Mecham Family- life goes on

And so it goes

2011-06-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

I am pretty certain I have been wishing for this day for years. Yelling down the hall after two little boys skating in freshly washed sheets, "Grow Up!". The Numberless times I have said "Use your brian' or 'think a bout it for just one minute'... Yup, he is actually doing that lately. On his own.

Less than 2 weeks and he is off to the new home for him. Helaman Halls at BYU. Two weeks and he will be there and I will be here. Big changes for our family. Big Time. I have grown so accustumed to him being here afer shool. So used to his Tuesday/ Friday games. I am ready to watch our football show by 8:15 every week. All the traditions will change. WE are getting everything ready, but I don't know how to feel ready for him being away.OH don't you ever grow up!

2011-02-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

And he is accepted!

Joey is off to Provo.

We are very happy!

We will be seeing a lot more of this

over the next year!

Is it possible for our family to watch more lacrosse?

2011-01-22T22:10:00.000-08:00

This year I am the advisor to new lacrosse team at my middle school. The boys (all but one)are all new to the sport. Our team is bar far the youngest group in our division. Of our 20 boys we have three 8th graders, three 7th graders and 14 little 6th graders. Last night they had their first scrimmage ever. It was a 'double header'. We ended up winning both matches. The little guys actually carried our goalie off the field on their shoulders. Precious!

I love days off

2011-01-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

It is going to get up to just about 75 degrees here in Vegas today. I know, I know. I love the cold weather. I do. Right up until January 1. After January 1st, I am ready for days like these. Not to mention it is MLK day and here in CCSD that means NO SCHOOL! This morning found me at the gym bright and early, home to do some house cleaning and now just blogging about how lucky I am.
Finals this week for all my kiddos. We are half way through another school year. Wow.

San Diego

2011-01-10T17:07:00.000-08:00

Joey had his last all star tournament last weekend in San Diego. Doug Millie and I went down to watch. His team had high hopes of being the first Vegas team to ever win the Elite A division of this annual event. Coaches and players alike thought this was our year. Unfortunately a loss in the first round kept the team from the goal. All in all it was a good weekend. Another addition to my book of 'lasts'. This is the last all star team event Joey will participate in during high school. Doug hates my 'lasts' but I am fond of it. It makes me recall all the moments that I otherwise might just let pass. Here are a few photos.

On a completely different note, last Sunday night and Monday morning Vegas was blanketed in the white stuff! Nope, I am not kidding. Snow in Vegas! A few more inches and we may have seen a snow day. Which I might add would have been the perfect end to a wonderful winter break. I love snow !

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

2011! 2011? Where did the past year go? Happy New year to all of you!
We rang in the new year at our house, yup, you read right. We were not at our annual NYE party at the Moody's house. This year we were driving for most of the night from Provo to Vegas. Last week Joey went up to meet with Coach Schneck, the BYU lacrosse coach and to participate in a camp for players. Bret went to and also participated in the camp. Doug and I drove up with the boys on Wednesday morning through a great wintry storm. I love the weather! The boys had to hop out of the truck in St George and bag up all of our luggage as the southern part of the state was in a huge rainstorm. The rain quickly froze making the highway slick and as we traveled north we were met with lots of the WHITE STUFF!!!!! I was in heaven! We go to Provo and Joey, Bret and Doug were like three little boys playing in the snow. It was wonderful. The next day the boys went to the camp and Doug and I went to the Mt Timpanogos temple. It was a great day. Joey had a great visit with coach Schneck and was a stand out at camp. Bret too was a top player in his age group. Thursday evening we went to get some Smash Burgers and Joey started to feel sick. Doug and I went down to the jacuzzi and met some great folks. One couple was a former BYU lax player and his wife and another couple completely unrelated to the young man who had a son who played at the Y. It was such a coincidence to meet these two families and hear their take on lacrosse at BYU. We felt blessed to be given some inside information.
Friday Joey was in full blown 'cold and flu'. Bret, luckily didn't have a touch of the bug. The boys went to the camp and Doug and I went up to Salt Lake for some shopping and lunch. Last summer we found a great little place called Squatters on 300 South and we frequent it every time we go to SLC.
At the end of the camp all of the kids were given Y tshirts and a lax head. Bret won a shoot out in the younger group. Joey was taken aside by Coach Schneck and given a BYU team shooting shirt. It was accompanied with lots of hopeful words regarding Joey's academic and lacrosse future at the Y. We will keep you posted on this one!
We set out to the make the long drive home and again found snowy streets. Joey and Bret dozed off and Doug and I enjoyed the ride through the freezing cold state of Utah. At one point our car thermometer registered minus 13. (I love it).
We got home and I had to start cooking for the 1st (will be annual) youth breakfast for the New Year. After midnight Millie, Bret, Jenna, and a bunch of their friends made their way over after the Stake Dance to eat some bacon,eggs, pancakes,sausage, biscuits and gravy before continuing their celebration. Millie and I scooted over to the Moody's for the jump in the pool. We came back and the kids were still going strong. At 3:00 I told them it was time to pack it in.
This morning we all slept in and have had a lazy day so far. Christmas decorations are packed away for the next 11 months and we are slowly , ever so slowly, thinking about school and work and all the other things that we have to do Monday.

A little Joey lax video

2010-12-26T22:42:00.000-08:00

Thought you might like the video for Joey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdR-NuoHE8k

Back to the blog

2010-12-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

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.

Mum

2010-05-09T11:02:00.001-07:00

It's mothers' day! I have a mum who read to me, fed me, waited up for me, smiled at me, talked to me, prayed for me, laughed with me (at me sometimes), cried for me, loved me.

LUCKY ME!

2010-03-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

So you may be wondering where I have been. It has been one heck of a busy year and I just thought I should say hola to all of my friends in bloggy world before I most certainly disappear again. The spring season of lacrosse and volley ball is upon me and here is the schedule from now til the end of May :

Monday- practice Millie/ Joey
Tuesday- practice Bret/ Jenna Games Joey/ Millie (same field*** AMEN)
Wednesday- YM/YW practice Joey/ Millie Game Bret
Thursday- practice Jenna/Joey/ Bret Game Millie
Friday- Practice Millie Game Joey (same field again ** smiles**)
Saturday- Practice Joey Game Bret

Jenna also has tournys all over the place and Joey has out of state travel. Did I mention that it is tax season for Doug? THANK GOODNESS Joey can drive!
I'm not complaining. Excited really. Love it all. Just wondering how on earth we will ever see each other over the next couple months, but we will.

2009-12-25T10:10:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas 2009!

2009-12-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas photo 2009.

Mum and Dad

2009-10-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of my mum and dad dancing the other night at their new home. All I can say is, ladies, may we all have someone who will look at us like the way my father looks at my mother after 65 years together.

Vegas Starz

2009-06-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

9 games played...9 games won. And California thought Vegas couldn't compete. It's on to SLC this week for the Rocky Mountain Lax Showcase. Go Joey and the Starz!

Oh Fathers...

2009-06-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Father's day for the best dad around happened while we were , yup you guessed it, on the road. Joey had another tournament in LA so Doug and I decided to pack up the family for this event and spend a weekend away. I know, just the 6 of us. Not too romantic. Actually not one minute alone, but enjoyed by all. Doug is wonderful. You all know that. Our kids are lucky. He is 100% in a world where most dad's are 10% at best. I don't doubt for a minute both the boys admire him and desire to be 'just like dad' when they grow up. The girls, well, they will have a hard time finding a guy who measures up.

I don't say it enough, but I think it all the time. Doug, you are the best!

Since I can't find a money tree at any local shop...

2009-06-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and with it I find myself a full time mum. Yup, I love it. Don't get me wrong, but parenting my own kids is far more rewarding than parenting other peoples kids. Anyhow, my extra time really does equal money. I am always a frugal shopper....(shout out to Zech and Em who are exceptional, and also the Queen, hmm Tiff...) but when summer comes along I really get my savings cap on. I have successfully, with Doug's help, shaved 50 bucks off of our phone bill and 120.00 off other household expenses. Shopping today found me purchasing over 400 dollars of food, GOOD FOOD...food my kids eat food, for drumroll.............

195.80!

Be proud of me Queen Tiff.

Also... Laundry - check

Mopped floors- check

Clean fridge- check

I love summer time!

2009-06-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

Oh how I wish I had one of these....

Guess who made it!

2009-06-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Click on the link below....

http://www.adidasnationallacrosseclassic.com/socal_selections

Awards and End of Year

2009-06-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

What a school year! All of the kids did so well. Jenna and Bret earned great grades and both scored a perfect 500 on the math state testing!!!! I am so glad Doug has that math background in him because it sure helps when the kids are confused. Millie just missed the mark with the testing but scored 489 in math and 481 in reading. In years past she has earned the perfect 500 so I know she will get back there again! Millie was our only straight A student this quarter and ended up with straight A's for the year. Joey ended his sophomore year with a 3.67 cumulative GPA to begin his junior year.
Proud parents!

Tryouts and Disney

2009-06-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

By the way, for those of you that have not seen Joey in a a while...I have on about 4 inch clogs in this photo.

Shocker...Joey had a lacrosse event in LA this weekend. I know it is so unlike Joey to do anything like this but....HA. Our summer is riddled with trips and try outs and tournaments. This weekend Joey Millie and I headed off to Los Angeles with another lax mom and her son to go to the tryouts for the Adidas National Lacrosse team. Joey looked great and won the face off competition with 100% record. The first guy he went up against was a FOGO (Face off, get off specialist weighing in at about 220). Joe thought he would be out on the first round, but instead he beat everyone. Later during the 'game" Joey won each face off and played really well. Chances are good he will make the team but I am not sure we will be sending him to Maryland to play in the Championship game. You see, the money tree we planted last spring hasn't begun to produce yet so we may just have to say no to this invite.

Anyhow the real fun of the weekend came Saturday after tryouts. We headed over to Disney for the day. The weather was perfect, the rides were not crowded and the kids had a blast.

YO HO HO HO a Disney life for me!

Love this...

2009-05-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

2009-05-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Joey was picked to play this summer for the Vegas Starz program! Big feather in his cap. 160 kids tried out and only 40 were picked for the two elite teams.

Woo hooo Joey!!!!

Where have I been???

2009-05-23T08:51:00.001-07:00

It has been a month since I have posted on my blog. Busy, busy, busy, and quite honestly nothing too spectacular to write about. Just more of the same in our little life.
Volley ball and lacrosse season came to a close in a less than dramatic finish. Jenna's team didn't win a match. I must say this had little to due with Jenna's efforts and I am not bragging when I say Jenna was the best player on the team. She is going to really shine in this sport. It is in her genes. I mean her mom can still play better than most so with her help and the extra practice and work of being on a team, Jenna has really come along! Doug and I are sending her to camp again this summer so Cheyenne High, LOOK OUT! Millie's team won almost every match and Millie improved greatly. She is also going to camp this summer so we look forward to her getting better each day! She really likes the sport and while she doesn't have any DNA support she has had a lot of help from Jenna! Millie is finishing up the year with lots of student council activities and has made a lot of friends as she served as the school's historian. Millie also made it into the advanced orchestra which is an honor that she is proud of! Bret's lacrosse team did not fare too well this season. It was hard on Bret to play another year for a team that just couldn't seem to find a groove, but again, Bret's contribution was significant. He really never came off the field in a game and was one of the better players. Bret just went to a try out for the Vegas Starz MS team and he is gearing up for another BYU summer camp with his pal Sam. Bret decided the trumpet is being put away next year and is going to take an honors Spanish course instead. Only 30 kids at the school get the chance to take this class. Bret is one of the 30. He also got asked to be in a special advisory class at our school which will focus on technology. The teacher came to me and asked me if I thought Bret would enjoy this class. Given Bret's adoration of all things media I figured he was a great candidate. (Did I mention that I think that is embedded in his DNA? I mean I am looking at a computer screen bigger than most TV screens right now...thanks Dougie!). Joey's season ended with a loss in the semis. He had a good year and was one of the few sophomores on the varsity team. He is the number 4 ground ball guy in the entire league which is a fact he is very proud of. His junior high coach would always tell the boys..."Ground balls win the game" Joey took that information to heart. He has so much going on this summer I don't know how often I will see him around here! He also tried out for the High school Starz team, but it is stiff competition. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
I am winding down with school and it feels fine! I have a bout 10 days left to go and I can not wait to have it be SUMMATIME! Girls Camp is heavy on my mind as we get ready to take our stake back up the hill at the end of July. The YCLs are again my charge and I can't wait to be with the girls at the tip top of the hill once more.
Doug is busy over at Mecham & Shaul and still spends week days and often weekends and nights working. Nothing like tax season though, thank goodness and most nights he is home for dinner at least!
This summer expect lots of vacation photos from us. Nothing exotic, just chasing the kids from volley ball camps to lacrosse camps. But if the family is there together, we make it a vacation!

Springtime in Las Vegas

2009-04-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Really, it is an odd time of year. One week ago Donna was here from Montana and it was so cold she felt like never left home. This week it was 90 degrees out at the beginning of the week, but today our lacrosse car wash was canceled because it was too cold and windy. Go figure!

Still a New England Girl

2009-04-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

Every year for my birthday and Christmas my parents send me a little taste of home and Doug and I stuff ourselves with the best of New England. Chowder, bisque, steamers and whole lobsters. This year I had more than one dinner for two so we decided to share with our friends.

Such a treat!

Lacrosse...again

2009-04-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

More lacrosse news.

Joey was nominated by his coach to be part of the 205 camp this summer. Spots in the 205 camps are highly sought after and are not often afforded. The boys chosen to attend are watched for the entire week by coaches all over the US. Joey's coach nominated him and then we had to wait to see if he would be selected, and HE WAS!

Anyhow, this is a great honor for Joey, who eats sleeps and drinks the sport! Doug and I are trying to figure out how to work a family vacation around his enrollment at the camp!

Way to go Joey!

Conference Weekend and Spring Break

2009-04-05T12:42:00.001-07:00

How I love conference weekend. Time to just relax, and listen. Usually weekends find me running around preparing lessons for YW and Gospel doctrine, trying to get the house clean, grocery shopping and add to that games, practices and what have you to the mix. Conference weekend finds me enjoying the opportunity to just listen. Yes, there is still laundry to be done and meals to be prepared, but with it being the first days of spring break, there is far less urgency to the matter. How I have enjoyed these last two days. I did get the house tidied up and all the sheets washed and winter clothes mostly put away, but so much more important was the time I got to spend just listening to the leaders of the church as they gave us direction and counsel.

