The Bott Family Christmas Party

The Grandma Kathy party was definitely different this year. With Farrel still on oxygen and recovering from Corona, we decided to host the party this year. Luckily he and Kathy were still in the "immune" period (the docs say once you've had it, you're immune for 90 days), so we felt comfortable having them over.

 We kept the party pretty low key – we just had dinner, played some reindeer games, and visited.

Kathy was really excited to finally have a big rack. 😂

We also played bingo for prizes, which was really fun.

And of course opened the Grandma and Grandpa traditional pajamas. I love that my boys still get excited about new jammies.

It's definitely been a weird year, but it was really nice to be able to get together and celebrate, even if it was on a smaller scale. Made it feel a little more like Christmas. 

 

I'm Finally a Legit Zoobie

After living in Utah County for 41 years AND graduating from BYU, I finally hiked the Y.

The best part was a little single track trail that takes off from the top of the Y and leads here:

We want to go explore this side more when it's not freezing cold with an icy death wind blowing.

 

He's Baaaa-aaaaack

 The Elf on the Shelf. My worst idea ever. But this dude has been sooooo excited about it. Sigh...

Meet the Coffee Table

Rand went running full-speed into the living room because it was his turn to play games on my phone, and that meant the added bonus of taking the phone away from Tukker.

He tripped on the rug right in front of the coffee table and hit it with his face. So horrrd.

That looks like it's just blood on his face, but it's actually cuts. We're pretty sure his tooth came all the way through his lip on that bottom cut, and the top one was probably from the edge of the coffee table. 

It was bad enough that we actually took him to the doctor. But after sitting in the waiting room for 30 minutes (and hearing the receptionist make call after call to tell people they'd tested positive for corona) we decided to get out of that germ-infested petri dish. We sanitized the crap out of our hands and then headed for the best medicine: a giant ice cream cone.

Poor homie. He was actually kind of bummed he didn't lose any teeth. He was hoping to get rich off the Tooth Fairy.

 

Our Award-Winning Gingerbread Houses

Clearly my boys inherited my love of (and patience for) anything craft-related.

Tukk didn't even bother pretending to try putting the house together. 

Let's be honest: store-bought gingerbread is gross. Why waste time on something that doesn't even taste good? 

 We put a lot more of our hearts into decorating our homemade donuts.

That's the kind of crafting you can really get behind. 

And then get in your mouf. 

Life with Boys

"For some reason I just really like talking about butts."

He's also learning to write. 

We're so proud.

November 2020

Did I document the fact that Rand can ride a bike now? I can't even remember, but it's been so fun! A month or two ago we FINALLY found a bike his size (it's so hard to find outdoorsy stuff during Covid), and after just a couple of practice runs he took off on his own. 

He's been loving it and dying to go for a bike ride with us, so we took the family to the Spanish Fork river trail. He couldn't even believe that he actually got to come. Tiny dude rode 3 miles without a single complaint!

Rand and Tukk are masters at making Daisy laugh. She thinks they're hilarious, and we think she's the cutest. 

And finally, for the first time since we moved away from Genola, WE BUILT A SNOWMAN! Usually our snow is too powdery for snowmen, so this is a big deal. 

This big boy came to visit last month. I keep hoping he'll come back. We never see bucks this big out our back door!

And just for the record, we're still besties. 

 

How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse

Tukk: To survive the zombie apocalypse, all you have to do is buy a bunch of hot pockets and rub them all over yourself. 

Boom. Genius.

Thanksgiving 2020

We got to spend Thanksgiving with the Pokies! That hasn't happened in years. YEARS! 

Kolby always ends up having to work, so we were super excited that he had time off AND that everyone was healthy so we could get together. It was a big debate up until about 2 days before about whether or not we should get together, since Rona is still raging, but we decided that since everyone was healthy we'd be brave and go for it.

June even got Belle to come down with her so these 3 compadres could spend time together. Belle always helps Caulder with his math homework, so we have to be extra nice to her because we're definitely not smart enough to handle freshman math.

Daisy was looking so sad because she was sick of her lame mom holding her. 

Her Thanksgiving really perked up when I stole her. I know it's hard to read it on her face, but if you look deep into her eyes you can tell she's much happier with me and wishes her mom would just let me adopt her, already.

Her mom is such a selfish jerk.

She might look like she's happier with Kolby, but she's just laughing at him for foolishly thinking she might like him better than me. Please, Kolby. Fat chance.

Look at these two little lovebirds. They're so cute!

These little lovebirds are so cute, too. Jess even matches the Fanta!

But these are the cutest lovebirds of all. I'm pretty sure I went into a coma right after this picture was taken from leftover overdose.

We played pizza restaurant, mystery box, D&D (I think they played that at one point?), Klive and Rand played babies for about 2 hours, and we ate ourselves stupid. It's what the founding fathers would want.

But then we got serious about the holiday and busted out the Nertz cards.

We haven't played Nertz in ages, and it is the best card game of all time. I get so excited that I get all hot and sweaty. Everyone loves playing with me!

We had so much fun. Next year we need to figure out how to drag the Aussies over so we can all party together!

Best Friends Bathe Together

Do BFFs really have to bathe together?

 I have some concerns about the boundaries at the Bott house.