The Ben & Amberly Mecham Family

2011-02-16T20:08:00.003-07:00

Christmas 2010

Our computer literally went up in smoke and Ben had to build a new one, so it's taken us a while to get things back in order. (Thank goodness we had a backup of our photos, whew!)
To make things simple, here are some photos from our Christmas:

Thanks to Uncle Del for the lovely photobomb.

I hope your Christmas was as merry as ours!

2010-12-24T12:49:00.010-07:00

Thanksgiving

OK, so I'm a little behind.
Here it is Christmas Eve and I'm finally posting about Thanksgiving. (sigh)

It was the Merrill's turn for Thanksgiving this year, and we threw the party at our house.

It was a weekend full of art projects and puzzles.

Not to mention the food of course!

Ben dug a pit in the backyard and cooked the turkey deep-pit style.
It takes 12 hours!

The turkey was so moist and tender, it just fell apart.
It gave Grandpa Merrill quite a carving challenge!

Ava apparently couldn't wait for the feast to begin.

Good times were had by all. The cousins especially had fun together.

And then of course, the Christmas decorations come out immediately afterward.
Jolie's favorite!

Can't wait till Christmas!

2010-12-04T07:17:00.002-07:00

Falltime

Yes, I know. Fall is over. Winter is in full force.

But just before all the leaves fell, we thought it would be great to get a few pictures of the kids. As it turned out, the only decent pictures we could get were of Jolie and Bronson. Faye has something against getting her picture taken lately that we really must remedy. So I put in a shot of her when we were in Greer earlier this year.

What can I say... we've got some cute kids!

2010-11-15T07:31:00.013-07:00

Disneyland 2010 - Amberly's Birthday Party

I hit one of those milestones in my life.
To celebrate my parents surprised us with a trip to Disneyland!

My sweet and loving grandma with her great-grand kids.

The birthday party celebration was a blast.

The kids got to see all of their favorite Disney characters.

The jungle cruise was Bronson's favorite ride.

My dad was a such a good sport. He loved riding with the kids no matter what they wanted to do.

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Trick or Treat Party

My birthday couldn't have been any happier than at the Happiest Place on Earth!
Thank you so much Mom & Dad!
Until next time!

2010-11-09T23:07:00.005-07:00

Jolie's Elementary School Program

For Veteran's Day, Jolie's school puts on a big music program.
The 2nd grade sang "This Land is Your Land" and there were three kids chosen to sing a verse by themselves.
That's right. Jolie was one of them.

She's been driving us crazy singing the song constantly for weeks preparing for this. I think my brain has some kind of permanent damage.
Can't.... get it.... out.... of my head....
Not only did Jolie step up to the challenge, she LOVED it. Being on stage is her thing. (Hmm, must take after her dad...)

Jolie and her BFF Ashley after the show.

Here's the video. Check out how she gets all Emo with the microphone.

Good job, Jolie Bear!

2010-10-18T18:35:00.004-07:00

4 Years Old!
4 of my favorite things about Bronson:

1. He's the family's comic relief without even trying
2. He's mastered the art of batting eyelashes to get his way
3. He finds excitement in the smallest things
4. He's just so dang kissable!

Happy Birthday B-Man!
We love you!!

2010-10-08T22:44:00.004-07:00

Labor Day Weekend in Greer, AZ
Okay, it was an extra LONG weekend, but who's counting days...
Grandpa Merrill rented a great cabin in the woods and invited the whole Merrill crew to come along.

(Notice at the bottom of this sign it says that the population is 181 in winter.)

Grandpa brought the Jeep and took the grandkids for endless rides to and from the "downtown" area. He also found out that you really do need working headlights to drive at night.

Golden and Bri brought supplies for making marshmallow blow guns...

It was an all-out marshmallow war.
Daily.
Take no prisoners!!

We happened to be there at the best wildflower season...

We gave fly-fishing a shot.

Golden made it look easy...
And Grandpa caught the most fish.

You couldn't keep the kids off the Jeep. Definitely a hit!

The Tin Star became our hotspot to get... you know... like ice cream and stuff.

On our way home we stopped by the Tonto Natural Bridge. If you haven't gone there, you should. Spectacular!

We loved this trip. A major stress-reliever.
The cousins could just play in the forest and pretend,
And the adults could just hang out and relax. (Well, for the most part)
And the Jeep is a must.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
Let's do this again!

2010-10-02T23:43:00.004-07:00

1976 Corvette For Sale
It's finally come to it.
Time to part with the classic that Ben never thought he would ever sell.
The car we took on our first date.
The car that we peeled out in as we drove away on our wedding night.
The car Ben thought he would work on with a teenage Bronson.

Now it's looking for its next good home.
Ben is asking $6000 for now but he would probably take $5000.
It's an amazing deal for a cool piece of history.

Here's the text from the Craigslist ad:
1976 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Modified L82. New 350 5.7L Engine w/ Comp. Cams Camshaft, 94,000 miles on car, 2,000 on engine, 4spd Manual Trans, Edelbrock Performer Intake Manifold and Carburetor, K&N Air Cleaner, Flowmaster True Dual Exhaust, White exterior, dark green interior. Removable T-tops with a second mirrored glass set. Mechanically sound, runs great. No rust or major damage. Rear bumper cracked, paint a little faded. Have original heads, intake manifold, carburetor, air cleaner, other misc. parts.
We're sorry to see this car go, but it's time for it to move on.
If you know anybody that might be interested, please let them know. Thanks.

2010-09-12T20:56:00.002-07:00

Flowers
This year Ben (kinda) landscaped the backyard and we grew all sorts of stuff, including flowers for cutting. I got this new jar/vase which I really like and we have had practically nonstop fresh flowers in the house for months (not really great for pollen allergies). We only got pictures of two of the arrangements he did, but they turn out really pretty and we're enjoying it while it lasts.

Everything we've grown has been from seed, and it has been quite the challenge and a test of patience.
In case you care, here's a list of some of the best cutting flowers we actually got to grow:

Sunflowers (really easy from seed, we did about 80)
Dahlias (from tuber, not seed, but also easy)
Gomphrena (special cutting varieties)
Black-eyed Susans
Feverfew
Yarrow
Celosia
Gladiolas (from bulbs)
Blue Flax
Zinnias (everyone should grow zinnias)
And some others that didn't do so well, we'll have to try again next year.

This summer's been so nice, I'm not ready for fall to come yet.
...Which has practically already arrived in Northern Arizona...
Winter's supposed to be bad this year.
Oh well, bring it on!!

2010-09-10T07:58:00.002-07:00

A New Look...

Jolie got glasses!

Isn't that just so cute?

She picked them out herself.

Now she can clearly see the board at school, which is helpful.

She's also in the "I can't show my teeth in a picture" phase.

We just have to make sure she keeps those glasses on all the time.

Welcome to the club, Jolie Bear!

2010-08-31T23:12:00.004-07:00

San Diego - Mission Beach

Ben had a few days off work at the beginning of August and it just so happened that my mom and my sister-in-law Brianna were up for a little getaway so we threw together a very last-minute trip to the beach. Talk about spontaneous!

We brought our little family and Bri brought her family, minus Ruby (her youngest) and Golden, who had to stay back to work. (I guess somebody has to!)
We rented just about the only available condo anywhere near Mission Beach. When we were making calls trying to find a place with only 2 days notice, one guy actually laughed at me!

But, we made it, and man we had a good time! Too bad it was only for 3 nights... Bronson asked why we can't just live there. Who can blame him?

These cousins got to spend some much-needed time together...

...finding shells...

...and making sandy messes.

Ben had to get a couple of night shots.

And Grandma Merrill got caught sucking down way too many Diet Cokes...

We spent some time at Mission Beach park.

Ava and Emma got really into their sandcastle-making skills.

We had some issues with the sand.
Faye must have thought it was sugar...

You can tell Asher has older siblings.
He just laid there while they practically buried him alive.

Seaport Village
If you ever go to San Diego, you have to visit Seaport Village. It's a really cute shopping "village" right in the port, and it has some of the coolest little shops ever. There's a shop with all wood toys, which of course was right up Bronson's alley.

Did you really think we could pass up Ben & Jerry's?

Boy, those are some tired faces!

We had a great trip and we're already looking forward to next time... Thanks Mom and Bri for making this happen... We should keep up the tradition!

2010-08-19T07:29:00.004-07:00

Harvest

Not too bad for our first real garden...

2010-08-13T14:27:00.007-07:00

Utah Excursion

We got invited to my brother-in-law Dallin's graduation in Salt Lake. That gave us a good reason to go up there and turn the trip into a family vacation. Good goin' Dallin!

They let us crash in their sweet new house...

While we were there we decided to hit up Thanksgiving Point at the peak of its growing season...

Ben went to Temple Square first thing in the morning to take some pictures...

And of course what's a trip to Utah without Lagoon...