It has been just a family weekend at our house. Friday night we conducted our monthly 1st Friday family activity by taking the kids out to a fun little place to eat and enjoying some late night talks. Saturday we all chipped in to get some house and yard work done while Doug headed off to work. Joey strung Bret's lacrosse stick and his D pole got a face lift. Millie headed up to the cabin with the Ellsworths. While the boys went off to Priesthood Jenna and I went out together and had some fun and then bought our Sunday morning breakfast . It is tradition here at the Mecham's if we are not at conference in Utah, we watch while building a puzzle and eating a big breakfast of waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon (and eggs for Joey and I) and smoothies or shakes. I know, too much...but tradition none the less.
Saturday night we took the kids to a movie and stayed up late again together. Sunday found us all in mine and Doug's bed at the start of conference watching on our tiny TV . As I moved on to make the breakfast of champions they slowly emerged and we watched the rest of conference as we ate.

This week is spring break and with it I will make time to do some much needed spring cleaning. Lots of lacrosse will take place and I am sure some volleyball will get squeezed in too!
Doug is under the gun to finish gobs of work before the 15th and so I am sure I will see him less than I like, but the end is in sight and Doug, who has been busy as can be for the last few months, will be able to keep more manageable hours in the near future.
Life is good.

That's bad...that's good

2009-03-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Jenna sprained her ankle at Volleyball - that's bad
Millie got an A on her speech- that's good
Joey doesn't think his most recent trip to the dermatologist did a darn bit of good- that's bad
Bret is finally done with basketball and has a little free time- that's good
Christine thinks her allergies are kicking in- that's bad
Doug got the Scouting District Award of Merit last night- that's good
Friedo got into the trash and ate day old turkey- that's bad
Jenna did very well on her report card...even in science- that's good
Millie refuses to put away her folded clothes, saying she prefers the laundry basket- that's bad
Joey has been earning money mowing lawns- that's good
Bret's lacrosse team had a game called due to fighting- that's bad
Christine had the time to make a yummy dinner tonight- that's good
Doug is working so much we hardly see him- that's bad (well and good I guess...$$$)

Beet Digger

2009-03-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend's post...I am slow in updating...

I am sitting in traffic. Truly amazing how technology has advanced. This weekend Doug and I had the pleasure of driving up to Salt Lake with a bunch of champions. Our lacrosse team was invited to participate in the Beet digger tournament in Jordan, Utah and for the first time since the tournament began the title went to an out of state team. We are so proud of the boys for doing so well, but even more grateful to be affiliated with such a fine group of young men. Our boys have been under scrutiny for such along time. Our team, for whatever reason can't seem to get out from under the league's animosity. Whatever the team does is challenged and our team is constantly the recipient of harsh judgements. All of this stemming from events that occurred years ago while Joey was playing in a middle school. It is so ridiculous I don't even want to get into it here, but suffice to say it is frustrating and has really cast a shadow over the victories that our boys have earned. This weekend was a different story. Our boys won every game, some with ease, other with more of a fight, but either way we came up victorious. Our JV team made it down to the semis bit were beat by what appeared to be a much older team of boys, many of them play on their teams varsity program. Joey plays varsity this year but because he is young he is allowed to play both JV and varsity in tournament play. He played hard in all 9 games, some back to back. He scored lots of goals and was the first to score in the hardest of the varsity games which made things exciting. He was the face off king and I do mean king. I think he won about 90% of all his faces. In the JV games he did not miss one and on varsity he was close to perfect too. Way to go boy.

Music Memory Monday

2009-03-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

I have not done a music memory in along time but very early this morning I was giving oldest son a a little driving practice on the way to seminary and this song came on the radio. Normally while he is driving he doesn't like the radio on, but when I went to shut it off, he waved me away and said, "It's okay, this song is nice." I was glad he thought so because I have always loved the Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde has such a unique voice and even at the time when her music was very popular, it never seemed overplayed.
Anyhow, in the early 90s when this song came out and I remember every young girl I knew pledging her undying love to the boyfriend of the minute using this song as the backdrop. All you girls who listened to the radio in 1994 know what I mean. How could you listen to these lyrics and not think, 'FOREVER'. Me? I was a little older, already married, but I thought it was a great song and oh, sooooo romantic.
Today when Joey got out of the car and I watched him amble up to the door of the stake center with this song playing in my car, I started to cry. Really.
Listening today I felt this song had little to do with romantic love, but instead a more maternal or paternal love. I mean read these lyrics.

Oh, why you look so sad? Tears are in your eyes, Come on and come to me now.
Don't be ashamed to cry, Let me see you through, Cause I've seen the dark
side too. And when the night falls on you, And you don't know what to do, Nothing you confess could make me love you less I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you, Won't let nobody hurt you, I'll stand by you.

I don't think it is easy to understand if you have yet to have a child, but let me tell you, there is nothing, nothing, NOTHING that could make me stop loving my kids. I might be sad, disappointed or even angry with them at times, but the love, it never goes away.
I know Carrie Underwood covered this song on American Idol, so a whole new crop of teenage girls are using it to pledge their undying love to Jacob, or Brandon or Trevor. But all the moms (and the dads) know what it is really about.
So I guess I will dedicate this song to Joey, Jenna, Bret and Millie. I'll stand by you.

2009-03-01T17:09:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a while since I have pulled my camera out of the case and photographed anything that goes on in Mechamville. truth be told this time of year is filled with great things to photograph but hardly a moment to stop and grab the camera. I have spent much of my free time, if you could call any mother's time, freetime, at sporting events. Lacrosse season begins and it begins with a vengeance. Jamborees are the typical kick off and last weekend found us at a bunch of games for Bret with this weekend at the fields watching Joey. Next weekend both boys have a weekend long tournament and the girls have an all day event out in Henderson for volleyball. I wish I was Hermione from Harry Potter so I could be at everything. We also have Stake conference which adds another facet to the places we have to be and the things we have to do. Sounds crazy, I know, but I do love it. I love this time in our lives as we watch our kids grow in so many ways; social, mental, spiritual and physical. They are all so terrific carefully figuring out how Doug and I can fit in a game or two for each of them. I appreciate the effort they make to be fair although I know each of them wishes Doug and I would come and plant ourselves at their individual event for the entire day. So like I said last time, you may see less of me on here during the upcoming weeks and months but know that I am where I should be, cheering on one of the four kids and loving it!

Slacker

2009-02-15T19:55:00.000-08:00

I admit, I have been somewhat of a slacker in the blog department. I have been consumed with
lacrosse and a bunch of political league mumbo jumbo which has left me some what disenchanted. I tend to think everyone does things for the right reasons, but with this situation, I am not so sure. I am happy to say that at least we got past the nonsense and are now onto the season.
Enough about that. On a totally different note, I was called to be the Stake YCL leader this year. I love this assignment and am thrilled to serve in this capacity. I adore the girls and the time up on the mountain. It is wonderful to be able to go again this year!

Weekend

2009-02-08T20:02:00.000-08:00

This weekend:

Boys=Lacrosse

Joey=ACT

Girls=Volleyball

Dad= Scout training

Mom= Taxi cab

The big four-one Finding joy in the journey

2009-02-04T08:09:00.000-08:00

Fifty is the new thirty is what I keep hearing so I guess that means 41 is the new 21. Yahoo, I am legal again. Oh right, I don't drink so I guess I should just be glad that I am finally old enough (again) to buy cough medicine without having to show my ID.
February 3 is a great day to have a birthday when you are a kid. Far enough from Christmas that you don't get lumped in to the Christmas gift pile, but close enough that you know exactly what you wanted that you did not get on December 25, and you can ask for it 5 weeks later.
Really, when I think about all the changes the past 20 years have brought me, I would not go back to being 21 for all the silver in Nevada, all the rice in China, all the Steelers fans in Pittsburgh. (Whichever is greatest.)
You know, I have never been one of those folks who is upset about aging or getting older. I really think I have a pretty good, healthy attitude about this. It is what it is. I have always found joy in the age that I am at the time. I guess, I must be honest here, when I was a young teen, 13, 14, I wanted to be older. I wanted so badly to be 'old enough'. For what, I don't really know. But I loved being 20 ,25 and 30, 35 and 38. 40 was actually rewarding, I felt like I was right about where I wanted to be in my life. Great husband , wonderful kids. So what if I took the long way , I got there. And even with all the curve balls that life throws us, I can still throw my hands in the air each day as I look at Doug and what we have built together and say, I WIN!
Now, I spend a lot of my time trying to convince my kids, the four that live with me and the 150 I teach, to enjoy the place they are in life. Just yesterday morning I spent 20 minutes talking to a young man at school about waiting on the whole 'girl thing'. He mentioned to me that he spent the whole Super Bowl on the phone with a young lady and I said, "You know, later in your life, and for most of your life, you will probably have some interruptions during the big game days. Maybe it will be a young wife who needs help with a little one during the Super Bowl of 2020. Maybe your mom or your dad will need help with a sibling who is moving away to school during the World Series of 2018. Maybe your own child will have a pee-wee soccer game during the NBA playoffs of 2024. And you know what, you will be a good man, I hope, and you will be there helping and doing what you should do then. Not doing then, what you should be doing now. Which is eating wings in front of the tube without a care in the world. Carrying around a stick or a ball or a bat like it is the most important thing in the universe. Hanging with your friends, doing your school work, enjoying your family and the activities of your youth." I told him, "What Doug wouldn't give to watch just one game with out me or one of the kids 'needing him'."
Of course the boy thought I was old, 41, and helplessly out of touch with it all.
The good news for me, is I don't think this advice falls on deaf ears when it comes to the 4 kids that mean the most to me, or a good many of their friends.
Back to 41. I had a great day yesterday. My lovely VT brought me a Brighton key chain, LOVE IT. Sunny and Dee went in on the most extravagant passing of a Peppermint Patty, story later. My kids showered me with yummy food and thoughtful gifts . I came home to find a white noise maker from little Miss T, I am guessing. I had numerous cards and calls, texts from all my YW and some of my more tech savvy friends, and Facebook, gotta love it. I was wished happy birthday on my 'wall' from many, many friends I have not seen since I really was 21. Glo Pat brought me shrimp and butter which is another story all together, but suffice to say, she knows my 'tastes'. Doug took me to dinner, and gave my flowers and ohhhhhh how clean my house was when I got home. A singing phone message from Joey's best pal's family and finally, just as I was heading in to get the kids ready for prayer, a knock on the door found me staring face to face with birthday carolers. I know, too cute. Tif, Banana and Bishop were singing away accompanied by my friends Ben and Jerry.
What a day.
Who said birthdays are just for kids!
In my favorite movie of all time, It's a Wonderful Life, Clarence George's gaurdian angel said, "Remember, no man is a failure who has friends."
I am blessed beyond measure, and if Clarence is right, I am wildly successful too!
Thanks to everyone who thought of me on my special day. I am the luckiest 21 year old girl I know!

50 Mile club

2009-01-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Doug and Bret joined the deacons and a few other dads on a 50 mile bike ride in Carlsbad, California. The boys have been working on this merit badge for some time and now all of them have earned it! Doug only took one photo of the whole affair. Bret looking thrilled for the ride. It rained during the entire ride making it a little more difficult and loads more soggy.

YW New Beginnings

2009-01-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

Hannah, Erin, Millie and ReganStake YW leaders

Em, Mary, Q and Hay

The older girls singing

Our newest girls

Look at Rooster's face. Jenna thinks it is pretty funny too!

Last Wednesday night we had our New Beginnings night for all of our girls. The focus of the night is the girls new to the program. We used 'Be the girl of your dreams' as our theme and all the girls and leaders came dressed in their pajamas. Even Doug and Bishop were all cozy. It ended up being a great night and everyone had a ball.

2nd annual Fatburger Triple King

2009-01-19T14:21:00.000-08:00

Well, okay, so this year attendance was down. This because we didn't tell anyone, but still, MLK day means the Triple King challenge . Joey, Johnson and Doug all set out to eat the beast. Last year we had about 30 people show up and put it away. This year, these three fine eaters did it quietly, with an audience of only Millie and myself. Bret went over to visit his mom for the day, but I suppose we willbe taking him up there tonight to do one. Ketchup only, no cheese.

Next year we will have to make patches or something and invite folks to attend. Are you ready for the Triple King challenge?

FACEBOOK MANIA

2009-01-18T15:17:00.000-08:00

So, if you have not yet signed up for facebook, I suggest that you do. Nothing compares to what I have been experiencing for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I signed up for facebook over a year ago. Maybe two. I was a total embarrassment to Joey, but I kept up with what he was doing on there through my participation. Anyhow, over Christmas break facebook exploded with members of my high school class. Every day brought a new friend request or two from the likes of a Chem class lab partner, a cheerleader from my squad, or even those who suffered alongside me in Algebra II. It is a regular High school reunion everyday.

Oddly, most, and I mean pretty much all, of my friends just recently started to have kids. I am not talking about just my 'inner circle' of friends either. I am talking about the whole big group of kids I went to school with. One or two of them have an oldest child that is a year or two younger than Millie, but the rest, they all have toddlers and infants. Really. My best high school pal has two boys. I believe they are 6 and 4. Other friends have children that are even younger. Infants and two year olds. It is really interesting to me. Most of them have been married for 10 to 15 years but are just getting started with children. I can hardly imagine getting started now with little ones. I am thinking college and they are thinking preschool. Doug and I have considered having just one more child, but lately, I have been thinking we are too old for another one. Not just Doug and me, but all of us. I mean, if I had one today even, that child would not be in Kindergarten until Millie and Bret were seniors in High school. So realistically, the child would start kindergarten the year Millie and Bret started college. You know, starting cub scouts when Bret left for his mission and leaving for his mission when Joey was 35 years old. Wow, too freaky. I can't even imagine.

Anyhow, Facebook has been a blast. Connecting with friend after friend, and hearing all of their stories. It is so exciting to see their pictures and their children. In my mind, all of my High school friends are still 18. Seeing them at 40 has caused me to smile and think, that so many of us become our parents. One gal in particular. Looking at her is like looking at her mom. I wonder if my old friends are thinking the same of me. I hope so since my mom is adorable. ;-)

One thing for sure all of my friends want to know about my parents. Everyone always loved them. Many Friday nights my friends and I would spend hours on the coaches at my folks house watching movies. My dad always cooking up a storm. Big breakfasts before the games found us in my kitchen, and lots of nights I would arrive home from a date to find many of my 'guy friends' talking sports or college choices with my parents.

I hope that years from now, Doug and I are remembered by the friends of our children with such fondness.

So this was exciting; In one day I got friend requests from 3 people who all attended grades 1-12 with me. Talk about memories. It's like coming home.

