Lotts of craziness

 Ethan was my little buddy and got up bright and early and came to help clean the church with me one Saturday in November.  He was a hard worker.  The other adults were impressed.  I told them not to be fooled.  I can't usually get him to work that hard but I sure enjoyed it for that hour.  Afterwards I decided to surprise him and take him to get a breakfast sandwich at Burger King.  He was thrilled.

We went and spent the day with Grandpa Moon on his farm.  We had fun visiting and helped him with some yard work.  Grandpa took the boys on a little adventure in the tractor.  Boy, I remember taking this same picture when Alex and Ryan were little.  All my kids adore their Great-Grandpa Moon.  I think it's wonderful they know and love him so much.  I barely even knew my grandparents due to living so far from them. 

 

And so it begins..... again

 

 

 Wednesday night Ethan complained about a stomach ache right after dinner. I wasn't sure if it was just because he didn't want to finish dinner.   I gave him a bowl and let him watch some tv.   He seemed fine and didn't mention anything again and went to bed just fine.   At about 11:00 that night he came in my room and said his stomach hurt. I figured he probably had the flu so I put him on my floor to sleep.  I slept down there with him to.   I usually don't do this but stayed by him all night and didn't get back into my bed.    He kept bunching up in a ball every couple hours and never would throw up and would say his tummy hurt.   It seemed a little different that how he normally acts with the flu.   But I still wasn't sure what was going on so, I just kept watching him.   But in the back of my mind I wondered if it was his appendix.  Finally at six a.m. Mike and I decided we needed to have him throw up to see if that would make the pain go away and to see if it was the flu or not. So I stuck my finger down his throat to gag him and he threw up a tiny bit. He said he didn't need to throw up but his stomach still hurt. I still didn't know what was going on so I looked up on the Internet on my phone about appendicitis and he was saying it hurt in the areas that the article mentioned.  What made it hard was that he was in pain, but not agony.  He wasn't crying or moaning or anything to really alarm us.  So I continued to watch him.   I kept him home from school and didn't let him eat or drink anything, just in case.   I asked for advice from a neighbor who's daughter had appendicitis recently.  She thought he had it and said I should take him in, but supported my decision to wait a little longer to see if things changed.   I finally had my mother-in-law come up from her apartment downstairs and look at Ethan as well. She said she would probably take him in as well. He really seemed fine but I finally decided to just take him to InstaCare just in case, and I prayed to know what to do.   I was glad my mother-in-law came with us and drove us.  I rode in the back with Ethan.  It was hard to get him out of the car.  Long story short the doctor at Instacare wasn't totally convinced it was appendicitis but said we had the option of doing a blood test if we wanted.  It may or may not show anything.  I was hesitate to put Ethan through the trauma of having a needle stuck in his arm.  But I had just given blood the day before and it didn't even hurt me, so I decided to do it.  Ethan was very brave when they took his blood. He was more scared before they took it and shed a few tears but when it actually happened he said it didn't even hurt.   A few minutes later the doctor came in and said his white blood count was double the normal and that we needed to get him to the ER.   Boy did this bring back memories.    I was so shocked.   I shed a few tears. It happened to be November 12th - 3 1/2 years since Ryan had died. So double hard. Now we would never forget this day for sure. I was so glad I had brought Jeri with me and she drove us to McKay Dee hospital. In the meantime we let Mike know and he left Salt Lake to come to the hospital. I also called my parents up in Hyde Park and they drove down. In the ER Ethan had an ultrasound done on his stomach to confirm it was appendicitis and the surgeon came in to speak with us. Once again this brought back so many memories. I was so grateful Mike and my dad were able to give Ethan a blessing. My heart became full with emotion when Mike started the blessing because I knew that Ryan would be there assisting in this blessing. And I knew that Ryan would be with Ethan through this whole process. Just like I'm sure Ryan was with Alex when he had his surgery.

