Christmas at Folly Beach in South Carolina

We truly had the time of our lives as we stayed at an amazing beach house that was built just last year. My (Camille's) entire family came and we rented a beach house at Folly Beach for a week. It was amazing to look out the back windows and see the sunrise, sunset, and listen to the waves crash as we went to sleep. The kids had a wonderful time with their cousins, and enjoyed playing pool up on the top deck and using the inside elevator! The beach house had 5 full bedrooms with their own bathrooms, and each one had a view of the beach from the bedrooms. It was exquisite in design as well as in decor. I think I know what it must be like to be "rich" for a week. It was just amazing. My parents only live about 40 minutes from the house, so we were able to make trips as needed. There was cooking, laughing, chilling, playing with babies, eating, running on the beach (one of my favorite parts), and did I say eating? My wonderful sister in law made the most amazing "Gorilla Bread" for breakfast on Christmas Eve. I KNOW I gained 5 pounds just from that. We had a range of grandchildren from the ages of 14, 10, 7, 3, 10 months, and the newest addition of 5 weeks. It was a beautiful place to stay and it was amazing to be there with all the people I love the most. I feel richly blessed that we had this wonderful opportunity and a once in a lifetime experience. I know my kids will talk of this trip for many years and I will cherish the memories as well.

Tag I'm it!

Some of the jobs I've had: I worked in the shoe department at Mervyn's (boy did I buy a lot of shoes then), employee at Blimpies (sucked), I wore the ugly purple suit and worked at the Cineplex Odion Movie Theaters. The outfit was horrid, like Barney or something, I worked at TCBY, I was a waitress/hostess at JB's (now THAT was fun working the 6:00 pm to 2:00 am shift), a violin teacher for 10 years, and NOW a 5th grade school teacher.
Favorite reads: Well honestly, in the past 4 years, not much except school text books, but I love Jane Eyre, The Work and the Glory Series, as well as anything by Mary Higgins Clark.
Favorite things to do: Putting on my pajamas and CHILLING with my family, eating in bed, going to a good movie, going out on my weekly date with Jeff on Friday nights, watching my incredible children play soccer, camping, going to pageants, plays, and being with favorite friends.
Places I've lived: Charleston, SC, Orem, Utah, PG, Utah, and Lehi, Utah
Favorite things to eat: Beets, chocolate, a pork burrito from Cafe Rio, and most importantly, anything that I can eat out and not make (just kidding, NOT SEAFOOD!)
Places I'd rather be: NOT at school teaching 31 students. JK. Probably laying on the beach with a strawberry daquiri in my hand (virgin of course).
Words I like the sound of: "Mom, you are the coolest mom ever!" Goodnight, Good morning, My husband's voice, and my kids laughing (I know that isn't a word).
Now I'm tagging Becca and Janelle!!!

Happy Halloween

Well it has taken me long enough to get a new post up. I am sorry. I will try to be better. Here are the halloween pics. The boys sure had fun, and so did I as Queen Amadalla. The kids enjoyed trick or treating while Logan was off to his first "Co-ed" Halloween party. I can't believe it. Hayden and Garrett decided they were finished trick or treating by about 7:15. I was THRILLED. They came home and went next door to watch movies until 9:30. Jeff and I were HOME ALONE. It was strange. It is the beginning signs that our kids are growing up. It makes me sad, but it was so fun to go around with the boys while they ran from door to door. The weather was beautiful as well.

