Dan and Kait + 1

fabfam

2011-10-05T18:07:00.001-07:00

Yay for family pictures. We got ours done today and I love them. We actually went to the mall which I never thought I would do. I have always felt mall pictures looked really cheesy and overwhelmingly tacky. I now have a different opinion and hopefully you will too. They turned out so good and we only payed $100. We really hope you like them as much as we do.

Plus the pictures turned out to be a great reason for some new fall boots. Love them.

What else is new?

2011-09-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Our baby is stinkin cute. What else is new. Here are a couple new funny photos of the bug.

Bentley loves sitting up by herself. Although she tends to fall over on occasion still and sometimes smashes her face. (Grandpa Mecham):)

I have to get creative when I need to take Bentley and other things up/downstairs. She doesn't love my creativity.

Love the bumbo. Definitley buy one.

At the airport waiting for Aunt Shonnee to get home.

Tummy Time. Bentley rolled over from her tummy to her back at 2 weeks old but now refuses to do it except on rare occasions. Instead she lays there and cries with her face in the ground until you roll her over.

Little Miss Natalie

2011-09-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Natalie Mae turned 5 this month. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. Her mom and dad threw a super fun party for her many little friends. They had crafts and water games and a yummy cake.

Natalie playing water games.

Bentley and I

Blowing out the candles

We were so glad we could see Natalie turn 5 especially since they moved to Oregon this month. We will sure miss them and already can't wait for them to visit. Happy Birthday Mae Mae.

We Tri'd

2011-09-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Dan and I have done a couple of triathalons recently. (Unfortunately, as you can tell from the photo, the wetsuits are not particularly slimming.) We did the Saratoga springs and Kokopelli sprint triathalons in august and september. It was fun to do something together that neither or us had ever done before. Plus I won the $4o prize for taking 1st place in my age group. (Even though I actually took second. Not sure what happened but I took the money and ran with it.) I'm having a hard time deciding if I love triathalons or not. So far, the best part is that people seemed to be really impressed with the idea of completing a triathalon. Little do they know, they could probably do it just as well as we do. But I don't mind seeming impressive.

The first tri we did with a bunch of friends from the ward. Notice I'm the only female. We will have to get more wives on board I guess. But it was fun and I didn't mind being one of the boys for a day. Our second triathalon was in St. George so we got to see Dan's sister Jan and her family. They came to the race to see us finish and took some great pics. Hopefully I will remember to add them when I get them from her. Stay posted.

Lately...

2011-07-21T19:22:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately and there are a lot of things I need to do better, or just do period.

1) Be more grateful for what I have. I think I'm grateful inside but I should definitely be more vocal about it. Everyone knows I'm vocal about lots of stupid stuff so I'm going to try to be more vocal about important stuff.

2) Take more pictures of Bentley. I spend all day everyday with the girl, thinking about how adorable she is and loving her smiles and laughs and funny little faces but for some reason I fail to take hardly any pictures of such things. What kind of mom am I?

3) Enjoy myself. I kind of stress a lot. Like way too much. About really stupid stuff. I don't think I seem that way to other people but in my head it's crazy. I'm crazy. I just want everything to be perfect for Bentley and not have anything messed up. Crazy I know.

4) Be more positive. I wonder if I come off as a negative nancy. Usually I just say I'm being realistic but I want to be more optimistic. Yea, that would be good for me. and for everyone else.

5) Be more patient. I love my schedule. love love love it. Before bentley i never veered from my schedule at all. not for anything. unfortunately babies don't love schedules like i do. at least mine doesn't and from what i hear most other people's babies don't either. Its been a tough transition. I need to be more patient and just accept that she is never going to sleep at the same time or wake up at the same time or do anything at the same time that she did it the day before. It's. So. Hard. but I know we'll get it eventually.

This little gal is 4 months old this Saturday. Can't believe it. Love her.

For Jan

2011-06-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

Dan's sister keeps asking me to post pictures of Bentley's room and I finally got around to it. It's cute but simple. Hope you enjoy:)

The flowers used to be centered but we had to move the crib to fit the swing in her room and I still haven't moved the flowers. I'm Slightly Lazy.

I've had this dresser since I was like 12 and it just matched the crib perfectly.

Window treatment my mom and I made. (Mostly my mom.)

The glider, my absolute favorite part of the room.

Changing Table and quilt that we made. I've also had that shelf since I was a kid. We were lucky to have everything come together and I'm lucky to have such a great mom who helped me a ton with everything!