From this week's WSL web report:

2009-01-12T19:42:00.000-08:00

SAN DIEGO – Team 510 came to the 2009 Adrenaline Challenge with a roster full of players who are used to playing against each other.Berkeley, Piedmont and St. Mary’s are league rivals during the spring, but this weekend they came together to form a Bay Area all-star team.
“At first, it was a little weird,” said St. Mary’s attackman Connor Jackson. “But then the rivalry just kind of disappeared.”Winning will do that. Jackson finished with a game-high three points on a goal and two assists to lead 4th-seeded Team 510 to an 8-3 victory over the Las Vegas HS Starz in the championship game of the boys high school division.Attackmen Robby Inch and Matt Dobbes each added two goals, middie Jon Chee had a goal and an assist and dominated on face-offs and Trevor Wolf and Zeal Levin each added goals for Team 510, which finished the event with a perfect 6-0 record. And, for the record, that’s pronounced “Five, One, Oh,” after the local area code.In a losing effort, Joe Mecham, Harrison Krueger and Kieran Eissler all scored one goal for second-seeded Las Vegas, which went 5-1.
The game was tied, 1-1, about midway through the first half when Jackson scored the go-ahead goal to spark a seven-goal run. About seven minutes after Jackson put Team 510 up 2-1, Wolf extended the lead to two goals when he stole the ball from Las Vegas goalie Conner DeVane with a stick check and then beat DeVane with a low shot.Chee made it 4-1 just 10 seconds later when he won a face-off, streaked down the field and scored.By the time Inch scored his second of the game with 12 minutes remaining, Team 510 led 8-1.“It’s fun to play with these guys,” Jackson said. “We just clicked. There was nobody who wanted to be the star. Everyone had confidence in each other. Everyone has real good stick skills. I think it was just a real good combination of people.

So even though they didn't win the whole thing, they did very well. There were over 30 teams and the boys from Vegas were outstanding. We are really proud of Joey for being part of the Vegas Starz. He had a great time at the tournament and played very well for his team. He can always be counted on to score a few and is very generous with the ball, getting just as many assists. We are looking forward to the season ahead and those yet to come.

Final exam week

2009-01-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

Already half way through this school year. I can hardly believe it. Blog friends, say an extra prayer for all the kiddos you know in Vegas. Exams are this week and it can be difficult for some. I have a few in my own house whose score on the exam could mean the difference between an A or a B in certain classes.
If you are a mom or dad and living in Vegas let me give you a few pointers from my many, many years as a learning strategist:
Make sure your kids get enough sleep this week.
Eat good food and be sure to eat a good breakfast including fresh fruit and protein.
Eliminate stress by getting everything ready for school the night before. Nothing brings down a child more than a morning filled with "Hurry up! Find your backpack! We are late!"
Just as your child is ready to leave, tell them to do well. Tell them you know they can and that they are smart.

Sounds simple, right? Well, it is simple and it really will help.

...By small and simple things

Happy exams!

Really a miracle..Really

2009-01-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

Off of my list.

FINAL EXAM- done. Ready to be copied and handed out next week to 150 little boys and girls who learned lots about Food and Nutrition this year. It is a long story and I have no time right now to explain it, but I am GRATEFUL that HE watches out for me.

Joy Joy Joy!

Back to school and...

2009-01-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

...Lacrosse and basketball and cheerleading and NJHS and volleyball and student council and young men/scouts and young women and...

Carpooling. Dee called me tonight in a panic. The reality of scheduling carpooling for this season's many, many activities has finally set in.

Saturday is a special day

2009-01-03T15:23:00.000-08:00

I gotta tell you. Today is a rather sad day for me. You see, last Saturday and the Saturday before I felt literally no pressure to be DONE with everything on my list. I knew I had Monday just a'waitin for me on the other side of Sunday. Mondays that meant both sleeping in til about 8am and getting ready at a leisurely pace to do what needed to be done. Whether it be grocery shopping, or doing laundry, or cleaning the bathroom. It would get done, just later. Back to school for me means EVERYTHING has to be DONE today. Monday, on just the other side of Sunday, is a work/school day. Up at 5 to get oldest son breakfast and off to seminary and then out the door by 6:40 myself with the carpool gang. The upcoming season is one of particular chaos for us because it means lacrosse is in full swing. Starting this week, all 4 kids have sports 2 nights and youth activities on one night. Joey is gone next weekend to San Diego for a tournament and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Bret, Jenna and Millie all have there own agendas including sports and school activities, all of which require taxi service care of yours truly. It really does not quiet down til the end of May. Do I love all of this? YES. Is it a little crazy at times? Uh huh. Would I trade it? Nope, not for a million bucks.

So today, I say good bye to leisure, although I do think leisure rules (Ferris Bueller, 1986), and hello schedules.

I resolve

2009-01-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

Resolutions about exercise and weight always seem to get lost somewhere in about the first week of February. Resolutions about having a perfect, planned and ready FHE last til about mid January when the kids start cracking up during one of my canned lessons and we scarp the whole lesson and just sit and talk about something the kids want to discuss. So this year I am just making one resolution that is not a 'give up chocolate' or 'do more family history' kind of thing...This year I just want to continue trying.

Trying at lots of stuff. I want to keep trying to be the best wife and mother I can be. I want to keep trying to be a good friend. I want to keep trying to be a good YW leader and teacher. I want to keep trying to learn new things and keep trying to read a lot. I want to keep trying at so many things that my list could go on forever. That is it for me...2009. Just keep trying to do my very best.

New year's eve

2009-01-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Every New Year's eve we spend the night with good friends at the Moody's house. I laughed and said, "All of these photos are the same as last year, we just have on different outfits.
The girls always spend the night at the Ellsworth's and all the boys always have a shin-dig over here. Now that the girls are old enough to babysit, the Ellsworth house has changed a little and here, well, Joey is no longer in on the action. He has bigger fish to fry over at the dance, but Bret kept the tradition going with all his pals.
At midnight, the few, the proud, the TRUE polar bears jump in.

Happy New Year!

The babysitters

The 'boy party' at our house

The grown up game night at Moody's

The plunge... as the clock struck 12

Bret

Doug's splashThe Ellsworth's (is this cheating?)

Fun was had by all. The morning brought a whole new batch of jumpers. Jenna and Millie made it in and Joe will go tonight when it gets dark and COLD again. The Moody's actually ran out of patches which means there were over 100 jumpers. Quite a change from 6 years ago when just our little crowd was jumping in.

Jenna's splash

Millie in the cold pool
Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Tradition

2008-12-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

What is wrong with my friends? Wish us luck. Tomorrow there should be some comical photos.

Sledding at the mountain

2008-12-29T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today Dee and I took all the kids up to Mt Charleston for some snow play. What a great time we had. The snow was perfect for sledding and snowball throwing. Joey met a little snow bunny too. I am glad he is a littl ebit shy and she is from California so no worries there. Millie and I are pleased that we knocked another item off of our must do list for the winter break.

We tried out Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate after the fun and were pretty disappointed this time. I will stick with eggnog steamers at Starbucks and Millie and Joey far prefer Starbucks' hot chocolate to Dunkin's.

Enjoy the photos.

Christmas day 2008

2008-12-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

It sure is a different kind of Christmas when your youngest child is in 7th grade and your oldest is in 10th. No little ones around the house to run in a t 4 am yelling, "He came!"

Instead we were in bed til about 6 when Millie came in and said, "Can we go out there yet?"

Still, lots of "Thank you, it's just what I wanted!" But instead of directing this at Santa, the phrase was directed at Doug and me.

Jenna and Bret were over visiting their Mom this year so it didn't get too crazy til they arrived a little while later. Lots of cell phones this year and a new sewing machine for me. Clothes, books, gift cards new coats and shoes all found themselves in the pile of gifts. The boys got new harmonicas which they are enjoying.

A yummy dinner and then it was off to the movies with some other families where we split into three groups. The Day the Earth Stood Still, Marley and Me, and Benjamin Button. I saw the latter and I tell you it was a tear jerker.

Tomorrow is always the best day of the vacation, with all the kids really having time to get to know their new things.

Tomorrow, I think I may brave the stores and check out the better than Black Friday sales. I need to get some fabric at least!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Millie and Joey just before bed

The stockings were hung...

Christmas Eve this year was moved from the Stutz home to the Smith's. Our long standing tradition has been to spend Christmas eve with our "Friend Family". These are the people in our life that are as close as family that we are honored to cal our friends. This tradition started years before I even met Doug and lucky for me, when we married, he being close with all these folks as well, kept the tradition going strong. Deb and Russ moved up to Denver so the event was moved to the Smith's house. The menu and program remained the same; soups and homemade rolls, yummy desserts followed by the reading of Luke 2 and finally a menagerie of family talents.
We sure miss Deb and Russ but are forever grateful they started this tradition.
Here is the finale of the talent show.

BYU and other adventures

2008-12-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

Of course being the die hard Football fans that they are, Doug, Joe and Bret braved the cold last night and set out to Sam Boyd to watch the BYU v Arizona game. The outcome was not their desired one but fun was had by the boys nonetheless. I spent my night wrapping gifts and watching ELF. You gotta love the lovable character played by Will Farrell in this holiday show.

A few quotes:

Buddy: We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.

Buddy: I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Buddy: He's an angry elf

Buddy: Did you see the toilets? They're ginormous!

NOT EVEN KIDDING! IT'S A SNOW DAY

2008-12-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

From the CCSD website:

No school Thursday due to bad weather

Wednesday December 17, 2008 - General
Due to weather conditions and for the safety of students, all Clark County School District schools will be closed tomorrow (Thursday). Students should not report to campus. All administrators, 12-month employees, and office staff should report to work as usual. Teachers (OH BABY!) and other classroom employees are not expected to report to work since a makeup day may be scheduled later in the year.

Tonight we had a YW combined activity here. While many of the girls were still lingering we saw the announcement. A cheer went up and the phone began to ring! No school, No school! Texts started coming to Joe's phone one after the other. No school! No school!

Oh to be a kid. And a Vegas kid at that! December 18, 2008 will be talked about for years, in the halls of Clark County Schools, "Remember that day ? Remember that snowday?!"

Hopefully tomorrow will find us with a few inches of the white stuff left on the ground so we can make a snowman!

For once we can sing it and mean it...

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And since we've no place to go

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2008-12-14T20:15:00.000-08:00

So sick

Another Sunday. Today Millie was sick. She stayed home from church so I came home after Sacrament to take care of her. Now I know she is a big kid, but she is my baby and this photo of her sick self sleeping was too cute to resist. If you look closely at her right cheek you can catch a glimpse of her beloved 'pink'. It's her special blanket that she still adores. Gigi, her trusty companion was probably buried under the covers with her, along with Duck Duck Sailor, another friend for life.

Millie came out tonight and curled up on the couch with all of them. Gigi, Duck Duck and Pinky all keeping her company while she rests. Gosh, I love her!

We also got the tree decorated tonight. Bret, Doug and Joe went out and bought it yesterday and put all the lights on while Jenna, Millie and I were at tryouts for Team Envy. This year we have the tree in a different spot, so it is a shorty. I love it anyhow. As per tradition when I saw the tree, I announced, "It is the best one ever!" Bret and Joe cracked up and said the words in unison with me, and after that exclaimed, "Oh Mum, you say that every year!" And they are right, I do.

The house is decorated and we are ready for a full week ahead. There is something going on every night so I know we will be ready for Friday to arrive! I can not wait for vacation to begin.

Millie and Jenna and Volleyball

2008-12-13T21:09:00.000-08:00

Both Girls were chosen to play on Las Vegas' newest club volleyball team. We are very proud of both of them. Jenna has shown a lot of interest since last summer when Doug and I took her up to Provo for the BYU camp. Millie played church ball this year and loves to do the things Jenna does so it was quite a find when Rebbecca Lane told us about this club. It is just starting up in the valley and while they are open to all girls they understand the LDS culture and our desire to avoid Sunday play and the need for our girls to be free on Wednesday nights. Mary and Emily signed on to the 16 year old team last week and I took Jenna and Millie up to check it out last Saturday. Today I was worried for Millie at try outs. She doesn't really have much behind her in the way of skills, but luckily the girls here age were mostly in the same boat and the team was able to take the 12 who tried out. I am looking forward to seeing Mill progress. Jenna's team had much stiffer competition. Jenna is good. She grew a lot at the camp this summer and her mom has been taking her over to Rancho's practices for quite some time. On top of that, Jenna is just built for the sport. She is tall and is becoming very athletic. I am so grateful we came across this club that is basically going to 'fit' with our life. (AND...I don't have to be the team mom in order for that to happen!)

Jenna's Turn

2008-12-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

We end this week of musical performances by the Mecham children with Jenna's choir concert. The kids sounded great. They have really grown and it is amazing the difference a year can make in a school music program. Her teacher, Ms Dadabo has done a great job bringing the students along. In 6th grade Jenna's choir teacher up and quit after a few weeks of work. The school was unable to fill the position so the program really fell apart. Sara, a band major, took over and has built it back up. Jenna and Hannah (Banana) have made a lot of progress this year and both sing so well. Way to go Jenna!

And on that note, no pun intended, I add another item to my 'lasts as a mother list'. Tonight I watched my last Junior High Christmas Choir program for one of my own. On to high school and bigger choirs I guess.

Millie and I took another detour on the way home for more of that yummy hot chocolate. I sense a Christmas addiction and tradition on the rise.
Hey Becky, they didn't know what an eggnog steamer was. I know, right. I was outraged. I need to try one of those before the season ends. Of course mine will also be with extra whipped cream.
C

This week this far

2008-12-10T22:02:00.000-08:00

This week is a busy one around our house. Three concerts at the school. Tuesday, Band. Wednesday, Orchestra and Thursday, Choir. The camera was not charged up Tuesday night so I am hoping I can snag a few photos of Bret from folks who took photos of him at the show.

I charged up the battery and snapped a few of Millie and all of her friends at their concert. We made a quick stop at Starbucks on the way home. mmmm Peppermint hot chocolate.

Did I mention I filled my tank on the way home too. You bet I am a happy girl. I mean a month or so ago filling the tank was over 200.00

On a different note, I got a message today from MY ELDER'S wife. Her mother in law stumbled across my blog and found herself reading about her own son! Can't imagine how nice that must have been, especially considering that I ADORE THAT GUY! No kidding. I mean he is such a huge part of my story.

I can't wait to get to know this young girl who is married to MY ELDER. They have their own little family and I can't help but think how lucky their children are.

So once again, Heavenly Father opened that little window, just for a minute, and let me look through for long enough to make a connection. I am so grateful.

Come What May...