Thanks Cami and Dallin, we had a blast!

2010-06-26T08:03:00.004-07:00

My Gardening Family

Gardening takes many qualities including diligence, patience, love, and knowledge of the plants and their surroundings.
In return our family receives the joys and beauty of our garden.
Granted it will take a few years for the yard and garden to establish and fill in but for now we are enjoying the planning and planting parts.

Veggies and flowers started from seed.

Long process but we learned a lot.

Ben cutting rebar for the tomato cages.

Measuring and leveling to perfection.

A picture of Faye for good measure.

Ben's done so much more. I will post more pictures later!

2010-06-21T10:27:00.006-07:00

Jolie 1st Grade

First Day

Last Day

Jolie loved, Loved, LOVED her 1st grade teacher and class. She was heartbroken when she realized 2nd grade comes with a new teacher and classmates. But it's summer and you can't stay sad too long.

2010-05-05T16:16:00.005-07:00

Trains Trains Trains

To say Bronson loves trains is an understatement.
He lives everyday in his own train world.
Everything becomes a part of his railway.
My favorite is our stairs becoming the steep tracks up the mountain, and all hallways leading to different destinations. Meal times never go without spoons or forks becoming trains.
I constantly hear Bronson making train noises. He's very intense and passionate about each train sound. They are all different and if you make the wrong sound he will correct you. It gets fun teasing him with wrong chuuuugs, hooops, whooooos, chhhhhhaas, and whatnot's.

...so we took him to the train park in Scottsdale.

It was so much fun for me to see his face light up with excitement over and over.
He loved every minute of it.

Bronson watching the train pull into the station.

Bronson riding on the train with Grandma and Jolie.

The second time riding the train we put Bronson and Jolie in the freight car in the very back. When the train pulled back in, Bronson had fallen asleep. It was at the end of the day and I know he was tired.

Grandma & Bronson watching the model trains.

Faye & Jolie

It was a wonderful day!

2010-05-02T07:18:00.011-07:00

Susan's Run

Before Jolie's birthday party our family participated in Susan's Run.
I explained to Jolie about my friend Susan Mortensen Turley who died of cancer and this run was for her and it was going to help other people who are sick like Susan.
She was very excited to help others and practiced running so she would be ready.
It was so fun watching Jolie run the mile.
She wanted to win the race and beat everyone.
As I ran behind her she would say the funniest things like.....

"Wow! This is what a real workout feels like."
"Do I get a prize when I'm done?"
"I can't let anyone pass me."
"I'm going to WIN!"

I think I found her sport.

Jolie & cousin Emma after the mile

Jolie, Emma, & Grandma Merrill

Right before the Kids Dash

Stretching

One of my favorites memories of Susan

Years ago....

Back in high school....

When we were kids....

The Aquabats where playing at The Bash on Ash. For those of you who don't know who The Aquabats are here's one of their videos to help you see how crazy and fun they can be.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxMheSfHEwk&feature=player_embedded

The Aquabats find themselves on a never-ending quest to right the wrongs, destroy boredom, and seek justice for all. Especially the kids!! (that's their motto)

Susan had this great idea. I mean GREAT IDEA!! She dressed up as Exact Change Girl. It doesn't seem like much but Susan was always thinking outside the box and always ready to have fun. She had a cape on and a belt that had one of those change disposers on it. She totally looked like she was part of the show. So of course she made it up on stage and The Aquabats shouted out change amounts for her to dispense. It was hilarious!! We had so much fun that night!

Susan was a blast to be around.

She always had fun and her smile was contagious.

To read more about Susan and her journey here on earth you can visit her blog at

http://www.lemonademakers.blogspot.com/

2010-04-11T17:00:00.004-07:00

Jolie's Party at the Park

We were down in Tempe for Jolie's birthday so we decided to have her party at Kiwanis Park.
I remember having birthday parties here when I was a little girl.
We had a great time hangin' out with family and friends.

Chilin' in the paddle boats

Blaze, Bronson, Emma, & Jolie

Bronson & Kellen

Baby Faye going to town with the strawberries.

2010-04-09T20:47:00.004-07:00

I can't believe it's been 7 years

Name: Jolie Alexis Mecham

Nicknames: Jolie Bear, Boo Bear, Boo Boo, & Loves

Age: 7

While out shopping the other day, Jolie says to me "Mooooomm I'm 7 now so I can't hold your hand."

I said in return "Okay then I guess I will give you kisses instead."

After that holding hands didn't seem too bad.

2010-04-07T11:00:00.006-07:00

Breakfast from Jolie

For Bronson - A roll with jelly and white chocolate chips and a smoothie to drink.

For Mom - Bread with peanut butter and sprinkles. The drink is milk, marshmallows, and a little Hershey bar for good measure.

Jolie is my little sweetheart. She always wants to serve others and do special things for them. It doesn't always turn out but we love her for trying.

2010-04-06T20:55:00.005-07:00

Sledding in Flagstaff

A while ago..........

Jolie and her cousin Zane didn't just want to sled on the same runs as everyone else. They decided to try out a nice new patch of fresh powder.

They didn't realize it was FOUR FEET of powder.

This led to Jolie getting stuck pretty good.
In short Ben had to climb down the wrong side of the sledding area to pull Jolie out. Incidentally Jolie lost her boot in the hole and Ben spent twenty minutes rescuing the stranded sledders. And the boot.

I think this was the only time Faye wasn't crying. She was not a happy camper.

Mental note...next time... don't bring a baby!

Bronson looked so dang cute in all his snow gear.

He liked to curl up on the sled while we pulled him around. Our little turtle.

Man, I wish I got a good picture of it.

We had a blast spending time in the snow and with Zaners!

2009-12-11T11:06:00.003-07:00

The Return of Rusty the Elf

Rusty is our Elf on the Shelf. On Dec. 1st Rusty magically reappears and his sole responsibility is to watch our children's behavior and report it to Santa each night. When Rusty returns from the North Pole he is in a new resting place and the kids get so excited to find him. During the day when my kids get a little out of control I just remind them "Rusty is watching" and quickly they shape up. I wish he could stay all year round. We have lots of great memories from this wonderful tradition.

2009-12-11T10:48:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving

We had so much fun in Mesa for Thanksgiving that we forgot to take pictures. So here are just a few.

Grandma Mecham made capes for all the little kids. They had a blast playing around.

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

2009-11-01T18:05:00.005-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Aaarrrggghhh!

Bronson ate his weight in candy before we left to go trick or treating. He was unstoppable! He hit his sugar crash during the trunk or treat. He was so tired that he couldn't lift his pumpkin to get candy so we headed back to the car where he fell asleep in the trunk of the car.

Meanwhile Jolie ran loose in the parking lot with friends getting tons of candy.

2009-11-01T18:00:00.002-07:00

Faye's blue eyes
I would like to document Faye's blue eyes.
Most likely they will turn brown, just like our other kids.
But for now we are loving everyday that they are blue!

2009-09-02T09:04:00.019-07:00

Santa Monica Beach

2009-09-01T12:38:00.005-07:00

Beach and Fire

Ben didn't have to work Saturday so we loaded up the car on Friday and headed out to L.A.

We planned on staying at Jen & Cory's Friday night, beach all day Saturday, and then head out to my grandma's house in La Crescenta.

The Station Fire north of L.A. came out of nowhere.

Grandma evacuated her house Saturday evening so we stayed another night at Jen & Cory's.

Sunday we drove out to my Aunt Sandy's where grandma was staying.

Ben, Uncle Mike, and Grandma drove over to her house to see if things were okay.

From the bottom of the driveway looking up you could see the mountain on fire.

Ash covered all her plants and the house.

Leaving the house was scary because the fire department was unsure if the fire would go down the canyon or not. If the fire were to move down the canyon, grandma's house probably wouldn't make it. That night grandma went back home and decided to stay and not to leave again.

Grandma and the neighbors who stayed had a plan in place in case the fire got to close.

Three honks if someone's house was on fire.....

Two honks if someone was hurt....

One long honk when you were leaving.....

It was hard to leave family and come back home. We got home early Monday morning.

I tried calling grandma but the phone lines have been burned down.

She just emailed me and said the firefighters have some control of the area and her van is packed and ready to go if she needs to leave.

Pray for the firefighters. I bet they're exhausted.

Towards the end of the street near Briggs Terrace. Very close to grandma's.

This is what the sky looked like as we were driving home.

2009-08-18T08:12:00.003-07:00

Ben's Masterpiece!

The day finally came when the house was finished (mostly) and we moved in!
Of course that day was about a week after having the baby.
The move was tough but who's complaining.
I'm just glad Ben's long hard work is now done and we have a gorgeous home to live in!!
Ben's work blows me away.....it's just so amazing!!!

You're probably asking yourself what's next for us.......
Hummmm....Does anyone need any work done on their home?

