New Blogger

Jeff started a new blogg. Go check it out at http://jffmchm.blogspot.com/

The Amazing Sue

Kathys sister Sue stopped by last week on her way back to San Diego. We like it when they stop by, they are the best house guests in the world. Usually they come for the afternoon and get up and leave bright and early to beat trafic. This always gives us a chance to see them, and we have never had to take them downtown to see the Mirage volcano or the water show at the Belagio.

On this trip down we were sitting in the living room and somehow the subject came up of doing headstands. Sue said "I can do a headstand". I thought it was funny that she said it with so much confidence. I told her "There is no way you are doing a headstand" with the same amount of doubt in my voice as certainty in hers. Sue is the oldest Tebb's girl, and I will not reveal her age, but she is older than 40, and not anywhere near 60. The conversation continued until sue finally got up and started tucking her shirt deeeep into her waistband. I thought I could see the bottom of her shirt poking out the bottom of her pant legs. (slight exageration, but she definately was not taking any chances of flashing Jake or anyone else in the room).

She walked out to the middle of the floor, bent over threw her legs up in the air. The next step was the straight point of the feet towards the ceiling, and wahlaaah, right there in my living room was something that I never imagined I would see. After holding her position for a few seconds, she came down and got up. Mandy captured the whole thing on her video camera, but there is no way I am going to post it (I'm afraid of paybacks). Kathy heard us all laughing and came in to see what had just happened. We explained it to her, but it was definately one of those things that you have to witness to appreciate. It makes me wonder what other hidden talents are out there that people have that nobody is aware of. Let me know, I am curious.

And away he goes.

Jeff has been funny to watch this week. He has been a little on the sentimental side. He knew that this would be the last week at home before going away to college. This week consisted of him waking up early to make his brothers and sister breakfast as they went off to school. Having friends streaming in and out of the house to say their final goodbyes, and then seeing the same friends come back over to say their final, final good byes. Tuesday night he came in and laid down at the foot of the bed and said, "this is really weird to think that tomorrow I will wake up and not see Mandy, Tim, and Jake from now on". Wednesday morning we got up and sent the other kids off to school and it was time to take him to Provo to start his new life. We climbed into the Excursion, and made a couple of stops before leaving town. Jeff was real quiet as we left town, just the three of us. The back of the car was loaded with all of the stuff that is totally necessary to go to college, or at least what we think is totally necessary. In reality some of it will end up coming back on future trips because it takes up too much space or is not used at all. It was funny to think about times earlier in our lives when it was just the three of us. As the oldest child that is one of the advantages, or disadvantages that Jeff had. For instance as we were climbing up I-15 leaving the valley it reminded me of the time that Jeff was just barely old enough to speak. We were in a much smaller car, but the seating arrangements were the same. Kathy and I were up front talking and I made the comment "I'm thirsty", from the back seat of the car came a small voice that answered "hello thursty, I'm friday". This forever had been a Grandpa Mecham joke, passed on to me, and now it was my first recollection of Jeff's sense of humor.

As we travelled it was hot outside. I could only imagine how much different his new environment would be. There will actually be trees, soft grass, cool mornings and nights in the summer and even snow. Kathy did her best to try to review all the things that would be needed to complete enrollment, and knowing her she was going through her head to do a mental checklist to make sure that all bases were covered.

When it was just the three of us life was so much more simple it seemed. Our whole world revolved around just one little baby, and there was nothing in life that was as important, or precious to us as our new baby and meeting his every need. It seemed like our universe revolved around him. As the family expanded it just seemed to get better. Jeff was such a good brother to Tim, although we would later find that their personalities were night and day different. Jeff was Mandy's protector and he would always make sure that she was taken care of and comfortable. To this day it would still not be uncommon to see them snuggled up to each other to watch a television show. Jake idolized Jeff and Tim. Jeff taught him to do a flying header, and bicycle kick when he was really, really young. Whatever happened over the years or what changes happened in our lives their was one constant. We were a family and I can honestly say that we were close. Now that Jeff is going away there is the uncertainty of how that dynamic will change. Will he mature to the point that he doesn't need the same type of nurturing, or will there be a different feeling when he comes home for Holiday's, these are the thoughts that I think both Kathy and I as parents feel, as well as Jeff. This is uncharted territory for this family.

