Merry Chrisum!

I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my entire life but we had a great Christmas in the Cottrell household. The days leading up to it were a little stressful not knowing if Robert would have to work or not. The post office asked for 4 volunteers to work delivering express packages Christmas morning for those lazy bums who wait until the last minute to mail their stuff. Only 2 had volunteered as of the week of Christmas so with Robert being low man on the seniority ladder, he was going to have to be on call. We were of course very upset about this because it was the first year Emily actually knew what was going on and after working 11 hours a day, six days a week for a month he really just wanted one day off. Christmas Eve came and he got a call from his supervisor while out on his route. She said that someone had come to her and asked that if Robert needed to be called in, to call him instead. It was a Festivus Day miracle! I cried when he told me that. It really made me feel the Christmas spirit. Thanks Stan!

Despite this great news, Robert still had to work so late on Christmas Eve that he missed the majority of the get together with his family. We had a yummy ham dinner, watched a movie, and opened presents. The movie was hysterical. Not the movie itself as it was about the birth of Christ but just the whole scene. Diane was in the other room with Kylie, Sharon was worried about everyone else, Robert called me the second it started so I was on the phone, and Haley was furious because she had already seen it and didn't want to watch it again. The only person who watched the whole thing was Emily! It was pretty funny. We ended the night with the traditional Christmas pajamas.

Me, Chase, Haley, Emily, Diane, and Kylie

Emily and Haley modeling their princess jammies


Christmas morning we invited my mom and brother Derek over to watch Emily open presents. We got more stuff than we know what to do with! And boy were the kids spoiled. Santa brought Emily a kitchen and a block train for Chase. I got a lot of cooking and baking stuff (maybe a hint?) and Robert got DVD's, a coat, tie, etc.


Santa even brought stockings for Derek and grandma




How Chase spent the morning....



After a long day of family visits and presents we were all ready for a nap! I love Christmas but I'm not going to lie, I'm glad it's over. We hope you all had a Merry Chrisum (as Emily would say)!

Baby Kylie got a brand new 'do

Date Night

I love date night. Robert and I try to have at least one date night a month. With his crazy work schedule it's really a necessity for both of us. We had planned Saturday night to go out. Unfortunately Emily got really sick last week so we ended up staying home. I was pretty bummed because after 4 days of cleaning up barf and wiping boogers, I was in need of a break. But I guess that's the way it goes when you are parents. It's no longer about you. So anyway, I think Robert could sense my desperation. He was sweet and decided we could do a gingerbread house together after the kids were asleep. Here's our beauty:

It's always nice to be reminded how much we enjoy spending time together. I know we get distracted sometimes with all the day to day tasks and the kids so it's nice to remember that we still really like each other. He's my BFF!

Christmas Cheer

I have been trying to get this post to post for about a week now. For some reason it didn't want to upload the pictures. I think blogger thought the post was lame. It kind of is, especially since it was intended to be posted last week. :) Oh well, here it is anyway.

We finally got all the Christmas stuff up last week. Emily really loves all the lights and thankfully understands not to touch. Although I guess she learned that lesson a little too late since we've already ended up with 6 broken ornaments!

Our tree...a little crooked but hey, it works.


Our broken ornaments. Rudolph's head and the ballerina's hand are still missing. And one green ball was broken so badly we just had to throw it away.


Village with our own mailman



This is my most prized Christmas possesion. Maybe my most prized possesion period. I have always wanted a nice, larger sized nativity. We had a little one that I got in college that had seen better days (Baby Jesus' head was even detatched from his body at one point). I had been on the look out for a great one like the one my grandma had growing up. I guess my grandpa found out about my love of their nativity and offered it to me last Christmas. He decided to give away all their Christmas stuff last year. I guess it became too much for him. But I love this thing. Not only because I think it's the perfect nativity but it reminds me of my grandma. She passed away a few days before Emily was born. I loved her so much and now I'm grateful to have this reminder of her during the holidays.

My fear this year was that it would get broken. Before I even took the pieces out of the box I sat Emily down and explained to her what it was. I told her that if it got broken mommy would be VERY sad so she shouldn't touch. Apparently my sterness worked because she hasn't touched it. Once she was walking past the table and grabbed the edge. She bumped the cow and it moved about half an inch. She looked at me with this look of terror like she feared I was going to beat her or something. Maybe I was a little too stern but whatever works right?!