Trip to Park City for Logan's Birthday

Our family took a little getaway to Park City to spend the night in a nice hotel and shop at the outlets for Logan's birthday. It was so much fun to swim in the pool and hang out together as a family. I am so busy lately, it was refreshing to just chill and bond with the kids! Hayden had a soccer game until 7:00 pm on Thursday night, so we loaded up the car and headed up after that! My sweet wonderful first born turned 14 on Friday!!!!! I have shed many tears and feel so thankful that he is part of our family and the joy he is each and every day in all of our lives. He is such a wonderful son and I am very blessed. It is hard to believe that he will graduate High School in 4 years and be on a mission in 5! I marvel at all he has already accomplished and continues to accomplish every day. He is the perfect example of what a son should be. Okay enough....we took up his presents and he got some "clothes" and a cool belt. He also got an awesome soccer ball from Hayden and a rifle nerf gun from Garrett. We swam, ate, laughed, and shopped. Then after a late night with his friends who decorated his bedroom with three layers of confetti (errrrrr) we cut and ate a Cold Stone Cookies and Cream ice cream cake. YUMMY! It was a very fun and memorable birthday I think. I sure loved it!

Nana and Grampa's visit

Nana and grandpa came to visit in September before they went to Lake Powell. We were so glad to be able to visit and get together with them. They came to the boys' soccer games and we were able to hang out with our cousins as well. We also got the priviledge of having grandpa's sister, my Aunt Judy and my cousin Debbie to come and visit as well. It was good to see them. We love family and feel so grateful to have so much family so close. The Lord has blessed us with so much.

A day in Jeff's life

I have yet to take the oppurtunity to share on the Cottlelifes blog site, and thought some of you may want to know what it is like to be the spouse of a school teacher. As many of you know with my job I have the oppurtunity to work from home quite a bit. I do spend time traveling and working in SLC. I'd say on average I work two weeks of the month at home. During those two weeks, with Camille now teaching, I'm not sure what takes more of my time during the day; my job, or the laundry, house cleaning, picking up the kids, running the kids to soccer practices, etc. It is quite the balancing act.

Camille is doing a wonderful job as a school teacher. On most nights she'll sit on the bed and grade homework all while talking and telling all sorts of events that happended that day at school. The funniest one to date was early one morning before school started, a parent of one of her students, was in the classroom. She had a stern look about her and wanted to know why her son wasn't bringing home any homework. Camille listened and responded with a list of the homework items the students are assigned each night, then she asked the student, "Johnnie can you explain to your mother why she hasn't seen your Math homework? She is suppose to be signing it off everyday?" Camille than pulled out the reading log he had turned in for August. The reading log is to be signed everyday by the parent. The reading log had signatures on it, but when the mother saw this she said, "I didn't sign that!". The student was caught and he knew it. Funny thing is school didn't start until August 20th yet the reading log was signed from Aug 1 all the way thru the 31st.
The best part of that whole experience was the manner in which Camille handled it. Knowing Camille for 15+ years when someone approaches her in a confrontational manner, which at the begining the students mother did, she'll usually respond by matching or exceeding the emotion, but in this case she approached the situation from a logical perspective keeping her emotions in tact.

This year has been an exciting year for me because Logan (our oldest) is now able to hunt. I love to hunt, been doing it since I was 14. We've been archery hunting and more recently Muzzleloader hunting. During the archery hunt we saw some nice bucks, shot at some, thought we'd shot one but really didn't. I've taken Logan out as much as his schedule (school, soccer) will allow and have gone out some on my own. Having never muzzleloader hunted before I decided last week to get up the canyon by myself and happened to come across this buck.







No complaints here....Life is Good.

I have made it a month and a half

I have actually treaded through 6 weeks of school. It is hard to believe how fast time flies. I know many of you want pictures, and I am planning on taking my camera to school on Monday and getting some pictures of my classroom as well as some pictures of my students. Is that bad to post pictures of my students? I don't want to get fired or anything. I would love to show you how cute my room is. I am quite proud of it actually. I am getting in my groove and even jump roped with some of my students at recess. Who would have thought. I guess I like them enough to show them attention even when I don't have too! I guess I am starting to enjoy it a little more than the last month. YUCK! It was not very fun, but I am seeing the connection I am making and their smiles on their faces when they "get it" in Math. THAT IS THE REASON I TEACH. It was fun however to receive my first pay-check! Yippee! I will post pictures very soon. Check back.