2008-12-08T09:51:00.001-08:00

The Culprits

If you hate cats, skip this post. It will only serve to intensify your negative feelings towards all felines.
Oh to be able to laugh! This morning as the kids and I got ready to leave for school we noticed the car's hazard lights blinking. "What on earth could that be about?" As we approached the car Millie fessed up to going out to get a book she had left in the passenger seat yesterday, "But", she said,"I didn't go in your side so I don't know how that could have happened."
In the few steps from the walk to the car I noticed Wendell our fat, farm cat perched on the head rest of the drivers seat.
OH NOOOOOOO!
Yup, you guessed it, upon opening the door to the vehicle two things jumped out at me.
1. A very distressed cat and
2. An unmistakable odor

Sure enough Wendell, was unable to 'hold it' all night and no, I do not have any travel kitty litter going on in the car.

My first thought, MURDER the cat! And follow up that assassination with a swift kick to Millie's seat for being careless enough to not notice a fat cat climbing into the car alongside of her as she rummaged around looking for her lost book.
But after yesterday's fast meeting where Bishop brought back to mind, Elder Wirthlin's talk about laughter, I figured I better do just that. Each carpooler we picked up got in the car and wrinkled their nose as the pungent odor reached them. As I recounted the tale, they all had a good chuckle. When I told Doug, I couldn't even finish telling him the story before he figured out the ending and started laughing. After we finished laughing about the traveling litter box I am driving, he put in a call to our good friend Brent who will have the guys from Coit over to help us out today.
I thought how differently the entire affair might have gone if I had chosen anger over laughter. Thanks Elder Wirthlin (and Bishop) for reminding us to love whatever comes our way!

A season to give

2008-12-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

Our young men and women completed a very special service project last night. As a group we collected warm clothing; coats, hats scarves and gloves and traveled down to the area of town where many men and women live on the streets. We made arrangements to meet at the Salvation Army with a representative of their shelter. Before leaving Richard Fonbuena, an LVPD officer spoke to the kids about sticking together and told the boys that they had to stick by the girls. The kids chuckled a bit, but Rich then went on to tell them that they were in fact going to be serving this night in a very dangerous area. When we arrived at Owens and Main we were honestly surprised to see scores of homeless men and women and many young children as well. We set up our items and before a half hour had passed, we were practically out of items. We brought along a stack of pass along cards to give to the eager hands of those people in need. It was a very emotional experience for me and I do believe for many of the youth it was an enlightening evening. For many, myself included, the reality of the difference between wants and needs was clearly illustrated.
As I looked on, a larger man approached our tables searching for a coat. He quietly picked through the things but found nothing that would fit his large stature. Without so much as a second thought, and without saying a word to anyone, I watched as Doug took off his coat, his one winter coat that he asked for last Christmas, and handed it to the homeless man. With gratitude, the man took the coat and shook Doug's hand.
Wow. I love him.

2008-12-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

Music Memory Monday. Okay so it's Tuesday, so shoot me.

This song is probably not too well known by many of you. It does not even bring me back to my preteen days when I was crazy for David Cassidy aka Keith Partridge. No, instead it takes me back to 1991. I was a senior in college ready to graduate. My parents had long since started to winter down in Naples, Florida by the time I was ready to do my student teaching so I figured I had the perfect set up; my folks house all to myself, student teaching in my hometown and sleeping in my own comfy bed, free of charge. How could I go wrong. The situation only got better when my pal Mary Jo got assigned to teach in the classroom next to mine. Not only that my cooperating teaching was a good friend of one of my brothers. Sweet!
Anyhow all through that fall, Mary Jo and I plugged along at Union Street school teaching grade 3 to a group of kids I had grown up babysitting. I loved it.
Meanwhile Mary Jo and I were still a couple of crazy kids, having fun. Many nights that fall she stayed at my house with me and and we would stay up all night long laughing and dreaming about the perfect lives we were going to lead. More often though, on our marathon nights we would go out and do drive bys. Nooooo not that kind! We would get my dad's big car out of the garage, so as not be noticed by anyone, and drive past her guy's place! Mary Jo was crazy about, mad over, just plain obsessed with a boy from one town over and oh the fun we had stalking him. Cmon girls, you all know you did the drive by. Is he home? Is he awake? Oh my gosh did he and all of his friends just catch me and my friends casually driving by his apartment in our pajamas at 1 in the morning?
Anyhow Matt's apartment was always alive. he worked by day at the hospital as an XRay technician, but by night he was a musician rocking out with his band. Not only did we drive by his place we just happened to make it our business to arrive at everyone of his shows. "Oh wow, we didn't know you were playing her tonight." I know, lame. Now I almost forgot to mention that Matt had a girlfriend. Stop frowning. He wasn't married and Mary Jo was too crazy about him for him to never know about it, so another friend told him to take Mary Jo out. He did and the girlfriend got wind of it. Oh the fireworks. Now when we were stalking Matt, we were being stalked by the ex. Quite the show!
Everything sett;ed down by Christmas time just as we wound up or student teaching careers. On our last day, Matt came in and brought his guitar. The three of us sang for all of my and Mary Jo's students. You guessed it. We sang the Partridge family Christmas song.

So you may be wondering what happened to Mary Jo and Matt. Well, 17 years later they are still married with 3 cute kids. Living just one town over from where we student taught and stalked Matt in our free time. Mary Jo never used her teaching degree, well unless you count teaching her own cuties. As for Matt, you won't find him at the clubs at night rocking out. But he still strums a tune or two for Mary Jo.

Christmas card preview

2008-12-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

Our family

Thanks Theresa!

I love our little happy family!

Girls night

2008-11-29T00:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight Millie had a few friends spend the night. We made some holiday treats and then decided to go out to the Town Square and look at the the lights and window shop. The girls had great fun at the Sephora store trying on all of the make up. The night ended with watching What Not to Wear. The plan was to stay up all night. You can see how well they did!

Turkey day/ Part one

2008-11-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

Football...Joey's true favorite.

We miss Hannah

2008-11-24T17:17:00.001-08:00

The lunch bunch just isn't the same with out you!

We hope you are having fun in Oregon.

Look at theses faces.

Have a great trip, but hurry back! We miss you! I miss you! Hardly anyone likes to talk about books with me!!!!!!!

ah Weekend

2008-11-21T17:21:00.000-08:00

So while the rest of the country was focused on the small stuff, like who the next president of the United States would be, my family, those in middle school in particular, were campaigning for MUCH mores serious elections. The Lied Middle School student government officers. Youngest daughter threw her name in the ring along with 4 others at her school to be the school historian. Well after a few weeks of speech making and poster hanging, the ballots were in. Millie came out victorious! We celebrated Friday night by, going to the theater. the Cheyenne HS play that is. Many of the youth in our ward were performing. They did my dad's all time favorite, Arsenic and Old Lace.

Doug and the boys were down at Loyola this weekend for the Top 200 lacrosse weekend. Joe's coaches were, get this, the head coach of Yale and the head coach from Towson. I know, right. he was so excited to be amongst these folks. He took a hard hit during his first game but was iced up and went back out to play. You should see the bruises. I swear, between Joe and Bret and their collective lacrosse endeavors, one could think Doug and I were beating the boys!

Jenna spent the weekend with her mother so that left just Millie and I to hang out and get things done. Again, I was delighted and saddened by the quiet of my house. Delighted because I was able to get soooooo much done, but saddened by the prospect of such a quiet home in the not so distant future. I do miss all the kids and their pals when they are gone!

TWILIGHT

2008-11-18T21:59:00.000-08:00

So , yes, I was there. I saw the premier of the film Twilight with Millie and Jenna and Jenna's mom, Susan. Oh the jealous cries that are going up in blogoworld. It was a great love story. Enough of a ...yes there will be a sequel ending to keep all of the young girls, okay and their mothers, interested.

Honestly, Edward is handsome, but Dr Cullen, he is a heartthrob, you know if yo are forty or so.

Anyhow, it was a fun night out for the girls. None of us had ever been to an opening of a movie before, so it was a new experience. We talked with some others in line and waited for close to two hours before being let in to the theater. Dinner was pocorn and nachos, but nary a complaint form any of the teens in line. They were all just itching to get in to see the love story unfold.

I don't think this show will be a big hit with the guys, but every teenage girl who sees will dream of vampires. The Edward type that is!

My students will be waiting with baited breath for me to tell them about it tomorrow.

2008-11-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

Jori posted this on her blog and I took her challenge to spend 5 minutes watching it. I am so glad I did. Not only did it put a smile on my face, it brought tears to my eyes. Watching this fellow dance with all of these people, people from all over the world, from all walks of life, reminded me that WE ARE ALL CHILDREN OF A HEAVENLY FATHER. He loves all of us. He wants us to love each other too.

ENJOY and remember who your Father is. Remember that everyone you meet today is your brother or your sister. Treat them like you love them Better, Love them.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

A Week at the Meeks!

2008-11-15T14:06:00.000-08:00

Monday to Monday, with the Mechams.

We had no school last Monday or Tuesday. As I mentioned in an earlier post J and B were visiting their mom so I was here with just the big guy and the 2nd to biggest guy for the entire time.

Our usual chaotic family night involved just the three of us. It was very peaceful and gave us an opportunity to enjoy just teaching Joe. We also grabbed a little something for dinner instead of the usual big dinner we make on Mondays.

Bret came back Tuesday to go hunting with Doug and we met up with Jenna Tuesday night at our ward volleyball game. By the way, we won and are now moving on to the championship game. Doug got back in time to go to Roundtable.

Jenna and Bret went over to the mom's Wednesday after much discussion about what to get her for her birthday, we settled on getting her a Red Robin gift card. Just try asking a kid what their parent likes to do. You will get the funniest answers, even from a 13 and a 12 year old. Somehow I don't think their mom needs another Magic Bullet...you know in case she wants to make a smoothie and a milkshake at the same time.

Wednesday night we had a joint activity for a super service scavenger hunt. It ended up being great. Joe invited inactive boy to come out and he did! Joe is the Teachers' president and Jenna is the Beehive president so they were both big in the planning of this activity. On another note, Joe 'remembered' at about 3pm Wednesday afternoon that he had a chemistry project due Thursday. The project involved creating a mole ( a mole is a unit of measurement). His mole had to be a character and involved SEWING!!! Now I can cook, but sew? Nooooooooo. His mole was Spidermole, and it took us a while to work it out, but we did.

Thursday night found me at a RS activity. It was a lot of fun even though I must admit, I was like, really, three nights out in a row is too much this week. We all brought food to share. I made a yummy creamy ham and potato soup, but my favorites were Darla's wheat chili and Cindy's cauliflower. We ate soups and painted Christmas decorations. A shout out to Katrina Hunter who put it all together. My stars were pretty lackluster, ( I am craft impaired) but I did get to see the handiwork of some really creative folks. Doug was home alone with Millie so they went out on a daddy daughter date and discussed her campaign. Millie is running for school historian. Joe, well he had lax, what else?

Speaking of lax, Friday night Joe tried out for the Vegas Starz lacrosse team. It was something he wanted to do, but we were unsure about his chances. There was about 80 kids for 36 spots and it was mostly older players. Many seniors and juniors were out there and Joe was one of a handful of younger sophomores. They sent the kids home and told them to check the website in the morning to see if they made it. HE did! He was very pleased and is excited about being part of this team. It means lots of trips. Doug and Bret are also excited as they accompany Joe on all of them!

Bret was off at a camp out with the scouts Friday night and got back late Saturday afternoon. His pal Coop broke his wrist on the bike ride. Ouch!

Jenna and Millie raked in the cash this weekend babysitting. Friday night they were over at McCormacks, Saturday they were watching the cousins over at my brother's house and Saturday early evening Millie went over to the Hancock' house to watch Jesse while they went out for a quick dinner.

Joe invited me out to lunch Saturday for a mother /son date. He said, 'I'll buy if you drive.' We went out and got some sushi at our favorite Sushi Bar. Joe had seen an ad that let him know it was customer appreciation day and all prices were half off. We ended up getting all you can eat sushi for $20.50 total for both of us. It was so cute when the tab came and my young man reached out and took the check. The waitress just grinned fro m ear to ear and so did I.

Later Saturday, I got all of my Christmas shopping done . Before you get too jealous let me explain, I got the gifts for everyone except the kids and Doug. Teachers, friends, visiting teaching gals, Doug's home teaching families and also, my folks and Doug's mom. I am so happy to have that finished! This weekend I will get them put together and put away in the storage room til it is time to give em away!

I also got my 10 by 10 recipes finished. Q.T. (Queen Tif), has started our ward on a new mission. If we all get the ingredients to make 10 dinners ten times in our food storage room we will have a three month supply of dinners. I have slowly been hammering away at this. Not just getting the recipes together, but also gathering the ingredients. Oh and by the way, I really like that Tif's new nickname can be CUTIE too , get it Queen Tif=QT=Cutie. Anyhow, more about this 10 by 10 idea in a later post.

Saturday night our neighbor's came over to practice a song for Sunday. Doug ended up playing the piano for hours while all the girls sang. Have I mentioned how much I love love love that he plays the piano. Madison and Grace sang for me in my Gospel Doctrine class Sunday. They did a great job!

Speaking of Doug, he spent a lot of the past weekend at work, but he was able to get some painting done. I figure we started the painting on Labor day and with the way both Doug and I operate, maybe we will be done by Memorial day.

Sunday we had a youth fireside over here. Again, Joe invited out that same boy from our ward, and he came. It went really well. You can only see about 1/3 of the gang in this shot. There was no way I could get them all in!

That brings me right back to Monday. Today we saw the dentist for teeth cleaning. Millie ended up having to go to the Doctor after school to have her check on a recurring stye.

Tonight for family night it was back to the chaos that I love. Millie planned a charades activity and we all had a lot of fun guessing the scriptures that we took turns acting out, with out any props. I talked to the kids about why we keep our eyes closed while we pray. What was born of an impromptu conversation with Bishop became a very meaningful lesson for our family.

All in all it has been another great week in paradise!

Oh and one more thing. Jenna won TWILIGHT tickets last weekend while at her Mom's house. I am glad she won 4 tickets because that made room for me and Millie to go with Jenna and her mom! Oh and I almost forgot the best part. We get to go to the show TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!!

Correction

2008-11-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

I will admit when I am wrong. Not that that happens too.. okay, so it happens all the time. Nevertheless, I must give credit where credit is due. It seems that a certain someone felt somewhat slighted when I gave a little shout out to the Queen herself. Later I tried to make amends by giving him a title of nobility. Duke, I think it was. But when Queen Tif filled me on an his savings bonanza, I had to reevaluate the titles I am so casually tossing around.

Hear ye Hear ye!

Through a special session of the savings and thrift committee I have been granted license to appoint Chuck Bennion Emperor of Savings, Sheik of Thrift, Sovereign of Frugality, Czar of Penny Pinching!

Plus he is pretty funny too. I did not say funny looking, I said funny!

