To gingerbread or graham cracker...that is the question

Well the Stott family had our annual family home evening gingerbread (graham crackers) house decorating night this last monday! I must say it was quite a hit. I had in my minds eye..a christmas village if you will. There was a school (Jacksons) a church (Rachels) and a home (mine) Dan was scroogie this year, and refused to do the gas station, a must have in all village situations. Here is how they turned out...




As you can see, a good time was had by all...including a lot of candy was eaten by me!

Family, Fun, Fall Happenings...join us won't you!

So I am sorry this has been a long time coming...I know you are sick of looking at my rant about the biggest loser...and frankly so am I. So for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the things that we have been up to this fall (did I mention that fall is my most favorite time of year?)!

Pumpkin Patch extravaganza...We LOVE Pac's Pumpkin Patch in Farmington...I don't know if it's because I am really a native Farmingtonian....or if it's because it's basically free (probably the latter), but in any case it's the best place for the right price. Here are some pic's of the event.






We also had some new family Pictures taken courtesy of my sis-in-law Lora who is a photographer...we had a big one done of all of Danny's family, every year we think that this will be the last year with Danny's dad, and every year we are surprised and thrilled that he is still with us...we thought that is was time that we had a photo taken, with the whole fam!






Of Course we had to fit Halloween in there sometime! I only ask forgiveness from my brother Blake, who is DIE-HARD BYU fan, for the Utah cheerleader. You see I have a good friend who works at the University Hospital, and she was able to get me the cutest cheerleading outfit, and if I had wanted her to be a BYU cheerleader I would have had to go to provo...and we all know that ain't going to happen! I think that I am slowly converting to be a U of U fan anyway, because of all the flak that we got at the ward Halloween party, for the outfit...BYU fans are starting to bug me...no offense to those of you I know and love! We had the spiderman part 2, our good friend and first time Batman, and of course the cutest cheerleader ever!
Rachel was on fire this year...it took us until 8:30 at night to reign her in...that is why there are so few pictures of her, I couldn't keep up!





I hope that you all are having a wonderful fall and holiday season, and have a great Thanksgiving...we are going to my MIL's this year...so I hope to post some great pictures of the fabulous yumminess, and of course my fatness that is soon to follow, as I will have eaten my weight in mashed potato's! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The biggest loser!

Okay, I have a rant coming...so bear with me! I have been loving this show for a few seasons now...I admit I get really excited on tuesday nights to watch people work hard and to see the results of the eliminated players today...it inspires me to get off my behind, and exercise and when I don't feel like it, I think about these guys and tell myself how much better I will feel afterwards and I always do! This season started out like all others, there were people that I wanted to cheer for, and people who started to annoy me right off the bat (ie. Ed and Heba).

I just watched Tuesday nights episode last night...and I have to say, that I am really frustrated with quite a few of the people on this season. My biggest annoyance would be coming from Vicki...Brady doesn't annoy me nearly as much as Vicki, now I realize that the show has been painting her as the villain the last few episodes, and so continually I have been giving her the benefit of the doubt...plus I always want to root for couples who have children, (and in their case, an extremly overwheight child). I want them to become healthy, happy, people who can teach their children the benefits of healthy living and exercise.

Last night all I wanted to do was scream at the tv, and send them packing...Heba too. I don't know that I have ever watched a season, where the money, became more important than the actual benefits of health...hmmmmmmmm. I know that there were annoying people last season, (Jay/Mark....mostly because they were so competitive, and they cried like little girls all of the time...could not take the crying much more). They didn't make me sad though, and they worked their booty's off in the gym to, at least they worked hard. What is with throwing every challenge too? They didn't think that winning videos from (videos of their children) home was worth the challenge and really it wasn't really that tough of a challenge either. They didn't think that was important...or motivating to see their kids and remind them why they should be here in the first place! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I need to see them go soon...Heba too, they are driving me nuts, and by the time I went to bed I was still annoyed, and yet here I am this morning still annoyed, hopefully this little rant will let me get over it, and get on with life...really it's just tv.

Thanks for listening.

32 Reasons to love Danny boy!

So today is Danny's 32 birthday...I know, he is getting up there in years, before you know it, it will be 42, because that is how time is a flying!

