Goodbye 2009

2009: I will miss you...

January

My two nephews, Tomasi and Timotayo were born in January.

February


We spent some time in the mountains shooting guns and playing in the snow.

Another nephew was born in February...little Hayden. March

Shyler was asked to help out her cousin in the Miss Spanish Fork Pageant. She got to be her "Lil' Miss" escort.

April

Easton and Shyler posing in their new Easter outfits. Ok, Easton is not posing, but making a typical face..

Also in April my work had a suite at a Jazz game and Cole and I took Easton along with us. He LOVED it!!

May

We took a trip to the Zoo to see all the animals. It was a long day...but fun!

June

The kids took swim lessons together. We went camping with some of Cole's family. Here we are with cousin Taysia. She's such a sweetheart.

July

Took a trip with cousins Scott and Taysia to see Yellowstone National Park. It was SOO fun! And we didn't even get eaten by any bears. Although we did get to see a black bear!

August

I took the kids to Colorado for Cole's grandparent's 50th Anniversary. We went to a gator farm while visiting and I got to hold this baby gator! So cute!

Shyler also had her first day of school!! Kindergarten!

And lost her first tooth! (She's now lost a total of 4!)

Easton had to have a bunch of dental work done in August. There was so much we had to take him to the hospital to have it done. He was such a trooper.

September

Took a trip for work to San Francisco. While there I got to meet up with my highschool buddy Lisa and we went out and enjoyed some Kara's cupcakes! YUM!

October

Went on my very first deer hunt and got me this nice 3 point. Cole was SO proud!

Also in October we got ANOTHER nephew! Little Liam. What a cute tiger!

November

Shyler celebrated her 6th birthday in November and spent the afternoon at Jumping Jacks with her cousin and school friend.

December

December has gone by so fast! Cole and I attended a great Christmas party put on by my work in the beginning of the month. We attended several family parties and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas as home with each other.

Until next year!

Good Morning Good Morning

As you can probably tell from my super ecstatic title. I am feeling MUCH better this morning! I think I have a bit of a cold, but overall I'm 100 times better than how I felt on Monday.
I am back at work and I even did my hair today. (You should be very grateful I did not show you how it's looked all week....actually in retrospect, that probably would have been something fun to share, so you could all laugh at me...note to self: Next time)

Last night i was awoken to, "Mommy" being whispered...I opened my eyes and POW! My little boy's face is inches from mine. That'll wake ya up! He climbed into bed with me (The hubby is sick, and was sleeping on the couch w/ a heating pad...plus he says I am a restless sleeper and I flop around a lot...I think it's bugging him...haha) Anyhoo, my little boy climbed into bed with me and just laid there smiling at me. He's such a little angel. I wish he'd stay this way forever!

Itchy Burny Throat

I rarely get sick...occasional cold, yes. But rarely do I come down with something that knocks me on my back... Well it has happened. I caught Strep Throat from my little sister and it sucks. I felt it coming on Sunday night..So first thing yesterday morning I was at the doctor. I'm now on a Z-pack and hoping to be back to work tomorrow, for one day of course, as I have taken New Year's Eve off for our annual trek to Cole's grandmother's house for sledding and games.
Yesterday after getting my prescription and fulfilling my bribe of doughnuts if they behaved to my two children, I rented about 6 movies and plopped myself down on the couch. I began with an older version of "Pride and Prejudice", it's two dvds. I LOVED it!! I've seen the newer version with Keira Knightley, but this one was 10 times better and I fell in love.
Then I watched "Dreamgirls". Loved that one too. I'm a sucker for music and I just thought it was a good show with lots of entertainment value.
Next I popped in "The Reader". OMG! That was off in the first 10 minutes. I guess it's a bit of an "artsy" movie and the director apparently thought art meant lots of nudity. Seriously, I couldn't handle seeing any more naked bums. Off it went.
In went "The Secret Life of the Bees". Great movie! Dakota Fanning did amazing as always. I love her. And Queen Latifah was great too! A great movie with a great story.
I'm horrible at movie reviews, I know. haha.
I ended the evening and began my morning reading a book borrowed from my fabulous neighbor, and I hope to finish it today, as I am out of movies. :)

I will post pics of Christmas in the near future...