Saving for a hungry day!

2008-11-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons Doug loves me is I am a good shopper. Doug is very frugal (read cheap). He likes to save money and he especially likes it when I jump on board the savings train. I do my part with grocery shopping. And work on keeping my food stoarge up to snuff. When Doug added on the 'media room; I insisted I get a food storage room out of the deal. Love it! Take a look!

I learned this saving skill long before joining the church from my ultra wise shopping dad. He is the KING, absolute, hands down, no one better, the best. He was shopping 4 or 5 markets a week using coupons back when I was a kid. We ate like kings and always had plenty, but I know my folks did it on a tight budget. I have never spent a lot of $$$ on food and in recent years it has become a game for me. How much can I save this week? I always try to 'save' more than I spend. Another trick old Grampie taught me is NEVER buy anything you don't eat/use just because it is on sale. A few weeks a go a bloggy friend did a post about her savings at the grocery store and I thought, Oh good, Another thrifty shopper! Now the Queen of thrift is Tif, but I will declare myself Princess. Take a look at this weeks score.181.00 (and 16.95 of it is for the cat litter. Ugg). I also got 30.00 in 5.00 off coupons at Albertsons for my purchases. How's that for you?

Music Memory Monday Exta Long Post WARNING!!!!

2008-11-10T17:38:00.000-08:00

A lot of you know our story, but some of you do not. I am the luckiest, most blessed girl in the world. Thanks to Jori over here for coming up with this Music Memory Monday idea. What a great way to share.

Doug and I were married 6 years ago after being 'fixed up' by my bishop who happened to be an old friend of Doug's. At the time, I was a single mom. Life was hard and even though I had the church, great friends and two wonderful kids, I knew I needed to find an eternal mate. Not such an easy thing to do. As I just mentioned, I was 30 something with two kids, a recent convert to the church and as you all well know, it is not like there is an abundance of unattached Moronis out there.
About being a convert (this is an important part of the story). When Joey and Millie were young my husband and I were very friendly with our LDS neighbors. As such, these neighbors and friends regularly sent the missionaries our way. Set after set, they would come, we would feed em and they would try to share the message with us. We loved them all, but there was one, one elder, that shared his message with us, and when he spoke, I felt the spirit confirm to me that the Gospel was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Lord. Alas, my husband had not felt that and even though I knew it was true, I held all of it in my heart. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months and a year or so after this elder left, my husband and I divorced. The missionaries kept coming and I kept listening, but that feeling from long before was buried in my heart. Over the course of the years I had become very close with three families. All of these wonderful families made room for me and my children in their homes. In short, I was not with out MARVELOUS examples of the way to happiness, yet, it was not their example that finally helped me to decide to be baptized, instead when I finally did decide to get baptized, I knew that the message was brought me by that missionary years before. He carried the holy spirit to my heart that day. I joined the church and never looked back. MEANWHILE... Doug was living across town. After having served a mission and returning to BYU, he married in the temple. His marriage lasted several years, but deteriorated. He struggled greatly with the prospect of being apart from his children, even for just one day. But in the end, there was nothing he could do. Decisions were made and regardless of his desire to remain married he found himself a single father. Spending half of his time alone and the other half left to raise his toddlers. He sought the advice of his priesthood leaders who told him that while he could not change the course of action of another, he had to hold to the rod no matter what the circumstance. He did. He kept attending the temple and serving in the ward in which he resided. He was quickly called to be the elders' quorum president and then a few years later to be the ward mission leader. During these years, friends set him up on countless dates, but he never found a suitable match. In January of 2002, Doug got a call from an old friend wondering if he would like to go out on a date. "A date with who?" Well, it was me. This same family had tried to fix us up the summer before but Doug had told them he wasn't interested because I was not yet a member. When he heard I had been baptized he agreed. The rest is history.
Now about that missionary:
A few months after we were married, Doug asked me how I came to join the church. He laughed saying, I mean you were hanging around with these great people for years, yet you never joined the church. What did it? What was it that finally compelled you to be baptized? That night I told him about Elder Beatty. My missionary. The one that was able to bear witness to me of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the one that carried the spirit of the Lord to my heart.
Doug sat up in bed. "This Elder Beatty", he asked me, "where was he from?" I told him he was from Georgia. Doug started to cry. Not just cry a little, but really cry. When he was able, he told me this story:
When he was single, he had served as the Ward Mission leader. because he was single, the missionaries were particularly fond of him. He gained the title of , Brother Mecham, the only true and living ward mission leader. It was a joke in the zone and one that the elders made every time they met with him. On a winter night after he put Jenna and Bret to bed he heard a knock at the door. Two men stood in the doorway, one an elder, the other a man Doug did not recognize. The elder assured Doug that he had permission to be out late this night and the mission president was aware of his whereabouts. Doug invited the two men in. The missionary asked Doug if he was Doug Mecham from Marietta Georgia. Doug said he was the same. The missionary then went on to tell Doug that as a young boy he had been in and out of activity. One Sunday he had spent the night at a member friend's house and the deal was, that he would go to church with him the next day. That day, That very same day, Doug, a young returned missionary, was speaking in that ward giving what was his 'homecoming talk'. The young boy, inactive at the time, felt the overwhelming desire to serve a mission. He made a promise to himself that day, that no matter what he had to do he would live worthy to serve the Lord by serving a mission for the church. That young missionary took Doug's hand and shook it. "I want to thank you, Brother Mecham," he said. "It is because of your willingness to serve that I am here serving this day."
Well, you guessed it. That missionary was MY missionary. Elder Eric Beatty.
I never tire of sharing this story. I never tire of pondering it and its importance to my family, but further, its importance to all of us. Heavenly Father is always mindful of us. All those years ago when Doug was doing what he SHOULD be doing, the Lord was blessing him. Little did he know that even in his darkest hour through his divorce, the Lord was mindful of him because he was doing what he SHOULD be doing. As Doug kept his covenants, the Lord blessed him. The way was prepared for him, I was prepared for him. By the same token, I too was prepared. Upon accepting the Gospel, and doing what I SHOULD do, the Lord was mindful of me and He blessed me.
Heavenly Father doesn't have to open these windows for us. He does not have to let us see how He works. But every once in a while He does. He lets us know that He blesses the road we travel on.
So every time I hear this song, I think about our story and the fact that God truly blessed the broken road that led me to Doug.

Doug isn't much of a lyrics guy. When he likes a song it has a lot more to do with the music than the words, but this one is special to both of us. Our favorite verse:

I think about the years I spent, just passing through.
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you.
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan
That is coming true

Broken Road= US

Finally my pictures are here.

2008-11-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

Personal progress night! Girls just want to have fun

So I have a little problem with my memory stick in my camera. I can't get it to work with my desktop computer. It used to work, but recently, it has stopped working. Now I have to wait for Doug to bring the lap top home from his office so I can upload my photos.

Because the pictures of the kids and the updates about their happenings are my folks' favorite part of this blog I am going to add a few photos from the girls' happenings this week.

We had a personal progress, mother /daughter activity night this week in our ward. We made puppets and I am soooo not not not crafty, so my puppet was seriously lackluster. Millie did pretty well. Each girl was to bring a display to highlight their personal progress thus far. I am so pleased with their progress. Millie just started and already she is working on her first project, and Jenna and I have gotten 4 of her value projects complete. Check out the posters.

Thursday night found me baking a volcano cake with Millie and Regan. Those two! They remembered they had a project due a little late, but we got it done. Regan ended up spending the night (on a school night, oh the delight). They presented the next morning and I was able to go over to their class and snap a few photos.

Finally, here is why most of my days are filled with smiles and laughs. Welcome to my classroom, before during and after school! Millie, Bret and Jenna, in and out with all of their friends.
This photo just shows the girls. Bret was working on something with the boys!
On a totally different note, today I am still just mom to one. Doug at work and Joey at lax all morning left me painting the kitchen. I have been saying I wanted to paint the kitchen red for about 5 years. Well, I finally did it. Photos to come later!

My Quiet Weekend

2008-11-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

A quiet little home.

Millie is in Utah at the Ellsworth's cabin. Jenna and Bret are over at their mom's house for a few days. That leaves Joe and Doug and me here alone. I know, three of us is hardly alone, but hey, I was a single mom before I married Doug, and I have only been alone over night once or twice since Joey was born. Strange I know. But true. So on these rare occasions, my brood of kids gets cut to 1/4 of its normal size, it is a happening for me. And very different indeed! Doug had to preside at a baptism Saturday morning and then went to work. Joe was playing lacrosse all day at Nic's house so I got tons of stuff done here by myself.
Maybe I could get used to this.
This is where there should be some foggy/blurry effects happening on the screen like I am going into a dream sequence.
The house I cleaned Saturday morning stayed clean. (choir of angels singing)The groceries were put away before anyone swooped in and opened every package. ( a hallelujah chorus)The laundry all got folded and put away and no one needed me to hurry and wash their favorite jeans. (just the thought of it makes me smile a little)I was able to go work out with out anyone calling me on my cell. ( maybe my service was out, I dunno, but it really happened) I read my scriptures and looked over my Gospel doctrine lesson with out anyone asking me to make a snack or give them a ride or anything. (too good to be true I know)
Sunday continued in that fashion. Doug had EARLY bishopric meetings (hahahaha. Sorry I could not resist), so when he left I was still sleeping peacefully. Joey had a presidency meeting a full hour before church so again, I found myself alone. I was able to make homemade meatballs and sauce for dinner with out any interruptions. I had everything cleaned up and calmly, , quietly, relaxedly (is that a word?) got ready for church. I grabbed my scriptures and hopped in the car and left. It was , I don't know. I really can't describe what it felt like. So, so, so EASY.
BUT...

It was strange. It was too quiet. It was a little lonely.

I awake from the dream sequence:
Forget it. I want them all to hurry home! I want the mess and the noise and the commotion that is our life. As far as the quiet and the clean and the organized. I will get plenty of that in just a few years. And when that day comes, I will be ready to say bring those grandkids over!

With something to think about...

2008-11-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

I saw this on another blog and wanted to share it.

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.' This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions."Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."--- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

My dog is a democrat

2008-11-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

I know. It is hard to swallow. But it is true. My dog is a democrat. Actually, I think all dogs are democrats. Look at the facts. This is my top ten. David Letterman, eat your heart out.

10. He does not bark at those who pass by our house. He has little or no interest in homeland security.

9. Along those same lines, he does not believe in the right to bare teeth.

8. He sleeps during Fox news broadcasts. He sleeps all the time.

7. He would like to end the war between dogs and cats once and for all.

6. He believes in free veterinary care for all dogs.

5. He wants dog treats for free. He does no tricks. He doesn't even try to learn any tricks.

4. He eats the food that rightfully belongs to the cats.

3.His entitled attitude is evident. He is a dog, yet he sleeps in our bed .

2. He does not pick up his own poop. AND he thinks he should be able to poop where ever he wants to poop. He also believes that the boys should have to pick it up. After all, he is a dog. And as such has dealt with human oppression for years.

And the number 1 reason my dog is a democrat:

1. He voted against a constitutional amendment to ban inter species marriages.

Now I said my dog was a democrat, but I did not say he was a dummy. He knows not to bite the hand that feeds him. Don't worry pal, we'll get em in 4 more years.

Gripe of mine

2008-11-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Peeves. Ah, yes my list of gripes. I don't know if this is the best topic for a 'happy go lucky' blog, but Jori hooked me up with Mama Kat and her writer's workshop and you know what...it feels kind of good to blow off a little steam every now and then.

Yikes. That isn't too nice is it?

Anyhow, these are things people say that drive me bonkers. Now I know most of these things, if not all of these things, are said with good intent. I firmly believe there are very few people who try to be mean or pesky and certainly no one wants to be considered daft. With that being said, here they are, my gripety gripes, in no particular order.

1. "I know just how you feel." No, you don't. I especially dislike when people say this and try to equate a somewhat important event to the major event you are dealing with at the time. Like, "Oh, gee your aunt was just diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Well, I know just how you feel because my dog just got diagnosed with arthritis and it has been awful." This is not to say I don't appreciate an encouraging word. I do. And I do know I also have offered the , "Oh, I know just how you feel" phrase myself. It is just a peeve.

2. "You have no idea how busy I am." UGGGG! We are all busy. I particularly get bugged when people say this to me as if business equates to goodness or to value. As in, I am somehow better because I define myself as busy. I am busy. I like being busy. I know, I have, in the past, on this blog talked about my busy life. But I try to remember what my mom has always said about business. "People are just about as busy as they can be." You may look at my life and think "SLACKER. You don't do much at all." You also might look at my life and think. "Holy Cow, does she sleep?" I am as busy as I, personally, can be. I have to get this in though. The biggest, 'oh I am so busy' offenders, the ones who tell me that they have been 'running since 6 am', make me snicker. Who doesn't start running at 6am? I don't know one adult who does not start at or before 6am and end somewhere around 11pm. Unfortunately we live in a time where literally everyone is TOO BUSY!
And as far as you folks out there who feel like you have to tell everyone how busy you are, a word to the wise; my busiest friends never have to tell anyone they are busy. Everyone knows they are busy.
I think we are probably all guilty of tooting our own busy horn from time to time. It is the folks who constantly talk about their busy lives that drive me crazy!

3. This one is for my kids... "There is nothing to eat". Hearing this statement makes my skin crawl. I think it is because I hear it so often. I cook and shop and cook and shop and somehow we never have any food. I could add "I'm starving!" but I will just leave it at, "There is nothing to eat!"

4. This one is for Doug. "It's hot in here." I know his list of pet peeves would include my saying, 'it's cold in here.' But this is MY list. Left to his own devices Doug would have our house at a brisk 60 degrees. Me, I'm an 82 degree kind of gal.

5. "Hello, can I speak to Mrs. Meckem". Oh I hate this. I know you don't know me if you can't say my name and so, you are a telemarketer. Goodbye.

6. Any conversation that starts with , "You/We /I should have..." Okay Tell me what I can do not what I should have done.

7. Okay, this one is unique to me and any other step parent/ adoptive parent in the world, "Well they aren't your real children" or, "You are not their real mother." I love my step kids. I love them so much I would lay down my life for them, just like I would for my two biological children. Is that real enough? As far as parenting goes, let's see, I don't reserve the mothering type things for just my biological children, I share that wealth equally among all the kids. I encourage all my children to make good choices, I teach them right from wrong, I listen when they are upset or hurt by the actions of another, I teach them songs and read them stories, I work along side them in the house and yard, I sit by them in church and tickle their backs, I pray with them, I read Scriptures with them, I love their father, I cultivate and encourage their friendships, I monitor their progress in school and work hard to make sure they do well, I stay home with them if they are sick, I take them to the doctor and dentist, I bake cupcakes for school parties, I sew on merit badges, I give them crazy nicknames, I work on homework with them, I cook their dinner, I do their laundry, I sit in the stands at every activity and cheer them on I think about them and what the future holds for them ... do I need to go on? I have to say this one for Doug too, if I have one more person tell me Doug isn't Joey and Millie's real father....Hello, adopted, sealed...ummm Heavenly Father approved, initialed and stamped= REAL.