 

   Ethan was so brave, even when they put the IV in. And he really wasn't in a ton of pain. That's why it was confusing that he had this going on. It mostly just hurt when I pushed on his stomach. He's a tough little boy.   Well, he was prepped for surgery and went in at about 8 o'clock at night. I was so grateful all the doctors and nurses were so tender and cute with him.   It  was sad to let them wheel my little Ethan away and I was grateful they gave him medicine before hand that would help him not to be nervous and would help him not remember anything about the operating room. He probably was asleep before he even got into the operating room. The surgery lasted about an hour. The doctor said it went well and that he had moderate appendicitis. It's crazy that it had progressed that far in less than 24 hours. He was in the recovery room waking up for about an hour and then they took him up to his room upstairs.   It was so sad to go in and see him so sleepy.   But he was his normal self within another hour. And he was starving and excited to be able to play video games in his hospital bed in his room. I stayed the night with him at the hospital.  I need to start keeping an over night bag ready to go and take with me anytime I take someone to the doctors. JK  

 

 By midnight I was super tired.  Ethan was wide awake but I knew he needed his rest so I told him that the "rule" of the hospital was you had to quit playing video games at midnight. So finally he fell asleep and slept very good through the night. When the nurses came in to check his vital signs at four in the morning he woke up a little bit and asked to play PlayStation. I told him he needed to wait till morning. At 8 AM his IV machine started beeping and woke us both up. By that time he was rested and ready to eat and play video games. He spent the rest of the day in the hospital playing video games and watching TV. He was feeling much better. He did some coloring and was excited when Mike brought Jaime and Adam to visit him. He had his appetite back and enjoyed me feeding him in his bed so he could play video games.  Boy, I did the same thing for Alex a few years ago.  We left at around 4pm after the surgeon came by to see him.  All went very well.  Ethan actually had a really fun time and if you ask him he will tell you he wants to go back.  NOT!!   But I am glad it wasn't a scary experience for him.  I know he was watched over from above.

 

 

 

 So for the next few weeks I had the task of reminding him to take it easy- easier said than done. He was feeling wonderful.   I kept him home from school until after Thanksgiving break.  I just didn't want him to fall and hurt himself at recess.  So he enjoyed many hours of vegging, watching tv and playing video games.  We got to spend some good time together.  And yes, I did take in an occasional nap watching a movie with him.  He's doing great and at first when he would bend too much his tummy was a little sore but other than that you would never know.   He slept in my bed and enjoyed all the extra attention.  Poor little Adam was a little bit jealous of all the presents and attention he was getting.  But little Ethan had been through a lot and deserved it.   He's a brave little boy. It reminds me of what Alex went through, but can't even compare in severity.  I love all my children very much and it's hard to see them go through hard things.

 

He's back at school and loving it.  The kids in his class had missed him so much.  It was precious to see their reactions when I took him back for the first time.  One little girl came over and gave him a big hug.  He loves to show off his scars.  They actually are a little bigger than I had expected.  He has three of them.  One is on his underwear line and I have asked him not to show that one to everyone for obvious reasons.  I wrote Alex and told him.  He was sad his brother had to go through what he went through.  He said they were scar buddies now.

All drugged up and waiting for surgery

one last trip to the bathroom before going under

 

After surgery the next morning.  He was having a blast playing video games.

He couldn't wait for Adam and Jaime to come visit him.

 

 

 

Snuggling with mom

 

 

He pretty much stayed in the position for a week vegging.  That's the life.  JK

 

 

 

 

He was showered with gifts and loved it.

 Check them out!!!!

 

 We are so blessed Ethan was ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We remembered Ryan a few days later due to the craziness on the 12th.   We love you Ryan.  I can't believe you have been gone 3 1/2  years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The night before Thanksgiving Adam joined in the fun by cutting his finger badly.  He didn't need stitches but it was close.  The poor guy was really scared and started shaking and going into shock.  Luckily it has healed good but it will still probably scar.  He was thrilled to get $5 from his Grandma.  We joke that that's a horrible way to earn money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My sister and her family came to visit from California and brought their new baby pet tortoise.  It had wandered into their yard a few days before.  It was so stinking cute.  We all fell in love with it, especially Jaime.  I was surprised at how friendly it was.  It loved to be held and have it's head and neck scratched.  It would fall asleep in your arms and would eat lettuce out of your hand.  My sister is going to try and get us one.  The only bad thing is that they can live for 80 years.  I guess it could be considered an heirloom... Right??

