Fall 2018

I feel so bad that all I can do lately are these quick, haphazard blog posts that contain few (if any) pictures and only the rough details of our lives. But alas, that is all I have time for these days. It's a good thing though- we are busy doing great things and trying to make the most of our time.

Here's a quick recap of our fall:

-After watching Layla's first tennis lesson, Marcus decided he wanted to play as well. They both truly enjoyed their first round of tennis lessons and I really think we found Layla's sport. I have never seen her work so hard at anything and it makes me very happy. I should have a pic of them playing tennis, but I don't right now. Occasionally we will go to the tennis courts and I throw balls for the kids to practice hitting with their rackets. In place of a pic of tennis, here is a pic of them at a fun play place:

-We watched a documentary as a family called, "The Kindness Dairies." It featured a man who traveled around the entire world relying on the kindness of others for food, shelter, and gas money for his motorcycle (and passage over the ocean). It was touching to see the kindness of so many good people. One episode showed his travels through Cambodia, which is where Mitch served his mission. It showed an extremely poverty stricken woman who was sick with AIDS and her young child in the shack they lived in. It was truly a tear jerker and one of those times when I felt so grateful for all that I have, and wished with all my heart that I could give it all away to help someone who has less. The episode also discussed the war in Cambodia during the 1970s when over 3 million Cambodians were brutally murdered. It is heart wrenching and will give you a stomach ache. It must have all touched Layla in the way, because by the end of the episode she was upset and bawling for quite some time. It is hard when your child starts to realize that the world can be cold, and cruel, and terrible. BUT, I am hoping the show, and her life experiences, and mostly the Gospel, will teach her that there are always more good people than bad, and to believe in the goodness of people that stems from the light of Christ and His goodness. As a result of Layla's tender feelings towards the Cambodians, we told her about a charity that is run by some people Mitch knows. They help an orphanage there with supplies for the kids' educations and other needs. Layla raised $52 by going door to door and asking family and friends to donate to the cause. It took her out of comfort zone and I was impressed with her willingness to serve children she has never met. 

-Over Labor Day, we went up to Snow Basin. We had planned to ride the gondola up and eat lunch, but we ended up going on an impromptu hike as well. I had on the wrong shoes, so it was interesting, but we had a great time. My little family is my favorite.

-We discovered a new favorite place- Get Air. It's a trampoline park and it is so much fun. We are all smiles and laughs while we're there (until it's time to leave, and them Marcus gets grumpy!).

Left to Right: Levi Healy, Marcus Bott, Smith Webster.

-Layla and Marcus started piano lessons with Jaylee Hagberg. Jaylee is our neighbor at our old house. She is a junior in high school and I just adore her. The kids do too as she was always a favorite babysitter over the years! Marcus seems to actually like piano, as opposed to Layla, who still fights it, but not as much as she did with Suzuki. They are both doing well though and I'm grateful that the piano fights have decreased with Layla and Marcus has a wonderful teacher to get him started. I'm excited to see how far he'll go with piano, since he enjoys it so much. He even practices extra and wants to play for everyone who comes over. And he sings while he plays. It's adorable.

-Layla and I went to Tuacahn with Nicole and Oakley. This was our 5th annual girls trip! I love our time together with the four of us. We saw Matilda this year. It was the least in-depth play we've seen there, but it was great. Can't wait for next year!

-We had general conference where it was announced that we will now have 2 hour church on Sunday and a new, study-at-home curriculum as well. I couldn't be more happy about it. The gospel is something that I have tried to teach more in our home lately, and I'm all for sitting less at church and learning more at home! I felt like many of the speakers, including the prophet, mentioned that we are now getting ready for the second coming of Christ. I found it interesting that up until a few years ago, I felt like the messages were centered around "doing you're best and being happy" and now it's "go-time, let's prepare for Christ to come again." It's fascinating, and exciting, and peaceful all at the same time. I don't know that Christ will come again during my lifetime, or even my kids', but I know that we are part of the preparation and I feel honored to be here during this exciting time. My favorite quote from general conference this time was from President Nelson, who said, "If you think the Church has been fully restored, you're just seeing the beginning. There is much more to come ... wait until next year. And then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It's going to be exciting." Wow, huh? It's easy to focus on all the bad in the world right now- there certainly is so much of it. But, there are more good people than bad, and in the end, Christ will come again and all will be made right. And we can be part of it! It makes me happy and full of peace to be reminded of that.

This is how Marcus watched morning session of General Conference.

-Layla entered the Reflections contest again and made it to the council level. She made a diorama of a crossing guard for the theme, "Heroes Around Us." It turned out adorable and she really worked hard on it. She needs a lot of prodding to get started, but once she finally starts, she does a great job.