8. Along those same lines, "They are not really brothers and sisters". (This said when talking about our 4 kids. ) Now If you are a close friend, you were there when Joey and Millie were sealed to Doug and me. You were there when all four of the children were addressed by the temple sealer in that holiest place and you heard what he told all of them about OUR FAMILY. If you don't know me, or you weren't there that day, all I can say is, just try to tell any one of the four kids that they are not really brothers and sisters. You'll eat those words. :-)

9. "Tsk." I hate when people tsk or 'smack' their lips at me. Generally people/ or school children only do this to me once.

10. "You want fries with that? You wanna make that a large? You want to try any one of our super side dishes today?" Okay, so I hate getting fast food anyhow, but on the rare occasions I break down and go to a drive through, I don't like it when they ask me if I am sure about what I ordered. If I wanted fries I would have ordered them!

So there you have it. My peeves. Yikes. what a grouch I can be! You'll be afraid to leave a comment!

Curvy...yet another atrocity to women

2008-11-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Many of you know I am a Gap shopper, wearer, lover. For many years now I have been wearing Gap curvy jeans. I love these jeans and even if I knew the Gap had little forest animals crafting them under duress it would be hard for me not to buy them. Sick, I know. But any of you who are 5 foot 2, heck any woman out there knows, you find jeans that fit, you buy em. $400.00 dollars a pair, I do not care, I am buying the jeans that fit.

Anyhow, when I go to the Gap or the Gap online, I always get a charge out of the models they have for their curvy jeans. You remember, I posted a picture of the 'curvy gal' they used to have as a poster child for their 'not so perfect body' jeans Here is the new curvy model:

I know, right. The old model must have been too fat. Let me show you the rear view.

I have added a portion of this before, but here is the entire 'catalog comment' describing these jeans taken directly from the website:

Curvy boot cut jeans

Who needs perfect genes when you've got fabulous jeans? This style combines cool details with a sexy silhouette and a flattering fit. Watch out, curves ahead...

Where? Where are her curves? My 12 year old son has more curves.

Okay, so if that isn't bad enough, here is another fit from the Gap. Long and lean.

Ya, I would say so. Here is the catalog comment for these jeans:

Long and lean jeans

Our best-selling jean is instantly slimming. Perfect with a sweet cami, a cool belt, and your Saturday night dinner date.

Slimming? Oh, right, she looks like she needs to be worried about 'slimming jeans'. And the little blurb about her Saturday night dinner date, I dunno? What do you think she ordered? My guess, two pieces of lettuce, a diet coke and a tic tac for dessert.

C'mon people. How am I supposed to raise daughters in this world?

2008-11-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, so indulge me. This is yesterday's post, but I had a hard time uploading the Mormon Rap so it is a day late. Today, unlike yesterday was not a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. In fact it started out great. Now with the election results rolling in, well, it looks like it is going to be a bad day overall, after all.
Did you ever have one of those days? You know,a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Today was one of those for me. I will spare you the details of the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, but give you the details of the terrific, wonderful, no bad, very good evening I had instead. By the time I finally got home from the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day it was 4:30. Ya, ya, I know it wasn't like it was 8:30, but still I leave at 6:30, so we are talking 10 hours today. And that is 10 hours with JUNIOR HIGH AGED CHILDREN. Okay, now I got you. Anyhow, I get home from the 'day' and Millie senses my anguish. She says, "let me make dinner". Now I know that hearing most twelve year olds say, 'let me cook' hardly puts one's mind at ease, but this is Millie. That is right, Millie. Creator of many a recipe, wonder chef, not only does she cook, she cleans up, Millie. Oh the joy. She decided to grill some small roasts I had in the fridge, make some seasoned, roasted potatoes and tossed up a lemony pepper salad for six. I know. Not only that, Jenna set the table and cleared off the counter. They called Doug at the office and reminded him to hurry home to eat. The boys, well they decided to make me laugh. The entire dinner was one joke after another. And you know what, they are FUNNY. I could not stop chuckling. Finally, our family night activity. Well, lets just say, we hope we never have to put our kids out to panhandle, because we would starve. The kids took a few of our LDS standards from the inserts in a recent New Era and created raps to entertain us. I am so grateful for this wonderful little family. My family! I love my little family. Thank heavens for my little family. I couldn't survive with out them. I mean, who else could turn a terrible horrible, no good, very bad day around?

2008-11-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Uber amazing? I don't know about that, but alas, I am the humble recipient of such and award. Jori-O my pal over at Jeff &Me + Three presented me with this award. I am happy to be able to pass it on to 5 of the blogsters that I enjoy reading on a regular basis. Your mission, should you accept it, is to pass it on, you know , pay it forward, spread the wealth, teach the world to blog... Oh dear. I am sounding like I might have voted for the other side. Anyhow, here is my list:

Becky: This girl can blog. Take a look at her adorable little family. Audrey makes my whole family laugh every day! Look back through her old posts at some of the yummy treats Becky tosses together. We wish they lived next door.

The daily cool. This little Utah gal is the daughter of one of my closest pals. I love everything about her blog. She is witty, she is creative, she takes the best pictures and her husband is a rock star. Really.

Wait til you see the graffiti in motion on the Bowen's blog. Scott and April are old friends of Doug's from his life BC (before Christine). I don't know them that well, but I feel like I do because April is a dedicated blogger. I love her photos and her fun stories. Their son Wes is a talented anchor for his HS news show. Check him out while you are at their site.

OK so the last three award winners I feel perfectly fine honoring, I know these folks. They are friends, relatives, acquaintances at the very least. These next two guys. I don't even know them. I don't even know that I can tell them I am awarding them. they will probably think I am some sort of freak. Reading their blogs, laughing at their humor, but never saying hello. So here they are, just enjoy.

The first is a guy I came across yesterday. Too funny. Smart, witty, clever. I am impressed. He looks at things the way I do, only articulates things WAY better than I ever could.

This next guy is a teacher in Tampa. Hilarious blog. I ended up running across his blog via a black box. Go to his blog and you can see how it works.

So, get to it. Blog away. Pick your 5 favorites and make their day.

2008-11-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Did you?

Music Memory Monday

2008-11-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

1989 was the summer of Great Woods. Great Woods is a concert amphitheater in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Actually since my day it has gone corporate and now is called the Comcast Center. To me it will always be Great Woods. The place reminds me a lot of the Henderson Pavilion. Of course unlike the amphitheater in Henderson, Nevada, the one in Mansfield, MA is surrounded by trees and beautiful wooded areas. These trees and wooded areas found many hopping over the huge walls of the venue to gain entrance to these reasonably priced concerts for free. Now I will not share anything that will incriminate myself, but yes, I will narc on an old friend. The Cure was touring that summer and I was determined to add this to the list of concerts I attended that summer. Oh I love Love LOVED the Cure. I know, a little dark for me now, but hey, it was 1988. Who did not love "Lovesong" -Show Me , show me , show me how you that trick? Anyhow, I had some how managed on my college budget to get a ticket weeks before. Never giving a second thought to the fact that I might have to work that night. No,back then I would have quit a job to see the Cure. Luckily, I did not have to go that route and got my shift switched with a friend. We made the short drive down to Mansfield in my car with every seat full and then some, blaring music from the tired old stereo. My cassette tapes jamming every so often only to be gently removed from the console and rewound into playing order. College years found me very popular as I was one of the only in my group with my own beater, jalopy, broken down old gas guzzler. Upon arriving we tailgated for a while in the parking lot with lots of kids from all over New England. Some like us were fans. We were wearing our Cure T-shirts some jeans. maybe some black lipstick. Others were die hard fans. These folks made the emo kids of today look tame. Mohawks- not faux hawks, big big dark hair, long dark coats, (on a hot September night, in Boston, oh yuck) eyeliner, lipstick, white skin a menagerie of punk rockers. Oh, and I am describing the guys.

As time came to go to the gate, we found that one of our group did not have a ticket to enter the concert. This someone happened to be my date. He assured me he would be fine hopping the wall and would meet me at the back of the field. Okay, I could deal. It is not like I had not seen others do this same ting at every show I had ever attended. So he left us and we headed to the ticket takers. We all had general admission tickets which meant you sat on the grass. It was imperative that you staked out your area as soon as you got in so you could be as close as possible to the stage. I told my friends to head over with out me I was going to meet up with the wall hopper date. By the time I got to the back he was already over the wall. I was surprised to find him sitting down. As I got closer I saw he was holding his badly disfigured arm. Oh my gosh. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. I asked him what happened and he said that when he was hopping down off the wall he somehow got his arm hung up and while his body went down, his arm did not. It was broken. Really broken. Great. He told me we would have to get out of there and get to a hospital but let's just stay for one song? So one song turns into the show. This at his own doing. Just one more song he would say every time I asked him how much it hurt. I mean he might as well enjoy the show that he broke his arm to see right? I can picture him still, that poor kid holding his arm tight, trying not to be bumped by the swaying crowd in the grass. Everytime I hear any song by the Cure I think of that night. Memories like pictures in my mind.
The Cure, Pictures of You= Great Woods, Broken Arm, September, 1989

Lax and other adventures of the weekend

2008-11-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday: What a great day! Legacy lacrosse hosted an incredible lacrosse tournament. Sixteen of the biggest west coast teams in college lacrosse were here in town playing in some tough competitions. Joe was thrilled when our coach came to get him from a field where he was shagging balls to tell him Jason Lamb, head coach of BYU asked to see him. Joe got to talk with him for a few minutes and got to work the BYU field during some of the games. He is only a sophomore in High school and a college coach, not just a college, but BYU's coach knows him. Anyhow, Coach Lamb asked him how his grades are this year, if he is playing during the fall and if he is working on his left hand. Thankfully, Joe was able to tell him his grades are top notch , yes he is playing this fall and the left hand is coming along well. He has been shooting with his left hand for quite some time in the yard and at practice. He scored one with his left at his game later in the night, so he is taking the advice seriously. For our little family, this recognition from coach lamb has been the talk at the table. Bret is so proud of his big brother he could just burst!
While Joe was off at his game we had our semi annual adult session of Stake Conference. It is absolutely the best meeting of the weekend. Last night we heard from three members of our stake who gave their testimonies. It was wonderful. President Sellers spoke too. The visiting general authority was Elder Coleman of the Seventy. What a speaker! He was a Catholic, like me, before joining the church. He talked about building a strong foundation on faith. Wonderful. It was interesting to me as I listened to him, that he, like I, seems still amazed at the Lord's hand in his life.
Sunday's session of conference was also fantastic. The talks were of great interest and while all of them called us to examine our preparedness, none felt dooms-dayish. Instead they all filled us with hope and joy.
All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

Halloween - 8913oh style

2008-10-31T22:42:00.001-07:00

All Hallows Eve. Our neighborhood, which I have bragged about before, does not let one down on this the night that kids ages 2 through 14 wait for all year long. Every year, we head out into the street at 6pm sharp. When the kids were small, our neighborhood was the perfect trick or treat utopia. 46 houses all of which are friends, ten thousand kids, a gate keeping em all safely contained and moms and dads walking at a leisurely pace around the block just one time . Home by 7:30 and Halloween was over. As the kids have gotten older, they have broadened their horizons. Our neighborhood has 2 sister neighborhoods which are set up just like ours. Last year we did 2 of the neighborhoods. This year we did all three.
We walked into the house at about 9:30 and figured we have enough candy to feed New York for about a week. The kids all agree, it isn't about the candy. They will give it all to the Bishop for his candy bowl next week. It is about being with family and friends here in 8913oh.

Another hour, another post

2008-10-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

So, you are thinking: What gives? I know, right. I have all these posts in one day. And my friends, I have lots going on this weekend, so the posting will not end here.

Tonight Jenna, Bret and Millie had a bunch of their pals over for a Halloween shin dig. Pizza, treats, and the usual suspects. They watched a scary movie on the jumbo screen and played Judge in the neighborhood. judge was briefly interrupted by the watching of The Office. Too funny since every kid here was like 12 or 13. Following that they ran around for a while longer and then it was goodnight to all of the little goblins. Regan is still here and is snoozing with Millie.

Joe was a little too old for the party, but he kept the cousins Tommy and Grant and their little friends away from the party goers by engaging them all in an Ultimate Fighter style game. Them against him. I think he let them win!

Go Wildcats!

2008-10-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

A bird's eye view of my High School. Remind me why I live in Las Vegas. Some one? Anyone? Please?

