Walking home from school

Alec and Pyper got to walk home from school with Taylor and Hannah. Alec was so excited! Notice, he grabbed his backpack to wear for the walk. Taylor is his best buddy - she is great at including him and letting him be BIG.

new cousin kennedy jane

it was fun to have cousins around this month. greg, jen and the boys came to go skiing and it turned out that lisa, ryan and the girls came to get baby kennedy.

Anna and Taylor had a very difficult time going to school before Kennedy was born - especially when the boys were here too. Finally Kennedy was born!

the only downside to having the paperwork go through fast was that the cousins went home

KENNEDY JANE MECHAM

Young Women's Conference Choir

Morgan, Anna and Alexis were blessed to be a part of the choir for the General Young Women's Conference. They had a wonderful experience and sounded beautiful. We saw Anna's forehead behind the organ. It took a great deal of time to commit to the practices but even the practices were full of great inspiration. We're so proud of you

KITCHEN done?

hard to tell how good it looks in just these pictures but things look great! you'll have to come by and check out our new kitchen ... we love the bathroom tile, the lights are perfect and add so much, granite counters simple and much better than ugly yellow formica, the cabinets exceeded our expectations ... we still need to decide on a backsplash for the kitchen - glass tiles ... but so far we have figured out what we do not like but not anything that is just right ... now the rest of the house needs new ...

GRANDMA GREAT AND GREAT GRANDKIDS

EVERYONE WAS TOGETHER IN THE SAME ROOM FOR LONG ENOUGH FOR A CELL PHONE PICTURE. AUNT JEN MENTIONED WE'LL HAVE A GENERATION OF POOR QUALITY FAMILY PHOTOS ALL TAKEN WITH CELL PHONES. BETTER THAN NO SHOT AT ALL FRONT ROW TAYLOR, KASEY, GREAT, REBECCA, CAROLINE BACK CONNOR, MORGAN, ANNA, PARKER, ALEXANDER

Deseret News | Stott's service on Utah bench governed by rules, consequences

Deseret News Stott's service on Utah bench governed by rules, consequences

Always Remember ...

"People, even more than things, have to be restored, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone."

WORK IN PROGRESS

After 6 years we are finally fixing our kitchen and 1/2 bath. We have had horrid formica and have not liked the cabinets since day one. Around the first week of December we started making arrangements to redo the kitchen. We are getting some new cabinets and refacing some of the old ones. Along with cabinets comes lots of new lighting, Heber Valley Lighting - Char Clarke, mirrors, bathroom floor, faucets, rings in the bottom of the kitchen sink, knobs etc. Todd accuses me of trying to help stabilize the economy all on my own.

We now have the base of all of our cabinets and some of the trim. Wayne Clarke came and installed (with supervision from Todd) our lights and mirror. They are fabulous. Our granite and sinks were installed Wednesday and they are great. Urbano, our new everything else guy, had our tile put in today and the basement was painted last week (everything from the basement family room and the kitchen is in the storage room - we borrowed 2t of flour last week from the Grover's.) Everything is looking great but feeling slow.

Tomorrow is a new day, grout for bathroom floor, possibly set a new toilet, baseboards painted and installed in bath too. Mike, cabinet guy, is coming hopefully to mostly finish. He told me next week we'll be done. (?) Guy, cousin plumber, will hopefully come today or tomorrow to hook up the kitchen and bathroom sinks. Every day I change my mind about the backsplash for the kitchen. I know we are going to have glass tiles, what colors/types is yet to be decided. I think that has to wait for another pay check anyway.