Seiously how cute is this guy??? Looks alot like Landon, but with darker features.
1. Tall
2. Dark
3. (do you see where I am going with this?) Handsome
4. He can take it as well as he can dish it
5. He takes alot of it from me
6. He has a great sense of humor
7. He understands when someone else has a great sense of humor, and goes along with it.
8. He is a wonderful provider.
9. He is an awesome son, and LOVES his mother, and treats her with respect and love.
10. He treats me wonderfully, and lets me get away with more than I should.
11. He works very hard, and very often.
12. He plays with kids, almost every time they ask him too.
13. The kids are always asking when is Daddy going to be home...apparantly I'm very boring.
14. He is friendly and sincere. (one of my nost favorite things about him)
15. He will do the Russian dance for friends and neighbors because they ask him too, and he doesn't get embarrased.
16. He is genuinly concerned or cares about other people and their situations.
17. Everybody who know's him loves him.
18. He helped almost everyone in our neighborhood put in sprinkler/sod/dirt whatever, and does it 100% of the time because he really wants to be helpful.
19. He is mechanical, he can fix almost anything.
20. He takes care of our cars, because I have no clue, if there is a noise or something that is wrong.
21. He helps out my family often, because they are NOT mechanical.
23. I will never be able to wear his pants...and if I can then I have other problems
24. He is broad-shouldered (I love it)
25. He is super-nice, but nobody would dare mess with him.
26. He makes me feel safe and secure.
27. He lets me be queen of the remote...and I rarely have to watch sports.
28. He reads to our kids almost every-night.
29. He has and can growfacial hair.
30. He is not competitive (because I am)
31. He is strong, (he can carry me and all three kids up the stairs)
32. He has a testimony, he holds the priesthood, and he Loves me and the kids very much, he worries about things (because I don't) and he takes care of us.





Happy Birthday big guy...we love you even though you'll probably be needing a hip replacement soon.

Love, Heidi and the kids....

Lagoon

So saturday we had a family fun day at Lagoon...now just to clarify, I haven't loved Lagoon in my adult years thus far, purely based on the fact that I don't enjoy mullet-like dudes that make-out with their scantily clad ladies in kiddie-land, and let's face it, that is where we spend most of our time at Lagoon. I have to say this time was different we had a blast, the kids had fun, Dan and I had fun, and nobody completely grossed me out, win win situation.

Here are some pic's from the blessed event, Rachel got to ride all of the big rides twice, once with Dan and once with me...Landon had a great time though, rode every kid ride (with the exception of egg dropper and puff) and I now blame his cold on the experience!
/><










You have to remember that Rachel is off riding all of the big rides...so there aren't as many pictures of her, and come on the it was Landon's first Lagoon...and he is just so dang cute!

So if you haven't been to Lagoon yet this year, I encourage an outing it was a grand ol'time!

Sorry.....I have been a little busy.

I seem to be saying this a lot lately...sorry I haven't talked to you in a while..sorry I haven't updated my blog FOREVER...sorry that I am just now returning your phone call/e-mail! This last month has been busy to say the least, so to all of you have been wondering what happend to me...I think that I am back, life is slowly settling down a bit, and I feel the urge to blog again...Yeah!

So here is what I have been up to in a nut-shell...School/tumbling/soccer/remodeling(small projects), and oh yes my favorite, my Betsy (van) was in the shop for 2 weeks with a blown transmission, and a ton of money!!! Do you know what it is like to try to juggle cars for that long??? Not very much fun, a big thanks to Mom and Dad for taking a two week vacation right at the right time, and allowing us to use your very wonderful, and handy extra truck! We love you! Oh and by the way somewhere in there I turned the big 30...that's right I am thirty now three decades...and to be honest I couldn't feel better...you heard me right, I feel awesome, I think that I am in the best shape that I have been in for 5 or 6 years, and I really don't feel a day over 20, not to shabby! Here is the big day/cake event! My husband did a big dinner with some of our best buds...but of course we forgot the camera...so you'll have to use your imagination!

Here are some of the pics from the first day of school!

Jackson's first day of school, he LOVES it!