Catch Up

2011-05-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Once again it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Whenever that happens I tend to be less and less motivated to post. The pictures keep coming and I just have more and more to post which makes me avoid blogging altogether. To catch up I'm going to do a quick rundown of the past several weeks.

First of all we have great friends. Practically everything in this closet was a gift. Bentley is a lucky girl. Plus we had so much borrowed to us. 2 bouncers, a swing, a bassinet, and a stroller. Best friends ever.
A trip to Logan to see Dan's Grandma. She just turned 91! Bentley is the newest grandchild, but not for long. This Group of 6 will be 8 by the end of the year. It will be so fun for Bentley to have so many cousins close in age.

Bentley's first Easter. Didn't mind the dress...

...hated the bunny ears her daddy got her.

Finally starting to see this enough to not feel like a zombie.

Other than that we've just been hanging out.

Baby Bentley

2011-03-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

Geez 9 months is a long time! Bentley finally came on March 23. She weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. It was a long night, especially for Dan. We got to the hospital at 5:30 on Tuesday night and she didn't come until 4:16 the next morning. Dan spent most of the time with headphones and his hood on because it was all a little too much for him. He finally calmed down and was very helpful the last 2 hours of the pushing. We sure love her and are so glad she finally came. We'll post some real pictures soon but hospital ones will have to do for now!

The big 3-7

2011-03-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

37 weeks. 3 to go. woot woot.

just bigger, not better

2011-02-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

A couple new belly photos. Seriously regretting thinking this was a good idea. I looked back to my beginning pictures today, the ones where my stomach was tan and flat. Good times. Quite the contrast to now. Also, I would like to say that although most of these pictures are of me looking grungy, I do still get ready and dressed like a normal person sometimes. I just always seem to remember to take pictures at gross times like right after the gym or right after waking up. I apologize.

This one is about 30 weeks

32.5 weeks

Christmas Twenty-Ten

2010-12-31T08:59:00.000-08:00

Another good Christmas. Neither of us are big gift people at Christmas time so Dan and I just usually fill each others stockings. A lot of couples go all out for each other which is cool I guess, especially if you are both making money but whereas I am not contributing financially at all to our little family right now, it seems pointless to spend lots of money on each other. It would be like, "Merry Christmas Dan! I bought this with your credit card so you'll be getting the bill next month. Hope you love it!" Pretty lame, so we keep it small. We went up to Logan for most of Christmas this year and had a really good time. Here are a few of the pictures we were able to take.

Jan and baby Kara. Love this little girl. She really makes us excited to have our own. So soon!

Dan's dad searches through and hands out all the presents. There is getting to be so many people that it looks like he needed a little help this year.

Lily showing us her purse full of presents.

We were able to go to dinner with my family in bountiful and then come home and open presents with my parents.

Mom and her annual mini-calender. If she's not home you can always know where she is by checking out her calender. She writes EVERYTHING on this thing.

Dad opening his new wallet. Super exciting gift right?

My Mom and Dad got us some new dishes which I love and I am exciting to just have one matching set! Thanks.

We got lots of awesome and helpful things from both of our families. THANK YOU so much!

26 weeks

2010-12-31T08:51:00.000-08:00

Definitely not the most flattering picture, but this is me at 26 weeks. 14 left to go.

2010-12-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

Ok so I graduated. I'm pretty awesome. However, it is very strange not really having anything to do. We have about 15 weeks until this baby gets here so until then, I'm pretty available. My blogging frequency may increase. But then again maybe not. I definitely have lots of things I could do but it's really wierd not having anything I HAVE to do. I plan to fill my time scrapbooking, learning to cook better, organize all the many closets in my house, and getting baby girl's room ready. I have currently not started any of these projects. Hopefully I'll get them all done and maybe even become a master chef. Who knows? It sure feels good to be done with school forever though.

bigger is better right?

2010-11-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

These pictures are 2 1/2 weeks apart. Kill myself right? And I can't even use thanksgiving as an excuse because these are both before I ate a single piece of turkey. Imagine what I look like right now after eating two thanksgiving dinners in two days. Sick. This baby better be dang cute and really awesome. Oh and don't know if I said this, but it's a girl. Yay for baby girls!

20 weeks

22.5 weeks

Finally a Trip

2010-11-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Dan took me on a trip over fall break. We really needed to go somewhere for more than 2 days this time. We flew into Oakland and hung out in the bay area for awhile before we drove up the coast and checked out some of Dan's old mission areas.

We flew in a plane only slightly larger than this. I was a little bit claustrophobic and a little bit nauxious but we made it.

