The Mecham 6

Last Day of school 2011

2011-11-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

Since we do first day of school pics, we must do last day of school pics!

Riley Roo all ready for her last day of first grade with Ms. Sintler.
She loved her teacher, made lots of friends and got straight A's all year long!

Luke, trying not to smile- last day of 3rd grade with Ms. Obrien. He was an excellent student and example in his class, who also maintained straight A's all year. He also made a few great friends.

Such cute kids!

Riley's class. They were so silly!

Riley and Bailey.

"Cool" kids.

Luke's class. He of course didn't want any other pics taken.

I was actually quite sad as we walked out of the school that day. I got to know both of their teachers well while helping out during the year. Both had great teachers whom I really enjoyed spending time with. I really loved the kids in their classes too. I was more sad than they were to move on. They were way excited for a summer full of fun!

Chloe's preschool graduation

2011-11-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

At the end of May our sweet little Chloe graduated preschool! She was sad to leave Mrs. Tate but super excited to be a "big kindergartner".
The kids put on a fabulous show for the families to show all they learned during the year.

Chloe doing her part.

Mrs. Tate and Chloe

Chloe and her friend Alora.

Chloe, Dad and Mom.

Afterwards we celebrated at Cici's pizza with the Leavitt family. Fun day!

Easter 2011

2011-08-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Lots of pics...I love Easter!!

Our ward had a little picnic and egg hunt the Saturday before Easter. The kids had a blast!

Lined up and ready to find some eggs.

The bunny made an appearance. I was surprised Cole wasn't scared.

Man, I have some cute kids! - Luke was too busy with his friends for a pic.

He loved the bunny.

The Leavitt's came over to dye eggs with us. The boys and my Dad actually did all the dyeing with them. It was actually quite nice. I don't remember what Cole's fit was about, but it is a funny picture for sure.

Chloe on Easter morning after finding her basket.

Riley with her basket too.

Luke, getting his out of the microwave.

Cole thought the eggs were so awesome.

Ready for church.

Such posers.

Darren was trying to set up the camera timer so this was a practice shot. I love how silly they are!

The whole fam.

The whole day was wonderful! Sacrament meeting was beautiful. I presented sharing time in primary and thought it went well.

After church we met up with my family for dinner and dessert and a visit. Unfortunately D had to go to work, but at least we had the day together.

So grateful for the gospel and for our Savior's sacrifice so we may have eternal life. I love that the kids are all at ages that they can understand and appreciate the atonement.

A little catch up

2011-08-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you are all dying to hear about our super exciting summer. (insert sarcasm) You will have to wait till I get us all caught up. haha
I'm trying!!

Spring 2011 soccer season

2011-08-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Luke and Riley were able to play on the same team this season. Luke wasn't happy about it at first, but he got used to it eventually. It was very convenient for me though. Luke's friend Bryan was also on the team so that made it fun for all of us.

Luke improved his skill this year. He is getting really good.
Riley, well, she is still learning. haha She is definitely girly but I'm glad she got out there and played!

Luke , diving for the ball??

Look at that face.

Nice form!

She is so cute!

Luke looks so tired.

We only won 2 games I think, but they both had fun!

We aren't sure what we will do for fall season yet. Chloe doesn't want to play soccer, but wants to dance. Ry thinks she does, and Luke might want to play football or move up to the older age group for soccer. Sounds busy to me!!

Lion King - Spring 2011

2011-08-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of Girl Scouts is getting to go on awesome field trips! We took the girls to see Lion King, and since we got such a great deal, we opened it up to the parents and siblings as well if they wanted to pay.
Darren and I took the girls. It was fun just to go out with just the 4 of us!
The show was amazing! The music and costumes were fabulous!!

The girls and me after the show...

Couldn't get any pics during the show, this was intermission I believe.

Chloe during the intermission.

Looking forward to many more adventures in Girl Scouting.

Spring 2011 Cub Scout Day Camp

2011-08-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

This year I was able to be very involved in Cub Scout day camp. Well, I kind of had to be with my calling... haha
It all took place right in the middle of our gs cookie sales, so needless to say, I was a wreck this last Spring.
The weather was super wacky for the 3 days of camp. It was so cold for the first two days and then beautiful on the last day.
I really did have a great time when it was all said and done. Seeing the great time all the boys had was payback enough for me. I loved getting to spend quality time with Luke too.

Luke double hoola-hooping in the obstacle course.

Shooting a bow and arrow with "Bodie-Hood". This was the boy's favorite activity.

Most of our boys along with Brother Jensen, Sister Barnum and myself.

Stamping leather.

"team work"

Cub Scouts is such a great organization. I love to see these boys learning new skills and gaining self confidence and self reliance. I really am blessed to serve with these great boys and people.

Disneyland -February 2011

2011-05-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

We decided not to renew our season passes this year so we needed to go use them one last time. Our nephew Kavin had just celebrated his 10th birthday so we invited him to come along with us. He and Luke are best buds and have so much fun together, so we were all happy he joined us. We even got a hotel room right across the street from Disneyland this trip, just so we could make the most out of our days there. This ended up being a life saver since I ended up being pretty sick the entire trip. I was able to walk back in the middle of the day for naps. It was also great to be able to run back when it rained too.

This was our first night there. It was too late to go into the park so we went to Downtown Disney and ate at the ESPN zone and did our shopping at the souvenir shop.

The kids still talk about how good the food was and how much fun they had there.

Chloe and her silly faces.

The kids and Darren on Screamin'. I don't think they can even tell you how many times they rode it.

Cole just loves riding the horsies.

The weather was pretty crummy. Which was good and bad- Look how empty the place was.

Handsome boys.

Cole was all about showing me new tricks and then making me take pictures of them. He is one silly boy.

Luke and me on Autopia.

Showing off his driver's license.

We got rained out the last day. It actually worked out well. We were able to rest and I was able to get into a Dr. also. (once again, so glad for good insurance that allowed me to do that)

A Disney trip would not be complete without a visit to the beach and Ruby's for lunch. It was chilly but the kids really enjoyed it.

The girls and I were also able to go for pedicures after the beach. It was a great way to end a busy trip. Of course I started feeling better the day we got home. So glad Darren was able to pick up the slack for me while we were there.

Donuts for Dad

2011-05-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

Our school has an annual Donuts for Dad activity. The kids were so excited about it that even though Darren had worked all night, and I had to be there at 7 am, he still came and even got Chloe ready and put her hair in a ponytail.

Sick kids

2011-05-29T21:04:00.001-07:00

February is always a tough month for us. All of us but Luke have some pretty nasty allergies. So, as usual we all had our turns with nasty sinus and ear infections, and even some bronchitis.
Luckily, the kids got well right before our trip to Disneyland... I wasn't as lucky and was sick on vacation.
This was the only 15 seconds he actually held the mask on himself. The other 100 treatments took one of us holding him down. It was miserable.

Thank goodness Chloe is such a pro at this. I love her eyes.

I've said it before, and will say it again, I am so so grateful for our wonderful health insurance. Don't know what we'd do without it!

Girl Scout Cookies

2011-05-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Oh my.... What can I say about cookie season this year?? First of all, I was wondering why I only have one picture. Then I remembered the craziness and stress of it all, and now I know why we have one pic.
It's been long enough for me to recover so I will just say that we have learned a lot for next year. We will be having a cookie manager. haha
Darren just loves gs cookies- I lost count of exactly how many boxes we purchased. I'm so glad we have supportive families, friends and church members to have helped us out.
The girls worked so hard and I think had a great time as well. We were able to put about $800 into our troop account from the sales, which I think is pretty darn good for a first year troop. We have already gotten to go to Disney on Ice and Lion King with that money, and are having our awards night at Cici's and are going to the Circus in June as well.

Tater Tots field trip to Cici's Pizza

2011-05-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

In February (at least I think it was in Feb, or maybe the end of January haha) Chloe's class took a field trip to Cici's Pizza. This is one of our favorite places to eat, so of course I had to tag along.
(pics posted backwards)

Here's the gang- (minus Evan)
They made us so many pizza's, we all got to take some home. So yummy!

Eating the yummy pizzas they made

"C" for Chloe

This mixer is awesome!!

We got to go into the kitchen and see how everything is made and stored. It was very interesting. It would be nice to have a huge mixer and a super fast oven like they do.

St. George Half Marathon

2011-03-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

In January my friend Jessica told me about this race that her and Joann were planning on running(in a week and a half) They were making it a girls trip and staying at our friend Jana's house who has recently moved there. I hadn't really been training for anything, but it sounded like so much fun and D had just changed his schedule and would be home that weekend. So I got the OK from D, signed up and paid, and then oh yeah made sure I could run 10 miles that weekend. I had heard that this was great race to get a PR, so I was pretty excited.
We left Friday afternoon hoping to have enough time to play a little. Had plenty of time to get our race packets and got Jana and all had a carb filled dinner. Hit up Target afterwards to get any last minute items. We stayed up chatting way to late- that always happens before a race. It was just so fun to catch up though. That was when I realized I left my phone arm band at home. It actually fell out of my bag and I didn't know. We had to run to Target before the race even started. I hated paying full price for a new band too! It actually was really nice and I needed a new one, so it was all good.
It was pretty chilly so we stayed inside as long as possible before getting to the start line.

Jessica, me and Joann getting ready to run!
We weaseled our way to as close to the front as possible when they started us.
I was feeling good and the course was pretty good to start out.

We passed Jana's street early on in the race. She and her family were there to cheer us on and take a few pics. It was so cool to have someone cheering us on!
I was keeping great time. I had a few miles under 8 minutes even!!

Can you see me? Jana took this one from her parent's balcony. Cool huh?

I was a little skeptical about looping for a few miles at the end of the race. I hate running the same area I just was. It was also the most incline of the whole race as well.

But, it all worked out and I finished in 1:51!!!! I had slowed down a little towards the end so I was nervous, but couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the clock!!

I quickly found out that I exerted myself to the extreme. I almost fell over once I stopped, I needed food fast!!

They had a great spread for us, the best of any race I've ever done. This was also the cheapest race I've ever run.

I got to see Jessica finish but we missed Joann come in.. We hung out for a bit to see our official times.

We don't look too bad for just running 13.1 miles...

We went back to the house to shower and get pretty. Then went off to lunch and did some shopping at the outlet mall. We were tired and sore, but it was so nice to hang out without the kiddies. Got home around dinner time.

Found this at my door. Cute kids! D had the house clean and dinner ready for me! I call this weekend a complete success!!

Can't wait to do it again!

January '11 primary activity

2011-03-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Back in October I accepted a calling as the second counselor in primary. Of course it's the counselor over scouts and I just so happened to take on Riley's girl scout troop and took a position on the PTA board... That's how I do it I guess, all or nothing!
The end of the year was crazy busy with everything, but we really wanted to have an awesome activity early in the year to introduce the new theme and for the kids and teachers to get to know each other.
The 2011 theme is - I KNOW THE SCRIPTURES ARE TRUE
We are so excited for the kids to get to learn more about the scriptures!
There was a tent for each class- (some had two classes) They had a little sack breakfast together and colored some scripture book marks and put jewels on a little treasure chest we got them.
our CTR 6 class

Luke's Valiant 9 class - he was missing several friends

Valiant 10 &11- love these big kids- they are so great!

Cole was able to come and participate since D is now Chloe's CTR 4 teacher. Cole totally snuck off with the sunbeams and totally fit in. Most of his friends are in there so he had no clue that it wasn't really his class.

King Benjamin (brother Jensen) made an appearance. I think he did a great job at getting the kids' attention. Cole was so excited- he kept telling us that is was Jesus.

I am so grateful for this new calling. I have always loved the primary and serving in it, but this has brought so many blessings into our home. It is a lot of work but worth it when you see the kids grow week to week. I love the other women I serve with. We work together so well, and manage to have a little fun as well.

Springs Preserve

2011-03-20T23:03:00.000-07:00

During winter break the kids got in free to the Springs Preserve. We have always talked about going but never had gone. We picked the warmest day of the week and headed out.

This reminded of us Disneyland.

That is our nephew/cousin Kavin with the kids. He and Luke are "brothers-best friends" and spend lots of time together when we have a break from school.

Chloe, my little poser on a bunny.

My other little poser. haha

A cute little fox.

Cole loved this lizard.

The kids liked building in this little play area.

We really had a great time. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and probably could have stayed another hour if is wasn't getting cold and late.

We will definitely go again when they run another special.

I think they played hard...

Christmas Day

2011-03-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

My kids are the best sleepers!! They slept till about 8 on Christmas morning!!
It was so exciting this year because Cole was finally old enough to "get it".

Cole was way excited with his little 4-wheeler.

He and Hayden had such a blast. They didn't even want to open any other present.

Luke and Riley both got cell phones this year... don't judge, I have always been against this. They are mainly just for texting family members. It is pretty convenient, and it's fun for the kids and their cousins.

They were so surprised though! We called the phones so the packages were vibrating. haha

Love the look on her face.

