Hair Again

I always seem to have an itch to change my hair. Usually it starts because I need to be freshened up with a few more highlights and since I am already there I tend to want the scissors to come out. Knowing I am in the capable hands of the all talented Keli, she starts chopping away! I have had my hair in a short bob like this before and really liked it. Nathan is a typical guy and and says the longer the better, but he thinks I can pull any hair do off. "Just not a short short butch cut or anything K" he says. I promised my sistas I would post of some pictures so in keeping promises,

Thanks again Keli you are the best!! The cut and highlights are perfect. Just what I needed to boost the self esteem button. I might have to kick up the sassiness a bit just to pull it off he he he I love it! You are such a great friend I owe you !!

LAKE POWELL July 2009 Part 2

I can't believe through that whole crazy storm story I forgot to mention what little Mr. Justin was doing!! If you can believe it, he was in a bedroom, on the middle of the bed ASLEEP, the whole time! I kept running down to check on him thinking that maybe the mattress had moved a little or that he was rolling around but no the cute little man was a snoozin away not a worry on his mind!

At Lake Powell the water is so warm and nice that I wanted to get Justin to enjoy it as much as his brothers were. At first he was not happy. He wasn't getting how lucky he was to be forced into the water and play with me. But after 3 minutes and a favorite toy later he loved it! We stay in the water floating around for a long time, he was having a ball.

Clayton became my water boy. With his life jacket on he was unstoppable. He really liked running off the end of the house boat and doing a huge cannon ball. All of the kids went exploring to an island that they ended up calling "Lizard Island" because of the lizards around they all wanted to catch and keep as pets. Most of the time the kids would take the kayak, or have someone drop them off with the sea do, but not Clayton. He would just jump into the water and swim the whole way all by himself

Hayden was a little more cautious than Clay. He didn't like swimming unless someone would let him ride on their back. He would scream when I broke free from him and made him float with his life jacket alone. He wasn't too happy with me about that. I think the lake seemed a bit too big to be floating around without being hooked on to something to him. The crazy thing was that he LOVED TUBING and he went really fast! He was being pulled by my dad who I think gets a small amount of pleasure in flipping people off inner tubes, and after a couple of times around they finally went flying off. I really thought Hayden would start screaming once he was flipped over because he was so scared of swimming alone, but he came back all proud of himself telling me, "Mom, I swam all by myself to Sophie! All by myself!" It was funny. Don't make him swim alone, but he will be your partner on the tube!

Clayton and Hayden had alot of fun with all the cousins. Clayton still won't admit that he fell asleep like this, he says "I was just resting my eyes, then I would open them and then I would rest them again." Would be believable if he didn't have a huge red mark and sleeping lines all over his face after he woke up!

We went on a small hiking tip to see the famous Rainbow Bridge! The canyons all around us were so pretty. They kids thought Rainbow bridge was really cool especially the side that look like a lizard is resting on top.

Such a fun vacation that we were lucky enough to take part in. The only downfall and it was a pretty big one was that Nathan couldn't come with us. He just changed jobs and his first week starting was when we left. He makes so many sacrifices for us and I am really grateful to have a husband that makes taking trips like this possible in the first place. Thanks babe for working so diligently at work, church, home, and taking on the task of even more education soon. We love you and am so lucky that we have you as a Husband and Father. Love ya!

LAKE POWELL 2009

This year our Ellis family Reunion took place in Lake Powell, on a house boat, surrounded by oh so warm water, with random ohhhs and ahhhhs at all the stars, and breath taking scenery!! Lake Powell is so HUGE and around every turn there is a different rocky mountain or inlet to see. The weather was a little unpredicatable at times. For the most part it was hot and sunny, perfect jump in the lake to cool off weather. Then we had our own little Titantic moment. Here's what happened. After lunch our whole crew was basically taking it easy inside the Desert Dream reading, napping or grazing on munchies still. Clayton was in with all his boy cousins having wrestling wars in a one of the bedrooms. I was on the top deck of the boat taking pictures of Hayden playing in the red dirt, and Justin was sleeping away in my bedroom. All of a sudden out of nowhere, huge winds came up. The heavy bar stools next to me flew off the boat and the bedding we were using started flying all around the top deck. At first we thought "Oh no biggie" then the boat started drifting....

