The First of Many!

Blue and Gold Banquet

February 24th, 2012

"The Year of the Dragon"

Our whole family had a great time at Clayton's first Blue and Gold Banquet as a Cub Scout!  The theme for the night was to celebrate "The year of the Dragon".  The whole room had Chinese decorations everywhere, chopsticks and fortune cookies to go with dinner, and activities like origami, a dragon pinata, and a craft table to make a Chinese poster.  Everyone enjoyed the menu of Sweet and Sour Chicken, stir-fried vegetables, and egg drop soup.  The dessert for the night was made by the cub scouts and their families.  Each one was challenged to make a cake to go along with the nights theme.  Clay was set in his mind to make a dragon cake so that's what we tried to achieve.  I positioned the cake pieces and Clay helped to apply the icing.  He had alot of fun decorating his dragon and putting the wings and gold coins in place.  Everyone loved it for the night.  Other cakes were: a fortune cookie cake, Chinese checkers board cake, yin and yang made with red velvet, and decorated sheet cakes!  So fun to see all the different varieties!

Clayton was the newest member of Pack #274 and was asked to make a poster about himself.   Things he put on it were: 
Birthday-December 19th                            Is really good at- Legos
Favorite Food- Tacos                                 Favorite thing to do with family - Movie Night
Favorite Color - Blue                                                

Loves to:
-spend time with grandparents in Idaho and Louisiana
-drive go carts
-ride horses
-Collect things like legos, hot wheels, and other boy toys
-spend time with his brothers

Clay was given lots of patches that he has earned since joining his cub scout group.  The big award Clay received for the night was his Bobcat Badge.  He worked hard to finish all the Bobcat trail assignments before the Blue and Gold Banquet and was even able to give me, the Mom Bobcat Pin!!

Ice Sculpture Trip

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

February 4, 2012

 For a Personal Progress goal we (The Young Women Presidency) challenged our girls to fill up a small jar with glass rocks.  Each time they completed a personal progress requirement they were able to put one in and get a small treat for their effort.  The value projects that were completed were allowed five rocks.  The goal was to go see the ice sculptures in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  As you can tell we made it!  I brought Clay along as well and we all enjoyed a fun car ride together, hot cocoa and cookies when we arrived, and ohhhhhh and ahhhhhhed later at all the beautiful pieces of art sculpted out of snow and ice.  Some artist had been at it all night long, and were worrying about all the bright sunshine for the day, but had good attitudes since all the sculptures would have to melt sometime, right!

 Apple with a worm eating his way out,  Captain at the wheel, Pavilion with creature coming out of it, and a bald eagle.

 You were able to vote on all the sculptures on which one was your favorite.  Clay loved the dinosaur sculpture that had a Dino behind a fossil of another T Rex by a pair of snowman archeologist's!!"
Clay said "Too bad that $100 dollar bill is just made of snow!!"   I replied "Even if it wasn't, where could you use a $100 bill that big?"  We both had a good laugh at that!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!!!!

January 26, 2012

 Justin is such a fun energetic boy!!  He has such a sense of humor, that is silly, adorable, and too advanced for this three year old!!  Justin is one smart boy!  Letters, colors, shapes, numbers, animals sounds he has them down pat!.  He especially loves letters.   He knows his upper case and lower case alphabet, and you would just melt if you heard him sing the ABC song!!  He is often calling out letters on stores and various signs as we  pass them on while driving around town.  Justin loves to play with his two older brothers, Clayton and Hayden.  We have a square leather ottoman in my family room and it quickly becomes the game "King of the Rock" between all three of my boys!  The older two understand that Justin is smaller than them so they are not as rough, but Justin definitely can hold his own in having fun with his brothers!!

Justin is easy going and constantly happy!!  Even on a sick day he still is polite and says thank you after being given some medicine.....Melts my Heart!!  Love our JUSTIN RON!!!  Happy 3rd Birthday!!

Hayden's 6!!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!!

Hayden's birthday was January 12th and he was one lucky boy to have so many people here to celebrate since they were in town for Clayton's baptism.

 Anyone that has been around Hayden lately knows he is obsessed with Sonic!!  He started loving Sonic after we checked out a Wii game at the library and would do any sort of jobs to earn Wii time. Hayden owns this games now thanks to someone called Santa ;)  Wii is seriously the type of currency I can use with Hayden right now.  If he isn't nice he knows that Wii time is on the line and shapes up real fast! 