The first couple nights we were there we stayed in a city called pleasant hill and it was actually very pleasant. We were just in time for the winetasting festival across the street and got to see lots of old californians dancing half drunk. Good times. Good people.

We went to a 49ers game. Awesome. Yes the 49ers lost to put them at a 0-5 record but it was still a great game and so cool to see it in real life. Neither of us had been to an NFL game before so we had to go. It is mighty expensive though and you wonder how most of the people there afford to go to the games every week. We figure that's all they do. They work all week only so they can go to the games. They also tailgate from like 8 in the morning until 2 in the morning after the game. People bring full living room sets practically and buffet tables. It's nuts.

The next day we went to the Pier in San Fransisco and we had just missed Fleet Week where all the ships come into the bay but there were still some ships there for touring. We waited forever to see this minesweeper. Not that cool. They haven't even found a real mine in like a million years.

Dan is very tough shooting guns and such.

Ok seriously best seafood place on the Pier. I think it was called Pier Market and their calamari (which is the only fish-ish thing Dan will eat) was AMAZING! I got a shrimp platter and dan of course got a chicken sandwich. Because they have very fresh chicken in San Fransisco.

We rented bikes and rode from the pier to the golden gate bridge. It was a little bit more exercise than I had initially anticipated but it was really fun. We decided SanFran is a really healthy city. Everyone bikes and runs and such there. And there seems to be a lot less fatties. If you don't count tourists.

Dan served part of his mission in vallejo and would always rave about this hotdog place called sacs so of course we had to go there. I bet this was Dan's favorite part of the trip honestly.

So Dan had a huge, cheese-covered spicy hotdog.

and then five minutes later he had another one. Disgusting.

We drove through napa and saw all the amazing miles of vineyards. It's really gorgeous there. We also got to stop in the see my nephews although I didn't take a picture of them. I suck. They are huge! and so adorable. Love them.

Yay for Jelly Belly's. We went on the jelly belly tour. Kinda cool but mostly just watching a lot of videos which I'm sure I could find on the food network or something.

Then we hit up the budwieser brewery. Yes they give out free samples. No we didn't partake.

oh and you have to wear goggles. for no apparant reason.

We started driving up the coast. We actually didn't have any hotel reservations or a flight home so we kinda just winged it for awhile. Then one morning I woke up and Dan said we were going to fly out of Portland which was still 8 hours away. So we drove a lot and saw lots of pretty stuff.

This is Dan in the bottom of a giant redwood that had fallen. Those things are MaSSivE!

This is us in fern canyon. Dan loves this place.

Dan trying to hide in the fern. Can you spot him?

I think this is the last thing I took a picture of. It is a whale lookout along the coast and we actually saw a couple whales starting to migrate towards mexico. At least that's where the sign said they should be going around this time but they were actually swimming North so I think they may have been a little confused?

All in all our trip was awesome and so is Dan:)

New Pic

2010-11-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hey so I thought I would post a new pic of my tummy before I forget when I took the picture. I'm thinking Dan took this picture at around 16 weeks. Oh and we find out what it is today. Be excited.

Oops

2010-10-01T16:19:00.001-07:00

I wrote the last like 5 posts in about 30 minutes. Fixing the pictures and moving them around took most of that time. I have since realized how many grammatical and spelling errors I have made. I'm not going to fix them. Just wanted you to know that I'm not dumb and I realize they are mistakes. Thanks.

Happy Birthday to Me

2010-09-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

My birthday was about as exciting as this post.

I mostly layed on the couch which was occasionly interupted by the need to the bathroom to throw up. Yay.

This is My Tummy

2010-09-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

This is my tummy

Watch it grow.

Hopefully not too much more of me grows right? Just my tummy.

(I may have been sucking in in the first picture but probably not.)

Out with the Old, Out with the New

2010-09-30T14:29:00.001-07:00

We bought this
We sold this

Now we're selling this
We got a really good deal on this porsche cayenne and we are looking at selling it to make some quick money. If you interested in us making money on you let us know.

Also, after I sold my little old car (which I have driven since I was 16), I was a little bit sad. It was such a good car. And yes sometimes I think cars get there feelings hurt. Like when you don't drive them for a long time, or if you fail to clean them very often. Also, when you sell them out of the blue and bring in a nice new car, I think they get sad. So I'm sorry and I'll miss you.

2010-09-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

My sister and her family came to visit for a week. I'm obviously terrible at taking pictures since I only got one of them in any pictures at all. Oh well. I'll do better next time. Maybe. We all took a day and went to the zoo. Little kids love zoo's. And so do Dan's. He is very much a little kid at heart. Here are the few pictures I did take.