2009-08-14T21:07:00.001-07:00

Bronson Helping Out in the Garage.

2009-08-12T09:04:00.012-07:00

Spontaneous Trip to Utah

Day 1: We drove to Salt Lake City to see my sister Cami and her family.

Me, Cami , & Faye

Thank you Johnston family for letting us stay at your house last minute. You did an awesome job remodeling your home....Good Luck selling it!

Day 2: Walked the Red Butte Gardens

Bronson & Carter

The boys had a blast running through the squirting water fountains.

I'm totally going to have Ben build me one of these in my backyard!!

Had to feed the fishes and duckies.

Day 3: To Altamont for the BIG Mecham family reunion.

We had tons of fun hanging out at the Lodge.

Crazy Jolie. She spent most of the time in the pool. We hardly saw her.

The Fab Four!

Gus, Kellen, Bronson, & Trey

This poor cat was left behind by a previous family. All the boys gave the cat plenty of love.

Ben had to take the kids out on the boat and try out some fishing. I don't think there were any fish in the pond but they sure had fun.

Day 4: Hit the Tracy Aviary before the long drive home.

I think they might be a little tired!!

2009-07-21T12:30:00.003-07:00

Pictures of our sweet little Faye

Ben's sister Nicole came up to help with the move and to take some pictures of Faye.
Nicole you're the best. I love all the pictures. Thanks!!

What a cutie! I could just eat her up!!

Yes that's a real tea cup. I bought it for the picture and then returned it the next day. I mean what am I really going to do with a ridiculously big tea cup?

Jolie has been the biggest helper. She just loves Faye and wants to hold her and kiss her all day long. Bronson is still getting use to Faye and is a bit afraid of her. He is slowly warming up enough to touch her. Hopefully I will get a picture of all three of my kids together.

2009-06-10T13:21:00.002-07:00

It's a girl!
Faye Lynn Mecham

6 lbs. 3 oz.
19" Long
Delivered 6/10/09 7:58 am

Amberly and Faye are healthy and doing great. Now time for the long recovery.

2009-06-09T12:49:00.004-07:00

Baby Delivery Update.....

At my appointment yesterday the dr. told me she might have to move my c-section from Thursday to Wednesday because of a funeral she might attend back east. She was so unsure about making the trip back east that I figured she most likely wouldn't go. Well it turns out she is going and will be gone through the weekend. My original due date is the 14th of June so there is no way she can put off doing the c-section until she gets back. The only option is to have the baby tomorrow!
Crazy!

2009-06-07T14:07:00.002-07:00

This Baby is Coming and I'm So Not Ready!

You would think with having a c-section I would be more prepared but I'm not. I know, I know I get pick the birth date way ahead of time and plan for it. I have it so easy right? However I have been so committed to helping Ben with the build of our home that preparing for the baby is the last thing on my mind. When I have a little free time I think for running to Lowe's or Home Depot to get prices on carpet, tile, blinds, door knobs, facets, or whatever needs to still be done. My head is spinning. I was really hoping that the house would be done and we would be moved in before I have the baby but I know now that that's not going to happen. We will probably move in 1-2 weeks after having the baby. That's going to be fun! Sometimes I wish I had a little more time before the baby and minutes later I just want to have the baby and be done with it. But for now I still have to find the car seat and baby stuff which is somewhere in the attic.
Come Thursday June 11th ready or not that's when I having this baby. Don't get me wrong I'm excited to see our precious little one and finally know if its a boy or girl.

2009-05-24T20:42:00.005-07:00

Congratulations Spencer!
We had a pretty good turnout for Spencer's graduation. I know he really felt the love and support given to him. He will be the first person to tell you High School is not easy. Even though it took him longer than expected he never gave up.
We love you!

Cami & Spencer

Spencer doing his thing!

Golden & Spencer

2009-05-16T14:42:00.005-07:00

From Storage Bin to Fan-plastic Pool

Last summer the kids would pretend this storage bin was their pool.

A couple of days ago Jolie was wondering where the bin went and wanted to find it.

The kids did grow this past year (shocking I know) so we had to retire the bin and.....

Upgraded to this!

Ben surprised the kids this morning with the pool.
They were ecstatic and played out there all day.

I don't know what we are going to do when we move into the new house next month...

The whole yard is dirt.

Yikes!

2009-05-08T09:16:00.004-07:00

Bees in my Backyard

Spring time is my favorite season.
The trees are leafing out.
Flowers are blooming.
Our grass is green again.
My kids play in the hose water everyday.
Little baby birds are exploring. (check out the new baby owls at the Home Depot garden center in Prescott Valley)
AND....
Bees are creating hives in our apple tree!

We watched as a massive swarm of bees flew into our backyard and started making a hive in the apple tree within minutes. There had to be a thousand bees hanging on this one branch. The pest control people wouldn't do anything for 48 hours! It was a bit frightening to let the kids go outside to play and I wasn't going to wait 2 days for something to be done. Ben swooped in and saved the day with a can of wasp killer. After they tried to rebuild a third time we sprayed all the trees and flowers down with a jet of water. I think it is finally safe to venture outside.

2009-04-24T17:37:00.005-07:00

Jolie's T-ball Game

Who knew t-ball involves tackling and wrestling for the ball?!? These kids are so funny to watch. They really have no clue that it's okay for another teammate to get the ball. It's a fight to the end to get the ball. After someone comes out of the pile with the ball the last thing they want to do is throw it home.

Jolie fighting for the ball

Coming out with the ball

Chillin' on the bench

Up to bat

Running home

Bronson enjoying the game

2009-04-20T16:41:00.006-07:00

Easter at the Mason's
It was totally raining during the egg hunt. Of course that didn't stop the kids.
Sorry no egg dying pictures. At that time Ben was off with the camera.

Zane, Bronson, Max, Justin, & Jolie

Bronson spent the whole time in Gus's room playing with the train set. It was hard to get him to come do the egg hunt. Right when the egg hunt was over he went straight back to the train.

Jolie's favorite part was hangin' out in the jacuzzi. She was there way past everyone else. Crazy little water bug.

2009-04-15T09:10:00.007-07:00

Jolie's Very Fancy Birthday Party!

We made fancy purses....

dressed up in our fanciest clothes...

(here's Jolie totally peeking)

played pin the jewel on the tiara...

took some fancy pictures....

decorated fancy cupcakes...

ate fancy food....

After all that fancy stuff the girls had to just let go. Running around and going crazy was the best part!

2009-03-31T07:49:00.005-07:00

Happy Birthday Jolie!
Our little Jolie Bear turns 6 today! Of course Jolie has been telling everyone for weeks that she is "practically 6". She just can't wait to be older. It doesn't matter how old.....just older. Why is that when we're young all we want to do is grow up and be big and now that we're adults we just want to be kids again?

2009-03-24T10:32:00.002-07:00

Rocket Ship

Ben and the kids made this box rocket ship in one of the rooms over at the new house. We filled the ship with pillows, toys, blankets, and a DVD player. The kids will play in there for hours. Its totally great. While they are hanging out I can get tons done over there.

2009-03-18T21:24:00.018-07:00

Luck from a Leprechaun

Jolie has been obsessed with leprechauns for the past few weeks. It's a constant topic of conversation. The other day it was getting to be a little too much and I had to break it to her that leprechauns are not real and that they are only make believe. Mean, I know, but I had been painting all day over at the new house and was driving the kids home, exhausted. This was our conversation.....

"Mom! When we get home you have to get me a box so I can make a trap to catch a leprechaun!"
"Not tonight Jolie. When we get home we have to get ready for bed and I'm way too tired to find a box. How about we make the trap tomorrow?"

"Mom! You're not listening to me!" (that's her phrase of the week) "I need a box to make a trap. We have to find some shiny stuff to attract the leprechaun. Then when he tries to take the shiny stuff we have to stare into his eyes without blinking and say.....Take me to the end of the rainbow so I can have your gold!"

(What in the world are they teaching our kids at school?)

"Jolie I WAS listening to you. We don't need to trap a leprechaun and take his gold. But if you really want to make a trap we'll do it tomorrow."

"Mom! I have to do it when we get home. I have to trap him tonight! If we get the gold then we'll be rich and you don't have to work or paint anymore!"

I about died. Looking at it from her perspective makes a lot of sense, but after her relentless efforts to convince me just about drove me crazy, I had to let her know that leprechauns are just make-believe and there's no pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I don't enjoy dashing my kids' dreams, but my sanity was at stake here.
....

2009-03-18T08:22:00.002-07:00

Like a month ago....

....My Grandpa Merrill was visiting down in Mesa. Since he lives up near Yosemite National Park in CA and we never make it up there, me and the kids went down to Mesa to see him....

(Lacey, Summer, Grandpa, me, Brooke)

(Spencer, Kyle)

....Also my cousin Kyle Gray just returned home from his mission. He lives in Provo, UT. His family was also visiting Mesa which gave us another reason to go visit.