 Hayden's favorite place to eat is Panda Express.  He can eat their Orange Chicken everyday if he could.  He was taken out to Panda Express not once, but twice that week by two sets of grandparents who love him and get a kick out of his craziness and spunk!!  Its always fun to feel special and have something done just for you, and both my parents and Nate's have always done this for our kids and they love them for it!!

Hayden is my fun, energetic, hilarious boy who hides his own softy side.  When you receive a hug from him its always a good one because he gives them when he really means it! He is my best helper with jobs and in the kitchen and stays until the work is done.  He seldom complains, unless again Wii time is in question!  He loved being showered with Sonic presents to have fun with and really enjoyed his cake! Happy Birthday H!!

Special Day

Clayton Nathaniel Cottrell

Baptism Day

Saturday,

January 14th, 2012 

 What a special day it was for our family when Clay was baptized!  Both of his Grandparents were there to celebrate along with family and friends that were able to be there on that day.  Grandpa Cottrell gave a talk on Baptism after which Nate performed Clayton's baptism.  Grandpa Ron gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and then Clayton's confirmation was also done by his Nathan. 

 Clay is such a bright and loving boy.  He is very thoughtful and wants to do things right.  He is very smart and has a good understanding of the gospel.  I love his sweet spirit and kind nature to those around him as well as his fun goofy side!!  Both Nathan and I are so proud of him and are grateful to be his parents.  We look forward to ever stage of our children's lives and this is a big one for our Clayton.  Clay turned 8 on December 19th and wanted to be baptized right away, but also wanted his family to be part of it, so he was happy when everyone could come in January and celebrate together.  Clay helped put the program together for his own baptism and had picked "When I am Baptized" for the opening song and "I am a Child of God" for the closing.

Grandpa Ron & Grandma Mindy

 We loved having Grandparents in town to share this day with us and I know Clay felt how proud they were of him and that they love him a lot.

Grandpa & Grandma Cottrell

 I enjoyed putting together the refreshments for the baptism and was able to have a fun time with late night talks with my mom while we were preparing it all!  We served: Cookies, poppy seed bread, chocolate cake pops, veggie tray with dip, pretzels, sweet pickles, strawberries, sliced apples, and pineapple

A Big thank you for friends, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins were who there that day as well.  Clay also has many family members who would have loved to have come as well but couldn't since we live far away.  He received many phone calls, gifts, and congratulations from family who love and care about him and are proud he decided to become a member of:                                                                      The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We had both sets of grandparents, Scott, Kristy & Shayna, Chris, Kacie, Jordan & Ever over after the baptism to have lunch together.  We made French Dip sandwiches with au juice, chips, bevereages and the extras from the refreshments.  So great to mingle, laugh, and enjoy the day together!

Christmas down South

 Smiles like these are constant when we go visit Gr &Gr Cottrell in Louisiana!!  We left cold and chilly Illinois for a warm and sunny Christmas down south! 

 Kristy, Scott and Shayna were there with us as well and we all took a day to go see the big Mississippi and feed the birds.  This was a HUGE HIT with the kids and we were all lucky not to get pooped on!!

 Here come all the birds!!!!  Cover your heads!!

 The French Quarter!!  I LOVE the Flea Market there. As you can tell you can find all sorts of things there!  Justin was cautious about the alligator heads but eventually give them a 2 second touch and snatched his hand right back! I think he thought it was going to snap at him like a alligator game that we have back home does.  We ate some yummy authentic Southern food in a indoor/outdoor cafe.  Mine was Louisiana seafood gumbo...yes yummy

 The French Quarter in Downtown New Orleans, is such a tourist attraction that you never know what you will find. Artist, dancers, jazz musicians, people selling goods, fortune tellers, kids tap dancing on smashed pop cans anything to get tips from spectators.  Here is a guy that made his very own Transformer costume.  His arms and legs had what looked like roller blade wheels on them and the big tires actually ran on a small battery and when he got on all fours he turned into his car and drove around the crowd!!  He would them stand up and flip the front bumper back and transform into the robot.  Clay and Hayden loved it!!



You can always see these funny guys striking a pose and keeping it for what seems like forever to me and then make jerky movements to spook people walking by.  Its hilarious to watch!

 Steve and Diana are always great hosts!  I love making dinners together, playing games, enjoying time in the hot tub, and movie nights, they all are a must.  The kids loved making homemade ornaments with Diana and they turned out so great.  Christmas morning is pajama time, opening presents and lots of WOWS, AWESOME, and THAT'S SO COOL!