Starting my Fourth Week

I really cannot believe I have made it three weeks and will be starting my fourth week on Monday. I really love it. It is extremely hard, but I still believe going to school in Heber and then driving up to Park City every day for 4 months through the winter WAS MUCH WORST. I think it gets a little easier every day, and I want so badly to touch each of my students in a way where it reaches deep in their souls. I try to make my class a "safe" place to be, and with 7 resource kids, two Special Ed. students, and 31 students total, I really have quite a lot on my plate. I will keep you informed as the weeks go by. I appreciate all of your words of encouragement and love. I love all of you!!!

I SURVIVED MY FIRST WEEK!

I managed to make it through my first week of teaching 5th grade. Tuesday was a really rough day.....I came home and cried on my laundry room floor. Wednesday was a little better, and by Friday afternoon I felt much better as my students said, "See you on Monday Mrs. C". I felt a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart and knew that everything was going to be okay. I am going to try to get some pictures of my class/room to post soon. Sorry no pictures on this post. I will post the "First day of School for the boys" soon. Happy Teaching!!!!!!1

Strikerfest Soccer Tournament

Hayden and Logan participated in the first annual Strikerfest Soccer Tournament in Orem last weekend. It was so much fun going from game to game between Hayden and Logan playing. Both boys played incredible and extremely aggressive. It was very hot however, and in between games we made them sit in the shade. They both came in 2nd place and received medals. It was exciting and we are so proud of both of them. Hayden is now our star defender. No one can get passed him! He is SO FAST. If you have never seen Hayden sprint, it is quite a sight. Everyone was in "awe" of his speed. Logan is the star left mid. He always gets to the ball first and scored several goals for the team. He really has improved his kick! Way to go boys! We love you.

More pictures of our latest vacation

Camping up Fairview Canyon

We had such a wonderful and tranquil 4 days camping up Fairview Canyon. We went with our dear "camping friends" and loved letting the kids fish, swim, canoe, and 4-wheel. The kids LOVED hanging out with eachother and playing all sorts of games while the parents chatted. Logan caught an 18" trout. It was awesome!!!!! He was really excited. All the men were jealous. Garrett even got to drive the 4 wheeler(with my help of course). It was so beautiful and made me so grateful for the beautiful world our Heavenly Father has created. The temperature stayed at 82 degrees with a light breeze the entire time. It really was a wonderful trip.

Playing with cousin Mylie

We watched our darling cousin Mylie yesterday and it was so fun watching Garrett with her. He wanted to hold her and feed her all by himself. I thought I needed to get some pics with the camera. Precious!!!!

A Great Fourth of July

We sure had a wonderful Fourth of July. We started the morning off with a early trip down to Provo's Freedom Parade. Next we went to my families "Annual Barbecue/Water Fight". It was so much fun drenching each other. I believe my kids had more fun this year than ever before. Does everyone know how cold the water is that comes from an Orem hose? VERY COLD! We had a yummy lunch and finished our fun day at the neighborhood annual culdesac firework show. There were more people that attended than ever before! It was wonderful and great to watch the dad's acting like boys with the fireworks. All of the ladies sat and visited. It was nice. I feel very grateful for this beautiful country and the freedom that we are so priviledged to have. It was a great day with my family!!!!!

Garrett's Birthday Again

Garrett had a birthday on May 30th and for his birthday this year I decided to make him some ice cream clowns in sugar cones upside down. He thought that was fine. Well....I guess it wasn't. He has mentioned to me several times that he wished he got a birthday cake so that he could make a wish and blow out his candles. I had to rip the knife out of my heart. I have ALWAYS made my children a birthday cake for each of their birthday's. So, I decided to celebrate his one month anniversary on June 30th with a homemade cake with candles. Garrett was thrilled and made his wish and blew out his candles. Who knew?

Another Awesome trip to Miss Utah!

