summer craziness and potty training days....

Seriously, I'm exhausted and I need to vent.

Potty training is the worst!

Boys, ugh! stand up or sit? Use the real potty or a baby potty? This time a whole new

approach for Mace: the big potty and sitting! (Usually baby potty)

But sadly today, Mace is 0 pees for 3 on the floor. No big potty for him, nope!

I asked him every 5 min over and over and over and ovvvvver.

He went outside and felt the wind (he's buck with just Diego undies) and

then he yelled to me, "mom, I got to gooooo...."

too late

as peep trickled to a puddle on the sidewalk.

ohhh sigh,

Then I have Jake and Aus fighting over the new lawnmower box.

(remember ours got stolen)

So we bought a new lawnmower and the boys were out in the yard fighting over the box.

I just finished cleaning the 4 bathrooms, did 5 loads of laundry (seriously how do I have sooo much more laundry in the summer!) did the dishes, cleaned the family room and vacuumed the house in it's entirety.

(and I know I will do it all over again in 5 min....)

I'm exhausted.

Summer is tiring.

and you know I love summer but I also need a little mom break. Maybe just hang with the girls

at lunch or shop at the mall for one quiet hour by myself like I did in the winter....

Quiet, peace, no noise.

Meanwhile, I am off to Scout pack meeting and Mace is crying cuz he has peeps on his legs

and Jake is crying cuz his box is ripped and all I hear is my name over and over, "mom, mom, mom, MOM!"

But today was still somewhat lovely because today they had games and prizes at the Secret Pool.

Yes the Secret Pool. ahhhh nice.

Don't know why they hosted a party but they did.

Kids won hats, t-shirts, candy, and prizes. They were in heaven,

and us mom's loved the break cuz the kids were happily entertained.

But guess what?! They had a raffle with a grand prize-

we all put our names in, us mom's 18 and over,

So the girl stood, picked a name and

she announced,

"the winner is......"

Tawny Stott! Wahoo

I cheered, my sis's cheered and I won

a Beach Canopy Cabana, 4 lip glosses, 2 swedish fish bags, and sunscreen for my face.

Not bad eh!

So summertime is the best, but honestly much more demanding on my time.

Mom time.

Kids need me, I need to drive or to cook or to clean or to dress or entertain....

And I am simply exhausted and wish I could just sit down and watch my 5 episodes of the Bachelor (not lovin' Jillian though. and Wes is a jerk!) or

maybe watch Jon and Kate try to reconcile their 10 years of marriage. sad!

I just want to veg and not worry about a thing.

I hope all ya'll mom's can relate to me cuz I need some mama support!

AND I will leave with a few things, well crafty things and I am SO NOT crafty. at all.

While Ry and the kids were away, I shut down the blog, turned off t.v's and just got a few projects done. Things I could never ever do when I am a mother to 4 kids especially on our summer schedule.

So thanks for listening to me rant and vent

I seriously feel so much better. seriously (and yes, I do like that word.)

The boys wall.....I painted their letters to match the stars and papers I picked out. Ry wants no paint yet, so I got creative and put some color up on the wall!

My way.

I am switching their colors to green, yellow and brown.

Ashlyn's wall. We did paint her room PINK b/c she got away with the no paint one year rule b/c she is the only girl. But anyway, I didn't do much but add color to her picture frames. I added color paper to her pics and flowers.

It's not that baby pink in real life...

and I added little flowers too.


Don't really know why I made this pic of Ash, I stayed up real late one night b/c I discovered a basement window O P E N and I was home alone for 4 nights....

I was only a LITTLE (okay a lot) afraid. I barricaded all the doors and looked in every dark closet in the house. (with a knife and cell phone! AND don't tell me you haven't done the same?!)

Then I watched Bride Wars till 2:00 a.m. and made this pic for Ash's room. Like I said, it was great to do something totally out of the ordinary!














Haven't quite finished her blessing dress wall.....looking for a big white star....

In our bedroom I bought window treatments, hallelujah cuz the sun was wakin' us up bright and early. (not quite properly hung..just with tacks so far.....)

And yes we have shutters for the windows, but we have box windows above them. Annoying!

Then I finally started decorating our bathroom with a frame, plant and candlestick. Easy stuff, nothing to fancy. But I enjoy it.

Now off to the kids, we have sleepovers with the cuz's,

here we go again.

But I am lovin' it most of the time... right mom's??

Oh

and please, please

wish me

good luck with

Mace's potty training....

pray

for no more

pee pee puddles

and misses!

straight in the hole!

(yeah right...ha!)

Welcome Home

Welcome Home Mom and Dad!

~President and Sister Brown, Mission Presidents of the Utah South Mission~

July 1st 2006- June 29th 2009

Wow. 3 years....come and gone.

Now you are officially home!