Thanks Gr & Gr Cottrell for such a great vacation and Christmas time spent with you!!  We are all so lucky to be part of such a great family!!

Clayton turns 8!

Happy Birthday Clayton!!

 December 19th was Clayton's birthday.  It was on a Monday and also happened to be on the same day that he had a school performance so we let him open presents before and then came back home for LEGO CAKE and ICE CREAM!!

 Clay LOVES LEGOS right now and he is super good at them too.  He doesn't need any help building some 100 + instruction models!   Clay is a very good hearted person.  He gets concerned when others are sad or upset and wants to try and help them.  He does well in school and likes to make sure his work is perfect.  He asks a lot of questions when he is trying to figure out a new concept and wants to understand it completely.  He is a great big brother and a excellent helper to me at home.  We love Clay and can't believe he is already 8!!

Clay was given a new set of scriptures for his birthday,  A black quad with gold pages.  After Clay opened his gift, Nate and I noticed Hayden, who rarely show much emotion, getting upset.  When we comforted him and asked him what was making him sad he replied, "I want scriptures with gold pages too!"  Such a good kid.  We informed him that when he turns 8 he can get a new set of scriptures with gold pages if he liked too, which Hayden thought was a good idea.  Happy Birthday to our first born Clay!!

December 2011 Family Photo

Post Thanksgiving Fun

Our family had a great Thanksgiving this year.  I roasted the Turkey, made essential sides, and also had sister-in-laws who brought their so delicious dishes to devour up as well!!  We had a great time with Nate's two sisters and their families, exactly what you should do on Thanksgiving. 

After all the yum yummy food, our family went on a two night get away to the famous Wisconsin Dells!  We stayed at the Kalahari Resort mainly for their indoor water park that I was really impressed with!!  We had originally booked a "hut" room that was a 2 queen bed room, but as I checked in at the front desk they informed me that our family was selected to receive a complimentary room upgrade to their Royal King Suite!  All I could say was SWEET!!

The king suite was two rooms that connected in the middle.  One with a king bed and jacuzzi tub/bathroom, and the other one was two queen beds with a fireplace and their own bathroom as well!  We even had to use a special card to get into the hall way for our room.  Again SWEET!! 

Going after Thanksgiving there weren't very many people at the resort which was so nice.  We would go multiple times down the same slide without any wanting time.  Justin absolutely loved the tubing rides!  His repeated phrase was "I go again, again!!"

The wave pool, and lazy river were a lot of fun, but my boys had the most fun on the fast tub rides and the surf shop.

Hayden was unbelievable surfing!!  He was a natural.  You would think that he was almost going to wipe out, but then he would make a remarkable recovery and continued surfing!!  At one point he was even surfing BACKWARDS!!!!  and showing a little bum as you can see from his picture ;)

Nate did a great job at surfing as well.  They had a lifeguard at the bottom showing you different maneuvers to make.  One move was to grab your board, roll on your back and come back on top of your board after the roll.  I tried this and it was a no go, but Nate make it look easy.

Clay had the most fun on the slides and would go on anyone of them!!

It was definitely a trip our family wants to make a tradition out of!!

Thankful Tree

 We have so many things our family is grateful for that we started to write them down and place them on our Thankful Tree during the month of November.  Our tree started out pretty sad looking until we added our thankful tags and watched it grow!!

Every morning I would ask the boys what they were thankful for, then I would make our tags.  Here are some of their responses..... Thankful for Grandparents: Grandpa Ron, Grandma Mindy, Grandpa & Grandma Cottrell

 The weather, U.S.A, our House, School, Trees, Family, Animals, Cars, Phones to call family and friends, The Church, Mom and Dad, The whole World, Being Healthy, Lights, Scriptures, Work...Dad's job, Books, Good things to drink, Food, Warm Clothes, Friends, Toys, Treats, and Temples

We had fun making our thankful tree.  For Thanksgiving we were able to have Nate's two sisters and their families over for the Big Turkey dinner.  I roasted a turkey and made the potatoes and gravy and everyone else brought yummy sides like stuffing, green salad, rolls, corn, sparkling apple and grape juice, ice cream dessert, pie and other trimmings to feast on.  It was a great time with everyone.  We ate, flipped through Black Friday ads, ate some more and just chilled, exactly what you are supposed to do on a Thanksgiving Day!!