and they used to babysit for other families so they know some more stuff with babies that I did not know at first.

If your chickens stop laying, will you use them for meat so you know where your food comes from?

We already do. I have a couple special chickens who are more pets and we'll never do that with them but the rest are chickens and that is what they are for. The ones that have problems end up on the table like if they are laying soft shell eggs all the time or eggs without shells.

What is your favorite kind of cake to make for your family?

My favorite is chocolate with cherry filling and buttercream frosting but everyone else likes my Boston Cream Pie. I make it more like a cake than a pie and my trick is I use banana slices between the layers to make it stand up better and then everyone likes the banana slices.

Would you consider taking up knitting or sewing as hobbies, especially since they could be used as a means of providing clothing for your family?

That's weird you asked because I am starting quilting this fall and joining the quilting circle when it starts up next month.

What is your favorite dinner to make since taking the cooking classes? -Meg

The best one I have done is a pork shoulder roast. I took a 15 pound pork shoulder and put it in a 18 quart pot with vegetable oil on the bottom. I preheated it on a high heat to where the oil spattered when you dropped a little water in it and then seared the pork shoulder all the way around. I burned it a little on purpose to give it some flavor. Then I filled the pot up with water, a bottle of red wine, basil leaves, a pinch of anise and added about a cup of salt and then let it simmer for almost 6 hours. Then I pulled the pork out and strained the liquid and then used Kitchen Bouquet and some flour to make a gravy and added some pepper.

I served it with steamed Brussels sprouts and Idaho Gold potatoes mashed with one yam and butter. The yam adds a neat texture to the potatoes and it makes for a nice color balance on the plate. The whole dinner was really easy to do and I used only two pots. One for the pork and then one to boil the potatoes and I put the steamer over that pot for the carrots.

There were no leftovers and I only really had two pots to clean up after dinner so that is my favorite dinner so far.

More answers

I had a few comments about Patty crawling and yes she is kind of crawling. Not like all over the house or anything but she can get up and crawl around some by dragging herself around. She's not holding her head up all the way yet and she isn't using her legs yet but I guess that will happen. Christie said Eric and Emma were not this early to crawl but our new doctor said it is okay and she's seen it before. Patty also makes little happy sounds and Laura is not doing that yet.


churchmusician said...
Just a few questions:

--Do you plan to homeschool your children?

Yes, at least until high school. I think I want my girls to go to a regular high school so they can have things like prom and all that.

--How do you like your new church?

It's really different and I am making friends but I miss the old church too.

--Can Shari's daughters see their mom and Stevie on a regular basis? (This is important to me, because I spent 11 years in a foster home and didn't have contact with my siblings.)

We have not heard from Shari in like 2 weeks and she has said she wants the girls to stay here. Stevie has not visited here yet but we plan on sending the girls to visit her when they want to go.

--Would you prefer for your daughters to be poly, when they're old enough to marry?

I want them to be happy and all of that will be up to them. I had my choice and they deserve and will have theirs. But my first wish for them would be to go to college and have a better life and have more choices than I did.

charmed said...
8. What is a typical day like in your house

Most of our days ARE typical! That was a great question! If Steve is not working then things start around 5am and it's usually me and Lauren getting up to get breakfast going and then Lauren goes out to feed the animals. Everyone else is up around 6am and has breakfast and after that I clean up and Hannah takes the four babies and Macy will help with dishes or she goes out to weed in the garden. Right now Christie just does what she can until she gets tired or she gets on the computer to work if she has work to do. If Steve is home he is usually out to town to buy stuff or he will ride the fenceline and fix the fence if it needs it. He also does a lot of work around here and the place needs it. It's a nice place but when it got foreclosed on it sat for a year and a lot of things got let go. Lunch is around noon or one depending on what everyone is doing and we all stop and have lunch and then it is back to chores and things. I like to take time after lunch to be with my girls and then in the afternoon I try to do some baking like bread or maybe a cake for dinner. No one really likes pies so I don't make them anymore. I usually start dinner around six anymore just because no one is hungry at five when we used to do it. Then I clean up and have time with my girls and then sit with the family for the evening. We watch more TV now and part of that is because we get Dish TV and there is more to watch but then it gets turned off at 9pm and most everyone goes to bed. 9pm to 10pm I usually stay up and have my quiet time if I can.

9. Do you still talk to your mom, what does she think of your life now?

We talk once in a while but she has a new job and a new boyfriend so it is not so much anymore and that is okay because she needs to focus on her life I think.

10. Do you have a Garden at the new house, like you did at the old one? and a pool?

The garden here is smaller and has to be fenced because of the deer and it won't grow in the winter because it snows here. We do have a pool and Steve might have to drain it for the winter. It came with a tent thing that's all messed up and it needs to be fixed or replaced but we don't have the money for that right now.

11. how many kids do you think you might want/have?

Four or five would be perfect for me but I think I will probably have maybe six to eight when I stop having kids. I mean it is just math to say that and I am okay having kids if we can afford to do it.

12. do you use disposable diapers at your house or does anyone use the cloth ones?

Cloth. We use separate washing machine and dryer for them just because it is icky to think about and sometimes they really smell. We use baking soda, vinegar, and a little bleach when we wash them and that takes care of making them smell fresh again. The diapers last about two months when you have to replace them. It is expensive to me but it ends up being cheaper than disposable diapers.

13. do you have any hobbies besides cooking, or regular household stuff?

I used to think this blog was a hobby but it isn't so much anymore. I don't always know what to write that I have not written before so sometimes anymore I just let it go for a while. I don't do email so much anymore and I am on Yahoo chat less and less. I am trying to read more but that is about it. I think I will try to do quilting this winter when we can't go out so much and that might be fun.

Thanks for the questions!

