Have you ever?

Have you done any of these? We highlighted things as a family. You can do it too. Just copy and paste this to your blog and highlight or Bold the ones that you HAVE done.

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (no, I get motionsickness, so I skipped the boat ride)18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France20. Slept on an overnight train (this is high on the list of to dos!!!) 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run . 32. Been on a cruise (we will in June) 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business . 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check . 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt. 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job . 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone. 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House .87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee

The Secret is Out!

If you think Adam is gnarly, phat, fresh, a stud... come on over! (Did I include all the words from childhood?)

It's so hard to say goodbye

Well, the subaru is no longer ours... We met the new owner in Price Saturday morning to drop it off. It was probably sadder for me than it was for Adam, for a couple of reasons...

Reason 1:
I bought the car for Adam for his birthday a couple of years ago... Does it count if the payment comes with it? Well, anyway, we started the process to buy a car and then I decided to surprise him with this one, so the lies began! I told him that we could not qualify (and he believed it) and the lies just got deeper for a couple of days. On his birthday, he got a pair of jeans, which I demanded he wear that day. When he put them on, he found the keys in his pocket and was off to pick up his new car. It was so fun! (The seller filled it with balloons before he got there)

Reason 2:
I drove a 4Runner that had no payment. I decided I needed something fancier. I got it. It is a gas hog, so that makes it nearly impossible to sell! So, now I have the explorer and Adam drives the old truck. What a trooper! (and he never complains!)

With this crazy economy, we wanted to get rid of a car payment.

Ellee's 1st grade fieldtrip to Thanksgiving Point

I love Cornbelly's. We had so much fun! Ellee was trying her best to rope the bull. She milked a cow.
We got to see a 1 day old baby horse.

This is the whole class. Mrs. Raff is the teacher.

It was a great day!

Another Crazy Weekend

Well, it is fall break! Today is the last day, and we don't have anything exciting planned. We have done lots of fun things so far. We went to Pack's Pumpkin Patch and picked pumpkins off the vine, got lost in the hay maze and then had a picnic. It was Ellee, Isaac, Cousin Jayden and me. We met Jamee and her kids and Mary and her kids. It was so fun to get together and see how much all the kids have grown! They grow so fast.

On Saturday night, we went to our annual Halloween party thrown by Austin and Lacey. I took my camera, but somehow left with NO pictures! The common theme seems to be some sort of driving very fast activity. This year, it was ultimate scrabble. We went to a list of addresses and then had to create words from the names of the stores. I feared for my life :) but had a great time.

Ellee was just hanging out while I was making dinner on Sunday. She had something in her mouth, maybe a rope?? I never understood what she was telling me... Anyway, she came running over telling me she lost a tooth. I looked at the 2 teeth that I know are loose and they were still there. She showed me the tooth in her hand! It was a tooth that none of us knew was loose! Almost instantly, she had to make some phone calls to spread the news. It was all very exciting, so exciting that I fell to sleep at 7pm and forgot to help her put the tooth under her pillow for the exchange with the tooth fairy. (what a slacker of a mom!) We will try to remember tonight.

My little girl is growing up!

For The Temple Is A Holy Place, Where We Are Sealed Together

Ashley Lisonbee Copyright 2008

I have no words to express what this picture makes me feel when I look at it. It somehow makes things real, that my family can be together forever! I know it will be a treasure that we cherish always. I have added the living art digital website under my favorites. You should also see the 'All Things Lisonbee' blog for the artist's feelings on this project. She has explained her vision so much more clearly than I. She is truly inspired. Thanks Ashley!

Last Weekend's Family Bonding

I haven't been very good about writing specifically about people and the things I admire about them, but I am going to start today! Brayden, Adam's little brother, turned 12 a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend, we got to be a part of his receiving the priesthood. I so admire Brayden for living in a black and white world. The gospel to him is never gray. It is right or wrong and I could so learn from that. There are a lot of amazing stories that I could share about him, but as not to embarrass him, I will just put that he always thinks of others before himself. He is a true example of selfless. My kids adore him, so will naturally look up to him. I am glad he can be an example to them. Brayden - Thanks for setting such a great example for all four of us! In the same weekend, we got to spend time with Adam's Mom's family. Bonnie, who has also been known as Grandma Pony, Grandma Bony and now we have it right with Grandma Bonnie.

We met up in Park City for dinner, karaoke and just good bonding. There were lots of people who were missing, and they were missed.

It is so fun to see how quickly children accept and love others. There are no reservations. No "what does she think of me? does she like me? does she want to be my friend? what should we talk about?" They are instantly just friends.

I don't have any great group shots. If anyone does, they could email them to katie.lott@gmail.com :)

Err in judgement

So up until about 6 or 8 months ago, we didn't have cable TV. Even though we have it now we don't watch it all that often. We haven't joined the masses and gone into TiVo or DVR territory just yet. (mostly because I haven't had the time for my Myth project www.mythtv.org) One of the things that Ellee, Isaac and I like watching is Animal Planet. It has lots of different shows. Everything from Animal Cops to some crazy show called Living with the Wolfman. We haven't watched the latter. (No he's not a werewolf, but its all rather disturbing.) One show that we did watch was named Weird, True, & Freaky. (Now one would assume that the title of the show would have threw up some kind of flag, but alas we commenced to watch...)

