September 2015 recap

 September 2015 Recap

Apparently September was my month to do projects LOL 

 I just love a good sunset!

 Canned my own Apple pie filling all on my lonesome

My shopping buddy

 Prepping for the Ward Christmas party I am in charge of this year!

Two dollar chair gets a makeover!

September 7th

12th Anniversary

10 Years!! Sept 7th

Nate and I celebrated our 10 YEAR Aniversary on September 7th!!  We were able to leave our boys with Nate's parents (many many thanks to them) and drive to Mississippi to check into the Beau Rivage resort on the Gulf of Mexico!  We checked in on Tuesday and left that Friday afternoon.  It felt like the perfect amount of time!

The Hotel was beautiful and the buffet was super yummy!  We had a ocean view room from which we saw gorgeous sunsets on the Gulf.  The hotel was a casino as well which we basically walked around once and thought how crazy people can get sitting in there all day long and losing track of time (casinos don't have clock up anywhere just so people will lose track of time) and money, but we didn't come for any casino gaming anyway.  We spent over 5 hours or so shopping one day at an amazing outdoor shopping outlets called
The Gulfport Premium Outlets http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=83
Shopping with Nate can be enjoyable with no time limit and no kids, who knew,  he he j/k :)

I made the best decision marring Nathaniel Stephen Cottrell!  He is the rock that hold us together. We have three healthy, happy, enegetic boys that are our life and we love deeply.  Nate and I work so well as a team at our families goals and just living life.  He is my best friend.  Life will always be busy and crazy with kids, stress, duties, and obligations, but Nate has always taught me to give it all that you have, care for the people around you, and be strong in what you believe.  And I know for I fact that I believe in US!!


Super bright ehh Nate!!

Our whole time there was sunny and beautiful.  We shopped well, relaxed well, and ate very well!!

The beach next to our hotel didn't have tons of people, probably because anyone wanting to swim would just go use the pools, hot tub, and lounge chairs at the hotel, but it was nice walking in the water and getting my feet all sandy.  There was a long pier that we walked down that made us feel like we were surrounding by water on all sides.  I stopped and laughed and said to Nate "I think it is so funny the things we don't have to be saying right now because our kids are not with us.  Things like, 'don't climb that, you'll fall in, don't lean over so far, stop, that wood will give you splinters if you drag your hands along it'."  I didn't have to worry one bit about Nate not being able to take care of himself or not be aware of dangers, he has that handled all by himself!  A whole line of instructions, worry, and alertness was unnecessary right then and it was good to just enjoy us. 

10 years has been wonderful and I look forward to so many more.  As they say life has many twist and turns, bumps and bruises, but I have NATE with me and he has ME! 

9 years

Sept 7th, Nate and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary!! We were able to spend it in Louisiana, which was great because Nate's parents took the kids for us so we could have an entire afternoon to ourselves. We went downtown New Orleans to walk around for awhile and have a nice lunch that ended up being at the Hard Rock Cafe. There were crews everywhere downtown putting up a huge stage and booths for the big kick off of the new football season and spotlighting the Super Bowl champs the New Orleans Saints. Too bad we didn't have tickets to the big game that week but they were completely sold out. After a great dinner of Salmon for me and a rack of ribs for Nate, we had a bit of time to shop before we got the rare chance to see a movie together. In a REAL theater, with great surround sound and stadium seating to die for. No wonder the place was called AMC PALACE!!

Before we left on our trip Nate found a watch that he really liked and was a steal of a deal, so we had that count for his anniversary gift. And then he suprised me with these two beauties for my gifts!

The best gift of all that Nate and I have gotten being married to each other are these three beauties!!!

Love you Nate!! Looking forward to many more years to come!!!

8 years ago TODAY!

Eight years ago today Nathan and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. To celebrate our anniversary we bought new GPS systems to put in each of our cars. To put them to good use we took a drive to Lake Geneva Wisconsin to do some site seeing. I love going for drives in the countrysides and towns to see different types of properties, businesses, and homes each one with their own style to landscaping, design, and use of the grounds located within their property boundaries. We found a big farm stand on the way around the lake that had a really fun hay/straw bale maze for kids to play on. We took our time going in and out of side roads, subdivisions, and scenic routes. Down Main street there are tons of little shops and attractions that you could spend all day at. To the relief of Nate, we wanted to just continue on our site seeing trip. We ended the day off with an ice cream treat at an all too expensive ice cream parlor but it's fun to splurge a little to make it special.
There are so many adjectives I could use to describe how great Nathan is to me as a husband and a father to our children. The one that does stand out is Consistent.

Nathan is consistent in his:

Work----Church callings----studies (spiritual and for school)----love for me----love for his kids---providing for his family----wanting and striving to always do what is right----an anchor and support to me----friendship----eternal companion etc etc etc I am truly blessed to have Nathan as my best friend and husband. Together we are going to be a consistently strong couple day after day!!! I love ya Nate!!!

Golden Seven on September 7th

Nathan and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Sunday September 7th. Wow SEVEN years I can't believe it!! When I look back and see all the different things we have accomplished and goals we set, strived for, and then achieve, it's a great feeling! I am so happy to have made so many of those goals with my husband Nathan. He is my main support through everything! I know without a doubt there hasn't been a single thing that has come our way that we didn't decide what is best for us as a couple or family and set certain goals for ourselves TOGETHER. Things that have been big changes in the last seven years are:

1. Being married!!

2. Nathan graduating from BYU 2001

3. Moving to Illinois 2002

4. Buying our 2bath/2bed condo 2003

5. Baby Clayton Dec 2003

6. Nate changing jobs from Walgreen's corp to Freedom Roads/Camping world

7. Baby Hayden Jan 2006

8. Lacey's Crazy middle of the night EVERY night newspaper job!! WOW that was some good money!

9. Sold condo and bought our new 3bed 2 1/2 bath house!!! 2007

10. Nathan taking GMAT and scoring above 97% of everyone who even takes the test!! WOW

11. New baby due end of January 2009

Whoa that's alot and looks like a crazy summary to me!

I feel so blessed to be where I am and married to my husband. I am well taken care of and loved what more could I want or need!!