By the time we hit Beaver it was becoming apparent that we had becoming accustomed to modern car travel, the only problem is that the CD player was broke, we didn't have any movies to drop into the DVD player, and the only music on the radio was almost unlistenable.
Fortunately for us we had Kathy. She broke out a book and between her and Jeff they started to read while I drove. Old Yeller, yep I said it, that was the book of choice. Jeff rolled his eyes when asked to read it, I didn't even know that it was even still in print, but there it was. We had two choices, we could either sit in silence or we could entertain ourselves with a book written for
2nd graders.

The time flew from that point on and before we knew it we were in Provo trying to find the dorm rooms. As we drove into the parking lot it was packed with cars. There were no empty spaces anywhere. Jeff and Kathy went into register while I drove in circles waiting like a vulture for someone to leave. As I looked around I noticed that there were tons of young faces. In the dorm rooms you could see parents carrying armfulls of stuff that would be totally necessary to go to school. In one second story window I even saw a mom standing at an ironing board ironing all of the clothes for her son. "Why bother" I thought. In one week it will be wrinkled and the only ironing that those clothes will see will be from the dryer to the hanger.
Someone finally pulled out and I was able to park. We began to unload stuff from the back of the Excursion. As we took the first load upstairs to the dorm, Jeff unlocked the door with his key. I thought how weird it was that my kid had a key to a house that wasn't mine. We entered a narrow hallway and found another door that involved another key. The door opened up to an extremely small room and I saw a tiny bed in the corner, I thought, "this is kind of small, but not too crowded for one person." then I saw the second be and realized that this tiny space was instantly half as big as I had moments earlier imagined it. We put down the first load and walked into the kitchen. As we entered the room we ran into a very nice lady holding an iron and another handful of hangers.... I thought about explaining my earlier thoughts but luckily the filter kicked in and I kept my mouth shut. Besides, I realize that the whole ironing has nothing to do with having neat clothes, it was more symbolic of the things that Moms do for their kids.
We met a couple of the new room mates, but not everyone had shown up.
Once everything was put away we went out to dinner, and stopped by a couple of stores. I was so proud of the knowledge that I could pass onto Jeff in this area. My experience from serving a mission had made me an expert on how to eat cheap and not spend tons of time cooking. Spaghetti can be cooked once and eaten for three days. Pot pies are cheap, hot dogs are good and although they blow up in the microwave it is still the best way to cook them. We got to the checkout and the little amount of food that we picked up was still more than Jeff realized it would be. If you want to see reality set in, watch your kids realize how much the real world is going to cost them.

We took Jeff back to the dorms and dropped him off. Everywhere we looked there were awkward Freshman traveling in packs, trying to find a group to fit into. We left and went to spend the night at Aunt Jenny's house. When we finally laid down it felt so good to finally be in bed......3,2,1.... that is when it finally sat in with Kathy that her baby was not coming home with us. There were a few tears, and I don't think she slept much that night. I remember finally waking up around 2:30 and asking her if she wanted to go for a walk, I didn't know what else to do for her.

When morning came we went back to Provo to find Jeff to help him with some of his list of to do things. We found him waiting for us in a parking lot by the ball fields, along with thousands of other kids his age. He had already taken care of a good portion of things, and it was apparent that he would be just fine without us. I guess we could have gone back to the dorm and ironed his clothes, but we both knew that he didn't need us hanging out with him for the day. Kathy jumped out with the camera to take at least one photo, when she came back I could see that she was crying. Jeff was making it better though, he was mocking her crying (either to calm her down, or to keep from bawling in front of possibly his yet unknown future wife).
We drove off and headed back to Vegas. As we left the Valley, Kathy looked at me and said, "do you want to hear the end to Old Yeller?" "I didn't want to finish it yesterday with Jeff because I didn't want it to be too sad".
She grabbed my hand, started to read, I drove and we both knew that everything would be alright, and Jeff is in a good place, with good people, and his new life will be a fun, full one.

