Memorial Day Bash

Meet Greg Guiness

Greg is our gracious host here in Sunny Oceanside. This guy loves to party. When we called to ask if we could stay with them there reply was of course and that if we could swing it to come over memorial day weekend for the Guiness Memorial Day Bash. We had heard stories of previous Guiness parties so we pulled some strings to live the action ourselves.

Meet Carmen Guiness

She is the women that supports all of her husbands wild ideas and makes it all happen.

Kathryn and her wild friend Jenna getting the patio all cleaned up in preparation of the big day.

The 14ft water slide


The home made slip and slide


Jane after her two trips down the 14 footer. (I screwed up the video of this one but it sure was funny as Jane flew off the slide and got fully submersed in the pool) This poor kid is so tired she fell right asleep on her daddy.

Andrew taking a break from all the fun to get his grub on at the taco bar. Greg grilled up some carne asada, chicken and some hot dogs for the kids.


Once Jane woke up from her nap she was ready to party. OK not really it took her some coaxing to get on the slip in slide especially since the first time she went to got rammed into by some big kid but once she got the hang she loved it.

Jane and her new friend Savannah giving high five after they both "did it" since they were both being a little wuzzy. On a complete side note I meet Savannah's mom and she is totally into coupon shopping too and had a whole armor dedicated to her "deals" or food storage and she blogs about it too. I'm not the only nerd out there.

Andrew showing all the kids how a slip in slide really works.


We had a great day! Thanks Guiness for the awesome party and for EVERYTHING else. You guys are the best. A special shout out to Christian who I will have to post a picture up later for giving up your room for the Cottle clan. Also to Kathryn for sharing her room and bathroom while were in town.

Reporting from San Deigo

We arrived to San Deigo complication free. We are having a great time catching up with the Guiness and enjoying all their commendations. Here is were we have been shacking up. You can't see the pack in play in the corner.



The first night was a little rough but the second night was smooth until the sun rose and Jane decided to get up at 6:20. I guess that is 7:20 our time so thats about right. We spent some time in the pool and hot tub the first morning. I had to get a picture of Reynolds in his super huge swim trunks.


We had the pool to ourselves since we hit it up at 9:oo am to avoid the afternoon rays. It was nice to not have to put sunscreen on everyone. I really don't know if babies are supposed to sit in hot tubs so If anyone knows I'm killing my son let me know. This I do know is that Reynolds loved it. We put him in the pool and he cried, then sat him in the hot tub and he chilled in there forever. I guess it goes with his laid back lazy attitude about life.

Andrew Swimming laps

This morning was what vacationing is all about. Once Andrew got up (I was with the kids so he could sleep in) I hit the gym in my new exercise outfit to run on the treadmill. After I finish I felt kind of bad leaving Andrew a lone with the kids so I came back to check on him. Once I saw that Reynolds was down for a nap and Jane was watching a movie with her new best friend Gabby I took advantage and got my suit to do some laps and relax in the hot tub. I will tell you sitting in the hot tub with no kids around after a good work out made our vacation well worth it and it's only day two. Hopefully I can have more days like this one. I sat in that hot tub for as long as my body would allow me without cooking myself to death. A time to remember in my book. Speaking of books Carmen has all the twilights so I decided with all my down time I will finally see what the hype is. Maybe I will fall in love with Edward too.

Huge Blow out

So some may think this is totally gross to blog about but I couldn't help myself. So today we were sitting down for lunch and we had about five minutes before we needed to leave to church. We were discussing how we were going to get everything done so we could make it on time. I looked over at Reynolds and I noticed this.

Yesterday he didn't poop at all so I was a little worried at what might happen when it actually came out. However, I thought I was in the clear when he woke up with some poop and then he pooped again and then again. Yes I changed three poopy diapers before this happened.

So when I finally got to the diaper it was completely full plus all this. To think I actually thought for a moment, "Is Reynolds getting enough food since he skipped a day of pooping."

Poor Ren having to play in his poop while I take photos.