These birds would fly around and would swoop down literally millimeters from your head. I know we don't us the metric system but they really got close.
There was this cool trick where the zoo lady made the bird come fly across for $5 however during our show some family decided to bring food into the theatre even though we were all told several times that it would be a problem for the birds. What do you know, the bird found the food and got distracted in the middle of the trick so it was totally lame. Thanks a lot to that family. Seriously.

Just a baby
Jackson the musician. Love him.

Stuff from July

2010-09-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

(*The photo above is Dan realizing that THis is the Place. We went there on Pioneer Day. Not as cool as we thought it would be.)

We had a lot of fun this summer from Real games to boating seeing Carried Underwood at Stadium of Fire.

Our friends Dave and Emily have an amazing boat and we are so lucky to get to go out on the luck with them all summer. This year Dan and I learned to surf. I'm probably better than him but he's a close second.

Our friend DJ scored us some awesome VIP tickets to this years Stadium of Fire. Carrie Underwood is amazing. And absolutely gorgeous. Very possibly the best concert I've been too. Oh and the fireworks were pretty cool too. Except for the ones that accidently shot into the crowd right in front of us. Luckily only a few people were burned.

If you don't like Real Salt Lake, I don't like you. The games are awesome. If you haven't been, you're seriously missing out.

Trekkies

2010-06-15T14:12:00.001-07:00

Not this kind of trekkie though. Thank goodness. We went on the pioneer trek with our ward last week. 4 days and 3 nights of pioneer clothes, handcarts and wind. It was a great experience for us and hopefully for all the youth as well. I'm really glad we got to go but I also hope we don't have to go again. At least not for a really long time. Here are some of the pictures we took.

summa summa summa time

2010-05-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness school is over. Now I can spend my days doing the important things like watching true life marathons, shopping, relaxing, and of course blogging. Just kidding, but seriuosly I'm going to do some blogging this summer. I better catch up on all the things I've missed lately.

1) Dan had a birthday. The big 26 actually. ps got a new computer. having a little trouble with my pictures right now. so turn your head sideways for these next two. Mom made Dan's favorite tacos:)

2) Trip to St. George. Natalie's mommy got married in St. George so we all took a trip to the sunnier side of the state.

Sorry again about the sideways pictures!

3) Dan and I stayed in St. George for the weekend with some friends and had so much fun fourwheeling and checking out zion.

I wish I had more pics and some with our friends but I'm not a mom so I'm not as good at the picture taking thing.

3) Jackson also had a birthday while we were there. Number 4 for him.

These are just a few of the things I failed to blog about the past few months. Seriously though, I'm going to do so good at posting regularly this summer.

Long Time No See

2010-02-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

Its been quite awhile since I've posted. Hopefully I'll get back to blogging a little more regularly soon (but possibly not until winter semester is over.) Lately, I seem to miss most picture taking events because of work and posts without pics are pretty lame. Natalie was blessed a couple weeks ago by my Dad and that was a special day for her. She had a lot of people there for her. How could you not love her? She's adorable. Here are some pics I stole from her mom.

I heart Christmas

2009-12-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-16T12:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-23T12:35:00.001-07:00

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

Attempt #2

seven

2009-10-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-25T12:52:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

(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

2009-09-15T15:16:00.000-07:00

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.)

No-Labor Day

2009-09-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm stupid but I don't really know what Labor Day is for. All I know is it means no school and no work. I think it should be called No-Labor Day. Dan and I went with our friends Joey and Rachel to the Park City outlets. It was insanely busy. It seems everyone else had our great idea. I did get some awesome work-out clothes at the Nike outlet and Dan came away with some Sunday shirts which he has been needing for a long time. So all in all, pretty successful. After shopping, we went to my ex-favorite Mexican restaurant. Ex-favorite as of yesterday. Baja Cantina is located at the bottom of the alpine slide, right across from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. They used to offer great service, delicious food, and an inviting atmosphere. They now seem to only hire inadequate high school kids who don't know how to shower or wait tables. Their food is approximately half as good as it used to be and the restaurant is dirty and old. Dan asked for more chips and the waitress imformed us they would be $1.99 extra. I asked if they charged to refill water as well, but luckily that was free. We waited forever to place our order, forever to get it and FOREVER to get our check. I'm so disappointed because it used to be SO GOOD. I definitely filled out the customer survey on the way out.
Question #4 Did anyone go out of their way to make your experience positive.
Answer #4 Absolutely Not!(Note: This picture was taken before we were seated and dissatisfied)
When we got home we realized the blink 182 concert was that same night so of course, we HAD to go even though we already missed Taking Back Sunday and all the openers. I've never seen the Mckay Events Center so packed. It was crazy. The thing about Blink 182 is they were really awesome like 10 years ago so most of the people who love them are way too old and way too big to be acting that way at a concert anymore. Mosh pits are for highschoolers. This picture doesn't even do it justice. It probably exceeded the legal capacity.

