I heart Christmas

Christmas sure gets different as you get older. Not better or worse really, just different. It becomes less about getting more presents than brothers and sisters and wishing they were there. A little maturing is always good. My mom has recently developed a bit of a distate for traditions. I guess she got sick of cooking, decorating, cleaning, and undecorating all by herself? (I really missed that apricot braid mom.) Anyway, Dan decided we should start a new tradition so we spent Christmas Eve eating pizza and watching Elf. We got to see Natalie open her presents on Christmas morning as since she is the cutest three-year-old ever, we got a million pictures of her so youre welcome. We headed up to Logan later in the morning and thankfully Dan's mom hasn't yet developed a distate for traditions (hopefully not ever), so we still got delicious breakfast quiche. We may have even developed a new Mecham tradition. On Christmas night, we went to the resthome where our brother-in-law works and sang to the residents there. Rest homes are by far my favorite place to sing because no matter how bad you are, they still love you. The world needs a little more of that.
These pictures are totally out of order because I am too frustrated with blogger to fix them right now.

Stupid Iron

I am boycotting the use of any type of iron. That includes clothing irons, curling irons, flat irons, and maybe even golf irons. Anything that is hot and metal is just not for me. I burn myself everytime I use any of these items. I'm sitting here typing this with aloe vera all over my fingers. No more Irons. My clothes may become wrinkly and my hair may never be straight but my fingers will be blister free and happy.

TGID

Thank Goodness It's December. For real. Only one final left. I need this break so bad. 18.5 credits, work, internship, and young womens is just too much for one semester. I've never appreciated free time so much in my life. I'm so lucky to have so much support from Dan. Could never have done it without him.

Halloween...a month late

Neighbor boy, sweet costume

I've been a pretty terrible blogger lately. I don't see myself getting any better in the near future unless somehow we are alotted more hours in a day. Not likely. Better late than never I guess. Our Halloween was tons of fun. Unfortunately, there are ZERO good pictures of me. I think that wig gave me that gross double chin. I will post the pictures anyway because no one cares that I look bad except me. We went to the ward trunk-or-treat on Saturday which was just adorable. Almost all of dan's primary kids were there which made for a nice photo opp. We also went to my best friend Mindy Jo's for pumpkin stew and wassle (my favorite halloween tradish.) Then we headed up to a friend's cabin for a little murder mystery party. Everyone had sweet costumes. I was very impressed. Learned something new about Dan. Can't act his way out of a paper bag. If you know Dan, you might think he would be really good at those types of activities, but surprise, they are actually really hard for him. Definitely a back of the class funny guy. He gets really nervous up in front of big crowds, or even small ones. Kinda cute. Still love him.

Dan with his primary boys. He's the Lion.

My eyes are closed, but Natalie may be the cutest 50's girl ever.

The boys

The girls

Have a happy happy happy happy Diwali

Last weekend we went to the Hare Krishna festival of lights in Spanish Fork. It was the hindu holiday Dawali which is a celebration of their new year. I know it's October, I don't get it either. Or maybe you do. Anyway, definitely one of my better Saturday Nights. Lots of chanting and dancing which was great for our love of people watching. They even had a little petting zoo area where they had talking parrots and little calves. We didn't stay long, mostly because of the smell but it was a good time while it lasted. I really wish we had more pictures but I forgot to charge the camera...again. But if you've seen the diwali episode of the office, it's pretty much just like that.

(They carried this thing around the temple like 108 times!)

We asked these ladies to take a couple pictures for us. Probably the worst picture takers ever!

Attempt #1

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Attempt #2

seven

Sometimes we celebrate our monthly anniverseries. A little lame maybe, but we never pass up on any reason to go out. October made it seven months so Dan took me to The Garden at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for dinner. It was a much needed break from school/work and everything else. I feel like I never have free time lately and it's making me a little bit insane. Dan gets a homecooked meal once a week (thanks mom) and often comes home to a messy house and sink full of dishes. I hope life isn't always this busy.

Go Cougs!