Charmed's questions

Charmed responded first (thank you!) so here goes.

1.is Macey pregnant yet?

Macy is pregnant and due in late November or early December. I haven't written much about her on here just because I was getting too personal with her stuff.

2.do you think there might be another 4th wife sometime in the future?

I don't think so at least right now. It will be a long time before we have the money saved up that Shari got and things are really tight. And things are really good with all of us right now so why mess up a good thing?

3. how is Steve doing?

He's been okay. I won't say he is good because that isn't true but then he isn't all messed up that any of us can see. Part of it is he has been having to focus on work and I think that helps.

4.how are the Shari's daugthers handling the divorce?

Okay to not-okay. They feel abandoned and as much as the three of us try to love them we are not a substitute for their mom. To be honest I feel a little abandoned too because I would not have done this without Shari here to be kind of a mom to me too.

5.how are your twins doing :)

Patty is doing awesome and Laura is doing good but she is fussy sometimes and has been sick a little. I think they'll be fine but it is really clear that they are already very different little people. Laura is trying to make words and is ahead of Patty that way but Patty is much more physical and is crawling and Laura just wants to be on her belly all the time. I do know I love them so much and that they are everything I wanted to have in my children!

6.have everyone stopped wearing the dresses now that Shari is gone?

We wear dresses to church on Sunday but anymore around the house we don't. I will wear a dress in the yard sometimes to stay out of the sun but in the house I like t-shirts and shorts and pajamas.

7.what kind of schedule do the you all the wives have with Steve?

A schedule didn't really work out and right now with Macy and Christie both pregnant he spends a lot of time with me for some things but then he has to be with Christie for business and he likes to talk to Macy a lot. Christie says between us we make a really awesome wife! I think that's true and we're just letting things happen and not trying to force anything to happen. So far that is working but we can always do something different if we need to.

I'll try and think of more later, I'll try not to get to personal though.

Ask anything you want and if it is too personal I will say so but won't get all offended okay? (-:

20 Questions

I just haven't had it in my head to write much lately so I will take questions. Here's the deal: people who are not anonymous all get to ask 20 questions and I will answer them all. Anonymous people I will answer your questions if you're not being mean. It might be a while before I get on here again so be patient with me! Thanks!

"Sister Wives" on TLC

The Learning Channel has a new TV show called "Sister Wives" that they are putting on this fall. I think this might have been the same thing they wanted my family to do. I posted that email on here I'm pretty sure.
We had my friend Carlee and her new family at the house yesterday and that TV show was a big subject. We all agree that the family on the show is asking for trouble because they have kids and the social workers won't be able to stop themselves from raiding the place like they did with the Mormons in Texas. I can't imagine putting my family at risk to go on TV but at the same time I hope the message gets out that poly is just another way to live and love but with a lot more laundry!

Steve and Christie are going to get legally married soon before the baby comes, like next week. They are just going to go to town and do it because they are already married in the church so there won't be a big deal with the church but we will still have a little party at home for them. We all talked about it and Steve and Christie were sooooo cool about it! It was really sweet that they wanted to make sure Macy and me felt okay about it but we already said it should be Christie to be the one married to Steve. It really is okay with us our big thing is we just want someone married to him just in case we need someone to be married to him like if he is in the hospital or something.

The one thing I saw on TV with this Sister Wives show was a interview where the new wife said she fell in love with the family first and then fell in love with the husband. Wow! That was exactly what I said too! It's nice to know someone else has the same kind of feelings and that makes me feel not as weird as I feel sometimes.

I had to look and see if we get TLC and we do so I will be watching that show when it is on if I have time. I watched four episodes of Big Love and stopped watching because it was just a crazy soap opera and the poly thing was so unreal in it.

The chickens are doing really well. We had another bunch of coyotes around their coop and this time Steve got three of them. The thing was the chickens were all freaked out and some of them lost a lot of feathers flying around and all. They will be okay but I don't like them being freaked out. Another thing that came up was the local butcher asked me this week when I wanted to start selling my layers for cooking and I guess I have to think about that. When they stop laying it will be time for them to move on but I have a couple special ones I will keep no matter what. For now they should keep laying for another year or so and I will worry about that then.

Someone asked about heating the chickens coop in the winter and Steve's plan is to just tow their trailer into the barn and let them stay in there. The coop gets pretty warm on its own with all the chickens in it and if it is out of the weather they should be okay. And then the barn has a heater that won't let it drop below 40 so that will be all taken care of. We're supposed to get really cold weather so I am worried about that but then I am also excited because this will be my first time living in snow and I hope it will be fun.

That is all I have time for and I have to go. Have a Happy Weekend!

Chef Megan

I'm a chef! Yay! It is so cool to have something finished and to have something that can help me earn some money if we need it. You're not really a professional until you get paid to do something but it still feels really cool to finish this and to be more than I used to be.

Steve and Shari's divorce is final now and I will hear more about it today or tomorrow but the thing is that it is over and it is not like some drama that will keep going forever. I got a few emails asking how it went so fast and it is because the church makes people do legal things that protect everyone when a divorce happens and it goes fast with no arguments over anything because it is all agreed to when you get married. Steve and Christie will be getting legally married maybe in September or October and that is the right thing for everyone. Shari is in Portland and just wants a lot of time to herself so Lauren and Hannah are staying with us.

My Patty and my Laura are doing really well. They are on the bottle and soft food now and that made my trip and my life a little easier. Breastfeeding is great and all but you leak and that is a pain and then you can be sore sometimes and then I can't get a lot of sleep. Now I am sleeping and the babies sleep all night now but I still check them when I go to bed. It was sooooooooooooooo hard to be away from them this last week! It's like I went to California and left my heart here. They are doing well in weight but Patty is about a pound bigger than Laura and is more active. Laura is a doll and does not fuss or cry much unless she is wet but then Patty is the happy one who loves to smile all the time. I love them so much.

