Simply the Stotts: valentine love

What a crazy but fun Valentine weekend. We had soooo much going with valentine parties, family gatherings, and friend get togethers......

The friend party......This is a group of friends Ry has had since 5th grade. Six of them have been buddies since they were little. They are tight and share so many memories and stories. With Brandon coming back in town, Ry and I hosted a party to have everyone get together....

The Boys ( as they call themselves) talked all night long. They laughed and reminisced about the good ole'days of high school... old girlfriends, dances, boys camping trips.... It was fun to listen to them rehash it all.

Here is a pic of me getting everything ready for the big night. There were about 16 guest to come..... I like to host parties but it is also stressful because I want it to be perfect. I was so excited because I had just purchased new glass dishware and I went up to the Mountain House to get it. (haven't finished our move yet.....)

So I put the new dishes in the dishwasher to get it all clean and you don't want to know what happened ........let's just say, I cried. Dumb dishwasher, bad timing. Thick, white, film all over my new dishes...I washed it again and it only made it worse. I called the builder for help and all they offered was for us to buy a water softener.. Too little, too late... Gee thanks...I was so f r u s t r a t e d. So I went and bought paper plates.

S A D.

It was fun to have everyone their...I think it has been about 10 years since we have ALL been together. The one's who live in S.L try to get together monthly....

I love baby Jackson. I tried to hold him and host at the same time! It was fun to be able to get him all to myself!

SO here is a pic of the boys......Left to Right..( Ry, Adam, Dave, Dave, Jason, Jason , Brandon, and Dave.) The guy in black and the one with the baby are not part of the original "boys" group. They are the husbands of the girls they hung out with in high school.

The boys didn't do so bad with professions...amazingly they all turned out :)In the group we have a lawyer (Jason M.) a stock broker (my Ry), a surgeon (Bear or Brandon), a dentist (Dave D. ), a finance guy (Jason N.), and a business owner (Adam).....the other two Daves are an anesthesiologist and a finance guy..not to bad eh?!

The girls of the group...well most of us. Krista was going to have a baby any second...! I think between us all their is a total of 30 children with 2 on the way! Not me...we are officially done :)

It was a great night to catch up and hang out. It was great of everyone to make the effort to get sitters and leave their kids on a school night....Thank you boys.....After they left, my sis Brooke and I, heart-attacked Amber's garage for her birthday...it was 12: 47 A.M. It was late. FOr the love of a sister.

Friday morning there was tons to do.........good stress, good stress, good stress: school parties, kid games, adult party, birthday presents, food assignments.....etc

On Friday the kid's had all of their classroom parties. My sister and I did Jake's class party. We did four games and prizes and then refreshments at the end. I am not so creative but I tried really hard. It ended up working all out but those kids were hyyypper with all of their Valentine Candy.

After the kids parties, we were headed to Saratoga Springs for a Brown family party for Brandon and Emily. We were also celebrating Amber's 33rd B-day. It was just the adults, so I was looking forward to just hanging out and talking. Without the kids there, we can actually have adult conversations and not get interrupted. (imagine that?!) It was great to have everyone there!

(Brett and Ang and Brie and Brandon went up to Bear Lake to Ang's condo...we missed you)

Amber didn't know we were throwing the party for her too. It was a surprise.... We gave her gifts and birthday cake.(ok, really mint brownies...her fav!) Here she is blowing out her 33 candles.

Everyone is laughing because we put the candles that never blow out.....it took her a few tries.....

Brandon holding cute Jackson....

Us mommas......

The next morning we were headed to Provo to have a cousin party! (It was in honor of Emma Claire and Jackson)But first we decided to all meet up for some sledding at the Provo Rock Canyon hills. We had to go buy new sleds b/c ours were stolen (of course) ...

(Grandma Penny standing at the top of the hill hanging with all of the cousins. My mom loves to see her grand kids and considers herself so lucky to serve as Mission Pres's in Provo. When we come down, she will try to spend as much time as she can with us. Then back to her missionaries....! )

Let me tell you.....

It was F R E E Z I N G! It was snowing so hard and you couldn't see anything in front of you. It was white out. It was much more exciting with snow flying in your face zooming down the slick hills..The weather did not stop the kids from sledding and sledding....I even jumped on the sled a few times.

Provo has the best hills for the kids to sled on......

(I remember when I was at BYU dating Ry, we would come to these hills all the time to sled...)

The kids were so excited because some BYU college students were filming a documentary about "professional" sledding and asked all the cousins to be in it.....My kids think they are famous now . Look out You tube.

Off to Em's moms house. Em was the best hostess...she had so much food for the kids and the best food for the adults. Four or five gourmet salads, fruit, cookies, breads, chicken, diet coke :), chocolate....... LOOOVED the sugar cookies. She was brave enough to take on 25 + people....

Thank you Brandon and Emily......!

Grandma passing out the Valentines to all of the kiddos.
Then it was their turn to pass theirs out......a little wild fun!

I got my hands on the cute baby Jackson.....I will miss him when he goes back home to Germany. :(
The kids were loving it and had such a fun time....hyper, hyper, hyper...love, love, love.....

WE left Provo and headed home to S.L....As we rounded the " Point of the Mountain," I had Ashlyn snap this shot ...the skies were clearing and the snow was still glistening on the Wasatch Peaks. Ahhh, I love the Utah mountains. AS much as I hate the cold, I don't think I could ever give up those majestic peaks. Ry makes fun of me because I am always telling the kids to look up at the mountains......the snow was so white against the perfect blue sky.

When I got home this was on my table.............

Beautiful, red roses and a lovely card from Ry (with some Buckle love). He surprised me. Some years Ry and I go all out for Valentines and others we keep it simple. This year was so busy with so much going on, I thought a kiss and "I love you" was suffice. I should of known better. Ry is a romantic and loves to always do things for me. Thanks babe.

We then went to dinner with Amber and Ty to our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Y U M M Y. Then we just came home and R E L A X E D . t h a n k y o u. t h a n k y o u. t h a n k y o u

We had such a great weekend spending time with friends and family....What a perfect Valentine weekend..... Cheers!