Chloe loved her Tangled tower/table.

A purse you can color. Totally Riley style.

Both boys got new Nerf guns. We endured many gun battles for several weeks.

OK- we may seem a little gun happy. haha Luke had some of these at Cole's age and they were so cute. Isn't he just adorable?

After we cleaned up and got ready we headed over to Machelle's for our annual Christmas breakfast. I guess I forgot my camera as I have not a single picture.

It was really nice to have D home for both Christmas Eve and Day. That hasn't happened in quite a few years and it won't happen again for a few years, sadly.

That night after the kids went to bed (g-ma stayed with them) D and I got to go to the movies with a few of his siblings and spouses. It was a fabulous holiday.

Chritmas eve

2011-03-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

My extended family has celebrated Christmas Eve together since before I was even born. My fondest memories are at my Aunt Kim's house eagerly awaiting the mom's kitchen clean up so we could open up our presents to and from each other.
Now though, we are all grown and I've adopted the holiday. We have decided to make a new tradition of eating at Applebees. (well, the last two years anyways-I've gotten so busy I would rather enjoy every one's company rather than cooking all day) It's nice to not have dishes and a mess in the kitchen.
Everyone was a little grumpy at the restaurant so we didn't take many pics.

We headed to our house after dinner for dessert and a few presents.

Darren made a yummy mud cake and we had ice cream with it.

The kids drew names and they shopped at the $1 store for each other. Cole got a little police man kit. Here he is in his chonies and cuffs. So cute!

The kids in their new jammies.

Mecham kids + our niece Hayden

Sprinkling the reindeer food on the lawn.

"Pa" read a bedtime Christmas story to everyone.

My Mom, Dad, Brother and niece all slept over that night. It was a full house but it was a lot of fun to have everyone there.

The Sunday before Christmas

2011-03-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

I just love the Sunday before Christmas.

Everyone always looks so nice and of course the lessons and spirit is great too!

It is so hard to get a group picture of all the kids, they really don't like getting any kind of picture taken. It was such a crazy season that I didn't even send out Christmas cards so we had to get one good pic just for journaling sake.

2010- Luke 9, Riley 7, Chloe 4, Cole 2

SQUEEZE!!

Max, our 5th child had to get involved. haha

Holiday Happenings

2011-03-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

We were pretty busy over the holiday season. Here are a few fun things we did.

For a girl scout activity each girl brought a plate of goodies. We made up a few plates with assorted goodies and went Christmas caroling around the neighborhood.

The Manuele's didn't mind us taking pics with them thankfully.

Luke had to jump in the pic too. We had a really fun time. These girls sure are sweet, but they keep us on our toes for sure.

Chloe's preschool class made some cute ginger bread houses. I came to help and since Mrs. Tate is so nice, she invited the other kids to join in.

Chloe, Jillian and Kacey

Here are the bigger kids.

Mrs. Tate's class also put on a holiday show. Chloe practiced her part for weeks. She was so excited to wear her pretty bridesmaid/Christmas dress too.

They sang the cutest songs and did such a great job reciting their parts.

I just can't belive how grown up my Chloe "Belle" is.

Chloe and Mrs. Tate

Sydney and Chloe. Such cute little silly girls.

Noni's visit to Las Vegas

2011-03-11T22:15:00.001-08:00

Noni- is what we call my Grandpa. If you recall, my Mom, Cole and I went to visit him in Florida almost 2 years ago. We haven't seen him since then.
Several months ago, out of the blue, Chloe keeps telling us how much she misses Noni and that she wants him to visit. I just kind of blew her off. Darren hears her and decides that we should try and get him to Vegas. In the mean time- we find a picture of the last time Noni was here. Chloe was only 5 months old. She really does not remember him at all. Kind of freaked me out and we were very persistent in getting him here. My wonderful Aunt Kathy who takes care of Noni in Florida got it all set up for us. He was to arrive the day before his 93rd birthday and stay till the new year. He stayed with us at our home and my Mom also stayed here during his visit.
We of course had to throw a birthday party!
Doesn't he look great for 93? (Sorry Mom for the bad pic)

The kids loved to just hang out on the couch with him.

This was his last night with us. We wanted to make sure to get lots of pics with him.

It's getting hard for him to travel so we are pretty sure this is the last time we will see him. It was pretty sad and we didn't quite explain that to the kids.

Cole really loves him. They were such good buddies.

My Mom and Noni.

Riley's 7th Birthday

2011-03-11T21:17:00.001-08:00

December 9th Riley turned 7. She was happy to invite a few girlfriends over for a low key night. We had a "late over" instead of a sleepover. I think it's a lot for little girls to handle... I also think it's a lot for a mom of 3 other kids who's husband is at work also. haha
We had lots of snacks and treats and the girls did nails and make up and played some games. I could not believe how much food those little girls ate!
Of course Chloe got right into the mix and Cole annoyed the heck out of all of them.

Present time.

Nails and make up

I believe this was Simon Says- Riley was Simon

Cup cakes

She also had a little family party on the day of her birthday. We had grandparents over and I'm pretty sure I made dinner and cake, but I can't remember what I made her. So sad!

She went shopping with my mom and dad and picked out an outfit and a "Moxie" girl with hair accessories. She really loved being old enough to go pick her stuff out. Chloe can not wait for her birthday now.

Such a beautiful, sweet and tender-hearted girl.

I love the look on her face here.

I'm so glad our Riley Roo came to us 7 years ago! She has come such a long way from being the baby who cried and cried and cried, who had to be held all day long, that didn't sleep all night till she was 18months, who didnt have hair till she was 2, the defiant preschooler who would throw fits daily about her underwear and socks and shoes, who had to carry her blankie anywhere and everywhere. I never thought she would outgrow those things- and now she is such a nice girl who helps me out so much. She is the best big sister to Cole and sometimes to Chloe-haha-She can be so girly and such a tomboy at the same time. She has been nick named "stinky Pete" by some friends. She grosses me out daily, but I can always count on her to go shopping, get pedicures and is great at choosing an outfit for me when I need help.

Love you so much Rooster!!

The 3 amigo's running club

2011-03-09T22:55:00.001-08:00

Luke and a couple friends signed up for football in the fall. Long story short- they couldn't get enough kids for a whole team and it was too late to get on another team. They were bummed but we decided to get them together every week to play sports. It quickly turned into running when we found out about this "ING kids rock" race. The kids are responsible for running 25.2 miles on their own ahead of time. They then get together in a race setting to finish the last mile making it a full marathon at 26.2 miles.
I think they all learned a lot and had a good time together. I think us parents had a good time with it as well.

At the start.

Luke at the finish. We lost him for a bit. Realized the kid dropped a glove and went back. He thought I'd be mad if he lost it. (it was only a $1) Made me sad and laugh all at the same time.

Ethan coming in.

Ethan, Bryan and Luke. Their medals were really cool guitars. Much nicer than most of mine.

Here's most of the fans.

We were crazy and all went to breakfast together afterwards. It was chaos and I'm sure the waitress hated us. But we had a great time!

Mesquite half marathon

2011-03-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

A few fabulous girls and I traveled to Mesquite for a little half marathon and 10k. This was Rachelle and Kim's first half and Marlaina's first 10k.
We all got hardly any sleep the night before and wouldn't ya know the wind was blowing 35 miles an hour against us when we got to the start!! It was such a small race that the start line was very unorganized and we started super late. We still had fun people watching and chatting with other runners.
I had trained hard and was really hoping to get a time of 1:56. Unfortunately because of the weather I did not make it. I got 2:04. I was really bummed and just plain exhausted.

Getting ready to go.

Here were are afterwards with our medals. Even though I didn't do as well as I wanted I still had a great time. It was fun to share the other ladies' first experience.

I got this shirt hoping I would run faster. haha

Disneyland trip - November 2010

2011-03-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

Luke's late birthday trip... It was busier and a little cooler than we would have liked, but still had a great time! The Leavitt's were there for a few of the same days, so it was fun to spend some time with them at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Emerson and Chloe. It's so funny by the end of the day how many kids end up squished into the strollers or on backs.

Thought this was a cute pic of Riley.

The girls were brave and saw all the princesses together.

Seal Beach... Ate at Ruby's diner. It was really windy so we didn't hang out long.

Walk-a-thon and Savannah and Ryan's wedding

2011-03-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

After a long blogging hiatus, I am back! I realized how behind I was even with my last posts. I'm gonna go back a ways to a busy day way back in October. I was in charge of our school's Walk-a-thon and then 3 of the kids were in our niece Savannah's wedding that same day. Super crazy but fun day. Here are some pics...

Unfortunately this awful pic of Riley is the only one I had time to take. haha Poor girl is not much of a runner. She really isn't much for any physical activity...

Some beautiful girls. Ry and Chloe looking a little beat up. (posted backwards) This was after dancing hard at the reception.

Coco man dancing away. He had such a great time. We all kicked our shoes off and rocked out!

I couldn't believe he walked down the aisle all alone. Chloe bailed on him at the last minute. She was too scared to go. He found Travis at the end and stood right at his side during the ceremony.

This is as far as Chloe got. I did not want to be walking down with them. So not planned.

Riley was such a ham! She is gorgeous!

My 2 beauties getting ready.

With the beautiful bride.

Love this one.

We are so excited for Savannah and Ryan. They have a baby on the way now too and we can't wait to meet him!

Luke's 9th Birthday

2010-11-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

On November 1st Luke turned 9! We had originally planned on being at Disney that day but we postponed the trip for a week. Since there wasn't school that day he and a couple friends and a cousin spent the afternoon playing sports at the park and then had a little sleepover.

I made one of Luke's favorite dinners, chicken alfredo pizza. He requested chocolate cake and ice cream as well. A few other family members came over to help celebrate as well.

The kid made out when it came time to opening his cards. I think he ended up with $90. He of course saved it for Disneyland. The boys spent most of the night watching WWE and playing video games. They went to bed near midnight and woke up far too early. haha I think they all had a good time!
At age 9, Luke is...
-Still a helpful big brother, when he chooses to be.
-Has gotten to be such a goofy, silly boy, especially around his friends.
-He is usually glued to a TV or any type of video game. (Expect to tell him something at least 3 times if he is in front of the TV.)
-He is our dog's master and buddy.
-He does very well in school... he is an exceptional reader.
-He is working towards running a marathon in December. (not all at once) He is quite a fast runner!
-He will do anything to make any kind of money.
-Is excited to have advanced to the bear den in cub scouts.
It is just so crazy to think that in just 9 more years he will be an adult. Or that in just 10 years he will be leaving for his mission! The time sure has flown by.
We sure love you our handsome boy!!

Darren's big 3-0 birthday

2010-11-01T14:26:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my husband is 30!! This only scares me because I am 8 mo behind him.
He never makes a big deal about his day so it was kind of low key. He had hurt his back at work so he wasn't feeling so hot to begin with. We ran around "boo-ing" some friends and then came home for some cake.
The kids are such goofballs.

This was the funniest... Every time Luke would get the match lit someone would blow it out before he could get it to the candle. We had such a good laugh about it.

The kids all made Dad a special poster and we put them up with some streamers and balloons. It looked so cute.

The Saturday after we went out with a big group of our high school friends to the Guadalajara for dinner and Luv-its for dessert and then stayed at the Southpoint for the night. We had to rush home in the morning for church, but it was still a nice little getaway. Of course I didn't think to take a single pic

Hope it was a good b-day D! We love ya lots!!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:17:00.001-07:00

Aunt Heather, Chloe as Belle- she was a wreck too- hair a mess and black leggings
Cole as Woody, Riley a cow girl, Luke as John Wayne and then the creepy Nacho Libre back there lurking in the bush . haha That is uncle Randy

I hadn't planned on letting them go out, but we were at aunt Machelle's for dinner so we figured we'd let them go to a couple houses.

We really went out for Uncle Nacho and Bri.

Always happy when sugar is involved!

Chloe had to have my or Heather's hand at all times.

The cutest little Woody and me.

Is that really you Randy?

She hadn't even eaten any candy yet.

Don't ask me why, but he actually posed like this on his own.

Fun quick little trip out, yummy dinner and good company.

Now on to Luke's 9th birthday tomorrow!

Trunk or Treat

2010-10-31T21:04:00.001-07:00

We had a blast at this years ward trunk or treat. Our friends the Meltons joined us.
I loaded my pics backwards, so we'll go with it.

Wonder woman and Belle making the rounds. They were so cute together.

Quincy, Chloe, Beckam and Cole at Captain Hooks trunk. Chloe would only go to our close friends cars alone. She was very clingy.

Cole with the adorable Boyd Tinkerbelles. You can see Ry back there too. This was the line for the costume parade.

Cole and Daddy at the cup cake walk. Marlaina did such a good job MC ing it. Super fun!

The kids finishing up their chili/soup.