Dan's family is from Logan and so of course they came down for the BYU-USU game. Unfortunately for the Mecham clan, the cougars are just so much better than those aggies from up north. Luckily they are all good sports, (or maybe they just knew USU couldn't win?)
Dan's dad got a field pass and got to spend a lot of the game on the field eating free cookies. I tried to get him to swap tickets with me but I think they would have known I wasn't the Utah State Chief of Police. Always worth a shot. We're so glad everyone could come down to provo. It always seems like we don't see each other enough. Thanks for the tickets and all the fun. (and go cougars!)

Travis & Steve

Marie, Shonnee, and Me

No one is sure why she did this. Adorable.

Dan will probably be the best dad ever.

The Mecham girls (real ones and fakes.)

Seriously

I have been killing myself at the gym for the last 2 1/2 months. I do at least 45 minutes of cardio and lift wieghts for half an hour 5 DAYS a week. I have even been eating a lot better. Guess how many pounds I've lost. Yep, zero. If you see me, tell me I look good. Thanks.

Ode to Wholesale Flooring

Today is the last day I will answer the phone with, "thank you for calling wholesale flooring." Today is the last day I will be stuck in geneva road traffic on my way to work. Today is the last day I will have to secretly do my homework because I'm using the work computer. (and wait til the owners leave to print my assignments.) Today is the last day I will have to wait to go to the bathroom until Laura gets back from lunch, as to not miss a single phone call. After all the phone calls are our "LIFELINE," and missing one would surely put the company under. Right Joe? Today is the last day Joe will call me from his office to pick up his papers off the printer. This is the last day Guy will throw garbage at me as he walks in the door, so I can throw it away. This is the last day I will see all the people I really love so much at this office, and this is the last day I will get to see Dan at work:( Leaving will be bitter-sweet, but mostly just sweet.

(the lovely view from my desk.)

(Danny boy hard at work. I'll miss working with him.)

(Laura and Rudy work in accounting. They are awesome.)

(This is Kurt the warehouse boy who is never here. But we love him anyway.)

Ward Shin-Dig

Our ward has an annual bbq party at the end of the summer. It's a pretty big deal we found out. They have tons of food, bounce houses, homemade pie and ice cream, Pie eating contests, and the best corn on the cob I've ever had. It was bathing in a tub of melted butter. A-mazing. Dan and Joey were asked to do a shave ice booth so we didn't get to see much of the party but it was still fun. We still had a line at the shave ice table an hour after the party was supposed to be over. And yes, It really is that good. They had a cute little musical program too. A lot of the kids in the ward had a part and sang or danced. A lot of unsuspected talent. There was some sweet little tap dancers too. They were crazy, coulda watched them all day. At the end of the party my keys got lost in the clean-up. I HATE losing stuff. I can't stop thinking about where they could be. I always wish I was more responsible at times like these.

(Our shave ice friend Justin with Joey and the Z-man.)

(We gave the boys a break for all their hard work.)

(Dan entered the pie eating contest)

Marky Mark

(Surprise!)

Mark turned 22 on September 11th. His always amazing wife threw him a pretty kick-a (for lack of a better word) birthday party. There was DDR, pool, movies, and TONS of food. Definitely my kinda party. It was fun to see everyone again. It seems like we never have time to play with our friends anymore. (refer to last post.) Happy Birthday Mark. I'd start planning Lauren's party right now. It's only 5 months away and she set the bar pretty high.



(It seemed like Lauren got more presents then Mark. Wierd.)

(Quite the pool shark)

(They could be twins.)

Dan is the Bomb

We have a lot going on. Dan is always working so hard at work, the gym, and doing the shave ice shack. I have been so busy with school, work, young women's, gym, family, everything. I have been doing a terrible job at keeping our house clean, getting laundry done, and who even knows when the last time I cooked dinner was. Poor Dan. The other day at work Dan could tell I was slightly stressed out about not getting everything done. So he left work early, cleaned up the house, and made dinner. He always knows what I need, even though I'm super crazy. Shout out to Dan for everything he does! Love him.(I forgot to take a picture before we ate. dang it.)