Oh junior high. I can hardly remember a typical day in my life as a young teen. So I will take some artistic liberty with the instructions pertaining to this Writer’s Workshop and tell you about a day in the life of 17 year old Christine at Weymouth South High. GO WILDCATS. Much has changed since my day in the in the jock lot, but here goes.
1986, 67 Union Street, 6:00 am. I wake to my mom dragging me out of bed. So tired, I was up half the night. We would be at the the school until about 11:00 decorating the class lockers of all the senior football players with candy and balloons. As a cheerleader I had a a regular locker key to decorate lockers and also a key to the boys locker room to decorate the floor with balloons. Can you even imagine? I was a student and I could get into every single locker on campus. Later still, I would spend hours on my princess phone talking with Carol. We used to plan our weddings via these late night marathon phone calls. Who we were marrying depended on the week, but for this blog’s purpose I will go with Sean Lovell, Quarterback of the Weymouth North, (oh yes, rival team). Yes, I did . My senior year I had the audacity to date the Maroons QB. You know that I made a few enemies when I walked into Blue and Gold country the weeks before the big game wearing his jacket. But more about my ulterior motives in a later post. Suffice to say, it was worth it and the jacket was used in aprank the night before the big game! Anyhow, I was very lucky to have the mom I had because morning at my house meant a yummy homemade egg Mc Muffin. Pretty much every day, I could count on a nice hot breakfast courtesy of my mom. Another thing I must remember to thank her for doing for me. After eating I would lock myself in the one bathroom of our house. Yup, one bathroom. Can you imagine? But when you have a 300 year old house you make it work. I guess the old place was originally built with an outhouse, so I should be grateful that we at least had one. After an extra long shower…I was the only kid still at home, I would retreat into my room and get started on the outfit. For this blog, we will say it was game day. I would slip into my little spanky pants, brightest gold and my short blue cheer skirt. Turtle neck of the whitest white followed by a blue v-neck sweater piped in gold with a huge WS embroidered onto the chest, ankle socks and saddle shoes. Now back in the day, I dressed before doing the hair because I could not risk the chance of knocking down the bangs by putting on my clothes first. On to the hair. For some reason, I always did my hair in the bathroom while sitting in the sink cross legged. Bangs were worn as high as possible and my 5 foot two inches was at least 5 foot 5 after spraying them into place. Aqua net…noooooooo, I was a hairspray snob. Shaper by Sebastian. I still love the smell of that stuff. Earrings on, class ring on the right ring finger. Make up time. Blush, eyeliner, mascara and a hint of eye shadow. Finally, gold chain hanging up and over the collar of the turtle neck. Out to the kitchen to grab my books and my ‘coat’. Say bye to the parents and into my little blue Plymouth Valiant. I had an extra long drive way growing up and I could back up so fast. Just a few months ago I drove backwards all the way around the block to show the kids just how well I can drive in reverse. Out of my drive, shoot up Union Street across White Street and get Liz. Down central across Pond to pick up Carol and then make my way down Pleasant street to the school. As we enter the school parking lot students divide themselves, as they so often do, into one of two groups by choosing which lot they park in. The Jock lot, which is on the West side of the building or the Bug lot on the East. Jock is a pretty self explanatory term, but bug may be unique to my hometown. A bug was our slang for bad kids/druggies/ stoners, whatever. I of course head to the Jock lot, park toward the rear and we all jump out to sit in the hood of our cars for a morning social gathering. Ten minutes later we stroll into the gym entrance as a huge group and head toward our lockers. I have a locker on each floor shared with friends so we never have to carry our books anywhere. I drop off the last night’s homework assignment to my first period teacher, because I have to go do morning announcements inviting the student body to the game. After the announcemnets I stall in the office talking to Mr Steele, the principal , so I can get out of a few more minutes of class. Classes, classes, classes. All day long I think about how the senior class play is coming, whether we are going to beat North this year and if the student council has any big plans for homecoming. Before lunch I have Drama. I love love love my drama teacher, Ms Anastos, and have always had pretty good roles in the plays. This year I scored the lead in You Can’t Take It With You. Tons of my pals have roles too and my co-star is a really great guy friend named Leo Doyle. Leo has been in school with me since 1st grade, so we are pretty close friends. Lunch comes and of course we eat something like French Fries and a diet Coke. Can you imagine if they still sold that stuff in schools? After lunch I am given some sort of pass to go and decorate the field houses for the game. This turns into a gabfest with the other cheerleaders. After school, I have play practice until at least 4 and then it is on to the game. My parents come to every game no matter where it is and watch me jump and clap in unison with the other 11 girls on the squad. After the game, which, if it is my senior year , we probably lost, I head over to Papa Gino’s with most of the team and the squad and grab a pizza and more diet coke. I linger long to talk. (Who would a thought?) By the time I get home with at least one friend who is spending the night, it is late and a bunch of cars are in my driveway. We walk up the back steps and find my dad at the stove cooking something for 5-10 football players that just scoffed down a pizza a piece with us a Gino’s. They are loud and talking about the woulda shoulda couldas of the game. My dad is certain they will get em next time. They all raz me a little about Sean from North and my friend and I join them. After they leave and my dad goes to bed, we watch MTV hoping to see Adam Ant or Stray Cats and fall asleep on the family room floor.

October Days and Nights

2008-10-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Our little family

Millie's bread and her photo shoots with the cat. Millie learned to make bread at here Young Women activity last Wednesday. She is a talented little baker. Come to think of it, she is just a talented little girl. Love that girl!

Here are some photos of our volleyball girls. They are enjoying stake volleyball. Jenna calls all the Mia maids 'the big girls', which just cracks us up because she is like 6 inches taller than all of them!

All my scouts:
Finally some pictures of our Stake Court of Honor last night. Bret earned his Star and Joey, his bronze palm.

Adding the signature

2008-10-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the instructions I got from Jori. Thanks for your helk Jori.

1. Open your blog and sign in

2. Open my blog in another window and click on my signature in one of my posts.

That will open the create a signature site. I did not register even though it says to do it. YOU CAN STILL GENERATE THE CODE with out registering for the site.

3. Go through the choices and create your signature in any style you like.

4. Copy the code

5. On your blog, go to Customize

6. Settings

7. Formatting

8. Scroll down to the bottom and paste the signature link into Post Template

9. Then your signature should be there every time you post new.

10. Ta-da!! =)

Xander says, "It's so easy I could do it!"

My "lasts" as a mother

2008-10-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

So Jori got me thinking again. Darn that girl. She always gets me thinking! Anyhow, she was reading my last post, Music Memory Monday, and remembered a book she had told me about long ago. It is a book of a mother's lasts. The last changed diaper, the last night feeding, the last set of braces etc. As you all know, I have been finding my kids are growing too fast! So I have decided I want to document these 'lasts' as they occur. I am going to occasionally post some lasts here on my blog and aptly title them

Christine's lasts as a mother

I may even pull out a few memories of earlier 'lasts' just to savor them a little longer. But for now, I am starting with today:

Today as a mother I will sew my last First Aid merit badge onto a scout sash. (Along with 7 others.) Way to go Bret!

Today I took the day off school to take care of about 1,000 little things that needed my attention. One of these things was getting down to the scout office and taking care of our unit's advancements. Tomorrow night we have our stake court of honor. Bret will be recognized for his Star Advancement and Joe has earned a bronze palm. So today finds me sewing on a few patches from the last court of honor onto Bret's sash.

My John Hancock

2008-10-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

So today, my pal Jori told me how to insert this cute little signature on my blog. Anyone interested in her wonderful instructions, let me know.

Thanks Jori!

Music Memory Monday

2008-10-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Reading Jori's Music Memory Monday post got me to thinking about lullabies. It also got me to thinking about how quickly my little ones are growing up. For Pete's sake Joey is a sophomore in High School. Can you say, "old"?

Anyhow, this train of thinking brought me to last week, Thursday night, I believe. In the middle of the night, I heard, a meek voice call out, "Mumma? Mumma are you awake?" Followed by whimper, sniffle, whimper. I got up and go to Millie's room. As I entered the room she said through tears, "Mumma, I had a really bad dream." I sat down and comforted her and she quickly dozed off, but me, I stayed awake for hours after. Just thinkin'.

It occurred to me that that little voice in the night could very well be the last nightmare that pulls me from my bed to comfort a scared child. Last time Joe had a bad dream he told me about it over bagels in the morning. Laughing about how foolish it seemed in the daytime, but how it had scared the dickens out of him during the night. "Why didn't you wake me?" I had asked him. "Mum, are you kidding? It was a bad dream. I just went back to sleep." I know I have been waxing nostalgic a lot lately, but really, where does the time go?

Back to lullabies. For the most part, Millie has always been a great sleeper. She slept through the night upon returning home from the hospital. And when I married Doug, Jenna and Bret were 5 and 6, well past the waking up at night stage. I did have the occasional call in the night from all of them, "I'm sick... I heard a funny noise...I had a bad dream." All of these instances found me sitting on their bed, reading them a story or just whispering happy things to them until they joined Winkin, Blinkin and Nod in dreamland. And you all know that every so often there is nothing you can do but invite the frightened or sick little one to the safety of 'mom and dad's room' so they can get a good night's sleep. Ya, with the three younger kiddos we had our share of camping on our bedroom floor.

But Joe, he was another story. Never slept a wink. That boy kept me up for the first 3 years of his life. He was wide eyed the second his was born. Always gazing around as if to take it all in. When he did start sleeping regularly as a toddler, he had these awful night terrors. He would wake us up screaming and yelling. His eyes open but he was still asleep. (In case you are wondering, yes, he walks in his sleep and talks quite a bit too. Freaked Doug out when we got married. But that my friends, is another story. ) Anyhow, Joe had two things that would calm him down during the night terror stage. The first was going outside to look at the moon. I think walking outside carrying him into the night air would gently wake him from his dream world. No matter how cold seeing the moon, be it full or a sliver, would calm him down enough to get him back in bed. The second, my singing to him, Once Upon a Dream from the original Sleeping beauty. (Was there a remake? I don't know.)

Sleeping Beauty is my favorite fairy tale, so the song is of course my favorite lullaby. My voice leaves much to be desired but Joe and Mill both rocked in my arms listening to me do my best to sing it to them after we finished reading our bedtime stories. Jenna and Bret have heard it a time or two as well although their memories of me will more likely include my reading aloud to them from chapter books. Nevertheless,

Once Upon a Dream= A house full of little children

Songbird

2008-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo from the event.

Yesterday Jenna sang in the director's choice choir for our school district. Only 5 or 6 kids from Lied were chosen. They did well performing 3 songs that they learned during the EXTRA long rehearsals on Friday night and Saturday.

The performance was packed. We arrived early only to find seating toward the very back of this huge theater. It was a wonderful experience for Jenna and the choirs sounded wonderful.

No more tagging. Forever.

2008-10-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Stop the madness! No more tagging!!!!

Just kidding my lovelies. Jori, you can go ahead and tag me any old time. Just know that the chance of me playing is about 1 in 10. But today, to appease the blogging gods and goddesses, I will oblige. Sorry it has taken me so long to get this one going.

1. Fact numero uno: I am the youngest child and ONLY girl in my family. Can you say daddy's girl. Yup, that's me. I grew up with a house full of boys, their friends, their music, their sports, their ideas, their way of reacting. I know, right. It sheds a whole new light on the me you thought you knew.

2. Not good at doing nothing. I have anxiety attacks on vacations. Really. I can hardly sit still for an hour at church. It is really hard for me to relax. My dad was awful when he first retired. So antsy and restless. That is how I fear I will be. Doug will be chillin' sipping a fruity beverage from a coconut. I will be organizing the natives into book clubs and lacrosse teams, or starting up my own school.

3. Can't touch this! I hate being touched by people. Hugs, pats on the back. Not me. I don't even like to get a massage. No touchy.

Now, my hubby, my kids, totally different story.

4. I have been to pretty much every concert that you would ever want to attend. Back in the day, before show tickets cost an arm, a leg and the hand off the other arm, I lived in Boston. Go get a map. Boston sits about an hour north of Providence, just east of Worcester and a few hours northeast of Hartford. Not too mention New York is a day trip. Anyhow, I mentioned the brothers and the music. I grew up listening to everything they listened to and then some. All the bands played each of those cities and you would find me and my gang driving around New England to catch multiple shows in the same week. From U2 ( three nights in a row at at the Garden) and INXS, to Elvis Costello and Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead , Eric Clapton, Stevie Windwood, Sade, and the Stones, to REM and the Cure. I was there. They Might be Giants played on my college campus many times as well as Psychedelic Furs. The list goes on. I was in Florida in a small place one night when Jimmy Buffet arrived and unannounced played a few songs on his guitar up front. That was something. Perhaps the most unforgettable was a date that took me to see James Taylor at Harvard. All acoustic, 100 person audience. I could see his fingers on the guitar strings.

5. I do not like only 2 foods; broccoli and canned tuna. OK, so the broccoli, love the taste, hate the belly ache I get every time I eat even one small tree. Whatever, I make do. Canned tuna, that is another story. Really gross. Taste, smell , texture, uggg. My brothers and my dad love the stuff. It reminds me of Friday nights at my parents' house. Dear old dad worked every Friday night at the K of C running the BINGO for the Catholic church. Now isn't it good to know that Catholics too have lots of things they call by initials. Kof C translates into Knights of Columbus. Loosely similar to Elders' quorum and/or High Priest group. The thing is the organization does a ton of service, but they also have a bar, pool tables and a dance hall for a meeting place, not a chapel. I DO NOT MAKE THIS UP. Anyhow, Friday nights are fend for yourself night at my parent's house because dad is off to the Kof C to serve the community by running Bingo for all the old ladies in our parish. My mom uses this night to read 2 or 3 books. Being that they are Catholic, she also does not cook meat on Fridays! So it is pizza night, or grilled cheese night, or in the case of my brothers and my dad tuna sandwich night. Or as my dad would say 'tuner sangwich', that is the Boston Italian way.I can not tell you how much I hate the smell of tuna. It is so , I dunno, tuna-ee. I know, this from the girl who would eat raw fish daily.. For years I escaped the tuna nightmare and then I met Doug. Lover of tuna sandwiches and I, lover of him. I had to deal. To make matters worse, when I met Jenna and Bret, they would eat about 4 things. Chicken nuggets with french fries , pizza, taco bell and tuna or egg salad. Oh help me. The first two months we were married I made them eat so many new things. They must have hated my little cooking guts. But eventually we worked up to vegetables and fish and now, they will both eat pretty much anything.

6. I can spin things. I was in drum corps and color guard for a few years in elementary school and junior high. Our church had a senior and junior corps. Our name was the Sancians. The senior corps was Spectra. I picked up a rifle at about 8 years of age and continued to spin things for the better part of my childhood. I was an indiscriminate spinner. In my corps and colorgaurd career I spun rifles and sabres, but at home, hockey sticks, baseball bats, brooms... You name it I spun it. I still spin to this day, to th edelight of neighbors' small children and 6th graders in foods class. I can really whip a broom around! Ask me next time you see me to toss a triple and catch it behind my back. No problem.

7. I am on The city of Las Vegas' child care licensing board. What a mouthful. I have been doing this for a few years now. Once a month I attend meetings to decide on applications for any sort of child care in the city. Be it a day care center director's licence or a home providers application to care for children in his/her home. We do it all. It has been pretty interesting and was kind of fun to be appointed to such a thing by the Mayor. Good old Oscar. I have an official spot in the city council room where I sit with a name placard and everything.

So there you have it. 7 random, little known facts about me. Don't you wanna play? I tag those who read this and want to play.

Top 200

2008-10-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Joe has been invited to attend a recruitment weekend at Loyola Marymount in LosAngeles. The top 200 players in the west were invited. We are really excited for him to attend. His coach told us he will be one of the few sophomores attending so be prepared for some top play. In the past only a few boys from our valley have been invited and they have all gone on to play in college. Quite exciting for our boy!

Here is a list of the schools that will be there scouting with Joe's top picks in blue italics :

DIVISION 1

ARMY

Canisius College

Dartmouth College

Fairfield University

Georgetown University

Lehigh University

Hobart College

Syracuse University

Towson University

University at Albany

University of Denver

UMBC (University of Maryland - Baltimore County)

University of Maryland - College Park

University of Notre Dame

University of Vermont

VMI (Virginia Military Institute)

Wagner College

Yale University

DIVISION II

Domincan College

Notre Dame de Namur

DIVISION III

W & L (Washington & Lee University)

Whittier College

MCLA

Arizona State University

Chapman University

Loyola Marymount University

Girls, girls, girls

2008-10-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

They look so innocent.