There was a little fun house for the young kids and a haunted house for the bigger kids. Ry and Luke both did the haunted house and said it was great. We have such a great ward!

cub and girl scouts

2010-09-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Luke has now almost been a cub scout for almost a whole year now. I wasn't blogging when he received his Bob Cat award several months ago. The lights are always dimmed when they do the awards and you'd think I'd remember to bring my good camera, but no. Here's the pic from that one though.

Riley has been in girl scouts for over a year now. We have discovered recently since I took the troop over and have had some training, that she really wasn't old enough to be a brownie then, or really now. OOPS! Most of the girls in the troop got too old so a couple friends and I decided we would keep it going with our younger girls. Here's Riley and her friend Kylie in February selling GS cookies. It was such a cold cold day, but we had a blast!

Just look at those cookies... can't wait for February!!

And here is Luke and me on Tuesday night when he received his Wolf badge along with a gold arrow and several silver ones. He has worked hard this last year and has so much fun. He really loves the Jenkins and doesn't mind hanging out over there even on non scout days. haha
He is excited to be moving up to the Bear den in a few weeks.

It's been a minute...or two

2010-09-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well, ok almost 9 months.
Here's a little summary of 2010 so far...
-Cole got a big boy bed
-Riley lost her first couple of teeth and got reading glasses
-Darren and I celebrated our 10th anniversary
-We took a family trip to Disneyland/Chloe got her first season pass

-We had our first Girls night cousin/friend sleepover
-School awards ceremonies
-Luke's first pinewood derby where he placed 2nd

-Easter and all the fun spring festivities
-Luke's first baseball season
-Riley graduated kinder/Luke finished 2nd grade with all straight A's for the entire year
-Cole's 2nd birthday

-My 29th birthday which we celebrated in California sans kids

- 4th of July

-Chloe's 4th birthday

-Our annual Escalante trip

-Lots of swimming

-oh yeah, we moved twice

-Cole was potty trained

-Riley started 1st grade, again haha

-Luke started 3rd grade

-Chloe started preschool with Mrs. Tate

Eventually I will get everything posted, you know for journaling sake.

Its been a crazy and fun year so far. We are so happy to be settled back in the ward again for a while. We are excited for a busy fall - Darren will be coaching Luke's flag football team and I am now Riley's girl scout leader as well as newly becoming a board member in the PTA. I don't know what to do if it's just not crazy busy!

Christmas festivities, so far

2009-12-21T22:40:00.000-08:00

Friday night was our annual Mecham Christmas get together. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to attend. It is hard with such a large family. It was nice to have Cherise and her fam in town though.

Listening to Grandma. Notice Cole climbing on his cousin Blake.

Smothering Gma trying to get their ornament. For the past several years, Grandma gives a special ornament to each family member. This years was the nativity.

Blake and Luke being silly.

Cole was killing us with his chair. He finally figured out how to get out of it and had to show us all night long. Something was super funny, I totally missed it.

Randy and Darren being Christ-like, I'm sure!

Kim picking up Cherise and Marcos? I didn't have the camera, I'm not sure what was going on.

It was a fun night, as it always is when we all get together. We were able to continue the fun last night as we went to Amanda's concert and got to have dessert at Kim and Kathy's afterwards.

The Sunday before Christmas...

The girls were excited to wear their new dresses. I couldn't find Cole a cute sweater or tie this year. Christmas just kind of crept up on me this year I guess. It was Cole's first day in nursery, YIPEE! He ran in without even looking back. He did so well! Chloe is happy to have 2 weeks with him in nursery. She can't wait to be a Sunbeam though!

The sacrament program was very nice. Well, what I got to see anyways. Cole doesn't let us sit through much. I love hearing and teaching the story of Christ's birth, and hope we can all remember it when we get so busy with all the shopping.

For FHE we made a gingerbread house...

We are mean, and put Cole to bed. The other kids fought about who would decorate what part and that the other one stole their candy. Next year we will get them their own house to decorate!

Having fun with the frosting and candy.

Pretending to eat it.

It's been a crazy week so far and we still have lots more fun planned!

LUKE AND RILEY'S AWARD CEREMONIES

2009-12-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

I am so lucky to have such smart and well behaved kids!

Luke was the only one in his class to receive straight A's this trimester. He also received a perfect attendance award. (the first time ever, since we didn't go to Disneyland this fall)
His teacher just kept telling us how much she enjoys having him in class and wishes all the kids were like him. We hear this every year. I am just so proud of him and so glad he is my boy!

Riley received an award for academic excellence. Which is the Kindergarten equivalence of straight A's. She didn't get the attendance award unfortunately, due to the flu and some crawly things she got in her hair from school. haha
Ry's teacher said she is a smarty, just tends to be a little more social! That's my girl! She is also a big help to the other students! So proud of you Riley Roo!
Cole and Chloe really enjoyed seeing their big brother and sister at school. Cole kept trying to run up and sit with them.

The Princess and the Frog

2009-12-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

For her birthday, Riley really wanted to invite a few girls from church to see "The Princess and the Frog." We were so lucky it came out on Friday. We went Saturday evening, and I was lucky enough to have Marlaina volunteer to come and help me. Since they are older, they were way easy to take, but it was a lot of work trying to get snacks and potty breaks and all that good stuff.

Here are the cuties. Chloe came too. Ry wasn't happy about that at first, but quickly forgot once she had her friends with her.
I got them all Princess Tiana shirts to wear to the movie. They looked so cute!

We opened up presents in the theater before the movie started. This is the BOP IT she has been wanting.
She got lots of other cute girly presents too.

They didn't have a "Princess and the Frog" poster anywhere in the theater, so we had to pose in front of Alvin and the chipmunks.

I felt bad once we got all the girls dropped off at home that is was 7:30 and I had filled them up with popcorn, soda and candy...not dinner. Sorry Moms!!

We had such a great time on our little girls night out! I just love that my girls are getting older and it's getting easier to do things like this.

Here are the cuties showing off their shirts. The little one is Marlaina's baby girl. She was so good and loved to just watch the big girls.

Marathon

2009-12-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

The big day I have been training for started at 4:30am for me. I was actually surprised at how well I slept the night before because I was so nervous! I was so afraid my alarm wouldn't go off, I checked it 4 times and had D set his alarm also.
Darren took me to the start so I wouldn't have to deal with parking. We left a little later than planned and with traffic being horrendous, I almost didn't make it in time. Luckily, even though the start was at 6:15, my corral didn't get across the start line till 6:50. Thank goodness for cell phones, I would've never found Mandi and her cousin in the sea of 27,000 other crazy runners. I took at pic of Mandi and I at the start, but it didn't turn out so great. I will tell you it was so dang cold though! I ended up wearing thermal bottoms under my running capris, gloves, and a thermal shirt over my running tank. All of which I kept on the entire time. Although, I had to take my gloves off early on because they got wet from my water bottle, and I ended up taking someone elses gloves from the ground. (inside out)
I felt pretty good for the first half, and we made pretty good time. I was able to call and text Darren throughout to update him as to where we were and to find out where he and the fam were.
Here is my awesome family waiting, and waiting for me.

Can you tell they were bored?

Matt and Jodie and their kids came too. Which was such a surprise to me. I was so happy to see them!

We weren't quite prepared for the hills.(you never are) My quads started cramping up pretty badly around mile 14 or 15. Mandi even had to try and massage em' for me. (what a friend)

Then, she started having stomach problems and cramping. We had to slow down a bit, and even walk a little here and there. Once I got to mile 23 I was feeling pretty good. The adrenaline was pumping through me. I kept hearing this would happen and was pretty skeptical about it.

This is mile 26.1 where we saw my fam and the Melton's. I knew I was gonna cry, but didn't expect it to be before I finished. I looked at Mandi and we were both tearin' up. It was the best place possible for them to be!

Here we are getting ready to cross the finish line.

WE DID IT!! 5 hrs 13 min. A little longer than we hoped, but dang it, who cares, WE DID IT!!

My mouth is full of bagel right here.

This is a bad pic but I had to put it on. Luke was so cute! He was just so proud. He couldn't stop hugging me and looking at my medal. I asked him if he was as proud of me as I was of him getting baptized and he just smiled.

Luke really loved the emergency blanket too. It was still so cold out!

Me and D. I'm sure he is so glad this is all over with! I took a lot of time away from home to train. I am so grateful for all of his support and help!

I loved every minute of it. (maybe not getting up at 5 am every Saturday)

I can't even explain the the feeling of crossing that finish line. I am so proud of myself and Mandi. We were a team through it all.

I felt good until I got out of the car at home. Everything had stiffened up. I went right to the bathroom with my big bag of ice. I am pretty sure the ice bath was worse than running the marathon. It really helps though, and I had a really long warm shower after that.

I ate and had a pretty nice nap after that. Darren and my mother in law spoiled me that day. It was nice to just do nothing. By Wednesday I was feeling pretty normal again. Not too bad of a recovery!

I would love to do another full someday. For now I need to focus on other things though. I will probably do a few halfs this year, because shoot, what's 13 miles now? haha I am excited to get back to taking classes at the gym also.

Riley Roo is 6 today!

2009-12-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my princess is 6 already! Or maybe I can't believe that she's not 10 or 11 since that is how old she acts.
We've been talking about her b-day for a while now, but somehow last night we all kinda forgot, even Ry. It didn't last long, and we made sure to have streamers and balloons up for her this morning. She opened up her presents before she even came upstairs to wake us up.
She got a Pixos factory and the monkey PJ's she has been wanting.
She wore her Princess b-day pin to school and brought cupcakes for her class.
After homework was done we went to Red Robin for dinner.

She LOVES her cousin Hayden. She insists on holding and carrying her around all by herself. I think Hayden looks a lot like Ry did as a baby. It could just be the bald head, I'm not sure yet.

Here is the birthday song and ice cream. I can't believe she isn't sick from that and the shake she had with dinner!

Today I had flash backs of her first bday party we had a Red Robin where she put her whole face in her cake to have a bite. We all laughed so hard and she got so embarrased and wouldn't move at all. I can't say I wish she were that age still, she was not an easy baby or toddler. But it was a nice memory!

Here she is with Emerson and Chloe outside of the mall.

In the new jammies with her brothers.

Happy Birthday sis, we love you so much! You are such a funny, smart and pretty girl!

Luke's Baptism

2009-12-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the big day we have been waiting 8 years for! Luke was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! What a very special day it was!
As we walked in Luke looked at me and whispered, "I'm so nervous." I didn't think that boy ever got nervous.
He and his Dad went in and got dressed in their whites and came out for a few pics. (Of course my camera battery died so some photos are from D's phone and some from my mom's camera.)

So many of our friends and family we there with us to share his special day. When he was baptized it was so cute to see all of the little kids kneeling right up front so they could see. Cole pushed his way through the crowd and when it was done he clapped for Luke. It was so darn cute!

Once dried off, Darren confirmed Luke a member of the church and he received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We were able to visit with our family and friends for a bit, and then we headed to Aunt Machelle's for a little party.

Here is the handsome guy opening up the new scriptures we got him. The boy made out like a bandit. He got several presents.

Luke and Nama. He was trying to give her bunny ears.

We needed a family shot to commemorate the day. You will probably be seeing it again in our Christmas cards. It is so hard to get a family of 6 all smiling and looking decent.

And...here's our silly shot.

Luke, we are so proud of your decision to be baptized! You are such a good boy who always chooses the right. We love you so much!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T18:07:00.001-08:00

Since we have both families in town, we alternate years for the holidays. This year was the Mechams year for Thanksgiving. Fortunately, my family was eating earlier in the day so we stopped by for a little bit. Unfortunately though, I didn't take any pictures. It was nice to visit with my grandparents that we haven't seen a while.
We then headed over to the Leavitt's for the big party!

Coco and his second cousin Daniel. They had a good time playing ball with Delbert. Cole kept trying to hug Daniel, it was too cute!

Grandma Mecham in her "hot mama" apron. We had so much yummy food!

Machelle had the great idea of getting a jumper for the kids. It was so nice to have the kids busy.

This is just a few of us. Darren was still at work, and lots of others were in the other room. I won't comment on on some of the boys' poses. I warned them it would be on the blog!

Here is Aalihah, Chloe and Riley begging Mindy for a sleepover for Aalihah. They didn't need to beg, but it was just so cute!

The answer was YES!

We ended up back over at Leavitt's most of Friday also. We got to do a little shopping together, which was fun! It was so nice to have a relaxing weekend with the fam!

Kanaraville trip #2

2009-12-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since we went on our second little get away to Kanara, but had to share this photos of the silly kids.
They worked for hours and hours on this little "boat playhouse". They sure had a good time!

Darren and Brad found some clearance Halloween costumes for $1 while in Walmart in Cedar. The boys loved scaring the girls in them.

I just love how Chloe never breaks her pose!

New Moon

2009-11-25T20:57:00.000-08:00

So, I am a big nerd, and went with some super fun girls to the midnight showing of New Moon!
I really probably could have waited to see it, but why miss out on a fun GNO?
We ended up getting at the theater at 6 pm. There were a few others already in line, but within a few hours we ended up in the top spot in line. (The others went to the 9pm showing of Twilight)
It wasn't very cold because we were so close to the open door to the casino. The hours went by quickly because we had such good conversation.