The chickens are doing good. We have a nice fenced area for them and they have their trailer for the coop still. We put a net over their fenced area because we had hawks coming around a lot. Christie shot a coyote on Tuesday that was out around the chicken pen looking at the chickens and scaring them. We hear coyotes at night but this was the first one anyone saw in the day and it must have been really hungry or maybe sick. Christie thinks it was sick and had Lauren put it on our brush pile and burned it just in case.

I have not checked email or anything but wanted to get this done first. Happy Monday!

July 31, 2010

Thanks for the good questions! Sometimes things are just what they are and I don't know what to write about so this is a nice way for me to find something to say.

Shari was homeschooling the kids wasn't she? who is going to do that now that she is gone, or will they go to a public school?

Lauren and Hannah will be doing some homeschooling with us and they will be going to a small school that a church family runs starting after the harvest is all done. The little kids we can homeschool and Macy says she will get her teaching certificate for this state so she can teach and we can have a private school. She can do that mostly by mail here so it is not a big deal.

What type of denomination do you and your family belong to? If you do not belong to any mainstream denomination what at the doctorines of your faith?

Our church is supposed to be like a old school Methodist church. Not United Methodist but it is supposed to be like the Evangelical Brethren and I don't know a lot about that. I know we really have our own thing and then the three main congregations do some different stuff. Like this one meets ever Sunday and we have a church and my old one met once a month at people's homes.

I never would have imagined when I first started reading this blog, that Shari would the one to leave. It is the disruption of a long standing relationship, and the separation of a mother from her children. It makes me sad.

I know that is not a question but I wanted to say something about it. I love Christie and Steve but I really would NEVER done this without Shari here. She was like the rock in the family that made me feel safe and at the same time she was really into the rules and all. Things are way more less stressed without her here but it also doesn't feel as permanent as it use to be. We are all going to work hard to be a good family but having her leave is hard because I know Steve is the man and all that but Shari was the head of the house for real and her being gone took a lot of the life out of the house. I really miss her and wish she would come home but just be less stressed if she did.

Next week I have to be back in California to do my final exam and get my diploma for cooking school. I'm pretty sure I will do fine but hope to get a prayer from everyone too! Thanks!

July Update

One of my chat friends said that our old normal is being replaced by a new normal and that is the best way to say that. Shari being gone made us see how stressed things were for her and for us because when she left all that stress did too. Steve is still hurting from Shari leaving but then he is more relaxed and you can see it and his blood pressure is down when he went to see the doctor!

It came up so here is an update on everyone now and here goes:

Steve is 45 and lives here and commutes to his work in California. He wants to move his business closer to where we live and is trying to find jobs near here.

Christie is 30 and has two babies, Eric who is 2 1/2 and Emily/Emmy who is 1 and she is due with another baby in September. She is saying she needs to start working again to make money to make up for what had to get paid to Shari and might have to get a job after the baby is born.

I am 19 going to be 20 in a month and I have two babies Patty and Laura who are both alomst 3 mos. I have about 160 chickens now and get $4.50 a dozen eggs and that is doing really well and I might go to 200 chickens next year.

Macy is 22 and is due around the end of November.

Lauren is 15 and Hannah is 12 and they are Steve and Shari's daughters and are going to stay here with us after the divorce is all done. Lauren was supposed to be the one going to college but now she is thinking she wants a family like her sister did and we will see what happens.

There it is.

I know I probably said this a lot already but with Shari gone things are more relaxed in the house. It's like this big tension is gone and we didn't know what it was until it was gone. We all still miss her a lot but I guess what we want is for her to be here but without all the stuff that was making things not so great.

About my school I have to go to California next month and do my final exams and then do my final presentation and they are going to let me graduate and I will be a chef! I really want to have something else I can do to make money if I need it and being a chef will really help. I don't talk about my cooking much but my cooking really got better once I knew what to do. My mom never taught me how to cook because with her cooking meant you open a can or put something in the microwave. It was so cool the first time I made a cake and not from a box! It's still like this whole new world to go in the kitchen and see things and not just see the ingredients but see what you can make with them.

That is about it for right now. If anyone has any questions that would be cool because I don't really know what else to write about right now.

Have a Happy Saturday!

Saturday morning

Thank you all for the nice things you have said and for the prayers! I really, really appreciate it!

There were a lot of questions on the blog and email and I am sorry if I don't get them all.

The Pastor from where Shari is now called yesterday and told us she is okay and that she is not going to use a lawyer out of the church. She will accept the 20% of everything she has a right to and then leave Lauren and Hannah with us. Shari is going to leave the church and the Pastor said she agreed to see a therapist too to help her adjust to things.

Yeah I think that having a fourth wife and a third wife (me) was not so good a idea for Shari. I know she wanted more kids in the house but then I really think she meant she wanted to have the kids. And then when me and Macy came here we got a lot of attention and that probably hurt Shari and it showed. It sucks because for me and Macy there is no going back on things to make it good for Shari and if I could do that I would.

She was really upset and we all got use to it and I hate to say it but you notice it more because she left. Now things are so calm that you really see how upset it was before. I mean she used to give everyone hard looks sometimes like she was way pissed at you and then you'd ask what was wrong and she'd say nothing and play it off and you'd be thinking you imagined it.

Menopause is probably part of what happened with her and maybe it is hormones? I don't know. But I am listening to people talk about it and it could be that she was upset that she just could not have babies anymore and that was a big thing. I really don't know and am just saying things here and don't mean to make it gossip.

It is sunny and warm today but not too hot and we have bad weather tomorrow so there is a lot to do and I need to go. I hope you all have a nice Saturday.

