November/December 2012 Greg Cottrell Family

 

It is probley Time for a little update on the Greg Cottrell Family.

Sarah has been enjoying dance.

The boys enjoy buiding and creating with Isaac straws and contectors.

Greg had and wonderful birthday. His big present was an ellipical.

We had wonderful Thanksgiving in Iowa. It was fun to have the Baker’s there with us and that Grammy was feeling well enough to come and have dinner and visit for a while. Mom C. Did an amazing job and with food. Lindsey will never forget preparing freash rosemary and garlic for the roasted potatoes

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The kids/cousin and wonderful time dressing up, watching movies, doing crafts, building train tracks, playing school,  and riding the train and visiting Santa at the Mall.

Somehow  Lindsey and Tahni got roped into doing the trampolin while we were waiting for Santa.

Sarah had a wonderful 7th Birthday. Greg brought her home flowers, cousin Kaitlyn came over for a few hours. She enjoyed all her presents and loved her Hello Kitty cupcakes. 

This year we let the kids decorate the tree all by themselves (well mostly), since most of the ortaments are theirs. (They get a new one each year), They did a great job.

2nd Sunday of Advent: Love

Second Sunday of Advent: Love

The Second Candle represents the love of God that he has shared with us in the person of his Son, and which Jesus Christ showed us through his sacrifice and death. This love, the pure love of Christ, we are enjoined to share with each other.
This candle also represents God’s covenant with Abraham, promising him an eternal glory and seed as numerous as the sands of the sea. The Lord further promised Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed, a promise that received its ultimate fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ through Abraham’s line.

"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands . . ." (Isaiah 49:13–16)
"And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou? And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins . . . And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh . . . And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." (1 Nephi 11:14–22)
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16–17)

Suggested Carol: "O, Come, All Ye Faithful"  emphasis on the refrain, "Oh come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord."

The Annunciation to Mary:

"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, ‘Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.’
"And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, ‘Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.’
Then said Mary unto the angel, ‘How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?’ And the angel answered and said unto her, ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.’
"And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’ And the angel departed from her." (Luke 1:26–38)

First Sunday of Advent

To help make Christmas a more Christ-Centered event, I share this information about Advent. It has been compiled by Elaine and Eric Huntsman and shared online.
 

I found it here:
http://hccl.byu.edu/faculty/HuntsmanE/Seasonal-eh/Advent/index.htm

Come back next Sunday for the 2nd Sunday of Advent: Joy

The Advent Season
Remembering the First Coming of Jesus Christ, Looking Forward to the Second

The term "advent" comes from the Latin adventus, meaning "coming" or "appearance." Advent is the season marking the four Sundays before Christmas and developed as a way of helping Christians prepare not only to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in his First Coming but also to help them look forward to his glorious Second Coming. Although Advent customs may be foreign to many Latter-day Saints, we have found that, like so many seasonal traditions, they are a wonderful way to turn our attention more fully to the true meaning of Christmas
Many Advent traditions come from Germany, where Martin Luther encouraged its continued observance as a way of teaching children and families more about the significance of the coming of Jesus Christ. It came to be celebrated by both Roman Catholics and Lutherans there and has become a common celebration in many Christian faith communities throughout the world.
One of the best known Advent customs is the lighting of the candles in an Advent wreath, a simple or decorated evergreen wreath with four candles placed in the circle and a single white candle in the center. The wreath itself represents the never-ending circle of God’s love, that he is the same and forever in his love towards his people. The green of the wreath, as in the Christmas tree, represents the hope of eternal life that comes through Christ and serves a reminder of the freshness of God’s love and promises. The light of the candles reminds us that Jesus is the Light of the World, that his birth represented the coming of the light into darkness, and that we are called to reflect that light in our lives.
The outer candles are purple, the color of royalty, although customarily the third one is rose or pink. Traditions differ regarding the symbolism of the candles. One is that they represent the hope, love, joy, and peace that come through Jesus Christ. Each Sunday before Christmas an additional candle is lit, creating a beautiful stepped-effect as the previous weeks’ candles burn down further. Scriptures can be read and carols sung as part of the lighting, which we do before family prayer. The four candles can also represent the different Old Testament covenants that God made with his servants, beginning with Noah and continuing through Abraham, Moses, and David. The central white candle is known as the Christ candle. It is lit on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and represents the new covenant made possible through Christ.
The scriptures below for each candle come from the Old Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the New Testament. While not all families may wish to observe such Advent customs formally, we hope that the scriptures and thoughts that we have selected for each of the Sundays of Advent will be uplifting and provide meaningful reflection on the season.

