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.