Morgan in the morning

A few things about Morgan ... there are many many more but this gets us to the point of this particular morning. Morgan is an incredible artist, the other students at VAI - art school - like to watch her work. She tackles concepts in unsual ways. Morgan loves reading. She often doesn't go to sleep at night because she's reading til all hours. Morgan loves STUFF - stuffed animals, papers, "things", anything to take apart etc. Morgan loves her room - Aunt Jen painted a great M on her wall over her bed and got some great stuff to accessorize. That being said, her room is a huge disaster by parent standards - mostly because of the stuff. Morgan also loves to hoard candy and to eat in her bed even though there is a rule against food in bed. Morgan DOES NOT DO mornings! Morning is anytime before 2:00 pm. On Monday, when we tried to get Morgan up and going, we were all in for a big surprise! It appears, although denied, that Morgan had chocolate in her bed. Morgan sleeps very warm with lots of "stuff" around her. When I touched Morgan to wake her I knew something was not right. Morgan was a brown topper - like ice cream from Shivers. She had a nice thick coat of chocolate on the top half of her body. We tried to take pictures but they didn't do justice. There was chocolate covering 3/4 of her face, one entire hand, her neck, 1/2 of her hair and her bed and bunny and other stuffed animals. We think that perhaps the Leprechaun's brought the candy since Morgan denies having any.

get away for mom

Aunt Nan provided a great excursion for me, Shauna, aka MOM, for a long weekend.

Nan had a conference in Seattle, she couldn't talk any of her children into going with her so she called me. She knew that we had loved Seattle and figured I'd come along and we could go exploring after her meetings. I had a fabulous time along with a much needed break from real life. I slept in, or at least stayed in bed late, for 3 days, and had no "agenda" and no one that I had to take care of or entertain. The first day I called Barbara O'Brien and asked if we could get together over the weekend. She was busy on Saturday but said we could meet for "coffee" in an hour. She picked me up, we went back to Madison Park and she showed me all the changes and the sames, and had brunch at Tullys. Barbara is wonderful. She is full of positive energy and such a joy to be around. I was lucky to see Doug, he was off to meet another friend, and met their dog. It was perhaps more beautiful there than I had remembered.

After a fun visit with Barbara I walked to the Paramount Theatre in hopes of finding a way for us to get tickets to The Lion King that night or the following one. I had tried on phone and computer and through the consierre but no luck. I asked the woman at the box office, she offered to look but did not sound hopeful. The people ahead of me had had the same request. Two tickets for Saturday had just become available. They were on row L (12th row) center. After completing the transaction the clerk suggested that I now use my luck and purchase a lottery ticket. The show on Saturday night was fabulous! It was a super end to the trip.

After Nan's meetings we wandered downtown Seattle. We went to the Pike Place Market, bought t-shirts for the guys, walked down to the waterfront, had clam chowder and halibut at Ivar's, took an evening ferry ride to Bremerton and back then worked our way back uphill to the hotel. We stopped for hot cocoa, Nan tried a steamed milk with almond (I don't think she was a fan but she did try it). That was a lot of walking!

Saturday, after her meetings we went shopping. Nan was on a mission for new shoes and a white shirt. We found that and a bit more. We then wandered back to the market, then hopped a bus to the International District to explore Uwajayma, the largest Asian grocery store. Here Nan tried vegetable and shrimp tempura and gyozas. I don't think she was a fan of those either.

When we checked in at home we found that everything was running smoothly with Joe and Todd and the kids. Nan and I decided we need to do that more often especially since everyone did so well without us. THANKS NAN for a fun weekend.

"I GO SCHOOL ... I RUN FAST!!!!!!!!"

Alec loves two things ...

He loves to go to school and he loves to run fast

Ok, you're right, he also loves balls, cars, and chocolate, and his sisters, his Grandma (s), his Papa ...

Alec asks daily, upon awakening, "go to school today?"

His backpack has Lightning McQueen on it and it is almost as long as he is tall.

It's very cool to also wear his hat. You can't tell in this photo how fast his feet are moving. The minute he jumps out of the van he is on a run down the sidewalk, to the ramp and into school. He is generally 8 feet or more in front of me and running as fast as he can.

Another fun school thing is meeting the girls at school for lunch and recess. Alec loves to lead the pack in 1, 2, 3 GO. He then repeats and runs back only to repeat again.