Reynolds Blessing

Reynolds was finally blessed May 18, 2008. His Grandma Cottle made him the most adorable blessing outfit. I got some pictures professional taken so you can see it better when I get them back. He didn't cry through the whole blessing. I must say I was impressed since I couldn't keep him from fussing through the whole baptism. Andrew gave the blessing with Grandpa Cottle and Hill, Uncle Travis, Tom and Alex, and Aaron Birch being in his circle. Afterwards we headed over to the Woods to eat some yummy food and enjoying being with the family. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Grandpa and Grandma's Hills Visit

Today my parents started their journey home. I sure hope that they make it without any problems. I feel so bad for all that they had to go through to get here. My parents very rarely get the opportunity to travel due to their crappy jobs so I feel so lucky that they chose to come for a visit. It was so nice to have them here. To be quite honest I never expected to enjoy it as much as I did. I love my Mom and Dad so much and it was so great to strengthen my relationship with them as I don't get to see them that often. The minute they walked in the door Jane took to them and wouldn't let them out of her sight. Unfortunately, I don't know how much of a break they got on their only vacation but I sure did appreciate how much bonding they were able to do with my children. My Dad was a sucker for Jane and she sure did take advantage of him. It was so cute to see them together.

Here is a picture of them checking out a kitty cat.

My Mom also spoiled Jane with letting her play games on her computer and even had the patience to hold her on her lap and watch movies with her. My mom really wanted to get a picture with her grandkids but apparently didn't want to ask someone to take one so here is one of the many she shot herself.

I think Jane was a little fascinated with her Grandma and all her accessories. We caught her playing dress up.

Mom also made us her whole wheat bread while she was here so now I can have a little piece of home until it's all gone. The bread is delicious but I must say the biggest highlight of the trip was when my Mom and I went and got pedicures for the first time for my birthday present while my Dad stayed at home and watch the kids. You can see why it was really hard for me to say goodbye to them today after sacrament. In fact my mom and I left each other teary eyed. It took me awhile to gain composure so I spend some time in the nursing room during Sunday school. They will be missed! I'm so thankful for their sacrifice to make it out here to visit my family.

"Special Time"

Jane loves watching "Signing Time". I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in teaching their children sign language. Anyway the opening song, wait a minute I think I actually have some video of Jane singing along let me find it. Oh here it is...........

If you listen close enough you would pick up that their are many "times" like playing time, singing time, etc. So lately everything has been a "time" in Jane's mind for example on Friday we went out to eat and stopped and got some ice cream on the way home. When we pulled up in the garage Jane proclaimed, "Ice cream time". Sunday was "church time". Anyway you get the picture. Well as you all know if you read my previous post my Mom and Dad are here for a visit. I told Jane I was going to take a shower. She got up on the couch between my mom and dad and said, "special time". It melted my heart. I stuck around to hear and watch this that can't be captured in a story but I want to remember it forever. Jane asked my mom if she could watch an ovie (movie, my mom has watched a few movies with her on her lap top and that's all Jane wants to do). My mom got her computer out and started the movie up. Well my moms computer is extremely slow and it was just showing a white screen. Jane's words, "Oh no. What happened. Working. Dang it (yikes never heard her use that one ). Wait. Be patient. Patient. Oh man this girl kills me it was so stinking cute as she had one of her legs crossed over the other talking to the computer.

Jane after the shower still having her "special time"

A Preview of Things to Come

Andrews mom made this beautiful blessing outfit for Reynolds. She was worried that it wouldn't fit him so I tried it on. I thought he looked to cute not to snap a picture. I only had my cell phone around. Anyway I plan to get some professional pictures taken of him in it so they should be better without non matching socks on. I just wanted to let everyone know that we will be blessing Reynolds on Saturday at the church after Andrew my nephew baptism. If you would like to attend let me know and I will give you details on location and time. Afterwards we will have a gathering involving food so it should be really fun.

Never a Break

I've been looking forward to his week for a long time because my parents are out for a visit. Most of you don't know my parents or don't know much about them. Well their the kind of people that really would do anything for anybody. I've always said that my Dad would give his shirt off his back to anyone even if it meant he didn't have another to put on. I feel like my parents are really good people but they always have the worst things happen to them. I feel like they are never given a break for anything. Well their trip out here was another one of their wonderful experiences in life. For anyone who wants a good story read below. It's stories like these that make me realize I don't have it too bad and then if you read even further you can read what I've been up to.