First Sunday of Advent: Hope
The first candle represents the hope that the message of Christmas brings us as we recall the birth of the promised king. In the dispensations before the coming of Christ, prophets looked forward to his advent with hope. Now, through the Atonement of Christ we have hope for salvation from sin and death and look forward to his return.
The first candle can also represents the first covenants that God made with the patriarchs Adam, Enoch, and Noah. In particular, God saved Noah and his family from the flood and promised them life, just as we are saved through Christ and hope for eternal life through him.
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn . . . " (Isaiah 61:1–3)
"For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us. Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name . . ." (Jacob 4:4–5)
"Therefore Being Justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Romans 5:1–5)
"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal . . ." (Moroni 7:41)
Carol: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Grammy's Thoughts on the Election

Wednesday November 7, 2012

Dear Family,
Today we grieve for the loss of the country's best friend, Mitt Romney.We grieve for our country now heading as the U.S. of Europe. We'll no longer be the leading power in the world. As of now we're 7th. Soon we'll be no better than any in Europe. China will be No. 1.

We grieve for all who voted for our downfall. They will never hurt financially, and their leader will steal from those who have so they don't have to worry.

God will no longer be our guiding force if our leader has his way.

We are sad and confused and don't understand why this happened. Blame the Unions, it's that simple.

Bill O'Reilly hit it on the head when he said more people want "stuff" so they knew Obama would hand it to them. In other words, the government will take care of them, the rich will get their comeuppance, and they won.

Now we must put it all behind us, grin and bear it, and look forward to 2014 when we'll have a chance to win back the Senate at least. Then work to find a new leader and get rid of everyone who has saddled us with a future socialist country if we let them.

May God bless our family. May He bless our country.

With love to you all,
Grammy

Packers NL

I have lots to catch up on, so here are some highlights:

SEPTEMBER 

Rob took a new job at Vivint as their Director of Training. It was a scary move to make since we loved American Express so much, but it has been a great opportunity and he is really enjoying himself there. 

We took our annual Park City trip. We started off at the zoo and made our way to the hotel. The fall colors were amazing! The kids actually did really well sleeping in the same bed together. I think we wore them out sufficiently each day to help in the falling asleep process. The temperature was a little cool for swimming in their main pool (the high was about 70 degrees), but the hotel had half of their 6 hot tubs turned down so kids could play in them safely. It was heaven! Just like swimming in a warm bath tub!

Luke turned 5! He requested a Spiderman birthday cake. I don't get too excited about doing the big birthday cake thing, probably because I don't really like cake that much, but I relented and said I would do whatever he wanted. It paid off because he really loved it. But he takes after his mom and doesn't really have a sweet tooth, because after he blew out the candles and I asked him how big of a piece he wanted, he informed me that he didn't really want the cake for eating, just blowing out candles. Sigh. That huge cake sat pretty much uneaten in the fridge for a week before the whole thing just went in the trash, haha. At least Sophie had a blast helping me make it. She is the one with the huge sweet tooth!

OCTOBER

Rob and I attended Sunday morning Conference. It was wonderful. Luke's favorite part of conference is plastering the family room with all the scriptures pictures and the apostle photos. We have a slumber party on Friday night and then lounge around on the air mattresses the next two days while we eat cinnamon rolls and listen to conference. 

We took the kids to Cornbelly's which has tons of fall activities for the family. There is so much to do. We stayed for 3 hours and only covered half of what was there.

Luke had his big birthday party. For his cousin party he wanted a Pirate theme, which was a lot of fun. We served "gold nuggets" (chicken) for the main dish and we thought 2 huge platters would be more than enough. That's 400 nuggets. This is all that was left!!!!!!!!!! My nieces and nephews can pack it away!

We also had cupcakes, cannon balls, fish and chips and pina coladas. Luke wanted a pirate ship cake for this party. After the spiderman cake I said I didn't think I could do a pirate ship. Way to complicated for me!    The day before the party I broke it to him that I just couldn't do it. He was heartbroken and maybe shed a tear or two. So the night before I found one online that I could copy and busted this thing out until very early the next morning. At least I felt redeemed when he actually ate some!! 