Update

Shari really isn't coming back and she is making that really clear to everyone. She was at Stevie's house in California and then went up to Portland with a friend of hers. I don't know what all happened but she is leaving everything and even Lauren and Hannah. She says they are better off here but then some of this is Shari wanting to be alone I think. I love her and care about her but I think this is being selfish not thinking about her kids and it was really wrong the way she just left like she did.
We think she was thinking about this and planning it for a few months and maybe it would have helped if she had said something? Even if it didn't help it would have been easier for everyone when this happened if it was not the big surprise it is.
Our new Pastor has been over a few times and has been really nice to talk to but it is sad this is how we get to know him.
That's all I want to write right now. Thank you all for the prayers!

Sad news

This last week Steve and Shari had a lot of arguments and fighting and I am not sure what all of it was about but yesterday Shari stayed home from church and when we all got home she was gone and left a message saying she was going to her sister's place in Oregon. She called Steve last night and told him on the phone she was going to get a divorce. Shari is legally married to Steve so that means a legal divorce. Shari's daughters are here with us and they are really broken up about this. The rest of us are too.
I know some of what Shari was upset about was moving out of California and being away from Stevie and so many people she knows. I think there are other things too but I think this is the biggest problem and I don't know what to say about it.
Steve is really upset and depressed and went fishing today and was gone most of the morning. He came back with no fish so I think he just wanted private time to think is all. We're all giving him space right now and we're all kind of shocked with this too. Christie was seriously quiet and that is totally not like her to be that way and I know it is bothering her.
There really isn't anything else worth mentioning right now just this and we can use some prayer for healing right now. Thanks.

June 24, 2010

One thing I have discovered with having children is that I don't have a lot of time anymore. I totally love my girls so I am just saying that this is just been a big huge change in my life is all. If you see that I am not writing in this blog a lot anymore that means I am not in email or chat that much anymore either.

Someone asked if Steve and me were talking about more kids and we are. From the beginning I knew that if I did this and married Steve that a big part of this was to be a mom and that was what I wanted and that is what will happen. Right now nothing is being planned so the only thing I can say is that someday I will have more kids. Right now I really want to enjoy the wonderful beautful babies God has already blessed us with!

Rude comments do not belong in my blog. This is my place to write and relax and take some time to just write stuff down so someday I can come back and look at it.

The new house is working out really good and the kitchen is a total dream. I never had a kitchen sink with an awesome view until now and it makes doing pots and pans kind of nice. My school let me finish some work online but I need to go back there in August to do my finals so I can get my diploma and I will be doing that. It means a week away from home but it will worth it to finish something and be called a chef. I will be staying with Stephanie (Stevie) and her husband and Stevie will take care of my girls when I am in class.

I just sat down and have to go! Have a nice night!

June 8, 2010

Things are doing pretty good here so far. Still getting use to the place and all and it is REALLY different when it is night time because you see so many stars! I never knew there were so many stars! It's beautiful and when you get use to the light at night you can kind of see things even with the star light. You can see satellites and meteors all night too.
I had a couple of my chickens die and it was probably stress. Just found them in the coop this morning and they were not moving. I know it sounds stupid but I cried about it and it just made me really sad to lose some of my little chicks we raised.

Hera, having sister wives makes this all so much easier! I can't imagine doing this alone with Patty and Laura. The best part is being able to have someone else watch them sometimes so I can take a nap and I totally appreciate this!

Got to make this short and go now. (-:

New place

We're in the new place and the house is really nicer than what we had at home. I'm not going to say a lot about it because I have promised to be more private now but I will say it is not in California, we are a long way from the closest big city, our closest neighbor is a couple miles from here, and we have a lot more land but most of it is not anything we can really use. It's just nice to have a lot of room.
Patty and Laura are doing fine and gaining weight and things are doing good with me too. The rest of the family is doing really good too. We went to church here yesterday and it was different to be with a new pastor but nice to get to meet so many new people. There are more big families here than in California and it is kind of nice and there are a lot of women my age here so I hope to make some new friends too.
One of the things that someone sent me was a certficate for Amazon so I could buy a book called Quiverfull and I ordered it and it showed up today and I will read it when I can. Thank you, Callie. (-:
I am still settleing in here and still need to unpack some things. The chickens did okay with the move but there are some of my girls with bloody wings from panicking in the trailer during the drive. They should be okay but right now only a few of them are laying so we had to buy eggs for the first time in a very long time.
Well, I was up and wanted to post this now that we got the internet connected. It is 1:32am here and the one hour difference here is not bugging most of us but it does bother me a little.

Late night

I just got Patty to go to sleep and wanted to write a little before going to bed. This has been a major change in life having Patty and Laura. Getting to be around Emily so much helped me get ready but it is different when the babies are yours. You can't EVER ignore it when your baby cries even when you know someone else is going to take care of things for you it still makes you jump up and worry when you hear them cry. There is no sleeping when they cry and the thing with twins is if one of them cries then BOTH of them cry. I am SO thankful that I have help so someone else can take one of them when I have one in my arms. This would be insane to do this alone!

So much to write about!

We move a week from Friday. Or we start moving. I am going to drive Christie's car with the girls and Macy and we are towing a trailer and following Steve in his big truck. That is suppose to happen on Memorial Day Monday. Steve thinks we should be okay driving that day and says we should make Salt Lake City by the end of the day and we are staying there for the night before going to the new house.

I have never lived outside of California so this will be so new and with a new family too. I could write a million words about all the the stuff on my mind with this and still have more to say. I am really excited but sad to go too because it seems so permanent all the changes anymore.

It will be nice for my babies to grow up in a place with no crowds and clean air and no ugly city to look at all the time. It will be cool for them to get to play in the snow when it happens and I am looking forward to that too! You don't get snow here ever and you only get to see it up in the mountains.