WE had to have a welcome home party...

Poster board signs, yellow balloons, yellow ribbons, big signs...

We got it all ready for June 29th.

12:00 noon sharp!

WE all got there early to make sure we were all in place.

We couldn't believe today was finally their release date.

Home. Home. Home. For. Good.

Mace was 3 months old when they left!

So much has happened so much has changed. But it is all good!

I picked up yellow balloons to hand out to all the grandkids. Jake and Ash got their signs all ready!

We all gathered in front of the Mountain house waiting for their car to drive up the street.


Then all the grandkids wanted to line the street

as they drove up.....

So all 25 plus kids stood on different corners.

(BTW, look how tall and cute my nephew, Brendan is! He is the 2nd oldest grandchild)

WE heard someone yell, "they're coming....!"

Kids got soo excited.

They started jumping up and down.
Here they come! ! ! ! !

My mom was crying, my dad was smiling.

and then the kids started chasing their car all the way to the house....











It was a moment in time to remember.

Grandma and Grandpa, blue skies, yellow balloons, kids smiling, and warm summer air!

what a day!

Jakers runnin' so fast.....

Welcome Home mom and dad!

Amber got the first hug!

Grandma getting out of the car. She was bombarded with grandchildren. Happy kids they were!

W E L C O M E H O M E ! !

It was like the good ole' days!

Then we had a picnic outside in the back of the Mountain House.

We have all missed hanging out together there.

I love the mtn. house! The Stott fam has fond memories of living there for 4 months. WE made it our home while we were there~

Glad they decided to stay at their house... We all love being so close to the mountains.

IT. JUST. FEELS. LIKE. HOME!

(Man I look super tall. I morph over my mom! :)

Most of the cousin girls!

Such a cute pic~

And can I say we are so H A P P Y to have Emily, Claire, and Jackson with us for the summer from Germany! WE love Claire and Jackson and the cuz's are so happy to have them around.













Thanks to Emily for supplying lunch for A L L of U S! Bear and Em have been so good to us.

Cade, Mace, Blake, Carson,Trey, and Dax:

The 6-pack

They didn't get off Grandma's lap all afternoon long. She is so cute with them, she hugged them and pushed them on the swings all day!

Mom you are B E A U T I F U L!


Mom and Dad checking out the house and yard....

3 years is a long time to be away. We all surprised them and came up earlier in the week and cleaned up the Mountain House:

Mowed, trimmed, weeded, raked like 324 bags of leaves. It was sparkling!

Love you guys and are SO happy to have you home.

MISSION IN NUMBERS:

~2800 baptisms in the year 2009.

~times 3 is 7800 converts. wow!

Go mom and dad!

Mission Pres:

~Dad did 30,000 emails in 3 years,

~ 260 personal interviews a month

~(that's 9, 360 interviews TOTAL) ,

~mom took maybe over 10,000 calls from Missionaries

who needed help.

~ Cooked 1000's of breakfast, lunch and dinners.

They loved, guided, and helped these missionaries be all they could be!

Glad you could serve your missionaries but so glaaad your back.

xoxo
W E L C O M E H O M E

Grandma and Grandpa Love- Kirtland, Ohio trip

Ry and the kids took a trip to go visit

Grandpa and Grandma Stott serving a mission

in Kirtland, Ohio.

Grandma Suzy and Grandpa Jerry...the kids miss them soooo much!

This mural is so beautiful. I would love it in my house.

We are so proud of Gma and Gpa.

They both love their mission.

They served an 18 month mission and have 4 months left!
(and I do have to say I love this pic of them!)

Jerry and Suzanne always knew they wanted to serve a mission after they retired.

The school kids were sad to lose their favorite teacher and Coach to retirement and then Suzanne sold her dance studio, 'Suzanne's School of Dance' (The cutest dance studio in Sugarhouse she built ground up with 250 plus kids that she taught all by herself! She did all the costumes and dance concerts too! wow)

A year later they were off.....!

This trip was more than the kids could of even imagined. The sights, the new places, and seeing gma and gpa was the greatest!

Thanks Gma and Gpa for such a great trip.

(By the way, this post is not finished! I had to get these pics published on my post b/c my computer erased them the first time! 3 hours of work G O N E. So just know this post in not quite complete!)

Ry and his parents. We have missed them. It has been so strange to have B O T H sets of parents gone. But we our so grateful for both of their examples. Missionaries for our church...awesome!
Kirtland Temple was the first temple ever built. It was dedicated in March 27, 1836. Under the instruction by Joseph Smith it took 3 years to complete.

It plays such an important part in our church history.

We were so excited the kids got to see Kirtland.

This Temple is so beautiful- the simple architecture and clean lines are pleasing to the eye. It truly amazes me they built this by hand.


