October 2011 Family Pics.

Courtesy of LP photography :)

Growing Up Fast.

We hit TWO big milestones with these two babies. In September, shortly after moving into our house, THIS cute girl got potty trained! I used Lori Jensen's Three day potty training Ebook. It is AMAZING and worked WONDERFULLY. She was fully trained, even through the night with no pull ups in THREE days. I highly recommend it. I have several friends who swear by it as well. She has been doing so well, and what I thought would be a nightmare, has truly been a piece of cake!

In October, THIS handsome boy started WALKING. He followed in his sisters footsteps (no pun intended) walking at ten months. I LOVE when they first start walking. They are so proud of themselves and their wobbly little bodies are so cute! I can't believe my BABY is walking!

NINE.

In September, Jace and I house sat/babysat for a family in our ward. They have S.E.V.E.N. children. Yes, 7. We were there for FIVE days. Including ours, we had nine kids, ranging from 12years-9months. This same week, Jace quit his job and left for training for a new job. That left me alone and STRESSED with all nine. My mom, who lives a couple miles away was also out of town. Luckily, MaKayla, a girl from church helped me a TON. I left the Nickels house with the UP MOST respect for Heather (their mom), and a suppressed desire to have any more kids, EVER.

Brower.Ira.Savannah.Sumner.Eliza.Selah.Emma.

Homeowners

that's right folks. we are officially homeowners! we ended up living with my parents for just at a year. we finally closed on our first home in September. We LOVE having a house of our own. It's four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, big fenced in backyard. We live in a swim/tennis community, we are close to all the things we love and are only about three miles from my parents. We could NOT have gotten a better deal on this property, so to all you utahans, MOVE TO GEORGIA!! Our mortgage here, is close to what we paid for RENT in utah. It's WONDERFUL.

Here are a few pictures.

There are a few things we don't LOVE about it, but I have the most amazing handyman husband EVER! :) We will painting the cabinets something OTHER than black. We have started painting the walls, put up wainscot, tiled the fireplace and built a new mantel, put in built in cabinets, gave all the windows a new face lift with new sills and molding, and we have just started with the crown molding... wait. I say "we" like I helped, but let it be known it has been ALL jace. Everything is looking amazing and I don't mind living in a construction zone AT ALL! (Pics of the remodel coming soon.)

I just want to give a shout out to my amazing parents for putting up with our family for a WHOLE year. They were so patient with our kids, so giving of their time & space, and so supportive of our decisions. We owe them BIG time and LOVE them more than they could know!

August 2011 Utah Trip

Jace goes hunting every August. When we went to buy his ticket, we found such a great deal that the kids and I tagged along. At the time, I didn't realize this meant I would be a single mom for the week while he was up on the mountain :( With the time change and the kids sleeping schedule, it was rough. Luckily, Kels and Zach came down from Boise to help with kiddos. We stayed at Marci and Landons for most of the visit and got to stay with Lynds and Cody for a few days too! All in all it was a good trip, but traveling with kiddos is hard. period. this is what most of the plane ride was like

gorgeous UT mountains

kels.kare.jace.zach.

best pic i got. cannons eyes are closed.

em.crae.cannon.

Promise.

It's been FOR.EV.ER. here are my excuses: my camera is AWFUL & we moved out of my parents house so i no longer use my moms camera. i'd rather facebook than blog. i have two children that run my life. here are my solutions: i bought a new camera. it gets here tomorrow :) blogging will now be a priority because it's my only source of journaling. i will do it when the kids nap or go to bed. PROMISE. bare with me while i play catch up.

