After 2 days and 1 hour of nagging, the lovely children finally helped decorate the tree. I could have decorated it last weekend when I put the tree up. But they were at their Dad's for the weekend and I wanted to wait. Because we always decorate the tree together with Christmas music playing. So as I threatened to ground them if they didn't come out right now and start putting ornaments on the tree, I was thinking to myself, "Why am I doing this?" Because one day they will look back and cherish these traditions...right?

Then and Now

The kids and I were leaving the grocery store the other night and since I am now the short one in the family, they ended up walking a little bit in front of me. I watched them have their own conversation that had nothing to do with me. It was a little overwhelming to think that those 2 almost adults I actually brought into the world. And everday they pull farther and farther away from me towards their own life. That is the way things are supposed to work, right? I remember feeling like I couldn't wait to start my life. My life that was all my own, nothing to do with my parents and their rules or old fashioned ways or whatever was bothering my 18 year old self at the time. I didn't realize then what a significant role they played in making me who I am today. As I watch my own children grow and develop into real people, I only hope I have done enough to teach them what is important. That I have done enough to help them become responsible people - responsible people who know how to laugh and find joy. It seems like not very long ago they depended on me for everything. And now that is becoming less and less, I hope more and more for their future.

Sweet 16!!

My baby girl is 16 years old! The birthday was pretty low key, which is what she wanted. But I am so proud of her. When she got her patriarchal blessing a few weeks ago, the patriarch kept remarking on how sweet her spirit is. I couldn't agree more - so here's to you my Sweetpea. I love you!

Mexico

Last October we were able to go to Mexico with some very good friends - in fact they are our family here! It was a wonderful trip. Great weather - great company - and gorgeous views. We have very similar philosophies on vacations, so we meshed very well together. We woke up and had breakfast around 10, were at the pool by Noon, then the beach, back to the pool and up to our rooms around 5 to get ready for dinner. It was great to completely unplug for a week! Even the kids said they enjoyed not having their cell phones! We did have a professional photographer take some pictures - below are some of those and some of my own...

The Ott Family - George, Savannah, Dawn and Jacob.

Mallory and Savannah the day we got there.

On our last day we enjoyed 'virgin' daiquiris - a couple times!

A little blury, but we went to the ocean one night and the boys were showing off their 'guns'.

I love the little flecks of sand on her face...

This is not photo shopped - the water really is that color!

See - they really do like each other.

Look at that air they are catching.

Highlights

Garrett just finished Deacon's basketball, which he loves. They have a very small deacon's chorum so Garrett recruited a couple of his friends to come and play. They are a pretty tight group and went undeafeted the whole season. The last game, which is the highlight reel below, the score was 53 - 34. Garrett had almost half the team's points - 22. This is what I like to affectionately call the Garrett Highlight Reel.

Christmas 2010

We had quite an exciting Christmas morning. You know how Opa loves a good fire and I finally got my Christmas wish - a house full of Fireman and policeman. We had a lovely Christmas morninng fire going and then Dad decided he wanted to experiment. So he poked my boring old fake log (see picture above) which broke open and really got burning. Then added a piece of real wood on top. Soon the fire was blazing. (see picture #2). We put the fire out with a couple of squirt bottles and several cups of water. But the chimney outside was still smoking. So, just to be safe we called the fire department. I guess I should have told them there weren't any flames and it was only a small chimney on one small house. Nevertheless they all showed up - ALL OF THEM. 4 large firetrucks, including two ladder trucks, an ambulance, two fire chief SUV's, and 4 policemen (that just showed up to, "...watch the show.") Because my chimney is so tall they had to actually use the ladder truck, which was seriously the coolest part. The house is a little smoky, the fireplace is very wet, but all the presents were saved and we lived to light a fire another day...or not.

We weren't sure Mom wanted to be seen with the rest of us as she stood on the side of the house to text all the family.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS to me! Thanks Dad - I owe you one!

