A "Beautiful" Memorial Day 2011

I was up this morning from 2:00 am from a cold that I came down with yesterday.  The light that shined through my window around 6:30 seemed way to bright to be the sun.  I knew from that moment on without looking that it was snowing outside.  It made me sad...I felt like crap and the weather was crap.  I had big plans to go outside and do yard work and have a fun little BBQ. 
Jason left to go work on the sled pull trucks with Jace at 8 AM.  Leaving me and Dayton to a few hours by ourselves.  Dayton woke up at 8:30 runs into my room as I am trying to hide my head under the covers wishing today would be magically sunny and says "Mom it's a beautiful day to make snowmen!!".  I laughed and said "your right buddy! It IS a beautiful day to make snowmen!".
I got up and I got in the shower while Dayton found his snow gear.  After I was dressed and ready Dayton was ready to go outside and start making his snowman.  I helped him on the first one and let him make "the mommy and they boy" by himself.  He did a great job!   His fun outside only last 15-20 minutes.  But it was enough to make him beam with happiness.

He teaches me something new everyday.  Although I might think the 30th of May should be warm and sunny without snow...it doesn't mean that it can't be a beautiful day with snow.  We at the Stott house are healthy and happy.  We have a warm house and love is all around.  It IS a beautiful day....even if we make snowmen rather than get sunburns.  There is no reason not to get out and be happy.  Happy Memorial Day! 

Daytons Preschool Grauation 2011

Dayton Graduated from preschool!!  Well he graduated from his first year of preschool.  He still has 2 more years of it to go.  He was so cute.  He was crazy towards that end and had a hard time paying attention.  Dayton spoke into the microphone 3 different times.  One was to tell everyone what his name was "Dayton Jeremy Stott and I'm 3". He told everyone what his birthday was "July 31st"  (WRONG it is the 25th!!) and the third time he told everyone what he wanted to be when he grows up "when I grow up I want to be Batman!"  (he had been practicing for a full week to say "when I grow up I wanna be a T-Rex! so the batman thing was a surprise) They sang lots of cute little songs also.  Jace squirmed and wiggled lots because he really wanted to be up there with all of the kids in the action. 

I thought i was going to get emotional that my baby is done with his first year of preschool but I wasn't emotional at all.  Dayton was wayyyy too crazy and hyper to even think about any of that!  At the end there were a few things that Miss Emily had for the kids.  One of them was an achievement paper of the things they learned in preschool this year.  Dayton knows: all his colors, all his shapes, letters D, N, O Y, he can count to 13, recognizes numbers 1,2,4, knows half of the days of the week and half of the Months in order, and he can trace his first name.

Good Job Dayton.  Your Dad and I are so proud of you.

While We Were in Utah.......

We left Utah bound on Friday night.  Arriving at 5:30. We stayed at my Dad's house in Payson.  First off I had to do a walk-thru inspection on the Payson house.  It went okay.  It turns out I am going to have to throw lots more money at it.  After that was done I headed back to dads house to sit and relax and watch the boys play and socialize with my family. 
Saturday morning was bright and sunny. We decided to get my Dad's new collection of bikes out, and ride them around.  We had a great time.  It was very stress relieving.  I felt like a kid riding the bikes as fast as I could, trying to do wheelies, and trying to ride with no hands. Stacee even showed up and joined in on the fun!

After about 2 hours worth of fun, (and a really really sore butt!) I had to leave and go to Jason's Sister Janell's baby shower in Tooele. I got lost driving out there which totally sucked but once I was there everything started to get better. Jana threw a great shower! Janell received lots of great baby gifts. We are so excited for her to be having twin girls. After the shower was over I stayed to socialize with Jason's sisters and mother for a bit. Its nice to get to be included and talk with them.

 I didn't get lost on my drive back. (phew) So I decided to stop by my Grandpa and Grandma Strong's house and visit with them for a bit. (I hadn't seen my grandparents since Halloween) Plus it was a great meeting point for me and my Sisters and my Dad to all meet up. The kids played fetch with balls, wrestled, played with trucks and explored. We had a nice little BBQ and soaked up the nice warm weather. It was just a taste of the summer to come.

That evening back at Dads house we just took it easy. I got the kids ready for bed, let them play with the toys for an hour, and then we went to bed. My kids love all of the trucks and play cars and toys at Dad's house You hardly had to watch them at all they were so content.

The next morning after breakfast Megan came over to hang out with us. We watched movies in one room while the kids played in the other room. We also rode bikes again outside, Played with sidewalk chalk, climbed trees and enjoyed each others company. It was so nice to be able to go to Utah and relax!!
After a yummy dinner that Kari made, we started out Journey home. The drive was easy and the kids slept almost the whole way home. 

 I wish we could have stayed down one more day.  It was just one of those weekends that makes your heart feel full.  The only way it could have been better was if Jason could have been there.  Thanks Dad and Kari for letting us crash at your house.  You guys were very accommodating.  And thanks to my sisters who took time out of your day to drive to Payson and come and see me.  I love you guys!



