Let it snow, Let it snow, let it snow.

Today we decided to bundle the kids up and let Sam have his first fully suited up rump in the snow. The kids loved it and we learned a lot for the next time, including the need to duck tape Sam’s gloves on.

Keith blew up a tube and towed the kids around for a little bit. The kids loved it.

.... until they fell off.

Keith's Nightmare

If you know me you know that I LOVE Halloween. It is my favorite holiday, and I have been known to take it a bit far at times. This year we are doing the wizard of oz; Lily is going to be Dorothy, Sam is going to be a flying monkey, Keith the scarecrow and I let Lily choose mine, which is the good witch. Everyone’s costume was fairly easy to find but mine. So as we are watching the movie for the 100th time (thanks to Lily’s obsession with it) I realized that her dress just looks like a bad 80’s wedding dress. So I hit up the DI’s and found one that will do, and am going to dye it pink in the bathroom tub. When I came home and showed Lily, like a girl, she just had to try it on. Hence the picture below. It gave Keith a lot of heat burn and a sudden urge to get a gun out and clean it. I think it was adorable.

My funny monkey children

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, life in the Mecham house is always on the move. Things are going well right now, Keith is still home and should be home until they deploy again in the spring ( fingers crossed ). But with the military you never really know what to plan on. I am still trekking along with school, if everything goes well I will be graduating in the spring and hopefully be taking the NCLEX by the end of spring or early summer. Thank heavens it is getting close enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Some days it is all that keeps me from climbing a clock tower. But even with the prospect of losing my mind, I love learning more about nursing and can’t wait to finally walk in and say; “Hi, my name is Sadie, I am your nurse today.” Instead of, “ how is your pain? Oh you want something, ok let me go hunt down your nurse.” No I don’t really say it like that, but you get what I mean.
Keith and I actually had a day off at the same time this week, so we took the kids to Wheeler Farm. I always seem to forget how cool that place is. The kids had a blast feeding the ducks, riding the pony, the wagon ride, and seeing all the farm animals.


Lily loved the pony ride. She is still talking about how fun it was to ride Marshmellow, and how Marshmellow is her favorite pony friend. I may scream if I hear the name Marshmellow again today. But you have to admit, there is something so cute to see a happy little girl on a pony. sigh....

Lily just being cute. She actually stopped and said, "look mommy I am cute take my picture." and when I turned around there she was all posed and ready. She is so cute it kills me.

Yes, that is my little man helping daddy and grandpa tile the mantel for the fire place. He was playing in the pool and that is why he is half naked and not wearing shoes.

Silly little man. 18 months going on 18 years old.

Lily is now in full time preschool. I can’t believe how big she is getting. It kind of freaks me out to think that she is starting kindergarten next fall… My baby is all grown up. Lily absolutely loves preschool. Her teacher is the same preschool teacher that taught Keith in preschool. She is so wonderful, all the more reason to be sad when she goes to kindergarten.

Samuel is getting so big. He is almost 18 months and into everything, but all he has to do is give you that big smile and you just melt. I do believe that he only comes with two speeds asleep and running. It never ceases to amaze me how so much energy can fit into such a small body.

4th of July weekend

Yes I know the 4th of July was a while ago, what can I say I am a slacker. Fourth of July was a ton of fun. We took the kids to Hogal Zoo on Friday the 3rd. Hogal Zoo does a military appreciation weekend for all military and their families where you get in free. The kids loved it! I don’t know how I was ever entertained going to the Zoo before I had kids. On the 4th I got cancelled from work, so we just bounced around BBQ’s with family. Lily stayed up with her aunt Keeley and watched the fire works for Sandy City. Then had a sleep over at grandma’s. We took Samuel home and went to bed. Yes we are party poopers. But it was a great weekend.