Stop already!

And still snowing.....

The perils of low blood sugar

Yesterday afternoon Robert received a call from his part time mortuary job. He met the funeral director and they headed to a home. While talking with the family he felt like he should sit down. He took one or two steps before he hit the floor. He passed out in their living room and fell face first on their hardwood floor. He claims to remember hearing a THUD and thinking "what was that?" but didn't realize it was actually him! After he came to, he realized he was on the floor and had passed out. Unfortunately I was in church and didn't have my phone with me. He was able to get ahold of our home teacher, who called a bishopric member who happened to be in YW with me. He told me I needed to call my husband because he had fallen and hit his head. First I thought he was joking. Robert had gotten ahold of his parents in the mean time and they were on their way to pick him up. I met them at our house and took Robert to the ER while they stayed with the kids. At the ER they did numerous blood tests, urinalysis, EKG, etc to determine the reason for him fainting.

Unfortunately there was a stabbing they had to deal with and we ended up waiting 5 hours at the ER. Luckily we have great parents who shared shifts watching our kids. None of the tests showed anything to be concerned about and the doctor attributed it to stress, fatigue, and low blood sugar. I'm always hounding Robert to eat more because he's so skinny and works so hard so it was nice to have it confirmed by a doctor! All is well and he even got a day off work! He's pretty sore today with two slightly black eyes and a bruised and swollen nose (but luckily not broken). I tried to get a good picture of his injuries but the black eyes don't show up too well.

Fall Fun

Fall is my favorite time of year. Too bad it lasts for about 4 days in Utah. But I still love it. Emily has discovered that she loves it too. She has absolutely loved playing in the leaves every chance she gets. We have a massive maple tree in our front yard so we have had numerous raking/playing opportunities. She's not really a fan of the raking part and thinks it's funny to take arm fulls of leaves and make her own pile in the flower beds. Such a good helper!


Our last pile of leaves is still waiting to be bagged and then it will unfortunately be on to winter.

2 Months

My little Chaser boy is already two months old. It's so hard to believe! I can't even begin to discribe how much I love him. I love when he wakes up before everyone else and I just get to snuggle him. I could hold him all day if Emily would let me! He weighs 11 pounds 15 ounces and is 22.5 inches tall. He's getting so big! He has such a sweet temperment and is such an easy baby. He loves to smile and "talk" and thankfully sleeps through the night. I think he's pretty much perfect...except for maybe all the pooping.

5 Years....

Today is our five year wedding anniversary! I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday. It's crazy to think how much has happened in the last five years...college, 2 houses, 2 kids, jobs, etc. There's no one I would have rather spent the last five years with then my best friend. I'm so grateful to have Robert to share eternity with. He makes me laugh all day long and he works so hard to provide for our family. I love him with all of my heart. Happy Anniversary!

I just had to post this....

This is my first attempt at posting a video so hopefully it works. I was going through our videos and this just cracks me up. Emily explains what happened to her Snow White Halloween costume....

Halloween Fun

Emily has been obsessed with various Disney princesses over the last few months, Belle and Snow White mainly. She had a Belle birthday party so we decided she'd be Snow White for Halloween. She was so excited! I would ask her what she was going to be for Halloween and she would say "I be Belle. No.....I be Snow White." Like she was teasing me. She seriously kills me! I must say she was the cutest Snow White ever. And Chase, well he was a giraffe because we found a costume that fit. :) We had a difficult time getting a good picture of our little princess. Maybe it was all the sugar.....

Terrible Two's

Emily turned 2 years old on Sunday, October 18. I can't believe we have a 2 year old. We celebrated with a Belle party (Beauty & the Beast for those of you without a 2 year old girl). We played pin the princess on the castle and decorated crowns. Even great-grandpa wore a crown. It was great!

Emily is so much fun and we love her to death. Everyone does. She is such a character and has so much personality. She keeps me laughing all day long! She talks pretty much non-stop all day. Another thing she does all day long, moves. She never stops moving. She loves to run, jump, and dance. Lately she'll put a dress on and hold the skirt out to the side and dance like Belle. Not sure if that makes sense but it's hilarious. She's so smart. She is such a good helper and a great big sister. She gives Chase kisses all the time and gets very worried whenever he cries. She currently weighs 27 pounds and is 35 inches tall. Tall and skinny according to the doctor. She knows all her colors, shapes, animals, letters, and most numbers. I swear she learns something new everyday. We love her so much and are so grateful to have her in our home.

