Top 15 of 2015

2015 was a pretty great year for us.  Here is our top 15 moments of 2015 in cronological order. 
1.  Casey graduating from Utah Valley University with his Bachelors in Facility Management, was definitly a great start to our year. I think there were many times in Casey's educational road that he wanted to quit, but him getting an education was always really important to me, so he pushed forward.  We are so grateful for all of Casey's hard work to earn his bachelors degree.

  2.  Taking Mason to Classic Skating bounce houses was nother highlight of our year.  Mason was completly terrified of bounce houses and this trip helped him conquer his fears.  Way to go Mason!!

3.  Celebrating Valentine's day was another top 15 of 2015.  Celebrating holidays with kids is so much fun.  I just love my little Valentine's.

4.  Another top 15 of 2015 was celebrating Tanner's first birthday.  We love our little Tanny Tot!!

5.  Taking our little family to the Hill Aerospace Museum was another hightlight of our year.  We had so much fun looking at the airplanes and spending the day as a family. 

6.  Taking our family to St. Gerorge, this year, was so much fun.  Mason still takes about going and riding the cycles.  We love every chance we get to spend time with family.  So glad we could do it in St. Geroge. 

7.  Celebrating another anniversary with Casey will always be a hightlight.  This year we celebrated 7 years.  Can't wait for an eternity more. 

8.  Casey's softball team did really good this year.  They ended up winning the tournament and making it pretty far into the championship.  The most important part is, that Casey has fun playing.  And our little Mason loves watching. 

9.  Putting our sod in was something we have wanted to do since the day we moved into our house.  We finally got it put in in June and we have loved it.

10.  Casey getting his new job was a huge part of our 2015.  This decision was one of the hardest we've ever had to make, but I'm so glad we did.  We have all loved Casey's new job, especailly Casey. 

11.  Taking the boys to the zoo was another highlight of our year.  The weather was a little hot, but the boys loved seeing all the different animals and they especially loved riding the train.

12.  Casey's new job provides a lot of percs.  We got to go swimming in the pool, eat lunch with Casey, watch outdoor movies, ride the golf carts around, go golfing, ets.  We had fun spending some of our summer at Casey's work with Case.

13.  Mason turning 3 years old was another hightlight of our year.  We love our little Mason.  Everynight I ask him if he'll please stop growing so he can stay little with me forever.  He always says, "but mom, I need to grow big like you and daddy."  We are so grateful Mason is part of our family. 

14.  Our family took a small trip to St. George.  I love spending time and making memories with just our little family. 

15.  Celebrating Christmas with this little family is always something I look forward to every year.  I love this little family of mine!

Well, there you have it, our top 15 memories of 2015.  Can't wait to see what suprises 2016 has in store for us! 

December Happenings--2015

The end of the year is here and so is December.  I seriously can't believe how fast this year came and went.  Here is what we did during the month of December.
1.  Right after we got home from St. George, Grandma and Grandpa Mecham had their annual grandkids christmas party.  We listened to grandma Mecham tell us the story of the first Christmas and other stories, ate a breadsticks from Zub's for dinner, made cookies, and opended presents.  The boys love this party and so do I.  This party is the first thing we do that really starts our holiday season and we always look forward to this. 

2.  On December 3rd, we took the boys to see Santa in the Riverwoods.  Mason wasn't hesitant at all to tell Santa that he wanted a "Jeep like Daniel's" for Christmas.  Tanner was a little nervous to sit on Santa's lap and he asked for some balls.  After sitting on Santa's lap, we walked around the Riverwoods to look at the beautiful lights.  We didn't last long because Tanner fell down and we couldn't get him calmed down so we just decided to leave.  What time we did spend there was fun though!!

2.  One day as I was cleaning our house, I noticed Mason had attatched a gas pump to our manger set.  This made me laugh and I had to document it.

3.  Relaxing at grandma's house.

4.  Mason helping me wrap presents.  He did a great job, considering it was his first time.

5.  The boys love going to Toy's R Us and riding in the toy cars.  Tanner always chooses the pink "My Little Pony" car. 

6.  One night the young men brought over Christmas cookies.  Tanner loved the red frosting.

7.  I don't let the kids take food anywhere in the house but the kitchen, but all kinds of rules are broken when dad babysits.  I found this huge chippy mess the day after Casey babysat the boys while I went to a RS meeting. 

