Be quiet already!!!!

I'm just telling you all that the months of June, July, August, September, October, and November are all way, way overrated. December is where it's at and that is why I am now deciding to post. Let's see... a few things have happened over the past few months...most of you who are viewing this already know all about them so it is redundant but oh well...it is our history.

In July, Jen and the kids went to Utah while I went to Indonesia. She spent 24th with family and attended a family reunion with her aunts, cousins, and grandma. I spent two weeks in Indonesia surfing my brains out and pretty much having the time of my life. It was heaven and I can't wait to go back.

In the fall, the kids went back to school. Drew started a new school, the "University" of Littleton. Actually, it's Littleton Academy but it feels like he is in college...at least Jen feels like she is back in college with the work load that he brings home each night. The girls are in 2nd and 4th grade respectively and doing well.

Megan was baptized. It was an awesome day with nearly all the family in attendance. I have to say how awesome it is to have all of my family within driving distance. What's more awesome is that we all like each other and look forward to getting together for special days like this. Megan shined...she was really ready for her baptism and felt the spirit of her decision.

Last month, my mom came out to Denver to watch our kids while Jen and I went to Cabo San Lucas to attend the wedding of her brother Mike. It was awesome to get away (no offense kids) and to relax and get to know some of Jen's friends from high school. It was a nice wedding at a resort on the beach...the highlight was watching Bev and Dick dance. It was a fun night to see everyone enjoy themselves and let go a bit.

Thanksgiving...it was a great day and it was a day to reflect on all that we have been blessed with. I am so thankful for my family. Jen is the love of my life and I am more in love with her now than I was when we were married 15 years ago. I have awesome kids that keep me on my toes and amaze me how much they teach me. I have brothers and sisters and parents who I love and who's company I truly enjoy. I have in-laws that are not "in-laws", they're just family who I love dearly. I have friends, the gospel, etc, etc.....I could go on an on. We spent the day with Alex and Cynthia and their little boys. It was relaxing and we enjoyed a nice meal and laid around all afternoon and into the evening. Life is good...

Ok...I think I've brought you all up to speed....see you next December.

The Month of May!

Woah, hold on...we are behind and we are catching up.....the story of my life really.

The girls have been taking dance for the last 6 months and they finally had their long awaited talent show performance. The actual talent show was a miserable waste of three and a half hours except for the 6 minutes that OUR girls performed of course. The night went on and on and on and I do not exagerrate, it took three and a half hours. At one point, Megan actually cried from being so tired and basically begged to go home. Nevertheless, she made overcame her exhaustion and she and Kali performed their two dances beautifully. They did a great job and had a good time after all.

May is, of course, the best month of the year. Besides being the un-official end of winter, it is the birth month of some really fabulous people. Speaking of which, we celebrated Kali's 9th birthday. It was a Sunday so the celebration was quiet and was with family instead of a traditional party. I think Kali loves those quiet parties anyway, she loves her cousins and aunts and uncles and she's probably invite them anyway. She opened presents, had mega-cupcakes, blew out candles and had a great day.

There was another birthday in the ORIGINAL COTTLES home. Dear old dad turned 37! Can you believe it?? If you look at my temples and see how much gray hair I have, you probably would think I'm 40, not 37! Our stake president, who knows Johanna well, made the unfortunate comment, "I can't believe she is older than you." Jen had to caution him that one more jab at my age like that might force me to get a truckload of Just for Men and get rid of that gray. Anyway, I had a great day and even received a little "love fern" from Megan-she planted it herself. Getting older is getting better, right?!?! The jury is definitely out on that....

Can you believe we have already passed Memorial Day? We spent part of our day in Boulder, Colorado for the annual Bolder Boulder road race. It is the largest 10K in the United States and we were there to watch Jen and her friends make the grand entrance into the CU Boulder stadium for the grand finish to the race. My friends Mark and Sean and I caravaned up to Boulder with our kids. We were quite a sight in the zero-population-growth-people's-republic-of-Boulder with our 13 kids in tow. We meandered through the street with our gaggle-the oldest of which is 12. When we arrived at the stadium it was a sea of people. We watched the home stretch leading to the finish line for about a half an hour but managed to miss everyone of our significant others. We didn't even catch a glimpse of anyone we knew. Watching the hoardes pass on by you would almost get motion sickness with all the heads bobbing up and down. Needless to say, it was fun to be up there amongst all those

people.

This past week was a pretty momentous day for Drew. He received his Arrow of Light award. For those of you non-scouters, the Arrow of Light is the highest award a cub scout can earn and is the only award that you can carry with you into the Boy Scouts. I wish I could say that Jen and I had something to do with him earning it but we didn't do squat. He has two of the best Webelos advisors parents could wish for. They helped him and provided opportunities for him to earn his arrow of light-they really made it possible. It was a proud moment as parents as he was spotlighted for his hard work in the pack meeting.