It was so great to see family. We love you guys.

2009-03-04T07:52:00.003-07:00

Bronson is such a spaz when he gets out of the bath tub. He has this little dance he does whenever he's getting dressed.

2009-03-01T19:35:00.002-07:00

We are having a baby Girl!?!?!

Well according to Jolie....

Today in testimony meeting Jolie said "...I love my mom and dad and brother and baby sister coming in June..."

That's news to me...We still don't have a clue.

Boy or Girl?

We'll see if her intuition is right.

2009-02-01T16:14:00.003-07:00

I was hangin' out with some friends the other night and got the comment that I was "dead to the world right now." This is however Sad but True. Between painting over at the house every day, potty training Bronson, working nights at the event center, and keeping up with all the other nonsense I don't have time for blog posts or really anything else.
So today I took some time and added some of the most recent things going on. Hopefully this month I will make more time for the important things like family and friends. For now we are still alive and keeping busy.

2009-02-01T15:56:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday Golden!

Today is my brother's birthday. He turns the BIG 30! This picture was taken years ago on the 4th of July. I still give Spenc props for this punch. Anyways....Golden have a great Birthday!

2009-02-01T15:22:00.005-07:00

Student of the Month

I got a notice from Jolie's school saying that she would be receiving a certificate at an awards ceremony. Bronson and I headed over to the school to see what this was all about. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she got "Student of the Month" for December and her friend Bryant was Student of the Month for January. I thought these two kids were a couple of trouble makers. Who knew?

2009-02-01T15:06:00.005-07:00

Unexpected Visit!!

A couple of weeks ago my sister Cami and her son Carter wanted to get away from the Utah snow so they ventured down to Sunny AZ!
We had a blast hangin' out and entertaining the kiddos.
My mom came up on Saturday and a BBQ was a must.
Thanks to Cami,Carter, and my Mom for coming. We love you guys!

2009-01-01T06:47:00.002-07:00

Whether we've had a good 2008 or not, let's put our all into 2009 and make it a better one!

2008-12-22T08:52:00.003-07:00

Santa At The Mall

The kids were so excited to see Santa! Bronson kept staring at him like he couldn't believe santa was right there....while Jolie kept blabbering about what she wanted and that she was very good this year. She asked Santa for a Super Ball, and Santa said he would grant her wish. Well, it turns out that a Super Ball is something from a cartoon that doesn't exist! We'll have to find a way to change her mind...

2008-12-01T20:35:00.002-07:00

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast!
Jolie and Bryant (her friend in Primary) got put in the same Kindergarten class at school. They are now on their third teacher this year. That's right THIRD teacher. I can't begin to tell you how ticked I am at the school and hope that this teacher stays till the end of the school year.
Anyways......
All the Kindergarten classes got together for a Thanksgiving Feast. I think the other Kindergarten teachers are all buddies because their classes came to the feast decked out in Indian attire. But Jolie and Bryant's class came 20 minutes late and had only Pilgrim hats. It was really sad. Most of the food was gone and they only had a short time to eat. I'm pretty sure their class gets the shaft on most things.
Minus all the stuff that drove me crazy that day I am thankful for Jolie's ability to do very well in school and her ever-growing mind. I see great things to come for this girl.

2008-11-21T06:18:00.004-07:00

Fall Color
The leaves have been turning their fall colors for the past month and it's been beautiful to actually have fall after having lived in the valley my whole life. So naturally I want to go take some pictures of our trees. As soon as I walk outside with the camera in my hands, Jolie yells out, "Dad, what are you taking pictures of?" When she realizes the camera is pointed at the tree, she immediately jumps right in and does this: What is that?
I ask what she's doing and she says, "Dad, this is my pose. Take the picture." Where does this stuff come from?

Oh well. Girls will be girls, right?

2008-11-01T09:53:00.009-07:00

Happy Halloween!!

Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Bronson was the biggest laugh. He would run from house to house saying, "Tricker Reat!" He really didn't get the fact that you get candy at the door when you say "trick or treat." He just wanted to run from door to door.

Jolie cast some of the most evil spells. It got a little scary in the end!

2008-10-21T06:05:00.003-07:00

Our Little Helper

Here's a little video of Jolie helping Daddy sweep and get ready for drywall.

She makes us laugh.

By the way, the house is now drywalled and Ben is putting in the doors and trimwork.

2008-10-05T15:07:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday Bronson!!

My baby boy isn't a baby anymore.

He's my crazy two year old!

He loves cupcakes, blocks, and playing outside.

I love this little guy!

2008-09-29T21:21:00.004-07:00

Powder-Puff Football

Last Wednesday Bradshaw Mt. High School held their annual Powder-Puff Football game where the Junior Girls attempted to beat the Senior Girls.

The Senior Girls where "Back in Black" looking mean with their faces painted and hair pulled back in bandanas. That didn't scare the Junior Girls who where ready to go to war in their "Army Camo".

It was a close game. The Seniors pulled ahead and left the game roaring with their win of 14 to 12! Way to go Black!!

J. Mulberg, and R. Tieman anxiously awaiting the sidelines.

N. Heffner (top left face painted) ready to make her move.

We were there for mutual rooting for our favorite Seniors!

Moriah, D'ven, Joseph, and Chantel intently watching the game.

2008-09-21T18:34:00.004-07:00

Crazy Busy!!

Yes we are still alive! Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been helping Ben every day at the house. If I'm not at the house working, I'm running around looking at paint colors, trim ideas, cabinets, countertops, fixtures, and what not. My head is spinning with colors and design ideas. It's hard to find a minute to update our blog. All of my creative juices are focused on the house. We really hope to have the house done by the end of the year (cross your fingers) and there's still TONS to do. I will report back later with pictures.

Toodles!

2008-09-10T11:13:00.004-07:00

Bronson's Favorite Things

"mumote" - remote

He calls it "mumote" because I'm (mom) in charge of the remote. So he puts mom and remote together and ends up with mumote.

"fiee" - fire

We call Bronson Mr. Intense for many different reasons. One being how intensely he concentrates on roasting hot dogs. He gets so serious about it, it can be scary.

"ice ceem comb" - ice cream cone

The kids are on an ice cream cone kick right now. Every once in a while, if Jolie comes home from school with a smiley face on her report, they get to go outside and eat ice cream cones. Bronson can't wait for the school bus to drop off Jolie and when it does he runs through the house screaming, "ice ceem comb!"

"mooney" - moon

Whenever the front door opens Bronson screams, "Outside mooney!" No matter the time of day he has to go check for the moon. Or maybe it's his way of trying to escape out the front door.

"sagobo" - circle

Crazy I know. Bronson could play with shapes all day. He'll sit on the floor and match up shapes then destroy what he has done. He will do this over and over. It's great!

"wa-ee" - water

Of course water. Everyday he wants to play in the hose. No matter the weather. I thought he would be sick of it by now ....but...noooo. He's obsessed with watering the grass, flowers, and himself. What are we going to do when it really starts getting cold?

More Lingo:

Jeah - Jolie

potsi - pizza

keyma - keyboard

2008-09-09T08:59:00.004-07:00

Zac Allen

My cousin Zac is living in Prescott Valley attending Guidance Helicopter School. Ben had the opportunity to go before dawn and take pictures of Zac before he flew to Williams. So here's Zac doing his thing.

2008-08-29T08:58:00.013-07:00

i'm lovin' it

Go on your own Jedi Quest with a happy meal!

I bring the boyz lunch every day and I thought it would be funny to do something different. I went to Mickey D's and got the happy meal boxes and toys and then put their lunches in them. The smiles on their faces when I brought the happy meals to work were priceless. They took an extra long lunch break to play with their toys.

Who says you're too old for happy meals?