I just got back from an amazing week at the Miss Utah Pageant!! It was a lot of fun and many short nights of sleep! I had the four most amazing girls and loved being their "mom". None of them made it into the top ten, but one of them, Sheena Wilson won swimsuit preliminary on Tuesday night! I was proud of her. I was also very proud of my friend Jennifer who won swimsuit one night and made it to the top ten! She truly is amazing! I believe I get my "girl fix" while I am up there since I do not have any girls myself. It was a wonderful experience and I just marveled at all of the incredible talent that each of those 50 girls displayed. Even though it was the time of my life, I really missed my family and was thrilled to sleep in my own bed last night. I am so grateful for Jeff being "Mr. Mom" while I was gone. He is truly amazing.

Trip to Grandpa's for Father's Day!

We went up and saw Jeff's dad, his wife Cheryl, and their two dogs. It was a lot of fun to visit and spend time together. It is amazing how fast time flies without us getting together. He only lives in Taylorsville. There is no exuse!

Father's Day!

Sunday Jeff got lots of love from his family on Father's Day! He received Mountain Dew, Double Stuff Oreos, Swedish Fish, Gum, and Chocolate Reisens from his kids. Notice Jeff's face when he received the Mountain Dew. He loves his Mountain Dew! I gave him a new set of larger scriptures. He loves them. We sure love him and all that he does for our family!

Dinner with Miss Utah!

Our family was invited to a dinner at Miss Utah's Katie Millar's house. I was Katie's hostess last year at Miss Utah. She won and we have stayed great friends. She made top 10 at Miss America in January. It was very exciting! It was so much fun for her family to meet my family and to enjoy visiting. I will be heading off once again for this year's Miss Utah in less than 2 weeks. It was a lot of fun!

Funniest Video Ever!

CLICK ON CRAZY KID LAUGHING!
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Ward Campout!

We just got back from our Ward Campout up American Fork Canyon. We stayed in Altamont Campground and it was SO COLD! Logan and his friend Turner slept in a tent and it got down to 30 degrees or colder at night. Burrrrr! The boys also enjoyed going fishing with their dad and even catching some for a fish fry! It was really fun!

Garrett is now 7 years old

Garrett celebrated his 7th birthday yesterday with a fun party! He had 6 friends come over to go down to the school and play "wall ball" and soccer. They had a blast! They enjoyed hanging out and eating pizza and drinking pop. I even made some ice cream clown treats for dessert! The kids loved them. I can't believe my baby is already 7 years old. He is growing up so fast. It makes me sad. I think overall he had a terrific birthday! Happy Birthday Garrett, we love you!

More pictures of Moab

Here are more pictures of our trip to Moab. Notice Hayden running down the LARGE sand hill. We went to the North and South Windows in Arches National Park one night to watch the sunset. It was beautiful.

Camping in Moab

We just got back yesterday from an awesome weekend in Moab, Utah. It was beautiful and relatively cool. We camped with some friends and enjoyed hiking to many wonderful arches. Hiking Delicate Arch was a highlight to all of us. It was a strenuous hike but well worth it when we got to the top! We took the truck through some rough terain to get to Tucher Tunnel where you walked through a long tunnel. It was pitch black inside and very cool! We ate our lunch in that tunnel. The biggest highlight though was being able to climb up a HUGE hill of red sand and run down it! It was so funny to watch them! They had sand in every single crevace of their bodies! We are still finding that sand! On Sunday we found a church building in Moab and went to Sacrament meeting. It was nice to sit and listen to the talks and sing. The church really is the same wherever you go. It was truly a memorable trip for our family. We loved it!!!!

Garrett's Day at the Zoo

All of the 1st grade classes went to Hogle Zoo last Thursday. Garrett really wanted me to come and I was thrilled to go! We had a great time looking at all of the animals especially the Lynx and the Giraffe. I was in charge of 5 little 1st graders and really don't believe I enjoyed much of the zoo because I was constantly counting, "one, two, three, four, and five" all day. I was scared to death that I would lose one of them. The kids got to ride on a REAL bus not just a school bus. They thought that was amazing. I was glad to be able to spend that time with my Garrett! He just LOVES animals. Hogle Zoo was a "notch down" from the San Diego Zoo that we went to last month. It was fun anyway!