Merry
Christmas 2017 and Lotts of fun for the upcoming year!!!
Another year
has come and gone. Once again, we have
been super busy but have had so many blessings.
Ethan was
excited to turn 9. Of course, he’s
already counting down till he is 10. He
has informed me that he is moving out when he is 16. So, I guess we had better make these last years
count. He is planning on being a doctor,
in the army and an astronaut. That will
be good because he also plans on paying someone to do all the work at his house
so he can just go on vacations. Sounds
like a good plan to me. He has enjoyed
playing soccer. He is one of the biggest
kids on the team (not a surprise) and is known for his hard kicks. Sadly, a few kids have gotten it in the gut
by accident. Once he kicked off from the
center of the field and actually scored.
It was pretty funny. I don’t know
if the point actually counted, but it was pretty exciting regardless. Ethan still loves being in cub scouts. He was thrilled to go to cub scout day camp
and got his first pocket knife. He
started taking piano this fall and is doing great. He also thrilled us by joining the school
choir. But one of he and Adam’s greatest
accomplishments was when he added a huge basketball sized hole to the wall in
our room above our garage. It totally
popped out the sheet rock and you can see the insulation. It is huge!!
We were proud of him for telling the truth and glad no one was
hurt. Now I just wish he could tell the
truth and be honest when I ask him if he has brushed his teeth. Crazy boys.
It never ends with these two. He
and Adam were also sword fighting with sticks a few months back and now Ethan
has a scar across his face by his mouth.
At least his eyes weren’t stabbed and he has a good story- right.
Adam is 11. He plans to live with us forever. I guess that will help balance out Ethan
moving out in 6 years. Adam loves to read and play sports. Too bad he can’t read a book on not getting
holes in his socks. He has favorite
socks that have holes in them and so he wears another pair of socks under them
so he can still wear them. Good idea,
right?? NOT!! Why not just wear shoes in the first place
and then you won’t have holes!!! He ran back
a pick-six this fall during one of his flag football games. I am proud to say I finally know what a pick
six means- even though I don’t know why they just say that he made an
interception and ran it back for a touchdown.
That would make more sense because what the heck is a pick?? And last weekend we went to see some Christmas
decorations in downtown Salt Lake. There
were some pretty amazing exhibits done completely in candy. Adam loves candy. His comment was, “That’s a waste of candy.” He didn’t notice the beautiful artwork of the
candy, but just that he would have rather eaten it then made it into an art
project. Funny boy. Adam also enjoys scouts. He will never forget his first camp out this
fall while he was helping with dinner and cut his finger opening up a can. He was very brave. He probably could have used stitches but we
mended it on our own and it looks almost normal now. Adam may or may not have gotten a note from a
girl in his class telling him she likes him second best to chocolate. Shhhh.
Don’t tell.
Jaime turned
16 and is officially of the dating age.
Mike pulled out the guns as she had her first date to a group dance this
fall. Luckily, we have Ethan to sick on
all her dates and to protect her. Jaime
finally got a sister as we had a German foreign exchange student live with us
for two weeks in September. It was a lot
of fun and Jaime is trying to talk us into sending her to Germany now. Jaime still loves to read and sleep. I need to find her a book about a princess
who gets turned into a toad because she wouldn’t clean her room or make it to
the bus stop on time. Wink wink. Jaime was thrilled to get her learners
permit. Now, we just need a good supply
of Valium to give to her dad as he takes her driving. And speaking of Valium, Jaime had some dental
work done this year. She took a Valium
and it didn’t kick in until about two hours later. We knew something was wrong when she was stuttering
and wobbling around our house like she was drunk. I got it on video and it was hilarious. I barely got her up the stairs so she could
sleep it off in her room. I can’t wait
till she gets her wisdom teeth out. I am
sure we will definitely get some good video then as well.
Ryan would almost
be 20. He would be half way through his
mission. We miss him so much. We are so thankful we will see him again
someday. It has been special to see the
physical similarities between he and Ethan.
It will be fun to see if they continue and if Ethan ends up with the
same curly hair that Ryan had.
Alex still
lives up in Logan. He is currently
working for a meat processing company.
It’s exciting he is actually getting paid to cut up animals with knives
instead of just for a hobby. He
continues to go through vehicles and is back in a yellow one again. Are you kidding me. Are there actually that many yellow vehicles
out there and now in less than a year he has owned two. He still loves to hunt and fish. His boy scout skills came in handy while
hunting this fall and he got stranded in the mountains. He had to start a small fire to keep him warm
and to keep the wild animals away. Sadly,
he lost his first elk to whatever wild animal was up there. But we are glad he wasn’t lunch as well.
I have
officially joined in the homework with the kids this year as I started back to
school. I started BYU Pathway Connect
Worldwide. I am taking classes online
through BYU-Idaho. It has been a great experience. I do admit my first day I was in tears and
almost threw my computer on the floor (not kidding) , but I pushed through and
have learned a lot. I did have to have
Jaime help me at times as she obviously knows more about the computer than I do. Who am I kidding, even Ethan knows more than
I do. And Mike helped me as well. I am proud to say that I got A’s in both
classes. Now I look forward to the $5 we
give the kids per A. I can’t wait to
spend my hard earned $10. The money is definitely
worth all the hours I put in these past three months. (Mike just told me the money is going towards
my phone. Darn) My math class starts in January. I will need a Valium to get through that. And Mike and I will probably need counseling
afterwards as well. Ethan is really good
at math. Who knows, maybe he will tutor
me as well. In 2018 I am going to make
it my New Year’s resolution to gain ten pounds so I can be able to mark
something off my list for once. Darn, I
wish I would have made that one of my goals for this year instead of
exercising, which of course I didn’t do for another year. Or maybe my goal will be to exercise once next
year. I am pretty sure I can do that.
Mike is gearing
himself up to be my math tutor in January.
He might need a Valium to get through that. But, he thinks it’s pretty cool he is married
to a college co-ed. I have reminded him
that that doesn’t mean that I look like a college student- sorry. He has healed from his Achilles surgery from
last year. He does have a big scar still
and sadly lost his job as an ankle model. He does have cute feet so maybe he will just
have to try his luck with those. He was
our handy man this summer and learned how to do some electrical work. Thank goodness he only electrocuted himself a
few times. You tend to learn more
quickly when the results may or may not hurt.
We have
enjoyed some fun family adventures this year.
We were blessed to be able to attend a pioneer trek as a family. It was fun to pretend we were a pioneer
family and the little boys had fun pulling the handcarts mile after mile. We bribed them and they pulled the last 3
miles all on their own. It was money
well spent. We also toured Mt. Rushmore
and enjoyed the beauty there. Mike and I
were blessed to be able to go to Okinawa to visit my parents while they are on
their LDS mission there. We dodged two
typhoons with this trip and almost got stranded in Okinawa when I accidentally
forgot I had a pocket knife hidden in my purse when going through
security. Mike commented, “I am one of
those people.”
We are
thankful for all the wonderful memories we have made. We are so thankful for our friends and
family. And we are especially thankful
for our Savior and his life and his love towards us. We wish you all the best this coming new year
and hope you will allow the love of our Savior to light your life as well.
Love,
The Lott
family
(way to long since I have blogged I will catch up in the next post)
