the lotts: 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Turning Eight, capturing Seven

We thought we were going to do a baptism dress photoshoot, but it was too cold and wet to take off the coat.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. This photograph really says it all, it is so us, silly and goofy and little out of control. The photographer said kiss so we kissed and all the kids just took their pose, Arden steeling a kiss, Spencer totally grossed out that he parents are kissing, Gavin thinks that all the photographer cares about is him because his is so cute and knows it, and finally the star on top of this silly love tree is Alexis like an angel making a heart with her hands.

He's been waitng his whole life for this moment!

We never let Gavin do this, I guess that is why it is so exciting. He see's me paint the girls fingures and toes and the girl friends fingures and toes, but not his. So Alexis who really wanted Gavin to come out a girl it just pretending he is a girl for one Sunday morning. Gavin wouldn't wear shoes to church this Sunday either, he wanted everyone to see his toes, he made an interesting Joseph in the Nursery Nativiy at church that day!

Little Posers!

They love this stuff! And they love being on the other side of the camera too!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Yes, he will fall asleep anywhere.

And...yesterday he fell asleep on the floor at the grocery store at the checkout with his blanket next to him, no joke.

Hey boyz, get in your own bed!

At least one kid gets in bed with me every night. It's a rare thing to sleep without one of them, well, that is for my husband, since I go get in the kids beds to finish my night peacefully without getting kicked. So this is how I found them the other morning in my bed when I woke up; so so sweet.

Another photoshoot

I love editing photos like this, so fantastic! And what amazing models!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Just Hanging Out

Spencer finally lost a tooth without having to go get it pulled! He was so excited, he kept having everyone try to pull it out for him. Finally, I just yanked it out, he was surprised, but didn't cry because he was so excited about the tooth fairy!

Ya you guys are silly!

Alexis is the happy maker in this family. She always makes Gav laugh. She love him as much or more that she hates him!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Never Grow Up

I can't believe I am blogging with no photo, this is so unlike me. I just bought Taylor Swifts new CD, "Speak Now." My favorite song is Never Grow Up. It just makes me think of how fast time goes by and how fast my kids are growing up and I love it all, but will miss their little inocent faces and the funny things they say.

Gavin gives me a run for my money everyday. I find it so comical all the things he does like wipe his poopy bum on my new faux fur pillow and remove tile spacers from the tile spaces where the grout is suppose go right after the tile guys leave for the night and then come to me and give them to me like a gift. Never grow up Gav, your too funny, what will I ever do without you to make me laugh, because if I don't laugh I will cry!

Basket Ball Gavin

When Gavin told me he wanted to be a basket ball for Halloween, I believed him, although I thought I would be able to get him to change his mind. I even took him to Old Navey and Wal Mart and showed him other costumes and tried to convince him how great they all were. But no no no, he was dead set on being a basket ball. So here he is in all his glory. I actually pulled out the sewing machine and made this costume. He was the cutest basket ball I have ever seen. He loved it when I took pictures of him doing random things like drinking water from a straw and them I would show him the picture on the camera display and he would laugh histerically and say, "Basket ball drinking water!"

Gavin you are the greatest, thanks for having a opinion at two. Love Mom

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Tornado in Bellemont? What the... Oh my gosh!

Our garage door mangled
I feel really blessed. I feel humble. I feel grateful. The only thing that really scared me was loosing my family, my children and husband, that is what matters most.

It's 5:30am Wednesday October 5th. I heard it rain most of the night as it had the last two days off and on. I love rainy nights, I love thunderstorms, I always have. My kids and I like to sit in the garage in our lawn chairs and watch the thunderstorms and play in the rain during the monsoon season. The rain relaxes me, helps me unwind, not anymore.

It started hailing, it woke me up, it hailed harder and then harder, it sounded like golf balls hitting my house and then it got even harder, like rocks or bolders and lounder and then I heard crashing and it sounded like someithing or things hitting our house, not just on the roof but on the sides of the house as well, I heard my children screaming in terror. I ran to them, I saw the boys window was boken when the lightening flashed, I felt the wind coming through, I say Spencer first crying and screaming, I told him to come to me and get in my bed, the other kids were screaming and crying too. I took Spencer and handed him to Dave, or was is Sissy my friend who was staying with us, I don't know. I didn't see Gavin, but could hear him. The lightening flashed and I say him get out of his tent that he sleeps in everynight. He was scared to walk there was glass everywhere, I picked him up and held him really close, my girls were still screaming and crying, I went into their room trying to explain it was a golf ball size hail storm, it felt like I was yelling, "Get in my bed, get in my bed!" We could only see when the lightening flashed. Dave had a flashlight, the girls ran into my bedroom and up into my bed, Sissy was there with my kids, I don't know what we would have done without her. I went to the garage to get a flashlight, I still had Gavin, I couldn't see, lightening flashed and I saw our garage door was mangled. I went in the house, "We lost all our trees!" Dave had checked on the neighbors, "The Haggens are coming over" I found a candle and lit it in my bedroom so the kids could see.Sissy was there with my kids, I went outside to help get the Haggen's kids, lightening flashed and I say their house, it looked like a tornado blew threw their house, all the window were broken, the garage door gone, my neighbors car had been picked up and moved, all the windows broken, it was trashed. Back into the house there was glass everywhere, our sliding glass door had broke in our dining area, somehow I had shoes on.
There were seven kids in my bed, Gaving still in my arms. I fixed our neighbors bleeding arm in my master bathroom.