(These our post from my Mom's blog, at least read the last one)

Road Trip Through the Great State of Wyoming NOT

Yes this has been quite a trip. Things were going well until just about 35 miles outside Laramie. It was snowing and the wind was blowing really hard. The car started making a really bad knocking noise so we stopped just as we were going up a hill. We sat there for about 25 min with the hood up and lights blinking but no one stopped . It was just our luck that there was no cell phone signal where we were and Dad was about to pee his pants (he actually let a little trickle down his legs, oh that must have made him even colder). Of course, many prays were offered and I begged the Lord to send some help. I became very concerned because it was getting darker from the storm and temperatures continued to dropped, the thought crossed my mind that we were going to freeze to death. I decided to make a sign on the back of our directions to Sarah's that read, "HELP". Dad stood out there and held up the sign for about 5 min while trucks kept passing us by ignoring our plea for help. After five minutes Dad had to come back in the car to get warm. Have I mentioned that we only had two small fleece jackets to keep us warm and one direct TV fleece blanket. At this time my mind reflected back to the pioneers who traveled this same path in the winter months . I have no idea how they survived the cold, windy climate of crappy Wyoming. So then I took a turn holding the sign and just 2 min later a big semi truck stopped up the road and Dad went to talk to the driver. I started to cry just because I knew the Lord had heard and answered our prayers just an hour later. I guess he told Dad that he couldn't stand seeing a woman out there without helping. He was originally from SLC. He called for a tow truck and left leaving us with some bottled water. The tow truck finally showed up about 5:40 and we arrived at the GM dealership in Laramie after 6 PM. Luckily the GM dealership had a repair shop open until 10. However when we got there they told us they were so busy they would not be able to look at our car until the next day. Fortunately the mechanics took pity on us and agreed to give the car a look. We were disappointed when they told us the engine was completely shot and that it wouldn't be worth putting a new one in. Without thinking much the salesman's got a hold of us like they always do and sucker us in to look at used cars. We looked at a grand total of two, mind you it was still freezing, snowing, and the wind was blowing hard and we still only had our little fleece jackets . Lets just say I wouldn't have chosen these conditions to car shop but nevertheless we decided on a 2004 Malabu for $9,900 with less than 35,000 Miles on it. We felt so grateful that they took off an additional 300 dollars off for the Saturn. We feel like we got a pretty good deal. We sat down with the salesman to purchase our car and we should have known with the way things were going everything wouldn't be smooth. When they ran our credit to our surprise we had been reported to the creditors for an outstanding medical bill for Dad. Guess we need to look into that. Everything worked out and we were ready to go grab a bit to eat because we were starving. When we got into the car we rolled 30 feet and realized the car never started. Talk about a bad omen. It turned out the battery was dead. They replaced the battery and we finally got out of there at 9.50. We went to Apple bee's to eat where the service was less than good and my steak was small and didn't taste very good. We decided with the weather that we would get a hotel for the night. We finally got to bed about 11 pm dead tired. I Hope today is a lot better.

And the Car Troubles Continue

The rest of our adventure to Sarah's was uneventful besides the usual of the bickering over directions. We Got to Sarah's around 11:30 and then went to lunch to a great Chinese place on Sarah's dime for my Mother's Day Gift. Sarah had planned for us to take a trip to Walmart while Dad watch Jane during nap time. As we got in the car Sarah said, "man we should drive your new car to the store." Apparently she is never feeling very secure in her Subaru. I told her no way I hadn't even driven the car yet and it wasn't going any where. We started off on our trek to walmart which is about 15 minutes from her house. During our conversing on the drive I remark, "Wow this car has really served you well all these years. I'm surprised it still runs." When we were about two miles away from the exist Sarah said, "Something is wrong with the car". We made it to the Walmart parking lot with the odor of burnt rubber following us. Sarah was smart enough to think that we better find out if the car will get us back home before we buy a bunch of groceries. We decided we better check the oil before we did anything else since Sarah confessed they had not changed the oil in over a year. I told Sarah she had to do it since it was raining and I refused to get my hair wet and I was sick of car troubles. Well I ended up having to do in anyway since Sarah couldn't get her hood up (she is hopeless when it comes to cars). The oil was fine but we noticed a part under the hood by the dash smoking and smelling really bad. Sarah got back in the car to see if it would start again. It started like a champ but when she went to reverse it after putting in the gas the car would not budge. We think she burnt her clutch out. Sarah Called Andrew and he came and picked us up. Luckily Sarah has a friend with AAA that let her use one of her free tows for friends so now the car is back at the house. It was not nearly as dramatic as our car troubles but it still continued the saga of car problems. Sarah joking said, "You brought me bad luck!" It's such a good thing we drove out here, our car broke down, we were able to buy a new one so we aren't stuck at Sarah's house all week without a car. Well you know me and my optimistic attitude so I must say, "It was all a blessing in disguise." right???


