October 2016

More exciting news! Just days after writing my last blog post our nephew, Carson , was born! Brock and Natalie's baby boy, and Evelyn's little brother is adorable and we are so excited to have him in our family!

Halloween was great! Mitch made Marcus the best Bumblebee Transformer costume. It really transforms and Marcus was obsessed with it. I wish it was easier to put a video on here of how it transforms; it really is awesome. The headlights really turn on too. Mitch is amazing, I tell ya. Marcus got all the attention at my mom's work and at the ward Halloween party. I was proud of Layla for supporting him and being proud of him when he was getting all the attention. That can be hard to do and she did it gracefully. Layla decided to be an Indian. We went to the store together, she picked everything out, and we made her costume together. She was pleased with it, which is saying a lot for my specific little girl. I helped in her class Halloween party again this year. I always love seeing her with her little friends and her happy smile.

Hay ride to pick pumpkins.

The kids didn't trick-or-treat for as long as I thought they would. We had Marcus dress up as a Ninja Turtle so he could actually walk around. They had fun though and got lots of candy. We struck a deal with them where they could keep 12 pieces of candy and we would pay them $10 to buy whatever toy they wanted the next day. The took the deal and were proud as peacocks walking into the store each holding their crisp, $10 bill. They haven't complained once about not having more candy, and they actually haven't eaten their 12 pieces yet. I should note that we decided to offer this deal because Layla had her first cavity, boo! Mitch and I have very good teeth, Mitch has 1 cavity and I have 2, both of which I developed while on my mission, so I was counting on my kids having good teeth. *fingers crossed*

We were able to go to Goblin Valley with our friends, The Mudrows, over fall break. It was a great little getaway and we love our friends! We spent half a day in Goblin Valley, which we LOVE and also hiked the slot canyons at Little Wild Horse Canyon. We stayed in Ghetto, I mean Green River and it was the saddest little town. Ever. But we had a blast anyways. On the way home we stopped in Castle Dale to visit my friend from high school, Brandi. While we are good at keeping in touch, I have never been to her home there since she got married two years ago. It was about time I saw it! It's always fun to see her and it seems like we're still in high school when we're together. Good times. I also hadn't seen Jonathan in years, literally, so it was good to see him again.

 

 

Both kids did another round of swim lessons in October. Layla loved it, but didn't pass her class by one skill: tread water for 1 minute. She'll get there, and again, she was the youngest in her class by one to two years. I'm proud of her swimming ability and glad she loves it so much! She has one more class to pass and then she can try out for the swim team. She's still saying she wants to do that, so we'll see! Marcus loved his class, which made me happy. I am pleased with how much he's grown to like the water considering his first mommy/child swim class was a fail. His teacher wrote on his skills card after this class to "keep your imagination," which is so fitting for Marcus. As Mitch put it, "Everything is a little more fun in Marcus's world." I love it because it makes my world more fun too. :)

Layla had parent teacher conferences last week and it was nothing but praise from both teachers. She was off the charts for her reading skills, aced her math tests, is well behaved, always the first one done and then helps other kids, is a good friend, etc. I am so proud of her and the wonderful person she is becoming! I'm starting to see more of her personality develop, and she reminds me more of me each day; she's becoming more introverted and would spend the entire day reading books if I let her. ;)

1st Grade school picture.

I gave Layla the option to enter one of two contests at her school this year: The Martin Luther King Jr speech contest or Reflections. She tried to memorize part of a speech, but we got busy and so she ended up writing a poem for Reflections. Her poem makes me smile! It was chosen to advance to the district level for her age group and she got to go to an awards ceremony and received a certificate. I love that girl!
Here's here poem:

“What is your story?” I asked my mom,

And she told me a story that couldn’t be wrong.

She told me a story so tall & so wide,

It was such a big story it burst out of it’s sides.

She told me the story in the month of October,

When the leaves fall down and I have to rake them all over.

I rake them so much that I make a big pile,

I jump and I jump and I jump for a while.

Then we go and eat our dinner inside.

And that’s when she tells me the story so tall and so wide.

Then I tell her my story which is very funny,

It’s about a mummy child and her mummy mommy.

And that was the end of our fun fun day,

Which I hope you enjoyed the story today.