I am really tired and this is not looking too good what I'm writing but I will post it anyway.

Have a nice night!

Pretty amazing!

It is now nine days since my little girls were born and I can harldy believe so much time has gone by already! Patricia and Laura are doing really well and you can already see a lot of difference with them. Laura is happy and noisey and Patricia is more quiet. Both of them look me in the eye when they look at me and it is just so it makes your heart just get all soft and fuzzy!
With the two of them I am pretty busy all the time and have no time for anything else so I can tell I won't be on here a lot for a while.

Thank you to everyone for the nice thoughts and the gifts but please don't send any more gifts, okay? It is really nice but I didn't start writing this to get anything from anyone. We have everything we need and more so if you want to help someone else with a gift that is what I would really want! (-:

I had a couple days where I was kind of sick and was sleeping an awful lot and I was told this can be normal. Supposed to be that I am just exhausted and needed time to sleep. I feel better now but it was pretty weird when it was happening.

I am doing situps in the morning to help get my tummy back in shape and Christie is being my coach and helping! She says the sooner I get back in shape the easier it is. She says if I wait then it can be kind of hard to lose the baby fat and all. I'm not too bad I weigh 18 pounds more than I did before the babies so it should not be too hard to get back to normal.

That is it for now. I need to get back upstairs. Have a great weekend and thank you to everyone!

Welcome Patricia and Laura!

At 3:15 am on Thursday morning Laura Ellen came into the world at 6 pounds 4 ounces and 17 inches with red hair! At 3:34 am Patricia May came into the world at 5 pounds 9 ounces and 16 inches and with dark brown hair like her daddy!

I am a very, very happy mom! I'm a mom!!!

That is all I can do right now but will try to write more maybe this weekend!

I hope all of you are as happy as I am right this moment!

Love,
Megan, Patricia, and Laura!


Edit on Saturday morning:

The labor started over last weekend and I didn't know that back pain meant you were in labor! I thought it was just my back really hurting from carrying the babies.

Wednesday around 8pm it was time to go to the hospital and the nurse had me walk around saying that would help. Christie and Shari were with me the whole time and Steve got there around 11pm because he had to get back from business in LA.

Things got pretty intense around 2:30am and the OB asked me if I wanted the epidural and I said no. She said the babies were not so big that she expected them to cause me a lot of pain or anything so we just went ahead like that. When Laura started to come out it went pretty fast and I will say it hurt like hell!

She crowned around 3:13 according to Christie and once I opened up enough for her she came right out. She has these beautiful blue eyes I hope she keeps and she is a red head so I bet she will be so pretty! No one is really sure where the red hair came from and that has been a big joke here.

About 15 minutes later Patricia crowned and Christie says she just came out in like less than a minute. I guess I was already opened up for her so that was good. I hate to say I don't remember a lot with Patricia being born and I was all :huh: when they were saying congratulations to me.

I stayed in the hospital until Friday afternoon and all three of us were okay so they let us go home and it was pretty crazy having two babies on their first ride in a car! They were fussy and then the car started moving and both of them went to sleep and were so beautiful! I have both of them in the nursery next to my room and I am leaving the door open all the time. I decided there is nothing that sounds as wonderful as my babies crying.

Okay it is Saturday morning now around 7:30 and I have the girls in their basinettes upstairs with Christie and Macy and it is time to get back up there.

Have a nice day!

Almost that time

I have been having contractions now and then this week and the OB says I should expect to have the babies this week. She says the babies should be fine. I have my bag all packed to go and will probably stay in the hospital for at least one night if we can do a normal birth. I really do not want to do a c-section. Been learning about epeseotomys and epidurals and will probably do the epeseotomy but I don't think I want to be numb during the birth. The OB says I can change my mind if I want to and that is good.

This is all new to me and I know I make some of you LOL, but it is new to me. The worst thing in the last few months is having to pee ALL THE TIME. It will be nice to be able to go most of the day without peeing again!

I'll post something when I can about the babies but it might be a while.

For my friends who pray I want to ask for prayer for a friend. His wife is named Debra and she has this disease that has her in pain all the time. The name of the disease is four words long and I did not write it down but the important part is she really needs prayer for healing. Thank you!

Have a nice Monday!

New home!

It isn't done yet but our family has an accepted offer on a new place in another state so we will be leaving California. I've never lived anywhere else so this is another big change for me. My mom is not so happy that I will be about 1,000 miles away but maybe she will come to visit. The new place has a lot more land around it. We're going to have 1600 acres. About 90 acres is flat and can be farmed or used for pasture and the rest is some trees and hills and it is rocky but the best part of that is we will have a lot more privacy.
I don't think I said what started this and that was we had to put a water meter on our well because of some state law about water meters that the people in Los Angeles wanted. Steve says that when they bought this house and all the water rights were part of it and the local water people say that doesn't matter we still have to pay for the water even though we already paid for it. So Steve said that was enough of California and then Christie says that our cost to move we will get back in what we don't have to pay in state income tax next year because we will be in a state that has no income tax and right now California is almost ten percent for us.
The house we are moving in to is a log cabin kind of place and it is only five years old. The people there lost it to a bank and so it got sold.

The babies are fine. They are pretty quiet the last day or so and I have been getting some sleep which is really nice. When we move I am going to be at a friends house near where we live until the moving is done so I can be with the babies and all. We will be moving starting May 28 so I will be not posting on here for a week or two until we get moved in and all.

I have 128 chickens now. They are doing pretty good. I had a lot of chicks and some of them I would just find dead and that is supposed to be okay but I cried like crazy the first time I found a dead chick. I'm not much of a farmer. We will be putting them in their trailer and towing that to the new place with the truck and Steve says they should be fine.

