megan camille: 12.2012

O Come, Emmanuel

i couldn't not share this beautiful video this holiday season.
gorgeous song & gorgeous video!
{i loooooooove the cello!!}

i think this is a beautiful way to remember the true meaning of Christmas

[Dad, i know you will especially love this :)]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

An Unexpected Gift {Christmas Message}

i have reflected & pondered a lot these last few weeks on the true meaning of Christmas.

this video beautifully & powerfully shows the reason why we celebrate Christmas and honor our Savior, Jesus Christ.

i hope as you watch it you can feel of His peace & love as we prepare for Christmas day.

{and make sure you have tissues...}

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!

our Christmas letter

2012 proved to be a wonderful & crazy year filled with lots of changes for our little family.

But through it all, we are so grateful for our many blessings and the opportunities we have had to grow this last year.

Just a few of our family's highlights from 2012 are:

-Megan finished her year-long internship with StrongerMarriage.org and published 2 articles in an online magazine [here & here]
-Adam graduated with a Master's in Physiology & Developmental Biology, published 3 papers & 3 abstracts in scholarly journals, and presented his research at the Experimental Biology Conference in San Diego

-Elijah turned 2 and had his first emergency room experience

-We moved to Glendale, Arizona where Adam started dental school at Midwestern University

We know we wouldn't have gotten through this last year without the support of all of our amazing family and friends. And we also know we wouldn't be where we are without the love of our Heavenly Father. Thank you for all of your love, prayers, & support this last year. We truly feel blessed to have all of you in our lives!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

{here's to a new year full of more blessings & challenges. can't wait!}

Love, Adam, Megan, & Elijah Robinson

meaningful traditions

[i share this guest post on The Sapphire Bee last month while she was on her awesome cruise. since we are traveling for the holidays i thought i would share it again with all of you too :)]

this time of year i always start thinking about my family's holiday traditions growing up.
or maybe lack thereof...

i mean, we had a few things that we kept pretty true to, but we were rather inconsistent with what we did each year.

maybe it was because i was so much younger than my older siblings so the simple things of baking cookies and making gingerbread houses didn’t appeal to them anymore and so my parents stopped doing that.

or maybe it was because my family just got so busy that it got hard to keep up.

whatever the reason, the traditional things like gingerbread houses and leaving Santa cookies started to fall away as i grew up.

but there were always some things that stayed the same.

Christmas 2010

+ my mom always made her famous rolls and we took them to all of our neighbors. and i mean all of our neighbors! hardly anyone was left out on our Christmas list.

+ we would have a big family party a few nights before Christmas and all the grandchildren would act out the nativity scene and read the story of Christ’s birth from the Bible. {a tradition i greatly miss this year with my grandma's passing...}

+ before we could open any presents, my dad would read out of the Bible and share a special Christmas message.

+ and although we didn’t have a lot of money growing up, my parents taught us the importance of giving rather than receiving at Christmas.

these are all just a few examples of the small and simple traditions we had growing up.
they might not seem like much, but through my parents’ example of showing love to others i learned the true meaning of Christmas.

it is not about what we get at Christmastime or how many sweets we can eat.
what is important is that we are spending time with our loved ones and together remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace, good will towards men.”

and to quote my favorite Christmas movie, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas!!

Introduction to Recovery

last May i talked about the evils of pornography addiction.
[here & here]
it has become a huge problem in our society,

a problem that unfortunately is breaking up families all over.

thankfully there is help.

and thankfully, this also includes help for the spouses and families who have been hurt by their loved one's addiction.

the founders of S.A. Lifeline, an organization that helps people and their families recover from pornography and sexual addictions, has an awesome all-day retreat coming up to help couples who have been impacted by these addictions.

here is the flyer with information for the retreat:

for those of you who can't make the retreat but are interested in more information, you can visit www.rhyllrecovery.com and/or www.salifeline.org
to get more information on recovery from pornography and sexual addiction.

{Rhyll Recovery is focused on individuals who have experience the trauma of a spouse/child/parent with sexual addiction. very very powerful & amazing stuff!}

i hope that this information can help even just one of you get the help that you may be seeking.

::: i have heard Rhyll and Steven Croshaw speak in person and their story is absolutely heartbreaking and inspiring. they are trying to do so much to help others who are going through the same trials and i really admire the work they are doing. a good friend of mine works with their organization, S.A. Lifeline, and asked me to help spread the word about the retreat. if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask and i can direct you to the right people for help.