We went to the pumpkin patch that we've gone to for the past several years because they have kid sized wheelbarrows. Luke loves them and Sophie was big enough to steer one around this year. Unfortunately she was in a state of sorrow for most of the time because she had her heart set on finding a PINK pumpkin and there were none to be found. Look at this depressed face! We made a deal that she could go home and paint one instead. Silly girl. She absolutely loves pink!

For Halloween, Luke went as Spiderman and Sophie went as an elephant. Avery came with us and she was a darling little ladybug! 

NOVEMBER

Sophie was just done with diapers one day and decided to potty train herself. It was such a different experience than with Luke because she just had such a desire to do it herself. In fact she was obsessed and spent hours in the bathroom pretending to go and then washing her hands and repeating this over and over. I have gone through so much soap!! Overall it was pretty painless and I'm glad to have that out of the way before the baby comes.

Luke helped me make applesauce one day. He was such a big help! His job was to put the cooked apples through the kitchen aid and smash it through the strainer. He did all of it! I can't believe how big he is getting and what a good helper he is.

The weather here has been so nice that we have spent a lot of time outside. The kids had a blast helping me rake up leaves. I made them get in the trash can to smash them all down, haha. They will get mad at me one day for that.

We spent Thanksgiving with the Packers this year. I was in charge of rolls and I made a pumpkin cheesecake. I spent a day making 9 dozen rolls. Sophie stood in a chair next to me for almost two hours and just played in the flour! She was telling everyone that she was making pink pie. We had a great dinner with the family, but we were sad to not see Grammy. 

We hope everyone has a great holiday month!!

The Packers

Van Natter November

And here we are in the Christmas Season!!
November flew by. Spent a lot of time prepping for guests. I had all my meals prepared and frozen for Mom's visit. When she wasn't able to come, I was able to use them for Emily and Jacob.

We finally got furniture for our new family room.  We got 2 couches and a love seat: 6 recliners in all! Plus a big screen TV for over the fireplace. That room got quite a lot of use while Em and Jacob were here. They watched movies up there, Jacob played X-Box with Ian. Addie enjoyed more room to run around and explore.

Thanksgiving with Moultons was so much fun, as always. But it felt weird not having Grammy there. We were just glad she was out of the hospital, hadn't needed surgery, and was on the mend. So grateful for all Linda and Mark's attentiveness to her.

Finally brought in the turquoise love seat from the garage once the living room painting was done. I love it. It's not too bright but pulls in the turquoise from the kitchen at the other end of the big open room now. I have a small glass table on each end with a red lamp on top of each, but haven't photographed that yet. The lamps turned out to be smaller than expected so I'm torn - they are the right size for the tables, the right height for the loveseat, but look too small in the room. What to do, what to do??

Jacob picked up my Expedit from Ikea while he was here. Still don't know how he fit those 4 big boxes in his car along with Addie in a carseat!! But he did it! Then he put it all together on Thanksgiving morning with the parade on in the background. I'm really excited to have it. For now I'm putting nativities in the cubbies (25 of those!) After the holidays we'll see what I end up doing! (The photo was taken with my iPod but you get the gist.)

 
I put together the Ikea trolley I bought last summer when I saw they had it in turquoise. I am loving it!!

Annette and I got together at her house to make our Advent Calendar boxes using her Silhouette cutter. It was so fun to fold boxes for a few hours. I haven't had a chance to finish mine off yet but I enjoy just seeing the fun paper drawers in each little opening. I used the new Basic Grey Aspen Frost line. I don't do any paper scrapping anymore, so it was kind of fun choose Christmas papers.

John is almost done with Tithing Settlement. Most everyone came during November so now every December Sunday isn't taken up. This was his 25th year of Tithing Settlements!!!!!

Ian's eyes have swollen nearly shut twice in the last couple of weeks. It's what happens when he has nuts but he hasn't eaten or even touched any, so now he has to figure out what is causing this allergic reaction. He's missed a couple of days of work due to it. Thank goodness he has sick days to use.

Hope everyone has a super fantastic Christmas season!
love, Kathi & John