Too Fast!!

We started another school year today. Mallory is a sophomore and Garrett in 7th grade. And I feel like it is all going by just a little too fast. I realize I only have 3 years left with Mallory before she heads off to college and Garrett just 6. Is it wrong to focus on only the time we have left? I know there are still things I need to teach them, but more and more my opinion counts for less and less. And already I am having feelings of regret - did I spend enough time, do they know the right things, what did I forget, are they going to turn out ok. So I am trying this year to live in the moment and enjoy each one I still do have with them. Teach them what I can and try not to fear their future. I know heartache is waiting for them, it waits for all of us. But I have spent so long trying to protect them it is hard to let go and let them experience life for themselves.

Nevertheless - there they go....

California

After a whirlwind week of travel. I ended up in California visiting Allison and her girls. We have had a wonderful weekend - toured San Francisco, Jelly Belly and are planning on hitting Napa this afternoon. 3 things I learned on this trip:

1. I am not Paige's favorite aunt - Heather is. Hopefully this is just a phase????

2. I really love being around my sisters and treasure every minute.

3. I miss my kids - vacations are infinitely more better when they are with me.

But here are some of my favorite pictures:

The Yard that finally was...

I spent last weekend re-finishing the deck and it is beautiful. I have even planted a couple of things that hopefully will come back last year. And although the back yard is not totally complete, it is so close we are counting it. And it is so peaceful and beautiful back there. Thank you to everyone who helped me get it where it is today. Thanks to Daniel for having the vision and laying the foundation. To Mom and Dad for coming out a few times to help overhaul it. To Heather who spent one of her very few breaks pulling weeds and scooping poop. To my home teacher and his sons for knowing how to lay sod. And to Mallory and Garrett for not complaining too much about yard work...

Grass - At Last!

We really should have taken before pictures, like before Mom and Dad got there on Memorial Day weekend. But knowing I would be spending a week with Daniel in the very near future, I thought it best to just show after. If Daniel saw the state of my yard before, I would hear about nothing else during our week vacation. But who could blame him? The poor boy spent an entire summer building a 'dog friendly' backyard, only to have the friendly dogs destroy it. I think this is the third overhaul on my back yard. Once when Daniel did it, once when Mom and Dad did it (remember all the bark??), and again when Mom & Dad did it. I could never have put the sod in without the help of Mom, Dad and Heather two weeks ago. And now, finally we have grass for the first time in four years.

Here are the pictures:

This first one is standing at the West fence looking southeast toward the shed.

This one is standing at the shed looking towards the deck...

Standing at the shed looking directly east to the opposite fence...

Standing at the corner of the house on the deck looking toward the shed.

LONDON!!!

I was at the airport tonight trying to trade my voucher for a flight to NJ for Thanksgiving. Over the PA they announced a delay in a flight to London Heathrow and a pang of memory flooded over me. London was such a wonderful trip and it went by too fast. I am going to post some pictures of London, just a few of my favorites.

One of our first stops, and one of my favorites, was the Tower of London. This is the prison that was primarily reserved for traitors to the crown or high treason crimes. This is also where the be-headings occurred. The first picture is a view of it from the Thames River, but you really can't tell how big it is from that picture. There are actually 20+ towers inside and you can see and walk through almost all of them. They are all connected by walkways between each tower. What I loved about this place was it is completely run by retired military. There are 35 retired military families that live and work onsite. It is considered a pretty prestigious honor to be able to work there with strict qualifications. The second picture is a picture of one of the Yoeman Warders - caretakers of the Tower. Many of them have prestigious military records with the British army. And yes, that is their official uniform they are wearing. The last picture is where they keep the queens crown and jewels. To get in you have to walk through a vault door almost a foot thick. The largest diamond in the world is there on display. You can see it only from a moving walkway that goes past it. It was pretty amazing.