Happy Fathers day

This was Keiths fathers day present.
This is a Bushmaster AR-15 modeled after the M-4 with the shorter barrel. It also has the adjustable rear stock. It is hard to see from the picture, but it has tactical rails on the front grip and there is a removable scope for it. Also this comes with the 22 cal converter kit so it can shoot the .22 and the 223s. He is a happy little boy.

Holy sweet mother of stamps

This Saturday Keith and I decided to do a little yard saleing. There was a huge one at daybreak that was pretty much all of daybreak. We found some amazing deals. Keith got some big florescent shop lights for the garage and the shed for $5. We got a toy tool work bench with all the parts for $5. This pretty much filled up the car. We went home to off load and go back, as all of that was just from the first street of yard sales that we stopped at. We decided that 2 cars might be a better idea because we were looking for large yard toys for the kids. I made it back to daybreak before Keith. Once we found each other again we went back to shopping. There was a yard saleing stamp’n stuff. I thought it was a great deal. I got a set of large stamps for $15, mean while Keith was grinning like a little school boy. He then told me that the reason he was late getting back to Daybreak was he stopped at another yard sale on the way and got a few rubber stamps for me. We went back to his car and he opened the trunk. I just about screamed. He stopped at a yard sale that had a whole table of rubber stamps from stamp’n. they were all listed for $10 - $15 a box, ( still a good deal) he was not sure which ones I would like so he just asked out of curiosity how much for the whole table? The husband of the women saleing them said $100. DONE!!!! The women was not so happy and looked like she was going to throw up. She asked if he would at least go up to $120. Still done. For $120 my wonderful husband bought me 615 rubber stamps. Easily almost $1200- $2000 in stamps. We figure it was about .20 cents a stamp, and $1.80 a box. It is AWSOME!!!!! Me likely.

The Roof

This weekend we helped to re-roof Keith’s parents house. We started stripping the roof on Thursday and Friday. And started shingling on Saturday. We have been very lucky to have such great whether, not too cold and just hot enough to give you a sweat and make you only slightly crispy. We ran out of daylight on Saturday so we will finish the little bit on the front and the rest of the back during the week. All in all a very predictive weekend.

Keiths Harry Potter Room

Ever since we added children to the crazy Mecham mix we have tried to come up with creative ways to store and lock up Keith’s guns. We have evolved from a locked box under the bed, to a locked shelf that slid behind the armoire, to the new development; which I have to say I like the best. Keith decided one day when I was at school that he wanted to see what was under the landing by the front door. So he cut out the dry wall in the garage, and discovered a really good sized room. With a little creativity and a new door and lock it has become Keith’s new Harry Potter room. (room under the stairs). Perfect for gun, 72 hour kits, and Christmas present storage.
The room. Keith's guns are to the left and Sam's birthday present is on the right. It worked great to hide Lily's bike she got for her birthday too.

Lily posing by the door to show how big it is.

My Easter Babies

We are almost done with birthdays!!!! We seems to like spring babies, and Lily and Sam’s birthdays are just a few weeks apart.
And apparently Easter tends to be an interesting holiday for us. Last year Sam was born Easter morning. March 23, 2008 at 3:58 AM. And this year Lily’s 4th birthday fell on Easter this year, just kind of funny I guess. Here are some pictures of all the birthday and Easter fun.

Sam's birthday came first, and he had a Knights and dragons birthday party. This was his cake that my sister Keeley, my mom, and I made for him.

Sam enjoying his cake

Sam opening his gifts after a little bit of cake clean up.

Lily's cake.

Lily all dressed up and ready to party. If you could not tell, she had a princess party. We did her birthday on saturday so that she would not get robbed of an Easter again.

Lily in Grandma Egberts front yard. She is such a Diva.

The Easter egg hunt in Grandma's back yard.

I have had an epiphany

I have discovered something ground breaking. Truly an epiphany. Idiots that like to wear their pants half off their butts and show off their underwear, are just reverting back to infancy.