2008-08-26T22:21:00.016-07:00

How We Take Our Pictures

----

We've had a few people ask about our camera setup, so Amberly thought it would be a good idea if I gave a sort of outline as to how we take our pictures for our blog here. By the way, thank you to everyone who has so kindly complimented on our photos we have posted -- we've worked hard to improve our skills to make these pictures work and we still have a long ways to go in making them better. Here are a few things we have found out lately and I hope they can help you:

1. Our camera -- Nikon D50

Honestly, the actual camera you use doesn't make as much impact on photos as most people think. But no doubt if you want to start getting into more technical aspects of photography, you will need an SLR (probably a Digital SLR or DSLR nowadays). SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex and basically means that when you look through the viewfinder, you are looking through the actual lens by way of a mirror system instead of a separate little window above the lens or a little screen on the back of the camera. Along with the mirror system, you get the ability to use different lenses, giving you the flexibility to use a particular lens that will work best with a given situation. The Nikon D50 isn't around anymore, but its closest equivalent now would be the D60 or the D40, both which would make great first SLR's. Also highly recommended are Canon's Digital Rebel Xti or Xsi. As to which is better, Nikon or Canon, it doesn't matter. You should probably choose the one that is used most by your family or friends because then you could borrow lenses or get help from them. Here is a picture of the D50 camera body without a lens mounted:

2. Lenses -- Nikkor 50mm f1.8 and Nikkor 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR

Most SLR's will come with a kit lens included, usually a mid-range zoom. As far as quality goes, these kit lenses are fine. The downside with them is they are usually only good for high-light photography, meaning outdoors or when there is a lot of light indoors. This is because they usually have maximum apertures of 3.5-5.6, not enough to give you fast shutter speeds at low ISO's with lower light like a typical indoor shot. (For a basic guide on aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, click here) If you have ever put your camera on auto and tried to take a picture of your kids inside, chances are your camera wants to turn the flash on, which results in a really bad picture, with anything close too bright and a big shadow behind them. If you avoid using flash, you will get MUCH more flattering pictures. However, if you simply turn off the flash and try to take that indoor shot, the kids will be blurry. This is because the lens doesn't have the ability to open up wide enough to let enough of this dim light in and the camera decides it needs a slower shutter speed in order to expose the picture properly, causing the movement to blur. This reason is exactly why we got a 50mm lens. If you have an SLR, you ABSOLUTELY should get one of these. Nikon and Canon both make the versions to fit their cameras. We got Nikon's f1.8 which I highly recommend. The 1.8 means its maximum aperture is f1.8 (a lower number means a larger lens opening) which will allow sharp photos at incredibly low light -- perfect for the kids playing around inside. Almost all of our pictures of the kids are taken with this lens. The wide max. aperture of this lens is also what helps to narrow the "depth of field" or the range of focus of the image, allowing everything out of that range to give the "blurred" effect that is great for portraits. A good example is the first picture of the Kauai post that I took of Amberly waiting at the airport. If you notice, her right eye is in focus while her left eye is out of that focal range and is already blurred a little. Then the background is completely blurred. This was taken using this lens at f2. If I had taken it at f3.2, the focal range increases and her whole face would be in focus and you would start to see details of the things on the wall behind her, resulting in a less-effective portrait.

A few things about these lenses -- they are stuck at 50mm -- they are NOT zoom lenses, so if you're used to twisting the lens to get closer to the subject, you'll have to get used to zooming with your feet instead. Also, they do not have a built-in autofocus motor like most larger lenses do. What this means is that if your camera body doesn't have an autofocus motor, such as the Nikon D40, D40x, and D60, it will be manual focus only. I'm not sure about the Canons, but I believe the Rebel Xti and Xsi also do not have motors, but don't quote me on that. Actually, I prefer to focus this lens manually anyway, but that's just me.

the Nikkor 50mm f1.8:

For outdoor photography, I got my 18-200mm lens. This is a great travel lens. It's not huge, yet it has a great range, from really wide (18mm) to super telephoto (200mm). But unfortunately, its maximum apertures are what limit it (f3.5 at 18mm and f5.6 at 200mm), making low-light photography impossible without a tripod. But if you're going on vacation, to Kauai for example, and you don't want to be switching lenses all the time, and you'll be outside, taking pictures of everything from -- I don't know -- big gorgeous beaches to faraway lighthouses, this one is hard to beat. Almost every one of our Kauai pictures was taken with this lens. If there was lower light, like the sunsets, I used a tripod so I could have long exposure times.

the Nikkor 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR:

If I had the money, I would invest in some of the f2.8 lenses, which really gets into the professional range of lenses, and opens up a lot of photo opportunities.

Another useful thing we have is a Hoya 72mm Circular Polarizer filter for the 18-200mm lens. I used it on every one of the landscape shots in Kauai. It rotates to allow you to block some of the haze in the sky, darkening up the blues, or to remove reflections off water surfaces, allowing you to see the blue water underneath, or even to green up wet grass by blocking the reflections off the water droplets. Absolutely indispensible for landscape photography.

We also have a Canon A560 point-and-shoot camera which is great for times when you don't want to lug around the big SLR. The picture of Jolie and Grandma Merrill making cupcakes was taken with this camera. Unfortunately, since it was indoors, the flash was used, and you can see it just doesn't look as nice as some of the other pictures there.

A couple more things we have learned:

1. Avoid using the Auto modes. With an SLR, there is really no reason to use Auto. I keep it on either Aperture Priority or Manual mode all the time. This will let you have control over how you want the picture to come out. If you are indoors, put it on Aperture Priority (the little dial on the top pointed to "A") and set the aperture to the lowest number it can go and the ISO to 400 or 800, and give that a shot. Play around with those settings. If you're outdoors and you're taking pictures of the kids, do the same thing but lower the ISO to 200. If you're taking pictures of scenery or a group of people you want a smaller aperture (higher number) such as f5 or f8. This will get a lot of the scene in focus. With most point-and-shoot cameras, however, you will probably get the best results using the built-in modes such as portrait, landscape, night, party, etc. What those modes do is alter those same settings behind-the-scenes automatically, but you have to choose what type of picture you're taking.

2. Generally avoid flash indoors. It just makes for less-than-stellar pictures. Believe it or not, a great time to use the built-in flash is outdoors in bright sunlight. Bright light creates dark shadows which look especially bad on faces. Sometimes all that's needed is a little fill flash to lighten up those dark areas. We have a little fold-up reflector that is gold on one side and silver on the other for reflecting sunlight onto the subject, eliminating those dark shadows, which is even better for these situations than a flash.

3. Better yet, don't take pictures in bright sunlight. Place your subject in the shade, or try the portrait photographer's favorite time of the day - sunset! The light is softer which helps to even out the light on faces and also adds warm color. Cloudy days are also great for pictures of people.

4. Try placing your subject's face off-center in the frame. Ever wonder what those weird lines and markers are in your viewfinder? Often those are there to help with placement of subjects. Take a look around at the work of popular photographers. Rarely are things centered. This can add a little drama to otherwise ordinary photos.

5. Try tilting the camera a little when taking pictures of kids. Yet another way to add drama.

6. Focus on the eye closest to the camera. When you are taking portraits of one person, this is a good rule of thumb to use. The eyes are the first thing you want the viewer to look at, so that's what should be in focus.

7. You've gotta do a little post-processing. I end up running almost everything through Photoshop for some basic tweaking like cropping, contrast, a little burn and dodge, and sharpening. It's absolutely amazing what a difference some slight changes can make.

As for who is taking our pictures, we've both been doing our fair share. If you see a landscape or nature shot, it's most likely mine. If you see pictures of the kids, they're most likely Amberly's. One of hers that turned out great was Jolie in the hammock, taken with the 50mm at f2. I will occasionally take some pictures of the kids, but I'm not home as much as she is, so I don't see quite as many photo ops as she does. I will, however, take credit for the shots of Bronson in the mud.

Another thing that is great about digital photography is you can take as many shots as you want - they're free! That means you can fire away at the kids and then pick one juicy shot to show everyone else. Back to those pics of Bronson in the mud. I took over 50 photos of that scene and only showed you 2 of them. There is power in numbers.

Sorry for the mega-long post. Hopefully some of these tips can help you as they have helped us to slowly get a little better at expressing our lives through our photographs.

2008-08-25T19:14:00.004-07:00

Jolie was so excited to lose her first tooth. The day before it fell out we made a little tooth fairy pillow. It has a little pocket in the front to put her tooth in. I love how kids get so excited about the little things in life. I wish I could be a kid again.

2008-08-23T15:11:00.007-07:00

Jolie's Favorite Things!

Swimming at the Mason's

Swinging in the Hammock at Grandpa's cabin in Walker

Making Cupcakes and .....

Eating them!

Having her Toes painted purple

Getting CottonCandy at the carnival

Roasting hot dogs in the backyard

2008-08-23T12:05:00.004-07:00

You Caught Me!

What do you do.....get mad or take pictures?

Take pictures of course!!

2008-08-22T20:17:00.002-07:00

Mom My Ride

I saw this on my sister-in-law's blog a while ago and thought it was so funny. Plus it goes right along with finding the melted crayon on the car seat.

2008-08-21T09:47:00.008-07:00

MELTED CRAYON In My Car!!

Last night I had to take out my car seats to fit the Young Women in my car and underneath I found a dark purple crayon melted to the back seat. For those of you who know me I can tend to get into deep-clean mode. My mission this morning was to get this freaking crayon out of the car. Ben found online that if you spray WD-40 on a melted crayon it will disintegrate it. Sounds perfect to me. We got the WD-40 and started spraying it on the car seat. It seriously worked. Right away the crayon turned to liquid. It took a load of paper towels to blot up the mess. After a few rounds of spraying and blotting, all the crayon came out and the seat looks brand new. I wish I had taken before and after pictures because you wouldn't believe it. So if any of you have melted crayon in your car, hope is not lost.