My next favorite was Hampton Court Palace. We spent the whole day there. This was the only palace we visited that was not still occupied by royalty, so we could take pictures freely. It is hard to imagine the granduer of these places without having been there. This palace was primarily used by Henry VIII in the early 1500's and sits right on the Thames river. It is absolutely HUGE - if I could scan in the map / layout I would. We spent all day there and still didn't see everything. The first picture is one of the sides of palace and the garden. This is the small side. If you look at the palace and look at the bottom row of windows, then look at the second picture. The hallway in the second picture is the one that runs along the bottom row of windows in the first picture. Clear as mud? How would you like to stroll down that everyday and look out into those beautiful gardens. The last picture is the ceiling in super huge dining hall. It was simply stunning. Below the windows in that picture hang two story tapestries, some that were original from that time period. Wow.

One of our last stops was Windsor Castle. This is where the current Queen Elizabeth spends most of her weekends and uses this for quite a few state functions, etc. Because it is still occuppied and in use, we couldn't take any pictures inside. But it was amazing, much more grandiose than anything we saw at Hampton Court. It is absolutely huge and all the staff live and work onsite. It was unbelievable that people still live in that much splendor. The video above is just of the entrance to Windsor. It was raining pretty good so we didn't get to see a full changing of the guard, but a smaller version of it.

It was a wonderful trip and I would go back in a heartbeat. I have over 600 pictures to share (most are of the weird outfits people wear over there). So anyone that has a couple of hours and wants to see them all - just let me know!

Fall

It seems we have moved too fast from Summer to Fall. And in Colorado, Mother Nature is determined to skip Fall all together. Just when the leaves were starting to reach their peak color, we were hit with a Canadian cold front. Garrett did play football that weekend with a high of only 23 degrees. All the leaves have since turned brown and fallen off. It turned out to be a very bland remainder of fall. That didn't stop Mallory from attending homecoming with some of her girlfriends. Thank you Miriam so much for helping us find a dress and that jacket! The jacket was a lifesaver! Here are some of her pictures:

Then just two weeks later we were hit with a snowstorm that reminded me more of what we see in the spring rather than fall. It started raining Tuesday night (during Garrett's football practice), turned to snow overnight and didn't stop until sometime in the night Thursday. I shoveled a path for the dogs in the backyard and it was over 18 inches, then had to go back and shovel another 6. Needless to say, the ward trunk or treat was cancelled that night. The kids were a little disappointed that they wasted what probably would have been 2 snow days during their fall break. But I think they were happy I was able to be home with them for a day and a half. I keep wondering when they will be too old to trick or treat, but that wasn't this year. Mallory went with her friend Emma and Garrett took his little sister Callie. We did ok on the costumes this year:

In the middle of all of this, I did manage to squeeze in a trip to London. It was fabulous!! I will have to post more on that later! Happy Winter!

Also while we were in UT we attended the 24th of July parade downtown. It was wonderful and brought back a lot of memories for me of living there and always going to the parade. My kids don't get the opportunity to go to a parade that often. Actually ever, now that I think about it. So thank you Dad for encouraging us to go! We were also very lucky that Andrew once again picked a home that is right on the parade route and facing west. After a long day at Lagoon, Andrew camped out all night and saved us some great space, in the shade right up front! You are a saint Andrew! Here are some pics of all the family enjoying the fun!

So I am doing better, it has only been a month since my last post. Last weekend we spent in Utah visiting family and friends and celebrating Heather's birthday and the 24th of July. Heather's birthday we spent at Lagoon in the 101 degree heat. Andrew and my fearless children decided they wanted to ride the sky coaster. That is where they strap you into a harness, pull you back and up about the length of a football field and let you go. It is like a giant swing, only you are laying on your stomachs. I checked with several of the official Lagoon workers and they assured me no one had ever hit the ground. Here are some pictures from their ride. On both I am way zoomed in so you can't really appreciate how high up they are.