One of Anna's classmates, Steven, is Alec's pal. He is always a good sport and runs fast with Alec.

Alec trys to get all involved and believes they are pretty cool and that everyone loves him. It doesn't get much better than RUN FAST at SCHOOL!

on my own clock

life is good as long as I don't have to worry about time

Morgan got out of bed just before 9:00 and made it to school by noon

she looked beautiful and happy

quick note

The "lookers" at our home were only about 20 minutes - doubt any interest However, my house is totally clean (carpets and all) including Morgan's room It has been that way for just over 24 hours Celebrate! But, pick up after yourself

not exactly prepared but ready for some fun

I took the kids to the park on a sunny winter day. We took the naughty puppy Pyper on her leash (she doesn't really like to "come") Anna and her friends, Kourtney and Ju, had been at a 50's birthday party and they came along.

What was I thinking?????

Yes, we had had lots of sun ...

However, we had major snow and it was the end of the day, getting cold and very slippery.

Luckily I was almost prepared, I had an IKEA bag, one pair of snow pants and a stadium cushion in the back of the van, and one child wore a parka. The kids went sledding in the bag, on the cushion, balancing on their shoes, and Anna was lucky enough to wear the pants and slide on her butt.

In the picture of Kourt and Alec they just slid down the stairs on their bottoms. I had perfect timing for once. Anna is trying not to fall

On Holiday in St George - thanks papa & grandma

we had a fun time at downtown St George on New Years Eve! Tay and Alec LOVED the swing ride (similar to the ride at Riverside on Labor Day but more power than desk fan) Dad waited in a never ending line for hot cocoa - or should we say, warm brown water. For those of you familiar with Alec and Taylor, they had a hard time with shoes that night too. We had to finally leave since their socks were wet and frozen. One of our very favorite climbing/exploring spots is Pioneer Park. It's great because we can allow Morgan to leave the group and we know she can find her way to the car eventually. If we need to leave for a while she just waits high on a rock and watches for our return. Notice how strong Taylor is at the top of the mountain (I think that is Morgan in the background on a different hill)

January

The offer on the home we would like to buy expires mid February. I plan on taking our home off the market and doing what we can to continue to enjoy this house. As Todd will confirm, I lack faith. We have money down and have commited the rest for new kitchen cabinets and vanity, we've researched counters and have the paperwork to sign. The wallpaper is stripped, electrical apart and mirror gone in the bathroom off of the kitchen. We received a call from the realtor today, while we're at Homebase buying 10 gallons of paint, someones coming to look at the house on Tuesday.