Our Favorite 3-Year-Old

2009-09-08T14:29:00.000-07:00

Our niece finally turned three. I say finally because she seems so much older than three. She's definitely smarter than any three-year-old you know. And cuter. She's the best. We took her to McDonald's for dinner, but mostly for the play place. She gave us directions the whole way there. "Are you sure you're going the right way?" "I think you should turn left." "STOP! I see a play place." Thank goodness she was with us or we never would have made it. She is going through a 'I hate pictures phase' but I really wanted to get her picture at Mcdonald's so Dan told her we had to go home unless she looked at the camera. He's kinda mean but I got my picture. Natalie wanted me to climb through the play place with her and being the cool aunt that I am, I gave her her way. Grossly underestimated the disgustingness of giant play toys. Lesson learned.

Her birthday party was on Friday. She got more presents than I've gotten in my whole life. Dan and I got her a pink mitt and ball with a t-ball set. We got it out the other day and she lasted all of about 5 minutes. I don't know if she'll be an athlete but we're trying really hard. Especially Dan.Natalie hiding from another picture

Natalie kept getting confused when people would call it "my little pony" because it was HER little pony!

We had to sing after she blew out the candles because she got so excited and blew them out as soon as they were lit.
Happy birthday Natalie!

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-08-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

My birthday lasted 3 days this year. Not bad. On Friday I came home from work with Dan to find a piano sitting in our front room! Happy birthday to me! I've wanted a piano for so long. I use to talk about it all the time but didn't really think I would get one for a long time. (Isn't is beautiful?)

Dan is so good at surprising me. I had no idea he was getting me a piano. I love it! On my actual birthday I woke up early so I could play the piano. I'm so excited to get good at it again, which may take a long time. At nine I went to help the young women fulfill their responsibility of cleaning the church. Unfortunately none of the girls showed up, so two other leaders and I cleaned it by ourselves. Seriously girls, get out of bed. So disappointed.

(I made Dan get up and drive me to the church because It was my birthday.)

After cleaning Dan took me to the mall and bought me a new pair of Jordan's. Love them. He also bought me some new sheet music so I could start practicing on my new piano. Dan wanted to make sure we got a song that he could sing along to. We'll let you know when we're ready to perform. After a little practicing, we watched food network to pass the time until we could go to dinner. We ate at Tucano's which is so YUMMY. (Oh and my parents came too.)

I usually make sure to go the gym before I eat at a place like Tucano's but in honor of it being my birthday, I decided to forgo that tradition and gained several pounds I'm sure. Well worth it though. On Sunday my mom made me a birthday dinner of artichoke chicken pizza (my all time favorite), fruit salad and apple pie. I don't think I've ever had a cake for my birthday. Pie is way better.

(I've wanted to try these forever. Not as good as I anticipated.)
Thanks to everyone for making it such a great day!

the Real deal

2009-08-14T09:00:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Dan and I went to a Real Salt Lake game. I really don't know why Soccer isn't more popular in Caucasian dominated countries. Before the game we ate at Spaghetti Mama's. Not bad. We attempted to eat at Joe's Crab Shack but Dan almost died due to the overwhelming fish smell in the restaurant. Caused a little bit of a scene. After dinner we had to walk all the way from the restaurant to the Stadium. (The day before the game my friend Rachel and I had killed ourselves at the gym which made walking a major struggle.) Dan practically dragged me the whole way to the game. It was so painful, but so worth it. The game was awesome. Salt Lake won 1-0, but just barely. It seems like everyone at those games is decked out in Real gear. Not just a shirt or a hat but the whole getup. It's like t-shirt, jersey, jacket, hat, and scarf. Yea, scarf. The guy in front of us bought like 10 scarves and handed one to each of his kids as he walked to his seat. We actually saw several families with scarves, in August, wierd. We even got to meet a soccer expert at the game. Just kidding. But the guy behind us definitely thought of himself as one. I could tell all he did at work was google random soccer facts and scores. Pretty sure he'd never played a day of soccer in his life. He kept throwing in random facts that were completely irrelevant to anything going on. I think eveyone was impressed with his knew found soccer knowledge. So annoying.