The Subaru has been a really good car to us but I think this is the end my friend. Now I get to be car less for awhile but it really couldn't be a better time with gas prices, insurance renewal next month, and time to register again. The biggest disappointment about the whole thing is that I filled up the car right before it broke down. We will be stiffening the gas I not throwing 42 bucks away. Christy do you have anything to get gas out of a car?

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms and Moms to be. I hope you all had a good day! Mothers Day can be a pretty depressing day when it seems like your kids or spouse can care less it's the day that you should get a break. I've learned if you don't except much than it is a lot less disappointing for everything in life. I knew not to expect much when on Friday I asked Andrew if he had got my present and he looked at me with a innocent look on his face and said, "Am I supposed to buy you a gift for mothers day? I thought I was just supposed to just make you breakfast and be nice to you all day". Then when we were talking about dinner I asked him if he was going to get anything besides steak and he replied, "Steak we don't need anything else" being completely serious because he really could care less about eating the "sides". So this morning I was totally shocked when Andrew walked into the bedroom with a bundle of Daisy's, breakfast, and a card with a long written message of appreciation. I will have to admit that the thought actually crossed my mind that he went out and picked flowers out of somebody's yard cause I could not think when he would have bought the flowers. Apparently he went when I thought he was helping a friend and left them in the car until I feel asleep. He bathed Jane and helped with what ever he could all morning long until he left to church. He had to go earlier than I to attend a meeting so we met up later in sacrament meeting. When I sat down he said man I'm so hungry I haven't eaten anything all day. I asked him why and his response cracked me up, "I've been so busy I totally forgot about eating". Then he was sweat enough to say, "babe I don't know how you do it". It was nice to have him see for a day what I go through everyday. When we got home from church we made dinner together. Andrew took care of the steak and I covered the sides. It was really a wonderful day for me. I'm so thankful for my husband in making this a special day for me. I love being a mother. It is a lot of work but I would never chose to do anything different.

Bye Bye Brushes

*Disclaimer: I can't find my pink thing to upload pictures from camera but as soon as I find it I will post up some fun pictures.

A year ago today we bought our first and only home. It seems like it was yesterday. The day before we got a call from Travis my brother in law and our Realtor letting us know that there were a few problems. Apparently the sellers Realtor did not read the contract and forgot to mention to them that they were supposed to pay all the closing cost. Anyway to make a long story short everybody besides the sellers and us came up with the money and we got to move in. We have totally loved our home and the neighborhood. We have great neighbors that I would consider our close friends. To commemorate our move in date our next door neighbors decided to pack up and move out. We feel very unfortunate to lose them as neighbors. For the last month we have been saying it really stinks that the Brushes are moving because of blah blah blah blah blah. I decided that it would be kind of fun to do a top ten list of why it totally sucks the Brushes are moving.

10. No more Free Internet (Thanks Ed!)

9. No more hearing my doorbell ring in the morning and hoping it's a delivery of baked goods from the Brush Bakery. Brian's blueberry coffee cake is still my favorite.

8. No more extra back yard with grass. We literally shared a gate in our yards which was nice to open up and let the kids run free.

7. No more fireman or nurse next door in case of an emergency. I was really banking on Sarah if any of my kids every start choking she could save them.

6. No more late nights playing uno or watching mtv cribs while using baby monitors.

5. No more visits that are supposed to be for a minute that last two hours like the time Sarah came over "just for a minute" to get a second opinion on a very faint line on a pregnancy test that turned into getting pizza, watching basketball and dying easter eggs.