Somehow the worst of it was over in less than a minute. It all happened so fast like a fast train passing by.

The neighbors left our house for an even safer neighbor down the street. I got my kid rubber boots on. Evenually I was able to walk into the rainy street and servey the damage of the neighborhood. Every house was damaged, especially the houses on the opposite side of our street. I look down to the end of the street, the roof were gone on two houses, there were people everywhere checking on eachother trying figure out what happening. I heard it was a tornado and couldn't believe it, but I have to. I have told my kids over and over that we don't get tornados in Flagstaff and now I know I was wrong.

I am so grateful that no one died or was seriously injured. God is watching over us. Eveyone of us walked through glass to get to each other and make it into my bedroom. My boys room was cover in glass so much that is has to be gutted, scrubbed and repainted. We lost eveything in the boys room, it all has to go because of the chards of glass that were everywhere. There was so much glass in my boys beds and they don't have a scratch on them. Like I said God is watching over us, not just my family, but all my neighbors as well. There are so many families with similar stories, and so many people that walked away unscratched. My house could go up in flames tomorrow and I wouldn't care as long as I have my family, that is really how I feel. The only thing that scared me especially when windows were breaking was that my family was ok. My broken house doesn't bother me so much at all. More later.....My husband has been absolutely amazing!....and thanks to all those who rushed to HomeDepo and bought ply-wood and boarded up everyones broken windows, thanks to everywho came to help and offered.
P.S. If you don't have Met Life, they have been awesome.

We lost our trees

This is not my house, this house belonged to good friend last year. Nobody was home during the tornado.

The two houses at the end of our street lost the roofs. Nobody was badly hurt, but they lost a lot of sentimental things, baby books etc. This is so sad.

This is the house across the street from ours. It was damaged so much more. Nobody was hurt! The tornado lifted this car and moved it and did a lot more to it. This house is trashed.

This is the house across the street one house down. Crazy how bad it all really is. Who would have thought a tornado would have ever come here.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tarantula

the Story goes something like this:

I went running a good friend of mine from out of town

and saw this tarantula just as we were about to turn around and head for home. I put it in an old grocery bag I found on the side of the road and brought it home. Before my kids came home from school I bought an aqaurium enclosure for it. I was so so excited to tell my kids because we have been wanting to catch two tarantulas, one for us and one for Arden class at her teachers request.

So then I get a phone call from a friend who is at the elementry and she says "I just want you to know that Arden was trying to catch a tarantula at school." I think she thought I might be a bit disturbed by this but instead I was like "Really? Did she catch it? I hope she did, her teacher really wants one for their class and I just caught one for our family toady while I was out running!

What do you know, Arden and I are totally in touch catching tarantulas on the same day away from each other.

So the kids named her El Vira and just so you know she is completely harmless. It take a lot to get a tarantula to bite and if they do it hurts less that an bee sting and is not at potent as a bee sting either. They are very fragel creatures and come out this time of the year here in our town.

And just in time for Halloween!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

First Day of School

I can't believe this day has come and gone. Here I have finally blogging it a month later. It's hard to believe how big they are and how much they have grown on the inside. Spencer is on fire in Kindergarten. He wants to tell me everything he has learned everyday right away after school. I am bombarded with the kids paper work and school work after school each day. Awe, the days of homework and reading etc. I love spending time with Gavin during the day, we bike ride a lot and spend plenty of time on scooters and anything with wheels really. Gavin is very much into basketball and talks about it all the time. I have been on the PTO at the kids school and spent a lot of time there. I also get to volunteer in their classes which I love, it really helps me understand what they are doing all day. Arden has already been on two field trips and Alexis has collected 100 or so silly bands that she has been buying and trading with friends at school. I really miss them during the day, but they really needed to go back to school because their brains were starting to turn to mush during the summer. Good Luck this year kids!