(just a little soccer)

(You could win free chicken if you wore that hat or something. Did not prove fruitful.)

Nothin like an A-frame

2009-08-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

I am in the Young Women's presidency in our ward. That means girls camp. I was only able to go for a couple days but I am so glad I got to go. The girls in our ward are amazing. They are probably some of the funniest girls I've ever met. We smelled really bad, got really dirty, had tons of fun and made sweet shirts. I sure learned a lot about those girls. First kisses, car accidents, and boys. So glad I'm not 16 anymore. And yes, there is a big difference between 20 and 16.

(They only dropped one person. Good job girls!)

(I am actually the oldest of the three. Surprising I know.)

(Before they got soaked. Nice and dry.)

(Ashly and Amy-Don't ever let Amy take your car to any type of drive-through window, especially at Carl's Junior.)

(Just a little double chin.)

(Made it. NBD.)

Wednesday night, me and Rachel (another leader) slept in the "loud cabin." In the morning Jen (a leader who slept in the "quiet cabin") asked me how I slept and if the girls had been really noisy. I told her they weren't too bad and that I slept really good, I didn't really hear them at all. Then Rachel came over to where we were sitting and Jen asked her the same question. Rachel had slept directly across from me the whole night. She started talking about how noisy and giggly the girls were being and that it finally got to a point where she had to yell to the girls upstairs to be quiet and go to bed. You could say I'm a bit of a heavy sleeper.

Familia!

2009-08-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Seriously so much family. It seems like we haven't been home this whole month. My sister Coleen brought the fam to Utah for a funeral, so I spent the weekend at my mom's playing with her kids Jackson and Lexi. They are most adorable. The best part about having company is I always have an excuse to not go to the gym. The worst part about having company is I always seem to add on a few pounds.

(Jackson's picture smile.)

(So Presh.)

The same weekend my sister was here, Dan's brother Eric and his wife Christy had their wedding reception in springville. It was in her family's backyard which is seriously so gorgeous. Her parents have created their own mini Thanksgiving Point, all by themselves. One day I'm going to be good at DIY projects....one day. They had cookie ice cream sandwiches. I'm really not sure if there is a better invention than cookie ice cream sandwiches. They were so good.

(Dan's sister Shonnee pounded that cookie sandwich in like 3 seconds flat. Good job Shonnee!)

My parents came to the recpetion too:)

(I wish. In real life Dan is only 2" taller than me)

The next weekend we drove with my parents to Las Vegas for Lexi's 1st birthday. Every time my Dad takes us to Vegas he tries to stop at Cove Fort. (This little old pioneer village kinda near cedar city.) Before Dan came along, we were always able to outvote my dad. This year we stopped at Cove Fort. Thanks Dan. But it actually turned out to be pretty cool and I felt good about myself for honoring/learning about the pioneers on the actual pioneer day. We even got little pioneer toys at the end of the tour.

(Dan and I don't always look this sloppy. Just on long car rides and tours at Cove Fort.)

On Lexi's birthday we all went swimming and had cake and ice cream. Lexi had zero interest in opening presents, so Jackson, being the great older brother that he is, opened them all for her. Lexi got her very own birthday cake but I knew she couldn't eat it all so I helped her out.

(Jackson and Lexi)

(Biggest brother Josh. He doesn't normally look like that)

(Big brother Garrett)

(The whole crew in the pool.)

(J-man )

(Birthday girl waiting for Jackson to open her presents.)

(Love the picture cakes.)

Never Again

2009-08-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

If you ever need someone to fill a spot on your softball team, even if you just need one more person so that your team can play, even if you can promise that I can just stand there and don't have to do anything...don't ask me to play. A few weeks ago I played with some friends on their softball team because they needed some extra players and this was the result....

This happened when I missed a grounder while playing second base. I also missed a few pop flies and may have slipped in a few accidental swear words for which I have repented. So please help me and help yourself. Don't ask me to play for you.

04 July 09

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

My favorite day of the year by far, is the 4th of July. Family, Friends, Food, Parades, Swimming, BBQ, what else is there really? This year we went to the Freedom Fest on the Third with all the homies. Dan spent most of the night passing out fliers for Ella Good so I spent lots of time taking pictures and wandering around aimlessly. Lori just might have caught Lauren and I taking a picture without her again. Our friendship seriously almost ended. Luckily I helped Lori realize how childish she was being and she decided to get over it. (I know, we did it again.)