Moving away means I am not going to finish cooking school like I wanted but the school says I can use their online stuff to finish online so I might start that pretty soon.

It's about 9am and time to get going so everyone have a Happy Friday!

Deuteronomy 25:5

Deuteronomy 25:5

If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be remarried outside of the family to a stranger; her husband's brother shall go into her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

We had a different Pastor today and I asked him about the poly thing and what he thought of it and he said that when the church started this was one of the scriptures they said they used to deal with the problems they had. Since there were so many single women with kids they decided that the fathers and boyfriends who ran away were brothers in Christ so the remaining men had a responsibility to take care of the women and their children.

So then I asked about why they let in people like me and the Pastor said that the church won't let in women who have good families and who are doing well. They open up for women who really need a strong refuge he said. I think that meant women who are messed up or have been hurt and that means me. That makes some sense.

I have not been on here in a while and some of that is because I don't have my own computer anymore because of a virus so I use Christies when she isn't here. The other part is that it is just cold down here in the basement so it is not a lot of fun to be here and write unless I turn on the heat and then I really don't want to be here that long so I usually talk myself out of using the puter.

The OB says my due date is May 22 but that anytime after May 1 would be okay. That would be okay with me! This is getting old. My back hurts, my boobs hurt, my feet hurt, my ankles look like sausages, and I don't think I want to see my maternity dresses for a long time.

It's also official that we are moving. Steve and Christie found a place in another state near one of the other church groups and we will be moving the week of Memorial Day when escrow closes. I will not be posting where we are moving but if you are on my IM I might tell you. It's not a big deal but I have a stalker I want to leave behind.

I'd write more but it is cold and rainy outside and colder down here so I am gone!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Who wants to be on TV?

Why do so many Canadians care about poly in America? It seems like most of the reporters who write to me are from Canada. Since I don't feel like writing a lot right now I thought I would post this email I got today and maybe someone of you can help this guy? That would be nice.:

I work for Cineflix Productions, a television production company with offices in London, New York and Toronto. We are currently developing a show about polygamy in the US, and we would like to interview you and your family as part of our research. This would be for our internal use only, and would not be broadcast or used commercially in any way; at this stage we’re trying to determine who in the polygamous community might be willing to be interviewed at a later date as part of the series.

The show concept is not sensationalistic and we are taking a non-sectarian approach—we are interested in a wide range of communities, not just FLDS-affiliated families. An increasing number of Americans of all backgrounds, both secular and religious, are ‘coming out’ as polygamous and/or polyamorous, and this is what we want to document.

If this project interests you, kindly contact me by email or at either of the numbers below, and have a look at our website: http://www.cineflixproductions.com.

Malcolm Davidson
CINEFLIX PRODUCTIONS
110 Spadina Avenue, 4th Floor
Toronto ON M5V 2K4
416 531 2500 ext. 458 (8am – 6pm)
416 825 7285 (after 6pm)


www.cineflix.com

March 19, 2010

Happy Friday!

Things are going good. The last trip to the OB was all good news and she said May 22 is still looking about right for a due date but that I need to start being ready by around the end of April just in case the babies come early. The church ladies did a baby shower for me on Wednesday night and that was a lot of fun! I got so many baby towels it got to be funny! I must have like over 100 baby towels!

Steve and I had our first anniversary and he bought me a nice necklace and that was really nice but I wish I had more time with him. He is busy finishing a construction job so he is not home a lot right now and when this job is done he has another one to start on so we won't be seeing a lot of him until the winter.

Christie is way busy on doing her tax work and that is why I can't get to the computer so much. I used to be up late a lot but anymore I am just sleeping when the babies cry so Macy and Lauren took over a lot of taking care of Eric and Emily when Christie can't do it. I am sleeping a LOT right now and everyone says it is normal and okay but I feel kind of lazy.

We might be moving this summer. Steve and Christie are going to take a trip in April to go see some places and if it all works out we will try to sell this place and move there. I never lived anywhere else but California so this will be something really new to me. The reason for it is California is getting really crazy with taxes and they have some global warming law that will make Steve have to replace a LOT of construction stuff like bulldozers and graders amd trucks and it will be cheaper to just start business in another state instead of trying to stay here so it makes sense. The other thing is that we can get over 1,000 acres and a house for what we can have 20 acres and a house here. It will mean more privacy for us and that is a good thing.

I made scones for breakfast this morning and that was the first cooking I wanted to do in a while. We had whipped cream and lingonberry jam and coffee and it was really nice. It was our first day of the year to sit outside for breakfast and it was really nice. It is about 80 outside right now and it is just crazy how California goes right from winter to summer in one week! A week ago it was snowing not far from here and now it is hot out!

One of the ladies who is in the church and use to be Jewish is going to come to our house to do a Pass Over sader on Tuesday in two weeks (the 30th I think?) and it will be cool to do this. I don't know a lot about Jewish people and the way they worship so I am thinking it will be kind of fun. We got this really big plate for the sader and I want to hang it up in my room after we are adone because it is so pretty. My part is I will be making horseradish, cracker bread, and pineapple coogel for the dinner. I need to find a recipe for the coogel and if anyone has one I would love to have it!

Everyone is doing really good here and I guess that is all I can say right now.

Have a Happy Friday!

Mean people suck.

They really do.

March 6, 2010

Hi, I haven't been on here in a while mostly because there are a lot of other things for me to do anymore instead of being on the computer. I had to stop going to school last month because it is just getting too hard to stand up and driving is not a lot of fun either. The school says I can come back to finish when I want to but that might not happen now because my family is talking about moving out of California.
Prices are really good right now in some other places so we can sell here and get something really great somewhere else. California has been my home all my life so this would be the first time for me to live outside of California and it might be nice so I am okay with trying it.
With me home now I am back to taking care of Emily and Eric most of the time and that is fun.
Macy and everyone else are doing fine and things are really quiet.