"O, God, Where Art Thou?"

i, like most people, am having a hard time wrapping my mind around what happened in Connecticut on Friday. how could this happen to such precious, innocent children?

how could someone ever think, let alone do, such a horrendous thing?

i remember when i was younger asking my parents, "If God loves us so much, why does he let bad things happen to good {and innocent} people?"

no matter how many times i hear someone try to answer that question, it still leaves me a little confused/frustrated/heartbroken... i mean you hear of miracles happening all.the.time where someone or something was stopped from hurting another. so why do those miracles only seem to happen sometimes in what seems like smaller situations and not in more traumatic incidences?

why are tragedies allowed to happen?

i still don't know. and i'm quite certain i never will. or at least i'll never be able to understand in this life.

but even though i may not know exactly why things are the way they are, i have found peace in the words of Christ which help strengthen my testimony and comfort me in times of sadness.

these are just a few scriptures that came to mind after the events on Friday [after i had time to calm down a little bit...]

"1. O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? ....
7. My son [and daughter], peace be unto thy soul; thing adversity and thing afflictions shall be but a small moment," Doctrine & Covenants 121:1-7, emphasis added

"21. [...] And he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
22. And when he had done this he wept again;
23. And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones." 3 Nephi 17:21-23, emphasis added

"10. And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames.
11. But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory..." Alma 14:10-11, emphasis added

:: i know that through all the horrible things in the world, the Lord is always there to help comfort & heal those who are going through hard times.
:: i know He and His angels were with those children and teachers in Connecticut
:: i know He welcomed those innocent victims with loving & open arms
:: i know He will help us through all the tests & trials that we face, no matter how hard they may be. He will be there to the very end, even if the very end is seeing Him face to face.
:: and i know we can live with Him and all of our loved ones again.

"All of us suffer some injuries from experiences that seem to have no rhyme or reason. We cannot understand or explain them. We may never know why some things happen in this life. The reason for some of our suffering is known only to the Lord. but because it happens, it must be endured. President Howard W. Hunter said that 'God knows what we do not know and sees what we do not see.'

President Brigham Young offered this profound insight that at least some of our suffering has a purpose when he said: 'Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to enjoy the presence of the Lord. ... Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation.'" -President James E. Faust, The Healing Power of Forgiveness

i pray that the families involved in the Connecticut shooting can feel the Lord's love in their lives and be comforted during this horrific time. i pray that we can all come together, no matter our faith or beliefs, to buoy them up in strength and in love. and i pray that all of us who are going through our own trials can feel at peace and continue to have hope in all things.

boom. DIYed it: picture magnets

WARNING: no grandparents beyond this point!!

even though the title just gave it away... don't read the rest!

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i'm SO bad at coming up with gifts for mine and Adam's parents.

i never know what they would like and most things it seems like they already have.

since having Eli, though, Christmas presents have been a little easier.

i basically just plaster his face on anything i can think of and call it a good grandparent gift.

i mean really, what grandparent doesn't want more photos of their sweet babies???

{at least it will work until there's a million grandkids then it will just be too many kids to keep track of...}

so for my latest Elijah-faced gift i decided to make some picture magnets.
i posted it on instagram the other day and got a lot of great feedback and questions on how to make them so i thought i'd do a quick tutorial for you.

i got the idea from this tutorial but had a few of my own tips & tricks that i wanted to add as well [that i wish i was told ahead of time!].

so here it goes!

DIY Picture Magnets

items needed:

-images to use {i used instagram pictures. and i'll show you how to make them into a collage}

-2x2 plain tiles [found at Home Depot for about $3 for a sheet of 36]

-Mod Podge and brush

-magnets [i got a fairly big pack of them at Wal-Mart for cheap]

-hot glue gun

-~~rotary cutter~~ paper cutter [i'll explain later]

steps:

step.one.
you need to print off your images that you are using first. i made an 8x10 collage of pictures using PicMonkey and then got it printed off at Costco (in matte format, not glossy).

a few tips about making your collage with PicMonkey:

- i used the 4x4 square collage template and then added an extra image to the rows so it was 4x5. to do this, you just need to hover an image in the white space until a gray box shows up where you want your image to go.

-i had to resize it a lot to make sure it would fit an 8x10. i finally settled on the dimensions 1657x2000 (you'll have to make sure the dimensions aren't locked) but even then i still had to crop it a tiny bit when i was ordering the 8x10. and i also still had to trim them quite a bit to fit the tiles after they were printed off. but thankfully most of the pictures i chose had space on the edge that i could trim down without affecting the actual focal point of the picture. so just be aware of that when choosing the pictures for your collage.

hopefully all that made sense....