8.  Mom, Dad, Myrn, Garrett, and I went and saw "The Christmas Carol" at the Hale Center Theater.  I love this tradition and I'm so grateful for Casey who watches the boys for me so I can go. 

9.  The boys at grandma's house.

10.  Casey's new job has come with a lot of perks, but one downfall is Casey having to dress up as an elf when Santa comes to visit.  Casey was a good sport about it, even though he had to wear yellow tights:).  Casey drove Santa in on a golf cart then dropped him off at the club.  400 people came to visit Santa, so when the line died down Casey called us to come on over to his work so we could sit on santa's lap.  When we got there we were escorted in and seated at a table so we could eat breakfast.  After breakfast we got right in line to see Santa.  After sitting on Santa's lap, Casey finally got a chance to eat breakfast.  He sat down right next to Santa and ate breakfast.  Mason was in awe the entire time and he couldn't stop asking Santa questions.  After Casey ate breakfast, Casey took us out to the golf cart that he drove Santa on and let Mason and Tanner drive it back to the garages with him.  It was a great morning. 

11.  The Sunday morning before Christmas. 

12.  That evening grandma and grandpa Mecham came to eat dinner with us.  Mason and Tanner loved listening to "Grandpa Christmas" read them stories.  Yes, the boys do call Grandpa Chris "Grandpa Christmas."

13.  It snowed...a lot, so Amy and I took the kids to a bounce house place.  It was super fun, got the kids out of the house, and was super cheap.  We will definitely be visiting this place again.  Tanner however didn't like it until the very end.  He stayed sitting on my lap eating snacks most of the time.

 

14.  Christmas Eve.  We celebrated by going to mom and dads for a pizza dinner.  Then we went to Springville, picked up Chris and Roz and went to Spanish Fork to see the lights.   We ended the night with opening our Christmas PJs.

15.  Christmas Day.  Santa was good to us this year.  Mason and Tanner each got: a new outfit, shoes, books, ball (Tanner), trucks (Mason), and together they shared a new movie, and a power wheels Jeep.  Mason opening his new Jeep on Christmas day was priceless.  Casey and I got each other a new TV. 

Christmas morning mom and dad brought us a delicious Christmas breakfast:Christmas cereal, donuts, chocolate milk, orange juice, milk, bread, and homemade jam.  After eating breakfast we got everyone ready for the day and headed over to the Mecham's to celebrate. 
After the Mecham's it was home for short naps, then over to my mom and dads to celebrate.  We had a wonderful Christmas and we are so grateful for the birth of our Savior.  Opening presents on Christmas day is so fun, but it is also fun to teach Mason and Tanner about the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas. 
16.  Eating breakfast on the couch the day after Christmas.

17.  We celebrated New Year's Eve with family, again, this year.  We had so much fun.  First, we went to mom and dad's for a delicious soup and chili dinner.  After dinner we headed down to the shop to have a fun firework show.  After the firework show, Casey took the boys home to put them to bed and let me stay out to continue celebrating until midnight.  Mom, dad, Lin, Mer, Garrett, Lydia, and I played games until we brought in the New Year.  After midnight hit, we had our traditional Fresh Lime drinks.  Then it was time to call it a night/ early morning.

I can't believe 2015 is over.  2015 Was a great year, but we are so excited to see what 2016 will bring. 

November Happenings--2015

November was another month full of lots of memory making.  Our favorite part of November was going on our family vacation to St. George (more on that a little later in the post).  So here it is, what we did in November in pictures.

The time change really threw Tanner off, especially on Sundays.  Our church starts at 11 so around 1 (which really was 2 before the time change), Tanner would throw the biggest tantrums during nursery.  I just decided to bring him home where I'd sit him in his high chair to hurry and feed him lunch.  For about 4 weeks in a row, without fail, Tanner would fall asleep in his high chair right before I sat lunch out on his high chair tray.  Poor little guy was completely exhausted. 

