Family Colorado Christmas~

This is what it is all about! :)

Love my fam.

Merry Christmas 2011-

Friend Christmas Party-2011

We had our annual Friend Christmas Party. We invited 9 couples .

It was such a great evening.

Stacie, Mary, Aileen, me, JoDee, Amy, Kaly, Jessica (and Summer not in pic)

These gals have become near and dear to my heart!

We had a full house! It was a perfect Christmas evening.

All the wives with their hubbies. (no kids :)

((notice the new kitchen island yay!

deep brown with accents of black and reddish ruby's. swirled with

flecks of diamond. love love))

WE each brought an appetizer and dessert and exchanged

white elephants and gifts.

We chatted and laughed well into the night :)

I loved it.

I feel so grateful to have a great group of friends.

With leaving my family, I need that for my heart :)

Merry Christmas to you all!

( I just got back from the Brown adult Christmas party in UT-man it was great!)

Feels good to be home to snowy Colorado! loving the snow

Ashlyn's new room :)

Ashlyn has wanted to redo her room since we moved here.

She had chocolate brown walls. She wanted the opposite:

A beach theme. Blues, whites and accent in brown.

Do you like it? Different huh?!

I came up with this fun idea for wall's:

Pick a color & scheme and put the

thick cardstock, colored paper up piece by piece.

Then design the color and textures as you go.

I think in the end, it turned out good.

Ashlyn really liked it, so that is all that matters.

Not my favorite colors, but it is not up to me anymore.

It was hard to give her the freedom to pick the wall color

(ohhh so blue. too blue for my liking)

BUT she wanted her beach theme.

We hung a cute white ruffle curtain and we switched out the pink.

We have hung a few more fun pics on the wall. SHe loves it.

I need to post a final pic :)

p.s redoing my kitchen as I type. The granite man is late in delivering my new

granite island. (I have had NO kitchen ALL week! ugh)

Hopefully by redoing this part of the kitchen,

I will have more space to COOK! :)

C H R I S T M A S parties, fun, & traditions 2011

OH I love Christmas. It is the best time of the year.

I am grateful for:

...wonderful Christmas Family Home Evenings.

(Christmas Oranges, The Last Straw, Gift of the Magi, I believe in Santa Clause..traditions of books and magical Christmas meanings )

I am grateful for great Young Women Christams lessons.

(I taught. J O Y. Jesus. Others. Yourself)

I am grateful for afternoon Christmas brunch with girlfriends (first pic)

I am grateful for traditions with my kids that keep them going.

I am grateful for the excitement of buying gifts for one another,

and eagerly awaiting to give.

I am grateful for notes and gifts that are on the doorstep, exciting to open each one.

I am grateful for christmas cards full of photos and notes that catch us up on loved ones.

I am grateful the 12 days of Christmas, this year, the 12 random acts of kindness-

(the lesson that giving is FAR better than receiving)

I am grateful to go to church to remember the true meaning of christmas.

I am grateful for Christmas parties to laugh, hang out with good friends

and eat lots of Holiday goodies

(I invited Mons, Christensens and Rennakers for Christmas dessert :)

I am grateful for my sweet family, my kids and Ryan. Every day I feel so so grateful.

(So behind on my blog...Christmas is so busy with teaching yw, hosting parties, Christmas lessons, FHE's, neighbor gifts, friends, etc...!)

Merry Christmas~ more pics to come..

Tawny

Fancy Night ~Buell theater~Lion King

Buell theater above.

(photo off my phone)

And then I got

yelled at for taking the pic. whoops!

Ry and I finding our seats for Lion King.

It was so so fun to dress up, go to a fancy dinner

(at the Denver Performing Arts)

and hit a Broadway show.

The Lion King.

(the most visually stunning production I have EVER ever seen)

Ry's work took us (and RY invited some of his clients to go too)

It was f a b u l o u s!

A night to get away, relax and enjoy time with Ry.

(my skirt has the cutest black ruffles..

you can't tell in the pic! But oh, it is my new fav skirt. MACEY'S)

What a great evening, one I won't forget.

I have loved getting to see all the great places in Colorado.

Downtown Denver is beautiful.

There is so much to offer. We are loving it :)

P.S With Ryan gone in UT, I opened my Christmas present early (oops)

and wore them to church...

I soooo love them :)

I love those boots! Oh I want to buy 10 pair!

and love my Victoria Secret Lounge wear outfit. (Black).

They are so darn comfy and fit so perfectly.

I also got my very first Kitchenaid. wahoo!

Now I have no excuses to make some homemade bread :)

Colorado Skies ~

I took this pic 5 days ago, outside my back window.

THe skies in Colorado are...just beautiful.

I had no idea that a sky could be so big. and colorful.

and it goes on and on.

we have 300 plus days of sunshine here,

it makes my heart sooooo happy.

(my trade off for leaving my sisters :)

(another view out back. The morning sunrise. I get to see this every day!)

In Utah, we get those big beautful Rocky Mountains (still my favorite ever!)

BUT, they B L O C K the view of the skies.

I have the Boulder Mountains to the west of us (10 miles away..)

But flat to the East (Kansas)

Thus all the views.

(and the morning sunrise is early. much earlier than utah.

The sun comes off the horizon..it is SO SO BIG.

Nothing blocks the sun. Ry and I's first morning here,

we were shocked at the sunrise! loved it

I took this pic out of Austin's bedroom window. Jake is playing hoops.

I took this a week ago. The weather was beautiful. 69 degrees.

When the sun is out so much, it just warms up the air.

that again, makes me soooo happy :) NO inversion here!