Christmas 2008

Mom - busier than ever, and better at it than ever before. Constant carpool captain; (our own carpool - too hectic to try and schedule with anyone else). Loves the Computer and still thinks ziplock bags are the world's greatest inventions. They completely contain almost all awful smells and you don't feel bad when they get thrown away - with the clothes that got wet a month ago still in them. Morgan - 14 years old. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Someone please tell us that she'll eventually turn back into a form that resembles the child we used to know. The bedroom is unspeakable and school is not a subject of which we speak, unless prayer counts as "speaking." She has found a love for "found items" art sculpture, which means that she collects all manner of junk and then arranges it into the form that most annoys her father. She is also tall, long and beautiful. We adopted to break the cycle of Godfrey legs and we succeeded there in spades. She now looks her father straight in the eye. Her art is truly fabulous and we still believe she will either prove to be tremendous force for good in the world or hell on wheels. The jury is still out and deliberations look to be very long. Anna - Twelve years old. Her mother's child in every way, but definitely a daddy's girl. Succeeding in school. The center of much social attention, and given to fits of laughing that she has no hope to control. Especially at dinner time and when accompanied by friends. She plays the piano beautifully and that pleases her dad beyond measure. She is the neighborhood babysitter and that means is also Dad's cash source all too frequently. All too frugal, she was the bank for Pyper, our new Maltese puppy. Her fronted cash is still earning interest, as Dad hasn't made good on the note yet. Somehow Dad making good for Mom's dog seems odd. Taylor - Eight years old. Still perpetual sunshine and light. Baptized in October. Dad thinks she must own more shoes than anyone in the world because there are always 4 pair in the family room, along with the dirty socks. Coats in season are also abundant. Tay's "I love you" for Dad and Mom is the highlight of every day. We needed this one so that we would feel we could handle one more, AND THAT ONE MORE IS ... Alec - 3 years old, aka Mowgli, aka, "the Beast." both fitting. Has no desire to stay in any "man village." Is very happy when there is no roof and no need for clothes. Mom and Dad still can't find the "off" switch. We beleive he sleeps, but we're so tired and worn out from him every night, we really have no clue what goes on in the room. Throws all manner of balls really well and loves to hit everything with his many bats. Inexplicably misses ball, but hits everything else, including sisters. Loves to torment the new dog (just his size) and those same sisters. Also loves the atmosphere at Aggie football games and is prone to watch, sans shirt, just like the cool guys in the student section. Dad - plugging along, trying to keep his head above water. Loves his Church job and his day work equally (that is really, really good). Still has the handicap hovering around ten, but as in almost every year, is sure he found the secret in the last two rounds of November. Still thinks the Ags can win 5 next year. In this time of economic distress, we've all scaled back on our Christmas giving and our expectations. Kids are disappointed, but seem to understand the significance of all that's going on around us. We continue our lifelong trend of perfect timing. Our house was listed for sale just about one week before the mid-august stock market "correction." Our hope is to move three doors west to the house at the bottom of our circle. We are seeing the lowest interest rates in 40 years and we can't take advantage because the housing market has completely crashed. We're planning on significantly less income next year and feeling grateful for what we have now. At the end of the day, (or the year...) despite all the turmoil around us, we feel great peace in those moments when we allow ourselves to reflect and ponder all with which we're blessed. For unto us a child is Born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So often, at Christmas, we think of the babe of Bethlehem. May we also remember the majesty and glory of our Savior and the healing power of his life and sacrifice. May we worship not only the Child given unto us, but the healing power of the Greatest Gift our Father could give; the redemption that comes through our Lord and Savior.

December?

I can hardly believe it is December, let alone the 16th day. Grandma Kate put together an advent calendar for Taylor and Alec. It is the very first thing Taylor does when she gets out of bed. She runs downstairs, opens her door for the day, hangs an ornament on her little tree and runs to wake Alec to show him his prize. 8 year olds are delightful! We have a sad tree. For some reason this year, when we put together our fake tree and plugged in the lights we did not experience success. Only one strand of lights worked!?! When we first got the tree I had meticulously lined each branch with lights and woven the cords so they were not apparent. So this year I yanked off every strand of lights, threw on the net lights, that are not on the bushes in the front yard this year. It was pretty fast. We also do not have ornaments or decorations up inside the house. Well, not really, anything that did not get put away properly last year is out. I couldn't muster up the energy to crawl in the storage and yank out all of the boxes and mess so we are doing the minimum. We are NOT Skipping Christmas like the Krank's, rather downsizing decorations. Yes, I am missing many of the favorites of the season but think how happy we'll be next year. One benefit of not putting many ornaments on the tree ... Alec took off every glass ornament (I think 6) and smashed them into little tiny pieces. I was in the shower and I think he possibly hit them off with the new bat his dad bought at the dollar store - it's really long. He and Pyper had a great time running and jumping. Amazing enough, no blood came with the fun. Those ornaments were 21 years old (from our first year married) so they were ready to be retired.

DEER HUNT 2008 We love cousins

Thank you Todd, Greg, Rodney and Grandpa for letting the girls come up and see what it's all about. Taylor loved being with Kasey!!!!!

the many faces of TAYLOR ... self-portraits

Cousin Haley got married

Haley and Cameron were married on Thursday, in the Logan Temple. It was an absolutely beautiful day and Haley couldn't have been more stunning. I forgot my camera but did ok with the phone. If you look closely Brock is over Erin's shoulder. Sorry Joe, I didn't get you.

