Year in Review

2009 was really a great year for our family. We've had some difficult and stressful ones in the past but this one was really pretty good. We continue to be blessed and are so grateful for all our Heavenly Father has provided us with. Here's a brief recap of our year.

JANUARY
2 - January started off with a bang with the Utes beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl
19 - We found out we were expecting baby number 2, due September 24th
30 - Robert turned 27. Neither one of us can remember what we did to celebrate so it must have been pretty awesome.
31 - Lindsay attended the open house for the Draper Utah Temple

FEBRUARY
5 - Our house got broken into. Good times.
20 - Lindsay turned 25. Lindsay decided she no longer likes birthdays. Nuf said.

MARCH
5 - Lindsay had her first doctor's appointment to confirm we were pregnant and hear the heartbeat. If she wasn't so lazy right now she would scan in a cute little picture of Chase in the womb.
24-28 - Family vacation in San Diego. Since this was never blogged about (I know right?) here's a little rundown. We flew there, went to San Diego Zoo, Emily got sick, toured the USS Midway, went to Sea World, ate In-N-Out, shopped, flew home. Here's a few highlights in photo form:
Emily was pretty much obsessed with planes at this time (and she only has a few teeth! I miss my baby girl...)

San Diego Zoo -

Yes, that is a box full of hissing cockroaches that she is face to face with. On the left? a snake. Gross.

Petting zoo-She liked this goat a little too much



Touring the USS Midway - Robert's grandfather served on this ship when he was in the Navy. It was pretty cool. We recommend it.

Sea World



26 - Lindsay celebrated the end of her 1st trimester. But alas, the barfing would not stop.

APRIL
9 - We found out that we were going to be having a baby BOY!
11 - Lindsay co-hosted a bridal shower for her good friend Jessica (the one in the sombrero)

12 - Celebrated Easter with numerous egg hunts and too much candy

18 - Emily turned 18 months old
19 - Emily went to nursery for the first time. Oh happy day! She ran in and has never looked back.

MAY
2 - Robert participated in Scout-a-rama. He loved every second of it.
25 - Began work on the nursery for baby #2

JUNE
7 - Lindsay's Grandma Payne passed away
10 - Robert's dad Alvin had surgery and Robert took some time off work to help out
12 - Attended funeral for Grandma Payne
15 - Closed on our house in Tooele. Yay for one mortgage payment!
16-17 - Lindsay attended YW Girls Camp. Robert came up for Visitors Night.

JULY
3-4 - Installed new sprinkler system, well Dale did. Robert moved dirt, Lindsay watched Emily, and Emily went swimming, carried around dirty hazardous metal flags, and fell in the trenches.



AUGUST
10 - Lindsay started working half days at work. She was very happy.
23 - Attended the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah temple
27 - Lindsay chopped off 13 inches of hair and donated it to Locks of Love


SEPTEMBER
3 - First Utah football game of the season (our favorite time of year!). Go Utes!
4 - Lindsay went on full-time maternity leave
7 - Our first trip to the Hogle Zoo

17 - Chase joined our family!

18 - Emily and Chase got a new cousin named Kimber
21 - Lindsay and Chase came home from the hospital where the real fun began

OCTOBER
5 - Lindsay's stepdad Dale left for a one year deployment to Iraq
18 - Emily turned 2 years old
29 - Robert and Lindsay attended Odyssey Dance's THRILLER with all the girls in Lindsay's family. Robert loved being a part of girls night!
30 - Robert began his part-time job of doing removals for funeral homes
31 - Celebrated Halloween with a princess and a giraffe


NOVEMBER
1 - Chase was blessed. I realized that I never even blogged about this and that would be because we didn't take any pictures besides the family one that has been our header thing. Poor neglected second child. He was blessed by Robert and it was great. We had a get together at our house following the blessing. Later that night the infamous pooping on the Snow White dress occured.

10 - We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary by staying overnight at a local hotel, eating Olive Garden, and enjoying being childless. Thankfully Chase was sleeping really well at night and Lindsay's mom was very brave.
12 - Our actual 5 year Anniversary. This is also the day Lindsay officially quit her job. Hallelujah!

DECEMBER
19 - Attended the Cathy Cookie School. Today's lesson: sugar cookies.

25 - Chase's first Christmas!

We wish you all a Happy New Year!

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.