The particular episode that we watched was counting down the top 10 freaky animals. It started out with a cow with what they described as having a "parasitic twin." It showed this cow with a couple extra legs growing out the top of one shoulder. (Nothing too troubling right?) Needless to say, the list started on a steady decline into more groteque images of two-headed snakes, two-headed pigs, two-headed this, two-legged that. While Ellee was watching the list regress (with every image being firmly embedded in the depths of her imagination) Isaac must have become bored and wasn't paying much attention towards the end. The grand finale, and most abominable creature on record, was this one-eyed, cyclops, newborn piglet. One eye right in the middle. (I must admit that it was mildly unsettling.) As luck would have it, this show ended around 8:00 or 9:00 in the post-meridiem so I turned my attention towards getting the kids into bed before their mother got home. (Yes, I failed to mention that Katie was out that evening with some friends, blissfully unaware that I was warping our first born child's imagination.)

There I was, in a race against time. The brushing of teeth, and changing of diapers has never taken place in such an expeditious manner. Isaac laid down for the night with very little reservation. Ellee, however, was not being as efficient as I had hoped so I went to help the cause. Quite some time after I got Ellee into bed, Katie got home and went in to check on what should have been two sleeping children. As Ellee told her mom (every detail) about the show that we watched I peeked my head around the corner and saw the look of concern on both of their faces... That was weeks ago, and just this morning (at around 4:00 AM) Ellee came into our bedroom because she was having a bad dream. With tears in her eyes, she told me that she was scared of me because in her dream I was the cyclops! I felt like such a schmuck. At 4 am I didn't consider this, but its kind of appropriate that I was the disfigured person in her dream. That will teach me.

Random stuff

It has been such a terrific weekend. I always love conference. It is amazing to hear the General Authorities of the church speak to us. There are a few quotes that are still rolling around in my mind. Here are some of them:

Faith is not only a feeling, it is a decision
Fear and Faith cannot coexist in our hearts at the same time
Come what may, and love it
The simple secret is this; Put your trust in the Lord
The Lord has said he will fight our battles, our children's battles, our children's children's battles
Life is hard, not the gospel
In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things
Find joy in the journey, Now
The tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid, and deeds left undone


A weekend in our world. This is snack time at our house. Yes, it is usually a huge mess.

I gave Ellee another haircut this weekend. She loves it short and Adam and I think it is quite cute too! (not to mention so much easier than when it's long) I should mention that Adam likes it long because she looks littler.

We made some amazing cinnamon rolls for Grandma Bonnie for her birthday; you know, the kind with caramel at the bottom... They were just perfect and needed to brown just a little on top, so I turned the oven off (I thought) and left them to brown a bit. I went up to get ready to go, and this is what I found. It took 2 days of soaking to get them out of the pan. :(
While at the party, Isaac fell down the stairs and got some road rash and a pretty good knot on his forehead.

Monday night, we went to my good friend Becky's house to roam around her AMAZING garden. She sent us home with tons of pumpkins and corn stalks. I will post another picture when I get things all put together. Her garden is something to admire. She has so many hours in it and we get the benefits! Thanks Bec

I guess all of these things just wore Isaac right out! I found him like this today, after I got ready... I was just hoping he didn't tumble down while I ran for my camera. Now you all know why I spend so many days without make-up and fancy hair. Bad things happen when I get ready!

She's Amazing!

Time for another retro flash-back to a movie from my youth. Julie Andrews was the main character in this flick. (and no I'm not speaking of her Emmy nominated performance in Mary Poppins) This one comes from the even more sappy Sound of Music.

"For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good"

Click this link, because I know you want to listen to it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EldGWnQ62g

Naturally, I am speaking of my wonderful wife of which I Love and adore. She is one of the busier people that I know. Between her calling in church (1st counselor in the Primary) and her calling in life (beautifying the general population) working, running the casa de Lott, being the greatest Mom to her two Beautiful children and being the greatest Wife to her frequently misguided high-maintenance husband, Katie never ceases to amaze me. I definitely can't keep up. Chances are that you noticed our new more superfantastic background on our "family blog" along with the many widgets and the music player. That was all her! Now we can add HTML programmer to her growing list of skills. Did I mention that I am the one that went to school and learned about Information Technology? She generally makes me look bad in one way or another on a semi-weekly basis.
Seriously, is there anything that this girl can't do? If there is anything that I am better at than her, its only because she hasn't tried to do it yet. I have no doubt, if faced with the challenge, that she could become a diesel mechanic just from her sense of logic and inquisitive nature.
Her list of skills and qualities seems to be only stifled by where her interests and desires stop.

I know that I don't tell you often enough, but I Love You Katie. Every single day I am thankful that you are with me.