These are the rocks they used to build the Kirtland temple.

At the base of Gildersleeve Mountain they quarried Berea Sandstone.

The people gathered lumber and gravel from the pits of Gildersleeve they also donated pottery, glass, and building materials to build the Temple.

All the cute boys!

Pews outside of the Kirtland Temple.
Can I sit here for church? I would love an outdoor setting! Fresh air..nice!

Especially in the Summer!

The doors at Kirtland Temple.

I love the olive green color....

Barn at the Johnson Farm

~Gpa and gma served their first 6 months of their mission at the Johnson Farm ~

(about 30 miles from Kirtland)

It was hard work and long hours but they really enjoyed their time there.

Johnson farm house.
so lovely.
I really love the wooded trees.
and I love the style of the homes.
I wish we built homes with more character and charm like these!



Joseph Smith and his family moved to the home of John and Elsa Johnson in Hiram, Ohio in 1831. During that year Joseph was there it served as the headquarters of the church. In March of 1832, Joseph Smith was tarred and feathered close to the home. The next day, despite his injuries, Joseph still preached outside the home to his gathered congregation.

Amish

Good for the kids to learn about other cultures. They thought they looked like pioneers. close!




Cemetery where Joseph Smith twins were buried.
The story is so sad and hard to hear.
John Johnson was also buried here.

.....

Off to the next adventure.....

Nelson Ledges State Park!

The kids loved it. Gma and Gpa kept them so busy. It was great.

A 2 mile walk of dramatic ledges and tight crevasses. Along the way there are waterfalls and cool caves nestled among the ledges.

Jake's words: spooky Scooby Doo caves! cool

Entering into the Spooky Forest......

There were tall rock ledges everywhere with green moss growing all over them.

One of the kids favorite sights to see!

They explored it all afternoon long.....!

Kirtland School house

Love the red color, so charming and inviting!

It was built in 1814 but rebuilt for more space in 1819.

Grandpa laying down the school law!

Ironically Grandpa was the best school teacher ever- and Coach!

Playing school!

Gma and Gpa were so knowledgeable. The kids loved to learn about the history of our church. It was so fun to finally see what they have learned about their entire lives.

Awesome

Love her face.

Is Ashlyn's answer right or wrong? Can't tell....

They each took a turn being the teacher.

Ahh the simple basics of learning arithmetic, spelling, and writing.

I wish school was this easy now!

A close walk from the school and athe Newell K Whitney store is the
Kirtland Ashery.

This Ashery was valuable to the members of the church to help finance the construction of the Temple. The Ashery produced Alkali which was needed for the production of textiles, glass, gun powder, tanned leather, paper and soap. The AShery processed ashes into potash and pearlash (2 forms of Alk) and then sold to other manufacturing plants around the country.

Grandma teaching the kids how to work away! What tough work and to only earn 5 cents the whole day?!
Wow.

Love the outfit Ash.

Not quite working retail at Nordstroms is it?!
Newell K Whitney General store established in 1826.

First store in Kirtland



It reminds me of Little House on the Prarie~

So cute.

I'm just waiting for Nellie and Willy to appear!

Ringing of the Bell!

One of the kid's best experience.

Supposedly no one gets the privilege of ringing the Kirtland Temple bell each Sunday. BUT Jerry and Suzanne had hook-ups.

50 rings. Sunday morning. 9:00 A.M. Sharp!

(AND, yes, in the Temple they were in church clothes....but they didn't have a camera.

This is a reenactment!)

Can I just say I love our church!





Carnival! Strawberry Days at Kirtland.
The kids were in heaven to be at a Carnival.
Cotton Candy, rides, prizes, and games!





Then the kids sadly said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and took off to Niagra Falls for the day.

Niagra Falls!
Beautiful. I was so jealous when I saw these pics
Blue skies, white rushing water, God's creation!

The kids have never seen anything like this ever!!

Cave of the Winds!
wow! windy! waves! water!

They got to walk right up under the raging water! So cool

I love this view of Niagra.
I know they did the American side and the Canadian side.
The water falling down over the bridge would be so great to see in person! I am jealous!

Seriously amazin'

I do need to commend Ry on his picture taking! Good job Ry...all 384 pictures...sweet to think of me and my blog. But that is lots of pics. This post took me forever!!

I think one of my fav....

I have to finish this post and I will!
But the kids want to thank Grandma and Grandpa for making such a memorable trip.

The kids had such a great time and they loved seeing where Gma and Gpa serve. I also think it was great for the kids to see outside of the Rockies and see some of our Church history. It was a great experience for them and memories to last a lifetime!

Thanks Gpa and Gma Stott!

Love ya


(This song playing is written by John Deere, one of my good friends, Dani's bro-in law! This song is about Joseph Smith. Great Soundtrack. We love it around here.)