 Jaime sang in a mini choir concert for the West Haven City Lights Ceremony.  Ethan really wanted to come.  He enjoyed donuts and hot choc while the choirs sang.  Afterwards we went to see Santa.  Of course Ethan asked for his regular request of a motorcycle.  Thank goodness Santa told him he doesn't know how to make them.  Santa threw out the suggestion of a bubble gum machine instead.   Ethan was good with that.  Good idea.  Thanks Santa.

 

 

 

 

Jaime did a great job at her piano recital on Dec 2, 2015.  Her song was almost 6 minutes long and she had it practically memorized.  We are so proud of her.  It's wonderful she loves the piano.  What's even better is that I never have to ask her to practice.  She's doing it all the time on her own.  We actually have to ask her to stop practicing.  This is totally opposite from when her older brothers took.  I finally caved and let them quit after two years because it became a waste of time and money for all of those involved.  I am glad they did at least try, but they never had the love for it like she does.  Way to go Girlie !!!!

 

 

Decorating gingerbread houses for family home evening on Dec 7, 2016.

Look who Jaime and I met at her orthodontist appointment.   He was so excited to meet us he could hardly stand it. 

 

 

 

 

 

gobbble till you wobble

11-8-15

 

Another one bites the dust.  The weeks are just flying by.  Well as for me I am doing good.  That package is a lifesaver and it is just so awesome and good.  On the other hand my companion wasn't feeling that this week.  We did get a lot of referrals from the members though.  That is really great.  Some of them are part member families to.  Both part member families and referrals both have a higher chance to be baptized than if you just contact some person on the street.  I am not saying it is about numbers, but it would be good to finally have an investigator progress good.  We had one but I haven't seen him for like 2 months, which really stinks because he was doing really good.  So it will be good to start teaching these new referrals.  Our branch mission leader is going to work with us this week so it will be good to have a fellowshipper with us.  Well sorry my email is so short this week.  I hope to have some good stuff next week.  I love you guys have a great week!

Love Elder Lott

 

11-16-15

                So I mentioned that me and my companion have received a couple referrals in these past weeks.  We were supposed to work with our branch mission leader this week but he just kept pushing it back or things just kept coming up that he had to do.  So we didn't end up going to those referrals.  We did contact one of the referrals though.  She came to church two weeks ago and she would have probably came yesterday but we had stake conference in tugue.  We contacted her and taught her a lesson.  The lesson went really well and we invited her to be baptized.  There is still a lot to teach, but so far so good.  So we found a gym in our are this past week.  We have went there a couple of times this past week.  So I have been really sore for a couple of days.  Since I probably haven't lifted for like 4 months.  We played basketball on saturday with some of the members in our branch.  They were driving me crazy.  When you play basketball here they call a foul like on every play or if it gets stolen or they don't make it.  It is just ridiculous.  After that we went to one of the guys house for dinner.  On sunday we had stake conference.  We arrived a little late so we had to sit in the back.  It was pretty load so we could barely hear.  People just don't really know how to keep their kids quiet and behaving here.  It is like the kids run the parents.  So I didn't get a lot out of the meeting, so it ended up just being boring.  I did get some pictures this week but I left my sd card to my camera at my apartment so I won't be able to send any pictures this week.  Sorry about that.  I was really surprised to hear about ethan.  It made me pretty sad seeing my little brother go through the same thing I had to.  I just hope that he gets better quick and will be able to feast at thanksgiving haha.  On the bright side at least you got a new madden game.  I can't believe thanksgiving is like a week away.  I wish I was able to pig out on turkey and pies and mashed potatoes and stuff.  Guess not.  I definitely will when I get home though.  That will be good.  I love you guys have a great week