-and one last tip with the collage: i adjusted the white space around each picture to be smaller so i had room to cut around the pictures and could then trim them as i wanted instead of how PicMonkey cropped them. i wanted to be able to show the majority of my image in each square and the larger, default white space didn't allow that as much.

here is the finished collage result that i sent to be printed:

hopefully all those tips helped...

moving on.

step.two.

once the collage is printed off, cut the squares to fit your tiles.

tip: unless you are awesome and rotary cutting, don't do it! in the original tutorial she had used a rotary cutter and i thought "oh she must be professional and know what she's doing so i'll use that." and i figured it would be more precise with cutting. well.... it could be that i totally suck at rotary cutting but i could not get the lines straight all the time. it took a loooot of time trying be careful about cutting straight mainly because the pictures kept slipping around. i finally got smart and used a paper cutter and it made it 10x easier. so i highly recommend that or even regular scissors.

i love how in the original tutorial she talked about using these as photobooth pictures too. cute!

so whichever way you choose, you will have to trim, trim, trim to get the pictures cut to the size of the tiles.

not even all of the scraps from trimming because i kept cutting crooked...ugh.

however, the rotary cutter was good for cutting through the glue that held the tiles together. so that was a plus!

step.three.

after you cut pictures to the size you want, it's time to glue them to the tiles.

first, i added the Mod Podge to the back of the pictures and laid them on top of the tiles.

once the picture was dried somewhat, i then Mod Podged the top of the picture to the tile to seal it better. make sure you get around the edge where the picture meets the tile. and don't be afraid to use too much because it dries clear.

tip: i originally tried to cut all the pictures so they fit perfectly on the tile. but then as i was gluing them i found that the ones that had a little white space around the edges stayed on the tile better, were able to be sealed better, and didn't slip around while i was gluing it. i also thought they just looked a lot better to have the small border as well. so if i did it again i would make sure i had that extra space.

not dried Mod Podge. just to show you how much i put on. it dried clear and there wasn't any white streaks.

step.four.

next, after the glue is mostly dry, it's time to glue on the magnets.

just use hot clue to adhere the magnets to the back of the tiles.

tip: try to get the magnets as close to the center as possible! i didn't realize that even if they were just slightly off, the tile would not stay straight on the fridge. they ones that are a little off center end up shifting because the weight is not even (you can tell in the picture at the bottom). it doesn't look that bad and honestly, when you are just throwing stuff up on the fridge the magnets are not always straight. but if it's something that will really bother you make sure you are cautious on where you glue them.

step.five.

ENJOY!!

i love having the pictures right where we can see them every day.

and Elijah loves to look at them and tell stories about them.

"Baby Za-Za at Halloween."
"Mama and Za-Za."

"Look, look, look! i on swing!!"

"Ooooh, Cowboy!"

{that was all supposed to be Elijah talking, p.s.}

i think these will definitely be a hit with the grandmas and grandpas!

PLUS they were less than $10 to make!

happiness all around!

please let me know if you have any questions or want anything clarified.

(i'm not so good at these tutorial things so i apologize!)

and feel free to share your picture magnets as well!
i would love to see if any of you make them and how they turned out :)

P&G eStore

I love stocking stuffers! And not just stocking stuffers that are really just small presents that just fit in the stocking. I like to put in our family stocking little treats, dollar store goodies, and even personal hygiene products.

It's probably because that's what my parents used to do when were were growing up. Each year in our stocking we would get an orange, an apple, some peanuts, chocolate, an ornament, some kind of small toy, socks, and some kind of hygiene gift like lotion or a new razor or even a toothbrush.

That seems kind of silly I guess but I love it!
Not only because they are usually things that we actually need, but because it makes those small items more special and exciting!

{Plus, my parents were more willing to buy that stuff to stock up in the name of Christmas :)}

To make my stocking stuffer obsession easier [much to Adam's chagrin], P&G opened up an eStore with great deals every day!

Some deals they have going on right now are:

15% off on a first-time order from a new customer, using promo code: A9Z-MN5-KY3-ISA

Free Shipping on orders over $25

Free Samples with every order.

So basically that's awesome.

And I know what I'll be using those codes for!

We recently got this awesome Oral-B toothbrush as a present.

We really like it though it has taken some time to get used to since we have never used an electric toothbrush before. But it's one of the best toothbrushes out there so we are excited to keep using it!

We need a few more extra heads though so that's what will be filling our stockings this year

[since we were too lazy/keep forgetting to buy them during the year... ha!].

Also, I think Elijah's stocking might need a few of these Duracell batteries to go with a couple of his toys. :)

I love that P&G have their own eStore so I can go directly to the source for my make-up, toothbrush, battery, and razor needs and lots more!