Jesus' Sacrifice

Tonight after reading the story of Jesus' birth in Luke. Shyler said, "Mom, guess what. Jesus died for us, so he could save our skins!" That's right Shyler...although I may not have put it that way. hahaha.
Then she went on to tell us, "My head is full of Jesus!"

How could Santa not visit these cuties?

Today is better as predicted.

Even though last night, I was lying on my son's bed, and my daughter came up and started spanking my bum and then said, "It's all jiggly like dough"...nice...I feel a major new year's resolution coming on.

December 22...3 days to Christmas

Ok, so yesterday Shyler had to get some vaccines done...she was scared, but her cousin, Gracie Lou Who (That's what I like to call her, she hates it) came along to help her be brave...Shyler sat still and closed her eyes while I secured her arms and two nurses jabbed her with the vaccines...I was awaiting an outburst as she's done before, but she just says, with lots of attitude, "That doesn't even hurt!"... funny...

On the way home I had to go to Walmart. Apparently Gracie Lou Who didn't want to go to Walmart and was refusing to get out of the car. Well I told her she must, or else the police would take me to jail...That got her moving. And I said, "also a bad guy could come steal the car with you in it!"...as we continue to walk, I hear Shyler explaining to Gracie Lou Who that if the bad guy decides to be really bad, he might even put her in a cage... ok...where do they think of this?

There was one more thing, but I can't think of it now... hmmm

Moving on...
I hosted Bunko at my place last night. It was really fun, as always. Good friends, good fun. :) I'm happy.

Oh! I remember the other thing.... Shyler was telling Gracie Lou Who how Scott (cole's cousin) was trying to make her get under the mistletoe at our family Christmas party to kiss her. Well this interested Miss Gracie Lou Who very much because she excitedly asked, "Can I go under the mistletoe!?" Girls...

New Direction

Today is the start of a new journey for this blog. Blogging should be like journaling and as my sweet, talented blogging cousin (see her blog here) reminded me this weekend, it doesn't need to be huge events. The day to day things are what I will cherish, and so therefore, the things I need to record.
And so it begins...

Sang with the ward choir yesterday for the Christmas program. It was amazing. Well, it sounded as such to me at least. :-) I LOVE singing. Nothing brings the spirit closer to me, than when I'm singing. We sang some beautiful songs and in one of them, we sang out "GLORIA, GLORIA"...I got goosebumps just thinking of all our Savior has done for us, and the debt that I owe to him.

Then to make my Sunday even better, I got to teach my children a new song in Primary. "The Savior's Gift to Me" by Annie Bailey. (If you'd like the sheet music, I have her email where you can request it). It's a beautiful and simple song, and the kids did amazing!! Especially the senior primary...I even got misty-eyed. It was great!

All the Christmas shopping is done, well for the kids at least...still need to finish up for my in-laws...Christmas is just 4 days away! So crazy! I love Christmas time! I plan to start some fun traditions this year for our little family...baking cookies on Christmas eve for Santa Claus...and I think I'll wake up early and make cinnamon rolls. I think tomorrow night we'll be going with my family to see Christmas lights. Any other traditions I might want to start?

What do you think?

Family Pics

Some Photo catch-up

Headed out to my work's Christmas Party

Don't laugh. You know you're jealous of my awesome tree! hahaha

Shyler said, "Mom that was the real Santa cause he had a REAL beard!"

Aargh... My cute little pirate.

Blessings in disguise? No, probably not...

People always think old homes are so charming and how they'd love to have one to fix up.... Well, to those, I say, "You can have mine!!" Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the things we have, the roof over our heads, and the area in which we live...but sometimes even blessings can make your nightmares become reality. Let me paint the picture... two days ago this is what I saw as I drove to work..

-6 degrees!!

Seriously!!? So ya...it's been cold around here...I think yesterday was maybe 0 degrees? 10 maybe...so anyway, it's freakin' cold.

Ok, back to my story...so we live in an "older" home, built in the 60's with not many upgrades. Our laundry room is out through the garage, and although it gets a little heat from a small vent, it's still pretty cold, which normally is ok...but last night I walked out with a basketfull of clothes to find the back door from the laundry room to the backyard, WIDE OPEN!! It was freezing in there! Literally!! I dreaded telling Cole, but it had to be done...After running two space heaters and a big propane heater...the water began to thaw, and began pouring out of the pipes...ya for us...indoor sprinklers!