Love Elder Lott

 

 

 

Dear Mom,

I was really surprised to hear that ethan got surgery.  I just hope he recovers quick with no problems.  That looks really familiar to me.  I bet you are getting pretty sick of hospital trips and having to sleep in like a rocking chair haha.  I wish I was home for thanksgiving to feast.  All that food sounds so amazing and right now I am starving.  I am really excited to skype it is going to be way fun.  I also can't wait to open those christmas presents in my package.  I haven't even looked at everything in the package cause I don't want to unpack it all.  Thanks so much for it though.  It is so good.  I heard it might snow.  As much as I want snow I would freeze.  I can't wait to skype.  Well I love you mom have a great week.

Love Elder Lott

 

 

 

Dear Ethan,

 

Hey buddy I was so sad to hear that you had to get surgery.  It wasn't a good experience for me, but you sound pretty happy being able to play video games and stuff.  That is awesome that you got a new madden game.  We will have to play when I get home.  I guess we are scar buddies now.  I love you buddy and I hope you get better soon

Love Alex

 

 

 

 

 

 

11-23-15

 

Well I just want to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving.  I want you all to know that I am really jealous that you get to eat a ton of turkey, pie and mashed potatoes.  Oh ya and watch football.  This past week was a really good week.  I am really happy with what we got done this week.  On thursday we had splits with our zone leaders.  For some reason it was in our area which is really weird because normally they are supposed to do it in their area.  So they came to our area on thursday.  We only have two beds and we told them that they would have to sleep on the floor, cause I am not sharing my bed haha.  I worked with elder olson.  He is our american zone leader.  They said that 1 of our companionship's should do some tracting close to our church.  So me and him ended up doing it since I had to take some papers to our branch president and it was kind of in that direction. So we contacted one of our referrals this week.  It sure was an interesting lesson.  When we were starting the lesson my companion asked the investigator "ilan taong po kayo" which means how old are you.  We waited a minute and he said "hindi ko alam" which means I don't know haha, me and my companion we trying not to crack up!  Then he was like oh 58.  This guys has no teeth or nothing so I was thinking there is no way that he is 58, then we started teaching him and like a couple minutes into the lesson he was like oh hindi 58, 85 pala!  That was so funny.  His wife joined us later in the lesson.  When we asked him if we could come back in a couple days he said that he had somewhere to go and then his wife was like saan (where)...manila.  We could tell she was being sarcastic because he is an 85 year old man, and probably doesn't have that much to do haha.  We invited him to pray and he didn't know how so he just started laughing, I thought he was crying at first.  So his wife ended up saying the prayer and in the prayer she pretty much said, my husband is really old and will die soon so please help him to be baptized.    Our land lord came this week and fixed the water in our bathroom, finally.  It was like the lowest water pressure ever.  Our work was really good this week we have 7 new investigators and one of them has a baptismal date for sometime in december!  Exciting!  Since it is close to thanksgiving I just want to say that I am so grateful for you guys, my family.  Thank you for all your support and love.  I love you and miss you.  Have a great thanksgiving!  Eat some turkey for me!

Love Elder Lott

gym in our area!

 

 

 

 

 

me and my zone leader

 

 

 

 

11-30-15

 

This past week went by good.  I didn't have a thanksgiving feast though.  I think I had a bowl of chili on thanksgiving.  That is definitely not my first choice of a meal on thanksgiving, but it was good and I was full.  We have been teaching our investigators this past week and they are all doing really good.  We did have an investigator come to church, but he isn't the one that we challenged to baptized.  Maybe we will invite him this week.  It has gotten a little cooler at night which probably means that it is in the high 60's and low 70's.  I guess that is enough to make me a little chilly.  This past week I actually heated up a little water to take my shower.  That was the first time that I did that on my mission.  I also get a little cold at night with just an electric fan.  I am not complaining though because it is better than it being hot.  Last week at church me and my companion were chosen to speak in church.  I totally put off studying for my talk until sunday morning.  I read through the information and some scriptures a little bit before church.  I was really nervous, but it went well.  I got up and started talking and I actually talked for 15 minutes.  I was really surprised.  I was really happy with how my tagalog went to.  I was a little nervous so I thought that it wouldn't be that good but then after church somebody told me that my tagalog is good.  I tweaked my back again so we skipped out on basketball this morning and are just p daying in our area.  It is so crazy that it is already december.  I am so excited to skype in a couple of weeks.  It is going to be awesome.  I am glad that you all had a nice thanksgiving!  I love you guys so much.  Have a great week