My first try at portraits

Mindy called me the other day and asked me if I would take some family photos for her. Although I do find that I enjoy taking pictures, I don't consider myself a photographer. We went to the park by Machelles house and wandered around taking a few photos. I don't know if Mindy will get mad that I posted these, but I looked at her post and realized she doesn't put up any pictures anyway. All in all I had a fun time being with them and I know that if they paid a profesional he/she would have done a better job, but you get what you pay for.

Mindy and C's

The whole family. I had no idea what it took to get the whole family to do what you want, forget smiling all at once. I was just happy that they all had their eyes opened at the same time.

The photogenic Allea.
I think this is the only picture of Colbys smile. He has the same problem that I have when posing. I think I'm smiling, until I see the picture. At least he makes up for it in being cool.

C's and Allea. This is one of my favorite. I know that C's is not my blood brother, but I think of him as one, and like to see how good he is with the kids.

Coltons new myspace photo

I can't say who won this one, but it was close.

Good looking kids in a cool car. When I do become a profesional photographer I will find out how to get them all to smile, but maybe that is what makes a good picture, letting them be themselves.

I had such a good time just being around them for the morning. They probably thought I was grumpy. I wasn't, I just get nervous when I try new things. Thanks Mindy and family for letting me get my feet wet with this first attempt. I promise the next ones will be better. (and then I can charge you).

Young Men go to California

This summer I went to California with the Young Men. We went down to San Clamente and did a tour of the temples in the area. We also found time to go to the beach and a fishing trip. It was a ton of fun, and a chance for me to get to know the young men in the Ward a little bit better.
Here we are at the San Diego Temple. I tried to get more photos, but the young men had different ideas.

Brother Harris and son. I rode up with Sean (Shawn) and got a chance to know him better. We have been in the ward with him for quite some time, but didn't know the first thing about him. By the time we reached California, I knew about his line of work, love of playing music (Head Banging stuff) and how proud he is of his kids. I feel bad that I haven't taken the opportunity to know him better. I think I have been intimidated all this time because he is like 8'6" or something like that, but what a gentle giant.

This is Bishop McCormick. I feel sorry for all the wards around the world that have ugly Bishops. It hardly seems right that ours is so ruggedly handsome in a manly sort of way. He made a comment while we were up the about how it seems like the young men all gravitate towards the young men's leaders, but run away from the Bishop. I hardly think this is the case, because he has such a good relationship with our boys.

Cannon, Tim, Scotty, and the athletic legs of Cody. Scotty has always driven me crazy, but that was only because I didn't understand his sense of humor. By the end of the trip I finally began to understand how funny he really is.

Josh and Dan. Josh is obviously posing in hopes of making the BYU calender.

I love this picture of Bishop instructing Josh. I don't know what they are talking about, but Bishop is so good at explaining things and can make anything sound interesting.

Amy is going to Love this one of her Husband Scott. He is doing his best to try to relax. Is it working?

This is Josh and his little Bro Tyler. Josh goes off to college this year and I am sure that Tyler will miss him. Notice Josh has crutches. The week before we came he had his leg ran over by a water truck. By all rights it could have killed him, but he walked away without broken bones, and is now up and walking.

This is our group photo on the boat. The rest of the boys are running around, but this was a pretty good attempt at getting them all together. Notice Bishop posing for the Abercrombie Fitch callender.

This is a picture of the boys signing an agreement that they will not throw bait. No matter what happens, they will not have a live bait fight.

Conner was so excited to be on a boat. He never gets out of the house, so this was a huge event for him.

Cannon was waving to the Miss Hawaiian Tropic boat that was passing by. I was surprised at how many of the girls knew his name.

Bryce is one of my neighbors. He is always so quiet, but what a funny kid. I found out that he has a great sense of humor, loves candy, and does not like to share.