The death and resurrection of the Gollum

Well, life is a roller coaster. But if it were not for the downs we would not enjoy the view from on top. So as you were subjected to my rant and raves in the last blog you have come to understand my distain for Gollum, AKA the green Saturn that my husband usually drives. Maybe I should explain the name. Well its green is a stick so it had to be a boy, and it harbors homicidal tendencies. So Gollum fits. Anyway this afternoon I got the kids all loaded up to head to the store. We were almost there when I realized that my wallet was sitting at home. So I turned around and went home. So far the car was running fine. Nothing really odd, that was until I tried starting it again. And the horrible sound of nothing!!!! The car would not start. After quite a swearing fest and a few kicks to the bumper I gave up and brought the kids inside. After a small panic of what was I going to do, Keith is off playing GI Joe. My dad is deployed too. My brother claimed to have no clue what to do. In my mind I was screwed. Thank heavens for great friends and family. I got a hold on a buddy of mine, Vairin, who came right over. Checked things out, even went and got the parts for me. Just as he was finishing up my brother in law Dallin, Keiths brother, yes the good one, came with his friend Andrew to help. I was so stressed that my two mechanics were out of the country, but I ended up with three. Things really do work out in the end. They got it running for now, but suspect a bigger problem to be dealt with soon, but at a shop. They gave me some great pointers and left. I was so grateful. To make things even better, I took the kids to my mom’s house. We had planned to go to the store together in different cars in case mine died again. Just after I got there my other brother in law Jon came over and looked over it again. He gave it a real good top to bottom check. He even went and got the fluids and filter it needed. The car survived the trip to the store and back home. I really am blessed to have such great guys in my life that are willing to jump right in and help. Thank you.

It always happens… Keith deploys, something breaks!!!!!

So so sad is my week. So Keith was supposed to deploy on Tuesday, then the plane was having issues so it was pushed back to Friday; then Saturday morning; then Monday morning, and now it is for sure at 4 am Tuesday. So needless to say it has been an emotional roller coaster. To top things off my beloved car, my Toyota rav 4 that I have adopted as my 3rd child got sick. The clutch decided to go out just in time that Keith doesn’t have the time to fix it before he leaves, and we can’t afford to have an auto shop do it. To rub salt in the wound, I am now going to have to drive the Saturn while Keith is gone. I know, I know, no big deal. But you do not understand to the degree that I hate that car. It cries for a mercy killing every time you start it. and it smokes more than mt saint Helens. I do understand if you are thinking how lame it is that I am more upset that I can’t drive my car then the fact that my husband is running off to go play G.I. Joe. But I was prepared for Keith leaving. It’s almost the norm. the car was a monkey wrench in the works. I guess I should have expected it. every time Keith deploys something breaks. 1st time, the A/c broke and floated. 2nd the tub leaked all over the basement. 3rd I tried to move the motorcycle out of the snow while pregnant and almost killed myself and Sam. 4th the engine blow and had to be rebuilt and now this. I need a substitute handy man while Keith is gone. I feel better now. Thanks for listening to my rant.

My nightmare in the garage

So ladies if you want something done, sometimes you have to do it yourself. So apparently Keith did not get around to defrosting the freezer. My dad bought half a buffalo and wanted to give us some. So to my surprise when I went to put it in the freezer this is what I found. But also keep in mind this picture is after I had done a good portion of it. I cannot really blame Keith; he has been really busy trying to get things ready for this next deployment. And the freezer is in the garage so out of sight out of mind kind of thing too. note in the picture the odd tools, the hammer, car ice scrapper, and wood chisel.

Christmas 2008

Christmas this year, we woke the kids up early because we had to be at Keith’s parents at 7 am. They were not happy about waking up until presents were mentioned and it was fine from there. Sam didn’t care too much. Just watched. Lily went nuts. Later we went to Keith’s parents then mine. Later that afternoon we went to Keith’s uncle Scott’s for a family dinner. All in all it was a great day. Lily defiantly came out well. She is such a spoiled little girl. It was great.

Lily, thinking she is a movie star with her dress up kit

long day