Love Elder Lott

 

 

Dear Mom,

Wow you guys sure had a party on thanksgiving.  I wish I could have been there to see everyone.  That looks like that cut hurt poor guy. (I sent him a picture where Adam had cut his finger.)  I am super excited to be able to skype in a few weeks.  It is going to be awesome.  We are teaching this mother that has 4 kids.  I haven't met her husband yet but she is the one that has been invited to be baptized.  I wasn't there when this happened, but we were on splits when my companion went to teach them and he said that they taught under a flash light because they have no lights in there house.  So far she has been a really good investigator.  She didn't come to church this past sunday, but I still think she has a lot of potential.  So are you still taking riding lessons?  I remember last year when you sent the pics of you guys sledding behind the horses.  Are you going to do that again?  You are right I would be a human Popsicle if I came home now.  I love you mom have a great week

Love Elder Lott

 

 

 

 

 

12-7-15

 

Christmas is getting closer and closer.  This past week went by good.  Me and elder manalili are focusing on teaching our investigators.  Our investigator with the baptismal date hasn't been to church for a few weeks, but one of our investigators has been to church for two week in a row.  So probably this upcoming week we will give him a baptismal date.  We have our christmas devotional this Thursday.  I am looking forward to the food that is for sure.   I am super excited to skype in a couple of  week!  I love you all have a great week!

Love Elder Lott

 

Hopefully he realizes he can't ride on the outside of cars when he comes home!!!!!

 

 

 

We love you LOTTS.   We are so proud of you and can't wait to be able to talk to you on Christmas Day.  I can't think of a better present!!!

Happy Fall

Camping up Logan Canyon the end of September 2015

 

hiking around Tony Grove

 

 

September 24, 2015

 Ethan was so happy to turn 7 and get to open presents.  We were camping on his birthday.  We let him open some of his presents first thing in the morning.  Later we were joined by family for cake.  He had a very special day.

Ethan had fun playing songs for us all day on his new guitar.

 

 

 

We left camping on Ethan's birthday so the boys could play in their soccer and flag football games.  Afterwards we headed home for a few minutes so Ethan could finish opening his presents.  Then we went back up to Logan and camped for a few more days. 

 

Yes, the boy likes the Raiders and the Broncos.  He actually likes the Raiders much more which makes his dad and brother Alex a little disappointed.  His uncle is thrilled he is a Raiders fan.

 

 

 

 

Because we went camping up in Logan Canyon the days around Ethan's 7th birthday, we weren't able to celebrate his birthday at Chuck E Cheese until the following week.   The lucky boy got to celebrate twice this year. 

 

 

 

 

Oct 8, 2015

Jaime before her choir concert

 

 

 

 Lunch with dad at school.  Look closely and notice the Wendy's bag.   After eating the school lunch once a few years ago he decided this was the way to go.

 10-9-15 

 

 Mike and I enjoyed a vacation to the Washington DC area in October.  We saw many historical places.  Sadly many of the places were under renovation but we are still glad we were able to see them.  We did a ton of walking and also enjoyed riding the subway.  Everyone was very friendly in the DC area.  The weather was great and we ate some yummy food. 

 

I was so excited to mark some more states off of my list.  As of now I have 9 left and Mike has one.  Hopefully I can catch up and he doesn't end up with an audit in Alabama anytime soon. 

 

We attended a session at the Washington DC Temple.  It is so very beautiful.