2008-08-19T08:04:00.003-07:00

Kindergarten here I come!!

About a week before school started I got a call from the school saying that Costco is donating backpacks and supplies to the all the students at Granville Elementary and that I didn’t need to worry about getting a backpack for Jolie. Sweet deal, right! Jolie was so excited to go to school for the first time. So excited that I don’t think she was thinking clearly....here’s why.

Day 1:
To make sure the teachers could keep track of all the kindergarteners, they gave necklaces to all the kids with their names on them. Well, when I got back to the school to pick Jolie up she was wearing different clothes and had no name tag or backpack. Come to find out she had gotten a bloody nose and had to go to the nurse. At the nurse’s office she had to change her pants because they were all bloody. The nurse gave Jolie a pair of pink sweats to wear and put her bloody pants in a little baggy and told her to put them in her backpack. You know one of the free ones that 500 other kids have. So Jolie puts her pants in a backpack and goes to the cafeteria to meet her class for lunch. Then she forgets her backpack in the cafeteria. I went to pick her up and found her with no backpack and wearing some unknown pair of pink sweats. After hearing Jolie’s version of events, we went to see if there was any chance to get her stuff back. Obviously hers wasn’t the only backpack that had been left there because there was quite a pile of forgotten things awaiting pickup. There was only one of the free backpacks there and it didn’t have her pants in it. So we participated in the musical backpacks game and took that one and lost her pants which never resurfaced at the school.
Day 2:
Jolie desperately wants to ride the bus to and from school. No problem. So we get her set up to ride the bus (which works out perfectly because the bus spot is right in front of our house). I sent Jolie off to school with her newly-traded backpack and a lunch box. When Jolie got off the bus she only had her name tag. But at least she was wearing the same clothes. Jolie told me she forgot her backpack in class and her lunch box on the bus.
Day 3:
I sent Jolie to school with lunch money only. While she was at school I called the bus barn and found they had her lunch box, so I went and picked it up. This time when Jolie got off the bus she remembered to bring home her backpack but she also brought home someone else’s lunch box.
Day 4:
Jolie went to school with her backpack and 2 lunch boxes and come home with all her right stuff.
It was a bit stressful but somehow we made it through Jolie’s first week of school.

2008-08-12T10:30:00.008-07:00

The Beautiful Island of Kauai

We were invited by my sister Nicole and her family to stay with them for a week at a house they rented in Kauai (that's the northernmost island in the Hawaiian Island chain, also called the Garden Island - for good reason). All we had to do was get there. Thank goodness we got our plane tickets quite a while ago - they ended up more than doubling in price as gas prices skyrocketed! (they still weren't cheap, but hey - we couldn't just pass this up!) We left the kids at home with my mom (thanks Mom!!!) which was hard because we had only been away from Jolie for two nights when she was little and not a single night from Bronson. He took it really hard.

After wading through airport security and a layover in L.A. ......

We arrived in paradise! This is the house the Masons rented - FABULOUS! There's literally a river rushing by about 15 feet away on the other side of the house! Check out the banana trees in the front yard. The weather here is so perfect that half of the house is only screened in with no windows. No need for central cooling or heating. There's nothing like falling asleep to the sound of a river and the occasional rain.

The scenery here is so awesome I just had to pull over and snap some photos, much to Amberly's dismay. Hey - you can never have too many pictures!

Ke'e Beach at sunset. Also one of the best snorkeling spots on the island.

The Waimea Canyon Lookout. It is known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

Sorry about all the sunsets -- they're just so spectacular they are begging to be documented!

We went on an 8-mile hike along the North Coast on the Kalalau Trail and up a river valley to Hanakapi'ai Falls. This is at the mouth of the river as it pours into the ocean.

The trail overlooks Ke'e Beach. You can see the reef in the water below.

The beautiful Hanakapi'ai Beach. Incidentally one of the most dangerous beaches on the island. Crazy undertows or something.

We took a stroll along Lumaha'i Beach where the movie South Pacific was filmed.

A sea turtle taking a break on the sand. After he was all sunned out, he decided to head back out again. Me, brother-in-law Brian, and nephew Jake all swam out with him to the edge of the reef.

Snorkeling fools. I seriously couldn't stop snorkeling. I think I did it for 7 straight hours one day. Way too much fun! Now we need to go back to explore the rest of the beaches we didn't get to. My sister Nicole took this picture, which is posted on her fabulous blog. I would tell you to go check it out, but after you see her pictures, you won't come back.

Larsen's Beach

We thought we should check out one of the less-populated beaches on the island to kind of have the deserted island experience. This one takes a little hike to get to it, and we only saw a couple of people there. We beachcombed for a while until we think we saw a guy off in the distance that evidently thought it was a nude beach or something. That was enough for us. As beautiful as it was, we probably won't be going back.

Kilauea Lighthouse juts out on a peninsula with gorgeous views all around.

We went back later for another of my many sunset shots. This is a view from a lava rock shoreline looking at Kilauea Lighthouse.

Huge thanks to the Masons for letting us crash their family vacation and giving us the opportunity to get to know one of nature's most spectacular treasures. And thanks to my Mom, who allowed us to have our vacation kid-free (although we're already talking about bringing them the next time we go -- yeah, in like 10 years).

2008-07-05T19:10:00.009-07:00

In the Kitchen with Jolie

On the 4th of July (Happy Birthday America) Jolie is here in the kitchen making her all-time fav.

STARMALLOW SPARKLERS!!

(say that 10x fast) It wasn't easy for Jolie to poke through all those mallows without poking herself. It was worth all the pain cuz they're so scrumdiddlyumptious!

2008-06-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

2008-06-29T07:52:00.011-07:00

Soup-tacular !!

Jolie and Bronson had some cousins come up to visit. Jolie decided to help Zane make "Soup-acado" out of the local plant life.

Taste testers welcome.

Gus and Bronson very cleverly utilize the pool water to fill up their watering cans. Too bad they use it to water the dirt instead of the plants.

Future Paleontologists Discover Dinosaur Bones in Local Backyard

Hmm, they look remarkably like sticks...

But then again, I'm no expert.

2008-06-21T13:01:00.007-07:00

A Day At The Pool!

My kids love to swim. Even though Bronson doesn't know how to swim on his own, he wants to really bad. When he gets into the pool he wants to do his own thing. If I try to help him or hold him in the deep-end he gets mad. He thinks he can swim just fine and do whatever he wants. Well...he was in so deep his nose was barely above the water when he lost his balance and fell under the water. I grabbed him and pulled him up. As the water was running down his face he yelled "I SWIM!"

Unfortunately, drowning is not swimming. As for this summer we are definitely working on his swimming skills.

2008-06-17T06:27:00.002-07:00

FaThEr'S DaY

We love our Daddy!

My kids always love making things for Ben on Father's Day. Jolie's favorite thing is baking in the kitchen. She really wanted to make him a cake. I dont know if she liked making it or eating it better.

Bronson inhaled his cake. Here he is asking for more cake. It was the funniest thing to watch him say cake while is mouth was full of it. He's our little comedian.

2008-06-13T16:45:00.003-07:00

House Update

As of now Ben is done with the framing, rough plumbing, roof, and AC. He is currently working on the electrical and will soon have the siding on the outside ready to go on. It's been a really long project for Ben and he is getting closer to the end every day. Hopefully it will be done before school starts in the fall...but you never know...it might be December.

The Front

The Back

2008-06-13T16:06:00.005-07:00

New

(to us)

Furniture

Last week Ben and I ventured down to Mesa to pick up his sister's old family room set. They were getting a new sectional and had no need for the stuff they already had. They offered it to us and there was no passing it up. So we rented a U-Haul to bring the couches and tables back. It was a long day but well worth it. Anyways here are some before and after pictures of our family room.

Boring

Comfortable

Mis-matched

Welcoming!

There is a totally different feeling in the room now. We can actually have the home teachers over and not have to sit on the floor!

2008-06-03T15:48:00.006-07:00

WaTeR FuN In OuR BaCkYaRd

Almost every day Jolie & Bronson play with the hose in the backyard. Bronson is without a doubt the controller of the hose and Jolie is so patient with him. Jolie has mastered the art of trading toys with Bronson. For example...if she wants the hose she will get some golf balls, line them up, get a club, and start singing while hitting the balls.. "look at me Bronson...this is so fun...I can hit the balls...can you?" Then when Bronson drops the hose to play with the golf stuff, Jolie will run and take the hose. She's very clever.

Bronson loves to drink the water from the hose. This shot is to show his Pre-water belly.

Drinking....

Drinking...

Check out the water gut!!

Jolie loves to smile for the camera.

Bronson is my little cuddle bug. He always gives me hugs.