(Lori finally calmed down)

We ended up at hogi yogi for some yoasis and a little bit of a dance party. (Side story...So I'm standing by myself near the hogi yogi entrance watchin my friends lori, ryan, and mindy get down in the middle of the dance party when all of a sudden some kid is standing right next to me. Like so close I could feel his presence. So naturally, I turn my head to see what is so awkwardly close to me and just as I look over, the kid looks up and says, "so000, why are you standing here all by yourself?" (mind you lauren and mark are less than 3 ft away watching this whole scenario) to which I reply, "because my HUSBAND is passing out fliers." He kinda dropped his head and said "OOOOHHHHhhh" yea. oh. check the finger kid, seriously. Thats why we wear them. And cause they look sweet.) Anyway, on saturday we drove up to Logan to watch my most adorable little nephew in the parade. ok he's like 16. He has and job, goes on dates, and can drive but still so cute. He did such a good job in the drumline. So proud Cam! Dan always tells me how much better the Logan parade is than the Provo parade because in Logan, all the floatish things throw out tons of candy. I love the provo parade and nothing compares. Apples to Oranges Dan. They are both great, just in separate parade realms. After the parade we went swimming which was so fun! I needed the sun too so double bonus. My sister Stacie invited us over for a bbq. mmm. Her husband made steaks, chicken, hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta salad etc. I could eat my weight in bbq. On Sunday we spent the day with the Mecham's and had so much fun playing with the grandkids and jumping on the tramp. And guess what, another bbq! Yes! How could this not be your favorite holiday?

(Where is Mindy?)

(excited for the 4th!)

(Here comes Cam!)

(There he is. Second from your left in the first row.)

(The Doug Mecham Clan at the parade)

(Swim Time)

(Bro-in-law at the grill)

(Oh yea, and we saw a sweet sunset on the way home. Much cooler in real life.)

Ella Good Shave Ice

2009-06-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Dan and his friend Joey bought a shave ice shack. It is most delicious...seriously so good. Ella Good used to be located in provo very near the famous JDawgs. However, due to some lame-trash Snowie owners stealing our spot, we have relocated to orem. We are now in the parking lot of Parley's Hardware. Our exact address is 260 S 1200 W (just down the street from Trafalga.) Please come visit us and get a shave ice. You won't regret it.

Numero Tre

2009-06-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

The third and final wedding... at least for a while. Chelsea and Chad were married on June 19 in the Mt. Timpanogas temple. They had their luncheon at Ottavio's which just so happens to be one of my favorite Italian places around these parts. Their reception was beautiful and was conveniently across the street from my parents house which made for great parking and plenty of snacking and potty trips for all us bridesmaides. (Lori saw us taking a pic without her. So sorry Stori. i will NEVER take a picture witout you again!)

Chelsea had a crepe bar and cotton candy machine...so chelsea. Everything was beautiful, especially the bride of course. Now they are enjoying a carribean cruise. At least it's sunny here this week. I wish we were rich. After the festivities the rest of us went to brick oven for some real food. My friends are so fun...and so are their hubby's.

(Jess your bangs look fine. Quit using my camera as a mirror.)

(brick oven run)

Nombre Deux

2009-06-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

The second June wedding was for my bestie Lauren. We love love love her! She was the most gorgeous bride i have EVER seen. I really felt like she should be in some sort of high class bridal magazine on her day. She was stunning. Mark is one lucky guy. Just kidding, we love mark too...but seriously he is lucky. They are great together. I'm a little bit jealous that they are soaking up the Cancun sun and I am sitting at work waiting for the isolated T-storms to settle in for about the 20th day in a row. Congrats Mark & Lauren. Congrats.So Happy Together!

Jess looks like this about 50 % of the time. Thats why the rest of us look like Lori whenever we're with Jess. We just love her to death.So excited!

All my friends/spouses minus Ryan. Way to go Ry.

I seriously have the cutest friends ever!

Ash, Chels, Jess, La, Misch, Me, Lori

numero uno

2009-06-13T12:40:00.001-07:00

tis the season to get married i guess. we have three weddings in three weeks. the first wedding belongs to dan's younger brother eric. He and Christy were married on June 6th in Logan. It was fun to see all the Mechams again. What a great family! Their reception is in July so i will be able to post more pics from that later on. Congrats eric and christy!Dan's niece Emily. So ador. Loves the stink face.

The lovely couple

The lovlier couple ha

The big 89!