I'm not really in the mood to write much right now but just wanted to say what I said.

Have a nice weekend!

A nice letter in my email

I got a very nice letter in my email from someone who really knows all the things I write even on another web site I got to sometimes. It really is amazing that anyone cares that much about what I write! Anyhow, she noticed that I am not always making sense in some things and someone else said that too and I accidentally deleted their comment. Sorry to whoever that was!
But what happens is I usually get on here late at night which is about the only time I have on the computer anymore and I just write stuff. I really need to read it before I post it but I don't. Someone suggested I need to let someone else proofread and edit my stuff and maybe I need to start doing that. Anyway I sometimes mix things up as I write them but I really do mean to write them down the right way. I'm doing this a lot more lately and I think it is because I am not sleeping so good right now so it will probably happen again. Sorry in advance.

I didn't think pedialyte would be a big deal but it was. The doctor told me to drink pedialyte or some gatoraid and we have a lot of pedialyte at home with the babies so I just had pedialyte. I felt better after that so it seems like good advice to drink that if you have diarrhea.

I'm still hoping one of the Muslim people who reads this can say something about hospitality and how you're not supposed to accept hospitality from someone if you don't like them. Anyone?

School is still going good. My grades are good and I am learning a lot and it is still a lot of fun. I am probably going to skip the last set of classes and take them after the babies come. The school said it is okay for me to do this and that will help because it is getting harder to stand up for a long time anymore.

I saw 'Avatar' last Friday at the Imax theater in Sacramento. It was pretty amazing! Science fiction is not really something I like but this was cool just for being so beautiful at least until the shooting started. This was the first time I was out to see a movie since before I moved here and it was a lot of fun. I went with two of my friends and it was just nice to be with them again.

I found out why Canadians are so interested in non-Mormon polgamy and it is because they have a big deal going on up there with a Mormon group (the article says they are FLDS but if it is wrong don't blame me okay?) and they have a lot of non-Mormon people who want to see polygamy legalized up there. I got this gay rights article in my email and it makes me wonder if poly could be legalized here if Canada does it?

http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Why_Bountiful_matters_to_gays-7569.aspx

That is all I have time for right now. I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Demoiselle the coward

I just checked in to update comments and the two worst and nastiest and most evil things were waiting for me written by Demoiselle. I'm not going to put them on here because that kind of thing has no place here and that's not what I am writing about.

What I am writing about are these people like Demoiselle who come on here and say the most evil things and they go on other peoples blogs and do the same thing to them. But do they have a blog where someone like myself could tell them how evil they are? No they don't. I think that is cowardly to attack people for what they write and then you don't have a blog of your own where you can be judged the same way you judge everyone else.

Home sick

This was my worst night ever. I was in the bathroom all night and I am wondering if I ate something bad or what? Went to the OB this morning and she had me drink a quart of pedialyte and told me to stay home and go to bed. That is where I am going in a few minutes. She said it is not a flu but just something that should go away soon but I need to be careful that I don't pass out or anything.

February 2010 National Geographic

Has anyone seen this? The front page is about polygamy with the FLDS. I was given this to read by a friend of mine and now I can see why so many people ask if we are FLDS. There is so much in common that it is crazy.

Steve told me that the church borrowed a lot from the Mormons on how to do polygamy since they were doing it for a long time and he says a lot of it makes sense. Some of the the things that we do are like putting wives with other families sometimes but it is not without their saying something about it. Macy could have said no to being with us if she wanted. We do not have any prophets and the pastors are prohibited from doing a lot of things so they don't have too much power.

The thing that I saw in the magazine that was so us was how each wife has something she does that makes her special in the family and that is the same with us. We are all supposed to do something special so we have a special place in the family. Maybe that helps with the jealousy problem because I don't know of too much jealousy.

One thing we don't do is to get the boys to leave. Boys usually got to college or something and then they can stay in the church or leave if they want and no one has ever said anything about any boys having to leave.

The dresses are not required but everyone (women) wears dresses for church and some families do it at home too. Shari agreed to stop requiring this and I am grateful for that because working in the yard in a dress is not always easy and in the summer I don't want to wear a dress all the time. We just wear regular dresses and not prarie dresses. The magazine did not say why prarie dresses are required with the FLDS. Anyone know why they can't just wear plain old modest dresses?

We allow televisions but computers and cell phones are sort of shunned. I still don't understand that but it is nice to not have the TV on all the time and I don't think the FLDS are really missing anything by not having TV. Maybe that is a good idea not to have TV.

I found out that we also borrow from the Muslims. We have a rule about hospitality that you are not supposed to accept or give hospitality with someone you don't like because it is a kind of a lie. That makes a lot of sense to me. And we are also expected to protect anyone we have in our house as a guest. For us that means if someone visits and gets sick we take care of them until they are well and we don't just send them home or if their car breaks down at our house we help them and don't just call the tow truck. That makes sense too.

Time for school. Go look at that magazine! It is a good story and it looks like it is really fair to the FLDS.

20 answers

I need to answer the questions from the other day so here goes.

charmed said...
1.how is everyone adjusting to having a 4th wife?

I guess so far it isn't a big deal because Macy fit in pretty good anyway. A lot of the time it is like nothing changed so it's easy to say she is fitting in.

2.is there enough room for everyone and all the potential children that could come from steve having 4 wives.

I think so. We have some rooms that are being used for other things right now that can be made into bedrooms if we have to do that.

3.does Macy have a job or does she just help out with the kids and around the house?

Macy helps around the house and that is what she wants to do.

