Back to the blog

Merry Christmas to everyone! It is time for me to start blogging again.  I have been on an 18 month hiatus, for reasons unknown to me.  I think facebook may have something to do with it, but I can point to about 50 thousand other things that get in the way of me and writing.  Anyway, I am now back to the blog.
 You can count on more regular posts from me. 
Let me try to do a quick catch up minus all the details that make the blogs so much fun:
Doug is still running his business Mecham and Shaul.  Tax season is right around the bend so I will have to kiss him goodbye in a few weeks and won't see his cute face again til April.  He is still in the Bishopric and is the best person I know.  Honestly he is Joey's best friend and Bret's too.  The boys never want to do anything with anyone but their dad.
Joey is the hardest for me to write about.  I feel like I have jipped you on his many adventures and I only have a few more months with him.  He will be off to school soon.  We will keep you posted on his school choice as soon as we know.  He is still laxing up a storm. He is the number 1 face off guy around as well as being a great midfielder. Picked for every all star event and team even after playing all last season with a torn hip labrum.  Not joking.  He is off to BYU this week to visit with Coach Schneck.  If you could have seen my face a few weeks ago when my phone rang and I heard the voice at the other end say, "this is Coach Schneck from the BYU lacrosse program calling for Joey".  I know! I was thrilled!  That same night Doug and I were having a Bishopric dinner at our house.  The whole group of us let out a cheer!  He got a job in September at the Izod store and works all the time.  He gives us 1/2 of what he earns.  (We are putting it away for school/mission..but shhhhh he doesn't know he is getting it back.)  The rest of his money goes to his truck and the 'system' he put in it last month.  You can here him coming about 5 minutes before he arrives.  Doug assures me stereos and cars are rights of passage for teenage boys.  All in all, he is a great kid. Great grades, jock, kind of a home body. He has been the 1st assistant in the priest's quorum and loves our Bishop. Loves hanging with  his dad and his brother and playing sports.  Oh by the way his team won the state title in lacrosse this year.  He played like a pro. 
Jenna has grown to be so pretty. It is funny because she is the spitting image of Doug.  How you ask, could she be so  pretty if she looks like a man.  I don't know how it is so, but it is so.  She is still Doug in a dress.  Just a beautiful feminine version. She is the first counselor in the mia maids.  She is also a great volley ball player and has been doing the club volleyball thing for years now.  She is the best player on her team at school and in the club.  Really.  I am not bragging, just stating the facts.  :)  She is also a singer!  When she was little and Doug and I were first married I put Jenna in piano lessons, dance lessons and voice lessons.  The piano has not been kept up with, dancing is done mostly in her room with Millie, but her voice has gotten more and more beautiful each year.   She is the ipod queen.  I am in Young Women with the girls (still or again depending on how you look at it) and I am forever plucking those buds out of her ears at activities.   She is thinking of doing the musical at school, but doesn't want it to mess up her volleyball schedule.  She is a wonderful girl and is a great person to be around.
Bret is a comedy show all day every day.  He is somewhat like Joey with the homebody thing and will often pick staying home with Doug and Joey to going out with friends.  But he has this wild side that cracks me up.  He is always fun and funny.  You know, there is a difference between people who are fun and those who are funny.  Bret is one of the rare few who has both qualities. He is almost always up for anything.  If kids come by and say, "hey Bret, we are getting bus passes to ride all over Vegas today"   not only will Bret go, he will pretend he only speaks Danish the entire time they are out.  He comes up with crazy fun ideas all the time.  He is so mischievous in a good wholesome, boy way. He and I have our own little language of sarcasm that we do with each other and I love it. He is also a laxer.  He will be in the same club as Joey this year on the JV team.  Joey is excited cause he will get to see Bret play more this year since they will be at the same field a lot.  Bret is also a great face off guy.  He was picked for the middle school all star team last year!  He is doing really well in school and is serious about it. He and Millie have a lot of classes together. 
Millie is doing well in school and has a goal to be the valedictorian when she graduates.  If you know Millie, you know it will likely be the case. She is so pretty and well liked by everyone.  She is very involved in leadership at school and loves that.  She is playing volleyball for the 9th grade team as the setter and was chosen to be the captain.  She played club volleyball too but decided to just do school volleyball so she has time in the spring for lacrosse.  Last year as an 8th grader she played on the HS varsity team!  She didn't play too much, but just being on the team was a thrill.  She will play more this year and of course more and more as time goes on.  Her team also won state. She is still  a great cook and is my girl.  Her best friend Regan moved to Utah this summer.  It has been a hard change for her.  The Ellsworths were such an integral part of her life.  She is adjusting, but it's slow.  Right now she is the mia maids secretary.
I have been busy with lots of changes too.  My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease shortly after she moved here.  We knew it was coming and honestly it is the reason they moved here so we could help them.  It has been a hard road for me and my brothers.  My mom is very ill now, but still has some good days where she seems like our mum for brief moments and even occasionally hours at a time.  Her illness saddened me profoundly.  I don't like change all that much and this was a change that I could do nothing about.  Last September I was called to serve in the Stake Relief Society presidency as 1st counselor.  I was in that calling for a short time when my mom fell and broke her hip in the spring.  I was needed to be with her more than ever.   We spent countless hours with her as she recuperated.  I  pulled away from everything for a while and drew closer to Doug and my family.   I have spent hours at the temple and found so much peace there.  I was called back to Young Women at the start of the school year.  I love being with my 'girls' .  So many of the laurels are girls that have grown up with Joey and the girls who are seniors with him were baptized the same year that I was.  I find that to be a huge connection between me and the girls I work with.  I also love being with Jenna and Millie.  I am working as a cooking teacher at the junior high that our kids attended.  Now that they are gone, I may need to get into something else.  I do love my job, but I have been teaching at the school that the kids attend since I went back to work.  I miss them and the happenings in their lives.  I am thinking of moving over to the High school.  The problem is I will have to convince them to make me a learning strategist for them as I don't have the right license for High school. I have loved being home for Christmas break and am grateful that we have had so much fun this week.  
What's coming up for us?  Well, Jenna's driving soon and will be old enough to date.  Joey will be off to school.  Millie and Bret will be navigating life with out their 'best friends' close at hand.  We will have our hands full.
I sure do love you all.  It's good to be back.