I found this Edward necklace the night before, and just had to get it for Nicole! She is so cute!

Jana will probably kill me for posting this pic, but I had to. She is such a good sport! She is like 8 months prego and doesn't like the Twilight series, but came to hang out with us. So glad she came to play for a bit!

Erin and me. We took about 20 pics on her camera, trying to get our best angles! hehe Notice her cute New Moon scarf, and my Cullen crest shirt.

Here was the view from the front of the line. It went quite a ways back!

The back of my shirt, although you can't really see it.

They ended up letting us in the theater at about 10, so we had time to spare.

Kim, Lisa and Erin waiting for the movie to start.

I thought the movie was so much better than Twilight! Thanks girls for such a fun night!

Thanksgiving party

2009-11-25T20:52:00.000-08:00

We got together with some ward friends last week to celebrate Thanksgiving. As usual, there was good food and good company. I uploaded my pics backwards.

Jamie was keeping the kids busy while we cleaned up. Such a great idea!

Riley and Lacie. This girls are like 2 peas in a pod. It doesn't matter that they are 2 yrs apart. The are so cute!

Luke, Morgan, Mason, Jenna and Ethan.

Coco man stuffing his cute little face.

The turkey that I made for the pot luck. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

Luke is a cub scout now

2009-11-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

Luke had his first cub scout pack meeting the other night, and it just happened to be the rain gutter regatta.
We of course, forgot to go and get him his scout shirt.

It took him a bit to get the hang of it, but once he did, he did great!

I am excited for him to start this new chapter in "big boyhood"! I can't believe I have an 8 year old! He is such a great helper and example to his little siblings. I can't wait for his baptism in 4 weeks!

Running update

2009-11-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

(Me and my little wanna be runner in her undies) She swears she's gonna run with me when she's older, and I can't wait to have her as my partner!

So, I am officially signed up for the LV full marathon!
Got a new running outfit and a new hydration belt too. :)
Yesterday Mandi and I ran 18 miles for the second Saturday in a row. It was the toughest run I have ever had! We were hoping to do 20, so we were quite disappointed when we weren't able to do it. I think our bodies are just so exhausted from all of the training! The last few Saturdays have been so rough. It's hard to come home from a long run and try to get recovered plus still be a mom of 4. Not to mention, the sore, sore muscles and tired body. I am so grateful to my in laws for taking care of the kiddies while I am gone in the morning.
But, only 4 more weeks and we will be accomplishing a huge feat!
I am glad to report that I have not had any toenails fall off in several months, and my knees have been pretty good, so I can't complain! I have taken several Ibuprofen in the last few months, however.

Totally unrelated....
I had to post a pic of the lovely bruise left from the fall I had at the park in Utah. I wish the pic did it justice. It however, doesn't hurt as badly as it looks.

Kanaraville

2009-11-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

We made a little trip up to Kanaraville with the Leavitt family for the weekend. We were a little nervous when we arrived at midnight to find the basement flooded, but it didn't damper the fun.

Birthday cupcakes for breakfast? Yeah, there are no rules in Kanaraville. It was Luke's 8th b-day.

He got the new Toy Story Mania Wii game. He and his cousin Kavin played the heck out of it.

They all got to do quite a bit of 4 wheeling also. Cole loved it!

What a cutie!

The little park was so much fun! They have way better stuff than any park in Vegas!

Look at that cute Emmy girl!

Cole has no fear.

Here is where it gets funny! We had Luke take the camera while us big kids had some fun. I was a little nervous about it. I was off the ground right away, and instead of telling them to stop, I did this...

haha, yeah, flew right off! My arm is really bruised and tore up, but I was trying not to hurt a leg or foot. We seriously couldn't stop laughing about it afterwards!

Kavin the dare devil!

We all had so much fun, we are going back up after church on Sunday. It's kind of nice that the boys have the same days off and the kids are on track break!

A weeks worth of Halloween activities

2009-11-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

First we attended the kids' school carnival. Here they are at the cake walk. Chloe won! Too bad it was the last one, and it was a weird sweet potato pie. They seemed to enjoy it anyways. They all got to play a few games while supporting the school. (costume #1 for Chloe)

My handsome little Yoda.

Coco and baby Chloe Covington. Aren't they so dang cute?

Some of us Moms in the ward had a little Halloween party for the kids. Last minute we ended up at the church due to the cold, windy weather. We got to do a few little crafts, and of course ate lots of goodies. It was tons of fun!

Loryn and Chloe. (costume #2 for Chloe)

We had the ward trunk or treat in the middle here, but I didn't take any pictures. WORD! To Kim Meeks for putting it all on! It was the best trunk or treat we have ever been too. So many ward members had some cute costumes!

Here's me and Yoda on Halloween night. We went to my brother's neighborhood for just a bit. We went to Utah afterwards.

Chloe, costume #3 Snow White, Riley the bad spirit cheerleader who is obviously having some bad spirit, Hayden the monkey with her momma Heather, Luke as Obi wan Kanobi, and Cole as Yoda.

We all had a fun week and glad we got some use out of our costumes!

I love U2!

2009-10-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Friday night we were able to go with a great group of friends to see Black Eyed Peas and U2!

Amanda, Brittany and I have all been big fans since high school, but have never been able to go see them all together. We started the night off at Guadalajara for dinner with a few other couples. I totally forgot I had my camera. It was a good and fast dinner. We were worried about getting to the concert in time with the 40, 000 other fans!

We made it in perfect time and it didn't start on time anyways.

Darren found a few guys from work who were actually working on the floor, so we went to visit them down there. We had to take a pic to prove we got down there. I can't believe people actually pay more to stand the whole time. Maybe it's just because I am so short!

Amanda and Cason snuck down there with us. They kept getting sweated by the stadium safety patrol!

Amanda and me.

My handsome man and me.

Fergie. She is so awesome! We had a blast singing and dancing to the Black Eyed Peas.

Brittany, Amanda, Joella and me. We had a lot of fun trying to get a pic with all the drunk people busting in front of us. We took about 15 of them!

There's my other man Bono in the middle.

Thought this was so cool!

U2 really is so awesome live! It's crazy how long they have been together and touring and they just get better. This one made it my 3rd time seeing them live in concert, well 4 if you count the 3D movie Darren took me to. haha No matter what, the fans are still crazy, drunk, loud and pot smokers! I can't believe how many times we could smell someone lighting up. It made for some great people watching though!

I had such a fun night, and I am so glad Darren did too!

Accident prone boy

2009-10-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

I love this age so much, but also hate this age so much. It seems like babies at 1-1 1/2 have heads that are much too heavy for their little bodies. Especially my big headed babies!

This first one was a few weeks ago and it was a doozy. It looks much better than at first. It was an instant huge goose egg.
Thankfully, he is really good about letting us ice it.
Can you see how his eyes started to bruise too?

Right after that one healed, he did it again in almost the same spot!
Poor kid! He really didn't even fuss much with this one. I'm sure you will be seeing some kind of bump or bruise on is head in every pic for the next few months! He is one busy boy!

He sure seems happy though!

Ice cream truck

2009-10-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

I had promised the kids a trip to 7-11, but Cole was in desperate need for a nap and Grandpa wasn't home to stay with him. Then I heard the ice cream truck. We haven't gotten anything from there since Luke was 2 probably. It seemed to work out perfectly and the kids thought it was super cool.
I tried hard to get a pic of all of us. They are quite hilarious pics!

Minnie Concert

2009-10-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

I think it was called Disney Live, but Chloe insisted it was a Minnie concert. She wanted to be a big girl like Riley and go to a concert with me all by herself. We got super lucky and got to go with Amanda, Ella, Bentley, Michelle and Dax for free. It was nice to have some one on one time with Chloe and get to hang out with Amanda and Michelle. I was especially grateful I didn't have to chase Cole around the stadium! The snacks were great too. Chloe ate a whole bag of cotton candy on her own! I know, I am a bad mom to let her, but it wasn't worth the fight!
Thanks Amanda, we had a blast!

Bentley, Ella and Chloe.

Dax, Bentley, Chloe and Ella. I was trying to get a group shot. Near impossible.

The cute girlies with their Tigger hats that came with the cotton candy.

We thought this part of the show was very cool!

Michelle's baby shower

2009-09-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

I think the shower was successful! It was a lot of fun to get to hang out with the girlies also! We did end up with lots of "pink" goodies leftover though!

Michelle opening a cute little tu-tu. I love how it looks like her mom is hiding her face.

Missy, Michelle, Jodie and Amanda. Jodie's due date is today, Michelle's Nov. 11th. Don't they both look great? I cannot wait to hold those cute little baby girls!

a bit about our week(s)

2009-09-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot going on lately and I really haven't blogged much because I keep trying to find a positive way to do it. I have now realized that maybe I need to stop trying to sugar coat it and put it out there. Feel free to stop reading when you have had enough!
-Riley's name had been flagged at the school for not being old enough to be in 1st grade. After some looking into, it is apparently against the law to have her be in 1st grade and not be 6 yet. They put her in half day kindergarten, which is quite different than all day 1st grade. We kept hearing how much they were gonna work to get it fixed and Ry where she needs to be. Well, that didn't happen and we have had to change schools so Ry can be in an all day program. They started Tuesday, and I just don't like it. I feel awful when I drop them off, we don't fit in there, and Ry is bringing home crap that she could do when she was 3. They switched her teacher last minute Tuesday morning, and I don't know her well yet, but I don't like her. I hope to meet with the principal on Monday to get things worked out. I just hate to have to keep switching my kids around. I have a new jaded perspective on the public school system. Luke of course, is a teacher's pet and he is doing well, and I do like his teacher.
- I have just been so bummed about the whole school thing, it makes me bummed that we just don't have a house in an area I want to live in and the kids wouldn't have to be switched around to get a good education. I feel bad that we have come in and overtaken my in laws home. I hate that we only have one income that took a pay cut and no pay raise, and that is costs so dang much to feed and clothe a family of 6. I make myself feel like crap about it all, and then I see the real homeless guy on the corner, and think, gosh I am blessed. But I then go right back to feeling bad for myself.
-I just feel like there is too much to do and not enough time to do it in. My anxiety level has gone through the roof which has made my thyroid out of whack, making my hair and nails a mess again and putting 6 pounds on my body. This may not seem like a lot, but on me it is, and my whole self image right now is crap. I feel huge and uncomfortable. I can't work out the way I am used to because I have too many kids and not enough hours in the day, and not enough sleep. You'd think training for a marathon would be enough for my body, but evidently not.
-I am thankful for Darren being the good husband he is and how hard he works outside and inside the home.
My Grandma had a 2nd stroke on Saturday, Darren and a friend went to the hospital to give her a blessing. She hadn't been able to speak clearly until afterwards, she said "thank you" clear as day they said. I am so proud to have a husband that is faithful to his priesthood powers
-We got to have my niece Hayden over for a few hours last night. She is so dang cute and the kids just love her. It is sad to see Coco getting so big. He just kept trying to hug and kiss her. Luke is such a Mecham with his love of babies. Here he is pretending to be asleep with her. I love that he is so sensitive.

-Cole is becoming so independant. He likes to feed himself, shut doors by himself and just wants to be one of the big kids. I love watching him do these things and I am excited to have bigger kids, but at the same time it makes me sad to think that when he is bigger we won't have another baby to laugh at and teach to do silly things. Which just reminds me that I am just getting older. The creaks in my body as I get up in the morning and go downstairs remind me of this too. Maybe I am having a mid-life crisis? Is it too early for that?

- Some friends and myself are putting on a baby shower for our friend Michelle tonight. Here is one of the goodies I made for the big party.

Pretty easy to make, not easy to find a way to store them up right so the chocolate can dry. I am so excited to see how everything turns out for the shower. I will post pics tomorrow of it.

-I was taken out of Riley's primary class and Darren and I were both called to be in the 7 year old class. It is a little trying when you have a 15 month old that won't sit still and it's nap time. So one of us has to walk the halls with him which takes away one teacher from 11 kids.
I can't wait for nursery!
-We have the primary program practice tomorrow and another baby shower to attend, along with a run I need to get in. I wish D didn't work on Saturday's so I didn't need to stress over getting a sitter practically all day so we can get everything done.
-I can't wait for the program on Sunday. It is one of my favorite Sundays all year. Luke and Ry have their parts down and memorized. If anyone would like to come and see it, you are welcome to come! (It's at 1pm)

- I was able to attend the temple last week by myself. I just needed to be there. It was so nice and I am so grateful that we have a temple so near that I can just jump in my car and be there in a few minutes. I have never gone by myself, and it was actually quite nice.
-I hope nobody gets the wrong idea out of this post. I just need to be real. I am very thankful for all I have, it's just hard to only feel thankful. I'm not always the put together person you see on the outside. I don't always get ready for the day and get all my chores done and dinner ready.