2008-05-20T08:01:00.002-07:00

FaThErS & SoNs

I was suprised when Ben told me he was going to take Bronson on Fathers & Sons. But there was no way I was going to talk him out of it. We've been camping before and Bronson has always loved it. The difference is that I was not going to be there to help out and watch him when Ben is busy. You know like when he's setting up the tent or cooking dinner. When Ben got home he was a little frazzled but said they had fun.

2008-05-20T07:31:00.002-07:00

Joy School at the Zoo

Jolie, Madison, Garret, Preston, McKinlee, & Taylor

Jolie had so much fun in Joy School this year. She made really good friends. For our last day of school we took all the kids to the zoo to celebrate. The kids had fun play around and checking out all the animals.

2008-04-28T10:05:00.004-07:00

Disney On Ice

Finding Nemo!

We had so much fun going to Finding Nemo on ice. Jolie and her friend Janelle loved the show. I think I had more fun watching the kids get excited about all the character and cool things going on. Here are some pictures from the show.

Jolie & Janelle had their picture taken with Bruce the Shark

Marlin & Dory

Squirt and the other baby sea turtles

Bubbles, Bloat, and Jacques

Dory, Nigel, Marlin and the seaguls

2008-04-13T19:42:00.005-07:00

HaPpY BiRtHdAY JoLiE

We had a hoppin' birthday party for Jolie. Most little girls turning 5 might want a princess party or a fairy one...but not my Jolie. She wanted a PiRaTe PaRtY! All the kids had fun making treasure boxes to hold all their loot, jumpin' in the pirate castle until they couldn't jump anymore, and smashin' the seahorse pinata until all the goodies went flyin'. To say the least we had way too much fun.

2008-04-12T11:13:00.010-07:00

All the fun with Easter.

The candy and the sweet stuff.

Bronson got this ridiculous marshmallow poofy pop in his Easter basket. He loved every bit of it which he devoured within that day.

My crazy Jolie always dreamed of getting a big swirly lollipop. Whenever she would see one she would always point it out to me. On Easter morning her dream finally came true.

In Jolie's Wednesday Joy School Class we always do little parties around the hoildays. Here we are having an Easter party at the park. The kids planted flowers, fed the ducks, decorated cupcakes and had a little egg hunt.

Jolie looking for her eggs.

Bronson figured he would investigate Jolie's stash.

He decided his single egg wasn't enough and that Jolie could share.

Abby & Bronson. The two the them are only 11 days apart.

Most of the time they just look at each other. They love to play and talk gibberish.

Jolie and Bronson love to hide the eggs in our yard and then find them over and over again. Jolie found some quite creative hiding places.

Sometimes the hiding places are a little obvious but still out of reach for Bronson.

Easter & Spring Break in Mesa

If you can't tell Jolie loves to decorate Easter Eggs!

All the cousins anxious to decorate their perfect Easter Egg.

Pretty Boy

Bronson Owens Mecham

Nicole (Ben's sister) loves taking pictures. These last four pictures from Mesa were taken by her. I love visiting and having her use my kids to better her photography skills.

2008-02-25T17:45:00.004-07:00

Jolie's Self Haircut

Well it finally happened. I was really hoping Jolie would never cut her own hair but she did. Early this morning she took the scissors into her own hands and starting cutting. I went into her bedroom to get her dressed and ready for the day when I found her hair all over the floor. For some strange reason she was walking around the room and cutting it at the same time. So it was everywhere. Of course I screamed and then I saw Jolie. I felt like I was in a funky dream and that there was no way she had just cut that much hair off. I had to put her in the shower to get all the cut hair out. Later in the day I took her get it fixed. Now all her pretty long hair is gone. Jolie likes it but I'm really sad.

BEFORE: This is the good side. The other side was much shorter.

AFTER: To make it even this was the longest it could go.

2008-02-20T07:18:00.016-07:00

The Neverending Story

New Home Construction Update

Well, if there is anybody left out there who still bothers to check our blog (sorry about the extreme lack of posts,) I thought I could give a little update on what my life is about lately. (By the way, I think Amberly has pretty much put this blog on the back burner... maybe a few emails letting her know she should post more often would help.) Basically I am consumed by the construction of our new house. Now, this isn't meant in the normal sense of someone getting consumed when they are having a house built. I mean, that is my entire life right now. Let me give an abbreviated history of what I mean.

We first bought our lot, which is in a great neighborhood, and I proceeded to draw plans for our house. The intention was to build the house as owner/builder with me as the "general contractor" while subcontracting out almost all of the work. I got the plans approved and got bids from LOTS of contractors for the individual trades (framing, concrete, plumbing, etc) so that I could estimate the cost of construction. Well, things were still doing okay for contractors at the time, so the bids were pretty high. With that I got our construction loan stuff ready. As part of the construction loan process, we needed an appraiser to tell the bank how much our house would be worth when completed. This is when things started to go downhill. The appraisal came back way too low. I had two realtors look at it and they said it was artificially lower than it should be, since the appraiser didn't find much information on houses in the area that are as big as ours. Several have come and gone on the market since then that will help our future appraisal a lot, so I'm not worried about it coming in low again, but the fact remained that the bank could only loan us a much smaller amount than we were planning. This would require me to have to do a bunch of the work myself to save on labor costs. In the meantime, we would pay ourselves for our living costs out of our construction loan instead of paying more to some other contractor. So, I got started.

Long and tedious doesn't even begin to describe most of the work since then. I did all the foundation work and my dad helped me pour the footings. Then the impossible task of block laying began. Just to give you an idea, the house took a total of 32 cubes of block. A cube is the amount of blocks they fit on a pallet (roughly a 4-foot cube). This added up to about 2700 total blocks. That is quite a lot of block for one person to lay. The whole north side of the house had to have 5-foot deep footings, below the level of the basement slab. So I had to lay almost 5 feet of block down in that trench before even making it up to ground level, then continuing the block up for another 10 feet to the upper story level! In between all that block were 3 groutings (where you pump concrete down into the blocks, filling them all solid) and the basement slab pour. All of this concrete I had help with from my dad (what a lifesaver, even though I do blame him for talking me into this madness in the first place... just kidding, Dad.) Needless to say, I was a little tired of block and concrete by this time. So, leaving out the exciting details, I framed the basement, backfilled the front yard and the garage (totalling about 600 tons of dirt and 420 tons of bedding material for the garage,) and poured the garage slab with the help of my dad, my brother Shawn, and a guy in my ward. Then I began framing the upstairs floor, which is the stage I am almost done with now.

Since I started the house, the lasting effects of the building boom have finally died off, resulting in every contractor in the residential business scrambling for work. I have between 3 and 7 people showing up at the house daily looking for work, both subcontractors like plumbers or electricians, and laborers who got laid off from their last job for lack of work. All of this lack of work has REALLY made these guys competitive and dropped prices like crazy. Good news for me. You better believe I'm taking advantage of that fact. I only wish I was just starting the house now and I could have had all the work done up until now for pretty darn cheap. For any of you out there looking to move, this is a great time (at least in Arizona) to have a custom home built. So anyway, from this point I am finally going to sub things out, starting with the framing of the roof. I'm very excited to be able to watch someone else do all the work and see a crew slam through in a week what would take me a month or so. After the framing is complete, I will sub out several other trades, but leave some of the work for myself such as electrical and trim carpentry.

Sorry about the really long explanation, but I have so many people ask me about how the house is going, I thought this would help clear things up. (Plus, I kinda felt bad we haven't had a post for a couple months, we'll be better at that.)

Here's a quick photo history of the house construction:

A ridiculous amount of rebar went into the foundation. This section is for the retaining wall between the basement and the garage.

This is the north side of the house. It doesn't look like it, but if I get down in that trench, the top of the dirt is at my eye level.

A view from the back of the house. This is after the footings were poured and the stem wall block was laid up to the level of the basement slab.

A view from the front yard of the basement slab pour. Notice I say "basement" even though it's mostly above ground. It's considered a walk-out basement, because the street level is the height of the top story. So the front yard gets filled in and the "basement" opens up to the back yard. That's my dad and I along with a couple guys in the ward and the concrete pump truck driver. (That's the concrete pump hanging in the air.)

After most of the block is laid for the basement retaining walls.

Most of the basement framing complete. This has to be done in order to backfill against the retaining walls. The framing helps to brace up the walls against all that dirt. Notice the "stair-like" detail in the block. That will be the future ground level and the block popout serves as a brick ledge for a full brick veneer that will cover the exposed block. To the far right of the picture is the garage, which at this time was a 7-foot hole in the ground.

Save view as the last picture. This was during the backfilling process, bringing the front yard up to the level of the top story.

The backfill complete, I got the garage slab ready for concrete. Under that slab is a heavily-compacted 420 tons of bedding material, going down 7 feet. You can see the plywood floor over the basement in the background.

Finishing the garage slab. That's me running the power trowel and my dad on the far left.

First floor mostly framed. Unfortunately, I have been getting snowed out regularly.