So needless to say, we spent half the night tearing the cinder block wall apart to get better access and the better part of the morning running around looking for parts. Ugh. Luckily my man is Mr. Handy and thinks he can take care of it all...If not, we know some great plumbers....

Our next prayer is that there wasn't enough water left in the washers hoses to freeze and bust them....I guess we'll see...
Aren't you jealous? haha

Let it Snow....

Woke up to a bit 'o snow this morning...

The only way I could convince Easton to get up and get dressed was to get him to the backdoor to see for himself. "Mom it snowed!"...Indeed... So he got his boots on, his hat, and his little brown mittens...and out he went at 8am....

Later on the way to daycare, Shyler said, "Mom the snow on the mountains, there might be some really big snow and we can't see it..." Easton chimed in, "Yea, cause Jesus dropped it!"

Now I love to see my children excited about the snow...but I am NOT! Once this begins, I know I'm in for a good 6 months of CRAPPY weather....How will I survive!?

Mighty Hunter

I put in for my very first deer hunt this year and drew a tag. On Wednesday, Cole took me out to his "Special Hunting Hole" and within 20 minutes, I had shot my very first deer! Cole is an amazing guide!

So what happened was, just after it got light, we walked down about 400 yards from the truck. We perched ourselves on a little lookout, and were watching some elk in the distance. Something spooked the elk and they took off running down the hill. At first we had thought there were only 30-40 elk, but as they ran, more kept coming! There were at least a hundred! Cows and Bulls. It was pretty cool to watch, and it sounded like a roaring river as they ran. After that we thought, well any deer around probably got spooked with them, but we'll just sit and watch for a bit. Maybe 10 minutes after they ran, Cole whisper-yells to me, "Shoot that Buck!". I pull off my gloves and grab the rifle, trying to see where he is pointing, as I was unaware that we were watching any deer. haha. Anyways I find the deer in the scope about 240 yds down the hill from us and I keep asking Cole, the front one, right? (There were three bucks together). He said yes, and confirmed I had a clear shot. I responded that I did, and I squeezed that trigger and BOOM!!! That rifle packs quite a punch and I was knocked back a little, therefore not watching the deer to see if I hit it. Cole was watching them though and I hit it! It ran maybe 10 feet and went down. I've never seen Cole more excited...SERIOUSLY! haha. Anyway then we had to go clean it (gut it) and yes, I did most of it. And then we had to drag it up an steep incline the whole way to the truck! Luckily for us, Cole's uncle Lance was up there hunting and we were able to track him down and have him help. It was quite an experience. :) Now Cole is trying to talk me into putting in for an Elk tag next year....we'll see....

My handsome Hubby (this was actually taken on Day #1 of the hunt in a total different area, we just rode the wheelers all day)

Here I am!

Me and my Proud Husband

Cole's uncle Lance and I

I don't think I'll make it very far...

Spooky

Annual Mecham Halloween Party 2009

Each year we put on a family Halloween Party and this year we had some great costumes. I was not able to capture everyone in pics (my camera didn't focus very well for some reason) But here is what I did get!

Cinderella (Taysia) and Her Fairy Godmother (Aubrie) and her two mice, Gus Gus (Shauna) and Another mouse (Chelsea)

Cat or Mouse? (Briley)

Witch (Jadee)

Vampire (Shyler) and Tahitian Dancer (Me, that's my costume from dancing with the Tahitian Club while I attended BYU-H)

Dracula (Grandpa Vittoria), Romeo (Ron), Juliet (Vickie), Clown (Grandma Vittoria)

Duck Hunter (Dawn), Clown (Grandma V), Juliet (Vickie)

Aladdin (Nate)

Fairy (Keshia)

Cowgirl (Nena), Caterpillar (Timotayo), Me, Cinderella (Taysia), Monkey (Tomasi)

Bumblebee (Easton)

Vampire (Shyler)

Hula Dancer (JoJo)

Miss Piggy (Jenny)