Skating

2009-09-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a party at the skating rink for Lacie's b-day. My kids have never skated before, so we were very excited to go.
I was under the impression other Mom's were skating so I paid for some skates, get em' on, and realize I am the only one skating! It's OK, I had a blast. My arms are sore from holding kids up from falling.
Luke, my little perfectionist child had a minor melt down for a bit because he couldn't skate just perfectly. He snapped out of it and finally got the hang of it towards the end.

Riley, Lacie and Jenna. Cute girls!

Me and Roo.

Morgan, Loryn, Chloe and Lacie. Loryn and Chloe did the best out of all the kids. Not sure if it's because they are closer to the ground or because they aren't afraid of falling.

Couldn't get any shots of Luke's face, so here's his skinny bootie.

We've decided we need to go back more often. Luke also wants to get some skates, which his Dad has quickly said, rollerblades.
Thanks for a fun party Lacie!!

Chloe's first day of pre school

2009-09-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't think the day would ever arrive! She has been so excited to go to school.
She picked out a new High School Musical "pack pack" and got a new outfit for the big day.

Here she is running out to the car.

When we got to class there were tons of parents just hanging around and lots of kids crying. Chloe just went right in and posed for me. It was funny to see the parents who didn't want to leave as the teacher politely told them to go. I'm glad Chloe was so ready to be at school, it made it easy on me.
When I came to pick her up several of the kids were crying again and Chloe didn't want to go home. She was standing by her table showing me the playground out the window. Mrs. Bridget said her husband is a police man just like her daddy, and Chloe says, "he's not a police man." I asked her what he was then, she says, "Just a Daddy!" She is one silly girl, that is for sure.
She didn't give us too many details about the day except for a silly song they sang where they shook their booties, and the snack they had. She told Aunt Mindy that the bathroom was cool.
She can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Cole - 15 months

2009-09-14T21:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't done an age update on this little man since he turned one. He has changed so much in the last 3 months I must record it.

He has turned into quite the ham... especially when the camera comes out. He's the first to say "cheese".

We threw the bobbas away! He still is not fond of drinking milk in a sippy cup. I have bought 3 different kinds in the last week. He is pretty stubborn!

He seems pretty happy with himself!

*He loves, loves, loves his dog. He calls him "Maxie" in the sweetest little voice along with the kissing noise. He calls for him all day long, he looks out the window for him and follows him around all day long.
*He's pretty fond of his brother also.
*He is talking up a storm.. when he wants to. He speaks very clear, just like Riley did as a baby. He says: hi, hello, bye, love you, thank you, maxie, mom, dad, bobba, luke, hot dog, ball, nice, no, eat, more and does the sign for it.
*He loves to dance in the car.
*He is trying to be a lefty just like Riley. I will put something in his right hand and he switches it to his left. At least he will have someone in the house to help him learn how to write and cut.
*He loves to play basket ball with his Dad. He steals a ball from one of the big guys and walks over to the hoop.
*He makes the "vroom" sound with his cars and with the girls' doll strollers. He pushes a basketball, or his cup around in the stroller.
* He doesn't sit still for more than 30 seconds, making church oh so fun.
*He still requires lots and lots of sleep.
* He's been such a joy to have. I love watching him grow up and learn new things, but it makes me sad to see my "baby" so independant.

our first family camping trip

2009-09-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Many of you know me well enough to know that this is just crazy of me to do... but, I guess it was just time to finally give in and take the whole fam camping! We left Saturday afternoon as soon as D got off of work. The kids were so excited and Ry wouldn't shut her mouth the whole way there, or the whole way back! Since we are rookies at this, we borrowed a tent and gathered up all the sleeping bags and chairs we could find.
I packed us up Saturday morning after my 8 mile run, which was a great one I might add. (I did it in 1 hour 16 min!) Which was not a good idea. I didn't recover properly so I did forget a few things. We have learned for next time I guess. My kids pants from last season we all so short too! They didn't seem to mind much though!
We got to the site at about 8pm, it was pretty cold and dark. We just sat around the fire for a bit and then headed to bed. It was a long night, not full of sleep. Luke and Ry's air mattress went flat. The dog wouldn't relax. Chloe slept with me, need I say more. Cole did pretty well in the pak n play, till Ry would cry and wake him up, and poor Darren ended up without a mattress. Both nights were pretty much the same. It was nice to be without the chaos of home and get to just hang out and play outside!

This is the most physical labor I have ever seen her do!

I thought this was too cute of Luke!

The boy ate rocks all weekend! I think maybe he has PICA< haha

This is how we bathed. Yes even the adults did. It was very refreshing!

Overall, we had a nice time! It is just exhausting to camp with so many little ones! I think it will be easier as they get older and get the hang of it all. It would also be nice to just have a camper! :)
We have done tons and tons of laundry and still have lots to do.

We survived the first week!

2009-09-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

It's going to take some adjusting, but I think we all did a great job with the first week of school! Saturday and Sunday we were all dragging from exhaustion.
Riley did better than I could have imagined in 1st grade! I am so glad I can talk to Mrs. Swinn every night to check up on how she did. There are a few things you can tell Ry is a little behind on, just from not ever going to Kinder, but once you teach her she gets it right away. She isn't used to so much homework either, I have to keep right on her, plus take care of the other 3 kids and prepare dinner. It's wearing on my patience a little. I know she will be fine once we get the hang of it all.
I was so proud of her first spelling test though!

I was a little worried about Luke and his class. He didn't really bring much work home or say they did much in class. This could just be part of being a little boy I realize. Thankfully, this week he has brought much more home and he has a regular homework packet with spelling words and all. I know he will do well. He is such a hard worker and so intelligent!

We got word that Chloe got into the rec center pre-school! We were all jumping for joy! We went to the preschool paper signing party and got to meet her new teacher, Mrs. Bridget and some new friends she will have in class. She can hardly wait for Sept. 15th to come! Luke and Ry liked going to pre-school, but never before cried to go like Chloe has. It has been so much fun getting to spend one on one time with her and Coco. They are my little buddies!

1st day of school party

2009-08-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the 1st day of school Grandma took us to Leatherby's. Or Weatherby's as Riley called it.
My kids sure take after me when it comes to ice cream, they can't get enough!
It was yummy, and we sure had a nice time!

This is how she poses all the time now.

Cole with his new buzz cut. Isn't he so dang cute like his big brother?

Gotta get every last drop.

First day of School

2009-08-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

The long awaited day is finally here!! I think I may have been more excited than Luke and Riley have been.
The first day is always nice because I don't have to fight them out of bed, and they always get ready quickly.
Once again, my kids have started at a new school. Neither one of them seem to mind that they don't know anyone. Oh, to be young and be able to make friends like that again! We are very excited about the new school and new year, it's going to be a great one!

Chloe wasn't about to let them have a picture without them. She thought she was going to preschool today.

Riley-1st grade Luke-2nd grade
Yes, we decided to have Ry tested, and with the teachers and principal, we decided to let her skip Kinder and enter 1st grade with Mrs. Swinn. (my good friend Amanda)
Her classroom is so cool and I know Ry is going to have a great time. Plus, I will be able to get daily updates from Mrs. Swinn. :)

Who could've asked for a more beautiful teacher?

Here is Luke walking into the school with his class. He is at the age where he is too embarrassed to show any affection, or take a picture. His teacher is also great, and his class is pretty small. I know he will do great!

As we were walking back to the car, Chloe asked where Luke and Ry were. I guess she forgot what we were there for! She is loving being by herself right now though. (Cole is napping.) I am so happy to be back to a routine and schedule!!

Playin' with sissy

2009-08-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Cole just loves it when the kids are in their towels. This is how Riley warms up after her shower and Cole thought it was the perfect opportunity to pounce.

He is also getting to be quite the cheeser when the camera comes out.
It's funny to see his little personality come out. The older they all get, the more I can see similarities between the 4 of them. Cole and Riley have the same lips and I can tell he is going to talk like she does. He has picked up so many words lately and they are spoken very clearly.
Riley has also been such a big helper to this little guy!

New haircuts

2009-08-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

It had been quite a while since these cute girls had a haircut. I was so glad when Brittney offered to do them the other day. Ry decided to cut a few inches off and cut bangs. Chloe decided to go short. I was so excited she did. I think they both look beautiful!

This is Chloe's new pose.

I just love all the little bruises on her legs. She is a tough girl.

What is wrong with this picture?

2009-08-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

This is what I found when I did my nightly check on the girls before I headed to bed. I'm not sure if Riley is on Chloe's bed because of the dog, or because she was taking care of Chloe.
After we had our late dinner, Riley comes in and says I am taking care of Chloe tonight, so you guys don't have to. I was thinking, YES! It had been a long day. After they were jumping on their bed though, I figured, yeah right, not gonna happen! But they settled down quickly and fell asleep.
I just love little moments like this. Not having a sister makes me appreciate it so much more. I do have great friends, whom I consider sisters, but obviously never had little moments like this. I love these little girls, oh, I mean princesses, so much! They run me and my patience ragged, but I wouldn't trade em' for anything!

Swim day

2009-08-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Since it is the last week of summer vacation, we are trying to have as much fun as possible! Cole took a nap for us while we swam for most of the time. It was nice not to have to wrestle him the whole time. Aunt Chelle and Addie came over to play with us too.

The kids went through the pics with me and picked which ones made it on the blog.

Luke swears that D has a six pack in this one. I just love how silly he is at the pool. Well, he is this silly every where we go.

The water gun weighs more than Luke does.

I took like 10 pics of this girl, and this is the one she likes. I don't know why she insists on wearing the life vest. The girl is a great swimmer! I think she is just lazy and likes that she doesn't get tired when it's on. I also think, it will get lost before we swim again.

The Week

2009-08-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

I guess I didn't do too well with the blogging this last week.
It doesn't help that my camera has been dead and the charger is one of the few things that are missing. I finally got to charge it at my Dad's yesterday.
So enjoy a couple pics from my phone.

Yeah, it is blue marker, and yes he did eat it. And, I know you're thinking it, he did have a pretty blueish, green diaper the next day!

Life with a 1 year old and a 3 year old is just funny some times. I have no control most days, it seems. You can tell I am seasoned, I just laughed when I saw him.

I just thought this one was too cute to leave out. He has been wearing Luke's unders to bed at night. Over the diaper, of course. He is just so proud of himself. That little smirk of his is soo Luke. It's almost like a time machine.

Here's what went on in the Mecham house this last week:

Monday: Kobie and Kavin hung out with us for the day. Darren took most of the kids to play b-ball, but returned home shortly after. They didn't have enough guys to play. Ry and I went to the gym with Amanda and kids. We were booted out shortly after arriving. Bentley got a little bit of his messy diaper on his shirt, and this is not allowed! hehe We ended up going to Costco. It was more fun!

Tuesday: We were lazy in the morning, kids watched Witch Mountain while we watched 17 Again. It was really cute. Chloe had a well check, no shots! She is one tall girl, 90th percentile.

We then went swimming at Uncle Kim's. Took Kavin home with us to sleep over. Took Chloe to Nama's house for sleep over. Took big kids to see Harry Potter. We all loved it. What a long day!

Wednesday: Kids played in the house most of the day, while I worked out and got house work done. Kavin left mid afternoon. Nama brought Chloe home, who was exhausted. We got in the car to head over to visit gma and gpa great. I couldn't even make it to the freeway without pulling into MCD's for a rest stop. My stomach had not been happy most of the day. Chloe threw a huge temper tantrum so we went home where she crashed. Made a nice healthy dinner and planned on mtg. the fam for dessert at BJ's. Chloe once again prevented that from happening. My stomach continued to be crazy. Had awful pain that was worse than any of my labors. Darren gave me a blessing and got me acid reducer, but nothing helped. My hands and feet cramped up and I was ghost white and all sweaty. We ended up in the ER for the night. Some morphine and Zofran helped. Not sure what it was, they think gallbladder or a tear in my stomach lining. Will need to go for more tests!

Thursday: Didn't get home from ER till 4:30 am. Cole got up for a diaper at 5, and then went back to bed till 10:30. The other kids also slept in late. How nice of them!! I was just wiped! We laid around all day. Took a nap in the afternoon. Had some soup and corn bread from Marie Callander's for dinner.

Friday: One on those days, where there just isn't enough hours in the day. Got my workout in and did some more house work. Kids played, did some school work, and watched movies. When Darren got home we headed for the Melton's where the kids stayed with a sitter. We met the Swinn's and Kundanani's at Maggiano's for dinner. They are having a special and we all love going there! Walked on the strip for bit afterward. It was a great evening!

Saturday: Got on computer bright and early to register Chloe for the rec center pre-k. Withing 30 seconds all 17 spots were filled and we were 6th on the waiting list. I was so bummed, so was Chloe. I had to do my run on the treadmill. Could only do 6 of the 8 miles because Chloe had to be in the room with me and we had to watch Handy Manny. It doesn't matter how early I get up to run, the kids always wake up and want to be right there with me. Once we got house work done and naps taken we went to visit my fam at gma and gpa great's house. Cole is a terror over there and broke a nick nack and tried to break many more! Darren met up with us when he got off work. It was nice to see our fam from Wisconsin we don't get to see often!