2009-05-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

Dan's grandma turned 89 years old on friday. To celebrate her achievement we all took the trip up to firth idaho. If you've never heard of firth, thats because its tiny. i mean tiny as in population 408. at least 50% of those people are most likely Mecham's. the whole fam lives in firth and basically all on the same street. its a family reunion every time we go up there. everyone likes to sit around and visit or watch sports but mostly, the Mecham's like to eat. This family eats more than any family ive ever met so i definitely fit right in. its one of those houses where everytime you see another aunt or cousin, they ask you to eat something. we were only there for 2 days, but i may have gained a considerable amount of weight. still a good trip. happy birthday grandma mecham!

i can cook

2009-05-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

We go to dinner every sunday at my parents house. Every sunday my mom seems to find a way to mention just how sick of cooking she is after all those years of cooking for her family. so for mothers day i thought it more than appropriate to cook for my parents. it turned out quite delicious. i dont mean to brag but seriously....i impressed myself. i made parmesan chicken with angel hair pasta and a seasoned tomatoe sauce. we had parmesan rolls, artichokes, and apple pie. im sure we won't have any major holiday dinners at our house for a long time but when it happens, ill be ready. why dont i take pictures of these things?

i'm not a blogger

2009-05-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

i really suck at this whole blogging thing. it's definitely not because i don't have time, i have more than enough of that. im actually trying to find another job to fil my time and bank account. so far unsuccessful. yesterday was day one for job searching. i went to carabba's because i had heard good things about working there. i walked in and saw three people filling out applications. i asked for one as well and began filling it out. there are two parts to the application including a test portion for which you needed one of these little books they provided. Unfortunately they only had three books and they were all being used. I started filling out the other part while waiting for a test book to use. it took about ten minutes to fill out the first portion of the application and in that time like 8 more people came in for applications and one girl already had an interview. so im sitting there waiting for a test book and i decide im just going to have to come back at a better time. maybe a time when the odds for getting a job are a little more on my side. i asked the girl for the first part of my application back so i could turn it in when i came back and she said the applications arent allowed to leave the premises. what? what could i possibly do with the application? what a waste of time. ill keep looking.

im a new person

2009-04-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

i dyed my hair blonde and chopped it off. took some definite getting used to but 5 days later ive decided i love it. i cut my morning hair time in half and ill probably save a bundle on shampoo and conditioner. the best part is when i see people i dont want to see at school or at the store or whereever. before i wouldve just walked faster and hoped they didnt see me but now i can walk right past them while they try to figure out where they've seen me before. this way i dont have to make fake conversation or seem falsely interested in whats going on with these people. ive loved it. the worst part is hearing the same thing over and over again from every person that sees me for the first time. i know my hair is blonde, i know its really short, and i know youre saying whatever youre saying because this change is big enough that you feel like you cant get by without saying something. i get it. hopefully we can get through this phase quickly. in the meantime i will be working on recognizing myself in the mirror. but i love it. i really do.

Saturday is a Special Day...

2009-03-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

i did not get ready for sunday. instead i woke up with nothing to wear, at least nothing that was clean or unwrinkled. i pulled a wrinkly skirt out of the closet and sorted through the hamper, yes i wore a dirty shirt to church, but it matched and was really my only option. I wanted to at least iron this outfit but of course couldn't find the iron or ironing board anywhwere. how do you lose an ironing board! i promise our house is decently clean. someone must have stolen it while moving out, like hey that's not mine but i need one so ill just take this one. thats called stealing. so plan b is going up to my mom's house to iron my clothes. on the way up i realized i forgot my wedding ring and seeing as it would be our first week in our new family ward i felt the need to have it. Dan said he would drop me off so i could iron while he went to get my ring. luckily i got dropped off just in time for my mom to be in the shower and of course i left my purse with keys and phone in dan's truck. so im standing on the porch, holding my clothes and ringing the doorbell over and over until my mom finally lets me in. i get the clothes ironed and actually make it to church in time to be attacked with questions by our friendly new ward members. callings will follow shortly. eric if you took the ironing board i would like it back including compensation for my troubles.

Yay for Marriage!

2009-03-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

we got married a week ago today. it was perfect. we got to see tons of friends and family that we haven't seen in forever, skip work and school, and i'm pretty sure we served the best waffles ever made. most girls forget to eat on their wedding day. i definitely did not forget to eat. thanks to everyone who came and helped so much. i want to post some pics, but haven't gotten them back from the photographer yet and my friends spent most of the time taking a million pictures of themselves. (love you girls) anyway here is a couple i have. can possibly post more later.

im a blogger

2009-03-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

my husband thinks blogging is sooooo cool. plus now that we're married we officially HAVE to have a blog, at least that's what everyone keeps telling me. so here i am. im definitely hoping this whole blogging thing can fill up some of the endless hours of boredom i experience at work...everyday!