I had to throw this one in of me and 5 hr energy Ben. Ben is the one that started the live bait fight (after burning the agreement). I actually think that it started when Chad jammed a live fish down his butt crack. Ben does not know when to give up. The funniest part of the live bait fight was when the captain of the boat announce "please don't throw the fish" right after a handful nearly beaned him while he was on the upper deck driving.

All in all it was a fun trip, and we thank Chad for letting us stay with him for the week.

Mandy the Photographer-Artist

Amanda finally got her Camera for her birthday. I think she has an amazing eye for taking pictures. The amazing thing is that she can take her camera that cost a fraction of what most people spend for just one lens and can turn them into interesting and awesome photos worthy of framing.

She forwarded a few of them and asked me if I would put them up on the blog. Since this is the Mecham Review, and not Rons view on life, I figured "what the heck".




I love how by removing color from everything but the one flower, it shows the simple beauty that can sometimes be overlooked.

This one is just an example of what happens when you get a really good gene pool going.

Jake learning from the master. Actually Jake can now ride the boogey board standing up, his brothers have not mastered that. Next summer we need to send him down to live with Mondo and Cherise, so that Mondo can teach him to surf. I think he's ready.

Don't know about this one.

Aspen getting some of the good stuff. Looks like she likes other treats besides just bananas.

The things that are most important.

Over the past year I have heard over and over again, people explain to me what is most important in life. As I reflect upon some of the answers that have been given I have to pause and think about the advice both solicited and unsolicited, and weigh in on the validity of this advice. In times of plenty material things are fun, but they can only bring so much joy. True, excess or even affluence can make it possible to buy things such as toys, trips, hobbies etc... but does it bring real happiness?
How many of us know people that seem to have everything that money can buy, only to end up miserable and seeking for more?
Health is important, I know this. If any of my family members were ill, I would give up everything in order to make them better. Health is one of the many blessings that is taken for granted until it is gone. There are many that have learned to take there pain, and somehow still maintain a positive attitude.

Out of all the things that exist in this world I have the knowledge that family is the most important. As a father I live to see my children grow in a positive loving environment. So far in this life we have been very blessed. Although we have not always had the most money, or resources, we have been able to watch our kids grow and respond positively to situations placed before them. Kathy and I have been able to see our kids both accomplish goals that they have set, and seen them fall short of a few of others. In their accomplishments there is happiness, but strangely enough there is growth in some of their shortcomings. When Jeff failed to make the Varsity soccer team I was shocked, and upset. Although I fought the urge to go down to the school and tell off the coach, I still felt like he got the short end of the stick. Jeff being as resilient as he is moved on and began playing volleyball. This proved to be one of the most exciting sports that I have gotten into (I am not a big sports fan), and after his last game we discussed how he probably would not have been able to be involved in such a great activity if he had continued with soccer.

Last year Tim sat the bench for half of his freshman season. I had many parents and friends of his that told me what a raw deal he was getting. Tim still showed up for practice every day, and when the season was over, continued to train. Today he is stronger, and faster, and has the mindset that he wants to be a great player. He did not pity his situation, and still kept respect for his coach.
I could go on with examples that all of my kids have taught me, but will stop for now. The thing that I have learned is that even in adversity their is growth. Adversity is not fun, sometimes it is a minor inconvenience, sometimes it is just plain painful. I think that the majority of us are feeling this uncomfortable sense of confusion over what the future holds. But I am grateful that during this time I am fortunate to have a family that I love, and they love me. I have brothers and sisters that I can rely on when I need or they need support. I have watched some of my family members that have struggled and are struggling with things in their life, but feel fortunate that no matter what happens we will always have each other and will never be without.
Today Jeff was ordained an Elder. It was a bittersweet experience. Bitter in the fact that he is not going to stay our very unique little boy forever. Sweet in the fact that he is growing into a man that is capable of facing the future with a positive attitude, and is ready to go into the world to conquer.
As I reflect on what is important, it is obvious that although things are fun to have, family is ultimately more important and brings more satisfaction and happiness than money, or material possessions could ever provide.