Today: Late to church as always. Had a nice sharing time and good lesson in primary. Riley actually sang in sharing time! Cole and Darren wandered the halls for 2 hrs. Made BLT's for dinner and chocolate oatmeal cookies for dessert. I ate way too many!

So we are thinking about doing joy school for Chloe once or twice a week. If anyone is commited to doing it with us, let me know. I don't know what to do with her. It is so tough not living near everyone.

Trying to redeem myself

2009-08-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

I have been absent from the blogging world. I have gotten to check some out here and there, but just haven't been feeling it/ had time/ still don't have our computer up and running. But, I've decided to get back to it. I need to journal for my posterity!

Last Sunday as we are getting ready for church, Luke tells Riley, "you look like that lady, you know, sen. Mc Cain's president partner." Ha, ha. So, we posed her with Gma's glasses. What a cute little Sarah Palin!

K, I almost didn't post this, cuz a pic of a toilet is just wrong to me, but it is so Chloe!
I just don't know about that child some days!!

My niece Hayden Jade Lapp was born a week and half ago, and we just love her to pieces!! She is so dang precious and my kids just love holding her. Her mom and dad wish she would sleep a little more at night, and a little less during the day!

A few nights ago we met the Mohlman's at Town Square to play at the park and have some delish Yogurtland! It was the most perfect night, the weather was great! Chloe and Loryn were feeding each other. They are too cute!

Some other happenings:
-Ry was tested at the school to see if she will skip Kinder. We are still awaiting word, and I am still not 100 percent sure what to do with her.
-Ry also loves to play on the phone and phoned 911 without us knowing. A nice officer showed up at our door within 2 minutes. How embarrassing! Let's just say, she will never be doing that again!
-Our plans for the half marathon in Sept. fell apart, so I have decided to keep on and train for the full marathon in December! Yeah, that means 26.2 miles!! I know, I am crazy, but I am only getting older and why waste all the training I have already done?
I am on day 7 of P90X also. Fun, fun!

-I hate when you move and random things get lost. Need to make a point of really searching for them this week!

-Luke is adjusting to being home. He doesn't have much patience for his sisters. He is such a boy now and just wants to play video games or watch TV. He is still such a good boy though!

-Chloe, is well, crazy! She has earned the new nickname REPEAT. She copies most of Riley's actions and words. Then to top it off, she surprises me with her own craziness! She is such a funny little thing though.

-Coco is just getting so big! Especially now that Hayden is here. It makes me sad, but then happy that soon we will get to travel without strollers and diapers and all that jazz. He has learned to say "more" and will do the sign for it also, but only if it is something sweet! Little turd! If you ask him for a kiss, he bows his big ol' head at you to kiss. He doesn't kiss on the lips! Since he was just tiny, the girls have always kissed his head before bed time and every nap. He thinks that is how you kiss!

-Darren has been working hard, as usual. No OT, but it has been nice to spend time with him. He came home Saturday with a scab/ bump on his forehead. The girls were very concerned, especially when he said he got shot there. It was during training and with a paintball gun. ha ha

Escalante

2009-08-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

We survived, just barely! No, it was a great trip. But ask me if I will go by myself with all 4 kids again, NO! It would have been OK if Cole hadn't gotten sick. Poor baby. It's the only time he has ever stayed up all night.
Luckily, I had Cherise with me!
I didn't get any pictures of the first day there, and I honestly don't even remember what we did that day! It's a lot of work up there for Moms, that is for dang sure! It is so worth it when you see your kids having such a blast with all of their cousins though!

Here is some of the cousins at the parade on Saturday morning.
I tried to map out a 10 mile run for me that day, but how funny, that the towns not big enough without going on the highway which doesn't have a bike lane! Then Cole got sick, so I skipped the whole thing anyways.

Rachel and my girls. Aren't they all just so beautiful? My girls idolize Rach. She is so good to them!

Smokey! Notice how wet the kids are from the fire trucks. You haven't seen a parade till you've been to Escalante!

This is Ceez and the forest ranger. It's a little family joke and I had to add it!!
Afterwards, the kids got to play at the carnival, run in a foot race and finished the night off with an awesome fireworks show! Darren pulled into town right before the fireworks, and boy was I glad to see him!

Just hangin' out

2009-08-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

You always have to take pictures on grandma and grandpa great's tire swing. This is where kids are their happiest!

I think he looks so dang cute with his green shirt with all the green in the back ground.

This is the notorious garden! I have heard stories and stories about the garden from Luke. I'm sure he has some kind of gardening in his future. Gma says he is the best weed puller in town! He even likes to eat zucchini from the garden!
Cole of course had to join in.

It is a sad day for me when I include the dog in a blog post! I hate to say that he has become a member of the family, and I kinda like the thing. He came up with Darren on Saturday and was so glad to see his boy! I was so sad when I showed up early to see Luke and the first thing he asked is where is Max. He was shedding like crazy, so this is how we helped him get rid of some of the hair. It was pretty funny!

Calf Creek

2009-08-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

We just love hiking through Calf Creek when we visit Escalante.
We waited for the rain to clear up to go, and once we got there, we were afraid it might start again. We got lucky and it was just beautiful out.

The last time Chloe was here, she was a baby and was carried the whole way, so I wasn't sure how she would do. That girl was such a trooper! She was willing to try anything. My favorite though, was when she was holding Darren's hand walking, saying "carefully, carefully", in her cute little Chloe accent.

Kolton starting carving his name into the moss, so D had to join in. The kids saw D&M and said, "Oh, MOM and DAD."
That worked out well.

I am so glad I was the camera holder!

I love that our kids are getting older and these little outings get easier and easier. It also helped that Cole stayed at the house with Gma and Gpa Mecham. But, we were able to get all cleaned up and dried and stopped for a frozen yogurt at the gas station on the way home. So fun!

On the road

2009-07-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

On our way home today everyone had hit a wall. Cherise was following with her boys, and they were restless too.
We made a stop in Baker for some treats and to stretch a little.

Although, we hate suckers, and their mess, we let them get em so they would be quiet for longer.
Cole was quite proud of his!

Darren with his cool glasses. His sunglasses are over his regular glasses. SO HOT!

The kids and I are on the road again tomorrow. We are headed to good ole' Escalante, where Luke has been for nearly 3 weeks with Grandma and Grandpa Mecham. A lot of the family will also be there to celebrate pioneer day. I am dreading another long car ride with the kids!

Surprise Disney trip

2009-07-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

We decided to surprise the girls with a little Disneyland visit in honor of Chloe's B-day. We were torn, with Luke not being with us, but decided Darren and him will have their own boys trip where they can ride all the big rides!
Darren and I were so excited, it was really hard not to tell them. We got them up early and told the girls they were going to a new DR far away so they could get their shots. I'm not sure how this even got thought of and it was kind of mean of us.
We ended up getting really cheap tickets on Ebay for just one day. (this was tough for us, we are used to going at least 2 days)
I think Riley recognized some sights on the way, she kept saying, I want to go to Disneyland! Once she saw the Tower of Tower, they knew. They were so excited!
Luckily, Darren's brother Brett and his family was also there and we were able to spend the whole day with them.
Cole, Chloe and I got dropped of at the front of the park so we wouldn't have to deal with the tram. Chloe wanted to head to the Castle first thing! She was so funny with pictures. She would want pics of her and just random things. Then certain times, she wouldn't want me to take her pic at all.

At Sleeping Beauty's castle.

with Snow White

Handy Manny, or as she says it, Mandy Manny
She wanted me and Coco in this one. When Handy Manny put his hand on my back and touched Cole, he jumped like he was surprised that he moved. It was so dang funny!

It wouldn't be a Mecham trip without a churro picture.
Notice all of the strollers. Bridgett gets two free, and we ended up with an extra one too. Thank goodness! I forgot how tired the kids get when it is so hot outside.

You can tell, I spent most of the day with Chloe and Cole. It is so hard when the little ones can't ride the big rides. I even got quite talented with pushing two strollers at once. I loved seeing how excited they were though.

The kids were such troopers. We were non stop all day, on a day that started so darn early! We had so much fun with Brett and Bridgett and their kids! We ended the night with fireworks where Chloe fell asleep and then Fantasmic, which was not so Fantastic for us!
By the time we got to Cherise's house, all the kids were sound asleep and it was nearly midnight.
Such a great day though!!

day two in California

2009-07-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

I started the day with a little run around Cherise's neighborhood, which is so pretty.

After getting everyone ready, and a few plan changes, we had lunch at one of our fav, Chick Fil A , and then met up with Brett and Bridgett and kids at the Disneyland Hotel, where they were staying. The pool was so awesome.

After some convincing, we got Riley to go down the slide. She was a little confused when the lifeguard asked her if she was a strong (ry calls it "tough") swimmer. Ry said no, so they made her take a swim test first. After passing it, here she comes! We couldn't get her to stop after that. Darren and I both went down too.

We found Ariel near the hot tub.

Look at these silly cousins! I just love seeing them all together! The babies weren't having it, and Blake was asleep. I got several of them with different poses though. I just love Austin's muscles!

After swimming we got changed and had dinner at our usual spot, Super Mex. It got chaotic with so many tired kids and a very bad waitress.

We just love going to visit California, not just for Disney, but to see Cherise, Mando and kids. We love you guys, and Thanks for letting us crash your pad!

Riley's first concert

2009-07-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

After hearing we could get tickets to see David Archuleta and Demi Lovato for $15, I decided Ry and I would go with the Mohlman girls.(minus Loryn) Riley was so excited, even though she didn't know what a concert was.
We went to dinner first at IN N OUT, where the girls were so silly together.

(Morgan, Laci and Riley)
They had a little red carpet for the fans.
Our seats were actually pretty good for the price. The opening band, KSM was pretty impressive and only sang 3 songs, which I thought was perfect length. Then David Archuleta came on. He was really good, but sang a few too many songs I think. The kids were getting tired and restless. Well, the younger group anyways. There was a 20 min break before Demi even came out. We of course had to get some treats, which Riley loved! Demi Lovato was so cute and has such a great voice. I was quite impressed. By 9:15 Riley was ready to go and was so tired. ( We shouldn't have gone swimming earlier that day.) Morgan was so into it, I didn't want her to miss out so I told Ry to wait just a bit. She ended up falling asleep a few minutes later. We left as soon as it was done. Well, I think she did an encore, but we ran out before we could hear it.

Cute girls

Demi

Here she is asleep.

I just love the one on one time I get with my big girl! She really is a teenager at heart! At one point, she asks me, "Am I a fan of Demi Lovato?" I told her yes, and she was so excited and hugged me. I'm not sure what she thought that meant, but it sure was cute!

Chloe's THREE!!

2009-07-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

The night before, as I was tucking her into bed, she wanted to know her story. I told her how she waited for us to paint her bedroom before she was born. After a long day of painting and a date, she was ready to be born. She only let me get about an hour of sleep that night. I was sure it was a false alarm, she was 3 weeks and 1 day early. After a very quick labor, she arrived, super tiny, with lots of black hair at 7:59 am on July 16th, 2006.
She loved hearing all about it! I love that she is 3 and understanding so much! Her little personality has come out, and she is such a hoot!

She got up and quickly got ready so Pa and Nama could take her and Riley to breakfast.
She had pancakes with a banana smiley face. Her big sister read her the menu and helped her with her drink.
In the afternoon we made a trip to the library where she got 2 rewards for the summer reading club.
We then, braved the Chuck E Cheese's for the little princess. Her fellow princess friend, Ella was able to meet us there. I couldn't believe all of the teenagers there. She didn't seem to mind though.

This is my fav!! "Here, Coco, turn your head and say cheese!"

Had too much fun with the cake. They didn't eat any of it!
Chloe Reece, we love you sooo much!!

4th of July weekend

2009-07-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

-The weekend had a great start with a Temple session with some of the fam. Our nephew Steven was taking his endowments out for his upcoming mission to Washington.
It was so awesome and uplifting. We then went to Macayo's for a celebratory dinner.
-We have had our niece Eva sleep over the last several Friday nights so I can go for an early run on Saturday mornings. So that is how I started my 4th of July. A nice 8 mile run! I have improved my time quite a bit in the last month or so. It was so hot and humid though by the end at 7 am.
-The kids and I had planned on meeting some friends in Cedar City for the holiday, but last minute, we decided to stay home. We are moving this week, so I figured we better stay closer to home and get packed.

Here is a cute self timed photo of us before we headed out the door to celebrate at Uncle Kim's house. Cut my head off a little, but I still liked it. Darren was at work and met up with us later.

It was a small gathering compared to previous years. We were so excited the Coplin's came from Arizona this year. This was the only pic we got of Luke all day. He was so busy with Clay and Parker. They didn't even eat dinner till 11pm because they were so busy!