By: Layla bott

Speaking of the arts, I made a goal to take my kids (Marcus when he gets older) to one art related event a quarter. Last quarter we went to a piano concert where the pianist covered a Russian composer, whose name I should remember but don't, and it was incredible. I live for things like this, but I wanted Layla to form her own opinion, so I told her it was okay if she doesn't like it, but I wanted her to see it and then decide. When it was over she said she would like to go to another one sometime, so I guess she liked it and I have a partner for my concert fancies. :) We are going to The Nutcracker ballet this week and I think she will love it!

Marcus is enjoying preschool and being his usual funny self. His imagination really is something. At dinner he calls his fork "Mr. Frokie" (not Forkie, but Frokie) and it "attacks" or "versus" his hand in battles. He's pretty funny.

We are finally all healthy after having a nasty virus hit each one of us last week. It wasn't strep, but it caused us to have high fevers and sore throats for several days. Boo. Marcus spent two days on the couch napping and Layla missed church and one day of school. Weeks like that make me grateful for good health!

Marcus like to hold my hand while we "snuggle"

and it makes me so happy.

Mitch is busy at work, but not like before. He is still dedicated to school and is working hard at it. It will be the happiest day when he graduates! I can't wait to call him Dr. Bott, lol!

I have been busy lately with my photography. I did a couple more family sessions that turned out great! I learned a lot the last two months and wish it wasn't getting cold so I could do more pictures! I really want to get my little business going, but then I have to remind myself to wait until Marcus is in school so I can have time to edit during the day or until Mitch is done with school so I can use the computer at night. Someday, someday.

Well, I better go. It's Sunday, we're home from church, baked cookies, ate dinner, and now we have to run back to church for tithing settlement. It's not so bad when you have an awesome Bishop and wonderful ward members. I really look up to some of them so much! Our neighbors across the street are having a hard time right now. The husband, Jake Sherriff, has bile duct cancer and needs a liver transplant, a whipple procedure, and chemo. Another neighbor asked a few of us who know them well to donate money, sky miles, hotel points, etc to help them out since everything will be done in Florida. We gave them enough sky miles for two round trip tickets to Florida (we have a lot since Mitch travels to much), but they ended up using only enough for two one way tickets. They're not sure when they go back yet, but I'm glad we were able to help them out. My heart aches for them, and it also overflows with gratitude when I see the goodness of the friends and neighbors in our neighborhood. I feel like we truly are surrounded by the best of the best in our little Zion!

September 2016

The most exciting news around here is that baby Vivian was born! She sure is a cutie and I am so excited to have a niece live less than half a mile away from us! I will be babysitting her twice a week when Katie goes back to work, so life will be interesting! I am looking forward to kissing her chubby cheeks often!

Mitch was out of town over Labor Day weekend, so I took the kids to This is the Place Heritage Park. I hadn't been in years and the park was bigger than I remembered. We were there for almost 5 hours and we didn't see or do everything! We had so much fun though and we need to go back sometime!

 

The highlight of the day was running into a former missionary companion of mine. Becky Oman Engh, aka Sister Oman. I am terrible at keeping in touch with people, and I quit Facebook, which she didn't have anyways, so it was a very nice surprise to run into her with her husband and two cute boys. I have so many fond memories of my time with her. She is a naturally funny person, as in she doesn't try to be funny, she just is. She was so sweet and while she was very homesick when we were in Latvia together, she was still a joy and taught me a lot about loving people. I will always look up to her and am thankful for her example to me, even ten years later! 

We spent some time picking peaches at my grandma's house over Labor Day too. I love her backyard. There used to be so many tall trees and a barn. She had it all taken out after my grandpa passed, but I still love it.

Marcus started preschool in September. I joined three other moms and we take turns teaching, so I end up teaching once a month. I also joined a second group, but we only have three moms, so some months I teach that group twice in a row. I don't mind, in fact it's fun teaching these cute kids! And the best part is it's free. ;) The women who are in the groups are all wonderful and I'm grateful for them. It's Kellee Mudrow (Mason's mom), Lara Lifferth (Anna's mom), Jessie Molyneaux (Taysom's mom), and Camille Bennett (Brynlee's mom).

Marcus was so upset the morning of his first day of preschool. We hadn't seen Mitch for over two weeks at this point and Marcus was struggling. So these pictures are what I ended up with.



Speaking of Marcus, a couple of his funny quotes from the past couple of weeks:
I told Marcus he makes me happy, to which he replied, "You make me happy AND grumpy, Mom." Well, if we're being honest ...

"Mom, someday I want to be a human boy bigger than you!" I told him that I bet he would be someday. "Like Daddy?" Yes, like Daddy.