A view of the back of the house. The house looks like a beast from the back. Too bad that's not how it looks from the front.

2007-12-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Picture Perfect

December 2007

Jolie Alexis Mecham

4 years

Bronson Owens Mecham
1 year

2007-12-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas!!

On Christmas morning Ben and I had to wake the kids up at 7:30. They had a little cold the day before and felt like sleeping in. When we went to get Jolie out of bed, all I said was, "Santa came last night." I have never seen her jump out of bed so fast. Needless to say she was very excited.

Bronson is our little decorator. We put up a little tree for the kids to play with. He saw us decorating our real tree so he decided to help. He came up and put his toy car in the tree and since then he puts anything and everything on the little tree (candy canes, bows, tinsel, or any small toy).

The Fab Four

Trey (son of Del & Tina), Gus (son of Brain & Nicole), Bronson (our son), & Kellen (son of Shawn & Colette)

All of these Boyz were born in 2006 and are cousins on the Mecham side.

So we turned the chair around to have the boyz look over it....but they weren't too excited about that. Bronson was deciding what he should do. First he looked at Kellen and noticed him crying --

Then he looked over at Trey and noticed he was crying too --

So he decided to follow along. Meanwhile Gus is in the back going, "What is wrong with these guys?!?"

After a round of candy canes and Uncle Shawn beating himself up in the background, the boyz were smiling for more pictures.

During all the picture taking, Ben helped fix the Green Machine so Max could take Jolie around the block for a ride. It was too bad shortly later the seat on the Green Machine broke off.

Jolie and Zane at dinner time.

We love spending time with the Mecham Family. It is always good to see everyone and make lasting memories. You all mean so much to us.

2007-12-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Joy School Nativity Play

Jolie posing as an angel.

Amber, Jolie, Bryant, Maddie, Jackson, and Hunter at the end of the play. It was so funny to watch the kids do their little presentation. Half the costumes fell off, the inn keeper wouldn't answer the door, and little babies (Bronson & Emily) wanted to be in the action. All the parents were cracking up.

Jolie and Maddie looking so cute.

2007-12-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Mecham House is Done!!

(that is -- the gingerbread house)

back view

front view

side view

top view

I know, I know it's not the real house but at least one house got done this year. Amberly did the frosting and Jolie put the candies on. It was a long process but we had a lot of fun making it.

2007-12-14T10:16:00.001-07:00

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Snow is magical in many different ways. It will be bitter cold outside, the ground is frozen, and most trees have lost their leaves. The wind stops blowing as the clouds roll in and then a wonderful thing happens. The snow drifts in and fills your body with warmth and joy. Our kids cannot control their smiles. As they run outside in whatever clothes they have on with open mouths trying to catch snowflakes on their tongue. All they want to do is eat the snow. Forgetting how cold it really is our fingers and noses turn red as can be. Bronson didn't care how cold he was. He could play in the snow all day if we let him. So we started the fire place and made some hot chocolate to warm up and then headed back outside for some more snow fun.

2007-12-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving

This year we only had Thanksgiving with the Mecham Family. The festivities took place at the traditional location -- Brian and Nicole Mason's house in Mesa. That's probably because their house is the biggest and nicest of all of ours. (Hmm, I wonder who could have built such a fine home?...) Anyway, it was a lot of fun and the cousins couldn't get enough of each other.

Bronson and Kellen (Shawn and Colette's boy) took turns riding the bus/scooter/car/whatever that thing is.

Kellen is such a photogenic ham it's too hard to resist snapping some pictures of him at his best.

Suddenly we couldn't find Jolie anywhere and after a while we found her in a bedroom watching a movie with her cousin Bridger (Holly and Jared's boy.) Check out the identical cheesy smiles!

Dad and Jen carving the turkey while Jared monitors the progress.

As any man will tell you, that turkey tryptophan hits us the hardest (yeah, that's it...,) making it pretty much impossible to participate in any cleanup after a Thanksgiving dinner. Why can't the women understand this?

Thanks to the Masons for footing the gas bill to heat up their spa in November, the cousins got to take a dip! But nothing stopped them from testing out the frigid water in the pool. Yikes!

From left to right (parents in parentheses): Chance (Jen & Cory), Tyler (Holly & Jared), Jolie (us), Max (Nicole and Brian), Zane (Nicole and Brian), Brandon (Holly & Jared), and Jake (Nicole and Brian).

Zane, Jolie, and Chance taking a train ride down the slide!

The Girls: Amberly, Nicole, Holly, Jen, and Colette.

2007-12-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Disneyland

Right before Thanksgiving we spontaneously decided to drop everything and head for Disneyland. We had some free tickets to the park, so that helped keep it short and cheap. We dressed the kids up in their Halloween costumes and got an entire lifetime's worth of coos and giggles from passersby. After a while it got a little irritating, but I have to say, we have some cute kids! Disneyland just decorated everything for Christmas, so it's our favorite time to go. Plus, we figured it wouldn't be too packed. Wrong. It's amazing the people that cram into that place. Even in the "off season" it was way too crowded for my liking. And with the ever-impatient Bronson, waiting in lines for more than 30 seconds was trying. We waited in line for almost an hour at the Haunted Mansion with people around us in the line helping to entertain the little guy. Then, we were told the ride was having technical difficulties and they were shutting it down! Nevertheless, we had an enjoyable time and the Christmas theme at the park is really amazing.

Jolie went to a class to learn to be a princess (as if she didn't already have a huge princess complex.) She had an absolute blast.

We couldn't keep the cast members away from Squirt!

If you ever want your kids to get special attention at Disneyland, make sure you dress them up!

Princess Jolie at her coronation. The transformation to a real princess is complete. Now Jolie thinks she has special privileges because she's a real princess. Oh well, gotta let girls be girls every once in a while!

A tired and grumpy Bronson (a.k.a. Squirt) in the Haunted Mansion line.

This is really what Disneyland was about for me. Seeing my girls happy.

Newport Beach

And of course what is a trip to California without a visit to the beach? We made a quick detour on the way home and we were seriously there 15 minutes. It's too bad because Bronson just lit up in amazement at all the sand he could play in. Of course, we didn't let him -- we wouldn't have been able to tear him away! The beach is definitely at the top of our list for upcoming vacations.

Jolie was convinced there were secret things buried in the sand like gold and magic shells. I swear, the poor kid has no imagination!

Bronson touching the ocean for the first time. I didn't dare put him down.

2007-11-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

-- HALLOWEEN --

Prescott Valley does the standard "Trunk or Treat" activity in the church parking lot, which includes all four Prescott Valley wards and usually a pretty big mass of people. Meanwhile the town's streets are pretty much deserted. Why bother going door to door when you can go car to car? I think the time is coming when trick-or-treating will pretty much disappear and everyone will just throw parties. Kinda sad. Anyway, the last two years we went kinda generic and just had a couple Halloween decorations on our car, but this time we decided to do something a little cooler. We brought the truck and turned it into a graveyard complete with haunted house on the hill and spooky music! I know, pretty sweet... We busted out a black light and shined it on all the fluorescent paint and it turned out great. The best part is it's all cardboard so we'll just fold up the pieces and use them again next year (with a few minor improvements.)

Amberly was a Japanese geisha and I was a Samurai. I even borrowed a real katana (that's a sword.) Cute couple theme, huh? Well, I think we might need to work on our costumes a little more. Maybe next year... Jolie was Rani, the "water talent" fairy from a series of books she likes. She was getting her wings caught in the masses of kids so we took them off and forgot to put them back on for the picture. Bronson was Squirt, the little sea turtle in Finding Nemo. Too bad I don't have a picture of him crawling around in his costume. It's hilarious.

Amberly and Jolie made some really top-notch pumpkins. Well, they didn't make them, they carved them. Notice the Frankenstein monster one in the top picture. It's really good, but the one that everyone kept asking about was the crazy polka dot one. Amberly used one of those melon ball scoopers to make the big craters and a drill and spade bit for the smaller holes that go all the way through. The craters kinda glow because the pumpkin is thin there and the holes obviously are bright. It's a really neat effect that got everyone's attention.

2007-11-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

New home construction update --
The walkout basement of our new house is framed and we're almost ready to do the backfill against all the retainer walls and pour the garage slab. Then the main floor can be framed. It doesn't look like much in the pictures, but there are over 1500 square feet in the basement alone. That's bigger than the entire house we are living in now!

2007-07-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

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2007-07-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

The other day Jolie had her friend Janell over to play. They had too much fun playing dress-up. From hula dancer to fairies to pirate cheer leader to I don't know what. It was hilarious to watch them pretend and joke around. Man I wish I was a kid again!!

2007-07-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

2007-07-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

LET'S GO BACK IN TIME!!!!

This is for all you Tempe South Stake Girls!!

2007-07-06T09:49:00.000-07:00