We have entered the 21st century...

The Cottrell's have the internet. Since Robert is going back to school and taking strictly online classes we figured it was time. And once I figure out how to use our new laptop, I'll get some pictures updated on here. Get excited people!

Go Grandpa!

On Monday, October 5 my stepdad Dale left for a 12 month deployment to Iraq. He is a Blackhawk pilot and we're so proud of him! It was really sad to say goodbye and we're going to miss him a lot. Emily is going to miss him too. We went to the deployment ceremony and were able to watch them fly away. As they were flying away Emily would put her fist in the air and say "Go Grandpa!" It was so cute.

Emily in grandpa's seat.



Here's a link to the story on ksl. There's actually a photo of my mom and Dale in the photo gallery and they are quoted in the story about their grandkids and stuff.
http://www.ksl.com/public/index.php?nid=148&sid=8182970

Introducing.....

CHASE ROBERT
Born September 17, 2009 6:58 am
7 lbs 13 oz, 19.5 inches



He was born via repeat c-section and was immediately wisked away to the NICU where he unfortunately spent the next five days due to respitory distress, fluid in his lungs, a heart murmur, etc. This was very difficult for me because I was unable to even see him for several hours because of the anesthesia from the c-section. Thankfully he recovered fully and is absolutely perfect in every way! I think he just knew he had an older sister to compete with so he wanted to make sure his presence was known.



He is such a laid back and mellow baby. I'm so blessed. He sleeps and eats great which makes things a lot easier. Being a mother of two has been not as stressful as I thought it would be. (knock on wood) Emily has adjusted amazingly well and is a good helper. Sometimes too good but she's learning.

Photo of our family of three the night before Chase was born.

Big news!

I bet you thought this was about something exciting and oh, it is! We just discovered the other day that an In-N-Out Burger is coming to us!



It is going to be around the corner from our house! We're pretty excited except its going to be insanely busy. Isn't it sad the things that excite us?

What?!

Does that ticker say 45 Days left?!!!!!

HOLY $#!@.....I mean holy cow.

Word of the Week

Emily's word of the past two weeks is every parents favorite word.

WHY.

She's spent about a week saying it after everything you say. So much fun! But I did get to use every mom's favorite saying....."because I said so!"

She has also started to shrug her shoulders when you ask her a question. Where do they learn these things?!

Word of the Week

I think Emily learns about 3 new words every day but she usually picks a favorite new word and uses it repeatedly for about a week until she learns something else she likes. The word for this week:

Nothing.

Used in a sentence:

Me: "Emily, what are you doing?" (as she colors on the coffee table)
Emily: "Oh, nothing."

What?! Where does she learn these things. She cracks me up.

Last weeks word was MINE. Gotta love that one. And not only MINE but it was No, MINE! Awesome. I could do without that one.

Grandma Payne

My Grandma Payne passed away this weekend. It was sudden and unexpected. We will miss her.


Pearl Ethelle Oliver Payne Midvale, Utah

Pearl O. Payne, 80, of Midvale, Utah, passed away June 6, 2009, in St. George. She was born February 23, 1929, in Provo, Utah, to William Albert and Ethel Winnifred Parker Oliver. She married Calvin "E" Payne on March 6, 1952 in the Salt Lake Temple. With a vivacious and dramatic soul she brought joy and caring to the many lives she touched. She spent her life in service to her church serving two missions, one to the Eastern States and one later in life with her husband to Australia; she also worked at the LDS Church Offices for 27 years as a supervisor in the financial department and address unknown. She loved researching genealogy, crocheting and reading. She was a dutiful and caring mother and conscientious wife. She is survived by her husband, Calvin; children, Russell O. (Karen) Payne, Midvale; Linda (Scott) Brady, Midvale; Diane E. Payne, Salt Lake City; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren; sisters, June Amberboy, St. George and Wilma (Mark) Hanson, Price; and a brother, Glen (Sheri) Oliver, Washington; sister-in-law, LaRue Oliver, Salt Lake City. She was preceded in death by her son, Richard Payne; her parents and a brother, Sheldon Oliver. Graveside services and interment will be held on Friday, June 12, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. in the South Jordan City Cemetery, 10650 South 1055 West. Friends may call at the Goff Mortuary, 8090 South State Street, on Thursday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. Funeral Directors: Magleby Mortuary, Richfield, Salina and Manti. Online guestbook at www.maglebymortuary.com