Riley wanted to be involved in the letting off of fireworks. Illegal ones I might add. I don't know where they came from ;) In years past, I might not have let this take place... It's amazing how much more laid back you become after having 4 kids.

She thinks she is a teenager, and the older cousins treat her as if she is. So she hung with Rachael most of the night.

Cole did so well. He was not afraid at all. He is a true Mecham! He kept trying to walk out to the street to help the guys out.

Luke was so busy with the guys, I really never saw him. I'm sure he did lots of fireworks.

Chloe was fine until we tried to get a picture of her. She was so over exhausted, so Aunt Machelle took her inside and let her watch Cinderella.

Cole and I joined her.

Darren hoped Ry would want to come in, but she stuck it out until the end.

Look at this cutie boy!!!

We stayed way too late and escaped when the dry ice bombs were being made.

I was such a fun time with the family though!

I already had a sub for my primary class, so we were bad and took advantage and got most of the house packed up yesterday. For those who don't know, we will be moving in with Darren's parents for a bit in hopes of getting a new house closer to the end of the year. Never a dull moment with us!!

Look who's walking!

2009-06-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well, he has been for about a week now, I am a little behind! I am so glad he finally decided to do it!
He is a fast little guy too. It was so hard to get pictures of him because he was chasing after me.

He is still not so sure about walking in shoes. He steps so high with them on. I love how his hands have to be up in the air to keep his balance.
It's so dang cute when he hears the door open. He runs towards it with both hands waving.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-06-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I still was not feeling well on my B-day. My girls really wanted to take me for a pedicure, but I ended up staying in bed most of the day. Not only was I sick, I was being a brat too. I guess I was just thinking, it's my party and I can cry if I want to!
Darren had gotten comped tickets to the show KA for that night. We went to the show and then had dinner at one of our fav spots, Maggiano's. It ended up being a nice evening, Thanks Darren!!

We let the kids sing to me and have cupcakes before we headed out for the night.
The following day I was feeling a lot better, so the girls, my Mom and I went for our pedis. They got their toes and fingers painted. This was Chloe's first time going to the salon, she was in Heaven.
I just love that my girls are getting old enough for us to have little outings like this! It was so nice!

The finished toes

That night Darren made me a mud cake. The girls insisted I wear the Princess Tiara for "my party."

I've noticed now that I am the BIG 28...
how easy it is to forget how old I am
how young high school kids seem
how my kids are always asking if I did such and such as a kid... and sometimes I don't remember
how stuff we wore as kids in the 80's are coming back
how I can't believe my 10 year reunion is here
some creases in my face
that I actually have to watch what I eat, and have to exercise

Father's Day

2009-06-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

So, a very late Happy Father's Day wish to the best husband and Dad around!! We love you Darren!!

These are a couple of my favorite pics of Darren. The baby is Cole.
And the next one is he and Chloe swimming.

Riley wants me to put that her favorite thing to do with her Dad is snuggle and swim with him.
Luke says his favorite thing to do with his dad is to go to Utah and shoot BB guns.
Chloe loves to give her Dad kisses and tell him she is going to marry him in the temple. he he
Cole, well, he just says Da Da. Next year he will have lots to say, I'm sure!

On Father's Day I got up to make Darren breakfast in bed. Once I got it all cleaned up I realized I wasn't getting far. I had a cold or something yucky, and went back to bed. Darren, being the bomb Dad he is, got the 3 bigger kids ready, took them to church, and taught my class for me! Man, I owe him BIG!!
I did manage to get a lasagna made for dinner and had my Dad, brother and Mom over to eat.
It was a nice night, I hope Darren thought so too.

Here is Chloe stealing all the olives out of the salad and Coco helping load the dishwasher.

What's been goin' on

2009-06-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

-Gave Coco a cookie after he had his shots. I think he really enjoyed it! I just love what a character this kid is.
Of course, right after I posted about his well check, he has said a couple new words- hi, bye and is finally waving.

-I was excited to go fill the RX cream for a rash he has. When you fill a new RX at CVS you get a $25 gift card if you ask for a coupon for it. I'm so excited for my next CVS run, I have $40 free!

-Monday night, Erin and I got to bring dinner to the Berkabiles and see their beautiful baby girl Sadie. I just love newborns. She is just the tiniest little thing. They are just a beautiful family! After I left, I was almost sad to know we won't have another newborn in our home. I got over it quickly when I remembered my baby sleeps through the night!

-Tuesday afternoon, the whole family had appointments at the dentist. We all got our teeth cleaned. My kids are weird and love to go to the dentist. It helps that their Aunt Mindy and Aunt Heather work there. They also love all the toys in the treasure box! Unfortunately, Luke and I both have one little cavity each. Darren thought it was quite funny that it was me and not him. We will be going back next week for the fillings.

-Tuesday night Brittney called me over to fix my hair. (see pic below for end result) She was mortified when she saw I had posted a pic of it at the party. You see, it is very hard to cover the red that I had in my hair. We new it would be a process, but in my pink cover up, it looked pinkish, purplish. We had a late night and then didn't get it finished. She didn't have the right toner for it.

-While on the treadmill Wednesday morning, here comes the Leavitt family. Britt with toner in hand. She finishes my hair and then while I shower, she makes mac and cheese for my kids and wipes two of their bums. What a friend!! She was much happier with this end result. I thought it was fine before, but agree it is better now. I had to post a pic for her so everyone can see how great she is! Thanks a ton girl!!

-On Wednesday afternoon I went to see the Endocrinologist, finally. Unfortunately, I am not so impressed with him. Won't go too into it. We did do an ultrasound and found that my thyroid is enlarged. He doesn't think I have enough symptoms to be "really" hyperthyroid. I went to have more blood work done. If it comes out high again, I will go and have a scan done of my thyroid. I should find out this afternoon.
Ugh, and I found out at the Dr. that I have gained 3 pounds. This has a little to do with my thyroid causing me to be hungry all the time. But, I have got to get on this and work out hard to get it off!!
(and yes, my eyelashes are growing back)

-Wednesday night we went to Peter Piper for Luke's end of soccer party. I just love that Marc Dudley was his coach and I get to hang with Erin! The place was busy, but the pizzas were only 5 bucks! You can't go wrong! The kids had a blast with Darren and I got to chat with Erin and few of the other moms.

-Today we our planning on swimming and hopefully going to the library. I have been trying to get there all week!
It's going to be a long summer break I have decided. We really need to get some activities set up!

Chloe's party

2009-06-15T16:11:00.001-07:00

Chloe's birthday isn't until July 16th, but we figured it was close enough to not want to do 2 in a month. So, they had a joint party.
I think she thinks she is 3 now though. Whatever!

She is such a cutie!
Darren found her this cake and cupcakes and she just loved it. There were little rings for the girls on top of each cup cake.

Quincy just had a b-day, so she was a pro at opening presents. My Dad he had flashbacks of Jodie and I at the same age. I just love that we have little princesses the same age.

Chloe and "Pa".

Here she is in her new fancy nancy outfit pouting. She was mad that we made her share her new toys.

We left her alone with the little cake. I guess she wanted to be like Cole.

It was a great party! A big thank you to Uncle Kim and Aunt Kathy for hosting the party! The pool was even heated!!

Cole's party

2009-06-15T15:44:00.001-07:00

Swimmin with my soon to be sis in law Heather. I feel bad, I really didn't get to play with Cole much. There was so much going on.

Blowing kisses. He looks a little slow doesn't he? I think it is hilarious!

He was so excited to have a cup cake.

After he ate, he was so tired so we put him in the house for a little nap. It ended up being a long nap. Chloe ended up opening all of his presents.

We let him play for a bit once we got home. He was loving it!

Such a boy!

He had his 12 month well check today.

He weighed in at 22 pounds (40th percentile) and was 30 inches tall(60th percentile).

He got 3 shots. One in each arm and one on this thigh. He is the best baby when it comes to shots, he barely even wimpers.

He says a few words - ball, dog, no no no, mama, dada, max

He walks about 5 or 6 steps, then sits on his bum. He is a little scared and a little lazy about it.

Doc says he is great!!

birthday boy

2009-06-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

The day began with a little balloon playin'. The kid sure does love him some balloons.
The rest of the morning and afternoon were pretty uneventful. His friend Emmy did come and play so that her mom could do my hair.

The real fun began after dinner. I bought him his own little cake.
I wasn't sure how he would react. Luke wouldn't get dirty with his, but the girls did.

He wasn't too sure how to do it at first.

Now he's got it.

We couldn't believe how much he ate. There was not much that he missed. What a mess!!

Once we got him cleaned up, Grandma and some cousins came over with ice cream. He was ready for round two! I couldn't believe he actually went to sleep, I thought he would be wired, or sick from all the sugar.

Happy 1st Birthday Cole June 11, 2009

2009-06-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

first time meeting your brother and sisters... 1 day old

Hanging out with Dad... 2 weeks old

3 months old

getting buff with big brother...7 months old

At the park...11 months old

Cole...

It was so fun to sort through all of the pictures of you from the past 365 days. You have changed so much in that time! You have also changed our family in such a good way in that time! Your brothers and sisters were in love with you before you were even born. They couldn't wait to meet you! They sure do spoil you rotten! Maybe that is why you refuse to talk and walk! You have been the easiest, most laid back baby, since day 1! You are such a blessing in our home! I just don't know what we would do without you. Like in the morning when it is time to pull you out of your crib. We love the huge smile you flash at us and you love all the hugs and kisses you get. Or at bedtime, when everyone has to get their turn to kiss and hug you and tell you to sleep good. Or what about the way you try to mock the kids when they yell at Max. Or when you throw your sippy cup off your high chair tray and smirk when we put it back on for you. Or when you poop in the bath once or twice a week. (OK maybe not that one) Or when you clap for Luke and Riley during their soccer games. Or when you knock on the wall from your crib calling for us. Or how you get so excited when you see a ball. Your arms and hands go crazy! Or the way you try to put on every ones glasses or goggles and then give the cheesiest grin ever. Or how you flirt with any girl or woman, even relatives! Most of all, what would I do without the snuggles you give me? Or the way you hang on my legs when I am trying to cook dinner or clean the kitchen? What I am trying to say, Cole, is that we LOVE you so much!! You are one special little boy!!! Happy Birthday Coco man!

Riley's last soccer game

2009-06-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was Riley's last soccer game, hallelujah!! (Luke still has one more) Overall, it has been a fun season! I was really worried about having 2 kids playing at the same time and me being alone with my other 2 little ones. It really wasn't as bad as I though it would be. We got so lucky and got on Matthew Boyd's team from the ward along with lots of other friends from the ward. It sure made it fun to see them all on the field together. Since I have been through so many seasons with Luke, I was much more laid back with Riley when she wouldn't barely touch the ball the whole game.

She really loved playing goalie. I would just cringe every time she would volunteer to go in. She, along with most of the other girls on the the team, would get hit in the head with the ball or get hurt in some way, every single time. She would then cry, and have to come out of the game. But, the girl would still want to go back in later. Hopefully, next season she will learn to suck it up and keep playing!

Savannah, Demarie, Kylie and Riley. Aren't they just the cutest little soccer princesses you've ever seen? They all played together for the last quarter. It was hilarious!

Her first trophy! She was so excited.

This next picture is great... She has been asking me forever to get fake nails. She always sees them at the store. I finally gave in and got them since she did so well at school this year. We waited until after the soccer game, so they wouldn't break.
Her cousin Eva was nice enough to pamper her and put them on for her.
I must admit, they looked so cute.
They have of course all come off already!

High chair Hijinks

2009-06-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

He is so cute when he is doing something naughty. I don't think any of the other kids have figured this out so early. And, don't you just love his little farmer tan?

This was the other night during dinner. We had pork tacos so I made him a burrito, minus the tortilla. He LOVED it! He usually loses interest pretty quickly, but this time he ate and ate, even after we had all finished and had cleaned up the table and kitchen. Guess I better make that meal more often!

So proud

2009-06-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

of Luke and Riley...

As the school year is coming to an end, we have had lots to celebrate! Yesterday we attended the 4th awards ceremony for the 1st graders. Luke received 3 awards, one for straight A's, one for Music and one for World Language. You'd think with as many times as the kids name has been called this year, that his principal would pronounce Mecham right??
I was surprised with an honorable mention and a couple red roses from his teacher for helping out in the class. It was so nice!
We then got his report card and had a little conference with his teacher. She said he was such a joy in class and was such a good example to the other students. He always chose good behavior, even when the other kids were not.

Chloe had to be a part of the pics. She didn't have anything school related so she grabbed books! Notice Cole on the far right.
Later on, we had a conference with Riley's pre-k teacher.
She gave us a bunch of papers that Ry has done through out the year and a cute little scrap book that they made in class. It was awesome to see how she has progressed through out the year.
Riley has been spending most of her days in Kindergarten over the past few months. They have told us that they have never had a pre-k student as advanced as she is. She has really enjoyed getting to hang out with the older kids.
They tested her the other day and said she tested at 1st grade reading level. I'm not sure if they will evaluate her now or wait till we return from break, but they are considering letting her skip Kinder all together. Now, I am not opposed to this, but I am also OK with her going to Kinder. Their Kinder program is all day, and they will move her to a higher reading group. However, we really hope to move some time during the next school year. When she goes to a "normal" half day kinder is when I will push to get her in 1st grade. It is amazing how much harder the curriculum is at this school.
So, time will only tell. I will say, that Luke is not very excited about the possibility of them only being 1 grade apart.