Regan spent the night Friday after babysitting and the girls laughed well into the night, so morning came early for them Saturday. Brittany Thalman's family went out of town for the weekend so she also joined our ranks. The boys were significantly outnumbered. Doug snuck off to work, Joe was at lacrosse and Bret went off to Clay's house. The girls had the opportunity to go to the best of EFY. They loved the speakers and enjoyed being with the girls in the ward.
After we headed off to the BITE of Las Vegas. Jenna's mom picked up Jenna and Brit early so they could make it down there to see Secondhand Serenade. They made it in time and we came later to see Puddle of Mud and taste some food. The bands were good but the girls were less than enamoured with the crowd, so we took off and headed home to begin the evenings festivities. Jenna had planned on staying to watch Life House, but her desire to be with her pals got the best of her and she joined us just as we headed out for the night.

Now in most crowds being toilet papered is and insult, but in Mormon world, at least here in Vegas, it is an expression of friendship. Really. Joe was tp'd about once a week for 2-3 years. That is what happens when you are the only Deacon in a ward with 18 Beehives. Last night began the toilet papering era of the rising generation. I am happy to say I had my hand in the start of this great battle. Girls 1- Boys 0! Millie was so happy last night as we headed out, she leaned forward from the back seat and said, "Mum, you are so much fun. " I told her, I learned from the best. Here is my little shout out to Kristie Lytle. Queen of the late night young women activity!

So, if you are looking at my blog and see a picture of your house covered in wholesome white fun, know you are loved by the girls in the San Miguel ward. If we didn't visit you, you are not safe. Oh to the contrary. We have just begun

Another Week, Another Lab

2008-10-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

I have not talked much about my job on this blog. Have I even mentioned my work? I do not know. I teach Home Family and Consumer Science at the middle school the 3 youngest kids in our family attend. To put it to you in a way you will better understand, I teach home ec at my kids' junior high. Ahhhh, now you see.

Yes. Really. I do. In this crazy world John Q. Public decided about 20 years ago that junior high aged kids no longer needed to learn to cook, or sew or take care of their families. (At that same time old JQP decided that auto mechanics and wood shop and things of the like were of little or no consequence too.) Anyhow, as it so happens I had been working part time as a strategist and grant facilitator last year when the feds pulled back on funding and poof, my little job went up in smoke. Part of my little job last year involved the teaching of one expo class. I got to come up with that one on my own and decided I wanted to try teaching a nutrition class. My principal offered me a teaching job, but said she could not offer me a half time contract, so would I consider full time employment. My first thought was "Kindergarten here I come." Half time, cute kids, coloring between the lines, the alphabet... but then she added, "Be creative, make me an offer I can't refuse." I turned my thoughts to the 6 unused kitchen labs in our school. The ones I used to demonstrate recipes last year for my class and the ones in which I occasionally let the kids cook. Every junior high in Vegas is equipped with a home ec room. I know, right. There are your tax dollars being put to good use! Let's build junior highs with home ec rooms for home ec classes that no longer exist. But either way I lucked out. I now have 5 sections of 'home, family and consumer science'. My course is a semester long course which means I get all new kids at the start of semester two in January. That fact makes me both happy (4th period) and sad (2nd period). Seriously, all of my classes are wonderful, just period 4 is extra full and extra chatty. I do love my job. Some say, find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life. I think I may have done just that!

18 years with my FOREVER MAN

2008-10-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

So Today Doug and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary, okay, well, 6th. But if you know us you know why we say 18th. You see, we give ourselves three years for every 1 we have been married. Two reasons, it makes Joe being Doug's boy 'humanly' possible (not just heavenly possible since Joe and Mill were sealed to us) and, also because it catches us up with our friends. Next year we will start counting by one again, so next October 12 we will be at 19. It is always so wonderful for me to see the look of disbelief that crosses peoples faces when I tell them Doug and I are a 'blended family". It happened twice this weekend at youth conference with different adults in the stake. Yesterday, I got a chance to spend the bus ride home talking with a bishop from another ward about our family situation and he told me that he has not seen others be able to blend two families so well. He also commented that the undoing of many subsequent marriages is in fact, the difficulties many face doing just what Doug and I have done. Well in case you want to know our little secret, here it is:

Decide. Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?

No kidding. That is it. I pick happy. So much of the undoing of marriages today seems to be in the small stuff. Arguing over little things and putting each other's faults under the microscope. Now that is not to say that Doug and I have never argued in 6 years. Or that I never think his way of doing things is half baked. He too could tell you a story or two about me and the way I view the world. But the message I want to communicate to you my loyal readers here is simple. Doug was married before. He is the SAME MAN. He may be older and perhaps a little wiser, but I think I could probably sit down and talk with his first wife about things that Doug does that drive me crazy and you know what, she would probably say that those were the things that drove her crazy too. Same thing could be said about me and all of my many faults. However, I happen to believe you can't love just part of someone. I also believe with all my heart that Doug does what he thinks is right for our family. He may take a wrong turn on the road of life now and again, but he would never willing drive our car off of a cliff. And if he does take the scenic route, or the wrong route I believe he will get us to our destination eventually. And because I know that, I have decided to just enjoy the ride. I don't need to tell him where to turn, or how to drive for that matter.

I just recently talked with a friend from work who is having a hard time in her own marriage. She was listing all of the reasons her marriage was a failure, all of her spouse's shortcomings, and all of the reasons it would be 'better for everyone' if they split up. When she asked me what I thought, I gave her my old, 'do you wanna be right or do you wanna be happy' line. She replied, "Well that is easy for you to say, you are married to Doug." I just had to laugh and wonder if she even remembered that Doug had been married before. And this same ' perfect Doug' was probably the topic of a conversation or two, or three, much like this one 12 years ago when his ex listed all the reasons it would be 'better for everyone' if they split up.

I am grateful that Doug and I were sealed to each other 18, ummm, 6 years ago today. I am grateful that our children are happy and love each other. I am grateful that Doug has been able to adopt Joey and Millie and we have all been sealed together. And I am eternally grateful that he is my FOREVER man.

YOUth Conference

2008-10-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Could they be any prettier?

Sillier? Goofier?

Happier?

What a weekend. The girls and boys in our stake were treated to our first out of town stake youth conference since our stake's inception 7 years ago. Friday night began as wards gathered at the stake center to complete a service project and watch movies that our kids created in their wards. Doug and I were both part of our mia maid/ teacher movie, so we were ribbed all weekend long about our acting ability. Particularly Doug, who played Peter Pan. (I am going to try to get me a copy of that there video to be showing on my blog here. That's farm talk)

Saturday morning we met at 6:30 at the Stake Center and loaded up over 200 kids onto the awaiting buses. The weather was unseasonably cold but we were ready. The stake allowed for only a few leaders to attend, each ward bringing just their Bishop, and presidents of Young Men and Young Women. Our YW president asked me to go in her place as she was out of town. I am glad that I was able to be there with the kids and was pleased that I was assigned to the sophomore group with Spence Larson, Mark Edgel and Bishop Skouson. Ask anyone, sophomores rock! We pulled out of town eating sack breakfasts on the buses and headed to St George. Our group split into lower and upperclassmen and the first stop we made with the younger kids was the St. George Temple visitors center where we watched the Joseph Smith movie. Doug and I just watched this two weeks ago, but still I sat blubbering through the whole thing. Honestly a lot of the kids did too. After that we headed over to the Brigham Young Home and onto the Jacob Hamblin house. Both of these sights were wonderful with the kids asking questions and learning much about life during the early years of the church. They are all more grateful now for the little things, you know, like flushing toilets.

We grabbed a quick lunch at a local stake center (happens to be the one that Doug and I attended church at while we were up there two weeks ago) and met with the other older kids at the St. George Tabernacle. Our group sang Called to Serve and the spirit there was strong. The kids were getting a little restless by the time we left and had some time to play in a nearby park. Following that we headed over to the Staheli Family Farm where we spent the rest of the day and night. This place is amazing. The food , the activities, the kids were in heaven. The farm offers something for everyone. Open fields for football and soccer, volleyball courts, indoor dancing and karaoke, Guitar Hero, a petting zoo , and the list goes on! Joe spent the better part of the afternoon involved in a football game. The corn maze seemed to be a favorite after dark and the dance and evening happenings were a hit with all who attended. The ride home was a little more relaxed with kids talking and laughing. At the front of the bus, Mark, Spence, Bishop Skouson and myself kept ourselves awake swapping stories. All in all, it was a great event and one I think our youth will remember for years.

Me, I had a great time. Oh and a big THANK YOU goes out to my good friends from the Aliante ward. You know what you did! :-) Love you guys!

Saturday Conference

2008-10-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

So here we are at The Marriott in SLC. Gotta love hotel life. get up, get dressed, go out and come back to beds made and clean towels. A girl could get used to this.

Anyhow, today the girls and I went to the afternoon session. I could not have loved Joseph B. Wirthlin's talk more. Come what may and love it!

The boys went to Priesthood tonight. It was exciting for Bret to be there with his dad and his brother. While they were gone the girls went to the Gateway mall. We ate at CPK, a conference favorite. The girls enjoyed some shopping at Claire's and Forever 21. The mom's enjoyed browsing in Brighton's, Christopher Banks and Banana Republic etc.. We ended up in Barnes and Noble before heading back here to the room. Doug, Todd and the boys headed over to Hyers to get some late night munchies. We are all going to watch a movie tonight when they get back.

Here are some photos of the girls heading out to conference today.

Doug loves these overhead shots...

Conference

2008-10-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

And we are off to Salt Lake City for general Conference. Bret's first general priesthood session, like his older brother Joe's, will be live!

Look for us girls at the Saturday afternoon session and you might spot the whole Mecham family at the Sunday morning session.

Hopefully I will have some significant insight to blog about when we return.

Music Memory Monday

2008-09-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

OK Jori, I am in. You will be the next Mama Kat with your workshop Wednesday and your Memory Monday, but here goes...
Winter of 1988/89: I am a city girl hanging out in Boston with a crowd of friends. We are all in college, so we spend most nights at the clubs, in the city. I know right, not home studying or at the library or even at one of the like 2,000 museums in Boston.No we were cool, so we were at the clubs. Anyhow, at the time I thought we were so chic. Well, we had really big hair and really high heels. I was probably at least 5 foot seven back then with the added poof of the hair and the stiletto heels. Be that as it was we danced until closing time every night. Imagine how my feet felt the next day. I was dating a guy that had a great apartment close to Boston University in Brighton. He owned this little chicken wing place that delivered to all the universities so he worked well into the night. He would always meet us for after hours parties where there was more music and dancing. Often times, he would come back to his apartment to find me hosting an after hours party there. What can I say, I have not changed much. I have always kind of lived by the mi casa es su casa philosophy. One night 'my girls' and I got this crazy idea to decorate the entry way wall in his place with a bunch of lipstick kisses. So in true 80s fashion we all took out our Loreal '382 Mica' lipstick, gooped up or lips as much as we could and kissed every possible spot on that wall to create what we thought was an incredible 'modern art' masterpiece. Pete loved it, his roommates, not so much. Anyhow, that night we listened to this song over and over again. My girls and I took the train home and sang it the whole way back to our place. Oh, and I still have a tube of Loreal Mica on hand at all times. If you ever need some quick decorating fixes I would be happy to come over and plant one on a wall or two!

Primary Program

2008-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I thought I posted this Sunday night...
Today is our ward primary program and until I have grandchildren, this will be the last one in which I am craning my neck to see the face of one of 'our kids'. Because Millie just left primary two weeks ago they asked her to give a talk as part of the program. You know, one of the little five line talks they have a few of the kids do during the program. After the program Keen came over to tell me that he always loves the primary programs, but this was the first time he ever felt during one of those little talks the way he does when he hears an adult speaker give a particularly spiritual talk. Way to go Milfred! Anyhow, I got to thinking about the whole, this is our last primary program thing, and this fact makes me feel older than any birthday I have ever had. Isn't that funny! My mom always calls on my birthdays and asks on those big ones, thirty, forty..."Do you feel old?". I never really have felt old on either of those days, you know, too busy to even consider it. But I remember when I turned thirty my mom told me that my turning thirty really made her feel old. I guess that is how it is for me. My being forty doesn't make me old, but having four kids that are all youth sure does.
Doug and I laughed while we were on our trip up to St George about how nice it was to be away for a few days. As we talked about the luxuries of being alone together we came around to the fact that in just 6 years we will be alone for the long haul. Really! Because of our blended 'status' our four kids are too close in age to really be possible, with out twins in there. Anyhow, right now we have 4 kids between 12 years and 15 years of age. The two youngest in grade seven. Yup, you do the math and that means in 6 years (crossed fingers, crossed fingers), we will have one just home from a mission and three others at school. That means 4 kids at the in college at one time. Gulp. NOW do you know why I am such a freak about the grades our kids get. When Doug and I were first married I realized we need college scholarships or Doug and I will be on the streets! And thank goodness I am now a big 'Go to the Y' mom. Because a few years back I was a Boston College girl all the way. That is the difference between a 4 grand a year and forty grand a year. Anyhow, college still seems a long way away for my kids, even though I know for Joey it is right around the bend. Our Bishop spoke to us today at the end of the primary program about raising our kids and giving it all we have! I think Doug and I are doing our best. There is always room for improvement though and I am resolved to do a little better each day. I know some people see Doug and I as crazy. We skip things like The Phantom of the Opera to watch Bret play pee wee basketball. Or Doug will drive all night to ensure he can get the kids to an event at home. Or getting out of bed to make breakfast and lunches for four kids who are perfectly capable of pouring a bowl of cereal, and praying with each of them before they head out the door each day. Or getting up at 4am, driving to Utah for an event and turning around to get back for a game by 4pm. This may seem foolish to some, but to Doug and me, it is parenthood.You know, what we signed up for when we had the little munchkins. Parenting doesn't happen conveniently. We have such limited time with our young ones and the rest of our lives to do things for ourselves.It is not that Doug and I don't steal away for date night or to get out and do some things together. We do. And when the kids leave I am going to miss them more than you could ever know, but in 6 years you can expect to find Doug and me...sleeping in, vacationing places without kid friendly activities, eating dinner late, seeing movies we actually like, watching TV without parent lock on (okay, maybe we will never take that off), taking day trips of our choosing,listening to REAL music, decorating the house with furniture that grownups can appreciate and maybe even having something NICE, staying over night instead of rushing home to be back for the next event...and the list goes on and on!

Scroll down, turn off my music and press play to watch this wonderful video produced by the Catholic church

2008-09-28T07:57:00.000-07:00