Halfway

I am officially half way through this pregnancy. Hooray! I'm hoping he'll decide to come at least a little early so I'm telling myself I'm more than halfway. :) Things are getting a lot better. I haven't thrown up in exactly 2 weeks so I'm pretty excited about that! Now I'm ginormous (as Robert would say!) and having all the fun that comes along with that. Back ache, hip pain, heartburn, etc. We had our 20 week ultrasound this week and everything is looking great. I had no reason to think anything was wrong with the baby but its hard not to think the worst. I was glad to have confirmation that everything is great. And yup, still a boy!

Emily is starting to understand the concept of a baby in my tummy and having a little brother which is pretty cute. Sometimes she gets a little confused and we'll ask her where the baby is and she thinks its in her tummy. But she tries to share her milk and snacks with the baby and gives my belly hugs. She's going to be a great big sister.

I'm starting to realize how soon he's going to be here and that makes me panic a little. With Emily, I think I was pregnant for about 3 years so I felt like I had so much time to get ready. Plus that's all I thought about for 9 months! Of course no amount of time prepares you for your first child but we had the nursery ready, clothes washed, etc. Time is flying by this time around. The poor kid has no nursery, no clothes, not even a name. I'm definitely panicking a little but I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm getting really excited to meet the little guy!

Where is SPRING?!

Can someone please tell me why I woke up to snow on April 16th? Is it just me or is this turning into the longest winter ever? I really think I'm on the verge of losing my mind. We get small glimmers of spring once a week or so which is just enough to get Emily obsessed with playing outside and then she doesn't understand why she can't play outside the next day. Not to mention that all my maternity clothes are summer clothes so I'm running out of options! Someone please stop this madness.

It's A.......

Just a quick note to say that we found out this morning that we're having a BOY! Yeah, I don't beleive it either. I'm in total shock. I kept asking the ultrasound tech if she was sure. She assured me she was 100% sure so I'm going to trust her! Based on family history we just assumed it would be a girl. But we're way excited and have tons of shopping to do!! Robert is really excited. It's so cute. He tried to act like it was no big deal but he had a big old grin on his face. The baby was not the most cooperative little guy but I'm glad he at least showed us enough! Now we have to think of a name.....

Good News!

I think pretty much everyone who reads our blog (all 2 of you!) already knows this but we are expecting baby #2 in September. We're getting excited but it still doesn't seem real for some reason. I'm sure it will hit us one of these days. This pregnancy has been really rough for me and it makes me wonder why I thought this would be a good idea! You really do forget.... :) Which I guess is good otherwise you really wouldn't do it again. I'm pretty much huge already which is awesome. Everything that didn't happen until I was 8 months pregnant with Emily is already happening this time around so it's been lots of fun. Heartburn, can't sleep, back pain, etc. Good times. But it's all worth it in the end. So hopefully the next 6 months goes quickly and Kaybi, you better not have your baby before me! :)

Our other good news is that we finally have a camera again! YAY! Hopefully I can post some new pictures soon. Emily is the cutest thing ever and maybe I'll get brave and post a belly shot. Or maybe not.

Suggestions?

Does anyone have any suggestions how to get a 16 month old to stop using a bottle? Emily is extremely stubborn and refuses to drink milk any other way and I am desperate to get rid of that stupid thing. The only thing I can think of is just taking it away cold turkey. She'll probably go days without drinking milk but she'll survive right? She'll drink anything else from a sippy just fine but refuses to drink milk from it. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated!

P.S. Sorry our blog is so boring lately. We no longer have a camera or a camcorder. We're going to go looking this weekend and hopefully we can find something. There's been so many things that have happened lately and we'll say, "oh, I wish we had our video camera." Anyway, soon, I hope.

Total disregard....