4. have you picked names for your babies yet?

I am naming one of them Patricia for Shari's mom and the other I don't know yet. I am thinking maybe Renee or Leah but I am not sure yet.

5.how do your church feel about non-religous poly people

I don't really ever hear much said about non-religious poly people. I know there are a lot more of them around than there are religious poly people and no one seems to care about them. People just seem to get all upset if you're poly and religious but if you are not religious and you want to be poly it seems like that is okay.

Fallen Star said...
How does Macy's former family (I think the husband was named Paul) feel about Macy being with your family now?

I don't know. Peter and Lisa left the church after they moved away and I don't know any more than that.

How does your Pastor feel about Macy being with your family now, since she left the old family?

It was his idea for her to be here and he brought her here so he must be okay with it.

Joe said...
I would like to ask about the practical, daily religious life of your family.
1. You've talked about how your church works by meeting at various members' houses, but do you have any type of daily worship or instructional program for the children led by Steve or the wives?

We have a prayer time at dinner and then every Friday night we have family time and we will watch a movie or something and sometimes we will talk about the Bible after that. It's not like being religious is all we do. Mostly it is just regular stuff going on like anyone else would have going on.

2. Do you plan to send them to public school or home-school?

I want to home-school just like Shari did with her girls. If I can pay for it it would be nice to have them go to a private or Christian high school when the time comes.

3. Is Steve more of a "head of the household" type, or is your family more egalitarian? How would you describe his leadership (or just what kind of person he is) in the home to the wives and the children?

In most things Steve is in charge but then in some things he isn't. He is supposed to make decisions about a lot of things but then when it is really big then everyone has to agree to it like adding a wife or moving somewhere else. Mostly we all go along with him because he makes good decisions and not just because he is the man.

Mavis said...
Megan,
I have another question. Did your church evolve out of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh commune in Oregon? Thanks!

Our church did not have anything to do with that.

Mavis also said a lot in her comment on my other post and the one thing she said I really will agree with.

you really need to grow up

Yes, I do.

Stuff going on.

First, the picture I posted broke a promise that I made that I was not going to post personal pictures on here or share them with anyone anymore. I got in a TON of trouble for that at home.

What happened is Kaiser has a website you can log on to your account and see this stuff on and I was bugging someone to help me with it. She just pulled a picture off the web to make me shut up and she said "That's an ultrasound picture." She never said it was mine but I thought it was. I was totally not supposed to post it but I did and I also sent it in email to my mom.

Second, I put my family in trouble because I trusted somoene on Yahoo and told them more than I should have. So we had a reporter from Canada contact Steve at his work and she also talked to Pastor Jeff. I got in tons more trouble for that and for a few days I really expected to be kicked out and I am very happy that I am not being kicked out. The reporter interviewed some people from the church but not me and there might be a story on her news program. I won't be able to tell anyone if the story is about us.

Third, I found out that someone I kind of know on here by one name is someone I know in real life by another name and that has been weird. His posts won't be published on here anymore.

Fourth, I know a lot of you are upset with me about the picture thing and I am sorry. But everyone who wants me to prove anything I am sorry too because I never asked anyone for ANYTHING when I started this. It is just my diary of the way I see things and that is it. No one gets asked for money or anything and I totally will not take presents from anyone on here.

Fifth, my life is NOT perfect. Not all the things that happen go in here and not everything about my life before this is in here.

Anyone who wants to think I am fake is fine with me. I guess if all I post in here is the good stuff then that is fake anyway. I will try to be more honest in here in the future.

Megan

20 Questions

So I can't think of anything to write so if anyone wants to ask some questions go ahead and I will answer them.

The one bit of news is Christie's home pregnancy test says she is pregnant. She is going to see the OB later to make sure. It would be so cool for her if she is!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that 2010 will be much better for all of us than 2009 was for so many people.

I think I had my best Christmas EVER this year! My mom came up to the house to have Christmas with us and she said she is really happy for me now. She says she can see why I'm happy with the life I chose here and she says she is looking forward to being a grandma. I think the part about the grandkids has a lot to do with my mom being more accepting. Shari said that her parents were not so happy about her marrying Steve but when she had Stephanie it all changed because they knew that if they didn't soften up they would not get to be around their grandchildren.

I'm about half-way with the babies and it is still a very big adjustment to me. The thing with the church wanting a wife to be pregnant makes a lot of sense to me now because once you're pregnant you really, really are going to be a part of the family and not leave. It is funny\weird that when you have the choice to leave it is not so big a deal but then once I was pregnant and that choice went away then it became a lot more important even if it wasn't something I wanted. It is settled now that I am a mother and a wife and I will always be one. It's peaceful to know this but I guess it is still a little scary to know that the rest of my life is all set now.

We had Stephanie and her husband to the house for Christmas and they were really happy. Stephanie is enjoying being a housewife and she is really having the best time being with her husband and I am really happy for her with that.

Christmas Eve was when Macy decided to take the next step with Steve and she is doing fine. It wasn't so hard for her because she had done these things before but it is a big commitment and she's like me not wanting to ever leave here but also being a little scared of the commitment.

Christie is doing good and is still looking forward to being a mom again and we're hoping she can do that maybe this year. Her busy time with taxes is already starting and she says she will be back at it on Monday and we won't see much of her until April.

My chickens are doing good but I lost one the Saturday after Christmas. I was out feeding them and this one chicken just fell over and was twitching and then she was gone just like that. The vet said it was probably just a seizure and not to worry but she is coming out to see the rest of the chickens on Monday just to check.

I have not been on here a lot lately just because having everyone around for the holidays has made me want to be with them. Next week I go back to school and then with my regular thing going on and everyone else busy I will probably be on here more.

Happy 2010 to you all and God Bless you!

Megan