Christmas Eve. Colorado Friends. 2010

Some of us gals! Ashley, Amy and I.

The Coon's, Folters, and Stott's got together for Christmas Eve.

We were the only one's without family in town or off visiting family for Christmas (yet..)

WE knew we had to create a fun atmosphere for the kids and have a great Christmas Eve.

Without having Gma and Gpa around, or cousins to fill the time,

we become family here.

awesome.

I was glad to host again,

(With a finished basement. it helps! t.v's, Wii, Playstation,

basketball hoop it up, a castle and toys...

We had 13 kids between us all.

We gathered at 6:00 for our Christmas EVe program:

Desserts, the Nativity, and Christmas songs.

Then let the kids play and play.....

It was great.

Ashley has the cutest little twin girls ever!

They fill my void for missing my nieces and nephews.

Brooklyn and Brinely are 11 months olds now...I love helping Ash out with them.

Here are pics of the rest of the evening....loves!

Merry Christmas!

fabulous Christmas food!

Getting ready for the Nativity.

Ashlyn was Mary

I Found this pic of all us girls from the friend party...

thought I would post it...so cute!

Off to Utah!!!!

my family, friends, cousins, mountains, parties, Jazz games, lunches, pink sugar cookies, new years eve, cousin parties, sister love....yay!

oh and SNOW!

Utah! I love you!

Merry Christmas 2010~

Wishing you a very, Merry Christmas!

The shopping is over, the hustling and bustling is done,

Christmas day is here.

Parties are over, gifts have been passed out, songs have been sung,

and lastly,

our Christmas eve toasts....

have been made.

Cheers.

Cheers to a very Merry Christmas Colorado season 2010.

Thanks Folster's and Coon's families.

for a fabulous Christmas Eve! post later...

Love you all.



xo!

I think Santa has arrived...!

A Winter Colorado Wonderland.

Our Merry Christmas weeks has been great!

Lots of fun Christmas activities, Christmas shopping, Christmas gifts, Christmas EVERYTHING.

Besides having no snow, we are having a fabulous month.

It is definitely NOT a winter wonderland,

but us Stott's have tried to create one!

(and we are booking a weekend away with the kids up to Winter Park, CO..yay!

that place is a winter wonderland! dreamy, snowy mountains!)

Last weekend we took the kids to see Santa and go iceskating.

We have the cutest outdoor mall close by that is amazing.

It has the cutest outdoor skating rink....my kids LOVED it!
WE saw Santa, went iceskating, and then had lunch.

It was such a fun day together...

>


do you see santa clause???

That is the closest pic I got of Santa's face.

The mall would NOT allow personal cameras.

They wanted 27.99 for a 5 X 7 of Mace.

No way I was going to pay that!

But Mace and Jake got their wishes by

whispering to Santa what their

little hearts desired.

It was cute and worth the over the hour wait....!

Can I say that I have LOVED your Christmas cards!

With us living away, they mean even more.

I went to Pier one and bought the cutest pic holder..

you see it in the pic below?

I will definitely do a card every year now....thanks for all your cute ones!


Man oh man, we have been running...from Christmas parties,

neighbor gifts, friend gifts, coworker gifts, school parties, church parties, teacher gifts...etc

the wrapping and running never stop.

Every night we are off doing something....we are loving it though!

12 days are over tomorrow! wow it went by fast..

we have really enjoyed sneaking up and ringing the bell and running! .

Ry surprised me yesterday and told me to go buy a

cute chair and pic for our bedroom!

the final touch!

We rearranged last week and suddenly

it needed a chair and pic....

I was off...I had so much fun picking out the furniture.

I found the most beautiful copper and brown's.

I love it.

I will put a better pic later up of the whole room put together..

Oh do you LOVE it?? I do.

I stared at it all night.

The colors are fab-u-lous!


The Stott's are enjoying Christmas. No sports has made my life a dream!

We are making great memories here.

And soon we are off to Utah too...cannot wait! Double the fun!

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas from the Stott Family in Colorado!

We love you and wish you all the BEST!

Now off for the final days of the 2010 Christmas Season!

Tomorrow evening....Christmas Eve at our house with Folster's and the Coon's!