~Christmas 2011~

The tree is up, the time is here.

Christmas.

My favorite.

the traditions in place,

it is beginning.

Christmas stories by candlelight, picking names, straws for service,

the 12 days of christmas (our faaaavorite), music, lights,

happy, wonderful days ahead :)

Silent Night

An evening, with just me and the kiddos-

Ry is gone visiting his parents in Salt Lake.

The night before a magical evening (w/ Ry) in downtown Denver- (post later)

I took over for the weekend.

Jake's birthday party, basketball game..

Austin's basketball tournament in Colorado Springs-

Ashlyn wanting to Christmas shop and finish her room (post later)

Mason always wanting to be with me, needing his individual attention.

By Saturday night......exhausted. But happy.

I decided to shut it all down.

and we had game night.

Under the calming light of the christmas trees,

Alabama's Christmas playing in the background.

The kids loved it, playing games all together.

Quality time. time I get just with my kids.

It couldn't be anymore perfect.

...xo

4.0 twinners :)

Congrats to the twins. 4.0's

Austin and Austin have had a 4.0 every trimester (6th and 7th)

Ry and I are so proud of them.

We couldn't ask for better kiddos. We never have to ask them

to do their homework.

THey always finish their work,

and complete their tests and assignments.

WE took them out to get Mile Mud High Pie and bottomless fries.

Ohhh divine.

(we don't pay for grades. They know we expect their best.)

Their incentive: to get into BYU. :)

~a few notes about the twins.

Austin loves school. He works hard every day. His best subject is Math and Science.

But he has a passion for art. He would make a good engineer)

He loves basketball and has joined a competive team. The Blue Hornets. He has found so many great friends through the team. (I feel so happy for him knowing he finally found

a great group of boys.

Austin is kind and sweet. His heart is so pure and he is so good to me. He will always help me,

with dishes, putting away groceries, anything. I never ask, he is just always there to help me.

I sure love that boy.

Ashlyn enjoys school as well. She is shy and a bit quiet but has her little group of girls.

They are great and I am so happy she has these friends. She enjoys to write stories, write poems adn illustrate. Ashlyn is a bookworm. I can't keep a book out of her hand.

Her Kindle as over 100 books in a year.

She loves to learn about the earth, and how things are made.

SH e is always asking my so many questions that I can't even answer.

Her passion is life are animals. She just loves anything that is on this earth.

She wants to be a vet and own a houseful of pets. SHe loves dogs, kittens, bunnies..all the way down to spiders, butterflies and bugs. Anything that is alive. She has a tender heart and loves life.

Ashlyn is the secretary in Beehives and LOVES her young women's group.

I feel so lucky to be a part of that with her. She loves the scriptures and to learn all the stories.

I feel blessed to have Ashlyn, my only daughter :)

grateful for my twinners~

xo!

Thanksgiving 2011 - CO Springs~

Happy Thanksgiving. 2011

We went down to Brandon and Em's house in

Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving.

We had such a fabulous time with them.

My kids couldn't wait to be with their cousins.

Nothing beats that!

Emily is amazing. Her turkey and stuffing were so divine.

She used fresh Rosemary to flavor her turkey and gravy.

Goodness! It was some of the best I have ever had! Look at that spread!

My boys. love them.

After dinner, my brother drove us around the Army Base.

It was really neat to be able to see what a base looks like.

It was fun to listen to my bro and hear all his stories. Just amazing.

I am so grateful for all the honorable soldiers, officers..etc who serve our country.

We can't thank them enough.

(Brandon is a General Surgeon :)

We then drove to the Garden of the Gods

wow!

Look at this pic I took. It is stunning.

It toook my breath away when we pulled into the Canyon.

Just amazing!

(my brother, Brandon lives about 8-10 minutes away. SO lucky)

It was simply amazing-

These rock structures coming out of the earth.

In the middle of a mountain range, the glowing red rocks soar above the skyline.

Just beautiful.

(Claire, Ashlyn, Austin, Mace, Jake)

Me and my cute bro, Brandon. He is such a great guy.

I am so lucky to have him for a bro!
Yes! A bear! A big brown bear.. on someone's porch

eating a pumpkin!

I was so surprised! My bro said it's 'normal' to see bear around the neigborhood!

(what??! so crazy :)

Do you see my fingers? we were super close to the bear! yikes
We had such a great Thanksgiving with my brother Brandon and Em!

We loved it our time together.

One more fabulous memory for the Stott's !

We were so grateful to be able to spend the day with family.

It makes it so special. We won't forget 2011. All the great times we have had.

Love our cousins. Thanks Bran and Em!

Now Christmas is right round the corner!

xo!

Reflection

I am always reminded by my kids.

About life.

and the real reason we are here:

It's about

The simple things.

When all the noise goes away, the craziness clears and the sun goes down,

we remember

what life is about:

(my kids responses)

Jesus, God, Families, Brothers, Pictures, Music, the Earth, Trials and the Sunshine...etc.

and in the end: the simple moments. and being together as a family.

My kids love love the Thankful Tree. They write and write...

I need this tradition in my home as much as my kids do.

I let myself get overwhelmed and worry about so many things

that just don't. simply. matter.

This Thanksgiving season, I am most grateful for my 4 kids,

Austin, Ashlyn, Jake and Mason.

They are my all.

Along with Ryan, the Stott family is healthy, happy, and thriving.

I couldn't feel more blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving week.

xo!

Silverthorne Colorado

Boys out sledding and the girls out relaxing.

It was beautiful up in those CO mountains!!

(Girls in the hot tub amidst the snowy hills :)

We had a fabulous weekend.

More pics to come :)