I must admit, I am very impressed with the kids' school. When we started at the end of last year, I was not excited about it, nor did I enjoy having to go there several times a day. To say it nicely, I don't quite fit in with the other parents, nor do I speak the right language. I have gotten used to it now, and even made a couple friends, although our conversations are limited. I really appreciate how hard their teachers have worked this year and feel blessed that my kids have had an opportunity to attend such a fine school!

out with the old...

2009-05-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

In with the new...

The other day we all went swimming at the Pfundstein's home. We had such a blast, but just before we left I realized my phone was missing. After several hours of searching, Amanda called and said somehow the dog had gotten it, and it was in several pieces.
It worked out well. I got a new one at no charge, and it's red, which I wanted from the beginning. Its got a few new applications on it too. I am so glad we pay for the insurance every month!! The only down side is that I didn't back my old one up on the computer and didn't have a memory card in it, so I lost all of my contact info, pictures and calendar.

On a side note... You must check out my Brother in law Ron/Kim's blog www.mechamreview.blogspot.com and look at his post from Thursday. Then go to my sister in law Cherise's blog www.cheriseandfamily.blogspot.com
Just some funny stuff you need to see!

Girls night + Cole + some visitors

2009-05-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

The girls really wanted to go get pedicures when they heard that they boys would be gone for a few days. I had planned on it, but when it came down to it, it was just too much work to have to find a sitter for Cole. They weren't too bummed when I told them we'd have dinner picnic style with a princess movie while getting their toes done. I thought I had blocked the living room off successfully, but this is what I found.

We then got a visit from the Meltons who were getting a treat at Luv its. The girls quickly ran into the room to do their usual dress up.

Beckham was cracking me up. He kept bringing me my camera and wanted me to take his picture. He is such a cutie!

He really wanted Jodie to put a Tinkerbell costume on him and Matt wasn't really excited about it. So we found him this.

It was a fun night, finished off with a little single lady dancing. Thanks for making us laugh!

Boys Trip

2009-05-25T17:49:00.001-07:00

My big boys are in Escalante for the weekend. Luke has been itching to go for a long time. Darren and a couple of his brothers were going up to help plant a garden and do some other work around the house. Here are a few pics Darren has sent me.

He has been working hard and loving every minute of it.

I've been informed that boys weekend means no rules. I was a little scared when I saw him with the gun. Darren assures me that it was empty and he later helped him shoot a couple times for real.

Last night I guess Darren asked him if he wanted a hot dog , and he replied, "I think it is too late." Uncle Kim had to tell him that it was OK because it is a boys weekend.

I also got a picture of him drinking Pepsi... I will let it slide just for the weekend. :)

I thought this was a cool picture of the scenery.

I am glad they got to get away for a few days together. We miss our boys, but we will survive without them.

We are off to dinner tonight and then hoping to get pedicures tomorrow.

Farwell to Formula

2009-05-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Cole had his last bottle of formula yesterday. You'd think I'd be jumping up and down right? I am kind of sad about it. I actually was going to go out and buy some more, but Darren was against it. He has been trying to be done with formula for a couple of weeks now. I guess we compromised! My original plan was to toss the bottles too, but have decided he can hang on to them for a little while longer. Maybe it's my way of making him my baby for a little while longer...

update

2009-05-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

I guess blogging has become more of a weekly thing for me lately. I really need to get my camera out more often.

-With the warm weather, we decided to go test out Kim/Ron's pool last Tuesday afternoon with the Swinn's. It was a little cool for my taste, but the kids didn't mind too much. We munched on some fruit and gold fish crackers. Then had some Cafe Rio for dinner. Fun night!

-Our little running group has been great!! I have made so many trips across town though in the last week. It stinks with the cost of gas right now. We have changed which Marathon we are running. We will be doing the Park City Half Marathon on August 22nd, if anyone is interested in joining us. It is on a Saturday!!!

-I see these cute chunky legs like this quite a bit these days. He is just into everything!! He has gotten so good at mimicking the kids lately too. Today we got him to hold the phone and say "hi". I'm not so fond of him copying the girls' squeals and screams though.

-Saturdays have gotten to be so busy for us. This past Saturday we had Luke and Ry's soccer games, (at different times of course), Ry's kinder registration, and a primary activity. I ended up waking up at 6 to get my run in. Needles to say, when we got home in the afternoon, it was nap time. The kids thought it would be so fun to all sleep in Luke's room together. I knew it would never happen, but gave them 30 minutes to calm down. Well, the dog ended up trying to sleep with them, and there was no way it was gonna happen after that. So we all just "rested" for a bit. I love that Darren works during the day now, but I really don't like having to be single soccer mom on Saturdays. (side note: #1 I don't like the dog on the bed, he thinks he owns it. #2 Luke has a pillow case, just couldn't get him to put in on after it was washed.)

-I got my blood test results back a few days ago. My thyroid is hyper active. Which I learned several years ago, but never really had symptoms that worried me enough to do anything about. I went in for more labs today. I guess we will discuss treatment some time this week.
-We had a family home evening tonight about families. A much needed one. The kids have been fighting like crazy. I think we have just given in to the chaos of having a big family lately. We set up new chore charts and schedules. I hope we can stick to it!
I have been wearing fake eyelashes when I go out. It totally stinks!!

Can't believe he is 11 months

2009-05-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

I am kind of sad that in one short month my baby boy will be 1!

He hasn't changed a whole lot this last month.

These are some pics I took of him tonight, before bed time.

-He is such a good little teeth brusher. He giggles when I brush them.

-He gets into this position all the time lately. He is really trying to stand up unassisted. We have tried to get him walking on his own. He is a little scared to do it just yet.

-He is as quick as a lightening bolt crawling though. We cannot keep track of him unless he is blocked in the room.

-He has been downing bottles like crazy lately. I cannot wait to stop buying formula.

-He likes to eat cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets with his brother and sisters. He thinks he is so cool. (yeah, we are so healthy)

-He weighed in at 21 pounds a few days ago.

-When the big kids are playing together or wrestling, he has to be right in on the action. He doesn't care if he gets hurt.

-He has finally said "mama" a few times. He even did it on Mother's Day. The best gift I could have ever gotten! He, of course, will not say it once today.

-He won't really say much else than "dada". He prefers to grunt and squawk.

-He is quite the singer.

Coco man, you are the best baby I could have ever asked for! I thank Heavenly Father for you every single day! You hold such a special spot in my heart! I can't imagine life without you! I love you sooo much!

It's 1 am... What am I doing?

2009-05-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

While Darren is taking our niece/babysitter home, I have been checking out some cute running blogs. It just motivates me. I love seeing other peoples stories.
Anyways, I wanted to invite all of you running pros, beginners, and wanna be's out to our first group run... Monday, 6am at the Tropical/ Clayton chapel. We will be doing 3 miles.
We can talk about our plans for upcoming races and starting our very own running blog!

This week so far...

2009-05-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you are all sick of seeing our race post...
It's taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things.
On Tuesday: I forced myself to get on the treadmill, even though it was just to walk. I had to get those muscles going. Followed that with a little weight lifting. Darren ended up doing all of the laundry. I told him I celebrate the whole week of Mother's Day!!
We celebrated Cinco De Mayo with Matt and Heather. I made salsa and tortillas from scratch, while Darren grilled some Carne Asada.
It was great!
On Wednesday: I got on the treadmill and ran a little. My knees were still killing me. My muscles felt great though. Don't remember much else about the day. I did have to call my Dr. because over the last 2 weeks I have lost nearly all of my eyelashes. That was the last straw! I have noticed my nails are very brittle and won't grow and I have been bruising very easily. I can handle that, but the no eyelashes, come on! They want me to do blood work and won't give me the RX I found for the eyelashes. :(
Thursday: I had errands planned, but got an invite from Brittney to go to the Mission Park that has the cutest Pirate themed water features. It was such a blast. The Moms even got wet! I could tell Cole was starting to get a little snot nosed by the end of the visit.

He thinks he likes soda, even though he can't figure out how to get it.

These girls were cracking me up. They would not go in to get the ball.
I met some girls from the ward at Leatherby's after dinner.
Came home to finish a couple candy bar bouquets for the kids' teachers.

Friday: Got up to rush to school. Luke wanted me to walk him in and give his teacher he gift.
Notice Cole has green snot everywhere when he wakes up.
Do the school thing and call the Children's clinic.
Got my coupons in order for CVS and got ready.
Dr. says Cole has a sinus infection. He is like his Mama, I guess. I'm glad we caught it before it got to his ears.
Did CVS thing with all of the kids, big mistake.

Even though the kid can't breathe, he could still eat some cheeseburger. What a chunk!
Now I get to have a night out with some of my girls! I am so glad Darren is OK with honoring my idea of a Mother's day week!
We have some fun things to do tomorrow, look for a good post!

CVS run

2009-05-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

So, today's run was not as fun as last weeks. I ended up taking all 4 kids since I had to drop a RX off for Cole. In order to get the $25 gift card for the new RX I had to wait till they could fill it. Of course there were lines every where and nothing was done in quickly. Luckily the manager has gotten to know me and he honored the coupons and prices on all of the cereal even though it wasn't ringing up that way. (The usual checker was even telling him that certain cereals weren't supposed to be on sale.)

I ended up spending about $7 out of pocket for 9 boxes of cereal and my normally $20 allergy medicine. I have a gift card with $3.46 still on it and another $25 gift card ready for me on the 17th when my other RX can be filled. Not bad!

The BIG race

2009-05-04T20:20:00.001-07:00

A picture of the time on the way to the race. Yes, that is 4:40 AM. Darren kept saying only crazy people get up this early to run 13 or 26 miles!
It was freezing, and just the walk to the shuttle was at least a mile or more.
I had to laugh when I saw the shuttle was a school bus.
We made sure to hit the port a potty before going to the start line. So did the other 8,000 people entered in the race. I couldn't believe the DJ when he said there were that many people entered.
It seemed like we waited forever for 6:30 to come, and then they said we would be starting about 5 min late. That turned into 8 minutes because a helicopter was coming over to take a picture of us all.
It was exciting and all, but I wanted to get the race done!

A picture of us before we got all sweaty and exhausted.
We finally got started, it took about 2 minutes just to get to the start line. It thinned out quickly and everyone got their pace. Darren sped of in front of me.
It was so cold, I thought I would be fine to run in my long sleeves. By mile 2 I was peeling it off. Making me put my GU and chap stick in my sports bra and having to take the ipod off and replace
it, all while still running. Then I realized my number is now on my behind and not my shirt, oh well. I forgot how bad the humidity makes me sweat.
We heard the course only had one hill. Boy was that a lie. There were so many of them and the roads were all cracked and uneven.
It was a beautiful place to run though. We went right through Newport beach. It was so cool to see all the people who lived there come out and cheer us on.
I saw some crazy things throughout the run. One lady when off to the side when we were running through a wetland, and peed right there, she didn't even hide behind a bush. Now, that is hard core! There were some funny Phoebe, from Friends type runners too.
Mile 6-8 just flew by and I was in the groove. Then the most humongous hill I have ever seen came at mile 9 and a half. It was awful! Once I got half way up I had to walk!
By mile 12 I was pretty spent. My knees had never hurt so badly!
I saw a sign that said, "pain is temporary, your time is on the internet forever!" I love it! I kept on going, knowing the end was in sight.
Mile 13, gosh that last .1 mile seemed like it took forever!
It was complete chaos at the finish line. I was kind of disappointed in my time. Then I heard the DJ announce right after that the first finisher for the full was just finishing. What the heck!
My official time was 2 hours, 22 minutes and 11 seconds. After thinking about it for the rest of the day and seeing on the website, that I finished right in the middle, I am pretty dang proud of myself for my first attempt on such a hard feat!
Darren of course, kicked my butt. His official time was 2 hours, 11 min, but he waited for the potty for 10 minutes. So he is calling it 2 hours and 1 minute.
It was a great experience.
Until we left and couldn't remember where we parked. Who pays attention to that at 4:40 in the morning?
We walked like 2 miles just looking for the dang thing.
We are both pretty dang sore today. My knees barely hold me up. I feel so old.
I think my system is just beat down. I now have a cold or a sinus infection. What ever it is, I feel like crap.
When I get feeling better, a new training begins. What is in the works?
-thinking about the half at Disneyland over Labor Day weekend
-would like to start a little running group
-tossing around the idea of the full marathon here in Vegas in December- or just the half
Anyone want to join me??
Darren- he has decided to never run another race in his lifetime!