Then Santa Clause arriving on our roof...!

xo!
p.s Tonight is the Brown Adult Christmas Party

(at the Mountain House.

Oh I can only imagine the setting...snow on every branch,

my moms' beautiful tree, a candlelight dinner...all the Browns!)

what can I say except that I will really miss it and

my heart is with all of my family in Utah...

I want to hear all about it...the fancy dinner,

the over the top white elephants,

the Christmas testimonies...

it is my favorite night of the year!

Love you guys.
~check out last years Brown party here...2009. I laughed at the white elephants!

Oh what a great night...!

Fun Christmas night, friend gathering, good times

December 10, 2010

~~Friend Christmas dinner.~~

Stott home.

Stott's, Schramm's, Rennaker's, Coons, Bagley's, and Folster's.
A Colorado Christmas Evening with friends.

I was so excited to host. I love a fun Christmas party. Especially a great night with friends. We decided on favorite Christmas desserts and appetizers. WE also did white elephants. We wanted an easy evening where we could all hang out and chat, eat treats, open gifts and have a good evening. I made homemade caramel, chocolate covered rice krispies, white chocolate cookies and Artichoke Parmesan dip.
As usual, I find no time to blog! I just want to say that the party was great, we had such a good time with our friends.

Now off to Christmas fun...always so much to do!

One more week until the big day! we are so excited....

Here our pics from the night...Merry Christmas!

All of us hanging out.

We got our plates of food and drinks and talked the night away....

No kids! what a miracle!!

All the cute hubbies.

Left to Right

(Ryan, Matt,Brian, Ryan, Darren, and Michael)

okay here come the girls....sorry I put up a few of us!

We just couldn't get a good shot!

Love these girls!

(and why am I next to the shortest girl..Amy?! haha)

Left to right...(Ashley, Mandi, Amy, me, Jodee, and Stacie)

All of us!

We all have so much in common.

We are all lucky to be stay at home mama's.

(we have 24 kids between all of us!)

WE have Tues playgroups and lots of play dates with our older kids.

We love to have a girls night every once in awhile (when we can fit it in!)

(oh and hit the mall and lunch during school hours :)

ummm, I had to add a pic of my cutest Christmas shirt. (Don't laugh!) I love it.

Love the twirly flowers. They make me so happy.

I bought a similar one for Ry's work party.

.(it was last night in Boulder! so fun!)


Isn't it pretty???
The Ladies.

Hanging out.

(by the food!)

Like I said earlier, I am so lucky to know these girls (and families)!

They are such great friends.

The night was great....we ate, laughed, had some funny white elephants!

WE also had some good laughs with the game, Loaded Questions...!"

Thanks for the party friends!

(we have been in Colorado now for 6 and a half months! wow!)

Merry Christmas! Loving it...

oh and here is a pic of Ry and I going to his work party at a

restaurant in Boulder last night....

xo!

okay, by the way..........

~Utah in 2 weeks! (omg, yay....sooo excited! I have made so many plans and still want plans w all of you....)

~Jake just finished his big Biography project and presented it today...good job Jakey.)

~Ashlyn just found out she broke the Junior High record in the Turkey Trot mile!!!

She got awarded with a trophy and a plaque ( I do have a pic!)

and will get put in the awards window.

(she beat all 6, 7, and 8th grade girls and all the boys but 2!) way to go ash!

~ I no longer teach sunbeams..(sad!) but now have 12 active 10 year olds in church! I team teach with my cute friend, Jodee!

~we are loving our twelve days of christmas service...only 8 days left!

~the kids are doing so great with filling the manger with straw! The cutest thing ever with Jake helping Mace today....love watching the kids do secret service!

~we miss the snow and are (possibly) going up tomorrow to Breckinridge or Boulder mountains to get it! (what is up with 70's in December??)

~we didn't do a Christmas card this year...why?! I should of because I have so many great pics of our colorado adventures! I will get to it next year! I have received so many of yours and LOVE them! thank you!)

I Believe in Santa Claus

From Santa we learn to

give and receive.

From Jesus we learn to

love and be loved.

We love Him, because He first loved us.

(1 John 4:19)

Candlelit Family Home Evening.