Mason LOVES popcorn.  He'd been asking and asking for weeks if we could go to the popcorn store (the movie theater) to get some popcorn.  So one day we gave in.  We drove to the movie theater in the Riverwoods unloaded everyone out of the car and walked inside and ordered 1 SMALL popcorn.  Our total came to $8.52.  That's the last time we are visiting "the popcorn store" for just popcorn, but it sure made 2 little boys pretty happy. 

We had Thanksgiving at the Mecham's this year.  Along with every other holiday, Thanksgiving is way different with kids.  Mason loved sitting at the kids table, but wouldn't eat one bite of Thanksgiving dinner and Tanner loved the Thanksgiving dinner, but hated sitting at the kids table.  Tanner did pretty good at the adults table, until a small amount of mashed potatoes touched his fingers and our little Tanner had a complete come apart.  When we finally got Tanner calmed down, Mason and cousins were fighting over toys and soon it seemed as if all 6 grandkids were crying at the same time.  It was definitely BEYOND nap time for everyone.  After a delicious Thanksgiving dinner we took the kids outside, which made a world of difference.  Soon it was time for pies and time to go home and put Mason and Tanner down for bed.  I love Thanksgiving and even admist all the choas and screaming children, I'm still able to thank Heavenly Father for all my many blessings!

We took a small trip to St. George the day after Thanksgiving.  We had so much fun and we are so grateful that we got to spend time with family. 
Friday, November 27, 2015
We left early, hoping that the kids would sleep in the car.  We stopped at a gas station to let Mason pick out a small treat, he chose sour brite crawlers and a blue slurpee.  I wasn't really thinking when I let Mason drink his blue slurpee and eat his treat so early in the morning, but about 30 minutes outside Filmore Mason started saying he didn't feel good.  I told him just to close his eyes for a minute.  He kept telling me he didn't feel good and soon he threw up blue slurpee everywhere.  We stopped in Fillmore, got mason all cleaned up, ate lunch at Wendy's, and were on our way again.  Finally Mason and Tanner both fell asleep in the car and slept the rest of the way to St. George.  We finally got to St. George around 1:00.  We unpacked our car then waited for the rest of the family to arrive.  After everyone arrived we rode out to the riding spot.   We had such a fun time spending the rest of the evening riding dirt bikes and the quad runners.  After the sun went down it got a little chilly, so we packed up the bikes and headed back to our condo.  That night we had Firhouse Subs for dinner and of course Nielson's custord for dessert. 

Saturday, November 28, 2015
The boys woke up early Saturday to go out shooting.  The girls headed out, to the riding spot, a few hours later.  We ate lunch out at the riding sopt then spent the rest of the evening riding.  Mason had so much fun and he even got a chance to ride one of the little 4-wheelers.  As we were getting ready to load the bikes, Lin and Meg decided to take one more last ride on the 4-wheeler.  They decided to go up a hill which the 4-wheeler couln't make it up.  The 4-wheeler ended up tipping backwards on it's end.  Lin and Meg hurried and got out of the way, hoping it wouldn't roll anymore.  As they hurried out of the way a rock came down and hit Lin in the face.  She got banged up pretty good, but other then that, there were no serious injuries.   I know we were being watched over that night, especially Lin and Meg.  Things could have been a lot worse.  I sat in the car with the kids while the others helped get Lin cleaned up.  While I sat in the car Bud said the sweetest little prayer that Lin would be ok.  I'm so grateful for prayer, especially that sweet little prayer that a 6 year old gave. 
That night we went back to our condos  and had pizza for dinner and, again, Nielson's Frozen Custord for dessert. 

Sunday, November 29, 2015
We woke up and went to church then went over to Amy and Jared's condo to eat lunch.  We had a delicious lunch of pulled pork sandwhiches.  Mer and Garrett had to leave and so did Casey, but me and the boys stayed back so we could enjoy one last day in St. George. 
After telling Casey good-bye, we rode in the car with mom and dad to go see some dinosaur tracks.  It was a fun little hike and everyone had a great time.  When we got back I put the boys to bed and did a puzzle with my family. 

Monday, November 30, 2015
We woke up, got the condo cleaned then headed home. 
We had such a fun trip.  We were sad it had to come to an end.  Were looking forward to when we get to go next year. 

And another month in the books.