He ate his first Reese's peanut butter cup. He asked what was in it and I told him peanut butter. He said, with big eyes, "I like this better than peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches!" Me too!!!

I love that boy!

I was on a (long) phone call with my friend, Brandi.
When I finished I found the kids like this. :)

Layla had a piano recital and she played amazing! This recital was a big deal because she graduated from Level 1 of the Suzuki program. It takes most students 2 years to pass the first level, she did it in 1.5 years. She is becoming such a talented pianist and has passed me in ability. She played her recital piece perfectly and I was so very proud of all her hard work. Her teacher had nothing but praise, which is saying a lot since she can be extremely critical (in a good way). She said of all her students who played that song, Layla did the best. We gave her flowers and a card, she earned a Suzuki certificate that we framed and hung above our piano, and my parents gave her a small bust of Beethoven and a piano pencil and pen. My grandma Ruth also came, but Mitch's mom had just had her back surgery so they couldn't make it. It was a very rewarding night after a lot of hard work and tears!

Layla has also been practicing the monkey bars every day at recess. She has some impressive calluses on her little hands! Now she can do the monkey bars easily. I love that she's learning the lesson of hard work, practice, and perseverance!

The months of August and September were rough! Mitch was out of town for both months, only coming home for one or two weekends. I'm usually one who can take care of myself and am introverted enough that I don't mind him being gone on work trips once a month or so, but this about killed me. We didn't see him for two weeks at at time, or longer, and it took its toll on all of us. The poor kids missed him so much! Marcus started really acting out, Layla cried every night, and I broke down and cried several times too (and I never cry). Finally, two weeks ago, this d@m* project ended and Mitch came home. Wahoo! He took the last two weeks off and it has been wonderful! Not only do we get to hang out with him, but he has been incredibly helpful! I should add here that I was very, very sick since the last part of August and only this week did I start feeling 100% again. So, Mitch was helpful since I was so far behind on life and just making through one day at a time and he helped me get caught up and rest until I felt all the way better.

The kids and I also joined Snapchat to pass the time while Mitch was gone and I was too sick to do anything. Some of our pics had us laughing pretty hard!

My parents and our neighbors and friends were also helpful when Mitch was gone and I was so sick. They brought dinner and watched my kids a lot. My parents took my kids for an entire weekend and I seriously didn't get out of bed the whole time. It was depressing. I had some sort of infection in my lungs (the chest x-ray didn't show walking pneumonia, but it was something similar) and I couldn't do anything. I had terrible stomach aches from all the antibiotics. It took three rounds of antibiotics, one steroid pack and lots of cough syrup before I started feeling better.

They have so much fun sleeping over at my parents' house!
Especially with a pile of whip cream for breakfast!
And my mom always takes them to do fun things!

Our friends, the Mudrows, took my kids several times while I was sick.

Marcus loves their baby boy, Brody!

But now all is right in the world again! Mitch is home and I feel better and life is wonderful. My only complaint is that Marcus is definitely less of a mama's boy after Mitch was gone so long and then has spent two solid weeks doing nothing but playing transformers with Marcus. ;) He's more of a daddy's boy now, but he does still ask to "snuggle wif a bwanket and mama" every day, and he loves my kisses, and he hugs me a lot, so I'm not mad about it. I know Layla is delighted to have Mitch home as well, but since she's at school she didn't get quite as reattached.


Layla and I were able to join Nicole and Oakley on our 3rd annual girls trip this month! We saw the play, Peter Pan, at Tuacahn. It was so much fun, as always. I'm so glad we started this tradition and that our husbands are okay with it! We stayed at my grandpa's house this year and he has the most incredible view from his porch! Mitch bought Marcus a Transformer toy for them to play with while we were gone, so they had lots of fun too.

I have been busy the last few weeks with photography. It always picks up in the fall. It's a fun job to have and I've learned a lot this year, especially about editing. I like the challenge that comes along with it. Someday I'll put in more of an effort and have a legit photography business, but for now it's a good amount while my kids are young. I've also been really busy with the PTA. We had our first book club meeting where we discussed the book The Wednesday Wars, which I loved. It's a good feeling to get kids excited about reading!

Maybe I mentioned this in my last post, but I went
to the Coldplay concert in August. Ahhh, words can't describe the joy I felt.
My most favorite band. Ever. The concert was incredible! It was also very loud and
my left ear hurt for two days afterwards. I was slightly worried. #worthit

Halloween is coming up and we are expecting Brock and Natalie's baby boy any day now. Life is good!