The boat is anchored down by 4 four ropes tied to 3 foot long stakes that are pounded into the the rocky ground. All of these stakes were pulled out of the ground with such force that some of them whippped back at us really hard. We are lucky noone was in the path of those stakes. Max(brother) Joe (B-in-law) Layne (Uncle) were trying to make sure the sea dos were out of the way and used them to start pulling the boat away from the rocks. As the stakes came whipping out of the ground I was yelling at Hayden to stay were he was at. He was trying to get back on the boat but I could see our steal plank used to connect the boat to the land was slipping and soon fell into the water. My cousing Mitch heard me yelling and quickly jumped off the boat and picked up Hayden just in time for both of them to turn around and see the rest of us in the boat drifting away! As we are coming really close to a huge rocky mountain I can still hear Hayden screaming on the island. Our engine is not working and Uncle Joe can't get any power to the house boat, one of the ropes we tie off with had wrapped itself around a propler. Everyone is in full on panick now to get anything that can fly off tied down. Pillows, sleeping bags, foam mattresses, floating tubes, even things that had good weight on them like those bar stools had to be secured down. It starts to hail! Yes Hail! And Hayden, Mitch and my Aunt Gail are stuck on that island!! I yell to Max to tell him to go get them! At that same moment our boat crashed into a rock mountain. Max cam back, shelding Hayden from the storm with his own body, to the back of the boat. Hayden was still crying and shaking pretty bad. He thought we were never coming back for him. We had put all kids with life jackets on and I set up a movie for them on my portable DVD Player to take attention off all the craziness and focus on some good ole toons. I have to say after I sat Hayden down to watch Mickey Mouse he was just fine.

The men used the tied ropes to get Desert Drem towed away from the rocks by two sea dos and the ski boat. The hail came and went within a minute and all of this took place over about 5 minutes. After we were a good distance from any bank to crash into Mitch, and dad went diving down to free the propler from the ropes. We towed Desert Dream to a small docking station called The Dangling Rope and had the engine and generator looked at. While we were being towed me, Lacie(s-in-law) and my cousins Lindsay, and Haylee felt a need to do a dance off between the ski boat and house boat. We are so silly.

We had a couple more winds storms and rain sprinkle on us but nothing to worry about, the rest of the time was used up swimming, kakaing, tubing, and a little bribbing and alot of forcing to make Clayton try out skiing.

The promise of $2 whole dollars to take to the dollars store gave Clayton enough reason to humor me in trying to ski. It took five tries and having Mitch dive in to help steady Clay, but then he got up. And stayed up for a long time for his first try! We didn't get a single picture of him looking up, he probably was too focused on holding on the rope to even think to enjoy the scenery pass by!

So much more to say but I will have to do separte posts!

Downtown Chicago!!

Me, Sophie, and the boys took the train to enjoy downtown. I think I will let the pictures do the talking but, we all really enjoyed the Water Taxi and as Clay calll it [The Spitting Tower]

Chicago Botanic Gardens

We had such a blast with Sophie Here!! It is always a good time to get together with my sisters. We partied all week long. The day that we picked her up from the airport we went to the DRIVE-IN MOVIE! They were playing Ice-Age 3 and Transformers. My boys did ok but I think the long drive to MDW airport and then two movies they hit their limit of being in the car.


Monday I got one last chance to see my BFF before she moves to Arizona! I am extremely happy for her, she so deserves it! We went to Chicago Botanic Gardens for the day. I love nature and everything was so beautiful there! We were enjoying the glorious surroundings, when I saw something NOT so glorious.... Apparently, Hayden took it quite serious when Aunt Sophie said, "Just pee in the water" I really should have seen that one coming, I mean it is Hayden we are talking about!!

Besides the indecent exposure, it was a great day all surrounded in nature.

Look at my little man!! He had his first taste of NILLA WAFERS! If you can not tell by the pictures he LOVED them!! What a cute little mess, I had to resist giving him a kiss or end up being covered in cookie goo myself!

Summer Time!!

