2019

So much to catch up on! We're finally in our new home and we all love it so much- even the cat!
When we woke up the first morning here, Layla said, "Are we really living here?!" She said it with so much happiness and amazement in her voice that we all understood exactly what she meant: that we are so blessed and happy in our new home!!!

It was a lot of hard work moving in! I am grateful for ward members and our brother in law, Brandon, who all helped us so much. Mitch's parents came and spent the rest of the day helping us unpack and set things up. We couldn't have done it without all the help! For three days after moving in, I had no grip strength in my hands and my quads were so sore. It truly is so much work and emotional exhaustion too, to move. Never again, I say! Mitch doesn't believe me when I say that, but I really do mean it. Unless he insists that we move for his work, I truly have no intention of ever moving out of this house. First of all, it's the perfect house for us to grow old in, and second of all, moving sucks, haha! But in all honesty, I'd love to live in this house for the rest of my life. There's nothing like seeing deer right outside our window! I freaked out the first time we saw them because I was so excited. It really is awesome.

We had a most wonderful Christmas in our new home. Santa visited my parents' house the weekend before, which is also when we learned that Marcus wanted the shark bite pirate ship toy for Christmas. Unfortunately, this item was not on his Christmas list that he gave us early in the season, and we couldn't find one that close to Christmas anywhere (not even for a high price). I felt so bad that he didn't get the one thing he (finally) decided he really wanted! But, I guess we know what we'll get him for his birthday now, ha! This has happened twice now with Marcus, where he doesn't tell us what he really wants the most until it's too late and he has to wait until his birthday or Christmas to finally get it. At least he wasn't too disappointed this time and was a good sport about it. We told him he'd have to ask earlier next year.


My sweet mom sent the kids advent chocolate calendars in the mail and it made their day!

But, besides that little slip up, everything else was great. Mitch and I weren't supposed to get each other anything for Christmas this year since we just bought a new house and a new (to us) car. But of course Mitch always spoils me so "the kids" bought me the Dyson vacuum I've wanted since fall break when our rental house had one. And I gotta say, I really do love that vacuum! Because now I'm old and I love gifts like fancy vacuums, lol! "The kids" also bought Mitch a couple of gifts too, so I guess Mitch and I know how to get around our own rules. ;)


We did all the usual Christmas stuff and loved being with our families! We also had both sides of our families over (except Brock's family since Natalie's brother was in town) for New Year's. We brought in 2019 at 7:00 pm because we're wild like that.

This year I felt like our kids truly understood the true meaning of Christmas more than any other year. We really tried to stress that this year. They learned a song in Primary that makes me cry. We sang it often throughout December and Marcus requested it nearly every night before bed:
Could I Hold the Baby?

It’s Christmas Eve, I’m tucked in bed,

I’m snug and warm, my prayers are said.

I start to think about the first Christmas Night.

The manger warm, the baby fair,

the star that led the shepherds there,

and what I’d say to Mary

as she smiled at the little Christ child.

Could I hold the baby? Will he smile at me?

Does He know why He is born and what his life will be?

Could I hold the baby and tell him of my love?

How glad I am that Jesus Christ was sent from heaven above.

Now ev’ry day the whole year through

I’ll think of all that I can do

To be like Him and live as He showed me how.

And I’ll remember that Christmas toys

are not as dear as girls and boys,

that Jesus loves each one of us endlessly.

He loves you and me.

Isn't that great? I love the second verse and would often say to my kids that "Christmas toys are not as dear as girls or boys." Not that we don't love gifts around here- we do, just a good reminder of what really matters. Anyways, it was very calming and peaceful to read Luke 2 with the kids this year and center our Christmas around Christ. I am grateful that our Savior was born all those years ago.

Now I can't believe it's 2019. And we're not driving flying cars! Speaking of cars- I still love our Q7. We went to the car show yesterday and saw all the 2020 cars coming out late this year. There wasn't anything that Mitch loved, which is strange for him, but it was fun to see the new models. I can't wait to see the Jeep Gladiator trucks on the roads! 

Said goodbye to our old friend:

And love our new car. Marcus said, "We used to have a BMW and now we have a OOOO."


Anyways, last month Marcus did three days worth of testing to see if he can get in the gifted program for first grade. While he was testing, I learned that there are over 300 kids testing for 75 spots, only 25 of which are at the school we'd want him to go to. This sounds bad, because I do truly believe Marcus is gifted, but I put the whole thing out of my mind after I learned that so many kids were testing and just figured he wouldn't get in. Imagine my surprise when I got an email this month saying he scored in the 80th percentile or higher on the CogAT test and needed to do a one-on-one reading test for the second round of testing! I felt bad that I had just disregarded his chance of getting in. Anyways, he said when he did the reading test that he read the word "ice cream" but couldn't remember any other words, but he read all of them except one that he didn't know. So, now we wait until mid-March when they will let us know if he got in or not. Either way is totally fine with me because I like having him learn French at our neighborhood school and going to class with the group of neighborhood boys. But if he makes it in, that will be great too.