Nan took the girls for manicures the evening before. Nan said one nail got messed up bowling ??? Erin commented that the nails were in the way of everything - she looked fabulous though. Paige got a pedicure and was so excited about her "cute toes" with her great shoes. By the end of the day her feet were uncomfortable but they looked incredible.

It was fun for our kids to be involved. Anna especially loved all the cute babies - Erin's cute Lincoln and Andi's Jack Jack (Kaylee Jo is holding him in photo). Jack Jack loves cell phones, food and I noticed he also liked his favorite Auntie Shauna. Good call dad for the babysitter during the dinner for Monster Alec. I didn't see any other little ones running amuck like ours would've been

can you believe TAYLOR is 8

Thank you to all the family and friends that were here for Taylor on Saturday! To the rest of you - you were missed and loved. I didn't get pictures of most family with Taylor. Thank you for your love and support!

birthday cake from Grandma/pa Godfrey

Hooray for Grandma and Grandpa Godfrey. They sent a birthday cake home for Alec and Taylor. Silly mom, we only had a 1 birthday candle. Alec was a pro blowing it out after watching his sisters earlier in the month. It is wonderful to see these two enjoying each other and being such good friends.

ultimate birthday party

Taylor had the greatest birthday party. She wanted to stay at home and play games. They made paper airplanes, had a boy/girl tug-of-war, played red rover, popped balloons, attacked a pinata and more. Unfortunately, we ran out of time for the 3 legged race ... next party.

PYPER

this little girl is fun ... however she is fast and slippery and has sharp puppy teeth (Alec is down to one binky)

Happy Birthday Alec

sadly, Alec is the fourth child and neglected - good thing he doesn't know any better It was his birthday today/yesterday, Friday, Oct 3. I did teach him to say 3, we'll see if he remembers it tomorrow. His answer to every question is "Annie" He loves a little girl in our ward, Annie Tueller (cool last name!). She is 4+ months younger and he talks about her. She may be the only thing he does talk about. He used to say her name to the how old are you question and what is your name. We're working on 3 and Alec for better answers. His birthday was overlooked from the start. We did an airport shuttle (if anyone needs a ride we'll help) this morning right out of bed and the day got going without any excitement. Todd got him some cool baseball "stuff" that every 3 year old needs but it didn't get wrapped and it is in the corner of the dining room. Perhaps he'll get it tomorrow - or Sunday is pj church so then. Taylor and I took him to see Kung Foo Panda while Todd and Anna went to the USU BYU game in Logan. He loved the movie, carried the popcorn and I even bought him a rootbeer. After the movie we stopped at Wendy's and got everyone a CHOCOLATE frosty.

TAYLOR IS TURNING 8 ... getting Baptized

Taylor will turn 8 on September 29 She will be baptized on Saturday, October 11 at 9:00 am This Mom intends to send something to "everyone" so you know date & time Don't hold your breath waiting for the mail - I have best of intentions but end up hoping for word of mouth

Anna Turned 12 in style

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA!!!!! Anna and three friends, and sister Taylor, went to the beauty college for a new "look" It was a great time and extra fun since there was a fund raiser at school that night so they got to show off. I can't believe Anna is 12. It's one of those measurement birthdays. She went to Young Womens today - no more Primary. Cousin Parker is next to turn 12 and graduate from primary.

as if we have nothing else going on

Zinga, the hamster momma, pushed this little one out of the nest (or so we think). We tried to put her/him back up with a spoon but she was rejected again. After walking with eyes closed, and mouth open, around the bottom of the cage Mom Shauna finally gave in and got kitty formula and a little bottle. She drinks it pretty good and today liked eating bread soaked in the milk. Anna finally gave in and held her today. She's been too worried about her size and hurting her. We're hoping that she's a he so we can keep the dad, Coco and this little one.

There are still 3 others being taken care of. If you want a hamster we have one.