Be sure to check it out and take advantage of the deals going on now.
I'm especially excited for the free samples in every package.... cause if it's not stocking stuffers that I'm obsessed with, it's samples :)

Hearts.com $500 Pinterest Sweepstakes

so we all would love $500 right?
and pretty much all of us are on Pinterest right?

well, combine those two together and you have an awesome giveaway opportunity!

Hearts.com is giving away $500 gift card to one lucky person who follows them on Pinterest and repins 3 or more of their favorite Hearts.com items!

easy as pie!

you can get started on the sweepstakes from their Facebook page here.

and the giveaway ends Dec. 25th

so.... what are you hanging around here for??
go enter!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Inspiration

Gift Guide Giveaways #5 & #6 Winners!

wow!
i can't believe the gift guide giveaways are already over!

they were fun to do and even more fun to see all the great prizes up for grabs.

{though, i would be lying if i said i wasn't excited to get back to some more normal posts... i definitely missed writing!}

but i still enjoyed the giveaways and hope you all liked them as well!

and i hope they all helped with some of your holiday gifts this year.

now onto the final giveaway winners!

Gift Guide Giveaway #5 Winners:

ruffled camera strap from Simply Nothing Else...

Jodie Alejaga!

$30 shop credit from Snowdrift Designs...

Tiffany Lundin!

small leather journal from The Orange Windmill...
Kiana Bates!

come fly with me necklace from Through the Eyes of the Mrs....

Mary Davis!

item of winner's choice from Cheerfully Charmed...

Sabrina Alley!

Gift Guide Giveaway #6 Winners:

custom holiday card design from Verte Photography...

Paula Rollo!

four packs of gift tags (4 per pack) from When Shutters Click...

Ali Mills!

pretty in pink necklace from Whispering Sweet Nothings

Kelly Brown!

hand knit reusable owl coffee cup cozy from Yes Sir, Yes Sir!...

Michelle Pickett!

custom post signature from Yours Truly Designs...

Erica Frank!

thank you everyone again for making this such a success!
it has been a very busy yet rewarding project.

a few of {my toddler's} favorite things

if you are shopping for a funny, quirky, cute, curious, active toddler, it can be hard to know what to get that will be sure to keep them entertained for longer than 2 minutes.

so my little Elijah-man and i put together a little favorite things list that is sure to keep them busy having fun during the holiday season.

a toddler's favorite things list:

- chicken nuggets, fries, and dip

-pop music videos

- play doh

-sparkly lights or other light sources (such as flashlights, nightlights, refrigerator lights, the moon, candles, matches....though the last few i don't know if you should actually give to a toddler...)

- things to jump on & fall off of {on purpose and by accident. which is the same thing}

- things to bang

- baskets

- stickers

- Mickey Mouse

- drawing with markers on anything but paper

- tampons

- boxes

- water & bubbles & lots of splashing

- cowboy hats or hats of any kind

- candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

- any kind of ball or ball-shape including Christmas ornaments

- soft blankets and stuffed animals

- and grandpas

we hope this helped you with some of your holiday shopping!

especially since apparently toddlers will be happy even if you just wrap up items around the house...
tampon stocking stuffers anyone???

Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway #6 {final one!}

time for the last giveaway from our wonderful Holiday Gift Guide contributors!

THANK YOU THANK YOU to all the amazing contributors who generously gave up their time & talent for these giveaways.
and THANK YOU to everyone who participated to make all these giveaways a success!

please be sure to leave your email address with your comments [as well as your real name if your sign-in name is different] so i know how to get a hold of you.

now on to today's giveaway!

custom holiday card design from Verte Photography

blog / shop / facebook / twitter

four packs of gift tags (4 per pack) from When Shutters Click

blog / shop / facebook / twitter / bloglovin / hellocotton

pretty in pink necklace from Whispering Sweet Nothings

blog / shop / facebook / subscribe

hand knit reusable owl coffee cup cozy from Yes Sir, Yes Sir!

blog / shop / facebook / twitter / pinterest

custom post signature from Yours Truly Designs

blog / shop / twitter / facebook / bloglovin / pinterest

-enter below-

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway #5

yay more giveaways from our wonderful Holiday Gift Guide contributors!

i also realized that i'm having trouble hearing back from some winners.
PLEASE leave your email address with your comments [as well as your real name if your sign-in name is different] so i know how to get a hold of you.
and also look back through the other winners lists here and here to see if you won {before i have to draw new winners!}

now on to today's giveaway!

ruffled camera strap from Simply Nothing Else

blog / shop / facebook / twitter

$30 shop credit from Snowdrift Designs

blog / shop / facebook / twitter / bloglovin

small leather journal from The Orange Windmill

blog / shop / facebook / twitter

come fly with me necklace from Through the Eyes of the Mrs.

blog / shop / facebook / twitter / bloglovin' / instagram

item of winner's choice from Cheerfully Charmed

shop / instagram

-enter below-

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holiday Gift Guide Giveaways #3 & #4 Winners!

thank you to everyone who entered the last giveaways!

there were lots of entries and it was so hard to only randomly pick one.

there will be a couple more chances for giveaways this week though so stay tuned!

here are the winners for last week's giveaways:

GIVEAWAY #3 WINNERS

hand-sewn felt ornament from Her Threaded Needle...