 

 

 

We ran into a few famous people.  Ok, we visited a wax museum.  It was pretty cool and freaky at the same time.  They looked so real.  I would get up close to them and just stare but be nervous they were going to move or blink. 

 

 

This one was for Jaime.  She told me she wanted to throw up after seeing it.  It was just the reaction I was going for.  (Justin Beiber)

 

We sent some other pictures to the kids of us with some other celebrities.  They were impressed that we got to meet these people.  It wasn't till they saw one of Mike with Abraham Lincoln that they figured out they weren't real people.  Boy am I relieved they realized Ab wasn't real.

 

 

Before we went on our trip we watched Night at the Museum The Smithsonian.  It was fun to see the places we would be visiting.  When we got home we watched it again to show the kids the things that were accurately portrayed in the movie.  No, we didn't meet any talking cavemen or converse with Abraham Lincoln.  We did see the Einstein bobble heads but I wasn't about to pay $16 for one.

Yes, this is an albino squirrel.  I thought it was pretty impressive.  Mike wasn't convinced.  So now to drive him nuts (no pun intended) because I randomly send him texts and emails of this.  He had better watch out or I might make him a shirt for Christmas with this squirrel on it!!

For cub scout pack meeting in October we carved pumpkins in our garage.  It was a lot of fun.  The scouts donated the pumpkins to be displayed at the Hooper Halloween Haunt.  All the boys had fun and their display turned out great.   Ethan named his favorite pumpkin BOB.  I though this was very cute because he has a grandpa named Bob.  Boy did my garage stink !!!

 

I helped in Adam's 4th grade class Halloween party.  They played a bunch of minute to win it games and had a blast.  The object of this game was to see which team could stick the most papers to the kid's face in a minute.  Adam's team won. 

 

We enjoyed a visit with the newest member of the Lott family- cousin Henry.  He's so cute.  He's about three months old now. 

The kids didn't have school on Oct 30.  We decided to have a mini stay-cation and stayed in a hotel in Layton for two night.  The boys had a blast swimming.  Jaime was a typical teenager and slept in super late every morning and spent most of her time in bed watching tv.  Lucky her.  But we all did have a great time.  We watched the Disney channel, ate out and headed up to Logan to visit family and go to the Little Bear Bottoms corn maze. 

The boys- Mike included- had fun crawling around in the hay pyramid.  Jaime and I mostly just watched.  We did the corn maze.  It was fun.  To this day we still have never found our way out through the exit.  We always wander around and tend to back track and make it back out from where we started from.  Oh well, maybe we will have better luck next year.

 

 

 

 Happy Halloween

 The Lott gang ready to go trunk-or-treating

Oct 31, 2015

 

Jeri was a good sport and dressed up.  Ok, I bribed her $10 to put the wig on.  I guess we will be going out to lunch soon.  Hee Hee.  Mike wouldn't take the bait.  He went as an auditor.  Ha Ha.

Who knew dogs liked raspberries.

 

  I had lotts of help harvesting.

His clothes were totally stained when he got out.  But at least he had fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I am not sure if I posted these previously.  We took these this summer.

 

 

My niece sent this in her most recent email.  She is on an LDS mission in NY City. 

 

 

 

 "Kites fly highest when the wind is blowing against
them". It is so true. I know most, if not all, of us are most
comfortable when things are going in our favor, but that's not how we
become our best.

But like kites, we need to have opposition to fly. If kites never had wind,
they'd never go up. They would just stay on the ground, not ever
reaching their purpose or potential. Kites are also designed
beautifully, so others far away can see them. We all need 'wind' or
challenges in our lives, because that's how we can rise above and be
beautiful examples to others far away. If they see how we respond to
the wind, they will know what they can do, too, when they have theirs.

 

 

 

So, don't give up when times are hard.  You do make a difference and your Heavenly Father is perfecting you with the trials and wind he sends you.   He tells us in Psalms 30:5  , "...weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning."  So hold out for the morning.  He always keeps his promises.