Mecham Family Photos

the 14 grand kids

the whole bunch!

all of us again!

amy.monte.joni.jace

love this one! we had these pictures taken while we were in Bicknell, Utah in May. Needless to say, it was FREEZING. We all had jackets and sweaters wrapped around us. Right before the photographer said, "THREE!" we all threw them out of the picture. If you look close you can see Cannon is wrapped in a white blanket, and LUCKILY the sweater I brought for McRae was WHITE! We still had crying children and even whiney adults! However, our awesome photographer made the best of it and got some great shots! Thanks Faun! :)

Mecham Family Reunion

Our reunion started with THIS kid coming home from his mission:

Elder Trent Taylor.

Columbia South Carolina

He now shares my love for the south :)

We then watched THIS kid graduate from Wayne County High School:

Rhett Taylor

pretty in purple :)

And now for the highlight of the reunion.

The Mecham Family AMAZING RACE!

the PINK team:

McKade,Tyler, Zack, ME, Cannon, Kiera

We broke into 4 teams of five people. We then raced around the Taylor's ranch and the town of Bicknell completing 13 various tasks! From barrel racing (on bikes) to building sheep herders' monuments, we had a BALL! We spent the ENTIRE day spending time together as one BIG family!

cowboy relay

target shooting

ALL the nieces & nephews with their FAVORITE aunt :)

the adults :)

A HUGE shout out to JONI for making this possible! She housed and fed ALL 22 of us for FIVE days! She worked so hard planning the AMAZING RACE and plenty other activities that kept us busy! THANK YOU THANK YOU! WE LOVE YOU!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

130 :)

Po turns TWO

McRae is my SUNSHINE

and she is TWO! cake pops i made for play group po on the morning of her birthday monkey joes with friends sumner.halley.justin.selah.crae.owen singing happy birthday her (MY) favorite present :) THIS girl keeps us smiling :)

Nicknames: Po. Popo. Crae. CraeCrae. MickeyRae. Sugar. Sissy.

Favorite Foods: PB&J. Pizza. String Cheese. Spaghetti. Oatmeal. Mac&Cheese. Cereal. Chocolate Chips

Favorite Songs: Wheels on the Bus.Pop Goes the Weasel.Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sunbeam

Favorite People (besides US of course): Pappy. T.j. Nana. Mark&Wiz(Liz). Dami(Damian). Kiki(Kelsey).

Favorite Things To Do: play at the park. go to the mall. play the iPad. color. watch Dora.BubbleGuppies.Team Umi Zoomi.Max&Ruby.

Our Favorite Quotes:

"Po grumpy!"

"I go to the mall!"

"Help me find Dad's iPad!"

After being told something she is wearing is cute, "NANA BOUGHT IT!"

"Poop won't come outta me!"

to cannon: "Look at me! Look at me! Listen! Listen!"

"Too bad!"

"I don't wanna go to bed!"

(Notice MOST of those were COMMANDS!)

McRae is VERY independent! We are told she RUNS the nursery.

She is very persistent and quite the con artist. She will DO or SAY ANYTHING to stay up just a LITTLE bit longer.

She is SMART! She amazes us EVERY day. She knows ALL her colors and shapes including a HEXAGON! :)

We love her more than anything. We are so grateful to have her in our lives. She helps us remember what is important and not to sweat the small stuff. She is our everything and our all.

Tom turns 26

Things We LOVE About TOM!

his GOOD cooking

his "technology" skills

his laugh

he's a GREAT dad!

his love of movies

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my FAVORITE BIG brother ;)

5 months!

our sweet baby boy is 5 months already.

he is a scrawny little thing, 14lbs, due to his reflux.

he pukes and pukes and pukes.

after 4 different medications and two different formulas, he is back to nursing with a dose of maalox every now and then. doc says he just has to 'grow out of it'.

this little 5 month-er eats a jar of fruit everyday mixed with rice cereal. he usually keeps it all down due to the thicker substance.

he is so handsome although we aren't sure WHO he looks like.

he is a TOTAL mommas boy and can ALWAYS be found clinging to her shirt, hair, hip, shoulder, ect...

he is SPOILED rotten and SCREAMS when he doesn't get attention.

he is a finger sucker. and we LOVE him :)