Lotts of
Christmas cheer in 2016
It’s beginning to look a Lott like Christmas as
I look outside and see my boys riding their scooters through the snow while
wearing shorts. Then a few minutes
later, I have to take a break from writing this letter to investigate crying sounds
coming from outside. Little brother is
in tears due to older brother getting a little too rough during a snowball
fight. And once again I have to explain
to a really confused older brother who doesn’t seem to understand that a
compacted snowball can be as hard as throwing a rock at someone. So I examine the big red mark on the little
brother’s tummy and tell him to be grateful he wasn’t hit in the face. Lotts of fun – but at least one is going to
bed early for the night so there might be a little more peace and quiet for a
moment.
2016 was a good year for the Lott family and of
course we had Lotts going on like always…
Ethan turned 8 this year. He had been counting down the days since he
turned 7 until he was able to be baptized.
He started inviting everyone he would see and was so excited that it
would actually happen on his birthday.
He was also so excited to become a cub scout. He puts on his new scout shirt and excitedly
recites the cub scout oath and motto to anyone who will listen. I think I actually know it by now. He is soooo excited for cub scout day
camp. I admit I am not too excited to
hear him asking when it is for the next six months or so. Ethan also loves to do math problems. As we drive in the car he asks me to give him
different math problems to solve. Thanks
a lot Mike, I am sure he gets this from you, you darn bean counter. There goes my chance for a nap. Oh well, we love our little Ethan. He keeps us on our toes and laughing. We especially got a kick out of it when he
was having some tummy problems and he walked around telling people he was full
of manure.
Adam will be 11 in April. He is growing up way too quickly. I like to bug him by grabbing his ear and
then giving him a kiss on his cheek and he can’t get away unless he pulls way
hard, which pulls his ear. He isn’t
amused. I then tell him his ear wouldn’t
hurt if he wouldn’t dodge the kiss. He
also enjoys it when I volunteer in his class at school. However, he is too embarrassed to actually
make eye contact with me. Adam still
loves sports and had fun playing flag football and baseball this year. He enjoys scouts as well, but doesn’t recite
the motto to everyone he knows. He will
receive his Arrow of Light award in a few months. Adam is a good boy and we will keep him,
especially because he is old enough to mow the lawn and take care of the
animals.
Jaime started high school this year. She of course enjoys it mostly because of all
the new boys. It’s fun to listen to her
talk about them with her friends. We
have already informed her that when she can start dating next year all the boys
she dates will be required to have an interview with her dad as he’s cleaning
his gun. She isn’t amused. She is 15 and would already have her learners
permit, but refuses to keep her room clean and thus we refuse to let her use
our car. Aren’t we mean parents? But regardless of her messy room, she is a
joy, most of the time. She is doing very
well at school and is already preparing for college. We joke that she is more focused on her
future than her older brother, ok it’s not a joke. Jaime still loves to play the piano. She also loves to be on her phone when she
isn’t grounded from it.
Our family letter wouldn’t be complete without
mentioning Ryan. This would have been a
big year for him. He would have
graduated in May. He also would be
excited to receive a mission call and be serving the Lord for two years. But he is already serving the Lord and with
tears in ours eyes we are thankful he was needed for a special purpose. We can’t fully comprehend it now and take
comfort that someday we will. We love
you Ryan.
Alex returned from his mission to the Philippines
in June. It was a very special day
welcoming him home. I admit I cried most
of the day because I was so excited to see him and now I cry wishing he could
go back, Jk. Ok, I am not kidding. But it was very humbling to see how excited
he was to drink cold water out of the kitchen faucet again, lie on the carpet
and hear how much he enjoyed taking a warm shower without the company of cockroaches. Thank you for the sacrifices you made and for
your example. Alex recently moved up to
Logan to hopefully start preparing for his future. We are crossing our fingers. He recently bought a new/old car, which I am
sure was mostly purchased due to the speakers that take up half the trunk. At least now when he will ignore me it will
probably be legitimate due to him having gone deaf. And another awesome fact is that it’s yellow
and now my kids keep punching each other in the arms when they see it as they
say,” Bingo”. Whoever made up that darn
game needs to be punched in the arm themselves.
Fun times. But we did figure out
that we now have a ketchup car (Mike’s red car), a mustard car (Alex’s) and I
have an orangish vehicle (fry sauce).
I guess we love our condiments.
I made the mistake of suggesting to a friend who
is PTA president that she should start a Box Top store at our school. Next thing I know, I am on the PTA board and
over the Box Top store. Yikes, I have
now learned to keep my mouth shut or at least anonymously give
suggestions. No really it’s been fun to
be on the board and get to know the other moms and see the boys at school. This way I also have an “in” with their
teachers and can keep an extra eye on them.
I still enjoy sleeping, napping and watching girly movies during the day
while the family is gone. As I have
nothing else to do with all my free time and so I figure, “what the hey?” I do still love to do laundry and other various
jobs around the house and want to publically thank my family for never letting
these joyous tasks end. And for wearing
out their socks because I love to go shopping for socks. (Well, I had better go take a nap. I still haven’t mastered it and need all the practice I can get.)
They aren’t kidding when they say you are
blessed having a missionary out. Not 24
hours after Alex getting home Mike was playing lightning with all the boys in
the front yard and long story short, he ruptured his Achilles tendon. Not by doing anything impressive like dunking
it. He’s just old and it broke. And at first he didn’t realize what had
happened and thought one of the kids had just kicked him really hard. It wasn’t until days later he couldn’t move
his calf and we knew something serious must be wrong. Now that I think about it that never would
have happened had he been mowing the lawn which was what I was doing while they
were playing. Needless to say I am glad
it was him and not me- Jk. Poor
guy. He ended up having surgery a week
later and spent the summer recovering. But I did suffer as well having to take care
of him and having to cancel all of our fun summer plans, JK. But, thank goodness for modern technology as
he was able to ride a little knee scooter around our house for the next month
or so. And yes he would occasionally
chase us around on it. I actually had to
ground the kids from it as they kept running into the walls with it. We were blessed that Mike was able to work
from home most of the summer and thankful he was doing much better come fall for
our nonrefundable trip to Disneyland.
Mike survived all the walking and waiting in lines and opted for the
pain because he refused to ride a jazzy around the park. We told him he should take one for the team
so we could go in the handicap lane and skip all the lines, but his pride (Mike
inserted - rolls eyes) got the best of him and he refused.
Putting all the silliness aside, we have sooo
much to be thankful for. At this time
of the year might we all remember the true meaning of Christmas and celebrate
in the birth of a precious little baby boy long ago. And because of this precious baby I can be
with my sweet babies and loved ones forever.
And for this gift I am forever grateful.
With love
from the Lott family and wishing you a
Very Merry Christmas and a Joyous 2017
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