Okay so about a month ago...I got the hankerin for some improvements to our childrens rooms...(thanks Jessica for having the perfect house that sparked this motivation...with all of your perfect rooms) So Rachel (of course) wanted to paint her room pink (all of it) I couldn't see me loving a room that looked like bubblegum barfed on! So instead we decided on Lime green two shades and chair rail (thanks to an awesome husband who can do everything, and let's me do whatever I want, even though he ends up doing all of the hard work that he didn't want to really do in the first place...what is wrong with white everywhere?) Anyway after a lot of time and $$$ for which I am now going to go and get job:) I think that it turned out awesome...Rachel loves it and I love it and everyone is happy, it has also stayed cleaner for some reason...apparently if you love your room, you try harder to keep it cleaner...this benefits us all.

This is from the doorway...



From every other angle of her room...I think that it turned out beautifully. What do the rest of you think? Let me know!

We also started on the boy's room (for the last year and a half Rachel and Jackson have been sharing her room, so part of the room makeovers were in celebration to her getting her room and back and the boy's sharing a room now! We have a white bunk-bed that was in Rachel's room, but when we moved it into the boys room, we decided it would look better black...) Now you will have to use your imagination a little more when I show you the boy's room, because it is still a work in progress!

Now picture that everything that will be hung on the walls will be red, with a red valance...and the dresser will be black and I have some really cute wall saying to go on their walls too!

Anyway that is where I have been, I plan to be a better person, better friend, better daughter, and better blogger...not particularly in this order! Thanks to all who put up with me!

Amy....

Those of you who know us well, know that we have a dog named Amy...and she has been a part of our family for ten years now, and was Danny's first baby four years before that. She was a golden Lab that Dan got when she was just 6 weeks old and only as big as his foot. I adopted her when we got married and for the first 3 and 1/2 years of our marriage she was our baby, and we treated her like one! When we had kids she was the best dog, they would pull on her ears and tail and she never once seemed even a little annoyed and if she was then she would just get up and move!

Last November we noticed that she had a lump on the back of her spine..when we took her to the vet they told her that they were pretty sure that it was cancer and that as long as she was getting along okay, and not in pain to just let her live until she was in pain. This last week we noticed that she was not eating as much and having a lot harder time getting around...so we decided that we were going to go camping Thursday with her for the weekend and then we would put her down next week.
Well we went camping...and by Thursday night Jackson and I had the stomach flu and were really sick so Danny drove us home at eleven that night and woke up early Friday to go back up and get the rest of our stuff...when he got home that day, Amy was not doing well and she collapsed in the front yard, so we took her right then, and had to have her put to sleep. She was the best dog, and we are all going to miss her so much...I think it is safe to say that the Stott family will be dog/pet free for alot of years to come...I don't know if I could ever have to put another dog to sleep, it was awful!

California

This picuture pretty much sums up the awesome trip that we had!
We were lucky enough to stay right on the beach, in an awesome beach house with my entire family, who are awesome by the way! We had a blast the kids had a blast playing with their cousins, and it was absolutley beautiful.





We had s'mores and a fire on the beach...the only problem with cooking on the beach is that no matter what you do...everything tastes a little sandy! Hey we were on the beach though who cares!

The girls...my mom, me and my sis-in-laws Kathie, Tammy, and Andrea.





Disneyland...I love this place, even when it's 90 degrees, and a million people...we still had the best time!





The last picture is of Dan and his friend from work Cory!

Lego-land it was very cool, however I wouldn't ever spend that much money again there!





Sea world, and all I could think about was how much Carter Jenkins would love this place...I love this place!


The kids are petting the sting rays...they were very slimy, and then someone told us that they are covered in mucas...awesome!

Feeding the dolphins...and petting the dolphins


Starfish...



Landon did a lot of stroller sleeping on this trip he was a sport!



Journey to atlantis was totally wicked and awesome and we had to ride it 5 times and the line was not that short! However after being in the front, I was wet enough that I might as well have jumped in the lake.


The penguin children!
We had a great trip...thanks to my mom and dad for being the wonderful generous awesome people that they are, and providing us with such a great experience, and for my family for making such a trip, so much fun, and easy to be together!