On Thursday, Robert got off work early (which has happened maybe 3 times in the last year!) and headed home. He pulled in the driveway and noticed the door on the side of our house was open. He thought, "Did I leave the door open?" As he got closer he noticed that the door jam was broken and the casing was on the kitchen floor. The door had been kicked down. He immediately got back in his car and pulled out of the driveway as he called the police. The police came and cleared our house and came out and said, "Yup, you've definitely been robbed." WHAT?! I got home at this point and found Robert in the basement in front of our empty DVD shelves (they did leave all the seasons of Friends though. Phew!). The basement was trashed with everything taken off of shelves and out of cupboards. Then we headed upstairs and found our bedroom completely trashed. All of my jewelry was gone and our clothes were everywhere. They had even taken our temple clothes out of the bag and threw them on the floor. I was pissed about that! Our office was trashed as well but luckily they didn't do anything to Emily's room. We had tools, our video camera, digital camera, jewelery, DVD's, CD's, video game system and games, credit card, laptop, cell phone, pillow cases, etc stolen. It was so crazy. You never think that is going to happen to you.

At first I was so scared. Then later that night I felt very violated as we were looking through our clothes on the floor of our bedroom. It's so weird to think a stranger has gone through your stuff. We spent the night at my in-laws and I hardly slept at all. The next day Robert and I spent the whole day cleaning up and at that point I was just annoyed. What makes someone think they have the right to do that to someone else? Just because you're a loser and probably can't keep a job because you're a druggie doesn't give you the right to steal our stuff! Grrr. Now that we have things cleaned up (sort of) and new doors installed, it almost seems like it never happened. It seems so surreal.

We were lucky that no one was home and I am so grateful for the Lord's hand in our life. I know that He's the reason Robert got off early that day. Protect yourself, right down serial numbers, and watch out for your neighbors. Unfortunately for us, no one saw anything. But I'm grateful because it could have been worse.

Draper Temple Open House

On Saturday we took our Young Women to the open house for the new Draper Temple. Almost all of the girls had never been inside a temple except for baptisms so they were pretty excited. It was so beautiful (of course!) and perfect. One of the others leaders has a friend who worked on the temple and she was telling us how they would have to redo projects numerous times until it was absolutely perfect. I especially loved the woodwork. Apparently the wood is some sort of cherry from Africa. The girls were all really looking forward to seeing the sealing room. They just kept saying "I want to see where you get married!"


I guess it's good that they were excited about getting married in the temple and it gave the leaders a great opportunity to express our own feelings of being married in the temple. They loved the bride room as well and who wouldn't?! They thought it was pretty funny that brides get this big elaborate room to get ready in and the groom gets a stall in the locker room! Anyway, it was a great time and if you have a chance to go to the open house, do it!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 27th Birthday Robert! We love you and hope you have a great day! Thanks for being the best husband and father we could ever ask for!

15 Months...well, 10 days ago

Emily just went to the doctor for her 15 month check up. She’s 21 pounds 10 ounces (including coat and shoes!) which is still slightly below average and 32 inches tall which is in the 80 percentile. Everything went well and I can’t believe how much she’s grown. She’s a full blown toddler now. Sometimes I watch her sleep and it makes me cry because it really has gone so fast. I remember that tiny newborn snuggled on my chest. Everyone tells you how fast they grow up and now I really believe it. Have you heard the new Darius Rucker song “It Won’t Be Like This For Long?” It makes me cry every time I hear it. I feel like he wrote it about us. Here’s the words:


He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Lay'n there in bed listen'n
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laugh'n
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
It wont be like this for long

Four years later bout four thirty
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now don’t you worry
This will only last a week or two

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll drop her off
And she wont even know your gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It wont be like this for long

One day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times you'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the isle
And he'll raise her vale
But right now she up and cry'n
And the truth is that he don’t mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers
He lays down there beside her
Till her eyes are finally closed
And just watch'n her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows
It wont be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah this phase is gonna fly by
He's try'n to hold on
It wont be like this for long
It wont be like this for long


I think we have been guilty sometimes of wishing certain phases would pass quickly like I can’t wait until she’s sleeps through the night or I can’t wait until she can walk, etc. But in the meantime we were missing out on that time that we can’t ever get back. My new resolution is to enjoy my life as it is now instead of wishing it away. Not just with Emily but with all aspects of my life. We have goals for our family and we’re going to keep working towards them but I want to enjoy the way things are now too. It’s going to be tough because I REALLY hate working but I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed something because I was too busy wishing things were different. Anyway, if you haven’t heard this song, listen to it. It’s my new favorite song and I think everyone can relate!



Love, Peace, and Happiness

Christmas 2008

I know Christmas was almost 2 weeks ago but I'm a little slow. We had a great Christmas. Emily loved to rip the paper and was so spoiled by all of our family. Other than the insane amount of snow we received we had a great day.

Go Utes!!