-Marcus is not loving Kindergarten. He is bored and getting in a tiny bit of trouble for goofing off during class. Gotta say, I totally saw this coming. He will be tested for the gifted program for 1st grade next month, but for now he still needs to get through Kindergarten without being a troublemaker! On the plus side, he is reading incredibly well. I haven't tested him, but I'm guessing he's at a high 1st grade or low 2nd grade reading level. When we read from the Book of Mormon at night, he always amazes me with the words he can read from the scriptures! They are big words that we don't use in our every day language (or any time besides when we read the scriptures, ha!) and he can totally read them. Of course he needs plenty of help with lots of words, but he surprises me with the ones he can read all on his own! 

-I usually text Mitch a "Marcus Quote of the Day," and I wish I wrote them all down on the blog all the time. Here are a few funny ones:

         -While laying on the floor surrounded by toys: "This is what the life of a 5 year old boy is all about."

       -While saying family prayer: "Please help me be on Santa's good list."

       -After picking him up from school: "Today has been such a weird day!" Me: "Why?" Marcus:      "Because normally it's my tummy that makes grumbling sounds, but today it was my butt!" Me: "Oh?  Do you need to poop?" Marcus: "I guess so!"

And one thing he's done since he could walk is join in EVERY time he sees Mitch and I hugging. If Mitch gives me a hug goodbye before work, Marcus will run across the room to hug us both and make it a "family hug!" It makes me smile every time. That boy can't resist a hug or cuddle.

I died laughing when he posed like this.

-We are in this rental house for 15 more days! Wahoo!!!!!! I will finally get a good nights sleep! We all sleep pretty crappy in this house. Probably because it makes more noises and pops and creaks than any house should. It is LOUD. And it wakes us each up every single night. Even after 5 months of living here. I cannot wait to move outta here!

-We went on our fall break trip with the Mudrows and Molyneauxs. This is the 3rd year in a row now for our fall break trip with these friends. Fun was had by all, including the adults staying up WAY too late playing Wackee Six and laughing our heads off. We also went geocaching for the first time and that was a big hit.

-We bought a new car. It was quite the process. Mitch is a car guy. He has wine taste on a beer budget when it comes to cars. Actually, he could have a wine budget as well, but we both agree that spending large amounts of money on a car is a waste of money, so we tend to buy used cars with low miles. It is really hard to find a car that meets all of Mitch's criteria in our price range, so we looked for quite some time. I would have easily been happy with a Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, or something comparable. But Mitch was deadset on an Audi Q7. We finally found one that passed all of Mitch's tests, and I gotta say, it's great. I really love it. It has a third row so I can join carpool for Layla's school as soon as we move in, wahoo!

Before we bought the new car, our BMW was in the shop, so I got to drive this beauty around:

It was a total hit with all the kindergartners who would ooh and aah every day when I picked Marcus up from school, haha!

-We had a fun Halloween and the kids loved wearing their costumes to school. I was able to help with both of their class parties this year and I truly enjoyed being in their classrooms that day. They both have great teachers, but Layla's teacher, Mrs. Ewell, now that woman was born to be a teacher. She is INCREDIBLE. I volunteer in her classroom once a week and I am in awe of her every week. She's fantastic. Anyways, Halloween was fun and while the kids got plenty of candy, I felt like they didn't get too much.




-Layla has been so goofy lately. I like seeing her teasing sense of humor. She's funny in her intelligent way, and she is so beautiful!

-Mitch is doing well. He is making a lot of progress on his school lately. He is presenting a school paper at a conference in San Diego in January. He asked if I wanted to join him, but we decided to save our sky miles for the Oregon Coast with the Craguns next summer. But I'm glad he gets to go present and have more of his school completed.

-I took my first midterm for my class this week. I *think* I did okay, but I don't know my score yet. I really hate this class, but I'm determined to do well and finish asap.

-Thanksgiving weekend is halfway over. We feasted with the Botts yesterday and will be with my family tomorrow, including Jordan's family. For Thanksgiving this year, we tried to each write down one thing we were thankful for each night at dinner, but the rule was you couldn't say something that had already been said. So, as you can guess, we had to get more specific as the month went on. It was neat to see how certain situations throughout the month led us each to be grateful for different things.

-The new house is almost done and I love everything about it. It truly feels like home to me already. I had a neat experience last week: I was supposed to meet with our builder to go over a rough estimate of our house cost. I HATE financial stuff like this and it always gives me anxiety- especially when we're talking about the largest purchase of our entire lives. I had a stomach ache the entire day leading up to the meeting. I know that's slightly ridiculous, but I was worried all day that he would say that we were way over budget and Mitch would be stressed. I just didn't want Mitch to be stressed. So, I said a prayer and said that I felt prompted for the last year that we were supposed to make this move and to help us have it all work out. Well, not only were we not over budget, we were under by almost $20K, which is so much better than we had anticipated! And, that day our builder said we would close no later than 3 weeks from that day.... which is Thursday, December 6th! My birthday, and also the same exact day we closed on our last house! Coincidence? I think not! I felt so much peace as I left that meeting that Heavenly Father really did plan this move for us and that we will be so happy in that home and have the spirit to be with us there. I cannot wait!

-Layla had crazy hair day at school. She chose octopus hair and named it Fred, lol.

Tata for now. Gotta go clean up and work some more on my school.