Who doesn't love SUMMER TIME!! It is the best, especially when you can get together with tons of friends, eats some good grub, and play a nice game of softball!! We have had alot of fun already with the sunny days going to forest preserves, parks, spray parks, and seeing the fourth of July fireworks and parade.We have been so busy that I haven't posted for awhile it just been one party to the next! So for fam sake here are the top pics I'd wanted to share from our "good times"!!

SOFTBALL

Softball game for the adults...water balloons for kids...fun for all! Both Nate and I got some good hits in while batting! That always makes a good day!I love it when the crew get together!! Look how white Justin looks compared to Noel he he he I tell ya that Noel has gorgeous skin and hair!!

My little baseball man. I think it is totally appropriate that he has on the number three, since he is my third child and all.

SPRAY PARK

This is the funnest spray park! We had a really good time with Aunt Kacie and Jordan.

FIREWORKS

We loved the fireworks and our friends that came!! Requirements: Blankets, snacks & drinks, chairs, glow in the dark necklaces, and some really fun kids!! When the first big BOOM of the fireworks went off Justin got a little scared, but after that he seemed to not even notice any of the sounds and just sat in my lap staring at the fireworks He loved IT!

PARADE

It wouldn't be the fourth of July without a Parade to go to! We are really lucky and the Lakemoor Parade goes right in front of our house so we could just wake up and walk to it fabulous! The boys got lots of candy and their flags to show their American Pride.

My only question is................When the next party starting?? LOVE SUMMER!!

Cottrell Water Park

The Cottrell Water park was a blast!! Again, it's no SIX FLAGS but it's always fun to have friends and their kids come over to play and have some fun in the sun!! Water time and some lunch made us some good times! We definitely will have to do it again

Justin Update

This post is mainly for family back home to see updated pictures of our little Justin Ron. Justin is such a great addition to our family. He smiles at everyone he sees and it's not just a little smirk, it's an full face, eyebrows, cheeks, and all expression! It's such a joy to go in his room in the morning when I hear little coos and grunts from him and lean over his crib and be greeted with a huge smile, his little way of saying "Good morning" I think! All babies have their needs and times when they can definitely be trying and difficult to handle, but for the most part Justin has been a "easy" baby.

(Remember how my boys love STAR WARS? Can you say "OBI-WAN KENOBI!")

That was NOT the case with my second son. I love my little Hayden boy but around 3wks old to 9wks he was a colic baby. He couldn't self sooth himself so when I would finally get him to stop crying and fall asleep I would try to lay him down and within 5 min (usually in less time than that) he would be screaming again. So the best treatment with him was standing up during the night doing a little Indian dance where you basically walk around but with a bouncing up and down motion. There were times when after over 4 hours of switching from dancing, to nursing, to singing, to rocking I needing to just give him a few minutes to wail it out and leave the room to regroup myself. After his good little crying session he was more calm to nurse and too worn out to fight not sleeping anymore. So glad that after those 6 wks he was a great sleeper and is still my best sleeper. I can tell Hayden that I need him to take a nap and he won't fight me at all, he just says "OK mom" LOVE IT!!

Justin's play saucer, he really loves it but doesn't like it when his brothers try to take over he he.

What I love about the easiness of Justin is that when he is tired and needs to go to sleep that I can put him in his crib and he can go to sleep on his own! I leave the door open a little so there is light coming in the room and he lays there looking at his cowboy stickers and cuddling with his blankets until he drifts off to la la land. We hear him talking to himself and sucking on the satin trim of his blankets. He doesn't take a pacifier at all but loves his blankets to burrow down into. With each new baby I feel very blessed to have such wonderful little boys to care for. I hope that I can show them the right paths to go on and guide them on their way to becoming young men, missionaries, husbands, and then fathers. I am thankful for the knowledge of the gospel to guide me and the great example that they have in their own father, Nathan. I love all my boys in the Cottrell family!!

Imagination of Kids

I love the things that kids come up with!! After a double take of seeing tons of shoes all around my family room I asked Clayton what he was doing.

Playing

Playing what? Why do you have toys all inside our shoes?

It's my star fleet command!!! Ya know like on star wars!! They each have to have their own ships! Mom don't you remember?

Star Wars I should have know --- Silly mom