4. No more borrowing eggs, milk, razors or whatever else we borrowed over the year.

3. No more running over to each other houses while the kids are napping to start sharing the stories of the day only to finish one or two. Sarah and I are two nuts together that can never get through any conversation without starting a new one.

2. No more dumping kids off on each other when we just need to do something really quick such as taking a shower and shaving legs.

1. No more best friend right next door that you can sit in a car or loft with to vent secretly about the people who make you mad.

Seriously this is the saddest day that I've had in the year that I've been here. I'm so excited for the Brushes for their new beautiful home that I can only dream of having one day but Andrew and I are totally bummed. People like the Brushes are hard to come by and we will truly miss having them as our next door neighbors. We can only hope that our friendship will continue to grow, I guess they are only move a mile or so away. We love you Brushes and thanks for EVERYTHING! You will be greatly missed.

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Yesterday was one of those days where you feel like maybe you could hurt your child if they test you one more time. I thought Jane started her terrible two’s early but boy was I wrong and now I could only guess it will get worse based on my lack of judgment before. I was counting down the minutes to bedtime and then I realized it was bath time. Arghh! I stripped down the kids and put them in and before I knew it they were laughing at each other and it melted my heart (they were probably laughing at giving their mom a run for her money). I kept thinking that they would stop, but then when they just kept going I hollered at Andrew to get the camera. Of course we didn’t catch the really cute stuff (why do they always stop when they know they are being recorded?). Anyway this moment made the day well worth it. I love to watch the kids interact together. Nobody can get Reynolds laughing the way Jane does.

Dang Teeth

You are probably wandering what you are looking at. Of course it is Reynolds mouth but if you look close you will see just a small speck of a tooth. Only those with the choosen eye will be able to see. A week ago I noticed that Reynolds was having some teething symptoms. He was a little slobbery, spitting up his food, and gnawing on my fingers. Friday I could feel the teeth and Sunday it finally broke through the skin. Good job Reynolds! Did I happen to mention I hate teething time. Now the left, bottom tooth is on it's way and little Renny is gnawing his hand off. He is holding up pretty well and is still a pretty happy baby.

No More Red Meat Please!

So Safeway was having a killer ground beef sale for 95 cents a pound for 80/100. I like to get the extra extra lean but in this economy I will get what I can afford. Well you know me and how when something is on for a really good deal I like to stock up. I ended up buying about 18 pounds of beef. Normally I would divide it all up into pounds and freeze it but this time I decided to spend a day and actually do stuff with all that stinking beef to make my life easier this summer when I really don't want to cook. Last night Andrew made up 28 hamburger patties. Today I cooked 140 meatballs (thanks Sarah for the scooper and recipe) and then I cooked up 6 pounds of ground beef to freeze to use for quick meals. When I got done with all of that I still had 6 pounds of ground beef left. I didn't even want to touch, I was so sick of beef. I decided I would just divide it up and stick it in the freezer like I normally would. After I was all done I sanitized my kitchen. It was so gross I had beef every where. I feel like I went to work today that's for sure and that I really can be a domestic women if I want to be.

Here is me cooking away

Here is all what I made


And now for the gross part!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the fat from only 7 pounds!

Now I need a really good chicken sale and I should be set for the whole summer.

Crazy Denver Weather

So anybody that lives, has lived, or even vacationed in Denver knows how crazy the weather can be. It seems like this whole spring we have had gorgeous weather 60's 70's for days and then following the hottest day it snow's. Seriously, I don't think I've even seen much rain this whole spring just snow. Today was no exception to the rule. It has been in the 70's all week, yesterday was 78 degrees! The house was so hot that we had to open the windows to sleep and still only slept with a sheet. Andrew woke me up at about 7:45 (usually I wake up a lot early cause it is so bright but it was dark and deary outside so was thinking it was only 6:00) He told me to look out the window. Yea that's right it was snowing and our windows were still wide open from the night heat.

Here is what it did in about 30 min and continued pretty much the whole day

Good thing it will be 70 degrees again on Monday. Nevertheless, I'm so happy it's May, I love May it's my favorite month of the year!