Read: "I Believe in Santa Claus."

Santa Claus is a symbol of Christmas.

The symbols of Christmas can remind

us of the true meaning of Christmas.

The symbols of Christmas remind me of Christ.

So, I believe in Santa Claus.

Read Luke 2 aloud.

"For unto you is born this day

in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord..."

Talk about why we celebrate Christmas and what we can do

to remember the true meaning.

The book, a perfect introduction to our

12 Days of Christmas.

It has begun.

"As we express our Gratitude, we must never forget

the highest appreciation is not to utter the words,

but to live by them." JFK

The kids so excited.

Bundled up and headed out the door.

Gift in hand, sneek up to the house, ring the door....run! Happy hearts.

For giving is so much more rewarding than receiving.

Rewards on both ends.

Hopefully the little girl (more on her later!) we picked will be excited too.

Merry Christmas.

Love, the Stott's!

And may we all remember the true meaning of Christmas!

(and yes, the kids are in pajama's!)

Christmas in Colorado.

Stott Christmas Tree.2010

HI guys! I miss you! I have had no time to blog. Sad for me because I love it, but I don't have the time like I used to..hopefully I can keep it up!

With the Holidays here, life of course has been busy, but also so sweet for the Stott's! You know me, Christmas is my favorite!.....I love love all the fun with parties, decorations, Christmas stories, and gatherings...etc! I love to create a Christmas atmosphere in our home!

I do want to say I have missed Utah a bit more lately. We had a fabulous 2009 back home. I think we had a party to go to every night with family, cousins, friends, class parties, concerts..etc. WE loved it. But now we are treading a new course here in Colorado. It is a whole new world being away from our loved ones knowing we are missing out on the traditions. But, with being a way from Utah, I couldn't ask for more. We are creating new memories and forging new traditions on our own. Really, if I can't have my fam, we at least we have made some amazing friends. And the Stott kids have made some great friends too and we have had so much quality family time (remember NO sports till January..I am loving it!)...This is such an exciting time in our lives right now.

In fact, I am off to a Christmas party I am hosting for our friends out here. Twelve of us. A great christmas evening with friends! Love it! We had Thanksgiving with these couples as well. They are great!..they have become our family out here. We feel lucky to have found such a great group. Hopefully I can get some pics of the party! Now off to to the night...loves!

Here are just a few pics of what has been going on lately....Christmas parties, Mace's preschool Christmas performance, Christmas Family Home Evenings...(our favorite!), and lots of Christmas LOVE at the Stott's!

Love you all and MISS you my fam back home in Utah!!!!

(oh my goodness. Look closely at Mace, front and center! He is in a t-shirt for his big christmas performance! I had NO idea it was such a big performance! It was in a library auditorium so I thought low key. Nope! Christmas best (even though was told to wear what is comfortable...! ahhh I almost didn't put him on stage! But I had to do it! and of course, he is the tallest so he is in the middle....oh embarrasing mama moment :)

I have wrapped all my gifts! I love it.

It goes with my Christmas decor.

Christmas Fam home evenings!

Christmas Oranges, The Last Straw, The 12 days of Christmas (starts tomorrow! yay), Christmas toasts and compliments!

such a perfect opportunity to teach the kids about service and love!

my kiddos. love them!I have more pics of all of our festive fun! WE have 4 more parties coming up this week!

and OH how WE can't WAIT for Utah...our Christmas Cousin party, friend parties, lunches, sleepovers, Jazz games, special breakfast's..oh yes!

more later!
Merry Christmas from Colorado!

p.s Have I told you we miss the snow??! Where is it in these Rocky Mountain High places? John Denver is not right...we have been in high 50's and 60's ALL week. So Utah, just for the moment, I dearly miss those dark skies with blizzards and warm houses with hot cocoa. Because for now, no winter coats here..just blue blue skies and long sleeve weather!

and p.s. My hair is getting LONG. (and to long, need to get a cut! big time!)

p.s.s I hope you are watching the SINGOFF! a family show. The best. My kids are in love. We can't wait for it. Our favorite group (well my favorite group) is Jerry Lawson and the Talk of the Town! Go to Itunes and download! sweet.

xo!