Thief!!

Yes Jace is a Shoe, phone and key thief.  (except for when he is sleeping!) I will start with the shoes. He is OBSESSED with shoes.  All day long shoes, shoes, shoes!  He changes his shoes at least 3 to 4 times a day.  They aren't always his shoes either.  It sometimes is my shoes, Jason's shoes and most of the time Dayton's shoes.  Jace is hardly ever shoeless.   He even tries to put shoes on before he goes to bed.   (This is not like Dayton and I, We try to be shoeless as much as possible)
When we are watching TV as a family he loves shoes so much that he has to make sure everyone else in the house is wearing shoes and he will spend the night making sure everyone keeps their shoes on.
Jace has been a little phone thief for a long time now.  He can hack into any phone and call at least 5 contacts in it before you even know your phone is missing.  When he calls people he will normally hold a conversation with them, hang up on them, and go onto the next victim.  He knows the difference between a real phone and a play phone and wants nothing to do with the play phone.  He also wants NOTHING to do with any ones phones if they are turned off.  Once off he knows that the phones are useless to him. 
Just lately Jace has started into a key fetish.  He tries to stick the keys in anything that has holes.  (thankfully no electrical sockets yet)  He loves to turn on car alarms just so he can push the button to turn them off.  He loves to put the keys in the back of play trucks beds and drive the trucks around on his knees as if the keys are very precious cargo.  (and believe me they are precious cargo!!)  When it comes time to get in the car and turn it on, he has absolute tantrums if he cannot help put the keys in the ignition.
So to sum it up all day long at my house its shoes, phones and keys!!!  So if you are ever at my house and you are missing one of these things you only have to look for one cute little boy to find it!!

Tears of Worry??

This past Saturday night while Jason was at Addicted working, me and the boys stayed home and watched movies.  Of course me and Dayton couldn't agree on the same movie. So he watch "Fox and the Hound" in my room. And I watched "Thorn Birds" in the living room. 
I folded laundry while I watched my show.  When it came time to put some of the clothes away I walked into my room, and looked at Dayton on my bed.  He had tears running down his face and was really upset.  I looked at the TV screen to find it at the part where the Grandma has taken Todd (the fox) out to the middle of nowhere, and dropped him off, and was driving away without Todd. 
When I was a little kid, this part of the movie also upset me... but I was around 6 or 7.  Dayton is 3 almost 4, and it affected him to the point of tears.  He looked up at me and said "Mom she is leaving the fox and he is sad and scared". I really didn't know what to say.  I mean what do you say?  Yes, the fox was scared and alone.  How do you comfort a 3 year old over this?  I told him "the fox is brave and he makes new friends just keep watching, it will be okay". 
Dayton kept watching his show till it was over.  He reported that he liked that movie.  He was no longer upset, sad or crying.  He told me that he was tired and he went to his room, and went to bed without a a problem.

Two days later and I am still shocked that Dayton understood enough of what was going on, to cry over it.  He understands fear, and loneliness to the point it affected him enough to cry!  I don't understand how HE understands.  He is never left behind and all alone to know how Todd would feel.   I cant even wrap my head around it.  I guess it turns out that he is a soft hearted little boy who sees and understands a lot more than I give him credit for.

Addicted's Grand Opening Dyno Event

We finally had our Grand Opening Dyno Event.   It was A LOT of work!   I worked on the advertising end of it for 3 months.  I probably put out 300 flyer's on vehicles in the past few weeks alone.  A few of our clients and friends also helped us advertise and that really really helped.  Those friends told their friends and their friends told their friends.  It was a ripple effect.  We had a lot of our family here to support us in our event which was great.  We had free hot chocolate and hot dogs for everyone who came.   Once the event was done we paid $1000.00 in prize payouts for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places for all 4 classes.  Every one's top question during the day was "will you do this again next year?"  Its a hard question to answer....Although it was a great turn out it was a lot of work..... I was burnt out!!!  And even then with 38 trucks running on the dyno we still were $600 of falling short of breaking even on the event.  But Who know how much business we will get from the event and we will only know that 6 months from now.  But I think all in all...... Next year it won't be as hard to advertise for it, now we know how to run an event like this.  We have all the paper work.  So yes we will be making this an annual event.

Easter Morning

 The kids on Easter morning woke up around 8:30 not even realizing that it was Easter.  I had to tell them to go and look in the living room to see what the Easter bunny had brought them.  Here is Dayton grabbing his basket.  Of couse he goes for the marshmallows first

 Jace goes for the chocolate egg first.  Of couse with a phone in hand

 This is the dessert that I made for our Easter dinner.  Doesnt it look divine?

 Here is Jace in his brand new suit.  Aint he a little stud?!  (this outfit was not from the easter bunny but from grandma Cathy.... she bought it for $4 bucks!)

Here is a picture of the boys before we headed off to church.  What a good looking bunch!