I was pleasantly surprised when he checked this book out of his school library:

Speaking of Marcus, at my parents' family dinner he told us all, "My favorite food is mac 'n cheese. It's so easy to make! It's just two ingredients: cheese and mac'n!" Oh.my.goodness we all laughed until we cried over that one. The other day, Marcus told me his entire kindergarten class was sitting on the rug and the teacher asked them to raise their hands and suggest a word so the class could break the word down into letter sounds. Marcus got called on and said the word, "Doofnugget." And, according to him, everyone burst into giggles and his teacher said, "I don't know what a doof is, so we'll just go with nugget," which made everyone laugh again. The next day his friends whispered to him, "Say doofnugget again!" Marcus told me, "but the teacher didn't call on me!" shocked that she wouldn't ask him a second time. Hahahahaha. Oh man, he really is a genuinely funny kid- I just hope it doesn't get him in trouble! I have heard several of his friends tell him, "You're SO funny!" as they're playing and it makes me smile every time because he really is a character.

HOWEVER, my same Mr. Funny Man who loves to hug me and always tell me I'm pretty and completely melts my heart, can also be completely and utterly defiant, rebellious, and downright awful. If we give him two options to choose between he always comes up with a third option and refuses to pick from the first two. If we give him no options, he refuses to do whatever we've asked. If we let him choose whatever he wants, he doesn't do anything. It feels like we can't win and we're constantly battling him. BUT..... we went through the same exact thing with Layla when she was in kindergarten. I was just reminded while writing this blog that my word for her at this age was also defiant. I don't know if it's the age, or the fact that they both are/were bored in Kindergarten, or what, but man is it ever rough! Good thing when he's not awful, he is the most handsome, thoughtful, funny little guy! I still melt when I see his little big hands in mine, and when the first thing he says to me in the morning as he gives me a hug is, "Love you," in his sleepy voice. I say it all the time, but his wife will be one lucky woman to have such a thoughtful, sweet husband!

Poor kid had strep throat the week before Christmas. I didnt know until he broke out in this nasty rash. Not my finest mom moment.

I truly thought he had eczema since it started on his face.


Layla has been bitten by the Harry Potter bug! She is, as of today, on book five. She talks about Harry Potter constantly and it is so funny and cute. Sometimes it feels like this:
, but mostly it's great, lol.
Layla is doing very well in school this year and I still absolutely adore her teacher. I am proud of Layla for making many new friends in our new neighborhood. While she makes friends easily, Layla can be shy and introverted. But she has put herself out there lately and I am proud of her. She is also learning to cook and has now expanded to pancakes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and green smoothies. My parents gave her an easy bake oven for Christmas and she has loved using that too. She amazes me when some days she looks like she's 12 years old and acts that mature too! It makes me excited because I know she will be a smart, kind, funny, and sweet young woman, but it also makes me sad because she is growing up too fast! I love watching her with all of her little cousins. They all ADORE here, especially Carson, and she is great with them. I adore her too!

I love our island table in our new house. The 4 of us eat all of our meals here. Mitch and I sit on one side, across from the kids. I love that because it allows me to look at both of their cute faces at the same time. And the beautiful mountain scene outside the windows. Every morning they each bring Kitty and Bow Bow and Layla usually brings a book to read and Marcus brings a toy to play with. It really is a sweet scene to behold. It helps me remember that we want to keep the spirit in our homes so our home is a refuge from the world, a safe place where we feel loved and cared for. Which reminds me that church is only two hours long now (awesome!) so that we can have more time to study the Gospel as a family in our homes. We have truly enjoyed that and have memorized a scripture each week so far. I feel like we're even more dedicated and talking more about Jesus, Heavenly Father, and why we're here on earth. I love that my kids are growing up understanding that there is a purpose to them being here and it's bigger than just being nice and loving each other. It's eternal, and it's about choices, repentance, hard work, and love. It brings me so much peace during a time when raising a family is hard and scary. But I know deep down that I don't need to be scared or worried because Heavenly Father inspires me in my parenting and is guiding me along the way.

Kevin and Nicole invited us to the Jazz game. Kevin's work gave him 4 suite tickets and it was amazing! We had dinner in the suite and sat on the 6th row to watch the game!

We even made it on TV! My parents sent me this pic from their TV.


Well this is getting long, I can ramble/type forever, and we need to get going. I have a birthday treat to drop off to one of my Primary class members and then it's off to Katie's birthday dinner. I have made many goals for 2019, and one of them is to update my blog every month. So, hopefully I'll update again in February.

And now for random picture dump that I don't have time to organize:

The kids went to a movie with Kate and Mason and then played afterwards. Always fun with the Mudrows! And Kellee was a life saver when I had so much school work to do that day!

 Making Christmas cookies:

 We went and saw the lights at Temple Square. It was not very cold, but WAY too crowded. Beautiful though!

 Played Kerplunk and saw a movie on Christmas Eve to pass the time.

 Christmas Eve at the Botts.

 The kids got a small bounce house for Christmas!

 Christmas morning aftermath/anxiety for mom.

 My mom made us this Santa Cam. Marcus said, "Hello, Santa!"

 Went sledding on the hill by our home.

 My uncle had his Jeepster and motorcycle made into a Hot Wheels! Sold at Target.

 Went to Top Golf.

Marcus likes to match Mitch for church. I call it, "Mitch-matched." haha. 

 Lots of board games around here.

 Mitch presented a paper for his Ph.D. at a conference in San Diego.

 Silly.

 A snowman should not, "Fall in hot lava." Marcus's paper of the snowman saying, "aaaaaaa" So funny!

 Got fans for prizes at the dentist office. Layla had three cavities! Boo!

 Sibling hugs!

 Breakfast table scene:

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.