christmas with the whole crew

Christmas this year was pretty amazing! My sister Charlotte and her family came and stayed with us for over a week and it was all I had dreamed it would be. I love my family so much and there's nothing better for me than when they are all in one place. I am only now starting to crawl out of the deep depression I fell into after Christmas was over and the Adsero crew left. This blog post is going to be a major photofest because there were just too many I wanted to remember. Thanks to Charlotte for sharing lots of her pics with me. We had a pretty great (and surprisingly busy) week while they were here, but it was a party!

The highlight of the whole week was the sealing of sweet baby Jeremiah to my brother and sister-in-law, Nick and Megan. It was pretty incredible to all be in the temple together and to know that that sweet babe is theirs forever. I sure love that cute family.

On one of the first nights the Adseros were here we went bowling at the University of Utah, which takes all of us Mecham kids right back to our childhood. I bowled terribly (big surprise) and almost got beat by the 5 and 6-year-old, but we all had such a good time together.

A visit to the Grand America for a scavenger hunt and to see the enormous gingerbread house. This was nicely followed up by a huge burger at Crown Burger. Just what the doctor ordered, am I right?! We then took a trip downtown to see Grandpa's new office and the Macy's candy windows.

Lincoln, Charlotte's oldest, was aching for snow and boy oh boy did he get it! The week before they were coming it was nearly 50 degrees and we hadn't seen a lick of snow. I was worried his dream of a white Christmas didn't stand a chance. BUT, a day or two before they came we had the snowstorm of the century with nearly two feet of snow up at our house! It was a white Christmas and then some. We had a hard time finding snow clothes at any store after the mammoth storm, but after lots of hunting we found enough to get out and sled.

Every year we make a point to go grab dinner and see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. It was cold and kind of snowy this year, but it was still wonderful and awesome to all be together.

Charlotte arranged for us to go to Ballet West's Nutcracker with the big kids a few days before Christmas, and although the kids could barely sit through the entire thing, it was a lot of fun. There was a little party after the performance where you could have punch and cookies with the sugar plum fairy and a few of the cast up on stage, and although it was a little more rushed than we'd anticipated, I think the kids liked it and we got some really cute nutcracker ornaments out of it.

Christmas Eve is always a big deal at my parents house. My mom makes such incredible food and with the whole crew in town this year, the presents under the tree were overflowing and taking up nearly half of the living room. We played Christmas carols with chimes and each family took a turn to perform a little song they'd been practicing. After lots of present opening, all of the grandkids got dressed in their Christmas jammies and headed home to make sure cookies and milk were out for Santa.

We had Christmas morning over at our house. Minnie slept downstairs with all of her cousins (so Santa could set up the new bunk bed that wouldn't fit under the tree). Santa's little helpers (aka myself, Robert, Charlotte and Matt) stayed up later than we'd anticipated getting everything set up. Why does Christmas Eve always have to be that way? I even had all of our presents wrapped and yet setting up the bunk bed and arranging everything had us up until 2 AM. Oy!

My parents and Julia came over in the morning to see all the kids open their presents. The boys and Min could hardly handle themselves waiting downstairs for everyone to show up. Bless their hearts. I love Christmas morning, maybe now even more than I did when I was little. It's pure magic to me. Minnie and Lou were pretty pumped about their new bed which made me so happy. I haven't let Lou sleep in it yet because she stays in her crib forever in the morning and hello, I'm going to take advantage of that as long as I can. I figure it will be a pretty easy transition once it needs to happen (knock on wood). The boys were pleased as punch with the huge Lego sets Santa brought and were also informed in a letter from Santa that there would be a few more items waiting for them at home in Houston.

We headed over to my parent's house for brunch, which was incredible. It was snowing outside, the windows were steamed up, and we were all together eating the most delicious meal. It was a little bit of heaven to me. We weren't able to do a nativity the night before so after breakfast we busted out all of my mom's awesome costumes and put it together. I was pregnant Mary (naturally) and was escorted onto the stage by my last-minute trusty donkey, Robert. Minnie was the not-pregnant Mary and Lincoln was Joseph. Jeremiah and Oliver were both baby Jesus at different points, depending on who was willing to sit still. It was pretty fun and really sweet to see all of the kids acting their part. I love seeing all of them together.

I'd been looking forward to Christmas for months and it all came and went so quickly! Always does, doesn't it? A few tears were shed on my part on the departure of the Adsero crew, but we are already getting serious about planning our reunion this summer, which helps ease the pain a bit. I'm such a baby! I'm so grateful the rest of my family lives close. I'm not sure they always will so I should soak that up for as long as I have it.

our last day in jackson

Sunday in Jackson was pretty gloomy as far as the weather was concerned.
The kids woke up early so we decided to make it to early church in town.
We came back and cozied up while the littles took their naps.
The clouds finally broke a bit later in the afternoon so we piled into one of the 15 passenger vans to head up to Teton Village.
You would have thought it was Christmas by the look on Minnie's face as we piled into the van.
"We're all together!!" she said with a grin ear to ear.
The gondola up the mountain is free after 4 pm at and the view from the restaurant and patio at the top was incredible.

It was about 15 degrees cooler up there and all of us got chilly pretty quick.
We drove back to the camp and the boys got to work building a fire while the girls wrapped up tinfoil dinners.
I'm telling you, everything tastes better cooked in a fire.
It just does.
The sun was setting as we ate and the sky was filled with bright little pink clouds.
After some s'mores and peach cobbler we were all officially stuffed to the brim.
Minnie declared it bedtime (a real win in my book) and after a bath and some snuggles our little buggies went down without a fight.

As we were hanging out in the living room Arne spotted a mouse in the kitchen which then turned and ran toward our room which had a large gap underneath the door.
To say I was creeped out is an enormous understatement, especially since Minnie was asleep on a mattress on the floor.
I mean, hello, we are in the middle of the mountains so I should probably expect that, but to know a little fury friend was sleeping with us that night about did me in.

Is it crazy that I get the urge to cry every time a trip is over?
I am probably going to see all of these people in the next week or so, but it just feels like the closing of a little piece of my life that I'd been looking forward to for awhile.
So thank heavens for traditions because in 360 days we'll get to do it all over again!
Hurrah!

labor day vacay {in iphone pics}

My cute friend, Sara, and her husband Arne run a whitewater rafting company in Jackson Hole, WY, and every summer they pack up and move there for four months.
Sara, Abi, Shelly and I have been a fearsome foursome since rooming together at college in 2005.
We have a bunch of traditions together but had yet to start one with our little families.
This year we decided it was high time to make Labor Day in Jackson our annual family get together, and man, it was fun!

Arne took a few of us on a trip down the Snake River while Shelly and Abi were angels and stayed back with the babes.
A huge rainstorm hit right before we got on the water and right after we got off, but we lucked out with such a good run.
Every time we hit a rapid this scream came out from the very deepest part of me and didn't stop until we were through it.
So embarrassing, but it was like some sort of reflex that I couldn't control.
The kids played and built sandcastles down by the sand beach at the camp where Sara and Arne stay, we walked around cute downtown and ate some good BBQ for dinner.
It rained a good part of the time we were there, so we threw on our sweatshirts and huddled in the living room and played games, watched movies and laughed our guts out.

Can't wait to share some more pictures of the weekend soon!