Shani!

winner's choice of one item from J & M's Eye Candy...

Lexi Ainscough!

sparkle love knot from Just Lovely Things...

Dani Workman!

$30 shop credit from Knotted Tree Photography...

Cara Howard!

one set of 2 flower hair-clips from LaBelleMadeleine...

Carrie Robinson!

winner's choice of print from Livy Love Designs...

Kathleen O'Dell Rawlinson!

$20 shop credit from This Enchanted Pixie...

Betsy Celeste!

GIVEAWAY #4 WINNERS

retro dove ring from My Remedy...

Liv!

custom bracelet from Oh, Delectable...

Jessica Smith!

custom or pre-made banner from Oopsie Daisy Decor...

Ruthie Hart!

snowflake charm from Origami Owl...

Tiffany Brandy!

$10 store credit from Peanut Lilly Creations...

Elaine Hearn!

marshmallow body butter & candy cane sugar fix from Perfectly Posh by TJ

Brittany Belling!

UNCOMMON GOODS GIVEAWAY WINNER

Kaity Stuckert!

thank you so much to everyone who entered!

and CONGRATULATIONS to the winners!!

please email me at mrs.robinson(at)gmail.com to claim your prizes.

Christmas Inspiration

"she shall bring forth a son"

[painting by Liz Lemon Swindle]

last weekend we had a ward Christmas party where the primary children and some other ward members acted out the Nativity.

i have read the story & even acted out the nativity many many times,

so basically i know how it goes.

but this time i got really emotional as i came to understand more of the divine calling & role of Mary.

as i watched a very pregnant sister act out the part of Mary and be continually denied by the "innkeepers," i started getting tears in my eyes to realize what Mary had to have gone through.

they had to travel for miles while being SO pregnant.

she had to be uncomfortable, maybe even starting to have contractions.

she had to give birth in a smelly barn with who knows what kind of assistance was there.

and to have all the pressure of raising Jesus?

and i'm sure there was more but of course we only have written down the positive things ;)

i mean, i hated being pregnant.

i know i complained to Adam a lot!

but at least i had a safe place to give birth,

and have a comfortable place to stay,

and had assistance from others including doctors & nurses to be there for me and Elijah.

but this very pregnant, very uncomfortable, very noble woman didn't have any of those things.

and she was carrying the most precious gift of all, the Savior.

can you imagine how devastating Mary must've felt to know that there was no room for her, a woman that probably needed that extra bed the most?

and all the fear she must've felt for the future, not just childbirth but as Christ grew up to become the Savior of the world?

i'm sure Mary was a lot more kind, patient, & faithful than i would've been,

cause just thinking of that situation makes me start getting anxious for her.

i can't fully imagine what she must've gone through, i'm sure there's a lot more than we will ever know.

but thinking about it has given me a little more perspective this year as we get ready to exchange gifts

and helps me remember that i have a lot more to grateful for instead of worrying about what is on my Christmas wish list.
{which can be hard for everyone to focus on what we don't have instead of what we do have}

i am grateful i have a safe, warm, comfortable place to call home.

i am grateful that i have family & friends to spend the holidays with.

i am grateful for good friends who make me feel loved & included.

i am grateful for a husband who is faithful & loving and is a good example to Eli and i.

i am so grateful for noble women like Mary who, by their example, have brought me closer to Christ.

i am grateful for her sacrifices & her faith to bring the Savior into the world to die for our sins.

i am grateful that God knows us & understands our limits differently, that He knows what i can handle {and that i could definitely NOT handle that!}

and i am grateful for the knowledge i have that no matter what we are all going through, that we are eternally blessed & loved.
and that everything will be okay, even if it doesn't always feel like it in that moment.

i hope we can all remember what Christmas is really about.

i also hope we can remember all the wonderful things we DO have & help bless others around us.

[last year i shared my thoughts on Mary as well as my favorite song. you can check it out here]

Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway #4

time for another giveaway from the Holiday Gift Guide contributors!
[are you getting sick of them yet? cause there's still two more! :)]

tis the season of giving!!

retro dove ring from My Remedy